Archangel's Heart here!

So I had planned on rereading A Discovery of Witches today, in honour of Halloween and all, but when I walked up to the post office to get my mail, there it was - one of my most anticipated releases of 2016, Archangel's Heart!

My fingers were itching to open this puppy and start reading, but I managed to curb my excitement until I got home... and here I remained until I finished the book about 2 hours ago.

I loved it!  Even though it wasn't a long book (only about 381p.), I flew through it as I wanted to know if Elena uncovered the truth about the vampire in her lineage.  This is the story I've most anticipated ever since it was mentioned in Archangel's Consort.

The story was great, the characters were both amazing - even the baddies - and I now have to wait at least another 10 months for more.

Will definitely be doing a review once I've had a day or two to think about it, so be sure to check in again soon for that.

Hope your Halloween reading was as much fun as mine, and until next time,

Book Review || White Tiger

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

White Tiger 

Dark Heavens #1

Kylie Chan

Published: 24th July, 2006

HarperVoyager, mass market, 546p.
ISBN: 9780732282967

When 28-year-old Emma Donahoe becomes a nanny to John Chen’s daughter, Simone, she does not expect to be drawn into a world of martial arts, magic, and extreme danger, where both gods and demons can exist in the mortal world.

Emma gradually realises that John Chen is no ordinary businessman and that nearly all the demons in hell would like to see him dead. John and his American bodyguard, Leo, begin to teach Emma their particular brand of martial arts and special defensive techniques … they also begin to realise that there is something that is different about Emma but exactly what it is, nobody can say.

I have loved this book ever since I first read it way back in 2006. I was drawn to the cover while perusing my local bookstore one day. I picked it up, read the back, and told myself if it was there next time I'd buy it. Well, weeks later it was still there, so I bought it - and had finished it by the time I went to bed that night. It's amazing how we can remember some books so clearly. That first reading, how we felt, the excitement, the highs and lows as we follow the characters through their story. White Tiger is one of those books for me.

The protagonist Emma was an Australian. How many of those do you get? She was loyal, fierce, loving and intelligent. I could hear her voice in my head - no accent adjustment required ;-D I have lived on the Gold Coast, where her character finds herself at one stage, I know the beach, I could smell the sea, feel the beautiful white gold sand under my feet - even felt twinges when Leo got the sunburn of all sunburns. I've been there, done that.

Mixing a modern Aussie girl's adventures in Hong Kong with the Eastern Mythology was just the icing on the cake for me. It opened up so much more than just a contemporary romance could have managed - and made a richer palette from which to draw from. Xuan Wu is wonderful, and his daughter Simone is just so adorable. Leo is a mountain of a man with whom Emma has an almost brotherly relationship with, and don't get me started on Kitty Kwok.

White Tiger is a great first book (in what I originally thought was just a trilogy!), and it is so easy to let yourself just get swept away in the story.

Only negative I have is that none of the books in the series are available on audiobook, but hopefully that will change in the future.

View all my reviews

I hope you enjoy my thoughts on the first book in the series, White Tiger.  I just finished Black Jade and I will hopefully have a review up sometime soon.  It was the final book in the Dark Heavens/Journey to Wudang/Celestial Battle trilogies/series.  

I'd love to hear if you have read any of the books in the series, and what you thought of them ;-D

Until next time,

All Souls Review - Part 2: Shadow of Night

Shadow of Night 
All Souls Trilogy, Book 2
Deborah Harkness

Published: 2012

Headline, Trade,
ISBN:

In a world of witches, daemons and vampires the fragile balance of peace is unravelling. Diana and Matthew's forbidden love has broken the laws dividing creatures. To discover the manuscript which holds their hope for the future, they must now travel back to the past. When Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, she sparked a struggle in which she became bound to long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont. 

Now the coexistence of witches, daemons, vampires and humans is dangerously threatened. Seeking safety, Diana and Matthew travel back in time to London, 1590. But they soon realise that the past may not provide a haven. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy for Queen Elizabeth, the vampire falls back in with a group of radicals known as the School of Night. Many are unruly daemons, the creative minds of the age, including playwright Christopher Marlowe and mathematician Thomas Harriot. Together Matthew and Diana scour Tudor London for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782, and search for the witch who will teach Diana how to control her remarkable powers...

All Souls Review - Part 1: A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches 
All Souls Trilogy, Book 1
Deborah Harkness

Published: 2011

Headline, Format B paperback, 688 p.
ISBN: 978-0-7553-7404-5


It begins with absence and desire.
             It begins with blood and fear.
                          It begins with a discovery of witches.


A world of witches, daemons and vampires.

A manuscript which holds the secrets of their past and the key to their future.

Diana and Matthew - the forbidden love at the heart of it. 

 

Book Review: Murder of Crows

Murder of Crows
A Novel of the Others, Book 2
Anne Bishop

Released: 04 March, 2014

Available in Hardcover/eBook

After winning the trust of the terra indigene residing in the Lakeside Courtyard, Meg Corbyn has had trouble figuring out what it means to live among them. As a human, Meg should be barely tolerated prey, but her abilities as a cassandra sangue make her something more.

The appearance of two addictive drugs has sparked violence between the humans and the Others, resulting in the murders of both species in nearby cities. So when Meg has a dream about blood and black feathers in the snow, Simon Wolfgard—Lakeside's shape-shifting leader—wonders whether their blood prophet dreamed of a past attack or of a future threat.

As the urge to speak prophecies strikes Meg more frequently, trouble finds its way inside the Courtyard. Now the Others and the handful of humans residing there must work together to stop the man bent on reclaiming their blood prophet—and stop the danger that threatens to destroy them all.

OMG!  This was such a great sequel to Written in Red.  Picking up a few weeks after the Meg was in hospital, the threat to Meg still remains and not only are they after her, but others like her.  Simon is still refusing to acknowledge his attraction for Meg, but that doesn't stop him from sticking to her side.  In book 2 we find them at that awkward stage of a relationship - and it doesn't help that Simon is scared about how long Meg might live if she keeps cutting (which it seems she needs to do!).

Book Review || Archangel's Legion

Archangel's Legion
Guild Hunters, Book 6
Nalini Singh

Published: October, 2013

Jove, mass market paperback, 374p.
ISBN: 978-0-425-25124-9

Angels are falling from the sky in New York, struck down by a vicous, unknown force.

Vampires are dying impossibly from disease.

Guild Hunter Elena Deveraux and the archangel Raphael must discover the source of the wave of death before it engulfs their city and their people, eaving New York a ruin and Raphael's Tower under siege by enemy archangels.

Yet even as they fight desperately to save the city, and even darker force is stirring, its chill eyes trained on New York. . . and on Raphael.  Rivers of crimson and nightmares given flesh, the world will never again be the same. . . 

What can I say?  I LOVED IT!  The Guild Hunter series just keeps getting better and better and even though previous books done from the POV of two of Raphael's Seven have been very interesting, it's at its best when told through the eyes of Raphael and Elena.

After the events of the previous book, the Cascade is in full effect and the Cadre of Ten are exhibiting new abilities, as well as personality quirks, that seem to heighten the core of who they are as individuals.  Raphael is still much weaker than the other archangels, and his new powers seem to have stalled with the abiltiy to heal, while other members of the Cadre are developing - and hiding - much deadlier and destructive abilities.

Lijuan is back, and is as bat shit crazy as ever.  She is a great foil for Raphael, but she's not the only one out for blood.  Elena is torn with more troubles on the family front, with a secret coming to light that shakes her long held feelings of love/hate for her father.  And Michaela has her sights firmly set on Raphael.

I could go on giving hints for quite a while, but will stop there before I totally spoil the plot for anyone who hasn't managed to get their hands on it yet.  I will say that this book has raised the stakes in the battle of the archangels, and with the revelations of the last couple of chapters, I can't believe I have to wait a whole year before finding out what happens next!  

Don't touch this book if you haven't read books 1-5, it just won't have the same impact, and please don't attempt to read it if you don't have a few hours to spare as putting it down is nearly impossible.  Archangel's Legion is a fast paced book that grabs you by the scruff and takes you on a ride you'll wish didn't end.  Elena and Raphael just get better and better.

Review - Dark Serpent

Dark Serpent
Celestial Battle Trilogy, Book 1
Kylie Chan

Released: 01 May, 2013

Harper voyager, Trade, 468 p.
ISBN: 978-0-7322-9440-3


Back cover:

When the ancestry of Xuan Wu's fiancee, Emma, is revealed, it threatens the harmony of the whole Celestial realm.  The demons are gathering, powerful alliances are being made and stone Shen are under threat.  However, Xuan Wu is distracted - he must save Emma from the Demon King and give her the elixir of immortality, but at what cost?

I have been waiting on pins and needles for this book, for we finally find out exactly what Emma is!  There is so much I can't say because to go into all my favourite scenes will give away some good surprises.  What I can tell you is that if you have read the previous six books, then Dark Serpent is an absolute MUST!

"I've vowed to Raise Emma and marry her 

and that is all I want from life".

The story picks up what seems like years after book six, but I doubt it's that long ;-D  Emma is in her 40's now, and is still under the punishment that the Celestial handed down at the end of Heaven to Wudang.  No one can refer to her as 'my Lady', etc., nor can they talk to her about Celestial matters.  Quite hard for Emma as she was running the Northern Heavens for all those years that Xuan Wu was absent, but they're all handling it.

Emma gets into trouble again in this book, but this time the consequences are devastating **keep the tissue's handy** and all I will say is that George (our loathsome Demon King) has his hand in it.  There, enough said.  However, we do find out what George's interest is in Emma in particular, and what the appearance of the Western Shen, and East/West Hybrids have to do with George.

I motored through this book.  I just couldn't wait to find out what had happened to Emma and her celestial family.  However, now I have to wait another 18 months or so until I find out what happens next.... darn it ;-D  There was only one small issue I had with Dark Serpent, and that was the change in voices.  From the beginning we have been following Emma, and listening to things from her POV.  However, in Dark Serpent, Ms Chan has decided to add a new voice to the mix.  I was surprised to find myself following Xuan Wu and although novel, the change in POV jolted me out of the groove at times.  Personally, I preferred to see things through Emma's eyes.  But, even though I have had a quick gripe about that, don't let it put you off what is a fabulous book.

If you haven't yet read the series, then you need to start with White Tiger and work your way through the two preceding trilogies.  I would love for you to be able to just pick up this great book, but you do need know whats happened to appreciate, and get the most out of, Dark Serpent.