false 38 269 193 true 5649331 read 1 true 3903325 currently-reading 54 true 3903324 to-read 15 true 4827428 wish-list 6 true 8237656 given-away http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78757719 to: The Treasure Keeper (Drakon, #4) by Shana Abé
I have a love/hat thing going on with Shana Abe. Or, more precisely, a love/dislike/like/mostly like thing. I thought the first book in the series was great, found the second to be boring with unengaging characters. I put off reading the third because of my dissatisfaction with the second, but liked it. Now, on to number four. There were quite a few things I did enjoy about The Treasure Keeper, and a couple I didn't.

Zoe Lane is a simple seamstresses daughter, engaged to a mild mannered man, planning to live a mild-mannered life. But Zoe is of the Drakon, as is her fiance, and when he leaves on a dangerous mission for the tribe and is presumed killed by the Dragon hunters, Zoe forms a plan of retribution. It turns out that Zoe possesses extraordinary gifts, even among the gifted Drakon, and she plans to use her abilities to stop the people hunting her kind and avenge her fiancee's death. Others have been taken, other young Dragon men, including the second son of the Alpha, Rhys Langford. Since leaving the small shire where they reside is forbidden, Zoe must leave her life as she knows it behind. With her gift of invisibility, Zoe makes her way to Paris. And with her gift to gather the thoughts of others, she soon finds herself on the trail of the hunters. But as she begins her quest, she finds herself in the company of missing childhood friend Rhys Langford - or at least his ghost.

Rhys was taken by the hunters, and presumed dead. After drifting for who knows how long in a foggy world of grey, Rhys' spirit is drawn towards a being of light and color...Zoe. In love with Zoe for years, Rhys is shocked by not only his own condition, but Zoe's incredible powers. As he does what he can to aid her on her mission to destroy the hunters while trying to keep her out of danger, Rhys tries to come to terms with his own "death". As he spends more and more time in Zoe's company, he begins to fall in love with her all over again, even knowing that his life is over. In their world, Zoe would have been his mate, and Rhys considers her as such.

There was much to enjoy about this book...I liked Rhys. Ghost or not, real or not, he was both interesting and heartbreaking. Storywise, it was nice to be out of the small shire they call home and into the city of Paris. There are a few unexpected twists and turns that made for interesting reading, and lots of action. I enjoyed Zoe, but I had some reservations. I didn't like Zoe at all around her fiance, Hayden. She became clingy, whiny, and desperate acting, and was completely different from the strong and determined woman she was for most of the story. It was not attractive, at all. I did feel she could be a bit more sympathetic with Rhys, too. She came off as cold and unfeeling, and Rhys deserved better. In fact, there were really very few indicators that she actually had any feelings for him, at all. But the major problem I had was with the ending...it just stopped. Bang. Over. A lot of things were left unresolved. I do know that there is another book coming out, but still a few less loose ends would have been nice. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76737291 Carved in Stone (Les Gargouillen, 1) by Vickie Taylor
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76737317 to: Flesh and Stone (Les Gargouillen, 2) by Vickie Taylor
Well, leave it to me to read the second book first...

I had seen a few recommendations for this series on amazon.com in the paranormal forum, so thought I would give it a try. It was ok. Not bad, but not great either. For some reason, it lacked...spark? Not sure, because it had everything I usually like. Action, drama, romance, the whole works.

Connor is from an ancient line of Gargoyles. With both a human and a beast form (in his case, a giant flying pterodactyl type creature), they have two biological imperatives...protect humans and reproduce. When Connor infiltrates a congregation of Gargoyles who have turned from the protection of humans to the hunting of humans, he plays a dangerous game. He needs as much information on the group as he can get to save his own people and shut the renegades down. But with a group of women being held captive in the compound, his protective instincts won't allow him to have them be in danger. Especially one woman...

Mara was a street kid who spent eight years in prison for killing the man who tried to rape her. When she got out, she started a shelter for abused women. One such woman was Angela, and Angela became the wary Mara's closest friend. When Angela goes missing, Mara begins to search for her...and ends up taken by the same people who grabbed Angela. Already untrusting of the monsters who have taken them, Mara is unprepared for her growing attraction to Connor. But when Mara discovers Connors dangerous game, the two begin to work together to not only free the captive women, but to bring down the whole organization.

Connor is afraid that when Mara discovers his "other side", she will be either frightened or repulsed. As a traditional Gargoyle male, there is little place for females in his world. But the world is changing, and Mara is the first woman Connor can see forever with.

For some reason I can't quite explain, I just didn't connect to the characters. It wasn't like they didn't have an interesting set up...they did. They just didn't grab my attention. In any series, there is pretty much always at least one or two secondary characters that I find appealing...but there were none that stood out here at all. So, while not a bad book, and I will be reading the first and have already ordered the third, it is not one of my must haves. More like one of my might as wells... ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78757754 Parallel Desire: A Novel of the Midnight Warriors (Paperback) by Deidre Knight
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78757747 Parallel Seduction: A Novel of the Midnight Warriors, Book 3 (Signet Eclipse) by Deidre Knight
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]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78757742 Parallel Heat: A Novel of the Midnight Warriors, Book 2 (Signet Eclipse) by Deidre Knight
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]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78583405 Heart of a Warrior (Ly-San-Ter Family Series, #3) by Johanna Lindsey
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]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78583124 Mane Event (Paperback) by Shelly Laurenston
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]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78583048 What A Dragon Should Know (Dragon Kin, #3) by G.A. Aiken
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]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78583042 About A Dragon (Dragon Kin, #2) by G.A. Aiken
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