Sins of the Night-Sherrilyn Kenyon-Book Eight

Hello one and all, I’m back with my latest review. Yep it’s another Kenyon, but hey, there are like two thousand two hundred and thirty two installments. Sins of the Night is No. 8 in this sometimes seemingly infinite series and it’s pretty good.

No, I’m not foot stomping around for this one. The story line is cool enough, the heroes are likable, nobody sucks in this one except maybe the bad guys. However, the book doesn’t create the fever pitch that so many others in this series has, but you now you can’t bat 1000 through and through and really, an A- isn’t so bad.

So, now that you know that the book is good, but not fiery, do you still want me to go on?

Don’t bother answering. I’ve put too much time into those pages not to tell you how much I know about them. And for the record, even though I’m not, what did I say, foot stomping over this book, I did read it in a single day. That means something, right?

Anyway, most of the Kenyon books focus on a male Dark Hunter, this one doesn’t. Here we meet – get ready for this – Danger. She’s French, so the name’s okay. Besides, it’s short for Dangereuse.

Riiiight. Sometimes these authors go a bit over the top with the name thing, but hey these are romances. And like I said, anyway…

Danger is bad ass in her own right and it’s nice to take a spin on the double X side. Of course we have to have a dude come along. (I’m not knocking gaiety, but the books do have a pattern.) And who is dude?

This is actually pretty cool, but I’m only going to tell you a part of it.

He is Acheron’s right hand man.

WTF?

Yeah, I know!!! Acheron does have a right hand man and he’s here to pass judgment on the Dark Hunters.

Judgment , you ask? You are so full of questions.

It seems some of the DH crowd has decided that good ol’ Ash is a Daimon who’s been using them as pawns. The idea came to them in a dream. No, how about a walking nightmare called Stryker. Yep current bad dude # 1 is back.

Basically we have a Daimon telling Dark Hunters that Acheron is a Daimon out to get them. And that right there is what makes this plot a little weak.

Kenyon delivers hot sex and characters with compelling pasts that make you feel for them. You get to learn more about the DH world as well. You even get a few more tidbits on the ever secretive big guy, Ash. However, all of these vibrant gems are milling around, soggy in their milk. Of course, I ate up and licked the bowl clean. I just wished the dish had a little more crunch.

I’m not saying skip it. I’m not even saying you won’t enjoy it. I’m just saying it’s not going to be as exciting as the rest and the plot isn’t going to be as sound as so many of the previous have been.

I will say that the resolution has a different spin, meaning… well, meaning you’ve got to read it. It’s not going to end like you think it is, not exactly anyway. And for those of you haven’t read, “In the Beginning,” the little piece explaining the birth of the Dark Hunters off the website, it’s in the back of the book. Per the author’s note, it’s a should read before delving into this story.

And that’s all, kids. I’m off to read book nine. You know it’s a wonderful thing to find a great series, but it’s kind of sad when it’s all over. Let’s hope Ms. Kenyon never tires of the series. I think I can read on forever…



© 2008

NANO WRIMO 2008

It occurred to me this morning to mention NanoWrimo. Writer’s and non-writer’s alike know all about National Novel Writing Month. It occurs every year and starts on November 1st, 2008.

I’ve participated for the last couple of years, but never really signed up and used the tools available. This year though, my on-line social network has a lot of people enthused about Wrimo. So, I signed up and am going to keep track of my word count this year.

Word count?

Oh yeah, stinking premises would help for those not in the know, huh?

The name explains the basic idea. Participants devote November to writing a novel. The goal is 50,000 words of a story that you haven’t written before. You can do research and prepare all you want, but you can’t haul out that half finished story from three years ago and pass it off. It has to be brand spanking new, not new ideas, but new words.

I’ve been planning on doing Wrimo for a few months now. Hence all of the research I’ve been doing. I’m going to write a paranormal romance which if I wanted to use hence again I’d say, hence the focus on paranormal romance in these here pages.

(I guess I just did.)

Anyway, I’ve been researching for the past couple of months and setting up what’s supposed to be a light piece. I can tell you right now though, that the story isn’t shaping up to be a traditional paranormal romance.

Traditional paranormal romance?

Tacking on traditional can be arguable since to some, the genre is fairly recent.

But I’m shifting from the whole point of this post and I’m sure there is a point if I just let myself find it.

Well, I’m a writer by nature. I write all of the time out of sheer need to get some of the top surface off my mind. I blog here, I blog there, I blog everywhere. The one thing I haven’t managed to do though is write a complete novel.

I have a lot of almost finished pieces. I have an erotica piece that I think is very good. Will it be a classic? I don’t know if I don’t ever finish it. I have my previous Wrimo adventure. That one stalled because I didn’t do ANY research and realized that though the story was good and the characters were interesting, the environment was flat. The story was like looking at a beautiful face surrounded by blank white canvas. It seemed to float there unattached.

So this year I decided that I would do the research. I even attempted an outline. I’ve fought the idea of an outline for years because I managed to write some really good pieces without one, but you know a vignette is easy, a whole novel is something else.

This time I’ve put in my time. I’ve created a world. I’ve created characters with history and texture. I’ve done this before on a grander scale, but I’m going simple on this one.
I think simple is the key here as well.

I’ve done my time, like I’ve said above, but in the past I did it with all kinds of grandeur. I have created a world with so many layers and so much texture that it’s actually beyond my current capabilities to write it. So, I committed myself to Wrimo, with a less complicated web of a world, with straight forward characters, and a story line that will be fun, but not too complicated.

This is the first time I’m actually fully prepared for my 30 days of creation and I’m revving to go. Though, I have a few things to do before hand. Like find out a little about Montana and New York. I need some weapons knowledge and maybe a little bit on tactical warfare. Just a tad. I don’t need to be an expert on the subjects. I just need enough knowledge that those in the know aren’t going to scream “Bullshit!”. I want to know enough for them to just whisper it, you know?

I’m hoping that those of you who come across this who have the writing bug, whether you want to be published or not, take a few days of your life and participate in some mutual creativity. I think you’ll like the energy of support that Wrimo can give.

And you don’t have to show it to anyone. You can write for you and only you. I find the very act of expressing myself frees me in a way very little else can do. So, come along, play with me. It’ll be sooo much fun!

You can sign up at




© 2008

Seize the Night: Sherrilyn Kenyon-Book Seven

Who is the worst person to fall in love with? I think many of us can answer that on some level, but what if your answer was the enemy of your twin sister? And technically the enemy of just about everyone you have to deal with?
Well, as we have discovered through the pages of this series, Tabitha Devereaux doesn’t do anything easily. This brash, in-your-face twin does come across the love of her life in a dark alley on a night out of hunting the bad guys. Unfortunately for the love of her life, he gets stabbed…by her.

Yeah, that’s basically how the couple meets. Classic right?

Seize the Night finally sheds some light on the hated Valerius, grandson of the man who killed Kyrian and brother of the now god, Zarek, both of whom would like to see him dead. (Among others, poor guy.)
When I started reading this book I did what I’ve been doing at every start of every book in this series: I sat there thinking it’s not going to be as good. I’m not going to like the next guy as much. I’m certainly not going to like the stick-up-the-ass General, Valerius.

Come on, we all think Valerius is an asshole.

Well everyone except Tabitha.

And now, everyone but me. I really, really ended up liking Valerius a lot. I learned to feel for him and I have to admit I cried more than once for the General.

Kenyon, through Valerius and Tabitha, gives us a Dark-Hunter installment for those of us who never quite fit in, for those of us who have had to live on the fringes for one reason or another.
Maybe we were associated with something bad, maybe the way we walk the path is just a little different. For whatever reason though, we’ve never been accepted in the way we’d like to be.
Here you get to experience the journey of two people finding the missing part of themselves in opposites while trying to battle the perception of one of them. (Yeah, the step-brother wants to kill my boyfriend thing is kind of an issue.) All this, while going after the big bad.

So, read this one, I think you’ll really love it. Oh yeah, there some juicy bits about Acheron and some pretty harrowing things going on outside of the star couple of this book. Tragedy strikes and, for some of our faithful Dark-Hunter crew, life is going to change; I can’t say for the better. I can only say they have my condolences and Kenyon fucking delivers again.

© 2008

Night Play: Sherrilyn Kenyon-Book Six

I just finished Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon, and though I have liked all of the books in the series so far, I’ve only adored a couple of them.

This one falls into that category.

Night Play brings back Vane Kattalakis, the wolf that risked clan punishment for protecting Sunshine, Talon’s great love. Well, he didn’t just risk the fury of the pack, he got it, he and his brother both.

The story is, of course, about Vane finding his love. The Fates have mated him to a human and he has three weeks to prove himself to her and hope to the gods she can accept him. But really, what kind of life can her give her? He’s hunted and he lives his life looking over his shoulder.

And who is this woman he has to protect from himself? Do you remember the hot chick he watched walk away from him? The human he found so enticing? Well, she’s back and living large.

Bride, though, isn’t your typical romance heroine. She’s got some weight issues. She’s spent most of her life being the “smart” one and quite frankly thought of as the fat one.

I have to say that this installment made me laugh and smile a lot. There is no intense oh-my-god-I-hope-that-doesn’t-happen moment, but this story doesn’t need the high intensity of super suspense. It rides smoothly, with just enough uncertainty and spice to keep you reading on.

Will Vane’s brother, Fang, be all right? Will pack mate Fury betray them? Will Bride’s choice to mate with Vane be a good idea?

And what is Ash’s role in all of this?

Oh and you finally get to know the Peltiers better. I think you’ll like them and feel safer in Sanctuary than you ever did before. I know I did.

I really, really enjoyed Night Play. It made me feel good all over and what more can you ask from a group of Weres and Vampires?

Next up on the plate? Seize the Night. It’s time to enter into Valerius’ tidy world. Just how arrogant is this Dark-Hunter of noble blood? Is he really a good guy or is Kyrian right and the man should be put down? I guess we’ll find out, but read Night Play first if you haven’t already.

Hmmm, suddenly I’m itching for BBQ. Damn Simi.

© 2008

Suggested Reading (Non-Romance)

Hey there, I’m busily not reading book six in the Sherrilyn Kenyon series. That doesn’t meant the book is bad. It just means I have a life. We’ll have to wait and see if the book actually sucks.

Anyway, I was thinking on the fact that most of the focus here is on paranormal romance. It is because that’s what I’m about to write and my attention is there. I was thinking however of some paranormal classics. Anne Rice came to mind as did a few others, but I want to focus on something edging on horror and something intellectually savvy despite it being a coming of age story.

Well, let’s talk about my favorite Stephen King book, The Stand. It’s a pretty large book and I suggest you don’t read it during flu season or anytime you plan on going on a large road trip. Trust me, you’re imagination won’t have the additional yardage on the playground if you avoid doing those two things.

Of course the book is a classic horror, post-apocalyptic journey into severe creepiness. It’s got disease, the end of the world, survival, love, betrayal, a journey, some mysticism some evil, some good and some bad that’s kind of in the middle. And it’s pretty spine tingling.

Anyone who says they like horror has to read it. Anyone who says they love paranormal can skip it, but man it will add to your world in a way that’s uh…worth the unease.

Suggesting The Stand is a pretty easy pick. It’s King, it’s a classic. The next book on my suggested reading list is quite different from The Stand, in fact I wouldn’t even put them in the same aisle in the bookstore.

The Society of S by Susan Hubbard was a real surprise to me. I admit I bought it because it sounded potentially kinky. It’s not, but damn it’s a great book.

The story is about a 13 year old, Ariella. She’s of mixed heritage and the book is essentially her coming of age story. It sounds simple, but the causal paranormal twist, the intelligent dialogue and the calm, easy, manner of Hubbard makes this a must read.

Skip it though if you’re expecting a wild paranormal romp or to be scared to the nines. This book won’t deliver that. It will deliver, soft smiles, a linguistic playground, meandering intrigue all dressed up in a unique, enticingly languid style.

So, these are my non-paranormal romance suggestions of the month. I’ll try to include some in my reviews as I plow through the seedy, underground of smutty paranormals. It’ll be hard to keep my hands clean, but like I said, I’ll try.

Kiss of the Night: Sherrilyn Kenyon-Book Five

I finished book five in the wee hours of the …afternoon. Well it seemed wee like as I sat on a stone bench plowing through the last thirty pages or so. But maybe they weren’t wee, maybe they were really big giant minutes squished into the impatience of waiting for my ride.

Ah, but was it good?

Yes.

I guess that’s all I need for the review right?

Okay, I will elaborate, elucidate and just plain tell you why I thought it was good.

First let me tell you that I didn’t think the book was going to get a “must read” attitude from me at all. Unlike the previous jaunts into the Dark Hunter world, Kiss of the Night didn’t get good until page 100 or so.

The first 100 pages go on and on and really make the heroine, Cassandra, seem like a spoiled kid and Wulf, our Dark Hunter of the hour, an overprotective oaf. Ms. Kenyon’s love of the word “predator” just doesn’t initially fly here.

This book in some respects is very playful. Wulf’s squire, Chris, is actually his great, great, great (add as many greats as you can sputter off for a 1000 something year old vamp-like dude), grandson and the only human who can remember Wulf after meeting him.

You see, Wulf is cursed. Humans can’t remember him five minutes after they leave his presence. So the dude has a lonely life. There are some of the supernaturals that can recall him, but of course we all know by now that Dark Hunters drain each other’s powers when they spend too much time together and, well, everyone else is mostly evil or somewhat intolerant of hanging with Dark Hunters.

But that’s not even the interesting part of the story. It’s poignant, but not the meat and potatoes of the goings-on in this volume. The fact that Cassandra is an Apollite is.

What does that mean to Wulf? It means he really shouldn’t be with her, in love with her, or even friends with her. He kills her people when they go Daimon. So what we have here is some interracial dating. How’s that for modern genetic diversity?

The rest of the story is gravy, like the sex, like the big bad coming after Cassandra for being not just an Apollite, but one that holds the fate of the world in her hands. In her hands? How ’bout with the threads of her very soul?

We also meet some new characters, like Stryker and Urian, two bad ass Spathis. Their tales are quite the curious ones and maybe even a surprise and who is this Kat? She’s got some duality going on. We have to wonder if that’s a good thing or not.

All in all Kiss of the Night eventually delivers in Kenyon’s grand DH style. You’ll have to crawl through the initial “dream sex” sequences and the boring university crap, but oh well. (You know she could have played on Chris’s attraction to the woman Wulf eventually gets, but oh well. How many pages can you actually burn on this stuff?) But it’s all worth it.
It becomes an exciting adventure with sex, mayhem and the best part of it? Kenyon actually creates a little uncertainty. There are few things that you want to happen, but will it? Can it be possible and if it is, should it be possible? What does Ash sometimes say?

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

That was Ash, wasn’t it?

Have fun, creatures of the night. I will, I’m off for some Night Play!!!!!

© 2008

Research Bites

Research bites.

Right now I’m researching for my very first paranormal romance. That fact is basically why this blog has been focusing so much on that area of the paranormal. I won’t focus on the romance forever though because my super project is nothing of the sort, but since I’ve yet to finish a novel, I thought I would create a smaller world with less political intrigue and one that while it technically spans the ages, I don’t have to weave it too much into our history.

I have written some vignettes of my characters. I’ve found doing so lets me discover the person behind the concept and it leads me to cultural characteristics like slang, style of dress, and general world outlook.

I suppose it is possible to skip the vignettes and just work my way through these things as I write the story, but I don’t seem to work that way. I need a foundation before I start. Otherwise, I get caught up in the nuance and ignore the story line or vice versa.

In essence the pieces come out flat, without any texture.

Anyway, I’ve decided on werewolves and vampires. Yes, it’s been done a hundred times by now, but I have my own spin on it. It will have gods and lots of cool characters. I even have a freaking plot!!

It’s funny. I am a good writer in terms of quick stints, vignettes, and flushing out characters and dialogue. That part of it comes very naturally to me. But novels are different.

In a novel a writer has to captivate the reader page after page. You have to control the ebb and flow of the story. You can’t pile too much adventure into a story at once. You have to give the reader a break, before you continue pummeling him/her with excitement.

And you can’t be too boring either.

And you have to have reasonable motivation.

I read a book, a werewolf one in the recent past. Hmmm, when I say “read” that implies I finished the book doesn’t it?

I didn’t. I didn’t get past the first chapter and I sold it then next week. It was the worst book I’d ever read and I was offended that publishers dared to put that on the shelves and try to pass it off as literature.

Even paranormal romance has to be smart.

I think you can do whatever you want in a book. I can have pig men that get their strength from eating the toenails clippings of blonde females while they battle the Greek pantheon in order to save the world from demonic muskrats as long as I work within the parameters of my own created law and the characters never betray who they are.

I can do this story as long as it’s balanced between the fantastic and the logical, as long as it is balanced between adventure and the mundane. Essentially, you have to be able to identify with my pig men and demon muskrats. Otherwise, the whole damn thing is just silly.

And crap to boot.

So, I know all of this. I understand all of this, but knowing and doing are not the same thing.

I told my friend the other day that I was going to write a paranormal romance. She scoffed. “That’s junk.” She told me. Well yes, paranormal romance will never stand next to greats like Emily Dickinson and Mark Twain, but the genre isn’t aiming for that. The genre has a specific target and quite frankly in this day and age, no market is full of dumbasses.

Readers of horror, science fiction, mystery, romance, and of every genre and subgenre are intelligent and expect a level of competency from the author, even if the basic story line is cliché.

So, even my “junk” has to be intelligent junk. It has to be balanced, have believable characters, logical motivation, a good story line and over all it has to be fun.

Fun.

That’s why we bother isn’t it? That’s why we’re not chomping at the bit to read Tolstoy at our lunch breaks. Don’t get me wrong. I read Shakespeare. I’ve read the Odyssey and the Iliad. I’ve read Dante’s Inferno and Little Women. I’ve done my time in the “real” literary world and I will go back again, but sometimes I want a hunk of man saving some soft piece of ….

Well, I want some fun. I’m hoping I can get it all together and write some of it, too. I’ve been doing a lot of research in the midst of reading the genre. I’m going to spend the rest of the month in that mode and I’m going to do NanoWrimo this year. I’ll be ready like I’ve never been ready before and hopefully I won’t stop at 30,000 words. Hopefully, I’ll stop when the story is ready too, not when I am. ~Lilia