Reading to Penguins: Larissa Ione

Showing posts with label Larissa Ione. Show all posts

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Review of Rogue Rider by Larissa Ione

It's fair to say that Larissa Ione has her fair share of duds, even in an otherwise lovely series. That was certainly the case here. In the interest of full disclosure, it's not like I went into this book expecting a terrific read. As a hero, Reseph failed to excited me. He spent the previous three books as the vile, villainous version of himself. We were never given enough information on good Reseph to make me feel like I wanted to see his redemption story. Nevertheless, I was willing to try.

So, to recap, Reseph had been turned into Pestilence, and committed all sorts of crazy evil. In the last book, Pestilence was stabbed with a dagger that turned him back into Reseph. Now, Reaver (the guardian angel of the four horsemen), erased his memory and dropped him in a snow bank. Our heroine, Jillian, discovers him, takes him home to her cabin, and romance ensues. Jillain was once attacked by demons. When her neighbors start dying under very demon-like circumstances, she's determined to believe that Reseph is not to blame, despite the fact that he doesn't know who or what he is.

The first and most obvious issue with this book is pacing. We spend a lot of time with Reseph and Jillian in her cabin, just kind of waiting on something to happen. It is boring as hell. To rub salt in the wound, the payoff following all that boredom isn't particularly grand. There is just nothing within the plot that captivated any part of me.

Sadly, I was not enamored with Reseph. He has his charming moments, I'll admit. He's sweet and protective toward Jillian, and yet he appreciates her ability to take care of herself. I was regrettably distracted by the fact that he has amnesia, which of course I knew would come crashing down at some point. I was distracted by the nasty things he did while evil, however involuntary, and by whether the author was going to get around to resolving all of that angst. I wasn't crazy about the way his family handled his return, either. No one could decide whether it was okay to be pissed at him for what Pestilence did, or if all should be forgiven because it was all against his will. At the risk of getting a tiny bit spoilery, I was also really unsatisfied by the fact that he doesn't earn his redemption or return to sanity--the heroine kind of does it for him.

Jillian, who initially seemed bland and uninspired, actually turned out to be the more engaging of the two. She's survived a horrible ordeal, coped by living alone and working her ass off on her farm, and she makes huge sacrifices for what she believes is right. Her judgment in blindly trusting Reseph very questionable, but I'm willing to assume she simply has good instincts.

Whatever my expectations might have been for this book, it did not surprise me and it did not elate me. I can only hope Ione's next book will be better. 2 stars.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Happy May!

And so we arrive in a brand new, shiny month. April was a truly excellent month for reading. I blew through thirteen novels, and not one of them was appallingly bad (although one was pretty boring). I have so many reviews I need to write, but first and foremost--the best book of April...

Misc Monday: Updates, Schedules, and Squishy Things

My month of random unorganized reading marches on, and I've got a lot of reviews that I need to complete and publish. Lo and behold, a posting schedule.

4/23--Review of Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

4/24--Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pt. 3

4/26--Review of On Dublin Street by Samantha Young

4/27--Review of Beyond Shame by Kit Rocha

4/28--Review of Family Man by Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton

4/29--Misc. Monday (Topic TBA)

4/30--Review of The Darkest Seduction by Gena Showalter

5/1--Watch This Wednesday (Topic TBA)

5/3--Review of Tidal by Emily Snow

Rogue Rider (Lords of Deliverance, #4 Demonica, #9)

Those of you who are friends with me on Goodreads know that I'm currently reading Rogue Rider by Larissa Ione, and that it's taking me a million years to finish. I actually hit the 50% mark last night, though, so I can confirm that I will be reviewing it at some point coming up, even if it turns into a DNF review (I hope not). I'm also reading Something About You by Julie James, and it's not half bad so far. I'm going to try to get through that one fairly quickly, so that I can start The Elite by Kiera Cass, which comes out tomorrow. You'll more than likely see a review of those three books up in early May as well.

A couple of other notes: I'm doing some housekeeping on this blog. You'll already have noticed the change in theme, which of course I like to change periodically to keep things fresh. I'll also be updating my gadgets, lists, and review policy--everything. Invariably, when I do this, something always ends up a little screwy and I don't always catch glitches and mistakes right away, so if you notice something is off, please let me know, preferably via email ( readingpenguinATgmailDOTcom ).

One of the things I decided to change was the commenting system-- I went ahead and disabled anonymous commenting. This means that you will now have to be signed in, in one form or another, in order to comment. The reason for this change is the rampant appearance of spam comments I've been getting, sometimes 4 or 5 over the course of a couple hours on a single post, and having to go through and remove all of them is driving me just a little bonkers. Hopefully commenting continues to work for all honest users.

That's really all for now--I'm sorry not to have a more amusing Misc. Monday post for you, but I felt it was important to spend some time on organizing and actually writing all of these reviews instead. Have a great Monday, and as always, Happy Reading!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Misc. Monday: Top Ten Authors Reviewed on RtP

I promised to show you guys what my top ten authors list would look like if I nixed all genre restrictions, and here it is! To be fair, though, I did limit my list to authors of novels, leaving out graphic novel/comic writers, because I don't feel up to scoring those fairly. I'm a lot happier with this list, and I think it will be interesting to come back in six months or a year and see how things have changed. Or not.

#10: Julie Anne Long

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 18

Reviewed Works: The Perils of Pleasure, Like No Other Lover, Since the Surrender, I Kissed an Earl, What I Did for a Duke, How the Marquess Was One

What Make Her Awesome: Julie Anne Long writes the Pennyroyal Green series, a which centers around a small English town with two feuding families. I didn't really care for the first book of the series, finding it mediocre and boring. But then, magically, as I tried more of her work, I discovered that she has a talent for writing a different, unique, and engaging story for each character. You never know exactly what you're going to get, but you know it's likely to be good. Visit Her Website: http://www.julieannelong.com/index.shtml

#9: Nora Roberts

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 18

Reviewed Works: Sea Swept, Rising Tides, Inner Harbor, Chesapeake Blue

What Makes Her Awesome: Nora Roberts writes amazing contemporary romance with some of the best male characters around. Visit Her Website: http://www.noraroberts.com/

#8: Gena Showalter

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 18.5

Reviewed Works: The Darkest Night, The Darkest Kiss, The Darkest Pleasure, The Darkest Whisper, The Darkest Passion, The Darkest Lie, The Darkest Secret

What Makes Her Awesome: Until compiling this list, I had actually forgotten how very awesome I found these books. I was so fed up and disappointed by two or three of her books, that I actually stopped reading her altogether. Her place on this list, though, makes me think that I really ought to give her another shot. Her books are dark and sexy and worth at least a try. http://members.genashowalter.com/

#7: Jennifer Estep

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 19.5

Reviewed Works: Spider's Bite, Touch of Frost, Kiss of Frost, Dark Frost, Crimson Frost

What Makes Her Awesome: I discovered this author via SBTB book club, when we read Touch of Frost. Since then, I've been following the Mythos Academy series pretty closely, and I've also started her Elemental Assassin series. She's very imaginative, writes wonderfully strong heroines, and ties everything together with a pleasantly simple style. Visit her website: http://www.jenniferestep.com/

#6: Karen Marie Moning

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 20.5

Reviewed Works: Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever, Shadowfever

What Makes Her Awesome: A long while back, before I started this blog, I read a fair number of the Highlander books. I've never reviewed them, but I enjoyed them well enough. Then the fever series came out, and I was extremely skeptical. Back then I didn't read urban fantasy in general, and I specifically didn't care for first person narratives. She totally converted me. Visit he website: http://www.karenmoning.com/kmm/

#5: Courtney Milan

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 22

Reviewed Works: Unlocked, Unveiled, Unclaimed, Unraveled, The Duchess War

What Makes Her Awesome: Courtney Milan writes historical romance in a completely unique way. She writes heroines that you can like and respect, and deliciously unusual heroes that you fall in love with. No cookie cutter characters for her. Visit Her Website: http://www.courtneymilan.com/

#4: Larissa Ione

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 28.5

Reviewed Works: Pleasure Unbound, Passion Unleashed, Desire Unchained, Ecstasy Unveiled, Sin Undone, Eternal Rider, Immortal Rider, Lethal Rider

What Makes Her Awesome: Larissa Ione writes dark, sexy paranormal books that I always enjoy in a purely guilty sort of way. I love the demons and the visits to hell and all of the characters with their possibly evil dark sides. All around good, creepy fun. Visit Her Website: http://larissaione.com/blog/

#3: Kresley Cole

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 34

Reviewed Works: A Hunger Like No Other, No Rest For the Wicked, Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night, Dark Desires After Dusk, Dark Needs at Night's Edge, Kiss of a Demon King, Deep Kiss of Winter, Pleasure of a Dark Prince, Demon From the Dark, Dreams of a Dark Warrior, The Poison Princess, Shadow's Claim

What Makes Her Awesome: Kresley Cole's writing has a brilliant, light funniness that somehow does not detract from the sexiness of her stories. He heroines are strong and independent and her heroes are fierce, scary monsters. I can't help but look forward to her books, even after a few let me down. Visit Her Website: http://kresleycole.com/paranormal-romance.html

#2: Ilona Andrews

Cumulative RtP Star Rating 34.5

Reviewed Works: Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds, Magic Slays, Gunmetal Magic, On the Edge, Bayou Moon, Fate's Edge

What Makes Her Awesome: Ilona Andrews is actually a husband and wife writing team, and they are awesome in general. Not only are they very talented, they're also fairly generous with their work, always offering little goodies and alternate points of view on their blog. I'm not that impressed with The Edge series, but the Kate Daniels series is easily one of my favorite ongoing series to date, and I'm not really sure what I'll do with myself when it ends. I've got a couple years to go, fortunately. Visit their website: http://www.ilona-andrews.com/

#1: Lisa Kleypas

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 38

Reviewed Works: Secrets of a Summer Night, It Happened One Autumn, The Devil In Winter, Scandal in Spring, Mine Til Midnight, Seduce Me at Sunrise, Tempt Me at Twilight, Married by Morning, Love in the Afternoon

What Makes Her Awesome: At first, her position in the number one spot on this list probably seems surprising. I haven't talked about Lisa Kleypas as loudly or as often as some of the authors lower on the list. But, in fact, Kleypas is responsible for sparking my interest in historical romance, when before I stuck almost entirely to PNR with the occasional contemporary thrown in. She can make a dull setting and situation funny, and her characters are as charming as you could ask for. Visit Her Website: http://www.lisakleypas.com/

Monday, February 11, 2013

Misc. Monday: Top Ten Romance Authors on RtP

Developing a list of the ten most highly rated and reviewed authors on this blog was something of an educational experience. It was fun to look back on the books that I've read and reread over the last year and a half. I initially composed this list with pure mathematics--by adding up positive star ratings on a spreadsheet. I then made some readjustments based on how re-readable I find the author's work and how likely I am to read more of their work in the future.

This being a purely romance list forced me to leave off a lot of authors who write in other genres. A top list of authors with no genre restrictions would be a very different list indeed.

#10: Julie Anne Long

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 11.5

Reviewed Works: The Perils of Pleasure, Like No Other Lover, Since the Surrender, I Kissed an Earl, What I Did for a Duke

What Make Her Awesome: Julie Anne Long writes the Pennyroyal Green series, a which centers around a small English town with two feuding families. I didn't really care for the first book of the series, finding it mediocre and boring. But then, magically, as I tried more of her work, I discovered that she has a talent for writing a different, unique, and engaging story for each character. You never know exactly what you're going to get, but you know it's likely to be good. Visit Her Website: http://www.julieannelong.com/index.shtml

#9: Jolene Perry

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 12

Reviewed Works: Night Sky, Knee Deep, The Next Door Boys

What Makes Her Awesome: Jolene Perry writes deeply thoughtful contemporary YA and New Adult romance. I was first introduced to her work when I was asked to read Night Sky for a blog tour, and it turned out to be one of my favorite books of 2012. I like that she writes nice, well rounded teenagers that occasionally find themselves in rough (really rough) situations, and that they deal with them realistically. Visit Her Website: http://www.jolenebperry.com/Jolene_B_Perry/Jolene.html

#8: Karina Bliss

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 12.5

Reviewed Works: Here Comes the Groom, Stand-In Wife, Bring Him Home, What the Librarian Did

What Makes Her Awesome: Karina Bliss writes Harlequin Superomance, dramatic and heart-wrenching stories set in contemporary New Zealand. Her Special Forces series, which begins with Here Comes the Groom, is particularly enjoyable. The heroes are soldiers trying to put their lives back together after their war experiences. Visit Her Website: http://www.karinabliss.com/

#7: Nalini Singh

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 16

Reviewed Works: Angel's Blood, Archangel's Kiss, Archangel's Consort, Archangel's Blade, Archangel's Storm

What Makes Her Awesome: When I first encountered Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series, I was really unimpressed. Her other series, though, is purely fantastic. The Guild Hunter series is gripping, elegant, deeply addictive paranormal romance. It blends horror, fantasy, and pure love stories in as seamless a manner as I've seen. Visit Her Website: http://www.nalinisingh.com/

#6: Gena Showalter

#5: Courtney Milan

#4: Nora Roberts

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 18

Reviewed Works: Sea Swept, Rising Tides, Inner Harbor, Chesapeake Blue

What Makes Her Awesome: Math put this amazing author lower on the list, but that's purely because I read so many of her works prior to this blog, and although I've talked about them, I've never formally reviewed them. So, I bumped her up a bit. Nora Roberts writes amazing contemporary romance with some of the best male characters around. Visit Her Website: http://www.noraroberts.com/

#3: Larissa Ione

#2: Kresley Cole

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 30

Reviewed Works: A Hunger Like No Other, No Rest For the Wicked, Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night, Dark Desires After Dusk, Dark Needs at Night's Edge, Kiss of a Demon King, Deep Kiss of Winter, Pleasure of a Dark Prince, Demon From the Dark, Dreams of a Dark Warrior, The Poison Princess

What Makes Her Awesome: Kresley Cole's writing has a brilliant, light funniness that somehow does not detract from the sexiness of her stories. He heroines are strong and independent and her heroes are fierce, scary monsters. I can't help but look forward to her books, even after a few let me down. Visit Her Website: http://kresleycole.com/paranormal-romance.html

#1: Lisa Kleypas

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

On Death: A Review of Lethal Rider by Larissa Ione

First, there were the Underworld General books, in which we learned about demon hospitals and sex demons. From those, grew this series--The Lords of Deliverance, featuring the four horseman of the apocalypse as the romantic leads.

This, book 3, puts the spotlight on Thanatos (who would be Death), and his relationship with Regan, a demon huntress of special talents. And guess what, guys? This is a secret baby book! No joke! In the last book, Regan forced Than to sleep with her, believing that their baby could stop the apocalypse. Because Than has been in a coma-like state for the past 8+ months, he doesn't know about the baby. When he finds out, he's launched into a world of uncertainty regarding how to raise his baby, protect Regan, and take down his now evil brother, Pestilence.

Positive Comments:

I really liked Than. He makes an interesting death figure. I found his struggles, his pain, and his way of dealing with everything to be highly sympathetic.

I like the mythology. After having so many books to build this world, Ione has found a balance between too much and too little world building that really works for me. The angels, the demons, the what, where, and how of the apocalypse, are explained just enough so that you don't feel lost--but not at just length that you get bored.

There's, umm, pregnancy sex. Which is interesting. Than and Regan have great chemistry, and the sex is hot...But I'll admit, I was surprised to see them getting it on while she was 8 1/2 months pregnant and knowing that the baby has this huge part in the apocalypse and they need to time the birth just right...whatever. It didn't bother me, but use your judgement.

Critical Comments:

Regan is given these sort of off-hand flaws and issues. She has OCD, but it's not really a problem. She was bulimic once upon a time, but she's over it now. She has abandonment issues that kind of get solved with no fuss or bother. I just felt like the author half-assed her character development. She's got issues...poof, they're gone. Happy ending! I felt blind sided by it.

Recommendation:

I continue to recommend Larissa Ione to anyone who likes their paranormal romance a little on the dark side. If you like demons, sex, and a touch of horror, you'll like these books. If you've kept up with the series so far, I can assure you that Lethal Rider does not disappoint. 4 stars.

Buy the Book: Lethal Rider (Lords of Deliverance)

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Stacking the Shelves (4)

Stacking the Shelves is a meme brought to us by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews!

Wrecked by Anna Davies (Library)
The Selection (Selection - Trilogy) by Kiera Cass (Library)
First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones (Library)

And for ebooks, (all given to me to review) we have:

I'd also like to introduce you to my new buddy, Castiel. Cas is a parrotlet that my mom rescued today. He is a bit shy, and was already rejected by one owner after only a day. I'm going to be helping to socialize and hand tame him.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

On Horsewomen: A Review of Immortal Rider by Larissa Ione

Immortal Rider is the second book in Larissa Ione's Lords of Deliverance series (read my review of book one HERE). Lords of Deliverance is a spin off of her Demonica series, but I think you are supposed to be able to read it separately. It's hard for me to say for sure, since I've read and enjoyed both.

In any case, this book is about Limos, who would be Famine if she were to turn evil and help the Apocalypse to start. She's been betrothed to Satan, the ultimate evil, since birth. The engagement contract states that he can claim her when a man who she has given affection to utters her name in agony. Thus when Arik, a human soldier fighting on the side of good, makes the mistake of kissing her, he's dragged to hell and tortured. But Arik is made of strong stuff, and refuses to say her name, even as he vows revenge against the woman who he believes has doomed him to hell. Limos sets out to rescue Arik, break her engagement, and hold on to her good side in order to stop the Apocalypse and save the world.

Positive Comments:

Every time I read a new Larissa Ione book, I'm reminded of how much I like her style. She's one of a small group of authors that can mix horror and romance effectively. I trust her to take me to some dark and creepy places, and still deliver a satisfying happy ending. I haven't figured out exactly what it is about the tone or the mood of these books that makes them work, but there's definitely some magic there.

I love twisted biblical mythology, and Ione uses it very effectively. I love that we have a female Horseman. The overarching plot of the series has me firmly invested.

I love that Ione is unafraid to write deeply flawed, even potentially evil main characters. Limos is on a rocky road to redemption and remaining good, and to me that is far more interesting than a nice character doing nice things. One of her primary flaws is that she loves to lie. Arik has a history that makes him hate lies and liars, so this alone creates a huge point of conflict for the two of them. I did think, at times, that Arik was almost too understanding and forgiving toward Limos when it came to the secrets and lies. But overall, there's a lot of rich and realistic conflict between Limos and Arik, and seeing them overcome it is very rewarding.

Critical Comments:

The romance between Arik and Limos is a bit drawn out. Especially the physical aspects. One obstacle after another gets thrown up to stop them from consummating their relationship and fully committing to each other. As a reader, I found it tiresome. Perhaps fewer conflicts would have made the romantic development a little less frustrating.

A lot of the conflicts, both between Arik and Limos and between Limos and her brothers are based on miscommunication and misunderstanding. The book would have been 100 pages shorter if everybody just talked to everybody else. Again, lies are a big weakness for Limos, so naturally it took her the entire book to fully overcome them, but what about everyone else? What's their excuse? There's a rather big, spoilery incident that I can't mention in this spoiler-free review, that could have been End-of-the-World bad--and was fully avoidable through a quick conversation. I tend to dislike miscommunication as a means of creating conflict, so that was a flaw for me.

Overall, though, I count this book as another good one. Yes it's longer than it needs to be, yes it frustrated me at times, but it also left me wanting more. I highly recommend this series and this book to all paranormal romance fans. 3.5 stars

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Best Book of November/December Preview

Time for a brief recap of November and a preview of the reviews you can expect to see all December long!

November was a bit of a rocky month reading wise. I was insanely busy, so not much of it got done. A lot of the books seemed to come out as average rating wise. That being said, of course I still have to crown a best book and that is--Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep! It earned 4/5 stars, which is not at all bad in it's own right. More importantly, it stood out because I believe this series is going to build to something pretty spiffy, and I can't wait to see that happen. You can read my full review HERE.

We have quite the line up for December, because I got slightly off track of my November list. These are the books that you can expect to see reviewed here on Reading to Penguins!

Sebastian by Anne Bishop How I ended up reading this one at all is something of a story in itself. I'm about 1/4 of the way into it, so look forward to that review sometime early next week.

Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews I promised to read this one in November, but got sidetracked by aliens and Anne Bishop!

A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James

Immortal Rider by Larissa Ione

Envy by J.R. Ward

Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

As always if your interested in reading along, doing a guest review, or have something that you'd like to see reviewed in January, email me at cmspencer8@yahoo.com. Happy Reading!