Wild Justice by Kelley Armstrong

Ex-cop Nadia Stafford has a dark secret. After taking the law into her own hands she was kicked off the force ... and entered the shadowy world of guns for hire. She has her own strict code - works only for one crime family, only kills the really bad guys. But when a hit goes tragically wrong, Nadia is devastated. Is it time to leave the business for good?

Before she has time to decide, Nadia discovers that her own life is under threat. And worse - that terrifying events from her past may have triggered the attacks. With the help of Jack, her enigmatic mentor, Nadia is forced upon a dark path - towards the truth and towards her final destiny.

Nadia is on a job when it takes a turn for the worse and Jack helps drag her out of it, by giving her something else to focus on. Her childhood terror - the man that killed her cousin. Unfortunately that seems to put Nadia's name on a hit list and she and Jack have to figure out who's behind it before they manage to cross her name off.

For Nadia Stafford fans, this book has been a long time coming - 4 years in fact. Armstrong always said she wanted this series to end the way she wanted and was working on the book the whole time while waiting for a publishing company to pick it up, finally it happened and we were able to finish Nadia's story.

I really like the Nadia books, they're so vastly different from Armstrong's other series and you can tell that - not just from the lack of paranormal, but Armstrong's writing style is different in this series than in the Otherworld or her YA series. Not in a bad way, but it's definitely noticeable to fans like me that have read most of her work.

This was a good ending to the series. It starts out fast and ends with a bang, although admittedly it does slow a bit in the middle - took me a few days to read it 'cos I wasn't as interested during the 2nd quarter then it picked up and I didn't put the book down until it was finished. It's sad to see another series come to an end but it's good that the author got to finish it on her terms and the way she wanted.


Book Depository: Wild Justice
Amazon UK: Wild Justice

My Favourite Reads of 2013

As with previous favourites of the year posts, clicking on the cover image will take you to my review of the book. This list actually only has books I reviewed on here, there are some novellas and shorts that I read but only wrote a quick review on Goodreads. My full 2013 read list can be found here on my GR profile.

Brazen by Kelley Armstrong

nick Sorentino knows everyone in the supernatural world considers him the Pack's playboy, the pretty but not very useful werewolf whose only reputation involves his amorous exploits.
Usually, Nick couldn't care less what anyone outside the Pack thinks of him. But when it affects his hunt for Malcolm Danvers, a psychotic bogey-man from the Pack's past, it matters.
Necessity forces Nick to team up with mercenary half-demon Vanessa Callas to run Malcolm to ground in Detroit. Together, they discover Malcolm is more deadly than ever. And he wants to play.
It's time for Nick to prove he's not just a lover. He's a fighter.

Nick has been put on the case of finding Malcolm after he was discovered to be still alive during the events of 13. Elena and Clay want him dead and they don't want Jeremy knowing he's alive in the first place.

The Sub Press novellas have always been a nice way of easing the waiting time between Otherworld books, but now the series is on hiatus they're even more important to me. Armstrong knows her fans love the Otherworld and all the characters, I think she herself would also miss them if they disappeared completely. So to ease the pain, she's going to be releasing novellas and such until she brings the series back (for my sanity, it will always be a when not an if until she says different).

This one is nice to read, we finally get something from Nick's POV. Nick, who always comes across as laid back and so nonchalant, proves to us that he's just as protective of the Pack as Clay or Elena. The younger wolves are his responsibility and he's matured and settled since they've came into his home. Nick often gets looked over with Elena and Clay heading the adventures up so it was nice to see him come into his own in this book.

The book also ended with an obvious nod to another book which I can't wait to read.


Buy direct from Subterranean Press: Brazen
Amazon UK: Brazen

Aden by D.B. Reynolds

She was seeking revenge. What she found was a vampire who swept her into the darkest depths of passion.

Chicago, Illinois ... the windy city. Home to football greats, dinosaurs named Sue, and, when the sun goes down ... powerful vampires battling for the right to rule the city and beyond.

Born into slavery, Aden is one of the most powerful vampires in North America, waging war on others of his kind in a struggle to become the next Lord of the Midwest. But in the midst of the deadliest fight of his long life, the ghosts of his past have come back to haunt him. Slavery still exists, and Aden is hellbent on destroying it and the vampires who profit from it.

Sidonie Reid is an investigative reporter in pursuit of the biggest story of her career, until that story costs the life of a friend and Sid realises she has to do much more than write about it. Intent on bringing down the vampires and their slave network, Sid gains entry to the highest levels of vampire society, where she finds herself confronting the raw sexuality that is Aden.

Caught up in a dark passion that neither can resist, Aden and Sidonie join forces, determined to defeat the old regime and everything it stands for. The dangers are beyond calculation, but the ultimate reward is worth the risk. If they survive ...

Aden is next in line for Lord of the Midwest, all he has in his way is the pesky challengers. Sidonie has been trying to bring down a slavery ring that she knows the previous Lord had his hand in, so of course she thinks getting in with Aden is the best way to continue - problem is that Aden knows exactly what she's doing.

I love this series and it only gets better with each one. My only problem is that my favourite vampire wasn't in this at all - that'd be Duncan. Although Aden is delectable and thoroughly lickable.

Reynolds is building up to something epic with this series and I can't wait to find out what that is. There's hints and small teases in each new book, we now know where the threat is coming from and partly what Raphael's plans are.

I highly recommend this series to any vampire readers out there. Reynolds' vamps are brutal and aggressive, but still know they have to fit in to human kind. They're not afraid to show what they really are though.


Book Depository: Aden
Amazon UK: Aden

Why Vet Nursing is not a "Just for the Money" job

A lot of the time, I hear that Vets are all money grabbers. I've had people say to me at the desk that they can't believe how much A or B costs and people thinking I'm in my job for money. Because everyone knows how much Vet Nurses get paid, right? Do you know? Unless you're a Vet Nurse, no you don't.
I'd like to give you all a taster of what Vet Nursing is like as a job and you'll see why it's not a job you get into for the money.

My evening began with evening consults at 5pm, just after 5 a distraught owner ran in with her young family pet in her arms – it had just been in a Road Traffic Accident. This much loved family pet had sustained a fatal trauma that would be unfixable – even if it was fixable, the pet would likely be paralysed in the hind limbs. Our only option, and the owners hardest decision, was to put the animal to sleep ….. at 6 months of age.
It was heart breaking, it was horrible and it was the most upsetting euthanasia I've done in my career.

After that exceptionally sad case was over I, and the Vet, had to continue with evening consults. I had to pretend everything was fine and be cheery with clients, while feeling like all I wanted to do was sit and cry.

There are plenty of jobs out there that pay the same, or more than, I get at the moment. They don't have as much stress attached. They're mostly guaranteed to finish at the right time. And you don't have to go through the heartbreak of euthanasing people's family pets. This isn't a job I, or any other Vet or Vet Nurse, got into for the money. This is a job you get into for the love of animals and helping animals every day.

There are plenty of jobs where I wouldn't come home with a heavy heart. And I'll admit that I came home and cried about that case tonight – how many other jobs cause that to happen?

Daylighters by Rachel Caine

Something drastic has happened in Morganville while Claire Danvers and her friends were away. The town looks cleaner and happier than they've ever seen it before, but when their incoming group is arrested and separated - vampires from humans - they realise that the changes definitely aren't for the better.

It seems than an organisation called the Daylight Foundation has offered the population of Morganville something they've never had: hope of a vampire-free future. And while it sounds like salvation - even for the vampires themselves - the truth is far more sinister and deadly.

Now, Claire, Shane and Eve need to find a way to break their friends out of Daylighter custody, before the vampires of Morganville meet their untimely end ...

So everyone arrives back in Morganville only to be arrested and get split up. They discover the Daylight Foundation has taken over Morganville and ousted the vamps from their post as rulers. Everyone seems happier and Morganville is suddenly safer but Claire, Eve and Shane realise that it's not all it seems and that maybe it WAS better with the vamps in control rather than the weird Daylighters. They find out that the guy in charge has a "cure" for vampirism and is looking for volunteers, but nothing is ever as it seems, is it?

This book saddens me because it's the last book in an amazing series, it also saddens me that the cheesy ending really ruined the book for me. I kinda wish I could go back in time and tell me to just finish a bit earlier and leave on a high.

I don't think I'm going to be able to do a spoiler free review so I'm not going to try. The following section will contain spoilers, you can highlight to read if you don't mind.
{spoilers}The humans of Morganville have put all the vampires together in a sort of concentration camp (actually it's an old shopping mall) where they get limited blood and have to wear shock collars to keep them from attacking the guards. The Daylighters have a supposed cure for vampirism that they're looking for volunteers to test it on, if they don't get volunteers they'll force vampires into it - trouble is the cure has a higher fail rate than success rate and when it fails, the vampires get executed. Michael is grabbed as a test subject and the cure actually works on him - luckily enough just as his marriage to Eve is destroyed due to new laws. Shane's dog bite turns out to be an infection that changes him into some sort of vampire hunting werewolf - again luckily enough for him and Michael that the cure works on him since being around vampires causes Shane to change automatically.

And those last two sections are my problem with the ending, it all ended so happily and quite cheesy in my opinion. As much as I love this series, the ending was a HUGE disappointment. It's all so coincidental that Michael turns human again and happens to solve lots of problems all at the one time.{/spoilers}

The story itself is just as interesting as the rest of the series, it really is just the ending that lets it down. Despite that, I will still recommend the Morganville series to others - it's a great series with lots of ups and downs and some great characters, plus it's getting made into a TV show thanks to the fans (myself included). I love the series and it's sad to see it end.


Book Depository: Daylighters
Amazon UK: Daylighters

Broken Beauty by Chloe Adams

Sometimes bad things happen to beautiful people.

When socialite party girl Mia Abbott-Renou wakes up in a garden she has little recall of the previous night - except that she is naked ... hurt ... terrified. Not only has she been raped, but she knows one of her assailants: the son of a wealthy politician who happens to be her own father's political ally.

Mia wants and needs justice. Except this privileged boy has an alibi and her father forbids her from going to the police. It's a critical election year, one that his party might lose if his image as a doting father is soured due to Mia being labelled a lush or worse, promiscuous.

Devastated at not having the support of her family, Mia finds herself in a tug-of-war with her conscience over what to do, especially since she can't remember exactly what happened that night. Worse, the men who attacked her have hurt several other girls, and Mia may be the key to stopping them.

Mia tries to forget, until the unthinkable happens, and she's left reeling once again, faced with a new challenge that will force her to take more control of her life.

Mia is raped at a party, she wakes the next morning when the police find her. Her father is a politician that thinks the body has a way of stopping pregnancy when it's rape so she's not allowed the morning after pill as a precaution. Mia has flashes of memory and knows her attackers but she can't tell the police because it could affect her father's campaign. On top of that she also gets done for having a stolen ID and has to do community service at a women's shelter where she discovers the horror of the rape isn't over.

The novella opens with Mia being woken up by the police and we get flashbacks of what happened the night before. The flashes are horrible and very well written in the sense that you're horrified for this poor girl and the images we get are heart breaking. The author does a good job of getting you there at the scene without going into full blown description of the act - thankfully.

One major flaw of the book is that Mia is a bit of an idiot. Yes, her father has told her that women can't get pregnant when they get raped - it seems her father's character was loosely based on that idiot politician that made the statement a while back about how the body has a way to prevent that from happening - but she's a teenage girl who, I can only assume, has access to the internet and other information sources so her naivety is confusing to me. The fact that she flat out believes her father with no questions asked is kind of unbelievable for me.

Speaking of her father, he's a douche! She's in hospital after being horrifically raped and injured and he doesn't even come to see her? In fact I don't think she even gets to speak to him until almost a week later. Her mother is in rehab and after Mia speaks to her, she says she'll be there in a couple of days but never shows up. What kind of parents does she have?!? Her best friend is there for her, the cops that found her are there for her and it seems that, sometimes, her uncle is on her side as well. Although he does tell her not to name her attacker unless she's 100% sure or she'll get dragged to court and have to face him. Surely the rape kit is evidence enough if they just get a DNA sample from him?

This is definitely a series that I'll be keeping an eye on. I'm invested in Mia and her story now so I want to continue to follow it.


Amazon UK: Broken Beauty

Seducing Her Rival by Seleste deLaney

She's trapped with a man she hates ... and can't resist.

When cruise ship turbulence sends children's charity guru Mercedes Vega — and her tropical cocktail — flying into a mysterious stranger, she's convinced her free vacation is a dream-come-true. But Lucas Bellamy isn't just sexy as sin and richer than God. He's her business rival, determined to outbid her charity for the land she desperately needs ... a fact she doesn't learn until after a night of mind-blowing, toe-curling sex. Unwilling to give up, she formulates a plan to make the charming playboy fall in love with her and back out of the property deal.

Lucas is drawn to Mercedes, but he won't stand down — after all, he has promises of his own to keep. But one scintillating night with the enigmatic brunette leads to another, and before long, it's unclear who's seducing who, leaving Mercedes wondering whether the man she's supposed to hate is the only salvation from her past.

Mercedes has a history she's trying to make amends for by building a playground where kids can feel safe. Lucas has plans to build a school in memory of someone he loved and lost. Unfortunately, they're both after the same land and also both happen to be on the same cruise ship. What's even more unfortunate is that they're both mega attracted to one another. Mercedes wants to hate Lucas but can't keep away from him so she comes up with a plan where she can have her cake and eat it too.

Yet another fab book by the awesome Ms deLaney. I liked Mercedes most of the time but there were times where she was a bit too whiny for me, I much preferred Lucas. I could say he was a bit of a douche for trying to keep his identity a secret (he did have actual reasons at the beginning) but Mercedes was also a bit of a douche for trying to play with his heart so she could get the land.

I love anything Seleste writes, I will always read her stuff and, like with this book, I might not love the main characters but I still love the story and that's what counts. Only a few books have made me DNF due to really bad characters, for most the story is the important bit for me.


Amazon UK: Seducing Her Rival

Two Wrongs, One Right by Katee Robert

Eight years ago, former Army sergeant Nathan Schultz let the love of his life disappear without a fight. After watching everyone around him find happiness while he slipped further away, he's finally ready to fight for Chelsea Callaghan — and he's not afraid to play dirty.

Chelsea has always followed her conservative family's rules — with one heartbreaking exception. When she receives an invitation to an old high school friend's wedding, she knows who's to blame. Though she goes solely to give Nathan a piece of her mind, he blackmails her into staying the entire week. With him.

There's no way she'll bow to Nathan's will without making him pay. Unfortunately, revenge is a dish best served fully clothed, and they can't be in the same room without losing theirs. As insatiable, anger-fueled lust shifts into something more, they begin to lose sight of why they can't be together. But with so many unforgivable wrongs between them, can Nathan and Chelsea ever make things right?

Chelsea and Nathan have history, history that has long since been buried but Nathan wants to bring it back to the present so he invites Chelsea to his brother's wedding. Chelsea only comes to finally put him behind her, but she doesn't foresee herself missing things about being with Nathan. For Nathan it's what he was hoping for all along.

I'm enjoying this series although I found I didn't like Chelsea all that much and I was only ever "meh" about Nathan so it's definitely not my favourite in the series. I was looking forward to this book because of the hint dropping at the end of the last one, and it's a doozy of a secret. I was convinced this was going to be an MM book, obviously I was wrong.

I'm not sure if this is the last book in the series, there was a bit at the end of this one about Danielle's story but I think it's a novella in an anthology rather than a full length book. Although I may be wrong but that's what it seemed like to me. And it did say "Come Undone one last time with Danielle" so to me that means end of series. Time will tell, but I liked the little we saw of Danielle in this so I'm quite looking forward to it.


Amazon UK: Two Wrongs, One Right

Omens by Kelley Armstrong

Twenty-four-year-old Olivia Taylor Jones has the perfect life. The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions.

But Olivia's world is shattered when she learns that she's adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers serving a life sentence. When the news brings a maelstrom of unwanted publicity to her adopted family and fiancé, Olivia decides to find out the truth about the Larsens.

Olivia ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, an old and cloistered community that takes a particular interest in both Olivia and her efforts to uncover her birth parents’ past.

Aided by her mother's former lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, Olivia focuses on the Larsens' last crime, the one her birth mother swears will prove their innocence. But as she and Gabriel start investigating the case, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable to unknown enemies. Because there are darker secrets behind her new home, and powers lurking in the shadows that have their own plans for her.

Liv finds out she's adopted and her birth parents are convicted serial killers, not bad enough that she's having a bit of an identity crisis but her mother basically shuns her (not exactly but in a way). In a bid to become her own person, she ends up in Cainsville (with some help) and gets in touch with her birth mother who convinces her to help her with her case. Liv discovers there's more to her parents case than meets the eye.

With Kelley's Otherworld series coming to a close, I was really looking forward to this book. I knew it wasn't going to be anything like Otherworld but I could also tell that it was going to have a vaguely supernatural feel to it. I won this as an ARC but, because of the time to post stuff form Canada to UK, I only got it just about the time it actually came out over here. I am still going to buy it though, I much prefer the UK cover plus I'll be getting the rest of the series in the UK cover so I don't want it to be mismatched on my bookshelf.

I enjoyed this, I think it'll take me a while to get out of my Otherworld mindset that I get when I read Kelley though. This comes to its own and promises to be a great series. This first book is very intriguing and keeps you reading, as well as leaving on a note that makes you NEED to buy the next on the series. Very exciting to have something from Kelley and can't wait for more .... I'll miss the Otherworld though but this promises to fill the Kelley sized part of my brain.


Book Depository: Omens
Amazon UK: Omens