Rapture by J.R. Ward

Fallen Angels, Book 4

Synopsis: Out of the wickedly inventive imagination of #1 New York Times bestselling author J.R. Ward comes a world where sin and salvation collide in a battle for the future of mankind—where a cynical fallen angel struggles against the seven deadly sins and a demon’s lure over seven chosen souls…

Mels Carmichael, reporter for the Caldwell Courier Journal, gets the shock of her life when a man stumbles in front of her car outside the local cemetery. After the accident, his amnesia is just the kind of mystery she likes to solve, but she soon discovers they’re in over their heads with his past. Over their heads with passion, too…

As shadows walk the line between reality and another realm, and her lover’s memory begins to come back, the two of them learn that nothing is truly dead and buried. Especially when you’re trapped in a no holds barred war between angels and demons. With a soul on the line, and Mels’s heart at risk, what in Heaven—or in Hell—will it take to save them both?

Review: It is always a pleasure to read a novel by J.R. Ward. Moreover, I’m becoming more and more addicted to this series that improves over the books. So we still follow our savior, Jim Heron in his fight against evil. Matthias is the former leader of the XOps (and Jim’s ex-boss). He was in Hell after Jim’s defeat we saw in Book 2 but he returned to Earth. Now he has a new chance of redemption. Why this second chance? Does he deserve it? It’s actually a punishment against Jim’s enemy. Indeed, the opposing camp didn’t comply with the rules in the last round so the Creator decided to punish Jim’s opponent by putting Matthias’s soul into play again. So the battle starts all over again but it’s also a new opportunity for Jim to try to save his former boss as he failed the first time.

Thus we find Matthias back on Earth. He wakes up naked and wounded at the Caldwell Cemetery, on Jim’s grave. While he was trying to leave this place, he was hit by the car of a young journalist at the Caldwell Courier Journal, Mels Carmichael. Now he is suffering from amnesia. Immediately there is alchemy between these two characters but of course there are many obstacles between them, especially Matthias’s heavy past. Then there is the threat hanging over his head and Matthias, though, is well aware he is running out of time.

The Good team -Jim’s team- has taken a serious beating despite their last victory against evil. Indeed, after the loss of one of their own, the team tries to recover. But it’s really hard for Adrian to accept this loss and Jim spends a lot of time thinking about Sissy. He wants to deliver her from Hell at all costs, to the point of forgetting his true mission.

Matthias until this book 4 was the perfect villain. A nasty character, a true sadist, a cold-blooded murderer… in short, a character that we used to hate in the previous books and yet here he will show another side of himself. Does such a character deserve to be saved? Amnesia must surely have something to do with that but I must say that it was a pleasure to follow Matthias as the hero of this book while at first I didn’t like him at all. I was even scared at the idea of starting reading this book. But I was wrong because Rapture is probably the best book in the series so far. Matthias is such a proud man… who can’t stand being dependent on others despite his vulnerability. He is a wounded man, one-eyed and covered of scars, obvious stigmas of his heavy criminal past. He is also a determined man who seeks to redeem himself and throughout this volume, J.R. Ward manages to make him more likeable to the reader. Of course we also discover Matthias’s past when he was a teenager and the trigger that turned him in this man feared by all. It was quite interesting to see how he got there.

I liked Mels also. The young woman lives with her mother and is looking for the big scoop that could boost her career as a journalist and thus change her life. She is an endearing young woman who cares for others. She is intelligent, very effective in her work and always willing to help others. Her relationship with her mother is very touching and I enjoyed finding out a bit of her past too, including her memories about her father who she has always admired.

This book 4 marks a turning point for Jim and his evolution, especially after what he did in the last pages… I was also very surprised by Adrian’s action and concerning the Creator, I confess I didn’t expect this kind of revelation. Of course I suspected there was something strange behind this but I had no idea of such a big revelation!

To conclude, this book is full of surprises and I am now very curious to read the sequel!

4mon pseudo

Envy By J.R. Ward

Fallen Angels, Book 3

Synopsis: A man and a woman tread the lines of danger, desire, and deliverance in the new novel of the Fallen Angels from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

As the son of a serial killer, homicide detective Thomas “Veck” DelVecchio, Jr., grew up in the shadow of evil. Now, on the knife-edge between civic duty and blind retribution, he atones for the sins of his father- while fighting his inner demons. Assigned to monitor Veck is Internal Affairs officer Sophia Reilly, whose interest in him is both professional and arousingly personal. And Veck and Sophia have another link: Jim Heron, a mysterious stranger with too many answers… to questions that are deadly. When Veck and Sophia are drawn into the ultimate battle between good and evil, their fallen angel savior is the only thing that stands between them and eternal damnation.

Review: Fallen Angels is a series that I love but as I was a little bit disappointed by Book 2 and I was afraid to have the same feeling with this one. So I was apprehensive but this feeling immediately flew as soon as I read the first pages of this third installment of Jim Heron’s adventures. In fact, I found this book better than the previous one and I really enjoyed it.

The battle between good and evil is still raging. Back to Caldwell, Jim’s new mission is this time to save the soul of the Inspector Thomas DelVecchio Jr. ( Veck ), the son of a serial killer and the least we can say is that our hero will have a lot to do, especially when his enemy seems to already have a good head start. Indeed, Veck is in big trouble. Suspected of murder, he is kept under surveillance by Sophia Reilly, an Internal Affairs officer. She has to investigate about him and determine whether he can stay within the police or not. Immediately, these two characters are attracted to each other but Veck is a tortured man, with a complex personality and his family relationship with a notorious serial killer across the country complicates the situation.

Unlike the couple of the previous book, I liked Veck and Sophia here. Veck is a complicated man, he is aware that something is wrong with him, something very dark that could permanently turn him to the evil side, something that could turn him into a monster like his father. Evil is all around him but he tries to resist and not to give in to his impulses to violence, although this call is very tempting. Sophia meanwhile is a charming young woman, she feels good about herself, she is thoughtful and she is fully engaged in her work. She is a person who has succeeded in life despite what she had to endure during her unhappy childhood period.

This book is darker than the previous ones, and Jim will not be spared. His relationship with Adrian and Eddie, his allies in this war, will not cease to deteriorate to the point to jeopardize his mission because his enemy will take the opportunity to strike a blow. He will also face a terrible event that I did not expect at all. I was also surprised by Adrian’s change in this book and now I’m curious to see how he will evolve in the next book. In this volume we finally find out some details about Sissy and we even discover her family. Jim Heron’s sworn enemy also surprises me more and more. I really did not see her able to show an ounce of compassion at all… That said she is still a formidable enemy and use all imaginable means to destabilize her opponent. The scenes from Nigel and Colin’s POV were also quite interesting. Like all J.R. Ward’s novels, the reader sees what is happening on all fronts and it’s still captivating.

The world created by J.R. Ward is really fascinating. The action takes place in Caldwell and like the first book, there are a few references to The Black Dagger Brotherhood, the other Ward’s series and it’s always a pleasure to see these two worlds the author has created overlap each other, although they are completely different. Moreover, Veck appears in Book 9 of The Black Dagger Brotherhood, Lover Unleashed and I think it’s better to read Lover Unleashed before this one.

So it was a very good book and the revelations at the end suggest that Book 4 will be as captivating as this one.

4mon pseudo

The Reunited by Shiloh Walker


The FBI Psychics, Book 3

Synopsis: AN ETERNAL DESIRE
With his strong psychic ability, FBI Agent Joss Crawford longs for the woman he loved in a past life. But after years of searching, a new case is drawing him into the last place he’d ever want to find her: an underground slave ring. Going undercover to infiltrate the network, he meets Drucella Chapman–the mastermind’s fiancee. Joss has every reason to believe she’s evil. So why is he irresistibly drawn to her?
A DANGEROUS GAME
Drucella has made it her personal mission to bring the slave ring down. But the sadistic ring leader is even more careful than he is cruel. In order to gain information, Dru has had to get close to the very man she wishes to kill, psychically reading his memories bit by bit. she’d do anything to finish the job, but agreeing to marry him may have been a step too far–even for her.
A FATEFUL ENCOUNTER
Though Joss and Dru are both undercover, nothing can disguise the sense of deja vu they experience when they meet. Neither can afford to be distracted from the mission at hand, but perhaps their reunion is exactly what this mission needs…


Review: I heard a lot of nice things about Shiloh Walker and it is true that I was curious to discover one of her books. Here is the third volume of the FBI Psychics series, a series I did not know anything about but which was quite nice. I didn’t have any problems to understand the story or the characters. But it is true that we immediately understand that the previous volumes have featured Dez and Taige. We meet them a lot in this new volume, and I confess I was curious to see how they have each met their mate.

We find this time Joss, a man so atypical. He doesn’t have any specific powers, but he can use the gift of others when he needs to. Like a mirror. Since his youth, he seeks and dreams of one of his past lives, including a young woman he loved. Abandoning all hopes to find her, he always thinks about their past again and again. But his life will be turned upside down by his new assignment. He has to work undercover to bring down an underground slave ring where young women live in the most atrocious manner. But the power he has to take for this mission is not easy to master and it’ll take him in darker regions.

Dru works independently of any government and she has worked for almost two years to bring down the organization that uses women as slaves and sells them to the highest bidder. But becoming the woman she is not and living like that every day more, has affected her more than she would have thought. But as she doesn’t have yet enough evidences, she tries to remain what she should be. She is abused, followed, and handled in the worst way. But this mission had led her farther than she would have thought and she must now marry the man she wants to destroy. She does not really know how things went so far, but she hopes to finish the investigation before coming to such extremes. But Patrick, the terrible monster, is still very cautious of his actions, and even if Dru is able to read his memories, she fails to collect the necessary evidence. She would love to kill him, destroy him after all the things he did to her, but she can’t do much without losing everything she has worked so hard for. And when she met Joss, something in her wakes up, as if she knew him from another life.

Joss is a determined man. I was quite impressed to see that he had spent his life trying to fin a woman he does not even know. While our young heroine is rather suspicious, Joss knows they’re meant to be together whatever she could say. Well, he is so obsessed by the woman he loved so much, and now she is here, it’s impressive. But Dru is focused on her mission to the point that it became her entire life and she can not compromise herself before finishing what she has started. It’s really sad to see the person she has become in the hands of Patrick. But hope is reborn little by little and I enjoyed getting to know the woman she really was. The flash back of her past history was really exciting and I was curious to see what had happened to them centuries ago.

It was a pretty interesting story and I think I’ll try to read her other novels on occasion. I wonder if Tucker will be the next character to be featured and I’m curious to learn more about him!

 

The Reunited de Shiloh Walker (VO)


The FBI Psychics, Tome 3

Résumé (traduction personnelle) : Un désir éternel
Avec sa forte capacité psychique, l’agent du FBI Joss Crawford aspire à trouver la femme qu’il aimait dans une vie antérieure. Mais après des années de recherche, un nouveau cas l’attire dans le dernier endroit où il espérait la retrouver: un camp souterrain rempli d’esclaves. En travaillant sous couverture pour infiltrer le réseau, il rencontre Drucella Chapman – fiancée du cerveau. Joss a toutes les raisons de croire qu’elle est diabolique. Alors, pourquoi est-il irrésistiblement attiré par elle?

Un jeu dangereux
Drucella a fait de sa mission quelque chose de personnel pour détruire ce camp d’esclaves. Mais ce chef sadique du réseau est encore plus prudent qu’il est cruel. Afin d’obtenir des informations, Dru a dû se rapprocher de l’homme même qu’elle veut tuer, lisant psychiquement ses souvenirs petit à petit. Elle ferait n’importe quoi pour finir le travail, mais accepter de se marier avec lui est peut-être un peu trop – même pour elle.

Une rencontre fatidique
Bien que Joss et Dru soient tous deux sous couverture, rien ne peut dissimuler le sentiment de déjà-vu qu’ils éprouvent quand ils se rencontrent. Mais ils ne peuvent se permettre de se laisser distraire de la mission à accomplir, mais peut-être que leur réunion est exactement ce que cette mission a besoin …


Avis : J’avais entendu de jolies choses au sujet de Shiloh Walker et c’est vrai que j’étais curieuse de pouvoir découvrir un de ses livres. Voici donc le troisième tome de la série FBI Psychics, une série que je ne connaissais pas mais qui était assez agréable. Je ne pense pas avoir eu de souci à comprendre l’histoire ou les personnages. Mais c’est vrai qu’on comprend tout de suite que les personnages précédents à avoir été mis en scène étaient Dez et Taige. On les rencontre beaucoup dans ce nouveau volume et j’avoue être assez curieuse de voir comment elles ont respectivement rencontré leur compagnon. 
Nous découvrons cette fois ci Joss, cet homme si atypique. Il n’a pas un pouvoir spécifique comme ceux avec qui il travaille mais il peut utiliser le don de ceux avec qui il fait équipage. Comme un miroir. Depuis sa jeunesse, il cherche et rêve d’une de ses vies antérieures et notamment d’une jeune femme qu’il a aimé et perdu. Ayant abandonné tout espoir de renouveler cette rencontre, il se repasse les événements passés encore et encore. Mais sa vie va être chamboulée par sa toute nouvelle affectation. Il doit travailler sous couverture pour faire tomber une vente de jeunes femmes qui vivent de manière des plus atroces. Mais le pouvoir qu’il doit emprunter pour cette mission est loin d’être facile à maîtriser et il l’emmènera dans des contrées plus sombres. 
Dru, travaille indépendamment de tout gouvernement et travaille maintenant depuis presque deux ans pour faire tomber cette organisation qui utilise des femmes comme des esclaves et les revend aux plus offrant. Mais devenir une femme qu’elle n’est pas et vivre ainsi tous les jours l’a plus affecté qu’elle ne l’aurait cru. Mais n’ayant pas encore assez de preuves pour quoi que ce soit, elle essaie de rester celle qu’elle devrait être. Se laissant maltraiter, suivre, manipuler de la pire façon que ce soit. Mais cette mission l’a mené plus loin qu’elle ne l’aurait pensé et elle doit maintenant se marier avec l’homme qu’elle désire détruire. Elle ne sait pas vraiment comment les choses en sont arrivées là mais elle espère pouvoir finir cette enquête avant d’en arriver à de tels extrêmes. Mais Patrick, le monstre terrible, reste très méfiant sur ses agissements, et même si Dru arrive à lire ses souvenirs, elle ne parvient pas à récolter les preuves nécessaires. Elle rêve de le tuer, de l’anéantir après tout ce qu’il lui a fait subir, mais elle ne peut faire grand-chose sans perdre tout ce pourquoi elle a travaillé si dur. Et quand elle rencontre Joss, quelque chose en elle se réveille, comme si elle le connaissait d’une autre vie.
Joss est un homme déterminé. J’étais assez impressionnée de voir qu’il avait passé sa vie à retrouver une femme qu’il ne connaissait même pas. Alors que notre jeune héroïne reste assez méfiante, Joss sait qu’ils sont faits pour être ensemble quoi qu’elle puisse lui dire. Il faut dire qu’il ne pense qu’à une chose, cette femme qu’il a tant aimée. Mais Dru est focalisée sur sa mission à tel point que c’est devenu toute sa vie et elle ne peut se compromettre avant d’avoir achevé ce qu’elle a commencé. C’est vraiment triste de voir la personne qu’elle est devenue sous la main de Patrick. Mais l’espoir renait en elle petit à petit et j’ai beaucoup aimé découvrir la femme qu’elle était réellement. Les flashs back de son histoire passée étaient vraiment passionnants et j’étais curieuse de voir ce qui lui était arrivé des siècles auparavant.
C’était une histoire assez intéressante et je pense essayer de lire les autres romans à l’occasion. Je me demande si Tucker sera le prochain personnage à être mis en scène et je suis curieuse d’en apprendre plus à son sujet !

Silent Warrior by Lindsey Piper


Dragon Kings, Book 0.5

Synopsis: A silent woman ashamed of her criminal background becomes a Cage warrior to seek redemption. An unrepentant fortune hunter chooses combat over death to appease a mafia family. Although rivals in battle, they find common ground when seeking their clan’s stolen idol, but for vastly different reasons. Neither one suspects that love will begin when he becomes the first man in five years to hear her speak.


Review: I didn’t know anything about this series, so when I found this prequel, I thought it might give me an idea of the story.
 
This is a short novella featuring twocharacters completely different. Harkis a noisy man, who loves to talkand does not think when he wants anything. Silence isthe opposite, a young woman who speakslittle or as we understand with her nickname, is calm and collected. Their meeting willimmediately spark, especially while Hark is determined to put her in his bed and force her to talk to him. And I must say that given the millword that is, it does not take him long to crack her.

It was pretty cute to see them both. They hide both many secrets but they complement each other perfectly.We discover throughout this story who our heroes are and we can learn a few elements about their past, allowing us to understand how they became what they are now.


This novel was a cute introduction and it is true that I have many questions about the world that the author has created. It can be quite interesting to read the first novel to have some answers.


Silent Warrior de Lindsey Piper (VO)


Dragon Kings, Tome 0.5

Résumé (traduction personnelle): Une femme silencieuse ayant honte de son passé criminel devient un guerrier Cage pour chercher la rédemption. Un chasseur impénitent de fortune choisit le combat de la mort pour apaiser une famille mafieuse. Bien que rivaux dans la bataille, ils trouvent un terrain d’entente lors de la recherche de l’idole volée à leur clan, mais pour des raisons très différentes. Aucun d’eux ne soupçonne que l’amour naîtra quand il devient le premier homme à qui elle parle depuis cinq ans.


Avis : Je ne connaissais pas du tout cette série, aussi quand j’ai trouvé ce préquel, je me suis dit qu’il pourrait me donner une idée de l’histoire.
C’est une petite histoire assez rapide qui met en scène deux personnages complètement différents. Hark est un homme bruyant, qui aime parler et ne prend pas des pincettes quand il veut quoi que ce soit. Silence est tout son inverse, une jeune femme qui ne parle pas ou très peu comme son surnom le montre et qui est calme et posée. Leur rencontre fera tout de suite des étincelles, surtout quand Hark est bien décidé à la mettre dans son lit et l’obliger à lui parler. Et il faut dire que vu le moulin à parole qu’il est, il ne lui faudra pas si longtemps pour la faire craquer.
C’était assez mignon de les voir tous les deux. Ils cachent tous les deux biens des secrets mais ils se complètent parfaitement. On découvrira au fil de cette petite histoire qui sont réellement nos deux héros et nous pourrons alors assister à quelques bribes de leur passé, nous permettant de comprendre comment ils sont devenus ce qu’ils sont à présent.
Ce roman était une mignonne introduction et c’est vrai que j’ai de nombreuses questions quant au monde que l’auteur a créé. Il peut être assez intéressant de lire le premier roman pour avoir quelques réponses.

 

The Sweetest Torture ~ The Sweetest Temptation ~ The Sweetest Mercy by Amanda Bonilla

Sexy Shifter Shorts, Book 1

Synopsis:
Thirty years ago, when the sultry and headstrong Cait left Logan Paige, the Alpha cougar shapeshifter of his Montana pride, his entire world came crashing down. He couldn’t explain where he’d been the previous night or why there was a strange woman in his bed…because he had no memory of the night before. Wounded and betrayed, Cait refused to listen to Logan’s excuses and walked straight out of his life…determined to exact her revenge on the sexy cougar who had crushed her heart. With a little help from her influential father, she made sure that Logan’s business, as well as his life, crumbled into ruins. Hell hath no fury, indeed.

But now it’s thirty years later and two of Montana’s most powerful cougar prides are on the brink of war. A tenuous peace is reached, but it’s dependent on Cait and Logan marrying on All Hallow’s Eve. Spitfire Cait has her own plans of revenge…using her feminine wiles to turn Logan into a purring kitty lapping cream at her feet. And Logan has his schemes to regain control and dominate like the Alpha he is…

When they realize that the erotic passion between them is still so intense, Logan and Cait will have to decide if dwelling in the past is worth sacrificing the future…


Review: I’m a big fan of the Shaede Assassin series by Amanda Bonilla, so it was only natural that I start this new series.Of course it is very different andit has nothing to do with what I‘ve read from Amanda Bonilla, but this new story is also very enjoyable to read. It must be said that it’s not the same genre here, aswe have the opportunity to read paranormal romance.

We discover Cait, an explosive and dynamic young woman, forced to marry the man who betrayedher a few years ago. She holds a deep grudge thinking only of revenge against the loverwho cheated on her. But once arrived, when she finds Logan, her feelings resurface and so facing her revenge is more complicated than expected. The past also seems to catch them up, revealing the truth they didn’t know.

It really was a nice little storyand I confess that the end of the book I was a little frustrated as I wanted to know more. I think I would have loved to havean entire novel on Cait and Logan. I must say that I really enjoyed this young woman with this fiery temperament and I was curious to see what she woulddo. Of course, I hope I’ll find out more info, but it’s a nice and pretty story. The read is quite fast, featuring a new threat.

I’m curious to see where we will have Amanda Bonilla for us.

 Sexy Shifter Shorts, Book 2

Synopsis:  Andrew Paige wakes up in a motel room with no memory of what happened to him the night before. He has no idea how he got here…or why the state police believe he’s responsible for kidnapping a woman he’s never met!

Erica Ware is bound and determined to find her sister’s kidnapper and bring him to justice. As a wood nymph, she has special powers over men…and a unique way of extracting the truth.

But when the sparks start to fly and her wood nymph nature compels her to seek something other than revenge from the unbearably hot Andrew Paige, Erica can’t help but wonder if she’ll succumb to the sweet temptation of this sexy shifter before she can unravel the mystery of her sister’s disappearance…


Review: And this is the secondstory about our shapeshifters. I was curious to see who the novel would feature this time and it is with pleasure that we find a character met in the first volume: Andrew. But this is not everything and we meet another characteralready seen before.

Andrew wakes up one morning in a hotel room with no memory of the recent events. Butit will only take a few seconds forthe police to arrive, accusing him of kidnapping a young woman he does not even know. But worse than that, her sister, Erica,is determined to use her nymph powers to make him talk and pay for what he could dare to do. But unfortunately, nothing goes as planned and this meeting will change her beliefs.

It was quite interesting to discover Andrew, he is much calmer than his brother and also quite intriguing. I confess that I did not expect to meet a nymphin this book and I was immediately curious by her abilities and powers. This book is in continuity with the first one although it starts anotherstory and it is true that like the first one it makes us quitecurious about the purpose of the events. Curious to read Volume 3 now.

Sexy Shifter Shorts, Book 3

synopsis: Kidnapped and locked in a dark cave, Kiera Ware has resigned herself to madness. A wood nymph in the grip of a full-moon is guaranteed to lose her mind, literally, without sexual release. And since she’s been held captive and alone for three days, she knows that she could break at any moment…

Carter Hayes has been tracking the rouge shifter who kidnapped an innocent woman for no other reason than to hurt his alpha, Logan. After the loss of his mate nearly a century ago, Carter has stuck to what he knows best – excelling at his job and serving his pride – lonely, but honorable work.

When Carter shows up, Kiera thinks the too-sexy-to-be-true man must be a figment of her imagination…while Carter can’t deny the stirrings of his heart around this strange magical woman.

Running for their lives, Carter and Kiera might just find that sweet mercy they both so desperately need…if they can manage to stay alive!

Review: We follow this time Erica ‘s sister: Kiera, kidnapped in the previous novel. I confess that I am quite surprised to see that it’s not Andrew who went after the culprit. But then we discover a new character, Carter, hired to discover, and help to destroy the man who puts them all at risk. But it is certain that he did not expect to succumb to the beautiful nymph when he manages to find her and she thinks he is only a hallucination.

I confess that I would have liked to see the characters of previous volumes but it was still nice to find Kiera after everything we heard about her. Carter, however, intrigued me and I was curious to learn more about his past or who he really was. Maybe we’ll know that next time? This is a cute little series we can read very fast, which allows us to discover a little more the Amanda Bonilla’s world.