Eternal Hunter by Cynthia Eden

Title: Eternal Hunter
Author: Cynthia Eden
Publisher:  Kensington Brava
Release Date: 01/01/2010
Number of pages: 338

ISBN-10: 0758234287
ISBN-13: 978-0758234285

Author's Website







From the Publisher:

Cynthia Eden delves into the dark realms of the Others, where desires and dangerous games await the unsuspecting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. . .

Assistant DA Erin Jerome has a secret. Make that two. One: She’s not entirely human—she's Other, desperately trying to keep her supernatural strength under wraps. Two: she's got a killer stalking her—an Other rogue set on "gifting" her bloody corpses, not to mention nights lying awake in terror. Small wonder she's been having bad luck with men.

But the bounty hunter on her new case isn't worried about any of that. Jude Donovan is a shapeshifter himself, and the new DA’s midnight hair and addictive scent tell him all he thinks he needs to know: She's gorgeous, she’s definitely not human, and she’s bringing out the animal in him in a really good way. He might have to track a psychotic Other stalker through half of Louisiana. But he might also get the chance to watch Erin’s wild side come out and play. . .

My thoughts:

Eternal Hunter by Cynthia Eden is the first book in her Night Watch series. This book was seriously steamy. Jude Donavan is a sexy shifter currently working as a bounty hunter Night Watch. One of his cases brings him up close and personal to Assistant DA Erin Jerome. Jude knows Erin is Other, but what kind is a mystery even to him. Their first meeting doesn’t go well, and tempers flare. Soon Erin finds herself being pursued by a stalker she thought she left behind when she moved from the small town of Lillian, Louisiana, to the much larger city of Baton Rouge. Her stalker has a sick sense of what a woman wants, and leaves Erin "gifts" in the form of dead bodies. Erin knows if she wants to stop her stalker, and put the nightmare she is living behind her she’ll have to enlist the help of Jude. The sexual tension between Erin and Jude soars as he plays bodyguard, and hunts the man stalking Erin. All the while Erin tries extra hard to keep all the secrets of her past buried.


Eternal Hunter offers preternatural hotties, fast paced action, and hot sex scenes. I'll be anxiously awaiting the release of the second book in the Night Watch series, I'll Be Slaying You.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Authors: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: 12/1/2009
Number of Pages: 576
ISBN-10: 0316042676
ISBN-13: 978-0316042673

From the Publisher:

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.

We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

My thoughts:

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Beautiful Creatures. The protagonist is a sixteen year old boy named Ethan Wate. Most of what I read is told from a female’s perspective and I found the male POV a refreshing change.

Ethan is living the small town life in Gatlin, SC. Having grown up in a small southernish town myself I could relate to a lot of his complaints. He is struggling with normal teenage issues until Lena Duchannes shows up and throws him for a loop. Lena is new in town and also the niece of the town shut in, Macon Ravenwood. This little tidbit causes the locals of Gatlin to ostracize poor Lena even more. If you weren’t born and raised in Gatlin you don’t stand much of a chance of being befriended by the locals. Lena is different than the other girls in Gatlin and Ethan finds himself infatuated with the mysterious new girl. Ethan and Lena quickly discover they share a strange connection that neither can explain. The connection began in a reoccurring dream both have been having. The dream seems to point to events that will occur on Lena’s 16th birthday. Lena comes from a long line of Casters (aka witches) and the day she turns 16 is also the day she’ll become either a light caster or a dark caster. Lena is terrified of what is to come and Ethan is determined to help change her fate.

I loved that they packed a little history lesson into this novel. It made for a more interesting read. The characters were also likeable.  Ethan is a book lover and talks about his love of reading several times in Beautiful Creatures. I always love to read books about books. I must say my favorite characters after Ethan were his three elderly aunts. The conversations between them were humorous and had me chuckling out loud.

I'm looking forward to seeing where Garcia and Stohl go with this series.

First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost

Title: First Drop of Crimson
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 2/9/2010
Number of pages: 384
ISBN-10: 0061583227
ISBN-13: 978-0061583223

From the Publisher:

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Night Huntress series comes a breathtaking new journey to the dark side of desire.

The night is not safe for mortals. Denise MacGregor knows all too well what lurks in the shadows—her best friend is half-vampire Cat Crawfield—and she has already lost more than the average human could bear. But her family's past is wrapped in secrets and shrouded in darkness—and a demon shapeshifter has marked Denise as prey. Now her survival depends on an immortal who lusts for a taste of her.

He is Spade, a powerful, mysterious vampire who has walked the earth for centuries and is now duty-bound to protect this endangered, alluring human—even if it means destroying his own kind. Denise may arouse his deepest hungers, but Spade knows he must fight his urge to have her as they face the nightmare together . . .

Because once the first crimson drop falls, they will both be lost.

My thoughts:

I was so excited about the release of the first novel set in the Night Huntress universe. I’m a total Cat and Bones fangirl and couldn’t wait to see what else Jeaniene Frost could do with the awesome world she has created.

First Drop of Crimson was almost as good as the Night Huntress series. I loved Spade’s character. I’ve been fascinated by him since his first appearance in Cat's world. I thought Denise was just ok. Thankfully Spade’s character was more than entertaining enough to keep me reading. I also loved that other familiar faces made an appearance in this spin off. Namely Ian! Naughty as he may be I just can’t get enough. Hopefully he’ll get his HEA in a future book.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Available: Now

Reading Level: Adult

Description from Goodreads:

Filled with stunning parallels to today's world, The Postmistress is a sweeping novel about the loss of innocence of two extraordinary women-and of two countries torn apart by war.
On the eve of the United States's entrance into World War II in 1940, Iris James, the postmistress of Franklin, a small town on Cape Cod, does the unthinkable: She doesn't deliver a letter. In London, American radio gal Frankie Bard is working with Edward R. Murrow, reporting on the Blitz. One night in a bomb shelter, she meets a doctor from Cape Cod with a letter in his pocket, a letter Frankie vows to deliver when she returns from Germany and France, where she is to record the stories of war refugees desperately trying to escape.
The residents of Franklin think the war can't touch them- but as Frankie's radio broadcasts air, some know that the war is indeed coming. And when Frankie arrives at their doorstep, the two stories collide in a way no one could have foreseen. The Postmistress is an unforgettable tale of the secrets we must bear, or bury. It is about what happens to love during wartime, when those we cherish leave. And how every story-of love or war-is about looking left when we should have been looking right.

My thoughts:

I was lucky enough to snag a copy of Sarah Blake's debut novel from LibraryThing.

This is one of those books that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading. The story revolves around Iris James, Frankie Bard and Emma Fitch. Iris is the Postmaster for a small town in Massachusetts. Emma is the new wife of the doctor in the same town as Iris. Frankie Bard is a female American reporter based in London during WWII. All three women are faced with very different struggles but find their lives become intertwined after a chance meeting in London between Emma’s husband and Frankie.

This is a beautifully written novel with interesting characters. It made me laugh and it made me cry. I’d highly recommend The Postmistress to those who enjoy historical fiction or stories with a focus on WWII.

After reading some of the reviews I've noticed the common complaint was it started slowly and there were too many characters. I'm shocked by how many actually quit reading after only 30-40 pages. This was also a small issue for me but I'd encourage you to stick with it. That is just a small bump in the way of an amazing story.