WW28: BOUND BY DARKNESS

WW28
A chance to showcase your favourite!

• First you grab our Wicked Wednesday pic.
• Then you grab a book. Turn to page 28. Take the first sentence. And then you post it in your site with a link back to WW28.
• Come back to Cherry Mischievous - WW28 and give us the url of your post (in a comment at a WW28 post) so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

WW28 book offering : Bound By Darkness by Alexis Morgan

Not when all of you have proven your worth over and over again.

I'm just a sentimental old fool...

About Bound By Darkness:

Caught between two worlds, a powerful warrior must choose between impossible destinies when he meets a woman whose love will either make or break him. . . .

As the daughter of a Regent, Sasha has long known about the secret underworld of the Paladins and their work protecting her kind from the dark forces on the other side of the energy barrier. So when she is sent on her first solo investigation, on the path to becoming the first female Regent, she is determined to get the Seattle Paladins in line. Offering sanctuary to their Kalith enemies is simply unacceptable!

But when she meets Larem, she is inexorably drawn to a dark and valiant warrior who is not at all what he appears to be. As the power struggle between Regents and Paladins rages on, someone starts making attacks on her life. Sasha must choose between loyalty to her own kind and the warrior she loves . . . with the very fate of humanity hanging in the balance.

Source: Info in the About Bound By Darkness was taken from the author's website at http://www.alexismorgan.com/boundbydarkness.html on 17/04/2011.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the review copy received.

WW28: DEFEAT THE DARKNESS

WW28
A chance to showcase your favourite!

• First you grab our Wicked Wednesday pic.
• Then you grab a book. Turn to page 28. Take the first sentence. And then you post it in your site with a link back to WW28.
• Come back to Cherry Mischievous - WW28 and give us the url of your post (in a comment at a WW28 post) so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

WW28 book offering : Defeat The Darkness by Alexis Morgan

He choked back his temper and aimed for somewhere close to polite when he spoke.

That is suppose to be our bad-assed hero...

About Defeat The Darkness:

Hard-eyed and hard-bodied, Hunter Fitzsimon isn't what Tate Justice expected in a tenant for the apartment above her garage. Terse and intensely private, Hunter's mission is to protect a narrow stretch of the barrier between Earth and Kalithia against the Paladins' ruthless enemies -- a job that would be much easier without his sexy landlady nosing around. So when she follows Hunter into the woods late one night, he decides to teach Tate a lesson with a passionate kiss that brings her to her knees...and unexpectedly ignites red-hot desire deep in his soul. But the warrior's dark and dangerous world is no place for his fiery lover. Does possessing Tate mean turning his back on his brethren...or will Hunter forsake the woman of his dreams for the harsh duty he's always known?

Source: Info in the About Defeat The Darkness was taken from the author's website at http://www.alexismorgan.com/defeat_the_darkness.html on 12/04/2011.

Review: THE DARKNESS BEYOND

The Darkness Beyond by Alexis Morgan
Book 8 of The Paladins series

Genre: adult urban fantasy

About The Darkness Beyond:

An online game of cat and mouse leads a Paladin warrior on a deadly rescue mission to claim the irresistible lover who should be his greatest enemy.

D. J. Clayborne has finally met his match. After weeks of playing cyber tag, a mysterious hacker bests D.J. at his own game. His nemesis downloads a top-secret history of the Paladins, forcing him to go on the hunt. The trail leads D.J. straight to Regina Morrison, a woman who is as sexy as she is talented in the cyber world.

Reggie has been working around the clock to stop a legendary computer hacker from accessing her clients' files. She just hasn't told her boss she found the intriguing culprit weeks ago. The last thing she expects to have D.J. show up on her doorstep and that he's even sexier than his evasive avatar. Now they're flirting with a dangerous line between duty and desire.

Reggie's deep investigation gets her kidnapped by the Others and forced across the hostile energy barrier into an alien world. Now it's up to D.J. to track down the captivating woman whose ability to break through his firewalls is also breaking through to his warrior's heart.

Source: Info in the About The Darkness Beyond was taken from the author's website at http://www.alexismorgan.com/darknessbeyond.html on 16/06/2011.

Review:

When I started reading this book, it came back to me again, the question I had when I first started reading this series: Why can't they just plug the "barrier" with mortar and concrete? Or a boatload of TNT! Looked effective enough when Kolar blew up that "barrier" section at the lava caves... But then again if they do that, we won't need Paladins to defend our world and then we won't have a story!! That is one logic flaw in the world building which I chose to ignore while reading this series. However, it is starting to nag me now. I like it better if the world building does not have gaping flaws staring right back at me like that. And another thing, it is also starting to read like same old, same old. I love the world of the Paladins, mind, just wish that this book didn't have the feel of "same old, same old" kinda thing. And I sure do like the man-candy on the cover!! The story telling is the same masterpiece quality so the story flowed well and the book read realtively fast. Despite this being Book 8 in the series, there is enough info there so that a reader who is new to the series can keep up and understand the story, fine. So I think this book can be read on it's own, though I do not suggest it because it mentions characters and events from previous books which will spoil the previous books for a reader if planning to read them after this book. Which you will want to read because this author has such a compelling author's voice. The ending is another HEA and am happy. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would give it a 4 out of 5.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 3
Ending = 4
Cover art = 4
Pace = 4

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Series:


Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the review copy received.

Review: BOUND BY DARKNESS

Bound By Darkness by Alexis Morgan
Book 7 of The Paladins series

Genre: adult urban fantasy

About Bound By Darkness:

Caught between two worlds, a powerful warrior must choose between impossible destinies when he meets a woman whose love will either make or break him. . . .

As the daughter of a Regent, Sasha has long known about the secret underworld of the Paladins and their work protecting her kind from the dark forces on the other side of the energy barrier. So when she is sent on her first solo investigation, on the path to becoming the first female Regent, she is determined to get the Seattle Paladins in line. Offering sanctuary to their Kalith enemies is simply unacceptable!

But when she meets Larem, she is inexorably drawn to a dark and valiant warrior who is not at all what he appears to be. As the power struggle between Regents and Paladins rages on, someone starts making attacks on her life. Sasha must choose between loyalty to her own kind and the warrior she loves . . . with the very fate of humanity hanging in the balance.

Source: Info in the About Bound By Darkness was taken from the author's website at http://www.alexismorgan.com/boundbydarkness.html on 17/04/2011.

Review:
I read this book right after Deafeat The Darkness so there is continuity in the reading process. So this book started off alright. Then it became slower as I progressed. That has to be strange! Like, I expected to finish this book within a few days, a week the most. But it's been like, what, a month? That's slow! I have to give the pace a lower rating than the other Paladin books with that. The book is not bad, it's just not a quick read for me. Or it could be that my reading experience has been affected by my having the flu.That flu was one heck of a virulent one. It knocked me down flat for two weeks!! Having said that, the pace still felt a bit slower compared to the other books in the series though. However I still like the story telling quality of this author and will continue to read other work by Alexis Morgan. Like the way she tells a story!A lovely enough read that I would give it a 4 out of 5. But this being book 7 in the series, I would suggest that you read the previous books first before reading this one because it will give you a better understanding and greater appreciation of characters and events.

Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Ending = 3.5
Cover art = 4
Pace = 3

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Series:



Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the review copy received.

Review: DEFEAT THE DARKNESS

Defeat The Darkness by Alexis Morgan
Book 6 of The Paladins series

Genre: adult urban fantasy

About Defeat The Darkness:

Hard-eyed and hard-bodied, Hunter Fitzsimon isn't what Tate Justice expected in a tenant for the apartment above her garage. Terse and intensely private, Hunter's mission is to protect a narrow stretch of the barrier between Earth and Kalithia against the Paladins' ruthless enemies -- a job that would be much easier without his sexy landlady nosing around. So when she follows Hunter into the woods late one night, he decides to teach Tate a lesson with a passionate kiss that brings her to her knees...and unexpectedly ignites red-hot desire deep in his soul. But the warrior's dark and dangerous world is no place for his fiery lover. Does possessing Tate mean turning his back on his brethren...or will Hunter forsake the woman of his dreams for the harsh duty he's always known?

Source: Info in the About Defeat The Darkness was taken from the author's website at http://www.alexismorgan.com/defeat_the_darkness.html on 12/04/2011.

Review:
This book picked up where Darkness Unknown (book 5) left off, sort of. The Missouri Paladin, Hunter, got hurt really bad in book 5, and here his story continues. It was slow going at first but the pace did pick up about halfway through and moved faster as it neared the end. I love the world of the Paladins even if their world is stintingly unbelievable. I put it down to the author's story telling abilities that convinced me to suspend disbelief when I first started reading this series. With this book though it felt like the story telling magic of the author has waned a bit. And maybe that was why this book started rather slow. But I hope this is a temporary setback and will go away when I read Bound By Darkness.

Defeat The Darkness being book 6 in the series, I strongly suggest you read the previous book first before reading this one as some crucial events in book 5 will give the reader a better understanding of the events and characters in this book.

A lovely enough read that I would give it a 4 out of 5. Looking forward to reading Bound By Darkness.

Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Ending = 4
Cover art = 3.5
Pace = 4

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Series: