EMBRACE THE NIGHT (take 2)

Embrace The Night by Karen Chance
Book 3 of the Cassandra Palmer series

My review is here.

Further Input:
With Embrace The Night, the openning volley has our protagonist being chased and shot at by the bad guys at the cemetery as Cassie tried to play "tomb raider". Here I found a nice pic which nicely portrays my idea of that scene... (Image taken from artist Tony Mauro's website at http://www.darkdayproductions.com/ on 13/06/2010).

About Embrace The Night:

Recently named the world’s chief clairvoyant, Cassandra Palmer still has a thorn in her side. As long as Cassie and a certain master vampire—the sizzling-hot Mircea—are magically bound to each other, her life will never be her own …

The spell that binds them can only be broken with an incantation found in the Codex Merlini, an ancient grimoire. The Codex’s location has been lost in the present day, so Cassie will have to seek it out in the only place it can still be found—the past.

But Cassie soon realizes the Codex has been lost for a reason. The book is rumored to contain some seriously dangerous spells, and retrieving it may help Cassie to deal with Mircea, but it could also endanger the world…

Source: Info in the About Embrace The Night was taken from the author's website at http://www.karenchance.com/books_embracethenight.html on 13/06/2010.

CURSE THE DAWN

Curse The Dawn by Karen Chance
Book 4 of the Cassandra Palmer series

About This Book:

Cassandra Palmer may be the all-powerful Pythia now, but that doesn’t mean people have stopped trying to kill her. Most of the supernatural power players don’t want the independent minded Cassie as chief clairvoyant—and they’ll stop at nothing to see her six feet under.

The Vampire Senate does support Cassie in her position, but their protection comes with a price: an alliance with the sexy master vampire Mircea, who has claimed Cassie as his own.

But even the vampires will have trouble keeping Cassie alive now that the self-styled god Apollo, the source of the Pythia’s power, has it in for her in a big way. To save her life—and the world—Cassie’s going to have to face down her creator once and for all.

Source: Info in the About This Book was taken from the author's website at http://www.karenchance.com/books_ctd.html on 28/10/09.

Cherry's Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries


Genre: urban fantasy, chicklit, time travel

This book has adult content.

Verdict:

• Best book in the Cassandra Palmer series
• Witty, funny and fast-paced

My Take On This Book:
The story-telling quality is quite compelling. The characters stay with you long after you've finished reading the book. Characters which readers can connect with. Like all Cassandra Palmer books, this one is also fast-paced and action-filled. I think the author has refined her writing skills because there is a definite improvement. No more of that annoying tendencies to paint the protagonist stupid just to add a bit more drama to the scene which I find irritating to read in a book. Another thing I really like about this book is the fine sense of humor in the telling of the story. Christ, it had me in stitches!! Ms. Chance was firing on all cylinders when she was working on this book! Over all I gave this book a 5 out of 5. Curse The Dawn has restored my love for this series which I lost after reading Claimed By Shadow (Book 2). I was so disappointed by book 2 that I stopped reading and buying Karen Chance altogether. But Tesco had a sale about three weeks ago and I ended up buying six books. Before reading this book, I would never pay £6.99 (which is the usual RRP) for Karen Chance's books. But now I would buy again.

EMBRACE THE NIGHT

Embrace The Night by Karen Chance
Book 3 of the Cassandra Palmer series.

About This Book:

Recently named the world’s chief clairvoyant, Cassandra Palmer still has a thorn in her side. As long as Cassie and a certain master vampire—the sizzling-hot Mircea—are magically bound to each other, her life will never be her own …

The spell that binds them can only be broken with an incantation found in the Codex Merlini, an ancient grimoire. The Codex’s location has been lost in the present day, so Cassie will have to seek it out in the only place it can still be found—the past.

But Cassie soon realizes the Codex has been lost for a reason. The book is rumored to contain some seriously dangerous spells, and retrieving it may help Cassie to deal with Mircea, but it could also endanger the world...

Source: Info in the About This Book was taken from the author's website at http://www.karenchance.com/books_embracethenight.html on 25/10/09.

Cherry's Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


Genre: urban fantasy, chicklit, time travel

This book has adult content.

Verdict: Fast-paced and never a dull moment.

My Take On This Book:
The story-telling quality is good although it has some annoying tendencies like trying to paint the female protagonist as stupid in an effort to create more drama in the story. I find that irritating to read. There is also too many time travels back and forth, back and forth, which is kinda dizzying to the reader. Having said that, the author has cleverly avoided paradoxes which is the usual pitfall of time tavel stories. This book is also fast-paced and never a boring moment. On the whole I would give this book a 3 and a half out of five.