What We Are Reading

Welcome to November's What We Are Reading column. Today, we have Eleni Konstantine, Cassandra Shaw, Jess Anastasi and Shona Husk.

~Eleni Konstantine~

In the last couple of months, I’ve finished a few books. But the two that have really stood out for me are by writing buddies.

End of the Night Girl by Amy T. Matthews (fellow SARA member) is not spec fiction, but is speculative in a sense. It’s about a waitress Molly and her life of is of late nights, swearing, having sex with her boss, and feeling disconnected from the world. She is haunted and obsessed by a photo of a Polish Jewish girl who was murdered during the holocaust. The two lives intertwine until Molly doesn’t know what’s real anymore. It’s a thought provoking tale, with powerful imagery and raw emotion. Absolutely stunning storytelling.

Death’s Sweet Embrace by Tracey O’Hara (fellow DarkSider) is the second book in the Dark Brethren series. It was gripping from the first page until the last, with cool characters, emotional punch, and great kick butt characters. Kitt is the story’s main protagonist, though we still get moments with Antoinette from Night’s Cold Kiss. They are different but both believe in fighting for their families and for the good of the world. Kitt’s reunited with her ex-lover, Raven (oh, yum) and father of the twins she had to give up at birth for a better life. Finally after many years, she can start having some sort of relationship with her girls. Surprises and twists abound, and the history they knew is about to be turned on its head. You will not be disappointed. I can’t wait for book three.

~Cassandra Shaw~

Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh is the 4th in the Phys-Changeling Series.

If you like your heroes a little dark you’ll love this book.

I became an avid fan of Nalini When I read her Archangel Series, so I had to have more and discovered her Phys-Changeling Series which I love equally. Caressed by Ice, follows Judd Lauren, a Phys, who has escaped the hold of the net (a linked mental connection to millions of other Phys-a species of human). Although Judd has left the net, he still deals with life as a Phys, not feeling or showing emotions. Emotions are trained out of all Phys as children but as Judd is an Arrow, an elite soldier, he was trained far more harshly than other Phys. Inside him lives a violent darkness even he doesn’t want to wake.

To escape other Phys and the net, he lives and hides with a Changeling Pack of Wolves. Living here, he grows to know Brenna Kincaid, a wolf who was abducted by a rogue Phys and tortured physically and mentally. Wolf Changeling’s are born to touch and show emotions in every way. Even though Brenna is drawn to the handsome Judd, she can’t understand his emotionless state, even though she craves his company. And neither can understand the physical attraction that draws them. The catch is for Judd to show emotion and desire means he could release his darkest side. Awakening emotions could not only cause permanent brain damage or kill Judd, the dark side of his personality, the part that made him one of the most deadly assassins in the Phys net could be released to kill anyone, including Brenna.

This story is fast paced and one of those reads where you out take the book everywhere with you and are sorry the story finished. As Judd is out of the net and Brenna is a wolf the reader also gets a reprieve from the Phys-net descriptions of the previous three of the series

~Jess Anastasi~

This month I've been on a historical romance bent. Historicals were actually the first type of romance I read, and the only kind I read for a lot of years. So I've been getting back to basics with authors like Julia Quinn, Suzanne Enoch, Karen Hawkins and Elizabeth Boyle to name a few. The book I've just finished was Love Letters From a Duke by Elizabeth Boyle. I sort of already knew what to expect story-wise because I read Ms Boyle's Bachelor Chronicals out of order, so had gotten hints about what had happened between Miss Felicity Langly and Thatcher, the Duke of Hollindrake, already. And while Felicity's character wasn't all that much of a surprise because she also features a lot in the other Bachelor Chronicals books, Thatcher was a pleasant surprise. He wasn't your run-of-the-mill duke. He was the third son of a third son, so quite a lot of prospective Dukes had to die in order for Thatcher to inherit. He'd gone off to war and didn't even know he was in line to inherit until his grandfather, the previous duke died, causing Thatcher to return... only to find out his grandfather had so graciously already arranged a match for him! This book was really great, as Elizabeth Boyle books usually are. I read it in a little over a day because I just couldn't put it down. And now I'm on the search for another delicious historical romance to gobble up!

~Shona Husk~

I’ve been catching up on some of my reading and trying to make room on my TBR shelf (and failing because I keep buying books).

Nightfall by Ellen Connor

This is a magical takeover of life as we know it. Technology fails and people are changing—not always for the better. It’s a harsh new world and not everyone will survive—but it was a lot of fun to read about. And while I’d worked out what was going to happen at the end the ride was still worthwhile (I’ve bought book 2 and pre-ordered book 3 that’s how much I enjoyed it).





Faerie Tale by Raymond E Feist



I read this as a teenager and because hubby is a Feist fan decided to re-read it and see if it was as creepy as I remembered. It was, but I didn’t like the ending this time round and I wanted more of the faries—and more from them. 





Backstage Pass by Olivia Cunning

I have a soft spot for a rock star hero (they’re fun to write as well as read about) and Backstage Pass didn’t disappoint. It is an erotic romance and there were a few times where I did blink and think ‘but they’ve only known each other 5 minutes and they’re doing that’, but I still really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to picking up book 2 in the series.

Happy Reading

Shona