Iced by Karen Marie Moning *SPOILERS*

I'm going to just dive right into this review for this book. No beating around the bush. I LOVED this book soooooooo much! I can't even add enough o's to so that is how much I loved it. But I have found the fever series to be one of my absolute faves, so I am not at all surprised by how much I loved it. I was, however, just a little bit cautious about reading ICED, in fact I had in earlier in the year from the library and chose not to read it at the time. I think because I was so in love with the Mac and Barrons books that I was nervous at just how I would feel about the first book from Dani O'Malley's point of view. But I shouldn't have been worried, not one little bit.

This book is the first one as of late that I haven't wanted to put down and stayed up til 2 or 3 in the morning reading, making me wake up with red eyes. But it was so worth it. Dani is a breath of fresh air in the world that has fallen completely apart in Dublin AWC, which is after the wall crashed. If you haven't read the fever series, I would suggest doing that before you try to figure out Dani's book because the whole story just continues from the fifth fever book, only in Dani's and Christian Mackeltar's points of view.

Dani is young, fourteen and going through all the teenage hormones we all love remembering. Being emotional. Grumpy. Upset for no reason. All that and more are going through Dani's head all the time and she is really good at keeping her cool. At the beginning of the book she (literally) runs into Ryodan while she's freeze framing and Ryodan wants her to work for him. I suspect Ryodan wants more from her than that, but she is too young to see the things I as a reader saw. KMM does an amazing job at writing her character as a naive young teenager who is full of emotions she doesn't understand. She also does an amazing job at writing her other characters. I always fall in love with the characters.

Dani eventually gets corralled into working for Ryodan and trying to find out why people and places throughout Dublin are getting ICED. No warning, no nothing, things are just freezing over and randomly exploding. People are getting killed left and right and none of them have no way of knowing why. So they go to each scene and investigate.

But the whole while this is going on, Dani is being followed by Christian Mackeltar, whom wants to protect her at all costs. He was once a Highlander and now is turning into an Unseelie Prince from the outside in. His power is astonishing, but he won't hurt Dani. I think he's halfway to the moon and back about her. But she doesn't see that until he starts dropping more than subtle hints to her. All the while, you've got Ryodan fighting for her to stay by his side, (which is quite funny to see) and Dancer, her all too human friend who helps her out the most and understands her the most out of anyone.

One of my favorite things that happens throughout this book is the jealousy that occurs when Ryodan starts sleeping with Jo, Dani's sidhe-seer sister who is working at Chester's, Ryodan's club because she was weasled into it to get Dani to sign a contract to work for Ryodan. It makes Dani so angry and jealous because of her own feelings that she's developing for Ryodan, I suspect. But she doesn't even know that she's jealous and that is where KMM really nails it in her writing. I just love this author, will read anything she publishes. She's that good at her job.

Of course, Ryodan only has eyes for Dani, at least some kind of eyes even though we haven't quite figured it out yet. Right now he only wants her to work for him, but the jealousy that comes anytime she smells of Christian and the anger, it would suggest some kind of feelings. But he makes it clear he cares for her, way more than any others, when he sends the five star steak meal to her to make sure she eats.

All in all, Iced was an amazing read that will probably become one of my book that I read over and over when nothing else catches my attention. I can't wait for the next one to come out, and I know there is quite a long wait until that happens. But I bet it will be worth it!!

Beauty Awakened by Gena Showalter *SPOILERS*

Let me start by saying I really enjoyed this book. Angels and Demons, oh my! And in the midst of everything, a love story that really kinda touched me. This book had a little bit of everything I like, and that's saying something because I am usually a vampire girl, but of course there are only so many GOOD vampire reads and I am trying to branch off just a little bit.

Moving on, this book starts with Koldo, a Sent One for the Angels above. Sent ones are you basic warrior angels, fighting to get rid of the horrible demons who plague the humans. Koldo is wandering through a hospital trying to find the demon he has been charged to kill and slam bam! He runs right into two humans, one in the hospital bed with a demon eating her up from the inside and her twin, sitting beside her trying to talk to her sister. Laila is ate alive with fear because the demon has prayed upon her and she gave in to it, Nicola is her twin sister and also has two demons following her around. Well, what was Koldo to do? Save them, of course.

So in between a love blossoms between the mighty warrior and the human with the frail heart. But is she actually a human? Read the book. You might find out. I'm sure not telling.

There's all kind of other stuff going on, Koldo's father is after him after he thought he had killed him, a nasty Nefas Demon who wants his son to marry his daughter and provide him offspring. Yup. I said it. He wants his son to marry his daughter. Incest, anyone?

Also, Koldo's mother has been imprisoned by, you guessed it, him. Koldo can't fight the hatred of what his mother did to him as a child. The reason he cannot soar through the skies is due to the woman who he looked up to. The woman he wanted only to look at him with love in her eyes, not hate shining from their depths.

We also see a budding friendship between Axel and Koldo, which is kinda fun. I can't wait to read Axel's book. Hopefully, it will be next. His charm is off the charts.

So basically, I loved this book from the first page and flipped through in about a 24 hour period. It was fun, sexy, and a little bit dark, but the dark parts explained the back story of why Koldo is so filled with rage. Nicola, of course, teaches him to work through that and together they  make a great team, especially in the end!

Now, on to other thoughts. Do you ever just feel utterly unappreciated by everyone around you. I am going through this whole, "I wish I could run away from life" phase and it's not getting an easier to deal with. I pick up a book to escape reality so I don't have to deal with anything. Well, at least late at night.

Work is demanding. I am in customer service and people treat me as scum they need to scrape off their shoe. Home is demanding, my kids especially. But I just feel like when I talk nobody listens. When I have concerns to share, they just aren't important. And when I share how I feel about something going on around here it's an attack against someone else. I swear, sometimes I don't know how much I can take. Anybody else dealing with these issues right now have anything to share to help me? Counting to ten just isn't doing it anymore!

Thanks for reading! And don't mind my rant, I'm sure I'll be just fine tomorrow:)

Two More

Since my last post, I have read the last two Psy-Changeling books that I had at the time, Play of Passion by Nalini Singh which featured Drew and Indigo.  Kiss of Snow was about Hawke and Sienna and boy, I didn't want to put it down. But I'll get to that in a second.

Okay, so first things first, Play of Passion was just that. Drew and Indigo's mating seemed to take forever, both of their wolves playing for dominance. Indigo being the highest ranking female wolf in the Snowdancer Pack made it a very difficult challenge, but in the end Drew's playful passion won her over. But I have to say I immensely enjoyed reading this story, it was funny when it needed to be and serious when it needed to be. A good read.

But, that being said, Kiss of Snow took all the cookies for me. It was exciting, it was frustrating and it was passionately crazy. Sienna, an 18 year old Psy who had defected from the Psy Net with her family after some of the events from the past occurred, fell right into the Snowdancer Pack and Hawke, the alpha. She was young, too young for Hawke to feel right with his feelings, and believing that he would never have a mate because the wolf he had been destined to mate had died long ago. But they had never actually mated, so he was wrong. Of course it took the stubborn alpha forever and a day to actually realize that. Sienna is also a ticking time bomb, being an X-Psy who were only ever destined to become a weapon of destruction. She doesn't want to face the truth, that an X will eventually become too powerful and that power will have to find an outlet, most of the time being blowing themselves and everything them around them up. She eventually faces the truth of herself.

Also, Walker and Lara's mating occurred in this story as well, and I have to say I was very happy to see that happen. Walker was so stony cold that I never thought he would open up for anybody, but he ended up doing just that with the healer of the Snowdancer Pack. Walker is also Sienna's family and it was nice to see both of them get their HEA!

Kiss of Snow was a pageturner, a book I didn't want to put down and I'm so glad I decided to read this series. But this was by far my favorite book of the series, even though I did enjoy them all.

Finally done!

I finally finished. It has been a hectic week and I have only been able to read about a chapter or two a night, but Bonds of Justice was a great read. Nalini Singh really came through for me at the end of this book, even making me feel the emotion behind the words written there. I fell in love with the characters as I did in every one of the books in Psy-Changeling books I've read so far.

Max and Sophia overcame so much in this inspiring story. Pulled together by forces unknown, these two became partners for one of the council of the Psy, Nikita Duncan, when someone started targeting and murdering people from her close, personal staff. They had to work together and it was very difficult for them to do, especially since Sophia herself is a member of the Psy race, who is supposed to be in the throes of silence. She is supposed to be cold, impersonal. But she meets Max and is instantly attracted to him in a way that she has never been attracted to anyone before. Now she finds herself in a bit of a pickle because since she is a Justice Psy-who can take memories from a person's mind and provide the information in legal courts-and all she wants is Max's strong hands on her body. The problem is if she has any physical contact with another person her walls will collapse and it will kill her.

With all the problems they already had to overcome, they find themselves in real trouble when a certain serial killer targets Sophia and escapes from prison in order to find her, kidnap her and kill her.

I have to say this story kept me engrossed in it's wonderful words from beginning to end and I didn't want to put it down(even though I had to because I had to go to work). Real life really sucks sometimes.

In the meantime, I started the next installment of the Psy-Changeling books. And I got my flower beds completely reconstructed. Of course, my husband did a lot of the work. He is very talented with landscaping and I wish he would pursue work along those lines. He does an amazing job. I planted my roses and can't wait to see if they take off. I just love roses! Thanks for reading and I hope to have more soon!