TJ Michaels

Mesmerized by Lauren Dane

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had the privilege of reading an ARC of Lauren Dane’s Mesmerized. Of all the Federation Chronicles ‘verse books written by Lauren Dane, Relentless was my favorite…until now.

We met a hottie named Andrei Solace in the previous Phantom Corps novel, Insatiable. Mezmerized is Andrei’s story.

This man is emotionally deep. We already know he’s a bad ass, but there’s so much more to Andrei. I love the way the author peels back the layers and exposes his strengths and vulnerabilities a bit at a time.

The heroine, Piper Roundtree, is a hoot. She’s sassy (not bitchy), stubborn and determined to protect those she loves. Piper is an awesome match for Andrei, both in and out of bed. Actually she reminds me of…me *cough cough*! Snarky, smart, yet willing to learn as her role in Andrei’s life becomes more defined and complicated.

Also, I love that Lauren keeps true to one of the things she does best – showing family ties. The relationships make sense, feel ‘true’, and the boundaries are clear.

The romance is sizzling, not too much, not too little. This book made me laugh out loud (there’s a certain scene where the hero and heroine are talking and Piper is showing out in a good way. I laughed my ass off!). It made me want to cry as I watched the main characters grow, as well as deal with heart wrenching losses. And it pissed me off as I watched all the cast work their way through deadly situations together. I wanted to climb into the book and kick the bad guys myself.

The world is so vibrant and the characters so well written, it engaged my emotions, my senses, even my conscience.

This is a damn good book!

Book 1 – Undercover
Book 2 – Relentless
Book 3 – Insatiable (Federation Chronicles, #3)


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Sin Undone by Larissa Ione

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my first Larissa Ione book and my god, it has everything! I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that integrated so many different types of paranormal beings (vamps, demons, shifters, etc) seamlessly! The plot was totally unique and the world in which they play is very well done. This is book five in the series so now I’ve got to get the previous volumes.



I was able to read this book independently without reading all the others, though I did get a bit lost a few times in who was who. Overall, it was a fabulous book.



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This book is part of the Wasteland series released from Samhain this summer. I think The Wanderer and The Priestess are my two favorites, though the entire four-book series was pretty good.

The Priestess by R.G. Alexander My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Now THIS was an awesome way to wrap up a series.

This is a classy novella. Yes, it’s hot as hell, but the love scenes are done in such a manner that the book doesn’t feel bawdy, sex-for-sex-sake or raunchy. It’s absolutely beautiful. You get into the emotional and psychological ‘bits’ of the main characters without any unnecessary dialog or ‘dry’ parts. The world building is nicely done without being overdone. I do, however, think it’s best read after reading at least one or two of the others.There were a couple of spots where I would have said, “Huh?” if I hadn’t already been at least a little familiar with the world.

I would have liked to have learned more about Siraj. He felt asif his story is deep and should have been told in greater detail, perhaps in a separate book or something. But I still loved the character. Given his position in the story (literally and figuratively) he didn’t feel like a third wheel, just hanging on to our main couple. The author did an awesome job of integrating a man into the relationship who shouldn’t have fit yet in the end, he felt like he was supposed to be there.

In addition, this book told us how the world and its customs/beliefs came into being. And it was quite a surprise. All of the characters mentioned in the previous three books were brought around (not physically, but a mention was all it took to explain where they fit into our characters’ lives). At the end of the book there were no loose ends, everything was tidy and very nicely wrapped up.



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