Category: Paranormal Rom/Urban Fantasy

Book Review: Blaze by Lisa Carlisle

RATING 5 out of 5 Stars

BLAZE: A GARGOYLE SHIFTER ROCKSTAR ROMANCE (Underground Encounters #6) by Lisa Carlisle is another great addition to the paranormal romance series based around VAMPS nightclub. These books are all romances, all have paranormal creatures and can be read as standalones, but they are also intertwined and building a unique world with crossover characters.

Mike is the lead guitarist of the Velvet Cocks. Outrageous rock star by night and computer geek by day, Mike has taken full advantage of the girls who want to sleep with him for one night stands, never more. One night in VAMPS, he runs across a scene that has the head gargoyle/bouncer telling him to take a pretty blonde out of there and protect her. When he takes the girl out of there, she seems familiar, but he cannot remember her name.

Allana “Ally” is humiliated and mad. Mike was her fantasy one night stand several months ago and here she is with him again and he does not even remember her name. Mike’s personal quirk though is he does not remember any names, but he remembers everything else about Allana. They both feel an attraction and agree to see each other again, but to keep it casual.

Allana has a past that no one knows about and she is not willing to risk her heart on a man who does not know how to be in a relationship. Mike cannot seem to stop thinking about only Allana and wants to spend every minute with her. He has an overwhelming urge to protect her, which leads to a discovery of his heritage that he knows nothing about.

This series is one of my guilty pleasures. I always know I am going to get an entertaining paranormal story with great characters and plenty of steaming hot sex scenes. Allana and Mike, even with the paranormal twists are portrayed with emotions that anyone can relate to. The romance, plot and paranormal and/or human characters all pull you right into the story. Ms. Carlisle’s worldbuilding has witches, vampires, gargoyles and shifters that make me want to meet them all at VAMPS.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Rosemary Wolfe, M.D. (Monster Doctor) (Loving Monsters, #1) by Rexanna Ipock-Brown

Title: Rosemary Wolfe, M.D. (Monster Doctor) (Loving Monsters Series Book 1)

Author: Rexanna Ipock-Brown

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Release Date: April 15, 2018

Cover Designer: Angela Fristoe at Covered Creatively http://www.coveredcreatively.com/

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Buy links:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2IIUocH

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Book Description:

Never date vampires.

Dr. Rosemary Wolfe loves her career as a physician and veterinarian to the Genetically Diverse Beings in her community. She’ll do almost anything to help them. Dating them is another matter. Been there, done that, almost married a psycho. A witch and werewolf, she’s convinced her differences make her unlovable, therefore she reluctantly embraces her friends-with-benefits lifestyle.

Bryce Gold meets Rosemary at a party and asks her on a date. After losing his last wife to a vengeful vampire, Bryce has sworn off serious relationships for good. Not a heartless vampire, he’s simply endured all the grief he can. But his thoughts are filled with the sexy Dr. Wolfe, and he’s reconsidering his principles. The more time they spend together, the more he realizes she could be the one to heal his heart.

Soon, Rosemary and Bryce find love might not be enough to save them from their pasts. They will have to awaken their neglected powers to save their lives and relationship.

CONTENT WARNING: This book includes an adventurous witch/wolf trying to find love. It contains smoking hot shifters and vampires, swoon-worthy love scenes, naughty language, and a dash of violence to spice things up. Intended for mature audiences

Goodreads book link:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39864667-rosemary-wolfe-m-d-monster-doctor

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My Book Review:

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

ROSEMARY WOLFE, M.D.: Monster Doctor (Loving Monsters, #1) by Rexanna Ipock-Brown is the start of a new paranormal romance series. This new world has your favorite vamps, weres, witches, shamans and daemons with a few new twists, suspense, hot sex scenes and light-hearted relief.

The great part of this new to me author’s writing are her characters. Rosemary Wolfe is a witch/werewolf hybrid who is brilliant as a doctor for the GDB (Genetically Diverse Beings), but is insecure in her personal life and her paranormal talents. She has a fear of unfamiliar vampires after being attacked by her ex-fiance vampire in a jealous rage, but is intrigued by the new head of the local blood bank, Bryce Gold. Bryce is a sexy alpha, 400 year old vampire who believes in love.

The author also introduces the reader to many other diverse characters during the world-building. Rosemary is friends with a long-term vampire couple, Johnathon and Edward. The story fills Rosemary’s new practice with interesting help and patients. Her family is quite diverse, also. The introduction of all of these characters is also my one problem with this novel. The world-building gets too intricate and bogs down the story in places. It is a delicate balance between setting up a new world and not writing everything into the first book. This story could have been a little leaner to make it more focused on Rosemary and Bryce’s romance and the suspense sub-plot and saved some of the character introductions for further into the series.

I am looking forward to reading more in this series. There are so many stories that can come from Rosemary and Bryce’s continuing romance, Rosemary continuing to explore her paranormal side and the characters introduced by her medical practice. This is a new paranormal with great characters, a growing romance and hot sex scenes.

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About Rexanna:

Rosemary Wolfe, M.D. (Monster Doctor) is Rexanna’s debut novel. Rexanna is a member of the Romance Writers of America and the Columbia chapter of the Missouri Writer’s Guild.

Rexanna’s characters are drawn from her work as a psychic consultant. She has assisted police departments with cold cases, was a popular guest on radio call-in shows, and has been featured on local and national television.

Rexanna married her college sweetheart, who also loves reading and is an easy blusher. Their long-shared Saturday afternoon activity is to go out for lunch and then to a library or bookstore. They’ve done this for most of their 35-year marriage.

Rexanna’s favorite hobbies include walking her dachshund/king cavalier spaniel rescue dog, collecting crystals, and reading romance novels.

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Social Media:

Website:http://rexannaswritings.com

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/rexannaswritings/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rexanna13

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17920790.Rexanna_Ipock_Brown

Book Review: Kiss Me, Bite Me by Sayara St. Clair

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

KISS ME, BITE ME (Blood Kissed #1) by Sayara St. Clair is described as a vampire paranormal romance, but it does not become a paranormal romance until well over halfway through the story. Normally because of this delay I would be disappointed, but the author’s writing, dialogue and contemporary romance in the beginning of the book is very well written and kept me reading and enjoying Kayana and Greg’s story.

Kayana Castello Branco is a scientist who studies blood. She overcame an abusive childhood and has never been secure in herself. Her one long-term relationship was lukewarm and ended the moment she bumped into a gorgeous stranger at a conference, but of course, with her luck he is taken.

Eight months later, Greg Morgan cannot believe his good fortune. He once again has run into the beautiful woman he could not forget. He is now free and the sparks are flying. Both Kayana and Greg believe they are the other’s soulmate. Their relationship and sex are beyond perfect until Greg disappears.

When Greg reappears, both Kayana and Greg want to return to their perfect relationship, but Greg is having control issues over his newly turned reality. Fangs and an insatiable thirst for blood may ruin this romance.

I enjoyed Kayana and Greg and was pulled into their romance. They were both unlucky in love until they found each other and then it was explosive. There are explicit sex scenes, but they are well written and interwoven into the plot. The author has written realistic and witty dialogue that added to the emotional pull between the characters. It is hard to categorize this book because the paranormal turn starts so late in the book, but even with the switch, I still was satisfied with the hero and heroine’s HEA. My only problem was that I do not feel that the cover is right for this book based on Kayana’s description and Greg grew the fangs.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.

Book Review: Heat by Lisa Carlisle

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

HEAT (Underground Encounters Book 5) by Lisa Carlisle is a fast paced novella that returns the reader to the hot and steamy paranormal romance world of VAMPS. All types of paranormal creatures are drawn to VAMPS and this novella features a gorgeous gargoyle shifter.

Tracy is a bartender at VAMPS who has overcome an abusive relationship. She has taken out an order of protection, taken self-defense classes and now focuses her personal life on attending college and spending time with her little brother when not working at VAMPS. Through all her troubles, Tracy has confided everything to the gargoyle statue by the bar. She does not know why she is drawn to the statue, but she considers it an old friend.

Danton is a powerful gargoyle shifter who transforms into human form to protect people in danger, but especially Tracy. He anxiously awaits her shifts at the club and yearns for her as a man. When Tracy’s ex shows up drunk and attacks her, Danton comes to life. Due to a curse, he only has twenty four hours in his human form to convince Tracy to spend the time with him and possibly more?

This novella has Tracy and Danton instantly attracted and having sex. There is a twenty four hour time limit and it is a novella, so it calls for a quick hook-up, but based on Tracy’s past with abuse, I felt very uncomfortable with her decision. The author does take you through Tracy’s thought process and explains her feelings, but I feel it would have made a better novel length story with the topic of abuse. Tracy and Danton are well written for the shortness of the story and I really did like them. As always in this series, Ms. Carlisle’s sex scenes are smokin’ hot and steamy and a new paranormal lover appears in each with interesting world-building and backstory.

I will be looking forward to more stories coming out of VAMPS and the Underground Encounter series.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.

Book Review: Burn by Lisa Carlisle

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

BURN (Underground Encounters Book 4) by Lisa Carlisle is another sizzling addition to the VAMPS paranormal romance series. When you sit down to read about Devon and Layla, clear your schedule because you are going to want read this one from start to finish.

Layla flees London for her immortal life. She has been framed for a theft from a master vampire, who does not believe in her innocence. She returns to America and reinvents herself as “Angelica”, the new lead singer for an 80’s heavy metal cover band.

Devon St. Clair has a reputation as one of the best bounty hunters for hire. Ruthless and relentless, he always gets his man or woman. Aided by his years in Royal Special Forces, he is also a shifter. He can shift into any animal form and every one of them hates vampires. When he catches up to Layla at VAMPS, he is entranced by her and her voice, but he cannot let that get in the way of his job, can he?

This series just keeps pulling me in and I have to say that I especially loved Layla and Devon! Layla is petite and yet mighty, in character and physical strength. Devon is all hot, tough shifter and yet has softer, vulnerable moments that appear for Layla. The sex scenes are smokin’ hot and steaming. The plot is not unique, but Ms. Carlisle puts some interesting twists into this world of paranormal creatures that makes them unique. This book can easily be read as a standalone in this series, but I bet if you love paranormal romances as I do, you will want to read them all.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.

Book Review: Ignite by Lisa Carlisle

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

IGNITE (Underground Encounters Book 3) by Lisa Carlisle is now my favorite of this series!

Vamps underground nightclub is the epicenter of each book in this paranormal romance series that are all easily read as standalone stories. Ms. Carlisle’s world of vampires, shifters, witches and gargoyles just keeps getting better and better.

Book 3 has Lily Everett celebrating a promotion with her friend at Vamps. Lily works hard at her job, works out hard at the gym and is an avid reader who has occasional sex with no commitments. Lily’s night out is interrupted by The Velvet Cocks lead singer and she is not thrilled until she hears him sing. He has a sensual voice that captivates her. Lily is interested, but very guarded and a loner because she has a furry secret that she never shares.

Nico Bedrosian aka Leggy Bones is a rock star by night and a computer geek by day. He is intrigued by the golden eyed beauty who does not seemed interested in him. He gets Lily to let him in enough to be a friend with benefits and those benefits are extremely hot!

Real feelings begin to grow on both sides, but Lily refuses to share why they can never be together. Nico wants to break down Lily’s walls and find out why she is so afraid to commit, but can he really handle the truth?

Lily and Nico are both well fleshed out characters that have many layers to their personalities that make them unique. You can feel for Lily having to grow up with her secret and being too afraid to share. Nico is just perfect with his rock star looks and voice, literary knowledge, geekiness and English accent. These two have explicit, steamy, smokin’ hot sex scenes throughout the story, but they are well placed and realistic to the building relationship.

Ms. Carlisle has built an intriguing paranormal world around Vamps and each book has increased my interest and love of the series. I cannot wait to see who will be introduced next!

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.