ARC REVIEW Wolf in her Soul by N.J. Walters

I love finding good paranormal romance, too bad I didn't find it sooner! Book 8 in N.J. Walters' Salvation Pack series it can be read as a stand alone, less than half of the book actually takes place in Salvation Pack so the past couples make an appearance but it's not so overwhelming that you feel lost in the past history of the pack.

Reece Gallagher has been working as a Detective in Chicago for the last ten years searching for a dream. He hates being away from his pack mates and his family especially his twin brother but he has had the same dream for as long as he can remember it's of a faceless woman with red hair who needs his help and she's in Chicago. Reece is on the verge of giving up he's already put in his notice to quit when he gets called on an assault and the woman, the victim, is the red head in his dreams.

Hannah Burdette has lived her life on the run, always prepared to leave at a moments notice and how to defend herself all because she's a half breed. Her Father raised her taught her to always hide who she is because if a full blooded wolf ever found her it could mean her death. When she turned eighteen he left and ever since Hannah has been on her own. Hannah never knew anything else never expected anything else so when she is attacked by a full blooded wolf she is prepared to leave and never look back but the cop assigned to her case isn't going to let her go alone. Reece convinces Hannah that she will be safe with his pack and they start to head out of Chicago and head to Virginia, and Reece's home. Hannah has a hard time accepting everything Reece is telling her because it is so different than what she is use to, and the sheer thought that they are mates is completely foreign to her. Hannah also is finding it difficult to accept the packs help for fear that something might happen to them because of her. Reece has the whole drive to convince her otherwise.

Overall, the suspense conflict with the full blooded psychopathic wolf ends too quickly for me, leaving the latter half of the book to deal with Hannah's internal conflict. Which is fine I love good internal conflict, but I love suspense even more. Other then that I really enjoyed this book.       

ARC REVIEW Unspeakable by Nina Croft

Beyond Human book two , and I warn you even though there is a nice "Previously on Beyond Human" at the start of this book I would recommend reading the first book before this one. It has a very complex bad story the is even a bit confusing in the first book so I can only imagine how it might be confusing if you haven't read the first one especially since the end of the last book explains so much. But not so much that this book doesn't have secrets it has plenty to reveal too. This is definitely leaning more toward sci-fi than just paranormal and I'm loving it.

Sadie and her family have always been special, they each have extraordinary abilities. They were being held against their will forces to do the bidding of a secret agency and experimented on. After they escaped they discovered they had more abilities than they knew. One of Sadie's new talents has been dreaming the future, and she has lately been dreaming of one man. She manipulates it so she can meet him but she doesn't realize until it's too late that he is part of the secret agency that kept her prisoner most of life and was responsible for the death of her sister.

Ethan Weiland was born into the Conclave and is destined to one day rule the whole organization, but ever since the death of his mother he's been having doubts. Even more so now members have been dying and his cousin is missing and now a mysterious woman is trying to blackmail him. When Sadie reveals who she is and Ethan looks into her claims he discovers she's telling the truth and everything he suspected about the Conclave was right, but he wants one thing from her in return she can dig through all the records and find out where her people (who were kidnapped in the last book) have been taken. In the meantime Sadie and Ethan deal with their strong attraction to each other and learn to trust each other.

Overall, much like the first book a lot happens and it's all very exciting and very intriguing. Sadie and Ethan are hot! I can't wait to see where Nina Croft takes us next.   
    

ARC REVIEW Diffraction by Jess Anastani

OMG! My first read of the new year and wow. I love this series, it is best if you read all books in order because the main story arc that continues throughout all the books. Diffraction is no different from the first two books, it has a great emotional connection between all the characters and nice chemistry between the two main characters. There is great external conflict between Varean and various other characters and Varean's internal struggle with himself; what he's been hiding all of his life gave the character so much more depth. Kira much like everyone else on board the Imojenna has a past she'd rather not remember or think about. Continued through the story along with the silent war on the Reidar is Rian and Ella's hectic love/hate romance. Love that I hope their book is soon, stop teasing us Jess Anastasi, PLEASE!

Kira's path up 'till now has been clear keep everyone alive and help defeat the Reidar but when a soldier is brought on board because he reacts strangely to the new weapon the use to expose the shapeshifting Reidar. Rian and the crew automatically assume he's a spy and the enemy but to Kira she sees something different she thinks she knows what happened and why he reacts the way he does but she needs to keep him alive long enough to find out for sure; that's if Callen and Rian stop beating the crap out him long enough for her to run some tests. When Kira finally gets around to being able to convince Varean to give a blood sample and to start the test Rian is backstabbed and the crew must abandon the Imojenna. Split into two groups they each have their own missions to complete before meeting at the rendezvous point later. Kira knows this is her only chance to get to a real hospital and run the test, but what the tests say is something so completely different from what she thought. ( I was half right with my guess). With the new information Kira and Varean face a decision and even though both of them fell in love they make the wrong choice that they both realize days later. But another betrayal has Varean rushing to save her before he's had the chance to tell her he loves her.

This book is so jam packed with everything. I can't believe Jess Anastasi even went as far as she did it left me awestruck at what happened in this book. I can't wait for the next one! Overall this book just continues with the awesome.  

ARC REVIEW Atrophy by Jess Anastasi

I'm always on the look for a new sci-fi romance to fall in love with. This is the book. I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed this book. The best way I can think to describe it, it's like a darker twisted version of Firefly meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers (both of which I loved). The characters, like with those in Firefly, are all unique and have their own little quirks that makes them charismatic and well just plain likeable. The storyline is captivating and full of mystery and conspiracy, the love story is an easy one, instalove, with an overprotective big brother standing in the way.

The Imojenna is a cargo ship, she is also falling apart. But Captain  Rian Sherron uses her for his own reasons, if only the crew could keep it in one piece. At the beginning of the book she is falling apart and the stubborn AI is ready to dump the cargo hold to keep it on one piece. Their only solution is to land on the nearest planet and make repairs. Unfortunately said planet is Erebus a prison planet, fortunately Rian has connections being an ex-military and a War Hero.

Inmate Tannin Everette has spent the last twelve years of his life on the prison planet of Erebus for a crime that he didn't commit. Tannin learned early on he can have an easy life, well for an inmate at least, by volunteering to do all the menial admin tasks no one else wants to do. In doing this he was in the right place at the right time to overhear the plans for a cargo ship to land for repairs. Tannin sees his opportunity to escape and against all odds was able to escape the inescapable prison planet.

Zahli Sherron is the heart of the crew, little sister to Rian and the money manager she also finds them all their jobs. Zahli is also the first one to meet Tannin, he helps her escape the guard who tricked her and tried to rape her. Zahli in truth saves herself by killing the guard but escapes with Tannin's help. When later she finds him stowed away on board the ship she agrees to help him escape. Rian catches him and the only thing keeping him from turning the ship around and turning him in is the fact he likes the challenge and outwitting the system. As it turns out Tannin ends up being more helpful than any of them imagined. During Tannin's twelve years in Erebus and working in the admin building he because a genius computer wiz. Tannin and Zahli fall in love at first sight, but Rian's no fraternization rule gets in the way especially after Rian kind of threatens Tannin with his freedom if he messes around with Zahli.

The dilapidated ship and her crew are more than they seem. Tannin soon realizes that the cargo business is more of a cover for their real purpose which is to stop a shapeshifting alien race from taking over. I won't go to much more into because I don't want any spoilers but damn. Overall this was a really good book and I am really looking forward to more books especially Rian's.          
 

ARC REVIEW Reaper's Kiss by Abigail Baker

First book in Abigail Baker's Deathmark series. I really wanted to like this book. I love the premise; different classes of reapers, scriveners who mark the soon to be dead people with a tattoo each unique to them and the reapers themselves who collect the souls, then you have Eidolon who police everyone and the Head Reaper. It's a unique idea but for me the storyline fell flat.

Ollie is an unsuspecting hero, she was just trying to live her life and stay under the radar until her powers as a scrivener starts to show that she is on the verge of becoming a Master Scrivener; and that's bad. Head Reaper not long ago tried to wipe out the master scriveners. It is known that only a Master Scrivener can give him a deathmark and an eidolon to take his soul. Unable to control her powers Ollie gets the attention of the Head Reaper and his Eidolon Chad. Here to help her is Reaper Brent Hume, a disgraced reaper and a rebel. He knows of Ollie's growing powers and wants her to be the scrivener to mark the Head Reaper so he can farey his soul. One thing leads to another and Ollie and Brent are on the run and meeting up with other rebels to end Head Reaper Marin's tyranny.

One thing about this book is that I could not connect with Ollie or Brent. The attraction was instantaneous, and that fine with me, but it went from blushes and heart fluttering to I hate you to lets have sex and then I love you. There didn't seem to be much substance in their romance. It had little things here and there but to me there is something missing in their love story. The action sequences felt rushed and short for the exception of the very last one. The ending predictable, not spoiling anything but it's not a cliffhanger but leaves the barn doors way open for the following book. I may or may not read it sometimes it takes until book two to really get good.