Yes, I know I am a latecomer to this Nalini Singh sensation, but if I were to pick a book that has lived up to all the hype and rave surrounding its launch, Slave to Sensation would come to mind. 

This futuristic paranormal is worthy of all the praises that’s been sung about its plot, characters and fantastical universe that is surely a stroke of pure genius. Who but a consummate, highly imaginative story-teller would have thought of the hyper intelligent world of telepaths such as the psy inhabits? The changelings don’t just serve as an interesting race to illustrate the contrast between the cold of logic and the warmth of emotions. They are there to prove the unity in diversity and the strength of the bond of love and family. 

For those who have not fallen slave to this erotic paranormal romance, Singh’s story teams up Sascha Duncan, a Cardinal Psy who’s always thought she has no real distinctive powers to push her up into the elite council of her world, with the ultra sensuous changeling Lucas Hunter in a hunt for a serial killer. I won’t bring you the plot summary, you can find out more about the book here. Kristie has a good synopsis if you’re inclined to bloghop, and Jane at DearAuthor ran an interview with the author. I’ll dive straight into what worked for me. 

Long before this book came along, I had already fallen under the spell of Madeline Hunter and her writing. The author has a talent for seducing readers with her powerful story-telling skills, memorable characters (who could forget David de Abyndon, Christiana Fitzwaryn, Anna de Leon, Rhys, Daniel St. John, Dante Duclairc), heart-stirring description of emotions and expressions, as well as her attention to historical details which made the setting come alive for readers.

Sure, there were one or two of her novels I weren’t that enamoured of, but she’s a hit more times than not with me. And The Rules of Seduction is a sure hit and a KEEPER on my shelf. 

This latest of her work throws Hayden Rothwell in the path of Alexia Welbourne, an impoverished well-born young woman who captured his imagination. Hayden has promised to keep silent on his evidence of the crime of utterance that Alexia’s cousin committed to repay a debt of honour to Alexia’s first love and his best friend. However, he was in turn painted as the ruthless and mercenary noble who ruined Alexia’s family and made her penniless. 

Another mad week of rushing for an important regional meeting taking place next week in Thailand and planning the roll-out of our pilot batch of new sites just went by in a blink. I managed to squeeze in only two books on those bus journeys to work and back. 

But before I get to those, let me first clear the backlog of reviews, starting with The Black Swan by Mercedes Lackey.

Reading this book sure brought back girlish dreams of a world where honour, chivalry and love are the fabric that weaves together a fantasy setting where magic prevails and good will always triumph over evil. It also brought back sweet memories of my teenage obsession over ballets and operas. My favourites then and even now are Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and The Phantom of the Opera.

Swan Lake, the ballet, varies in its ending, quite a few of which are tragic and had either Odette remaining cursed in swan form or one or both lovers dying, so I’m mightily glad that Ms Lackey has chosen to give this old tale a fresh new perspective from Odile’s POV and a happy ending. For both the lovers and Odile. 

Dropped by the UBS on a whim (well, was returning two which are were due) and came back with these new additions to the pile: 

The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory

Three Little Secrets by Liz Carlyle 

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart to complete my collection of her Merlin Trilogy — yippee! Now I can start reading without fear of being left hanging in the air.

The last time I picked up a Julia London (who blogs here and here) romance was ages ago. She’s no stranger to me but for the life of me I can’t recall the story I read. 

Anyway, I’m glad I picked up The Hazards of Hunting a Duke, the first of the Desperate Debutante trilogy. Ms London had me hanging on the pages by the time I finished chapter two where the hero and heroine finally met and had an unforgettable tantalizing first kiss. 

Let me backtrack a little … in this series, three aristocratic young ladies, Ava, Greer and Phoebe Fairchild, discover that they are destitute when their stepfather absconded to France after their mother (and Aunt in Greer’s case) passed away quite suddenly. While struggling desperately to keep up appearances for after all this is the year 1819, the girls realized that the only way to get themselves out of dire straits is for one of them to land a wealthy husband. 

Thus Ava hatched a scheme to hunt down the highly eligible and notoriously wealthy rake Jared Broderick, the Marquis of Middleton who is estranged from his father, the Duke of Redford, over his choice of mistress and past misdeeds. 

This historical romance by Judith E French, an author who’s new to me, found its way to my TBR pile quite serendipitously. There I was at Borders, trying to locate either Magic Study or The Rules of Seduction, but what should draw my eye but the magnificent cover of The Warrior. 

Being an avid fan of historical fiction, I was immediately intrigued by what was on the back cover: 

In ancient Times, tales were told of fierce warriors and the brave women who risked everything to love them. Alexander was one such man, and well he knew it. The only son of Alexander the Great, he had a destiny to fulfill. He intended to marry a princess and carry on his noble lineage. But in the heat of the Egyptian desert, a beautiful slave girl named Kiara called to his deepest desires. Her emerald green eyes beckoned him to put down his sword and open up his heart. And for once, Alexander wanted nothing more than to defy expectation and follow this willful beauty around the world.

But deception surrounded the lovers on all sides. From the great pyramids of Egypt to the misty hills of Ireland, history awaited the one man brave enough to seize it. And the one woman bold enough to claim… The Warrior.