Blood Hunt

Here's the official summary:

They are the Sentinels. Three races, ancient guardians of mankind, each possessing unique abilities to protect humanity against their eternal foes: the Synestryn. Now, for one Sentinel, the only way to reclaim her forgotten past is to follow the blood.

Hope appeared out of nowhere, naked and alone, a woman without past. The only thing she knows is that she is imbued with a strange power. It's in her blood. And two men want to possess it.

One is Logan, a Sanguinar demon-fighter who needs Hope's essence to survive. As a vampire he's well-equipped to find her a like-blooded mate whose progeny could sustain his race for generations. The other is Krag, a Synestryn lord whose desire is to enslave Hope, and drain her of the lifeforce. With it he could control humanity forever.

When Hope and Logan both fall prey to Krag, a powerful desire grows between them. But is it enough to thwart their captor's diabolical plan and his demon warriors, and survive a vampire's destiny written in blood?

Review

The Sentinel Wars is by far one of my favorite series. Butcher has built an amazing and complex world where aliens have left behind three races whose sole purpose is to protect human kind from soulless demons known as Synestryns.  The story line is completely original, intense and dark. Every book in this series gripped me from the first page and I couldn’t stop reading until the last.

The first four books of this series focused on the Theroni, a group of male warriors that work in tandem with female magic users.  In Blood Hunt the focus switches to the Sanguiner, a vampiric race of healers, that are presented up to now as cold, untrustworthy and always with their own agenda. I liked the change in prospective and enjoyed learning more about the Sanguiner.

Blood Hunt focuses on the Sanguinar blood hunter Logan and the mysterious Hope. Hope has no memory of who she is, but she does know that she has power in her blood. Because of her blood Logan wants her to help his starving race and a Synestryn lord want her life force to obtain her power. I was so happy that Logan got his own book. He has been an important secondary character throughout the series, but we never know much about him. I loved the Logan’s inner conflict between his love for Hope and duty to his race.

I can’t wait for the next book to come out!

I gave this book 5 out of 5

Title: Blood Hunt

Author: Shannon K. Butcher
Publisher: Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: August 2011
Series: Sentinel Wars Series #5

For more information visit Shannon K. Butcher’s website, http://www.shannonkbutcher.com/index.php?id=68

Spotlight Author for August *Shannon K. Butcher*

Biography (From her web-site)

A lot of authors knew they wanted to write books from the time they were little. Their heads were full of fanciful stories that they yearned to commit to paper with a passion that only grew as they did. They spent hours reading fiction, voraciously absorbing every kind of story they could get their hands on.

I’m not one of them.

When I was little, I wanted to be a daddy. When I learned the anatomical improbability of that happening, I decided instead to become what my dad was: an Industrial Engineer. So that’s what I did. I never once changed majors or veered from my path. After I graduated, I went to work for a big telecom company earning a steady paycheck while my husband pursued his dream to become a published author.

For those of you who might not know, my husband is Jim Butcher, fantasy and sci-fi author extraordinaire. I learned to write in an effort to help him improve his own work and as soon as I discovered that writing was more a learned skill than a natural talent I knew I had to give it a try. I couldn’t resist the challenge of taking the pieces of a story apart and putting them back together again. It’s the kind of puzzle that made me want to be an engineer to begin with – to learn how things work and why. I thought I’d write the same kind of thing Jim did, but then I picked up my first romance in 1998 and was hooked. Somehow, stories about how two people come to love each other made everything else seem shallow in comparison. Maybe it was just my hormones talking, but whatever it was, it was loud, so I listened and I started writing romances. I wrote great heaping piles of suckfulness – like most new writers – but eventually my work sucked less and hopefully that trend will continue as I learn more. Heaven knows I have a great teacher. Thanks, Jim.

A family of geeks to the core, we live in Independence, Missouri with our teenage son and a dog who is only one four-foot stick away from being a dust mop.

Series

Paranormal Romance

Sentinel Wars

1. Burning Alive

2. Finding the Lost
3. Running Scared
4. Living Nightmare
5. Blood Hunt

Edge

1. Living on the Edge

Romantic Suspense

Delta Force
1. No Regrets
2. No Control
3. No Escape 

Novels

Love You to Death
Dark and Stormy Knights
On the Hunt (with Jessica Andersen, Deidre Knight and Gena Showalter)

For more information on Shannon K. Butcher, go to

http://www.shannonkbutcher.com/

Books Coming Out In August...

Here is a list of books coming out in August.

Please add your favorite books and authors to the list.

(Aug 2, 2011) Blood Cursed by Erica Hayes (Book 4 in the Shadowfae series)

(Aug 2, 2011) Master of Shadows by Angela Knight (Book 8 in the Mageverse series)
(Aug 2, 2011) Bloodhunt by Shannon K. Butcher (Book 5 in the Sentinel Wars series)
(Aug 2, 2011) Downpour by Kat Richardson (Book 5 in the Greywalker series)
(Aug 2, 2011) Retribution by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Book 28 in the Dark-Hunter series)
(Aug 2, 2011) Storm's Heart by Thea Harrison (Book 2 in the Elder Races series)
(Aug 2, 2011) The Watchtower by Lee Carroll (book 2 after Black Swan Rising)

(Aug 2, 2011) Working Stiff by Rachel Caine (Book 1 in the Revivalist series)

(Aug 3, 2011) The Last Oracle by Patricia Simpson (Book 3 in the Forbidden Tarot series)
(Aug 8, 2011) Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison (Book 1 in the Shadow series)
(Aug 9, 2011) Thirst No. 4 (omnibus) by Christopher Pike (Book 4 in the Last Vampire series)
(Aug 9, 2011) The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
(Aug 16, 2011) Second Grave on the Left by Darynda Jones (Book 2 in the Charley Davidson series)
(Aug 16, 2011) The Tempering of Men by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette (Book 2 in the Iskryne World series
(Aug 16, 2011) Kitty's Greatest Hits by Carrie Vaughn – story collection featuring Kitty Norville
(Aug 23, 2011) Bloodlines by Richelle Mead (Book 1 in the Bloodlines series)
(Aug 23, 2011) The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore (Book 2 in the Lorien Legacies series)
(Aug 23, 2011) Body of Sin by Eve Silver (Book 4 the Otherkin series)
(Aug 23, 2011) Lord of the Vampires (Nocturne) by Gena Showalter (Book 1 in the Royal House of Shadows series)
(Aug 23, 2011) Dark Taste of Rapture by Gena Showalter (Book 9 in the Alien Huntress series)
(Aug 23, 2011) Blood Bound by Rachel Vincent (Book 1 in the Unbound series)
(Aug 23, 2011) Knight's Curse by Karen Duvall
(Aug 23, 2011) Where Demons Fear to Tread by Stephanie Chong
(Aug 30, 2011) Wings of Fire by Caris Roane (Book 3 in the World of Ascension series)
(Aug 30, 2011) One Grave at a Time by Jeaniene Frost (Book 6 in the Night Huntress series)
(Aug 30, 2011) Crossroads by Jeanne C. Stein (Book 7 in the Anna Strong Chronicles)
(Aug 30, 2011) Night Falls on the Wicked by Sharie Kohler (Book 5 in the Moon Chasers series)
(Aug. 30 2011) Enemy Mine by Karin Harlow (Book 2 in the L.O.S.T series)
(Aug. 30 2011) Aftermath by Ann Aguirre (Book 5 in the Sirantha Jax series)

THE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE aka SOUTHERN VAMPIRE SERIES

Here's the official summary:

Harris created The Sookie Stackhouse urban fantasy series about a telepathic waitress named Sookie Stackhouse who works in a bar in the fictional Northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps. Each book follows Sookie through her adventures involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. As of now there are elven books in this series: Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, Dead to the World, Dead as a Doornail, Definitely Dead, All Together Dead, From Dead to Worse, Dead and Gone, Dead in the Family, Dead Reckoning.

Review

Normally I would write a review for each book, however since I read all the books in this series at once, I decided to write a series review. I’m a huge fan of the TV series True Blood.  I was hesitant to read the books because usually I end up liking the books more than the show or movie and I didn’t want to end up not liking True Blood. The exception would be the Vampire Dairies. I love the show and the books were one of the worse books series I’ve ever tried to read. However, Charlaine Harris just came to my home town for a book signing and after meeting her I decided I had to read her books. She was so much fun and had a great sense of humor, which is something I love in an author.

This is what I thought of the series as a whole. I loved the world building, the characters were fantastic, I enjoyed watching Sookie grow as a person and of course I loved all the sexing men in her life. However, I found some of the books to be slow and anti-climactic. The books that really stood out to me were Dead to the World, Definitely Dead, Dead and Gone and Dead Reckoning. Those books made it were worth reading the whole series.  My least favorite books of the series were All Together Dead and Dead in the Family.

As a whole I enjoyed reading about the adventures of Sookie and I will continue to read this series. The book series didn’t stop me from loving True Blood!

I gave this series 3.5 out of 5

Title: The Sookie Stackhouse Series
Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: May 2001 to May 2011
Series: Series: The Sookie Stackhouse Series, 1 through 11

For more information visit Charlaine Harris’s website, http://www.charlaineharris.com/

Heart of the Highland Wolf

Here's the official summary:

Ian McNeill, laird of Argent Castle finds his capital squandered through unwise investments and the wolf clan's home that has been theirs for centuries is in danger of being forfeit for nonpayment of taxes. When a movie producer contacts him with the notion of using his castle to produce a movie, Ian abhores the idea, but it's his only salvation. Even worse, his people become extras in this epic Highland movie. But when one American werewolf romance author, Julia Wildthorn, slips into the castle under the guise of being with the movie company, except she is trying to jumpstart her muse with writing a book set in old-world Scotland--specifically about his castle and his people as the characters in her newest book venture--she and Ian tangle.

Review

This is the seventh book in Spear’s Werewolf series, though she does write each book so it can be read as a standalone. However I have enjoyed reading them as a series and there are some characters that show up in more than one book. I have loved this series as a whole. She does a good job tying in true wolf behavior with her version of the Weres. Combine that with action, intrigue, compelling characters, and magic you have an all-around good read.

This was my least favorite book of the series. Her other books had well developed characters and a lot of mystery with a romantic background. Heart of the Highland Wolf seemed to be a light humorous romance. It just didn’t have the edgy quality the other books had. That being said, it was still a fun read and I’m looking forward to Dreaming of the Wolf due out in December 2011.

I gave this book 3 out of 5

Title: Heart of the Highland Wolf

Author: Terry Spear
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Incorporated
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: June 2011
Series: Series: Werewolf Series, #7

For more information visit Terry Spear’s website, http://www.terryspear.com/id51.html