Series Saturday Audiobook Review: Grave Visions by Kalayna Price

Grave Visions 
by Kalayna Price
Series:  Alex Craft #4
Pub. Date:  Feb. 2, 2016
Publisher:  Tantor Audio
Narrator:  Emily Durante
Length:  10 hrs 3 min
Format:  Audiobook


My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

Grave Visions by Kalayna Price is the much-anticipated fourth installment in the kick-ass urban fantasy series about Alex Craft, a grave witch who can communicate with the dead. 

If you want to hear voices from the dead in Nekros City, you call Alex Craft. She's a Grave Witch with reasonable rates and extraordinary powers, who specializes in revealing the secrets of the dead. But now she's the one fighting to keep her own secret. She's not human—and her newly discovered heritage is causing havoc for her both in the human realm and in Faerie. But her status as an unaffiliated fae also makes her an ideal candidate to investigate a new street drug that has surfaced in several of the spaces between the human and fae worlds. 

This glamour-infused drug causes hallucinations that turn real—at least for a while and often with deadly consequences. Searching for the source of this drug—and its purpose—lands Alex front and center in the conflict brewing in Faerie and she must find answers before she's dragged so deep she loses her freedom. 

There was a long four year wait for the latest installment of the Alex Craft series due to some personal/health issues of the author. I totally respect that and am super glad that she is writing again, and hope that all is well going forward. After the long hiatus, I took the opportunity to re-read the series before picking up Grave Visions and I highly encourage everyone else to do so. I forgot so much that happened, and was really geared up for this story following the emotional star-crossed lovers aspect of Grave Memory. I think everyone was firmly on Team Death after that last book.

Audiobook Review: The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook

The Iron Duke 
by Meljean Brook
Series:  The Iron Seas #1
Pub. Date:  Nov. 1, 2011
Publisher:  Penguin Audio
Narrator:  Faye Adele
Length:  13 hrs 23 min
Format:  Audiobook


My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

After the Iron Duke freed England from Horde control, he instantly became a national hero. Now Rhys Trahaearn has built a merchant empire on the power - and fear - of his name. And when a dead body is dropped from an airship onto his doorstep, bringing Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth into his dangerous world, he intends to make her his next possession.

But when Mina uncovers the victim's identity, she stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens the lives of everyone in England. To save them, Mina and Rhys must race across zombie-infested wastelands and treacherous oceans-and Mina discovers the danger is not only to her countrymen, as she finds herself tempted to give up everything to the Iron Duke.

This is my first foray into what I consider "heavy" steampunk. I read the Gail Carriger books a few years ago, but I don't remember them being as immersed in steam technology as this series. I stopped and watched the VF book club discussion for this book about half way through, which helped me understand a little more about the steampunk world because I was sorely lacking.

Throwback Thursday Audiobook Review: Silver Storm by Cynthia Wright

Silver Storm 
by Cynthia Wright
Series:  Rakes & Rebels #1 / Raveneau #1
Pub. Date: July 12, 1979
Audio Pub.:  Feb. 13, 2014
Publisher:  Self-Pub
Narrator:  Emily Beresford
Length:  11 hrs 5 min
Format:  Audiobook
Source:  Audible


My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

Set in 1781, during the Revolutionary War, SILVER STORM is the passionate tale of Andre Raveneau and Devon Lindsay who are thrown together when she stows away on his privateer after the British burn her home in New London, CT. The irresistible Captain Raveneau agrees to take her to Virginia to find her childhood sweetheart, but fate has other plans. Through intrigue, misunderstandings, and swashbuckling sea battles, Devon and Andre are swept away by a love that won’t be denied.

I was stoked to find this old bodice ripper for free on Amazon with audible narration available for a discount rate. Unfortunately, I wish I hadn't spent my money on this one. The writing was extremely juvenile to me and wholly lacking the maturity I would expect from a 38 y/o hero and a historical heroine over the age of 18. Set during the time of the Revolutionary War, there is a lot of room for action and world building... but both were severely lacking in this story. When you think you are about to get some fast-paced action, it halts abruptly and goes in another direction.

ARC Review: The Study of Seduction by Sabrina Jeffries

The Study of Seduction 
by Sabrina Jeffries
Series:  Sinful Suitors #2
Pub. Date:  March 22, 2016
Publisher:  Pocket Books
Pages: 384
Format:  eARC
Source:  NetGalley


My Rating:  
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The hotly anticipated second novel in New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries’s addictive Sinful Suitors series!

When Edwin Barlow, the Earl of Blakeborough, agrees to help his best friend’s impetuous ward, Lady Clarissa Lindsey, in her time of need, he knows he’s in for trouble. He’s been hunting for someone to wed, and she’ll just get in the way. Although captivated by the whip-smart, free-spirited beauty, he fears she’d be all wrong as a wife ... if she would even take such a gruff cynic for her husband. Too bad he wants nothing more than to have her for his own.

Clarissa has no intention of marrying anyone—not Edwin, whom she’s sure would be an overbearing husband, and certainly not the powerful French diplomat stalking her. But when matters escalate with the diplomat, she chooses Edwin’s gallant offer of a marriage between friends in hopes that it will deter her stalker. She expects nothing more than an amiable union, but their increasingly tempestuous kisses prove more than she bargained for. When her stalker’s vow to expose the lovers’ deepest secrets threatens to destroy their blossoming attraction, will their tenuous bond withstand public ruin, or will Edwin lose all that’s important to him to protect his bride?

I was so excited to read this installment of the Sinful Suitors because I just loved the way that Clarissa and Edwin sniped at each other in the earlier books. You just knew that all that delicious tension was going to explode one day!

Audiobook Review: Built by Jay Crownover

Built 
by Jay Crownover
Series:  Saints of Denver #1
Pub. Date:  Jan. 5, 2016
Publisher:  HarperAudio
Narrator:  Nicki D. Noir, Jay Crow
Length:  9 hrs 16 min
Format:  Audiobook
Source:  Audible
Challenges:  New to You (author)


My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

The first in the new SAINTS OF DENVER series from NYT bestselling author of the MARKED MEN series, Jay Crownover

Sometimes you have to tear everything down to build something new…

Sayer Cole is frozen inside. At least, that’s what it’s felt like for as long as she can remember. She’s yet to let anyone past her icy exterior – and the one guy she thinks might melt her heart couldn’t possibly be interested in someone so uptight.

Rough, hard and hot-as-hell, Zeb Fuller has rebuilt his life and his construction business since protecting his family sent him to jail all those years ago. His elegant client, Sayer, makes him feel like a Neanderthal in denim, but despite the many hints that he’s been dropping to get to know her better, she seems oblivious to his charms.

Just as things finally start to heat up, Zeb’s past comes back to haunt him and he needs Sayer’s professional help to right a wrong and to save more than himself. As these opposites dig in for the fight of their lives, fire and ice collide in an unstoppable explosion of steam… 

I started listening to this audiobook without realizing that its a series spinoff of Marked Men, which I have not read. Unfortunately, I think you do need to read that series first or you will not understand what is going on with some of these characters, particularly Rowdy, Salem and Poppy. There is a lot of character crossover from the previous series, so it would just give you a better working knowledge of who these people are and what they have been through.