What’s on Victorian Vamp’s Bookshelf?

Posted by Victorian Vamp in Bookshelf | 4 comments

My “To-Be-Read” pile is an accepted fixture at my house. Sometimes it is smaller than at other times, but lately it has grown substantially. Ah, life: why must you get in the way of my devotion to pleasure reading?? Alas, as much as I love to buy books, I stick to one rule: if the TBR pile starts to resemble the size of a human, then it is definitely time to cut back.

Lately, I have been collecting paranormal romances…because…well, just because it is necessary. I have learned to deal with it, and so should everyone else. It isn’t my fault that I am forced to spend hours each day in a library or at a desk typing my heart out in my quest to finish the dissertation. Well…okay. Yes, it is my fault. I chose this life, right? But  that doesn’t negate the fact that present circumstances dictate that I must seek out the ultimate in fantasy.

In any case, this is what is at the top of the pile of what I am now referring to as my therapeutic TBR pile:

From Amazon.com’s Publisher’s Weekly blurb: Moning’s latest feverish Fae dispatch (after Darkfever) finds that in Dublin the walls are coming down between Man and Faery. That means that the Buffy-like services of MacKayla Lane—the 22-year-old Georgia-born sidhe-seer (or one who can see the Fae) and slayer—are required. Mac is determined to kick the nasties back to faeryland and to avenge her sister Alina’s murder by the Fae’s dark Lord Master. She’s also seeking the sinister Sinsar Dubh, a book of black magic. Jericho Barrons, Mac’s enigmatic protector, is a purveyor of books and antiquities (and of course, is a major hunk). As Mac takes direction from Jericho, she must resist the sexy dangers of V’lane, a death-by-sex Fae, and learn about her true family of Irish sidhe-seers. Moning’s delectable Mac is breathlessly appealing, and the wild perils she must endure are peppered with endless conundrums. The results are addictively dark, erotic and even shocking. (For more information and reviews, see here.)

I am probably the last person on the planet to get to this series, but so far I love it! Also, in my state of mind, I need something that is “addictively dark, erotic, and even shocking.” I loved Darkfever, and I can’t wait to start this one.

From the back cover of the novel (per Amazon.com):

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh is back in the shadows of a deadly, beautiful world where angels rule, vampires serve, and one female hunter must crawl out of the darkness to survive…

The severed head marked by a distinctive tattoo on its cheek should have been a Guild case, but dark instincts honed over hundreds of years of life compel the vampire Dmitri to take control. There is something twisted about this death, something that whispers of centuries long past…but Dmitri’s need to discover the truth is nothing to the vicious strength of his response to the hunter assigned to decipher the tattoo.

Savaged in a brutal attack that almost killed her, Honor is nowhere near ready to come face to face with the seductive vampire who is an archangel’s right hand, and who wears his cruelty as boldly as his lethal sensuality…the same vampire who has been her secret obsession since the day she was old enough to understand the inexplicable, violent emotions he aroused in her.

As desire turns into a dangerous compulsion that might destroy them both, it becomes clear the past will not stay buried. Something is hunting…and it will not stop until it brings a blood-soaked nightmare to life once more…

(For more information and reviews, see here.)

Technically this book isn’t in my TBR pile yet, but it will be next week, because I am definitely buying it. I love, love, love this series and I feel like I have been waiting for this book forever. Though I am not really a fan of Singh’s Psy-Changeling series, I find this one fascinating. Give the “Archangel” series a try if you haven’t read any of them just yet.

From Amazon.com Booklist blurb:

If Griffin Winters, one of London’s most powerful crime lords, wasn’t already going mad, annoying social reformer Adelaide Pyne would certainly drive him crazy. Unfortunately for him, she possesses both the Burning Lamp and the ability to work its dreamlight energy. So if there is any hope of avoiding the “Winter’s curse,” he needs to cut a deal, and the sooner the better. Griffin has already achieved the second of his paranormal gifts, and with the arrival of his third talent comes total descent into madness. But he isn’t the only one who wants the Burning Lamp, and if he doesn’t find a way to convince the infuriatingly stubborn Adelaide that they need to join forces, both of them could end up dead. A gifted literary alchemist, Quick (Jayne Ann Krentz) continues to perfect her unique recipe for romance in the second installment in her captivating Dreamlight trilogy (Fired Up, 2010) by deftly matching a delightfully sharp-witted and sharp-tongued heroine with a deliciously dark and sexy hero. Quick neatly tempers her paranormal-flavored, danger-infused plot with just the right dash of acerbic humor, and the result is another 24-karat read from one of the genre’s best. –John Charles (Booklist) (For more information and reviews, see here.)

I adore Amanda Quick (a.k.a Jayne Ann Krentz…a.k.a. Jayne Castle…a.k.a. etc.). I especially love that she writes paranormal romances set in the Victorian era, so I am really looking forward to reading this book.

 

From Amazon.com:

Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears – leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can.

She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.

(For more information and reviews, see here.)

This is the second novel in another great series that is sort-of set in the nineteenth century. I love Gail Carriger’s witty steampunk paranormal series, “The Parasol Protectorate,” and she has the most amazing web site to accompany the novels. I read this one last year, but I will be reviewing the series on MyVampFiction, so it is time to revisit these fantastic stories!

Of course, there are many more books in the TBR pile, but at the moment these are the ones I am looking forward to reading most of all!