Midnight's Bride by Sophia Johnson

Woo it has been awhile since I reviewed, but I just finished a new book,so here goes. This was my first book by Ms. Johnson and honestly it will probably be my last. Lets break down the problems first.

Here is the synopsis from Amazon: Mereck of Blackthorn has vowed never to love - for he is cursed with baresark blood and it runs hot. But he must take a wife. When he meets Netta of Caer Caldwell, he is willing to spirit her away from her father's violence, even if he refuses to give her his heart...With her father determined to be rid of her, spirited Netta cannot escape marriage to the heathen Mereck. But she soon learns that he is not the barbarian he believes himself to be - and his kisses fire her blood with a passion she longs to claim...

Sounds interesting right? Well it should have been.

Characters: The main problem is that the "baresark" curse does not really seem like such a curse at all. Mereck does not really suffer at all because of it. At the most it seems he just has a bad temper when Netta is endangered or when someone insults his birth. In other words he is like a million heroes before him, in fact he reminded me of an early Garwood hero, not a bad thing at all. Except just being a hero with a temper does not match the synopsis nor does it really make the story unique.
Lynette or Netta was the other problem. At times she was so stupid that I stopped feeling sorry for her. TSTL should have been her middle name. In the beginning of the story, when we see how her father behaves with her, it is easy to feel sorry for Netta. As the story wears on and her reactions to Mereck begin to grate that sympathy dissipates. Her reaction to Mereck after he saves her from an assault is not only incredibly annoying and naive but it does not seem true of the braver Netta we met in the first chapter. It is well and good that Mereck's "curse" was not really a curse, because Netta would not have been able to handle it.

The secondary characters were uninteresting except for Bleddyn and Meghan, who I really wished to see more of. I normally am not that big of a fan of the androgynous heroine, but Meghan was honestly the most interesting of the women we meet in the book. Elise made me want to give her a shake! She was forever hiding behind Netta. Elise's dependence was supposed to make Netta seem stronger I suppose, but in reality it made Elise look woefully lacking. Conner could have been interesting with a better heroine. Eric, a cousin we see every few pages, seemed to be in the story only to give Conner a reason to be jealous. The other characters were all right at best. The villain was another cartoonish deceptive fop. He was only so successful at times because Netta was TSTL.

Plot: Most of the plot was already gone over, but the story would have benefited from a hero more tortured.

Pros: Some of the scenes of the women discussing sex were kind of funny, though they got a little repetitive at times.

Cons: A weak, TSTL heroine, an un-tortured hero, and secondary characters not worth a second look.

So is this love worth the sale? If you got some extra money from income tax returns and you've read everything else available on a really, really slow day.

Burning Wild by Christine Feehan

Let me preface my review by saying that the first paranormal romance I ever read was Dark Desire by Christine Feehan. Before that book I was not too interested in vampires as sexual creatures. It goes almost without saying that my feelings quickly changed. Although there have been some repetitiousness in Feehan's recent work she is still an auto buy for me. Burning Wild did not change that.

Characters: The main characters were well fleshed out and their motives were believable. Emma was sweet but not so much that you felt a toothache coming. Jake was just as ruthless as a thousand Feehan heroes before (though is it me or are Feehan's men getting more and more ruthless) so no surprises in the main character department. There were some secondary characters that I wished had been given more space, although Burning Wild is a hefty tome already at 443 pages. The villians or "the enemies" as Jake calls them are completely cartoonish. There is no simmering menace, no carefully hidden agandas. The villians offer no surprises or twists.

Plot: The lack of a good villian made the plot stagnate in areas. While watching Jake battle his demons and Emma battle her feelings for Jake was pleasant, there did need to be given the boost of good suspense.

Pros: Oooh did I forget to mention the sex? Feehan's sex scenes are getting hotter all the time. Since Dark Possession, Feehan has been turning up the meter in the bedroom, or on the desk (read Burning Wild for the allusion hehe). The description of Emma's first change was also a plus, Feehan almost made me feel the wild taking over.

Cons: This is another is it me. But is it me or are romance authors starting to curse alot. By alot I mean far more than normal people actually curse. Jake cursed almost every sentence. I almost wanted Emma to wash his mouth out it got so bad. I'm all for a few dirty words in a hot moment, but Feehan took it to a very unsexy point. Also Jake's initial reaction to a traumatic situation concerning Emma had this book in arm slung back wall banger position, but I trudged through and I'm glad I did.

Is this love worth the sale? Certainly if you're a fan of Feehan and like a ruthless, dominating hero. If not, give this love a pass.


http://www.amazon.com/Burning-Wild-Christine-Feehan/dp/0515146234