This series definitely has potential, but I'm not going to lie I was skimming the pages near the climax of the story. I just thought it was very unevenly paced and that the reasoning for all the intrigue was either too complicated for me to understand (highly doubt that) or not explained very wel...
The first book dealt more with the vampire end of the setting, this book focuses on the witches. Otherwise it's still much of the same engaging characters, professional chef details, and urban fantasy trappings as the previous book. Still quite enjoyable, and I still have much the same issue with...
Camelot's Sword follows the premise of the first two books in the series: One of the sons of Lot (in this case Gareth) meets a fair maiden (Lynet Carnbrea) as a result of some sort of evil plotting (Morgaine's magical hijinks) and together they defeat said evil plot.As usual the writing is very g...
A pristine world called Pandora with the ruling class living in villages protected with electric fences, and nature outside the fence that can kill. Sounds like James Cameron read this book. The plot is interesting: Helice Trust and her daughters, with all resources diminished, are forced to immi...
For five hundred years, the great southern empire of Hastinapura has flourished, ruling the world of Isavalta with an iron fist. But nothing lasts forever… The day of her womanhood ceremony finds Princess Natharie of Sindhu happily celebrating with her family, joyfully awaiting her marriage to a ...
What I like most about this book – series, in fact – is the unusual setting. So many fantasy books are set in the same sort of western European, pseudo-medieval setting. These books begin in late nineteenth-century America but the majority of the story takes place in an alternate world made up of...
I'm going to be biased, because I LOVE Gawain (character from Arthurain legend, not necessarily the one depicted in this book.) I love Gawain and I want him to be happy. I am also happy because Sarah Zettel's retelling did an amazing job of blending several things:- The story of Gawain and the Gr...
Camelot's Honour is the second book in Sarah Zettel's Camelot series. The first book told the story of Gawain and his lady love; Camelot's Honour follows a new set of characters - Gawain's brother Geraint and a young Welsh noblewoman, Elen. In my opinion it's a big improvement on the first book. ...
Only recently have I started reading entire trilogies in one go, and I think this greatly enhances the experience. This proved to be a satisfying conclusion in many ways, although less than satisfactory in others. Several threads were left hanging - and I cannot help but feel that Zettel intended...
It is 1872. Ingrid Loftfield and her sister Grace are living uneventful lives with their family on Sand Island, Lake Superior, until the day Grace nearly drowns. Grace becomes inexplicably ill, for she has been saved by the spirit of a drowned sailor which rests uneasily beneath the water. Ingrid...
At eighty-three, Dr. Helen Failia is nearing middle age but has lost none of her fighting spirit. The founder of Earth’s first fully functioning colony on Venus, she will do anything to ensure that the home she’s built and nurtured not only survives, but thrives. Despite her constant work, fundin...
Give women the vote, suffragists said, and we’ll have a kinder, gentler, more peaceful government. Women got the vote, and the country went to war with a fury never before seen. What if an entire planet were populated by women, with the male of the species being an enfeebled post-menopausal evolu...
Four centuries after humanity has colonized the galaxy, information freight companies are used as an alternative to electronic communication. On one of her frequent trips into deep space, Katmer Al-Shei, owner of one of the smaller information companies, is accused of smuggling artificial intelli...
Set in the far future, RECLAMATION centers on The Realm of the Nameless Powers, a world so ravaged by age that only a portion of underground canyons is habitable. The Realm has degenerated into a harsh caste system and Middle Ages technology. Their religion strictly enforces the castes who can ma...
Was that all, miss?” inquired Libby, pointedly covering her yawn as I climbed back into the coach. I deposited the box containing the gift for His Royal Highness in Libby’s lap and lifted up my mask. I didn’t put it on, I just stared at it. Until a moment ago, I had truly meant to return to the p...
We apologized to the firefighters who came to turn off the alarm and the sprinklers. I made a note of their station house so Marie-Our-Pastry-Chef could make up something special and send it over. We apologized to all the guests and took names so we could pay the dry cleaning bills. We called our...
In one of the country’s few broad valleys waited a camp of armed men. They slept deeply, or kept watch beside their fires, making, mending and talking as soldiers at rest do. This was not a place for war, but an occasion of parley between would-be allies, and the men were easy in their minds and ...
With him at her heels, she was not permitted to turn aside to take any sort of leave of her hostess nor to reclaim her possessions. Bow, jewelry, clothes, all were to be left behind. Even Thetis, steady loyal Thetis, who had made her way straight back to the hall’s stable after she fled in the fi...
I stammered at the blond woman. “Oh, yeah.” The usherette leaned her bottom against the counter and crossed one perfect ankle over the other. “Now, maybe where she’s at ain’t quite as pretty as what you saw up on the screen, but she is with us now. Not that we really want her.” She examined her p...
“Why, Paul!” She turned toward whoever’d spoken outside. “There you are at last!” Without her calling my name, I was able to stumble with Jack toward the back of our flimsy fake farmhouse. Rougarou leaned as far as he could over the pathetic heap of iron nails, and that was awfully far. He had lo...
That initial fortnight at Hampton Court Palace passed without much additional trouble, a fact for which I was profoundly grateful. I remain convinced that any further sudden revelations would have struck me dead on the spot. I had more than enough to do settling into my life as Lady Francesca, ma...
wake-up,” said the room’s too sweet voice. “This is your 7 A.M. wake-up.” Around Veronica, the hotel suite woke up. The lights lifted to full morning brightness. In the sitting room, the coffeemaker began to gurgle and hiss, while a fresh lemon scent wafted out of the air ducts. Vee, who had been...
Brendan pulled himself together with really impressive speed. “Um, erm, ah. Hi.” Never let it be said I do not demonstrate the true depth of my social graces when surprised. I wouldn’t call Brendan Maddox my boyfriend. This is partly because the word makes me break out into a cold sweat, and part...
His black-and-silver cloak swept back from his shoulders, and that mask with its silver veins and mirror eyes gleamed against his clear brown skin, covering the face I knew was so badly scarred. At the sight of Uncle Shake, Papa’s whole self shifted. His arm tightened to pin my hand close to his ...