Lucid Book Reviews

 Prey (Book 4 of Shifters Series)

 by  Rachel Vincent

  Release Date: July 1, 2009

 ISBN: 9780778326816

 Sometimes playing cat and mouse is no game?

Play? Right. My Pride is under fire from all sides, my father''s authority is in question and my lover is in exile. Which means I haven''t laid eyes on Marc''s gorgeous face in months. And with a new mother and an I-know-everything teenager under my protection, I don''t exactly have time to fantasize about ever seeing him again.

Then our long-awaited reunion is ruined by a vicious ambush by strays. Now our group is under attack, Marc is missing and I will need every bit of skill and smarts to keep my family from being torn apart. Forever.

Prey is the fourth book in the Werecats Series by Rachel Vincent. This book is the most fast book of the series thus far. It rocks, shocks and heartbreaks the reader. Faythe, which whom the series is centered around, grows up in this book. With each book in the series, Faythe has grown but in Prey she really steps into her own and shows her ability to be future leader of the Pride.

Between trying to find her lover, the exiled Marc and her responsibility of the young teenage werecat Kaci, she really has her hands full as an enforcer, girlfriend, daughter, sister and role model. She at times can barely keep it together but somehow finds the strength of will to carry on. Especially after a tragedy befalls her family.

Rachel Vincent does a excellent job in bringing the readers emotionally into the story, and creating believable characters that they want to route for and cry with.

This books is a definite read for Werecat fans. Although, Rachel Vincent gives enough backstory that the book can stand on it’s own, I recommend that the series be read from the beginning to get the whole effect of the storyline.

Rating: A

Patricia Briggs posted the cover of the next Mercy Thompson Novel - Silver Borne.
I really like this cover - it's quite beautiful.

From Patricia Briggs' website:

This will be the fifth Mercy Thompson novel. I may be premature putting it up, but a number of people write wanting to know if Bone Crossed was the last in the series. Happily, ACE has contracted for a total of seven Mercy novels, and it's possible the series could go even longer.

Scarlet(Mass Market Paperback)

by Jordan Summers

Release Date: June 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0765359155

Thrust into a world full of creatures she never dreamed existed, Gina 'Red Santiago is coming to grips with the fact that shes a werewolf while adjusting to her new life in the small town of Nuria.
The transition isn't easy, especially since her boyfriend, alpha werewolf Morgan Hunter, is called away on an important mission. Unfortunately, someone doesn't want Red to get too comfortable with her new life - someone who will resort to anything, including murder, to run her out of town. Alone among hostile strangers, Red must fight to prove her innocence, to catch a ruthless murderer, and to preserve her relationship with an increasingly distant Morgan.

“SCARLET” Book Two in Jordan Summers’ Dead World Trilogy picks up a few weeks after “RED” with Gina “Red” Santiago attempting to shift into her wolf form out in the desert and failing miserably. She is frustrated and worried that if she doesn’t have a controlled shift soon it could mean the end of her and Alpha Werewolf/boyfriend, Morgan’s relationship and possibly the end of her life by Morgan’s hand (who tells her “Failure isn’t an option”). An uncontrolled Werewolf is too dangerous to have around. Red knows this and the town of Nuria knows this and is watching her closely.

When Morgan sees an announcement that a cloning company has developed an inoculation that repairs damaged and abnormal cells Red has hope that there is a cure for their Werewolf-ism. Morgan is not so sure. The company also announces that they have perfected cloning and are selling clones as a wife, prostitute, child or slave labour, with the models are Morgan’s dead wife and child.

This is where the plot splits into two subplots – Morgan going off on his own to destroy the cloning lab and cells of his dead family; Red left to her own defences and an open target for her nemesis Roark, a whacked, politician who wants to destroy her by manipulating the town to turn against her.

As soon as Morgan is gone, the bodies start piling up in Nuria and all fingers point to Red. With the town turned against her and her lover gone on an impossible quest, Red finds herself turning to Raphael, a vampire that temps her as often as he helps her.

Although this book was not as superior as “RED”, it still was a great read. I’ve seen some bad reviews but I have to disagree with them. I enjoyed the story and I still love these characters and the world they inhabit. Gina “Red” Santiago showed more of her vulnerability in this book. She was more self-conscious and fearful than she had been in RED but she also was more under the microscope in this book and treated like a bug to be squashed by the town. It was interesting how fast they all turned on her, esp. Maggie (what a bitch!), as soon as Morgan was gone. They scrutinized her every move and were easily manipulated into believing that Red was a killer, not a victim.

While Red is dealing with the town folk, the mystery of what is really happening around her, her inability to shift and the fact she is desperately missing Morgan, she also is putting together a Tactical Team to defend the town against Roark. It is no wonder with all this on her plate that she sometimes comes across as weak in the story.

Because this is a Trilogy, I consider “SCARLET” to be a bridge between “RED” and the final book “CRIMSON”, where Red and Morgan are on their own in the wasteland.

My recommendation: If you loved “RED” then keep reading, you’ll like "SCARLET”. I think it is a needed story to get you through to “CRIMSON” (which is sure to be an exciting climax to the Trilolgy). “SCARLET” gets a thumbs up from me.

Mirrored at Deven's Book Journal

SCARLET is the second book in the Dead World Trilogy.

Book Three, CRIMSON is scheduled for release on November 1, 2009.

Red (Mass Market Paperback) by Jordan Summers Release Date: Nov 4 2008 ISBN: 978-0765359148 Gina Santiago is a member of an elite tactical team in charge of protecting the world. She’s devoted her life to apprehending the most heinous criminals that prey on society—and now she’s after the worst one yet. On her own, with no backup, the trail takes her to a dusty, tight-knit town on the fringes of society, where everyone’s a suspect. Even the sexy sheriff, Morgan Hunter, isn’t telling her everything. Gina knows he’s trouble, but she’s inexorably drawn to him. The closer Gina comes to finding out the secret of this sleepy little town and its big bad sheriff; the closer she comes to catching the predator, the more scared she gets—because she’s beginning to realize that she has a secret too. A secret that will change Gina’s life… and make her the killer’s prey.

I like the cover of this book.  It grabbed my eye when I saw it on a website. 
What does the cover tell us?  A tough woman dressed in black with a gun and some cool boots;  a wolf howling on an open plain; a bare-chested, muscular guy in the silhouette of a moon.  The word Red splash across the page like blood splatter. The wolf and the hunky guy scream "Werewolf" and the woman's stance indicates a strong protagonist.

I liked this book with the opening line of the story: "Not many people can handle the pain of being ripped apart, of having your limbs twisted and morphed until you are convinced your mind will shatter into a thousand tiny shards. "
 

RED is a Science Fiction, Action Adventure, Paranormal Romance.  It's got a little of everything. 

Author Jordan Summers introduces us to Gina Santiago, A.K.A. Red, a highly trained member of  the International Police Tactical Team (IPTT) where she wakes up in bed  wearing her mud covered combat boots, tatter, blood splattered T-Shirt and mysterious scratches and cuts covering her flesh.   And this is Chapter Two after we spend Chapter One in the mind of a psychopathic killer as he hunts and kills a young woman.   This is a reader catching start.

The story takes place in a post apocalyptic world, where there is no United States, instead there are Republics fenced in against no man’s land where Unknowns and the fable Others reign.  The citizens of the Republics are all micro-chipped to identify the republic they belong to and the Unknowns are hunted down by the IPTT as hostiles.  The Others are unconfirmed former genetically altered soldiers that most believe do not exist.

Red is considered an outsider by the other members of her team.  In fact her whole life she has felt as if she were an outsider.  Raised by her Grandfather, who is also her boss, she has heightened senses that her Team leader, Bannon, dismisses.  In fact Bannon thinks she is just plain nuts and gives her a hard time and degrades her at every turn.  Finding the mutilated body of a young woman, who Red believes was murdered - a theory that her Tactical Team members do not prescribe to - Red sets out on her own to find the killer and get justice for this woman and her family.  

This takes her to a small bordertown called Nuria where she meets a handsome, former soldier, Morgan Hunter, now the town sheriff.  There is an instant attraction and sexual tension between the two characters but thankfully they don’t jump into bed from the start.  Author Jordan Summers arcs the romance between Red and Morgan throughout the story with conflict and deception.   Morgan even takes in a little voyeurism of Red while she is having a private moment Where she ends up crying out his name. *ahem*

It is clear that Morgan wants Red to be his mate.  Morgan is the town alpha but he knows that he must wait for Red to decided to want him.  He knows her even if she doesn’t know herself.  Red is confused by her attraction to him and her feelings that seem to come from someplace inside her that she has never touched upon before. 

When they do get together – graphic fireworks! *wheeee*

There are ensuing chapters, from the killer’s point of view as he hunts and kills and then gets fixated on Red, that keep the story from becoming just another paranormal romance. 

Morgan wanting to protect Red but needing to protect his town, works behind her back  to try and  discover the killer’s identity before she does.  Red’s confusion and mistrust sends her running from Morgan, just as her need to find this killer pulls her back.  Summers cleverly intertwines the children’ s Little Red Riding Hood fable into the storyline in a way that adds flavor to the plot.

Secondary characters that add to the story are a corrupt politician who has his own dangerous, hidden agenda that could adversely affect Nuria  and its citizens.  And the mysterious Raphael Vega who adds an interesting twist to the story.  He is sure to be in the follow up books of this series. And we can’t forget Rita, the navcom, mobile A.I. unit, Red wears on her wrist.  Rita adds humorous dialogue that embarrasses Red more than once.

I figured out who the serial killer was before it was revealed and most readers will but the ride to get there is a entertaining trip.  This book offers great characters, a great story and a really fun read. 

 RED is the first book in the Dead World Trilogy. 

Mirrored at Deven's Book Journal

Book Two, SCARLET is scheduled for release on June 1, 2009.

Book Three, CRIMSON is scheduled for release on November 1, 2009.