Friday Booktalk
Jul
20
2007

I managed to read two books this week. Well, okay I had two DNF but I’m not talking about them. Both of these books are ones I picked up at RT in April.

First up, Maria Lima’s Matters of the Blood. This one is a Juno book. I hadn’t tried anything from this new publisher but I was very pleased with Matters of the Blood and if you look at my TBR picture below you’ll see Saska Walker’s The Strangleing is another Juno title I’ve got waiting.

Back to the subject – Matters of the Blood is a paranormal thriller/suspense of sorts with a romantic subplot. We get a glimpse into Kiera’s world where supernatural creatures exist but stay hidden from human eyes and in some cases from other supernaturals. She’s on the verge of a change where she’ll come into her power. It’s a sort of wildcard thing and she doesn’t know what she’ll be with her change is over – a shifter, a clairvoyant, etc. This part was a bit unclear to me and I wanted more about what she was, about what she came from and what her family was. The hints were delicious but at times I felt a bit lost.

Kiera’s character is strong and intelligent, nicely drawn. Three dimensional. Lima tells the story in first person and it works for this story quite well. Adam, her past crush of sorts, shows up in the small Texas hill town Kiera lives in and guards her human cousin mainly from himself.

Animals end up mutilated, people are dying and Kiera has to deal with her impending change, a visit from her brother sent by her overbearing grandmother to help and a growing attraction to the very mysterious and sexy Adam who’s got a big secret of his own.

The town is an imaginative setting and I loved the originality of it. I enjoyed the action and mystery a lot as well and I hope Lima has another chapter planned to tie up some loose ends that left me wanting to hear a lot more about these people.

And Sylvia Day’s Pleasures of the Night – I love Sylvia Day’s writing. I love her voice and I think she’s a really talented sex writer. Pleasures of the Night is my very favorite Avon Red title so far (which says a lot given the extraordinarily talented authors in their line).

The universe of dreamers, guardians and nightmares Day has created is wonderfully creative and fresh. The interaction between Lyssa and Aidan is, guh, whee! HOT! Lyssa is a marvelously drawn heroine, I loved her. I loved her strength and yay, oh so freaking yay for a heroine who loves sex! She’s no shrinking violet and when Aidan needs help, she risks everything to get it to him.

Aidan Cross, sigh. What a freaking hero. Okay, my weakness is admittedly, the dark haired warrior type who’s all gruff but adores the heroine. Aidan is that and more. He’s also a dirty talker. What? When it’s done well, I think it’s hotter than fire and Day does it well.

The backstory about the key, the mystery of what it is, who and what the guardians are and what they might be hiding and the conceptual moving between worlds is done really well here and Day has given readers the beginning of a fresh new paranormal world with the potential to have more stories of some of the very delicious warriors she introduced us to.

One comment to “Friday Booktalk”

  1. Sylvia Day
    July 20th, 2007 at 11:26 am · Link

    Lauren,

    Thank you so much! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the book. I take it as a high compliment coming from you, a writer I admire immensely.

    Hugs,
    Sylvia