Teaser Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: 

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

My teaser today is from Hexed, book two in The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne.  Hexed is a paranormal adventure.

"No, we'll get ourselves some special arrows," I said.  "I think I know where we can get us some holy ones, some demon-slayin' arrows,"  

page 33

Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

Paranormal 

Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher is the second audio book I listened to on my Thanksgiving trip.  Our Science Fiction Book Club read the first book read Storm Front, book one in the series, last year.  I liked it OK but not enough to continue with the series.  Several of the member of the club have been giving me a hard time over my lack of interest so I picked this on up to give the series a second chance.  This one turned out better than Through the Looking Glass.  Book eight hooked me like book one did not.  I have book nine, White Knight, in my TBR pile. 

Here is what Goodreads says about Proven Guilty:

"Harry Dresden is the only wizard in the Chicago phone book. He consults from the police department on those so-called "unusual" cases. He's even been on talk shows. So there's no love lost between Harry and the White Council of Wizards, who find him a little brash and undisciplined. But now war with the vampires has thinned the ranks of wizards, and the White Council needs Harry, like it or not. He's drafted as a Warden, and assigned to look into rumors of black magic in the Windy City.

And if that wasn't enough, another problem arrives in the form of the tattooed and pierced daughter of an old friend, all grown-up and already in trouble. Her boyfriend was the only one in a room where an old man was attacked, but in spite of this, he insists he didn't do it. What looks like a supernatural assault straight out of a horror film turns out to be...well, something quite close to that, as Harry discovers that malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in Chicago. All in a day's work for a wizard, his faithful dog, and a talking skull named Bob."

 Penguin Audio produced Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher in 2009.

Blue Diablo, A Corine Solomon Novel by Ann Aguirre

Romantic Paranormal

I heard Ann Aguirre (www.annaguirre.com) on a panel at World Con in Denver in 2008. She was talking about her novel Grimspace and said that she wrote Romantic Science Fiction. I think Blue Diablo is a Romantic Paranormal. There is romance but do not expect a HEA (Happily Ever After) in her books. That is why I think she used Romantic Science Fiction instead of Science Fiction Romance when she talked about Grimspace. I have read Grimspace and if you would like to see my rating go to my Good Reads page.

Blue Diablo has fast paced action, great characters, and a good plot. Written in the first person, the book solves the problem that brings the characters together but leaves unsolved the problems that are uncovered along the way. This is obviously written as the first of a series. I enjoyed the story and liked the main characters. I am invested enough I want to see what happens in the next book.

Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre was published by Roc in 2009.

Dark Light by Jayne Castle

This is the latest in Jayne Castle’s Harmony Series. Jayne Castle is a pen name for Jayne Ann Krentz. So far there have been 6 books in the series. Dark Light continues the story of a group of Earth colonist who settled Harmony when the Curtain (a vast energy field) appeared. The Curtain allowed interstellar travel. Thousands left Earth to settle new planets bringing with them all the comforts of home. Trade between Earth and the new planets allowed the settlers to continue a very comfortable lifestyle. Then just as the Curtain appeared it vanished, leaving the settlers of Harmony on their own. They had to adjust to a new way of life. Old technology did not work and the new technology was based on the fact that Harmony had been settled before. The former settlers vanished leaving behind only ruins and amber. Amber caused new skills to appear among the settlers. Some people could resonate with amber and that became the basis of the new technology. But the former residents of Harmony also left behind ghosts and traps. Ghost hunters appeared and thus the basis for this series of stories. Each story is filled with adventure, conflict and of course love. But love never comes easy, nor is it recognized at first. Dark Light is the story of Reporter Sierra McIntyre and Ghost Hunter Guild boss John Fontana. They come from two very different backgrounds. Working together they generate some resonance of their own. And what Harmony story would be complete without a dust bunny. Elvis, Sierra’s dust bunny, has his own role to play. If you are a fan of this series, enjoy. If you have never read any of Jayne Castle’s Harmony books, start here. You will be searching for the other five. Dark Light is a great addition to the Harmony Series.