Mona Lisa Craving by Sunny. umm.... I don't know why I read these; they're okay if you like reading a lot of metaphors and flowery descriptions of sex, with lots of gushy love stuff thrown in. I probably read them because among all this flowery emoting, suddenly a horrific violent episode will occur. There seems to be to or three authors all rolled into one. One thing I do respect though, is that even though Sunny's writing is close to LKH's style (ahem- her most recent style), at least she has the cojones to actually kill characters off, even though they may be special to the main character. Mona Lisa is a one-quarter human, three-quarters Monere woman. She has just recently discovered her own power and heritage, becoming a Monere Queen. In the first three novels (these two included) She gains powers through sex, gains a Demon Prince's love, gains and loses Monere men, and struggles to come to terms with her Monere background- difficult to do with her human sensitivities and morals. Mona Lisa does continue to have a lot of sex, some kinky, and to gain new powers. Apparently the gaining of new powers comes with the Sexxing-up of her men. The Monere men (these people are Monere, used to live on the moon, or another planet - forget which exactly) can also gain powers from their queens. However most of the queens don't allow their men (who are treated like slaves, except for Mona Lisa's men) to gain much power, and are in fact pretty sadistic and cruel toward their men. I'll probably read more of Sunny's books, but I think I'd feel better buying them used. She has written another series starring the Demon Prince's sister, Lucinda. I wonder if that will be written in the same style - could it be better? ( )

I've read all of the Mona Lisa stories thus far, and while I enjoyed this one, it's not my favorite.

Sunny inserts a lot of themes into her stories, while giving Dark Fantasy a great twist - especially in the areas of Vampires, Werewolves and Demons. In this installment there's a lot of Fate and Reincarnation - both themes that are interesting and powerful, and she weaves them well.

Mona Lisa is kidnapped (again! - part of what I didn't like) by a Rogue Monere couple needing help for their son, who is suffering from lack of Basking. Turns out, the son needing help is the reincarnation of a warrior who killed Mona Lisa (then Mona Lyra) in the distant past. That part I had no problem with.

The parts I found less thrilling are the absolute obsession Dante has for Mona Lisa (I'm not sure that was sufficiently justified), the fact that she seems to get kidnapped every other thing - I don't know, maybe it's just me. I did enjoy the story and look forward to more! This one just wasn't my favorite. ( )

The third book in the Monere series, and definitely a steamy one. I like the characters, but I feel sometimes my least favorite character is Mona Lisa. I want her more fleshed out. I also wish she could commit to someone or at least the same few someones. Are we just going to keep seeing her discover new men she wants, only to discard the previous ones? It also seems like Amber is becoming less of a character and getting pushed further out. He seems very 2D when he does make an appearance.

One particular thing I found quite annoying, was the way things were summarized from previous books. Every time something needed to be clarified it felt forced. Like, here, let's stop the story so we can tell you what happened, and now back to the story. There was no flow at all in that regard. I understand the need to try to make it a stand alone book, but it was done very poorly.

Overall, I did enjoy the book, I read it very quickly, but I did feel something lacking with the story and the characters. I am curious what will happen with Dante in the future. Will he be continued as an important man in her life, good or bad? Or will he get tossed to the side of the story like the rest have been?

We shall see in 2009 I suppose. ( )