Monica Burns (1)

Wow, wow, and just wow. I agreed to review an advance listening copy of Forever Mine because it sounded like a cute little time travel story. They can be fun if you don’t try to over-analyze the science of time travel, so I was expecting an exciting, slightly humorous story of a woman dropped into the wrong time, struggling to get back, with a little heat on the side. Monica Burns is a new-to-me author and since I love audiobooks this seemed like a good way to check her stories out. show more Listening while walking can be diverting.

Well, let me tell you, diverting is definitely not the right word. Mesmerizing, all-consuming, hypnotic, heartwarming, heartbreaking – those might be better words. Once I started listening, I really could not stop. I would have walked round the clock if I could have; as it was, I stayed up very late to finish this story. I couldn’t leave Victoria and Nicholas/Nick. I expected there to be a happy ending (realizing that even though there was a Nicholas and a Nick there was only one Victoria) but I couldn’t imagine how it might work out. And you know how you know in the logical part of your brain that you’ll be smiling at the end but your heart isn’t quite sure and you’re afraid to turn away because something unexpected and bad might happen. In the animated Beauty & the Beast I am always afraid that this one time the Beast will really die, and I was worried in that same way about Victoria and the N’s.

This is a fairy tale of love, with all the good and evil and happy and sad you would expect. Author Burns moves the story along smoothly and quickly, making it easy to follow the jumps back and forth between time and place. She’s created interesting characters with depth and personality, and just when you think you’ve figured everything out another surprise pops up.

The attraction between Victoria and Nick in the present day is immediate and intense. He is just swooping in for a big kiss that she is eagerly awaiting when the track lighting falls on her head. As she remains in the hospital in a coma always-logical Nick can’t figure out why it is impossible for him to leave her side. She looks just like the woman in the picture he is nearly (ha, ha Nick, it's more than nearly) obsessed with but she isn’t that woman from the past and he can’t be in love with someone he doesn’t even know. Or can he? The attraction between Nicholas and Victoria isn’t quite so instant. As far as he’s concerned she’s his horrible wife Vickie just up to more tricks. Around this version of Vickie, though, his feelings bounce like a rubber band: helplessly drawn to her and then repelled when he remembers their history and waits for this fake Vickie to revert to her true self. As for Victoria, this is frightening, fantastic and inconceivable. How did she get here and why can’t she remember? And when is she going back? She knows who she is and where she’s from and that she is NOT Vickie. But even with the blank space in her memory, she is inexplicably drawn to this cranky, uptight, heart throbbingly handsome guy against all logic, sense, and reason. So we know at once we’re off to a great start. Forever Mine is a wonderful story full of sweetness and fun and humor and danger and suspicion and intrigue and anger. With lots and lots and LOTS of heat and some very, very cuddly times. And love that really is forever.

This would be a great book to read, but as an audiobook it goes to another level; it is as if it was written to be read aloud. From a technical standpoint the audio is well produced, with good, clear sound and balanced levels. The dual narrators Stephanie Nemeth Parker and Zachary Johnson are just about perfect. I do love British accents but living in California by way of Chicago it is important that I be able to understand those gorgeous accents. And I can! The dialogue is crisp and clear, the emphasis always feels just right, dramatic but not distracting. I was drawn into the story and transported both to the 1897 countryside and the present-day hustle and bustle.

Thanks to home cooked books for providing an advance listening copy of Forever Mine via SoundCloud for my listening pleasure and honest review. I loved this story and can’t wait to listen to the next in the series. I recommend it without hesitation. All opinions are my own. show less

Assassin's Heart
5 Stars

Synopsis:
After being subjected to horrific torture, Lysander Condellarie is left with disfiguring scars and a terrible secret that results in the loss of the love of his life. Phaedra DeLuca has never understood Lysander's sudden rejection. Now the two must comply with their destinies and join forces in the search for an ancient artifact, which, if it falls into the hands of their enemies, could mean the destruction of their order.

Review:
An outstanding read! I would show more give it 6 Stars if my scale went up that high. It is even better than the first book in the series, which is saying a lot as Assassin’s Honor is an amazing read as well.

The plot builds on the foundations established in the first book with the continued search for the Tyet of Isis. The richness of detail concerning the conflict between the Sicari and Praetorian secret societies fills in the gaps that remained at the conclusion of Assassin’s Honor, and the author also provides tantalizing clues to the story in the next installment. I am really looking forward to finding out more about Alexander the Great’s potion.

The characterization is excellent. Lysander and Emma have a primal and fundamental connection that just leaps off the pages. Their pain and the love they feel for each other reaches out and grabs you. Lysander has an incredible strength and vitality even in the face of adversity, and while there were one or two moments where I could have smacked Phaedra upside the head, her emotions and reactions are, nevertheless, consistent with her nature. The secondary characters on not left out. The villains are suitably diabolical (I won’t tell you who they are so as not to ruin the interesting twists), and I enjoyed catching a glimpse at the history of the Sicari, both distant with Maximus and Cassiopeia, and more recent with Atia and Marcus, whose relationship is apparently going to be crucial to the next book. You’ll just have to read to see what I mean.

Burns’s writing has only gotten better, and she has managed to overcome the repetitiveness of thought and emotion that marred the first book. The flashback scenes are intricately woven into the primary story and the transitions between past and present are smooth and do not detract from the overall plot.

Overall, I highly recommend this series, which should be read in order because the plotlines are intertwined, and I cannot wait for the release of the next book, Inferno’s Kiss. show less

We rejoin the world of Sicari right where we left of with the last book, Assasian’s Heart. We actually backtrack just a little bit because Phae is still in a coma when we meet up Atia. While Atia is not the main focus of this book, she and Marcus play a vital role in this book. They have been featured as a secondary couple in the past and their relationship continues to be volatile as they fight their feelings for one another. Having their story featured in Inferno’s Kiss worked show more perfectly next to Dante and Cleo’s. Like mother, like daughter and both Cleo and Atia are stubborn till the end leaving the men in their lives fighting to let them in. Both relationships followed similar paths, so having both of them featured in Inferno’s Kiss was perfect. It also gave finality to an entire family’s future, both relationships affecting the other in some way.

Inferno’s Kiss has a very slow burn when it came to Dante and Cleo, which was good and bad. I loved it because it gave their feelings time to develop and grow, but it also drove me crazy because Dante was being so stubborn! Here is the quick version of my frustration with him. Dante took a vow of celibacy when he was fifteen, many encouraged him to not rush into this choice because he was so young, but he thought it was his duty to honor this vow. But at fifteen how many of us really know what we want out of life? I don’t think many do, and Dante should be included in this group. His desire to please his mentors and have a sense of belonging clouded his judgment and led him into a vow that would always put his needs second. It is a choice he never regretted, until the first second he laid eyes on Cleopatra. While, it does take them a while to finally give into their initial feelings once they do it is hot! Monica knows how to build up the tension until it is practically spilling out of the pages and the anticipation can be just as good as the main event. I enjoyed watching Cleo slowly show Dante there is more to life than duty and in return Dante showed Cleo that letting people in does not always mean you get hurt. The couple complimented each other well and I appreciated Monica taking the time to develop the characters fully, both separately and together.

The mythology in this world continues to blow me away. The Sicari and Praetorians are a group of people I never heard of until this series and each novel brings new information that affirms my love for these characters. Past lives, telepathic and telekinetic abilities, ancient civilizations and romances that can span lifetimes blend together in this world and leave the reader aching for more. It commands your full attention and makes it easy to fall in love with the lore and the people whose lives it affects.

The ending of this book was a blur of action and revelations that were both shocking and heartbreaking. That is one of the things I have come to admire about Monica’s writing, her ability to write great plot twists. In Inferno’s Kiss, there is a traitor in the Sicari ranks and I had absolutely no idea how deep that betrayal was going to be. Once their identity was revealed, I was staring at the words open-mouthed in complete shock. Looking back now, the clues are there and it made sense, but it caught me off guard and my heart broke for the character’s lives that were impacted because of the traitor. I am eager to see what will happen next because of events that unfolded in Inferno’s Kiss.

Overall, this series just keeps getting better with every installment. Monica has created a fascinating world filled with an intriguing mythology and well developed characters that will keep you coming back for more. I have not seen any mention of a fourth book yet, but I am keeping fingers crossed that we get to see more in the Sicari world. As long as Monica keeps writing them, I will keep reading them! show less

I'd actually read the second in this series beforehand, and enjoyed it. But this one was a miss for me. Part of it was a frustration with how much time they wasted. They'd been best friends since childhood, but a couple of dumb decisions later, and they missed out on even that friendship for 14 years(!), much less the happily wedded bliss they should have had. That's not romantic, that's just sad. And at every turn there's a path to perhaps get things back on track- but then they head off show more some other way instead. And because they're not even penpals during that time, there are large stretches of the book where they aren't even interacting with each other. Lame. There's like one chapter in the middle of the book about a secondary relationship, and I think I actually preferred it to the entirety of the main one. They had my respect and empathy so I cared more about their HEA. And lastly, I didn't like how this couple's reunion was handled. There's a time and place for bedroom games, but I don't think this was it. At all. It made it into playing mind games and throwing the other off balance, rather than sitting down to finally address some things, or having an emotional heart to heart, or some physical tenderness during this emotionally trying time, or anything one might expect in this scenario. If things go well then there will always be more time later to play around and experiment, etc. It made it seem like sex, and in particular the hero's fantasies, were the real priority and everything else could just be squeezed in in the gaps. So I didn't find the story romantic, and because the one real sex scene is that last one and I didn't like how it was handled, it didn't end up feeling particularly steamy to me either. I didn't hate it, but it was definitely a disappointment. Overall though, I disliked the characters' decisions but I didn't particularly dislike them. So it had potential, but just missed its mark. show less