Nicole Peeler

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: A woman cursed to be a jinni for 1,000 years is finally close to the end of her sentence. Then a Magi has to show up and ruin everything. A fun tale full of humor and action, this book definitely should not be missed!

Opening Sentence: The chubby little human was doing his damndest to hump my leg, but the palm I’d placed on his forehead kept him at arm’s length.

The Review:

It’s been a very long thousand years for Lyla. Born human but show more cursed to be a jinni, she’s waited for this day for a very long time. The rules of her curse state that if she is unBound exactly one thousand years after being cursed, she will become human again. Well, she is only a week away. Her freedom is so close she can actually taste it. Then, Oz shows up. Oz, a Magi, has the power to Bind Lyla, and that is exactly what he does. He needs help finding the daughter of friends of his, and he won’t release Lyla until the daughter is found. Lyla has no choice but to follow his every command and hope that he’s telling the truth when he says he will release her once her task is complete. It soon becomes obvious, however, that this is no simple rescue mission. Things are starting to go terribly wrong in Pittsburgh, and it’s becoming more and more clear that this girl is at the heart of it. Will Lyla and Oz be able to find this girl before Lyla’s time is up?

I’m still in the middle of Nicole Peeler’s Jane True series, about which I have mixed feelings (hated the first 2 books, but the third was entertaining), so I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to react to this new series. Thankfully, I needn’t have worried. I was pretty much hooked from page one and had a hard time putting the book down. It’s full of humor, but the humor doesn’t feel forced, which makes it very enjoyable.

It did take me a little bit to warm up to Lyla, mainly because it is so obvious that Oz is a good guy, so the way she treats him at first made me not like her, even though her attitude is justified based on her prior experience with Magi. Once I let my initial feelings go, I really began to like her. She has the makings of a very tough heroine, and I’m curious to see where she goes from here.

One complaint I have is that, while Oz is supposed to be the leading man, he felt more like a side character. I never really got a good feel for him, other than knowing that he was a good guy. I’m hoping there will be more added to his character in future books because there is definitely potential there. It just didn’t come to fruition in this book.

Lyla’s friends really make up the heart of this book. I easily felt the most connected to them, I think because it so apparent from the very start how much they care about her, and their actions throughout the book only served to further deepen my affection for them. I especially loved Rachel. Her personality just leaped off the page. I would love to get a chapter or short story from her point of view.

All in all, this was a very entertaining first book in a series. There were times that exposition bogged the story down a bit, but it really didn’t affect my enjoyment too terribly. I would say everyone should definitely give this one a try, even if they didn’t love the Jane True series. You might just find yourself pleasantly surprised, as I was.

Notable Scene:

Recognizing a true, Initiated Magi, my crazy inner she-bear emerged, gibbering about never being taken alive. If I had any thought at all it was that my sense of self-preservation would give me an edge. I was fighting for my life, after all, while this guy was just a jerk trying to Bind a jinni.

Unfortunately he didn’t fight like a jerk; he fought like a cornered wolverine. He fought as if he were the one who’d be enslaved if he lost this match. He fought like his life depended on it. Which, considering I was intent on killing him, I guess it did.

He fought better than me.

I was hitting him, hard, but I’d lost my talons shifting to a bigger size. Being unBound meant I was far less powerful, even with my unusual access to all of Pittsburgh’s corrupted magic swirling at my feet. And now that I was unarmed, he wasn’t hitting back, just using his big body to deflect the majority of my blows. Until I overextended a kick.

His own booted foot lashed out, knocking my leg out from under me. I was on the ground again and this time he didn’t underestimate my abilities.

He pinned me down with all his weight, his knees pressing painfully into my thighs and his chest blanketing mine, his hands holding down my wrists. His face was inches from mine, but his features were entirely obscured by the bright glow of his Flaring eyes.

Not me, my brain howled. Not when I’m so close to being free. I started to shift again in a last, desperate attempt. But before I could change, he’d spoken.

It was the second part of the spell that was the real bitch. And I was too late to stop him.

“Te vash anuk a si,”he chanted over and over. I Call you.His pronunciation grew more confident with every repetition. The harsh sibilance of the language of the jinn reached toward me, wrapping around my soul. I cried out, but the spell blanketed me, muting my powers. I stopped mid-shift, my power whoomping out, leaving me beneath him in my own small form.

My wide brown eyes stared up at him, begging him silently to stop, not to say the last bit. The bit that made me his; that made me do his bidding; that made me a slave until he either let me go or died.

He spoke the words.

FTC Advisory: Orbit provided me with a copy of Jinn and Juice. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less

In which our heroine strongly begins to suspect that the supernatural lifestyle might not be all that it's cracked up to be, between the lethal and convoluted Alfar court politics, a crazed magical hybrid who is out for revenge, and Jane's sense that she is being driven into decisions that aren't in her best interest. I'd prefer not to say more as that would kill the fun, and take away from the poignancy.

Move over, Mercy Thompson, Kate Daniels, Sookie Stackhouse, and the other strong, wonderful woman characters that populate today's urban fantasy landscape. I love you all dearly, and hold my breath for your new books, but it is time to scootch over a bit, as Jane True has come to town! I just found Jane while perusing my local bookstore, and I couldn't be happier.

Jane is a very complex character. If you really haven't had any "life experience" (read here, if you don't understand loss, show more mourning, or the pain of living where everyone knows you, and holds your family's history against you) then you probably won't understand Jane. But if you do, her strength of character can absolutely rock your world, like it did mine.

Jane is a reluctant hero, and yet her ability to roll with the punches and become more than she had ever thought she could be is a HUGE encouragement to women who have been drug through the tunnel and come out on the other side stronger than ever.

The characters are well developed, the storyline keeps you guessing, and it is great fun watching how Jane grows and learns her own strengths - strengths she never dreamed she could possess. And she has a tremendous sense of humour, and a potty mouth to match. I have been spending my mornings, before work, sitting outside in the sun, reading Jane's exploits while laughing laughing like a loon at her hysterical dialog (her mental libido cracks have me rolling on the floor). She is strong, strong-willed, and one of the most likable of all the tough female urban fantasy characters that I adore.

I can hardly wait for #4!! show less

This is the fourth book in the Jane True series by Peeler. This book was less romance and more urban fantasy than the previous books. I really enjoyed it and am intrigued by some of the turns the story takes.

Jane is trying to catch her breath from all of the events that happened in the last book. Then strange things start happening in the town of Rockabill. Random people (normal and supernaturals alike) start spouting strange warnings without realizing it and some of the baddies we've all show more grown to hate show up searching for...something. Jane, Anyan, and crew have to figure out what everyone is searching for and how to get to it before the baddies do. They have some additional help in the mysterious character Blondie, who is one of the Originals.

I really enjoyed this book. You get a bit of Jane and Anyan time in the first third of the book, I love Anyan and enjoyed the steamy scenes between him and Jane. I also enjoyed Jane's quirks, her funniness, and the constant arguments between her libido and her virtue. Additionally I enjoyed watching Jane grow into her substantial power. After all of the training in the last book, she has learned how to wield her magic much more efficiently and she is continuing to train and learn her limits.

The story takes on a bit of a quest feel as Jane and crew struggle to find the locks that unlock the huge thing beneath Rockabill. There is searching and stumbling through dark caves, and I am going to be honest the adventure fantasy fan in me loved some of these scenes. Then there is Jane taking on a whole new aspect, that of a champion and a fighter. Yes being a fighter is totally against Jane's nature, but that's what makes it so interesting. I am sure in the next book Jane will make all the training to learn to fight absolutely hilarious and we will get to see Jane take on yet more responsibilities and grow into a force to be reckoned with.

Blondie wasn't my favorite character, she was okay and did add a sense of mystery to the story. Based on the end of this book it looks like she will be playing a major role in future books. I am kind of hoping the thing going on between her and Jane stays just a passing thing and doesn't get any more...well deep. I really am pulling for Jane and Anyan to work things out and don't want Blondie getting in the way.

The book ends well and does an excellent job of completing the main story in this book. It does start up the story arc for the next novel too, and I am dying to know what happens next. With Jane positioned to take on a world of evil I am eager to see what happens!

Overall an excellent addition to this series. It was more urban fantasy than paranormal romance (although there are some excellent steamy scenes between Anyan and Jane). This book really ups the stakes for Jane and her friends. They are forced to solve a mystery of epic proportions and are drawn into events bigger than ever. I loved watching Jane master her power and loved watching her be forced to take on new roles that test her as a character. I am curious to see how all of this changes her. Like all of the previous books this one was well written, fun to read, and hilarious at times. Now I can't wait to get my hands on the next book, Tempest's Fury, too bad it doesn't come out until summer of 2012! show less