Lyda Morehouse

I preordered this book and stayed up all night finishing it. This is not typical behavior for me, since I'm an overworked sysadmin.

It was worth it.

There are a lot of little things in here that made me squee: From the faux book excerpts (love epistolary stuff!) to Morningstar to Dee going with Mouse. But for me, it's the themes of redemption and forgiveness. These are themes that run through Morehouse's work, which may be why she deals with religion so often. These are also the themes that show more draw me to her work, and to Mouse. The moment that completely undoes me in [b:Fallen Host|71414|Fallen Host (LINK Angel, #2)|Lyda Morehouse|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170760916s/71414.jpg|69158] is the moment when Mouse forgives Page. The scene that undoes me in [b:Messiah Node|71415|Messiah Node (LINK Angel, #3)|Lyda Morehouse|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170760916s/71415.jpg|69159] is the scene where Mouse risks his life and sacrifices his freedom to save a woman who, a short time before, pointed a gun at him.

I don't mean to make Mouse sound like some boring old saint. He's also a liar, a sneak, and a very funny thief.

So, in this book, Mouse goes to Egypt seeking forgiveness for the sins of his youth. And here's where the spoilery part comes in, so if you really don't want to know, stop reading here.

Are you still reading?

It's actually Morningstar that undoes me in this one. Not that Mouse doesn't have his moments of grace and not that I don't want to scoop him up and cuddle him, but...

And I still feel like I'm not coherent enough to write a review, so I may tweak this review later. Or not. We'll see.

ETA - I really wish Morehouse had been at WisCon this year. There was a panel called, "The Future's Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed." That's probably the defining motif of the AngeLINK universe, and strongly and explicitly addressed here. There's always inequitable distribution of resources, class, and privilege, but this universe is particularly unfair in that regard. And Mouse is their technological Robin Hood. show less

I’m going to start off by saying that I LOVE Tate Hallaway but unfortunately this is not my favorite work by her. I absolutely loved her Garnet Lacey series, which was an adult paranormal series filled with vampires, witches, goddesses and other magical beings! Almost To Die For is her new YA paranormal series, and while I really liked the premise, I felt the book was too short and rushed.
It’s Ana’s 16th birthday, and this doesn’t just mean sweet 16 parties with giggling girls and show more birthday cake, because Ana is also a witch. Turning 16 is an important age in Ana’s coven, and it is her turn to take her initiation test and finally join in the inner circle. The test is pretty simple and a basic spell would be easy for any young witch, except Ana has a secret…..she can’t do magic…nadda…none.
Things get a little more complicated when her long lost father shows up. Ana’s mother promptly freaks out and cast a spell on him that would be deadly to any human. She soon learns the shocking truth…She has vampire blood running through her veins, and they are the witches’ sworn enemy. Ana is now torn between two worlds. One she was raised in and one she didn’t even know existed.
Ana goes back and forth between her mother’s world and her father’s world in the book, and the reader gets a glimpse of both. While I loved the characters I wanted more detail in both the raising action and the climactic battle at the end. I was very interested in the vampire’s world. Every paranormal author likes to put their own twist on the classic blood suckers, and I love reading what they come up with. Hallaway is no different. She made an underground world where vampires sleep during the day in humid recessed wall cubbies….in the nude, no less. Descendants from the underworld they became slaves to the witches long ago. While Ana father is the king of their world now, not every vampire wants to serve him. Some still believe they should do the witches bidding and are rising against him. This means they are also coming for Ana.
While Ana tries to sneak around her mother’s watchful eye, dodge rebel vampires against the king, and figure out as much about her heritage as she can, she is also crushing on a rather hunky member of her coven….Only he hunts vampires!
I really want to read the next book in this series and hope the story is not only longer but evolves more and offers more details on each side of Ana’s life. show less

You know, usually when you begin adding supernatural creatures to a book to an excessive degree, my suspension of disbelief is suspended. Not so, here -- I really enjoyed this book, and the many different story threads it threw out in many different directions, waiting to be picked up later. I looked up the author's blog halfway through, and was disappointed to learn that the series would not be continued by her publisher. However, apparently the author is continuing to publish on her own on show more Wattpad, which I'm going to have to look into. Kudos on the beginning of a kickass series! show less

This was a solid, fascinating conclusion to Morehouse's series. My only problem with it, is that I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to take from the ending. It was twisty, unexpected and worked - but I find myself left with a slightly confused feeling. I suspect this is because she set the readers up to expect a particular kind of ending; one that at least one of the main characters was also expecting, and just as the resolution left him confused - and defeated - which I suspect may have show more been the point. I need to let it all mull around in my subconscious a bit more I think, and see what conculsions I end up with.

For all that, a very good book and very good conclusion, so don't let me meanderings put you off. show less