Susan Kearney

First and foremost, King Arthur, Knights of the Round Table, Avalon, The Holy Grail, Dragons, shapeshifters, Space travel, future, hot, steamy love scenes, paranormal romance.. all in one book? In "Lucan" it's all there! Susan Kearney has woven an exciting, action packed, thrill ride and love into "Lucan". I loved the Arthurian Legend being mixed in with Science Fiction and Fantasy. This book was 325 pages of pure excitement. I loved that there wasn't any huge lulls or any word padding. I show more could visualize Cael's dragon form, the pounding of her multiple hearts, and the telepathic connection between Cael and Lucan. Admittedly, I developed a fangirlish crush on Rion. I seriously could not put this book down and can't wait for her to give us more of Lucan, Cael, Rion, and the future of Earth. I think I have found another new author to add to my list of must reads! show less

Susan Kearney’s LUCAN looked interesting and captured my interest with it’s lovely cover and intriguing synopsis. I figured it would be a cute romance and a nice fantasy with enough action to keep the reader engaged. What I did not expect that a thrilling tale bursting forth from a new take on the legend of the Holy Grail. I didn’t expect the story, I didn’t expect the intense chemistry between the characters and I certainly didn’t expect to be so captivated by this book!

Lady Cael show more lives a sad and lonely life. She is the High Priestess of Pendragon and goes through every day without the touch of a single soul. From the time she was trained to be a Priestess as a young child, it became a taboo to touch her and more than that, anyone found doing so would be put to death. Even her family has a strict hands-off rule. If that wasn’t depressing enough, try having a sudden and overwhelming desire build up for a man just arrived on Pendragon. He can’t touch her and yet every fiber of her being yearns for him. Want to talk about romantic tension? Here it is!

Earth is dying, or rather, the people on Earth are. Infertility has spread across the planet like a nasty plague and Lucan’s sister is not immune. After she loses another baby, her twin brother Lucan sets out on a quest to cure her and the other women of Earth. After discovering ancient documents that describe the Holy Grail and where it can be found, Lucan sets off on a trip through space to Pendragon where his fate and that of Lady Cael will eventually meet.

I’ve said it time and time again. Tension makes a story, especially a romantic story. Tension is the element that keeps the reader wanting to turn the pages. When you say, “Oh, just one more paragraph/page/chapter,” and yet you just can’t seem to stop at that mark, that’s tension at play. A book with no tension has no way to grab on to the reader and pull them in, gripping like some fierce magnet. I am thrilled to say that the tension is definitely present in LUCAN. Kearney does an amazing job of making the story easy to read and engaging while at the same time keeping it from getting too heavy. There is such a thing as too much tension, in my opinion. Tension should rise and fall like a wave; constant high tension is bound to wear the reader out. Kearney is obviously a master at this ruling aspect of writing because the tension just felt perfect through the story.

Just as it is hard to watch a romantic scene between two actors on television when they have no chemistry, it’s equally hard to watch a romantic scene between two characters in a book when they have no chemistry. In some aspects I think that writing a romance might be harder than filming one because you have to create the chemistry and I don’t think that is a natural talent for everyone. Again, Kearney surprised me with the romantic touch she gave to her characters. With the obvious forbidden attraction between Lady Cael and Lucan aside, the characters still maintained a wonderfully bit of chemistry between them. While reading, I constantly pictured Cael and Lucan as two magnets drawn to each other. Kearney’s work her definitely helped to make the story for me and has created a romance that will appeal to many.

Lastly, I have to discuss the overall plot of this book. I think it was a brilliant idea to combine a story that usually deals with knights, castles and a semi fantasy based reality with a complete departure from reality. We have the legend of the Holy Grail in the same story as space travel and shapeshifting High Priestesses. Awesome! Kearney’s beautiful writing would have in and of itself drawn me in to the story, but it was the story that she fashioned that made this a success in my eyes and will most likely become a success everywhere else.

Fair warning time: There are adult themes and adult scenes within the pages of LUCAN.

I obviously have to give top marks to LUCAN. This was a wonderful book that I would be thrilled to read over and over. I have a feel it would never get old either. Lovers of Romance will just adore this while fans of Science Fiction / Fantasy will find a new and refreshing take on an old tale. show less

BEYOND MAGIC is a paranormal romance anthology featuring the authors Susan Kearney, Elaine Cunningham and Kassandra Sims, with stories ranging from an astral projection across the stars to psychics and witches.

Kearney's The Shimmering, the astral projection story, is fast moving and packed with sexual heat. I thought that the female lead was a little bit undecided in how to approach being sent across the stars to a new body—or more accurately her response to the man of her dreams show more (literally), but overall I found the story interesting. It didn't end how I thought it would, the story itself felt like it was setting up for a different kind of reveal than it did, but it was a satisfying ending with only one flaw. The 'murder' that Daveck punishes himself over is flimsy, and he admits that if things had gone as they should it wouldn't have happened. His logic is flawed; if he really was this brute of a man, why would his people look to him for leadership and protection?

Cunningham's Beyond Dreams, featuring a reluctant medium and former psychic spy, reads like an action-romance. Spies, psychics, and homicide make this an interesting little mystery to sort out. I liked both leads; despite a bitterness in their past relationship, the both of them met as mature adults who didn't let the past ruin the investigation they both were involved with. And they were both big enough to realize the fault wasn't entirely one or the other's. I only felt the ending left a lot of loose ends and I can only hope there is a sequel in the offing at some point in the future.

Sims' Hill and Sky is an entirely different story from the other two. The story itself is divided into two parts; part one describes the world, the inhabitants and basic precepts. Part two moves into the meat of the story, the tracking and investigating of whomever is killing the Fey creatures in Nashville. I enjoyed this story immensely, not just because it flowed in a such a way as to remind us that it's set in the South, but because scattered throughout, each character tells a story or several serve as allegories for themselves or others. The stories are as unique and different as the characters are from each other. The romance in the story is both fast and immediate, but slow and subtle enough to make the tension feel drawn out.

Overall the stories included seem to have little connection beyond the paranormal element. The stories also seem to be different facets and stages of a romance. The Shimmering is that immediate attraction you feel at first sight, Beyond Dreams is lovers reunited and Hill and Sky is about love that isn't simple or fast, but complex and slow. All in all a wonderful anthology to cozy up to and enjoy. show less

In the fourth book of the Heroes Inc. series, Kimberly Hayward is a Hollywood screenwriter who’s so close to signing her erotic/thriller heist script to a movie director. Her research vacation to the UK is twofold: she needs to make sure the items that are being stolen in the script could really be stolen in real life, and she needs to figure out how to add in the erotic elements the director wants. She’s having a blast playing the “spy” and sneaking into a library to steal a page show more from an important historical book, but she didn’t expect that a real spy would be watching her.
In truth, Jason Parker is a professional jewel thief wanted in several countries, but he owes a favor to a secretive agency called the Shey Group. The Shey caught him a while back but didn’t turn him over to the authorities, so he agreed to watch Kimberly to figure out if she’s a real spy. His gut tells him she’s innocent, but when the items she’s investigating actually go missing, he wonders if her innocence is all an act.
I love the plot but found it a little confusing. Kimberly is a determined, stubborn woman, but she’s uptight and naïve. She continuously debated about whether or not to like, trust, and sleep with Jason. Her internal thoughts and dialogue grew repetitive. Jason is charming, persuasive, and very light-fingered when it comes to snatching jewels and opening Kimberly’s blouse without her knowing. My confusion stemmed from the heist. I just couldn’t understand how Jason knew so much with so little explanation to how he figured it all out.
There are a few unanswered questions. Mainly: how did the actual thief manage to steal the items when he wasn’t a professional?
Also, the scene with Jason and Kimberly in the hot tub was sooooo hot, but unrealistic. Police officers would never let a naked couple play around in a bubble bath while they searched the bedroom for a stolen artifact. Other than that, the book was very realistic, in my opinion, and made for a fun heist story.
Anyway, I liked the book and would like to read more from this author.
3.5 Stars show less