Unbound

I love anthologies for being able to be briefly introduced to other authors and possible other series without having to spend the time to read an entire book before I decide if I want to buy into the series or not. For the most part, this is an incredible anthology — I only picked it up for the Jeaniene Frost story about Bones, but I found myself enjoying almost every story within this volume. While I’ve heard of all the authors included, the only one I’ve read before was Frost, so this was a great opportunity for me to see if I want to start these different series. For that reason, “Reckoning” was my favorite series since I already appreciated the context and had an emotional buy-in for the main character; however, I also show more greatly enjoyed the Melissa Marr story and the Vicki Pettersson story.

None of these are overly sexy, which I actually enjoyed. I didn’t want to read about smut in these stories, I wanted actual substance, and that’s what I got from them. They definitely fall more on the paranormal thriller side, even if there is a bit of romance in some of them. I can’t speak for the other stories, but I definitely recommend reading this just for “Reckoning” if you’re a Night Huntress fan. It’s a gruesome, horrifying story, but it’s kind of fun to see Bones pre-Cat. As for the others, I can’t wait to get started on some other paranormal series that weren’t yet on my to-read list.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. show less

I didn't like this book as much as the first. I found myself having a really hard time with the plot. I wasn't buying it, I wasn't liking it, and I wasn't able to swallow it.

.... SPOILER ALERT .... there are spoilers in here

First,
Matt did something I don't see as forgivable. I think what he did was totally unacceptable and I don't see how everyone was so instantly able to put aside how fucking WRONG the 'hero's' actions were and to encourage her to get back together with and forgive him, let alone marry him!! WTF??! It certainly helped (a LITTLE) to hear it from Matt's POV, (in fact, I preferred his to hers!) but it still didn't justify or excuse him!

Secondly,
all through the book the heroine was whining about how the Pentagon boys so show more royally fucked her over... um, hello, her ex sister-in-law committed suicide over what they did!!! Now, granted, as far as I'm concerned, that girl deserved what she got, but still, to whine about her loss when someone else died over it seemed lame. And because she so instantly rolls over and takes what they give her, I find it really hard to feel empathetic towards her.

For example: That debt she took on made me wanna bitch smack her. It just seemed like she was too quick to take it on, and too stupid about it. - Which reminds me of a big sticking point in book one... at the friend's wedding when the ex comes up to talk to her... (what the fuck is he doing coming up to chat with her for in the first place), and afterwards the book builds it up for a big scene (saying stuff like the ex can't handle seeing her with another man and is likely to make a scene) and then nothing at all happens, nothing is addressed. He just disappears! So we're expecting something, and it more than fizzles, it just ceases to exist.

Thirdly,
I wasn't impressed with her security detail, seems that a REAL professional security detail would have been able to handle BOTH situations better. The first, that seemed like a rookie solution, and the second, that just seemed unlikely. Security isn't likely going to say, 'aw well, she's going somewhere we think she'll be safe' and leave it at that! Someone should have been watching her! Well, if they are a good security team that is!

Fourthly,
the plot (and I realize it's not been fully revealed yet) was just too wtf-ish, it just didn't make any real sense. And it wasn't consistent, at one point that love-able Matt (dripping sarcasm), who had put security on Perla because, as he said, he knows what these guys (from the Pentagon Group) are capable of (and it's life threatening), and yet the author continually throws in things to make them all look like saints, how they are loyal and generous and kind. HUH? How does that even make sense? It's not consistent, how can they all be capable of hideous things, like killing her, and also so 'endearing'? It just made no sense.

.... End of SPOILERS ....

So, yeah, the plot didn't work for me at all. The seemingly inconsistency of characters' traits and personalities didn't make sense to me. And I just was pretty disgusted by the lot of them!

I did like her life changes though! That was fun to read about!! I liked the day to day living the author narrates. I like feeling like I'm there. So, I liked the subplot. Maybe it's because I was a BIG Secret of My Success fan! hehehe.

But all that said, I still thought the book well written, and I didn't see (or notice anyway) any typos and grammatical errors. That is sooooo rare!! For that alone I was tempted to give 4 stars!! I HATE blaring errors, you know the kind that if anyone had actually looked at the words they were reading they'd have seen! Basic editing!! Well, like I said, this book had it! I didn't glitch over anything, so THAT in itself is worth the cost of the book. And I like the author's writing style. I like how kind of slow and steady it is. Granted, I didn't find it to be great for the sex scenes as they tended to bore me, but I don't really care for them even when they are well written.

All in all, I will be reading book 3! Iz got to know how it ends!! However, I'm not too sure if I'd read the other books in the Pentagon Group, I was pretty disgusted by all of them and am not too keen to be won over. I'd rather just hate them all and move on! hehehe. show less

1. 'Reckoning'**** is 0.5 in Jeaniene Frost's 'Night Huntress' series, which I have not read. I looked the series up. Heroine Cat Crawford does not appear in this story. Vampire hitman Bones is our protagonist. Real life voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau (1801-1881) is one of the undead and rules New Orleans. (Her title is 'Majestic'.) The Majestic happens to be away, however. Bones is summoned by Jelani, the ghoul Marie left in charge. It seems that notorious sadistic real-life serial torturers and killers Delphine and Louis LaLaurie are here as ghouls taking advantage of Laveau's absence. Jelani was one of their slave-victims. He has prosthetic arms and legs, which means he had to have lost them before he became a ghoul.

If hunting down show more this pair isn't enough, someone keeps shooting Bones with silver-tipped arrows. Good thing the shooter keeps missing Bones' heart. This adventure starts on February 16, 2004 and ends during the Mardi Gras season that year, before Hurricane Katrina wrecked the city. If you're a history buff, there are some inaccuracies about the LaLauries. The fire that exposed their monstrous actions on April 10, 1834, so the story's tour guide in incorrect to claim the LaLauries were at in in the mid-eighteen hundreds. The building visitors can see today was rebuilt from the ruin of the LaLaurie mansion.

Bones recruits a human, Becca, who actually saw Delphine lure away a victim. He isn't treating her as a disposable tool. He genuinely wants to keep her safe. She seems like a nice lady.

It was interesting to learn that vampires are forbidden to use magic in this series. Also, the Biblical Cain was the first vampire, according to chapter five.

The hunt and the big battle were good reading. If you know the LaLaurie story and are infuriated that they managed to flee and live out their lives, this story should make you feel better. If you want to know if Marie Laveau makes an appearance, she does. Is she more frightening than the LaLauries? Make that a resounding YES!.

2. 'Dark Matters'***½ I've read a few stories set in Vicki Pettersson's The Sign of the Zodiac series, but not enough of them to be that invested in this one until about chapter four or five of its seven chapters. This is story 4.5 in the series.

When the story starts, a five-year-old JJ, son of two agents of Light, gets to witness his parents die in a battle with the Shadows. One little Shadow girl, Solange, could have killed him but didn't. They meet again 23 years later. Their interactions are this story, coupled with the need to find the Kairos, the child of prophecy. A human psychic could have the answer. Who will get to her first?

This is an origin story. If you're a fan of the series, it should prove interesting. Otherwise, it takes a while to get into the story.

3. The Dead, the Damned, and the Forgotten**** is a novelette, #0.6 in Jocelynn Drake's Dark Days urban fantasy series. I don't know this series. I got the number from the author's website.

In this alternate Earth there are nightwalkers (vampires), lycanthropes (werewolves, also called shapeshifters), and magic users. The nightwalkers are ruled by the Coven, which is in Venice. There are four Elders, only two of whom are named in this story. One is Macaire. The one named Jabari is missing. The nightwalkers have domains, kept by one nightwalker. Our heroine is Mira, Keeper of the Domain of Savannah, Georgia. Macaire has hated Mira since Jabari became her mentor 500 years ago.

The nightwalkers, lycanthropes, and magic users have their enemies among the humans, some of whom have formed the Daylight Coalition. The coalition wants to kill the supernatural creatures, but have managed kill about as many of their own kind as the real thing. I loved this description from chapter 3: 'The rest of the human world thought they were a bunch of crackpots who had watched Van Helsing one too many times. I tended to agree.'

A nightwalker has been murdered in Savannah, and it looks as if it's the work of the Daylight Coalition. Worse for Mira, Macaire's emissary, Bishop, is in town. If Mira doesn't solve the case and prove she's still in charge, Bishop is going to take her back to the Coven. Remember that missing Elder? He's the one who helped Mira escape from them centuries ago.

The more Mira and her assistant, Knox, look into the case, the worse things go. Mira is nearly killed more than once. I was not expecting the solution, but it was quite interesting. From the description of the series at the author's website, I'm assuming that hunter Mira agrees to deal with will turn out to be series regular Danaus. show less

To be honest, I read this book only for Melissa Marr's (author of Wicked Lovely, etc)short story. I am not a fan of Kim Harrison, and so having never read her series, I had a hard time with the first story--it involved characters, and referenced many plot lines, from her main series. It was hard to read as a stand-alone. Apart from that issue, I very much enjoyed this collection--very diverse points of view and feelings to each of the stories, but each was entertaining and smart. I especially enjoyed Marr's character Eavan, and her struggles with the duality of her nature. It makes me hope that this character returns--I'd be very interested in how her story (and struggle) continues.

"Unbound" is a collection of five stories by various different paranormal authors. I bought this book the day it came out for Kim Harrison and Jeannene Frost's stories. I am not a huge fan of anthologies in general but I had to get this one.

"Ley Line Drifter" by Kim Harrison - * * *
This is the story of Jenks the pixy and Bis the gargoyle attempting to solve a paranormal private investigation case. Jenks usually works with Rachel, but he is eager to help save another pixy's young children. I adore Jenks, always have and always will. Unfortunately a closer glimpse of Jenks and his family is the only thing recommending this story. The mystery of two statues inhabited by a demon and a nymph is too vaguely constructed to be compelling and show more the ending is far too abrupt. I get the feeling we will hear from these characters again in the future but in this story I didn't' find them too interesting. As a whole the story was unsatisfying Still the pages of family time visiting Jenks, his wife and their children was definitely enjoyable and worth reading.

"Reckoning" by Jeanene Frost * * * * *
This novella is about Bones, before he met Cat, and how he came to be hired in New Orleans to kill a pair of ghoul serial killers. In sixty pages, Frost manages to tell a complete and engaging paranormal tale. It beings with Bones getting a call to New Orleans and follows him as he hunts and finds the killers. There are several other characters who appear through the tale whom we have never read about in Frost's series. Still Frost makes us feel like we know these fleshed out characters. This story isn't going to change how you read the "Night Huntress" series and you won't miss anything vital if you don't read this novella. Still every page is entertainment in its purest form. Unlike Harrison's tale before it, "Reckoning" has a complete ending which I was completely happy with.

"Dark Matter" by Vicki Petterson * * * *
This is a short story set in the same superhero world as Joanna Archer's, where Light agents battle Shadow agents in a war of good versus evil. Joanna, the main character from the Signs of the Zodiac series, is missing here (mostly) as the story takes place before Joanna learns that she is to be the Kairos, a powerful woman made up on fboth light and dark who would tip the scales in favor of which ever side she chose to fight with. Instead this is a story about another Light agent J.J.. JJ falls in love with a shadow agent, and must deal with the fallout from that. This story is gripping and easy to read. My complaint with the Zodiac series is that it is bogged down and events unfold so quickly that it is hard to keep track of everything. Not the case here. Dark Matter is a powerful story that should be a must read for follower's of Petterson's series. It was sad and somewhat shocking at the end, but that only made me want to rush to read the newest book, "City of Souls". Maybe if I had already read that fourth installment, I wouldn't have been as shocked by the ending. Still this story was gem.

"The Dead, the Damned and the Forgotten" by Jocelyn Drake * * * * *
I have the first two books by Jocelyn Drake but I haven't read them yet. The good news is that the story makes me want to hurry up and get to them! Mira, a vampire, runs a domain of the undead in Savannah. She is called to the morgue to find a dead vampire. As she and her assistant Knox race to find the killer it becomes quickly apparent they are in deeper than they bargained for. An ancient vampire shows up from the head Coven in Venus and threatens to send Mira back to live under their rule if she can't get ahold on her own territory. The stakes are raised as they learn werewolves, hit men, and humans are all involved. Drake writes an intriguing story here. The world really appealed to me but I can tell there is probably more blood and violence than in most of the other urban fantasy stories. These people don't mess around! Although the story has to do with an existing world and some established characters I never felt lost. There was nothing about the story I didn't like. Easily a five star story.

"Two Lines" by Melissa Marr * * *
I have never read Melissa Marr before, and I liked her writing. This story was good but not great. It's the story of a girl named Eavan "Eve", who belongs to a family of glaistigs. Glaistigs are woman with goat bodies on their lower halves but are beautiful and human on the top half. They occasionally have to kill to live eternally. In order for Eve to be a real glaistig and leave her humanity behind, she must kill and have sex. Scared of changing over, she avoids both like the plague. This story has her fighting the urges to change, and stalking a human killer as he gives woman a zombie potion and then mutilates them. Enter Cillian, a paranormal police officer and you have her love interest.
The story wasn't bad, and I had no trouble reading through it. If this became a series, I would give it a chance. This was still overall my least favorite of the five stories.

Overall this was a rocking anthology. I usually have a couple stories I really can't get into, but this was a treat. I recommend this one to all the urban fantasy lover's out there who don't mind a good anthology. show less

Originally picked up this book for the Melissa Marr story. Turns out it was my least favorite in the collection. It gave me a chance to discover Kim Harrison' Ley Line Drifter which is a short story from her Hollows' world. Next was Jeaniene Frost's Reckoning. I've never read her work before but I may start after this story. The same holds true for Jocelynn Drake's The Dead The Damned The Forgotten. After Marr's story, Two Lines, the other story I didn't care much for was Dark Matters from Vicki Pettersson. All in all, it's a good read and I ended up discovering a couple of authors I now like.

This anthology includes 5 new stories by popular paranormal authors. In all cases (except for Marr's story) the stories are set in preexisting worlds created by the authors. My favorite of the bunch were "Ley Line Drifter" which gives you a closer look at Jenks' family and "Rekoning" which introduced me to Jeaniene Frost's writing. This book made me want to learn more both about Frost and Drake and read some of their series. "Dark Matters" by Petttersson is an important read for those of us reading the "Signs of the Zodiac" series as it explains in full some of the events that happened in "City of Souls". Marr's first adult story "Two Lines" was also a pleasant surprise and I liked it quite a bit more than her young adult series.

In show more general the stories in this book tend more towards action/urban fantasy than romance. I personally enjoyed that. All in all a great collection of stories. See below for more detail on each story in this anthology.

"Ley Line Drifter" by Kim Harrison (5/5 stars)
An excellent story set in Harrison's Hollows world, it's about Jenks helping a fellow pixie. You learn more about pixie culture and there is a ton of action. Given the ending I am wondering if what Jenks and Ivy unleashed will come back to haunt them in the next Hollows book.

"Reckoning" by Jeaniene Frost (5/5 stars)
A prequel to the Night Huntress series by Frost. This story tells about a vampire named Bones who is hired by the New Orleans Queen vampire to take out some serial killer Ghouls. On top of this hunt for the killers, someone is trying to kill Bones. I have never read any of Frost's Night Huntress books but based on this story I will have to check them out. I like her writing style; no-nonsense and lots of action. Bones was an intriguing character and Frost creates an interesting variation on paranormal alternate worlds.

"Dark Matters" by Vicki Pettersson (3/5 stars)
This is a prequel to her "Signs of the Zodiac series". It tells the background/history of JJ/Hunter. It was good to read a story that made the events in the "City of Souls" (book 4) make more sense. I still don't understand why "City of Souls" couldn't have explained what this story did. If you are reading the "Signs of the Zodiac" series then reading this story is a must. As for the story itself I didn't like it all that much (aside from the info it gives). The story is more a romance than anything and much of the action is pushed aside for numerous sex scenes. It was okay, but nothing to write home about.

"The Dead, the Damned, and the Forgotten" by Jocelynn Drake (4/5 stars)
Prequel to the Dark Days series by Jocelynn Drake; I have not read any books in this series. This story follows Mira as she tries to track down a nightwalker killer and avoid assassination herself. Both Mira and Knox are intriguing characters. The story was action packed and hints at an interesting world. An enjoyable read. I will have to check out the Dark Days series eventually to see how I like the full novels.

"Two Lines" by Melissa Marr (4/5 stars)
This story tells about Eaven, she is a human that will become a glasitig is she ever does two things: kill and have sex. She is hell bent on staying human. Things get out of control when she starts hunting a drug lord. When her grandmother provides a sexy bodyguard for her Eaven begins to wonder if her desire to stay human is worth the sacrifice. Not as much action as the other stories, this story presented a very unique world with supernatural creatures different than I was used to seeing. I actually like Marr's writing style in this story quite a bit more than her writing style in her "Wicked Lovely" series. show less