A Challenge To Read More... PNR-UF Group November 2015 Challenge

A challenge to read more…

Since joining Goodreads I have found many “new to me” authors and series.

I took the site’s general “2014 Reading Challenge” and have signed up again this year. In addition to that I decided to sign up for a few reading challenges that the groups I belong to set.

“Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy” Group is for the discussion and recommendation of paranormal romances and paranormal erotic romance, along with urban fantasy, science fiction, futuristic, and fantasy romance. If you love vampires, werewolves, and hot faery men, this is the group for you. Join up and discuss your favourite books!

If you have questions or concerns, please contact a mod other than Pamela. She unfortunately doesn't have a lot of goodreads time at the moment, and you'll get a quicker response from another mod. Thanks!

We recommend members be over 18, since we do discuss books with adult content, but this is not strictly enforced. Please be aware that there will be adult discussion in this group!

So, this post is all about the monthly reading challenge that the “Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy” group have set for November 2015.

PNR & UF Group – November 2015 Challenge

It's a couple of days early, but, well, Halloween is a biggie around my house, and I'm getting ready to ramp up the costume race, so thought I'd get this posted now.

November
Have I Read This One Before?
Have you noticed that a lot of PNR and UF books have similar titles? Read a book that has one of the words in each list in it's title.

You can pluralise the word, but it has to be a separate word, e.g. Angel or Angels could be used but not Archangel.

1 – Dark or Darkness or Darker – Dark and Stormy Knight (Knights of Avalon #2) by Nina Mason
2 – Heat or Hot or Fire – Dragons Don’t Cry (Fire Chronicles #1) by D’Elen McClain
3 – Passion or Kiss or Desire – Passion Bites (Biting Love #9) by Mary Hughes
4 – Magic or Spell or Witch – The Silver Witch by Paula Brackston
5 – Night or Midnight or Wolf – Wolves (I Bring The Fire  # 1) by C Gockel (Read as part of the “The Paranormal 13” box set)
6 – Vampire or Blood or Bite – Blood Magic (Wing Slayer Hunters #1) by Jennifer Lyon
7 – Shadow or Deadly or Hunger – The Company of Shadows by Lisa Olsen
8 – Seduction or Lover or Mate – Marked by an Assassin (Eternal Mates series #8) by Felicity Heaton
9 – Hunter or Eternal or Heart - The Witch Hunter by Nicole R Taylor (Read as part of the “The Paranormal 13” box set)
10 – Angel or Demon or Dragon – Angel of Mercy by Lisa Olsen

PNR-UF Group November 2015 Challenge Book Montage

*flora*'s favorite books »

So have you read any of the above books? Recognise any of the authors? As usual you can click on the authors’ names to be whisked away to their own websites….

As my regular followers will know, I love these reading challenges – just search my site for reading challenges and see how many results you get!! Lol!  Reading challenges are a fun way to “force” us to look further than our noses, to look past those tried and trusted authors and genres that we always read and step into the world of the unknown… we may experience disappointment but we could discover a new “favourite” author and a myriad of new worlds, characters and tales to sink our teeth into! Isn’t it worth the risk?

Funnily enough I found this challenge harder than I expected. My TBR (To Be Read) shelf was lacking in titles containing these words, I really had to scour, however, looking back over the past couple of years, yes I agree PNR and UF book titles frequently contain these words in their titles! Lol!

Flora Reviews... Angel Of Mercy (The Fallen #1) by Lisa Olsen

 Angel Of Mercy (The Fallen #1)

by Lisa Olsen

Read: 23^rd – 25^th October 2015

Format: Kindle

My Goodreads Rating:  4 Stars

...So what’s this book about?

This book is the first in Lisa Olsen’s The Fallen Series (It’s listed as a 5 book completed series as I write this) and is an angel paranormal romance novel of about 249 pages which I downloaded from Amazon UK for free. (I do luuuv a bargain!)

The blurb says;

From Bestselling Paranormal Romance Author Lisa Olsen - Book One of The Fallen
I don't know why I got stabbed. I don't know why I healed overnight.

I don't know why I keep seeing the same guy in my dreams, on the sidewalk, at the mini-mart near my apartment - the insanely hot guy with the piercing blue eyes that nobody can see but me.

I have to follow him. I have to talk to him.

And he's not the only one stalking me. That guy with the knife? He's still out there, and he knows where I live.

I have to know. What am I now? Am I still human? Am I part angel? Or am I something new?

* This is the first book in a completed, five book series about fallen angels and demons, and contains a cliffhanger.

...So, what did I like about it?

I have come across Ms Olsen before; I find her writing style easy to read and I was once again impressed at how quickly she managed to submerge me into her world. All of the characters we met in this book were complex and multi dimensional and I found them all to be very believable. I am not from a religion background so I came into this story with no “baggage” when it comes to angels; what they’re like, what they do, how they interact, what the rules are, etc.  

I found the subtle humour very much to my taste  and I loved Mercy’s very real mix of intelligence and strength and I found myself engaged with her tale from the very beginning; wondering how she was going to go back to her “human” life or if she’d have to abandon it.

I know what it’s like to feel varying degrees of love/lust/friendship with those of the opposite sex but usually I get frustrated with these situations in paranormal romance (PNR) books, however, I liked the way Ms Olsen tackled this very human (fickled) state in this story; we’re lucky here to have a few angels and a human cop to muddy the emotional/romantic waters, all of who are, in my view, able to be our main male heroic lead alongside Mercy.

...So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?

Not really.

Although I will be honest, I wished that the ending hadn't been a cliff-hanger because, well, it’s frustrating, but I’m sort of ok with that because it’s more of a soft one rather than “oh no Mercy’s plummeting to her death will she survive the 10000ft drop to the bottom of the ravine…” sort of thing, just lots of questions left unanswered and an imminent danger looming. But hey, it is the first book in the series so, of course there will be tons of questions left unanswered, right?!

...So, basically what I’m saying is...

I really enjoyed this book, perhaps more than I was expecting due to my usual avoidance of “angel” themed romances. I couldn’t stop reading this book!! 

I’d recommend this book if you like reading paranormal stories based in our contemporary world where the main character has to come to terms with a new ability/lifestyle and where the relationship/romance/sexual tension part is very real to life (I don’t actually jump into bed immediately when I meet a hot new prospect – I do luuv the anticipation and build up though)!

So, have I sparked an interested for Angel Of Mercy in you? Just click on any of the links below and check out the book yourself.

©      See ANGEL OF MERCY on Goodreads.com

©      Buy ANGEL OF MERCY on Amazon.com

©       Buy ANGEL OF MERCY  on Amazon.co.uk

©       Check out LISA OLSEN’s own website

Flora Reviews... Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down by Lisa Olsen

Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down (Forged Bloodlines #1)

by Lisa Olsen

Read: 7^th – 10^th September 2015

Format: Kindle

My Goodreads Rating:  4 Stars

...So what’s this book about?

This book is the first in Lisa Olsen’s Forged Bloodlines Series (I see it’s got 9 other books listed in the series as I write this) and is a vampire paranormal romance novel of about 264 pages which I downloaded from Amazon UK for free. (I do luuuv a bargain!)

The blurb says;

It was ironic that this happened to me; I was never a night person at heart. So you can see right off the bat why a vampire was the very last thing I would have chosen to be.

Anja Evans wakes up in the morgue with a hell of a hangover. It takes almost eating her best friend before she figures out... she's a vampire. When a dark and dangerous vampire shows up at her door asking to see her license and registration, Anja assumes Bishop is a regular cop. But breeding among vampires is strictly controlled, and her unlicensed status makes her an enemy of The Order. Struggling to find a balance between her former life and her undead one, Anja tries to blend school and living up to her new identity, all while searching to find the elusive Viking, whose blood gave Anja the strength of a vampire hundreds of years old.

This might also be found in the new adult section, not that “adult” because we find our main character, Anja, 3 years out of high school attending The Central Coast Academy of Fine Arts.

...So, what did I like about it?

I haven’t read anything by Ms Olsen before; I found her writing style easy to read and I was impressed at how quickly she managed to submerge me into her world. 

All of the characters we met were complex and multi dimensional and I found them all to be very believable. 

I liked that Ms Olsen wrote her male main character, Bishop, as an alpha who wasn’t tortured  about feeding and/or killing humans (“Anja, that’s part of our nature. We’re killers, it’s what we’re built for”; it’s a refreshing change in a paranormal romance story. 

I found my chuckles came when Anya’s best friend Bridge or Bishops’s friend Mason were in the scenes.

I liked Anya very real mix of intelligence, strength and naiveté and I found myself pleasantly gripped with her tale; wondering who her sire was and what she would do if she had to abandon her “human” life.

...So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?

Not really, just small niggles that took the edge off. 

Of course I wished that the ending hadn't been a cliff-hanger because, well, it’s frustrating, but I’m sort of ok with that because it’s more of a soft one rather than “oh no Anya’s plummeting to her death will she survive the 1000ft drop to the bottom of the ravine??” type hanger more just lots of questions left unanswered.

I must confess to finding Anja’s behaviour and thought process a bit annoying at times but as I’ve said in other reviews, that’s just because I have no patience for teenage style romantic angst.

...So, basically what I’m saying is...

I really enjoyed this book, perhaps more than I was expecting due to my aversion of young adult/new adult main characters. 

I’d recommend this book if you like reading paranormal stories based in our contemporary world where the main character has to come to terms with a new ability/lifestyle, where the relationship/romance/sexual tension part is very real to life (I don’t jump into the sack immediately – I luuv the anticipation and build up though) and all without stereotypical pnr characters!

So, have I sparked an interested for Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down? Just click on the links below and check out the book yourself. 

See WAKE ME WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN on Goodreads.com 

Buy WAKE ME WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN on Amazon.com 

Buy WAKE ME WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN  on Amazon.co.uk

Check out LISA OLSEN’s own website