Flora's Musings...: Nina Mason

Tuesday, 1 December 2015

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!

Monday, 23 November 2015

Flora Reviews... Dark and Stormy Knight (Knights of Avalon #2) by Nina Mason

Dark and Stormy Knight (Knights of Avalon #2)

by Nina Mason

Read: 15^th – 23^rd November 2015

Format: Kindle

My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars

...So what’s this book about?

This is an erotic paranormal romance featuring faeries, druids, gods, goddesses, vampires and a screenwriter. Although this is the second book in Ms Mason’s Knights of Avalon series, it works well as a stand-alone novel.

The official blurb says:

She’ll risk everything for their love—even her life.

Aspiring screenwriter Gwyn Morland is ready for her big break. That means securing the film rights to elusive author Lady Ruthven’s acclaimed novel—which means traveling to Scotland. It’s a trip timid Gwyn isn’t prepared for, and her fears seem justified when her tour bus careens over a cliff outside of Castle Glenarvon. But the plot thickens when Gwyn is rescued from the brink of death by a handsome and mysterious stranger…

Leith MacQuill is not only the writer behind Lady Ruthven’s novel, but a shape-shifting faery knight bearing a tragic curse: the woman he gives his heart to will die. Saving Gwyn proves to be a dangerous choice when he finds himself falling for her the longer she stays in the castle. Not even his usual BDSM role-playing games are enough to thwart the intense desire they feel for each other. But to stay together, Gwyn and Leith must embark on a dangerous mission into Avalon, the realm of the faeries. Will their love be strong enough to conquer the curse? Or will Gwyn’s new life be stolen from her before it’s even begun?

Although this title is not officially published until 5^th January 2016, I was lucky enough to be given this book for free from the publisher (Kensington Books) via Netgally.com in exchange for a fair review.

Thank you. :-)

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

Nina Mason is a new to me author and I must say I am impressed. I found her writing style very easy to read and really liked the way she built her fantasy world and how it interacted with ours; the mix of historic fact, Celtic mythology and her own imagination creating a world that I enjoyed visiting (her take of vampires was refreshingly different).

I like my female leads to be intelligent and possess a strength that refuses to let them be doormats (even if they don’t realise at the start) but without losing their feminine capacity to love; Gwyneth Moorland was perfect. My male leads need to be alphas, emotionally damaged, but with a soft side buried deep within just waiting for the right woman to walk into their lives and make them whole again; Leith MacQuill doesn’t disappoint.

I loved the fact that just when I thought that Gwyn and Leith’s adventure was coming to an end, another twist (quest) pops into the fray and off we go again. Don’t let the fact that it took me 8 days to finish this book fool you that the story wasn’t gripping – it’s a real page turner. Yes, we get our happy ever after but the background story arc is left with enough of a potential danger that you just know we’ll meet Gwyn and Leith in a future book.

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

OK, so confession time – I must admit to being a bit weary of starting this book; I’m not comfortable with BDSM (both in real life and in the stories I read) but I was impressed with how it was written here, it’s far from brutal or grotesquely graphic and I found myself getting swept along with the passion and romance.

My only other little niggle was near the start of the story and Gwyn’s instant assumption that the elusive Leith MacQuill was a Faery. Really? You wouldn’t assume other more rational explanations first? However, I quickly decided that Gwyn’s unerring belief in Faeries allowed the story to progress more quickly. It is a work of fiction after all!

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

I enjoyed this book more than I was expecting, in fact, I really liked it. Yes it has some very erotic sex scenes but it’s also a wonderful romantic tale with a great mix of action and adventure. I will be looking out for more of Ms Mason's books!