Blameless by Gail Carriger (Parasol Protectorate, Book 3)

After the cliffhanger that was Changeless, the latest instalment in the Parasol Protectorate series brings us back to romance territory.

After Changeless, I was very frustrated. It was a total cliffhanger, and I went as far as DMing Gail Carriger on Twitter to ask what was going to happen next. She very nicely replied, I’m very sorry but I can’t tell you. Fortunately, Kat got a review copy of Blameless last Friday, which coincided with Carriger’s visit to Galaxy to randomly sign things. She assured us that, as a believer of happy endings, she always makes sure everything ends with a HEA. (more)

It’s a mix of genres this month in the Mixed Bag, which includes Deborah Locke’s memoir—a must-read for fans of Underbelly.

Don’t Bargain With The Devil by Sabrina Jeffries (School For Heiresses #5)

Dont Bargain With The Devil by Sabrina Jeffries (School For Heiresses, Book 5)

When Lucy Seton discovers that famous magician Diego Montalvo plans to build a pleasure garden next door to Charlotte Harris’s finishing, she’s determined to thwart his plans. But he’s sneaky and charming and continually makes Lucy forget her vow to be the paragon of propriety. Diego has ulterior motives, however. He intends to return Lucy to her long-lost grandfather even if he has to kidnap her.

Don’t Bargain With The Devil is the kind of book I might have enjoyed when I was just discovering historical romance, with its over-the-top dashing hero and the heroine who tries to be a good girl but can’t help herself in the hero’s presence. But I’ve been reading historical romance for a long time, and this one didn’t stand out above the rest. I skimmed bits of it, and while Jeffries comes up with some good lines here and there, the most interesting bit about the book is the mystery of who the hero in the final book of the series will be. (more)

The Prince of Midnight by Laura Kinsale

Wandergurl gives everybody’s favourite author a second chance, in an attempt to fulfil Kat’s dream of finding the perfect Laura Kinsale novel for her. No such luck.

Lady Leigh Stachan’s family was killed by a crazy cult leader, driving her to travel all the way to France dressed as a boy to find the legendary S.T. Maitland, once known as the Prince of Midnight, to train her so she can avenge her family. S.T. Maitland has spent the past few years keeping to his eccentric self in backwater country France, with his pet wolf, hiding a few ailments of his own. He falls in love with Leigh and decides to help her in her quest.

Second chance challenge

This is a second chance romance for me. Second chance in the sense that Laura Kinsale never worked for me before, but I promised I would give her another try. AnimeJune (Gossamer Obsessions) and I made a deal: I would give Kinsale a second try if she did the same for Nalini Singh. (more)

Lover Mine by J. R. Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 8)

With this latest instalment in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, J. R. Ward returns to form and delivers a story packed with action and emotion. The crack is back.

This was the make-or-break BDB book for me. After the disappointment—at times downright disaster—of the previous three books, I was prepared to give this series one last chance.

I’m so glad I did.

Gone are the random new H-words and awful brand name dropping on every other page. Indeed, there’s nary a ‘messie me’ to be found in Lover Mine.

Yes, the BDB slang still veers towards dagginess, question marks are still missing in action, and Ward makes some utterly ridiculous word choices—in some cases inventing new words that made my eyes twitch—but on the whole the editing is a lot tighter and the prose much improved from even the earliest Black Dagger Brotherhood books. (more)

In anticipation of the release of Lover Mine by J. R. Ward, Decadence has updated the Black Dagger Brotherhood cheat sheets. The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover Mine is out in hardback (US) and will be released in paperback (UK, Australia) tomorrow. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here.

Black Dagger Brotherhood: Tohrment, son of Hharm

Tohr is different from the other vampires in that there was no hint of a tortured past. He was promised to Wellesandra and was fortunate enough to have bonded with her. Sheer luck that the one female he would want above all others happened to be the one he was honour-bound to mate.

Tohr showed his love by doing small, practical things to show he was thinking of his shellan, such as making sure her truck had snow chains. He was very respectful of her (more)

In anticipation of the release of Lover Mine by J. R. Ward, Decadence has updated the Black Dagger Brotherhood cheat sheets. The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover Mine is out in hardback (US) and will be released in paperback (UK, Australia) tomorrow. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here.

Darius, son of Marklon, reincarnated as John Matthew aka Tehrror, son of Darius of Marklon

If the series can be said to have a central character, it would be Darius/John Matthew, as he has been instrumental in bringing together the Brotherhood and bringing their shellans into their world.

Several centuries ago, Darius was trained in the same warrior camp that V grew up in, and by leaving behind his diary, he unknowingly eased V’s isolation and later (more)

In anticipation of the release of Lover Mine by J. R. Ward, Decadence has updated the Black Dagger Brotherhood cheat sheets. The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover Mine is out in hardback (US) and will be released in paperback (UK, Australia) on May 6. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here.

Rehvenge, son of Rempoon, aka The Reverend

A lot of Rehvenge’s life is secret. Only a few people know that he is half symphath and that he is Bella’s half-brother—most believe that they share a father.

(Interestingly enough, in the mandatory sehclusion motion that Marissa quashed, Bella was identified as ‘blooded daughter of the Princeps Rempoon’, while the excerpt of Lover Avenged in the Insider’s Guide identifies Rehvenge as ‘son of Dragor’ in his medical file, but Ward insists that not even Bella knows they have different fathers. (more)

In anticipation of the release of Lover Mine by J. R. Ward, Decadence has updated the Black Dagger Brotherhood cheat sheets. The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover Mine is out in hardback (US) and will be released in paperback (UK, Australia) on May 6. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here.

Black Dagger Brotherhood: Phury, son of Ahgony

Vampires believe that the birth of a healthy son is a blessing. They also believe it’s possible to have too many blessings and that misfortune will follow to compensate for the extra prosperity. The warrior Ahgony’s household celebrated the birth of his son Zsadist, but were spooked when Phury was also born. Sure enough, the firstborn was stolen in the middle of the night by his nursemaid and the household never recovered.

Ahgony searched for his son and became depressed and turned to drink. (more)

In anticipation of the release of Lover Mine by J. R. Ward, Decadence has updated the Black Dagger Brotherhood cheat sheets. The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover Mine is out in hardback (US) and will be released in paperback (UK, Australia) on May 6. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here.

Black Dagger Brotherhood: Vishous, son of the Bloodletter

V. My personal fave. I could just rave about how beautiful he is, with his diamond hard heart, absolutely incredible intelligence (not to mention smart mouth), dominant sexuality and uncompromising masculinity, but that wouldn’t get us anywhere except teaching me yet again that my keyboard is not drool-proof (picture Homer Simpson around any non-vegetable based food). So to avoid another costly lesson, I’ll try to just stick to the facts.

Vishous is the direct, biological son of the Scribe Virgin, which has been (more)

In anticipation of the release of Lover Mine by J. R. Ward, Decadence has updated the Black Dagger Brotherhood cheat sheets. The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover Mine is out in hardback (US) and will be released in paperback (UK, Australia) on May 6. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here.

Black Dagger Brotherhood: Butch O’Neal aka Dhestroyer, descended of Wrath, son of Wrath, aka Brian O’Neal

The defining moment of Butch’s life was the day he saw his 15-year old sister Janie get into a car with a group of boys and didn’t tell his parents she was breaking the rules. She was later found raped and murdered. Up to that point, Butch had been treated differently to the rest of the family and frequently beaten by his father, but since then he was blamed for what happened to Janie and virtually ostracised. He was twelve years old. (more)