Review of Grave Ransom by Kalayna Price
Kalayna Price’s Grave Ransom
Let’s take a second and catch up to the storyline when Grave Ransom starts. Alexis Craft started out as a grave witch at the beginning of the series—one who is able to make “death” and other ghosts visible. She is the daughter to the governor, but since he is a fae hiding as a human and a member of the “Humans First” Organization which demonizes all things magic witches and fae included, he has distanced himself from her and created a clean identity for her that buries their familial ties. But as weird cases start cropping up, Alex is slowly revealed to be more than just a Grave witch. She is actually fae and a plane bender. This means that she is able to merge realities. And since there has not been a plane bender in a really long time, all of the fairy courts want her to join them. The most vehement of these is the Winter Queen, who badly wants Alexis to join her court. In the first novels it is revealed that the annoying Fae Investigation Bureau agent who has been driving Alex crazy is actually the Winter Knight, but not before Alex and he begin a sexual relationship that quickly develops into true love. But the Winter Knight is bound to the Queen and must follow her orders in all things. This has led to a horrible situation for Alex and the Winter Knight. And , just to complicate things a little more, through the series Alex’s relationship with the soul reaper whom she calls Death has also become a physical and sexual one.
This book was a great addition to the series, but unfortunately ends on a somewhat sour note. I am trying really hard not to write spoilers in this review, but its’s difficult. In this book, Alex goes up against a true necromancer who is putting peoples souls in other peoples bodies. In her quest to find the necromancer, she and Death end up on opposite sides of the issue.
I look forward to discussing all of this with fellow fans at my site bestbooklover.net and at the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BestBooklovernet-336745780072074/
If you want to help support this website, donations are accepted at paypal.me/Bestbooklover/
Alex Craft
Penguin
July 4, 2017
384
In the thrilling new novel from USA Today bestselling author Kalayna Price, Alex Craft comes face-to-face with the walking dead.... Grave witch Alex Craft is no stranger to the dead talking. She raises shades, works with ghosts, and is dating Death himself. But the dead walking? That's not supposed to happen. And yet reanimated corpses are committing crimes across Nekros City. Alex's investigation leads her deep into a web of sinister magic. When Briar Darque of the Magical Crimes Investigation Bureau gets involved, Alex finds herself with an unexpected ally of sorts. But as the dead continue to rise and wreak havoc on the living, can she get to the soul of the matter in time?
Review of Amy Lane’s Rampant Volume 2 : Chaos, War, Grief, Love and a human bimbo who won’t accept no for an answer…
Rampant, Volume 2
Little Goddess
Paranormal Romance
DSP Publications; 2 edition
e book
305
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M1C29R3/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
Little Goddess: Book Four
Vol. 2
Lady Cory has carved out a life for herself not just as a wife to three husbands but also as one of the rulers of the supernatural communities of Northern California—and a college student in search of that elusive degree. When a supernatural threat comes crashing into the hard-forged peace of Green's Hill, she and Green determine that they're the ones in charge of stopping the abomination that created it. To protect the people they love, Cory, Bracken, and Nicky travel to Redding to confront a tight-knit family of vampires guarding a terrible secret. It also leads them to a conflict of loyalties, as Nicky's parents threaten to tear Nicky away from the family he's come to love more than his own life.
Cory has to work hard to hold on to her temper and her life as she tries to prove that she and Green are not only leaders who will bind people to their hearts, but also protectors who will keep danger from running rampant.
Final Prophecy at Delphi
Tell the king; the fair wrought house has fallen
No shelter has Apollo, nor sacred laurel leaves
The fountains are now silent; the voice is stilled.
It is finished.
The final recorded words of the last Oracle of Delphi, 395 AD. (via blurrymelancholy)
Apollo,Karen Chance, Cassandra Palmer,god,gods,death,pythia,Pythian court,clairvoyance,clairvoyant,war,mythology,greek
CtD, ch27-28
The final countdown (spoilers):
– chapter 27 – As a general rule, I don’t like the ‘he couldn’t help himself’ trope when it comes to sex, but I think Pritkin losing control like that is understandable. I mean how long has it been since he’s fed that much? We’ve seen in some of the Pritkin shorts how the yearning to feed is still tormenting him very frequently, so while it’s freaky, I get why he was overwhelmed for a moment. The important part for me though, is that he did stop, before Cassie even had to tell him – it’s no wonder she trusts him not to hurt her in HtM. I love how this really intense sequence between Cassie and Pritkin is then balanced by the lighter scene where Dee and Cassie talk Pritkin into disguising himself in drag to escape. IMO one of KC’s greatest talents is the way she blends genres – in the space of two chapters we get drama, romance, comedy and action, it just never gets boring. Although how could we possibly get bored when we have Pritkin RUNNING UP FIVE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS WHILE CARRYING CASSIE. Once again, weirdly hot. Does this qualify as fan service?
– chapter 28 – Sal, oh Sal 🙁 I really liked her you know? Not just because she was introduced as something of a bimbo and then turned out to have hidden depths (love seeing that trope subverted) but also because poor Cassie, she doesn’t get that many female friends. I mean, that’s definitely being remedied, with the introduction of her court and Rhea and Tammy being more involved, but in the beginning at any rate, Cassie’s girl time was pretty limited. That’s why for me, Sal’s betrayal and death is a particularly hard blow. At least Cassie still has Françoise, whom I love.
I think it’s appropriate that Apollo’s ultimate end is fairly ignominious. As Cassie says later, they did the metaphysical equivalent of flushing him down a toilet, and they did it pretty quickly. But this is something that happens a lot in the Cassie books – you’ve got a grand standing, melodramatic villain and in the end, they’re beaten in some almost anti-climactic way, by someone who seems way weak than them (see also – Olga killing Dracula). It’s the classic David and Goliath, Frodo and Sauron story. In these books, power is no guarantee of victory.
Last thing: the Mircass conversation right at the end. So, I’ve made it pretty clear that I do not like the way Mircea and Cassie interact in this book, but this scene isn’t too bad. I like seeing Cassie laying down some ground rules, trying to tackle the communication problems at the heart of their relationship. On the other hand, if you read closely, Mircea doesn’t actually agree to anything. He asks Cassie if she wants him to ‘court’ her, but doesn’t say that he will. He asks her if she can get to know him in their current kind of relationship and she says, tellingly, “Not and keep a clear head.” Whether deliberate or not, the constant sexy times between the two of them does seem to be preventing Cassie from getting to know him. But he still doesn’t actually agree?? I mean, I know he’s a vampire and it’s not in his nature to be direct but for crying out loud, would it kill him to say, ‘yes, we’ll slow down, if it makes you more comfortable’? If he really cares for her, why can’t he just give her that, it’s not that big a request. When Cassie does imply that she finds their relationship too sexual for the time being, he deflects, and suggests that Cassie’s insecurities about their relationship are somehow Pritkin’s fault. Uh, wtf? You know what, I take it back. I do have a problem with this scene. Anyway. I love the ending – “You shaved my legs?” Iconic.
Ok, so here we go again. All bad comments are my own. Please know that I am not trying to tear anyone’s opinion apart. I am just trying to keep a dialog going…
AS for Pritkin-here is my take. At the start of the series he is a complete and total jackass. I don’t know whether this is just his mad at the world vibe, or if his death wish hadn’t calmed down. It’s pretty clear to me that he’s had a rough time of it. I think that’s why so many people are so adamant in their love of Pritkin. He’s just so damaged, and sigh worthy. and his relationship with Cassie is something that pushes his boundaries and makes him look at his own growing feelings, but that is another day. This is one of the first times he tries to sacrifice his life in service to Cassie. Sometimes, I think that is Pritkin’s go to response. Feel attracted to Cassie? Find a way to get her to leave him behind. Find yourself taking cold showers after practicing swordwork? Make a trip to Fairie and get nearly gutted…but I digress. Here he tricks her, saying he can heal himself to get her to reswap bodies. And then uses the mistaken belief from the mages to his advantage in the duel with Saunders.
I love the triple D’s. From their first introduction, I adore them. And boy do they come through! And I love the fact that THOSE shoes are fitting, if they have to break her toes!
Sal, oh man. Sal. Just when we think Cassie is finding her feet, the rug is pulled out from under her. Shouldn’t there be a limit to heartbreak? Only so much before the bank is full…
I think that Cassie does excellent with dealing with the men of her life. She may be married to Mircea, but damn it they are going to date! She may need John all the time, because she know very little magic, but damned if shes going to let him control all of her life. She’s got a good head on her shoulders, and despite the fact that they are several hundred years older. Of course, Mircea’s going to have the upper hand in any discussion. Despite that, I think she gives Mircea a challenge. And here is this 20 something ball of fire who treats Mircea as a man when he is so very used to being the authority figure…
That’s it for now…gotta sleep
[Top]“See…we’ve all been wounded.” Goddess, what an understatement. “We’ve all been violated. Me, Adrian, Cory, Renny—hell, even Nicky, and now you. It’s what happens when you’re given great gifts—wonderful, amazing, beautiful gifts. Great buggering git asshole fuckheads always want to steal those gifts for themselves. Being wounded means you held on, that’s all. Being wounded means you can heal. If we live long enough with these gifts, and we’re not wounded, it means we’re probably like Mist and Morana and Sezan and Goshawk and hell, even Titania and Oberon, although I didn’t know either of them more than to give them the best fuck available at court, right? If we’re not capable of being hurt, then we’re not good enough people to deserve the Goddess’s gifts in the first place. If you don’t know that you have something to lose, then maybe you deserve to lose it, and Blessed Father, Holy Mother, Beloved Son, all of us know what we have to lose, because we’ve all lost it at one time or another and none of us wants to feel that pain again…” And then he couldn’t speak anymore, because Bracken, who didn’t want to be touched, had pulled Green into his arms, and every vow Green had made not to weep anymore for his lost freedom and violated faith fell at his feet with his brother’s tears. Both of them held there, still, clenched together so tightly their muscles ached. And they held, and held, and held, until they could breathe freely and look clearly and know that neither of them would be weeping soon again. With an unspoken word, they both pulled back and resumed their human male posture on the couch, the screen.
Cassie and Pritkin and Mircea
So, this may make me unpopular BUT…I don’t know who I want to see together. There are plenty of reasons to hate both the men in Cassie’s life. They are each manipulative. And Pritkin, well he’s actively trying to kill her for a really long time. And then trying to sacrifice himself for her, because he doesn’t know how to live without her. Mircea isn’t always perfect and there is some hidden conspiracy involving the pythian court. But Cassie wouldn’t have made it through all the trials and tribulations of being Pythia without BOTH men. And Mircea loves her. He send her lots of family members and despite the power dynamic being fluid, he is always supportive. And when he finds out all the stuff that’s been happening–well vampires don’t do fear well. And yet, he loves her and doesn’t apologize for it. Pritkin may get there, but he isn’t used to living at all. Mircea has been the one left behind-by his mother, and by Dorina’s mother. He has struggled to raise a child alone and with no help. So he tries to protect Cassie, is that so bad? But he also keeps her out of the political shit too. He hasn’t turned her over to the consul, or ordered her away from Vegas.
And I gotta be honest, even when Pritkin is “sacrificing” for Cassie its pretty self serving. And yet…He’s got that tragic hero vibe. But I think Mircea gets a bad rap. He is off trying to keep Cassie safe by staying away. Cassie and Mircea could be a power couple. I just don;t know where I want it to go…
[Top]The Scions of Elua are gifted. But I am D’Angeline too, and if the blood that flows in my veins is not nobly gotten, it holds no less of the lineage of Elua and his Companions for it. My mother was an adept of the Night Court, and in Terre d’Ange, it means as much to be a whore’s daughter as a prince’s son.
Touch the Dark somewhere part 4 around the first trip to Dante’s
So, earlier I said that the first trip to Dante’s on the first night that Cassie finds out about the Pythian power is going to be called spot one. Its important that this distinction be made because here is the long and short of it. These books are about Cassandra Palmer a 20 something clairvoyant who was raised inside a low level vampire’s court with very little training in magic. She doesn’t know it at the beginning but she is a super special snowflake. She inherit’s the power of the Pythia, the supernatural world’s arbiter of disputes and protector of the time line. The Pythia’s draw their power from Apollo and are clairvoyant so they can know when to intervene in the time line to insure that it is protected. For over 2000 years, the pythian court has been attached loosely to the silver circle, a body of mage’s who try to keep the world safe and battle the Black Circle. The Silver Circle thinks they control the Pythian court, but the Pythia’s have long been secretive and have kept many of their powers secret. The Pythian power is somewhat sentient and the current heir Myra has been lured to the dark side by Rasputin, the evil vampire trying to change the world order and he has a bunch of people on his side, from the Black Circle to some of the vamps, weres and others who are unhappy with the current state of things. One of the vamps who have joined Rasputin is Tony, who was in Mircea’s line and raised Cassie. Tony has been especially bad- he is working with Rasputin to kidnap witches right before they were fated to die and sell them into sexual servitude to the light fey. But on this night, the Pythian power has started to transfer and part of it has come to Cassie, the daughter of the last heir and a mage who worked for Tony. Cassie took off before she found out what the senate wanted to try and get info on her parent’s from Jimmy the rat who Tony had kill them. She went into Dante’s to try and find Jimmy before he is killed for going against Tony and finds him in a basement cell. Tony is not one to let an opportunity to make a buck go by, so he has a fight club in the basement for when he wants to get rid of people. Jimmy is slated to fight a were pack whose leader he killed for Tony. When Cassie finds him in the cage, there is a pixie, Radella, who is trapped as well. She tells Cassie she was able to find the witches, but got caught and that she needs to free her. Cassie doesn’t know what Radella is talking about and Radella realize’s that this is not her Cassie. Regardless, Cassie isn’t going to leave anybody, so she frees Radella, Jimmy and three witches-one of whom is Francoise who she saw burned alive when she went back in time as
Louis-César
. Jimmy makes a run for it and Cassie tries to catch him and runs into trouble in the parking lot.
Louis-César
, Tomas and Pritkin are there to bring her back to MAGIC. She is trying to get Billy Joe to possess Jimmy so she can find out info on her parents. Jimmy’s pack of were rat/ satyrs is there and there are vamps around the parking lot who work for Tony. Tomas grabs Cassie and Louis-Cesare tells hi to take her back to Magic. Cassie objects and Pritkin says he will take her. Tomas picks Cassie up and takes away her gun. She tells him she has been looking for Jimmy for years, but Tomas ignores her. She tells Billy to go into Jimmy quickly because she is afraid of what’s about to happen. Billy Joe goes into Jimmy and rockets back out of him and into Cassie, but unlike what usually happens he pushes Cassie out of her body and her spirit goes into Tomas.
Cassie/Tomas looks down and sees Billy Joe/ Cassie in his arms. Jimmy bites Tomas/Cassie and Cassie throws him across the parking lot. Cassie sees everyone in slow motion. Pritkin fires at where Jimmy was causing an explosion and turns to meet the rat things.
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is moving in regular motion and he skewers a rat and yells at Tomas to take Cassie out of there. Cassie is confused and looks down to see a rat sneaking up on her body.
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throws a knife and skewers it in the throat. Cassie figures out that she is in Tomas. Billy Joe in Cassie calls out “Cassie where are you?” as he panics. Cassie in Tomas looks at her body and asks “who are you” and touches her body. Billy Cassie says to stop that. Cassie says who are you who is in there. Jimmy comes back at Cassie in Tomas and Cassie shoots him but he keeps coming. She shoots him again and Jimmy says to call off her gorilla or she will never find her dad. Cassie/Tomas ssays what but Jimmy says he isn’t talking to him. Jimmy looks at Billy Joe in Cassie’s body and tells her that they can make a deal. Tony will never tell her the truth he likes where Rog is too much. Cassie Tomas says my father is dead Jimmy says he isnt talking to Tomas. Cassie Tomas looks up to see that Louis-Cesare and Pritkin have killed most of the were rat things and are making short work of the others. The vamps are standing around watching and Cassie doesnt get that at all.
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calls out tomas behind you and jumps toward cassie/tomas. Cassie picked a bad moment to get distracted and Jimmy capitalized on it grabbing Billy Joe/Cassie.
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is furious with Tomas saying he told him to get her out of there. Cassie/Tomas is more worried about the claw Jimmy has to Billy Joe/Cassie’s throat. When Billy Joe starts cursing Cassie figures out that he is in her body and tells billy joe to shut up. Billy Joe is relieved to have found Cassie as he thought maybe she was dead and finding her in Tomas is a relief. Cassie decides to deal with one problem at a time and asks Jimmy what he wants to let her go after telling Billy to shut up.
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tells Tomas he has screwed up enough and he will take care of this. Cassie/Tomas tells
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to shut up which freaks him out as Tomas should not be able to do that.Cassie asks Jimmy what he wants. He says he wants to get out of this alive and Cassie is his meal ticket out of this. Cassie tells him no way, try again. Jimmy says he will kill her and still get a reward from Tony.
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says if he does that it will take him days to die. Cassie Tomas tells Jimmy
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is right if Jimmy kills Cassie then they will just kill him. Jimmy says that the alternative being that he lets her go and they kill him anyway doesn’t work for him.
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says that there are many ways to die. Cassie Tomas tells him to shut up again.
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tells Tomas he doesn’t know what is wrong with him but they will talk later. Cassie tells him he really doesn’t know. She smiles at Jimmy but Tomas’ fangs are fully extended. Cassie Tomas asks Jimmy to give up Cassie and they will give him a 2 hr start and even distract Tony’s vamps who she has figured out are there to finish the job if Jimmy gets away. Jimmy says that they would say anything to get Cassie back and then just kill him anyway. Cassie Tomas asks since when do were’s take orders from vamps and says she cant believe hes been toadying to tony all these years. Jimmy tells Tomas that there is a new world order coming and vamps may be taking orders from were’s soon. Cassie Tomas back tracks as she wanted to prick his pride not goad him into something stupid. She tells him that that wont matter if he’s dead from this fight. She asks him if he will take Cassie’s word on it. Jimmy looks torn and Cassie Tomas realizes that the shot to his chest nicked his lung. Jimmy is running out of time and when he figures that out she’s out of time. She realizes she can smell Jimmy’s fear. This makes Cassie realize she can smell everyone’s emotions and its distracting/
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is way past mad and is furious a simmering peppery scent that is coming off him in waves that seem equally directed at Tomas and Jimmy. “It was mixed up with the myriad scents suddenly hammering me from all around: the faint, far-off whiff of the sewers running beneath the earth, diesel fumes and cigarette butts from the parking lot and the reek of sauerkraut from a day-old reuben in a Dumpster. My body, on the other hand, smelled good, really good, and at first I thought it was because it was familiar. Then I realized with a shock that it actually smelled like a favorite meal, hot and fresh and ready to eat. I had never thought of blood smelling sweet, like warm apple pie or steaming cider on a cold day, but now it did. I could almost taste the blood running under the warmth of that skin, and feel how rich it would be sliding down my throat. The idea that I smelled like food to Tomas staggered me to the point that I didn’t see what happened in front of me until it was half over.” A Suffocating cloud of blue gas surrounds Cassie Tomas,
Louis-César
, Billy Joe/Cassie and Jimmy.
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tells Pritkin to stand down . Shots ring out and Cassie Tomas eyes begin to burn. As she gets ready to go into the cloud of gas to try and save her body, Billy Joe Cassie comes crawling out crying and gasping for breath. Cassie Tomas can’t figure out whats wrong until she realizes Tomas doesn’t need to breathe and hasn’t been since she has been in him which causes him to start hyperventilating. Billy Joes Cassie graps Cassie Tomas around the feet and starts crawling up saying Help. Cassie Tomas asks Am I ok and drops down to check her body saying tell me you didn’t let me get cut up! Her body seems fine except for a thin wound at the neck and watering eyes. Cassie tells a confused Billy Joe to stay her and goes after Jimmy after pulling up her shirt so her breasts stay in. Pritkin is yelling something but Cassie can hear too much in Tomas’ body and so she goes into the blue cloud to try and get Jimmy, but he is down.
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comes into the cloud and says something and Cassie says he better not be dead but then Louis-Cesare reaches out and grabs Tomas Around the throat so hard it would kill a human. As soon as
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touches Tomas though Cassie is thrown back in time, although this time as a spirit and with Tomas along!
[Top]Touch the Dark part 3
This is where it starts to get weird. Cassie goes off with
Louis-César
, Tomas, Rafe, and Mircea. When
Louis-César
touches Cassie to check her injuries, she is thrown into a vision unlike any other. Now she is
Louis-César
and he is having sex. She then experiences a night from his past in which a servant girl named Francoise is burned alive to prove a point to him. We later find out that this event was pivotal to his becoming a vampire as the girls family curses him with vampirism. When Cassie comes back, she and Louis-cesare are shaken. She goes to take a shower. Billy Joe comes back with lots of info for Cassie. First off, they are in Las Vegas at MAGIC headquarters. Someone is killing vamps by messing with the making of the vamps. Since the process is very delicate, someone is going back and changing it so that the bond between master and newbie is damaged…then in the future the vamps are attacking their masters. It seems that Rasputin wants to be the leader off the senate, but he cant do it the right way. So, he found a short cut and kidnapped an heir to the pythian court and is using her to go back and fuck the timeline up. Cassie doesn’t know it yet, but the pythian power is sentient. the heir is corrupt and Cassie is the juiciest choice for the power. Then Billy Joe tells Cassie that Jimmy the Rat is in town and about to be killed. Cassie has been looking for him for years because he was the one Tony used to kill her parents. So Cassie sneaks out of MAGIC headquarters to talk to him. He is at Tony’s Las Vegas Casino Dantes-which is based on Dante’s inferno. This night is going to become important and we are going to find out that certain scenes and times are pivotal. This will make Cassie return to through time multiple times and for multiple reasons. It makes for a crazy ride. So this time and place…the first night Cassie has the pythian power and Dante’s Casino are going to be spot one. Cassie interacts with people from other timelines in spot one. Its the first hint that things are going pear shaped
[Top]