Twisted Kingdom

This series is not exactly the most challenging series I am reading, but it is enjoyable. I read a few paranormal series here and there, but I am mostly moving away from that genre. There are only a few authors that I am looking forward to seeing what happens next with. This series is one of them. This book had a better ending than the last one, though, when the last one ended I was very impatient for book two because it had a majorly bad ending, in the sense that I wanted to know what happened next! This one, I of course want to read the next book in the series, but it is not a strong need.

Claire has a lot going on in her life. She's a genius, so she went to college early, but her parents would not let her go to a top of the line one because they wanted her to stay close to home. As a result, the school that she is attending is more interested in looks than grades. That does not matter, though, because she spends the majority of the book caught up in vampire drama, so there is often a reason why she cannot go to school. She a boyfriend in this book, and I kept having to remind myself that this is a teen book, so boyfriend and girlfriend is not necessarily going to go very far, especially since she is a minor.

Her other roommates have a relationship as well, and it gets pretty interesting during the course of this book. I cannot share because it would give away spoilers from the previous book. Let's just say that their relationship gets more and more complicated as time goes on. Claire's boyfriends dad is the cause of most of the excitement in this book. He is determined to kill all the vampires because they were responsible for his daughter and wives death. He does not take no for an answer, and he is hell-bent on revenge.

Claire is a typical teen caught up in a very strange situation. She is not the most popular kid at school, far from it, but she gets invited to the Dead Girls' Dance, and then everything in the book takes a drastic change for the worse. The mayor and most of the police force are under the rule of the vampires, so it is a question of who the quartet can trust to get them out of harms way safely.

Heat Stroke by Rachel Caine, 3.5/5
Published by Roc Books in 2004

Accused of murder, Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin was chased across the country - and killed - by a team charged with hunting down rogue Wardens.

Five days later, Joanne had a lovely funeral and was posthumously cleared of all charges. Her human life was over, but she had been reborn into Dijinnhood. Now, until she masters her enhanced powers, Joanne must try to avoid being claimed by a human. But when a hazard that only a Dijinn could sense infiltrates Earth's atmosphere, Joanne must somehow convince someone to do something about it or the forecast will be deadly.

So who said being all-powerful was going to be easy?

This is the second book in the Weather Warden series after Ill Wind, and the story takes up practically where it left off at the end of that book.

Joanne has been reborn as a Dijinn - kind of. It turns out that the really lovely David has made her into a Dijinn by drawing off some of his own power. What a guy! That now means that they are able to have a look at all the strange stuff that is going on in the atmosphere. What is it? Where does it come from? And is there anyway to stop it?

Then there is also the matter of Dijinn training and not getting claimed by a different Warden and therefore losing her freedom and autonomy. Joanne has only a short time to learn enough to keep her alive, which isn't going to be easy in itself seeing as it seems as though a couple of the big men in dijinnhood aren't exactly fond of her.

Whilst this book was still entertaining,including some very funny moments, and the author does a great job of setting up the story for the next book, I struggled with this a bit compared to Ill Wind....amazing how hard it is to read properly when you had no sleep the night before! And now I can't remember what it is that kept me up all night. Oh wait...yes I can. Hmmm.

Overall I am giving this one a slightly lower grade - not sure if it is because I was too overtired to comprehend, or if it was the book. Either way, I will be continuing to read this series going forward.

Youppi!!! Our second guest review! Keep them coming! By the way, these reviews don't have to be new reviews... old reviews are welcomed, because our goal is to spread our love for fantasy and paranormal books :) Also, another reminder concerning the contest, buddy reviews with us are also considered an entry in the contest :)

So our second guest review is by Marg from Reading Adventures!


Ill Wind by Rachel Caine: 4.0/5
published by ROC Fantasy in 2003

Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. Usually, all it takes is a wave of her hand to tame the most violent weather. But now, she's trying to outrun another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. So, she's resorting to the very human tactic of running for her life... Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful warden known. Unfortunately, he's stolen not one but three bottles of Djinn-making him the most wanted man on earth. Still, she's racing hard to find him-before the bad weather closes in fast...

Genre: fantasy
Series: The Weather Warden, Book #1

Review: Joanne Baldwin is on the run. She has been accused of the murder of one of the most powerful weather wardens in the world, and unless she can get help she is very quickly going to find herself either stripped of all her powers and a shadow of her former self, or really really dead! Joanne believes that help in this case will come in the form of Lewis, the single most powerful warden, but finding him means driving cross country, with not only her fellow weather wardens chasing her, but the storms themselves closing in on her. Then she picks up a sexy hitchhiker who seems to be too good to be true. Is it possible that he is the answer to her prayers, or is he really just as he seems.

This was an action packed read - not only are there the paranormal elements, but when the very weather is against you, what hope is there! I liked Joanne as a character. She was quite feisty and she was prepared to fight. It would seem that in some way she has some issues in relation to her judgement calls, but there would be no story otherwise! I have to say, without spoiling anything, the ending was a really big surprise to me, and gave the series additional longevity I think.

This is definitely a series that I plan to continue reading....I already have the next one out of the library to get to eventually.