Wicked Rider by Rebecca Zanetti

The blurb is right; the hero is to die for, dark and handsome and Irish – man that accent is so cool, shame I had to imagine it not having an audio version - I could almost hear it while reading those few times the author allowed it to roll off our hero’s tongue.  (Pity that it would have detracted from the easy flow of the reading if all the Irish dialogue couldn’t have been couched the same way).  

Lex, the heroine, on the other hand - to die for?  Not so much.  Most of the time I actually wanted to slap her for jumping to erroneous conclusions, but then I was in the know and she was not.  Jeez, I trusted Kellach Dunne immediately – he’s the hero, duh!  Although if she’d taken a moment to think about it she should actually have known better, she was supposed to be a level-headed cop.  I know, I know she’s been emotionally compromised by her hideous father’s behavior but still…

It was an action packed romp, however, fiery and dangerous.  Drugs (Apollo, a drug based on the witch killing mineral PK), guns, murder, betrayal, motor cycle clubs and cops, and a sexy male, but yes he, like most of Zanetti’s male protagonists, still hadn’t gotten over that annoying possessive ‘mine’ phrase they all seem to use.  One day I’m looking forward to a female saying it as she saves her mates arse for him – Simone I’m hoping.  When she gets her own place in the spotlight she better not be overcome with uncontrollable passion for some hot demon, but actually have him on his knees (so to speak) or I’ll be really pissed off.  I don’t mean I want a gun toting, magic welding female who puts males in their place either, brute strength isn’t everything and not the only way to rescue someone.  I’m just a wee bit over a dude looking at the female and she turning into a pile of lusty mush!

It was a good read, kept the attention, and worked well as a set up book for what is to follow with the real baddie still roaming loose and fancy free to wreak havoc on the witch population.  Looking forward to the next in the series.  Daire’s?  Will definitely keep an eye out for it.

PS, The little snippet at the end of the book from Zanetti’s ‘The Scorpius Syndrome’ was intriguing too.

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SW

A Foray into the Pure and the Sensual - Fantasy and Erotic Paranormal collide

Take a world far from our own – Abod le A’nor.  Imbue it with magic, and a mesh of peoples, those solely human and those that are gifted.

Next, include power that is wayward, contrary and thoughtless, that spans time and place, the Great Wyrms the inhabitants call Colossae – the gods.

Add the Fae - think Paracelsus and the elemental Sylph – and an ancient curse that keeps them bound in crystal and stone, at first trapped beneath the earth.  Once found, humanity’s thirst for power further denies them their freedom, and subjects them to the use and manipulation of these new and greedy taskmasters.

Take a young woman of ancient times, a priestess.  Passionately in love with her husband and deeply devoted to her religion and the great ‘Heartstone’ that traps the shadow creature known as the Prince of Faeling - Alagoth, as she is lead blindly by desire down a dark path that can only lead to tragedy.

Top with a freak accident on a dangerous road in the Otira gorge that has the twins, Lorrie and Melory Neilson, irrevocably drawn into the mix.  Lastly spice up the tension with predestined protectors – two men who are called by dream and oracle to the women’s side to keep them safe, and yet tear them from each other.  The scene is set for the adventure that is the woman’s experience of Abod le A’nor in the Faelings Doom Series, Gift of the Blood God by Sydney Whyte.  The first in the series ‘Gift of the Blood God: Drawn’ (kindle version) is currently available exclusively from Amazon at $US0.99 for a limited time.

Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon AU

I call this "Offering"

Not so long ago a reader mentioned to me that they appreciated the fact my book GBG – Drawn, was written extensively from ‘The female gaze’.  Call me ignorant (and you probably will) but I had no clue what that even meant.  I’m female, I wrote it so yeah – definitely.  However, after some sleuthing through the internet and chowing down on blogs critiquing, criticizing, condemning, condoning, agreeing with and disagreeing with both the reality or non-existence of both the male and female gazes, I’ve decided the book is actually just ‘My Gaze.’

So as this is my blog, I’ve decided to share some of ‘My Gaze’ with you.

A while back I had a rather raunchy picture on my laptop’s desktop and when my son went to use my laptop he laughed and said, ‘Not very subtle, Mum.”

So I went to look for something ‘subtle’ and came across this – the words are mine, the picture from Tumblr.  Unfortunately now I can’t locate the link again so I can’t share it with you, but hope you appreciate his beauty, just like I do.

(Please note, this picture was originally taken from a public forum, ie the internet.  If there is however, a copyright on the image that I have missed, or the owner does not wish for it to be displayed on this blog, please let me know and I will remove it)

PS, just to let you know that I haven’t caused my son irrevocable damage by his viewing of my original desktop, he is over 18, and a very open-minded chap when it comes to the images his mother might be looking at.

Waiting for Morning (a Sniper One Security Novel) by Nicole Edwards

Although I don’t own all Nicole Edwards offerings, I do own most – my favorite being the Alluring Indulgence series.  After reading and liking the excerpt of 'Waiting for Morning' in Nicole Edward's newsletter I was looking forward to this new series.  For me Nicole is usually a four or a five star player.  Honestly, I was disappointed.

I have nothing against the characters she’s created, the protagonists, Trace and Marissa.  They’re fine people.  But I never really managed to develop empathy for them either.  Their storyline felt a little unrealistic, the situation nothing more than a means for the two of them to be compelled together.  In this case, it wasn’t necessary.  They had grown up with each other, fancied the pants off each other from the time Marissa was a teenager though Trace had remained shtum.  To top it off, although the skulduggery and danger made for fine reading the villain and the need for villainy came across as a little lame.

Having a crossover of characters with the final book Brendon in the Alluring Indulgence series (4 stars for that book, btw), the necessity to get this novel out before that went live has meant quality has suffered.  Some facts were repeated way more than necessary and even couched in the same phraseology.  I found this to be frustrating and a little patronizing - they were facts I remembered already. This trait was not so evident in the previous books of Nicole's that I have read.

Other than Z and RT, characters who piqued my interest, I’m not yet sure whether I will continue with this and the spin-off series The Southern Boy Mafia.

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Decadent Seduction

Haha... No!  Just wickedly decadent chocolate cake.

Take one recipe from the Australian Woman’s Weekly and add a sister who loves to bake and voila - Cherry Ripe Mud Cake.

This is an amazing cake.  One slice and you’re in heaven; two and you’re in overindulgence hell.

This is an annual offering my sis makes for her son’s birthday (his favorite), and yay, we get to indulge too…

Check it out:-

It makes a big as mother cake, and is divine.  This is on the day of his birthday, a few days later and the platter was clean.

Recipe can be found by following the link below:-

http://www.mouthwateringmunchies.com/?p=1506

Hades: A Demonica Novella by Larissa Ione – A 1001 Dark Nights title for May 2015

Despite 1001 Dark Nights being the book equivalent of the old fashioned music productions ‘Solid Gold Hits volume blah…blah…blah’ – meaning you don’t get a show in unless you’re already a publishing sensation – not every author is as worthy as others.  It is a good format.  A kind of try before you buy platform (although each issue does cost all of approx. $3 – mwah - not that much in the grand scheme of things, and if you are of the more cautious persuasion then you can always take advantage of the free sample available through Amazon first before you commit).  Then you can move forward with the authors of your choice.  For me Larissa Ione has definitely proven to be one of these.

This is the first novella (the first anything, actually) that I have tried of hers, and I liked it a lot.  The tale is simple, fast-paced, full of action and reaction.  The names ring familiar, Hades, Azagoth, Reverent, Reaver, even Satan - a fusion of mythical and biblical characters that are not forced into the rigid strictures of religious dogma or recorded myth, but people a place as original as any world of the ‘once upon a time’ fantasy genre’s I enjoy reading.

The hero (if you can call a bad-arse demon, a hero) is equally dark and dangerous, and flirty and fun.  The dialogue between Cat and Hades was humorous, human and engaging.  Cat, short for Cataclysm (perhaps it should have been Catastrophe), was a likable protagonist, who’s penchant for breaking stuff and causing accidental mayhem that spiraled out of control the more she tried to fix it was to a degree both frustrating and enchanting.  A couple you found yourself rooting for though everything seem pitted against them.  It was a one-stop read!

In fact, it tickled my fancy so much I went and bought the previous Novella in the 1001 Dark Nights series – Azagoth - straight after I finished it and read that as well.  I will even check out this author’s other titles and wait with baited breath for further up and coming installments.

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Sydney Whyte

Spiced Marinated Rabbit with Herbed Couscous and Pine nuts

“Each night the Mavishan had built a fire and cooked some sort of stew or soup with the gatherings of the day; and once roasted a rabbit caught in a snare he had quickly set up with springy sapling branches, sticks and coarse twine, across a trail leading down to the shores of a tinkling brook.” (Excerpt from Gift of the Blood God – Drawn)

As young rabbit is the best to roast, and young rabbit is particularly difficult to come across in New Zealand – honestly any rabbit is difficult for a city girl to come across in New Zealand unless she has some avid hunting mates to call on.  The furry bunny is a pest in our little country so not much call amongst the farming community to farm the little blighters, so not supermarket fodder.  The last time someone shot a couple of rabbits for me, it was my art teacher who took his cute little Jack Russell out with him on the hunt, and gave me the fruits of his labour, one for me and one for my dog.  My mum made rabbit pie (I think just because it was the easiest way to shred the meat and get the shot out of it).  In this instance, however, I’ve settled on a bunny recipe by Matt Tebbutt of Saturday Kitchen Best Bites on BBC Food and substituted rabbit loin for boned chicken thigh.  (I apologise profusely – it was the best I could do with my non resources, and it was on special too).

Here’s the link to the recipe:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spicedmarinatedrabbi_87837

And here’s my bastardised version:-

Marinade:- Not owning a mortar and pestle, I couldn’t roast the cumin and coriander seeds, peppercorns or dried chilly, so ground and flakes it was straight into the virgin olive oil, garlic and chopped mint and coriander leaves and stalks.

Rabbit loin obviously takes less time to fry than deboned chicken thigh so before putting it in the marinade give it a quick bash to flatten it a bit otherwise, like me it’ll take longer than the 2-3 minutes a side to cook given in the recipe.

For the couscous, not being able to obtain Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar, I substituted it for the real thing – Selaks Cabernet Sauvignon actually, a tasty drop from Australia - bonus was that I got to have a glass or two after the meal which was really nice.  If you don’t have the vinegar, and use the real deal then lose the sugar, you don’t need it, just heat to burn the alcohol off and throw in your shallots (or spring onions in my case).  I had to forgo the piquillo peppers too, this is Christchurch, New Zealand – Spanish deli’s or supermarkets that carry ingredients from Spain are few and far between – so no piquillo peppers…

Here’s the result, and don’t forget when you’re looking at it, I’m not a food photographer, this is my actual dinner:-

It tasted great by the way, despite the colour of the couscous, however next time when I actually get a rabbit, I think I’ll add extra chilli flakes to the marinade.  The small amount I did put in bursting across my taste-buds was yum, and just made me want more.