It’s hard to find a cover that’s not worth a thumbs up this week. These covers are a crop of great lighting, lovely colors, and sex appeal.  That should make it no surprise that Abigail and I are all over the map for both our Best and Worst choices.  Despite my usual love of cartoon covers, REAL VAMPIRES HATE SKINNY JEANS didn’t work for me this week.  And though both of us were a little confused by what body parts were on the cover of DIETY, but Abigail was totally skeeved out by what little she could decipher.  With so many great covers, it all comes down to personal preference on which rise to the top.  Which strike your fancy this week?

 

Title: Goddess With A Blade Author: Lauren Dane Series: Standalone Cover Art: N/A Genre: Urban Fantasy Excerpt: Yes Source: Netgalley Reviewed by: Abigail Format: eBook File Size: 442 KB Publisher: Carina Press (June 6, 2011) Length: 73,000 words Order from Carina Press Sexual Content: Several sex scenes Rating: Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying.

---

Description

Armed with a blessed blade and blood from a goddess, Rowan Summerwaite’s got a divine mission. Embodying a Vampire’s worst nightmare is a big job, but someone’s got to do it.

Freshly returned from a political firestorm that erupted after she’d executed the last Scion, Rowan hopes for a period of peace and quiet with the new replacement.

But before long, human women are being found in and around Las Vegas and it’s clear to her the killer is a Vampire. Clive Stewart rules his Vampires with an iron fist in the wake of a spectacular failure on the part of his predecessor. He doesn’t make the mistake of underestimating The Hunter. He knows she’s a predator just like him so he agrees to help her investigation. Within limits.

But nothing between Clive and Rowan stays within the lines and before long, things are tangled and dangerous both personally and professionally

Review

Lauren Dane is well know for her erotic romances, so I should be clear up front that GODDESS WITH A BLADE is not erotica.  It is rightly categorized as an urban fantasy even more than paranormal romance.  The sexual content is steamy, but not more so then other titles in the genre.

Now that that’s out of the way, I really enjoyed GODDESS WITH A BLADE once it got going.  The beginning was a little rough and the writing a little clunky, but after a few chapters it smoothed out and the dialog started to sizzle.  The world building was another high point as it mixed traditional vampire mythology with Celtic lore very effectively. 

Rowan is a Hunter charged with executing any vampire that breaks the law and Clive is the newly appointed leader of the Las Vegas vampires.  I haven’t read a love/hate relationship quite this volatile in ages.  It did happen rather too abruptly for my taste (mid heated argument), but after that it actually reminded me of the early Anita Blake books.  The sexual tension between them was palpable and the verbal exchanges among the best I’ve read:

“Where in the hell did you hie off to? You were supposed to come right back here.”   He had the audacity to look cool and collected, even as he was being a total dick.

“Excuse me? Is there a dog or a cat in here you’re speaking to? Because we both know what a terrible disaster it would be for you to ever talk to me like that.”

As it stands, GODDESS WITH A BLADE is a stand alone novel.  The ending is complete but there could easily be more stories about these characters and Lauren Dane tweeted that she’d like to revisit this world and said “well if people buy it and I get the chance to go back, I'd like to take Rowan to the Keep.”  In the meantime, I’m looking forward to Lauren Dane’s next paranormal novel HEART OF DARKNESS which releases on November 1, 2011 from Berkley.

Previous Books in Series	Also Reviewed By:
N/A	Wicked Lil Pixie Reviews Book Lovers Inc. Badass Book Reviews