amergina

Book: Flesh and Spirit Author: Carol Berg 488 Pages Short Thoughts: Starts very slowly, but captures you so much in the end that you must immediately read the next book.

In a land torn apart by civil war, pestilence, and shaky alliances, a man branded a traitor may be the world's only hope...

The rebellious son of a long line of purebred cartographers and diviners, Valen has spent most of his life trying to escape what society--and his family--ordained for him. His own mother has predicted that he will meet his end in water and blood and ice. And her divination seems fulfilled when a comrade abandons Valen, half dead, in a rainy wilderness, addicted to an enchantment that converts pain to pleasure and possessing only a stolen book of maps.

Offered sanctuary in a nearby monastery, Valen discovers that his book--rumored to lead men into the realm of angels--gains him entry into a world of secret societies, doomsayers, monks, princes, and madmen, all seeking to unlock the mystery of the coming dark age. Now, to preserve the lands of Navronne, Valen must face what he fled so long ago. For the key to Navronne's doom is buried in half-forgotten myth--and in the secrets of his own past...

Book: Redheart: Book One of the Leland Dragon Series Author: Jackie Gamber (also authorjacks) 291 Pages Short Thoughts: A nice book that feels rather YA, from a first-time author.

Kallon Redheart lives with his back turned on his fellow dragons, on humans, and on everything he once understood. Riza Diantus is a young woman with dreams too wide to fit inside her village fence. Their unexpected friendship is risky in Leland Province, where drought has stripped the land and superstition has cowed its people.

And the danger only grows. Fordon Blackclaw, Dragon Council Leader, resents Leland's time-worn venur system. He has inflamed tensions between dragons and humans to the brink of war. He wants to trample humans into utter submission, or wipe them off the face of the land.

Anger erupts, scorching innocent lives in its path. When Riza is threatened, Kallon is the only one with the power to save her. But first, he must confront his past and the future he stopped believing in. He must claim his destiny.

Book: Magic Lost, Trouble Found Author: Lisa Shearin 345 Pages Short Thoughts: Kind of a blending of urban fantasy, high fantasy, and chick lit, if you can believe that...

Raine is a sorceress of moderate powers, from an extended family of smugglers and thieves. With a mix of street smarts and magic spells, she can usually take care of herself. But when her friend Quentin, a not-quite-reformed thief, steals an amulet from the home of a powerful necromancer, Raine finds herself wrapped up in more trouble than she cares for. She likes attention as much as the next girl, but having an army of militant goblins hunting her down is not her idea of a good time. The amulet they're after holds limitless power, derived from an ancient, soul-stealing stone. And when Raine takes possession of the item, it take possession of her

Now her moderate powers are increasing beyond anything she could imagine--but is the resume enhancement worth her soul?

Book: The Truth-Teller's Tale Author: Sharon Shinn 304 Pages Short Thoughts: The second in a trilogy (of sorts) of young adult fantasy books. (I reviewed the first here.) Sweet book, delightful to read.

Innkeeper’s daughters Adele and Eleda are “mirror twins”—identical twins whose looks are reflections of each other’s—and their special talents are like mirrors, too. Adele is a Safe-Keeper, entrusted with hearing and never revealing others’ secrets; Eleda is a Truth-Teller, who cannot tell a lie when asked a direct question. The town of Merendon relies on the twins, no one more than their best friend, Roelynn Karro, whose strict, wealthy father is determined to marry her off to the prince. When the girls are seventeen, a handsome dancing-master and his apprentice come to stay at the inn, and thus begins a chain of romance, mistaken identity, and some very surprising truths and falsehoods.

Book: Kiss of Midnight Author: Lara Adrian 432 Pages Short Thoughts: A paranormal romance that reminded me a lot of my super secret indulgence... sheikh romances. It was hot in places, and interesting in places, but it also drove me up a wall in a lot of places.

He watches her from across the crowded dance club, a sensual black-haired stranger who stirs Gabrielle Maxwell’s deepest fantasies. But nothing about this night—or this man—is what it seems. For when Gabrielle witnesses a murder outside the club, reality shifts into something dark and deadly. In that shattering instant she is thrust into a realm she never knew existed—a realm where vampires stalk the shadows and a blood war is set to ignite.

Lucan Thorne despises the violence carried out by his lawless brethren. A vampire himself, Lucan is a Breed warrior, sworn to protect his kind—and the unwitting humans existing alongside them—from the mounting threat of the Rogues. Lucan cannot risk binding himself to a mortal woman, but when Gabrielle is targeted by his enemies, he has no choice but to bring her into the dark underworld he commands.

Here, in the arms of the Breed’s formidable leader, Gabrielle will confront an extraordinary destiny of danger, seduction, and the darkest pleasures of all. . . .

Book: The Sword of Maiden's Tears Author: Rosemary Edghill 288 Pages Short Thoughts: I had flashbacks to college, and for that reason, I'm still not sure I entirely liked the book. I would have loved it, though, had I read it when it was published, in 1994. This is another of my required reading books for the WPF master's program at Seton Hill. Oh, I pick the books I read. In case you're wondering.

Sensible student librarian Ruth Marlowe was ready for a change. So when she stumbled over New York City's latest mugging victim--a tall guy with long silvery hair, cat-like eyes, and pointed ears-- her first thought (besides Good makeup, but not period costume) was how to help. It only made sense to take him home. His name, he told Ruth and her friends, was Rohannan Melior of the House of the Silver Silences. How he came to the mortal World of Iron he didn't know, but he did know he must reclaim the priceless item the muggers had stolen from him--the Sword of Maiden's Tears. For a curse had been placed on the blade, one that would transform any mortal who seized it into a hideous man-eating monster.