An irresistibly sexy suspense tale.
A dragon shifter and exiled king gets more than he bargained for when he discovers a fiery and passionate phoenix in this paranormal romance.
Brand Astarot, a dragon shifter and rightful heir to his family’s gold throne, is driven by a single goal. He seeks revenge against Uther Hagan, the man responsible for the murders of his parents and siblings and the loss of his clan’s throne. For centuries, Brand has worked as a mercenary for King Ladon Ormarr, accepting the toughest assignments while developing a plan to avenge the killings. His latest mission takes him to a medical facility in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and a young woman described as a “supernova” by a staff member. The patient is Kasia Amon, a rare phoenix whose powers include prophetic visions. If Brand brings Kasia to Ladon, he will secure the support of the king’s clan and have the leverage he needs to defeat Uther. But Kasia is accustomed to life on the run, and she escapes from the facility. Undeterred, Brand pursues her, and they embark on a harrowing journey to Ladon’s clan in Ben Nevis, Scotland. Along the way, they discover they share a powerful and profound physical and emotional connection. Although Brand promised Kasia to Ladon, his desire to claim her as his mate leads him to reconsider this scheme. When Uther discovers Kasia is a phoenix, Brand is locked in a race to protect the woman he loves. This first installment of Owen’s (The Rookie, 2019, etc.) Inferno Rising series is an engaging and compulsively readable love story with the right mix of action and eroticism. Kasia and Brand are appealing protagonists whose slow-burn romance is punctuated by passionate chemistry and spirited and witty dialogue (“Who put you in charge?” “I’m your mate.” “That doesn’t mean a damn thing, lizard boy”). They are surrounded by a large and well-developed cast of supporting characters and a panoply of supernatural beings, including Brand’s friend and protector Ladon; Hershel, a demon who runs a very unusual biker bar; and Pytheios Chandali, a king who wanted Kasia’s mother, Serefina, and ultimately murdered her father. The sprawling narrative takes Kasia and Brand on a long journey from Wyoming to Scotland, but the author’s confident storytelling keeps the narrative moving at a brisk clip. The novel is perfect for fans of Sherrilyn Kenyon and Kelley Armstrong.
An irresistibly sexy suspense tale.Pub Date: July 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-531-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
PROFILES
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