Review of "The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker"

There must be something wrong with me, so many posts in such a short amount of time! But I don't want to hear any complaining!

Now tonight, we have a review of "The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker" by Leanna Renee Hieber.

Because the back of the book is better than my own explanation.. "What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Hidden in the dark heart of Victorian London, the Romanesque school was dreadfully imposing, a veritable fortress, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met its powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadows, of the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She saw simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gift. This arched stone doorway was a portal to a new life, to an education far from what could be had at a convent - and it was an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death..."

Now for my thoughts - wow! I've not read any historical paranormal romance before, or anything historical paranormal for that matter. Except maybe Dracula, if that counts. Well, it's not really a secret that I love any and all things dealing with mythology, especially Greek, and this book hit the spot for me. Not just mythology, but ghosts! I think we need to see more books with ghosts, especially ones where they are not always the bad guys.

The description in this book was breathtaking, as was Miss Percy Parker herself. Other than her "condition," I was able to identify with her - I also love languages and the study of them, and I am certainly not the best student in math. In fact, it is because Percy Parker is so bad at math that she must have weekly tutoring sessions with her professor, Alexi Rychman. And woof, if you like your men dark and brooding (I know I do!), look no further! I also rather enjoyed her take on Jack the Ripper. Now, the scenes dealing with "The Darkness" were a little confusing, but maybe they needed to be vague. I give this book a FIVE out of FIVE. Yay!

That said, I've heard there is to be a sequel! I hope so, I'd love to heard more about this all! AND! Lucky me, Leanna Renee Hieber is a local author (from my city even! Southwest Ohio represent!), and she's doing a book signing in the area! I'm going with a couple of friends.

Happy Reading! And be sure to check out "The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker" by Leanna Renee Hieber!

Photo courtesy of amazon.com

Review of "Mr. Darcy, Vampyre" by Amanda Grange

Just finished "Mr. Darcy, Vampyre" by Amanda Grange. What's with all the Jane Austen sequels, etc coming out now? "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," "Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters," "Mr. Darcy's Diary," etc. Not that I'm complaining.. I love "Pride and Prejudice" and I love to see Elizabeth and Darcy's story continued. On that note...

"Mr. Darcy, Vampyre" picks up where "Pride and Prejudice" leaves off. We begin with Darcy and Elizabeth's wedding day, and follow them on their wedding tour of Europe. But Elizabeth is worried, because her husband seems so preoccupied, he isn't showing her the affection she expected of a husband. And indeed, it seems he has quite a secret that he is keeping from her.

I love that this book references "Pride and Prejudice" on several occasions, Elizath and Darcy teasing one another about past occurances, or discussing how they met, etc. Both Darcy and Elizabeth are kept in character for the most part, though we can only assume that is how Elizabeth would act when faced with such a situation. A nitpicky point here, maybe, but I felt there was a little too much repition in the beginning. Several times Darcy asks Elizabeth if she had been overseas, or in a boat. And not just him, but other seems to keep asking the same. It just got old fast.

I liked her version of the vampire myth, which is not something I've seen much of lately. Each Vampyre family has a different weakness. One has no reflection, another can't handle religious items, and another still must be indoors at both sunset and sunrise because they become transparent.

All in all, I thought the book was good, and will give it a THREE POINT FIVE out of FIVE. I thought the story was interesting, but it moved a little slow for me, and I really don't see myself re-reading this much in the future. It'll probably sit next to my copy of "Pride and Prejudice" and whenever I have the urge to re-read that, I'll probably follow it up with "Mr. Darcy, Vampyre." However, I can totally see Darcy as a vampire, and I know there are plenty out there who will agree! Make sure to check out "Mr. Darcy, Vampyre" by Amanda Grange

Happy reading!

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

Katie MacAlister covers!

Since I was talking about favorite authors recently, I figured I would promote one of my favorite authors, by showing some cover art of two of her upcoming books.

First we have "Steamed" her first book in the steampunk genre. I've not read any steampunk before.. infact, I didn't even know it existed until she started talking about writing it. Now I can't wait! And just look at that cover, isn't it wonderful? Very bright, very eyecatching.. I'm sure it will fly off the shelves! I know I can't wait.








And what do we have here? Her next book in the dragons series (this time it's a novel of the Light Dragons!) titled "Love in the Time of Dragons." For those of you that follow her Dragon septs series, it's Baltic's story.



For more information on the dragon book, she has a blog_post that answers some questions.


And for more information on her writing process, her life, and some dishy guys (every monday!) visit her BLOG !


And, not a fan of paranormal romance? Don't worry, she also writes contemporary romance, historical romance, as well as her paranormals. She has also started writing a paranormal mystery series under the name Kate Marsh. AND she has some YA fiction under the name Katie Maxwell ("Circus of the Darned" is my favorite!).

Check it out! And be sure to drool over the amazing covers.

Covers courtesy of Katie MacAlister's blog