Interview with Seleste DeLaney

The beautiful Seleste DeLaney is an up and coming author, with several excellent works released in the last year. Bea and I are both lucky enough to have known her for a few years now, and she was kind enough to grant us an interview in honor of her new release, Badlands. We're very excited to have her here! Leave a comment or question for her for a chance to win a copy of the book.

Welcome, Sel, and Happy Release Day!

1) You have written paranormal romance, and, as Julie Particka, the forthcoming urban fantasy YA novel, "Pretty Souls" but "Badlands" is steampunk. Why the change? Didn't it start as a sci-fi story? Do you have a preferred genre to write in?

It did indeed start as sci-fi and was…not good in that genre. As for a preferred genre, I market myself (as Seleste) as a speculative romance author. I’m not fond of boxing myself into a corner by saying things like “I write paranormal” or “I write steampunk”. Instead I prefer to write where the story takes me. As for the YA, I tend to have fewer romantic elements there for the simple reason I have a hard time focusing on a younger love story for an entire book.

2) And on a related note, are there any genres that you are dying to do, or that you don't think you will ever do? Why or why not?

I still want to get that sci-fi out there LOL. I have a few possibilities to get it done as soon as I find the time. I used to say I didn’t think I’d ever write a contemporary (aka non-speculative), but if the right story came along, I would.

3) When you write, do you outline, are you seat of the pants, or somewhere in between? What's your writing day like? You're married and have young kids, how do you juggle it all?

I’m definitely in between. If it’s a short story, I can pants it, but anything longer and about 10,000 words in I lose the ability to pants and have to create plot points at the very least. I look at writing longer pieces like a road trip, with the plot points being the can’t miss sights along the way.

My day’s lately have been crazy as the kids have been home (ice storm knocked out the power/heat at their school). Normally I try to do non-writing work in the mornings (email, etc). Then in the afternoon (when both kids are at school) I work on blogging, plotting or editing. My prime writing time is after everyone else is in bed. And somewhere in there I try to clean, work out, eat and sleep. Needless to say, the cleaning and work outs are the first things to fall by the wayside…which I need to work on remedying.

4) What is the craziest thing you have ever done as a writer? The craziest thing you have ever done at all? Is there anything that you haven't done and want to?

This is a tough question for me in that if I’ve done something, I don’t really think it’s all that crazy LOL. As a writer, I took a piece of (almost) flash fiction and re-wrote it into a short story long enough for publication (Of Course I Try) and it became the jumping off point for my first series. Last year, I wanted to attend RT as an aspiring author and (like a lot of people) got booted to the overflow hotel. Another aspiring author I’d met only once (for a couple hours) invited me to share her room instead. Since then, we’ve gone to Vegas together and will be bunking with each other for RT LA this year as well. I also flew a plane once (debated getting my pilot’s license but decided I’d get too distracted and miss something without a co-pilot LOL). I missed out on swimming with the sharks in Hawaii because my son got hurt and couldn’t go. I’d still like to do that. I’d also like to go skydiving, bungee-jumping, zip-lining. Basically, I want to do all sorts of adventure-type things—I’m a closet adrenaline junkie.

5) Who are some of your influences? Some of your favorite writers?

Kelley Armstrong is the woman whose career I aspire to. I would love to have her success and range. So needless to say she’s one of my favorites. I also love Jacqueline Carey, Richelle Mead, James Rollins, Hannah Moskowitz, Suzanne Collins, …and this list could go on a long time…

6) Do you have a favorite character out of all of your stories? Do you feel like any of them are, or could be, you?

I love all my characters, and every one of them is a little bit like me, but none of them are a lot like me. Jocelyn (from my Blood Kissed series) is a bit like the girl I was in college, and Ever (from Badlands) is in some ways the woman I want to be when I grow up.

My favorite character though is one people haven’t seen yet (eventually but not yet). His name is Remy and he is so deliciously colorful and flamboyant, yet he’s the one in the story whose motives are hardest to pin down. You’re never quite sure if he’s a good guy or a bad guy.

7) You're very active on Twitter, and to a lesser degree, on Facebook. Why? Does that help get your name out there? Do you think that you might set up a MySpace page for Elle, Jax, and Cass from "Pretty Souls"?

I love Twitter. Love, love, love it. It’s a fabulous resource for me as a writer and great for networking. For connecting with fans though, it’s not as effective as I’d like. I have Facebook in part for that, though even there, I think fans are somewhat leery of talking to authors. (People, please talk to me! I like conversations!)

Myspace? Does anyone even use Myspace anymore? I have thought about setting up a Twitter account for the Paranormal Response Team but haven’t had the time yet. If I see that I’m getting interest from fans there, I’ll do it for sure. (Yes, Twitter is kind of the medium I prefer.)

8) I know you like to find pictures to represent your characters, if only for the covers. When you've asked for help from readers, what is the most surprising or memorable suggestion you've gotten?

I so love doing this. Honestly, I don’t always get a say in the covers other than filling out a form and hoping the cover artist gets what I’m saying. But for my own personal use when writing it is a huge help. (I can be a very visual person.) Usually I have a pretty good idea of someone in my mind when I create a character, but every once in a while I come up blank. I know for a character in an unreleased novel, I was describing him to a friend (who likes to help me with these things) as kind of a California surfer boy. She kept sending me pictures of guys with dreadlocks and stuff. Good looking men, but not what I was going for at all. Eventually, after a lot of back and forth, she sent me a picture of Kevin Zegers. I laughed and said, “If I’d told you I wanted an older, blonder Zac Efron, you would have sent this right away, wouldn’t you?” She just said yes and laughed at me.

9) What in the publishing process surprised you the most?

How easy it is for things to get lost in the mix. I enjoy editing and all that, but even though I keep two calendars (one desk calendar and one on my laptop), blog posts and interviews sometimes don’t make it on there. It kills me when I realize I’ve forgotten something or get backed up and turn it in late. With that, the sheer amount of promo there is to do is astounding.

On her blog, Seleste is giving away a copy of Badlands to a random commenter (from here or a few other blogs) who can give an example of a strong woman from their real life. She’ll draw a winner tonight at 11:59 pm est.

Badlands is available now

After a brutal Civil War, America is a land divided. As commander of her nation's border guards, Ever is a warrior sworn to protect her country and her queen. When an airship attacks and kills the monarch, Ever must infiltrate enemy territory to bring home the heir to the throne, and the dirigible Dark Hawk is her fastest way to the Union.

Captain Spencer Pierce just wants to pay off the debt he owes on the Dark Hawk and make a life for himself trading across the border. When the queen's assassination puts the shipping routes at risk, he finds himself Ever's reluctant ally.

ARC Review: Pretty Souls by Julie Particka

Publisher: Decadent Publishing

Book Blurb: Print - Feb. 14, 2011 digital - soon


More info: goodreads

Book Blurb: Elle hasn’t been afraid of the things that go bump in the night since she became a werewolf. She'd happily give up her inner monster to get her family back though. Hell, she'd give up the beast for nothing. Of course her foster sister doesn't get it. After all, she doesn't battle with her own darker half, but vampire blood can do that to a person. 

Their nightly patrols have become more habit than necessity—until a demon spawncomes to town, ripping souls from strangers, enemies, and friends alike. When it threatens her foster mom, Elle's peaceful life is shattered, but she's not going to give up without a fight. Fighting the beast for control at the same time is more than she can handle though. Armed with more attitude than experience, Elle and her sister have to track down the demon spawn before it collects enough souls to fulfill its birthright and open a doorway to hell. 

For the first time in years, Elle is scared. She's willing to lose herself in the beast if that's what it takes, but saving the world could cost her soul.

My Thoughts:

Pretty Souls is Julie Particka’s debut novel under that name but she has several published works as Seleste de Laney. “Pretty Souls”, her first YA and the first in her Paranormal Response Team series, continues her interest in the paranormal. This book has werewolves, vampires, demons and zombies, oh my!

Pretty Souls tells the story of two foster sisters, Elle and Cass, who are not your average teenage girls: Elle is a werewolf and Cass is a vampire. They met and clicked immediately. In an unlikely series of events, they stay together through several foster families, all the while trying to blend into the human world and not draw attention to themselves. (NOTE: that was my understanding of the story but on IM, Particka says they met at their current foster home. I didn't read it that way, but I can't swear that it's not in the book.) They’ve found foster parents that they like and try to do all the right things so they can remain in a safe, loving home.

Elle and Cass sneak out at nights to patrol the town for supernatural beings but are startled when they encounter peers and other townspeople who have been turned into living zombies. These zombies are not dead nor are they rotting; their body remains unchanged but their souls are gone. The girls start to hunt for the being or beings responsible and quickly encounter more suspects than they know what to do with. Additionally, their school work suffers from their nocturnal activities and as a result they find themselves saddled with tutors. Unsurprisingly, there is more to the eye concerning the tutors than the girls first believe. Cass appears to be head over heels for her tutor, Corbin, a college student, while Elle has feelings for Jax, her tutor and a new kid in town. Elle believes that she is less attractive than her blond, tiny, and perky sister and is convinced that Jax is attracted to Cass; she worries that Cass is interested in Jax and is prepared to step aside despite her own feelings for him.

Things aren’t always what they seem in this novel, there are more secrets than they realized. Their foster parents begin to act suspiciously, and overheard whispered conversations only raise more questions for the girls. The villain they hunt lays down numerous false trails and pretty much everyone around them is a suspect. As they fumble around in their investigation, we see them learn about themselves both as supernatural beings and teenage girls. They make their share of mistakes during their hunt for the zombie maker, whom they eventually realize is trying to find a way into Hell. They feel real and are likable, even when being stupid or unreasonable.

They struggle with their feelings towards each other as sisters and as supernatural beings, with their interactions with teenage boys, and just generally fitting in, something most teens struggle with. Just like normal teenagers, they deal with family issues, school, friends, peers, and emerging romantic and sexual feelings.

The story is told in first person by Elle. She narrates the events and we get a close up look at her struggles to control the beast inside her, cope with the mundane activities and concerns of an American teenager, and her feelings for her foster family including Cass. Their devotion to each other is demonstrated time and again but is never saccharine; just like real-life siblings, they squabble and argue. Particka makes them seem real and her world is believable. The story moves along but never feels rushed and she takes her time in developing her characters. Even the minor characters that are on page briefly are fleshed out; you can imagine that you know them or could know them.

The one real quibble I have is the author's habit of being sparse with details. Actually, I mostly like that as I am not one who needs a great deal of detail about a character's looks, clothes, house, etc. However, there were several times in the story when I was confused, primarily where and when the sisters met (see above) and where the story takes place. I eventually figured out that it was in the Midwestern part of the US but some clarity would have been appreciated. To be fair, I was sick when I read it and had a killer headache so I could have missed some of the informtation.

The story ends after they find the zombie maker but not all of the loose ends are tied up. The ending makes it clear that there is another book to come. I look forward to reading it.

NOTE: The author and the reviewer are friends.

I received this as a PDF ARC from the author for review.

Review of Badlands by Seleste DeLaney

Review by Jax

Publisher: Carina Press

Release: February 28, 2011

More info: goodreads

Book Blurb: After a brutal Civil War, America is a land divided. As commander of her nation's border guards, Ever is a warrior sworn to protect her country and her queen. When an airship attacks and kills the monarch, Ever must infiltrate enemy territory to bring home the heir to the throne, and the dirigible Dark Hawk is her fastest way to the Union.


Captain Spencer Pierce just wants to pay off the debt he owes on the Dark Hawk and make a life for himself trading across the border. When the queen's assassination puts the shipping routes at risk, he finds himself Ever's reluctant ally.

As they fly into danger, Ever and Spencer must battle not only the enemy but also their growing attraction. She refuses to place her heart before duty, and he has always put the needs of his ship and crew above his own desires. Once the princess is rescued, perhaps they can find love in the Badlands - if death doesn't find them first...

My Thoughts: ALL HAIL THE MATRIARCHY!

Ok, girl power over for the moment. Sort of.

Steampunk is fun, but it's very Victorian, which means this underlying tone of male superiority that pokes at me. Which is why I love that Badlands produces women like Ever. Stubborn, smart, fierce and wild. Even their princess.

There was a fantastic contrast between Ever's forthright, independent nature and the conniving manipulations of Henrietta. Seleste has a way of really defining her characters, making them stand out. Even the ones who play small roles. It makes the world she built rich and fun to visit. In  a short time, you get to visit the wilderness of an untamed mountain, the wild west of barely settled Texas, and the civilization of the Northeast Union. And can really feel the difference of those places from the people that you meet there.

This reviewer got this book as a advanced reader e-book from Netgalley. This review originally appeared at Tangled Yarns.

Trying Something New - CSN

While I don't get to read other blogs as often as I'd like, I just don't have the time, I have recently noticed something on some that I have read. Many have been reviewing products purchased from CSN websites and/or o0ffering gift cards to CSN in giveaways. Recently, I was contacted by them to see if I would be interested in participating in their program. I was hesitant at first, I prefer for the blog's focus, to be books and related topics. Still, it would be so useful to have someone willing to sponsor giveaways, even partially.

So, I will be purchasing something from one of their over 200 sites and reviewing it on here. After that, who knows? Maybe from time to time, I'll have some CSN gift cards to offer up in giveaways.

Now, I'm off to browse more of their sites. My first stop will be pendant lighting to see about some new lamps for the bedroom.

Murder and Mayhem in the Month of March

It's almost March and here in the US, that means it's almost time for March Madness, a whole month of basketball games and craziness. Now, I can take or leave basketball nor am I alone. Several bloggers and reviewers have come up with their own versions - Dear Author and the Smart Bitches have a month long tournament, DABWAHA, to decide one champion and romance author Ashley March will be hosting a month long celebration of historical romance readers and writers.

Now I am not that ambitious nor do Jax or I have that kind of time. As I was looking at my TBR piles of print and digital books, I realized that I had a fair number of mysteries, suspenses, and thrillers. So I decided to make March Mystery Month. Not all of the reviews will be in those genres, but they will be featured. There will more reviews than usual from Jax and I, and a guest post or two. I may even have a couple of interviews, though those aren't definite yet.

The stories reviewed will be a mix of traditional mysteries, cozy mysteries, thrillers, romantic suspense, maybe even a paranormal mystery or two. So, make a pot of tea, curl up in your favorite spot, and get ready to be scared and terrified. Don't forget to leave a night light on. :D



Relationships in the Tarot Cards - A Guest Post by Alayna Williams

Author Alayna Williams is joining us today on her blog tour for her new release, "Rogue Oracle". Ms. Williams wrote a post for us on a Tarot reading for the leads, Tara and Harry,  in her Oracle series. Thank you Alayna, for coming by today and talking about how you use the Tarot cards to help you better  understand your characters and their relatiosnhips.

First, a bit about Ms. Williams. She also publishes under the name of Laura Bickle. Laura Bickle/Alayna Williams has worked in the unholy trinity of politics, criminology, and technology for several years. She and her chief muse live in the Midwest, owned by four mostly-reformed feral cats.

Her work has been published in Midnight Times, Down in the Cellar, MicroHorror, Theaker's Quarterly Fiction,Ballista , Byzarium, New Myths,a Blog-O-Novella office soap opera for True Office Confessions, and Aoife's Kiss. Her most recent project is the Embers series of urban fantasy novels for Juno-Pocket Books. 

Writing as Laura Bickle, she's the author of EMBERS and SPARKS for Pocket - Juno Books. Writing as Alayna Williams, she's the author of DARK ORACLE and ROGUE ORACLE. More info on her urban fantasy and general nerdiness is here: http://www.salamanderstales.com/  

Laura/ Alayna’s blog:  http://www.salamanderstales.blogspot.com and http://www.delphisdaughters.com/She’s a proud member of Word Whores and she's at Facebook, and Fangs, Fur, and Fey. And she can also be found on Twitter...@Laura_Bickle

Sparky the fire salamander from EMBERS and SPARKS has his own Twitter account, @SparkySalamandr 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I work through telling a story, I often use Tarot cards to give my characters a bit more depth and dimension. The cards are rich storytellers, and if I let my imagination rove around the symbols a bit, I usually gather more information about any plot points or characters I'm stuck on.

Take Tara Sheridan and Harry Li in ROGUE ORACLE, who are federal investigators attempting to catch a killer who's selling nuclear secrets on the international black market. Tara is a criminal profiler who uses Tarot cards to solve crimes. Harry is her straight-laced partner, who had difficulty believing in all things woo-woo.

I first wrote about Tara and Harry in DARK ORACLE. They'd just met, and attraction overcame the obstacles of their very disparate means of working. They were good foils for each other: intuition and reason. But I can't just let them skate by in the second book without obstacles. Relationships in the real world have problems, and Tara and Harry are no exception. To flesh out their challenges, I did a Tarot card reading for them. Here's how it worked...

1. I drew a card to represent Tara in the story. I pulled Strength, which shows a serene woman closing the jaws of a lion. Tara has evolved since the last story, where I figured her as the Queen of Swords, a woman of coldness and mourning. In Strength, I see that she's working on mastering her power as an oracle, symbolized by the lion. She will do so in a way that isn't harsh or brittle, but in a way that flows naturally to her. In Tara's dreams, she imagines herself as the woman in the card, walking through the desert with the lion (her intuition) at her side.

2. The second card I drew to represent Harry. I got the Knight of Pentacles, reversed. Harry was the Knight of Pentacles in DARK ORACLE - a reliable, methodical man who believes in what he can see and touch. He was a good partner for Tara then, drawing her out of her sorrow and into the real world.

But here, he is reversed. When the Knight of Pentacles is reversed, this is a sign of overwork, of burn out, being a workaholic. Between the events of DARK ORACLE and ROGUE ORACLE, many months have passed, and Tara and Harry have been separated because of Harry's new assignments. He's starting to crack under the pressure of being an isolated federal agent in the Special Projects Division, to the point of nearly beating a suspect to death. He's lost, and Tara has to rescue him from himself.

Tara sees him in her dreams, too, as a Knight sucked under in quicksand. She tries to save him in her dreams, but wonders if she will be able to in real life.

3. The third card I picked represents the relationship between the two. I chose the Nine of Wands. The Nine of Wands shows a wounded man leaning against a staff, surrounded by a wall of staffs that cuts him off from the rest of the world. The card traditionally signifies anticipation, estrangement, and delays.

Harry's withdrawn into himself. It will be up to Tara to reach through that history they have, through the cage of wands and heal him. Both Tara and Harry are guarded types, not given to spontaneous displays of emotion. One or both of them will need to swallow their pride to achieve a reconciliation, to learn to work together and be lovers again.

The cards can be a big help in fleshing out characters and their relationships. One doesn't need to be a professional Tarot reader to try...just grab a deck, a book of meanings, and make up your own spreads. Choose a card that looks like your hero or heroine and your mind's eye, or pick one at random. Shuffle, and start generating ideas. I find that the cards often lead me to possibilities I hadn't considered in the story, helping me make connections that otherwise would have been hidden to me.

Review of Rogue Oracle by Alayna Williams

Publisher: Pocket Books

Release Date: February 22, 2011


More info: goodreads

Series: #2 in the Oracle series


Book Blurb:  Tara Sheridan is the best criminal profiler around - and the most unconventional. Trained as a forensic psychologist, Tara also specializes in Tarot card reading. But she doesn't need her divination skills to realize that the new assignment from her friend and sometime lover, Agent Harry Li, is a dangerous proposition in every way.

Former Cold War operatives, all linked to a top-secret operation tracking the disposal of nuclear weapons in Russia, are disappearing. There are no bodies, and no clues to their whereabouts. Harry suspects a conspiracy to sell arms to the highest bidder. The cards - and Tara's increasingly ominous dreams - suggest something darker. Even as Tara sorts through her feelings for Harry and her fractured relationships with the mysterious order known as Delphi's Daughters, a killer is growing more ruthless by the day. And a nightmare that began decades ago in Chernobyl will reach a terrifying endgame that not even Tara could have foreseen.


My Thoughts: Last week, in my review of the first book, "Dark Oracle" I mentioned that the book wsan't, in my opinion, a solid fit for the urban fantasy genre. This book is definitely an urban fantasy. As soon as the villain of the story, Galen, showed what he could do, I immediately thought "Now THIS is fantasy!" Although, there's some scientific basis too. Williams blends science and fantasy, along with mysticism and mystery into an original, intriguing story. The series is, if not unique, then unusual with potential to be a bestseller.


     Several months have passed since the end of "Dark Oracle". Harry and Tara haven't been able to spend much time together, which has Tara worried. Harry has been busy with his work and Tara busy with helping Cassie, and getting back into profiling. Cassie and Tara are living at the Delphi's Daughters farmhouse which allows Tara to keep an eye on the Pythia and her training of Cassie. She still doesn't trust the Pythia, a distrust that is furthered by a test that the Pythia gives Cassie when she is alone, with no help around.

     As a result of that test, Tara and Harry arrange for US Marshall protection for Cassie by two agents, both named Steve. The Steves are interesting, funny, and well drawn, I hope we'll see them again in future books. They take care of Cassie, and keep her safe, even if their idea of safe doesn't always mesh with Tara's.

     Meanwhile, Harry has asked for Tara's help in tracking down some missing Cold War era operatives. The only apparent connection between them - they all dealt with the aftermath of the Chernobyl incident. Simultaneously, there's been an increase in black market traffic for nuclear weapons, particularly older models. The US government fears that there is a connection between the events.

     Harry's department, Special Projects, is tucked in a corner of the Library of Congress and the ongoing rivalry adds an element of humor. But the librarians there are also, proerly bribed, an enormous help. One librarian in particular has ties to Tara, though she doesn't realize it at first. One of their team members, Sam Veriss, is not so fortunate and has several clashes with the LoC personnel. Verris, an econmist who tracks trends and then tries to make predictions (I simplified, greatly) is not taken seriously and he understandably finds that immensely frustrating. While he doesn't play well with others, he ends up being crucial to the case, and the story.

     Tara's powers are also growing and Williams writes some very vivid dream scenes. Both Tara and Harry are scared at first as the trances involved in her new power leave her so physically cold, that she comes out of them almost in shock. But, they learn to cope and to prepare and Tara even learns how to control, to a degree, the trances and what she sees.

     Galen, a Chernobyl survivor, is at times synpathetic. He survived a horrific experience, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown, saw his mother die from it, and himself has been physically affected, though it's not immediately apparent. He gained the ability to touch a person and meld with them. By meld, I mean he ansorbs both their memories and their bodies. His body transforms into the person he has absorbed. It's a painful, messy process but he takes full advantage of his ability to wreak havoc. He feels betrayed by the world and he is hellbent on revenge. Williams clearly did her research on Chernobyl and it's aftermath but at no time did I feel as if I was reading a history lesson or a treatise. She works it into the story and makes you feel the horror.

     Williams weaves all the elements and plotlines - Galen, Chernobyl, Harry & Tara's relationship, Tara & Casie's relationship, the Pythia, the missing operatives, the black market weapons, etc- into a cohesive whole. As I mentioned earlier, she smoothly blends all of the elements into a cohesive, original, enjoyable story. I look forward to more in this series.


This book was received from the publisher for review.

Review of Etched in Bone by Adrian Phoenix

Publisher: Pocket Books

Release Date: February 22, 2011

More info: goodreads

Series: #4 in The Maker's Song series

Book Blurb:

SON OF A FALLEN ANGEL. FORGED IN VAMPIRE’S BLOOD. SWORN TO A MORTAL WOMAN. IF DANTE FALLS, THE WORLD FALLS WITH HIM. . . .
  THREE LEGACIES ETCHED IN BONE
More beautiful and powerful than any creature the world has ever seen, Dante Baptiste has become the supreme target of the three worlds that spawned him. The mortal agents of the Shadow Branch have tried to control his mind through psychological torture. The vampire elders who guide nightkind society have plotted to use him in their bloodthirsty bid for power. And the Fallen have waited for millennia for Dante to claim his birthright as their Maker. But Dante belongs to no one—except the woman he loves. . . . 

ONE PASSION SWORN IN BLOOD
Determined to face the Fallen and the world on his own terms, Dante hopes to piece together his shattered past and claim his future, with FBI agent Heather Wallace at his side. But in Heather’s human family awaits an unexpected enemy. One who could rip Heather from Dante’s heart and fill the holes with bullets. One who could force Dante to choose his darkest destiny—as the Great Destroyer. . . .


My Thoughts:  First, I need to confess that I haven't read the first three books in this series. I remember when the first one came out I repeatedly picked it up, then book it back down at the store. Over the past few years I heard a lot of good buzz about the series so when the chance came to review this book, I took it. Despite my ignorance of the first three books, I was only mildly confused and only a few times. Phoenix did a skillful job of weaving in information about previous events that flowed naturally and was never an info dump. If you have not read the preceding books, you can start with this one but if you are able to get your hands on them, I would suggest doing that. There's a richness and a depth to the world building and a rather large cast that would be best appreciated in the right order.

Etched in Bone is jam packed; there's a lot going on and most of the story is told over a 4 day period. There are some flashbacks but none are lengthy, and they all add to the story and our understanding of what's going on.  The story is told from multiple viewpoints and perspectives. I like that in a story, I find it adds depth but it bothers some readers. If it bothers you, this might not be the book or series for you as there is a lot of jumping around. Phoenix keeps the voices distinct, telling the characters apart is not a problem. As I said, I find that technique adds depth and interest to a story.

I found both Heather and Dante to be engaging and interesting though I was a bit surprised when I realized that the 4 books in the series only cover a month. I have doubts about the intensity of their relationship and everything that Heather has given up after only a month together. It may be that I would find it more believable had I read the first three books. Coming in cold, I found it ... odd. Despite that, the story works and their relationship is believable.

Although the book is intense, and full of action, it also has humor and Dante and Heather are fleshed. Some of the other characters are less fleshed out - James Wallace, Annie Wallace, Teodoro Dion, - but that's partly due to the large number of characters in the book and may be partly due to this being book four. There may have been character development in the other books that I missed.

Overall, it's an enjoyable, well told story, with an intriguing world, humor, action, twists and turns, and some steamy sex.
    
 

This book was received from the publisher for review.