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Showing posts with label Kathleen Collins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kathleen Collins. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 December 2015

{Review} Blood Slave (Realm Walker #3) by Kathleen Collins

22847746Posted by Melanie
Release Date: August 25th, 2015
Finished Date: November 1st, 2015
Publishers: Self Published
Genre: Urban Fantasy 
Source: For Review
Format: eBook
Pages: 195
Buy: Amazon UK Amazon US
 
Can she find a killer in a town where the basest desires are allowed to run free?

There are zombies in the Dead Zone and Juliana Norris is sent to take care of the problem. And for there to be zombies, there had to be bodies. When vampires are found to be the culprits, Juliana is sent undercover in the red light district of Kansas City. Lying to her mate, Thomas Kendrick, isn’t something she wants to do, but she’s in another vampire’s territory and Thomas would not be pleased. Besides, she’s more than capable of doing the job and she needs to prove it to everyone. Most of all herself.

Charles Morgan is in control of the Kansas City area, making a rich living off his various enterprises. Juliana goes undercover at the strip club Lust and gets sucked into his dark, decadent world. More victims turn up and the Agency is positive they’ve got their man, but Juliana is not so sure. When the Agency refuses to listen, she reluctantly turns to Thomas for help. He intervenes but finds Juliana unaware of the danger she is in and discovers she may just be too deep for him to save.

The Review: Blood Slave is the third book in the Realm Walker series and it was awesome!
Book three sees Juliana being sent undercover into the seedy area of Kansas City, the area is notorious because of the vampire who controls the area and that he allows his vampires to feed from and addict humans to them, something that isn’t allowed in Thomas’s area. There has been a zombie problem in Juliana’s patrol area and when they all tie back to Kansas City – she has no choice but to head there to investigate. Juliana has a quandary though….. she needs to be undercover, it’s dangerous and it’s in another vampires territory but…. With her mate Thomas also being a regent for an area, she shouldn’t be going in unannounced or without telling Thomas who can guarantee her safety. So, she decides to keeps Thomas in the dark about her whereabouts and lies to him about where she will be going.
Jules ends up working in a strip club that is owned and managed by Charles Morgan, the vampire regent of the area and after a while, she thinks she has it all worked out….but then has second thoughts that no one will listen too - so she is forced to lie to her employers, confess all to Thomas and hope she can find the right guy this time.
I really love this series and although these books aren’t particularly long – they are jam packed with story, action and romance that makes them a perfect read that you can read in one go. Juliana has always been a likable character and I enjoy the push/pull relationship she has with her mate. He is old fashioned and believes woman need rescuing whereas Juliana is a modern woman who is independent, likes to be given the chance to do things for herself and sometimes Thomas loses sight of that; so there’s always a clash of wills due to that which gave me an understanding into why she chose to withhold the truth from him. I still love their connection and chemistry, they have an easy going feel to them now which is so much sweeter considering their past.
I loved the storyline here, to be honest, if you took the paranormal element out of the plot – it would still be a good read. For all I love Thomas & Juliana together, it was nice to see her head out to investigate without him. With her working in a strip club she draws a lot of attention to herself and she would not have been able to mingle with the men as freely if Thomas was there. There was no shortage of suspects for the women who had became zombies but not much information to be had so Juliana had to put herself right amongst that type of crowd if she needed to blend in but that also left her open to the perils of those creeps. Thomas’s area seemed elite compared to how things were run in Kansas City and you definitely get the sleazy/seedy vibe from the area where it’s all about partying, drugs of choice, sex and blood. The fact that Juliana was in anothers’ territory really added an element of danger and when you add to that the fact that Thomas didn’t know…. Every move she made was fraught with it. I appreciated that whilst Juliana’s pov was the most prominent that we still also got Thomas’s too showing us what was going on in his head and area also, it actually endeared him a bit more to me and he seemed to be more forthcoming with how he felt and viewed his mate. As the story came to a close, I did not know who was the culprit or a motive so it was great to get all of the emotions possible from the story and as always, I’m left wanting more. I actually can’t wait to see where it goes next.

Thank you to Kathleen Collins for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review. 
 

Monday, 31 March 2014

A Review for Death's Daughter (Realm Walker #2) by Kathleen Collins

18860645
Posted by Melanie
Release Date: March 31st, 2014
Finished Date: February 10th, 2014
Publishers: Carina Press
Genre: Adult, Paranormal
Source: For Review
Format: eBook
Pages: 176
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US 

uliana Norris, Realm Walker with the Agency, is an Altered. A fact that she runs up against every time she's forced to work with human police officers, and their species-ist commissioner, on cases they can't solve themselves. Which happens more than they would like to admit.

Her gift—the quality that makes her the best Realm Walker in the business, without boast—is the ability to read magical signatures. Whether the gift came from her father, the dark fae god of death, or the mage mother she can't remember, is anyone's guess. And when Altered children start going missing with only wild magical signatures as clues, her heritage is the last thing on her mind.

She can't afford such distractions, and she definitely can't afford to worry about the fact that her mate, master vampire Thomas Kendrick, hasn't spoken to her since she saved him from a demon—maybe it's because she had to stab him to do so. Because whoever is kidnapping these children must be very powerful to wield wild magic. Very powerful, and very dangerous indeed.

The Review: Death’s Daughter is the brilliant sequel to Realm Walker in the series of the same name and I devoured it!
This time around Walker Julianna Norris is put in charge of a huge case involving the disappearance of ‘Altered’ children. Someone is taking them in broad daylight, from highly populated areas where people should have seen something – but didn’t. Why take the children? What does the perpetrator plan to do with them? When things take a turn for the worse and the bodies start to turn up, the whole team begins to realise that the case is much bigger than any of them ever thought as it becomes a race against time to stop both the abductions & the murders of the innocents.
I loved this book, everything about it and UF is definitely my category of choice when reading a book. I thought Julianna was a great character in the first book and this just cements that. She has everything I love in a character; she’s strong, determined, very capable and kick ass! That would usually harden a character but not with her, she shows a vulnerable & caring side even if she has the tendency to internalise her feelings, it still shines through. She is a machine when investigating, driven & focussed.. so it’s nice to see her getting some sweetness from her mate – Thomas- and I like what their relationship brings to an otherwise harsh plot. I love their connection & chemistry and also how Thomas is still trying to give her independence, battling his alpha instincts to protect his mate and I even love how Julianna becomes unsure of herself when around him…how could she believe he wouldn’t want her?
The storyline was awesome, very gritty, harsh and realistic to the point where it would still have been a great book even without the paranormal element, I could definitely see myself watching this on TV. I love that the author isn’t afraid to give us gruesome & macabre scenes and I really liked how the magic was used in the crimes too. The pacing was spot on and I really felt the urgency, the fear, the panic and desperation as they raced against time to stop more abductions & killings, I couldn’t stop reading, turning the pages wanting to know who was committing these crimes, what was going on, why these kids were being taken and hoping that they would all make it home – it was just brilliant! I’ve said that the main characters are great but to be honest, all of them are and the more that get introduced throughout the story, the more books I want! I love the introduction of the Wardens to the series and their personalities really shone through so I would love more from them, possibly their own stories. The people & setting of this world definitely hold my interest, I love the diversity of the magic users and how they use their power & work with the people around them, not always in harmony but always interesting…. We’ve had a demon riding people in book one, a child snatcher/murderer in book two and I seriously cannot wait for book three….what can we possibly get next? 

Sunday, 27 October 2013

A Review for Realm Walker (Realm Walker #1) by Kathleen Collins

18245421
Posted by Melanie 
Release Date: October 28th, 2013
Finished Date: September 23th, 2013
Publishers: Carina Press
Genre: Adult Paranormal
Source: For Review
Format: eARC
Pages: Unknown 
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US 

An estranged mate, a mangled body and a powerful demon who calls her by name…

As a Realm Walker for the Agency, Juliana Norris tracks deadly paranormal quarry using her unique ability to see magical signatures. She excels at her job, but her friends worry about her mysterious habit of dying in the line of duty without staying dead. That’s only the first of her secrets.

Most people don’t know Juliana became the mate of master vampire Thomas Kendrick before he abandoned her seven years ago. Most people don’t know the horrors she endured at the hands of the vampire he left in command. Most people don’t know her true parentage, or why a demon on a world-threatening rampage has taken a personal interest in her…

Even as Juliana pursues the demon, it goes after all she holds dear—including Thomas, who is back to claim her for his own. But if she can’t reconcile her past and learn to trust herself again, she will lose him forever.

The Review: Realm walker was book candy to me, the kind I devour and enjoy immensely.
Juliana was a great character, as a Realm Walker for a paranormal policing type agency you expect her to be who she is…a strong, kick ass female who lives for her job, she trusts few people and even those that she does aren’t privy to her secrets. One being that she is or rather was the mate of a master vampire who abandoned her seven years ago, yeah they knew she had feelings for him but no one guessed the depth of those feelings that got stomped on. No one could have guessed what that event would lead to and in turn how it moulded Juliana into the person she is today. So when he turns up out of the blue, demanding reconciliation – she ain’t having it! Even if he does evoke temptation within , she must resist, she must remember what his leaving meant for her and why she can never be dependent on him again. But, when her partner is possessed by a demon, running around with another possessed, killing people & baiting her …. She is forced to work with her mate Thomas to bring an end to the carnage. The thing is, the demon is fixated on her & it all becomes too personal when it starts targeting those closest to her and when it gets it’s hooks into Thomas, Juliana has some harsh decisions to make as everyones secrets start to reveal themselves.
So, I really enjoyed this book, if I had a choice of one genre to read forever – this would be that genre. I enjoy PNR/UF so much but it has to hit the spot with a blend of action, mystery & romance, even the pacing has to be right and this was all of that with a nice dose of secrets on the side and who doesn’t love those when they unravel? As I mentioned, Juliana was a great character, even though she was kick ass, she was still flawed & Thomas had made her emotionally vulnerable when he left plus a few other things happened to harden the outer shell. I like when a character has these sort of depths, I like to empathise with a character & feel for them which I certainly did for Juliana. I liked the relationship drama between her & Thomas, it was complicated but I appreciate a man/vamp who is willing to fight for his woman, he was very alpha male and I like that but I also liked that he had to learn that Juliana wasn’t the same person he left behind and that she can defend herself which goes against everything he wants to be for her. I would say that I wished there had been more time devoted to the romance, more interaction, more sexytime… basically more of Juliana & Thomas together. The storyline was good, I liked how it all played out… it was pretty violent, gruesome in some ways but I like that in this genre. I liked how the magic & demons were used in the plot, I liked that it wasn’t just another case for ‘the Agency’ and that it became personal to our leading lady and when all the dots are connected, it made the story even better. There are a good few secrets throughout this, some small & some big but always good and the pacing was great, always on the move, holding my interest until the very end. This was definitely an impressive start to the Realm Walker series and I will be looking out for the sequel for sure. 
 
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