Mary AbshireCritiques

Wow! Imagine awakening surrounded by dead, burning bodies and two strange men. Now imagine having ZERO CLUE as to who you are or how you ended up there. What a thrill ride. Within minutes of waking up "Stephanie " learns she has no memory, is surrounded bydeath, and oh yes... her two mysterious heroes claim she's a VAMPIRE?!?! Holy Hannah... Vampires are real?! Check that.... She also learns so are demons, werewolves, gargoyles, angels and more... What the heck is going on and why can't she remember anything? Even when the head vampire aka Boss tries to peer into her memories he comes up with bubkus. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. If the Almighty vampire can't gleen any information from her mind how the heck was she supposed to figure anything out? At least Boss and Jonas seem to be trying to help. So begins the magical mystery tour of trying to learn who she is. To say it's the start of MANY shocking revelations would be an understatement . I loved this story as it's so NOT your typical paranormal book. Oodles of mystery, back stabbing, romance, and many surprises grace these pages.... And I for one cannot wait to see what happens next. What does she end up being... For one thing is for certain... After surviving what she did, she's definitely. NOT human.

Loved it!

Daisy Warren begins the day like any usual day.....turquoise hair, check.....striped socks, check.....and then she gets a phone call that will change everything. Poppy, her beloved great grandfather frantically tells her that Lily is missing!! Prone to exaggeration she initially thinks maybe her sweet great grandmother popped out and didn't tell him. That quickly changes when his panic rises.....someone has her family and she doesn't know why. Raised by her grandparents when her parents were murdered in her childhood....Daisy and her two siblings loved her grandparents and great grandparents....she couldn't even imagine her life without any of them. One thing plagues her mind....who the heck would want her octogenarian great grandmother? To what end? When she reaches Poppy's house he tells her the Antique Store/Warehouse has a secret side business. Apparently on occasion they get "special" shipments. These are supposedly special or cursed objects that MUST be immediately delivered to the correct address. Poppy thinks his beloved wife brought one of these objects home, and didn't take it back to the warehouse like he told her. Daisy is still unsure what to believe....until the threatening phone calls start regarding bringing the scroll or Lily dies. What the heck is going on??? Daisy has always been HORRIBLE at fibbing, but now both grandfather's order her to remain silent about the truth regarding the warehouse and the reason behind Lily's vanishing. What is she supposed to do? In one day everything Daisy thought her world was changed....she learns new things about her family, the world,her job, herself, and a few other things along the way. She also makes a few new friends along the way. Can she save Lily? What is actually going.on? See what happens to this quirky, loyal, amazing young woman on her quest to get her great grandmother back!

Mary Abshire is an excellent writer and creates worlds that you will be happy you entered.

Kick back, relax and get your read on.

~~~~~~

Katie pulled up to the house and saw the cross with a body burning on it.

She knew who it was.

He was immortal, yet he was gone.

If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she might not have believed it.

She grieved, then sought revenge.

~~~~~~~

The book starts out with a fire and the heat never lets up.

Kyle is a vampire and Katie is human, yet they had lived happily together for years. Until, they found him.

Kyle had been a part of the Order of the Legacy – the vampire government. Politics and ego for vampires is no different than it is for us humans. The Order had flipped from good to bad and Kyle had been on their hit list.

There are four kinds of vampires:

those that want to rule the world,

those that think of humans as only a food source,

those who are newer vampires and don’t know how to be a vampire

and those that want to live peacefully beside the humans.

I love a kick*** protagonist and Katie fits the bill, a bad*** after my own heart. She gets knocked down, gets up, brushes herself off and does what needs to be done.

Her parents had died when she was 15 and she had been taking care of herself ever since. She was not a girly girl. Her best friend, Jules, called her Rambo.

I love the bar she works at – the Tasmanian Devil. He is one of my favorite creatures and Tasmanian Devil can even help describe Katie. She wasn’t afraid of anything. She was a doer and felt no need to mull things over, like some of us. Action could be her middle name.

Katie had a Black Camaro and a lead foot. I too love fast cars and that new Camaro looks pretty sweeeeet.

She had dined on Kyle’s blood, but had not turned. It gave her special gifts and along with the gifts came the withdrawal.

He had made arrangements with her, if anything ever happened to him. She had two vials of his blood and a name and number.

Riker had made a promise to Kyle that he would protect Katie. All Katie thought about was she only had a few days to get her revenge.

“Protect her. Teach her. She’s the one.”

Jules is Katie’s best friend and I cannot say that emphatically enough. Mary Abshire describes her as a disco loving, roller skating detective. She was persistent and would not quit until she had the answers she was looking for.

I couldn’t help but laugh when Jules told Katie she drove as if she was dodging cars like in Frogger.

The only thing I didn’t like was Katie being so reckless. She would react without thinking about the repercussions of her actions. But as I read on, she is the one coming up with the plan. If she is going to fulfill the prophecy, I’m thinking she is going to smarten up real quick. Just knowing how to fight won’t be enough.

There is tension throughout the book, as I am waiting for the battle to begin.

I received this book in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Immortal Revenge blends vampires into the human world, but on a secretive level. There are four types of them, but physically they are all the same. Their difference revolves in the mentality of how they see humans and their future with humans. Katie, our MC, knew of the existence and dated a vampire for many years. He taught her the ins and outs of the world, and even went as far to train her. The book opens with her boyfriend's death and we follow her internal battle as she fights to make sense of why and her own life.

If you're a fan of action packed UF with little romance then this is the story for you. Friendship and trust are the romantic angles, so no mushy stuff for those who could do without it. Personally, I'm a take it or leave it gal with my fantasy, so the lack of romantic angle doesn't bother me at all because the story was strong enough (and duh her BF just died) without it.

I'll admit I struggled until the half way mark. I put it down a lot. There were a lot of little coincidences, or perhaps an homage, to another vampire series when it came to the world. For those who loved said series, you will enjoy this story if you can push past the coincidences, which for the record I think Ms. Abshire did better.

The characters while likeable felt familiar in their voices and actions. It led to a bit of predictability so I wasn't surprised as the story progressed. For the record, I'm a tough reader to surprise.

Writing style. This is a big one. Beautiful prose without being overly wordy or extraneous use of adverbs. There was a good balance between setting, action, and dialouge. Every word moved us forward without losing us in backstory or world building.

** Review written for an originally posted on my blog, Book Bliss. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased and honest review**

Review: 4 stars

General: I was shocked when this book jumped right in. The writing was hard hitting but mostly I hadn’t realized there was a real paranormal element to the book and was happily surprised as the blurb makes it seem like a side note. The story moved from the first page till the last and I enjoyed how seamlessly things were “different” in the book world but still very much a normal world. The writing itself was flawless. The book had a strong female lead, and an entertaining friend and an alpha male. All the elements for a paranormal romance with a nice twist; she’s hunting vampires and normally in these novels the vampires are the good guys. Well they’re both in here and it was a nice switch from all the others in the genre.

I enjoyed that the romance elements were a little more backseat in this. I felt it added to the nature of the story being first and foremost about the revenge. The details threw me right into the story, my complaint is that the characters pulled me back out. I found little to no connection to them personally. But I felt they were still a good pair together but it made it hard for me to fully stay connected at all points.

Characters: Katie- Katie was what is becoming the textbook “kickass female”. Rough circumstance hardening her over and turning her hard. She had the wit and the snark expected of such a character. However her emotional connection to both males didn’t feel strong enough. To Kyle to illict such revenge and to Riker to have the connection – but I liked that it took time and felt that was believable under the circumstances.

Riker- Riker was a different breed of alpha male in my opinion – he was moody and essentially an ass 90% of the book until he decided he respected Katie. I liked the connection the two shared, as I said it felt very natural and plausible. I enjoyed his gruffness but to an extent felt it was offputting and sexy or not there were moments when I would have walked away from him if I was Katie, but I’m glad she didn’t in the end.

Immortal Revenge (The Legacy #1) by Mary Abshire

Katie Dillinger is heartbroken over the murder of her vampire boyfriend, Kyle. She vows to avenge him by killing the vampires that committed the crime. Before his death, Kyle had her memorize the phone number of an ally who vowed to help Katie if anything should ever happen to him. Katie contacts the vampire, Riker, for help.

Riker vowed to protect Katie confiding that she is named in a prophecy to help save the human race. Not sure if she believes him; she focuses on avenging Kyle and saving her friends.

Katie is a solid heroin with admirable traits. She is determined and strong willed. Not letting others get the best of her, even if they are not human.

Immortal Revenge is well-written and has a good flow. It is full of action and has an interesting story line. It set a strong foundation for a series. I look forward to seeing where Mary Abshire will take us next.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

What a great book!I can't wait for the next book !

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Catching an Evil Tail is Mary Abshire's thrilling follow up to Claiming the Evil Dead. Jessie Garrett is a half-demon with a unique ability. She's able to dispose of evil souls by ingesting them. Though she has tried to hide her gift for most of her life, Jessie was recently "outed," and now the supernatural community is after her help.

While her vampire boyfriend Drake is in Europe on business, Jessie agrees to help a friend of a friend. Well, her friend is actually Jeremy, a demon she owes a debt to, and his friend happens to be a werewolf named Ryan. Alan, the Alpha of Ryan's pack has been challenged for control by an evil werewolf who has spent years terrorizing and murdering women. Alan wants Jessie present at the challenge so she can send his soul to hell. To complicate matters, Jeremy wants Jessie for more than just her soul catching abilities, and Drake is none to thrilled about her being with him while he is away.

I dare you to read the first chapter and not be sucked into this story! (This was also true of the previous book.) Mary Abshire knows how to grab the reader's attention and not let go. The plot moves fast with a few surprising twists along the way. While I'm not sure this story follows the rules of a romance exactly, there are plenty of sexy scenes and erotic tension for those who like it steamy. The cast of characters is strong, and it includes the major players in the paranormal realm: demons, werewolves, vampires, warlocks and witches.

If you like strong female leads, then you will love Jessie. She is tough and knows how to take care of herself, but also realizes when she needs help. She continues to be troubled by her demon-half, wondering if she herself is doomed for hell, or whether her good deeds will save her soul. In this story, Jessie's relationship with Drake is rocky when she feels he has betrayed her trust. At the same time she's tempted by not one, but two other men who have set their sights on her: Jeremy and Alan. Jessie is conflicted, and the situation is an emotional one, not only for her but for the men vying for her attention.

Catching an Evil Tail is a captivating story that would appeal to fans of paranormal romance and urban fantasy. I'm very curious to see what happens to Jessie in the next book, Fighting Evil. Drake or Jeremy...who will she choose?

Claiming the Evil Dead is a sizzling hot, action packed urban fantasy romance. The story is told from the first person point of view of Jessie, a half-demon paranormal investigator. Jessie is a kick ass heroine with an amazing ability. She ingests the souls of the evil dead by sucking their ghostly forms into her mouth and sends them to hell.

The vampire Drake is in desperate need of Jessie's special gift. Drake is challenged with finding and exterminating the vile vamp Alexander, who has been preying on children for the past century. Drake wants Jessie to dispose of Alexander's wicked spirit. Locating Alexander proves to be far more complicated than expected, so Jessie enlists the help of a full-blooded demon name Jeremy against Drake's wishes. Demons and vampires don't mix, but they agree to work together nonetheless. The three of them are soon racing against time to rescue Alexander's lasted young victim before it's too late...

My favorite part of the book was Jessie. She was an amazing heroine. Strong, confident, smart, yet troubled by her past. She saw evil and kicked its ass. I was fascinated by her "soul swallowing" ability. The path to hell was through her stomach, which I thought was very clever. Jessie was also conflicted over her demon-half. Was she doomed to hell simply for being half-demon, or would she be judged by her own actions instead?

Claiming the Evil Dead captivates from beginning to end with strong world building, a fast paced, suspenseful plot, and sexy, intriguing characters. The great chemistry between Jessie and Drake (plus some very steamy vamp on demon love) will not disappoint. For romance lovers there is a satisfying happy ending while setting up book two in the Soul Catcher series. I can't wait to see what comes next for Jessie.

I received a copy of The Awakening from the Basically Books group on Goodreads so thanks to the author and the mods for making this available. The heroine is woken up by two strangers as she lay in the dump, she has no idea who she is, or anything about herself other than a couple receipts and a knife with the initials SB. She is also surrounded by 30 dead bodies of vamps, weres, demons and the only thing she knows for sure is that she is not a murderer, that's the start of a really sucky day for SB.

The Awakening has all kinds of supernatural creatures weres, vamps, demons and angels and as "Stephanie" encounters each group they all recognize something in here. She is a unique creature in that she's a little bit of everything and who she is and how she came to be is a mystery that Stephanie and crew must solve to help her regain her memories.

I liked "Stephanie" as a character, she had strength after everything was taken from her. I liked the supporting cast especially the hot werewolf, I didn't much like the character of Boss. The dark brooding vampire has been done to death and he just annoyed me, he calls Stephanie an abomination one minute then is doing her less than 24 hrs later. The plot is a pretty straight forward mystery, who is Stephanie and who killed all the supernatural creatures found in the dump. There is lots of action to keep turning the pages and I will read the next book...there's better be a next book.