Jess Macallan

Full Review: Elle is happy running her organic soap shop by day and stealing priceless artifacts from her father at night. She’s got a hot male employee who catches her in the act of stealing, but rather than turn her in, he helps her get away! Turns out Jax is not human, but neither is Elle, she just didn’t know it yet. Dad is an evil master manipulator who deserves to be punished.

I am not one to start new series anymore; I hate waiting for the next one and prefer to read them all in one fell swoop. I enjoyed this story until I realized there was no way to get everything wrapped up well with the short amount of material left. While I am glad that Ms. Macallan didn’t just hurry up and end it, I would have liked a bit more resolution, rather than the semi-cliffhanger she left us with.

While this story does rely on many of the same conventions seen in romantic fiction lately, such as two hot guys that are interested in her, and memory loss. I like the new spin on light and dark elves, with gargoyles and phoenixes tossed in the mix. I especially loved Elle’s own comment, “Please tell me the Twilight series isn’t based on real people.” Jax’s answer, “Vampires and werewolves are myths.” Nice to know the conventions are recognized and made fun of even as they are useful. Elle and her best friend, Teryl, not gay men (yeah!) have a great relationship steeped in humor and sarcasm. I could get along with Elle quite well myself. I’ll be looking for the next one!


… (plus d'informations)

3.5/5

Egalley thanks to Entangled Publishing, LLC

Stone Cold Seduction is fairly light, amusing urban fantasy. Elle has this wry sense of humour which captivated me straight away.

"I jerked at the unexpected male voice, sloshing coffee on my hand and the table. “Damn! MacLean, what are you doing here? And why do you always sneak up on me when I’m holding hot coffee?”
MacLean didn’t answer. I noticed his copper eyes were streaked with flame.
“Guys, can we tone it down? Please? Can we have one conversation where no one loses a shirt, is on fire, turns to stone, or growls uncontrollably?”

She is this artsy new age woman, owner of a spa products shop, products which she creates herself. Her only drawback is her evil dad. She thinks he is some sort of mafia man and from time to time she steals some precious stones or antiques from him to donate the money to the families of his victims.

However, reality is much more complicated. Dear daddy is a king of shadow elves, and Elleodora is his heir.

On the night of her latest burglary, Elle is saved from being seen by her hot new employee Jax who suddenly sprouts wings and drops them from multi-storied building. Bewildered, Elle finds out that her world is not what it seems. Her best friend is an oracle, Jax is gargoyle and she actually has an ex-fiance phoenix whom she can't remember because dear dad wiped her memories...

Elle starts manifesting powers unusual even for her new world and her time is running out as everyone wants to either use or kill her, and the only way to save herself is for Elle to read her fate...

Loved everything in the book, but love relationship between Elle and Jax. I'm not a big fan of soul mates idea as I said before, and here it's done particularly badly. Everything happens super fast, unbelievably fast, and all these smoochies and swoons were making me gag. He was calling her his "little gem" for God's sake! It's even worse than "ma petite"!

Other than that I loved that Elle's character develops really well and she finally grows a pair to stand up to her dad. I'm looking forward to the next installment and well done to Jess Macallan for such an interesting book!

Verdict: refreshing, fast read, full of humour and drama. If you like Mary Janice Davidson and Kerrelyn Sparks, I think you'll like this one as well.… (plus d'informations)

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: This book picks up where the last one leaves off with Elle planning to bring justice to her father’s victims. First though she has to learn to control her abilities with the help of some family she never knew she had and the men who have been by her side from the beginning. At the same time she must choose between her gargoyle love and her phoenix childhood love.

Opening Sentence: Two weeks ago the worst day of my life started with a double mocha.

The Review:

This is the second book in the Set in Stone series and you can follow along without reading the first book but you miss getting to really know the characters if you read this one first. I recommend reading Stone Cold Seduction before reading this one. This story is about Elleodora Fredricks, a half shadow elf princess and half demi-god. Her father, Jedren, is a monster created accidently by her mother. To understand how this is possible you must read the story. He has forced Elle to move back to his house and become his heir by threatening the three men who are the closest people she has. Unfortunately for Jedren, Elle has a plan to stop him as soon as her powers develop. With the help of those three men she cares about and her long-lost uncle and godmother they just may be able to stop him and protect those who would become his next victims.

In this book Elle has grown-up and changed a lot. In the first one she was having a hard time coping with learning about who she is. Now she has all her memories and is a much stronger person. Instead of being the weak cowardly type who lets her father make a victim out of her she is in control and ready to defeat him at all costs. She is finally starting to learn about all her powers and learning to control them. These come in handy throughout the book. At times you still want to yell at her and tell her to buck up and get with it before more people get hurt but at the same time you feel bad that she is the only one who can save them all.

In Stone Cold Seduction Elle met or reunited with one of her two mates. No one else has ever had two mates and so they do not know how to help her, so she is on her own on figuring out who her true mate is. It could either be the dark, sexy, gargoyle, Jax or it could be the hot, phoenix, Maclean. Both men would give their lives to protect and make sure Elle is happy. Jax has only been in her life for a little while, or so she thinks and Maclean was her childhood sweetheart and fiancée. You must read this story to figure out which guy is mister right.

I really liked the two new characters introduced in this story. The first one we meet is Elion, Elle’s uncle on her mom’s side. Elion is a god who wants to help her defeat her father, come into her powers, and keep her safe. The other new person is Elle’s godmother who ironically is a fairy. Luna is no ordinary fairy godmother though. She has spunk and has no problem putting Elle in her place. She is more like a “leprechaun on crack” than the little old lady fairy who grants your deepest wish though. I liked her character the most. Whenever Elle was having a pity party Luna would show up and straighten her out and bring her out of her funk. Even so she has a tender spot for Elle and just wants to see her safe from harm.

I enjoyed this book just as much as the first one. Unfortunately, Jess Macallan left us with another cliff hanger at the end. I hope this means she is working on the third book in this series and will have it out soon. I know I will be watching for it to see what happens between Elle, her father and the council who now wants to use Elle for their own purposes. I recommend both books in the Set in Stone series to anyone looking for a good supernatural action series.

Notable Scene:

“A warning this time would have been appreciated. Who are you?” He folded his arms in the same casual stance he’d had in the kitchen. “I’m Elion.” I waited. The seconds ticked by and he offered nothing else. I exhaled loudly. “Yeah, I heard MacLean say your name. That’s not what I meant. And he knew it.

“I’m your uncle. You’re at my home. I can shift energy enough to move you here. And you’re here because I have to train you before you embarrass me.” He sounded like he was reading off the stocks from the morning’s newspaper. No inflection, no emotion.

FTC Advisory: Entangled Publishing provided me with a copy of Stone Cold Revenge. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.… (plus d'informations)

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: Elle is just a mere mortal or so she thought. In one day all that changes. Now she is confronted with gargoyles, elves of both light and shadow, phoenixes, oracles and more. Now she has to find her fate and save many from her father’s evil doings. On top of that she has to choose between her first love and the man she now loves.

Opening Sentence: The worst day of my life began with a double mocha, extra whipped cream.

The Review:

This was a wonderful book to read. It is about a woman named Elleodora Fredricks who thought she was just an ordinary soap maker and part-time burglar. Then after stealing some gems from her father and almost getting caught she realizes that she is much more. In fact she is part shadow elf and part demi-god. Her father is the evil shadow elf king and she is his heir. Unfortunately for Elle, the items she had been stealing from her father turned out to be souls from other creatures. How does she learn the truth of all this? Easy, her boyfriend who is actually a gargoyle, and her best friend who is an oracle, tells her. Now these three, along with Elle’s ex-fiancé, who is a phoenix, must find Elle’s fate and stop her father from using her for his evil deeds.

There were times that I really liked Elle and then there were other times when I did not. I did like the fact that she held it together fairly well when she found out that she was part of a whole other world that she previously thought was all myths. She did have a few times where it overwhelmed her, but who wouldn’t be overwhelmed? I also liked how she stole from her father to help those people who he had harmed in some way. The part of her I didn’t like was that she was sometimes rather reckless. She knows there is a price and a death warrant out for her and she still had a tendency to take off on her own. This usually gets her into trouble and sometimes the guys also. My favorite part about Elle was that she stood up to her father and her worst nightmare rather than just giving in when she is confronted by them.

Elle’s father was a horrible being and Jess Macallan did a good job when she wrote up this villain. To the outside world he was a great business man and an honorable man. Those who knew him better knew about the evil that was in him. He had people killed just for looking at him wrong. Even though Elle was his daughter, he never had a problem handing her over to Luke, a sick disgusting man, who loved to torture Elle.

The three men in Elle’s life were so different from each other, but all were very important to her in some way. First is her best friend Teryl, who is an oracle. They have been best friends forever. Whenever she is feeling down Teryl is there with a smile and comfort food. He is also her partner in crime. He finds the shipments and the items that Elle steals. When Elle learns who she really is he is right by her side the whole way supporting her and trying to help her learn about herself. Secondly, is MacLean Douglas, Elle’s former fiancé, unfortunately she does not remember him because of the memories her father has stolen from her. Mac is back in her life as a hunter looking for the souls that Elle accidentally took. He believes in her innocence and wants to help her prove it and protect her from other hunters like him. Mac has copper colored hair and eyes and is a phoenix that has a tendency to burst into flames around the last guy in Elle’s life. His name is Jaxon West and he is a gargoyle and the new love in Elle’s life. He is the complete opposite of Mac. Where Mac has copper hair and eyes, Jax has black hair and gray eyes that have a tendency to go silver when he is experiencing high emotions. Whenever Mac and Jax are around you can expect a fight and they battle for the woman who was fated for both but meant to be with only one.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was hard for me to put this story down. I wanted to know if Elle succeeded in retrieving her fate and to find out which man she ends up with. I was on the edge of my seat as I read page after page of action. I do have to say I was not a big fan of the end because it was a cliffhanger leading up to the next book. I cannot wait to read the next one and find out how Elle’s story will play out. If the second book in this series Stone Cold Revenge is even half as good as this one I will thoroughly enjoy it.

Notable Scene:

Her eyes flicked to him for a moment before coming back to my face. “She knew how her life would end. She told me her death would be for a great cause, for a worthy individual.” She raked me with a contemptuous look. “You are not worthy. She was wrong about you.”

FTC Advisory: Entangled Publishing provided me with a copy of Stone Cold Seduction. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.… (plus d'informations)