So, while I was away my blog may have been quiet, but my reading didn’t take a break. I read the latest installments of Jane True (Eye of the Tempest by Nicole Peeler), Strange Neighbor’s (The Vampire Next Door by Ashlyn Chase) and Royal House of Shadows (both ARC’s: Lord of Rage by Jill Monroe and Lord of the Wolfyn by Jessica Andersen).
Whew! What a great week of reading. I am going to tackle the reviews and pages book at a time. To start, I am going to talk about Jane True.
First, let me say this about the cover. I am so TOTALLY bummed about the rebranding of the covers. While we still get a pretty good part of the cover showing the awesome cartoon that has become the Jane True novel covers, with the bands of red along the top and the bottom we loose a good part of the great artwork that made me pick up the first installment in the first place. So, I say it again. Total BUMMER!! (See both covers for what I am talking about….) 
As for the book – well, there was so much to like. And a few things that frustrated me about as much as Jane’s libido was frustrated. The frustration first – we see so little of Anyan. And since if you read the last installment you know that a Jane/Anyan pairing has been set up – it was a little bit of a let down to not see any of that come to fruition (really, I won’t spoil the end in the review, but since we don’t see much of Anyan except the beginning and very end, well… there isn’t much time in between to give Jane’s libido a good workout). And, as a result of this – we see not nearly enough of Jane’s libido – which is one of my favorite characters (yes, I consider it a separate character!).
So, on to the good stuff. And there was lots of it. I loved Blondie! While I would like to have gotten a name, the stuff about not being able to pronounce her name was good fun. The nature of her tattoos was a pretty cool device too. The humor, action, magic and characters we have gotten to know and love so far were back in full swing.
So, the premise here is that when Jane and Anyan return to Rockbill to tell Jane’s dad about her mom’s death they are attacked. But, not by magic, by humans. And it turns out that there is some big creature that if released will destroy half the eastern seaboard – and that’s what Pheadra and her folks are after. Blondie appears to know more then she lets on. And when Anyan is turned into a dog, Jane and Blondie are left to save the world, starting with themselves and Rockbill.
Jane’s wit is as awesome as ever. She’s come into her own and she really figures out a few things about herself during this book. And Blondie looks like she should be a great addition. We see little of Ryu, and I must admit, I kinda liked it. I was worried about the Anyan/Jane ship because I was really on the Ryu bandwagon, but I think I have been won-over and am now totally a team Anyan gal. Especially after the whole whiskers t-shirt thing.
The story was a good one – even though it was really more set-up for the next (few) book(s) then a stand alone story. But it was still great to see all the action! Also, while the foreshadowing and hints made a number of things fairly obvious, it was a fun ride. I am really looking forward to the next installments!
Book Series Tracker 