Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Comfort reading...

hello everyone,

i've been busy in the lab and at the moment, I'm very close to crying because the experiments do not work T_T I'm going to give it a shot tomorrow as well.... but man, I don't feel like it. that'd be like 2 to 3 weeks of work wasted and I only have 2-3 weeks left. arghhh.

anyway, i haven't had time reading much. I did start and finish Skintight by Susan Andersen, but I really need to re-read it again in order to give a fair review. Since I'm at the lab and have to wait for at least 80 minutes and it's presently 6:43pm and that there's not way I'm going bother with the calculations of something that at this stage, I'm not sure it's going to work... I'm going to review Through a Crimson Veil by Patti O'Shea... which is presently, my re-read and comfort reading.


Through a Crimson Veil by Patti O'Shea: 4.5/5

What can i say? I just love, love, love this book! Through a Crimson Veil is part of the Crimson city series which is 5 or 6 books, each written by different author with the exception of Liz Maverick who wrote two. The series is about different paranormal beings (vampires, werewolves, demons, witches, druids, etc.) and explores their different "lifestyles" in Los Angeles, now known was Crimson City. L.A. has become Crimson City due to the amount of blood shed and it's actually going to become worse as humans and vampires, along with many other paranormal beings, are at war.

What I actually like about Through A crimson Veil is although a lot is happening in Crimson City, the book is mainly focused on the main characters: Mika Noguchi and Conor McCabe. I kind of like it, because instead of bring back characters from previous who are not her characters, the author doesn't risk writing something that wouldn't be them. So anyway, Mika is a half-demon (demon mother, human Japanese father) from a lower race, the Maisei: so she doesn't have much power, she can control the air and that's about it. A particularity of Maisei is that they are very spontaneous and they don't take things too seriously which was very interesting :D I actually, really liked Mika's personality. So demons have been banished from Crimson City for a long time and they live in another realm, separated by the "veil." However, they can appear in our realm if humans call them forth with spells and such, but as a half-demon, Mika has been able to cross the veil back and forth without the need of any help. Which is why she's been appointed by the council for a mission: to retrieve a spell from Conor McCabe. Mika accepts the mission, but she has an ulterior motive: Conor McCabe. Conor McCabe is also a half-demon, a Kiverian; however, he is much more powerful than Mika. In addition, unlike Mika, Conor has grown up in the human realm and in fact, he's a demon slayer (due to the fact that his mother was raped by a demon, he kind of hates them). So Mika accepts the mission because of Conor, since he's her mate and she wasn't sure she had one. Apparently, the mate bond between demons is very strong.

Anyway, as I said, a very good story. it really focuses on Conor and Mika and I like their personality. I've always found endearing when hero becomes protective and possessive (of course, there's a boundary) and this is exactly what happens to Conor. He doesn't want to fall in love with Mika, but he's interested and attracted. The development of the relationship is nice too :D and I luv Mika... perhaps some will find her annoying, but I don't. I like her personality and I think that she complements Conor well. Both balance themselves... In addition to a nice love story, you get some good actions and some suspens. The romance is the main focus, but the author didn't forget about the plot (the spell, the other demons, etc). The whole story was well plotted :D

So I really can't wait the short story of Kimiko Noguchi and Nic, respectively Mika's cousin and half-brother (but Kimiko and Nic are not blood-related), which will come out in January 2007 as part of Crimson City anthology.