Fury of Persuasion (Dragonfury: Scotland, #4) by Coreene Callahan – Review

Tags

4 stars, Book Review, Coreene Callahan, dragons, paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, series

About Fury of Persuasion by Coreene Callahan

A match made in hell. A love fated to last the test of time.

Spying on the Archguard landed Scottish dragon-warrior Vyroth in serious trouble. Imprisoned deep underground, he needs a miracle to get out alive. One arrives when a woman with secrets enters his prison cell. Will she agree to set him free—or run when the going gets tough?

Salvage hunter, Nicole Biscayne has experienced her fair share of hardship and knows how to make tough decisions. But when life throws up another roadblock, landing her in a Dragonkind prison, destiny turns the screw, giving her an ultimatum—save one of the warriors she fears or remain a prisoner forever.

Can two lost souls find freedom together? Or will sinister forces intervene before true love finds its fairytale? 

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Review of Fury of Persuasion

As you start the book, it becomes obvious to a series reader that the events were set up in the last installment. However, a reiteration of the events leading up to the kidnapping and imprisonment of Vyroth, Nicole and Tempel will quickly get the reader on track. Escape is the first order of business.

There will be some pretty immediate attraction between Vryoth and Nicole. But Nicole is a cautious woman and Vyroth realizes that. Best to let the woman come to the dragon. The pace of the romance is measured, but quick enough in the 237 pages of this story. In the meantime, Vyroth has a nasty kidnapper to track down.

Tempel, a dragon from the Belarus pack, escapes with Vryoth and Nicole. He has his own set of problems. Shared struggles bond the dragons together. Or as Vyroth muses “Nothing better in the world than making a bad-tempered, vicious new friend.” I’m pretty sure Tempel will be featured in a future Dragonfury story.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a Dragonfury book. In fact, Fury of Persuasion is the first of the Scotland series for me. Despite that, it was very easy to get back into the groove. Like all the books in the Dragonfury world, this one features tough, mean, don’t-mess-with-me male dragons and a tough, don’t-mess-with-me female human. So, a little comfort, with a lot of high-flying paranormal dragon action and steamy romance. This is a complete standalone story with a bit of a setup for the next book in the series.

Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy of this book through Booksprout in exchange for my honest review.

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The Ice Lion (Rewilding Reports, #1) by Kathleen O’Neal Gear – Review

Tags

5 stars, Adventure, Book Review, Cli-fi, Ice Age, Kathleen O'Neal Gear, Post Apocalyptic, sci fi, series

About The Ice Lion by Kathleen O’Neal Gear

One thousand years in the future, the zyme, a thick blanket of luminous green slime, covers the oceans. Glaciers three-miles-high rise over the continents. The old stories say that when the Jemen, godlike beings from the past, realized their efforts to halt global warming had gone terribly wrong, they made a desperate gamble to save life on earth and recreated species that had survived the worst of the earth’s Ice Ages.

Sixteen-summers-old Lynx and his best friend Quiller are members of the Sealion People—archaic humans known as Denisovans. They live in a world growing colder, a world filled with monstrous predators that hunt them for food. When they flee to a new land, they meet a strange old man who impossibly seems to be the last of the Jemen. He tells Lynx the only way he can save his world is by sacrificing himself to the last true god, a quantum computer named Quancee.

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Review of The Ice Lion

If you don’t read the blurb (which is an iffy representation of the book, by the way), when you start reading this truly awesome book, you might think this is a story about some prehistoric people. You will read about tribes such as the Sea Lion people, living off the land, struggling against both nature and each other. Then stuff gets thrown in. Like the zyme (a slime that covers the ocean surface). Like the name Hoodwink, which stands out among names like Lynx, Ice Giant, Bluejay, and Mink. And talk of the Jemen, the more advanced beings from that past. There is also a mysterious watcher, observing members of one tribe help another and wondering if he can hope.

It will become obvious that the story takes place far into the future, after man has brought ruin to his environment and caused an ice age. But the tribes don’t know this, because the live only for today and tomorrow.

Lynx is a young member of the Sea Lion tribe. He has been accused of cowardice, because his wedding party, including his wife, was slaughtered by Lions. As punishment, he is abandoned in the wilderness to experience a spirit quest. Survival means he may become a gifted shaman. Otherwise, he faces death. During his quest, Lynx meets Arakie, and old man that Lynx believes to be one of the Jemen. The reader knows there is both more and less to the old man. He is wise, but not all-knowing. He seems to be part archeologist, part biologist, part futurist. He really is quite enigmatic and I really like his place in this story. The travels of Lynx and Arakie will put Lynx in the position of changing the life of an outsider.

Quiller is Lynx’s friend. Ex-lover really. Disappointed when he decided to marry someone else, she is still determined to help him make it back alive. But first she must join a scouting group looking for the Rust people, their tribe’s mortal enemy. In doing so, Quiller will connect with the Rust people in an unforeseen way.

The icy setting with its mountains and ocean, provide a cold backdrop to the warmth of the peoples, who’s lives are going to be inescapably altered when paths cross and the past is excavated.

I loved this book with it’s juxtaposition of primitive people against a technologically advanced past. The people are in for some big changes and I am eager to see where the story goes.

Through NetGalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book so that I could bring you this review.

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Catapult (Cat Ship, #2) by Jody Wallace – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, cats, humor, Jody Wallace, pets, romance, scifi romance, series, talking cats

About Catapult by Jody Wallace

Lincoln doesn’t want trouble. Briar is trouble personified.

Lincoln Caster owes everything he has to the Trash Planet recycling plant that hired him, allowing him to lead an uneventful life for a change. When he’s asked to plan a heist from a less than savory rival factory, he wonders if his checkered past is the only reason he got the job. That is, until he realizes the priceless item he’s been asked to steal will save a top-secret generation ship full of cryopreserved humans…and freakishly intelligent cats.

But first Lincoln has to seduce—or at least fool—the rival factory’s sales agent, cool, competent Briar Pandora, who may or may not be leading a double life as a corporate mole. He’ll have to trust her with the truth…unless her own agenda results in them becoming targets of a vicious intergalactic corporation that will stop at nothing in its quest to hijack generation ships and sell off their parts—and their passengers, be they human or feline.

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Review of Catapult

The combination of scifi, romance and cats is irresistible. And if the cats are, as the book blurb says, “freakishly intelligent”…..well, it is impossible not to open this book.

Lincoln Caster knows the generation ship Catamaran is in dire need of maintenance. Parts needed to keep the ship’s cryo-sleeping human and feline inhabitants alive are nearly impossible to find. So when fortune puts the needed part within reach (well, more of a very long and dangerous stretch), Lincoln will do what he can for the good of the ship. When an attempt to purchase the part fails, Lincoln will have to turn to illegal means.

Lincoln likes to live by the rules (Yay for Lincoln!). To him, the thought of stealing causes discomfort. However, he is joined by the talking cat Mighty Mighty and Briar, the former saleswoman from whom he tried to buy the part. They think stealing is the only way. There is a plan you see. Every time I read that some one (human or feline) had a plan, I braced my self. Further fiascos, running, danger and humor always ensued.

The company that has the needed part has a board member (Briar’s arch-enemy) who is trying to sell the very part under the table. So add treachery to desperation and you get one mess after another.

And while all this is going on, Lincoln and Briar are – guess what? Yep, falling for each other. Opposites attract. Lincoln is reserved and straight-laced. Briar is bold and outrageous. They complement each other perfectly.

Mighty Mighty (or just one Mighty for short) is ever entertaining. Full of ‘good’ ideas that are naturally superior to any human ideas, Mighty takes charge. Sort of. Granted, Mighty can read and influence human minds,and spontaneously teleport. But truly, there is only so much a 5-kilogram (in case you are wondering, that’s about 11 pounds) 4-legged creature with no opposable thumbs can do. Since most of the galaxy is unaware of the existence of sentient cats (and it is best to keep it that way), Mighty needs his human friends to succeed. There is one particular hilarious scene where Mighty accidentally ‘inhales’ and forgets that he is supposed to remain unseen. Oops!

Catapult stands alone, but if you have read Catalyst, you will be familiar with some of the characters. This is the perfect book for cat-loving, sci-fi romance readers who appreciate a good laugh!

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