Monday, May 21, 2007

The Little-Known Favorites Meme

Hello everyone!

So how was your week-end? Mine was relaxing :D A little of work, a little of gardening... little of reading and lot of sleeping LOL :D I've been reading some books, but I don't feel like reviewing them... so instead, here is my The Little-Known Favorites meme (I've been tagged by DanceChica)

I thought this meme was particularly hard to do ^^; I looked at my books and was: which ones are my favorites? which ones are not really well-known? I've been reading mainly romances and I guess I'm pretty mainstreamed. Anyhow, I finally came up with three books which I have read and re-read so many times.... and yeah, I know... I've raved about them so many times (or at least about the authors, but stay with me :P)

Rules: List and describe three of your favorite books that other people might not be familiar with. Then tag five people. See, easy!


Through a Crimson Veil by Patti O'Shea

This book is part of the Crimson series by different paranormal authors, but it is a stand-alone in the series. There are all new characters and it introduces the world of demons to the readers.

The story is about Mika, a half-human/half-demon, who has lived most of her life in the realm of the demons which is separated from the realm of humans by a crimson veil that no demon can cross except for halflings. Mika is given the mission to steal some magic incantation from Connor McCabe, another half-human/half-demon who has lived in the human realm all his live and is in fact a demon slayer. While Mika embraces both her demon and human culture, Connor despises his demon nature...

I simply love this story. I've always been a sucker for storylines in which a) there is a playful heroine who draws out a very stern and serious hero and b) one of the main character sacrifices him/herself for their great love. This book contains both of these elements I love so much. In addition, Mika is a great heroine :D She's a kick-ass character with a playful side to her and not at all annoying or typical :D Connor also makes a very attractive and protective hero :D As for the storyline, I thought it was great as well :D


The Perfect Lie by Dinah McCall aka Sharon Sala

I've gushed so much about Dinah McCall/Sharon Sala in my blog, so it's pretty normal that one of her books make this list :D I think The Perfect Lie is my favorite among all her books written as Dinah McCall.

Jonah Slade was once in love with a rich heiress, Felicity Blaine... however, she broke his heart by aborting his baby. To forget his pain, Jonah pours all his energy into his career, an undercover agent for the CIA. 16 years later, Macie Blaine, Felicity's younger sister, shows up on his doorstep and tells him that Felicity lied under the pressure of their father and that Jonah has a son... and his son has been kidnapped...

I have to say I'm not really a fan of those storylines where the hero or heroine later falls in love with their ex-whatever's sister/brother... but in this case, it works well and I guess that's because Jonah and Macie had very little contact with each other when Macie was young and so much time pass through. Also, Macie really loved Jonah and she gave up a lot for him. In addition, I found the storyline very interesting.... but what drew me most were the characters and their relationships.


Touching Evil by Kay Hooper

Finally, my third book is Touching Evil by Kay Hooper. I think that Kay Hooper is quite well-known as an author, but not really in the romance sphere. Me, I just love the FBI SCU series :D and it was a hard choice btw Touching Evil, Stealing Shadows, Out of the Shadows and Hunting Fear :P In the end, Touching Evil won... there is just something about this book...

There is a serial killer on the loose: he rapes, beat his victims and take away their eyes. So far, he has made 4 victims. John Garrett's sister was one of the victim and she killed herself later on... John is determined to seek justice for his sister and he is ready to do anything. If this means calling his good friend Quentin and his partner from the FBI SCU and putting faith in Maggie Barnes, a sketch artist with an extraordinary gift, he'll do it... although he doesn't believe in psychics.

Maggie's psychic ability is both a gift and a curse... She's an empath and so she feels what her victims feels. She's also an amazing artist which allows to draw such accurate sketches and she believes that she's been put in this world, been given this gift to right something she did wrong in her past life... to re-establish a balance that has been long ago disrupted... However, this case is different from all what she's been through, the feelings she gets are amplified and her powers are starting to grow stronger... scaring the hell out of her. Will she succeed to re-establish balance? or will she fail again?

Like I said, I love this series :D Yes, it is gory and there is a lot of violence, but we're talking serial killer and FBI stuff and so I don't think there's any way around it... The real world does have a lot of gratuitous violence :( I also love the author's take on psychic abilities, the explanations she gives in her books are very believable... I guess I'm more of a scientist than I thought :D This is one of the best in the series in term of plot and relationship :D and I really liked Maggie and she was going through... only someone very strong could have made it.


All right, so this post got longer than I thought it'd be :D So I'll stop here... but just before saying good night, here are the persons I'm tagging: Chantal, Kris, Isabel, Rosie and Kristie :D

Good night :D