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

Review: The Survivors by Dinah McCall

All right, so most of you know how much I was anticipating this book, The Survivors by Dinah McCall. I've been a fan of Dinah McCall, aka Sharon Sala. I've first became a fan of Ms Sala after reading Out of the Dark, a very touching story of a woman who was kidnapped by her own mother as a child and brought to a cult where the leader pimped the children to pedophile. Luckily for that woman, she was able to run away with a friend and escape that hell. Meanwhile, her father has been looking for mother and daughter for more than 15 years. Seriously, that book was really good. So I've hunted for Ms Sala's backlist and discovered that she also wrote books under the name of Dinah McCall (why do authors have several pen names?). I really like her style and she has become an auto-buy for me. The Survivors was supposed to come out last year, but for some unknown reason, the release date was pushed back a year... so I really have been waiting for this book for a long time and finally, have bought it and read :D

The Survivors by Dinah McCall (aka Sharon Sala): 3.75/5
published by Mira in March 2007

Ethan O'Ryan has come back from Iraq with a missing eye and a whole lot of scars. After months of recovery, he has come home and the only thing he wants is to see his son of five years old, Johnny, who has been living with his maternal grandparents. A few nights before Christmas, Ethan is woken up by a phone call from his great-grandfather, Thorn, who is asking about Johnny's wellfare because he has a feeling. After a few phone calls, Ethan learns that his in-laws wanted to surprise him and arrive a few days early; however, their plane has crashed in the Appalachians and no survivor is known yet. Unwilling to sit by their phones and wait for news, 4 generations of O'Ryan men (great-grandfather Thornton, grandfather James, father Mike - also the hero, and Ethan) show up at the crash site.

Deborah Sanborn is a psychic. Her gift first presents in a preominition where she saw her father, along with 11 other men, die in a mine collapse, when she was about 6-7 years old. Now 40 years old, she lives away from the others, but not in isolation/reclusion, in the mountain in the familial home and help whenever she can after a premonition. As a result, she heads down to the crash site after "seeing" a woman and a young boy walking away from the plane crash, because she knows she can help locating them. In addition, she feels that they are in danger as a third survivor wants to harm them.

Molly C. survived the plane crash and woke up only to witness the murder of the passenger sitting in front of her, at the hands of his friend. Molly is not the only survivor or witness, as Johnny O'Ryan also saw what happened. Panicked and afraid for their safety, Molly grabs the boy, some blankets and some food and walk away from the plane crash... Upon seeing the tracks of footsteps in the snow, Darren Wilson knows that they are survivors and witnesses and isn't about to let them go so easily... Thus starts his pursuit to eliminate them.

Series: None
Genre: Contemporary, romantic suspense, psychic

Review: I enjoy the book, but I think that deep down inside me, there was some disbelief which is why the book didn't get a better grade. I mean, everything looks so easy that it became a bit unrealistic... or perhaps it's me who's a bit ignorant about life and I believe it's not possible to do, but it is. However, it was still very enjoyable and Ms Sala's narrative voice is smooth as ever.

The Characters - I bet everyone's wondering about the characters, especially the 5 generations of O'Ryan men. I was a bit puzzled at first, cos it's rare you see a great-grandfather alive, but it works. Thornton is in his eighties, James in his sixties, Mike is 45 y.o., Ethan is 20-something and Johnny is 5. By the way, if you're also wondering, Thornton's wife died a decade ago, James' wife has Alzheimer and he had to put her in a care center, Mike divorced twice and Ethan's a widower. So not only do O'Ryan men have children at a young age, they all quite lonely and in addition, all of them went to wars - want me to name them? LOL :P I have to say it was quite interesting to see so many men of a same family, but different generations interact. It also showed how family is important and how they were all there for each other. So yeah, this was a definite plus.

Deborah was also a very interesting character. She's older than most heroine I read and well, it showed by her poise and maturity, but at the same time, she's not a mom or career woman and so, I was able to relate to her and almost forgot she was 40. She's very independant and self-sufficient and strong and I liked that about her. The only thing that bothered me a little was the fact that her psychic abilities weren't really explained - does she see only the future or there something more, does she have some control over them or etc.

Also, sidenote for those who don't like children in their books - give this a try. Johnny does not baby-talk, is not a teenager with a sullen attitude, isn't too cute and isn't perfect. He's a little boy who's lost his mother at a young age, hasn't seen his father for more than a year, just lost his grandparents and witness a murder.

The Story & Writing - As I said before, I thought everything went too smoothly and so, I'm a bit well skeptical that a rescue or search would happen like this. However, the characters and story made up for it - well almost. There was also a lot of expectations and anticipation for this book and although it didn't disappoint me, it didn't surpass my expectations either which is why it didn't get a higher grade. All in all, not the best book by Ms Sala, but not a bad book. As for the writing, well you know I'm biased, so I'm not going to bother :P

The Cover - it's nice and it fits, what else can I ask?

Am I keeping this book? Yes :D

Anything else? I wonder when her next book will come out... and I wonder when she's going to update her website so I get an answer...

Review: White Mountain by Dinah McCall

One week + 2 days = 9 days

That's the number of days I haven't stepped into a bookstore. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to remain away from a bookstore. I keep reading this review and that review and I keep going: Oh, this book sounds good and that book too. Ah well, we'll see I guess...

I'm trying to watch the Australian Open, but man... I keep getting unlucky and missing it. The good news tho is that Lleyton Hewitt made it to the 2nd round. Let see how it goes today. He's playing a Canadian - so what should I do? Be all patriotic or root for Lleyton?

Anyway, onto the review :D

White Mountain by Dinah McCall: 4/5
published in April 2002 (Mira-Harlequin)

Frank Walton is an old man, suffering of cancer. Because the end is near, he goes back to Brighton Beach, the little Russia in New York where he grew up to reminisce his childhood. Unfortunately for him, Russia has sent one of their best, but retired, KGB agent -Vasili Rostov- to bring him back to Russia. However, the incident ends up with the death of Walton. Not wanting to go back to his country empty hands, Rostov goes to Braden, Montana - specifically the Abbott House - where Walton lived with 6 other old men.

Meanwhile, in New York, Walton's body has been discovered. However, what's astonishing, as well as intriguing, is that Walton's fingerprints match the ones of a scientist that died more than 30 years ago in a plane crash. This attracts the attention of the FBI which sends their agent, Jack Dolan to Montana to investigate.

In Montana, Isabella Abbott has just buried her father, Sammuel Abbot, and is worried about her Uncle Frank. When she learns of his death, she is quite devastated... Uncle Frank murdered, her father dying from a heart attack... Coincidence? Then, she looks at her remaining uncles: David, Thomas, Jasper, John and Rufus - all old men now who have seen her grown up and helped her father to raise her after her mother died in childbirth. They all lived together at Abbott House, some being botanist, archeologist, so on and others being her father's colleagues at the fertility clinic... but how much does she really know?

Series: none
Genre: contemporary romantic suspense

Review: I almost got all of Dinah McCall's books and White Mountain was one of the rare one I was missing... So I bought it. In addition, I was really intrigued by the whole fingerprints belonging to someone's already dead. However, I never thought this book would turn out this way - a very pleasant surprise.

Characters - See, I've always been weak for old men in real life and in books. Strong or gentle, most of them tug at my heart. So my heart gave out a lot when Frank Walton died. Anyway, I really liked the old men :P As for the main characters, Isabella and Jack, well I did enjoy them a lot :D Isabella has a strong core inside, but she's not overtly strong and tough and it's totally understandable in this situation. She's just lost two persons she cared for a lot and realized that eventually, one by one, her other uncles would leave her too. As for Jack, he's a FBI agent. A bit battered and a bit down, but I wouldn't say his near break-down. He went to Abbott House undercover and credits for him for not wanting to build relationship on lies. Anyway, I liked them and they didn't annoy me at all, but I'd say that there's some depth missing. Ms Sala didn't have time to flesh them out as it should, because she had so much going on...

Story & Writing: well, it's no secret that I love Ms Sala's style/writing... So I won't comment on that aspect. Okay, maybe I'll just say that I like Ms Sala's pacing and her writing is always smooth. As for the story, it was quite interesting. There wasn't too much "threads" so it wasn't hard to follow. What I liked was the idea behind the intrigue was really good and it was well told. The only thing is perhaps the ending seems a bit too easy - I mean, would Jack really recognizes the KBG agent from a picture that was shown during his training at Quantico, of course it's plausible... but this moment is key to leading to the ending and I thought there could have been many other ways, perhaps more interesting.

The Cover - I like... it also keep in style with the other covers of her books published with Mira-Harlequin.

Am I keeping this book? Yes :D It's a good book plus, I want to complete my collection of her books.

Anything else? Not related to White Mountain... but Dinah McCall's next book is The Survivors. Anyone knows when it's coming out? It was first scheduled for April 2006, but I didn't find it anywhere. Then, Chapters online said January 2007, but it's not available for order... Amazon says March 2007 or perhaps April... Meanwhile, the author's website hasn't been updated for a while. Sigh.

Almost the big day...

Hey everyone,

I really should be practicing my presentation, but my mind is numbed with stress... so I'll try to relax it with this review (I would start to read, but then, I'll never practice and going to sleep is unfortunately, not an option either)... So this is the book I read yesterday night and I really enjoyed it :D and it made me cry... I think that I needed to cry.

The Return by Dinah McCall (Sharon Sala): 4.25/5

I can't do a coherent synopsis, so here are the main facts that I would put in my summary if I write one:

- the Blairs and Joslins families have hated each other for years. Not ordinary hatred, a hatred so profound that they find ways for the other family members to have "accident"
- Fancy Joslin and Turner Blair fell in love when they were kids. When Fancy got pregnant, they married in secret and planned to run away and start a new life.
- Few hours after Fancy gave birth to Catherine, she entrusted her baby to the witch (Annie Fane) and then died, killed by dogs. Tragedy ensued and the three Blair sons are murdered, and another disappears. The only survivor is paralyzed by a stroke.
- Annie Fane runs away with Catherine and raises her.
- 25 years later, Catherine comes back to Camerune to bury Annie and faces the suspicions and supertitions of a whole town. Only Sheriff Luke DePriest is one her side.

All right, so where to start. Seriously, the beginning was so tragic that I couldn't help and cried. I don't want to give it away, but it's really poignant and touching. I liked both Luke and Catherine and I enjoyed how their relationship happened. Both characters are strong and good and everything, but Sharon Sala doesn't overdo it. You know how sometimes, a book has strong characters which override the story/plot... well here, it's really not the case. There is a great balance between characters and story...

Ok, seems my review isn't that great... All I can say is that I've always liked Sharon Sala's books and this is no exception. So if you like her style, don't miss this one. I guess what I like about her books it's that, the romance is subtle and there's always something happening. It's really not characters-driven and you know, it's plausible and no attempt to be extremely funny and so on.