» historical fantasy http://smokinhotbooks.com/blog Thu, 14 Jul 2011 03:33:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker Review http://smokinhotbooks.com/blog/2010/04/26/darklyluminous-persephoneparker/ http://smokinhotbooks.com/blog/2010/04/26/darklyluminous-persephoneparker/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:36:23 +0000 K.C. http://smokinhotbooks.com/blog/?p=1747

Genre Historical Fantasy/Romance Gothic

Pages: 319

Release Date April 27th 2010

Book 2 Strangely Beautiful Series

Amazon Purchase Link

Book given to me by author for review

Favorite Scene

“There was that kiss.” Percy giggled. “You threw me against the bookshelf.”

“Ah, yes, there was that.” He smirked. “how did that go again?” He lifted and spun her. Her breath fled as he pressed her against the shelves for reenactment.

“Yes, that was it,” she finally gasped, as he carried her again to the desk. “Alexi, were you really thinking such things during our tutorials? You seemed so cold.”

“I began to unhinge the moment I demanded you reveal yourself, the moment you took off your scarf, your gloves, your glasses, all your shrouds, and stood bravely before me, diamond blue eyes piercing my soul.”

Percy frowned. “You looked at me in surprise, then.”

Alexi leaned closer.”You were a revelation.”

 

lu·mi·nous {loo-muh-nuhs} when something overtakes a human body – a possession with intent to harm… 

war { wawr} spirits say it is war, all hell has broken loose now that the bride is gone. The fight on the borderland was just the beginning…

Where do I begin…I fell in love with Percy Parker in The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, where a shy, awkward, ‘freakishly pale’  girl became the missing piece in a prophesied puzzle.  We meet the illustrious Miss Parker again in The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker and resume the fight against ‘The Darkness’, complete with the broodingly handsome Professor Alexi Rychman and the rest of the guard. Now that Alexi has realized that Percy is his mythical destiny, their proclamation of true love is confirmed for all to see. But alas, it’s not all moonbeams and rainbows as something sinister is lurking in the depths of the Athens Academy, something that want’s Persephone. Percy will have to be on her guard as one within her group is foretold to be a betrayer, someone who she is close to. With the daunting task of being the newest member of the guard, navigating a new position at the academy and being the wife of Alexi, Percy cannot help but feel a little lost. How is she to save herself when someone close to her will betray her at her most vulnerable? All I can say is that Alexi and Percy have a difficult road a head of them, but not to fear, Percy is a being of light, and light always defeats the darkness….right? Just who is Percy Parker, and is she even human? 

Leanna Renee Hieber is one of those authors that can write a romance that is both poignant and heartwarming.   Usually when you read a sequel from a beloved first book, there is really no option but to go down. Not so with this book. Although, I did miss Alexi and Percy’s tutorial tete a tete’s  I enjoyed the journey of their relationship from whirlwind of forbidden feelings to a working partnership. And yes, Alexi is still the same old aloof Darcy-like character, who only has eyes for Miss Persephone Parker, a fact that I deliciously enjoyed.  *swoon*  Not to disappoint, our full cast of characters from the pervious book come back to life and add a richness and humanity to this second installment. I enjoyed that Alexi and Percy were not always at the forefront of this story and that we began to see more of the Guard than just magical shields against the underworld.  

I will make a hint that I can’t wait to read more about Rebecca! Rebecca has sacrificed everything for Prophecy, even her feelings for the ambivalent Professor Rychman. So long as they could work together, her sacrifice seemed achievable with Alexi at her side. But Alexi has found Percy, his goddess in human form and now Rebecca is left with nothing but the cold embrace of duty. She is the one who knows of the betrayer but her bitterness of Alexi’s feelings for Percy could cloud her judgement. What if Rebecca is the one that is to betray Percy, could she be the one? 

The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker is made of all kinds of awesome and is just as exciting and romantic as the first book. Not to be missed. 

Rating 


GIVEAWAY

I heart this book so much I’m doing a Giveaway Ends 4/29 for Amazon Gift Certificate to purchase Darkly Luminous Fight For Persephone Parker (Contest Open to All That Can Access Amazon)

Simply comment to this question: We’ve all felt like Percy a time or two, (an outcast, feeling as if you were somehow odd or different from everyone else) what’s your Percy experience?

Author’s Site | Amazon |

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]]> http://smokinhotbooks.com/blog/2010/04/26/darklyluminous-persephoneparker/feed/ 50 The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber http://smokinhotbooks.com/blog/2009/12/27/the-strangely-beautiful-tale-of-miss-percy-parker-review/ http://smokinhotbooks.com/blog/2009/12/27/the-strangely-beautiful-tale-of-miss-percy-parker-review/#comments Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:46:01 +0000 K.C. http://smokinhotbooks.com/blog/?p=1121

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Release Date: August 20th 2009 {334 pages}

This book was given to me to review by the author.

What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Hidden in the dark heart of Victorian London, the Romanesque school was dreadfully imposing, a veritable fortress, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met its powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadows, of the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She saw simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gift. This arched stone doorway was a portal to a new life, to an education far from what could be had at a convent-and it was an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death…

 

There aren’t enough words the Internet Thesaurus dictionary can describe for how ‘in-hearts’ I am with The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker.  This book is a re-imagined homage to the Victorian romantics such as Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte mixed with the supernatural aspects of Sherlock Holmes.  This book brought to life what is so often missing in contemporary romance, the ability to build romantic tension with nothing more than stolen glances and a poet’s heart. I was swept away back to the times where a single touch of the hand was more deliciously erotic than any sexual act. I will say, it’s not easy to fulfill the appetite of contemporary readers who are used to the more physical interactions of the characters as a necessary form of romantic fulfillment. I cried, I laughed, and was strangely fulfilled, even though the biggest climax of the book was when they kiss.  This brought me back to why I fell in love with romance in the first place.

I think we’ve all felt at some point in our lives a little awkward, needing to be accepted and the painful journey towards finding that  acceptance.  Timid, ghostly-looking, Percy Parker tugs at your heart with her quiet strength and resilience; who’s shyness and tender heart make the reader love her even more.   Raised in a convent, Percy is accepted into the Athens School at the late age of 19. Excited and nervous to venture outside of her convent, Percy braves her new adventure with a quiet determination and steadfastness. Despite her ghostly looks, Percy desperately wants to fit in and finds herself thinking that she just can’t help feel that she is destined for something bigger.  Something, extraordinary.

Mathematics Professor Alexi Rychman is part of a prophecy and his life is not his own. He is part of a group of guardians that have been awaiting the 7th installment of their group, one who will save the world from the prophesized evil that was revealed to him as a young man.  Alexi has lead an emotionless life, keeping all his feelings to nothing more than a cold politeness. He is on the brink of despair. He is getting older and has lost faith that his goddess will not return to him and reveal their 7th member. This 7th person is destined to be the woman he is fated to fall in love with, he just doesn’t know he’s already met her.

Enter Miss Percy Parker, gifted with languages, a lover of literature and wretched in mathematics and science. She is destined to die a painful, slow death of embarrassment from her regular tutoring sessions from the delicious Professor Rychman.  She despises her ineptness and each day falls a bit deeper in love with the Professor.

If you are yearning for something more fulfilling then what’s currently on your bookshevles, the odd, yet beautiful adventure of Miss Percy Parker is a romance not to be missed.

Rating

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