Review: Chained by Night by Larissa Ione

Title: Chained by Night 

Series: MoonBound Clan Vampire #2

Author: Larissa Ione

Edition: Paperback, 416 pages

ISBN: 1476700184 (ISBN13: 9781476700182)

(Expected) Publication: September 30th 2014 

Publisher: Pocket Books

(GOODREADS):

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Larissa Ione sets the night on fire with a thrilling new novel of irresistible hungers and immortal enemies in a world as sensual and dark as her Demonica series.

THE FUTURE OF HIS TRIBE

Leader of the vampire clan MoonBound, Hunter will do what he must to save his people from extinction; or worse, a torturous eternity as vampire slaves and subjects of human experimentation. To keep his enemies at bay, he has agreed to mate a rival clan leader's daughter in return for peace between the clans and an ally in the looming war with the humans.

THE LOVER OF HIS SOUL

But survival comes at a price. First, Hunter must break an ancient curse by successfully negotiating three deadly tests. Then he must resist the searing passions of the gorgeous vampire warrior he despises but is bound to mate. Will Hunter stay true to his word? Or will he risk everything for the woman he really loves: the vampire seductress's identical twin sister?

MY OPINION:

Let's see... where do I start? I only know that for all I could remember, this could be the only book, that gave me goosebumps when I received it, ever. I was soooo thrilled.

HUNTER:

As you can read from the synopsis, Hunter is a leader vampire clan who has to mate to his rival clan leader's daughter as part of the deal to save his clans member (read book 1, Bound by Night). It's also part of a plan for vampires to join forces against humans. Hunter despises his rival, and the daughter, Rasha, as well, but the clan safety comes first.

On the day of his mate arrival, vampire-hunter humans strikes and captures Aylin, Rasha's identical twin, who comes along with Rasha as a company. First, Hunter mistakenly her as Rasha, but soon finds out about the truth, and it only makes him longing her for more.

AYLIN (and Rasha)

Rasha and Aylin are total opposite. A bit cliche I guess because you can easily hate the other and feel sympathy to another. While Rasha is tough, hard and seductive (and selfish in my opinion), Aylin is a caring and loving second-born daughter with deformed leg who's being treated badly as if she was the lowest creature and held no meaning in her clan. As a vampire, she has to drink from a male and feed a male also. But there are only unwilling male to give her blood and she never feeds any male in her life because people in her clan believe that she's cursed. While Rasha is bound to mate with Hunter, Aylin is going to be mated with another clan leader, only the worse, maybe the worst. But first, she must accompanies her sister and act as a decoy, just in case if something went wrong.

I loved Hunter, I mean, really, who can resist a tall, dark, tough, caring alpha male lore? But as much as I loved Hunter--I really thought I would fall head over heels on him when I finished reading book one, I loved Aylin even more! I really think she shun over him. She's not perfect, but that made her so perfect. She's tough, caring, with an ability which I thought much better and superior to Hunter's. :D There were many parts of her life, including when it came to telling about the clan leader she's planned to mate to, that made me cringed! No wonder she would rather be dead. There were also parts which involving Hunter, the chemistry between them, and the feeling (and the lust) she had for Hunter, that made me feel like shouting to her, "You go, girl!" or "Come one, you obviously CAN live without him!". Hahahaha... 

Reading this book, I was hooked, sucked, and fell deeper. I felt like riding a roller coaster for there were up and down moments. Yes, of course, there were moments that got me a bit disappointed, despising, and eew-ing, parts when  I thought it's not like I expect. Like I wonder why the author chose that way as a mean for Hunter and Aylin to pass the portal. It felt... weird and... cheap. But only for the first time when they had to enter the other world. I didn't feel that way on the second time when they had to go back to their real world, because it's more...accepted, understandable, considering that Hunter's feeling for Aylin grew more and more. But then I realize I really didn't know what I expect. I only knew I just can't put down the book. After going through half book, things were getting more interesting. The pace, the action, the conflict, the adventure, the chemistry, made me feel like I was watching those Hollywood adventure, colossal, action, fairy tale, paranormal, with romance and erotic sparks, all in one. 

I saw more and more stories behind the story. Another conflicts, problems, relationships were about to reveal, and this is why I couldn't wait to read more about the series. More about Myne, more about Rasha, more about the clan (and other clans as well).  I loved that Riker and Nicole showed up quite often in this book. I loved how that Braddon didn't really scare to Hunter though he's a clan leader. Because this way, I can see how the members of the clan see each other to be equal with respect, something that didn't available inside Aylin's clan.

I still think that I don't give the book enough justice for I'm not sure I can express how I feel about this book. This is one of the moment when I dread my ability in written English. -_-

In a very short, I found it to be adventurous, with lots of actions, steamy, and addictive! I really can't wait to read the next book(s)! And I'm not even a paranormal romance fan! XD

This book is part of a must have series. It's a standalone read, but I really suggest you read the first book, Bound by Night, so that you can get a better picture about what was actually going on in that world, especially conflict between humans and vampires, and between clans. When I read this book, I had to check few things from the first book to freshen up my memory a get a better grasp since there's a year time gap between book 1 and book 2. 

BUY IT FROM:

BOOK DEPOSITORY or AMAZON

Review: Werewolf in Manhattan by Vicki Lewis Thompson

Emma Gavin writes about werewolves, but that doesn't mean she believes in them-not until a pack of real-life New York weres decide to investigate the striking accuracy of her "fiction".

When Aiden Wallace, son and heir of the pack leader, tries to sniff out Emma's potential informant, he discovers something even more dangerous- an undeniable attraction to her.

Synopsis taken from GOODREADS
Buy book from The Book Depository or AMAZON

Publisher: Signet
Published: 04 January 2011
Format: Paperback 324 pages
Categories: Horror Romance (Adult/18+ only)
ISBN 13: 9780451232472

I must say, this was my very first reading about werewolf, a shifter. I mean, I did read once Wicked Woods where there were vampires and werewolf, but never specifically a shifter. I'm not really into paranormal genre. Still not, I guess. It's the Vicki Lewis Thompson that made my bought the whole series, even when I didn't really like paranormal. Besides, I kinda liked the kind of these covers.  I have them for months on my shelf and decided to read it in 2013 to fulfill the challenge on reading series I've been wanting for so long. 

Where to start? Hmm... I was pretty excited when I found out the heroine, Emma, is an author who wrote romance fiction about werewolf. And I loved Aidan. Well, maybe it's because the alpha thing, although I think there are so many heroes who's more alpha than Aidan, at least on the way he's described. I think Aidan is so sweet. And specifically, rich. One Aidan for me, please!

But ... I didn't really like Emma. At first I did. I mean, it's not like I hated her, it's just that she's not ... that lovable. Maybe she's realist, the kind who enjoying the moment while you still can. But I still didn't really think doing it while you know he belongs to someone else  is right. Of course, it's not official, the arrangement between Nadia and Aidan (You can see the arrangement right? That Nadia's name is mirrored to Aidan's), and he doesn't love her anyway. So maybe I can't say that he practically belongs to her. But still... I don't know. Maybe it's just my subjective feeling interfering.

I was curious and kept reading at first because I wondered how the moment when Emma found out about Aidan was going to be described. As it turned out, it's not that exciting. Her reaction was like a bit too flat for my taste. She must be one very brave woman. And the moment when Aidan came to realize that she's the one was also not that ... mmm, I can't find the exact words. The other disappointing part was ... at first you'd kept reading about the sexual tension and attraction between them. It was described pretty detail. But when it comes to the binding thing after Aidan confessed his love to Emma and Emma agreed to be his mate (or wife), it wasn't described at all. And I wanted details since it's been said that the werewolf have to do it in a certain position to create the binding thing with his mate! 

So I must say, I loved the beginning. But the end was like, that's it? 

So it's only 3.5 half stars from me. Mostly because I loved Aidan, the cover, and the author. Not very objective, huh? 

But I did start the next book of the series right away. I wanted to know about Roarke, Aidan's little brother. I'm still not really into this genre/theme, but I started to find another series/books about werewolf or shifter to read. Any recommendation perhaps? But I might want to avoid erotica, please. I'm definitely a vanilla type. :D