Divine Scales (Blood Prince #4) by Jennifer Blackstream

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Synopsis
The fates of a warrior angel and a bespelled mermaid are forever entangled in the new Blood Prince novel by bestselling author Jennifer Blackstream.

A warrior with a hunger for sin . . .

Driven by a terrible hunger for the black souls of evil men, Patricio, divine executioner of the gods, patrols the kingdom with blood on his hands and ice in his heart. The families of his victims sing his praises--the result of a witch’s cruel curse that condemns him to be forever surrounded by false adulation. When the curse sours the first hint at romance Patricio has had since becoming the king’s heir, his rage is all consuming. Disgusted, he leaves the mermaid in the sea and returns to the palace…only to be shocked when she bargains for the legs to follow him.

A mermaid out of her element . . .

Marcela’s world has been turned upside-down--literally. Once a proud member of her father King Triton’s royal guard, she’s now the victim of an angel’s curse. Enchanted into false adoration bordering on obsession, she traded her tail--and her voice--to the sea witch for the legs she needed to pursue the object of her desire. In a cruel twist of fate, the very magic that gave her the means to pursue her passion also broke the spell that caused it. Now she’s in the angel’s arms, but how can either of them trust the desire churning inside them when so much magic has muddied the waters?

Trust isn’t easy when nothing is as it seems . . .

A mermaid with legs and no singing voice. An angel with a curse. A witch with a chip on her shoulder. The world is full of magic and mayhem, and for an angel and a mermaid, it will take more than a kiss to balance…the Divine Scales.

Review

I’ve really enjoyed the first three entries in this series and this latest one does not disappoint. This time the plot nod is to The Little Mermaid, as neither Hans Christian Anderson nor Disney Studios ever imagined it.

The hero is the angel and, at least in my eyes, probably the least likeable of the Princes. Self-righteous, conceited, and arrogant are not among my favorite character traits. But as the story unfolds he becomes a character with complicated issues – as opposed to a jerk with a whiff of serial killer about him and a chip on his shoulder.  Still, I was glad to see the author did some ‘serious attitude adjustment’ on him as the story progressed.

Marcella was a delightfully complex mermaid, one with steel for a backbone, but she still takes the requisite step into idiocy by trading away what’s important to a witch. Of course it all works out in due course, and we find love may come at a cost but is worth it in the end.

One of the authors [many] strengths is her ability to blend totally unlikely combinations of characters and plots into workable, believable stories about characters you come to care about.

The series arc continues towards what I expect will be a ‘summer blockbuster’ conclusion. Just what exactly is the hamadryad up to? And who will they find for Saamal? After all, he’s a god…

I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Golden Stair (Blood Prince #3) by Jennifer Blackstream

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Synopsis

Ivy has lived in a tower, locked away from the rest of the world, for her entire life. Her mother, a witch who leads the resistance against the bloodthirsty kings of the five kingdoms, is her only company. Ivy knows that her battle-weary mother relies on the golden power flowing through her veins for the energy to continue the good fight, but she can’t completely smother the selfish yearning to see the world beyond the safety of their hidden valley. When the demon prince of her mother’s horror stories literally crashes into Ivy’s life, she finds herself facing her wildest dream…and her mother’s worst nightmare.

Adonis is a demon determined to bury his desire for love in the pleasures of the flesh. Bound by a vow to maintain his physical form, Adonis requires a great deal of energy just to live, energy he can only absorb through the carnal arts…more energy than any one woman could ever provide. Adonis knows he could never offer a woman the fidelity she would deserve as his wife, and so carries on with his wild ways, his cryptic smile hidden behind a puff of smoke. No woman can reach beyond the heat of his embrace to touch his heart. Not even the golden haired maid whose lonely eyes keep wooing him back to her side.

An incubus can only deny his nature for so long. Long golden hair. A tower with no stairs. A witch with serious possession issues. Debilitating blindness. None of these are enough to keep a demon from climbing…the Golden Stair.

Review

Despite all the excitement finishing book 2, One Bite, I was wondering what fairy tale the author would choose for book 3. I mean, she’d already hit the two biggest – Cinderella and Snow White – so what would come next?

The Golden Stair does not disappoint, it’s Rapunzel as you’ve never seen it before. The Prince is more smokin’ hot than charming – not to mention skilled – and the heroine is still innocent but without being stupid.

Adonis is an incubus who lives on the sexual energy released by his frequent carnal encounters. He seems to really enjoy playing the bad boy, but readers of the previous two books have suspected there’s a heart buried inside… This story takes him from player to devoted, and the reader is lucky enough to be along for the ride.

Ivy, like children everywhere, wants to believe the best of her Mum. Even when not everything seems to add up. Even when Mum keeps her locked in a tower ‘for her own good.’ Even when Ivy had to destroy her…

I love the snarky banter in this book. (Hey, it’s Adonis, snark is his signature.) The scene where Kirill (vampire prince from book 2) finds Adonis and Ivy in his bed:

“What are you doing here, Kirill?” Adonis asked warily.

Kirill sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is my bedroom, Adonis. Wouldn’t the more pertinent question be, what are you doing here?”

or when he goes up against the Necromancer:

“Zombies? Isn’t that a bit cliché?” he chastised.

“I prefer to think of them as classics,” the necromancer sneered.

Of course we get a further look at the series story arc in the prologue and epilogue chapters. With such a strongly defined story arc, as well as the interweaving of all the characters, make sure you read this series in order.

I can’t wait for the next of them!

Blood Prince series:

#1 - Before Midnight

#2 - One Bite

#3 - Golden Stair

I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

One Bite (Blood Prince #2) by Jennifer Blackstream

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Synopsis

OnIrina is determined to continue her fight for freedom. Freedom for her from her evil sorceress stepmother, and freedom for every faction in the kingdom of Dacia. Unfortunately, her stepmother isn’t about to let that happen and she’s got a poisoned apple and a glass coffin with Irina’s name on them…

Kirill is a vampire prince determined to be a vampire king. Unfortunately, his vampiric father has no intentions of vacating the throne anytime soon and the prophecy Kirill found hinting at a “Great New Kingdom” is proving tricky to translate. It doesn’t help that the beautiful woman he found unconscious in the woods seems determined to undermine his authority at every turn. He’d kill her himself if she didn’t have the strangest gift for soothing his bloodthirsty spirit.

Even an undead mastermind can’t foresee everything. Seven dwarves. A poison apple. A glass coffin. It’s a strange and terrifying world when events can take a turn for the better or worse with just … One Bite.

Review

The first book in this series, Before Midnight, took the traditional Cinderella tale, spun it around, added new elements and a much darker atmosphere and produced an exciting version with a werewolf prince. One of the things I appreciated about it  is the Prince is more than merely Charming – he comes with complete with rough spots, the occasional dent, and a lot of tarnish.

This book does the same for Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The vampire prince of this story is only charming when it serves his political agenda, and does he have an agenda! Not born a vampire, he was raised to be the next king. But now that his whole family has become vampires his inheritance is iffy to say the least. To say that our hero finds that unacceptable is an understatement. Machiavelli would have found his plotting admirable.

Enter our heroine, who the prince finds injured in in the woods. He delivers her to the nearby cottage of the seven dwarves and moves on, not truly expecting to ever see her again. And you know what happens then, she plays Susie Homemaker for the dwarves until she’s well enough to pursue her own agenda. You see, Irena is a crusader, believing in truth, justice, and equality for all members of the kingdom. When she shows up at the Prince’s door to examine his intentions for the kingdom, he is stunned. He had thought about her but assumed that she would be both obsequious and grateful for his condescension and aid. As the story progresses, he wavers between wanting to kill her and kiss her. Guess which side wins!

Of course there’s the requisite wicked stepmother and poisoned apple and let’s not forget the glass coffin, but even they have a new twist. To rescue his beloved the prince is going to have to learn to ask nicely for help. Machiavelli would shudder.

One of my favorite bits is the fact that the Prince’s family was assassinated and rose as vampires because the King had been having them all drink blood as part of his interpretation of an ancient prophecy. I can’t help thinking that if that got around a lot of people would be sharpening the carving knives and inviting their least favorite relatives to dinner…

I also love the use of Russian folklore elements. They enrich the background of the story and make the characters even more interesting. I liked that Kyrill was a researcher as well as a plotter. I like that Irena isn’t entirely a goody-two-shoes. She really (and understandably) wants to put it to her stepmother.

We get further glimpses into the series’ story arc and the princes themselves. Anticipation for the stories that the other princes will play in is building. They actually have roles to play with in this story, not simply part of the framing prologue, which was delightful.

All in all I’m finding this a great series and am looking forward to the next story and the ones after that.

Blood Prince series:

#1 - Before Midnight

#2 - One Bite

#3 - Golden Stair

I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Before Midnight (Blood Prince #1) by Jennifer Blackstream

Buy it here!

Synopsis

Loupe always dreamed of getting married. She yearned for a caring husband who would take her away from her servant-like existence at home with her stepmother and two stepsisters, a man who would love her forever. Those dreams ended the day she was bitten by a werewolf. Now she’s a mindless beast on the night of the full moon—a condition that forever prevents her from sharing a marriage bed. Not even the attentions of a handsome and endearingly strong prince can convince her that the life she wants is still possible.

Etienne is a prince in need of a werewolf. A werewolf himself from birth, Etienne and his family have protected their kingdom with tooth and claw—literally—for thousands of years. Unfortunately, the spell of a well-meaning witch is slowly turning him human. Only the bite of a cursed werewolf, one who was not born with the beast inside, can save him from becoming human. He has no time for anything that will not lead him to a cure for the cure. Not even the beautiful maiden whose gentle nature soothes his soul can take his mind from his goal.

Love cares little for the best laid plans or the impossible. A grand ball. The stroke of twelve. A magic “slipper.” All kinds of things can happen when you don’t leave the ball…Before Midnight.

Review

What if Cinderella was a werewolf? And so was the Prince? And the Stepmother was not only Wicked but Insane? This is not the Cinderella story your Daddy told you – unless your dad was a cross between Stephen King and H. P. Lovecraft.

The heroine is Loupe and as the Cinderella character she is used and abused, far beyond the usual scrubbing floors and waiting on the Stepsisters. [Since this is werewolf story, naming the heroine ‘Loupe’ is a bit of tell.] She was bitten by a dying wolf which began her secret life as a loup garou and further complicated her situation. She fears her secret being revealed, she fears what she might do as a wolf, and she especially fears her Stepmother who has made a career out of poaching wolves out of the King’s forest… Despite her fears Loupe exhibits warmth and courage under adversity.

The Prince is Etienne, a lycanthrope [born werewolf as opposed to the loup garou who are made werewolves], who was ‘saved’ by a well-meaning witch. At least she thought she was saving him by putting a spell on him to make him permanently human. The spell is time-sensitive so to break it he must be bitten by a loup garou before he becomes permanently human. To find one they plan the great ball…

Of course we all know how the ball worked out, only this time rather than turning back into a scullery maid the heroine turns into a wolf… Of course, she’s the wolf of the prince’s dreams AND the cure for his not-so-little problem so it’s all good. 

It’s a good read with a few light-hearted moments and several exceedingly grim ones. Although this is basically a stand-alone novel, the opening line of the prologue - “The werewolf, the vampire, the demon, the angel, and the god. Oh, Blessed Goddess, I have my work cut out for me.” - makes it obvious that it is part of a series based on preternatural princes making their perfect matches. Looks good, I am anticipating the next one.

Blood Prince series:

#1 - Before Midnight

#2 - One Bite

#3 - Golden Stair

 


Copy received from Netgalley and publisher for an honest review.