Book Review: Hunt the Moon: A Cassie Palmer Novel

Product Description

Cassandra Palmer recently defeated a god, which you'd think would buy a girl a little time off. But it doesn't work that way when your job description is Pythia-the world's chief clairvoyant. Cassie is busier than ever, trying to learn about her power, preparing for her upcoming coronation, and figuring out her relationship with the enigmatic sexy master vampire, Mircea.
But someone doesn't want Cassie to become Pythia, and is willing to go to any lengths to make sure the coronation ceremony never happens- including attacking her mother before Cassie is even born.

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Review:
Well, after two years of waiting, I had it in my hands.  Karen Chance, I have to say it :WOW.  What an amazing book.  It had everything I crave in a book and more: action (maybe some of the scenes were a tad long but they were excellent!), romance, a strong yet vulnerable heroine, humor, fantastic world and character building!
 
Cassie is every bit as much a spitfire in this book as in the previous ones, Mircea is every bit as protective and Pritkin is every bit well, Pritkin.  He’s protective but not smotheringly so, tough, gentle, cranky (can you tell which one I like the most?).  He seems to be the only one who cares about Cassie, not the power of the Pythian office and what favor she can do for him later, just her.   The sexual tension between them is so thick it’s hard to breathe during their scenes together.  They make such a fabulous team and I wish he had been featured a little bit more in this book.   Mircea, as sexy as he is, seems to always have in the back of his mind how he can use her in the future, always maneuvering.  He REALLY ticked me off in this book on several occasions.  Cassie dealt with that and maybe, just maybe, in the future he won’t try to protect her to death.
 
This book involves trying to keep her mother alive.  The leader of the mages, Jonas, has some ideas about what the bad guy guy is in this installment.  Cassie really grows into her power in this installment and it is a treat to read.  The climax was breathtaking and the ending leaves you wanting the next book in your hands yesterday already so you can finish it NOW!  Ms. Chance left the series wide open; it can go just about anywhere from here.  I can only hope it doesn’t take her two more years to complete book 6.
 
Sensuality:  several sex scenes
 
Rating: 5 stars

Review: Curse the Dawn

 

Product Description

Cassie Palmer may be the world’s chief clairvoyant, but that doesn’t mean people have stopped trying to kill her. And now, the self-styled god Apollo, the source of Cassie’s power, is on the warpath—leaving her no choice but to face down her creator once and for all.

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Review:
 
WOW!  What a wild ride!  This book, like all the others in the series, chains action scenes, chases, magic fights and a few sensual scenes together into a delightful read.  It had many laugh-out-loud moments, usually followed by “oh wow, that did NOT just happen!” moments.
 
Pritkin really shines in this book.  The chemistry between Cassie and him sizzles. Pritkin seems to be Cassie’s only true ally as she tries to learn how to do her job.  He doesn’t coddle her, he tells her the truth and doesn’t manipulate her into doing what he wants.  I sincerely hope Karen Chance pairs them romantically because if she doesn’t she’s going to need to do some work on Mircea because he seems a bit flat; yeah, he’s hot and seductive, but he seems to want to keep Cassie as a pet, which prevents her from doing her job as Pythia not to mention stifles her personally.
 
Ms. Chance introduces us to a few new fun characters, one of whom is a drag queen lounge singer who steals the scenes she is in.   Character development for primary characters is steady but the story is primarily action-based.  A fun read, whole-heartedly recommended.  The only problem is we have to wait for the next installment (due in the summer of 2011).  The series is best read in order: Touch the Dark, Claimed by Shadow, Embrace the Night and Curse the Dawn.
 
Sensuality: kissing, several sensual scenes, one sex scene
 
Rating: 5 stars

Review: Embrace the Night

Book Description:
Recently named the world’s chief clairvoyant, Cassandra Palmer still has a thorn in her side. As long as Cassie and a certain master vampire—the sizzling-hot Mircea—are magically bound to each other, her life will never be her own …
The spell that binds them can only be broken with an incantation found in the Codex Merlini, an ancient grimoire. The Codex’s location has been lost in the present day, so Cassie will have to seek it out in the only place it can still be found—the past.
But Cassie soon realizes the Codex has been lost for a reason. The book is rumored to contain some seriously dangerous spells, and retrieving it may help Cassie to deal with Mircea, but it could also endanger the world…

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Review:
Embrace the Night begins with Cassie in a graveyard, someone shooting at her as she searches for the Codex Merlini.  Thankfully, Pritkin travels with her to be her body guard, but their work relationship has a good amount of teamwork in it and they end up rescuing each other, much to Pritkin’s chagrin.  We learn a LOT about Pritkin in Embrace the Night, and some of those bits of information are doozies.  

We learn a little bit more about Cassie’s time away from Tony’s from the time she’s 13-17 in an interesting addition to the story.  Mircea is not very prominent in this book because Cassie’s still trying to avoid him so the geis isn’t strengthened. 

One of the new bad guys is a demon lord, Rosier.  Unlike Myra, he’s a really good bad guy, truly scary, capable of really horrible things.  

This book has it all, fast-paced action, laugh out loud humor, character development, the story moves forward in many areas, ending some story arcs and starting some more.  As usual, Cassie has several factions trying to kill her, making even more enemies this time around.  We revisit a few scenes in the first book and they make more sense now.  This book should NOT be read out of order, it will make close to zero sense if not read in order.   Have Curse the Dawn handy.

Sensuality:  some heavy kissing, petting and one sex scene

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review: Claimed by Shadow

Book Description:

A recent legacy made Cassandra Palmer heir to the title of Pythia, the world's chief clairvoyant. It's a position that usually comes with years of training, but Cassie's circumstances are a little...unusual.  Now she's stuck with a whopping amount of power that every vamp, fey, and mage in town wants to either monopolize or eradicate-and that she herself doesn't dare use.



What's more, she's just discovered that a certain arrogant master vampire has a geis on her-a  magical claim that warns off any would-be suitors, and might also explain the rather ... intense attraction between them. But Cassie's had it with being jerked around, and anyone who tries it from now on is going to find out that she makes a very bad enemy...

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Review:

Claimed by Shadow begins shortly after Touch the Dark ends.  Only a few pages go by before there’s a crazy war-mage barreling toward her.  We meet some new characters, including the Graeae, an ancient trio who bring giggles as well as some “oh my goodness, I can’t believe they just did that!” moments.  Mac, a former war-mage,  is also a great new character we meet in Claimed by Shadow.   Several other secondary characters from the first book make appearances as well.

Now that Cassie is Pythia, she is taken back in time several times to the late 1880s to protect the timeline because Myra is back, making trouble for Cassie.   As far as villains go, she’s pretty devious, but more than that, she’s just REALLY obnoxious.   Cassie  finds out  Mircea placed a geis on her when she was a child to protect her from Tony.   It does protect her as she grows up, but it also has a surprising effect once she becomes Pythia and meets Mircea in the past. 

We don’t see Mircea very much in this book as Cassie tries to avoid him so he doesn’t gain control of her in her new role through the geis.   We see more of Pritkin in this book than in the last and he develops from hating Cassie, mistrusting her every move to helping her when she goes to Faerie to track Myra and Tony.  

Cassie develops a bit in this book amid all the crises she faces, becoming a woman determined to not hide from her new responsibilities as Pythia.  She may not be the smartest, fastest, most intimidating heroine ever created, but she has heart, tenaciousness and spunk.   It seems at times the book is not going places, but there is development in the story as well as in several characters and it lays the foundation for the next one.  Make sure you have the next book in the series handy.

Sensuality: several lusty thoughts, some kissing, one sex scene,  and a scene in Faerie that’s disturbing.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review: Touch the Dark

Book Description:
Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits-talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead.  The ghosts of the dead aren't usually dangerous; they just like to talk...a lot. The undead are another matter.

Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires.  But when the bloodsucking Mafioso she escaped three years ago finds Cassie again with vengeance on his mind, she's forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection. The undead senators won't help her for nothing, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful members, a dangerously seductive master vampire-and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay...

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Review:

Touch the Dark begins with Cassie seeing her future obituary on her computer, her death taking place in about an hour.   Of course she leaves immediately to go on the run again, but she wants to say goodbye to her roommate, Tomas, who has a surprising secret.  The frantic, imminent death pace that begins on the first page of the book does not relent throughout as she moves from one death-defying adventure to the next. 


Since this is the first book in the series, there is a  LOT of world-building, which is top-notch. This world includes war-mages, vampires, demons and time travel.  We meet Mircea, a vampire Senate member whom Cassie knows from her childhood, Pritkin the war-mage who carries enough firepower to arm a small nation in addition to his magical powers, which are formidable to say the least.  Another entertaining character is Billy, her helpful ghost buddy.  There are other delightful secondary characters, some are historical figures, which always amuses me. 


Cassie has several groups who either want to kill her or keep her seer ability under their control, which is enough to make a girl scream in frustration, but Cassie shows a remarkable practicality and determination to be her own woman.  Even though the action is non-stop, it’s about halfway through the book that the plot behind the endless near-death experiences comes into play.  So be prepared to wonder what the heck is going on a few times before the end of the book.  It’s a good idea to grab the next book in the series is all I will say.


Sensuality: several sensual scenes, one lasting several pages prolonged with conversation, fairly graphic

Rating:  4 stars