Embrace the Night by Karen Chance

April, 2008

400 pgs., Paperback

Personal Copy

Third in Cassandra Palmer Series
Adult Fiction

 

From Back Cover:

 

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…

 

Opinions

When Cassie goes to fulfill the promise she made and to remove the geis she gets more than she bargained for. This is complicated by the fact that she is hunted by those who have always controlled the Pythia. She even has to go against the original Pythia. Action-packed, but low on actual character building. Hopefully in the next we’ll find out more about her core relationships. I haven’t actually read the last one, but it’s on my nightstand as we speak. It’s review will be up within the month.

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Claimed by Shadow by Karen Chance

Cover via Amazon

 

April 2007, ROC

374 pgs., Paperback

Personal Copy

Second in Cassandra Palmer Series

 

From Back Cover:

 

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...

Opinion

“Claimed by Shadow” is not as good as the first in the series, but it is still very good. When Cassie is brought in front of the vampire council she feels controlled and begins a rampage that takes her through two different worlds and makes her grow into her whole Pythia self. The geis is annoying and I know many other readers agree with this assessment, but it does not hinder the story too much.  Many if not everyone she comes in contact with underestimate her. I recommend this entire series, but keep in mind the first is the best in series so far.

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Touch the Dark by Karen Chance

June, 2006, ROC

320 pgs., Paperbook

Personal Copy

First in Cassandra Palmer series

From Back Cover:

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...

Opinion

This is the best in the series, but the entire series is pretty great. I started this series awhile ago and have reread the first several times. Cassie starts out as simply a clairvoyant, but we soon see she is much more than that. She truly cares about those who around her. There is a good mixture of supernatural beings. Her amulet ghost is often hilarious. There are many twists and turns. I would definitely recommend this book. It’s funny, mysterious, and sexy. Expect the good guy to be the bad one and the bad boy to be good.

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