Lisa Kessler, Hunter’s Moon [A]

Pain burst through my gut, setting my entire side on fire. Dammit! The slimy little bastard had stabbed me.

I pressed him against the wall, forcing myself not to loosen my grip. Fear crept back into his eyes when I didn’t let him go. I held him up with one arm and pulled his knife out of my side with the other.

His eyes opened wide. “What the hell are you?”

Using both hands I threw him across the alley, his skull crunching against the bricks. He hit the ground like a rag doll while I clutched the new hole in my side.

“I’m a wolf, asshole.”

What I love. A character with attitude.

Using first person, Kessler gets us deep into her nasty Werewolf character. We may not like this hero, at first, but we can’t look away. Such are train-wreck events. Like Jamie Dornan (the new Christian Grey) in The Fall. He’s mucho creepy but we can’t get enough of him.

Lisa Kessler’s website: http://www.authorlisakessler.com/

Nina Croft, Break Out (Dark Desires) [A]

He cocked his head to one side, listening for the sound of the mob, judging its distance. His pursuers would be on him soon. Tannis had better get unbusy and fast. 

“Tannis, stop whatever it is you’re doing, bring my goddamn spaceship, and pick me up.”

She was silent for a moment. “I’ll think about it.”

Such were the conversations between the into-himself vampire with swagger, Rico, and his sidekick, captain of his spacefaring vessel, Tannis. Croft has loads of fun with her intimidating characters with a heart. For me, idiosyncrasies in the characters and their dialogue is the best kind of humor. It entertains, rather than overwhelms.

Nina Croft’s Website: http://www.ninacroft.com/

 

Elle Bright, Fall of Darkness [A]

At last, the time had come. Soon the blood of evil would stain the earth. Soon the reign of darkness would fall. The end was near.