Adult Review: Tempt the Stars by Karen Chance

I know that it's really, really important to not get any spoilers in this series, so I'm telling you now that it's safe to read this review without having read any of the books in the series.  My goal here is to convince readers to pick this series up because it is freaking amaze-balls people!

Tempt the Stars (Cassandra Palmer #6) by Karen Chance

Paperback, 432 pages

Published: October 1st, 2013 by Signet Select

Source: Publisher

This is one of those rare times that I'm not including a description with it.  I don't know that it's terribly spoilery if you haven't even started the series, because you won't fully understand. But if you start the series right after reading my review it could be something that does stick with you and leave you wondering and waiting.   So no description, but hopefully my raving will be enough to convince you this is a series you *must* read.

The Cassie Palmer series is one of the first urban fantasy series I started reading.  It was years ago now, but it's one that each year one comes out I pretty much go crazy in excitement.  Each visit back is like visiting old friends and I cherish every moment.  While I'm not sure that it's the best urban fantasy series to start out with for those new to UF, it is one I very highly recommend.  If you haven't read urban fantasy before, just be aware that this series is a bit complicated.  It has more creatures, paranormal and magical than most out there.  There's pretty much everything you can possibly imagine (and haven't even thought of yet) in these books.  Seriously, it's insane!  And so freaking awesome!

Cassie has had a wild ride through all of the books. There's constant craziness going on and it's fast and furious.  At times it was hard to keep up!  It's like my eyes go so fast I can't soak it up quickly enough and I actually do a lot of rereading just to comprehend some of the stuff.  And while I would normally say that's a bad thing, it's actually good in this case.  These books wouldn't be what they are without the craziness.

One of my favorite things is that the books are full of action and life or death situations, but even when things are bleak and scary, there's some witty remark thrown out by one of the many fantastic characters.  Not only that, but some of the crazy situations they get into just are hilarious.  Yeah, they might be about to die, but somehow it's just so freaking funny!  I don't know how she does it, but Ms. Chance writes some crazy brilliant scenes and while you think you are going to die from the suspense, the needing to know how the heck they'll survive this time, you are also snorting back laughter because it's so flipping crazy that they are in that situation in the first place.  Plus, the characters are just hilarious.

The characters.  Wow, there are so many great characters in these books.  It's not just one or two characters that are important.  Nope, we get a full entourage that just grows bigger and bigger.  And while there might be 20 characters to keep straight (these are characters with somewhat regular appearances) it's just so easy to keep them all straight because they are so well developed.  I feel like I know them all, and with each book I'm just back visiting my old friends.  And boy do I miss them between books...

So what it comes down to is this, was I satisfied with this newest installment?  And yes, yes I was.  I thought I'd forget everything but there's a good recap in each book and this wasn't any different.  We were reminded through Cassie's memories.  The romance is something I can't talk about too much, but it's one of my favorite aspects of the books.  There's some very, very serious sexual tension and that's one of my favorite things to read about.  When you want them to get together SO badly, when every minute they are wanting to be together but not able is set right there in front of you, it's just so delicious.  Even while killing you because you just want them together already.  However... there's more to it then that. It's complicated.  And frustrating, but in a good way.  At least for the most part.  In this book we see some development in things changing (for the good, in my opinion) and more emotions were let out.  Sharing of feelings has always been hard for Cassie and in this book she's found a way to express them, at least in one case when she really needed to.

When a book has you laughing and sobbing all in the same breath, now that's a winner.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review purposes, all opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.