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.

Book Review: Hunt the Moon (Cassie Palmer #5) by Karen Chance

Title: Hunt the Moon (Cassie Palmer #5)
Author: Karen Chance
Details: Mass Market Paperback, 432 pgs.
Published: June 7th, 2011 by Signet Select
isbn: 0451413075 (ISBN13: 9780451413079)
Reading Level: Adult
Source: Publisher, for review


Description:
Please note that this description has spoilers from previous books

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.

Spoiler free for the entire series:
I LOVE this series!  It's full of every sort of supernatural creature imagined and Cassie is an amazing character!  They're told in first person so it's important to connect with the character and Cassie is one character I completely feel the connection with.  She's bold, she's snarky, she's brave, and she's completely kick ass!  She'll stand up for what she believes in, and protect anyone she cares about even when putting herself in peril.  And although she's all of those things she's not a perfect person.  Sometimes she makes rash decisions, sometimes she's too dang indecisive in what she wants, she doesn't control her powers very well and sometimes she says things she shouldn't say.  But those are the things that make her HER.  And I love her!
These books are PACKED with action.  It's just one thing after another.  And this is book 5 but only 2 months have passed in all the books.  So that shows you how jam packed full of action they are.
And talk about sexual tension!  They are full of that!  We have characters we love, and at moments we hate those same characters and then two seconds later we're in total lust for them.  They send us all over the place, but it's all a good thing!  Sexy vamps, crazy mages,  dragons, gods, demi- gods... yeah, these books really do have everything.  
I'll admit that the first book didn't sell me on this series.  But book two did!  And I cruised through the rest only to have a never ending wait for this one.  But it was worth the wait!  I loved it!


The following has spoilers for previous books:
This one was longer then the rest I believe, but it was as full, if not MORE full of action.  We saw most all of our favorite characters and we got almost equal amounts of Mircea as Pritkin.  So whether you are team Mircea, or team Pritkin you should be happy in how much time they have on the page.  I actually love both of them but Pritkin is just different.  I love him for that.  And so I'm completely team Pritkin.  


A lot happened in this book.  Cassie grew, Cassie had revelations, more people came after her... yeah, you know how it goes.  This book really had everything I would want.  And my only thing I think I would say is maybe it had too much action?  I felt like things were constantly crazy and a bit more conversation with people may have been nice.  But it wasn't really a big thing and I don't think I would say it officially is a negative.


This book although not huge compared to an actual huge book took me a long time to read.  Surprisingly long since it's not *really* that big.  And I've come to the conclusion that it was because of the action.  I found myself reading more slowly so I could keep everything straight.  Sometimes I had to reread parts.  The action was so crazy that it was easy to get lost.  


I laughed a lot in this book!  I'm sure I did in the previous books as well, but Cassie's thoughts are just too funny!  But the other characters say some crazy things, and crazy things happen, and some things are just so absurd that it's hilarious.  So yes, I definitely got my laughs in in this one.  And that's one thing I really love about this series.  It's perfectly balanced with action and humor.  


Now, the biggest downside?  We have to wait!!!!  This book ends with a cliffhanger.  The things are resolved from this particular issue dealt with through this book.  But right when it ends something major happens and Cassie is off to fix it.  So now we're waiting to find out how she manages that.  It's a cliffhanger that has me anxious for the next one, but it's not AS bad as it could be.   The plus side is that I think the next book is going to be even better.  At least if it goes in the direction I'm thinking (hoping?).  So fingers crossed!  

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Disclosure: I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in a any way.