Dark Celebration by Christine Feehan

I cut my paranormal teeth on Christine Feehan's Dark Prince. It forever holds a spot in my heart because of this. I love that book. Over the years I have read every book that came after it with excitement and glee. After a point though I noticed I wasn't enjoying them nearly as much as I did at the beginning. I am honestly not sure if this is because I am growing and maturing as a reader or that the books just aren't or possibly both.

Carpathian Males by nature, are completely Alpha. Expecting their women to cower behind them and stay put because they decree it. In my ripe old age of Thirtysomething I now expect my heroines to be assertive and fully capable of kicking some vampire butt along side their men.

These books are still in the dark ages and all the men still beat their chests and grunt at their women to obey them (with the exception of two women who were not brought up Carpathian the women do listen too...for the most part.) But what I want to know is what is the point of being able to dissolve into mist, shift into an eagle or a wolf, or call down lightening if the XY's in your life won't allow it when it comes to fighting for your people's future.

Anyway, I should probably talk about this book now....

Dark Celebration is the 14th or the 17th book in the series, depending on if you count the 3 novellas published in separate anthologies. It is a full on Carpathian Reunion which sounds super cool unless you are like me and read the last book in 2006 and can't remember all but a handful of the characters. While reading the book I often had to stop and reflect (actually stop and try to remember)who certain characters were.

I read the hardcover edition of the book and there were approximately 300 pages of actual storyline. There were quite a few recipes after the end of the book submitted by Feehan Fans around the world. The recipes were a tie in to the Christmas celebration the Carpathians were having. I didn't really pay much attention to them to tell the truth.

In the book there were so many couples that I had a hard time keeping them straight. Also every couple had sex at least once. I also think that once a couple of them had sex we never heard about them again. It all felt a little gratuitous. Because every couple was engaging in some hot lovin' Feehan made each couple repeat that the other was their lifemate and without their other half they would be lost. After having read all of the books prior to this, I started getting annoyed with the repetitiveness of it all. Granted had I not read any of the books before this one some of it might have been good to know but even then a newbie to the series would have been irritated too.

Problem number one I had with this book....
Way too many characters. Seriously. There were at least 13 couples in addition to 2 couples not yet joined, one family friend, parents of two of the girls, one teenage Carpathian, and at least 10 children. So, I lost count at 44 people in this book.

Problem number two I had with this book....
No resolution to the big bad evil that was stalking our Carpathian women. They were all in very real danger but other than a couple battles that didn't actually take out the big baddie there was no real ending. Also a storyline was started and I have to assume it will continue in the next book Dark Possession and yet another storyline started with a 16 year old and her lifemate that I have to assume will be completed in the future as she is too young at this point to have a credible storyline.

So I honestly have only two really big complaints about this book. But they are doozies. In general Feehan's Carpathian books are all stand alone books because each one is about a different couple. This book, however cannot be enjoyed as a stand alone. Someone not familiar with the series could not fully appreciate it and would be very confused. Heck, I have read all the books and found myself confused.

So, my recommendation is....

Read it if you are already a fan of the series. Get the book from your local library. Unless of course you are like me and collect all her books. When purchasing it you might want to scour your Used Book stores and Thrift Stores looking for it. I honestly don't think it is worth full price.

My rating: 2/5

Street Game by Christine Feehan

Synopsis courtesy of http://www.christinefeehan.com/.....
For Mack McKinley and his team of GhostWalker killing machines, urban warfare is an art. But despite a hard-won knowledge of the San Francisco streets, Mack knows from experience that too many things can still go wrong. Danger was just another part of the game—and now he’s come face-to-face with a woman who can play just as tough.

She’s Jaimie, a woman with a sapphire stare so potent it can destroy a man. Years ago she and Mack had a history—volatile, erotic, and electric. Then she vanished. Now she’s walked back into Mack’s life, as a spy with more secrets than are good for her. Against all odds, she’s hooking up with Mack one more time to take on an enemy that could destroy them both, or bring them back together in one hot, no-holds-barred adrenaline rush.

My thoughts....

So, I have been a fan of Feehan since I picked up Dark Prince, the first book in her Carpathian series. I read one after another until I found myself eagerly waiting an entire year for the next delicious book to come out. Thankfully she has given her loyal fans several other series to snack on during the Carpathian lulls. One of which is her GhostWalker books. It took me a while to actually pick up the first in the series Shadow Game though. It was almost as if by picking up a book other then her Carpathians I was somehow cheating on them. Luckily the waiting for the next Carpathian book produced such a withdrawal I had to bite the bullet. I sighed and picked up Lily and Ryland's story and was hooked.

Once again Feehan introduced me to a fascinating world where not only are the men super Alpha but the women are equally capable. Both genders in her GhostWalker books can do extraordinary things. From mental telepathy to telekinesis they have it all. These are the characters that I was fascinated with my whole life. I wanted to be them....I wanted to wear Wonder Woman Underoos under my clothes to school. I wanted to be special.

So now you know my pathetic background let us jump to Feehan's latest installment of her GhostWalker series. Book #8 Street Game.

I really wanted to love this book. To not love it would be so wrong. Unfortunately, I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. I was just OK with it. It was a pleasant way to spend a few hours of my life. I don't regret reading it but I wasn't blown away by it either.

I found myself a little lost when starting the book because this book was about a totally different team of GhostWalkers that I knew nothing about. I really liked the old GhostWalkers....these were new ones. I wasn't comfortable with the new ones. OK, so I don't take to change very well. I recognize this flaw in my personality. While reading this book I just didn't feel the need to work on that particular part of me in order to like the book better.

I just didn't like Jaimie and Mack that much. Oh there was probably nothing wrong with them. But they weren't Gator and Flame. Although I did keep picturing Gary Sinese's character "Mack" from CSI:NY as this particular Mack. So I have a weird obsession with him. I think he's hot.

Anyway, even though I didn't like the main characters that much, I did find that the rest of this new GhostWalker team was super interesting. Javier really caught my attention. I can't wait for his book. Kane was another one. Oh, and don't forget about Joe.

I found the book easy to put down while I went about my business, often starting other books along the way. The steamy scenes were easy to skim (just an FYI I never skimmed Gator's steamy scenes....I'm pretty sure I read every word of every sentence. When I was done I went back and read them a second time even.) Most of the book smacked of crazy conspiracy stuff that normally would have resulting in major eye rolls and sarcastic remarks but knowing the background of Whitney and many of the baddies I was able to just go with it. I am afraid that if a new to The GhostWalkers reader would pick this particular book up they might never try another.

So, what did I like about this book??? After getting over the initial shock of not knowing any of these characters I was able to enjoy many members of this new team. I liked that even though none of my favorite past heroes were in this particular book there is hope intermingling. Jaimie did mention that she is in contact with one of the other ladies via computer. I want a giant family reunion (or would that be just union since most have never met) between all the GhostWalkers.

My advice is to read this book if you are a tried and true fan of the GhostWalker books. If you are new to The GhostWalkers you might want to start with an earlier one.

This is the spot where I tell you where to pick up your copy. A great book would get you a "Run right out to your local book store and dish out whatever they are asking. It's worth it". But since this is just an OK book I would advise you to get this book where ever you want. I keep all mine so prefer them brand spanking new (usually at Walmart prices) but I am a big advocate of the public library and that option will serve you well too.

The Scarletti Curse by Christine Feehan

Synopsis: 
The Beast
Strange, twisted carvings and hideous gargoyles adorned the palazzo of the great Scarletti family. But a still more fearful secret lurked within its storm-tossed turrets. For every bride who entered its forbidding walls was doomed to leave in a casket.

The Bride
Mystical and unfettered, Nicoletta had no terror of ancient curses and no fear of marriage...until she looked into the dark, mesmerizing eyes of Don Scarletti. She had sworn no man would command her, had thought her gift of healing set her apart, but his was the right to choose a bride from among his people. And he had chosen her.

The Bargain
Compelled by duty, drawn by desire, she gave her body into his keeping, and prayed the powerful, tormented don would be her heart's destiny, and not her soul's demise. 

My Thoughts...

Having been a fan of Christine Feehan for many years I have had this book sitting on my shelf for ages always passing it over for one of her Carpathian books or her Ghostwalker books. I still don't know why I was apprehensive of picking this one up. It does have that Feehan feel to it. There is a bit of paranormal woven into the story which I liked quite a bit.

The gothic theme was also intriguing. A dark foreboding castle, a young innocent carefree maiden, a brooding attractive man that lives with a curse on him and his family are just a few things that I found quite entertaining.

I didn't care for the fact that the "curse" was not actually a curse. It was more of certain situations that kept occurring over the period of a couple decades. It was more of gossip about those Scarletti's being cursed then an actual curse. With the addition of paranormal aspects I kind of expected an actual curse. Trivial? Probably.

Also the book seemed to drag a bit. Whenever Giovanni or someone else would start talking about their political problems with Spain or where ever I ended up getting a little bored and skipped several paragraphs.

Overall, I think this is an OK book from this author. I don't think it is her best, nor is it her worst. I give this book an even 3 Stars but would recommend that a fan of Feehan should give this one a go but if you are new to Feehan I would maybe skip this one and go for one of her Ghostwalker books instead.