Keilu's Alcove

http://www.kresleycole.com/docs/IADSeries.php

Immortals After Dark Series
a. The Warlord Wants Forever - from the anthology book Playing Easy to Get
b. A Hunger Like No Other
c. No Rest for the Wicked
d. Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night
e. Dark Needs at Night's Edge - May 2008
f. Dark Desires After Dark - June 2008
g. anthology Not That Innocent - tba 2008

The Immortals After Dark Series of Kresley Cole is a great series to look forward to. Its about lore factions, come to life - you get to read about valkyrie, lykae (wolf), vampires, witches, nymphs, siranae, ghosts and other lore creatures.

Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night is the fourth book in the series and is my fave so far. This time, we get to read about Bowen MacRieve of the Lykae clan and Mariketa the Awaited of the House of Witches, both were introduced in the last book, No Rest for the Wicked, as competitors in the Hie (a sort of Amazing Race for the lore).

Bowen MacRieve, seeks to join the Hie in order to win the prize, Thrane's Key, which is said to have the power to enable the user to return to the past. Bowen's mate, Mariah, died in 1827 fleeing from him. He then seeks the key to undo the past in order to reclaim his mate, as lykae's are only given one mate in their lifetime.

Mariketa the Awaited is from the House of Witches, who is foretold to be the greatest witch of her time. Its just that, she hasnt turned immortal yet and her powers are quite volatile, as anytime she unleashes significant power - things ended up exploding.. It is also been foretold that a male from the lore will recognize her as his own and will seek to lock her away and therefore rob the house of witches of her powers, so she hides behind a cloak and a glamour as well.

In one of the tasks, Bowen trapped Mariketa in a cave, together with other competitors. But before he can seal them in, Mariketa was able to curse Bowen - a curse that will cost Bowen the Hie competition.

Unfortunately for the trapped competitors, the elves and the demons, they were not alone in the cave. There was something else trapped along with them and they could not get out of the cave. Since three of the lore were trapped, including the true king of the demons, not to mention the elves, they banded together and demanded that Bowen return and free the trapped competitors from the cave, or war will be brought upon the Lykae Clan.

Bowen, then returns and free the elves, the demons and Mariketa from the cave. After Mariketa reversed the spell from Bowen, they are now on their way to return Mariketa to the House so as to avert the war. Oh yeah, in case your wondering why they could not simply pick up a phone and inform the witches, the satellite phone that Bowen brought along with him was destroyed and the other's phone in their respective jeeps were destroyed by Bowen when he trapped them in the cave, in a forest that is now a site of two human factions at war with one another.

But things arent that simple. For Bowen now feels the Instinct (the one that guides Lykae's) after being silent for so long and its telling him that Mariketa is his mate. He is therefore understandably confused and he therefore believes that maybe, just maybe, Mariketa is Mariah reincarnated.

While Bowen endeavors to protect Mariketa, she is still mortal after all, he also wants to find out if she is his mate. He loathes witches due to the experience that his father had with one witch, and he cannot believe that fate will be cruel to give him one as a mate. But as they travel together, Bowen learns to accept and love Mariketa for herself, and not just as a possibility of being the reincarnated soul of Mariah.

But before they can sort things out, Mariah returns to Bowen, telling him that she sold her soul in order to return and get back to Bowen. Mariketa then learns what she is awaited to do.... and of course, Bowen and Mariketa ended up as mates.

You have to get the book and read it in order to find out their story (",)

http://www.alexandraivy.com/

Guardians of Eternity Series:
a. When Darkness Comes - January 2007
b. Embrace the Darkness - November 2007
c. Darkness Everlasting - May 2008

Alexandra Ivy is the pseudonym Deborah Raleigh uses when writing contemporary paranormal romance. When Darkness Comes is the first book in the Guardians of Eternity series. It is originally published January 2007, and i only recently got my copy thru Powerbooks.

The Guardians of Eternity series was initially planned as a trilogy, but due to the interesting characters in the first book, and the positive response it got, it has now evolved into a series exploring the stories of the rest of the cast of characters we were introduced to in the first book, When Darkness Comes.

When Darkness Comes, is a story about Abby and Dante. Abby is your normal average human, that through no fault of her own, became the Chalice that holds the Phoenix - a goddess that balances out the evil. And that Dante, is an immortal vampire that is bound to serve the Chalice.

Being mortal, Abby have no idea how to handle the powers she suddenly acquired, and has no desire to retain them. She then enlists the help of Dante, to seek the witches who serve the Phoenix and ask them to take the Phoenix from Abby.

But seeking the witches isnt as simple as it appears. For there are factions out there who are also seeking the new chalice to use the powers of the phoenix for their own purposes. There is the group of wizards who worship the Prince of demons who seek the new Chalice to destroy the Phoenix in order to free their Prince and give him free reign over the mortal world. Then there are the witches of whose ultimate goal is not known, at least until the end of the story.

The storyline is quite simple really, but the interactions of Abby and Dante is what makes this book an interesting read.

Along their journey, we meet other paranormal characters, like Viper - the vampire who helped Dante understand his new life, Lady Shay - the last Shallot demon. These two are featured on the next book in the series, Embrace the Darkness.

Personally, am looking forward to reading the story of Viper and Lady Shay - a powerful vampire with exquisite taste, and Lady Shay - the last of her kind, a half human half shallot demon whose blood is an aphrodisiac to vampires.

My friends and i watched his concert last Feb 29 at Araneta Coliseum. We got general admission tickets, priced at P578.00 What we didnt know, is that aside from a different entrance, there is only one stall where you can buy your food from - and we were famished.

Anways, on to the concert. It started at 8PM, featuring the dance group, uhm, forget their name. Then followed by a singer, who i also dont recall the name. Then after 30 minutes, the DJ of NeYo's band came out, followed by the band, then NeYo himself with the dancers.

NeYo started out the concert with the only song in his repertoire that i truly know - So Sick. Since am not a fan, i dont know the rest of his playlist. But he is a consummate performer. He only took 10minute breaks - which is why at 930 exactly, he said his goodbyes already.

Let me tell you. The audience was stunned. Filipinos are used to watching a 2hour concert (well, there is the waiting period, then the intermission, and all that jazz) and here we are, concert starting at 8PM and finished at 930PM. No one was leaving their seats. Everyone is looking at each other and wondering.....that's it?

NeYo left the stage, followed by his band.....the last to leave is supposed to be the DJ, but apparently, he noticed that no one is leaving their seats. Everyone is waiting for NeYo to return for a second set. The DJ just couldnt leave the stage as he felt that the audience might go amok any second, so he apparently sent word to NeYo who is already in his dressing room, that the audience is still waiting for him.

NeYo returned, wearing jeans and a white tshirt, with no band in sight. Someone handed him tagalog words to read - the infamous Mahal ko kayo...or something like it. Then, he sang one last song, accompanied by a minus one tape as his band really didnt return on stage. Then, the audience finally got the drift and started to trickle out of the coliseum.

After that.....my pals and i decided to check out the mall if there are still shops open as we felt....shafted. Its a good thing we only paid general admission prices. Imagine if we paid the patron seat.

The concert just felt so...bitin. But overall, we liked that DJ as he didnt leave the audience hanging.

http://www.dailyinquisitor.com//hunter/intro.htm
Reading order:

1. Fantasy Lover
2. "The Beginning", also in the back of Sins of the Night
3. Dragonswan
4. Night Pleasures
5. Night Embrace
6. "Phantom Lover", in the anthology Midnight Pleasures
7. Dance with the Devil
8. "A Dark-Hunter Christmas", also in the back of Dance with the Devil
9. Kiss of the Night
10. Night Play
11. "Winter Born", in the anthology Stroke of Midnight
12. Seize the Night
13. Sins of the Night
14. "Second Chances", in Exclusive Dark-Hunter Collectible Booklet
15. Unleash the Night
16. Dark Side of the Moon
17. "A Hard Day's Night-Searcher", in the anthology My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding
18. "Until Death We Do Part", in the anthology Love At First Bite
19. Fear the Darkness, free e-book
20. Dream Hunter
21. Devil May Cry
22. Upon the Midnight Clear
23. Dark Hunter Companion
24. Dream Chaser

Dark Hunter series is about Greek Gods and what their folly has wrought. Its about Artemis, Godess of the Moon, creating an army of Dark Hunters, to battle the Daimons, the species that Apollo, God of the Sun had cursed. Dark Hunters are immortal warriors, who sold their soul to Artemis for one act of vengeance.

The acknowledged leader of the hunters, the first created, is Acheron Parthenopaeus - pronounced in the old Greek way as Ack-UH-rahn Pahr-thin-OH-pay-us (as ms. sherrilyn kenyon posted in her site). His past and heritage will be slowly revealed to the readers as the series progresses. And he is the only one, who has a direct line to Artemis.

To better understand the series, let me give you a rundown:

Dark Hunters are immortal warriors, who defends humanity from Daimons who feed on human souls. The only way they can redeem their soul is that upon their death (they may be immortal, but when their weakness comes upon them, they will for a time, become mortal, therefore, vulnerable to being killed) the one they love will return their soul back to them. However, if the one who holds their soul, is unable to bear the pain that goes with returning their souls to them, then the Dark Hunter will die and spend their days in eternal suffering - feeling hunger and thirst but no way to assuage them. They are allergic to the sun, given that their allegiance is to Artemis, but except for a select few, they don't actually drink blood, though they do have fangs and their night vision is quite excellent.

Daimons are former Apollites who choose to live beyond their 27th bday, and eat human souls in order to maintain their bodies.

Apollites are the children of Apollo who he cursed to die a horrible death on their 27th bday. There are apollites who choose this life, and they belong to the Cult of Pollux.

Were Hunters are a different species altogether, and is composed of the Katagaria and the Arcadians. Their mates are decreed by the fates, and they know who their mates are by the matching symbols that will appear on their hands after tthey've been intimate.

Katagarians are born as animals, and walk as animals in the daylight. Their animal side governs their human half. They in turn have Slayers, who protect their kind from the Sentinels.

Arcadians, on the other hand, are born as humans and can walk as humans in the daylight. They have human hearts, but they have an animal half which they can change into. Out of the strongest patria, Sentinels are born who hunt down the Slayers. Sentinels are the guardians of mankind and werekind.

Both Katagaria and Arcadian are subject to the Omegrion, the governing body for their species, and the head of the omegrion is Savitar ( you dont want to mess with this guy. He holds more power than Acheron, and he is easily pissed off)

Dream Hunters are traditionally called Oneroi. They patrol the sleep of the humans, apollites and immortals. They also act as bridge between the gods and the dark hunter or were hunter. They also are the ones who ensures that Skoti doesnt continue to drain their victims. They are cursed by Zeus to feel no emotion and the only way they feel emotions is when they are in dreams.

Within the Oneroi, there are three types. Those whose names start with D aid and patrol the dreams of the gods and immortals, M are enforcers, and V help the humans and Apollites.

Skoti are the renegades who got addicted to feeling emotions, that they continue to visit their human host in dreams to continually feed on these emotions. Among the Skoti, there are those that specialize in eros, nightmares and others.

Squire council are composed of human helpers for the dark hunters. They are charged with keeping the dark hunter world, and all that entails (including the werehunters, daimons, dream hunters and the like) a secret from humans like us. They also help dark hunters when they are caught in the daylight hours with no refuge in sight.

And within the Dark Hunter series, we are introduced to these different types of characters. The most exciting in the series are those stories that are set in New Orleans, as this is where Acheron is normally found as he has developed a deep friendship with the dark hunters assigned to this area.

Each book in the series can stand on its own. But to better understand the story of Acheron, it is better to read the series in the order in which it was meant to be read.

As addicted i am to this series, i am eagerly waiting for the book of Acheron, the first in his two part storyline, scheduled for release on 08/04/08

http://jayneannkrentz.com/arcanehouse/interior.html
http://www.jayneannkrentz.com/

1. Amanda Quick - Second Sight
2. Jayne Ann Krentz - White Lies
3. Jayne Ann Krentz - Sizzle and Burn
4. Amanda Quick - The Third Cicle

Jayne Ann Krentz often writes contemporaries, while her pseudonym Amanda Quick have stories set in the Late Victorian Era. This time, in her Arcane Society Novels, she will have stories crossing over between late victorian era and the contemporary era. The Arcane Society novels will explore paranormal/psychic stories.

It all started out with Amanda Quick's Second Sight where we are introduced to Gabriel Jones and Venetia Milton. They will set the tone of the series, as their adventures will help the society set the parameters in their paranormal/psychic research. We also get to read about Arcane Society and what they are about.

You see, the head of the secret society, known as the Arcane Society, are often taken from the descendants of the Jones family. When Second Sight ended, we find out about the alchemist's formula and how dangerous it is.

White Lies, second book in the series, set in the 21st century is about Clare Lancaster, a human lie detector, and the mysterious consultant Jake Salter. Within the society, they have this agency, arcanematch.com, that caters to matching up psychic couples based on their individual psychic profiles. This will then help each person in the society to be with another psychic who complements and understands them. As both Clare and Jake are level 10 in the paranormal scale, and both with an exotic (read: rare and weird) psychic talent, both are deemed unmatchable. However, both find themselves working together in an investigation, that led them to unravel another secret society, a cabal of psychic criminals that is hell bent on reproducing the alchemist's formula. And in the course of their working together, find themselves falling in love with each other.

Sizzle and Burn, third in the series, also set in the 21st century, continues the search for the cabal set on recreating the alchemist's formula. This time, we get to meet Raine Tallentyre and a Jones & Jones investigator, Zack Jones. Through the course of the story, we get to find out that their individual psychic powers somehow complements one another - Raine hears voices, while Zack sees vision. The problem lies in that Raine does not trust anyone from Arcane Society due to the incident that happened to her family instigated by the society in the past. But both of them has to work together, for this time, someone has targeted Raine, and she needs the help of Zack if she wants to survive.

Its an engaging series, and since i love JAK and AQ, am eagerly anticipating a paperback of Sizzle and Burn to hit the shelves in the coming months.

http://www.christinefeehan.com/ghostwalkers/index.php

1.Shadow Game
2.Mind Game
3.Night Game
4.Conspiracy Game
5.Deadly Game
6.Predatory Game

This time, Christine Feehan is exploring psychic abilities - psychically modified abilities that is. Premise goes that the government on its quest to enhance their defense, are doing experiments. It turns out, that there is a project headed by a scientist, that enhances and strengthens psychic powers. Catch is, for some, there is a backlash. Some enhanced soldiers need an anchor, one who can hold pychic backlash away from the user. It turns out that aside from the soldiers, the scientist, Dr. Whitney, experimented on orphaned young girls first.

So each book explores the search for these girls that the scientist experimented on in the past. Incidentally, each Ghostwalker gets paired up with one of the orphaned girls, and most of the time, they are an anchor for the girls.

Each book in the series can be read on its own, except for some minor references to past characters in the series. As the story progresses, you as a reader finds out that Dr Whitney had various laboratories spread out, and is experimenting in these areas. That there exists an ongoing conspiracy, only, you just dont know if its against Dr. Whitney, against the government, or against the Ghostwalkers themselves.

The latest book to be published is Predatory Game - story about Jesse Calhoun and Saber Wynter, and in the course of the story, we get to find out a little bit more about this conspiracy.

http://www.noraroberts.com/jdrobb/

1 Naked in Death
2 Glory in Death
3 Immortal in Death
4 Rapture in Death
5 Ceremony in Death
6 Vengeance in Death
7 Holiday in Death
8 Silent Night "Midnight in Death"
9 Conspiracy in Death
10 Loyalty in Death
11 Witness in Death
12 Judgment in Death
13 Betrayal in Death
14 Out of this World "Interlude in Death"
15 Seduction in Death
16 Reunion in Death
17 Purity in Death
18 Portrait in Death
19 Imitation in Death
20 Remember When
21 Divided in Death
22 Visions in Death
23 Survivor in Death
24 Origin in Death
25 Midnight in Death
26 Interlude in Death
27 Bump in the Night
28 Memory in Death
29 Born in Death
30 Innocent in Death
31 Dead of Night
32 Creation in Death

Picked this series only because of curiosity and then i got hooked. I now have all the books in the series, and when i have more time, will most likely include a review of each book in the series.

In Death Series is a futuristic thriller set in the year 2058 - about a NY City Cop - a female protagonist named Eve Dallas and the mysterious Irish billionaire Roarke. You get to read about what the future might bring in terms of technological advancement - ability to travel off planet, autochefs, robotic servants and others. Of course, human nature being as it is, there are still killers out there, and that's where the stories in each book evolve.

Aside from the individual cases that Eve Dallas has to solve in each book, we also get to read about her evolving relationship with the mysterious Irish billionaire Roarke. So as the series progresses, Eve and Roarke's relationship progresses also. Both characters have their own idiosyncrasies that makes reading the series so enjoyable.

Our cop, Eve Dallas, have a tragic past, that she has to overcome. She is tall with short brown hair, who is often clueless when it comes to fixing herself up (read: she is terrified of Tina, a beauty consultant and one of the fun characters in the series). She does however have a sweet tooth - and reading about her eating chocolates often incited my own craving for one. But when it comes to her cases, she is a bloodhound who will not stop until she closes a case. And oh yeah, she is technologically challenged - such that she often battles with her computer.

Roarke - the mysterious irish billionaire. Past is shrouded in mystery, a technological genius and quite gorgeous. Considered a suspect in the first book of the series, and this was where he and eve crossed paths. He often lends a hand to Eve when it comes to solving her cases, which infuriates Eve and often led her to threaten Roarke that she in turn will mess with one of his board meetings.

Eve and Roarke eventually got married and reading about how they dealt with certain aspects of their past is what made Nora Roberts a great writer - you actually feel for what the characters had went through. Its really a good thing that Nora Roberts is a prolific writer, such that as readers, we dont get to wait a really long time to read the next book in the series as NR often releases one every quarter. As it is, I am eagerly anticipating the next book in the series, Strangers in Death to hit the Philippine shores.

http://www.christinefeehan.com/drake_sisters/index.php

1.Magic in the Wind
2.The Twilight Before Christmas
3.Oceans of Fire
4.Dangerous Tides
5.Safe Harbor
6.Turbulent Seas (coming August 2008)

Having picked up the second book of the series, featuring Kate, the second daughter, it enticed me to check the rest of the series. this time, Christine Feehan tells the story of seven sisters, who are born with magical powers bequeath to them by their ancestors. It is said that the 7th daughter will give birth to 7 daughters who will be endowed with powers. And this has been the Drake's legacy through the years.

Aside from this legacy, it has foretold that when the locked gate swings open in welcome, then one by one the sisters will find true love. And this has been the premise of the story, from the eldest down to the youngest, each has their own powers and stories to tell.

My only gripe about this series, is that once the sister has fallen in love, you as a reader, rarely get to see their fiancee in the next series of the book, except for some of the recurring male characters. Its quite frustrating to me, who is looking forward to getting to read the interaction of each sisters and their fiancees in the upcoming books, only to read that the fiance's are nowhere to be seen or in this case, to be read.

Be that as it may, it still is an engaging series to read. Am for one, is looking forward to the last two books in the series and see how the author will bring it to the grand finale

http://www.christinefeehan.com/dark_series/index.php

1. Dark Prince
2. Dark Desire
3. Dark Gold
4. Dark Magic
5. Dark Challenge
6. Dark Fire
7. Dark Dream
8. Dark Legend
9. Dark Guardian
10. Dark Symphony
11. Dark Descent
12. Dark Melody
13. Dark Destiny
14. Dark Hunger
15. Dark Secret
16. Dark Demon
17. Dark Celebration
18. Dark Possession

I was running out of books to read, so i finally decided to give the Dark/Carpathian series of Christine Feehan a try. Am not that into vampire stories (drinking blood and stuff is sooo not sexy to me) but hey, getting desperate to read something here - and self help books puts me to sleep.

Anyways, was able to snag copies of her complete line of dark series books (books 1-18), and the interaction between the characters is quite good, and hey, the intimate scenes aint half bad.

Carpathians are not exactly vampires. They are a different species that lives for a really long time, they can die, they have powers mortals don't have (illusion, shapeshifting and the like), quite gorgeous and oh yeah - they need blood for sustenance and the power of the soil/earth for healing. Catch is, carpathians are dying out, and the acknowledged ruler of their people needs to find a way to save his people.

You see, Carpathian males, after two hundred years, slowly lose their ability to feel any emotion, and they can no longer see colors. Once this happens, they are vulnerable to losing their soul as well (when they begin to kill humans for the momentary effect of feeling emotions) and that's when they become vampires. Carpathians however can regain their emotions and see colors again, once they find the other half of their soul - the female that is destined to be their lifemate.

Lifemate, the term they call their better half. The light to the dark parts of their soul. The other half of their own soul, that anchors them away from being vampires. This is what draws readers to this series. Just the idea of a soulmate normally entices readers to read romance books, but a definite way to tell who is your soulmate is quite intriguing.

Of course, it doesn't necessarily follow that the protagonists in the book fall in love once they find their lifemates - it would be positively boring if that happens. The usual quirky banter and unusual circumstances the characters find themselves in all resolves itself toward the end - but the journey is what counts. And this is where the series shines in itself. Having to hold together that many characters, providing various connections without losing the personality is what endears this series to me. And she was able to tie it together with Book 17-Dark Celebration where all the characters from the past 16 books come together in celebration of Christmas.

Its a pretty engaging series. Makes one wish that mortals such as us have a definite way of knowing who is the other half of our souls. Be that as it may, all we can do is just try and wish for the best in our own respective relationships.

So why dont you pick up a book, and enjoy the ride.

Just finished watching both films, and i have to say, this movie redefines what notions you may have about finding your special someone.

Before Sunrise started out with 2 twenty something characters- ethan hawke and julie delpy - meeting on a train, striking a conversation, and with ethan having time to kill, ended up convincing julie's character - celine (lives in Paris) to explore vienna with him until the morning (when ethan's flight back to the US leaves). The film takes you on a trip around venice, with the 2 characters, conversing on basically anything and everything under the sun. There was no pretense, no awkward moments - just 2 people realizing that they only have this time together so they make the most of it. As the film progresses, you learn a little bit of something of each character. You can almost feel how they eventually fall for each other - and when the film ended with both of them promising to meet each other 6 months from their parting, it almost feels like a scene in An Affair To Remember. But of course, the film ended just that way, with the two soulmates promising to meet again to explore their feelings for one another. The film ended on the hope - the promise of young love that things can happen again.

Before Sunset takes up the story after 9 years, where we find Ethan's character - Jesse - having a book tour in Paris. We then find out that Jesse is now a published author who wrote a novel about his and celine's one night in vienna. Of course, for the movie to move along, Celine drops by the bookstore. They have the rest of the afternoon to catch up with each other since Jesse has a plane to catch. And so, we once again follow them on their journey, this time around Paris - at least the lesser known out of the way places.

From then on, most of our questions about whether or not they met again that fateful day as they had promised, did they still set off the same sparks with one another, did they move on with their lives, were answered. The same thought provoking dialogue is there. The same feeling that you were with them on their journey persists, and you actually feel for them, when they tell each other how much that night affected both of them, and you can see how much they wanted to show one another how they still feel but can't due to their situations.

The film ended in such a way that made you think... finding that special someone is only bound to happen at least once, and when it does, you have better grab on to it. otherwise, you might only get memories.

Both films will probably not appeal to most people since both movies are basically pure dialogue between the 2 characters. It did not depend on the usual conflicts of jealousy or misunderstanding like other romantic films uses. However the dialogue between them will stay with you for quite a while since it explored all notions about romanticism, how people idealize something that happened only once that affected them for years (shades of Wings of the Dove). That the best way to get to know one another when you do find that special someone, is really to talk to one another honestly and sharing opinions.

As for me, i want to go to Europe, get a Europass and ride a train...... maybe i'll strike a conversation with someone who will eventually turn out to be my soulmate...