Burning Alive – Shannon K Butcher
Penguin Onyx, 2009
368 pages
RRP: US$7.99
ISBN: 9780451412713

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

Burning Alive is the first book in the paranormal Sentinel Wars series by romance author Shannon K Butcher. It follows heroine Helen as she finds out she is not just an average human, but one of the few remaining demon-hunting Theronai women, capable of wielding great magic against the monsters invading the earth, and saving one of the Theronai heroes from the torture of containing his magic.

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Sex, Lies and Vampires – Katie MacAlister
Hachette Hodder, 2009
342 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 978-0-340-95199-6

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

Sex, Lies and Vampires isn’t my first experience with Katie MacAlister’s work, and I’m sure it won’t be my last. MacAlister writes very comic, steamy romances (and steampunk, and young adult novels, and, and…) and this one is no different. It’s one in her Dark Ones series of loosely-connected paranormal romances populated with vamps, summoners, poltergeists and mummies, just to name a few.

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Dreamscape – Paul Kidd
Kitsune Press, 2005
288 pages
RRP: US$22.50
ISBN: 978-1-84753-242-8

Reviewed by Kate Smith

Don’t read any review of this book that would give you any ideas about its plot!  Just read it and enjoy it for what it is and for how it unfolds.  And then go back and read it again. (more…)

The Foreshadowing – Marcus Sedgwick
Allen & Unwin Dolphin, 2006
278 pages
RRP: AU$14.95
ISBN: 1-84255-517-0

Reviewed by Kate Smith

The Foreshadowing is set in Britain and France during the years of World War One and tells the story of Alexandra Fox, a young woman born into a middle-class, well-regarded family during those years.  Having seen future deaths at different moments since the age of five, Alexandra must cope with what these mean, with the fact that her family refuse to acknowledge that she has this ability, and with the ongoing World War that is changing her world and her family.  After the death of her older brother, Alexandra decides that she cannot accept her vision of her other brother’s death and finds her way to France to try to save him from the fate she has seen.  In order to finally reach him she is aided by a dispatch rider who also has visions of impending deaths. (more…)

Dream Warrior – Sherrilyn Kenyon
Hachette Piatkus, 2009
314 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN:978-0-7499-0905-5

Reviewed by Kate Smith

Dream Warrior is a story set among the ancient pantheon of the Olympian Gods who still exist in the modern day.  With war breaking out, the ancient Greek gods have to look to an individual they exiled thousands of years ago, Cratus, for help.  It comes down to a defender of dreams, Delphine, to try to convince this god not to join the side of dark and to fight for those who have persecuted him for six thousand years.  In this process he learns to trust and she learns to embrace emotions she has never experienced before.

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