Louisiana Fever by D. J. Donaldson

Release Date: January 11, 2013
Publisher: Astor & Blue
Pages: 329pgs
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Description: D.J. Donaldson is superb at spinning medical fact into gripping suspense. With his in-depth knowledge of science and medicine, he is one of very few authors who can write with convincing authority. --Tess Gerritsen, NY Times best-selling author of the Rizzoli & Isles novels Andy Broussard, the plump and proud New Orleans medical examiner, obviously loves food. Less apparent to the casual observer is his hatred of murderers. Together with his gorgeous sidekick, psychologist Kit Franklyn, the two make a powerful, although improbable, mystery solving duo. When the beautiful Kit goes to meet an anonymous stranger who s been sending her roses the man drops dead at her feet before she even could even get his name. Game on. Andy Broussard soon learns that the man carried a lethal pathogen similar to the deadly Ebola virus. Soon, another body turns up with the same bug. Panic is imminent as the threat of pandemic is more real than ever before. The danger is even more acute, because the carrier is mobile, his identity is an absolute shocker, he knows he s a walking weapon and he s on a quest to find Broussard. And Kit isn t safe either. When she investigates her mystery suitor further, she runs afoul of a cold blooded killer, every bit as deadly as the man searching for Broussard. Louisiana Fever is written in Donaldson s unique style: A hard-hitting, punchy, action-packed prose that s dripping with a folksy, decidedly southern, sense of irony. Add in Donaldson s brilliant first hand knowledge of forensics and the sultry flavor of New Orleans, and the result is first class forensic procedural within an irresistibly delectable mystery.

Review: I was hooked the moment I started reading. The book starts off with someone dying from an unknown illness. Kit and Andy try to solve this mystery of what is causing people to get sick. This book is very fast pace and you get sucked in right away from chapter one and you can't put it down. 

The book was very well written. Donaldson's background in medicine definitely helped with putting the story together. I would recommend this novel for anyone who likes a good mystery. 

A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

Release Date: December 14, 2012
Publisher: Self
Pages: 149pgs
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal/Vampire
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Description: On the evening of Sofia Claremont's seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake.

A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.

She is kidnapped to an island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine.
An island uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet. She wakes here as a slave, a captive in chains.

Sofia's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when she is the one selected out of hundreds of girls to join the harem of Derek Novak, the dark royal Prince.

Despite his addiction to power and obsessive thirst for her blood, Sofia soon realizes that the safest place on the island is within his quarters, and she must do all within her power to win him over if she is to survive even one more night.

Will she succeed? ...or is she destined to the same fate that all other girls have met at the hands of the Novaks?

Review: I really enjoyed this book. There was only one problem I had when I began reading was the beginning of the plot and how Sofia got to The Shade. Once you overcome the little bit of missing information the story really takes life.

There was not a dull moment in the story. You have Derek the prince of the vampires who is conflicted and Sofia who was captured to service Derek. I was reading just for Derek to see how he deals with his inner struggles being around Sofia and not attacking her. 

The development of their relationship was nicely done. Also the books ends with a cliff hanger and I'm hooked. I need to know what happens next.