Blood Before Sunrise by Amanda Bonilla

Synopsis: For months, Darian and her Shaede Guardian, Raif, have searched for the Oracle who attempted to overthrow the Shaede Nation- and kill Darian in the bargain. But now that they've finally found the half-crazed Oracle, they are granted a possibility too painful for Raif to imagine and too enticing for Darian to ignore.

Darian is determined to reunite Raif and the daughter he thought was dead, but her mission quickly proves dangerous when her love, Tyler, is almost killed. And when a brooding and mysterious Far warrior offers his guidance- at an extraordinary price- Darian finds herself willing to risk everything. As her single-minded hunts turns into an obsession, and she and Tyler grow further apart, Darian becomes caught between the man she loves like a brother and the man whose love she can't live without.

Review: I am a huge fan of Amanda Bonilla, and it's really not just her writing that I love. She is one of those authors who is very accessible to readers and I love that about her. But her writing is really awesome too. I really loved the first book in the series, and I really enjoyed the novella (seriously if authors keep putting out these great novellas I'm going to have to rethink my anti-novella stance). So I have been waiting for book two and it finally arrived. I was very curious to see what was going to happen to Darian now that the big battle from book 1 was over.

The plot of the book was not exactly what I was expecting. Shaedes of Gray was very much a book where the plot action based and you had this feeling when you were reading it that the stakes couldn't get any higher. I did not get that feeling from BBS. For me this entire book is so character driven, although there is plenty of action scenes, and when you finally find out what is really going on you realize the stakes are pretty high), but mostly it's so about the characters.

Darian is still finding her way as this new "changed" being that the events of book one left her in. She has also found herself in a relationship with Tyler who she does truly love, but after not letting anyone close to her in 100 years there are certainly some growing pains that need to be worked out. It also doesn't help that someone is clearly messing with Tyler's bond to her and it's make their situation all the more tense.

Raif is such a great character, and you really get to see how much Darian loves him. He has become really like family to her, Bonilla refers to him as a brother type love, but he kind of feels like a cross between brother and father type figure. He has done so much for her so of course she wants to do anything she can for him, like help find his daughter. By the time the book ends I love Raif all the more, and I am so glad that Darian has him to lean on.

My one complaint is that I would have loved to actually see more Xander in the book. He is referred to a lot, and has a few scenes, but generally speaking I missed his whole high and mighty routine/trying to convince Darian to be with him.

Overall I really enjoyed the book. Like I said it is super character driven, and you get to meet some new ones along the way, but you also get to know the old ones a lot better. At the end of the book I really felt like the whole theme was about love, and so many different kinds of love are included in this book. And the ending was so bittersweet, it really made me want to know where everyone was going to go from here. If I had to pick I think the first book is still my favorite, but only by a hair, this is a great follow up book and I would recommend it to anyone (but read the first one too!).

When Shadows Call by Amanda Bonilla

Synopsis:
The envy of 1900s society, Darian is the rich, beautiful wife of a prominent Californian doctor—but her life is far from perfect. For years, Darian has suffered at the hand of her cruel husband and yearned for an escape—one that she knows to be all but impossible. 

But when an enigmatic stranger comes to call, Darian finds herself charmed by his seductive smile and the inexplicable connection she feels. And when he makes her a thrilling—yet frightening—proposition, Darian must decide if she’s strong enough to abandon the mortal world she knows and answer the shadow’s call…


Review: 
I'm a pretty big fan of origin stories, and recently I have started to become more and more of a fan of novellas. This was a pretty awesome novella/origin story. I loved Darian when she was introduced to me in Amanda Bonilla's first book (check out the review if you don't believe me), so I was excited to see how things really started out for her. Granted I knew the big picture, throughout the first book you get a pretty decent glimpse into what Darian went through. But this was different, it wasn't just the simple telling of what happened in her life, but rather the living of it all. All the thoughts and feels that come along with that.

Darian is a hard woman, she has taken what was truly a hard beginning and turned herself into something so much more, and while I would love to go into detail about the person Darian is today, I think it would be robbing you of the experience of the first book. So instead I'll talk about what she was like in this book. Darian starts off as a very broken person. In no way do I think she has ever had a healthy relationship or been loved in the way a woman should be love. But worse than that her husband is a violent guy and beats her when he drinks, and to say it is easy to feel for Darian and to want her to get out of that situation would be an understatement.

Then of course Darian meets Azriel, who changes her entire life. You have Darian being this abused and beaten down woman who is on the brink of dying, turn into something more than human who is really starting to come into her own. She does this all along side Azriel, which I think is actually kind of awesome because you get to see Azriel in such a different light compared to the way you get to know him in the series.

I really enjoyed reading this novella and really getting to know Darian on a level I wasn't really expecting. She's a great character in the series, and that makes her all the more interesting when you get to really experience her back story right along side her. Of course I would recommend this novella to anyone who enjoyed book 1 in the series, but I also think if you are interested in trying out Amanda Bonilla's work then this would be an awesome introduction not only to her writing style but also to the series. All in all I am going to call this novella a don't miss. So go out, buy it, and enjoy!

One lucky commenter will get to choose between a digital copy of When Shadows Call  or a print copy of Blood Before Sunrise! Hard choice! 


E-MAIL kate@ufreviews with "GIVEAWAY" in the subject line to enter! Include your preference and 1 winner will be chosen randomly. 

Amanda Bonilla & Xander Interview

A big thanks to Kate and Urban Fantasy Reviews for hosting me today! I think it’s a pretty well-known fact that I have a soft spot in my heart for Xander Peck, Shaede High King and recent addition to Seattle’s supernatural community. And when I posed the question to my Facebook friends about who I should interview today, they agreed that Xander was too intriguing to resist.

Amanda: Thanks for meeting me today, Your Highness.

Xander: *gives a dismissive wave of his hand* Please, call me Xander.

Amanda: Thanks. It’s so great of Kate to invite us to Urban Fantasy Reviews today! I thought we’d start off with her questions first.

Kate: Since we all love books here, what is your favorite book and why?

Xander: My father made my brother and I read The Art of War over and again until we had the text committed to memory. I still read it from time to time. I find Sun Tzu’s words very comforting though not altogether entertaining.  

Kate:  What is your favorite memory (from recent times or however far back your life reaches)?

Xander:I’m not sure how humans remember, but when you live as long as we do, the past becomes… faintly muddled. Memories are like dreams, the lucidity of which often comes into question. When I was fifteen or sixteen, I purchased a stallion from a Fae prince who had won the beast from a Sheik. He was the most stubborn beast I’d ever met and it took me almost a year to break him. I loved that damned horse.

Kate: Everyone tends to forget royals are people too, what is your most embarrassing moment?

Xander:Well, I didn’t vomit on a foreign dignitary or anything quite so scandalous. I was at Emperor Xun’s (Shang Dynasty) court to accept a sword that his sorcerer had charmed on my father’s behalf.  I mistook one of sorcerer’s wives for his mother. Humans age so fast… sometimes they appear much older than they really are. The sorcerer took it in stride, however. I half expected him to curse the katana, rather than charm it.

Kate: If you found out you had only one day left on this earth, who would you spend it with, what would you do, and what would your last meal be?

Xander: I’d spend my last day with my brother, my friends…those I care about. I’ve done so much over the course of my life; I think I would like to just sit with my loved ones and enjoy their company. As for my last meal? That’s easy. Burgers from Dick’s. They have locations all over Seattle. Delicious.

Kate:Any tidbits you would like to share about your plans for the future of your Shaede Kingdom?

Xander: *grins* Sorry, my dear Kate. Who knows who might be reading this? I couldn’t possibly allow anything to slip that my enemies might seize upon. I’m afraid my plans for my kingdom must remain a secret for now.

Amanda: Thanks, Kate! Awesome questions! I hope you don’t mind, Xander, but some readers have a few questions for you as well and I brought them along. First off, Natalie would like to know your true motives toward Darian. She wants to know if you plan to fight for her attention?

Xander: *flashes a very seductive smile* This is an easy question. My motives regarding Darian are simple: I want her, and I want her to want me as well. As for fighting for her attentions, well, I alwaysget what I want.

Amanda: Jonathan would like to know if you prefer Red Vines or Twizzlers?

Xander: Neither. I prefer Darrel Lee. It’s from Australia, I believe. Mango flavored.

Amanda: I’ve seen Darrel Lee Licorice at Target. Do you just run over and buy a few bags when you get a craving?

Xander: I don’t know where it comes from. I have people who do my shopping for me. All I know is that it’s good.

Amanda: Gotcha. Okay… back to reader questions… Cecy wants to know what is your Achilles heel when it comes to females?

Xander: If you asked my brother, Raif, he would say my Achilles heel is wanting that which I can’t have. *laughs good naturedly* And he’d probably be right. Moreover, I’d say that my weakness is strong-willed females. There is something about a strong woman that brings me to my knees.

Amanda: This next question sort of ties into my previous one. Nancy asks: What do you like most about Darian? Is there anything you’d change about her?

Xander: What I admire most about Darian is her inability to bend. To anyone, including myself. Her strength of conviction, no matter how misguided it might sometimes be, is admirable. Like I said, I’m attracted to strong-willed women. Strong women make excellent queens. And for the record, the only thing I would change about Darian is her current taste in men. *smiles*

Amanda: Last but not least, Cowanda would like to know what you think you can do to win Darian from Tyler? Do you have any dirt on Tyler that you could use against him?

Xander: First of all, I won’t have to win Darian from anyone. I’m confident that in the end, she will choose the better man. I am far better suited for her than anyone else. And to answer the second question, if I did in fact, have any dirt on the Jinn, I certainly wouldn’t show my hand…yet.

Amanda: Okay, well, I think that about covers it.

Xander: Don’t you have a question for me? Something you’ve been dying to know?

Amanda: Well… yes, actually. If you could have any wish granted, what would it be?

Xander: I would wish for peace in my kingdom and for my subjects to be happy. That is the sole wish of any good king.

Amanda: That’s a pretty awesome wish. Thanks for talking with us today, Xander.

Xander: *bows* I am at your disposal.

Amanda: Okay, guys, I might have swooned. Just a little. ;) Thanks again, Kate! You rock!!!




Stay tuned for a review of Amanda's novella and a giveaway later today! 

Shaedes of Gray by Amanda Bonilla

I can't even begin to explain how excited I have been about this book coming out. The cover blub was super intriguing and it made me want to read the book, but for me it was more than that. Amanda is, in my opinion, an author who is truly awesome at using social networking. She has a twitter, facebook, and blog, and why this is important is because she feels accessible. Over the past few months, every time I left a comment on her facebook, or tweeted her something, I ALWAYS got a response. So while I was excited to read her book without her being awesome, the fact that she is awesome as so nice just made me all the more excited to read the book.

I have this before about some other books, that one of the best ways to world build is to have to character discover the world along side of the reader. You get to not only know the character but also the world at the same time, and I think it creates a bond between reader and in this case Darian. The that made that unique was Darian already knew she wasn't human, she already had all these preconceived notions about who and what she was, and then all of a sudden she find out she is wrong about everything. Bonilla is able to introduce you to Darian and you believing everything Darian believes, so that when the truth of the world is actually revealed it takes you on this great ride with Darian of trying to figure out what is really the truth of who she is.

Darian, to me, is a great character. She has a lot of depth to her to start out with and Bonilla is able to build on that and grow her as a character so much over the period of just one book. And by the end of this book, you can already tell that it's only the beginning. The reason I like Darian so much at the beginning is because she is so different than everyone else. You find out right off the bat that she has been around a hell of a lot longer than the average human. Even if I hadn't know that I would say she has an old soul. Darian feels like she has cut herself off from the world, just doing enough to survive, but she really seems to have kept herself from getting into any meaningful relationships or even friendships after a terrible ending with the man who made her immortal, Azriel. It's really great to see not only the supernatural world open up to her, but seeing her open up to the people in it.

Darian is an assassin, and she pretty much believes herself to be well a bad ass in the beginning. And when she gets a job to assassinate a certain man named Xander, she finds out she is not the only Shaede of her kind and that she isn't as bad ass as she thought. I like the Shaedes because I find them to be really unique, or rather that they are a part of the "mainstream" of UF. I think what's great about that is that there is a lot more room for the author to use their imaginations and really create a unique world. Amanda really shows her writing and imagination chops throughout this book, it truly was unique.

I really like the side characters too. Tyler is guy every girl wishes they had, he's clearly a bad ass in his own right, but when he is with Darian he is so good to her. As the book progresses you find out he is so much more than you thought he was, which just makes him all the better. I also love that Amanda uses the phrase "Tyler never disappoints" throughout the course of the book, after the few couple of times every time it shows up it made me smile. Raif was my second favorite, in that I think he was the most truthful to Darian of anyone throughout the book. He ends up being, at least for me, one part good friend and one part father figure. Xander is the King of the Shaedes and is interested in Darian just like Tyler is. However, while I did like him within his role in the story, I feel like there a lot I don't know about him, and I can only hope more and more is revealed about him as the story continues on. He has his good points and his bad points, but I will say I believe he does everything he does for the good of his kingdom which is admirable.

In conclusion, I was right to be excited about this book, it was awesome. I'm really excited to see where the series goes, Amanda did the perfect balance of world building and open endings, I have a feeling there is a lot more to come for Darian. And the ending was perfect, no unsatisfying cliff hangers in sight. It's a great urban fantasy, I can totally see readers of the genre enjoying it. It also has a little thrown in there for the paranormal romance readers as well. I think this book would be a great Christmas gift for anyone who loves to read.

Check out her website! http://www.amandabonilla.com/ 


****Amanda Bonilla is going to be features in UFR's December Newsletter sign up to receive it today! http://eepurl.com/heSvM****