January's Reading List

The Four Seasons - Mary Alice Monroe
Cold As Ice - Anne Stuart
Taking The Leap - Pema Chodron
The Elder Gods - David And Leigh Eddings
Harvest - Belva Plain
The Barefoot Princess - Christina Dodd
The Greatest Lover In All England - Christina Dodd
Heart Of The Dragon - Gena Showalter
The Jewel Of Atlantis - Gena Showalter
The Nymph King - Gena Showalter
The Vampire Bride - Gena Showalter

Heart Of The Dragon - Gena Showalter

Heart Of The Dragon - Gena Showalter

Paranormal Romance - 376 Pages
Atlantis Series, Book One

From Back Of Book: Searching for her missing brother, Grace Carlyle never dreamed she would discover a secret world populated by mythological monsters - or find herself facing a sword-wielding being whose looks put mortal men to shame.


But there he was, Darius en Kragin, one of a race of shape-shifting warriors bound to guard the gates of Atlantis, and kill all travelers who strayed within its borders.


Now Grace's life was in his hands, and Darius had to choose between his centuries old vow and the woman who had slipped beneath his defenses and stolen the heart of Atlantis' fiercest dragon.

My Review: As the first book in Gena Showalter's Atlantis series, it really sets the stage.  It introduces the reader to Atlantis (at least one version of it) as well as to many characters that will be seen repeatedly throughout the series.  While Darius and Grace are the main storyline, there is also a subplot between Grace's brother Alex and Teira, the wife of Javar, another dragon.  There is a lot that happens in this book, though even as such, it flows well.  I quickly became attached to several characters in the book, besides just Darius, Grace, Alex and Teira.  The storyline will make you laugh one minute, cry the next, and want to kick some vampire booty within seconds.

Harvest - Belva Plain

Harvest - Belva Plain
Fiction - 424 Pages
Werner Family Saga, Book 4

From Back Of Book: An unforgettable novel yielding the fruit of hidden passions, corrosive secrets, and tragic rebellion that simultaneously shape and echo the fortunes of three generations.


At the center of the storm are the beautiful Anna, trying to undo the damage of the past...Iris, whose marriage to Theo, the brilliant surgeon is foundering...their son Steve, caught in the turbulence of the '60s, a political radical wanted by the FBI...and Paul Werner, the powerful banker, driven to help the family that barely knows him.


Out of the strains of forbidden and forsaken love, shattering secrets and uncompromising differences, Belva Plain brings a compelling epic to its triumphant conclusion.

My Review: I hadn't realized that this was part of a series until long after I had already picked it up.  It stood alone quite well, though now I want to read the rest of the series.  There are so many threads in this book, that reading the whole series should flesh out more.  Even with so many threads, and no prior knowledge, the book was easy to keep up with.  There is enough of the past elluded to so prior knowledge is not necessary.  The characters are well developed and worm their way into your head and heart.  This is apparently the crowning volume to the Werner Family Saga, which makes the plot make more sense, and why so much seems to happen in the book.  There is a lot of growth within this book, within most of the characters...yet I feel almost cheated with the threads that were dropped.  All in all a wonderful book, though I'd recommend reading the rest of the series as it was intended.