Rachel Caine - Weather Wardens
Overview:
Genre: Fantasy
Stars: 2 out of 5
Contains: mild sex
Author's Website: Rachel Caine
My thoughts: I have been really enjoying these books. They are mind candy, but they're entertaining!
The Books:
"Ill Wind" - Published 2003
Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. Usually all it takes is a wave of her hand to tame the most violent weather. But now Joanne is trying to outrun another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. So she's resorting to the very human tactic of running for her life...
Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful Warden of them all. Unfortunately, he's also on the run from the World Council. It seems he's stolen not one but three bottles of Djinn - making him the most wanted man on earth. And without Lewis, Joanne's chances of surviving are as good as a snowball in - well, a place she may soon be headed. So she and her classic Mustang are racing hard to find him because there's some bad weather closing in fast...
"Heat Stroke" - Published 2004
Joanne's survived one challenge - technically - but she's got a whole new set of problems. With the help of a hot supernatural lover, her chances of surviving look bright - until things go wrong. There's trouble coming, and it's not confined to River City - or to the Wardens. No, this trouble could kill every Djinn on the planet - and unleash a storm that could send humanity to join them.
Armed with keen fashion sense, lime green Manolo Blahniks and a really fast car, Joanne prepares to do battle with the enemy.
Just one problem - it may be Joanne herself.
"Chill Factor" - Published 2005
Living, dead, or Djinn, Joanne Baldwin just can't stay out of trouble. Now she's on a time-sensitive mission to Vegas to retrieve the world's most important Djinn from the world's most dangerous teenager - all alone. That's bad enough, but having to deal with a past that's determined to bury her, and suffering from serious wardrobe shortages - well, that's over the line.
One thing's for certain: she's gambling everything this time.
"Windfall" - Published 2005
You think you're having a bad day? Joanne's lost her job as a Weather Warden, and saving the world generally doesn't come with a decent retirement check. It also doesn't come with any guarantees of landing a day job that won't suck, or being able to find a mystical cure for her critically ill Djinn lover. Burdened with a difficult sister in need of rescue, accused of weather-related murder, and finding herself in the middle of a Djinn civil war - well, Joanne's bad times are just getting worse.
With enemies approaching from all sides, not to mention mounting credit card bills (Manolo Blahniks don't come cheap!), Joanne is praying for a windfall - but the mother of all hurricanes approaching the Florida coast isn't exactly what she has in mind.
"Firestorm" - Published 2006
Putting aside the personal chaos that has plagued her, rogue Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin must rally the remnants of the Weather Warden corps aginst a double threat - the Djinn who have broken free from Warden control, and a cranky Mother Earth who's about to unleash her full fury against the entire world.
"Thin Air" - Published 2007
Joanne Baldwin gambled everything... and now, she doesn't even know whether she won or lost. In fact, she doesn't know anything. Who she is, for starters. Who these hot guys David and Lewis are, although it's a point in their favor that they seem to be trying to save her life. She's missing time, and she's missing memories, and something out there is trying to get whatever she's got left.
This time, it isn't about saving the world. It's about saving herself.
"Gale Force" - Published 2008
It's time Joanne Baldwin had a break. But is she getting one? Nooooooo. Instead, someone's calling up earthquakes to make her life miserable. Even David asking her to marry him can't solve her problems, and in fact, it may be adding to them, because someone has a grudge against mystical mixed marriages... and it's someone David, and the rest of the Djinn, can't even sense, much less stop.
The storm's coming... and it's going to be bad
"Cape Storm" - To Be Published August 2009
Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin and her new husband, the Djinn David, are running from a malevolent hurricane bent on destroying her. Joined by an army of fellow Wardens and Djinn onboard a hijacked luxury liner, Joanne has lured the storm into furious pursuit. But even their combined magic may not be enough to stop it Ñ nor the power-mad ex-Weather Warden controlling it...
Rachel Caine - Morganville Vampires
Overview:
Genre: Fantasy
Stars: unread
Contains: unread
Author's Website: Rachel Caine
My thoughts: From the website: For Claire Danvers, high school was hell, but college may be murder.
Bad enough she got on the wrong side of Monica, the meanest of the her new school's mean girls ... but now she's got three new roommates, all with secrets of their own. And the biggest secret of all isn't really a secret, except from Claire: Morganville is run by vampires.
It's a good thing Claire's friends have her back, and Claire herself is the smartest 16-year-old advanced placement student the town's ever seen. She's going to need all the advantages she can get to survive Morganville... much less manage a degree.
The Books:
"Glass Houses" - Published 2006
Welcome to Morganville, Texas.
Just don't stay out after dark.
College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation, where the popular girls never let her forget just where she ranks in the school's social scene: somewhere less than zero.
When Claire heads off-campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don't show many signs of life. But they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood.
"The Dead Girls' Dance" - Published 2007
So far, Claire and her friends have managed to survive getting on the wrong side of some Morganville VIPs... Vampire Important Persons. But their temporary peace is in danger of collapsing, thanks to the arrival of Shane's scary father and his vampire-fighting supporters.
Throw in the re-emergence of a brother Eve doesn't want to admit she has, a war brewing between the two most terrifying vampires in the world, and a bitchin' horror-themed party with bite, and Claire's life is about to get very interesting.
"Midnight Alley" - Published 2007
Everything's changed for Claire Danvers, with a single signature. Oh, she's still got her friends, but for how long? Can she really tell them the truth about what she's done to protect them? And now she's working for a terrifyingly unpredictable vampire with the biggest secret in Morganville... and every trip down Midnight Alley to meet him could be her last...
"Feast of Fools" - Published 2008
Think Amelie is scary? Meet her dad, the terrifying vampire Mr. Bishop. What does he want - and what will Amelie do about it? Claire's caught in the middle, along with her friends and even her parents, as Morganville's fragile alliance between humans and vampires starts to fracture. Soon, everyone will have to choose a companion for the Feast of Fools... and a side.
"Lord of Misrule" - Published 2009
The feast is over and the battle for Morganville has begun. Bishop's on one side, Amelie's on the other, and Claire's status as Amelie's most trusted human ally has just landed her on Morganville's Most Wanted list, along with all of her friends. As a bitter Texas storm bears down on the town, there's nowhere to hide... from anything.
"Carpe Corpus" - To be Published June 2009
In the small college town of Morganville, vampires and humans lived in (relative) peaceÑuntil all the rules got rewritten when the evil vampire Bishop arrived, looking for the lost book of vampire secrets. HeÕs kept a death grip on the town ever since. Now an underground resistance is brewing, and in order to contain it, Bishop must go to even greater lengths. He vows to obliterate the town and all its inhabitants Ñ the living and the undead. Claire Danvers and her friends are the only ones who stand in his way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires ever be content to go back to the old rules, after having such a taste of power?