Soundtrack

I don't know about you but I have always been one for a good soundtrack!  I think the first soundtrack I ever bought was Dirty Dancing ... the first I ever listened to (over and over and over) was Mary Poppins (yes I can say it backwards)...

Even in my life I always have a soundtrack running through my head.  That's how I knew my husband was the one.  Our first night together and I could hear every sappy, romantic power ballad and love song ever written played the whole time.  Corny, I know but I live my life with a running music track in my head.  So why would this be any different when I'm reading some of my favorite books?  Here are a list of songs that I hear each time I read about these books.  Some are suggested by the author and some are songs that have lyrics that make me think of the story line and personality of the character.  Many of my books may have more than one song and I have many different play lists to enjoy whenever I'm in the mood to revisit some of my more beloved worlds.

Feel free to comment with your own play list if you've read some of these of you have characters you love and songs that make you think of them.

Dark Hunter Series - Sherilynn Kenyon:
Acheron - Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd (this song is actually the song mentioned in the book)
Vane - Bad Moon Rising - CCR
Julian - I Touch Myself - Divinyls

Black Dagger Brotherhood - J.R. Ward (my absolute FAVORITE series ever written)

• Wrath & Beth (Dark Lover) - Without You - Mötley Crüe
• Rhage and Mary (Lover Eternal) - Enter Sandman - Metallica (only because of the line that say "it's just the beast under your bed, in your closet, in your head...)
• Zsadist & Bella (Lover Awakened) - Unforgiven - Metallica  or It Will Rain - Bruno Mars
• Butch & Marissa (Lover Revealed) - Always or Bed of Roses - Bon Jovi (mostly because I imagine Butch's voice sounding like Jon Bon Jovi)
• Vishous & Jane (Lover Unbound) - E.T. - Katy Perry feat. Kanye West (but there are many songs that make me think of Vishous, who is by far the sexiest vampire I've ever read)
• Phury & Cormia (Lover Enshrined) - The Perfect Drug - Nine Inch Nails
• Rhevenge & Ehlena (Lover Avenged) - Closer - Nine Inch Nails
• John Matthew & Xhex (Lover Mine) - Undisclosed Desires - Muse (this is their relationship to a Tee)
• Payne & Manny (Lover Unleashed) - Bring Me to Life - Evanescence
• Tohrment, Wellsie & Autumn/No'One (Lover Reborn) - November Rain - Guns N Roses (so far the best book in the series and the one I cried the most while reading)
• Qhuinn & Blaylock (coming soon!!!!!! SO CAN NOT WAIT!!!) - My Immortal - Evanescence (this song really captures the history and emotion these two have had over the last 5 books!)
• A song for all the Black Dagger Shellans - Whatta Man - Salt N Pepa 

Lions, and Tigers, and Werewolves... oh my

So I've been reading a lot of werewolf, or were-anything books over the last year and it's amazing each author's perspective in regards to these creatures.  As stated before in my previous blog, Sherilyn Kenyon has a very interesting spin on where these creatures came from.  Magic of course and oh you can't catch it or "become" a werewolf (were-tiger, were-bear, were-hawk, and yes even a were-dragon).  The only thing that all of these authors share is the over the top incredible sexiness of being a were-anything (yes even bears).

I think this is why I find this genre so fascinating.  It's safe.  I don't need to worry that I'm comparing my husband to the characters in the book or looking for these characters in people I see on the street.  Now don't get me wrong, some of the personalities and alpha-ness I'd like my husband to demonstrate occasionally (and he has ... occasionally) but the possibility of actually meeting them or someone like them in person is non-existent.  They simply don't exist so their safe to fantasize about.

I have a list of five guys that if I actually could meet them in person and by some alignment of the planets get a chance to bed one of them, Jim would have to give me a pass.  I'm sure everyone has seen that Friends episode with Isabella Rosselini.  Well my list changes frequently as my tastes change so Jim has informed me that I have to have the list approved in writing before it's valid.  Where am I going with this you may ask?  Well ... over the last year my list has had maybe three actual living human beings (Joe Manganiello is always on the list) but the others I frequently list are nothing but fictional characters.  Here is a small history of this list over the last year:

• Joe Manganiello (human - known for Trueblood)
• Francois Arnaud (human - known for Cesare Borgia)
• Vane Kattalakis
• Vishous (not a were but still fictional)
• Any of the guys from the Nicky Charles Wolf Series - There are four of them (this is a free e-series and she's an excellent author that I never would have found without my Nook)
• Acheron (again not a were but still drool worthy)

So you see I tend to stick with the fictional characters.  Probably because if I actually met the two humans on the list I'd have a brain fart of epic proportions and then ruin my one planet aligning chance.  At least when I meet the other guys in my head I'm cool and collected and of course say all the right things and never look like a complete loser.

Why do I write this?  Probably to give my wonderful husband some much needed reassurance that he's really the only "real" man that I want or need.  Everyone else is just "fluff"..

Love slave...

Greek love slave imprisoned in a magical book for centuries by a jealous, vindictive Greek god.  Sounds like some serious romantic fluff, the stuff Fabio made famous, right? This is what I thought as well.  Little did I know that it would lead to my second favorite book series of all time.

Fantasy Lover is the first book in the Sherilyn Kenyon Dark Hunter series.  It's starts in New Orleans (pre Katrina).  The characters are quirky and sassy.  The mystique and magic that surrounds New Orleans is the perfect backdrop to set up a series of vampire-esque hunters who seek to take out as many of Apollo's "children" who have gone rogue (these are the real vampires).

I was hooked even before the end of the first chapter.  Sherilyn Kenyon has such a wonderful way of building good characters that you enjoy not only the main love story but the side stories that play out in the background.  I would soon come to demand this in the other book series that I would read in the future.  This culminated in the book series that has me absolutely ensnared (but that's a blog for another time).

The combination of a centuries old Greek warrior falling for a 21st Century sex therapist?  Just perfect.  What could possibly go wrong with that?  Add in the fact that the sex therapist is sexually repressed and his only function for the last thousand years has been to feed every desire of any woman who summons him from full moon to full moon and it makes for incredibly hilarious banter between the two.  Oh and add in her married psychic friend and a flighty artist who sells her wares in the local market square in the middle of New Orleans, I don't think I've ever laughed so much.

Sherilyn's writing style and the way she makes her dialogue sound natural are another big bonus.  Although the main character in the first book is not a dark hunter the first dark hunter you meet in the series is mentioned and even eluded to during this book.  You meet him in the second book.  The books that follow introduce you to a whole slew of supernatural characters from Dark Hunters, to Werewolves, Were-tigers, were-bears (ohhh those bears... yummmm).  But threaded throughout each book is the never understood mysterious Acheron who commands the Dark Hunters and respect from all the other supernatural characters..  mmmmmm ... Acheron!  What to say about him would fill up a whole separate blog... so stay tuned...

If you're looking for an adventurous, humorous, very sexy (wait till you meet Vane Katalakis girls... he's not your average werewolf... but you can picture Joe Managaniello in the roll ... VERY HOT... oh and ladies he likes a girl with above average curves) book series for your summer reads I definitely recommend the Dark Hunter series by Sherilyn Kenyon.