Tempt Me Tuesday #38 by Mad Hatter Reads

 

The majority of this week’s temptations are new to me books/series. But they do have me seriously tempted and I just couldn’t resist. Several of them downloading to my e-reader right now. Are any of these from series you follow or maybe they’re just tempting you to try something new too? Leave me a comment and let me know.

 

Bittersweet Magic by Nina Croft

The Order, #2

Roz has been indebted to the demon Asmodai for five hundred years, and her freedom is just around the corner. All she has to do is complete one last task for him—obtain a key that had been hidden in a church centuries ago.

Piers, the Head of the Order and an ancient vampire, is intrigued by the woman who comes to him for help. She’s beautiful and seemingly kind, but she’s hiding something. And he’ll find out who she is and what she really wants once he uses his power to get inside her head. But Piers has no idea that Roz is immune to his mind-control...or that he is simply a pawn in her dangerous mission for freedom.

 

Dust by Patricia Cornwell

Kay Scarpetta, #21

Massachusetts Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta has just returned from working one of the worst mass murders in U.S. history when she’s awakened at an early hour by Detective Pete Marino.

A body, oddly draped in an unusual cloth, has just been discovered inside the sheltered gates of MIT and it’s suspected the identity is that of missing computer engineer Gail Shipton, last seen the night before at a trendy Cambridge bar. It appears she’s been murdered, mere weeks before the trial of her $100 million lawsuit against her former financial managers, and Scarpetta doubts it’s a coincidence. She also fears the case may have a connection with her computer genius niece, Lucy.

At a glance there is no sign of what killed Gail Shipton, but she’s covered with a fine dust that under ultraviolet light fluoresces brilliantly in three vivid colors, what Scarpetta calls a mineral fingerprint. Clearly the body has been posed with chilling premeditation that is symbolic and meant to shock, and Scarpetta has reason to worry that the person responsible is the Capital Murderer, whose most recent sexual homicides have terrorized Washington, D.C. Stunningly, Scarpetta will discover that her FBI profiler husband, Benton Wesley, is convinced that certain people in the government, including his boss, don’t want the killer caught.

In Dust, Scarpetta and her colleagues are up against a force far more sinister than a sexual predator who fits the criminal classification of a “spectacle killer.” The murder of Gail Shipton soon leads deep into the dark world of designer drugs, drone technology, organized crime, and shocking corruption at the highest levels.

With unparalleled high-tension suspense and the latest in forensic technology, Patricia Cornwell once again proves her exceptional ability to surprise—and to thrill.

 

Long Live the Queen by Kate Locke

The Immortal Empire, #3

Xandra Vardan thought life would be simpler when she accepted the goblin crown and became their queen, but life has only become more complicated. Everyone -- vampires, werewolves and humans -- wants the goblins on their side, because whoever has the goblins -- wins.

Queen Victoria wants her head, Alpha wolf Vex wants her heart, and she still doesn't know the identity of the person who wanted her blood. What she does know is that a project from one of the 'secret' aristocrat labs has gotten free and she's the only one who can stop the perfect killing machine -- a sixteen year-old girl. With human zealots intent on ridding the world of anyone with plagued blood and supernatural politics taking Britain to the verge of civil war, Xandra's finding out that being queen isn't all it's cracked up to be, and if she doesn't do something fast, hers will be the shortest reign in history.

The fantastic conclusion to the series that started with the spectacular undead steampunk debut, God Save the Queen and The Queen is Dead.

 

Mr. Red Riding Hoode by Dana Marie Bell

Poconos Pack, #2

The better to make you mine, my dear…

When it came down to saving his best friend Ben’s relationship, Steven Hoode didn't hesitate to trade his Florida timeshare for a month at Red Wolf Lodge. Cold weather isn't his favorite thing, but hot snow bunnies are, so he plans to make the most of his vacation.

Good karma kicks in when he sees a pretty brunette chatting with the lodge owner. All thoughts of nuptials and nookie take a back seat to the heat that flares between them.

When Graciela “Chela” Mendoza catches sight of the gorgeous man shivering in a red-hooded parka, she realizes why he makes her heart beat faster. He’s her mate. The problem? Steven has no idea his friends are Wolves.

Chela plans to break it to him gently, but when he accidently witnesses the whole Pack shifting, things get a bit…hairy. He bolts, locking himself in his cabin and refusing to listen, even to Ben.

Unless she can get him to see that Wolves are people, too, Chela will lose her mate faster than she can say woof.

Warning: This book contains explicit sex, graphic language, a man packing some nice goodies and a she-Wolf all ready to gobble them up.

 

No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige

Dorothy Must Die, #0.5

In this digital original novella, Dorothy travels back to Oz to reunite with old friends, but her story may not have a happy ending. No Place Like Oz is a prequel to the forthcoming novel Dorothy Must Die.

After returning to Kansas, Dorothy Gale has realized that the dreary fields of Kansas don’t compare to the vibrant landscapes of Oz. And although she’s happy to be reunited with Aunt Em, she misses her friends from the yellow brick road. But most of all, Dorothy misses the fame and the adventure. In Kansas she’s just another prairie girl, but in Oz she was a hero. So Dorothy is willing to do anything to get back, because there really is no place like Oz. But returning to the land she left comes at a price, and after Dorothy is through with it, Oz will never be the same.

Perfect for fans of Alex Flinn, Marissa Meyer, and Gregory Maguire, No Place Like Oz is a dark reimagining of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Building off of its rich mythology, Danielle Paige creates an edgy, thrilling story for teens that chronicles the rise and fall of one of the literature’s most beloved characters. This digital original novella is a prequel that sets the stage for the forthcoming novel Dorothy Must Die.

 

This Wicked Game by Michelle Zink

Claire Kincaid’s family has been in business for over fifty years.

The voodoo business.

Part of the International Guild of High Priests and Priestesses, a secret society that have practiced voodoo for generations, the Kincaid’s run an underground supply house for authentic voodoo supplies. Claire plays along, filling orders for powders, oils and other bizarre ingredients in the family store, but she has a secret.

She doesn’t believe.

Struggling to reconcile her modern sensibilities with a completely unscientific craft based on suspicion, Claire can’t wait to escape New Orleans – and voodoo – when she goes to college, a desire that creates almost constant conflict in her secret affair with Xander Toussaint, son of the Guild’s powerful founding family.

But when a mysterious customer places an order for a deadly ingredient, Claire begins to realize that there’s more to voodoo – and the families that make up the Guild – than meets the eye.

Including her own.

As she bands together with the other firstborns of the Guild, she comes face to face with a deadly enemy – and the disbelief that may very well kill her.

 

Warlord: A Novel of Robin Hood by Angus Donald

The Outlaw Chronicles, #4

Robert, Earl of Locksley, returns in Warlord, the latest in Angus Donald's compelling historical novels, reimagining one of the most indelible figures in folklore—Robin Hood. King Richard I, the Lionheart, is engaged in a bloody war to drive the French out of Normandy. Using the brutal tactics of medieval warfare—siege, savagery and scorched earth—the Lionheart gradually pushes back the forces of King Philip of France. By his side in this epic struggle are the erstwhile outlaw Robin Hood, and Sir Alan Dale, his loyal friend.

But while the battles rage, Alan is preoccupied with discovering the identity the man who ordered his father's death ten years earlier—a mystery that leads him towards to Paris, deep into the heart of the enemy's territory.

 

White Fire by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Pendergast, #13

Special Agent Pendergast arrives at an exclusive Colorado ski resort to rescue his protégée, Corrie Swanson, from serious trouble with the law. His sudden appearance coincides with the first attack of a murderous arsonist who--with brutal precision--begins burning down multimillion-dollar mansions with the families locked inside. After springing Corrie from jail, Pendergast learns she made a discovery while examining the bones of several miners who were killed 150 years earlier by a rogue grizzly bear. Her finding is so astonishing that it, even more than the arsonist, threatens the resort's very existence.

Drawn deeper into the investigation, Pendergast uncovers a mysterious connection between the dead miners and a fabled, long-lost Sherlock Holmes story--one that might just offer the key to the modern day killings as well.

Now, with the ski resort snowed in and under savage attack--and Corrie's life suddenly in grave danger--Pendergast must solve the enigma of the past before the town of the present goes up in flames.