The Scent of Shadows and The Taste of Night - Double Dish

I'm going to do a double review today, sort of like I did with the Sweet Magnolia books. There are two reasons for this: I am behind on my dishes and want to catch up and also because once you've heard all about the first you are going to want to rush out the get them, so I may as well do a double whammy right now. Also, be sure to scroll down or click here to see the winners of this months FAB contests. And click here to support a great author and enter a contest. So, without further ado...

THE SCENT OF SHADOWS: The First Sign of the Zodiac by Vicki Pettersson
(BCC)

When she was sixteen, Joanna Archer was brutally assaulted and left to die in the Nevada desert. By rights, she should be dead.

Now a photographer by day, she prowls a different Las Vegas after sunset - a grim, secret Sin City where Light battles Shadow - seeking answers to whom or what she really is...and revenge for the horrors she was forced to endure.

But the nightmare is just beginning - for the demons are hunting Joanna, and the powerful shadows want her for their own...

THE TASTE OF NIGHT: THE SECOND SIGN OF THE ZODIAC

(BCC)

Equal parts Light and Shadow, Joanna Archer must fulfill a destiny she never wanted. Once a photographer and heiress to a casino fortune, she is now dedicated to the cause of good...but susceptible to the seductions of evil.

A deadly virus is descending on Las Vegas - a terrifying plague unleashed by the powerful overlord of the Zodiac's dark side: Joanna's father. Chaos and panic grip Sin City as agents of Light fall prey to the terrifying epidemic. Death reigns supreme - and Joanna stands at dead center of an epic and terrible war long foretold, the last hope of a damned world.

But first she must somehow conquer the malevolence that grows all around her...and within.

These BCC's are actually pretty good. These books are so jammed packed (in a totally good way) with twists and turns, that I most certainly have to give my props to the writers of these two BCC's.

Have you ever in your life read a comic book and wondered if it was real? Or perhaps you watch one of the movies made from a comic book and wish it was real. If that's the case, these books are for you. Joanna Archer, casino heiress, and daughter to one of the nastiest (and most successful) casino owners in Las Vegas is the polar opposite of her sister Olivia. When Joanna was sixteen, she was brutally attacked while trying to save her sister and left for dead. In what can only be described as every woman's nightmare, Joanna miraculously survives. However, she is never the same again.

Spending her nights photographing the rarely seen Las Vegas back alley's, Joanna hugs the shadows and hopes to one day find the monster that attacked her and exact some revenge of her own. But just twenty four hours before her twenty-fifth birthday Joanna has a blind date with a madman, is rescued by her first love that she hasn't seen since her attack, and hits a crazy homeless man. After yet another assassination attempt on her life, that ends with her sister being slain, Joanna learns that she is no ordinary human and is the daughter of the most powerful being in the Shadow organization and her mother was an agent for the Light.

In Pettersson's new Zodiac series, Joanna finds herself half Light and half Shadow. There has been a prophecy foretold that she will be the one to balance the Zodiac, but both sides want her for their own, and with her the demons from her past haunting her, Joanna just isn't sure she can control the Shadow in her well enough to be on the side of Light like she wants. Reverting to the "manuals" which are found in a comic book store, Joanna must learn of her past if she is to see a future. She must leave behind her old life in order to survive and protect humanity, but revenge is a hard thing to put down, and Joanna has carried her hatred and lust for revenge for so long that those that want her help the most can't even fully trust her.

With so many twists and turns, Pettersson kept me up way past bedtime just so I could finish these books. I gulped them up, and am almost sad of that, since it will be awhile I'm sure before the next one is released. Joanna Archer is an amazing character, one you genuinely feel for. Pettersson has made Joanna and her comic book world so real, so touching, and so action packed that you won't want to miss a page.

Sci-Fi lovers will LOVE these books. Paranormal fans that want something just a little different will LOVE these books. In fact, there is a little something for every genre reader packed inside these wonderfully written books. Dig in and let me know what you thought of them. I know I'm hooked and hope that there are many more to come.

Take Care