Recent Read - And in Other News

Night Betrayed by Joss Ware

Why this one: I am LOVING this series so it’s a no brainer that as soon as a new one comes out, I’m reading it!

Steam Level: Although the setting is stark and cold, the steam level is hot

Blurb: The world they knew is ashes.

The world that remains is in peril.

And five extraordinary survivors are humankind's last, best hope.

The Change that devastated the earth did not destroy Theo Waxnicki. It made him something more than human; eternally young, eternally beautiful . . . but not immortal. When he dies on a mission against the Strangers, he is lost to the darkness . . . until a miracle lady brings him back.

Born during the apocalyptic storms and earthquakes that left the world in ruins, Selena has dedicated her life to easing the pain of others. But Theo is the first in her care to survive. Responding to Selena's tender touch, Theo starts to live again, to feel and desire again. But joined in a world of terrors, the secrets they can never share make them targets. And love could be the ultimate betrayal.

My Thoughts: As mentioned in reviews on the previous books in this series, if someone had told me I would really enjoy an ongoing series where, although labeled romance, that aspect kind of takes a back seat, and the setting in years in the future after an apocalyptic ‘end of the world’ scenario, I would have said ‘right, and pink pigs fly. But I would have been forced to find those flying pink pigs because I do love this series and Night Betrayed is no exception. Though the hero, Theo Waxnicki is in his 80’s, he stopped aging when the catastrophe happened fifty years earlier. I had to smile to myself as I was kind of guilty of age discrimination. Theo has quite the libido cause he still looks young, but he’s in his 80’s and I thought ‘wouldn’t he need Viagara or something?’ I have to say that in the middle of this tense story, I was distracted by something rather silly.

In the previous books, I hadn’t really warmed up to the character of Theo, so when I heard this was ‘his’ story I couldn’t help wishing it might have been someone else’s. But once I started reading this book, that was a non issue. Once more this world that Joss Ware has created is so compelling, so interesting yet so bleak at the same time, and just so damn well written, that I found myself on the edge of my seat as I read along.

In this one, Theo has been brought back to life by the heroine, Selena in a small community far from his home in Envy. Theo is smitten with Selena but just getting over a broken heart when the woman he loved chose another. Selena for her part, is leery of getting involved with Theo as she has many secrets and has been burned in the past because of them.

As with previous books though, the romantic relationship isn’t really in the forefront. Instead it’s the mystery of the events that resulted in the end of the world as it was known and what has been happening since then. And it’s utterly and completely fascinating. It’s edge of your seat exciting. People who you hope make it don’t.. This isn’t a happy and sunshine series, that’s for sure. But it’s such a compelling read that I highly recommend it. I can’t say too much so as not to give too much away – that’s the way it is with this kind of series I think.

Now – should you read the first three books in order to read this book? I’m not sure – probably. But the first ones are so good you will want to anyway. I just checked and the first two books are one for a ‘really can’t be beat’ price on the Kindle:

$1.99 for Beyond the Night

$3.99 for Embrace the Night

I say – get at least these first two and see what you think!

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

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And in Other News....

It seems as if I'm going to have to return my Velocity Micro Cruz Touchscreen Wifi Tablet. I couldn't figure it out and my Son Who is Getting Married was too busy for a couple of days to come over and look at it. So I took it into work and had someone from the It department look at it. He showed me how to turn it on - it's amazing that a button that looks like the same kind that turns on computers also turns on a table

(oops - gotta wait for a couple of minutes - the song by Nellie is on and I have to wave my arms - be back in a minute)

OK - I'm back

Anyway - wait another sec - gotta turn the radio down now. See - it would be an IPod to turn down but that's a small electronic device that scares me - and with good reason as you shall see!

So the IT guy got it turned on, but it seemed Very Slow and as I was sitting there I was getting more and more frustrated. So I figured I'd better stop playing with it until The Son who is also an Accountant took a look at it. He and my future daughter-in-law came over Saturday and guess what? Now matter what we tried, the damn thing would not turn on. I swear I didn't throw it anywhere. We shall call her Kara said I should check to see what kind of ratings it got. Sure enough, they were bad, real, real bad. And of course The Son who is Getting Married pointed out the foolishness of buying small electronic devices on The Shopping Channel. They both said and I reluctantly agreed with them that I'd be better off returning it and paying more money and getting an IPad. My future daughter-in-law who we are calling Kara offered to come with me. I'm sure while my head was turned, my son Who is Getting Married must have nudged her and whispered "For the sake of the sanity of all of us, do NOT let her buy a small electronic device on her own!