Oh how I wish I had spent the past six months beside a beautiful waterfall, relaxing, reading without a care in the world.

Unfortunately – life got crazy and nothing online got done.  Which is driving me even crazier than usual.

You will see a lot of reviews in the coming days – and few of them will be in the order that I read them.  But at least they will be up and running for others to see and read about.

Unlike a romance novel, life often gets in the way of the fun stuff.

I’ve decided to take the jump into some Reading Challenges this year.  I’ve no clue at all how well I’ll do, but that shouldn’t stop the fun of taking part in some enjoyable reading.

Who among us doesn’t love a good werewolf tale?  Or imagining that gorgeous man over there shifting into a magnificent big cat?  Some of my favorite stories include a furry male.

That made signing up for Parajunkee’s Shifter Challenge for 2014 such an easy decision.

Read 10 books by December 31, 2014 that have a shifter as the main or a supporting character.  Post a review on the Shifters review page – and just have fun.  How hard can that be?  🙂

Sound interesting?  Then click on the link in this post, or the Shifter’s Challenge badge in the sidebar and join in the fun.

I finally gave in.  I just can’t keep up with two separate book blogs.

I really thought that I could keep up with the reading, posting and such but – I’m just too scattered.  So I’ve combined my two book blogs into one:   Keeper Bookshelf.

You might see some posts where the novel has been out for awhile – but that’s okay.  I review books as I read them, and since many of my reading material comes from the library – I’m on the “hold” list a lot.

So, no matter when the book review shows up – I hope it helps you to decide if a novel is interesting enough for you.  That’s the important part.

(and hopefully, with only one blog to keep updated – the novels will be more current to their publication dates)

Water Bound begins Christine Feehan’s newest series Sisters of the Heart.   This series takes us right back to the time frame of Hidden Currents, the last in The Drake Sisters series…literally where one story ends, the scene changes and we begin again with “sisters of the heart” who also happen to live in Sea Haven – right down the road a bit.  (already in the first novel of this new series we find familiar characters – so our favorites from The Drake Sisters will most likely make appearances here as well)

Rikki Sitmore is a sea urchin diver.  She and five other women who do not share bloodlines but a chosen bond of creating their own family live on a large property in Sea Haven.  Each “sister” has her own reasons for shutting out the outside world and allowing only a select few into theirs.   Each has her own “special” talent.

Rikki has a unique relationship with water.  She loves being in the water, on the water and surrounded by water.  For water fights the fire that she fears is within her.

Lev Prakenskii remembers little more than he has the instincts of a killer, the actions of a survivor and a very bad feeling that he is not going to be able to leave that life behind without a fight for the man within.  Lev’s solid memories begin with the life saving stare of Rikki’s eyes.

Rikki had completed her first haul of sea urchins back to her boat.  As she stood on the deck, preparing to dive once again her shocked gaze was drawn to the huge wall of water rising up out of the ocean seconds before the wave hit her boat, knocking her overboard.  As she tumbled through the turbulent waters, quickly fitting her regulator into her mouth she feels a sudden impact as a barely conscious man slams against her.  He has no diving gear on, and is being battered against the rock shelf.  Rikki reaches him and begins the slow ascent upwards as she shares her air.  Lev knows that he is in trouble, but understands little else.  The woman who’s eyes compel him to live, to reach the surface together – has no idea of the man he is – nor does he.

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Shadow Game is the first book in Christine Feehan’s ongoing  GhostWalker series.  It is a fast paced, compelling beginning to a series that I certainly hope continues for a very long time since I definitely want to know what the future holds for every single member of the Ghostwalker team.

We are introduced to Captain Ryland Miller and members of his special forces team in perhaps the worst of circumstances.  Ryland and his men are caged like wild animals deep within the laboratory headed by Dr. Peter Whitney, the doctor who’s psychic enhancement experiments created the special abilities of the Ghostwalkers.  An experiment that appears to have gone horribly wrong as several members of Ryland’s team have died from side effects of the enhancement process.

Any military special forces member already has an edge over the average person, be it in a specific knowledge or ability or even sheer strength of body or mind.  Imagine if you will, if that military specialist were able to communicate with other members of their team telepathically, if they could ‘suggest’ through that special ability that a guard look the other way for just long enough to slip past them unseen.  These psychic gifts and much more have been given to the Ghostwalker team, yet at a price.  Unable to block out the constant stream of information to their brains, the constant barrage of  ‘noise’ has seemed to have caused an overload for some men who took part in the enhancement program – resulting in their deaths.  Or was it something else…

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Jessie Rayburn escaped from her home town of Baron Hollow, NC and never expected to return.

She knew that something really bad had happened to her when she left as a teenager.  But she could not totally recall the events, only bits and pieces.

As a psychic investigator, Jessie has shields (walls) that keep her sane.  Without those shields in place she could not do the work that is required of her at Haven.  Some of those needed abilities are being blocked by her inability to remember the past.  Jessie is determined to find answers.  Now she needs to move past those shields and find out what really happened to her that night in Baron Hollow.

Unknown to Jessie is that her sister Emma is having nightmares as well.  Only Emma’s nightmares are about horrific killings near home… nightmares of missing women’s experiences, and those women end up dead.

Are they dreams?  Or something more?

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Christine Feehan’s Leopard series is one of my favorites and the addition of Savage Nature only increased my enjoyment of these alpha men and their equally strong women.

This story opens in the Louisiana bayou where Saria Boudreaux  is taking night photograghs of an owl’s nest from a nearby blind.  When lights that should not be there are suddenly flashed nearby, Saria’s gaze silently searches the swamp surrounding her.  The terrified human scream breaks the normal noises of the  bayou and is just as suddenly cut off.  A few moments later Saria hears the furious roar of a leopard near, what the people often call the ghost cats, but she knew better.

Drake Donovan stood on the dock taking in the sights and scents of the Mississippi River.  He had been sent here to investigate a message sent to his boss in an unsigned letter.  A message about large cats, death and possibly shifters.  He knew all too well that the world carried secrets in it’s wildest places, especially since he was one as well.

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