Paranormal Romance Review: Ashes by Sarah Gilman

Title: Ashes
Author: Sarah Gilman
Source: Entangled Publishing
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Phoenix Shifter
Length: Novel
Release Date: December 30, 2013

Rating: 4 - Really liked it.  Don't pass it up.
Sexual: 2 flames - Kissing, cuddling. PG-13 rating

Journalist Ambrosia Pellerin accepts an assignment involving the legendary phoenix,
expecting, if nothing else, a little entertainment. Instead, she gets pregnant—by a surprisingly human-looking firebird, Reece Bennu.

Ambrosia and Reece struggle to make the best of their predicament, igniting a tentative romance despite Reece’s furious and powerful relatives who resent the mixed-blood child, a violent human out to prove the existence of phoenixes at any cost, and Ambrosia’s forced separation from her family and isolation in her new home.

Reece’s relatives plot murder while Ambrosia’s family faces a dire medical situation and ask her to return. Will the couple survive when Reece denies Ambrosia his trust and her freedom when she needs both more than anything?

 My Review:
I'm a complete sucker for the odd shifter types, and I've never run across a phoenix shifter before.  This book took the lore of the Phoenix and owned it, integrating it perfectly into a new shifter species.  The majority of this story covers the first couple months of Ambrosia's pregnancy and her coming to terms with the fact that she'll be having a phoenix baby.  There are a few good freak outs before being forced (in a good way) into believing.

Reece is a great guy - willing to step up and take responsibility for his new family, while protecting them from the prejudices of his old family.  The blurb really doesn't do the book justice at all.  There is plenty of action at the beginning, but it settles down into a very beautiful and emotional romance.  Perhaps Sarah Gilman could write another beautiful Phoenix story about Reece's sister.  She sounded like she needed a little love in her life.

Review of Out In Blue (Return to Sanctuary #1) by Sarah Gilman

Title: Out In Blue (Return to Sanctuary #1)
Author: Sarah Gilman http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Source: ARC Requested Review
Genre: Paranormal Romance – Archangels and Demons
Format: ebook – 250 pages
Release Date: August 2nd 2011
Entangled Publishing Website
Author's Website

In a violent world where fallen archangels are hunted for their valuable plumage, Wren knows one thing for certain: the human woman who saved him from a poacher attack will die if she stays with him. The demon responsible for his parents’ gruesome deaths two decades ago pines for the chance to rip apart any woman who stands under Wren’s wing.

Wren doesn’t expect Ginger to stay by his side once she discovers his ability to drain life with a mere touch, yet she lingers. When an unusual talent of her own reveals the location of Wren’s father, Wren’s isolated world implodes. With the help of the demon protectors he’s sworn never to trust again, Wren risks everything to rescue his father, confront the demon who stalks his and Ginger’s every step, and claim his eternity with the most courageous woman he’s ever known.

Rating -

Sexual -

My Review -

First off Out in Blue felt more like an UF novel then a PNR book because of the storyline surrounding the archangels and demons. There was a developing romance between the two main characters, archangel Wren and human Ginger, but the few scenes where the two were intimate read more at a YA level versus that adult level that I am accustom to reading. However, this does not take away from the book it being an interesting novel dealing with the dangerous existence that archangels and demons face trying to exist among humans who want to see them eradicated from the earth.

Wren is an archangel who has decided to live alone and not to trust anyone after the deep betrayal that rocked his existence and forced him to live in solitude from the other archangels. His heartache and sense of despair makes the reader become attached to his plight and wish for him to finally feel something for someone or allow someone to touch his lost soul.

Ginger is that person who may be able to make Wren open up his heart and soul once again. Ginger being raised by a demon after her own parents were killed has always felt a kinship to them and archangels then to her human counterparts who she sees as barbaric in their pursuit to hunt archangels for their feathers. When Ginger rescues Wren she finds that she is drawn to him by some force and is willing to sacrifice everything in order to ensure his safety.

In the process Wren and Ginger find that although they have known each other for a short time period they know that what they feel for each other goes at a deeper level then lust but a connection of souls that were fated to be together. The dramatic events that occur following Ginger's rescue of Wren and their desperate attempt to escape from the hunters on their trail and a nemesis from Wren's past who is bent on destroying everyone in his path makes this a page-turner that will be difficult to put down.

There are some surprising revelations that I will not reveal as to not spoil it for readers, but what I can say is that at 250 pages a lot of action and plot revelations occurs that leaves the reader surprised and wondering what is going to happen next. This is a wonderful start to a series that looks at archangels differently then other novels have and presents a storyline with so many possibilities that readers will be anxious to reader the next installment in the series. I for one can't wait to see what will happen next.