The second volume of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy picks up the story immediately after the events at the end of the first book in the series, Heir to the Empire, with the New Republic reeling from the blows inflicted on it by the Empire’s last remaining Grand Admiral. With the ships of the Sluis Van shipyards heavily damaged from the Empire’s attempt to steal them and Admiral Ackbar stripped of his command in the face of accusations of corruption, Luke, Leia, and Han react to the growing threat facing them. As Han and Luke try to unravel the effort to frame Ackbar, Leia and Chewbacca travel to Endor to meet with one of her attempted kidnappers in the hope of shifting their allegiance. Meanwhile the smuggler Talon Karrde hopes to leverage his way out of the bounty Thrawn has placed on him by offering a valuable secret: the location of the legendary “Dark Force,” a fleet of derelict warships that could tip the balance in the war between the Empire and the New Republic.

In following up his first volume Zahn takes his story of the post-Original Trilogy movies in two key directions. The first is the introduction of the Dark Force fleet, a MacGuffin that serves as a logical goal for the novel’s main characters given some of the goals and motivations the author introduces in the first book. Yet the race for the Dark Force fleet is just one part of a novel that explores further the elements Zahn introduced in Heir to the Empire. Story lines such as Joruus C’baoth’s ongoing efforts to corrupt Luke and Mara Jade’s quest to kill the Jedi Knight play out over the course of the book, providing development without resolution. It makes for an effective middle entry in the trilogy, with enough developments and resolutions to satisfy the reader while propelling them towards the final volume of the series.

Bryn witnessed a murder and is now in protective custody. The murderer happens to be Jace, the local werewolf pack's alpha. Cash, Bryn's former best friend when she was 14 happens to be part of the pack. When he was 15 he left and Bryn had no idea if he was still alive.
It's been 13 years since either have seen the other. His pack targets Bryn for extermination. Cash steps in to save her. They are not on the run from the pack. Let's kiss and make out!
It didn't take much time at all before they are cozy and buddy-buddy again. I would have understood it if it had been a few months or even a few years, but 13?! There was an explaination for what happened to Jace and a Big Bad. The ending was a little disappointing since the BB didn't get what was going to him.

After reading a review a few days ago of a new issue of a Batman comic involving a battle between the Dark Knight and the Batman Who Laughs, I decided to read a collection containing an introduction to the character. Basically the idea behind the Batman Who Laughs is a Batman-Joker mashup created when an alternate-universe Batman is infected with a Joker toxin that rewrote his morals while retaining his ability for strategic thinking. The result instant supervillain.

An evidently it's a popular one, too. What a started out as one of a number of new "Nightmare Batmen" created for an "event" storyline has evidently become a new fan favorite. And while I can see why, it strikes me as a concept that can get old pretty damn quickly. Because, like the Maestro Hulk and the Maker version of Reed Richards in Marvel comics, while creating a powerful evil doppelganger makes for an interesting one-off, it wouldn't take too many defeats for the Batman Who Laughs to become another sad part of the "rogue's gallery."

The Angels-Raph, Enoch, and Michael looked at Hope who had set off with the Angels to Istanbul -Turkey- a day ago. Henri was Hope’s Guardian Angel. Nothing had gone right since Michael had come into Hope’s life in Atlanta. Hope had thought she made a new friend after she filed for change of custody from her dad too her mother. Hope was in a new school where no one knew about her being abducted as a child. Nobody knew about the mark that had materialized upon her neck during her disappearance. The mark designated as part of a ancient Prophecy - she was the Bearer Of The Key to Heaven’s Gate and being the Bearer Of The Key who according to the Prophecy, from whose hands the Fallen would get the Key to unlock Heaven’s Gate and allowing the Fallen  to overturn Heaven. Michael couldn’t love Hope when he may have to kill her to prevent that from happening. Unless they found the key and destroyed it before the Fallen Angel found it.The Fallen Angels were Michael’s rivals as Michael lead Heaven's Army. That’s why they went to Vegas to talk to Enoch who was Heaven's Librarian- an angel who had once been human.They had been playing a dangerous game talking their way into gambling with the Chinese Syndicate that was responsible for the human trafficking ring that took Hope’s friend Maria from her home in Mexico and ended up in Vegas. Hope told Michael s humans. he would willingly go to Vegas to look for the key if he would help her find and free Maria. Lucas was the chief of the Fallen. Lucas mistakenly  believed Hope was the Key.Hope had new powers of intuition that had transferred from Michael to her. Hope’s new powers helped her find and free Maria but that also revealed to Hope that the Key they were looking for wasn’t a literal key, it was the rock Cain used to kill his brother Abel. It was because Cain killed his brother that so any Angels turned against humans. It was Michael protecting Cain that so many Angels hated Michael. Hope’s intuition is getting better and she goes to an antique dealer and he explains how the Westerners raided his lands during the C and they Crusades and they tolke all religious relics when they left with them. Michael comes up with two possibilities and shows Hope two pictures of places and Hope is drawn to the second one so they go to Ireland and they make it to Skellig Michael - the monastery. They don’t find the key- the rock- but they do find Michael’s sister Gabrielle and there is a message for Hope about the Prophecy and what it now means for her.

I liked this book and will look for the third book to this series. This was a little predictable . I advise you to read the first book in this series for a smoother read. I don’t think hope was very smart taking off in Istanbul when she knew there was the possibility that the traffickers could be after her and she knew the Fallen wanted to get a hold of her. I really liked the mystery in this book . I didn’t guess what was going to happen most of the time. I loved the twists and turns in this book. I liked  Michael and Hope together how it is really not acceptable but they can’t help what they feel. I loved their determination to find the key/ rock even with all the pain God was inflicting on Michael for being disobedient. I also liked the mythology and religion in this book. I liked the plot and pace. I didn’t care for the as I felt it was more of a cliffhangers and we all know how I hate them usually and this wasn’t an exception. If it wasn’t for that it would have been a higher score. Like a 4. But with that and a few other things it came out a three but I am glad I read this and want to find the next one

A decade ago, wolf shifter Cash Burns severed all ties to his past in order to protect his best friend, the childhood sweetheart he has never forgotten. When she's targeted for assassination by his pack on Christmas Eve, he's the only one who can save her…but at a cost greater than he can afford. 

Haunted by a tragic secret, Brynn McKenzie has been fighting for survival, alone in a world she doesn't fit. She's on the run for her life, forced to choose between redemption and survival. She has nowhere to turn, until the man who walked away from her so long ago appears in her hotel room with a knife and a promise she can't afford to believe. 

When passion ignites between Bryn and Cash, will it shatter what little hope they have for survival, or make them stronger than they ever thought they'd be?