Daddy & Daughter Review: Corrupted by Robert J. Crane {Book 3}

Title: Corrupted
Series: Southern Watch
Author: Robert J. Crane
Publisher: Midian Press
Date of Publication: Nov 6 2014
Source: received from author for our honest opinion of it
Ages:  MATURE 18+

Goodreads Synopsis:

WARNING: Due to graphic language and disturbing content, this book is intended for MATURE READERS ONLY.

Midian, Tennessee is the site of a gradually deepening apocalypse. Demons haunt the town, causing unexplainable deaths that leave local law enforcement mystified. Demon hunter Lafayette Hendricks and Sheriff's Deputy Archibald "Arch" Stan are on the case, however, and with the aid of their significant others and a pair of demonic Officers of Occultic Concordance, they'll chase down every lead they have to find the killer...until they uncover something utterly unexpected. For something dark and twisted has come to Midian with one evil intention: the desire to corrupt innocence utterly and completely...

...something that will burn the very world around them to ash.

 Daddy's Review

I am telling you that this series just keeps getting more and more exciting!  At first, I was a little skeptical about reading these books but my daughter really wanted to challenge me to get out of my "westerns only" reading and try something new.
Well, now I can honestly say I am glad I did.  This writer, Mr. Crane, is darn talented.  It is just sad you can't find him in every bookstore but only online.  I would like to see him everywhere because he definitely deserves it.
I have to say, so far, Corrupted has been my favorite book.  It has a lot of surprises in it, good and bad, and the bad guy this time is pretty sick!  
I swear every time I read these books, it is like there is a movie playing out in my mind.  It is really easy to picture the scenes throughout the book.  
I really enjoy that Arch's wife has a more major part in this book. There are also some pretty funny parts too.  I really like how the whole story seems to be progressing; but I still think the Sheriff should have a more vital part with the gang.
But all in all, Corrupted was so good with super realistic fight scenes that the bad language really took a backseat for me!
I have give this one five stars!


My Review (Daughter's Review)

What I love the most about Robert J Crane's writing is his originality.  Trust me, some of the bad guys in this book you will probably never find them in any other demon genre.  You know you are going to get something totally unexpected and more than likely, it will be hilarious.
I just love how Mr. Crane was able to take something so innocent and healthy and then turn it into some mass killing machine.  Kudos to you, Crane.
We see some of our favorite characters in this as well as meet a few new ones.  I personally, love the warlock even though I know he is a bad guy.  He is just a likable bad guy.
And of course I am loving that Arch's wife is in the action, so to speak.  There is so much more to her and I love that she is being incorporated into the story a little more each time.   I really think that Allison Stan is one of the strongest characters in the book, the quiet brooding strong.
I still enjoy the demon officers, Lerner and Duncan, and think it really opens up the whole gray area that Crane is so good with writing.  Yes, they are demons but are they inherently evil?

There is some major plot twists throughout Corrupted that will have you gasping in surprise and laughing out loud too.
There is one specific scene that really had me thinking of the Ghostbusters movie.   Think of the whole "keymaster, gatekeeper" idea and you will understand.  I loved that scene so much!  Even though it was pretty creepy; it was still pretty awesome!

Overall, Corrupted was a really fun and really intense read.  There was this major darkness (even more so than normal) saturating the whole story line that kept the story from being too crazy and silly; but instead made you deal with some very shocking and intense themes that people today sometimes face.  I feel like each book is leading up to this whopper of a story thread that is going to bring the reader down to our knees.  Each of these books gets harder as there is more things for these people to lose.

Get your own copy at:

Amazon  | Barnes & Noble |

Book Review: Ordained {The Immortal Archives # 1}

Title: Ordained
Series: The Immortal Archives
Author: Devon Ashley
Publisher: Self
Date of Publication: March 25, 2011
Format: ebook, paperback
Source: bought

Normally, the school creates the hunters - not the monsters.
Abby Sorrensten likes to play rough. Ripping the horns off the foreheads of demons, manipulating lightning and setting things on fire with the flick of your wrist can give you a serious rush. So she probably wasn’t the best choice for the Order’s experimental training program. Thirteen years of isolation, lack of affection and a bruised and broken body from horrendous training sessions creates more than just an exceptional fighter. It creates an evil within - an evil responsible for several deaths the night she left.
Two hundred years later Abby resurfaces as the very thing the Order trained her to kill: a vampire. A mythical demon has set his sights on the school and only the ordained hunter has the powers to face it. Unbeknownst to the Order, Abby’s their precious ordained one and their only chance for survival. As much as she would love to leave them hanging, she’s not willing to risk the life of Emily, a fellow friend and hunter also fed up with the organization.

But for Abby, locking herself away in a fortress with angry descendents of those she killed causes suspicions and tensions to run high. Abby must learn the demon’s weaknesses for battle before the Order learns hers.
-goodreads summary

My Thoughts:
 Ordained was one of those books that didn't give me chills all over from excitement but it didn't make me want to stop reading either.  Ever since I seen this book I have been craving to read it.  I was so hyped up for it and I guess I felt like a little let down when I did get my hands on it.  This isn't to say it was terrible book-it wasn't.  I liked this book very much; it just wasn't one of my favorites.  
I liked Abby, our main heroine, a lot.  Abby is powerfully strong, magical, very snarky, and short on temper.  Her husband, Noel, is also a pretty cool character too.  He is smart, calm, and extremely protective.  I think Noel and Abby make the perfect couple: they are like yin and yang to each other.  Noel has this way that he can anchor Abby to her saneness, instead of falling to the darkside.  
I absolutely adored the fact that Noel and Abby are already married.  Most of the time in books, you are seeing the two court each other and fall in love, but with Ordained that has already happened.  We get to see the married couple and the way they are with each other now.  Love it!  Was this a romance?  Not in the traditional sense, but we still got to see the love and devotion between Abby and Noel.  Even though Abby has these good and bad powers swirling around inside her, I felt like she was portrayed as an exceptional caretaker, especially where Emily, our second heroine, was concerned.
Emily, for me, was much more of a mystery.  I knew she was important but at times it seemed like she was just there as bridge between Abby and the Order.  The action was incredible, the fight scenes pretty spectacular, and the villains terrible (especially the ones that were supposed to be good).  
I also like the originality of the idea of a pure vampire compared to the "mutant" vampires.  But the explanations were very confusing and took a little away for me.  I still feel a little lost and hope it gets cleared up better in the second book.  The end is sorta of a cliff hanger which helped make up for the lacking I felt in other areas of the book.  It took a long time to get where we needed to be, but once we were there, the story was incredibly good.
All in all, Ordained is an enjoyable read.  I look forward to continuing the journey in Book 2 and I hope to see Abby, Noel, and Emily grow in their personal lives.
I gave it 3 hearts.  

Get Your Own Copy:  Amazon