Touch of Power by Maria V Snyder

Synopsis from Goodreads: Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan assumes their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Territories, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos.

Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture. Their leader, an enigmatic captor-protector with powers of his own, is unequivocal in his demands: Avry must heal a plague-stricken prince—leader of a campaign against her people. As they traverse the daunting Nine Mountains, beset by mercenaries and magical dangers, Avry must decide who is worth healing and what is worth dying for. Because the price of peace may well be her life...

My thoughts: Touch of Power has a strong female lead character, Avry, who is captured for her healing powers by a group of men trying to save their Prince from the plague. Along the journey to save Prince Ryne, Avry must decide if the Prince is worth giving up her own life for or if there is another even worse fate awaiting her. She also begins to wonder how the plague really started and what the Healers' Guild were really doing.

I really enjoyed this book. It was very reminiscent of Poison Study, Maria's first book which I absolutely adored.Once again I enjoyed reading an adventure story set in a fantasy world. The characters were really interesting and I love the way that the background characters made the story even more interesting.

I feel like I would like to know more about Avry and her powers, I'm really looking forward to more from this series! 

Reviewed as part of the Touch of Power blog tour.

Alpha by Rachel Vincent

Everything is about to change for werecat Faythe when her father is ousted from the council that controls their secret world. And a shocking tragedy jeopardises her future as Alpha of the pride.

Now a rebel on the run, Faythe's biggest fight lies ahead. Old allies from the supernatural world are ready to stand by her side. And weretoms Marc and Jace would give their very souls in the duel for Faythe's heart...

Yet as their enemies draw near Faythe knows that she - and she alone - can lead the pride into what may be their final battle.

My thoughts: This is the final book in the Shifters series and, having not read the previous books, I was a bit worried that I'd be missing information that was important for this book, but it didn't feel like that at all.

Obviously I might have enjoyed the book more if I had followed the series, but it seemed to work just as well on its own as there were enough explanations given for me to get the general gist of what had happened before.

The book did seem to start quite slowly for me as most of the time the characters were planning and thinking about what they should be doing rather than actually doing anything. However, as the book goes on there is a lot more action and it gets quite exciting.

A big part of the story is the love triangle between Faythe and the two toms, Marc and Jace. Having not followed the series I was a bit confused about why and how she could treat them the way she did.

Overall it was an exciting book that was full of action. For someone who usually steers clear of 'urban fantasy' I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it.

If, like me, you haven't read the series I'd suggest starting with book one, Stray. The good thing with Alpha being the last book in the series is that you won't have to wait impatiently for the next book!

Check out my Q&A with Rachel Vincent.

I received this book from MIRA in exchange for an honest review.