Ash’s review of by Bitter Night (Horngate Witches, Book 1) by Diana Pharaoh Francis
Urban fantasy published by Juno (Pocket) 27 Oct 09

Urban fantasy seems to be a dime a dozen these days so when I pick up a new to me author I try not to expect much. Thankfully, Bitter Night is pretty awesome. It could probably be considered more fantasy than urban, but that never bothered me. The world is easy to understand and the characters, even the nasty ones, are easy to enjoy. The Shadowblade warriors, the ones who cannot be in the sun, and the Sunspear warriors, the ones who cannot be in the dark, are an interesting addition the the urban fantasy genre.

Max is a Shadowblade Prime, meaning she is in charge of the group of warriors magically bound to protect the witch Giselle. Her only care is to try to rid herself of the witch, or so she thinks. Everything Max fights for is about to be tested. Max is one tough woman, while being horribly wounded, over and over again, she never once backs down.

The action is non stop and the story and it’s characters are unique and refreshing. Max is a character that I was instantly drawn to. She does what she has too, but she does it her way. She can be harsh, bitter, or mean and she doesn’t make apologies for it. She is who she is and I liked her for that. I was rooting for her to save the day, and come out on top. Actually, I loved most of the characters, and there is a nice variety of them without it becoming confusing.

Max seems to pick up new allies every where she goes, and each one adds to the story. One of those allies which is Alexander, whose POV we also get. Alexander was the Shadowblade Prime to another witch, and he becomes involved with Max and her fight. Through him we can see exactly why so many people are willing to die for Max. Transitioning from one character to another is something that Diana Pharaoh Francis does well. They flow seamlessly from one to the other. Seeing through both their eyes makes the story feel fuller and more alive.

The end is really just the beginning, and Max is finally starting to figure out where she is in the grand scheme of things. I see a lot of potential with this series and I’m looking forward to what happens next.

Grade: B+

SOMETIMES YOU CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES. AND SOMETIMES, THEY CHOOSE YOU…

Once, Max dreamed of a career, a home, a loving family. Now all she wants is freedom…and revenge. A witch named Giselle transformed Max into a warrior with extraordinary strength, speed, and endurance. Bound by spellcraft, Max has no choice but to fight as Giselle’s personal magic weapon — a Shadowblade — and she’s lethally good at it. But her skills are about to be put to the test as they never have before….

The ancient Guardians of the earth are preparing to unleash widespread destruction on the mortal world, and they want the witches to help them. If the witches refuse, their covens will be destroyed, including Horngate, the place Max has grudgingly come to think of as home. Max thinks she can find a way to help Horngate stand against the Guardians, but doing so will mean forging dangerous alliances — including one with a rival witch’s Shadowblade, who is as drawn to Max as she is to him — and standing with the witch she despises. Max will have to choose between the old life she still dreams of and the warrior she has become, and take her place on the side of right — if she survives long enough to figure out which side that is….

Read an excerpt.

Two Quick Quack DNF Reviews by Liviania

It’s rare that I don’t finish a book.  I try to pick up stuff that I think I’ll like and then I’m generous with giving it time to get good.  Generally, I feel picking a book up is a commitment.  It was in late junior high before I began not-finishing books.  On the other hand, it’s something I feel I need to do more.  There’s too much out there to read to waste time on books I’m not into.  However, the reasons I’m not into something may be wildly disparate. 

Soul Catcher (The Outsider, Book 1) by Leigh Bridger
Paranormal romance released by Bell Bridge Books 20 Oct 09

Soul Catcher has an awesome premise.  Reality is made of multiple dimensions and some beings like to travel among them.  Livia is born again and again to throw out unruly demons who negatively affect Earth.  Born with her are a group of protectors, to insure she can do her job.

How do they do so?  Why, they let her grow up ignorant of what her creepy paintings mean and only give her the truth once she’s brutally raped by her demonic enemy who apparently gets her every life.  I had to throw the book at the wall due to this passage:

“We’re here to help you. . . . If you listen to your soul and see past the surface, the evil souls will never seduce you again.”

I stiffened.  “I wasn’t seduced.  I was raped and nearly beaten to death.”

“Yes, but he lured you.  He charmed you.  And all because you didn’t recognize his evil soul hiding behind his handsome face.”

Yeah Livia.  It was your own damn fault you got raped.  Certainly not mine.  I mean, my purpose in being reborn isn’t to help you.  I haven’t known you for years in which I could’ve given you this info dump.  No, there’s no way my teaching you about your powers earlier could’ve prevented the rape.  Not that even then it would still be his fault, since he’s a rapist, not anyone else’s for failing to defend adequately against rape.  Because, you know, not being able to defend yourself against rape means you wanted to get raped.  It means you deserved it.

Book. Wall.  (Followed soon after by the trash can, is my recommendation.)

Grade: DNF

Summary:

From the gothic eccentricity of Asheville, North Carolina, to the terrifying recesses of the Appalachian wilderness, from modern demonology to ancient Cherokee mythology, Soul Catcher follows the tormented journey of folk artist Livia Belane, who has been stalked through many lives by a sadistic and vengeful demon. Livia and her loved ones, including her frontier-era soulmate and husband, Ian, a Soul Hunter, have never beaten the demon before. Now, in this life, it’s found them again.

Read an excerpt here.

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Blood Kin (Blood Lines, Book 3) by Maria Lima
Urban fantasy released by Juno/Pocket 27 Oct 09

Blood Kin has an interesting cast.  The heroine is heir to quite a bit of power, but she has no clue about any of it and would rather remain the family outcast.  She’s got a fairy cousin, a gay werewolf brother, and a vampire boyfriend.  It could be ridiculous, but Keira Kelly’s voice is down to earth.  I’m also willing to forgive a lot in a book that praises the Texas landscape this much.

So why am I setting Blood Kin down?  Because I’m on page 140 of the ARC and nothing has happened, that’s why.  Keira’s grandmother called her home to Canada since she’s now the heir.  Keira says her goodbyes and goes to Canada.  Due to weather, Keira and entourage are stuck in the city for a bit until they can go to the homestead.  In the city, they discover that there’s possibly a Sidhe around that possibly killed a random musician.

I’ve been having a rough couple of weeks.  I need something more compelling than “I kind of like the characters.”  I may try Blood Kin again when I’m less busy, but for now it’s putting me to sleep.  It’s a generally accepted rule of plot that something needs to happen before the book is halfway over.

Grade: DNF

Summary:

The perils of power…

Keira Kelly has come into her full powers, and they are frighteningly strong, creating a distance between her and her human friends in her beloved Rio Seco.  It is time to obey her great-great-grandmother Gigi’s orders and rejoin her family in northwest Canada, where Keira can learn to handle her dangerous new skills.

She’ll have friends with her every step of the way — her shapeshifter brother Tucker, his beloved Niko, and, to Keira’s dismay, her cousin on her mother’s side, Daffyd ap Geraint, the Sidhe prince who suddenly appeared in her life and now refuses to leave — but her vampire lover Adam has insisted on staying in Texas.

And while there are certainly perks to being Family, such as a private Learjet for the flight to Canada and a fabulous penthouse condo overlooking Vancouver, there are threats looming that nobody, not even Gigi, anticipated. Keira’s Sidhe inheritance from her mother is far more important than anyone ever realized, and the fate of the Family may depend upon what she does next….

Read an excerpt here.

Liviania’s review of Amazon Ink by Lori Devoti
Urban fantasy released by Pocket 26 May 09

I discovered Lori Devoti through this site, and instantly snatched up her trilogy about hellhounds.  I enjoyed all three, which definitely made me want to read Amazon Ink.  I also liked that it was about a tattoo artist, since I have a fondness for the culture.  (No, I have no tattoos of my own.  I’m too young.) Unfortunately, we don’t get much tattooing with in the book.  We do get Mel’s sexist attitude, which she works to overcome.

Mel is an Amazon.  After reading the book, I’m still not entirely sure what that entails.  It’s a race of women who can breed with humans, and specialize in weapons, artistry, hearth skills, or priestess skills.  Years ago, Mel left the tribe, taking her daughter.  Her mother and grandmother followed her into exile.  Now she’s getting drawn back in, since someone has been killing young Amazons and leaving them on her doorstep.

I liked Mel.  There are clearly things wrong with the Amazon system, and Mel sees well enough to try to change things.  But she’s clearly a first generation progressive, constantly tangled up by her own prejudices.  (She won’t hire men.  Over a decade as a single mother and she can’t bake, since hearth skills are wimpy.)  Yet she works to be self-aware and tries to accept new attitudes.

There are two love interests, though things don’t go very far with either one.  Reynolds is the detective investigating the girls’ deaths.  He didn’t have enough screen time for me to really get a feel for him or become invested in his relationship with Mel.  It seemed more like a physical attraction.  Peter is the tattoo artist she hires, despite being a man.  He quickly becomes helpful and interacts not only with Mel, but her family as well.  Of course, their relationship is impaired by his sometimes lack of honesty.  Mel left the tribe because of people taking action behind her back, and the events of Amazon Ink do nothing to sooth her trust issues.

Amazon Ink really focuses on a society in flux.  There are girls who are influenced by Mel’s example.  Dana, whose specialty is the hearth, is one of them and one of my favorite characters in the story.  She doesn’t make the best moves but she has a good heart.  Others distrust her no matter what she does.  After all, Mel is fomenting rebellion among the younger generation based on her legend alone.  The mystery never fades to the background, but it’s pretty quickly solved based on very little of the character’s actual detective work.  The romance barely makes it to kissing.  I found it enjoyable and a nice change of pace.  Those picking it up for the standard urban fantasy formula might be less pleased.

This was a good introduction to Mel’s world, and I look forward to what Devoti will do in the next installment now that she’s built up the characters and society.  (I am just one opinion, but I vote that some more Mel/Peter action next time around will not go amiss.)

Grade: B-

Summary:
Meet Mel: Business owner. Dedicated mom. Natural-born Amazon.
It’s been ten years since Melanippe Saka left the Amazon tribe in order to create a normal life for her daughter, Harmony. True, running a tattoo parlor in Madison, Wisconsin, while living with your Amazon warrior mother and priestess grandmother is not everyone’s idea of normal, but Mel thinks she’s succeeded at blending in as human.

Turns out she’s wrong. Someone knows all about her, someone who’s targeting young Amazon girls, and no way is Mel going to let Harmony become tangled in this deadly web. With her mother love in overdrive, Ms. Melanippe Saka is quite a force…even when she’s facing a barrage of distractions — including a persistent detective whose interest in Mel goes beyond professional, a sexy tattoo artist with secrets of his own, and a seriously angry Amazon queen who views Mel as a prime suspect. To find answers, Mel will have to do the one thing she swore she’d never do: embrace her powers and admit that you can take the girl out of the tribe…but you can’t take the tribe out of the girl.

Excerpt available here.

ShannonC’s review of Personal Demons by Stacia Kane
Contemporary paranormal/urban fantasy romance released by Juno 1 Apr 08

I asked Stacia Kane for an ARC of her upcoming release, Personal Demons, because I read her blog and I’ve liked one of the books she wrote as December Quinn quite a lot. I didn’t really know what I was getting into, so I didn’t have much time to develop any preconceived notions about what the story would be about.

The first thing I should point out about this book is that it’s dark. It’s even scary in places, and she doesn’t skimp on the gory details. This is, after all, a story about demons, and these demons are not always the nicest people in the world. This worked really well for me, because I like horror and ghosts and ghouls and things that bump in the night, but I also know it’s not everyone’s cuppa.

As for the characters, mostly they worked for me. Megan is a likable enough heroine. She’s got her own issues, but she reacts the way I imagine most people would to finding out that they’ve gotten themselves mixed up in demons. Her reactions ranged from disbelief to anger and finally to acceptance. However, she didn’t gel for me as much as I’d have liked, given that this book is told in a tight third-person and all we ever get is her PoV.

I have a feeling a lot of readers are going to love Grayson Dante, the book’s hero. He’s enigmatic, kind of a smart-ass, and holy hell is he sexy! The sex scenes between Dante and Megan were very charged and steamy. Although, that being said, this book ends with a satisfying happy for now ending. It’s clear that Megan and Dante have quite a ways to go before they are officially happily ever after.

As for the rest? The blurb makes it sound like Brian, the reporter Megan has to deal with, is way more of a threat to her than he actually is. I liked Brian, actually, because he seemed like, again, a fairly normal guy who got caught up in weird stuff he wasn’t sure how to deal with.

The plot moves along briskly. The action never really comes to a stop, though there are quiet moments. It’s not all unremittingly dark, either. Megan’s demon protectors, Malifus, Malificarum and Spud provide some wonderful and much-needed comic relief. The only thing I would have liked is for a few scenes to have been expanded upon. There are a couple of moments where we look back on some event that’s just happen and talk about it, where I thought that we should have seen the events firsthand. It’s because of all that that I didn’t entirely feel like I was emotionally invested in the characters.

I definitely enjoyed this book. It’s not without its flaws, but I think for readers of urban fantasy who like lots of action and lots of chills, this book will work particularly well.

Grade: B

When psychological counselor Megan Chase promises listeners to her new radio call-in show she’ll slay their personal demons, they believe her. So do the personal demons.

Megan doesn’t know she’s the only human alive without a personal demon on her shoulder. This, coupled with her psychic abilities, makes her a valuable weapon for any demon mob-like “family” lucky enough to gain her allegiance. It also makes her a serious threat not just to the personal demons, but to a soul-sucking Legion of Hell known as The Accuser. The Accuser already has an old score to settle with Megan, and sees this as the perfect time to do it.

But Megan isn’t without allies as she’s plunged back into a world she forgot existed. A member of a competing demon family sees Megan as his ticket to power, and sets about both protecting and seducing her with devilish intensity.

Can Megan, her new demon lover, a witch with poor social skills, and three cockney guard demons named Malleus, Maleficarum, and Spud defeat not only The Accuser, the personal demons, and the ghosts of Megan’s past, but the reporter who threatens to destroy Megan’s career as well?

Read an excerpt.

Read more from ShannonC on her personal blog, Flight Into Fantasy.