Liviania’s review of A Perfect Blood (The Hollows, Book 10) by Kim Harrison
Urban Fantasy published by Harper Voyager 21 Feb 12

Pale Demon injected life into the Hollows series.  It was tense, sexy, and all about the characters.  A Perfect Blood has a lot to live up to.  And it does have a promising plot – witches turning up dead, partially turned into demons, which Rachel is cut off from a great deal of her power.

Unfortunately, A Perfect Blood feels like filler.  Pale Demon pushed Rachel and Trent’s friendly and adversarial relationship forward by forcing them to spend a cross-country road trip together.  By A Perfect Blood, Rachel is (unwisely) ignoring Trent’s calls and stagnating their relationship.  They’ve had sexual chemistry since Dead Witch Walking and Kim Harrison seems to be flirting with letting them consummate their attraction.  But they spend most of this entry clumsily avoiding each other.

Instead of Rachel and Trent fireworks, we get the resolution of mostly forgotten plot threads.  Did Rachel ever get her pack tattoo?  You’ll find out in excruciatingly slow passages with Rachel’s new bodyguard Wayde.  Is her relationship with Malcolm really over?  Is that actually his name?  I can’t remember.  He’s so milquetoast I’d forgotten he existed until Rachel suddenly needed his help.  If that’s not his name, it doesn’t really matter, because the narrative quickly establishes that their brief relationship is over.  Also solved: re-felting Kisten’s pool table.  At times, it felt like Harrison had a list of questions people asked her and was ticking off the answers one by one because it would pad out the slight story.

A Perfect Blood wasn’t all filler.  Jenks and Ivy are both growing and changing.  Jenks might still miss his wife, but he’s moving on.  Likewise, Ivy moved on from her never-happened fling with Rachel.  Her relationship felt out of the blue, since I don’t remember her flirting with the character in question, but it’s nice to see characters in the Hollows acting happy.  It may also be the first mainstream threesome I remember reading.

The action scenes are also well done.  A Perfect Blood introduces HAPA, or the Humans Against Paranormals Association.  This feels clunky to me initially, since they’ve apparently been around for ages but never been mentioned before.  HAPA proves to be a good antagonist, however, so I’ll let it slide.  Although they’d only be decent antagonists during this book, which Rachel is at less than half power.

I think there’s life left in The Hollows.  There are still intriguing plot threads to play out.  There’s some new guys in town.  They didn’t play very interestingly in A Perfect Blood – they were a bit of a deus ex machina – but there are possibilities there.  (Maybe that’s what A Perfect Blood needed: more Al.  He’s barely in this book, but Harrison makes the most of his appearance.  He’s got a wonderfully chilling scene at the end.)  But with A Perfect Blood, I could see the wheels spinning.  Recommended for fans of the series; newbies will want to start elsewhere.

Grade: C

Summary:

New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison returns to the Hollows with the electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed Pale Demon!

Ritually murdered corpses are appearing across Cincinnati, terrifying amalgams of human and other. Pulled in to help investigate by the I.S. and the FIB, former witch turned day-walking demon Rachel Morgan soon realizes a horrifying truth: a human hate group is trying to create its own demons to destroy all Inderlanders, and to do so, it needs her blood.

She’s faced vampires, witches, werewolves, demons, and more, but humanity itself might be her toughest challenge yet.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series:

Liviania’s review of If I Tell by Janet Gurtler
Young Adult published by Sourcebooks Fire 1 Oct 11

I knew almost nothing about the book when I began If I Tell.  That’s a good situation to go into the book with, because it may be slim, but If I Tell covers a wide range of topics, from first love to growing up bi-racial in a small town.

Jaz is seventeen, the same age her mother was when she got pregnant.  Now her mother is pregnant again.  Jaz would be happy – she got along well with Simon, the first real black presence in her life.  But the other night, Simon got drunk and kissed the also-drunk Lacey, Jaz’s best friend.  (Not as gross as it could be: he’s 27; she’s 21.)  A drunk kiss isn’t the end of the world for an adult, but for a teenager . . . well, she’s been betrayed by the two people she’s closest to and the one person she really wants to tell is particularly vulnerable at the moment.

Janet Gurtler is excellent at making Jaz seem like a real teenager.  Every problem is amplified in her mind, and her issues take precedence over the issues of those around her.  But that’s a problem sometimes, because real teenagers are often awful people and it’s hard to sympathize with Jaz.  She tries not to hurt her mom by telling her about the kiss, but decides the best way not to tell her is to avoid her completely.  (Hurtful)  When Jaz finally meets someone else who is bi-racial, she’s rude and dismissive of their experience due to their passing privilege.  (Sorry for the awkward third person, but I don’t want to give the identity away.  It’s a pretty good surprise.)

The slow-building romance between Jaz and Jackson is my favorite part of the book.  He’s a good balance for her.  He’s an already reformed bad boy and thus more reflective than your average teenage boy.  He knows his actions have consequences.  Unfortunately, there’s so much going on in If I Tell that he drops out of the story quite often.

I like how lived-in Gurtler has made her world.  But sometimes I wish she’d cut some things out.  There’s an attempted date rape plot that goes nowhere and is utterly infuriating because no one calls the guy out for getting an underage girl drunk in order to have sex with her.  Jaz gets mad at Nathan and makes it clear that they were never together and are certainly not going out again.  She doesn’t, however, get mad at her friends who are surprised she’s not dating him.

The bullying subplot is also handled awkwardly.  Gurtler creates a head mean girl who has it out for Jaz.  She’s the only true human antagonist in the novel, but she only shows up for two short scenes and delivers a bit of karma to Nathan.  I’m cool with nothing bad happening to her in the end, because plenty of bullies get away with it.  But it feels odd to have the bullying move from general and systemic to personal and then have no further development.

I love Gurtler’s prose, which is smooth and unhurried.  If I Tell is very easy to read.  I enjoyed the realistic approach, but felt it was just too realistic at times.  The action needed to be a little more contained and Jaz could’ve been less bratty.  At the same time, Jaz’s motivations are understandable and it allows her to develop and mature.  I just wish she started growing up earlier.

Grade: C+

Summary:

Jasmine Evans knows one thing for sure… people make mistakes. After all, she is one. Jaz is the result of a onenight stand between a black football player and a blonde princess. Having a young mother who didn’t raise her, a father who wants nothing to do with her and living in a small-minded town where she’s never fit in hasn’t been easy. But she’s been surviving. Until she sees her mom’s new boyfriend making out with her own best friend. When do you forgive people for being human or give up on them forever?

Read an excerpt here.

Liviania’s review of Frostbound (The Dark Forgotten, Book 4) by Sharon Ashwood
Paranormal Romance published by Signet 7 Jun 11

Sharon Ashwood knows how to write a fun paranormal romance.  Much of Frostbound would be cause for an angst fest in other hands.  But Ashwood’s characters aren’t the kind to revel in their own misery.

Talia Rostova just returned home to find her nearly identical, human cousin decapitated.  She’s the prime suspect because she’s a vampire and she has no one to turn to.  She’s been hiding from her human and vampire families as a fashion-obsessed English teacher.  In reality, she’s a clever and resourceful predator.  I enjoyed Talia’s ability to change her worldview.  She’s willing to accept that she doesn’t know everything and things might not be how they seem.

Lore is the alpha of the local hellhounds and currently being pressured to find his mate so that the rest of the pack will be fertile again.  He’s also responsible for keeping the city safe, which is why he takes Talia into custody.  Despite the fact he’s supposed to enforce the rules, Lore is pretty big on following his instincts rather than the law.  He’s willing to risk being wrong in order to be with Talia.

Pretty much, Talia and Lore are likeable because they’re very adult.  They keep their responsibilities and other people in mind, but they don’t trick themselves into believing there’s only one course of action.  They think things through before they do them.  It’s not that they’re never spontaneous or stupidly heroic, just that they manage to use their passion constructively.

The death of Talia’s cousin Michelle isn’t the only thing gone awry.  A vampire is running in the local election and certain factions want to make sure he doesn’t win.  For one thing, he’s loyal to the vampire’s Queen Omara and some other monarchs hold a grudge against her.  Plus, the Hunters aren’t too fond of the idea of a vampire mayor.

The first three books in the Dark Forgotten are pretty closely related, but only two of the previous heroes are given any mention in Frostbound (that I noticed).  Thus, it’s a pretty good jumping in point.  Ashwood has been expanding her world book by book, but there’s not much mythology that new readers need to pick up.

I’m pretty fond of the Dark Forgotten series.  They’re light, breezy, and the romances are believable.  Too many paranormal romance authors forget that people can have dark pasts and still enjoy life.  Frostbound is simply pure entertainment.

Grade: B+

Summary:

As a snowstorm locks down the city, someone beheads the wrong girl. Vampire-on-the-lam Talia Rostova thinks it was meant to be her. And now she’s the prime suspect in her own botched murder and the prisoner of her smoking-hot-neighbor: a hellhound. And the hot-blooded Lore was bred to serve and protect, so he’s not freeing Talia until he’s sure she’s the prey and not the hunter…

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series:

Liviania’s review of Magic Slays (Kate Daniels, Book 5) by Ilona Andrews
Urban Fantasy published by Ace 31 May 11

Magic Bleeds is an almost perfect urban fantasy novel, so husband and wife team Ilona Andrews have a lot to live up to in Magic Slays.  But while Magic Slays falls short of its predecessor, it’s certainly not a step backward for the series.

Kate Daniels and Curran the Beast Lord are truly together.  Much of Kate’s past and connection to the mysterious Roland have been revealed.  Where do you go from there?  Survey says: her mother.  Kate’s mom has been a bit of a nonentity in the past, just a woman who died and barely managed to save her child.  Magic Slays casts what both we and Kate know in a different light.

Kate and Curran, meanwhile, are figuring out how they work as parents.  Kate’s foster daughter Julie is coming home.  At the same time, she’s now recognized as the female Alpha for Atlanta and expected to help keep the youngsters and other troublemakers in line.  In particular, Aunt B asks her to reform Arsenio, a werehyena teen who keeps having sex in public.  (Aunt B steals every scene she’s in, as always.)  Kate’s also expected to learn shapeshifter law and hear petitions.  It’s not a development she’s thrilled with.

She also gets a real case for Cutting Edge investigations when she learns a loose vampire is coming her way.  It’s not only the vampires who are running amok – werecreatures are going rogue as well.  It’s all orchestrated by a secret conspiracy.  Despite culminating in a huge, multi-species battle, it amounts to little.  Neither the world nor the characters are changed. Magic Slays is just a speed bump in the trajectory of the series.  The Lighthouse Keepers are fine as one-off villains, but it’s hard to forget that they have nothing to do with Big Bad Roland.

Plus, much of the emotion directed toward the villains feels false after the conclusion.  Pretty much, this is one of two books I’ve read recently with one serious, small flaw.  In this case, it’s Kate’s powers being a bit too super special.  She promises to never use her ability in that way again, but we’ll see.

Andrews’ worldbuilding continues to be excellent.  Kate’s new business is not an immediate success because her completion is more established and her reputation isn’t spotless.  The Lighthouse Keeper’s motivation makes sense given the changes in society caused when magic came to Atlanta.  There’s little new to explore in the alternate Atlanta, but it’s still important for things to remain consistent.

Little quibble aside, Magic Slays is fast-paced and fierce.  It’s less romantic than previous books, but I don’t feel that establishing the relationship damaged the chemistry between Kate and Curran.  Kate’s confrontation with her father is coming ever closer and until then she has a city to keep safe.  Unfortunately, we have to wait until 2013 for the next Kate Daniels adventure.

Grade: B

Summary:

Plagued by a war between magic and technology, Atlanta has never been so deadly. Good thing Kate Daniels is on the job.

Kate Daniels may have quit the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid, but she’s still knee-deep in paranormal problems. Or she would be if she could get someone to hire her. Starting her own business has been more challenging than she thought it would be-now that the Order is disparaging her good name. Plus, many potential clients are afraid of getting on the bad side of the Beast Lord, who just happens to be Kate’s mate.

So when Atlanta’s premier Master of the Dead calls to ask for help with a vampire on the loose, Kate leaps at the chance of some paying work. But it turns out that this is not an isolated incident. Kate needs to get to the bottom of it-and fast, or the city and everyone dear to her may pay the ultimate price…

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series:

Liviania’s review of Serpent’s Storm (Calliope Reaper-Jones, Book 3) by Amber Benson
Urban fantasy published by Ace 22 Feb 11

Serpent’s Storm is one of two books I’ve read recently that I loved aside from one element.  Amber Benson (yes, Tara of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has been improving with each book in the Calliope Reaper-Jones series, so I’m hoping she’ll deal with it better in the fourth book.

Each book, Calliope has shown she can step up to the plate.  But she’s never taken responsibility – it’s always been forced on her.  In Serpent’s Storm, she finally makes that leap.  But before then, she’s once more thrust into the breach when she unexpectedly becomes Death during what was supposed to be a normal work day.  That is, she becomes Death apart from having to kill the other two heirs apparent – one of whom is her boyfriend.  She also needs to take on the people who killed her father, the previous Death – one of whom is her older sister.  It’s quite the tangle.

Calliope and Daniel don’t spend much time together, but their scenes are well done.  They get a particularly cute moment in the middle of the book, when they’re supposed to be fighting to the death.  Less cute?  Frank, who Calliope has sex with.  Frank, who Calliope has sex with after he uses magic to make her more receptive to his advances when she begins their meeting by fighting him.  It’s creepy and gross.  Calliope knows he coerced her, but everyone still treats the encounter as completely consensual.  That’s double creepy and gross.  I’m not saying that she needs to be crying and devastated after, but thus far it’s only played out as her willfully cheating on her boyfriend, which isn’t what happened.

But Serpent’s Storm is a good, action-filled urban fantasy with plenty of character development.  Several new characters arrive, some with unexpected revelations.  Several old characters make cameos, some with unexpected revelations.  It can be annoying when an urban fantasy heroine makes a power up, but this one makes sense since Calliope has been Death’s heir since Death’s Daughter.  It also works because she still needs to grow into her powers and learn to use them correctly.  She also needs to start thinking ahead of her opponents.  Her narration is irreverent, injecting the right amount of comedy to keep Serpent’s Storm from being terribly depressing.

I’ll be back to see what Calliope Reaper-Jones does next, but I’m hoping there are no more skeevy subway scenes.

Grade: B+

Summary:

Calliope just wants to make it big in the Big Apple like any other working girl. But Callie is also Death’s Daughter, no matter how much she tries to stay out of the family business. And now her older sister has made a deal with the Devil himself to engage in a hostile takeover of both Death Inc. and Heaven-once they get Callie out of the way.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series:

Liviania’s review of Fun & Games (Charlie Hardie Trilogy, Book 1) by Duane Swierczynski
Pulp Thriller published by Mulholland 20 Jun 11

Sybs passed Fun & Games on to me because she knows that I sometimes read comics.  I’m not a big Marvel girl, but I accepted because I had heard of Duane Swierczynski.  I didn’t know enough to have expectations, but I had heard of him.  It paid off, because there’s plenty of fun to be had in Fun & Games.

The book begins with Lane Madden, a cult actress who loves to drive, particularly on a winding mountain road outside of L. A.  A man purposefully wrecks her car and then injects her with drugs.  Lane, being awesome, throws smashed glass into his eyes and throws herself over the guardrail.  But the man isn’t working alone, and the people trying to kill her aren’t going to be stopped so easily.

Did I mention that Lane is awesome?  She is.  She keeps a cool head and remembers her stunt classes.  She’s not equipped to go face to face with the Accident People, but she’s going to go down fighting.  If that means running a man through with a cymbal stand, then so be it.

Fortunately, the house she escapes to is being housesat by ex-cop Charlie Hardie.  He’s got baggage, literally and figuratively, but he’s also good at getting out of tight situations.  Plus, her would-be assassins are scrambling to figure out how to handle this wrench in their plans.  And I’ll admit that Hardie is pretty cool.  He’s a bit less exciting than Lane to me because he’s more typical, but he’s intelligent, which is always a big plus in an action hero.

The violence is sometimes too over the top for my taste, but Fun & Games is a modern pulp story.  (In a review about a book by a man named Swierczynski, you’d think that would be my spelling problem.  No.  I keep typing the title as Fun & James, which sounds like a terrible buddy cop movie.)  I don’t find the computer geek character’s circumstances as amusing as the book wants me too, but I otherwise enjoyed Swierczynski’s humor.  One of my favorite things is the structure – the Accident People get fleshed out, Lane’s and Hardie’s pasts are revealed in due time, and various non sequiturs turn out to have a purpose in the end.  It’s nifty to see everything tie together.

I’m looking forward to the next Charlie Hardie thriller in October.  Hardie gets himself into some interesting trouble during the course of Fun & Games, and I’m curious to see how he’ll survive.

Grade: B+

Summary:

The first of three explosive pulp thrillers arriving back-to-back from cult crime fiction sensation and Marvel Comics scribe Duane Swierczynski.

Charlie Hardie, an ex-cop still reeling from the revenge killing of his former partner’s entire family, fears one thing above all else: that he’ll suffer the same fate.

Languishing in self-imposed exile, Hardie has become a glorified house sitter. His latest gig comes replete with an illegally squatting B-movie actress who rants about hit men who specialize in making deaths look like accidents. Unfortunately, it’s the real deal. Hardie finds himself squared off against a small army of the most lethal men in the world: The Accident People.

It’s nothing personal-the girl just happens to be the next name on their list. For Hardie, though, it’s intensely personal. He’s not about to let more innocent people die. Not on his watch.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s review of Twisted (Intertwined, Book 3) by Gena Showalter
Urban fantasy published by Harlequin Teen 30 Aug 11

Gena Showalter’s Intertwined series has never been light and fluffy, but Twisted takes some dark turns.  This isn’t too surprising considering Unraveled ended shortly after Aden, the hero, got stabbed through the heart.

Aden’s survival has serious consequences for both him and his vampire girlfriend Victoria.  Namely, they’ve been swapping both powers and personalities.  Aden’s not prepared to deal with the monster that lives in her head, nor is she suited to coping with the three souls that live in Aden’s.  Aden is becoming colder, which helps him to rule the vampires, but it hurts their relationship as Victoria becomes more insecure.  I particularly enjoyed the passages through Victoria’s POV.  She understands what’s happening, and she’s pretty good at working through her jealousy to pay attention to what’s really at risk.

Things at the homefront kick into gear when Victoria’s brother Sorin arrives to challenge Aden for the throne.  It’s a fight to the death, but Victoria wants both pugilists to survive.  Aden’s old mates at the home for troubled boys are brought back in a clever way but mostly wasted.  How the fight plays out between Sorin and Aden is genuinely thrilling, however.

Elsewhere, Mary Ann, Riley, and Tucker are trying to track down Aden’s parents and the people who knew the souls in his head before they died.  They’re having success, but Tucker’s still on the baddie’s side.  Of course, usually competent Riley does everything he can to alienate Tucker while letting him in on all of their plans.  (Riley also ends the book with some frustratingly dumb moves.)

Mary Ann and Riley’s problems reflect those of Aden and Victoria – down to Riley thinking about how he and Mary Ann have swapped personalities – but it just doesn’t work as well.  Possibly because we get a decent chunk of their story through Tucker’s POV.  Showalter tries valiantly to make him sympathetic, but it never takes.  His little brother is being held hostage, but he did a lot of damage before that development.  And, “I’m sorry I got her killed because I honestly liked her” seems more loathsome to me rather than less.  Tucker puts a lot of lip service toward escaping Vlad’s control, but that’s all it ever amounts to.

I enjoyed Twisted more than Unraveled, although things kind of fell apart at the end.  Until then, there are a number of good action sequences and several intriguing concepts are explored.  I’m loving Aden and Victoria, but it might be time for Riley and Mary Ann to see other people.

Grade: B-

Summary:

SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD ADEN STONE HAS HAD A HELL OF A WEEK. HE’S BEEN:

Tortured by angry witches.
Hypnotized by a vengeful faery.
Spied on by the most powerful vampire in existence.
And, oh, yeah. Killed – twice.

His vampire girlfriend might have brought him back to life, but he’s never felt more out of control. There’s a darkness within him, something taking over . . . changing him. Worse, because he was meant to die, death now stalks him at every turn. Any day could be his last.

Once upon a time, the three souls trapped inside his head could have helped him. He could have protected himself. But as the darkness grows stronger, the souls grow weaker – just like his girlfriend. The more vampire Aden becomes, the more human Victoria becomes, until everything they know and love is threatened.

Life couldn’t get any worse. Could it?

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series:

Liviania’s review of Secrets of the Demon (Demon Summoner, Book 3) by Diana Rowland
Urban Fantasy published by DAW 4 Jan 11

One of Sybil’s life goals is to convince me to read series out of order.  Sometimes I give in; sometimes I don’t.  It’s hard to resist when she hands me something like Diana Rowland’s Secrets of the Demon.  It is the third book in her Demon Summoner series, following Mark of the Demon and Blood of the Demon.  Bantam published the first two, so DAW downplays their existence.  It took me awhile to figure out Secrets of the Demon is not the first in a series, but by that point I was hooked on Kara Gillian’s story.

Kara becomes one of my favorite heroines within the first three chapters.  She keeps my admiration throughout the novel.  Rowland convinces me that Kara is a policewoman.  Kara believes in following proper procedure and working with her team.  She makes one dumb move that I can think of, and a couple of risky ones, but she’s generally cautious.  Her risks are calculated risks.  Plus, her powers might cause her to work with demons, but she doesn’t trust them unduly.  Best of all, while her love life might be complicated, she doesn’t let anyone make her feel bad about her decisions.

Kara’s caught between Ryan Kristoff, her mysterious partner, and Rhyzkahl, a demon lord.  She and Ryan have a serious flirtation going on, which ends abruptly when Kara agreed to summon Rhyzkahl once a month.  Of course, she made that deal to save Ryan.  She still likes him, but it’s hard when he’s being awful to her and Rhyzkahl is being nice.  At the same time, her widowed best friend Jill has just started a new relationship – and Kara suspects she might be with Ryan.  (Did I mention that Kara realizes she’s talking about herself too much and asks her friend what’s up with her?  And then listens?)

But enough with the relationships!  Kara, Ryan, and Zack’s latest case is the attempted kidnapping of Lida, a rock star.  They suspect it might be a scam for publicity, but there was some serious magic used in the attempt.  Then people tangentially related to Lida’s band begin dying.  Yet they’re so tangential the team isn’t sure the events are related.

Secrets of the Demon is an excellent introduction to Rowland’s Demon Summoner series.  I intend to try to find the first two novels.  (They appear to be readily available on Amazon, at least.  And highly rated.  How did I not know about this series?) But don’t let this convince you that Sybil’s evil plan is working.

Grade: A

Summary:

Homicide detective Kara Gillian has a special talent: she can sense the “arcane” in our world, and there’s quite a bit of it, even in Beaulac, Louisiana. She’s also a summoner of demons, and works on a task force that deals with supernatural crimes. Her partners are attractive and smart FBI agents, but they’re not summoners, and they’re not telling Kara why they are on this special force with her.

To make things worse, Kara has pledged herself to one of the most powerful of demons-a Demon Lord-who helped save her partner’s life, but now expects things in return. Meanwhile, she’s trying to solve a string of murders that are somehow tied together by money, sex, rock music and…mud. But how can she concentrate on the case when she’s not even sure who-or what-her partners are?

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s Duckies Do Series review of The Love by Numbers Trilogy by Sarah MacLean
Historical Romance published by Avon Mar 10-Apr 11

In 2009, Sarah MacLean’s debut The Season got several good reviews on young adult book blogs.  I put it out of my mind since it’s a hardcover, but then her adult romances started showing up on my radar.  I picked up the second book, Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord, when my Borders went out of business.  It convinced me that there’s something to the hype, so I went ahead and read the other two books in the trilogy.

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake
30 Mar 10

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell does her best.  She follows the rules of society exactly and ends up on the shelf.  She decides that it’s time to pick up a few eccentricities.  Her younger sister is already engaged and her brother is a marquess, so their reputations are rather safe.  As for hers, well, she isn’t getting married, is she?  Then she goes to get her first kiss from the rakish marquess Gabriel St. John, who has been looking for a woman with an impeccable reputation to introduce his newly discovered half-sister to society.

I identified with Callie, who overcorrects herself when trying to fit in and just ends up a wallflower.  I also think MacLean manages a plausible premise to explain why her heroine wants to smoke, shoot, and otherwise act modern.  I like how Ralston (St. John’s title) and Callie play off of each other.  He slowly realizes that she’s pretty awesome while she gets to know the real man instead of her idealized version of him.

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake sets the tone for the trilogy.  MacLean’s Regencies are light and funny.  Those looking for serious fare might seek a different author.

Grade: B+

Summary:

A lady does not smoke cheroot.

She does not ride astride.

She does not fence or attend duels.

She does not fire a pistol, and she never gambles at a gentlemen’s club.

Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried—and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she’s vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she’s been missing.

But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss—to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston—charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.

If she’s not careful, she’ll break the most important rule of all—the one that says that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopelessly, desperately in love .

Read an excerpt here.

Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord
26 Oct 10

Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord opens with an excellent prologue.  Lady Isabel Townsend methodically sends away another man who won her hand in marriage in a card game with her father.  She’s been forced to take care of herself, and when the earl dies, she takes advantage of the opportunity to care for others.  She acts as her ten-year-old brother’s steward and opens the earldom to young women in need of shelter – including the pregnant sister of a duke.

Nicholas St. John, “London’s Lord to Land,” has been hired by Duke Leighton to find his sister.  Nick and Isabel instantly connect, but she’s busy trying to hide her secret, which makes him think she’s up to something truly nefarious.  Isabel and Nick also seem like a good match, with their shared interests and practical natures.

Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord is the first of the Numbers trilogy I read and my favorite.  It contains the most laugh-out-loud moments of the three novels.  The epigraphs from the fictional magazine Pearls and Pelisses are not to be missed.

Grade: A

Summary:

“Lord Nicholas is a paragon of manhood.
And his eyes, Dear Reader! So blue!”
Pearls & Pelisses, June 1823

Since being named on of London’s “Lords to Land” by a popular ladies’ magazine, Nicholas St. John has been relentlessly pursued by every matrimony-minded female in the ton. So when an opportunity to escape fashionable society presents itself, he eagerly jumps—only to land in the path of the most determined, damnably delicious woman he’s ever met!

The daughter of a titled wastrel, Lady Isabel Townsend has too many secrets and too little money. Though used to taking care of herself quite handily, her father’s recent passing has left Isabel at sea and in need of outside help to protect her young brother’s birthright. The sinfully handsome, eminently eligible Lord Nicholas could be the very salvation she seeks.

But the lady must be wary and not do anything reckless…like falling madly, passionately in love.

Read an excerpt here.

Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart
26 Apr 11

The problems with Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart start with the cover.  Juliana Fiori, Ralston and Nick’s sister, is clad in some sort of sad sack with a strange slit instead of a pretty dress like Isabel and Callie.  The final novel is more of a sad sack than a funny romp.  Part of its problem is there is no overarching external problem giving it structure.

Juliana is bold, but it’s not because she wants to be, like Isabel and Callie.  She’s bold because everyone expects her to be as scandalous as her mother and she’ll deliver.  After reading about the efforts Ralston and Callie go through on her behalf, it’s a bit frustrating to read her self-pity.  (I could’ve also done with less funny foreigner jokes about her difficulty with idioms.)

The Duke of Leighton, her hero, eventually admits to the fact he’s an ass.  It takes a while, though.  Personally, I’m sad it takes so long for Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart to address Leighton’s treatment of his sister.  I couldn’t get into the guy getting his happy ending until he starts treating his family well.  I don’t need an alpha male in every story, but Leighton is so afraid of his mother and society.  Juliana and Leighton do have a great deal of character development, but the first half on the novel feels stagnant to me.

It’s a decent romance, but it lacks the effervescence of the first two.  It’s a disappointing end to the series.

Grade: C-

Summary:

She lives for passion

Bold, impulsive, and a magnet for trouble, Juliana Fiori is no simpering English miss. She refuses to play by society’s rules: she speaks her mind, cares nothing for the approval of the ton, and can throw a punch with remarkable accuracy. Her scandalous nature makes her a favorite subject of London’s most practiced gossips…and precisely the kind of woman the Duke of Leighton wants far far away from him.

He swears by reputation.

Scandal is the last thing Simon Pearson has room for in his well-ordered world. The Duke of Disdain is too focused on keeping his title untainted and his secrets unknown. But when he discovers Juliana hiding in his carriage late one evening–risking everything he holds dear–he swears to teach the reckless beauty a lesson in propriety.

She has other plans, however; she wants two weeks to prove that even an unflappable duke is not above passion.

Read an excerpt here.

I think Sarah MacLean is an exciting new historical author.  I’m looking forward to The Fallen Angel quartet.  It does sound like it could be a darker set of books, which could be a misstep given the strength of MacLean’s humor.  I enjoyed the Love by the Numbers trilogy, but expect I’ll only reread the first two.

Overall Grade: B

Liviania’s review of Hellforged (Deadtown, Book 2) by Nancy Holzner
Urban Fantasy published by Ace 28 Dec 10

Hellforged does not start immediately after Deadtown, there’s little downtime between the two books.  Vicky may have just banished a demon, but that doesn’t mean her work is over.  She’s just created new problems for herself to solve as the only demon hunter around.  And demon hunters are needed when something is eating the zombies.

She also has a romantic dilemma.  She’s interested in nice guy police detective Daniel.  But her long-distance boyfriend Kane, a werewolf and a lawyer, is more on her mind since he became long-distance.  The love triangle, however, worked better in Deadtown.  Kane gets much more page space in Hellforged, making Vicky’s future decisions seem obvious.

I do like that both guys are good prospects.  Vicky isn’t attracted to the bad boys.  (Not that a bad boy doesn’t show up and try to tempt her.)  Kane crusades for undead rights and Daniel tries to uphold the law.  I’ve been reading a lot of YA lately, and it seems like way too many of the potential boyfriends are assholes.  Reading about two sexy good guys?  Now that’s a good time.

But Hellforged is an urban fantasy, not a paranormal romance.  So Vicky spends a lot of time away from both guys, doing small stuff like learning how to save the world.  She travels to Ireland, in fact, to train under her aunt.  Nancy Holzner wisely raises the stakes before the training sequences.  While reading Deadtown is not necessary, it makes the opening section of Hellforged sadder.  Likeable reoccurring characters are not safe.  It may hurt when it happens, but I do love an author willing to kill characters.  Without that willingness, the climax of Hellforged wouldn’t be as tense.

Vicky is a fine character on her own, as well.  The villain might not be impressed, but she thinks on her feet.  She improvises solutions, using what she knows about the undead and whatever weapons are on hand to keep herself and others alive.  Her trying to learn to be true to herself is a little hokey.  Aunt Mab mostly makes it sounds practical, but it’s a bit more sensibility than sense.

Holzner hasn’t managed to crack my favorites, but I’m definitely going to keep up with the series.  I like Vicky and enjoy reading about her adventures.  The Deadtown series is more straightforward than other stuff I read, but I do like a good action book now and then.

Grade: B

Summary:
After Vicky banished her demon nemesis to the fiery depths of Hell, she thought life would return to normal. But considering she has a werewolf lawyer boyfriend, a zombie apprentice who’s angling to become a pop star, and an eccentric vampire roommate, what is normal, anyway?

Then the supposedly banished Hellion starts to trespass in Vicky’s dreams—just as several of Deadtown’s zombies are viciously attacked and become really dead. When Vicky realizes she’s the only connection between the victims, she suspects that the demon is somehow working through her dreams to become Deadtown’s living nightmare.

What she doesn’t know is that her old enemy brings with it a force more terrifying—and deadly—than anything she’s battled before.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s review of Among Thieves (A Tale of the Kin, Book 1) by Douglas Hulick
Fantasy published by ROC 5 April 11

I buy books on impulse.  I bought Among Thieves because it had the word ‘thieves’ on the cover.  Yes, it was from ROC, an imprint I like.  Yes, the back cover blurb involved hijinks and a book.  But it was the word ‘thieves’ that did me in.  I had just finished rereading the first two Gentleman Bastards books by Scott Lynch in anticipation of the Republic of Thieves release.  Since that book has been pushed back to October/November, I needed a thieves fix.  So I’ll forgive myself an impulse since it answered my needs so neatly.  Douglas Hulick’s debut is exactly what the doctor ordered, albeit a doctor who operates out of a back alley and only takes cash.

Drothe is a Nose for Nicco, one of Ildrecca’s crime lords.  In other words, he sticks his nose where it doesn’t belong and reports that information back to Nicco.  The book opens in the middle of a long, bad day for Drothe.  He was supposed to pick up a reliquary being smuggled, but the merchant didn’t have it.  There are also rumors of unrest in Ten Ways, a small district that none of the crime lords control but all have a presence in.  It’s unrest that will require Drothe’s expertise, both as a Nose and a former resident.  The more he sticks his nose into matters, the more he realizes he’s doomed.

At his side is Bronze Degan, one of the best sellswords in the country (who just might have a thing for Drothe’s sister).  Not on his side: everyone else, including Drothe’s sister, who married into the nobility and would like to forget her more unsavory connections.  For that matter, Degan might not really be on Drothe’s side either.  No wonder Drothe is popping fantasy drugs to keep up with the action.

Douglas Hulick allows things to unfold at a nice pace.  There’s quite a bit of worldbuilding, most of involving Ildrecca’s reincarnating emperor and the consequences of that system of rule.  All of the characters have secrets, but they come clean in logical places instead of dragging it out forever.  The secrets also feel foreshadowed.  While learning more about Drothe affected how I looked at the book, I never felt like Hulick is cheating.  The various twists and turns make sense, which is good, because there are a lot.

If you don’t have time to pay much attention to what you are reading, Among Thieves isn’t the best book to pick up.  If you do have the time to pick through a labyrinthine plot, then go for it.  Hulick allows the status quo to change quite a bit at the end, so I’m eager to see how things will turn out in the next Tale of the Kin.  I might have to reread Among Thieves to make sure I can keep up.  And then I might cry if it gets delayed.

Grade: A

Summary:
Death around the corner …

Ildrecca is a dangerous city, if you don’t know what you’re doing. It takes a canny hand and a wary eye to run these streets and survive. Fortunately, Drothe has both. He has been a member of the Kin for years, rubbing elbows with thieves and murderers from the dirtiest of alleys to the finest of neighborhoods. Working for a crime lord, he finds and takes care of trouble inside his boss’s organization—while smuggling relics on the side.

But when his boss orders Drothe to track down whoever is leaning on his organization’s people, he stumbles upon a much bigger mystery. There’s a book, a relic any number of deadly people seem to be looking for—a book that just might bring down emperors and shatter the criminal underworld.

A book now inconveniently in Drothe’s hands…

Read an excerpt here.

Liviania’s review of Tangled Threads (Elemental Assassin, Book 4) by Jennifer Estep
Urban Fantasy published by Pocket 26 Apr 11

I can’t decide if Jennifer Estep is spinning her wheels with Tangled Threads or not.  If it were a standalone novel, I would love it.  As it is, I feel like very few of the series threads were furthered.  The first and second books in the Elemental Assassin series had one-shot villains.  But in Venom, former assassin Gin Blanco took on one of the Big Bad’s main minions.  It seems like a step back for Gin to be focused on a new enemy.

The enemy in this case is LaFleur, an assassin who electrocutes people and kidnaps a young girl in order to convince a bartender to betray the Spider.  In addition to being hired to kill the Spider, Jonah McAllister (the remaining main minion) entices LaFleur to kill Gin.  I enjoyed the humor in Gin secretly evading her on two fronts.  Plus, all of the action scenes are excellent.  It’s a fun cat-and-cat tale.

As for the series threads, more information is revealed about the night Gin’s family died and Bria Cooper learns Gin’s secrets.  I am happy that Gin told Bria instead of Bria finding out on accident.  It does come at a good moment, too.  Tangled Threads doesn’t come to a standstill for them to discuss their past and their choices.  (Since one became an assassin and the other a cop, they view the same events fairly differently.)

The other cop in Gin’s life, her former lover, is less present in this novel as Gin continues to get over being left by Donovan Caine.  Owen Grayson, conversely, continues to earn Gin’s trust and love.  At the same time, Owen and Gin together are bland.  He fits her too perfectly.  Gin and Donovan’s relationship couldn’t last, but it had spark.  Owen is moving a little too fast for her since she just got out of a volatile relationship, but that problem is quickly resolved.  (And by his sister, rather than Gin.  Mostly.)  There are some nice domestic scenes involving the ensemble since Tangled Threads takes place during Christmas.

I like Estep’s writing and the world she has created.  I got a thrill from the big, dramatic action scenes of Tangled Threads.  But after the plot movement of Venom, it felt aimless.  Yay, Gin defeated an assassin we’ve never heard of before!  Maybe I’m just eager to see Jonah MacAllister and his boss get theirs.  (After all, if an assassin is going to be your protagonist, the antagonists need to be thoroughly awful.)  I’m definitely picking up Spider’s Revenge come October.  It’s the showdown I’ve been waiting to see.  I’m also excited about Touch of Frost, the first book in her new young adult series, which comes out this August.

Grade: B-

Summary:

I’d rather face a dozen lethal assassins any night than deal with something as tricky, convoluted, and fragile as my feelings.

But here I am. Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assassin known as the Spider. Hovering outside sexy businessman Owen Grayson’s front door like a nervous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesn’t shy away from my past—or my present. And right now I have a bull’s-eye on my forehead. Cold-blooded Fire elemental Mab Monroe has hired one of the smartest assassins in the business to trap me.

Elektra LaFleur is skilled and efficient, with deadly electrical elemental magic as potent as my own Ice and Stone powers. Which means there’s a fifty-fifty chance one of us won’t survive this battle. I intend to kill LaFleur—or die trying—because Mab wants the assassin to take out my baby sister, Detective Bria Coolidge, too. The only problem is, Bria has no idea I’m her long-lost sibling . . . or that I’m the murderer she’s been chasing through Ashland for weeks.

And what Bria doesn’t know just might get us both dead. . . .

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series:

Liviania’s review of Right Hand Magic (Golgotham, Book 1) by Nancy A. Collin
Urban Fantasy published by ROC 7 Dec 10

Urban fantasy heroines kick ass.  It’s one of the great things about the genre.  At the same time, heroines who aren’t good fighters are a good change of pace.  There’s more than one way to be strong, capable, and competent.  Nancy A. Collins’s heroine might live in a world of magic, but she’s totally human.  She’s an artist who moved to Golgotham (the supernatural quarter of Manhattan) for the cheap rent.

Tate is actually the daughter of one of the richest men in the country.  But she decided to live oon her own since her parents wouldn’t support her art.  Golgotham is quite the change of pace.  She’s fascinated by the people, but quickly becomes aware that she’s an outsider.  The residents don’t care for the humans who have oppressed them for centuries.  Collins portrayal of fantastic racism is nicely done.  I don’t want to call it subtle, but it isn’t something she beats the reader over the head with.  It’s just a logical aspect of the setting that enhances the reality of Golgatham.

Hexe, a Kymeran Right Hand sorcerer, is Tate’s new landlord and love interest.  Left Hand magic, practiced by most Kymerans, focuses on curses and makes the sorcerer more money.  Right Hand magic runs more along the lines of healing.  Hexe is taking boarders to supplement his income from his magic.  Like Tate, he’s trying to live up to his own ideals rather than his family’s.

The two grow closer together after rescuing Lukas, a young shapeshifter.  They have to keep him safe and figure out how to stop the men who hurt him from hurting other shapeshifters.  I enjoyed watching Tate learn about Golgotham and begin to integrate herself into the world.  I wasn’t so fond of the romantic plot.  I felt she and Hexe worked wonderfully as friends, but I didn’t really feel any romantic chemistry.  I thought they would remain just friends for most of the beginning of the book.  I felt that Tate and Hexe got together simply because that’s what urban fantasy heroes and heroines do.

Some people might be disappointed by the climax since Tate isn’t a fighter but Hexe and Lukas are.  I thought Collins did a good job of involving Tate and allowing her to use her skills to contribute.  I was satisfied by the fact that she was neither useless nor a hindrance.

While the romance underwhelmed me, I thought Right Hand Magic was a breath of fresh air compared to the urban fantasy novels I’ve been reading lately.  I’m looking forward to the next Golgatham novel.

Grade: B

Summary:

Like most Manhattanites, aspiring artist Tate can’t resist a good rental deal-even if it’s in the city’s strangest neighborhood, Golgotham, where for centuries werewolves, centaurs, and countless other creatures have roamed the streets.

Her new landlord is a sorcerer name Hexe, who is determined to build his reputation without using dark, left-hand magic. As Tate is drawn into Hexe’s fascinating world, they both find that the right hand does not always know what the left hand is doing-and avoiding darkness is no easy trick…

No excerpt found.

Liviania’s review of Blackout (Cal Leandros, Book 6) by Rob Thurman
Urban Fantasy published by Roc 1 Mar 11

It seems like many romance readers hate the amnesia plot. Urban fantasy readers complain about it less, likely because it is used less. But I think Rob Thurman used it well. Despite being the sixth book in the Cal Leandros series, Blackout is accessible to new readers since Cal is discovering who he is and what his world is like. (Hint: It’s filled with things that go bump in the night.)

Cal wakes up on a beach. He’s surrounded by dead giant spiders, armed to the teeth, and carrying three fake IDs. There’s only one thing to do: get a haircut and work as a waiter. Okay, that’s what he does due to the generosity of the people in Nevah’s Landing, South Carolina. But pretty soon a man claiming to be his brother shows up – accompanied by a monster.

Readers of the series know that Niko is his brother, Robin is his best friend, and Cal isn’t usually that polite. The personality that Cal develops in the absence of his memories is intriguingly normal, considering that Cal became noticeably insane around Deathwish or Roadkill. Thus, new Cal pulls off two tricks. First, as mentioned before, is introducing new readers to the series. Second, older readers empathize with Niko’s dilemma. Does he help Cal to regain his memories or does he allow Cal to remain ignorant and happy? Old Cal is missed, but new Cal has his good points.

I enjoy character driven novels, so I got a kick out of Blackout. One of the reasons I love the Cal Leandros series so much is the chemistry in the ensemble. At the same time, others might be less satisfied with this entry than me. Blackout focuses much less on the action. Overall, the novel moves somewhat slower. When action scenes do occur, they’re less explosive. I found the trade-off acceptable and certainly won’t skip Blackout when rereading the series. At the same time, if I’m just revisiting one book in the series, it’s not likely to be Blackout.

Rob Thurman’s dialogue and narration remain snappy. Cal might be less prickly and sarcastic in this book, but he’s still a smartass. Not a romantic smartass, however. For those who like a dash of romance with their urban fantasy, another series might be better. Cal’s relationship with Delilah was always more about sex than romance, and at this point it’s definitely over. (Well, aside from one of them potentially killing the other in the future.)

Blackout may not be my favorite book in the series, but I thought it was a good change of pace. The characterization is strong, the story is fun, and the emotional beats work. There’s a reason I look forward to the newest entry in this series every year.

Grade: B+

Summary:

Some things are better forgotten.

I was alone, and I was lost. I didn’t know where I was; I didn’t know who I was. It doesn’t get more lost than that. Knowing what I knew and not knowing anything else at all, why would I want to be in the darkness where monsters hide?

Because killers hide there, too…

Half-human Cal Leandros has always walked a bloody line between keeping his mortal soul free and clear (sort of) and unleashing the horror of his otherworldly heritage. The one thing that’s always saved him is the memory of his brother, Niko, his friends, and those he loves… until now.

Cal wakes up on a beach littered with the recently slaughtered remains of a variety of hideous creatures that were obviously looking for trouble. The fact that he was the one doing the slaughtering doesn’t bother him. The fact that he feels like a natural-born killer doesn’t either. What bothers him is that Cal doesn’t remember Cal anymore…

And he’s not sure he cares.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s review of Ghost of a Chance (Ghost Finders, Book 1) by Simon R. Green
Urban fantasy published by Ace 31 Aug 10

Simon R. Green began writing urban fantasy when the genre was still young. Thus, I’ve heard good things about his work for awhile. I bought one of his books before, only to discover it was the third in the series instead of the first. So I was very happy when I finally got the chance to read his work. Unfortunately, Ghost of a Chance is an unpleasant surprise.

JC Chance, Melody Chambers, and Happy Jack Palmer are a team working for the Carnacki Institute to exorcise bothersome ghosts.  Melody, the only girl on the team, is the techno-geek.  For most of the novel she has to leave her equipment behind, rendering her mostly useless.  (The techno-geek working for the Crowley Project, their enemies, much more wisely carries a laptop.)  JC is charming but gratingly arrogant.  Happy Jack is the telepath on drugs to deal with his abilities.  None of them really rise above their cookie-cutter roles.

The romance in the novel is central, which is kind of strange for a male-oriented urban fantasy.  When exorcising the Oxford Circus Tube Station, JC falls for the recently murdered Kim, who might hold the key to defeating the evil in the subway station.  Through the rest of the novel, JC and Kim are motivated by their instant true love.  (Kim, apparently, never notices that one of JC’s defining attributes is “annoying.”)  I could believe in the love at first sight if the relationship had ups and downs while forming, but it’s smooth sailing.  The only danger to the relationship is external.  JC manages to survive by deus ex machina halfway through the novel, which is very fortunate since that same deus ex machina saves the characters several times.

The human enemies are the best part of the novel.  Erik Grossman is a thug who uses cybernetic technology.  (Okay, he’s fairly flat too.  But you know what kind of flat character everyone is since they’re all introduced with two or more paragraphs of exposition.)  Natasha Chang is the gorgeous telepath with a suspiciously high number of ex-husbands.  She kind of admires JC and develops an interesting rapport with Happy Jack while trying to survive the horror in the tube station.

There’s a creepy horror story somewhere in Ghost of a Chance.  And flat characters wouldn’t hamper a horror story all that much.  But what actually happens is a bloodless adventure centered around a sugary sweet forbidden romance.  (Humans aren’t supposed to date ghosts, so JC will probably face fallout for that in the next book.)  Ghost of a Chance is more lame than terrible.  It feels like an amateur’s effort, rather than the newest release of a respected author.

Grade: D

Summary:

The Carnacki institute exists to Do Something About Ghosts. Lay them to rest, send them packing, or kick their nasty ectoplasmic arses with extreme prejudice.

The institute’s operatives are the best of the best. JC Chance: sharp, brave, charming, and almost unbearably arrogant; Melody Chambers: science geek, techno-wizard extraordinaire who keeps the antisupernatual equipment running smoothly; and Happy Jack Palmer: the telepath with the gloomy disposition, the last person anyone would want navigating through their head.

No excerpt found.

These four reviews are quick quack reviews by Liviania of the newest two books in two series: Jocelynn Drake’s Dark Days and Seanan McGuire’s October Daye books.

Pray for Dawn (Dark Days, Book 4) by Jocelynn Drake
Urban fantasy published by Harper Voyager 29 Jun 10

I haven’t read every book in this series, so I don’t know if Jocelynn Drake has done one from Danaus’s point of view before. I loved it. It’s rare that an urban fantasy with strong romantic elements is entirely narrated by a man. Given that Danaus is a vampire slayer whereas Mira is a vampire, it also gave an interesting look at how differently they approach their world and their relationship.

Drake’s world is complicated, so the fourth book probably isn’t the place for new readers to begin. Older readers should find this a fun entry in the series (even if it does have a small amount of heartbreak at the end).

Grade: B+

Summary:

Pray for salvation . . .

Pray for daylight . . .

Murder has pulled Mira out of the shadows and back into the living world . . .

As the fire-wielding enforcer of the nightwalker coven wrestles with the mind-destroying ghosts of her dark past, the slaying of a senator’s daughter in Savannah threatens to expose her kind to the brilliant light of day. The dawn of chaos has come. The naturi have broken free of their eternal prison to feed on the defenseless and unbelieving of an unprepared Earth.

Mira and Danaus—vampire and vampire slayer—must unite to prevent the annihilation of their separate races. But for Danaus the challenge is intensified, for he must also fight the bori who covets his soul. And Mira, the nightwalker he must protect—whose power is the Earth’s last hope—is rapidly going insane.

Read an excerpt here.

Wait for Dusk (Dark Days, Book 5) by Jocelynn Drake
Urban fantasy published by Harper Voyager 27 Jul 10

Since Pray for Dawn was such a strong entry in the series, I had high hopes for Wait for Dusk. It mostly met my expectations, but I found it less exciting. Mira and Danaus are once more in Europe, this time to discover why vampires are disappearing in Budapest and why no one is in control of the region. Mira’s sometime allies Valerio and Stefan are along for the ride. They help convince Mira to be a bit freer with her displays of violence, which gets on Danaus’s nerves. Of course, Danaus bothers Mira with his concern for an alleged damsel-in-distress.

I like the Drake’s hero and heroine, but they’re far more entertaining when they’re working together than when they’re annoyed with each other. I will still be along for the sixth Dark Days novel – Drake keeps things moving fast and she writes excellent sexual tension.

Grade: B-

Summary:

There is no sanctuary in the night . . .

Feared even by her own kind for her mastery of fire, the nightwalker Mira is summoned by the coven to take her rightful place as Elder. But with this honor comes grave responsibility—a commitment to the annihilation of the unleashed naturi. For now the foul creatures walk the earth—and neither vampire nor human will survive their horrific onslaught.

A tide of blood is sweeping relentlessly across the European continent, as Mira is dispatched to Budapest for the most devastating test yet of her astonishing powers—and falls into a well-laid trap. With the dark secrets that haunt her growing darker by the hour, she must confront the terrible truth of her past and protect her fragile sanity in the face of unanticipated treachery—a betrayal by her trusted ally, her beloved enemy, the vampire slayer Danaus.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series:

A Local Habitation (October Daye, Book 2) by Seanan McGuire
Urban fantasy published by DAW 2 Mar 10

Sybil is corrupting me. Because of her, I keep reading series out of order. This time I only started on the second book, but still. I am sad I didn’t start with the first October Daye book, since it sounds nifty. (Evil twin brothers!) A Local Habitation did have its own attractions. (Evil computer company!) The October Daye novels draw from a variety of mythological influences, but the major ones are Celtic, which always makes me happy. Toby’s past is somewhat complicated, but her world isn’t too unfamiliar. That makes it easy to step in.

The mystery did provide a nice amount of tension – no one expects the main character to die, but there were plenty of other good characters at risk from the murderer. I did find one of the love interests kind of lackluster. He’s married, and no matter how awful the woman he’s married to is, it still seems skeevy.

Grade: B-

Summary:

Now comes the second in the series-from a dynamic new fantasy talent!

Toby Daye-a half-human, half-fae changeling-has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the fae world, retreating to a “normal” life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world had other ideas…

Now her liege, the Duke of the Shadowed Hills, has asked Toby to go to the Country of Tamed Lightening to make sure all is well with his niece, Countess January O’Leary. It seems like a simple enough assignment-until Toby discovers that someone has begun murdering people close to January, and that if the killer isn’t stopped, January may be the next victim.

Read an excerpt here.

An Artificial Night (October Daye, Book 3) by Seanan McGuire
Urban fantasy published by DAW 27 Sep 10

The highlight of the October Daye novels might be Toby’s strange friendship with the Luidaeg. In An Artificial Night, that friendship comes in handy since Toby is battling the Luidaeg’s brother Blind Michael. Toby isn’t the world’s best investigator, so it helps that she knows whodunit almost immediately and just needs to find out how to rescue his victims.

There’s also some interesting developments that will play out in future installments of the series, like Toby’s fetch May Daye. Who can resist a friendly harbinger of death who can’t drive? The second novel is probably a better starting place than this one, but it’s still accessible to new readers.

Grade: B-

Summary:

Experience the thrill of the hunt in the third October Daye urban fantasy novel.

October “Toby” Daye is a changeling-half human and half fae-and the only one who has earned knighthood. Now she must take on a nightmarish new challenge. Someone is stealing the children of the fae as well as mortal children, and all signs point to Blind Michael. Toby has no choice but to track the villain down-even when there are only three magical roads by which to reach Blind Michael’s realm, home of the Wild Hunt-and no road may be taken more than once. If Toby cannot escape with the children, she will fall prey to the Wild Hunt and Blind Michael’s inescapable power.

No excerpt found.

Other books in the series:

Liviania’s review of Bespelling Jane Austen by Mary Balogh, Colleen Gleason, Susan Krinard, and Janet Mullany
Paranormal Romance published by HQN 28 Sep 10

I feel like I should love mash-ups since I love classic literature and horror stories. So far I’ve been disappointed by most of the ones I’ve read. The four authors in Bespelling Jane Austen – Mary Balogh, Colleen Gleason, Susan Krinard, and Janet Mullany – retell the stories instead of simply adding in monsters. It’s the most satisfying example of the trend that I’ve encountered.

Almost Persuaded by Mary Balogh

What if Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth weren’t lovers who parted in this lifetime, but ones who have lost each other in life after life? In “Almost Persuaded,” that’s the case for Jane Everett and Robert Mitford. I enjoyed Mary Balogh’s originality, but felt like she took it too far from the emotional core of Persuasion.

Jane and Robert are avoiding the mistakes of their past lives, not their own mistakes. The pain and subsequent renewal isn’t as encompassing. It is two people falling in love at first sight and then making it work. It’s still a good story, but more common. I had almost completely forgotten Jane and Robert’s characteristics by the end of the anthology.

Grade: C+

Summary:

In this Regency tale of Robert and Jane, New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh brings together former lovers who have seen beyond the veil of forgetfulness to their past mistakes, and are determined to be together in this life, and forever.

Read an excerpt here.

Northanger Castle by Colleen Gleason

I’m not going to lie: Northanger Abbey is my favorite Jane Austen novel. It’s messy and moves from sharp satire to parody on the turn of a dime and never looks back, but it gets me every time. Colleen Gleason meshes its strongest elements well with the world of the Gardella Vampire Chronicles. I enjoyed laughing at James Thornton acting pompous despite being full of shit as much in this novella as I enjoyed laughing at John Thorpe in the original.

It suffers from one of Northanger Abbey’s weaknesses as well. The pacing is just a touch off, with the ending happening rather fast. Luckily, Thaddeus Blanchard and Caroline Merrill do enough verbal sparring beforehand to support it.

Grade: B+

Summary:

Caroline’s obsession with Gothic novels winds up being good training for a lifetime of destroying the undead with her newfound beau, in this Regency by Colleen Gleason.

No excerpt found.

Blood and Prejudice by Susan Krinard

I like fanfiction, not going to lie. I also like meta about fanfiction. Most fanfiction requires knowledge of the original work to be fully appreciated. Part of the joy comes from the interplay with the original text. Anthologies like Bespelling Jane Austen naturally straddle the worlds of original fiction and fanfiction. “Blood and Prejudice” reads the most like a fanfic. (Not that that is necessarily a bad thing.)

Susan Krinard follows the structure of Pride and Prejudice closely, down to a visit to Pemberly. Most of the fun came in seeing how she made an aspect of the original work in an urban fantasy setting. I thought she did an excellent job of making the old story coherent in the new setting. The most drastic changes came at the end, one of which really annoyed me. Elizabeth doesn’t defeat Lady Catherine through courage, cleverness, and manners. She kinda sorta helps while Darcy physically defeats his aunt and then says she was defeated “thanks to [Elizabeth's] courage.”

Grade: C+

Summary:

Set in the business world of contemporary New York City, Liz Bennett joins Mr. Darcy in his hunt for a vampire cure in New York Times bestselling author Susan Krinard’s version of the classic story.

Read an excerpt here.

Little to Hex Her by Janet Mullany

I’ve never read something by Janet Mullany before, but I may after finishing “Little to Hex Her.” It takes a lot of guts to make a modern adaptation of Emma – even one with magic – in the shadow of Clueless. “Little to Hex Her” is no Clueless, but it’s still funny and romantic.

Emma Woodhouse is a witch trying to run her sister’s matchmaking service. Harriet is her werewolf and assistant who just turned Elton into a frog after a disastrous date. George Knightley is a wizard and Emma’s landlord while she lives in her sister’s apartment. And Emma needs their help and more when someone keeps trying to sabotage her service. (Plus she’s only made one successful match!) Emma and Knightley are fairly different from their inspiration in attitude (Mullany’s preface explains her choices), and it works well in the contemporary D.C. setting. “Little to Hex Her” is lighter in tone than the rest of the anthology, but it makes for a nice finish.

Grade: B+

Summary:

Present-day Washington, D.C., is full of curious creatures in Janet Mullany’s story, wherein Emma is a witch with a wizard boyfriend and a paranormal dating service to run.

Read an excerpt here.

Overall grade: B

Liviania’s review of Dreams of a Dark Warrior (Immortals After Dark, Book 11) by Kresley Cole
Paranormal romance published by Pocket 15 Feb 11

Kresley Cole introduced the story of Regin and Aiden at the beginning of her Immortals After Dark series, so I had a number of expectations when I started Dreams of a Dark Warrior. Cole does a good job of meeting those expectations in an unexpected manner by first revealing how little other characters knew about Regin’s ill-fated romance and proceeding from there.

Declan Chase is the hero of the story, not Aidan the Fierce. He’s Aidan’s reincarnation, sure, but he’s also his own person. It took awhile for me to warm up to Declan. He survived his family’s gruesome death by a group of Immortals, which caused him to hate all immortals and work with the Order to capture and study them. Preston Webb, Declan’s boss in the Order, helped to foster that unthinking hatred. Even with believable motivation for his actions, it’s hard to feel sympathetic for a guy who can’t see that torturing a sentient being is wrong. Declan also takes a lot of drugs, since he’s actually a berserker rather than a human. (I didn’t have a problem with the drug use, but I know that sort of thing bothers a lot of people.)

Regin is fun as always. Dreams of a Dark Warrior offers new perspective on how Regin became the person she is, but her character doesn’t make any big changes. She’s a fount of hilarious and deadly bad attitude. She doesn’t lightly forgive Declan’s actions, either. (Luckily, he does not directly torture her as implied in Demon from the Dark. That definitely wouldn’t be forgivable.) For me, Regin carried the romance. She found the things in Declan worth saving. Cole made it work and I’m not surprised that she did.

There are some excellent action scenes in Dreams of a Dark Warrior, mostly involving the immortals’ escape from the Order’s compound. It could seem redundant, since the same events were described in Demon from the Dark, but Cole shifts the focus enough to keep them fresh. She reveals quite a bit more about Lothaire’s motives, and his team-up with the good guys works since he’s still a backstabber and opportunist. He has an interesting chemistry with Regin’s young male cellmate who will hopefully show up again.

The bits that crossover with Pleasure of a Dark Prince are more awkward. Regin, being Lucia’s sister and best friend, is quite eager to help her throughout most of the book. The plot works if you’ve read Lucia’s book. If you haven’t, it is probably awkward to have the heroine be so concerned about a problem that she won’t solve. While Immortals After Dark fans will enjoy Dreams of a Dark Warrior, it’s not as friendly to new readers as most books in the series.

It took me time to warm up to Declan, but I was still satisfied with Regin’s romance. It was slightly disappointing after the high of Demon from the Dark, but Cole has yet to write a truly disappointing book. As is, I’m waiting on tenterhooks to know whose story is coming next. (And will Nïx become an actual goddess?) (Also, will the covers go back to having color? As awesome as the black and white looks, it makes it even harder to differentiate between the books.)

Grade: B

Read more reviews using the Immortals After Dark series tag.

Summary:

HE VOWED HE’D COME FOR HER . . .
Murdered before he could wed Regin the Radiant, warlord Aidan the Fierce seeks his beloved through eternity, reborn again and again into new identities, yet with no memory of his past lives.

SHE AWAITS HIS RETURN . . .

When Regin encounters Declan Chase, a brutal Celtic soldier, she recognizes her proud warlord reincarnated. But Declan takes her captive, intending retribution against all immortals—unaware that he belongs to their world.

TO SATE A DESIRE MORE POWERFUL THAN DEATH . . .

Yet every reincarnation comes with a price, for Aidan is doomed to die when he remembers his past. To save herself from Declan’s torments, will Regin rekindle memories of the passion they once shared—even if it means once again losing the only man she could ever love?

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s Quick Quack Reviews of one science fiction romance and three urban fantasy novels by Cameron Haley, Ilona Andrews, Katherine Allred, and Phaedra Weldon.

Mob Rules (Underworld Cycle, Book 1) by Cameron Haley
Urban fantasy published by Luna 1 Sep 10

I love the world Cameron Haley sets up in Mob Rules. Her sorcerers are LA gang members who get power boosts from graffiti. Domino Riley, an enforcer for Shanar Rashan, is investigating a murder. Riley soon realizes that there’s something odd about Jamal’s murder when she has trouble summoning his spirit. It also means that her outfit is going to war with Papa Danwe’s outfit.

There’s a strong cast of background characters, especially the piskie Honey. The romance with Adan is nice, but ultimately a non-starter. I’m excited for the next Underworld Cycle novel. Riley’s smart and tough and Haley’s worldbuilding is off to a good start.

Grade: B+

Summary:

As LA plunges into an occult gang war, mob sorceress Domino Riley must unravel a conspiracy that reaches beyond the magic-soaked mean streets into a world of myth and legend.

Domino investigates the ritual execution of a mob associate, a graffiti magician named Jamal. The kid isn’t just dead, he’s been squeezed — the killer stole his magical power or “juice.” Domino summons Jamal’s shade, and the ghost points to Adan Rashan as his killer. This is tricky, because Adan is the favored son of Domino’s boss, Shanar Rashan, a six-thousand-year-old Sumerian wizard. It’s even trickier because only a mobbed-up sorcerer could have squeezed Jamal and Adan isn’t a sorcerer.

As the corpses pile up, Domino must confront the killer and unmask an otherworldly kingpin with designs on her gang’s magic-rich turf.

MOB RULES is an urban fantasy novel of murder and magic, betrayal and redemption set in the supernatural underworld of Los Angeles.

Read an excerpt here.

Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels, Book 4) by Ilona Andrews
Urban fantasy published by Ace 25 May 10

I am extremely happy I finally read Ilona Andrews’ works. I read Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, and Magic Bleeds in quick succession. Thus, my memories are somewhat blended together. (I may also spoil parts of the previous novels.) Even with that handicap, I am convinced that Magic Bleeds is a highlight. Quite a bit is revealed about Kate’s mysterious past due to her adversary. Kate’s confrontation with her father is probably going to come soon, and I can’t wait to see how it plays out.

In addition, Curran and Kate’s relationship is progressing nicely. In fact, Kate’s willing to fight to stay with him. Kate’s becoming more connected to her community in a variety of ways and it makes her a stronger person. I can see why this series is so hyped, and I must say that it’s living up to all the nice things people say.

Grade: A

Summary:
Kate Daniels cleans up the paranormal problems no one else wants to deal with-especially if they involve Atlanta’s shapeshifting community.

And now there’s a new player in town-a foe that may be too much for even Kate and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, to handle. Because this time, Kate will be taking on family.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Close Contact (Alien Affairs, Book 2) by Katherine Allred
Science fiction romance published by Harper Voyager 8 Jun 10

Science fiction romances aren’t that common, so I was somewhat excited by this one. Echo Adams is a Genetically Engineered Person with psi abilities. Now, instead of planning parties, she’s attempting to steal back a stolen crystal on a far-off planet and falling in love with the commander of the king’s army. But there’s something strange about Reynard and his fellow Madreans.

I found this one a little disappointing. I prefer hard SF to soft SF, and all the psi abilities being used might as well be magic. Echo and Reynard’s romance worked fine, but wasn’t overly memorable. The book is, however, better than the cover would lead you to believe.

Grade: B-

Summary:

GEPs just want to have fun . . .

A Genetically Engineered Person and self-proclaimed “party girl,” Echo Adams loves her diplomatic job entertaining alien bigwigs for the Galactic Federation. But the Bureau of Alien Affairs has discovered she’s much more than she thinks—that a rogue scientist endowed her with skills and psi abilities dwarfing those of common GEPs. And suddenly Echo’s luxury life is over, replaced with a far more dangerous one: a special agent expected to not only chase bad guys but eliminate them.

Echo hates being stuck on Madrea—a planet of technophobes off limits to Federation visitors—hunting for a stolen quartz crystal with a powerful alien life form embedded inside. She despises the Bureau’s restrictive rules—especially the one warning her away from the dangerously seductive commander of the king’s army. And if she doesn’t learn how to use her alleged super-psi powers soon, her partying days—in fact all of her days—will be over for good.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Revenant (Zoë Martinique Investigations, Book 4) by Phaedra Weldon
Urban fantasy published by Ace 1 Jun 10

Revenant is the fourth Zoë Martinique Investigation novel and an excellent example of why I like to start series from the beginning. The novel begins with a brief explanation of Zoë’s past. By the third page I was completely lost. She used a number of abbreviations and the timeline was quite confusing, plus it’s a totally made up system of magic. I may give Revenant another change if I can first read one of the earlier books. I’m not sure about the prose, however. It had a strong rhythm, with lots of staccato sentences. It seems like it would be jarring to read a full work written in Zoë’s voice.

Grade: DNF

Summary:

The smart, sassy, single, and “highly original” (#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs) Zoë Martinique is back- and she’s seeking clues on the other side…

Zoë Martinique’s life hasn’t been ordinary for quite awhile. First she developed the ability to travel outside her body at will-where she encountered some seriously weird things. Things that left her with powers that she didn’t really want or need. Still, a person can get used to almost anything- even being a Wraith. Though more often than not, it plays serious havoc with her love life.

But for once, Zoë is glad of her abilities. Bodies are showing up all over Atlanta, drained of blood. They’re beings from another astral plane, called Revenants-and they’re being stalked by her old enemy, the Phantasm. The Revenants are hardly the nicest of creatures-but to preserve the cosmic balance, Zoë will need to put everything on the line to save them…

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

I like reading. Always have, probably always will. It started with easy stuff, like Nancy Drew and the Animorphs. (Not that Nancy Drew and the Animorphs aren’t awesome.) Then my third-grade teacher gave me Watership Down by Richard Adams. I almost always list that one on my favorite books list because it convinced me that I could read outside of the children’s section.

Then I began to roam through several genres. I liked mysteries, fantasy, and science fiction best. Nowadays I’m reading lots of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Er, that and YA fiction, historical romances, and categories with particularly ridiculous titles and/or summaries. Due to my college courses, I’ve also discovered a fondness for medieval literature and literature of the Indian diaspora. I’ve kept one trait: I hate reading series out of order. I’ll do it if I have to, but I much prefer to read without skipping. (Sybil is trying to corrupt me, but I’m resisting.)  But I’ve discarded another trait: I will put books down. If I’m not into it, why waste my time? I have a ton of books to read and not a lot of free time. (Okay, since I graduated and am now looking for a job, I have free time at the moment.)

My first romance was some book my mom left lying around, which is a dangerous thing to do around a voracious book reader. If s/he is bored, s/he will pick your book up and read it no matter how lame it sounds. I’ll admit that I’m still embarrassed by some of the book covers and titles. If I’m reading in public (on the bus, in a waiting room, etc.), then I’m likely to hold my hands very strategically over any cover with naked/half-naked people.

In December 2010 I graduated from UT-Austin. I find it extremely strange to no longer be a student. It does give me time to do things, however. I ask people who know more about that stuff than me to help perfect my resume and cover letters. I read. When I’m not reading, I’m watching movies (anything from a guilty pleasure to arthouse fare), hanging with friends, listening to music (the louder the better), or running (often in the house). I draw. I write. I edit. I talk about food – making food, eating food, food other people eat, food I’d like to eat. I can be a little pretentious, but I’m fun to hang out with if you like puns and homemade baked goods.

Here’s a recipe for my famous Holiday Spice Double Chocolate Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies, adapted from this Smitten Kitchen recipe:

Ingredients:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (homemade, if possible)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
1 cup quick-cooking oats
6 ounces butterscotch chips
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (mini morsels preferred)
6 ounces dark chocolate baking chocolate, chunked (Ghirardelli preferred)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter. Add sugars, salt, vanilla, and almond, then beat well (approx three minutes). Stir in eggs, one at a time. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove in a separate bowl. Add half of the flour mixture to liquid mixture on low. When just mixed, add the second half. Stir in oats, orange zest, butterscotch chips, and chocolates. Drop tablespoons of dough onto the cookie sheets. (They don’t spread much, but they do spread.) Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on rack.

Liviania’s review of Shift (The Shifters, Book 5) by Rachel Vincent
Paranormal romance published by MIRA 1 Mar 10

Sometimes I read other people’s reviews before I write mine, sometimes I don’t. This time I did. I found that a number of people hated the book because they’d enjoyed the first several but lamented Faythe’s lack of growth. This surprised me considering I finished SHIFT thinking that it was the kind of book that made me glad I stick with a meh series if I believe it has potential.

When I reviewed Rogue, I noted that Faythe showed a lack of growth, I liked Jace, and Faythe’s relationship with Marc seemed borderline abusive. In my review of Pride, I noted Faythe’s sledgehammer-like attempts at politics. I must admit, Faythe is still about as subtle as a sledgehammer.  But by golly, I couldn’t help but feel proud when she attempted negotiations as a first course of action instead of act-macho, think-later.  It’s something the Faythe of the early books would not have attempted.

SHIFT also kicks the love triangle into high gear.  Jace starts acting like the alpha I thought he would become back in the early books.  (I had a comment debate about this, somewhere, but alas it is lost since my google-fu is not strong enough.)  Now, my discussion is going to get a bit spoilery about what happens in the relationships, so you might want to skip to the last paragraph if you want everything to be a complete surprise.

Faythe cheats on Marc with Jace.  I know that cheating is fairly verboten in romance novels.  But Faythe is young, sheltered, has only had one serious boyfriend, and her brother just died.  I see Marc not immediately tearing Jace apart as character growth, not derailment.  He’s acting rationally, not according to his instincts.  A theme of the entire series has been that the way the pack usually does things is wrong and that they need to modernize.  Exploring your romantic and sexual options is pretty modern.

Cheating is a hot button subject.  Perhaps I would hate the romantic storyline more if I hadn’t always liked Jace and been somewhat averse to Marc.  Either way, I’ve already bought the final book and intend to read it to discover how the love triangle plays out as much as to see the war between the werecat factions.

The Shifters will never be my favorite series.  But Vincent took a shaky beginning and turned it into something more solid and satisfying.  I wanted to slap the Faythe of Stray and Rogue.  The Faythe of Prey and Shift is a more interesting and adult heroine.  A lot of people apparently disagree with me.  The beauty of reviewing is that we get to disagree with each other.

Grade: B+

Summary:
TROUBLE IS IN THE AIR…

Being the first female werecat enforcer isn’t easy. Scars accumulate, but I’m stronger in so many ways.

As for my personal life? It’s complicated. Choices worth making always are. Ever since my brother’s death and my father’s impeachment, it’s all I can do to prevent more blood
from spilling. Now our Pride is under attack by a flight of vicious thunderbirds. And making peace with our new enemies may be the only way to get the best of our old foe.

With the body count rising and treachery everywhere, my instincts tell me to look before I leap. But sometimes a leap of faith is the only real option…
Read an excerpt here.

Liviania’s review of Venom (Elemental Assassin, Book 3) by Jennifer Estep
Urban fantasy released by Pocket 28 Sept 10

Venom is the second book I read recently that I thought was the end of a trilogy instead of just the third in an ongoing series.  It made me sad when I realized the ongoing plot would not be resolved, although Jennifer Estep did bring several threads of the story to a satisfying conclusion.  Of course, it also means I get to enjoy more books with these characters.  I do like Gin Blanco, since she plows through angst quickly.

Gin now knows who killed her parents and needs to face down Ashland’s underworld to avenge them.  First up is Mab’s right-hand giant Elliot Slater, who is pursuing Gin’s mildly friendly acquaintance Roslyn Phillips against her will.  He makes for a truly disgusting and threatening villain, which is good.  (With an assassin for a heroine, the bad guys have to be really bad.)  I wish Gin could go after the head honcho immediately, but I might’ve been more content if I hadn’t thought Venom was the last book of the Elemental Assassin series.

Donovan Caine is officially out of the picture.  Owen Grayson, however, is eager to replace him in Gin’s life.  Heroine Gin may have retired from the assassin business, but pro bono cases just keep cropping up.  As a cop, Donovan couldn’t deal, but Owen knows the criminal side of life.  He owns the kind of weapons that impress Gin.  I like that Gin is willing to move on while she’s still recovering from the break-up.  She’s got a bit of a gooey center, but she is the kind of person who deals brusquely with emotional pain.  Plus, I like how he attracts Gin.  She knows little about him, but she’s kind of interested just because he’s clearly interested.  It’s understandable to want to be around a guy who makes you feel especially desirable.

On the family vengeance front, Bria – Gin’s long lost younger sister – has just transferred to Ashland.  She’s looking for whoever killed her mother and sisters too, but she became a cop.  I liked her level-headedness.  She remains a bit unknown though, since Gin refuses to get close.  I really, really wished Gin would reveal their relationship like Finn (her adopted brother) encouraged.  It’s one of those things that you know is going to bite her in the ass when it finally comes out.

While Bria remains somewhat enigmatic, Venom does reveal more about secondary characters who have been around since Spider’s Bite.  Gin learns more about Sophia and Jo-Jo Deveraux, the dwarf sisters who clean up her messes and heal her wounds respectively.  I liked learning about Sophia, because I think she’s one of Estep’s most creative touches in the series.  Who hasn’t wondered what happens to all those bodies urban fantasy protagonists leave lying around?

Venom might not have been the end, but it looks like there are more interesting things to come.  Gin’s secondary powers are developing now that she’s more comfortable with her magic, and developing a relationship with her sister might be on the horizon.  I hope Gin doesn’t take forever to get her vengeance, but Estep’s series is not spinning its wheels yet.  I’m also excited that Estep has a young adult series coming out in 2011.

Grade: B

Summary:

What kind of assassin works pro bono?

It’s hard to be a badass assassin when a giant is beating the crap out of you. Luckily, I never let pride get in the way of my work. My current mission is personal: annihilate Mab Monroe, the Fire elemental who murdered my family. Which means protecting my identity, even if I have to conceal my powerful Stone and Ice magic when I need it most. To the public, I’m Gin Blanco, owner of Ashland’s best barbecue joint. To my friends, I’m the Spider, retired assassin. I still do favors on the side. Like ridding a vampire friend of her oversized stalker—Mab’s right-hand goon who almost got me dead with his massive fists. At least irresistible Owen Grayson is on my side. The man knows too much about me, but I’ll take my chances. Then there’s Detective Bria Coolidge, one of Ashland’s finest. Until recently, I thought my baby sister was dead. She probably thinks the same about me. Little does she know, I’m a cold-blooded killer . . . who is about to save her life.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s review of Sins of the Flesh (Otherkin, Book 3) by Eve Silver
Paranormal Romance released by HQN 1 Oct 10

Like many, I thought the advent of ebooks would protect me from the embarrassment of a cheesy cover.  But even the ebook can’t prevent someone looking over your shoulder and making a comment about the title, as one of my friends did.  (“Sins of the Flesh?  Sounds racy, Liv.”)  Now, perhaps I could’ve prevented this by paying attention to my guest instead of trying to finish my book.  Nah, that’s crazy talk.

Malthus Krayl, the youngest remaining son of Sutekh, is the joker and the ladies’ man.  His confidence is a little low since his latest conquest walked out in the middle of sex.  It’s all cool though, as he’s about to reap Pyotr Kusnetsov and figure out which deity was responsible for the death of his brother.  Then Calliope Kane, a Daughter of Aset and former mentor to his brother’s lover, shows up.  As do representatives of several other Underworld players.

I’m glad Calliope showed up again, since we saw a little of her in Sins of the Heart.  She’s more uptight than the other two heroines, used to being behind the scenes instead of actively fighting.  She also doesn’t sleep with supernaturals, which is why she ran out on Mal when she almost slept with him in disguise.  I liked how Calliope, the oldest of the heroines, used her experience to improve her ability to fight and to discover important clues in the case.

Mal’s hedonistic-but-focused personality is a good contrast to his brothers’.  While Eve Silver is good at giving them different voices, she does have a tendency to repeat some things almost word-for-word in all three of the books.  (For instance, Sutekh wanted four sons loyal to him.  Instead, he got four sons loyal to each other who both loved and hated him.  All three narrators think the exact same thing about their family, despite their wildly different personalities.)

Things move quickly in Sins of the Flesh.  In addition to Mal and Calliope’s relationship, Silver has to tie off all the plot threads begun in Sins of the Heart or Sins of the Soul.  This causes the progression of Mal and Calliope’s romance from lust to love to sometimes seem rushed.  Opposites do attract sometimes, but Silver relies a bit too much on love at first sight.  Of course, Mal and Calliope get the hottest relationship of the three, which makes up some of the difference.

Overall, I thought the Otherkin series was fun, fast-paced, and absorbing.  There were a few problems, but Silver kept me reading all day long.  I do wish Lokan had a book too, as things end a bit abruptly.  At least all the questions I had were answered.

Grade: B

Summary:

Alastor Krayl’s world shattered when he learned that his father was the Underworld god of chaos and evil. All that saved him from self-destruction were his newfound brothers and the bond they shared as soul reapers. So when one of his brothers is murdered, vengeance becomes Alastor’s obsession. And the enigmatic Naphré Kurata, a witness—or is she the killer?—has the answers he seeks.A reluctant Underworld enforcer, Naphré trusts no one, especially not a seductive soul reaper who makes her burn with lust. Torn between duty and desire, she fights to keep her secrets safe from Alastor, even as she longs to surrender.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s review of Unraveled (Intertwined, Book 2) by Gena Showalter
Young adult urban fantasy released by Harlequin Teen 31 Aug 2010

I like Gena Showalter.  But even an author you really like can write a novel that doesn’t quite work for you. Unraveled falls into that category.  There were parts of it that I enjoyed, but the book felt like it was standing still.

When I reviewed Intertwined, I noted that it had a huge cast of characters and that many of them were underdeveloped – especially those of the voices in Aden Stone’s head.  As Intertwined focused on one of the voices, I expected subsequent novels would do the same.  But Aden’s three remaining voices are mostly shoved to the side in Unraveled.  Poor Caleb gets close to the limelight, but doesn’t get any answers because the other characters don’t have time to figure out anything about his past other than the fact he’s connected to the witches harassing them.

The end of Intertwined introduced the witches, who placed a death curse on Aden, Mary Ann, Victoria, and Riley.  The beginning of Unraveled introduces the fairies, who loathe the vampires.  Aden kills the fairy who tries to kill him and then must hide his deed.  Both of these plots need to be dealt with, but there are also lingering issues from Aden becoming the vampire king.  He needs a vampire queen and they won’t let him pick Victoria without considering other girls first.  Plus, he has to wait to be crowned since the old king might not be dead yet.

The vampire plot takes up most of the novel, with the witch and fairy plots periodically showing up before Aden again turns his attention to the vampires.  (He pretty willfully ignores that he should do something about his therapist.)  That is until the witch and fairy plots take over for a big fight scene to finish the novel.  The witch plot does get a bit more attention when the novel focuses on Mary Ann.  She’s finding out that her ability to dampen other’s abilities might not be that innocent.  She’s also trying to hide the extent of her relationship with Riley from her father.

I liked the development in Mary Ann and Riley’s relationship, as Victoria and Aden’s still fills kind of shallow.  They do have some good scenes together as well, however.  That’s the whole problem with Unraveled.  There are good scenes, but it’s all kind of shallow.  There’s too much going on.  Showalter never focuses on one thing long enough for me to feel invested.  Every time she sucked me in she pushed me right back out to moving on to something completely different without offering any resolution.

I may continue this series just because I like Showalter, but I vastly prefer her Lords of the Underworld series.  She does a much better job there of setting up plots that run through multiple books while still developing and resolving a single book plot.

Grade: C-

Summary:

Since coming to Crossroads, Oklahoma, former outcast Aden Stone has been living the good life. Never mind that one of his best friends is a werewolf, his girlfriend is a vampire princess who hungers for his blood, and he’s supposed to be crowned Vampire King—while still a human! Well, kind of.
With four—oops, three now—human souls living inside his head, Aden has always been “different” himself. These souls can time-travel, raise the dead, possess another’s mind and, his least favorite these days, tell the future.

The forecast for Aden? A knife through the heart.

Because a war is brewing between the creatures of the dark, and Aden is somehow at the center of it all. But he isn’t about to lie down and accept his destiny without a fight. Not when his new friends have his back, not when Victoria has risked her own future to be with him, and not when he has a reason to live for the first time in his life….

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s review of Poison Kissed (Shadowfae, Book 3) by Erica Hayes
Urban fantasy/erotica released by St. Martins 28 Sept 10

Erica Hayes’s prose in the Shadowfae novels reminds me of Francesca Lia Block, particularly the Weetzie Bat books.  It’s hallucinatory dreamy and often has a strong sense of rhythm, due to repetition or anaphora or other techniques.  I like it, but she does change up her style a little for each narrator.  Mina, the narrator of Poison Kissed, is more straightforward and thinks more straightforwardly than most of the other characters.

Mina has a fairly simple goal: find the man who killed her mother and kill him.  That and convince her boss Joey to sleep with her.  Joey, unfortunately, misreads all the signs of Mina’s desire as disgust since he’s a snake-shifter and doesn’t go all the way back to human in his bipedal form.  This is the third book Mina and Joey appear in and his inability to see what every other character sees is annoying.  He manages to decide that Mina backing off during a make-out session is because she realized she didn’t want to touch him at all, when really is was just going too fast for her.

In her quest to find her mother’s killer, Mina manages to implicate herself as a traitor to Joey and lose her banshee powers.  This works pretty well to alleviate some of my annoyance with Joey, as he manages to trust Mina quite a bit despite the evidence to the contrary.  Mina also wavers between trusting Joey or not.  It builds the emotional side of their romance fairly well.

Hayes hasn’t sold me on erotica.  The sex is well-described, but most of the sex is either between people who don’t like each other, interrupted, or later regretted.  I think I’d like the sex more if the characters enjoyed it more.

Poison Kissed is my least favorite of the series so far.  Mina and Joey are on the opposite side of the protagonists of the previous two books, who all worked for Kane.  Kane is the demon who controls Melbourne despite all the others who’d like his slice of the pie.  Thus, the Kane storyline, which ties the books together, seemed disconnected from the rest of the action and slowed things down when it interrupted.  Usually, it pushes the rest of the story forward.

I am going to continue reading the Shadowfae series even though I thought Poison Kissed was a weaker entry.  I find the overarching storyline intriguing and I like Hayes’s writing style.  (I was a fan of the Weetzie Bat books as a teenager.)  Okay, and I like fairies.  Hayes’s has done well in shaping a city of supernatural beings who can do almost anything they want since the demon-in-charge wants his people focused on their desires.

Grade: C+

Summary:

Mina is a banshee whose greatest power lies in her siren song. She’s beholden to her boss Joey, a snake-shifter who once saved her life and now employs her as a gang enforcer. She refuses to upset the fragile balance between them by admitting that she longs for him, that his embrace is the only thing she craves more than revenge for her mother’s death…
When Mina learns that Joey may have been involved in her mother’s murder, fury threatens to spill out of her note by vicious note. She and Joey have always trusted each other to stay alive, but now she’s not sure what to believe. The evidence stacked against him—or the one man who haunts her dreams and burns her blood…

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s review of Sins of the Soul (Otherkin, Book 2) by Eve Silver
Paranormal romance released by HQN 1 Sept 10

As I said in my review of Sins of the Heart, I began Sins of the Soul as soon as I finished the first novel in the trilogy.  I enjoyed Sins of the Soul as well, but it suffered a little from being the second in the trilogy.  This one is heavier on the romance, however.

Personally, I like plot.  So I was somewhat sad that very little happens in way of finding Lokan’s killer during Sins of the Soul.  Mostly, Alastor Krayl – the middle of the remaining sons of Sutekh – works to gain control over Butcher’s soul.  Butcher was a hitman who witnessed Lokan’s death, but his soul was consecrated to Izanami, a Japanese Underworld goddess that distrusts men.  Thus, Alastor can’t reap his soul without complications.

Alastor was my least favorite of the Krayl brothers.  He’s defined by two characteristics: being British and missing his human family.  As for the British part, he didn’t strike me as overly British.  He uses a few slang terms, but a fondness for suits and English toffees does not a Briton make.  Alastor was raised with his mother, unlike Dagan, and he resented that Sutekh pulled him from a loving family and didn’t allow him to return to the Topworld until they were dead.  His feelings made sense, but I preferred the less angsty Dagan and Mal.

Naphré Kurata, his heroine, was the protégé of Butcher.  She killed him after he took a hit out on her.  She’s also a derelict Daughter of Aset, as she refused part of her duties.  Naphré has a strong moral center, but she acknowledges that in many ways she’s compromised her morals in order to survive.  I found her intriguing, but a bit of a blank slate.  An overweening desire for cleanliness wasn’t enough to separate her from the hordes of paranormal assassin heroines.

I was, however, quite fascinated by Izanami and her Shikome.  Though not often present in Sins of the Soul, the two had a presence.  Izanami, particularly, comes off as dangerous without ever raising her voice or doing anything overtly threatening at all.  I’d have liked to read more about her.

On one hand, Sins of the Soul was a perfectly good paranormal romance.  On the other hand, there wasn’t much that made it stick out from the crowd.  In my opinion, it’s the weakest of the trilogy.  Silver’s writing and plotting was good enough to make me pick up Sins of the Flesh instantly to discover how everything worked out.

Grade: C+

Summary:
Alastor Krayl’s world shattered when he learned that his father was the Underworld god of chaos and evil. All that saved him from self-destruction were his newfound brothers and the bond they shared as soul reapers. So when one of his brothers is murdered, vengeance becomes Alastor’s obsession. And the enigmatic Naphré Kurata, a witness—or is she the killer?—has the answers he seeks.
A reluctant Underworld enforcer, Naphré trusts no one, especially not a seductive soul reaper who makes her burn with lust. Torn between duty and desire, she fights to keep her secrets safe from Alastor, even as she longs to surrender.
Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s review of Discord’s Apple by Carrie Vaughn
Fantasy released by Tor 6 July 10

I knew little about the plot of Discord’s Apple before I started; I simply wanted to read it since I like Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series.  So I was quite pleased to see several elements I like used together: Homer, Virgil, King Arthur, a story within a story, and just a touch of politics.

Evie Walker is a comic book author, using real world events to write about a team of commandos.  Now, with the world on the brink of nuclear war, she can barely tell who is good and bad to write the next chapter.  But she’s distracted from her work by the impending death of her father and her apparent assumption as his duties protecting various objects from myth, legend, and fairytales.

Hera wants the apple which started the Trojan War.  Others, including Alex – a former Greek warrior – want to keep it out of her hands in order to keep the chaos of the apple from disturbing the delicate world situation.  I liked Alex and enjoyed the passages detailing his backstory, but I felt like his relationship with Evie was underdeveloped.  It felt like they had to get together because they were the male and female lead.  His relationship with Apollo was more complex and intriguing because it didn’t fall into a standard relationship pattern.

I also felt like that the passages about Evie’s job pulled me out of the story.  She was supposedly scripting the comic, but the passages she wrote were all verse, nothing like a comic script.  (Also, I kept wondering who her letterer was.  I did assume the artist took care of both pencils and colors.)  Tracker’s story held some interest in itself and told about Evie’s character, but it just didn’t feel necessary.

Now that I’ve said what doesn’t work for me, I must admit I liked Discord’s Apple quite a bit.  Vaughn’s near-apocalyptic world of checkpoints and terrorist attacks felt lived-in by the characters and well-developed.  As someone familiar with the story sources she was drawing on, I felt she did a good job of updating the legends while adhering closely to the original material.  Those who haven’t read the Iliad, Odyssey, or Aeneid, might not get as big of a kick out of it.

(I don’t have a translation recommendation for the Aeneid, but I do recommend Fagles’s translations of Homer.  He’s got a direct style that captures the action well, especially in the Iliad.)

Discord’s Apple was a fun modern fantasy.  Those looking for something heavier on the romance might avoid Discord’s Apple, though there is a small love triangle.  Discord’s Apple is a standalone novel, but if Vaugn wrote more in this universe I would read it.

Grade: B-

Summary:

When Evie Walker goes home to spend time with her dying father, she discovers that his creaky old house in Hope’s Fort, Colorado, is not the only legacy she stands to inherit. Hidden behind the old basement door is a secret and magical storeroom, a place where wondrous treasures from myth and legend are kept safe until they are needed again. The magic of the storeroom prevents access to any who are not intended to use the items. But just because it has never been done does not mean it cannot be done.

And there are certainly those who will give anything to find a way in.

Evie must guard the storeroom against ancient and malicious forces, protecting the past and the future even as the present unravels around them. Old heroes and notorious villains alike will rise to fight on her side or to undermine her most desperate gambits. At stake is the fate of the world, and the prevention of nothing less than the apocalypse. In the same month, along with this all-new hardcover, Tor will publish a new novel in Carrie Vaughn’s popular, New York Times bestselling urban fantasy series featuring werewolf talk radio host, Kitty Norville. Kitty Goes to War will be the eighth book in this successful mass market series.

Read an excerpt here. (Follow site directions.)

Liviania’s review of Kitty Goes to War (Kitty Norville, Book Eight) by Carrie Vaughn
Urban fantasy published by Tor 29 Jun 10

The Kitty Norville series is both consistent and surprising.  Carrie Vaughn does a good job of giving the Kitty series a unique feeling among the sea of urban fantasies available.  For one, the series remains light-hearted despite the high body count.

Vaughn doesn’t handle the body count as well in Kitty Goes to War as she did in Kitty’s House of Horrors.  Instead of characters we’ve learned to love dying, the lives of entirely new characters are at risk.  Vaughn does what she can, but with two plots going on I didn’t learn to love the new guys.  The new guys are a group of soldiers who were discovered to be werewolves after their commanding officer died.  Now, Kitty has been enlisted to help get them under control and useful.

The other plot involves Harold Franklin, the CEO of Speedy Mart – a Walmart where supernatural events tend to happen.  It also involves Cormac, though he’s off screen for too much of the novel.  I’ve been waiting with bated breath to read more about him since he left prison.  Vaughn teases us throughout the novel with the knowledge that he somehow changed in prison, but has to keep Cormac off screen to pull the twist off.  However, it does provide for interesting situations in his future appearances.

Yet Cormac’s appearances do help to confirm that the Ben-Kitty relationship is going well.  There are also some funny bits with Ben and the military, who don’t realize that Ben is a closeted werewolf.  I was, like most, originally surprised that Ben and Kitty got together.  But with each book I like their marriage more.  They’re very stable.  They trust each other and work to protect each other’s backs.

It’s also engaging to watch Kitty assert herself as a leader of the soldiers.  She’s managed to climb to the top of the ladder from the bottom, and now she goes into confrontations with confidence.  Kitty’s emotional arc is one of the greatest strengths of the series.

Kitty Goes to War is an acceptable place to start the series.  Some events in the novel pertain to the series arc, but it stands alone well.  After all, Kitty is introducing the soldiers to normal werewolf life.  It’s rare that eight books in a series is still inviting to new readers.

Grade: B

Summary:
Kitty Norville, Alpha werewolf and host of The Midnight Hour, a radio call-in show, is contacted by a friend at the NIH’s Center for the Study of Paranatural Biology. Three Army soldiers recently returned from the war in Afghanistan are being held at Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs. They’re killer werewolves—and post traumatic stress has left them unable to control their shape-shifting and unable to interact with people. Kitty agrees to see them, hoping to help by bringing them into her pack.

Meanwhile, Kitty gets sued for libel by CEO Harold Franklin after featuring Speedy Mart–his nationwide chain of 24-hour convenience stores with a reputation for attracting supernatural unpleasantness–on her show.

Very bad weather is on the horizon.

Read an excerpt here. (Follow directions of site.)

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s review of Faery Moon (A Tess Noncoiré Adventure, Book 3) by P. R. Frost
Urban fantasy released by DAW 1 Jun 10

I dislike reading series out of order.  I always feel like I’m missing something.  Luckily, I was able to understand the magic system in Faery Moon, the third Tess Noncoiré book, without reading the first two.  Tess is a writer and a warrior who accidentally discovers a power struggle that could undermine the stability of several worlds while on vacation in Las Vegas with her mother.

During the novel, Tess makes several surprising discoveries about herself and her mother.  These scenes had excellent emotional intensity even without the build-up that likely existed in previous novels.  Less satisfying were the revelations about Scrap, the imp bonded to Tess who turns into her Blade.  Perhaps it was because I didn’t like Scrap much.  His sense of humor didn’t send me and his sex scenes were kind of gross.  (I get that imps find different things attractive than humans, but I don’t need that much detail.)

The romance worked fairly well, but it was a standard love triangle.  Tess lusts after Donovan Estevez, her former stepbrother and the foster son of a demon, but doesn’t want to let him in since he won’t tell her about his past.  She’s also getting closer to Guilford Van der Hoyden-Smythe, her friend and mentor.  I found him a little boring, even after learning more about his past, and thought their relationship lacked the passion of Tess and Donovan’s.  (I was surprised to learn so much about everyone’s pasts.  It seems like that would’ve been spread out over several books.  It did make it easier to keep up with things, so I guess I shouldn’t complain.)

The mystery of how a group of fairy dancers was enslaved and how to free them works better than the romance and is well-paced.  Tess steadily figures out more facts until she solves the problem.  She truly comes off as competent while much urban fantasy relies on telling the reader that the protagonist is competent.

Faery Moon was an entertaining read and has the advantage of being different in focus from most urban fantasies.  On the other hand, it didn’t excited me enough that I picked up the first two.  I might read P. R. Frost again, but I don’t have the urge to seek her other novels out.

Grade: C+

Summary:
Tess Noncoiré, successful fantasy writer and Celestial Blade Warrior, has gone to a writers’ conference in Las Vegas, taking along her mother, who is depressed over the death of her demon husband.

Taking in one of Vegas’ Big Acts, Tess is amazed to see winged dancers flying about the stage, seemingly unsupported by any wires. Then she discovers the dancers are actually faeries, held captive in the casino against their will. And if Tess and her sidekick demon Scrap don’t help the faeries return to their own dimension, they-and their realm-will die.
Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Liviania’s review of Demon from the Dark (Immortals After Dark, Book 10) by Kresley Cole
Paranormal romance released by Pocket 24 August 10

In a long-running series like Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark, everyone has their favorites.  (Fans of the series – like Lime and me in this instance – will often debate with each other about whose favorites are better.)  Right now, Demon from the Dark is in my top three.  (By the way, my favorites are better so you should take that statement extremely seriously.)

Cole knows how to create a sympathetic alpha hero.  Malkom Slaine is a vemon, possessed of the vicious traits of both vampires and the worst sort of demon.  (I prefer to call them dempires, but Nïx does not appear in this book.)  Oft betrayed, he doesn’t trust easily.  Also, he needed to grow up deadly in order to survive, so he’s become a bit of a beast in order to keep himself safe and to get revenge on those who destroyed his life.  Yet when he meets Carrow Graie and realizes she’s his mate, he resists his instincts and romances her.  This despite language and cultural barriers.  It’s sweet.

Of course, it’s bittersweet because the reader knows Carrow is going to betray Malkom.  (I don’t think she had to, though I understand her decision.)  She’s been captured by a group of mortals bent on destroying the immortals, as has a young witch named Ruby.  Ruby’s mother died during the capture, meaning that Carrow is her new guardian.  If Carrow doesn’t deliver Malkom, they’ll kill Ruby.  Carrow may party hard, but that’s because the pleasure and happiness incited by revelry increase her powers.  She has a core of responsibility and a desire to be a good parents, as good as her parents weren’t.

Thus, Carrow is the more reticent of the pair.   She has to keep her secrets and thus can’t become too intimate with Malkom, as he can access her memories after biting her. She holds her heart back while Malkom offers his freely.  Cole does a good job of showing how Carrow and Malkom are shaped by their pasts and thus why they choose to behave the way they do.

There’s also plenty of material for fans of the series that doesn’t seem like it would be too confusing to newcomers.  Conrad Wroth’s cameo might cause a bit of confusion, but I like Conrad too much to complain.  Mariketa and Bowen show up often, but it makes sense considering Carrow and Mariketa are close friends.  There’s also tantalizing glimpses of Regin and Aiden.  It definitely challenged expectations I had of their relationship based on information in previous novels.

After the last several installments in the Immortals After Dark followed up on previously introduced couples and storylines, it was refreshing to read about a totally new couple.  While I’m excited about many of the couples we’ve already met, Demon from the Dark pushed the series plot forward.  Unlike most long running series, Cole still feels like she has a finish that she’s pushing towards.

Grade: A

Summary:
A dangerous demon she can’t resist…
Malkom Slaine: tormented by his sordid past and racked by vampiric hungers, he’s pushed to the brink by the green-eyed beauty under his guard.

A maddening witch he aches to claim…
Carrow Graie: hiding her own sorrows, she lives only for the next party or prank. Until she meets a tortured warrior worth saving.

Trapped together in a savage prison…
For them to survive, Malkom must unleash both the demon and vampire inside him. When he becomes the nightmare his own people feared, will he lose the woman he craves body and soul?

Read an excerpt here.

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