Browsing Amazon instead of reading again..

Posted on February 24, 2009 by janicu

New urban fantasy that look interesting. I hadn't really heard much about these:

Alisa Sheckley

The Better to Hold You by Alisa Sheckley (Feb 24th, 2009)

"Manhattan veterinarian Abra Barrow has more sense about animals than she does about men. So when her adored journalist husband returns from a research trip in Romania and starts pacing their apartment like a caged wolf, Abra agrees to move with him to a rural mansion upstate.

But while there are perks to her new life, particularly in the bedroom, Abra soon discovers that nothing in the bucolic town of Northside is what it seems. The local tavern serves a dangerous, predatory underworld. Her husband has developed feral new appetites and a roving eye, and his lack of humanity isn't enitrely emotional. And the other woman really is what Abra feels like calling her.

As the moon waxes full, Abra must choose between trusting the man she married, taking a chance on a seductive stranger…or following her own animal instincts."

Moonburn

Alisa Sheckley

Moonburn by Alisa Sheckley (May 19th, 2009)

The sequel to The Better to Hold You:

"Life in Northside gets a whole lot more complicated, as Abra starts getting wolfish between full moons, and builders working on Old Scolder mountain accidentally cut into an ancient crossroads between dimensions."

Death's Daughter

Amber Benson

Death's Daughter by Amber Benson (Feb 24th, 2009)

"Calliope Reaper-Jones so just wanted a normal life: buying designer shoes on sale, dating guys from Craig’s List, web-surfing for organic dim-sum for her boss…

But when her father—who happens to be Death himself—is kidnapped, and the Devil’s Protege embarks on a hostile takeover of the family business, Death, Inc., Callie returns home to assume the CEO mantle— only to discover she must complete three nearly impossible tasks in the realm of the afterlife first. "

Sins & Shadows

Lyn Benedict

Sins and Shadows by Lyn Benedict (April 28th, 2009)

"Sylvie Lightner is no ordinary P.I. She specializes in cases involving the unusual, in a world where magic is real—and where death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you.

But when an employee is murdered in front of her, Sylvie has had enough. After years of confounding the dark forces of the Magicus Mundi, she’s closing up shop—until a man claiming to be the God of Justice wants Sylvie to find his lost lover.

And he won’t take no for an answer."

Mark of the Demon

Diana Rowland

Mark of the Demon by Diana Rowland (June 23rd, 2009)

"When Homicide Detective Kara Gillian finds traces of arcane power on a body, she quickly realizes that this is no ordinary murder. The serial killer known as the Symbol Man is a nightmare that Beaulac, Louisiana thought had ended three years ago, but now he's back for an encore and leaving every indication on the flesh of his victims that he is well-versed in demonic lore.

However, Kara is a Summoner of Demons, and may be the only cop on the city's small force who can stop the killer. Able to see and interact with a world most people can't, Kara soon discovers that the Symbol Man is also a summoner, one who seeks to gather enough arcane potential to summon a Demonic Lord–a potent entity who, if bound, would give the killer nearly unlimited power.

But Kara has encountered this Demonic Lord before and has been unwillingly marked as the Lord's own. With the aid of an FBI agent who may be more than he seems, Kara must stop the killer and keep the Lord from being summoned, all while defying the same Lord's demands that she call him to her–an action that could bring new and terrible meaning to the phrase "Hell on Earth." "

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Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

Posted on February 22, 2009 by janicu

Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson Novels)

Patricia Briggs

Thanks to a contest at Avidbookreader's blog, I won a copy of Bone Crossed. This is the fourth book (out of seven?) in the Mercy Thompson series:

Moon Called (my goodreads review)
Blood Bound (my goodreads review)
Iron Kissed (my review)
Bone Crossed – Excerpt of Chapter 1

Bone Crossed starts off soon after where Iron Kissed left off – Mercy is still recovering from the events in the last novel when the charred, tortured body of Stefan drops out of thin air into the middle of her trailer. The obvious conclusion is that Marsilia, ruling vampire of the Tri-Cities has found out about their involvement in the death of Andre, one of her own, and now Mercy and all her friends are in danger.

*** Spoilers for previous books will likely follow. ***

Overall: OK, this is one of my favorite series, and despite my not liking HC, I think even if I didn't win it, I was going to break down and buy the book. I think I'm predesposed to like this book before even reading it, despite my feeling upset over what happened in Iron Kissed. I, like Mercy, have recovered somewhat, and I want to see what happens next.

I think what draws me to these books are the characters. Mercy of course is a smart, self sufficient character, but she has a lot of support from a very strong supporting cast. I feel happy reading this series because I know I'll get to see the satellite characters again. Briggs' tends to create some very interesting people with mysterious backstories and it's rewarding to catch glimpses of what makes them tick. Mercy is learning about them at the same time, and makes some observations which I don't think I'd have really picked up on myself. Besides some insight into her enemies she also pays attention to Adam, Samuel, and Stefan. Adam seen as her mate is somewhat different from just one of her two suitors. This was great because I think Mercy has to also learn how to trust other people too, so her character is growing because of the relationship. Samuel has a new level of sadness which I think may need to be addressed soon; you worry about him. And Stefan has re-entered her life.

This is of course combined with whatever trouble Mercy has gotten herself into at the time. In Bone Crossed, Mercy is not only dealing with an angry Marsilia, but another problem – an college acquantance needs help with a nearby haunting in Spokane. Mercy's last real involvement with the vampires occured in Blood Bound, so I'd recommend reacquainting yourself with that book before you read this. I had to remember who certain characters were, but it wasn't very hard to figure things out again. Stefan is a likeable character and I sort of missed him. Mercy wasn't very happy with him because of what he did at the end of Blood Bound, so they had a couple of things to sort through, but I think they came to a better understanding after Bone Crossed.

It's pretty hard for me to come up with anything negative about this book. There are only two really nitty things I can think of. One was feeling somewhat suspicious of how seemingly easy it was to get Mercy to Spokane. The wolves thought it would make her safer to look into the ghost issue while Marsilia was angry, but I thought it somewhat unlike Mercy to leave. In the end the two story arcs worked well together so this was practically a non-issue. The other thing was one minor timeline thing which threw me out of what seemed like a pivotal emotional scene. Mercy went to the bathroom in one sentence and dresses, then the very next one she takes a step towards the bathroom. Threw me off. Yeah that's all I have (after racking my brain too)!

So in the end a satisfied sigh from me.

Other reviews:

Avidbookreader – (gave it an A)

Angieville (a glowing review)

The Book Smugglers (gave it an 8 – Excellent)

Dear Author (Jane gave it a B+)

Breezing Through Books (conversation review, gave it two A-, one A)

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Another one that looks interesting

Posted on January 24, 2009 by janicu

Salt and Silver

Anna Katherine

Hmm. Doorway to Hell at a restaurant the heroine works in, guarded fo six years so far by a demon hunter who she's interested in (but he doesn't seem interested in her):

"Allie can’t seem to get it together. Ever since her mom ran away to Rio with Rio—her tennis instructor—stealing Allie’s trust fund and her comfortable way of life, Allie has been floundering. She works in Sally’s Diner, and lives above it. And one night in the basement, she and her friends chant a ridiculous spell—for money, for luck, for love…and open a Doorway to Hell.

Ryan thinks he’s got it all figured out. When the Door opened he appeared out of nowhere, a Stetson-wearing demon hunter dressed in leather. He’s assigned to the Door, and hangs out at the diner, and when the Door disappears he is certain that Allie had something to do with it.

But something strange is happening in Brooklyn. Something bigger than Allie, and Ryan, and the Door in the diner basement. And when a meeting of demon hunters gives birth to a dangerous idea, Allie and Ryan are left to wonder if the fragile feelings growing between them can survive a trip to Hell…or if they themselves will survive at all. "

The author Anna Katherine is actually two people named Anna and Kat. According to their website they "have both worked in the publishing industry for most of their lives. They wrote Salt and Silver to be a jolly romp, starring a type of heroine they love but rarely see in romance novels." Could be good. But is this paranormal romance or urban fantasy? I'm not sure. The writing in the excerpt sort of has a flippant, almost young adult vibe but it's not young adult. The publisher is Tor.

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Hmm.. ogre killing Sleeping Beauty?

Posted on January 24, 2009 by janicu

Night's Rose

Annaliese Evans

Anyone heard anything about this book? Random Amazon surfing led me to find it. The author's website calls it "historical urban fantasy with a faerie tale twist". It's about a Sleeping Beauty who is an ogre killer! I would read that. There also looks to be hints of a love triangle – not sure I'm so hot on that, but I'm still intrigued. It comes out March 31st from Tor/Forge books.

There's an excerpt here.

Annaliese Evan's is a pseudonym for Anna J. Evans who writes erotic romance. I like her blog. It also sounds like she has another pseudonym as a young adult author, but I haven't figured that one out yet.

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Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine

Posted on January 3, 2009 by janicu

Feast of Fools (The Morganville Vampires, Book 4)

Rachel Caine

This is the fourth book of the young adult series about a town run by vampires and the humans who live there. Claire Danvers is a science genius who, along with her friends, finds herself an unwilling participant in an ongoing game between Morganville's founder, the vampire Amelie and Amelie's enemies.

If you have read any of the books in this series, you know that Rachel Caine is fond of throwing cliffhangers into the story. The last book was no different with the unexpected arrival of new vampires to the town of Morganville, lead by Bishop, an ancient, evil vampire who also happens to be Amelie's father. This book spends a lot of time describing what this new twist means to the town, while Claire contines on with her day to day activities like school and working for Amelie on a secret project. Claire's housemates – her boyfriend Shane, goth barrista Eve, and vampire musician Michael all start to feel strain on their relationships caused by the arrival of Bishop and his entourage. One of the biggest strains is the costume ball that is being held to honor Bishop, where every vampire has invited a human date.

Overall: I really feel like Caine does a good job in keeping the scenery changing and the story moving along, but while there are a lot of small scenes between Claire and other characters that occur throughout Claire's day, when I think about the book as a whole I would say only one major thing really happened, and most of the book was a slow set up to that event. In the end I didn't feel very satisfied, and felt like nothing was really resolved, so this book ended up feeling like a filler book within the series, and was there to set the scene for a more significant installment. I found myself putting the book down a lot and checking to see how many pages were left despite the deft scene changes to keep interest.

Claire keeps in character with her sometimes innocent trust of the vampires, but conversely still manages to be one of the smarter characters when it comes to realizing if shes in danger and acting quickly. She seems like the typical teen in her wanting more freedoms from her parents (more apparent in this book where her parents get thrown into the mix) – I could relate to her frustration with dealing with her parents who may not know the whole story, especially with Morganville. The most fascinating parts of this book for me where the scenes with the mercurial vampire Myrnin, and seeing some more facets to other characters (like Oliver, Amelie, and cop Richard Morrell), but I found Eve, Michael and Shane a bit dull in this book. Throughout this series I've found Claire's housemate's responsibility and her boyfriend's willpower in resisting doing anything beyond kissing a bit unbelievable, but I guess this book paints good rolemodels for teen readers there. I think I'll keep reading to see what happens next.

My reviews for:

Book 2 – The Dead Girls Dance (vox / livejournal)

Book 3 – Midnight Alley (vox / livejournal)

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Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

Posted on December 16, 2008 by janicu

Ink Exchange

Melissa Marr

I just finished reading Ink Exchange. I read Wicked Lovely earlier this year and I was told this was a different book, so I decided to try it. Well, it wasn't for me either. There's nothing wrong with the writing, it has a lovely lyrical quality, but I think that somewhere along the line I stopped being able to suspend my disbelief over a supposed near-immortal (kings and their advisers as that) falling in love with a teenage girl. I think I just got too old.

In Ink Exchange, Leslie, who is a friend of Aislinn, the protagonist of Wicked Lovely, decides to get a tattoo. The tattoo she chooses is the tattoo of the king of the Dark Court, Irial, and it connects her to him in a magical way. In the meantime, Niall, adviser to the Summer King and Queen finds himself drawn to Leslie unlike any mortal before her. Leslie in turn is drawn to both men and seems to seesaw her way back and forth between them.

Leslie is first in great pain over her home life, a mom who left, a dad who gambles, and a brother who does drugs and uses Leslie to pay off his debts. Then after her tattoo, which leaches out her real feelings, she's so separate from herself and constantly numbed that it was very difficult to feel anything for her when she felt so little herself. At that point I just found it hard to connect with anyone in this book. I was having no trouble imagining their terrible beauty, but besides hearing how good they looked, their individual personalities and connections weren't developed enough for me. For example, whenever Leslie felt good to be with Irial and Niall I just felt like it was the product of what creatures they were, not real. And Niall's feelings of betrayal contrasted with his supposed experience with these people – why is he surprised? He became uncharacteristically more naive in this book compared to the last one. Despite all this, I was at least satisfied with the ending. I was close to thinking I preferred Wicked Lovely over this second book until I got to the end, but this ending felt more right. And yeah, I did see that Leslie realized something about those feelings that were leeched from her – the fear and hurt, the bad stuff, were needed as much as she needed the happier feelings, in order to feel whole. That growing up on her part, plus the darker aspects of this novel were positive parts of the book. But still, I don't know, it still didn't work overall for me. I was unsatisfied for some reason, but I know that most people who I have seen review this online have reviewed this positively, so I'm probably in the minority. It may be that this novel would have worked better for me if it was packaged in a short story or novella. Maybe then I would have accepted certain things I felt were missing or inferred them more than I have here.

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Spiral Hunt by Margaret Ronald

Posted on December 12, 2008 by janicu

Spiral Hunt

Margaret Ronald

Eos books sent me this novel to review from debut author Margaret Ronald.

The setting is Boston, where a large Irish migrant population goes hand in hand with this urban fantasy moving away from the usual werewolves and vampires, and takes it's supernatural aspects from celtic mythology. Evie Scelan is a bike messenger with a side business as a Finder. Her nickname is Hound because Evie has an ability to track things with scent. At the start of this book, Evie gets a mysterious phone call from ex-lover Frank. Despite her reservations with who he may be mixed up with, and the warning on the phone, she begins to investigate his disappearance.

"He speaks to you to say farewell. I speak to you to warn you, for I may have damned you with my words"

"Hound, watch for a collar. The hunt comes…"

When I started reading this book the first time, I made the mistake of reading it before going to bed, so I was tired. This book, like most urban fantasies, throws you in midstream and I felt confused about things hinted at in the first few pages. The phone call is the beginning and I didn't understand how Evie related to Frank, and then soon afterwards how she related to other characters she ran into. I ended up putting it down, but bogormen convinced me that things got better, and I picked it up again. This time all the references to the magic in Boston, Evie's past, and her avoidance of showing up on the radar of a shadowy group called The Brotherhood started to make more sense. By around page 100 I had enough to grasp the world and enjoy the story itself. The city of Boston is a nice backdrop and I'm sure Bostonites would recognize many landmarks in Evie's adventures.

Evie is a relatable heroine who thankfully doesn't do overly idiotic things, she goes into situations with her eyes open, but still gets into trouble despite her best intentions. She is a no nonsense, working class gal, trying to survive on her own who has a hard time letting other's in because of her talent. Her soft spot seems to be kids and older people, which shows itself through the course of the story. Her circle of friends is small – a couple of people she knew in school, a black-market magic associate, and a brief mention of coworkers at her messenger job, but I hope that as the series continues that Evie will start to open herself up to others. I thought I saw a lowering of walls in a couple of instances in this book and the hint of a possible romance. Her character was my favorite part of the book.

I don't know much about celtic myths, but I knew enough to recognize some of the names of the major dieties, so it was a refreshing experience to read an urban fantasy that references that mythology and I wanted to know more about it after finishing the story. While the bad guys in this tale seemed to be shrouded in mystery until the second half of the book, once all the parties involved in the mystery that Evie unravels show up, this becomes an absorbing read.

I felt that this book had a satisfying ending (I saw this mentioned elsewhere and I agree), even though it is the start of a series. I was happy where it stopped with the promise of more to come. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to Evie and her friends in book 2. I'd recommend this one to urban fantasy fans.

This book comes out on January 27th, 2009. From the author's website I see 3 books planned for now.

Bogormen's review
Mardelwanda's review

My review is for an Advanced Readers Copy so FYI I'm not sure the quotes I posted will exactly the same in the final version.

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Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Posted on November 19, 2008 by janicu

Wicked Lovely

Melissa Marr

I kept hearing only good things about Melissa Marr's debut young adult novel Wicked Lovely, so after visiting copies of the book at the bookstore several times, I finally got hold of one to read.

I'm dense because I didn't notice until I was about halfway through the book that the girl on the cover is holding flowers covered in frost. Which ties in with the story. Doh! It is a lovely cover though even without noticing that!

Aislinn goes to an all girls school and lives with her protective grandmother in a town called Huntsdale. For the most part she's a normal teen, except for a wariness she's developed because she has the ability to see faeries. This isn't the sweet kind of faerie but rather capricious beings who are everywhere, usually invisible, playing cruel games on others. If they knew she could see them, Aislinn knows she would be harmed, she's been taught by her grandmother (who also has this ability), to lay low and pretend she can't see them. She spends her days as a normal kid, going to school, and then hanging out with her best friend Seth, an older kid with tattoos and piercings who lives in a train. The iron keeps out the faeries so Aislinn tries to spend as much time as possible there, while harboring secret feelings for him.

Unfortunately for Aislinn, she does eventually gets noticed by Keenen, the Summer King, who decides she's the next girl who could be the Summer Queen. For years he's been chasing human girls, asking them to pick up the Winter Queen Beria's staff and help him break the hold his mother has on the seasons. Every girl who has picked up the staff could not hold off the chill and thus they have become the Winter girl (the current one is Donia) until another girl relieves them.

Overall: I'd recommend this for fans of Holly Black, but I think I like Holly Black better. It has that same type of young adult in modern times with faeries feel (along with my thoughts of how are the parents letting these kids roam about so much?). There are mild allusions to sex but it will likely go over the heads of the innocent. The story had a fairy tale in modern times vibe, reminding me of stories about the struggles between two deities or royal beings over who rules the season - Summer and Winter. And the writing has a lyrical, lovely fairytale lilt which just goes with the story beautifully. There was some greying of characters – especially that of Keenen – he's not seen as the bad guy, even though he's been callous in the past, but I thought that Seth was a bit perfect, and the Winter Queen was a bit heavy handed. I also thought that every main character in this book was described as being gorgeous, so I was imagining these perfect looking beings (including Seth and Aislinn) in a semi-dramatic fantasy, doing stuff like: yearning for things that they couldn't express and being caught in a tragic game for eternity… I wish I saw less romantic characters, but I'm not sure if I'm just being old and crabby here in thinking that. Another thing – I also didn't understand why there needed to be a Summer Queen when there was no Winter King? I'm still a bit confused about that. Anyway,the ending was satisfying. A fine way to pass the time, and I'm sure it's a keeper for many, but not a keeper for me. I'm interested enough to read the next book Ink Exchange, which deals with the Dark court (I think?), but it's going to come from the library.

Review at Dear Author (they gave it an A-)

Review at The Book Smugglers (they gave it an 8 – Excellent).

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Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris

Posted on November 15, 2008 by janicu

Grave Sight (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 1)

Charlaine Harris

Grave Sight is the first in the Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris.

After being hit by lightening at an early age Harper has a talent at locating a dead body if the general area is known. She can also tell how they died. This doesn't make her very much liked by both sceptics (who think she preys on the weak) and by those who hire her (because they don't always like the truth that comes out).

In Grave Sight Harper and her step-brother Tolliver Lang get involved in a murder mystery in the southern town of Sarne. What starts off as a normal case – finding the body of missing, presumed dead wild-child Teenie Hopkins (whose boyfriend's body was found six months ago), becomes increasingly dangerous as more deaths occur. The people of Sarne immediately begin to blame Harper for all their troubles, and Harper is forced by the police to stay in the area. At that point, Harper feels compelled to investigate what is going on.

Overall: New spin on murder mysteries and worth a read. The murderer was someone I guessed at but it wasn't that obvious I think. The writing was absorbing – no troubles where I wanted to put the book down and go do something else, and interesting main characters. Really it's Harper's unusual talent and her life with it, that makes the book so interesting. I couldn't really pinpoint the genre here, it seems to cross a couple of them. There also seems to be a mystery in Harper's past (the abduction of her sister Cameron) which I hope gets more exposure in later books.

Harper was an intriguing character. Sometimes she seems very hard because of her upbringing in a broken home (her mother was a drug addict, as was Tolliver's dad), but also sometimes very vulnerable (with her great fear of lightening, and ailments caused by the lightening strike). She is also very reliant on her step-brother, and their relationship was really strange to read. I have a brother so their relationship didn't seem quite brother/sister, and staying together when they were in their twenties, working together, spending that much time together without their own separate lives - kind of weirded me out. I suspect that their relationship is going to become something more, if I'm reading the subtext right. I am not sure how to feel about that. I have a brother so… eck, I don't know.

The other thing I spent a lot of time thinking about with this book was how almost everyone in Sarne treated Harper and Tolliver badly. It seemed like this small-town, small-minded cliche, and I felt bothered by it. I had a hard time believing that so many people (including the police and city officials) could be so suspicious and rude, and I felt like it gives southerner's a bad name. The whole situation gave me a bad taste, and I was aggravated by the attitudes throughout the book.

Other than those two big issues I had, I did enjoy this book.

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Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky

Posted on October 24, 2008 by janicu

Girl's Guide To Witchcraft (Red Dress Ink)

Mindy Klasky

This is the first book in a series about a librarian who discovers a room full of books on witchcraft, and then learns that she has magical ability.

The Girl's Guide to Witchcraft is from the Red Dress imprint, which is Harlequin's "chick lit" line, so this book has a combination of chick lit along with the urban fantasy/ paranormal elements that you'd expect from the title. Our heroine Jane Madison juggles problems with finding a decent boyfriend (her ex for many years turned out to be a huge jerk who was cheating on her with several people), while trying to figure out her magic. Jane stumbles on her talent when her first spell woke her familiar – a cat statue that turned into a snarky, gay man (Neko). This brings another man to her door – her warder David. Meanwhile, Jane has a crush on an assistant professor named Jason who often researched at her library who she calls her Imaginary Boyfriend.

Overall: It was a pleasant read, but I did find myself putting it down and doing other things before coming back to it later, so it had a sort of sedate pace. I enjoyed it, and I liked Jane so I'll probably read the next book soon. The strength in the writing is really the relationships Jane has with her friends and family, with a couple of magical hijinks Jane gets herself into, her man trouble, and the return of her estranged mother to add interest.

Jane really does seem to have a "good girl" personality – she loves her work at the library and tries to help it with it's financial problems, she has a good relationship with her grandmother who raised her, and she has routine girl's night with her long-time best friend Melissa. She's a typical single woman juggling work and family while also looking for someone to share her life with. The only problem is that Jane isn't always as aware as she thinks she is, especially about relationships with men. Her taste isn't great and I felt that she was rather blind sometimes. I have the feeling that Jane is going to remain oblivious to the fact that David, her warder, is someone who she fits with a lot better than who she goes after for the length of this series. The question as to who Jane will finally get together with (I predict David despite both their denials in this book) will likely not be resolved until the final book, but I'm not sure how many books are in this series.

Excerpt of this book.

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