Review: Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill

Author: Chloe Neill

Title: Twice Bitten

Series: Chicagoland Vampires #3

About the Book: Shapeshifters from across the country are convening in the Windy City, and as a gesture of peace, Master Vampire Ethan Sullivan has offered their leader a very special bodyguard: Merit, Chicago's newest vampire. Merit is supposed to protect the Alpha, Gabriel Keene-and to spy for the vamps while she's at it. Oh, and luckily Ethan's offering some steamy, one-on-one combat training sessions to help her prepare for the mission.

Unfortunately, someone is gunning for Gabriel, and Merit soon finds herself in the line of fire. She'll need all the help she can get to track down the would-be assassin, but everywhere she turns, there are rising tensions between supernaturals-not least between her and a certain green-eyed, centuries-old master vampire.

 

My Thoughts:

A few impressions:

Merit is one of the more well-rounded heroines I've come across in UF, meaning that she has very obvious faults as well as strengths. I want to smack her for her faults sometimes, but I also want to cheer her on for her strong points. For a all that she can act the idiot and has bad choices in friends, she is fiercely loyal to her causes, accepts the consequences of her choices, and has a lot of backbone in her character. I had new/more respect for her after I was done reading.

Why oh why did that Mallory girl have to come back into the picture? I immensely enjoyed her absence and thought Lindsey was a much better friend and sidekick. Pity she couldn't stay away forever.

Ethan is also a more balanced character than most UF leads I've come across, for the simple fact that he is fallible and has flaws that are actually flaws instead of "good traits taken to the extreme." for that reason alone I like him and empathized with him and his conflicted self, even though he was way outta line for what he did to Merit. Of all the men in this series he's the one I like best. Morgan is an immature jerk, and I don't like what I've seen of Jonah much.

What is it with ALL the men I. This series being extremely handsome? It seems only beautiful people exist in or venture into Chicagoland.

I hate to say it but the shifter mythology in this series is kinda lame; even so, it is a pretty bangin' vampire series.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Some Girls Bite - 4/5
2. Friday Night Bites

 

Review: Hounded by Kevin Hearne

Author: Kevin Hearne

Title: Hounded

Series: Iron Druid Chronicles #1

About the Book: The first novel in the original, six-book Iron Druid Chronicles--introducing a cool, new, funny urban fantasy hero

Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old—when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old. Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.

Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power—plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a sexy bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish—to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil

 

My Thoughts:

This would have been an excellent read but for a couple of things that dampened my enjoyment drastically.

Before I start on those, hands down the best thing about this book was Oberon, the dog. Mad props to Mr. Hearne for creating such a wonderful animal with his own unique personality.

The first thing that bothered me greatly was the women, every single one of them. The moment they opened their mouths, it wasn't right. I was very hard pressed to believe any goddesses worth their salt spoke as insipidly as the ones in this book did, or any women really. They were not believable at all for me. Two: our druid is flawless. Eh.

But the biggest thing, I think, was all the potshots Mr. Hearne takes at Christianity in the book. Now to be fair, it was a line or two here and there, nothing blatant or whatever, but for some reason, they really, really, really rubbed me wrong. It was annoying and mostly untrue (stereotypes of any group are not cool).  Not cool, not funny. Because of this, I am not too sure I will continue with the series.

But I do think it's worth reading.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

 

Review: Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill

Author: Chloe Neill

Title: Some Girls Bite

Series: Chicagoland Vampires #1

About the Book: Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn't exactly glamorous, but it was Merit's. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker-and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead.

Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she's traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan "Lord o' the Manor" Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred- year-old vampire, he has centuries' worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude- and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan's attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone's still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago's nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war-and there will be blood.

My Thoughts: 

What I liked

1. Merit. It came as a surprise to me, because I wasn't even sure i liked her in the beginning.
2. The story. Another surprise. I am not a fan of vampires, as a rule, and I wasn't sure I was enjoying the story for a good chunk of it. But by the end, I really liked the world and the plot Ms.. Neill created.
3. Some of the side characters. Jeff was not too bad. Catcher was interesting at first, and the grandaddy was cool.

What I didn't like

1. A lot of the side characters. That Mallory character grated on my nerves. Catcher was interesting until he became involved with her.
2. The story. By that, I mean the series. I have heard about the stunt the author pulled in book 4, and I don't think I am up to dealing with that tomfoolery. It's her series, and she can do whatever she wants with it, but I don't like getting invested in books and relationships and then have the author pull a such a stunt on me on me, no thank you, ma'am. So erm...jury's out on the series. Might wait till it's completely over, read the last book, and see if I want to go back and read the series properly.
*I've been assured that the change is not as drastic as all that, and so I will be pressing on with the books much sooner than I had anticipated.*

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

 

Review: Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn

Author: Carrie Vaughn

Title: Kitty and the Midnight Hour

Series: Kitty Norville #1

About the Book: Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station - and a werewolf in the closet. Her new late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged is a raging success, but it's Kitty who can use some help. With one sexy werewolf-hunter and a few homicidal undead on her tail, Kitty may have bitten off more than she can chew?

My Thoughts:

The last 25% of the book is a massive improvement over the first 75% of the book, in my opinion, and major reason I've rated this book as 'good' (3 stars) instead of 'didn't like it' (2 stars). I also think that my feelings about this book have to do in large part with my own expectations gone wrong.

What I Expected:

Before starting this book I'd heard it was about submissive werewolf. That had me majorly excited because in all the werewolf fiction I've come across, dominant, not submissive wolves are the subject. You come across an outlier once awhile, like Anna in Patricia Briggs' Alpha and Omega series, but they ae usually dominant wolves in some weird/different incarnation (like Anna is) or dominant wolves whoa re dormant and waiting for the right time to strike. I wanted to read this book because I thought it would be fun to see an imagined werewolf society through a submissive wolf's perspective. I was also excited because not every strong person is 'kickass', or 'take-charge', or dominant. That paradigm shows us only one side of strength and forces our expectations of what strength should be inside a box (okay soapbox over...I think).


Well, anyway, that is what I expected, not what I got.

What I got:

1. A HELLA whiny heroine. And by that I mean HELLA whiny! Whining in both wolf and human forms, cowering all the time, all over the place. If I had to desrcibe her in one word, it would be whiny, with 'HELLA' in brackets and capitals attached before.

2. NOT a healthy description of a person or a wolf pack. In Kitty's pack instead of being protectors, the dominant wolves seem to be walking abusers, preying on anything weaker than themselves, ans walking man-whores too (no wonder most werewolf mythologies have them as immune to almost everything. They'd all have died from STD's by now if that wasn't the case!) Most of them were asshats. They were more like sadists than a pack of werewolves.

3. A HELLA whiny heroine. She was not a healthy person. As I was reading, I couldn't help thinking over and over again that 'this is NOT what a healthy depiction of a submissive person/werewolf should be!', and 'this is NOT what a healthy werewolf packs should be!

*As the story went on, I liked Kitty less and less, most of that being the way she acted on her talk show. I don't know if she was meant to be a shock jock or something, but I thought the way she spoke to most people was quite rude and uncalled for. I don't like that.

By the end, the writing had gotten really better, but through some unbelievably fake machinations (to me at least), our heroine sorta comes into her own, and discovers that mebbe she isn't really submissive after all. She is growing up; she has more spine; she is probably more dominant than she thought she was. I felt that was a cop-out. She's basically your generic 'kickass, talk-smack' UF heroine, only quite watered down, and slightly gentler. Eh whatever.

Thus I was disappointed in this here story. It was a good case of wrong expectation, but I also think it was a good case of wrong execution too. Even though I enjoyed the last parts of the story much more than I expected, I don't think I will come along for the ride.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

 

ARC Review: Shadow Bound, by Rachel Vincent

 *Official release date for this title is June 1, but copies were available from May 22nd*

Author: Rachel Vincent

Title: Shadow Bound

Series: Unbound #2

Source: NetGalley

About the Book: If you live in the dark long enough, you begin to forget the light…

KORI DANIELS is a shadow-walker, able to travel instantly from one shadow to another. After weeks of confinement for betraying her boss, she’s ready to break free of the Tower syndicate for good. But Jake Tower has one final job for Kori, one chance to secure freedom for herself and her sister, Kenley, even if that means taking it from someone else…

The job? Recruit Ian Holt—or kill him.

Ian’s ability to manipulate the dark has drawn interest from every syndicate in the world, most notably an invitation from Jake Tower. Though he has no interest in organized crime, Ian accepts the invite, because he’s on a mission of his own.

Ian has come to kill Tower’s top Binder: Kori’s little sister.
Amid the tangle of lies, an unexpected thread of truth connecting Ian and Kori comes to light. But with opposing goals, they’ll have to choose between love and liberty…

 

My Thoughts: 

After Bood Bound left me on tenterhooks, I couldn't wait to read Shadow Bound. It's probably my biggest disappointment of 2012 so far. Here's the thing: Ms. Vincent creates world-building masterpieces. They are unique and grossing and just...fabulous. However, her characters usually incite a desire to do violence in me. Reading Shadow Bound made me angry in degrees. I started off angry about the mess the dead girl's selfishness had gotten all of them into. By the time I finished, I was seething at the foolishness of Kori and Ian. Enjoying this book to any degree depends heavily on being sympathetic to the characters, which I could not find it in me to do because they were all TSTL. Cast of Characters

1. The Daniels Family: This is a world where any display of some power will attract attention from mobsters who are looking to add the skilled - willingly or unwillingly, to their numbers of minions. This hinges on Binders, the people whose specific skill it is to bind people's wills to their contracts (and so to the mobsters). You discover by painful experience that your sister is a very powerful binder, which guarantees the mobsters will be after her her entire life if they get wind of it. What do you do? Well, if you are Kori Daniels and her family, you "shelter" her. You don't research into how binding works; you don't teach her what she needs to protect herself from being discovered; you don't impress upon her the danger of her gift (esp. as a disaster has happened before); you don't teach her to be wary of people who ask for her blood and their motivations, and not to hand out her blood to her friends for friendship's sake.... knowing well that if she is caught, her skill will be spent binding lots of people to a life of horror and that her life will be spent in servitude to horrible people. No. You "shelter" her so she grows up to be a nincompoop. How is that any sort of intelligent decision? Exactly! It isn't. suffice it to say, Kenley is easily snared by Jake Towers and Kori goes with her to protect her. No intelligent life in this family. They knowingly laid the groundwork for this to happen. When people were telling Kori it wasn't her fault, I wanted to smack them. Yes it was! If they'd just exercised some common sense, they'd have nipped this in the bud before it begun, so that this story wouldn't be taking place.
2. Kori Daniels: We already know she isn't intelligent. If to save your life and your sister's life you are asked to cozy up to some dude, will your modus operandus be to be rude and crass to him? But apparently, she doesn't know that you don't catch flies with vinegar. But rest assured that she catches Ian, who's a prize fool himself. Much was made of how strong and indomitable Kori's character was. I didn't see it. I saw instead a TSTL person who talked crassly. That's all. No substance, no depth, no integrity, no nothing. All those fights she won were sooooo unbelievable to me. I couldn't understand how one couldn't just shoot her in the head.
3. Ian Holt: If you are on a mission to kill a stranger's sister to save your brother, a mission on which you can't afford to fail, do you spend your time agonizing over that stranger and whether they like you? Or about the urgency of your mission to save your brother's life?
4. A closer look at Kenley Daniels reveals a girl as selfish as she is stupid. And she is that way because her family made her so.

Nope. I couldn't support these people and their lack of common sense, self-preservation and intelligence. If nothing else, the fear of having Kenley bind people to such horrors should have spurred the Daniels family into raising her to be sensible. So much blood is on their hands. Unfortunately the final book in this trilogy is to center on Kris, Kori and Kenley's brother. Owing to what we know about the lack of intelligence and common sense in this family, I'll be frank and admit that my hopes aren't very high. 0 butterflies for the characters; 2 butterflies for such a unique and wonderful world, and the promise it is denied by the nincompoops inhabiting it. If you do read this series, read it for the amazing world-building, not for the fool inhabitants.
 

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Blood Bound - Excellent

Review: Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Author: Jennifer Estep

Title: Touch of Frost

Series: Mythos Academy #1

About the Book:
My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy — a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest.
But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Freaky stuff like this goes on all the time at Mythos, but I'm determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why—especially since I should have been the one who died. . .

 

My Thoughts:

After her mom's death, Gwen Frost, a girl from a long line of Gypsy women, is sent off as a sort of scholarship student to Mythos Academy, a magical school which looks more like something out of Gossip Girl than Harry Potter. The kids are spoiled, filthy rich, and petty. They are also descendants of mythology: Spartans, Amazons, Valkyries, wizards, what have you; they pack a lot of magical power. When the Queen Bee of the Mean Girls Club is killed and no one seems to care, Gwen, our poor outcast girl, decides that's not right. She attempts to get to bottom of the murder and thus begins her journey of discovery.

This book was a breath of fresh air for me. I often steer clear of YA because the prevailing attitude seems to be 'let's made these kids as idiotic as possible because teens are supposed to be all hormones and very little sense.' I've read middle grade books with more sense than a lot of characters populating YA. I think Ms. Estep captured the essence of teenhood - you know, the raging hormones, the emotions, the invincibilty, etc - very well without sacrificing good judgment, which is very important to me. It felt authentic.

Gwen was level-headed, which made it a joy to read. I could trust her judgments and her assessments of people and situations. I could trust that she was giving me an accurate rundown of what was happening. Gwen also wasn't starry-eyed over just about every boy, thank the Powers that Be!

Apart from the story, I really enjoyed the relationships formed and watching them grow. I think Ms. Estep did a fantastic job with them. Gwen is forced to confront her own prejudices about these rich, plastic mean girls when she comes into contact with Daphne, who at first glance is as fake as they come. Daphne had quite a bit of depth beyond said appearance, and Gwen was smart enough to see it. It was awesome to see this popular, snobby girl, and the outcast gypsy girl who looked down her nose at all of these rich people strike the beginnings of a friendship.

Logan totally made me laugh! It also totally made me laugh that even though Gwen liked him, she was very cognizant of all his faults, calling him 'man-whore'! Loved it! I am hopeful for where their friendship will go, given the way things ended.

The mystery was actually interesting, and the ending blindsided me, but it was not even the most important thing. That one was fairly obvious: Gwen's journey of discovery. I think by the second chapter I had figured out exactly what it was that Gwen was going to learn about herself at the end of the novel (definitely by the time Jasmine was killed, I had figured it out). Even so, it was a pleasure coming along for a ride on this train of common sense.

The reason I am not giving this book a perfect rating stems from a few things (so I am nitpicky, sue me). Ms. Estep had a habit of naming people over and over again, which irritated me more and more as the story progressed. Daphne is a valkyrie. So are a whole bunch of other girls. We got treated to sentences like this almost every page: "I was talking to Daphne; the valkyrie gave me an exasperated look"; or "I spotted Logan. The Spartan looked hot in his shirt"; or "My mom, Grace....". Literally every single time a character was mentioned, the next sentence would have their magical power mentioned. It. was. hella. annoying. I am surprised the editors didn't pick this up. Personal pronouns are your friend!

But all in all, I had so much fun going to Mythos Academy through Gwen's eyes. It was a simple enough story, but I really enjoyed the telling of it.

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

N/A

 

Review: Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk

Author: Devon Monk
Title: Magic to the Bone
Series: Allie Beckstrom #1

Everything has a cost. And every act of magic exacts a price from its user - maybe a two-day migraine, or losing the memory of your first kiss. But some people want to use magic without paying, and they Offload the cost onto innocents. When that happens, it falls to a Hound to identify the spell's caster - and Allison Beckstrom's the best there is.

Daughter of a prominent Portland businessman, Allie would rather moonlight as a Hound than accept the family fortune - and the strings that come with it. But when she discovers a little boy dying from a magic Offload that has her father's signature all over it, Allie is thrown into the high-stakes world of corporate espionage and black magic.

Now Allie's out for the truth - and must call upon forces that will challenge everything she knows, change her in ways she could never imagine ... and make her capable of things that powerful people will do anything to control

The strongest emotion I feel after reading this book is disgruntlement (if that's a word at all). Allie Beckstrom's tale started out well enough. We're told she's a hound and can trace magic and magic signatures; she hates her rich dad and avoids him; the rules for the world are being laid down, Allie meets a few interesting people and then her dad is killed. Of course she has to find the whodunit. And that is when everything goes to hell in a handbasket, my friends.

Allie is unforgivably stupid. So stupid that is was kinda insulting to have a character be this clueless. When your dad denies that the signature you traced back to him is his, even though signatures are like DNA; when a truth spell shows he's not lying; when you are told that the signature of the magic that killed your dad is yours even though you didn't kill him, won't you start putting two and two together and realize that your dad was telling the truth and that there is something afoot? And if not then, surely after you meet a guy who tells you in so many words that he impersonated your magic signature, wouldn't you figure it out? When you're wanted by the police and ruthless people in very high places of power and influence for the murder of your dad, is your first and only thought to go to the police and tell them, "but, but, but I'm innocent!"? Exactly.

To be sure, we're all allowed our moments of obtuseness, but when your very life depends on it, you can't afford to be dense. Dense, obtuse people who are fighting for their lives end up dead. Heck, even some of the smart ones don't escape.

So yes, I am not at all impressed with my first book by Ms. Monk. Idiot character and a world that doesn't bring much to the genre. Rachel Vincent's Unbound series is a much more unique take on the idea of Hounds and magical consequences, with characters that don't insult your intelligence, if you're looking for a good time, because this one certainly doesn't deliver one.

I will read the next book in series, though. You know, second chances and all that jazz.

★★

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

 

Review: Sacrificial Magic by Stacia Kane

Author: Stacia Kane
Title: Sacrificial Magic
Series: Downside Ghosts #4
Pages: 403
Source: Owned

When Chess Putnam is ordered by an infamous crime boss—who also happens to be her drug dealer—to use her powers as a witch to solve a grisly murder involving dark magic, she knows she must rise to the challenge. Adding to the intensity: Chess’s boyfriend, Terrible, doesn’t trust her, and Lex, the son of a rival crime lord, is trying to reignite the sparks between him and Chess.

Plus there’s the little matter of Chess’s real job as a ghost hunter for the Church of Real Truth, investigating reports of a haunting at a school in the heart of Downside. Someone seems to be taking a crash course in summoning the dead—and if Chess doesn’t watch her back, she may soon be joining their ranks.

As Chess is drawn into a shadowy world of twisted secrets and dark violence, it soon becomes clear that she’s not going to emerge from its depths without making the ultimate sacrifice.

Chess and Terrible, now that they have admitted their love for each other, are in a relationship. Chess knows that Terrible loves her, but given the events of the previous books, she's walking around feeling like this relationship is hanging over her head like the Sword of Damocles, waiting to crash upon her should she make the tiniest mistake. Amid all of that, she has a new case from the church, which is tied to the ritual murders going on in both Slobag and Bump's sides of town.

Wow. My thoughts are kinda jumbled right now. I truly enjoyed the story. I liked seeing Chess work. One of my favorite scenes was where she looked down her nose at the officious people by the school. She doesn't play and can give as good as she gets :).

Most of the book was like watching a learning curve for Chess; you can see her character growing, becoming empowered. She learns very slowly to accept a friendship offered (Beulah), and to choose her friends (Lex) - for herself, and not because it suits Terrible or no. Seeing her like that felt so good her drug use didn't overshadow everything for me like it does in the previous books. She's still a junkie, but it's now no longer the center of her life - she has Terrible, other things and people are beginning to creep in.

There is not much to say for Terrible except that he is BEYOND AWESOME and that I am not entirely sure Chess deserves him. I truly like Chess but I want to beat her up sometimes because she hurts Terrible and that is in no way acceptable, for any reason :)


The final scenes in the book, from the climax to the resolution, are so heartfelt and beautiful.

In the end, I loved the story, but I am very, very, very ready for Chess to begin to actually take charge of her life. I like Chess and I am glad she is beginning to envision a new life for herself, a better life. However I feel a lot of the epiphanies she came to are long overdue, especially given her life's trajectory. I'm trying to say - it's not as if her life has only been bad, compared with say Terrible's life - she's had tremendous good too: she's educated, she has a steady job, has been around more than just Downside and crime, more than just screwed up people around her; she's found love and a new reason to live. She's had time to let it all sink in. It shoulda sunk in long before then. The curve for her has been too slow, is what I'm tryina say. But now that realization has come, I am very ready for her to stop regressing, build some self-esteem, stop waiting for the other shoe to drop for every little thing, stop hurting Terrible because she is afraid of getting hurt first, get off the damn drugs! I am ready for it all to happen. Much as I love the series and Terrible, I am not sure I will continue reading if she doesn't at least begin doing that.

So I guess Chasing Magic might be a game-changer for me.

★★★★

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Unholy Ghosts - 3/5
2. Unholy Magic - 4/5
3. City of Ghosts - 4.5/5

Review: River Marked by Patricia Briggs

Author: Patricia Briggs
Title: River Marked
Series: Mercedes Thompson #6
Published: March 1, 2011

Car mechanic Mercy Thompson has always known there was something different about her, and not just the way she can make a VW engine sit up and beg. Mercy is a shapeshifter, a talent she inherited from her long-gone father. She's never known any others of her kind. Until now.
An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River-one that her father's people may know something about. And to have any hope of surviving, Mercy and her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will need their help...

It feels really blasphemous to be rating a Patty Briggs book so low, and to be fair, I liked it a lot more than many books I've rated three stars. However I rated Bone Crossed for stars and I liked that one much better than this one. So I am rating in comparison to the other books in this series as opposed to the book on its own merit, if you get what I mean. That's said......

I liked the story. It was a good something. But for me it lacked the draw that other books in the series have had. I didn't care much for the first book in the series, but every one after that has held me spellbound until I finished it. This one I found hard to get into from the beginning and had to put it down for awhile. When I came back into it, it hit its stride and I rolled with the story until the end, but it was still lacking in Patty's usual subtle oomph for me. 

I think a part of that could be attributed to the new setting. The story takes place away from the pack, and the usual supporting cast, and has a slew of new characters. They were interesting to read about, and I really liked to see Mercy 'explore' her Native American heritage; it was also moving in parts - especially the scene where she saw her father's ghost dancing and the scene where Coyote explains that dance to her. But it still lacked the magic of previous books, the cohesiveness the Columbia Basin support cast brings. 

And this one is my fault. You know how people read to see their favorite characters - like how most people will read to see Mercy and Adam again? Well, my favorite character is Samuel, and I sorely missed the glimpses of him I usually get. I mean, it's not Patty's fault that I had the bad taste (well. it's good taste IMO, LOL!!!!) to fall hardest for a side character, but it is what it is.

And this part is a little ranty. You can skip it entirely, as I'm pretty sure I'm going to be the only one who feels this way :)

For the first time, Mercy and Adam really got on my nerves. Adam with his posturing and yellow eyes....yes sah! We get it. She's your wife, your mate, she belongs to you, no one can hurt her, blah blah blah. Enough already. Adam used to be both possessive and sensible; in this books he was not sensible, and I wanted to smack him on the nose. I felt more than a share of malicious glee when Wolf got his own back on Adam. In that scene especially I felt his behavior was uncalled for, so I was glad he was 'put in his place', so to speak.

And Mercy going on and on and on and on ad nauseum about not being a fragile flower, and not needing to be protected and how Adam was her mate.....we get. We really do! We've been rooting for you guys all along. Now we don't need to be reminded every two pages. The Lady and the Gentleman doth protest waaaaaaaaay too much. Okay, rant over. 


It was a good book, a solid book, an enjoyable book and I have no doubt many, many people will love it. It just didn't pack the punch for me Patty's books usually does, and so I was disappointed. The whole was less than the sum of its parts, for me.

★★★

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Moon Called - 3/5
2. Blood Bound  -5/5
3. Iron Kissed - 5/5
4. Bone Crossed - 4/5
5. Silver Borne - 5/5

 

Review: Home Improvement: The Undead Edition by Charlaine Harris, etc.

Author: Charlaine Harris, etc.
Title: Home Improvement: the undead edition
Series: Anthology

The editors of the New York Times bestselling Death's Excellent Vacation bring home a new collection...with a never-before- published Sookie Stackhouse story!
There's nothing like home renovation for finding skeletons in the closet or otherwordly portals in the attic. Now, for any homeowner who's ever wondered, "What's that creaking sound?" or fans of "how to" television who'd like a little unreality mixed in with their reality shows, editors Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner return with an all-new collection of the paranormal perils of Do-It-Yourself.

Sookie Stackhouse resides in these pages, in a never-before-published story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris. And New York Times bestselling authors Patricia Briggs, James Grady, Heather Graham, Melissa Marr, and nine other outstanding writers have constructed more frightening and funny fixer-upper tales guaranteed to shake foundations and rattle readers' pipes.

Usually the anthologies i read have four stories in them. This one had considerably more, and I think it is a good bargain. The good stories far outweigh the bad.

Patricia Briggs - Gray 5 stars: A hauntingly beautiful tale of a vampire and a ghost and their past history.

Victor Gischler - Wizard Home Security 4 stars: A rather funny story about a burgled wizard and the home security he buys

James Grady - The Mansion of Imperatives 2 stars: A hot mess of a story

Heather Graham - Blood on the Wall 4 stars: This entry reads like a throwback to the days when vampires and weres were fixtures of horror instead of romance. Really Good.

Simon R. Green - It's all in the Rendering 3 stars: A good tale

Charlaine Harris - If I Had a Hammer 3 stars: A Sookie Stackhouse novella about a home renovation and a murder weapon. My first Sookie :d

Stacia Kane - Rick the Brave 5 stars: Chess and Terrible's relationship, as observed through Rick the electrician's eyes. A sweet, entertaining story.

E.E Knight - Woolsey's kitchen Nightmare DNF: Terrible. I could not make head or tail of this story.

Rochelle Krich - Squatter's Rights 4 stars: Eerie.

Melissa Marr - The Strength Inside 3.5 stars: Really weird, rather creepy story about a completely different species who move into a neighborhood.

Seanan McGuire - Through this House 3 stars: A novella of the October Daye series (which is a new-to-me series). This one was rather confusing for me, a newbie to this world, but I can imagine how others familiar with it would enjoy it.

Suzanne Mcleod - Full Scale Demolition 3 stars: A good story.

S.J. Rozan - The Path 2 stars: Japanese/Buddhist mysticism. Boring!

Toni Kelner - In Brightest Day 3 stars: A novella about vodun mysticism

★★★½

 

Review: At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost

Author: Jeaniene Frost
Title: At Grave's End
Series: Night Huntress #3
Published: 1 Jan 2009

It should be the best time of half-vampire Cat Crawfield’s life. With her undead lover Bones at her side, she’s successfully protected mortals from the rogue undead. But though Cat’s worn disguise after disguise to keep her true identity a secret from the brazen bloodsuckers, her cover’s finally been blown, placing her in terrible danger.

As if that wasn’t enough, a woman from Bones’s past is determined to bury him once and for all. Caught in the crosshairs of a vengeful vamp, yet determined to help Bones stop a lethal magic from being unleashed, Cat’s about to learn the true meaning of bad blood. And the tricks she’s learned as a special agent won’t help her. She will need to fully embrace her vampire instincts in order to save herself—and Bones—from a fate worse than the grave.

I definitely enjoyed the story, and I enjoyed being back in the Night Huntress world.

Cat, whose full name, btw, is Catherine Kathleen Crawfield (Catherine Kathleen, really?), has noticed that since her profile went up in the vampire world, doing her job as the Red Reaper has become markedly more difficult. She doesn't want to stop, but it is looking like she'd have to. In an operation to try out a new substitute for her, everything goes badly awry and we discover that someone else desperately wants Cat and Bones killed. The book is about the journey to discover and obliterate whichever vampire that is. Along the way, several things happen, and we are introduced to a bunch of new characters along the way, my favorite of whom was Vlad Tepesh. Vlad is apparently the real Count Dracula. He was funny, and I'll definitely be reading his book.

An interesting and enjoyable ride aside, there were a couple of things that got my goat really badly.

The biggest of those things was Tate. Cat, Tate and Bones would be discussing his unrequited love in fron of everyone. I felt like that was highly inappropriate and something that should be discussed away from everyone who wasn't Cat, Bones, or Tate. If that was all, it wouldn't be too bad. But then Tate wouldn't shut up about this 'love' he has for Cat. It was stupid. a grown man, a real man, who claims he loves someone, wouldn't go about trumpeting his love for her when she was clearly in love with someone else. whatever happened to if you truly love someone you'd let them be happy? So

1.  It was stupid and childish.
2.  It has been going on too long. It should never have been allowed to get to here. Once they realized Tate wasn't going to let this go, he shouldn't have been a part of the team. I don't understand how he is still her 'friend', still a part of the team. AND THEN THEY PUT THEM ON A JOB TOGETHER! A job that involved kissing and being intimate WTH? Of all the stupid things to do?
3. At this point I am so disgusted by this nonsense I am not sure I will ever believe in a HEA for Tate, should he find someone. He just should be killed off somewhere and put all of us out of our misery.
4. I am not sure I will continue with the next books if this tomfoolery is still going on.

And then the other thing was the dialogue. In some places it was soooooo cheesy, it read like some bad melodrama.

Finally, all this power that Bones is amassing..... oh well.

It's still a good fun ride, and worth a read.

★★★½

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Halfway to the Grave
2. One Foot in the Grave

 

REVIEW: Summer Knight by Jim Butcher

Author: Jim Butcher
Title: Summer Knight
Series: Dresden Files #4
Published: Sep. 1, 2002
Source: Library

Private detective/wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden is suckered into tangling in the affairs of Faerie, where the fate of the entire world-and his soul-are at stake.

In another review, I stated that I was a character-driven reader, and that few authors can keep me reading when I don't like their characters. Jim Butcher is one of the two exceptions I can think of to that rule. I really like his narration.

Harry Dresden has gotten himself into trouble one too many times. This time around he's managed to trigger a war between the Red Court and the Wizards, and now the White Council is out for blood - his blood, more specifically. To make matters worse, it seems the Faerie courts are readying for war with one another, and he's been suckered into a job by the Winter Queen.

The story was interesting at first, and then became so-so. In the beginning I was a bit disappointed with Jim Butcher's characterization of the Fae. He himself had noted that they were not easy to separate into 'good' and 'bad' fae, and yet there was a distinct lack of nuance in the characters. That was until the twist came. It was brilliant, IMO! It was brilliant and it highlighted all the nuances I could ever want. I especially loved the conversation Harry had with his faerie godmother. So JB gets points for being an awesome storyteller.

My main problem with the novels is that I don't think I like Harry Dresden very much. His snark doesn't do it for me, and I don't understand how someone can be a bumbling idiot most days, and then have epiphanies to solve the mystery- ALL THE TIME! I mean, the hero doesn't have to be the smartest cookie, but at least let's see evidence of some brains. The way Dresden fumbles about it's implausible he keeps defeating bad guy after bad guy. Either that or they're even stupider than he is, which doesn't make them very scary at all.

I do plan on continuing with the series because I like Mr. Butcher's storytelling, but I think I'll take a break before reading some more.

★★★

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Storm Front

2. Fool Moon
3. Grave Peril

 

REVIEW: Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

Author: Kim Harrison
Title: Dead Witch Walking
Series: The Hollows #1
Source: Library

All the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party...and to feed.

Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining - and it's Rachel Morgan's job to keep that world civilized.

A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring 'em back alive, dead...or undead. Er...ok. So this is not going to be a complimentary review, as you've probably already guessed by the rating. 

I am a character-driven reader. I don't necessarily have to love a character to bits, but if I can get behind him/her, then I will come along for the ride, and be willing to overlook a lot of things, like faulty plotting, and a not-too-interesting story, among other things. If I don't like the character, well, then I enjoy the book less, and become somewhat cranky. I notice choppy plotting and not-very-good writing. 

I am not a plot-driven reader, but sometimes, really good storytelling will keep me interested even when I dislike the characters. 

This book failed on both fronts. I wanted to slap Rachel, the main character, almost from the beginning, and was praying someone would shoot her dead and put me out of my misery. I didn't see much likeable/interesting/redeemable about her. She was not intelligent - and since every other person was dumber than she was, it made for a rather stupid cast of characters. The secondary characters were also boring and annoying in turns. 

Um... the story. It was published in 2004, (I'm guessing) in the infancy of UF. It might have been considered cutting edge/excellent in it's time, and perhaps if I'd read it in 2004-2006 I'd have thought so too. But now that the genre has taken off, it is just bad prose and bad plotting. 

I do not think I will be reading more of the books in this series; it's not for me. I might try other books Kim Harrison has written, but probably later. 

I don't recommend this one.

★★

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

 

GUEST REVIEW: City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane

*Today's review comes courtesy of my Goodreads friend Mimi.  You can find her on Goodreads here.*


Author: Stacia Kane
Title: City of Ghosts
Series: Downside Ghosts #3

Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside, and Chess’s bosses at the Church of Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to crack the grisly case.

Chess is under a binding spell that threatens death if she talks about the investigation, but the city’s most notorious crime boss—and Chess’s drug dealer—gets wind of her new assignment and insists on being kept informed. If that isn’t bad enough, a sinister street vendor appears to have information Chess needs. Only he’s not telling what he knows, or what it all has to do with the vast underground City of Eternity.

Now Chess will have to navigate killer wraiths, First Elders, and a lot of seriously nasty magic—all while coping with some not-so-small issues of her own. And the only man Chess can trust to help her through it all has every reason to want her dead.

4.5 stars

"Only through penitence and pain is forgiveness possible.
—The Book of Truth, Veraxis, Article 72"

Downside World 301 by Mimi

Well, you know the way by now... I have to admit I wasn't as concerned about the world and fact-collecting here. Just waiting for them to finally get together distracting me from...well almost anything else. But here it goes.

* Psychopomps were very present here and I think I figured out the deal.

"Chess had never known if psychopomps actually came back to life, if they were for the brief time of their use breathing creatures with pumping hearts. Seemed they weren’t. They weren’t animals at all, just reanimated corpses, empty shells full of instinct and magic."

But then later it's mentioned the animal doesn't need to die in order to make a psychopomp. But basically the skull is the animals'. It allows you to summon the physical form of said animal. Then that form hounds ghosts to the City.

*There are wraiths, too...

"Wraiths. A witch’s freed living soul, joined with one of the restless undead. A ghost cranked on living energy, strengthened by magic, its living partner giving it the ability to do what astrally projected spirits could do: fly."

Not sure about that, but next to Chess&Terrible...Who cares?

*Still not sure what the Hand of Glory thing is? Chess carries it around and it's connected to magic, so...

*There is an inner organization at the Church-Black Squad. Church law enforcement.

The story

Remember that unexplained scene in book #2? The one with the seance and the almost-poisoning? Well apparently it's important here! The witch is being executed at the beginning, but it turns out she was Bound to a spirit and that ghost kills someone. At the same time Chess is contracted by her Elder Griffin. But before she does it she has to make an oath to the original Elders, which bounds her and kills her if she breaks the terms-silence and obedience.

Anyway, the bad conspirators are back, in Downside this time and she must investigate them with Laura, an obnoxious enforcer (of Black Squad).

At the same time(you've guessed it) she has to work an angle with the drug dealer and Terrible. So she can't say anything to them about the job, or to the Church about what she does for them. So she investigates, almost gets killed, and of course, pulls through.

Now onto more important things...

Chess&Terrible

This was such a drama here. I genuinely liked seeing Chess suffer a bit for everything that happened. And she does suffer and feels guilty. But this time she knows what she wants and what she feels-and she FIGHTS for it. She doesn't take pills and screw up other people's lives, she takes pills and tries to fix them.

There's so much I learned about Chess along the way. Sometimes she lets pain and bitterness overwhelm her...

"You let people into your life and you ended up getting hurt. Or hurting them. Either way, the road to pain was paved with other people, and she wanted no part of it anymore."

"Chess lied to herself every day; it was just something she did, like taking her pills or making sure she had a pen in her bag. Little lies, mostly. Insignificant. Of course there were big ones there, too, like telling herself that she was more than just a junkie who got lucky enough to possess a talent not everyone had. That she was alone by choice and that she was not terrified of other people because they couldn’t be trusted, because they carried filth in their minds and pain in their hands and they would smear both all over her given half the chance."

But she doesn't give up and I really like her for that. yes, for the first time I actually LIKE Chess. Who knew? And when she was breaking...

"But he’d lied too. He’d lied, because he’d told her—not in those words, but he’d told her—that he’d seen something special in her. He’d made her believe, for that one moment, those two short days between the time he’d made his little speech and that horrible night in the graveyard, that there was something special in her. Something good.And there wasn’t. And she’d hurt him, and she hated herself so much, so much for that, for making that mistake, for doing that to him, so much she couldn’t stand it another second, and he could make it stop. He could forgive her or he could punish her"

...Terrible was there to pick her up. Not forgive her that easily. Not give in so easily, but one step at the time. But, IMO, she showed here that maybe, just maybe she deserves him...

"Once she’d thought he was ugly; he still was ugly, she supposed. She just didn’t give a shit. He was who he was, and her heart fluttered in her chest and wouldn’t stop."

Finally figured out some things, I guess...

This book was definitely the most emotionally poignant so far. It's about pain and regret and as that quote at the beginning says you can't have forgiveness without them. It really is what this book's about. And I loved seeing Chess and Terrible get there.

And, of course I loved Terrible...

“He lifted his head to look at her. Giving her his eyes, giving her what was behind them. “You know I do, aye? Love you right, Chessiebomb.”

★★★★½

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Unholy Ghosts
2. Unholy Magic

 

REVIEW: Unholy Magic by Stacia Kane

Author: Stacia Kane
Title: Unholy Magic
Series: Downside Ghosts #2
Pages: 346
Source: Owned

The second book in this edgy urban fantasy trilogy. Chess is a fiercely independent witch and talented Debunker - working for the Church of Real Truth to exorcise ghosts and expose human liars. But she has a dark little secret that is causing her a lot of problems! a drug addiction. Trying to catch a spectral serial killer with a fondness for his victims' eyes is distracting Chess from her day job, and her growing attraction to Terrible is making things worse. Life is getting too complicated and Chess must break the rules to keep her head above water.

Much of the reason I am rating this four stars is Terrible.

Okay. Here are my thoughts:

1.  I am fascinated by the world Ms. Kane has created. Oh I am still confused by a lot of it, but it's still rather unique in terms of UF worlds. It's dystopian (which is commonplace in UF), but the part of the world we see/spend time is not common: the underworld. It's dark, raw, gritty, and an unpleasant place to be. The books are about a high functioning druggie who lives smack in the inner city, who deals with drug lords who run prostitution rings, sell drugs, have their henchmen brutalize people, where street fights kill people, and where most people are victims of circumstances. It isn't a pretty world. The characters are not people you should be rooting for: a drug addict who realizes that her drugs are ruining her life but who still makes no move to try and stop, and an enforcer who, as Mimi puts it, "is a professional bully" for a drug baron. But that is the genius of Stacia Kane. Like Regina says, "[Ms Kane] is able to surprise us with our feelings about Terrible."

2. Terrible is awesome. And Ms. Kane did one of the best jobs in any UF anywhere when she came up with this guy. He's not someone we should root for. He's not your normal hero; or anti-hero. He brutalizes people for a living (never mind that he was a victim of circumstances, the truth is still the truth), he also oversees his drug lord's prostitution business. Seeing him in action as th thug was...harrowing. I hated it. But he still manages to be kid, sweet, considerate..... in some ways he is more than the usual heroes we have in UF: not many people can live the life he has, in the circumstances he has and still be an honorable person through and through. Yet Terrible manages to be believably so. A very big part of what keeps me coming back to this series is Terrible.

3. Chess: again, to quote Mimi, she is not so TSTL as she is TUTL (too unstable to live). She is supposedly a high-functioning drug addict. She is always high and can still solve mysteries while high. If she can do that, I don't see why she can't exercise some of that good sense and NOT hurt Terrible; and NOT make bad decision after bad decision; and NOT decide she needs to get her life together and wean herself off drugs. You see glimmers of growth here and there, but for the most part....oh Chess - get it together, girl!!

4. I still don't get a lot of the ghost mythology and stuff. For example, how the heck big is this so-called City of Ghosts? The spirit of every person who ever lived is kept there? Don't they run out of space? These ghosts are supposed to b incorporeal, but thy act like zombies half the time. Pyschopomps? Huh?!!

5. I am not amused with the way things ended.

★★★★

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Unholy Ghosts.

 

ARC REVIEW: Raven Calls by C.E. Murphy

 This title will be published on March 1st, according to Goodreads.com. FictFact has this title as being published on the 21st of February

Author: C.E. Murphy
Title: Raven Calls
Series: Walker Papers #7
Pages:  384
Source: Netgalley

Something wicked this way comes…

Suddenly, being bitten by a werewolf is the least of Joanne Walker’s problems.

Her personal life in turmoil, her job as a cop over, she’s been called to Ireland by the magic within her. And though Joanne’s skills have grown by leaps and bounds, Ireland’s magic is old and very powerful…

In fact, this is a case of unfinished business. Because the woman Joanne has come to Ireland to rescue is the
woman who sacrificed everything for Joanne—the woman who died a year ago. Now, through a slip in time, she’s in thrall to a dark power and Joanne must battle darkness, time and the gods themselves to save her.

I gave up after about 30% of the way through.

It's not bad, I was just patently uninterested in the plot.

Joanne, bitten by a werewolf in the previous book, heads off to Ireland to see if she can get a powerful shaman to reverse the effects of the bite, so she doesn't become a werewolf. Instead, she finds herself traveling back in time on a quest to save her mom's life.

Bo-ring.

After 6 books, there is very little character growth. Joanne is still the same old dimwit, same old rude, obnoxious, and infantile person she used to be. All of the growth from book 3 and 4 have been lost. And IMO, there is no excuse for that this far into a series.

Existing fans of this series will probably enjoy this installment, so I'd say "go for it." To someone who hasn't started I'd say "don't bother; it isn't worth it."

*I received this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

★★★

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Urban Shaman
2. Thunderbird Falls
3. Coyote Dreams
4. Walking Dead
5. Demon Hunts 
6. Spirit Dances

 

REVIEW: Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

Author: Stacia Kane
Title: Unholy Ghosts
Series: Downside Ghosts #1
Pages: 339
Source: Library

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased.

Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch, freewheeling Debunker, and ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for nailing human liars and banishing the wicked dead. But she’s keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that’s landed her in hot and dangerous water.

Chess owes a lot of money to a murderous drug lord named Bump. And Bump wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust for a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it.

Hell, yeah.

In hindsight, I must say that Terrible was a very big part of the reason I enjoyed this book. He's drawn with consummate finesse and is one of the most unique and endearing male characters I've ever had the pleasure to meet in any fiction. 

I was confused almost the whole time I was reading this novel. The whole time. The world Stacia Kane has created is soooooo blurry to me. It seems that some time back, ghosts exploded on the scene, and were out with a vengeance to kill the living. One organization who called themselves 'the Church' (nothing to do with religion, since all religion is outlawed) banished the ghosts - to some city? I wasn't too clear on that - and now runs the world - or is it the immediate area? - with an iron fist. Part of their mandate is to protect the living from ghosts. So if you find your house haunted, it means they failed, so they'll compensate you after carrying out an investigation and an exorcism (if your claim is true). Woe betide you if your claim is false.

Chess is a DeBunker (person who banishes ghosts and checks claims) for the church. She is also a drug addict on the side (if the church found out, she'd be toast), and her unscrupulous drug dealer has forced her to do something for him.  In the course of her routine investigations, she discovers a dangerous plot, which is also somehow intertwined with what her drug dealer wants her to do. To make it even more complicated a rival drug dealer doesn't want her to go through with the job for the regular drug dealer.....and oh yes, she has the hots for the rival drug dealer's henchman, as well as the hots for the regular drug dealer's enforcer, called Terrible.

Like I said, I spent a goodly amount of time confused. It seems ghosts are incorporeal when they want and corporeal when they want too. It was very confusing. At some point in time I was wondering whether or not I was reading about zombies instead of ghosts. Woulda made much more sense that way, I think. And the plotting as well confused me. We'd be somewhere, and I'd be following okay, and then all of  sudden I had no idea what was going on, who we were talking to,where we were. I can't get a sense of the world Chess lives in.

I ended up liking Chess and Terrible quite a bit. (I still don't know why Chess is a drug addict, though, or when she began her habit). But my favorite was Terrible, all huge, and ugly, and a drug dealer's head thug but underneath surprisingly sweet and kind and considerate. I am surprised to say I was rooting for a thug, haha. I wish Chess had gotten with him instead of Lex (the other drug dealer's henchman). Btw Terrible is such a bad name for a thug :D but I still love him.

So um yes, recommended. You might have better luck understanding the worldbuilding dynamics than I did, and Chess and Terrible are worth it :D

★★★

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES: