It Happened One Doomsday is, I think, the first in the start of an urban fantasy series with sorcerers, demons and possessed cars!  I must say from the outset that I really enjoyed this, it was a very easy read, I thought the characters developed well along the way, it had plenty of pace and I genuinely hope there will be more books down the line.  Basically, this reads like the start of a UF series and it ends on a note that promises more to come – but I genuinely don’t know if more books are planned *raises one eyebrow hopefully in Mr MacNaughton’s direction*? I don’t want to give too much away so, briefly, this is a book about the end of the world – okay, more a plot to end the world.  Seven cunning sorcerers (known here as harbingers) have hatched a plan to wipe the slate clean and start again and the survival of everyone will be in the hands of a barely magical, crystal toting woman who desires a normal life with her dentist boyfriend. At the start of the story we’re introduced to Dru, a young woman with a smidgeon of magical ability that allows her…

I must confess, I only finished The Rook last month when the surprise arrival of a Stiletto ARC prompted me to do some quick catching up with the series, so I can’t claim to have waited for this sequel for as long as others. That said though, I was no less excited to jump right in! I loved the first book, and practically dove into this next one straight away. The first thing you should know about Stiletto is that even though it picks up where The Rook left off, it’s also not your typical conventional follow-up. For one thing, Myfanwy Thomas is no longer the main protagonist. Instead, we get two new leading ladies: a Checquy Pawn named Felicity Clements, and a Grafter surgeon named Odette Leliefeld. After centuries of being on opposite sides, the two young women are suddenly thrown together when their respective organizations are forced to make peace in a new alliance. However, putting aside their differences is easier said than done. The enmity between the two groups runs deep, and not everyone is happy about the new partnership. Almost immediately after arriving in Great Britain with the Grafter delegation, Odette becomes targeted by an angry…

Spells of Blood and Kin presents a fresh and interesting twist on the paranormal. This is not as dark or gritty as a horror novel, but it is darker and more violent than I expected. It is also not a paranormal book that romanticizes the violent creatures of the world and for me, that honestly was a positive. I found it overall rather unexpected and definitely could not predict the way things would go. Also a positive. Lissa is a witch whose grandmother (and mentor in all things witch related) just died. She comes across as quite sheltered, having really had little interaction with anyone but her grandmother. I found her character to be a bit naive in some respects, also sweet, kind and found myself interested in her story. She is faced with having to replace her grandmother’s role and services in the community. Most the the magic she performs is based on placing spells on eggs, the recipients use the eggs when they want to release the spell. There is a time constraint on how long the eggs/spells are good and all of them are temporary (tied to the life of the egg they were cast on). But in the course of taking over…

Sometimes you step tentatively into a book, not quite sure where the intersection of your hopes and expectations will lie. Urban Fantasy is not generally a must-read genre for me, but I’ve become a fan of Kristi Charish’s Adventures of Owl. Having said that, however, I know that much of the appeal in that series (for me, at least) is in the archaeology and the mythology. As such, I really wasn’t sure if I was up for a more, for lack of a better word, generic urban fantasy. Well, let me spare you the suspense and declare that The Voodoo Killings marks the start of another fantastic series – one that I wouldn’t have otherwise been drawn to, but which I am very glad I was. It’s a ghost story with a twist, and a voodoo tale with far more depth than even a fan of her work might expect. Strange is a very different sort of heroine than Owl, more likable in personality and more deliberate in her planning, but still just as compelling. Where the book really began to win me over, though, was with our first trip into Seattle’s Underground City – and not the one tourists get to explore. There’s some real world building here, establishing…

Lots of interesting things are happening in the horror genre lately, as evidenced by my latest venture into Thomas E. Sniegoski’s new novel The Demonists. Imagine The Exorcist, urban fantasy style! This is also my first book by the author, and it certainly won’t be the last—not if there’s more like this coming my way. The story follows the husband-and-wife team of John Fogg and Theodora Knight, who are the world’s foremost experts on paranormal investigation. They’re even the stars of their own show called Spirit Chasers, a reality TV series that probes into supposedly haunted locations. But on Halloween night, the show producers decide to do a special episode as a publicity stunt, filming live as John and Theo investigate an old house reported to be filled with dark energy. Things should have unfolded like any other show, but then the hosts go into the basement and everything goes terribly wrong. The whole world watches in horror as the crew are massacred live on screen. John manages to survive, but not without sustaining serious injury. And Theo… Something much worse has happened to John’s wife, who is a powerful psychic medium in her own right. Though afterwards everyone was…

Urban Fantasy is such an exciting genre right now because of books like The Brotherhood of the Wheel. While mythological creatures and vigilantes have long been a mainstay, R.S. Belcher has shaken up these conventions and breathed new life into UF by looking at a slice of American culture that arguably hasn’t gotten a lot of attention: Truckers. Motorcycle clubs. The U.S. Interstate Highway System. Meet Jimmie Aussapile, an independent truck driver who lives a double life as a knight of an ancient order, protecting the country’s roads and its travelers from monsters—both the supernatural and the human kind. He and others like him are part of a brethren who call themselves the Brotherhood of the Wheel. One night, Jimmie picks up a ghostly hitchhiker and follows her message to a number of unsolved missing person cases. Along with his new squire Heck Sinclair, the two men uncover a terrifying situation involving a supernatural serial killer known as the Pagan who has been using the highway system to prey on children since the mid-1900s. Meanwhile, Louisiana cop Lovina Marcou has been conducting her own investigations into a group of missing teenagers, leading her to creepy internet stories about abductions by…

Even before I started this one, I had a feeling something big was coming. For three books now, Anne Bishop has been ramping up the tensions between the Others and the Humans First and Last (HFL) movement, a radical anti-terra indigene group that has been playing with fire since the beginning of this series. All that pent-up rage and energy had to be going somewhere, and that somewhere turned out to be in the pages of Marked in Flesh. For centuries, a delicate balance has existed between humans and the creatures that inhabited the land before we got here. The Others, who see humans as prey, have only allowed this truce to continue because they benefit from the relationship as well, enjoying the useful trade goods that humans produce from the natural resources that are under terra indigene control. However, the HFL has made it clear that they are tired of this compromise, issuing a warning to all that a reckoning is at hand. Caught in the middle of this conflict is Lakeside Courtyard and its leader Simon Wolfgard, the wolf shifter. The arrival of a cassandra sangue named Meg Corbyn has done much to alleviate the bad blood between…

Roaring Twenties Chicago.  Prohibition gangsters like Al Capone rule the streets.  Dirty politicians walk the halls of power.  Flappers fill the dance halls.  Model- Ts roar along city avenues.  Radios blare out Jazz music.   Tommie guns bark out street justice.  And the gate between the mortal realm and Feirie lies hidden by it all, guarded by its sixteen hundred year old guardian. This gatekeeper named Nick Medea is a strange, complicated man.  On one hand, he lives a simple, solitary life as an exorcist of sorts.  Only those with real problems with supernatural creatures able to contact him; his fee to rid these individuals of their specters zero.  But his real job is far more serious, more important, more dangerous than hunting ghosts, as he stands alone between the world of Feirie and mankind; his eternal duty to keep the gate closed, because if the magical gateway ever opens it will destroy the modern world, crashing civilization back to the Dark Ages. But Nick isn’t completely alone.  There are a group of near constant companions who aid him along the way. Most of these are outcast Feiries, trapped on the mortal plane.  Fetch is the one who spends the most time…

I was so looking forward to this book and it absolutely lived up to my expectations. You may now call me ‘She that reads until late at night’ or ‘Devourer of Books’ or perhaps ‘Goddess of book love’ (you’ll understand if you’ve read this!) Gushing will commence but firstly a little about the book. The book starts with a murder victim found by a lone woman walking her dog. However, not only is this no ordinary killing but this is no ordinary ‘lone woman’. Manhattan is about to become the scene for a number of grisly murders. Unfortunately the police have few clues but Selene DiSilva recognises only too well the signs of a ritual sacrifice and doesn’t intend to let this brutal killing go unsolved. Once known as the Protector of the Innocent she’s about to team up with a classics professor and the two will embark on a desperate scramble around Manhattan in a bid to pick up clues before the body count rises. I don’t think too much more introduction is really necessary to be honest, it’s an interesting plot that involves quite a lot of ancient history being thrown into the mix and it moves forward…

Coyote shifter Mercy Thompson has faced some truly formidable foes in the past, ranging from vampires to fae assassins and even a god….not to mention Adam’s horrible ex-wife Christy. Somehow Mercy always survives, even if it’s just by the skin of her teeth. But the latest threat is one that Mercy alone cannot hope to beat alone: the Grey Lords, the elders of the fae community. The Grey Lords are tired of living as second-class citizens when they’re actually apex predators, and they’re finally ready to show the world just how powerful they can be. Mercy, Adam, and all their allies will need to work together if they want to stop a war… Although I’ve enjoyed all the books in the Mercy Thompson series, I couldn’t help but feel that the last installment, NIGHT BROKEN, was something of a filler novel. Not a whole lot happened in that book generally, and even less occurred to drive the series’ plot arc forward. But Patricia Briggs is in fine form with FIRE TOUCHED, juggling characters both old and new with the increasingly complex inter-species politics that makes up the foundation of the series. A new species or supernatural type is introduced in…