Early Review- Kill City Blues (Sandman Slim, Book 5) by Richard Kadrey (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 400 pages
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: July 30, 2013
ISBN: 978-0062094599
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Sandman Slim series
Source: eGalley for review from Edelweiss
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the 5th book in the Sandman Slim series and it was an excellent one. I love these characters, the strange cultural references, the gritty surroundings, the crazy action scenes, and of course the hilarious banter between characters. I got a copy of this to review through Edelweiss; thanks to Harper Voyager and Edelweiss for the chance to read this book.

Stark (Sandman Slim) has finally gotten rid of his job as Lucifer and he is trying set up a life for him and Candy in LA. Of course somewhere along the way he misplaced the Qomrama Om Ya, and this kind of was the weapon that is preventing the old gods (you know the ones that want to destroy the earth and humanity) from escaping their prison. So of course he needs to find it, and to find it he will have to venture into the incredibly creepy and dangerous Kill City.

Excellent continuation of this series! I just love these books so much, they are so much fun. I read them and chuckle and laugh out loud the whole time. The violence is hilariously over the top and Stark just has so much attitude. I love watching him trash all the rules and knock heads together...because of course you know he’s doing it all for the good of mankind...and maybe a little bit for his own chuckles.

All of our favorites are back in this story. Candy, Brigette, the Father, Kasiban, and of course all the pieces of God. They all interact so well together and are so crazy they are just a pleasure to read about.

Stark, with Candy and his friends at his side, is different than before. Now he has backup and people he cares about. Really it’s made him a better person, now he has a reason for all the violence that goes beyond survival.

The action scenes are awesome and gory and hilarious, the settings are creative and dank and creepy, the banter between characters in hilarious, and the obscure cultural references make you feel a bit warm and fuzzy inside when you understand them. This series just keeps getting better and better. It is wrong to laugh and chuckle at the murder of people? Nah, not if they are really bad people...right?

The book is lots of fun to read and incredibly entertaining...it was also very hard to put down. Parts are disturbing and parts are hilarious and all of it is downright wonderful. I love that each book wraps up a portion of the story nicely but is part of a broader story as well.

Overall a perfect addition to this series. I love these books so much. This book is gritty, funny, has great interesting characters, wonderfully creative settings, and is spectacularly entertaining to read. Definitely an adults only read, duh. I also love that these are complete stories but are part of a broader story as well. HIghly recommended to those who love gritty urban fantasy. Seriously this is one of my favorite urban fantasy series out there. I can’t wait to see what this series brings next.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- Color Coded Reading Challenge

Audiobook Review - Three Days to Dead (Dreg City, Book 1) by Kelly Meding (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 416 pages
Publisher: Dell
Release Date: November 24, 2009
ISBN: 978-0553592863
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Dreg City series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 3.5/5 stars


This is the first book in the Dreg City series. There are four book total in this series, there were supposed to be seven but the publisher dropped the series after the fourth book. This series was pretty typical urban fantasy; nothing bad but nothing all that original either.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was decent. The narrator did a good job distinguishing characters voices and conveying emotion. My one complaint would be that Evy’s voice was kind of breathy sounding which totally didn’t match Evy’s character-type (at least I didn’t think so).

This was an urban fantasy series about a Bounty hunter named Evangeline who hunts Dregs (the cities dark creatures like goblins, vamps, etc). Evangeline starts the book waking up in a new body that’s not her’s. For the whole book she is trying to remember and hunt down critical information that she knew when she died, information that could save the world. Evangeline (Evy) has been resurrected into the body of a young woman who committed suicide, Chalice. She was resurrected by her friend Wyatt, who is determined to help her hunt down her memories.

While I thought the idea behind the world was interesting, there wasn't a ton creative here and the world wasn't expanded much beyond the initial premise of fey-like creatures hiding out in the bad parts of the city.

Evangeline was your typical urban fantasy heroine, except for the fact that she was killed and brought back into a different body at the beginning of the book. She complains some about Chalice’s body not reacting like her own. Still she seems to do fairly well in fights despite the fact that Chalice’s body is untrained. The fact that she only has three days to solve the mystery of this unknown information does lend more urgency to this story.

Wyatt was okay but not all that inspiring as a male lead. He seemed a bit weak and easily led...I didn’t really feel great chemistry between him and Evy. In fact I didn't find any of the characters to be all that intriguing or engaging in this book.

The plot was also fairly predictable, there are some twists and turns but things end up pretty much how I thought they would in the end. This is a pretty dark story as well with torture, rape, and dank bleak settings. So those who dislike really dark urban fantasy should probably skip this and look elsewhere.

Overall this was an okay read, but nothing that really stood out in the urban fantasy genre for me. The world was kind of interesting but not all that well filled out, Evy is in an interesting situation with her resurrection and all, but I didn’t like her all that much as a character. Nothing really offensive here, but nothing great either. This is a dark setting with rape and torture as part of the story, so just a heads up to those who don’t like those subjects in their reading. There is so much excellent urban fantasy out there that I wouldn’t really recommend this series. I don’t plan on reading any more of this series.

For excellent urban fantasy check out Ilona Andrew’s Kate Daniel’s series, Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series, Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid or October Daye series, Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series, or Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Audio Book Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Audiobook Review - Iced (Dani O’Malley, Book 1) by Karen Marie Moning (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 512 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: October 30, 2012
ISBN: 978-0385344401
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Dani O’Malley series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

This is the first book in the Dani O’Malley series which takes place after the last book in Moning’s Fever series. The second book in this trilogy, Burned, is scheduled for a Jan 2014 release. The third and final book, Flayed, is scheduled to release in 2015. I think that you could read this book without reading the original Fever series; there is a ton of recapping. Still if you really want to know what is going on here, you probably want to read the Fever books first.

I listened to this on audiobook and I wouldn’t recommend it. The audiobook had two different narrators, one who does the female voices and one who does the male voices. As a result the female voices are very high in sound and the male voices are very low. When you turn up the sound to hear the very low and deep male voice, the female voice comes across as shrill. It made the book hard to listen to. I was either straining to try and hear the male voices or wincing at the shrill female voices.

Dani O’Malley was a side character in the Fever series and this is the start of her story. Dani is a superhero of sorts, she is super fast and super tough and she has one of the only weapons that can actually kill Fey. When Ryoden’s club gets frozen solid (patrons and all) he forces Dani into a contract. He wants Dani to work with him to solve this mystery before more people and Fey are killed. Now Dani is facing off with something that might be more dangerous and evil than anything she’s ever faced before.

The book is told from many POVs, not just Dani’s. This didn’t add a lot to the story but just drew it out and fractured it.

Dani is incredibly obnoxious. She basically bitches and complains throughout the whole book. She yells at people and is mean to them, then is indignant when they won’t help her out. If you cut out all of Dani’s complaining the book would be a third shorter. Dani is also supposed to be a superhero of sorts, but she spends the vast amount of time either passed out or being rescued by the harem of men that lusts after her. I am not even going to go into how weird it is that she has all these older men lusting after her when she is only fourteen.

So, yeah, in a nutshell I thought Dani was an incredibly immature and obnoxious character and really didn’t enjoy her. I suppose that gives her a lot of room to grow in future books, but I am not sure I want to read more about Dani.

Next let’s talk about the men. You have Ryoden who is super sexy and super dangerous and has trapped Dani into working for him. He is creepy but strangely seems to care about Dani in a very uh...sexual way. Then you have Christian who is slowly turning into a Fey Prince, he is incredibly unstable, sex crazy, and has decided that him and Dani will be getting married. Seriously we hear about how hard Christian is a lot throughout the book, and it is just yucky.

The last man in Dani’s life is Dancer, and he is the only one who deserves his own paragraph. Dancer has been Dani’s friend for a long time, they kind of look out for each other with no strings attached. He is actually Dani’s age, but as the story goes on you realize he must have some pretty deep and dark secrets of his own. He was my absolute favorite character in this book; he is smart, supportive, and stands up to anyone (human or Other) who tries to harm Dani in anyway. I liked him. In a world of crazy he was something interesting and intriguing.

The world is completely insane. Basically this is after the war was lost and the Fey invaded Dublin (Earth?). Apparently realities can shift at will and you never know what will be around the corner. There is a lot of talk about people waking up in different realities and about horrible creepy crawlies...but honestly we don’t see much of that in the story. Most of the story is spent with Dani complaining and trying to manage her harem of testosterone driven men.

By the end of this book I just wanted it to be over. I loved the idea of this world, but the characters were obnoxious and overdone. Dani gets so distracted from the story by these crazy older man that want her, then there was the strange addition of the Crimson Hag. The Crimson Hag was kind of a cool enemy but her addition to the story seemed so last minute and contrived that I just kind of rolled my eyes at this part. Ugh, the whole thing was a bit of a mess.

Overall definitely not my favorite urban fantasy book. There is just too much in here that bugged me. I love the world and some of the characters are intriguing. But Dani is an absolute flop as a character for me, she is annoying and obnoxious and not someone I ever want to read about again. Even though the book features a fourteen year old girl it is definitely an adult read. Having all these older guys jonesing after Dani was super creepy too, I just didn’t enjoy reading about it. The story took too many detours from the actual main plot and all of the POVs throughout just served to draw things out. I will not be reading more books in this series and don’t recommend this new addition to the Fever series. Stick with other urban fantasy reads like Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series, Ilona Andrew’s Kate Daniels series, or Seanan McGuire’s October Daye series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Audio Book Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Audiobook Review - Blood Trade (Jane Yellowrock, Book 6) by Faith Hunter (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 368 pages
Publisher: Roc
Date: April 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-0451465061
Stand Alone or Series: 6th book in the Jane Yellowrock series
Source: Audiobook through Audible.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the sixth book in the Jane Yellowrock series and I am just amazed out how this series keeps getting better and better. The seventh book in this series will be titled Black Arts and is scheduled to release in 2014. This was a fantastic read, action packed, and full of all the wonderful characters we’ve come to know and love.

I listened to this on audiobook and it was spectacular. This is one of those books that is actually better on audiobook than in paper format. The narrator sounds completely like I imagine Jane would sound and does an excellent job on other character voices as well. The narration is perfect, capturing tone and emotion wonderfully.

Jane Yellowrock receives a call from the Master of Natchez, Mississippi; he’s got some Naturaleza he needs taking care of and he thinks Jane is the one to do this. Of course when Jane arrives she finds things are much more complicated than that. These aren’t normal Naturaleza...they are something much harder to kill. To add to the complication a friend from Jane’s past, Misha, is in town and wants to talk to Jane about vamps. When Misha disappears Janes realizes that there may be some witchy things thrown into this Naturaleza mess.

These books just keep getting better and better. I absolutely love how fast-paced these books are. I love Jane as a character too; she is funny and heartfelt and tough. Jane continuously struggles with her need to protect humans by killing vamps and the morality behind taking the lives of living (or dead) things. She is battling some depression in this book and it was interesting to read about heroine dealing with that and trying to get on with what needs doing. Jane is trying to figure out how to find some happiness again but it is taking some time.

All of our other favorites are here too. Bruiser is in the story, Rick is back to cause some trouble, and of course the boys (Eli and the Kid) are watching Jane’s back. I love the dynamic between Eli, the Kid, and Jane. It’s like a little vampire killing family and they really provide the backup Jane needs (both emotionally and physically).

I am starting to get a bit sick of the whole love triangle between Rick, Bruiser, and Jane. The romance going on there was kind of at a standstill in this book. There is a ton of tension between Bruiser and Jane and Rick and Jane. It didn’t add a lot to the story and was more distracting than anything. I hope that this love triangle gets resolved soon so that Jane can either develop (or not develop) a relationship with one of those men.

Misha brings along another old friend of Jane’s, Bobby. Bobby is mentally challenged but has some special magic skills of his own. He added a lot to the story with his sunny disposition and gave us a glimpse into Jane’s past as well.

I loved all the witchy elements and vampiric transformation things that were going on in this story. A lot happens and the plot is fairly complex, but I found it all to be incredibly interesting and engaging. There are a lot of very well done action scenes in here and the spidey vamps add a whole new level of creepy to this story.

I also love that there is a contained story here but it ties into the larger story that’s been developing from book to book. It is amazing how Hunter ties all these books together and it really shows how much planning and work she’s put into this series right from the beginning. The book is very well written and I really enjoyed it.

Overall a spectacular addition to this series. I enjoyed it alot. We learn more about Jane’s background and are introduced to many new and interesting creatures and characters. I love how Jane is developing a family of sorts of her own and that she has a good support team at her back. The book in incredibly engaging and really pulls you in. This is definitely more urban fantasy than paranormal romance, which I enjoy. I can’t wait to read Blark Arts! This series is highly recommended to fans of action packed urban fantasy.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Audio Book Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge

Review - Written in Red (The Others, Book 1) by Anne Bishop (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 448 pages
Publisher: Roc Hardcover
Date: March 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-0451464965
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Others series
Source: ARC through Amazon Vine
Rating: 5/5 stars


This is the first book in the new Others series by Bishop. Previously I have read The Black Jewels series by Bishop and absolutely loved it. I got this book to review through the Amazon Vine program, so thank you to Roc and Amazon for providing it for review. This was a spectacular read, the characters were fascinating, the world building was spectacular I just really really loved this book. The second book in this series, Murder of Crows, is scheduled for a March 2014 release date.

Meg Corbyn is a blood prophet, she has fled the facility where she was kept and sold cut by cut for prophecy. Meg ends up in a Courtyard of the Others and applies for a job there as a Human Liaison for the Others. Simon Wolfgard, who leads this group of others, hires her on. What follows is an interesting story where Meg is trying to make a living among the Others while eluding the evil people who want her back as property.

This was a spectacular urban fantasy read. The world building was wonderful and complex, the characters were incredibly interesting, and the plot was solid and well done. I loved, loved, loved this book.

Every character in this book is fascinating. There are quite a few characters here, but Bishop does such a wonderful job introducing them that it’s not hard to keep track of them all. You have ponies that are Elementals, young women who are Seasons, werewolves, vampires, Crow girls, and even creatures that the Others don’t completely understand. All of them have mysterious pasts and are just a treat to read about.

Meg is also a wonderful character. She has gone through a lot but still has an innocence about her. She’s never lived out in the real world before, so there are funny things that she just doesn’t understand. This ends up being a benefit to her in dealing with all the strangeness that defines the Others, she doesn’t know what normal is so she just takes it all in stride and tries to be kind to everyone. There is a lot of humor throughout the book as well, which only adds to its awesomeness.

The world is fantastic. This is a world where the Others used to rule until humans started inhabiting the lands. Now the Others live in small communities, but God forbid that humans ever do anything to upset the Others. The Others can wipe out humanity in the blink of an eye. It makes for a very interesting balance. The humans fear the Others and the Others are ready to pounce on the humans whenever they feel slighted. It’s a super creative world and one that is well put together and very engaging.

The plot is also very well done. The plot is mainly about Meg trying to escape her captors, but there are a lot of other small storylines going on at the same time. The main story wraps up well, but there are still things to be resolved in future books.

Overall I absolutely loved this book. It was a wonderful read. The characters are all very creative and engaging, the world is spectacular, and I just loved the whole story. I highly recommend this series to urban fantasy fans who are looking for something new and fresh and spectacular. This is a very creative book and an absolutely wonderful start to a great new series. I will definitely be reading more books in this series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Debut Author Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- Color Coded Reading Challenge

Review - Seven Kinds of Hell (Fangborn, Book 1) by Dand Cameron (2/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 374 pages
Publisher: 47North
Date: March 12, 2013
ISBN: 978-1611097955
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Fangborn series
Source: ARC through Amazon Vine
Rating: 2/5 stars


I got a copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program. Thanks to Amazon for providing this book for review. This book sounded like an interesting start to a new urban fantasy series; I mean archeology and werewolves sounds kind of cool! It really wasn’t that great of a book, everything about it was okay but not great.

Zoe has been on the run with her mother for her whole life from her father’s violent people. When her mother dies, Zoe is looking forward to a new start at life. Then her cousin is kidnapped by someone, she thinks her father’s people. As she tried to comply with Danny’s capturs in order to facilitate his release she is drawn into an archeological quest to find the keys to Pandora’s box.

I did not enjoy this book and almost didn’t finish it. The storyline was all over the place, the writing was difficult to read and the characters didn’t have much depth and were hard to engage with. I pretty much struggled through the whole thing.

Zoe is a very strange character. Supposedly she was raised running from place to place with her mother, living carefully and avoiding detection. When her mother dies you would think she would be careful, especially when she is followed by some of her “father’s people” through the city. Soo....what does she do? She leads them right to her family and friends, because you know she spent her whole life hiding....how did she not get caught ages ago if she is this horrible at hiding and sneaking around?

Additionally Zoe’s background feels shallow and contrived. She never thought to question why her and her mom ran around hiding until now...when she is in her mid-20’s; she just kind of accepted it. It seemed like a flimsy back story to me and made Zoe seem very 2D.

Zoe has a love interest that also goes quickly in and out of the story. The scenes between Zoe and William are flat feeling and boring; there’s not a lot of chemistry here and it really didn’t engage me at all.

You would think that Zoe trapsing around to exotic locations and exploring to find hidden artifacts would be cool...it was not. The locations aren’t described well and never really come alive for the reader. A number of characters flit in and out of the story but never really make that big of an impression. The idea is cool and I love that the author explores the mythos of Pandora’s box...but the rest is not so cool.

The world building is incredibly weak. Supposedly vampires and werewolves are called Fangborn. The vampires and werewolves are incredibly bland; the vamps can do some mind control and the werewovles are hot-tempered and stronger than normal. To spice things up vamps actually like the sun in this book, but that is about as creative as this world gets. Outside of the Fangborn this world doesn’t have anything else creative or exciting.

The book ends well enough I guess. I just had a lot of trouble caring. I was not engaged with the story or the characters. While there didn’t seem to be anything technically wrong with the writing, I just had a lot of trouble reading the writing style; it didn’t flow well and I had to constantly go back and re-read things because I felt like I was missing things.

Overall not a great urban fantasy read. The world is boring, Zoe is not a character that has much depth, none of these characters are all that easy to relate to. The concept sounds neat, but the execution left a lot to desired. I definitely don’t recommend this urban fantasy read.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Debut Author Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge

Review - Black City (Madeline Black, Book 5) by Christina Henry (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 288 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: February 26th, 2013
ISBN: 978-0425256589
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Madeline Black series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the fifth book in the Madeline Black series by Henry. The sixth book will be titled, Black Heart, and is scheduled for an October 2013 release. I really enjoyed this book, we learn a lot about Nathaniel’s history and what made him who he is.

Maddy thought things would get better after Azazel was disposed of, but things have only gotten worse. Vampires, who are now immune to sunshine, are flooding the streets of Chicago and slaughtering innocents. When a vampire leader demands Maddy in exchange for peace, Maddy is left with the very people she is trying to help hunting her down.

This was a very good installment in this series. Nathaniel is in the story a lot and there are some wonderful plot developments involving him. We finally learn how Nathaniel ended up at Lucifer’s side and we also learn his history. There are some absolutely startling and surprising revealings involving Nathaniel’s character and I truly enjoyed it.

Maddy also grows a lot in her powers. We find out more about her background and she grows into some new and interesting powers. Maddy still takes a bit too much of the scorched Earth approach to her fights and plans, but she realizes this and jokes about it. The supporting characters do try to reign her in, with not much success.

While I do get a bit sick of the way Maddy can conquer all with her increasing power, I do really enjoy the fast pace of the story and how action packed it is.

This was one of the, dare I say, sexyist books of the series. The tension between Maddy and Nathaniel is absolutely wonderful. The scenes between these two are exceedingly well done.

There are also a lot of interesting revelations around Lucifer’s plans. It’s amazing how well Henry had a lot of this stuff planned out so well from the very beginning of the series.

I also enjoyed that there was a problem to be solved in this book, but also a story that continues from the previous book in the series. The book does end at a horrible cliffhanger, but for some reason it didn’t bother me for this book...it just worked. That’s not to say I am not absolutely dying to see what happens in the next book though.

Overall an excellent installment in this series. I loved that we learned so much about Nathaniel’s past, there were some truly stunning revelations around his character. Maddy also grows a lot in power and continues her rather destructive and power heavy approach to things. This book is fast paced and full of great action scenes. I loved the interplay between Maddy and Nathaniel. This whole series is recommended who enjoy action packed urban fantasy.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- Color Coded Reading Challenge

Review - House Rules (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 7) by Chloe Neill (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 352 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade
Release Date: February 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-0451237101
Stand Alone or Series: 7th book in the Chicagoland Vampires series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

This is the seventh book in the Chicagoland Vampires series. The eighth book will be titled Biting Bad and is scheduled for an August 2013 release. This book was a bit of a transition book again and not as engaging as previous books.

Cadogan House is finally, formally breaking away from the GP. This will make them the first House to claim Rogue vampire status. Things are uncomfortable to say the least. Then a rash of vampire murders start happening and Merit is called to help figure out who is killing these vamps. To add to the complexity Merit is finally called in to formally join the Red Guard.

This was an okay installment in this series. Basically this is the book about Cadogan House breaking away from the GP. A lot of time is spent trying to find legal loop-holes and in the original contract with the GP in order to ensure that Cadogan can break away from the house cleanly. Things get complicated when Dorian tries to make a grab for the house in a power play. Additional complications arise when Ethan invites his ex, Lacey, over to smooth things out with Dorian.

I did like that Merit was finally inducted into the Red Guard. I also liked that she ended up coming clean with all her secrets to Ethan. Having Lacey there to throw Merit and Ethan’s relationship into turmoil was obnoxious and made me roll my eyes a bit. Still I was impressed with how much Ethan and Merit have grown as characters and how reasonable they were about everything.

The vampire murders added a heavy investigative bent to the story. It seemed like a very interesting plot line, but I felt the way it was all resolved felt a bit anti-climatic and contrived.

Mallory was in the story a bit, she is making progress in dealing with her addiction to black magic. Still she is far from the entertaining and bubbly person we meet early in the series. She isn’t in the story much but when she is the tone is tentatively hopeful.

While this book was an okay read, but I felt like nothing all that interesting happened. This felt like another transition novel for me and I am beginning to wonder exactly where this series is going. I feel like after the whole Mallory/Tate storylines were resolved this series lost a lot of momentum that it has yet to pick up.

Overall an okay addition to the series. The whole plot around Cadogan House leaving the GP felt like something that had to be done, but wasn’t all that interesting to read about. It was nice to see Ethan and Merit acting like mature adults, but I felt like a lot of the heat between them was missing. I did enjoy that Merit was finally and formally inducted to the Red Guard. I am curious to see what will happen to Cadogan house as it tries to stand on its own.

The last couple books in this series have been somewhat disappointing to me. I will probably read one more book in this series before I decide whether or not to stop reading it completely. I tentatively recommend this series to fans of urban fantasy featuring vampires...the first four or five books in the series are very good.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge

Audiobook Review - Storm Born (Dark Swan, Book 1) by Richelle Mead (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 384 pages
Publisher: Zebra
Release Date: August 1st, 2011
ISBN: 978-1420125795
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Dark Swan series
Source: Swapped
Rating: 3/5 stars


This is the first book in the Dark Swan series by Richelle Mead. There are four book in this series: Thorn Queen, Iron Crowned and Shadow Heir. It was an okay read but neither the characters nor the world really grabbed my attention much.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook quality was very good. The narrator wass pleasant to listen to and distinguished between different character voices well.

Eugenie Markham is a powerful Shaman who makes a living banishing spirits and fey. When she takes a case to recover a girl that has been stolen by the Fey she is forced to journey into the Other World. There she discovers startling things about her past and a prophecy that says that her first born will rule the Fey. Suddenly every Fey is interested in being the one to sire a child on her.

I usually love books about the Fey, I love the mythology behind it and the interesting world built around it. Unfortunately this book wasn’t as much about Fey as it was about sex. Every Fey thing is trying to rape and/or have sex with Eugenie for a good portion of the book. Seriously there is a lot of sex in this book...so yeah...I guess just be aware of that.

Eugenie is a pretty one dimensional character. In the beginning she dislikes Fey and can’t remember her past. We never really learn why she can’t remember her past just that eventually she starts to. It would have been nice to have this better explained. The other things we learn about Eugenie are that she likes rough sex and bondage sex. Believe me the sex thing is a major part of her character.

There are two males that feature in this story. The first is Kiyo a gorgeous shapeshifter that Eugenie is very attracted to. He falls in love with Eugenie very quickly and for reasons that aren’t really ever explained. The second is Dorian, a fairy king with a taste for bondage. Eugenie is willing to have sex with Dorian in exchange for favors that will help her case to rescue a human girl from Fey hands.

I didn’t really like any of the characters all that much. They were just so 2D and so very driven by sex. I don’t mind sex in my books, but none of these sex scenes were even all that good. The whole thing was just kind of ho-hum.

There are some positives to this book as well, the book does have some awesome action scenes. I also really enjoyed watching Eugenie learn to use her storm magic. The world is an interesting one and I wish we had got to spend more time learning about that than reading about Eugenies luke-warm sex life. I also wish we had gotten to see more different types of Fey, there are some interesting races introduced in this book...but they are talked about so briefly.

This is by far the worst of Mead’s books. The book is easy to read, but the characters were hard to engage with and the story was predictable and lacked something to really drive the story forward.

Overall a very mediocre urban fantasy. I love fey urban fantasies, but can’t really recommend this one. If you want to read an excellent fey urban fantasy series check out Seanan McGuire’s October Daye series...it is an absolutely stunning series featuring Fey. I won’t be reading any more books in this series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Audio Book Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- FEY: Paranormal Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Early Review - The Lost (Celestial Blues, Book 2) by Vicki Pettersson (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 369 pages
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: March 19, 2013
ISBN: 978-0062064653
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Celestial Blues series
Source: Amazon Vine for Review
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the second book in the Celestial Blues series by Pettersson. I really enjoyed it. I love the well done investigative urban fantasy and how it has a bit of old-fashioned flare to it. This is supposed to be a trilogy, but I haven’t heard any information about the 3rd book yet.

Grif has been given time to remain on the mortal plain and solve his murder if he concedes to help guide souls that would otherwise be Lost. When a new drug hits the streets people start dying in horrible ways. Grif isn’t allowed to interfere, but that same can’t be said for Kit. As an investigative reporter she is determined to find where the new drug is being distributed from and save the lives of these addicts before they become Lost.

This was a fun investigative urban fantasy. I really enjoy, Kit, the heroine. She has an upbeat approach to life that is fun to read about. We learn a lot more about Kit’s past in this book and about the darkness that lies there. We learn about why she has chosen a Rockabilly lifestyle and how she fights her personal darkness.

Grif, is an excellent male lead for Kit. He is complex and a bit confused about his purpose as a temporary mortal angel. He is still absolutely supportive and respectful of Kit. We also learn a lot more about Grif’s past. He works to solve the mystery of his murder and along the way we learn more about his lovely dead wife that he pines after so badly.

This story presents an excellent, and slightly gorey, mystery to be solved. The mystery is well done and nicely wrapped up in this book. There is both the mystery of the mysterious and vicious drug source to be solved which is self contained to this novel, and the bigger mystery around Grif’s murder that has spanned multiple books.

The book is well written and moves forward at a good pace. I enjoyed reading the story and found it to be engaging and entertaining.

Overall a well done urban fantasy with old fashioned flare. I enjoyed it. The combination of Rockabilly elements and angelic lore make this something a bit different than other urban fantasy reads out there. Recommended to those who like investigative urban fantasy. The heroine is unique and upbeat.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge