Known Devil (2014) Justin Gustainis (Occult Crimes Unit Investigation) Karl hadn’t complained about taking the damaged elf to the hospital. He wouldn’t be allowed to take part in any interrogation, anyway. The Supreme Court had ruled in Barlow v. Maine almost forty years ago that anything a suspect said in the presence of a vampire […]
Evil Dark (2012) Justin Gustainis (Occult Crimes Unit Investigation) There’s just something about an over-the-top supernatural police procedural. Pretend that there’s a file folder somewhere, a big, thick one, labeled Real Bad Ideas. There’s at least three things I can think of that belong in there – inviting a werewolf for a moonlight stroll, telling […]
Hard Spell (2011) Justin Gustainis (Occult Crimes Unit Investigation) This is the city – Scranton, Pennsylvania. My name’s Markowski. I carry a badge. Also a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a 9 mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets. I put a vial containing fresh crushed garlic in my shirt […]
An Island For Two (2022) Ophelia Silk Dela is an elf influencer–living on the money inherited from her parents and hoping to share a bit of joy and fun with the world, which is why she wants to build an event center on the island she recently purchased. Unfortunately, that island is already inhabited. Dela […]
The Soldier’s Scoundrel (2016) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) Set in England in ~1815 To be honest, I have avoided reading this book for ages, because the cover squicks me out. Luckily, neither character is anything at all like the models. Oliver sold his commission after taking a bullet to the back of his knee. […]
Emerald Blaze (2020) Ilona Andrews (Hidden Legacy) I used to pre-order all Ilona Andrews books and then devour them as soon as I got them. But to be honest I still haven’t finished the Kate Daniels series, and I have not found the Hidden Legacy series as enjoyable as their other series. I started this […]
A Delicate Deception (2019) Cat Sebastian (Regency Imposters) Set in England in 1824 Amelia Allenby fled London to escape what she felt was an impending madness. She’s now comfortable in Derbyshire, but still tries to avoid everyone. But a hulking man interrupts her daily walk, and eventually her annoyance changes to something else. Sydney may […]
Daring and the Duke (2020) Sarah MacLean (The Bareknuckle Bastards) Set in London in 1837 & 1838 I liked so much about this book, but the boinking parts were so not my thing the whole story ended up failing for me. Let me clarify before you start angry typing at me. Hate sex is something […]
Known Devil (2014) Justin Gustainis (Occult Crimes Unit Investigation) Alas, the end of the Occult Crimes Unit Investigation series. Just three books, but they’re fun ones. Stan and Karl are taking their coffee break when a pair of elves attempt to hold up the diner where they are having their coffee. What makes no sense […]
Evil Dark (2012) Justin Gustainis I am enjoying my re-read of this series. Pretend that there’s a file folder somewhere, a big, thick one, labeled Real Bad Ideas. There’s at least three things I can think of that belong in there – inviting a werewolf for a moonlight stroll, telling a witch she’s got a […]
Hard Spell An Occult Crimes Unit Investigation (2011) Justin Gustainis Stan Markowski is a Detective on the Scranton Police Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit–they investigate crimes involving witches and vampires and other supernatural beings. Cops on the Supe Squad spend as much time investigating crimes committed against supes as we do on crimes with a supe […]
The Wallflower Wager (2019) Tessa Dare Lady Penelope Campion is all but a recluse, hiding in her family home and collecting abandoned animals. As a person who wanted to like everyone, it hurt to know that not everyone liked her in return. Her new neighbor is Gabriel Duke, the so-called Duke of Ruin, who has […]
Sapphire Flames (2019) Ilona Andrews Nevada’s arc ended with Wildfire. Catalina’s story started there, then moved on with the novella Diamond Fire, and this is her first novella. It’s…. fine. I liked spending time with Catalina and her family. I appreciated that Nevada was being kept out of the way and gave up control of […]
Diamond Fire (2018) Ilona Andrews This is a Hidden Legacy novella, and covers the wedding of Nevada and Rogan. We also meet Rogan’s mother. “If fortune smiles on us, this will be your only wedding. This will be a formal affair. Your bride will be wearing a breathtaking gown, you will be wearing a tuxedo, […]
Into the Fire (2017) Jeaniene Frost The fourth and final book in the Vlad and Leila series finds them trying to undo the links that Leila has to Mircea the necromancer–links that look as if they can only be undone by death. This becomes an even bigger problem when the necromancers discover they can use […]
Bound by Flames (2015) Jeaniene Frost Third book in the saga of Vlad and Leila finds them still searching for Vlad’s enemy Szilagyi. It also finds Leila again kidnapped and tortured. I really didn’t care for how many times Leila was traumatized by Vlad’s enemies over the course of this series. I think reading the […]
Twice Tempted (2013) Jeaniene Frost Leila is living with Vlad, but quickly comes to discover that as much as she loves him, she cannot live with him not loving her. One of the things I particularly like is the history that the various vampires have seen. the Knighthood of the Temple of Solomon had secret […]
Once Burned (2012) Jeaniene Frost Leila was electrocuted as a teen. “So let me get this straight,” Auburn Hair said, drawing the words out. “You touched a downed power line when you were thirteen, nearly died, and then later, your body began giving off electric voltage and your right hand divined psychic impressions from whatever […]
Wildfire: A Hidden Legacy Novel (2017) Ilona Andrews This is the third book in the Hidden Legacy series. This was supposed to be a trilogy, but there are enough loose ends for at least another book. I could have done without the final bit with Victoria Tremaine, which felt more like a cliffhanger than this […]
White Hot (2017) Ilona Andrews Guess what? I DESPISE THIS COVER TOO. It’s TERRIBLE. I tells you nothing about the story except that there is boinking. BLETCH. OK, enough. How about the story? The story is good! Things are even more complex, and not just between Nevada and Rogan. The cabal that attempted to destroy […]
Burn for Me (2014) Ilona Andrews I STILL DESPISE THIS COVER. Avon? THIS COVER IS HORRIBLE. No, really. It’s been what, three years, and I STILL HATE THIS COVER. Especially considering the proposed cover. But this review is not for me to rant. Well, not completely anyway. Nevada Baylor is owned by MII, the investigative […]
Magic Slays (2011) Ilona Andrews Book five. Kate is no longer a member of the order, but is now running her own investigative agency. Not that she has any cases, but it’s her agency. After having disappeared for two months, Andrea returns–a very different woman now that she has been kicked out of the order […]
Magic Bleeds (2010) Ilona Andrews Book four finds Kate waiting for Curran, having made him dinner as he specified–except he doesn’t show up. While she’s tending to her broken heart, she gets called to deal with what sounds like a bar fight that got out of hand. Who the hell would attack the Steel Horse […]
Magic Strikes (2009) Ilona Andrews This book opens with one of my favorite scenes. An old woman is atop a telephone pole, and the Order is called to get her down. I trotted into the dark entrance to the apartment, where five members of the McSweeney family crouched in the gloom. “Tell me again why […]
Magic Burns (2008) Ilona Andrews A magic flare is coming, and everyone from the lowliest witch to gods is looking to take advantage of the increased magic. Kate, as an associate of The Order, is being run ragged, but when she comes upon a lost girl in search of her mother, she takes the young […]
Bound by Flames (2015) Jeaniene Frost This is the third book in the Night Prince series, Jeaniene Frost’s take on Vlad Dracul and Leila, the woman he came to love–against his better judgment and almost against his will. First, let’s make this clear–this book is NOT for the faint of heart. Truly, this series isn’t, […]
Burn for Me (2014) Ilona Andrews This is the first book in the Hidden Legacies series. It ends, not with a cliff hanger, but not as cleanly as it could. Nevada Baylor runs her family’s detective agency. Her father’s death put the family deeply into debt, and the agency that bought their mortgage owns the […]
Magic Slays (2011) Ilona Andrews And here we are at book five. I’m thinking I may stop here for now. Book six came out relatively recently, and it wasn’t a particular favorite. But I have hunted down all the Kate Daniels short stories I can find, so I’ve got a little more Kate left. Kate […]
Magic Bleeds (2010) Ilona Andrews This one is more romance than mystery, but still all fantasy and action. First, I really appreciate how Kate actually thinks and considers before taking action. She doesn’t always so manages when it’s important. If Curran and I got into it, our fight wouldn’t be seen as a conflict between […]
Magic Burns (2008) Ilona Andrews Book two in the Kate Daniels series finds Kate still working as a merc, but also still working for the Order. We get more important introductions here: Julie, Andrea, Auntie B, Raphael… Most of the main characters have now entered the series. We’re still missing a lot about Kate’s history […]
Hard Spell (2011) Justin Gustainis (Occult Crimes Unit Investigation) Stan Markowski is a detective in Scranton’s Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit. He works the night shift and works the cases that deal with supernaturals. My name’s Markowski. I carry a badge. Also a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a […]
Known Devil (2014) Justin Gustainis Stan Markowski is a Sergeant in the Occult Crimes Unit of the Scranton Police. His daughter and his partner are both vampires, but he doesn’t hold that against them. (He can’t, really, since it’s his fault they’re vampires.) It was believed that only goblins were affected by intoxicating substances (in […]
Evil Dark (2012) Justin Gustainis Stan Markowski is still on the supe squad in Scranton, still looking into crime committed by and/or against supernatural creatures, and this time a series of murders looks to be tied together, but the answer to cui bono is nowhere to be found. Like the first book, dark in the […]
Twice Tempted: A Night Prince Novel (2013) Jeaniene Frost NOTICE: If you had not read Jeaniene Frost before, SHE WRITES BOINKING BOOKS. Okay, that’s out of the way… The sequel to Once Burned is also not the final book in this series (I’m guessing the middle book of a trilogy, but I don’t know that […]
Eternal Kiss of Darkness (2010) Jeaniene Frost I really liked this book. However. HOLY TOMATOES! THAT IS A HORRIBLE COVER! Seriously, her Cat and Bones series has decent covers–good covers even. But this? This makes me want to cringe. Perhaps even rip the cover off and burn it so I don’t ever have to see […]
Once Burned (2012) Jeaniene Frost I seem to be on a roll. This is the second book in a WEEK I’ve read that doesn’t end cleanly. It wasn’t quite the cliffhanger that Tempest’s Fury was, but it did introduce issues and problems in the epilogue. And of COURSE this book JUST came out, so it’s […]
Magic Bleeds (2010) Ilona Andrews Things never go right for Kate Daniels. She makes dinner for Curran, and he never shows up, and when she calls looking for him, she’s blown off. Then heading back to work after a long day, she’s called to check out an emergency, and things go downhill from there. There […]
Magic Strikes (2009) Ilona Andrews Now that Kate is working for the Order (and getting a steady paycheck) she’s working her butt off. A magic flare has caused trouble (as usual) and Kate gets to help deal with the upheaval. But when she goes to investigate the scene of the death of a shapeshifter, things […]
Magic Burns (2008) Ilona Andrews The sequel to Magic Bites, Magic Burns continues the story of Kate Daniels, magic user, fighter, and no longer mercenary, but instead member of the Order, a group that helps keep the peace in a dangerous and uncertain world. While taking a case as a mercenary, Kate stumbles upon a […]