Mainly by Moonlight (2019) Josh Lanyon Cosmo Saville is a witch–a fact he’s hiding from his soon-to-be husband. But when Cosom discovers that someone put a love spell on John Joseph Galbraith, he insists the spell be removed–even if it causes the wedding to be called off. And to make things worse, the business meeting […]
Gunpowder Alchemy (2014) Jeannie Lin Set in China in 1850 It has taken me a really long time to read this; it’s been my lunch-time reading book, but I don’t always read at lunch, and after lunch I walk and listen to either an audiobook or podcasts. So–maybe I’ve been reading this for a year? […]
Among the Living (2006) Jordan Castillo Price (PsyCop) Victor Bayne’s partner is retiring. Maurice was a sixty-two year old black man who had a lot more gray in his hair at his retirement party than he’d had when I first met him. We’d never been close in a way that some partners at the Fifth […]
Sympathy: MM Romance with a Hint of Magic (2009) Jordan Castillo Price This is a M/M romance short story. Apparently, broken characters are my catnip. It’s been two years since the accident. Anthony Potosi has had to learn to walk again, and to attempt to regain at least some of what that loss took from […]
Snake Agent (2005) Liz Williams Detective Inspector Chen is in charge of crimes that stretch into Heaven and Hell (obviously, far more cases involve Hell over heaven) and as an occult practitioner whose patronage of the goddess Kuan Yin affords him a measure of protection when he has to travel to Hell. Unfortunately, his recent […]
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 […]
Charmed and Dangerous: Ten Tales of Gay Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy (2015) edited by Jordan Castillo Price “Dim Sum Asylum” (2015) by Rhys Ford “Swift and the Black Dog” (2015) by Ginn Hale “A Queer Trade” (2015) by KJ Charles “Magically Delicious” (2015) by Nicole Kimberling “Everyone’s Afraid of Clowns” (2015) by Jordan Castillo […]
Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds (2018) Brandon Sanderson I am super conflicted. I absolutely adored the first two Legion novellas. They were quite different from anything else, and they were action packed and lots of fun. This third novella was a problem for me from the start. First and foremost, it was released […]
The Rook (2012) Daniel O’Malley This was on sale last week, and when I saw it, I immediately wanted to read it again. This is a book that gets better each time I read it, because I think about the different aspects of the story. First, I adore the various thoughts about human nature. the […]
The Naming of the Beasts, Audio Book (2009) Mike Carey narrated by Michael Kramer This is the final book of the Felix Castor series. It also switches back to Michael Kramer as the narrator, which was very jarring. The previous book switched to a narrator I really liked, which made Michael Kramer’s narrator fall even […]
Uncommonly Tidy Poltergeists (2017) Angel Martinez Taro has to make a confession to his family–and he’s afraid they’re going to freak out. He’s won the biggest power ball in history, and is going to keep it a secret from everyone but them. He is also, after buying his parents a vacation home and setting up […]
The Leopard King (2016) Ann Aguirre This was the book I ended up reading after I finished the Brandywine Investigations series, which I really enjoyed. I opened several books, and nothing piqued my interest, so I ended up with this. At the end of chapter one it was clear this was going to be a […]
Family Matters (2018) Angel Martinez (Brandywine Investigations) This is three stories set in the same world as the previous book, Open for Business: Books, Bulls, & Bacchanals, Midwinter Dancing, Pack Up the Moon Books, Bulls, & Bacchanals is Dionysus’ story. After an evening spent with his family, Dio decides he needs to find something to […]
Open for Business (2016) Angel Martinez (Brandywine Investigations) Mythological beings. M/M romance. Murder and mystery. That noise? Those were a bunch of my buttons being pushed all at the same time. This is three separate stories. Canines, Crosshairs & Corpses, No Enemy But Time, and Dragons, Diamonds & Discord. Canines, Crosshairs & Corpses Hades (that […]
Thrown to the Wolves (2019) Charlie Adhara Cooper is (again) recuperating, having had his leg badly broken in their last adventure–the one that got Park suspended for a month. They are still hiding their relationship from the BSI, but neither is sure if that will work once they are both back at work together. Every […]
The Wolf at Bay (2018) Charlie Adhara After solving the serial killer case four months previous, Cooper and Park have become partners at the BSI–and partners in the other sense as well, but neither of them is capable of talking about how they feel about each other. “That depends on just because what. Just because […]
The Wolf at the Door (2018) Charlie Adhara (Big Bad Wolf) Agent Cooper Dayton was transferred from the FBI to the BSI after a werewolf attack. The job of the BSI is to deal with werewolf crime–and keep the existence of werewolves from becoming known to the general public. The public could never know about […]
The October Man (2019) Ben Aaronovitch Let me be clear: This is NOT a Peter Grant story. It’s set in the same world, and Peter and Nightingale are mentioned, but it’s about another character entirely, policeman Tobias Winter, an investigator for the Abteilung KDA, the German equivalent of the Folly. I ended up in the […]
Storm Cursed (2019) Patricia Briggs Mercy is called when a rogue goblin is noticed by a farmer–a goblin who looks like on wanted for the murder of a policeman. Mercy takes Mary Jane and Ben with her–but also is smart enough to call Larry, the goblin king, to come deal with his wayward subject. The […]
Sorcery and the Single Girl (2007-2015) Mindy Klasky Jane is slowly learning how to use her powers–but it turns out she doesn’t have much time, because the local coven is going to test her, and if she fails, they take all her books, tools, and even her familiar Neko. Jane was even more aggravating in […]
Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft (2006/2015) Mindy Klasky (Jane Madison) Jane Madison is a research librarian at a private library, which has been struggling to make ends meet (by such ventures as selling expensive fancy coffees), but things seem to have gotten worse when her boss tells her that her salary is being cut by 25%–but […]
High Stakes Trial (2019) Mindy Klasky Sarah has been indicted for the murder of the judge for whom she worked, and her boss has disappeared off the face of the earth, leaving her with a temporary security head who uses dog breeds as curses. Sarah has been seeing Chris, the head of the local sphinxes […]
Law and Murder (2017) Mindy Klasky The second book finds Sarah preparing for the trial of the vampire who attempted to kill her–but it seems that her status in the supernatural world still isn’t set, and that may well affect the trail–and Sarah’s life. “Legend says Sekhmet’s retainers invented beer to keep her calm. For […]
Fright Court (2011) Mindy Klasky (Magical Washington) Sarah Anderson has been bouncing from job to job for years now, while her best friend is settled down with a rewarding job and what seems to be a perfect family. But Sarah’s first night on the job she discovers that nothing on the Night Court is as […]
Hell & High Water (2014/2018) Charlie Cochet Dexter Daley’s career in the human police force is over–he just doesn’t know it yet. After testifying that his partner shot a unarmed teenager Therian in the back, he’s put on leave, and then beat up by his fellow officers. Eventually, he’s sent to THIRDS, the human-therian unit […]
Ravensong (2018) TJ Klune That’s it. I’m out. Gordo Livingstone was made the witch of the Bennett pack when he was a child. Then, his pack abandoned him and he was left completely alone–even by the boy he thought he loved. This book happens before, during, and after the events of Wolfsong, giving us Gordo’s […]
The Darkling Thrush (2012) Josh Lanyon I’ve read a lot of Josh Lanyon books in the past year, and I adored most of them. This is a fantasy M/M romance and… I didn’t much care for it. Colin Bliss is in London for an exchange program to get work experience as a librivenator. But all […]
The Haunted Heart: Winter (2013) Josh Lanyon This isn’t really supernatural; it’s a ghost story. But I didn’t have a better category for it. Flynn Ambrose is living in the house he inherited from his uncle on Pitch Pine Lane while he sorts through the antiques and other items collected over a lifetime. I said, […]
Wolfsong (2016) TJ Klune (Green Creek) Ox was twelve when his daddy told him that Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Ox was sixteen when he met the boy on the road. Joe talked and talked and talked, but Ox found out later the boy hadn’t spoken in almost two years. […]
Inspector Hobbes and the Gold Diggers (2014) Wilkie Martin The third Inspector Hobbes / Unhuman book. Andy Caplet is still living with Hobbes, and slowly (slowly) becoming a better human. Hobbes might not be human, but he’s good at being human. We finally discover things about Hobbes! ‘I expect,’ said Sid, with a glance at […]
The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal (2013) K.J. Charles Set in England between 1894 and 1914. The Caldwell Ghost Butterflies Remember, Remember Silver Cakes and Ale Devils on Horseback An Eye for an Eye The Writing on the Wall Turn of the Century The End Simon Feximal helps the dead to rest. He doesn’t exorcise […]
Half-Resurrection Blues, Audio Edition (2015) Daniel José Older narrated by Daniel José Older After re-listening to Salsa Nocturna, I figured that Half-Resurrection Blues should be up next. (A)nother little guy is definitely Indian/ Pakistani or maybe Puerto Rican. Or half-black. Whatever he is, he gets randomly searched every time he’s within twenty feet of an […]
Rivers of London Vol. 7: Action at a Distance (2018) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Brian Williamson Set in 2016. When these comics first started, I think that Ben Aaronovitch had a lot of extra material he couldn’t fit in the books. I think that he’s probably used up that material, because these last several comics […]
All the World’s an Undead Stage (2018) Angel Martinez The conclusion to the Offbeat Crimes series (or at least the story arc of who has been targeting Precinct 77) concludes with us going back to Carrington and Erasmus, who are happy enough together, although neither has said the “L” word yet. “Did you skip lunch […]
Jackalopes and Woofen-Poofs (2017) Angel Martinez Alex and the rest of the 77th are dealing with the fall out from the last book, when Kash destroyed the magical working that was creating the attack dust bunnies. Jason’s work is fine, but his family remains a big problem. Paul took five uncomfortable seconds to pounce. “You […]
Feral Dust Bunnies (2017) Angel Martinez I’m glad I purchased this book with the previous, because otherwise I might have ended the series there and that would have been a shame, because this story was great. Alex Wolf is an officer in Precinct #77. Like the others, he’s strange. Weird. When he was little, he […]
Skim Blood and Savage Verse (2017) Angel Martinez I’m glad the series didn’t start here, because I wouldn’t have read any of the other books. Carrington Loveless is the senior member of the 77th precinct–part of a group of paranormal police officers seen as broken by the “regular” paranormal law enforcement. And their office is […]
Salsa Nocturna: Stories, Audio Edition (2012/2014) Daniel José Older, narrated by Daniel José Older This is a collection of stories set in his Bone Street Rumba world. “Tenderfoot” published in The Innsmouth Free Press (2011) “Salsa Nocturna” published in Strange Horizons (2010) “Skin Like Porcelain Death” “The Collector” published in The ShadowCast Audio Anthology (2010) […]
Stiletto, Audio Edition (2016) Daniel O’Malley narrated by Moira Quirk Since I re-listened to The Rook, I had to follow up with Stiletto. I keep checking to see if Daniel O’Malley has written anything else, and I am terribly disappointed every time I see that, no, there is nothing else. Why do I love these […]
Circle of the Moon (2019) Faith Hunter This book is set after the last Jane Yellowrock book, Dark Queen, but I’m not 100% clear on the time-line, which was problematic. As best I can tell, this is far enough after the big events that Jane has gone to ground to heal, which is why neither […]
The Pill Bugs of Time (2016) Angel Martinez This is the second half of Kyle and Vikash’s story, told from Vikash’s POV. Why are these two characters fun? Because they are ridiculously geeky–and proud of it. “Should get an Odo bucket,” Vikash murmured. “A what?” Kyle chuckled into his coffee. “Seriously, Carr? You never watched […]
Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters (2016) Angel Martinez Kyle Monroe has been a cop at the 77th precinct for several months, when he is assigned a new partner: the extremely stoic and handsome Vikash Soren. He wants to dislike Vikash, but instead falls for him–which is a terrible idea, since they’re partners. This is a […]
The Curse of Lord Stanstead (2015) Mia Marlowe Set in London in 1819. With his pretenatural ability to influence the thoughts of others, Garrett Sterling is sent to gather Cassandra for the Order of the M.U.SE. He’s entirely unprepared for his immediate attraction to the comely little firestarter. But it’s an attraction that he must […]
Hexbreaker (2016) Jordan L. Hawk Tom Halloran is a cop hiding a past that would get him thrown in jail–if not executed. Cicero is a familiar without a witch, and his time to remain in that state with the MWP is growing short, which means he may need to accept any witch or find his […]
The Rook, Audio Edition (2012) Daniel O’Malley narrated by Susan Duerden I had no idea what I wanted to listen to, but needed something engaging, so I decided to go back to The Rook. “That’s experience talking,” said Shantay. “In these situations, the glass is always half empty.” “Always?” “Always,” confirmed the Bishop. “Right until […]
Inspector Hobbes and the Curse (2013) Wilkie Martin This is the second Inspector Hobbes book. Weirdly, I still can’t decided how I feel about this series. It’s very silly, but it sometimes feels like it’s trying too hard to achieve that silliness. Wolfifesting is the process whereby a werewolf transforms into wolf form; it’s the […]
Lies Sleeping (2018) Ben Aaronovitch This is the seventh Rivers of London novel. And it’s set in 2014, because the story moved slower than real publishing time. You can read this if you haven’t read the novella or comics, but if you haven’t read the previous books? Forget it. The story opens with the following […]
The Phoenix Illusion (2018) Lisa Shearin The 6th SPI Files book finds Mac and and her friends celebrating when a house suddenly appears in an empty lot–and catches on fire. More distressingly, the house that appeared is Rake’s, and it’s from his homeworld (which isn’t Earth). First, Mac remains one of my favorite fictional law […]
The Hanging Tree, Audio Edition (2017) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith Now I’m all caught up on Peter Grant and ready to read the newest book. One of Lady Ty’s daughters has gotten into trouble, and she has called Peter to ask for his help in solving a problem. “Peter,” said Lady Ty, “Nightingale […]
The Furthest Station, Audio Edition (2017) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith This actually comes after The Hanging Tree, but I ended up reading it prior, and it didn’t matter. This is a novella that features Abigail as much as it does Peter, which I really enjoyed, since I love little bits, like this conversation […]