Blood Bound (2007) Patricia Briggs This is a second book in the Mercy Thompson series, and finds Mercy inadvertently caught up in vampire business. There are so many little tidbits that I enjoy, dropped randomly throughout the books. The Marrok, the leader of the North American werewolves, insists that all of the wolves wear a […]

Moon Called (2006) Patricia Briggs I started listening to the Audible version of Moon Called, and I don’t know if it was the narrator, the fact that I’ve been so blown away by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith who reads Ben Aaronovitch’s Peter Grant series, or a combination of both, but I just couldn’t listen to it. So, […]

Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson (2014) Patricia Briggs As I’ve mentioned previously (and repeatedly) I love short stories. They’re a hard thing to love sometimes, because there are so many poorly written ones out there. Luckily for me, Patricia Briggs tends to do them well, so I didn’t hesitate to pick […]

Moon Called: Audible Version (2006/2009) Patricia Briggs and read by Lorelei King After finishing Moon Over Soho, I needed something new to listen to, and since I seemed to be in the mood for supernatural fantasy, I decided to start Patricia Brigg’s Moon Called, especially since I was reading and enjoying her collection of short […]

Moon Over Soho: Audible Version (2011/2012) Ben Aaronovitch and Narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith It’s quite possible I’ve fallen a little bit in love with Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, for the way he reads Ben Aaronovitch’s Peter Grant books. The story is good–I thoroughly enjoyed reading it–but listening? Amazing. He is really good at the voices and the […]

Midnight Riot (2011/2012) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith I’ve had audio books that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed before, but until now, I’d not had the experience of a reader making a book better. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith did that. He is amazing. He did various accents that made each character distinct and they all sounded different. Even […]

Kitty’s Greatest Hits (2011) Carrie Vaughn Il Est Ne (Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (2008)) A Princess of Spain (The Secret History of Vampires (2007)) Conquistador de la Noche (Subterranean Online (2009)) The Book of Daniel (Talebones #39 (2009)) The Temptation of Robin Green (The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance (2009)) Looking After Family (Realms of Fantasy […]

Skinwalker (2009/2010) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam I started listening to this, and ended up going back and re-reading the entire series. But I still finished the audio version, because I thoroughly enjoyed it. First, Beast and Jane have distinct voices, which is important, since they often have conversations in Jane’s mind. Also, the […]

Lord and Lady Spy (2011) Shana Galen This is not an historical romance. It’s a steampunk, without the automatons. Or perhaps it’s fantasy, with boinking. But it is not historical fantasy. Why? Because it’s wildly inaccurate as far as the history goes. So inaccurate that even I–who am terrible with dates and other numbers–caught multiple […]

Black Arts (2014) Faith Hunter And now I’m all caught up on Jane Yellowrock–at least until the new book comes out in October. The book opens with Jane under attack–from Evan Trueblood, who believes that Jane is hiding his wife, Molly. Jane and Evan came to an uneasy truce in an earlier book, but Molly […]

Jane Yellowrock World Companion (2013) Faith Hunter I have conflicted feelings about this. The co-author put a lot of work into the time-line and weapons list and such. And it’s a great reference if you’re not familiar with Jane’s world. But it’s not something to sit down and read. There are three stories: two short […]

Cat Tales: Four Stories from the World of Jane Yellowrock (2011) Faith Hunter These are four Jane stories, two from Jane’s point-of-view and two from Rick’s point-of-view. The Early Years Cat Tats Kits Blood, Fangs, and Going Furry “The Early Years” is set right after Jane ages out of the children’s home. We get a […]

Have Stakes Will Travel: Stories From the World of Jane Yellowrock (2012) Faith Hunter This is a collection of Jane Yellowrock short stories, some of which were published elsewhere, but I love short story collections, so I sprung for this, and two other collections. The stories are: WeSa and the Lumber King Haints Signatures of […]

Blood Trade (2013) Faith Hunter The sixth book in the Jane Yellowrock series finds Jane very much out of sorts. She hasn’t heard from Molly since the death of Evangelina, Rick is mad at her (because she thought he shot her), she’s still mad at Bruiser, and Beast is chained to Leo. But a job […]

Death’s Rival (2012) Faith Hunter Jane is back to working for Leo, and she’s out West to gather blood samples from sick vamps–and vamps aren’t supposed to be able to get sick. There is a lot that happens here. Jane has to pay the piper for statements she made earlier (in the last book). There’s […]

Raven Cursed (2012) Faith Hunter Book four in the Jane Yellowrock series finds Jane back in North Carolina, running security for a meeting between a representative from New Orleans and Lincoln Shadrock, a vampire who wants to become a Master. It’s also where Molly is, but Evan wants Molly to have nothing to do with […]

Mercy Blade (2011) Faith Hunter Book three in the Jane Yellowrock series, finds Jane taking on a long term contract with Leo Pellissier and the New Orleans vamps to provide security. Unfortunately, Leo doesn’t seem to trust her enough to tell her things that are important–like the weres coming out of the supernatural closet and […]

Blood Cross (2010) Faith Hunter The second book in the Jane Yellowrock series (and another re-read). Jane has remained in New Orleans to hunt the vampire who is making young rogues–and allowing the free into the population where they kill, unrestrained. Additionally, while Evan is in Brazil, Molly and her kids are staying with Jane, […]

Skinwalker (2009) Faith Hunter This is a re-read. The first book in the series introduces us to Jane Yellowrock, a skin walker and rogue vampire hunter. She’s come to New Orleans at the request of the local vampire council to take out a rogue who has been killing civilians. I enjoyed going back to the […]

Magic City: Recent Spells (2014) Paula Guran Table of Contents “Street Wizard” by Simon R. Green “Paranormal Romance” by Christopher Barzak “Grand Central Park” by Delia Sherman “Spellcaster 2.0” by Jonathan Maberry “Wallamelon” by Nisi Shawl “-30-” by Caitlín R. Kiernan “Seeing Eye” by Patricia Briggs “Stone Man” by Nancy Kress “In the Stacks” by […]

Rising Stars, Vol. 1: Born in Fire (2001) J. Michael Straczynski, Keu Cha, Ken Lashley, Christian Zanier, Jason Gorder, John Livesay, Edwin Rosell, David Wohl, Dennis Heisler, Dreamer Design, Robin Spehar, Liquid!, Matt Nelson, John Starr, Tyson Wengler Rising Stars, Vol. 2: Power (2002) J. Michael Straczynski, Keu Cha, Ken Lashley, Christian Zanier, Jason Gorder, […]

Hellboy: The Midnight Circus (2013) Mike Mignola, Duncan Fegredo, Dave Stewart Couple things about this: 1) It came out as hardback. 2) I purchased the kindle version, because it was cheaper than the hardback (and by now we should all know my feelings about hardback books). 3) This is more of a novella than regular […]

A Fistful Of Sky (2002) Nina Kiriki Hoffman I’m in need of comfort reading right now–and it needed to be an ebook, so I splurged and bought the ebook version of A Fistful Of Sky and dug in. Gypsum LaZelle comes from a magical family. At some point when they are young teenagers, most LaZelle’s […]

Urban Shaman (2005) C.E. Murphy I read this several years ago, and never read any further in the series, though I remember finding the book and the premise interesting. But I’d forgotten the story completely, and decided I needed to re-read the start before I dove into any sequels. Joanne Walker (named by her mother […]

Dirty Magic (2014) Jaye Wells I desperately needed something distracting, so picked up Dirty Magic, read a couple chapters, wasn’t sure it was what I was in the mood for, but the next day picked it back up, and discovered it served admirably as a distraction. Kate Prospero spent her youth cooking dirty magic. She […]

Strange Brew (2009) edited by P.N. Elrod This is a re-read, and as such, I skipped the stories I didn’t like or wasn’t in the mood for. Seeing Eye by Patricia Briggs Last Call by Jim Butcher Death Warmed Over by Rachel Caine Vegas Odds by Karen Chance Hecate’s Golden Eye by P.N. Elrod Bacon […]

Hellboy in Hell Volume 1: The Descent (2014) Mike Mignola, Dave Stewart My feelings about Hellboy? It’s complicated. I tend to love the Hellboy collections that are more-or-less short story collections of his adventures. The stories about Hellboy’s inheritance, I tend to enjoy much less, so… every other collection I love. Hellboy in Hell, Volume […]

Farthing (2006) Jo Walton I had forgotten how dark and depressing this this story is. Mind you, it’s good, but it has the feel of a dystopia without actually being a dystopia. It’s 1949, but not 1949 as we knew it. For England, World War II ended when England made peace with Hitler. Charles Lindburg […]

Hounds of Autumn (2013) Heather Blackwood I really wanted to love this. The cover is gorgeous, and the premise is fabulous–a young female inventor in an alternate London, living her life within society’s constraints. The problem in this case is the steampunk. I think there should be a corollary to Clarke’s Law, “Any sufficiently advanced […]

Dangerous Women (2013) edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois “Some Desperado” (Red Country story) by Joe Abercrombie “My Heart is Either Broken” by Megan Abbott “Nora’s Song” by Cecelia Holland “The Hands That Are Not There” by Melinda Snodgrass “Bombshells” (Harry Dresden story) by Jim Butcher “Raisa Stepanova” by Carrie Vaughn “Wrestling Jesus” […]

Disenchanted & Co., Part 2: His Lordship Possessed (2013) Lynn Viehl Again, gorgeous cover, and I love the world building, but the story? Bletch. She now moons over Lord Dredmore, who has, at least according to Kit, zero redeeming qualities. Kit also seems to get dumber as the book goes on. Even though her friends […]

Disenchanted & Co., Part 1: Her Ladyship’s Curse (2013) Lynn Viehl This book has a gorgeous cover and a fabulous premise. Unfortunately, for me, it lived up to neither. Charmian Kittredge lives in Toriana, an alternate North America, one where there is no United States, because the Revolution failed. And one where magic seemingly works, […]

Legion (2012) Brandon Sanderson Important note: this is a novella. I love novellas and short stories, but some people don’t, so there’s your heads up. Stephen Leeds has multiple aspects–full fledged personalities that he sees as distinct individuals, yet knows are hallucinations. These hallucinations allow him to solve mysteries and conundrums and have made him […]

Something from the Nightside (Audio Version) (2003/2008) Simon R. Green narrated by Marc Vietor This is the first book in the Nightside series, and introduces us to both John Taylor and the Nightside. You’ll probably know very quickly if this is for you or not. John “Bloody” Taylor is a private investigator who has been […]

The Archangel Project (2008) C.S. Graham October ‘Toby’ Guinness is an Army vet who was washed out with a psychiatric discharge after an incident in Iraq. “You didn’t want to go to Iraq?” said the Colonel. “Are you kidding? The only people who actually want to go to Iraq are either seriously delusional or very, […]

Fairest Vol. 3: The Return of the Maharaja (2014) Sean E. Williams, Stephen Sadowski, Phil Jimenez I am a huge fan of Fables, but I have not cared for all the spin-offs–especially Jack of Fables. I despise Jack, and can’t stand reading about him. But I’ve enjoyed Fairest, and so had Vol 3 on pre-order, […]

Reborn (2014) CC Hunter This is part of the Shadow Falls series, but Kylie’s arc is completed, and we now come back to Della, who was the character who introduced me to Shadow Falls in her short story and “Turned at Dark” (still free!) then again in the novella “Saved at Sunrise“. What is Shadow […]

Tales of the Otherworld (2010) Kelley Armstrong Not knowing what I was in the mood to read, an anthology seemed just the thing. These are stories from Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld series–stories that fill in the cracks between her novels–most of which I have not read. (I believe I have read Bitten, and that’s it.) There […]

Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic: The Thirteenth Rib (2013) David J. Schwartz After I finished reading, I discovered this had originally been a kindle serial, which explains the pacing. But don’t take that as a negative, this is actually a pretty good story. Joy works for the Federal Bureau of Magical Affairs (FMBA) and […]

Iron Night (2014) M.L. Brennan This is the sequel to Generation V, and finds Fort (short for Fortitude (his mother is centuries old, so you’ll have to forgive his name)) working with his brother Chivalry (see aforementioned comment about their mother) checking up on the various creatures and beings who owe fealty to the Scott […]

Trail of Dead (2013) Melissa F. Olson The sequel to Dead Spots, it wasn’t horrible, but I would kick this book out of bed for eating crackers in an instant. I still liked the idea of the story. And the mystery was interesting. But I hated… no, I take that back, I despised the love […]

Dead Spots (2012) Melissa F. Olson Scarlett Bernard is a Null. Magic doesn’t work within an extended radius around her, which means she cannot be bitten by vampires or werewolves or the curses of witches. Therefore, the Old World has a use for her: clean up. When there is a magical “accident,” Scarlett is called […]

Heroes ‘Til Curfew (2011) Susan Bischoff This is the second book in the Talent Chronicles (and sadly, the last one available) and a follow-up to Hush Money, a YA book where children and teens with Talents are taken by the NIAC and put into special schools where they are “protected” from society (but in reality […]

Impulse Control (2011) Susan Bischoff This is an introduction to Susan Bischoff’s Talent Chronicles series. It’s a self-contained story that gets you into the writing and the world, but is quite separate from the books (at least for now). I’m a fan of short stories, and this one is very well done: it has world […]

The Raven Boys (2012) written by Maggie Stiefvater and narrated by Will Patton I read this last year, then on a trip Michael and I started listening to the audio version. Then I remembered I had the second book in the series, so I re-read the book, and then read The Dream Thieves (oh, Ronan), […]

Black Magic Woman (2008) Justin Gustainis This isn’t the first book by Justin Gustainis I’ve read, so I had a general idea of what to expect. This book is a bit different from the other series I’ve read, however. A little less horror, and although there was a bit of police procedural to it, the […]

The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire (2012) Abigail Gibbs “Hmmm…. what do I want to read next?” (looks through books) (picks up Dark Heroine) … “What the hell? How is it one o’clock in the morning?! Shit! I have to work tomorrow!” So, The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire is that kind of […]

The InCryptid Short Stories: Jonathan Healy and Frances Brown (2013/2014) Seanan McGuire Having read the latest InCryptid book, I realized I had downloaded a bunch of InCryptid short stories, but not gotten around to reading them. Since I didn’t feel like starting a new book, I blew through them all. As of right now, all […]

Half-Off Ragnarok (2014) Seanan McGuire I don’t know what it is about this series. I love the Toby McGuire series. I love the Toby short stories I’ve read. But every book in this series I’ve expected to love as much as I love the Toby series, and I just… don’t. These aren’t bad books, and […]

London Falling (2012) Paul Cornell (Shadow Police) I started reading, and briefly thought I had entered in the middle of the story. I hadn’t. It was actually the beginning, but for the characters, they believe they are in the end game. Two cops working undercover to take down a crime lord, the DI running the […]