Mini Challenge: League of Reluctant Adults - Jaye Wells

Yes, another review for Literary Escapism's New Author Challenge!

Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells, Orbit

Sabina is a mixed-blood, having had a Lilim (vampire) mother and a mage father.  But since she was raised by her grandmother, she only knows the world of the Lilim.  Sabina is an assassin, and her latest assignment has her infiltrating the cult that demon-vampire Clovis has established, with assassination of the leader her ultimate goal.  Along the way she has to deal with a demon sent to kill her and a hottie mage that is determined to follow her and introduce her to the mage side of her family.

I did enjoy this story. It was an interesting take on the vampire world, with the added bonus of including mages, faeries, demons, etc.  I rather liked Adam, the mage sent to follow Sabina, and I liked that she didn’t fall head over heels for him.  I particularly enjoyed the nymph Vinca, who becomes Sabina’s roommate, because she turned out to be more than what she seemed at first.  The big niggle I had about the book include Sabina’s density. It just takes her forever to figure out that which is so obvious, and her thought processes about it got to be tedious.  Still, there was a good amount of humor, and there is a central mystery around Sabina that makes me curious to see what will happen in the next book.

Mini Challenge: League of Reluctant Adults - Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge

Here is another review for the New Author Challenge at Literary Escapism.

Black and White, by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge, Ballantine

Jet and Iridium are mortal enemies now, but they became friends at the Academy when they were 12 and just learning the ways of heroes - people born with genetic differences that give them superpowers.  There’s a lot going on in the telling of the story.  View points that alternate each chapter, and time frames that very every few chapters.  You get the present time, where the story takes place over days.  And interspersed with that you get year one, year two, etc., while the women were at the academy, so their backstory unfolds bit by bit, leading the reader to find out how they got where they are today. There’s a mystery surrounding the ‘heroes’ and their connection to the corporation that handles them. There’s a phobic group that hates and attacks the heroes.  There are a couple of strong secondary characters who may not be what they seem.  And there is one hero - Jet - who is by-the-book, duty-first, save-humanity and interestingly wears black and controls shadows/the dark.  And the other former-hero, Iridium, who breaks the rules, goes rogue and lords over the bad part of town, and wears white and controls the light. 

I can’t say that I’ve ever read anything like this, even in the urban fantasy field.  It was gripping and a fast-moving read.  I would have wanted to smack Jet except that Iridium did it for me (several times) so that balanced out quite nicely.  I did figure out the bad guys fairly early, but not the reason for their existence.  And I do love stories where you get to see the evolution of the characters.  All in all a very good read!

Mini Challenge: League of Reluctant Adults - Kat Richardson

I don't know what I was thinking, I guess I got all caught up in the excitement, etc., but I entered the New Author Mini Challenge: League of Reluctant Adults. I know, I know.  More stuff to read. But I really do like Urban Fantasy and its ilk.  We shall see if I can get more than one of these read this month!  First up:

Greywalker, by Kat Richardson, published by ROC. 
Harper Blaine is a private investigator who gets attacked by a guy she's investigating, and dies momentarily in the process.  As she recovers, she finds that she can see ghosts, vampires and other strange things, things that belong in the Grey.  She has to learn how to deal with and operate in the Grey, which she is quite reluctant to do.  Harper takes on a couple of cases in this first book of the series, that seem to start out normal but end up being quite paranormal.  One is to find the maker of a new vampire so he can be taught the things he needs to know to survive.  The other is to find an antique parlor organ that purportedly belongs to a mysterious client. Harper finds herself in deep and dire circumstances in these cases, and has to ask for help from creatures she would otherwise avoid. 

I really like Harper.  She's the urban fantasy heroine we've come to know and love, the kick-ass woman who occasionally gets her ass kicked.  Her discovery of the Grey is enticing to follow.  We come to understand it along with her, so it's a process.  Harper really does not want to have this ability, doesn't want to learn about this odd zone, but eventually she has no choice if she's going to survive.  The characters in her life are wonderfully drawn and have their own mysteries.  Quinton is the strange electronics guru who seems to have no office or workspace, and likes to be paid in cash.  Mara and Ben are the couple who know about the Grey and try to teach Harper, with Mara being a witch and Ben an academic.  Carlos the vampire is deliciously scary, but helps Harper (for a price). I'm not sure that anyone is what they seem, and I know that their stories will unfold as the series progresses.

Urban Fantasy Favorites, part 1

A recent post at MsM's Moonlight to Twilight blog got me thinking about all the wonderful urban fantasy I'd been reading before m/m sort of took over my life. I started to comment on her post, but realized I was blathering on for so long that I might take over her site.  Not wanting to be so rude (hey, I can be nice) I moved my blather to my own blog, where I can refer to it cause I like hearing myself talk.  Er...reading myself write.  Oh, never mind!

Urban Fantasy I have known and loved --

Author: Ilona Andrews.  Series: Kate Daniels.  Urban Setting: Atlanta.  First book: Magic Bites.  The authors are a husband/wife team and are amazing.  The world building is absolutely thorough and believable.  The world fluctuates between magic and technology.  Kate is a mercenary strong in magic, and finds herself dealing with vampires (not the warm fuzzy kind) and shifters and so on.  She is unapologetically kick-ass. There is not a strong romance per se, but the tension is there and draws you in. (A recent book "On the Edge" is the start of a new series.  The Edge is a place that exists between the mundane world and the magical one.  Rose is the heroine who has to fight the bad guys.  Nice budding romance with the requisite tension also.)

Author: Patricia Briggs.  Series: Mercy Thompson.  Urban Setting: Tri-cities in the Pacific Northwest.  First Book: Moon Called.  Mercy is a mechanic with her own shop.  She's also a shifter who gets caught up in some bad goings on involving werewolves. And then vampires, sorcerers, and fae.  She has a couple of love-interests, and it is fun watching that develop over the series.  She's interesting in that she didn't plan on being a hero, kick-ass or otherwise.  She has to use her brains and the talents that come with being a coyote.   (Another series in the same universe: Alpha and Omega, with Charles and Anna as a werewolf couple dealing with their own set of mysteries)


Author: Jim Butcher.  Series: The Dresden Files.  Urban Setting: Chicago.  First Book: Storm Front.  The protag Harry Dresden is male, but there are some kick-ass female characters.  More importantly, the writing is captivating, with dry wit and laugh-out-loud humor used generously to balance out the sometimes serious, sometimes scary elements.  Harry is a wizard, who works as a private investigator of the weird and magical in a city that doesn't know they exist. I am eagerly awaiting book 12, due in April.  I never get tired of these books.

Author: Kim Harrison.  Series: The Hollows (sometimes called Rachel Morgan). Urban Setting: Cincinnati.  First Book: Dead Witch Walking.   Rachel is a witch in a world where magic was revealed and accepted only after humans started dying after eating some bad tomatoes. She is best friends and partners in a sort of private investigator agency with a born vampire and a pixie. Lots of interesting world-building, with magical lands, boundaries, ley lines etc.  The plots get very complicated and Rachel seldom tackles anything completely on her own (successfully anyway).  I absolutely loved the early books in this series, but the recent couple have left me with a sense of melancholy.  I haven't given up, though.


Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon. Series: Dark Hunter. Urban Setting: New Orleans, mostly, but anywhere around the world is game.  First Book: Night Pleasures (Fantasy Lover came before this, but while it's in this world, the hero isn't a hunter).   This is one of those series that has gone on and on and I haven't got the excitement for them I once did.  At the beginning, I just couldn't get enough of these tough, tortured guys and the women they love. Lots of action, hot sex as well. The hunters are a riff on vampires, as are their enemies.  Ancient Greek deities get involved, as the first hunter, Acheron, is tied to them and to the gods of Atlantis. There are also Dream Hunters and Were Hunters.  The plots usually reflect the battle between good paranormals and bad ones, and often include a battle royale with several heroes coming together for a kick-ass finale.

Author: Tanya Huff.  Series: The Blood Books.  Urban Setting: Toronto.  First Book: Blood Price.  There are five books in this series and I'm pretty sure it's finished.  Vicki Nelson was a police detective but had to leave the force due to a generative eye disease.  Now she's a private investigator.  She gets called in to cases that have paranormal element.  She has an on/off love interest in police detective Mike Celluci, and meets vampire Henry Fitzroy, a vampire who writes romance novels. He complicates things. I love Vicki for her toughness and her fight to be strong despite eyes that betray her.  Her journey into the paranormal, demonic world around her is fascinating and scary.  Huff include enough humor to balance that.  Another series: The Smoke Trilogy.  Includes characters from the Blood Books, now in Vancouver. Not as terrific, but still good.

Author: Julie Kenner.  Series: Kate Connor, Demon Hunter.  Urban Setting: San Diablo, CA.  First Book: Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom.  Kate is a suburban housewife with a second husband, teenage daughter, toddler son and lots of secrets (some she doesn't even know she has). There are times these books made me laugh out loud and times they made me cry.  Kate is a little bit like a grown up Buffy.  She battles demons and those possessed by them, trying to keep the world safe a little longer.  At the same time she has to get the kids to school, bake cookies, and entertain the politicos her husband must court for his run at county attorney.

Whew!! And that's just a few.  RL is calling.  I'll add more in another post later.  In the meantime, please do share your favorite Urban Fantasy books or series, and I'll add them to the list!