Raising Chaos (Book Two: Earthbound Angels) Book Blog Tour and *Review*

Blurb:
When good fails, chaos rises to the challenge.
The daily life of a chaos demon is delightfully sinful—overindulging in Sri Lankan delicacies, trespassing on private beaches in Hawaii, and getting soused at the best angel bar on the planet. But when Bedlam learns that the archdemon Azrael has escaped from the Abyss in order to wreak vengeance against the person who sent her there—Bedlam’s best friend, Khet—he can’t sit idly by.
Only one relic possesses the power to kill Khet, who suffers immortality at Lucifer’s request: the mythical Spear of Destiny, which pierced Christ’s side at His crucifixion. Neither angel nor demon has seen the Spear in two thousand years, but Azrael claims to know its location. Bedlam has no choice but to interpret woefully outdated clues and race her to its ancient resting place.
His quest is made nearly impossible by the interference of a persnickety archivist, Keziel—his angelic ex—and a dedicated cult intent on keeping the Spear out of the wrong hands. But to Bedlam, “wrong” is just an arbitrary word, and there’s no way he’s letting Khet die without a fight.

Review:
Lucky me!  I jumped at the chance to review Raising Chaos (Book Two: Earthbound Angels) because I really liked Oracle of Philadelphia (See my review HERE). 
The author has created a fascinating world full of ancient sects, secrets, quests, prophecies, and an angelic and demonic hierarchy complete with all the petty bitchiness of any human version.  One of the best things about these books is the relationship between the angels, fallen angels, and demons.  Corrigan does a dandy job of deftly creating shades of gray when it comes to the motives and ethical decisions of all of them. 
RAISING CHAOS is told through the alternating viewpoints of Bedlam, Siren and Khet, as the angels race to find the Spear, while Khet (Caela) takes a sabbatical of sorts and finds out her new neighbor is a violent sociopath.  
Bedlam is still delightfully irreverent, impulsive and nutty but full of heart and stream-of-consciousness thoughts - he's a great counterpoint to the serious, bureaucratic-type angels who adhere to their roles without thought.  Siren is the exception.  As the Angel of Truth, she knows when she speaks a lie, and as she chases Bedlam and the Spear, she begins to realize that there's more going on in the world and the heavens than anyone realizes, and an apocalypse may be at hand.  Meeting up with Mephistopheles causes her to remember the horrors of the nephilim purge ordered by Michael and Lucifer.  They share memories of the past, and Biblical history is added in to the angel's history, creating the best, most believable, most cohesive kind of world - part fantasy and part reality (or religious history in this case).As Bedlam completes the strange tasks to advance the quest and be considered the angel Jesus foretold ad gain possession of the Spear, Khet struggles to navigate the waters of a resort town and save a girl from a killer.
The book was really hard to put down - and what an ending!  I can't wait for the next book.


RAISING CHAOS Purchase Links:

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a Rafflecopter giveaway Visit the author at http://www.elizabethrcorrigan.com/:

 Elizabeth Corrigan has degrees in English and psychology and has spent several years working as a data analyst in various branches of the healthcare industry. When she’s not hard at work on her next novel, Elizabeth enjoys singing, reading teen vampire novels, and making Sims of her characters. She drinks more Diet Coke than is probably optimal for the human body and is pathologically afraid of bees. She lives in Maryland with two cats and a purple Smart Car.






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BLACKBIRDS by Chuck Wendig **REVIEW**

(I bought this book.)

Blurb:
Miriam Black knows when you will die.

Still in her early twenties, she's foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, suicides, and slow deaths by cancer. But when Miriam hitches a ride with truck driver Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be gruesomely murdered while he calls her name.

Miriam has given up trying to save people; that only makes their deaths happen. But Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim. No matter what she does she can't save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she'll have to try.

Review:
Starkly original and freshly grim, Blackbirds is a unique urban fantasy featuring a terrified young woman trying to outrun herself and her "gift" of seeing people's deaths in crystal-clear detail. Miriam has been living on the run since she was a young teenager, and her life is really rough and scary.  She sees herself as a scavenger to Death, taking only what she needs to keep running.  In the past she's tried to prevent the deaths she sees, but she only ends up being the catalyst to the death, creating a sense of fatalism and inevitability.  She's existing, but not living.  The book doles out snippets of Miriam's past, right before her ability manifested, and it's as mean and sad and grim as her current life.
Miriam is a quirky woman, and when she talks the words flow out of her like lava from a volcano.  The steady, thick river of stream-of consciousness profanity and uncensored thoughts, chock-full of brutal honesty and a fatalistic perspective is almost involuntary, and I thought this was a glimpse of Miriam's true self that she normally kept bottled up.
Blackbirds is really the chronicle of Miriam waking up from her self-centered, self-pitying life of horror and grief, and acknowledging a connection with another human being.  What I loved is that Miriam doesn't turn chipper, kind, or gracious. This is a girl with a brittle, rough center to match her exterior.  But her journey from passive witness to fighting participant, also mirrors her first real attempt to confront herself and what's inside of her.  She's slowly figuring out that she can't control it, but she can control how she reacts to her gift.
As tough and harsh as Blackbirds is, I found it compelling and fascinating.  I had to keep reading to learn about Miriam's past, and to find out how she was involved in her vision of Louis' death.
A unique, powerful and original book - highly recommended.


The author's website is http://terribleminds.com/.
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The Coveted Novels by Shawntelle Madison

 

(I purchased these books.)


Bitter Disenchantment (Prequel Novella #0.4)
Collected (Prequel Novella #0.5)
Coveted (Book #1)
Kept (Book #2)

BLURBS
COVETED:
For werewolf Natalya Stravinsky, the supernatural is nothing extraordinary. What does seem strange is that she’s stuck in her hometown of South Toms River, New Jersey, the outcast of her pack, selling antiques to finicky magical creatures. Restless and recovering from her split with gorgeous ex-boyfriend, Thorn, Nat finds comfort in an unusual place: her obsessively collected stash of holiday trinkets. But complications pile up faster than her ornaments when Thorn returns home—and the two discover that the spark between them remains intense.

Before Nat can sort out their relationship, she must face a more immediate and dangerous problem. Her pack is under attack from the savage Long Island werewolves—and Nat is their first target in a turf war. Toss in a handsome wizard vying for her affection, a therapy group for the anxious and enchanted, and the South Toms River pack leader ready to throw her to the wolves, and it’s enough to give anybody a panic attack. With the stakes as high as the full moon, Nat must summon all of her strength to save her pack and, ultimately, herself.

KEPT:
Fresh from defending her pack in battle, Natalya Stravinsky, a whip-smart werewolf with a lovable neurotic streak, wants a little rest and relaxation. Once an outcast, she’s now eager to rejoin the ranks of her New Jersey pack, and has even gotten a handle on her obsessive urge to hoard holiday ornaments. Yet Nat barely has time to revel in her progress before the next crisis comes howling at her door.

Nat’s father has suddenly gone missing, captured by the Russian werewolf mafia. And as Nat steps up to save her dad from a mob boss’s deadly game, two men step in to play another round for her heart: her gorgeous alpha ex-boyfriend, Thorn, and her new flame, the sweetly sensitive wizard Nick. With her life growing more harried by the minute, Nat must stay cool, calm, and collected . . . or else risk losing everything.

BITTER DISENCHANTMENT (Prequel Novella - 158 pages):
Werewolf Natalya Stravinsky's outspoken sidekick, Aggie McClure, is featured in this prequel novella. Before Agatha set foot in South Toms River, New Jersey, she had the fight of her life to face. Destined to be the alpha female over her Manhattan pack, Aggie was fully prepared to take on her role until her father arranges a marriage without her consent. She wants out-but the only way is with money-something her new controlling husband won't give her to escape. But such odds never kept a wolf like Aggie down. To sever the twisted tie, she finds herself pitted against raging wood nymphs and backstabbing brownies in an underground supernatural fighting ring. With every victory, the sweet taste of freedom is closer, but her husband isn't willing to let her go that easily. Until the very end, Aggie must fight for the one thing she's never had: a choice. 

COLLECTED: A COVETED NOVELLA
Natalya Stravinsky, the charmingly neurotic werewolf from Coveted, is featured in this prequel novella. Before Thorn Grantham returned to South Toms River, New Jersey, Natalya lived alone with her stash of holiday trinkets. Her life takes an interesting turn when she faces a difficult challenge: to find a stolen figurine she'd recently won from a magical creatures auction website. It should be simple, just demand for it back from the pesky thief. But a set of events occurs that puts not only her life at risk, but her family's as well.


REVIEWS:
Love, love, love these urban fantasy books.  They remind me of Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson series, or  Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Underworld series.   The strong, flawed female character, her complicated family background, and the incredibly realistic word-building combine to create a seamless reading experience.  When a book causes me to lose awareness of my surroundings, I know I've found something special.
Natalya is a fascinating woman -  she's had some OCD issues in the past, and by the time we meet her in Coveted, they're full blown and she's in collector/hoarder mode.  Which would be bad enough for a human, but Nat is a werewolf.  In the world of the pack her mental illness can be scented and weak wolves need to be removed for the safety of the pack.  Nat has become a rogue, working in her hometown but rarely seeing her family and is not a part of the local pack.  As the story unfolds, we learn WHY Nat started collecting holiday ornaments, and the meaning they hold for her, and this brought tears to my eyes.  Her sense of loss, and the hole she has in her heart and her life is described in such a visceral and realistic manner that all her other actions make complete sense and I was completely engaged.  As strong and as stubborn as Nat is, her control over her mental illness has always been tenuous, and when her lover and then her family abandons her, she is lost.  The descriptions of her triggers, and her resulting impulses, is a fascinating development to add to the werewolf myth.  While most werewolves are torn between human and wolf instincts, Nat has a third and stronger pull - her mental illness.

When ex-lover Thorn returns to town after five years destined to be the alpha and mated to another, Nat's carefully constructed and fairly miserable existence is thrown into an emotional tailspin.  However, her childhood friend Aggie has also just blown into town and moves in with Nat.  Further stabilizing Nat is her therapy group, which includes a hunky wizard who has the hots for her.  Coming out of her comfort zone is the best thing for Nat and it starts to distract her from her impulses.
Watching Nat come into her own, and begin to piece together a family of friends and reunite with her real family, was fascinating, compelling and an all-around great read.

In Kept, Natalya has reunited with her family and proven herself in battle.  But she still has to pass a grueling test to rejoin the pack, and she is still struggling to overcome her mental illness.  At the same time she's trying to put Thorn out of her mind, knowing he is supposed to be mated to another.  When Nat gets into trouble trying to save her father and repay his moon debt, she ends up calling on the wizard Nick.  He shows up with Heidi the mermaid and Abby the muse, and a road trip from hell begins as this nutty group of super friends tries to make it to the required destination in Maine.  They battle imps, fairies, and a pack of werewolves.  Along the way Nat's inherent goodness and sense of honor make her allies and friends in unlikely quarters, and after all this adventure, Nat still has to get home to try and pass the pack test.  The unexpected ending was extremely gritty and satisfying.

Collected, a novella taking place a few months before Coveted begins, is a fun/scary/sad romp with Nat's younger brother Alex and a childhood friend.  The scary is from some seriously nasty supernatural creatures, and the sad is from Nat's uncontrollable impulses to collect, which results in a dangerous adventure for all of them.   And the fun is because this is a short trip into a magical and mundane world of amazing creatures who are as flawed and petty as any human being.  (I'm talking to you, Zmee!)

I have not yet read Bitter Disenchantment.

Shawntelle Madison's Goodreads Page

Author's Website


Coming in 2014 is
COMPELLED   (BOOK #3)                                           Also available:
                           

Oracle of Philadelphia (Earthbound Angels Book One) by Elizabeth Corrigan

(I received a free copy from the author in exchange for review consideration.)


Blurb:
Carrie works at a diner in South Philadelphia, dispensing advice to humans and angels wise enough to seek her counsel. But there are some problems that even the best advice can’t solve.

Her latest supplicant, Sebastian, is unique among those who have sought her aid. He sold his soul to a demon in exchange for his sister’s life, but his heart remains pure.

Carrie has lived for millennia with the knowledge that her immortality is due to the suffering of others, and she cannot bear to see another good man damned when it is within her power to prevent it.

In order to renegotiate his contract, Carrie must travel into the depths of hell and parley with the demons that control its pathways. As the cost of her journey rises, Carrie must determine how much she is willing to sacrifice to save one good soul.

Review:
Published in March 2013, Oracle of Philadelphia is a fresh and original tale.  The book is narrated by Carrie, an immortal human who has the ability to read the minds of others.  Over six thousand years ago her village elders made a deal with a demon to ensure her immortality and thereby gain fame for the village.   But deals with demons are never straightforward, and Carrie was blamed for the ensuing bloodbath.  With her soul barred from going to heaven because of the actions of the elders (very old-testament, blaming the victim) Carrie has endured,because she has no other choice. She is immortal like the angels and demons, but unlike them has free will.   Her only real friend has been Bedlam, one of the fallen angels.  Bedlam has been staying on earth, avoiding Hell and the Abyss since the Fall.  His chaos-driven mind is white noise to Carrie, allowing her some peace among the buzzing thoughts of humans and angels.   

One of the best aspects of this book is the incredibly fresh and humorous take on the Christian mythology of angels and demons.  The angels and demons are as petty and full of personality quirks as any human, driven by their personalities and going about the business of their domain.  It's basically a soap opera of divine dimensions, all witnessed by the low-key Carrie.

Until one day a pure, good soul enters her diner, bearing the mark of the Archdemon Azrael.  Sebastian has sold his soul to save his sister's life, and in all her millenia Carrie has never met another human with a soul as pure.  Believing that he doesn't belong in Hell, Carrie decides her life on the celestial sidelines has gone on long enough, and she spirit-journeys to Hell to seek out Azrael and try to save Sebastian's soul.  Over the course of five nights Carrie travels to Hell, visiting the domains of five archdemons, until she finds Azrael on the last night.  Each trip causes Carrie to remember a piece of history as she recalls how and when she met the demon, creating an amazingly rich backdrop of Carrie's life.  This part reminded me very much of Dante's Inferno.  And while the narrative was fascinating, and the world-building is simply outstanding, it also highlighted what I didn't like about the book, which is the rather thin plot driving this otherwise compelling narrative.  Trying to save Sebastian's soul is a worthy endeavor, and Carrie has finally had enough of being passive after thousands of years of observing and reporting.  But Oracle of Philadelphia did not feel like a mission to save a soul (and in the process redeem her own soul), but rather like a travel narrative.  A little more action to move the plot would have strengthened the story for me.

Other readers may not agree with me, and I strongly recommend this book based on the strong and unique world-building, the witty dialogue and humorous asides, and the distinct characters.  As a character-driven story, this is truly something special.





Visit the author at http://www.elizabethrcorrigan.com/

Purchase Oracle of Philadelphia at Amazon.

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Blood Rush (Book Two of the Demimonde) by Ash Krafton

Back of the Book Blurb:

Sophie doesn't believe in happily ever after. These days, she'd settle for alive after sunrise.

Advice columnist and newly-appointed oracle to the demivampire, Sophie Galen has more issues than a Cosmo collection: a new mentor with a mean streak, a werewolf stalker she can't shake, and a relationship with her ex's family that redefines the term complicated. And then there's her ex himself, who is more interested in playing leader of the vampire pack than in his own salvation.

Becoming a better oracle is tough enough, but when Sophie encounters a deadly enemy - one she never dreamed of facing - it will take everything she's ever learned in order to survive.

Review:  Wow!  This book sucked me in right from the beginning.  This is a confident writer with a clear vision of the world created in Bleeding Hearts, the first book in the Demimonde series.  Blood Rush picks up right where the first book ended, with Sophie recovering from her near-death after her lover is driven mad with blood-lust.  As she slowly recovers, she realizes that Marek has no intention of coming near her again, and that he is no longer the man she knew and loved.  But picking up the pieces of her life is harder than it should be, because she is still the Sophia, an empathic Oracle of wisdom and emotional comfort to the DemiVampires.  Grieving, physically recovering, and trying to pay the rent, Sophie is also being stalked by a Were and spends her afternoons running out of her office building to evade her hunters.  She moves constantly and is nearing her limit when Marek's brother Rodrian suddenly pops back into her life with a too-good-to-be-true offer:  Marek's country mansion is now Sophie's.  The catch?  Rodrian's daughter Shiloh will live there too, and Sophie will help keep an eye on the bubbly teenager.  Sophie is suspicious, but also desperate for some stability and contact.
Pretty soon she and Rodrian are acknowledging their attraction to each other and flirting while pretending nothing is happening.  After all, Sophie still loves Marek and Rodrian worships his older brother.  The progression of their relationship is awkward, sexy, and uncomfortable - in other words very believable given the circumstances.
During Sophie's recovery she has become best friends with Dahlia, one of the DV and soon she adopts another stray named Toby.  Little by little Sophie is making a family for herself even as she mourns the loss of Jared, Marek and her dreams for the future.  Things look even brighter when Sophie is contacted by an experienced European Sophia who offers to train Sophie as an Oracle.  Sophie jumps at the chance, and even though Eirene and her sidekick Dorcas are arrogant, condescending and rude, Sophie's power grows quickly under the tutelage.  She is soon able to protect herself against the DV's compulsions - and about time, too!  I mean she's their Oracle, but they yank her around like a puppet.  Sophie's not an ass-kicking heroine but at least now she can defend herself.
One of the frustrating parts for me is that Sophie is still willfully ignorant about much of the DV world she now lives in.  When Pontian or Rodrian hints at their age or history, she immediately changes the subject, claiming she is too freaked out. Wouldn't you want to know as much as possible, being the weak, helpless food source surrounded by predators?  Sophie has the survival instincts of a sofa for the most part, but she survives anyway due to her stubborness, her tenacity, and her faith - and lots of luck.  But that is also part of her charm as the heroine - in many ways she is a very traditional old-school, romance heroine.  She is gentle and kind, her empathic and compassionate skills slowly soothing the savage alpha-male beasts surrounding her while she befriends and charms the other women - classic!
Blood Rush also gives us some intriguing little windows into the DV world Krafton has created.  There is a brief mention of the DV Special Ops at a rock concert attended by DV and Weres, which I think could be a whole new book right there.  We learn a bit more about the prejudices and bitter hatred of the two races, and we have some great new characters.  
 Fast paced, well-written, with a very satisfying blend of realistic romantic entanglements, intrigue, betrayals and some great surprises, I loved this book.




 Blood Rush will be released on May 14, 2013 by Pink Narcissus Press.


Wolf's Bane (Book Three of the Demimonde) will be released 2014.

Disclaimer - The author sent me this book in exchange for my honest review.

For more information check out the author's website at:  http://ash-krafton.blogspot.com/

 

   

Bleeding Hearts (Book One of the Demimonde) by Ash Krafton

Back of the Book Blurb:  Sophie Galen is an advice columnist who is saving the world - one damned person at a time.

Shy and sensitive Sophie has all but given up on love until she meets Marek, a mysterious stranger who seduces her with his striking good looks and his take-charge attitude. Yet the darkness she senses within him may be more than she is prepared to handle when Marek draws her into a world of vampires, werewolves, and treachery. Forced to leave behind the comfortable routines and certainties of her past, Sophie makes unbearable sacrifices and uncovers hidden truths about herself and the world around her.

Review:  

Sophie is an advice columnist for a city paper, and she lives a life behind the scenes, both figuratively and literally, existing in a habitual haze of solitude, visiting museums and spending her evenings in her apartment with her cat.  A former nurse, she has switched careers after her nursing job became focused on profit rather than care.  She is also extremely intuitive, and this has aided her in making her life choices and enabled her to avoid almost all emotional risks.

One of the things I loved about this book was how the beginning unfolded (much like the movie The Wizard of Oz), switching from black-and-white to sudden color to symbolize the heroine's drab, dull existence changing to an exciting, vibrant life.  Although the first 50 pages or so were intriguing enough to keep me reading, the slow pace had me worried. This black and white beginning of the book felt slightly vague - I didn't have a sense of Sophie's appearance, or her history, or her life in general.  It felt like a thinly sketched "aimless woman living a lonely life in a big city who lives with a cat" scenario. And she is an orphan and her best friend is a priest - talk about isolated!  But things begin to change when two colorful things happen to her - a person who wrote to her kills himself (but is still sending her letters), and she meets Marek, a mysterious and handsome man who brings vibrancy, passion and excitement into her life.  Pretty soon, on one very memorable date, she learns what some of Marek's secrets are, and from here on out Sophie is awake, alive and living an unexpected life.

Krafton has created her own vampire lore, with another species called the DemiVampire (DV) who are in constant battles (political and otherwise) with the full vampires, who are evolved DV (and "evolved" means killing humans while sucking them dry and absorbing their life essence).  The DV are living among us, oozing power through their emotions, and Sophie is sensitive and receptive to this power. 

Sophie is not clairvoyant, but is an empath, sensing the emotional energy of the DV in particular, and sending healing energy out to those in need. As such she is revered as a kind of soothing Oracle of wisdom, but also as a human pet, because she is still manipulated by the DV using their power of compulsion. They profess to need her and respect her, yet they treat her in a patronizing manner.  I guess if we want to look for deeper meaning it's an indication of their parasitic nature - they feed off blood and they feed off energy, too.  Sophie is just a food source with two flavors instead of one.

Much of the story is dependent on Sophie's ability to use her compassion to bring peace to others, including the DV (demi-vampires).  First she reaches out to Marek, then his brother Rodrian, and there's lots of descriptions of the vamp's power surging with their emotions, and Sophie feeling that power, filtering their emotions and sending it back to them.  While I really liked the concept of energy vampirism, and Sophie's role as a modern descendant of Isis, it is a tough thing to bring to the written page.  Consequently, much of what Sophie says sounds trite, and I kept thinking as I was reading that if she is teaching beings who are hundreds of years old how to handle grief and loss, then those beings are not very bright. 

For those readers who love paranormal romance but don't enjoy graphic sex scenes, this is the book for you.  The few references to physical romance are very chaste with absolutely no descriptive action whatsoever.  While the romance of Sophie and Marek is the focus of this story, it is set against a backdrop of a political web of power-mongering between DV and vampires fighting for territory and manipulating humans.
The really exciting action comes towards the end, when Sophie is kidnapped and Marek is taken.
I really enjoyed the fast pace,  the truly scary Master Vampire character, and the steadily increasing tension of Marek being forcibly evolved.  I could not stop reading!  I feel like Sophie really redeemed herself in this part of the book, and I ended up caring about her, enough so that I am really looking forward to BLOOD RUSH (Demimonde #2), which I will review here in a few days.  

Blood Rush will be released on May 14, 2013 by Pink Narcissus Press.

Disclaimer - The author sent me this book in exchange for my honest review.

For more information check out the author's website at:  http://ash-krafton.blogspot.com/

 

   

The Prophet by Amanda Stevens (Graveyard Queen Series)

Publisher's Blurb:

My name is Amelia Gray.

I am the Graveyard Queen, a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. My father passed down four rules to keep me safe and I've broken every last one. A door has opened and evil wants me back.

In order to protect myself, I've vowed to return to those rules. But the ghost of a murdered cop needs my help to find his killer. The clues lead me to the dark side of Charleston—where witchcraft, root doctors and black magic still flourish—and back to John Devlin, a haunted police detective I should only love from afar.

Now I'm faced with a terrible choice: follow the rules or follow my heart.

Review:
Love this series!  It's darkly original and creepy, with twists and turns that kept me reading late into the night holding my breath.  In Amelia Gray's world, ghosts are parasitic energy-suckers, haunting the living by leeching their warmth and energy until they are shells of their former selves.  Amelia has spent her whole life following her father's rules for avoiding contact, but falling in love with a haunted police detective has exposed her to the ghosts of his sad daughter and vengeful wife, and his murdered former partner, all of whom want something from Amelia.  As she investigates his death, she uncovers the dangerous subculture of Charleston involving a zombie-making poweder called gray dust and a powerful sorceror recently returned to town who had close ties with John Devlin's wife.
This series is notable for it's unique take on ghosts, and the fabulously original Amelia Gray, a complicated woman with a special talent that has gifted her with a life of loneliness and isolation.  Each book has a well-written mystery with nail-biting suspense and jump-at-any-sound surprises.  As Amelia slowly begins to break her beloved father's rules, she exposes herself to more danger but also learns more about ghosts and the Gray, the world they inhabit.  It is is scary, lonely, fascinating and compelling.  The atmosphere in these books is almost another character - it is like a living mist, floating around the reader and slowly enveloping her until the dark and mysterious world of twilight and Amelia Gray seems more real than anything else.  Powerfully magical, like Amelia's beloved white garden in her backyard, these books will haunt you long after the last page has been turned.

For more information check out the author's website at http://www.amandastevens.com/.

Blood of the Wicked by Karina Cooper (Dark Mission Series)

Publisher's Blurb: 

When the world went straight to hell, humanity needed a scapegoat to judge, to blame . . . to burn.

As an independent witch living off the grid, Jessie Leigh has spent her life running, trying to blend in among the faceless drudges in the rebuilt city. She thought she was finally safe, but now she's been found in a New Seattle strip club—by a hard-eyed man on a mission to destroy her kind.

A soldier of the Holy Order, Silas Smith believes in the cause: trawling the fringes of society for the murderous witches who threaten what's left of the world. Forced into a twisting web of half-truths and lies, he has to stay close to the most sensuous and electrifying woman he has ever seen and manipulate her into leading him to the witch he has to kill: her brother. Silas doesn't know that Jessie's his enemy, only that he wants her, needs her, even as he lies to her . . . and must protect her until his final breath.

Review:  This novel grabbed me from the beginning. The setting is about 50 years in the future, after planetary catastrophes caused massive destruction.  A religious order has risen to power after blaming witches for the destruction, and a new Inquisition is the norm.  Witches are hunted and slaughtered, and the religious order called the Mission has unlimited power.  The story starts with Mission agent Silas Smith, a ruthless, experienced witch-hunter, going into a seedy dance club in the gritty lower levels of New Seattle tracking a lead to find Jessie.  Jessie is a witch on the run and she knows Silas is a hunter the second she lays eyes on him. She's been on the run since her mother was murdered, and over the last several years she practically raised her brother Caleb, teaching him to hide and survive.  Jessie is resourceful, smart, and desperate to find Caleb who disappeared a year ago, after telling Jessie not to try and find him.  Caleb's gift is seeing the future, and his last vision before he left was of Jessie's fiery death.
Silas doesn't know Jessie is a witch, though, and he plans to find her and use her to get to Caleb, who has been linked to several ritualistic and sadistic deaths in New Seattle.  When Silas captures Jessie, she agrees to help him find Caleb, planning on using the hunter to get to her brother.  But while both Silas and Jessie are plotting to use each other, they are also shocked to discover an intense attraction between them.  They are soon hunted by the coven that wants Jessie for her powers, betrayed by a traitor in the Mission, and closing in on Caleb, forcing them to depend on each other.


What sets this book above many others out there is the incredibly rich imagery in the writing.  Cooper's writing is like a rich, elegantly woven tapestry - the images jumped from the page and into my mind's eye, and as I read I was in the bar, on the run, chased through the destruction of the lower city, and I would swear I could see, smell and taste everything.  Which was pretty damned awesome when it came to the sex scenes.  Hot, intense and breathless are apt descriptors for their first time.  At the same time she is steering the reader along a very well-crafted plot, as we discover clues that Caleb may not be the innocent younger brother Jessie believes him to be.


Rich, exciting, dark and sexy, Karina Cooper is now on my must-read list.  I've already bought Lure of the Wicked, the second Dark Mission book and will review it soon.




For more information visit the author's website at http://www.karinacooper.com/.






For more information visit the author's website at http://www.karinacooper.com/.

Spell Bound (Women of the Otherworld Series #12) by Kelley Armstrong

Publisher's Blurb:   
At last, in the novel every Kelley Armstrong fan will need to own, all the major heroines and heroes of Otherworld are united.

It's been ten years since Bitten, the first novel in Kelley Armstrong's New York Times bestselling Otherworld series. In that time hundreds of thousands of fans have ravenously devoured the adventures of Armstrong's witches, demons, and werewolves. Now, in Spell Bound, she brings them all together for her most sweeping tale yet.

Savannah Levine is in terrible danger, and for once she's powerless to help herself. At the heartbreaking conclusion of Waking the Witch, Savannah swore that she would give up her powers if it would prevent further pain for a young orphan. Little did she know that someone would take her up on that promise.

And now, witch-hunting assassins, necromancers, half-demons, and rogue witches all seem to be after her. The threat is not just for Savannah; every member of the Otherworld might be at risk. While most of her fellow supernaturals are circling the wagons at a gathering of the council in Miami, Savannah is caught on the road, isolated from those who can protect her and unable to use her vast spell-casting talent, the thing she counts on most. In a story that will change the shape of the Otherworld forever, Armstrong gathers Elena, Clay, Paige, Lucas, Jamie, Hope, and other beloved characters, who soon learn that the greatest threat to supernaturals just may come from within.

Review:  Whew!  What a great book.  Fans of Armstrong's novels will not be disappointed, as Spell Bound is churning with deadly plots, a possible deity, a swiftly approaching war and a gathering of characters from Books 1-11.
 The story begins when Savannah's spells are taken from her by a mysterious entity, forcing her to rethink who she is if she has no power, how her powers have defined her relationships, and her new feelings of vulnerability.  At the same time she and Adam are being hunted by witch-hunters, and soon learn of a paranormal uprising in the making.  Turns out the other side is interested in these events, too, as no less than two lord demons contact Savannah.  And the paranormal leaders of the uprising want Savannah on their side, kidnapping her in an attempt to convert her.  As Adam and Savannah gather information from strange and often questionable sources, work with a demon trying to gain political influence, and start to unravel the clues, they don't know who to trust.  Trying to stay alive, figure out what the uprising has planned, and determine who is involved keeps Adam and Savannah running and confused.  As their friends begin to gather in Miami under the safety net of the Cortez Cabal, they race to discover the goal of the uprising and the ulterior goals of the legendary man behind it.
Savannah has grown over several years and books into a great character - strong, brave and smart, yet reckless and immature.  She is realistic, and fascinating, and I feel like I know her.  The insecure little girl who lost both her parents has blossomed into a fierce but still scared woman who has incomparable power.  The constant underlying tension that is caused by her unspoken love for Adam, her partner and friend, is steadily humming throughout this book as well, and their relationship reaches a breaking point.
Armstrong's writing is fast-paced, full of action, humor, danger, fascinating characters, and a beautifully layered plot that is slowly revealed as Adam and Savannah race for answers.  One of Armstrong's many strengths in this series is the consistency of her characters.  Even though they naturally grow and change, they stay true to their personalities, and this continuity in turn creates a believability for the reader.  The characters are the focus of these books.  As the world building and incredible action send the reader on fantastic adventures, the characters always bring us home.  And I think that's why these books still feel fresh and exciting to read, even though Spell Bound is the twelfth in the series.  I can't wait for #13!
Readers new to the Otherworld will enjoy this novel as a standalone, but reading the entire series is well worth it, as previous characters, actions and stories all culminate in the war that begins in this book.


For more information on this fantastic series, check out the author's website at http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/.