Review: Grave Phantoms by Jenn Bennett

Title: Grave Phantoms (Roaring Twenties #3)
Author: Jenn Bennett
Publisher: Berkley (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: May 5, 2015
Acquired Via: Library
Feisty flapper Astrid Magnusson is home from college and yearning for the one thing that’s always been off limits: Bo Yeung, her notorious bootlegging brother’s second-in-command. Unfortunately her dream of an easy reunion proves difficult after a violent storm sends a mysterious yacht crashing into the Magnussons’ docks. What’s worse, the boat disappeared a year ago, and the survivors are acting strangely...

Bo has worked with the Magnusson family for years, doing whatever is needed, including keeping his boss’s younger sister out of trouble—and his hands to himself. Of course, that isn’t so easy after Astrid has a haunting vision about the yacht’s disappearance, plunging them into an underground world of old money and dark magic. Danger will drive them closer together, but surviving their own forbidden feelings could be the bigger risk.

My Review

Grave Phantoms is the last book in the Roaring Twenties trilogy by Jenn Bennett. The first two being Bitter Spirits and Grim Shadows. I have read all three, and this one is unfortunately not up to par with the others.

Each book centers around a different Magnusson sibling. The first one being Winter, and the second is Lowe. The first two had a really strong romance/sexual vibe, whereas this one just felt lukewarm. It could be that the first two felt more intense because the relationships were just beginning. Whereas in Grave Phantoms, Astrid and Bo have known each other since they were kids, and have turned a friendship into love.

Review: Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire

Title: Pocket Apocalypse (InCryptid #4)
Author: Seanan McGuire
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Release Date: March 3, 2015
Acquired Via: Library
Alexander Price has survived gorgons, basilisks, and his own family—no small feat, considering that his family includes two telepaths, a reanimated corpse, and a colony of talking, pantheistic mice. Still, he’s starting to feel like he’s got the hang of things...at least until his girlfriend, Shelby Tanner, shows up asking pointed questions about werewolves and the state of his passport. From there, it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump to Australia, a continent filled with new challenges, new dangers, and yes, rival cryptozoologists who don’t like their “visiting expert” very much.

Australia is a cryptozoologist’s dream, filled with unique species and unique challenges. Unfortunately, it’s also filled with Shelby’s family, who aren’t delighted by the length of her stay in America. And then there are the werewolves to consider: infected killing machines who would like nothing more than to claim the continent as their own. The continent which currently includes Alex.

Survival is hard enough when you’re on familiar ground. Alex Price is very far from home, but there’s one thing he knows for sure: he’s not going down without a fight.

My Review

I came upon Seanan McGuire’s books when I read the first one in her October Daye series, Rosemary and Rue. The title caught my attention, which is often why I choose a book. I knew rosemary I used in spells, and it's meant for remembrance, so I figured this book would have something to do with the supernatural. While it’s not about witches, it does have to do with Fairies and their Courts, along with some other supernatural creatures.

Review: Owl and the Japanese Circus by Kristi Charish

Title: Owl and the Japanese Circus (The Adventures of Owl #1)
Author: Krista Charish
Publisher: Gallery (Simon & Schuster)
Release Date: January 13, 2015
Acquired Via: Library
Fans of Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, and Linda Hamilton will flock to the kick-ass world of Owl, a modern-day “Indiana Jane” who reluctantly navigates the hidden supernatural world.

Ex-archaeology grad student turned international antiquities thief, Alix—better known now as Owl—has one rule. No supernatural jobs. Ever. Until she crosses paths with Mr. Kurosawa, a red dragon who owns and runs the Japanese Circus Casino in Las Vegas. He insists Owl retrieve an artifact stolen three thousand years ago, and makes her an offer she can’t refuse: he’ll get rid of a pack of vampires that want her dead. A dragon is about the only entity on the planet that can deliver on Owl’s vampire problem – and let’s face it, dragons are known to eat the odd thief.

Owl retraces the steps of Mr. Kurosawa’s ancient thief from Japan to Bali with the help of her best friend, Nadya, and an attractive mercenary. As it turns out though, finding the scroll is the least of her worries. When she figures out one of Mr. Kurosawa’s trusted advisors is orchestrating a plan to use a weapon powerful enough to wipe out a city, things go to hell in a hand basket fast…and Owl has to pick sides.

My Review

This review was originally posted at http://kimheniadis.com and used to introduce the newest reviewer, Kim, to the fold.

You know that old saying, Don’t Choose a Book by Its Cover? I usually don’t. I often pick a book by its title, that’s why I chose Owl and the Japanese Circus by Kristi Charish. Owls in a Japanese circus act? What are they doing? But wait, this is an Urban Fantasy, so that can’t even be close to what it’s about. I flipped the book over and started reading the back.

Fans of Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, and Linda Hamilton will flock to the kick-ass world of Owl, a modern-day “Indiana Jane” who reluctantly navigates the hidden supernatural world.

Harrison and Butcher’s books are ones that I read as soon as they come out. And I’ve never heard of Linda Hamilton, but maybe they meant Laurell K. Hamilton, and I used to read her books... sounds excellent so far.

Then I read “modern-day “Indiana Jane”. What is that meme? Shut up and take my money.

Review: Binding the Shadows by Jenn Bennett

Title: Binding the Shadows (Arcadia Bell #3)
Author: Jenn Bennett
Publisher: Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster)
Acquired Via: Library
Release Date: May 28, 2013
In the third book in this beloved and “riveting” (Romantic Times) urban fantasy series, demon-friendly tiki bar owner Arcadia Bell discovers more about her own evolving, and possibly destructive, magical abilities when her bar is the target of a demonic crime wave.

Renegade mage and bartender Arcadia Bell has had a rough year, but now the door to her already unstable world is unhinging. When a citywide crime wave erupts, Cady's demon-friendly tiki bar is robbed by Earthbounds wielding surreal demonic abilities that just flat-out shouldn't exist. With the help of her devilishly delicious boyfriend, Lon Butler, Cady sets out to find the people who wronged her—but her targets aren't the only ones experiencing unnatural metamorphoses. Can Cady track down the monsters responsible before the monster inside her destroys everything—and everyone—she loves? If she survives this adventure, one thing is certain: it's last call for life as she knows it.

My Review

I decided to pick up the Arcadia Bell series because I always see it in my recommendations based on the Kate Daniels and Mercy Thompson series. I am so glad that I finally did! This is now one of my new favorite Urban Fantasy series. I’m trying to remember everything I loved about this book and the series without just gushing incoherently while screaming that EVERYONE NEEDS TO PICK UP THIS SERIES NOW! So, here goes...

Audiobook Review: Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien

Title: Birthmarked (Birthmarked #1)
Author: Caragh M. O'Brien
Narrator: Carla Mercer-Meyer
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan) and Tantor Media
Acquired Via: Library
Release Date: March 30, 2010
In the future, in a world baked dry by the harsh sun, there are those who live inside the wall and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife, Gaia Stone, who live outside. Gaia has always believed it is her duty, with her mother, to hand over a small quota of babies to the Enclave. But when Gaia's mother and father are arrested by the very people they so dutifully serve, Gaia is forced to question everything she has been taught to believe. Gaia's choice is now simple: enter the world of the Enclave to rescue her parents, or die trying.

My Review

Audiobooks are the best things ever because they give me the opportunity to read "Kayla books" while I'm drowning in a sea of reviews. Since I've been reading a lot of historical fiction lately, there's nothing like a good doom and gloom dystopian novel to offset it. The world of Birthmarked was one with a huge societal gap and that required the "advancement" of a quota of babies born each month outside the Enclave walls. However, only perfect, healthy babies are allowed to advance, with them being taken to the Enclave within 90 minutes of their births.