Review: Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire #BibPleaseReview #scifi @dawbooks @seananmcguire @nita_basu

Title: Chaos Choreography (InCryptid #5)
Author: Seanan McGuire
Publisher: DAW (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: March 1, 2016
Acquired Via: Publisher
Verity Price is back on the West Coast and getting back into the swing of the family business: cryptozoology. She’s rescuing cryptids from bad situations, protecting them from monster-hunters, and generally risking life and limb for the greater good, with her ex-Covenant partner/husband, Dominic, by her side. Her ballroom dance career is behind her…or so she thinks.

When Verity gets the call from the producers of Dance or Die, the reality show she almost won several years before, she finds the lure of a comeback impossible to resist, and she and Dominic are off to L.A. for one last shot at the big time.

Of course, nothing is that simple. When two of her fellow contestants turn up dead, Verity will need every ally she can find—and a couple she wasn’t looking for—in order to navigate the complicated steps of both the tango and a murder investigation without blowing her cover. It doesn’t help that her official family backup is her grandmother, Alice Price-Healy, who thinks “subtle” is something that happens to other people.

Winning this competition may have just become a matter of life and death.

My Review

You can read Kim's review of Pocket Apocalypse (InCryptid #4) HERE.

Chaos Choreography is the fifth book the InCryptid series. For this book we go back to Verity Price and what has been happening in her life after the events of Midnight Blue-Light Special.

I have struggled in writing this review, mostly because I think you will like something more in-depth that squeeing and chants of “I love it, I love it, I love it!”. I loved everything about the book; the spacing, the plot and the action scenes. But there are two things that I loved in particular: the respect that the Price Clan has in regards to information preservation and that Verity is self-aware enough to recognize her personal opinion is not the last word in all situations. Verity is aware of the fact that not everyone feels comfortable with her choice of husband, and she understands their reasons and respects them!

Blog Tour (Interview): The Dirt on Ninth Grave by Darynda Jones #giveaway @darynda @StMartinsPress

Thank you so much for visiting by Bibliophilia, Please for my stop of the The Dirt on Ninth Grave blog tour - which is out TOMORROW! Today, I'll be featuring an exclusive interview with Darynda Jones, and there's also a giveaway of the book!



Title: The Dirt on Ninth Grave (Charley Davidson #9)
Author: Darynda Jones
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (Macmillan)
Release Date: January 12, 2016
In a small village in New York Charley Davidson is living as Jane Doe, a girl with no memory of who she is or where she came from. So when she is working at a diner and slowly begins to realize she can see dead people, she's more than a little taken aback. Stranger still are the people entering her life. They seem to know things about her. Things they hide with lies and half-truths. Soon, she senses something far darker. A force that wants to cause her harm, she is sure of it. Her saving grace comes in the form of a new friend she feels she can confide in and the fry cook, a devastatingly handsome man whose smile is breathtaking and touch is scalding. He stays close, and she almost feels safe with him around.

But no one can outrun their past, and the more lies that swirl around her-even from her new and trusted friends-the more disoriented she becomes, until she is confronted by a man who claims to have been sent to kill her. Sent by the darkest force in the universe. A force that absolutely will not stop until she is dead. Thankfully, she has a Rottweiler. But that doesn't help in her quest to find her identity and recover what she's lost. That will take all her courage and a touch of the power she feels flowing like electricity through her veins. She almost feels sorry for him. The devil in blue jeans. The disarming fry cook who lies with every breath he takes. She will get to the bottom of what he knows if it kills her. Or him. Either way.

Author Interview

Kayla: Hi, Darynda! Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to interview you. You have a lot of fans here at Bibliophilia, Please. Do you mind telling us a little bit about your Charley Davidson series and newest book, The Dirt on Ninth Grave?

Darynda Jones: I’d love to! Charley Davidson is a female PI who was born the grim reaper. In every story, she solves a case for a living client and one for a departed, not to mention all the side cases thrown in for good measure. The books are packed with lots of mystery and lots of sexiness in the form of our love interest, Reyes Farrow. He has daddy issues (mostly because his father is public enemy number one in both the tangible realm and the supernatural one), but that’s another story.

In Ninth Grave, Charley has lost her memory due to a traumatic event (involving Reyes’s dad, no less), and we find her working at a diner in Sleepy Hollow, NY, where she has her whole brood looking out for her. She just doesn't know it’s HER brood. Trust is coming hard for her, especially since she can see into the supernatural realm but has no idea why. And when one of her regulars is cloaked in shadows and fire, she’s both scared and intrigued by him.

This book was so fun to write because it is almost like starting over. Charley gets to learn to trust her closest friends once again and fall in love with Reyes all over again, once she can get past his brooding darkness.

Kayla: You’ve been working on this series for quite a while. How have you changed as a writer since you wrote the first book in the series and debut novel, First Grave on the Right?

Review: The Witches of Echo Park by Amber Benson #UrbanFantasy #BibPleaseReview @KHeniadis

Title: The Witches of Echo Park (The Witches of Echo Park #1)
Author: Amber Benson
Publisher: Ace (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: January 6, 2015
Acquired Via: Library
First in a “spellbinding”* new series about a coven of witches living in L.A., from Amber Benson, author of the Calliope Reaper-Jones novels.

Unbeknownst to most of humankind, a powerful network of witches thrives within the shadows of society, using magic to keep the world in balance. But the witches are being eliminated—and we will all pay if their power falls...

When Lyse MacAllister’s great-aunt Eleanora, the woman who raised her, becomes deathly ill, Lyse puts her life in Georgia on hold to rush back to Los Angeles. And once she returns to Echo Park, Lyse discovers her great-aunt has been keeping extraordinary secrets from her.

Not only is Lyse heir to Eleanora’s Victorian house; she is also expected to take her great-aunt’s place in the Echo Park coven of witches. But accepting her destiny means placing herself in deadly peril—for the world of magic is under siege, and the battle the witches now fight may be their last...

My Review

I would have given this book five stars, but the ending was just a bit too unbelievable for me. I know, I know, with witches and other supernatural things it shouldn’t be too far for me to stretch, but it was.

I’ll go into why it was too much for me at the end of the review, so you don’t get any spoilers if you don’t want them.

6th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop (INT) - Enter to Win Maplecroft or Chapelwood by Cherie Priest! #Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the humongous Spooktacular Giveaway Hop hosted by the scarily fantastic blogger, Kathy @ I Am A Reader, Not A Writer! Today I'm featuring The Borden Dispatches by Cherie Priest!

What You Can Win

I'm giving you your choice of one of the two books in the series as your prize. You can read about them below:

Title: Maplecroft (The Borden Dispatches #1)
Author: Cherie Priest
Publisher: Roc (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: September 2, 2014

Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one...

The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny.

But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness.

This evil cannot hide from me. No matter what guise it assumes, I will be waiting for it. With an axe.

Waiting on Wednesday (114): Staked by Kevin Hearne

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Staked (The Iron Druid Chronicles #8)
Author: Kevin Hearne
Publisher: Del Rey (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: January 26, 2016
When a druid has lived for two thousand years like Atticus, he’s bound to run afoul of a few vampires. Make that legions of them. Even his former friend and legal counsel turned out to be a bloodsucking backstabber. Now the toothy troublemakers—led by power-mad pain-in-the-neck Theophilus—have become a huge problem requiring a solution. It’s time to make a stand.

As always, Atticus wouldn’t mind a little backup. But his allies have problems of their own. Ornery archdruid Owen Kennedy is having a wee bit of troll trouble: Turns out when you stiff a troll, it’s not water under the bridge. Meanwhile, Granuaile is desperate to free herself of the Norse god Loki’s mark and elude his powers of divination—a quest that will bring her face-to-face with several Slavic nightmares.

As Atticus globetrots to stop his nemesis Theophilus, the journey leads to Rome. What better place to end an immortal than the Eternal City? But poetic justice won’t come without a price: In order to defeat Theophilus, Atticus may have to lose an old friend.


What's there not to love about a well-researched urban fantasy series about a hot druid and his hysterical giant pet dog?

What are you waiting on this week?

Review: Spider's Trap by Jennifer Estep (ARC) @Pocket_Books #UrbanFantasy

Title: Spider's Trap (Elemental Assassin #13)
Author: Jennifer Estep
Publisher: Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster)
Release Date: July 28, 2015
Acquired Via: Publisher
Keep your friends close but your enemies within stabbing distance.

One important lesson I’ve learned in the assassination business is that to be the best you have to roll with the punches. Now that I’m queen of Ashland’s underworld—by default, not by choice—a lot more punches are being thrown my way. But I suppose that’s the price of victory for taking down some of the underworld’s top dogs. Good thing I have my Ice and Stone magic to help me survive my volatile new position. Just when I think things are finally settling down, someone tries to murder me during a hush-hush underworld meeting. But the real surprise is how strangely familiar my shadowy assailant seems to be.

My job is to maintain order among killers, crooks, and thieves, and soon I’m embroiled in a bloody game where the ability to keep secrets could be the greatest superpower of all. My enemies have all sharpened their knives and laid their traps, waiting for me to fall. But this Spider weaves her own webs of death…

Audio Excerpt


My Review

Spider’s Trap is the thirteenth book in Jennifer Estep's Elemental Assassin series. Being lucky number 13, I was hoping it would be spectacular, but that wasn't the case. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good book, but it didn't have the pop that some of the past books in this series did.

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: The Shadow Revolution by Clay and Susan Griffith

Title: The Shadow Revolution (Crown & Key #1)
Authors: Clay and Susan Griffith
Publisher: Del Rey (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: June 2, 2015
They are the realm’s last, best defense against supernatural evil. But they’re going to need a lot more silver.

As fog descends, obscuring the gas lamps of Victorian London, werewolves prowl the shadows of back alleys. But they have infiltrated the inner circles of upper-crust society as well. Only a handful of specially gifted practitioners are equipped to battle the beasts. Among them are the roguish Simon Archer, who conceals his powers as a spell-casting scribe behind the smooth veneer of a dashing playboy; his layabout mentor, Nick Barker, who prefers a good pub to thrilling heroics; and the self-possessed alchemist Kate Anstruther, who is equally at home in a ballroom as she is on a battlefield.

After a lycanthrope targets Kate’s vulnerable younger sister, the three join forces with fierce Scottish monster-hunter Malcolm MacFarlane—but quickly discover they’re dealing with a threat far greater than anything they ever imagined.

My Review

I jumped at the chance to read The Shadow Revolution, because I really enjoyed the other of the Griffith's series that I read, Vampire Empire. Plus, I really love a good steampunk novel done right. I'll blame it on Sean Connery and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. :) (Yes, I know the movie is terrible, but it's Sean Connery).

Blog Tour (Interview): The Shadow Revolution by Clay and Susan Griffith @emilyisayeff @penguinrandom @clayandsusan

Title: The Shadow Revolution (Crown & Key #1)
Authors: Clay and Susan Griffith
Publisher: Del Rey (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: June 2, 2015
They are the realm’s last, best defense against supernatural evil. But they’re going to need a lot more silver.

As fog descends, obscuring the gas lamps of Victorian London, werewolves prowl the shadows of back alleys. But they have infiltrated the inner circles of upper-crust society as well. Only a handful of specially gifted practitioners are equipped to battle the beasts. Among them are the roguish Simon Archer, who conceals his powers as a spell-casting scribe behind the smooth veneer of a dashing playboy; his layabout mentor, Nick Barker, who prefers a good pub to thrilling heroics; and the self-possessed alchemist Kate Anstruther, who is equally at home in a ballroom as she is on a battlefield.

After a lycanthrope targets Kate’s vulnerable younger sister, the three join forces with fierce Scottish monster-hunter Malcolm MacFarlane—but quickly discover they’re dealing with a threat far greater than anything they ever imagined.

Interview

Amber: How does the writing process go for your writing duo - do you each take a scene, chapter or character or is it a complete collaboration?

Clay and Susan: We start with a very thorough outline, detailing the plot down to the chapters. From there we each take a couple of chapters and start writing, making sure we don’t ever write too far ahead of the other, because sometimes inspiration occurs and we may need to make changes to the plot we’ve already drafted. Throughout the process, we hand the written chapters back and forth to be edited by the other so our two distinct voices become something new.

Amber: What draws you to the steampunk genre?

Audiobook Review: Charming by Elliott James #UrbanFantasy @orbitbooks

Title: Charming (Pax Arcana #1)
Author: Elliott James
Narrator: Roger Wayne
Publisher: Orbit (Hachette)
Release Date: September 24, 2013
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
John Charming isn't your average Prince...

He comes from a line of Charmings -- an illustrious family of dragon slayers, witch-finders and killers dating back to before the fall of Rome. Trained by a modern day version of the Knights Templar, monster hunters who have updated their methods from chain mail and crossbows to Kevlar and shotguns, John Charming was one of the best--until a curse made him one of the abominations the Knights were sworn to hunt.

That was a lifetime ago. Now, John tends bar under an assumed name in rural Virginia and leads a peaceful, quiet life. That is, until a vampire and a blonde walked into his bar...

Charming is the first novel in a new urban fantasy series which gives a new twist to the Prince Charming tale.

My Review

I feel a little bad that I didn't read Charming sooner than what I did. I've recommended this book to numerous patrons and fellow librarians, yet I never read it myself. (The Kevin Hearne Seal of Approval was an instant purchase when I used to be in charge of collection development.) One of my coworkers spent several days going on about how much she enjoyed it and how I should read it since it reminded her of Hounded by Kevin Hearne. Two years later, I finally picked up the book.

I feel like I've missed out on so much by being late to the Charming party.

Review: To Kill a Warlock by H.P. Mallory

Title: To Kill a Warlock (Dulcie O'Neil #1)
Author: H.P. Mallory
Publisher: Self
Release Date: July 3, 2010
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
The murder of a dark arts warlock. A shape-shifting, ravenous creature on the loose. A devilishly handsome stranger sent to investigate. Sometimes working law enforcement for the Netherworld is a real bitch.

Dulcie O’Neil is a fairy. And not the type to frolic in gardens. She’s a Regulator—a law-enforcement agent who monitors the creatures of the Netherworld to keep them from wreaking havoc in the mortal world. When a warlock is murdered and Dulcie was the last person to see him alive, she must uncover the truth before she’s either deported back to the Netherworld, or she becomes the next victim.

Enter Knight Vander, a sinfully attractive investigator sent from the Netherworld to work the case with Dulcie. Between battling her attraction to her self-appointed partner, keeping a sadomasochistic demon in check, and fending off the advances of a sexy and powerful vampire, Dulcie’s got her hands full. As the body count increases, Dulcie finds herself battling dark magic, reconnoitering in S&M clubs and suffering the greatest of all betrayals.

My Review

I had come across H.P. Mallory’s other series, Jolie Wilkins, whose main character is a witch, about eight months ago and ordered it for the library where I work. I started reading the first book in the series, Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble, but I just couldn’t get into it. So when I came across Mallory’s Dulcie O’Neil series, I was a bit apprehensive, but I thought I would give it a chance. I am pleased that I did.

Waiting on Wednesday (107): Autumn Thorns by Yasmine Galenorn

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Autumn Thorns (Whisper Hollow #1)
Author: Yasmine Galenorn
Publisher: Jove (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: October 27, 2015
Fifteen years ago, I ran away from Whisper Hollow, Washington, a small town on Crescent Lake in the Olympic Peninsula. But truth is, if you were born here, you can never really leave. I’m Kerris Fellwater, and when I returned, I inherited my grandmother’s house—and her gift. As a spirit shaman, it’s my responsibility to drive the dead back to their graves, because around Whisper Hollow, people—and secrets—don’t always stay buried.

When I was little, I was told my mother ran off. But now it looks like she was murdered. With the help of my mysterious neighbor Bryan, we begin to unravel the mystery of her disappearance, and in doing so, unearth a dark force seeking to bury Whisper Hollow. Now I must work with the dead, rather than against them, because our enemy will do whatever she can to destroy the town, and she means to start with me.


I never finished Galenorn's Sisters of the Moon series; I think I stopped aroudn book 7. I really liked the world, the three main characters and the magic, but I think I was too much of a prude for the series. I just love the premise to this one though, AND it has a deliciously creepy cover....and it's releasing right before Halloween! I kind of can't pass up an urban fantasy book with gravestones on the cover that will release 4 days before Halloween.

Marketing - 1, Amber - 0.

What are you waiting on this week?

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.

Waiting on Wednesday (104): Last First Snow by Max Gladstone

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Last First Snow (Craft Sequence #4)
Author: Max Gladstone
Publisher: Tor Books (Macmillan)
Release Date: July 14, 2015
Forty years after the God Wars, Dresediel Lex bears the scars of liberation—especially in the Skittersill, a poor district still bound by the fallen gods' decaying edicts. As long as the gods' wards last, they strangle development; when they fail, demons will be loosed upon the city. The King in Red hires Elayne Kevarian of the Craft firm Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao to fix the wards, but the Skittersill's people have their own ideas. A protest rises against Elayne's work, led by Temoc, a warrior-priest turned community organizer who wants to build a peaceful future for his city, his wife, and his young son.

As Elayne drags Temoc and the King in Red to the bargaining table, old wounds reopen, old gods stir in their graves, civil blood breaks to new mutiny, and profiteers circle in the desert sky. Elayne and Temoc must fight conspiracy, dark magic, and their own demons to save the peace—or failing that, to save as many people as they can.


Three Parts Dead was one of my favorite finds from last year, and although I wasn't equally as in love with the sequel, I'm still looking forward to continuing in the series. I still need to read the the third in the series, Full Fathom Five, but that will just get me more excited for this one!

What are you waiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday (103): Blood of the Earth by Faith Hunter

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Blood of the Earth (Soulwood #1)
Author: Faith Hunter
Publisher: Roc (Penguin)
Release Date: October 6, 2015
When Nell Ingram met skinwalker Jane Yellowrock, she was almost alone in the world, exiled by both choice and fear from the cult she was raised in, defending herself with the magic she drew from her deep connection to the forest that surrounds her.

Now, Jane has referred Nell to PsyLED, a Homeland Security agency policing paranormals, and agent Rick LaFleur has shown up at Nell’s doorstep. His appearance forces her out of her isolated life into an investigation that leads to the vampire Blood Master of Nashville.

Nell has a team—and a mission. But to find the Master’s kidnapped vassal, Nell and the PsyLED team will be forced to go deep into the heart of the very cult Nell fears, infiltrating the cult and a humans-only terrorist group before time runs out


The Jane Yellowrock series is one of my favorite urban fantasy series, so I did a little happy dance when I found out that Faith Hunter was writing a spin-off series. And, we get two Jane Yellowrock universe books in one year! The only thing I'm kind of leery about is the seeming focus that Rick LaFleur might be a love interest. I'm not a Rick LaFleur fan, but maybe it will be different when he's not Jane's love interest.

What are you waiting on this week?

Audiobook Review: Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris

Title: Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas #1)
Author: Charlaine Harris
Narrator: Susan Bennett
Publisher: Ace (Penguin)
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
From Charlaine Harris, the bestselling author who created Sookie Stackhouse and her world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, comes a darker locale—populated by more strangers than friends. But then, that’s how the locals prefer it...

Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town.

There’s a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There’s a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there’s new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he’s found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own).

Stop at the one traffic light in town, and everything looks normal. Stay awhile, and learn the truth...

My Review

I'm a bit of a book snob, in case you're new to the blog or haven't picked up on that yet. Though I loved both the Aurora Teagarden and Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris, the Southern Vampire Mysteries aka the "Sookie Stackhouse" books, left a bad taste in my mouth. It made me hesitant to pick up Midnight Crossroad though I've had a shiny, new hardcover sitting on my nightstand pile since its release day last year. And now that I've read it, I completely understand Tom Cruise's couch-jumping, and I'm hungry for more!

Waiting on Wednesday (102): White Hot by Ilona Andrews

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: White Hot (Hidden Legacy #2)
Author: Ilona Andrews
Publisher: Avon (HarperCollins)
Release Date: October 27, 2015
Nevada Baylor has a unique and secret skill—she knows when people are lying—and she's used that magic (along with plain, hard work) to keep her colorful and close-knit family's detective agency afloat. But her new case pits her against the shadowy forces that almost destroyed the city of Houston once before, bringing Nevada back into contact with Connor "Mad" Rogan.

Rogan is a billionaire Prime—the highest rank of magic user—and as unreadable as ever, despite Nevada's "talent." But there's no hiding the sparks between them. Now that the stakes are even higher, both professionally and personally, and their foes are unimaginably powerful, Rogan and Nevada will find that nothing burns like ice...


Another Ilona Andrews book! Two books within 3 months! I might go out of my fangirl mind! Seriously though, I haven't read an Ilona Andrews book I haven't adored, so I can't wait to read the newest in their paranormal romance/urban fantasy series. Don't let the awful cover fool you if you haven't started this series yet; Ilona Andrews jokes about the famously terrible covers of all of their books. :)

What are you waiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday (100): The Shadow Revolution by Clay and Susan Griffith

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: The Shadow Revolution (Crown & Key #1)
Author: Clay and Susan Griffith
Publisher: Del Rey (Random House)
Release Date: June 2, 2015
They are the realm’s last, best defense against supernatural evil. But they’re going to need a lot more silver.

As fog descends, obscuring the gas lamps of Victorian London, werewolves prowl the shadows of back alleys. But they have infiltrated the inner circles of upper-crust society as well. Only a handful of specially gifted practitioners are equipped to battle the beasts. Among them are the roguish Simon Archer, who conceals his powers as a spell-casting scribe behind the smooth veneer of a dashing playboy; his layabout mentor, Nick Barker, who prefers a good pub to thrilling heroics; and the self-possessed alchemist Kate Anstruther, who is equally at home in a ballroom as she is on a battlefield.

After a lycanthrope targets Kate’s vulnerable younger sister, the three join forces with fierce Scottish monster-hunter Malcolm MacFarlane—but quickly discover they’re dealing with a threat far greater than anything they ever imagined.


I really enjoyed the married duo's first novel in their Vampire Empire series, The Greyfriar. I just haven't had time to read the rest of the series. But I'm always up for a historical urban fantasy/steampunk urban fantasy, especially since this one involves werewolves.

What are you waiting on this week?

Review: Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop

Title: Vision in Silver (The Others #3)
Author: Anne Bishop
Publisher: Roc (Penguin)
Release Date: March 3, 2015
Acquired Via: Publisher
The Others freed the cassandra sangue to protect the blood prophets from exploitation, not realizing their actions would have dire consequences. Now the fragile seers are in greater danger than ever before—both from their own weaknesses and from those who seek to control their divinations for wicked purposes. In desperate need of answers, Simon Wolfgard, a shape-shifter leader among the Others, has no choice but to enlist blood prophet Meg Corbyn’s help, regardless of the risks she faces by aiding him.

Meg is still deep in the throes of her addiction to the euphoria she feels when she cuts and speaks prophecy. She knows each slice of her blade tempts death. But Others and humans alike need answers, and her visions may be Simon’s only hope of ending the conflict.

For the shadows of war are deepening across the Atlantik, and the prejudice of a fanatic faction is threatening to bring the battle right to Meg and Simon’s doorstep

My Review

Anne Bishop's The Others series is one of my favorite dark fantasy series, so I jumped on the chance to read and review Vision in Silver. It was everything I wanted, and I was so sad for it to end. I might reread the first two books in the series soon, because I need more Meg, Simon and the rest of the Courtyard.

Waiting on Wednesday (94): Dark Heir by Faith Hunter

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Dark Heir (Jane Yellowrock #9)
Author: Faith Hunter
Publisher: Roc
Release Date: April 7, 2015
Shapeshifting skinwalker Jane Yellowrock is the best in the business when it comes to slaying vampires. But her latest fanged foe may be above her pay grade...

For centuries, the extremely powerful and ruthless vampire witches of the European Council have wandered the Earth, controlling governments, fostering war, creating political conflict, and often leaving absolute destruction in their wake. One of the strongest of them is set to create some havoc in the city of New Orleans, and it’s definitely personal.

Jane is tasked with tracking him down. With the help of a tech wiz and an ex-Army ranger, her partners in Yellowrock Securities, she’ll have to put everything on the line, and hope it’s enough. Things are about to get real hard in the Big Easy.


Jane Yellowrock is one of my favorite urban fantasy series, and there's a lot of story threads coming to a head in this installment so I can't wait to read it. Plus, the rest of the series has been narrated by one of my favorite narrators, Khristine Hvam.

What are you waiting on this week?