Urban Fantasy

Harmony Black (Harmony Black #1) By: Craig Schaefer

Harmony Black

Harmony Black (Harmony Black #1) By: Craig Schaefer

Plot:

Harmony Black is much more than your average FBI special agent. In addition to being a practicing witch, she’s also an operative for Vigilant Lock, an off-the-books program created to battle occult threats—by any means necessary. Despite her dedication to fighting the monsters threatening society, Harmony has become deeply conflicted about her job. Her last investigation resulted in a pile of dead bodies, and she suspects the wrong people are being punished for it.

While on a much-needed vacation, Harmony gets pulled back into action. This time, though, she’s gone from solo work to being part of a team. Their target: the Bogeyman, a vicious and elusive figure…and the creature that destroyed Harmony’s childhood.

Surrounded by quirky, fascinating characters as dedicated to one another as they are to their new partner, Harmony must learn to trust her team—and a new romantic interest—on a dangerous and deadly mission that conjures up memories she’d much rather forget.

Review:

While looking at the top books in Urban Fantasy on Amazon, I came across this book. I liked the cover and thought the blurb sounded interesting. It wasn’t until the end of the book, when I read the Author’s Note, that I realized this was a spin off series. I didn’t feel lost at any point or like I was missing jokes, and I never would have realized there was another series if the author hadn’t mentioned it.

The world and characters created were detailed and fleshed out, but not to the point where I was bogged down in details. It was darker than I normally like and dealt with kidnapped infants, which had me reading into the late hours of the night cause I needed to know if they survived.

I liked Harmony, she was very straight laced and by the book, but not to the point of stupidity. Her new partner, Jessie, was more annoying. She would have been a better character for TV, I think, but in the book was kind of annoying to read the way she talked.

It was well written, with good pacing. There was build up, but it wasn’t constant.

Actually, it really reminded me of a Criminal Minds episode, a lot. A Paranormal Criminal Minds, that would be interesting to watch.

Overall, I liked the book, but because of how dark it was I’m not in a rush to read the next, which is good since it’s not out yet.

4/5

Thicker Than Blood (Twenty-Sided Sorceress #6) By: Annie Bellet

Thicker Than Blood

Thicker Than Blood (Twenty-Sided Sorceress #6) By: Annie Bellet

Plot:

If you are going through hell… keep going…

Wounded, defeated, and flung across the wilderness, Jade Crow and her peeps faced their worst enemy and not all have escaped… or survived.

Separated from her friends, their fates unknown, and without her magic, Jade must discover her own heritage and unlock her true powers… or else her next fight with Samir will be her last.

For Jade, life has come down to two choices…
Level up. Or die.

Review:

So I really like this series, the ideas the characters, the nerdy references, but the last two books have been too short. They’re in line with the rest of the series, but the final battle just keeps getting dragged out. There still isn’t a resolution at the end of this one and the side characters are almost not in it at all. It’s disappointing.

Maybe if the series was advertised as a serial instead it wouldn’t be as bad because you’d know what to expect, but the first four books had fairly self-contained stories and the last two haven’t. I keep reading because I’m invested in the world and the characters, but I don’t know how much longer I’ll stick around.

If you liked the previous books you’ll like this one, but don’t expect a satisfying ending.

3/5

Magic Shifts (Kate Daniels #8) By: Ilona Andrews

MagicShifts_CV

Magic Shifts (Kate Daniels #8) By: Ilona Andrews

Plot:

After breaking from life with the Pack, mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate—former Beast Lord Curran Lennart—are adjusting to a very different pace. While they’re thrilled to escape all the infighting, Curran misses the constant challenges of leading the shapeshifters.

So when the Pack offers him its stake in the Mercenary Guild, Curran seizes the opportunity—too bad the Guild wants nothing to do with him and Kate. Luckily, as a veteran merc, Kate can take over any of the Guild’s unfinished jobs in order to bring in money and build their reputation. But what Kate and Curran don’t realize is that the odd jobs they’ve been working are all connected.

An ancient enemy has arisen, and Kate and Curran are the only ones who can stop it—before it takes their city apart piece by piece…

Review:

*Sigh* There are few things better than a new Ilona Andrew’s book. Normally I put off reading as long as I can, but when this was delivered to my kindle at midnight the only thing keeping me from reading it was the fact my kindle was downstairs and I was warm and cozy in bed. My laziness wins out over a new book apparently.

Anyway, I devoured this book in one day and now the wait begins for the next. I was curious to see how Kate would figure out how to fight her super powerful father and thought they had forgotten about it until the absolute end of the book and I realized the entire book was really a way to fight her father. It was interesting and unexpected since I didn’t try and think up my own solution. Nothing I could come up with would be better than what Andrews creates. NOTHING.

The book starts out immediately with Kate killing some ghouls and because of that it took me a few pages to get into it. I wanted to know how they were coping living in the suburbs, I wanted all the relationship stuff. I was impatient but they didn’t make me wait too long. I am a little concerned about how things there are developing. I hope in a later book a human that isn’t a difficult/annoying person is introduced. They’ve moved from one pack but they’re being joined by everyone it feels like. On one hand I love the characters and I’m glad they’re there, but how is that going to work with the real pack?

So many questions left in the series and there are so many amazing characters that I feel that Ilona Andrews should be in line to have their consciousness uploaded to a computer so that we will always have a new book

5/5

 

Geekomancy (Ree Reyes #1) By: Michael R. Underwood

geekomancy

Geekomancy (Ree Reyes #1) By: Michael R. Underwood

Plot:

Ree Reyes’s life was easier when all she had to worry about was scraping together tips from her gig as a barista and comicshop slave to pursue her ambitions as a screenwriter.

When a scruffy-looking guy storms into the shop looking for a comic like his life depends on it, Ree writes it off as just another day in the land of the geeks. Until a gigantic BOOM echoes from the alley a minute later, and Ree follows the rabbit hole down into her town’s magical flip-side. Here, astral cowboy hackers fight trolls, rubber-suited werewolves, and elegant Gothic Lolita witches while wielding nostalgia-powered props.

Ree joins Eastwood (aka Scruffy Guy), investigating a mysterious string of teen suicides as she tries to recover from her own drag-your-heart-through-jagged-glass breakup. But as she digs deeper, Ree discovers Eastwood may not be the knight-in-cardboard armor she thought. Will Ree be able to stop the suicides, save Eastwood from himself, and somehow keep her job?

Review:

I could not finish this book, I got over 60% of the way through before I bailed, so I’m not going to give it a star rating.

The sample for this was great but I’m really glad that I bought it on sale. I like pop culture references in books (see the Twenty-Sided Sorceress series and Ready Player One) but this book just went too heavy handed. I got lost in them and had to wade my way through the book and ended up missing information because my eyes would just glaze over and then I would get lost. It was too much.

Halfway through I stopped and went to Goodreads to check out some reviews. I couldn’t understand why I was having such a hard time, but apparently I wasn’t the only one.

I couldn’t connect with Ree as a character and didn’t understand why one minute she was all about stopping the suicides from happening and then the next minute she was at a burlesque show getting drunk. It didn’t make sense.

Did not like.

 

Fashionably Dead in Diapers (Hot Damned #4) By: Robyn Peterman

Fashionably Dead in Diapers

Fashionably Dead in Diapers (Hot Damned #4) By: Robyn Peterman

Plot:

And I thought being half Vampyre/half Demon was hard…That’s nothing compared to being a mother. Sweet baby Moses in a boob tube, there aren’t any books on raising True Immortals so let me give you a few tips… ~Make a map of every closet and bathroom in your home if you enjoy having sex. Sleep deprivation can cause confusion and a map will help if you only have seven minutes and thirty-one seconds. You’re welcome. ~Parenting books are useless if you’re not human. If your child is half Vampyre/ half Demon I would suggest not using parenting books at all–they can backfire like a mother humper. Trust me on this. ~Have sex. ~When your child tells you he has an imaginary friend, do not discount this as fantasy. Often times your child isn’t imagining anything. If he persists with alarming and violent stories about this fictional buddy it’s probably a Troll. Do a thorough search of your home and kill it. Decapitation works best. Some imaginary friends are harmless. However, it’s wise not to take chances. ~Have sex again. ~When in large crowds, make sure you hold tight to your child’s hand. Losing a child in an amusement park is terrifying. If you’re truly paranoid a parent could consider putting a chip in their child. If you do this don’t discuss it at dinner parties. People will think you are weird. ~At least cuddle. ~Playing with dolls is fun. Being one? No so much. If your child ever finds a Genie in a bottle, flush it immediately. Many children wish for things that are very difficult to reverse…like being doll sized. If this happens, move to Oz. There are many people of small stature there. And yes, it really does exist. ~Find a closet and go to town.

Review:

This was the book I was looking forward to. I almost never read books about babies and ever since I had one I’ve wanted too. I have to make sure the fiction out there is as accurate about them as possible or the fiction out there blows it completely out of proportion and makes my situation seem so much better. Thankfully this book did the later.

I do not want a three quarter vampyre one quarter demon baby. He seemed super adorable and was surprisingly obedient but I would hate to be around when he’s going through his terrible twos and refuses to listen to anything his parents tell him. Maybe they’ll luck out and since he’s a True Immortal he’ll be better behaved, we’ll see. Maybe. I hope so. I look forward to more Sammy.

I wasn’t worried about Sammy’s life because of his True Immortal status, but I was worried about his psychological well being so kudos to Peterman for that. I was just as angry and worried as Astrid when he was kidnapped and I was happy with the revenge she enacted.

Also, holy cow she and Ethan were freakin horny throughout the entire book.

4/5