Category: Urban Fantasy

Books, fantasy, great reads, paranormal romance, Reviews, Romance, scifi, Urban Fantasy

A Hint of Frost by Hailey Edwards

Karen

img_0206

Someone recommended this book to me and when I went to find it on Amazon it was free. I hate to say it but free sometimes scares me, there are a lot of free books out there. There were good things going for this book though (1) the reader that recommended it knows my reading style (2) it’s book one of a 5 book series, plus novellas, so someone is reading this series. But before I go to far the blurb:

When the head of the Araneidae clan is found poisoned in her nest, her eldest daughter, Lourdes, becomes their clan s new maven. If her clan is to survive, she has but one choice: she must marry before her nest is seized. All she needs is a warrior fierce enough to protect her city and safeguard her clansmen. Such a male is Rhys the Cold.

Born the youngest son of an impoverished maven, the only things Rhys has to his name are his sword and his mercenary reputation. His clan is starving, but their fondness for the flesh of fellow Araneaeans makes them unwelcome dinner guests. Torn between loyalty to his clan and fascination with his future bride, Rhys first taste of Lourdes threatens to melt the cold encasing his heart.

Amid the chaos of battle, Lourdes s sister disappears and is feared captured. Lourdes and Rhys pursue their enemies into the southlands, where they discover an odd plague ravaging southern clans as it travels north, to Erania. Determined to survive, Lourdes will discover whether she s worth her silk or if she s spun the thread by which her clan will hang.

Okay now let’s get into the review, I really liked this book! I enjoyed the characters, I found the world unique and well developed, and found the writing pace well done. It was a great PNR read and I can’t wait to continue this series!

Grab it now!!

Books, fantasy, great reads, indie author, Out of the Box Blogs, paranormal romance, Romance, scifi, steampunk, Urban Fantasy

What are YOU reading?

Karen

image

Is it wrong that my dreams consist of planet size libraries? I would love an endless supply of books wouldn’t you? But really there are so many books out there today so it’s not finding a book but finding the RIGHT book. I always found January to February to be hard months in my favorite genres, for some reason all my authors love to publish around the same time. This year Patricia Briggs and Anne Bishop are again putting their books out on the same day! Why can’t we have spacing?!?! So I need some new discoveries, something to freshen my reading pallet as it is. So I ask you what are you reading? Or even better, what is your favorite book that you go back to over and over again when you just can’t find anything else?

Tell me your favorite book, books or series and it doesn’t have to be just one, I’ll take a list!

Books, fantasy, paranormal romance, Reviews, scifi, Urban Fantasy

Freeks by Amanda Hocking

Karen

freeks

I thought this cover was so intriguing so when I had a chance to grab the ARC of this book through netgalley I jumped on it. I’m a bit undecided on this one…honestly I’m meh about it. Here is the blurb:

In a world of magical visions and pyrokinesis, Mara just wants to have a normal life. But is that possible?

Mara has become used to the extraordinary. Roaming from place to place with Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Carnival, she longs for an ordinary life where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future.

She gets her chance when the struggling sideshow sets up camp in the small town of Caudry and she meets a gorgeous local guy named Gabe. But before long, Mara realizes there’s a dark presence lurking in the town that’s threatening the lives of her friends. She has seven days to take control of a power she didn’t know she had in order to save everyone she cares about—and change the future forever.

It’s going to be another pro and con review guys sorry.

Pros. The concept. I love that Amanda explored the idea of a traveling circus and I loved the whole idea of this book. I found the world easy to understand and the characters enjoyable enough.

Cons. It has instalove, which I hate. Why do we need this? I really think the romance in this book actually took away from the story.

Setting. This book is set in the 80’s, now that alone doesn’t bother me (I remember the 80’s) but the author constantly reminds you of this fact. It’s not so much hints as being beaten over the head with it, so it gets old really fast.

Overall I enjoyed it enough but I think I would get it from the library. If you do want to purchase it here is the link from Amazon:

Books, fantasy, great reads, Reviews, scifi, Urban Fantasy

*Audiobook* Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Karen

magic-bites

I LOVE THIS SERIES!! I didn’t want there to be any doubts. But I’m not a huge audio book person, and I will admit when it comes to the first two books of this series I tend to skim some when I reread, so when give the opportunity to review this, I thought this was a great chance to be objective. First and foremost, the blurb..

Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren’t for the magic…

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta’s magic circles.

The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate’s guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she’s way out of her league—but she wouldn’t have it any other way…

This book is a well written, has fantastic world building and some of my all time favorite characters in it, but when forced to actually listen to the whole thing I must admit it isn’t the strongest in the series. That’s not to say it isn’t amazing, how about we just break it down..

Pros: The book leaves no doubt where you are and what the world is about. You are in this post magic Atlanta and you never doubt the world building in it.

There are some fantastic character introductions in this book, and a lot of them remain key for many books to come. I understand who Kate is and I get her purpose. Also it is so nice to have a strong female lead that doesn’t have to be mean or crazy. She just kicks ass, I love her.

Story. I love that, though this becomes a 10 book series, this is a self contained story. It has a beginning (will talk about that) a middle and an end. No cliffhangers or underdeveloped plots.

Now remember I said this wasn’t the best of this series, so let’s talk about what I didn’t like about it.

Cons: It can be very slooooowww, especially the beginning. I’ve developed a very deep liking for Kate and her band of misfits so I have patience for anything she is doing but if you don’t know her (and for all intent and purpose you don’t since this is book one) the beginning does tend to drag. Hang in there!

World building. Wait wasn’t that on my pros list? I know this is one of those quirky things that was both a pro and a con. You see when I originally read this book there was already three books out and I knew I was going to read them. This world building is A LOT for just one book. Is it necessary for the series? Hell yes! Is it too much if this is the only book you read? Maybe. So just don’t let it be the only one, you are only hurting yourself.

This was an audio book so I would also like to comment on the narrator Renee Raudman. I thought she was fantastic! I thought a first she was a little dramatic, but then the more she read the more I fell in love with her. What an amazing job, I hope to hear her again soon.

If you like to listen to your books grab this audio here http://www.audible.com/search?advsearchKeywords=magic+bites+kate+daniels&sprefixRefmarker=nb_sb_ss_i_1_11&sprefix=magic+bites