HEXED (Iron Druid Chronicles #2) by Kevin Hearne PUBLISHER: Orbit Books | Brilliance Audio RELEASE DATE: June 2011 DURATION: 8 hours & 52 mins NARRATOR: Luke Daniels GENRE: Urban Fantasy Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn’t care much for witches. Still, he’s about to make nice with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial nonaggression treaty when suddenly the witch population in modern-day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. And the new girls are not just bad, they’re badasses with a dark history on the German side of World War…
Plague Town by Dana Fredsti (Ashley Parker #1) Titan Books (April 2012) Paperback, 350 pages Urban Fantasy | Zombies One night when Ashley Parker and her boyfriend, Matt, are having a late night picnic and are busy making out, Ashley feels something’s on her, and at first she’s angry as she thinks it’s Matt getting a bit carried away, but when she shoves Matt off her and he shines a light to see what the problem is, they find a half eaten woman rolling around on the ground, wanting to chomp…
GRAVE WITCH (Alex Craft #1) by Kalayna Price PUBLISHER: Berkley (UK) | Roc (US) RELEASE DATE: Dec 2011 (UK) | Dec 2010 (US) FORMAT: Paperback, 325 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy As a private investigator and consultant for the police, Alex Craft has seen a lot of dark magic. But even though she’s on good terms with Death himself – who happens to look fantastic in a pair of jeans – nothing has prepared her for her latest case. Alex is investigating a high profile murder when she’s attacked by the ‘shade’ she’s…
SIEGE (As the World Dies #3) by Rhiannon Frater PUBLISHER: Tor US RELEASE DATE: 24th April 2012 FORMAT: Advance Reader Copy, 359 pages GENRE: Horror, Zombies The zombie illness has shattered civilization. The survivors who have found tenuous safety in Texas defend their fort against the walking dead and living bandits. Katie has made peace with the death of her wife and is pregnant and married to Travis, who has been elected Mayor. Jenni, her stepson, Jason; and Juan—Travis’s righthand man—are a happy family, though Jenni suffers from PTSD. Both women…
ROYAL STREET (Sentinels of New Orleans #1) by Suzanne Johnson PUBLISHER: Tor RELEASE DATE: April 2012 FORMAT: Advance Reader Copy, 336 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco’s job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. DJ’s boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the city from anyone or anything that might slip over from the preternatural beyond. Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans’ fragile levees, unleashing…
Incubus (Fairwick Chronicles #1) by Carol Goodman Ebury Press (July 2011) | Paperback, 466 pages Paranormal Romance Callie McFay is a young lady who is just venturing out into the world after having finished her Ph.D. She has had her first book published, which was a continuation of her thesis on Demon Lovers, and is now looking for work in a university whilst she writes her next book. I guess I am not spoiling anything when I tell you that she ends up working at Fairwick College which is “a second…
Deadly Pursuit (Blood Hunter #2) by Nina Croft Entangled Publishing (Nov 2011) | Ebook, 286 pages Sci-Fi Romance Like every second book in a series, there was a lot to live up to with such an excellent start Croft had with Break Out. Luckily, she managed to pull off another excellent story… However, I do have a few reservations. Deadly Pursuit is longer than Break Out, which was a novella, and in some ways it slightly suffers because of it. Don’t get me wrong the characters are just as complex, and the…
SHADOW OPS: CONTROL POINT (Shadow Ops #1) by Myke Cole PUBLISHER: Ace Books RELEASE DATE: 31 January 2012 FORMAT: Advance Reader Copy, 435 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy Army Officer. Fugitive. Sorcerer. Across the country and in every nation, people are waking up with magical talents. Untrained and panicked, they summon storms, raise the dead, and set everything they touch ablaze. Army officer Oscar Britton sees the worst of it. A lieutenant attached to the military’s Supernatural Operations Corps, his mission is to bring order to a world gone mad. Then he abruptly…
HIGHLAND STORMS (Trade Winds #2) by Christina Courtenay PUBLISHER: Choc Lit RELEASE DATE: 2011 FORMAT: Paperback, 318 Pages GENRE: Historical Romance Brice Kinross thinks he’s very different from his flamboyant father and younger brother Jamie, and the only thing he wants out of life is to settle down with the girl he loves. When she jilts him in favour of his brother, however, he is forced to rethink. Taking over his father’s Scottish estate and becoming the next chief of the clan suddenly seems very appealing, but the Scottish Highlands in…
CLUB DEAD (Sookie Stackhouse #3) by Charlaine Harris PUBLISHER: Gollancz (UK) | Ace (US) RELEASE DATE: 2009 (UK) | 2003 (US) FORMAT: Paperback, 274 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy Sookie Stackhouse always found it difficult to date – she’s cute, but not many guys are comfortable with her mind-reading abilities. But vampires have no problems with Sookie’s talent – she can’t pick up much of anything from the undead. But there’s only one vampire Sookie Stackhouse is involved with – at least voluntarily – right now, and that’s Bill. But recently…
Hunting Kat (Triton Experiment #1) by P. J. Schnyder Carina Press (July 2011) | Kindle, 80 pages Sci-Fi Romance Guest Reviewer: Grete Evans This is actually a hard story to review because I both loved it and was also a bit disappointed with it. I really liked the premise and it had many elements that I love; good writing, engaging characters, hot sex and shapeshifters in an intriguing sci-fi setting. The disappointment came from it only being 25,000 words. While it is definitely a complete story, it still felt like two chapters…
THE DUKE IS MINE (Fairy Tales #3) by Eloisa James PUBLISHER: Piatikus Books RELEASE DATE: Jan 2012 FORMAT: Paperback. 400 pages GENRE: Historical Romance Destiny will be decided between the sheets in this all-new tale of “The Princess and the Pea.” For Olivia Lytton, betrothal to the Duke of Canterwick – hardly a Prince Charming – feels more like a curse than a happily-ever-after. At least his noble status will help her sister, Georgiana, secure an engagement with the brooding, handsome Tarquin, Duke of Sconce, a perfect match for her in…
The Spiral Path by Lisa Paitz Spindler Carina Press (March 2011) | Kindle, 122 pages Sci-Fi Romance Guest Reviewer: Grete Evans This has to be the best example of science-fiction romance I’ve come across yet. The characters were well written and brought to life in such a way that I came to care about them in a very short time. Their backstories were really well fleshed out which was impressive given the length of the book. The plot was both intriguing and well set. Even though this was a novella,…
LIVING DEAD IN DALLAS (Sookie Stackhouse #2) by Charlaine Harris PUBLISHER: Gollancz RELEASE DATE: 2009 FORMAT: Paperback, 279 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy Waiting tables, sweeping floors, reading minds and solving mysteries for the undead. It’s all in a day’s work for Sookie… Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is on a streak of real bad luck. First, her co-worker gets murdered and no one seems to care. Then Sookie is attacked – and poisoned – late one night by some weird and apparently mythical beast. She only survives because the local vampires roll…
THAT THING AT THE ZOO (Deacon Chalk #0.5) by James R. Tuck PUBLISHER: Kensington Books RELEASE DATE: January 2012 FORMAT: Ebook, 80 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy Shredding monsters is his stock and trade. He sniffs them out, tracks them down, and corners them. End of story. But when the tables are turned, expect the unexpected. Knowing his enemy is a rule Deacon Chalk swears by. But he’s never seen anything like whatever is leaving the Atlanta Zoo’s most dangerous predators bloodless, skinned, and hanging high in the treetops. And he’s…
