Queen of Diamonds (by Mark Henwick)

Posted on February 23, 2021 by setaian

Urban Fantasy

The first six books in the Bite Back series are books of becoming. Inside Straight (book 6) felt very much like an end to that part of the story. Amber Farrell has grown into her three parts, her athenate (vampire), were and adept (witch).

Queen of Diamonds is a new chapter. Her house, her pack and her coven are all united and now she must move forward with uniting the werewolves and the athenate of North America while fighting a secret war against their enemies.

Amber travels from Denver to New Mexico and then on to Louisiana battling House Matlal. But there are rumours of a powerful witch in New Orleans, a witch who is the goddess of her own world.

It really is difficult to talk about this book. The entire series has been 4 or 5 Stars for me, and this is probably my favorite book in the series. It has everything you expect from an Amber Farrell book but the ending is a complete mind f––k. I finished a week ago and I still don’t really know what just hit me. I suspect I will need the next book before I start to understand what just happened.

Accidental Sire (by Molly Harper)

Posted on June 24, 2017 by setaian

Paranormal Romance

After being mortally wounded in a freak ultimate frisbee accident, Meagan finds herself the newest vampire at the University of Kentucky. But she’s not just any vampire. Someone has messed with her DNA and made her into some sort of super-vampire. She’s faster and stronger than the average vampire and unfortunately she’s also managed to turn her would be boyfriend on her very first undead day.

With two super vampires and no idea how it happened the head of the vampire council, Jane Jameson steps in and takes them under her wing. They just need to survive scientific curiosity, someone who is up to no good at the University of Kentucky and Jane’s very huggy friends.

The Accidental Sire is an entertaining book, a book that is fun and funny, but I wouldn’t describe it as a good book. It is a little rushed in the first and last chapters and in some ways it feels like it’s “by-the-numbers” Molly Harper.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s good and well worth the effort. It’s not a 5 Star book but it well deserves the 4 Stars I’m giving it.

Many thanks to Pocket Books and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Yellow, Orange, Red – What it means. YOR-Guide

Shadow Rites (by Faith Hunter)

Posted on April 15, 2016 by setaian

Urban Fantasy

Witches and vampires have been at war for more than a thousand years. But with the impending visit of the European vampires to New Orleans, Leo (the Master Vampire of NOLA and the Southern U.S.) needs to shore up his territory, and an accord with the witches is one way to do that.

With so many witches from all over the U.S. landing in New Orleans it’s crucial that nothing happens to disrupt the meeting. Then a very old vampire is found chained in a submerged pit in the bayou and all the evidence points to her being put there by witches. All of a sudden, not only is the meeting in jeopardy there is a good chance the discovery could lead to open war.

Jane is given the job of finding the guilty party and saving the peace treaty.

Shadow Rites is another entertaining instalment in the Skinwalker series. It has the welcome return of Beast who seemed to be taking a back seat for a few books as well as other favorite characters, Molly and Angie. It’s good –– perhaps even great.

But I do have an issue. The European Vampires impending visit was first mentioned three, maybe four books ago. And we’re still waiting. I kind of feel like saying ‘get on with it already’.

Orange, Red, Yellow. What it means: YOR-Guide

(The 2 New) Jane Yellowrock Novellas

Leading up to the release of Shadow Rites Faith Hunter released two new novellas set just before the witch conclave. Personally, I think the Jane Yellowrock novellas are hit and miss and more often than not they’re miss. In this case, Cat Fight was great! Well worth the effort. Bound no More … not so much. It was like she threw a couple of favorite characters at the page and that was it for story. It really felt like a waste of time to me, but perhaps the die hard fans will enjoy it.

Cat Fight

Jane travels to the bayou to sort out a Hatfield / McCoy feud over a magical talisman.

Bound no More

Molly and Angie visit Jane in New Orleans and are attacked by a dragon.

The Single Undead Moms Club (by Molly Harper)

Posted on October 30, 2015 by setaian

Paranormal Romance

Shortly after her husband died, Libby was diagnosed with terminal leukaemia. But facing her own death isn’t the worst of it, when she dies her precocious 5 year old son will go to her parents-in-law. Her rigid judgemental dogmatic parents-in-law.

The knowledge that her son’s expressiveness and imagination will be snuffed out and he will be turned into a “man’s man” forces Libby to do something she would never have dreamed of. She puts an ad on Craigslist for a vampire to turn her into one of the undead.

But if she was expecting life as one of the undead to be easy she’s in for a surprise. Not only are her parents-in-law suing for custody, she’s being hunted down by an assassin, fending off the attentions of two very different men and dealing with ~~life~~ errr, death as a new vampire. Not to mention that vampirism is not an excuse to get out of organising the pumpkin patch prizes and regular PTA meetings.

Molly Harper is a talented writer. Her stories are filled with snark and humour, they’re entertaining and honestly she can’t put a foot wrong in my opinion. The Single Undead Moms Club is great from the first to the last page.

Orange, Red, Yellow. What it means: red-orange-yellow-guide

(note: I know that love triangles are triggers for a lot of people, but the triangle in this book is very much under-played and it’s hard to see it causing offence)

Black Arts (by Faith Hunter)

Posted on December 31, 2013 by setaian

Urban Fantasy

Background

Jane Yellowrock is the last Cherokee Skinwalker. Using bones and teeth as her template she is able to transform into any animal, but on top of this ability, many hundreds of years earlier she took the soul of a mountain lion into her in a life and death battle. That mountain lion is named Beast and she lends to Jane the skills of a predator, a powerful sense of smell and super agility, not to mention some not altogether welcome advice on mating.

Jane works as a vampire hunter and the acting enforcer for Leo Pellissier, the vampire master of the city of New Orleans.

Black Arts

Jane’s oldest and dearest friend, Molly Trueblood has disappeared, and she was on her way to see Jane when it happened. When Evan, an air-witch and Molly’s husband shows up with their two children he brings with him a tornado and a whole truckload of worry.

Jane quickly learns that his worries are well founded, it looks like Molly has been taken by a vampire. And with the strange scent of witch and vampire showing up, she is worried that Molly is being used to power blood magic…and blood magic always demands a life.

Black Arts is book seven in the Jane Yellowrock series and in some ways I think it’s the best yet. Certainly the best since book one, Skinwalker. Some of my favorite characters, characters who have been absent for the last couple of books have returned and things which have been bubbling away in the series are finally resolved, for both good and bad.

This book really feels like a fresh start and I’m excited to see what comes next.

Many thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for proving me with this ARC.

The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires (by Molly Harper)

Posted on August 2, 2012 by setaian

An unexpected side effect of the Great Coming Out in 1999 was the emergence of all-night industries, special products, and cottage businesses, like mine, that catered to the needs of “undead Americans.” Companies were tripping over one another to come up with products for a spanking-new marketing demographic: synthetic blood, protein additives, dental-care accessories, lifelike bronzers. The problem was that those companies still hadn’t figured out packaging for the undead and tended to jump on bizarre trending bandwagons, the most recent being a brand of plasma concentrate that came pouring out of what looked like a Kewpie doll. You had to flip back the head to open it.

It’s even more creepy than it sounds.

Iris Scanlon has managed to carve out a little niche for herself running daytime errands for Half Moon Hollow’s undead community. But despite working for vampires, she doesn’t quite trust them and goes to great lengths to keep contact to a minimum. That is until she finds her newest client lying on the kitchen floor, poisoned. After saving his “unlife” he offers her a small fortune to shelter him for a few weeks. She’s none too happy but needs the money and so finds herself living under the same roof with a sexy vampire and her smart mouthed younger sister.

I don’t quite know how Molly Harper does it. I generally start to lose interest in a series after two or three books, but despite these books all following the same basic formula, here am I returning to Half Moon Hollow, KY for the sixth visit and loving it just as much as Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs (Jane Jameson book 1). She has become an author whose name I type into Google on an almost weekly basis. I want to be the first to know about her next project. I want to be the first to read it. I just can’t help myself. She writes funny, intelligent and snarky books about vampires, werewolves and other creatures of the night. The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires doesn’t disappoint, it delivers exactly what I have come to expect.

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