Shades of Hate (by K.N. Banet)

Urban Fantasy

Her secret is out. Jacky has somehow managed to get caught on camera in her werecat form and now government agencies are sniffing around trying to interview her and find out what she is. Even worse, her werewolf boyfriend is in the frame which could reignite animosities that have been simmering for centuries. 

Adding to her woes, someone is taking silver tainted pot-shots at her. Even if she survives the assassins and special agents, she faces an uncertain future with her own kind. 

I loved this book. In Shades of Hate Jacky Leon moves further away from the peaceful life she envisioned for herself. She always does the right thing and unfortunately for her, that character flaw (?) well and truly puts her in the spotlight. 

In some ways it’s a smaller story than the previous books and it’s better for it. Honestly that’s what I loved the most about Shades of Hate

A review copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review

Queen of Diamonds (by Mark Henwick)

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. 

Black Arts (by Faith Hunter)

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.

How to Run with a Naked Werewolf (by Molly Harper)

Paranormal Romance

Anna gave up the life she knew to escape from her violent husband. On the run she has moved from town to town, escaping in the night every time her husband came close to finding her.

Caleb is is a bounty hunter just on the shadier side of the law. He’s also a werewolf. When a collection goes wrong and he gets shot, and nearly run over (twice), Anna steps in and saves him. Unfortunately in the course of her rescue, her car and all her possessions go up in flames. Desperate to get to Anchorage so she can collect her new identity and find another bolt hole, she reluctantly agrees to join him on the road.

How to Run with a Naked Werewolf continues the story of the Graham Pack of loveable but slightly redneck werewolves in Grundy Alaska. Think less Twilight and more Duck Dynasty. It’s what Molly Harper does best, cute and quirky romance with snark. She has the remarkable ability to blend a moral message into her stories without ever sounding like she’s preaching.  Another great book from one of my favorite authors.

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

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

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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.