Today we bring you another very special author spotlight on The Book Smugglers – this time with the delightful paranormal/sexy/urban fantasy author Stacia Kane!

Stacia is the author of the Megan Chase books, which follows radio call show host and psychologist Megan Crew as she promises to slay callers’ personal demons. This series encompasses three titles, Personal Demons, Demon Inside, and the newest novel, Demon Possessed. Check out her books:

Megan promises listeners to her new radio call-in show that she’ll “slay their personal demons,” and they believe her. So do the personal demons… although she doesn’t know it, Megan is the only human without a demon on her shoulder! Megan and her allies – a demon lover who both protects and seduces her with devilish intensity, a witch with poor social skills, and three cockney guard demons – have to deal not only with the personal demons, but a soul-sucker, ghosts of Megan’s past, and a reporter who threatens to destroy Megan’s career!

Hanging out with demons can be hell….

It’s been three months since psychologist Megan Chase made the stunning discovery that the world is filled with demons, and once more the situation is too hot to handle. Ironically, Megan — the only person in the world without a little personal demon sitting on her shoulder — has become the leader of a demon “family,” but now some unknown arcane power is offing her demons in a particularly unpleasant fashion. And while her demon lover Greyson Dante is still driving her wild with desire, he’s also acting strangely evasive. Then there’s the truth about Megan’s past — the truth she’s never known. Caught between personal problems and personal demons, Megan is having one hell of a hard time. Will the help of her Cockney guard demons and her witch friend Tera be enough so that Megan can finally resolve the past, survive the present, and face the future?

Excerpt online HERE.

Psychologist and psychic Megan Chase has grown remarkably comfortable hanging out with demons. The demon “family” she leads is happy, her solo practice is stabilizing, and she and her steamy demon lover, Greyson Dante, are closer than ever. But when the couple books a week at a luxury hotel to attend a meeting of demon leaders, some unanticipated problems appear. An FBI agent with an unhealthy interest in less-than-legitimate demon business practices shows up; the demon community is urging Megan to undergo the rite that will make her a real demon; and a slightly shady minister is holding one of his wildly popular “weekend exorcisms” just down the road. And oh, yes, someone with scary magical abilities is attempting to kill her. Then, just when it seems as if things couldn’t possibly get any worse, a secret comes to light that could jeopardize Megan and Greyson’s future — if Megan manages to live that long. With things heating up, it’s becoming difficult for her to keep a cool head…

Excerpt online HERE.

To celebrate the release of Demon Possessed, we are having the lovely Stacia Kane over for an interactive Q&A and a chance to win her books! We have TWO sets of Megan Chase books (Personal Demons, Demon Inside, and Demon Possessed) up for grabs. Entry is easy and simple, per usual – just leave a comment here asking Stacia a question (about her series, her writing process, her favorite demons, etc). The contest is open to all, and will run until Saturday, March 6th at 11:59PM (PST). Good luck, and let the questions begin.

Please and give it up for Stacia Kane!

Thanks so much for having me as a guest here at The Book Smugglers! Hanging out with readers is one of the best things about writing. I write the Megan Chase “Demons” series for Juno/Pocket books, and the upcoming Downside series as well. I’m happy to talk about both of them, or about anything else you can possibly imagine, so please ask as many questions as you like! (Just give me a little extra time if you want to talk about math, because that’s not my best subject.) Fire away!

Stacia Kane has been a phone psychic, a customer service representative, a bartender, and a movie theatre usher. Writing is more fun than all of them combined. She wears a lot of black, still makes great cocktails, likes to play music loud in the car, and thinks Die Hard is one of the greatest movies ever made. She believes in dragons and the divine right of kings, and is a fervent Ricardian. She lives outside Atlanta with her husband and their two little girls.

You can read more about Stacia online at her website HERE, her blog HERE, and on occasion over at The League of Reluctant Adults.

Yesterday was the official release date of Black Magic Sanction, the eighth book in Kim Harrison’s ongoing Rachel Morgan/The Hollows series.

In New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison’s most complex and nuanced adventure yet, bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan fights a deadly battle—mind, body, and soul

Black Magic Sanction

Rachel Morgan has fought and hunted vampires, werewolves, banshees, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter—and lived to tell the tale. But she’s never faced off against her own kind . . . until now. Denounced and shunned for dealing with demons and black magic, her best hope is life imprisonment—at worst, a forced lobotomy and genetic slavery. Only her enemies are strong enough to help her win her freedom, but trust comes hard when it hinges on the unscrupulous tycoon Trent Kalamack, the demon Algaliarept, and an ex-boyfriend turned thief.

It takes a witch to catch a witch, but survival bears a heavy price.

If you’re a fellow Hollows addict (as Thea is), you’ll be interested in learning that io9 has the first TWO chapters up for your reading pleasure. You can read the i09 article and excerpt online HERE.

And once you’re good and hungry for more Black Magic Sanction, check out Harper Collins’ awesome Browse Inside feature, where you can read the first SEVEN chapters of the book:

We’ll be having our own review of Black Magic Sanction very, very soon – so make sure to stay tuned.

“Inspirations and Influences” is a new series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their…well, Inspirations and Influences. The cool thing is that the writers are given free reign so they can go wild and write about anything they want. It can be about their new book, series or about their career as a whole.

We are delighted to welcome Sean Cummings, Canadian UF writer as our guest for the day. His debut novel Shade Fright is coming out next week and it features a female protagonist who can see the preternatural world and whose job is to locate other people who can too, for the Government. She will do that with the help of her best (zombie) friend and the ghost of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Sean is here today to talk about his inspirations for writing the novel.

Ladies and Gents, Sean:

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First off, I’m really very grateful to The Book Smugglers for joining my blog tour and doing a giveaway, good luck to everyone who enters.

What inspired me to write Shade Fright ?

1. Comic books

From an early age, I developed a passionate love affair with comic books and in particular, a series of comics Marvel put out in the 70’s called “Werewolf by Night”. It was, and still is the starting point for urban fantasy in my eyes. Think about it for minute – it’s 1977, you’re ten years old and there’s a second hand comic book store on the way home from school. I collected pop bottles and delivered flyers to make enough to replenish my supply of comics and while I loved Batman and Spidey, I was completely blown away by a character named Jack Russell who could turn into a werewolf any freaking time he wanted – forget about the full moon. He lived in an urban setting and he battled all kinds of supernatural baddies, so you can imagine, I was hooked! Voila! Urban Fantasy!!

2. Canada, eh? Why the heck not?

A second inspiration for Shade Fright and one that is featured throughout the novel is that it takes place in Calgary Alberta Canada as opposed to Chicago or New York or Paris or some other world class city. (Not that Calgary isn’t world class – I mean we did have a winter Olympics there twenty-two years ago. Holy crap! Has it really been that long?)

I wanted to write an urban fantasy that was uniquely Canadian because I think hey, why the heck shouldn’t there be a Canadian ass-kicking female protagonist who throws magic at supernatural bad guys? Shade Fright is inspired by Jim Butcher’s bestselling series, The Dresden Files. There’s a splash of Simon R. Green, a sprinkle of Tanya Huff and a smattering of Kelley Armstrong. It’s a uniquely Canadian take on urban fantasy and it’s chock-full of little known facts about Canada and how we look at the world.

3. My final inspiration: Writing a book in three days! What are you nuts?

I wrote the first draft for Shade Fright on Labour Day weekend 2007. I’d entered the 3-Day Novel Contest to see if I could actually pull it off and after 72 hours of coffee, typing, retyping, swearing and banging my head against the desk, Valerie Stevens emerged as my main character and the ghost of Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (who in life was a big time occultist) showed up to help Valerie solve a mystery that threatened to kill everyone in the city. After revising the crap out of the story, and doing a full rewrite, I started submitting it to publishers and agents in the fall of 2008. In May 2009 I received an offer from award winning independent publisher Snowbooks so I decided to jump at the opportunity.

Since then I’ve completed the second volume in the series, Funeral Pallor, and I’ve introduced some new characters not to mention a few surprises that speak to the entire story arc. (I have six books outlined.)

I’m kind of pinching myself because I’ve been writing for more than twenty years with the goal of one day getting a book in print. Some of the stuff I put out two decades ago should have been burned and buried instead of submitted to publishers in a self addressed stamped envelope – oh those poor editors! My writing was so bad it probably made their eyes bleed! But you know what? I kept at it because I believed in myself – that’s really my advice to any fledgling author. Keep at it, learn the craft, make mistakes, take your lumps, take NOTHING personally because writing is entirely subjective.

I do hope readers get a kick out of my debut novel. Oh – and if you’re wondering whether it was difficult for me to write a female protagonist in first person POV given that I’m a guy, all I can say is that Valerie is an amalgam of all the women I served with in the military. She’s not overly feminine, she’s definitely not butch. She’s got a soft spot for Greek food and she has a hate-on for evildoers.

Enjoy!

About the author: Sean Cummings is a comic book geek of the highest order and self-described nerd. He’s been writing since 1978 (as a means of liberating his “inner nerd”) He’s a huge fan of the television series Being Human and asserts that if urban fantasy happened in the real world, Being Human is as close to real as you can get. His interests include speculative and science fiction, the borg, cats with extra toes, east Indian cuisine and quality sci-fi movies/television. He lives in Saskatoon, Canada. You can read a great review of Shade Fright here.

*********

Thank you, Sean!!!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

“I fell into this job quite by accident, when I discovered that I possessed the ability to see the preternatural world. There are a handful of people with similar abilities, and part of my job is to locate them, since Government Services and Infrastructure Canada likes to keep track of these things. Don’t ask me why.”

There’s a malevolent force in town, and it’s quite literally Valerie Stevens’ job to determine who’s behind it and why they want to destroy the world, starting with Calgary.

She’ll have help, in the form of her best friend (now more or less a zombie, unfortunately), a powerful dwarf troll, and the ghost of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (but he goes by ‘Bill’ these days). But that’s not all – Valerie has some tricks up her sleeve and, she hopes, luck on her side. Oh, and her boyfriend, Dave. He drives a dump truck.

We have one copy of Shade Fright courtesy of the author to giveaway. In order to enter, leave a comment on this post telling us which is your favorite movie or book set in Canada. Contest is open for residents of UK, US and Canada ONLY and will run till Saturday February 27th 11:59pm (PST). We will announce the winner next Sunday in our weekly stash! Good luck!

Howdy folks, and Happy Monday! Today we bring you a very special author spotlight on The Book Smugglers – none other than the uber-talented Jeri Smith-Ready.

Jeri is the author of traditional fantasy (the Aspect of the Crow trilogy), young adult (upcoming title Shade), and urban fantasy – and her WVMP Radio series, Wicked Game and Bad to the Bone, are some of the most awesome, memorable vampire Urban Fantasy books out there. Check them out:

Late-night radio you can sink your teeth into

Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job. She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, 60s psychedelia, 80s Goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair. Ciara soon discovers how the DJs maintain their cred: they’re vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.

Ciara’s first instinct, as always, is to cut and run. But communications giant Skywave wants to buy WMMP and turn it into just another hit-playing clone. Without the station—and the link it provides to their original Life Times—the vampires would “fade,” becoming little more than mindless ghosts of the past. Suddenly a routine corporate takeover becomes a matter of life and un-death.

To boost ratings and save the lives of her strange new friends, Ciara re-brands the station as “WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock ’n’ Roll.” In the ultimate con, she hides the DJs’ vampire nature in plain sight, disguising the bloody truth as a marketing gimmick. WVMP becomes the hottest thing around—next to Ciara’s complicated affair with grunge vamp Shane McAllister. But the “gimmick” enrages a posse of ancient and powerful vampires who aren’t so eager to be brought into the light. Soon the stakes are higher—and the perils graver—than any con game Ciara’s ever played…

Excerpt online HERE.

TURN ON. TUNE IN. DROP DEAD.

Welcome to WVMP, “The Lifeblood of Rock ’n’ Roll,” where conartist-turned-station-owner Ciara Griffin manages an on-air staffof off-the-wall DJs—including new boyfriend Shane McAllister—who really sink their teeth into the music of their “Life Time” (theera in which they became vampires). Ciara keeps the undeadrocking, the ratings rolling, and the fan base alive—withoutmissing a beat.

For Halloween, WVMP is throwing a bash. With cool tunes, hotcostumes, killer cocktails—what could go wrong? To start, areligious firebrand ranting against the evils of the occultpreempts the station’s midnight broadcast. Then, when Ciaratracks down the transmission, the broadcast tower is guarded bywhat appears to be . . . a canine vampire? Behind it all is a groupof self-righteous radicals who think vampires suck (and arewilling to stake their lives on it). Ciara must protect the stationwhile struggling with her own complicated relationship, her bestfriend’s romance with a fledgling vampire, and the nature of hermysterious anti-holy powers. To make it to New Year’s in one piece,she’ll need to learn a few new tricks. . . .

Excerpt online HERE.

Totally awesome music of WVMP Radio online HERE.

In celebration of the mass market paperback release of Bad to the Bone, we’re having an awesome interactive Q&A opportunity with the esteemed Jeri Smith-Ready! Here’s how it works: Jeri will be popping in all day long to answer YOUR burning questions about her WVMP Radio books. But wait, it gets even cooler – courtesy of publisher Simon & Schuster, we’ve got TWO sets of WVMP Radio books up for grabs (Wicked Game and Bad to the Bone). Entry is easy and simple – just leave a comment here asking Jeri a question (about her UF series, her writing process, her favorite authors, music, tv shows, etc). The contest is open to all, and will run until Saturday, February 27th at 11:59PM (PST). Good luck, and let the questions begin.

We give the floor up to Jeri Smith-Ready!

Hey, thanks so much for having me as a guest on The Book Smugglers! I write the WVMP RADIO vampire series and the upcoming SHADE ghost series for teens. I love answering readers’ questions, so ask me anything. (Yes, anything. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll make something up–it’s what I do. For example, where I got the idea for vampire DJs, what it’s like to write for both adults and teens, and what I do in my nearly nonexistent spare time (right now I’m mesmerized by Olympic curling). You can even ask my characters questions, though Shane and Regina tend to keep nighttime hours. As Pat Benatar once said, hit me with your best shot!

Award-winning author Jeri Smith-Ready lives in Maryland with her husband, two cats, and the world’s goofiest greyhound.

You can read more about Jeri online at her website, and at her blog.

Title Blood of the Demon

Author: Diana Rowland

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: February 23, 2010
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages

Stand alone or series: Book 2 in the Kara Gillian series.

Welcome to the world of Kara Gillian, a cop with a gift. Not only does she have the power of “othersight” to see what most people can’t even imagine, but she’s become the exclusive summoner of a demon lord. Or maybe it’s the other way around. The fact is, with two troublesome cases on her docket and a handsome FBI agent under her skin, Kara needs the help of sexy, insatiable Lord Rhyzkahl more than he needs her. Because these two victims, linked by suspicious coincidence, haven’t just been murdered. Something has eaten their souls.

It’s a case with roots in the arcane, but whose evil has flowered among the rich, powerful, and corrupt in Beaulac, Louisiana. And as the killings continue, Kara soon realizes how much there’s still to learn about demons, men, and things that kill in the night—and how little time she has to learn it.

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher.

Why did I read this book: I read the first book in the series, Mark of the Demon last year and really enjoyed it.

Review: UF/Crime noir novel Blood of the Demon starts a few weeks after the events at the end of Mark of the Demon . Detective Kara Gillian has been back on the job for a week after being on leave for a month. While on duty she is asked to call on colleague Brian Roth and walks into a nightmarish scene to find the police officer dead, in what appears to be a suicide. A suicide note points to his wife also being dead, apparently killed by him. If losing one of their own and in such a strenuous circumstance wasn’t horrible enough, an added element that only Kara is privy to (as a summoner of demons) complicate matters even further. When she sees Brian’s body she is able to tell something is not right and tapping into the arcane she realises that his essence has been consumed and in this world, whatever happens to an “essence” when someone dies – this is not it. Therefore, Kara believes that Brian’s death might not be a suicide after all. However, the case is taken from her hands and given to another detective.

But then, a second death happens. A prominent restaurateur whose death is also initially ruled accidental and whose essence has also been consumed. Kara starts to believe that both deaths might be connected. Her aunt Tessa who unfortunately is in a coma-like state (her essence is might missing – not consumed though) since the events of the previous book might have been able to help her out. Her aunt’s library might be another source if it wasn’t surrounded by all sorts of wards leaving Kara with only but one place to go for answers: the demons.

As someone with the ability to summon demons , a secret only but a few people know about, Kara is able to call forth demons from a parallel dimension and depending on which level of demon, strike deals with them for services rendered. An intricate system of levels and honour, determines which demons are most likely to help, which demons are most likely to be dangerous and so and so forth. Although it is never really explained why Kara and her family would have this ability in a world who seems to be ignorant that such beings even exist, it is hinted in this book that this ability does come from somewhere and I am intrigued. In the previous book, Kara summoned a Demon Lord, a most powerful demon called Rhyzkahl whom she has a sexual connection and who saved her life at the end of the book. It is clear that Rhyzkahl has an agenda and this is brought forth in as he offers to help Kara in exchange for something that will most probably shape and change the future of the series and all characters involved.

The combination of forensics investigation and Urban Fantasy is once again one the best aspects of the novel – the authors knows her turf around the former and the latter is definitely interesting with the relationship between the different demons she calls forth never being what I expect them to be.

On another level, this series would go nowhere if it wasn’t for its main character and narrator, Kara. Neither a tough-as-nails detective nor an extra-vulnerable cookie-cutter character, Kara navigates the well-balanced in-between place with moments where she is strong and confident with the things she knows best like her police work and her abilities as a summoner which seem be to growing as she tests her own limits and learns more; and with moments where she is weak and frustratingly vacillating in her personal life. But that only makes her very human – a character with a past, with a history, with a loneliness that leaks from the pages in which makes her a little bit sad. Those are traits that make for a compelling read especially when it comes to understanding her eagerness in trying to reach to Rhyzkahl (who is for all intents and purposes Untouchable) and her (utterly frustrating )denial when it comes to her relationship to FBI agent Ryan – now living JUST THERE (and for all intents and purposes Touchable) and her best friend (or is he?). This relationship between Ryan and Kara was one of my favourite things about book 1 and it remains so in book 2 and I am firmly on Team Ryan, wherever it takes me.

On the down side, a couple of things that completely mystified me. Firstly: after being caught by her new friend Jill in the act of talking to a demon, how easily Jill took it all. How easily Kara spilled all about being a summoner and about demons and Jill didn’t even blink. It just didn’t feel right.

Second, what I have come to call the Lost Syndrome. One of the most infuriating things about that show is how those characters run around in circles not talking to each other and not asking relevant questions. In Blood of the Demon it is CLEAR as day that Ryan has a Big!Secret! and he is not who or what he says he is, Kara knows this, something HUGE happens in this book and yet….no questions asked. For someone who is a detective it just seems unnatural, inorganic to the story. One could argue that it is all part of the character’s inability to face reality, or her need to respect Ryan’s privacy. I say: poppycock. As with Lost, the secret needs to be dragged to keep readers (or viewers) interested. Does it work? Why yes, I am a Lost fanatic after all and I will be back for thirds in this series.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: I am completely on board of the Kara/Ryan’s train. I know of course, that this is Urban Fantasy and there are no assurances when it comes to romance but I love their chemistry and all of their scenes together in this book were a pleasure to read. My favourite was the one scene when Kara tells all about what happened between the Demon Lord and her in the previous book and why.

Verdict: A great sophomore effort from Diana Rowland and I love the combination of UF and Procedural with a dash of Noir.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: In For A Penny by Rose Lerner

Title: Unknown

Author: Rachel Caine

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy

Publisher: Roc
Publication Date: February 2010
Paperback: 308 pages

Stand alone or series: Book 2 in the Outcast Season series, a spinoff of Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden books

My name is Cassiel, and I was once a Djinn — a being as old as the Earth herself, rooted in her power. I cared little for the small, scurrying human creatures who busied themselves with their small lives.

Things have changed. Now I am a small, scurrying human creature. In form, at any rate. Thanks to a disagreement with Ashan, the leader of the True Djinn, I can only sustain my life through the charity of the Wardens — humans who control aspects of the powers that surround us, such as wind and fire. The Warden I’m partnered with, Luis Rocha, commands the powers of the living Earth.

I have made mistakes, in my short existence as a human. I have made promises I could not keep. I have lost those I learned to love.

I will not let it happen again.

Even if every instinct tells me I must.

Living among mortals, the djinn Cassiel has developed a reluctant affection for them-especially for Warden Luis Rocha. As the mystery deepens around the kidnapping of innocent Warden children, Cassiel and Luis are the only ones who can investigate both the human and djinn realms. But the trail will lead them to a traitor who may be more powerful than they can handle…

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: I am a Rachel Caine-a-holic. Seriously. The Weather Warden books rank in my top 3 all time favorite Urban Fantasy series’ and this spinoff is seriously awesome. I loved Undone, so it was with immense glee that I voraciously tore into Unknown.

Review:

In this second installment to Rachel Caine’s ongoing Outcast Season series, the former Djinn Cassiel is thrown back into the fray. One of the Old Ones, cast out by Ashan for her refusal to destroy humanity, Cassiel has come to rely on the Wardens for her very survival. And, she’s even begun to care for them – even love them. After the murder of her former Warden conduit, Manny Rocha, and his wife, and the subsequent abduction of his five year old daughter Ibby, Cassiel – once cold, distant, and disinterested in the lives of puny mortals – is hungry for vengeance. Teaming up with Luis Rocha, Earth Warden and brother to the late Manny, the two will stop at nothing to get Ibby home safely. But much more is at stake than the life of a single young girl – Ibby’s abductor and the murderer of her parents, the deranged, powerful, former Djinn Pearl, is kidnapping other Warden children around the world and brainwashing them, ruthlessly awakening their latent powers. Pearl has no scruples in destroying these children, using them to fight the already-stretched-thin Wardens and unsuspecting humans, burning out these children like so much disposable rubbish. Cassiel finds herself at an unimaginable crossroads. Pearl must be stopped before she destroys the planet, and the Djinn – and the only way to stop her is to destroy all of humanity. But, as Cassiel becomes more human and less of a Djinn each day, the burden of her grave responsibility grows ever heavier.

Let me start off by saying, yet again, how much I *love* the Weather Warden and Outcast Season books – and I love how closely connected the two series’ are. For a bit of context, Unknown takes place concurrently with Cape Storm (book 8 of the Weather Warden series), though Jo, David, Lewis and company are nowhere in sight. The crisis in Florida, however, is certainly felt in Unknown, as the New Djinn are fragmented without David as their conduit, and the Wardens are confused and weakened, unable to help Cassiel and Luis. While Jo and company are battling Demon Marks and Bad Bob, Cassiel and Luis fight on another front in an entirely different – but no less cataclysmic – war. One thing I adore about these linked series’ is how high stakes everything is – the world is in constant peril, and these poor characters are always operating at full capacity, at the edge of their limits. There are so many ways the world can be destroyed between Unknown and Cape Storm, and only these magnificent, flawed characters can stop the inevitable end of the world. Nailbiting doesn’t even begin to cover how intense these books are.

Per Ms. Caine’s usual, the plotting in Unknown is a white-knuckle thrill ride from opening sentence to bittersweet end; and it’s addictive as hell. There’s a lot of plot – the abduction of children, the missing Ibby, Pearl’s actual goals – and it’s all expertly done. (An aside: If you haven’t read Caine yet, you should know that you absolutely cannot skip around – you gotta start at the beginning, and make sure you have ALL the books close at hand, because I guarantee you will finish these bad boys in one big reading binge.)

And, as per Ms. Caine’s usual, the characters are made of awesome. I love Cassiel – on the same level that I love Joanne Baldwin (and that’s saying something). I love how she is ever changing. Cassiel’s narrative is so memorable because she is so alien – as a Djinn, she’s disconnected, even cruel by some interpretation – but she’s starting to feel human. Love. Anger. Fear. Pain. Cassiel is utterly believable because of this sense of change from immortal, immutable Djinn, to fragile flesh and bone mortal – and it makes her irresistible as a heroine She’s the complete opposite of Jo, but she’s no less memorable or unique. And then, there’s Luis Rocha – former gang member, Earth Warden, and Cassiel’s new conduit…and more. The relationship between these two characters is fraught with sexual tension, and a budding, deeper attraction. It’s intoxicating stuff. Luis is strong without being your typical hero/macho UF character, and I love the understanding he and Cass have in their relationship with each other. Both are in constant Mortal Peril, but they aren’t melodramatic or overprotective of each other – which is a welcome relief.

What else can I say about this book? Unknown is yet another winner from Rachel Caine. Fast-paced, high stakes, and danger-laden, this series keeps on going strong. If you’re a fan of Rachel Caine’s, you will not be disappointed with Unknown. The only drawback – as other Caine fans can attest to – is the long wait between fixes. Luckily, book 3 of Outcast Season, Unseen, is only a year away.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

So many missing children.

Their faces looked at me from the flat surfaces of posters and flyers, tacked to a long board opposite the row of chairs — a sad parade of even sadder stories.

Although several young girls with brown hair and vulnerable smiles looked back at me, Isabel Rocha’s picture was not on the wall. I found some comfort in that. I will find you, I promised her, as I did each day. On your mother and father’s souls, I will find you.

I had allowed her mother and father to be murdered. I would not allow Isabel to share the same fate.

I sat with Luis Rocha in the hallway outside of the offices of the FBI, which he had carefully explained was a place where I could not, for any reason, cause trouble. I failed to understand why this hallway should be any different from any other in the city of Albuquerque, but I had agreed, with a good bit of annoyance.

Luis was in no mood to debate with me. “Just do it,” he’d snapped, and then fallen into a dark, restless silence.

I watched him pace in front of me as his dark gaze took in the wall of photos, a tense, revolted expression on his face. He stopped, and the expression altered into a frown. He pointed one flyer out to me. “That’s Ben Hession’s kid. Ben’s a Fire Warden.”

I nodded, but I doubt he noticed. He lowered his finger, but his hands formed into fists at his sides, emphasizing the sinuous flame tattoos licking up and down his arms. Once again, I wondered at the choice; Luis Rocha controlled Earth, not Fire. In that, he and his brother Manny had been alike, though Luis’s power outstripped Manny’s by leagues.

Manny had been my Warden partner, assigned to me by the highest levels of his organization to teach me to live as human, and use my powers — for I still had some, although nowhere near as many as I had as a Djinn — usefully. How to become a Warden in my own right. Manny had been a sweet, patient soul who had given of himself to sustain me in this new life.

And I had let him die. Now it was Luis’s responsibility to look after me.

And mine to never allow such a thing to happen again.

A tired-looking man in a rumpled suit stepped outside of his office and gestured to us. As he did, his coat swung open to reveal the holstered butt of a gun attached to his belt. For an ice-cold instant I had an unguarded memory, a sense-memory of the shock and rage washing over me as I watched the bullets strike Manny, strike Angela …

It’s a memory I don’t care to relive.

You can read the full chapter online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Though book 3 in the Outcast Season series, Unseen, won’t be out until early 2011, fellow Caine-ites have something else to hold us over in the meantime – check out the cover and teaser excerpt…

The Port of Miami looked weatherbeaten, but under repairs, and as far as I could tell, life was going on just fine. That seemed … odd. I stood at the rail and watched people strolling the boardwalks, coming in and out of shops with hands full of bright-colored bags, eating at outdoor cafes. It seemed so normal.

It didn’t seem like the end of the world as we knew it. In the movies, everybody’s looking up at the skies (conveniently, all at the same daylight hour, everywhere in the world, all at once) when the big disaster is coming. In real life, people just carry on until the disaster’s in their face, and sometimes, even after. I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve personally fished out of flooded homes and businesses during hurricanes, for instance – and the ones that the Wardens couldn’t save. All because they denied the ability of the world around them to destroy them.

There were potentially big losses of life brewing everywhere around the world, but so far they were just breaking news stories happening (for most people) somewhere else. Interesting and tragic, not personal and panic-bringing. Nothing to interrupt dinner at Pascal’s on Ponce over, for sure.

That would change, very soon. I knew it, even though I couldn’t sense the aetheric disturbances anymore. Wardens were talking about it, and I could sense the suppressed anxiety in their voices.

This lovely day in Miami was the last we might ever see. I had a sudden, crazy impulse to start yelling like some wild-haired, sandwich-board-wearing street preacher, but I held my breath until it passed. Doomsaying wouldn’t make anybody’s day better. Or postpone the inevitable.

The ship was maneuvering up to the docks, and I could see, in the distance, a massive presence of cars, vans and trucks. I nudged Lewis, who was standing next to me at the railing. “What is that?”

“The transportation you arranged,” he said. “Cars and vans to shuttle people where they need to go.”

“All of that?”

“Plus the press.”

My palms immediately got damp, and I scrubbed them against my blue jeans. “What’s our plan to handle them?”

“Benign neglect. We’re going to be neck-deep in Apocalypse tomorrow. I can’t see how issuing a press release is going to make a damn bit of difference, so we’re not talking.”

Worked for me. “David’s going with me. To the Oracles.”

Lewis didn’t take his eyes off the docking process. “Good. I didn’t like sending you alone.” He paused, and then said, very quietly, “I don’t like sending you at all. You know that.” Yeah, and I knew why. So did David. Uncomfortably personal territory, so I skipped it.

“It’s a dirty job, but that’s why you picked me to do it,” I said cheerfully. “Besides, if I can pick up some of my powers along the way, this might not be the rush to martyrdom you think.”

“It’s a big if, Jo.”

“It’s a gi-normous if. Not to mention an embarrasingly large how. So let’s not dwell on it. Besides, you’re the one going up against Djinn and insane planets with a grudge. I’ve got the easy job.”

He shrugged, because I wasn’t wrong; nobody was guaranteed to come out of this thing with a whole skin – Lewis, the most powerful Warden in several hundred years, least of all. The most powerful you were, the more the bad things tended to want you dead. At least, in my experience.

Which meant I was practically bulletproof right now, ironically. I literally wasn’t worth noticing. Was that a comfort? I really wasn’t sure.

“You’ve been taking the hits for a long time,” Lewis said. He hadn’t even glanced at me, but he could read me just fine. “Let the rest of us get the battle scars for a change. We’re big kids.”

“Did I ever say you weren’t?”

“No, but your hero complex scares the crap out of me,” Lewis said, and straightened up. “Here we go.”

I thought he meant that we were ready to disembark, but he turned toward me, and before I even knew he was intending to do it, he kissed me. Not one the desperate kind of kisses he’d given me in the past, none of that longing or anguish or pure lust I knew was still locked up inside of him. This was surprisingly … pure. Chaste.

It was a goodbye kiss.

I didn’t fight it.

He didn’t say another word, and it wasn’t necessary. I watched him stride away, already calling orders to Wardens who flocked around him like birds, swooping in to get instructions and then breaking off on their own.

That left me alone at the rail, until I sensed a warm presence next to me, and looked over to see that David had joined me. He had no particular expression on his face. It was just – studiously neutral.

“You saw,” I said.

“Yes. I know what it was,” he said. “And he’s right. We might never see him again. I’d kiss him myself, but he might kill me.”

Which made me laugh, as he intended. Though, knowing how ancient David was, I wasn’t entirely putting that kind of flexibility past him, either. “You’re a good man,” I said.

“Am I?” He frowned down at the docks, as if it was a difficult question. “Maybe I was, once. Maybe I can be. But I’ve done a lot of things that wouldn’t qualify as good. I think – I think this is a chance to remember what that means.”

“Bullshit,” I said crisply. “We’re not in the navel-gazing business, my love, we’re in the world-saving business. Don’t you forget it.”

That surprised a smile out of him, a spark that reminded me of the fire he’d had before … before the island, and that black corner. “I won’t.”

You can read the full excerpt online HERE. (Beware. Crappy cliffhanger ensues!)

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: The Girl With Mermaid Hair by Delia Ephron

Title: Except the Queen

Author: Jane Yolen & Midori Snyder

Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy/Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Roc (Penguin)
Publication Date: February 2010
Hardcover: 384 Pages

From award winning authors Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder comes a tale of two worlds-and one destiny…

Sisters Serena and Meteora were once proud members of the high court of the Fairy Queen- until they played a prank that angered her highness. Separated and banished to the mortal realm of Earth, they must find a way to survive in a strange world in which they have no power. But there is more to their new home than they first suspect…

A sympathetic Meteora bonds with a troubled young girl with an ornate tattoo on her neck. Meteora recognizes it as a magic symbol that will surely bring danger down on them all. Serena, meanwhile, takes in a tortured homeless boy whose mind is plagued by dark visions. The signs point to a rising power that threatens to tear asunder both fairy and human worlds.

And the sisters realize that perhaps the queen cast them from their homes not out of anger or spite- but because they were the only ones who could do what must be done…

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: Jane Yolen is an author I read and adored when I was a young reader (her Sister Light, Sister Dark and White Jenna were my particular favorites), and so when I saw that she had a new fantasy novel, I was ecstatic. I hadn’t read anything by Midori Snyder, but was more than willing to dive into Except the Queen…

Review:

Most of the time, I can get a feel for a book pretty quickly. I can predict what a book is about and where it is gonna go from the first chapter or so. But every so often, a book comes along and completely befuddles me. These books are surprises; they are unpredictable.

Such is Except the Queen.

Written by collaborating award-winning authors Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder, Except the Queen is an unexpected delight of a novel, alternating between two main narrators, fey sisters Serana and Meteora. After stumbling across their haughty, proud queen copulating with a mortal, Serana warns Meteora that they must never, ever speak of what they have seen, for the Fey Queen’s rage is terrible. Alas, Meteora unwittingly lets her tongue slip, and soon the High Court is atwitter with the news of their beautiful, superior Queen’s rutting – everyone is allowed their games and silly engagements with humans, except the Queen. To quell the gossip, the Queen banishes the sisters to the world of humans, depriving them of their magic and their beautiful, youthful forms. Separated from each other, placed in powerless, old woman flesh, and utterly alone in this bizarre new world, Serana and Meteora struggle to accustom themselves to their mortal surroundings, and to find each other no matter the cost. But each sister soon discovers that they have stumbled into something much larger and of more import than a Fey Queen’s wounded pride. The fate of their world lies in the hands of these two banished sisters, and the two strange mortals each is inexplicably drawn to: a troubled girl named Sparrow that cries herself to sleep every night and bears a poison tattoo from one of Meteora’s kind, and a deeply, emotionally scarred young man named Robin, that beseeches Serana for sanctuary.

When I first laid eyes on Except the Queen, I was under the impression it was a Young Adult novel (probably in large part due to the YA feel to the cover) – but it certainly is no lighthearted fairy romp. Imagine my surprise, then, when the novel left the Fey woods in a Howl’s Moving Castle sort of turn of events, set in the urban jungle of contemporary New York (and Milwaukee)! Except the Queen kept me on my toes throughout – there are minor players and major ones, none of them truly understanding their own place in the story or the overall scheme of events until, in a flourish of revelation, everything comes together in the end. I loved the little surprises along the way to resolution and the unexpectedness of this quiet, beautifully written book.

Indeed, it’s really the writing style that makes Except the Queen stand out – Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder have the collaboration thing down pat. Although I’m not sure if each author wrote as the separate voices of the sisters, my guess would be that is the case, and the overall result is damn near seamless. Meteora and Serana are distinct, separate characters with their own experiences and first-person narrations – though the prose for both sisters is equally beautiful and unique. Meteora, the younger sister, the spontaneous “meddler and mender” of the two, was my favorite character (and, in all honesty, more central to the story, reminiscent of Brandon Sanderson’s Siri of Warbreaker). Serana, in contrast, is the wiser, “farseer” elder sister – perhaps a little less memorable in comparison to her vivacious sister, but a wonderful character nonetheless. I loved how both Serana and Meteora struggled with the human world and their interpretation of our familiar technology and customs. For example, in describing the U.S. Postal service, Meteora writes:

Now, you must write your Mortal Name, the numer, street, city state, and code of your abode on the back of the envelope. Find a letter that surely will be in a little box by your door. It will have all the information you need. There are big blue boxes on the street with eagles painted on them, put your letter to me there and a man dressed in blue with an eagle sigil on his breast will take it from the box and bring it to me. Better an eagle than a dove, don’t you agree?

Or, in a particularly memorable scene, Baba Yaga teaches Meteora how humans speak:

“What the fuck!” he shouted as the books tumbled to the ground.

“Yes, fuck you,” Baba Yaga said gaily.

“Fuck you, lady,” he snapped. “What the fuck’s your problem?”

“No fucking problem, really.”

“Yeah, well fuck off then.”

“See? Many uses,” Baba Yaga said, pulling me away from the angry boy who was muttering Stupid bitch as he gathered up his books. “Shit is another useful word. Also very common. For example, pleasantly surprised? You say ‘No shit?’ You think someone tells you tales, you scoff, ‘You’re shitting me.’ You find something you like very much, you exclaim, ‘That’s good shit!’” She looked down at me to see if I was following the language lesson, when in truth I was appalled. Not that we didn’t have our own bawdy language, but it seemed somehow richer and more expressive. Here there was only shit and fuck. What had happened to prick-louse and pig’s spawn? Or clay-brained apple-john? Or canker-blossomed coxcomb?

Oh, delightful! You get the picture.

The actual format of the story is wonderful as well, as each sister narrates in alternating chapters, tied together by their letters to each other and interspersed occasionally with the short, first-person present tense narration of other important players: the Fey Queen, a mysterious Dog Boy, a dark Fey lord, and Sparrow.

Heartfelt, beautiful, and surprising, I loved this lovely fantasy novel from Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder. Though there were of course the usual misunderstandings that come form characters keeping secrets from each other (secrets kept with the best of intentions), these irritations were trivial. Except the Queen is a wonderful, captivating read and recommended to all.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

The Queen Remembers

You are in the forest that is not your own. You squint at its brightness; the sunlight bleaching the familiar green, the scent of the trees dusty as pressed flowers. You have come out of curiosity, and shivering beneath the glamour you are wearing, you roam through the quiet pines and birch. You have left behind your armor, your rank, your power, your great age. Here you are young, beautiful and fragile as the lily, your throat white and perfumed. Birds trill a warning and fall quiet. And then you hear it, a man singing softly under his breath, something tuneless, without true shape to change the world.

You stop and wait, frozen as the deer, for this is what you have come to see, to learn, to experience. For an eternity you have existed in another time, but now you are in this moment, and desire burns away the practiced control.

You see him weaving in and out of the sunlight, his chestnut hair stippled like a fawn’s hide. Yet he moves purposefully, hunting for you. You can smell the oil of his rifle, cradled in the crook of his arm. Alarm prickles your skin, crying run. But you will not. You want to see what happens. You want to know what it feels like, that pain that is human love, that weakness that binds stronger than spells. You, who have never given so much as a mustard seed of power away for free, you have come to give yourself away.

The man moves into the clearing and hesitates as if he knows you are there. And why should he not feel you? Have you not come here the last three days to spy on him? He is well made, with a comely face that pleases you. He is dressed like an oriole, the dark wool of his coat partially covered by a shrill orange that makes it easy to spot him even in the brush.

You study his face, wondering if you can allow yourself this indulgence. All the others have had their dalliances, their madcap affairs—everyone except the Queen. But you are here now and strangely calm as he turns toward you. You raise your arm and the dun-colored sleeve covers your face as you bend from your supple waist. You hold your breath for you hear the soft snick of the gun, feel its eye upon you, and you brace yourself for the stinging touch of iron.

The shot cracks the air open like a nut and it is too late to change your mind. You cry out as the bullet passes beneath your ribs and out your back. How could you have known it would hurt so much? Blood spills, staining your white shift crimson and you fall into a nest of autumn-bitten bushes. You can hear him now, running toward you, the gun dropped behind him when you screamed. Already he bleeds too; despair, hope, and love spilling out for you as he runs to where you wait, wounded in the blood-stained green.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: As mentioned before, I was a huge fan of Jane Yolen’s when I was growing up – my particular favorite book of hers was Sister Light, Sister Dark. I haven’t yet read Midori Snyder’s solo work, but I will be picking up The Innamorati (which intriguingly looks to be about the Commedia del’arte! Drama class, FTW!) very soon!

Anyone read Ms. Snyder’s solo novels and have a suggestion? [A side note: Isn't that cover for Sister Light, Sister Dark/White Jenna made of awesome 90s WIN? This was the cover I had in middle school. I *loved* the hair.]

Verdict: Unexpected, sweet, and subtle, Except the Queen is the kind of contemporary – even Urban – fantasy I love to read. Absolutely recommended.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: The Mark by Jen Nadol

Title :A Tale of Two Demon Slayers

Author: Angie Fox

Genre: UF

Publisher: Love Spell
Publication Date: January 2010
Paperback:: 308 Pages

Last month, I was a single preschool teacher whose greatest thrill consisted of color-coding my lesson plans. That was before I learned I was a slayer. Now, it’s up to me to face curse-hurling imps, vengeful demons, and any other supernatural uglies that crop up. And, to top it off, a hunk of a shape-shifting griffin has invited me to Greece to meet his family.

But it’s not all sun, sand, and ouzo. Someone has created a dark-magic version of me with my powers and my knowledge—and it wants to kill me and everyone I know. Of course, this evil twin doesn’t have Grandma’s gang of biker witches, a talking Jack Russell terrier, or an eccentric necromancer on its side. In the ultimate showdown for survival, may the best demon slayer win.

Stand alone or series: Book three in the Accidental Demon Slayer series. Book 1: The Accidental Demon Slayer reviewed here. Book 2: The Dangerous Books for Demon Slayers reviewed here

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: I am a fan of this series, which I have been reading since it first came out.

Review:

A Tale of Two Demon Slayers is the third book in the Accidental Demon Slayer series, in which former preschool teacher Lizzie Brown discovers she has come from a long lineage of Demon Slayers. In the past two books which cover a period of roughly two months she has gained her powers on her 30th birthday, discovered that her powers came from a family she didn’t even know she had, complete with a witch grandmother who is a member of the Red Skulls (a coven of geriatric biker witches) , that those same powers were not even supposed to be hers (hence the “accidental”) , fell in love with a Greek griffin called Dimitri, had to learn to use those powers, went to Hell and back to save his family and saved the world.

In this third instalment, Lizzie is getting ready to get a much deserved break in sunny Greece with her hot boyfriend and her talking dog Pirate. But who says things go easy to Lizzie? At the airport, her grandmother decides it is time to give her a box that belonged to her mother containing an object that is an important part of a Slayer’s training – and her tutor is to meet her….in the middle of her vacation. Then, inside the box, there is an invisible bar which upon being touched by Lizzie, foretells her impending death. If that is not enough, en route to Greece, Dimitri tells her when he first went searching for her, he used Griffin magic to trace her magic and that made her vulnerable. For all intents and purposes that shouldn’t have been a problem, but someone has tried to steal this remaining “Lizzie” thread from his office in Greece. Upon arriving in his villa, they learn that there is a threat not only to his Lizzie but to his family as well.

I was expecting a lot from A Tale of Two Demon Slayers . Even though I really enjoyed the first book for its wonky humour and non-stop action, the second book set the bar higher when it dealt with a more personal, intimate side of Lizzie. But neither explored her relationship with Dimitri or her hopes and her dreams or rather, how her becoming a Demon Slayer, influenced those in depth. I was pleased to see that those issues were deftly dealt with as it all comes full circle in this book.

The story this time, focuses a lot on Lizzie, with less time for gimmicks (as fan as they usually are from the Red Skulls or Pirate) with a little bit of rebellion from Lizzie. I mean, this is her life. But ever since she came into her powers, she has been dragged around, pushed about, she hasn’t had a chance to say “no”, has she. Not that it crossed her mind – she has a duty, she knows that. But sometimes it is nice to be simply asked. There is one aspect of Lizzie’s personality that I find interesting, which is her OCD tendency to have an explanation for everything and to have everything in their places – including people. Her powers, and the overwhelming feelings for Dimitri (and Dimitri’s for her) simply do not fit in – that struggle with both is a great part of her arc.

As for Dimitri, finally, we come to understand and to get to know him more. This time we are in his turf and we see his family and his friend. Getting to know those is to get to know his traditions and therefore his motivations. I can honestly say now, that I can get on board of that relationship.

On the down side: how annoying is that the title and the blurb completely and utterly spoil the plot of the novel? Because it is not until the last few pages of the novel that we come to know that the threat comes from a second Demon Slayer? Yet, we are expecting it because of the title of the Novel!

And finally, what made Lizzie special to me was that she was effectively an accidental Demon Slayer. To see a common, preschool teacher dealing with it was both funny and interesting. But at the end of this book, there came a twist and I am not sure how I feel about that. Right now, I am sitting on the fence. I guess I will have to read the next book to see what will happens next .

Notable Quotes/ Parts: I loved the no holds barred confrontation/conversation between Dimitri and Lizzie in which both of them said what they felt and thought. It was awesome.

Verdict: A strong third instalment in a series that has yet to let me down. It remains a full of action, funny, sexy and entertaining, Urban Fantasy /Romance series. Lizzie has grown as a character and Angie Fox as an author – great stuff.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: : Lex Trent Versus The Gods by Alex Bell

Title: Bleeding Violet

Author: Dia Reeves

Genre: YA/ UF

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: January 2010
Hardcover: 464 pages

Love can be a dangerous thing….Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna’s tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.

But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she’s far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe.

Stand Alone or series: Stand alone

Why did I read the Book: I saw this around the Internet last year and was intrigued by the blurb.

How did I get the book I requested a review copy from the publisher.

Review:

You are not welcome to Portero, Texas, unless you have a thick skin and you are here to stay. With hidden doors that open to other worlds (the Latin word for door: Porta) spread all over town and with all sorts of creatures (like leeches with tentacles for example and ghosts that live in the river and grant wishes if you can manage to breathe underwater enough to make the wish) crawling out or sucking you into them , Portero is definitely Weird Central of America. Its residents have all accepted their reality, living life to the best of their ability, under the Mayor’s authority and the hunters of Mortmaine’s protection. Everybody wears black as to not attract attention except for the Mortmaines who wear bright green; and if you stay long enough you are entitled to a key. This is how you know you belong.

Enter Hanna Jarvinen, first person narrator of this story and one of the most fascinating characters I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Half Finn, Half African American, Hanna is a biracial, bicultural, with bipolar disorder and violent tendencies, prone to hallucinations and who ran away from her aunt’s house before she was sent back to a mental institution. With her Finn father dead (although when she is not taking her pills, she talks to him in her head) all of Hanna’s hopes rest on her mother, Rosalee. Even though she has never seen her mother since she sent her father and her away when she was a baby, she fantasises that Rosalee will not only welcome her but accept her, weirdness and all. All her dreams come crashing down when she arrives in Portero. Rosalee is cold and unwelcoming. She means to send Hanna away, back to her aunt, to the mental institution, anywhere but Portero. She does not want anything to do with Hanna and is absolutely convinced that she will not adapt to the harsh reality of Portero:

“Let me get this straight: You want me to leave because you don’t think I can adapt?”
“I know you can’t”
Was she serious?
I was biracial and bicultural. A walking billboard for adaptation.

As much as Rosalee is unwelcoming, Hanna is unmoving and they are both forces to be reckoned with and so they strike a deal. If Hanna is not freaked out in the first two weeks, she gets to stay with Rosalee. On the very next morning Rosalee sends her to school where she is welcomed by the weirdest happenings and she realises that maybe Portero is weirder than she expected after all. Then, when she fully expected to fit in from day one, after all she was always able to use her looks and her personality to captivate men and women, she is ignored and scorned by the in-crowd lead by Wyatt, a Mortmaine. Hanna is a Transy, a Transient, someone who is just passing by and porterenses are used to see those leaving or dying too soon. But after she witnesses Wyatt using powers he is not supposed to when vanquishing a threat to the school, they become close. Now, Hanna thinks that the perfect way to impress not only the porterenses but above all her mother is to go on a hunt with Wyatt. When she comes back from the hunt, exhilarated, and unscathed, it is when things get really complicated.

Bleeding Violet is one of the best Young Adult novels I have ever read. The writing is lovely, the story is hands down amazing and the characters are everything I could have hoped for. Every time I open a book, I wish for the sort of all-encompassing experience that this book provided me.

I have read several reviews of Bleeding Violet around the internet and most of them focus their attention on how the story is weird , crazy and surreal. Yes, it is. To the point where I would say that the novel would definitely appeal to fans of QuentinTarantino and Vertigo’s graphic novels.

But although Portero is indeed an incredible setting and the situations that happen in this novel are really surreal, to me more than that surrealism, more than anything else what leaps from the pages are how REAL the characters are. Regardless of any gimmicks happening around them, or the way they might react to those situations, Bleeding Violet is extraordinarily realistic at a very basic level.

Take away the doors and the creatures (as fascinating and cool and vivid and creative as they are) and the book is a character-centric novel in which every.single.thing is character-driven. Everything that happens is because of these characters’ emotions and actions. Hanna is the main propeller of the plot, her emotional estate and that of those that surround her is what matter and what is at centre stage here.

Her need for motherly love and acceptance, to fit in start a sequence of events (which in turn re-set something that started a long time ago – but again, THOSE events wore also consequences of deeply felt emotions that converged in one horrible moment in time: greed, grief and fear). The way she speaks, thinks, reacts was …I don’t know. Awesome. I fell in love with Hanna from chapter one. She is so confident but at the same so lost. She has so many issues that need to be addressed and a definite mental illness that needs to be treated.

But Hanna is not the only character who has issues and deeply felt emotions: her mother, as cold as she was, was the result of a horrible childhood. Wyatt, had his own issues with authority and with heritage. This triad of characters and Hanna relationship with both and with herself are the meats and bones of the novel. On the romance side of things, how refreshing and realistic to see a couple starting off as any couple, dating and then having sex (because it is good and natural) sharing a connection and laughter without having to promise to be together- forever- and- ever- amen- because-they-belong-together. It is all the more believable when the two have to work through issues like still having feelings for an ex-girlfriend or not having feelings for any of the guys you had sex before. Or how Hanna sees the world in a confusion of colours and Wyatt tends to see it in black and white.

There are so many threads intertwined in the novel: deception, greed, power, sadness, death, acceptance, what is like to be biracial, what is like to be compassionate when you need to be ruthless, what is like to be young and have new ideas in the face of Tradition, what is like to love a mother who does not love you back. And it makes for a memorable, unique, fascinating, unapologetic, profoundly moving story.

Be aware though that this not a wholesome story. It is dark, gory, sensual, and violent. There are no definite, clear cut, simple answers. And it is certainly not for the squeamish ones: mental illness, teenage sex, a suicide attempt are present as well as moral ambiguity and not a few violent scenes.

I think it is testament to this writer’s ability (and perhaps fondness for her characters) that in spite of all the aforementioned violence and darkness, Bleeding Violent ends on a definite, unmistakable and believable high note. And as of now, this book has a secure spot on my top reads of 2010.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: My copy is replete with earmarks. I picked these two sequences as they contain the least spoilers at the same time that they reveal a lot about Hanna. The first shows how Hanna is weird in her way of looking at things. The other is an interaction between her and Wyatt.

“It wasn’t made for you. Don’t you dare get attached to that room.”
“You said I could stay”
“For two weeks and that’s -” Her spoon clattered to the floor.”You took my armoire?”
“I needed a place to store my clothes.”
“I had all my books in that armoire!”
“I saw.” Hundreds of books, several in German and Dutch, and endless stacks of bound manuscripts had crammed the armoire; I’d sweated through my chemise removing them all.
“I stacked them neatly on the floor,” I said, so she wouldn’t think I was a slob.
Rosalee pushed away from the table, chair legs squealing angrily against the tile. I thought she was going to go into her office to see what I’d done with her books, but she went up to my room instead and she did a slow 360-degree turn.
“Why is everything purple?”
“It was Poppa’s favorite color.”
“You painted my armoire purple!”
“It would have clashed otherwise.” she was making me feel like I’d murdered her best friend. “Why don’t we go finish that stew, hmmm? Before it congeals?”

What a freak! What an amazing and marvelous freak!
Hope brightened his face as he studied my expression. “You don’t think it’s weird?”
“It’s beyond weird,” I assured him breathlessly. “Beyond cool, even.”
“Only another weirdo would think that was cool.”
“Busted.”
“Bullshit. What’s weird about you?” He looked me over. “Besides your fixation with purple.”
“It doesn’t matter. Compared to what you can do, I’m boringly normal. So what are you?”
He put his half-finished sandwich on the tray as though he’d lost his appetite. I thought about what I’d said and immediately felt bad.
“I’m sorry. I can’t believe I asked you that. I hate it when people ask me that.”
He lifted his eyebrows, bemused.”Why would they ask you?”
“Because I’m biracial. People look at me and can’t figure me out, so they ask, `what are you?` Like I’m a whole other species. But you…are you another species?”
He did some more thinking. “You had to accept a lot today. I don’t wanna blow your mind.”
“It’s already blown”
“You think it is. I could vaporise it if I wanted to. But I don’t. Especially now that you know about me. And it doesn’t bother you.”
He crossed his legs in front of my feet, leaned forward, and rested his chin on my bare knee. The underside of his chin was sweaty, but I didn’t push him away; he was so cute, like a little boy, looking up at me. The late afternoon sun burned in his eyes, letting me see all the way inside him, but not in a spooky lure way. This was something else.

I also URGE you to go here and read the first chapter. It is AWESOME. And it got me hooked as soon as I finished reading it.

Additional Thoughts: Following the recent fiasco with the Whitewashed cover of Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore it is great to see a beautiful, accurate cover such as this. Kudos to Simon Pulse.

And as Bleeding Violet was written by a POC and has a POC as a main character, I am counting the book as my first entry in the POC Reading challenge!

And on a side note: Dia Reeves is writing another book set in Portero, Yay! I simply cannot wait. The potential, folks. THE POTENTIAL.

Verdict: A memorable, extremely well-written, character-driven novel with a fascinating and appealing narrator, against the backdrop of a surreal story. Dia Reeves debuts with a bang: a story that is certainly not for everyone but for those who dare, a guaranteed poignant, different, unique experience. Highly, HIGHLY recommended.

Rating: 10. A resounding one with a standing ovation – what else? This may not be a perfect book for everyone, but is certainly, a perfect book, a perfect fit for me.

Reading Next: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N K Jemisin

“Inspirations and Influences” is a new series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their…well, Inspirations and Influences. The cool thing is that the writers are given free reign so they can go wild and write about anything they want. It can be about their new book, series or about their career as a whole.

Today’s guest is Molly Harper, author of the awesomely hilarious, compulsively readable Jane Jameson (“Nice Girls Don’t…”) series. Part chick lit, part urban fantasy, part paranormal romance, with a healthy dose of snark and comedy throughout, Molly Harper’s got the writing thing down pat. When we were offered a chance to read and review her books, we were ecstatic – and we loved them. Then, when we were given the opportunity to have Molly over here to chat about her sources of inspiration and various influences, and to participate in an interactive Q&A with YOU, dear readers, we were even more stoked.

Ladies and gents, please give it up for the lovely Molly Harper!

I know there’s a post-Millennium backlash against holding your parents responsible for how you turn out, but really, my parents have no one to blame but themselves.

My parents are voracious readers. They can sit down with a good book and finish it in an afternoon. So it wasn’t a huge surprise to my mom when four-year-old me started sounding out words on the Lucky Charms box. My parents indulged my love of reading with trips to the library and a membership in the Especially for Girls book club. Sunday afternoons were usually marked with a sojourn to Waldenbooks and a new Babysitters Club paperback.

There were early warning signs. People asked what I wanted to be when I grew up- I said, “Mad Scientist.” I checked out those non-fiction “Mysteries of the Paranormal” books from the school library so many times that the librarian sent a concerned note home. I was repeatedly caught reading Stephen King tucked inside my seventh-grade English textbook while everybody else was working on diagramming sentences.

(I ended up marrying that seventh-grade English teacher’s nephew, David. If I had known that the Stephen King incidents would be brought up at every major family event for the rest of my life, I probably would have just done the assignments. Learn from my example, kids.)

My family is “blessed” with a dry, sarcastic wit. If you want to survive Thanksgiving, you learn to quip. Writing was a chance to get all the words in my head out on paper, because no voice could keep up with my runaway brain. I liked the puzzle that writing presented, fitting the different words together in a way that sounded pleasing, but still got my point across. And it turned out that while my humor was probably inappropriate in say, a Sunday School setting, it was pretty darn funny on paper. The self-deprecating thoughts I didn’t dare express to friends, the comebacks I couldn’t come up with on the fly, they all came out on paper. And eventually, I could voice those thoughts and sling the comebacks… and survive Thanksgiving.

Still, I never considered a career in writing until a teacher compared my voice to a young Erma Bombeck. After I looked it up and realized that was a good thing, I developed an interest in journalism and humor columns. My parents were baffled. I said I wanted to be a newspaper reporter and my mom asked, “What happened to Mad Scientist?” We’d never had a writer in the family before. We were a staunch clan of nurses, teachers, construction foremen. And it wasn’t exactly the sort of talent you could “show” people. Their friends’ kids were musicians and dancers and athletes. What was my dad going to do, pull one of my essays out of his back-pocket and show his buddies my thoughts on being flat-chested?

Still, they supported me. I said I wanted to study at a college we knew nothing about. They took me on a campus tour. I spent my summers doing newspaper internships that paid very little. They helped me survive the rest of the year. I got a job writing for our hometown paper. They didn’t gripe when I wrote columns poking fun at them.

For six years, I covered education for The Paducah Sun, writing about school board meetings, quilt shows, a man “losing” the fully grown bear he kept as a pet in his basement, and a guy who faked his death by shark attack in Florida and ended up tossing pies at a local pizzeria. There was also an incident involving potentially explosive feminine products. But I think a statute of limitations has to run out before I’m allowed to discuss it publicly.

When people wonder where I developed my sense for the odd and quirky, I tell them I was steeped in it like overbrewed sun tea. Weird things happen in Paducah. My hometown has been featured on Unsolved Mysteries twice, which is twice more than any town deserves. Combine that with the bizarre tales David brought home from his police shifts and you have a recipe for dark, hyberbolic comedy.

I loved my job at the paper. I loved meeting new people every day and never knowing where I would end up. But somehow, the ever-shifting schedules of a police officer and a reporter did not equal “family friendly.” One of us needed to take a normal job for the sake of our young daughter. I took a secretarial position at a local church office, which left me with dependably free evenings for the first time in my adult life. We were living in “The Apartment of Lost Souls” while building our new home. This was the place where appliances and small electronics went to die. Every night I would tuck our snoozing child into bed and wait for the washing machine to start smoking or the dishwasher to vomit soap on the floor. It was either write a book or go nuts. I think I made the right choice.

I wanted to write something I would enjoy reading; something funny, outlandish, Southern. I wondered what would be the most humiliating way possible to be turned into a vampire- a story that a vampire would be embarrassed to share with their vampire buddies over a nice glass of Type O. Well, first, this poor woman just got canned so her boss could replace her with someone who occasionally starts workplace fires. She drowns her sorrows at the local faux nostalgia-themed sports bar and during the commute home she is mistaken for a deer and then shot by a drunk hunter. And then she wakes up as a vampire. And thus, Jane Jameson and the wacky denizens of Half-Moon Hollow were born.

It took me almost a year to complete and edit a draft of the book. My mom, a lifelong romance reader, was a great barometer for what worked in the story and what didn’t. David figured this was a weird way to spend my time, but if it kept me out of a padded room, he was happy. Dad promised to never, ever read a love scene I’d written. Ever.

I spent three months using agentquery.com to ruthlessly stalk potential literary agents. I was gently rejected by at least half of them. I corresponded with some very nice, very patient people, but ultimately signed with the fabulous Stephany Evans of Fine Print Literary Management. The book sold quickly, which was great. Then came the hard part, telling family members, my employers at the church, heck our own church family, that I was about to be launched as a vampire romance author. Some were shocked, confused. One sweet little old lady, pursed her lips and said, “But you’re such a nice girl.”

For my parents’ part, and David’s, they just shrug and tell me they figured this was how I would turn out. Decidedly odd, but theirs all the same.

Molly Harper is a former newspaper reporter and humor columnist. She studied print journalism at Western Kentucky Unversity. She lives in western Kentucky with her husband and children.

Check out Molly’s web site at mollyharper.com. For a daily dose of snark, friend her on Facebook or follow her blog at singleundeadfemale.blogspot.com.

A huge THANK YOU again to Molly!

And now, for the Giveaway:

As with our Adrian Phoenix interactive Q&A last month, Molly will be here to answer your questions. And it gets even better – courtesy of Simon & Schuster and Molly, we’ve got TWO sets of the Jane Jameson (“Nice Girls Don’t…”) books up for grabs. Entry is easy and simple – just leave a comment here asking Molly a question (about her I&I post, her books, her writing process, her favorite authors or films, etc). The contest is open to residents of the US only, and will run until January 30th at 11:59PM (PST). Good luck, and let the questions begin!