The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason

#1 Gardella Vampire Chronicles
Copyright: 2007
Publisher: Signet
Genre: Fiction/Urban Fantasy
Pages: 368
Challenges: Off the shelf, New Author, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal/Fantasy romance
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5

Simple Description
The Gardella family have been Venators (vampire Hunters) for generations.  Victoria is about to have her debut when she realizes she is next in line to be a Venator.  Her aunt is the only other living family member who was chosen and accepted the challenge.  She coaches Victoria and gives her some of the background on vampires.  Victoria agree’s to accept the family legacy and is soon killing vampires whenever she comes across them.

Things get rough when she falls in love with Philip, the marquess of Rockley.  How is she going to hunt vampires at night and be expected to stay at home safe and sound with her husband?

It’s also bad that Lilith, queen of the vampires, is set on getting a book that will make her even more powerful than she is.  Victoria needs to somehow get her hands on this book before Lilith can.  Of course, Lilith also wants to destroy Victoria and all other Venators and sends her most powerful vampires after them.

My Thoughts
This book is a vampire novel that takes place in Regency England…and it works.  I like historical fiction and I like my vampire/urban fantasy books.  I wasn’t sure how I would like the two of them together in the same story.   Gleason really makes this story work.  I enjoyed reading about the issues Victoria had trying to be a female vampire hunter during a time period when she was expected to be home and submissive.

I thought Victoria was a good character, she had a lot of spunk and I liked her determination.  I also really enjoyed her maid, what a great secondary character.

Overall this book was a lot of fun.  I think fans of urban fantasy will enjoy this one.  There are several books in this series and I look forward to seeing the characters grow and seeing what kind of trouble they get in to.

Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost

#2 Night Huntress World
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Avon
Genre: Mystery
Pages: audio
Challenges: Strong Heroine, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal/fantasy reading challenge, audio book challenge


This particular installment allows us to get closer to Mencheres.  Mencheres is a master vampire who is pretty close to being done with life.  Then he meets Kira Graceling.  She's a human and a private investigator.  She happens to come across Mencheres being tortured by some ghouls and tries to save him, endangering her own life.  Mencheres rescues her and saves her, only to fall in love with her.  He tries to let her go back to her life, knowing that things are coming to an end for him.    However things quickly make a turn for the worse and Mencheres is forced to make Kira into a vampire.   Together they set out to save Mencheres from the one vampire who wants him dead.

Ok, yeah, so it's another vampire book.  By now you know I love my vampire books.  Jeaniene Frost has created a wonderful world.    I'm really enjoying this spin-off series.  I love that we learn more about some of the secondary characters in the Night Huntress series.  I think it's going to make the Night Huntress books that much more interesting since we'll have background on more of the characters.    Of course, I love that Bones and Cat also make an appearance in this book.

I suppose I should touch on the story itself huh?   I enjoyed the story and found that it kept my interest.  I think Kira is a very strong character and I hope she shows up in more books.  I did listen to the audio version of this book and the narrator did a wonderful job.   And that's all I've got.  Another short review, but I'll be caught up soon and hopefully things settle down and I'll have time for things to go back to normal soon.

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

#5 Mercy Thompson
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Ace
Genre: fantasy
Pages: 304
Challenges: Strong Heroine, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal/Fantasy Romance, Buy 1 Book and read it
Author's Website
My rating: 3.5/5

I wasn't creative enough to come up with my own description so I took the following from Amazon.com:
Coyote-shifting garage mechanic Mercedes Thompson, now mated to Adam, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, embarks on her exciting fifth dark fantasy adventure (after 2009's bestselling Bone Crossed). Three subplots—Mercy's attempt to return a magical book to a fae friend-of-a-friend, her difficulties integrating into Adam's pack, and her roommate Samuel's misery over being a lone Alpha—come together seamlessly, and excitement builds as Mercy and her loved ones go through ever more intense experiences, including a house fire, a suicide attempt, a death sentence, and a reunion between long-ago loves. Briggs creates both well-rounded characters and a complex mythology, resulting in a rich read that's far more than a series of action adventures strung together. Fans of the series will be thrilled; new readers should start at the beginning or risk drowning in the immersive world-building




My thoughts:
I love this series..one of my favorites.  This book did not disappoint.  I like that you saw more of Mercy and Adam's relationship and how they are trying to deal with everything. Mercy is her own woman and does her own thing and that can be hard for a pack leader.  Adam is a great guy and he loves Mercy though.  I love the two of them together.   I like that Mercy stuck by Samuel when things got rough and he just wanted to be left alone.  It shows how great she really is. 


If you are a fan of this series already, I'm sure you will enjoy book #5.  If you haven't started this series yet but like urban fantasy, I highly recommend this one. 

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

#3 Darkest Power trilogy
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Harper Teen
Genre: YA
Pages: audio
Challenges: urban fantasy challenge,  Paranormal/Fantasy Romance, Young Adult, Audio Book
Author's Website 
My rating: 2/5

Simple Description:
This is the third and final book in the trilogy.  There are a group of kids who have special powers and they are on the run.  They are running from the company who gave them these powers and, as it turns out, now want to kill them.    They meet up with a man who they think is on their side and they get to the safe house.  Except as the kids stay longer they learn that maybe they aren't as safe as they think they are.

My Thoughts:
I didn't think this was the best book.  Here's the thing, I think that all three books could have been made into one.  I feel like this is one of those cases where the books were split into three in order to make more revenue. It felt like, even though a lot happened, enough didn't happen to make this a satisfying book.   I found myself listening to this and not really carrying about what happened.


Audio Review:  
The audio version is read by Cassandra Norris.  While I think she did well, for the most part, there are some issues I had with it. I believe I voiced these opinions with the last review too.  I realize these are teenagers but Norris put in too much sarcasm in her voice.  To the point that I found it annoying.

Hunted by P.C. and Kristin cast

#5 House of Night
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Macmillian Young Listeners
Genre: young adult
Pages: audio
Challenges: Strong Heroine, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Author's Website
My rating: 2.5

Simple Description: 
Book #5 starts where book #4 stopped.  Zoey and group are now hiding out in the tunnels trying to figure out where to go from here.

Ok, so that description sucks.  Here's the thing, I don't want to give anything away. I don't want to include any spoilers.  You really can't start the series with this one, you would be confused.  So just know this is #5 and you need to start this series at the beginning with #1.

My Thoughts:
This is actually my least favorite of the series so far.  It just kinda felt like nothing was really happening..even though I know it was.  Perhaps it was just taking too long to get to the point of it all.  Plus there were several times when I wanted to shake Zoey.

Don't let this review keep you from trying out the series. I've been really happy with it up to this point.  I think ever series has a book that is a "least favorite" and my guess is that this is the one for me.  At least, I sure hope it is. I have high hopes that #6 will be as good as the others have been.  I still liked the story, think it was important to the series, just not a favorite.  I'll definitely be continuing with this series too.


Audio Review:
Jenna Lamia is the narrator for this one, she's been the narrator for several of these.  She does an excellent job and I'm still planning to continue with this series via audio.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

#1 Wicked Lovely

Copyright: 2007

Publisher: Harper Collins 

Genre: young adult

Pages: 328

Challenges: young adult, 1st in a series, New Author, Strong Heroine, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Fantasy Romance, Buy 1 book and read it

Author's Website 

My rating: 3.5/5

Simple Description: 

Aislinn has always been able to see the Fae.  From when she was very young her Grandmother, who raised her, taught her how to act like she didn't see them. It would be dangerous for them if the Fae knew that. 

Normally the Fae don't bother Aislinn and she's able to stay away from them.  Until now that is.  Keenan, the Summer King, has noticed Aislinn and he feels she is the one.  She is the one that can be his queen.  He must convince her that she loves him and to pick up the winter staff in order for this to happen.  He needs his queen in order to gain his full power and save the summer fae from the winter queen, his Mom.

Unfortunately for Keenan, Aislinn is different from all the girls.  She knows what he truly is and she wants nothing to do with him. Keenan gets frantic though because all signs show that Aislinn is the one. He must convince her. 

My Thoughts: 

We all know that I love books with a paranormal aspect to it. I love books with vampires and witches and ghosts.  However I was skeptical I would like a book that is about the Fae, faeries.  I'm not sure why, but I didn't think I would like it.  Color me happy..I loved this one!  I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed it and how fast I was captivated by the story.  I like Aislinn and I wanted to know what was going to happen.   I admit that it took me a bit to get into it, think I just had to get used to the whole Fae thing.  Once that happened though, I couldn't put the book down.

That's not to say I didn't have some issues with it.  Sometimes the writing was off and it just didn't make sense. I would have to re-read sentences to figure out what was being said and what was going on.  I also don't like it when the point of view of the narrator changes within the same chapter.  This happened a lot.  the story would be told from, say Aislinn's point of view and then in the next paragraph it would be from Keenan's point of view. I just don't like this and never think it flows well.  

If you can get past those though and you enjoy fantasy stories, I definitely recommend this one. 

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

#2 Hunger Games
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Scholastic
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 391
Challenges: Off the shelf, Strong Heroine, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5


I'm not going to do a normal review for this book because a lot of you have already read the book or if you plan to you do want to be spoiled.  In fact, I'm not going to give any details about the book at all!  No spoilers to be found here.

I noticed a co-worker reading The Hunger Games earlier this month and commented on it.  So of course we started talking about it and the movie.  Of course I then couldn't resist the urge to finally read the 2nd in the series.   I actually started this one on Friday afternoon and finished it Sunday afternoon.  Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down.  In fact, I finished my bookshelves and was all set to unpack all my books and organize them and instead I read this book.

I thought it was a good follow-up to the first one.  I still love Katniss. My husband said he felt this was the best and worst in the series.  The best because he thought the writing was good but the worst because he thought the author just pulled from the first book instead of coming up with a different story..I guess he felt she was cheating a bit.  I didn't feel that way at all. I don't know if I thought this one was the best, but I loved it. I was engrossed from page one.

Untamed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

#4 House of Night
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: audio
Challenges:  Strong Heroine, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Audio Book
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description: 
In the fourth installment of the House of Night series, we have Zoey being all by herself. No boyfriend..heck..no friends.  Due to her actions, right or wrong, she has become alienated.  The only person still speaking to her is Aphrodite.  When Aphrodite has a vision where she see's two different ways that Zoey dies, she knows it's time to tell friends some of the secrets she's kept from them.  She needs her friends by her side.

Something evil is in the night.  Some weird Raven's.  When Aphrodite has another vision and writes down what she thinks is a poem, they learn that it's really a Cherokee legend and Zoey calls on her Grandma for help.   Soon they learn that it's not legend, it's true.  Neferate is up to something evil and more than just vampyres are in danger.


My Thoughts:
While I thought this was a good installment to the series, I didn't find myself enjoying it as much as I have the other three.  I don't know if it's because I've listened to all of them and with this one the narrator is different and threw me off, or if it was something else.   I found the bickering between Aphrodite and Zoey's other friends getting on my nerves. I get it, they are different, but Aphrodite is changing and I just think the bickering needs to stop.  

The story itself is good, even though it doesn't end with everything wrapped up and tied nicely with a ribbon.  I know it's just leading us in to book 5 though.    I do think this is a good YA urban fantasy series and even though I didn't like this one as much as the others, I still liked it and plan to continue with the series.

Audio Review:
As mentioned, I did listen to this book.  The narrator for book four is Jenna Lamia.  I think she does a good job, I just wish they hadn't changed narrators in the middle of the series.  Sometimes I felt her tone was too sarcastic or too, well, something. But at the same time, it is a YA book and it is how teenagers talk. Whether it was my age showing or not, I don't know.   I did see that Jenna is the narrator for book 5 and I'll continue with audio for this series.

I thought the narrator's name was familiar so I did a search on my blog and found that she's also the narrator of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt.  I remember loving that audio version.

First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene frost

#1 Night Huntress World
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Avon
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 371
Challenges: Off the Shelf, Urban Fantasy Challenge, What's in a Name? (number), Paranormal/Fantasy, 1st in a series
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5

Simple Description: 
This book focuses on Spade and Denise.  These are two characters who are in the Night Huntress novels by the author but they are secondary characters.  This book is the first in a new series, Night Huntress World, which is a spin-off of the other.  In this one, Spade and Denise become the main characters.

Denise has sworn off vampires and ghouls. She's done with them.  Unfortunately, they aren't done with her.  Members of Denise's family keep ending up dead and then she witnesses the death of her cousin. Later when a demon shows up at her door and brands her, Denise has to call the only vampire who's number she still has. Spade. She has to beg for his help.  Spade, on the other hand, knows that helping Denise will cause problems for him but he's always been attracted to her.

Somehow Spade and Denise must find one of Denis' long lost relatives who tricked the demon years ago, deliver this person to the demon so the demon will remove the bonds he placed on Denise, but at the same time keep it secret what they are doing.  You just know that's not going to work out as planned.

My Thoughts:
I thought this was a great book!  It was the perfect book for me, for the mood I was in when reading it.  I love the Night Huntress series and was both very interested in this one and worried about it. Would it live up to my expectation?  I'm happy to announce that it did.   It was a lot of fun to learn more about two of the secondary characters and then to have the other characters we know also play a part in the series.
If you like the Night Huntress series by Jeanine Frost, I think you'll thoroughly enjoy this one too.  In fact, if I'm not mistaken the 2nd book in the Night Huntress World series was published last month, I might just stop at a bookstore tonight and look for it.


 Audio Review:
I did listen to part of this book. I actually forgot I had requested it on audio and started reading the paper copy.  Then I went to the library to get a different audio book that was on hold for me and this one was there too. Bonus.  So I listened to it in the car and then read the book when not driving, of course.  I read the majority of this book in paper form though, I pretty much plowed through it.  So while I'm not counting it for my audio challenge or my stats, I did want to mention it  in my review.

What I did listen to..was excellent. Tavia Gilbert is the narrator and I feel she did a fantastic job. I wouldn't hesitate to listen to more books in this series.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Copyright: 2010(audio)
Publisher: Hatchet Audio
Genre: fiction
Pages: audio  9 disks/10 hours
Challenges: New Author, Urban Fantasy, Audio
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description:
This is the true story of Abraham Lincoln.  Little did you know that Abraham Lincoln not only knew of the existence of vampires, but was also the best vampire hunter of his time.  Little did you know that the American Civil War was really a war not to free the slaves, but to keep the vampires from taking over and running the United States and making all humans slaves.  Although, I should mention that through this book we do realize that Abe did want to end slavery because he thought it was wrong.

This book gives us the story of Lincoln's life.  Starting from when he was a child and going all the way to his assassination.   We learn what caused Lincoln to go after vampires and also how he was able to persevere and end up with a life in politics and as a US president.  Along the way he had some help from Henry Sturgess, a vampire.  It was with Henry's help that he picked his vampire victims and killed them.


My Thoughts:
I thought this book was fun. It wasn't great or spectacular, but it was good and I found it entertaining.  The book very much reads like a history book, with names and dates. Without researching any of the info in the book, it would seem that the author did follow true accounts of Lincoln's life and added the vampire parts into it.  I thought it was rather interesting how the author did so and felt he did an excellent job of it.

I don't think this book is for everyone.  I'm personally not a huge fan of the recent trend to take known books and add zombies, etc, but I just couldn't pass this one up.  I realize it's not about a book, but instead about a historical figure, so I was interested to see just how it would work.

If you are a fan of books like this or are interested in trying one, I say give it a try.  If it's something that just doesn't appeal to you, then you could probably skip it.  

 Audio Review:
Scott Holst is the narrator for this book and I felt he did a good job.  It wasn't hard to follow the story although I found my mind wondering at times. I think that's just because it does read like a history book and I'm not always good with that.


Fun note:  I went in search of the author's website but couldn't find it. I tried doing a search by the title of the book because sometimes websites are made for the books and not the author and I found a listing on IMDB for this one. It appears the book has already been cast and is set to be released in movie version in 2012.  I like the fact that the author also did the screen play.  I'm actually interested in seeing this one in movie form, I feel it could be very entertaining or it could totally suck.  lol!

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

#1  in the trilogy
Copyright: 2011  (pub date is 2/8)
Publisher: Viking
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 579
Challenges: New Author Challenge, Urban Fantasy, 1st in a series
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5

Simple Description:
Diana Bishop was born into the Bishop family..a witch family.  However since her parents died when she was 7 she turned her back on witchcraft and has rarely used it since.  She is a historian and when she requests some books from the library she is working at one of then happens to be magical.  The book has magic so strong she is a bit scared of it.  She returns the book thinking all will be fine, but the trouble has only just begun.

Before Diana knows it, she is surrounded by vampires, goblins, and other witches.  One vampire in particular, Michael, won't leave her alone.  In fact, he seems to be protecting her from the other magical beings.  Diana soon learns that the magical manuscript she called forth has been lost for years....and it's wanted by everyone.

Soon Diana is forced to face her past and the fact that she is a very powerful witch, who actually knows (almost) nothing about witchcraft.   She also finds that she's attracted to Michael and that is a problem because the different magical beings aren't supposed to mix with each other.

My Thoughts:
Here's the thing, I have some issues with this book, yet, I absolutely loved it!  I also can't put my finger on exactly what it is about the book that I loved so much. In fact, I finished this book several days ago and put off doing the review because I wanted to ponder it for awhile, and I still can't figure out what it is about it that I loved it so much.

First things first though...the things that bothered me.  The book is really long, and while there is action throughout the book, most of it is at the end.  There isn't anything going on that makes you go "Oh! I can't put the book down now!"  Yet, I did feel it moved along well and it did keep my interest. There just wasn't something constantly happening.    I also felt that it could have probably been shorter.  Yet, again, I have to stress that it didn't ruin the book because I did really enjoy it.

There were also several times when I had to re-read sentences or short paragraphs.  They just didn't realize make sense to me the first time I read them.  I usually find this with new authors though, and I do believe this is the author's first book, so it's not uncommon. It also didn't rune the book for me, but I wanted to make sure my readers were aware.

This book is also the first in a planned trilogy, so of course this one had to stop with a bit of a cliff hanger.  Nothing was really wrapped up..the stories still going..only I can't read it because the book is finished.  I'm just not a fan of books that end with a cliff hanger, so this is more just a personal thing.

Now...I mentioned a couple things that bothered me.  So what did I like about it?  I loved Michael. I just adored his character.  I also liked Marthe and his vampire Mom.   I also liked Diana, although sometimes it got annoying that she resisted magic so much.  But overall I did really like her.    I also liked Diana's family, her Aunt Sarah and her partner Emily.

I liked how there are witches, daemons, and vampires...yet they aren't really supposed to mix and most are ok with that since they don't really like each other anyway.

I loved how history and historical figures are woven into the story and how it relates to Michael and his past life.

I think the book, for the most part, was well written.  The story seemed to flow for me, even though there wasn't always a ton of action happening.  I was interested in the story and I wanted to know what was going to happen next.  I couldn't wait to find out how it was going to end.

So...in a nutshell I did love this book and I do highly recommend it.  I think a lot of people are going to start the book and get caught up in the story and end up really enjoying it.  I'm so glad I accepted this book for review, even though when I got it in the mail I had an "oh crap!" moment when I saw how big it is. lol
Now I'm anxiously awaiting the next one to come out.



Thanks to Viking/Penguin for providing this book in hopes I would review it.

Chosen by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

#3 House of Night
Copyright: 3
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: audio 7 disks/8 hours 32 min
Challenges: Strong Heroine, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Audio
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description:
Zoey has a lot of things going on in this book.  Not only is Zoey still torn between dating Eric and/or Heath, we now have a sexy male teacher who is making the moves.  How is Zoey supposed to pick between the three of them?  Is her attraction for Heath only because they have imprinted or is it something else?

Zoey is also still dealing with what to do with Stevie-Ray.  She really wants to tell her friends about what's going on but she knows that the High Priestess would be able to tell if they knew and she knows that currently the High Priestess can't know what is going on.  An unlikely allie helps Zoey.

As if this wasn't bad enough, Zoey discovers a teacher who has been murdered. A quote is pinned to the teacher's clothes and the belief is that this was done by humans.  Will this start a war between the humans and the vampires?

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I have really been enjoying this series.  This is the 3rd book in the series but in "real" time only a couple months have passed since Zoey was marked.  It seems like her life is just destined to be full of drama.  Everything is just so different for her and she has so many tough decisions to make, and she doesn't always make the right one.

I could tell that the sexy teacher was going to be bad news and wanted her to see that too.  Unfortunately, she didn't.  I chalk that up to her young age and lack of experience though.

I can't say I agree with everything Zoey did in this one, but I think this one does qualify for the strong heroine challenge because she is strong.  In the end she knew she did wrong but she still had to make some tough decisions and she did so.  She realizes that she has suffer sometimes in order to do the right thing.  And sometimes she'll suffer when she makes the wrong choice.

Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge - 2011

Jamie at The Book Junkie's Bookshelf is also hosting the 2011 Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge.  I jumped at this one, I think the amount of books I'm planning to read is where the challenge part comes in, since this is a genre I already love reading.

1. Create a post for the challenge using the image above and link back to this post.
--Non-Bloggers: You are welcome to join too. Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post.

2. Sign up with the Mr. Linky.
--Link to your challenge post when you sign up please.

3. There are 4 levels:
-- Newbie ~ read 5 Urban Fantasy titles
-- Intermediate ~ read 15 Urban Fantasy titles (This is the one I'm singing up for)
-- Moderate ~ read 25 Urban Fantasy titles
-- Professional ~ read 40 Urban Fantasy titles

**An "up the anty" Challenge**
-- Rockstar ~ Read 60 Urban Fantasy titles
-- AWESOME SAUCE ~ Read 80 Urban Fantasy Titles

The goal of this challenge is to try your chosen level of Urban Fantasy novels between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. Books read before January 1, 2011 do NOT count towards the challenge.

4. Audio, eBooks, paper all count. Re-reads are ok but try to keep them to a minimum. Cross overs from other challenges are ok.

5. There is no need to create your list now. Please feel free to use your challenge post to keep track of your titles if you so desire.

As before, here's the list of books I hope to read for this challenge:

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

Chosen by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Untamed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Hunted by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

This Side of the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost

The Naming by Alison Croggon

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

Tenth Grade Bleeds by Heather Brewer