Catching Up On Series

I have to admit that I’ve never been a trendsetter. In fact, I’m usually waaaay behind the curve. I’m probably the last person to get any sort of gadget, and I never, ever recognize the music my students talk about in class. So it’s no surprise that I’m behind on some really popular series. Right now I’m playing catch-up on a few, and I thought I’d share some thoughts on my current favorites, which no doubt all of you have already read. Of course, once I’m finally caught up, I suspect I’ll learn that everyone else is reading some OTHER series, and I’m way behind. C’est la vie…

Meljean Brook’s Guardians series

A few years ago I clicked on an Amazon recommendation for Meljean Brook’s Guardians series, which begins with Demon Angel. For some bizarre reason, that book wasn’t available for the Kindle at the time, so I had to start reading with the second in the series, Demon Moon. I have to be honest, the Guardians’ world is so complex that, while I enjoyed the book, I didn’t really love it. It wasn’t until I checked out Demon Night (#3) from the library that I really got hooked. I just used up the last of my Christmas Amazon gift cards to finish out the series so I can finally read ALL the books.

If you haven’t read any of this series, I highly recommend you start with Demon Marked, book 7, because the heroine has amnesia and gradually learns about the Guardians who defend our world from Demons and Nosferatu, making it easy for you to pick up the series without getting lost. Also, Demon Angel (Guardians #1), just became available for the Kindle this past week, so you can start with book 1 if you’d like, but even the author suggests that you begin with book 3 or 7 because of the complexity of the world.

J.D. Robb’s In Death series

Nora Roberts’s futuristic police procedurals featuring Lt. Eve Dallas and hottie gazillionaire Roarke are frankly addictive. Since Ms. Roberts is a lean, mean writing machine, she churns the In Death books out at an amazing pace. Thankfully for my pocketbook, you don’t have to read these books in order, and I’ve been slowing catching up on this series thanks to all the markdowns at Barnes and Noble and Paperbackswap.com. That said, I recommend starting with the first book, Naked in Death, just so you can see how Dallas and Roarke met for the first time.

Kim Harrison’s The Hollows series

This Urban Fantasy series is outstanding. Witch and Bounty Hunter Rachel Morgan and her sidekicks Vampire Ivy and Pixy Jenks are a winning team, and the world they live in is complex. You’ll absolutely want to begin the series with book one, Dead Witch Walking, and read from there, because Rachel frequently finds herself having to make quick decisions that change her life, not always for the better. But no matter her choices, her relationships with her friends are what really sell these books for me.

Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books

A friend recommended these books to me, but I never got around to reading them until I saw that the first book, One for the Money, is coming out as a movie this Friday. And since Jason O’Mara is playing Joe Morelli, one of New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum’s love interests, well, let’s just say I’m DEFINITELY interested in seeing how this series turns out. These books never fail to crack me UP. Stephanie is fired from her job selling lingerie and decides to take up bounty hunting in order to pay the bills. Trust me when I say that much hilarity ensues. Very funny!

So what about you? Are there any great series that everyone else seems to have read, but you’re just now catching up on?

Early Review of Angels of Darkness Anthology

Title: Angels of Darkness

Author: Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, Sharon Shinn

Publisher: Berkley Sensation 

Formats: Trade Paperback & Ebook

Source: Purchased

Publication Date: October 4, 2011

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

I totally lucked out at the local Barnes & Noble again this weekend and scored an early copy of the upcoming anthology, Angels of Darkness. This book includes novellas by three of my all-time favorite authors, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, and Meljean Brook, so I was really excited to find it early. It features outstanding writing, which I’ve come to expect from these authors, and I was pleasantly surprised by Sharon Shinn’s novella Nocturne, which is my favorite of the collection. I hadn’t read anything by her before, but I will be remedying that shortly. Here’s a breakdown of the novellas in the book.

Angel’s Wolf by Nalini Singh. This novella is set in the world of Singh’s Guild Hunter series and stars vampire Noel, who was viciously beaten by an enemy of Archangel Raphael in the second novel of the series, Archangel’s Kiss. Now that Noel’s recovered, he’s been assigned to the court of angel Nimra in Louisiana, which he initially believes reflects Raphael’s diminished opinion of his abilities. He soon learns otherwise, as he’s there to investigate an assassination attempt against Nimra. While I enjoyed another glimpse into the Guild Hunter world, I was a bit disappointed by this novella, mainly because it was so short. I like seeing what happened to Noel, but because it was shorter than the other novellas, the romance between Noel and Nimra felt a bit short-changed. I would have liked to have seen more interaction between the angel and the vampire, and the mystery was resolved too quickly. 3 out of 5

Alphas: Origins by Ilona Andrews. This story was so different from Ilona Andrews’ other writing that I was a bit taken aback and not sure how to react to the story. It also didn’t compare favorably to their recently released enovella Silver Shark, which I just reviewed yesterday. Alphas: Origins is set in a world very different from any of the author’s other series, and at times I was a little confused about what was going on. The heroine, Karina, is driving her daughter and several other children on a school field trip when they stop at a motel so the kids can use the bathroom. Unfortunately for Karina, the “people” at the motel attack them, and Karina wakes up after the attack to learn that she’s now part of a world she never knew existed. The hormones in her blood will be used to feed Lucas, one of four alpha men who are warriors protecting humanity in a strange fight against a group of genetically altered humans. The story definitely improves as you read, because Karina is a strong and sympathetic character, but the first few chapters were confusing and none of the male characters particularly likeable. 3 out of 5

Nocturne by Sharon Shinn. I had never read any of Shinn’s work before, but I very much enjoyed this novella about a woman on the run who discovers an angel at the school where she’s working. This is set in the world of her Samaria series and takes place about 70 years after the first book in the series, Archangel. Moriah works the late shift in the kitchen at the school, and when she learns that no one is allowed to go inside the headmistress’s house, her curiosity is piqued. When the headmistress leaves for two weeks and the housekeeper sprains her ankle, Moriah steps in to help serve the guest on the upper floor. Turns out that the guess is Corban, a angel who’s been blinded and is feeling lots of self-pity for his condition. Moriah’s bracing character is more than a match for his depression, however, and soon he finds himself stretching his wings literally and figuratively. There’s a slow build to this story, but this was easily my favorite of the collection, and I’ll be looking for more of Ms. Shinn’s work. 4 out of 5

Ascension by Meljean Brook. This novella is set in the world of Brook’s Guardian series. I’ve read several of the novels and a few of the novellas, so I have a general idea of the background, even though I wasn’t familiar with these characters. I’m not sure how easily one could pick up details about the Guardians without having read another book in the series, so you might want to keep that in mind. That said, I did enjoy this novella. Like Singh’s novella, this is one of the shorter entries, but I felt that it was more fleshed out than Angel’s Wolf. Guardian Marc Revoire is investigating the deaths of several vampires in town, when he’s joined by former lover Radha. They had a hot and steamy night a LONG time ago, but she took off and he never knew why. Turns out he was a little too holier than thou and referred to her as “unclean” when praying for redemption after falling into temptation, which not surprisingly ticked her off. Fortunately, he’s more low key and less judgmental now, so the sparks fly between the two again. In the meantime, they solve the mystery behind who’s killing off the local vamps. While I like Ms. Brook’s writing, I really didn’t like Radha all that much, which diminished my enjoyment of the story. 3.5 out of 5

Review of Anthology Wild & Steamy by Meljean Brook, Jill Myles, and Carolyn Crane

This anthology is a quick read by three outstanding authors, and priced at $0.99, it’s a steal! I highly recommend it! 

The Blushing Bounder (Iron Seas #0.4) by Meljean Brook

I love, love, love Meljean Brook’s Iron Seas series, so I was thrilled to read this prequel about Constable Newberry, Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth’s trusty assistant. If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s set in a steampunk world in London. You can easily delve right into the novella without having read any of the other books, although I think you’ll enjoy the novella more if you have read the others. The story begins in the small flat of Temperance Newberry, an immigrant from what used to be the United States. She and Constable Edward Newberry have recently married, because he compromised her by kissing her. If that seems a bit prudish to you, you’re not alone, because it strikes Detective Inspector Wentworth as outlandish. Temperance is consumptive, and her husband moved them to London to have her infected with bugs, microscopic machines that will heal her. Thus far she’s refused to be infected, since she’s terrified of becoming a zombie after death. However, she witnesses a murder, and in the course of Newberry’s investigation, she learns to broaden her mind. This novella was a pleasure to read and a great introduction to the steampunk genre.

Vixen by Jill Myles

This novella features Miko, a kitsune, or, as she prefers, were-fox. She’s an artist living out in the countryside in an attempt to avoid her were-fox nature.  Were-foxes have voracious sexual appetites, but after witnessing her mother’s constant stream of boyfriends and lovers, Miko has decided to suppress that aspect of her nature by avoiding temptation. Her mother has other plans, however, and sends two sexy cat shifters, Jeremiah and Sam, to serve as bodyguards. It seems that Miko’s cousin was recently hunted in a fox hunt, and her mother’s worried that Miko could be next. That the two cat shifters are very attracted to Miko is just a side benefit. A cute shifter ménage story.

Kitten-tiger & the Monk (Disillusionists #2.5) by Carolyn Crane

What I most enjoy about Ms. Crane’s Disillusionist triology is the moral ambiguity. You just never know if a character is the bad guy or the good. The answer, of course, is that no one is truly one or the other, so her novels make for exciting reading, because you don’t know who to trust. The ending of her second novel, Double Cross, was a shocker, so I was pleased to see this novella since the third book won’t be published until December. I wasn’t pleased, though, when I saw that Sophia Sidway was the heroine of this novella. If you haven’t read the books, you’ll still be able to understand the novella, but you probably won’t hate Sophia quite the way I did. In fact, my reaction to Sophia’s dilemma in the novella was somewhere along the lines of “Die, Witch, Die!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Of course, I had to eat my words, because in a short novella, Ms. Crane managed to convince me that Sophia is not completely good but she’s also not as bad as I originally thought. Once again there’s more of that pesky moral ambiguity, which makes for a fascinating read, even if I’m a bit disgruntled about her salvaging Stinky Sophia.

In the novella, Sophia has been sent by the leader of the Disillusionists to another member of the team, the Monk. Sophia needs the Monk’s help so she can find the Tanglemaster. She’s sick of herself and wants the Tanglemaster to disillusion her (and he would have had my blessing, that’s for sure!). Sophia’s stunned to discover that the Monk is none other than Robert, her teenage sweetheart, whom she cruelly betrayed years ago. How the situation is resolved, plus the history behind the couple, make this one a winner.

Short Summer Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Reads

After yesterday’s rant about the weather in the Midwest, today is absolutely lovely, with temperatures in the 70s and lots of sunshine. If the weather were like this more often, I’d be thrilled. Great summer weather leads to thoughts of summer vacations, and there are lots of new releases out right now to take with you. I think publishers plan book releases around the end of school so we readers can take our paperbacks or e-readers with us to enjoy by the pool, but if you’re busy seeing the sights on your vacation, you probably don’t have time to read an entire novel. A great way to enjoy good writing without having to invest a lot of time is to read an anthology.

I like anthologies, because it gives me a chance to read new authors without a huge time investment. I usually only purchase anthologies with novellas by authors I like, but invariably those books include someone I’ve never heard of. I’ve discovered some really great new authors that way. Unfortunately, one downside to anthologies is that there are almost always two great novellas and two not-so-great ones. A great exception is the new release, Hexed. I was excited to read it, since it features two of my favorite authors, Ilona Andrews and Allyson James. I thought I’d do a quick review of Hexed, then tell you a little bit about some of my all-time favorite Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy anthologies.

Hexed

“Magic Dreams” by Ilona Andrews was by far the best entry in the anthology. The novella is part of Andrews’ Kate Daniels series, and features the romance between Cat Shifter Alpha Jim and blind-as-a-bat white tiger shifter Dali. This would actually be a great introduction to the series, as there’s a short description of how the magical shift caused drastic changes in Atlanta. The romance between the kick butt mercenary Jim and the insecure but loveable Dali is a hoot. Definitely an A in my book.

“Ice Shards” by Yasmine Galenorn is the second entry in the collection and is part of her Otherworld series. I haven’t read any of the novels in this series, but I was able to follow along fairly easily. Unfortunately I just didn’t find the narrator Lady Iris, a sprite, all that intriguing. The story revolves around her returning to her world with friends to discover if she truly is guilty of a crime she was accused of centuries ago. While not a bad story, it didn’t really interest me. C-

“Double Hexed” by Allyson James is the third novella in the book and I really liked it. It takes place in the Stormwalker universe and features stormwalker Janet Begay and her dragon lover, Mick. The plumbing in Janet’s hotel starts spewing blood, and she and several other characters are trapped in the hotel because of a hex. I’ve read the first two novels in James’ Stormwalker series, and this was a fun addition. I think you would still enjoy the story even if you haven’t read any of the novels. B+

“Blood Debt” by Jeanne C. Stein was the last novella in the collection and enjoyable, if not inspired. I had never read anything by this author, but I like the protagonist, a bounty hunter recently turned vampire. The narrator has to face a trial over killing a witch, which occurred in an earlier book, but it’s easy enough to follow what happens in the novella. Oddly enough, I was a couple pages into the story before I could figure out if the protagonist was male or female. B

Must Love Hellhounds This anthology is my all-time favorite. It features 3 outstanding novellas by authors I love, and you just can’t go wrong with this one. The first entry, “The Britlingens Go to Hell,” is a bizarre story by Charlaine Harris that I recommend you skip. It’s not worth reading. The following three, however, are gold. The second novella, “Angels’ Judgment,” is by Nalini Singh and is part of her Guild Hunters series. We learn how the Guild Director, Sara, meets her hottie husband, Deacon. The third story is “Magic Mourns,” by Ilona Andrews, and was just released separately as an e-novella. It’s part of Andrews’ Kate Daniels series, and was my first introduction to this author. The fourth entry is “Blind Spot,” by Meljean Brook, and is part of her Guardian series. I’ve only read one of the Guardian novels, and was underwhelmed, but this novella is short and sweet. Sir Pup (the hellhound) is a hoot.

Inked is another favorite anthology with three great novellas by favorite authors. The first novella, “Skin Deep,” is by Karen Chance. Chance writes the Cassandra Palmer series, which I’m not a huge fan of, but this is a lot of fun. It takes place in the Palmer universe and features half-werewolf and mage Lia and her Harley riding hunk Cyrus. The second entry is Marjorie M. Liu’s “Armor of Roses,” which is the darkest novella in the book. It’s part of her Hunter Kiss series, and I’m not sure you can just jump right in without having read previous installments. However, I’m a huge fan of Ms. Liu’s writing and this is an outstanding addition to her series. “Etched in Silver” by Yasmine Galenorn is the third novella and my least favorite. Just like her entry in Hexed, this takes place in the world of her Otherworld series. I felt a bit lost when reading it, so I usually skip it. The final entry is Eileen Wilks’ “Human Nature” and it’s fabulous. If you haven’t read any of Wilks’ World of the Lupi books, you should, because the characters are complex and the books are action-packed. This novella is no exception.

Unlike the previously mentioned anthologies, in Burning Up there are really only two strong novellas, but I find myself re-reading those two frequently. The first novella is “Whisper of Sin” by Nalini Singh, and it’s part of her Psy-Changeling series. We learn how human Ria meets leopard shifter Emmitt. Great story and a fun prequel to Singh’s series. The second entry is Angela Knight’s “Blood and Roses,” and you can easily follow along without having read any of her other books. Unfortunately, it just didn’t hold my interest, and the romance felt rushed, which happens frequently with a story of this length. “Shifting Sea” by Virginia Kantra is the third novella of the collection. It’s both historical and fantasy, since the story is about a mermaid and a soldier returning home from the war on the Peninsula. Well-written, but not my favorite. The final entry, Meljean Brook’s “Here There Be Monsters,” is outstanding. It’s the prequel to her steampunk novel The Iron Duke, and I couldn’t wait to read the novel after reading this novella. I highly recommend it.

Steampunk: Sid Vicious, meet Queen Victoria

Thanks to Georgette Heyer, I’ve always been a fan of the regency romance. But in recent years I’ve started reading more paranormal and contemporary romances, and by chance I picked up Gail Carriger’s Soulless, which combines a paranormal romance with a Victorian setting. It turns out that Carriger’s novel is an excellent example of the steampunk genre. For those of you who, like me, have never heard of steampunk, Meljean Brook describes it on her webpage as “historical science fiction.”[i] Steampunk novels feature anachronistic technology that relies on steam, so you’ll see a lot of dirigibles for air travel and mechanical devices powered by steam engines. Two really great examples of the steampunk genre that I’ve read recently are Gail Carriger’s Soulless and Meljean Brook’s The Iron Duke, and if you’re looking for fun, interesting books with amazing world-building, I can highly recommend both.

Gail Carriger’s Soulless

Ms. Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series currently includes three novels (Soulless, Changeless, and Blameless), and all three are laugh out loud funny. The first of the series, Soulless, introduces Carriger’s heroine, Alexia Tarabotti. The novel begins during a dreadfully dull ball, and Alexia is hiding in the library, only to be accosted by a vampire. Instead of being alarmed by the vampire’s appearance, Alexia is indignant that the vampire would dare approach her without a proper introduction. She chides the vamp (“Manners!”) as she defends herself with her trusty parasol by bopping him on the head, then accidentally killing him with her hair pin. To prevent scandal, she feigns a swoon when she hears others approaching, although she is more distressed that the dead vampire fell on the treacle tart, thus robbing her of a proper tea.   

In this alternate version of Victorian England, supernatural beings are an everyday occurrence. Alexia is on the shelf, as she is in her mid-twenties, half-Italian, and quite intelligent, and it is made clear to the reader that in good society, any one of those qualities would have been enough to doom her to spinsterhood. Additionally she has quite the forceful personality, which results in hilarious conversations with her asinine family and the supernatural beings in the novel. Her interactions with Lord Conall Maccon, the alpha werewolf of the London pack, are delightfully witty. He cannot understand why men are not more interested in her, since she is no shrinking violet and possesses a superb figure. That does not prevent his objecting to her attempts to solve the mystery surrounding the disappearances of rove vampires and werewolves. Alexia is determined to find some useful occupation for herself, since marriage is clearly (to her mind) out of the question. Add in Alexia’s preternatural state, which allows her to return any supernatural being to a human state with merely a touch, and you have a mix of characteristics that make for a fascinating and funny heroine. If you’re looking for a light-hearted mystery and romance, I highly recommend Gail Carriger’s Soulless!

Meljean Brook The Iron Duke

Meljean Brook’s novel also takes place in England, features steam-powered airships, and has a strong-willed heroine. However, the world in which the action takes place is much darker than that of Ms. Carriger’s novel. Two hundred years before the novel begins, an Asiatic Horde (think Ghengis Khan with technology) overtook Europe and Great Britain by infecting sugar with nanoagents called bugs. These bugs healed anyone infected with them, but they also allowed the Horde to use radio waves to control anyone infected. The British unknowingly infected themselves by consuming sugar with their tea and crumpets, which made it all too easy for the Horde to conquer England. The Horde maintained control of the population by building a tower in London that emitted radio waves that would control the bugs. These radio waves then left the person infected at the mercy of the Horde – he would remain completely aware while his body would be out of his control.

The novel begins twenty years after the titular Iron Duke, Rhys Trahaearn, sails his pirate ship up the Thames and blasts the Horde’s Tower to bits. England is now free from the Horde’s control, but most people are still infected by the bugs. The aristocrats and wealthy merchants who fled England when the Horde conquered the island have returned, uninfected. The conflict between those infected with the bugs (buggers) and those who have prospered in the New World (bounders) takes center stage when the heroine, Mina, is called from a Victory Ball celebration to the Iron Duke’s estate. Mina is a Detective Inspector with Scotland Yard, but she is also a product of her mother’s rape at the hands of the Horde during one of the Horde induced sexual frenzies. As a result, her features are clearly Asiatic, and she experiences harassment on a daily basis from Londoners still bitter over Horde occupation. Once she arrives at the Iron Duke’s estate, she discovers that a corpse has been dropped on his house from an airship, and she must solve the mystery of the man’s death while attempting to defend herself from Trahaearn’s amorous advances.

Brook has created a detailed and compelling world in her novel. Mina is a complex and principled heroine who longs to give in to her desire for the Iron Duke but knows that doing so would result in her and her family’s ruin. How Brook resolves this difficulty while the two protagonists solve the mystery and save the day makes for a fascinating read.

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[i] http://meljeanbrook.com/blog/archives/2609