Book Den

Review: The Rain Dancers by Greg F. Gifune

2012-05-15T08:35:00.000-05:00

The Rain Dancers is the latest novella from Greg Gifune.

Book Description

He arrives in darkness, in the middle of a violent downpour...an affable old man with tales to tell...

When Will and Betty Colby return to Betty's hometown to settle her late father's affairs and prepare his house for sale, they assume they'll be faced with some cleaning, basic repairs and making runs to the local dump. Will also hopes it will afford Betty a chance to reflect on the difficult relationship she had with her father. But something more is happening in this quiet little town, in this dark old house at the end of this seemingly deserted dirt road.

In the middle of a rainstorm, a man calling himself Bob Laurent appears in the night on their doorstep, claiming to be an old family friend. He seems harmless enough, only Betty has no memory of him. Yet he knows everything about her, her father and their lives. He even knows intimate details about Will and his life. While the storm rages on, a cauldron of tension, suspicion and fear builds between the couple and the stranger, dragging Will and Betty to the very brink of madness.

A vile and unrelenting evil has returned to claim what was taken from it long ago, and all the demons of the past, present and probable future have come home to roost. Before the storm clears and the sun rises, Will and Betty Colby will come to know the horrifying truth.

People live and die...but the evil they do is eternal.

The Rain Dancers was really fun to read. I love books that hook me right away and keep me in suspense until the end.

The basic premise is a stranger shows up in the middle of a rain storm claiming to be an old friend of Betty's family. This stranger is a sweet old man with wonderful stories about the family's past. He's seemingly harmless, but Betty doesn't remember him. At all.

The build up of tension and suspense in The Rain Dancers was awesome. I was glued to the story. In a horrible twist of fate, my Kindle battery died just before I got to the end. I woke up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep knowing my Kindle was now charged. I had to get up and finish reading it! The Rain Dancers was pretty impossible to put down.

If you've read Gifune, you know he is a master of atmosphere. If you haven't read Gifune, you should. He is taking up residence on my 'must read' list.

8/10: Great Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Robert McCammon | Updates and Free Stories

2012-05-04T07:36:00.000-05:00

I'm really excited about the month of May. Mostly because it's the month in my The Great McCammon Read that I get to read Boy's Life again. Speaking of Boy's Life, I have a few related bits of news I'd love to share with you guys. First, though, I'm going to point out where you can score some free McCammon.

Free Short Stories

Did you know May is National Short Story Month? As luck would have it, Robert McCammon's website has just been updated with a ton of new (to the site) short stories. You can check those out here.

Robert McCammon Group on Goodreads

Lou Pendergrast, a Goodreads friend of mine and fellow blogger at More 2 Read, started a Robert McCammon group over at Goodreads. If my McCammon worship here at Book Den isn't enough for you, you will find plenty there as well. I'd love for you to join us. We will be reading a McCammon book each month, and guess which book was chosen for May...? Boy's Life. I get to read it for my The Great McCammon Read and the group read!

Cover Love

Earlier this week I was perusing McCammon's website, and I got caught up on the cover gallery page for Boy's Life. There are 58 images depicting covers from all over the world! I love the idea that people all over the world cherish this book as much as I do.

Then the folks at Open Road Media who are so awesome they can read minds (I can't make this up) sent me a graphic they created featuring the foreign covers of Swan Song throughout the years.

If you read my review of Swan Song in March, you know how much I love this epic book. If you haven't read my review, well... go read it! And then read Swan Song.

The Providence Rider

The latest book in McCammon's Matthew Corbett series will be released later this month, but I just found out the ebook was released early and is available now! I have a review copy the awesome folks at Subterranean Press sent me so expect a review on that coming soon.

Jealousy, Death, and More Jealousy

Pam over at Midnyte Reader rode in a car with Robert McCammon last week. I died when I heard the story. Just died. But all of the jealously coursing through my veins brought me back to life. She has all of the details of the World Horror Convention including lots of great pics of her and McCammon posted on her blog.

Let Me Hear From You

Are you new to McCammon's works? If you are a fan, do you have a favorite? If you check out any of his free stories, be sure to let me know.

Overkill Blog Tour Giveaway | Steven Shrewsbury

2012-04-26T06:00:00.000-05:00

Today I'm participating in Steven Shrewsbury's Overkill tour. I'm really excited because I get to offer a huge giveaway package to three lucky Book Den readers!

OVERKILL BY STEVEN SHREWSBURY

Deliverance will come... A great flood once wiped clean the earth, destroying everything upon it. Before the deluge, in a time now forgotten, the world was a place of warriors and witches, conflicts between kingdoms, and, until their extermination, dragons. In this world, men may live centuries, fallen angels have begotten terrifying spawn, and sometimes, the best hope can be found in a brothel.

In the land of Transalpina, a new religion spreads, and important men are dying mysteriously, slain by what can only be the fire of dragon breath. Summoned by the Queen Garnet, the legendary warrior Gorias La Gaul returns to the place where he once saved the queen's young granddaughter from treachery and enslavement. The Princess Nykia is gone, and soon others may try to claim the throne. The queen has little choice but to turn to the only man who ever told her no.

With the aid of one of the queen's elite guard, the battle maiden Alena, and the young palace servant Orsen, the old mercenary will face pirates and traitors, monsters and foul magic in the quest to find the missing heir and learn the truth behind the disconcerting murders. Deliverance will come for Gorias La Gaul, but for now there are women to love, secrets to discover, and killing that needs doing.

Amazon | Kindle | BN | Goodreads

From Seventh Star Press: "Overkill is the second novel featuring the iconic sword and scorcery figure Gorias La Gaul, following the debut of the character in the novel Thrall, released in late 2010 from Seventh Star Press. Gorias La Gaul is also featured in two short stories, Author and Finisher of Our Flesh, and Insurmountable, both available in eBook format in the Blood and Steel: Legends of La Gaul collection in the Seventh Star Singles catalog."

GIVEAWAY

There are two prize packages available in this giveaway.

Print Edition Prize Pack (1 available US/Canada only) - Print editions of both Gorias La Gaul novels:

Thrall
Overkill

Digital Edition Prize Pack 2 (2 available) - Digital editions of all four Gorias La Gaul ebooks:

Thrall
Overkill
Author and Finisher of Our Flesh
Insurmountable

First place winner gets first choice of which prize pack they would like to receive. If he/she chooses the digital prize pack, the first runner up will get his/her choice of prize pack and so on. There will be a total of three winners.

The digital editions will be your choice of Kindle gift or epub.

I will leave the giveaway open through Friday, May 4. There are no requirements to enter. Just fill out the form below with your contact information and prize pack preference.

Update: The contest is now closed. Congratulations Mary, Angela, and Sheila!!

For more giveaways, guest posts, interviews, and reviews check out the full Overkill tour here.

Book Review | Poseidon's Children by Michael West

2012-04-25T09:12:00.000-05:00

Poseidon's Children is the first book in the The Legacy of the Gods series by Michael West.

Book Description

Man no longer worships the old gods; forgotten and forsaken, they have become nothing more than myth and legend. But all that is about to change. After the ruins of a vast, ancient civilization are discovered on the ocean floor, Coast Guard officers find a series of derelict ships drifting in the current--high-priced yachts and leaking fishing boats, all ransacked, splattered in blood, their crews missing and presumed dead.

And that's just the beginning.

Vacationing artist Larry Neuhaus has just witnessed a gruesome shark attack, a young couple torn apart right before his eyes ... at least, he thinks it was a shark. And when one of these victims turns out to be the only son of Roger Hays, the most powerful man in the country, things go from bad to worse. Now, to stop the carnage,Larry and his new-found friends must work together to unravel a mystery as old as time, and face an enemy as dark as the ocean depths.

How would you classify the 1998 movie The Faculty? I would classify it as horror, yet I've seen it on urban fantasy lists. I find the same blurring of lines with Michael West's Poseidon's Children. It is classified as an urban fantasy novel, but it is very much a horror story.

Poseidon's Children starts out a lot like Jaws except the sharks in Poseidon's Children have hands. These sea monsters are descendents of Poseidon, and they have taken up residence in Colonial Bay.

"What kind of mythological creature would you like to be?" is a common question among paranormal book discussion forums and the book blog hops. I've never had an answer to that question until now. I want to be one of Poseidon's children. It would be awesome to be able to transform between a sea creature and a human. If I had a set of gills, my life would be complete.

Moving on.

There are a lot of characters in Poseidon's Children. It seemed like every chapter in the first half introduced someone new. I worried about being able to keep them all straight, but even with West switching between first and last names, I was able to keep track of such a large cast. I'm looking forward to further development of some of the characters in the next book.

Poseidon's Children is a great start to the The Legacy of the Gods series. The ending provides a lot of setup for the next installment, but we are given a complete story prior to the sizable epilogue. I greatly appreciate when a series book can be read as a stand alone.

If you enjoyed the 1998 movie The Faculty (I did), you should check out this series. I've been trying to ease into the urban fantasy genre and being that Poseidon's Children was dark and scary for an urban fantasy, it was a great selection for me. I'm looking forward to seeing where the series goes in the next book. I hope to vicariously spend some time out at sea as a sea monster.

7/10: Recommended Read

Review copy provided by the publisher

Guest Post | Character Assassination by Michael West

2012-04-12T05:32:00.018-05:00

I'm very excited to welcome Michael West back to Book Den today. I'm also excited to point out his latest novel Poseidon's Children is free for Kindle through today. Be sure to go grab a copy!

It’s far too easy to kill people. Well, at least for some writers. They create disposable characters that are designed to be slashed or clawed or eaten. They give them the slimmest of characterizations, make them stereotypes, and before you know it...BAM! The axe falls and the annoying one, or the jock, or the virgin, or what-have-you is worm food. They give us victims rather than people.

But where’s the suspense in that?

When slasher films first came into existence, they were gory who-done-its. You had a cast of characters who were being murdered, and you had to guess who was doing it and why. But you knew who the people were. You got a chance to see them interact, to see their friendships, to know their wants or dislikes, all their quirks and their habits...you got actual characters. Don’t believe me? Go back and watch the original Halloween, or Friday the 13th, or My Bloody Valentine, or Happy Birthday to Me. Even if a character was going to die in the very next scene, you got to know something about them. You got to care.

But not for long.

Fast forward a few years, after a few sequels and a few remakes, and you find that character stopped being important. So did any sense of mystery. Now, the killers were the stars, and it wasn’t so much who-done-it, but how’s-he-gonna-do-it? This led to the construction of more and more elaborate death scenes. And when all conventional weaponry had been exhausted, we got the Saw movies and the Final Destination films, where intricate traps and step-by-step coincidences conspired to rip total strangers limb from limb.

But where is the emotional investment?

I remember reading William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist; Stephen King’s The Stand, Christine, and Pet Sematary; Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, and I would get so wrapped up in the characters and their plights, so afraid for them, that I couldn’t put the books down, I couldn’t even sleep, until I knew what happened to them, until I knew they were safe. All too often now, however, Horror novels have mirrored the films, and it is hard to find characters you would shed tears over if they met their doom. Sometimes, it’s hard to even find characters you like.

But that’s just not scary.

For me, there is no fear without emotional attachment. You can shock people all you want, but if they aren’t invested in the people their reading about on the page, or watching on the screen, they’re not going to experience true terror. That’s what I strive for in my work: terror. Oh, I’m not above the jump scare, mind you, and I can do gore with the best of them, but I just don’t think a story is memorable unless it has good, believable, relatable, characters; people you’d like to hang out with, people you’d like to date, maybe even people who remind you a bit of yourself. It’s not so easy to see those people die, is it? Put those people in jeopardy, and you actually care. And when you care, suddenly you don’t feel safe alone in your room. You don’t feel safe closing your eyes. You don’t feel safe at all! You are, in a word, terrified. And that, after all, is the whole point of a Horror story, isn’t it? Sadly, those kinds of books, with those kinds of believable characters, and threats that are equally real, are few and far between.

But they are out there, and when you do find them...oh, baby...you get very real goosebumps.

To find out more about Michael West, author of The Wide Game, Cinema of Shadows, and Poseidon's Children, visit his website at www.bymichaelwest.com.

Guest Post: Guerlain - Lavande by M.J. Rose

2012-04-04T07:27:00.000-05:00

I'm excited to welcome M.J. Rose back to Book Den today as part of her The Book of Lost Fragrances Virtual Book Tour.

M.J. Rose: I've been fascinated with lost fragrances since long before I started writing The Book of Lost Fragrances... since I found a bottle of perfume on my great grandmother's dresser that had belonged to her mother in Russia. Here is one of those lost fragrances that stirs the senses and the imagination... (researched and described with the help of the perfume writer Dimitrios Dimitriadis)

GUERLAIN - LAVANDE

Guerlain created this soliflore in the 1840s... over 170 years ago! It was reprised again in the 1920's but was no longer produced beyond WWII. Anything but a 'typical' Lavender scent, Lavande has a complex backbone of shimmering citruses, lavender, tumbling florals, vetiver and darker, mossy accords. It is distinctly Guerlain in it's approach as more of an 'abstract' of Lavander than a literal interpretation. Its deeply aromatic heart and exceptionally mossy base are unparalleled in modern perfumery, making it a regrettable loss to the annals of perfume history.

For more guest posts and reviews, check out the full The Book of Lost Fragrances tour here.

Book Review: The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose

2012-04-02T09:58:00.001-05:00

The Book of Lost Fragrances is the fourth book in the Reincarnationist series by M.J. Rose.

Book Description

A sweeping and suspenseful tale of secrets, intrigue, and lovers separated by time, all connected through the mystical qualities of a perfume created in the days of Cleopatra—and lost for 2,000 years.

Jac L’Etoile has always been haunted by the past, her memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up surrounded by as the heir to a storied French perfume company. In order to flee the pain of those remembrances—and of her mother’s suicide—she moves to America, leaving the company in the hands of her brother Robbie. But when Robbie hints at an earth-shattering discovery in the family archives and then suddenly goes missing—leaving a dead body in his wake—Jac is plunged into a world she thought she’d left behind.

Back in Paris to investigate her brother’s disappearance, Jac discovers a secret the House of L’Etoile has been hiding since 1799: a scent that unlocks the mysteries of reincarnation. The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion, and suspense, moving from Cleopatra’s Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet’s battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. Jac’s quest for the ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past.

After enjoying the third book in the Reincarnationist series, I was looking forward to continuing with book four. I have not yet read books one and two, but these are pretty stand alone reads.

I don't read historical fiction very often, but this series has a nice mix of mystery and suspense.

The reincarnation aspect of The Book of Lost Fragrances is tied to the memory of a scent. I loved this concept. It is likely this book will remain my favorite of the series.

If you're a fan of historical fiction, The Book of Lost Fragrances has a lot of depth and a unique premise. I think a lot of mystery and thriller fans will enjoy it as well.

6/10: Good Read

Review copy provided by publisher

For more reviews, check out the full The Book of Lost Fragrances tour here.

What Is Speculative Fiction, Anyway?

2012-03-30T05:21:00.001-05:00

I'm excited to welcome B. B. Griffith to Book Den! He's discussing one of my favorite topics today: Speculative Fiction.

My wife and I were out having dinner with friends the other night when the discussion came around to books and reading (as it often does). Now don’t get me wrong, I love talking about books. Reading and writing are a huge part of my life and so naturally they come up a lot, but I always sort of dread the ol’ question: So what do you like to read?

The boring, untruthful answer would be: “Anything, really. Please pass the eggrolls.”

Which is what I’d say if I was trying to keep things civil. The problem is I don’t like to read just anything. I don’t like reading most things, actually. And the things I like to read are often weird and strange. At the time I’d had a few cocktails, so I answered truthfully. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “I like what’s known as ‘speculative fiction’.”

Them: “What the heck is that?”

Me: “Well, I don’t know exactly. It’s kind of a big classification. Sort of a ‘genre-du jour’, if you will.”

Them: “So you’re telling me you read it, but you don’t know what it is.”

Me: “It’s sort of like this, you have your normal fiction in this hand, right? This is the stuff about addiction and loss and inner turmoil and daddy issues and failed marriages and sexual ambiguity and whatnot that your professors made you read in college. Then in your other hand you have…speculative fiction.”

Them: “Like what? Vampires and wizards and all that junk?”

Me: “No—I mean yes, but not necessarily. It’s just fiction that is about…stuff that doesn’t exist.”

Them: “So vampires and wizards.”

Me: (sigh) “I guess, yeah. Vampires and wizards. Anybody need another drink?”

And that’s that.

The problem is, speculative fiction covers all of those “normal” topics too. Speculative fiction books address all of the addiction and the daddy issues and the inner turmoil and whatnot as well, they just do it with…vampires and wizards. And sometimes they tackle these topics with ghosts, or robots, or magic, or a whole myriad of other strange and weird things.

So you can see my problem. I have no idea what type of books I like, I just know I like them. I can tell you with some authority, however, that whatever it is that you are currently reading, I’d probably like it as well…If you were to throw a wizard or a robot in there somewhere. But then again, what isn’t improved by the addition of the odd wizard or robot?

Now, you may be wondering just how many wizards and robots I have packed into my own book Blue Fall. The answer might surprise you: None. That’s right! Not a single wizard to be seen! No elves, no ghosts, no zombies, no vampires, no post-apocalyptic scenarios. Nada. And yet, I am comfortable calling it speculative fiction. Why? Because (and I say this in the best way possible) it’s a little…off. It is the product of a wild imagination.

And maybe therein lies the best description of speculative fiction: The stuff of wild imagination.

-B. B. Griffith
www.griffithpublishing.com

Blue Fall is an award winning techno-thriller that is perfectly happy with being described as speculative fiction. It is available in print and for your Kindle.

Kindle | Amazon | B&N

Thank you so much for the discussion today, Brad!

Blue Fall is the first book in B.B. Griffith's new series The Tournament:

"There was a time...long ago, when whole nations, entire races of people, pinned their hopes and futures on individual warriors. Whole wars were won and lost on the outcome of a single battle between heroes. Entire countries were moved. Empires rose and fell..."

In Blue Fall, that time has come again.

A routine investigation throws a hapless insurance agent down the rabbit hole, into a world where the rich and powerful place wagers on the greatest game on earth. They call it the Tournament. It offers competition without limits. It is beholden to no man, and constrained by no law, and it is extremely dangerous. But where does the true power lie in this World Cup of warfare? With those who place the bets, or with the deadly players themselves? And can one man expose the secret before they find him?

Do you guys find yourselves having a hard time explaining what you like to read? Do you go by specific genres or do you find yourself using broader terms like "speculative fiction" or "YA"? I think I do a little bit of both. I love the term "speculative fiction" because it encompasses most of the genres I love to read, but sometimes it's easier just to pigeonhole myself as a "horror reader" because a lot of the books I read outside the horror genre are still dark or horrific in some way.

Live Event | Lee Thompson

2012-03-29T05:40:00.002-05:00

There are some exciting things happening tonight on the Darkfuse website. Lee Thompson - one of my favorite authors - will be doing a live interview.

You can read all of my Lee Thompson gushings here.

The folks at Darkfuse will be giving one lucky winner a 1-year subscription to the Delirium Kindle Club. That's 24 novellas! They are also giving away some Lee Thompson limited edition hardcovers. Those are some wicked sweet prizes.

The event starts tonight at 8 CST/9 EST. Come hang out with me!

Book Review | Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

2012-03-27T05:17:00.002-05:00

Pandemonium is the sequel to Lauren Oliver's Delirium.

Book Description

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare, pushing aside thoughts of Alex, pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school, push, push, push, like Raven taught me to do.

The old life is dead. But the old Lena is dead too. I buried her. I left her beyond a fence, behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

I really enjoyed Pandemonium despite not caring about pretty much half of the book. The chapters of Pandemonium are set up in an alternating "Then" and "Now" format. My first reaction was "Wow, Lena has been in the Wilds for a long time." Nope. We are only alternating between a span of less than a year. I found myself rushing through the not-so-exciting "Then" chapters to get to the that's-more-like-it "Now" chapters.

Pandemonium is a very different read from Delirium. Lena has changed, her world has changed, nothing is the same. I was longing a little for what Lauren Oliver created in Delirium, but I loved the intensity of Pandemonium. The rest of the series is wide open to be anything Lauren Oliver wants it to be. I think that is a pretty great thing.

You have probably seen lots of reactions to the ending of Pandemonium. I'll go on record saying I'm a huge fan of the ending. Add that ending to Lauren Oliver's empty canvas, and I'm super excited for book 3. The wait for Requiem will be even harder than the wait we endured for Pandemonium.

If you've read and enjoyed Delirium, it is well worth it to read Pandemonium.

7/10: Recommended Read

Book Review | Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

2012-03-20T08:53:00.002-05:00

Heart-Shaped Box is the debut novel of Joe Hill.

Book Description

Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman's noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest purchase, an item he discovered on the Internet:

I will sell my stepfather's ghost to the highest bidder . . .

For a thousand dollars, Jude has become the owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no metaphorical ghost, no benign conversation piece. Suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere: behind the bedroom door . . . seated in Jude's restored Mustang . . . staring out from his widescreen TV. Waiting—with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one hand . . .

Heart-Shaped Box has not only been sitting on my bookshelf for years, it has been sitting on my small "read this one next" shelf pretty much the entire time. It's funny how that happens. Thanks to some gentle prodding from my friends on Goodreads, I have finally taken Heart-Shaped Box off the shelf and given it a read. I'm very glad that I did.

I love how Joe Hill jumps right into the story. We learn right away about Jude's collection of grotesque and bizarre things, and he wastes no time getting straight to the ghost of Craddock McDermott. Jude buys Craddock McDermott's ghost in an online auction and gets much more than another unusual object for his collection.

Heart-Shaped Box is not your typical ghost story. Jude and those closest to him are most definitely haunted, but it goes much deeper than that. The characters are raw and the relationships complex. I did worry about the lack of mystery surrounding the ghost and its origins, but there turned out to be lots of surprises along the way.

Heart-Shaped Box also made me realize how much I miss having a good, strong dog in my stories. I haven't experienced that since I quit reading Dean Koontz.

If you're like me and you've had Heart-Shaped Box on your list for a while, let me prod you into finally giving it a read. You will be glad you did.

7/10: Recommended Read

Notable New Book Releases | Mar. 4 - Mar. 10

2012-03-10T08:01:00.000-06:00

Only a couple of new releases caught my eye this week. What did I miss? Be sure to let me know what books you were excited about this week.

The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan

Publication Date: March 6, 2012

India Morgan Phelps-Imp to her friends-is schizophrenic. Struggling with her perceptions of reality, Imp must uncover the truth about her encounters with creatures out of myth-or from something far, far stranger...

Shoebox Train Wreck by John Mantooth

Publication Date: March 8, 2012

"The living haunt the dead..." These fifteen genre-bending stories are set against a backdrop of sudden violence and profound regret, populated by characters whose circumstances and longings drive them to the point of no return... and sometimes even further. A young girl takes a journey to see what is really hidden within the belly of an ancient water tower. A high school senior learns about defiance on a school bus and witnesses a tragedy that he won''t soon forget. Six survivors in an underground bunker discuss the possibility of Armageddon being an elaborate hoax. Two brothers take a walk on the dark side of the wheat field and discover that some bonds are stronger than death. And in the title story, a former train conductor must confront the ghosts of his past while learning that it''s not the dead who haunt the living, but the other way around. Traversing the back roads of the south and beyond, these stories probe the boundaries of imagination, taking the reader to the fringes of a society where the world looks different, and once you visit, you won''t ever be the same.

I hope you guys had a great week!

Book Review | Swan Song by Robert McCammon

2012-03-08T05:34:00.000-06:00

Swan Song is an epic post-apocalyptic novel by Robert McCammon.

Book Description

In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets; Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station; and Swan, a young girl possessing special powers, who travels alongside Josh to a Missouri town where healing and recovery can begin with Swan's gifts. But the ancient force behind earth's devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits for its relentless army, beginning with Swan herself.

Here's the bottom line: Swan Song is one of my favorite books of all time. It's one of the books I was most looking forward to rereading during my The Great McCammon Read. It stills impacts me every bit as much as the first time I read it.

Swan Song is very dark, and it's scary, but it's also one of the most beautiful and hopeful books I have ever read.

Weighing in at 956 pages, it's a huge story in every sense of the word. There are characters you will hate and fear as well as characters you will fall in love with and care about long after you've finished reading. There is magic, evil, goodness, hope, ruin, and beauty throughout the pages of Swan Song.

If you are a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, Swan Song is an absolute must read. I give it my highest recommendation.

10/10: Awesome

Wishlist | Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

2012-03-07T05:38:00.000-06:00

Save the Cheerleader, Save the World!

Oops. Wrong tagline. :) Stop the Countdown. Save the World.

Seriously, though, I love countdowns to doom. Bomb timers, folks being buried alive, countdowns to the end of the earth... I can't get enough. It hooks me every time.

But this also has some chick dying and being brought back to life!

Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Two days before the start of her junior year, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she's opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And even though it isn't possible, she knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her revival, and Ben's possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI agent father's files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what's right in front of her: Everything that's happened—the accident, the murder, the countdown clock, Ben's sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. And as the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she's going to need to uncover Ben's secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

From debut author Elizabeth Norris comes this shattering novel of one girl's fight to save herself, her world, and the boy she never saw coming.

Why can't she fall in love with him? She's going to have to sacrifice to save the world, isn't she? Love it!

Add to Goodreads

What book are you looking forward to reading?

This post is being shared as part of Breaking the Spine's "Waiting for" Wednesday.

Book Review | Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

2012-03-06T05:14:00.001-06:00

Article 5 is the first book in Kristen Simmons's Article 5 series.

Book Description

New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned.

The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.

There are no more police—instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior—instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don't come back.

Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren't always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it's hard for her to forget that people weren't always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It's hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.

Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow.

That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings—the only boy Ember has ever loved.

Few things can sell me on a book like a lot of action. I love action packed page turners, and the idea of a YA dystopian novel with non-stop action was too good to pass up. Unfortuntely, Article 5 turned out to not really be my thing.

The dystopian premise of Article 5 is the government enforcing strict moral statutes on its citizens. I could never figure out what would cause society to evolve that way. The statutes were still being rolled out through the states yet the states enforcing these moral statutes were already executing people.

The main character of Article 5, Ember, was born out of wedlock 17 years ago. Article 5 of the moral statutes dictates that only children conceived by a married husband and wife are valid citizens. When the government updated the statute to include existing minors, Ember's mother became an automatic violator and Ember became property of the government.

As I stated, there is a lot of action in Article 5. Ember is on the run from the government and trying to save her mother. I normally love a good chase book where the characters are on the run, but I never understood why anyone cared or why all those resources were being used to such an extreme toward individual citizens like Ember and her mom.

Ember was a sympathetic character but she didn't have much snap to her. I wanted to holler at her a lot.

In the end, the action taking place throughout Article 5 wasn't enough to make me a fan. I needed a reason to believe the events would even happen and the characters were more frustrating than they were likeable. I will not be reading more books in the Article 5 series.

4/10: Not My Thing

Notable New Book Releases | Feb. 26 - Mar. 25

2012-03-03T08:43:00.000-06:00

These are the new releases that caught my eye this week. What did I miss? Be sure to let me know what books you were excited about this week!

Heirloom by J. E. Medrick
Publication Date: February 27, 2012

Jennie only has to stay at her great-grandmother's for a few hours while her mother is at work. But if she can't keep her hands to herself, will she live to regret it?

This is a short story, approximately 3,000 words.

Partials by Dan Wells
Publication Date: February 28, 2012

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

Dan Wells, acclaimed author of I Am Not a Serial Killer, takes readers on a pulsepounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our humanity is both our greatest liability and our only hope for survival.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Publication Date: February 28, 2012
Series: Delirium #2

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare, pushing aside thoughts of Alex, pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school, push, push, push, like Raven taught me to do.

The old life is dead. But the old Lena is dead too. I buried her. I left her beyond a fence, behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

After the Fade by Ronald Malfi
Publication Date: February 28, 2012

It was a typical evening at a local Annapolis tavern, until a girl walked in, collapsed and died.

The cause of her death was anything but natural. Something had latched itself to the base of her skull. Some type of creature unlike anything seen before.

And it didn't arrive alone.

Now, the patrons of The Fulcrum are trapped, held prisoner within the tavern's walls by monstrous things that flit across the night sky, trying to find their way in.

Help | I Need Dark Tower Advice: The Wind Through the Keyhole

2012-03-01T05:45:00.001-06:00

As some of you may know, I've been slowly making my way through Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. The last Dark Tower book I read was book #4 Wizard and Glass.

Earlier this week I was browsing Goodreads, and I noticed this after the title of The Wind Through the Keyhole:

(The Dark Tower #4.5)

Wait... what?

So I read the description for The Wind Through the Keyhole:

From Stephen King's Official Site

Dear Constant Readers,

At some point, while worrying over the copyedited manuscript of the next book (11/22/63, out November 8th), I started thinking—and dreaming—about Mid-World again. The major story of Roland and his ka-tet was told, but I realized there was at least one hole in the narrative progression: what happened to Roland, Jake, Eddie, Susannah, and Oy between the time they leave the Emerald City (the end of Wizard and Glass) and the time we pick them up again, on the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis (the beginning of Wolves of the Calla)?

There was a storm, I decided. One of sudden and vicious intensity. The kind to which billy-bumblers like Oy are particularly susceptible. Little by little, a story began to take shape. I saw a line of riders, one of them Roland’s old mate, Jamie DeCurry, emerging from clouds of alkali dust thrown by a high wind. I saw a severed head on a fencepost. I saw a swamp full of dangers and terrors. I saw just enough to want to see the rest. Long story short, I went back to visit an-tet with my friends for awhile. The result is a novel called The Wind Through the Keyhole. It’s finished, and I expect it will be published next year.

It won’t tell you much that’s new about Roland and his friends, but there’s a lot none of us knew about Mid-World, both past and present. The novel is shorter than DT 2-7, but quite a bit longer than the first volume—call this one DT-4.5. It’s not going to change anybody’s life, but God, I had fun.

-- Steve King

You can guess my question right? Which one should I read next?

I've been under the impression (aka my own assumption) that I was to read The Wind Through the Keyhole once I reached the end of the series. If The Wind Through the Keyhole is considered #4.5, should I read The Wind Through the Keyhole next instead of The Wolves of the Calla?

What would you do if you were me?

Wishlist | Time Snatchers and Seeds of Rebellion

2012-02-29T05:43:00.000-06:00

I have two wishlist books I want to share this week!

Time Snatchers by Richard Ungar
Publication Date: March 15, 2012

A thrilling middle-grade sci-fi

Caleb's blinders are off. The small group of orphans who were also "adopted" by Uncle used to feel like family, but the competition to be the top time snatcher and the punishment for failure has gotten fierce. Time traveling to steal valuable objects can be a thrill, but with bully Frank trying to steal his snatches, his partner Abbie falling for Frank's slimy charms, and Uncle's plans to kidnap innocent kids to grow his business, Caleb starts thinking about getting out. But Uncle's reach extends to any country in any time period, and runaways get the harshest punishment of all.

Caleb can steal just about anything from the past, but can he steal a family for the future?

Time Snatchers sounds so great. I love middle grade books like that! Kidnapped orphans, time travel, competitions that end in punishment. OK, that sounds kind of horrible... I really want to read it!

While I'm on a middle grade kick - did you guys read the first Beyonders book by Brandon Mull last year? A World Without Heroes was a really fun and humorous adventure story. I can't wait to get my hands on book 2 - Seeds of Rebellion!

Seeds of Rebellion by Brandon Mull
Publication Date: March 13, 2012

The second epic installment of Brandon Mull’s #1 New York Times bestselling fantasy series!

After the cliffhanger ending of A World Without Heroes, Jason is back in the world he’s always known—yet for all his efforts to get home, he finds himself itching to return to Lyrian. Jason knows that the shocking truth he learned from Maldor is precious information that all of his friends in Lyrian, including Rachel, need if they have any hope of surviving and defeating the evil emperor.

Meanwhile, Rachel and the others have discovered new enemies—as well as new abilities that could turn the tide of the entire quest. And as soon as Jason succeeds in crossing over to Lyrian, he’s in more danger than ever. Once the group reunites, they strive to convince their most-needed ally to join the war and form a rebellion strong enough to triumph over Maldor. At the center of it all, Jason and Rachel realize what roles they’re meant to play—and the answers are as surprising as they are gripping.

Time Snatchers and Seeds of Rebellion come out the same week in March. I'll probably be giddy from fun fantasy overload!

What's on your wishlist this week?

This post is being shared as part of Breaking the Spine's "Waiting on" Wednesday.

Read-along | Feed by Mira Grant Part II

2012-02-28T07:45:00.001-06:00

For the month of February, Grace over at Feeding My Book Addiction hosted a read-along of Mira Grant's Feed.

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beat the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.

NOW, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives-the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.

If you haven't read Feed, you can find my review here. Please be aware this post will contain spoilers. If you have already read Feed, please share your thoughts in the comments!

Read-along Discussion

I can't believe I wound up really disliking Feed. I was so optimistic and set to love it. I guess I had high expectations and assumed the first half was building to something. I thought once we were past the setup and the info dumps, we would get out to the Ryman farm and be all set up for things to really start happening. I found out pretty quickly I was going to be disappointed.

My biggest problem was not liking George or Shaun or the awful dialogue. When George said "I hired her..." I wanted to either quit or cry.

I'm really hoping I will make the rounds and find that everyone enjoyed it! I'm dying to know what you guys thought about George's death. I kept trying to figure out how she could come back to life after that. It was pretty shocking.

Even though I didn't like Feed, I'm really glad we picked it this month because I was really wanting to read it.

Book Review | Feed by Mira Grant

2012-02-27T07:15:00.000-06:00

Feed is the first book of the Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant.

Book Description

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beat the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.

NOW, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives-the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.

I went into Feed expecting it to be awesome, and I was completely disappointed. I did enjoy the pop culture zombie references and the science behind the zombies, but these small pleasures were not enough to carry me 400 more pages.

Given the cover, the title, and the reviews I've read, I expected a lot more zombie out of this zombie book. Feed is actually a YA political thriller with a zombie apocalypse backdrop. The lack of zombie wasn't really the problem, though. Sophie Littlefield's Aftertime series had a serious lack of zombie for a zombie series, but there was plenty to love. I struggled to find much to love with Feed.

George and Shaun are "newsies" - bloggers who have been selected to cover Senator Ryman's campaign. They are also non-biological adopted siblings. Even though they aren't blood related, they grew up together very much as brother and sister. Their relationship in Feed was not one that I enjoyed.

Unfortunately, I didn't feel like I got to know any of the characters other than George and Shaun, and I just didn't like them very much. The Hollywood one-liners were too much to bear. If I hadn't been reading Feed for a read-along, I would have abandoned it at 65%.

There is a unique twist toward the end of the book. If my heart hadn't already abandoned Feed, I may have had a reaction to it - good or bad.

I encourage you to seek out other reviews. A lot of people loved Feed, and their reasons may resonate with you. I, unfortunately, cannot recommend Feed to anyone.

2/10: Not recommended

Notable New Book Releases | Feb. 19 - Feb. 25

2012-02-25T06:48:00.000-06:00

Before I get to this week's new releases, I want to point out that Lee Thompson's Collected Songs of Sonnelion is being serialized on Darkfuse's website. The first chapter was posted this week. It's going to be awesome so I hope you guys read it with me.

These are the new releases that caught my eye this week. What did I miss? Be sure to let me know what books you were excited about this week.

Fever (Chemical Garden #2) by Lauren DeStefano
Publication Date: February 21, 2012

[I'm looking forward to picking up where Wither (Chemical Garden #1) left off.]

Rhine and Gabriel may have escaped the beautiful prison of Wither’s mansion, but they are far from escaping danger. First they’re chased for stealing a getaway boat, and then the fleeing pair ends up in the eerie den of Madame, an old woman who collects girls and sells them to the highest bidders. Worst of all, Vaughn, Rhine’s sinister father-in-law, seems to be on her trail every step of the way. Rhine remains determined to get to her brother in Manhattan—but the road they are on is long and perilous.

Now that Rhine has finally regained her freedom, what lengths will she need to go to in order to keep it?

WOOD by Robert Dunbar
Publication Date: February 22, 2012

[A new novella from Robert Dunbar.]

"Blessed is the creature that knows its purpose."

Woods surround a blighted section of a nameless city, and at night something creeps forth into the streets, something that preys upon humans ... and may ultimately replace them.

Book Review | Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs

2012-02-23T05:13:00.002-06:00

Southern Gods is the debut novel of John Hornor Jacobs.

Book Description

Recent World War II veteran Bull Ingram is working as muscle when a Memphis DJ hires him to find Ramblin' John Hastur. The mysterious blues man's dark, driving music - broadcast at ever-shifting frequencies by a phantom radio station - is said to make living men insane and dead men rise. Disturbed and enraged by the bootleg recording the DJ plays for him, Ingram follows Hastur's trail into the strange, uncivilized backwoods of Arkansas, where he hears rumors the musician has sold his soul to the Devil. But as Ingram closes in on Hastur and those who have crossed his path, he'll learn there are forces much more malevolent than the Devil and reckonings more painful than Hell... In a masterful debut of Lovecraftian horror and Southern gothic menace, John Hornor Jacobs reveals the fragility of free will, the dangerous power of sacrifice, and the insidious strength of blood.

I wasn't sure at first how much I was going to like Southern Gods. It started out with a great, atmospheric prologue which should have been a good thing, but prologues always send off warning signals to me that the book is going to need a lot of help hooking me. Then, as I expected, it had a slow start. I didn't have a lot of confidence that the book was going to be extraordinary, but I was wrong. Really wrong.

I loved Southern Gods.

In the end, the build up became one of my favorite things about Southern Gods. It was like a huge crescendo. It started out small and just got bigger and better until it was downright awesome. I even grew to love the prologue which is rare for me.

There are two separate story lines going on in the first half of Southern Gods. In one, Bull Ingram is hired to find a missing person, and he gets tangled up in an investigation of a really creepy blues man and a radio station that changes frequencies and plays the devil's music. In the other, Sarah and her daughter have returned to her family's home where Sarah discovers there are evils she never knew existed. Once these two story lines converge, Southern Gods moves from creepy to scary to terrifying. I'm glad I wasn't reading it in public because you could visibly see the horror on my face.

If you love a well developed horror story, you will love Southern Gods. It was so unique and so surprising. I am now a big fan of John Hornor Jacobs. I cannot wait to get my hands on his next book.

9/10: Highly Recommended

There are a lot of Lovecraft references in Southern Gods. I think it might finally be time for me to start reading Lovecraft. Over the years, I've learned to spot most anything Lovecraftian, but I have yet to experience where it all originated. Are you a fan of Lovecraft? Let me hear from you!

Wishlist | Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

2012-02-22T05:30:00.009-06:00

I know, right? We have less than a week for Pandemonium to come out. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Pandemonium (Delirium #2) by Lauren Oliver

Book Description

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

I gather we are going to get hit with another Lauren Oliver cliffhanger! Yes, I'm still insisting the end of Delirium was a cliffhanger! Don't burst my bubble. :)

Are you excited about Pandemonium?

This post is being shared as part of Breaking the Spine's "Waiting on" Wednesday.

Notable New Book Releases | Feb. 12 - Feb. 18

2012-02-18T08:43:00.000-06:00

These are the new releases that caught my eye this week. What did I miss? Be sure to let me know what books you were excited about this week!

The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers
Publication Date: February 14, 2012

[You know I cannot pass up a scary house.]

Jocelyn's twin brother Jack was the only family she had growing up in a world of foster homes-and now he's dead, and she has nothing. Then she gets a cryptic letter from "Jason December"-the code name her brother used to use when they were children at Seale House, a terrifying foster home that they believed had dark powers. Only one other person knows about Jason December: Noah, Jocelyn's childhood crush and their only real friend among the troubled children at Seale House.

But when Jocelyn returns to Seale House and the city where she last saw Noah, she gets more than she bargained for. Turns out the house's powers weren't just a figment of a childish imagination. And someone is following Jocelyn. Is Jack still alive? And if he is, what kind of trouble is he in? The answer is revealed in a shocking twist that turns this story on its head and will send readers straight back to page 1 to read the book in a whole new light.

The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice
Publication Date: February 14, 2012

[It's been a long time since I've read Anne Rice. I'd like to read this one.]

The time is the present.

The place, the rugged coast of Northern California. A bluff high above the Pacific. A grand mansion full of beauty and tantalizing history set against a towering redwood forest.

A young reporter on assignment from the San Francisco Observer . . . An older woman welcoming him into her magnificent family home that he has been sent to write about and that she must sell with some urgency . . . A chance encounter between two unlikely people . . . An idyllic night—shattered by horrific unimaginable violence, the young man inexplicably attacked—bitten—by a beast he cannot see in the rural darkness . . . A violent episode that sets in motion a terrifying yet seductive transformation, as the young man, caught between ecstasy and horror, between embracing who he is evolving into and fearing what he will become, soon experiences the thrill of the wolf gift.

As he resists the paradoxical pleasure and enthrallment of his wolfen savagery and delights in the power and (surprising) capacity for good, he is caught up in a strange and dangerous rescue and is desperately hunted as “the Man Wolf” by authorities, the media, and scientists (evidence of DNA threatens to reveal his dual existence) . . . As a new and profound love enfolds him, questions emerge that propel him deeper into his mysterious new world: questions of why and how he has been given this gift; of its true nature and the curious but satisfying pull towards goodness; of the profound realization that there may be others like him who are watching—guardian creatures who have existed throughout time who possess ancient secrets and alchemical knowledge. And throughout it all, the search for salvation for a soul tormented by a new realm of temptations, and the fraught, exhilarating journey, still to come, of being and becoming, fully, both wolf and man.

Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
Publication Date: February 14, 2012

[I love this premise! Scarlet could be awesome.]

Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance.

Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in. It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.

Did you grab any I spoke with a friend of mine about Anne Rice for so long this week, it made me really want to read this new one.

Did you pick up any new releases this week?

Review | Temporary Monsters by Ian Rogers

2012-02-17T06:18:00.006-06:00

Temporary Monsters is the first novella in the Felix Renn series of chapbooks by Ian Rogers. Take a quick look at the whole series:

I'm not an Urban Fantasy reader, but I am obsessed with black-eyed kids. Black-eyed kid stories are among my most favorite creepy stories ever.

I knew this series would be a must read for me.

Temporary Monsters by Ian Rogers

Book Description

Felix Renn is a private investigator in a supernatural world, an alternate reality where a dark dimension called The Black Lands co-exists alongside our own. Travelling to and from The Black Lands is dangerous - and illegal - but that doesn't stop some of the creatures that reside there from crossing over into our world from time to time. After a man goes berserk in a posh Toronto restaurant, Felix suddenly finds himself torn between both worlds as he is drawn into a deadly game of movies, murder, and monsters.

I'll admit I was a little nervous about reading Temporary Monsters. I'm like a coffee drinker who only takes her coffee black. I like my vampires one way. I needn't have worried, though. Temporary Monsters had something special to offer. I wasn't actually planning to read Temporary Monsters yet when I first started reading it. I was just planning to open the cover and check it out a little, but I couldn't stop once I started. I got hooked and wound up appreciating the origins of Ian Roger's monsters.

If you're an Urban Fantasy fan, I'm sure you will dig Temporary Monsters. It has some pretty unique happenings surrounding the vamps and weres and ...more. I can't wait to find out more about The Black Lands and the people who have access to it. If you've been wanting to try Urban Fantasy, I can tell you from experience this is a great place to start.

I'm trying not to crack the cover on The Ash Angels yet in case I can't put it down either.

7/10: Recommended Read

Are you a fan of Urban Fantasy? What would you recommend to beginner UF readers like me?