Urban Fantasy Investigations

Friday, December 31, 2010

Early Review: Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

Pale Demon
Author:Kim Harrison
Release Date: February 22, 2011
Publisher: EOS
The Hollows Book #9
ISBN: 0061138061
ISBN13: 9780061138065
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review copy source: Librarything.com early review program

Condemned to death for black magic and shunned, Rachel Morgan has three days to somehow get to the annual witches convention in San Francisco and clear her name. If she fails, the only way she can escape death is to live in the demonic ever after . . . for ever after.

Banned from the flight lists, Rachel teams up with elven tycoon Trent Kalamack, headed for the West Coast for his own mysterious business. But Rachel isn’t the only passanger along for the ride. Can a witch, an elf, a living vampire, and a pixy in one car survive for over 2,300 miles? And that’s not counting the assassin on their tail.

A fearsome demon walks the sunlight, freed after centuries of torment to slay the innocent and devour souls. But his ultimate prey is Rachel Morgan. While the powerful witch with nerves of steel will do whatever it takes to stay alive, even embracing her own demonic nature may not be enough to save her.

Im going to start off by telling you have to start at book 1 DEAD WITCH WALKING to follow along with the Rachel Morgan/The Hollows series or you will miss way to much.

Rachel really has grown a ton throughout this series. I cried quite a bit during PALE DEMON. There is a ton of shocking and good surprises, lots of new information and situations. Lots of feelings finally coming to pass. Rachel never has anything to come to her easily and there is ton of tough situations, drama and fighting for life situations. I love all the characters in The Hollows they never disappoint me. I have high hopes for a certain relationship that might be starting. PALE DEMON was a fantastic edition to The Hollows that leaves a lot open at the end to bring into the next book of the series CAN'T wait to read more.

I gave it 5/5 stars

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Follow Friday

I am once again participating in Follow Friday Hosted by Parajunkie.com Thank you everyone for stopping by and Follow me if you like what you see!!

Follow Friday

This weeks question...

"What are your new years book blogging resolutions?"

Just to bring honest interesting reviews to my followers as I read the books I love. I hope to have more giveaways, guest blogs and interviews as well.

Winner: "Because its my Birthday Month" Giveaway

Thank you to everyone that entered!!

PRIZE: The winner will receive 1 copy of Afterlight by Elle Jasper, 1 Afterlight postcard signed by Elle Jasper and various bookmarks and swag from my overfilled drawer of stuff.

The winner chosen by Random.org is…

Donna (BLHmistress)

Congrats!! I have emailed winner who has 48 hours to respond with mailing address or I will pick another.

Review: Confessions of a Demon by S.L. Wright

Confessions of a Demon
Author:S.L. Wright
Release Date: December 1, 2009
Publisher: Roc
Allay Book #1
ISBN: 0451462327
ISBN13: 9780451462329
Genre: Urban Fantasy

After accidentally stealing the life force of a dying demon, Allay became the only human-demon hybrid in existence. Demons feed on human emotions, so Allay decided the safest way to satisfy this need-and still retain some semblance of her humanity-was to open a bar. Here she can drink from, and ease, her patrons' pain, which has helped her to stay under the demon radar...until now.

When Allay is attacked and nearly killed by another demon, a human comes to her rescue. Theo Ram is tall, handsome, and mortal-and Allay feels a connection to him she didn't think she'd ever know. But that bond is tested when the demon community in New York begins to rise up, and two opposing clans fight for power. Now Allay is caught in the middle, and she must decide where her loyalties lie.

CONFESSIONS OF A DEMON was a decent book. I found that it was pretty slow which is why it only got a 3.5 but the plot was nice and twisty making it a good read. Allay is a strong main character with great supporting characters to go along on her journey. I enjoyed the way demons were made in this story to feed off of human emotions, when they are made they go with the emotion of there makers last feelings so they end up being called what there fave emotions are, Allay, Revel, Shock, etc. The ending was much faster paced than the beginning was which helped make the story better for me. Interested to see what DEMON UNDERGROUND brings to the series.

I gave it 3.5/5

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Review: Earl of Darkness by Alix Rickloff

Earl of Darkness
Author: Alix Rickloff
Release Date: December 28, 2010
Publisher: Pocket
Heirs of Kilronan Book #1
ISBN: 1439170363
ISBN13: 9781439170366
Genre: Paranormal/Historical Romance
Review Source Copy: Publisher

The magic she tries to hide . . .

Born a lady, but reduced to surviving in the slums of Dublin, Catriona O’Connell has been hired to steal a mysterious book from Aidan Douglas, Earl of Kilronan. But Cat is secretly Other, an age-old mixture of Fey and human—something Aidan recognizes immediately when he surprises the lovely young burglar in his library, about to steal a magical diary.

. . . is the magic he desperately wants.

From the moment Aidan sees her, Cat’s spirited beauty enchants him, but her uncanny abilities are what he truly needs, for Cat can understand the mystical language in the diary he inherited from his murdered father. So Aidan makes an offer: translate the book or be thrown in prison as a thief. And as Cat slowly deciphers each page, she and Aidan are drawn together by passion . . . and into the violence of the Other world that is the Kilronan legacy. Can they defeat those who seek the book, or are their lives in even greater danger than their hearts?

I think any fan of Paranormal/Historical Romance will enjoy EARL OF DARKNESS. It is packed with Romance, chemistry, magical powers and paranormal elements. The main characters are strong and well developed as well as the secondary characters and I hope to see more of them in the next two books. I had a bit of a hard time following along with people, places and powers in the beginning but it gets more defined as the story goes on.

I gave it a 4/5 stars

CLOSED

Winner will receive

*1 Copy of Earl of Darkness by Alix Rickloff

RULES

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Giveaway Ends 1/5/2011

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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent Release announcement

You can view my review here

Official shelf date is Jan 1, 2011 but many locations have it out on the shelf already so snag your copy!!

Official blurb:

YOU WANT MY SOUL AND MY BOYFRIEND?

Trying to work things out with
Nash—her maybe boyfriend—is hard enough for Kaylee Cavanaugh. She can’t just
pretend nothing happened. But “complicated” doesn’t even begin to describe their
relationship when his ex-girlfriend transfers to their school, determined to
take Nash back.

See, Sabine isn’t just an ordinary girl. She’s a mara,
the living personification of a nightmare. She can read people’s fears—and craft
them into nightmares while her victims sleep. Feeding from human fear is how she
survives.

And Sabine isn’t above scaring Kaylee and the entire school to
death to get whatever—and whoever—she wants.

I DON'T THINK SO.