Urban Fantasy Investigations

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Winner: Demon's Curse by Alexa Egan

Thank you to everyone who entered!!

Prize: Finished copy of Demon's Curse

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Winner: Stolen Nights by Rebecca Maizel

Thank you to everyone who entered!!

Prize: Finished Copy of Stolen Nights

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Friday, February 1, 2013

Review: Prodigy by Marie Lu

Prodigy
Author:Marie Lu
Release Date: January 29, 2012
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Legend Book #2
ISBN: 0399256768
ISBN13: 9780399256769
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian
Review Copy Source: Publisher

June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action.

Marie Lu hit it out of the park with book 2 of the Legend series PRODIGY. I really enjoyed LEGEND so I knew PRODIGY would be enjoyable but I wasn't expecting it to be so much more than that.

PRODIGY picks up right after LEGEND with June and Day making their way to Vegas and the Rebels. When they reach the rebels they learn some interesting things on how they operate and who they really are and are given the mission to assassinate the elector. This leads to trust issues, betrayal and loyalty. Plots are revealed, players change sides, and some even get to see the grass isn't greener on the other side. The different POV's proves again to be a fantastic way to keep up with the different sides of the story. The romance is up and down, its there and it isn't, its fantastic and its heartbreaking. June and Day have a lot against them. They are from two completely different lives but they are so drawn to each other and really compliment each other. Now throw in Anden and his infatuation with June and Tess's love for Day. There are a lot of feelings to work out.

Fantastic world, great characters and a fabulous storyline, what else could you ask for? The ending chapters were in short mind blowingly (is that a word?) fantastic. I had no idea which way it would go but it played out beautifully and I was glued to the pages for every moment of it. Of course there is a ridiculously well placed cliffhanger and now the wait until book 3 starts. Uggh cruel cruel authors.

I gave it 5/5 stars

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Review: Between by Kerry Schafer

PBetween
Author:Kerry Schafer
Release Date: January 29, 2013
Publisher: Ace
The Between Book #1
ISBN: 042526114X
ISBN13: 9780425261149
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Publisher/Netgalley

Vivian Maylor can’t sleep. Maybe it’s because she just broke up with her boyfriend and moved to a new town, or it could be the stress of her new job at the hospital. But perhaps it’s because her dreams have started to bleed through into her waking hours.

All of her life Vivian has rejected her mother’s insane ramblings about Dreamworlds for concrete science and fact, until an emergency room patient ranting about dragons spontaneously combusts before her eyes—forcing Viv to consider the idea that her visions of mythical beasts might be real.

And when a chance encounter leads her to a man she knows only from her dreams, Vivian finds herself falling into a world that seems strange and familiar all at once—a world where the line between dream and reality is hard to determine, and hard to control…

Vivian is an ER doctor who is dealing with some weird things. She has always known she was different but when someone in the ER dies from burning from the inside out after explaining things she saw in her dreams she is sent into a spiral where she learns more about herself and her destiny.

I had no issues with Vivian as a character. She was real feeling and easy to follow. I had some problems with the whole dream/wake version of Warlord/Zee and their relationship with Vivian. It just didn't grab me, I couldn't connect to it. How can you fall for one version and when that version isn't there be ok with the other? The ex and his dream self, wow. There were some scenes with him i didn't really feel were needed or made big enough of an impact on emotions as they should have on Vivian. Poe the penguin totem animal was interesting. He "helps" Vivian search for the key and gets her in a bit of trouble at points along the way. He was an entertaining sidekick.

The world of BETWEEN was unique, the details that went into making the Dreamworld sometimes became a bit overwhelming but It was still easy to imagine it. There was a nice pace from beginning to end and plenty of action to satisfy. The finished result after all was said and done was satisfying but leaves you with some unanswered questions. Unfortunately I will not go out of my way to continue reading the series but I am a bit curious as to what will happen next. Id suggest reading an excerpt or grabbing a copy from the library before committing to purchasing it for your book shelf.

I gave it 2.5/5 stars

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Review: Shattered Circle by Linda Robertson

Shattered Circle
Author:Linda Robertson
Release Date: January 29, 2013
Publisher: Pocket
Persephone Alcmedi Book #6
ISBN: 1451648936
ISBN13: 9781451648935
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Publisher

After her werewolf boyfriend, Johnny, tried to kill her, Persephone Alcmedi finds herself in the comforting arms of powerful vampire Menessos. She’s trying to sort out her feelings for the two men, but not even Seph is above the confusion of tangled emotions. All Johnny wants to do is mend their relationship and reveal the life-altering news he’s recently received, but his new responsibilities as the werewolf king take up most of his time.

Does this mean Menessos can finally make his move?

Meanwhile, unknown to Seph, her beloved foster daughter, Beverley, has been playing with a magical artifact and making dubious friends on the other side. When Beverley disappears, Seph must seek help from a supernatural being so potent that even Menessos fears him...and such aid always comes with a very steep price.

*Contains spoilers about previous books in series*

It seems like every character in the series is drowning in problems individually as well as other issues as a group. Persephone is busy fighting off those out to kill her while trying to live up to the position of Lustrata. Johnny now has another person to protect on top of his new duties as Dom Lup,and oh yeah how does he tell Persephone? Menessos is busy with all the duties that stepping down as leader to his vampires brings. Beverly finds something she shouldn't mess with and goes missing for a bit. A lot is revealed that brings her even closer to the supernatural and piles on the difficulties she was already facing. Creepy is back, wow I wasn't expecting that. I would have never guessed who he really was or what his motives were. Persephone's romantic life is a bit whacked out. It seems like her and Johnny have grown apart a bit with their different roles to play and then their is Menessos on the sidelines who always seems to be there when she needs him most. By the end of SHATTERED CIRCLE a bit of growth has happened and is seems like they are at least all trying and seem closer then they have ever been.

I would not start this series from anywhere but the beginning, those that have enjoyed the previous books in the series will be happy with the way things are happening and growing. There is a ton of tension and revelations in SHATTERED CIRCLE and it is not to be missed. Not sure when we will be graced with book 7 but I'm hoping it wont be to far off.

I gave it 4/5 stars

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Promo: Shattered Circle by Linda Roberston

Excerpt from SHATTERED CIRCLE:

Liyliy, a vampire-harpy, had tried to kill me a few hours ago, and the struggle left me exhausted and sore. That was the reason I was still abed at nearly two in the afternoon. When my satellite phone blared the opening riffs of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Bark at the Moon,” it startled me, instantly reminding me about all the sore muscles I had.

Mid-reach, I stopped. That was Johnny’s ringtone.

He had tried to kill me, too.

My hand shook as my finger jabbed the Answer button.

“Hello?”

“Red . . . I’m so sorry.” Johnny’s voice was barely audible.

I sat up and deliberated whether to play deaf and repeat my “hello” as if I hadn’t heard him. I considered being a jerk and hanging up. I even contemplated ripping him a new one.

Instead, I remained silent.

Two days before, minutes after I’d performed the forced-change spell on him and his loyal pack mates, Johnny had attacked me. He’d always retained his manmind while transformed, but that last time he didn’t—he’d been pure animal. The only reason I was still among the living was because I’d pumped ley line energy into him like a human Taser.

“Red?”

He’d frightened me to my core. The unshakeable faith I’d had in him had been shattered by an emotional earthquake. Damage was done. My fear felt like betrayal.

But . . .

Could going through the forced-change spell repeatedly have an undesired effect?

No. I was sure the whole terrible incident could be pinned on the fact that my mother, Eris, had revoked the tattooed bindings she’d placed upon Johnny eight years ago. He suddenly had access to all the power and potential she’d locked away from him. That was surely a disorienting, difficult situation.

I’d helped him dig up the clues, helped him achieve that goal. Hell, I’d even been a part of the reversal spell. So some responsibility for the consequences was mine to bear.

“Persephone?”

He rarely used my full given name; he usually called me Red, as in Little Red Riding Hood to his Big Bad Wolf. Or Seph like nearly everyone else. I had to respond.

“I’m here.”

“Then say something.”

Pushing back the covers, I stood and began to pace. “I don’t know what to say.”

He paused. “Can you forgive me?”

I wasn’t sure.

Part of me said I couldn’t allow his attack to be a personal issue because of the fateful trio that Johnny, Menessos, and I forged by binding ourselves magically. The other part argued that no matter the circumstances, attempted murder was very damn personal.

It all happened because Johnny had surrendered to his destiny. His unique ability to transform at will made him the Domn Lup—king of the wærewolves. It was a position with power, prestige, and perks such as a Maserati Quattroporte. Johnny knew his royal place was unavoidable, but he’d fought it and hid from it a long time. He’d finally pushed forward because it was beneficial to our triple union, but kinghood was costing him his dream of being a rock star.

It had been my fear that he’d lose who he was in the course of this alliance of ours. More than ever, it seemed this fear was being borne out.

On the other corner of our triangle was Menessos. He now bore two witches marks—mine, of course. That made him my servant. When Heldridge, his former right-hand man, learned of my authority over Menessos, he tattled to the highest vampire authority, the Excelsior. To protect us against the personal grudge of the truthseeing vampire-harpies sent by VEIN to make formal inquiry, Menessos had allied himself at great personal expense with someone dangerous—a “nameless” guy I had aptly dubbed Creepy.

The secrets he’d wanted to hide from VEIN—secrets even I didn’t know—were apparently safe, but our little who-marked-whom secret was out. Menessos lost his haven and his status as Northeastern Quarterlord. Johnny had accepted great power and lost a lifelong dream. Menessos had lost great power and accepted serious personal risk. It didn’t seem fair.

And what about me?

In the last several weeks I’d learned that I was the longprophesied Lustrata, the Witches’ Messiah, She Who Walks Between Worlds, She Who Will Bring Balance, blah blah blah. As this news spread throughout the nonhuman communities, some scoffed and some believed. I was fine with the scoffers; it was the believers who were dangerous. They wanted to know if I truly possessed the power that accompanied those titles. Yeah, I was a magnet for nasties who either a) wanted me dead to be sure I didn’t have that power, or b) wanted to try to force me to wield power for their gain.

I guess I’d accepted the endless complications of my status and was well on my way to losing all scraps of naïveté.

At that thought, I stopped pacing. As I stared into the nothingness of a darkened corner, it felt like my innocence had slipped from my grasp and I was watching it skitter across the floor, waiting for it to come to a stop so I could reclaim it.

I wasn’t sure it was worth the effort to look for it. Or perhaps it would be impossible to find if I made the effort. Maybe it had rolled into some crack, never to be seen again.

I heard Johnny breathing through the phone.

It wasn’t Johnny who had rescued me last night.

When I defeated Liyliy, Menessos had been there to bring me to the haven. Sure, Menessos had a hand in creating the monster she now was. And it was he who had imprisoned her, creating her need for revenge. But it was me and my marks upon him that had brought her to Cleveland. When she pursued me from the haven—according to the Offerling I’d spoken to—Menessos had sent everyone out to search for me.

Had Johnny even known I was missing?

It was shitty of me to compare the two men in my life, but I couldn’t help myself. Though Menessos had drunk my blood numerous times, he hadn’t tried to kill me.

Yes he did! He nearly killed you not long after you first met.

We were strangers then, I argued with myself. Now, we know each other well.

Better, perhaps, than you should. . . .

Defiantly, I ignored my conscience’s scolding. I will not regret what I did last night. During the predawn hours, reeling from my encounter, I’d kissed Menessos.

Fine, but clearly you were able to forgive him.

That was true. Considering this, I felt hope. I sighed heavily into the phone. My whispered answer was, “In time.”

“There’s so much I need to tell you.” Johnny’s voice was raw, and the rev of an engine punctuated his words. I wondered where he was going. And I wondered if I should tell him about kissing the vampire.

It hadn’t been a peck.

When our lips had touched, I felt the promise and power of a more intimate union. He’d definitely felt it. It wasn’t only the power of the marks between us that had been kindled.

“I don’t know where to begin,” Johnny said.

His voice drew me out from my memory of a passionate moment with another man. Guilt swelled around my heart . . . but not remorse. What am I going to do?

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Shattered Circle
Persephone Alcmedi #6

Simon and Schuster Amazon

BN BooksaMillion IndieBound

After her werewolf boyfriend, Johnny, tried to kill her, Persephone Alcmedi finds herself in the comforting arms of powerful vampire Menessos. She’s trying to sort out her feelings for the two men, but not even Seph is above the confusion of tangled emotions. All Johnny wants to do is mend their relationship and reveal the life-altering news he’s recently received, but his new responsibilities as the werewolf king take up most of his time.

Does this mean Menessos can finally make his move?

Meanwhile, unknown to Seph, her beloved foster daughter, Beverley, has been playing with a magical artifact and making dubious friends on the other side. When Beverley disappears, Seph must seek help from a supernatural being so potent that even Menessos fears him...and such aid always comes with a very steep price.

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Linda Robertson is the mother of four wonderful boys, owns three electric guitars, and is followed around by a big dog named after Bela Lugosi. Once upon a time she was a lead guitarist in a heavy metal cover band and has worked as a graphic artist. She still composes and creates art, when time permits. Linda currently writes and rocks in northeast Ohio.

Find Linda and her books

Website / Twitter / Facebook

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