*Cover Art may not be final*

Click author names to visit their webpages & click titles to pre-order from The Book Depository or Goodreads if it isn’t available for pre-order. 

Kitty’s Greatest Hits by Carrie Vaughn

Series: Kitty Norville (anthology) Date/Publisher: August 16th 2011 by Tor Books Cover Artist: Craig White Cover Source: Filling the Well Author Comments: Kitty’s Greatest Hits, the long-planned, long-awaited short story collection, which also includes “Long Time Waiting,” the novella that reveals what exactly happened to Cormac.  Due out August, 2011. My Thoughts: Okay that could be Carrie Vaughn.  I wonder if Craig used her for the model.

Description:
N/A

Previous Book in the Series:

Kitty’s Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn

Series: Kitty Norville #9 Date/Publisher: June 9th 2011 by Gollancz Cover Artist: Craig White Cover Source: Filling the Well Author Comments: Kitty’s Big Trouble is due out from Tor in June 2011.  Yes, it takes place in San Francisco’s Chinatown.  No, it does not star Kurt Russell. My Thoughts: I appreciate how ‘real’ Kitty always looks.  No leather and high heels for her.

Description:
N/A

Previous Book in the Series:

Mind Games by Taylor Keating

Series: Guardian #2 Date/Publisher: May 24th 2011 by Tor Books Cover Artist: N/A Cover Source: Wicked Scribes Author Comments: For those of you who’ve read Game Over, meet Hawk, he’s here on the cover of MIND GAMES, releasing May 24 2011.   I love this cover! My Thoughts: I would not have recognized this as the sequel to GAME OVER.  This almost looks like fantasy novel.  The gun and urban background aside.  But I still like it.

Description:

Previous Book in the Series:

Blood Secrets by Jeannie Holmes

Series: Alexandra Sabian #2 Date/Publisher: June 28th 2011 by Bantam Cover Artist: Craig White Cover Source: Michelle's Book Blog Author Comments: I've been bouncing off the walls to show this to everyone, and now I can. So without further delay, behold the official cover for BLOOD SECRETS, Book 2 in the Alexandra Sabian series: My Thoughts: The first cover was all about the perspective for me, I was hoping for another great angle, but I still like this, the overexposed style and consistent color palette is really working.

Description:

WHEN ALEXANDRA SABIAN SINKS HER TEETH INTO AN INVESTIGATION, SHE DOESN’T LET GO.

Alex let a case of murdered vamps get personal and is suspended from the Federal Bureau of Preternatural Investigation. Now she’s facing an official inquiry but has a chance to redeem herself. The catch: she must once again work with Varik Baudelaire, her former mentor and ex-fiancé, as he spearheads a search for a missing college student. But Varik has been keeping secrets from Alex and his mysterious past is on a collision course with his present.

When Alex and Varik discover a carefully handcrafted doll at a crime scene, neither of them can see how close the danger really is or that a killer known as the Dollmaker has made Alex the object of his horrific desire. Now the only way out of the Dollmaker’s lair is through the twilight realm of the Shadowlands, where all secrets—for better or worse—will be revealed.

Previous Book in the Series:

And my picks for Best & Worst…

Best Cover: BLOOD SECRETS

Worst Cover: I don’t have one for this bunch.

So any new to you covers? Which are your Best & Worst picks?

Thank you all for entering this giveaway and to Big Honcho Media for providing two sets of THE MONSTUMOLOGIST and THE CURSE OF THE WENDIGO by Rick Yancey.

The winners (chosen by Random.org) are…

Asylumgirl 
Nancy T.

Congratulations! I’ll be emailing you soon.  Please respond with your address within 48 hours or a new winner will be drawn.

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Didn’t win?  Buy your own copy of THE MONSTUMOLOGIST and THE CURSE OF THE WENDIGO with free shipping from The Book Depository:

Title: Wolf Fever Author: Terry Spear Series: Heart of the Wolf #6 Cover Art: N/A Genre: paranormal romance Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca Date Published: December 7, 2010 ISBN-10: 1402237529 ISBN-13: 978-1402237522     Review Copy Source: Author Reviewed by: Julia

Book Description

She may be his destiny, but she's not his first choice…

Hospital nurse and newly turned red werewolf Carol Woods is being pressured by her pack leader to find a mate, but he's the only guy in the pack who remotely attracts her.

Why is he playing so hard to get?

The fate of the pack rests on his shoulders…

Gray pack leader Ryan McKinley doesn't want anything to do with Carol unless she's willing to embrace her wolf nature—no matter how beautiful she is.

But when a virus infects the local lupus garou pack, Ryan realizes just how wrong he's been not to seize the moment with the woman he's come to love. And now, it may be too late…

 Review

As if living with precognitive abilities in an unbelieving world wasn't hard enough, Carol Woods now has to adapt to being a newly-turned werewolf.   Even worse, her new pack doesn't trust her ability to stay in control (and stay hidden), so Carol must choose a mate or remain under the pack-leaders’ supervision.  Females are rare, and she quickly goes from feeling like a wallflower to having all the attention she can handle.

As an adult turned werewolf, Carol has a lot to learn about the wolves' customs and culture.  This was both interesting and useful to read, as WOLF FEVER was the first book I read in the Heart of the Wolf series.  Learning alongside Carol, I soon realized that this was no overwrought “forced to marry” situation.  The pack was more like a huge family eager to match-make.  Enthusiastic, sometimes embarrassing, but always with their heart in the right place.  Spear was not afraid to take risks with her characters, and gave Carol the luxury of more than one attractive candidate to consider.

Of course, it does not take long for Carol to identify her hero.  To me, Chester “I go by Ryan” McKinley wasn’t as interesting a character as Carol, but I appreciated the humor of a werewolf that doesn't believe in psychics.  Also, in Spear's mythology, werewolves are bonded for life once they have sex with another wolf.  This makes for great sexual tension (and a lot of heavy petting).  It was refreshing to read a paranormal romance where the characters can’t fall into bed with each other right away.

There are many components that come together to make a good book, and WOLF FEVER made a strong showing in most of them.  The closed world of the Silver Town wolves was of practical interest (how does an entire paranormal sub-culture survive unnoticed in the modern world), and the plot of this particular book was intriguing as well.  However, the flow of the writing itself was hit or miss.  I didn't want to stop reading, but it did detract from my overall enjoyment of the book in places.  Spear did a great job drawing realistic wolf details and behaviors into the fabric her werewolf mythology, and that (combined with the good plot and characters), is enough to bring me back to the Heart of the Wolf series.

Sexual Content: Several scenes of sexuality and heavy petting (no wolf pun intended).

My Rating:

3/5
Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying.

Previous books in the series:

1. Heart of the Wolf
2. Destiny of the Wolf
3. To Tempt the Wolf
4. Legend of the White Wolf
5. Seduced by the Wolf

Also reviewed by:

• Xeranthemum at Long and Short Reviews
• Vicky at Fresh Fiction

Title: Crusade Author: Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguié Series: Crusade #1 Cover Art: Sammy Yuen Genre: Paranormal YA Reading level: Young Adult Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: Simon Pulse Date Published: September 7, 2010 ISBN-10: 1416998020 ISBN-13: 978-1416998020     Review Copy Source: Publisher Reviewed by: Abigail

Book Description

For the past two years, Jenn has lived and trained at Spain’s Sacred Heart Academy Against the Cursed Ones. She is among the few who have pledged to defend humanity or die trying. But the vampires are gaining power, and the battle has only just begun.

Forced to return home after death takes a member of her family, Jenn discovers that San Francisco is now a vampire strong-hold. As a lone hunter apart from her team, Jenn is isolated — and at risk. She craves the company of her fighting partner, Antonio: his protection, his reassurance, his touch. But a relationship with Antonio comes with its own dangers, and the more they share of themselves, the more Jenn stands to lose.

Then Jenn is betrayed by one who was once bound to protect her, causing her to doubt all she had held as true. To survive, Jenn must find the courage to trust herself — and her heart.

 Review

CRUSADE takes us into a very believable apocalyptic world and paints a vivid possible future wherein vampires have stepped out of the shadows under the guise of friendship, lulled us into complacency, and when we were at our most vulnerable, they revealed their true nature.

Jenn was thirteen when the slaughter began.  She was helpless to watch as her friends and family soon began spouting vampire propaganda and making excuses for freedoms they were forced to give-up.  The vampires still maintained a show of friendship with humanity that is very reminiscent of Big Brother’s control in Orwell’s 1984.  Those who spoke out against the vampires had accidents or simply disappeared. 

The story begins with Jenn, now seventeen, and her team hunting a group of vampires in a little town in Spain.  A lot of characters are introduced in a very short period of time and unfortunately none of them ever distinguished themselves clearly enough for me to care about them.  There’s a witch, a werewolf, a sympathetic vampire, a superhuman, and then Jenn.  Jenn feels like the weak member of her team because she has no special skills or abilities and I have to agree with her.  

The promised romance from the description is about as dull as I can remember reading in a long time.  Neither Jenn or Antonio ever showed me why they were in love.  We were just told from the first chapter that they were. They repeated that they love each other throughout CRUSADE, but it felt pretty hollow.  

The story jumps from multiple POVs and time periods all building up to the final showdown with a particularly nasty vampire, but by then the appeal of this world had been overshadowed and I had long since stopped caring.  I think I could have gotten more on board with CRUSADE if the story had started when Jenn first arrived at Sacred Heart Academy.  We would have gotten to see her learn all her fierce vampire slaying skills, meet her eventual hunter teammates, and most importantly, see how she and Antonio fell in love.  That could have been an interesting story.  Instead, this very cool vampire apocalypse world is essentially wasted on a lethargic plot and an overabundance of flat characters. 

Sexual Content: Kissing

My Rating:

2/5
Okay – Somewhat disappointing with significant flaws.  Library/swap/borrow if you want.

Previous books in the series:

1. Passing (novella in The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire)

Also reviewed by:

• Mindful Musings
• Vampire Book Club
• THE BOOK BUTTERFLY

Christina Henry is back today (she was part of the Spooky Legends event in October and if you didn’t read Madeline’s take on the “Aren’t You Glad You Didn’t Turn On the Lights?” urban legend you’re missing out.  It was my favorite of the whole bunch), letting me interview her about her debut urban fantasy BLACK WINGS (due out on November 30, 2010).  I loved it (read my review HERE) and I’m sure you will too which is why I’m so glad that Christina will be giving away a copy of BLACK WINGS today. See details below.

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Interview

ATUF:How would you pitch BLACK WINGS to a potential reader who hadn’t heard a thing about it?

CH: It’s a book about an Agent of Death named Madeline Black. She’s stressed, broke and has a hungry gargoyle to feed. On top of all this, her supervisor is a pain in the ass. She’s pretty much just trying to get by with this crappy inherited Death gig when her whole world is turned upside down, first by a mysterious stranger who wants to rent the apartment in her building, then by a monster that shows up out of nowhere and starts eating people.

ATUF: According to Goodreads, BLACK WINGS isn’t your first novel.  That honor goes to Makeup Artist Studio. Were you a make up artist in your pre urban fantasy days?  How did writing these two very different books compare?

CH: Actually, it’s a surprise to me that I’ve written another book, because I thought “Black Wings” was my first novel!

It’s another Christina Henry :) Goodreads must have figured same name, same author, but it’s definitely just a coincidence. Weird, though.

ATUF:If BLACK WINGS were ever made into a movie, who would your dream or, to keep things interesting, nightmare cast be?

CH: Wow, this is kind of tough. I don’t know who would play Maddy. I just think I would hate it if she was played by a super-skinny actress, because Maddy is slightly overweight and I like that about her – it makes her more human and less physically perfect than a lot of heroines. The actress would also need a major attitude, because Maddy’s definitely got a chip on her shoulder! Sandra Bullock totally could have played this role ten years ago but I don’t know who would do it now.

Gabriel could be Michael Fassbender (who was on the British TV show “Hex”, if you’ve ever seen that) or Richard Armitage (who was on the BBC’s “Robin Hood” series). They each have the really strong bone structure and quiet voice that I think of with Gabriel. Plus, it does not hurt that they are both gorgeous and have adorable accents!

 

Can’t you just see Gerard Butler as J.B.? He doesn’t look exactly the way I describe J.B. in the book but I can see him playing that part really well. Actually, Richard Armitage could do this role also if Michael Fassbender played Gabriel.

Of course, there is no creature in the universe as adorable as Beezle so he would have to be computer-generated.

Nightmare cast: pretty much any one of these interchangeable young and good-looking actors that seem to be in a lot of movies. I think that all the characters need a little bit of gravitas and for that you need slightly older performers. I also wouldn’t want anyone too recognizable, because then their star power would overwhelm the character.

ATUF:The sequel to BLACK WINGS is called BLACK NIGHT and is due out in Autumn 2011.  How many books do you have planned in the Madeline Black series?  Are you working on any other projects?

CH: Right now there are three books planned in the series. If the books do well and my editor likes them enough then there will be more – at least two more after that, probably. I’ve definitely got some fun in store for Maddy.

I’ve got an idea right now for another project but I won’t be starting work on it until I finish the third book of Maddy’s series, which I am working on now.

ATUF:Beezle, Maddy’s guardian gargoyle, was my favorite character in BLACK WINGS.  I loved his protective, slightly curmudgeonly attitude.  Will we be seeing more of him in future books?

CH: Don’t tell Maddy, but he’s my favorite character, too! He’s so much fun to write and he really gives me a chance to lighten the mood when things get too serious. You’ll be seeing a lot more of him in “Black Night”.

ATUF:You explore the origin of grim reapers or agents of death in BLACK WINGS.  Is that based on an existent mythology or something you created for this series?

CH: It’s not based on any existing mythology. I had an idea that I wanted to write a book about the Grim Reaper. Originally, the reaper was male, tall and brooding – a lot more like Gabriel, actually. Then Maddy just kind of popped into my head. I’m not really much of a planner (for my books – in real life I’m an insane type-A person) so a lot of the mythology got made up as I went along in the first draft. Details were added later as I started to figure out how the magical systems would work and so on.

ATUF:The world building is quite detailed in BLACK WINGS .  In my review I compared the grim reaper business to the movie Office Space. Were you inspired by your own job history in creating it?

CH: Yes, I worked for an insurance company for two years and it was nightmarish. I was traumatized by reams of paper. When I was thinking up the Agency all I could see were file folders and cubicles.

ATUF:What are some of your favorite titles/authors in the paranormal genres?

CH: I may possibly be Jim Butcher’s biggest fan. I am crazy about the Dresden Files series.

I also love Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Neil Gaiman, Tanya Huff, Lori Handeland, Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong, China Mieville, Nancy Holzner, Simon R. Green, Joe Hill…it’s actually kind of hard for me to make a short list!

ATUF:The cover art for BLACK WINGS caught my eye long before I knew what the book was about.  What can you tell us about the cover? Do you know who the artist is?

CH:I agree – the cover is super-cool! I was so excited when I saw it. Maddy looks really dynamic – you can really see some of her personality coming through. The artist’s name is Kris Keller.

ATUF: Finish this statement with as much/little detail as you like: You'll like BLACK WINGS if you like...

CH: ...books with a bit of humor, a bit of mystery, a bit of romance and a lot of action. I think it’s a fun, fast read and I hope your readers think so, too!

Thanks for having me today, Abigail!

ATUF: Thanks so much for stopping by Tina.  Come back anytime!

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CHRISTINA HENRY is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago and enjoys running long distances, reading anything she can get her hands on and watching movies with samurai, zombies and/or subtitles in her spare time.  She lives in Chicago with her husband and son.

Visit Christina Online:
Website

Giveaway

Giveaway courtesy of Christina Henry
One copy of BLACK WINGS by Christina Henry

Meet Maddy Black.
She’s an Agent of Death who really needs to get a life.

Escorting souls into the afterlife leaves Maddy little time for socializing-until devilishly handsome Gabriel Angeloscuro agrees to rent the empty apartment in her building. But when demons start appearing on Maddy’s front lawn, she realizes there’s more to her new tenant than meets the eye.

“A fun, fast ride through the gritty streets of magical Chicago, BLACK WINGS has it all: a gutsy heroine just coming into her power, bad-ass bad guys, a sexy supernatural love interest, and a scrappy gargoyle sidekick. Highly recommended.” –Nancy Holzner, Author of DEADTOWN

Click HERE to read an excerpt from BLACK WINGS

GIVEAWAY GUIDELINES

1. Open Internationally
2. Leave a comment that includes:
   1. A comment or question for Christina
   2. A way to contact you if you win
3. Entries must be received by Midnight MST on December 5th.

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Interested in being interviewed on All Things Urban Fantasy?  CONTACT ME