My favorite thing about a four day week is how the weekend can sneak up on you, Friday comes so quickly!  It is less fun, however, when Wednesday pops up out of no where.  I apologize for the late post today, my head was still back enjoying the holiday weekend.  I kicked off 2012 by shouting, “Wait, it’s Wednesday?!”, how has everyone else been enjoying the new year?

 

 

Title: Shadow Walker Author: Allyson James Series: Stormwalker #3 Cover Art: Tony Mauro  Genre: Urban Fantasy Excerpt: No Source: Publisher Reviewed by: Kristina  Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley; Original edition (June 7, 2011) ISBN-10: 0425241823 ISBN-13: 978-0425241820 Sexual Content: Explicit sex scenes, references to sex Rating: Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & put this author on your watch list.

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**Visit Dark Faerie Tales today for her Deadly Destination tour of  Jeannie Holme’s Jefferson, Mississippi from Varik Baudelaire & a chance to win BLOOD SECRETS**

I hope you packed your sunblock because today’s Deadly Destination tour has us hitting the Southwest, home to Allyson James’s Janet Begay and the cast from the Stormwalker series.  SHADOW WALKER, the 3rd book in the series is available now from Berkley Books, and to get you hooked on this series, we’re giving away copies of the first two Stormwalker books, STORMWALKER & FIREWALKER. See details below

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Allyson’s Stormwalker Guide to The Southwest
by
Allyson James

The Stormwalker series is set primarily in northern Arizona, around and in the Navajo Nation. Stories take the characters to other nearby locales: Death Valley, southern Arizona, western New Mexico, Santa Fe.

Why did I decide to set my "urban" fantasy in the rural Southwest? First because of the main character. Janet is Navajo (Dine), grew up in Many Farms on the Navajo Nation, and has deep ties to that part of the country. She does travel the U.S. on her Harley--first with her boyfriend Mick and then by herself--but she always returns to the country of her birth.

Second, I live in the Southwest, and I've always wanted to write books set here. The scenery is vast and dramatic. Around every bend in the road is some new vista, another mountain range, an unexplored canyon--all under a never-ending sky. The stillness is immense, and yet, it teems with life.

One day when I was driving in northern Arizona, among craggy mountains with the snowy San Francisco peaks hovering in the background, and the need to write about this world smacked me in the gut.

I'd been thinking off and on about Janet Begay and a series to go around her, and that day, it came together.

I did some traveling around the area from Winslow and north to Chinle and Many Farms, Second Mesa, and back again, to get the layout and feel of the area, and then I wrote. Stormwalker became three books (Stormwalker, Firewalker, Shadow Walker, with more to come).

The primary location is a town I made up (Magellan), that lies a little south and east of Winslow (Winslow is on the I-40 between Holbrook and Flagstaff, about 45 minutes from the meteor crater.) If you've ever driven out there, south of the 40, it looks like miles and miles and miles of nothing.

However, the ground, which looks flat, is actually cut by long, steep-sided canyons. These canyons have spilled water down from the mountains for centuries, and are decorated with petroglyphs from people who have long vanished from the area (ancestors of the Hopi and Zuni tribes). It's an ancient, ancient place.

In spite of the emptiness, the scope for stories is huge. The Navajo Nation and all its beauty (including Canyon de Chelley, which is stunning), is nearby; and the history of the area is there for exploring. What do the glyphs in the canyons mean? Who were these people? What happened to them? There are mysterious and ghostly mountains, buttes, and canyons, to tempt the unwary.

What about the town? I made up Magellan, which sits on a crossroads of two highways (The Crossroads)--in fact I made up the whole county. Hopi County does not exist, nor do its two small towns, Flat Mesa and Magellan. Then I had to populate the towns, which was where the fun began.

The towns still have numbers of its founding families living there: the Hansens, Medinas, Joneses, Lopezes, and a few others. There's Fremont Hansen, the plumber who thinks he has magical powers (and he does have a tiny bit); Maya Medina the electrician, in love with Sheriff Nash Jones, one of the Flat Mesa Jonses. Nash Jones is an interesting guy (ex-special forces, served in Iraq, has PTSD, and an interesting magical ability). I'm having fun exploring his many facets.

I know my "urban fantasy" is unusual in the aspect that it's not truly urban. But one thing that makes an urban fantasy novel a good read (to me), is the richness of its setting. Whether it's post-apocalyptic Atlanta, cities in eastern Washington, the streets of Chicago, or the empty places in the Southwest, setting is a character of its own. Mine happens to be more or less in my own backyard.

Stormwalker (May 2010)

Firewalker (Nov 2010)

Shadow Walker (June 2011)

Nightwalker (coming soon)

http://www.allysonjames.com

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About Allyson James

Allyson James is a pseudonym of NYT bestselling author Jennifer Ashley. She writes historical, paranormal, and contemporary romance, historical mystery, and historical mainstream fiction. Jennifer's novels have won RWA's RITA for Best Novel with Romantic Elements (A Lady Raised High), the Golden Quill, RT Reviewer's Choice awards, the Prism award, among others. Jennifer's novels have been also been translated into several European and Asian languages. Jennifer enjoys writing and reading above all else, but her hobbies include cooking, hiking, playing flute and guitar, painting, and building miniature rooms and dollhouses   Visit Allyson online: Website|Blog |Twitter|Facebook|MySpace

Want to read more from Allyson?

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Giveaway provided by Berkley

One copy of STORMWALKER & FIREWALKER by Allyson James

 

And don’t forget to pick up SHADOW WALKER, the 3rd book in the Stormwalker series available now from Berkley

Description:

Stormwalker Janet Begay returns home only to have the ground collapse beneath her-literally. After tumbling two hundred feet underground, Janet is rescued by her dragon boyfriend, Mick. But something dark touches Mick while in the sinkhole, and Janet might lose him forever unless she recruites the most unlikely of allies to stop the growing shadow.

Order from

Giveaway Guidelines

1. Open to US addresses only, no PO Boxes

2. Leave a comment for Allyson & a way to contact you unless it’s listed in your profile

3. All Deadly Destinations winners will be announced on August 7th

4. See our Giveaway Policy if you have any questions

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Interested in guest blogging on All Things Urban Fantasy? CONTACT ME

*This title will be released on June 7th*

Title: Hexed Author: Ilona Andrews, Yasmine Galenorn, Allyson James, Jeanne C. Stein Series: Kate Daniels #4.5, Sisters of the Moon #9.5, Stormwalker #3.5, Anna Strong Chronicles #6.5 Cover Art: Tony Mauro Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance Excerpt: Yes Source: Publisher Reviewed by: Abigail Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Berkley; Original edition (June 7, 2011) ISBN-10: 0425241769 ISBN-13: 978-0425241769 Sexual Content: See each story Rating: Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying.

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Description

Four of the bestselling names in romance and fantasy come together in this collection of thrilling novellas featuring powerful women who know how to handle a hex or two.

Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews
Old legends and frightening nightmares came to life in Magic Dreams. The shapeshifting Tigress Dali Harimau finds herself in deep water when she must challenge a dark being to a battle of wits, or risk losing the man she secretly longs for.

Ice Shards by Yasmine Galenorn
Iris Kuusi, a Finnish house sprite who lives with the D’Artigo sisters, must journey to the frozen Northlands to confront the crazed shadow of her former lover she’s accused of murdering, so she can break the curse keeping her from marrying the man she loves.

Double Hexed by Allyson James
It starts, innocently enough, with a leaky faucet. Janet calls her plumber, Fremont, to help fix a faucet in a guest room, when all hell breaks loose—literally. Blood sprays from the faucets and a message appears on the mirror in blood: “You are doomed.” Janet and her friends find themselves locked in her hotel, victims of a hex cast by a very powerful sorcerer. Cassandra, Janet’s Wiccan hotel manager, believes the sorcerer is one she’s come to Magellan to hide from, and he’s one of the most powerful entities in the world. As Janet and her friends frantically work to release the spell before the sorcerer kills them all, they realize that their worst enemies might just be themselves.

Blood Debt by Jeanne C. Stein
Bounty-hunter-turned vampire Anna Strong is visited by three witches who ask her to right an old magical wrong. Anna will have to live up to her name to make it through alive…

Review

Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews (Kate Daniels #4.5)

A minor character in the Kate Daniels series, Dali proves more than ready for her own series in Magic Dreams.  She couldn’t be more dissimilar from Kate, yet she displays the same strength of character and bravery that I’ve come to expect from the women in this series.  She’s a tiny, visually impaired, Indonesian woman who shifts into a white Tiger.  As a human, she’s about a physically imposing as a kitten and shifting to her tiger form isn’t easy for her.  But she does know how to use magic, sometimes.  And in Magic Dreams when her Alpha Jim, the man she secretly loves, shows up asking for help, she doesn’t hesitative even when she learns that she may have to sacrifice her life for Jim’s. 
Kate fans won’t want to miss this story and it’s a perfect introduction for new readers as it has one of the best and most concise explanations for the world building in this series.  The dialogue is as sharp and clever as ever, the Japanese mythology borrowed for this story is integrated very well, and the romance between Dali and Jim subtly beautiful.  By far the best story in HEXED.

Sexual Content: Kissing Rating: 4/5

Ice Shards by Yasmine Galenorn (Sisters of the Moon #9.5)

My only exposure to Galenorn’s Sister’s of the Moon (SotM) series was in the anthology INKED, so I’ll admit near total ignorance when it comes to this world and these characters going in, and I feel pretty much the same way having read Ice Shards. The chronology jumps all over the place and the writing struck me as lazy and uninteresting.  Lots and lots of characters and yet not one grabbed me.  Iris travels with her friends (including SotM main character Camille and one of her husbands) to find out if she committed a crime she can’t remember.  They travel, talk to people, travel, have flashbacks, travel etc. until the last 3 pages when Iris finally gets answers.  I suppose fans of this series may enjoy all the cameos, but as a newbie, this story just turned me off the whole series.

Sexual Content: References to sex Rating: 2/5

Double Hexed by Allyson James (Stormwalker #3.5)

Double Hexed is the longest story in HEXED (and I believe that’s Janet on the cover) and makes full use of its extra pages. Like the previous story, there are lots of characters (some stronger than others), but unlike the previous story, they each justify their inclusion in this specific story.  Stormwalker Janet and her dragon shifter Mick are the leads and we learn about each character as they interact with them while trying to break a hex that has trapped them all in Janet’s hotel.  This actually would be a great introduction for new readers who want to try this series featuring Native American mysticism mixed with more conventional paranormal tropes and a uniquely imagined world Beneath our own where demons and evil have been trapped.  Janet and Mick have a heated romance and this story is the steamiest in the anthology.

Sexual Content: References to homosexuality. A brief sex scene Rating: 3/5

Blood Debt by Jeanne C. Stein (Anna Strong Chronicles #6.5)

This is another series I’m largely unfamiliar with (I’ve only read the first book), but I didn’t have any trouble jumping in to this story.  Anna and her bounty hunter partners are tracking a Skip when a series of events lead her to stand trail for her life. This setup provides Stein with an opportunity to highlight certain key events from Anna’s life (how she was turned into a vampire, how she ended up as a bounty hunter, and how she finally killed her nemesis etc).  It works well has an intro for new readers, but doesn’t dominate the story so that fans become bored.  There is a romantic relationship that gets set up in Blood Debt that I imagine will get woven into future books, so series devotees won’t want to miss seeing how it began.

Sexual Content: A couple brief sex scenes Rating: 3/5

 

Previous Books in Series	Also Reviewed By:
N/A	Alternative Worlds Errant Dreams Reviews

*Cover Art may not be final*
Click author names to visit their webpages  and the book’s title to pre-order from The Book Depository or Goodreads if it isn’t available for pre-order.

Shadowman by Erin Kellison

Series: Shadow #3 Date/Publisher: September 2011 by Kensington Books Cover Artist: N/A Cover Source: Erin Kellison on Dark Central Station Author Comments:  “…I received my cover for my September 2011 release, Shadowman!  It’s the third in my Shadow series, though each book was written to stand alone. The first two books, Shadow Bound and Shadow Fall, were released through Dorchester Publishing and will be rereleased through them in trade paperback in August and September.”   My Thoughts: I like the heat of flowers from the bottom meeting the cool birches in the background, it draws the eye so powerfully to the cover model right in between.

Description:

GHOSTS
They haunt the halls of the Segue Institute, terrifying the living, refusing to cross over.  But one soul is driven by a very different force.

LOVE
It survives even death.  And Kathleen O’Brien swore she would return to those she was forced to leave too soon.

SHADOWMAN
He broke every rule to have her in life; now he will defy the angels to find her in death.

THE GATE
Forging it is his single hope of being reunited with his beloved, but through it an abomination enters the world.  Leaving a trail of blood and violence, the devil hunts her too.  Pursued through realms of bright fantasy and dark reality, Kathleen is about to be taken. . .

Previous Book in the Series:

As You Wish by Gabi Stevens

Series: Time of Transition #2 Date/Publisher: April 2011 by Tor Books Cover Artist: N/A Cover Source: Author’s blog Author Comments:  “Big, long, awe-filled sigh.” My Thoughts: While bare skin, tattoos and claw marks aren’t unusual on UF covers, I like how this one is done.  The cover model has a hint of androgyny about him, setting him apart from the pack.

Description:

Regina Scott, known as Reggie, has made a successful life for herself despite her lack of magical powers. She is content to live out her life as a Groundling until the outgoing fairy godmothers tell her she’s the second new replacement. In the space of a few days, she faces a curse, a plot to overthrow the Arcani world, and an entirely too enthusiastic mother. And she doesn’t know which will be the most difficult to deal with. Can Reggie balance trust, magic, and danger and still find the happiness she deserves?

Previous Book in the Series:

Wilder’s Mate by Moira Rogers

Series: Bloodhounds #1 Date/Publisher: March 1, 2011 by Samhain Publishing Cover Artist: N/A Cover Source: Fiction Vixen Author Comments: N/A My Thoughts: Love it, love it, love it!  The color palette and duster hint at Old West, and the gears worked into the series motif (and the background) give subtle steam-punk hints.  Can’t wait for this one.

Description:
Wilder Harding is a bloodhound, created by the Guild to hunt down and kill vampires on America's frontier. His enhanced abilities come with a high price: on the full moon, he becomes capable of savagery beyond telling, while the new moon brings a sexual hunger that borders on madness.

Rescuing a weapons inventor from undead kidnappers is just another assignment, though one with an added complication--keeping his hands off the man's pretty young apprentice, who insists on tagging along.

At odds with polite society, Satira's only constant has been the aging weapons inventor who treats her like a daughter. She isn't going to trust Wilder with Nathaniel's life, not when the Guild might decide the old man isn't worth saving. Besides, if there's one thing she's learned, it's that brains are more important than brawn.

As the search stretches far longer than Wilder planned, he finds himself fighting against time. If Satira is still at his side when the new moon comes, nothing will stop him from claiming her. Worse, she seems all too willing. If their passion unlocks the beast inside, no one will be safe. Not even the man they're fighting to save.

Warning: This book contains a crude, gun-slinging, vampire-hunting hero who howls at the full moon and a smart, stubborn heroine who invents mad-scientist weapons. Also included: wild frontier adventures, brothels, danger, betrayal and a good dose of wicked loving in an alternate Wild West.

 

Previous Book in the Series:

N/A

Bloodborn by Karen Kincy

Series: Other #2 Date/Publisher: September 2011 by Flux Cover Artist: N/A Cover Source: Kate at The Neverending Shelf Author Comments: N/A My Thoughts: There’s something very Gothic in this composition, making Brock’s eyes and the moon in the background all the more powerful.  Another beautiful cover for this series.

Description:
It isn’t working. The doctor said it would, but it isn’t, even though I keep taking the pills, and I keep seeing Dad sneak into the bathroom and count how many are left. As if I would stop taking them. As if I would let myself become a beast.

Brock Koeman lost his brother to werewolves. Now he’s in danger of losing himself. Bitten by a werewolf at sixteen, he fights the transformation, taking the excruciating pain as a punishment for his mistakes. With the help of a risky drug called Lycanthrox, he’s managed to stay human for two full moons. But he knows he can’t last much longer.

Hungry for revenge, Brock vows to kill the silver wolf who bit him. But Brock’s ex, the fiery Cynthia Lopez, still cares about him enough not to let him do anything suicidally dangerous—never mind that Cyn gets her thrills from danger herself. Together again, the heat between them rekindles, but Brock feels like a beast beside her beauty. He can’t stay with her; he can’t ignore the werewolves howling outside his window. When he hunts down the pack, Cyn doesn’t sit on the sidelines. She’s right beside him as they get taken hostage and start running with the werewolves, the police hot on their tails. Brock has to get a grip on who he truly is—before the wolf within kills him, or someone else does.

 

Previous Book in the Series:

The Monster’s Corner by Christopher Golden

Series: Anthology Date/Publisher: October 2011 by St. Martin’s Press Cover Artist: N/A Cover Source: Mihai at Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews Author Comments: N/A My Thoughts: Utterly gruesome, the way the figures on the cover are arranged hints at both wings and further horrors.  Given the subject matter, very well done.

Description:

- “The Awkward Age” by David Liss

- “Saint John” by Jonathan Maberry

- “Rue” by Lauren Groff

- “Succumb” by John McIlveen

- “Torn Stitches, Shattered Glass” by Kevin J. Anderson

- “Rattler and the Mothman” by Sharyn McCrumb

- “Big Man” by David Moody

- “Rakshasi” by Kelley Armstrong

- “Breeding the Demons” by Nate Kenyon

- “Siren Song” by Dana Stabenow

- “Less of a Girl” by Chelsea Cain

- “The Cruel Thief of Rosy Infants” by Tom Piccirilli

- “The Screaming Room” by Sarah Pinborough

- “Wicked Be” by Heather Graham

- “Specimen 313” by Jeff Strand

- “The Lake” by Tananarive Due

- “The Other One” by Michael Marshall Smith

- “And You Still Wonder Why Our First Impulse is to Kill You: An Alphabetized Faux-Manifesto transcribed, edited, and annotated (under duress and protest)” by Gary A. Braunbeck

- “Jesus and Satan Go Jogging in the Desert” by Simon R. Green

 

Previous Anthologies edited by Christopher Golden:

Rush of Darkness
by Rhyannon Byrd

Series: Primal Instinct #7 Date/Publisher: April 2011 by HQN Books Cover Artist: N/A Cover Source: Kaleigha at Wicked Scribes Author Comments: N/A My Thoughts: Wow.  The male cover model totally steals the show on this one, I’m going to start reading this series just for the expression on his face and the placement of his hand.

Description:
Raine Spenser is on the brink. Held prisoner because of her abilities, Raine—a powerful psychic as well as vampire desperately needed a savior. But the last one she expected was the green-eyed soldier who’d once hunted her kind. Since her rescue, she’s tried to forget Seth McConnell, unable to cope with the strange, simmering attraction that draws her to the compelling human.

But their goals—find the Kraven who held Raine captive and destroy him—are the same. The ever-growing web of danger surrounding them draws these two unlikely allies closer together, and anger slowly turns into an explosive passion they’re finding harder and harder to deny....

Previous Book in the Series:

Drink, Slay, Love
by Sarah Beth Durst

Series: N/A Date/Publisher: September 13th, 2011 by Margaret K. McElderry Cover Artist: N/A Cover Source: Author’s Blog Author Comments: "I am deliriously in love with it [the cover art], and I can't wait to share it with you. So without further ado... (Please pat your hands on your lap so we have drum roll sound effects. Also, imagine a red velvet curtain raising up. And maybe a few trumpets.) ... the cover art for DRINK, SLAY, LOVE!” My Thoughts: I totally agree with her on this one, beautiful cover art.  Now whether or not that’s enough to get me past the association with EAT, PRAY, LOVE, I really can’t say…

Description:
What happens when a vampire is stabbed through the heart by a were-unicorn? She suddenly develops a very inconvenient conscience. Oops.

Previous Book in the Series:

N/A

Shadow Walker by Allyson James

Series: Stormwalker #3 Date/Publisher: June 2011 by Berkley Sensation Cover Artist: N/A Cover Source: Kaleigha at Wicked Scribes Author Comments: N/A My Thoughts: From the expression on the cover model’s face, I would have expected a different finger to be in the air.  I love the sass they’ve managed to put into this cover.

Description:
Racing her motorcycle down a lonely winter highway, Stormwalker Janet Begay feels the ground collapse beneath her feet. After tumbling two hundred feet into an underground cavern, she manages to escape with help from her sexy dragon-shifter boyfriend, Mick—but not before they disturb some dark forces.

As Janet contends with a hotel inspector intent on putting her out of business, as well as her grandmother, who’s taken up residence, Mick’s behavior becomes strange and erratic, until he is a clear danger to Janet and her friends. Janet’s drag-queen, attitude-ridden magic mirror insists that Mick has been “touched by shadows,” and the Stormwalker realizes that someone is out to enslave her dragon. Now she must free Mick before he kills her…

Previous Book in the Series:

And my picks for Best & Worst…

Best Cover	Worst Cover

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