Book Description

You can run from the grave, but you can't hide . . .

Half-vampire Cat Crawfield is now Special Agent Cat Crawfield, working for the government to rid the world of the rogue undead. She's still using everything Bones, her sexy and dangerous ex, taught her, but when Cat is targeted for assassination, the only man who can help her is the vampire she left behind.

Being around him awakens all her emotions, from the adrenaline kick of slaying vamps side by side to the reckless passion that consumed them. But a price on her head—wanted: dead or half-alive—means her survival depends on teaming up with Bones. And no matter how hard she tries to keep things professional between them, she'll find that desire lasts forever . . . and that Bones won't let her get away again.

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Book 2 in The Night Huntress Series.

Review:
ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE picks up four years after the events in Halfway to the Grave.  After accepting a deal from the FBI that would ensure the safety of her vampire lover Bones, Cat is now leading a team of agents working as a branch of Homeland Security specializing in hunting down vampires.  She’s worked hard to try and forget Bones, and its a constant battle to remind herself that running away from him was the only way to save him.  But when a hit gets taken out for the Little Red Reaper (aka Cat), Bones is the only one who can help save her.

Jeaniene Frost skirts the PNR/UF line beautifully in ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE.  There is a strong romantic theme throughout with Cat and Bones, but that doesn’t diminish the solid urban fantasy plot either.  Cat fully has her own story here involving chasing down her own personal history and finding out more about both her human and vampire halves.  Also balancing the openly hostile humans in her life with the vampires and ghouls she’s come to depend on.

This is the one time where I’m afraid that the sexual content breakdown of a story could possibly be longer than the actual review.  I mean this is the book that contains the infamous Chapter 32.  And if you’re familiar with my reviews, you know I typically don’t love to read extremely graphic sex scenes, but at least I was prepared this time (On a side note if you don’t want to read super graphic sex described, you can easily skip over Ch. 32 without missing any plot developments).  Prepared or not, Ch. 32 deserves its fame (or infamy, depending on your perspective).  I will say that about halfway through the chapter, for me it took a decidedly unsexy turn. 

Aside from Ch. 32, I enjoyed the story of ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE.  I appreciated the maturity of Cat and the time the author gave her between books to acquire skills and friendships apart from Bones. And of course Bones is still the walking, talking personification of sex.  He still is Spike (from Buffy) for me, so of course every scene he’s in makes my heart go pitter pat. There is something so sexy about how fiercely he wants Cat, and not just sexually.   His love for her is completely believable.  And for me, that’s more than enough to keep me reading this series.

Sexual Content: A scene of sensuality. A brief non-graphic sex scene. References to sex, rape, oral sex, bisexuality, ménage à trois +.  *Chapter 32* one long, extremely graphic sex scene (including graphic oral & anal sex).

My Rating (out of 5):
Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe wait for paperback.

Click HERE to read an excerpt of ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE. 

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Avon; First Avon Printing edition (April 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061245097
• ISBN-13: 978-0061245091

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*Disclosure – I received this book courtesy of Diana Rowland

Book Description

BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL, MAN AND DEMON, SHE’S ABOUT TO FACE THE ONE THING SHE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SURVIVE.
Welcome to the world of Kara Gillian, a cop with a gift. Not only does she have the power of “othersight” to see what most people can’t even imagine, but she’s become the exclusive summoner of a demon lord. Or maybe it’s the other way around. The fact is, with two troublesome cases on her docket and a handsome FBI agent under her skin, Kara needs the help of sexy, insatiable Lord Rhyzkahl more than he needs her. Because these two victims, linked by suspicious coincidence, haven’t just been murdered. Something has eaten their souls.
It’s a case with roots in the arcane, but whose evil has flowered among the rich, powerful, and corrupt in Beaulac, Louisiana. And as the killings continue, Kara soon realizes how much there’s still to learn about demons, men, and things that kill in the night—and how little time she has to learn it.

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Review:
BLOOD OF THE DEMON the second book in the Kara Gillian series (Mark of The Demon, book 1, is available now) about a Homicide Detective/Demon Summoner in Louisiana.   It reads like a perfect combination of Buffy (season 6) and The Closer. 

The demon was little more than a mist of fog and teeth, barely visible to normal sight. It coiled in slow undulations in the backseat of my Taurus as I drove through the night, the tires of the car humming on the asphalt in low rhythmic counterpoint to the movement of the demon. – Opening line of BLOOD OF THE DEMON

The world building in BLOOD OF THE DEMON is superb.  The demon mythology is distinct from most urban fantasy novels in that they aren’t intrinsically evil, at least no more evil than a gun.  They are immensely powerful beings from another dimension, more like aliens then creatures from Hell.  There are different levels of demons; the higher level demons are more powerful, harder to summon, and exact a higher the price for services rendered. 
Enter Kara.  She has inherited the ability to see the supernatural world, manipulate arcane magic, and summon demons.  Kara is a fantastic new heroine, part Rachel Morgan, part Kinsey Millhone, she's smart and observant, and occasionally losses her temper.  She's also been a loner most of her life because of her abilities, and is only just now begun to forge some tenuous friendships; One with FBI agent investigating the supernatural, Ryan (who was introduced in the first Kara book Mark of the Demon). There is a lot of romantic tension between Kara and Ryan, but I felt as though he was fighting a loosing battle when compared to the Demon Rhyzkahl (not to mention hiding some secrets of his own).
I really liked the character of Lord Rhyzkahl, or rather I should say I liked the potential of the character of Lord Rhyzkahl. In BLOOD OF THE DEMON, he is reduced to little more than a booty call--or booty summons--for Kara. He arrogantly throws out threats and we're told how scary and dangerous he is, but mostly he's the demon the girls write about on bathroom walls: For a good time, summon Lord Rhyzkahl! We get hints as to a more significant role that he should play in future books, which are deliciously promising, but I feel like he wasn't fully utilized here.
At its core, BLOOD OF THE DEMON is a well-crafted crime novel perfectly incorporated into a complex paranormal world. The police procedural details are interesting and well placed between Kara's attempts to balance her supernatural world with the mundane and the two men who draw her to each world.  The world building, characters, and satisfying love triangle give these books the potential to develop into an must read series.
Sexual Content: References to sex, a scene of semi-graphic sensuality, a long semi-graphic sex scene.
My Rating (out of 5):

Click HERE to read an excerpt of BLOOD OF THE DEMON

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Original edition (February 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055359236X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553592368
• Cover Art: Juliana Kolesova

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Book Description:

My name is Gin, and I kill people.

They call me the Spider. I'm the most feared assassin in the South -- when I'm not busy at the Pork Pit cooking up the best barbecue in Ashland. As a Stone elemental, I can hear everything from the whispers of the gravel beneath my feet to the vibrations of the soaring Appalachian Mountains above me. My Ice magic also comes in handy for making the occasional knife. But I don't use my powers on the job unless I absolutely have to. Call it professional pride.

Now that a ruthless Air elemental has double-crossed me and killed my handler, I'm out for revenge. And I'll exterminate anyone who gets in my way -- good or bad. I may look hot, but I'm still one of the bad guys. Which is why I'm in trouble, since irresistibly rugged Detective Donovan Caine has agreed to help me. The last thing this coldhearted killer needs when I'm battling a magic more powerful than my own is a sexy distraction...especially when Donovan wants me dead just as much as the enemy.

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Review:
Gin, aka the Spider, is an elite assassin for hire. As she puts it, she’s got the skills, blood doesn’t bother her, and the money is good.  She does have her own code of ethics that limit her services to the truly deserving (as well as a strict no pets, no kids policy).  When her current client double crosses her and kills someone close to her, Gin has a clear conscience in vowing revenge, and enlists the help of the only honest cop in Ashland (a metropolis in an alternate South) who has been hunting Gin ever since she killed his partner. 

I loved the thoroughness of the world building in Spider’s Bite.  Magic is common.  Some people are gifted with magical abilities tied to various elements (Stone, Ice, Earth, and Fire) and vampires, dwarves, and giants are part of the population. And I definitely think that the urban fantasy genre was ripe for a good female assassin

It should come as no surprise that Jennifer Estep is a self proclaimed fan of the show Alias.  In the opening scene of Spider’s Bite, Gin is trying to escape from an insane asylum in a way that is very reminiscent of one of my favorite episodes of Alias.  Gin had to be resourceful, patient and quick on her feet.  And as an assassin, I liked her immediately. When she wasn’t killing people?  Not quite as much.

Gin is an extremely aggressive character in every sense of the word.  Alpha with a capital ‘A.’ In her professional life, that aggression is vital. She would have died long ago without it.  In her personal life? It’s a little hard to take.

Normally I prefer at least a little romance in my urban fantasy, but I hate to say that I think Spider’s Bite would have fared better without it.  That’s not to say there actually is any romance in this book, there isn’t.  But there is a fair amount of sex.  I’m all for strong women and all that, but Gin came off as very masculine in her encounters with Detective Donovan.  Which in turn made Donovan look like a chick.  The way she objectified him, the way her fought his lust for her because of moral reasons…we’ve seen it before in a hundred other books (and movies) with the roles reversed.   It sounds like it would be a fun switch, but I found it off-putting.  On a side note this type of switch worked amazingly well in the movie Point of No Return which incidentally also featured a female assassin. So it can work, I just don’t think it did here.

What did work was the meta-narrative that was set up for the series.  The history of Gin, who killed her family and why.  It’s clear that Jennifer Estep has an endgame in mind with this series.  The next two books in the Elemental Assassin series are scheduled for release in 2010 (Web of Lies in June and Venom in October).  I’ll be looking forward to them, hopefully Gin will lighten up just a little with her personal life.  In her professional life?  She already kills.

Sexual Content: References to rape and pedophilia. Several brief but semi graphic sexual fantasies. A scene of sensuality. A sex club with vague references to people having sex in public. A brief ménage a trois. One long, graphic sex scene.

My Rating (out of 5):

Click HERE to read an excerpt of Spider’s Bite

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Pocket; Original edition (January 26, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439147973
• ISBN-13: 978-1439147979

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Book Description: Satisfaction can be found in the darkest places. From Melinda Morel, the award-winning author of Prey and Devour Vengeance has its price. But you pay for passion forever... Descended from werewolf hunters, Catherine Marais has vanquished countless of their vile kind-including the one that slaughtered her father. Her debt of blood and honor was fulfilled-but her heart is empty.
The only one who ignites Catherine's passion is Ian-a handsome, elegant vampire whose seductive touch she cannot resist. But when he offers her the dark temptation of eternal commitment to each other, Catherine must look within her heart-and her truest desires-to find the answers she seeks...

Smolder is the third in a series about the lives and adventures of some of the main characters from Devour who also continued to play a part - with some new additions - in Prey. Catherine Marais, French aristocrat, lover of the sexy vampire Ian Morgan and one of the Institut Scientifique's most relentless werewolf hunters, seems to have finally met her match when the Lupus Magnus, leader of all French werewolves, puts a contract out on her. –Melina Morel (interview with The Romance Studio).

Review: *Smolder will be released on January 5, 2010*
I’ll admit that I struggled to get through the first half dozen chapters of Smolder.  Things did pick up after that, but not nearly enough.   If you read Melina’s earlier Devour and Prey, then you’ve already met some of the many, many characters in Smolder, but its not necessary to have read it, and if its anything like Smolder, I can’t recommend it.

Countess Catherine Marais is part of an elite werewolf hunting society in France known as the Institute (get used to that word, you are going to be reading it a lot if you pick up Smolder).  When a wounded werewolf gets away and identifies her to the werewolf community she becomes #1 on their most wanted list. This new threat prompts her 200+ year old vampire lover Ian to start pressuring her to join the ranks of the undead.  Meanwhile Catherine’s partner Paul and his now wife Julie want to have a baby, but only if they can be sure it won’t be a werewolf. Throw in an unresolved side plot about cloning, an anxious werewolf leader with a nefarious past and a son with an aversion to joining the pack, and there is more then enough story going on here.  The real problem is with the writing.

There is a lot of dialogue in Smolder.  Maybe as much as 75/80% dialogue verses 25/30% description.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, if the dialogue is good.  But I would venture to say that the dialogue is arguable the weakest part of Smolder.  I found it unnatural, tedious, and cheesy in many places.

Then there are the characters.  I never felt any connection with Catherine partially because the novel is told from shifting 3rd person perspective, but more so because despite copious amounts of dialogue, very little is revealed about her as a character (except that she really likes vampire sex).  Some of the secondary characters have depth (Luc for example as the unwilling teenage werewolf), but there are way too many to keep straight especially with so many foreign names. 

I did enjoy the Romeo & Juliet-esque subplot featuring Catherine’s human niece Solange and Luc the werewolf son of the Lupas Minor, and even the scenes where Ian verbally attempts to convince Catherine to become a vampire (95% of the time, however, he tries a more carnal persuasion with lots and lots of repetitively described sex).  The main plot of the werewolves trying to kill Catherine was significantly less interesting.

Personal Pet Peeve: While the cover art for Smolder (and Melina’s two other paranormal romances) is gorgeous, apart from the wolf, it in no way reflects the actual book.  Catherine looks nothing like the model, she favors guns not swords, and she is never described wearing anything close to the leather ensemble featured on the cover.

To be clear, I didn’t hate this book.  I didn’t feel strong emotions about it at all.  And having taken a few days to consider Smolder before finishing this review, I’m having a hard time remembering anything about the book that impacted me.  So in a sense, Smolder does live up to its title if you consider that it is defined as:  to burn slowly and without a flame.  But that’s the problem: not one page has any fire.*Smolder will be released on January 5, 2010*

Sexual Content:
Lots and lots of fairly graphic sex scenes (nearly every other chapter).

Click HERE to read an excerpt of Smolder

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Disclosure: I received this ARC for review courtesy of Melina Morel

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Signet (January 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451228804
• ISBN-13: 978-0451228802

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Book Description: There's no place like home for the horrordays—unless you'd prefer a romantic midnight walk through a ghost-infested graveyard . . . or a haunted house candlelight dinner with the sexy vampire of your dreams. The (black) magical season is here—and whether it's a solstice séance gone demonically wrong with the incomparable Kim Harrison, a grossly misshapen Christmas with the remarkable Lynsay Sands, a blood-chilling-and-spilling New Year's with the wonderful Marjorie M. Liu, or a super-powered Thanksgiving with the phenomenal Vicki Pettersson, one thing is for certain: in the able hands of these exceptional dark side explorers, the holidays are going to be deliciously hellish!

My contribution to the anthology is called Six, and is set in Shanghai during Chinese New Year. Six is one of the deadliest women in China.  Trained from birth to be a warrior, a soldier for the secret police, she can handle anything, anyone.  Except for one man.  The only person who can save her soul.  If she can keep him alive.  -Marjorie M. Liu

Review:
Marjorie M. Liu's Six gives us in interesting eastern spin on vampires and necromancers during the Chinese New Year celebration. The story shifts back and forth from the perspective of Six, a Chinese government raised agent, and Joseph, a necromancer who helps Six when she is infected by a vampire.  When Six meets Joseph she has difficulty accepting the existence of the paranormal world and initially thinks he’s a terrorist, but she can’t deny what she sees and eventually agrees to help Joseph track down the terrorist cell of vampires. 

The world building was very strong here and the take on vampires as feeders of not blood but human souls was unique.  The real problem I had with this story with the character of Six.  She’s extremely distrustful and almost robotic in her behavior that I had difficulty accepting the life changing choices she made, specifically her romantic relationship with Joseph. I did not see them developing in that direction, and when they abruptly did, if felt false given Six’s detachment up until that point.

Sexual Content:
One or two (depending on how you look at it) graphic sex scenes

Click HERE to read an excerpt of "Six".

*Note* Six is part of the Holidays are Hell anthology.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harper (October 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061239097
• ISBN-13: 978-0061239090

There’s no place like home for the horrordays – unless you’d prefer a romantic midnight walk through a ghost-infested graveyard . . . or a sexy vampire of your dreams. The (black) magical season is here – and whether it’s a solstice séance gone demonically wrong with the incomparable Kim Harrison, a grossly misshapen Christmas with the remarkable Lynsay Sands, a blood-chilling-and-spilling New Year’s with the wonderful Marjorie M. Liu or a super-powered Thanksgiving with the phenomenal Vicki Pettersson, one thing is for certain: in the able hands of these exceptional dark side explorers, the holidays are going to be deliciously hellish!

My story, Run Run Rudolph!, is about Jill, the sister of Kyle from my story in Dates From Hell. It seems the problems with the destabilizer didn’t end with Claire and Kyle. Their old co-worker, John Heathcliffe, won’t let it end. He is still determined to zap a human guinea pig and then experiment on them, but now he’s set his sites on Jill. –Lynsay Sands

Review:
Run, Run, Rudolph by Lynsay Sands - I haven’t read anything by Lynsay Sands before, but I’m a little surprised that her story was included in this anthology because its basically a typical contemporary romance with an added sci-fi element. Jill gets struck with a destabilizing ray by an evil scientist and goes on the run through a parade and Christmas party with her longtime crush Nick.  Jill new superpowers include being able to take on the appearance of anyone or thing (remember the title?) that she sees.  Of course while on the run, Jill and Nick take a few breaks for a steamy make out session, and a near coupling in the parking lot.  For a story that was only 90 pages long, the sexual content felt abruptly introduced and overly emphasized.

Sexual Content:
A scene of heavy petting, a graphic sex scene that isn’t quite consummated.

Click HERE to read an excerpt of "Run, Run, Rudolph".

*Note* Run, Run, Rudolph is part of the Holidays are Hell anthology.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harper (October 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061239097
• ISBN-13: 978-0061239090
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches

Long before I fell in love with Urban Fantasy as a genre, I had heard about Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series.  And I mean that in the most disparaging sense possible.   Every time I read something about the series it was sex, sex, and more sex. The word pornography was thrown around very casually.  And as I hate it when the plot of a book serves merely as a pretense for endless sex scenes that add nothing to the story/characters, I avoided this series much in the same way that I avoid blow drying my hair in the shower. 

That is, until I read an interview given by Laurell K. Hamilton in Writer's Digest  that asked her to respond to the too much sex criticism and her response changed my mind:

WD: YOU'VE BEEN CRITICIZED FOR HAVING TOO MUCH SEX IN THE ANITA BLAKE SERIES. HOW MUCH ATTENTION DO YOU PAY TO CRITICISM? DOES IT IN ANY WAY AFFECT HOW YOU WRITE THE NEXT BOOK?

LKH: It's funny. I've never had an American tell me they were bothered by the violence in my books. In Europe they're bothered by the violence and in America they're bothered by the sex. The only downside to the sexual content is losing younger readers. Sex isn't bad; it's a deity-given gift. But I initially never wanted to put sex on paper. There isn't a real sex scene until book five. At book six I finally realized my main character was going to have sex with the man she was dating. I initially wanted to take the 1940s pan to the sky, but the camera hadn't flinched in five books. I didn't want to do it, but I thought, what does this say about me? I don't mind writing violence but flinch at writing sex.  (Click here to read the interview in its entirety).

What?  Not a single sex scene in the first five books?  This was not the Anita Blake I had heard about.   And even then its hardly the ‘sleep with anything that moves’ reputation I’d been hearing about,  so I decided to pick up the first three books in the omnibus Club Vampyre  (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Omnibus: Guilty Pleasures,The Laughing Corpse and Circus of the Damned) and guess what? No sex. There is romance of course, but primarily these are UF mysteries (think hard-boiled), and fun ones at that.  Anita is tough with as-yet unrealized potential, Jean-Claude is alpha, the world is well imagined and realistic in a paranormal sort of way, and there appears to be juicy meta-narrative arc waiting to be told in subsequent books.  Add a touch of romance and its everything I love about urban fantasies. I am prepared to jettison this series if and when they begin to live up to (or should I say down to) their bad press, but in the meantime, Go Anita!

Book Blurb for Guilty Pleasures: Anita Blake may be small and young, but vampires call her the Executioner. Anita is a necromancer and vampire hunter in a time when vampires are protected by law--as long as they don't get too nasty. Now someone's killing innocent vampires and Anita agrees--with a bit of vampiric arm-twisting--to help figure out who and why. Trust is a luxury Anita can't afford when her allies aren't human. The city's most powerful vampire, Nikolaos, is 1,000 years old and looks like a 10-year-old girl. The second most powerful vampire, Jean-Claude, is interested in more than just Anita's professional talents, but the feisty necromancer isn't playing along--yet. This popular series has a wild energy and humor, and some very appealing characters--both dead and alive.

Book Blurb for The Laughing Corpse: Millionaire Harold Gaynor wants to hire Anita Blake to raise a 283 year old corpse. Of course this kind or animation would require a white goat - a human sacrifice. Anita doesn't do human sacrifice, but Harold does not want to take no for an answer. If that wasn't bad enough Dominga Salvador wants Anita to partner with her in the zombie business, but it involves keeping the human soul trapped inside the dead body. Anita wants nothing to do with Dominga or her work, but when the voodoo queen sends something foul and rotting in her window, it is all Anita can do to survive.

Book Blurb for Circus of The Damned: A group of vampires are murdering humans. That's nothing unusual, but they are killing them with multiple bites and draining them of blood. They will rise as vampires, but they will rise as beasts - animalistic vampires that will slaughter everything in their path.
As if that wasn't enough trouble, a master vampire has come to town and wants to make Anita his human servant. New Master of the City, Jean-Claude, wants to mark Anita to keep her safe, but Anita would rather die than become a slave to any vampire. With two master vamps fighting for Anita's soul, an undead war has begun.