Title: Evil Dark Author:  Justin Gustainis Series: Occult Crimes Unit Investigation #2 Cover Art: N/A Genre: Urban Fantasy Excerpt: Yes Source: Author Reviewed by: Julia Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Angry Robot; April 24, 2012 ISBN-10: 0857661361 ISBN-13: 978-0857661364   Sexual Content: References to sex, rape, child abuse, and a threesome. Rating: Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & put this author on your watch list.

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Title: Lies & Omens Author:  Lyn Benedict Series: Shadows Inquiries #4 Cover Art: Shane Rebenschied Genre: Urban Fantasy Excerpt: No Source: Publisher Reviewed by: Julia Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Ace; April 24, 2012 ISBN-10: 1937007502 ISBN-13: 978-1937007508   Sexual Content: A sex scene. Rating: Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & put this author on your watch list.

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*This title will be released on March 27, 2012*

Title: Sacrificial Magic Author:  Stacia Kane Series: Downside Ghosts #4 Cover Art: N/A Genre: Urban Fantasy Excerpt: Yes Source: Netgalley Reviewed by: Abigail Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages Publisher: Del Rey (March 27, 2012) ISBN-10: 034552750X ISBN-13: 978-0345527509   Sexual Content: Several scenes of sensuality. One moderately graphic sex scene. Vague references to sexual abuse. Rating: Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & put this author on your watch list.

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*This title will be released on March 27, 2012*

Title: Spellcaster Author:  Cara Lynn Shultz Series: Spellbound #2 Cover Art: N/A Genre: Paranormal YA Excerpt: Yes  Source: Netgalley Reviewed by: Julia Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: Harlequin Teen; March 27, 2012 ISBN-10: 0373210507 ISBN-13: 978-0373210503   Sexual Content: Discussions of sex and references to sexual activity; kissing, make-out scenes. Rating: Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & put this author on your watch list.

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Title: Deadly is the Kiss Author:  Rhyannon Byrd Series: N/A Cover Art: N/A Genre: Paranormal Romance Excerpt: Yes Source: Netgalley Reviewed by: Julia Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: HQN Books; March 20, 2012 ISBN-10: 0373776802 ISBN-13: 978-0373776801   Sexual Content: Several sex scenes. Rating: Okay – A few good points, but with significant flaws. Library/swap/borrow if you want.

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Title: Raven Cursed Author:  Faith Hunter Series: Jane Yellowrock #4 Cover Art: N/A Genre: Urban Fantasy Excerpt: Yes Source: Publisher Reviewed by: Julia Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: Roc; January 3, 2012 ISBN-10: 0451464338 ISBN-13: 978-0451464330   Sexual Content: References to sex and rape. Rating: Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & put this author on your watch list.

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*This title will be released on July 26, 2011*

Title: Spell Bound Author: Kelley Armstrong Series: Women of the Otherworld #12 Cover Art: N/A Genre: Urban Fantasy Excerpt: Yes Source: Publisher Reviewed by: Abigail Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Dutton (July 26, 2011) ISBN-10: 0525952209 ISBN-13: 978-0525952206 Sexual Content: Kissing Rating: Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying.

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Description

At last, in the novel every Kelley Armstrong fan will need to own, all the major heroines and heroes of Otherworld are united.

It's been ten years since Bitten, the first novel in Kelley Armstrong's New York Times bestselling Otherworld series. In that time hundreds of thousands of fans have ravenously devoured the adventures of Armstrong's witches, demons, and werewolves. Now, in Spell Bound, she brings them all together for her most sweeping tale yet.

Savannah Levine is in terrible danger, and for once she's powerless to help herself. At the heartbreaking conclusion of Waking the Witch, Savannah swore that she would give up her powers if it would prevent further pain for a young orphan. Little did she know that someone would take her up on that promise.

And now, witch-hunting assassins, necromancers, half-demons, and rogue witches all seem to be after her. The threat is not just for Savannah; every member of the Otherworld might be at risk. While most of her fellow supernaturals are circling the wagons at a gathering of the council in Miami, Savannah is caught on the road, isolated from those who can protect her and unable to use her vast spell-casting talent, the thing she counts on most. In a story that will change the shape of the Otherworld forever, Armstrong gathers Elena, Clay, Paige, Lucas, Jamie, Hope, and other beloved characters, who soon learn that the greatest threat to supernaturals just may come from within.

Review

SPELL BOUND might have well been titled WOMEN OF THE OTHERWORLD: THE ALLSTARS EDITION because just about every main character from the series pops up.  Elena and Clay, Paige and Lucas, Hope and Benicio,  Jaime and Jeremy, and on and on…It’s a a fun flashback for fans of the series and it even inspired me to go back to some of the books I missed before.

As far as the story goes, SPELL BOUND picks up right on the heels of WAKING THE WITCH and for the first half of the book falls into a less than thrilling pattern: Savannah and Adam interview someone, crash at a hotel, interview someone, then crash at a different hotel.  It’s not especially exciting and there is no headway made towards the long hinted romance between these two characters.   Fortunately, things do wake up a bit for the second half and several new story threads are introduced.  My favorite involved a pregnant Hope visiting an incarcerated Jasper who is still obsessed with her…best scene in the whole book.

Unfortunately, SPELL BOUND never completely unbound.  Savannah and Adam do a lot of investigating, Savannah does  a lot of emotional running, which in turn opens the door for every other character in the book to lecture her on what it means to be an adult.  The romantic tension that built so nicely in the previous book between Adam and Savannah goes all of nowhere this time until the last few pages.  I kept thinking it would pick back up and was frustrated when instead of finally confessing her feelings, Savannah would go off and interview another suspect.  Not very satisfying.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about the Women of the Otherworld series is that you can easily hop in and out and for the most part enjoy each book without having read all the previous installments.  Not so with SPELL BOUND.  It reads very much like part two of WAKING THE WITCH and a significant portion of the plot is directly related to the events from that book.  In fact, SPELL BOUND feels like the middle of one big book.  The ending especially, since it really is more of a breaking off point that doesn’t really wrap up any of the plotlines established in either book. 

This is a great series, but SPELL BOUND, while not a bad book, is my least favorite installment since it really isn’t it’s own story.  Very little progress is made in terms of plot, romance, or even character growth.  It is inexorably connected to WAKING THE WITCH and the next Women of the Otherworld book, number thirteen, which is titled 13.  13 will be published in 2012 and will be the final book in this series.  I’ll still be sad to see this series end, but not as sad as I would have been if SPELL BOUND had been a stronger book.

Previous Books in Series	Also Reviewed By:
Bitten Stolen Dime Store Magic Industrial Magic Haunted Broken No Humans Involved Personal Demons Living with the Dead Frostbitten Waking the Witch – 4/5	Inside of a Dog A Book Obsession... Genre Go Round Reviews