Book Description: Today's hottest urban fantasy authors come together in this delicious brew that crackles and boils over with tales of powerful witches and dark magic! In Charlaine Harris' 'Bacon,' a beautiful vampire joins forces with a witch from an ancient line to find out who killed her beloved husband. In 'Seeing Eye' by Patricia Briggs, a blind witch helps sexy werewolf Tom Franklin find his missing brother - and helps him in more ways than either of them ever suspected. And in Jim Butcher's 'Last Call,' wizard Harry Dresden takes on the darkest of dark powers - the ones who dare to mess with this favorite beer. For anyone who's ever wondered what lies beyond the limits of reality, who's imagined the secret spaces where witches wield fearsome magic, come and drink deep. Let yourself fall under the spell of this bewitching collection!

Synopsis: Lia de Croissets, half-human, half-Were, isn't considered an ideal employee. But her bosses at the War Mage Corps, the supernatural community's version of a police force, have found the solution-- make her the mentor to a group of raw recruits. It's a thankless job designed to keep her busy, useful and out of trouble. And it seems to be working--until Lia receives an early morning visit from her suddenly homicidal students. The mages may be young, but they know enough to be deadly.  Lia soon finds her house in pieces and herself and her Were boyfriend, Cyrus, in little better shape.  In the end, though, it's one of the students who lies dead on the ground--from Lia's own spell.  An investigation uncovers the unsettling fact that the students were acting under a powerful illusion cast by someone with a long-standing grudge against Lia's family.  Even worse, the spell hasn't been affected by the cadets' defeat, and if it isn't lifted soon they may all die.   Only the mage who cast the spell can lift it, forcing Lia to track down an assassin with the ability to weave terrifying and very real illusions. Her Were heritage offers her some protection against these, but Lia is half-human, too.  Can she find the killer before her own mind betrays her? –KarenChance.com

Review:
The longest story in Strange Brew is Karen Chance’s Vegas Odds coming in at 56 pages.  The tale opens with a scene straight out of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.  Half-Were Lia and her boyfriend Were Cyrus destroy her house while under attack from a group of War Mages.  From there, author Karen Chance does a wonderful job of creating a world full of magic and a strong instantly likeable heroine while never letting up on the non-stop action.  This is probably my favorite story that Ms. Chance has written and I would love to spend more time in this world.

Sexual Content: A woman performs oral sex on a man in a brief scene that in not overly graphic.

*Vegas Odds is part of Strange Brew: An anthology of stories edited by P N Elrod.  I will be reviewing the other stories in this anthology in separate posts.

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Product Description:

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312383363
• ISBN-13: 978-0312383367

Throwdown Thursday is a weekly thing [hosted by The Neverending Shelf] where we tackle books with similar characters, covers, themes, etc. to determine which one rocks more. And it is up to YOU to determine the winner!

Last weeks Throwdown asked Which do you like more: Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre US vs UK cover? The winner by split decision was: The UK cover.

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In honor of The Twilight Saga: New Moon movie premiere tonight at midnight (I’ve got my ticket, do you have yours?) I’m going to start the war again: 

 

I’ll gladly admit that I’ve been firmly in the Edward camp throughout all four books (and Midnight Sun) and definitely after seeing the Twilight film.  I’ve been going back and re-reading New Moon before seeing the film adaptation so I can make a fair comparison, and guess what?  Jacob is not as easily dismissed this time.  Oh don’t get me wrong, Edward is still first in my heart, but Jacob (and I don’t mean the actor because I don’t think Taylor quite embodies the character as Stephenie wrote him) is worthy of his leading man status.  How did I miss that the first time through?  Was I so dazzled by Edward that, like Bella, I couldn’t even see what was right in front of me?  Maybe.  I can’t help but wonder if I would have realized this sooner if Jacob had been in a different world, one where he wasn’t constantly compared to the incomparable Edward (again the character not the actor, although I agree with Stephenie that Rob is the Edward she envisioned).  Either way, I’m reading him differently now.  And Bella too for that matter.  I never understood before how she could even try to love Jacob after Edward.  The whole Team Edward vs Team Jacob seemed like a moot debate before.  But I think I’m ready now to look at the question from a more objective place now.  So what are you?

Team Edward or Team Jacob?

                   

I just hit 100 followers!  So to thank all of you, I’m having another Mega Giveaway.  I love giveaways and enter as many as I personally can as often as I can.  I even win occasionally.  What I’m not so good at is remembering to cancel book orders/remove from swap wish lists the books I win.  The result:  I have quite a few duplicate books floating around my already packed-to-within-an-inch-of-their-lives bookcases.  This way, you win books and I gain some much needed bookcase real estate space. 

When I hit 50 followers, I gave away 3 books.  Now that I’m at 100 followers, I’m giving away 6 books! Half of theses books are brand new (two are even signed) the other three have been gently read. There will be three winners who get to pick two books each.  Up for grabs this time is:

 

• Dead Over Heels by MaryJanice Davidson
• Dead and Loving It by MaryJanice Davidson
• Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre
• Once Bitten by Kalayna Price
• Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
• Strange Brew Edited by P. N. Elrod

Dead Over Heels by MaryJanice Davidson

Three all-new paranormal stories of lust, laughter, and love from the New York Times bestselling author, including an original novella featuring Undead queen Betsy Taylor. With her trademark "sassy dialogue, lusty lovemaking [and] irreverent humor"* New York Times bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson delighted fans with her wickedly sexy and wildly funny anthology, Dead and Loving It-stories in which the worlds of the Wyndham Werewolves and Undead Queens collided. Now she returns to that sensual and irresistible after-dark realm of werewolves, vampires, and mermaids in three more original novellas--including an all-new Betsy Taylor novella.

Dead and Loving It by MaryJanice Davidson

USA Today bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson has enchanted readers everywhere with her delicious blend of wicked humor, sizzling sex, and totally unique vision of vampires and werewolves. In this collection of four novellas she brings her beloved Wyndham werewolves (featured in her acclaimed novel Derek's Bane) together with the vampires ruled by Betsy Taylor (from her bestselling Undead series).  Filled with equal parts of spicy heat and laugh-out-loud moments, this collection will drive Davidson's legion of fans wild with blood-pounding delight.

Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre

Corine Solomon is a handler - when she touches an object she instantly knows its history and its future. Using her ability, she can find the missing - which is why people never stop trying to find her. Like her ex-boyfriend Chance, who needs Corine's gift to find someone dear to them both. But the search proves dangerous as it leads them into a strange world of demons and sorcerers, ghosts and witchcraft, zombies - and black magic...

Once Bitten by Kalayna Price

Kita Nekai, on the run and the smallest of her shifter clan-a calico cat among lions and tigers-is being hunted. She was expected to accept her role as her father's successor whether or not her cat was up to the task of leading the clan. She disagreed. Now she's less than a step ahead of the hunters, bone-tired, cold, and living hand-to-mouth in the city of Haven. And that's the high point of her day. She's also drugged, "accidently" turned into a vampire, and sentenced to death for recklessly creating a rogue shifter who tortures its human prey. She's got seventy-two hours to find the rogue, evade a city full of hunters, prove she's not responsible for the rogue, and keep the vampire council from killing her. All while sorting out an apprentice mage, a married ex-boyfriend shifter-hunter, and the vampire who made her.

Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

Unbeknownst to mortals, a power struggle is unfolding in a world of shadows and danger. After centuries of stability, the balance among the Faery Courts has altered, and Irial, ruler of the Dark Court, is battling to hold his rebellious and newly vulnerable fey together. If he fails, bloodshed and brutality will follow. Seventeen-year-old Leslie knows nothing of faeries or their intrigues. When she is attracted to an eerily beautiful tattoo of eyes and wings, all she knows is that she has to have it, convinced it is a tangible symbol of changes she desperately craves for her own life. The tattoo does bring changes - not the kind Leslie has dreamed of, but sinister, compelling changes that are more than symbolic. Those changes will bind Leslie and Irial together, drawing Leslie deeper and deeper into the faery world, unable to resist its allures, and helpless to withstand its perils. . . .

Strange Brew by P N Elrod

Today's hottest urban fantasy authors come together in this delicious brew that crackles and boils over with tales of powerful witches and dark magic! In Charlaine Harris' 'Bacon,' a beautiful vampire joins forces with a witch from an ancient line to find out who killed her beloved husband. In 'Seeing Eye' by Patricia Briggs, a blind witch helps sexy werewolf Tom Franklin find his missing brother - and helps him in more ways than either of them ever suspected. And in Jim Butcher's 'Last Call,' wizard Harry Dresden takes on the darkest of dark powers - the ones who dare to mess with this favorite beer.
For anyone who's ever wondered what lies beyond the limits of reality, who's imagined the secret spaces where witches wield fearsome magic, come and drink deep. Let yourself fall under the spell of this bewitching collection!

GIVEAWAY GUIDELINES

Make sure you read carefully so your entry counts!

1. Open US residents only
2. Must be a follower or subscribe via email (right sidebar)
3. You must include your email - [at] [dot] is fine
4. Leave a comment telling me what you enjoy most about book blogs: reviews, giveaways, interviews etc.
5. Tell me which two books you’d like to receive and an alternate (I’ll do my best to accommodate you).
6. Entries must be received by Midnight MST on Sunday November 29th

EXTRA ENTRIES:

+2 Comment on a previous post with no comments and leave link

+3 If you already were a follower or subscriber

+4 Post this contest on your blog (provide link)

Book Description: Today's hottest urban fantasy authors come together in this delicious brew that crackles and boils over with tales of powerful witches and dark magic! In Charlaine Harris' 'Bacon,' a beautiful vampire joins forces with a witch from an ancient line to find out who killed her beloved husband. In 'Seeing Eye' by Patricia Briggs, a blind witch helps sexy werewolf Tom Franklin find his missing brother - and helps him in more ways than either of them ever suspected. And in Jim Butcher's 'Last Call,' wizard Harry Dresden takes on the darkest of dark powers - the ones who dare to mess with this favorite beer. For anyone who's ever wondered what lies beyond the limits of reality, who's imagined the secret spaces where witches wield fearsome magic, come and drink deep. Let yourself fall under the spell of this bewitching collection!

Review:
I’ve read several books in Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden series (I’m looking forward to starting her Morganville Vampire series soon too), so I expected something good from this talented writer and that’s exactly what I got with Death Warmed Over.  Witch Holly Caldwell is not that dissimilar to early Anita Blake: both occasionally work with the police to raise the dead.  This time, the case intimately affects Holly in more ways than one because the dead man they want her to raise has been raised before, and when Holly lost Andrew last time, she lost her heart as well. 

My only disappointment with Death Warmed Over is that it appears to be the only Holly and Andrew story that Rachel has written (please let me know if I’m wrong).  I thought for sure reading it that it was the second story featuring these characters.  I hope Rachel does write more about Holly because she does have that early Anita vibe that I love so much.  There is more of a romantic focus in this story but it doesn’t overshadow the paranormal elements.  Death is easily one of the best in this anthology. 

Sexual Content: None

*Death Warmed Over is part of Strange Brew: An anthology of stories edited by P N Elrod.  I will be reviewing the other stories in this anthology in separate posts.

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Product Description:

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• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312383363
• ISBN-13: 978-0312383367

Book Description: Kita Nekai, on the run and the smallest of her shifter clan—a calico cat among lions and tigers—is being hunted. She was expected to accept her role as her father’s successor whether or not her cat was up to the task of leading the clan. She disagreed. Now she’s less than a step ahead of the hunters, bone-tired, cold, and living hand-to-mouth in the city of Haven. And that’s the high point of her day. She’s also drugged, "accidently" turned into a vampire, and sentenced to death for recklessly creating a rogue shifter who tortures its human prey. She’s got seventy-two hours to find the rogue, evade a city full of hunters, prove she’s not responsible for the rogue, and keep the vampire council from killing her. All while sorting out an apprentice mage, a married ex-boyfriend shifter-hunter, and the vampire who made her.

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Review: 
A Dhampir is a half vampire/half human, but what do you call a half vampire/half were?  Well, if your Kaylana Price, you call her Kita, or as the men in her life call her, Kitten. Kita is a Shifter who can turn into a cat.  Thinking herself and her alter ego calico too weak to take over for her father as the leader of the other Shifters of Firth, Kita escapes to the human world city of Haven and goes on the run from Hunters who would return her home.  After a slow start, the story picks up when Kita eventually runs into her ex-boyfriend/Hunter Bobby, accidentally gets turned into a Vampire by the Hermit Nathaniel, and becomes the research subject for a student Mage named Gil.  This motley crew then gets recruited by a Judge who threatens to turn Kita and her friends over to a bunch of demons if they don’t track down a rogue Shifter/rapist (who Kita may have a connection to) within 48 hours.  Sound confusing?  Well it is. Not in the sense that you won’t understand what is happening, but you won’t know why because the world building of Once Bitten is never fully built.

This lack of world building wasn’t as frustrating early on when we first meet Kita and learn that she can turn into a cat etc. because we expect all the details of her world to be explained later.  And while some things are explained, like Kita’s history with Bobby, others like the world Kita comes from, never are.  Is Firth a magically hidden world?  Is it an alternate dimension?  What about Haven?  Is that a city on Earth or some other planet? Then there are the vampire, demon, and mages.  Do they all come from the same world? What are their rules?  We get a glimpse of the Vampire society towards the end of Once Bitten, (and it’s something of a cross between Kim Harrison’s vamps and the Volturi from Twilight) but it is all too brief and ends up raising more questions then it answers. 

Kita herself is an interesting character and the conflict she felt over the romantic feelings she still harbored for her mated (married) ex along with the burgeoning feelings she was developing for Nathaniel were realistically portrayed and easily the most compelling aspects of Once Bitten.   But the handful of other characters were fairly one dimensional.  Gil, for example, was supposed to be the eager, goofy sidekick who I constantly forgot about the moment she left the page.  I still don’t remember why she showed up in the first place (and I read the book today) and the reason she stuck around was pretty flimsy.

Normally it can be a good thing when a book leaves you asking questions because then you are motivated to pick up the next book.  Not this time.  I stopped being curious about this Kitten long before I reached the end of Once Bitten.  I still have a lot of questions, but I have very little motivation to seek out the answers in future Haven novels.

Sexual Content: Character’s pass through a vampire sex club, but nothing is graphically described.  References to a rapist.

Click here to read an excerpt of Once Bitten

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Bell Bridge Books (January 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0980245397
• ISBN-13: 978-0980245394

Disclosure:  I received this book for review courtesy of Bell Bridge Books