Schrödinger's Bookshelf

Schrödinger's Bookshelf

Archive for category Romance

Succubus Dreams, by Richelle Mead (Kensington, 2008)

Jul 26

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Divine/Infernal Beings, Romance, Urban Fantasy | No Comments

Even though she’s got the boyfriend of her dreams (fan-favorite writer Seth Mortensen), and a day job she loves (managing a Seattle bookstore), Georgina Kincaid’s life is anything but wine and roses. Maybe, just maybe, it’s because she’s really a succubus, tasked with seducing men and damning their souls to Hell, and she can’t consummate her relationship with Seth lest she kill him by accident. Maybe it’s because her demonic superiors are getting on her case about not paying enough attention to the job, and the imp who originally brought her into the “business” has shown up in Seattle with an inept new succubus he wants Georgina to mentor. Or maybe it’s because she’s having weird dreams of a happy, content, normal future that leave her drained when she wakes up. Any of these things would be bad enough; all of them at once is a recipe for disaster.

As Georgina’s relationship with Seth frays around the edges due to stress and lack of time spent together, she digs into the mystery of her strange dreams, even as she attempts to train Tawny, who may just be the worst succubus to ever fail at seducing a man. But Georgina quickly realizes that whatever is going on in the Emerald City is bigger and badder than she anticipated, especially when a host of heavenly agents show up and start doing mysterious things on the periphery of the action. Even enlisting the aid of Dante, a dream interpreter with a dark past and a sordid nature, doesn’t make things any less complicated. Something out there is using Georgina as part of a dangerous, demonic agenda, and if she doesn’t do something drastic, there’ll be Hell to pay.

The third installment in the adventures of Georgina Kincaid, Succubus Dreams follows our heroine as her routine is twisted into knots, as she finds it impossible to separate her personal and professional lives, and as she learns the price for getting too attached to people. Richelle Mead really does a great job of putting the screws to Georgina’s contentment. As always, she draws from a variety of mythological sources to paint a picture of a supernatural-infested Seattle, where angels and demons go about their business with nary a mortal realizing. And Mead injects the series with a sense of unpredictability as she throws a wrench into the loving relationship built up between Georgina and Seth in the first two books, leaving things wide open for the future.

There’s a lot to like about this series, from its mixture of romance and mystery, to the memorable characters and ever-unpredictable plot, and Succubus Dreams has all of those things in ample supply. And as one might expect from a series starring a (reluctant) succubus, there are some pretty steamy points as well, when Georgina’s forced to turn on the “charm,” either for work or for more private reasons. Mead manages to keep it sexy and hot without letting it slide into sleazy, which is always a risk when you’re dealing with soul-sucking Hellspawn.

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Speak of the Devil, by Jenna Black (Dell, 2009)

Jul 26

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Divine/Infernal Beings, LGBTQ Interest, Romance, Urban Fantasy | No Comments

Here’s the scoop: exorcist Morgan Kingsley is being sued by a father who blames her for an exorcism that left his son brain-dead. Her license has been suspended, she’s been living out of a suitcase ever since her home was burned down, and the exiled king of the demons is illegally living in her body. Her boyfriend is upset with her for having both trust and secrecy issues, and the only people she can count upon are the people she fears and distrusts the most. It’s clear that someone’s trying to destroy her life, and Morgan’s had enough of that, thank you very much. If she can’t figure out who has it in for her, and why, she’ll be in real trouble … and for once it’s not someone trying to kill her because of Lugh, her unwelcome guest. But with her personal life already in shambles, how much more does Morgan have to lose? Plenty. Here’s hoping she can hold it together long enough to survive.

I’ll be honest. I don’t keep returning to this series – four books and counting – because I like the main character. Morgan’s a self-absorbed, irritating person, the sort who invariably makes life much harder for herself than it needs to be. She constantly alienates and abuses everyone who might be willing and able to help her, drives away her allies, and tosses common sense and self-preservation out the window on a regular basis. It’s hard to imagine how she’s lasted this long. No, I’m here because of the supporting cast, and specifically for Adam and Dominic. It’s pretty damn rare to find such a positive portrayal of a loving, committed homosexual BDSM-practicing couple in any series outside of the erotic section, and their presence more than makes up for Morgan’s shortcomings. While they’re used, at least a little, for titillation (this series does not shy away from erotic moments), they’re also in a functional, sane relationship, one presented as healthy and matter-of-fact, even if some aspects of what they do squicks the main character. I think Adam and Dominic could headline a book of their own, especially since Adam’s a cop hosting a demon and Dominic’s a mortal with a passion for cooking. Another breakout supporting character is Barbara “Barbie” Paget, a private investigator who plays a large part in the events of this book, for good and for bad. Again, she seems like she’d be a great lead at some point.

But what about the plot, you ask. Here I’ve been going on and on about the characters, but the plot? Well, it’s pretty much as described above: someone’s systematically destroying aspects of Morgan’s personal life, including her career and her relationships, and it has almost nothing to do with the overarching plot involving Lugh and his slow struggle to defeat his usurper brother and regain his throne in the Demon Realm. While there’s some small progression in terms of character growth and adding new elements to the mix, there’s not much made towards what I’ve always considered to be the real plot of the series. Maybe I’m missing the larger picture and where this fits in, or maybe it’s more of a plot detour. I guess we’ll see. Meanwhile, throughout the course of this book, Morgan does, what else, everything she can to sabotage her own chances of success, including ditching her allies/bodyguards at every opportunity and shooting herself in the legal foot. It’s frustrating to watch a protagonist go through so much trouble when a touch of patience, understanding, and trust would have saved her the grief.

But you know what? I’ll be here for the next book in the series anyway. Perhaps in morbid fascination, I have to see how this turns out, and of course, I want to see the supporting cast get more time in the sun. They’re what makes this series memorable, as far as I’m concerned. Before I wrap this up, let me reiterate: this is by no means a bad book, or a bad series, for all that I’ve got some major complaints. Black lures me back with each new volume because there’s a lot of potential here, and some solidly enjoyable underpinnings to the series. Speak of the Devil still has plenty going for it, enough to keep fans happy at the very least.

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Soulless, by Gail Carriger (Orbit, 2009)

Jul 26

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Historical, LGBTQ Interest, Romance, Shapeshifters, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Wizards, Mages and Spellcasters | No Comments

Miss Alexia Tarabotti is not your average young lady. At twenty-six and unmarried, her chances of finding a prospective husband are almost nil. Worse still, she’s half-Italian and her coloring quite definitely takes after that side of the family. Olive skin is -so- out, after all. Worst of all, she has no soul. As a so-called, and extraordinarily rare, preternatural, she can negate the supernatural qualities of werewolves and vampires with but a touch, a fact she keeps to herself as much as possible. After all, proper ladies don’t go around touching the undead willy-nilly, no matter how accepted they are in British society.

When a strange vampire attacks Alexia at a party, she quite sensibly defends herself, accidentally staking the vampire in the process. The ensuing mess brings her into contact with Lord Maccon, a Scottish werewolf who works for the Bureau of Unnatural Registry, who’s had a bone to pick with Miss Tarabotti ever since a certain incident involving a hedgehog. This sets off a bizarre and unconventional series of events involving Alexia, Lord Maccon, an American scientist, and the so-very-flamboyant vampire Lord Akeldama. It seems that packless werewolves and solitary vampires have been disappearing, while fledging vampires are turning up with disturbing frequency, their origins a mystery. When people try to kidnap Alexia, Lord Maccon decides to see to her protection personally. But can they stop arguing long enough to figure out what’s going on? And at what point will propriety be thrown out the window in favor of expediency?

Soulless is charming, whimsical, and splendid. Part comedy of manners, part Regency send-up, part urbane fantasy, part alternate history, part steampunk, it’s a beautiful blending of disparate elements that’s bound to appeal to a wide range of readers. With its wry, tongue-in-cheek tone and a thoroughly plausible worldview, it’s easy to fall into the story and get swept up in the action. Alexia Tarabotti is a heroine to admire, a saucily-independent, feisty young woman who addresses every situation with her unique mixture of common sense and proper manners. Her constant foil and occasional romantic interest, Lord Maccon, is a gentleman and a werewolf, and it’s no wonder that opposites attract and sparks fly every time they’re together. (Honestly? Miss Tarabotti and Lord Maccon are one of the cutest, most adorable, most entertaining, most natural couples I’ve seen in a long time, and their interactions fill me with a glee bordering on guilty pleasure.) Lord Akeldama makes for one heck of a memorable supporting character, stealing every scene he’s in with a colorful swish that would be the envy of any drag queen, while still maintaining that immortal presence one expects of a centuries-old vampire.

This book overflows with a sense of wonder and unapologetic playfulness, starting with the first page (…she had retreated to the library, her favorite sanctuary in any house, only to happen upon an unexpected vampire…) and continuing right up to the very end. In lesser hands, the clever banter and self-aware tone could have been cutesy, twee, or just plain groan-inducing; Gail Carriger rises above those pitfalls to give us something rich and delightful and thoroughly appealing. I simply must insist upon more, and the sooner the better.

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Ravenous, by Sharon Ashwood (Signet Eclipse, 2009)

Jul 26

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Romance, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Wizards, Mages and Spellcasters | No Comments

She’s a witch. He’s a vampire. Together and separately, they bust ghosts, cleanse haunted houses, and deal with the other paranormal weirdness that’s come into public view ever since the supernatural community revealed itself at the turn of the century. Holly Carver and Alessandro Caravelli have a great partnership going, one unencumbered by romance or deeper ties. After all, Holly’s got a nice, normal boyfriend, and Alessandro doesn’t get involved with his meals. Of course, things can always change.

A routine house cleansing turns ugly when they discover there’s far more to the situation than meets the eye, signaling the start of a deadly new case . . . and an alteration in the boundaries of their friendship and partnership. A demon has escaped into our world, and the last person to successfully fight it was Holly’s ancestor, who died in the process. With much of her greater magical ability still blocked after a childhood incident, Holly will have to dig deep into her untapped potential, and deal with some very painful moments, if she’s to have any chance of surviving the troubles ahead. Alessandro’s got his own problems, though: Omara, his vampire queen, is in town and commanding both his loyalty and attention, at a time when he’s growing more and more attracted to Holly. And Omara’s problem may just be tied into the matter of the escaped demon.

Can this star-crossed, mismatched couple of vampire and witch overcome everything that stands between, and against them, in order to embrace their newfound attraction to one another, or will they be torn apart by duty and demons? It all depends on who you ask.

Ravenous is a splendid new offering in the paranormal romance field. Sharon Ashwood has offered up a setting that starts with the simplest, most logical of twists — what if the supernatural community went public just because it was easier than trying to stay hidden in the modern world — and moves on from there. Holly and Alessandro are a likeable pair with genuine chemistry; the sparks flying between them practically leap off the page and singe the reader’s fingers. It’s hard not to root for them, even though Ashwood tosses some rather appealing alternatives into the mix, in the form of various secondary characters. Omara herself, the age-old vampire queen, possesses an intriguing mix of vulnerability and sensuality, giving us an amoral immortal bloodsucker you just want to hug and reassure. Detective Conall Macmillan, a cop who gets inadvertently caught up in things, has plenty going from him, a workaholic who secretly cooks in his spare time. Ashwood clearly excels at creating these characters, and it’s not hard to guess who just might take center stage in her next book.

As an urban fantasy, Ravenous delivers a fast-paced, sharp-edged story that avoids predictability, and I’m quite intrigued at the way she brings the idea of an extradimensional prison for demons and other nasties into play here. I look forward to seeing her explore the setting in future volumes. As a paranormal romance, it’s definitely got a lot going for it, from the amazing chemistry between the characters to the page-scorching moments of eroticism that blaze to life every now and again, from the merest kiss to more in-depth encounters. Ashwood has an exquisite way with words, something that sets her apart from many of her genre-peers, and I’ll definitely be picking up her future releases.

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Rogue, by Rachel Vincent (Mira 2008)

Jul 26

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Romance, Shapeshifters, Urban Fantasy | No Comments

As part of making peace with her father, one of the most powerful werecats in North America, Faythe Sanders has taken on the job as one of his enforcers. With her partner/boyfriend Marc, she helps to keep unaffiliated werecats — strays — from trespassing in their Pride’s territory, which encompasses a great deal of south-central America. It’s not what she wants, but as one of the very few female werecats around, she’s obliged to serve the Pride. However, when dead strays start turning up in their territory, Faythe realizes that there’s something going on, and the answers won’t make anyone happy. Guided by one anonymous phone call after another, she and the other enforcers turn up a series of dead werecats, as though someone’s on a journey and leaving corpses in their wake. But what does this have to do with a number of missing human women? And why is Faythe’s ex-boyfriend, a man she hasn’t seen since she left college months ago, now leaving her increasingly bizarre, threatening phone calls? Murderers, mysteries, grudges and indiscretions, they’re all converging on Faythe just when she’s trying to figure out her future. Marc’s getting serious, and Faythe’s not sure she’s ready for that level of commitment. . . .

There’s a lot happening in Rogue, but it all ties together as the story progresses, and not always in predictable ways. At times it feels like the characters were making some convenient leaps of logic, but in general, the underlying mysteries were fairly well laid-out. There were enough surprises planted along the way to keep the reader from getting complacent, and the addition of several new characters into the mix helps to spice things up. Unfortunately, the part of the story that didn’t work for me is the relationship between Faythe and Marc. He’s a little too demanding when it comes to reassurance and emotional reciprocity, and too quick to take things the wrong way, while she’s a bit too self-absorbed and unwilling to compromise on the important issues. Naturally, this makes for a lot of arguing and hurt feelings, and their relationship just doesn’t seem like one that could last long-term without some serious work on both their parts. I hope we see some more growth in this area if they’re meant to be the central couple in a series that’s as much romance as it is urban fantasy. Faythe wins points in my book, however, for ‘fessing up when she realizes she’s the inadvertent cause of a major problem, rather than trying to hide her suspicions. It bodes well that she’s willing to accept the consequences, though we won’t find out just what happens as a result until the next book.

Rachel Vincent has created an interesting, if somewhat stylized, society for her werecats to inhabit, where the males vastly outnumber the females, and the females are supposedly relegated to breeding and status symbols, and not much more. It’s clear that there’s more to it than that, but we’re still getting the information in bits and pieces. We get to see Faythe’s mother in action, which is a nice change of pace, and another moment of revelation, for us and Faythe.

I’ll definitely pick up the third in the series, if just to see how Faythe deals with the consequences of her actions, and to see if she and Marc have any chance at a lasting, loving, relationship after all. It’ll likewise be nice to see more of the werecat world, and how it works on a grander scale. Rogue, like Stray before it, is a perfectly pleasant paranormal romance, and the use of werecats as its central conceit helps to distinguish it from others in the field. I enjoyed it.

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Pride, by Rachel Vincent (Mira, 2009)

Jul 26

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Romance, Shapeshifters, Urban Fantasy | No Comments

In the werecat world, there are three ironclad laws which mean a death sentence if violated. No infecting humans and turning them into werecats. No revealing the existence of werecats to the outside world, under any circumstance. And no murder. Faythe Sanders is on trial for breaking two of these laws, ever since it was discovered she’d accidentally infected her ex-boyfriend back in college, abandoning him to his fate and killing him when he finally tracked her down for some payback of his own. Of course, in Faythe’s defense, she didn’t even know it was possible to infect him the way she had, and the death was entirely self-defense. Unfortunately, now she has to convince a tribunal of her innocence, and there’s every indication that they want her to fail, all part of werecat politics. Things aren’t looking too good . . . that is, until the proceedings are disrupted by the arrival of an extraordinarily rare werebear who wants to know what the werecats plan to do about a rogue pack of their own killing hikers and making a ruckus in his territory.

Investigating this mess, Faythe and her family discover a stray tabby, a teenage werecat female who’s pretty much gone feral in the wilderness and knows next to nothing of the werecat world . . . a state of affairs literally unheard of in their tight-knit society. Worse still, there’s still that pack of killer werecats prowling the area, and they have their sights set squarely upon claiming the tabby for their own. Can Faythe, her estranged lover Marc, and the others save the tabby, stop the killers, and appease the werebear, all without revealing their existence to the world? And will it be enough to commute Faythe’s death sentence? No matter what happens, Faythe’s love life may never be the same again, as those werecat politics lead to some unsettling changes around her.

This series has taken some interesting turns thus far, and Pride continues that trend. I’m not sure if it’s a strength or a weakness that some of the major plot points this time around hinge upon things that the werecats consider impossible until proven otherwise. After all, it doesn’t speak well of werecat society that there can be so much about their own nature they either don’t know or have dismissed as myth. However, that’s a minor speed bump of plausibility in an otherwise engaging story. Faythe’s continuing maturation and acceptance both of responsibility and consequences provides a nice undercurrent to the overall mystery and action that takes up the majority of the plot. Rachel Vincent keeps introducing fascinating secondary characters, such as the stray tabby, Kaci, and the reclusive werebear, Elias Kellar, and I hope we’ll see more of them as the series continues. Sadly, Faythe’s on-again, off-again relationship with Marc remains frustrating — one wants to lock them in a room together and make them talk about their respective issues and stop being idiots about the whole thing.

While I may have my complains about this series, and this book in particular, I can’t deny thoroughly enjoying it overall. Maybe I’m just a sucker for werecats, but it’s certainly a fun exploration of the concept, and I’m looking forward to Faythe’s next set of adventures.

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Jinx, by Jennifer Estep (Berkley Sensation, 2008)

Jul 26

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Romance, Science Fiction, Superheroes | No Comments

In the city of Bigtime, New York, superheroes and ubervillains are a common phenomenon, sightings of them almost routine. With costumed stalwarts such as the Fearless Five, Johnny Angel, Swifte, or even Granny Cane prowling the streets to keep them safe from all sorts of dangers, it seems like you can’t walk a block without tripping over one four-color character or another. Bella Bulluci knows this all too well; her brother is the current Johnny Angel, motorcycle-riding champion of justice, and thanks to his recent marriage to Fiona “Fiera” Fine, pyrokinetic member of the Fearless Five, Bella’s been tripping over superheroes left and right. Literally. Bella’s got her own superhuman power, an uncontrollable ability to manipulate probability for better or worse, and it’s been making her life miserable for as long as she can remember, with things breaking, burning up, or exploding at the most inopportune times. Bella wants as little to do with the superheroic life as possible, preferring to focus on her career as a fashion designer and occasional would-be artist. But what she wants is not what she gets, when the museum gala she’s planning runs into a few snags. Before she can blink, she has the teleporting playboy of Bigtime, Debonair, wooing her, and the vicious ubervillain known as The Hangman threatening her, with a priceless gem up for grabs.

Now poor Bella is right smack in the middle of the life she never wanted, struggling with a fast-growing attraction for the enigmatic Debonair, who’s definitely not all he seems to be. He’s got the hots for her, but what bizarre secrets is he hiding? And how can Bella ever bring herself to trust a superhero, when that lifestyle got her father killed and has brought her nothing but misery? Who is The Hangman, and what do he and his partner Prism want with the fabled Blue Sapphire? Can Bella overcome a lifetime of antipathy for superheroes, and her own uncontrollable powers, to help save Bigtime from possible destruction? Even with the help of the Fearless Five and Bigtime’s resident explosives expert, Bella’s going to be in for the adventure of a lifetime . . . and quite possibly a love affair like none she ever imagined. Will Debonair stop stealing paintings long enough to steal her heart?

Jinx is the third in Jennifer Estep’s surprisingly entertaining series about Bigtime, a city where comic book action goes hand-in-hand with romance and adventure. While the overall tone is somewhat light-hearted, it’s quite clear that Estep takes her comic book conventions quite seriously, borrowing all of the great tropes to flesh out her setting. From the prolific use of double initials for the main characters (Bella Bulluci, Devlin Dash, Sam Sloane) to the gizmos, gadgets and secret hideouts, Estep invokes old-school superhero comics, all the while avoiding any direct parallels to the big-name superheroes — no Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman analogues to be found here. Speaking as a comic book fan, I could very easily see this setting work as a comic series. It may come off as a little hokey, even satirical, with characters such as Halitosis Hal, Cap’n Freebeard and his Saucy Wenches, or Granny Cane roaming the streets, but it’s fun and charming in its earnesty, and it holds together at its core. What more can you ask for a setting that juggles the double requirements of superhero comic books and romance happily-ever-afters?

The characters themselves are sympathetic and suitably complex. Bella’s a flawed heroine with some real issues to work out, but we get to see her change, grow, and work past or through them in the course of the story, even if it’s much like throwing someone in the deep end of the pool to teach them how to swim. What’s important is that her character is honest, and we can feel the pain and emotional struggles she deals with, from the loss of her father to her hatred of the superhero life to her hate/fear/uneasy acceptance of her power, to the conflicting feelings she experiences whenever Debonair is around. Debonair himself is a mixed bag of confidence and insecurity, charm and eagerness, style and image, and as we learn, he’s definitely got a lot going on below the surface. The chemistry these two exude when together is almost tangible, and Estep’s really given us a couple worth rooting for. This being a romance, and one with a comic edge to it at that, it’s pretty obvious what’s coming a lot of the time, especially where the ending is concerned. Luckily, even though some things are telegraphed from fairly early on, there are a few surprises that will likely catch even an experienced reader off guard.

I’ve loved this series so far, and have grown quite fond of the setting and the characters. Jinx is quite enjoyable, a worthy installment to the Bigtime Books. Estep demonstrates an admirable adeptness at blending genres, respecting the demands of superhero comics and romances without missing a beat, all the while maintaining a sense of humor. I hope the next book isn’t too far behind.

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Hands of Flame, by C.E. Murphy (Luna, 2008)

Jul 26

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Dragons, Romance, Urban Fantasy, Vampires | No Comments

Ever since she was drawn into the world of the Old Races, supernatural creatures dwelling in secret alongside humanity, lawyer Margrit Knight has risked life and limb for them. Time and again, she’s gone up against immensely powerful beings, negotiating and making deals, putting her reputation, career, and very life on the line. Along the way, she’s fallen in love with the noble, tormented gargoyle Alban Korund, giving her heart to him even though their relationship defies sanity and logic. She’s dealt with the dragon crime lord Janx, and the vampire businessman Eliseo Daisani, two bitter rivals locked together in eternal competition. She’s negotiated with the selkies, defied the djinn, haggled with the urban vigilante Grace O’Malley, and placed herself right in the middle of a war brewing between the five races, overturning ancient laws and challenging their oldest customs. And now everything is coming to a head, with plans put in motion and tensions at their highest. The djinn seek vengeance for the death of one of their own, the selkies seek power over the criminal underworld, Janx and Daisani continue their never-ending feud, and the gargoyles gather to decide, once and for all, the fate of Alban Korund, guilty of breaking their most sacred laws. But not for anything is Margrit Knight, called Grit, now known as the Negotiator.

As Margrit fights for the life of her beloved Alban, she also has to keep her mortal friends and loved ones safe. As the last days of her job with Legal Aid dwindle, she both anticipates and dreads her new employment with Daisani. With favors owed and debts to be paid, she’s placed in a number of unenviable positions, forced to work both with and against Janx, Daisani, the selkies, the djinn, the gargoyles, and her ex-boyfriend. Allegiances shift and mysteries abound, secrets are revealed, and promises broken. In the middle as always, Margrit Knight is both catalyst and fulcrum, upon which the fates of five races and their presence in New York rest.

C.E. Murphy wraps up the Negotiator trilogy with Hands of Flame, a roller coaster of a ride that starts off strong and rockets right to the end. There’s a lot going on, with numerous factions all vying for domination, each one with its own agenda and set of alliances, and it’s fascinating to watch the give and take as they make deals and allow concessions, usually with Margrit manipulating or influencing things along the way. It’s a fairly complex, intense storyline, and Murphy does an excellent job of keeping all the balls in the air. Every time you think one thing is wrapped up, something else explodes, making it hard to put the book down, as the five different races and a few unaffiliated extras all collide in new and interesting ways. In the process, quite a few things brought up in the first two books are addressed, explained, and elaborated upon, with a few more mysteries introduced for good measure.

I’d be lax if I didn’t touch upon Margrit. She’s a feisty, gutsy heroine, wholly capable of taking care of herself and more than ready to go up against forces greater than herself if need be. With metaphorical balls of steel, she tackles tricky negotiations between dragons, vampires, djinn, selkies, gargoyles and more without batting an eyelash, never letting them see her sweat. Watching her work is a treat, and an exercise in amazement, especially since she has this habit of surviving every encounter . . . or almost always, anyway. She gets extra points for being a non-Caucasian heroine, without being a token, stereotype, or pointed example.

Janx and Daisani may be one of my favorite pairs of mortal enemies/distinguished competition to cross my desk in years. They’re both immensely dangerous in their respective ways, honorable, cunning, unrelenting, and personable, able to work from behind a veneer of civility. Call them bad guys if you will, but the two of them, either separate or together, have a hell of a dynamic going on, and steal the show whenever they’re onscreen. Murphy adeptly avoids humanizing them too much, and no one’s ever going to mistake Daisani for the watered-down brooding Byronic wannabes that populate so many vampire romances. Murphy’s take on the secretive supernatural races is appealing and fascinating, and I’m actually a little disappointed that this is the last we’ll see of the Old Races for the time being.

There’s a lot to enjoy about this book. The plot is strong and fast-paced, the descriptions are evocative and powerful (especially during the scenes when Margrit is exploring the shared memories of the gargoyles, a major plot point), and the characters are fun to watch in action. Overall, this has been an excellent trilogy, and Hands of Flame is a more than worthy wrap-up to the story, easily one of Murphy’s best works to date. This makes for great urban fantasy. And despite it being part of Harlequin’s Luna imprint, there’s very little romance to be found, save in the form of Margrit’s ongoing love affair with Alban, which sees a few bumps and snags this time around, but nothing insurmountable. In fact, I’d have to say that with their romance pretty much settled in previous books, Murphy felt safe to put it on the back burner while she attacked the greater needs of the overall plot, which is fine by me. There’s enough happening as it is that we don’t need further emotional conflict between the romantic leads. The end result is one hell of a high-octane conclusion to the trilogy, making for a series that’s well worth reading. Tired of cookie-cutter treatments of vampires and werewolves? Here’s a breath of fresh air.

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The Devil’s Due, by Jenna Black (Dell Spectra, 2008)

Jul 26

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Divine/Infernal Beings, Romance, Urban Fantasy | No Comments

The worst thing any exorcist can do is secretly harbor a demon inside of her. Especially an illegally summoned one. Worse still is when said demon is Lugh, exiled king of the demons, and some very powerful forces are looking to find and kill him. Morgan Kingsley has established an uneasy truce with Lugh, though she’s none too pleased nor comfortable with the arrangement, which sees him visiting her in her dreams and occasionally using her body . . . with and without her permission. She’s paid a heavy toll so far, with her life thrown into upheaval and her family torn apart, and as far as she can tell, things are just getting worse.

But a girl has to eat and pay bills, and so Morgan takes on a job. It seems that the son of a prominent Philadelphian couple has gotten himself possessed by a demon. Given that he was, until very recently, quite anti-demon, everything smacks of illegal possession. Morgan looks into things, and quickly finds herself pulled into a nasty, messy situation. Forced to increasingly rely on allies she doesn’t fully trust, pushed far beyond her comfort zones, and knowing that innocent lives are on the line, it’s everything Morgan can do not to bury this case and head for the hills. But not even she can turn her back on missing children, or the few people she calls friends. But what will it cost her this time?

I’m honestly torn when it comes to this series. Three books in, and I’ve got a pretty good feel for how it’s going. I really enjoy it, enough to pick up each new book as it comes out, and I think there’s a great premise and an intriguing storyline running throughout the series. The more we learn about the ways the mortal and demon worlds interact, the secrets of the demons, and the shadowy conspiracies that seem to be playing both sides against the middle, the more I want to see what happens next. I have to wonder who Morgan will end up with ultimately: her human boyfriend, or Lugh, both of whom have an appeal for her, both of whom have interest in her. I’m not sure which I’d prefer, and it’s that ambiguity and uncertainty, in part, that keeps me coming back for more. You can’t call it a romance, for all that there are those undertones.

I love the fact that two of the supporting characters are a rather functional, affectionate, dedicated gay couple. Sure, the one is a demon-possessed cop, the other is a mortal ex-firefighter, and they have some fairly kinky BDSM-flavored fun going on, but hey, they’re still cute together, and quite likeable. Heck, I wouldn’t mind seeing a book told from their point of view.

So what’s my problem? The main character. Morgan Kingsley herself, the point-of-view protagonist. I’ve lost number of the times I want to shake her until she gets over herself. She’s whiny, indecisive, hypocritical, self-absorbed, and downright rude to the people best suited to help her. She’s her own worst enemy, sabotaging plans with her inability to compromise or cope with the situation. Sure, she may be justified for some of it, but it’s hard to remain sympathetic to a character who just won’t budge. The more she drives away potential allies and friends, the more I hope they’ll leave her to her own devices until she gets the wake-up call she needs. And this is three books’ worth of annoyance, here. This series would be so much better if the main character matured and opened her mind a little more. All the ingredients are there: premise, setting, plotline, action, romance, and even some rather spicy moments, but the series hasn’t quite grasped its potential.

As for this particular book, The Devil’s Due? I enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun, and I’m always interested in seeing how the storyline progresses, as we’ve seen some fascinating revelations, and some disturbing implications along the way. However, it felt a little bit like it was a stepping stone towards the next in the series, as though Jenna Black is aiming at something big down the line, and this was just all part of getting there. It’s a good book, but taken on its own merits, not spectacular. It works better when viewed as part of the series as a larger story. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next!

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Deader Still, by Anton Strout (Ace, 2009)

Jul 26

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Romance, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Wizards, Mages and Spellcasters | No Comments

As an agent for New York’s Department of Extraordinary Affairs, Simon Canderous is used to all sorts of weird things, from killer books to evil cultists to unquiet apparitions. But even he has a lot to learn, as he discovers in his latest case. It all starts with a pit full of magically-conjured rats, courtesy of a Department test gone awry, and escalates after an entire boatful of bloodless lawyers turns up. (Go ahead, cue the lawyer jokes.) But what looks like the first vampire incursion in 737 days may just be something weirder, and far more personal, as more facts turn up.

As Simon tries to get to the bottom of things, his private life is thrown into chaos by the arrival of an unwelcome face from his criminal past, an ex-colleague who wants his help in one final heist. But her presence only serves to further destabilize Simon’s relationship with his girlfriend Jane, an evil cultist turned Department agent in her own right. Can he fight evil, steal a painting, battle zombie hordes, and still keep the girl, or will he wind up dead in a madman’s revenge-fueled artistic death trap, all before the paperwork on the vampire case dries? And just what’s bothering Simon’s partner, Connor? It’s days like this when Simon needs a raise. Or a safer job.

I’m really upset with Anton Strout: Deader Still is such a fast-paced, engaging, entertaining book that the pages seemed to fly by far too quickly. Take the New York of Men in Black and Ghostbusters, inject the same pop culture awareness and irreverence of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the Middleman, toss in a little Thomas Crown Affair, shake and stir, and you’ve got something fairly close to this book. Simon’s a believably accessible protagonist, who makes the same sort of mistakes we can all sympathize with, and his point of view really brings the right sort of life to the setting. There’s something inherently amusing in watching our heroes struggle with yards of bureaucratic red tape while trying to authorize replacement cell phones because the old ones were melted by accidental magic, or having a whiteboard in the office that counts off the days since the last vampire incursion, or good old-fashioned departmental in-fighting. There’s something weirdly satisfying in the mixture of killer art, books that attack, secret organizations that recruit at comic book conventions, and old-school revenge-driven evil masterminds.

I have to admit, I love the couple of Simon and Jane. He’s a former thief/con man turned government agent, she’s an evil cultist (in it mainly for the benefits package) turned researcher, and they’re an adorable couple when they’re not spatting. I dare say they could become the Nick and Nora Charles of the DEA, given the time and opportunity. Anton Strout has taken his influence from a wide array of cultural influences (I swear I detected a hint of Blues Brothers in there), and the end result is a cheerfully esoteric urban fantasy that blends humor and adventure in equal doses. I’m just sorry I finished Deader Still so quickly, as now I’ll have to wait for more. Really, this is good stuff, and a great read. I’d very much like a lot more where this came from.

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