If, like me, you’re a fan of the Kate Daniels series, then I think you’ll enjoy ‘Small Magics‘. If you’re not a fan (yet), don’t start here, start with ‘Magic Bites‘. It’s everything the first book in an Urban Fantasy series should be and more. ‘Small Magics’ is a collection of five short stories (all of which had been published before) and a series of scenes, written from Curren’s point of view, (written in response to requests from the fan base)that give a fresh look at some of the key events in some of the Kate Daniels books. I enjoyed the stories. I’ve commented on each of them below. I ..read more

An icy stretch of farmland becomes one hot property after its owner turns up murdered. Reporter Marzie Nowak must dodge a hungry vampire, face off with a sexy gypsy king, and rely on her new coven of witches to catch the killer! Between her job as the only reporter in town, her werewolf home renovation contractor, and her new coven of empty-nested witches, Marzie Nowak has her hands full. When a farmer is found dead, the suspects start piling up. Meanwhile, the population of Widow’s Bay is getting more fang-filled by the minute, with a wild vampire on the loose. Marzie and her friends want to ..read more

In a world where magic and science sit side by side, and powerful witches are considered necessary aides for all governments, Lizzie Grace is something of an outlier. Though born into one of the most powerful blue-blood witch families, she wants nothing to do with either her past or her magic. But when she and Belle, her human familiar and best friend, open a small cafe in the Faelan werewolf reservation, she quickly finds herself enmeshed in the hunt for a vampire intent on wreaking bloody havoc. It’s a hunt that soon becomes personal, and one that is going to take all her skills to survive ..read more

Between her cheating husband and her on-air meltdown, Marzie Nowak is going through a bit of a bad spell and a heck of a midlife crisis. Her kids have flown the coop to college, and her husband has opted to trade her in for a younger model. With nowhere else to turn, the ex-big-city journalist crawls back to her superstitious hometown of Widow’s Bay just in time for their annual pagan festival. Her new, much less glamorous gig has her reporting for a local news website. It doesn’t take long for her to realize the legends surrounding Widow’s Bay may be more practical magic than fanciful myth ..read more

Isserley spends most of her time driving. But why is she so interested in picking up hitchhikers? And why are they always male, well-built, and alone? ‘Under The Skin‘ is a bleak, unremittingly grim book that’s as hard to look away from as a car crash in progress. The writing grabbed hold of me and never let go. Geri Halligan’s narration perfectly captured the mood of the piece and the pace of the plot. It was a memorable and disturbing read that I still find myself thinking about weeks later. I’m not going to reveal the plot because I think that part of the power of the book comes from tryi ..read more

‘Woods Of The Raven‘ is the Fantasy equivalent of a cosy mystery with a gay, Happily Ever After paranormal romance thrown in. Xander, the main character is gentle and kind but has the steel to defend himself and the people around him when he needs to. The threat is dark but the tone is hopeful. The rainbow flag is flying high and proud but in a joyful, human way that just says, ‘This is how it can be when it’s good‘.  I liked Xander. He’s a man with superhuman power, provided he’s on his own land but he isn’t Superman, hiding his real self by pretending to be mild-mannered Clark Kent, r ..read more

‘We’re All Monsters Here’ was a fast, fun, sometimes gory, often amusing and surprisingly romantic vampire story. I finished it with a satisfied smile on my face and the hope that there’s more to come. The story is told from the point of view of Anna, a five-centuries-old vampire who has a plan to wipe out the morally repulsive board of a fossil fuel company during a weekend retreat at an isolated country house.  I loved the tone of Anna’s thoughts. She’s self-confident without deluding herself into thinking she’s invulnerable. She’s genuinely disgusted by the board members she inte ..read more

When seventeen-year-old Breezy Lin wakes up in a shallow grave one year after her death, she doesn’t remember who killed her or why. All she knows is that she’s somehow conscious – and not only that, she’s able to sense who around her is hiding a murderous past. In life, Breezy was always drawn to the elegance of the universe and the mystery of the stars. Now she must set out to find answers and discover what is to become of her in the gritty, dangerous world to which she now belongs – where killers hide in plain sight and a sinister cult is hunting for strange creatures like her.  ..read more

What I liked most about ‘White Trash Warlock‘ was that it took the time to establish the personality and history of Adam Binder, the central character in David Slayton’s Urban Fantasy trilogy. The depth of Adam’s characterisation grounded the book. Adam grew up in dire poverty in a trailer in the woods of Oklahoma, with a physically and emotionally abusive father who was capable of acts of extreme violence. Adam felt stigmatised and isolated in his early teens both because he felt he needed to keep his sexual orientation secret and because his reaction to the things his his uncontrolled magi ..read more

‘First Grave On The Right‘ (2011) is my sixth Darynda Jones novel. Normally, I’m one of those folks who has to start at the first book that an author wrote and then read the rest in sequence but Darynda Jones didn’t catch my eye until she launched her Sunshine Vicram trilogy with ‘A Bad Day For Sunshine‘ in 2020 which made me an instant fan. Since then, I’ve read the rest of the Sunshine Vicram books (all of which I recommend) and the first two of the Betwixt and Between trilogy which I have to be in the mood for but which are fun light-hearted supernatural rom-coms. I picked up ‘First Grave ..read more