It’s the introduction to Kali James, a setup novel and it takes its time getting there. Specifically, spending so much time on the fact that she’s a costume designer and wears vintage styles and expensive clothing. So instead of building layers of world foundation or setting, we get clothing. A little bit would have been fine.
Kali is unaware of the fact she’s a necromancer, so the whole ghosts following her everywhere or asking for help while she ignores them, seems a bit ludicrous. That it takes a witch to say basically “ hey, hon, you’re a necromancer” feels far fetched .
There’s a murder, mystery and a goat shifter who gets her own series. For me , I find her annoying because she’s got little history but takes zero responsibility for her actions. So the author doesn’t give us much reason to connect with her.
I’ll give it another book but there’s so many more out there that read similar to this that it’s not a standout in my opinion.
Reluctant paranormal finds out there’s a whole different world out there. Plus she’s got a goat shifter bff. Investigates murder mystery. And ghosts!
Two things are impossible to walk away from: death and vintage clothing. Trust me. I’ve tried.
Moving across the country and opening a costume shop was supposed to be my chance for a normal life. What I wanted was a fresh start, one where the biggest danger would be a carelessly wielded sewing needle.
What I got was the ghost of a murdered reporter demanding justice, a stony-eyed enforcer I’m not sure I can trust, and a power I can’t control. Oh and my new goat shifter BFF? Hell-bent on trouble.
Now, my hunt for the killer threatens to expose a supernatural community determined to safeguard its secrecy at any cost. My only chance to survive is to embrace the legacy I’ve spent my life running from.
Fastening the Grave is the first book in the completed Kali James series, featuring a reluctant necromancer who finds herself in a world of werewolves, vampires, and ghosts. If you like your urban fantasy with quirky characters, a side of supernatural mystery, and an opposites attract slow-burn romance, this is the book for you.
The Dusk Reapers (Cursebreaker #1) by J. T. Lawrence is the first book in her urban fantasy mystery series about a witch assassin in South Africa.
The location is one of the better elements, an unusual one that I don’t run into often. This first book is also features amnesia storyline around the main character. It’s resolved here by the end of the novel.
Asha Rook wakes up in a hospital. She’s been the victim of a horrific attack, suffered a significant brain injury and has amnesia. No idea who she is other than her identity from her identifications and driver’s license.
And the idea she’s in danger as well as the fact that she’s implicated in a murder, has her fleeing the hospital for answers.
Lawrence does an excellent job building the character of Asta, a woman scrambling to discover who she is in the middle of a murder investigation, and layout the structure of a urban fantasy world of witches, mages and spirits and dark realms existing within the city of Johannesburg.
A fluctuating pov that didn’t always work because the reader wasn’t sure whose perspective we were in made things confusing or complicated. Nicola or Asta? Sometimes we had no clue.
I don’t mind unresolved plot lines, especially in a first book. Usually they will carry over through the series. Here it’s the case of missing children left hanging as well as who was behind the original attack.
The character of Sam, the police officer, the maybe romantic interest, is ok. Perhaps he will be more fully developed as the series progresses.
Overall, a good start with some interesting elements.
If you are interested in something new, give it a try.
Cursebreaker: An Epic Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (6 book series)
Asha wakes up in the hospital with thirty-six stitches in her head and no memory of the attack that put her there. The damage to her skull was catastrophic, but she surprises the medical team with her lightning-quick healing—and by inexplicably sending their equipment flying across the room.
She soon learns that she is Asha Rook—The Cursebreaker—and she’s just become the prime target of every ruthless bounty hunter wizard in the Realm of Magic & Mayhem.
To add to the high stakes, a curse has landed an innocent woman in a terrifying asylum, and it’s Asha’s job to save her.
Asha must rely on her eccentric found family, finding belonging and banter with allies who accept her complex and dangerous nature. This includes an unnervingly attractive and steadfast cop (an epic slow burn), a sassy goblin who trades portal magic for tacos and lime milkshakes, and her beloved steampunk dwarf godmother, who is equally talented at roasting perfect potatoes as she is at creating magitech weapons.
Join Asha and her ragtag team as she embraces her destiny, navigating pocket realms and battling evil to break the ultimate curse. With more twists and turns than you can shake a wand at, this is a dark magic mystery with humor, adventure, and a whole lot of heart.
Fans of Patricia Briggs, Jim Butcher, and Ilona Andrews will burn through this totally addictive urban fantasy series.
What an unexpectedly great find. Different on so many levels, Ryan Attard is another new writer for me and his main character is a powerful Frost Mage. Shes just also happens to be bisexual, angry and lonely. Freydis, Frost Mage and town Executor, carrying out justice for the supernatural world in Vigrid Falls. When she’s not going to college.
Freydis, Frost Mage, is a conflicted character, whose backstory is slowly revealed over the course of the story as events unfold. Incredibly and unashamedly strong, she works out to maintain her physique, which is intimidating to match the reputation she’s gotten as someone who is cold and emotionally hard. Which is far from the truth.
Attard lays out the complex universe and supernatural politics of Vigard Falls where underneath the beautiful town and college campus where the wealthy students attend to their university studies, is another otherworldly city, complete with transportation systems.
It’s there where Freydis operates and reports to her boss on her daily enforcement of the laws and takes on whatever missions she’s given.
It’s werewolves against mages, against vampires with other fae or mythical beings thrown into the narrative.
Including small side stories of romance or crushes (Freydis is bi so while most of her romantic interests are women in this book I wouldn’t rule out that she might have a vampire in her life in the future. Romance really isn’t a main aspect of the book, it’s primarily about a larger supernatural suspense or intrigue element that is going to continue throughout the series. And how Freydis’ developing powers fit into this.
I absolutely got into the characters and the various aspects of the town and world building.
Can’t wait to see where the author takes them next.
Vigrid Falls looks peaceful — until you look beneath the surface.
The supernatural runs the world. Mages keep the balance.
Until a shifter is brutally murdered — and the victim’s family wants blood.
Enter Freydis, Frost Mage and town Executor. She’s young, brash, dangerously stubborn… and a college student trying to survive midterms while enforcing magical law. Keeping her double life separate is hard enough.
Then the murder turns personal.
What should have been a routine investigation spirals into something darker. This wasn’t random. It wasn’t simple.
It was planned.
As vampires quietly pull people off the streets, shifters call for open war, and the Mage Council hides behind ancient arcane law, Freydis uncovers a conspiracy that could tear Vigrid apart. In this city, secrets are currency. Trust is weakness. And magic is a weapon.
Good thing she’s angry.
Cold Fury is the gripping first book in the Frost Mage series — a sharp, noir-tinged urban fantasy packed with supernatural politics, deadly alliances, and a heroine who hits back harder than she’s hit.
I really enjoyed this urban fantasy story. There’s apparently a prequel out there that fills in the background for the main characters here and how she arrived at her current situation. As well as all the other secondary characters interacting with her that come from that prequel.
However , the author gives us enough information about that time period so we’re not at a disadvantage here as the story goes forward.
Olivia “Liv” is a retired fire elemental assassin who at the age of 16 was framed for a crime she didn’t commit. As a result Liv was forced to work for as a Shadow for the Conclave (magical ruling body) for a decade.
Now she’s free, name cleared and she’s back in Kansas City where she’s opening a magic shop. Until her old life comes back to interrupt her new start.
I love so many of the characters that McBride has created for her book and series. The older group of witches, including Liv’s aunt are fabulous and among my favorites. From their environmental battles with toxic gardeners to their hula hoop classes, every scene memorable and often hilarious. They’re real, intelligent people who care about Liv, going about things in their own ways.
Rafe, a werewolf black op who is the enemy to lovers maybe aspect of the story and series, is suitably flawed, and mysterious in his own ways. Where he fits in is left open-ended, which works.
There’s an ongoing storyline that starts with the reason Liv was framed, but eventually moves on into a much larger, more complicated plot that involves demons, hell fire, and prophecy at the end.
The end book leaves the reader immediately wanting the next story to see what happens with the characters and their lives. I am thoroughly hooked.
I had certain reservations about why Liv was so determined to do something on her own but later on, she answered that during a heartfelt conversation with Rafe. It was the answer that I wanted to see her grounded in the reality of the dangers of her situation. That one scene made all the difference.
I now need to track down Inferno Bound for the history of this series and main character while waiting for the next one to be released.
New author discovery and series unlocked. Fantastic! A winner!
This is set in the same universe as another of L.A. McBride’s series but as it’s the first book I’ve read of hers, that’s a series for another time. But the characters do crossover.
Ten years as a supernatural assassin did not prepare me for customer service.
Once I was called the strongest fire elemental in a generation. All that got me was sentenced to serve as a supernatural assassin for a crime I didn’t commit. Now that my name’s been cleared, the powers-that-be cut me loose.
Their only rule? Keep my head down and leave missions to other Shadows.
Sinking my blood money into a magic shop, I try to be a good little witch. I run my shop, join a geriatric coven, teach fire hula hooping classes on the side, and adopt a klepto packrat as my familiar. Avoiding Rafe Blackwell, the golden-eyed lone wolf charged with keeping me in line, is harder. And ignoring the vampires attacking witches in Kansas City? Impossible.
When bodies turn up with veins full of the same blood additive that landed me that ten-year sentence, I can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. Going rogue risks my newfound freedom, but the alternative is a city overrun with demons and Nectar-addicted vampires in a feeding frenzy. When my fire magic fails, it’ll take every skill I earned as a Shadow to take down the Nectar ring despite the enforcer determined to keep me out of it.
But if running a witch shop has taught me one lesson, it’s how to face anything with a potion bomb and a smile.
Fire Marked is the first book in the Alchemy of Witches series. If you love fast-paced urban fantasy with a witch ready to burn down the establishment, quirky found family, and a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance, this series is for you.
There’s multiple books and series about middle aged women (and surprisingly that age varies wildly) who find themselves launched onto new paths and into new lives from many authors, now available to pick from. And in several different genres.
Some I enjoyed reading and others not so much.
It’s A Wonderful Midlife Crisis (Good To The Last Death Book 1) by Robyn Peterman is a definite delight. While I’m not sure I agree with a woman in her early 40’s as middle aged these days, (there’s another series whose writer has it as late 30’s), the characters and stories are so well written, the dialogue crisp and fun, and the emotional depth real and relatable, well, it’s just a winner in every way.
There’s so many positive aspects to the story and characters that I read quickly through and started immediately into the second book.
It opens with Daisy, a widow of one year, immediately having a tough morning. It starts bad and turns worse when she finds a hand in her laundry basket.
That’s the opener. We learn she sees ghosts, they inhabit her house to an unsettling degree and her life’s a mess. The bright side of her life are her friends and her grandmother who lives in a nursing home.
That’s the bare bones of a fantastic story that will include a Grim Reaper, portals, KrazyGlue, ghosts, angels, her ex-husband, a paranormal romance, and strange pets, and wonderful relationships.
Each book ends with a cliffhanger that the next book will pick up on with a rehash of the last events. It flows smoothly which works perfectly as all the books of the series are available now to binge on. All sixteen of them!
Gram is a definite favorite but I can easily see that others will grow on me as the development here is excellent.
And because ghosts and life and death are a part of the story, just know that there will be some characters who will pass on as part of the plot.
That too is as it should be.
I am thrilled to have found this author and series. And now can share it with you. Another happy recommendation!
A Paranormal Women’s Fiction with a bit of class, and a lot of sass, for anyone who feels like age is just a number!
Whoever said life begins at forty must have been heavily medicated, drunk, or delusional.
Thirty-nine was a fantastic year. I was married to the man I loved. I had a body that worked without creaking. My grandma, who raised me, was still healthy, and life was pretty damned good.
But as they say, all good things come to an end. I’d honestly love to know who ’they’ are and rip them a new one. One year later, I’m a widow. My joints are starting to ache. Gram is in the nursing home, and dead people think my home is some kind of supernatural bed and breakfast. Gluing body parts onto semi-transparent people has become a side job—deceased people I’m not even sure are actually there. I think they need my help, but since I don’t speak dead, we’re having a few issues.
To add to the heap of trouble, there’s a new dangerously smokin’ hot lawyer at the firm who won’t stop giving me the eye. My BFF is thrilled with her new frozen face, thanks to her plastic surgeon, her alimony check, and the miracle of Botox. And then there’s the little conundrum that I’m becoming way too attached to my ghostly squatters… Like Cher, I’d like to turn back time. Now.
No can do.
Whatever. I have wine, good friends, and an industrial sized box of superglue. What could possibly go wrong?
Everything, apparently.
All in all, it’s shaping up to be a wonderful midlife crisis…
I enjoyed Black Moon Rising, the first in the Riley Blackthorne urban fantasy series by J. L. Brannick. Brannick’s another new urban fantasy author for me so I was excited about this book.
The character of Riley Blackthorne doesn’t disappoint here. She’s 24 I believe, trying to finish her degree in college while staying under the “radar “ of law enforcement agencies of all kinds due to her as yet unregistered powers.
That’s about to end.
Werewolf children are missing and the Alpha needs her help with the investigation. He won’t take no for an answer.
I absolutely love Riley. Life has been tough for her, she’s been raised by her uncle. Her background is filled in more in the second novel than the bits the author allows here. But it’s tantalizing hints that give depth to Riley and strengthens her character. She’s independent, intelligent and with the ability to make decisions for herself.
She’s absolutely the best thing about the book.
Now to the most problematic. That would be the Alpha. And their dynamic. Conall Segerson is the overbearing Alpha here. I’m sure in the trope he’s the powerful dominating male. But let’s be real.
In any other context, he’s toxic. He doesn’t let her make her own decisions. He withholds key information “because it’s for her own good “. He isolates her because it’s for “her own welfare “. And continues to ignore real issues within his pack that put her life at risk.
And when things go south, as they do.
It’s all about what his “wolf” wants and what he wants. Not exactly what is good for her.
Hint: This aspect of the series and the characters relationship is going to be even worse in book 2.
So for every character, Ash, or the hellhounds, that I found engaging, there was Conall sapping the joy right out of the narrative because I found his so offensive.
Yes to her. Yes to the plot minus any aspect of the story about Conall.
It ends on a cliffhanger. Which you know won’t end well for her.
The other books are out. Read it for a terrific woman character, and an interesting plot. The author has spent some time defining her different types of Cognizant traits. Check out the beginning of this book. Too bad she didn’t start with DARVO.
The federal agents waiting outside my ecology classroom are here for me.
One of them is an enraged Alpha.
I’ve been dodging the agents for days, and Conall Segerson seethes with impatience. His Pack children are disappearing, but the wolf shifter has few clues and no leads.
He doesn’t care about exposing an unregistered, no-name Cognizant like me if it will help him find his missing cubs.
As we race to recover the children, I become an invaluable tool in his arsenal.
His wolf’s obsession.
And a target.
Conall pledges to protect my secrets, but enemies are closing in. And the most vicious betrayals are those we never see coming.
*The first book in the thriller urban fantasy romance series where a deadly investigation leads to seduction and betrayal.
Black Moon Rising is book one in the Riley Blackthorne Series. For fans of smart, STEM FMC’s and urban fantasy romance. This book ends on a cliffhanger and contains power imbalances, a slow-burn romance, spice, and violence.
I stumbled across this author and duology recently and am absolutely thrilled with the discovery.
The Witch Roads is the first book in Kate Elliott’s completed epic fantasy adventure duology and it’s incredible.
Stretching across multiple continents, with a universe of diverse cultures and characters, the author focuses her narrative upon a world where the political ruling system and mythology mirrors ancient Chinese culture, so there’s a framework for the tightly packed royal infighting and conflict that’s important to the story.
Elen, her background, that of her nephew and deceased sister are slow to be revealed here. And actually a huge part of Elen’s character is never fully explained at all by the author.
That’s part of this novel I feel are frustrating. There’s gaps in the book that remain unexplained and then, for things I think are wonderful, there’s elements that, like cthe nephew having a voice in deciding what gender to be, is a very interesting part of the story. And it’s just a thread that weaves into his role here as his part and journey develops.
Elliott has a great cast of characters whose relationships with each other develop and deepen as they journey forward, including one of my favorite characters, a certain “haunt”.
This does end with a cliffhanger. But the second book is available and it picks up immediately after the end of this one. Grab both novels up at the same time and read seamlessly right to the end of the series like I did.
So satisfying. Except for the fact I now want a third book.
Highly recommended and I’m now looking into this author’s other work.
Book 1 in the Witch Roads duology, the latest epic novel by fan favorite Kate Elliott.
Status is hereditary, class is bestowed, trust must be earned.
When an arrogant prince (and his equally arrogant entourage) gets stuck in Orledder Halt as part of brutal political intrigue, competent and sunny deputy courier Elen—once a child slave meant to shield noblemen from the poisonous Pall—is assigned to guide him through the hills to reach his destination.
When she warns him not to enter the haunted Spires, the prince doesn’t heed her advice, and the man who emerges from the towers isn’t the same man who entered.
The journey that follows is fraught with danger. Can a group taught to ignore and despise the lower classes survive with a mere deputy courier as their guide?
I’d seen these books and series advertised on FB and other media sites and thought I’d check them out as they were in my wheelhouse for the types of books I enjoy reading.
But Unleashed (Sydney Rye Mysteries Book 1) by Emily Kimelman turned out to be disappointing, and I’m not going forward with the series.
Even though it’s written in 2011, that’s not the issue here. It’s with a character that, while currently being pushed as a feminist journey is not actually about that at all.
The character of Sydney Rye (not her real name) could be any gender, because the story is about a person who has made horrible choices and continues to make them. She is in an abusive relationship, quits but goes back to him because she can’t stop, no will power. She acts, gets drunk , has regrets , continues her knee jerk behavior, reactively just goes making more impulsive ,thoughtless emotional decisions. A wrecking ball has a better plan than she does. Quits her job, signs on for an another job with no experience or research into it. Gets an enormous dog from the shelter, one that exhibits certain aggressive behaviors, and still does nothing about training.
In fact, the dog, Blue, which is also a big aspect of the character and series is also one of the worst. Adopted by the main character with no thought of to the dog, she gets it out of total impulse. Not a single thought goes into this story about training, vet care, what happens to Blue when she’s off dog walking or whatever she’s doing related to the murders.
Unfortunately, Blue is the author’s answer when Sidney needs a big dog to walk when being threatened.Then Blue is narratively “put away” until the next time he’s pulled out for the same type of purpose. He’s not layered in as a real dog character or factor here. He’s just a “scary dog” element. As in “When did you get a scary dog?”
Sydney herself is equally unbelievable, one note character. In her 30’s, she’d be more understandable as if the author had written her as a former substance abuser or someone with mental health issues. But as crafted , she is just an empty-headed person who flows along with life. As enormous events happen to people near her and eventually to people she cares for, she decides to investigate. Which she does as she does everything else, poorly. She asks questions about the victims from people who have questionable backgrounds or relationships with the victims. She’s surprised at being threatened by both police and the bad guys.
Is the reader? No, no we’re not. We’re starting to root for the other side.
She has no decision making process and leaves everyone around her in danger. Which to no one’s surprise ends badly for her friend and family.
I didn’t like her, the entire layout of the situation and the ending is just not satisfying or interesting.
Blue should have shook his head and found himself another owner and a way out of the series.
The first time I realized how weird it was for a guy to tell me to smile, I was working behind an incredibly busy bar. We had patrons pressed up against the wood, all wanting drinks.
There was a male bartender working with me. Neither of us were smiling because we were concentrating on getting drinks out, making change, grabbing our tips off the bar before someone snagged them. You know, being bartenders.
And this stranger, this f***ing a**hole, told me to smile. I was opening a beer, and I looked over at him confused. I didn’t understand why this man was telling me what to do with my face.
This was back in the early 2000s before YouTube, Tiktok, Instagram, or a collective discussion about how f***ed up it is to tell women to adjust their facial expression to your personal preference.
I just moved on—I was busy. Obviously, I let that guy wait for a drink…wait until the male bartender took pity on him to be more exact. I thought he was a jerk, but I didn’t realize nearly every woman has a story of when a man told her to smile.
I recognized it was a putdown, a not-so-subtle swipe at me. A correction, if you will. I wasn’t being pretty enough, pleasing enough, woman enough for him, so he tried to put me in my place—to tell me how to present myself for his viewing pleasure.
My boss would follow me home in his car every night from that job. He’d wait for me to get in my front door. He didn’t do that for the male bartenders.
At the time, I was writing the first Sydney Rye Mystery and the sense that men were out to get me—physically and mentally—went into that book. It carries through the entire series.
I’m not the only woman who’s noticed this phenomenon. 😂 In the Barbie movie, when she and Ken come into the real world, they both see people noticing them. Barbie immediately clocks the violence in the air—the way men looking at her is edged with danger.
It was SO relatable to me.
Being a woman means you live in a shadow of danger, and when I wrote Sydney Rye I wanted her to be the thing that went bump in the night. I wanted to write a woman who was deadly.
I didn’t want to flip the script and have her telling men to smile, but I wanted it to be really f***ing dangerous for a man to suggest Sydney adjust anything for his personal preference.
I pulled it off, by the way. If a man told Sydney Rye to smile, she would f*** him up.
And also, for the record, I’m at a point in my life, where I would too.
Want to see a woman scare the crap out of men while also being a flawed, messed up human like the rest of us? Start my Sydney Rye Mysteries today.
Sydney Rye and her dog, Blue, exact justice with a vengeance. The dog doesn’t die, but the bad guys do.
Ebony Gate (Phoenix Hoard #1) by Julie Vee and Ken Bebelle is one more recent discovery where it’s a combination of both great new book and great new writers. Win and winner. And finished series! Be still my heart! I hit the reader’s trifecta!
Yes, I’m absolutely thrilled with this book. It was another 3am finish and I had to stop myself from getting the second and immediately diving back into this incredible universe and character.
Set in contemporary San Francisco, the main character is Emiko Soong, oldest child of the magical Soong Clan, a dragon people who fled the destruction of their world to the human realm. One of eight powerful magical families, each with their own abilities and agendas, Emiko has removed herself to San Francisco after a long, bloody history with her family as their assassin.
Of course her past, her family, and clan politics dictate that she is soon pulled back into the magical family life and world she’s trying to escape.
I couldn’t put it down. Emiko’s past is bleak, filled with memories that invade narrative with bodies and vague scenes of her parents and blood. That her parents haven’t been totally honest about Emiko’s past or talent is clear throughout the story. And it’s a thread that will not be revealed here.
She’s a haunted, martial arts master, The Butcher of Peking, who now lives in San Francisco, remaining apart because of her past experiences and her secret life as a dragon clan.
I think interesting aspects of her life, the lower families, those outside of the clan’s protective influence that she’s become friends with, but the delicate relationships that are always present within the “invisible social structures“ that must be adhered to, that’s all perfectly defined by the authors. That balance of power and cultural strictures of both Asian and their Dragon magic is wonderfully crafted and laid out.
That scene alone in the library is everything.
Emiko’s mother, who is absent physically but whose impact is enormous here, is a character I can’t wait to meet. It’s because of her that Emiko’s presence is required by a shinigami. Absolutely terrifying and fascinating aspect of the story.
There’s a mission to save the City, herself and much more. It’s exciting, action packed and thrilling.
My only issue with it was that the Sentinel aspect took longer than I thought it should. That felt too drawn out.
Now onto the next book and some new exciting characters (like parents to meet) and locations.
Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle’s Ebony Gate is a female John Wick story with dragon magic set in contemporary San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Emiko Soong belongs to one of the eight premier magical families of the world. But Emiko never needed any magic. Because she is the Blade of the Soong Clan. Or was. Until she’s drenched in blood in the middle of a market in China, surrounded by bodies and the scent of blood and human waste as a lethal perfume.
The Butcher of Beijing now lives a quiet life in San Francisco, importing antiques. But when a shinigami, a god of death itself, calls in a family blood debt, Emiko must recover the Ebony Gate that holds back the hungry ghosts of the Yomi underworld. Or forfeit her soul as the anchor.
What’s a retired assassin to do but save the City by the Bay from an army of the dead?
I’m a fan of this author so I immediately picked up Twice Bitten, the beginning of S.E. Babin’s Fangs and Fur series. A paranormal tale about a hedge witch who gets mixed up with the politics of the vampire/werewolf conference by way of a traumatic encounter is off to a good start here.
Babin is excellent at establishing a complex plot that will keep expanding into ever greater detail and often wilder realms and storylines. I can definitely see this happening with Fangs and Fur and the main group of characters Babin is starting out with.
Hint. Thankfully, this author can take the main female character on quite the twisted path with regard to her final romantic partner, so just know it might not be one of the top two atm.
First there’s Alex, a hedge witch working as a barista with a black market apothecary business on the side. She’s an orphan with a “missing” mother and a father of unknown origin.
Alex becomes the object of an obsessive vampire, Beckett, and ends up in the middle of a mysterious species turf battle between vampire and wolf shifter. That brings in the next major characters and conflicts.
Alric, the Vampire Prime and Silas is the Wolf King, both working on an inter species conference. Until a traumatic event with Alex upsets everything.
I’m not a fan of Alric. He’s got major non consent issues, and frankly red flags plastered around him everywhere. And smacks heavily of another MMC in another series I despised.
Silas is running a close second.
Like Leo the chauffeur/bodyguard for Alric. He’s got great potential going forward.
And Babin, if she’s going to be as consistent as she has in her previous series, will make this an elaborate and exciting journey for Alex, magically and romantically.
So I’m not going to assume who it might be from the characters at the first story.
Very entertaining and a great start to this series.
I was bitten by a vampire AND a werewolf. Now everyone wants a piece of me.
I never wanted to be a powerful witch. I’m happiest pulling espresso shots at the Three Beans café and keeping my magic secret.
But trouble is brewing…
When a turf war between vampires and shifters erupts outside the café, I get caught between the irresistibly charming Vampire Prime and the ruggedly handsome Shifter King. As these two apex predators blindly tear into each other, I am bitten, clawed, and left for dead.
My magic flares just in time to save my life, but there are… side effects. Suddenly, I find myself staring at customers’ necks. And feeling suspiciously twitchy before the full moon.
It’s impossible but… am I transforming into a vampire and a werewolf?
The Vampire Prime finds me immediately. Captivated by my scent, he tempts me with danger and luxury. The Shifter King is equally obsessed, and determined to claim me for his pack.
I am caught between them once more—but this time it’s me that they’re fighting over. And since my new blood brings strange new powers, it won’t be long before I’m the most wanted prey in town…
