When the cold mage comes for her, who can she trust?
Cat (Catherine) Barahal was rescued, and raised by, her extended family. One of her earliest memories was of her aunt, who told Cat that she must always protect her cousin Bee (Beatrice). The girls are two months apart from each other.
Continue Reading “Cold Magic – by Kate Elliott”
Kitty Norville is an overnight, Midnight Shift DJ for a Denver radio station. One night, she got tired of the lame song requests, and accidentally ended up starting “The Midnight Hour” talk radio show. This proved to be a big hit! Unfortunately for her, some people in her life aren’t thrilled about the show.
Continue Reading “Kitty And the Midnight Hour – by Carrie Vaughn”
Heroine Complex starts with Aveda Jupiter, a super heroine, battling against demonic cupcakes inside a bakery. Her sidekick, Evelyn Tanaka, is somewhere behind the bakery counter, using her phone to record Aveda’s battle for her fans.
Continue Reading “Heroine Complex – by Sarah Kuhn”
A Flame of Song, by T.R. Thompson, is Book 3 of the Wraith Cycle. I highly recommend that you read The Blood Within the Stone (Book 1) and The Forked Path (Book 2) before reading the A Flame of Song.
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The Forked Path, by T.R. Thompson, is Book 2 of the Wraith Cycle. I highly recommend that you read Book 1, The Blood Within the Stone, before jumping into Book 2. This second book picks up not long after the first one ends, and there is an assumption that readers will already be familiar with (most) of the characters.
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The Blood Within the Stone is Book 1 of the Wraith Cycle. In it, T.R. Thompson gives the reader a dark and creepy story that exists in what I would consider a fantasy world. The magic in this world is unlike anything I’ve seen before in either a book or movie. This is not a book for children – but adults who enjoy a mix of fantasy, magic, and horror will enjoy this book as much as I did.
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On Black Winds We Rise is the first book in the No Gods Before Us series. It is a fantasy series with a very rich world filled with a wide variety of peoples.
The story is set in 1000 BC on an alternate Earth. It starts in Aegyptus, and later moves to Hibernia. Things are not always what they seem to be in this world, and there are some extremely creepy parts in this book.
Continue Reading “On Black Winds We Rise (No Gods Before Us) – by Tom McNellis”
Faceless is the third book in the Nameless series. You should read Nameless and Heartless before starting this book.
As in the previous books, Faceless revolves around a magical family of cousins (and their significant others). All of them are young people, and most are starting to put together a framework of how they think they want the rest of their lives to work out.
To me, one of the things that this book is about is that the choices people make – out of love, or fear, or desperation – have consequences. What happens as a result can affect not only the person who made a choice, but also the lives of other people. It’s a important piece of wisdom that some people do not learn until after they have destroyed something or someone they love.
Heartless is the second book in the Nameless series. You should read Nameless before you jump into Heartless.
Nameless ended in a way that made it clear that the “big bad” is no longer a threat. That doesn’t mean all the damage is done, however. In many ways, this is a story of redemption and forgiveness. It is about building trust with family after bad things have happened. This was touched on at the end of Nameless, and builds in Heartless.
The wonderful, individualistic, magic that was established in the first book continues to be part of the story. I love how imaginative the characters are in how they express their magical abilities. Rossi’s character’s are so vivid, and feel so real, that I find them fascinating even when they aren’t doing magic.
In Nameless, Matthew Rossi created a detailed world where vampires exist and magic is real. Magic can be strengthened by either pain or pleasure – it’s the intensity that matters. Those who use magic can conjure up monsters or heroes from mythology (be it from Greek mythology or modern comic books) and send them into battle.
I found myself wanting to escape into that world which, despite its dangers, seemed to hold more hope than this one. I mean, there’s a battle where Santa and his reindeer fight a giant, antlered, monster man. I love the idea that something as pure and good as Santa, as seen by small children, can effectively take down evil! This particular battle was one of several in the book, and each was so well written that I could almost see it, as though I was watching a movie.
