Suzanne McLeod
urban fantasy
short story/Home Improvement anthology
****** (6 out of 6)
It's an anthology with many, many authors. It has a cute cover.
If you've read a few of my posts, you might notice that I've mentioned a few authors over and over. Suzanne McLeod is one of them. It's my very firm belief that if you like to read about witches, pixies, vampires, fae, etc., then you should read McLeod's novels. I've read all that I can get my hands on and I love them. So when I had one of those horrid days when you have to admit that you're another year older, the day was made a little sweeter when I found she had sent me a copy of her work in the Home Improvement anthology. I read it and loved it and on my most recent day of getting another year older, I received a Kindle Fire (color, baby, color!) from a group of relatives. So I read it again! This time on my new Kindle. Boy, do I feel spoiled. :)
I was glad I read it again - when you re-read stories, or when I re-read stories, it's like experiencing something familiar at the same time that it feels new. It's this way for me, because I don't remember every little detail in all the books I read.
Somewhere (forget where, at the moment) I read that Full Scale Demolition takes place BEFORE the first novel of the Spellcrackers series. So it doesn't matter if you've already read one or more books in the series, or if you're new at this series. I recommend this as a little teaser of McLeod's talent.
Genny Taylor is a half sidhe fae. Unfortunately she doesn't have the ability to cast spells like other fae - but she can SEE magic spells. Better yet, she has this ability to CALL them to her, to crack them. So she's been working with a company called Spellcrackers.com and her specialty is working with pixies.
In this short story Genny is sent out on a job that ends up to be a bit more than she bargained for. That's all I'm going to write about the story - except that Tavish appears in this story. Tavish is one of my favorite of McLeod's recurring characters. He's this devilishy handsome water fae - Kelpie. So he turns into a horse. He had dreadlocks with beads in them (I LOVE dreadlocks with beads), very dark green to black skin (I LOVE dark skin) and talks with a Scottish accent (at least that's the way it seems to me) (oh, and I LOVE Scottish accents).
Of course, this short story has all the things I love about Suzanne's stories. Just enough heart thumping lust without going overboard, (I HATE mushy over the top sex scenes - if you're writing a sex scene, write it hot, write it dirty if you want, just don't get too mushy - it's sex, not a love poem...shudders), great banter between characters, good all around dialogue, plot twists here and there, and interesting first person narration, light on the informational inserts - those are short and sweet, on a need to know basis. Makes reading her stories a pure pleasure for me.
Oh, and if you've never ever read a Genny Taylor novel - there's more than just fae in her bloodline. You should read the first and second book to find out just what else Genny is. Mwhahahahahahaha. There are three books so far in the series, the fourth is coming out in the UK in August, 2012.
Available now in both the UK and the U.S.
The Sweet Scent of Blood
The Cold Kiss of Death
The Bitter Seed of Magic
Coming Soon - in the UK, longer wait for the U.S.
The Shifting Price of Prey
If you still haven't yet read any of these books, do yourself a big favor/treat and go invest in a great set of books.
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