It's Monday......and boy have I missed a few

From one thing or another...I don't know - the temporary blues, laziness, mental exhaustion...who knows?  I don't.  I haven't been posting much about anything.  I used to regularly post the monday memes, AND the tuesday teaser posts, and then try to write one or two reviews a week.  Then I started slacking on the Tuesday Teasers, which actually are pretty fun.  I miss participating and I should really get back into it.  Then I really slowed down on the reviewing and now I find myself going three weeks without a monday post - I think it's been three weeks, anyway.  At least, I've posted a few reviews lately, though not nearly as many as I should.  Not for the reading I've been doing.  :)

I'm not going to promise, even to myself that I'll do better.  I don't know.  But we'll see.

But for now - it's another Monday coming up.  School has started for our district, which means I'm back to work, and both my grandchildren are attending the school I work at, which is great for me.  I love seeing them everyday.  Makes work just a little more fun.

hosted by Sheila of Book Journey - this is the weekly meme (that I've been missing) where we gather together to see what we've been reading and what others have been reading.  it's a good meme.

Let's see now- just what HAVE I read in the last few weeks...

finished reading:

Omens (Cainesville #1)

Kelley Armstrong

coming out August 20th (Tuesday!)

fantasy

H/B

(Very good book - loved it)

Magic Rises (Kate Daniels #6)

Ilona Andrews

Urban Fantasy

(The series, staying strong)

Frozen: Heart of Dread #1

Melissa De La Cruz & Michael Johnston

Y/A dystopian and SciFi/fantasy mix

coming out September 17, 2013

(pretty good read)

Priceless (Rylee Adamson #1)

Shannon Mayer

Urban Fantasy

(interesting concept)

Recently started/current reads

Velva Jean Learns to Drive by Jennifer Niven

Hammered by Kevin Hearne

In Fury Born by David Weber

The Honor of the Queen by David Weber

I'm focusing right now on Velva Jean Learns to Drive.  It's not my normal genre, but it's a good book.  Once in a while I have to read something totally different - especially after I've read a few kick ass novels in my favorite genres, which I've been able to do this summer.... and speaking of kick ass novels...

Sabaska's Tale is now out in print.  I enjoy the e-books, but there's nothing like holding a novel in your hand, so I am very happy that this one is now in print, because J.A. Campbell is one of my favorite authors - so of course, I want to hold those books!  :)

It's a fun fantasy read, about a girl, a horse and an adventure in which she teams up with Sabaska.  Sabaska is a horse that is more than a horse.  She can travel, as in Travel, between worlds, or dimensions.  There is going to be more books in this series, which is exciting because Campbell has set things up with room for plenty of stories, in plenty of worlds.....Looking forward to seeing what comes next for Sabaska and/or Anna.

Omens by Kelley Armstrong - review

Omens
Cainsville #1
Kelley Armstrong
mix of supernatural and mystery
August 20, 2013 (pub date)
******  six out of six

cover -   If I knew a little more about superstitions, or omens, I get the feeling that I must might notice some portentous  signs pictured on the cover....but since I don't, all I can say is that the full moon, the quiet streets, and the cloud formations in the sky make for a subtly spooky cover.  Which is good.


As Kelley Armstrong fans know, she has written her last Women of the Otherworld novel, which has no doubt left some bereft, but never fear - she hasn't stopped writing, she's turned her attention elsewhere.  As we've seen with a few of the long running series floating around out there, sometimes it's good to end a series, and it's even better to end a series when your fans - especially the ones who have been fans from the beginning - STILL enjoy your work. Kelley Armstrong has written a very strong first of a series with Omens.

Whenever I'm given the chance to read a novel before publication, I feel fortunate.  When I end up loving the novel I'm always happy about that (of course).  I REALLY enjoyed Omens.  You can read the synopsis on Amazon, Goodreads, and Armstrong's website - but basically, a very rich young woman, Olivia (Liv) Taylor Jones is hit out of nowhere with the knowledge that she isn't who she thought she was.  Her story is told in the first person; she finds out in one moment that she's been adopted and that her birth parents are currently in prisons, serving life sentences for the murders of eight people - they're the notorious Larsons - the serial killer couple.  Her mom is suddenly cold, her fiance doesn't handle things quite right after this, and Liv ends up running off, with hardly any cash, trying to find a job and stay under the radar, away from the paparazzi.  Things don't go so well, and she ends up steered to a small town outside of Chicago where she thinks the inhabitants aren't aware of who she really is....turns out she's wrong about this.

The town she ends up in is Cainsville, and has its own quirks, with some very strange inhabitants.  During the novel, you're given a peek of the characters, with a short chapter told in their pov (third person) with just a tease of their motivations, or thoughts about Liv/Eden.  Throughout the story, even by the end, there's a few of the characters where I wasn't quite sure if they're the "good"guys or the "bad"guys, or even if there is a distinction.   What I enjoyed about Omens, is that not one character could be considered completely without fault.  Even the lead character found herself doing some things she wasn't quite comfortable with - and best of all, didn't angst about it for pages after, but she did acknowledge her discomfort and then deal with it quickly.  

After a series of events, she ends up working with Gabriel Walsh, a lawyer unashamedly money motivated.  She's completely aware of his motivations, and seems to find that almost comforting - the fact that he doesn't hide behind altruistic reasoning, but just puts it out there.  She ends up working part time in a diner, and helping Gabriel investigate some leads regarding her birth-mother's case, after meeting her mother in prison.

The town of Cainsville is almost a character in its own right - there are gargoyles all over, and seem to be very important to the town and its inhabitants.  The townies are an interesting mix of people - most of them are people who have lived there for generations, some moving away, then coming back  -  some never leaving.  One of them seems to be very old, indeed.  There is Gabriel's aunt, who works as a psychic- something she admits is part con and part for real. Liv's landlady - Grace is a rather grumpy woman who is most likely a mix of some fae and human.  A regular of the diner - seems to be a young man, but even the town elders defer to him;  In fact, the town elders also seem to be extremely powerful, especially for a town in the 21st century.

Omens is a blend of supernatural and mystery/suspense.  However, the supernatural elements begin very subtly - with Liv suddenly knowing superstitions, such as a black cat really being lucky.  The supernatural elements slowly gain importance, and even by the end of the book is still low key.  I'm looking forward to reading more of this series to see if this aspect is developed further.  I enjoyed the gargoyles, the odd feel of the town and the townies, the hints of their true selves.

If you're an Armstrong fan, I've pretty sure you're going to enjoy this - even though it isn't as strongly UF or fantasy as her other novels.  If you've never read a Kelley Armstrong book because you're not really into fantasy or Urban Fantasy, then I suggest you give it a try anyway, because there is a good strong mystery being investigated here, and an overall story arc that will probably involve more investigations with Gabriel and Liv teaming up together.  Afterall, they figure out a small part of birth-mom's mystery, but not all.

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong - review

The Reckoning
Kelley Armstrong
Darkest Powers #3
Young Adult/Urban Fantasy

cover - The covers are simple, but each cover in this trilogy catches your attention, and shows this pendant that is important to the story.  Stark and dramatic.



Part of a trilogy set in a world of werewolves, demons, ghosts, necromancers, werewolves and witches, The Reckoning starts right where The Awakening (Darkest Powers #2) left off.  The foursome - Simon, Derek (Werewolf), Chloe (necromancer) and Tori (witch) have finally found one of the boys' "uncles", and have traveled with him to a safe house.  Having been on the run for a while they're very relieved to be in a house with running water, food, and real beds.  And the uncle has contacted some allies, some of whom are coming around to help the teens train and work on their various powers....

But there's something weird going on.  Chloe is in contact with a strange ghost - a young teen boy who is kind of creepy.  And her friend - Liz is unable to appear to Chloe at first.

And the people who are "training" seem a little pushy....

There's something weird, alright.  Plenty of action, some relationship growth and some interesting dialogue.  I enjoyed this final of the Otherworld teens trilogy.  

Even so.... I wasn't left with the feeling of "oh wow! what a book!".  Not sure if it's because the characters are so young, if it was because at times I felt like I was 'listening in' to an adult's thoughts, rather than a teen's thought processes... it all boils down to this; when reading a teen's narrative, especially if it's first person, I need to feel like it's really the teen thinking or talking - not an adult.   Now there is not arguing that Armstrong writes a very good story - but I didn't always feel like the characters were really teens.  Sometimes they were - especially when they were reacting like teens, feeling awkward, etc.  But some of the word choices just don't match.  I'm around a lot of teens and preteens, so I get a feel of speech patterns, etc - even factoring in the occasional genious I.Q. teen...most don't use exactly the same language that an adult uses.  And that tends to pull me right out of a story when it's first person teen pov - or yanks me out because suddenly it's as if another character is narrating, or the character has suddenly turned into a stodgy stuffy teen. :)  

As usual, Armstrong does a good job of writing a teen story - with only those occasional wordage that made the teens sound like adults.   I still feel like Armstrong wrote an excellent story-line.  There's plenty of action and twists in the story.  A quick read, but very enjoyable with some heartstopping moments.  I enjoyed this enough to want to get a hold of the next trilogy in the Otherworld Teen universe, Darkness Rising.  I want to read about some of the other teens in the Otherworld universe, and I did feel nostalgic for the adult Women of the Otherworld - especially those early novels.

Even though at times, I felt pulled out of the story because of a word or phrase here and there, did enjoy the story, the plotting, the twists and the overall novel.   When comparing the total book experience with the occasional odd teen phrasing, my complaint seems minor - I still feel as if I chose wisely in buying the hardbacks of this series.  My plan, when choosing not to wait for the ppb versions was to donate the  trilogy to be entered into the {my} school library's collection of MG novels - so I'm still happy I bought the h/b, they last longer than PPBs do, after all.  I would also recommend this trilogy (The Summoning, The Awakening, The Reckoning) to lovers of fantasy, urban fantasy and books with supernatural characters - MG and up.

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong - YA review

click on cover for excerpt link

The Awakening
Kelley Armstrong
young adult
Dark Powers #2
2009

Cover - I like the covers to this series.  It's simple, and yet dramatic enough to get your attention.  In the first novel, the pendant is a different cover.  This has some meaning, though at first it isn't clear what.  It becomes clear later. 

I've always enjoyed the Women of the Otherworld novels by Kelley Armstrong.  So when I found she was writing a YA series (she was one of the first adult UF writers to delve into the YA market) I knew I was going to give at least the first novel in the series a try.  I did, I read The Summoning when it first came out in 2008, and I enjoyed it enough to buy the sequel when it was released.  Then of course, it languished on my bookshelf.  I then bought the third in the series, and yet I STILL didn't read it.  Finally, a blogger had this new meme out called "Why Haven't I Read You?", so I took part one week, using The Awakening.  And after taking the time to transcribe some of the first page in my post, I thought - man, I really ought to read this.  So when I finished the book I was reading, I went ahead and read The Awakening.  Then I went right into the third novel - The Reckoning.  Of course, now I want to grab the next trilogy in this setting - because, Kelley Armstrong can write a young adult novel that keeps even an older woman like me interested.  That's sayin' a lot. 

In The Awakening, Chloe and her friends (Derek, Simon, and Tori) have escaped the halfway house they were running away from, only to be caught again.  Chloe and Tori became separated from Simon and Derek, were captured and when The Awakening opens, they are being held in a secret facility.  The Doc from the halfway house is playing Mr. Nice, trying to get Chloe to trust him.  Tori's mom is full of hate, even toward her own daughter.

Luckily for Chloe, she has the help of Liz, the ghost of her roommate from the first book.  Liz still has to come to terms with being undead, but is learning how to function as a ghost.

There's a problem.  The docs have found Derek's backpack, with his insulin.  They're trying to get Tori and Chloe to give them info on where the rendezvouz site is.  On top of being pressured to give the boys up, Chloe is meeting some other ghosts in the facility.

The Awakening is the story of how Chloe and Tori end up going with the evil doctors to look for a rendezvous, how they end up escaping their clutches and meet up with the boys.  From there, they have to avoid being recaptured and try to make it to the home of an old family friend of Derek and Simon's father.  This is their hope for safety and help finding their missing dad.

The four of them have to get along - Tori has always been hard to live with, or even to spend more than a few minutes with.  The boys have no loyalty at all to her, but they let her come along because Chloe insists.

This is a fun read, with plenty of suspense and some dangerous moments the kids endure.  The narration is great, with my only issue being the occasional words that I really don't think a teen would use - some of the phrasing is too much like an uber-edutcated adult, nothing I would expect a 15 or 16 year old to be thinking or saying.  Happily for me, this was infrequent, because that is the kind of thing that will yank me right out of a story.  I'll be FEELIN' the story, in the book, completely engrossed, and the wrong turn of phrase, something that doesn't match the characters will jar me right out of it.

Bottom line, though, is that when the book is finished, I ended up with a good feeling of having read a pretty good book, and wanting to read more.

One of the things I like about this book, is that while we don't see any of the characters from the Women of the Otherworld series in the novels, we're still in the same world.  It's not common knowledge that werewolves, demons or magic users exist; teens that are exhibiting signs of magical ability or were abilities are taken by this particular group, convinced they have a mental illness and studied...with the hint of a dangerous future.

This young adult series is another facet of Armstrongs Women of the Otherworld.

It's Monday, and I just finished a weeklong vacation...

Not one of my captions, but one I totally relate to. :)

I had a truly decadent week off of work.  Not decadent as in sinful doin', but as in lazin' about only getting up when I need to, readin mixed in with nappin and watching t.v. 

Fun.

Well, - another Monday.  Which means it's time for another It's Monday, What Are You Reading? Hosted by Sheila of Book Journey, everyone posts about what they've finished reading and what they're currently reading...

I almost got up to my old level of reading.  Finished three novels, started at least three more...(though I doubt I'll be focusing on ALL the books I've started)

I've had a couple of books on the shelves since ....  well, for at least three years.  I read the first of this series when it first came out, then made sure I bought the sequels as soon as they came out...only to have them sit on the shelves, waiting for me to read.  Waiting, waiting, waiting....and waiting some more.  for years.  I finally read them.  The Awakening and The Reckoning - books 2 & 3 of the Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong.  Young Adult and pretty good reading. :)

After reading a couple of books that have been waiting for a few years and enjoying them, I decided to go back to another series that I've had on the shelves, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting.... I grabbed my copy of Kitty Raises Hell, from Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville series - about a Radio talk show host who just happens to be a werewolf.

Currently Reading

I've started quite a few book (of course!) before I  read Kitty Raises Hell.  

            

Clean by Alex Hughes was interesting - I was two chapters in when I started on the Kitty Norville books.  She Returns From War by Lee Collins also seemed interesting, but I realized very soon that it is, in fact, a sequel.  I need to read the first novel, titled The Dead Of Winter.  Kind of irritated because I looked for that info when I picked up the novel and didn't notice any info about a previous novel - must have been trippin, because the info is actually THERE, in plain sight - right there under "other novels by..."  American Vampire by Jennifer Armintrout is also an interesting novel - so far, but once I got started on the Kitty books, I pretty much decided to just go for it and real all I have, get caught up on the series.

After totally enjoying Kitty Raises Hell, I decided I needed to catch up further on the series...so I grabbed the next copy that I have and that is what I'm currently reading. Kitty's House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn.  Happily, I happen to have the next two Kitty books waiting for me to read...

So - happy that Spring is fighting for dominance - although we're still having cold weather, once in a while we get a nice afternoon.  
But spring is on its way, another weekend is coming up with more time to read, and I've been enjoying time with grandchildren!
Can't keep up on my laundry, but I'm enjoying the books and kids. 
;)

                 

Teaser Tuesday - it's Tuesday!

ugh!  It's Tuesday on a week away from work, and I thought I was going to be able to focus on reading- instead I seem to be fighting yet another cold, and unable to focus on reading, or even watching a show.  

On the positive side, I don't have to get dressed for work or be anywhere, so I have time to just...get over a cold.  :)

And the weather is nice in the afternoon - cold morning and nights, but we are having beautiful afternoons. :)

It's Tuesday, which also means that it is time for Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading.

We grab our current read

turn to a page,

post two sentences from the page

No Spoilers (very important)

Then post a link on MizB's post in comments.

My current read is The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong.  The Awakening features Chloe Saunders, a necromancer who has recently found her necromancer skills....at the moment, she's in quite a predicament...

The Awakening

Kelley Armstrong

Young Adult/urban fantasy

from page 157

'     My father was offering a half-million-dollar reward for information leading to my safe return.  There was a picture of me-last year's school photo.  And there was one of him, at what looked like a news conference.'

I hope to read some teasers, today!

New Meme - Why Haven't I Read You?

I just read a post with a fun new bookish meme. 

 The weekly Wednesday meme is titled 'Why Haven't I Read You?'.  Amy of A Simple Love of Reading has posted this meme - she pulls a book from her shelf that she hasn't yet read and posts the opening lines of the novel.  This sounds good to me - sounds fun, and might just jumpstart some more reading of older novels that have been languishing on my shelves...

My pick for my first time at this meme is by an author that I've been reading ever since her first Women of the Otherworld books came out.  She started a young adult series, I read the first one because I enjoyed her adult novels, then I bought the second....then the third.... And never read them.  Now she is nearing the end of the series (I think); in fact, the series has morphed into a few trilogies that are set in the same world, but each trilogy has different characters....I'm now sadly far behind in reading this no doubt excellent series....

The Awakening (Darkest Powers #2)

by Kelley Armstrong

**being the second of a series, this might contain minor spoilers for those who have not yet read any Darkest Powers books.  However, this particular book has been out for quite a while.  I bought my copy in 2009**

'     When the door to my cell clicked open, the first thought that flitted through my doped-up brain was that Liz had changed her mind and come back.  But ghosts don't open doors.  They will, on occasion, ask me to open one, so I can raise and interrogate the zombies of supernaturals killed by a mad scientist, but they never need one opened for themselves.

     I sat up in bed and rubbed my bleary eyes, blinking away the lingering fog of the sedative.  For a moment, the door stayed open only a crack.  I slid from the bed, tiptoeing across the thick carpet of my fake hotel room, praying the person on the other side had been called away and I could escape before these people started whatever experiments they'd brought me here to--

     "Hello, Chloe."  Dr. Davidoff beamed his best kindly-old-man smile as he pushed the door wide.  He wasn't that old-maybe fifty-but in a movie, I'd cast him as the doddering absentminded scientist.  It was an act I'm sure he'd worked on until he got it just right.            '

See?  There is no good reason for me not to have read this by now.  The narrative is good and I believe that the only issue I had with Armstrong's work as a whole, is that at times this young teen's narrative, or inner voice, sounded just a tad too .... grown up.  Grown up in a business or teacher way of sounding, or words.  But this was mild, very mild, especially when compared to the excellent writing style, plots, dialogue, and everything else that Armstrong puts into a novel.  On the whole, her characters have always been fun, varied, and believable.  

So.....I believe that after I finish my current book, I ought to just sit myself down and finish not only The Awakening, but also - The Reckoning, which is the third in this trilogy featuring Chloe Saunders, Derek and a few others that I have to remember.  Then if I'm still enjoying...there's always the second trilogy in the teen otherworld - featuring Maya...

If you have never, ever read this series, you can visit the Harper teen site and read multiple chapters for free before you buy... just click on book covers below for a quick trip.

The other books in the first trilogy are The Summoning (#1) and The Reckoning (#2).

#1

#3

#6 out April 2013

Second trilogy (Darkness Rising)

#4

#5

Cinder by Marissa Meyer - review

Cinder
Marissa Meyer
young adult/SciFi
2012

***** (five out of six stars)

cover - I absolutely LOVE this cover.  The leg, the inner works, the Red SHOE.   That's a damn sexy SHOE.  OhMyGod, it's a hell of a cover.  :)


'prologue' I don't think I can truly say that I don't read much young adult fiction anymore...  When I met J.A. Campbell, I started reading her work, because she's a good writer and she concentrates on Young Adult.  So I read her stuff - woman is writing faster than I can keep up, but I love her Clanless series, as well as her Doc series.  Then I also became very interested in what kind of fiction Lilith Saintcrow would come up with for the young adult market.  Under the name of Lili St. Crow she has written an amazing series (Strange Angels).  Because I was familiar with Kelley Armstrong's adult fiction, I've read at least one of her young adult series...(plan to read more, one is waiting for me right now...).  And then, because of J.A. Campbell, again, I've read Need, and a few other novels.  Well, for the first time (discounting Lili St.Crow's work) I bought a young adult novel for myself to read ON PURPOSE.  And it kept me interested. 

Interested enough to finish reading.  I am always wary of reading teen-age angsty type of romance along with the inevitable personality that I've come to expect with a teen character...but I think I haven't been totally aware of how much writers have brought along the average teen character.  If other genres have been coming into the 21st century...if young people today are becoming mature faster than ever before, then why have I doubted that a teen character could also do so?  Thankfully, this book has a teen character that is just mature enough not to drive me crazy, and yet young enough to feel like a teen.  Yeah - I'm picky like that.  Having never been a very innocent or naiive teen myself, I never really had much patience for the truly naive and innocent, or unaware.

But I'm getting off track....Cinder was a fun take on the old Cinderella fairytale.  Of course Cinderella has be retold many times in a variety of ways, but I think I'm very partial to this SciFi cyborg version of Cinderella.  Cinder is a cyborg - a human with computer programming and metal parts.  Earth has undergone many changes - one of them being that the moon (Luna) has been colonized and is now treated as a planet, complete with an evil queen (the evil stepmother character).  And the city is New Beijing, where a plague has been spreading that has affected the palace, leaving the prince in line to be emporer before he's quite ready.  This is just a taste of what Cinder is about.  There's so much more.

Cinder is living as a ward of woman with two daughters of her own.  As a cyborg, and a ward, Cinder has less rights than a human.  And she is expected to turn over all her earnings to the 'stepmother'.  There is a twist on the stepsisters - only one really hates her, the other one loves her.  Cinder is a mechanic, one who many people rely on to fix things that others can't fix - this is how she comes into contact with her prince (THE PRINCE! )

Enough of the recap, or summary.  Marissa Meyer's narration is interesting.  Her dialogue is pretty good, very believable.  One of the things I really liked about the story is Cinder's anger - she wasn't the all suffering character that is usually part of a fairytale.  Nope, this girl has spirit, and even though she's stuck at the moment, she does let her anger out once in a while, even when she knows she shouldn't.  It's pretty fun.

The evil stepmother type of character is actually portrayed by two characters - Cinder's guardian and the queen of Luna.  The people of Luna have powers, the power to use a type of glamour, and the queen is one of the strongest.  This plays a part later in the novel. 

The book was fun to read - I got through it in one day.  I liked it enough to consider buying the sequel, Scarlett.  I want to find out what happens with Cinder, since even though the novel had a good ending, it wasn't a quite complete ending.  It's kind of left up in the air just how Cinder is going to get out of a certain predicament, and is she actually going to end up with the prince?  might not.

Waking the Witch

Waking the Witch

Women of the Otherworld

*****

Kelley Armstrong

Release Date - August 3, 2010

ARC - 309 pages

Kelley Armstrong has been one of my favorite authors ever since I picked up Dimestore Magic. After I read that novel, the next time I went to the bookstore I looked for other novels by her. I had seen the phrase "Women of the Otherworld" on the cover, and that gave me a clue that there might be other books....that, and the page with the other book titles lists. LOL. Of course, then I couldn't remember which section I had found her in, but after trolling around the sections I finally found Stolen, Bitten and Industrial Magic. I believe I read them out of order, but since two out of the first four books were about Clay and Elena, and the other two were of Paige and Lucas, it didn't seem to matter too much if I read one before the other. I know I read Stolen before Bitten, and I also read Dimestore Magic and Industrial Magic before Stolen. It all seemed to work out though, LOL.

I was fortunate to be offered an ARC of Waking the Witch for review, so of course I said YES! Please! I'm glad I read this, and so glad it was offered.

Because of all of this out of order reading, I first read about Savannah, this novel's main character in Dimestore Magic. I enjoyed the rather smartassed character of the teen-aged, very powerful young witch. Throughout a lot of the coming books we get to read about Savannah, but Waking the Witch is told from Savannah's point of view.

Savannah is now 21 years old, and is trying to remain a good person, but it's evident that she doesn't quite think like Paige. In fact, one of the things I like about this series is that Ms Armstrong seems to be able to write first person from a variety of character's POV, and each star of each book has her own "voice". Savannah's voice is sarcastic, young and assertive. She's not quite human either, and therefore doesn't have quite the same ethics or morals that humans are supposed to have, though she does work at maintaining some ethics.

In Waking the Witch, Paige and Lucas have finally taken a long vacation. They own an investigations company (Cortez-Winterbourne Investigations) and Savannah has worked as "executive assistant slave" to them for a few years. She's been more than ready to take on a case on her own and finally gets a chance when a half-demon PI named Jesse brings a case for Lucas to look over. Savannah ends up taking the case, agreeing to do the "legwork" while Jesse finishes up another case he's been working on. Savannah goes to a small town, driving there on her hog (a motorcycle, not a bespelled pig - LOL) which of course, brings her to the attention of the town sheriff.

What follows is an interesting mix of urban fantasy and an old-fashioned detective novel. Three women have been murdered in two separate incidents. There are questions about whether the murders are connected, though some are trying to make it seem that they aren't similar at all - though the women were all found in the same spot. There is no lack of suspects either. Suddenly, Savannah meets another man who is also trying to investigate, and the police chief at first wants nothing to do with either PIs. Someone also starts taking shots at Savannah - dangerous things keep happening to her. There are the beginnings of romantic feelings, without overwhelming the story - nicely handled. I find that I still enjoy Savannah's personality - both the grown-up personality in this book, and the previous books' teen-age Savannah.

The story is entertaining. There are some very colorful characters, some intense situations and some comical situations. The dialogue is good, with snarky bits between some of the characters and some touching dialogue with the youngest character in the book. It's been a while since I read a detective style novel - every urban fantasy always has a bit of mystery to them, but this one focused on the detecting of a mystery, with Savannah working out clues, motives, etc. Kind of reminded me of an up-to-date, rather dangerous magical Nancy Drew, but with edge. I liked the mix of urban fantasy and detective novel vibe.

For those who haven't read the novels by Kelley Armstrong yet:

The Women of the Otherworld series has something for every taste - werewolves, necromancers, ghosts, witches. There are 11 novels in the series with each character having more than one novel devoted to them - for example Paige and Lucas are featured in Dimestore Magic, Industrial Magic; Elena and Clay are featured in Bitten, Stolen, Broken; Savannah's mom Eve is featured in Haunted and Angelic; Jaime, a necromancer that is friend to Paige and Elena has a story with Jeremy, the pack leader of Clay and Elena's pack in No Humans Involved; and Hope, a demon has Personal Demon. Everyone is connected in some way. Kelley Armstrong has also published an anthology, Men of the Otherworld that has short stories of Jeremy, Clay and others. I haven't listed all 11 books, but close!

Kelley Armstrong also writes YA - with the series Darkest Powers, the first three have featured Chloe Saunders. The fourth book in the series I believe is going to feature a different character, Maya Delaney. Darkest Powers novels are set in the same world as the Otherworld novels, only they of course, deal with Young Adult characters. I read the first book, The Summoning (first 9 chapters are free under the link) and loved it. I plan to read the next three as soon as I get my hands on them.

The other series that Kelley Armstrong has out is a "straight" fiction series about a hitwomen named Nadia Stafford. I haven't read them, since my first love is urban fantasy - but I might give them a try. There are two books so far, Exit Strategy and Made to Be Broken.

Besides being so generous with excerpts of her novels, Kelley Armstrong also provides online fiction for her fans to read.

It's not necessary to have read all previous 10 novels to enjoy Waking the Witch. This novel stands well on it's own (without a lot of infodumping). It's a good place to start, and then when you find you enjoy this novel, go back and read Bitten - which is the beginning of the werewolves Elena and Clay - or Stolen, which features (if I remember right) Paige, Elena and Eve (Savannah's mom). Any of the novels that feature Paige, will have Savannah in them, as Paige was Savannah's guardian. I found all the novels entertaining, in different ways - some are more intense than others, some are a bit more humorous, some have a touch of romance - but they're all entertaining.

Challenges

2010 Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge

teaser tuesday

I am currently reading two books. I gave up on Dead to me for the time being. I didn't have the patience to finish reading it. I was trying- I had plans to finish it this weekend but then I came down with a fuo (fever of unknown origin) and a horrific headache, which pretty much took care of Sunday - the day I was going to finish Dead To Me. So, since the challenge I was reading it for ended on the 28th - I gave up. I'm a quitter. I'll finish it when I'm in a more patient mood. Not sure when that will be - I've been feeling might impatient lately. (peri-menopause and all that) Sorry, any men that might be reading this, but that's part of life, like it or not ( I hate it)

So more the Teaser Tuesday bit-

I'm currently reading Angelic (Kelley Armstrong) and I went back to The Dust of 100 Dogs (A.S. King).

From Angelic;

' "Glamis, thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature."

One of the long-haired Highland cows rolled her eyes.'

From Dust of 100 Dogs;

' "You'll be the first one to know," I answered, looking around the tattered kitchen to feel better about what she'd just said-to feel better about cutting her tongue out and feeding it to the circling sharks. "I think I'll get back to the books, then," I mumbled. I put my empty cup in the sink. '