Halloween Book Review: Secondhand Spirits

Secondhand Spirits (A Witchcraft Mystery #1) 

By Juliet Blackwell
*** 1/2

"I don’t want to be seen as a scary freak anymore.” And with that I dropped a freeze-dried bat into the bubbling brew." ― Juliet Blackwell, Secondhand Spirits

While not exactly a Halloween title - the story takes place in March - it still seemed like an appropriate book for the season. Secondhand Spirits is an enjoyable cozy mystery with strong paranormal elements. Witch Lily Ivory wants to settle down a bit and make a home for herself, maybe even some friends, and begin a new business selling vintage clothing in San Francisco. But she's not able to keep her witchy ways quiet for long, as she gets involved with what appears to be a supernatural kidnapping AND a murder.

The mystery was strong - I only started to suspect who the Bad Guy was towards the end. I do like a bit more humor/snark in my cozies, but this one had a lot of heart and great supporting characters. Oscar is my clear favorite, obvs: Lily's new gargoyle-esque familiar who turns into a little piggy so the muggles don't freak out. 

Bonus: anyone who enjoys vintage fashion will love the descriptions of the clothes Lily sells in her shop.

Halloween Book Review: Shutter

Shutter

By Courtney Alameda
***

“My people are condemned to wander this eternal twilight” 
― Courtney Alameda, Shutter

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book. There were a few things the characters did that bugged me (Why do characters always keep vital information to themselves? SHARE WITH THE CLASS, PLEASE.). Mostly I think this would fit into horror-lite. It wasn't incredibly scary, but there was plenty of gore. I honestly think if this was made into a movie, I would have been unable to watch it. As it was, I had no problem reading the story...well, I wasn't keen on reading it right before bed, mostly because it was just a dark story, not because it needed to be put in the freezer.

My biggest problem with this book was that I just wasn't in the mood for it. October has been a very finicky reading month for me, and I've picked up and put down several books. So I probably would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't been in such a reading funk.

Pros - no love triangles, cool friend relationships, and a romance that began before the book (so there's some element of history there - no instalove). Also, cool world-building.

Cons - occasional teenage obnoxiousness (see above re: sharing vital information), bad-dad, and partial open-ending without confirmation of a sequel.

Book Review: Cast In Honor

Cast in Honor (Chronicles of Elantra #11) 

By Michelle Sagara
*****

"Do these cracks look strange to you" she asked. "What cracks?" Which answered that first question. "You know, when I first started training with the two of you, we had normal cases." ―Michelle Sagara, Cast in Honor

When our story opens, Kaylin and Crew are trying to get to the point where they can go on the hunt for Nightshade, who disappeared in the last book. But an investigation changes everything; and it turns out the investigation has more than a little to do with Nightshade.

We get to see more of some old characters, like Ybelline and Moran, and we're introduced to new characters Gilbert and Kattea, both of whom are pivotal to the investigation. And in the process, we learn just a bit more about Ravellon and the Shadows that abide there. Because of these new characters, and the mystery at the heart of this story, this entry in the Chronicles of Elantra felt a little different than the previous books. It added to the world building of the series, but it felt more removed from the overall story arc than the the last few books. 

The build up with Moran at the beginning of the book didn't really take off, as I expected it to. I have to assume that Moran's story will be coming up in the next book or two. As we haven't delved into the Aerian culture the way we have with other Elantran races, I'm anxiously awaiting that story line. 

As always, I loved this book and I can't wait to get my hands on the next!

**I received an Advanced Review eGalley of this title from NetGalley**

Book Review: Indexing

Indexing (Indexing #1) 
By Seanan McGuire
****

“When you’re late in a fairy tale, people wind up dead. And not true-love’s-kiss, glass-coffin-nap-time dead. Really dead, the kind of dead you don’t recover from.” 
― Seanan McGuire, Indexing

Police procedural meets Grimm Brothers. In the fairy tale justice system, memetic incursions are considered especially dangerous. In the Real World, the dedicated detectives who defend Happily Ever After are members of an elite squad called the ATI Management Bureau. Beware of their stories. Chung Chung.

Indexing is the story of a team of agents who investigate memetic incursions - where fairy tales invade the real world. Seems it happens more often that you'd think. Nice girl with a dead mom, stepmother and two stepsisters? She's ripe to turn into a 510A "Cinderella." Despite Disney's best efforts to subvert the grimmer aspects of the original tales (pun intended), fairy tale incursions rarely have an HEA. 

It took me a while to get into the story, but it wasn't long before I became *involved*. This story was written as a serial - new chapters added on a regular basis, rather than a full book offered all at once. I didn't read it in installments, thank heavens, as I'm not sure I could have handled that. But the story definitely would have worked in that format. I just have no patience. 

This was a cool story and a new twist on old fairy tales. Recommended.

Book Review: Beastly Bones

Beastly Bones (Jackaby #2) 

By William Ritter

****

“I’ve found very little about private detective R. F. Jackaby to be standard in the time I’ve known him. Working as his assistant tends to call for a somewhat flexible relationship with reality.”

Another great novel by William Ritter. Beastly Bones was a lot of fun to read and the beast in the title was particularly cool. Abigail Rook and R.F. Jackaby are great characters and I loved that Abigail got a chance to explore a dream of hers in this book. 

As much as I loved the first book in this series, my main issue with it was the weak-ish mystery. It was fairly obvious who-dun-it, though the why and what of it all remained unknown until the end. In Beastly Bones, the mystery was much more solid and a bigger puzzle began to unfold towards the end that I can't wait to dig in to. 

I'm totally loving this series and highly recommend it. 

**I received an Advanced Review eGalley of this title from NetGalley**

Graphic Novel Review: Nimona

Nimona

Story and art by Noelle Stevenson

*****

“Halt you villains! Unhand that science!”
― Noelle Stevenson

From Goodreads:

The graphic novel debut from rising star Noelle Stevenson, based on her beloved and critically acclaimed web comic, which Slate awarded its Cartoonist Studio Prize, calling it "a deadpan epic."

Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from Noelle Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel is perfect for the legions of fans of the web comic and is sure to win Noelle many new ones.

Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.

But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit. 

From Me:

Oh my word I loved this book! The story takes place in a sort of medieval, magical land that has refrigerators and pizza delivery and dragons. The story is heartfelt and I may have teared up once or twice, while at other times I struggled to hold in my giggles since I was reading it over lunch at work.

The art is fantastic and the story is lovely. I read a library copy, but this one is going to have to go permanently on my shelf.Highly recommended. 

Book Review: Day Shift

Day Shift (Midnight, Texas #2) 
By Charlaine Harris
****

A fun follow up to Harris's Midnight Crossroad. This time around the focus is on Manfred and Olivia as the primary voices, and Joe as a secondary voice. (I kinda love that there's no single main character in this series - Manfred takes the lead, but the other characters seem to be getting their own chance to take focus from book to book.) 

Things are changing in this unchanging little town and nobody likes it. There are several mysteries for our characters, some of which aren't revealed at the end. What was revealed was more about the characters, namely who and what they are. While I enjoyed the mystery, what I really loved about this installment was getting to know the characters better. I can't wait to find out more about them and see what happens next to their little town, because clearly something is coming.

In my review of Midnight Crossroad, I commented on how various characters and references were made to Harris's other series. The only reference I hadn't caught in the first book was to Sookie Stackhouse's world. Well, Day Shift is chock full of Sookie references, and they aren't even little minor ones. I love that we're getting a new series and a new set of stories, but I also like that I don't have to completely leave those past worlds behind.

Another great book for fans of Charlaine Harris! Recommended.

**I received an Advanced Review eGalley of this title from NetGalley**

Book Review: Seven Kinds of Hell

Seven Kinds of Hell (Fangborn #1) 
By Dana Cameron
*****

“I felt the shame of unleashing the Beast only until I was washed in a flood of righteousness...As I stepped out of my cheap black China-doll shoes, I felt elegant, sleek, graceful. The wind ruffled my fur.”  ― Dana Cameron, Seven Kinds of Hell

Take everything you know about vampires and werewolves and toss it out the window. Go ahead and toss it, I'll wait.

Dana Cameron's Fangborn world is made up of vampires, werewolves, and oracles, and they are completely different from anything I've read or watched. And they're FASCINATING! I'm particularly intrigued by Dana's vampires - which can turn into giant, colorful snake-creatures. Seriously, how cool is that? (Ok, maybe less cool if you have a snake-phobia. Fortunately for me they didn't turn into giant spiders.)

The story follows Zoe, a young woman pursuing an education in archaeology, who spent her life on the run from her father and his family. Her mother believed they were some kind of mafiosi, and they shuffled from place to place over the years to keep them at bay. Now Zoe is an adult, her mother just passed away, and it looks as though her father's family has finally caught up with her. Oh, and either she's insane, or she can turn into a werewolf. (Spoiler Alert: she's not insane...)

You'd think this would be enough of a story - woman on the run trying to stay a step ahead of her werewolf family, but noooo, Dana turns it up a notch by adding an international artifact hunt, mythology, several baddies of human and non-human nature, and various allies and enemies with Zoe trying to figure out which is which. 

This story subverted ALL of my expectations and gave me a book so far beyond what I could have hoped for! I gave up trying to figure out what could possibly come next after the first few surprise twists. And to top it off, Dana is a real-life archaeologist, so when she gets into aspects of that field, it's truly fascinating (or at least it was to me, who at one point thought I wanted to become an archaeologist - see my review of Lives in Ruins for more info about that). 

Bonus: I haven't traveled much, and what I *have* done took place over 10 years ago, but the characters traveled to places that I've seen in the flesh, and that was awesome for me. I've seen the ruins at Ephesus, and I've shopped the streets of Kusadasi (where I was proposed to...by a random fella outside a shop), and I've wound my way through the twisty alleyways of Mykonos. Luckily my trip didn't involve any murders or vast conspiracies...

Double Bonus: I had the chance to meet Dana last month at my library's annual Book Fest and she is super nice, incredibly funny, and wicked awesome. If you ever have the chance to hear her speak, take it!

Seven Kinds of Hell was such a cool book. There's a lot too it, but it's one helluva ride! Highly recommended.

Book Review: Pocket Apocalypse

Pocket Apocalypse (InCryptid #4) 
By Seanan McGuire
****

“Hello,” she said. “Have you heard the good word of Wadjet, Protector of Egypt and great snake of the Milky Way?” 
― Seanan McGuire, Pocket Apocalypse

The fourth book in the InCryptid series had me on edge! The danger-level in this particular book seemed more intense than in previous installments. Normally I'd pick up a book in this series with the general assumption that the leads would live and there'd be a standard, if open (due to it being a series), HEA. I did not have that assurance as I read this story! Alex and Shelby head to Shelby's home in Australia after learning about a werewolf outbreak. In McGuire's world, werewolves are diseased - with a rabies-like virus - that makes them crazed killing machines. There will be no romantic interludes with these creatures. As they investigate the beastly menace, Alex also has to deal with Shelby's family, who pretty much hate him on sight as he's 1) an outsider, 2) a Price, 3) a grandson and cousin to a cuckoo, and 4) dating their daughter/sister.

The Aeslin mice, my favorite anthropomorphized characters since...ok, maybe ever, provide much needed levity, as everything else was stressing me out! They are basically the best. Despite the levity and all the madness and mayhem, there's one particular death that I'm still bitter about. Seanan, you know what you did!

I loved this book and I love this series. I can't wait to see what Verity's been up to in the next installment! We're going to a TV dance competition! HAIL!

Artwork by Kory Bing. Image taken from http://seananmcguire.com/fgaeslinmice.php

Book Review: Dead But Not Forgotten

Dead But Not Forgotten: Stories from the World of Sookie Stackhouse
Edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner
****

“Not since the dark days of the Twilight franchise had it been so trendy to be dead.”
― Charlaine Harris, Dead But Not Forgotten: Stories from the World of Sookie Stackhouse

The premise of this short story series kinda blew my mind. A collection of urban fantasy, paranormal, mystery, etc. writers got together and picked a character from Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series and wrote a new story based on said characters. These weren't stories on a common theme built around their own characters; they were actually writing stories within Sookie's world, up to and including origin stories! The idea of someone writing stories like that who weren't the original author (or taking over a series postmortem) was a little bizarre. I kept thinking WWCD: What Would *Charlaine* Do?? 

That being said, it totally works! I don't know how they did it, but the short stories all found the right voice and felt like they belonged to the whole. Highlights for me include Leigh Perry's "The Real Santa Clause," her take on Diantha (one of my favorite minor characters) in a post Dead Ever After world. There's a mystery to solve and Diantha is up to the challenge, "suresuresure." Seanan McGuire's "Knit a Sweater Out of Sky" had my favorite title and I loved the magical whimsy mixed in with the danger and comeuppance in Amelia's story. One of my favorite characters from the series is Pam, and I loved learning more about her origins from Dana Cameron's short story "The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars." I had to take a beat or two to divorce myself from the True Blood Pam and find the Sookie Stackhouse Pam - which can be difficult since Kristin Bauer van Straten is such a powerhouse that it's hard NOT to think of her. Once I got my character incarnations straight, I was completely enthralled by Pam's passion and fire, as well as her sass in the face of danger (the bit with the photo-op was a delight).

A great book for anyone who's still not quite ready to let go of the series. Recommended.


Story List:
"Nobody's Business" by Rachel Caine (featuring Kevin Pryor & Kenya Jones)
"Tyger, Tyger" by Christopher Golden (featuring Quinn)
"The Real Santa Claus" by Leigh Perry (featuring Diantha)
"Taproot" by Jeffrey J. Mariotte (featuring Andy Bellefleur)
"Knit a Sweater Out of Sky" by Seanan McGuire (featuring Amelia)
"Love Story" by Jeanne C. Stein (featuring Adele Hale Stackhouse)
"The Million-Dollar Hunt" by Jonathan Maberry (featuring Mustapha Khan)
"Borderline Dead" by Nicole Peeler (featuring Desiree Dumas)
"Extreme Makeover Vamp Edition" by Leigh Evans (featuring Bev & Todd)
"Don't Be Cruel" by Bill Crider (featuring Bubba)
"What a Dream I Had" by Nancy Holder (featuring Alcide Herveaux)
"Another Dead Fairy" by Miranda James (featuring Claude & Claudia Crane)
"The Bat-Signal" by Suzanne McLeod (featuring Luna)
"The Sun, The Moon, and The Stars" by Dana Cameron (featuring Pam Ravenscroft)
"Widower's Walk" by MaryJanice Davidson (featuring Eric Northman)