A review of The City by Dean Koontz

The City is the fascinating tale of Jonah Bledsoe Kirk, musician and ten year old, who lives with his mother in New York City during the 1960's. Jonah learns to play piano in a way most don't and never will, being the grandson of the famous Teddy Bledsoe. His experiences at 10 years old are unlike many that he knows, having divorced parents, being fearful that his father , who doesn't truly want him, will kidnap him just to hurt his mother, but Jonah tries to handle these things "as the man of the house". Unfortunately, he gets himself into trouble being nosy with a tenant of his building by the name of Fiona, who truly wishes him harm. Jonah, however, enlists the help of a quiet Japanese neighbor named Mr. Yoshioka, with whom he forms a bond that is more father-son than any he ever had with his own father. During this time, Jonah meets a woman he names Miss Pearl, who claims to be the City as a flesh being. Miss Pearl gives Jonah advice, sends him visions and tries to help him as much as she can. Jonah lives through some terrifying experiences, but comes out on the other side, because he believes he will. The thing I enjoyed most here, being a fan of Dean Koontz, was not the slight supernatural flavor the book possessed. It was the beautiful language and true sentiments of understanding that the most important thing we have is out connection with other people, that is what defines us, encourages us and helps us to carry on. I throughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it highly.

Among the Unseen by Jody McIsaac

A terrific end to the trilogy showing Cedar once again doggedly trying to help others. In this case, it's the Unseen- those otherworldly races such as the Merrow, the selkies, and dwarves, who are suddenly stricken with a disease and are dying. There is a long history to the reason why, accompanied by a spell set by Brighid, of all characters, and even a few scenes with everyone's favorite anti-hero, Thor and his decidedly insane father Odin. What I like about Jody McIsaac's stories is how human Cedar is, although she isn't, and how she pokes fun at the belief in these mythical characters and creatures, while still painting a story with lots of travel and action, and tension between characters. The author killed off quite a few secondary characters, I won't name which ones, before ending her trilogy, which was unsurprising, and not at all unexpected given the deadly disease. In all, I enjoyed this story as I did the previous two. ARC provided by NetGalley.

A Review of The Line by JD Horn

The Line is the first of the Savannah witch novels, featuring Mercy Taylor, a non-witch in a family of extremely powerful, but seriously disturbed, witches. Mercy wants to live her life, but the influence of Ginny, the Taylor matriarch, is far- reaching. Mercy' twin sister, Maisie, inherited all of the power while Mercy got none, and is referred to by some family members as "The Disappointment". Mercy has Peter, her boyfriend, but is confused by her feelings for Jackson, Maisie's fiancée. The story begins with the murder of Ginny, and subsequent scenes show crazy, backstabbing, ghost-possessed, power hungry characters who keep this story moving at quite a pace. There is no room to breathe through scene after scene of action and spooky story threads that begin to weave themselves together, but by no means are completely resolved, by the end of the story. In all, a really good UF addition. Looking forward to reading The Source!

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

One Plus One is the story of Jess, her daughter Tanzie, stepson Nicky and Ed, a man who begins as a client of Jess's cleaning business, but eventually becomes a friend and more to this misfit family. The story is told from the perspective of all four characters, who narrate both different parts of the plot, and occasionally the same situation from different points of view. It would be an understatement to say that Jess is down on her luck, but when math-genius Tanzie is offered a scholarship to a prestigious private school, needs $5000 to begin, and is told winning a math Olympiad will help her get money, the family embarks on a trip from England to Scotland chaperoned by Ed, a computer coder who inadvertently gave insider trading information to a lover and is facing legal issues. They make quite a group, and during their trip everything that can go wrong does, and things seem quite hopeless. Jojo Moyes tells this tale of multi-layered characters who don't seem to quite fit in anywhere with humor, candor and tear-inducing frankness. It is well-crafted, the characters very authentic, and an extremely compelling story of what it means to be human. A gripping, uplifting tale, well worth the read. ARC provided by Netgalley

A review of Pack of Strays by Dana Cameron

Pack of Strays was a bit of a directional turn from the first book, Seven Kinds of Hell. While Zoe, our heroine, is still mostly a loner, she picks up a group in this book, including her cousin Danny, as well as Vee, an oracle and Toshi, a vampire who lost his closest Family. I again enjoyed the country-hopping, although there was much less in this book than the first. I found some of this book rather confusing, though. While Zoe doesn't understand what's happening with the "integration" of the artifacts with her physical self, and the introduction of "the lab", a sort of internal haven Zoe can project to and solve problems, most of these scenes are difficult to follow. The ending was a bit of a gyp. The last book felt like a continuation, this felt like it was purposely cut off in the middle of the action to get you to buy the next one. In all, I liked the story but less than the first. I will probably continue to read it when the next one comes out.

The Mistress of Night and Dawn by Vina Jackson

The Mistress of Night and Dawn is an exquisite perversion, a vivid tale of a thing, rather than the people inhabiting the story. The story is about Aurelia, the one destined to be the next Mistress of the Ball- an annual celebration of hedonism and sex, held for those who are invited to indulge in its excesses, revelry and celebration of sexuality and humanity. However, her story, and that of Andrei the Protector of the Ball, sent to find Aurelia, with whom she falls in love, is not really about her. I did enjoy the sensuality of the characters, their abandon and joy in their sexual being, and even though I don't love the idea of a person having their personality broken down to become something else, I recognized that Aurelia's consent was imperative to continue the story. It felt like a cross between The Story of O and The Night Circus, especially the flowing language and languid pacing of the story. The elements of dominance and submission are hardly new, but treated respectfully here. In all, I enjoyed the book, even if it lacked some originality, it was interesting and very hot.

A Review of Seven Kinds of Hell by Dana Cameron

An excellent beginning to a new UF series. I enjoyed Zoe and her group of friends, as well as the author's world building about Fangborn. I would enjoy more history, which I am hoping is forthcoming in the second installment of this series. I greatly enjoyed the world-traveling in this book, and the descriptions of Italy and Greece were fun. In all, a great start.

A Review of The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier

The Butcher was an interesting murder mystery, in that there was no mystery- we find out in the beginning of the story who the murderer is. What keeps the reader's attention is trying to figure out how the other characters may or may not discover the Butcher's identity, and if it will be too late. This gave the story a bit less urgency in some ways and a bit more in others. I did like Sam's character, although she seems a bit clueless, but that's easy for the reader to say when the reader knows what she doesn't. I also liked Matt Shank's character, or rather, disliked him but liked how the author wrote a main character devolving in his basic human decency. It made for some very tense scenes that were interesting to read. In all, I enjoyed this story.

Relatively Strange by Marilyn Messik

Relatively Strange is the fascinating tale of Stella, who uses the term "Strange" to categorize her extraordinary abilities. Stella, who lives in 1960's England, is telekinetic, pyrokinetic, can levitate, read minds and do quite a few other impossible things. Much of this story is about how Stella navigates a normal life while being something other than normal herself. There are encounters with others like herself, as well as a nefarious group of "medical" people who have no morals or ethics whatsoever. I found the historical background of Stella's family to be interesting. A post-WWII, post-Holocaust Jewish family trying very hard to continue to be perceived as normal despite their daughter's differences. This was a subtle reminder that. Not too far in the past, any "otherness" was an offense, punishable by death. And yet, they accept her, for the most part, as different, but not wrong or bad. It was, in fact, the great compassion of many of the wildly fascinating characters in this book that kept my attention. It was a great deal of fun to read. I would recommend it to all readers. ARC provided by NetGalley

A review of Angeli by Jody Wallace

Angeli, by Jody Wallace is an interesting story. The premise being that some aliens have come to rescue Earth, or Terra, from another species that seek to suck the souls or kill humans. These aliens, called Angeli, have determined that the easiest way to get humans to accept them is by masquerading as angels sent from God, the Christian god specifically. The story begins with Gregori, the head Angeli, as he is fighting some daemons on Terra after the "apocalypse" has already come. He meets Adelita, a 20-something law student trying to fulfill her bucket list before she dies. The beginning of this story is extremely confusing. It took a good 30 pages before I could make sense of what was going on the story. However odd it may have seemed, the story definitely held my attention. There was a definite romantic note to the story, once Adelita, a religious Catholic, understands that Gregori is not an angel, but a humanoid from another planet. There is a bit of a subplot involving the intentions of Ship, the sentient computer that is the vessel the aliens travel on around the galaxy. In one humorous scene, Adelita makes a pro and con list labeled "Hal or Not Hal", a fine nod to classic alien movies (2001, specifically). It seems that from Adelita's perspective, Ship's motives are not as pure as Gregori and his team would like to think. In all, this was a fun book to read, although a bit light on the specifics, details and facts. The action was well done, and overall, I would recommend this book to sci-if fans. ARC provided by NetGalley

A Review of Lingering Echoes by Erica Kiefer

When I started Lingering Echoes, it seemed like a fine story: young girl harboring a guilty past, a broody young man with a dark past if his own. Teen angst, but not overdone. Unfortunately, at about 3/4 of the way through, the author shows stunningly bad judgement by making all of the "bad guys" non-white, pointing it out over and over, and even going so far as to name one of the characters "ethnic guy". Borderline (or maybe crossing the border) racist at best. All of the good guys are white, as well, and the story behind Damian's past is absurd. It seemed such a sharp detour from where it started, that I was actually confused. Also, did Damian really have to rescue Allie in the potential rape scene? Couldn't the author have figured out how to have Allie rescue herself from that ridiculously absurd situation? Too bad, it started out pretty good, but ended up a hot mess.

A review of The Wife, The Maid and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon

The Wife, The Maid and The Mistress is the imagined story behind the real life mystery surrounding the disappearance of Judge Joseph Crater in 1930. It is a mystery that still fascinates, and Ariel Lawhon has created a fascinating story around the actual events. We are given bits and pieces of the story told by Maria Simon, the Crater's maid, and wife of Jude Simon, head detective on the Crater case. We also learn of events from the perspective of Stella Crater, Joseph's wife, and Sally Lou Ritz, his mistress. Much of the story circles around the profound corruption in politics that existed in 1930, including the infamous Tammany Hall political machine and Owney Madden, a bootlegger and ruthless mobster who appears to be responsible for most of the violent deaths of various characters and real historical figures (Madden was also a real person). What is fascinating here is how Lawhon weaves together much true information with fictional, and it appears seamless in the story. It is a visceral tale of corruption, greed, violence, and most appallingly, the near powerlessness of the women who are sucked into the machinations of the men who seem to control all. Note, however, the word "near". These women show ingenuity, perseverance and grit, while attempting to navigate their lives through the mistakes they have made and for which they must subsequently pay. In all, a throughly fun read.

A Review of Heart of Stone by Christine Warren

Heart of Stone is a somewhat new take on Urban Fantasy, if only in the sense that it involves gargoyles rather than werewolves, vampires or fairies. The plot itself is pretty standard: new magic user unaware of her abilities, bug strong Guardian (what gargoyles who fight demons are called) who wants to protect her but also rebels against his feelings for her. This book was pretty well-done, if not entirely original. Of course, it could be argued that very little new writing is original. But the author did a fine job of making the story interesting. The heroine was very strong, if a bit predictable, and the sex was hot and steamy, and not overdone. I would recommend this book for a fun read.