This was my first novel by Stella Brie. The first novel of a series surrounds a powerful witch, Arden, who has hidden herself for 300 years. After an assassination attempt on her life, she is forced to flee her isolated location and finds sanctuary within the property of The Abbey. This sanctuary happens to come with an Imperium Cadre of protection with elven, fae, vampire, dragon, and warlock touches. Arden is a witch warrior and I enjoyed watching her punish those who underestimated her. I loved this urban fantasy world with intricate magic and compelling support characters. This was an original and well executed premise with excellent world building skills. I’m anxious to read the next hook and I have another author to add to my favorites list. (4/5 rating)
Tag: urban fantasy
Book Review – Wolf Gone Wild (Stay a Spell 1) by Juliette Cross
This was my first novel by Juliette Cross. After a werewolf is cursed out of his ability to shift into his wolf, he is forced to seek a cursed breaking witch. Even though their coven denies their services to werewolves, Evie can’t help but say yes after she witnesses his pain. I’ve discovered a new favorite author in Cross. She did an excellent job of balancing the romance aspect and the plot. Evie, Mateo, and their band of characters were intriguing, and I became invested in their world. The only aspect of this book that I would change, is the pacing as it did draw out a bit in places. I will Be reading book 2 soon. (4/5 rating)
Book Review – How to Save an Undead Life (The Beginner’s Guide to Necromancy 1) by Hailey Edwards
This was my first series by Hailey Edwards, and I was pleasantly surprised by this introductory novel. Our female MC, Grier, is an excommunicated necromancer forced to survive in the human world to fend for herself and her only inheritance, a Haunted Mansion. Located within downtown Savannah, she finds a job working as a tour guide for a ghost tour company. I’m so glad I met Grier in this urban fantasy world set with vampires, necromancers, and ghosts, among other things. I will always and enjoy watching heroines out to better themselves and grow. I loved that dynamic between Grier and her next-door high school crush. I know I will be continuing with this series. (4/5 rating)
Book Review – White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements 1) by Jennifer L Armentrout
This is my second series by Jennifer L Armentrout. This is the first book in the Dark Elements trilogy. Our female MC, Layla, is half gargoyle and half demon. She soon discovers that Hell is out in force for her because of her special abilities. Special abilities that could bring about the apocalypse. Her longtime gargoyle friend, Zayne, and a new demon friend Roth, set out to save the world. I picked up this series because I already have her harbinger series on my TBR List, which takes place after this one. This world had to be involved from the first page. Layla was a compelling character, and I was cheering for her all along, especially the aspects with Roth. I know we get the ‘stopping the apocalypse’ aspect a lot, but I don’t feel like it detracted from this storyline. The ending fraught with it its secrets and betrayals coming to light makes me eager to begin the next book. (4/5 rating)
Book Review – Sucks To Be Me (The First Fangs Club 1) by Kristen Painter
This was my first book by Kristen Painter, and I had high hopes for it considering the story is a vampire urban fantasy one. Our heroin, Belladonna Barrone, is a 49-year-old mob wife who loses her husband in a car accident at the beginning. I enjoyed the drama surrounding her attempts to escape the life she’d always known. Painter crafted a great to cast of characters and a compelling plot flow that forces Belladonna to find her inner strength. I can see this but a good book, I unfortunately, did not become invested enough in this world to read the second book. This can be checked out on kindle unlimited, so you can try it before you buy it. (2.5/5 rating)
Book Review – Midlife Witch Hunter (Forty Proof 6) by Shannon Mayer
I just finished the 6th book of this series, and the 7th is due out in August. This is my second series by Mayer. I loved the premise of this series: middle aged witch finding her way, group of friends helping her battle evil, and potential love interests scattered throughout. In this book, they must travel to France at the Council’s request, and save a witch from being sacrificed for a vampire army. I really enjoyed this story in the first few books, but it seems to have stalled. I love the idea of Bree, but she hasn’t seen any growth as a person in six books and her hot and cold relationships with the love interests of this series. Her episode with Crash kind of ruined this for me. The magical side of this book was great but the relationship side of this left a lot to be desired and this may be the last book I read for a while. I really wanted to love this the same way I loved KF Breane’s similar midlife series, but Mayer has made that impossible. (3/5 rating)
Book Review – Year of the Chameleon 3 by Shannon Mayer
This was my first book series by Shannon Meyer as a sole author, even though she started the series with another author. This series has been on my TBR for a while, and I was grateful to finally finish this off. In this series ending conclusion, we get to see all the preceding drama come to head. Wild is compelled to hunt down a series of magical keys that are rumored to bring down their powerful enemy, Frost. With the fate of the magical world in the balance, Wild and her circle must do whatever it takes to save everyone. This novel was everything I expected a series conclusion to be, fast paced and action packed. I had to stay up rather late to finish this book, but it was so worth it. I really enjoyed Wild and her character as a totally untrained but kick a&& heroine. (5/5 rating)
Book Review – Black Sunshine: A Dark Vampire Romance (Dark Eyes Book 1) By Karina Halle
This was my first Karina Halle book and I stumbled on it looking for a new vampire book for my healthy vampire obsession. 🙂 This was set in an urban fantasy world in Berkely, California. Our main character, Lenore, is a second year UC Berkeley student in Egyptian history. I was intrigued from the first page and read this in one sitting. Halle’s characters were captivating and her world beautiful and addicting. I gave this a 4/5 rating. You should read this too.
**Spolier Alert**
As a child, Lenore’s parents were murdered by rogue hunters, tracing her mother. The couple that killed them, took her in and raised her. She doesn’t find out any of this until right at her 21st birthday after she is kidnapped by a house of vapires. She doesn’t even know she is half witch, half vampire as her parents never told her.
The alpha of the house, and the man that sets her skin on fire, Absolon Stavig, helps push her through her vampire change so she doesn’t hurt anyone. As she grows into her vampire side, her stand in parents confess they kept her hidden from the vampire and witch world, because they would have killed Lenore for what she is, but they do have a true love for each other despite the circumstances.
Though as Absolon had guessed, once Lenore’s change is complete, the rest of their world knows who and wha she is. Both sides come forward to try to kill or kidnap her for their vampire king in Norway. This is a wonderful tale with death and heartache in spades but their is also love and forgiveness.