Resident Evil: Afterlife (movie review)

I don't love zombie movies. I don't hate them, but I don't love them. Like a lot of things in life my feelings are completely dependent on the movie itself. 

I did like Resident Evil & Resident Evil: Apocalypse. They had just enough action, blood, gore, and kick-ass female characters to keep me interested without over the top special effects and stupid dialogue. Resident Evil: Afterlife though? Boring, oh god so boring. If I hadn't been watching this with a friend of mine there were would have been many places where fast forwarding was required. Thank goodness I watched it at home so my snarky comments didn't annoy anyone but myself. 

Most of the dialogue in RE:A was blah and then the characters themselves weren't interesting. Plus I had so many damn questions throughout the movie I couldn't even enjoy what action there was. I mean, how do you have a huge weird hooded monster (with rusty nails and a big axe/hammer thing), kill it, and just never address it again? Or where it came from?

Sigh.

I'll probably still watch the next one (Resident Evil: Retribution is scheduled for September 2012) but definitely not in theaters.

Teaser Tuesdays (1/31)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"I could feel things bleeding and breaking inside me, important things. I'd pushed myself and my gift further than I ever had before. Too far."

--pg 302, The Bride Wore Black Leather by Simon R. Green

The Bride Wore Black Leather by Simon R Green

In the secret heart of London, under the cover of endless darkness, the Nightside caters to anyone with any unusual itch that needs to be scratched. But enter at your own risk. The party animals who live here may be as inhuman as their appetites...

My name is John Taylor. The Nightside is my home. I didn't plan it that way. In fact, I once tried to get away. But I came back. And now it seems I'm settling down, with a full-time job (in addition to my work as a very private eye) as Walker-the new Voice of the Authorities in the Nightside-and a wedding in the offing.

I'm marrying the love of my life, Suzie Shooter, the Nightside's most fearsome bounty-hunter. But nothing comes easy here. Not life. Not death. And for certain, not happily-ever-after. Before I can say "I do," I have one more case to solve as a private eye-and my first assignment as Walker.

Both jobs would be a lot easier to accomplish if I weren't on the run, from friends and enemies alike. And if my bride-to-be weren't out to collect the bounty on my head... 

~~

If you caught up with me on Facebook or Twitter this weekend you probably witnessed some pretty huge gushing going on for this book. To be completely honest I LOVES it and while I'm sad to see this series end, I can't think of a better way it could have gone out. 

The Bride Wore Black Leather is full of all the things that made The Nightside series so great - seemingly omnipotent villains, behind the scenes machinations, scary as hell rides through the dark under belly of society - all tossed in with some mystery and a dash of romance. I've been waiting for what felt like forever for John and Suzy to get their own version of HEA and even when things seemed their darkest I couldn't tell which way the book was going go. There are no actual cliffhangers but in the world that Green's created not everyone gets their happy ending; bad things happen to good (or just naive) people kind of often. Even here there were some points where I found myself tearing up because I just didn't know how John was going to pick himself from the mess he'd landed in.

Nothing's perfect and I wouldn't make claims that this book or series is, but I enjoyed the ride so much and my only wish is that there were more people around me who read them so I had someone to talk to!!!

Overall Feeling - A

Series - 10) The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny 11) A Hard Day's Knight 12) The Bride Wore Black Leather

Ghost of a Chance by Simon R. Green

Got ghost problems? You're in luck. The intrepid agents of the Carnacki Institute will investigate. They'll do whatever's necessary to take care of the problem, from convincing the ghost it's time to move on, to kicking its sorry ectoplasmic ass. Their best team is a three-person operation, capable of handling any problem. There's JC Chance, the leader; technogeek Melody Chambers; and drug-addled telepath Happy Jack Palmer. Between them, they have every eventuality covered.

Fresh off a job involving a haunted supermarket parking lot, the team is sent to deal with an extremely nasty incident originating in the Oxford Circus Underground station, an unprecedented event that's just the start of their worst adventure yet. Something ancient, alien, and powerful is threatening to break through down where the sun never shines, and it'll take everything the team has just to survive, much less succeed. And just to complicate matters, they have to deal with their evil counterparts from the Crowley Project, who believe the best opportunity is the one seized through force and blood. But when the chips are down and it's everyone for themselves, can the two teams work together? And who's going to tell JC Chance that falling in love with a ghost is a monumentally bad idea? (All of them, that's who.)

~~

I probably don't talk about it a lot, but Simon R. Green is hands down my favorite horror author. He writes these incredibly detailed and imaginative stories, with the type of world building that really lets you see everything with your mind's eye. In Ghost of a Chance I can see how the series is going to be another great creepy production. 

First let me say that this definitely has all the earmarks of a first book in a new series. There is a lot of explanation, a lot of character building. It's the kind of stuff that Green's already known for, but in this book you really get even more than usual. I don't think it's bad, this series just doesn't have the base that his John Taylor books do. JC, Happy, and Melody are new to us and what they do takes a bit more explanation. Though I do love the fact that it's still all taking place in and around the same world that we've been introduced to before. Something has to be going on in London outside of Nightside right? And this book shows us that. 

I know that doesn't tell you a whole but I do tend to prefer titles to stand for themselves. Take the blurb and my thoughts and go pick up this book from your local bookseller - it's a grand ride and a great beginning to a new series.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up. 

Series - 1) Ghost of a Chance

Teaser Tuesdays (3/8)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
   * Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Because in the end that's what love is. To go on, despite everything, driven by hope and faith alone."


--pg 172, Ghost of a Chance by Simon R. Green

Savannah Grey by Cliff McNish

A monster's out there... Only one girl can stop it. But will love get in the way?

It's a difficult time for fifteen-year-old Savannah Grey - she's settled into her latest foster placement, but her body is acting oddly. Then other strange things begin to happen. Birds behave erratically; gusts of wind blow leaves so fiercely they seem to lure people away. And Savannah discovers she has supernatural powers.

Only new boy Reece Gandolfo thinks Savannah's powers are a special gift. No wonder she's attracted to him. But there's another force that wants to lure Savannah from safety into danger...

From the multiple-award winning author of Breathe: a ghost story and Angel, comes Cliff McNish's third stand-alone novel, a chilling story of love and horror.

~~

**I requested this title for review from NetGalley**

I don't think I was prepared for this book. The cover, the back summary - it doesn't sound like a quiet walk on the beach, but still once I was absorbed in this story I had no idea how it was going to end or how creepily engrossing the path was going to be to get there. Because that's what McNish has created: a trail of bread crumbs for the reader to follow, but one that's so well crafted that that the horror is just amazing. You are not ready for the monster to jump out of the closet and then to begin to sympathize with it? Incredible.

I probably sound ridiculous talking about McNish and Savannah Grey like this, but the novel is really off the charts fantastic. The way he moves the point of view so it's never just about Savannah but also about what she has to fight. There might be only one heroine but there are quite a few stand out characters and the novel could not have been as powerful without them.

And of course there's the pinnacle of this book - the ending. Unexpected, heartbreaking, and frightening, it's one of the best horror pieces I've ever read. The fact that it's being written for the young adult audience almost makes me more excited for it. That genre needs great examples of this kind of crossover into adult literature, the type of stuff to continually inspire young minds to keep up picking up that next book.

I'm so happy that I got the chance to read this and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up

Series - None

Teaser Tuesdays (1/18)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Please don't upset the planetary personification," I murmured. "Particularly one who's about to provide us with a ride home."

--pg 219, A Hard Day's Knight by Simon R. Green

A Hard Day's Knight by Simon R. Green

John Taylor is a P.I. with a special talent for finding lost things in the dark and secret center of London known as the Nightside. He's also the reluctant owner of a very special-and dangerous-weapon. Excalibur, the legendary sword. To find out why he was chosen to wield it, John must consult the Last Defenders of Camelot, a group of knights who dwell in a place that some find more frightening than the Nightside.

London Proper. It's been years since John's been back-and there are good reasons for that.

~~

If I had to pick just one horror series and call it my favorite it would have to be this one. Green in his Nightside books has created a creepy terrifying world that for me is really without equal. Often I read a book for the romance, the HEA that I know is waiting for me. When I read Green I know I'm going to get characters that scare the crap out of me and buildups to scenes that will make me want to read them from behind a blanket.

The best part about Green is the fact that he can sustain this level of suspense. Yes John might 'win' in the end but the amount of death and destruction that comes before it, the good men and women that might suffer at his hands or others, doesn't make it a clean victory. A Hard Day's Knight has a lot of great action and some personal development between John and Suzy that seriously made me go 'holy shit'. It's a great thrill ride and I highly recommend it. 

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up.

Series - ... 8) The Unnatural Inquirer 9) Just Another Judgement Day 10) The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny 11) A Hard Day's Knight

Bullet by Laurell K Hamilton

The music came back up and the next group of little girls, slightly older, came out. There was a lot of that in the next hour and change. I liked dance, and it was no reflection on the kids, but my will to live began to seep away on about the fifth group of sequined children...

Anita Blake is back in St. Louis and trying to live a normal life-as normal as possible for someone who is a legal vampire executioner and a U. S. Marshal. There are lovers, friends and their children, school programs to attend. In the midst of all the ordinary happiness a vampire from Anita's past reaches out. She was supposed to be dead, killed in an explosion, but the Mother of All Darkness is the first vampire, their dark creator. It's hard to kill a god. This dark goddess has reached out to her here-in St. Louis, home of everyone Anita loves most. The Mother of All Darkness has decided she has to act now or never, to control Anita, and all the vampires in America.

The Mother of All Darkness believes that the triumvirate created by master vampire Jean-Claude with Anita and the werewolf Richard Zeeman has enough power for her to regain a body and to immigrate to the New World. But the body she wants to possess is already taken. Anita is about to learn a whole new meaning to sharing her body, one that has nothing to do with the bedroom. And if the Mother of All Darkness can't succeed in taking over Anita's body for herself, she means to see that no one else has the use of it, ever again. Even Belle Morte, not always a friend to Anita, has sent word: "Run if you can..."

Let me start out by saying that I know the Anita Blake series has become a bone of contention for a lot of readers. It started out with one particular vibe and as Laurell K Hamilton changed as a person and an author, her books changed too. They became less centered on the mystery; instead they were more paranormal and more centered on Anita, her relationships, and the magic that helped bind them all together.

While there might have been specific books in the series I didn't like as much as others, on the whole I didn't have a problem with the tonal shift in the series. It worked for me and since I liked the additional characters any concerns I might have felt ironed themselves out pretty quickly.

There's a LOT of back story to the Anita Blake books but I'm going to try to write this review without it being too confusing. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I'm happy to explain more if it helps!

I feel that this book is one of the best that Hamilton has released for this series in a little while. The book has two main focuses: 1) exploring more Anita's relationship with the men around her and how they relate to her powers 2) setting up a new story arc of Anita/Jean-Claude/Richard's future confrontation with the Mother of All Darkness. What this translates to, for a series filled with characters whose powers depend on a lot of their emotional states, are a frequent number of scenes depicting interpersonal instead of situational conflict. Asher's feelings toward Jean-Claude, Richard's toward himself and Anita and Jean-Claude, Anita with her own unique triad - it's all explored. The violence that erupts, the battles that happen, all take place within that framework. What I like about the book is that I see Anita and the men (and women) around her grow as people; sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad. Like a lot of urban fantasy series being done right now, it's hard for the hero/heroine to protect those around them if they're not sometimes willing to make the less 'clean' choice.

Here are some general warnings for people who are looking to pick up the book (no spoilers, but you are being warned):

1) There isn't really a murder mystery that Anita works on in this novel
2) However you want to say it, there is another male added to Anita's group. Feel how you feel about it, but it happens
3) There is still a good bit of explicit sex in this book. There's also a lot of vampire politics and 'woo-woo' stuff going on around it, but the sex didn't go anywhere.
4) For people who are somewhat squeamish about same-sex partner relations (hahaha, I'm so PC) there are some scenes in this book that are going to bother you: M/M and F/F pops up a few times

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up. I can tell that this is a book focused more on story building, but I think the character development and action scenes are well written enough to excite me about what's coming next anyway.

Series - ...... 16) Blood Noir 17) Skin Trade 18) Flirt 19) Bullet

Teaser Tuesdays (3/23)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


"He was an egomaniacal genocidal killer; impressed or not, he wouldn't show it. Egomaniacal genocidal killers rarely did. If they did, they'd be sensible, modest genocidal killers, and those were fucking hard to come by."

--pg 165, Roadkill by Rob Thurman

Roadkill by Rob Thurman

Once, while half-human Cal Leandros and his brother Niko were working on a case, an ancient gypsy queen gave them a good old-fashioned backstabbing. Now, just as their P.I. business hits a slow patch, the old crone shows up with a job.

She wants them to find a stolen coffin that contains a blight that makes the Black Death seem like a fond memory. But the thief has already left town, so the Leandros brothers are going on the road. And if they're very, very lucky, there might even be a return trip...

I know that at this point this series can't really be qualified as a 'break out hit' of 2009, but in my opinion Rob Thurman has created one of the most unique and vibrant urban fantasy worlds that I've ever read. Her (yes, her) books are just incredibly well written. Cal and Niko are two men who are trying to cope with the hardest of circumstances, Cal with his Auphe heritage and Niko with his desire to protect his brother. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems, and even when Cal is having a good day, it turns out that those feelings herald a much darker problem. I don't want to go too much in the story of this specific book, I feel like that would do a disservice to the series as a whole, but I do want to say that that poignancy in this book is very touching. Thurman seems to have an amazing grasp of the unbreakable connection of families - what they'd do for each other and in spite of each other. Again the easy answer isn't here; instead Thurman shows the depths of what people are capable of in the face of evil that comes from within and without.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up. It's another fantastic addition to an almost unparalleled series.

Series - 1) Nightlife 2) Moonshine 3) Madhouse 4) Deathwish 5) Roadkill

Teaser Tuesdays (3/16)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


"I'd died six months ago.
Sounds dramatic, doesn't it?"

--pg 1, Roadkill by Rob Thurman

**Now this one is a true teaser, because it's the first two sentences of a book I haven't even started reading yet!

Mean Streets by Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green and More

The best paranormal private investigators have been brought together in a single volume—and cases don’t come any harder than this.

New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher delivers a hard-boiled tale in which Harry Dresden’s latest case may be his last.

Nightside dweller John Taylor is hired by a woman to find something she lost—her memory—in a thrilling noir tale from New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green.

National bestselling author Kat Richardson’s Greywalker finds herself in too deep when a “simple job” goes bad and Harper Blaine is enmeshed in a tangle of dark secrets and revenge from beyond the grave.

For centuries, the being that we know as Noah lived among us. Now he is dead, and fallen-angel-turned-detective Remy Chandler has been hired to find out who killed him in a whodunit by national bestselling author Thomas E. Sniegoski.

I originally read this anthology about a year ago when it came out as a trade paper (~$14). I'm a huge fan of Butcher and Green, but the other two authors were new to me and I don't like putting down that kind of money for something I couldn't be positive of. I haven't gone back and read through all of the stories again, so I can't speak to them at the moment, but I can say that for the mass market paperback price this book is worth it just for the first 2 stories. Butcher does an almost unmatched job of creating a complete story, start to finish, in the smallest of formats. I've written before how short stories can be hit or miss depending on an author's ability to handle the size limit, but for Butcher there's no problem. Harry returns to readers in this story trying to protect his friend Michael, no longer a holy knight, from a threat that's not at all the usual paranormal beastie. Getting the deeper glimpse into Michael's life and Harry's efforts to protect his friend make this a really great read that I'll come back to forever.

Green's story focuses on John Taylor working to help his latest client - a women who has no memory of the last day and wants to know why. Like all things in the Nightside, there is a rarely an innocuous reason for any weird thing that happens, so he's forced to push through various obstacles to find the truth. Even if the client doesn't want to know the truth anymore. Sufficiently creepy for anyone and a great combination with his noir detective act, this short story is a welcome addition to the series.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up. I love Butcher's and Green's additions to the anthology, and their work alone makes this book worth the price.

Series - Various. Please see the author's individual websites for more information.

The Month of Love.......or was it?

This was an interesting month bookwise, just because I hit a couple of snags that through off my reading rhythm. Twice during February I either started to get bored with the book I was reading, or started to dread an upcoming book I wanted to finish. Neither of those are good places to be, so unsurprisingly I didn't read quite as many books as I did in February. I must also admit that these last couple weeks I wasn't as consistent in tracking my reading, so while I don't think I left anything out, there's no way to be exactly sure.

Still, even with these problems, there were a few standouts that I want to make sure that people take some time to read: Nauti Deception by Leigh, Pleasure of a Dark Prince by Cole, and Coming Undone by Dane. All of them featured great main characters and the kind of plot, romance, and sex combination that make a book truly memorable for me. Life As We Knew It by Pfeffer is a very well written novel, but also a emotionally taxing read - take that opinion like you take anything else I say, but only read it if you're prepared to shed a few tears.

Oh! I almost forgot - I also loved Back in Black by Foster. It's a fun light-hearted story, which I was glad to pick back up and reread after I finished Pfeffer's book.

Obsidian Prey by Jayne Castle
Flirt by Laurell K Hamilton
Back in Black by Lori Foster
Tea for Two by Shelley Munro
Ladies Prefer Rogues by Chapman and More
Nauti Deceptions by Lora Leigh
The Mane Squeeze by Shelley Laurenston
The Mane Attraction by Shelley Laurenston
The Beast in Him by Shelley Laurenston
The Elusive Bride by Stephanie Laurens
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson
Mine to Possess by Nalini Singh
Pleasure of a Dark Prince by Kresley Cole
Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh
Coming Undone by Lauren Dane

Flirt by Laurell K Hamilton

When Anita Blake meets with prospective client Tony Bennington, who is desperate to have her reanimate his recently deceased wife, she is full of sympathy for his loss. Anita knows something about love, and she knows everything there is to know about loss. But what she also knows, though Tony Bennington seems unwilling to be convinced, is that the thing she can do as a necromancer isn't the miracle he thinks he needs. The creature that Anita could coerce to step out of the late Mrs. Bennington's grave would not be the lovely Mrs. Bennington. Not really. And not for long.

This book exemplifies why I'm sure there are some bookstore employees that just hate me. I went into B&N yesterday and I made a very nice guy (named Guy I think) work for his paycheck! But it's not my fault that none of the new releases were on the shelves. I just requested books that I knew were in the store - and unfortunately this guy had to suffer for the inadequacies of whoever closed the store last night. Oh well - at least he has the satisfaction of knowing I bought everything he found for me!

To get back to the book, let me just warn you that this is a novella. It's not a full length novel and only about ~160 some pages - but it's a good 160 pages. I've never been that person who cries and laments every time Hamilton releases an Anita Blake book with some sex. Even when the story focused primarily on her interpersonal relationships, I still feel like the series as a whole was going somewhere. But even after saying that, I am happy to report that this book focuses on the other side of Anita's powers, her necromancy. It's another look into what Anita could be, what she chooses not to be, and the type of people who are brought to her attention by the incredible power she wields. There's a lot of violence, blood, and death - which shouldn't be surprising to any readers of the series. Yet at the same time the new characters are fleshed out enough that you don't feel like they're being gipped by the smaller page count.

Aspiring writers and other fans should be enthused about the essay at the end of the book, where Hamilton talks a lot about how she gets her ideas and how she writes. And after that you can get a kick out of the comics done by The Devil's Panties creator, Jennie Breeden.

Overall Feeling - Definitely Thumbs up. A really quick read, the only thing I could have asked for is that it was released in paperback to save my wallet.

Series - I've said this before and I'll say it again. There are just way too many books in the Anita Blake series to list them all, so please check out Laurell K Hamilton's website here.

January in Review

Hey Everyone,

So I know this is a little late (darn you January!) but here's a list of the books I got through during the month. Most of them were good, though some were DEFINITELY better than others. Surprisingly enough, the ones that I enjoyed the best seem to be ones that I picked back up off myself after years of neglect. It goes to show you that sometimes the best trip to the library or bookstore can be done inside your own home - or through the homes of your friends. Just because I like owning the majority of the books I read doesn't mean that allowing yourself some 'shopping' time through your friends shelves won't result in wonderful things. You never know what you're going to find and keeping your mind open to new possibilities is never a bad thing!


Walk on the Wild Side by Christine Warren (eh)
Street Game by Christine Feehan (good)
The Royal Treatment by MaryJanice Davidson (great)
Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh (great)
What A Dragon Should Know by G.A. Aiken (great great!)
Guilty Pleasure by Lora Leigh (good)
The Family Way by Jayne Ann Krentz (good)
Kitty's House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn (good)
Dark Slayer by Christine Feehan (great)
Got Fangs? by Katie Maxwell (great)
Come Up and See Me Sometime by Lucy Monroe (good)
Circus of the Darned by Katie Maxwell (great)
Heart Mate by Robin Owens (great)
Inked by Karen Chance, Yasmine Galenorn, etc. (great)
The Good, The Bad, and the Uncanny by Simon R. Green (good)
Bone Magic by Yasmine Galenorn (good)
Hunting Evander by Kim Knox (good)
Changing Perspective by Marilu Mann (ok)
Hot for the Reunion by Ann Jacobs (eh)
The Bad Widow by Barbara Elsborg (eh)
Her Very Special Robot by Ann Jacobs (double eh)
Taking Shape by Tielle St. Clare (great)
The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu (great)
Midnight's Daughter by Karen Chance (great)
Death's Mistress by Karen Chance (great)
Queen Sharon by Sala (great)
Night Game by Christine Feehan (great)

The Good, The Bad, and The Uncanny by Simon R. Green

Things were going so well for P.I. John Taylor, that it was only a matter of time before everything hit the fan. Walker, the powerful, ever-present, neverto-be-trusted agent who runs the Nightside on behalf of The Authorities, is dying. And he wants John to be his successor-a job that comes with more baggage, and more enemies, than anyone can possibly imagine.

I've been reading Green's Nightside books for what feel like forever, and while this one was good, it also somehow left me wanting. I think one of the best and worst things about Green is that he has an incredible ability to create characters. All of them with unique back stories and with their own desires and quests. Reading this book I just felt a little overwhelmed by it all. There seemed to be SO many characters and so much going on that I found it hard to pin point exactly where my attention should be. I guess I should just be paying attention to everything all along, but come on Green - sometimes my mind likes to wander a bit! I'm pretty positive that it primarily has to do with the gritty, noir-like quality of Green's books. It's never obvious who-dunnit and it's never who you first suspect either. He's the master of keeping you guessing and showing you that a character you knew is someone you never really saw at all. Take Walker for instance - an integral character since the beginning, it was really hard me to read about him in this book. He changes a lot and shows John quite a bit of what changed him. Very sad, really. In the end I can definitely see how Green is laying the groundwork for a new story arc for John Taylor and I'm excited but almost apprehensive to find out where he takes it next - but he's for sure got my money when the next book comes out!

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up. You can never quite tell where your eye should be looking, but it's another fast paced suspense book that leaves you wanting more!

Series - 1) Something From the Nightside 2) Agents of Light and Darkness 3) Nightingale's Lament 4) Hex and the City 5) Paths Not Taken 6) Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth 7) Hell to Pay 8) The Unnatural Inquirer 9) Just Another Judgement Day 10) The Good, The Bad, and The Uncanny

Servant: The Kindred by L.L. Foster

Gabrielle Cody is a paladin-God's enforcer on earth. But she's not sure she can endure the life of a holy warrior. Her relationship with Detective Luther Cross is under constant strain already, and its going to get worse.

There is a monster feeding off of human blood, flesh, and souls and Gaby must stop him. But her passion for Luther distracts her from the terrible connection she has with her quarry-and the creature's desire to devour her.

It shows you how busy life can be, when you go through your old posts and find a draft of review from FIVE MONTHS AGO that you barely remember. Oy. I need to always finish what I start - this is the lesson that I've learned from this. Now, back to the review.

I think I might have said this before, but what I find the most intriguing about this series by Foster is that it's never quite clear how much is real, how much is fantasy. You're never really certain when what Gaby sees is what's there and when it might be a hallucination. It's pretty much always implied that what she sees is what's actually happening, in all its gruesome, bloody glory, but the cops and other supportive characters in the books don't always see it. It's more that they're willing to trust Gaby's instincts than anything else. In this particular book I like the continuation of Gaby and Luther's relationship, with both of them trying to figure out how to fit in each other's lives with all these new monsters and responsibilities around them. All of the reluctantly gotten, but now treasured friends that Gaby has accumulated throughout the other books make an appearance, and Foster does a great job of making the reader excited for the next book, while also secretly dreading the monster that's going to be revealed the next time around.

Overall Feeling -Thumbs up. Of course darker than her romance, Foster shows a real aptitude for making what goes bump in the night real in our world.

Series - 1) Servant: The Awakening 2) Servant: The Acceptance 3) Servant: The Kindred

Flesh Circus by Liltih Saintcrow

The Cirque de Charnu has come.

They will clean out the demons and the suicides, and move on. As long as they stay within the rules, Jill Kismet can't deny them entry. But she can watch--and if they step out of line, she'll send them packing.

When Cirque performers start dying grotesquely, Kismet has to find out why, or the fragile truce won't hold and her entire city will become a carnival of horror. She also has to play the resident hellbreed power against the Cirque to keep them in line, and find out why ordinary people are needing exorcisms. And then there's the murdered voodoo practitioners, and the zombies.

An ancient vengeance is about to be enacted. The Cirque is about to explode. And Jill Kismet is about to find out some games are played for keeps...

Yay I'm not dead! Sorry for the absence readers - I've been dealing with house guests galore! (House guests, if you're reading this, it's not that I don't love you, it's just that you make me slightly too busy to be reading enough to write good reviews!) Anyway, what matters is that instead of rereading old stuff I finally finished something new! I think I've reviewed her books before, but it doesn't really matter for this one does it? Flesh Circus picks up where Redemption Alley left of, with Jill Kismet still fighting the good fight, trying to keep the monsters of the nightside from taking over entirely. I tried to be as committed to Saintcrow's Valentine series, but I think that Jill is just a much more compelling character, with enough twists, turns, and almost psychopathic tendencies to keep a reader interested for a good long while. And of course the types of bad guys that take center stage in these books are also what keep me coming for more. Hellbreed and Traders might be the usual, but Saintcrow manipulates what goes on them in such a way that you're never bored or feel like you know what's going to happen - in fact, it's quite the opposite. Often you feel like you're in the middle of an intricate mystery that has so many hidden components that you're never going to get out unless she shows you the way. But you never feel like you're not connected, so it's always fun to get to the end.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up. It might have taken me a few days to get enough free time to read the book, but it was definitely worth the wait. A great paranormal series to have on your shelf!

Series - 1) Night Shift 2) Hunter's Prayer 3) Redemption Alley 4) Flesh Circus

Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell K Hamilton

You may know me best as Meredith Nic Essus, princess of faerie. Or perhaps as Merry Gentry, Los Angeles private eye. In the fey and mortal realms alike, my life is the stuff of royal intrigue and celebrity drama. Among my own, I have confronted horrendous enemies, endured my noble kin’s treachery and malevolence, and honored my duty to conceive a royal heir—all for the right to claim the throne. But I turned my back on court and crown, choosing exile in the human world—and in the arms of my beloved Frost and Darkness.

While I may have rejected the monarchy, I cannot abandon my people. Someone is killing the fey, which has left the LAPD baffled and my guardsmen and me deeply disturbed. My kind are not easily captured or killed. At least not by mortals. I must get to the bottom of these horrendous murders, even if that means going up against Gilda, the Fairy Godmother, my rival for fey loyalties in Los Angeles.

But even stranger things are happening. Mortals I once healed with magic are suddenly performing miracles, a shocking phenomenon wreaking havoc on human/faerie relations. Though I am innocent, dark suspicions of banned magical activities swirl around me.

I thought I’d left the blood and politics behind in my own turbulent realm. I had dreamed of an idyllic life in sunny L.A. with my beloved ones beside me. But it becomes time to wake up and realize that evil knows no borders, and that nobody lives forever—even if they’re magical.


So anyone who talked to me after LKH's last Merry Gentry book was released knows that I thought that should have been her last. I felt like it ended really well, the story had seen a complete arc and completion, and the characters had pretty much received the happy ending that LKH says these books will have. Well alas, it was not to be, more books are coming and this one is just the latest. I finished this book in just a few hours, which tells you my first opinion - it is a fun, and engaging, read. The action is cut throat and the plot is slightly winding, both elements combining in a story you don't want to put down. Now on the negatives - first, this book didn't really do much. No particular character's story was furthered in a really meaningful way and while one bad guy/faerie/whatever got their comeuppance, I just didn't quite feel fulfilled by the whole thing. Also - I love LKH's characters, but I feel like I've hit character overload. I'm starting to forget who all the supporting people are, their stories: everything that makes them unique. I'm hoping that later on in the series more of the people who are supporting characters at this point will take on more front man roles. We'll just have to see. And......and wow do I hesitate to say this....I almost feel like the sex was completely extraneous in this book. There wasn't a total abundance of it everywhere, but I did feel like a good half of the partnerships that happen were unnecessary and maybe took away from pages that could have been used for something else. But who knows, this series has been intricately entwined with sexual and emotional relationships from the beginning, and I never had a problem up until this point. Maybe I was just in a mood. Eh - who knows.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up, definitely. A fast paced, exciting, and just plain fun read. It doesn't detract from the rest of the series.

Series - 1) A Kiss of Shadows 2) A Caress of Twilight 3) Seduced by Moonlight 4) A Stroke of Midnight 5) Mistral's Kiss 6) A Lick of Frost 7) Swallowing Darkness 8) Divine Misdemeanors