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 This is book four in the Sookie Stackhouse series and this review may contain spoilers for the first three books. For the first book in the series, see my review of Dead Until Dark. I’m reading this as part of the Sookie Stackhouse challenge hosted by Beth Fish Reads.
After the disastrous events in Club Dead, it looks like Bill and Sookie’s relationship is officially over. Bill heads on a trip to Peru while Sookie remains in Bon Temps, making a New Year’s resolution not to get beat up again. Life doesn’t return to normal, however, because on the way home from work Sookie spots Eric running around naked. When she gets him in her car, she realizes that he has amnesia and has no idea who he is. Not only does this new, sweeter Eric fluster Sookie, but she learns that there is a were-witch coven at work who cast this spell on him. Worse, the coven is extremely dangerous. It looks like Sookie may not keep her New Year’s resolution after all.
Like nearly everyone else who has been reading these books, I have been crossing my fingers for Eric and Sookie to get together. His sex appeal just oozes off the page, and here he’s sweet, old-fashioned, and totally perplexed in addition to ridiculously sexy. How can this go wrong?
Well, after reading this book, I’m glad that the reviews for the next one promise no romance. Poor Sookie’s heart has been totally put through a wringer. Between Bill and Eric, I feel sorry for her! There is also Alcide, who I wouldn’t mind having a little more screen time. It doesn’t help that her brother goes missing and she is once again stuck helping to save everyone, even though she’s not actually anything paranormal herself. It just never ends. Although if it did end, there wouldn’t be much of a series! I also was very intrigued by the nearby town that Sookie discovers and its residents. I didn’t see that coming at all, but it’s an interesting twist and I hope they stick around to wreak a little bit more havoc.
Anyway, this isn’t much a review, it’s more a random collection of various thoughts which have popped into my head. Regardless, I am really enjoying this series! My new library has all the rest of the series and I couldn’t be happier. Expect more reviews soon! In the meantime, Dead to the World is another great addition to this series, which I am definitely thrilled I started.
 When her grandfather dies and Lily Balfour hears gossip at how far her family has fallen, she begins to despair. She, her mother, her aunt, and her slightly strange cousin Pamela live in a dilapidated Tudor mansion, poor as dirt since her father died in India when she was a little girl. Some say the Balfour clan is cursed. Lily throws off that idea and decides to head to London to find a rich husband before it’s too late. In London she comes across Major Derek Knight, a war veteran from India waiting for money from his men and taking the opportunity to seduce as many women as possible while he’s there. Lily has already found a willing mate, a rich but slightly stupid man willing to infuse his low class status with Lily’s blue blood. She is irresistably attracted to Derek but must put him out of her mind for the sake of her family, at least until Derek suspects her husband-to-be of corruption. Exposing that plot will put both of them in danger of losing their lives and perhaps their hearts as well.
Oh, Gaelen Foley. I loved your books so much when I was young. Where has the spark gone, I ask? It must be true that The Spice Trilogy, of which this is the second book, is not up to your usual standards, because while I enjoyed this book, it was lacking the magic. The magic that makes me fall in love with your characters and want to read your books again and again.
I’m not sure where this went wrong. I certainly felt the sparks between the main characters and I did think they comported themselves well in their budding relationship. I loved that Lily’s cousin Pamela wrote novels and that her mother disapproved; I loved the idea of the collapsing Tudor mansion. I think my problem with this novel was the two main characters. Even though Lily is poor, she is still a fairly typical romance novel heroine. Gorgeous, submissive, the usual. She has a secret, but it’s not original or interesting, and doesn’t matter at all when she confesses it to the hero. Derek is big, manly, obsessed with war, the usual. He’s the reformed rake and while I love reformed rake stories, this one wasn’t working for me, possibly because despite the gorgeous women on his arm and in his bed, he never changes much. Their love story didn’t sweep me away.
As I said, this one’s lacking the magic. I loved Gaelen Foley because her romances always seemed a little darker than normal. One of the earlier ones had a rape scene, one featured a female bandit, and so on. This one is just a little ordinary. I think its only redeeming feature is the fact that Lily’s betrothed isn’t actually a bad man, just a desperate one. He was fairly interesting, but not enough to save this one from the “average” shelf. I enjoyed it, but it’s not converting anyone to the genre.
For a truly charming story of poor girl needs to marry rich man, go with How to Marry a Marquis by Julia Quinn.
Available via IndieBound, Powell’s, Amazon, and Amazon UK.
 In Katsa’s world, people with Graces, or extraordinary skills, are feared and sometimes exploited. They are distinguished by their dual colored eyes. Unfortunately for Katsa, she has a killing Grace, and has been used by her uncle to do his bidding since she was eight years old and accidentally murdered a man with her bare hands. When Katsa seeks to rescue the father of the King of Liend, she stumbles upon a mystery and on Po, a man who can fight almost as well as she. Katsa decides to defy her uncle the king and set off to solve the mystery, the curious Po at her side.
I love fairy tales, especially fairy tales expanded into novels. While this is a completely new story, it feels very much like a fairy tale. It is a once upon a time fantasy with a darker edge in that Katsa’s Grace is so violent. The closest I can compare it to in style is Robin McKinley, who I recently discovered and loved. Thus it’s not at all a surprise that I really enjoyed this book too.
For Katsa, this is completely a coming-of-age story. She is disgusted with herself, with her uncle, and with the world. She knows so little about both her Grace and the wider world, though, that even as a teenager she essentially goes on a journey of self-discovery. She realizes how much she herself is a product of the kingdom in which she grew up and takes steps to become a strong, confident woman. Add in a little bit of budding, confusing romance and Cashore has the perfect combination for a teenage girl. Although I enjoyed the adventure that Katsa went on, I appreciated her believable and steady character growth much more.
Cashore’s pseudo-medieval world is also very well considered. The kingdoms that we see are distinct and interesting, especially Po’s, and the idea of Graces is beautifully developed. It’s fascinating that even people with Graces shy away from others who have them, because no one knows what particular skill might be lurking behind blue and brown eyes. Everything feels organic and natural and it’s very easy to lose yourself in this world.
Graceling is a compelling fantasy set in a fairy tale medieval world. Katsa is one of the best female characters I’ve come across in YA, with strengths and vulnerabilities in equal measure, and her adventure had me spellbound. Well worth a read for both young and regular adults.
 On the Prowl is an anthology of novellas by four urban fantasy/paranormal romance writers, so I’m just going to treat each story separately.
Alpha and Omega, Patricia Briggs
I adore the Mercy Thompson series, so moving on to the Alpha and Omega series was practically a given for me. This short story was surprisingly more substantial than just a teaser. Anna thinks that she’s the most submissive wolf in her pack; turned without a choice, she is threatened frequently by other pack members and has been subject to gang rapes and other such cruelty. When she sees a man missing on the news and realizes that her pack leader has not only turned but sold him, she finally calls the Marrok, the leader of all the werewolves, and he sends his son Charles to investigate. The connection between Charles and Anna’s wolves is immediate and he helps her to realize she’s not worthless after all. I liked the relationship between them and the fact that they don’t exactly act on their animal impulses. Restraint is something that doesn’t happen very often in this type of novel and I love that Briggs’s characters are always building their actual relationships, not just hopping into bed with one another because they want to. I feel that this is a delicate handling of Anna’s horrible situation and I liked the resolution of this story. I’m looking forward to reading the next two in the series but I do think that I could have stopped here satisfied at how it stands alone.
Inhuman, Eileen Wilks
This story reads much more like a teaser for a series. Kai Michalski is a physical therapist who also believes she’s a telepath. She’s friends with Nathan, a police officer who isn’t exactly human. When suspicious deaths begin to occur, Kai is immediately blamed thanks to prejudice against magical people from politicians and because another creature has taken her form, fooling credulous officials. While all her affairs on earth are cleared up, thanks to a handy deus ex machina that Nathan can summon at will, the story ends in a massive “buy my book if you want to know what happens now”. It’s a shame because I did like this one, although somehow it managed to feel too long, perhaps because it is all background and not really a story on its own. I might be interested in reading the Lupi series, of which this is a part, but I am not in a rush to do so.
Buying Trouble, Karen Chance
This was my second favorite story in the anthology. Claire has the ability to calm magic around her, so she’s been hired at an auction house to prevent the magical devices going wrong until the duped customers can get them home. One night, however, she discovers that she herself is on auction because of her skills; she can be killed and her abilities drained to make a bomb. Lucky for her, she is rescued by a Fey, Heidar, who realizes that there is even more to Claire than she herself suspected, not to mention a reason for her pesky attraction to all Faery men. This story alone was actually very funny at times and I really liked the main characters, Claire and Heidar. It struck a good balance between action, humor, and romance, and it was a great self-contained short story, not an ad for a book like the other three are. After reading this story I put a request in at my library for another of Karen Chance’s books.
Mona Lisa Betwining, Sunny
This was my least favorite story in the anthology. Basically, it felt like an infodump with lots of sex attached. Mona Lisa is a new Monere Queen, but she’s special because she’s half-human. In this story, she’s called to account for the death of another Monere Queen, who was part demon, and she laments the death of one of her lovers. She also makes an unpleasant discovery about herself. A lot of the story consists of recounting what happened before to get to this point. In the meantime, she has sex with two different men and one of the scenes made me very uncomfortable. The story is only 60 pages long, so at least it went by quickly, but I probably would have skipped this one if I’d known. I went on Sunny’s website and it turns out that her books are mainly paranormal erotic romance, which I really don’t like, so that explains my reaction to this. Her novels have won a number of awards so I’m assuming they have more actual plot and less recapping, but I don’t intend to try them.
If you have this hanging around, I’d recommend it for the Read-a-thon, which is coming up soon!
 At first, Mamah Cheney knew Frank Lloyd Wright as the brilliant architect who was going to design her new house. While he did, they developed a close friendship, but on realizing their bounds, stepped away from each other purposely. It didn’t last long and soon they fell headlong into an affair that shocked both their families and the world. Both Mamah and Frank struggle to find their identities in the face of a hostile world and their own love.
I thought I was going to enjoy this far more than I did and to be honest it was a disappointing work that didn’t meet its full potential. The idea of humanizing and developing the love story between one of America’s greatest architects and his mistress, who appears to have been more or less reviled at the time, is at first a great one, and the book starts out promisingly. The characters struggle with the damage they’ve done to their families and themselves in the name of a “free love” which no one can understand but them.
By the time Frank and Mamah start to explore Europe, though, they had lost me. For one thing, Mamah is not a very sympathetic character. She places the discovery of the meaning of her life before her children and before Frank and it’s difficult to agree with her choice when it involves merely translating another woman’s works. Did she really have to seek out solitude and hurt everyone she loved for something that she could have done in their presence? Moreover, I didn’t like the philosophies that Ellen Key espoused and to be honest, didn’t like Ellen herself, and wished Mamah had the fortitude to write herself rather than give a voice to someone else. These are doubts that she herself struggles with, and even that bothered me to an extent. Much of this book is wrapped up in Mamah’s thoughts, regretting what she’d done and who she’d hurt, yet largely failing to right any wrongs she thought she had committed.
Frank isn’t much better, as he is brilliant but something of a wastrel, spending money on extravagances, going to faraway places, and even at times pushing Mamah into his ideal vision. This is a book with characters so flawed that they got on my nerves, and while that may be realistic, it does mean I had trouble going back to the book and concluded my dislike for it. It didn’t help that I hated the ending. Honestly, this is a true story, so I feel like it’s wrong to say that, because it would also have irked me if Nancy Horan had made up something else.
In the end, I didn’t like the characters, didn’t like where the story wound up, and didn’t like the philosophical dilemmas in between. Loving Frank was not a book for me.
 Bone Crossed is the fourth book in the Mercy Thompson series and this review may contain spoilers for the earlier books. To start at the beginning, check out Moon Called [my review, Amazon].
Even though Mercy is struggling from the fall-out of the last book’s events, trouble doesn’t leave her alone. She’s chosen to be alpha werewolf Adam’s mate, but before anything can be finalized, her vampire friend Stefan appears in her house at the edge of death. Turns out Marsilia, the mistress of the local vampire seethe, has discovered that Mercy killed two of her vampires and that Stefan helped to cover it up, and so she has declared Mercy’s life forfeit, and that of her friends. Just in time, an old friend appears asking for Mercy’s help; a ghost has taken over her home. Mercy takes the opportunity to leave her friends safe by removing herself from the area, but in the process attracts the attention of the crazed vampire in Spokane. How is she going to get out of this one?
While this was a little bit of a let down after Iron Kissed, which would have been hard to top, there is still a lot to like about this installment of the series. Mercy has a lot to recover from since she was raped and she finds that she doesn’t just get over it like often happens in fiction; no, she has panic attacks, she cowers, she has trouble even kissing Adam. Adam, of course, more than proved his worth with patience and understanding and I liked the way that their relationship developed.
These books wouldn’t stand alone very well, but that isn’t a criticism here. The events from previous books are still ongoing, while the book has its own plotline to keep the action going and provide new excitement. It’s a little like plotting for a TV show; there is a bigger conflict and then there is the driving force behind each individual episode. Everything has repercussions, but the ghost storyline allows Mercy to develop and heal a little by herself.
I’m definitely still recommending this series and eagerly awaiting the fifth book!
 After losing his job and his wife, Lev leaves his little daughter with his mother and sets off for London to find work and support his family. By a lucky chance, he meets a woman on the bus who helps him find a job after a brief period of homelessness. Working in the kitchen of an elite restaurant, Lev learns that he loves to cook and carefully observes the chef and other workers to glean their skills. Through a relationship with his co-worker and a path to success in his new career, Lev begins to understand the wider world while growing to appreciate and love his home even more.
I felt a little uncertain about this book while I was reading it and I still do now. I’m not quite sure how to review it because it’s one of those books that I liked but didn’t really like that much. The best part, clearly, was Lev’s sense of accomplishment and his ambition once he realized what he really wanted out of his life. I love to read about ambitious, goal-oriented, determined people. Obviously life gets in the way sometimes, but I can identify with them the best. Unfortunately, however, Lev also seems to have a somewhat ignorant or cruel streak towards women. He does not want a relationship after his wife, so he rebuffs one woman, but then he finds another, decides he’s in love with her, and ends up treating her quite badly when things don’t end the way he expects. The girl is partly at fault for leading him on, but all of his relationships with women bothered me.
I did like the entire theme of home running through this novel. Even when Lev makes a groove for himself in London, he still misses the people and the place that is his home. Eventually he realizes that it’s the people and not the place itself, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to do his best for his home country and making a difference for his family. The title is really well chosen; even though Lev starts out leaving home, the entire novel is at the core about his journey returning and how he’s going to get there as a more successful man than when he left.
I’m still a little on the fence about whether to recommend this book or not. It is one of those difficult reads that falls in the middle, that I know I’m supposed to love but I didn’t manage it. I think if this review intrigues you, the book is probably still worth investigating.
IndieBound | Powell’s | Amazon | Amazon UK
 On September 24, 2010, a plane lands at JFK airport in New York City. Immediately on landing, the plane goes dark, all of the window blinds pulled down, and the doors completely locked. Ephraim Goodweather has been spending time with his son, Zack, in the lead-up to a custody battle, but he is called away from his weekend off work to investigate the plane. On arrival, he and his partner Nora realize that it is full of dead people, bar four very ill exceptions. The dead people are unusual, though, in that they appear to be full of a strange white liquid, not blood, and their bodies haven’t deteriorated at all. Eph is mystified until an old man, Abraham Setrakian, approaches him with an extraordinary tale and an urgent mission.
At times, The Strain reads like a movie on paper. Everything is very visual, from the descriptions of the scenes to the alteration between chapters to the way it cuts across the perspectives of the characters. It’s easy to imagine this on a big screen, a difficult feat for someone like me. I rarely envision what I’m reading as I go along, but I couldn’t avoid imagine these pictures. While that’s not necessarily a fault, the book had a startling amount of gory descriptions and action scenes, so I don’t think this book is for the squeamish. It had my stomach rolling at times because I could for once picture all the nastiness associated with the vampires.
What does work without a doubt is the intense, ceaseless suspense and quick pace of the novel. It only takes place over a few days, but so much happens in those days as the mystery is established, solved, and the characters set out to save the world. The timescale never feels unrealistic, especially because we don’t stay with the few main characters all the time. We’re also given viewpoint perspective for a few of the victims and their families, which really drives the emotional impact of the entire situation. The authors are very good at establishing sympathetic characters in a very small number of words, which definitely impressed me. Of course, the main characters, especially Eph, are easy to care about as well. Eph in particular virtually lives for his son, but his chances of winning custody are slimmed even further when he has to save the human race. His priorities break his heart, and they break ours too.
While The Strain is not for the faint hearted, it is certainly an exciting ride, and is meant to be the first in the trilogy. I know I will be looking forward to seeing what happens next!
 Lizzie Brown discovered she was a demon slayer by accident, and now she’s discovered that she needs to take a test to get her license. The problem is that her Uncle Phil, the fairy godfather she never knew she had, has fallen in love with a succubus, and she needs to rescue him without incurring a huge fine. Getting her demon slaying license is the easiest of all of Lizzie’s problems once she learns that Las Vegas is now full of succubi and she is the only one who can kill them all. With her griffin boyfriend, crazy grandma, and a flock of witches in tow, Lizzie and her switch stars set off to save the world.
This is urban fantasy ultra light style, and in that respect, it works. The cast of characters is so varied and whacky that much of the book is hilarious. My personal favorite was Lizzie’s dog Pirate. When she became a demon slayer, she learned she could talk to dogs, and Pirate is almost too funny. He’s concerned with all specifically dog things, like sticking his head in the breeze on the motorcycle and smelling various objects on the ground. Lizzie and Dimitri, her boyfriend, also have a fairly nice dynamic going on; the main romance happened in the first book apparently and in this one they’re learning more about each other and how they feel. I wasn’t quite as fond of Lizzie’s grandma, who doesn’t seem particularly helpful most of the time, but I was intrigued by the mystery that is Max and I found myself cheering for Lizzie to succeed and vanquish the demons. I also liked the way Lizzie’s character developed over the novel, in that she took more responsibility for herself rather than relying on other people.
On the other hand, if it’s possible for a book to have too much humor, this one does. Even the more serious moments don’t take on all that much weight. There are some parts that are very moving, but for the majority of the book it’s hard to believe any of the characters are in danger. It was exactly what I needed at the time, but don’t expect any gravity from this one. As a comedy, though, it succeeds brilliantly, and I’ve heard that the first book in the series is even more entertaining. If you are looking for a light and fun read, look no further than The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers.
 Thomas wakes up in a lift with no memory of anything regarding his previous life. He knows his name and how to speak, but virtually nothing else. He’s stranded, until the lift doors open and he’s greeted by a group of boys who have similarly lost their memory. All of these kids eke out a life in a place called the Glade, farming, cooking, and doing their best to solve the ever-changing maze that lurks just outside, without getting killed by the Grievers, machines designed to kill kids. The gates open in the morning and close at sunset; any kid left outside at night is guaranteed to die in the morning. The day after Thomas’s arrival, the first girl is found in the box, and she is suspiciously familiar. Can Thomas solve the maze as the end game engages?
This book is a great read. It’s going to be hard for me to back up and explain why, but I’ll give it a shot. Perhaps the foremost reason is how amazingly suspenseful it is. There is a sense of dread lurking over the entire book. Thomas is tossed into this strange world with no knowledge of it at all, and as we learn what the boys know, we also learn that nothing is as it seems. This is even more pronounced when things start to go wrong. I had no idea what was going to happen next or how the boys (and girl) were going to solve the maze, or even if they were going to be able to do so. There was no way I was going to stop reading this book. Besides that, I adore dystopias, and while this is another variant of the fight-for-your-life scenario, it has plenty of individualism to spice it up. The wiped memories, the larger picture that is only available at the end of the book, and the maze itself and the reasons behind it were all fascinating.
Of course, such a book wouldn’t be so great if it didn’t have characters to care about. We have to care whether or not these kids die, and luckily Dashner pulls this off just beautifully. Thomas is a great kid. He’s perplexed, he’s unhappy, but he’s smart as a whip and determined to succeed. He’s not a perfect wonder boy, but he’s loyal, tenacious, and a true friend. I also thought his role in the greater plot was excellently planned and made his position a lot shakier than I’d expected. The other kids, while not center stage, are also characters to cheer for.
This is a YA book, but I had very few moments when I was aware that its projected audience was younger than me. I did take a while to get used to the fact that the boys are frequently called “kids”. I haven’t referred to anyone as a kid in quite some time, and somehow I don’t remember coming across this in other YA. Saying that I’m not sure how else to refer to the group, so I suppose it is more natural. That was really the only strange moment; otherwise I was as absorbed in this novel as a thirteen-year-old would be. There is similarly the fact that this book is totally clean; it’s as though these boys have no sexual urges whatsoever, and even when a girl arrives their reactions are subdued. To be honest, I don’t think a romantic entanglement would have been out of place, but the story works extremely well just as it is, so this is more of an observation than a criticism.
I highly, highly recommend this YA dystopia. The Maze Runner is a breathtaking work of truly addictive fiction and I am waiting with huge amounts of anticipation for the next book.
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