kiwigirl reads. . . .

Synopsis:   Necromancer Eric Carter returns home to Los Angeles looking for answers following the brutal murder of his sister. He figures it’s the least he can do after abandoning her fifteen years earlier. After reconnecting with old acquaintances and crossing paths with powerful gangsters — both alive and dead — he soon realizes his return was never mere chance.  Review: Published in 2013, this was a more recent read for me, and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s one of the better urban fantasy books I’ve read in a while. I’m also a sucker for a Chris McGrath cover, so that definitely didn’t hurt either. There are about nine books in the series so far so it is nice to know there are quite a few to get onto in the future. Dead Things is a dark, gritty noir-style urban fantasy packed with intriguing magic and necromancy. There is plenty of violence and action, and just the right amount of grim humour and sarcasm. It has a very fast-moving feel to the story that kept me engaged ...

Good news from one of my favorite authors recently. Chaz Brenchley has re-released his Northern Lights duology on Amazon. It's hard to believe but the first one - Dead of Light is 21 years old and the follow up Light Errant is 19 years old. They have snazzy new covers and all. Below is his post from Facebook which I have shared here. You can follow the link to the original. I reviewed Dead of Light a while back on this blog so you can also check that out here . Chaz Brenchley via Facebook: People, you won't believe this, but it's been twenty-one years since the first publication of DEAD OF LIGHT. (My baby's old enough to drink legally in America! Snf!) In due celebration of which, we have published new anniversary editions of both DEAD OF LIGHT and his nineteen-year-old baby brother LIGHT ERRANT, both with lovely new covers by Layla Lawlor. At the moment these are technically Amazon-only, because reasons. However, I do have epub and pdf editions ava...

Not every fairy-tale needs a Prince Charming. When a troll no one else can see attacks her outside the bar on her 30th birthday, Caitlin Moore thinks someone spiked her drink. It isn’t until a team of faeries rescues her and reveals that she has a special Gift that she realizes it’s something worse: she’s just become the star of her own twisted fairy-tale. Her newly awakened Gift of the Warding makes her immune to fae magic, something unheard of in a human. Her rescuers are exiled enemies of the High King who has allowed bestial creatures like the troll to cross the boundary that separates their worlds. They promise to right the King’s wrongs, but first they need her Gift to find the key to breaking their banishment. Unable to a turn blind eye to the danger she now sees in every shadow, Caitlin dives headfirst into their world of crazy. In return for her help they teach her to fight back against the nasties, but she isn’t prepared for the thrill she feels on t...

Dog Days (A Dog Days Novel)   Plot Overview: In San Francisco not everything is what it seems. Mason is a talented Jazz guitarist who scrapes by playing the odd gig around town. He is also part of a secret community of magical practitioners and although he has tried to leave that life behind him he is about to be dragged right back into the thick of it. Leaving a gig late one night Mason is attacked by a supernatural creature, he narrowly escapes thanks to his companion Louie (an Ifrit – a magical being that looks like a small dog) and his talent for being able to improvise with his magic. Mason realises that he is out of his league and reports the incident to his former boss, the self-appointed law for the magical community in San Francisco. Mason learns that there is something seriously wrong in the magical community, practitioners and Ifrits are in danger. Despite Mason’s initial reluctance to get involved in the end it will all come down to him and Mason will find ...

Unshapely Things (Connor Grey #1) Plot Overview: After part of the Faeire World suddenly manifested in the middle of Boston, the fey that came with it had to go somewhere. Welcome to the ‘Weird’.... where many of the Fey have made their homes. It’s filled with magic, wonder and strange alien creatures - it can also be a rough and dangerous neighborhood. Connor Grey was once a powerful Druid with the Guild (fey law enforcement agency), after an accident on a job he is now all but powerless. No longer useful he’s on disability and trying to make ends meet with the odd consulting job. Things aren’t exactly going well for Connor and he recently had to move to the edge of the Weird himself. Now someone is brutally killing fairy prostitutes and cutting out their hearts, when the Guild decides its not an urgent matter they kick the case to back to the human police. With no idea what they are dealing with the police turn to Connor for help navigating the murky depths of the Weird in...

Rosemary and Rue (October Daye, Book 1) Plot Overview: Fate and the world of Faerie have not been kind to changeling, October ‘Toby’ Daye. While chasing down the people who kidnapped her liege’s wife and daughter Toby was turned into a fish and has spent the last fourteen years living in a Koi pond. Finally free of the enchantment Toby wakes to find the world has moved on – her friends, family, home and job have all been lost to her. Understandably Toby has had enough of 'Faerie'; she chooses to avoid it and is living a ‘normal’ life in the human world, working a dead-end job and getting by as best she can. However as much as she tries Toby is far from normal, she is half Fae, and when an old friend is murdered horrifically, Toby is unwillingly pulled back into the world she tried to leave. Bound by a dying curse, Toby must find the killer or be destroyed herself. Toby’s investigation will bring her to old acquaintances, both good and bad and new ones who have ...

Nightlife (Cal Leandros, Book 1) Plot Overview: Cal and Niko Leandros are brothers on the run from monsters who want Cal for reasons unknown. The monsters, named ‘Grendels’ by Cal and Niko, are horrific and deadly; they are an ancient and completely alien race who have pursued Cal (and subsequently his brother and self-appointed caretaker Niko) for three years. Finally in New York City, the past finally catches up with the brothers and they are forced to make a stand. With a colourful cast of supporting characters - Georgina, the teenage psychic, Robin Goodfellow, a puck masquerading as a used car salesman, and Promise, the Upper East Side vampire; Nightlife is a fun, fast and action packed ride. Nightlife is the first book in Rob Thurman’s Cal Leandros series. What I thought: Another review of an older book, this one was published in 2006 but it is the first in a series. The others are listed below if you want to check them out; I might also review them later. I...

Hi, my name is Amy and I have started this blog to try and kick start my reading habits for this year.  I have become a bit lazy in the past couple of years and my reading has declined in favour of TV. I want to be able to keep track of what I have been reading, what I liked and did not like and share with you all what I find out. I read a wide range of books, really whatever catches my eye, I do however favor the fantasy genre in all its forms. For the past ten years or so since college I have been reading a lot of what has become know as Urban Fantasy.  Some of that blurs into Paranormal Romance and it is often hard to make a distinction but I usually divide it up by whether or not the romance is driving the action or if the romance is just a byproduct of the action. I have come to prefer the more action driven Urban Fantasy as they usually have a better storyline but I do read some of the romance ones.  I will say right here and now I have not read Twilight...