Tag Archives: URBAN FANTASY

REVIEW – DARK QUEEN BY FAITH HUNTER

dark queen cover

Jane Yellowrock used to hunt vampires, but now she must fight–and win–beside them.

As Enforcer to the vampire Master of the City of New Orleans, Jane Yellowrock stakes her reputation and her life on keeping her territory safe. But Leo has been issued a blood challenge by the emperor of the European vampires, who seeks to usurp all of his power and possessions. If Leo loses the match to the death, the city will be forfeit, and the people of New Orleans will suffer the consequences. Jane can’t let that happen.

Preparing for the duel requires all of Jane’s focus, but with so much supernatural power in play, nothing goes according to plan. She has to rely on herself and the very few people she knows she can trust to stand and fight. Only two things are guaranteed: nothing is sacred, and no one is safe.

BOOK DESCRIPTION COURTESY OF AMAZON

I was given a copy by Netgalley and the Publisher for an honest review.

If you had one word to describe this book, mine would be “WOW!”. DARK QUEEN will have you on an emotional roller coaster, that you have been through the wringer. Faith Hunter is truly a master of her craft. I am so glad this was not the last book of the series and the publishing Gods have taken pity on us and given us two more books in the series. How can I sum up the book without giving away any spoilers? We all know that Jane and The Vamps of New Orleans are  getting ready for the SANGRE DUELLO. During all the preparing a new twist is thrown in. Someone claiming to be her brother shows up at her doorstep. Even though Jane has made a family with the Youngers and a few others, this brings up a lot of questions. One is why didn’t anyone come looking for her until now? Wouldn’t they want to know what has happened to her? Jane has to keep her focus on the European Vamps and making sure they don’t sabotage the Sangre Duello. With each book Jane’s character has grown. I love the characters and world building that Faith Hunter has created. I recommend this book and series to everyonr.  I give Dark Queen (Jane Yellowrock) 5/5 stars.

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Faith Hunter’s DARK QUEEN – Blog Tour

Dark Queen Blog Tour Banner

About the book:
Jane Yellowrock used to hunt vampires, but now she must fight–and win–beside them.

As Enforcer to the vampire Master of the City of New Orleans, Jane Yellowrock stakes her reputation and her life on keeping her territory safe. But Leo has been issued a blood challenge by the emperor of the European vampires, who seeks to usurp all of his power and possessions. If Leo loses the match to the death, the city will be forfeit, and the people of New Orleans will suffer the consequences. Jane can’t let that happen.

Preparing for the duel requires all of Jane’s focus, but with so much supernatural power in play, nothing goes according to plan. She has to rely on herself and the very few people she knows she can trust to stand and fight. Only two things are guaranteed: nothing is sacred, and no one is safe.

 

Dark Queen cover

ISBN: 1101991429
ISBN-13: 978-1101991428

Purchase at:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Queen-Yellowrock-Faith-Hunter/dp/1101991429
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-queen-faith-hunter/1126941650#/
Books-a-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Dark-Queen/Faith-Hunter/9781101991428
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/mt/book/dark-queen/id1268871898?mt=11
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Faith_Hunter_Dark_Queen?id=Y80vDwAAQBAJ

Giveaway:
Win one of two complete sets of Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock novels! Contest runs April 23rd until May 11th. Rafflecopter code is below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Excerpt #6:
I Killed the Only U’tlun’ta in NOLA
Excerpt #6
The shooter was lying on the very dusty foyer floor, the dust well scuffed around him, smeared all over his nice pants and jacket. We had a renovation going, opening the attic into a third floor, and the dust had quickly become ubiquitous. Even Eli’s super-neat streak couldn’t keep up with it.
Eli said, “He had a big-cat tooth amulet. Like yours.”
“Yeah. He did.” I wore my tooth fetish on a gold chain around my neck, with the gold nugget that tied me metaphysically to the time and place I’d shifted for the first time as an adult. Most days, I hardly noticed the necklace; it was part of me. I also owned several fetish necklaces with the bones and teeth of other predators I might need to change into, and I’d added a few creatures to my collection recently. I had the ability to shift into prey animals of a similar mass, but Beast hated it when I did that. She was a carnivore and preferred to never be a prey animal. She was also grumpy and callously passive-aggressive. I tried to keep her happy.
I closed my door on Eli and the stranger and tossed my black jammies on the bed. I took a half dozen antacid tablets, four aspirin, and two Tylenol. Meds don’t work on me like they do on humans, but at this point I was willing to try anything. I dressed in jeans and layered tees and stomped into an old, scuffed pair of Lucchese boots. They had started out a gorgeous green, but I hadn’t made a habit of cleaning and caring for the leather, and the damp Louisiana air had left them sorta moldy on the outside. I wiped them down with a rag to reveal the color of the leather, which had weathered to a greenish charcoal. They looked like something I’d wear to a barn to muck out stalls. I really needed to pay them some attention. I combed and braided my hair and slashed lipstick on my mouth. Looked at myself in the mirror. Black hair. Amber eyes. Golden-copper skin.
The man had hair the same length and color as mine. I ran my hand down my braid. Same texture. He was Tsalagi. He was skinwalker.
I was no longer alone in the world.

REVIEW

I was given a copy by Netgalley and the Publisher for an honest review.

If you had one word to describe this book, mine would be “WOW!”. DARK QUEEN will have you on an emotional roller coaster, that you have been through the wringer. Faith Hunter is truly a master of her craft. I am so glad this was not the last book of the series and the publishing Gods have taken pity on us and given us two more books in the series. How can I sum up the book without giving away any spoilers? We all know that Jane and The Vamps of New Orleans are getting ready for the SANGRE DUELLO. During all the preparing a new twist is thrown in. Someone claiming to be her brother shows up at her doorstep. Even though Jane has made a family with the Youngers and a few others, this brings up a lot of questions. One is why didn’t anyone come looking for her until now? Wouldn’t they want to know what has happened to her? Jane has to keep her focus on the European Vamps and making sure they don’t sabotage the Sangre Duello. With each book Jane’s character has grown. I love the characters and world building that Faith Hunter has created. I recommend this book and series to everyone. I give Dark Queen (Jane Yellowrock) 5/5 stars.

 

FaithHunter author pic

Faith Hunter is a New York Times and USAToday bestselling author. She writes dark urban fantasy and paranormal urban thrillers.

 

Her long-running, bestselling, Skinwalker series features Jane Yellowrock, a hunter of rogue-vampires. The Soulwood series features Nell Nicholson Ingram in paranormal crime solving novels. Her Rogue Mage novels, a dark, urban fantasy series, features Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage in a post-apocalyptic, alternate reality. Two of her fantasy series have been nominated for Audie Awards.

 

Under the pen name Gwen Hunter, she has written action adventure, mysteries, thrillers, women’s fiction, a medical thriller series, and even historical religious fiction. As Gwen, she is a winner of the WH Smith Literary Award for Fresh Talent in 1995 in the UK, and won a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award in 2008. Under all her pen names, she has over 40 books in print in 30 countries.

 

In real life, Faith once broke a stove by refusing to turn it on for so long that its parts froze and the unused stove had to be replaced. Her recent hankering for homemade bread and soup resulted in fresh loaves each week and she claims that the newish stove feels loved and well used—because Faith talks to her appliances as well as to her plants and dog. She collects orchids and animal skulls, loves to sit on the back porch in lightning storms, and is a workaholic with a passion for jewelry making, white-water kayaking, and RV travel. She likes the shooting range, prefers Class III whitewater rivers with no gorge to climb out of, edits the occasional anthology, and drinks a lot of tea. Some days she’s a lady. Some days she ain’t. Occasionally, she remembers to sleep. The jewelry she makes and wears is often given as promo items and is used as prizes in contests.

 

For more, including a list of her books, see www.faithhunter.net , www.gwenhunter.com  To keep up with her, like her fan page at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/official.faith.hunter

 

 

 

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Review – Shadow’s Bane by Karen Chance

shadow's bane cover
Half-human, half-vampire Dorina Basarab is back–and facing her biggest challenge yet in the next urban fantasy in the New York Times bestselling series.

Dorina Basarab is a dhampir–half-human, half-vampire. As one of the Vampire Senate’s newest members, Dory already has a lot on her plate. But then a relative of one of Dory’s fey friends goes missing. They fear he’s been sold to a slaver who arranges fights–sometimes to the death–between different types of fey.

As Dory investigates, she and her friends learn the slavers are into something much bigger than a fight club. With the Vampire Senate gearing up for war with Faerie, it’ll take everything she has to defeat the slavers–and deal with the entirely too attractive master vampire Louis-Cesare….

BOOK DESCRIPTION COURTESY OF AMAZON

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley for an honest review.

WOW!! SHADOW’S BANE is a roller coaster ride of fun and action! There was areas in the book that had me chuckling. A Dhampir usually has a short life, because their Vampire half matures faster than their human half and tries to tear them apart. Her father Mircea had put a mental wall between her two natures to allow her human half to mature.   Now the wall is down and the two halves are inhabiting the same body. Dorina- the Vampire half, and Dory- the Human half are co-existing. Dorina usually only comes out when Dory is unconscious. Now it seems they are awake at the same time more often. Dory is now an  official Senate member and awaiting the actual ceremony in a week. She is tasked with trying to find the slavers that are stealing the Fey. In this book we will actually get two points of view. One will be from Dory and the other from Dorina. I love this series and recommend it to everyone. I give Shadow’s Bane (Dorina Basarab) 5/5 stars.

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OWL AND THE TIGER THIEVES by Kristi Charish

Owl and the Tiger Thieves cover

In this fourth Owl novel, Kristi Charish (The Voodoo Killings) melds sparkling fantasy with the grit of urban underbelly—with a detour through the world’s most spectacular cities. This is perfect for fans of Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, Jennifer Estep, Jenn Bennett, and fantasy lovers everywhere.

Through no fault of her own, Alix has found herself essential to the fate of the world as we know it. She didn’t mean for this to happen—she was quite happy being merely the notorious antiquities thief, and ex-archeologist, known as Owl.

However, years ago, Owl reluctantly entered the secret world of the supernatural. Her goals: complete one job, escape one bounty on her head, continue her thieving in peace.

Fast forward to today. Now, she has become a key player in a brutal paranormal civil war that is rapidly getting out of hand. The leader of one of these factions—a lethal opponent called the Electric Samurai—grows more powerful by the second. To stop him, Owl sets out to find the long-lost, legendary group known as the Tiger Thieves.

But will it be too little too late? One thing Owl misses about “normal” archaeology: there are few emergencies with thousand-year-old relics.

BOOK DESCRIPTION COURTESY OF AMAZON

I was given this book by Netgalley for an honest review.

This book is Awesome!! I love Owl and the other characters in this book and series. This series is a fresh take on the Indiana Jones story with a supernatural element thrown in. Owl is on a mission to find something or just about anything to save her boyfriend Rynn from the Electric Samurai Armour.  She hunting the medallions of the Tiger Thieves so she can locate them. In her quest she stumbles across Da Vinci and one of his devices. You are probably wondering what this device does? Well, it kills supernaturals and the Electric Samurai wants it. Now she has supernaturals coming after her for the device and things are going down hill fast. This book has a twist at the end that I did not see coming! I recommend this book and series to everyone. I give Owl and the Tiger Thieves (The Owl Series) 5/ 5 stars.

 

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LAKE SILENCE -REVIEW

lake silence cover
In this thrilling and suspenseful fantasy set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Others series, an inn owner and her shape-shifting lodger find themselves enmeshed in danger and dark secrets.

Human laws do not apply in the territory controlled by the Others–vampires, shape-shifters, and even deadlier paranormal beings. And this is a fact that humans should never, ever forget….

After her divorce, Vicki DeVine took over a rustic resort near Lake Silence, in a human town that is not human controlled. Towns such as Vicki’s don’t have any distance from the Others, the dominant predators who rule most of the land and all of the water throughout the world. And when a place has no boundaries, you never really know what is out there watching you.

Vicki was hoping to find a new career and a new life. But when her lodger, Aggie Crowe–one of the shape-shifting Others–discovers a murdered man, Vicki finds trouble instead. The detectives want to pin the death on her, despite the evidence that nothing human could have killed the victim. As Vicki and her friends search for answers, ancient forces are roused by the disturbance in their domain. They have rules that must not be broken–and all the destructive powers of nature at their command.

BOOK COVER COURTESY OF AMAZON

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley for an honest review.

Vicki has settled in the Territory in a rustic resort she was awarded as a part of her divorce settlement. The resort has been in her ex-husbands family for generations. There are specific instructions that must be heeded to own it. You can not build any new structures. Aggie Crow is one of her lodgers. She is there to learn how to interact with humans. When a dead body is found on her property, she has to report it to the authorities. Things just get worse when her ex-husband shows up to dispute her claim on the property. More bodies or pieces of bodies show up and the Elders show up. This is a great book to the Others series. We have new characters and story arc to love. I recommend this book and series to everyone. I give Lake Silence (World of the Others, The) 5/5 stars.

 

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