Although described as intended for children 10 and up, this extremely well-written debut novel would have scared the pants off me at that age. It’s the story of Thomas Ward, a 12-year-old farm boy and the seventh son of a seventh son, who is destined to become a Spook, someone with special skills to keep the dark things away from the innocent village folk. Thomas is sent off by his mom to apprentice under Old Gregory, who has gone through 27 previous apprentices and is […]
When Elizabethan London is more interesting than the witches and vampires who inhabit it
Part fantasy, part historical fiction, Shadow of Night is the second book in the All Soul’s trilogy (and you really need to have read A Discovery of Witches first to get what is going on). As a tale about witches and vampires, there isn’t a lot of action or back story on the whole witch/vampire/daemon culture. But this book was full of day to day details of life in 16th century Europe, which was a surprising highlight for me. Shadow begins where Discovery left off, […]
Kate Prospero, bad ass cop and recovering alchemist
Dirty Magic is the new series from Jaye Wells featuring a bad ass cop named Kate Prospero. She’s an Adept, which is a person born with inherent magic skills. But she turned her back on making potions years to raise her younger brother when their mother passes away. She even attends AA type meetings for former magic users and abusers. In the present time, she works patrol for the Babylon PD chasing down criminals to lessen the guilt from her wreck less past. One night, she chases a perp […]
A small Texas town is crossroad of supernatural secrets
I’m a big fan of Charlaine Harris as she tends to write humorous mystery tales with a big dollop of hot romance. I’ve read all of the Sookie Stackhouse, Harper Connelly and Lily Bard books. As the last few Sookie books sucked, I wasn’t super keen to return to her body of work. However, once I learned Manfred Bernardo from the Harper books was the protagonist, my interest shot up by 100 percent. Manfred moves to Midnight into a house owned by no other than the handsome […]
Into the supernatural mist of horrors
Harper Blaine isn’t a believer in the supernatural, but after a near death experience she starts to see some strange things. She is referred to a paranormal studies professor for answers. He suggests she may be a grey walker, a human who can see into the supernatural dimension he calls the Grey. He along with his lovely, Irish witch wife offer to help her control her newfound power. Besides seeing ghosts, she can see vampires true self and even fall into this grey dimension. However, it’s proving […]
A magical flare brings ancient gods to Atlanta
Thanks to the high praise from my book club, I decided to take on the next Kate Daniels book: Magic Burns. Instead of a tale of personal vengeance, we follow Kate as she works a missing person case for a young girl named Julie. The girl’s mom is a witch and has gone missing after a mysterious spell with her circle. The helpless and malnourished kid only help is her boyfriend, a young wannabe shaman kid from the street named Red. Red did a favor for Kate in the […]