urban fantasy

By Earth, by T. Thorn Coyle.

The Witches of Portland, Book 1

Cassiel is a witch who moved to Portland, Oregon a couple of years ago. As a teenager in Tennessee she began to see ghosts and tried to help them move along, including being involved with law enforcement. Burned out and spiritually drained, she moved across the country hoping to create a better life.

In Portland she has found a community and joined a coven. But life in Portland has its own problems. She’s about to lose her apartment due to rent increases and a housing shortage. To make matters worse, a ghost appears to her while she’s working magic with her coven. The beautiful woman asks her to help a man finish something and mentions Joe and Darius. They next day Joe shows up at the cafe where she works. He’s friends with her boss, a fellow coven member.

Joe is a contractor. He works with his brother rehabbing houses. He’s still recovering from the death of his girlfriend. Although it was ruled a suicide, he has a hard time believing that. Tarika just wasn’t that type of person. She was a reporter and was working hard on a juicy story at the time of her death. He can’t believe she would suddenly commit suicide when there was no sign of trouble beforehand.

After meeting Cassiel, Joe finds out that Tarika’s brother Darius has been investigating her death. He believes it was related to the story she was working on about a series of fires that have occurred at new housing projects in the area.

Eventually Joe, Darius, Cassie and her coven begin investigating the fires with guidance from Tarika. Together, will they be able to untangle the mystery and bring the wrongdoers to the surface?

I really enjoyed this book. The mystery, characters and paranormal elements blended together in a very satisfying way. The romance was subdued, but that felt appropriate for the situation. The series features the various members of the coven and their different magical talents. I look forward to finding out all about them.

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Death Cult, by Declan Finn

This is book 2 in the Saint Tommy, NYPD Series

Poor Tommy! And even more poor wife, son, and neighbors.  Tommy barely has time to recover from the incidents in book 1 when the action starts again, and it just keeps coming.

Tommy and his family are just settling in to their new house when they are attacked.  The intruders are marked with the sign of a demon, indicating that the cult from book 1 is back and now he’s their target.

This story takes place over a just a few days and the action is fast and furious.  As Tommy and his partner try to find out who is behind the attacks, they meet enemies new and old and some surprising allies.

I really enjoyed the book.  The dialogue is witty with plenty of snap and sarcasm.  The mystery is detailed and intriguing.  The story is the kind you just can’t put down and you won’t want to.

I received a review copy of this book.  My opinions, as always, are my own.

Kasey Briggs Leave a comment

Slip into Bad Soul for a trip through the Uncanny Kingdom

I’m a peaceable person.  I don’t hit people, smash things or take contracts from demons.  Just getting that out there.  Still, sometimes it feels good to work out your mental aggressions by assuming the identity of a character in a book that is nothing like you.  So when I read Bad Soul, an urban fantasy by David Bussel and M. V. Scott, I could relate to the main character, Erin Banks.

When Erin was six, she was left to care for her baby brother while her parents went next door for a drink.  It was only supposed to be for half an hour, but Erin fell asleep and when she woke, the window was open and her brother was in the back yard, floating in a magical bubble.   Her parents can’t understand why Erin won’t just tell the truth, and don’t believe her confused and fragmented story of magic and streets that shouldn’t exist.  This becomes a turning point in Erin’s life and she realizes that she has to find out about magic and go after her brother.

Being a normal girl in a magical world, Erin needs an edge.  Her edge is a set of tattoos that give her strength, speed, healing, etc. This allows her to hold her own against paranormal creatures as she earns her living and tries to put the pieces together about her brother.

As the book opens, Erin serving time in prison when she is suddenly scheduled for release.  A mysterious stranger who is responsible eventually he makes his reasons clear:  he needs Erin to do a job for him.  In return, she’ll get some more information about her brother’s disappearance.  Easy, right? Just collect a soul promised to a demon from a guy who welshed on the deal.

I enjoyed being part of Erin’s world for a few hours.  The writing is very colorful with lots of British slang and strange and seedy characters.  The plot is fast and furious with unexpected developments and exciting scenes.  A nice piece of gritty urban fantasy.    This is the first book in the Uncanny ink series and part of a larger Uncanny Kingdom world.

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The Bone Hunter, by Thea Atkinson

Isabella has a big problem: she’s in debt to a fae for the magic protecting her house and this is not a good time to be unprotected. Several men from her past have come to town and she’d rather not be found. The fae’s price for the enchantment is retrieving something from lots of vampires and she knows from experience that she doesn’t like dealing with vampires.

However she finds that she has no real choice in the matter after another job falls through. Isabella starts investigating the fae’s task further and it leads her down a increasingly strange and dangerous path.

I really enjoyed this book. The plotting is intricate and the story is full of surprises. Small details become important in surprising ways. The prose is well-written and the atmosphere is well defined. Overall this was a thrilling book.

This is the second book is the Isabella Hush series but there is enough backstory included to make the plot understandable. (I do want to go back and read the first book though.). I’m looking forward to the next book in this series.

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The Shifter’s Hostage by T. S. Ryder

Lydia and Amber are late closing the restaurant.  They are busy dreaming about Lydia opening her own restaurant and hiring Amber to bake desserts. Their daydreams are cut short by robbers bursting in with guns and herding the girls into the walk-in freezer.  Worried about what comes next, they are alarmed to hear an explosion and then Ian, a regular customer they dislike because he is so picky about food and never tips.  Ian explains that the robbers were demons and he grabs the two of them and throws them in his car explaining that they aren’t safe unless they are under his protection.  That includes living with him indefinitely.

Ian is a dragon shifter–the last of his kind– and he is charged with making sure demons stay in hell. Frankly he hasn’t been doing a very good job lately (say, the last 300 years) because he is bitter that humans killed his family.  Lydia’s family was also killed when she was young and it turns out that she is a paladin.  Paladins are humans who hide the gates to hell.

Ian also decides now is the time to think about having an heir (or several) and to propose a loveless mating with one of the women.  Given that he has zero social skills, this doesn’t go well at all. Fortunately for him, Lydia stays around to be trained as a Paladin and help find the gate.  If she can manage not to kill him first, maybe with time attraction can bloom between them?

The Shifter’s Hostage starts off quick with action and then switches to humorous culture-shock sequences between Ian and Lydia due to Ian’s complete lack of social niceties.  Lydia is not afraid to call him on his rudeness, even if he is a dragon. Their by-play is amusing as they work together to train Lydia to use her powers and to find the gate so they can seal it.

I enjoyed the book.  I must say that the ending seemed a little abrupt as the story bogs down a bit when the action and banter stops.  Still, an enjoyable read. Currently comes with a variety of bonus stories.

 

 

Kasey Briggs Leave a comment

Blood Magic, by T. G. Ayer

Blood Magic is book 1 in the Soul Tracker series.

Mel Morgan can teleport and use the veil to travel between planes.  She uses her talent to track missing persons.  She’s approached by Saleem, a djinn that needs help.  With the help of Mels support team, can she and Saleem dodge all the supernatural forces against them?

This was and interesting story with a well-developed world full of interesting characters.  The adventure was exciting and the mystery was intriguing.

Kasey Briggs Leave a comment

Mason Dixon Monster Hunter, by Eric R. Asher

Mason Dixon Monster Hunter is a fun romp following Mason Dixon (yes, that’s his real name) and his faithful camerawoman, Emma, through the muddy wilds around Columbia, Missouri gathering footage for their YouTube show, Cryptid Hunter.  

The story was very enjoyable and fast-paced.  The characters were colorful and the banter was witty.  I really enjoyed the various creatures and their backstories.  I lived in Columbia for 3 years and I always thought it was an odd place, so the settings just added to the humor for me.

There are allusions to larger mysteries and groups going on in the story’s world, so I would be interested in reading other books in this series.

A New Templars Novella

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Hounds of God by Justin Sloan

Hounds of God is Book 1 of the Cursed Night series by Justin Sloan.

Werewolf factions are fighting everywhere.  Will anyone save the humans?

Katherine (Kat) became a werewolf at 13.  Her parents were killed and she was on the streets with confused memories, tremendous guilt and no street skills.  She is taken in by a group called the Hounds of Gods.  They believe werewolves were created to punish evildoers.  Not all werewolves agree and the hideout is attacked.

Kat leaves the group and starts to look for a cure for the “cursed”condition.  She and her friends just want to be left alone, but the world is divided into werewolf factions intent on pursuing  her.  Can she accept her condition and use her powers to protect her friends and innocent humans?

Hounds of God is an exciting take on werewolves blended with religious fanaticism.  There’s tons of action and plot twists to keep you guessing.  The novel sets a solid foundation for the rest of the series.

Kasey Briggs Leave a comment

Full metal magic, stories by 9 dark urban fantasy authors.

Full metal magic is an anthology of stories by some  of the hottest writers in the dark urban fantasy  genre.  Stories were written specifically  to be part of the anthology.

To give you some idea of what to expect here’s a taste of a few stories:

In the first story, The bull demon king, by J. A. Cipriano, Mac Brennan and his girlfriend Ricky are trying to enjoy a date at the fair, when they are interrupted by a plea for help.  Mei is begging Ricky for help because her friend was abducted  from a performance  and taken to the funhouse.  Ricky feels obligated to  help because she’s alpha werewolf of the state and Mei is one of her pack.  Mac helps her by being  well-armed and by using his cursed right hand to dispense hellfire and other magical weapons.  Together  they plan to rescue Mei’s friend without too much collateral damage.  Just your normal date night, right?

In The Black Door, by Domino Finn, Cisco Suarez accompanies Rachel to an underground part of an underground club.  Rachel needs some revenge, and Cisco plans to help her…if they can get past the posers and tough guys that keep interrupting their progress.

There’s your taste…and there are 7 more stories and chances to meet characters that star in their own series in works by Sonya Bateman, Ambrose Ibsen, Al K. Line, Rob Cornell, James A. Hunter, Craig Schaefer,  and Pippa DaCosta.  The analogy is available now for 99 cents and is free on kindle unlimited.

I loved the many characters and high-action problem solving in the stories.  The heros are the kind of people who protect others from knowledge or dangers of the paranormal and who stand up for others, although motivations vary.  This is a great way to get a quick introduction to the various series these characters inhabit without having to invest in nine novels to find the one(s) you like.  I highly recommend the book.  Writing is powerful, plots have lots of twists and action, and you get enough of the hero’s backstory and personality to know if you want to read more books.  I know I do!

This review is based on a free review copy provided to Kasey’s Book Nook.

Kasey Briggs Leave a comment