‘The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires’ Half Moon Hollow #2 by Molly Harper

From the BLURB:

Iris Scanlon, Half-Moon Hollow’s only daytime vampire concierge, knows more about the undead than she’d like. Running all their daylight errands—from letting in the plumber to picking up some chilled O neg—gives her a look at the not-so-glamorous side of vampire life. Her rules are strict; relationships with vamps are strictly business, not friendship—and certainly not anything else. But then she finds her newest client, Cal, poisoned on his kitchen floor, and only Iris can help.

Cal - who would be devastatingly sexy, if Iris allowed herself to think that way - offers Iris a hefty fee for hiding him at her place until he figures out who wants him permanently dead. Even though he’s imperious, unfriendly and doesn't seem to understand the difference between "employee" and "servant," Iris agrees, and finds herself breaking more and more of her own rules to help him - particularly those concerning nudity.

Turns out what her quiet little life needed was some intrigue & romance—in the form of her very own stray vampire.

Iris Scanlon likes her life to be organized, clean and managed. It comes after a life of curveballs – like her parent’s sudden death, and becoming her younger sister, Gigi’s, sole guardian. So in all things, Iris prefers organization over chaos . . . Which is how she fell into her current business, Beeline. It’s all about management and arranging other people’s lives for them; vampire’s lives, to be more precise.

Iris is a personal daytime assistant to all of Half Moon Hollow’s vampires – she takes care of those pesky labourers who insist working daylight hours, and delivers bloody snacks. Then there’s the occasional oddball request, like dietary condom requirements. But those are as curvy a curveball as Iris can handle these days, thank you very much. That is until she, literally, stumbles across Cletus 'Cal' Calix, passed out and poisoned on his own kitchen floor.

As it would turn out, Cal is a vampire who specializes in finding and figuring things out. He has been called to Half Moon Hollow to investigate a slew of incidences in which humans have been attacked by otherwise friendly vampires. Cal was suspecting poisoned blood so, lo and behold!, when he finds himself poisoned he knows he’s on the right track . . .  unfortunately, advertising his near-undeath experience (and rescue by Ms. Scanlon) would be the quickest way to derail his investigation.

So Cal comes up with a plan. A plan to stay with Iris Scanlon, lying low at the (very) humble home she shares with little sis, Gigi. While there he’ll continue conducting his investigations, in secret, and with minimal distractions (like some pesky villain trying to kill him). The one thing Cal didn’t exactly count on was Iris becoming a very pesky, pretty, and perfectly delicious distraction. . .

‘The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires’ is the second book in Molly Harper’s ‘Half Moon Hollow series’, a spin-off of her ‘Jane Jameson’ series.

Oh, wow. What a shock. Molly Harper has written yet another brilliant and hilarious chuckle-fest of epically awesome proportions. Colour me surprised . . . Or, not, sine I decided about six books ago that Molly Harper could do no wrong and was physically incapable of writing anything subpar. ‘The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires’ is just another notch in Harper’s continually impressive comedy belt.

Iris Scanlon is a familiar face, to those who are making the trek from ‘Jane Jameson’. She was the wedding coordinator who helped tone down Jane’s matrimonial farce from horror-story to love-story in ‘Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbours’. And she was mentioned in the first ‘Half Moon Hollow’ spin-off ‘Driving Mr. Dead’, Miranda Puckett worked as chauffeur for Iris’s Beeline company. So Iris is long overdue for her page-time, and let me tell you she was well worth the wait. . .

Iris is a really interesting character and old before her time. She’s had to grow up fast, since her parents died leaving her little sister, Gigi, in her care. She doesn’t have a lot of time for things like fun, relationships or relaxation. Her Beeline business is barely breaking even, and even though Gigi is her top priority, university fees are creeping ever closer. So when Cal proposes the ludicrously dangerous proposition that he hide out in her home, along with the lucrative offer of monetary compensation, she agrees, but only begrudgingly.

Iris and Cal were fantastic together. He’s very much a stone-faced, no-nonsense investigative vampire. In fact, he was a Spartan in another life (or, as Iris likes to think of it, his life was like the movie ‘300’ – complete with flattering diaper-wear). Iris, on the other hand, while very straight-laced and organized, is also a chocolate-hording, pop-culture referencing tour-de-force. She’s hilarious, and when paired with Cal’s straight-guy they get a fantastic routine going and some wonderful repartee. They’re especially interesting because, while Iris works for them, she hasn’t ever really spent a lot of time in the company of vampires. She’s inordinately fascinated by Cal’s many stories of years gone by;

“You’re telling me that the guy who wrote the Iliad is a vampire?”
“Yes, and he has been writing all these years. He makes a very nice living out in Los Angeles, working on television shows.”
“If you tell me that Homer wrote for Two and a Half Men, I will throw myself out of that window.”
He chuckled. But I noticed that he did not answer.

Funny as they are, Cal and Iris’s laughs are only matched by their heat. These two are adorable; an unlikely, opposites attract can’t-deny-this-feeling-any-longer relationship that’s seriously hot when it gets going.

Iris and her sister, Gigi, are the other laugh-riot of this novel. They’re a nice change from the other sister relationship Molly Harper writes, between Jane and Jenny – who have battled about everything from Jane’s vampirism to who gets their grandma’s estate once she dies. Iris and Gigi only have each other left, so they have come to treasure one another and create this great amalgamation of a sisterly relationship that’s sometimes parental but mostly about them being best friends. And they share some of the best scenes in the whole novel, like the following debate about Iris’s unhealthy, blind obsession with Gerard Butler;

“I have an inappropriate loyalty to Gerard Butler,” I grumbled, shutting the door behind us.
“OK, but did you have to buy it on DVD?” Gigi chuckled.
“It was a Christmas gift. Uncle Clark grabs the DVD with the silliest cover and wraps it,” I shot back, climbing into the driver’s seat of the Dorkmobile. “I am willing to admit that Gerard Butler has single-handedly murdered the romantic comedy.”
Gigi snickered. “Gerard Butler took the romantic comedy to an orgy, accidentally strangled it during an air game, panicked, and dumped its body in the woods.”
I stared at her, gobsmacked. “That may be the funniest thing I've ever heard –” I spluttered. “How the hell do you even know what an air game is?”
Gigi preened. “Just because you put the parental locks on HBO doesn’t mean I can’t get around them.”

Ohhhhhh, Molly Harper. I have such a literary crush on this gal, and with every new book I just fall a little more in love. ‘The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires’ continues the love-fest.

5/5

'Driving Mr. Dead' by Molly Harper

From the BLURB:

HELL ON WHEELS

After failing as a magician's assistant, a photographer, and most recently, a bride, Miranda Puckett takes a position as a driver for Beeline, Half-Moon Hollow's premiere vampire concierge service.

Miranda's assignment? Driving Collin Sutherland, the world's most fastidious vampire from Washington to Kentucky, so he can deliver a mysterious black case to Council official Ophelia Lambert.

Collin, a paranoid, aristocratic vampire with a debilitating fear of flying, refuses to let the case out of his sight. Miranda needs this time on the road to decide whether to permanently cut her ties with the fiance that had an "emotional affair" with a childhood pal, but Collin’s neatnik tendencies are driving her around the bend. The man acts as if leaving a fast food wrapped on the passenger seat is reason for a full-on CDC de-contamination scrub-down of the car. All she can do is promise to stop intentionally doing the things that make his stiff upper lip twitch with irritation.

As more and more mishaps occur on the road trip from hell, Miranda and Collin work together to meet his delivery deadline. Hotel rooms are destroyed. Beloved cars are defiled. And somewhere along the line, client-driver hostilities become snarky flirtation.

Will Collin and Miranda make it to the Hollow in one piece? And if they do, will Miranda leave old, safe relationships behind for something new and well, just plain weird?

Serial rolling-stone, Miranda Puckett, is on the first day of her new job for Beeline – driving vampires cross-country as their personal chauffer. And her first client has perfect timing – providing Miranda with some much needed Washington-to-Kentucky driving/thinking time to sort out her ever-destructive life and butt-dialling ex-fiancé.

It’s just a shame that Miranda’s maiden voyage is with Collin Sutherland. A pretentious, reclusive, up-tight vamp with sixteen-pages of instructions for his chauffer and a silver suitcase that he refuses to talk about.

This is going to be one long road-trip to Half-Moon Hollow . . . and along the way there will be car-boobs, muggings, MC Hammer and Hawaiian shirts. Oh, joy.

‘Driving Mr. Dead’ is the 160-page novella set in Molly Harper’s ‘Jane Jameson’ universe.

What is the appropriate reaction when one of your favourite, funny authors writes a special little novella treat set in her established-series universe? Why, fan-girl squealing – of course! And let me assure you, Molly Harper’s ‘Driving Mr. Dead’ is entirely deserving of your peals of squeals!

Harper introduces us to Miranda Puckett – employee to daytime vampire concierge, Iris Scanlon, who readers met in ‘Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbours’, and who has her own spin-off book coming out this month called ‘The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires’. Miranda is a wayward soul with itchy feet and an ever-changing résumé. She has been a cruise ship dogsbody and magician’s assistant but her favourite job of all was as professional photographer. In recent years she has tried squeezing herself into a life that pleases her parents – as paralegal and fiancée to the white-picket-fence good boy, Jason. But that’s all gone up in smoke after Jason’s discovered text message, professing his love for his best friend (and Miranda’s maid-of-honour), Lisa. Miranda has taken the chauffeuring job at Beeline, partly to reconnect with her crazy-wild-card roots, but also to take a week or two of space and decide if she can accept Jason’s apology and re-proposal.

Miranda’s first client is Colin Sutherland, a vampire with a silver suitcase, anal-retentive sixteen-pages of chauffeuring instructions and “more issues than National Geographic”. Miranda and Colin get off to a bad, finger-breaking start, and things just get worse from there . . .  but as the miles tick by and the ludicrous bad-luck keeps knocking them around, Miranda starts to shed Colin’s many pretentious layers and get to his deeply hidden sexy centre.

I loved this novella! And I mostly loved it because it’s so Molly Harper. Honestly, I can’t think of any writer I'd trust more with tackling a hilarious, cross-country vampiric road-trip. She just had to write this because there’s nobody else more qualified. Period.

And she does such a darn good job! As if anyone needed proof that Harper has an untapped resource in exploring the ‘Jane Jameson’ universe, beyond her hilarious vampire-librarian heroine, ‘Driving Mr. Dead’ will assuage you of any lingering doubts and get you suitably excited for ‘The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires’. Of course, a few ‘Jane’ favourites make appearances – but I won’t spoil who because their random pop-up is just too delicious!

Miranda and Colin absolutely steal the show in this buddy-road-trip-plot-gone-awry. They are exact opposites; she the wild child free-spirit, accident-prone cool chick. While he’s a stuffy recluse, with some serious old-world appeal;

Last but not least, there was the fact that he was gorgeous in a tortured Byronic, Edward Rochester-meets-Lucius-Malfoy sort of way. He made me want to climb him like a proper British tree, for no other reason than that wrinkling his clothes would annoy him severely and, I hoped, provoke him into spanking me. He made me dizzy. He made my ears ring.
Wait, no. That was my phone.

I love anything and everything that Molly Harper writes. This novella is just the cherry on top of an already brilliant, established paranormal comedy series that keeps readers in blushes and chuckles. Brilliant!

5/5

'Nice Girls Don't Bite Their Neighbors' Jane Jameson #4 by Molly Harper

From the BLURB:

Just as Jane Jameson’s unlife seems to be stabilizing, fate sinks its fangs firmly into her butt. Despite her near-phobia of wedding planning, her no-frills nighttime nuptials to her sexy boyfriend, Gabriel, are coming along smoothly. That is, until she turns a fatally wounded teenage acquaintance, and the Council pronounces her responsible for the newborn vamp until he can control his thirst.

Jane’s kitchen barely holds enough Faux Type O to satiate the cute teen’s appetite and maintain Gabriel’s jealous streak at a slow simmer. As if keeping her hyperactive childe from sucking the blood out of the entire neighborhood isn’t enough to deal with, the persnickety ghost of Jane’s newly deceased grandma Ruthie has declared war on the fanged residents of River Oaks. Suddenly choosing monogrammed cocktail napkins and a cake she can’t even eat seem downright relaxing in comparison.

Tensions inside the house are growing…and outside, a sinister force is aiming a stake straight for the center of Gabriel’s heart. Most brides just have to worry about choosing the right dress, but Jane fears that at this rate, she’ll never make it down the aisle for the wedding all nice girls dream of…

Things have been quiet around Half-Moon Hollow. Zeb has settled into parenthood with his werewolf wife, Jolene, and they are happily being driven mad by their twins. Dick and Andrea have tied the knot and are still enjoying wedded bliss (so long as no one mentions the probability of Dick turning their basement into a ‘man cave’). Even Jane Jameson’s high-strung older sister, Jenny, has mellowed and been getting along swimmingly with her vampiric sibling.

And as for Jane? Once considered a spinster with limited shelf-life, Jane has adapted and thrived as a vampire . . .  with the help of her lover and sire, Gabriel. Now Jane and Gabriel are settled into a comfortable and committed relationship;

We were settled, as so many people were when they reached their thirties. It had just taken Dick and Gabriel a while to get around to it. We spent weekends at my house, watching movies, the babies asleep upstairs in the old nursery. You’d think a bunch of supernatural creatures would find this boring as hell, but after two years filled with blood, heartache, hostage crises, and death, a quiet movie night seems downright decadent.
Sometimes I marvelled at how grown-up we’d all become, and then Dick would recite a sixteen-stanza penis-based epic poem, and I'd take it back.

So with everything so settled at River Oaks, it seems the perfect time for Gabriel to pop the question (again) and ask Jane to be his wedded wife from here to eternity.

Now Jane is organizing an undead wedding, and reaping the rewards of bridesmaid vindictiveness. So of course it’s the perfect time for everything to go wrong.

First her Grandma Ruthie dies. Then Gabriel gets a creepy stalker. And to cap things off, Jane is witness to the murder of her old babysitting charge, all-American teenage boy, Jamie. Jane decides to save Jamie’s life by turning him into a vamp, and takes Jamie on as her sire.

Half-Moon Hollow isn’t so sleepy anymore. Jane is sire to a sullen teenage boy. Gabriel is on some homicidal redneck’s hit-list and to top it all off, Jane has a wedding to plan!

‘Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors’ is the fourth book in Molly Harper’s hilariously magnificent ‘Jane Jameson’ paranormal comedy series.

It has been so long since the last ‘Jane Jameson’ book (2009!) that when this fourth instalment landed in my hot little hands, I took my time and savoured the reading . . .  especially because Molly Harper has no more Jane books planned. Instead she has two spin-off books coming out, the first of which is ‘The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires’ in August, which features a character we meet in ‘Neighbors’. And while Jane and her gang will feature in the spin-offs, Harper hasn’t got any more Jane-only books planned.

Going into this book, knowing it’s a finale of sorts, means that readers have heightened expectations. There are a few loose ends that need tying – like Jane’s Grandma Ruthie harbouring old resentments, and Gabriel finally popping the question to Jane and getting an affirmative answer! What I wasn’t prepared for was all the curveballs and ‘OMG’ jaw-droppers that Harper throws on as icing on this finale cake.

Jane siring her old babysitting charge, Jamie, is hilariously and awkwardly awesome. Jamie is a hot young high-schooler, and all-American teenage God who is cut-down in the prime of his life, right before his old babysitter’s eyes. Luckily vampire Jane is on hand to sire him. . .  but with siring comes many responsibilities. Jamie moves into Jane and Gabriel’s home at River Oaks (not exactly conducive to their sex life). Jamie is not being allowed to see his good Christian parents for fear he might eat them. To top it all off, Jamie has all the usual surging teen hormones. . .  now with vampire reflexes and blood-lust.

Jamie’s death has Jane seeking advice from vampire council member, Ophelia, yet again. This teenage vampire is all kinds of creepy – doubly creepy is the immortal teen’s instant infatuation with Jamie. Not to mention that Jane discovers a little secret Ophelia has been keeping. . .  in the form of her young vampire sister, who she turned some three hundred years ago. Little vampire Georgie makes Damien from ‘The Omen’ look like a boy scout;

“Does someone need a nap?” I asked, patting her head.
“Does someone need to be defenestrated?” she retorted, whirling on me.
I have to admit that having those little china-doll eyes narrowed at me sent a chill down my spine. So I did what any sensible person would do when confronted with a miniature killing machine . . .  I leaned closer and provoked her.
I smiled in that saccharine way that drove Jenny nuts. “I don’t know what sort of low-rent vampires you’re used to dealing with, but I know exactly what ‘defenestrated’ means. And if you think you’re strong enough to push me out a window, bring it on, Pocket Vamp.”
Georgie’s lip curled up as she ground her tiny baby fangs together. The tension in her face suddenly snapped, and she turned to Ophelia.
“I like her,” Georgie said as Ophelia handed her a handheld game unit.

Reading Molly Harper is always a bit of a health hazard . . .  because she will leave you in stitches, every single time. Seriously, side-splitting is an understatement. Harper brings the big laughs when Jane has to plan her wedding – from dealing with her insane mama to accepting the inevitable hen’s night backlash.

Everyone’s favourites are back – Gabriel, Andrea, Dick, Zeb and Jolene. And everyone is revelling in Jane’s wedding planning discomfort, not to mention her siring hits and misses. Gabriel and Jane are steamy as usual, and equally sweet are newlyweds Andrea and Dick. Molly Harper also introduces a few newbies to the series – like human vampire wedding-planner Iris Scanlon, who is the protagonist of the August spin-off book.

‘Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors’ is a brilliantly funny send-off for our girl, Jane Jameson. I’m going to cross my fingers that Molly Harper writes more Jane-centric books. . .  but Harper has proved with her ‘Naked Werewolf’ series and contemporary romance stand-alone that she has a lot more up her sleeve than just Ms Jameson (fabulous as she is). I’ll miss her, but this was a great goodbye for ‘Jane Jameson’, and I do look forward to the promising spin-off books.

5/5

August 2012

'Nice Girls Don't Live Forever' by Molly HARPER

From the BLURB:

Nothing sucks the romance out of world travel like a boyfriend who may or may not have broken up with you in a hotel room in Brussels. Jane Jameson’s sexy sire, Gabriel, has always been unpredictable. But the seductive, anonymous notes that await him at each stop of their international vacation, coupled with his evasive behavior over the past few months, finally push Jane onto the next flight home to Half Moon Hollow — alone, upset, and unsure whether Gabriel just ended their relationship without actually telling her.

Now the children’s-librarian-turned-vampire is reviving with plenty of Faux Type O, some TLC from her colorful friends and family, and her plans for a Brave New Jane. Step One: Get her newly-renovated occult bookstore off the ground. Step Two: Support her best friend, Zeb, and his werewolf bride as they prepare for the impending birth of their baby . . . or litter. Step Three: Figure out who’s been sending her threatening letters, and how her hostile pen pal is tied to Gabriel. Because for this nice girl, surviving a broken heart is becoming a matter of life and undeath...

Molly Harper’s debut ‘Jane Jameson’ was, without a doubt, my favorite new series of 2009. I love these books, and I have a serious fictional girl-crush on protagonist Jane Jameson. The third (and possibly last) book in the series, ‘Nice Girls Don’t Live Forever’ definitely delivers and maintains Harper’s winning-streak.

Molly Harper’s writing is quick, zany and completely infectious. The closest comparison I can think of is to dearly departed television series ‘Gilmore Girls’. Jane’s mouth runs a mile-a-minute; spouting out witticisms, pop culture references and Jane-isms that make her entirely endearing and hilarious. I especially loved this Buffy-reference, cementing Jane as my No.1 fictional best friend;

“Zeb said we should bring over the first season of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, but Andrea thought you’d get all depressed,” Jolene told me.

“Yeah, because what’s the point of watching ‘Buffy’ if you’re not watching the second-season episodes with Spike in them?” I asked, uncorking the bottle of wine. Andrea poured me a large glass. “Hmmm. I wonder if it would be unethical for me to turn James Marsters? And then force him to fake the Cockney accent? And then make him my love monkey?”

If Harper’s series has a flaw, it’s that the plot/character balance is out of whack. Not a whole lot happens with storyline – that was true of ‘Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs’ and ‘Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men’ – and it happens again in ‘Nice Girls Don’t Live Forever’. Harper initially sets up a really interesting premise regarding Gabriel’s shady past – but that plot is pretty quickly pushed aside, to be mentioned in passing throughout the book but never made the sole focus. Instead Harper prefers to concentrate on the lives of secondary characters as they impact Jane and as Jane herself deals with her new career path and wacky family antics.

To be honest, Harper’s writing is so funny and so damn *good* that you don’t really notice the lack of forward plot momentum until you’ve finished the book and try to remember the in’s and out’s of the storyline. It’s only after the fact that you realize not a whole lot actually happens in the book.

Regardless of any shortcomings in plot, I am completely crazy about this series. I was really upset to discover that Molly Harper is only contracted for the three ‘Jane Jameson’ books. Unless her contract is extended ‘Nice Girls Don’t Live Forever’ could very well be the last we hear of Jane Jameson. I really, really hope we get more wacky Jane adventures. I love these books so much that Molly Harper is now an instant pre-order for me.

To be honest, the ‘Jane Jameson’ books aren’t reinventing the ‘Urban Fantasy’ wheel. The storyline is reminiscent of MaryJanice Davidons’s ‘Queen Betsy’ series, with a hint of Charlaine Harris’s ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ or Kerrelyn Spark’s ‘Love at Stake’ books. But Molly Harper’s voice is so distinctive, infectious and down right brilliant that she sets herself apart from the rest.

If you haven’t yet read the ‘Jane Jameson’ books please, please, please give them a go. You will not be disappointed, and you might even start spouting Jane-isms.

5/5

My favorite books of 2009

Thorn Queen ‘Dark Swan #2’ by Richelle Mead

I was very disappointed to read Mead’s announcement a few months ago that there would be no book #3 released in 2010. According to Mead, a decision had to be made and her publishers cast the final vote that the 5th ‘Georgina Kincaid’ and 5th ‘Vampire Academy’ would receive more publicity (and Mead would do more author tours to promote the books), which meant she wouldn’t have time to release 3 books in one year. To be honest, I would have been more upset by this news if ‘Thorn Queen’ hadn’t been so damn satisfying. So much happened in this second instalment – true, it finished on a serious cliff hanger that left readers dangling over the edge of a potentially explosive plot for ‘Iron Crowned’ – but there was so much Dorian/Eugenie smuttiness and such HUGE plot advances that I can forgive Mead’s decision to hold off on book 3 until she has more time to properly promote it.

Succubus Heat ‘Georgina Kincaid #4’ by Richelle Mead

She is clearly a favourite author of mine – but I have a love/hate relationship with this series. No doubt I absolutely *LOVE* ‘Georgina Kincaid’, but I *HATE* how emotionally invested I get. I don’t think I ever laugh or cry so hard when I read these books. One minute I’m chortling along after one of Georgina’s wise-cracks, the next I’m bawling my eyes out over Seth’s callous actions (or feeling furious and wanting to poke a fork through Maddie’s eye!). Never before has the emotional rollercoaster of Georgina’s life been so hellish and smutty as in ‘Succubus Heat’. It was a phenomenal read, even if the ending left me feeling a bit depressed. I went to Richelle Mead’s book signing for ‘Blood Promise’ – and I am really looking forward to book #5 ‘Succubus Shadows’ after hearing a few of her comments regarding character development.

‘Soulless’ by Gail Carriger

I LOVED this book! Thankyou to Mandi at Smexy for pushing me to read it. I was a little hesitant at first because of the whole ‘Steampunk’ genre being totally foreign to me – but Carriger has written such a brilliantly fanciful and lustful supernatural story that is impossible not to love. Parasols and vampires, dirigibles and werewolves – what’s not to be obsessed about? I loved leading lady Alexia Tarabotti and her beau Lord Maccon – they were such a hot couple, they put the ‘steam’ into ‘steampunk’ and I cannot wait to read more of their adventures in ‘Changeless’ (March 30th 2010).

‘Frostbitten’ by Kelley Armstrong

This was the 10th book in Armstrong’s ‘Women of the Otherworld’ series – and it went back to being about my favourite ‘Otherworld’ couple, Elena and Clay. So much has changed for these two since we last saw them in ‘Broken’, I kind of loved that while there have been books in between, Elena and Clay have been expanding their family and carrying on in their lives. ‘Frostbitten’ had a fantastic, edge-of-your-seat mystery at its centre, delved deeper into Elena’s past and included plenty of lovey-dovey scenes between Elena and Clay. But best of all, ‘Frostbitten’ revealed the depths and changes to Elena and Clay’s characters and relationship – making this my favourite ‘Otherworld’ book yet. It will be a bit of a wait until Elena and Clay take centre stage in Armstrong’s series again, but ‘Frostbitten’ well and truly tied me over until that book comes.

Hunting Ground ‘Alpha & Omega #2’ by Patricia Briggs

Patricia Briggs is one of my all-time favourite authors. My favourite thing about Ms. Briggs’ writing is her masterful character development. Briggs’s characters are flawed, damaged and just generally frayed around the edges – none more so than Charles Cornick and Anna Latham. Charles sees himself as a cold-blooded killer, and doesn’t believe he deserves his mate, Anna’s, love. Anna is a werewolf Omega still recovering from the abuse she suffered under her previous werewolf pack. Charles and Anna are mated werewolves – two slightly damaged individuals who are learning to heal with and because of each other. I love this series. To be sure it is a fantastic Urban Fantasy – and this series, more so than ‘Mercedes Thomspon’, delves into the fascinating world of werewolf politics – but at its core ‘Alpha & Omega’ is a love story. ‘Hunting Ground’ had a wonderful mystery as its central plot, but it was amazing because it delved further into Anna and Charles’s romance and explored the repair of their fractured psyches.

Bone Crossed ‘Mercedes Thompson #4’ by Patricia Briggs.

This is probably my all-time favourite Urban Fantasy series. I loved everything about ‘Bone Crossed’ – from the cover art (drool worthy by Daniel Dos Santos) to the development of Mercy and Adam’s relationship. Mercy and Adam have been in a ‘will they or won’t they?’ dance from book #1, and in ‘Bone Crossed’ their mateship was finally cemented in a fairly anti-climactic, but wonderfully romantic mating. ‘Silver Borne’ is probably my most anticipated book for 2010, mostly because I want to see how Mercy and Adam handle their newfound relationship.

Magic Strikes ‘Kate Daniels #3’ by Ilona Andrews

Oh. My. God.

That’s all I could think reading the last 2 chapters of this book. Such an amazing final battle – I was bawling my eyes out, and cheering Kate on. And that Kate/Curran tub scene – woah! It says a lot about this author-duo that their leading man and lady have still only gone as far as first base but readers are 100% hooked on their relationship. I am *dying* for book #4, the first teaser chapter has only whet my appetite and now I need May 25th to hurry the hell up.

‘Goddess of the Hunt’ by Tessa Dare

My favourite regency romance – possibly ever. I love, love, loved this book! Again, thanks to Mandi at Smexy for recommending. The romance between naïve tomboy Lucy Waltham and stiff-upper-lip Jeremy Trescott was heart meltingly romantic. These two are such sweethearts, and even though I didn’t like the other 2 books in Dare’s series, ‘Goddess’ has made her a ‘must buy’ for me. One of the best scenes in this book occurs in a wardrobe – a wardrobe! Any author that can make a wardrobe sexy deserves to be an automatic buy.

‘Jane Jameson’ series by Molly Harper

This debut series from Molly Haper is brilliant! A comedic Urban Fantasy with one of the best and funniest leading ladies I have ever read. Jane Jameson is my hero – I want to be her BFF. Book #3 ‘Nice Girls Don’t Live Forever’ came out December 29th, but I’m still waiting for my copy – though I am sure I will love that book as much as her first two. This series has made Harper an instant buy for me – so unbelievably good, I hope Molly Harper is contracted for many more books in the series.

‘The Forest of Hands & Teeth’ by Carrie Ryan

One of the best books I have ever read (with one of the best titles). It’s a very different post-apocalyptic zombie book – Ryan writes beautifully and vividly, and the story is edge-of-your-seat from the first page. I adored this book. It is very bleak, but Carrie Ryan is such a masterful storyteller, and the world she’s created is so fascinating you can’t help but be 100% sucked in. I could easily see this book being adapted into film – it has a very cinematic quality and an epic feel to it. Ryan has a second book (set in the same universe) called ‘The Dead-Tossed Waves’ coming out March 9th 2010 – I am definitely reading that one!

'Jane Jameson' SERIES by Molly HARPER

FROM THE BLURB:

After being laid off from her job as Half Moon Hollow's children's librarian, Jane drowns her sorrows in Electric Lemonade and Mudslides using her severance package (a $25 Shenanigans gift certificate). Atthe bar she's kept company by a magnetically attractive (if a bit pale) stranger, Gabriel Nightingale - who follows her out and takes matters into his own hands when Jane's car breaks down and she's mistaken for a deer by a drunk with a rifle as she's headed home in the dark, on foot. If Gabriel doesn't turn Jane, she'll be, as the saying goes, dying young and leaving a pretty corpse. Being undead, though, is just the beginning of Jane's problems. She's still unemployed, has "family issues," a best friend who finds love with a werewolf (werewolves and vampires don't mix well); she's also being framed for murder, stalked by a former crush, and romanced by her moody sire. What's an undead girl to do?

If Bridget Jones were to become a vampire, this would be her new series.

Molly Harper’s debut is a funny, fast-paced twist on the paranormal romance. On the back cover bestselling author Susan Anderson is quoted as saying Harper’s lead character, Jane Jameson is the new Sookie Stackhouse. Well, not quite. Charlaine Harris’s ‘Southern Vampire: Sookie Stackhouse’ series is a lot darker with more emphasis on plot and the central mystery woven into each book.

These first 2 books in the Jane Jameson series are less plot-driven and more character-driven. We meet Jane at her lowest moment, fired from her dream job as children’s librarian. We see her worst day turn into her last, as she is killed in a freak accident and then sired by hottie vampire, Gabriel. From there the books are an examination of her adjustment to the afterlife, as she breaks the news to family and friends who take to her new vampirism with varying degrees of horror.

Jane is a fantastic leading lady. She is not a catwalk model for whom vampirism is just another lucky draw in a charmed life. Instead Jane is a plain, klutzy, anal-retentive, fact-fiend who was a gawky band geek in high school and grew up to be a geeky librarian. She is an utterly charming protagonist who has a quick wit and her own Jane-isms that quickly catch on.

Apart from both series being set in the Deep South, ‘Jane Jameson’ is nothing like ‘Sookie Stackhouse’. If anything, Molly Harper’s laugh-a-minute page-turner is similar (but not really) to MaryJanice Davidons’s ‘Queen Betsy’ series. Mixing paranormal romance with quirky humor and an even quirkier protagonist.

If I have one complaint about ‘Jane Jameson’, it’s that the romance angle need a little more heft behind it. Jane and Gabriel’s relationship is explored more in #2 ‘Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men’, but is by no means the central storyline. Maybe my small complaint stems from a slight Sookie expectation in that I’m used to reading about female protagonists’ who have more than one fella panting after them – granted, that’s not likely to happen to Jane (although two more possible love interests are mentioned and disregarded in book 1 and 2). An unnecessary expectation perhaps, but there you go.

I highly recommend this debut series. It’s funny, fresh and all together fabulous.

5/5