'Six Impossible Things' by Fiona Wood

From the BLURB:

Fourteen year old nerd-boy Dan Cereill is not quite coping with a reversal of family fortune, moving house, new school hell, a mother with a failing wedding cake business, a just-out gay dad, and an impossible crush on Estelle, the girl next door. His life is a mess, but for now he's narrowed it down to just six impossible things...

Dan Cereill (pronounced ‘surreal’, not ‘cereal’) has undergone a rude awakening. At the same time that his mother inherited a heritage-listed house from her dead great-aunt Adelaide, she discovered that her husband was both gay and bankrupt and they would have to move into said heritage-listed abode because the bank was repossessing everything else.

And so, Dan finds himself living in a piss-smelling, run-down relic, not talking to his ‘out’ dad, about to start on the bottom rung at a new high school.

The only thing getting him through this teenage mid-life crisis is the girl next door, Estelle, a hidden doorway leading into her attic, and a list of six impossible things;

The List:

1. Kiss Estelle. I know. I haven’t met her yet. Technically. But it gets top spot regardless.
2. Get a job. We’re in a complete mess financially. It’s down to me to tide us over money-wise if my mother’s new business crashes.
3. Cheer my mother up. Better chance of business not crashing if she’s half okay.
4. It’s not like I expect to be cool or popular at the new school, but I’m going to try not to be a complete nerd/loser.
5. Should talk to my father when he calls. But how, when the only thing I want to ask is something I can’t bear to hear the answer to: How could you leave us like this?
6. The existential one. Figure out how to be good. I don’t want to end up the sort of person who up and leaves his family out of the blue.

‘Six Impossible Things’ is a stand-alone YA novel from Australian author, Fiona Wood.

I loved this book for its simplicity. On the surface there’s a lot of things happening in Dan’s life – his gay dad, bankrupt family, new school and first real crush. The book could have buckled under the weight of so many issues – but Wood handles them with a deft hand and earnest male perspective.

Dan is our narrator, and it’s lovely to get a male perspective in Aussie YA, for a change. He’s starting year nine when all his familial issues implode – he’s a sensitive soul who has spent the holidays crying under his doona and avoiding his dad’s phone calls. Perhaps to distract himself from the things he can’t change – no money, divorced parents, gay dad – he becomes a teensy bit consumed with his crush on the girl next door, Estelle.

This was a great and realistic way For Wood to explore such catastrophic issues. His mum’s coping mechanisms creep into the story, as does his avoidance of his dad’s olive branches and monetary decline. But for Dan, Estelle is centre stage in his new life.

I loved Dan. He’s a smart and sensitive young man, with a cracking wit that especially shines through when he observes the social structure of his new public school. Like his nick-naming of the transposable bracket girls (omigod).

‘Six Impossible Things’ was a wonderful Australian young adult novel exploring cutting-edge issues through a voice of lovable innocence.

5/5

'Finnikin of the Rock' Lumatere Chronicles #1 by Melina Marchetta

From the BLURB:

Finnikin of the Rock and his guardian, Sir Topher, have not been home to their beloved Lumatere for ten years. Not since the dark days when the royal family was murdered and the kingdom put under a terrible curse. But then Finnikin is summoned to meet Evanjalin, a young woman with an incredible claim: the heir to the throne of Lumatere, Prince Balthazar, is alive.

Evanjalin is determined to return home and she is the only one who can lead them to the heir. As they journey together, Finnikin is affected by her arrogance . . . and her hope. He begins to believe he will see his childhood friend, Prince Balthazar, again. And that their cursed people will be able to enter Lumatere and be reunited with those trapped inside. He even believes he will find his imprisoned father.

But Evanjalin is not what she seems. And the truth will test not only Finnikin's faith in her . . . but in himself.

Finnikin grew up with royalty. His childhood companions were the prince and princesses of Lumatere, their noble cousins were his partners in crime. Finnikin’s father was Captain Trevanion, head of the King’s guard and close personal friend of the royal family. Finnikin’s beloved stepmother, Lady Beatriss, was carer to Prince Balthazar and Princess Isaboe. Life in Lumatere was near perfect . . . until the five days of the unspeakable.

In those dark days the impostor king slaughtered the royal family and took Finnikin’s father and stepmother prisoner. Blood was awash in the Lumatere palace, and a blood curse placed on its inhabitants.

Finnikin’s father was deemed traitor and thrown to the dungeons, while Lady Beatriss was accused of treason and sentenced to death – along with her unborn babe.

Finnikin escaped, and for ten years he has travelled with his guardian, Sir Topher. They have trekked the stretch of Skuldenore, looking for a way to free Finnikin’s father and save Lumatere.

Ten years of searching – and now a mute novice girl called Evanjalin claims that she can walk the dreams of Lumatere captives, and prophesizes the return of Balthazar to the throne.

‘Finnikin of the Rock’ is the first book in Melina Marchetta’s fantasy series, the ‘Lumatere Chronicles’. The book was first released in 2008; to much critical acclaim which marked Marchetta’s transition from contemporary young adult literature, to the realm of epic fantasy. In anticipation of the second book in the ‘Lumatere Chronicles’ series, to be released in October and called ‘Froi of the Exiles’, I have re-read ‘Finnikin’ and revisited Skuldenore.

I grew up with Marchetta’s books – I mourned John Barton with Josie, fell in love with the St. Sebastian boys and climbed a tree with Jonah Griggs. Marchetta’s novels mark my teenage transitions and have pride of place on my keeper shelf. Ms Marchetta is one author whom I trust, completely. And so, in 2008 when ‘Finnikin’ first came out I went into the book with arms and imagination wide open. . . and I was rewarded.

True, ‘Finnikin’ was a genre departure for Marchetta, who in the past favoured the dynamics of private schools, the socio-economic microcosm of the suburbs and the landscape of tight-knit family. ‘Finnikin’ is fantasy – set in an imagined land with a ruined kingdom and epic mythology. But, this is still a Marchetta book – and despite the creation of Skuldenore and a trek for a Kingdom’s freedom, ‘Finnikin of the Rock’ is a beautiful book for having a focus on connection.

All those worried readers who didn’t want to venture so far outside of Marchetta’s genre should be reassured – ‘Finnikin’ stays true to what Marchetta is best at. At its heart, the book is about people, and the myriad of storylines woven throughout the saga are firmly tethered to the characters.

Finnikin was a boy who lost his home and his family. Now, he is a man searching for his father and his place in uncertain times. Evanjalin is a girl with a secret, drawn to Finnikin’s fierce loyalty and determination and powered by her own sense of justice. Sir Topher has become surrogate father to his friend’s son, and developed a strong bond with his pupil in the ten years that they have lived wandering. Trevanion lost everything in the days of the unspeakable – the woman he loved, the babe he never had a chance to hold and the son he couldn’t protect.

All of these characters are searching for home – another constant in Marchetta’s books – the sense of belonging and being bigger than the sum of your parts. Josie was reluctant to take her place amidst her large ‘wog’ family, held back by a family curse and secret. Francesca’s family had to rebuild itself in the wake of her mother’s downward spiral, all while being lost at sea in a school that didn’t want her. Taylor needed to understand her past, to carve a place for herself in the present. Likewise, Finnikin and his weary travellers are searching for home, literally – the home that was ripped away from them by an impostor king.

Re-reading ‘Finnikin’, I find myself bringing a new maturity to the novel. Perhaps it is because I am a slightly older reader now, or perhaps it’s a reflection of current affairs – but I couldn’t help connecting the Lumatere people’s exile to that of the ever-present ‘boat people’ debate in Australia, and the case for refugees seeking asylum on our shores.

The Lumatere people were scattered across Skuldenore in the wake of their kingdom’s fall – and as Finnikin and Evanjalin seek their countrymen and women, they see the mistreatment they have suffered for being ‘exiles’ and unwanted. They are persecuted and herded wherever they go, left to be ravaged by plague and fever, turned away from every other kingdom’s doorstep. This is certainly a subtle reflection of our times – in the wake of Australia’s ‘Pacific Solution’, and now the abysmal ‘Malaysia Solution’. Whoever says fantasy is a complete departure from reality need only look as far as Marchetta’s cunning commentary on the Lumatere people’s exile to see connecting threads to the current political climate. . .

He felt her stare but did not turn and look. Did not want those eyes reaching into him.
‘So you are destined to spend the rest of your life scouring this land? Who are you, to deserve such a curse?’ she asked.
One who has an evil lurking inside of me, he wanted to say. An evil that Seranonna of the Forest Dwellers recognised that day in the forest as he played alongside Isaboe.
Her blood will be shed for you to be king.
‘What is it you want, Finnikin?’ Evanjalin persisted.
‘I want to be left alone to do what we’ve always done,’ he said vehemently. I want to go searching for my father, he longed to shout.
‘And what is that? Wandering the empire? Collecting names of the dead? Where would you like me to leave you, Finnikin?’
In the numb peace we lived with before you came into our lives.

I am also re-reading ‘Finnikin’ in the wake of ‘The Piper’s Son’ – Marchetta’s stunning novel about Tom Mackee, a favourite St. Sebastian boy from ‘Saving Francesca’. With Tom still fresh in my mind, I saw a definite influence between Georgia and Sam’s awkward relationship, and Trevanion and Beatriss’s equally complex devotion. Both of these couples are learning to love in the wake of heartache – for Georgie it was a betrayal of the deepest order. For Beatriss and Trevanion, it is ten years of brutality and twisted fate. I loved Trevanion and Beatriss’s story even more the second time around, and I sincerely hope that they have a large re-appearance in ‘Froi of the Exiles’.

Speaking of Froi, I paid much closer attention to Evanjalin’s Sarnak thief this second time around . . .

‘His name is Froi,’ Evanjalin said.
The thief grunted.
‘It’s boy,’ Finnikin argued. ‘It’s just that his lip is split and it sounded like Froi.’
‘Everyone has a name, Finnikin. You can’t just be called boy. His name is Froi.’ The thief from Sarnak opened his mouth to speak, but Evanjalin raised a finger to silence him.

Marchetta offers us few snatches from Froi’s perspective in this first book, but what is there is powerful. Like Froi seeing Evanjalin and Finnikin’s reunion after a near-death experience, and interpreting their clear affection through his jaded eyes. Froi definitely leapt off the page in Finnikin’s book, and hinted that he was protagonist material. He is a beggar child and a thief, from a brutal background who did awful things in ‘Finnikin’ – but at one point also begged to be killed. He will be a formidable and, I think, uncomfortable narrator – and I can’t wait for his book.

‘Finnikin of the Rock’ is an incredible fantasy novel swinging between bloody violence and great romance. It is a book that showcases the best of Melina Marchetta – her preoccupation with home and connection, fitting in and finding our place in the world. But it is also a novel of dark complexity and brutality, exploring current political climates through the exile of a fantasy kingdom and their harsh treatment by those who should offer shelter. I loved revisiting Skuldenore by re-reading ‘Finnikin of the Rock’, and trekking with the Lumatere people back to their rightful home. Now I can’t wait for ‘Froi of the Exiles’, and after that ‘Quintana of Charyn’.

5/5

'Froi of the Exiles' will be released on October 3rd 2011

'Beautiful Disaster' by Jamie McGuire

From the BLURB:

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend America, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the charming college co-ed. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his charms, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’ apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

Abby Abernathy and her best friend, America, have left their troubles behind in Kansas. They’re enjoying their new student stint at Eastern University, and for Abby especially, she loves the anonymity of the college town.

America also loves Eastern, but that could have something to do with her wonderful boyfriend, Shepley. America starts spending more and more time with ‘Shep’, at the apartment he shares with his cousin, Travis ‘Mad Dog’ Maddox.

Abby has heard of Travis. He has a reputation. Not only is he famous for his fists – participating in illegal campus fighting rings, he also has a reputation as a ladies man. He’s a love em’ and leave em’ type, and has been with most of the Eastern female co-eds. And when Abby is introduced to Travis for the first time (after he sprays her cardigan with blood) she is unimpressed by his come-on’s. But Travis won’t give up on the one girl who doesn’t want him…

‘Beautiful Disaster’ is a contemporary romance from self-published author, Jamie McGuire

I admit; the front cover was what first intrigued me. It’s not a great cover – but it certainly makes you look closer and go, ‘huh?’ Then I became curious about the great 4.35 rating on Goodreads, and the many book bloggers who began raving about this little sleeper hit.

‘Beautiful Disaster’ is, in many ways, your typical ‘good girl falls for the bad boy’ storyline. Travis is the campus man-whore, and as Abby is friends with his cousin she is more than aware and cautious of his reputation. Still, despite giving him cold-shoulder and clear ‘not gonna happen’ warnings, Travis can’t stay away. He’s intrigued by Abby, and desperate for her friendship if nothing else. When Abby loses a bet to him, she is coaxed into living at his apartment and becoming reluctant roomie to Shepley and America too. For a little while Abby and Travis make great bedfellows – he treats her with the respect and kindness he doesn’t show to his couch-conquests, and Abby is privileged to see a different side to Travis Maddox, which is a far departure from his ‘Mad Dog’ reputation.

‘Like I would buy a beer for some chick at a bar,’ he said, shaking his head. I help up my beer, and he pulled up one side of his mouth into a half-smile. ‘You’re different.’
I clinked my bottle against his. ‘To being the only girl a guy with no standards doesn’t want to sleep with.’ I said, taking a swig.

But when another guy takes an interest in Abby, Travis’s territoriality breaks out. He can’t deny what he’s wanted from the start, and the two of them enter into a relationship that everyone knows is going to be a beautiful disaster.

I have to admit, I didn’t really know where Jamie McGuire was going with this book – and that was both a good and bad thing. In the beginning I thought this would follow a tried and true ‘good girl befriends the bad boy, falls for a goody-goody prep boy until she realizes she liked the bad stuff all along’ type of plot. But McGuire pulled the rug out from under me when she had Abby and Travis coming to their senses fairly early on in the plot, and embarking on a relationship (the first monogamous one for Travis).

Then I thought the book was going for a sinister bent … when Abby acknowledges her feelings for Travis, he gets very, very scary (at least, to me he did). He becomes über-Alpha and territorial. The kind of guy who keeps his arm draped across his girlfriend’s shoulders in a semi-headlock, just to warn other guys off. The ‘pissing on a hydrant’ of body language. Furthermore, Travis is quick to violence. He has been making easy money off prep boys betting on him in the ring – but when he and Abby start dating he unleashes that violence on any guy who so much as looks at her lustily.

It was disturbing, to say the least. But I also thought it was kind of ingenious – because for the first half of the book, McGuire does endear Travis to us. Girls like a bad boy, and Travis clearly has some residual wounds that he articulates with sex and violence. I, like Abby, was falling for him… up until the moment when they decide to start a relationship, and he goes scary-territorial. I thought surely McGuire was writing a slow creep of abuse, and I was waiting for the moment when Travis stopped accusing other guys of wanting his girlfriend, and started assuming Abby was asking for it.

Except, it doesn’t happen. McGuire pulls out a last minute plot switch-up about Abby’s dark family past and an impromptu trip to Vegas has her seeing Travis is an unflattering light. That’s what drives a wedge between them – not his hella scary hair-trigger anger or suffocating love.

A pained look shadowed his face. ‘You know why I want you? I didn’t know I was lost until you found me. I didn’t know what alone was until the first night I spent without you in my bed. You’re the one thing I’ve got right. You’re what I’ve been waiting for, Pigeon.’

I really, really liked the first half of this book. Abby and Travis were a very different ‘bad boy/good girl’ couple, and McGuire did interesting things with twisting their romantic plot. But things became a little skewed for me when Abby seemed numb to Travis’s claustrophobic affection.

I actually think there is a lot of room for a sequel to this story, and that could possibly explore those issues I found lacking in ‘Beautiful Disaster’. There’s no question that McGuire is a fantastic storyteller and interesting new voice in contemporary romance – but I wish there had been more realistic questioning of this bad boy’s behaviour, instead of glossing it over as ‘forever love’.

3.5/5

SLiDE - Aussie TV

Dear Darling Readers,

It’s very rare that I blog about anything other than books. The exceptions to the rule are anything that captures my attention and makes me sit up and take notice. So, let me recommend my new obsession. . .

Has anyone else been watching the new Aussie YA TV show, ‘Slide’ (stylised as ‘SLiDE’?)
I honestly don’t have much love for Australian television. These days if it’s not another ‘Underbelly’ series, then it’s a sad attempt at recreating ‘Blue Heelers’ and ‘Water Rats’ (I’m looking at you, ‘Cops LAC’, ‘Rush’ and ‘City Homicide’!).

I had seen lots of posters for ‘Slide’, they were peppered throughout my tram route and I honestly didn’t know what to make of them. The actors in the posters looked really young, and the rainbow colours kind of screamed ‘tween’ to me. Still, I decided to give it a go and have a watch. . . and in doing so, I think I've found Australia’s answer to ‘Skins’.

‘Slide’ is about five unlikely friends living and running amok in Bris-Vegas (i.e: ‘Brisbane’).

There’s Scarlett (Emily Robbins) – the spoilt rich girl whose mum has hand-balled her to her hotelier father after a series of embarrassing escapades. But Brisbane hasn’t calmed the girl, and upon arrival in the city she throws a welcome party for herself and trashes her dad’s suite, but gains some friends amidst the mayhem.

Eva (Adele Perovic) is a graffiti artist who has a problem with authority. She relishes being anything but normal, but has family problems that are about to implode.

Luke (Brenton Thwaites) is the local heart-throb who has been with just about every girl in school and is rumoured to have a parole officer . . .

Tammy (Gracie Gilbert) comes from a wild family – a rocking mother and black jack father. But Tammy is the opposite, she likes lists and organization, and would never go for the obvious ‘cool’ guy – but she can’t help but be drawn to beautiful Luke.

And then there’s Ed (Ben Schumann). He’s a hopeless virgin with a girl-next-door stalker who has lusty urges at inappropriate moments.

Each episode follows the unlikely group through their various embarrassing escapades in the city by the surf. Some of their actions are plain ludicrous – like deciding to blackmail John’s from a prostitute’s phonebook. Others have a softer touch – like an impromptu trip to Luke’s house that introduces the gang to his frightening older brother.

The show is a little bit brilliant. The writing is fantastic with a keen ear for dialogue and there are enough love connections within the group to fuel much impressive angst. The show is also a wonderful Polaroid picture of what it’s like being a young Aussie. Hardly any of the storyline takes place in school – instead it’s all about the weekend, summer holidays and busting your gut at crap-paying part-time jobs. The show slowly lets family-ties creep into the character’s lives, but for the most part it’s a truthful rendition of what it is to be young and self-centred, letting home life hang on the periphery until it gets to a boiling point and can’t be ignored. Big issues like sexuality and promiscuity are explored but never preached.

It’s actually a bit of a cop-out to compare the show to the UK’s ‘Skins’. If anything, ‘Slide’ is what ‘Skins’ used to be – introverted storytelling about the quintessential youth unique to viewers in that country. In recent seasons (in my opinion) ‘Skins’ has become less about telling good, funny yarns and more emo-angst ridden rubbish trying to be high-brow vignette episodes.

I am loving ‘Slide’ and really hoping it gets picked up for a second season . . .

'Succubus Revealed' Georgina Kincaid #6 by Richelle Mead

From the BLURB:

In Georgina Kincaid, succubus and she-demon, #1 New York Timesbestselling author Richelle Mead has created one of her most enticing characters. But with a shot at love, and maybe even redemption, is the ultimate seductress finally going soft? Like hell she is. . .

Georgina Kincaid has had an eternity to figure out the opposite sex, but sometimes they still surprise her. Take Seth Mortensen. The man has risked his soul to become Georgina's boyfriend. Still, with Lucifer for a boss, Georgina can't just hang up her killer heels and settle down to domestic bliss. In fact, she's being forced to transfer operations. . .to Las Vegas.

The City of Sin is a dream gig for a succubus, but Georgina's allies are suspicious. Why are the powers-that-be so eager to get her away from Seattle—and from Seth? Georgina is one of Hell's most valuable assets, but if there's any way out of the succubus business she plans to take it—no matter how much roadkill she leaves behind. She just hopes the casualties won't include the one man she's risking everything for. . .

Following the events of ‘Succubus Shadows’, our favourite Hellish hand-maiden has finally sorted her love life out. Her boyfriend and crime writer, Seth Mortenson, ended his engagement to another woman and burned a lot of bridges to be with Georgina . . . but theirs won’t be a perfect coupling. They’ll have to ration sex so that Georgina doesn’t completely blacken Seth’s soul, and Georgie still has to regularly go out and sleep with random men. But they’re together, and that’s all that counts.

And Seth’s family need Georgina more than ever, with Seth’s sister-in-law, Andrea, sick with cancer and a menagerie of daughters who need looking after.

Georgina couldn’t be happier – so of course, Hell has to interfere. Just as Georgina and Seth get settled down, a transfer comes through and Georgina is ordered to work in the actual city of sin, Las Vegas.

But why is Hell so ‘hell-bent’ on separating Seth and Georgina? What could be gained from the distance between them?

‘Succubus Revealed’ is the sixth and final instalment in Richelle Mead’s fantastic ‘Georgina Kincaid’ paranormal romance series.

I have been anticipating this book like crazy. Georgina has always been an emotional series to read, and Ms Mead has gone to great pains to build a complicated and damned love life for our girl Georige. Having said that, at the end of ‘Succubus Shadows’ there was a light at the end of the tunnel – Seth (finally!) dumped that nerdy ho-bag Maddie and took his Thetis back. But the book also ended on a gasping cliff-hanger when Seth called Georgina by her ages-old original name, Letha.

I must admit, the cliff-hanger wasn’t quite as cavernous as Mead usually likes . . . and for that reason (and for lack of a better metaphor) I didn’t go into ‘Succubus Revealed’ with a fear of heights. I (and many readers) had pretty much puzzled the mystery of this series a few books back – a mystery concerning reincarnation and Hell’s contradictory contracts. So I went into ‘Revealed’ already knowing what Georgina and Co. spend a good portion of the book trying to figure out. It takes a little of the gasp out of the big reveal, to say the least.

Having said that . . . I think Mead plotted this series beautifully, and there is a very romantic story arc running throughout the books. But because I already knew the cliff-hanger concerning the ‘mystery’ of Georgina and Seth’s pasts, I wanted something else from ‘Revealed’. Namely, I wanted more Seth and Georgina romance.

I still haven’t forgiven Seth’s actions in the third book, ‘Succubus Dreams’. I still have a burning hatred for Maddie. And for these reasons, I wanted ‘Revealed’ to be all about Georgina confronting past hurts and Seth earning his place in Georgina’s heart.

Unfortunately, I don’t feel like we got that in ‘Revealed’. Seth and Georgina don’t have many romantic moments, and it’s hard having to keep thinking back to the first couple of books and remind yourself that they were, once, a rather sweet couple. Frankly, there just hasn’t been much evidence of that lately. I’m still waiting for Seth to do something to out-weigh the past pain he inflicted on Georgina with Maddie.

Instead, ‘Revealed’ is Roman’s book. Roman, the Nephilim (half angel/half demon) who swept Georgina off her feet in book one, but became a murdering menace in subsequent instalments . . . only to swing back to being a viable love-interest for our favourite succubus, and eventually her room-mate. I have always been rooting for Roman, and in this book he does make you pause and wonder why Georgina doesn’t choose him. He does something so romantic and gob-smackingly sweet, I honestly wondered why she was wasting her time with Seth.

Romantic qualms aside, ‘Revealed’ is more of the funny that Mead loves to write in this series. It starts with a vampire fondue party, and culminates in a demon bowling tournament. Priceless.

The shirt was standard bowling style, short-sleeved and button-down. My name was embroidered on the front. Flipping it over, I found THE UNHOLY ROLLERS done in elaborate, flaming letters. I arched an eyebrow.
“Really?” I said. “This is what we’re going with?”

One good thing about ‘Succubus Revealed’ is that it ends wide-open. I don’t think Mead has any plans to continue the series or a spin-off series . . . but there is definite wink-wink possibility for Roman and everybody’s favourite hobo-angel Carter to return. I am totally rooting for a Roman/Carter book series. How freakin awesome would that be!?

Overall though, ‘Succubus Revealed’ wasn’t the send-off I exactly wanted for Georgina. Honestly, after all the emotional turmoil she has gone through for hundreds of years, I wanted a BIG romantic finale, and instead we got wet-rag Seth Mortenson still being his surly self. Meh. Roman and Carter stole the show for me, and a series for them would be a dream come true. But for now, I guess fans are saying goodbye to Mead’s Hellish Seattle and this wonderful series about a succubus with a heart of gold. Au revoir, Thetis!

3/5

'Demon Possessed' Megan Chase #3 by Stacia Kane

From the BLURB:

Psychologist and psychic Megan Chase has grown remarkably comfortable hanging out with demons. The demon "family" she leads is happy, her solo practice is stabilizing, and she and her steamy demon lover, Greyson Dante, are closer than ever. But when the couple books a week at a luxury hotel to attend a meeting of demon leaders, some unanticipated problems appear.

An FBI agent with an unhealthy interest in less-than-legitimate demon business practices shows up; the demon community is urging Megan to undergo the rite that will make her a real demon; and a slightly shady minister is holding one of his wildly popular "weekend exorcisms" just down the road. And oh, yes, someone with scary magical abilities is attempting to kill her.

Then, just when it seems as if things couldn't possibly get any worse, a secret comes to light that could jeopardize Megan and Greyson's future -- if Megan manages to live that long. With things heating up, it's becoming difficult for her to keep a cool head...

Megan is feeling pressured from all sides. The demon elite want her to shake off the shackles of her humanity and jump onboard the hell bandwagon. Her boyfriend, Greyson Dante, wants her to give into her demonic side for safety reasons. And the FBI are sniffing around her involvement with some shady (admittedly, demon) characters, because it seems the Feds have labelled her as a mob-girlfriend.

And right in the middle of important demon socializing, Greyson drops a bomb that could put an end to his and Megan’s romance.

‘Demon Possessed’ is the third and final book in Stacia Kane’s urban fantasy ‘Megan Chase’ series.

‘Possessed’ opens with Megan and Greyson in a very good, romantic place . . . so you just know it’s not going to last. For the first two books of this series Megan and Greyson have had a pretty laissez faire relationship – minor hurdles and a few trust issues, but for the most part their romance has been easily smoothed over. Honestly, knowing the drama that Kane put Chess and Terrible through, I feel like I've had my heart in my throat throughout ‘Megan Chase’ awaiting a similarly disastrous romantic hurdle. Well, it sprouts up in ‘Demon Possessed’ – and it’s a doozy.

Greyson has been keeping secrets and Megan will be hurt by the truth. But it’s not enough that demon politics interfered with their romance – Kane is at her best when her characters fuck up and make mistakes, case and point – Megan in ‘Possessed’. She weaves a tangled web in this book, and it’s nice that while her and Greyson’s initial romantic conundrum is demon-related, it’s Megan’s decidedly human nature that adds fuel to the fire of their burning relationship.

“You had plenty of other chances,” she snapped. Arguing with a demon was bad; arguing with a lawyer was bad. Arguing with a demon lawyer was infuriating.

But the whole book isn’t about Greyson and Megan’s melodrama. Kane’s central mystery in this third book is decidedly Biblical – a topic that has been mostly avoided in a series about hell demons. Well, Kane still keeps religion out of it (thank-God!) but she very cleverly plays around with some old-testament mythology and makes a wonderful villain out of the psalms.

This final book was a very fulfilling ending. I feel like all that pent-up frustration and avoidance between Megan and Greyson was vented with disastrous (and sexy) consequences. Kane goes out with a Biblical bang and leaves the series on a high note. It’s been fun exploring Kane’s first fantasy foray – and cements her status as an automatic-buy author for me.

5/5

Waiting on Wednesday: 'Death Magic' World of the Lupi #8 by Eileen Wilks

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill @Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming release that we're eagerly anticipating.

TITLE: 'Death Magic' World of the Lupi #8

AUTHOR: Eileen Wilks

RELEASE DATE: November 1st 2011

BLURB:

DEATH MAGIC opens with Special Agent Lily Yu in Washington, D.C. with her fiancé--lupi prince Rule Turner—to testify before a Senate subcommittee about her role in the magical collapse of a mountain last month. She is not there to tell them about the strange legacy she carries from that event—or about the arcane bond between her and Rule--or what her boss in Unit Twleve of the FBI’s Magical Crimes Division is really up to. She sure won’t tell them that the lupi are at war with an Old One who wants to remake humanity in her own image.

Lily is managing the conflict between her duty as an officer of the law and the need for secrecy pretty well . . . until the rabidly anti-magic senator who chairs that committee is murdered. The line between right and wrong, always so clear to her, becomes hopelessly blurred as events catapult them all towards disaster, and prophecies of a cataclysmic end to the country she loves and serves--and to the entire race of lupi--seem well on their way to being fulfilled.

I adore Eileen Wilks's 'World of the Lupi' series. It is one of the best and most original urban fantasies out there. I can't believe we've been with Lily and Rule for eight books now ... it feels like it was only yesterday that I was foraging for books to fill the curiosity that 'Mercy Thompson', 'Sookie Stackhouse' and the like had infected me with. I stumbled across 'World of the Lupi' from word of mouth on the Amazon recommends pages, and had my curiosity heightened when many message board devotees pimped the series to me. And I'm so glad I found it.

Wilks's world has werewolves in the limelight, as tabloid fodder and political scandal. She takes the old mythology and puts a contemporary cultural and societal spin on it. Not to mention a steamy, illicit romance with an FBI agent and prince werewolf. *sigh*

I'm really looking forward to 'Death Magic' because book #7 was SPECTACULAR. 'Blood Challenge' was a real departure from the norm in the 'Lupi' series. In this book, a previously secondary character was given the narrative limelight and a new romance introduced. I loved Arjenie and Benedict - they were complete opposites with complicated pasts and plenty of baggage. But they were also terribly romantic, and Benedict became a new book boyfriend favourite.

I don't know how big an appearance Benedict and Arjenie will have in 'Death Magic', since Wilks has a short story planned for them in the Christmas supernatural anthology 'Tied With a Bow'. I do hope they at least make a cameo appearance... but even if they don't, I'd be quite happy for 'Death Magic' to be the Lily and Rule show. Are these two crazy kids gonna get married already!?!

Although, considering the HUGE end of 'Blood Challenge' that thrust Cynna and Cullen into the spotlight ... I have a feeling the 'World of the Lupi' will be expanding once again beyond Lily and Rule. I trust in Eileen Wilks completely, and will be salivating for this eighth instalment in the coming months!