On her graduation day from high school, Grace finds out the hard way that she is the daughter of the legendary Pandora, from the Greek myths—when a deadly and beautiful woman tries to kill her. She is saved in the nick of time by her Aunt Phoenix and a gorgeous young man, and then dragged on an impromptu road trip. It turns out that her guardian, Phoenix, is actually a centuries-old faerie, who has been entrusted with protecting Pandora since her mother died. (more…)

In Dragon’s Heart, we learn that dragons are real. They existed on the Earth in a time of free-flowing magic until the time of man brought the fear about any who are powerful and different. When their species became hunted due to the betrayal of one of their own, they had to flee to another world called Akgon. But leaving Earth cut them off from much of their powerful magic and their truemates, many of whom had to shed their dragon bodies and go incognito as human. Their kind are called the brethren and they are back to reclaim their magic. Draakar, the Dark Lord, the King of the dragons, comes to find his true mate, a crucial enterprise for the survival of his people and for his own heart.
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Blue Remembered Earth is an odyssey that begins in the sun-washed terrains of Africa, and takes the reader to the imaginary vision of a colonized Moon and Mars, and even to underwater communities along the way. Geoffrey Akinya, a man who has spent his life studying and caring for elephants that live near the Akinya family homestead, finds out that his grandmother, Eunice, the iconic matriarch of his family, has died. Memphis, the elderly caretaker of his family who raised Geoffrey and his sister, Sunday, delivers the bad news along with Eunice’s ashes. This becomes the beginning of an adventure, when his mercenary cousins, Lucas and Hector, ask him to go to the moon and see what is in a safety deposit box belonging to Eunice. (more…)

Journey of the Princess of Ice is about a lonely ice elemental, the last of her kind, named Ice. She travels the world in search of home, something which she has not known since her people and her lands were destroyed by fires sent by demons. When she comes to a certain land, she finds a tavern with a friendly owner, and they strike a deal for her to get free room and board just by keeping the tavern cool, just by being around. Ice is very lonely, and the closest she can come to people is to hang out in the tavern, where she dances on the floor, always alone. Her cold will harm anyone who gets too close to her.
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Chosen is the third book in the Dark Breed series by Sable Grace. In this entry, Kyana, former Dark Breed and Order member with the stigma of being half-vampire/half-lychen, is now the new Goddess of the Hunt. Chosen as Artemis’ replacement, she is still learning her responsibilities and her powers. However, she does not have the time to settle into the new job. Chronos, the deposed God of Gods, is fighting to get his throne back, and to destroy his enemies, Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, and all the other gods and goddesses, along with humanity.

Kyana is wracked with guilt over changing her friend Haven into a Dark Breed in order to save her life. (more…)

 Heaven’s Shadow takes place in 2019, the near future. NASA and a joint operation between Russia, India, and Brazil both launch explorations of a Near Earth Object (a celestial body that has come into orbit with Earth) that is 100 km in diameter. Zack Stewart had to miss out the last NASA launch when his wife was killed in a car accident, so this launch means even more to him. He is doing it for the memory of Megan, his dead wife, and for his daughter, Rachel. One of his accompanying astronauts, Tea Nowinsky, is now is girlfriend, although they keep things strictly business while on the launch.
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Catherynne M. Valente follows up on Habitation of the Blessed with a solemn, melancholy journey back to the mythical lands of the Ancient and Medieval Middle East. Prester John, a priest of the Catholic Church, has settled and become king of a nation of legendary creatures. John has married the blemmye Hagia (a humanoid who lacks a head and has facial features in her torso) and sired a daughter with her named Sefalet. Sefalet is bald and featureless, with her mouth and eyes in each of her hands, one of which speaks ugly predictions of death and desolation. Sefalet intensely feels a sense of anguish and alienation at her strange identity as the flawed daughter of the King and Queen.
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Bedeviled is the second book in the Dark Breed series. Kyana has been chosen as the Greek goddess Artemis’ successor and is getting used to and gaining her full powers as the Goddess of the Hunt. She is conflicted about losing the identity that she has known for over two hundred years as a half Lychen/half Vampire Dark Breed and hunter. At the same time, Kyana is tormented by guilt at the fact that her friend Haven has gone off the deep end as a fugitive since she turned her to save her life. Haven has been possessed by the undead god Chronus, who is working to resurrect himself and take over Olympus again.
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In Bleed Country is a disturbing, disarming, alluring look into the power of belief, and the degree to which certain entities will go to maintain that power and balance from the beliefs that people hold. Imagine that there are Agents that work behind the scenes to protect a place where all the energy from the faiths that people hold is stored, the energy that keeps reality together. Now imagine that some of these agents are more like your worst nightmare than a savior or superhero looking out for the human race.
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Forever Found, Forever Lost is the story of a five-hundred-year-old Scottish werewolf, Charles McHenery, called the Frozen One by the native tribes of Alaska, where he made his home. He befriends a street-smart black guy named James, and ends up going on a harrowing journey that will bring him closer to his final destiny.
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Dark Reflections is an omnibus edition of the Dark Reflections trilogy by Kai Meyer: The Water Mirror, The Stone Light, and The Glass Word. They tell the story of a young orphan, Merle, and her friend, Junipa, who are brought into the home of Arcimboldo, a master craftsman of magic mirrors bought by the rich women of Venice, Italy. Merle has always had in her possession a special mirror, through which she is able to touch the comforting hand of a stranger, the person she believes to be one of her parents. (more…)

Blood Prophecy is the story of Jeremiah Fall, born into a Puritan family who uproots themselves to start a new life in the American colonies. A strange mound on his family’s property becomes the source of tragedy and transformation to this young man when an inhuman creature is awoken, a creature hungry for blood. As a result, Jeremiah is attacked and transformed into a vampire and, with the help of his grandfather, learns to use his mind and intellect to control the hungry beast within that constantly demands blood. (more…)

Although this is the first book I’ve read in the Remy Chandler series, this is actually the fourth. However, that didn’t disrupt my liking at all for this book. Remy was a Seraphim, one of God’s host of Angels. After fighting in the War in Heaven and killing his brethren who disobeyed and rebelled against his Lord, Remy became disillusioned with being an angel and decided to Fall and live as a human. Since then, he has cloaked his Seraphim nature in the guise of human mortality although he is still immortal. (more…)

Ascension takes Greek Mythology and gives it an apocalyptic, modern makeover. The gates of Tartarus have been opened and demons are pouring out, wreaking havoc on the human world. In the process, they are killing the Chosen, humans who are selected to inherit the powers of the Greek gods as they die. Kyana is a Dark Breed, a tracker for the goddess Artemis who has the shameful heritage of being half-vampyre and half-lychen. She hates humans, but she does her part as a member of the Order of Ancients, protecting them from the demons, seeking out the Chosen to preserve them so that the world can continue.
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Zero Sight is the story of Dieter, a young man whose focus is on obtaining his only shot of getting out of Las Vegas: a full-ride scholarship to college. Dieter has had a special ability to sense attacks his whole life–his vision can separate into layers that allow him to sense oncoming physical assaults. This has helped him to survive with an abusive, alcoholic father and to navigate the violence-filled world of high school. (more…)

Zero Sum is the follow up to Zero Sight, the story of mage-in-training Dieter Resnick. Dieter thought his problems were solved, getting into an Ivy League school and escaping his hopeless, violent, poverty-ridden life in Las Vegas. However, he’s been thrown out of the frying pan and into the fire, finding himself right in the middle of a turf war between the DEA, which is actually the magic-wielding agency of the US government, and Talmax, a Mexican drug cartel run by powerful mages. (more…)

With No Hero, Jonathan Wood takes a hefty dose of Lovecraft’s fears from beyond motif, throws in a good amount of British humor, and adds a heaping measure of weird to make an enjoyable, fascinating, and energetic romp through Oxford, England, UK. No Hero starts with its lead character, Arthur Wallace, as a homicide detective working to solve a half dozen murders of prominent citizens who were found with the top of their skulls cut off. He and his partner, Alison Swann, arrive at the last scene in time to see the culprit, a strange redhead who has a wicked way with a Japanese katana sword as she kills her next victim. (more…)

The Mythmakers has an appealing “rustic” vibe that I love about the TV show, Firefly. This is science fiction and set in space, but the setting is not the glossy, high-tech view that comes to mind with shows like Star Trek. Instead, most of the action takes place on a ship that has seen some hard times, with a motley crew on the run from the “authorities.” Though initially I was quite worried that this book would be mainly sex in space, I was wrong. Mr. Appleton threw me a curve ball by throwing in some very sexual, almost sleazy elements initially, but following up with a story that has some very philosophical elements.
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Twilight Forever Rising takes vampires and the intricate group of “families” they form and breathes life into the undead. Instead of just thinking of the characters as vampires, they became unique people, each with their own motivations, wants and fears. With this novel, the reader is left to contemplate just how complicated it is to live forever.
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Play Dead is the fourth novel in the Dog Days series about a musician named Mason who also happens to be a magic practitioner. He has a companion named Lou, an ifrit, a spirit/magical being that happens to look like a dog. Every practitioner has an ifrit because their magic tends to attract them, and these companions help protect the practitioner. In the case of Lou, he’s also a good friend. Mason supplements his income as a musician by working for Victor, a practitioner who enforces the practitioner community and helps to keep their activities out of the public eye. (more…)