Back to the shameful paranormal romance genre

Rachel Caine's book, Fade Out (Morganville Vampires, Book 7), heralded my visit back to the love-with-a-vampire. I'm actually starting to be a bit irked by the heroine, whom I would like to call Miss Polly Prissy Pants because she is so perfect and so wonderful and so humble, but I'm far too mature to be so petty about a book that clearly is trying to please young female readers.
It actually reminds a little bit of the main character in The Clan of the Cave Bear series, which I did not read. A friend of mine (who was a young female reader) expressed her exasperation that Ayla was too perfect.

Kalayna Price

So, the last book that I read in February in worlds-that-touch-ours subgenre was called Once Bitten.
Although it came out in January, 2009, it only recently caught my eye.

Instead of just a vampire-werewolf love triangle, the protagonist is from a world where everyone is a shapeshifter, hiding out in plain, old Earth. With the addition of visitors from other worlds, including one that considers itself to be the police force for all others, it plays out in a somewhat fantastical way (although I'm not sure if I can really use that adjective since it is almost an oxymoron). 
I enjoyed the book but have not yet bothered to read the second installment.

Caitlin Kittredge: Black London

I had not ready anything yet by Ms. Kittredge, but decided to check out Street Magic (Black London, Book 1) a few weeks ago. I think it's the first novel I have ever read about about a London police officer.
DI Caldecott works at Scotland Yard and is a bit haunted by a few events from her past, and doesn't believe in magic.
It was good enough that, as soon as I finished Street Magic, I immediately read Demon Bound (Black London, Book 2).

The feel of the novel reminded me a bit of Simon R. Green's Nightside novels. I think mainly because of the dark feel, and wandering down the random streets in order to transition into the Black, a parallel world.

I am starting to notice a trend in my reading habits lately -- how come I started reading all these parallel world novels?

Toni Andrews: Mercy Hollings series

Cry Mercy is the latest installment in a serious about a psychologist with a special gift called the press. It has a unique mix of characters ranging from the rich widow and her young Latin lover to the sweet, perky office assistant who is learning to become a private investigator.
I think that one of my favorite elements of these stories is that she and her assistant rescued a rottweiler from a bad guy. The dog had been trained to kill, but with bizarre commands. They renamed the friendly dog Cupcake. Why not?

Ilona Andrews

I have been reading Ms. Andrews novels for the past couple of years, primarly reading the Kate Daniels series.

Last September, On the Edge (The Edge, Book 1) came out on Kindle. This new world is a fun twist in the worlds-that-touch-ours subgenre (after reading my blog entry with 'there-be-other-worlds-next-to-ours genre', I decided that this new name fits better).
It has the classic elements you need for the barely-struggling young woman who had to raise her brother ever since the catastrophic loss of their parents, but with the added take that there are two worlds that touch with a small "edge" between them: the Broken, a mundane world like ours where magic is not readily available and the Weird, where it's all magic all the time.

Mark Del Franco

I first read the Connor Grey series when Unshapely Things (Connor Grey, Book 1) came out in paperback. This was before my Kindle-owning days.
I read it initially because I wanted to support a male author who was contributing to the supernatural-urban-paranormal-modern-fantasy.
The classic fantasy genre was dominated by men at one point with a few exceptions like Morgan Llewellyn. The urban fantasy genre was dominated by female authors. This is makes perfect sense with the shift in demographics and the romanticizing of all those pesky mythical creatures.
I find that the male authors in the genre tend to add a little grit to the story. The protagonists are often chivalrous, of course. That caters to any audience, really.
Returning to Connor Grey, I like that Connor used to be a arrogant jerk who lost most of his "mojo" and was humbled. Most stories end with that idea, but this series starts with it. The underlying reason for his loss is something that has not yet been revealed, but is being developed slowly over the novels. It definitely keeps the reader interested!
Unperfect Souls (Connor Grey, Book 4) was not a disappointment. It was a fast, enjoyable read.

Jazz playing dog owner

John Levitt's Unleashed was a good third installment to his series about a former magic enforcer who is the lucky owner of an ifrit.
The odd thing for me was tht I had trouble really staying hooked in the novel. I had to force myself to continue reading at times. I'm unsure whether this was a sympton of the novel or just a case of the winter blues.
I'm definitely going to read his next one in this series, although there is not one announced yet.

Urban Fantasy Author Kelly Gay

Whenever I try to use the Amazon recommendations, I find that it doesn't actually work for me. I get the same books for all 3 of the settings for all, recent releases, or upcoming novels.

At any rate, I decided to read The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay. It was published in 2009.
I wish taht there were already a sub-genre categorization under "urban fantasy". I would put this novel into the there-be-other-worlds-next-to-ours genre. I think that Ms. Gay does a nice spin on on this theme with a heaven-and-hell duo called Elysia and Charbydon. It was a good read and a nice start. I will most likely read the follow-up, The Darkest Edge of Dawn (Charlie Madigan, Book 2), due out in August 2010.

February Reading

At some point during the month of February, I decided that it was the worst month of the year. Because of it being the worst month, I was entitlement to completely ignoring any sort of action item (at least in my personal life, whereas work was a completely different story!)

Shortly after writing my previous entry, I went ahead and read Divine Misdemeanors: A Novel (Meredith Gentry, Book 8). I was happy to discover that Ms. Hamilton decided NOT to make it all about the long hair. I felt more like this one was a "day in the life" of Merry and her .. er.. merry band.