#122 Dog Days by John Levitt

Book Description:

First in a new urban fantasy series-with a bite as magical as its bark.

Mason used to be an enforcer, ensuring that suspect magic practitioners stayed in line. But now he scrapes out a living playing guitar. Good thing he has Louie, his magical...well, let's call him a dog. But there are some kinds of evil that even Louie can't sniff out. And when Mason is attacked by a supernatural assailant, he'll have to fall back on the one skill he's mastered in music and magic-improvisation.

My Thoughts:

It was an alright Urban fantasy. My favorite part is Lou. He's an Ifrit and a Min Pin. I have a Min Pin myself but he isn't black and tan like Lou but red.

Here's my Miniature Pinscher, Buckshot.

#121 Revamped by J. F. Lewis (and 1st Kindle book read)

Book Description:

REVIVED. REFRESHED. AND READY FOR REVENGE.

Eric has lost his strip club, his Mustang, and even Marilyn, the elderly love of his (mortal) life. Even his body was obliterated. In short, they almost got him. But when you're a vampire, "almost" is a very important word. With a little magical help from his friends, Eric is restored to corporeal form, but his treasured Mustang gets caught up in the sorcery and winds up with an unlife of its own. Now, along with "Fang the 'Stang," he's out to save Marilyn from one of Void City's most powerful soul-stealing demons. But salvation comes at a high price, forcing Eric to venture into his own worst nightmare, Vampire High Society, to uncover the truth about the origin of his powers.

At the same time, Eric's ex-girlfriend, Tabitha, has begun to wonder exactly what it was that she admired about those High Society Vampires in the first place. Her quest to find her own place in this deceptively vicious circle may lead her right back to Eric's side -- if her little sister, Rachel, doesn't kill her first. And Eric will need all the help he can get, because it looks like someone is after his soul, too. Blood will flow, fangs will be bared, and the claws will come out, because revenge is never pretty...and Eric has plenty to pass around.

My Thoughts:

Loved it even more than Staked. I can't wait for the next in the series. Bring it on!

#120 Staked by J. F. Lewis

Book Description:

Eric's got issues. He has short-term and long-term memory problems; he can't remember who he ate for dinner yesterday, much less how he became a vampire in the first place. His best friend, Roger, is souring on the strip club he and Eric own together. And his girlfriend, Tabitha, keeps pressuring him to turn her so she can join him in undeath. It's almost enough to put a Vlad off his appetite. Almost.

Eric tries to solve one problem, only to create another: he turns Tabitha into a vampire, but finds that once he does, his desire for her fades -- and her younger sister, Rachel, sure is cute. And when he kills a werewolf in self-defense, things really get out of hand. Now a pack of born-again lycanthropes is out for holy retribution, while Tabitha and Rachel have their own agendas -- which may or may not include helping Eric stay in one piece.

All Eric wants to do is run his strip club, drink a little blood, and be left alone. Instead, he must survive car crashes, enchanted bullets, sunlight, sex magic, and werewolves on ice -- not to mention his own nasty temper and forgetfulness.

Because being undead isn't easy, but it sure beats the alternative.

My Thoughts:

Best vampire book I read in a long time. Eric is a no bull crap kind of vampire. He isn't a pretty boy but he isn't a monster either even though he turns into one. It's still amazing after over 40 years as a vamp he doesn't know who his sire is and who his friends really are. By the end of the book he sorta finds out about one of these.

#119 Disturbing the Dead by Sandra Parshall

Book Description:

Tom Bridger, who is half Melungeon, thought he had escaped his mountain community's lingering prejudice against the mixed-race group when he left to work for the Richmond, Virginia Police Department. Tom was moving up the detective ranks when a family tragedy brought him back home and moved him into his father’s job as a county sheriff's deputy.

Now the bones of a Melungeon woman who disappeared ten years ago have surfaced on a remote mountaintop, and all evidence points to murder. Violence escalates as the victim's poor family and the wealthy white family she married into scramble to protect their secrets from Tom’s probing. But as he probes into his father's investigation of the case, he finds his father was not the man he idolized.

The woman Tom is falling in love with, veterinarian Rachel Goddard, is struggling to start over in a place that holds no memories for her. Rachel puts herself in danger when she befriends the dead Melungeon woman’s niece, Holly. As a child, the girl witnessed something that could implicate her aunt's killer, but she is too terrified to tell anyone what she knows. While Rachel is determined to keep Holly safe and help her piece together past events, the guilty are equally determined to silence the girl--and Rachel too, if necessary.

Will this murder be Tom's and Rachel's undoing or will it free them to look into the future?

My Thoughts:

Very good mystery. Lots of twists and turns. Good page turner that keeps you wondering who done it and why.

#118 Made to be Broken by Kelley Armstrong

Book Description:

The author of the acclaimed Women of the Otherworld series returns with her latest novel featuring an exciting heroine with a lethal hidden talent. This time she’s hot on the trail of a young woman no one else cares about—and a killer who’s bound to strike again.

Nadia Stafford isn’t your typical nature lodge owner. An ex-cop with a legal code all her own, she’s known only as “Dee” to her current employer: a New York crime family that pays her handsomely to bump off traitors. But when Nadia discovers that a troubled teenage employee and her baby have vanished in the Canadian woods, the memory of a past loss comes back with a vengeance and her old instincts go into overdrive.

With her enigmatic mentor, Jack, covering her back, Nadia unearths sinister clues that point to an increasingly darker and deadlier mystery. Now, with her obsession over the case deepening, the only way Nadia can right the wrongs of the present is to face her own painful ghosts—and either bury them for good, or die trying. Because in her book everyone deserves a chance. And everyone deserves justice.

My Thoughts:

Nadia may be a hit (wo)man but she does have heart. She takes care of business, both work and personal. And she thinks she's decided on the right man. We may never know because it doesn't look like this series is going any farther.

#117 Dying for Dinner by Miranda Bliss

Book Description:

When Annie leaves the safety of her old bank job to become the full-time manager of her boyfriend’s restaurant, what’s meant to be the first day of the rest of her life might be the last day of someone else’s.

My Thoughts:

Oh la la! This one is all about Monsieur and the life he lived before he became a chef. Let's just say Annie figures it all out. Good cozy mystery and light fluffy romance to boot.

#116 Where There's a Witch by Madelyn Alt

Book Description:

Taking a break from her job at Enchantments, Stony Mill's finest mystical antique shop, Maggie O'Neill visits a carnival where she senses some bad spirits. And when a construction worker is suspected of killing a young woman, it's up to Maggie and the N.I.G.H.T.S. ghosthunting team to uncover the dark spiritual energy leaking into their town before it spoils everyone's fun.

My Thoughts:

Things are really starting to fall apart in Stony Mills and they want to play the town witch. But she's helping get rid of the bad spirits. The people of the town are stuck in their Christian "thou shall not suffer a witch" ways.
On a up note, Maggie has finally chosen which man she wants to be with, now will she stick with this choice, who knows...

#115 March by Geraldine Brooks

Book Description:

As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the Civil War, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experience will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has take the character of the absent father, Mr. March, who has gone off to war, leaving his wife and daughters to make do in mean times. From vibrant New England to the sensuous antebellum South, March adds adult resonance to Alcott's optimistic children's novel. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time. March secures Geraldine Brook's place as a renowned author of historical fiction.

My Thoughts:

It did take a while to get into it but I'm glad I did read it. Not my favorite of the 3 fiction books she's written. My favorite is Year of Wonders although People of the Book was pretty darn good too.

#114 Blood Lite edited by Kevin J. Anderson

Book Description:

The Horror Writers Association Presents

BLOOD LITE

...a collection of entertaining tales that puts the fun back into dark fiction, with ironic twists and tongue-in-cheek wit to temper the jagged edge.

Charlaine Harris reveals the dark side of going green, when a quartet of die-hard environmentalists hosts a fundraiser with a gory twist in "An Evening with Al Gore"...In an all-new Dresden Files story from Jim Butcher, when it comes to tracking deadly paranormal doings, there's no such thing as a "Day Off" for the Chicago P.D.'s wizard detective, Harry Dresden...Sherrilyn Kenyon turns a cubicle-dwelling MBA with no life into a demon-fighting seraph with one hell of an afterlife in "Where Angels Fear to Tread"...Celebrity necromancer Jaime Vegas is headlining a sold-out séance tour, but behind the scenes, a disgruntled ghost has a bone to pick, in Kelley Armstrong's "The Ungrateful Dead." Plus tales guaranteed to get under your skin -- in a good way -- from

Janet Berliner Don D'Ammassa Nancy Holder Nancy Kilpatrick J. A. Konrath and F. Paul Wilson Joe R. Lansdale Will Ludwigsen Sharyn McCrumb Mark Onspaugh Mike Resnick Steven Savile D. L. Snell Eric James Stone Jeff Strand Lucien Soulban Matt Venne Christopher Welch

So let the blood flow and laughter reign -- because when it comes to facing our deepest, darkest fears, a little humor goes a long way!

My Thoughts:

Great anthology. I enjoyed all the stories. The funniest was Mr. Bear by Joe R. Lansdale. It was just so wrong. LOL Hell in a Handbasket by Lucien Soulban was hilarious too. Another funny one was High Kicks and Misdemeanors by Lucien Soulban. And yet another funny was Bitches of the Night by Nancy Kilpatrick. My favorite was Day Off by Jim Butcher but I am a bit biased to Harry Dresden.