Book Extravaganza

I recently got my taxes back, so that always means putting a bit aside for a bit of a book extravaganza. I hummed and hawed and almost didn't buy anything at all, but in the end I couldn't resist.

Since the end of last year I have been reading Jennifer Estep. I am caught up in her Mythos Series, am currently reading Jinx, which is the third book in her Bigtime Series, and I wanted to see what her Elemental Assassin series was all about. The thing is I have been reading books in series one right after each other, so thankfully thanks to wonderful prices on Book Depository I was able to get the first three. From Estep's Web Site:

The Elemental Assassin books are set in the fictional Southern metropolis of Ashland, where Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina meet in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. The books focus on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who runs a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit in her spare time. Gin is also an elemental or person who can control one of the four elements – Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone. Gin has the rare gift of being able to control two elements, Ice and Stone in her case. Besides elementals like Gin, Ashland is also home to giants, dwarves, and vampires.

Books in the series are Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies, Venom, Tangled Threads, Spider’s Revenge, and By a Thread. Thread of Death, an e-novella, is also available.

Widow’s Web, the seventh book, is set to be released on Aug. 21, 2012.

Also, Haints and Hobwebs: An Elemental Assassin short story will be published in The Mammoth Book of Ghost Romance, which will be released on June 7, 2012.

I actually try and limit my urban fantasy so I don't burn out on it, but I am all caught up with Patricia Briggs and the last book in Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series is out a bit later this year. I decided that two new series would give me something to read in the meantime. So, the next author I decided to explore was Ilona Andrews. I was originally just going to get three of these books, too, but I all ready have a second-hand copy of the 5th book and I plan to read this series before starting the Estep because I have read so much of Estep in the last couple months. From Andrews' website:

The world has suffered a magic apocalypse. We pushed the technological progress too far, and now magic returned with a vengeance. It comes in waves, without warning, and vanishes as suddenly as it appears. When magic is up, planes drop out of the sky, cars stall, electricity dies. When magic is down, guns work and spells fail.

It’s a volatile, screwed-up world. Magic feeds on technology, gnawing down on skyscrappers until most of them topple and fall, leaving only skeletal husks behind. Monsters prowl the ruined streets, werebears and werehyenas stalk their prey; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds.

In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But sometimes even trained killers make friends and fall in love, and when the universe tries to kick them in the face, they kick back.

That should keep me going for a while! Now for them to arrive...