Spell Bound (Women of the Otherworld Series, Book 12) by Kelley Armstrong

Spell Bound (Women of the Otherworld Series, Book 12) by Kelley Armstrong

Completion Date: July 25, 2011

Reason for Reading: Carry on with the series.

Savannah Levine is in terrible danger, and for once she’s powerless to help herself. At the conclusion of Waking the Witch, Savannah swore that she would give up her powers if it would help a young girl. Little did she know that someone would take her up on that promise.

And now, witch hunting assassins, necromancers, half-demons, and rogue witches all seem to be after her. The threat is not just for Savannah; every member of the Otherworld might be at risk. While most her fellow supernaturals are circling the wagons at a gathering of the council in Miami, Savannah is caught on the road, isolated from those who can protect her and unable to use her vast spell casting talent, the thing she counts on most. In a story that will change the shape of the Otherworld forever, Spell Bound gathers Elena, Clay, Paige, Lucas, Jamie, Hope, and others, who soon learn that the greatest threat to supernaturals just may come from within.

I have to start by saying this is the 12th book in the series and I have read the 11 that came before it. This is very rare for me. I am terrible with series and usually stall after only a couple books. I love this series, though, and made a concentrated effort to catch-up in it last year or the year before. There was only one book I was less than thrilled with, Dime Store Magic, but otherwise I have loved this series and always look forward to each new book. There has been talk that book thirteen will be the last one and that makes me sad.

Like Waking the Witch before it, this book was narrated by Savannah Levine. She is the 21-year-old witch that we have watched grow-up during the course of these books. She still kind of annoys me, but that's the point. She is supposed to be impulsive and strong-willed. The thing I really liked about this book was that Armstrong managed to work in many of the main characters from other books in the series. During the course of the book we see Elena, Clay, Hope, Jaime, Jeremy, Karl, Adam, Paige, Lucas, Cassandra, Aaron, and possibly other people that I am not thinking of at the moment. They all have been worked into the story in such a way that it didn't feel like the series was getting near the end and she wanted to work as many old favourites in as possible. It just seemed like a natural progression. I have grown attached to many of these characters over 12 books and continue to enjoying learning more about them.

In Waking the Witch, Savannah ends the book by finding she has lost her powers. Then the book ends. This book takes place literally right after she makes that discovery and carries on from there. This is actually like a trilogy inside a larger series. This book and the one before it had a bit of a cliff-hanger ending and could essentially be one book. That's typically how this series works anyway. There are novels about the werewolves and novels about the witches. There are other supernatural races represented but since Hope is with Karl and Jeremy is with Jaime, etc, they still fit into those two categories. I think this is why this series works so well. It has the same characters, but they are not necessarily present in each book. It keeps the series fresh.

I am pretty amazed by just how much is going on in essentially a not very long book. Savannah is dealing with her loss of powers, but there is also a war coming. A group of Supernaturals have decided that they should 'come out' to humans. Since humans outnumber them by a great deal, this is probably a bad idea. That's what Savannah and her group think, anyway. This leads to all sorts of problems and brings up events from previous books and characters that we thought we had heard the last of in really creative ways. I am looking forward to the next book to clear everything up and reveal all the secrets.

This was another great addition to one of my favourite series!

Thanks to Random House for sending me a copy of this book!

Women of the Otherworld Series:

Bitten

Stolen

Dime Store Magic

Industrial Magic

Haunted

Broken

No Humans Involved

Personal Demon

Living With the Dead

Frostbitten

Waking the Witch

Spell Bound

Wow, 12 books in the series and I have only not reviewed one of them! That's actually rather impressive for me...

Waking the Witch (Women of the Otherworld Series, Book 11) by Kelley Armstrong

The new novel in Kelley Armstrong's bestselling Women of the Otherworld series showcases the fascinating Savannah Levine, a powerful young witch with a rebellious past and a troublesome heritage.

The orphaned daughter of a sorcerer and a half-demon, Savannah is a terrifyingly powerful young witch who has never been able to resist the chance to throw her magical weight around. But at twenty-one she knows she needs to grow up and prove to her guardians, Paige and Lucas, that she can be a responsible member of their supernatural detective agency. So she jumps at the chance to fly solo, investigating the mysterious deaths of three young women in a nearby factory town, as a favour to one of the agency's associates. At first glance, the murders look garden-variety human, but on closer inspection signs point to otherworldly stakes.

Soon Savannah is in over her head. She's run off the road and nearly killed, haunted by a mystery stalker and freaked out when the brother of one of the dead women is murdered when he tries to investigate the crime. To complicate things, something weird is happening to her powers. Pitted against shamans, demons, a voodoo-inflected cult and garden-variety goons, Savannah has to fight to ensure her first case isn't her last. And she also has to ask for help, perhaps the hardest lesson she's ever had to learn.

I read this before the R.I.P. challenge started, but since it needs to be reviewed eventually I decided that this time of the year was the perfect time for it. This is the latest novel in Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. Before I get into the book, though, I wanted to ask where this series is shelved in your local bookstore? I noticed within the last year that it has started appearing in the horror section at mine. I know the new released covers are black and maybe a little dark, but horror? They always used to be in with the regular fiction, which I never agreed with either. I think of them as fantasy. Patricia Briggs, for example, writes essentially the same type of books and she has always been in the fantasy section. I just think that Armstrong is the type of author that people that don't even read fantasy would enjoy, but putting them in the horror section is really misleading. Thoughts on this?

Now, on to the book. If you read my review of Frostbitten, which was a discussion with Marg, you will know that the witch books are not my favourite of the bunch. I am a fan of the werewolf books first and foremost, but Savannah and Paige have grown up a lot and are starting to interest me a lot more than they did. When Dime Store Magic came out, Paige was in her 20's and Savannah was just young. Now, Savannah is almost the same age as Paige was when she became her ward. Savannah is a different personality to Paige, though, and that means she acts a lot different. She has attitude, drives a motorcycle, etc. Paige is all about the her work and was always a bit calmer. It makes for an interesting contrast. This is Savannah's book, though.

As I said above, Savannah lives with Paige (and Lucas). Paige and Lucas run a successful business solving cases in the paranormal community. Savannah has been left home alone, though, while Paige and Lucas go away on a trip together. While they are away a case appears and Savannah is determined to solve it by herself and prove to Paige that she is ready to take on more responsibility. This book turns out to be a bit of a murder mystery, but paranormal in style. I feel like you really get to know Savannah in this book. She has always really been a secondary character, but now she is taking the reins and coming into her own. There are other characters in the book, but this is really all about her. Savannah is perfectly capable of holding her own, but sometimes she discovers that she needs the people around her. This book was a learning experience for her.

Once again, I loved this book. With the exception of one book, I have really enjoyed all of the books in this series. Considering this is an 11 book series and there are two short story collections; I think Armstrong is doing really well! I continue to get excited every time there is a new book in the series and even though it has been going on for a while now, I don't find that anything is getting old. I would gladly read this series for many more books to come, so hopefully they continue. There are still so many characters that I want to see more of and many more story-lines that should be developed. The next book in the series once again deals with Savannah. Considering how this book ended, I am really interested to see what is going to happen next!

If you haven't read this series, you really should! The first book is Bitten.

Thanks to Random House Canada for a review copy of this book!

Tales of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong

More of New York Times best-selling author Kelley Armstrong's most popular Otherworld characters get a chance to shine in this second short fiction collection, showcasing critical moments from many different lives.

Kelley Armstrong's readers have proven themselves a dedicated fan-base: her previous hardcover collection of short stories, Men of the Otherworld, appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, and Canadian lists too - despite three of the stories having been available, unedited and for free, for years on Armstrong's website. With a similar format - a handful of reedited stories and one wholly original novella - Tales of the Otherworld explores the lives of some of Armstrong's most popular characters, giving readers glimpses into how Clay and Elena met, how Eve and Kristof first hooked up (a brand new novella), and how Lucas and Paige got married. Kelley is a superstar of the genre, andTales of the Otherworld is a great way to begin 2010.

Normally I am not a big fan of short stories. I would much rather read a novel if I had the choice; but there are certain authors that can pull it off and make me love the short story form. Kelley Armstrong is one such author. I hate reading long things on a computer screen, so I am thrilled that she has taken the time to edit her stories and release them for a wider audience. For those that are fans of the series you will appreciate how this book fills in a few loose ends. They aren't something that you had to know, but you are happy to learn about it when given the chance.

If you read my review of Frostbitten, that I did with Marg, you will know that I am a werewolf fan. I love Elena as a character, but I think the short story in this collection really showed me who Clay was. I have always liked him, but you very rarely get to see things from his point-of-view, so you miss out on things. The short story included in this collection shows you a side of Clay that doesn't really come across in the novels and tells you how it is that Clay and Elena met. When Bitten takes place that is all in the past, so it was nice to get a chance to back in time with the characters.

Anyway, there are lots of other stories, too. There is the story of how Aaron, the vampire, came to be the character that we see occasionally in the series. He is in Waking the Witch, actually. It would be a good time to do a book about the vampires. I would love to see a whole book about Cassandra because she is such an intriguing character when she does show up. The next book is going to be about Savannah again, but maybe the one after that. Speaking of Savannah, the next story in the collection is about Eve. I really like Eve; so I was interested in a story about her and Kristof. It's a novella, really. It tells how they met and how things turned out the way that they did. We know Kristof as a high-official for one of the cabals, but this shows the more 'human' side of him.

The next story in the collection is about the werewolves. It's actually about Logan, who I have to admit I hardly even remembered. The refresher, and his appearance in one of the other stories, makes me want to reread the earlier books in the series to refresh my memory further. After that is the novella about how Clay and Elena met. I think it was my favourite one, but really they were all good. I all ready talked about it above and if you want to know more you will just have to read it. This is followed by a short story told from Jeremy's point-of-view. It is also from the beginning of the series and it mainly shows events that have all ready happened from Jeremy side of things.

"Wedding Bell Hell" is a story about Lucas and Paige. I think the title of the story sort of sums up the point of the story quite well. One of the ways that we learn about Kristof is through Sean, his son, who appears from time to time in the books. He is actually a central character in the next story and I found it really interesting. I enjoy how Armstrong might be writing about very 'different' things, but she still manages to tackle instances that can pertain to anyone. This story is one such example of that and I think she handles it really well. Plus, it is sort of 'to be continued', so I think it is fitting because Armstrong is in the middle of a witches story arc at the moment. This story actually fills in a few blanks about Waking the Witch. Nothing that you have to know, but now that I know I am glad that I do.

So, there is bit of clues about what to expect from the stories in this collection. If you want to know more you will have to give the book a read! You will not be disappointed!

Thanks to Random House Canada for sending me a copy of this book!

This book counts toward the R.I.P. V challenge.

Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong returns with the tenth installment of the Women of the Otherworld series.

The Alaskan wilderness is a harsh landscape in the best of conditions, but with a pack of rogue werewolves on the loose, it’s downright deadly.

Elena Michaels, the Pack’s chief enforcer, knows all too well the havoc “mutts” can wreak. When they hear of a series of gruesome maulings and murders outside Anchorage, she and her husband, Clay, journey to Alaska in the dead of winter in order to hunt down the dangerous werewolves. Trapped in this savage, untamed winter realm, she and Clay learn more about their own werewolf heritage than they bargained for, tapping a little more into the wild nature of the beast within. With Elena back in the starring role, this is the book Kelley Armstrong fans have been waiting for.

Today we have a buddy discussion with Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader. I am the one in white, while she is in this green. I have the first part of the review and she has the second part posted on her blog. Enjoy!

Kelly, you and I have both been long term fans of this series. Do you prefer the werewolves books, or the other books?

I think I actually prefer the werewolf books. I have some issues with the witches. Paige drove me crazy and actually lead to me pausing in the series for a while, but I have enjoyed every book that has dealt with Elena, Clay, etc. It was actually a werewolf book that lead me back in the series, No Humans Involved. Even though Paige doesn’t bother me anymore I still cringe when a book is going to have her as a central character. What about you?

I am the opposite to you. I like the werewolf books but if I could only read one part of this series forever, I think I would choose the witches. Part of that is because I think that the witches stories tend to be more inclusive of all the other paranormals out there - the warlocks, the necromancers, ghosts etc.

You make a good point. When the witches are involved there is a lot more characters involved in the story. The werewolves are a bit more secluded with the exception of maybe Jaime. Plus, the werewolves appear in the witch story lines. I think, for me, it comes down to liking Elena over Paige and that affects my overall opinion. In Haunted when the book was more about Eve I really enjoyed it and Waking the Witch, the newer book, is about Paige’s ward. I find them much more interesting to read about.

I have always liked Elena and Jeremy, but struggled a little bit with Clay. I got why he was the way he was, his background etc, but I don’t think I really got Clay himself until I read this book. There was a scene where Elena and Clay were reading some research material about the shape shifting mythologies that may have impacted on the investigation:

“Clay knew all of them, but as he read, he infused every scrap of well-trodden myth with the excitement and passion of a new discovery. This was another part of Clay. The father, the lover, the enforcer, and the professor. Four sides entwining into a whole - simple yet complex, fascinating and infuriating.

and everything kind of clicked into place for me at that point.

As you were writing this I was following along and you made me think what I thought about Clay before reading this book. I never really had a strong opinion. Sometimes I didn’t really ‘get’ him, but generally I concentrated my attention on Elena and Jeremy. I really like Jeremy... In this book, though, Clay seems to be there more. You wrote some notes about what you wanted to discuss and mentioned how there seemed to be a lot more sex in this book than in previous ones. I entirely agree with you there. They have always been having it, but it seemed a lot more central in this book. I actually was thinking that the series overall has turned a corner in terms of how she wants to treat the relationships with her characters. There was a lot of action, though, so the addition of more sex did not really take away from the overall story for me.

I find that each book has a much different tone. This book, for example, was more action as you say, but I didn’t think that it was really the case with Waking the Witch for example. I am not sure if that was because there were different editors and publishers for the two books, or if it was because the main character in Waking the Witch is younger. Maybe it wouldn’t be something that I would normally notice but was very noticeable when you read the two books so closely together. I don’t usually read consecutive books from the same author.

Yet when I think about it, I do think that the writing style is very consistent for the werewolf books, and very consistent for the witches books. I do think that Kelley Armstrong is a very clever author to be able to be consistently alternating between these characters and settings, and to be constantly evolving her world to include new characters and new types of characters. For example, I am pretty sure that we will see more of Reese and Noah in future novels.

The interesting thing that we should point out is that while I have read Waking the Witch, it was actually about a week ago. While you read that book and this book back-to-back; I read this book and Tales of the Otherworld back-to-back. It is interesting seeing what you see from your experience and what I see from mine. Just so you know, the reason I avoided talking about Clay was because there is a couple stories about him in Tales of the Otherworld and I am not sure if it was this book or one of the short stories that developed his character for me. I do agree with you that there is more action in Frostbitten than in Waking the Witch. I just attributed that to age of the characters and the stage of their relationship. In Waking the Witch there is just a hope of a relationship, but in Frostbitten the relationship is all ready developed.

I also love how the books in this series are constantly evolving and there are characters being added in every book. It could be very daunting, but I feel that Armstrong handles it really well. I do have moments, though, where I have to think for a moment who people are. In this book Clay says something about Lucas and I thought for a moment he was talking about Logan. I just got my names mixed up and I was entirely baffled about the abilities of a three-year-old until I discovered he was in fact much older. One of the reasons I think I enjoy these books is because there can be so many different characters and you grow to know most of them and connect with them even if they have only appeared in one book (for now).

Some of the secondary characters we haven’t heard much about yet seem to have potential for development as well. I think I would like to see Nick have some time in the spotlight at some point to. I did listen to a Q and A session on Youtube last night where Kelley Armstrong wrote about only giving a character the lead role in a novel when she is sure that she had the perfect story for them, and not forcing the character to fit into any old storyline. I thought that was very revealing about the way this series is evolving for the author, and quite frankly that means we could end up having anyone narrate at any point in time. It really does mean that this series could continue for a long time without feeling stale.

See, how can you not like the werewolf books more? Even though there are more people represented in the other books, I am much more intrigued with the werewolves. I would really like to see a book about Nick, too, and I think a book about Jeremy and Antonio’s relationship would be really interesting. Then there are the ‘new’ werewolves and the tie to Canada! I think it would be fun to have a book about a werewolf clan on the east coast, but that might be because I live there.

I think your patriotism is showing! You don’t want to read more about sun-bleached Aussie werewolves?

Well, see, you can’t ‘hear’ the accent through the pages of a book. Even if it is written like you would speak in Australia, it is just not the same! That and Kelley Armstrong is Canadian and the books technically take place in the US which is kinda sad.

It would take a lot of skill to do that for sure! I am not actually sure that we even have wolves here in nature. We have foxes, and dingoes. A were dingo novel maybe? Were kangaroos? Oh, this could get very silly!

Charles de Lint has a book about Dingos and he is Canadian. Canada secretly loves Australia, I think.

Everyone does! We are very lovable people! lol

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Canada is very lovable, too! Maybe a British colony thing...

Maybe....anyway, back on topic!

Don't forget to read Marg's review for the rest!!

Thanks to Random House Canada for sending me a copy of this book!

Broken by Kelley Armstrong (Women of the Otherworld Series, Book 6) by Kelley Armstrong

In this thrilling new novel from the author of Industrial Magic, a pregnant werewolf may have unwittingly unleashed Jack the Ripper on the twenty-first century — and become his next target…

Ever since she discovered she’s pregnant, Elena Michaels has been on edge. After all, she’s never heard of another living female werewolf, let alone one who’s given birth. But thankfully, her expertise is needed to retrieve a stolen letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper. As a distraction, the job seems simple enough — only the letter contains a portal to Victorian London’s underworld, which Elena inadvertently triggers — unleashing a vicious killer and a pair of zombie thugs.

Now Elena must find a way to seal the portal before the unwelcome visitors get what they’re looking for — which, for some unknown reason, is Elena…

After reading the latest Patricia Briggs book, I decided it was time to finish up The Women of the Otherworld series. I had some issues with one of the main characters a few books ago, and even though that was nothing against the writing it made me skip around in the series a bit. As it stands right now, I still have to read Industrial Magic, which is the book that followed the book I wasn't a big fan of, and the latest installment Frostbitten, that came out last year. That's a temporary sense of accomplishment, though, because there are two more books coming out in the series this year. I am excited about them and actually hope to get all caught up in the series this year.

The sad thing about finally reading this book is that it was the first book in the series I actually bought. I bought it new back in 2006, so it has taken me four years to clear it off my TBR pile. That is partly because I wanted to go back and read the books that came before it and partly because I am slow in clearing books off my TBR pile in general. Kelley Armstrong was known to me at the time, but I wasn't entirely aware of how the series worked, so I was a bit disappointed to discover there were five books before this one. This is why you should research things!

I was really happy that this book goes back and visits Elena. She was the main character in the first book of the series and remains my favourite. I also really like her co-characters. Clay, her husband sort of annoys me at times, but I love Jeremy. I am always happy to have him as a character in a novel. He plays more of a role in No Humans Involved, the next book in the series, than this one, but I am not complaining. There is just something about him that I really like. Actually, I had stalled in the series entirely after reading Dime Store Magic, but then I learned that Jeremy was going to be a main character in No Humans Involved and it renewed my interest in the series. That's a really great thing, though, because it is a really well-written series. I even don't mind Paige so much in later books.

This book was another great addition to the series. I still really like Elena. The problem with book six in the series is it is so hard to not spoil things for others. I might have read the books out of order, but you know others won't. Even the book blurb I posted above is a bit of a spoiler if you haven't even read the first book. The easiest thing is to say I really want to read another book in this series! I think I will read Industrial Magic so I can read the rest of the series as it comes out and not have to worry about stragglers.

3rd Canadian Reading Challenge: Mini Reviews

In the last few months I have read a lot Canadian book for the 3rd Canadian Reading Challenge. The problem is I apparently still need to review 5 books in order to count it as finished. So, I am going to do some mini-reviews. I think that you will see more of this in the next two months because it seems to be the only way I am ever going to review even a large part of the books I have read this year.

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong (The Darkest Powers Series, Book 2)
I received a review copy of the first book in this series last year, and while I enjoyed it I didn't love it. This time around I decided to get the book from the library. What happened is I actually really enjoyed it! It really is hard for Kelley Armstrong to write a bad book. She is the author of the Women of the Otherworld series which I love! This series is a young adult one. It is a paranormal novel. My biggest problem with this book and with the book that came before it is the main character. She kind of annoys me, but she grew on me a bit more in this book. The other characters are compelling and I am looking forward to seeing what happens with them in the further books. I think there are some surprises in store as the characters grow into themselves and into their paranormal abilities. A recommended read!

As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl by John Colapinto
I spoke about this book a bit in one of my Sunday posts. To go into a bit more detail, I don't think this is what I was expecting. I just wanted to read what it was like for a boy to be raised as a girl. I was interested in that story, but I found all the other stuff that was mixed in got a bit unnecessary. There was one chapter I got annoyed and ended up skimming my way through. I think that the author was trying to accomplish too much in such a short book and it got a bit boggled down. I found parts of it really interesting, but overall I found this rather dull.

War Brides: The stories of the women who left everything behind to follow the men they loved by Melynda Jarratt
This book was actually really interesting! It is the personal story of the women and their family involved in the war bride movement during the second world war. The stories are told in their own words and do not just tell the success stories. Obviously when you only know a man for a short time and marry him you don't necessarily know him at all. It was shocking what these women came to Canada to live in. Many of them were from middle-class homes and they went to places where in some cases there was not even indoor plumbing, so it was a bit overwhelming. I think this is the best way to tell this story and I am glad that I read it. I recommend it!

The Iambics of Newfoundland: Notes from an Unknown Shore by Robert Finch
I totally read this book because of the title! It was just fun, so I had to see what it was all about. What happened was I read a really interesting book about Newfoundland. I should mention that while Nfld is near to me, I have never actually been there, so whether or not this is an entirely believable portrait is something that people that actually live there would have to tell you. What did happen, though, is I learned a lot without even stepping outside my living room. Plus, I could see a lot of Nova Scotia in it... Did it live up to the title? Maybe not as much as I hoped, but I still really enjoyed it. I recommend it.

The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys
I read Coventry last year and I really liked it. This book was good, but I think it is a bit lost on me... I read a book for the story and am not a huge fan of fancy writing that sort of takes away from the story. This book was a bit flowery and it was not something that worked for me all the time. I entirely acknowledge that it is just me, though. At its core I really liked the story and the characters. I still plan to read more from Humphreys in the future. For whatever bothers me about her books, there is always wonderful things that keep me reading her. So, I guess I recommend this, but then on the other hand I don't. If that makes any sense...

Haunted by Kelley Armstrong (Women of the Otherworld Series)

THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF THE SMART, SEXY — SUPERNATURAL — WOMEN OF THE OTHERWORLD

Eve Levine — half-demon, black witch and devoted mother — has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can’t be killed again — which comes in handy when you’ve made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn’t too bad — all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she’ll be happy.

But fate — or more exactly, the Fates — have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they’ve just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy — previous hunters have been driven insane in the process. As if that’s not problem enough, the only way to stop her is with an angel’s sword. And Eve is no angel. . . .

So, after I read Living with the Dead, one of the more recent books in the series, I backtracked to read one of the older books in the series. This book is about Eve. We meet her for the first time in Dime Store Magic. Her daughter is now being raised by Paige, who is my least favourite character in this series. This means that I was pretty sure I was going to have to put up with Paige during the course of this book, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. Eve is obsessed with watching out for her daughter, Savannah. She checks up on her daily, even if she is unable to communicate with her. The only problem she has with being dead is that she cannot speak to her daughter, which she thinks is the thing she wants above anything else. Little does she know, her life in the underworld is about to get a whole bunch more interesting.

Apparently in Industrial Magic, which I haven't read yet, the Fates do a favour for Eve. This means that she owes them a favour in return at a later date. This book is when they decide call in their favour. Apparently security in the underworld isn't as secure as people would hope and an evil Nix has escaped. Apparently, this is not a recent thing, but the people that were sent to catch her before were not succesful in bringing her back in. Eve is apparently their last hope. And, wow, does Eve have some times ahead of her. The Nix is crazy. She inhabits people with violent thoughts and then gives them the final push they need to go through with their plans. She has left a lot of death and destruction in her path. The people she inhabits also very rarely get away with what they set out to do, she there have been a lot of arrests, too. This is what the Nix lives off of, though, and this is what Eve has got herself into.

Coupled with an intriguing cast of characters, Eve really delivers in this novel. You really get to know her well, and she gets to know herself. Her guide through this disaster is an angel that I think was inserted for comedic value. He is pretty useless by not being there when Eve needs him and you can't help but laugh at him several times throughout the book. There is also her love interest. He is Savannah's father, but he doesn't feel the need to check up on her nearly as much as her mother does. He just loves Eve and wants them to be together, but Eve isn't thinking about that at the moment. Especially when her involvement with the Nix brings trouble for Savannah and Eve is powerless to do anything about it. The Nix has figured out how she can bring destruction with her without having to take over a body. She will do anything to get that power, and she only has Eve to stop her.

Another really good addition to the series. I don't think I will have any trouble reading the last two in time for the new release the end of September.

The Series:
Bitten
Stolen
Dime Store Magic
Industrial Magic
Haunted
Broken
No Humans Involved
Personal Demon
Living with the Dead
Men of the Otherworld
Frostbitten - Forthcoming

Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong (Women of the Otherworld Series)

The men and women of the Otherworld – witches, werewolves, demons, vampires – live unseen among us. Only now a reckless killer has torn down the wall, trapping one very human woman in the supernatural crossfire.

Robyn moved to LA after her husband died to try to put some distance between herself and the life they had together. And the challenges of her job as the PR consultant to a Paris Hilton wannabe are pretty distracting. But then her celebutante is gunned down in a night club, and Robyn is suddenly the prime suspect. The two people most determined to clear her are her old friend, the half-demon tabloid reporter Hope Adams, and a homicide detective with an uncanny affinity for the dead.

Soon Robyn finds herself in the heart of a world she never even knew existed – and which she was safer knowing nothing about . . .

It is not even good to consider how out of order I am reading this series. This is book nine, but I am actually not finished reading two of the older books in the series. It all happened because I really did not like Dime Store Magic because Paige DROVE me crazy! So, I was hesitant about reading Industrial Magic, so I skipped way ahead to No Humans Involved. It has just been a jumbled reading order since then. After I finished this book, I read Haunted. That would be book 5 in the series. Yes, I have quite the reading system.

So, this is a story that centres around Hope Adams. She is actually a pretty interesting character. She does not drive me crazy and she has quite the boyfriend! Karl Marsten has been mentioned in the books before, though, don't ask me where because trying to remember which book is which is complicated when you can't read the books in order like a 'normal' person. I also just recently read the short story 'Chaotic' where Hope and Karl meet for the first time. My thought process for that was why on earth would Armstrong include what, to me, is an important part of the series in a short story? Not good marketing because I very rarely have any interest in the rest of the short stories in an anthology, so it takes me forever to buy them.

Getting back on topic. Thank god for Hope because Robyn, her best friend and another main character in the novel, has a real knack for getting herself into severe trouble. She makes one bad choice after another in this book and then, the next thing she knows, she is a murder suspect. We also know more than she does about what is going on, so maybe I wasn't as sympathetic as I should be, but she does seem to make the wrong decision every time. Mind you, if Robyn wasn't in trouble; than Karl and Hope would not have to save her. It also turns out to be a lot more complicated than that, of course. For those that don't know. Hope is a half-demon and Karl is a werewolf. It's quite the match-up. Hope feeds off chaos vibes and Karl's life is chaos. It makes it hard for her to always do what needs to be done because she gets caught up in what is going on around her. She is learning, though, but at the same time her powers are getting stronger. Hope is one of my favourite Women of the Otherworld characters, though, so I always look forward to learning more about her.

I probably should also mention the necromancer. He is a police officer who sees the ghosts of the victims he is sent to investigate (sometimes). It means that people think he is crazy because he looks like he is walking around talking to himself. Add in the fact that he has somehow ended up with a parter that is a ghost, and it makes for an interesting sequence of events. The ghost turns out to be important to the story, but for a while I think he is just there for comedic relief. This really was another great edition to the Women of the Otherworld series. Armstrong sure knows what she is doing and pulls all the different characters off well. Plus, each book tends to focus on one female parnormal character, so while it is a series it is really different everytime. My plan is to be caught up in this series by the end of September when the new book is released. Wish me luck!

On another note... I am really not a huge fan of the covers for this series. They just seem very provactive for a series about strong, female characters. Maybe that is the point, but they just seem like romance novel covers to me.

My thanks to Random House for a copy of this book! Click here to read an excerpt.

Men of the Otherworld: A Collection of Otherworld Tales by Kelley Armstrong

Books Completed: 19
Completion Date: January, 2009
Pages: 384
Publication Date: January 27, 2009

Reason for Reading: Enjoy Armstrong's Otherworld Series. Pub 2009 Challenge. Received a review copy from Random House.

Kelley Armstrong – Globe and Mail and New York Times bestselling author – is back with a true gift for her fans: an exclusive glimpse into the minds and hearts of the men of the Pack

Kelley Armstrong has made a huge name for herself with her trademark portrayals of the strong, unusually gifted women who populate her Otherworld.

But her fans have always wanted to know more about the men who love these women, and revealed in the pages of this collection are the life stories – and secrets – of Clay and Jeremy, two of the sexiest and most mysterious men of the Otherworld.

Originally published by the author on her website (but since removed), these thrilling tales reveal how Clay became a werewolf, how he came to be adopted by Jeremy, Jeremy’s struggles to become the Alpha of the Pack and his terrible conflict with his father, Malcolm. A brand-new story, written for this collection, reveals how Jeremy came to be a visionary and healer: touchy-feely qualities uncommon in a werewolf.

The result is a perfect companion to Kelley’s bestselling series and a treasure for fans.

I am really glad that I never got around to reading the stories that Kelley Armstrong had on her website. I liked the fact that I was reading them all for the first time! I have to admit, I was not sure about this book! I was expecting a short story collection, and I am not always really interested in short story collections, but this actually read more like a novel. The stories all flowed into each other that I never really felt like I was reading a short story collection at all. I started wondering if I was just imagining that it was supposed to be short stories, but it says right on the front of the book that it is.

The best thing about this book is I could read it and it didn't really interfere with the fact that I am rather behind in reading the Women of the Otherworld series. You could read this book as a standalone, just to get a taste for the characters, or you could count it as part of the series. I have sort of jumped around in order with this series, but I know who the werewolves are. I know that Clay and Elena are together. I also have read enough in the later books to know who Jeremy's girlfriend is, so I don't think I spoiled anything for myself. I was actually really excited to get more Jeremy because he is actually my favourite male character in the series!

The book starts off being about the generation before Jeremy was even born. It is a story of his father's generation. Then, Clayton takes up the story and he is the narrator right up until the very last story, where Jeremy takes a turn. Clayton is an interesting character. Instead of being born a werewolf, he was bitten by a werewolf as a child. This was something new for the werewolves because normally you are either bitten as an adult or you don't come into being a werewolf until your late teens. Jeremy decides when he finds out about Clay that Clay needs to be shown how to be a civilized person, as well as be a werewolf. Clay had been raising himself and he was not really sure how either 'side' of himself was supposed to work. It is not easy at first, but Jeremy has the patience to make something of a very wild Clay. It makes Clay one of the more interesting characters in the series. While telling of his own up-bringing, we also learn a lot about Jeremy and how his life has been. It makes a lot of who he is later in life make sense. He also narrates the last story, so we get some taste of that as well.

If this collection had been a bunch of random stories, I am not sure what I would have thought about it. Since the stories seem to flow together to easily be a novel, though, I found that I really liked the way the book was written. It was interesting to see the male point-of-view for a change and learn more about Clay, Jeremey, and the other male werewolves. Another great book from Armstrong! Now, I really need to go back and work on her other books...

Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong

I liked my letter idea from the other day, so I think I am going to do it once in a while to mix things up a bit. I find with the reviews, I tend to never know what to say! This is a bit more personal, so I can just talk...

Globe and Mail and New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong follows No Humans Involved with a new, sexy, action-packed, Women of the Otherworld novel featuring a wickedly beautiful, supernaturally gifted heroine who may love danger a bit too much.

Sending readers into a dazzlingly entertaining world of danger, vice and romance, Kelley Armstrong’s phenomenal Women of the Otherworld novels mark her as a trailblazer of paranormal romantic suspense. Hope Adams, tabloid journalist and half-demon, looks like a Bollywood princess. Like full demons, she gets an almost sexual rush from danger and chaos–in fact, she thrives on it. But she is determined to use her gifts for good.

When the head of the powerful Cortez Cabal calls in an old debt and asks her to infiltrate a Miami gang of bored, rich, troublemaking supernaturals, she can’t resist the excitement. As she becomes dangerously entangled in the plot she has no choice but to turn to her crooked werewolf ex-boyfriend, and the heir to the Cortez Cabal, for help.

In typical Kelley Armstrong fashion, Personal Demon takes the reader on an energetic ride through the supernatural world and the human one, bringing them together to create one huge devilish adventure.

Dear Ms. Armstrong,

I am rather surprised that I picked up a paranormal book so soon after finishing one by Patricia Briggs. I normally like to have a bit of variety in my reading. I have several books sitting on my shelf unread by you, though, and you have even more books coming out! This means that it is about time that I work my way through your backlist because I do really enjoy your books! Personal Demon was no exception. I have to admit, though, I really should read your books in order because there are details that I am probably missing, but I will have to go back one day and read the series from start to finish.

I did read enough to know who Hope Adams was, though. I was very glad to see a return of her because she has been intriguing in previous books. Half-demons are not something that I see a lot of in other parnormal books, so it was refreshing to follow the story of a character a bit off the beaten trail. There were still witches, sorcerers, werewolves, etc, but she is something that is a bit different. That's my first good thing about this book, it offered some variety! It is also nice to see old characters like Elena reappear.

One of the central characters in this book is Paige. Some people may remember that I am not a very big fan of Paige. Actually, Dime Story Magic annoyed me so much, I almost did not continue on with the series. It was not until I decided to jump a couple of books and encounter a couple fresh characters that I was able to get over my extreme dislike of her, actually. Paige has not gone away, though, obviously. Her husband, Lucas, was very important to the progression of this book, so she was of course along for the ride. I am happy to report that while I will likely never reread Dime Store Magic, I have come to the conclusion that Paige is not as bad as I first thought she was. I know people that love her, and all the power to them, but there was something about her in the beginning that made me want to, well, stop reading about her! She has grown up, though, so I suppose that means no more grumblings about her.

The story was told from Lucas' perspective and from Hope's perspective. I liked the changing back and forth of the story because it offered more angles. If just one of them had told everything, readers would have found that they were missing out on things. It is better to be in the heat of the moment, I think, than having it recapped later all the time. So, the changing back and forth of point-of-view worked quite well for me. This is a novel about struggles, too. Hope is struggling with her supernatural gifts and Lucas is struggling with the power that his father wants to give him and he is not interested in. It makes the book very readable, wondering how things are going to turn out.

I have to say, you write very readable books. I am glad that you came out with a story about Jeremy so that I became interested enough in your books again to give them another chance! Like I said above, I had some misgivings for a while. I am also happy that I have more books by you to read, I strongly suspect that I will enjoy them, and I look forward to your future offerings! You are another author that I strongly recommend to people, but I also don't think I really have to, because most people have already given you a chance and many people enjoy your writing! I see reviews of your books all the time.

Thanks for another great read,

Sincerely,

Kelly

My thanks to Random House for sending me this book!

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

After years of frequent moves following her mother’s death, Chloe Saunders’s life is finally settling down. She is attending art school, pursuing her dreams of becoming a director, making friends, meeting boys. Her biggest concern is that she’s not developing as fast as her friends are. But when puberty does hit, it brings more than hormone surges. Chloe starts seeing ghosts–everywhere, demanding her attention. After she suffers a breakdown, her devoted aunt Lauren gets her into a highly recommended group home.

At first, Lyle House seems a pretty okay place, except for Chloe’s small problem of fearing she might be facing a lifetime of mental illness. But as she gradually gets to know the other kids at the home–charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek, obnoxious Tori, and Rae, who has a “thing” for fire–Chloe begins to realize that there is something that binds them all together, and it isn’t your usual “problem kid” behaviour. And together they discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home either…

I have read Kelley Armstrong before, so this was not the first time. I have been working my way through her Women of the Otherworld series, and for the most part, I am a big fan of the series. I had originally planned to read another book in that series, but then this arrived in the mail and I thought I would give it a try. The first book in The Darkest Powers series, it was a really interesting first book to the series. Was I blown away by it? No. It was not even great for a young adult novel. For me, it was just interesting enough that I will probably continue the series. It is like Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampires series in that respect. I will read them if they are easy to find, but I will not go out of my way for them.

The biggest criteria, for me, for an average book is that I can hardly remember what happens in them. That is my problem with this book. I only kind of remember it, and it was not all that long ago that I read it, so it should still be fresh in my head. I suppose one of my big problems with teen fiction is that I get so annoyed with the heroines. In many cases they are the naive young ladies that romance novels contain, just younger. Maybe in some cases I am too close to that age to really appreciate the freshness of youth? I don't know. I find that my biggest problem with a lot of the popular young adult series is that the main character annoys me (*cough* Bella *cough*), and that normally takes away from my enjoyment of the book. I have also had a lot of issues the last couple years with adult books narrated by young people. I just have no patience for them, I guess.

Anyways, I am just rambling here... So, yes, just an average book. A few interesting scenes, but nothing that will blow your socks off. If you want to read Kelley Armstrong for the first time, start with the Women of the Otherworld series, and if you want a good young adult novel, there are probably better ones out there (The Host, for example). That being said, I plan to read book two, so it was not terrible.

My thanks to Random House for sending me a copy of this book!

No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong

Readers around the world have fallen for Kelley Armstrong’s intoxicating, sensual and wicked tales of the paranormal, in which demons and witches, werewolves and vampires collide – often hilariously, sometimes violently – with everyday life. In Armstrong’s first six novels, Elena, Paige and Eve have had their way with us. Now get ready for Jaime Vegas, the luscious, lovelorn and haunted necromancer. . .

Jaime, who knows a thing or two about showbiz, is on a television shoot in Los Angeles when weird things start to happen. As a woman whose special talent is raising the dead, her threshold for weirdness is pretty high: she’s used to not only seeing dead people but hearing them speak to her in very emphatic terms. But for the first time in her life – as invisible hands brush her skin, unintelligible fragments of words are whispered into her ears, and beings move just at the corner of her eye–she knows what humans mean when they talk about being haunted.

She is determined to get to the bottom of these manifestations, but as she sets out to solve the mystery she has no idea how scary her investigation will get, or to what depths ordinary humans will sink in their attempts to gain supernatural powers. As she digs into the dark underside of Los Angeles, she’ll need as much Otherworld help as she can get in order to survive, calling on her personal angel, Eve, and Hope, the well-meaning chaos demon. Jeremy, the alpha werewolf, is also by her side offering protection. And, Jaime hopes, maybe a little more than that.

Over the last couple years, I have enjoyed several of the novels by Kelley Armstrong. Last year, I read the first three books in the series, but Dime Store Magic annoyed me, causing me to be hesitant to move on in the series. I decided the other day that I would just skip ahead to reawake my interest in the series, and then take it from there. I chose this book because I really liked Jeremy when he came up in Elena's story, so I was interested to see more from him. The books always focus on female characters, but what I did see of Jeremy was worth it. Skipping ahead to this book was also worth it, though, because I am back in love with the series and am looking forward to further exploring. I think I am over my annoyance with Paige, too, so that is a plus. As the series gets going, the books centre around one female character, but characters from previous books make appearances, as well.

I should point out that Jamie is not my sort of character at all. I am a jeans and a sweater type of person, and you would never catch me in a dress very often. I am sort of a take action sort of person and I have a really hard time asking people to help me. In many ways me and Jamie are polar opposites with her tight dresses and high-heeled shoes. This worried me a bit in the beginning, but Kelley Armstrong carries the character off well, so I did not mind. Jamie is a necromancer, a raiser of the dead. She is not even fully aware of her own powers, though, because in many ways what she is scares her. She develops a lot in the course of the novel as she comes to terms with her powers and what she is capable of doing. She is always finding herself needing other people's help, but this time she learns to take matters into her own hands.

One of the things about this book is that there was a bit more of a sexual feel to it than I remember from the other books. That does not mean they did not have any, though, it could just mean that I have forgotten them. They are not the sort of scenes that I remember for later. There was one scene in this book that I had to comment on to a friend because, well, it is not my sort of scene at all! Romance novels are just not my thing. I do not mind a bit of it here or there, but I generally find myself skimming. And, well, I have a habit of finding the scenes more humourous than anything else. So, there were a few of them in here. I am sure lots of other people enjoyed them, and they were well-written, but this book had more than I cared to enjoy.

There were a lot of interesting characters in this book. Jeremy develops a bit during this book. We learn a bit about his past and what he feels like being an alpha. Having skipped a few books, he might play central in others too, I will just have to wait and see. I am glad that he was around during this book. It was actually what drew me to this book in the first place. Elena and Clay make an appearance, along with the twins. There is one scene near the end that made me laugh and it involved them. Paige and Savannah appear a couple times, as well as Paige's boyfriend. Hope, a half-demon, helps Jamie in her investigation, and I see that the next book in the series is about Hope. She is an interesting character, so I will be interested to see what happens. Eve is another character that appears a lot during this book. She is the mother of Savannah, and really, much more interesting than Paige. She serves as Jamie's guide, so she was a really good addition to the novel.

All in all, I really liked this book. I am glad I jumped ahead, and I am already looking forward to the next book I decide to read from the series. The back of the book says that Kelley Armstrong is up there with people like Laurell K. Hamilton, but I personally think she is better than Hamilton. I hope she keeps up the great books!

This book counts as both a Once Upon a Time challenge book and a Themed Reading challenge book.

My thanks to Random House for sending me a copy!

Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong

Books Completed: 69
Completion Date: April 27, 2007
Publication Year: 2004
Pages: 448
Owned Prior to 2007
Book Three in The Women of the Otherworld series

From Canada’s new queen of suspense, another hugely entertaining supernatural thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. Prepare to be enchanted . . .

Forget the cackling green hag in The Wizard of Oz, forget Samantha from Bewitched. Real witches are nothing, NOTHING like this. For years real witches have hidden their powers, afraid of being persecuted. They have integrated so well into the community, you could have a witch living right next door and never know about it. Take Paige, for instance, whom we first met in Kelley Armstrong’s novel Stolen. Just an ordinary twenty-something who runs her own website design company, worries about her weight and wonders if she’ll ever find a boyfriend. Okay, so she’s leader of the American Coven and guardian of Savannah, the teenage daughter of a black witch. Really, life is ordinary. But then a telekinetic half-demon, Leah O’Donnell, shows up to fight for custody of Savannah. And although Paige is ready for her, she’s not quite so prepared for the team of supernaturals that Leah brings with her, including a powerful sorcerer who claims to be Savannah’s father.

When all hell breaks loose -- literally -- and Paige is accused of witchcraft, Satanism and murder, the Coven, fearing exposure, abandons her. Cut off from her friends, Paige is forced against her better judgment to accept the help of a young sorcerer lawyer. And she quickly comes to realize that keeping Savannah could mean losing everything else.

Breathtakingly thrilling, hip and funny, this new novel is another page-turning triumph from an author who is going from strength to strength.

To read the review to this book on Twisted Kingdom, click here.

Book Twelve in the TBR Challenge, Book Twelve in the Chunkster Challenge, Book Twelve in the 12 Months of Fantasy Challenge, Book Ten in the Once Upon a Time Challenge.