The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson

Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Romance
Publication Date: November 11th 2014
POV: Male - Third-person, Past tense
My Rating: 4 out of 5

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The perfect gift for Shadowhunters. This gorgeous illustrated hardback brings 10 stories about immortal warlock Magnus Bane together for the first time, along with a bonus never-before-seen tale. A fan-favourite character from Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunter Chronicles, Magnus features in The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy and the movie of City of Bones. Magnus will never be able to tell all of his tales. No one would believe him. But these stories shed a little light on his often inscrutable character. They are stories he probably wishes had never got out.

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So, some background on my relationship with Cassie. I read City of Bones first. Wasn't a huge fan of it, didn't particularly like Clary or Jace, I hated their relationship, and I hated Simon. The only redeeming quality was the excellent world-building and Magnus Bane. As I read City of Ashes and City of Glass I felt the same way and decided that was a good place to stop. I have never read City of Fallen Angels.

Then, as I heard all the ravings from fans about how much better TID was, and all the raving about Will and Jem, I became curious and wanted to know which side of the love-triangle I would fall on. So I read Clockwork Angel and yes, it is much better. It introduced me to Jem, who is the best thing Cassie has ever created, the story was very interesting, and Tessa is somewhat better than Clary. At least I don't actively dislike her. But there is one major drawback. Will Herondale is one of the worst things I have ever seen created on paper. I can't even tell you have much I hate him because words do not suffice.

I am always somewhat scared to start a new Cassie Clare book because her world is amazing and it has a lot of potential to impress me but I just seem to hate what she seems to think is a good romance and a good romantic lead. I do intend to keep trying though, by reading each of her new series. But as I said, Magnus Bane is one of the redeeming characters she has created, and I was excited to read about him in his own world.

“If one could look this fabulous, one had an obligation to. One should wear everything, or one should wear nothing at all.”

Each story in this book was interesting in its own right. I won't say which was my favourite because they were all interesting, entertaining, funny, and they all taught me something new about Magnus Bane. That is the best thing about this book. The overall experience of getting to know Magnus Bane. He never received this kind of undivided attention before and I feel like I know him intimately now. I don't know how much he appeared in the latter books of TMI, but this gave me a whole new view of him and I love him even more. He is an amazing warlock and an amazing person.

I loved seeing the friends he made over the years, the lovers, how he treated people, including Shadowhunters; how he tried to save Raphael, and Camille, innocent werewolves. He is a hero. But he never stops being Magnus Bane either. He shows up to battle in hot pink. I love his sense of humour too, his sarcasm. That is something I already knew about him, but I really enjoyed seeing more of. Two side of him worth loving.

“Even if the Shadowhunters had been expecting an interruption, and the werewolves had been hoping for a savior, apparently nobody had been expecting all the hot pink.”

I also loved seeing him with Alec. I enjoyed Alec in the books as well, but its different when you see him as Magnus sees him. I never knew Alec was so insecure and shy and good. I loved the way Magnus described him and the way he made him feel. It makes me reconsider finishing TMI, just to get a few more glimpses of Magnus and Alec together. I now have an incredible love and respect for Magnus Bane. I love him more than this series can contain. He is too big for his world. I will keep trying with Cassie Clare, but I have no reason to expect to find anything as great as this by her in the future.

"...he had wanted Alec there, so badly, and here he was. It felt more like magic than anything he could do."

Charming by Elliott James (Pax Arcana #1)

Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy, Romance

Publication Date: September 24th 2013
POV: Male - First-person, Past tense
Smut-O-Meter: 2 out of 10
My Rating: 4 out of 5

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John Charming isn't your average Prince...

He comes from a line of Charmings — an illustrious family of dragon slayers, witch-finders and killers dating back to before the fall of Rome. Trained by a modern day version of the Knights Templar, monster hunters who have updated their methods from chainmail and crossbows to kevlar and shotguns, he was one of the best. That is — until he became the abomination the Knights were sworn to hunt.

That was a lifetime ago. Now, he tends bar under an assumed name in rural Virginia and leads a peaceful, quiet life. One that shouldn't change just because a vampire and a blonde walked into his bar... Right?

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I haven't read a lot of Urban Fantasy in the past, but I saw this on NetGalley and I decided to try it because the premise sounded unique, and I read a lot of PNRs, and how different can that be from UF? UF is a bit more mature, darker, more violent, and less romantic. But I still loved this book, it was a lot of fun, action-packed, and still a little romantic. I love John. He was so funny and just a fascinating person, after everything he has been through that he turned out the way that he has. Sad and cynical but still full of jokes and willing to fight for a future for himself.

his book was really cleverly written. I loved all the characters, and the dialogue, and the way that John's narration knew it was a narration, and would sometimes address the readers directly. There were so many wonderful, quotable moments. A large amount of this book is highlighted on my Kindle.

But I should be more specific. I loved all the characters beside Dvornik. He was a complete "ass-hat", as John would call him. It really bugs me that I don't understand how he ever had a relationship with Sig. Its not just that I don't like him, but I don't think it was explained well enough. I really don't get it and it took away from my enjoyment of the book a bit. I wish their relationship had somehow been made more believable.

The romance in this really surprised me, since there usually isn't a lot of romance in UFs. There wasn't as much as in the average PNR, but it was still romantic and totally cute. I loved the way that John and Sig acted like teenagers around each other. Probably because of the fact that Sig already had a boyfriend, it made them shy and hesitant, like teenagers who are afraid of admitting their feelings. I am really looking forward to what will happen between them now. I will definitely be reading the next book in this series.

“I was sad but it felt like the sadness was pouring out of me instead of poisoning me. I felt like I had been sleeping in the dark, not knowing I was in a coffin until someone pried the lid off. It hurt, but it was good, the way love is supposed to be.”

Night Season by Eileen Wilks (World of the Lupi #4)

Genres: Adult, Fantasy/Urban Fantasy, Romance
Smut-O-Meter: 8 out of 10
My Rating: 4 out of 5

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Pregnancy has turned FBI Agent Cynna Weaver's whole life upside down. Lupus sorcerer Cullen Seabourne is thrilled to be a father, but what does Cynna know about kids? Her mother was a drunk and her father abandoned his family. Or so she's always believed...

As Cynna is trying to wrap her head around this problem, a new one pops up in the form of a delegation from another realm. They want to take Cynna and Cullen back with them- to meet her long-lost father and find a mysterious medallion. But when these two born cynics land in a world where magic is common-place and night never ends, their only way home lies in tracking down the missing medallion- one also sought by powerful beings who will do anything to claim it.

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I read the first 3 books in this series fairly back to back. All in February. But I kept putting this one off, because it switched focus from Rule and Lily, to Cullen and Cynna. I thought it would feel very different from the first 3, but it didn't. We already knew Cullen and Cynna pretty well, and they were still dealing with the shifting magic, and a fair amount of lupus issues. It has its place in the this series. And I really grew to love them much more. I already really enjoyed Cullen's character, but Cynna has finally grown on me. I used to like her enough, but she seemed far too butch. But she had to face a lot of things in her life during this book, things that brought out her feminine side.

I also enjoyed the setting of Edge. Edge is another dimension that is ruled by gnomes. Cynna and Cullen, along with a few other familiar characters such as Ruben Brooks, Steve Timms, and Gan, go to Edge to help the Gnomes find a stolen medallion that regulates the seasons in Edge. It was a quest through a mystical land and it was a lot of fun, especially with Cullen and Gan around. They are the two funniest characters in the series.

The only thing that bothered me about this book was how Cullen and Cynna were planning to get married at the end. I love that they are getting married. But lupus are not supposed to be monogamous because of their low fertility. It is part of their culture. But if they can just as easily fall in love as humans, why is this the first time it has happened? During hundreds of years of history, would Cullen really be the first lupus to fall in love and be willing to give up his people's beliefs for a woman? It doesn't seem likely. And there weren't even any repercussions. If there had been that would explain why it hadn't happened before. There is no worse fate for a lupus than to be clanless. So threatening to kick a lupus out of his clan for getting married would explain it, but that is not the case. Well, maybe they will explain it in the next book.

I look forward to the rest of the series and I hope to see lots more of Cullen and Cynna. I must admit, I like Cullen better than Rule now. This was the best book in the series since #1.

Tempting Danger by Eileen Wilks (World of the Lupi #1)

Genres: Adult, Paranormal/Urban Fantasy, Romance
Smut-O-Meter: 8 out of 10
My Rating: 4 out of 5

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Lily Yu is a San Diego police detective investigating a series of grisly murders that appear to be the work of a werewolf. To hunt down the killer, she must infiltrate the clans. Only one man can help her--a were named Rule Turner, a prince of the lupi, whose charismatic presence disturbs Lily. Rule has his own reasons for helping the investigation--reasons he doesn't want to share with Lily. Logic and honor demand she keep her distance, but the attraction between them is immediate and devastating-and beyond human reason. Now, in a race to fend off evil, Lily finds herself in uncharted territory, tested as never before, and at her back a man who she's not sure she can trust.

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I am tempted to give this 5 stars, but the story wasn't 100%. The romance was though, and that is what I cant stop thinking about. So I will settle for 4 stars, and start by explaining how this differs from most werewolf books.

It seemed to be set in a modern day San Diego, but there was talk of wars with werewolves and sorcerers in the past 100 years, so I think it is an alternate history. Werewolves are common knowledge and the country is still in the process of trying to adjust laws to better define humans. In that respect it reminded me of True Blood. Werewolves are made through birth, not bites. When a werewolf has a son, he will also be a werewolf once he hits puberty. The females are not werewolves. They consider themselves a different species and live in clans with their own form of government, which the US government tolerates for the time being.

Lily Yu is a homicide detective, who meets Rule Turner, heir to the Nokolai clan, while investigating a murder that was committed by a werewolf. Lily has a type of psychic power that gives her the ability to sense magic. Werewolves were created with magic by a being that they call the Lady, and is sort of like their goddess. So, Lily can detect the type of magic on the body and knows it was a werewolf who did it. When Lily first meets Rule her mind goes blank and she is stunned, and I thought, "Uh oh, instalove?" But its not, its really not. It turns out, that sometimes their Lady decides to gift them with a Chosen, apparently pretty rare. Since the werewolves are a male dominated species, it is not surprising that they value virility. Rule is the youngest of 3 brothers, but he was made heir because he has a son.

So, a Chosen is like a mate, but it is merely a physical relationship. No feelings or love come with it. Just an intense sexual attraction. And I mean intense. And Lily is a straight laced cop, so she is like, "Am I going crazy?" She normally would never sleep with a guy she has only known for two days. But they are bonded for life, and have an almost constant need to be touching, and can't get far away from each other, a couple miles at most, without getting dizzy and weak. Their physical relationship is developing much faster than their emotional relationship, but they seem to be fond of each other, and I can of course see that in time they will fall in love. I really look forward to it. They do at this point have a strong need to protect each other as if they were an extension of themselves. At one point, when Rule is in danger, Lily goes sorta berserk and tackles the villain and starts bashing her head against the ground until she's dead. Kinda badass.

I didn't address the story at all in my review. There were some more murders, some betrayals and a frame job, and Lily doesn't know who to trust and has to find a way to prove Rule's innocence. In the end I didn't entirely understand the villain's plan or motives. The amount of information to understand their world was also a bit overwhelming, and I couldn't always follow it. But who cares! Read this for Rule and Lily!

Camille by Tess Oliver (Camille #1)

Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Romance

My Rating: 4 out of 5

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At a time when society conforms to the strictest rules and most proper etiquette, sixteen-year-old Camille Kennecott and her guardian, Dr. Bennett, live a most unconventional life. They hunt werewolves.

When unwitting victim, Nathaniel Strider, wanders into one of their full moon pursuits, Camille and Dr. Bennett believe they have found a specimen for their study. Finding a scientific key to unlocking the mystery of lycanthropy would end their late night excursions. Yet beneath the irresistible exterior, Nathaniel is transforming into a flesh-tearing monster, and as each experiment fails, Camille’s loses another inch of her soul to him. She knows that in a month’s time she must face the prospect of destroying the boy who has stolen her heart.

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This book was wonderful! Camille and her guardian, Dr. Bennett, hunt and study werewolves. It is an interest that was shared by her father until it killed him 6 years earlier. One night, while Camille and Dr. Bennett are out hunting a particular werewolf, they witness a young man is bit on the leg before they manage to take it down. Dr. Bennett sends Camille to follow the young man, Nathaniel, and see if he is being affected by the bite. It doesn't take long for Camille to see that all the women of the East End are throwing themselves at him, and she has to admit, she can see why. 

One day when she is following him she peaks around a corner and catches him with a woman in an alley. She gasps, which catches his attention, and he stares at her while he continues to kiss the other girl's neck. She continues to stare right back and she is completely captured by his gaze and she can't look away, while he makes out with another woman. OMG that scene was so hot! Haha, that is when I fell in love with him. He is so arrogant and sure of himself that he seduces two women at once! And the cover of the sequel, Heart of the Huntress, features Pepe Toth. So just picture Daemon in Victorian London. Yeah, hot!

Camille eventually convinces him to come home with her and help them find a cure. Most of the book focuses on them getting to know each other and spending time together while Dr. Bennett looks for a cure, cherishing what little time they have. They are incredibly sweet together and I love the intensity and urgency of their relationship since they know what is coming. Camille is willing to do anything to save him, even defy Dr. Bennett, who of course will kill Nathaniel if the cure isn't found before the next full moon. Nathaniel would rather kill himself than risk Camille's safety, but when the time comes Camille does whatever is necessary to save Nathaniel from himself and Dr. Bennett.

“He looked down at my fingers wrapped around his coat then lifted his eyes to mine. 'My tiny huntress, do you know what you've done to me?”