paranormal

Continuing the story of Celia West following the death of her superhero father and the retirement of the superheroes of her beloved city, Celia continues to look out for the best interests of her city and has carefully been watching the grandchildren of the superheroes waiting to see if there is a new generation of powerful superheroes in the making.  Two of these new superheroes may be her own daughters Anna and Bethy but so far they aren't exhibiting any signs of superpowers or at least they're not sharing with her if they are developing powers. 

Meanwhile, Anna is having trouble figuring

Book Two of the Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy finds the cousins and their friends planning their next move against the evil Cabahn.  This time the story focuses on Connor and his sister's best friend, Meara.  Following a surprise kiss which awakens unacknowledged feelings the two have for each other, things get interesting as each tries to deny the feelings they have and Cabahn uses their emerging romance to try to come between them.  Will love triumph over evil?  Don't miss this installment of  Shadow Spell. Also check out  Book Three, Blood Magick, which wraps up this trilogy.

Life hasn’t been easy for Jim Stark, the protagonist of Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim. His old apartment isn’t his anymore, his lover Alice has been murdered, and, oh, yeah, he’s just spent the last 11 years in hell. Returning to Los Angeles to murder the cohorts who sent him to hell, Stark finds himself in the middle of something bigger, with the fate of the world at stake. In this showdown, the bad guys are terrifying and the good guys are only good by comparison. And Stark? He’s just looking out for his own.

Even for a work of urban fantasy, Sandman Slim is particularly dark and gritty

Things have been complicated for Hannah Wagnor since her best friend Lillian died six months ago, because her best friends ghost still haunts her, and because someone in their sleepy town is killing girls and leaving their bodies in the woods behind Hannah’s house. Lillian has become obsessed with the murders and to appease her friend’s spirit, Hannah begins to investigate the crime scene photos developed at the photo store where she works. The girls notice similarities between the murders that the police haven’t released to the public, a eerie paper valentine left with each body, the sign of

I’ve long enjoyed reading Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series. So long that I barely remembered what happened in the first book, Dead Until Dark. Instead of rereading it, I decided to listen to the audio. I’m glad I did.

The narrator, Johanna Parker, captures the essence of Sookie in all her different moods – perky, angry, scared, nervous, ecstatic, and so on. It was a treat to hear Sookie come alive.

I’m always in awe of how one person can sound like many different people. Ms. Parker does a creditable job of making all the different characters have a different voice – tone, pitch

Lori Shepherd knows everything about the town of Finch, the small English village where she lives. Recently, the big news is that recluse Hector Huggins has passed away, and everyone in the village attends the funeral. A stranger arrives at the funeral who, it happens, is Hector's nephew, Jack MacBride from Australia, who is in Finch to finish his uncle's affairs.

When Jack starts to clean up Hector's overgrown garden, he discovers a wishing well, and the mystery begins. The wishing well is where the residents of Finch sneak to at night to make wishes. When those wishes come true, Lori asks

"Paranormal," Volk reminds us in the introduction, is a word that means "experiences or events that cannot be explained by science." Volk takes pains to carefully point out that this may mean "paranormal events" actually have a scientific explanation that we have not found yet, either by chance or because it is beyond our current scientific capabilities. Or it could mean that paranormal events actually have a supernatural cause. Human beings, Volk accurately writes, do not sit well with not knowing. We don't say "we're not sure yet" and let it go for the time being, or continue open-mindedly

The main character in Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series is a type of heroine I like to call “the flawed hero who can’t stop herself from helping those in trouble even if it gets her into trouble; sometimes potentially fatal trouble.” There are a number of supernatural series that feature this type of character - Harry Dresden from Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, Rachel Morgan from Kim Harrison’s Hollows, Sookie Stackhouse from Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse, the women in Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld.

These people have weaknesses, faults, and limitations that they don’t

Some readers like their fictional friends kept safe, never truly in harm’s way, despite immediate apparent dangers; you just know they’ll make out just fine in the end. I am not one of those readers—I like it when happy endings are not guaranteed, and the protagonist gets knocked around a bit.

And hoo boy does October “Tobey” Daye, protagonist of Seanan McGuire’s Rosemary and Rue, get knocked around. A lot. The half-Fae private investigator was once a knight of the Fae court, until she lost 14 years of her life in the line of duty; now she wants nothing to do with them. Unfortunately, she

A stealth-action with RPG elements.  About vampires.  This game should be amazing.

It isn't.  Oh, how it isn't.

Dark is what happens when a reject from the Metal Gear Solid team gets hopped up on Red Bull and Anne Rice.  You begin as the unfortunately named Eric Bane, recent vampire attack victim and newly made vampire with a memory problem.  Happily, you're in a nightclub run by vampires looking out for each other, and they get you started with a training course—There's some homeless guys in the alley, go eat them!—and a warning that if you don't drink your creator's blood you'll turn into

Jonathan Stroud’s latest book is a thrilling fantasy set in England in which ghosts roam the nights. Only the very young can see, hear, or otherwise sense spirits. As children near puberty, abilities to see or hear spirits surface, and they are thereby trained and employed by businesses whose sole purpose is to identify and detain or destroy the spirits. As teenagers age into young adulthood, their powers of detection fade, leaving whole corps of preteens and teens to carry out the work, risking their lives in the process.

Anthony Lockwood has no intention of toiling away for a company, barely

After years of living in the shadows, being glorified as sparkly lovers and dangerous enemies and on TV, vampires have revealed themselves to humans. After a nasty outbreak of vampirism, thanks to a misplaced act of mercy, the world cannot ignore the lore. Infected cities are walled off from the public, called Coldtowns, these places are exquisite prisons for vampires. Humans, enthralled with the beauty and horror of vampires flock to the Coldtowns to offer their sweet red blood for the chance of being turned.

An entire industry has sprung up around the Coldtowns. The elaborate masquerades of

If you’re in the mood for a long book and like family histories with a supernatural twist, try The Witching Hour by Anne Rice. While the story is set in the same world as her vampire series, there are no vampires in this book. Instead, the tale of the Mayfair witches is told from their beginning several hundred years ago to the present.

Those familiar with the vampire stories will recognize the Talamasca, whose motto is “we watch and we are always here,” and who play a significant role in the Mayfair witches’ story. The Talamasca are an order of scholars who study the supernatural. They are

Warehouse 13 stores and safeguards objects imbued with magical powers. Gandhi's sandals bring a sense of peace, Marilyn Monroe’s hairbrush can turn your hair blond, an ancient Roman coin can erase memories. These objects can be healing, frivolous, or extremely dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. Sometimes those wrong hands are merely ignorant, others are deliberately malicious. Whatever the case, it’s up to Myka Bering and Pete Lattimer to track them down, neutralize them, and bring them safely to the warehouse.

Myka and Pete are Secret Service agents who have been “recruited” by the

Kresley Cole does it again with this amazing, riveting tale of Lothaire—an ancient vampire bent on ruling all of the Horde (evil vampires, btw)! But wait... his efforts thwarted by puny Elizabeth Pierce, a mere mortal. This book does not follow the same-old, same-old recipe I commonly find in paranormal romance novels. It's got sass, it's got vavoom, and I give it 5 fangs out of 5! In fact, I think I'm going to read it again.... and again...
 

Warm Bodies is a beautiful  contemporary romance such as we have seen in Romeo and Juliet. Everything is against them but in the end love conquers all, only better than it did for Romeo and Juliet.  We have an outbreak of some sort of plague that is turning people into zombies either when they die naturally or when they are bitten and the zombie saliva is transferred into their blood streams.  A zombie named R lives in a jet cabin at an airport. He calls himself R because he can’t remember his name. He is different from the other zombies because he remembers he should have a name and he

In The Leftovers, Perrotta puts human relationships under a microscope, sometimes to chilling effect. The town of Mapleton has never stopped reeling after the Sudden Departure, when large numbers of random people simply vanished into thin air. When the smoke clears, those left behind not only grieve for their friends and family who are suddenly gone, but also wonder why they were spared (or not spared). Cults are formed, hate groups emerge, and others just try to pick up where they left off. The story focuses on Mayor Kevin Garvey. While he didn’t lose anyone directly to the Sudden Departure

Chip Linton’s life and the lives of his wife and twin daughters changed forever when – through no fault of his own - the plane he was piloting crashed into Lake Champlain.   Thirty-nine on board lost their lives.  The Linton’s relocated to a rambling Victorian house in northern New Hampshire.  Chip, suffering from depression and PTSD, retired from working and spent his days fixing up the family home.  He finds a door in the basement fastened shut with thirty-nine bolts – a coincidence he cannot get out of his mind.  Meanwhile Chip’s wife Emily and 10-year-old daughters are “adopted” by

There really isn't anything better than a good zombie story. I can't tell you how many times I have lost myself in the story of the undead plague. I think of this as research for the future. It preparation for the inevitable. I have my escape all planned out (and no I won't tell you my plans!), have you throught about packing your outbreak bag and figuring out where you will go? Maybe you should read some of these books and figure it out! Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack (From The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks)

1. Organize before they rise!
2. They feel no fear, why should you?

Forget Princess Mia of Genovia. Forget Harry Potter. The Radleys are about to be outed. And by their own daughter no less.

Devotees of The Abstainer’s Handbook, Peter and Helen are living a lie in order to raise their children as “normal people”. Their suffering is exacerbated by each of their mid-life crises. Pale and gangly Rowan is a bullied outcast in their small English town. And Clara’s recent conversion to veganism only magnifies her anemia.

But everything changes when Clara accidentally discovers a dark family secret. One night at a party she savagely kills a classmate in a way that

Despite being the only wizard in the phone book, Harry Dresden still hurts for business. The occasional consult for Karrin Murphy of Chicago Special Investigations doesn’t quite pay the bills. So when Harry gets a missing husband call he takes the job, even though it’s not his specialty. Simultaneously, Karrin calls him in to look at two bodies that have fallen victim to black magic which even Harry doesn’t understand.

Additionally, Harry’s warden Morgan believes Harry is actually responsible for the killings and has called The White Council to hear his case. Trial starts Monday. Oh yea, and

So six months ago I got really excited because they were turning Beastly by Alex Flinn into a movie. I knew the book was based on the tale of Beauty and the Beast, set in modern day New York City. I immediately grabbed the book, and although it wasn't all that great, I enjoyed it for what it was. Then they delayed the movie, then they delayed it again. Finally, the movie that was supposed to come out in August 2010, came to theaters in March 2011. And I have to say, don't waste your time.

I went to a small theater on a Thursday night that had an interesting audience comprised of: two separate

I am going to write about something near and dear to my heart, Buffy. I don't know about you but I tend to move from one obsession to another and for several years I turned my attention to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Joss Whedon in general. If, goodness forbid, you are unfamiliar with Buffy allow me to enlighten you: Regular California teenager Buffy Summers discovers she is the chosen one, destined to bring about the end of vampires and evil in general. Now obviously, there is a lot going on outside that short summary but you get the idea, lots of big bad guys, fighting, conflict, love, etc

Kyle Kingsley is the most perfect guy in school, just ask anyone. He has everything he wants, money, the right friends, the hottest girl in school. But no matter now beautiful Kyle is on the outside he is ugly on the inside, where it counts. Kyle decides to make fun of a new girl in his English class by pretending to ask her to the spring dance and then standing her up. But little does Kyle know that the new girl is actually a witch and she gets back at Kyle but cursing him and turning him into a beast.

Now he has two years to find someone to love who will love him back, a seemingly

The short stories in this book gave me just enough of the flavor of each author to let me know if I would be interested in spending more time on a full book by the author .  They contain action, romance, vampires, witches, werewolves, zombies and more.  I  have just become interested in this genre' and this presentation helps me look for new authors.  One of my favorite stories was by Patricia Briggs. It was about a blind witch and a werewolf searching for someone and how feeling alone  in the world became connected.  Some of the other ones where full of action with shoot out's with both guns

Micah live in New York City and attends a fancy private school, she is on scholarship. She lives with her parents in a small apartment and she doesn't seem to have a lot of friends. The drama starts when a boy from school, Zach is found murdered in Central Park. Micah, who narrates the story, says she barely knew Zach, just had a few classes with him but as the story goes on it is uncovered that Micah and Zach were actually secretly dating, secretly because Zach was actually dating another girl.

Turns out that Micah is a compulsive liar. She loves to see what she can get you to believe, and

As promised here is my review for the New Moon movie (I know this is a little late, but I couldn't take the hoards to go opening weekend and then I just got caught up in other stuff). Those of you who know me know that I am not a big Twilight fan... Ok if we are being honest I can't stand the Twilight books. But I was honestly looking forward to the Twilight movie last year.

My major complaint with the books (at least originally) was how s..l..o..w they were. Seriously, make out or get in a fight, I need some action! So I thought that the Twilight movie would be great since it would be the

Jessica is looking forward to her senior year of high school in small town Pa. This is supposed to be the best year of her life, hang out with friends, get into a good college, and possibly get her first kiss. But everything goes horribly wrong on the first day of school when she is surprised by a creepy guy hanging out at the bus stop, crazy hippie parents won't give her a car. She swears she can hear him whisper her name before she gets on the bus, but it isn't the name Jessica, it is Antastasia, the name she was given as a baby by her birth parents.

Jessica's day gets worse when the same

Coraline is already bored with her new apartment. She has explored every inch of the tiny space, until she discovers a door that wasn't there the first time she looked. The door leads Coraline to the Other World where she meets her Other Mother and Other Father, far more interesting versions of her parents with black buttons for eyes. Coraline spends the day exploring the Other World and when she is ready to leave her Other Mother offers to let Coraline stay in the Other World forever...if she sews buttons over her eyes. Coraline refuses but when she gets back to her home on the other side of