BLACK CITY
By Christina Henry

PUBLISHER: Ace US

PUBLISHED: 6 June 2013

GENRE: Fiction / Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance

Former Agent of Death Madeline Black may have been stripped of her wings - but she hasn't lost her purpose ...

When Maddy finally killed her father, Azazel, she thought his depraved experiment died with him. But now Chicago has been infested with vampires immune to the effects of the sun, and the bloodbath is worse than she could have ever imagined. While the Agency refuses to interfere with other supernatural courts, Maddy is determined to do everything within her power to save her city - wings or no wings.

But when the leader of the vampires requests that she turn herself in or risk more deaths, Maddy becomes a target for the very people she's trying to save. Left with no other choice, she turns to Lucifer, the one creature who has the power to help her. But her grandfather's aid has always come at a price ...

MY THOUGHTS:                       ***CONTAINS SPOILERS***

Following on immediately from the events in Black Lament (review here), this is another action-packed, adrenaline-fueled installment in Henry's Black Wings series with a whole host of creatures for Maddy and her friends to contend with.

But even though there's a LOT of action (which did seem a bit obviously contrived), that's not really what this book is about. It's about Maddy coming into more of her powers, Nathaniel learning about his true heritage and his own powers, Maddy trying to do her best in difficult situations only, by the end of the book, to be abandoned by her friends and surrounded by the Agency's Retrievers.

Poor Maddy! The harder she tries to keep everyone safe, the greater the hold that darkness seems to have over her heart.  I really felt that even if she'd made different choices, Lucifer's net would still be closing in around her. The book created a real sense of inevitability about that.

But I can't help but compare the ending to "Becoming" the two-part finale of Season 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Angelus: No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away, and what's left?

Buffy: Me.

And because of that, I still have hope that Maddy can see this through and find a way to thwart Lucifer. I just hope the price of doing that isn't too great.

MORTAL TIES (A Novel of the Lupi)
By Eileen Wilks

PUBLISHER: Berkley

PUBLISHED: 14 February 2013

GENRE: Fantasy / Paranormal Romance

FBI Agent Lily Yu is living at Nokolai Clanhome with her fiance, lupi Rule Turner, when an intruder penetrates their territory, stealing the prototype of a magical device the clan hopes will be worth a fortune - if a few bugs can be worked out ...

But the prototype can be dangerously erratic, discharging a bizarre form of mind-magic - and it looks like the thief wants it for that very side effect. Worse, whoever stole the device didn't learn about it by accident. There's a Nokolai traitor in their midst.

As they race to recover their missing property, they find Robert Friar's sticky footprints all over the place. Robert Friar - killer, madman, and acolyte of the Old One the lupi are at ware with ... an Old One whose power is almost as vast as her ambition to rock the entire world.

MY THOUGHTS:

This is the 9th installment of Wilks' Lupi series and I LOVED it! I was hooked from the opening sentence:

"Lily Yu hadn't planned to visit a graveyard at sunset. It just worked out that way".

The tone and writing was consistent. The characters were wonderful and the story was convincing and moved along nicely. 

But far and away the best thing about this book was Lily and Rule's relationship. I'm so used to reading about relationships in fantasy novels where the couple are opposites or one of them has more power than the other that it was really wonderful reading about Lily and Rule. Their relationship is balanced and one of equals. They work well together and are understanding and respectful of each other. I actually felt like it was a relationship to aspire to.

There were some great moments in this book and some lovely subtle humour. I also enjoyed the references to Chinese culture, even  though I still don't know the difference between a friend of the fifth degree and a friend of the third degree! 

Here's one of my favourite quotes:

"Lily didn't ask if any of those outside had survived. Tigers, Grandmother had said once, see no point in disabling an enemy".

The only problem I had was that I kept forgetting the prototype wasn't a type of magical raygun! That was the image that kept popping into my head whenever it was mentioned and as a result, I found it hard to picture the prototype as it should be, contained within a skull. That is such a minor, minor point though!

I had never heard of the Lupi series before I read this book but I will definitely be reading the series from the very beginning now.

I really do think everyone should have a bit of Lily and Rule in their lives.

DOWN THESE STRANGE STREETS - Stories of Urban Fantasy edited by George R R Martin and Gardner Dozois

PUBLISHER: Ace US

RELEASE DATE: 13 February 2013

GENRE: Fiction - Fantasy

A collection of urban fantasy stories from some of the freshest writers around, including Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Diana Gabaldon and many more.

In Charlaine Harris's tale "Death by Dahlia", set in the world of Sookie Stackhouse, vampire Dahlia Lynley-Chivers heads to a lavish party which soon turns deadly. Patricia Briggs, author of the Mercy Thompson series presents a thrilling tale of "In Red, With Pearls" where a werewolf PI races to crack a case involving zombies, witches and ... lawyers! 

Bestselling author of the Outlander series, Diana Gabaldon's tale "Lord John and the Plague of Zombies" follows Lord John as he journeys to the beautiful but sinister island paradise of Jamaica, where he immediately stumbles upon a mystery full of spiders, snakes, revolutionaries and zombies. 

With these and 13 more tales, Down These Strange Streets takes you to the cities where fantasy and mystery collide and where private eyes who have seen it all find something lurking that is stranger still ...

I was so excited when this book arrived. I'm a huge fan of urban fantasy and not only are several of my favourite authors featured in this anthology but there are several others that I've been itching to try out for quite some time now.

For once I read the foreword. I never normally do this but as it was written by the incredible George R R Martin, I decided to make an exception! And I'm glad I did because George took the time to explain what he feels is meant by "urban fantasy" and why he and Gardner Dozois didn't restrict themselves to assembling an anthology of stories written by contemporary urban fantasy authors. Okay, I don't necessarily agree with his definition but at least I was prepared for the fact I was going to encounter stories, which I wouldn't necessarily have classed as being in this particular genre.

You might remember that when I reviewed Seductress - Erotic Tales of Immortal Desire, one of the things I liked about it was that I could dip in and out of it as when I liked and I didn't have to keep track of any characters or of what I'd read before. The same goes for this collection.

What I also liked was that it surprised me. There were stories I'd assumed I would love, like Charlaine Harris' ""Death by Dahlia", which I actually felt quite "meh" about and stories I thought I wouldn't enjoy because they were written by a historical fiction author or a mystery author, but which turned out to be really well crafted.

The highlights for me were:

The Bleeding Shadow by Joe R Lansdale: Wonderfully drawn characters whose voices seemed to leap off the page directly into my head. A real sense of time and place, a great pace and an unexpected detour into sci-fi.

Hungry Heart by Simon R Green: Author of the Nightside series, which was been on my want-to-try list for far too long, this is the story I most looked forwards to reading. I wasn't sold on the character of Holly Wylde, a witch who claimed to have literally had her heart stolen and who seemed quite 2 Dimensional to me. Thank goodness for John Taylor, PI and the Nightside; both of which were much more well drawn. I think this character and setting is probably better suited to a full length novel and I wonder whether this will grow/lessen the subconscious comparisons with John Constantine that I found myself making, not that that was a problem at all!

Pain and Suffering by S M Stirling: Having not read any of the Shadowspawn series, I found this story a great introduction to it. I'm assuming it's either a prequel to the series or an opportunity to expand on some of the characters included in it, but either way it felt gritty and vivid and you have to love the fact the author saw an opportunity to mock the whole "Twilight vampires sparkle" thing and went for it!

Hellbender by Laurie R King: A story about genetic experiments, intolerance and a PI trying to find the missing brother of a beautiful woman. It starts out innocuously enough - you'd be forgiven for thinking this was going to be a standard mystery - when the author throws in a sudden bombshell that makes you realise the story isn't set in the World as we know it. The whole idea of the Regeneration Experiments is disturbing and I really liked the ending. I would definitely read more about these characters and the version of the World they inhabit.

The Difference Between a Puzzle and a Mystery by M L N Hanover: What do you do when your murder suspect claims to be Beleth, the King of Hell? Detective Mason finds himself working with Richard Scarrey, a Consultant who might be able to help. I'm not going to say anymore because I would never have guessed how this story was going to go but you need to read it! And then let me know whether you think it's a puzzle or a mystery.

Lord John and the Plague of Zombies by Diana Gabaldon: Anyone that reads my blog regularly will not be surprised to see I've picked out a story with a title that includes the word "zombies" as one of my highlights! The way that these zombies are made, and the consequences of doing it, makes a nice change to the more contemporary zombie post-apocalyptic novels that are prevalent at the moment.

What I realised from reading this book is that it's all too easy to keep on reading your favourite authors and not always so easy to convince yourself to branch out and try something new. An anthology is a great opportunity to do this and I definitely recommend this one.

I haven't had an opportunity to post over the last few days as husband hurt his back (bending to lift the baby of all things!) so I've had to fill the void left by his shoes as well as wearing mine. Lets just say that bedtime has been quite fraught without an extra pair of hands to help with the boys!

I have been thinking a lot though about this post; something that I've found frustrating if I'm honest because I'm great at thinking.....and thinking....and thinking.......and then....nothing! This has been my M.O for years and, as a result, it's a deeply ingrained habit that I haven't yet managed to break.

One thing I do know is that I want my blog to be about finding myself. That's not to say that it won't ever include other things; just that I want the main focus to be about the steps I am taking to make myself more than a mum, wife and daughter.

The other thing I know is that I want my blog to have a healthy focus on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

So the question becomes, how do I marry the two? and when am I going to get started?

To answer the first part of the question, in my head, I've been thinking I should set myself a challenge. One that will allow me to open my Buffy boxset and work my way through each episode and which will also "force" me to open my creative jaws and do something with them for once.

To answer the second part, I know I want to start with some immediacy. I've spent too much time waiting and thinking already and if I don't build on the momentum that spurred me to start this blog then I'm scared it will all just fade away and that'll be it.

Fortunately, serendipity seems to be on my side as today I came across a fabulous post by more than a mum (@more_than_a) called 'First steps to rediscovering your identity'. More than a mum is about helping women to be the best mum they can be while rediscovering their identity as a woman at the same time. It's hardly surprising then that this post resonated with me!

In a nutshell, more than a mum has provided an exercise to work through which will help you to figure out your dreams and what you can do towards achieving them. The theory is that if we learn to make our own opportunities and work towards our dreams, we'll not only become a more fulfilled and fully rounded individual but we'll also be setting a great example for our kids.

You can read More than a Mum's full post  here: http://morethanamumblog.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/first-steps-to-rediscovering-your-identity/

Here we go then, here are my answers to each question in the exercise:

1. What did you want to be as a little girl?

I desperately wanted to be a famous actress on the stage and in films. I was heavily involved in amateur dramatics until I left for university and I loved every minute of it! I really wanted to study drama at a 'proper' drama school rather than go to an 'ordinary' university but I lacked confidence in myself and didn't attend the auditions I was offered. Part of me wishes I had been braver but the rest of me realises that if I had been, I wouldn't be the person I am now and I wouldn't necessarily have met my husband or had my children.

2. What would you do if you were guaranteed you wouldn't fail?

I would be writing urban fantasy novels. It's my favourite genre and I absolutely love to read. I signed up to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) but quickly realised I don't currently have space for a commitment like that at the moment; not while the baby is so little. Next year, I'll try again.

That's not the only thing though: I'd also regularly craft, sew, bake fabulous cakes and study a martial art (although I haven't decided which one yet!)

3. What do you wish you could be doing this time next year?

I wish I could reclaim my evenings so I could do more than just sit in front of the tv with the baby attached to my boob.

4. What do you wish you could be doing in 5 years time?

I wish that I could get reinvolved with my local amateur dramatics group and that in the next 5 years I could direct a production of "Steel Magnolias". This has been a long time dream of mine.

5. Where would you like to be and what would you want to be doing in 10 years time?

I wish I could be a published author with an established fan base.

6. What is something you would quite like to do that you know you can do, you just haven't got round to doing it or made time to do it?

Making fleecey winter trousers for the boys. There are also a lot of mundane jobs in the house that need doing.

7. What would you love to do but it seems like too much hard work/effort/time?

If I'm honest, most of the above.
8. What’s your crazy dream you secretly would love to do but struggle to believe it’s even possible?

Again, if I'm honest, it's my 10 year goal of becoming a published author.

The next 2 steps in the exercise are all about getting started and taking action but I'll talk about this in my next post "Becoming : Part 2", as that's where I'll tell you all about where the above has lead me, what I'll be doing next and inviting you to join in .

Before I end this post though, I'd like to share some other sources of inspiration that I came upon today:

http://www.madebytamsin.co.uk/ : for lovely crafty Christmas decorations

http://www.wagdoll.co.uk/2011/11/winter-cape-in-gray-wool-cashmere.html : to see the wonderfully glamorous oytcome of @Wag_Doll's first attempt at sewing clothing from a commercial pattern

An article in the December 2011 edition of Sew Magazine about Carrie Maclennan, author of "The Busy Girl's Guide to Sewing" who only learnt to sew last year at the age of 31 and who started with less than no skills at all

Although this post probably seems a bit random, hang on in there as I promise it will all come together in "Becoming : Part 2" and you'll see then where my thoughts have taken me. Until then, I urge you to give More than a Mum's exercise a go and if you're feeling brave enough, I'd love to hear your answers x

P.S : Husband is feeling a lot better!