Wednesday Wishes

Well if you guys don’t here from me after this I’m trapped in a blizzard. The weathers been crazy and we finally decided to brave going back to Idaho from South Dakota. The blizzards will never stop . . .

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Full Blooded by Amanda Carlson

Get it: Amazon | Goodreads
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Jessica McClain, book 1

Born the only female in an all male race, Jessica McClain isn’t just different—she’s feared.

After living under the radar for the last twenty-six years, Jessica is thrust unexpectedly into her first change, a full ten years late. She wakes up and finds she’s in the middle of a storm. Now that she’s become the only female full-blooded werewolf in town, the supernatural world is already clamoring to take a bite out of her and her new Pack must rise up and protect her.

But not everyone is on board. The werewolf Rights of Laws is missing text and the superstitious werewolves think that Jessica means an end to their race. It doesn’t help when Jessica begins to realize she’s more. She can change partway and hold her form, and speak directly to her wolf. But the biggest complication by far is that her alpha father can't control her like he can the rest of his wolves.

When a mercenary who’s been hired by the vampires shows up to extract information about the newly turned werewolf only days after her change, they find themselves smack in the middle of a war and there's no choice but to run together. When it’s up to Jessica to negotiate her release against her father’s direct orders, she chooses to take an offer for help instead. In exchange, Jessica must now swear an oath she may end up repaying with her life.

Had no idea this series existed! No really. Until I did a Cover Coveting post with the latest cover in the series. Now I’m so curious! Love shifter books!

Undead by Isabella Kruger

Get it: Amazon | Goodreads
Genre: YA Paranormal
Series: Everafter Trilogy, book 1

“I walked into a dark alley somewhere near our compound. I was use to doing the rounds every night. Lord knows I was tougher than most of the males around. I had taught myself how to use a gun and how to survive. No one, not even the hard core survivalists thought that the world would end the way that it did.”

Eighteen-year-old Ethnee Daffy is a freedom fighter, fighting the evils of the apocalypse. For the last 3 years she has battled down Zombies and weird looking government officials. However, her life changes when she meets Aiden a Zombie who claims that he is still half human and that he knows how to cure humanity. Will Aiden and Ethnee find the cure to save humanity?

Lusted after this book for a while, but it somehow didn’t make it onto my purchase shelf until now.

Glow by Stacey Wallace Benefiel

Get it: Amazon | Goodreads
Genre: YA Paranormal
Series: Zellie Wells, book 3

Zellie Wells has mastered her powers and gotten the guy. She's lived through her parents' divorce and being separated from Avery. She's come back from the dead.
What else is there?

Oh, yeah. REVENGE.

Discover how it all ends when Zellie and the gang finally track down Mildred and fight to right the wrongs of The Society's past, present and future.

Love revenge stories!

Review: Magic Bleeds

Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels, book 4) by Ilona Andrews

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Edition Reviewed: Paperback
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
Goodreads: Magic Bleeds

Kate Daniels works for the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, officially as a liaison with the mercenary guild. Unofficially, she cleans up the paranormal problems no one else wants to handle—especially if they involve Atlanta’s shapeshifting community.

When she’s called in to investigate a fight at the Steel Horse, a bar midway between the territories of the shapeshifters and the necromancers, Kate quickly discovers there’s a new player in town. One who’s been around for thousands of years—and rode to war at the side of Kate’s father.

This foe may be too much even for Kate and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, to handle. Because this time, Kate will be taking on family…

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Review:

All the rumors are true.  Book three, Magic Strikes, is where this series really makes it into the big leagues. So where does that leave Magic Bleeds?  It leaves it at a status of being even better!!  That’s right Magic Bleeds was even better then the epicness of Magic Strikes.

It picks up at the much anticipated “panty breakfast ” and the sparks fly immediately as Kate and Curran bump heads.  Of course the leaves things into a beautiful mess.  Kate decides to court Curran the Lion shifter way, and from there it’s great one liners and laughs all around.  Andrews doesn’t stop there.  (And no I won’t go into details for fear of ruining it.)

In the last book Kate practically told the captain of her nemeses' army who she is. Now that she’s opened herself up to friends and having loved ones, her nightmares are coming true.  Everyone is at risk, especially since her evil aunt is sweeping into town to take out the shape shifters. Kate’s too good to ignore this threat and soon her aunt is all too willing to take her out. This leads into epic battle scenes that I have come to crave from the Kate Daniels series.

This is a book of change that will leave fans spinning exorcist style.  Curran and Kate are hooking up in ways that fans couldn’t have dreamt up more perfectly.  Kate ditches the Order of Merciful Knights, for something better.  Andrea’s—Kate’s hyena shifting best friend—relationship is beyond fun and it’s truly just as appealing as Kate and Curran’s “struggles”!  This has been said by many fans before me, but it’s only truer because I doubted it.  If you read book one and two and didn’t think the series was that great, hold on.  Keep. Going. You will become a convert. A very devoted convert.

Sexual Content:  Oh, dirty and steamy.  Ahem.  Sex 7 times within a 24 period (wink-wink) and all the other great bits we’ve come to expect from this series.

 
5/5- Fabulous, a beautiful obsession!

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Previous book(s) in series:
Reviewed on BW:	Amazon:	Goodreads:
Magic Bites (1) Magic Burns (2) Magic Strikes (3) Magic Bleeds (4) Magic Slays (5) Gunmetal Magic (5.5) Magic Rises (6) Magic Breaks (7) Magic Shifts (8) Untitled (9) Untitled (10)	Magic Bites (1) Magic Burns (2) Magic Strikes (3) Magic Bleeds (4) Magic Slays (5) Gunmetal Magic (5.5) Magic Rises (6) Magic Breaks (7) Magic Shifts (8) Untitled (9) Untitled (10)	Magic Bites (1) Magic Burns (2) Magic Strikes (3) Magic Bleeds (4) Magic Slays (5) Gunmetal Magic (5.5) Magic Rises (6) Magic Breaks (7) Magic Shifts (8) Untitled (9) Untitled (10)

Review: Magic Strikes

Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, book 3) by Ilona Andrews

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Edition Reviewed: Paperback
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
Goodreads: Magic Strikes

View our feature on Ilona Andrews’s Magic Strikes.

When magic strikes and Atlanta goes to pieces, it’s a job for Kate Daniels…

Drafted into working for the Order of Merciful Aid, mercenary Kate Daniels has more paranormal problems than she knows what to do with these days. And in Atlanta, where magic comes and goes like the tide, that’s saying a lot.

But when Kate's werewolf friend Derek is discovered nearly dead, she must confront her greatest challenge yet. As her investigation leads her to the Midnight Games—an invitation only, no holds barred, ultimate preternatural fighting tournament—she and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, uncover a dark plot that may forever alter the face of Atlanta's shapeshifting community…

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Review:

Urban Fantasy junkies, this is it.  The fabled book that is supposed to change your mind about this series. The book that drags the Kate Daniels series away from the average read it has been teetering towards and pulls it up out of the shadows.

For me it’s been the inability to get past Kate’s snark.  Don’t get me wrong I love—love, love, love,worship—her wit and sharp tongue. Those snarky comebacks are one of the main reasons I would have read this series into the realm of one star reads. Andrew’s finally lets us into Kate’s head.  What she’s running from, what she is, and her past.  It was like I was meeting Kate for the first time.  She’s truly one of the most wonderful bad ass woman leads out there.  She’s hard and lethal, but she is a huge softy.  She can kill the bad guys and right the wrongs without a worry of the price, but she can grieve over the “innocents” she doesn’t even know.

Curran and Kate are really starting to heat. To the point where they might have enough sexual tension on the page to outdo early Anita Blake books and The Night Huntress series. You’ll need a few cold showers by the time this book is done. Not only is the sexual tension good, but Curran’s real feelings for Kate become clearer and clearer.  She’s not just someone he wants because she said no, he has an emotional interest.

Andrews has brought readers into the dark world of the Umpar—a cannibalistic rapist—to  battles between two gods.  Now we’re introduced to the world of the Midnight Games.  Basically teams of people volunteer to be gladiators and make a living that way.  The spectators are just as bloody as the olden times and they love a good show—meaning the more death and blood the better.  It’s cold and cruel, hard believing that Kate grew up in such  life. Too be quite honest the gladiator battles have to be some of the best action scenes written out there. Many times I found myself in a frenzied panic along with the characters.

Speaking of characters so much happens to them that it well makes up for the first two books.  Kate gets a new friend, the were-hyena Andrea who is being wooed by a “sex god” from the local hyena clan.  My favorite jaguar shifter is breaking the rules and almost defying Curran—and he gets a little silly.  Then there’s poor Derek.  The stuff that happens to him is heart breaking.  At more than one point I had to get up leave the book behind and go on some really long runs to relieve the stress.

This book is hot.  The action is on fire, the plot is burning with emotions and plot turns, Kate and Curran are sizzling with chemistry, and Curran is just smoking hot!   This is the book that probably has some of the funniest moments, sexiest, and best one liners.  The more Kate becomes a “real” person the more I like her.  It’s a world that is well worth a visit.  By the end of the book I was driven made by the cliffhanger between Kate and Curran. (As a hint I will say it has to do with a underwear served dinner.)

Sexual Content:  Hot kisses, hot tub scene, and some nasty hints of rape from the villains.

 
4/5- Great! Really enjoyed it

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Previous book(s) in series:
Reviewed on BW:	Amazon:	Goodreads:
Magic Bites (1) Magic Burns (2) Magic Strikes (3) Magic Bleeds (4) Magic Slays (5) Gunmetal Magic (5.5) Magic Rises (6) Magic Breaks (7) Magic Shifts (8) Untitled (9) Untitled (10)	Magic Bites (1) Magic Burns (2) Magic Strikes (3) Magic Bleeds (4) Magic Slays (5) Gunmetal Magic (5.5) Magic Rises (6) Magic Breaks (7) Magic Shifts (8) Untitled (9) Untitled (10)	Magic Bites (1) Magic Burns (2) Magic Strikes (3) Magic Bleeds (4) Magic Slays (5) Gunmetal Magic (5.5) Magic Rises (6) Magic Breaks (7) Magic Shifts (8) Untitled (9) Untitled (10)

Review: Magic Burns

Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) by Ilona Andrews

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Edition Reviewed: Paperback
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
Goodreads: Magic Burns

Down in Atlanta, tempers – and temperatures – are about to flare…

As a mercenary who cleans up after magic gone wrong, Kate Daniels has seen her share of occupational hazards. Normally, waves of paranormal energy ebb and flow across Atlanta like a tide. But once every seven years, a flare comes, a time when magic runs rampant. Now Kate’s going to have to deal with problems on a much bigger scale: a divine one.

When Kate sets out to retrieve a set of stolen maps for the Pack, Atlanta’s paramilitary clan of shapeshifters, she quickly realizes much more at stake. During a flare, gods and goddesses can manifest – and battle for power. The stolen maps are only the opening gambit in an epic tug-of-war between two gods hoping for rebirth. And if Kate can’t stop the cataclysmic showdown, the city may not survive…

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Review:

Magic Burns could easily have passed as book one for the Kate Daniels series.  In fact, I might have preferred it as the starting point.  It brought more details about Kate to light, but not much.  Then some of the more basic questions about the universe of the Kate Daniels were finally given a better explanation.  The lack of world building and character depth on Kate were two of my biggest complaints on the first book.  The focus on Magic Burns is much like the previous book—Magic Bites—the supernatural mystery.  Since I like mysteries I can’t complain too much and the magic “wave” that comes up here is just too much fun!

Andrews shows us a side of both Kate and Curran that had been seemingly lacking in the first book—featuring compassion and personalities outside of killing things.  A little girls live is at stake and it’s warming how both Kate and Curran do everything in their power to help this one girl.  Kate still isn’t fleshed out enough for me. I. Need. More.

The monster isn’t as scary as the creepy animalistic rapist from the first book, but it’s definitely up there. A magic flare is coming up, where magic takes out technology for days to weeks.   What was supposed to be a quick retrieval of some pack maps turns quickly into a gruesome battle between gods. Of course the evil god is trying to break through and become “real” on the human plane—which can only successfully happen during a magic flare. 

Another fun entry to the Kate Daniel world.  It helped flesh it out a bit more, but I still feel like it held a lot back.  Fun characters come in and are not explored enough, mainly a certain goddesses’ horny “hell hound”.   The buildup between Kate and Curran is definitely heating up, and I’m starting to see why the fans rave.  With a better plot, tons of great action, and simply more Kate Daniel time—why miss it?

Sexual Content:  As mentioned in the review, there is one horny guy/hellhound.  Nothing too risky, unless you can’t handle the sexual tension building up.

 
3/5- Adored it, just a few minor details held it back

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Previous book(s) in series:
Reviewed on BW:	Amazon:	Goodreads:
Magic Bites (1) Magic Burns (2) Magic Strikes (3) Magic Bleeds (4) Magic Slays (5) Gunmetal Magic (5.5) Magic Rises (6) Magic Breaks (7) Magic Shifts (8) Untitled (9) Untitled (10)	Magic Bites (1) Magic Burns (2) Magic Strikes (3) Magic Bleeds (4) Magic Slays (5) Gunmetal Magic (5.5) Magic Rises (6) Magic Breaks (7) Magic Shifts (8) Untitled (9) Untitled (10)	Magic Bites (1) Magic Burns (2) Magic Strikes (3) Magic Bleeds (4) Magic Slays (5) Gunmetal Magic (5.5) Magic Rises (6) Magic Breaks (7) Magic Shifts (8) Untitled (9) Untitled (10)

Cover Coveting(17)

**Cover art not final. ***

Love the cover for The Girl With the Iron Touch! Each new cover for that series gets better and better!

On the opposite side The Fiery Heart. Yeah. It’s ugly and a bit painful to look at. Each book get uglier to look at. Design team, please get this message.

Yet again CC is taking over my Wednesday Wishes post! After all the CC bombs this week rest assured that I’m all caught up.

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The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead Goodreads | Amazon
The Girl With the Iron Touch by Kady Cross Goodreads | Amazon

The Grove by Jean Johnson Goodreads | Amazon
The Lair by Emily McKay Goodreads | Amazon

The Midnight Spell by Rhiannon Frater & Kody Boye Goodreads | Amazon
The Unbound by Victoria Schwab Goodreads | Amazon

This Wicked Game by Michelle Zink Goodreads | Amazon
Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter Goodreads | Amazon

Tied by Laney McMann Goodreads | Amazon
The Trap by Andrew Fukuda Goodreads | Amazon

The Seven Year King by Kiki Hamilton Goodreads | Amazon
Unbreakable by Kami Garcia Goodreads | Amazon

Unchained by J. Lynn (Jennifer L. Armentrout) Goodreads | Amazon
Unchosen by Michele Vail Goodreads | Amazon

Under a Spell by Hannah Jayne Goodreads | Amazon
Underneath by Sarah Jamila Stevenson Goodreads | Amazon

The Wicked Within by Kelly Keaton Goodreads | Amazon

Cover Coveting(18)

**Cover art not final.**

Revelations and Star Cursed are my favorite covers out of this batch! While there are a few questionable covers in this batch, Tempt the Stars . . . . there’s just something funky there. It doesn’t have the same feel as the previous covers. It doesn’t feel “natural” it feels heavily computer edited. If it makes sense, older covers feel hand drawnish this new one feel digital. It also feels sci/fi instead of UF

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On Pins and Needles by Yolanda Sfetsos Goodreads | Amazon
Bones by Bailey Cunningham Goodreads | Amazon

Possession by J.R. Ward Goodreads | Amazon
Thieves’ Quarry by D.B. Jackson Goodreads | Amazon

Rapture’s Edge by J.T. Geissinger Goodreads | Amazon
Revelations by J.A. Souders Goodreads | Amazon

Rising Darkness by Thea Harrison Goodreads | Amazon
Ritual Magic by Eileen Wilks Goodreads | Amazon

School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins Goodreads | Amazon
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo Goodreads | Amazon

Speak of the Devil by Shawna Romkey Goodreads | Amazon
Star Cursed by Jessica Spotswood Goodreads | Amazon

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson Goodreads | Amazon
Sweet Legacy by Tera Lynn Childs Goodreads | Amazon

Tempt the Stars by Karen Chance Goodreads | Amazon
Terminated by Rachel Caine Goodreads | Amazon

Tethered by Meljean Brook Goodreads | Amazon
Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire Goodreads | Amazon