Otherworld Secrets by Kelley Armstrong

This short story collection from internationally bestselling author Kelley Armstrong will feature tales about her witches and sorcerers - some of her most popular and fascinating characters. From Paige and Lucas to Savannah and her black witch mother Eve, these stories will enchant fans and new readers alike ...

Life After Theft
Karl Marsten has given retired as a thief so he can raise his daughter as an honest man, but someone wants to pull him back into it.
I enjoyed this, Karl's always a fun guy to read. The only thing that ruins it is Hope, she's my least favourite.

Forbidden
Morgan Walsh gets caught up in trouble as he's on his way to meet with the American pack and Elena & Clay have to go help him out.
A re-read for me, I bought the book from Subterranean Press when it was released. I like Morgan and it's fun to read from his POV.

Angelic
Eve's angel duties get prolonged as she's called on by the Fates to help deal with a Djinn outbreak.
Another re-read of a Subterranean Press book. Eve's a fantastic character to head a book, she's kick ass and awesome.

Zen and the Art of Vampirism
Zoe uses her wits to handle a couple of vampires that want to take over her territory.
I loved Zoe from when we first met her in Broken, she just has a great voice and attitude.

The Ungrateful Dead
Jaime gets harassed by a ghost and gets help from Savannah to teach him a lesson.
I liked this one, I mean it was okay. I like Savannah but Jaime I can take or leave.

Counterfeit Magic
Paige and Savannah go undercover in a supernatural fighting ring to solve some unusual deaths.
Click here to read my review of Counterfeit Magic.

I love Kelley's work and I'm glad her short stories are being released as anthologies because I missed some of them when they were in multi-author books.
I recommend this to any fans of Kelley or the Otherworld but only if you've read previous books, there are spoilers.


Book Depository: Otherworld Secrets
Amazon UK: Otherworld Secrets

Led Astray by Kelley Armstrong

RELEASE DATE 15th September 2015


Two brand new tales anchor this wide-ranging collection from one of urban fantasy's most successful authors. Here is the first time that best-selling fantasy, YA, and crime author Kelley Armstrong has had her stories collected from Otherworld and beyond. With her signature twists and turns, Armstrong gives a fresh spin on city-dwelling vampires, werewolves, and zombies, while also traveling further afield, to a post-apocalyptic fortress, a superstitious village, a supernatural brothel, and even to feudal Japan.

With tales that range from humorous to heart-stopping, these are the stories that showcase Kelley Armstrong at her versatile best.



Rakshashi - a standalone story
Rakshasi are almost genie-like creatures that are tied to serving a family until they've atoned for their bad deeds during life. Of course, they don't exactly like this arrangement.

Kat - a Darkest Powers story
Kat and Marguerite are on the run from the Edison group but Marguerite is keeping something from Kat.

A Haunted House Of Her Own - a standalone story
A young couple buy a dream B&B - it's supposed to be haunted but that's what they want. The woman discovers maybe she's bitten off more than she can chew.

Learning Curve - an Otherworld story
An Otherworld based short featuring Zoe Takano who we met in Broken. Zoe discovers she's being stalked by someone.

The Screams Of Dragons - a Cainsville story
A Cainsville short where a young boy starts hearing the screams of dragons and haveing weird dreams. Then the Cainsville residents start treating him strange.

The Kitsune's Nine Tales - an Age of Legends story
A guard leads the Kitsune traitor to the Forest of the Dead. He's been warned about all his tricks along the way.

Last Stand - a standalone story
A virus outbreak means the recently dead are back, the dead and alive are at war. Our main character is a leader and fears for her group as the numbers are dwindling.

Bamboozled - an Otherworld story
A small group of people hunt down wanted criminals but everyone's in for a surprise with their latest hunt.

Branded - an Otherworld story
People live inside the Fortress for safety - outside are where the branded supernaturals live. A young mand and woman hatch a plan for leaving.

The List - an Otherworld story
Someone has made a list of vampires living in Toronto so Zoe goes to check the author out.

Young Bloods - an Otherworld story
A man realises there are two vampires on the train trying to intimdate people into confrontation but they don't realise who he is.

The Door - a standalone story original to this book
A young girl grows up learning to stay away from the door, only her dad is allowed to leave and comes back with food and toys. She always obeyed until the time came where she had to leave.

Dead Flowers By A Roadside - a standalone story
A man is haunted by visions of his wife and child. He keeps himself busy by fixing up the family car.

Suffer The Children - a standalone story
A village have recently lost all their young and elderly to disease so when two guys visit and claim to be able to bring them back, they agree.

The Collector - a standalone story
A puzzle solver takes part in an online puzzle that eventually leads her to an office for the last part - a puzzle box.

Gabriel's Gargoyles - a Cainsville story
A young Gabriel searches for all of Cainsville's garygoyles while also dealing with his mother.

Harbinger - a standalone story
A young woman is haunted by the spectres of drowned girls. She tries to talk to them, she tries to ignore them but they won't go away.

V Plates - an Otherworld story
Reese want to help Noah lose his virginity and asks Nick to help so they go to a brothel but it's not just an ordinary brothel.

Life Sentence - an Otherworld story
Daniel Boyd is dying so he uses his money and remaining time trying to find a way to stop it.

Plan B - standalone story
A man and his mistress hatch a plan to get his wife out of the picture but nothing goes as planned - always have a plan B.

The Hunt - a Cainsville story
A hunter decides to step up the hunting game and move up a level.

Dead To Me - a standalone story
A woman tries to stop her husband's ghost from haunting her home.

Devil May Care - a Cainsville story original to this book
Patrick only returns to Cainsville once in a blue moon and he learns of a prophecy when he's there so decides to avoid it all together.


I loved all these stories and a few of them were new to me either because I hadn't read the original anthology they were in or they're original stories just for this one.

I never have a bad thing to say about Kelley's work and I highly recommend this anthology whether you're new to her or a die hard fan like me. Although if you're new to her, some of these stories may be spoiler-ific or not make sense.

There were a lot of books I had on my Amazon wishlist purely because they contain a Kelley story that I've now been able to remove so ... bonus!


Book Depository:
Amazon UK: Led Astray
Amazon UK: Led Astray

Pre-order announcement - Driven by Kelley Armstrong

Subterranean Press have just announced a new Kelley Armstrong Otherworld book to be released in January 2016. It is available for pre-order through their wesbite.


The following description includes spoilers if you are not up to date with the current Otherworld backstory

Subterranean Press is pleased to present a long Otherworld novella by Kelley Armstrong, featuring a number of full-color illustrations by Xaviere Daumarie. The Trade Hardcover of Driven will feature a full-color dust jacket as well as four full-color interior illustrations. The Signed Limited Edition will have a completely different dust jacket, full-color endsheets, and two additional full-color illustrations not in the Trade. If you own a copy of the limited edition of Forsaken, please mention your number to match when checking out.

Cains are known for being big, brutish and not-too-bright. The mutt clan embodies all the supernatural world's worst stereotypes about werewolves. But not even the Cains deserve to be hunted down and skinned like animals.

When young Davis Cain comes to the Pack for help, Alpha Elena Michaels can't refuse him. It isn't about morality or justice. It's about not letting anyone think they can do this to werewolves and get away with it.

But Elena is also dealing with the Pack's homegrown monster — Malcolm Danvers, onetime enforcer, full-time psycho. Malcolm is now under Elena's control, as part of the most difficult decision she's had to make as leader. But if she has to let Malcolm in, she's going to make full use of him ... and the best person to catch monsters is one who knows exactly how they think.

As with all past Kelley releases from Subterranean Press, it is available in both Trade and Limited Edition - if you've ordered limited before, you can request the same number after ordering.

Forsaken by Kelley Armstrong **SPOILERS IN BOOK DESCRIPTION FOR PREVIOUS STORYLINES**

Being Alpha of the North American Pack is like being a small-town sheriff — nobody wants the job, but someone's gotta do it.

For the most part, Elena Michaels likes it just fine, even if it means dealing with arrogant misogynists in the werewolf world who are convinced that a woman isn't up to the job.

That she could handle. What she never expected was a deadly threat to her eight-year-old twins. That her little girl could go missing in the night.

The enemy thought he was dealing with a hysterical mother.

Mother, yes. Hysterical, no.

Elena was Alpha for a reason. And nothing would stop her from getting her child back.

Elena is missing the start of her annual family holiday because she's in London trying to make a misogynistic Pack leader see sense. When she gets home, it's to a missing daughter and the possibility of a major Pack threat being back.

Now, a review of a Kelley Armstrong book is always going to be glowing from me because I love the woman and all the words that come from her fingertips. Forsaken is no different.

It's set after all the other Otherworld books (latest in series), I think Goodreads has it listed as 13.4. Since we're not getting full length novels any more, the Sub Press novellas are the only way to get my Otherworld fix (well, besides re-reading the series but in this case I mean a new fix). As I've stated in the title, so much has happened in the series that even a blurb isn't spoiler free anymore.

Elena is having to prove herself as Alpha to all other Alphas since they think it's just a ploy and either she and Clay are co-Alphas or Clay is the real Alpha and they're just using her as a figurehead to prove something. I'm loving the different side of Clay and Elena as parents that we're getting in these novellas. I'm also loving seeing Logan and Kate grow up, they're both so different but so like their parents.

As sad as I am about the Otherworld hiatus, I'm so grateful for these novellas being released because I like seeing my favourite characters age and grow up and mature in their own way.

What I don't love is that this ended in such a way that I'm now impatiently waiting for the announcement of the next novella to see what happens. Armstrong writes such exciting stories that you just want to stay in her world all the time. If I didn't need to sleep, work and eat I'd happily just read her world constantly.

Her work also has the added bonus of pulling me out a reading funk and making me want to dive into books again. Although it's her books I want to read right now and not the huge pile of TBRs I have to tackle.


Amazon UK: Forsaken
Subterranean Press: Forsaken

Otherworld Nights by Kelley Armstrong

This short story collection will include many brand-new tales and others only previously available on Kelley Armstrong's website. Most of the stories will feature the werewolves of the Otherworld, Elena and Clay, Jeremy, Karl and other members of the American Pack. These are some of Kelley Armstrong's best-loved and most enduring characters, from bestselling books such as Bitten, Stolen and Frostbitten.

Demonology - Adam's mother discovers what he is
Stalked - Clay/Elena honeymoon story from "My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon"
Hidden - SubPress 2012 Elena/Clay novella
Twilight - a Cass story from "Many Bloody Returns"
Chivalrous - Reese's backstory from SubPress's long sold-out "Tales of Dark Fantasy 2"
Lucifer's Daughter - Hope/Karl story from "Blood Lite II: Overbite"
From Russia with Love - Elena bonus story included with hardcover of "Thirteen"
Vanishing Act - brand-new Savannah/Adam novella set after "Thirteen"

This is an anthology of previously released Otherworld shorts with one new one.

Demonology is the story of how Adam's mother, Talia, meets Robert and dscovers what Adam's real heritage is. I would've liked to read how RObert broke it to Talia but what we get is the lead up to her first appointment with Robert and running when she discovers his specialty but then facing the facts and finally contacting him again. I love tiny Adam - he's adorable.

Stalked follows Clay and Elena on their honeymoon that gets interrupted by a mutt following Elena while Clay tries to stop her from discovering it. I always love Clay and Elena stories, Bitten was the book that got me into the series so the werewolves will always be my favourite.

Hidden is another Clay and Elena story, they want to give the twins a normal christmas but it's ruined by a mutt. I already reviewed this when it was released - go here.

Twilight is Cassandra's story. Vampires don't need to kill to feed except on the anniversary of the date they turned into a vampire, this tells the story of one of Cassandra's searches for the right person.

Chivalrous finally tells us the story of why Reese fled Australia. I was dying to read this but didn't buy the anthology it was in so I was so happy that it was in here. I like Reese and really enjoyed this look into his background.

Lucifer's Daughter tells of Hope and Karl spending what should be a nice evening in a museum but quickly goes downhill when a lesser demon tried to suck up to Hope to get on her father's good side.

From Russia with Love was originally in the back of 13 and is just a very short tale of the official Alpha handover from Jeremy to Elena.

Vanishing Act is the new story focusing on Savannah and Adam following the events of 13. They're investigating a demon raising gone badly while trying to work out the status of their relationship. The short also has a bit of a tie in to the two young adult series and the genetic modification of supernaturals.


I love all the things by Kelley Armstrong and this was no different. And the good part was that a few of these were new to me even though they were all reprints except Vanishing Act.


Book Depository: Otherworld Nights
Amazon UK: Otherworld Nights

Brazen by Kelley Armstrong

nick Sorentino knows everyone in the supernatural world considers him the Pack's playboy, the pretty but not very useful werewolf whose only reputation involves his amorous exploits.
Usually, Nick couldn't care less what anyone outside the Pack thinks of him. But when it affects his hunt for Malcolm Danvers, a psychotic bogey-man from the Pack's past, it matters.
Necessity forces Nick to team up with mercenary half-demon Vanessa Callas to run Malcolm to ground in Detroit. Together, they discover Malcolm is more deadly than ever. And he wants to play.
It's time for Nick to prove he's not just a lover. He's a fighter.

Nick has been put on the case of finding Malcolm after he was discovered to be still alive during the events of 13. Elena and Clay want him dead and they don't want Jeremy knowing he's alive in the first place.

The Sub Press novellas have always been a nice way of easing the waiting time between Otherworld books, but now the series is on hiatus they're even more important to me. Armstrong knows her fans love the Otherworld and all the characters, I think she herself would also miss them if they disappeared completely. So to ease the pain, she's going to be releasing novellas and such until she brings the series back (for my sanity, it will always be a when not an if until she says different).

This one is nice to read, we finally get something from Nick's POV. Nick, who always comes across as laid back and so nonchalant, proves to us that he's just as protective of the Pack as Clay or Elena. The younger wolves are his responsibility and he's matured and settled since they've came into his home. Nick often gets looked over with Elena and Clay heading the adventures up so it was nice to see him come into his own in this book.

The book also ended with an obvious nod to another book which I can't wait to read.


Buy direct from Subterranean Press: Brazen
Amazon UK: Brazen

13 by Kelley Armstrong

War is coming to the Otherworld. A sinister cult known as The Supernatural Liberation Movement is hell-bent on exposing the truth about supernaturals to the rest of the world. Their violent, ruthless plan has put everyone at risk: from werewolves to vampires, from witches to half-demons.

Savannah Levine - fiery and unpredictable - stands at the heart of the maelstrom. There is a new, dark magic inside her, granting her the power to summon spells of terrifying strength. But whether this magic is a gift or a curse, no one knows.

On the eve of battle, all the major players must come together in a last, desperate fight for survival - Elena and Clay; Adam and Savannah; Paige and Lucas; Jeremy and Jaime; Hope, Eve and more ... They are fighting for their lives. They are fighting for their loved ones.

They are fighting for the Otherworld.

13 takes off exactly where Spellbound ended, Waking the Witch, Spellbound and 13 are actually the only books from the Otherworld series that don't have a big time gap in between them. Savannah and Jaime get "arrested" while trying to get away from the lab explosion, they get taken to a police station but don't get booked or anything so conclude that it's a trap. After fighting off a crazed werewolf and and escaped hellhound, they manage to get away from the station with Eve. Eve and Savannah find out that there's an anti-SLM group as well. They plan to infiltrate the SLM to take it down from the inside but the plan fails when the Nast cabal get involved and take Eve and Savannah into custody. After getting away from the Nast cabal, they team up with the rest of the Otherworld crew minus Antonio & Nick (*sad face*) and through some helpful demon Lords in the shape of Eve and Adam's fathers, they manage to find out exactly what's going on and stop it - with a lot of magic and action.

So yeah that was a very small recap because so much happens in this book that I'd end up just writing the whole damn story here. Anyone who reads my reviews or knows me personally knows how much I LOVE Kelley's books - it's impossible to not love her writing. For me - and any long time Otherworld fan - this book was a bittersweet read, as much as I couldn't wait to read it I also didn't want to read it 'cos as soon as I did then the series would be over.

So some of my favourite bits or my gasp out loud moments ........ (will be hidden due to major spoilers so highlight to read) ....... Malcolm - yes, Malcolm! He's alive and he's in Nast custody. Karl gets shot - I thought he was dead, luckily he survives - I didn't like that I thought he was dead for a short period. Elena gets in a fight with Malcolm and gets the better of him, she wants to kill him before Jeremy and Clay know he's actually alive but Clay walks in on them and then he fights him, almost kills him too but the Nast cabal intervene. Jeremy reveals he's going to make Elena alpha immediately - OK not that big a shock since it's the last book but still a tingle went through me (yes, I was that happy). Savannah and Adam finally get together properly but agree not to tell Paige and Lucas. Paige and Lucas find out anyway, Paige is fine with it, she's seen it coming for ages apparently, Lucas is most definitely not, he doesn't want Savannah getting hurt.

So any of my readers know they aren't going to get an unbiased review from me about a Kelley book - there's no such thing when it comes to Kelley. I freaking loved this book - sad to see the series end but Kelley did it justice. We got to see all of our favourite characters again and she tied off some open storylines while still leaving enough open to warrant novellas at a later date - which Kelley has said will happen.



FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
Is a very short story purely there for the Alpha hand-off storyline. While 13 was happening, the twins and the rest of the pack were in Russia with the Russian pack so when Elena, Clay, Jeremy and Jaime join them, Jeremy officially hands the pack over to Elena.

I love the way he did it. Traditionally it would be a challenge so Jeremy challenged Elena to a game of chess. Which was already set up so that Elena would win since it was only a formality, everyone but Elena knew what was happening. Then there's a cool little scene with all the pack playing touch football as Elena watches them - and Jeremy is playing - realising they are her pack. As I said, a tiny short but it was only to serve one purpose. Oh and also let us see Xavier one last time.


Book Depository: 13
Amazon UK: 13

Country vs Country - Otherworld

No, I'm not condoning war, I'm talking about book covers. It always amazes me how different some book covers can be in different countries, and then for other books the cover can be the same.

Personally, the majority of the time I prefer UK covers to US or Canadian. This is purely because most US covers I see have half naked men or women on them and that just does not interest me, what it says to me is that sex sells in America.

I also prefer a cover that has some sort of clue to the story inside and, if it has a cover model, I like the cover model to actually look like the character(s). I never get a book that has a brunette on the cover and the main character is described as blonde, is the cover model supposed to be some obscure bit character? Or could the publishers not be arsed finding a new cover so maybe just recycle an old one? To be fair, I don't see this happen all that often but I have seen it happen.

Today I thought I'd compare the covers for one of my favourite series from the UK, US and Canada.


The Otherworld Series by Kelley Armstrong

The image above is the original UK covers. Of course these covers hold a very special place in my heart since these are the covers I have. I love them and each cover has an image that has something to do with the story. You'll notice the covers stop at Frostbitten, it was at Frostbitten that the publishers decided to give the covers a revamp so from Waking the Witch onward, it's all the new covers.

These are the new UK covers, the whole series has been re-released with the new covers. And, I have to admit, that even though I hated the fact that the covers got changed during the series (which I hate cause it messes up my bookcases), I really love these new covers. So much so that I am planning on re-buying the whole series so I have both sets of covers.

These are the US covers - I believe. I used both Kelley's website and Goodreads as reference for this post and it seems to me that perhaps the US are also getting a re-release to match the new style covers? Bitten and Stolen both have a cover that seems to fit in with Waking the Witch and Spell Bound and I couldn't find a similar cover for the rest of the books so I'm assuming that they're still being released? Either that or I just couldn't find the covers anywhere. Personally, I prefer the new covers to the old ones, I think it's the whole naked/half naked cover model thing. A lot of the old covers make absolutely no sense to me story wise.

And these are the new Canadian covers, I couldn't find any old Canadian covers so I'm assuming they just had the US covers before. Again, I'm not sure since I don't live there (yet, haha). I really like these covers, they're very eye catching and I love them even though they don't have the image to story link that I like.

And these are all the covers for 13 (or Thirteen if you're American). I know Kelley explained on the difference in title but I can't remember the reason behind it. Out of the 3 13 covers, I think the Canadian one has to be my favourite with the UK as a close second.


So yeah, this was just a post about the covers. The different country covers always intrigue me and I have several series that I will go out of my way to buy the US cover for but most of my books are UK covers.

I am thinking on making this a semi-regular series on my blog, using some of my favourite series to compare the cover differences. Depends on how well this one does, finding and sticking all those images together took a loooong time!

Hidden by Kelley Armstrong

Hiking through the snow, holiday baking and playing board games by the fire – what’s not to love about an old-fashioned family Christmas?

Werewolves Elena Michaels and Clayton Danvers want to give their four-year-old twins, Kate and Logan, something their parents never had: a nice, normal holiday. No Pack responsibilities, no homicidal half-demons or power-hungry sorcerers to deal with – just the four of them, alone, at a chalet outside Ontario’s Algonquin Park.

Then a strange werewolf shows up at their door…while the town is buzzing about a young man, back from college, found half-eaten in the woods. And there’s the missing little girl ...

With all the signs pointing to a rogue mutt with a taste for human flesh, Elena and Clay have no choice but to investigate. But are they the hunters – or the hunted?

I have to say I prefer the Elena cover over the Clay cover, but I had to have the limited edition so I have the Clay cover. This is another great novella from Kelley Armstrong, when her loyal readers just don't get enough from her Otherworld series and can't wait fr the next novel, the Subterranean Press novellas make a nice little stepping stone.

This novella sees Clay and Elena trying to have a normal christmas with Kate and Logan but when a mutt shows up on their doorstep, their plans change. On doing background checks, Elena finds a story of a young boy eaten by wild dogs and a little girl going missing. She and Clay set about trying to find out more while trying to keep the whole werewolf thing a secret from Kate and Logan.

I enjoyed reading about the twins and look forward to seeing more of them in later novellas (and hopefully a book once the hiatus stops). I also liked reading more of Noah and Reese, they were introduced in Frostbitten and I believe Reese has a short story detailing his life in Australia. Any Kelley fan will love this book and it has her typical wit and writing style throughout.


Book Depository: Hidden
Amazon UK: Hidden

Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong

Savannah Levine is in danger. That's not usually a problem. But, caught in the grip of a disturbing and violent murder case, Savannah swore to give up her unique gifts if it would save an innocent young girl. Little did she know that someone - or something - was listening ... Now she has no idea how to restore her powers, just when she needs them the most.

In this compelling, fast paced new thriller, Savannah has to face a host of deadly enemies bent on destroying not only her, but the very fabric of the supernatural world.

As dark forces gather, Savannah isn't just fighting for her life, but for everything and everyone she loves ...

You know, it seems completely pointless for me to write a review for a Kelley Armstrong book. Anyone that knows me, knows she's one of (if not my most) favourite author. It's hard for me to say anything bad about a Kelley Armstrong book, I love her writing. Kelley's books, for me, are a proper page turner. I read them all in one sitting and Spell Bound was no different. I got it through the door today, started reading it at about 12 this afternoon and have just finished it at about half 5.

This is the second to last book in the Otherworld series (nooooooooooooooooooooo) since Kelley plans on taking a break from it to focus on other projects. As much as this saddens me, I know she doesn't want to keep writing and having the series lose it's appeal (like so many other series out there). Also, she has promised it's not an end but a hiatus, she plans on writing short stories and novellas featuring the Otherworld characters so we're not completely losing them.

The 2nd in the Savannah trilogy picks up exactly where Waking The Witch left us with that horrid cliff hanger ending. Good thing is, this book doesn't end on a cliff hanger but Kelley does tease us a little in the last few pages. As is my usual for Kelley's books, I cannot wait to read the next one and I'm pretty sad that it's a whole year away!


Book Depository: Spell Bound
Amazon UK: Spell Bound

Counterfeit Magic by Kelley Armstrong

The first rule of a supernatural fight club? Don't kill your opponent.
When the fighters come with lethal spells, werewolf strength and half-demon powers, that can be a lot tougher than it sounds. It's hard to attract talent if they know they might not leave the ring alive. So when fighters at a California club start dying - it's bad for business.
Witch detectives Paige Winterbourne and Savannah Levine take the case. Going undercover in the power-heavy arena of the fight club is a welcome change of pace for Paige, relegated to the role of The Wife as her husband struggles to find his place in his family's Cabal - the corporate Mafia of the supernatural world.
As Paige is drawn deeper into new and dangerous corners of her world, she quickly discovers the greatest threat isn't the killer in her sights. It's something much, much closer to home. And this is one fight she can't afford to lose.

I will start off by saying this is not a completely unbiased review. I love Kelley so much and will never have a bad thing to say about her books. Her novellas on the other hand? They're too short, lol. I know, I know, that's the point but when you have to wait a whole year between releases the novellas are a nice wee shot to take the edge off the cravings but, like any other addiction, you end up wanting more!

Counterfeit Magic lets us know how Paige is getting on, we only had a little bit of her in Waking the Witch so it's nice to get back to her. She's approached by someone wanting the fight club investigated and she goes undercover with Savannah to find out more. It's a good break for her after dealing with the Cortez Cabal on her own, although it makes her realise help is needed in other parts of her life.

As I've already said, I can't say a bad thing about Kelley's writing. She writes such great characters and tells the stories really well, I normally read Kelley's books in one sitting 'cos she has a habit of ending chapters in miniature cliff hangers that make you keep reading even if you tell yourself you're putting it down at the end of this chapter (I do that all the time and it never pans out). Although it's even easier to read this one in one go as it's very short, took me about 2 hours to read even with a wee break for eating my dinner as well.

My only possible complaint about this is that the actual storyline seemed unfinished, although I can only hope that means Kelley will write another one. And soon.


Rating
4/5


Book Depository: Counterfeit Magic
Amazon UK: Counterfeit Magic

My 10 Favourite Series

I wrote Top 10 up there in the post title but then thought to myself "I can't actually put them in order of most to least favourite", so I deleted the top and it is now just my 10 favourite in alphabetical order.
The lists are in reading order, I have included links to author sites and, if available, direct links from there to the individual books. Also a link to my review if I've done one.

ALPHA & OMEGA by Patricia Briggs
The first story, Alpha & Omega , is actually a short story in the anthology On The Prowl. My review of On The Prowl.
Cry Wolf. My review of Cry Wolf.
Hunting Ground. My review of Hunting Ground.
Alpha & Omega #3 is due to be published in Autumn 2011

BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD by J.R. Ward
Dark Lover
Lover Eternal
Lover Awakened
Lover Revealed
Lover Unbound
Lover Enshrined
Insider's Guide
Lover Avenged
Lover Mine

DARKEST POWERS by Kelley Armstrong
Darkest Powers website
The Summoning. My review of The Summoning.
The Awakening. My review of The Awakening.
The Reckoning. My review of The Reckoning.
And the following book is technically a new series called Darkness Rising but it's the same world as Darkest Powers and is based on the same storyline.
The Gathering is due to be released April 2011

JANE TRUE by Nicole Peeler
Tempest Rising. My review of Tempest Rising.
Tracking the Tempest. My review of Tracking the Tempest.
Tempest's Legacy. My review of Tempest's Legacy.

KITTY NORVILLE by Carrie Vaughn
Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Kitty Goes to Washington
Kitty Takes a Holiday
Kitty and the Silver Bullet
Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand
Kitty Raises Hell
Kitty's House of Horrors
Kitty Goes to War

MERCY THOMPSON by Patricia Briggs
Moon Called
Blood Bound
Iron Kissed
Bone Crossed
Silver Borne
River Marked is due to be released March 2011

MORGANVILLE VAMPIRES by Rachel Caine
Glass Houses
The Dead Girls' Dance
Midnight Alley
Feast of Fools
Lord of Misrule
Carpe Corpus
Fade Out
Kiss of Death
Ghost Town. My review of Ghost Town.
Bite Club is due to be released April 2011

OTHERWORLD by Kelley Armstrong
Bitten
Stolen
Dime Store Magic
Industrial Magic
Haunted
Broken
No Humans Involved
Personal Demon
Living with the Dead
Frostbitten
Waking the Witch. My review of Waking the Witch.
Spell Bound is due to be released July/August 2011
Men of the Otherworld is an anthology of shorts all written from the male's perspective.
Tales of the Otherworld is another anthology of shorts. If I remember correctly, Tales and Men were both written to raise money for charity.
Angelic is a novella written for Subterranean Press and was a very limited run. It is no longer available to buy (except from unscrupulous folks on ebay) but is available in audio book format.
Counterfeit Magic is also a novella from Subterranean Press. Just been released so I'm not sure about available copies. However, knowing the want of Kelley fans out there, it is probably no longer available in print.

SHIFTERS by Rachel Vincent
Stray
Rogue
Pride
Prey
Shift
Alpha. My review of Alpha.
Unfortunately, this great series is now finished.

SOOKIE STACKHOUSE SOUTHERN VAMPIRE by Charlaine Harris
Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
From Dead to Worse
Dead and Gone
Dead in the Family

Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong

Columbus is a small, fading town, untouched by the twenty-first century. But when three young women are found dead - victims of what appear to be ritual murders - things start to get very dark, and very dangerous ...
Private investigator Savannah Levine can handle 'dark and dangerous'. As the daughter os a black witch, she has a lot of power running through her veins, and she's not afraid to use it. But her arrival in Columbus has not gone unnoticed. Savannah may think she's tracking down a murderer, but could she be the killer's next target?
Of course she could always ask her old friend (and half-demon) Adam Vasic for back-up. But Savannah has her own - very personal - reasons for keeping Adam well away from Columbus. And in any case, she can rely on her own powers. Can't she ...?

This is book 11 of the Otherworld series and, quite possibly, one of the most anticipated. Savannah Levine was introduced in Stolen (book 2) and has been involved in every book since (at least a little, to my knowledge). We've seen her grow up and now we get to see her kick ass on her own.
Paige and Lucas are on holiday when a case comes in that Savannah wants to investigate, to prove she's old enough and can handle her own responsibilities.

It's good to see Savannah has grown out of her bratty stage. We discover in this book that she is perfectly aware of the fact that she killed her own father, despite Paige trying to hide it from her and telling her it was an accident.

I thought Savannah was getting a love interest in this book as well but that didn't end too well! Although there is a nice thing happening between Adam and Savannah which most readers were hoping for, unfortunately Kelley is making us wait to find out what's happening.
There was also the start of what could be a good story about a young girl who's mother is killed, Savannah obviously feels a connection to her so decides to help her and it leads to a very open ending that had me growling (literally) in frustration. Luckily the next book is Savannah's as well.

Brilliant read as usual from Kelley Armstrong and can't wait for more.
Rating: 5 out of 5


Book Depository: Waking The Witch
Amazon UK: Waking the Witch