19:100 Last Strand by Jennifer Estep

Mason Mitchell is the head of the Circle, the super secret group that has been pulling the strings of Ashland's criminal underground for ages, and also Gin's uncle, the twin brother of her father. He has never let family get in his way, obviously since he had Gin's family murdered although she and her sister Bria managed to get away, has a plan to tear down the Pork Pit while making himself tons of money, and holds some serious grudges against Fletcher and Gin. With Fletcher gone, Gin is the one who must deal with his wrath but not alone as he will target her friends to get under her skin.

Gin has to stop him and keep her friends safe, as always.

I've enjoyed the series and find the world interesting with it's use of elemental magic. Never count Gin out but this feels like a good spot for things to end. We've gotten Gin's backstory, she has killed the ghosts from her past, and it's a good time for her to hopefully be able to rest. While Ms. Estep hasn't said that the series is officially over, the last few books were self-published and she has been moving forward with other series while saying that Gin's story is told "for now" but she is wanting to do the occasional short story highlighting some of the other characters which I will be looking forward to. 

Page count: 368p/5,59p ytd/352,649p lifetime

18:100 Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs

 The residents of a mountain town in the wilds of California all disappear and then the FBI come to Charles and Anna for assistance as the land is owned by the Pack. What the FBI doesn't know, Bran tells them, is that the land was purchased because that is where Leah was found and they were certain that something powerful and evil lives around there, something that knows about werewolves.

So with that warning, Anna and Charles head out West to try and discover what happened to the people and possibly figure out how to cleanse the land. Unfortunately, the big bad is awake, hungry, and searching for a mate.

We get to find out a lot more about Leah's backstory and her relationship with the Marrock which is great but it's a very dark book with a lot of awful stuff going (CW: mind-control, rape, harm to children). It gets intense but Ms. Briggs does an admirable job of handling the hard stuff while not allowing it to slide full-on into the darkness and despair and having it serve the story rather than be just for gratuitous shock value. 

This book was a bit slow to start and there were some pieces that didn't quite work for me so well but it's a solid addition to the series.

Page count: 358p/4,891p ytd/352,281p lifetime

15:100 Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire

Well, shit just got really weird for Sarah, her cousins Annie and Artie, Annie's new adopted brother James, and the cuckoo Mark who had been helping them try to save Sarah from her biological family who was trying to turn her brain to mush so she would open a portal to a new world for them to devour while destroying the Earth in the process.

Instead, Sarah's friends and family helped her figure out how to turn things around and while she opened the portal and took the cuckoos through, it did not turn her into a cabbage nor did it destroy the Earth she left behind. What it did do, however, is turn the other cuckoos into mindless zombies and the friends and family she had with her into people who no longer know who she is and have lumped her in as being just another cuckoo.  

Now, she has to convince Annie and the rest (please most especially Artie whom she has loved forever) that she can be trusted, that she is family, that she is not a cuckoo to be killed, all while trying to figure out how she did what she did and how she could possibly do enough of it again to get them and at least the other humans that were also accidentally dragged along back to Earth. 

Sarah is not my favorite narrator for this series. She's okay but doesn't grip me as the others do. I also admit to being annoyed at constant repetition in books, even when it's totally in keeping with the story as it was in this case. And while all the Incryptid books tend to rely a bit on deus ex machina, this one went a little further down that path than I would have preferred. Again, I get why and it does work within the story so this is just my personal taste here.  All that to say, it dropped this book down to a 4/5 stars for me. Still enjoyable and would still read again but not my favorite.

Page count: 433p/4,805p ytd/351,475p lifetime

12:100 The Turn by Kim Harrison

 The prequel to the Hollows series with Rachel Morgan, this book tells the tale of how the world got into the state it was in when we first get introduced to Rachel in Dead Witch Walking. From those books, we know that somehow tomatoes started killing humans but not Interlanders so they chose to come forward and help save the human population. Now, we know what happened....

Trisk and Kal (Trent's father) have always been in competition but she as a dark elf was always seen as lesser than to his light elf even though she is probably smarter than he is (although he is much more devious). They are both on paths to try and save the elves from their decline that has been going on ever since the demon wars but they have very different ideas on how to actually accomplish the task. Trisk ends up looking like she will be more successful after her work has proved to work well with tomatoes to create a way to help feed the world and also her way of modifying the genetic weapon being created in the same lab to make sure it does not affect Interlanders. As a result, Kal is pulled off his pet project to check on hers and then he decides that his is right so he's going to screw with hers to make sure the funding is pulled (and hopefully redirected to his).

That's when all hell literally breaks loose and the tomatoes that should have helped end world hunger instead unleash a plague that kills somewhere between one-quarter and one-half of the human population. This is now the world of the Hollows that we know.

I really liked Trisk and hated the way she got screwed over the entire book. Kal goes through the entire book manipulating everyone to make sure the blame lands on Trisk rather than himself because he's a smarmy bastard and I spent most of the book just wanting to punch him repeatedly. I get that was the point but he just was completely awful and I could not find anything to actually redeem him and that made the book harder to read for me. The characters that were good and likeable just go so completely shafted at every turn for that ass with him not having to be accountable at all and get away with everything. Sorry, I read books to escape from that kind of reality.

Page count: 441p/3,123p ytd/350,513p lifetime

9:100 Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews

Kate's adopted daughter, Julie, left Atlanta eight years ago to find out more about her powers and herself. She ended up with Kate's aunt Erra, whom Julie refers to as Grandma. During her time away, Julie has been told of a prophecy regarding an ancient power, Molach, who is gunning for Kate. Julie has continued to work to thwart his plans without involving Kate since all prophecies state that if she learns about him, she and her family will die. Now the prophecy has Julie in Atlanta trying to stop it without calling on her old friends (and Kate's allies). She has a new face and a new name, Aurelia Ryder, and a tough road ahead to save her mother without letting Kate know she's even in danger.

So glad to have new stories in this world as it's one of my favorites. So glad that it was set in Atlanta so we could get updates on many of the characters there that I've grown attached to. It will be interesting to see if the Atlanta setting continues or if this was just to help ease the introduction into this series and give the fans the update or if Atlanta will continue to be a focal point for future books.

Page count: 354p/2,263p ytd/349,653p lifetime

7:100 Kitty's Mix-Tape by Carrie Vaughn

 Ms. Vaughn is diving back into Kitty Norville's world in order to give us a collection of short stories about not just Kitty, but many of the other side characters that inhabited the world that people wanted to learn more about. There are songs and story notes for each piece, and many were written for specific anthologies but it's nice to have them all collected in one place and a few new pieces as well.  I hadn't read all the anthologies so many were new for me during this read.

I found it a fun collection but definitely suffered from not having read any of these books those characters appeared in since the last Kitty novel came out, so some of the smaller side characters who got their own stories I had no context for and had to do a quick look up to remember who they were. Those stories were enjoyable but lost what would have undoubtedly made them more special had I remembered what they meant to Kitty and the series. 

Page count: 272p/1,674p ytd/349,055p lifetime

3:120 Portents by Kelley Armstrong

 A collection of several short stories and novellas set in the Cainsville universe. Most have been published before but are now gathered in one place.  I enjoyed dipping back into the universe even if I had read many of them before. 

"Scream of Dragons" was originally published in Subterranean Press Magazine. I hadn't read it before and it was seriously creepy. It takes place when Rose is a teen and Seanna is a toddler and shows what can go wrong when the fae blood mixes badly and the child is taken away from Cainsville.

I know I've read "Devil May Care" before but can't remember if it was an extra at the back of a book or something else. It is the story of how Patrick and Seanna got together just long enough to produce Gabriel. Shows just how broken Seanna always was and doesn't do Patrick any favors either.

"Gabriel's Gargoyles" shows Gabriel about 10 years old already having figured out how to navigate his mother and ready to con and pickpocket and it's heartbreaking to see how broken he is because of Seanna.

"The Black Cat" is Gabriel's take on Poe's "The Orange Cat" and "Bad Publicity" is a Patrick prequel that again doesn't show him in the best light. Both were originally preorders for Betrayals.

"Matagot" is a new story and reveals more about TC's true nature and what happened during his kidnapping in Visions. It was interesting as it also reveals more about the start of the Matilda, Gwyn, and Arwen legends.

"Lady of the Lake" was another Betrayals preorder bonus but I don't remember having read it before. It takes place during Olivia and Ricky's vacation when they find a haunted lake.

I do hope that Ms. Armstrong continues to play in this universe from time to time as I do enjoy getting to go back with new stories.

Page count: 320p/715p ytd/348,096p lifetime

87:100 Badlands Witch by Carrie Vaughn

The second book in the Cormac and Amelia spinoff.  Cormac made a lot of enemies when he was a bounty hunter and thankfully most of them are dead...but not all of them. When he gets recruited by an archaeologist for a job and Amelia seems eager, they head off.  Now someone from his past is gunning for him and instead of just killing him has managed to steal Amelia away.  This leads Cormac to understand just how close he and Amelia have grown and how much he will do to get her back.

I'm enjoying getting to return to this universe with other characters and Cormac and Amelia is such an unusual pairing so that makes it doubly fun.  I've heard that there will be more and I certainly hope so.

Page count: 83p/21,757p ytd/330,454p lifetime

83:100 Urban Enemies Anthology by Various Authors

We finally get to hear from stories from the Villains point of view in this new anthology.  17 of them in fact.  These are all from existing series with established worlds, most of which I didn't know previously or only in passing.  I bought it primarily for the stories from Kelley Armstrong and Seanan McGuire with interest in the ones from Jim Butcher,Kevin Hearne, Carrie Vaughn, and Faith Hunter and because I will usually get introduced to at least one or two new authors that look interesting.

To that end, I really enjoyed the two stories that I bought it for.  I felt that they did a great job of giving stories that enriched the worlds but at the same time served well as stand-alone introductions to them.  Butcher's didn't fare so well as even though I have read all the Dresden files books, I could barely remember this villain and didn't care about him or this story that much.  Kevin Hearne's from the Iron Druid is with characters that are later in the series than I have read but it didn't affect my enjoyment of the tale.  I enjoy the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn and maybe this serves a nice intro to newbies of the series but it just fell flat for me but really enjoyed Leo's story from Faith Hunter's Jane Yellowrock series.  However, I do feel that one might be harder for readers not familiar with the world to get into.

The new author that stood out to me from this anthology was Diana Pharoh Franics with a tale from her Horngate Witches series.  Never heard of the author or the series before but definitely want to check it out based on this story. 

Other than these, none of the other stories really stood out for me.  Many of them were simply meh and just didn't interest me at all, some were total slogs to finish, and a few were ok but not interesting enough to me for me to go out and read more by that author.  So in all, 5 of the 17 were worth the price of the book, a few more were fun, but I'd say that at least half of the book was just not my cup of tea which was definitely disappointing.

81:100 Duel or Die by Stefon Mears

Charles is driving over the hill to the beach to look for some spell components when his car just dies in the middle of a nowhere stretch of road.  Then a cloaked and hooded figure approaches which turns out to be his girlfriend's ex who is demanding a duel to satisfy his honor (gee, why would a woman ditch someone who wouldn't believe that she would do so unless compelled by magic?!).  Charles doesn't want to do this but given the choice between a duel to summon demons or being shot by  gun, well, he takes the duel.  And Charles has been around long enough that his dueling path will not be an expected one.

A fun tale with a nice twist at the end.

Page count: 22p/20,814p ytd/329,511p lifetime

72:100 Winter's Web by Jennifer Estep

A novella between Venom in the Veins and Sharpest Sting.  Owen has won tickets to go to the local winter Ren Faire and Gin, Bria, Finn, and Sophia are all coming along and have been talked into volunteering for part of the time.  Gin notices a lot of giant guards around and that raises her suspicions, especially when a trio always seems to be camping out near her.  However, after she draws them away and deals with them in her usual way, she finds that they were just trying to get her out of the way so their friends could snatch Owen.  Gin is not about to let anything happen to him and she has the skills to make sure Owen will walk away and the others won't.

I read it out of order but it didn't really matter.  A fun Ren Faire story set in that world but no actual character development or critical insights for the main plot of the books.



Page count: 86p/18,901p ytd/327,596p lifetime

71:100 Sharpest Sting by Jennifer Estep

The 18th book in the Elemental Assassin series.  Gin has a name for the leader of The Circle, Mason, and even more than that, she knows that it's her uncle although she knows nothing else, not even his last name.  Now she has to find a way to stop him and keep her friends safe but she also needs to get her bridesmaid dress for the wedding of Stuart & Malloy.  An assassin's job is never as simple as it seems but during the fitting, her sister Bria is kidnapped and Gin and Lorelei are as well when they intervene to try and save Bria.  Gin has so many enemies even she can't figure out which one it is until they end up sitting across from Uncle Mason.  He wants something that Fletcher stole from him and he wants Gin to find and return it or else.  She's got a few short days to find something she has never seen and has no idea where it might be or her friends will start dying in horribly painful ways. She's the spider and has always found ways to win before but this one may break her heart in ways she never imagined.

Less of the constant, repetitive internal monologue (although we get a bit at the beginning in case anyone is picking up book 18 and reading before any others I guess) but this has now been replaced with constant adoration of Owen and their sex scenes which are basically the same in every single book. I'm not a prude and I don't have a problem with sex scenes but these are not particularly well written and are almost identical to the ones in previous books so they are just boring, especially the line in every single one about how she takes the pill but they still use a condom.  Every. Single. Time.  Get back to the killing scenes.  Those descriptions are better.  Heck, I enjoy the pages of what she is cooking as they make my mouth water and I would love Fletcher's super secret bbq sauce recipe as well as some of the others that are mentioned but please, stop trying to shove the sex scenes in.  They can just have a look, a kiss, and close the door and that is just fine.


Page count: 351p/18,815p ytd/327,510p lifetime

55:100 Lost Souls by Kelley Armstrong

A man driving on a lonely stretch of highway sees a woman in white in need of a lift who directs him to her friend's house that is just a patch of forest in the middle of nowhere and then vanishes.  It's a familiar enough tale but something is odd this time so Patrick brings it to Gabriel to investigate hoping that Gabriel will use it as an excuse to try and patch things up with Liv since she loves a good mystery and weird ones even more.  But this case will have Gabriel facing more than white specter who gets people lost in the woods. He will have to realize and face how lost he has become.

Read this one out of order, not that it matters much.  It was an interesting tale and always fun to get more insights into these characters.

Page count: 190p/14,810p ytd/323,505p lifetime

54:100 Cruel Fate by Kelley Armstrong

Olivia is finally getting what she has wanted since she found out the truth about her past, her father's release from prison.  Unfortunately, not everyone is so happy to see Todd freed and while he was innocent of the crimes that sent him to prison for the last 20 years, he does have one murder on his hands, the one that kicked off everything that came about afterwards and someone is laying the clues out for him to go back to jail with no possibility of being found innocent this time.  Liv is hovering over her father like a nervous mother hen and when she starts hearing about this trail, she will do everything in her power to make it go away including using her position as Matilda as well as calling in her Arwen and Gwynn. 

My biggest disappointment is that this is the last planned novella for this series and I would love to continue reading all about Liv, Gabriel, and Ricky.  This was a good note to end on with the wrapping up of Todd's story and how things got started so many years ago.

Page count: 200p/14,620p ytd/323,315p lifetime

51:100 Rough Justice by Kelley Armstrong

Liv as Matilda has made her choice which is to not choose.  Tonight marks her first night leading the Wild Hunt in a true Hunt where someone will be brought to Justice.  Ioan has given her the name and said she should do her research but she wanted to just trust but once she was there with the man having judgement passed, she found that she was not clear enough in her mind.  The Hunt was called off and Liv started researching the case to try and put her mind at ease but what she found was much less clear cut than she was lead to believe would be the case.

Good to see Liv truly embracing her role as Matilda and seeing how things are going now that the choice has been made.  Really enjoy the fact that Ms. Armstrong gives us these extra stories that don't fit into the main story arc but add so much depth to the world.

Page count: 190p/12,186p ytd/322,881p lifetime

50:100 Rituals by Kelley Armstrong

The conclusion to the Cainsville series.  Things are coming home to roost, not just the legendary fae trio but Liv's mom, Pamela, and Gabriel's mom, Seanna, and the third fae group that has been silent up until now but has been manipulating things with designs upon getting Liv onto their side since she was a baby, the sluagh, dark bogeyman of the fae.  Now Liv must fight, not just for herself and her right to choose her own fate but also for Ricky and Gabriel as well.

This series has been a fabulous ride and the ending was everything I could wish for.  Watching Liv, Gabriel, and Ricky grow and evolve to embrace their fae sides while keeping their humanity and being able to make their own choices was a treat.  I'm very glad that Ms. Armstrong is continuing to write stories in this world as she has done for the Otherworld series so we don't have to say good-bye quite yet.


Page count: 471p/11,996p ytd/322,691p lifetime

44:100 Betrayals by Kim Harrison

The 4th book in the Cainsville series.  Street kids are being murdered and someone is working hard to pin the blame on Ricky.  Of course Liv is going to start investigating which means that Gabriel will eventually end up on the case even if they are having personal issues between them at the moment.  However, the street kids aren't human but lamia, a Greek fae, who don't really fit in anywhere any more and they desperately need help and Liv can't just turn away from them no matter the risk to her personally. 

If the last book was all about the love triangle between Olivia, Gabriel, and Ricky with the ending being a somewhat forced break in even the friendship of Olivia and Gabriel than this book is much more a mystery with the romance angles taking the backseat.  Gabriel manages to get over himself and his insecurities enough to actually talk to Liv and she, in turn, gets over all of her hangups about his hangups to really open up and talk to him.  Bout freaking time is all I can say there.  Liv and Ricky are really starting to learn more about their powers, how they work, and are coming into their own realizations of the legendary figures that they are the reincarnations of.  In all, I don't know how much this advanced the resolution of their reincarnated issues but it was a good installment in terms of character growth and development along with more playing in the world that has been created than previously which is always fun to read.


Page count: 416p/10,769p ytd/321,464p lifetime

31:100 Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs

Mercedes had no idea what she had signed herself and thus Adam's pack for when she stood on that bridge and declared that her territory was safe ground.  Being who she is she could not have done anything different and she thought only of basic things like hunting down the occasional misbehaving monster from time to time once it was explained to her.  She had no idea that it would mean constant calls dealing with things like zombie goats, black witch families, or hosting diplomatic envoys for negotiations between the Grey Lords and the humans and dealing with those that do not want those negotiations to take place.  But now that these are happening, Mercy, Adam, and the Pack must find a way to keep all these people safe or die trying if their word is to stand.  This time, it's a much taller order than anyone could have ever expected.

Another spectacular installment in the Mercy Thompson series!  Ms. Briggs does a wonderful job of building the tension while weaving in touching or funny moments and Mercy's snark.  My biggest complaint is how long we have to wait between books (although, with how many favorite authors I have, there is almost always another fabulous book waiting for me to pick it up sitting in my to-read pile and I wouldn't want to give them up either LOL).


Page count: 358p/7,756p ytd/318,641p lifetime

22:100 Blood Bonds by Yasmine Galenorn

The final book in the Otherworld series by Yasmine Galenorn.  Rather than continuing the usual narrator pattern which would have this be Menolly's book, the narrator bounces between the three sisters as they each prepare for and deal with this final battle and the aftermath in their own ways.  It's been 4 years in universe time (and 10 years here in the real world) and Shadowing is not accepting the defeats he has been dealt gracefully.  Instead, he is now consuming all the lifeforce he can get from his followers in an attempt to be strong enough to accomplish the destruction of the worlds.  The Kerrastar Knights are finally fully formed and bonded and learning how to work together under Camille.  Delilah has grown into her powers as a Death Maiden.  Menolly has learned to accept who she is and her place in the Vampire Nation and how to help her people navigate through this new world where they can be out of the shadows. Now it's time to take everything they've learned, all the allies and friends that they have made, and have the big showdown.

There were books in this series that were plodding and didn't feel like they really moved the story along.  The last couple have almost felt rushed through the main point of them.  This one was definitely short and a lot more time was spent in the preparation and then the aftermath of the battle than on the battle itself but since this has been building for so many books, that felt right to me.  The lives of the sisters have gone through huge changes and I wanted to know more about how they were going to deal with things than have a lot of time spent on the battle.  In all, I felt it was good ending to the series, giving fans the payoff after so many years.


Page count: 244p/5,556p ytd/316,761p lifetime

19:100 That Ain't Witchcraft by Seanan McGuire

Incryptid book 8, told by Antimony Price.  Annie and her friends have been on the run for what feels like ages now, ever since she had to make a deal with the crossroads to save her life and Sam's. She traded her magic to them as a promissory note and in return, she will have to do something for them when they ask.  With a little luck, Cylia (resident jink and luck manipulator) has secured them a lovely little place to call home for a while in a small town in Maine.  Unfortunately, that is also where the luck runs out as it's a major spot for people to make deals with the crossroads and their power is strong there.  They have no problem finding Annie and letting her know that it's time for her to pay up by killing James Smith, a local wizard, who wants revenge on the crossroads after his best friend disappeared.  He is close to finding out their secrets and maybe even a way to destroy them and they will not let them pass unchallenged.  To make matters more fun, Leonard Cunningham, aka "Likely Next Leader of the Covenant", has shown up to try and *ahem* persuade Annie to come home with him.

There is a whole lot going on in this book with all these things happening at once and it was an amazing roller coaster ride and while the ending was great, it definitely makes me impatient for the next one to see where this is going.  I have a feeling we will be changing narrator but I'm not sure where things will be going from here.

This also included the new short story "Measure of a Monster" about a kidnapping of several gorgon children from a community that Alex and Shelby are near.  Of course, they are asked to come look into and there is no way they can turn this case away.  Nice little story that seems to be setting up some future stuff and it was really nice to see Sarah a little bit and how she's doing.

Page count: 435p/4,925p ytd/316,130p lifetime