Series that deserve more attention

Feature & Follow is a weekly hop hosted by Parajunkee & Alison Can Read. You can add your link to the list on their pages.

This week's question is: What book do you love that no one else seems to have heard of?

I think in the book blogging world we get very into 'The Next Big Thing' and don't look back very often. So I have two slightly older series I want to mention today.

First - Jena Black's Morgan Kingsley series. This came out a few years ago but was one of the series that got my hooked on urban fantasy. Morgan is an exorcist, banishing demons who unlawfully occupy a human - until she discovers a demon has snuck into her own body. The series has loads of action & political manoeuvring as well as some very sexy moments. ( Find it at The Book Depository |  Goodreads)

Secondly, the Spellcrackers.com series which follows Genny, a fae woman working in a modern day London when faeries and vampires are 'out' to the humans. Genny works to solve problems for people with magical solutions but both her job and her personal life get her in complicated situations. Magic, vampires and all kinds of faerie creatures running around London, along with a great love triangle - this is another excellent urban fantasy series. The last book of Genny's story arc comes out next year I think so this is the perfect time to start catching up with the other books. (Find it at The Book Depository | Goodreads )





Leave links to your own FF post in the comments and I'll have a look at them!

~Ailsa

Letterbox Love/Stacking The Shelves

Good morning! I've been packing up and moving in to my new flat this past week, so sorry for the lack of posts, but now I'm back in lovely Edinburgh! I've very excited to be back, and looking forward to going to some things at the International Book Festival this coming week.

Anyway, on to the books! And look, a video, for the first time in ages.



The Shifting Price of Prey, by Suzanne McLeod (Spellcrackers #4) - love this one, review or 'thoughts on books' post coming soon.
Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman - thought I'd posted a review for this last year, but apparently not, so review coming soon, another book I loved.
Freefall, by Jill Sorenson - won this one from The Book Vixen, looking forward to reading. Thanks, Brianna!
Run To You, by Charlotte Stein - for review, from NetGalley.
Magic Rises, by Ilona Andrews - very excited to finally have this one in the shops, looking forward to reading it.
The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, by Neil Gaiman - I'm seeing him talk at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this week, so figured I should read this one first! Hehe.

What books did you get this week?

~Ailsa

The Bitter Seed of Magic, by Suzanne McLeod

Publisher: Gollancz

Released: Feb 11 in the UK - out now! (US fans can order via Book Depository, and I think amazon.com will let you get the UK version, too)

Source: review copy from publisher & author

Book 3 in the series, see my review of book one here.

Warning: Contains spoilers for earlier books

Description from the back cover: Genny's an expert at cracking spells, but when it comes to cracking an 80 year old curse she knows she's in trouble, the sort that could change her life for ever - or end it in an instant.

On the surface Genny's life seems ripple-free. Finn - her boss and... well, Genny's not quite sure what else she wants him to be, but he isn't pushing for a decision on their relationship; the seductive vampire, Malik al-Khan has vanished back into the shadows; and the witches have declared her no longer a threat. But unless she can find a way to break the fertility curse afflicting London's fae, she knows this is just the lull before the magical storm.

Then a faeling - a teenager - is fished out of the River Thames, dead, and bound with magic, and Genny is called in to investigate. But as she digs through the clues, her search takes a sinister and dangerous turn, exposing age-old secrets that might be better left burried. It's not long before another faeling disappears, and Genny finds herself in a race against time to save the faelings and stop the curse from claiming its next victim - herself.

My thoughts: I love this series, and I think this might be my favourite so far! The characters remain just as strong as ever, which I really liked. And, as with the earlier books, the plot is interesting & complex enough that I had to go back and re-read a couple of bits to really fully understand what was going on. It means that the book can be just as enjoyable on a second read.

One of the things that I loved about this book more than the others was that there are a lot of developments in terms of relationships in this book. We learn more about what's been going on between Finn & Helen. (And by the way, I love the nickname Genny gives her - the Witch Bitch - it just made me smile every time I read it.) Genny also makes progress figuring out what she wants to do with Finn. I liked that there is a lot of Genny/Finn time, and also lots of Genny/Malik. Tavish comes in too, although not as much as the others, so whoever your favourite is, you should be happy reading this book. Although I sort of get Finn's reasons, there were parts of the book where I just wanted to shake him for the things he was saying - I think if I were Genny, I wouldn't have kept my temper. My personal favourite is Malik, though, and this book only added to that. I mean, we get to see him shirtless on Genny's bed. What's not to like about that? I understand his reasons for acting the way he does, but there was one particular scene where I was just thinking 'You stupid, idiot vampire!'. I love a book where I care this much about the characters.

Something else we learn a lot more about in this book is the fertility curse that's been hanging over Genny & the London fae in the previous book. It was really interesting to learn more about how that had happened in the first place. I liked meeting more of the fae, and that side of Genny's heritage, even if some of them were a bit strange! You also see the other side of that heritage - the vampire half. I think that's going to play a more important part in the books to come, and I'm looking forward to it.

I feel like Genny grew up a lot in this book, and I can't wait to see what happens in the next book. I've no idea where the series might go, but I'm hoping to see more about the vampires, and the results of the events in this book. It's a long time to wait, but in the meantime, I can always re-read this one again, can't I? In fact, I might just do that now...

If you haven't checked out this book yet, then I would definitely recommend picking it up soon! I give it 9 out of 10, I loved it.

~Ailsa

Competition News

Just a quick reminder to everyone that you can still enter our competition to win a copy of 'Crossed Wires' by Rosy Thornton here: Click - you've got until the 12th to enter that.


Also, Suzanne McLeod, who's book we reviewed here: review, has another competition running. Once again, I'm disorganised, so you only have until the end of the day, anywhere, tonight (Wednesday) to enter. You can win a signed copy of either her first or second books, and also one of the Felix Castor books by Mike Carey. You can find out more about them, and the competition, over here: Suzanne's Blog.

I'd highly recommend you check it out - I've read the first Felix book, and thought it was fantastic.

Our First Linked Review. . . .

We had a little YaY moment here at the book bundle and we thought we'd share it:

Many of you may or may not know that Daeonica (gapyeargirl) posted a review about 'The Sweet Scent of Blood' by Suzanne McLeod. Well you can imagine how thrilled we were to discover that she has actually mentioned this review on the review section of her website (the second one for the sweet scent of blood).

So I'd like to just say Well Done to Daeonica for our first noticed review and a Big Thank You to Suzanne McLeod for dropping by and taking notice of our review - we're all delighted :)

The Sweet Scent of Blood, by Suzanne McLeod - and a CONTEST!

Since I’ve been re-reading it in preparation for the sequel, which comes out on July 16th, I just had to review this book. It’s been a while since I’d read it, and I’d forgotten how much I loved it.
‘The Sweet Scent of Blood’ is about a Sidhe fae called Genny Taylor, who lives in present day London, working at finding magic while trying to stay away from vampires - she knows from experience exactly how bad they can be.
From the website:
When Mr October, a sexy calendar pin-up vamp, is accused of murdering his girlfriend, an old debt is called in and Genny is forced to help prove his innocence, risking her job and the protection it offers – and threatening to expose her own dark secrets. Searching for the killer plunges Genny deep into the hidden heart of vampire society. It’s not long before she realises that she and Mr October are both unwitting pawns in a centuries-old power struggle between London’s non-human communities . .  . and it’s not just her own neck that’s at stake, but the lives of all London’s supernaturals.

This book grabbed me straight away, and it wastes no time in getting to the action. By the end of the first chapter (which you can read on her website) I was totally hooked. Genny is a very interesting narrator, and as the book progresses, we learn more and more about her history with vampires, and get to meet some of her interesting friends.

There are so many things I love about this book. One of them has to be the characters. They are all so vivid and real, and there are a lot of hot, sexy vampires - which to me is always a plus. Then there’s the fact that you just don’t know who Genny can really trust.
The writing style was another thing I loved - it was just fantastic, not letting down those characters or the intricate plot. I’ll admit that the first time I read this, I was rushing through so quickly that I then had to go back and re-read the last few chapters to make sure I really knew what had happened. It’s one of those rare books where I think you can appreciate it even more with each subsequent reading.

So, the competition!
Suzanne is holding competitions over on her blog, here (on blogger) or here (on livejournal) to promote the release. This week, you can win ‘The Eternal Kiss’ or ‘Mean Streets’ plus a signed copy of either of her own books. If you don’t make it in tonight, I think she’s doing another contest next week, too, so keep your eyes open!
Also, if you’re not sure about it, the first two chapters of ‘The Sweet Scent of Blood’ can be read on her website, here: Spellcrackers.com
Good luck!