Mini book review: Cursed Moon by Jaye Wells

Title: Cursed Moon
Author: Jaye Wells
Release date: August 2014
Publisher: Orbit
Series: Prospero's War
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: Bought

Description: When a rare Blue Moon upsets the magical balance in the city, Detective Kate Prospero and her Magical Enforcement colleagues pitch in to help Babylon PD keep the peace. Between potions going haywire and everyone's emotions running high, every cop in the city is on edge. But the moon's impact is especially strong for Kate who's wrestling with guilt over falling off the magic wagon.

After a rogue wizard steals dangerous potions from the local covens, Kate worries their suspect is building a dirty magic bomb. Her team must find the anarchist rogue before the covens catch him, and make sure they defuse the bomb before the Blue Moon deadline. Failure is never an option, but success will require Kate to come clean about her secrets.

My thoughts: I loved the first book in this series so I was eager to get stuck in to this one, and Ms. Wells did not disappoint. The pace, action, twists and character development are as good as book 1 (Dirty Magic). I love the will-they-won't-they, does-she-even-realise-she-likes-him-that-way side of Kate' relationship with Moralles. I also really enjoyed seeing the changes in her relationship with her brother after the events of the previous book.
As a classicist and having written my dissertation on Dionysus, I really enjoyed that aspects of his myth were used in this story as well. I always enjoy seeing how different authors use various myths and as you can guess, Dionysus is a bit of a favourite :)
There are a lot of characters that readers got to see a bit more of in this book who I look forward to 'meeting' again in subsequent books in the series - Uncle Abe and John Volos in particular.
I'm giving this 8 stars, it was one of those books I wanted to keep on reading but also wanted to make last much longer!

Waiting On Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jess at Breaking The Spine.

I have three books to look at this week. They've all been released in the last couple of months, but I haven't had a chance to read them yet, and I'm making myself read a few more books on my kindle (or get my next job lined up!) before I buy... the waiting is hard!

First up:
Deadly Spells, book 3 in the Prospero's War series by Jaye Wells. I've read the first two books in this
series and really enjoyed them. Kate Prospero is a cop, and from a powerful magical clan - one of the clans she's fighting as a cop. I'm loving the developments in her professional life as a cop, seeing how her attitude to magic is changing, and of course the hints at potential love interests that are starting to creep in! I'm not a fan of insta-love at all, so I'm glad that by the end of book two, there were just some things starting to take shape.

Second: Vision In Silver, by Anne Bishop. Book 3 of the 'Others' series. I like
the way these stories are told, following main character Meg who is a seer - when she makes a cut on her body. Meg is making a home for herself amongst the supernatural creatures who live on the edge of a town in North America. In this series, supernatural creatures are way above humans on the food chain, but the humans have a bad habit of forgetting that! At the end of book 2 it looked like things were getting pretty bad for humans in America, but something in far away Europe could be trying to change that... I'm looking forward to seeing what's next for Meg and her friends, and how they deal with the next set of challenges.

Third: Prudence, by Gail Carriger. I'm a big fan of Carriger's work, and Prudence is about the daughter of my favourite of her heroines, Alexia, making her own way in the world. I can't wait to dive into another aspect of Ms. Carriger's world, and see some old friends from the previous series' too, hopefully.

Feel free to share you're WoW links in the comments :)
~Ailsa

Interview: Jaye Wells

I'm thrilled to welcome Jaye Wells to the Book Bundle today! Urban fantasy fans will recognise her as the author of 'Red-Headed Stepchild' which was released earlier this year (you can read my review of it here).

Without further ado, here is the interview:

Ailsa: First of all, could you tell us a bit about your journey to publication, getting an agent etc? Did you ever have doubts about or trouble getting published?

Jaye Wells: I started writing fiction about four years ago. I took a writing class at a local community college and started my first book there. Red-Headed Stepchild was the third book I completed. I found my agent through the traditional route--by querying, sending a partial (50 pages of of the manuscript) and then a full. He read the full overnight and offered the next day. About a month later, after some revisions, he sent it out to several editors. About a week and a half later, there was an auction and I ended up signing a three-book deal with Orbit.

I don't think any writer goes through the path to publication without doubts. It's kind of part of the deal. It doesn't end once you get published either. Even published writers deal with rejection--either from editors or fans. The hardest part is to keep writing anyway. You have to have nerves of steel in this business.

A: Woah, so that was pretty quick once you queried that agent! That's great! Plotter or pantser? If you're a pantser, how far ahead do you plan things?

JW: I'm kind of both and neither. ;) My process is confusing even to me. But generally, I start out with a situation and a few scenes. Once I figure out what the story's about, I plot it out all the scenes, leaving myself enough room to pants it as I go. That sounds a lot easier than it is.

A: Do you use beta readers, or have a trusted critique partner who's with you all the way, or does it very with each project?

JW: I have beta readers who read the manuscript once I've done a couple good passes. They catch the high level story and character issues and I fix them. I've used critique groups before, but I found having someone read an almost-finished product is more effective for the way I write.

A: Did you make any rookie mistakes while you were submitting that you can look back on now and laugh about?

JW: Oh yes. One particular issue happened with a query letter. I'd seen a male agent speak at a writing event, and when I queried him I went on and on about how I saw him speak. It wasn't until after I sent the query that I realized I'd addressed the letter to "Mrs. (Agent's last name)." Not surprisingly I never heard back from him.

A: Oh no! Did you query widely, or were you targeting specific people/agencies?

JW: I'd queried a couple of projects before I submitted RHSC, so I had detailed notes on which ones seemed receptive, which ones got back in a timely manner, etc. From that list and further research, I queried about fifteen agents for the book. So I queried quite a few agents, but they were chosen for specific reasons.

A: Sabina was a fun character to read about - how much is she, or are any of the other characters, like you?

JW: All of my characters are like me in some way. Sabina's personality is probably most like mine, but there are some major differences and area where she's more exaggerated. I'm probably best described as a combination of Sabina and Giguhl. Yes, I understand this brings my sanity into question, but I'm okay with that.

A: Lol! Related to that, who was your favourite character, and who did you love to write about most?

JW: Obviously, I love Sabina because it's her story I'm telling. She's such a complex character to write. But I probably have most fun writing Giguhl. He gets the best lines and gives me a break from the heavy stuff Sabina's going through.

A: Can you tell us a bit about The Mage In Black? I'm really hoping for lots more Adam!

JW: The Mage in Black is much more magic-focused than Red-headed Stepchild, and it takes place in New York. Sabina's struggling to deal with the stragne mage culture and come to terms with the fall out from the betrayal of the first book. Giguhl gets involved in a special club and might find a love interest of his own. As for Adam, well, let's just say things there might be a few wrinkles coming in that relationship.

A: Argh! You're making me even more impatient for that book. Maybe I just shouldn't have asked. Finally, then, I know you have some great advice for writers on your blog. Could you share a couple of the most important things here for us?

JW: That's a toughie. I've got four years worth of unsolicited advice on that thing. ;) For aspiring writers, I recently listed my top ten tips for when you're just starting out. It's here: Click

A: Thank you very much for answering our questions!

Jaye's website can be found here, along with her blog.

Please leave a comment if you enjoyed the interview, or if you have any other questions for Jaye!

Also, remember that you still have time to enter our contest! See the post below this one for details.

Red-headed Stepchild, by Jaye Wells

From the back cover:

Things to do:

1) Infiltrate rival vampire cult and assassinate leader

2) Get rid of demon houseguest

3) Ditch the hot mage stalker

4) Betray family

In a world where being of mixed blood is a major liability, Sabina doesn’t really fit in. And being an assassin – the only profession fit for an outcast – doesn’t help matters. But she’s never brought her work home. Until now.

Her latest mission is uncomfortably complex, and threatens the fragile peace between the vampires and mage races. As Sabina scrambles to figure out which side she’s on, she uncovers a tangled political web, some nasty facts about her family and some unexpected new talents. Any of these things could be worryingly life-changing, but together, they could be fatal.

I’d been ‘hmm’ing and ‘hah’ing about buying Red-headed stepchild for months, since it first came out in the summer, and now I wish I’d got it sooner.

The action starts straight away, with Sabina’s world being pulled apart from the very first chapter, where she shoots her friend because she’s been told he’s a traitor. It’s never made clear what the relationship between Sabina and David was, but it was obviously close, because the echoes of this incident follow her through the novel, as she’s led to question everything she’s lived with.

I was a little bit surprised that Sabina had followed her orders with such unquestioning obedience for so long, but when her illusions break, boy, do they do it in a big way, and I can’t wait to see how revelations In this book affect her in book two, The Mage In Black. The early chapters brought through such a strong picture of what Sabina was like, her bold, kick-ass attitude staying constant throughout the novel.

My favourite secondary character was the mage Adam. (What is it with hot guys called Adam? Several of my favourite fictional guys are called Adam.) I loved the mystery of him from the moment Sabina met him in a bar. I don’t think we really got to see much of him in this book, but I think ‘The Mage In Black’ means we’ll get to see more of him in that book. ;-) And I like the blossoming romance between these two characters – it develops at a sensible pace for their prejudices and suspicions.

The plot moves quickly, and as usual with a good book it kept me up well past my bedtime! There were so many twists and turns, so many exciting things for the characters to deal with, but unlike some novels, the reader can still keep up, which is another great point in this novel’s favour. It was also good to see vampires pitted against something new – the mages. I also love the way their hair colour identifies vampires, and the shade shows how old they are. Little things like this make it a very well-built world, and I’m sure the sequels will be just as strong.

The ending was satisfying, too. Ms Wells has found the balance between a drawn out end that goes on too long, and the sudden stop that leave you wondering what happened. It tied up the important bits, answered some last minute questions, and left me desperate for the sequel.

Overall, I’m giving this 8/10 stars. Vampire fans should add this to their TBR piles, and Ms Wells is definitely one to watch for the future!

Book 2, The Mage In Black, comes out in April next year.

Exciting news!

Jaye has very kindly agreed to do an interview with us here at the Book Bundle. If you get questions to me quickly, I can include them in the interview. Look out for it soon!