Book Review: The Awakening

You don't have to be alive to be awakened.

Chloe Saunders is a living science experiment—not only can she see ghosts, but she was genetically altered by a sinister organization called the Edison Group. She's a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control, which means she can raise the dead without even trying. Now Chloe's running for her life with three of her supernatural friends—a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch—and they have to find someone who can help them before the Edison Group catches them.

Or die trying.

Chloe and her friends escaped from Lyle house, but they didn’t get far. The Awakening picks up right where The Summoning ends. Chloe is locked in a cell, separate from her friends. She knows one of them is dead, but what about the other four? Have they been captured? Are they dead too?

In this second installment of The Darkest Powers by Kelley Armstrong, Chloe and her friends learn even more about the experiments that were done on them. They continue trying to evade The Edison Group and capture. Things heat up between Chloe and Derek, while Tori and Simon deal with being of rival races. One of the wonderful things about this series is that even while all of the characters are supernatural, they deal with the same things teens do in our world: relationships, speech difficulties, diabetes, etc... The characters are interesting and fun and Kelley's storytelling is amazing.

Being the middle book in a trilogy, it’s a bit slower than The Summoning, but leaves you excited for The Reckoning. Be sure to check out all three!

Book Review: The Summoning

My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost—and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? It's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House . . . before its skeletons come back to haunt me.

The Summoning marks Kelley Armstrong’s debut in Young Adult fiction. The Darkest Powers trilogy is set in the same world as her famous adult series The Women of the Otherworld. And if you’ve read those, then you can guess which kind of supernatural our main character is.

That’s right… Chloe Saunders is a necromancer. She can see and talk to ghosts, which means – unfortunately – they can see and talk to her as well. One of the interesting things about necromancers in this world is that it never (except in 1 family) passes down the line to each child. So when she says she can see ghosts her father doesn’t know what to do. She is sent to Lyle House, a home for troubled teens. AKA teens who are just coming into their supernatural powers.

If you love Kelley Armstrong’s adult series and/or love YA paranormal, definitely check out this series.

Book Review: Frostbitten

Meet the smart, sexy — supernatural — women of the otherworld.

For Elena Michaels, being the world’s only female werewolf has its advantages, such as having her pick of the Otherworld’s most desirable males. And she couldn’t have picked a more dangerously sexy and undyingly loyal mate than Clayton Danvers. But now their bond will be put to the ultimate test. A werewolf more wolf than human and more unnatural than supernatural—a creature whose origins spring from ancient legend—is hunting human prey, and Elena and Clayton must track the predator deep into Alaska’s frozen wilderness.

But the personal stakes are even higher. Either Clayton or Elena has been chosen to become the new Pack leader, and every wolf knows that there can be only one Alpha. The couple have always been equals in everything. Now, when their survival depends more than ever on perfect teamwork, will instinct allow one of them to lead and the other to follow?

Elena Michaels returns to narrate book ten of the Women of the Otherworld series, Frostbitten. It begins as she chases a mutt, Reese Williams, a werewolf from Australia. She and Clay follow him to Alaska. Naturally, he’s afraid they want to kill him. When in fact they want to protect him.

Also in Alaska… wolf killings. More specifically… werewolf killings. Nick, Antonio, and Jeremy all make their way to Alaska, so the pack can work together to put a stop to the killings. But what they find there aren’t just werewolves, but something similar. Is it a new type of supernatural? Or a supernatural that predates werewolves, who’ve been hiding all this time? The Otherworld continues to grow and expand, adding new characters and races.

While I enjoyed this installment more than Hope’s stories, it was far from my favorite. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of Elena or Clay. Both are considered favorites to many of Kelley’s fans. But, regardless, the book was written by Kelley Armstrong, and that means wonderful writing, interesting, fast-paced storytelling, definitely not to be missed.

Book Review: Living with the Dead

Meet the smart, sexy — supernatural — women of the otherworld.

The men and women of the Otherworld live unseen among us. For the most part, mere mortals never suspect their existence—and that’s the way they want it. But now a reckless killer has torn down the wall between our worlds, trapping one very vulnerable, and very mortal, woman in the supernatural cross fire.

Robyn Peltier moved to Los Angeles shortly after her young husband’s sudden and unexpected death. Her hope was that her hectic new life as the PR consultant to a spoiled celebutante would provide a distraction from her grief. But when her client is murdered, Robyn finds herself on the run as the prime suspect. And as more bodies pile up around her, it seems only her friend, tabloid journalist Hope Adams, is on her side.

But Hope and her somewhat spooky boyfriend Karl know it’s just a matter of time before Robyn is caught. For she’s gotten herself in the middle of a turf war between two Otherworld races who’ll spill any amount of blood—human and inhuman—to protect what they consider theirs for eternity. And the only way Hope can save her friend is by letting her enter a world she’s safer knowing nothing about.

Hope is back in Living with the Dead, book nine in the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. Her first book (Personal Demon) was unusual, what with the fact that she co-narrated the novel. This book has five points of view. But not first person. This is the only novel to date that Kelley has written in third person. The five points of view include Hope, Finn, Robyn, and clairvoyants Adele and Colm.

Hope’s best friend Robyn, a human, is caught up in a supernatural life and death situation. She’s the target of a community of clairvoyants. Up until now, we’ve rarely seen clairvoyants. We know they exist, but like the werewolves in the beginning, they live in a world, separate from other supernaturals. They’re dying out, and they want to preserve their bloodlines and only mate with other clairvoyants. As they’ve reproduced with humans and other supernaturals, their powers have decreased as generations passed.

Honestly, my favorite part of this book was the clairvoyants. Most of the time, a clairvoyant’s power is to see the future. Not so in this world. If one of them has an article of your clothing, a necklace or ring, or any other personal item of yours, they can see through your eyes. They see what you see. Which makes it awfully hard to escape when one is coming after you. Which just happens to be Robyn’s dilemma.

But if she’s on the run from cops who think she killed her client, why are clairvoyants after her? She has only one person, her best friend Hope, on her side. Well… Hope and her good-for-nothing (my opinion) boyfriend, Karl Marsten. I enjoyed Hope and this book much more than the previous installment. Living with the Dead is so different from the rest of the series it really stands out from the others. It takes a really good writer to keep things just as exciting as we near the double digit mark in a series.

Book Review: Personal Demon

Meet the smart, sexy — supernatural — women of the otherworld.

Tabloid reporter Hope Adams appears to live the life of an ordinary working girl. But in addition to possessing the beauty of a Bolly-wood princess, Hope has other unique traits. For she is a half demon- a human fathered by a demon. And she's inherited not only a gift for seeing the past but a hunter for chaos- along with a talent for finding it wherever she can. Naturally, when she's chosen by a very dangerous group for a very dangerous mission, she jumps at the chance...

The head of the powerful Cortez Cabal- a family that makes the mob look like amateurs- has a little problem in Miami: a gang of wealthy, bored offspring of supernaturals is getting out of hand, and Hope is needed to infiltrate them. As spells, astral projections, and pheromones soar across South Beach, Hope weaves her way through its elite hot spots, posing as upscale eye candy and reading the auras of the clientele- and potential marks.

Hope, the narrator for Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong, is our newest addition to the Otherworld. She was originally introduced in “Chaotic” a novella in Dates from Hell, and then reintroduced in No Humans Involved. She’s a twenty-something chaos demon. She has a talent for finding chaos, and once she does she is taken by visions. Visions of murder, rape, abuse… and she enjoys them. It comes with being Lucifer’s daughter.

She is recruited by the Cortez cabal, by Benicio himself, to infiltrate a group of supernaturals. Hope is not our only narrator. For the first time in this series, we get two narrators, and the second is male. Lucas Cortez! My favorite guy in the series. And through him we get to see a bit more into the world of cabals. Story wise, I have to say this wasn’t my favorite. Hope is my least favorite woman of the Otherworld, so this one probably ranks in last. That being said, it’s still a fun installment and should not be missed. 

Book Review: No Humans Involved

Meet the smart, sexy — supernatural — women of the otherworld.

It's the most anticipated reality television event of the season: three spiritualists gathered together in one house to raise the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. For celebrity medium Jaime Vegas, it's her best shot at the celebrity holy grail: a TV show of her own. Because, unlike her colleagues, who are more style than substance, Jaime is the real thing.

Yet reluctant to upstage her fellow spiritualists, Jaime suppresses her talents, as she has always done. But something is lurking in the gardens behind the house: trapped spirits without a voice. And for the first time, Jaime understands what it means to be haunted. When events culminate in a psychic showdown, she must use her darkest power to defeat a shocking enemy-- one whose force comes from the last ream she expected.

No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong is book seven in The Women of the Otherworld series. I have to admit I was not looking forward to this book. Years before it was written I had read that Kelley was hoping to have Cassandra narrate seven. But Jaime got it. I loved Cass and hated Jaime. So, yeah... I was not looking forward to it. But it was written by the amazing Kelley Armstrong so I picked it up anyway. Jaime is the fourth narrator for this series, and each time we got a new one I had trouble getting into the book. But I had no trouble with this one.

Jaime O'Casey is a necromancer. She can speak to ghosts and raise and control zombies. She carries around a designer make-up bag... filled with hair, fingernails, teeth, cloth taken from a corpse, and even a finger or other small body part... which must be fresh. Ew, right? 

She's not just a necromancer; Jaime Vegas is a celebrity. Hence the name Vegas. She's a spiritualist. She contacts the dead to give their relatives peace of mind. Except that she's a con, like all the others. The messages real ghosts want to pass on won't sell tickets.

She's in California to film a television special in which three spiritualists are supposed to contact the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. Slightly inebriated she had invited her crush, smexy werewolf alpha, Jeremy Danvers, to join her. In the garden at the mansion where the spiritualists are staying, Jaime finds something she’s encountered only once before. Ghosts who she can’t see or hear, but who can touch her. With Jeremy’s help, Jaime’s going to solve the mystery of the trapped ghosts and set them free.

In previous novels, Jaime has basically been the comic relief. She's been kidnapped, possessed, and psychically attacked. She's clumsy and inarticulate when Jeremy's around, showing her to be a fool. She's flaky. The only thing I liked about her was that she always had the best lines. But here, where we get to read through her eyes, we find that there is much more to her.

We get to see what her life is really like. How hard it was growing up and learning to deal with ghosts. And, suddenly, she's not flaky. She's not a fool. She's strong, smart, caring... 

This book changed my opinion, a compete 180, on what I thought of her. She was my least favorite, and then she became my favorite character with this novel. The Women of the Otherworld is my favorite series. And No Humans Involved is my favorite book. I've read it over a dozen times. There is nothing I can say to express just how much I love it.

“I saw my true power. The darkest power. The greatest power.” 

Pick up this series, you won’t be disappointed.

Book Review: Broken

Meet the smart, sexy — supernatural — women of the otherworld.

In this thrilling new novel from Kelley Armstrong, a pregnant werewolf may have unwittingly unleashed Jack the Ripper on twenty-first-century—and become his next target.

Ever since she discovered she’s pregnant, Elena Michaels has been on edge. After all, she’s never heard of another living female werewolf, let alone one who’s given birth. But thankfully, her expertise is needed to retrieve a stolen letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper. As a distraction, the job seems simple enough—only the letter contains a portal to Victorian London’s underworld, which Elena inadvertently triggers—unleashing a vicious killer and a pair of zombie thugs.

Now Elena must find a way to seal the portal before the unwelcome visitors get what they’re looking for—which, for some unknown reason, is Elena.

Kelley Armstrong's Broken is my favorite Elena novel out of the four. She and Clayton are expecting twins, and life is anything but normal. Elena accidentally opens a portal by activating a spell on a letter written by Jack the Ripper. "Kill a bug, launch the apocalypse."

Granddaddy-to-be, Jeremy Danvers and fellow pack members, Antonio and Nick Sorrentino join them on their Toronto adventure. Diseased rats, zombies, the plague... when the portal was opened, it brought along with it issues from Victorian London. The last time a portal was opened (in Industrial Magic) Paige and Lucas called Jaime. So the pack calls in our favorite necro, Jaime Vegas. She shows up, without a moment's hesitation to aide the pack. Mostly because of her seemingly hopeless crush on the smexy alpha.

With a vow to not be possessed or kidnapped this time, the pack accepts her help. Together they work to close the portal and restore Toronto to normal. Along the way we meet Zoe Takano, hot Asian vamp and her friend Tee... an insane necromancer, which forces Jaime to literally face her worst fear, the fate of most necros... madness.

Elena's pregnancy professes faster than normal, due to her being a werewolf, Clay is injured by a decomposing zombie, and Jeremy and Jaime grow closer. But can they stop an evil sorcerer and close the portal before Toronto is destroyed?

Another exciting installment of The Women of the Otherworld. Be sure to check out this amazing series!

Book Review: Haunted

Meet the smart, sexy — supernatural — women of the otherworld.

Eve Levine — half-demon, black witch and devoted mother — has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can’t be killed again — which comes in handy when you’ve made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn’t too bad — all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she’ll be happy.

But fate — or more exactly, the Fates — have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they’ve just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy — previous hunters have been driven insane in the process. As if that’s not problem enough, the only way to stop her is with an angel’s sword. And Eve is no angel. . .

In Haunted by Kelley Armstrong we meet Eve Levine, dark witch and half demon. She's been mentioned in the previous three books as Savannah's deceased mother. She lost her life a bit before Stolen when she and her daughter were captured.

Considering the fact that our narrator is dead, this novel takes place in the supernatural afterlife. She is sent on a mission by the Fates to catch Nix. And she needs help from our side. Which sends her straight to our favorite necro, Jaime Vegas. "Eve Levine. On a mission from God. I really must be wearing my stupid face today." After Eve gets rid of a pesky, headless spook, Jaime agrees to help.

Eve is a fun character. Strong and kick-ass. She has some similar qualities to Elena. Even with her demon father and dark magic ways, she's a good mother and an awesome addition to our cast of Otherworld characters. In the afterlife, she has reconnected with Kristof Nast, her daughter’s father. One thing I really enjoyed was her friendship with Jaime. They couldn't be more different, but they work together fabulously. The other thing I really enjoyed was the creepiness in some of the scenes in the afterlife. Scariest book of this series.

Book Review: Industrial Magic

Meet the smart, sexy — supernatural — women of the otherworld.

This is not your mother’s coven...

Kelley Armstrong returns with the eagerly awaited follow-up to Dime Store Magic. Paige Winterbourne, a headstrong young woman haunted by a dark legacy, is now put to the ultimate test as she fights to save innocents from the most insidious evil of all.. . .

In the aftermath of her mother’s murder, Paige broke with the elite, ultraconservative American Coven of Witches. Now her goal is to start a new Coven for a new generation. But while Paige pitches her vision to uptight thirty-something witches in business suits, a more urgent matter commands her attention.

Someone is murdering the teenage offspring of the underworld’s most influential Cabals — a circle of families that makes the mob look like amateurs. And none is more powerful than the Cortez Cabal, a faction Paige is intimately acquainted with. Lucas Cortez, the rebel son and unwilling heir, is none other than her boyfriend. But love isn’t blind, and Paige has her eyes wide open as she is drawn into a hunt for an unnatural-born killer. Pitted against shamans, demons, and goons, it’s a battle chilling enough to make a wild young woman grow up in a hurry. If she gets the chance.

I read Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong several years ago. It’s my favorite of the first four. I had less trouble getting into this one than Dime Store Magic since I was used to Paige’s POV. The story was more exciting. It included all of the characters from Paige’s previous novel, but pulls in the pack and our favorite vamps. We also meet our first necromancer, Jaime Vegas. If you’ve read my reviews from Waking the Witch and/or Spell Bound, you all know that Jaime is my favorite in the series. That wasn’t always true. I disliked her big time on my first read-through of this one.

The cabals (the sorcerer mafia) play an even bigger role in this one, as we get to know Lucas’ family (mostly reprehensible), the Cortez Cabal. Cabal teens are being killed, and they need help figuring out who is behind this. Sorcerers hate witches, yet they turn to the ex-coven leader for help. While Paige narrates this one, Jaime plays a large role. She’s a necromancer. She talks to ghosts and raises zombies. She’s also a celebrity. Paige calls her “flakier than a puff pastry”, and it’s only because of her trust in Lucas that she accepts Jaime’s help.

What I find fascinating about Kelley’s books, is that she really makes you see through the narrator’s eyes. Paige didn’t like Jaime, so I didn’t. But she turns out to be a real asset, and here, for the first time in the series, do we get to see a group of different supernaturals all working together using their powers and strengths to defeat a threat. No one type of supernatural is better or stronger than another. They all have strengths and weaknesses, and they work best as a group.

The cast is quite varied, and my favorite scenes tend to be the ones with many of our major players. They’re fun to see playing off of one another. Be sure to check out Industrial Magic, the fourth book in the Women of the Otherworld series. It keeps getting better!

Be sure to check out Kelley's site for info on the series, novellas, graphic novels, short stories, anthologies, and free online fiction!

Book Review: The Gathering

Darkness Rising…

Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn't know much about her background - the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip - but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island. 

Until now. 

Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town - from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend's hidden talent for "feeling" out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel . . . . different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya's biological parents and it's easy to suspect that this town might have more than its share of skeletons in its closet. 

In The Gathering, Kelley Armstrong brings all the supernatural thrills from her wildly successful Darkest Powers series to Darkness Rising, her scorching hot new trilogy.

For those of you who’ve not read my other reviews of books by Kelley Armstrong, you may not know this… but Kelley is my absolute favorite author ever! I love her adult series, and I was thrilled when I heard she was coming out with a YA series. The Gathering is the first in the “Darkness Rising” trilogy, which follows “The Darkest Powers” trilogy. And as much as I enjoyed “The Darkest Powers” I enjoyed The Gathering twice as much. I like Maya better than Chloe. And so far the story is more interesting/exciting.

Maya is a supernatural, and, as a teen, she doesn’t quite know it yet. In Kelley’s world, supernaturals start exhibiting their powers in their teen years. And considering Maya is adopted, the parents who raised her have no clue either. But… just what is she? When I met Kelley in person several years ago, she told us what kind of supernatural might show up. So I was spoiled a bit on that, but didn’t mind one bit. Maya is something we’ve never seen in Kelley’s world before, something unique to her ancestry.

“The Darkest Powers” trilogy was about changing supernaturals… either suppressing their powers or strengthening them. In “Darkness Rising”, it’s all about bringing extinct supernaturals back into the fold. What many seem to not know is that both trilogies are in the same series, so if you’re weary of reading the new trilogy because you loved Chloe, Derek, Tori, Simon, Liz, and Rae, don’t fear. They’ll be back later in this trilogy. But, already, there was a reference to one of the six teens in The Gathering. And, of course, if you’re a fan of her adult series, well… there are too many references to number.

I’m very excited about The Calling, which hits shelves next spring, and will follow Maya and gang where the cliffhanger left us at The Gathering. And after that... The Rising. Who else is excited?!

Book Review: Spell Bound

At last, in the novel every Kelley Armstrong fan will need to own, all the major heroines and heroes of Otherworld are united. 

It's been ten years since Bitten, the first novel in Kelley Armstrong's New York Times bestselling Otherworld series. In that time hundreds of thousands of fans have ravenously devoured the adventures of Armstrong's witches, demons, and werewolves. Now, in Spell Bound, she brings them all together for her most sweeping tale yet. 

Savannah Levine is in terrible danger, and for once she's powerless to help herself. At the heartbreaking conclusion of Waking the Witch, Savannah swore that she would give up her powers if it would prevent further pain for a young orphan. Little did she know that someone would take her up on that promise. 

And now, witch-hunting assassins, necromancers, half-demons, and rogue witches all seem to be after her. The threat is not just for Savannah; every member of the Otherworld might be at risk. While most of her fellow supernaturals are circling the wagons at a gathering of the council in Miami, Savannah is caught on the road, isolated from those who can protect her and unable to use her vast spell-casting talent, the thing she counts on most. In a story that will change the shape of the Otherworld forever, Armstrong gathers Elena, Clay, Paige, Lucas, Jamie, Hope, and other beloved characters, who soon learn that the greatest threat to supernaturals just may come from within.

I have been a fan of The Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong since I found Bitten and Stolen on the shelves of my local Borders in 2003. She is my favorite author, and this my favorite series. Everyone should read this series. It’s amazing! So I felt particularly lucky to snag an ARC of Spell Bound.

The next book, 13, will be the final book of the series, and Spell Bound is mostly about setting it up. But it’s still fabulous. As the series has progressed, the cast has gotten larger. And with the changing points of view, we’ve gotten to know each of the female main characters very well. And in Savannah’s story, it pulls all of the characters we know and love together.

Something big is going to happen, and it may change their world forever. Now is definitely the time to pick this series up if you haven’t already. Only one year until this series is concluded. But be sure to check out Kelley Armstrong’s site for info on short story, novella, and graphic novel information! And follow her on Twitter.