Review of Funeral Pallor by Sean Cummings - beware the zombies!

Title: Funeral Pallor
Author: Sean Cummings
Pages: 320, paperback
Genre: urban fantasy
Standalone/Series: Series (Valerie Stevens, #2)
Release: Already out (July 1st 2010)
Publisher: Snowbooks
Received for review from author
Author info:  http://sean-cummings.ca Twitter: @saskatoonauthor
Spoiler Alert:  Spoilers for book #1
GoodReads Blurb: There's a nest of rotting husks in an old Calgary warehouse and they've got a hankering for human flesh, but that's the least of Valerie Stevens' problems. While necromancers are a dime a dozen, these mindless killing machines all share one thing in common: they're former occupants of every funeral home in the city.

The evidence points to the zombie Caroline, especially now that she's been experiencing short term memory loss and an inability to account for her whereabouts. If Valerie plans to clear her best friend's name, she'll have to move fast: someone has dispatched a zombie assassin and Caroline's only hope may rest with a pair of middle-aged head-bangers with a few secrets of their own.

In this installation of the Valerie Stevens series, we catch up with Valerie many months after the events in Shade Fright. She is still under the tutelage of the ancient mage/Yoda-like mentor D. T. and still trying to learn about her powers including the “clarity” she apparently glows with before her next encounter with the Conclave. Valerie is still dragging her heels with trying to find a solution to Caroline’s undead situation and has had some bumps in her relationship with mustached dump truck driver Dave.  Unfortunately for Valerie, the big baddies of the supernatural community are still interested in her and one evening during the course of her job she gets trapped in a warehouse by a gaggle of flesh-eating zombies. This near-death experience is just the start of wild adventures for Valerie as she tries to get to the bottom of why zombies are loose in Calgary and what her undead friend Caroline might have to do with it.

Funeral Pallor starts out the action pretty quickly with one of the most fearsome (at least for me) supernatural creatures out there – the zombie. And these zombies seem to be working together to get their little piece of flesh like a borg-hive (double shiver) so Valerie needs to get all the help she can get – including the aid of metal loving headbanger brothers, the Newby brothers. The Newby brothers cracked me up with their modified Zombie killing pick-up truck with a snow plow attached and their constant reverence to Valerie as “toots”. Although their headbanging may have dislodged any higher level  reasoning skills they do seem to be good at killing zombies and are important to unraveling the mystery of why all these zombies are roaming the streets of Calgary. We also see a lot of Caroline in the installment and the lengths she’s had to take to preserve her zombie form (self-service embalming anyone) though less of the rest of the cast of friends from Shade Fright including Fifty-Dollar Bill, D.T., and Dave. Caroline has been having black-outs that have Valerie worried that Caroline is giving in to her darker zombie nature and while investigating what is going on they delve into conspiracy theories, shady business organizations, and survive a few assassination attempts.  We also meet a new character – Tim Reaper – along the way who I hope we get to see in future book installments.

Overall it was a well formed mystery –although I had a good idea who the bad guys worked for I had no idea who the bad guys were till the end – one of my favorite things with a mystery is not guessing the outcome from the beginning. The ending of this book is very sweet too – Valerie’s got quite the man in her life.

3.5 out of 5 stars for me, fearsome zombies and head-banging zombie killers make an interesting mix.

Review of Shade Fright by Sean Cummings - Something supernatural is happening across the border

Title: Shade Fright
Author: Sean Cummings
Pages: 320 pages, paperback
Genre: urban fantasy
Standalone/Series: Series (Valerie Stevens, #1)
Release: Already out (March 2010)
Publisher: Snowbooks
Received for review from author
Author info:  http://sean-cummings.ca Twitter: @saskatoonauthor
Spoiler Alert: In the clear.
GoodReads blurb: 'I fell into this job quite by accident, when I discovered that I possessed the ability to see the preternatural world. There are a handful of people with similar abilities, and part of my job is to locate them, since Government Services and Infrastructure Canada like to keep track of these things. Don't ask me why'. There's a malevolent force in town, and it's quite literally Valerie Steven's job to determine who's behind it and why they want to destroy the world, starting with Calgary. She'll have help, in the form of her best friend (now more or less a zombie, unfortunately), a powerful dwarf troll, and the ghost of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (but he goes by 'Bill' these days). But that's not all - Valerie has some tricks up her sleeve and, she hopes, luck on her side. Oh, and her boyfriend, Dave. He drives a dump truck.

Valerie Stevens is an alchemist who works for a shadowy arm of the Canadian government (I know it is kind of hard to believe the Canadian government can have a shadow arm - but you know there has to be a darkside to all the Canadian niceness right?). Most the time Valerie's job involves tracking or capturing supernatural elements in Tupperware and sending them to her boss near the North Pole and to avoid attempts on her life by unhappy elements of the supernatural community. This time Valerie's job is alot tougher than trapping the supernatural element she finds herself up against a terrorist organization with dark magic at it's roots. Thankfully, Valerie has friends in the form of an ancient mage, a former Canadian prime minister now ghost, a zombie that has retained part of her soul, and her dump truck driving boyfriend Dave.

Although this book starts out a bit slow for me with much of the world building by way of Valerie's  inner monologue - once the world and the players are established the book really starts to take off as Valerie rushes to find out who or what is behind the attempts on her life and stop them before they bring about more death. Valerie is a great character and has an interesting group of beings that she calls friends. She is the kind of no-nonsense heroine I can appreciate that doesn't do more than the usual amount of grumbling about the deck she has been dealt in life and she does some serious bad guy supernatural butt-kicking. Her friends also add some interesting spice to the mix with Fifty Dollar Bill being just how I would imagine the eccentric former Prime Minister William Mackenzie would behave with long winded speeches and antiquated views of how a woman should behave (though he does pop in on her in the shower), while her friend Caroline is a unique mix for a zombie - though she is one of the undead she retains her soul and therefore her sharp wit yet she has a zombie's strength and immunity to pain, and flesh eating habits as well (though she stays away from humans). Another great character, though we don't see enough of him, is her boyfriend Dave. Dave is a dump truck driver and is totally freaked out by the supernatural though he is sweet and cooks for Valerie, listens to opera, and sticks by her through all the craziness because he loves her so much.

And let's not forget the location - Calgary, Canada. Though I have read books that have been based in Canada before but they never made good use of the location and local flavor as Mr. Cumming's book did. Several of the locations used in the book actually exist in Calgary and he includes the all important Tim Hortons (if you ever meet a Canadian and are looking for things to discuss just bring up Tim Hortons and they'll be talking about how wonderful it is for a while..and then bring up hockey and they'll talk all night ;) Overall this was a good first entry into a new series that I am looking forward to reading.

3.5 out of 5 stars, some serious butt-kicking of dark forces by a tough Canadian heroine who has the best dump-truck driving boyfriend ever.

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce - Werewolves are so not sexy here!

Title: Sisters Red
Author: Jackson Pearce
Pages: 326 pages hardcover
Genre: Paranormal, YA
Standalone/Series: Series (book #1)
Release: Already out (June 2010)
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young
Received through Book it Forward ARC tours
Author info:  Author website
Spoiler Alert: In the clear.
GoodReads Blurb: Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris-- the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.
Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts fiercely alongside her. Now Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves and finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax-- but loving him means betraying her sister and has the potential to destroy all they've worked for.  

Werewolves are so not sexy in this novel based loosely on Little Red Riding Hood. Werewolves are called the Fenris – who in human form are usually alluringly attractive to draw their prey but change into a disgusting wolf like form with clumpy oily fur and otherworldly stench when they attack. The two sisters in this book, Rose and Scarlett, know the Fenris intimately since they were attacked by one as children that left their life broken and Scarlett horribly scarred.  Now fast-forward a few years and the sisters spend their time battling this threat that most humans don’t see as well as growing into young women. For Scarlett, being a woman only means she is better bait to lure the Fenris away to kill them but for Rose she starts to question as she grows older if she just wants to hunt and kill Fenris for the rest of her life. When their neighbor Silas, a boy the sisters grew up with, returns after spending a year away Rosie begins to question even more what she wants out of life when she lays eyes on him.

The story is told in first person alternating between Scarlett and Rose’s point of view. Although effective in getting across a more complete picture of the overall story it is a little jarring to jump back and forth between the two view points since the sisters are so very different. Scarlett’s whole life is the hunt – I think if she could live off the thrill of killing another Fenris she would chose that rather than sleeping, eating, or even talking to other people. And the sisters do not have an easy life, they both dropped out of highschool to devote more time to hunting and their only source of income is from hawking items of their mother, who abandoned them, and grandmother, who died trying to protect them. Not a very easy choice to sell off belongings of people you loved to supply your hunt for the beings that destroyed your life. The hunt takes Scarlett, Rose, and Silas to Atlanta to take down more Fenris who seem to be invading their town. Many things happen while in the city – betrayal, romance, surprising discoveries, and a nail-biting fight in the end.

3.5 out of 5 stars for me, a gritty new world where werewolves aren’t sexy and sisters hold two-halves of one heart.

Review of Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien - which side of the wall would you be on?

Title: Birthmarked
Author: Caragh M. O'Brien
Pages: 362, Paperback
Genre: Dystopian, YA
Standalone/Series: Standalone?
Release: Already out (March 2010)
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Received through Book it Forward ARC Tours
Author info:  Author website
Spoiler Alert: Minor plot spoilers
GoodReads Blurb: After climate change, on the north shore of Unlake Superior, a dystopian world is divided between those who live inside the wall, and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone, who live outside. It’s Gaia’s job to “advance” a quota of infants from poverty into the walled Enclave, until the night one agonized mother objects, and Gaia’s parents are arrested. Badly scarred since childhood, Gaia is a strong, resourceful loner who begins to question her society. As Gaia’s efforts to save her parents take her within the wall, she herself is arrested and imprisoned. Fraught with difficult moral choices and rich with intricate layers of codes, Birthmarked explores a colorful, cruel, eerily familiar world where one girl can make all the difference, and a real hero makes her own moral code.

Birthmarked was my first dystopian read and I think I need to start reading more in this genre! The novel immediately sets-up the two discordant societies: the thriving city, the Enclave, inside the wall that survived an apocalypse and the poor shanty town that grew up around it with survivors that have little comfort in their lives. The main character, Gaia, comes home from her first baby delivery (she is a midwife) and advancement to the Enclave to find her parents arrested and a strange officer in her house. This is just the first crack that leads to the shattering of the pedestal that Gaia has put the Enclave on – it’s easy to accept the society you are born into but when you have to start questioning your devotion you life becomes infinitely more complicated. The realization that the Enclave isn’t a model society is a slow one for Gaia, even after they take her parents, and for the first part of the book Gaia continues to assist in births outside the Enclave’s wall then advance babies for adoption inside the Enclave. Those from outside the Enclave cannot enter the wall therefore they can never see their children again once they have been forced to give them up.

Although the first part of the book was a bit slow for me, once Gaia decides that all is not right inside the Enclave walls and goes on a mission to save her parents the novel definitely picks up. Once inside the wall, Gaia begins to track down her parents and unfortunately gets captured and imprisoned. On the inside Gaia begins to learn how the Enclave is founded and why the advancements occur, what the Enclave wants with her parents, and when they occasionally let her out of prison, how the people in the Enclave live. It was easy to see how the Enclave could have been developed from our world and also eerie to think what would happen to our society if there was no more fossil fuels (the apocalypse in Gaia’s world). While in prison Gaia makes some unlikely friends, including the officer that she first met in her home the night her parents were taken, learns the truth about what happened to her parents, and plans her escape.  She also learns the truth of the birthmark on her face and experiences her first kiss and the excitement of budding romance. Though now life for her is dangerous in the Enclave as well as in her town and huge sacrifices are made on the way to freedom for Gaia.

This was a 3.5 out of 5 stars for me, realizing the world around you is not what it seems is a difficult trip that Ms. O’Brien writes surpassingly well.

Review of Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrew - this book is made of awesomeness!

Title: Magic Bleeds
Author: Ilona Andrews
Pages: 349 Pages, Paperback
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Standalone/Series: Series-book 4 (3 previous books + novella out already)
Release:  Already Out
Publisher: Ace
Purchased by me
Author info: Ilona and Gordon Andrews website (they also have Curran POV snippets that I recommend checking out after reading the book)
 Spoiler Alert: for previous books and some small plot spoilers
GoodReads Blurb: Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren’t for the magic. When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it rose. Kate Daniels works for the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, officially as a liaison with the mercenary guild. Unofficially, she cleans up the paranormal problems no one else wants to handle—especially if they involve Atlanta’s shapeshifting community. When she’s called in to investigate a fight at the Steel Horse, a bar midway between the territories of the shapeshifters and the necromancers, Kate quickly discovers there’s a new player in town. One who’s been around for thousands of years—and rode to war at the side of Kate’s father. This foe may be too much even for Kate and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, to handle. Because this time, Kate will be taking on family… 

I'm going to join the litany of urban fantasy book bloggers out there and say that this book is made of awesomeness! The Kate Daniels series is one of my favorites and this addition to the series I would say is the best so far. Kate is such a great heroine - she is tough and true to her friends and beliefs - even if it goes against how her step-father, Voron, raised her. And man is Kate put to the test in this book on so many different levels - her relationship or lack thereof with Curran is called into question as well as her position at the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid. Kate also has to face the worse kind of enemy to her - family. After all her years of hiding and training, her family finally catches up to her and she has to face them or leave Atlanta. But by now we know Kate well enough to know she would never abandon her friends and she stays in Atlanta to fight her enemies and of course fight with Curran a little more too.

This book starts with quite the mystery - besides why Curran didn't show up to their special dinner date - Kate shows up on the scene of a bar fight that turns into a potential plague outbreak. No one knows how the bar fight loser became the next patient zero for a blooming plague of syphilis and Kate is hard pressed to contain it. As Kate delves deeper into the mystery of the plagues, she begins to be concerned that Atlanta and her and the Pack are targets of an ancient god. One of my favorite parts of this series is the mythology interwoven into the story and the mythology comes into play as Kate begins to research who or what could be at fault for the plagues. Along the way Kate picks up another potential family member and it was a shining moment of Kate's humor and snarkiness as she deals with her new family member.

My favorite part of this book though were the Curran filled parts. He's his usual pissy, uptight, controlling, alpha sexy self. Which pairs with explosive results with Kate's stubborn and abrasive attitude. These two could just as easily tear each other apart as make love to each other and I think that is what makes their relationship so compelling - can they compromise to make the relationship work? And really can Kate let someone into her life that will become such a big target for her father? As it says on Ilona Andrews website "This is the book where Kate and Curran decide".  Enough said - I don't want to give anything away!

5 out of 5 stars - the Kate Daniels series is made of awesomeness!

 This book also gets the giant microbes stamp of approval for the 

true life portrayal of bad-ass magical plague!

Review of Half Past Dead by Zoe Archer and Bianca D'Arc and a few zombie confessions!

Since I feel a little bit like a zombie after going to BEA this week I thought it would be appropriate that my first review when I got back would be zombie oriented since I was a bit like a book zombie at BEA. I shuffled around mumbling "books..books.." I probably had some otherworldly moaning and grumbling going on due to the pain of carrying all those books, and I definitely felt like I was dragging my body and lurching around everywhere trying to get books. There were alot of us book zombies there picking up review copies and mumbling to ourselves while we took out innocent civilians with our totes as we tried to shuffle by. Stay tuned for more of my book zombie con/BEA wrap-up later!

Title: Half Past Dead (Includes: The Blades of the Rose, Prequel -Undying Heart; Guardians of the Dark, #1-Simon Says)
Authors: Zoe Archer & Bianca D'Arc
Pages: 150 Pages, Paperback
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Standalone/Series: Series (Both start new series)
Release:  Already Out
Publisher: Brava
Downloaded for free from Sony Reader Store
Author info: Zoe Archer & Bianca D'Arc's websites
Spoiler Alert: Small plot spoilers
GoodReads Blurb: The Undying Heart by Zoe Archer - Samuel Reed had no idea magic existed, until it almost destroyed him. Thirsting for vengeance against the enemy who made him something less than human, Sam returns to England and crosses paths with Cassandra Fielding. His best friend's little sister has become a fearless woman on a dangerous mission of her own. And against all odds, she sees past what he's become, and stirs a desire he thought he'd lost forever.

Sam, once an officer in the British Army, has returned to England to track down the man who has destroyed his existence - Colonel Broadwell. Little does Sam know that someone else is also hunting Broadwell, Cassandra, his best friend's younger sister. But Cassandra is no longer a little girl and has been charged with tracking Broadwell for the Blades of the Rose - an organization focused on keeping powerful magic or Sources, out of the hands of evil men like Broadwell. Though Cassandra has grown into a fearless woman, Sam is no longer the man he once was, his being warped by the magic Broadwell possesses to make him into the living dead. The hunt for Broadwell pushes these two together but they find they might need each other for more than just for tracking down the evil they face.

I have a bit of a confession to make, I'm afraid of zombies. You would think that with all the dark urban fantasy I read that other paranormal creatures would prove to be a more frightening but zombies have always been a one-way ticket to nightmare-ville for me. I think it's the relentless push to destroy the living that gets me..like a telemarketer trying to sell you something you don't want and who doesn't believe in the word no (telemarketers and door-to-door sales people also freak me out). Or maybe it's the whole biting and tearing of flesh thing, I'm not a big fan of that either. Thankfully in the Undying Heart, the main zombie character (or "living dead" as he prefers to be called) Sam is sexy and has wrestled control of his mind back from his creator so he is no longer a mumbling shuffling flesh eater and his flesh re-generates so he doesn't look as horrific as most zombies are portrayed. Since becoming a living undead, Sam has only thought of vengeance on his creator, but when he meets Cassie again new thoughts begin to interrupt his plans. He is shocked when Cassie doesn't run from him in fear when she finds out what he now is and she is actually attracted to him. Cassie slowly dismantles the walls Sam has built around his heart and makes Sam more human again. Cassie also shows Sam the he is still a worthy male that she desires. I loved Cassie's independence as well as her forwardness towards Sam. Even though this book is set in the 1800s in England, Cassie definitely doesn't act like a typical lady - she has a naughty streak and we get to read all about it. She gets turned on a bit by facing life threatening situations and so her and Sam are getting busy alot through the book since Cassie's life and Sam's existence are constantly in danger. For a novella length story there was alot of both kinds of action and the battle to destroy Sam's creator as well as the developing relationship between Sam and Cassie were well-crafted and satisfying for me.

4 out of 5 stars - Loved Sam the sexy zombie-kicking ass and getting busy with Cassie!

Simon Says by Bianca D'Arc - Special Forces soldier Simon Blackwell ended his affair with Mariana Daniels three years ago, but he hasn't stopped protecting her. Mariana has no knowledge of the dark, deadly creatures that lurk in the forest surrounding her clinic, or of the mysterious powers that make Simon the only one who can defeat them. But soon he'll have no choice but to reveal the truth, and urge her to trust in an explosive passion that never faded. 

Simon, or Si as his friends call him, is forever changed by his last mission that took him away from his lover, Mariana. Now Si is back and hunting the creatures that changed him though he refuses to go back to Mari because he is afraid of what he has become and doesn't want anything to harm her. Si watches Mari from afar as he defends the area around her house and the military base she works at from the creatures the military scientists created, zombies. Unfortunately these zombies aren't the sexy kind but the I want to eat your brains, mumble mumble, shuffle shuffle, kind. When Simon was first ordered to take them out he got bit but rather than becoming one his body is immune to the zombie contagion and now he hunts them. 


Simon re-enters Mari's life after he suffers some severe injuries while out zombie hunting. Si ends up showing up at Mari's clinic for help and from there the two of their lives get more entangled although neither of them intended for that to happen. As the two spend more time together, old passions begin to re-ignite and since the zombies sleep during the day they really have to find something to do with their free time - right? The battle with the zombies really does take second stage to the relationship between Simon and Mari, but for someone like me who has severe zombie fear (almost as bad as my fear of spiders) I think it was the right amount of scary zombies for me.

3.5 out of 5 stars - Between defending his lover's life and playing a sexy game of "Simon Says", Simon is one hot ex-marine zombie hunter!

The next read of Zoe Archer's Blades of the Rose, Warrior,  will be out this September with a new book in the series released October, November, and December.

Bianca D'Arc's next book in her Guardian's of the Dark series, Once Bitten, Twice Dead is already out -