No half-cannonball for me, but I’ve managed to squeeze in reviews for everything I’ve read in 2024.
I’ve been savoring The Hollows series by Kim Harrison like a fine wine. I finally finished her OG urban fantasy and paranormal romance with A Witch With No Name. You have to read these in order, but it’s worth it. The close of the series finds Rachel Morgan once again in hot water with the magical beings of the world. A demon witch who shouldn’t exist will have to save the elves, vampires, and demons from themselves. The vampires kidnap Rachel’s best friend Ivy the living vampire. They force her hand to figure out how to put a vamp’s soul back into their bodies. But there’s a damn good reason why vamps shouldn’t have their souls after they die and the body lives on. Rachel wants to save Ivy and gets all wrapped up with the vampire rulers again to save her. If that’s not enough, an evil and shortsighted elf wants to trigger a spell to turn the original curse that trapped them in the Ever After to kill the demons. That simply won’t do especially since Rachel is fond of her demon people. Even if they can get a bit murder-y. The ending was satisfying and not at all what I could have predicted. Somehow I started reviewing this series for Cannonball Read 10 years ago! It’s been a fun ride. I would have never guessed Rachel would end up with Trent, but she really earned her happily ever after. I have the re-deux series, which starts with American Demon, at the ready for 2025.
The October Daye series from Seanan McGuire is a newer urban fantasy I started at the urging of my Cannonball Read friends. I was hooked immediately and have been reading these in short sittings once I get going. One Salt Sea finds Toby given a fiefdom, which means trouble from the fae royals continues. This go round, she has to prevent a war between the land and sea fae. We’ve met selkies before but not many other magical beings from the ocean. She has to discover who has kidnapped the princes of Salt Mist before their mom goes scorched earth with the Queen of the Mists on land. Duchess Dianda Lorden, the regent of the Undersea Duchy of Saltmist, meets Toby who happens to save her husband who came from the land. That buys only a teensy bit of time for Toby to figure out the conspiracy. The truth is dark and brings danger right to Toby’s family. It also causes things to come to a head with her romance with the Selkie Connor. He has to follow the rules of his liege but also his love for Toby. As with other books, they go on a quest for the truth, running headfirst into a huge royal mess. The end of this gave me a major book hangover. I fell asleep on the audiobook and discovered a major plot point before its time. So that made me go back and read the print even faster to connect the dots. Toby is always up to give her life, but she doesn’t expect to give so much in this entry. Read this series if you like The Dresden Files and Fae magic-fueled urban fantasies.
I love the premise for most of Katee Robert’s romances. The Deal with a Demon series is pretty straightforward. I didn’t read this one in time for Lawless Book Club, but managed to make it my final read of CBR16.
Catalina has been mistreated by almost everyone in her life. She has nothing to lose when Azazeal approaches her with a seven-year demon contract. We follow her into the underworld as she is auctioned off. Azazeal isn’t too sure she’s gonna work out but agrees to let the Kraken leader Thane have her. She is taken to his underwater kingdom as a free and willing participant. The problem is she can’t swim! Thane is also a widow, his partner Brant died and he’s been suffering under grief for 5 years. Catalina comes in as a veritable wrecking ball in his life. And he needed it! They keep having sexual encounters ending with Thane slipping into the ocean in a hole inside a room. Catalina already had big abandonment issues, so these two have to start talking before the f*ck. The book ends with some serious decisions, but ultimately they get their happily ever after. They are two broken people who learn that they deserve to not just survive but to have joy and love in their lives. I didn’t realize this was book two, so I’ll be going back to book one to continue this series. If you like monster romances with the spice level set to 10, you simply must read Katee Robert’s books.