Publishers Weekly: Harrison’s enjoyable seventh Elder Races paranormal (after Kinked) takes a trip to the Vampyre demesne in San Francisco. The Vampyres are hosting their annual audition and auction for new human attendants. Running away from a dangerous Djinn, Tess Graham reluctantly offers her skills for auction and attracts the attention of Xavier del Torro, who serves the Nightkind King. Despite her fear of Xavier, she agrees to train as his attendant, understanding that she must eventually offer her blood without hesitation. The epitome of a Spanish nobleman, Xavier hides his interest in Tess behind politeness and professionalism, but he can’t help but be impressed by her determination to conquer her fear of his kind and succeed as an attendant. When she leverages his political connections to save herself, she also captures his heart. The world contains a great many different beings and types of magic, but even casual readers will be able to follow along and enjoy this fun and affecting episode.
Aug 042014
Library Journal: Perhaps inevitably this collection has a sense of yearning to it: a desire for escape, a wish for broken things to be fixed, a longing for more time. Here both literal and metaphoric narratives deal with Lake’s struggles with terminal cancer, but readers will enjoy plenty of adventure and pure flights of fancy as well.
Publishers Weekly: Gasconade local McBride (whose previous book was the cult favorite Frank Sinatra in a Blender) gives Breaking Bad fans more down and dirty meth action. Set in Missouri’s Gasconade County, once labeled the methamphetamine capital of the world, this smoldering tale pits cop against dope dealer/desperate redneck against even more desperate redneck. In this rural area, “White-trash pharmacies run from beaten-down mobile homes at the end of dead-end roads would always trade pills for dope.” Deputy Sheriff Dale Everett Banks finds $52,000 in the trailer of meth dealer Jerry Dean Skaggs, and decides to keep it. Jerry Dean needs that money to keep his secret partners happy. The plot spreads out to include more and more county residents, even Butch Pogue in his hilltop compound where he practices a weird religion and keeps his latest “wife” locked in the cellar. You know you’re talking authentic hillbilly when the main characters each weigh 300 pounds.
Publishers Weekly: Lizbeth “Lizzie” Andrew Borden wields her axe against Lovecraftian entities in this terrifying and powerful series launch by fan favorite Priest (the Clockwork Century series). Two years after Lizzie infamously slew her mother and stepfather, she and her consumptive, scholarly older sister, Emma, remain in their hometown of Fall River, Mass., in an isolated and modified home called Maplecroft. Lizzie spends countless hours in her basement laboratory, trying to understand what transformed the Bordens into horrifying creatures, while protecting and caring for Emma and conducting a love affair with actress Nance O’Neil. Then Emma, who poses as “Dr. E.A. Jackson” to contribute to the men-only world of science, sends a biological sample to colleague Phillip Zollicoffer at Miskatonic University, with terrible consequences. Readers will be intrigued by the weird monsters and 19th-century science, but the story is really carried by the characters’ emotional dynamics, especially those between the Borden sisters.
Publishers Weekly: Two novellas and two short stories expand the setting of Wells’s dreamlike fantasy novels. In “The Falling World,” a vanished envoy triggers a diplomatic crisis between two courts, and investigation reveals a long-forgotten tragedy. “The Tale of Indigo and Cloud” sets two queens against each other, with an unhappy consort as the prize. Familiar characters appear in “The Forest Boy,” a prequel to The Cloud Roads that examines a brief encounter between Moon and forest dwellers, and “Adaptation,” in which Chime deals with an unwanted transformation and its disquieting implications. Wells is adept at suggesting a long, complex history for her world with economy, and, while her protagonists may not be human as we understand it, they are definitely people, sympathetic figures constrained but not defeated by their environments. Longtime fans and new readers alike will enjoy Wells’s deft touch with characterization and the fantastic.
Booklist: McGoran brings back Philadelphia detective Doyle Carrick and his girlfriend, Nola, in another intriguing ecothriller that takes the GMO food angle first explored in Drift to a whole new level.The bees on Martha’s Vineyard appear to be dying off at an accelerated rate, leaving the farmers to hand-pollinate their crops or use genetically modified bees. A large agribusiness has offered to test their lab-created bees on the island, but not everyone wants them there. A weekend trip to the Vineyard lands Nola a job on an organic farm, and her new boss, Teddy Renfrew, is especially vociferous about keeping the GMO bees off the island, to the point where he may be endangering a deal his father has cooked up. The senior Renfrew hires Carrick to keep an eye on Teddy, who definitely doesn’t want the interference. But when someone takes potshots at Carrick, he realizes there is something deadly going on. 
Romantic Times: Senft is a talented author and her research on various herbs is a welcome surprise to readers. The story incorporates facts about herbs, what each of them can be used for and what will happen if used incorrectly. This sweet romance has a believable storyline with a lot of heart.
School Library Journal: Anika Dragomir is the third most popular girl in school, despite being of mixed heritage in an overwhemingly white neighborhood. She’s smart, attractive, and knows that the most popular girl, Becky Vilhauer, is a bully. Still, Anika clings to the tenuous friendship for fear of the total social annihilation that Becky will put her through if she displeases her in any way. Anika is constantly trying to reconcile the “spider stew” of her true self with her social persona, which leads to a series of hilarious escapades and a decidedly double life. When she finds herself falling for former nerd turned hottie, Logan McDonough, she manages to keep their relationship secret by arranging regular midnight rendezvous.