Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
Wild Hunger (Heirs of Chicagoland #1) Chloe Neill Published: Aug. 14, 2018 (Berkley) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review Reviewed by: Margaret Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to events in the Chicagoland Vampires series. If you haven’t started yet, check out VBC’s... 
We’ve been talking about our favorite urban fantasy series here at VBC recently. We listed 10 Urban Fantasy Series You Need to Read and 10 “Rural Fantasy” Series with small-town settings. But we noticed that most of those series debuted in 2011 or earlier and thought some of our readers might be looking for something newer. Here are some of our favorite “new” UF series, which we’re defining as ones that... 
The Serpent (The Immortal Dealers #1) Sarah Fine Published: July 24, 2018 (47 North) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review Reviewed by: Margaret Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars The unfortunately named Ernie Terwilliger has a fairly mundane clerical job at a hospital. She hasn’t taken a vacation in years for fear of leaving her... 
A few weeks ago Chelsea posted her list of essential Urban Fantasy series. It’s a good list. I’ve read and enjoyed all of those series. But I felt like there was one glaring omission. My gateway to urban fantasy was the Sookie Stackhouse series, so any UF list I made would have started there. When I asked Chelsea about it she said that Sookie defies many typical UF conventions, first and foremost with its... 
Another Alpha Showdown is in the books. If you missed any of the action, you can find the bracket here and the individual posts under the Alpha Showdown 2018 tag. Thank you to everyone who voted. Our 2018 Alpha Showdown Champion is Kate Daniels! With her victory, Kate becomes our first ever repeat champion. She was also our first female winner. Congratulations Kate and author Ilona Andrews! Now we’re even... 
Outbreak (Nightshades #3) Melissa F Olson Published: June 5, 2018 (Tor) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review Reviewed by: Margaret Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books in the series. If you haven’t started yet, check out VBC’s review of Nightshades. Outbreak...
Update: The round is now closed and your 2018 Alpha Showdown Champion is Kate Daniels. The final count was 63% Kate, 37% Mercy. Thanks to all who voted for making this another great battle! This is it! The final round! And it’s going to be a good one! When the dust settles, we’ll either have our second consecutive female Showdown Champion or our first repeat Champion. (To see how we got here, check out... 
Stray Magic (Strays #1) Kelly Meding Published: Jun. 19, 2018 (Harper Voyager) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review Reviewed by: Margaret Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars Shiloh Harrison is a U.S. Marshal in the Paranormal Investigations Unit stationed in Washington. DC. She’s just returned home from a grueling assignment when she’s...
Update: This round is now closed. Kate Daniels has won with 64% of the vote. She’ll advance to the final round against Mercy Thompson. We’ve reached the semi-finals in the 2018 Alpha Showdown. It’s almost time to crown the Biggest Book Badass in the paranormal world! (To see how we got to this point check out the bracket.) But first we’ll have to pit two of our favorite authors against each other. This is...
Update: This round is now closed. This was insane. This is probably the closest Alpha Showdown match in our history. Mercy Thompson has won with 51% of the vote. This match came down to 15 votes! Make sure to rally your friends for the final matches. We’ve reached the semi-finals in the 2018 Alpha Showdown. It’s almost time to crown the Biggest Book Badass in the paranormal world! (To see how we got to... 
