Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1)
Sarah J. Maas
Published: Aug. 7, 2012 (Bloomsbury)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon
Reviewed by: Krista
Rating (out of 5): 5 stars
Occasionally a book comes a long that becomes so entrenched in your brain that it continues on long after you finish reading the last sentence of the epilogue. For me, Throne of Glass and the heroine Celaena Sardothian are such... 
As our first roundtable review was so much fun, we’re doing it again. Earlier this week, Julie Kagawa’s second Blood of Eden novel released and nearly everyone at VBC jumped on it. Some of us adored the novel, others had a harder time. Find out who loved it, who didn’t and add your thoughts in the comments at the end.
The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2)
Julie Kagawa
Published: April 30,... 
The Collector (The Collector Trilogy #1)
Victoria Scott
Published: April 2, 2013 (Entangled Teen)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Reviewed by: Jo
Rating (out of 5): 4 stars
Hands up if you like a bad boy. Well they don’t come much badder than Dante Walker. The Big Guy downstairs has six Collectors, damned souls that walk the earth leaving his stamp on the soul of any living person that sins in a... 
Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely #1)
Melissa Marr
Published: Oct. 2009 (HarperCollins)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon
Reviewed by: Mary
Rating (out of 5): 5 stars
Aislinn may seem like a normal teenage girl, but only because she works very hard to blend in and not attract attention. Ash, like the other women in her family, can see the fae. Even in her small town, they are everywhere. While the rest... 
With All My Soul (Soul Screamers #7)
Rachel Vincent
Published: March 26, 2013 (Harlequin Teen)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Reviewed by: Jo
Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars
Note: While this review will be spoiler free, it will have major spoilers for the previous books in this series.
I didn’t want to open With All My Soul, VBC readers. I didn’t want to open it because that meant... 
I’m a big fan of Karen Mahoney’s writing. Both her nerd-girl vampire Moth from Falling to Ash and alchemist Donna Underwood from the Iron Witch trilogy are young adult protagonists I connect with and ones that resonate with teen readers, too. The third book in the Iron Witch trilogy The Stone Demon releases today. It is excellent (and Donna wears a really gorgeous dress at one point, which made me wish... 
Last week, I introduced you to new reviewer Amanda. Well, now I’d like to point to you a couple new associate reviewers. I highly recommend you check out Mary’s review of Fury of Fire and Krista’s review of Immortally Yours. Get to know the new folks. I’m excited to have more voices at VBC. Lots of exciting things in the works. Plus, you know, Alpha Showdown nominations are open... 
Are you eager to read the finale for Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices trilogy? Need that hardback to complete your set? You’re in luck, then.
We have two copies of Clockwork Princess to giveaway to VBC readers. Hit the Rafflecopter form below to enter. Contest is open to U.S. addresses only. Be sure to enter on or before March 31.
Danger intensifies for the Shadowhunters as the New York Times... 
Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2)
Tahereh Mafi
Published: Feb. 5, 2013 (HarperCollins)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon
Reviewed by: Amanda
Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars
If I had to pick one word to describe Unravel Me, it would be desperation.
Juliette has spent her entire life believing she’s some kind of monster. Touching paralyzes the other person, and often results in death. She’d been shunted... 
Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School, Book the First)
Gail Carriger
Published: Feb. 5, 2013 (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon
Reviewed by: Megan S. of StellarFour.com
Rating (out of 5): 4 stars
Fourteen year old Sophronia Temminnick would much rather scale the inside of a dumbwaiter than concern herself with this season’s most fashionable... 
