Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
![Prepare to fight! It’s time for Alpha Showdown nominations [Giveaway]](http://vampirebookclub.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Showdown-500px-300x183-21571_200x183.jpg)
OK, I don’t expect you to fight. But we need to determine who’s making it into this year’s battle to be the ultimate alpha. Last year, Jericho Z. Barrons won. Rightfully. However, JBZ can’t be in the running this year. Leaving things open for other kickass characters to claim top honors. This is where you come in, dear readers. We’re doing open nominations this year. (And bribing your participation with a... 
Sacrificial Magic (Downside Ghosts #4) Stacia Kane Published: Mar. 27, 2012 (DelRey) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 5 stars Note: This review contains no spoilers for Sacrificial Magic, but assumes you have read the three prior novels. If that is not the case, please check out my review of the first novel Unholy Ghosts. Chess needed to grow for the Downside Ghosts series to... 
Darkness Undone (Marked Souls #4) Jessa Slade Published: March 6, 2012 (Signet) Purchase at: Book Depository, B&N or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 4 stars It’s rare that I fall for the heroine of a paranormal romance before the hero. But that’s exactly what happened with Jessa Slade’s fourth Marked Souls novel Darkness Undone. From the very beginning I was fascinated by Alyce. The rogue talya didn’t... 
Before we get into the news, just a quick housekeeping bit. I changed my Twitter name. *gasp* So, if you’ve been following @VampBookClub, you’ll now see @ChelseaVBC popping up in your stream. Don’t worry. It’s still me. As we add more reviewers, etc., I thought it might be helpful to differentiate. Also, you can follow Candace — our new PNR reviewer — at @cpblackburn73. Cover reveal: Falling to Ash I’m a... 
Hi, Everyone! Thanks for letting me drop by Vampire Book Club today to talk about our upcoming release, The Isis Collar. This is book 4 in our Blood Singer series, which features Celia Graves, a former vanilla human bodyguard who was attacked and turned into an Abomination. She’s part vampire—which in Celia’s world is NOT a good thing. Vampires become feral at death, like rabid animals. They lose their... 
Last week we talked about those heroines we’d never swap places with in a million years. Seriously, no one wants to take Katniss’ place. But a few of you emailed and tweeting asking who I would swap shoes with, figuratively speaking. This one is harder, actually, because I like such dark novels. So, I’ll give you one obvious choice and one where you’ll all think I’m wearing my crazy pants. Then, I want to... 
Angels’ Flight (Guild Hunter collection) Nalini Singh Published: Purchase at: Book Depository, B&N or Amazon Reviewed by: Candace Rating (out of 5): 4 stars “I would fly our child wherever she needed to go…I have no need to build empires and dynasties. I only want to build a home with you.” Nalini Singh became the second writer to make me cry with an anthology in Angels’ Flight. (The first was Jeaniene... 
Hear Jericho Barrons have sex. What?! Yeah, you actually read that right. Kind of. Last year, Karen Marie Moning wrote a sex scene from Jericho Z. Barrons’ point of view as a prize for him winning our 2011 Alpha Showdown. And it was epic. And sexy. Well, Karen had the voices of MacKayla and Barrons from the audio books record the scene. It’s not free, but it sure is sexy. You can get the full details,... ![Let’s talk breather books [H&H Post]](http://vampirebookclub.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/HandHlogo-300x75-9431_200x75.jpg)
Remember my ho-hum reaction to Kim Harrison’s A Perfect Blood? Yeah. I labeled it a breather book, because I’m not willing to give up on Rachel Morgan just yet. We’ve gone through this time and again — more than once with Sookie Stackhouse — and so I’m over at Heroes & Heartbreakers talking about what makes a breather book. Read the post, then join the discussion. 
Recently, I’ve written a couple posts for Heroes and Heartbreakers looking at damaged heroines and the urban fantasy locales that will never make a tourist guide. The more I think on it, the more thankful I am not to be in the shoes of so many of the protagonists from my favorite books. Honestly, it might sound interesting to be a Guardian in Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series, but after reading... 
