Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
When two of your favorite authors team up to write a book with a sentient space whale, you read it. Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre brought us Honor Among Thieves, which is packed with YA sci-fi goodness including a girl falling in love with her spaceship…and that spaceship being essentially a space whale. It’s absolutely a unique concept, and it’s executed masterfully by Rachel and Ann. If you haven’t yet...
Honor Among Thieves (The Honors #1) Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre Published: Feb. 13, 2018 (Katherine Tegen Books) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review Reviewed by: Amy Rating (out of 5): 4 stars One hundred years ago when Earth was on the path to total destruction, along came the Leviathans, large sentient ship-like aliens, to offer... 
I really love Ann Aguirre’s books. Both her young adult and adult novels are packed with complex characters and detailed worldbuilding. Those are basically my catnip. Her latest Ars Numina book The Wolf Lord is around the corner (yayayayayayayayay!), and if you’re not already hooked on these clever paranormal romances, now’s the time. As such, I’ve got one digital copy of The Leopard King, the first book... 
Win It Wednesday is back, because who doesn’t love awesome books for free? You might remember me gushing over Ann Aguirre’s Vanguard not too long ago. It was a companion novel to her post-apocalyptic young adult Razorland trilogy. While my Vanguard review focused on the relationship that made the book sing (and the best first kiss scene I’ve read in some time), I discovered many of you hadn’t read the... 
Vanguard (Razorland #4) Ann Aguirre Published: July 25, 2017 (Feiwel & Friends) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review Reviewed by: Chelsea Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars It’s been several years since I read the original Razorland trilogy, but still when someone brings up Enclave I can’t wait to talk about the fascinating...
Each year the Romance Writers of America gives out awards to the best of the best in romance. The contest is peer reviewed (aka other romance authors are the judges), and the paranormal romance category always features some of my favorite books of the year. RWA is running a blog tour (see all the tour stops) to showcase all the amazing books that made the finals in this year’s awards, and you know we had... 
The VBC team is pretty confident you’d you dig Ann Aguirre’s Mortal Danger. Dangerous deals, a hot guy and a touch of evil? Sounds excellent, right? Well, we have four signed copies to give to lucky VBC readers. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she... 
In an effort to help you keep that to-read list updated, I’ve compiled the hot urban fantasy and paranormal romance releases for August 2014. All dates are U.S. and tentative. Also: Click the title of any book to visit the Amazon page* for pre-order or purchase goodness. I’ve included genre classification with each book: UF is urban fantasy, PNR is paranormal romance, F is fantasy, SF is science fiction... 
Silver Mirrors (Apparatus Infernum #2) A.A. Aguirre Published: April 29, 2014 (Ace) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: purchased Reviewed by: Amanda Rating (out of 5): 4 stars Note: While this review is spoiler free, it does assume you’ve read the first in the series, Bronze Gods. After their last case resulted in the interruption of a potentially apocalypse bringing ritual, Janus Mikani... 
Perdition (The Dred Chronicles #1) Ann Aguirre Published: August 27, 2013 (Ace) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: Purchased Reviewed by: Krista Rating (out of 5): 4 stars In Perdition, the first novel of Ann Aguirre’s Dred Chronicles, there are no heroes but monsters and those who prey on them. The Dred Chronicles begins on a deep space asteroid refinery ship that has been retrofitted... 
