Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
Last year when Written in Red came out, it seemed to pop up everywhere for me. That’s when I knew I had to read this first book in a new series by Anne Bishop. What I found once I started reading was an interesting take on the supernatural, mainly shifters, that puts them in less of the human light and more in touch with their animal natures. Meg is a human, a cassandra sangue, a blood prophet on the run... 
Update: Barrons dominated this round like the alpha he is. He advances in the Showdown. The first-ever Alpha Showdown champion re-enters the ring. His opponent is new to the Showdown, but not to fighting. Can Simon take out the big, bad Barrons? We’ve lined up great bloggers to explain why each alpha deserves to advance. Read the pitches, and then make the call. JERICHO Z. BARRONS You know him from: The... 
Murder of Crows (The Others #2) Anne Bishop Published: March 4, 2014 (Roc) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review Reviewed by: Amy Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars Note: While this review will be spoiler free, it will reference events in the first book, Written in Red. Things between the Others and humans have been tense since the... 
In an effort to help you keep that to-read list updated, I’ve compiled the hot urban fantasy and paranormal romance releases for March 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 and YA is young adult.... 
From VBC’s Chelsea: We’ve covered the best books of 2013, but we’re ready to look forward here at VBC. There are so many wonderful reads waiting for us in 2014. To help you get excited for new books, we’re going to post our reviewers’ most anticipated 2014 books. Add your favorites in the comments. We’re starting off today with Amy’s picks, which include a January release (yay!) and a little of everything... 
We’ve had big changes at VBC this year. For starters, we now have multiple reviewers. In addition to me (Chelsea), you see regular posts here from Jo, Candace, Mary, Amanda, Amy, Krista and Amber. So, while last year we broke it out by reviewer for the best books, that would make for a very long list with a lot of repeated books. So, this year it’s curated. Yep, the VBC team put our collective heads... 
Written in Red (The Others #1) Anne Bishop Published: March 5, 2013 (NAL) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Reviewed by: Amy Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars Written in Red takes place in a modern, alternate reality where Others, or terra indigene, dominate over the humans. Luckily Anne Bishop provides a little “history of the world” introduction to explain things a little. The Others are the ruling... 
February has been filled with Character Love Letters and on-and-off chatter about Karen Chance’s Touch the Dark. Because of a death in the family at VBC HQ, we can’t lead the group read discussion for Touch the Dark. If you’re interested in leading a last-minute chat — either on Goodreads or Twitter — please let me know in the comments. In the meantime, let’s look forward to a March filled with books... 
From VBC: If you’ve started Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels series, you’ve been be spelled by Daemon. In today’s character love letter, Smexy’s Sidekick unveils what it could mean to have Daemon’s full focus turned on her. Enticing, no? My Darling Daemon, Even though you have forsaken all for Janelle, to the point of obliterating all those who seek to separate you from her, I find myself unable to let you go.... 
It’s that time again. As much fun as we had with Spider’s Bite, it’s time to vote for next month’s read. After putting the word out on Twitter and Facebook, I narrowed the list down to six recommendations — OK, I put Blood Rights in there because I want to talk more about it. I have no shame. If you’re not familiar with the books, blurbs and links for more info, etc. follow the poll (if you’re viewing on... 
