Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
The Dark Calling (Arcana Chronicles #5) Kresley Cole Published: Feb. 13, 2018 Purchase at: Amazon Review source: purchased Reviewed by: Chelsea Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars Note: This review will be spoiler free (and it’s a challenge!), but will assume you are already familiar with the series. If you haven’t started the Arcana Chronicles, we suggest reading our review of Poison Princess. If you’re a... 
Note: This article was originally published at Heroes & Heartbreakers in 2015. Even after the events of the later Arcana Chronicles books, I stand by my book boyfriend stance on Death. Aric FTW! Plus, I’m pretty ridiculously excited for the new Arcana book The Dark Calling next month. I’m aware I look like a crazy person every time I tack on the #TeamDeath hashtag to a tweet, but I can’t help...
Note from VBC HQ: It’s Throwback Week at VBC, and we’re highlighting some of your favorite reviews from VBC. I’m particularly pleased that our review of Dead of Winter was one of the most-read reviews this year, because I clearly had THOUGHTS. But also, we generally just love all things Kresley Cole and most of the VBC staff is up-to-date (and obsessed) with the Arcana Chronicles series. Which was more a... 
Arcana Rising (Arcana Chronicles #4) Kresley Cole Published: Aug. 15, 2016 (Valkyrie Press) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review Source: Purchased Reviewed by: Chelsea Rating (out of 5): 4.5 Stars Note: While this review will be spoiler free, it assumes you’re familiar with the characters and the story up to this point. If you haven’t dived into the Arcana Chronicles, we highly recommend it. Start... 
Day Zero (Arcana Chronicles #3.5) Kresley Cole Published: Aug. 1, 2016 (Valkyrie Press) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: purchased Reviewed by: Jenn Rating (out of 5): 5 stars Note: This review will be spoiler free, but does assume you’ve read the other Arcana Chronicle books. If you haven’t, you should! Check out our review of Poison Princess. I love the Arcana Chronicles, it’s truly... 
A couple weeks ago I joked on Twitter that I was in need of a book boyfriend Advent calendar. There was quite a bit of “yes, please!” from others, but no one could find a good one. Clearly, this was up to me. So, to make the chaotic holiday season a little more fun and a lot more sexy, we’re going to feature a book boyfriend every day for the next 25 days. That’s right. Welcome to VBC’s 25 Days of Book...
In an effort to help you keep that to-read list updated, I’ve compiled the hot urban fantasy and paranormal romance releases for January 2015. 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... 
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... 
Endless Knight (Arcana Chronicles #2) Kresley Cole Published: Oct. 1, 2013 (Simon & Schuster) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: Purchased Reviewed by: Jo Rating (out of 5): 5 stars Note: While this review will be spoiler free, it does reference events in the first book of the series, Poison Princess (VBC review). Endless Knight, the second novel in the fantastic Arcana Chronicles,... 
Every year, I compile the standard year-end best books list—read 2012’s best reads list—and it’s a hard task narrowing things down. What’s harder though is picking the ten heroes from novels published this year to make my annual swoon-worthy list. Last year Eve Silver’s Lokan took top honors and the year before Stacia Kane’s Terrible was causing fevers all over the place. There are returning favorites... 
