Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
Sorry for the radio silence on the blog last week. I was out of the country (London! Yay!), but I’m back and I’m bringing something awesome for this week’s Win It Wednesday: a signed copy of Charlaine Harris’s An Easy Death. I popped into Interabang Books for Charlaine Harris’s book tour. I would be lying if I said I did this only for the VBC crew. I really love Charlaine’s books. My mom and I read the... 
A few weeks ago Chelsea posted her list of essential Urban Fantasy series. It’s a good list. I’ve read and enjoyed all of those series. But I felt like there was one glaring omission. My gateway to urban fantasy was the Sookie Stackhouse series, so any UF list I made would have started there. When I asked Chelsea about it she said that Sookie defies many typical UF conventions, first and foremost with its... 
Spoiler Warning: This post may contain spoilers for Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Series (a.k.a. The Sookie Stackhouse Series), and by extension, the HBO show True Blood. Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mysteries brought a fresh take to paranormal. It offered a look at the normalization of vampires in the open world. The books were urban fantasy in a rural setting. Sookie and her companions... 
Night Shift (Midnight, Texas #3) Charlaine Harris Published: May 3, 2016 (Ace) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review Reviewed by: Margaret Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books. If you haven’t started this series yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Midnight... 
I’ve been a fan of Charlaine Harris’s novels since the first page of Dead Until Dark. Her Midnight, Texas series brings that same rural charm to Texas with healthy doses of character arcs, supernatural, and mystery. I’ve recommended this series before, and will probably keep doing so until every one of you reads it. (It’s how fangirls roll, right?) As I said in my review of Midnight Crossroad: Midnight... 
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... 
Day Shift (Midnight, Texas #2) Charlaine Harris Published: May 5, 2015 (Ace) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review Review by: Chelsea Rating (out of 5): 4 stars Note: This review will be spoiler-free, but will assume you’re familiar with the characters in the Midnight, Texas series. If you haven’t started, we suggest reading our...
The first week of May has long been my Charlaine Harris week. For years it was when I got my annual Sookie Stackhouse fix. (Okay, we all know I was there for Eric Northman, too.) After that series ended, I wondered what I would read that week. Luckily, Charlaine’s new Midnight, Texas series came around. Last year, we got our first taste of the quaint Texas town with more than its fair share of magic and...
Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas #1) Charlaine Harris Published: May 6, 2014 (Ace) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Review Source: Purchased Reviewed by: Chelsea Rating (out of 5): 4 stars I was a long-time fan of the Sookie Stackhouse series. I stuck with it though all thirteen books. That’s a long series, and over the course of the series my engagement was driven by the love of the characters... 
In an effort to help you keep that to-read list updated, I’ve compiled the hot urban fantasy and paranormal romance releases for May 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. MAY 1... 
