Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
It’s so much fun seeing what book y’all are recommending as the best book of 2012. (Many of you have named some of the ones you’ll see in my top list. You have excellent taste.) If you haven’t voted yet, you still have time! Plus, by nominating your favorite book you get entered to win any book VBC has reviewed—and that is more than 250 choices. For those of you who have been following my Krav Maga for... 
The Beginning of the End for Allie Beckstrom Devon Monk has started posting excerpts from the final Allie Beckstrom novel Magic for a Price. First, you can find an excerpt from the beginning of the book. Then, Devon will be posting weekly snippets from the novel up until the Nov. 6, 2012, release date (pre-order). The first one is here. Guardian Demon Cover Alert! Wow! The cover for Meljean Brook’s... 
Cover Reveal: Midnight Blue-Light Special Have you seen the cover for Seanan McGuire’s next InCryptid novel? Look to your right. While I may like the artwork for Discount Armageddon a bit more, Midnight Blue-Light Special’s tone feels cohesive to me. Thoughts? Chapter One of Touch of the Demon When I was at Authors After Dark, Diana Rowland talked about just how much readers are going to love Touch of the... 
See, I thought the cover of Vicki Pettersson’s The Taken was gorgeous. It made me want to buy a red dress. Looks like the cover art for its sequel The Lost is also shopping inspiration. Rachel Vincent’s Unbound series is brilliant. If you haven’t read Blood Bound or Shadow Bound yet, do it. Emotional rollercoaster rides. I’m eager for book three, but just got word the release date for Oath Bound has been... 
It’s been a slower week in book news. I blame the long weekend. Instead of excerpts and book deals, today’s Book Bits is all about the pretty. Cover reveals begin in 3…2…1… Cover Art: Cold Days by Jim Butcher The next Dresden Files book is set to release in hardcover on Nov. 27, 2012. Blurb and artwork via Jim Butcher’s website. HARRY DRESDEN LIVES!!! After being murdered by a mystery assailant,... 
Cover Reveals from Amanda Carlson, Delilah S. Dawson and Katie Reus We’re just a few weeks from the release of Amanda Carlson’s debut Full Blooded hitting shelves (you can win a copy), but we’re already getting a look at the cover art for Hot Blooded, the second book in her urban fantasy series. The second book releases April 2013. Delilah S. Dawson shared the cover for her next Blud book, Wicked As She... 
If you’re joining us in this month’s group read of Jeaniene Frost’s Once Burned, we’re posting weekly discussion topics over on our Goodreads group. It’s free to join and we’re already talking Vlad as a hero and all things Leila. Hope you’ll join in. Cover Art Explosion: Karen Mahoney, Yasmine Galenorn, Andrea Cremer, Ilona Andrews So very pleased to see another pretty cover for Karen Mahoney. The Stone... 
First, a huge thank you to everyone who donated, bid or spread the word about the Books Fighting Cancer charity auctions. Based on the receipts emailed to me (and I know many of you donated directly) and the Amazon commissions, the Books Fighting Cancer event raised $4,817 for the Barrow Neurological Institute and brain cancer research. Amazing. I was floored by the generosity and kindness of VBC readers... 
It’s been a busy week at VBC HQ, so we’ll jump right into the news after reminding you to enter our giveaways for a signed copy of Lothaire and a copy of Cinder. First taste of Iced Karen Marie Moning has officially started teasing her Fever series spinoff Iced. The short teaser posted this week is good. I have been fretting over this novel, because the protagonist is Dani O’Malley — the irritating young... 
Lessons from Readers & ‘Ritas I spent last Saturday at the Readers & ‘Ritas convention. My BFF Kristin from My Bookish Ways and I had a complete blast spending the day with many of our favorite authors. A few things I learned: 1. Kristen Painter is of the “go big or go home” mentality when it comes to costumes. She dressed up as one of the noble vampires from her House of Comarré series for the costume... 
