Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
Possessions (Possessions #1) Nancy Holder Published: 2009 (Razorbill) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 4 stars Possessions is the creepy version of Mean Girls. (That’s a compliment.) Lindsay is starting school at Marlwood, a private school in middle-of-nowhere California. She’s coming into the semester late, but the goal is to start fresh. While at her old school Lindsay was one... 
Deadworld (Deadworld #1) J.N. Duncan Published: April 5, 2011 (Kensington) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 3 stars J.N. Duncan brings two people who have sincerely given up on real happiness together in his debut Deadworld. Both FBI agent Jackie and paranormal investigator Nick believe they are past redemption. They don’t deserve love or happiness or even a glorious ending. Nick... 
This Side of the Grave (Night Huntress #5) Jeaniene Frost Published: Feb. 22, 2011 (Avon) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 5 stars A quick word of caution: We’re going to reference events in earlier books. If you haven’t read earlier Night Huntress novels, there will be spoilers ahead. Sometimes you run into an old friend at the mall to suddenly realize just how much you missed... 
This year we fell in love with several new authors, found new series and even decided we could really get into steampunk. We’ve narrowed the list down to these gems. All the books on this list are ones we’ve told friends, family and random people at the bookstore about. These are the books we tell you are musts for your to-read piles. As a matter of fact, print it out and make it a checklist. We were... 
I read an interview with author Kalayna Price over at All Things Urban Fantasy this week and now I can’t wait to read the first book in her new Alex Craft series Grave Witch. The series follows a necromancer who uses her grave magic to raise shades. In addition to the plot surrounding P.I. who can get answers from the dead, her love interest is none other than Death. A necromancer falling in love with... 
City of Ghosts Stacia Kane Published: July 27, 2010 Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 5 stars (If it wouldn’t ruin the scale, we’d go seven stars on this one.) After we finished Unholy Magic, the second Downside Ghosts book, we said how it was even better than the series opener Unholy Ghosts (review). Stacia Kane has again taken her dark urban fantasy series to new depths with City... 
Ed. note: Unholy Magic is the second in Stacia Kane’s excellent urban fantasy Downside Ghosts series. The first book is Unholy Ghosts (our review). We’re currently giving away copies of both books, you can enter here. Or just read our Q&A with Stacia Kane. Unholy Magic Stacia Kane Published: July 6, 2010 Purchase at: The Book Depository or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 5 stars In Unholy Magic, we dive deeper... 
Ed. note: You knew we liked this, but we thought a fuller review was in order. Also, we’ve read the sequel. It gets even better. Unholy Ghosts (Chess Putnam/Downside Ghosts #1) Stacia Kane Published: July 6, 2010 Purchase at: The Book Depository or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 5 stars In the Orwellian future of Stacia Kane’s Unholy Ghosts, the Church of Truth runs both the moral and legal elements of... 
I think I’m falling in love with Stacia Kane. Don’t tell my husband. Or hers. I’ve read some of her Personal Demons series, but her new Chess Putnam series floored me. I’m nearing the end of the first book, Unholy Ghosts, and it’s clear her books will be at the top of my 2010 best list. Her heroine in this gritty urban fantasy is totally unexpected, the pacing perfect and the story utterly engaging. It... 
