Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
We’re pretty excited to talk about the January group read Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge. The starting discussion questions are already up over at the VBC Goodreads group, but the real chat is scheduled for 8 p.m. CST on Tuesday, Jan. 31. This means you have one week to finish reading the first Black London novel. Feel free to read our spoiler-free review for motivation. In the meantime, we’ve got to... 
Street Magic (Black London #1) Caitlin Kittredge Published: 2009 (St. Martin’s) Purchase at: Book Depository, B&N or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars Pete has spent 12 years convincing herself magic doesn’t exist. She saw her crush killed by something. Everyone told her Jack was dead, magic and ghosts don’t exist and she focused on facts. Years later she’s a Detective Inspector for Scotland Yard and...
I’m very excited to announce the January group read will be Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge. It’s the first in her Black London series. It’s darker urban fantasy big on witchcraft and fey. And I’m confident those of you who love the grittier elements of Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts series will dig on Black London. I’ll add group read discussions to our Goodreads group, so chat it up as you read. We’ll...
We’re planning to spend Thursday chatting up Kendare Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood in our Goodreads group. But in the meantime, we need to select the group read title for January. (I know this is a bit late, but I’ve been traveling most of December. Don’t worry, I’m back at VBC HQ in Dallas again.) We have six stellar titles to pick from for the January read. Let us know which book you’d most like to read... 
Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna #1) Kendare Blake Published: Aug. 30, 2011 (Tor Teen) Purchase at: Book Depository, B&N or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 4 stars Kendare Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood was refreshing for me. It’s not light and it doesn’t shy away from creeping you out a bit. It tackles the ghost story and urban legend tale from a different angle. The wry wit of protagonist Cas prevades the novel,...
There was no question this month which book you wanted as the group read. Kendare Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood took an early lead in the poll and just continued to garner more and more votes. I’m excited because this one has been atop my to-read pile for too long. (Again, thankful for VBC readers’ excellent taste!) It’s YA and has some of the classic girls-meets-boy vibes, but in this case the boy kills...
Well, it’s no secret I loved Jaye Wells’ Red-Headed Stepchild (spoiler-free review). If you’ve already finished the book and are itching to chat, the spoiler discussion thread is now up. I’m really looking forward to hearing what you think of Sabina, Giguhl and everyone else. It’s already time to start thinking about the December group read. (I’ll give you a moment to process that. Sneaky holidays,... 
Red-Headed Stepchild (Sabina Kane #1) Jaye Wells Published: 2009 (Orbit) Purchase at: Book Depository, B&N or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars I love when you finish a book craving the next in the series. That’s how things go with Jaye Wells’ Red-Headed Stepchild. Wells weaves a tale of unending rejection, resolve in new friends and a chance for both redemption and revenge. (Go ahead, just order the...
I’m doing something a little different today. Most of the time we do a poll for the group read, but so many times Red-Headed Stepchild misses out on being our group read by a vote or two. You want to read it. I want to talk about it. Cue executive decision: the November group read will be Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells. The novel is great urban fantasy with magic, vampires and one hell of a sidekick.... 
Thanks to all those who voted in the poll, I’ve determined a discussion board is the best way to handle our group read chats. While I had planned to do this on Facebook, looks like they’ll be removing the “discussion” application on Oct.31. As such, I’ve created a group on Goodreads to handle all our group read discussions. Go join the group right now, I’ll wait. This is awesome for several reasons. One,... 
