Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
I do my best to give great VBC readers a good starting place for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and young adult via our recommendations sections. As a general rule, I’m likely to encourage people to read Richelle Mead, Stacia Kane, Jeaniene Frost, Rachel Vincent and J.R. Ward books, as go-to books. Those reading suggestions are typically for people who have already started reading genre fiction—hey,... 
A Note from Chelsea / VBC: All the suggested poolside reading lists we see online point to cheeky contemporary novels or lighthearted romps. Well, at VBC we know there are plenty of books featuring paranormal elements, badass heroines and sexy heroes that are perfect for reading out under the sun. So, of course, we’ve decided to do our own Beach Reads picks. Each Friday for the next several weeks, we’ll... ![Round 3: Vlad vs. Christian MacKeltar [Alpha Showdown 2013]](http://vampirebookclub.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/VBC-HomeofAlphaShowdown-216x300-28338_200x200.jpg)
It’s officially time for Alpha Showdown 2013! You made your nominations and we have 16 of the most badass, alpha characters from urban fantasy and paranormal romance novels locked into the bracket. Only one will be named champion and today’s first bout is sure to end in a knockout. Round three offers two very different princes. A vampire of legend with a penchant for fire finds a suitable opponent in the... 
In case you hadn’t noticed (ha!), we have a new look here at VBC. We’re trying something cleaner that matches our new group blog vibe. I hope you like it and find it easy to interact with. Now on to awesome book news… Cat and Ian Banter! Jeaniene Frost has posted the first excerpt from the seventh Night Huntress novel Up from the Grave and it features Cat and Bones talking with that walking complication... 
We have VBC news, so we might as well start there. I’m slowly working through reviewer applicants, but you may have noticed Monday’s review of Unravel Me came from a new reviewer. I’m super excited to have Amanda join the team. She has great taste in books and doesn’t mind when I bother her on Twitter. Both essentials. Expect to see more from her soon, plus other new VBC team members. Alpha Showdown is... 
I’ve been a long-time fan of Jeaniene Frost’s books. I’ve been a fan of Bones since before Chapter 32. Then there was Vlad. I wasn’t smitten with him until Once Burned hit shelves last year, then I understood why he earned a spinoff series. However, VBC’s Candace has been in love with Vlad since he first stepped on page in the Night Huntress books. She’s dedicated to him. I had to let her write a... 
I have a regular feature over at my writer blog talking about applying Krav Maga lessons to writing. These typically deal with fight scenes and characterization. The last post covered the importance of regular training, as in your character isn’t magically good at fighting. After sharing the link a bit on Twitter, I found that it was a common pet peeve among readers. You don’t need to have an MMA fighting... 
I’ve had a higher-than-usual number of book recommendation requests on the VBC Facebook page and via Twitter of late. While I can, of course, just point you to the recommendations section, I decided to take a look at the most popular reviews here at VBC. Consider this post your quick access to the books reviews VBC readers found helpful. TOP 10 MOST POPULAR VBC REVIEWS Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris... 
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... 
We skipped Book Bits last week because it was Thanksgiving here in the States. I hope others had a lovely holiday. Mine involved more shopping than was probably necessary (though we skipped shopping late on Thanksgiving or early-morning Black Friday madness), seeing Daniel Craig in all his Bond-y goodness in IMAX, eating more than I should have and having a Downton Abbey binge with my mom. It was a good... 
