Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
![Round 9: Ryodan vs. Ethan Sullivan [Alpha Showdown 2013]](http://vampirebookclub.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/VBC-HomeofAlphaShowdown-216x300-28338_200x200.jpg)
Things are advancing in the Alpha Showdown 2013. We’ve hit the second tier of the event. Winners will start battling winners. Expect the stakes to be raised and the smack talk to increase. Ryodan dominated the first round of the Showdown. Taking out Mercy Thompson with the power you’d expect from one of the Nine. How will he fare against the cunning Ethan Sullivan, who already bested stellar assassin...
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... ![Round 1: Ryodan vs. Mercedes Thompson [Alpha Showdown 2013]](http://vampirebookclub.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/VBC-HomeofAlphaShowdown-67822_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 one pits a man full of mystery who overwhelms just about everyone sharing space with him against a resourceful,... 
Happy Valentine’s Day! Today’s Character Love Letters post features a hero we’d heard about before, but only fell in love with this year: Ryodan from Karen Marie Moning’s Iced. Mandi from Smexy Books has called dibs. Read her letter below and decide if you want to fight her for a little alone time with her book boyfriend Ryodan. Dear Ryodan, I must start my love letter to you with an apology. I didn’t... 
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...
I planned to write a detailed review of Karen Marie Moning’s Iced for this blog. However, I participated in a round-table discussion post over at Heroes & Heartbreakers before I had finished the book. I was sure that I would have more to say about the novel by the time I finished. Here’s the thing, I still feel just as strongly about what works and what doesn’t in Iced as I did for the Heroes &... 
Usually our group read picks are the first in long-running series. It’s an excuse to start a new series and get out of the reading the just-released books. However, some books require exceptions. If our group read poll was any indication, every VBC reader is going to devour Iced by Karen Marie Moning this week. We’re ready to go back to a fae-infested Ireland. We’re ready for more sidhe-seers, more dark... 
