Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
Iron Crowned (Dark Swan #3) Richelle Mead Published: Feb. 22, 2011 (Zebra/Kensington) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars Note: No spoilers for Iron Crowned are in this review, but we do reference key events from Storm Born and Thorn Queen. If you haven’t, we suggest you read those reviews instead. Oh, Richelle Mead, how you like to toy with my emotions. The third book in... 
Thorn Queen (Dark Swan #2) Richelle Mead Published: 2009 (Zebra/Kensington) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 4 stars Note: We always go for spoiler-free here, but this review will assume you’ve read the first Dark Swan novel Storm Born. If you haven’t, please check out that review instead. In Storm Born (Dark Swan #1), Eugenie learned who she was and who some say she’s supposed to... 
Storm Born (Dark Swan #1) Richelle Mead Published: 2008 (Zebra) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 4 stars I’ll come out the gate saying I love Eugenie Markham, the heroine of Richelle Mead’s Dark Swan series. This may be because I see lots of myself in her. It may be because I love strong female characters. Hell, it might be because she’s hails from the Grand Canyon State. Whatever... 
Between blogger birthdays and Valentine’s Day this week is packed with oodles of mega prize pack giveaways. Quasi-related, we’re working on a big giveaway of our own. If you have suggestions for a giveaway theme or specific authors you think need the giveaway love, let us know in the comments! Alongside our cover reveal of Tera Lynn Childs’ Sweet Venom, we’re giving away four signed Sweet Venom bookmarks.... 
Some of our favorite authors are previewing their upcoming books online this week. So, this week, we’re featuring tidbits on anticipated releases — including links to excerpts. Dive in. Richelle Mead posted a nice excerpt from the third chapter of Iron Crowned on her site this week. If you’re aching for more Eugenie and can’t wait until Feb. 22 for the release, at least you can get a tiny fix today. In... 
If I ever needed proof my family knows I read a lot of paranormal and fantasy books, the gifts I opened on Christmas Day covered it. Nine books from five different people. See for yourself: (Not pictured was book No. 9, a gluten-free cookbook. Unrelated, I made the most awesome peanut butter chocolate chip cookies this weekend and some damn good gluten-free pumpkin muffins. Very proud of this.) For those... 
This last week I hit up a Richelle Mead book signing. While the focus was the just-released Last Sacrifice, she indulged questions bout her Dark Swan and Georgina Kincaid series. (FYI: We’re holding the Last Sacrifice review to give more readers a chance to read it, because we know you’ll talk in the comments on this one.) Mead reminded book signing attendees the third books in her series tend to be the... 
If you haven’t already subscribed to the blog, now is going to be a good time. Starting on Dec. 9, we will spending three weeks previewing the books you’re dying to read in early 2011. Daily posts will include early reviews, author interviews, previews and — gasp! — lots of giveaways. Authors we’ll be featuring include (in alphabetical order): P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast (Awakened) Jeaniene Frost (This Side... 
Today’s the last day to post your reviews of the Vampire Academy series as part of the Re-Read Challenge (if you want to win prizes). Remember, if you review all five books you’re in for the big prize pack. If you review just one, you’re still up to win a copy of Last Sacrifice. Two reminders: 1. You must fill out the participant form to be up for prizes. 2. You must link to your reviews from the... 
