Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
We had six giveaways alongside our 2011 Winter Book Preview posts. And more than 1,000 people entered them. We take that to mean you’re just as excited as we are for these books. Before we list the names of the winners, we want to remind everyone that we still have one contest open right now. You have through Jan. 1 to enter to win your choice of any of the Winter Book Preview titles. Oh yes. (Plus, the...
Kim Harrison has a knack for giving us memorable, quirky characters. Remember the first time you learned about pixy swearing in Dead Witch Walking? The woman takes character development to another level in the ninth Rachel Morgan/The Hollows book, Pale Demon, where we’ll get to see tension build as they’re all crammed in Rachel’s mom’s Buick. Yes, it’s the Great American Roadtrip….with a witch, a vampire,...
The Sworn (Fallen Kings Cycle #1) Gail Z. Martin Published: Jan. 25, 2011 (Orbit) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars Gail Z. Martin knows how to craft big-scale fantasy. And she includes elements we adore: noble warriors, magic, vampires and werewolves. Martin is well-known for her Chronicles of the Necromancer series, and The Sworn is set as a gateway into that series for...
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...
We have already reviewed a couple books that are the final pieces to favorite series during our 2011 Winter Book Preview (The Iron Queen and Afterlife, specifically). Instead of tormenting you with the excellent facets of Melissa Marr’s finale to her Wicked Lovely series now, we’re going to hold that review until the book comes out on Feb. 22, 2011. That doesn’t mean we can’t give you an advanced copy of...
Ed. note: The giveaway for an ARC of Cynthia Hand’s fantastic debut Unearthly is now closed. Thanks to all who entered! Unearthly Cynthia Hand Published: Jan. 4, 2011 (Harper Teen) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Rating (out of 5): 5 stars Just go ahead and put Cynthia Hand on your auto-buy list now. Hit up Amazon and order Unearthly now, because — and we’ll put our rep on this one — the book is...
Jaye Wells’ Sabina Kane series is excellent urban fantasy focusing on our favorite supernatural: a vampire. And as much as we’ve fallen in love with Sabina in Red-Headed Stepchild and The Mage in Black, we’ve also found we have a soft spot for that demonic, mischevious sidekick of hers Giguhl. As Vampire Book Club is all sorts of antsy for the Feb. 22, 2011, release of Green-Eyed Demon (psst! pre-order...
If you’re a regular reader, you know we fell into an addiction with the Fever series. The urban fantasy series is an enticing blend of dark fantasy, a strong heroine, a cryptic (and often frustrating) hero, adventure and mystery. The final novel in Karen Marie Moning’s series focusing on MacKayla Lane and Jericho Barrons, Shadowfever, comes out on Jan. 25, 2011, and we’re dying for answers. And with the...
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...
Ed. note: Karen Mahoney was kind enough to offer a copy of her debut The Iron Witch up for one Vampire Book Club reader. The contest is now closed. Winner will be announced on Dec. 30. Before we turn things over to Karen Mahoney, a quick heads up that Flux has pushed the U.S. release date up to Jan. 25, 2011. We’re super excited for this one. You can pre-order The Iron Witch from the Book Depository or... 
