Review: The Undead in My Bed Anthology

This was a great anthology, featuring novellas for 3 series that I currently follow.  The first was by Katie MacAlister called Shades of Gray.  This is book 10.5 of the Dark Ones series and tells the story of Noelle, the Beloved who lost her Dark One to another in an earlier book in the series and Grayson.  It was full of Katie MacAlister's famed snarky humor as Noelle tries very hard to convince Gray that she is his Beloved and isn't scared of the Demon Lord who has sworn to see Gray dead.  The secondary characters are great as usual and provide wonderful comedy to offset Noelle and Gray's romance.

The second novella is Undead Sublet by Molly Harper.  This is the third novella in her Half Moon Hollow spin off series that originated with the Jane Jameson series.  This novellas was great because we got to catch up on Jane, Gabriel, Zeb, Jolene, Andrea & Dick.  in this novella, Tess, a Chicago chef, becomes so exhausted, that she swears the food is talking to her.  She is put on "sabbatical" and decides to go visit her former mentor who had moved to Half Moon Hollow Kentucky.  When Tess rents a house from a woman going through a divorce, she never expects to find out that she already has a roommate living in the basement - the woman's soon to be ex-husband turned vampire, Sam.  The battle of wills as Tess and Sam each fight for the right to live in the house alone, by sabotaging the sleep and personal items of the other is too funny.  I really enjoy going back to Half Moon Hollow and can't wait for another story in this series.

The third novella is Out with a Fang by Jessica Sims.  It is number 1.50 in her Midnight Liaisons series.  Midnight Liaisons is a dating service for the paranormal community around Fort Worth Texas.  I didn't really see where this novella fit in with the other 2 books in the series other than the couple, a Vamp and a Were-Jaguar, meet through the dating service.  When we first meet Ruby, the were-jaguar, she is pining her lost love, a forbidden human that she had to break up with some 5 years before.  She has finally decided to start dating again and is using Midnight Liaisons to find a match.  Her first date is with a vampire who asks that she be blindfolded while they talk and get to know one another.  What happens is a little bit predictable, but the story kept my interest enough to get through.  

Overall, this was a really good book, especially since I am reading all 3 of the series these novellas are part of.  Since the stories were novellas, they were easy, fast reads.  I would recommend to anyone reading the Dark Ones, Half Moon Hollow or Midnight Liaisons series.  

Review: In the Company of Dark Ones by Katie MacAlister

This is #8 in the Dark Ones series, and an all grown up continuation of the Goth Faire series under the pen name Katie Maxwell.  This book takes place approximately 6 years after the events in Circus of the Darned.     Fran has now finished college and is making plans to join her Dad's internet company.  She hasn't seen Ben in several years, and in fact, had told him about a year prior that they were done and over.

What I really liked about this book was the return of the all the great secondary characters from the first 2 books.  They really provided quite a bit of extra comic relief.  Additionally, there were tie in characters from other books in the Dark Ones universe.  I like following characters as they move from book to book in the series, even if they are the main characters.

As far as Fran and Ben's relationship goes, it starts out rather rocky.  I will try not to give any big spoilers, but there was a moment when I really wondered if Fran and Ben were actually going to get together.  Thankfully Fran's character has truly grown and matured in the years since the YA books and she actually listened to the explanation and trusted in her Dark One.  Though I will say, that Ben should have spent a bit more time with the groveling.

Overall this was a good book and a great wrap up to the the YA books.  Katie MacAlister left us with enough loose ends to spin a couple more Dark One books, but enough resolution to see that Fran and Ben were headed firmly into their HEA.

Review: Confessions of a Vampire's Girlfriend by Katie MacAlister

So, I am a huge fan of Katie MacAlister's Dark Ones books.  And I have several on the TBR shelf.  But I have been waiting to read them, because #8 In the Company of Vampires is actually a continuation of the adult relationship of Ben and Francesca.  The main characters from Got Fangs? and Circus of the Darned.  They have since been combined into one book, Confessions of a Vampire's Girlfriend. 

Now I am going to be very clear, most of the time, I am not into YA Romance.  The whole Twilight thing? *shudder* Let's just say, that I have a name for it: The Teen Drama Trauma and move on, shall we?  So, I have had this books sitting and waiting to be read.  I kept putting it off and putting it off.  It would probably still be on my TBR shelf, if not for all these Reading Challenges I see going up.  It got me to thinking, it is time to start clearing out some of the older books in the TBR pile.  On that note, I finally worked up the nerve and dived in. 

Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I feared.  The signature Katie MacAlister humor and snarkiness is there.  Yes, the 16 year old Francesca is moody and broody, but I think most anyone would have been in her shoes.  She is trying to make the best of it, but as she keeps saying, "Her Life is Weird."  

Fran is with her mom, touring around Europe as part of a Goth Faire.  The only one near her age is a 15 year old boy, Soren.  Fran's mom is a witch, her new friend Imogen is a Marovian (female vampire/Dark One) and Fran herself is a psychometrist.  Plus she is surrounded by all the other members of the Goth Faire, all of the strange and just a little out there.

Then she meets Imogene's brother Benidikt, who is a Dark One and claims that she is his Beloved.  The only one who can save his soul and that they are destined to be together.   It is right here, that the book could have made that sad, turn down Twilight lane and been all "Oh, we must be together forever" and "I can't exist without you".  Thank God it did not. 

First of all, Fran keeps calling Ben a Vampire, a term he dislikes.  Secondly, she doesn't really believe in the whole "Beloved" thing.  She wants to take it slow and just be friendly.  Ben keeps stepping in to save and protect her and Fran keeps telling him to let her fight her own battles.  It was wonderful!  

I read both books fairly quickly, and will admit I thought the second one ended rather abruptly.  It left me hanging and kind of wondering, "What the hell?"  I didn't really feel that there was a natural conclusion to the situation and it felt both rushed and forced.  I am hoping that when I start on In the Company of Vampires, set years later, it will resolve some of these feelings of "And???"