Tag Archive: urban-fantasy



A Deadly Education (The Scholomance, #1)A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a fun, young adult read. The writing amused me. Naomi Novik presented literary fun.

Anisha Dadia narrated the audiobook from Libby, which I was privileged to read. Sometimes I wish I could have glanced at a word in a real book. There were fantasy/magical words that I didn’t recognize. Still, Ms. Dadia kept the characters and story more fun than I think it would have been in a dry paper book read.

I think if I were into YA right now or Harry Potter-type stories, I would love this, but I just didn’t love it. I think it is me not the book. So I don’t think I will move on to the rest of the series. But, hey, you may love it. Give it a try!

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Kat Drummond Ten Book Box SetKat Drummond Ten Book Box Set by Nicholas Woode-Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This series took me a while to read. A South African monster slayer, post-apocalypse, still in college in a time when monsters now roam. Kat Drummond is a ghost-inhabited student just trying to get by. She can be sassy, but mostly a new adult full of the normal insecurities we all have in our late teens and early twenties.

This was fun, if not downright bloody. The gross scenes were vivid and not the best for a bedtime read. But before long, the characters grow on you, and the story holds up over the scarier or grosser parts.

I can see young adults and new adults loving this series.

The coolest part of this book was that it took place in South Africa. It is a nice diversion from the usual books we can access here in the States. This is a fun series if you can handle monsters to learn about how real people operate in less than the best circumstances.

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Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series: Death Before Dragons, Book 2Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series: Death Before Dragons, Book 2 by Lindsay Buroker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Vivienne Leheny narrated this audiobook. I had attempted to read the text-to-speech Kindle version. It was difficult to stay in the story as Kindle’s TTS read a main character named Nine Inch Nails and called fingers finJa. Nin was the person’s name. She didn’t show up often, but that moniker didn’t work.

This series is a great distraction from all the worries of our day. Who doesn’t need a dragon who becomes human. I can’t wait to read the next installment.

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Sinister Magic (Death Before Dragons, #1)Sinister Magic by Lindsay Buroker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sorry for a repeat. I finished reading/listening to the Kindle Text-to-Speech edition a week ago. And though I liked it overall, the story was lost to me as the person named Nin was referred to as Nine-Inch-Nails, EVERYTIME! It pulled me out of the story, and I felt very distracted while attempting to read.

It is on Audible! I can’t tell you what a marvelous book it is with a narrator! Vivienne Leheny told Lindsay Buroker’s story with enthusiasm. It felt like a totally different story. Ms. Leheny acted out all the characters, making it easy to differentiate who’s who.

I don’t think I discussed location in my last review. I felt right in the story with the places, including Bend, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, and points between. I felt I was right there in the story. I hope everyone gets the chance to read this series.

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Crumbs and Misdemeanors (Great Witches Baking Show #6)Crumbs and Misdemeanors by Nancy Warren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Because of the availability at Libby, I am reading this series out of order. After the fun of GingerDead, I found book 6. I dislike reading things out of order, but I figured Nancy Warren does such a nice job of filling in the needed details from the previous books. I didn’t feel I’d get lost. And I don’t think I did.

This book went nearly as fast as the Gingerdead novella. It was a fun ride.

Hollis McCarthy narrated this one, also. She could voice all the characters so well that I often forgot it was just one woman reading aloud.

Nancy Warren’s series are all so light and cozy, yet engaging. I don’t like that mysteries are always about murder. But everything else is fun. It’s always an adventure.

It was one of those sleepless nights, so I not only finished this one, but I went on to the other one Libby had available. Again, way out of order. On to number 5!

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Written in Red (The Others, #1)Written in Red by Anne Bishop
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After starting to read this in Kindle with text-to-speech from Libby, I decided to listen to the Audible version. I prefer the narrator, Alexandra Harris, to the TTS. It was a good read.

It has been a week or so since I finished the read. A little case of COVID got in the way of reviewing reads. Still, I do remember this fondly and look forward to more in the series as I can buy them. In the case of fantasy beings this was a different take. It was fun!

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The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy, #3)The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay, my wishes came true. I got to reread the first three books. This time, I just listened to my Audible version. As I said nearly a decade ago, Jennifer Ikeda’s voice kept the story alive. The thing I have to add is that I discovered this series has two more books than what I left in 2014. So, I have already started reading book four, Time’s Convert. So far, I’m not as happy with the narrator, but I’ll wait for my full review about her later. As my former review states, I think everyone should try it. I loved all three.

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This series was so much fun that I wish I could go back and read it again, right now! I miss the characters and the incredible voice of Jennifer Ikeda. This series is best read with the narration. The experience is over the top!

Anyone who knows me knows I am not into vampires. Okay, I watched Vampire Diary for a while, but it was because of the witch more than anything else. So, if this had not started with A Discovery of Witches and my cousin had not recommended it, I might not have gotten into this series. And the witches sure do kick b*** in this series, so I wasn’t disappointed.

Even writing this gives me a sense of remorse that it is over. Gosh, what a sentimental mush brain, huh? But how else can I tell you how good this series is?

I do have a complaint about the whispersync of this book. For some reason, it would skip over the bottom of each paragraph. But that didn’t stop me. I just signed onto my Audible, played the story from there, and read it on my tablet. Yeah, I had to turn pages, but I hardly noticed as the story moved me forward.

I noticed that there were the slightest threads left undone. Nothing drastic, but it had me hoping there would be more to this series. The last few chapters felt rather anticlimactic, but I wasn’t complaining. It just gave me more time with the family. This was the perfect read for the Halloween season, but it would hold its own over any other set of days, too.

Do read it! I think you’ll enjoy it, too!

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Dead Beat (The Dresden Files, #7)Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aren’t long road trips the best? I just got back from a lovely long ride. Listening to music can make one hoarse, but a good story can help the time go quickly. My friend and I got to listen to this charmer on our trip. She had started reading (listening) before she picked me up. But two things made it easy for me to start listening in the middle of the story without feeling lost. I have read other Dresden File books, and, well, who doesn’t love Spike to read a story to them? Yes, James Marsters was the narrator.

I think my biggest problem with Dresden Files is the misogynistic attitudes that were less apparent in decades past but now spoil the story. Other than those issues, it is fun to watch our hero go from bad to worse situations and know his Columbo-type personality will get him by.

Even though I started in the middle, I felt I heard enough that I didn’t need to go back and check out the book to reread it. I might want to start the series again, though. Each book is a fun adventure to get lost in.

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In Want of a Knife (Vampire Book Club #5)In Want of a Knife by Nancy Warren
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I’m so sorry. I found this to be the most boring of all the series. I guess even Nancy Warren has to have a bad few days of writing.

Hollis McCarthy (the Narrator) made it sound pompous and unrelatable. I couldn’t stay awake to it even while playing my games. So, the shortest book took me twice as long to read.

Worst of all, the murder wasn’t even brought up until near the end of the book. The story was about how our main character was trying to figure out why the producer was in town to make a porno of Jane Eyre. And how this witch doesn’t get arrested for murder in any of these books amazes me. She is always there when it happens or nearly so.

And I still can’t figure out how the lady with the watch was electrocuted. I listened to that part a couple of times. I just had to know that it happened, and there is the whole case. Bah!

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Slayers (Buffyverse)Slayers by Amber Benson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don’t know how this non-vampire person ended up reading/listening to so many books about vampires lately, but here we are. I must say most of them don’t include blood-sucking types. This one, though, did.

Any fan of the Buffy series will find this fun. So many of our actors from the show are in this Audible “show.” I say, show as I could picture all that was happening in my head. The sound quality was fun with sounds that made me think I was keeping my husband awake. But when I removed the headset, I found the sound was just on the headset.

I hope there are ways for those without Audible to enjoy this. Grant it, this was a little more gruesome than my more recent reads, but not more so than the Buffy show. As serious as the plot seems these characters have a good sense of humor to keep it light.

This was more like a radio show with music and sound effects. I don’t even know how this would work out as a book. So I hope you can find it. It was fun!

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