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Nell’s Gossip and Book Hunt 3/10/19
Welcome to my Sunday book hunt and author gossip. Keep coming back for updates on book releases and news from favorite authors.
Back with new releases again… they keep writin’ them, we keep readin’ them.
OMG! You have to act quickly because I don’t know how long this offer will be good. It looks super yummy and yes, I’ve already got mine. I’ve already read two of the seven on their own – before the set was put together but I’ve not read the others. But seriously, free? Move, people!
Title: Magic After Dark
Author: Aimee Easterling, Christine Pope, Kim Richardson, Rebecca Chastain, M.J. Scott , Gary Jonas, K. Gorman
Release date: June 20, 2017
Description: Dive into the darker side of magic
Enter the underbelly of city life, where werewolves, demons, and vampires stalk the streets. These six bestselling urban fantasy novels plus bonus novella will submerge you in a page-turning world of modern magic.
Half Wolf by Aimee Easterling: When half-werewolf Fen is cast out of her home pack, she and an unlikely ally are forced to shore up her waning power in an effort to save half-shifters everywhere.
Unquiet Souls by Christine Pope: When the hosts of the new Project Demon Hunters show investigate a demon-infested mansion, evil follows Audrey Barrett home…and she learns why her co-host is the last man she can trust.
Dark Hunt by Kim Richardson: Tasked with tracking down a demon that’s killing humans, hunter Rowyn is forced to partner with an angel-born warrior who has an ulterior motive. But Rowyn’s own dark secret could upend everything…
A Fistful of Evil by Rebecca Chastain: Madison actively avoids her soul-sight—until she witnesses ethereal monsters feasting on a stranger’s soul…and the monsters notice her. Thrust into a dangerous new world, Madison must master her atrophied abilities fast if she has any hope of survival.
The Wolf Within by M.J. Scott: Ashley Keenan just wants to be normal. But then her ex-lover, now werewolf, turns up with a lead on the vampire who murdered her family. To survive, she might just have to leave normal behind and embrace her inner monster.
Vampire Midnight by Gary Jonas: Kelly Chan agrees to kill a vampire, but finds herself under his spell. How do you kill something you’ve been commanded to protect?
Sylphide by K. Gorman: When a private investigator breaks into Allish Statia’s apartment and threatens her with a gun, she is able to use her Wind Elemental powers to subdue the man—but he is only part of something much bigger. Something that wants the destruction of her, her husband, and every single Mage in the city.
Title: Boundary Broken 
Author: Melissa Olson
Series: Boundary Magic #4
Release date: March 19, 2019
Description: Years ago, boundary witch Allison “Lex” Luther made a promise to an alpha werewolf. Now, just when the supernatural community in Colorado is enjoying a period of hard-won peace, the alpha turns up at Lex’s door to call in his marker. Two of his pack members have disappeared in the Colorado sand dunes, and he needs safe passage to hunt for them.
With her friend Simon Pellar along for backup, Lex ventures into the dunes to search for the missing couple…but what they find is only the opening move in an ambitious assault against those who hold power in the Colorado Old World. An old enemy has returned to tear their peace apart, and Lex is soon embroiled in politics she doesn’t understand, from a time before she had magic.
To save her friends and her way of life, Lex will have to cross every line she’s drawn since learning what she is—and it may still be too late.
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Nell’s Gossip and Book Hunt 1/27/19
Welcome to my Sunday book hunt and author gossip. Keep coming back for updates on book releases and news from favorite authors.
Back with new releases again… they keep writin’ them, we keep readin’ them.
- I know the Christmas season has passed, but I failed to mention that favorite author, Terry Maggert, released a short story in the Halfway Witchy world. It’s 30 pages of a fun, good feeling glimpse into the residents of Halfway.
Title: Halfway Holiday
Author: Terry Maggert
Series: Halfway Witchy
Release date: December 7, 2019
Description: When Wulfric needs the season’s hottest toy, he turns to the only person who can help: Tammy’s new boyfriend, who might not be human. Between pizza dinners, helpful Fae, and stacks of waffles, join the crew of Halfway as they solve a Christmas mystery and find out that sometimes, what you can’t see can really hurt you.
This humorous paranormal short is for fans of witches, waffles, and Christmas. Read with a cup of tea.
- This next book makes me a little sad. It’s the end of the story – end of the series. I discovered this series back when it was a pup – 2012 to be exact. I never expected to get so attached to the characters. My favorite has to be Cookie. The transition book was probably around book 9 or 10, and that made me nervous. Why? I don’t know. They are fictional characters, for goodness sake! But I was quite attached. I could feel the end of the series coming and I started getting separation anxiety, I guess. If you’ve not started the series, please make time for it. Charley’s quirkiness and sass is so much fun.
Title: Summoned to the Thirteenth Grave
Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Charley Davidson #13
Release date: January 15, 2019
Description: Grim Reaper Charley Davidson is back in the final installment of Darynda Jones’ New York Times bestselling paranormal series!
Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper extraordinaire, is pissed. She’s been kicked off the earthly plain for eternity – which is the appropriate amount of time to make a person starkraving mad. But someone’s looking out for her, and she’s allowed to return after a mere hundred years in exile. Is it too much to hope for that not much has changed? Apparently it is. Bummer.
She’s missed Reyes and her daughter, Beep, but now that she’s back on earth, it’s time to put to rest burning questions that need answers. What happened to her mother? How did she really die? Who killed her? And are cupcakes or coffee the best medicine? It all comes to a head in an epic showdown between good and evil in this final smart and hilarious novel.
- Here’s a book suggestion that I received in my email. From where I’m standing, it looks pretty darn good. I just ordered it and I’m ready to dive in.
Title: Rune Awakening
Author: Genevra Black
Series: The Necromancer’s Daughter #1
Release date: December 26, 2018
Description: Edie’s family secret won’t stay buried … and neither will anything else.
Edie Holloway longs for an exciting life. Instead, she’s lost her job, her band is going nowhere, and her hamster just kicked the bucket. Or did he? Because he’s breathing again.
When a mysterious man with magical powers saves her from an otherworldly attack, Edie gets more excitement than she bargained for. Turns out, she and Marius are on opposite sides of an apocalyptic battle between the forces of good and evil—and he wants her dead.
To make matters worse, a gun-toting zombie shows up in Edie’s living room—an undead servant inherited from her father. And he’s not all she inherited. Edie can raise the dead, a power that places her squarely on the side of evil. The only way to change that destiny is to assemble a team of supernatural warriors, revive an ancient faction, and stop the oncoming war.
If Edie screws up, it could literally mean the end of not just the world, but everyone she loves. And this time, everything will stay dead.
- One more big find for today. Fave author Gary Jonas just released a new book co-written with Barb Hendee. If you know Barb’s work then you know exactly what she writes. If you don’t, here are the series that she’s got out so far: Dark Glass, the Mist-Torn Witches, and the Vampire Memories series. If you’ve spent any coffee time around here, you know that Gary Jonas writes the Jonathan Shade series, the Half-Assed Wizard series and the Kelly Chan series.
Title: Word Magic
Author: Gary Jonas with Barb Hendee
Released: January 21, 2019
Description: Believe in the magic of words
Greg Jenkins is a lonely bookstore owner, with only a cat for company. He longs for love, but no longer believes it’s possible.
Enter romance author Susannah Hayworth, who agrees to write a story in the bookstore before a live audience. As a writer, she works magic with words, creating characters who seem more real than your next-door neighbor. And now the audience wants her to create the perfect woman for Greg…
If you enjoy stories of hope, and believe in the power of words, you’ll love this new short story by Gary Jonas and Barb Hendee.
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Spirited Christmas by Gary Jonas
Are you ready for a little Christmas Spirit? Or maybe a little spirit in your Christmas? Jonathan Shade investigates a haunting and finds more than he’d been paid for…
Title: Spirited Christmas
Author: Gary Jonas
Series: Jonathan Shade (Christmas novelette)
Published: December 1, 2016
Genre: Urban Fantasy Supernatural Detective
Source: public giveaway
Publisher’s Description: A ghost is haunting a little girl’s family every Christmas, so she hires me to get rid of it. The hauntings have escalated from mere sightings to full-fledged possession. I figure it’s an open-and-shut exorcism, but the truth is more than I bargained for…
A short novelette that takes place before Modern Sorcery.
Nervous Nellie’s nervousness necessitates knowledge of the novel. In other words …SPOILERS. *BEWARE*
Nervous Nellie says…
This is a short little story – about an hour’s read. A little 10 year old hires Jonathan to get rid of a ghost that keeps grabbing and scaring her but only at Christmas. First clue to the mystery: anyone that reads supernatural detective novels will immediately think of a ghost bound to an object in the Christmas box. Yep, that’s what it is, but Gary Jonas is not an author that gives us a super simple little exorcism. Nope. Jonathan Shade has to put his detective skills to work to figure out this little girl’s hinky family situation.
It was a story that kept me involved for the whole hour I waited in a hospital waiting room. As a matter of fact, I had already decided that I’d have to finish the story before I could leave said waiting room. Gladly, I finished the story a few 
minutes before I was sent on my way.
There is no sex, no gore and no swearing. This story can be read as a standalone, but it would be helpful to understand all the players by reading Modern Sorcery first. This little episode adds a whole lot of spirit to Christmas.
Our reviews in this series…
Other recommendations…
…you might try [list series or books, put goodreads links to anything you reference]
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Nell’s Gossip and Book Hunt 2/25/18
Welcome to my Sunday book hunt and author gossip. Keep coming back for updates on book releases and news from favorite authors.
Hi everybody! I’ve been busy searching out news for you and without any more delay, lets get at it.
- Myth Manifestation by Lisa Shearin went live on January 16, 2018. I have my review done and I’ll be posting it very soon. Just a preview: I loved it. I love Mac and the whole team. Even Ms. Sagadraco – even though she’s scary!Oh – get to the point. Ok. Well, the audio version of Myth Manifestation is available. If you don’t have time to read, but love to listen and work at the same time – here you go.
Title: The Myth Manifestation
by: Lisa Shearin
Narrated by: Johanna Parker
Series: SPI Files, Book 5
Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
Unabridged
Release date: 02-13-18
Language: English
Publisher: Audible Studios
Publisher’s Description: The agents of Supernatural Protection & Investigations (SPI) protect people from predatory supernaturals. This time, we’re the ones who need protection.
New York is one of the most popular convention destinations in the world – for humans and supernaturals. Every hundred years, rulers of the world’s supernatural races come together to negotiate and renew a peace treaty. Meeting in the same hotel are the governors of our world’s goblin and elf colonies. SPI is saddled with the security nightmare of keeping the living delegates alive and the undead delegates from becoming permanently deceased. We’ve got our work cut out for us.
I’m Makenna Fraser, seer for SPI. Our security nightmare becomes real when monsters from the delegates’ mythologies begin mysteriously appearing in the flesh to hunt delegates from every side of the debate. And when the hotel gets sucked into another dimension, there’s no escape. We discover that we’re all pieces in an elaborate and deadly game. A game about to spill out into the real world. Failing to escape is game over and not an option. We have to save the world – but first, we have to save ourselves.
- You saw the announcement from Brad Magnarella’s new series, right? Well, he’s got it out on audio now too!!Blue Curse
Blue Wolf, Book 1
By: Brad Magnarella
Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
Unabridged
Release date: 01-31-18
Language: English
Publisher: Brad MagnarellaAND he’s working on #2 in the series of Blue Wolf. The book will be called Blue Shadow. It’s scheduled to be released on March 5, 2018. I am listening to Blue Curse right now, so my review is coming.
- Now we are talking about Gary Jonas. I read the first book in the Jonathan Shade series, Modern Sorcery, and here is my review. I really liked it and I’m ready to charge into the next book. While scoping out book #2 in the Jonathan Shade series, I happened upon a novella that Mr. Jonas wrote that features Esther, the ghost who helps Jonathan Shade.Title: Dying to Live
Series: Jonathan Shade series #10.5
Publisher’s Description: On a dark highway, a creature from the Void confronts a lonely ghost, ready to feed on her memories.The ghost is Esther Carmichael, and she’s been through so much anguish since she died. She’s ready to bid farewell to her existence until the creature awakens something inside her.Now she’s dying to live.
Esther is a beloved character from the Jonathan Shade urban fantasy series, and while this short story takes place soon after the events of the novel Timeless Gods, you don’t need to have read the books to enjoy the ride. However, if you have read the Shade books, you definitely don’t want to miss this one.
And then I found other books that Mr. Jonas writes. They all look so good, I don’t know which to choose first but, seriously, how could I resist a book called The Half-Assed Wizard. The title in itself sounds like it’s a good time! Then we have book 2 in the series: The Big-Ass Witch and #3 – The Dumbass Demon. I swear, with titles like this they are just beggin’ to be read.
Title: The Half-Assed Wizard
Series: The Half-Assed Wizard, book 1
Released: June 4, 2017
Publisher’s Description: A couple of jerks wake me up at the crack of noon. Seems my klepto uncle stole an ancient deck of Tarot cards from a high-powered wizard, and too many losers want to ruin my day to get them back.
The cards are cool, so I check them out, but my magic-happy cousin, Sabrina, tells me I’m not supposed to touch them. Oops. Too late. Now the damn cards are tuned to me, and if someone else wants to use them, I have to die. Why couldn’t she have led with that information?
Magic was never my scene, but my dad is one of the most powerful wizards in the world, so I’ve got unrealized potential if I ever bother to apply myself. I’d rather power nap, but with wizards, gunslingers, and cannibalistic shark dudes coming at me, that’s not gonna happen.
They say I’m a half-assed wizard, but if I don’t play my cards right, I’m gonna get my whole ass killed.
The other series that I’ve got on my TBR pile is also written by Gary Jonas. It’s the Kelly Chan series. This character makes an appearance in Modern Sorcery. She is really a no nonsense powerhouse. Here’s the deets on book #1:
Title: Vampire Midnight
Series: Kelly Chan, #1
Released: February 17, 2016
Publisher’s Description: Kelly Chan, the magically engineered assassin you know from the Jonathan Shade series in her first solo adventure!
Picking up a package for a friend should be easy, but when the package is at Tally’s, a shop that caters to things that go bump in the night, and that package is a woman, things can go south fast.
Of course, if the person picking up the package is Kelly Chan, when things go south, bad guys die.
But what happens when the bad guys are already dead? Or more specifically, undead.
Kelly finds herself face-to-face with an actual vampire who has the power to issue commands Kelly has no choice but to follow.
So how do you kill something when you’ve been commanded to protect it?
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Modern Sorcery by Gary Jonas
A Null private investigator in a magic kind of world. That is a great defense even though he doesn’t advertise it. It’s kind of funny to watch the magic users after they cast and Jonathan is still just standing there with nary a hair ruffled.
Title: Modern Sorcery: The First Jonathan Shade Novel
Author: Gary Jonas
Series: Jonathan Shade #1
Released Date: October 21, 2014
Genre: Fantasy
Narrator: Joe Hempel
Source: purchased through Audible.com
Publisher’s Description: A husband armed with a sword hacks apart his wife in a Denver grocery store. There are dozens of witnesses, and the crime is captured on the security cameras. To the police, it’s an open-and-shut case.
To Naomi, the daughter of the couple, it’s evidence of dark magic. She hires her ex-lover, a private investigator named Jonathan Shade to prove her father is innocent.
Shade specializes in paranormal cases, but he isn’t buying it. Still, he takes the case, hoping to rekindle their relationship. Instead, Shade finds himself mixed up in supernatural intrigue with wizards, magically engineered assassins, and an ancient sorcerer returned to life who’s willing to kill anyone who stands in his way.
Too bad Shade doesn’t have any magic.
Nervous Nellie’s nervousness necessitates knowledge of the novel. In other words…spoilers. *BEWARE*
Nervous Nellie says…
This story has no sex. It has very interesting characters and more than a little violence. There is no cliffhanger and it’s a fantasy/urban fantasy/murder mystery kind of story. This is #1 in the series of 10 novels and 1 novella.
I picked this audio book up on a whim. The cover wasn’t all that interesting, but the title and the description made me stop and look again.
Jonathan Shade is a private investigator of paranormal things. Yes, I know, I always fall for this type of story, but I like them. Jonathan is an ok guy. He’s not especially standout which makes him a good investigator. He has a partner that is especially good at fighting and she’s pretty cool too. (When you get to the toothpick scene, give me a holler – I really liked that scene). Esther is a ghost that died in the ‘20’s and she’s pretty cool too. She helps Jonathan with what things a ghost can do.
I liked this book. The narrator – was fine. It was the book’s story that kept me listening. The narrator made a couple pronunciation mistakes (he must not follow urban fantasy, mythology or anything paranormal). There were no hideous accents that were not understandable. The narrator did do well on Jonathan’s voice but he slipped once or twice. The story was great, and I could do other things while listening. It wasn’t complicated with a half million characters or plots. I like multitask while listening to audio books and this book was right on target.
The writing was average with excellent being Jim Butcher-esque style. The action wasn’t non-stop but it was enough to keep me interested. This is only the first in the series and we all know the characters grow and improve the further into the series, so I’ll be getting the rest of the series to see where Mr. Shade’s life leads and what trouble he gets into.
Yes, I liked the book. No, I wasn’t keen on the narrator. Yes, I’ll go for more books by this author. Yes, I’ll listen to more audio books from this author even though the narrator wasn’t quite up to par. As a matter of fact, the story went fast. I started out one minute and it seemed like the next minute it was done. That’s a sign of a good book to me.
Other recommendations…
…you might try
- Harbinger P.I. by Adam Wright
- SPI Files by Lisa Shearin
- Prof Croft by Brad Magnarella
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