Demons are a Girl's best Friend by Linda Wisdom

Plot:  Maggie is a 700 year old witch who works for the Guard. A group of top secret supernatural cops. The original Men in Black.  Declan is a half demon of the fire breed who just wants to run a good old fashioned night club.  One single mission puts Maggie in the line of his fire, for all the wrong reasons. The two find themselves partnered up to take care of a human teenager who holds the key to the ultimate portal. One that when opened will bring death and torture to all the worlds. Can they work together without letting their emotions get the better of them, or will they have to smolder the spark between them in order to save the world?


Witches, Shapeshifters, Demons, Vampires, Gnomes, Elves, an evil cult  and talking jewellery.  What more could you ask for.

This was a beautifully done character driven romance.  The sex scenes were not too overpowering nor did they feel out of place.
In fact, there was a very quirky underscore in this romance, and that was finding not the perfect man, but one who was perfect enough with all his faults.  As we see Elle, a magickal spider who wants nothing but to find a way to keep her lovers alive beyond one sex act.  And Sybil, the Elf who is looking for someone who is more then just pretty.

Maggie's character, is a richly written woman, who's verbal wit could match anything Joss Whedon could have put into the mouth of his blonde heroine.  And just as tough.  Giving Maggie a back story of loss in the form of a dead sister, was a delicate balance to give some depth to her combat ready style.

Declan's character, at times leaned very much towards that of an incubus (of which the author cleverly added in the form of another relative) then the fire controlling demon he was designed to be.  His back story is one that would be interesting to explore more of.

The beginning of the sub-story between Maggie and her human charge, played out as would be expected, giving her normal teenaged issues in the form of bad boyfriends and school bullies.  But there were moments when the character of Courtney felt like a plot device that took on a mind of its own.  I would have liked to have been given just a tad more on the character's upbringing before she joined the story.
Too often, paranormal/supernatural novels come off as stuck up,  this thankfully is very casual in it's approach to the topics.  The characters are developed enough to be relatable, yet the subject matter is still fantastic enough to be entertaining.

We are introduced to so many characters who easily could branch off into their own novels, which might be a delightful thing to see, as I have been told this is the first book in a series. (I hope they were not teasing) Though it does lend itself to "past history"  that makes me wonder if it's part of a series, and not the first chapter?

It had a very Buffy meets McMillan and Wife feel. I thought this was the perfect balance between romance/dramatic  and supernatural genres.  The vampiric overtones (Succubus, Vampires, manipulation by the priests and the higher demons, the scene with the bully's dad at the school)  that you find throughout leads me to add this book more to the vampire genre then to just a straight forward witchcraft genre.  Which coming from a long time vamp fan, is a wonderful thing.  I can not remember the last time I read a vamp book with that much interest.

Books I've been reading lately

Between the one's I've been doing for review,  I've been doing a book club.

So far, we've had two selections

1. Jane Slayre  (April 's book of the month)
2. Eat Pray Love (June's book of the month)

With summer, we've sort of slowed down.  Hoping that things will pick up soon though.

I've also read for just myself  Bergdorf Blondes 


I will have reviews on these in the next few days.  The book club is still in the middle of Eat Pray Love     You can find us on Facebook too

Elvira Three Pack

Back in the mid 1990's Horror Hostess and Queen of Hallowe'en, Elvira along with her long time writing partner John Paragon, put out a series of books.

They were as campy as the Mistress of the Dark herself and filled with classic monsters but that wasn't the only gimmick they used. As the first book in the series Transylvania 90210 suggests, they mixed pop culture icons from Saved by the Bell and 90210 to create something that could only have come from The Mistress of the Dark.

These make for a light laugh out loud read at just under 200 pages each, and a series I dearly hope gets a reprint. I was little depressed to find out there were only 3 books in the series.

Darren Shan : Cirque Du Freak Book 1

I received this one in the mail last week and only now had a chance to sit down and read it.

I have to get my hands on the rest of them, cause I think I found my new addiction.

Darren Shan is your average school kid. He likes playing soccer, hanging with his friends and spiders. When Steve his best friend manages to get them tickets to the traveling Freak Show, Darren can't wait.

The two boys witness what at first seems like simple stage magic while at the show but soon find out the best act is a real vampire.

Steve decides that he's tired of his life and begs the vampire to make him one. Only something goes wrong and he's left even more angry then before.

Meanwhile, Darren has a plot of his own, to steal the vampire's pet spider. Soon the two boys find themselves way in over their heads and facing their own deaths. Will they turn on each other or find another way to get away from Cirque Du Freak?

I have to admit, for a Young Adult novel this one had me glued. There is one scene between the character of Darren and his sister Annie that made me have to do a double take. It clinched the entire book for me, and I suddenly started thinking in metaphors and not taking the story as face value anymore.

Always a good thing in my view.

The characters are complex, rich and not at all what you would expect. The author managed to capture the emotional ups and down of young pre-teens with a vividness I haven't seen in this genre in years.

I love the little nod to Anne Rice by having the character writing under the pen name of Darren Shan as well as a very refreshing fact it's not set in the same old gloomy areas most vampire novels have been set. It's very much a British story so if you are unfamiliar with the British language it might throw you off at first.

This gets a 4 and a half out of 5 fangs from me.

The Men of Jane Austen Part 1

This is the last challenge for the All Jane Austen Challenge. I will be the first to admit that I picked lighter challenges at the beginning so that I would have enough time to give to this one. Had I been smart I would have been working on it from the beginning but, I am not that smart.

Even with 3 full months this was a heavy one to handle.

Mr. Darcy Mr. Darcy Mr. Darcy. Everyone loves Mr. Darcy. More spin offs have been written around him then I can count.

Why do we love him so much? That is the question.

Mr. Bingley. I have always felt should have gotten more air time.

I was going to break this down to the heroes and the villains but, was unable to keep from wanting to add Frank Churchill to the heroes when most consider him a villain. So, that idea went out the window. Then I started a list of the men, and well I know I am forgetting a few.

*Mr. Tilney

*Mr. Knightley.

*Colonel Brandon

*Mr. Wentworth

*Mr. Ferrars

See what I mean.

In Jane Austen Book Club, the character of Grigg is a mix of Mr. Knightley and Mr. Bingley. He's loyal, sweet and witty. The traits of most of Austen's men who are more the sidekicks then the center heroes.

As well in JABC, the character of Dean is viewed as a slight take on Edward Ferrars and Capt. Wentworth. Solid, dependable, passionate enough but still not the visible hero.

But what of our Henry Crawford?

In JABC the character of Trey is our token bad boy, (one of as the other "bad boy" in Jane Austen Book Club is a girl) as a full out Henry Crawford.

Few of the Austen villains are borderline nice guys, Mr. Crawford from Mansfield Park is one of them. I know I am going to get alot of reactions to that, but he does fall in love. Yes,

Mr. Crawford falls in love with the wrong woman, but he does indeed fall in love.

Once again, I bring you back to Jane Austen Book Club, and the question that is posed if when you read Austen's novels, you have to wonder if she didn't have a thing for the bad boys?

Which got me wondering, almost all of her heroines fall in love for the first time with a bad boy. Is this a lesson Jane Austen felt all must go through to end up knowing a good thing when they finally found it? Or is there another reason under it all?

Was it to warn women of the pitfalls of lust?

Or was she just wanting a reason for her heroes to be heroic?

Frank Churchill.

Another one of the borderline bad guys. He is an impossible flirt that manages to make everyone believe he is interested in them, while the whole time secretly committed to Miss Fairfax, as well as being a snob. Unlike some of the other Austen bad guys, who's crimes are far worse, his biggest fault is being a grown man with the attitude of a high schooler. I think that is why I like the Clueless version of his character the best.

Part 2 of the Men of Austen coming soon.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -Review

Well it took some slugging through as the middle seemed to get away from it's self for about 10 chapters, then when we hit the part where Lydia runs off with Wickham it got back on the right foot.  I can only guess that the re-author of this new classic, got bogged down with the actual love story end. 

I have said this before on my other blog  that I thought it was a joke when I first heard,  but it's not.  

P&P&Z  reads like a lost script of Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel, and I could not keep the idea of Mr. Darcy being played by the actor David Boreanaz (as the evil Angelus) out of my head. 

It's got all the romance we have come to love of P&P, and the witty one liners we have come to love of BTVS.  

The idea of Lady Catherine having a personal team of Ninjas is a riot in itself, but the idea that cauliflower is the perfect trap for zombies, I would not have thought.  

So many things that have left people wondering about the characters over the years are addressed in this version of the story. (Lydia being infact the town tramp and Mrs. Bennet making a move on Mr. Dacry in a subtle way)

Most of the minor characters have been given all new endings (Wickham being injured to the point of needing someone to change his depends) and a few personality traits are added to the major characters (Darcy being violent) but the story holds up. 

I can not wait to see the movie version of this  and the next offering from Quirk Classics.