The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. 

The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. 

As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

• Genre:Historical fiction, Magical realism, Fairy Tales, Mystery
• Age: adult
• Source: owned paperback and ebook
• Read from March 15 to 31, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★/★★★★★

Lover At Last (Black Dagger Brotherhood #11) by J.R. Ward

 Qhuinn, son of no one, is used to being on his own. Disavowed from his bloodline, shunned by the aristocracy, he has finally found an identity as one of the most brutal fighters in the war against the Lessening Society. But his life is not complete. Even as the prospect of having a family of his own seems to be within reach, he is empty on the inside, his heart given to another....

Blay, after years of unrequited love, has moved on from his feelings for Qhuinn. And it’s about time: The male has found his perfect match in a Chosen female, and they are going to have a young—just as Qhuinn has always wanted for himself. It’s hard to see the new couple together, but building your life around a pipe dream is just a heartbreak waiting to happen. As he’s learned firsthand.

Fate seems to have taken these vampire soldiers in different directions... but as the battle over the race’s throne intensifies, and new players on the scene in Caldwell create mortal danger for the Brotherhood, Qhuinn finally learns the true definition of courage, and two hearts who are meant to be together... finally become one.

• Genre: Paranormal romance, Urban Fantasy, Supernatural
• Creatures: vampires, angels 
• Age: adult, Glbt
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from March 26 to 30, 2013
   

Final rating: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy

Tessa Gray should be happy - aren't all brides happy?
Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute.

A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan.

He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her.

• Genre: Paranormal, Steampunk, Supernatural,Historical & Paranormal romance
• Creatures: angels, vampires, demons, warlocks and witches 
• Age: young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from March 20 to 22, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★

Warrior's Cross by Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban

Cameron Jacobs is an open book. He considers himself a common waiter with normal friends, boring hobbies, harmless dogs, and nothing even resembling a secret...

except a crush on a tall, dark, devastatingly handsome man who dines alone at his restaurant on Tuesday nights. All it takes is one passionate night with Julian Cross to turn Cameron’s world on its head.

Julian's love and devotion are all Cameron could have hoped for and more. But when his ordinary life meets and clashes with Julian's extraordinary lifestyle,

Cameron discovers that trust and fear can go hand in hand, and love is just a step away from danger.

• Note: it's stand alone novel, but can be read as "Cut & Run #4.5"
• Genre: Mystery, Romance, Suspense, Contemporary Romance
• Age: adult, Glbt
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from March 25 to 26, 2013
   

FINAL RATING: ★★★☆/★★★★★

The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis

Anna and Abel couldn’t be more different. They are both seventeen and in their last year of school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel, the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prisonlike tower block at the edge of town. Anna is afraid of him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own. Fascinated, Anna follows the two and listens as Abel tells little Micha the story of a tiny queen assailed by dark forces. It’s a beautiful fairy tale that Anna comes to see has a basis in reality. Abel is in real danger of losing Micha to their abusive father and to his own inability to make ends meet. Anna gradually falls in love with Abel, but when his “enemies” begin to turn up dead, she fears she has fallen for a murderer. Has she?

Award-winning author Antonia Michaelis moves in a bold new direction with her latest novel: a dark, haunting, contemporary story that is part mystery, part romance, and part melodrama.

• Genre: Mystery, Fairy Tales, Contemporary, Drama
• Age: mature young adult/new adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from March 13 to 15, 2013
   

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★

Red Fox (Experiment in Terror, #2) by Karina Halle

With Book Two of the Experiment in Terror Series, Perry Palomino and Dex Foray trade in the stormy Oregon coast for the unforgiving deserts of New Mexico.

In the for­got­ten town of Red Fox, New Mex­ico, a Navajo cou­ple is tor­tured by things unseen and by motives unknown. Wild ani­mals slink through their house in the dark, a bar­rage of stones pound their roof nightly, and muti­lated sheep car­casses are turn­ing up on their prop­erty. 

Armed with a cam­era and just enough to go on, Perry and Dex travel to the des­o­late locale, hop­ing to film the super­nat­ural occur­rences and add cred­i­bil­ity to their flail­ing web­cast. Only their show has a lot more work­ing against them than just grow­ing pains. Tested by dubi­ous ranch hands, a ghost from Dex’s past, and shapeshift­ing decep­tion, the ama­teur ghost hunters must learn to trust each other in order to fight the most ancient of myths…or die trying.

• Genre: Paranormal, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery
• Creatures: shapeshifters 
• Age: new adult, adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from March 09 to 12, 2013
   

FINAL RATING: ★★★★/★★★★★

Darkhouse (Experiment in Terror #1) by Karina Halle

With all the vampire, werewolf and faerie books out there, it's easy to become numb to all things supernatural. The antidote? Darkhouse introduces two real and unforgettable characters, Perry Palomino & Dex Foray, amateur ghost hunters who are "attractive, relatable and oddly heroic," "flawed but loveable," "slightly crazy" and just the most endearing pair to ever tackle the paranormal...just don't call them normal.

Darkhouse is a thrilling and sexy new take on concepts like Supernatural and The X-Files, bringing a breath of fresh air to a genre that has been inundated with the dead.

***Darkhouse and the Experiment in Terror series is a horror/romance for mature audiences only. Readers who are easily offended by harsh language should think twice about reading it.**

• Genre: Paranormal, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery
• Creatures: ghosts
• Age: new adult, adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from March 03 to 07, 2013
   

FINAL RATING: ★★★☆/★★★★★

Sins & Needles (The Artists Trilogy, #1) by Karina Halle

Ellie Watt is used to starting over. The daughter of a grifting team, Ellie spent her childhood being used as a pawn in her parents' latest scam. Now she’s much older, wiser and ready to give her con artist life a rest. But returning to the dry desert town of Palm Valley, California means one more temptation than she bargained for – Camden McQueen.


Once known as the high school weirdo, Camden is bigger and badder than the boy he used to be and a talented tattoo artist with his own thriving business. Ellie’s counting on Camden still being in love with her but what she’s not counting on is how easily unrequited love can turn into obsession over time. When Camden discovers Ellie’s plan to con him, he makes her a deal she doesn’t dare refuse, but her freedom comes with a price and it’s one that takes both Ellie and Camden down a dangerous road.

• Genre: Contemporary romance, Suspense
• Age: adult
• Source: owned ebook
• Read from March 18 to 20, 2013
   

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★

On Every Street (The Artists Trilogy, #0.5) by Karina Halle

When young con artist Ellie Watt decides to call herself Eden White and go after the drug lord who ruined her as a child, she never expects to fall for one of his henchmen. But Javier Bernal is no ordinary man.

Subtly dangerous and overwhelmingly seductive, Eden finds herself passionately in love with Javier, the very person she's set-up to betray.

With her body and heart in a heated battle against her deep need for revenge, no one will walk away from this con a winner.

• Genre: Contemporary romance, Suspense
• Age: adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• note: short story
• Read from March 15 to 18, 2013
   

FINAL RATING: ★★★★/★★★★★

The Devil's Metal (Devils #1) by Karina Halle

It’s the summer of 1974 and 21-year old Dawn Emerson has only three things she wants to do: compete one last time in the Ellensburg Rodeo, win back her ex-boyfriend Ryan, and become the best damn music journalist at Central Washington University. But all her plans are left in the dust when she’s contacted by Creem magazine to go on the road with one of her favorite groups, the up-and-coming metal band, Hybrid.

At first the assignment reads like a dream come true. Not only will Dawn land some much-needed credibility as a female music journalist, but she’ll finally get to experience life from the other side of the stage, and maybe crack the drunken, enigmatic code that is guitarist Sage Knightly. Instead, Dawn finds herself on an aging tour bus filled with ego-maniacs, band politics and a whole lot of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. When monsters start showing up in dressing rooms and some of Sage’s groupies become increasingly strange and dangerous, Dawn discovers the band is not only going places – they’re going straight to Hell.
And Dawn has a backstage pass.
***
The Devil's Metal is the first book in a two-part New Adult Horror/Paranormal Romance and very (very!) loosely based on the author's exploits as a music journalist. Hell comes in different forms.

• Genre: Paranormal, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery
• Creatures: demons 
• Age: new adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from March 23 to 25, 2013
   

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★