Storm Born, The Accidental Demon Slayer, and me

I don’t know how, but I’ve done a ton of reading lately!! And they’ve been good books!!

The first one was Storm Born by Richelle Mead. The back cover didn’t really grab me, so I won’t post it. I bought the book because of a conference I went to. The agent who spoke during one of the seminars talked about his client who had four or five books coming out this year. I thought, “Holy fucking shit, I have to read one and see if she’s completely insane.” And she is, but in a good way. Her protagonist is lively; the love interests aren’t too macho (I hate the whole Alpha Alpha ALPHA male trend…stick to one Alpha, please); the plot was a tad predictable, but the writing style made up for it.

She’s witty, keeps the story tight, and overall made the book a terribly enjoyable experience. Too enjoyable. So enjoyable, in fact, that I had to find something not to like about. I’m sick. I know.

My only issue is that one of her love interests is a kitsune. “What the crap is that?” you might ask. Well, obviously, you haven’t taken my advice and read Witchling. A kitsune is a fox spirit and is a creature in both novels mentioned. I know everyone’s trying to find that new Big Bad Supernatural Creature, but it was just weird that THAT one showed up so close to me finishing the other book.

Like I said, it’s not a real complaint. The book/author should not be held accountable for the fact that I have to nitpick. But still…weird…maybe the kitsune will start replacing werewolves. That’d be kind of cute.

The other book I sped through was The Accidental Demon Slayer by Angie Fox. It was SO CUTE!! Here’s the back cover:

It’s never a good day when an ancient demon shows up on your toilet. For Lizzie Brown, that’s just the beginning. soon her hyperactive terrier starts talking, and her long-lost bicker-witch grandma is hurling Smuckers jars filled with magic. Just when she thinks she’s seen it all, Lizzie learns she’s a demon-slayer–and all hell is after her.

Of course, that’s not the only thing after her. Dimitri Kallinikos, a devastatingly handsome shape-shifting griffin, needs Lizze to slay a demon of his own. But how do you talk a girl you’ve never met into going straight to the underworld? Lie. And if that doesn’t work, how dangerous could a little seduction be…?

Too. CUTE!! Okay, sorry, I’ll get off the cuteness…

This book was recommended to me by a Yahoo group I’m in, the Paranormal Romance Lovers. Angie herself is part of the group. Now I’m glad I took their advice!

I don’t think this book is meant to be taken seriously at all (not that the author isn’t to be taken seriously, just the tone of the book). Her talking dog is not an all-knowing helper like many talking animals in fiction (my favorite being, of course, Jim from the Aisling Grey series and Austin from the Keeper series)–he’s just a dog who likes to eat and yap! yap! yap! Dear granny is a biker bitch with a friend named Ant Eater. And the love interest? No, not a kitsune, a griffin! This book actually made me feel good inside, like Susie Who making the Grinch’s heart bigger, my black husk of a heart pulsed for a moment. Seriously, it freaked my husband out.

As with all things in my life, I had to find something wrong with this…my only complaint was that the author tried too hard to tear the protagonist and the love interest apart. In most Romance novels, you have the part where something tears the two apart, something that makes one or both think that they can’t be together, that they shouldn’t be together, that it’s necrophilia to be together. Something. Anything. But I didn’t sense that with these characters. They were good together, and whenever the protagonist lamented about how it wasn’t to be, I muttered, “Whatever chick, you’re stuck with him and you love it.”

All these new authors are making me poor, but damn am I having fun reading them!! I was trying to get my mind out of the love-mush, so I skimmed through Good Omens again (I LOVE YOU TERRY PRATCHETT AND NEIL GAIMAN!!!!), and now I’m on to Date Me, Baby, One More Time by Stephanie Rowe. I’ve been staring at it for at least a year, but couldn’t bring myself to buy it because of the title. 140 pages through it, and I’m in love. I’m doomed to never get anything done because I keep finding these great freaking books!!