The Fair Folk by Various

SYNOPSIS
"UOUS" by Tanith Lee. Unable to handle being the stepdaughter and stepsister since her dad died, she turns to a handsome fairy prince for solace; he grants her three wishes, but expects remittance.

"Grace Notes" by Megan Lindholm. Bachelor Jeff enjoys his lifestyle until the anal brownie insists that cleanliness is Godliness. Needing help to rid himself of this cleaning freak, Jeff turns to Maisy to help him evict the nuisance.

"The Gypsies of the Wood" by Kim Newman. In rural late Victorian England, two children disappear in the woods leading to a search for them. They are found, but the boy has aged into an old man while the girl behaves like a young child.

"The Kelpie" by Patricia A. McKillip. The artists' colony contains talented individuals jealous of one another. Ned and Emma seem to desire each other, but both fears the ridicule of failure until the kelpie step in.

"An Embarrassment of Elves" by Craig Shaw Gardner. Wuntvor, wizard sidekick, and his friends attend an elven party whereFritz and the dark riders crash the gala.

"Except the Queen" by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder. The fairy exiles the two sisters, Meteora and Serana, forcing the siblings to live in the human smog city. Though each swore not to intervene, they get involved with two teens under magical assault.

MY VIEW
This was a nice collection of short stories about the fey, I know some people are not fans of this kind of book but, as someone who can get a little bored of reading book after book from the same author this was perfect.

This is the second collection I have read that has featured a story from Tanith Lee and I must get one of her books as both times her stories have been my favourites of them all. All the stories here feature main characters from the human world interacting with the faerie world.

Grace Notes was brilliant too which is no surprise as Megan Lindholm is also known as Robin Hobb the rest of the book was good too and it brought authors to me that I have never come across before so hopefully will be able to track down some of their books too.

Garden Spells by Sarah Eddison Allen

SYNOPSIS
Living in the old Waverley home, Claire Waverley chases folks away from her backyard apple tree, and its unusual fruit, while she runs a successful catering company using ingredients from the magical family garden. But, when her prodigal sister Sydney returns after ten years, Claires quiet world is turned upside down.

MY VIEW
This book is about 2 sisters - Claire and her younger sister Sydney. Claire lives in the big, ancient house that has been lived in by her family for generations with a very special apple tree which if you eat the apple revelas something very important in your life, and its not advised to eat it!

Claire takes ingredients from her gardening to make food that affects the eater, unfortunately this makes her seem quite odd to the locals. But, its not just Claire that seems rather strange. Enter Claire's aunt Evanelle who predicts peoples needs, they may not know at the time she gives them things why they would need it but, it soon becomes clear later.

And then there is Sydney, she left Bascom (where Claire lives) many years ago but, returns after leaving a very abusive boyfriend and brings with her her six year old daughter Bay and Bascom is the one place Sydney feels safe but, he comes looking for her only Sydney is known to him as a different name.

I loved this book it kinds of has a feel of Joanne Harris novels to this so if you love her books I think you will love this the characters are brilliant and with a nice storyline beautifully told with lots of magic and a touch of humour.

Halfway To The Grave by Jeanine Frost

SYNOPSIS
Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield pursues the undead with a vengeance in the hope that one of her prey will be the father who ruined her mother's life, but her plans go awry when she is captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter.

MY VIEW
Catherine Crawford is a half-vampire and kills vampires, when Catherine was conceived it was the result of her mother being raped by a vampire. As the book begins Cat is on a hunt however, Cat comes across Bones the vampire and they begin working together.

Bones helps her with her vampire skills and are being persued by a bunch of killers.

Billed as a paranormal romance I just love this genre! And Cat is the usual heroine of this type of genre being feisty, well guess any vampire killer would be. And of course, Bones becomes Cat's love interest with some fairly steamy scenes but, it doesn't detract from the book in any way.

I've read quite a few of this type of book and it was a good read, I don't think I will ever find anything to beat Kelley Armstrongs Bitten/Stolen (the rest of that series after Stolen is not as good IMO but, thats an entirely different blog post!) it was good, not great and I will read the rest of the series but, tend to not read book after book by the same author unless its a fantastic series.

Babe in Ghostland by Lisa Cach

SYNOPSIS
Megan Barrows has retired from a brief career as a ghostbusting psychic and now uses her sixth sense to fill her Seattle antiques store with objects with happy pasts. After once nearly having the soul sucked out of her by a malevolent spirit, she prefers a quiet life.
Case Lambert is a real estate prospector who restores old houses, then sells them for profit. He has just bought a dilapidated mansion so amazing that he wants to keep it for himself, but the house appears to be haunted. Seriously haunted. A few inquiries lead him to Megan Barrows.

Megan at first refuses to help, but Case is a master of persuasion. Moving into the mansion, they discover that one of the ghosts has a thing for Case -- and there may be even more amorous spirits inside this veritable paranormal vortex. But it soon becomes clear that no one -- dead or alive -- can stop Megan and Case from ending up in each other's arms. . . .

MY VIEW
This is Paranormal Chick-Lit possibly not at its finest, I have read better but, quite a good read! Its a nice easy read with some nice characters, just fine and cutesy!

This is my first book from Lisa Cach but, by all accounts she has written a few more.

The majority of this book is based in a haunted house recently purchased by Case Lambert, Megan's love interest. He stops by her store to recruit in helping with the spooky goings on at his house although his belief in Megans abilities or rather the type of things she does is quite sceptical.


The storyline line is not huge and deep so if your wanting something deep and meaningful then this is not the book at lets face it not many chick lits whether paranormal or not are deep and meaningful - just stating the obvious!

Windfall by Rachel Caine

SYNOPSIS
Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin's stormy personal life is taking its toll on her patience-and her powers. But when the truce between the Wardens and the mystical Djinn starts to self-destruct, Joanne finds herself forced to choose between saving her Djinn lover, saving her Warden abilities-and saving humanity.

MY VIEW
This is the fourth in Rachel Caine's brilliant Weather Warden series and my favourite yet!

Jo has nothing more to do with the Wardens and finds herself back in Florida doing a 'regular' job and is working as a weather girl on a local TV station. And thats if you can call it that as she doesn't get to predict the weather. And smiles at the camera through gritted teeth.

We see a new character in this instalment in the shape of Cherise who is fantastic! Cherise is another weather girl who gets a better deal of being a weather girl than Joanne does. Also introduced is Joanne's sister Sarah, but we still have our old favourites in the shape of Rahel and Jonathan.

There is more of a darker side to this book but, on the other hand there are some lighter moments too with Jo and her sister making things a little more 'human'. Joanne is still with David but, their relationship takes an interesting twist I won't say anymore but, its none too good!!

If you love Paranormal romance etc just get this series, its brill!

Chill Factor By Rachel Caine

SYNOPSIS
Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin hasn't had it easy. In the previous two books in Caine's sharply written series, she "had a really bad week, died, got reborn as a Djinn, had an even worse week, and saved the world, sort of" and "died again, sort of" before waking up human. Normally, Weather Wardens must simply protect the rest of the human race from deadly weather, but Joanne, who's deeply tough, resolutely moral and highly fond of fast cars and "bitchin' shoes," keeps getting tasked with saving the world.

This time, a surly teenager named Kevin has holed up in Las Vegas with the world's most powerful Djinn and is wreaking utter havoc. In order to stop him, she'll have to surrender her own Djinn and lover David, die yet again, get resuscitated, interrogated and electrocuted by members of a powerful secret society, and experience countless other injuries and indignities, all the while trying to figure out who—among the detectives, Wardens, Djinns, Ikrits (a dark, undead Djinn), former bosses and former lovers—is really on her side.

It's all a bit confusing, for Joanne and readers alike, especially those who haven't followed her through Ill Wind and Heat Stroke, but it's a rollicking good ride. Caine's prose crackles with energy, as does her fierce and lovable heroine.

My View
I have read the first two books in this series but, it was quite a long time ago now I'd forgotten what a great series this is!

Joanne is a great character, she really has some ill luck as well as some good luck! This is a roller coaster ride with never a dull moment, anyone wanting a paranormal thriller must read this series.

Obviously Joanne is the main character but, this also has a great support cast too David & Rahel were two of my favourites! Myuch of this book was based around Las vegas (somewhere I would so love to go so maybe that was a pull for me too and the Bellagio - wow!), Joanne has been reverted to her human form after having been Djinn. Jo finds out in Vegas that the people with these awesome weather powers aren't wardens, and thats not good.

Just loved this!

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

SYNOPSIS
This is an epic historical novel following on from the bestselling "Dragonfly in Amber." Their passionate encounter happened two centuries ago when the gallant renegade Jamie Fraser sent her back to her own time, pregnant with his child, believing he would be killed in the bloody Battle of Culloden in 1746. Now their daughter has grown up and Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Drawn back across the chasm of time she seeks once more the man she could never forget, the destiny she cannot ignore...

MY VIEW contains spoilers!
The third in the Outlander series and I have to say I loved Cross Stitch (or Outlander to anyone beyond the English Isles) Dragonfly in Amber was good though I didn't enjoy it as much as Cross Stitch, and Voyager? Fan-blooming-tastic! I was so hooked from the off.

For the past twenty years Claire thinks Jamie was killed at Culloden but, he never and so begins a fantastic and beautifully told story. The beginning starts with telling the story as to where Jamie is and then with Claire back in the present day and then when Claire decides to go back again it was quite magical the moment they saw each other again, if this was a film I could really imagine it (though I hope this series is never made into a film as it always ruins it for me!).

Yes its an epic of a book and isn't a quick read on a rainy afternoon but, like with the previous books it just doesn't fell like you have devoured 1000 odd pages, I definitely didn't want it to end (even though I have the next 3 books!)

I need to catch up on a few of my other books that have been waiting in the wings for far too long but, I will be back in Claire & Jamie's world very very soon!