Hunting the Darkness

The Iron Hunt (Hunter Kiss, #1)
Marjorie M. Liu

Release Date: June 2008
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating: 10/10
Source: Purchased
Buy the Book: Borders ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Books-A-Million
Content Warning: Foul Language

Silver smoke winds around my torso, peeling away from my ribs and back, stealing the dark mist covering my hands and lower extremities... tattoos dissolving into demon flesh, coalescing into small dark bodies. My boys. The only friends I have in this world. Demons.

I am a demon hunter. I am a demon. I am Hunter Kiss.

By day, her tattoos are her armor. By night, they unwind from her body to take on forms of their own -- demons of the flesh, turned into flesh. This is the only family demon hunter Maxine Kiss has ever known. It's the only way to live, and the very way she'll die. For one day her demons will abandon her for her daughter to assure their own survival -- leaving Maxine helpless against her enemies.

But such is the way of Earth's last protector -- the only one standing between humanity and the demons breaking out from behind the prison veil. It is a life lacking in love, reveling in death, until one moment -- and one man -- changes everything...

Darkness Calls (Hunter Kiss, #2)
Marjorie M. Liu

Release Date: June 30, 2009
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating: 10/10
Source: Purchased
Buy the Book: Borders ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Books-A-Million
Content Warning: Foul Language

They are the obsidian shadows of my flesh - tattoos with minds, hearts, and dreams. By day, they protect me. But when night calls to them, they leave my body, dissolving into their true form - as demons…

Nomad born and bred, demon hunter Maxine Kiss has always relied upon herself to fight the darkness that surrounds her, the predators-human, zombie, and otherwise - who threaten the earth. But one man has penetrated her lonely life: Grant, the last of his kind. With music he is able to control any living creature…including demons. And now his life is in danger.

Haunted by the past, determined to change the future, Maxine soon understands that to save Grant, she has only one choice-to lose control, and release her own powers of darkness…

(Darkness Calls blurb is from author website. The Iron Hunt blurb is from the back of the book, typed by yours truly.)

As an aspiring author, I envy Miss Marjorie her imagination. Also her writing talent.

This series is amazing. So creative... *happy sigh* I love it! I can't say enough good about it.

The story is deep, the characters real. Even down to the five demons who make up Maxine's tattoos, each character has a personality all its own. (Zee is my favorite demon. In this series.)

I really think everyone should read these books, but I know fantasy isn't for everybody. If you like urban fantasy, you HAVE to read this series!

Book 3, A Wild Light releases today (July 27, 2010)!

Now to talk the hubby into going to a book store... ^_^

Review: Night Myst (Indigo Court #1)

Night Myst (Indigo Court, #1)
Yasmine Galenorn

Release Date: 29 June 2010
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance (Adult)
Rating: 10/10
Source: Purchased
Buy the Book: Borders ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Books-A-Million
Content Warning: Language, Explicit Sex

Eons ago, vampires tried to turn the dark Fae in order to harness their magic, only to create a demonic enemy more powerful than they could have imagined. Having quietly amassed their strength for centuries, the Vampiric Fae are determined to enslave the world. Now Myst, Queen of the Indigo Court, is rising again -- and a long-prophesied war is about to begin...

Cicely Waters, a witch who can control the wind, has returned home to New Forest, Washington, after learning that her family is in danger. The Indigo Court holds the city in fear. People are vanishing, and strange deaths plague the town. And when she is swept into an unexpected and passionate reunion with Grieve, the Fae prince who taught her how to harness the wind, Cicely finds herself with a fierce and territorial lover.

But Grieve has become enslaved by Myst's court, and now, caught between two evils, the lovers must survive the machinations of the Vampiric Fae queen, even as Cicely untangles the hidden secrets to her own heritage.

Wow. I was blown away by this book.

Too bad I have to wait a whole year for the next one! I think I may go crazy. Okay, crazier.

Miss Galenorn does a fantastic job of drawing the reader into this world of magic. She paints pictures with her words. I could visualize the setting clearly. Her vampires and dark Fae scared me. Myst is one scary lady!

I empathized with Cicely and fell in love with Grieve - though he can be scary, too.

I'm afraid to say much more; I don't want to spoil the book for anyone. Let's just say this: If you like urban fantasy or paranormal romance (and don't mind not getting a happily ever after), read this book! The writing is amazing; the story, captivating.

This was the first book I ever read by Yasmine Galenorn, but it won't be the last! I have heard good things about her Otherworld books, but have yet to read them. Now that I know - and love - her writing, that will have to change.