The Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 11
Published by NAL
Release Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Available in Hardcover and Kindle editions
In Short: Qhuay – vampire warriors Qhuinn and Blaylock, for the uninitiated – finally get together, and then Get. It. On.
Recommended: Yes!
“You’ve always had me… and my heart. My soul. Everything. I wish it hasn’t taken this long for me to man up.”
– Qhuinn to Blaylock
I was fully prepared to hate this thing. An entire full-length novel about the long-overdue coming out party of two of the most emo ghey night creatures ever …

Justin Cronin’s despised sequel The Twelve, and a great literary tradition it might well uphold
by Kate Nagy
The Twelve, the sequel to Justin Cronin’s wildly popular 2010 vampire thriller The Passage, was published last fall to reviews that were, alas, rather less than ecstatic. “The Twelve bites,” was the succinct, if somewhat unkind, conclusion drawn by one waggish reviewer. Various critics have cited the book’s overpopulation, tissue-thin characterization, and surplus plot lines as flaws, and I have to concede that they have a point. There are too many characters, not to …

Mercy Thompson, Book 7
Published by Ace
Release Date: March 5, 2013
Available in Hardcover, Kindle and Preloaded Digital Audio Player editions
In Short: An adventure-prone couple made up of a “walker” (shapeshifting coyote) and the Alpha werewolf of the Tri Cities pack are stuck at both ends of a major kidnapping plot by rogue government agents. Add in a bunch of teenagers, a lawyer, and a visiting werewolf with self-control problems, and mercy, we have a mess!
Recommended: Yes.
“I just can’t sit and do nothing when you and the other people who are mine …

2012
Published by Curiosity Quills
Available in Paperback and Kindle
In the Stacks: Demons
In Short: A highly proactive and involved condo board packed with fallen angels: Hell on Earth, right?… Surprisingly, no.
Recommended: Hell Yes!
     Turning back to the group, he said firmly, “We are going to our freedom, you dunces. There’s no pool. There’s no fitness center. There are no meetings. You can, however, utterly destroy all these things and more, with fire or plague or sword or wrath. You can do whatever you want. Bring about the end of days.” He …

Published by Amulet Books
Release Date: Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Available in Hardcover, Paperback and Kindle editions
In Short: The women in Alyssa Gardner’s family have a history of madness, stretching back to Alice Liddell, the girl who inspired Lewis Carroll’s famous book. To end the curse, Alyssa must travel to a Wonderland that is darker and more dangerous than she ever imagined.
Recommended: Yes!
“Find the rabbit hole…”
Alyssa Gardner is a typical high school senior. She has a crush on the boy next door, Jeb, who is dating Alyssa’s rival. She hangs out at …

Queen of the Dead, Book 1
2012
Published by DAW
Available in Hardcover and Kindle editions
In the Stacks: Best of 2012
In Short: Excellent. Just… excellent.
Recommended: Hell, yes!
“Had he been anyone else, she would have lied, and it would have come cleanly and naturally. Lies were something you told other people to make things easier, somehow – hopefully, for them, but often more selfishly for yourself.”
Or
“And oddly enough, there are very few dead in the graveyards of the world. It’s not where they lived,” he added, “and it’s not where they died… I like …

The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 5
Published by Del Rey
Available in Mass Market Paperback and Kindle editions
In Short: Twelve years later, Atticus O’Sullivan is still causing trouble and now it’s time to clean things up.
Recommended: Yes.
     “You sent in the clowns?” I said into the phone.
     Theophilus chuckled and hung up. So much for his offer. The entire call had been meant to distract me while the clowns surrounded us.
     “The clowns are dark elves, Granuaile. Kill or be killed. Go!”
Spoilers!
To start off with, I feel that Trapped …

Jolie Wilkins, Book 5
Published by Random House
Release Date: Tuesday, September 25, 2012
In Short: Queen of the Underworld Jolie Wilkins returns from a heady time traveling trip only to find some new enemies Lurking.
Recommended: No, not really.
“I was a girl who had never thought much of herself, but with the teaching and love of a warlock and the companionship of a vampire, I’d come to realize just how capable I was.”
Returning to her Underworld Kingdom (and Book 5), Witch and Queen of the Underworld Jolie Wilkins is finally reunited with her …

I have to confess that I am not as enraptured by Mark Helprin’s 1983 novel Winter’s Tale as is my opponent in this debate. Kate lists it as her favorite novel of all time, rhapsodizing at length about its language, its imagery and its unforgettable characters. As one more newly come to the book – not released in a new edition since 1995 but now, of course, available for your favorite e-reader – I can say that I enjoyed it, for all its convolutions, and I am certainly in awe …

Monster Haven, Book 1
Published by: Carina Press
Release Date: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Available in Mass Market Paperback and Kindle Editions
In Short: Empathic wedding planner pursued by a demon makes whacky new friends who help her fight back. Hijinks ensue.
Recommended: Yes! Top of the beach bag, Mom!
“I may look like I’m taking it all in stride, but inside I’m patting myself on the head and expecting a doctor to bring me meds. I can either drown in the unbelievable, or swan-dive into it.”
– Zoey
This title and synopsis caught my eye because …