ARC Review: Into the Woods by Kim Harrison

Into the Woods

by Kim Harrison

(Tales from the Hollows and Beyond)

If you are a Kim Harrison fan, you'll love this.  If you are a Hollows fan, you'll love this.  If you are a true Hollows fan, you've probably read a lot of these stories previously.  But don't despair there is a little something extra that will make this all worth it.  In my opinion, this might not be the best book if you haven't read the Hollows series, however.  I think because the short stories cover a wide span of time and books, you'll be getting some spoilers while reading this.

Another thing that I loved was Kim Harrison's commentary at the beginning of each story.  She gives a little background of how that story came to be or why she decided to do certain things with the series or characters.  I truly enjoyed that.

The Bespelled - 4 Stars

We are going back in time to when Al first captured Ceri.  Al was not a nice guy and this was the story to prove it for a while.  He had no heart then and you can really see how much he's changed and evolved in 1,000 years.  Enjoyable read all over again!  First published in The Outlaw Demon Wails.

Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel - 4 Stars

I always enjoy reading this story.  This was back when I actually liked Pierce.  So during the Solstice, and while Rachel is still a teenager, her brother Robbie dares her to summon their dad to ask him if she should join the IS.  But Rachel ends up with Pierce instead and all the troubles that causes.  First published in Holidays are Hell.

Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil - 4 Stars

And Ivy/Kisten story.   Right before Ivy goes to work as Rachel's partner.  This story gives us a view of the vampire world and politics that come into play.  Kisten is the Scion but at times he leans on Ivy's strength and support to get through.  I loved reading Ivy's and Kisten's relationship and remembering. *sigh* First published in Dates from Hell.

Dirty Magic - 3.5 Stars

Mia is a banshee that shows up in Black Magic Sanction.  I have to say that I personally don't have a fascination with banshees and this story was ok but I didn't connect in any major way.  We are just in Mia's head, Mia who is in love and can't help but suck all the energy and life out of everyone and everything.  First published in Hotter than Hell.

The Bridges of Eden Park - 4 Stars

Broke my heart to read this.  That's all I'm going to say.  First published in For a Few Demons More.

Ley Line Drifter - 3.5 Stars

This is a Jenks/Bis story.  They are hired to investigate a mysterious presence in a statue at a park.  I love Jenks and almost forgot how much I love Bis!  Then there's Matalina, who I just love to read about.  This was a fun story but I thought was a bit dragged out.  First published in Unbound.

Million Dollar Baby - 4 Stars

Here's your new dose of Hollows.  When Trent and Jenks go off on their rescue mission during Pale Demon and then come back with his baby, didn't you wonder what happened?  I loved every second of this Trent/Jenks adventure.  Plus it's written from Trent's POV and I am quickly becoming addicted to being in his head and understanding how he thinks.

Pet Shop Boys - 4.5 Stars

This is the beginning of the non-Hollows stories.  This one should become a full length novel or even a series.  A whole new look at vamps from Ms. Harrison.

Temson Estates - 3 Stars

I felt that this story was gearing up to go somewhere and then it stopped right in the middle of getting there.  Dryads.  Yeah, not exactly my thing.

Spider's Silk - 3.5 Stars

This was interesting, if a bit slow.  I would've liked it to be a bit longer and know what happens next.  She seems to have a fascination with dryads.

Grace - 3.5 Stars

Grace has special powers that can become dangerous.  It was ok but I can't say I loved the ending.  Maybe it needed to be developed more and could be a good story.

*ARC provided by publisher

Purchase Links: Amazon

Review: The Good, The Bad and the Undead by Kim Harrison

The Good, the Bad and the Undead

by Kim Harrison

(The Hollows # 2)

Rachel Morgan can’t catch a break. Even as she is happily dating a human, Nick and things seem to be going fairly well with her new roomies, Jenks and Ivy. Rachel gets sucked into a witch murderer case. Several witches have been found dead and Rachel has this gut feeling that Trent Kalamack is behind this. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time Trent had tried something mischievous and manipulative to get what he wants.

As Rachel gets to work with Detective Glen, readers come to see a much more passionate side to Rachel. Flipping through the evidence files, the blood and gore is too much for even a witch like her. I loved this part because it not only showed readers a compassionate side to Rachel, but also displayed nicely that she isn’t above all this. I enjoyed seeing her determination and her eager need to take Trent down. It isn’t simply to take revenge on what he did to her in the last book.

Kim Harrison weaves an intricate plot in THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNDEAD. Though Trent infuriates me sometimes, there’s also something very magnetic about him. Readers can’t help but wanting to know more about him. Who he really is is still up in the air and I love the way that Harrison plays this out.

Each book in the series reveals just enough to keep readers entertained without giving too much away. Nick still makes me nervous. I like him, but there’s something about him that causes me to question everything he says. I’m eager to find out what happens with the human.

The Hollows has become a world that I have been wholly invested in. I can’t wait to find out what happens next! 

Purchase Links: Amazon

Review: Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

Dead Witch Walking

by Kim Harrison

(The Hollows # 1)

It’s about freaking time I read this book! I’ve had this book on my TBR shelf for so long and upon starting this book, I realized that I made a huge mistake of waiting this long! Rachel Morgan is kickass, fun, feisty and a thrill to read!

Rachel is at a turning point in her life. She has made the major decision to leave her job with the IS, taking with her one of the best runners, a vampire named Ivy. Now, the IS doesn’t do well with people who decide to just get up and leave so immediately, Rachel has a new enemy on her hands as an assassination order is put on her. She gets kicked out of her apartment and is forced to live in a church with Ivy. At this point, things really start to go downhill when Rachel gets caught up with the likes of Trent, a sexy and powerful councilman who has his fingers in a lot of dangerous pots. Harrison turns the dial up on the action and the plot twists until your mind is spinning from it all.

Many readers have said that this book suffers from “first book of the series” syndrome. Yes, I think I would agree with that. However, I definitely don’t think it’s a reason not to give this series a shot. DEAD WITCH WALKING hooked with me with the first chapter and then kind of lost its way a little bit in the beginning. Harrison hits you with a lot at once so getting a feel of being in Rachel’s mind while feeling out the world at the same time was a little hard. Some scenes aren’t as clear as they could be and I don’t always agree with what happens in the book, but I still found the book moving at a good pace. By the middle I was hooked and I finished it quite quickly after that.

Despite the minor areas that kind of blur together, Harrison seems to have a clear image of The Hollows in her mind. I like that she is willing to pull out anything to make her books interesting. I mean, really a witch who turns into a minx? I never thought something like that would be entertaining.

If you’re looking to try this series out, then I say go for it! Don’t let the slow scenes get you down. After you get through them, this book really is a breeze to read and from what I’ve heard, the series only gets better from here! 

Purchase Links: Amazon

Covers to Covet

Ever After

by Kim Harrison

(The Hollows # 11)

The ever after, the demonic realm that parallels the human world, is shrinking. If it disappears completely, so does all magic. It's up to witch-turned-daywalking-demon Rachel Morgan to avert catastrophe and keep life from changing... for the worse.

While saving the world is important, it isn't Rachel's only motivation. There's also the small fact that she caused the ley line to rip in the first place, setting off a chain reaction of unfortunate events. That little mistake has made her life forfeit unless she can fix it. It's also made her more than a few enemies, including the most powerful demon in the ever after—a terrifying entity who eats souls and now has an insatiable appetite for her. He's already kidnapped her friend and goddaughter to lure her out, and if Rachel doesn't give herself up soon, they'll die.

But Rachel has more than a few impressive and frighening skillls of her own, and she isn't going to hand over her soul and her life without one hell of a fight. She's also got a surpise: elven tycoon Trent Kalamack. With this unlikely ally beside her—a prospect both thrilling and unnerving—she's going to return to the ever after, kick some demon butt, rescue her loved ones... and prevent an apocalypse before it's too late. Or, at least that's the plan...

Available January 22, 2013

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this book!

Plus I am loving the cover!!!  It's one of my favorites I think and being that we will be in the ever after in this book then it seems extremely appropriate and well designed!  Is it January yet?

Review: A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison

A Perfect Blood

by Kim Harrison

(The Hollows # 10)

Every year seems like the wait gets longer for these books.  After the massive success of Pale Demon (at least with me) I couldn't wait to get my paws on this baby.  I was literally giddy when it was released and made sure to clear my schedule to read it.  But then after I started it, that enthusiasm seemed to fade a bit.  Why?  Not that it was bad but the first half of the book was very slow and didn't have any of the elements that I've come to love.

Don't get me wrong, I actually like Rachel.  But a Hollows book without either Trent or Al, and a good amount of Jenks is just not as entertaining.  As much as I want to like just Rachel.  She starts off without her powers because she is still wearing the charm Trent gave her.  So this actually makes her quite useless.  She is called in to assist in an investigation where a human group is trying to exterminate the supernatural population by kidnapping (and killing) people that are carriers for the Rosewood syndrome.

But Rachel, as a carrier AND officially a demon, is the perfect target for HAPA.  They are trying to make demons to use their blood, Rachel is already one.  Of course, the fact that she can't tap into her powers leads her to being captured and used.  And this is where she sees the light!  And this is where it all gets better.

A few things I absolutely loved about this book.   

Jenks.  I love that little pixie, I wish I could take him home with me and have him following me around!  He's still always there for Rachel, calls her on her shit, and would risk anything for her and the mission.  That aside from having some really funny one-liners, especially all his new and improved Tinkerbell comments!   

Trent.  Ohhh please Ms Harrison put me out of my misery!  This book was oooooooozing Trent/Rachel chemistry.  They are so perfect for each other.  I have been on that bandwagon from book one when Trent turned Rachel into a rat and put her in a cage.  Yes, call me crazy, but I knew then that I wanted these two together.  And it's all coming together finally.  But I don't know if I can handle one more book of all this chemistry and sexual tension and innuendos without some action.  I should've counted how many times Rachel thought about their kiss in this book.  Nevertheless, we see a side of Trent that I can't wait to see more of.  Businessman aside, he's just as adventurous as Rachel!

Kisten.   Even though he's obviously not in the book he was brought up so many times I could actually start tearing up!

Al.  I missed him so much in this book.  He barely makes an appearance, but my favorite part has to be when he's changing his appearance to act silly for the girls.  Who would've thought Al could actually be cute around kids!

The group dynamic is changing.  Rachel is more and more comfortable with the fact that she's a demon, she does curses, she does black magic.  It is powerful, and it's her responsibility to protect that power.  I am anxious to see where the next book takes us.  However, I do hope there is an end to this series in sight.  Even though I love it, I don't want this all to get dragged along.  *sigh*  Now another year-long wait ahead of us!

Favorite quotes:

“Some nasty bitch of a woman from the coven of moral and ethical standards tried to fry Rache" the pixy said apparently proud of it. "I pixed the Tink-blasted dildo, and Rache's black-arts boyfriend blew her right out the front door. Bam!” 


“Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt some sort of dominance foreplay?”

"Tink loves a duck. What have you been doing? Sitting on your thumb and spinning?" 

Purchase Links: Amazon

Review: Blood Work by Kim Harrison

Blood Work

by Kim Harrison

(The Hollows: Graphic Novel # 1)

Blood Work is the first graphic novel in The Hollows series. I know people have mixed feelings about this as it can be frustrating to see your favorite characters not portrayed the way you envisioned them. But I'm usually excited to see them come to life one way or another so when I had the chance to get my hands on this at NY Comic Con I was extremely happy. It's been sitting on my desk now for a few weeks and imagine my surprise when I opened it yesterday to read it and I realized IT'S A SIGNED COPY!!!!! After my happy dance... here are my thoughts.

The story in Blood Work is a prequel to The Hollows Book 1 Dead Witch Walking. It basically tells the stoy of how Ivy and Rachel came to work together. This is also told from Ivy's perspective. Basically Ivy set up her previous boss to get blamed for a murder and got kicked out of the homicide division of the IS. She feels she's already at a low point in her life and then she gets assigned Rachel as a partner. What could be more denigrating for a vampire than having a witch for a partner. And it doesn't help that Rachel doesn't know how to dress and acts the part of a ditz. They stumbled upon a murdered were and even though they shouldn't be investigating this case, they manage to figure things out and give Ivy her first taste for the hunt.

As usual, I loved Rachel and Ivy, and I enjoyed being in Ivy's head, where in the books, I wasn't too crazy about her at the beginning. A bit of a touchy subject for me, Kisten is still dating Ivy in this story. I might've cried a little, but I can guarantee you that was something that must've gotten in my eye, not Kisten. Not at all.

At the end of the novel we have a quick glimpse of how the graphic novel came together. There's a long character description and profile that Ms. Harrison had given the artist, and also the initial sketches for the characters and the revisions they went through.

I loved Ivy. She was my favorite graphic representation. Almost exactly how I pictured her. She just has so much raw sexuality, like a vampire should. Her aura was also pretty good. Rachel on the other hand, at times I liked the graphic representation and at times I didn't. My main problem with how the character turned out was Kisten. Where's his sexy persona that a vampire should have? And that's NOT how I pictured him at all! Hmmmm I guess we can't have it all the way we want.

In the end, for a Hollows fan, I think this will be an enjoyable read. It was actually a pretty long graphic novel so I found it worth the money.

For someone who has never read the series... I'm not sure the novel does a good job at explaining the world enough, or if you might be a little lost if you pick this up. However, the general storyline is easy to follow, even if I'm thinking you're missing background info you will still enjoy it and understand it. It might actually be a good taste of what the series has to offer. Just keep in mind, the books are from Rachel's perspective, and she's very entertaining! 

Purchase Links: Amazon

The Hollows on TV

Fans of The Hollows Rejoice!

I am soooo excited about this news I just had to share it with you! 

The Hollows has been optioned for small screen production through the CW network.

And it's been written by Jordan Howley (Smallville).

Check out the CW Network Press Release

*insert screaming and jumping up and down here, while doing a happy dance*

Let's hope this all works out because I would LOOOOOVE to see this series on TV.  I think Rachel has great potential to make the transition from paper to screen.

Review: Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

Whew! I'm so excited about this book, there are no words to express it! It is my new favorite in the series!!!!! I did struggle just a bit with the last book, and this one took all the loose ends and made sense of everything!

It was action packed, so much happened, so much changed, and then changed again, and again! We got to see a new side to some of our favorite characters and were able to really understand others.

It also has plenty of romance, considering Rachel's love life is such a complicated mess. I'm personally a Trent/Rachel fan myself from book 1, but I'll admit this book has something in store for you no matter who you want Rachel to end up with: Al, Trent, Pierce or Ivy.   But lets face it... who can resist the sexy, bad-ass, arrogant elf?

Rachel is really growing into her powers, and after all the twists this story has and the possibilities of where she can go from here, at the end, I hope she chooses to continue on and explore her powers!!!! We'll have to wait and see.

The actual trip across to the West Coast was a riot!  Can you imagine Trent, Ivy, Pierce, Rachel and Jenks in a car driving across the country and running into trouble?  However, I did hit a slump in my reading excitement once we were stuck in the Ever After. I don't really know why, because everything that happened there was interesting, I may have to go back and re-read that part again! Maybe that would be among other parts I'd like to re-read ;) hehe (view spoiler)

*Cue fan girl squee here for moments I was most excited about*

The kiss!!!!!! Especially when Rachel got into it and pushed him against the refrigerator!!!!

Of course, Trent naked coming out of the shower was pretty memorable! And then when he was getting dressed to go on his elf quest, with Rachel lusting after him, and he notices her looking and teases her!!!

I don't want to give too much away from the story, so I'll address the characters individually.

Rachel: I was happy to find her back to her usual self, without the constant complaining about whether she's a white witch, or a black witch, and she took care of her own destiny! She was confident, she stood her ground with all the characters and situations. 

"You need a new hobby, Rachel. Something other than nasty little men with visions of world domination."

Trent: We get to see a completely new side of him, or is it just that there's a playful elf underneath all that serious businessman, drug-lord façade? I've always said that he had some growing up to do, and that he slowly had to come to terms with some things, and he's showing us he can definitely do it! I'm so excited about what the next book can bring us with him. And he gives us a surprise that was completely out of left field for me, it just left me with my mouth hanging open!!! What?!?!? Enough said! It was too sweet!!!!!

"Just so you know, I’ve trusted you since camp."

Jenks: I LOVE Jenks. Every moment, every comment! He's the funniest little pixie around. (view spoiler) I think it's really cute how there's a moment to express his crush for TinkerBell and he actually goes to her exhibit at Disneyland.... LMAO  He has gone through so much after loosing Madelina and I feel that he's adapting well in this book.

"Tink's a Disney whore!"

Ivy: I was happy to find a little bit of closure to the constant Ivy/Rachel thing, although I've heard it may not be a permanent thing. Don't get me wrong, I think she's cool, and we got to see an emotional side to her, I agree she has to move on!

Ivy's Song: Cake - Short Skirt, Long Jacket
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5KmB8Laemg

Bis: I wish we would've seen more of him!!!!

Pierce: I wanted to kill him most of the book. I don't know why I just don't like him, never have, probably never will.

Newt: She's actually really funny!

And last but not least, AL: He is as funny as always, I liked him a little better in this book. I wish we knew what he really looks like! We also see another side of him in this book and I enjoyed that!

"Growing up is hard, love. Otherwise everyone would do it."

In conclusion, it was awesome, it reignited the spark for this series that was dying out for me, and I CANNOT wait for the next book. Does it really have to take a whole year?!?!?!?!