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Amazon Queen (Amazon series Book 02) by Lori Devoti

Description: Being an Amazon ruler just became a royal pain.Amazon queen Zery Kostovska has never questioned tribe traditions. After all, these rules have kept the tribe strong for millennia and enabled them to live undetected, even in modern-day America. Zery is tough, fair, commanding – the perfect Amazon leader.At least, she was. A new high priestess with a penchant for secrecy and technology is threatening Zery’s rule. Plus, with the discovery of the Amazon sons, males with the same skills as their female counterparts, even Zery can’t deny that the tribe must change. But how? Some want to cooperate with the sons. Others believe brutal new leadership is needed – and are willing to kill to make it happen.Once, Zery’s word was law. Now, she has no idea who to trust, especially with one powerful Amazon son making her question all her instincts. For Zery, tribe comes first, but the battle drawing near is unlike any she’s faced before … and losing might cost her both the tribe and her life. Buy From:

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Review:Amazon Queen is the second book in the Amazon series and I really liked the book. Its written from the perspective of the Amazon Queen Zery who is more rules bound than her friend Mel who was the focus of the first book. However this adventure forces her to re-examine her outlook and make several decisions that her earlier self would not have condoned.

The plot was nice and complex and even though it took a lot of twists and turns it didn’t quite go to the realm of annoying. The characters were all quite well written including the secondary characters also.

It did get a bit confusing in the middle for me with all the characters but that could have been because I was pretty tired at that point and wanted to finish the book before going to bed.

Another pleasant surprise was that the author didn’t pad the story with loads of sex. If you have read some of her other books you know what I am talking about, if not then I suggest you try reading her Hellhounds series.

Final Recommendation: A good read. Waiting for the next book in the series.

Dead in the Family (Southern Vampire Book 10) by Charlaine Harris

Description: If you think your family relationships are complicated, think again: you haven’t seen anything like the ones in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie Stackhouse is dealing with a whole host of family problems, ranging from her own kin (a non-human fairy and a telepathic second cousin) demanding a place in her life, to her lover Eric’s vampire sire, an ancient being who arrives with Eric’s ‘brother’ in tow at a most inopportune moment. And Sookie’s tracking down a distant relation of her ailing neighbour (and ex), Vampire Bill Compton. In addition to the multitude of family issues complicating her life, the werewolf pack of Shreveport has asked Sookie for a special favour,and since Sookie is an obliging young woman, she agrees. But this favour for the wolves has dire results for Sookie, who is still recovering from the trauma of her abduction during the Fairy War. Buy From:

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Review:The newest installment in the Southern Vampire series picks up from where the previous book ended. The Faery War has ended but everyone is still recovering from it.

I really didn’t remember a lot from the previous books and so for the first few chapters was a bit lost. Plus the books are completely different than the TV series so that was another thing that confused things for me. It would have really helped if the author had written a short summary of the events till date before starting the new story. Unfortunately very few authors do that.

Thankfully a few chapters into the book enough was explained and I remembered enough from the previous books that I was able to enjoy the rest of the book without wondering what was going on.

Final Recommendation: A good read but it could have started off better.

Hard Magic (Paranormal Scene Investigations Book 01) by Laura Anne Gilman

Description: Welcome to P.U.P.I. – Private, Unaffiliated, Paranormal Investigations A handpicked team trained to solve crimes the regular police can’t touch – crimes of magic. My name’s Bonnie Torres. Recent college grad, magic user and severely unemployed. Until I got a call out of nowhere to interview for a job I hadn’t applied for. It smelled fishy, but the brutal truth was I needed the work – so off I went. Two days later I’m a PUPI – me and Nick, Sharon, Nifty and Pietr. Five twentysomethings, thrown into an entirely new career in forensic magic. The first job we get is a doozy: proving that the deaths of two Talents were murder, not suicide. Worse, there are high-profile people who want us to close up shop and go away. We’re sniffing out things they’d rather keep buried. Looks as if this job is gonna get interesting. The only problem is, we’re making it up as we go along.. Buy From:

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Review:Hard magic is the first book in a new series based in the same universe as her famous Retriever Series.

The P.U.P.I (Private, Unaffiliated, Paranormal Investigations) is an organization that is mentioned a couple of times in the Retriever books but their origins and manifesto were never told. This book makes up for the lack and introduces us to the P.U.P.I and takes us through their first case.

The storyline was fun and clean and the characters were well defined. Even though its set in the same universe as the Retriever books none of the characters from them appeared in this book though it might change in the future books.

As this was the first book a lot of groundwork was laid before the actual story started but none of it was too tedious or boring, which was good.

The ending not one that answered all the questions but I think that was intentional so that the next novel has a base to start from. But even though it didn’t answer all questions it was a fun read.

Final Recommendation: A fun read