Urban Fantasy | Rachel Author Barnard

An Urban Fantasy Novel published by Evernight Publishing (06/21/15)

Summary:

“You’re itching to get back in the field, aren’t you? Not a whole lot of excitement, playing the doctor’s wife, running the PTA?” (Kindle Locations 539-540).

Diana Rowan used to be a vampire assassin. She used to be the best of the best before she got married and had a daughter. Now Diana teaches new vampire assassins, staying safe behind a desk. But she isn’t safe from all the vampires. The vampire she killed ten years ago is back and Diana and her family are his next target.

Keywords:

Vampire Assassin, FBI, Family, Daughter, Death, Teacher, Retired, Marriage, Missions, In the Field, Revenge, Lies, Distractions, Enemies, Old Vampires, New Vampires

My Review:

Though the cover would make you think “paranormal” and the presence of vampires and vampire hunters would also point you in the direction of paranormal, I believe that The Ties that Bleed is an urban fantasy in contemporary terms or gothic horror, much like Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice. This book was more like Interview with a Vampire than Twilight as far as vampire stories go. The Ties that Bleed had real characters with a real story and real stakes that were much more than teen angst related. There was also much less romance than your average tween vampire story. This book was somewhere in the middle of thriller/mystery/horror/fantasy/paranormal and if you like a realistic story that just so happens to have some vampires and some otherworldly concepts, you’ll love the Ties that Bleed.

I really liked the concept of a vampire assassin school to train the next generation of vampire hunters and that this would be considered a “desk” job, even though it still has its dangers.

The relationships between Diana and her male coworkers was as tense and sexist as any movie where there are female government workers and male government workers in the same department. Diana, however, is not lacking in the skills department.

This novel was published by Evernight Publishing June 21st, 2015 and is available on Amazon here.

TLDR Star Rating: 4.25

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Jamie Deise’s Website

Twitter

Airs & Graces (Angel’s Grace) (Volume 1) by Jeffrey Cook and AJ Downey

An Urban Fantasy Novel published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (07/19/15)

Summary:

“You cannot choose a destiny if you’re dead,”(Kindle Location 250).

She’s a down to earth, call me Addy not Adalaide, potty-mouth who works in an antiques shop in Seattle instead of going to law school like her mother wants. What is she doing in life before getting stuck in the middle of a battle between Angels and Demons and all that lies in between? Not much. Not as much as she will be doing when Tabbris, the Archangel protects her as she tries to unlock the Grace that the antiques shop owner Piorre stuck inside of her.

Keywords:

Fighting, Angels, Demons, Lucifer, Violence, Killing, Fleeing, Meditation, Visions, Traitor, Taking Sides, Training, Swords, Knives, Defense, Wings, Seattle, Smart Mouth, Politics

My Review:

Addy, at least at first, has a boring and very average personality. We don’t even know who she is before she’s whisked into this otherworld battle. How can we sympathize with her and her plight when we don’t even know who she is? Her background is only revealed in the latter half of the book.

Tabbris also seems quite average and not very extraordinary, aside from being an Archangel and having wings and such.

These two main characters seem secondary to the political-action plotline war and I feel like not much was gained with the POV changes from Tabbris to Addy.

This book contains large chunks of exposition and dialogue explaining what is going on and defining the world and the political background of the war. Most of the tension and buildup is the world-building and background information on the war going on with Earth and Addy in the middle.

This novel was published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on July 19th, 2015 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 3.25

Links for more information:

A.J. Downey’s Blog

Jeffrey Cook on FreeValley Publishing

Goodreads

AJ Downey’s Facebook

Jeffrey Cook’s Facebook