Fashionably Dead - Robin Peterman (Hot Damned Series #1)

Fashionably Dead is the first in a series of fantasy books called Hot Damned Series by Robin Peterman.

Astrid wakes up to find she has been turned into a vampire. Her world is suddenly manic and completely off the wall. She is now in the reliable hands of an angel called Pam who is the image of Oprah but with a serial liking for profanity and a fighting coach fairy called The Kev who is a dead-ringer for Arnold Schwartzenegger, speedos and all. Along with her best friend Gemma, these characters support and guide Astrid through the tumultuous times after her change. 

I really can't make my mind up about this book. The fashion references and Astrid's propensity for all things Prada are at times funny but sometimes annoyingly out of place in the setting. At times the writing was laugh out loud funny, particularly any dialogue including Pam, the angel who has the filthiest turn of phrase, and then other times I found myself skipping through mystifyingly boring bits! The basis of the story is very amusing and the style in which Robyn Peterman writes is in equal measure funny and quirky but something just didn't click for me so I cannot say I really loved it. Having said that, I can see how it has wide appeal and has received such high ratings.

8.5/10

A Hidden Fire - Elizabeth Hunter (Elemental Mysteries #1)

This is the first book in a series of four. I found it for free as an e-book on Amazon.com so downloaded it to take a peek. I was hooked immediately and by the time I got to 40% I went back to Amazon and bought the other three books in the series!!

I am not a massive fan of fantasy but having recently read and enjoyed A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and after reading the blurb below, I thought I'd give it a try.

A phone call from an old friend sets Dr. Giovanni Vecchio back on the path of a mystery he'd abandoned years before. He never expected a young librarian could hold the key to the search, nor could he have expected the danger she would attract. Now he and Beatrice De Novo will follow a twisted maze that leads from the archives of a university library, through the fires of Renaissance Florence, and toward a confrontation they never could have predicted.

Elizabeth Hunter does such a good job of slowly creating a world of hidden beings and likable characters, it was enjoyable from the start. I was so enamoured by the story that I looked for other reviews. Someone posted one with pictures of what she thought Beatrice and Giovanni looked like, and it was exactly how I had pictured them too. Just like this.........

I can highly recommend this book and suggest you give it go, or, why not just buy the whole set!

And, of course, the moral of the story here is that marketing works! It seems that Amazon have nailed the ploy of offering free kindle books as bait to reel in readers to encourage them then to buy the rest of a series! It worked with me and I am so glad I found it.

Can't wait to get started on Book 2!

9.8/10

Black Swan Rising – Lee Carroll

Garet James is no ordinary woman, but, when the book begins, she doesn’t know that yet! Even though she has a thriving jewellery-making business she has financial troubles of her own. With an aging father to look after and his art gallery business under threat she is worried that they may lose their home which also doubles as their business premises.

As she is heading back from a meeting with her bank manager, she stumbles across an old jewellery shop which she hasn’t noticed before. Trying to escape a sudden downpour she steps inside the shop and is immediately drawn to an old silver jewellery box. There is something very special about this box which seems to shimmer under her touch. The shopkeeper seems to know of Garet’s talent of working with silver and gold and asks her if she can open the box as it has been somehow soldered shut. Not an easy task to perform and keep the intricate work on the box intact but with the offer of $1000 from the shopkeeper, she takes on the challenge. She heads home with the box and takes it to her workshop where she begins on opening the seal.

That is when her life changes forever.

I first read this book when it was newly published in 2010 and loved it. Having just re-read it, I fell in love with it all over again. It is a fantastical tale of magic, fairies, vampires and a centuries-old love affair. Garet James is the latest in a long line of female protectors of humankind, it’s just that she has no idea about her powers or her heritage as her mother died before she could tell her the truth. So in Black Swan Rising, Garet makes the journey of finding out about herself and her ancestors’ story without the guidance of her mother’s wisdom and experience and she takes the reader along with her too. She does have some help along the way as Oberon, King of the Fairies, makes an appearance and leads her through various challenges to help her realise who she really is.

This is the first book in a trilogy which chronicle the tale of the Black Swan. The second book, Watchtower was published in 2011 and the final book, Shape Stealer, is to be published in March this year. I can hardly wait to read it!

If you love a fantastic story filled with magic and a tale of the age old battle of good versus evil, then pick up these books. You will not be sorry.

9.8/10