Tonight at 8 is the first episode of WB’s Vampire Diaries show. It’s based on the L.J. Smith books that I was practically obsessed with as a teenager, so I’ve been interested in checking it out. Honestly, my expectations are pretty low. I hardly expect any adaptation to follow the source material completely, but some of the changes that I’ve heard about sounded fairly pointless.

And at 9, we get the start of the fifth (and possibly last) season of Supernatural. After last season’s ending, I’m dying to know what happens! This is one of the best genre shows on television, and anyone who hasn’t seen it so far should check out the DVDs.

• already released
  Rosemary and Rue, by Seanan McGuire (my review)
  Must Love Hellhounds, an anthology featuring Charlaine Harris, Illona Andrews, Nalini Singh, and Meljean Brook
  Trick of the Light, by Rob Thurman
  Witch Craft, by Caitlin Kittredge
  Never Cry Werewolf, by Heather Davis (ya)
• September 14
  Once A Witch, by Carolyn MacCullough (ya)
• September 29
  Frostbitten, by Kelley Armstrong
  On the Edge, by Illona Andrews
  Soulless, by Gail Carriger
  Darker Angels, by M.L.N. Hanover
  Dawnbreaker, by Jocelynn Drake

Rosemary and Rue comes out tomorrow, but I got an ARC of this one so I was able to check it out a bit early.

It’s about October Daye, a changeling who rejected Faerie after her attempt to lead a partially human life was shattered by a curse. Toby does her best to get by quietly in San Francisco, but a desperate message from a murder victim forces her out of her self-imposed isolation. To hunt the killer, she has to rejoin fae society and navigate a dangerous world of politics and power. Toby will have to rely on old friends, and occasionally old enemies, to solve the murder and save herself.

Toby is a refreshing urban fantasy heroine, because she’s not too powerful or perfect. She has some interesting abilities (including one that makes her uniquely suited to a murder investigation), but she’s weak compared to the full-blooded fae. I like that because it means that she has to rely on her wits, it also makes her a little more dependent on her allies than some of the laughably overpowered protagonists that have been showing up these days. I also like that she doesn’t seem about to fall into that other heroine stereotype, the Mary Sue that all the guys want and most of the women are jealous over. (Can you tell that I’ve been reading a lot of cookie-cutter fiction lately?)

In addition to her moderate power level, Toby is characterized in a way that I found easy to sympathize with. She has tragedies in her past that she hasn’t fully dealt with. She’s smart and resourceful, but she has some pretty big blind spots when it comes to the people she thinks that she knows well. Many of these become obvious to her during the course of the book, but there’s at least one more character that I’m pretty sure will surprise her soon.

The story is a good mix of intrigue and action, and there are a few twists that took me by surprise. The setting is detailed and has a lot of potential. Toby visits the courts and domains of various fae, and she also spends time in a changeling dive that feels a little like a sleazy imitation of the full-blood courts. Each place has a distinct, solid feel, and makes me want to see more of the world than we’ve been exposed to so far.

If I had one minor complaint, it’s that Toby seems to spend a lot of time getting beaten up and/or falling unconscious. It’s hardly surprising given the danger she’s facing, and I wouldn’t necessarily call it excessive or say it doesn’t fit in.  It’s just that I’m hoping that all of Toby’s future adventures don’t end up with her being quite so battered, because for some reason I tend to get bored with a series when the protagonist always seems injured.

I’d recommend this especially for fans of Illona Andrews or Patricia Briggs. Not so much because of similarities of character or style, but because there’s a level of uniqueness that makes this book stand out from the pack in the same way that theirs do.

Part of that is because of some other commitments that have cut down on my reading time. And part of it is because I’ve read some pretty disappointing urban fantasy titles lately. I started reviews of most of those anyway, because I’m not one of those “if I didn’t like it then I won’t post about it” reviewers. But panning three books in a row sounded severe, even for me.

I do have a few not-full-of-complaining posts coming up, including a review of one of the high points of my August reading.

This month I thought I’d try linking my release list to each book’s Goodreads.com page instead of to Amazon.  That way you can check out what other people may be saying about the books so far, also because Goodreads is awesome.

• already released
  Thorn Queen, by Richelle Mead
  Leader of the Pack: Tales of an Urban Werewolf, by Karen MacInerney
  Dark Time, by Dakota Banks
• August 4
  Cape Storm, by Rachel Caine
  Bloody Right, by Georgia Evans
  Vanished, by Kat Richardson
  The Red Tree, by Caitlin R. Kiernan
• August 25
  Hunting Ground, by Patricia Briggs
  Mercy Thompson: Homecoming (graphic novel), by Patricia Briggs, Francis Tsai, and Amelia Woo
  Unbound (anthology), includes Kim Harrison, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson, Jocelynn Drake

Being Human – a show about a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost who share an apartment – starts on BBC America this week. The first episode is July 25 at 9 pm.

There’s been some really entertaining genre television coming from the UK in recent years (Hex, Primeval, and especially Jekyll), so it’s probably worth checking out.

edit:  post updated with bonus eye candy

In The Spy Who Haunted Me (the third book in Green’s Secret Histories series) Edwin Drood enters a competition organized by the Alexander King, the legendary Independent Agent. The group of gathered spies must work together to solve some of the world’s greatest mysteries, but only one of them can claim the prize – the secret knowledge accumulated by King during his career. There’s also a literal deadline. Alexander King is terminally ill, so if the victor doesn’t return quickly enough then King’s secrets could go with him to the grave. Edwin believes that only the Drood family can be trusted with what the Independent Agent knows. But he’s not the only one determined to win at any cost, which becomes clear once the competitors start dying.

I really enjoyed the first two books in this series, but this one doesn’t have quite the same high-stakes feel because Edwin never seems in over his head. Having the group look into so many different situations in one book makes things a bit disjointed. The scenes where they visit an abandoned Russian science city are fantastic, and the sections about the Philidelphia Experiment and Loch Ness were also entertaining. But the deep woods investigation was disappointing and there were some unanswered questions left hanging about Roswell.

This book also includes Walker, from Green’s Nightside novels. The previous Secret Histories book also used a character from another Green series, but this time it just didn’t work for me. I guess that we’re used to seeing Walker from John Taylor’s point of view, but his characterization felt so different that it almost didn’t seem like the same man at all.

This series came along at just the right time for me, because I thought the Nightside stories had started to feel a bit worn. But I’m starting to wonder if I’m getting a bit tired of Green’s style in general. He has really imaginative settings and situations, but I’m becoming less fond of the constant asides about dangerous people with quirky nicknames and/or colorful epithets. Maybe I’m just getting picky, but they’re starting to get repetitive. I hope the next book ramps the action back up a little, gives the main character more of a challenge, and cuts back on the tendency for every minor character to have a string full of adjectives.

Minor annoyances aside, I’m still recommending this series to any urban fantasy fan who likes a good dose of action, the first book is The Man With the Golden Torc.

Some of this month’s releases:

• July 1
  Prey, by Rachel Vincent
• July 7
  Strange Brew (anthology), edited by P.N. Elrod
  Bloody Awful, by Georgia Evans
  Skinwalker, by Faith Hunter
  Blue Moon (ya), by Alyson Noel
• July 28
  Redemption Alley, by Lillith St. Crow
  Destined for an Early Grave, by Jeaniene Frost
  Skin Deep, by Mark Del Franco

Toni Andrews is doing a virtual book tour for her new release, Cry Mercy, and today she’s here to answer a few questions for us. As part of the tour, you can send Toni a self-addressed stamped envelope, and she’ll send you a signed bookplate for your copy of the book. For more information about that, and links to her other blog appearances, check out her virtual tour site.

Cry Mercy is the third book in her Mercy Hollings series. The heroine is a hypnotherapist with the power to “press” others into doing what she wants. To find out more about Mercy (or about Toni’s romance novels written as Virginia Reede), you can visit Toni’s website or her blog. Toni also produces a book-related public access show, So Many Books, and you can watch episodes online.

On to the questions!

Cry Mercy is the third book in your urban fantasy series. Can you tell us how you first got interested in the genre?

Oddly enough, I hadn’t even heard the phrase “urban fantasy” until after I wrote the first book in the series, Beg for Mercy.  Miriam Kriss, my agent, had just agreed to represent me, and told me that she would be offering the book to several editors who were interested in buying in that genre.

I’d read Anne Rice, as well as the first three or four books in Laurel K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, but that was about it.  I hadn’t thought of the Mercy Hollings books falling into the same category—I don’t have any “creatures” of any kind in my book, just people with extra abilities.  Mercy, for example, is a telepath and has the ability to compel people to obey her.

As soon as the first book came out and reviews started to appear, I found my work compared to that of other urban fantasy authors.  I was especially amused to learned I’d been “influenced” by a number of books I’d never read! But I have to thank those reviewers because whenever I learned about an author who had supposedly inspired me, I picked up one of their books.  That’s how I started reading Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs, both of whom are wonderful.

Then, I joined a group called The Deadline Dames and found myself in the company of several terrific Urban Fantasy authors: Keri Arthur, Jenna Black, Jackie Kessler, Devon Monk, Lilith Saintcrow, Rachel Vincent, Karen Mahoney and the yet to be published but utterly fantastic Rinda Elliot.  I’ve been working my way through their books and having a wonderful time.

Mercy has a lot of ethical concerns about the use of her mental abilities, and she’s come up with a set of rules about using them in her hypnotherapy work. How important are those moral considerations when you’re writing her?

Mercy’s ethical struggles are vital and ongoing. Imagine if you could compel people to obey you. Do you think you would only suggest things that they truly want and are only in their best interests? Could you resist doing some things that are in your self interest? I’d probably lose my resolve the first time some underpaid, overburdened customer service clerk told me, “Sorry, there’s nothing I can do.”

Mercy has a hypnotherapy practice, and has resolved to only do things that her clients request. If someone wants to quit smoking, she’ll make damn sure they do—on the first try. But, even within the confines of her profession, Mercy has to make sure that what her clients say they want are what they need.  In the second book, Angel of Mercy, a woman who asks Mercy to help her “stop making so many mistakes” turns out to be a battered wife. She needs Mercy’s help, but in an entirely different way.

How has your heroine grown as a character by Cry Mercy?

She’s beginning to learn that she can’t do everything alone—that it’s okay to let people help you.  It’s difficult for her to have that level of trust.  She tells herself that she keeps others at a distance so that she won’t accidentally harm them. But it’s pretty easy for readers to see that Mercy’s actually afraid that, if they find out what she is, they’ll reject her.  After being abandoned at birth and then given up by her adoptive parents as an adolescent, she’s got some serious rejection issues.

The internet is a fantastic tool for readers, because it makes it easier to learn about new books and connect with authors. Has the web affected your writing process at all, or is it mostly just helpful as a way to get the word out about your books?

Honestly, I don’t know how anyone researched a book before the internet.  From the hospital procedures for Sukey’s heroin overdose in book 1, to Tino’s gang tattoos in book 3—everything was learned online.

One excellent resource is the “Contact Us” link on virtually every web page.  There are thousands—maybe millions–of subject matter experts out there, and they love being consulted by an author.   I’ve gotten information this way from doctors, police officers, district attorneys, child services officials, gang counselors, priests, private investigators and more, and the list is still growing.

The Mercy Hollings books are all available in various electronic formats, and I read them on my Kindle. Do you have any thoughts you’d like to share about the growing e-book market?

Most people don’t realize that, with the exception of a very few authors who consistently make the bestseller lists, most books are only on the shelf for a short time, and then they disappear.  The first two books in the series are already out of print – Angel of Mercy was completely shipped out of the publisher’s warehouse within ninety days and, even though I get emails about it every day, the publisher has no current plans for a reprint.

But e-books are forever. I didn’t realize how well Kindle sales were going until I got my last royalty statement and found that Beg for Mercy, my 2007 release, is still selling quite well. The Mercy books are also available in other e-formats directly from the publisher, including .pdf for those who prefer to print them out.  Here are some links: Beg for Mercy & Angel of Mercy.

I like paper books – I like how they feel and smell and look lined up on my shelf. But an entire generation of people is growing up that doesn’t have that sentimental attachment. And I want them to read my books, too.

Every reader I know is always on the lookout for new recommendations. Can you tell us about a few books that you’ve enjoyed recently?

Oh, so many! But, for your blog readers, I’ll stick with the urban fantasy titles. Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge is really fun and different. Also, Deadly Desire by Keri Arthur, Strange Angels by Lilith Saintcrow, Magic in the Blood by Devon Monk and The Devil’s Due by Jenna Black.   For young adult urban fantasy, Rachel Vincent’s My Soul to Take is terrific. Also, for all you vampire lovers, watch out for a terrific anthology coming out in July called The Eternal Kiss. I’ve previewed a couple of the stories, and it’s going to be terrific.

What should we look for next from you?

There will be more visits to Mercy Hollings’ world, of course. I’m also working on some straight-ahead women’s fiction and a contemporary romance.

Donna, thanks so much for hosting a visit on my Virtual Book Tour.  And readers, don’t forget to send me your Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes (get my address here), so that I can sign a book plate and send it to you so you can affix it in your own copy of Cry Mercy!

Thanks for joining us today, Toni!

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of YA. Here are a few of the books I’ve finished in the past month or so:

Once Dead, Twice Shy, by Kim Harrison

A girl who died after her junior prom is able to stay in the world of the living thanks to a mystical amulet stolen from the supernatural being who killed her. Thankfully a light reaper and guardian angel are trying to help keep her safe from its previous owner- or at least as safe as a dead girl can be.

Madison, the heroine of the story, is one of the best YA characters that I’ve come across lately. She’s fun to read about. But I’m not sure if I’m that interested in the premise yet. This is another one of those “first in a series” books that was actually introduced in an anthology (2007’s Prom Nights From Hell), so the amount of backstory and world-building info that had to be recapped didn’t exactly help the flow of the book. And since I don’t think I’ve said it yet this month, I still hate that trend of separately-published short stories that contain series-critical information.

I’d recommend this book to any YA readers, but do yourself a favor and track down the short story first.

The Awakening

This is the second of Armstrong’s Darkest Powers series, it uses the Otherworld setting but no major players from the adult series have made an appearance so far. At the start of the story, Chloe is locked in the headquarters of the Edison Group, an organization that approaches the supernatural from a scientific perspective. Her only shot at escape is to pretend to lead her captors to the hiding place of her friends who are still on the run.

I liked the characters and the concept, and this one was more action-heavy than the first. It felt like too many of the character interactions involved arguing with each other, though. Having characters in a novel compare their activities to fictional stories is a pet peeve of mine, and Chloe, with her interest in movies, does this a lot. Still, I’ll happily read the next in the series because I really enjoy Armstrong’s world.

It’s an enjoyable series so far, but if it sounds interesting then make sure you start with the first one (The Summoning).

Hunted

This is the fifth House of Night book (the series starts with Marked), but it’s the last one I’ll be reading.

After the exciting events and character growth of book four, it feels like the series basically just reset to square one. Some storylines that felt nicely wrapped up started all over, Zoey falls back into the same old mistakes, and god forbid she not have three love interests at any one time. Despite her advanced boyfriend-juggling skills, Zoey sounds more and more like a much younger character, and the series has gone back to “Zoey can fix all problems with relative ease because she’s super fledgling” land.

Not recommended.