Urban Fantasy at it's best

Every once and a while an authour manages to create a character that is so belivable I find myself wanting to know them personally. One of my very favorite characters was created by Patricia Briggs. She has a wonderful urban fantasy series set in the tri-cities area of Washington state. The first book in the series Moon Called introduces us to Mercedes Thompson. Mercy is a wonderful heroine who not only is a strong, smart woman who makes her living as a VW mechanic, but also is a skin walker (coyote shape shifter). Mercy's world is mostly like the world we know but with some fae, vampires, and good looking werewolves mixed in. Mercy has friends to help, mysteries to solve and a love life to sort out. So far there are four books in the series: Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed and Bone Crossed. I warn you though, these books are dangerous. It is extremely hard to put down one once you have started.

Posted by Narelle

To re-read or not to re-read

Too many books, too little time. It's a motto that pretty much all voracious readers live by. Working in the library is a kind of beautiful agony; surrounded by so much magnificent reading, I am aware that I will never, ever be able to read all the glorious titles that I see. I almost sigh with relief when a new book order arrives, and nothing tickles my fancy; I will not be distracted from the books I already have at home by some new hard-covered interloper.

Therefore, with so much literary temptation, I pose the question: should a book one truly loved and enjoyed be reread? Why take up something with which you're familiar? Well, I think good reads are like good friends; you get to know them, grow with them, find new significance with them; you don't just hang out with them once, you go back to them again, and again, and again...

Here's a list of some of the good friends I've made over the years:

Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley - The story of King Arthur from his half-sister Morgan Le Fay's point of view. And no, she's not an evil, conniving, power hungry you-know-what.

Marianna; Named of the Dragon; The Shadowy Horses - Susanna Kearsley - Kearsley combines past and present, either through reincarnation or ghostly visitors, in these eerie, romantic titles.

ANYTHING by Barbara Erskine - Like Kearsley, Erskine using themes of past lives, either those of the main characters, or through spirits possessing them, but is much, much, much more frightening!

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden - Two young girls are sold by their impoverished parents in 20th century Japan. Memoirs focuses on Sayuri, who becomes one of the most popular and sought after geishas of the time.

Morgan Llywelyn's Irish Century (1916, 1921, 1949, 1972, 1999) - The series follows the family and friends of Ned Halloran during Ireland's tumultuous struggle for political and religious freedom from Britain.

Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes - Three friends from Knockavoy, Ireland, lean on each other while trying to get through their (often hilarious) trials and tribulations.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - The enduring 'love' story of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff which is so bizarre it carries on into their children's lives.

The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman - Art, history, murder, suicide, mystery, love, suspense all rolled into 300+ pages! The kind of book that makes you (wish you could) take a sick day from work.

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier - A retelling of an ancient Celtic tale: in order to free her older brothers from a curse which has turned them into swans, Sorcha must face years of silence as she knits them shirts made of nettles.

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding - Get into the head and emotions of London's Bridget Jones as she looks for true love, and an outfit that fits just right.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - What lengths would a mother go through to save one of her children from illness and death, and is it fair to expect others to go along with her?

Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund - Una, wife of Moby Dick's Captain Ahab, tells her story of unconventional life on the New England coast.

Possession by A.S. Byatt - Two modern day academics' lives become intertwined as they research two Victorian day poets and the truth about their past before it is discovered by rival colleagues.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier - A young girl inspires the Dutch painter Vermeer with one of his most famous works.

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier - What happened to the first Mrs. DeWinter, the beautiful, vivacious Rebecca, and why does her memory continue to haunt her former friends and family, and particularly the new Mrs. DeWinter?

The Passion of Artemesia by Susan Vreeland - Based on the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the few female painters of the Italian Baroque period.

Unputtdownable!!!

Twenty years ago, Adam Ryan and his two best friends walked In The Woods to play, but only Adam came out. Now known as Rob, he is a detective in Dublin with his partner, Cassie Maddox, who is one of the few people to know his secret. When the murder investigation of a young girl takes them to the same woods, Rob deals with disturbing memories, trying to see if it ties in with his horrible past.

The Likeness follows Cassie in an undercover investigation, trying to find out who murdered a young Trinity College grad student who not only looks exactly like Cassie, but whose name is Lexie Madison, the same name Cassie used years earlier while posing as a student to infiltrate a drug ring. Under the pretense that Lexie survived her attack, Cassie poses as the dead woman. While getting close to Lexie's small circle of friends and housemates in her search for the murderer, Cassie finds herself a bit too comfortable in her new living arrangements.

Tana French writes gripping and gritty psychological police dramas that had me ignoring my promise to myself to 'just read one more chapter.' Her use of language is superlative, her characters flawed and human, her situations frustrating and disturbing. Combined, these traits make some of the best reading I've experienced in several years.