The Literate Kitty

It's official: no longer am I a book-signing virgin (and note that this achievement was free of any of the awkwardness or fumbling so typical with-- ehem --that other type of virginity). Yes, it's true: having attended my very first signing, I'm now quite the experienced woman. (Note that I do NOT plan to start putting notches to commemorate future signings in my lipstick cases, however; they are far too expensive for me to risk ruining them.)  Really, though, I was the proverbial "sure thing", here. (And yes, cue the '80s theme music if you must.) 1). The author I specifically went to see (technically, authors , since it was husband-and-wife team Ilona Andrews) is one of my absolute favorites. Really-truly. 2). The signing was held on the release day for Magic Bleeds (book #4 in the fabulous Kate Daniels series), which I'd already read. And ADORED. (What, you don't think it's possible to be in love with a book? Bah. If you think that, then you...

Okay, let's start by pulling out our handy-dandy Urban Fantasy checklist.  Kick-butt heroine? Check. Kinda mouthy, with attitude to spare and a stubborn streak half-a-mile wide? Check. Complicated family, work, and/or relationship issues? Triple-check (and gosh, that’s like the holy trinity of kick-butt heroine problems right there, isn’t it?). Forever in serious peril, alwaysthisclose to cashing in her chips for the very last time? You betcha.  It sounds so simple, doesn’t it, and somewhat derivative of far too many other works in the crowded UF field? Well, yeah... and it likely would be , too, were it in hands other than those of the über-talented, wife-husband writing team better known as Ilona Andrews. Now with four books (plus a short story) in the “Magic” series under their collective belt, you could say that the Andrews duo are really hitting their stride with this story and these characters... although for me, that sort of implies that their earlier stories weren’t as...

So. I'm back home safe and sound (as of last night, about 10:45 p.m.) from my most-recent Big Adventure (to the Pacific Northwest), only to find myself thrown most unceremoniously back into the fray, as it were. Did "life" have the basic decency to grant me a little reprieve, kinda letting me ease back into the groove? Um, no. [Cue crazed/maniacal laughter.] Not even close . Paperwork is stacked up several inches high. A half-dozen orders were waiting for me to pack and ship. (As in today, chop-chop, whatdoyoumeanyouhave "jetlag"?!?) More taxes are due. (Taxes are always due.) Payroll is past due. I don't think I'm actually behind on any bills... but I better check; it's just tempting fate to say that I'm all caught up, you know? To top it all off, my house is a wreck. One man and one cat, left to their own devices for a measly 5 days, can wreak utter and absolute havoc on what was previously a more-or-less clean abode. I am appalled, but t...

Give me a great bunch of characters, and I’m willing to read about them doing nearly anything.  Take, for instance... A pair of unexpectedly-harmless vampires--one, the metrosexual mentor (sort of a Nathan Lane-meets-Martha Stewart type); and the other, his innocent, boy-next-door protege who’s shy around girls.  An archdemon (a former angel who fell from grace, to you and me), who oversees all of the destined-for-the-Underworld residents in his area--just as cranky, imperious, and scary as you’d think (though ruining that image just a tad by dint of his quirky decision to go around looking like John Cusack’s identical twin).  The still-in-divine-favor angel--who dresses in the very best Seattle grunge-wear, circa 1990, and (in a totally-unexpected twist) also happens to be the aforementioned archdemon’s BFF.  A nephilim--the archdemon’s bastard child (the result of his fall-from-grace, as it happens), impossibly hunky but a touch, shall we say, prickly, who carries ...