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Bernita Harris’ Dark and Disorderly did not at first impress me by its title. But as I thought the concept sounded fun, I made sure to pick it up when Carina Press went live earlier this year. Turns out, I was very glad I did. Dark and Disorderly turned out to be a lively book indeed.

Coming out of an imprint of Harlequin, you’d expect this book to lean more towards the “paranormal romance” end of the urban fantasy/paranormal romance spectrum. And while you could make a good case for that, for me as a reader it read more like pure urban fantasy, for two reasons: 1) good worldbuilding, and 2) way less emphasis on the romance between the leads, although of course there was one.

Let’s talk worldbuilding first. This is a universe where ghosts and the other expected batch of supernaturals exist, and our heroine, Lillie St. Claire, is essentially a city-employed ghostbuster. I quite liked the scenario Harris lays down, that supernatural incidents have been on the rise only in the last couple of decades, and that Lillie is one of a generation of children known as Talents–and in her particular case, maybe even something above and beyond. It was just the right blend of supernatural and real-world for me, with a city trying to work out its infestation of ghosts as a municipal problem; this felt very real and believable.

Props as well for the story starting off with a serious bang, when what Lillie thinks is the corpse of her recently deceased husband assaults her in her own bathroom. That seized my attention nicely, and once that initial punch was delivered, the arrival in the plot of police sergeant John Thresher made a great followup. And when Harris described her hero as “not ugly, exactly, just… rugged” and with “a face like a box of hammers and jaws like angle irons”, I was instantly charmed. I’ve had a surfeit of super-sexy heroes, not to mention overly florid description of heroine’s reactions to them, so this won me right out of the gate. So did the chemistry between Lillie and John, which was quite strong and yet never over the top. Major, major points for that.

This is Book 1 in a series, not terribly surprisingly, but I’ll definitely look forward to coming back for more. Intriguing questions are raised about Lillie’s background that hopefully will be answered in forthcoming books–not to mention the bigger picture of supernatural happenings in the world at large, and I’m quite interested in seeing how Lillie and John will play into that. My only quibbles with the story were minor ones indeed, and overall I found this highly enjoyable. Four stars.

If you’re anything at all like me, you probably can’t hear the words “the Little Mermaid” without immediately having a cartoon crab start singing “Under the Sea” in your head. But then again, if you’re anything at all like me, you’ll also probably find Jim Hines’ The Mermaid’s Madness a strong cure for that particular earworm.

Book 2 of his Princess series does indeed adapt that particular fairy tale, and to particularly good effect. This time around we’ve got our three heroines, Danielle, Snow, and Talia, having to delve into why the local undine are attacking human ships and sailors–and why their leader, the mad young queen Lirea, has nearly murdered Queen Beatrice. Lirea’s backstory, which tells how she gained the power to transform into human shape out of love of a human prince but then lost him, is darkly tragic and an easy match for the original Hans Christian Andersen version of the tale.

I appreciated that the main male characters weren’t quite figureheads here, either, even as the primary focus remained on the women. King Theodore and Danielle’s husband Armand remained primarily off-camera, but on the other hand, they were also doing things, which is all I ask. Better still, we got some delightful developments about Talia and Snow, about which I shall not expound because oh my yes spoilers. Points as well for Danielle succeeding in being both a mother and an effective warrior and heroine; that’s a pretty rare thing in fantasy novels, still.

Definitely worth checking out if you like your heroines of the mold of Wicked Girls Saving Themselves (h/t to ), and keep an eye out for the dryad ship captain who will, if you’re a filk fan, very likely remind you of Tricky Pixie’s “Dryad’s Promise”. Four stars.

I’ve heard Jim Hines’ Princess novels described as “Disney Princesses meet Charlie’s Angels”, and yeah, that’s pretty much right on the money. Say what you will about the Disneyfied versions of fairy tales–but okay, yeah, I have a soft spot for them as well as the original tales from which they sprang. So plowing into a series that draws elements from both forms of the classic tales was deeply satisfying indeed.

In this particular fantasy universe, all the traditional fairy tales we know and love actually happen in one form or another. And in this universe, “Cinderella” is known as Danielle Whiteshore, who’s just married her beloved prince. But when her stepsisters try to assassinate her in revenge, she discovers to her amazement that her mother-in-law, Queen Beatrice, has two seemingly unobtrusive “servants” whose stories are every bit as renowned as hers: Talia, a.k.a. “Sleeping Beauty”, and the young witch Snow, who is of course “Snow White”. Talia and Snow are entrusted with not only defending Danielle and teaching her to fight, but helping her rescue her husband as well.

Danielle, Talia, and Snow are all wonderfully realized characters, and in particular I very much liked how Talia comes from a culture that’s clearly Arabic in design as opposed to the more typical European-flavored cultures that usually show up in fantasy novels–including, well, this one. Her backstory is hands down the darkest of the three, though, and a far, far cry from Disney’s Princess Aurora, that’s for sure. I get great amounts of glee though thinking of “Sleeping Beauty” as the fiercest warrior in Beatrice’s entire kingdom.

The only place the book felt a bit shaky to me though was that for all the truly excellent women in this story, Danielle’s husband felt like an afterthought and got barely any camera time at all. The fact that I can’t even remember the poor guy’s name even as I write this is probably a testament to how little presence he actually had in the story, which was mildly disappointing to me given that his kidnapping is what drives most of the plot. I’m all for girl power in my fantasy novels, but not at the total expense of the boys! (Fortunately, Hines improves on this later on in the series, and both Danielle’s husband and her father-in-law become better developed characters.)

Still though, very strong start to a very strong series. Four stars.

Since I haven’t actually been buying books for any of this month, you’d think I’d get caught up faster on my reading and reviewing, right? Not so much. See my previous posts about all the shenanigans involved with our shiny Great Big Sea contest entry!

That said? I did want to do a quick summary of everything I’ve read lately. Full reviews will be coming, but this is to let you know what’s on the way! And now, recent Book Log entries, the short form:

#47 – Brains: A Zombie Memoir, by Robin Becker. As you might guess from the title, we’re talkin’ zombies here, folks. Short, quick, and hilarious. Four stars.

#48 – The Stepsister Scheme, by (Jim C. Hines). First of Hines’ Princess novels, introducing his versions of Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. Think Disney Princesses meet Charlie’s Angels and you’ll get a very good feel for what this series is about. Highly entertaining! This one sets up what happens to this version of Cinderella after she gets her prince–and her stepsisters refuse to take this lying down. Four stars.

#49 – The Mermaid’s Madness, by . Second of his Princess novels. This one is the series’ take on the Little Mermaid. Darker of tone and overall, IMO, more cohesive than the first. Four stars.

#50 – Dark and Disorderly, by Bernita Harris. This is the first book I’ve read from Carina Press, and I gotta say I enjoyed it quite a bit. Nice urban fantasy, with the romance angle handed with a light touch–exactly how I like it. This particular UF heroine dispatches ghosts, and she knows she’s in trouble when the corpse of her dead husband attacks her in her own bathroom. Four stars.

#51 – On Her Trail, by Marcelle Dubé. This was also from Carina Press, although I actually won it as part of their launch promotion, which was pretty nifty. ^_^ This one is romantic suspense with just a touch of paranormal involved, and while it didn’t pack as much punch as I might have liked, I nonetheless found it a good read. Three stars.

#52 – Fatal Affair, by Marie Force. Another Carina, this one also romantic suspense, although with a political angle to it rather than a paranormal. A young Senator has been murdered, and the detective who has to work the case turns out to be the ex of the Senator’s assistant. Three stars.

#53 – Red Hood’s Revenge, by . Third of the Princess novels, just out a few weeks back. I LOVE his take on Red Riding Hood–who in this universe is a dread assassin who goes by the moniker Lady of the Red Hood, and whose red cape is magical and can give her wolf-shape. Also, great backstory here for Talia, the Sleeping Beauty character. Four stars.

#54 – Carnal Innocence, by Nora Roberts. One of her standalone romantic suspense novels, and yet another one with the formula of “outsider settles in a small town she’s got family ties to and is soon embroiled in MURDER ohnoez”. Nothing hugely unusual for Roberts but as usual, nicely executed. Three stars.

#55 – Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld. YA. This of course is the first of Westerfeld’s acclaimed dystopian YA series, and I’d gotten a free PDF of it a while back as part of his promotion of another recent book, Leviathan. Wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Found it more simplistic than I would have liked, but hey, it’s a YA novel–and his worldbuilding was fun. I’ll probably be buying an actual copy of this eventually. Three stars.

#56 – Matters of the Blood, by (Maria Lima). First of her UF series set in Texas, with a heroine who comes from a supernatural family and who’s just starting to come of age–and into her powers. Yet another UF series with a vampire love interest, although I do totally give Lima props for her colorful Texas setting, and I found the overall plot engaging. Four stars.

#57 – Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, by Robyn Bachar. This one was reviewed very well by the ladies over at Smart Bitches, so I had to check it out on general principle. Straddles the line between UF and paranormal romance, but for me slides more towards the latter since there’s heavy emphasis on the heroine’s relationship with her ex–as well as with the obligatory Mysterious Vampire. I found the heroine a bit too mouthy for the sake of being mouthy, but on the other hand, also liked that aside from being magically gifted, she was pretty much a regular girl. Three stars.

#58 – Crocodile on the Sandbank, by Elizabeth Peters. This is me beginning my Great Amelia Peabody Re-Read! :D I do of course have a long history of loving these books, and this one in particular, in which our heroine Amelia Peabody meets the irascible archaeologist Radcliffe Emerson–and in between arguing like crazy with him, must solve the mystery of a mummy’s appearances around their archaeological dig. Five stars. Because I love it so.

#59 – The Curse of the Pharoahs, by Elizabeth Peters. Book 2 of the Amelia Peabodies, mostly notable for me by the initial introduction of Amelia and Emerson’s son Ramses–who at this point has only a brief appearance to lay the groundwork for his later catastrophic precociousness. ;) Four stars.

#60 – The Mummy Case, by Elizabeth Peters. Book 3 of the Amelia Peabodies, in which Ramses for the first time actually accompanies his parents to Egypt, and general chaos ensues, surrounding a stolen mummy case as well as Emerson’s fury at being stuck with a dig site not worth any time or trouble. Muaha. Ramses is a bit too twee at this point of the series with his constant mispronunciations of “th”, but on the other hand, I love to death that he’s as eager to excavate as his parents are. Four stars.

#61 – Disturbed by Her Song, by Tanith Lee, Esther Garber, and Judas Garbah. This is an anthology that came out via Lethe Press, and which Outer Alliance members were invited to review. The latter two names are actually characters of Tanith Lee’s, and she’s using a conceit of “channeling” them, making all of the stories in the anthology theirs. While I found the conceit not to my taste, I very much admire that the stories by “Esther” have a much different feel to them than the ones by “Judas”. Both characters are queer, and so their stories all generally focus on same-sex love and desire. None of it is overtly erotic–but there’s some truly seductive language in here, and that’s almost eroticism enough. Will definitely be posting a fuller review later. Thanks to Craig Gidney for letting me review it!