Return to the Old World with Melissa F. Olson's Boundary Crossed

Allison “Lex” Luthor is working the late shift at a mini mart when she hears a couple arguing over what size diapers to purchase. Amused, she crosses to their aisle to help out and realizes she knows the baby with the strange couple - it’s her 18-month-old niece, Charlotte. The niece who should be home asleep in her crib. A bizarre fight ensues, and though Lex manages to save her kidnapped niece she is stabbed the process. For the third time in her life she dies. 

Waking up in the hospital Lex is quickly introduced to an impossible world. A world where vampires want Charlotte, and Lex must bargain with the supernatural ruler of Colorado to keep her safe. Good thing Lex has power, too, even if she has no idea how to use it. 

I fell in love with Melissa F. Olson’s Old World only a few pages into Dead Spots, the first Scarlett Bernard novel. I powered through all three books in that series, enjoying every twist and turn so much that I preordered as soon as I heard about her new series, Boundary Magic.

Boundary Crossed, book one of the Boundary Magic series, takes us back to the Old World with mostly new characters. Lex, ex-Army with PTSD, is a realistic, sympathetic character and a great heroine. Her dedication to her murdered sister's child is all-encompassing, and the driving force behind every decision made in this novel. The mystery takes second place to character development, but there’s enough to that plot to keep the reader’s interest as well. All-in-all, this was a very enjoyable novel, a great introduction to the Old World for new visitors, and a wonderful return to the world of Scarlet Bernard…and I’ve just preordered the sequel. 

Olson, Melissa F. Boundary Crossed (Boundary Magic Book 1). New York: 47North, 2015. 4 Stars.

Mainlining Molly Harper: Finding Half Moon Hollow

In February I found myself at Coastal Magic, a convention for readers and writers of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. My friend Grace suggested we attend, and we were lucky enough to score lunch tickets with one of our favorite authors, Molly Harper. Harper won my heart with her first Jane Jameson book, and I read that series through book four. But inevitably I slipped and lost track of release dates as other books grabbed my attention. By the time I registered for Coastal Magic I was behind not only on Jane Jameson but on two other series, Half Moon Hollow and Naked Werewolf. 

It seemed at the time too confusing to try and pick up the last Jane Jameson novel after so much time had passed. Instead, as preparation for the convention, I snagged a copy of The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires, the first of the Half Moon Hollow books. As I read, and laughed, I remembered why I loved Harper’s books so much. I read that novel in two days and moved on to book 1.5, Driving Mr. Dead. I finished that one right before Coastal Magic. Grace and I read book two, A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses, on audio on the way to and from Daytona Beach  - a ten-hour drive one-way. Undead Sublet, a novella, came next, and when I finished it I felt a bit lost. The next Half Moon Hollow wasn’t due to be published until the end of March! So I moved on to the Naked Werewolf series. As I type this I’m about halfway through with the first audiobook, How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf. If you’re keeping track that’s two and a half novels and two novellas - all of which I read in approximately eight days.

So what’s so addicting about Molly Harper’s novels? They have a distinctive wit and humor that just resonates with me. The basic plot points could be contemporary romance, but Harper has punched them up with shifters and vampires, which create unique scenarios. Her quirky characters are so real I feel like they might be neighbors…or at least I wish they were. And overall her writing style just pulls me in and I don’t want to stop reading. 

Do yourself a favor and pick up a Molly Harper novel the next time you’re at your local library or bookstore. I recommend starting with Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs, the first Jane Jameson novel (but you if you're less OCD than me you could pick up any of them and jump into the middle of the series instead).  

Comfort reading...with fangs

When life get stressful I find myself retreating to old favorites. Not the books of my childhood – those were dead boring – but books that I've read and loved and (possibly) reread. Often they’re books that I know by heart, and I read them again because there is comfort in knowing how the story ends. Other times I've reread them so many times because it’s an ongoing series, and I had a habit of reading the previous books in anticipation of the release of the newest title. With Bloodlist, by P.N. Elrod, it’s a combination of these factors.

Our hero is Jack Fleming, recently unemployed investigative reporter for a newspaper in New York. Prohibition has just ended and the country has hit the beginning of the Great Depression, so it’s not the greatest time to be quitting a job to search for greener pastures. Jack needed a change, though. A clean slate. What he gets is…well, he’s not really sure. All he can remember is waking up on the Chicago shore with fading scars and no need to breathe. Yep, Jack become one of the undead. It wasn't entirely unexpected, at least the possibility of becoming undead (he had a rather unusual girlfriend a few years back). But Jack has no idea how he died. Or who killed him. Or even what happened to him after he left his hotel almost a week ago. In the process of backtracking his steps to try and recover his memory Jack picks up a partner, private investigator Charles Escott. Escott is inquisitive, non-judgmental about Jack’s…er…condition, and extraordinarily, enthusiastically helpful. Which is good, since it turns out the mob is involved (well, it is Chicago) and Jack will need Escott’s less-savory contacts as part of their investigation.

This semi-noir detective novel is fairly short at about 200 pages. It’s well-written with decent character development – not spectacular but good enough to pull you in and make you care. There’s humor, a bit of romance, and lots of 1930’s mobster action along with much of the standard vampire fare and some not-so-standard vampire tricks. The author does a great job of putting supernatural flare into the era, and it’s a book I highly recommend.

Unfortunately, you can’t buy this single title in print anymore. But you can purchase the Vampire Files in Omnibus versions, with bundled titles packaged together. The price isn't too bad, especially for the ebook versions, and they’re pretty addictive.