Review of "Afterlife" by Claudia Gray

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: March 8, 2011

Series: #4 Evernight

Buying Links:  Amazon      The Book Depository

Book Blurb (from Goodreads): *Contains spoilers for the previous books*

Destiny awaits Bianca and Lucas . . .

Bianca and Lucas have always believed they could endure anything to be together. When a twist of fate not only transforms Bianca into a wraith but also turns Lucas into a vampire—the very creature he spent his life hunting—they are left reeling.

Haunted by his powerful need to kill, Lucas can turn to only one place for help . . . Evernight Academy. Bianca is determined to remain with him. But with the vampire leader of Evernight waging a war against wraiths, her former home has become the most dangerous place she could be, despite the new powers her ghostly transformation has given her.

A battle between wraiths and vampires looms, and Bianca and Lucas face a terrifying new reality. They've overcome every obstacle life has thrown at them, but is their love strong enough to survive the challenges after life?

Teaser:


They were here because they'd learned to look past their old prejudices and fears and see each other for who they were. Maxie's willingness to engage again with the living world, the vampires' acceptance of wraiths and humans as their equals and allies, Lucas taking what was good from his Black Cross training and leaving behind what was bad, Vic's ability to deal with the supernatural world as easily as the natural one- that was what bonded us now.

My Thoughts: *May contain spoilers for the previous books and this book*

It was a full year and then some between reading the prior book, "Hourglass" and reading this book, so at first when I picked up the book, there were some things that I didn't recall or recalled only vaguely. The book started off sluggishly but before long I was sucked in.

The worst has happened and now both Lucas and Bianca are various degrees of dead. They get no time to deal with their respective deaths as they need to deal with their new states of being, and quickly. Lucas is caught up in blood lust and Bianca and his friends determine that Evernight Academy is the best place for him. Yes, he has to return to the school that he infiltrated for the purpose of killing vampires, and now he is a vampire. But the academy has a policy of sanctuary for any vampire who requests it and the headmistress, Mrs Bethany, welcomes him back. The vampire population is less forgiving and there are several who go out of their way to torment him and to raise his blood lust.

There's a lot of angst in this book, so much so that I came close to throwing the kindle across the room a time or two. Yeah, they're dead and yeah they were betrayed and hard choices had to be made but there's one train of thought by Bianca that turns into an ongoing refrain; Bianca thought it to herself five or six times by the time I was 30% into the book.

Oh, sure, I mused. NOW you're thoughtful. Why weren't you thinking ahead when Lucas needed it the most? Balthazar had brought Lucas into the fight with Charity knowing that Lucas wasn't himself - something I still hadn't gotten past. 

Eventually Bianca and Balthazar work it out but we endure many repetitions of this thought pattern before they do. Other angst includes Lucas' agony at being a vampire, his mothers' rejection, and learning to control the blood hunger; Balthazar's pain at his sister's behavior; Bianca's mourning for her family, who are alive but she believes they will hate her for being a wraith; and so on and so on.  While I did get tired of all the angst, it was organic to the story, it wasn't forced and never felt like it was just a plot device.

What I really liked were the interactions between the characters, the humor, and the world building. It's the fourth and final book of this series but Gray doesn't slack on the details or assume she's told us all we need to know. Bianca, who is basically a teenager, makes the common teen assumption that adults don't know everything and finds to her chagrin that some of her questions could have been answered by the adults in her life, if she had just asked. Bianca and Lucas, but especially Bianca, do a lot of emotional growing in this book. The story wraps up all of the major plotlines but there are a few minor loose ends. There is a spin off series featuring Balthazar, so Gray may pick up those loose threads in the new series.

"Afterlife" is a good ending to the series and despite my occasional frustrations with it, I was hooked right to the very end. There were a few twists and turns, humor, action, romance, character development and engaging characters and even an HEA.

Some favorite quotes:

"They won't see me. I may be dead, but I can still shop." She perked up. "ooooh, we need T-shirts saying that."

 "Welcome to death," Ranulf said cheerily. "It is not so bad once you get what is called the 'hang of it.' " (I like Ranulf. He seems so stuffy and old fashioned but he's got a dry sense of humor and is very loyal, and open minded.)

 Vic gave me an uneven smile. "All my best friends are dead people. Someday I've got to figure out how that happened."

I received an eARC from NetGalley.

"Hide'n Go Seek (Psychic Visions, Book #2)" by Dale Mayer Excerpt & Giveaway

 Dale Mayer is back today, to celebrate the release of her newest book, "Hide'N Go Seek", with an excerpt, a romantic suspense, and a chance to win a copy. Dale is doing a two day blog blitz to publicize the release and we are lucky enough to be one of her stops. 

  Dale is a prolific multi-published writer. She's best known for Tuesday's Child, her romantic suspense novel that was one of the final four in the Kensington Brava/Romantic Times contest this last year. Besides her romantic suspense/thrillers, Dale also writes paranormal romance and crossover young adult books in several different genres.  To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series in ebook format.

To find out more about Dale and her books, visit her at http://www.dalemayer.com. Or connect with her online with Twitter at www.twitter.com/dalemayer and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dalemayer.author

Book Blurb (from author):

A twisted game of Hide’n Go Seek forces an unlikely alliance between a no-nonsense FBI agent


Celebrated search-and-rescue worker Kali Jordon has hidden her psychic abilities by crediting her canine partner Shiloh with the recoveries. But Kali knows the grim truth - The Sight that she inherited from her grandmother allows her to trace violent energy unerringly to victims of murder. No one knows her secret until a twisted killer challenges her to a deadly game of Hide'n Go Seek that threatens those closest to her.


Now she must rely on FBI Special Agent Grant Summers, a man who is sworn to protect her even as he suspects there's more to Kali and Shiloh than meets the eye. As the killer draws a tighter and tighter circle around Kali, she and Grant find there's no place to hide from themselves.


Are her visions the key to finding the latest victim alive or will this twisted game of Hide’n Go Seek cost her...everything

Buying Links:  Amazon      Smashwords      All Romance eBooks

Release Date: October 21, 2011

Publisher: Valley Publishing

 Read on for an excerpt from the book and then a chance to win the book.

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Twenty minutes later, Kali made her way to the kitchen. She fed Shiloh on the deck in the morning sunlight. Running her fingers through her shoulder-length hair, she remembered last night's painting. She headed to her studio to take a look. She'd almost reached it when apprehension washed over her.

The door was closed.

She never closed the door after painting. It wasn't good for the wet canvases, besides, the room only had a small window so the paint fumes built up fast. A frown wrinkled her forehead. Had she simply forgotten? She had been deadly tired last night.

Bolstering her courage, she pushed the door wide and flinched as the fumes rushed out almost stinging her nose. "Oh gross."

Holding her breath, Kali crossed to the window, shoving it as far open as it would go. Fresh air surged into the small space. She'd love a huge studio, except painting wasn't exactly a full time career for her – no matter how much she'd like it to be. It was a release for when depression and madness overcame her soul. Maybe later, when she no longer did rescue work, she could indulge her art as a creative hobby instead of as an outlet of pain and turmoil.

Walking around the easel, Kali stopped midstride.

The painting stood where she'd left it. With surreal and strangely enticing clarity, blacks and purples and browns popped off the canvas. Heavy paint splotched at places, then thinned and stretched across the top.

She stepped back and frowned. Up close, besides the heavy amount of paint, the picture resembled a distorted nightmare. Not surprising. Still, she caught a glimmer of an intentional design. She tilted her head and looked at it from a different angle. Nothing changed.

Sniffing the air, Shiloh ambled into the doorway.

Kali smiled down at the dog. "Not very sweet smelling, is it?"

She glanced back at the jumble of colors and stilled. There. She studied the abstract mess, letting the colors move and form to reveal the image hidden within.

Shivers slid over her spine.

Oh my God.

No way.

Kali blinked. It was.

There was no mistaking the image of a person buried under small bushes, civilization of some kind crouched on the horizon with a series of rough rock formations soaring behind the bushes.

"What the hell?" she whispered.

Kali was not a great artist, by any means. Blind escapism kept bringing her back to the process because it worked. She painted with wild abandon. The paint slapped on canvas with no thought discharged her emotions. For some reason it always worked.

And it always looked like shit.

This, on the other hand, was ingenious. Sure the subject matter was gruesome; however, given her volunteer work, not unexpected. Especially after finding the letter.

The artistic abandon was still there. The paint was so thick in spots the picture was almost three-dimensional. The terrain had depth and movement. The light was dark and terse, yet still shone with gruesome clarity—and way beyond her artistic abilities.

"It's fucking brilliant."

It was also scary as hell.

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To enter, use the rafflecopter widget below to leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win a copy of "Hide'N Go Seek".

Please read my Giveaway Policy. 

Winners of The Iron Elves & The Shattered Vine Giveaways

The winner of The Shattered Vine by Laura Anne Gilman is Leigh Ann. Congrats!

The winner of The Iron Elves Trilogy by Chris Evans is Amanda!

Congratulations to the winners. I hope you enjoy the books.

In My Mailbox #7

In My Mailbox was started by The Story Siren. It's a way to share and highlight all the books we receive, even if we don't review them. l share books that I buy, that I receive for review, get from the library, borrow from a friend, etc.

Library

I recently discovered Hearne's Druid series and I'm really enjoying it. I'm late to the party for The Iron Fey series but I'm making up for lost time. I am thinking I'll review the entire series in December, all 4 books and the 2 novellas. As for Enthralled, it has a Kelley Armstrong story, need I say more?

Purchased

One of the local libraries (the one I frequent for free wifi) had it's semi-annual used book sale. I ended up getting 11 paperbacks, about half of them new-to-me authors. As you can see, many are cozy mysteries. I do like a well written cozy mystery.

For Review

I've only read a few books by Sandra Brown but I do like romantic suspense so when I had the chance to review it, I accepted.

I aslso downloaded some Kindle freebies. :) It was a good book week. How was your week?

Review of "A Vampire for Christmas" by Laurie London, Michele Hauf, Caridad Pineiro & Alexis Morgan

Publisher: Harlequin

Release Date: October 25, 2011

Buying Links:  Amazon     The Book Depository

Book Blurb (from NetGalley):

’Tis the season…for these darkly sexy tales. 

All they want for Christmas is you…
It’s the time of year for twinkling lights on trees and kisses under the mistletoe. Yet the passing of another year means nothing to the stunning immortals who lurk in the shadows of the new-fallen snow. 

And they don’t care if you’ve been naughty or nice.
Let four fanged lovers open your eyes to a passion you never dared to imagine. After all, there’s no place like home for the holidays—and these dazzling vampires can’t wait for an invitation.

My Thoughts:
 

It took me a long time to read this anthology, it just didn't hold my interest and I kept putting it down to read other books. I re-scheduled the review about three times. As I was reading it, Edyn from Reader's Edyn, kept cheering me on. So, in addition to my review below, here's a link to her, much more detailed, review on her blog, so you can get a comprehensive overview of the book.

I hadn't read any of these authors before though I do have books by Hauf and London on my Kindle, waiting to be read. After reading the stories, I'm not in any rush to pick up those books and read them. :(

As I've done with other anthologies I've reviewed, I have a short summary review of each one and a quote to whet your appetite or to illustrate a point from my summary.The book has a loose theme of love with a vampire at Christmas and all of the stories deliver that. The overall quality of the writing in the stories was mediocre. The one really good story was the last one, "All I Want for Christmas" by Alexis Morgan. I'll be looking for more by her.

Enchanted by Blood by Laurie London 

This is part of her "Sweetblood" series. I had little trouble reading it despite not having read the other books. The novella was long and not a lot happened. I really, really disliked the whole amnesia plot device. 

Quote:   
"What the hell are you still doing here?" Her jaw dropped as if he had slapped her. "You told me to wait, didn't you?" "And you always do what a stranger tells you?" Things would have been so much easier if she had left. He didn't want to deal with her. He just wanted to forget her. Why did I ask her to wait?

Monsters Don't Do Christmas by Michele Hauf

Book Blurb from author website:  

Sexy singer, Olivia isn't at all frightened by the vampire she finds fending off werewolves outside her door. Why should she be? She's just as much a monster as he is. Daniel Harrison hasn't been vampire long, but the monster he is does not do Christmas. That doesn't keep him from trying to rescue another who could transform before the full moon—but can he do it and win Olivia's heart with but a flash of fang and his desire for her to 'sway with him'?

It started off promisingly, and I liked both Olivia and Daniel, but I never bought into Olivia's monstrousness. I get the premise behind it, it just never rang true for me. I also got tired of the constant angst, the story was too short to support it.

Quote:His hands slid around her back and down to cup her derriere through the body-clinging red silk. The hardness of him crushed against her hip, pleading her surrender, and she tilted her head, allowing him to kiss from her neck down to her breasts.

When Herald Angels Sing by Caridad Pineiro

Pineiro takes the Dickens device of Christmas Past, Present and Future and adds vampires and angels into the mix. I liked the premise and the world was intriguing. It feels like part of a series but was easily readable; I looked on her website for series info but couldn't find any. What didn't work for me was the disconnect between what we see (and are told) about Damien and Angelina's love and history at the beginning and what we see and are told later. Damien and Angelina were both pleasant characters and I liked the world building but again, the actual writing was lacking and cliched.I also didn't like the message that it was better to allow yourself to be killed than to defend yourself.

Quote: "Take me," she pleaded, her own body waiting for his full possession. Waiting for the
 bite that would feed his demon body the way their loving was nourishing their souls.


All I Want for Christmas by Alexis Morgan

I liked this one a lot. It wasn't perfect - the ending was rushed, the mystery was light, and Della was a bit too unquestioning of the bond between her and Eagan, but overall, well written. Good writing, likable characters, action, humor and hot sex scenes. More please!

Quote: Okay, she got it. The man didn't want her gratitude or a fuss made over what he'd done. That didn't make him any less of a hero in her eyes. She'd honor his desire for privacy, but maybe he'd at least accept a refill on his coffee instead.



I received this eARC from NetGalley.

"So Near" by Liza Gyllenhaal & a Giveaway

Today I'm featuring author Liza Gyllenhaal. She released her newest book, "So Near", published by NAL Trade, last month.

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):

From the author of Local Knowledge comes a poignant novel about a young couple's road back from tragedy. 
 
In the aftermath of a devastating loss, Cal and Jenny Horigan's marriage is unraveling. Both are plagued by guilt, unable to seek comfort from one another. Burdened by remorse, they begin to lose sight of the love that once anchored them-together with their sense of right and wrong.

As the Horigans try different ways to deal with their pain, a new acquaintance seems to offer the support they desperately need-though at times they are unsure whether his guidance is leading them back to each other or further apart...
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Liza was raised in a small town in Pennsylvania which, at the time she was growing up, was fairly rural and very lovely—much like the area of the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts where she now lives part of the time with her husband.

After college, some of which was spent at the University of Iowa Writing Workshop where she studied poetry, she moved to New York City and began a career in publishing and advertising. In the late 1980s, she founded an advertising agency that specialized in book publishing accounts and watched it grow over the next decade and a half to be the most successful of its kind. About the same time she started the agency, she and her husband began to spend weekends in the Berkshires, renting for many years and then buying a small cottage not far from the Columbia County border. Like so many weekenders, they found ourselves drawn more and more to the serenity and natural beauty of the area—the corn fields, dairy farms, and rolling hills. When she was able to sell the agency several years ago to devote herself to writing, she also decided to spend more time in that part of the world.

Though she continued to write poetry for several years after moving to the city, she found it difficult—especially after her business career began to take off—to give it the deep concentration that she believes poetry demands. More for fun than anything else, she tried writing a romance, then a few mysteries and suspense novels, and she was lucky enough to find an agent who saw some potential in them and helped her get published. Though she learned a lot about plot and pacing from writing those books, she longed to write something that was more emotionally resonant and character-driven.

It took her a while to find the right story to tell. She’d long been struck by the differences between the small, close-knit rural communities in the Berkshires and the upscale urban weekenders who over the last couple of decades have bought up and developed land that had been owned by local families for many generations. The idea for Local Knowledge came from thinking about those differences and the tensions that naturally arise from them.

So Near, which takes place in a fictional town close to the one in Local Knowledge, explores different, deeper, and more devastating tensions: those between a young married couple who are faced with a terrible loss—a loss that threatens to destroy their marriage and everything they once believed in. While it deals with some serious issues, she believes that, in the end, So Near is a story of hope and redemption and the transformative power of love.

In addition to writing, she works on behalf of various non-profits in New York City and the Berkshires. She is the past chairperson of The Academy of American Poets and currently serves on its executive committee.

You can find her at her website. She's also willing to talk with your book group, over the phone, or in person if she's in the area. 

Thanks to NAL, I have 2 print copies of "So Near" to give away to a US or Canadian resident. Use the rafflecopter widget below to leave a comment to be entered into the giveaway.

"Tuesday's Child" by Dale Mayer Blog Barrage - Giveaway & Excerpt

 Today we have Dale Mayer visiting us with an excerpt from her newest book, "Tuesday's Child (Psychic Suspense, Book 1)", a romantic suspense, and a chance to win a copy. Dale is doing a two day blog blitz to publicize her new book and we are lucky enough to be one of her stops. 

  Dale is a prolific multi-published writer. She's best known for Tuesday's Child, her romantic suspense novel that was one of the final four in the Kensington Brava/Romantic Times contest this last year. Besides her romantic suspense/thrillers, Dale also writes paranormal romance and crossover young adult books in several different genres.  To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series in ebook format.

To find out more about Dale and her books, visit her at http://www.dalemayer.com. Or connect with her online with Twitter at www.twitter.com/dalemayer and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dalemayer.author

 

 

Book Blurb:

What she doesn’t want…is exactly what he needs.

Shunned and ridiculed all her life for something she can’t control, Samantha Blair hides her psychic abilities and lives on the fringes of society. Against her will, however, she’s tapped into a killer—or rather, his victims. Each woman’s murder, blow-by-blow, ravages her mind until their death releases her back to her body. Sam knows she must go to the authorities, but will the rugged, no-nonsense detective in charge of tracking down the killer believe her?

Detective Brandt Sutherland only trusts hard evidence, yet Sam’s visions offer clues he needs to catch a killer. The more he learns about her incredible abilities, however, the clearer it becomes that Sam’s visions have put her in the killer’s line of fire. Now Brandt must save her from something he cannot see or understand…and risk losing his heart in the process.

As danger and desire collide, passion raises the stakes in a game Sam and Brandt don’t dare lose.

Buying Links:  Amazon     Barnes & Noble      All Romance eBooks

Release Date: June 16, 2011

Publisher: Valley Publishing

 Read on for an excerpt from the book and then a chance to win the book.

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Lying in bed that night, Sam couldn’t sleep, her overwrought mind refused to let up. The tantalizing possibility that she was meant to do something with this gift worried the frayed edges of her mind. Depressed and unsettled she fell into a fitful sleep, her dreams dark and disjointed pieces of past visions.

Screams jarred her from a deep sleep. Confusion turned to fear when Sam realized the horrific sounds were coming from her own mouth. Even worse, she had no idea where she was.

      Terror overwhelmed her. Her fingers spasmed in a death grip around a strange steering wheel as the car she drove careened further out of control. Still trying to toss off the remnants of sleep, Sam yanked hard on the wheel in a futile attempt to turn it. The mid-sized car plowed through a steel barricade to hang suspended in midair before plummeting to the rocks below. Screams ripped from her throat and she reefed on the useless steering wheel, helpless to stop the deadly impact. Her foot pounded on useless brakes. The front grill of the car crumpled and metal buckled upward. The car smashed into the first of the rocks below, snapping her forward into the windshield. Agonizing pain shattered her spine. Grinding metal, exploding glass and continuous crunching sounds filled the air as first the bumper flew off, then the rear window shattered outward. Twisted metal ripped and groaned, flying to land beside the crash site. The car tumbled, smashed on a huge rock, careened to the left and flipped end over end before coming to a hard landing on its wheels at the bottom of the cliff.

Then utter silence.

Sam trembled. Shock and pain pulsed through her veins even as her blood dripped out one beat at a time onto the shredded seat beside her. God, she didn’t want to die.

She wanted to live. Please, dear God.

Someone help!

Blood streamed over her face, her spine…where a shearing heat set off continuous stabbing pain. The steering wheel jammed into her ribs. The front dash had crumpled into a mess of twisted steel and plastic, the famous Mercedes emblem now hung drunk in mid air over the remains of the once beautiful cream leather seats.

Sam couldn’t feel her right arm. And wished she couldn’t feel her left. She closed her eyes, willing away the image of bone shards that had sliced through her sweater, a few loose strands of wool clinging to the ends. Heart wrenching sobs poured from her throat, tears coated her cheeks. She was alone. And dying.

A brilliant flash of light engulfed the car as the fuel from the pierced gas line flashed into flames. Heat seared her lungs and scorched her hair, the strands melting against the inside of her car window. Panicked, she screamed as flames licked at her feet, burning, and cooking the flesh right off her bones.

Agony. Pain. Terror.

A voice whispered through the blackness of her mind, so odd, so different it caught her attention. She strained to hear the words.

“Let go. It’s time to let go.”

Sam stared through the flames, stunned. Let go of what?  She couldn’t hear over the roaring fire and could barely see, but knowing that someone was there stirred her survival instinct, and she started fighting against the seatbelt jammed at her side. She was saved. Just another minute and they’d open the door and pull her free. She’d be fine.

“Please hurry,” she cried out.

“Let go. You don’t need to be in there. Let it all go, and come with me.”

She peered through the golden orange windshield to see a strange male face peering at her through the flames.

He smiled.

“Come with me.”

“I want to, damn it. Can’t you see I’m trapped?” she screamed, her vocals crisping in the heat.

“Release yourself. Come with me. Say yes.”

The pain hit a crescendo. She twisted against it, hearing her spine splinter. The car seat melted into her skin. So much pain, she couldn’t breathe. Blackness crowded into her mind, blessed quiet, soothing darkness. She reached for it.

“Let it go. You don’t need to go through this. Hurry.”

She started. Why wasn’t he opening the door or getting others to help?  He should be trying to save her. Shouldn’t he?  Sam, so confused and so tired, she could barely feel the pain overtaking her body. Where had he gone?  She tried to concentrate. His face was now only a vague outline that rippled with the heat waves. A soft smile played at the corner of his mouth. The flames burned around him, weird as they centered him in the warm glow. She wanted to be with him. To live.

“Here, take my hand.”

Dazed and on the brink of death, Sam focused on the hand reaching for her. She struggled to raise the charred piece of flesh that had been her arm and reached out to grasp his.

She was free.

Overwhelmed, cries of relief escaped. She turned to hug her savior, her head just reaching his shoulder. He stood beside her, the same radiant beaming look on his face. His blond hair glowed, and he had the brightest teeth. She sighed. This beautiful man pointed to her right arm. Confused, Sam glanced down at her burned arm, realizing she could feel none of her injuries. Just like her other one, her broken arm had miraculously healed – whole, smooth and soft. Her skin hadn’t looked this good in ten years.

      Realization hit.

She spun around to find a massive fireball below. What the hell?  She had to be dead. But instead of the horror or shock, she expected to feel, she felt good. In fact, she felt great. She turned to the ever-smiling stranger.

“Let’s go sweetheart.”

Sam didn’t know why he’d called her that, but she bloomed under his loving gaze. Honestly, she was so damned grateful to be out of the car, she let him get away with it.

Holding hands, they floated higher into the cloudless blue sky. Then when the crash site below had become a tiny speck, Sam felt a hard flick on her arm and the words, “Thanks, but I can take it from here.” 

     And she woke up. 

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To enter, use the rafflecopter widget below to leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win a copy of "Tuesday's Child".

Please read my Giveaway Policy. 

Angels: The New Trend in UF? - Guest Post by Author Linda Poitevin

Linda Poitevin was born and raised in B.C., Canada’s westernmost province. Growing up in an era when writing was “a nice hobby, dear, but what are you going to do for a living?”, Linda worked at a variety of secretarial jobs before applying to be a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Due to an error in measurement, however, she was turned down when she didn’t meet the height requirement of that time. Undeterred, Linda became a civilian member in the force and was a dispatcher for two and a half years, during which time she met her husband, a police officer.

Following their transfer to Ottawa, Linda went on to become a real estate agent and then a human resources consultant before starting a family. She has been a stay-at-home mom ever since and has homeschooled her youngest daughter for the last nine years. Now that she has realized writing can be more than a nice hobby, she continues to live her dream of being a cop vicariously through her characters.

Linda currently lives near Ottawa with her husband, three daughters, one very large husky/shepherd/Great Dane-cross dog, two cats, three rabbits, and a bearded dragon lizard. When she isn’t writing, she can usually be found in her garden or walking her dog along the river or through the woods.

In addition to her books, Linda also does freelance writing and editing. Information about her services can be found at www.lindapoitevin.ca. Linda is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Quebec Writers' Federation, Romance Writers of America, RWA Futuristic Fantasy Paranormal Chapter, and Ottawa Romance Writers' Association.

You can find her on Twitter and at her author website.

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If you Google “angels new trend in literature,” you get a host (no pun intended) of hits. Interestingly, several of them are directly related to the YA (young adult) audience. Even more interestingly, many of the links date back to 2009. It seems that people have been predicting that angels would take over as “the new vampires” for a good couple of years. But have they done so?

Browse the fantasy section of a bookstore and you’ll certainly find a number of angel-themed books, making it clear that authors are at least dabbling in this arena. At least in my local bookstore, however, the vampires and werefolk still heavily outweigh the heavenly. Heck, even the demons seem to be doing better. But why? If predictions of the growing popularity of angels track back two or more years, why haven’t they proved true yet? Why haven’t angels taken over the bookshelves the way vampires once did?

Some time ago, I read a blog/article (I really need to remember to bookmark these things <sigh>) that ventured the opinion that many fiction authors considered angel mythology to be a taboo subject—or at least tended to tiptoe around the idea. While angel mythologies appear in some form or another in nearly all religions around the world, the writer postulated, they figure prominently in the Christian faiths…and for many, there is a certain factor of uneasiness involved in writing about what is commonly seen as a symbol of Christianity (apparently, however, I have no such qualms, lol).  

Is the writer of that blog/article right? Maybe, maybe not. I can’t say for sure why the angel theme in fiction is underutilized, but I do think we as authors have barely begun to explore its potential. As for whether or not they’ll be the new vampires, you tell me…what do you think?