TBR Day: Kitty and the Silver Bullet by Carrie Vaughn

This one has been in the TBR forever. In fact, I'm pretty sure I started reading it in 2008! I'm not sure what the hangup was, besides the fact that I haven't been reading much at all. This is the fourth book in the Kitty Norville series and while I'll try to review it without spoilers, it is bound to happen a little.

Kitty and the Silver Bullet is (as I just said) the fourth book in this series. In this one, Kitty has been called back to Denver by her family and has no choice but to go. She hopes to lie low and escape unnoticed by the other supernatural beings, but if that were to happen we wouldn't have much of a plot, now would we? So Kitty and Ben head back to Ben's old apartment and try to stay out of politics. They are approached by a beaten down werewolf from Kitty's old pack, and since she reminds Kitty so much of herself, she has no choice but to help. This all goes terribly awry, of course, and now her old pack leader Carl knows she's back in town. While this is all going on, the vampires have a little revolt of their own happening with Rick and Arturo vying for position of Top Vampire in Denver. There is a little bit of treachery involved there (isn't there always treachery with vampires?) and some collusion between the werewolves and vampires to see who's toughest.

Kitty is a great heroine. I know, I say this alot, but in terms of werewolves, who seem to have two positions- alpha leader or beaten down submissive- Kitty stands out as both reasonable and aware. She is scared when she should be, she takes charge when she should, and she knows how to control her wolf when she should. There are several scenes in this one that show just how human Kitty still is (oddly those scenes are also the ones where the wolf wants to take over.) Her relationship with Ben is full of questions- are they together because they love each other or are they together because the wolves demand it? Vaughn almost gets a bit to obvious with this, but in the end works it out. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Ben, we don't get to see in his head and he pretty much does whatever Kitty wants. While this is great in your hero, it doesn't give a lot of dimension to the character.

The ending is satisfying. Things are changing for Kitty, and in a good way. Detective Hardin is a good addition to the story, reminding me a bit of Detective Murphy in the Dresden series (another series I really need to catch up in!) I look forward to seeing how Kitty handles her new position and the responsibility of it all. This probably isn't my favorite paranormal series, but it's pretty solid and worth reading.

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The Good News, the Bad News, the Book News

First, the Good. I sold a bag!! To a total stranger on Etsy! Whoooo!! This really inspires me to get crafting again, and luckily the creative juices have been flowing. Look for new stuff at over at the bag blog in the near future! (some of the won't be for sale, as I have CHRISTMAS to think about!) I have Monday off work and hope to make some serious progress in the Christmas sewing, as well as make up a Brand! New! Bag! that I drew out last weekend.

And now the Bad. Just as I'm starting to feel like a human being that eats again, I got a sinus infection. Booo. The good part of the bad news though, is that I thought up this blog post title days ago, and am already feeling much better. I actually went to the doctor, where they gave me Amoxicillian. Does that stuff really work? No good decongestants or cough medicine though, which I was hoping for.

And for books. I've actually read two books in the last few weeks. Kitty Goes to Washington and Kitty Takes a Holiday by Carrie Vaughn. These are books 2 and 3 in the series that begins with Kitty and the Midnight Hour. Kitty is a werewolf (ha. ha.), the first to come out publicly. She's not an Alpha wolf, she's not always right, she's often unsure of herself. She's very human, for a werewolf. If you can suspend you system of beliefs long enough to believe in these things, the books are very believable. (How's that for a selling point?) No Anita Blake superpowers or Stephanie Plum slapstick or anything, just a nice girl who happens to be a werewolf. The books are getting stronger, and I think with this last one that Vaughn really took a risk and established herself. (In a word, Cormac.) The next one comes out in January.

After finishing Holiday, I zipped over to Amazon.com to read some reviews and see what people thought of it. One of the reviews is a decent review of the book, but ends with this, which surprised me. Do people really think this way?

I do hope the series continues- I'd like to know more about the shaman who comes to save the day. As for the setting, I hope the story takes place somewhere else. I have never been to Colorado, but I don't much care to visit. Seems kinda lonely and small minded, appropriate for this book, but I'm done with it.

She's never been there, but knows she wouldn't like it? Based on a fictional book about WEREWOLVES? You know, I've never met her, but I don't think I care to. She seems kinda small minded...

Up next, a little non-paranormal to cleanse the palate. I started Knocked Up by Rebecca Eckler on Haley-O's recommendation. This does not appear to have much in common with the movie of the same name, regardless of whatever lawsuits are floating around. I am thinking of reading the latest Lisa Kleypas (it's about Cam! Swoon!) once I'm done with this one.

Did I mention I sold a bag??

Charlaine Harris, Carrie Vaughn, and a little weekend reading

I actually finished two books this weekend!

The first book I read was Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn. This is another entry in the vampire/werewolf alternate reality genre. I seem to be obsessed with these books lately. This one is about Kitty (duh), the werewolf host of a popular radio station. There's a few murders, a little bit of pack dominance to work out, the usual. I didn't find anything about this one particularly unusual or noteworthy. It was good, but it didn't stand out of it's crowd. I'll probably go ahead and get the second one on paperbackswap, but it won't be at the top of the TBR.

On Saturday we took a road trip to Pierre, which is about 3 hours away. I did a little crocheting in the car, and read a little here and there. I finished up Shakespeare's Christmas by Charlaine Harris on Saturday night. If you've read any other of the Lily Bard mysteries you know how this one was. It was good, taken together this is a good series. If I didn't love the Sookie Stackhouse books I probably wouldn't continue on with these, but they are very quick and I only have two left in the series, so I'll read them.

Then I started reading Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner. This one is part of my TBR challenge books. The first line of the Publishers Weekly review is " What would happen if Buffy the Vampire Slayer got married, moved to the suburbs and became a stay-at-home mom?" I'm about 80 pages in and so far I am not impressed.

For this week's math: 57 in, 21 read, 36 behind. I'm still behind, but the rate is a little slower!