Shapeshifted by Cassie Alexander

 

Nurse Edie Spence is once again called upon to save a life...and this time, it's personal. Can her new community of zombies, vampires, and shapeshifters come to her rescue when she needs them most?

When Edie was fired from her paranormal nursing job at County Hospital, her whole world came crashing down. Now she is once again shaken to her core. Her mother is deathly ill and there’s only one thing that will save her: vampire blood. But with the paranormal community shunning Edie, where can she find it…without losing her own life in the process?

Edie hopes to procure it at her new job at the clinic across town, where the forces of evil loom large. Vampire gang wars are rampant. Old underground enemies are rising to the surface. And Eide’s zombie ex-boyfriend has arrived at the scene—but is he the same man he used to be? And what should she make of the enigmatic doctor with whom she shares an unexpected connection? She’ll have to figure it out soon, because all hell is about to break loose—literally—and time is running out…

 

Shapeshifted (Edie Spence, book three) by Cassie Alexander

Start date: November 17, 2021

End date: November 19, 2021

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 stars

Trigger warning: gang violence

Each novel gets better as the series progresses.

Shapeshifted picks up a little bit after Moonshifted left off. After Edie was shunned, she lost her job at County Hospital, meaning the protection that the Shadows gave to Jake, her brother, was gone. He’s back on drugs, and Edie is back to worrying if he’ll overdose and die in a ditch somewhere. She’s working overnights at a sleep clinic now. Not only would her previous job have no record of her working there (so Edie has a gap in her résumé), but none of her coworkers remember her either (so no current references). When Edie runs into her former coworker Gina in town, it becomes obvious the Shadows wiped her memory.

“You don’t remember me?”

She frowned deeply. “No. Should I?”

I blinked. Oh, no. I’d told the Shadows I didn’t want them to change my memories—maybe instead they’d changed everyone else’s?

“I’m sorry—I must have you confused with someone else,” I said. It wasn’t worth Gina wondering who the Shadows had stolen away from her for the rest of her day. I’d been the one to choose remembering. I didn’t think she would have chosen to forget. (Alexander 111)

Moonshifted by Cassie Alexander

 

Check in to County Hospital’s secret ward—where paranormal activities lead to medical emergencies for one tireless nurse…

After surviving a brutal vampire attack, Nurse Edie Spence is ready to get back to work—attending to supernatural creatures in need of medical help. But her nursing skills are put to the test when she witnesses a hit-and-run on her lunch break. The injured pedestrian is not only a werewolf, he’s the pack leader. And now Edie’s stuck in the middle of an all-out were-war…

With two rival packs fighting tooth and nail, Eide has no intention of crossing enemy lines. But when she meets her patient’s nephew—a tattooed werewolf named Lucas with a predatory gleam in his eye that’s hard to resist—Edie can’t help but choose sides. The question is: can she trust this dangerous new ally? And can she trust her own instincts when she’s near him? Either way, Edie can’t seem to pull away—even if getting involved makes her easy prey…

 

Moonshifted (Edie Spence, book two) by Cassie Alexander

Start date: October 9, 2021

End date: October 10, 2021

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 stars

Trigger warning: mutilation

Nurses Edie Spence and Charles witness a hit-and-run accident in front of the hospital they work at. The professionals spring into action to save the life of the middle-aged man quickly bleeding out on the street. It becomes obvious to them that the man is a werewolf but luckily his rescuers work on the supernatural floor of the hospital. What unravels from then is a mystery Edie is forced to solve to save her own life.

Shadowed Steel by Chloe Neill

 

In the newest installment of the USA Today bestselling Heirs of Chicagoland series, the vampires in Elisa Sullivan’s world are out for blood.

 

Elisa Sullivan is the only vampire ever born, and she bears a heavy legacy. After a sojourn with the North American Central Pack of shifters in the wilderness—where she turned a young woman into a vampire to save her life—Elisa returns to Chicago.

But no good deed goes unpunished. The ruling body of vampires, the Assembly of American Masters, is furious that Elisa turned someone without their permission, and they want her punished. When an AAM vampire is found dead, Elisa is the prime suspect. Someone else is stalking Chicago—and Elisa. She’ll need to keep a clear head, and a sharp blade, to survive all the supernatural strife.

 

Shadowed Steel (Heirs of Chicagoland, book three) by Chloe Neill

Start date: September 3, 2021

End date: September 6, 2021

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 stars

Elisa’s actions in Wicked Hour have come to bite her in the butt in Shadowed Steel. Someone has turned Elisa into the Assembly of American Masters, the governing body for vampires, for the woman she changed into a vampire in Minnesota, Carlie. The AAM has devised the punishment for the crime of turning someone without that person’s permission (and without their permission) is to force Elisa to join a House and submit to Testing.

Wicked Hour by Chloe Neill

In the second pulse-pounding novel in the USA Today bestselling Heirs of Chicagoland series, vampire Elisa Sullivan gets drawn into the shifting sands of Pack politics.

 

Vampires were made, not born—until Elisa Sullivan came along. As the only vampire child in existence, she grew up with a heavy legacy, and tried to flee her past. When circumstances drew her back to Chicago, she stayed to keep it safe. With shifter Connor Keene, the only son of Pack Apex Gabriel Keene, at her side, she faced down a supernatural evil that threatened to destroy Chicago forever.

Now that the dust from the attack has settled, Elisa is surprised when Connor invites her to a usually private Pack event in the North Woods of Minnesota, and by the warm welcome she receives from some of Connor’s family, even though she’s a vampire. But the peaceful trip is soon interrupted. The shifters tell tales of a monster in the woods, and when the celebration is marred by death, Elisa and Connor find themselves in the middle of a struggle for control that forces Elisa to face her true self—fangs and all.

 

Wicked Hour (Heirs of Chicagoland, book two) by Chloe Neill

Start date: August 26, 2021

End date: August 28, 2021

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 stars

 

This book starts off by answering the question of what happened after the events of the last book. Faithful readers will remember that Elisa Sullivan was left stranded in Chicago by the vampires of Maison Dumas when things got all murder-y at the peace talks. Following that, Elisa was essentially let go from her job with them and got one working for the Ombudsman office in Chicago. Elisa and Connor Keene shared a spicy (and confusing) kiss after saving everyone from the evil fairies, and it seems like they’re stayed in touch while they went about their respective businesses, Elisa in Chicago, and Connor in the Midwest. In the previous book, Lulu Bell was working on a mural at the North American Central Pack headquarters, and when this book opens, it’s the unveiling night.

Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost

 

HER DEADLY DREAMS LEAVE HER IN GRAVE DANGER

Since half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her undead lover Bones met six years ago, they’ve fought against the rogue undead, battled a vengeful Master vampire, and pledged their devotion with a blood bond. Now it’s time for a vacation. But their hopes for a perfect Paris holiday are dashed when Cat awakes one night in terror. She’s having visions of a vampire named Gregor who’s more powerful than Bones and has ties to her past that even Cat herself didn’t know about.

Gregor believes Cat is his and he won’t stop until he has her. As the battle begins between the vamp who haunts her nightmares and the one who holds her heart, only Cat can break Gregor’s hold over her. She’ll need all the power she can summon in order to bring down the baddest bloodsucker she’s ever face . . . even if getting that power will result in an early grave.

Destined for an Early Grave (Night Huntress, book four) by Jeaniene Frost

Start date: August 7, 2021

End date: August 10, 2021

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Trigger warning: child grooming, sexual abuse, offensive language

I have reached a point in reading this series where I feel like my book reviews serve a legitimate purpose. These popular books star awful characters in a way that makes their thoughts and behaviors seem normalized. Flawed characters make for dynamic writing, but the work must acknowledge in some way that the characters are imperfect. If it doesn’t, readers might aspire to be like them. My review today is going to touch on topics in this book that some readers might have difficulty reading about.

Wild Hunger by Chloe Neill

 

In the first thrilling installment of Chloe Neill’s spin-off to the New York Times bestselling Chicagoland Vampires series, a new vampire will find out just how deep blood ties run.

Some believed that Elisa Sullivan, as the only vampire child ever born, had all the luck. But the magic that helped bring her into the world left her with a dark secret. Shifter Conner Keene, the lone son of North American Central Pack Apex Gabriel Keene, is the only one she trusts with it. But she’s a vampire and the daughter of a Master and a Sentinel, and he’s prince of the Pack and its future king….

When the assassination of a diplomat brings old feuds to the fore again, Elisa and Connor must choose between love and family, and between honor and obligation, before Chicago disappears forever.

Wild Hunger (Heirs of Chicagoland, book one) by Chloe Neill

Start date: August 18, 2021

End date: August 19, 2021

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I really thought I was going to dislike this book. I put off reading the spin-off to the Chicagoland Vampires series because I was disappointed that that series ended. I didn’t want to read about the child of Merit and Ethan Sullivan (that should not have existed!). I wanted more stories with Merit and the gang. I grew to love her character, and I didn’t see how I could enjoy a story that took place in her world but didn’t involve her.

After reading quite a few not-so-great paranormal romance/urban fantasy books, I felt like I needed a palate cleanser. Enter Wild Hunger. I already liked one series by the author, so I figured I’d finally give the spin-off a try. At the very least, if I didn’t like it, I would have other books on my reading challenge list to give a chance to.

At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost

 

SOME THINGS WON’T STAY BURIED…

AT GRAVE’S END

It should be the best time of half-vampire Cat Crawfield’s life. With her undead lover Bones at her side, she’s successfully protected mortals from the rogue undead. But though Cat’s worn disguise after disguise to keep her true identity a secret from the brazen bloodsuckers, her cover’s finally been blown, placing her in terrible danger.

As if that wasn’t enough, a woman from Bones’s past is determined to bury him once and for all. Caught in the crosshairs of a vengeful vamp, yet determined to help Bones stop a lethal magic from being unleashed, Cat’s about to learn the true meaning of bad blood. And the tricks she’s learned as a special agent won’t help her. She will need to fully embrace her vampire instincts in order to save herself—and Bones—from a fate worse than the grave.

At Grave’s End (Night Huntress, book three) by Jeaniene Frost

Start date: July 25, 2021

End date: July 27, 2021

Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars

Trigger warning: sexual harassment, torture, sexual assault, offensive language

I’ve been reading this series purely out of spite. It started off with me despising Cat and chuckling at how badly written the rest of the characters are. I love to send snippets of the outlandish dialogue to my friends. I enjoy picking apart the plot to expose all the holes. (Where are the editors?) I love to hate it. The writing is awful, but each book gets a tiny bit closer to good writing.

One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

 

YOU CAN RUN FROM THE GRAVE, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE . . .

Half-vampire Cat Crawfield is now Special Agent Cat Crawfield, working for the government to ride the world of the rogue undead. She’s still using everything Bones, her sexy and dangerous ex, taught her, but when Cat is targeted for assassination, the only man who can help her is the vampire she left behind.

Being around him awakens all her emotions, from the adrenaline kick of slaying vamps side by side to the reckless passion that consumed them. But a price on her head—wanted dead or half-alive—means her survival depends on teaming up with Bones. And no matter how hard she tries to keep things professional between them, she’ll find that desire lasts forever . . . and that Bones won’t let her get away again.

One Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress, book two) by Jeaniene Frost

Start date: July 2021

End date: July 2021

Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars

Trigger warnings: sexual harassment, transphobia, bad writing

It’s been nearly five years since the events in Halfway to the Grave. Catherine “Cat” Crawfield has settled into her new life as Special Agent Catrina Arthur or maybe it’s Cristine Russell or Red Reaper or Brunette Reaper or somehow still Cat despite staging her death under that name. Not even a quarter of the way into the book, everyone gives up on any of the new names and all the characters call her Cat. The reason she needed a new name in the first place is because she killed the governor of Ohio at the end of the previous book, and a prerequisite to working for the secret government agency was to fake her death. Her mother, teammates, and even a new friend, Denise, call her by her old name except when they’re in public, but they don’t even seem to remember to do that all the time. Because of her noncommittal to her new identity, it wouldn’t be difficult for bad guys to track her down (spoiler alert: that’s what happens).

Nightshifted by Cassie Alexander

 

Welcome to the secret wing of County Hospital—where vampires get transfusions, werewolves have silver allergies, and one nurse is in way over her head…

Nursing school prepared Edie Spence for a lot of things. Burn victims? No problem. Severed limbs? Piece of cake. Vampires? No way in hell. But as the newest nurse on Y4, the secret ward hidden in the bowels of County Hospital, Edie has her hands full with every paranormal patient you can imagine—from vamps and were-things to zombies and beyond…

Edie’s just trying to learn the ropes so she can get through her latest shift unscathed. But when a vampire servant turns to dust under her watch, all hell breaks loose. Now she’s haunted by the man’s dying words—Save Anna—and before she knows it, she’s on a mission to rescue some poor girl from the undead. Which involves crashing a vampire den, falling for a zombie, and fighting for her soul. Grey’s Anatomy was never like this…

Nightshifted (Edie Spence, book one) by Cassie Alexander

Start date: August 3, 2021

End date: August 4, 2021

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars

Content warning: child abuse, sex, offensive language

Edith “Edie” Spence is a newly minted registered nurse working at Providence General Hospital. After her brother, Jake, overdoses one too many times on heroin, Edie is offered an extraordinary deal from a mysterious stranger: if she works for County Hospital on Floor Y4, the powers that be will make sure Jake stays clean. Without fully understanding what she’s agreeing to, Edie signs the paperwork. That’s when her life goes sideways—Y4 isn’t any old floor at County. It’s where firefighting zombies recuperate, syphilitic dragons get treatment, and vampire baby showers are performed.

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

 

FLIRTING WITH THE GRAVE . . .

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father—the one responsible for ruining her mother’s life. Then she’s captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unholy partnership.

In exchange for finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She’s amazed she doesn’t end up as his dinner—are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn’t have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her newfound status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side . . . and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.

Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress book one) by Jeaniene Frost

Start date: July 11, 2021

End date: July 12, 2021

Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars

Content warning: sexual assault, offensive language 

I’m going to admit something tragic. I only chose to read this book because I was curious to see how the author would write the story past the premise. I knew full well I wasn’t going to like it, but I read it anyway.

The main character is Catherine “Cat” Crawfield, a 22-year-old who lives at home with her single mother and elderly grandparents in the backwards, little town of Licking Falls, Ohio. She has put off going to college initially to take care of her grandparents, but she spends most of her time killing vampires as retribution for the vampire who ruined her mother’s life. You see, Cat is a vampire hunter who’s also a half-vampire.

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

No one knows the dark desires of the soul better than #1 New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton. In Guilty Pleasures, she introduces Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter. Anita's small, dark, and dangerous. But when the city's most powerful vampire comes to her for help, Anita is faced with her greatest fear--a man capable of arousing in her a hunger strong enough to match his own...

"Why should it surprise me that I was alive?...

There on the right side of my neck was the real thing...

Tiny, diminutive fang marks. Nikolaos [had] contaminated me...

I bet she thought I'd be scared of her. She was right on that.

But I spend most of my waking hours confronting and destroying things that I fear. A thousand-year-old master vampire was a tall order, but a girl's got to have a goal."

Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, book one) by Laurell K. Hamilton

Start date: December 18, 2014

End state: December 19, 2014

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Content warning: torture, sexual violence

The only reason the Anita Blake series made it on my reading challenge list was because of the rumors I had heard about the books. I’ve always been told that Laurell K. Hamilton writes graphic, detailed sex scenes. I was embarrassed the first time I ever read a story in which characters engaged in sexual acts, but I’ve come a long way since then. Now I love a well described sexual encounter and pray for them in the novels in which the characters have sizzling chemistry. I put the first book in the Anita Blake series on my list so I could try out the series to see if I liked it. After finishing the entire Hush, Hush series within the past three days (you heard read me right—I binged), I needed a satisfying sex scene to alleviate all that tension so I turned to the author I heard so much about. I won’t ruin the Hush, Hush series for anyone but if you’re looking for something steamy, you might want to look away from young adult novels. Silly me for not accounting for the target audience in my expectations of the books. Never again!

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

With scorching-hot tension and high-octane humor, First Grave on the Right is your signpost to paranormal suspense of the highest order.

This whole grim reaper thing should come with a manual.

Or a diagram of some kind.

A flowchart would have been nice.

Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper. Meaning, she sees dead people. Really. And it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (like murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she's been having about an entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely. But what does he want with Charley? And why can't she seem to resist him? And what does she have to lose by giving in?

First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, book one) by Darynda Jones

Start date: Thursday, August 14, 2014

End date: Sunday, August 17, 2014

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

             Let me say that the only time I've read a book faster than this book was when I read The Hunger Games trilogy in less than two days. I didn't eat, sleep or go to the bathroom until I finished reading all about Katniss Everdeen and Panem. That being said, I finished First Grave on the Right in two, three-hour sessions before bed. I’m making that number up because it’s been over two months since I read the book and I couldn’t possibly remember exactly how many hours I spent reading it but I do know I finished it in two nightly sessions. (Side note: I mainly read before going to bed. It puts me in the mood to sleep and it’s a good wind down from the rest of my day. You should try it sometime if you haven’t before.) I have to admit this book was addicting. I had such a hard time putting it down so I ended up staying up later than I wanted to just so I could find out what happened next.

Undead and Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson

From Just-Laid-Off Secretary to Queen of the Undead… 

It's been a helluva week for Betsy Taylor. First, she loses her job. Then, to top things off, she's killed in a car accident. But what really bites (besides waking up in the morgue dressed in a pink suit and cheap shoes courtesy of her stepmother) is that she can't seem to stay dead. Every night she rises, with a horrible craving for blood. She's not taking too well to a liquid diet. 

Worst of all, her new friends have the ridiculous idea that Betsy is the prophesied vampire queen, and they want her help in overthrowing the most obnoxious, power-hungry vampire in five centuries—a badly dressed Bela Lugosi wannabe, natch. Frankly, Betsy couldn’t care less about vamp politics, but they have a powerful weapon of persuasion: designer shoes. How can any self-respecting girl say no? But a collection of Ferragamos isn’t the only temptation for Betsy. It’s just a lot safer than the scrumptious Sinclair—a seductive bloodsucker whose sexy gaze seems as dangerous as a stake through the heart…

Undead and Unwed (Queen Betsy, book one) by MaryJanice Davidson

Start date: Tuesday, July 8, 2014

End date: Friday, July 11, 2014

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

            When the novel begins, Elizabeth "Betsy" Taylor is already (un)dead. The day before her death unfolds in that she is late for work, fixes the copy machine for her incompetent coworkers, and chases after her cat who is stuck in snow on the other side of the road. A truck hits her while she crosses the street and her body slams into a tree, killing her. She wakes up in a funeral parlor dressed in a tacky, pink power suit and her stepmother's last year, knock-off designer shoes. It's her mission to recover her designer shoes from her stepmother, which she does within the first forty pages, and then the rest of the novel is focused on other vampires mixing her up in their politics.