Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison

Publisher:  Harper Collins
Pages:  487

From the Cover:

Rachel Morgan has fought and hunted vampires, werewolves, banshees, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter—and lived to tell the tale. But she's never faced off against her own kind . . . until now.

Denounced and shunned for dealing with demons and black magic, her best hope is life imprisonment—at worst, a forced lobotomy and genetic slavery. Only her enemies are strong enough to help her win her freedom, but trust comes hard when it hinges on the unscrupulous tycoon Trent Kalamack, the demon Algaliarept, and an ex-boyfriend turned thief.

It takes a witch to catch a witch, but survival bears a heavy price.

Rachel Morgan is on the run.  She's been shunned by the witch society, branded as a black white, a demon summoner, demon spawn.  The one thing that saved her life as a child, now has made it impossible for her to live.  When she was only a child, Trent Kalamack's father changed her, made her different, so she'd live.  Cursed with the genetic abnormality that caused death, Trent's father "fixed", made her better than before.  But, the thing is, now she can spindle magic, twist curses, just like a demon.

The governing body of the witch society, the Coven, is gunning for her.  Not only have they shunned her, but they want her head on a platter, or at least lobotomized, and her ovaries for experimenting.  And if they kill her in the process, that's okay too.  Top it all off with having Al as her demonic teacher, and Pierce as her demon familiar babysitter, and Newt waiting for someone to screw up so she can claim Rachel as her own, and Rachel one step from insanity. 

The Coven is sending assassins after her, Trent will do almost anything to either tie Rachel to him or get his own demon mark removed, Nick is still selling her secrets and trying to use her to his advantage, and Pierce wants to be her boyfriend.  Ivy is trying hard to keep her vampiric senses under control, still hoping Rachel can save her, and Jenks is mourning the death of his wife, Matalina.  And Rachel is trying to stay alive, one day at a time.

Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison is the eighth book in The Hollow's Series (Rachel Morgan series).  If you haven't try Ms. Harrison's series, this is not the place to start.  Dead Witch Walking is the first in the series, and recently is was an ebook deal on Barnes and Noble.  Start there was working your way forward, each book is an exciting action packed page turning read.  Rachel get herself out of one scrape only to fall face first into another.  Ms. Harrison doesn't fail to please with this addition to the series.  Black Magic Sanction is more than satisfying, and it explores some of Rachel's feelings for her lost love, Kisten (who I will always and forever miss) as well as introduce Pierce more thoroughly, as Rachel's new love interest.  Rachel isn't ready to find love, and she believes Pierce is a short term adventure, a onetime Coven witch himself until they bricked him up in a hole in the ground for using black magic.  He does seems to have Rachel best interests at heart, but so did Nick at first, and we all saw where that lead.  Being shunned has been hard on Rachel, her business has dried up, she can't buy magical supplies, and not even her mother and brother can directly talk to her.  She has always cherished being an Earth witch, and now, it's her curse.

Black Magic Sanction is excellent addition to The Hollow's Series.  It ties up some of the loose ends from the previous books and answers a few of the question left dangling and readers left wondering.  I have to say, Kim Harrison's books were some of the first urban fantasy/paranormal romance books I'd ever read, and I wasn't disappointed, addicted from the first book.  Some series start to feel old and worn out, but Kim Harrison keeps it fresh and lively, draws on your emotions to make you become part of the story, and I've yet to be disappointed.  The ninth book in the series, Pale Demon, comes out on 2-22-11, and I can't wait to read!  For more information about Ms. Harrison or her series, visit her website.

I picked up Black Magic Sanction for my own enjoyment.  All opinions expressed are my own.