The Darkest Edge of Dawn, Book 2, The Charlie Madigan Series by Kelly Gay

Publisher:  Simon and Schuster, Pocket Books
Pages:  384

(Release Date:  8-31-10)

From the Cover:

It takes a strong woman to keep the peace in a city of endless night. . . 

Deep beneath Underground, a cunning bid for power and revenge has begun—one that threatens to make Atlanta the new battleground in the ultimate confrontation between good and evil. The powers of hellish Charbydon have the upper hand after plunging the city into primordial night. And under the cover of darkness, a serial killer targets the most powerful Elysians in the city, the angelic Adonai. 

For Detective Charlie Madigan and her siren partner Hank, tracking deadly predators is all in a day’s work . . . but this case will test the limits of their strength and friendship as it draws them into a deadly world of power plays, ancient myths, explosive secrets, and a race against time that risks all that Charlie holds dear. 

Charlie Madigan has been changed, some would say enhanced, she'd say cursed.  Deep within her DNA, the life giving strands, additions were made to save her life and that of her daughter, Emma.  Now, Charbydon and Eylsian powers stir, bubbling to the surface, vying for control.  She brought the darkness that now engulfs Atlanta to save her daughter, now she's trying to bring back the light.

Hank, her partner and Eylsian Siren, understands Charlie's predicament, he has one of his own.  The Voc-Mod box has become permanently embed in his neck, forever blocking his Siren voice from reaching it's potential, a side effect demanded by powers that be, to keep the Siren from using his vocal abilities to their fullest, maybe against the will of another.  Charlie still finds him sexy as hell, but he's her partner, so what the hell's wrong with her?  She never used to act like this, he's supposed to be out of reach..... maybe....

But, for now, Charlie and Hank have other things to worry about, like who's killing the Adonai?   There's a power struggle in the Underground between Gin leader and crime boss, Grigori and The Druid/Dragon King, who has sworn exact his own measure of punishment against those he thinks are the guilty party if Charlie and Hank can't solve the mystery.  Add to that an escaped serial killer who's ever so slightly insane wanting Charlie body and soul.  Put that altogether with an awol ex-husband and Rex, the Reverent who now resides within his flesh, a pet hellhound, and Charlie's life in pretty full, if she can just keep her eyes, hands, and all other body parts off the sexy Hank.....

The Darkest Edge of Dawn by Kelly Gay is book two in the Charlie Madigan series and an excellent addition.  In this book, we find Charlie still trying to deal with the consequences of saving her daughter, and now, she's overprotective in the extreme.  She has her daughter warded, charmed, attempting to surround her in the perfect cocoon of magic, to keep her safe, she can't take losing her again.  She's been trying to find a way to bring the light back to Atlanta where now the city is covered with a 40 mile wide blanket of darkness.  Charlie knows the darkness is her fault, a consequence of her new DNA, Charbydon magic.  Her sister, Bryn, has also suffered by Charlie's hand, becoming addicted to the deadly drug, Ash.  Now, there are murders being committed, and it's of the angelic elite of the Eylsian population, the Adonai.  What Charlie doesn't know is that there are players behind the scenes, trying to grab a piece of the picture, and maybe no one is trustworthy.  Her partner and love interest (though she resists), Hank, would do just about anything for Charlie, the loss of his Siren's voice makes him more vulnerable and attractive, if that's possible.  Under Hank's encouragement, Charlie is starting to explore her new power, if only she can gain control.

The Darkest Edge of Dawn is a full throttle, kickass, fun filled ride; great urban fantasy with just enough paranormal romance to keep the reader wondering if Hank and Charlie are bound to be together.  Kelly Gay creates a world where magic has been the new reality, and Charlie is suck between the two vying powers, the dark and the light, Charbydon versus Eylsian.  There's a whole system of Undergroundlings that if possible, won't might taking over total control of the Earth.  I haven't read The Better Part of Darkness yet, but I've added to my wishlist and intend to pick it up soon.  Though The Darkness Edge of Dawn was Book Two in the series, I had no trouble following the story, but to get a better understand of Ms. Gay's world, I would recommend reading them in order.  If you enjoy mysteries that include mages, druids, and magic of all kinds built into a world where reality as taken a step toward fantasy, then The Darkest Edge of Dawn is for you.  I highly recommend this new series I've sampled, and can't wait to see what Ms. Gay gives us next.  My only niggle is with myself, I should have tried this series when it first came out in November 2009.


I received this book for review from Simon and Schuster/Pocket Books.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Flirting with Forever by Gwyn Cready

Publisher:  Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster
Pages:  415

From the Cover:

Art historian Cam Stratford is about to make a name for herself with her sexy tell-all "fictographies" of 17th century painters, but she's more familiar with her subjects than her readers can imagine. Thanks to a time portal she's discovered, she has caused quite a stir in the Great Beyond. To protect their members' reputations, the Guild representing dead artists convinces playboy Sir Peter Lely, portraitist to Charles II and a man with his own dark secrets, to sabotage Cam's project. A few hours posing on Peter's modeling chaise lead to a night of seductive passion--then Cam returns home and discovers his betrayal. But before she can turn her angry pen on her lover, Peter makes a surprise visit, transforming Cam's 21st century life into chaos of classic proportion.

Cam is up to her neck in trouble.  Her publisher wants her book yesterday, someone is trying to sabotage her chances to become the museum new curator, and her ex-fiance is trying to horn his way back into her life in more ways than one.  And she doesn't even know everything that he has done and continues to do while trying to woo Cam into complacency.  To appease her publisher, Cam decides to write a fictography, part fact, part fiction account of a subject close to her heart, painters of the 17th century, her field of expertise.

What Cam doesn't know is that when she tries to access certain information, she'll be thrown thru time, and will land on the doorstep of one of those artist, painter Peter Levy.  She's curious as to how she traveled to this place and time, to the very artist that recently capture her attention, especially when she sees a painting that could be her twin.

Peter Levy has been ordered by the Guild, a body of governing artist no longer of this world, to ruin Cam Stratford, by any means possible and to stop the publication of her book, and he does.  What he doesn't count on are the stirring of forgotten feelings, feelings that haven't been roused since the death of his wife.  And now, Cam comes strolling in, and turns his life, otherworldly or otherwise, on it's ear.  He doesn't know if he can forgive himself for what he has done or what he's about to do.

Flirting with Forever by Gwyn Cready was a fast paced sensual romance, part historical and part contemporary.  I found it hard to put down.  Cam Stratford has had to accommodate her life to suit her parents, her sister, her ex-fiance, and now said sister is about to push into Cam's life and steal her dream job, right from under her nose.  And all Cam can really do is sit back and watch her life play out.  If she tries too hard, she'll seem needy, if she pushes her sister back, she'll appear bossy and pushy (and the museum board wants none of that), and when she meets Peter Levy, her senses go wild and she could really give a damn about anything else.  When she forced to tell him the truth, she's a time traveling would be author/museum curator, Peter's taken aback, but can he really say anything, after all, he's a time traveling Guild member out to put the brakes on Cam's career.  And when these two come together, when they push passed all the circumstances trying to keep them apart, the romance sizzles on the pages with smoky desire.

Flirting with Forever has aspects of a paranormal romance laced between a historical and contemporary romance.  Cam is shoved into Peter's reality, and he finds himself ready to take a chance with Cam, until he learns her secrets.  When Peter jumps through time to find the wayward Cam, he can't seem to get over her, but he has to be very careful, to leave part of himself behind in this foreign appearing landscape would trap him in this time and place.  But can he resist the abundant charms of Cam Stratford?  Does he really want to?  This book was plain fun to read, I don't read a heck of a lot of historical or contemporary romance, but sometimes, they just hit the spot and Flirting with Forever is one of the books that satisfied my need.  If you enjoy a time traveling romance full of fun, I recommend picking up Flirting with Forever, I don't think you'll be sorry, I very much enjoyed it.

I received this book from the promoter, Bostick Communications and the author, Gwyn Cready.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Midnight Brunch by Marta Acosta

Publisher: Pocket Books / Simon and Schuster
Pages: 327


From the Cover: What's A Girl To Do When She Discovers She's The Main Course On The Menu?

Hip, funny Milagro de los Santos thinks she's finally found love and a home at the California ranch of fabulous Oswald Grant and his urbane relatives, who have a rare genetic disorder that some call vampirism. But Milagro is bewildered when she's excluded from an ancient and mysterious midnight ceremony whose participants include Oswald's unfriendly parents, a creepy family elder, and Milagro's ex-lover, the powerful and decadent Ian Ducharme. What skeletons are the vampires keeping in their designer closets? When Milagro's life is threatened by a rogue family member, she flees to the desert to hide. Instead of solitude, she encounters an egomaniacal actor, a partying heiress, a sly tabloid reporter, and a lavish spa full of dark secrets -- all of which might help her find a way home.


Milagro De Los Santos is up to her ears in vampires again. Milagro has been infected with a rare disorder that makes her heal better and faster, and her boyfriend, Oswald, enjoys a little taste of blood now and again, as does his family, though they swear they're not vampires. Her best friend, Mercedes has a hoppin' nightclub called The Dive and thinks Milagro just needs to work harder, writing isn't really work. Her friend, Nancy - former roommate at F.U. (Fancy University), is getting married to a member of CACA. Milagro's former beau, Sebastian (aka SLIME) and former head of CACA, has been forced to live in the darkest part of Nebraska for his attempts on her life and Oswald's family, far from his illustorous beginnings and his demanding public. Nancy's fiancee hates her now his best friend, SLIME, can't be in his wedding. Oswald's parents really wish he could find someone closer to his social status and blood background. It seems that our Milagro can't catch a break.

Milagro is tired of being excluded from Oswald family functions, including the naming ceremony of Sam and Winnie's baby. Oswald is heading south of the border to do charity work and can't even make it to Nancy's wedding. When Ian Ducharme offers to fill in for Oswald, Milagro happily accepts because who wants to go to a wedding alone? What she doesn't know is someone is gunning for Ian and when she accidentally gets in the way, she suffers an injury that forces Ian to give her some of his blood to help her heal or he could choose to let her die. After ingesting Ian's blood, weird things start happening to her. Also a mysterious vampire, Silas, who was at the baby's naming ceremony has taken a sudden interest in Milagro. But, she's getting the sneaking suspicion that all he's really interested in is her blood. In fact, he like to have her blood.. all of it..who are these weirdos who want to use her blood? Why does she always attract the weirdos? What is going on in the vampire community? In good news, she has been hired to re-write a screenplay, but it's in the middle of the desert at a resort in a town called La Basura (the garbage) and there's all kind of weird stuff going on at the resort, Paragon, too. There's even a mummy man. What has Milagro gotten herself into now?

Midnight Brunch by Marta Acosta is another excellent addition to the Casa Dracula Series. I can hardly wait to read Bride of Casa Dracula. Milagro is a character who is fabulously funny, curvaceous in all the right places, and wickedly smart. She's inquisitive and adventurous, which is one of the things that almost leads to her demise in this book. If she hadn't been snooping, she would have never witnessed the strange goings on during Libby's name ceremony. Her inquisitiveness almost leads to her being the main course at Silas' vampire club. She's so sweet and naive that she allows herself to be drawn in almost everytime, always willing to give everyone a chance. With Ian Ducharme's added pheromones, she's a new and improved Milagro, better and faster than before, although some of the blood thirsty additions aren't exactly an improvement. Oswald is still smitten with Milagro, much to the chagrin of his mother and father. But, then who would be good enough for their son? Edna is her same self, her no nonsense attitude that carries throughout the book, although she has a real love for Milagro and her distinct way of making a point. Cousin Gabriel is trying very hard to be heterosexual, but why? What Milagro craves above all else is what she was denied as a child, the love of a family, to belong and be wanted for who she is. The Grants are trying to fill that need in her life, but by excluding her from parts of their lives, they're keeping her an outsider. Milagro works her way through these difficulties in an unique fashion, worming her way further into their hearts and that of the reader too. I thoroughly enjoyed Midnight Brunch and would highly recommend this book for all readers who love romance, fun, and laughter. I love Ms. Acosta's ability to weave two languages together, creating a feeling of oneness in the two cultures. Midnight Brunch was fast (I read it in one sitting, I couldn't put it down) and fun (laughed continually from one misadventure to the next). You can't go wrong reading it. For more information about Marta Acosta and her wonderful books, please go to her website or her blog.