Just a list today:

Evermore - Alyson Noel

Dead Witch Walking - Kim Harrison

World's End: Book 1 of 'The Age of Misrule' - Mark Chadbourn (Two more to go!)

Kitty Raises Hell - Carrie Vaughn

Some Girls Bite - Chloe Neill
This one was an ARC sent for review. I'll post more on that soon, and the fabulous Chloe Neill will be stopping by to guest blog at the Deadline Dames on Saturday, then she'll be here for an interview & giveaway next Monday - the day before SGB releases. It's her debut novel, and I really enjoyed it!

From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths - Heather O'Donoghue (Research book that I ended up reading all of - great stuff.)

I am still waiting on my copy of Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower for the 50books_poc community. In the meantime, I've just started The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

A couple of great writing links:

Outlining - Now With Lists! by Devon Monk, over at the Deadline Dames.

A wonderful piece about discovering a writing process that works by Julie Leto. (Thanks to Heather Harper for the link.)

And finally, I have to post this as it's such a gorgeous cover. My pal stacia_kane has been blessed by the cover gods. This is for her October 2009 release:



Isn't it great? :)

ETA: Stacia has just put up a an interesting post discussing sex in the Urban Fantasy genre, and the distinction between UF/PR. Check it out and leave a comment!

City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
Wow! I'm so glad I finally sat down and read this 'properly'. I'd tried to read it at least twice before this, but every time I stalled. First of all I thought: OH NOES! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? EVERYBODY ELSE LOVES THIS BOOK! Then I realised that I only had resistance because I was writing my own demon book and maybe subconsciously didn't want to be influenced. Or something. Anyway, by the time my own ms was done, I was clearly ready to read City of Bones. The worldbuilding is awesome and I love the characters with a deep, abiding love. I think Simon is totally cool (I always fall for the geeks), and I'm fond of the Lightwood siblings too. Oh, and Luke is wonderful - an adult character in a YA book that actually sounds like a normal person. And of course Clary, our heroine, perfectly treads the fine line between vulnerability and bravery. (I know, I know, I didn't even mention Jace! *g*)

The Demon's Lexicon - Sarah Rees Brennan (ARC)
I already wrote about this here, but I'll repeat one of my points: Sarah's book could easily be one of the best books of 2009. And yay! More demons! :)

Bone Crossed - Patricia Briggs
Book 4 in the Mercy Thompson series and, thankfully, my faith in Ms. Briggs was fully restored. I had some issues with the way Mercy's traumatic, life-changing incident was handled in Iron Kissed, but this new book carries right on from where we left off and we see very clearly how deeply affected Mercy is. And not just Mercy, but everyone else in her life. I also loved that we returned to the vampire world from Blood Bound, and Stefan is truly one of my favourite vampires in the urban fantasy genre. We learn more about Mercy's abilities, and I liked the way her relationship with Adam progresses, i.e. slowly and realistically. Nice.

City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare
So I loved the first book in The Mortal Instruments series enough to read Book 2 almost immediately after. I've read mixed reviews (where people compare 'Ashes' to 'Bones' and it doesn't fare quite as well), but personally I think I enjoyed this one even more than the first book. The characters become more independent and grow in a realistic way, and I like that we spend longer in other people's POVs. We're in Jace's head quite a bit, which works well for the way things develop between him and Clary. I especially liked the inclusion of Maia, the new werewolf character; and the way Simon's character undergoes such a transformation - and yet still remains Simon. I adore Alec and Magnus Bane. Can't wait for the final part of the trilogy, which is out later this month in the US.

Bitten - Kelley Armstrong
Second time around with this, and it's still one of the best urban fantasy books I've read. The book that made me realise that werewolves can be great! :)

Stolen - Kelley Armstrong
Again, a second read - I love Elena. (I can't fall in love the next book, Dime Store Magic - I tried to read it, but put it aside after a couple of chapters. Not that it's bad, I just can't get on with Paige as the narrator... I'll go back to it one day.)

Fragile Eternity - Melissa Marr
So lucky to get this ARC & I've already talked about this book enough. *g* I think this is my favourite of Marr's novels so far.

Poison Study - Maria V. Snyder
Wish I hadn't left it so long to read this. I loved the more traditional fantasy setting combined with the very modern first-person narration. I've got books 2 & 3 lined up already.

Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand - Carrie Vaughn
I enjoyed this 5th book in the Kitty Norville series, but it did feel like more of a set-up for Kitty Raises Hell. Still, it was very cool to see Kitty in a new setting - made me want to visit Las Vegas. ;) And there were some fun new characters introduced. The sixth book comes out next month - yay!

I'm going to try keeping a record of everything I read this year - I lost track in 2008, so I had no clue as to whether I made my 'goal' of reading a book per week (or at least 52 books in in the year). The first two books of 2009 are re-reads, but I loved them and probably raced through them very quickly first time around. I'm picking up all sorts of stuff I missed - I think Kelley Armstrong is probably my favourite urban fantasy author (at the moment *g*).

1. Bitten - Kelley Armstrong
2. Stolen - Kelley Armstrong (halfway through, but I don't think it'll take me long to finish!)