Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews
Series: Innkeeper Chronicles #2
Published by NYLA on November 13th 2015
Pages: 315
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Format: eBook
Source: Library
Amazon|B&N|Book Depository|Audible
Goodreads

Also by this author: Magic Bites

Dina DeMille doesn’t run your typical Bed and Breakfast. Her inn defies laws of physics, her fluffy dog is secretly a monster, and the only paying guest is a former Galactic tyrant with a price on her head. But the inn needs guests to thrive, and guests have been scarce, so when an Arbitrator shows up at Dina's door and asks her to host a peace summit between three warring species, she jumps on the chance.

Unfortunately, for Dina, keeping the peace between Space Vampires, the Hope-Crushing Horde, and the devious Merchants of Baha-char is much easier said than done. On top of keeping her guests from murdering each other, she must find a chef, remodel the inn... and risk everything, even her life, to save the man she might fall in love with. But then it's all in the day's work for an Innkeeper...

“What are you planning?” I asked, as we turned toward the grand ballroom.
“Just a small demonstration for the public good,” he said. “I am so sorry.”
“You’re apologizing in advance.”
“Yes.”
“Never a good sign.”

Dina DeMille runs a Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town but it’s certainly far from normal. She only caters to otherworldly visitors but they are few and far between these days and her only visitor is Caldenia who is actually a permanent resident since she has a price on her head and can’t leave the grounds. When Dina is approached with a dangerous but tempting offer to host a peace summit between three warring groups, she knows that if all goes well this could end up helping the Inn more than anything. But on the other hand, if things go wrong, it could be disastrous and she could lose the Inn for good. Dina takes the chance and hopes for the best.

In Sweep in Peace we get to witness the truly magical capabilities of the Inn and Dina herself and we’re introduced to a large number of new characters but most importantly is my favorite: Orro, the chef she hires to feed the massive group of people now occupying her Inn. She also gets a new cat that remains a bit of a mystery but I look forward to finding out more about him in (hopefully!) the next installment. I read Clean Sweep early last year and felt it was a fun, cozy sort of paranormal mystery. It was a bit forgettable, nothing extraordinary, and I decided that picking up the next installment wasn’t worthwhile.

I’ve been crazy in the mood for Urban Fantasy lately and Sweep in Peace was literally the only one immediately available for check-out at my library so I decided what the hell. IT WAS SO GOOD. It was funny and exciting and I completely fell in love with these characters like I somehow managed to avoid doing in the first. Now I’m on hold for the third installment and the wait is interminable. That’ll teach me.

“This is blasphemy!” Odalon declared in the same way Gerard Butler had once roared “This is Sparta.” Sadly, Odalon had nobody to kick into a bottomless hole for emphasis, so he settled for looking extremely put out.

Feversong by Karen Marie Moning
Series: Fever #9
Published by Delacorte Press on January 17th 2017
Pages: 512
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Format: eBook
Source: Library
Amazon|B&N|Book Depository|Audible
Goodreads

Also by this author: Beyond the Highland Mist

#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning returns with the epic conclusion to her pulse-pounding Fever series, where a world thrown into chaos grows more treacherous at every turn. As Mac, Barrons, Ryodan, and Jada struggle to restore control, enemies become allies, right and wrong cease to exist, and the lines between life and death, lust and love, disappear completely.

Black holes loom menacingly over Dublin, threatening to destroy the Earth. Yet the greatest danger is the one MacKayla Lane has unleashed from within: the Sinsar Dubh—a sentient book of unthinkable evil—has possessed her body and will stop at nothing in its insatiable quest for power.

The fate of Man and Fae rests on destroying the book and recovering the long-lost Song of Making, the sole magic that can repair the fragile fabric of the Earth. But to achieve these aims, sidhe-seers, the Nine, Seelie, and Unseelie must form unlikely alliances and make heart-wrenching choices. For Barrons and Jada, this means finding the Seelie Queen who alone can wield the mysterious song, negotiating with a lethal Unseelie prince hell-bent on ruling the Fae courts, and figuring out how to destroy the Sinsar Dubh while keeping Mac alive.

This time, there’s no gain without sacrifice, no pursuit without risk, no victory without irrevocable loss. In the battle for Mac’s soul, every decision exacts a tremendous price.

*Beware! Spoilers from the first 8 installments… but that’s to be expected, right?*

Feversong opens to the tragedy that Feverborn left us with: the evil book inside her, the Sinsar Dubh, has finally found a way to take complete control over Mac. Finally possessing a sentient form, the book wastes no time in wreaking havoc on Dublin and its remaining inhabitants. How to possibly destroy the book without also destroying Mac in the process is something no one knows how to do, but stopping the book before it gains, even more, power is crucial to saving the last of the human race. The black holes that were left behind by the Hoar Frost King continue to hover mere feet above the Earth and until the Song of Making is discovered, there may soon not be an Earth to save. Time is quickly running out.

I’m not going to go into plot details because if you love the series, you’re going to read it anyways, but I will say this: There’s a lot riding on a final installment, especially for such a well-loved series that has gone on for as long as it has. There are an immense amount of loose-ends to tie up, deciding how to wrap up the stories of beloved characters (whether they get their happily ever after or not), and trying to find an ending that isn’t predictable but that doesn’t also come out of left field. Series endings have a low probability of impressing me which makes me truly wonder why I embark on as many series as I do. While there were still some questions that went unanswered (not enough to make me grumpy) and a few plot lines that were wrapped up a bit too neatly (nothing’s perfect though), I was overall impressed with how entertaining this final installment was. Have I changed my mind that all installments after Shadowfever were necessary? Nope, but they still gave me more time in a fantasy world that I will always love.

Feversong marks the (second) end of the Fever series, but I’m not entirely convinced that it couldn’t emerge once again from the ashes like a phoenix. It’s been done once before so I won’t say it isn’t possible. There were a few extra pieces of the puzzle that could most definitely go on to form a new book (books?), but I was happy with the ending in Shadowfever and I’m shockingly happy with the ending in Feversong View Spoiler »except OMG WHAT IS THIS WET SHIT FALLING FROM MY EYEBALLS. « Hide Spoiler so let’s not push our luck, k Moning?

I hope she creates a new wonderfully magical world for me to fall in love and obsess over soon.

The Golden Dynasty by Kristen Ashley
Series: Fantasyland #2
on August 22nd 2011
Pages: 530
Genres: Fantasy
Format: eBook
Source: Borrowed
Amazon|B&N|Book Depository|Audible
Goodreads

Also by this author: Wildest Dreams

Circe Quinn goes to sleep at home and wakes up in a corral filled with women wearing sacrificial virgin attire - and she is one of them. She soon finds out that she’s not having a wild dream, she’s living a frightening nightmare where she’s been transported to a barren land populated by a primitive people and in short order, she’s installed very unwillingly on her white throne of horns as their Queen.
Dax Lahn is the king of Suh Tunak, The Horde of the nation of Korwahk and with one look at Circe, he knows she will be his bride and together they will start The Golden Dynasty of legend.
Circe and Lahn are separated by language, culture and the small fact she’s from a parallel universe and has no idea how she got there or how to get home. But facing challenge after challenge, Circe finds her footing as Queen of the brutal Korwahk Horde and wife to its King, then she makes friends then she finds herself falling in love with this primitive land, its people and especially their savage leader.

A word to the wise about these books: they’re… kinda like crack. Imagine there’s an alternate but magical reality where there’s a different version of you and that it’s possible to swap spots with your other version and live in that very different and magical world. In Wildest Dreams, the first installment of this series, Finnie Wilde made the choice to switch places. In Golden Dynasty, Circe Quinn had no knowledge of this alternate world and woke up in it terrified where she’s about to be set free by a primitive type people and hunted, captured, and raped by men who wish to find wives. It’s an ordeal that she didn’t think she would live through, but Circe survived and discovered that she had been caught by the King himself and was now Queen of these people.

Now, wait a minute!! I know what you’re thinking!!

But for you Game of Thrones fans out there… how many of you ended up loving Khal Drogo and Daenerys together??

*cries* Why did he have to die?!

Because Golden Dynasty is a straight up epic Game of Thrones continuation story, taking you on a path that GRRM could never have dreamed up. It takes Khal Drogo and Daenerys’ story to a whole new and amazing level. How could she possibly fall in love with her rapist, you ask? Excellent question; I asked it myself. All I have to say is, Kristen Ashley works wonders in the development of Circe and Lahn’s relationship, generating one of the most intense and passionate romances I’ve read. She also delves deep into the culture of these people without turning it into some excuse for the heinous acts done. Suffice it to say, this entire series has been magical and I can see why Ashley is so beloved in the romance genre.