This month’s new fantasy books include entries from Michelle Rowen, Karen Chance, and Grayson Reyes-Cole (check out the beautiful cover of her new book). Additionally, the latest Harry Dresden book by Jim Butcher is available as well as a brand new Harry Dresden box set that includes Books 1 – 3!

Stakes & Stilettos (Immortality Bites, Book 4) by Michelle Rowan
Newly vamped Sarah Dearly wants her normal life back, but fate is fighting against her. She tries to get a regular job and gets staked in the interview, only to be rescued by a masked vampire who calls himself the Red Devil. Then a wallflower-turned-witch curses her, making her a bloodthirsty, sun-allergic nightwalker–the worst vampire there is. As if all that weren’t enough, she can’t get married because her 600-year-old boyfriend, Thierry, is in a centuries-long marriage of convenience he can’t escape.

As Sarah’s nightwalker tendencies make her more dangerous, even to those she loves, she’ll have to counteract that curse, unmask the increasingly intriguing Red Devil, and get a commitment from her man. But if that’s what it takes to secure her happiness, Sarah is ready…even if it means embracing her inner vamp to do it. Check prices

Red-Headed Stepchild (Sabina Kane) by Jaye Wells
In a world where being of mixed-blood is a major liability, Sabina Kane has the only profession fit for an outcast: assassin. But, her latest mission threatens the fragile peace between the vampire and mage races and Sabina must scramble to figure out which side she’s on. She’s never brought her work home with her—until now. This time, it’s personal. Check prices

 

 

Bright Star by Grayson Reyes-Cole
Jackson thought he was the most powerful shifter in the world. Blessed with gifts and popularity, he’s always felt bad for his brother Rush, who’d been born with the disadvantage of being normal.

But when a beautiful shifter named Bright Star appears on the scene, Jackson learns his brother is far from normal. Bright Star forces Rush to reveal unimaginable talents he’s always kept hidden-talents Bright Star claims will save the world…whether Rush likes it or not.

This book contains sizzling love scenes! I absolutely LOVE the book cover! Check prices

Turn Coat (The Dresden Files, Book 11) by Jim Butcher
Butcher’s series star, wizard detective Harry Dresden, has been facing ever more varied and dangerous trials. Once just Chicago’s only wizard PI, Harry is now a warden of the White Council of Wizards—that is, one of the enforcers of its rules—and it seems as though every time he gets a better grasp on his magical strength, his enemies worsen. When the “parole officer” of Harry’s youth, Morgan, grievously injured and pursued by the wardens, comes to Harry for help, it’s the opening salvo of serious confrontation with the council. Morgan stands accused of killing senior council member LaFortier. The murder was certainly an inside job, and time is short to find the real killer before Morgan is summarily executed. Simultaneously, something unbelievably horrible and by all accounts far too powerful to take on alone is stalking Dresden. Searching for the killer, Harry’s caught up in a plot leading to the White Court vampires and the very halls of the White Council. Meanwhile, his dog’s daily duty is keeping Harry’s apprentice and Morgan from one another’s throats. Fortunately, Harry’s sense of humor lightens the tone of even the most serious confrontation, so though Butcher has turned up the tension here, this is an amusing, satisfying, and action-packed addition to the Dresden Files.

I’ve read this book and it’s fantastic. Stay tuned for my review. Check prices

Jim Butcher Boxed Set (The Dresden Files, Books 1-3) by Jim Butcher
This new box set contains books 1-3 of the Dresden Files urban fantasy book series:

#1: Storm Front
For his first case, Harry is called in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with the blackest of magic. At first, the less-than-solvent Harry’s eyes light up with dollar signs. But where there’s black magic, there’s a black mage. Now, that black mage knows Harry’s name. And things are about to get very…interesting.

#2: Fool Moon
Business has been slow. Okay, business has been dead. And not even of the undead variety. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn’t been able to dredge up any kind of work—magical or mundane.

But just when it looks like he can’t afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise. A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses—and the first two don’t count…

#3: Grave Peril
Harry Dresden’s faced some pretty terrifying foes during his career. Giant scorpions. Oversexed vampires. Psychotic werewolves. All par for the course for Chicago’s only professional wizard.

But in all of Harry’s years of supernatural sleuthing, he’s never faced anything like this: the spirit world’s gone postal. All over Chicago, ghosts are causing trouble-and not just of the door-slamming, ‘boo’- shouting variety. These ghosts are tormented, violent, and deadly.

Someone-or something-is stirring them up to wreak unearthly havoc. But why? And why do so many of the victims have ties to Harry? If Harry doesn’t figure it out soon, he could wind up a ghost himself.

The box set also includes a bonus poster featuring original artwork by Charles McGrath! Check prices

Curse the Dawn (Cassandra Palmer, Book 4) by Karen Chance
Cassie Palmer may be the world’s chief clairvoyant, but that doesn’t mean people have stopped trying to kill her. And now, the self-styled god Apollo, the source of Cassie’s power, is on the warpath—leaving her no choice but to face down her creator once and for all. Check prices

I’ve read Books 1-3 of the Cassie Palmer urban fantasy book series and love ALL of them. I just added this one to my shopping cart. Here are the books in order:

Touch the Dark (Cassandra Palmer, Book 1)

 

 

Claimed by Shadow (Cassandra Palmer, Book 2)

 

 

Embrace the Night (Cassandra Palmer Series, Book 3)

 

 

Blue Diablo: A Corine Solomon Novel by Ann Aguirre
Corine Solomon is a handler—when she touches an object she instantly knows its history and its future. Using her ability, she can find the missing—which is why people never stop trying to find her. Like her ex-boyfriend Chance, who needs Corine’s gift to find someone dear to them both. But the search proves dangerous as it leads them into a strange world of demons and sorcerers, ghosts and witchcraft, zombies—and black magic. Check prices

 

Fire Raiser by Melanie Rawn
Bestseller Melanie Rawn plunges down the back stairs of the old South into a dark world of family secrets and the international flesh trade that lies underneath the surface of small town politics and romance.

Holly McClure and Evan Lachlan have survived the fiery beginning of their romance and left Manhattan for Holly’s ancestral home to raise their children. Evan’s the county Sheriff; Holly is still a trouble-making Spellbinder witch trying to manipulate her family as if they were characters in one of her novels.

But something’s not right in Pocahontas County. Churches are being burned down mysteriously with a taint of magic on them. Sheriff Lachlan suspects that they have something to do with the new owners of the old Westmoreland plantation, now a very upscale Inn, but even if he could find proof, it’s going to be hard to bring a case of Black Magic before a Judge — even in Pocahontas County, where witchcraft is the family business of all the oldest clans. Check prices

Storm Glass (Glass, Book 1) by Maria V. Snyder
Apprentice magician, ardent glassmaker and spunky Nancy Drew-style sleuth Opal Cowan discovers her latent mystical talents and wins the attention of three gorgeous hunks in Snyder’s follow-up to her award-winning Study fantasy series (Poison Study, etc.). In classic coming-of-age fashion, Opal uses her magic powers to help her loved ones and her glass know-how to find the flaws in the Stormdancers’ weather-controlling glass orbs, all amid breathless adolescent quivers of romance and jealousy. The further Opal delves into the intrigue behind the glass and magic, the more distorted things appear. With lives hanging in the balance—including her own—Opal must control powers she hadn’t known she possessed…powers that might lead to disaster beyond anything she’s ever known. Check prices

Sins & Shadows by Lyn Benedict
Sylvie Lightner is no ordinary P.I. She specializes in cases involving the unusual, in a world where magic is real—and where death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you.

But when an employee is murdered in front of her, Sylvie has had enough. After years of confounding the dark forces of the Magicus Mundi, she’s closing up shop—until a man claiming to be the God of Justice wants Sylvie to find his lost lover.

And he won’t take no for an answer. Check prices

Eve of Darkness (Marked, Book 1) by S.J. Day
Exhilarating adventure in an edgy world of angels and demons highlights the opener of Day’s Marked trilogy. After a steamy encounter in a stairwell, Evangeline Hollis discovers that she has been branded with the Mark of Cain, unfairly punished because of a man’s attraction to her. She is now a Mark: a celestial bounty hunter charged with sending rogue demons and other Infernals back to hell. Agnostic Eve feels trapped and wants to leave the firm, but that requires the aid of the most famous brothers in history: Alec Cain, God’s top Mark and Eve’s former lover, and Reed Abel, who assigns her bounties. Dynamic and vibrant, Eve is an impressive protagonist, and her fierce spirit and determination to make the best of her circumstances will keep readers enthralled. Check prices

For last month’s releases see New Fantasy Books for March 2009