Greetings and salutations my Humpday Nation! School has started, the weather is lovely and now is the time to get down to some serious reading/reviewing! Of course work often gets in the way of a truly indulgent read nearly every day for me so, unless I take a serious career path deviation, I am going to have to get creative to keep up with my lofty TBR list endeavors!
On a serious note (no, not a soapbox but still a "listen up y'all" kind of thing) - it has come to our attention that many of our author friends are being harassed and lambasted in Goodreads land. Many of you read blogs like ours for book reviews, TBR tips or just plain amusement and many authors request we cross post reviews for books we really liked to help promote to future readers and that's cool with us. But there are folks out there who are literally targeting authors to destroy their reputations and careers for self amusement - posting negative critiques and reviews on books that they haven't even read. And worst of all, they can do it viciously, frequently and anonymously. This toxic behavior takes away from the whole purpose and intent of Goodreads which is a forum for readers and authors to connect and share thoughts on thousands of books in dozens of genres. (I personally use it to help keep my books sorted by author and check upcoming release dates of smaller press published authors that aren't on Fantastic Fiction). Please join us in taking a stand against bullying, of all kinds, but today especially of our creative and highly entertaining friends without whom my guilty indulgence would be for naught!
And now for the good stuff......and some eye candy to reward you for your time and consideration!
Nursing school prepared Edie Spence for a lot of things. Burn victims? No problem. Severed limbs? Piece of cake. Vampires? No way in hell. But as the newest nurse on Y4, the secret ward hidden in the bowels of County Hospital, Edie has her hands full with every paranormal patient you can imagine—from vamps and were-things to zombies and beyond…
Edie’s just trying to learn the ropes so she can get through her latest shift unscathed. But when a vampire servant turns to dust under her watch, all hell breaks loose. Now she’s haunted by the man’s dying words—Save Anna—and before she knows it, she’s on a mission to rescue some poor girl from the undead. Which involves crashing a vampire den, falling for a zombie, and fighting for her soul. Grey’s Anatomy was never like this…
I love it when an author takes me by surprise. Ms. Alexander had me at hello - or at least the book cover which sports a pale and tired but sexy nurse with attitude pose and a dragon in the background. The blurb had me pressing "Buy Now" before I gave it a second thought. Thank goodness I did - what a delicious paranormal delight. Nightshifted had me reading well into the night shift, certainly past my bed time!
Edie Spence plays a great anti-heroine. She's burnt out, broke, supporting her disaster of a brother and her patient load had me in stitches. Cleverly written and darkly humorous, with enough bits of nursing jargon to let this reader know the author knew what she was writing about and it shows in intense moments and very gritty, real characters in the staff on Y4. That the patients are all supernatural creatures just took a medical drama and kicked it into wacky and bizarre. But it works, actually very well.
Caveat to those who like paranormal romance but vacillate with urban fantasy - this story is more action and mystery than romance. There are some spectacular moments when characters connect and Edie has a brief fling that makes the reader hope there will be something more. Edie's obsession with Anna, saving this small vampire girl and finding some justice for her, makes her a much more endearing lead character. Watching her scrap and struggle to survive, work Y4, solve Anna's mystery allows the author to display some impressive talent in creating this new world and connecting characters and story lines makes for some highly enjoyable reading!
RATING: I give this new series start a tasty Four Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries.
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