The Turning by Jennifer Armintrout

Fans of vampire novels should check out The Turning, the first novel in Jennifer Armintrout's Blood Ties series, an exciting and sexy addition to the genre.

Our heroine, Carrie, is a young doctor whose sire accidentally turns her into one of his kind during a fight in the hospital morgue. Carrie has little to leave behind in her mortal life. Her parents were cold in life and are now deceased, and she has no friends, both because she has just moved to town and because she sublimated her emotions to better concentrate on her medical training.

Inquiries into her new condition lead her to Nathan, a kind but emotionally conflicted vampire, who takes her under his wing and teaches her about what has happened to her. Trouble is, Nathan is a member of the Voluntary Vampire Extinction... Read More

Queene of Light by Jennifer Armintrout

Many urban fantasy authors have written about supernatural races coming out of the shadows and living among humans. Few have done anything like this: The supernatural races crossed the Veil to live among humans, but war broke out, and the humans won. The otherworldly beings, along with any humans found to have paranormal abilities, have been banished to an underworld of sewers and subway tunnels, while the humans rule the world above. I love this idea. Jennifer Armintrout gives the reader a setting that feels both archetypal (because the fae have often been said to live underground) and fresh (because I’ve never seen it done quite like this).

The subterranean realm is divided into two parts, the Lightworld and the Darkworld. Faeries rule the Lightworld, insulating themselves from the other races and playing their ancient games of court intrigue eve... Read More

Child of Darkness by Jennifer Armintrout

In Child of Darkness, Jennifer Armintrout continues the unique, genre-convention-defying story she began in Queene of Light. As before, it says “Paranormal Romance” on the spine, but while Queene of Light tweaked the conventional romance novel structure, Child of Darkness breaks it almost completely. (No happily-ever-after, at least not in this installment.) Nor does Child of Darkness follow the current tropes of urban fantasy, despite its gritty near-future setting. Aside from the setting, the Lightworld/Darkworld trilogy is really more in the vein of historical/political fantasy.

Child of Darkness is a bridge book. In book one, a prophecy revealed a g... Read More

Veil of Shadows by Jennifer Armintrout

I'm sad to say that I was a little disappointed in Veil of Shadows. I loved the first Lightworld/ Darkworld novel, Queene of Light, and while I didn't like Child of Darkness quite as much, I was intrigued by the plot elements that Jennifer Armintrout moved into place during that book.

The first part of Veil of Shadows deals with Cerridwen and Cedric's journey to Ireland, where they plan to confront the pretender Queene, Danae, who caused so much trouble for the Lightworld in Child of Darkness. Cerridwen's old impulsiveness dies hard, and she does some frustratingly rash things during the voyage. It's probably realistic; no one changes overnight. But her immature acts, and Cedric's rea... Read More