Review: Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong

Title Industrial Magic
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Random House
Publish Date: October 26, 2004
Genre: adult, paranormal
Pages 493
Series: Women of the Otherworld
4. Industrial Magic
For a list of all books in the series, click here.

**WARNING: Some spoilers if you haven't read books 1, 2, and 3 yet!**

Synopsis:
Think your in-laws are scary? Try meeting Paige Winterbourne’s potential father-in-law: CEO of the Cortez Cabal, a multinational corporation…and the supernatural equivalent of the Mafia. Lucas Cortez has devoted his life to ruining the Cabals, though that doesn’t stop his father from expecting him to take over the family business someday. Benicio’s favorite ploy is to appeal to Lucas’s quixotic ideals by asking him to investigate Cabal cases of injustice.

After years of failure, Benicio finally has the perfect case: a teenage witch attacked and left for dead. Refusing will be difficult enough for Lucas…near impossible for his new witch girlfriend. Paige and Lucas soon discover that the young witch wasn’t the first Cabal teenager attacked.

When the infighting among the Cabals threatens to let the killer continue his spree, Paige and Lucas decide it’s up to them to stop him. The chase takes them on a cross-country hunt through the supernatural world, where allies can be found in the strangest places, including a celebrity necromancer, a wise-cracking Celtic deity, a pissed-off ghost, a half-mad clairvoyant, and a group of vampires who’d really rather be in an Anne Rice novel

From Goodreads

As book 4 in the series, I found this one to be pretty different from the others. I’m not usually a fan of murder mysteries, but that’s basically what this story was. I think I enjoyed it because I knew the characters and because of the paranormal element. It definitely wasn’t my favourite of the Women of the Otherworld series, but I did like it.

Paige is a really great narrator. Even though she’s so young (only 23!), she’s already had to deal with so much. She’s way more mature than anyone this age, but she still has a big heart and believes in the best of everyone. Add to that combination: Lucas. He’s awesome, and perfect for Paige. Together, they make a Cabal-fighting, badass team. All of the other characters that helped them along the way - Jamie, Cassandra, Aaron, etc. - were really great additions to the cast of supernaturals.

The story itself kept me intrigued and interested. I definitely wanted to know if they’d find the killer and what would happen to him. I was really worried that people I liked were going to die in this book. I couldn’t figure out who would die or live, and it was killing me! There was a great mix of suspense, romance, mystery, excitement, companionship, and more, throughout the novel. All of it balanced out perfectly and made for a great read.

On My Wishlist (10)

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where you list all the books you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

On My Wishlist this week:
The Darkest Powers Trilogy by Kelley Armstrong
Publication Dates: 2008-2010

I was just lucky enough to win a copy of Kelley's new YA novel The Gathering from @IndigoTeenBlog's Twitter. I figure it's as good a time as any to feature her first YA trilogy on my wishlist. I've read some of her adult novels, the Women of the Otherworld series, and really like her writing. Since I also love YA (clearly), I knew I wanted to read her YA novels, too. I just never got to them. I know that everyone says they're amazing, and I believe them, but I have so many books to read and never ended up picking these up. Thankfully for me, you don't need to read The Darkest Powers trilogy before reading The Gathering so I won't be confused. I do think it's cool how Kelley uses the same world for both series, though.

Since I don't want to give any spoilers (especially to myself) from The Darkest Powers Trilogy, I'll give you the synopsis of the first book, The Summoning:

After years of frequent moves following her mother’s death, Chloe Saunders’s life is finally settling down. She is attending art school, pursuing her dreams of becoming a director, making friends, meeting boys. Her biggest concern is that she’s not developing as fast as her friends are. But when puberty does hit, it brings more than hormone surges. Chloe starts seeing ghosts–everywhere, demanding her attention. After she suffers a breakdown, her devoted aunt Lauren gets her into a highly recommended group home.

At first, Lyle House seems a pretty okay place, except for Chloe’s small problem of fearing she might be facing a lifetime of mental illness. But as she gradually gets to know the other kids at the home–charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek, obnoxious Tori, and Rae, who has a “thing” for fire–Chloe begins to realize that there is something that binds them all together, and it isn’t your usual “problem kid” behaviour. And together they discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home either...

Sounds good, right? I can't wait to get my copy of The Gathering, and I think after I read that, I'll want to go out and by this instantly.

What's on your wishlist this week?

Waiting on Wednesday (15)

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that showcases upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating!
I first heard about it from PageTurnersBlog.




My Waiting on Wednesday this week:
The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong
Publication Date: April 12, 2011

Synopsis:
Strange things are happening in Maya's tiny Vancouver Island town. First, her friend Serena, the captain of the swim team, drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. Then, one year later, mountain lions are spotted rather frequently around Maya's home—and her reactions to them are somewhat . . . unexpected. Her best friend, Daniel, has also been experiencing unexplainable premonitions about certain people and situations.

It doesn't help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret, and he's interested in one special part of Maya's anatomy—her paw-print birthmark.

From Goodreads

I love Kelley Armstrong’s writing, however I haven’t read any of her YAs before. Out of her adult books, I’m only three books into her Women of the Otherworld series, but I fell in love with her writing from the first. I have no doubt her YA series would be just as good. I really love how Kelley combines a whole bunch of paranormal elements into her stories, rather than having just one, such as werewolves or vampires. It’s more realistic to think that if one paranormal creature exists, then all the others we know of must exist as well. I look forward to finding time to read the rest of her adult series and all of her YAs as well!

What upcoming releases are you looking forward to?