Two more examples of the “bad ass babe” sub genre of urban fantasy. The basic premise is that shaman long ago banished all magical beings and humans with inherent magical ability to the Otherworld. (Shaman do not have innate magical ability, instead they use their wills to manipulate outer forces, usually after having undergone a traumatic initiation. Also, the humans with inherent magical ability eventually became the sidhe.) It’s the job of modern shaman to serve as a kind of border guard, keeping all supernatural beings on the other side of the border. Our Heroine is one such shaman. (For some reason, I find it very amusing that she’s based in Tucson, Arizona.)

In Storm Born, we’re introduced to our protagonist Eugenie Markham (called Odile Dark Swan by clients and her enemies--something that mister or miss blurb writer utterly failed to realize was a major plot point, that no one had known her real name until recently. Of course, I’m just as bad by giving away the same plot point. However, it’s totally not my fault because I was spoiled by the blurb first, and then confused as heck when her client called her “Odile”) just as she’s about to determine whether or not a sneaker is in fact possessed, or if her client has forgotten his meds. (The author seems to delight in doing this sort of thing to the character. It’s alternately funny and eye-rolling.)

Storm Born and Thorn Queen