Urban Fantasy meets Sexy in The Better Part of Darkness
Have you ever read a book and just loved a character right from the start? That's how I felt about Charlie Madigan from The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay. Charlie is a divorced mother of one and a cop. She's tough, sexy and yet she has this vulnerability that makes her so "normal". And normal is what makes you just love her. She doesn't really do make-up, her hair is a mess when she wakes up, and she still has a thing for her ex. She has a temper and she gets scared, but all in all she has such an inner strength you know she'll overcome anything she comes against- or die trying. Oh yah, she already did that once and she even overcame that!
About the Book... Atlanta: it's the promised city for the off-worlders, foreigners from the alternate dimensions of heaven-like Elysia and hell-like Charbydon. Some bring good works and miracles. And some bring unimaginable evil.... Charlie Madigan is a divorced mother, and a kick-ass cop trained to take down the toughest human and off-world criminals. She's recently returned from the dead after a brutal attack, an unexplained revival that has left her plagued by ruthless nightmares and random outbursts of strength that make doing her job for Atlanta P.D.'s Integration Task Force even harder. Since the Revelation, the criminal element in Underground Atlanta has grown, leaving Charlie and her partner Hank to keep the chaos to a dull roar. But now an insidious new danger is descending on her city with terrifying speed, threatening innocent lives: a deadly, off-world narcotic known as ash. Charlie is determined to uncover the source of ash before it targets another victim -- but can she protect those she loves from a force more powerful than heaven and hell combined?
The story is fantasy with "off-worlders", that are made up of two races of people who have secretly lived with humans for a very long time. The "Revelation" is when the humans find out that "They" are here, but Kelly Gay let's us know just enough about that piece of history without getting bogged down with it. And we slowly learn about the "off-worlders" themselves as the story goes along, but it all unfolds naturally so the story feels just like a cop procedural with some very interesting characters. The story is absorbing! I could not put it down. The characters are so well written and so is the story. Charlie and her partner Hank make a great pair! You will laugh at some of the predicaments they get themselves into! The relationships Charlie has with her sister Byrn and her daughter are well developed, and you can almost feel the dirt on your clothes as you walk along the streets of the Underground with Charlie. This book grabbed me and wouldn't let me go! I want more of this great heroine! And Kelly Gay was listening because her next book The Darkest Edge of Dawn will be out August 2010! Charlie is back!
From Kelly Gay...
How did you come to write this book? ...Charlie, the main character of the book, came to me several years ago. All I had was a title, a faint notion of a world that had already come to terms with the supernatural, and a strong desire to write about a single mom, a woman with the inner strength to pull herself to her feet and make a stand when everything seems lost. In real life, we are equipped with this amazing ability to continue on despite incredible devastations and obstacles, and that's one of the aspects I wanted to explore. I wanted to give Charlie a serious job to do set within a dangerous and diverse paranormal world, but also give her a sense of realism, a history that gave her an ex-husband and a child. I wasn't sure it would work, but once I got into the story, everything seemed to fall into place. Things got wonderfully complex, intense, and very real.
Kelly Gay is on Tour today promoting her book The Better Part of Darkness! Thank you to Sarah of Pocket Books for sending me the review copy! I loved it! And trust me, if you like strong female heroines, you will enjoy this book too!
Here are some of the other blogs on The Better Part of Darkness Tour...
My Life in Not So Many Words: http://www.ziarias.blogspot.com/
Parajunkee’s View: http://parajunkee.blogspot.com/
Crazy Books & Reviews: http://lindsayphotobook.blogspot.com/
The Book Tree: http://thebooktree.blogspot.com/
Book Junkie: http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com/
Jeanne's Ramblings: http://www.jeannesramblings.com
Drey’s Library: http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com/
Poisoned Rationality: http://lastexilewords.blogspot.com
Found Not Lost: http://jmomfinds.amoores.com/
A Book Bloggers Diary: http://abookbloggersdiary.blogspot.com/
Booksie’s Blog: http://booksiesblog.blogspot.com/
The Life (and Lies) of an Inanimate Flying Object: http://haleymathiot.blogspot.com/
My Adventures in Mommyland: http://musingmainiac.blogspot.com/
I Heart Book Gossip: http://juniperrbreeeze.blogspot.com/
All About {n}: http://www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/
The Bibliophilic Book Blog: http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/
Jen’s Book Talk: http://jensbooktalk.blogspot.com/
Readaholic: http://bridget3420.blogspot.com/
Chick with Books: http://www.chickwithbooks.blogspot.com/ (Hey! That's Me!)
Reading with Tequila: http://readingwithtequila.blogspot.com/
Pick of the Literate: http://bookrevues.blogspot.com/
Books Gardens & Dogs: http://maryinhb.blogspot.com/
Wendy’s Minding Spot: http://mindingspot.blogspot.com/
Revenge of the Booknerds: http://booknerdextraordinaire.blogspot.com/
You Wanna Know What I Think?: http://www.kballard87.blogspot.com/
Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm: http://fayeflamereviews.blogspot.com/
Patricia’s Vampire Notes: http://patricias-vampire-notes.blogspot.com/
SciFi Guy: http://www.scifiguy.ca/
The Wayfaring Writer: http://moonsanity.blogspot.com/
Book Soulmates: http://booksoulmates.blogspot.com/
*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!
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