Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong

Rating: 5.0

Another fun installment in the Women of the Otherworld series. This one features Hope (half-demon), Karl (werewolf), Lucas (sorcerer) and Paige (witch). They have quite an adventure when Hope accepts a mission from the Cortez Cabal that might not be what it appears to be. This story is fast-paced and will keep you guessing all the way to the end. The characters are, of course, well written and unique. I stayed up really late finishing this one and it was worth it.

The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard

Rating: 5.0

The Pale Blue Eye is a very well written mystery with the emphasis on well written. The best thing about the book is the writing. Louis Bayard definitely has a way with words and that made reading this novel a lot of fun.

The story takes place at West Point Academy in the year 1830. One of the cadets has been found dead with his heart removed from his chest. The academy brings in Augustus Landor, a once renowned detective, to investigate. The academy grants him a cadet to serve as assistant and that cadet is Edgar Allen Poe.

The plot was interesting and kept me guessing. I really liked the characters. The greatest thing about The Pale Blue Eye though is how eloquently it was written. The New York Times says it best: "Bayard reinvigorates historical fiction, rendering the 19th century as if he'd witnessed it firsthand. He employs words like "caoutchouc," "meerschaums" and "anapestic" as fluently as he uses Gothic tropes. Landor is attacked in the dark woods and in a dark closet. Messengers drive phaetons. There's black magic, phrenology, a profusion of ghosts, even a boat trip through torch-lit mist. But none of it seems musty. Bayard does what all those ads for historical tourist destinations promise: as Landor says at death's door, "the past comes on with all the force of the present.""