Review: A Fistful of Charms (Rachel Morgan/The Hollows #4) by Kim Harrison

Description (from Goodreads)

The evil night things that prowl Cincinnati despise witch and bounty hunter Rachel Morgan. Her new reputation for the dark arts is turning human and undead heads alike with the intent to possess, bed, and kill her -- not necessarily in that order.

Now a mortal lover who abandoned Rachel has returned, haunted by his secret past. And there are those who covet what Nick possesses -- savage beasts willing to destroy the Hollows and everyone in it if necessary.

Forced to keep a low profile or eternally suffer the wrath of a vengeful demon, Rachel must nevertheless act quickly. For the pack is gathering for the first time in millennia to ravage and to rule. And suddenly more than Rachel's soul is at stake.

I took a mini break after reading book 3 of The Hollows series, Every Which Way But Dead. I was rushing through them as per usual and I always end up regretting it, so I decided to read a different book in between. The book I chose took me a few days to finish so I was more than ready to get back to this series.


Jenks was kinda getting on my nerves at the beginning. I wanted to get hold of him, give him a rough shake and shout at him to get a grip. I didn't see the point of his sulking. Yes, small Pixies have massive egos but what was Harrison's point of having him run off at the last 1/3 of book 3 and just disappear? It didn't benefited the plot any, not as far as I can see anyway. It just made me annoyed with him. He's a blabber mouth, everyone knows it, even him and we love him anyway. He really needed to get over it more quickly. I forgave him not long after, though :)


I was a little shocked at how Kist went from bad ass to domestic kitten in the space of 5 months. Yes he's still dangerous (he's got sharp teeth, duh) but he just seemed like 'the boyfriend' and not a very interesting one at that. I want to see bad ass Kisten!


The first half was a little slow for me. In fact, it felt like it went on forever. It wasn't until I looked on goodreads that I realised how long it was (500 odd pages). I'm still liking Rachel but I'm noticing that she's really quite selfish (I may be late to party with this). I don't think she realises it, though, or that it's done consciously. She just is. It's most obvious with her treatment of Ivy.


And what the hell happened to Nick? Okay, fair dues, I didn't particularly like him anyway but wow he really did get the shitty end of the stick in this book. He went from being an okay kinda guy to a real slimy jerk. I also have to mention the weres. I love werewolves. I really, really do, but they are horrible in this book. Yes, okay they are the bad guys, but come on, really?!


Overall I did really like this book, although I do think it would have been better if the werewolves had more character. They could have been fleshed out better.


Rating: 5/6 - Really Liked It

Review: Every Which Way But Dead (Rachel Morgan/The Hollows #3) by Kim Harrison

Description (from Goodreads)

There's no witch in Cincinnati tougher, sexier, or more screwed up than bounty hunter Rachel Morgan, who's already put her love life and soul in dire jeopardy through her determined efforts to bring criminal night creatures to justice. Between runs, she has her hands full fending off the attentions of her blooddrinking partner, keeping a deadly secret from her backup, and resisting a hot new vamp suitor. Rachel must also take a stand in the war that's raging in the city's underworld, since she helped put away its former vampire kingpin - and made a deal with a powerful demon to do so that could cost her an eternity of pain, torment, and degradation. And now her dark "master" is coming to collect his due.

This is the third book of Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series and it has a lot of meat. I'm hooked on this series now and I really enjoyed this one, in fact, I think it's my favourite so far. Although it doesn't seem to have much plot it makes up for it with character development and lots of acton.


Rachel doesn't have it easy. There's a lot going on in this book. Big Al continues to be the bane of Rachel's life. Always turning up when he's least expected to leaving Rachel way under prepared, but she always manages to come up triumphant. Luckily (very lucky) for her she has friends who would do anything to help her.


I really loved the date with Kisten and I'm really, really glad it happened. It did kinda feel a little sudden though, that's he's gone from scary to dateable in such a short space of time but hey I'm not complaining :)


Rating: 5/6 - Really Liked It

Review: The good, the bad, and the Undead (Rachel Morgan/The Hollows #2) by Kim Harrison

Description (from Goodreads)

Rachel Morgan s back, and in more trouble than ever! Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and other vampire novels won t want to miss the second novel in Kim Harrison s addicting--and already bestselling--supernatural series.

Former-bounty-hunter Rachel Morgan has it pretty good. She s left the corrupt Inderland Runner Service and started her own independent service. She s survived werewolves, shape-changing demons, bad-hair days, and sharing a church with her vampire roommate Ivy. She even has a cute (if human) boyfriend-what more could a witch want?

But living with a reformed vampire isn t all it s cracked up to be, particularly when your roommate s very bad ex-boyfriend wants her back, and wouldn t mind you in the process. And especially when he s six feet of sheer supernatural seduction, and you ve got a demon mark that makes vampires literally hotter than hell....

To save herself and Ivy, Rachel must confront the vampire master-and the dark secrets she's hidden even from herself.

I struggled to get to grips with the first couple of pages. It felt like I was just dumped straight into the thick of it and it took me a few pages to catch up. This happened with the first book, but I kinda guess that's the effect Harrison's after. Its one of the first elements of story telling we're taught in school after all; put the reader straight into the middle of the action. But when there's so much mundane detail right at the beginning it confuses me, well it does with Hollow books. But I'm nitpicking.

What I'm loving about this series so far are the vampires. They are scary! These aren't loveable rouges, no they are scary motherfuckers and I love it. Ivy especially. God when she blows she blows evil on your ass. She's so calm that it's chilling.

I know what was missing from the first book! Romance! I'm glad it finally made an appearance here. During the first half I didn't feel the chemistry between nick and Rachel at all (maybe because there wasn't any). I even though for a brief moment that she may have got on it with Glenn (lol). I'm glad we saw a bit more of their relationship (her and Nicks).

I found myself skim reading parts of the last quarter of the book, though. I think mainly it was because the action (tension?) scenes were littered with other little details that I got distracted. I was rushing to get to the important bits.

I really liked the plot, and enjoyed the book as a whole. I wish there was less mundane detail though. It clogs up the action and distracts me. It's for that reason this gets a 5 and not a 6.

I'm still looking forward to reading the next book though.

Rating: 5/6 - Really Liked It

Review: For a Few Demons More (Rachel Morgan/The Hollows #5) by Kim Harrison

Witch and independent bounty hunter Rachel Morgan has always managed to stay just ahead of trouble… until now. So she's dating a vampire, lives with another one, and is hiding a deadly ancient artifact that could change Inderland society forever--so what? But now her past has caught up with her. A serial killer stalks the Hollows, claiming victims across society and igniting a vicious Inderland gang war, while the vampire master Piscary is set free, and Rachel's demonic nemesis Algaliarept has discovered a way to move freely in the Hollows and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. To stop the deadly battle for supremacy that follows, Rachel faces a terrible choice, and a bitter price almost too steep to pay.

*I'm aware that the cover above is for the hardback. I just like it way more than the other.*

****SPOILERS****

SERIOUSLY, look away now...

Wow we were really dumped into the middle of it at the start there, weren't we!

I found it a difficult to settle into Rachel this time round. I don't know why. She seemed a little whiney and purposely difficult during the dramatics with Ceri and Newt. Why was she being so awkward? She knows that Ceri is capable so why all the arsing around? I think my problem was that I'd come straight from reading justine (the disillusionist trilogy), and she's a bit more 'together' than Rachel. Actually, a lot more.

Rachel was still on Ivy's case. It's kinda lost its heat with all the toing and froing. I know they're trying to find balance, but GAH, do it already.

You still here? You probably need to look away for this next sentence...

Okay, I fess up. This isn't really a biggy. I just don't want to ruin it for anyone in case it spoils the emotional impact, if you're inclined to have one that is. I totally felt her utter dispare when she was told Brett had been killed. It was so sad. We didn't really know much about him, but come on, he only wanted a pack; to belong to someone :( I was just shocked.

I actually had tears in my eyes when rachel kicked Jenks out of the car, telling him to look after his family. I think it was because I kinda knew what was coming (YES, I refused to look away when I was told to!)

The second half of this book is by far the best of this series so far. I just couldn't put it down, every thing was just spiralling out of control and I couldn't drag my eyes away.

I think this one might be my fave of the series.

Rating: 6/6 - It Was Amazing

Review: Dead Witch Walking (Rachel Morgan/The Hollows #1) by Kim Harrison

Description (from Goodreads)

The underground population of witches, vampires, werewolves—creatures of dreams and nightmares—has lived beside humans for centuries, hiding their powers. But after a genetically engineered virus wipes out a large part of humanity, many of the "Inderlanders" reveal themselves, changing everything.

Rachel Morgan, witch and bounty hunter with the Inderland Runner Services, is one of the best at apprehending supernatural lawbreakers throughout Cincinnati, but when it comes to following the rules, she falls desperately short. Determined to buck the system, she quits and takes off on the run with an I.S. contract on her head and is reluctantly forced to team up with Ivy, Inderland's best runner . . . and a living vampire. But this witch is way out of her league, and to clear her name, Rachel must evade shape-changing assassins, outwit a powerful businessman/crime lord, and survive a vicious underground fight-to-the-death . . . not to mention her own roommate.

I first started reading this late 2010 but for some reason (I think it had something to do with the annoying pixy) I couldn't get into it so only after a few pages I'd leave it and read something else. I'd pick it up every once and a while but I'd read maybe a page then, again, I would looked for something else. It was only when I started to read Shiver (and looking for something else to read in order to avoid it) that I picked it up again and managed to stick with it.

Actually the pixy isn't that annoying. I can't really tell you why I thought he was in the first place, but once I got used to him buzzing round, it was like meh, whatever. Around halfway through I started to like him. I was just really prejudiced against pixies I guess. Maybe I was just sceptical since this was my first time with fairyland characters. I found Ivy really dark and intriguing. The incident with Rachel when they first moved into the church was creepy. I like creepy.

The characters felt well rounded and were easy to like. Rachel wasn't annoying like some heroines I've read recently, and her actions felt real. Above all else though, it's just really well written. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Rating: 5/6 - I Really liked It