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Hey Folks!

The holidays are mostly over, and that means that it's time to unwind and relax with some great new books, thank heavens. I've got some great new picks this month! These books are great, absolutely wonderful, and I hope you enjoy them!

I'm doing a bit of relaxing, a bit of reading, etc. I've been beginning to work on the urban fantasy/paranormal romance that I'll put out early in 2016 that's based in the world of SM Reine. If you haven't read Sara Reine's books, I highly recommend them. Indeed, I recommend them so much. Not just because I'm going to write in her world. Her writing is lovely, and she creates long, convoluted, character-based plots that tie up beautifully after long, complex series. (Just in case you were wondering why I like her work, yeah, maybe they resonate with me for some strange reason.) I'll put the first book in her series in this email. They're really good. The first one is called Death's Hand and it's FREE everywhere. Cool, huh?

Also, I'm going to be writing a couple of "standalones" in 2016, as "standalone" as any of my books ever are, anyway. I'm thinking that one, which will be released in May, will be based on one of the guys at Georgie's wedding, maybe one of the Earls or Princes that Alexandre was telling Georgie about. Or maybe about Pierre's younger brother, Maxence Grimaldi, who is heir to the throne of Monaco after Pierre, should anything, ahem, happen to Flicka's husband Pierre, like a sniper shot from a bell tower if Pierre doesn't pony up and tell Wulf anything he knows about Flicka's whereabouts. Just sayin'. 

As always, thank you so much for reading, and thank you for your support this last year. I'll do my best to drop lots of fun books in 2016.

All the best,
Blair Babylon

Review: Descent and Ascension Series by SM Reine

Once in a while, I’ll recommend some books that I’ve enjoyed. No spoilers here, but I will set up the premise.

Also, I am ALWAYS looking for new books to read. Please feel free to recommend books in the comments. Amazon links are helpful but not necessary!

Caveat: I read widely, across many genres, so I’ve specified what genre each book is. If you don’t read in that genre, that’s cool. Check out the next book.

Urban Fantasy:

 I recently pointed y’all toward Angelfall by Susan Ee, and if you like that book, I have an enormous treat for you.

I am now a huge, massive, rabid fangirl of SM Reine. The Descent series is simply one of the best series that I have read, ever. The sequel series, Ascension, is also incredible. For both, the plotting is amazing, with some of the most perfect pivots I have ever read. The characters are flawed and striving and deeply felt. The core relationship between Elise and James is, to say the least, complicated, and it is developed deeply enough to more than sustain the 12 books SO FAR in this series. At least three more are planned. The prose is—and I hate the word for its snobby Byattesque connotations but it applies—numinous. The world-building is impeccable and thorough in ways that Tolkien and George RR Martin could only aspire to. If you think Susan Ee’s angels are malevolent, wait until you meet Metareon. I will never look at blue eyes the same way again.

One of the most masterful feats of writing that I have ever witnessed is that the entire Descent series is foreshadowed and contained in the very first scene. Main character James Faulkner has one of the most astonishing character arcs that I have ever seen in fiction. There may be no parallel. Main character Elise Kavanaugh may be the most kick-ass heroine who has ever lived, and yet changes so profoundly during the series that she will break your heart and make you wish you were her, and yet she will still kick your ass. She grows up, from a damaged, traumatized teen to a woman who can convincingly become a Hell Lord and (it is suggested) will invade Heaven itself.

I reread books rarely, like Orlando by Virginia Woolf and Lolita by Nabokov, and I have read probably tens of thousands of books in my adult life. I have read this whole series at least twice now, and parts of it several times beyond that. These are some of the best books that I have ever read, and the first three are free on your reader. You should read these.

If there are any caveats, they are that the occasional sex scenes are explicit and heart-wrenching and that there are three more books still to be published. The next one, Lost in Prophecy, is due in March, 2014. I just want to ask SM Reine to wear her seat belt. Oh, yeah, and she’s writing three other series at the same time and throwing down a full-length novel every month. Jaw-dropping.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Descent-Series-Books-1-3-ebook/dp/B009YADS38/