Sunday, October 2, 2011

Halloween Spooktacular Day 2


Happy early Halloween! My name is Jess from Happily Ever After – Reads, and I’m so excited to be a part of Book Lover’s Hideaway & Romance Book Junkies - Halloween Spooktacular! Thanks ladies for having me and for my post I wanted to talk a little bit about my favorite witch from the Hollows series, a series all fans of urban fantasy MUST be reading!
“Come on, Rachel!" Jenks shrilled. "You're a badass, not a bad witch!”
The first thing comes to mind when I think about Halloween is the costume I dressed up in for years when I was little – a witch! I’m not sure where the fascination came from, I loved the Wizard of Oz, but the witch and monkeys terrified me for years. But every October, I’d dig the black pointy hat out and dress up as a witch again. Fast forward a (er…few) years and I found myself at the bookstore staring at a book called Dead Witch Walking. I had never heard of Kim Harrison or the Rachel Morgan series, and to be honest, urban fantasy wasn’t at the top of my most read genres. Something about it struck a cord and my obsession with witches continued.
There is just something about Rachel Morgan that makes you root for her, in all aspects of her life. She doesn’t have the best luck with work, relationships, her magic, you name it and she’s got problems with it. But through it all, through everything that gets tossed at her, she always does what she needs to, in most cases, to survive. She crosses the line with her magic, having a tainted aura when she dips into black magic – always for a purpose to help others.
Every new story finds Rachel up against something. It feels like for every triumph she has, which let’s face it are few and far between in the beginning, she has a setback. It’s like something in her universe is out to get her and she’s constantly battling against everything and everyone, luckily she has some great friends in her corner. Is Jenks maybe the most well known sidekick in UF right now? I think it’s safe to say he’s pretty unforgettable as Rachel’s smart ass, sarcastic fairy friend. And Ivy…Rachel’s vampire partner and really the best friend she has. All three live in a converted church and some of the best moments in the series take place in Rachel’s kitchen where she does her spells. I love when the scene shifts to the kitchen, everything important seems to happen there. Reading about what new spell Rachel’s working on to help get her or one of her friends out of a fix is one the driving forces of the books. The other – the emotion.
This is where my love/hate with urban fantasy comes into play. I’m a happy endings kind of girl. I want them, I need them, that’s why I read stories, I want to get to the last page and sigh in happy bliss. That’s not always a guarantee in this genre, but it just figures some of the highest emotion is found in these books. Fans of this series, I should really only have to say one word and you’ll know exactly what I mean: Kisten. To this day, his storyline still makes me rock back and forth in a ball of angst and denial. I was stunned, to say the least, with how his storyline played out and even with all the heartbreak (Rachel’s and mine) it ended up sucking me into this world even more, and completely anxious to see where Harrison took Rachel after this.
As if that wasn’t enough, more recently we watched Jenks deal with his own loss, that had me grabbing for the box of tissues yet again. Add in her roommate Ivy dealing with her vampirism and it’s an emotional overload! But the series balances it all out, countering the emotion with laugh out moments and characters that come alive on page. This is where I might lose some people, but I have to give my favorite character a couple lines – love him or hate him, Trent has been around since book 1 and after the events in the latest book, Pale Demon, he’s connected to Rachel more than ever. In book 1, he was a complete ass, but even then I loved reading about the guy. He’s one of those characters that has been there, sometimes in the background, or as in Pale Demon, right front and center and he’s another constant in Rachel’s world.
I hope you all are reading this series – Rachel is one of my favorite book characters and at the top as my favorite witch! Each book ends up being a rollercoaster with Rachel and her gang trying to figure out a mystery, get out of another tight spot, or just deal with whatever life is throwing at them this time around.  And of course, no book is complete without plenty of laugh out loud Jenks quotes:
“Oh for the sweet humpin' love of Tink!”
Fans of the series – I want to know who your favorite character is and why? Are there any moments that stand out to you over the course of the series?

Jess

32 comments:

Unknown said...

I have this book sitting on my shelf for like forever...I should pick it up real soon!

anniech85(at)gmail(dot)com

LorettaLynn//Temprance said...

I love these books,I picked it up one day and i was great. Loved the post and you pick a great set of books to do it on!!
elliott2668(at)yahoo(dot)com

Amy said...

I have a few Rachel Morgan books on my to be read shelf, since I heard so many good things about these books. I'll be reading them soon!

angeldream3[AT]gmail[DOT]com

Unknown said...

These books are in my TBR pile. I really need to read them.
marlenebreakfield(at)yahoo(dot)com

cheryl c said...

I need to try this series.

castings at mindspring dot com

BLHmistress said...

I have the first book I haven't read it yet I know what am I waiting for :). Thanks Jess for taking part in this fun event.

June M. said...

I haven't read any of this series yet, I should be ashamed, huh? There are just so many great books and so little time. I really think we need to find a way to not need sleep. Then I could read so much faster, LOL.

elaing8 said...

I love this series. I just read the graphic novel and it was really good.Looking forward to the next book.
elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net

Vivien said...

Sounds like a great one!

Vivien
deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

Jet said...

I read a little bit of the first book a few years ago but couldn't really get into it, I think I should definitely give it another try!

bookdevoteereviews(at)hotmail(dot)com

Na said...

This series is new to me and is currently in my TBR pile. Usually the main ones tend to be my favourite but not always. Strong secondary characters can also catch my attention. I like them to have an awesome personality.

Cambonified [at] yahoo [dot] com

Misusedinnocence said...

I haven't read this yet, but it sounds great!
misusedinnocence@aol.com

Kristin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kristin said...

Great job, Jess! If I don't try this series again after reading this, then there's probably something wrong with me and we shouldn't be friends anymore. :-P

Forgot to l;eave this:

kristincheee (AT) aol (DOT) com

Anne said...

It's hard to say, I like the whole ensemble. While Rachel is the main character, sometimes she can be clueless. So, I'll go with Ivy, but I loved the book with the human sized Tink.

acm05atjuno.com

miki said...

I love the books^^ i guess i will say Jenks for his humor and it won't be the same without him or the gargoyle^^

isabelle(dot)frisch(at)gmail(dot)com

Unknown said...

I have never read these books because I do normally avoid Urban Fantasy. I am more of a paranormal romance girl, but your description makes this series seem very interesting. I like that there are not just witches, so I will probably have to pick this one up. Thanks for the review!
phaedracamille@gmail.com

Denise Z said...

Dead Witch Walking is one of my all time favorites. It is an awesome read and the series is great and definitely worth picking up and reading; if for nothing else just the tinkisms LOL. Thanks for sharing today.

dz59001[at]gmail[dot]com

jen7waters said...

This book haunts me! must read it... *-*

jen7waters at gmail dot com

donnas said...

I love this series. Jenks is my favorite character.

bacchus76 at myself dot com

Carol L. said...

I've yet to read this series but after reading your thoughts it's catch up time. Thanks for your post.
Carol L
Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com

Life's Simple Pleasures said...

I have not read this series but have seen Kim Harrison books around on other blogs before. This is not my top book genre too but it may be time to give it a shot!

reviewsbyabby at gmail dot com

Sheery said...

I haven't read any of this series but your post intrigues me. I'm with you on my need for a happy ending. I get frustrated with series that just drag the angst, indecision and sometimes sheer stupidity on and on. This one intrigues me though so I'll have to see if it's at the library.

Arianne said...

"“Oh for the sweet humpin' love of Tink!”"
Haha that is such an awesome quote!! Now I want to read the book!
email: cruz042 at csusm dot edu

Stephanie said...

I love this series! I would like to see Rachel and Trent get together.

Skk25@aol.com

Anonymous said...

I have several of these on my TBR list. I just love what I've read so far! Favorite character has to be Jenks, followed closely by Ivy...so far. ;) I have a lot of favorite quotes... one is (from the second book in the series): "Plan B?" Ivy said. "What was Plan B?"
Jenks reddened. "Grab the fish and run like hell!"
*lol* Looking forward to delving into the rest of the series.
Julianne

Lisa Potts said...

I haven't read this series yet, so thanks for letting me know about it!

Lisapottswriter at gmail dot com

latishajean said...

I have not read any of these books yet sound very good! Thanks for sharing!
tishajean@ charter.net

Jess said...

@Julianne - I LOVE that scene! Heeee! So many great moments like that.
Thanks to everyone for commenting - I hope you all enjoy the series if you give it a try! And good luck with the Halloween contest :)

Oh and @Stephanie - I want Trent and Rachel together too, SO BAD!!! *fingers crossed*

test said...

I want to read this book!

wefancybooks AT gmail DOT com

Texas Book Lover said...

I have heard great things about Kim Harrison but have yet to read one of her books. This one sounds great!

mmafsmith at gmail dot com

Mary @SweepingMe said...

This sounds really great! Have to put it on my TRP.

Mary
mary_reiss @ hotmail.com

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