2015 has been a banner year for me creatively, professionally, and personally. So in the spirit of the winter holidays, I thought it a good time to “give back” and share my success with others. And, more importantly, highlight some of the best books that I read this year. The Twelve Days of Indie-Mas will feature twelve independently published books/series that spoke to me this year, and ones that I think should be added to your holiday gift list. These are listed in no particular order of greatness, because I loved them all.

On the fourth day of Indie-Mas, my author gave to me…

A soul-eating demon named Meda
A body-switching princess named Alyrra
A library apprentice named Vhalla
A marshall named Thierry

and…

A Mori named Sara

The mark of a really good book is when it takes a trope that you are so over and makes you fall in love with it all over again. Vampires? Meh. Brooding immortal guy falls for teenager because? Meh.

So you tell me why I couldn’t get enough of these books. Frickin’ amazing writing, that’s why. A story that both acknowledges its tropes and deals with them in a careful, genuine manner. And Twilight was successful for a reason…

Why I loved it

I really liked Sara as a person. Much like Alyrra in Thorn featured earlier this week, she’s got a good soul, as demonstrated by her animal loving. And she’s friends with tiny rock trolls, so that’s cool, too. She finds out that not only is she not human, but neither are most of her friends. She’s swept away by Nikolas, an angry 300 year old demon-hunter (called Mori). She’s like, “You can eat a bag of dicks, sir.” He does not take kindly to that.

Their romance becomes my favorite kind. There’s a scene in the third book where they’re separated, and he admits that her being gone from him is killing him as much as it’s killing her. “I need to hear your voice, too” just about murdered me where I sat.

Who would I gift this to?

Those who love a bit more romance in their urban fantasies, and actually, it has a little bit of a Harry Potter vibe to it in the second and third books, which I enjoyed.

About the Book

Sara Grey’s world shattered ten years ago when her father was brutally murdered. Now at seventeen, she is still haunted by memories of that day and driven by the need to understand why it happened. She lives a life full of secrets and her family and friends have no idea of the supernatural world she is immersed in or of Sara’s own very powerful gift.

In her quest for answers about her father’s death, Sara takes risks that expose her and her friends to danger and puts herself into the sights of a sadistic vampire. On the same fateful night she meets Nikolas, a warrior who turns Sara’s world upside down and is determined to protect her even if it’s the last thing she wants.

Sara’s life starts to spin out of control as she is hunted by an obsessed vampire, learns that her friends have secrets of their own and reels from the truth about her own ancestry. Sara has always been fiercely independent but in order to survive now she must open herself to others, to reveal her deepest secrets. And she must learn to trust the one person capable of breaking down the walls around her.