The Dark Swan Series - Richelle Mead

Synopsis of Storm Born (Book 1)

"Just typical. No love life to speak of for months, then all at once, every horny creature in the Otherworld wants to get in your pants.

Eugenie Markham is a powerful shaman who does a brisk trade banishing spirits and fey who cross into the mortal world. Mercenary, yes, but a girl's got to eat. Her most recent case, however, is enough to ruin her appetite. Hired to find a teenager who has been taken to the Otherworld, Eugenie comes face to face with a startling prophecy-one that uncovers dark secrets about her past and claims that Eugenie's first-born will threaten the future of the world as she knows it.

Now Eugenie is a hot target for every ambitious demon and Otherworldy ne'er-do-well, and the ones who don't want to knock her up want her dead. Eugenie handles a Glock as smoothly as she wields a wand, but she needs some formidable allies for a job like this. She finds them in Dorian, a seductive fairy king with a taste for bondage, and Kiyo, a gorgeous shape-shifter who redefines animal attraction. But with enemies growing bolder and time running out, Eugenie realizes that the greatest danger is yet to come, and it lies in the dark powers that are stirring to life within her."

Jenn: I love Richelle Mead, and I wasn't disappointed by this newest series of her's. Like her other series, this one is in first person perspective, which I really do enjoy. I find it easier to relate to the main character because I'm so completely inside her head. Eugenie is a strong willed character, and it's fun to have such a self assured woman be the heroine. She is strong in her personal ethics and for her, life is fairly black and white. But it's interesting to watch everything get very gray for her as she finds out more about her background, and how that effects not only her job, but her personal relationships. I really enjoyed her interactions with Dorian, but I have to admit, Kiyo kind of got on my nerves. But, it's probably just personal preference. Like her Succubus series, this is considered adult fiction, and it contains serious language and sexual content. But I just love her writing - the story, the character development, the hint of mystery to the plot. I can't wait for the next book.

*There is going to be 4 books in this series. The first 2 are available now, with the third slated to come out sometime in 2010.