I picked this novella as a way of getting back into the "Women Of Otherworld" series. I read the first half a dozen novels in the series very close together and then got distracted.

"Counterfeit Magic" is a fun story with murders, supernatural fight clubs, family intrigue and some quite witty dialogue.

If you haven't read the other books about Paige Winterbourne: "Dime Store Magic", "Industrial Magic" or at least, "Stolen" then this novella is going to be as confusing as starting "Game Of Thrones"  at Season 2, Episode 5 (only without the violence and the sex).

For the fans, this is an opportunity to see Savannah all grown up (well, at least Savannah at twenty-one) and going undercover in a supernatural fight club and to see Paige struggle with keeping her identity when the powerful around her keep seeing her as an important man's wife rather than an person with power of her own.

It's an entertaining read and, even though Paige is not one of my favourite characters (too goody goody and middle class) it was enough to make we want to continue with the series.

This book pretty much defines slow burn. You spend chapters just trudging along page after page liking what you are reading but not really loving it. You like Elena. You like Clay. But still, you just continue to trudge along. Somewhere around the midway point, you notice that the pages are turning a little faster, the chapters are ending a little quicker and you are getting a little snippier when you are interrupted for the bazillionth time (Holidays, gotta love them). And then, you are flying through the pages until you get to the end and you wonder what is the crap just happened. You've been reading the first half of this book for DAYS, wondering if you were ever going to finish and then get to the end and you end up very grateful that you married someone who doesn't read on a regular basis or else your kids would have starved to death if it wasn't for him. So, props to the husband for not letting us starve to death and also to Kelley Armstrong for surprising the hell out of me with the latter half of this book. I'll definitely be checking out the subsequent books in the series, but really, really hoping that they don't continue on with quite as much of the slow burn.

I am hot. Let's go some where much much cooler in our minds.

Icy Love: Romances set in the Arctic Circle and Antarctica

My lists are never in any particular order.

1. Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong

For Elena Michaels, being the world’s only female werewolf has its advantages, such as having her pick of the Otherworld’s most desirable males. And she couldn’t have picked a more dangerously sexy and undyingly loyal mate than Clayton Danvers. But now their bond will be put to the ultimate test. A werewolf more wolf than human and more unnatural than supernatural—a creature whose origins spring from ancient legend—is hunting human prey, and Elena and Clayton must track the predator deep into Alaska’s frozen wilderness.

But the personal stakes are even higher. Either Clayton or Elena has been chosen to become the new Pack leader, and every wolf knows that there can be only one Alpha. The couple have always been equals in everything. Now, when their survival depends more than ever on perfect teamwork, will instinct allow one of them to lead and the other to follow?

2. Adventures of an Ice Princess by Liz Maverick

Clarissa Schneckberg wasn't ready to leave her Silicon Valley job, get dumped by her boyfriend, or move back in with her parents. She's officially pathetic. And her prospects are dim. At least that's how they look from under the covers of her childhood bed.  

But just when her life seems to be heading south, Clarissa decides to head really south-to Antarctica, to be exact. After all, the male-to-female ratio at the South Pole is something like four-to-one. With her friends, Delilah and Kate, she's ready to make the trek and sign up for some equal-opportunity jobs...even though none of them has yet to live through a winter without fuzzy slippers.  

It's an amorous adventure Clarissa would be insane to pass up. But for this snow angel, sanity has outlived its usefulness.

3. The Captain's Frozen Dream by Georgie Lee

Can he salvage her reputation? 

Trapped in the Arctic ice, intrepid explorer Captain Conrad Essington was driven on by thoughts of his fiancée, Katie Vickers. Finally home, he's ready to take her in his arms and kiss away the nightmare of that devastating winter. 

Except the past eighteen months haven't been plain sailing for Katie, either. With Conrad believed dead, and her reputation in tatters, Katie has relinquished all hope of her fiancé ever returning to save her. Now he's back, can the dreams they've both put on hold at last come true?

4. Icy Passage by Ann Gimpel

Lethal cultures, bizarre illness, and political intrigue create an unlikely backdrop for love in Antarctica, the last true frontier. 

Fresh out of residency, Dr. Kayna Quan opts for a tour in Antarctica. Money is short, so she hires on as medical officer aboard a Russian research vessel headed for McMurdo Station. Primed for almost anything, she plays her paranormal ability close to the vest. Being odd man out in a world where most don’t believe in magic makes her wary and feisty. 

Brynn McMichaels has been stationed on remote South Georgia Island for two years, and he’s eager for a change. When cultures of the single-celled organism, archaea, overgrow their bins in his lab and begin shifting into another form, he worries he’s losing his mind and talks with scientists at McMurdo, but they have problems of their own—bad ones. After he hears about them, Brynn agrees to help. The weather’s too uncertain to send a plane, so he hitches a ride aboard Kayna’s ship and brings his mutant culture colonies along. 

Attraction sparks, hot and powerful, between Brynn and Kayna, but her disclosure about her magic is a tough nut to crack. It doesn’t help that her dead father is stalking her. Lethal cultures, bizarre illness, and McMurdo’s refusal to let them land force Brynn and Kayna into an uneasy alliance. Will their fragile bond be enough to thwart the powers trying to destroy Earth, and them along with it?

5. Sun at Midnight by Rosie Thomas

An epic love story and adventure set against the stunning backdrop of Antarctica.

Alice Peel is a geologist. She believes in observation and proof. But now she stands alone on the deck of a rickety Chilean ship as a stark landscape reveals itself. Instead of the familiar measurable world, everything that lies ahead of her is unknown and unpredictable.

Six weeks earlier her life was comfortably unfolding in an Oxford summer. Then, with her relationship suddenly in pieces, she accepted an invitation to join a group working at the end of the earth: Antarctica.

James Rooker is a man on the run. He's been running since his childhood in New Zealand. Now, there is nowhere further to go. He has taken a job working on the same small Antarctic research station.

Alice discovers an ice-blue and silver world, lit by sunlight. Nothing has prepared her for the beauty of it, or the claustrophobia of a tiny base shared with eight men and one other woman. The isolation wipes out everyone's past, and tension crackles in the air. But there is a jolt of recognition between Alice and Rooker that is like nothing she has ever known. And it is in Antartica that she discovers something else that will change her life forever … if she survives.

6. Whisper Of Scandal by Nicola Cornick

Lady Joanna Ware has no desire to wed again, but that doesn't stop the flurry of suitors knocking on her door. Desperate to thwart another proposal, she brazenly kisses Arctic explorer Lord Alex Grant. Unable to deny the blazing attraction that flares between them, Joanna knows she's just set the gossip mill turning.

After suffering countless infidelities during her marriage, Joanna's accustomed to scandal. But nothing prepares her for the shocking news that her deceased husband has bequeathed his illegitimate child to her and his friend Alex.

As rumours run rampant in the ton, Joanna and Alex travel to the Arctic to claim the orphan. Battling blizzards, dangerous wildlife and a treacherous plot, Alex must protect Joanna but not before he wickedly seduces her

7. Bring Me Sunshine by Janet Gover

Sometimes, you’ve just got to take the plunge … 

When marine biologist, Jenny Payne, agrees to spend Christmas working on the Cape Adare cruise ship to escape a disastrous love affair, she envisions a few weeks of sunny climes, cocktails and bronzed men … 

What she gets is an Antarctic expedition, extreme weather, and a couple of close shaves with death. And then there’s her fellow passengers; Vera, the eccentric, elderly crime writer and Lian, a young runaway in pursuit of forbidden love … 

There’s also Kit Walker; the mysterious and handsome man who is renting the most luxurious cabin on the ship, but who nobody ever sees. 

As the expedition progresses, Jenny finds herself becoming increasingly obsessed with the enigmatic Kit and the secrets he hides. Will she crack the code before the return journey or is she bound for another disappointment?

8. Damage Control by Amy J. Fetzer

Explosives expert Sebastian Fontenot has patience in spades - whether he's deactivating bombs or gritting out three days beneath a pile of rubble. But when the hard-bodied operative learns his oldest friend is in trouble, he flies into action - and ends up on the Arctic Circle, where a sexy scientist holds clues that threaten his mission - and her life...Olivia Corrigan can handle men. But Sebastian Fontenot is like no other she's encountered: hot as hell and in danger of thinking he can order her around with that delicious drawl of his. Lucky for her, the mesmerizing mercenary is on her side. And it's a good thing, too. Once they stumble onto a horrifying international cover up, it's up to Olivia and Sebastian to keep their hands off each other just long enough to keep a dangerous power from falling into the wrong hands.

9. August Ice by Dev Bentham

Antarctica is majestic. Working there is brutal. For Max it means shutting down his sexuality for six months every year, because everyone knows there’s no such thing as a gay professional diver. Max is an ex-Navy seal who drinks way too much, a tough guy enthralled by the deep blue quiet world under the ice. He’s convinced that the only way he can keep coming back to Antarctica is to nail his closest door shut. Until a sexy scientist arrives on station, splintering all his defenses. Can Max get sober, get honest and earn the love of a man like Andre?

10. Twice in a Blue Moon by Cate Masters

Can true love strike twice? 

After the death of her first love, Melanie Michaels buries her grief in the risky demands of a reality show, where her extreme stunts leave her teetering on the edge danger. That's exactly where she wants to be—until she arranges for her crew to traverse the Swedish Lapland in the dead of winter. It's the one place she shouldn't go, on the one day she should avoid—her would-be wedding anniversary. 

Instead of romantic nights spent in the Ice Hotel or under the Northern Lights, Melanie is stuck with Joe "Buck" Wright, a snarky loner tour guide who loves his sled dogs and nothing and no one else. But Buck is also trying to numb a painful past. Can two people skilled at pushing others away find warmth at the edge of the Arctic?

Do have a good book to cool off in? Let me know!

Vote on my Goodreads list: Icy Love: Romances set in the Arctic Circle and Antarctica

Kelley Armstrong always tells a good story but some stories are much more compelling than others. A story like “Bitten” grabs you by the throat and drags you into a the world of werewolves. “No Humans Involved” takes your arm and distracts you pleasantly for a while but isn’t going to change your life.

For me, the appeal of the “Women Of The Otherworld” books varies with the strength of the woman being described. If it’s Elena Michaels, the world’s only female werewolf, then I’m going to be eager to turn every page. If it’s Paige Winterbourne, a well-intentioned witch who, despite being only twenty-three, has already adopted a child (even if it is the fascinating Savanah) I know I’m going to find myself wishing there was a fast forward button for the boring bits.

“No Humans Involved” is told from the point of view of Jamie Vegas a necromancer who played a minor role in the earlier books and who now gets to take centre stage. While she’s more interesting than Paige: she sees dead people, is a born performer, a confident woman who knows how to charm and can take most people (living and dead) in her stride, but she doesn’t really have enough going for her to be the main character.

That she’s deeply in lust with Jeremy Danvers, Elena’s Alpha Werewolf, and turns into a teenage girl whenever he’s around does adds humour to  what would otherwise be a very dark book.

In “No Humans Involved” Jamie is filming a TV documentary alongside some other prominent people with alleged occult powers. Part of the fun of the set up is deciding who’s fake and who’s just trying not to be outed as real. Jamie isn’t a fake. She really does see dead people. Normally, they seek her out and demand her attention. What freaks her out in this book is that the dead people seem to be haunting her: appearing in her peripheral vision before vanishing or brushing against her silently and unexpectedly.  When she realizes that something very wrong happened in the house they’re filming in, she calls in Jamie for support.

I enjoyed reading the book: the plot kept my interest, the dialogue had sparkle and some of the scenes are quite moving.

The main problem I had was that “No Humans Involved” doesn’t stand on its own as a novel. It reads like an episode in a much-loved series where a charming but minor character finally gets to be the star. It filled  out my understanding of Otherworld and gave me some fun insights into the series as a whole but it is a finger buffer rather than a meal. Fun if you’re in the mood for something light and good but not something to nourish your imagination.

Has Anyone seen the show Bitten?

Does anyone else think it sounds suspiciously a lot like....

Elena Michaels is the world’s only female werewolf. And she’s tired of it. Tired of a life spent hiding and protecting, a life where her most important job is hunting down rogue werewolves. Tired of a world that not only accepts the worst in her–her temper, her violence–but requires it. Worst of all, she realizes she’s growing content with that life, with being that person.

So she left the Pack and returned to Toronto where she’s trying to live as a human. When the Pack leader calls asking for her help fighting a sudden uprising, she only agrees because she owes him. Once this is over, she’ll be squared with the Pack and free to live life as a human. Which is what she wants. Really.

Its been forever since i read the book, and i recall really disliking it. pretty sure she cheats on her current (and awesome) boyfriend, because of the whole bond thing... and the whole 'oh im special cause im the only female werewolf' drives me nuts.

Anyways my question is did Kelly Armstrong get tv rights? thats pretty cool if she did. good on her. even if its a possible crappy book/tv show.