Hounded

And then there are the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne. Wow. Harry Dresden done young and Irish and sexy. In Arizona. With a goofy name. Loved it all!

Seriously, I very much enjoyed Hounded, the first of the Iron Druid books. Atticus O'Sullivan is a compelling hero (and kind of a babe). The author's take on the Druid religion and its relationship to the earth was original and interesting. The first book in a series can be a little tricky to plot because you have to do so much world-building, but this one moves right along. And there's a really cool dog, who gets all the best lines. If I have a quibble, it might be that it stretched my imagination a bit when the third (or fourth?) really hot goddess threw herself at Our Hero, but maybe I was just a wee bit jealous. I would definitely recommend this book, and will be checking out the sequel from the library asap.

Last night I read Candace Proctor's Midnight Confessions. Ms. Proctor is also C.S. Harris, and I reviewed her book Where Shadows Dance a couple weeks ago. Midnight Confessions is billed as a romance, but it's also a mystery, and I just love Ms. Proctor's style. She's so smart, and it always feels like she gets the historical details right. I can easily recommend her work no matter what name she's writing under.