Pale Demon (Rachel Morgan, #9)
by ? Kim Harrison ?

I honestly cannot believe that we’re already up to the ninth book in the Rachel Morgan series. It feels like only yesterday I had discovered the series. Though the first book published in 2004 I only discovered the books when book 3 was about to come out. In fact the bookstore that I was working in at the time had an ARC in mass market of Every Which Way but Dead and I was in heaven! I also remember when these books came out in mass market only then I guess the series got all popular and the publishers switched to hard cover. I tried very hard to wait the year for the paperback, but it never worked. So what I did was buy the hard cover and then give it away when the paperback came out a year later. I stopped doing that so now I’m trying to build up my library with hard covers. It seems that the first books have all been re-released in hard cover now, so one day, when I am rich I will buy them all.

But enough about book formats, this post is allllll about the ninth Rachel Morgan book and guess what? I loved it. I loved it so much more than the last two which left me sort of…dry. For once Rachel wasn’t written up as a completely incompetent person who gets blamed for everyone else’s mistakes (thank the gods, because that was getting old)! Rachel Morgan was powerful and in control and that made me happy.

Also making me happy? Road trip with Trent. (Not a spoiler as it is in the summary for the book!) I love Trent. I don’t like the male characters in these books all that much, but I love Trent. I can’t stand Pierce and I wish he would just die again and be all dead and not a ghost. Just dead. Because I hate him. Al… well, Al I generally like but I did not like him much in this book. He seemed out of character to me and I didn’t like the character he had become.

I was discussing the book with my husband and it occurred to me I couldn’t pin point exactly why I loved this book so much. I think it just has to do with Rachel not being blamed for everything and how she seemed to be in control of the situations that were thrown at her. Also there’s the interaction between Rachel and Trent that just makes me smile and laugh. Thing is this series has seriously been lacking in something lately and that’s Ivy. She’s pretty much been written out of the stories. Sure she’ll be there, but she doesn’t DO anything, or speak much. It’s sort of sad because the first books what I really loved was Ivy and Rachel and Jenks. Their frienship, banter and how they were a team solving the problems. Now everything is Rachel, normally with Jenks around swearing and offering up snarky commentary and Ivy is absent.

I do hope that Ivy reappears in the next novel and actually has a role because I miss her.

Other than that, I had a great time reading this book and I wasn’t even going to buy it when it came out. I was going to wait until finances were more stable (read: available) and since I hadn’t really been wowed by the last two novels I thought I’d wait, but after losing Annie I needed something familiary

The Rachel Morgan/The Hollows series

1. Dead Witch Walking
2. The Good, The Bad & the Undead
3. Every Which Way But Dead
4. A Fistful of Charms
5. For a Few Demons More
6. The Outlaw Demon Wails
7. White Witch, Black Curse
8. Black Magic Sanction
9. Pale Demon
10. A Perfect Blood

Buy the book: AmazonCA | Amazon | Book DepositoryUK

White Witch, Black Curse (Rachel Morgan, #7)
by Kim Harrison

I had to seriously hold myself back from adding little hearts around Kim Harrison’s name. Sad, I know. I am such a fangirl when it comes to this author, I swear. You just tell me she’s got a book coming out and I squeal like I was at a boy band concert (FYI – my first ever concert was the New Kids on the Block when I was 14 and I have never been a fan of any other boy band. But I digress…). As I have stated previously, Kim Harrison is an auto-buy for me. And I’ll even dish out the obscene amount of money for the hard cover so that I can get my fix as soon as possible. I should have just pre-ordered the book on Amazon, it would have cost me less in the long run, but after my debacle with ordering from Chapigo last year, I didn’t want to take a chance! But darnit! I would have saved almost $13 off the price. Argh. Of course I would have had to get another book as well for the free shipping. Also adding to my credit card right now it so not something I want to do.

Again with the digression, sorry.

In this seventh book in the series, we join Rachel as she attempts to remember what happened on the night of Kisten’s murder. His murderer is still out there somewhere and because of the memory spell Jenks used on her to save her life, Rachel can’t remember a thing about that night. The quest to find Kisten’s murderer takes a backseat to the main plot of trying to track down and capture a banshee who has been murdering many to help her new born child survive.

I feel bad for Rachel since she gets into all these situations to help other people live and yet ends up being shunned because of the consequences of that help. She’s not always the brightest bulb on the tree with the way she rushes into things, but she does this because she cares about what happens to others and is a good person. No one seems to want to listen to her when she tells them the truth until they need something from her and then they are all ears. I don’t think it’s fair for her to be looked down at by peers and others when they are the ones who ask her, beg her and at times force her into doing those negative things.

I came away with a couple of irks though. I dislike Rachel’s brother Robbie immensely. I don’t recall liking him the first time he was introduced into the series either. I am getting tired of the (lack of) relationship between Rachel and Ivy. I understand Ivy has her issues. But geez. Get on with it already. It’s getting repetitive. Get some therapy. Heck, eat a therapist if it’ll help. But move on.

I have never liked any of Rachel’s male relationships. Although Kisten was growing on me and then POOF. So, mental note – probably a good idea for me to continue not liking any of the male friends. (Also a good note for my watching of America’s Next Top Model. Because even if I don’t watch the show entirely anymore, the one time I’ll turn it on and say “Hey, that girl’s cute!” she’ll be voted off at the end of the show. I kid you not. This also happened with the ONE time my best friend and I saw an episode of Britain’s Next Top Model. The ONE time. We liked this one girl and within the next 30 mins she was booted off. It is not safe for me to like people on TV or in books!)

I did find this story somewhat flat. I think that might have had to do with the minimal amount of Al. I love Al. Or at least I generally do (he doesn’t count as “male” being a demon and all) only he didn’t make me laugh like he normally does. (Well, with the exception of, “Splendid! A fire!”) I loved The Outlaw Demon Wails so much so there was a good chance that this book would pale slightly in comparison. I don’t think the series has started to go downhill at all. I can’t wait for the next one. In fact I am so happy that Kim Harrison has a YA book coming out in the summer because this will be a good break in my year-long wait for the 8th book!

The Rachel Morgan/The Hollows series

1. Dead Witch Walking
2. The Good, The Bad & the Undead
3. Every Which Way But Dead
4. A Fistful of Charms
5. For a Few Demons More
6. The Outlaw Demon Wails
7. White Witch, Black Curse
8. Black Magic Sanction
9. Pale Demon