Happy Book Birthday to Kelley Armstrong
So, I did my happy dance about two hours ago, when my copy of Rituals hit my google play library. I’ve been posting a lot recently about the giveaways leading up to this, the final installment in Cainsville. For those of you wondering what on g-ds green earth is she talking about, I will try to explain.
Kelley Armstrong gained fame and notoriety with her women of the otherworld series. It started with Bitten, the story of Elena Micheals the only female werewolf. The series was exceptionally different as each book followed different strong woman of the otherworld. The otherworld was the paranormal world that coexisted with our world, but in secret and containing all the supernatural creatures. Many of us were greatly saddened by the end of the series and we have enjoyed each and every one of the short stories that continued to follow the stories of all our favorite characters, bringing our friends stories back into our lives.
These stories success opened the door for her Nadia Stafford series, about an assassin who is partially retired but somehow keeps getting sucked back into all kinds of shenanigans. Kelley Armstrong had written some other stand alones as well as some young adult series.
After the main storyline of women of otherworld concluded, except for the small vignettes the short stories allowed for quick peeks at how our characters were faring, Kelley Armstrong started two new series for fans to get excited about. The Casey Duncan series follows the main character, a trained police officer as she struggles to help her best friend with an abusive ex husband who seems to always find them which means they are constantly on the run. This continues until they hear of a rumor, a town whispered about where you really can disappear because there is no technology and the town exists on no map. It means that everyone must do whatever jobs they can and they live an almost communal type life. But rather than being created around an ideal of free love it is the idea that everyone, sometimes, needs a do-over and a way to disappear. But now there are murders occurring where people go to disappear after extensive background checks and thus begins the Casey Duncan series.
The other story, Cainsville, that Kelley Armstrong started seemed to be a more traditional fiction book. It centered around the world of Olivia Taylor-Jones, a vapid socialite who discovers that her true parents were serial killers. But as the story progressed it became more and more paranormal, calling on ancient Celtic lore. This is the final book in the series and I cannot wait to dive in…
Fiction
Random House Canada
August 15, 2017
496
The fifth book and the exciting conclusion to bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's "impossible-to-put-down" Cainsville series, in which she mixes hard-hitting crime writing with phenomenal world-building to create a brand of fiction all her own. When Olivia Taylor-Jones found out she was not actually the adopted child of a privileged Chicago family but of a notorious pair of convicted serial killers, her life exploded. Running from the fall-out, she found a refuge in the secluded but oddly welcoming town of Cainsville, Illinois, but she couldn't resist trying to dig out the truth about her birth parents' crimes. She began working with Gabriel Walsh, a fiendishly successful criminal lawyer who also had links to the town; their investigation soon revealed Celtic mysteries at work in Cainsville, and also entangled Olivia in a tense love triangle with the calculating Gabriel and her charming biker boyfriend, Ricky. Worse, troubling visions revealed to Olivia that the three of them were reenacting an ancient drama pitting the elders of Cainsville against the mysterious Huntsmen with Olivia as the prize. In the series' fifth and final novel, not only does Gabriel's drug addict mother, who he thought was dead, make a surprise reappearance, but Kelley Armstrong delivers a final scary and surprising knock-out twist. It turns out a third supernatural force has been at work all along, a dark and malevolent entity that has had its eye on Olivia since she was a baby and wants to win at any cost.
Wanted to Recommend Some Series to Make the Wait Better
So, for all my fellow fans out there rereading series over and over while waiting for the next book in any of our series–here are some series you may or may not know about yet…
Lauren Dane- Goddess with a Blade series. This is an ongoing PNR with a female kickass protagonist who is a vessel for the goddess Brighid. It has all the usual suspects, but a unique take on it. Lauren Dane is working on the next book now. She has other Paranormal series that are good as well, but this is my favorite
Shiloh Walker-The Hunters Series and The Grimm Circle books. Both are unique takes on the original archetypes. She also writes a more urban series under the penname J.C. Daniels about a really cool heroine Kit Colbana who is a member of a unique species called the Aneira.
Seanan Mcguire-October Daye, Incryptid and Indexing series–This has sarcasm in spades and all 3 are incredible stories. She also writes under the penname Mira Grant.
Kelley Armstrong-Cainsville (unique story based on celtic archetypes) and Casey Duncan Series (murder mysteries, sort of)
Karen Chance- Cassandra Palmer and Dorina Basarab series…a unique take on the usual Paranormal types. Focuses on time travel and is non stop action with a humorous take
Jacqueline Carey-Kushiels series More traditional fantasy with a lot of religious imagery and a lot of sex and violence Very good, and was around before PNR was a thing
[Top]Casey Duncan
What if there were a place where you could go and completely disappear? A place for those who had to escape their daily lives for one reason or another. It’s whispered about in abuse survivor meetings. A town so far off the beaten path that there is only one way to get there, and that requires proof of why you must disappear. It’s a whisper in the group meeting, “I’m ready” And then a call comes in on your cell phone with a time and location. From there you are interrogated and if your story checks out, you have 3 days to get ready. You lay a false trail of internet searches and speak vaguely about needing a vacation. and suddenly you disappear…. Welcome to the Casey Duncan series by Kelley Armstrong
[Top]So, let’s talk about mythology
I can still remember the very first time I was exposed to the greek mythos. I was 7 and a teacher mentioned Athena springing to life fully formed. This was back in the days of actual encyclopedias in actual libraries. I went and looked her up in the World Book Encyclopedia and I was hooked. By the time I was 14, I bought the Big Book of Gods and Goddesses and learned all about all the different mythologies–Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic,Hindu,etc-there was not a minor god or goddess you could stump me with, and I had lots of people try! So, I have been thrilled by the fact that paranormal romance has headed that way and that every author has their own mythos to learn and wow can they be complex! I will say that the cainsville series by Kelley Armstrong has stretched my celtic knowledge a little bit. But I just got sidetracked! I wanted to talk a little bit about Karen Chance’s integration of both the Greek and Norse mythos into the Cassie Palmer series. It’s an interesting proposition that the greek/Roman Gods were a race of fae that ruled the others. Its also an interesting stretch to bring Artemis into conflict with Apollo and actually integrate Artemis into the line of Apollo seer’s. Now the question I have, comes from a factoid that is just kind of put out there. Apparently Artemis’ faithful companion and hunting dog is Rag. When Cassie is learning about her father he is Roger Palmer, a Black Circle necromancer. Then, we learn that he was Ragnar Palmer and that was just an alias…So here is my question is Cassie Palmer the daughter of Artemis and her loyal companion Rag? If so does that make her a demigod, a shapeshifter or a god in her own right?
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