Finished A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison. This is the fourth book in her Rachel Morgan/Hollows urban fantasy series.

In this one, witch/bounty hunter Rachel Morgan has to leave the comfort of her Cincinnati home behind to journey up to Michigan to bail her ex-boyfriend Nick out of trouble. Nick is hiding an artifact from several groups of werewolves, and they’re determined to get it back no matter what. Along for the ride are Rachel’s partners, the pixy Jenks and her vampire roommate Ivy. Magic and chaos ensue.

When I first started reading urban fantasy, Harrison was one of the first authors I discovered, and I’ve enjoyed this series a lot. (And I absolutely love the titles.) It’s always interesting when an author takes their character out of their hometown/city/comfort zone and stages an adventure elsewhere, and this book is no exception. I thought the Michigan setting worked really well and let Harrison do some different things in terms of action scenes (I particularly liked the big finale on the bridge).

It was also nice to see Rachel get some closure regarding her relationship with Nick — and even better to see her outwit him in the end. I never really liked the Nick character, preferring Kisten, who is just more fun. And, as always, Jenks was one of the highlights of the book for me. I always enjoy his character. 😎

But the one thing I didn’t really get was the relationship between Rachel and Ivy. It’s been a while since I read the third book, and I’m a little fuzzy on how the world works, especially when it comes to the vampires. Anyway, in this one, Rachel gets Ivy to bite her, and Ivy almost kills Rachel before Jenks can get her to stop.

I have to say that I’ve never really liked the Rachel/Ivy storyline. If I were Rachel, always having to watch what I say/do/wear around Ivy would really annoy me. Why can’t Ivy just learn to control herself better? And I’d like to see some sort of resolution to the story. Rachel and Ivy learning how to live together or Ivy learning how to control her feelings for Rachel better. But it’s not my world/characters.  

I also missed seeing Trent and his minions in this one (Trent is Rachel’s archnemesis and deliciously evil).

But overall, another solid entry in this series. I’ll be reading the next one. Thumbs up.

Up next: The Moneypenny Diaries by Kate Westbrook.

Books in my TBR pile: About 10.