Chicks are awesome—and never more so than when they are kicking some serious vampire/werewolf/demon/monster butt. Chicks Kick Butt is an anthology that features one of the best things about the urban fantasy genre: strong, independent, and intelligent heroines who are quite capable of solving their own problems and slaying their own dragons (or demons, as the case may be). Edited by Kerrie Hughes and Rachel Caine, Chicks Kick Butt features original stories from thirteen authors, eleven of whom are New York Times bestsellers

A recent legacy made Cassandra Palmer heir to the title of Pythia, the world's chief clairvoyant. It's a position that usually comes with years of training, but Cassie's circumstances are a little…unusual. Now she's stuck with a whopping amount of power that every vamp, fey, and mage in town wants to either monopolize or eradicate – and that she herself doesn't dare use. What's more, she's just discovered that a certain arrogant master vampire has a geis on her-a magical claim that warns off any would-be suitors, and might also explain the rather… intense attraction between them. But Cassie's had it with being jerked around, and anyone who tries it from now on is going to find out that she makes a very bad enemy… *** Claimed By Shadow is the follow up to Karen Chance’s exciting debut novel Touch The Dark. The story in Claimed By Shadow follows on straight from where Touch The Dark left off and although the author does a good job of filling in the back story during the first couple of chapters, because the story is somewhat complex I would recommend that readers unfamiliar with this series start by reading Touch The Dark first – rather than jumping straight in with Claimed By Shadow. (Touch The Dark is an excellent read – I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed!) Claimed By Shadow starts about a week after where Touch The Dark finished, with Cassie still in Las Vegas and still trying to find a way to extract herself from her many problems, before someone kills her and solves all her problems for her. There is no shortage of would-be assassins. Tony, the Mafioso vampire that she turned into the Feds is still gunning for her – even though he is in hiding. The Vampire Senate want Cassie to be their tame Pythia; if she won’t do their bidding they will have no qualms about eliminating her. The Circle (the ruling council of good magic users) wants her out of the way so that someone of their own choice can inherit the Pythia’s power – and that’s just for starters! Myra, the previous heir to the power of the Pythia will stop at nothing to eliminate Cassie so she can claim the title of Pythia back for herself. As Myra can travel through time her attempts to kill Cassie are not limited to the present and she hatches a plan to kill Mircea (the vampire who has protected Cassie since he discovered that she the potential to be a Pythia) in his past there by altering the timeline for Cassie’s life. If Mircea is dead, he will not be around to protect Cassie in the time before she obtains the Pythia’s power and Cassie will never come into power. Confused yet? The problem with time travel in any novel is that the mixed up timelines can soon become confusing, Claimed By Shadow suffers a bit with this and when you add a trip to Faerie into the mix it’s enough to make any brain go into information overload (well, it did mine anyway!) There is a huge amount of information to take in, plus several twists and turns in the storyline, so the reader has to pay attention or risk losing the plot. Luckily there is plenty to hold the readers attention. The action that starts in the second chapter doesn’t let up until the last page of the book as Cassie and her small band of allies fight their way from present day Las Vegas, through Victorian London into the Faerie kingdom and back again. The characters are multi-faceted and engaging, you just can’t help but like Pritkin the war mage and even his golem seems endearing. The vampires in Claimed By Shadow are by turns super-sexy and super-scary and Cassie’s ambivalence towards them strikes just the right note in the face of their highly suspect morals and motivations. Claimed By Shadow is an original, richly imagined tale and a solid follow-up to Touch The Dark, making this novel a must for urban fantasy fans

Cassie Palmer may be the world's chief clairvoyant, but that doesn't mean people have stopped trying to kill her. And now, the self-styled god Apollo, the source of Cassie's power, is on the warpath — leaving her no choice but to face down her creator once and for all

Dorina Basarab is a dhampir—half-human, half-vampire. Subject to uncontrollable rages, most dhampirs live very short, very violent lives. So far, Dory has managed to maintain her sanity by unleashing her anger on those demons and vampires who deserve killing. Back home in Brooklyn after the demise of her insane uncle Dracula, Dory’s hoping her life is about to calm down. But then she gets some visitors. A friend wants Dory’s help in finding a magical Fey relic, and the gorgeous vampire, Louis-Cesare, is desperate to find his former mistress Christine. Dory and Louis-Cesare quickly discover that the same master vampire Christine is bound to is also rumored to be in possession of the relic. But when the master vampire turns up dead, they realize that there’s more at stake than a missing mistress. Someone is killing vampire Senate members, and if Dory and Louis-Cesare can’t stop the murderer, they may be next…

Cassandra Palmer may be the world's chief clairvoyant, but she's still magically bound to a master vampire. Only an ancient book called the Codex Merlini possesses the incantation to free Cassie-but harnessing its limitless power could endanger the world…

Cassandra Palmer recently defeated a god, which you'd think would buy a girl a little time off. But it doesn't work that way when your job description is Pythia—the world's chief clairvoyant. Cassie is busier than ever, trying to learn about her power, preparing for her upcoming coronation, and figuring out her relationship with the enigmatic sexy master vampire, Mircea. But someone doesn't want Cassie to become Pythia, and is willing to go to any lengths to make sure the coronation ceremony never happens—including attacking her mother before Cassie is even born

From today’s most provocative authors come four tales of urban fantasy and paranormal romance exploring body art that is more than it seems-in a world of magic and mayhem that always leaves its mark

Fifteenth century Venice is a safe haven for the masterless dregs of the vampire world, a city where they can live without the fear of retribution for violating another’s territory. Still, there are plenty of ways for a young vampire to die in the glittering city, a lesson that prince turned pauper Mircea Basarab must learn quickly. But there are opportunities, too—in the service of a secretive courtesan, in the bed of a beautiful senator, and in the hunt for an ancient assassin. As a vendetta older than Venice itself comes to a climax, Mircea struggles to evade the dangers of his current life, to come to terms with his past, and to uncover the truth hidden behind a city of masks…

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen chance has written a paranormal — with bite. Dorina Basarab is a dhampir — half-human, half-vampire. Unlike most dhampirs, though, Dory has managed to maintain her sanity. Now Dory's vampire father has come to her for help — again. Her Uncle Dracula (yes, the Dracula), cruelest among vampires, has escaped his prison. And her father wants Dory to work with gorgeous master vampire Louis-Cesare to put him back there. Although Dory prefers to work alone, Dracula is the only thing that truly scares her — and when she has to face him, she'll take all the help she can get

These all-new paranormal romances from today's hottest authors feature a female werewolf who comes into her own; a Lord who crosses paths with a fiery mage; a mixed-blood Child of the Moon who faces an uncertain future; and a woman whose sixth sense proves to be a dangerous talent

Today's hottest urban fantasy authors come together in this delicious brew that crackles and boils over with tales of powerful witches and dark magic! In Charlaine Harris' 'Bacon, a beautiful vampire joins forces with a witch from an ancient line to find out who killed her beloved husband. In 'Seeing Eye' by Patricia Briggs, a blind witch helps sexy werewolf Tom Franklin find his missing brother — and helps him in more ways than either of them ever suspected. And in Jim Butcher's 'Last Call, wizard Harry Dresden takes on the darkest of dark powers — the ones who dare to mess with this favorite beer. For anyone who's ever wondered what lies beyond the limits of reality, who's imagined the secret spaces where witches wield fearsome magic, come and drink deep. Let yourself fall under the spell of this bewitching collection!

Being a goddess is a lot less fun than you might think. Especially when you’re only a half goddess, and you only found out about it recently, and you still don’t know what you’re doing half the time. And when you’ve just used your not-so-reliable powers to burglarize the booby-trapped office of a vampire mob boss. Yeah, that part sucks. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg for Cassandra Palmer, aka the Pythia, the freshly minted chief seer of the supernatural world. After all, Cassie still has to save a friend from a fate worse than death, deal with an increasingly possessive master vampire, and prevent a party of her own acolytes from unleashing a storm of fury upon the world. Totally just your average day at the office, right?

Another fabulous collection of Paranormal Romance stories in the bestselling Mammoth series. If love transcends all boundaries, paranormal romance is its natural conclusion. Over twenty tales from some of the hottest names in romantic fiction to transport you to fantastical worlds in which mythical beasts, magical creatures of all shapes and sizes, heart-stoppingly handsome ghosts, angels and mortals with extra-sensory powers live out extraordinary desires. Includes stories from Lara Adrian, Ava Gray, Sharon Shinn, Robin D. Owens, Karen Chance and many more

Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits-talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead. The ghosts of the dead aren't usually dangerous; they just like to talk…a lot. The undead are another matter. Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires. But when the bloodsucking Mafioso she escaped three years ago finds Cassie again with vengeance on his mind, she's forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection. The undead senators won't help her for nothing, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful members, a dangerously seductive master vampire — and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay…

The editors of Many Bloody Returns deliver the perfect howl-iday gift, with new tales from Patricia Briggs, Carrie Vaughn, and many more. New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Keri Arthur, and Carrie Vaughn — along with eleven other masters of the genre — offer all-new stories on werewolves and the holidays, a fresh variation on the concept that worked so well with birthdays and vampires in Many Bloody Returns. The holidays can bring out the beast in anyone. They are particularly hard for lycanthropes. Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner have harvested the scariest, funniest and saddest werewolf tales by an outstanding pack of authors, best read by the light of a full moon with a silver bullet close at hand. Whether wolfing down a holiday feast (use your imagination) or craving some hair of the dog on New Year's morning, the werewolves in these frighteningly original stories will surprise, delight, amuse, and scare the pants off readers who love a little wolfsbane with their mistletoe