Audible Book Review and Feature: Hounds Bite by E.J. Stevens

Fast paced action brings friends to Ivy's side!

Hound's Bite: Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective, Volume 5
Written by: E.J. Stevens
Narrated by: Melanie A. Mason , Anthony A. Bowlin

Length: 7 hrs
Series: Ivy Granger, Book 5
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:05-04-17
Publisher: Sacred Oaks Press
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Mystery, Supernatural Suspense
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Publisher's Summary
PRG Reviewer's Choice Award finalist for Best Urban Fantasy series.
Ivy Granger thought she left the worst of Mab's creations behind when she escaped Faerie. She thought wrong.
In a cruel twist of fate, Ivy has unleashed a powerful horde of Unseelie beasts upon her city, turning her homecoming into a potential slaughter of innocents. Now Ivy must gather her allies to fight a reputedly unstoppable force - The Wild Hunt.
Will the training Ivy received in her father's court be enough to save her city, or will Harborsmouth be forced to kneel before the Lord of the Hunt? She is willing to risk her own life, but some sacrifices come at a cost worse than death. When an ally is bitten by one of The Wild Hunt's hounds, Ivy must face the possibility that winning this battle may mean killing the one person she has come to love most.
Hound's Bite is the fifth full-length novel in the award-winning, best-selling Ivy Granger urban fantasy series by E.J. Stevens. The world of Ivy Granger, including the Ivy Granger Psychic Detective series and Hunters' Guild series, is filled with action, mystery, magic, dark humor, quirky characters, bloodsucking vampires, flirtatious demons, sarcastic gargoyles, sexy shifters, temperamental witches, psychotic faeries, and snarky, kick-butt heroines.
The Ivy Granger series has won numerous awards, including the BTS Red Carpet Award for Best Novel, the PRG Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Paranormal Fantasy Novel, Best Urban Fantasy Novel, and finalist for Best Urban Fantasy Series.
©2016 E.J. Stevens (P)2017 E.J. Stevens

Review:
Ivy escaped from the land of Faerie with her fiancé, Ceffyl, and a testy friend, king of the Cat Sidhe, Sir Torn. But as they return, they discover that an evil force followed them into Ivy’s home town, Harborsmouth. The Huntsman and his powerful Barguest are bringing the Wild Hunt to Ivy and her community. The Huntsman will blow his horn at sundown to loose the dark hounds on the city. Any bite from the hounds turns the victim into a new black hound.

Ivy would normally call on her witch friend, Kaye, to help prepare a defense but Kaye has gone off the deep end on a power trip and may be as dangerous as the Huntsman. Ivy has to deal with Kaye before she can gather allies to face the Wild Hunt.

I enjoyed the action and the usual characters, plus extra creatures, brought in to help in each of the crisis that Ivy faces. I was a little distracted by some repetition of Ivy sort of whining. Still, she is growing and those around her recognize her special ability to bring adversaries together to face a common foe. She’s done it before and hopes to do it again to protect the city from the Wild Hunt. She tries to protect those she loves but can she save all her friends, including Ceff when he gets caught by the hounds? There are threads from prior books, and a few surprises, that get tied in nicely here. I liked how the friends come together in this good adventure.

Audio Notes: Melanie A. Mason and Anthony A. Bowlin do a nice job with the character voices. Their back and forth combination works well to make this a fun and entertaining listen.

Reviews of earlier books:
Burning Bright: Ivy Granger Book 3
Birthright: Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective, Book 4
Shadow Sight: Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective Series, Book 1

I received this audiobook from the author as part of release tour. It qualifies for 2017 Audiobook Challenge.

Ivy Granger Series - Audible Page
Ivy Granger Series - Amazon Page

Hound's Bite Chapter 1 on SoundCloud
Hound's Bite Retail Sample on SoundCloud
Behind the Scenes with Narrator Anthony Bowling

Don't Miss the Happy Audiobook Month Giveaway Celebrating with E.J. Stevens
Open US/CA/UK. Ending 6/31/2017

Audible Book Review: Shadow Sight: Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective Series

This is a great introduction to Ivy and her world of magical and fae creatures.

Shadow Sight: Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective Series

Written by: E. J. Stevens

Narrated by: Traci Odom

Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
Series: Ivy Granger, Book 1
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:04-24-13
Publisher: E.J. Stevens
Genre: Urban Fantasy
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Publisher's Summary
Some things are best left unseen...
Welcome to Harborsmouth, where monsters walk the streets unseen by humans...except those with second sight, like Ivy Granger.
Ivy Granger's second sight is finally giving her life purpose. Ivy and her best friend Jinx may not be raking in the dough, but their psychic detective agency pays the bills - most of the time. Their only worry is the boredom of a slow day and the occasional crazy client - until a demon walks through their door. Demons are never a good sign...
A demon attorney representing the water fae? Stranger things have happened. And things are about to get very, very strange as a bloodthirsty nightmare hunts the city of Harborsmouth.
There's blood in the water...kelpies have a reputation for eating humans. Unfortunately, kelpies are the clients. When an Unseelie faerie this evil stalks the waterways of your city, you have to make hard choices.
The lesser of two evils...
Shadow Sight is the first novel in the Ivy Granger urban fantasy series by E.J. Stevens.
©2012 E. J. Stephens (P)2013 E. J. Stephens

Review:
This book introduces the series for Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective. Ivy is careful what she touches as she gets images of the history and location of objects or people related to them. Unlike most humans in Harborsmouth, Ivy knows there are monsters and other magical creatures living among us. Ivy has second sight and, with the help of her roommate and first-rate assistant, Jinx, they have opened a psychic detective agency that specializes in finding lost objects … or people… including those of a non-human nature. Things are plodding along in the office when a demon visits to engage Ivy’s services. He has been sent as the lawyer for the kelpies to find and retrieve the bridle of the kelpie king. It appears that an evil tribe of rival Unseelie have captured the bridle with the king. Whoever holds the bridle controls the kelpie king so his own people can’t even fight against the evil that controls him.

Ivy must find as many allies as she can in the magical and fae realm if they want a chance to defeat the evil that will otherwise feed on the creatures, human and other, as they swarm into Harborsmouth. Ivy starts with her friend Kaye who is an aging but still powerful witch. Kaye directs her to other local fae and Ivy must figure out what deal she has to make with each fae group to gain their assistance and agreement to support the defense of the city.

I have listened to books three and four so I was familiar with many of these characters. Still, I appreciated starting at the beginning to meet the characters as they are introduced. I especially liked learning more about Kaye’s hearth brownie, Hob, and the initially scruffy and dismal looking troll child, Marvin. This story also begins the romance between Ivy and Ceffyl, the Kelpie King.

Ms. Stevens has done a great job of world building, creating many fae communities which each have their own strengths, weaknesses and rules and all insist on a deal that exchanges some favor for their participation. The story is told first person from Ivy’s view, complete with snark and sincere emotions. The characters are fun and the story full of deals and action that kept me listening.

Audio Notes: Traci Odom does a fine job with the narration, picking up different voices and conveying the emotions and dangers. I enjoyed listening to this as it moves quickly and easily.

Reviews of earlier books:
Burning Bright: Ivy Granger Book 3 by E.J. Stevens
Birthright: Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective, Book 4 by E.J. Stevens 
Coming up this month Hound's Bite, Book 5

I received this Audiobook from the Author. This qualifies for 2017Audiobook Challenge.

You have a chance to pick up Shadow Sight for free by checking here at Ivy Granger World Blog.