Harrison has delivered again and from this latest installment has clearly honed her craft to firmly and defiantly carve out "the" preeminent position of being "the vampire and werewolf" chronicler.

With a genre that has been lapped up seemingly by independent and conglomerate publishing companies alike, the alternate-verse reality novels have become big business as well as succor for the hosfrau masses who delight in those tales that cross-over into "vampire romance" ultimately manifested by the perpetual cha-ching of the cash register. But with the steady influx of both interest in the genre and hikes in sales, so comes lackluster authors such as Christine Feehan, Laurell Hamilton, and Amanda Ashley, whose unsteady craft, poorly developed characters, and grade school dialogue is slowly diluting a genre that was once vibrant and exciting to read. It seems that you can barely shake a cat in a roomful of authors who are penning the latest substandard "vampire" or "lycanthrope" novel.

Not so with Kim Harrison. Harrison has taken the best elements of the lore and melded it with an ingenuity and imagination that is all her own. The suburbs of the Hollows have a sense of "realness" to readers, with little or no additional back-story that is so played out and prevalent with lesser novelists. It is a rare skill and economy of words to carefully hone the complex characters of Rachel Morgan, Ivy Tamwood, and Jenks the fearless pixy that readers can identify with: their humanness wrapped up tidily in their otherworldly-ness as well as the frail balance that exists between the Inderland population from that of humans.

In Fistful of Charms, new readers and devotees alike will clamor to absorb the rough and tumble world once again with a supreme payoff. There is not a hint of Trent, Piscary, Big Al or any other of the regular baddies in this 3rd book of the series but is solely a tale of the intricacies that are woven between the partners of Vampiric Charms. What will make them fall apart? What will hold them together as they struggle once again to save Nick from himself? This time. Nick has in hand an artifact that could unravel the Vampire and Were balance completely...and Rachel must plunge directly into demon majick to save him. Can she escape the stains on her soul to save the others? While on this complicated journey, Ivy and Rachel's relationship takes a dramatic and frightening turn. Fans please hold in those gasps...it will be stunning....and I simply cannot spoil it for you.

Brilliantly written and great fun, Fistful of Charms is highly recommended, and has established Kim Harrison as the reigning diva of supernatural thrillers (sorry Laurell!) Bravo! (c)Nicola Mattos 2006 ( )

This book (the fourth in the Rachel Morgan series) was payoff for me for reading the earlier books, which I didn’t enjoy quite so much. In earlier books, I had liked the characters and the world, but found the plots a bit too convoluted for my taste. Struggling through some of these earlier convolutions, however, meant that I had gotten to know the characters and the world in which they lived. And knowing and caring about the characters, I was able to enjoy the rich relationship dynamics in this instalment – which hinged around trust, betrayal, risks and redemption. I felt engaged with the story throughout. Probably still a bit fluffy, but for me, this was enjoyable fluff. ( )

"Let's take a look at my track record. I live in a church with a vampire who is the scion of a master vampire who would just as soon see me dead. I date her old boyfriend, who used to be said master vampire's scion, and my ex-boyfriend is a professional thief who calls demons and trades information about me for tips to steal artifacts that can start an Inderland power struggle." This is the shape of Rachel Morgan's life as we go through the fourth book in Kim Harrison's series about the Hollows and the Inderlanders who inhabit it.

In fact, in this story we take a road trip away from Cincinnati - Rachel receives news that Nick (her old flame) and Jenks' son Jax are in trouble, and sets out to help them. Since Ivy is supposedly unable to leave Cincinnati - otherwise Piscary gets pissed - Rachel invokes black demon magic in order to make Jenks...more useful. In the course of the story Rachel beats two Were alphas, discovers the existence of the Focus which could cause widescale warfare between Weres and Vamps, takes her relationship with Ivy to a new stage, and ogles Jenks......a lot!

There is a lot going on in this book, and it rapidly became my least favourite so far. I enjoyed the interaction between Rachel and Jenks - particularly because his presence was so missed in the previous book - and the uniqueness of his situation in this book. It was also heartbreaking to realise along with Rachel that Jenks actually counts as an old pixy. I liked the set up of the plan, and cheered the double cross of Nick.

However, there were many things I disliked or got tired of. Weres aren't really my thing, and so I found it difficult to stay interested in the main part of the plot. I ended up wanting to shake Rachel, because she came distinctly whiney in this book. Everything needed double or triple analysing and, because we're stuck in her head since it's all first person, we got to hear it all again and again and again. The Focus was suddenly thrust in as a new point having never been mentioned at all in any prior books, and hence came across as an extreme plot device. I also disliked the way Nick was treated - I mean, I never really liked the guy from the get-go and was relieved when he upped and left in the last book and paved the way for Kisten. But no one deserves to become such a jerk from being a fairly nice guy - it's almost as though Harrison got sick of the character herself or wanted to open the path for something else to happen in Rachel's future and so needed to get rid of Nick.

Still, with all that said, this is still a great series and it sounds like there are explosive events ahead of Rachel - especially now that she has more of a handle on what makes her tick. ( )

Couldn't believe that Nick could get to be more of a puke!!! Loser! Obviously into these books - still love the characters and can't wait to get the next book. ( )

#4 in the Rachel Morgan “Hollows” paranormal mystery cum paranormal romance series. Why, why, WHY does every good paranormal series I read start out so great and slowly devolve into a pseudo-romance full of sexual tension, descriptions of clothing, hair, body parts and with a veritable smorgasbord of sexual choices for the heroine? I really liked the first two of this series. The third one was okay, but I could see where it was headed, which is probably why I took so long to get to this one. It’s happened to sooooo many series I started out raving about, though…it drives me freakin’ insane!! The story, the real story of what is happening in this paranormal world between the vamps and Weres and Pixies and witches, etc. gets lost in all the sweating, mingling of scents, rapid hearts beating, descriptions of washboard abs, sexy bottoms, leather clothing exchanging of bodily fluids. Bah! I finished this book two days ago but I can barely recall what it was about. And it’s rather an irrelevant point since I won’t be continuing the series anyway. I’m sad about it, because I really liked Rachel in the first couple books. ( )