Another quick, fun read. The story was interesting, a bit out of the norm. There were elements I haven't seen in other books of this type before & the characterization was good. Off to the next! ( )

Perfect for : Personal reading, anyone who likes vampire or werewolf stories

In a nutshell: In Kitty Takes A Holiday (Book 3 of the series), Carrie Vaughn shows readers that there are still more supernatural and magical things to explore in Kitty's world. Kitty is trying to mind her own business, writing her memoir in a quiet cabin in Colorado, when someone decides to try to scare her away from the quiet community. Out of the blue, Cormac shows up with an injured Ben (Kitty's lawyer), asking for Kitty's help. During a job Ben was helping Cormac with, Ben was bitten by a were-wolf, and now Ben must find a way to survive. Throughout these events, Kitty's quiet life is altered, and she finds herself becoming the alpha of a pack, made up of her and Ben. Those who enjoyed the first two books won't be disappointed with this book, but rather will learn about blood curses and skin-walkers.

Extended Review: Kitty Norville has taken some time away from hosting The Midnight Hour to write a memoir after being exposed as a were-wolf on national television. Her life is altered as Cormac shows up on her doorstep with an injured Ben in tow. She helps Ben as he heals and comes to terms with his new life, and they must find out who someone is trying to scare Kitty away.

Characters: The story continues with a focus on Kitty, Cormac and Ben. Other local characters are added throughout the story. Each character has been written and introduced in a manner that makes them seem so real and believable.

Story-Line: This is another well-developed and fast-paced book that is sure to keep the readers interest. I really like how Ms. Vaughn has added new supernatural elements to each story to continually add new layers to the books.

Readability: A fun and easy read.

Overall: Another great addition to the Kitty Norville series! Fans of the first two books are sure to love this one while continuing to learn more about curses and skin-walkers. If you haven't read any books about were-wolves and vampires, give this series a try. I have been very pleasantly surprised at how much I am enjoying them!! ( )

Again, a much more realistic set of events than the usual urban fantasy. No saving the world, no fighting against the Great Evil. They run into something seriously nasty, but it's relatively weak - both bullets and appropriate magic work against it. Eventually. Kitty does get into a sexual triangle, sort of, which is annoying (why does every urban fantasy have to have the female protagonist wildly attractive to every man around her?), but in context it actually makes sense. We find out a lot about Cormac and Ben, too, which is interesting. And they don't win, in the end - don't exactly lose, but it's still a hard ending. I was actually crying in the next-to-last chapter. The best scene, for me, was when Kitty actually talked to Ariel. It's not at all what I was expecting, which made it even better. Kitty got a bit of egoboo, which she really needed. And the conversation with her mother right after that, too. One of the reasons I really like the Kitty books, the reason I keep calling them realistic, is that I can imagine being or knowing these people. I can see these situations really happening. Which makes it a much stronger book, a much more engrossing story, than one where the protagonist is the center of Great and Terrible Happenings. Me gusta. ( )

I was really looking forward to reading this book since the last one I read (Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards) was such a depressing novel. All the while I was reading Mercy I was thinking ‘just a bit more and I can start the next Kitty book’. What a relief!

This is the third in the ‘Kitty’ series and it changes direction a bit with plot. The first two focused on Kitty’s job as a night time DJ and her challenges dealing with lycanthropy – a condition wherein the ‘patient’ metamorphoses into a werewolf during full moons. In Kitty Takes a Vacation, Kitty gets away from it all in a remote cabin in the woods to write a memoir detailing her experiences as a werewolf. It’s not long, however, before odd things begin happening and odder still when the people in the nearby town show their distrust for Kitty and her ilk. Throw in Ben and Cormac – characters first introduced in the previous books – and you have another fun, light read.

I won’t give away plot points, but if you’re a follower of the series you’ll meet some other otherworldly creatures called ‘skinwalkers’ and their particular brand of powers. The secondary characters are somewhat chilling in that they display some personality traits akin to the witch hunters in Salem a century and more ago. I also like the fact that in the Kitty books the endings are not always completely happy but a sort of compromise (not saying however that that was the case in this particular book – you’ll have to read it to find that out!).

Kitty Takes a Vacation didn’t disappoint me – it lifted my mood and that’s what I expected from it. I’m going to read the next one, Kitty and the Silver Bullet, in May. ( )

Ever since striking out on her own after being exiled from her pack in Denver, Kitty, the country's most famous werewolf and radio talk show host, has had it rough. Her trip to Washington only added to her now complicated life. She wants nothing more than to spend some quiet time alone and work on her memoir. A cabin in rural Colorado is the perfect getaway--or so she believes until strange things begin happening around her. A dead rabbit is left on her porch long with a cross painted on her door in blood. An evil lurks outside her door, one she cannot quite identify. With the police wanting to pin recent animal deaths in the area on her, Kitty must figure out what is going on. Old friend Cormac, the werewolf bounty hunter, and her attorney, Ben, are more than willing to help, although they come with their own baggage.

Amidst all of that, Kitty takes in a newly turned werewolf and has to reach inside herself to find the strength to be the alpha, a role completely opposite the one she was in at the beginning of Kitty and the Midnight Hour. Kitty is an amazingly strong woman, however, she doesn't quite realize that. Remnants from her abusive past have left their scars and will carry over into the next book in the series as well. At times, she lets her fears get the better of her, but she always manages to come through in the end.

Kitty Takes a Holiday is not quite as fast paced as the other novels in the series, but it does allow the character time to process much of what has been happening to her over the past few months, which I think adds a hint of realism to this urban fantasy series—grounding it in a sense. This particular book carries a number of different story threads, some intersecting better than others. It feels like a transitional book. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but felt there were a couple of minor loose ends that should have been resolved. Perhaps I have that to look forward to in future books! ( )