K.M. Shea

'The Lies of Vampires and Slayers' was exactly what I'd hoped it would be: light, fast fun, packed with action, seasoned with a little bit of angst and a sprinkling of snark.

I loved that Jade, the young slayer away from her slayer family for the first time, is seen by her peers as an intimidatingly good fighter, but sees herself as an outsider of average skill with a lot to prove. She also suffers from cripplinng anxiety in social situations. The only neighbour she can talk to without show more sweating is the vampire who has just moved in next door. Vampires, she knows how to deal with. I also liked that she took the job in Magiford because she wanted to use her skills without having killing vampires as her main goal.

The vampire was a little harder to like, but the chapters told from his point of view broadened the story. His background and motivation were revealed more slowly. He is a millennia-old vampire who is feeling jaded and burdened by his commitments to other vampires. Jade, both in her persona as the lone slayer on the Maigiford Magical Enforcement Taskforce and as his annoyingly bubbly and apparently human next-door neighbour, acts as a catalyst for change for the dissatisfied vampire, offering him both challenge and friendship.

A lot of the fun comes from the fact that both slayer and vampire are hiding their true identities, so neither realises that, by night, they are regularly in conflict with one another.

The action scenes work. The monsters are creative and intimidating. The magic systems are engaging. The mystery wasn't complicated, but it kept the plot moving.

Part of my enjoyment of the book came from its underlying optimism and hopefulness. It's not cosy in the protected-from-all-nastiness sense, and it’s not a Romantasy. It's a book about friendship and acceptance and the things that get in the way of both, that also delivers a decent mystery and some great fight scenes.

The book is set in Magiford, a modern American city where humans and supernaturals live side by side. K. M. Shea has two earlier series (eight books in all) set in this city. I haven't read any of them (yet), but it was clear that this is an environment the author has imagined in depth.

'The Lies of Vampires and Slayers' is the first book in the 'Magic on Mainstreet' trilogy. Although the book contains characters from earlier series which I hadn't read, that didn't spoil my enjoyment of 'The Lies of Vampires and Slayers'. The trilogy is a single story arc, so it needs to be read in order. I've already added the second book, 'The Games of Enemies and Allies', to my TBR.

I enjoyed the audiobook version of 'The Lies of Vampires and Slayers'. It has two narrators, one for each point of view. show less

I was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did (though I've liked others by her). The first book has a high-school-aged female protagonist who is suddenly exposed to the fact that magic and magical creatures exist. I was braced for teen angst, especially when the first few chapters spent quite a lot of time on the fact that she had a crush on a boy at school. But in fact, she didn't indulge in that at all - her best friend did, a bit, but Morgan was surprisingly pragmatic about matters. show more Which led to her becoming employed by said magical creatures, and becoming rather irreplaceable. The first book ends (if I recall correctly) with her finally settling in and deciding she would stay with the MBRC (it was a question for quite a while). There is a bit of "every eligible male wants her", but since she doesn't indulge in the question (again, pragmatic), it's not a big deal. The second book opens a few years later, with her as a senior in high school (she's a...sophomore in the first book, I think). She's been working with the MBRC and has a solid position there - but there's a new threat, from an anti-human group. The second book spends a lot of time with her dealing with that threat (direct attacks on her, escalating, and her superiors trying to figure out how to deal with it). The solution is...a bit weird, but fits the situation. And causes new problems, but manageable. She spends quite a bit of her time sorting out her relationships; by the end, she has the various males in her orbit sorted into friends, allies, and (at least potential, future) romantic connections. She never seems to make the direct connection between Ahasi's attitude and Devon's, but it's pretty obvious. She even manages to forgive Dave. I still want to know what Brett did, but whatever. The short stories in the third section are good - nice extension of the timeline, as she moves up through the ranks at the MBRC, and her personal life finds new patterns (along with her friends). It would have taken several books to actually tell the story of the events that the short stories indicate have happened - nice way of handling it. I'd love to see more of the Kraken, though. So this is a very complete story in one (large) book - from her intro to magic to being one of those in charge of handling the interface of magic and the human world. Nice! show less

Okay, officially my favorite retelling of a fairy tale (even better than Ella Enchanted, which I have read over and over since I was little)! This went beyond the classic story and cleverly branched off in so many different directions, that I was never quite sure where it was going to take me.

I smiled, I laughed, and I cheered Cinderella on every second. I loved all of the characters, was so happy that they were not just copies of the originals, and loved the universe in which this story show more took place. There were so many life lessons and beautiful quotes in this book as well (too many to go through right now).

I am going to get a hard copy of this book, because I know I want to read it over and over. I stayed up all night reading this (it is now 6:34 AM) and I don't regret that in the least.

This story was perfectly crafted. Just do yourself a favor and read it. show less

The young man who would have been King Arthur runs off with a shepherdess before Britt Arthurs is yanked from the 21st century and lands back in medieval times, where she easily pulls a sword from a stone and is informed by the wizard Merlin that she will be crowned the new King of Britain in Enthroned by author K.M. Shea.

Though I didn't read the book blurb thoroughly beforehand, I was intrigued by this YA fantasy series the minute I realized it's called King Arthur and Her Knights. A nice show more twist from the get-go! There's some comedy and also some medieval violence woven into this magical adventure, and I was interested enough to read the novella through.

However, I would have needed more character development to truly care about the story's people, and I didn't find a compelling "why" behind it all to make the plot impactful. I didn't feel that much after finishing the book, and although it is in no way unreadable, it could have used another round of editing, particularly to catch the recurring errors in dialogue and punctuation.

While I may not continue this series, I do think I'll try something newer by this author sometime. show less