Blood Challenge by Eileen Wilks

It occurs to me that, with the exception of the China-related books, I'm mostly recommending a book series (or six) under the guise of reviewing individual books. I give you a bit of information about a specific book, sure, but I always reference the entire series. In most cases, I'm actually recommending an entire body of work. Apologies to any of you that would prefer more details on the individual books, but I love, love, love a good series. I love the consistent delivery of characters and creatures I already know. One of my greatest reading joys is to discover a published book series that I can jump right into, reading four or five books in a row without waiting for a new release. The thought just makes me giddy.

In regards to series, the new year was good to me. There were tidings of good cheer, sure, but there were also new releases by some of my favorite fantasy authors. There was Archangel's Consort by Nalini Singh which was good. But then there was Blood Challenge by Eileen Wilks which was great. If the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs are at the tippy-top of my favorite list then the World of the Lupi books by Eileen Wilks are close behind.

The World of the Lupi books have magic and werewolves and sorcerers and dragons and whole other realms of reality. Blood Challenge is the seventh in the series. Lily Yu, our protagonist with magic all of her own, is an FBI agent in a paranormal unit, and at this time she's engaged to Rule Turner, a super sexy lupi. In this reality, the lupi are "out", and a political group called Humans First is unamused. The founder of Humans First is willing to go to suspicious extremes to push his agenda. The actions of Humans First tie into the mystery at the core of this book. Lily Yu was a police detective before she became an FBI agent, and investigative work is usually at the heart of these stories.

I loved this book, and I love this series. Lily is a strong, capable character with a complicated family and a simple desire to do her job well. Eileen Wilks has created an interesting fantasy world with multi-dimensional characters who live and love and solve crime. That's pretty much my literary trifecta--fantasy, romance and mystery!