Raven Cursed (Jane Yellowrock Book 4)

It's really hard to find solid female leads. Especially ones that are not perfect. I think one of the things I like best about her books is that her female lead doesn't have to have a strong male lead or a submissive one. The books about her.

Having read all of the Jane Yellowrock stuff so far, including the excellent short story collection Cat Tales, this is by far the deepest and most layered of the series. Here we see a lot more of Jane's internal conflicts, a lot more of her soul-searching because of her past, and she becomes a much deeper, richer character. No longer is she just a bad***, now she's a bad*** who has remorse for her actions.

The best in a series that keeps getting better and better! Hunter is one of the best in the business at creating and maintaining tension inside and outside of a character, and this is no exception. Keeps the reader racing to the next page. Awesomeness.

I love a strong female hero and Jane Yellowrock fits the bill beautifully. Add exotic and sexy as hell and I can't wait for the next book. Faith Hunter is an outstanding writer and fleshes her world out wonderfully. You could almost smell the surroundings through beasts nose.

There are heavy, deep books that are full meals. Then there are books that are like chocolate, a tasty snack that you want more of. The Jane Yellowrock series is like that.
Jane is changing, in a good way. Not exactly softer, she is still hell on wheels, but she is opening up to new friends and sharing her past with more than just Molly and her family. It puts Jane in a much better head space.

New Orleans MOC (and apparently Master of more than the city of New Orleans) Leo Pellesier sends Jane back to her home in Ashville, NC to act as security during a parlay between the MOC and a Master Vampire who wants to hold his own territory. Instead of just handling security, she is hired to prove that killings of campers are not the work of vampires. When she finds out the murders are due to rogue werewolves, she is commissioned to put them down.

Poor Ricky-Bo is going through his own were crisis. His mentor, a were-leopard from Africa, isn't very good at his job. Besides, the African were wants to kill him for stealing his mate. Rick's tattoo's make things even more difficult. They have bound the magic so he can't shift. Instead he is left incapacitated, in the throes of a shift that can't be consummated. Worse, because he carries the were-taint, he can't consummate other things... that doesn't mean they can't get down to other adult recreational things. *Kof*

During the were-battle story line, we discover more about how black Evil Evie has become. She has done the unthinkable and effectively stolen her families energy for her own dark purposes. Some of Evie's back story is revealed, though nothing convincing that she has any redeeming qualities

On top of the security she still has to provide, destroying the rogue werewolves, hunting down the Grindy for help, getting closer to making up with Big Evan, helping Rick, there is also the little matter of Bruiser acting hot and cold to her on the phone. More questions raised as others are answered.

I really love reading this series. Dark Urban Fantasy chocolate without the calories, a great read with Dracula-like vamps and witches that cover the spectrum. What's not to like! Well, getting done too fast and not having the next one.. Oh, wait, there is another due for this year!

Lots of action. Very engaging and exciting. I enjoyed it mostly.

But I hate it when the character is assigned blame for something someone else did. If a werewolf kills someone, Jane is not responsible. If a witch targets her friends, Jane is not responsible! Jane saves people. I'm glad she feels guilt or remorse for killing or hurting people, but the fact that her "friends" blame her for the actions of the bad guys annoys me.

Only a few slow spots but ..... loved this one in the series.... can't wait to see how Jane and Beast prevail hoping to see a little more of Bruiser ...but who doesn't love Ricky Bo.... I wouldn't kick him out ;)

I'm a paranormal romance novelist, which unfortunately means it's hard for me to get into other people's books. (You start wanting to edit them, or think about how you would have done this or that differently.) Faith Hunter is on my list of autobuys because she has the ability to suck me so completely into her world, I don't even have time to THINK about her skillful use of craft. Jane is a fabulous hero, and her Beast is a separate, distinct character as well. I love the frequent conflict between the two, especially the way Jane loves the Big Cat despite the cat's tendency to resent her. This adds to the interest of the series. Then there's the great supporting cast of vampires, witches, Shifters, ex-soldiers, cops and civilians, which add splashes of unpredictable conflict. All these competing agendas make for unpredictable plots that twist and turn at just the right time. I can't wait for the next one!

OK I finally finished Raven Cursed: A Jane Yellowrock Novel and yes it was as good as I had hoped (every one in the series has been) and to me it was a 5 Star effort, but be aware, these are not things to read while doing other tasks, you got to pay attention to the Jane Yellowrock books because there are a large cast of characters and a many faceted plot-line. Hell I am lucky to keep up with who she is/had/will be killing :) These are well written and wonderfully plotted and even with her ultra-violent ways Ms. Hunter writes enough humanity into Jane to keep her character endeared to the readers of this series. I could go on for many more lines but as far as UF goes this is one of the best going and my next book also falls into that category : Sins of the Demon .

My favorite Jane Yellowrock book to date. While I personnally love the little more "adult" versions with relationships and fight scenes this series is safe for your young adult readers to lose themselves into fantasy. They are a part of my "can't wait for the next one" books.

Faith Hunter is one of my favorite writers because her story-telling has a unique flavor different from any other fantasy author out there. You have to read her books to understand that she has a vivid imagination that is distinctly her own. All urban fantasy protagonists are kickass and Jane Yellowrock stands ahead in that class. But one truly likes her (and some may dislike) as she ascribes more responsibility and guilt for her actions than your average protagonist.

In this book, Jane is head of security for a vampire parley in Asheville to decide on the title of blood master for the local master vampire. Unfortunately, the meet is disrupted by tourist killings blamed on vampires, Jane is attacked when asleep by a mysterious blood servant, Molly's sister and coven-head Evangeline is back in the city spinning her compulsion charms on all and sundry and Rick (her maybe boyfriend) is having trouble making the change to a leopard at full moon. Local anger at vampires is at an all time high and the media is merrily stoking the fires. Jane gets a call from Leo - fix things and make them normal.

There is a truckload of action in this book and that suited me just fine. The personal relationship may move slower, but it is quite clear that Hunter is looking at slowly and surely developing this across the series. I have always enjoyed her writing and I found this book terrific.

This is the latest published in the series. I like that the character development is moving forward, the plot lines are repetitious, and Jane manages to have a love life while sparing the reader all the intimate details.

I like the character of Jane Yellowrock but not as well as the Patricia Briggs characters. My favorite character is Ilona Andrews, Magic series.
However, this is a good book. It is probably one of the best ones of this series that I have read. I like the fact that she makes mistakes and is always saying the wrong thing and many times getting herself in trouble. It makes the character appealing to read. I don't always like when she shifts into "beast" and the writing becomes very stilted. I know this is because of the thinking of the "beast" character, but I just don't personally like it as well.
However, I plan on reading the rest of the series. It is pretty good.

Enjoyed the continuation of Jane Yellowrock's saga. Liked the book....enjoyed the story. Once again it is interesting how an author develops and continues a series and I look forward to reading more Faith Hunter stories.

This book was well written and plotted. The characters were fun to get to know as well. It was easy reading, but complex enough to really keep you interest. I am into this skinwalker series, and await another chance to revisit Jane and the others sups.

This series just keeps getting better.
Jane and Beast make for an amazing combo.
This book had non-stop action.
There were lots of plot threads which ultimately came together at the end- at one point it was almost too complex.

The relationship issues were touched upon but not fully addressed.
Personally I think Jane needs some steamy sex with Leo, Bruiser and Rick.
Although it appears she is emotionally connected to Rick, as Beast would say, she deserves more than one mate!

I can't wait for the next installment.

Whew, what a letdown. I'd enjoyed the first three books in the series, although found book 3 a bit stale, so when I saw the start in Asheville, I was happy for the change of scenery. Well I sure got my hopes up for nothing.

[SPOILERS] To begin with, I have no idea why the author bothered moving the setting. Every single plot point in the book revolves around the characters from New Orleans and the earlier books. Heck, most of them show up in Asheville! It became ridiculous. For example, Jane is supposed to have been a kick-ass vampire hunter in Asheville for years before going to NO. Then, in the first books she ends up meeting and working for the Vampire Lord of NO. Then, somehow, we discover he's actually in charge of most of the SE United States, including her home town, and yet this top-notch Vampire Hunter had been unaware of it? How could that be?

On top of this coincidence we find out that one of the big bads is her best friend's sister, which still, having read the book, makes absolutely no sense. There is nothing in the way that the character had ever been presented or described that makes her behavior make sense. Oh wait, apparently she was personally violated by Jane's boss years ago, which no one, including her family knew about, and for which horrible wrong she was willing to wait years before being willing to summon a demon for revenge.

Oh yes, the demon, which, out of all the denizens of hell, happens to be a demon specific to Jane's mysterious ancestry. What are the odds? And, then, of course, we have an almighty demon free to wreak havoc, so it's a good thing we have a Kindegartener-ex-machina, who simply fixes things because she has a pet angel. Oh yes, that's the second book that's happened.

I could go on (actually in my head I have four more paragraphs written; the grindy, the boyfriend, the african cat-dude, the nutty love tri/quadrangle) but the point is made. Everything about the earlier books that was a bit annoying came to a head in this one, and boy did it crash hard. I'm out.

_Raven Cursed_ takes Cherokee shapeshifter Jane Yellowrock out of New Orleans and back to her native North Carolina.

She's still working for the Vampire master of New Orleans though, in this case running security for a parley between his scion and an up-and-coming NC vampire who wants New Orleans blessing to be master of Ashville.

Of course a straight-forward parley would be too mundane for anything Jane is involved in, and the situation is almost immediately complicated by rogue werewolves, and renegade witches.

Jane's private life continues to be complicated as well, with her one-time boyfriend now struggling to adjust to life as a were-panther.

Can Jane keep everyone alive who matters, bring the parley to a successful conclusion *and* avoid falling out with her friends and lover?

Not to mention the "raven".

In general, finding out the answers makes for a very entertaining book, with some frustrating caveats noted below.

SPOILERS START HERE

First of all, let me tie back to the subject line for this review: Jane is kick-ass, but really she often seems not up to the security and other tasks she takes on.

In the last book, she was responsible for security at a meeting which she totally failed to keep from being trashed by werewolves. In this one, though the meetings proper never devolved into a bloodbath, Jane seems to have hired a second in command who may well try to kill her. While this is a change from *working* for people who try to kill her, it's not a change in the right direction. Neither is making self-admitted "rookie mistakes" in situations where she has plenty of time to plan.

She also seems to have a very hard time tracking down the werewolves despite being able shape change and hunt as a mountain lion, and having access to a were panther with good tracking abilities. There's a lot of pointless to-ing and fro-ing while she tries to run the pack down, and in the end they are kind of randomly taken out by a third party at a bar.

She also wastes a lot of time tracking a grindylow, which ultimately does not help her at all with the wolves, and in the process she fails to interpret a very explicit dream prophesy explicating the grindy situation, despite the fact that it is immediately obvious to the readers.

In the first two books (or maybe books 1 & 3, I forget..) she ignores people waving red flags saying "I have important information, talk to me", and she does it again here, refusing to take a call at a critical time.

The whole situation with Rick seems odd as well. I cannot understand why he is with the were-panther, apparently more or less at Jane's order. The WP is shown several times to be untrustworthy and promises to kill Rick rather than mentor him. On the whole he would be safer almost anywhere else, and get just as much help (ie: none) with the whole were-panther lifestyle almost anywhere else. Or gee, maybe he should be with someone who knows the whole shape changer game, and is well disposed towards him. Now who could that be?

The ostensible Mcguffin of this book, the unexplained success rate of the Ashville master at having his young vampires come through the crazy years quicker remains unexplained, and almost unexamined all through the book. The sociopath vampire (and his particular sociopathy) introduced in the process of securing the young vamps seems like padding, and tracking him down doesn't really tie into the rest of the book.

Anyway, that's possibly more carping than the book deserves, after all, I did give it 4 stars, but it bugged me that I like Jane so much but this book has her kind of meandering through things where she should be nailing them.

After the last Yellowrock novel I was a bit concerned that Jane was becoming soft with all that self-blame and doubt. This novel has completely doused those fears. While she still has guilt, it's back to the guilt trips that makes Jane the strong person she is. I loved this book, it had just the right balance of everything and I look forward to the next installment!

I've enjoyed the first 3 installments of this series. This book was frustrating. There was too much going on - a new locale, new characters, new developments -- a demon, an angel, a pregnant grindylow, Rick's possible change to a werecat, weres, kayakers, a new BFF for Jane, all the rest of the Everhart sisters, etc., etc. The main character jumps from one thing to another which makes for no real emotional arc to the novel. Reading this installment made me feel as if I had ADD.

Excellent book! I love this series and this was a great fourth installment. The action is awesome and I love that this book was set in NC, giving us a great chance to meet new characters and explore a different type of terrain.

The main issue I had is that in the Kindle edition there are THREE different places where a sentence is cut off mid-line, sometimes mid-word. And I can only assume that I missed the end of the sentences, not additional sentences, you know? I am extremely disappointed and will be contacting the publisher so they can get that fixed.

Good book, but the Kindle edition has problems. Sometimes, a sentence will be cut off after 2 or 3 words. Then the next paragraph starts. I have no idea how much text was missing. Sometimes it seemed like it didn't matter, and other times I felt I definitely missed something.

-- SPOILERS --

So, towards the end, Beast disappears, then is suddenly back, kind of. This is not explained at all in the book. Or was it, and I missed it because of the problems stated above?

I liked the book, but then ending left too many things hanging.

I've been enjoying the Yellowrock series and pretty compulsively reading it. But now I'm halfway through this book and I'm ready to throw it at the wall. I was a little annoyed in the last couple books by Jane's apparent low-self esteem and self-destructive streak-she always talks when she knows it will get her into trouble, constantly does things that should get her killed and would if she didn't have beast, gives away a LOT of money even though she is need of cash, keeps working for a boss who has personally tried to take her out at least 3 times...etc. Now she morphs from self-destructive to completely boundary-free, or narcissistic, or both. Everything is her fault. EVERYTHING. No matter whose actions started this whole ball rolling or how evil the actions of the other person/people involved....somehow it is all her fault. It gets old. FAST. Plus the romance thing is just crazy-making. Just pick one. Or two. Or four. Whatever. Have some fun already. We end with Rick riding up in the last book and the smell of big cat surrounding him. In this book we leap-frog into Asheville with nothing resolved and a lot of action that has apparently occurred offstage-maybe in a short story somewhere? Then we keep leap-frogging through the plot threads. I'll edit once I've completed the book-I'm stubborn and will keep going-but I had to vent some of this "crap" (Jane's new favorite word) out of my system because throwing Kindles across the room is an expensive habit. ***Edit*** Finished this book and the next two. My review for this one stands with some added frustration because Jane just wouldn't get the job done and seemed to be a muddled indecisive mess here. I'm happy to say Blood Trade fixes some of the issues and brings some clarity to Jane's emotional state in this book and in Death's Rival. It also sheds a lot of light on the plot arc. Death's Rival (next book after Raven Cursed) sheds some light on Jane's past and also has a bit more kick-a$$ action going on. Also, although Jane still seems oddly hampered at times she seems like she is becoming a little more politically savvy. Raven Cursed didn't do much to advance the plot IMO. Death's Rival introduces new characters and plot and Blood Trade is a direct continuation of the situations introduced in DR.

Their is just something about this series that irks me. I want to love this series and I do so enjoy Jane, but I struggle. Jane is the type of heroine I like to read about in Urban Fantasy's. She’s independent, kicks butt, loves tea, has her favorite weapons, and is a skinwalker, something not common, at least to me, to read about. However, I feel I struggle in each book with something.

Some of my struggles have to do with the men in Jane’s life vying for her. I dislike them as boyfriend/lover material. They have all really disappointed me and not won me over on that front. I like them and I don’t; because they all have their own agendas and know one is looking out for Jane. I feel she can and does deserve better on the lover/boyfriend front. Next is all the guilt Jane cares around with her. Every book she has a guilt complex about something. Sometimes it’s about things she can’t control. Not that it changes her behavior, no, it turns into a crutch that motivates her actions and thinking. Last is her goddaughter who keeps trying to reach out to her. Jane doesn’t listen and/or puts her off until it’s convent; which by then things have progressed to the point of no return or dire straits. The child is gifted and Jane should know by now to listen.

With that said Raven Cursed is book four in the Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter.

In Raven Cursed we go back to Asheville, North Carolina, Jane’s home town. Jane has to deal with a Vampire parley, a witch using blood magic, and Rick going furry. Her life is changing and ever more chaotic.

The book was a little slow going, picked up, then went slow again. It was a back and forth. I wasn’t fully feeling Raven Cursed, but it was still pleasant. I was glad we got clarification on whether Rick cheated in the last book. It wasn’t what I had thought, but he still kept secrets from Jane. If he cared, he would have confided. Yes, Jane kept a big secret, but that secret is so ingrained in her to keep. She doesn’t trust easily.

Their was a lot to enjoy with Jane and Beast hunting, Jane talking with her goddaughter, discovery of the traitor, and the grindylow. I enjoyed the novel.

Rated: 3.5 Stars

I listened to this book through Audible so the first thing I have to say is about the narrator, I think that the author made an excellent choice by hiring Khristine Hvam to vocalise this book. She really is amazing at Reading this and I love how she vocalists Beast and I would love to listen to more books read by her as she really brings words to Life. Now to the author… I have read the paperback books of the books before this one and adored them and this one is even better than the previous books and that is really down to this highly skilled and talented author! She is able to create such a Magical, vivid and creative world that is highly addictive to read and you genuinely can't stop reading!

I adored this storyline! There is a lot that happens in this book but that is Jane Yellowrock’s life… hectic and Dangerous, let's just say that you would never be bored with her in your life! I really do love how the author wrote this storyline as it doesn't feel too crowded and it all makes sense at the end of the book why the different branches of the storyline are where they are and it is very cleverly written. I have to say the character that really intrigues me and I would love to know more about is Big Evan, you see glimpses of his ability and how powerful he is and I would love to know more and you can see why Angie Baby is as gifted as she is with her parentage! The characters are written with so much love and care and this really comes across through the pages and I loved being given an insight into their lives.

This is an amazing book written by a world class author that has quickly become one of my favourites and I will definitely be getting the next audiobook in this series. I can't recommend this highly enough and if I could give this book more than 5* rating I would!!!

Jane is back in her hometown Asheville, North Carolina. On a borrowed bike, she calls Fang, as her own beloved Bitsa is still undergoing extensive repair. Weaponless, as the vamps she works for will transport her weapons to the hotel they will be staying at. Her job will be keeping Grigoire, a Master Vampire working for Leo, the Master Vampire of New Orleans, safe while he is in parlay with the local Vampire Master, Lincoln Shaddock, who wants to become a Master of the City himself. Grigoire has taken his favourite two Bloodservants with him, the twins Brian and Brandon. Jane likes them, and they are good at what they do.
Becoming a Master of the City means ruling his own territory, with his own scions and hunting rights and cattle (meaning humans). For this, he needs Leo's permission. Grigoire is to investigate Lincoln and his scions, especially as his youngest scion only took two years to come out of dovoveo, and became sane again, while the average amount of time is 10 years. This sounds very promising for Lincoln's powers as a master vampire.

Jane is happy to be back in her beloved Appalachian Mountains, able to see her best friend Molly again. But the relationship is not as good as it once was. Molly's husband, Big Ethan believes Jane responsible for putting Molly and their kids in danger, and as Jane agrees with him, she can't blame him for not wanting her in his house. But she does miss the dinners at their home, the contact with little Angelina, her goddaughter.

The some werewolves start killing campers in the mountains, and the sheriff blames it on the vampires. Jane is called in to investigate, and she recognizes it as werewolf attacks. Following the scent trail, she recognizes the two werewolves who were not killed with the rest of their pack, as they were in jail at the time. Apparently, they were let loose, and now they are trying to rebuild their pack by turning other humans. Biting the women, killing the men. But Jane also smells the grindylow, but something is just wrong with the smell. And why hasn't it killed the two werewolves yet, this was not their first attack. The grindylow's job is to enforce shifter law, and kill any shifter trying to infect humans.

Her lover Rick is also camping in the mountains, with Kem, the leader of the African Were Cats, who is supposed to help him change into his new cat form. So far it has not happened yet. What Jane doesn't know, is that Kem blames Rick for his wife wanting to run of with Rick, and he plans to kill Rick right after his shift. Afterall, the grindylow killed his mate, and now he will kill Rick as revenge. But shifter law prohibits him from doing that before Rick has shifted. Rick's tattoos are preventing the shift, but he does show a lot of cat traits. And he still wants Jane, and doesn't mind what she is, or her claiming him as her mate in front of Kem.

Lucky for Jane, she has Derek and his team working with her on security detail, as Leo wants her to find the killing werewolves and bring them to justice. The Shifter coalition has sanctified the kills.

Something strange is going on with Evangelina. She was acting strange already while living with Jane in New Orleans, but it has gone worse. She is looking younger and prettier, and has lost weight, like she has a personality overhaul. But Jane senses her weaving magic on her coven sisters and Molly, and that is against witches law. The scent of vampire and werewolf is strong on her as well. And when even a little toddler asks her help against Evangelina, Jane knows she has to act. She has to convince Molly and Evan first, that Evangelina is using bloodmagic. But why? And how do they banish the demon in her basement ...

And who is the Master Vampire who has sent his blood servants out to kill Jane?

This series just keeps getting better and better. The world keeps being built upon, and I keep having the feeling that I am missing an important prequel to the series, where Jane and Molly and her coven meet and fight vampires together.

This book is completely action filled. Jane is travelling all over the place, keeping track of the negotiations, helping in the search for the werewolves, both in Jane and in Beast form, keeping in touch with Molly and her sisters, and even making friends with a lonely female vampire. Jane learned only a little bit more about her own past, and none of it good. A guardian angel is introduced, and he helps fight the demon.
I loved it all, and was completely lost in this world for hours at a time. Especially the action at the end of the book, that was awesome.

10 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Listened for Fun (Borrowed from a Friend)
Overall Rating: 4.00
Story Rating: 4.00
Character Rating: 4.00

Audio Rating: 4.50 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: Raven Cursed by Faith Hunter was kick ass with characters I love. If the romance wasn't there it would be darn near perfect (I am not a fan of any of the love interests in this series).

Story Thoughts: I felt for Jane the whole book. Both her and Beast love Molly's kids something fierce and for them to end up in the middle of something is just not good. Also with the things going on with Molly's sister (Evie---hate her) things are just not at the best for these two besties. That is why I love this series: it reads real. Hard to explain that but things don't always work out perfectly. There are strains, hardships, tough decisions,and mistakes. Faith Hunter is not afraid to go down a rabbit hole and come up gopher hole. Jane rolls with the punches but carries a lot of guilt. Some she should and other bits I wish she would get rid of. However, she wouldn't be Jane without it! There is a whole lot of story going on in Raven Cursed and both storylines come together in a rather unusual way that will keep you on your toes.

Character Thoughts: They all rock! <---is that enough? It is going to have to be because my only other thought is: she can ditch all the boys because to me they both suck. They aren't worthy of Jane. Now I have no problem with Beast having fun with them but Jane deserves better :)

Audio Thoughts:
Narrated By Khristine Hvam / Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins

Khristine Hvam is one of the best in the business. She pulls of Faith and Beast perfectly. Everyone should try this series in audio!

Final Thoughts: I am trying to pace myself because I am almost caught up. Then I would have to wait. That would slay me.

Raven Cursed is the fourth book in the Jane Yellowrock series. In this book, Jane has been ordered to provide security for a vampire meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, which is where she was living prior to coming to New Orleans (where the previous books took place). Molly and Big Evan also live there, along with Molly and Evan's kids and Molly's sisters.

Lincoln Shaddock, the resident head vampire, has applied to become Master of the City of Asheville and since that is within Leo Pellissier's territory, he has to approve the application. I was unclear about what exactly the title Master of the City was. That is also Leo's title (the City being New Orleans) but he is also the ruler of almost all of the vampires in the southeast U.S. So what Lincoln was getting with this title, I'm unclear.

Anyway, Leo sends one of this minions, Gregoire, to do the negotiations. Jane and her crew of local mercenaries from previous books go along to keep the peace. While they are there, some campers are attacked and killed. The local police initially think that vampires did it, and Leo orders Jane to help them and catch the real killers. Jane investigates and quickly discovers that the real culprits are werewolves, ones that she has a history with.

The attacks continue, and at the same time, Jane discovers that Molly's sister, Evangelina from the previous book, has stolen the blood-diamond from Jane's New Orleans's house is out to go medieval on some folks to avenge...well, that's a spoiler, so you'll have to read the book to find out who is in her crosshairs and why. Of course, the werewolf story line and the revenge story line eventually intersect, and everything comes to a violent conclusion which is caught on television.

I liked this addition to the series. Jane is her typical kick-a$$ self, although I didn't quite understand her dismay and guilt at having killed a human early in the book. The human was trying to kill her, so it was clearly self-defense and morally justified. Yet something about him being completely human made her feel guilty. She also feels much guilt over the werewolves following her to Asheville, because they are targeting witches and Molly is a witch. However, her guilt drives her to a church, and that plays into events later in the story.

Because the story takes place out of NO, Leo and Bruiser - a couple of my favorite characters - are not present until the end. Molly and her family have the starring role here, and I really enjoyed that, particularly Molly's daughter, Angelina, who has a whole lot of power in a little package. Her interactions with Jane in Beast form in this book are priceless.

Beast sounds more human than ever in this book. I found that a bit off-putting at times, as the voice seemed inconsistent - Beast-like, then human-like (longer sentences, awareness of human socio-political structures and mores), then back to Beast-like all in one passage. Jane/Beast also demonstrate a new and useful talent in this book (sorry, not telling...), and I'm curious to see how the Jane/Beast balance evolves in the next book.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I can definitely recommend. However, if you haven't read the earlier books in the series, it would be better to start with the first book instead of this one.

Fourth in the Jane Yellowrock urban fantasy series revolving around Jane, a skinwalking, vamp killing, security expert who rides a Harley. This installment takes place in Asheville, North Carolina.

My Take
I do enjoy Jane's exchanges with Beast. Beast has such a basic, simple approach to life.

Dang, this is one b-u-s-y story. There is so much going on that you almost want/need to speed it up just to find out what happens next and how it impinges on everything else! The only problem with that is ya'd finish too soon!!

I don't understand Jane's do-me/don't-me with Rick. Hunter is not making this believable for me. It's just words. I do think that Jane has made a huge mistake in forcing Kem to stay and teach Rick even if the International Association of Weres insisted Kem help. In Mercy Blade (Jane Yellowrock, #3), Rick was so angry and now...it's too easy, too accepting of the whole thing. Although it's definitely not easy for or with Kem. A lot of challenging going on. And a lot of desire on Beast's part!

Oh man, if you're into architecture...you wanna read about Shadduck's house. I want it! I want it bad!!

Guns-wise, Jane has a small arsenal from her matching Walther PK380s to her Benelli M4 tactical 12-gauge shotgun and a six-round Kahr P380 loaded with silver...besides the knife collection. And a S&W, X-frame Model 500 hand cannon.

Little Bits
Funny observation by Jane about vampires always comparing the taste of blood to wine. Jane wants to know why they never think of beer, bacon, or shrimp. I wish I knew who the stranger was who broke into Jane's room. I dunno, it was a pretty big clue Angie gave up about the big green frog. I'd'a thought Jane would be more in tune...! And I don't understand why Jane doesn't call Angie back right away. She knows that Angie is prescient. That there are problems. WTF??! Nor does it make sense that Molly and Big Evan make Jane go back to Evie's to get photographs. If the trust isn't there, why aren't they heading over there? It is a family responsibility. Not Jane's.

Who the heck is the new wolf? I dunno, the whole Thomas Stevenson episode seems to be a filler although Mike and Dave sure like the payday. Hmmm, I take it back. It does give Grégoire a chance to lick up Jane's blood. I'd like to know what it'll cost Jane for Grégoire to have paid for Big Evan's help with Rick.

Yeah, Jane is definitely off her feed in this one. There's all this drama happening and the evil one is still loose and she actually comes down from her hotel room without effective weapons?

No. Sorry. Molly hasn't a leg to stand on when it comes to her own family. Big Evan flipped his knife to Jane. And I sure haven't seen Molly or her other sisters doing all that much to stop her. Especially with the crap that's being pulled.

The Story
Jane is biking--on Fang, a loaner!--to this next job for Leo Pellissier. He's been refusing to consider Lincoln Shaddock's request to become a Master of the City for over 60 years and now he's sending Grégoire, his second to treat with Shadduck.
It soon becomes a great deal more than a simple security job during what is essentially a contract negotiation when Jane's personal life and past history intrudes: two werewolves are all that is left of a pack that attacked Rick--and looking for revenge; a witch going against her family and her own code of honor; a grindylow with issues; and, Rick trying to get through his first shift with an angry, kill-preferring leopard shifter.

And she's getting grief from the various people on her side in her life from Leo to Brandon and Brian to Derek Lee and Big Evan. Then there's the cops... And the legal ramifications, per the Vampira Carta, of Jane claiming to be Leo's Enforcer...ooops...

The Characters
Jane Yellowrock is a Cherokee skinwalker, a Tsalagi, "licensed and experienced in the security business". Due to an unhappy mischance...and a bit of blood magic...Beast dwells within her as her other half. A mountain lion, puma. She can shapeshift into other animals provided she has the "snake" of that animal.

Derek Lee and his men have been hired to help with security. Ex-Marines with lots of skills. Aggie One Feather is a Cherokee elder who has been teaching Jane.

Rick LaFleur, a.k.a., Ricky Bo, was an undercover cop in New Orleans. Captured and tortured by rogue werewolves, now he's in the Smoky Mountains waiting for his first shift. And being courted by various law enforcement agencies. He also inherits Pea...a[...] Kemnebi is a black were-leopard forced to babysit Rick. That it was a "rape" on an unwilling Rick doesn't seem to count with Kem. Reach is a really expensive and really good computer hacker/researcher.

Molly is Jane's earth witch friend with a family: Big Evan is her husband and a sorcerer with a major hate on for Jane; Angelica is Jane's powerful young goddaughter and she loves Jane; and, young Evan who is terrified of what's doin'.

There are seven sisters besides Molly and they run the Seven Sassy Sisters Herb Shop and Cafe. Evangelina Everhart is the oldest witch sister and the leader of their coven. She left New Orleans in the middle of vampire-witch negotiations and no one knows why. Carmen Miranda Everhart Newton is an air witch with a baby. The one Molly and Jane saved in Strange Brew: Signatures of the Dead (Jane Yellowrock, #0.5). Regan and Amelia are wholly human. Boadacia and Elizabeth are twins and witches.

Hayyel is Angie's angel guardian--Jane's praying to him as well! Kalona Ayeliski is the Raven Mocker, one of the Sunnayi Edahi demons.

Leo Pellissier is the Blood Master of the City (MOC) of New Orleans. A Mithran--they don't like being called vampires. And Jane is working for him on retainer. Katie is Leo's heir and scheduled to handle this parley. Wrassler is one of Leo's blood-servant security people and number two on security with Jane on this job. George Dumas, a.k.a., Bruiser, is Leo's main blood-servant and he wants Jane. Grégoire of Clan Arceneau is Leo's number two scion. And another enticement Leo is trying to use to get Jane into bed. Brandon (and a graduate of Tulane Law) and Brian Robere are twins and Grégoire's blood-servants--bodyguards and food.

Lincoln Shaddock is the wanna-be master of Asheville. A frontiersman turned during the Civil War. Chin-Ho and Anling are both blood-servants. Dacy Mooney is his heir; Constantine Pickergill is the spare. It seems that Lincoln has discovered a way to shorten the devoveo for new vamps. Chen is his chief of security. Amy Lynn Brown is the miracle-vamp. Adelaide Mooney is a lawyer, Shaddock's blood-servant, and Dacy Mooney's daughter in life. She wants to be BFF's with Jane. Thomas Steveson is a Naturaleza, a vampire who believes that he has a right to hunt and kill humans.

Mike Kohlenberger, a.k.a., Jedi Mike, a.k.a., Old Man of the River and Dave Crawford are both expert rafting guides with useful information on grindylow sightings. Sheriff Grizzard in Asheville hates Jane, partly because one of his detectives was killed on that rescue with Molly. Deputy Sam Orson is okay with her. Chief of Police Billy Chandler liked her less than Grizzard, if that's possible. And then there's Sheriff Loretta Scoggins of Madison County.

Jodi Richoux is Rick's old boss on the NOPD. Gertruda is the Mercy Blade for the MOC of the Raleigh-Durham area; she is a magical being with powerful healing abilities.

Vampira Carta is a Magna Carta of vampire...sorry...Mithran rules of etiquette.

The Cover
The cover is somewhat cartoonish and with a very action-oriented and Cherokee-looking Jane in her black fighting leathers with the too-short length of hair in a braid and chains hanging down her back, knives bristling along the outside of her right thigh, wearing a studded leather collar and brown motorcycle boots. Her stance is at odds with the look on her face: darting forward, her right knee crooked high in the air and both arms bent at the elbow with guns pointing skywards, but she's looking back at us with a calm, questioning face. The background is just plain spooky with a humongous full moon almost dead center and a murder of ravens clustered around the moon on bare branches. Maybe it's supposed to be Evil Evie's backyard...?

The title is true enough for the world is about to be Raven Cursed!

Jane Yellowrock is a shape-shifting skinwalker and vampire hunter for hire. But lately instead of just slaying vampires, she's been working for them.

The vampires of Asheville, North Carolina, want to establish their own clan, but since they owe loyalty to Leo Pellissier, the Master of the City of New Orleans--and Jane's boss--they must work out the terms with him. To come up with an equitable solution, Leo sends an envoy with the best bodyguard money can buy: Jane Yellowrock.

But when a group of local campers is attacked by something supernatural, Jane goes from escort to investigator. It's up to her to keep peace in the region, and unless she wants to face up to very angry vampire Master, Jane will have to work overtime to find the killer. It's a good thing she's worth every penny.

*As with most series, the Jane Yellowrock Urban Fantasy series is best read starting with book one. I would not recommend starting this series with Raven Cursed which I believe is book four, you would miss too much nuance and backstory.

After the events of the last book, Jane is really due a vacation or at least a change of scenery. She doesn't get that vacation but she does get to go out of town and head back to her home stomping grounds North Carolina.

Leo has been petitioned by the Vampires of Ashville, NC to consider allowing their leader, Lincoln Shaddock to form his own clan. Their argument is their line is throwing sane vampires out two years after the change not the usual ten. Now even in a vampires long life, having your vampire offspring tied up in chains while you feed them for ten years is a long time and let's face it, kinda a pain in the ass. If the vamps of Ashville have figured out a way to dramatically shorten this they have a solid argument as to why they should be allowed to form their own clan, and basically all the other clans are going to want to know how they do it.

Leo is sending one of his top Vamps (and new to the series) Gregoire who was pretty hot by the way, in an Anne Rice/Laurel K. Hamilton effeminate gorgeous vampire way. Jane is sent to run the body guarding of the parlay with her team of usual suspects, Leo's hottie twins Brian and Brandon, and her human team, Derek's crew. As is usual in Faith Hunter's world nothing goes according to plan.

There are werewolves who are out to get revenge for the happenings of the last book. Jane's erstwhile lover, Ricky Bo is along for the ride because he doesn't know if he is going to change at the full moon, so she has parked him with Kenebi, the Jaguar, her beta out in the woods somewhere. I'm not sure how smart this is, as Kenebi wants to kill Rick, really really bad due to events from the last book. If he could kill Jane and Rick, that would probably make his day even brighter. Just to really bollocks things up even further, there appears to be a spell on Lincoln Shaddock that is causing him to act a fool and really hurt his chances of a yes vote. The spell seems to track back too close to home for Jane as it implicates the family she loves. There are about three other things going on as well but I don't want to give too much away.

I really enjoy this series. It is dark urban fantasy, no doubt about that, and Jane is definitely the uber badass alpha chick, but her guilt and her angst and occasional self doubt save the series and give it heart. Also...I dig the fact that she goes to church occasionally. The books remind me of early (VERY early, Anita Blake). You know, back when they were solid mysteries with a plot and everything, and the lead character had some values. I also like the theory behind the ability to shape shift, it is one of the most realistic ones I've ever read.

I was glad Hunter tied up loose ends from the last book that were driving me crazy trying to work out regarding Evilene, and as always I love it when Molly and her daughter are around, they always make Jane more human. Word has spread that Jane isn't human and some of her human friends are not down with that, which made Jane's response seem all the more human (hurt and disappointed). My only complaint...not enough Leo and Bruiser.

This was another very solid addition to the Jane Yellowrock series, and I hope to see it continue for a long time to come.

I checked Raven Cursed, book 4 of the Jane Yellowrock series, out from my local library. Wow! The more I delve into this series, the more intense and layered it gets. Love Jane and most of the secondary characters (I'll admit, I still haven't connected with Rick yet). Excellent world-building, and fast-paced action. Can't wait to read the next book.

I enjoy the Jane Yellowrock series quite a bit. I like that Jane is independent and capable, all on her own. I found this book to be a bit jumbled (I actually thought I'd missed a book) and Jane to be slightly out-of-character in several places in this book. She's a wee bit over-emotional here, which slows the pace down more than the other books. Also, she's flat-out dumb, which is needed for the plot, but again, isn't in character. This book isn't as good as the previous books in the series, but still worth the read. Jane ends up in a pretty lonely place at the end of this book, but I'm willing to stay around to read about her journey.

The Jane Yellowrock series is one of my favorite series. There are currently five books in the series with the sixth one (Blood Trade) set to release in April of 2013. The first book is Skinwalker. The series features a Cherokee Skinwalker who is the last of her kind. Unlike most shapeshifter series, Jane is able to shift into any type of animal and is not limited to one type of animal throughout the whole series. We watch as Jane, a rogue vampire hunter, finds herself working for a vampire, learning of their culture, the culture of the people who serve them and sometimes finding that she is not the top predator in the room. I found her character development interesting. This is not a traditional shapeshifter and vampire series and I found I rather enjoyed the fresh take in the urban fantasy genre. If you like Kim Harrison Rachel Morgan series, Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series, and Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series (just to name a few) then you should also try this series!

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy.

As much as I have enjoyed the series overall, RAVEN CURSED now holds the distinction of becoming my favorite Jane Yellowrock book to date. All of the political distractions of Leo's vampire court fall to the background as Jane heads a security detail in New Orleans, and this leaner, meaner plot style allows Hunter's characters (at least, those present) to shine.

RAVEN CURSED delivers pure action from page one. Though I lost the thread of the story once, this is one of the most accessible books in the series when it comes to mythology and action. This doesn't mean new readers should start here (you'd miss out on a wealth of emotional back-story and prior plot threads), but fans of the series will find a lot to enjoy. Jane is coming to an interesting place personally, and has several "come clean" moments that I enjoyed. Rather than being a dark secret, Beast swims closer to the surface of day to day events. I enjoyed that shift (and Beast's running commentary) and felt that Hunter made some excellent choices in managing the drama of some very high emotional stakes.

Though Hunter cleans up some emotional landmines from prior books, at the close of RAVEN CURSED there are still a lot of romantic choices on the table and some tantalizing changes between Beast and Jane. Both of those situations have me eager to dive into DEATH'S RIVAL this coming year.

Sexual Content: References to sex and rape.