ARC Review: Burning Bright by E.J. Stevens

Title: Burning Bright

Author: E.J. Stevens

Series: Ivy Granger, #3

 •Source: Author (Advance Reading Copy)
 •Publisher: Sacred Oaks Press
 •Publication Date: June 17, 2014

Opening Line: Ever play whack-a-mole with a jincan?


   

Burning down the house...

Things are not going well at the offices of Private Eye. Jinx is having demon problems, the city is overrun with pyromaniacal imps, and Ivy's wisp powers are burning out of control, attracting the attention of both the Seelie and Unseelie courts.

Along came a faerie queen... It's the worst possible time for the Green Lady to call in a favor, but Ivy's bound by her deal with the glaistig. Too bad there's no wiggle room in faerie bargains.

Ivy must rid the city of imps, keep Jinx from murdering her one solid link to Hell, and fulfill her bargain with the Green Lady–—with sidhe assassins hot on her tail.

Just another day's work for Ivy Granger, psychic detective.

     
    


A city burning down around you, a fading best friend, sidhe assassins, a hero's journey, a missing witch, out of control wisp powers and a snarky demon who will not answer his cell phone. Could Ivy's day get anymore complicated? Apparently so. The Green Lady has called in one of her favors and has asked for an unthinkable task. Now Ivy has to solve the problems of Harborsmouth while the Green Lady's boon slowly sucks the life out of her.

I absolutely love this series! Burning Bright is my favorite book so far. Simply spectacular!!! I was happy to see Jinx as more of a background character this time. It allowed us to see more one-on-one time between Ivy and Ceff. Ivy gets such a boost in confidence when Ceff has her back, it reveals a lot about their relationship.

Ivy grows so much as a person in Burning Bright. She's finally starting to see the shades of grey. Something as simple as a toddler demon reaching up and putting his tiny hand in hers completely shifts her world view. It's an amazing journey.

Our favorite characters are still present. There was more of my favorite grumpy gargoyle, Humphrey. Who would have thought that a bad ass gargoyle would love corny rock/gargoyle jokes. My favorite is:

"We get it Humphrey," I said. I waggled my eyebrows. "You're a stone cold killer."

 For those of you who love the bad boys, yes, Torn and Forneus are in the book. And really, who doesn't love a bad boy?

As with the rest of the series, strict urban fantasy readers have nothing to fear. Burning Bright does have a couple sexy scenes, but Ivy being a kick ass heroine is still the primary focus.

Favorite Quotes

Note to self; don't unnecessarily piss off the demon.

You know your life is complicated when you'd rather fight a demon than ask your friends for help.

I figured if she was preparing to kill me, I might as well go down being a wiseass.

Normally I'd celebrate the fact that Ceff had used modern slang correctly—and he was correct, we'd be well and truly fucked up beyond all recognition—but I was too busy trying not to piss my pants.

Pissing people off was like my super power.

Rock on one side, hard place on the other—story of my life.

The woman was a faerie queen alright. She was an evil, self serving, manipulative bitch.