Team Urban: Why I Love Urban Fantasy!
Brenda Drake - Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers, #2):
Being a Sentinel isn’t all fairytales and
secret gardens. Sure, jumping through books into the world’s most beautiful
libraries to protect humans from mystical creatures is awesome. No one knows
that better than Gia Kearns, but she could do without the part where people are
always trying to kill her. Oh, and the fact that Pop and her had to move away
from her friends and life as she knew it.
And if that isn’t enough, her boyfriend, Arik,
is acting strangely. Like, maybe she should be calling him “ex,” since he’s so
into another girl. But she doesn’t have time to be mad or even jealous, because
someone has to save the world from the upcoming apocalypse, and it looks like
that’s going to be Gia.
I’m such a fan of Urban Fantasy for many reasons, but mostly because writers can take our normal world and, either secret or not, add a dash of the fantastical to it. With mystical creatures hiding from humans or living side by side with them, deliciously nefarious things can happen. There’s just something extraordinary about urban fantasy. It’s the ability of the writer to look at something normal in the human world and mix it up. Changing a simple book into something that can transport someone from library to library or hiding a zoo of magical beasts in a common suitcase.
Chris Cannon - Fanning the Flames (Going Down in Flames, #4):
She isn't afraid of anything...except losing
the knight she loves. Bryn McKenna has it all, including her smoking-hot knight
turned live-in boyfriend, Valmont. Even though she’s a hybrid dragon, she’s
finally fitting into the new shape-shifting dragon world that’s become her own.
But her grandparents want to ruin everything by making Bryn’s nightmare of an
arranged marriage to Jaxon Westgate a reality. It doesn’t help that Jaxon’s
father is on a witch hunt for Rebel sympathizers and Bryn finds herself in his
line of fire.
If she doesn’t say, “I do,” she’ll lose
everything. Good-bye flying. Good-bye best friends. Good-bye magic. But if she
bends to her grandparents’ will and agrees to marry Jaxon, she’ll lose the love
of her life—her knight.
There are no maidens that need to be rescued in urban fantasy. More than likely the females are the ones kicking ass.
I love the snarky banter that occurs when you throw modern day characters into strange/magical/supernatural circumstances.
Anything is possible in urban fantasy. There are no rules about what types of paranormal creatures you can have. If you want to create dragons that breathe fire, ice, wind, sonic waves, and lightning, you can, just like I did in Going Down In Flames *cough cough shameless self promotion
Shonna Slayton -
In a world where fairies lurk and curses
linger, love can bleed like the prick of a finger…
Briar Rose knows her life will never be a
fairy tale. She’s raising her siblings on her own, her wages at the spinning
mill have been cut, and the boy she thought she had a future with has eyes for
someone else. Most days it feels like her best friend, Henry Prince, is the
only one in her corner…though with his endless flirty jokes, how can she ever
take him seriously?
When a mysterious peddler offers her a “magic”
spindle that could make her more money, sneaking it into the mill seems worth
the risk. But then one by one, her fellow spinner girls come down with the
mysterious sleeping sickness…and Briar’s not immune.
If Briar wants to save the girls—and
herself—she’ll have to start believing in fairy tales…and in the power of a
prince’s kiss.
Urban fantasy reminds me that our own world is magical. We are so used to the way our world works that we take for granted how incredible it is that our heart beats, our brain imagines, that our eyes see color. As a writer, urban fantasy allows me to open up my imagination on multiple planes. I still work with the real world, but I get to add layers onto that. It’s like going from black and white TV to color. Like Dorothy in dusty old Kansas stepping into the colorful land of Oz.
Death
doesn’t fall in love. Usually. Since the car crash that took her father’s life
three years ago, Emma’s life has been a freaky—and unending—lesson in caution.
Surviving “accidents” has taken priority over being a normal
seventeen-year-old, so Emma spends her days taking pictures of life instead of
living it. Falling in love with a boy was never part of the plan. Falling for a
reaper who makes her chest ache and her head spin? Not an option.
It’s
not easy being dead, especially for a reaper in love with a girl fate has put
on his list not once, but twice. Finn’s fellow reapers give him hell about
spending time with Emma, but Finn couldn’t let her die before, and he’s not
about to let her die now. He will protect the girl he loves from the evil he
accidentally unleashed, even if it means sacrificing the only thing he has
left…his soul.
Penelope is a witch, part of a secret society
protecting humans from demon attacks. But when she was a child, a demon killed
her parents—and stole her magic. Since then, she’s been pretending to be
something she’s not, using her sister’s magic to hide her own loss, to prevent
being sent away.
When she’s finally given the chance to join
the elite demon-hunting force, Penelope thinks that will finally change. With
her sister’s help, she can squeeze through the tests and get access to the
information she needs to find “her” demon. To take back what was stolen.
Then she meets Carter. He’s cute, smart, and
she can borrow his magic, too. He knows her secret—but he also has one of his
own.
Suddenly, Penelope’s impossible quest becomes
far more complicated. Because Carter’s not telling her everything, and it’s
starting to seem like the demons have their own agenda…and they’re far too
interested in her.
Whether it's witches, demons, ghosts or other types monsters, there's nothing like escaping the sometimes mundane reality of our world, or giving what we know every day a spice of fantasy. Filled with kick-ass heroines who aren't afraid to fight for what they believe in (and hot, just-as-fierce love interests) Urban Fantasy inspires you look beyond what you see and be more than you think you can be. Plus, life is more with some magic: more dangerous, more unpredictable, more chaotic, more fun.
On
the precipice of her sixteenth birthday, the last thing lone wolf Cat Crawford
wants is an extravagant gala thrown by her bubbly stepmother and well-meaning
father. So even though Cat knows the family’s trip to Florence, Italy, is a
peace offering, she embraces the magical city and all it offers. But when her
curiosity leads her to an unusual gypsy tent, she exits…right into Renaissance Firenze.
Thrust
into the sixteenth century armed with only a backpack full of contraband future
items, Cat joins up with her ancestors, the sweet Alessandra and protective
Cipriano, and soon falls for the gorgeous aspiring artist Lorenzo. But when the
much-older Niccolo starts sniffing around, Cat realizes that an unwanted
birthday party is nothing compared to an unwanted suitor full of creeptastic amore. Can she find her way back to
modern times before her Italian adventure turns into an Italian forever?
We’ve stayed hidden too long… I am different.
I have always been different, but no one can know or my life will be in danger.
So I hide in plain sight, wearing drab clothes and thick glasses and trying to
be invisible. I’m so good at hiding, no one has ever noticed me. Until Ian…the
mysterious and oh-so-cute boy I know I need to avoid.
Now I have been seen. And more terrifying
still, I am wanted—by those who would protect me and those who would destroy
everything and everyone I love. But if they’re all terrified about who I am,
wait until they see what I can do…
I love Urban Fantasy because it infuses normal life with myth and magic. It’s so exciting to have something in common with a character who finds a magic object, special ability or a secret origin. The possible ways her courage and passion might be tested are endless. When she does triumph against fantastic odds, I’m left feeling inspired and reassured that I can overcome great obstacles in my everyday life too. Urban Fantasy reminds me that the ordinary in us can sometimes be…extraordinary.
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