Blood, Smoke, and Mirrors is the first book in a series of Urban Fantasy novels starring Catherine, a plump, cynical, and pessimistic heroine of mixed bloodlines with a dead mother, a very highly detested estranged father, and an ex-boyfriend who turned her in for acting in self-defense.

The book itself was an interesting start and could have focused and expanded more on the trials, emphasis on her Fae blood, and her contentious relationship with her father rather than end that little plot half way through.

While Catherine and her coworker/boss, Mac, are interesting characters, I found myself struggling to invest myself emotionally with said characters and others besides. Something I feel could have been prevented by not cramming as much plot as possible into this first novel.

I'll.likely look into the others in the series to see if this gets rectified, otherwise, it's good for a one time read.

3.5 fun witchy tale. review to post soon

This book started out so good, I found myself super excited thinking I had finally found a new series I could sink into. Unfortunately that changed about half way through it. Really ,the female ended up just being to stupid to live, and the male wasn't much better. I am so disappointed. I love a good U.F. With a strong smart female. Sadly this one didn't live up to its potential.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book, although I felt it ended abruptly. It is, apparently, a stand-alone book, but I would love to see it as part of a series. There's plenty of material left in it to extend to at least another book, if not more.

I liked the world that the author had conjured up, and I liked the main character too. Some of the other characters were a little shallow, though, which left the book feeling a little flat.

Still, it was a page turner!

After reading the first few pages I had very high expectations for this book. The writing is superb, the character voice fluent...but the weak character motivations and rushed plot really spoiled what could have been an amazing story.

STORY: Cat Baker, lovely waitress and outcast witch, is forced to run for a position of power in the faerie realm against her will. All sorts of fun ensues, from being forced to team up with her ex, to running from vampires who want her dead. The premise was good enough, but the execution of the conflict was weak. The first half of the story whizzes past in a blur, leaving very little room for character development, and Cat, charming though her narrative voice is, is very inconsistent in presentation. This really hurt the plot; scenes were rushed, and her reasoning wasn't clarified, especially near the beginning. Then the second half of the book almost seems stagnant in comparison, with hardly anything driving the story, and the ending was so quick it was over before I blinked. This was a crying shame, as the world-building and magical laws were so good, I was very disappointed it wasn't used to full potential.

CHARACTERS: Cat definitely gives off a strong vibe, and I really enjoyed her style, however her actions just don't make sense. She's adamant not to go for the position of Titania, then two sentences later she changes her mind. She's determined not to forgive her ex, Lex, and yet does so with hardly any resistance. She's made out as this rebel witch who doesn't fully adhere to their pacifist morals, and yet she's decidedly weak. She wants revenge on her father, and yet her anger fizzles out. Rather than come across as a morally confused character, this just makes her look indecisive, weak and stupid. Again this really annoyed me because she's so well-written!

The supporting cast (Lex, Mac, Portia and Tybalt) are generally well done, though Lex's complexity is simplified way too much. His reasons later in the story, while meant to create conflict, were too weak, and it really broke my suspension of disbelief.

The villains are pretty flat and one dimensional. Cat's father is just a power-mad pawn, and even the real 'big bad' has such shallow motives. There were a couple of interesting plot points in the second half, though, but I felt these could have been played upon more. The total non-resolution at the end, however, ruined this. Even if the author intends to use it for a sequel, some ends do need tying here.

SETTING/ VOICE: I really liked the world of Faerie and how it contrasted to the modern world. The descriptions are well done and easy to follow for the most part. The world and magic mechanics too were good, although I was disappointed that the 'vampires' appeared when the author had such a choice (and knowledge) of other magical groups to use for villains. This seemed a quite cop-out.

Cat's voice is superb and I couldn't fault this aspect.

PRESENTATION: The cover is fairly well done and the formatting is consistent.

OVERALL: I really wanted to love this book. While it's got a fantastic voice, great setting and world-building elements, the rushed plot, weak motives and weak villains really drag it down. A more carefully thought out plot and stronger characters and I would've give this five stars. A good read if you just want a something to skim through, but if you want a cohesive story with more solid characters, try elsewhere.

Reviewed by http://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blogspot.com/

I gave it 3.5/5 Stars

Robyn was on my blog for part of her tour for BLOOD SMOKE AND MIRRORS and I really wanted to read this after I got a look at the cover and synopsis so here I am. I love the cover, it definitely drew my eye and got me excited about the book. Cat is going about her business working and being her mousy self when all of a sudden Lex her super sexy ex that betrayed her walks back into her life and sets her on a path to trying to become the next Titania. Robyn's writing was well done and the world and story were very well laid out. The relationship between Lex and Cat is down right frustrating and slow moving just like all the good books make the lead relationship lol. They really are perfect for each other and following along as they make mistakes and grow closer was a pleasant journey. Cat is a smart ass after my own reading heart. Seriously she was well put together not afraid to say what she means and very down to earth. I think Cat's story is far from over so I hope Robyn is continuing the story as I still have a lot of unanswered questions and situations were left wide open. I enjoyed the story and would read it again. Pick up a copy if you have the chance.

Blood, Smoke and Mirrors wasn't what I expected. To be fair it was exactly what the description said it would be, but somehow I expected a completely different feel than it had. I think it was more fairytale than PNR, despite the vamps and werewolves. But different than expected isn't necessarily all bad. I enjoyed it. Cat is a likeable heroine, though the ever present cigarette annoyed me...a lot. I get that it gave her a personality quirk, but I didn't enjoy it. It bothered me in the same way that smelling smoke irks the nonsmokers in a restaurant. I wanted to waft it away. Lex, or Alexander Duquesne (how do you pronounce that?) was smexy, yum. Though I felt like he was missing for half the book, giving Zach room to grow on the reader. I felt disloyal rooting for him since

Spoiler

Cat was obviously going to be with her soul mate, Lex, in the end and not Zach

. Honestly, I bought book two almost solely to see what happens to/with Zach. I want him to have a happy ending. The fairy siblings were a hoot (poor Tybalt) and though Mac faded out about half way through the book I liked him too.

The book did feel a little bit lopsided. Cat overcame one major challenge only to step right into a second one, either of which could have been expanded to a full book. What's more, there didn't seem to be enough importance attached to the first one.

Spoiler

I mean come on, that was her father! But he might as well have been a stranger for all the difference it made to her.

The second dilemma was of lesser overall significance, but given more attention than the first. I was still left with questions though.

Spoiler

What was Zach's intended purpose in holding her hostage for a month? Was something happening outside of Harrison Tower that he wanted to keep her distracted from? Was he planning to fall in love with her from the beginning? I doubt it. Did her really expect to convince her to be part of his plans?

What was the point? I get what the outcome was, but that is only relevant after the fact.

All-in-all, despite being written in first person present tense (which almost always drives me up the wall) I enjoyed the read. It was fun, didn't take itself too seriously and passed the hours easily. I'm off to start [b:Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered|13449204|Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered|Robyn Bachar|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328153942s/13449204.jpg|18970081] now.

Kitty is recruited by her former lover, Lex, and her current boss, Mac, to pursue the position of Titania (ambassador between Earth magicals and Faerie) after the previous Titania dies of "natural causes" (massive blood loss). As she holds Lex responsible for being an outcast from witch society and believes herself too young to hold that much responsibility, she is understandably reluctant. However, after her frost faerie cousin, Portia, insists, Kitty throws her hat in the ring -- and learns who her competition will be.[return][return]Through the competition for the title of Titania, I thought this book was interesting and fun and tragic in turns. Unfortunately, after the competition was resolved, it really started to fall apart for me. Kitty is loyal, powerful, and has impulse control issues. Maybe I've read too many characters with that description lately, maybe the author relies too much on Kitty's poor judgment to move the plot along, maybe I was just never able to relate very well to Kitty, but by the end of the book I had Kitty planted firmly in the "too stupid to live" category of heroines.[return][return]At the end, I'm not sure how to rate this. Has a lot of promise and potential at the beginning, interesting secondary characters that will probably get more fleshed out over time, but at the end it's mostly about Kitty, and I didn't really like Kitty. If Cassie Palmer bugs you, I think you'll have the same reaction to Kitty (and the other parts of Kitty's triangle aren't as interesting as Pritkin or Mircea). However, if you really like the Cassie Palmer or Dresden series, it might be worth your time to at least check out an excerpt.