Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong

As a bookseller, I accumulated a massive collection of books, which is now a massive collection of backlist. Series titles that I bought during employee appreciation days, bored college days, summer weekends that were supposed to be spent reading that new book that caught my eye during shelving... You get the picture. I always blame my *hoarding* on the early college days when I had no TBR stack to speak of and was concerned that I'd have too much down time and not enough to read (and no money). So I started collecting that summer. And it snowballed!

It's not completely a bad thing. My sisters have all come up as readers, so I've shared a lot of books with them and it also comes in handy when I "discover" a new author and can go on a binge read with them :) They've been reading Kelley Armstrong since the days following their Twilight discovery. Armstrong was actually the first author I thought of when my sisters said they wanted more paranormals.

I'm usually a stickler about reading series books in order, but Kelley Armstrong's series is actually a collection of mostly stand alone titles that take place in the same world. Series characters make appearances in other books, but the idea (and she's even stated it on her website) is that you can read them in any order. This was a big bonus on my part when last year's release, Waking the Witch, came out. In the book, Savannah Levine is asked to investigate a murder that smells of the supernatural. It's a great paranormal mystery and a good jumping in point for someone like me who hasn't read the ten other titles in the series.

But... the series is winding down. Next year's release is to be the last (or so I've read) and the big finale begins this year with Spell Bound.

Spell Bound picks up right at the end of Waking the Witch, Savannah has been left powerless after an inadvertent deal made with an unknown entity, and a witch-hunter is on her tail. As Savannah and Adam track this hunter, they discover that there is something big brewing in the supernatural world. Key players have been murdered and there are rumors of a prophecy that somehow pertains to Savannah.

In this twelfth of the series, Armstrong brings back many of the past characters, all of whose backstories are mentioned in passing. The story itself can stand on its own (well, as a continuation of Waking the Witch) but for folks unfamiliar with the other characters, it can be a bit confusing. At least I have a year to catch up!