I picked this book up initially because a writer friend mentioned it, and it sounded interesting. I enjoyed the author's handling of the vampire ethos and her introduction of other unique elements into the world of the story. The characters are well-drawn and interesting, and the story surprised me several times. Would definitely read another in this series. Great paranormal/urban fantasy reading! ( )

This is a solid 3.75 beginning to a series

There were unexpected plot twists that kept my interest and, for a series first, it didn't feel like the story was put on hold while the world was being built. The characters are interesting. The author obviously respects the reader by not giving us all we need to know about each character by page 25. Details and nuances are revealed by character deeds.

It is a good read but not a great read, hence the 3.75 stars. ( )

3.5/5
Oh man, this book could have been amazing! Instead it left me underwhelmed, slightly entertained and mostly bored.

What went wrong?

All the elements for a good urban fantasy were there: a book store owner/ex-hunter/vampire Val with a charming Renfield, Chaz, who is more like a friend than a servant; a young and trigger happy monster hunter Elly; her warlock friend Cavale and a couple of truly bad ass fighting succubi.

My problem is, - here are all these lovely characters which are not being utilised enough! Val's hunter history is hinted upon but there are no cool flashbacks and there are no certain habits to indicate that she is an ex-hunter. Her interactions with the vampire community of Boston are hardly there despite the mention of this whole back story of Chaz getting in a lot of trouble with them. Elly hardly has anything going for her despite all her training, and we only get to know her more through Cavale reminiscing about their mutual past. At last, succubi Lia and Sunny are seemingly Val's friends and they have these amazing daggers that they fight with but nothing is told us about them.


It was incredibly frustrating to feel like you were reading a second book in the series instead of the first where the author doesn't mention anything because the reader already knows the characters well.

The fights in general and the banter between Chaz and Val were nice, and I also enjoyed reading about Cavale's magic rituals...but I can't master enough enthusiasm to recommend this book to you and I'm truly sorry for that. ( )

Night Owls by Lauren M. Roy is a new urban fantasy series starring a new take on werewolves (adding in some creepy zombie elements), a couple of awesome heroines, solid friendships and sibling bonds, and an all-around intriguing new world! Night Owls borrows from more traditional fantasy in that it has several characters who all tell the story through multiple points of view, making it a well-rounded book with primary and secondary characters with surprising depth. I’m generally a bit stingy when it comes to urban fantasy since I’m such a fan girl of my favorite series, but Night Owls has managed to convince me to add another UF series to my must-read list! So when is book two coming out???? >.> Make sure to enter the giveaway (US only, sorry!) at the bottom of the post so you can enjoy this new series too!



Note: I received Night Owls from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Strengths:
Night Owls is so much fun! The writing is fast, the characters are witty, the ending left me wanting more. Night Owls definitely captured the addictive quality of the urban fantasy genre.
In the world of Night Owls, there aren’t your typical werewolves. Instead, there are Jackals, which are kind of a mix of werewolves and zombies! I’m suspicious there will be some Egyptian mythology thrown in in the future as we figure out more about Jackals, and I’m freaking pumped :D. I love it when urban fantasy stories manage to take familiar elements and add a new twist to them.
The plot of Night Owls is exciting and interesting. Right from the start we are wondering what is so important about this book that the Jackals are hunting our heroine for. I really enjoyed finding the answers alongside the characters and really never felt things lagged.
Urban fantasy traditionally focuses on one main character right? Well, Night Owls has multiple PoVs including a number of chapters from secondary characters’ perspectives. I thought this worked great to convey more depth for each of the characters (seeing them from other perspectives was cool) and what all was going on in the plot.

Weaknesses:
Night Owls didn’t provide quite as much information as I expect from a first in series. Sure we don’t want to be overwhelmed, but I don’t like having too many basic world-building questions left over. One of the main questions I had while reading was the title of Renfield for the vampire’s assistant. Obviously if you are familiar with Dracula, you will catch this reference, but if you aren’t then you will probably be pretty confused. In any case, that’s the name of Dracula’s servant, but Night Owls doesn’t actually explain that. I’m also still wondering a lot about the Jackals’ origins and kind of expect a new critter to be explained more since we can’t make as many assumptions about them.
The Jackals have another nickname, “Creeps” which just really felt out of place to me. I don’t really see the need for this species to have two names and whenever Elly used the word, I got thrown out of the story a bit.
Night Owls uses a dialogue technique from time to time that just didn’t work for me. At times, the characters will use sentence fragments where ellipses or commas seemed more appropriate. I ended up saying the dialogue in my head to see if I was missing some special emphasis but came to the conclusion that I wasn’t. There is also some slang that I don’t think is common day slang but also seemed odd to be newly created. Though perhaps I’m just not hip ;-).

Summary:
Night Owls has a couple of quirks but is otherwise an excellent new addition to the urban fantasy genre. I’m a huge Ilona Andrews and Patricia Briggs fan, so I highly recommend you check out Night Owls if you like those two urban fantasy writers. Night Owls is a bit interesting for an urban fantasy since it has almost no romance, though room for a slow burn later in the series makes me happy. I’m thinking this is going to be another favorite urban fantasy series for my list! And seriously, when is book two coming out?? ( )

Lauren Roy's writing style is like a mix between Kim Harrison and Devon Monk, easy flowing, full of action and characters that feel like friends. There are quite a few characters we meet in this book, but I didn't feel overwhelmed. Each one gets enough time for the reader to know where they come from and what their goals are. She has quite the blend of personalities too.
The plot was simple and straight forward. If you're looking for a book with twists and turns, this isn't the one for you. There was a minor twist towards the end, but nothing overtly dramatic. Definitely a book if you want a light supernatural read. ( )