Heart of Briar by Laura Anne Gilman

I had just been saying that I haven’t felt like reading anything lately when Heart of Briar caught my eye.  I’ve never read anything my Laura Anne Gilman before, but the premise of Heart of Briar sounded good.  So I took it out and couldn’t put it down once I started reading it!

In Heart of Briar, Jan’s boyfriend goes missing.  She knows that something is wrong, but the police cannot do anything until he’s been missing for at least a couple of days.  She goes to check out his apartment and is attacked by some creature on the way home.  Luckily AJ and Martin are there to save her.

But AJ and Martin aren’t normal themselves.  AJ is a lupine, Martin a kelpie.  They are part of a small band of supernatural creatures who are trying to stop an invasion of elves.  The elves are preternatural beings, beings who do not belong in our world.  Traditionally they have opened portals to our world in order to beguile mortals.  But now they can open portals seemingly wherever and whenever they want.  And they’ve stolen Jan’s boyfriend.

Now Jan and her new friends are in a race against time to save Tyler before the preternaturals completely destroy him.

Heart of Briar was a really interesting take on elves and other supernatural creatures.  So if you’re looking for something a little different than the usual urban fantasy of witches, werewolves and the like, why not give Heart of Briar a try? Shauna