SPARKS by Laura Bickle

An Anya Kalinczyk Novel #2
Publisher: St. Martins
Date publisher: August 2010
ISBN: 9781439167687
Urban Fantasy
Mass Market Paperback
Reviewed by Dawn
Obtained by author


Anya Kalinczyk found out six months before that she is a mythical lantern, a psychic medium of sorts and one who also is an arson investigator. A new case has her scratching her head in confusion as she tries to figure out what happened to Jasper Bernard. On top of it all, spirits are disappearing faster than you can blink and it’s up to Anya to figure it all out. Can she find a way to stop Hope Solomon from destroying Detroit and the world in her quest for power as well as keeping Sparky’s newly hatched newts safe from harm?

I loved this series since I read the first book, EMBERS, and Ms. Bickle continues to keep me entertained in SPARKS. In her next book in Anya Kalinczynk’s adventures as a Detroit Arson Investigator and Lantern, a physic medium, we find six months have passed and Anya is still dealing with everything that has happened in EMBERS. With her familiar, Sparky, by her side as well as a romance with a fellow ghost hunter, she finds her life threatened by something or someone who will stop at nothing to get all the spirits she wants to use for their nefarious purposes. Ms. Bickle continues to have characters that evolve within the storyline and I certainly could relate to Anya as she tried to deal with past emotional trauma from her childhood as well as issues with her romance and two jobs converging on each other. Ms. Bickle is a talented storyteller who definitely created a kick butt series to engross her readers. A new talent in the urban fantasy genre, she delivers in her latest release, SPARKS.

What endeared me to SPARKS even more was the relationship between Sparky and Anya. Together since childhood, they have a connection that was wonderful and lovable. Sparky steals the show at times and had me smiling at his antics during the course of the story. The many twists and turns had me riveted through the course of the story. Just as I thought I had figured it out, the author would flip the script and catch me completely off guard. If you haven’t grabbed EMBERS or SPARKS, I highly recommend this series for those who enjoy a kick butt heroine, her lovable familiar and her friends that battle evil in downtrodden Detroit. Ms. Bickle is fast becoming one of my favorite urban fantasy authors to read and I am looking forward to the next Anya Kalinczyk adventure. I just hope it isn’t too long of a wait.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.