Ravenous by Sharon Ashwood

Ravenous is the first Sharon Ashwood book I've read. It's the first volume in the Dark Forgotten series. I was happy to discover a new author who writes great urban fantasy in the same style as Keri Arthur and Kelley Armstrong.

The heroine is Holly Carver, a witch who specializes in the removal of ghosts, poltergeists and imps to raise tuition money. The book opens with Holly being hired to "de-spook" a house, a job that turns out to be much more complicated than it appears at first. She is helped by Alessandro Caravelli, a sexy vampire, and later gets assistance from a werewolf named Perry Baker.

One thing I liked about the book was that it was not immediately clear who the hero was. The characters were mostly complex, not stereotypical at all and I enjoyed them, especially Omara, the vampire queen, and Holly's grandmother. There is a lot of action, including a big battle scene at the end of the book, and a fast pace. The romance takes a back seat to the fight against evil, but it's very intense and ultimately very satisfying.

I'll rate it 8.5 out of 10 and look forward to reading the next book in the series, Scorched, which will be out in December.