PRG Reviewer’s Choice Award finalist for Best Urban Fantasy Series.Ivy Granger thought she left the worst of Mab’s creations behind when she escaped Faerie. She thought wrong.In a cruel twist of fate, Ivy has unleashed a powerful horde of Unseelie beasts upon her city, turning her homecoming into a potential slaughter of innocents. Now Ivy must gather her allies to fight a reputedly unstoppable … a reputedly unstoppable force–The Wild Hunt.
Will the training Ivy received in her father’s court be enough to save her city, or will Harborsmouth be forced to kneel before the Lord of the Hunt? She is willing to risk her own life, but some sacrifices come at a cost worse than death. When an ally is bitten by one of The Wild Hunt’s hounds, Ivy must face the possibility that winning this battle may mean killing the one person she has come to love most.
Hound’s Bite is the fifth full-length novel in the award-winning Ivy Granger urban fantasy series by E.J. Stevens. The world of Ivy Granger, including the Ivy Granger Psychic Detective series and Hunters’ Guild series, is filled with action, mystery, magic, dark humor, quirky characters, bloodsucking vampires, flirtatious demons, sarcastic gargoyles, sexy shifters, temperamental witches, psychotic faeries, and snarky, kick-butt heroines.
The Ivy Granger series has won numerous awards, including the BTS Red Carpet Award for Best Novel, the Imadjinn Award for Best Short Story, the Independent Audiobook Award for Best Short Story, the PRG Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Paranormal Fantasy Novel, Best Urban Fantasy Novel, and finalist for Best Urban Fantasy Series.
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Ivy Granger’s continuing saga is a morality tale replete with all the baggage that implies. Is killing an enemy the thing to do? If a friend becomes an enemy, how does that change the answer? Do I save the child or do I save everyone else? Because I can, should I?
HOUND’S BITE is an emotional rollercoaster ride. If you are anything like me, a person who cries at the movies, or when your favorite song plays, you’ll need a hanky to get through some parts of this book. As I was reading Ivy’s response to endangering a child, any child, whether human or fae or demon, the tears welled up in my eyes.
Harborsmouth finds itself, once more, under siege on several fronts. The battle is all blood and guts and horror, and written with such clarity as to tear your heart out. I read this book through tears of anguish at the potential for loss. Let me tell you, reading through tears may make the page a bit blurry, but putting the book down was not an option.
E. J. Stevens has created an alternate universe in which suspension of disbelief comes easily. Traveling there is as easy as turning the first page. Her characters are all so very real and believable because they are all so perfectly and uniquely flawed.
Stevens has carved her own personal niche in the horror/urban fantasy genre with the continuing saga of a strong female lead that is more developed with each new book. This is a series that you want to start with book one, SHADOW SIGHT, and work your way through them all. That is exactly what I plan to do… read them all!
Audible listen. Fun narration! There’s sound effects and voice modulation going on. The female narrator did a good job too. There’s also some male narration; a little stiff at times, but still good.
Entertaining magical adventure for Ivy and all her friends! For the best reading experience, I recommend reading the previous books, but this book does have its own complete adventure. In this one, the Wild Hunt is after Ivy, and someone has kidnapped someone Ivy considers family. Lots of danger going on! The story does move a bit slow at times; lots of planning and lots of characters to deal with, but I still enjoy the read. Love all the Fae aspects, and I enjoy the light, fun vibe to the story. I’d like a bit more depth of emotion, more romance; what is there is really sweet though, and some more action, but overall, this series has been great!
Another amazing adventure…
The newly engaged Ivy and Ceff are back from Faerie along with the irascible Torn, a cat sidhe. As much as they might like to head home and relax, they are immediately presented with another new danger. Basically, that’s par for the course when it comes to Ivy and her friends. The feared Huntsman and his terrifying hounds (the Barguest) have followed Ivy home to Harborsmouth where they intend to wreak havoc. Ivy and her friends must find a way to defend their community from these frightful denizens of another realm. This series never fails to entertain, enthrall, and delight with the wonderful and imaginative stories, the engaging characters, and the amazing adventure. The audiobook was narrated by two talented individuals, Melanie A. Mason and Anthony A. Bowlin, who each delivered a compelling performance and played off each other perfectly. The background music and sound effects were another delightful aspect that added so much ambience to the experience. Thanks to all for a truly wonderful job well done.
I was provided with copy of the audiobook version of this story by the author but I am voluntarily offering my honest and unbiased review.
Hound’s Bite (Ivy Granger, #5), my twelfth read from author E.J. Stevens and my tenth Ivy Granger read. Well-written with intriguing characters. 7-hours 1-minute/264-pages of enjoyment. Over the last two books, the story has evolved in directions I never saw coming when I began the series, wait no spoilers here, buy the book, read & review the book. E.J. Stevens has rapidly become a go-to author for me! I was given an Audible copy of this book & am voluntarily reading & reviewing it. Melanie A. Mason & Anthony Bowlin’s narration adds to the book’s enjoyment. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 – July 24, 2018).
A thrilling, fast paced continuation of the Ivy Granger series. Having just returned from the Faerie after discovering some shocking news about her parentage, Ivy and her cohorts find a year has passed in the mortal world. Not only have things changed with her friends but the Wild Hunt has managed to follow them back and is now threatening everything Ivy holds dear. This is an action-packed tale with great character interactions, epic battles and humorous dialogue. I loved how the different supernatural put aside their differences and worked together for the greater good, and I especially liked how the author developed the condom hat wearing Pooka in this book. As in all the books in the series, Torn’s witty flirting with both Ivy and Jinx, and all the snarky banter with Forneus was enjoyable. I also found the idea of having a priest, Father Michael, baby sitting Sparky, Ivy’s adopted demon child, hilarious. The battle scenes in this story have you on the edge of your seat as you did not know who would survive, and you are saddened by the losses. I really like the world the author has created and I am thoroughly enjoying how Ivy’s character is continuing to develop and grow into a strong leader. The dual narrators of the audiobook, Melanie A. Mason and Anthony Bowling, did a great job of bringing out the tension and anxiety in the story. Their voices fit each character and they kept the fast pace of the story well without making it seem rushed. The transition between the two narrators was much better than in prior books and I even enjoyed the sound effects. This is a well written, gripping story and I look forward to seeing where Ivy and her friend’s lives will go from here. This book is a continuation of past occurrences in the series and would therefore be best if it was read in order.
(RabidReads.com)**There may be spoilers in this review due to it being book 5 in the series**
Oh Ivy, what a situation you’ve gotten yourself into this time! Ivy Granger, paranormal detective extraordinaire, has just come back from her latest adventure-literally minutes before-when she realizes that The Wild Hunt has followed her through the portal from Faerie. She’s back in Harborsmouth after what was a year for her, her fiance Ceff( the Kelpie King), and Torn (the lord of the Cat Sidhe), only to find that in the human world it’s only been a week. It’s right before dawn and they have only until dark of that same day, before the leader of the Wild Hunt, Herne, will blow his magical horn signaling the start of the battle. It’s a battle to take over Harborsmouth(just the first step to take over much more) and to rid the world of Ivy, while they are at it. It seems Ivy’s mother-that’s a whole other story-has backed the Wild Hunt with her magic and now she wants rid of Ivy. Ivy is new to her full powers and it’s growing steadily. She’s not about to let The Wild Hunt take over anything, much less kill her. After all, this is Ivy we are talking about!
Ivy wears me out-in a good way. She is a total bad ass and is seemingly never sits still. I adore her character and she is definitely one that grows with each book. Even though she has gone through everything that happened to her in Faerie and has just returned to Harborsmouth after a year, she doesn’t rest, eat, or even go to her home. She’s pulled immediately into the action, along with Cleff and Torn. And Cleff and Torn had an even worse time of it while in Faerie. A good friend of Ivy’s(and a witch), has now become pretty insane with power. When she kidnaps someone newly close to Ivy to use for a spell on this same day, Ivy drops everything to find her friend and thwart the witch. So not only do we have the Wild Hunt premise, we have the witches’s insane plot, as well. Also back for this installment are Jinx, Ivy’s best(and human)friend, and Forneus, the demon that Jinx loves, among many other familiar faces.
E.J. Stevens is brilliant at writing stories that include just about every kind of supernatural being and then some, all the while keeping it mainly about Ivy and her close circle of friends. She has written a character that is admirable in her tenaciousness towards keeping people safe, almost to the point of the loss of her own life, and still keeps Ivy down to earth and caring. Each book is another adventure in Ivy’s life in Harborsmouth, and each is part of an ongoing back story about Ivy finding out what she is supernaturally, growing into that role, and her quest to find her father. In doing so, she gets further and further involved with the supernatural creatures/characters of the city, and has long since become a hero to the supernaturals that reside in Harborsmouth.
I am always up for reading another Ivy adventure, as they are always well written, feature fun characters, and unusual premise’s. Sure, it’s urban fantasy, but it’s really different(and good)urban fantasy. Very refreshing in a reading world that has an over abundance of that type of read. To top it off, there is a couple of really sweet romances going on in this series, as well. While the romances are good, the main focus of the stories are the action, the supernatural characters, Harborsmouth, and Ivy herself. Keep in mind, they do follow a reading order, so I would suggest starting with book 1, Shadow Sight. I highly recommend this whole series to people 15 plus.
4.5/5 stars (less)