I will continue to rate these highly by virtue of the utterly fantastic world build. I read and read and I still want to know more about Fae politics, and how they are dealing with being thrust into the human world, and how the humans are coping. It seems an overdone, trite concept, but trust me when I say this is a singular world/series.

The plotting and the scheming in Face Off was good, though I did sort out the overriding threat long before the protagonist did, which left the last chunk of the book less interesting than it could have been, but it was still executed very well.

The second Laura Blackstone novel lived up to the expectations of the first, and moved a bit more towards a more typical urban fantasy with the development of her love interest. The character still remains intensely interesting on a psychological level- having one person pretending to be so many conflicting personas at once leads to interesting contemplations on issues of the self- and Laura does go through some changes in this book. And they are good changes, ones that further the character, and I am interested to see where they take future books.

Del Franco’s Connor Gray books remain a better series in my opinion, but the Laura Blackstone books are still a very enjoyable read. You get an inside view of the Guild and InterSec workings you miss from reading Connor’s point of view. Both series work together excellently to flesh out the magnificent world Del Franco has created.

If you are looking for unique urban fantasy, give either of these series a shot. They are well worth it.

Face Off

Skin Deep (The first Laura Blackstone novel)

Unshapely Things (the first Connor Grey novel)