Boundary Crossed

I picked this up on Kindle First based on a friends recommendation and he did not steer me wrong.

Lex is a well thought out character who has an interesting past and her world is about to get much bigger. After being in the right place at the right time to save her niece she by all means should be dead, but isn't. What follows is finding out that she has powers, but so does her niece, and others want her for their own agendas. From there it's Lex tracing just who wanted Charlie and why, while discovering what she is capable of.

Thankfully when it comes to the Old World that she is about to discover, vampires, witches, and werewolves are real, but they're realistic. They also don't really get along with one another. Some of it is centuries of politics, some of it is because they can physically affect one another. It's refreshing to see a different take on supernatural beings

There were so many nuances and things that had to be mentioned about Lex that at first I was afraid Olson had introduced too many threads that would need to be wrapped up. Thankfully any that didn't seem to drive the plot have been resolved now, but we have one major thread about her sister that I have a feeling is going to weave itself throughout the series.

Another thing I liked about this book was that we didn't get a ton of info dumping to explain Lex, it just appeared as it was needed, especially when it came to her sister.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I look forward to the next one.

In general, I am a bit wary of the urban fantasy genre. More often than not, if the protagonist is female, she's likely to be cast as a “damsel in distress” who seems to be unable to do the simplest things without the help of at least one (or two, or more) uber-strong male characters (usually vampire and/or werewolf and/or sorcerer). Or she is an invincible super-witch (rarely a vampire or werewolf, maybe sometimes a shapeshifter).

While “Lex” Luther falls definitely into the witch category, and there are even hints that she might grow to be super-powerful eventually, at least for now she is neither a helpless damsel nor can she take on the rest of the world on her own. I like her pragmatic nature, and I hope she continues to be kick-ass without becoming invincible.

What I could do without is that hint of a romantic subplot - let's hope this one doesn't get too much attention in future sotries. If I want to read a “kissing book”, I'll read a romance novel, thank you very much. :)