There are two things I want to point out about Lia Cooper’s Death Days which are no fault of the author’s: first, this book is not at all a category romance, as the publisher has it labelled. Second, this book isn’t at all explicit, at least not in a sexual sense. The slow burn tag is absolutely correct, though, almost to the point that I thought there wasn’t going to be a relationship arc at all. The one thing Death Days is explicit in, however, is the paranormal goodies, which is what I enjoyed most about this reading. The scenes in which Professor Nick Littman uses his necromantic talents on his ‘Igors’ to practice summoning demons is awesome, how they’re disposed of is gory fun, and I liked the metaphysical aspects of the story at every turn.

Nick teaches courses that don’t lend themselves to common interests with the average person, especially when he knows firsthand that the ancient thaumaturgy he instructs his students in is based a lot more in truth than in mere superstition. Nick’s supernatural lineage dates back centuries to a several-times-great grandfather and a sworn oath that his family would serve the Order, a vow Nick vehemently swears he will not be beholden to after his older brother, Martin, dies and leaves Nick next in line. His estranged, minutes-older twin sister, Nadia, is a squib (for lack of a better term), and her animosity towards Nick for potentially drawing attention to her by refusing to claim his place on the council is a means of highlighting what a loner Nick is—no family, no close friends, but he does have a teaching assistant, Josiah Wexler, whom Nick is trying hard not to be attracted to. Nick doesn’t want to be that cliché, the college professor who has the hots for his much younger student. Little does Nick know that Josiah is as attracted to Nick as Nick is to him.

Nick has been considering Josiah for an apprenticeship in his ‘side work’, if one can give necromancy and spell casting such a simplistic moniker, but how does one ask if a person is receptive to the idea of opening up holes in the fabric between the here and there to call forth demons? It’s not until Josiah is himself exposed to things not of this world that Nick confesses he is ‘other’ as well, and the plot gains some traction for it.

Having read Lia Cooper’s Blood and Bone Trilogy, I was excited to dig into this new offering from her. This book has everything that should have made it a slam-dunk for me: age gap, taboo attraction, slow burn relationship, and more paranormal fun than you can shake a smudge stick at. Of course, being familiar with an author’s work also invites some inevitable comparisons, and I have to say that I was less impressed by Death Days than I’d hoped to be. Cooper has proven she can write full-bodied characters and then create tension and friction and chemistry between them. Unfortunately, that evidence was absent here. There was never a moment where I became fully absorbed in the story, that I wasn’t aware I was being narrated to by the author, and I can only owe that to the fact I made nothing beyond a perfunctory connection to Nick, who is the point of view character throughout the novel. His personality is lackluster, and his construct is a series of details we’re told about. Josiah we don’t get to know much about at all, which is so unfortunate as, from what I can tell, I would have enjoyed getting to know him better. In fact, I may have enjoyed the story more told from his point of view. Or, it might have even worked better for me if the story were told from Nick’s more intimate first person narration.

Cooper’s narrative does have a smooth cadence to it, though the first half of Death Days is a bit slow to the point of it dragging. The pace does pick up in the second half, once Josiah is introduced to the truth that there are more things in heaven and earth than could be dreamt of in his philosophies. Overall, however, I feel this was an off-kilter offering from an author whose writing has impressed me in the past, and unless this is book one in a series, it leaves Nick dangling, stuck now in a situation that was supposed to be the bane of his entire existence, a point made a multitude of times throughout the book.

This novel is good but not great for someone who loves forming a bond with and making an emotional investment in a book’s characters, even the characters who aren’t always easy to love, but as always, YMMV.

I made it 30% into this book and I feel that at this point I should have a vague idea where the plot is going. But I had none. Things just happened. At first, Nick, our hero, tries to summon a demon but fails. He gives some lectures at university and it seems like he doesn’t exactly enjoy it (or care much about his student) which makes him incredibly likeable. His sister turns up and is horrid, there is some stuff with a magical council who want him to join but he doesn’t want to (why? For all I could tell because he is a contrarian jerk), he gets hunted by…something but escapes, his TA is hot, Nick is supposed to help the TA with his paper but he keeps being a horrible teacher. Then some vampire witches appear and threaten/warn him about…something. And that’s when I stopped. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t care about the hero. Or the fact that the only female characters that had appeared so far were horrible. And the weird forth and back between flowery, almost purple prose in some chapters and dull, functional in others didn’t help either.

*~~*ARC kindly provided to me for an honest review *~~*

- Review to come

Review originally posted on my blog with added content on Mikku-chan / A world full of words

4.5 stars

While I read several reviews where the readers were disppointed in the story, I certainly wasn't. There was a steady buildup from beginning to end. I'm confident that his is just the opening book in a series and that any unresolved issues will be handled in upcoming books. The relationship between Nick and Josiah was satisfying enough for an initial installment and I look forward to reading further.

This was an interesting story but it reads as if it is the first book in a series. There is a lot of scene setting and introductions to characters that feel as if they might do something vital, but the vital parts don't happen.

Everything feels like a build up. I felt as if the story was building up into a crescendo that may sound in the next book, or perhaps the one after that.

The story isnt a terrible one, but I had to push myself to stay engaged.

In this book we get a very thorough introduction to Nick the necromancer and his teaching assisstant Josiah. They are not together but by the end of the story they have become a couple and Nick has been pressurised into making some decisions to save Josiah's life. This story does not explore the implications of those decisions but it does set the scene for this to be explored in a future book.

The writing is good, the characters are interesting, but I felt a lot more could have happened to make this story far more interesting than it was.

Copy provided by Nine Star Press via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I can honestly say that this is one of the creeper books I've read in a long time. Demon summoning, grave robbing, corpse eating bugs... they seem to be the norm for Nick. Although he kind of grew on me, I can kind of see why he was the black sheep in both his family and fellow practitioners. That seemed to suit him just fine because there was no love lost between him and the magical community that was trying to get him to take his family's seat on the council.

This wasn't really a romance, but there was a romantic connection. I won't spoil it by telling you who that ended up being, but if you're like me, it wasn't hard to figure out... or hope for ;) There were quite a few twists and turns and a fair amount of suspense and as mentioned, a touch of romance - which was complicated. I personally can't wait to see what happens next... speaking of which...

Okay, I know that you're wondering and I promise, I'm not confused and the title for this review isn't incomplete, but when I finished Death Days, I just had the feeling that there was more or maybe I was just hoping that there was more. I don't usually go creeping on author's websites (well, not a lot anyway) but I just had to know! And since I wasn't the only reader/reviewer that felt that way, I went searching. When I traveled to Lia Cooper's website, I discovered that Death Days is indeed the first book in at least a trilogy, but she didn't indicate the name of the series (hence my creative, incomplete blog post title). Stay tuned, because I most definitely will be keeping my eyes open for the next installment. ;)

4 stars
This was not at all what I expected, but that wasn't a bad thing. I had been anticipating a romance, but while there was definitely a romance in it I'd tend to call it more an urban fantasy. Upon finishing it I feel like I've read the starting book of a new series, so I do hope there will be more.

There were plenty of questions left interesting and unanswered at the end that I would really like to see more fully explored. It's not a cliffhanger, but there are certainly things that feel somewhat unresolved.

The writing was enjoyable, and though a few other things in life kept me bogged down for a few days I sat down and read probably the last 75% of the book in a day, so it was decidedly an easy read.

I liked Josiah immensely. I really would have liked to see a bit more of his own thoughts and feelings on things, but as he is, seen through the lens Nick's perspective he was interesting and terribly likeable.

Nick himself was a bit of a harder sell for me personally. I didn't dislike him, but there is a massive chip on his shoulder that definitely comes through in his voice. It was mildly off-putting, yet didn't stop me from caring what happened to him or rooting for him, so I think I can say that was also impressively done. The two of them as a relationship were slow burn but believable to me. Though again, I would really like to see more of how they develop.

Overall the magic and world building were interesting. I have many questions left that I'd love to see answered, so I'll give this one a solid four stars and hope for a sequel.

Really enjoyed this one. Nick is a very complex character, reminds me a lot of Harry Dresden in that he wants to do magic his way and doesn't always like to listen to the rules whether they're for his own benefit or not.

I was totally confused by this book. I went in thinking it would be m/m Paranormal Romance, because that's what I've read from Lia Cooper in the past and it's a lot of what Nine Star Press publishes, but it's not. The main character is gay and there is a character that might be a romantic partner in some future book (if one is coming), but there's no romance here. So, do yourself a favor and go in expecting Urban Fantasy and you'll be a lot happier with the result.

Of course there's nothing really wrong with not being the genre I expected. That's not a sign of poor quality. Poor marketing maybe, but not quality. But I wasn't all together thrilled with the book in general. If anything, it felt like a 250 page prequel to a larger novel. I finished the book feeling very much like, "Well, we've got the background sorted. Now the story can start."

None of the various threads wrapped up. I mean NONE. The big mystery is set up and never even addressed. Nick spends the whole book avoiding being roped into the council, but we don't know what happens with that. There's the set up of a maybe romance. But it's not delved into at all. Nothing ends...just like in all those silly 'prequel novellas' that were popular last year.

I found the mechanical writing fine and the banter between people was good. But the story is slow and I found the narrative a bit flat. Things happen, but I never felt much invested in the outcomes. Nick seemed equally concerned that he submit end of terms grades on time as with the 'hole in the world,' new werewolf, and creeping vampires. And if he couldn't hustle up any emotional reaction, neither could I.

All in all, I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. I'd read the next to try and see the outcome. Now, if it turns out that this is meant as a stand-alone I'll be coming back and rerating it a one star. There's no way this is complete.

This book is marketed/tagged as a romance, but honestly it works much more as an urban fantasy than it does as a PNR.

It’s kinda hard to sift through what the plot is, but the magic and world building is very interesting. Nick Littman is an adjunct professor, but he’s also a necromancer from a long line of magic users (mages is correct word in this world, I believe) and he’s supposed to have a seat on the governing Council of mages. The book starts with Nick trying to summon a demon in order to get prophecies, but the summoning fails and he’s attacked by the demon, housed in one of his Igors, what he calls the bodies he resurrects. From there, he ends up with a black hole in his basement. But not only is there magic, there are vampires who show up announced at his house and werewolves, including his TA/student/love interest.

I really enjoyed the magic and how it was described, but I don’t know if I’d go out of my way to continue this series. There are a lot of unanswered questions and things I’m curious about, but at the same time I didn’t feel fully engaged until the final part of the story.

As to the romantic aspect of the book, it’s honestly negligible and the story wouldn’t be changed much without the romantic subplot. We know from early on that Nick has a romantic/sexual interest in Josiah, but he refuses to cross any lines because Josiah is his student. The ending can be read as a HFN and the beginning of a relationship, but it also almost feels tacked on to meet romance requirements.

Overall I enjoyed this as an urban fantasy and like the way magic is described, but it did not feel like a romance to me.

Nicholas Littman is a necromancer. In a world in which the paranormal is well hidden -- and most magical practitioners fall on the elemental, life-affirming end of the spectrum -- his talent has left him isolated, spending his days teaching a few classes at the local university and his nights perfecting his abilities. Or, trying to do so, anyway. His last experiment left his magical laboratory a mess, his statue of Asclepius a pile of pebbles, and his supply of reanimated cadavers at zero. On top of that, the Order of the Green Book is pressuring him to assume his hereditary position on the council; his estranged non-magical sister is on his case to keep an even lower profile, lest his grave robbing threaten her political career; the Night Women have come with a dire warning about "wolves at his door"; and his teaching assistant Josiah -- whom he had hoped to make his apprentice, or more -- is showing no interest in or talent for real magic.

Oh, and did I mention the monster in the woods?

And the ominous crack in creation that has appeared in his basement?

I am perpetually hunting for new urban fantasy and paranormal romance series which treat magic, the occult, and paganism (even small-p paganism) respectfully. So I am always happy when I find one that does, for the most part, get it right.

I would not classify Death Days as a capital-P Pagan book. The focus is on the magic and there is little reference to religion. There is Nicholas' statue of Asclepius and there is an off-hand reference to a statue of Re somewhere in his family history; additionally, he spends a good chunk of his free time hunting and pecking through auction sites in search of magical ancient artifacts, many of which seem to be polytheist relics. And while Nicholas does have an unfortunate run-in with a demon, it is simply presented as a malevolent entity, not a being tied to a specific cosmology.

Additionally, in Death Days, the world of the paranormal is hidden deep in the shadows. Magic workers -- whether shaman, warlock, witch, druid, vampire, or werewolf -- are so afraid of discovery by mundanes that they barely even speak among themselves. When Nicholas reaches out to a former student for assistance (a woman whom he knows works real magic) he can barely bring himself to say the word "werewolf" out loud; he has to work up to it. The fear experienced by the entire magical community is not only palpable, but almost paralyzing. I can see this becoming a serious issue in future volumes; what if a particularly powerful and terrible threat appears, and the magical community can't come together to stop it?

Nicholas himself is an appealing, if prickly, character. He is an academic and a necromancer; he loves books and research and magical theory and experimentation. While his magical talent is natural, his workings require extensive preparation and training. He forces himself to teach because otherwise he knows that he would become a complete hermit. He also knows that the magical community has little use for someone like him; the Order of the Green Book wants him on the council because a Littman centuries ago helped found the Order and magically bound his descendants to it; the Order can't function properly without him. They don't want him, but they need him, and he (understandably) resents that. As a result, when things go from moderately bad to incredibly bad, Nicholas has few magical allies or friends to call upon, little knowledge of the factions in his area, and no spells that he can just whip out like a badass battle mage.

He is over his head, and he knows it.

But the one person he does care about desperately needs his help. And so he pushes on.

Overall, I very much enjoyed Death Days. The characters are compelling, the magic is interesting, and the world-building is strong (with hints of a much larger magical community yet to be seen). This first volume falls pretty firmly in the urban fantasy camp; there are hints of romance, but nothing serious develops until very nearly the end of the book. I have the feeling that relationship will continue to evolve as the series progresses, and the romance will become more important.

Recommended to fans of KJ Charles' Spectred Isle, Jordan L Hawk's Hexworld series, and Rhys Ford's Black Dog Blues.

The description of this book immediately grabbed me. It was a slow start but stick with it because it definitely gets better. I would love for this to be the beginning of a new series from Lia Cooper.

The description really grabbed me & I thought I was in for a great paranormal read. What I got was some paranormal activity with not a lot of detail. We did get some magic and werewolves but a few other paranormals were just glossed over & I felt there was a lot left out of this book. In addition, the romance was lacking & I would have liked more.

I struggled a little with a rating on this one. There were a number of things about Death Days that I loved; however, it also had a few issues. Let's start with the positives. I enjoyed the premise of Nick being a teacher by day and necromancer by night. That had a lot of potential. I also liked him as a character. He was appealing flawed. Josiah, too, came across well, although I would have liked a little more depth to him earlier on. Meanwhile, the plot started strongly and caught my interest right from the start.

However, like I said, it wasn't perfect. That potentially interesting plot left several strands hanging, having changed direction and gone off on a different tangent halfway through. I closed the final page with a wealth of unanswered questions. That wouldn't have bothered me if this book was clearly the first in a duology or trilogy and I could anticipate resolution in the next instalment, but I see no indication anywhere that this will be a series, and as a standalone, it leaves the reader ultimately unsatisfied. Then there were the two times the text dropped out of Nick's POV and into Josiah's in the final quarter of the book. There was no need for this--the information we got from it was unimportant to the plot--so I felt it should have been eliminated, along with some bizarre, incorrect punctuation here and there.

Ultimately, this was a book with a lot of good points and plenty of promise that didn't quite live up to itself due to plotting issues. However, the bits I did like, I liked a lot. Therefore, I am giving it 3 stars.