For Finlay Ryder, danger means playing a racecar driver on a daytime soap. That is, until he’s forced to reckon with his true identity as an Albah, a magical ancient race, by one of his own kind. Someone wants him dead. And worse, an ancient vampire is on the prowl, drawing blood left and right. Now, Finlay has no choice but to hunt enemies with unspeakable powers—or risk being hunted himself. . . and that’s just the first date. Ice skater Alina Nyx is using her broken wrist as an excuse for a career change. And when she falls for handsome Finlay, Albah drama feels like her new full-time job. Learning about magic and vampires is exciting, until her life is threatened. Now, as she begins to uncover her own mysterious powers, she must combine forces with Finlay to eradicate their foes for good, or all Albah will suffer . . .
The book was good. I liked both main characters as they went through the story. Both characters were well written. I enjoyed the plot. I recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

The main problem with this series for me are the villains. This is the second book where the bad guy is a human with barely any knowledge of the Albah and no magic of their own or back up. The villains are more annoying then actually dangerous, but the hero's don't take the time find out who their foe is. We barely know anything more about the Albah, and although there were scene's with a Vampire he might as well have been another clueless Albah for all the information he shared. Not to mention it is ridiculously easy to kill a Vampire, so they suck (pun intended) as villains too. The leads were fine, but they might as well have been plain humans since they both didn't really use any magic. Because the books are so short I may read the next one, just to read the crumbs of Albah information given.

the blood and silver series continues with maid of ice. finley ryder knows that the accident that nearly kills him is no accident. but he can’t prove it. he can’t explain to others how he survived. how his magic kept him safe.

when he meets alina nyx in the hospital, he senses she might be like him. even though she appears to be human. but he’s uncertain and the albah live in secrecy. alina is drawn to finley too. there’s something between them that sparks and sizzles. she doesn’t want anything serious, and yet from the get-go there is clearly something more happening between them.

when finley confronts alina about her water magic she is stunned to realize that’s what it is. her whole life her mother had hidden this from her. she went out of her way to avid teaching alina about her magic, about their people.

with finley she learns that things for the albah are changing. but when finley’s life is threatened, the choices that must be made are going to have far-reaching consequences. including whether or not to commit to a lifetime of magic.

what i loved about the relationship between finley and alina is that being together allows both of them to grow. finley has spent his whole life avoiding his heritage and hiding it. but never to the extent that alina’s family is willing to go. being with alina makes him realize that he does care about being albah and that as a people they need to learn more about each other and their past. with finley, alina finds her true self. she knows who and what she is, and that knowledge sets her free. and even as she loses the only family she’s ever known, she gain a community of people that she wants to be involved with. people who will help her harness all the potential she never knew she had locked up in her.

**maid of ice will publish on november 21, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/kensington books (lyrical press) in exchange for my honest review.

This  interesting series features "ALBAH" who are descendants of pixies or fairies with magical skills who are hunted by human guardians because of their ability to create vampires who need blood to survive. The previous books in the series have featured an encounter of a violent nature with either a vampire or a guardian and the associated suspense with the hunt and capture.
Finlay Ryder has left if all behind and moved to the other side of the world to become an actor. It seems however that he might somehow have put himself in the cross hairs of either an obsessed fan or he's been found out by a guardian.  Read on to discover what's really going on... Every book builds upon the previous book like unpeeling layers of an onion and coloring in the picture in more detail.  While this story has a lot of interesting elements it did not appeal to me as much as the earlier two books in the series.  Finlay is the eldest in the Ryder family but feels that he was procreated as the obligatory ALBAH son therefore distancing himself from his father and his half brothers.
However it seems that trouble has found him in Los Angeles. Recovering from a near fatal car crash he has to wonder if he's being stalked or hunted. Then his father drops a bombshell asking him to investigate who is making vampires in California.  During this period Finlay has met Alina, an ice skater who appears to have magical powers and yet does not look like an ALBAH.  As it becomes clear that Alina has a hidden magical heritage that her controlling and obsessive mother has hidden from her, she teams up with Finlay to explore her family as well as the vampire maker.
Between the vampires, Alina's mother, her plastic surgeon grandfather, Finlay's stalker there are enough moving parts to give the reader's neck a great work out. Unfortunately for me the story seemed to lack depth. There is that almost instant love between the protagonists both of whom did not appeal to me at all.  It is gratifying to finally get some background perspective on the love story or lack thereof between Finlay's parents that helped me emote somewhat with the characters.
I am sure that this is my problem given my most recent slump in reading fulfillment and not the fault of the author or the words and characters.  I'll wait and see what happens next with this series before I throw the towel in.

This book was ok. It had everything that I would want in it.
Magic, love, fight with evil, vampires.
The characters were good. Finlay and Alina were full and I could feel the connection between them.
I would love to see this story longer and fuller.

In the PNR world, it is hard to come up with something new. I think this author did a good job creating a twist in order to create a great "something new". This is a fun romance with unique world building. I enjoyed the way the author used an ordinary backdrop/setting and added the right amount of urban fantasy to appease this fantasy lover. I think the characters are well-developed, I liked the interplay between the two main characters and the dialog read natural and felt "real" (that's important to me). I'm thinking (and hoping) that this is the first of a series.

Reviewed by Terri of the GothicMoms Review Team

Maid of Ice, Shona Husk

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Sci-fi and fantasy

I hate the title of this book, its horribly "twee", sounds more like a 70's M&B title than a contemporary fantasy.
Don't let that put you off though becuase under that awful title is the third novel in a fun and unusual fantasy world. 

Each book is slowly building on this world, where supernaturals who can do magic live unnoticed among humans. Barely noticed actually, though there's a group called Guardians who want to rid the world of all of them.
The battle between Albah and Guardians has been one from centuries back, and currently there's supposedly a truce, though its looking more and more that the Guardians have been killing off Alba in what were first thought of as accidents.
The Guardians main grump is that the Albah can make vampires, Albanex, and those can create mayhem in their search for human blood. 

There's more to the story, the Albah are concerned that their race is dying out. They've kept themselves isolated and hidden for so long, but the threat of the Guardians has made many of them drop out of the group, go their own way. The fracturing of the group like this, and the actions of the Guardians have made them a weakened society, and there are those that think its time to be proactive, make changes.
Its a tough time for them right now, Finlay's dad is the Albah King, leader of all, and that's part of why Finlay doesn't join in, share with the group. He was conceived as a kind of duty baby in his eyes, brought up by his father when his mother left to go on to have another family with the man she loved, and to do her job protecting Keepers.

Keepers, they're a third arm - centuries in sleep, they're the people who hold all the old secrets, and people like Archie, Findlay's mother, protect their hidden sleep places. Finlay has always felt abandoned by her, his stepmum died when he was young, and he's regarded her as his mum. He just doesn't want to join in on Albah stuff, wants to stay alive and live his life, believing that maybe it is time they died out as a society. Then he meets Alina, and gets a taste of what that could be like and its not the way he envisaged.
 
Alina has no idea what she is, her mother has kept them on the move, away from her family and done her best to keep Alina's water magic hidden. When she meets Finlay circumstances bring her heritage to light, and place both of them in extreme danger. 

Its an entertaining read, not as good IMO as the last story but still very interesting. I wasn't quite convinced of the love between Alina and Finlay, that's the main issue for me. Their romance seemed to go from nothing to full pelt with little in between. What did work well here though was the story-line that advanced the overall novel arc, leading up to what looks to be at some point a gripping fight involving all of the factions, and before that happens Finlay and those like him need to decide what they want from the group. Do they see a future for them or not, will they fight or give in?
Finlay makes his choice here, but with others having broken off from the main group, tracing them is going to be a hard challenge and time is running out fast.  

Stars: four, not quite the five star read of the last novel for me, but an excellent installment moving forward the overall story. 

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

This novel was better than I expected it to be. I enjoyed the characters and the plot. The Albah are a magical race that hide within the world. Some hide their features to avoid being hunted. However, not all dangers come from the enemies that you know...
Alina Nyx is an ice skater who broke her arm. Her mother pushed her into skating based on her own upbringing. Alina loves to skate, but has lost her desire for competition due to her mother. Alina meets Finlay Ryder, a daytime soap opera actor at the hospital. Finlay was almost killed during a car stunt but he Albah abilities saved his life. Now, Finlay is trying to figure out who wants him dead. He also needs to handle his responsibilities as the prince, but he has no interest in being the next king. He has issues with both his parents, just as Alina has issues with her mother. However, Alina's mother has kept secrets and soon she discovers the truth about her Albah abilities that her mother denied her. Finlay had this desire to see Alina again and explains to her about the Albah. As they get to know each other, someone keeps trying to destroy Finlay and gets Alina involved as well. They need to figure out a way to stop the vampires, the Guardians, and the person trying to ruin Finlay. If they cannot solve these problems in time, everyone will be in danger, human and Albah alike.