A Brush of Darkness by Allison Pang

Remember that song from Lou Reed in the '70s that invited you to:  "Take a walk on the wild side?"  This book could use that as theme song...

Simon & Schuster provided me with an eGalley of this book that will be coming out from Pocket Book as a paperback in February (thank you).  If you like action packed fantasy with danger and love intermixed, you'll love this book.

Abby is a Touchstone and has contracted with a faery.  She runs a bookstore in the normal world and the back side of the store touches the otherworld - where she runs an apothecary shop for otherworld creatures.  Neither shop is "normal" but she's happy enough doing her jobs.  The only problem she has is that her faery seems to be missing...

Then a daemon shows up in the normal world bookstore, looking for Moira.  He's an incubus, which makes it even more interesting.  While he is inquiring about Moira, he gets close enough to her to share his seductive power, and she has a seizure.  And suddenly she's his Touchstone, too - with no contract!

It doesn't take long until Abby is having problems with faeries, daemons, angels, and even a unicorn.  She wants to find Moira, and her "boyfriend" wants to find his sister.  It seems angels and faeries are disappearing.  And those found are dead...

There are life and death battles in her world and the otherworld (she travels between the worlds), she finds powers she didn't know she had, and most everyone is lying.  It may simply be not the entire truth, but it makes her quest to find her boss even more dangerous.  She's in a relationship she shouldn't be, her friends are getting hurt, and they're trying to kill her.  Could it get worse?  Yep...

I'm sure there will be a sequel to this book.  There are too many unanswered questions and Abby is still evolving.  Besides, it was a really good adventure and the story can't be done yet.

If you like fantasy, you need to get a copy of this book.  It's a keeper.  I read it in one evening because I didn't want to set it down.  See if you can set it and walk away - I bet not...

Happy reading!