Devon Monk, Magic to the Bone
Roc (2008) ISBN: 978-0-451-46240-4
Score: 1.5

Start of an unnamed paranormal romance series about magic that is widely available, but causes a lot of pain every time it's used; the heroine makes her living tracking down people who illegally shift that pain to innocent bystanders. The characters are likable enough, there's a considerable amount of action, and the premise is fairly interesting, but I don't like tampering with characters' memories (an additional side effect of magic use that seems to be unique to the heroine) so I was really upset when she ends up forgetting everything that happened in this book. I'd also like a more complex romantic subplot than having someone walk up and say, "Hi, I'm your perfect soul mate."

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Bold what you've read, italicize what you started and couldn't finish, strikethrough what you hated. Asterisks for ones you really loved (more asterisks is of course more love!), and a "+" for ones you own.

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Keri Arthur, "Christmas Past"
Ace (2008) ISBN: 978-0-441-01633-4
Score: 1

A psychic and her werewolf ex-boyfriend try to catch a vampire who is killing charity collectors. Does not seem to be connected to any of her series.

Kat Richardson, "The Werewolf Before Christmas"
Ace (2008) ISBN: 978-0-441-01633-4
Score: 1

A werewolf meets Santa Claus. The ending didn't really resolve, making me wonder if this will become a series.

Charlaine Harris, "Gift Wrap"
Ace (2008) ISBN: 978-0-441-01633-4
Score: -2

Sookie gets sex with a complete stranger for Christmas.

Brandon Sanderson, The Hero of Ages
Tor (2008) ISBN: 0-7653-1689-7
Score: 4

Conclusion of the Mistborn trilogy, in which the heroes learn what's really going on and try to fix the problems they caused in the previous books. We also learn about the mists and how the third metal-based magic system works, and in between the big battles there are discussions of faith, religion, and how to lead/manipulate people. I was worried by the second book being so bleak and secretive, but this conclusion does a great job tying everything together in a way that makes perfect sense.

F. Paul Wilson, Secret Histories
Tor (2008) ISBN: 0-7653-1854-7
Score: 2

Start of the Jack trilogy, a YA prequel to Repairman Jack. Its enjoyable for all the reasons the main series is (and much less depressing), but it also raises consistency issues with the early RJ books (I wouldn't be surprised if Wilson rewrites the whole series to fix this; he's already revised The Tomb more than once).

Jim Butcher (writer) and Ardian Syar (artist), Welcome to the Jungle
Dabel (2008) ISBN: 978-0-345-50746-4
Score: 2

Graphic novel prequel story to the Dresden Files series, in which Harry investigates a grisly murder in Lincoln Park Zoo. The plot is slight, partly because Butcher is careful not to put major events in his short stories, and partly because four comic issues isn't much space to tell a story (I can't tell exactly how long this is due to a lack of page numbers). This is actually a good (though relatively expensive) place to start the series if you haven't yet; it does a very good job of capturing the feel of Harry on a typical case.

Next Book: Derek Landy, Playing With Fire

Taylor Anderson, Into the Storm
Roc (2008) ISBN: 978-0-451-46207-7
Score: 2

Start of the alt-hist Destroyermen trilogy, in which a couple ships fighting in WW2 suddenly find themselves on a parallel Earth where the dinosaurs never went extinct (this is NOT a time travel novel, despite what the Library of Congress says). People who don't like spoilers should avoid the maps in the front of the book; the Author's Note at the end has far fewer spoilers (basically the first chapter).

Next Book: Frances Hardinge, Well Witched

F. Paul Wilson, By the Sword
Forge (2008) ISBN: 0-7653-1707-9
Score: 2

Twelfth Repairman Jack book, in which he (and a whole lot of other people) try to get a hold of a legendary sword and the pregnant girl from the previous book (there's a semi-apology from the author about the series becoming less episodic as we near the end). To my surprise, this wasn't as depressing as the previous couple of books.