Best Books of 2013 So Far: Em's Pick

Em is a bookseller at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona. The Changing Hands booksellers are great readers because they live in Arizona and it's so hot there that planes aren't allowed to fly. And they have dust storms. And rattlesnakes. Really, if you lived in hell, wouldn't you love to at least have a great bookstore to frequent? There you go: Changing Hands.

Here's Em's pick:

Why is Written in Red the best book I’ve read this year? For one thing it’s Anne Bishop and urban fantasy – one of my favorite authors and favorite genres – colliding into one glorious book I read in a single sitting. Bishop has a knack for making you love her characters, and for sticking them in impossible situations they nevertheless manage to find their way out of. While this book may contain the urban fantasy standbys – clairvoyance, werewolves, vampires, etc. – Bishop makes them refreshingly different, and adds a few new things in besides (I won’t reveal too much, but expect to encounter Winter ice-skating on a lake, and trust me when I say you really don’t want to anger the elementals in this world). If you’ve never read Anne Bishop, strap yourself in and prepare for 400 pages of oh-my-god-this-is-the-best-thing-ever. If you have read her, I can promise she transitions from fantasy to urban fantasy with seamless grace.