Nightshifted by Cassie Alexander

Welcome to Y4, the secret ward buried within the halls of County hospital, a place where all the supernaturals can get the tender loving care they need to get over whatever ails them.  The newest nightshift nurse is Edie Spence, who made a bargain - she works on the ward despite the low pay and potential risks, and her junky brother gets rescued from his addictions.  It seems like an okay deal, until one of her patients dies on the ward and Edie finds herself dragged into a dangerous game of cat and mouse - where someone else is definitely the cat.

In way over her head, Edie does the best she can, but the best she can involves a potentially lethal date with a vampire court, a one night stand that is being more than one-night-standish, a were dragon with some bad manners, and a zombie that is stirring feelings she hasn't felt before.  To top it off she has to deal with a world that most people don't realise exists - let alone the dangers that lurk just around the corner.  Welcome to Y4 where you can check out - but you can never leave.

Cassie Alexander is an active registered nurse and it shows in the level of medical details she includes in her debut novel - an intriguing blend of fantasy, medical drama, with just a few cc's of romance.  The action is fast paced, and the plot races along while also world building, a nice mix as sometimes the world building in series can distract from the storyline.  Alexander has made some interesting choices for her world, keeping some of the traditional elements of the genre (vampires, check, zombies, check, weres, check) but she has created some "rules" and "norms" that are different from your typical supernatural drama/thriller/romance.  If you have read any of my reviews before you will know that I am big on mythology and "sense" - the story has to make sense and there have to be some rules to make the world more real.

This was not the easiest book to get into for the first few chapters because it almost seemed too much like a hospital drama, but it became less noticeable as I read further through.  The set up for the rest of the series looks good and I look forward to reading the next book in the series to see what happens to Edie and the rest of the cast.  It was nice to read a fantasy novel with a bit of bite that also has our own world so well represented.

If you like this book then try:

• Summon the keeper by Tanya Huff
• Children of the night by Mercedes Lackey
• Deadly descendant by Jenna Black
• Dead witch walking by Kim Harrison
• Moon called by Patricia Briggs
• Blood price by Tanya Huff
• Spiders bite by Jennifer Estep

Reviewed by Brilla