Mist

A kick-ass Valkyrie with baggage teams up with a brooding elf to battle Loki and a band of Jotunar (frost giants) after they enter the human world of Midgard from the Great Void in Krinard’s urban fantasy series opener. Mist, a Valkyrie living in San Francisco, fights off a Jotunn and rescues Dainn, an elf dressed in rags. He was sent by the goddess Freya to protect Mist, but she doesn’t think she needs much protecting. Then she learns her live-in boyfriend was really Loki in disguise. As Mist comes into her full power with Dainn’s help, he grows unsettled by the part she will play in Freya’s strategy to defeat Loki. Krinard’s background as a romance novelist lends her an ability to write well-defined, multi-dimensional characters who help this story stand out in a crowded field. All that’s missing is a primer on Norse mythology for readers not in the know. (July)