Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison

From the Publisher:
Publishers Weekly
This strong entry in Harrison's intricate Hollows series (after Every Which Way but Dead) plunges headlong into the action as Rachel Morgan, a sexy Cincinnati witch, finishes up her latest bounty hunting mission by taking down an alpha Were (werewolf). The book swings into gear when she returns home to find that her ne'er-do-well ex, Nick, has recruited her partner Jenks's son in a criminal enterprise and gotten them both imprisoned by Weres in Michigan, apparently for stealing a priceless Were artifact. With the help of some borderline black magic, Jenks a pixie is given human proportions in order to accompany Rachel on a mission to rescue his son. Finding the jailed pixie ends up the easiest task in an operation that quickly spirals out of control after Rachel decides she must also rescue the errant Nick. Harrison provides conflict aplenty as Rachel debates how far into the black arts she'll venture to accomplish a good end; past and present boyfriends vie for her attention; and Weres battle vampires for supremacy. (July) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

My Comments: *spoilers abound*
A Fistful of Charms left me... uncharmed. This installment in the series seemed wordy, long winded, and rather all over the place. Maybe it's the werewolf thing that made me feel that way. Pack politics and fights just don't fluff my fur if you will.

I was expecting more with her ex and absent boyfriend, Nick. I was also expecting a little more closure with that situation. I wasn't convinced by Rachael's reasons for going to so much trouble in rescuing him. Jenks' son, of course. But Nick? He made his bed, let him lie in it. I digress. I have abandonment issues on Rachael's behalf.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book was Jenks being full sized. That gave us a little levity and the occasional action packed thrills.

The situation with Ivy is getting extremely complicated and more then a little out of hand. I found myself almost relieved when Ivy showed up and the messy issues that were raised to rescue me from the drudgery of saving Nick and the craziness with the Were's. I also found myself really missing Trent Kalamack and could have really used some more Kisten action personally and less "Rachael needs danger to have a fullfilling relationship" introspection.

That being said, although this was my least favorite in The Hollows series, I am really looking forward to A Few Demons More. Trent is back, Piscary and Al are too. Things could get hairy... No pun intended.

Keep It Or Pass It On?
So far I've been collecting this series and I hate to post it on Paperbackswap.com. My husband likes the series too, so I think I'll keep it around for now.