The Fairy Godmother (Mercedes Lackey)

In the land of Five Hundred Kingdoms, if you can't carry out your legendary role, life is no fairy tale . . .
Elena Klovis was supposed to be her kingdom's Cinderella -- until an accident of fate left her with a completely inappropriate prince! Determined not to remain with her stepfamily, Elena set out to get a new job -- and ended up becoming the Fairy Godmother for the land.
But "Breaking with Tradition" was no easy matter. True, she didn't have to sleep in the chimney, but she had to deal with arrogant, stuffed-shirt princes who kept trying to rise above their place in the tale. In fact, one of them was so ornery that Elena could do nothing but change him into a donkey.
Still, her practical nature couldn't let him roam the country, so she brought the donkey -- er, the prince! -- home to her cottage to teach him some lessons. All the while keeping in mind that breaking with tradition can land everyone into a kettle of fish -- sometimes literally!
And so begins a whole new tale . . .

This was a fun read.

Fortune's Fool (Mercedes Lackey)

The seventh daughter of the Sea King, Ekaterina is more than a pampered princess - she's also the family spy. Which makes her the perfect emissary to check out interesting happenings in the neighboring kingdom...and nothing interests her more than Sasha, the seventh son of the king of Belrus. Ekaterina suspects he's far from the fool people think him. But before she can find out what lies beneath his face, she is kidnapped.

Trapped in a castle at the mercy of a possessive Jinn, Ekaterina knows her chances of being found are slim. Now fortune, a fool and a paper bird are the only things she can count on - along with her own clever mind and intrepid heart...

I have found that Mercedes Lackey can be a hit and miss kind of author. Some of her stories are dry and I have to force myself to finish her books. This one actually kept my attention!

I loved the twist on fairy-tales. The way the "Tradition" controls what happens in the lands is quite interesting and how the characters have to do things in certain ways to get the results they want.

Burning Water, A Diana Tregarde Investigation (Mercedes Lackey)

Dallas Police Detective Mark Valdez isn't just any cop - he's a psychic who knows that the cattle mutilations and torture murders he's been investigating are somehow tied together. He also knows that his meager psychic abilities aren't enough to identify the killers, much less stop them.
Luckily, Mark has an ace up his sleeve: an attractive young romance novelist who happens to be a practicing witch. And not just any witch, either - Diana Tregarde is a Guardian, charged with protecting the Earth and all its creatures.
Using modern science and ancient magics, Diana and Mark discover that they are tailing no ordinary serial killer but the awakened avatar of an Aztec god, Tezcatlipoca and his four beautiful hand-maidens are preparing for a great sacrifice that will transform North America into a new Aztec realm.
Diana isn't sure her powers are strong enough to take on those of a risen Aztec god, but she has no choice. As a Guardian, she is sworn to protect mankind, even at the cost of her own life. Luckily, she does not stand alone. Mark Valdez is more than just a cop. And Tezcatlipoca is not the only Aztec god walking in the world.
This one was a tough one! It was very gruesome and bloody. There are quite a few places in the book that the story lags and you find yourself yelling at the book to just get on with it.

Reserved For The Cat (Mercedes Lackey)

Ninette Dupond was a dancer with the paris Opera Ballet. She had been very lucky - if she had not been pretty, and a natural dancer, she could only have become what her mother had been: a washerwoman, or perhaps if she were desperate and hungry enough, a prostitute.

But Ninette's good luck ended the day that the lead dancer sprained her ankle and Ninette was chosen to dance her part at a matinee. Her reviews had been very good - too good. Shortly thereafter Ninette had been fired in an attempt to soothe the wounded ego of the ballet's primary soloist.

Alone, unemployed, and filled with despair, Ninette had returned to her apartment to find a thin, rangy, tabby-striped tomcat sitting on her windowsill. He seemed like just another stray, until abruptly he spoke to her, mine-to-mind.

Ninette thought she was going mad, but the cat offered her an alternative to prostitution, albeit a very odd one. He proposed that she impersonate a renowned Russian ballerina, Nina Tschereslavsky, and go to work in a specific music hall in Blackpool, England. The cat also told her that he would take care of her in every way - he would somehow convey the English and Russian languages to her, supply her with monye, and guide her every move. With no other otpion open to her, she placed her life in his paws.

What Ninette didn't know was that the cat was an Elemental Spirit sent to protect her, and that the music hall in Blackpool was owned by an Elemental Master. But she also didn't know that the real Nin no longer existed. For the real Nina had been "absorbed" by an Elemental Spirit of the darkest kind that was now bent on Ninette's destruction...

This one was hard to get involved in. I actually would put it down and then read another book before picking it up again. now that I"ve finished it and looking back it does have a good premise to a story but is slow.

This book is actually book 5 in a series call The Elemental Masters.

I've been told that the others in the series are better.