I Bring the Fire Series, Book 6 Ragnarok / C. Gockel / 697 pages

Loki vowed that Asgard would burn. Bohdi Patel, the latest incarnation of Chaos, wants nothing to do with Loki's psychotic oath. While he may be the next incarnation of Chaos, he is his own person.  In order to fix Steve so that he would no longer be paralyzed, and to give the Earth and humans on it a fighting chance against Odin and his forces taking over, Amy created a magical virus, she failed to inform people that it was contagious, now humans are developing magical abilities.  On a recon trip to Jotunheim to before a mission to trek through the Icy world and make allies with the ice giants, Amy Lewis, Steve Rogers, Bohdi Patel and an unlikely band of civilians, magical beings, and elite military, suddenly becomes stranded on the icy world. Now Bohdi just wants to keep himself and his friends alive-but when you're Chaos incarnate, even the simplest goals are complicated. If Jotunheim doesn't kill them, Odin will, and if Odin doesn't, the secrets they harbor might. In the final installment of the I Bring the Fire series, Bohdi, Amy, Steve, and their companions learn that Chaos cannot be contained, some secrets cannot be kept, and some vows cannot be broken. Narrated by Barrie Kreinik 21h 1min.

I Bring the Fire Series, Book 5 Warriors / C. Gockel / 380 pages

Bohdi Patel is keeping a huge secret that he learned while on a quest with Amy and Thor to the home of the Norns for some answers, for the Norns can answer any question for a price.  Bohdi Patel is Chaos, aka Loki incarnate,and he’s handling the revelation about that as well as one could expect. He's in a downward spiral losing his lease, totaling his car, and trying to keep everyone he cares about at arm's length to protect them. Veterinarian Amy Lewis is wondering what happened to the funny, flirty, curious Bohdi she knew in the land of the Norns, and had slowly been starting to fall for. He's become moody and sometimes cruel. She is definitely glad that she didn't become romantically entangled with him...  most of the time. When tragedy strikes Amy's beloved mutt Fenrir and Odin strikes Bohdi's best friend, Steve causing him to become paralyzed from the neck down, Amy and Bohdi have to work together again. Amy is angry with Steve after learning that he is the reason his organization took her daughter’s fetus after she miscarried and they are now experimenting on it to gain knowledge on magic and Loki. But she still plans to help Steve and maybe the research from those experiments could help create a cure to fix him. Amy's knowledge of science, Bohdi's talents for theft, and both of their survival skills are put to the test. But more than Steve and Fenrir's lives are at stake. Amy and Bohdi may unlock the key that saves mankind from the gods, Odin in particular or brings about the apocalypse. Narrated by Barrie Kreinik 10h 10min.

I Bring the Fire Series, Book 4 Fates / C. Gockel / 498 pages

Two years ago Loki, god of mischief and chaos, destroyed a large chunk of Chicago's financial district and then vanished into thin air, at least to most of the world that’s what he did.  But Amy knows that when Loki got a hold of the world seed Cera, she took control of Loki and tried to destroy the world, Loki sacrificed himself to stop her and disappeared. He still has not been found. Amy knows that whenever Loki dies he is reborn without any of his memories and that it’s only a matter of time before he comes back, and Amy has to protect what Loki gave her, all of his memories before he sacrificed himself, but she’s missing some of her own memories from the event.  Others are looking for Loki too, Odin, ruler of the Nine Realms, is desperate. To find Loki, he sends his son Thor on a dangerous quest to consult the all-seeing Norns. But Thor needs humanity's help, Loki's former lover, veterinarian Amy Lewis. Hoping to keep Loki from Odin's machinations, she agrees to help Thor on his journey. Bohdi Patel's memory was wiped by Loki's mischief. He thinks that Amy and Thor are both crazy to want anything to do with Loki. But he needs to find his parents, and he's been told that the Norns will answer any question-for a price. Narrated by Barrie Kreinik 14h 59min.

I Bring the Fire Series, Book 3 Chaos / C. Gockel / 322 pages

Third book in the series, Things are heating up in Chicago for Amy Lewis in more ways than one.  More and more portals are opening up letting in all kinds of dangerous and deadly creatures from the nine realms into the city. Amy is still working for DUO the department of Anomalous Devices of Unknown Origin as a secretary for Steve Rogers and as a kind of liaison between them and Loki, acting as a contact person for them.  DUO needs Loki’s help with all the strange things happening but they definitely don’t trust him and some people higher up want to capture and question him despite all he’s done. The weird relationship Amy has with Loki is getting interesting as they become closer. But Loki is still determined to get the World Seed, Cera from underneath DUO’s headquarters and use it to gain power to destroy Asgard and kill Odin for causing the deaths of his two sons, wife and friend, no matter the cost to himself and others. Amy doesn’t trust Cera knowing she has her own vendetta and wants to control Loki.  Narrated by Barrie Kreinik 9h 8min

I Bring the Fire Series, Part 2 Monsters / C. Gockel / 264 pages

After being attacked by a serial killer, saved by Loki the so called god of mischief, lies, and chaos then dragged to Alfheim, losing every cent in her bank account because Loki decides to borrow it, and caring for her ill grandmother, Amy Lewis has lost her scholarship to veterinary school. But it's all right, she has a plan. If she manages to keep her day job as a receptionist, and her night job as a vet tech, she might be able to get her scholarship reinstated and save enough money for the dreaded "miscellaneous fees." Too bad her regular boss had to take care of some things and her new temporary boss is unbearable.  Agent Steve Rogers (not related to Captain America) has political aspirations, but when a suitcase nuke turns out to be something much worse and so-called Norse gods start showing up in his life, he has a priority shift, and is transferred from the career path of his choosing to DUO the department of Anomalous Devices of Unknown Origin. Meanwhile, Loki's priorities and plans haven't changed at all. He wants Asgard to burn for Odin’s part in murdering his sons, ex-wife, and mentor. Of course, earthly pleasures can be so distracting.These three disparate characters have little in common, but they'll have to join forces to save the earth from trolls, wyrms, frost giant invasions, and an old evil growing beneath Chicago's streets.Narrated by Barrie Kreinik 7h 18min.

I Bring the Fire Series, Part 1 Wolves / C. Gockel / 254 pages

Driving across america from California to Chicago, Amy Lewis is on her way to her grandma's house for her summer break from college and she's being chased by a very bad predator. Galaxies away Loki, is waking up in a prison cell, strangely without a hangover, and with no idea what he's done wrong-this time, anyway. Thor is hiding something, Odin is up to something wicked, and there seems to be something that he's forgotten.  It seems that Thor has broken his oath to Loki to protect his sons and Odin is determined to execute them for “treason” against the throne. In the process of breaking out of prison and trying to save his sons Loki falls through a portal to Earth and ends up saving Amy. Now Loki and Amy must join forces to outwit gods, elves, magic sniffing cats, nosy neighbors if Amy can convince him not to be too distracted by Earthly gadgets, Earthly pleasures, or three-day benders, they just might pull it off. Narrated by Barrie Kreinik 7h 25min.

Shadows of the Immortals Series, Book 3 Rivers of Hell / Marina Finlayson / 306 pages

This is the third book in the Shadows of the Immortals series narrated by Hollie Jackson, and it’s another action-packed and dramatic installment. After saving the god Apollo from the Shadow shifters, Lexi and her friends are safely hidden away in the underworld by Hades, trying to remove the magical collars that restrict the powers of the god Apollo and Lexi’s cat-shifter friend, Syl.  Since they lost the magic key, that would open the collars during the struggle to escape, they need to make one. One problem, the only person who can help them, Hephaestus the god of metal shaping, is dead. The good news is they’re already in the underworld. The bad news is that the underworld isn’t exactly safe and if Lexi travels deeper into the underworld than where Hades says is safe, while he is gone, she could end up becoming a permanent resident.  As always, there are lots of twists and turns along the way, and Lexi and hot fireshaper Jake inch a little closer towards the inevitable romance. 6h 38m

Shadows of the Immortals Series, Book 2 Murdered Gods / Marina Finlayson / 260 pages

Murdered Gods is book two in the Shadows of the Immortals series and narrated by Hollie Jackson. Lexi now goes looking for the mother who kicked her out, to ask her the questions she always refused to discuss: the source of Lexi’s strange ability.  But In the human only city where she grew up, she finds her childhood home has a different owner, an older lady who has lived there for more than 20 years. While looking around town for answers she finds that all the places are the same but all of the people she knew growing up are gone and might have never existed!? Thinking she’s losing her mind and finding herself in the middle of trouble. A shadow order is capturing gods for their power but they need the ring Lexi might have forgotten to give back to her hot fire shaper, Jake! Narration was phenomenal! 5h 20m

Shadows of the Immortals Series, Book 1 Stolen Magic / Marina Finlayson / 262 pages

Lexi Jardine has the ability to control animals and is a thief but she’s not stupid, so when a shady fire shaper want her to steal an important ring from the boss of the Fire Shaper Order she knows that whether she does it or not she’s a dead woman walking, so she decides to get the hell out of dodge.  Hiding in a quiet little seaside town running a bookshop she keeps her head down and pretends to be human. Then a hot new fire shaper rolls into town and things start to fall apart. Lots of suspense, action, romance, and great fantasy with shape shifters, magic, and a little mythology. Amazing narrator, Hollie Jackson! 5h 23m

Norse Mythology / Neil Gaiman / 299 pages

I never knew a thing about Norse Mythology other than what little Norse Mythology you get from Marvel's Thor. This book, which I listened to in my car, narrated by the author himself, really taught me a lot about Norse Mythology. 

It's so interesting how similar myths from Greece, Rome, the Pacific Northwest, and in Scandinavia really resemble each other. For those who like this sort of thing, this book is for you. The stories are short, like most myths are, so you can read them in bite-size chunks. Be prepared to learn what Marvel got wrong about Thor, Odin, and Loki. You are going to meet a whole lot more gods and goddesses, giants, and other monsters and learn about how Thor got his hammer, Mjolnir - how Odin lost his eye - how the universe was created - and much more!

The Siren/ Kiera Cass/327pgs

The Siren is a kind of modern version of the Little Mermaid story, with a little bit of a twist. The sirens are aloud to live on land but must go out to the sea whenever the ocean requires them. The only thing is they aren’t allowed to talk to people on land, if they do, it’s a death sentence to whoever hears their voice. One day Khalen meets Akinli. They have a cute relationship despite the fact that she can’t talk, until one day everything goes wrong.

This was a really cute story and I really liked how their relationship is portrayed.

BADASS: THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND / Ben Thompson / 384 pages

The actual full title of this book is: BADASS: THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND: SPINE-CRUSHING TALES OF THE MOST MERCILESS GODS, MONSTERS, HEROES, VILLAINS, AND MYTHICAL CREATURES EVER ENVISIONED. Don't you just love a book with a really L--O--N--G subtitle ... :-)

Picked this one up on a whim -- it not only reminded me of my teenage interest in mythology but it just looked like fun. I was right, it is fun plus easy to read due to the arrangement - there are individual chapters for each 'mythological' entity and occasional sidebars for shorter entries on related subject matter. The author stretches the definition of mythology just a bit by including characters from film and television but that just makes the reading even more entertaining. The book is broken up into four main sections with headings such as: 'Gods, Goddesses, and Other Kickass Celestial Beings', 'Heroes, Heroines, and Over-the-Top Do-Gooders', 'Villains, Sorcerers, Antiheroes, and Psychotic Merciless Bastards', and 'Monsters, Fiends, Hellspawn, and Worse'.

Thompson has a rather snarky (and sometimes crude) sense of humor but also appears to have a genuine fondness for his topic. And readers may actually learn a bit (I did say "a bit") about actual figures from mythology or literature by perusing this title but DO beware of the snark! My only complaint is that while 'Dirty' Harry Callahan and Captain Kirk both got their own chapters in the book, there is no mention of similar FEMALE icons such as Xena: Warrior Princess or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. These strong, badass women, using Thompson's own terminology, deserve to be included!! :-)

Want even more snark, check out Ben Thompson's website at: http://badassoftheweek.com/