Three Mages and a Margarita

I'm re-reading the series and enjoying it more than any other urban fantasy series I've come across in the past year or so. I like the growth in the main characters, and the loyalty among comrades. The world-building is definitely complex enough to handle all the (equally entertaining) spin-off series.

After attempting and dropping half a dozen new urban fantasy series, here's one of many things that made me come back and re-read this one: when people get into fights in Annette Marie's books, you can tell that the author has done her time on a tae kwon do floor (or boxing or whatever) and knows what it feels like to take a punch, to strategize in a fight, to be exhausted after less than a minute. I'm tired of people writing fight scenes who don't know what it feels like to fight. It's getting to be a deal breaker when I try out a new author.