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Dead Spots

(Scarlett Bernard #1)

Melissa F. Olson (Goodreads Author)

3.87 · Rating details · 7,583 ratings · 641 reviews

Scarlett Bernard knows about personal space: step within ten feet of her, and any supernatural spells or demonic forces are instantly defused—vampires and werewolves become human again, and witches can’t get out so much as a “hocus pocus.” This special skill makes her a null and very valuable to Los Angeles’s three most powerful magical communities, who utilize her ability ...more

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Paperback, 293 pages

Published October 30th 2012 by 47North

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Dec 17, 2012 Elspeth rated it liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, kindle, twenty-forteen

First off I want to say that I loved Scarlet, she was smart, sexy, level headed, and chock full of common sense. It was very refreshing to pick up an Urban Fantasy that had a leading lady that was not only practical, but uses her brain to get things done. I mean it, she is a thinker, her job is to clean up messes made by vampires, werewolves, and witches, and she takes her job serious. She never speeds, she services her van monthly, and makes sure she is wearing the most popular shoes so her ...more

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May 09, 2017 Jilly rated it liked it

Shelves: paranormal-mystery, urban-fantasy, vampires, werewolves-and-other-furry-shifters

It's the author's first book, so I guess I'll be nice about minor issues I had. Like the complete fail when it comes to the romance thing. If you are going to put a triangle in your book, just don't put a triangle in your book.

Definitive proof that triangles just confuse the situation.

Just forget the idea of there being a romance in this and you might enjoy some other aspects of this UF world. Well, other than the whole "creation of magical beings" thing. That was really lame. If you are going ...more

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Feb 10, 2019 Montzalee Wittmann rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Dead Spots by Melissa F Olson and narrated by Amy McFadden is book one in a series about vampires, werewolves, witches and more. Our gal of the story is a Null. That is something special that cancels out the magic of all the supernatural creatures that are close to her. There is only a handful in the world. She works for a crabby vamp doing clean up! I don't mean cleaning houses. She ends up getting accused of killing victims of a scene she was sent to clean. Cops got there first, the master ...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Jacob Proffitt rated it liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy

This book was deeply mediocre with welcome flashes of originality. Olson's story takes vampires and werewolves and witches and tries to give us a way to explain their existence through Darwinian adaptation to a mysterious connection to magic that evolved over time down three separate paths. Ignore that part. It's as silly as Stephanie Meyers' attempt at giving her vampires a reason for being sparkly. Unfortunately, there's a lot of exposition in the novel and most of it has to do with trying to This book was deeply mediocre with welcome flashes of originality. Olson's story takes vampires and werewolves and witches and tries to give us a way to explain their existence through Darwinian adaptation to a mysterious connection to magic that evolved over time down three separate paths. Ignore that part. It's as silly as Stephanie Meyers' attempt at giving her vampires a reason for being sparkly. Unfortunately, there's a lot of exposition in the novel and most of it has to do with trying to make this background make sense.

Fortunately, the story itself is interesting and the exposition didn't kill the pacing enough to pull me out of the story. It helps that Scarlett is a "null"—a new type of magical manifestation that cancels out the others by proximity. i.e. vampires and weres become human once more in her presence and witches lose access to their magic—a useful trait and one with utility both subtle and direct. Scarlett is fully human and has no super power. This means she has to be very careful about who she pisses off and she has to maintain friendly relations with very powerful beings to whom she is an undiluted threat. A difficult task at best and moreso given that the other power factions have taken to employing her as a "cleaner"—someone who visits scenes of their, uh, indiscretions, and tidies them up to prevent humans from discovering that the world contains monsters.

Also fortunate is that Jesse Cruz, a cop brought into the supernatural world as a spectator, is simply scrumptious. Working with Scarlett out of necessity and his own sense of justice, he gets in way over his head, treading water furiously while trying to figure out the rules of this shadow world he has entered. I ended up liking him immensely and my hope that this is the start of a new series is centered around seeing his relationship with Scarlett grow into something more meaningful.

In the end I liked the book enough that I'll keep an eye out for others by the author. Snark about mediocrity aside, it's a decent showing for a new author and one that bodes well for her future work. ...more

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Oct 03, 2017 Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* rated it liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, ebook, magic-powers, vampires, part-of-series, first-in-series, witches, shapeshifters, dislike-protagonist, reviewed

“Nulls are the wrecking ball of the supernatural world: we swing in and out of situations, creating damage and chaos. But sometimes in a really useful way.”

Dead Spots is the first of a series that currently has three books out. I haven’t dug into it far enough to see if it’s a completed trilogy. I have the other two books to read, and planned to this month, but you know how that can go.

Scarlett is the go-to girl for the supernatural leaders in town, namely the Master Vampire and Werewolf pack “Nulls are the wrecking ball of the supernatural world: we swing in and out of situations, creating damage and chaos. But sometimes in a really useful way.”

Dead Spots is the first of a series that currently has three books out. I haven’t dug into it far enough to see if it’s a completed trilogy. I have the other two books to read, and planned to this month, but you know how that can go.

Scarlett is the go-to girl for the supernatural leaders in town, namely the Master Vampire and Werewolf pack leader. She’s called in to clean up messes and “accidents” before the humans finds the remains and get a witch hunt brewing. In this series world-building, supernaturals are under the radar and humans are blissfully unaware of their existence.

Scarlett is a null where the magic of all ceases to work in her radius, so she’s able to calm situations, fights and such, since vampires will turn temporarily human and lycathropes will instantly shift out of their forms. Some don’t like this ability, especially the head honcho of the vamps who doesn’t want any aging or temporarily vulnerability, while her roommate actually likes the temporary aging since she was changed when she was too young looking to be considered respectable in modern times. Lycanthropes enjoy the power since in this series worldbuilding, lycanthropy is a constant struggle all month, and being around Scarlett gives peace and calmness.

While working with a human detective who saw more than he should, she is given an ultimatum to solve a crime in two days – otherwise the dickish vamp leader will take her life in exchange for politics.

The pacing is fine, although not as fast as one may hope. Scarlett’s job is rather a turn-off and I got disgusted with her covering up certain crimes like the humans didn’t matter. I especially felt bad for the villain. The lead vamp is an absolute ass with little redeeming quality. If I were in her shoes, I’d hate the job and it would bother me more than it does her – which is one reason I couldn’t warm up to the character.

What usually happens, happened – the story got better as it went along.

There is an unfortunately love triangle brewing too.

The cliffhanger is slightly cheesy with the surprising twist but still, I’m curious where that will go in the next book. Since I already own the next two books, will read and give the series a full chance.
...more

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Jan 12, 2016 Ian rated it liked it

Shelves: t-vampires-werewolves-witches, g-urban-fantasy, a-audiobook, b-train-wreck

Scarlett Bernard is a null. She is a negative space for magic. In her presence vampires become human, werewolves revert and witches cannot cast spells. For supernatural beings she's a very dangerous person to be around. When they're around her, they lose their ability to heal, they age and they can be killed.

But her own life is also very fragile and despite her job working for the super-natural community to cover-up their crimes she discovers very quickly just how fragile. When three vampires ...more

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Nov 23, 2015 Charlie Holmberg rated it it was amazing

Let's just say I'm team Eli.

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Dec 12, 2018 Alaina rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal, fantasy, romance, mystery, fiction, kindle-unlimited, supernatural, contemporary, december-challenge-2018

This audio was so freaking good!!

Dead Spots was such a fast passed book that I already can't wait to dive into the next book of the Scarlett Bernard series. Now Scarlett has a unique job. She works with some scary supernaturals, but also some really good looking ones, and she helps dispose of dead bodies. Whether it's an animal, human, or another supernatural. If it's dead, she needs to get rid of it.

Of course, there was some kind of murder mystery drama and she just ended up being the main ...more

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Dec 02, 2012 S.M. Reine rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book was very nearly a DNF for me. It was dull, the leaps in logic were incredible, the heroes were nearly identical in personality without a hint of swoon-worthiness, and the ending was a series of dragged-out conversations with what was meant to be a cliffhanger tacked onto the end.

In short, this book is about a heroine who was so typical urban fantasy heroine that I can't even remember her name now (and I just finished it). Her parents are dead, she's a pseudo-witty jackass to dangerous This book was very nearly a DNF for me. It was dull, the leaps in logic were incredible, the heroes were nearly identical in personality without a hint of swoon-worthiness, and the ending was a series of dragged-out conversations with what was meant to be a cliffhanger tacked onto the end.

In short, this book is about a heroine who was so typical urban fantasy heroine that I can't even remember her name now (and I just finished it). Her parents are dead, she's a pseudo-witty jackass to dangerous creatures, she's described as "damaged," people love her even though she's not vaguely lovable... you get the picture. Her job is to clean up supernatural-related crime so that the police don't catch on. Naturally, the police do catch on--actually, one officer in particular, who we shall call Officer Friendly, because Officer Limp Rag would be rude.

Officer Friendly forces Heroine to give him fifty pages of awkward exposition on the milieu, and they agree to work the case out together. There's something-something-something about the werewolf that is madly in love with Heroine after having been used by her for sex three whole times, something-something-something about silver, and LOTS of something-something-something about evolution which we don't need to know.

Anyway, it all boils down to the heroine's vampire employer threatening her in a weak attempt to add tension to the story, although she's not so worried about it that she doesn't take plenty of breaks to sleep and hang out and share more expository dialogue. We do learn that she has a somewhat interesting back story at some point, which was one of the redeeming points of the novel, and I wonder why that wasn't an actual part of the plot instead of mentioned among the fifty pages of exposition we have to tolerate during the meat of the book.

Have you seen the old Batman movie with Adam West? How they decide that Catwoman must be involved, because the criminals are at sea? "Sea... C! For Catwoman!" That's pretty much how they end up determining who the bad guy must be in this book. "This is the tenth anniversary of this crime that happened that we showed for no reason at the beginning of the book and haven't mentioned since... OH MY GOSH the perpetrator must be the victim's brother!"

None of this would be a big deal if the story was exciting, or if I could get excited about the characters, but it was all pretty bland and low-tension. UF is a flawed genre, but vibrant worlds, eccentric characters, and interesting relationships make up for it. UF is usually unbridled fun. All of that is absent here.

Mostly, I think I'm only so disappointed in this book because the concept of a "null" (someone who turns supernatural creatures human when she's in the vicinity) is so damn interesting, and I one-clicked the heck out of it based on that premise alone. Think of all the trouble you can get into with a null! But the heroine is passive and reactive and everyone around her drives the plot. She's just along for the ride. Man, what a waste of a fun power.

I suspect that a lot of the major problems with this book were editorial decisions on the part of 47North rather than the author, though; the lengthy, LENGTHY segments of exposition were most likely forced on Olson by editors who thought that people needed to know that evolution produced werewolves, vampires, and witches, or else they would be too confused. Here's a hint, editors: the world in this book is so derivative of every single vampire/werewolf/witch book out there that nobody, and I mean nobody, will be confused by it.

That said, this is the author's debut novel, and I might pick up a sequel. Fuck me, but I do love urban fantasy, even when the poor attempts at noirish plots and inexplicably irresistible heroines drive me up the wall. Fingers crossed that the sequel will skip all the exposition. The tacked-on cliffhanger also suggests a much more personal plot for the followup that might spur Heroine into taking charge of her life, which is promising.

I tentatively recommend this to UF genre fans, as long as you don't mind the weaksauce "romance" and poorly-structured procedural elements. ...more

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Apr 23, 2019 Laura rated it it was amazing

Shelves: over-reading-challenge-2019

Wow this was fantastic, i love the world and different magics and loved the characters too, the ending was unexpected but brilliant i can wait till next book.....

Scarlett is a Null and after finding a gruesome murder scene, she is discovered by pretty LAPD boy Jesse and becomes number one suspect, but the reader falls deeper down the rabbit hole as the whole scope of the world expands as Scarlett and Jesse are out to uncover the real murderer.

Scarlett is such a deep and well written character, ...more

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Sep 06, 2017 ☼♎ Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress ☼♎ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fantasy-magic, fantasy-paranormal, z-2017-reads

Great start

I really enjoyed his this series starts. I'm definitely going to continue. I really need to know what's going to happen next especially with the wow ending.

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Dec 31, 2019 Soo rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook

Notes:

The series is on Kindle Unlimited Read & Listen.
It's like popcorn. Just enough substance to make the story fun but not enough to make it stand out.

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Jul 13, 2015 Lena rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, fantasy, vampire, shifters

Reread: I liked it even more the second time around!

Another urban fantasy novel of vampires, witches, and werewolves but told from the fearful bottom up.

In most of these tales the woman has substantial magical power, kick-ass power, or (let's just tell it like it is) pussy power. Scarlett is the Old Worlds garbage man, a null making little money to be on call 24/7 to clean up messes.

Scarlett’s sex life consists of a three night stand with a beta surfer boy werewolf and a crush on a pretty cop ...more

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May 19, 2014 Jeanny rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Average story badly needed an editor to clean it up a bit. The world is not that interesting to me. It's not fully thought out...bunky science.
As far as characters: Hate Olivia & Dashnel, Eli has potential. Jesse didn't seem like an option for any romance, It feels forced just to move the plot forward. Anyway they all feel thin to me. I am going to read book 2 bc I already have it.
FYI The accent on the audible book for Jesse was annoying.

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Aug 08, 2013 cEe beE rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: did-not-finish, wtf, hard-to-finish, no-stars-for-u, doesnt-make-sense, logic-thrown-out-the-window, supernatural-mystery, paranormal-supernatural, r-u-effing-kidding-me

Dead Spot had a unique PNR premise but it was marred by very uneven writing, feeble character development and plot inconsistencies. It got very frustrating to read and DNF.

So I'm skipping the sequels too.

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Nov 30, 2018 Jennifer rated it really liked it

Shelves: imagine-that, challenge

Scarlett Bernard cleans up the messes made by LA's Old World. Sometimes it is only disposing of a few chickens that a werewolf couldn't resist, sometimes she has to dispose of bodies. When she is called to a horrific murder scene in the park with 3 dead vampires, it is unclear who could be responsible. This is also where she first meets Detective Jesse Cruz. Once she convinces the Cardinal Vampire of LA not to kill Jesse for finding out about the Old World, Scarlett and Jesse team up to figure ...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, thank-you-amazon

PB/Urban Fantasy: Ironically I am listening to a Dresden book where magic is open in the world. In this world, magic and the creature of the night are a secret to the majority of the world. Usually, I don't like that kind of set up, but the author makes it work. The book reminded me a lot of the Anna Strong series. Our heroine, Scarlett, is not a vampire or a witch; she's a null. There is a ten foot parameter around her that is dead space to any witch, vampire, or were. It keeps her safe, but PB/Urban Fantasy: Ironically I am listening to a Dresden book where magic is open in the world. In this world, magic and the creature of the night are a secret to the majority of the world. Usually, I don't like that kind of set up, but the author makes it work. The book reminded me a lot of the Anna Strong series. Our heroine, Scarlett, is not a vampire or a witch; she's a null. There is a ten foot parameter around her that is dead space to any witch, vampire, or were. It keeps her safe, but makes her wonder who her friends really are.
I liked the premise of the book. I like Scarlett's character and development throughout the book. I liked her two suitors. This book is not romance, so the love triangle was low-key. (No 30-page arguments like Anita Blake that makes you want to throw a book against a wall). I did not like Scarlett's boss, Dashiell. He seemed more like a bully. Wait, he is a bully. In fact, I hated him. He was too one dimensional and too unlikable. I couldn't figure out how he could stay the vampire leader for so long because he's too quick to judge, hotheaded, threatening, and, well, not very smart.
I liked the cop, Jesse, because he had a real job and a real boss. He had to stay at his job and work. He had to report in unlike most cops in books. Most sidekicks in books can throw reality out the window with jobs and responsibility. I like the other guy too. Eli the bartender, slash surfer, slash werewolf is finding himself as a newly changed.
One problem I had was some of the names of the guys. We had a Jack, Jacob, Jake, Jared, Jay, and Jesse. Too many Js. I did like that there was no time frame of prologue. Granted, I kept on wondering where it was going to fall in the book.
I liked the true element of time. LA is a large city and the author made the character live in real time. If they had three stops to make in one night to investigate, well, it was going to take until 2 a.m. because of travel time.
I liked that the book wraps up even though it is going to be a series. If you don't want to continue with the series, the story is wrapped up. Yes, there is a surprise at the end, but it is a beginning to another arc. Yes, I am having a problem with books not ending lately. Forcing me to read the next book to wrap up a plot makes me mad. Give me the choice of whether I want to go to the next book. Especially because I've been burned with publishers not wanting to continue with a series, and there was a cliffhanger! But I digress.
This is a good read and I recommend it. It runs 300 pages. I was not saying, "The editor should have cut 50 pages" or "I wish I had more". It was just right. It is well written, well thought out, and it was not the ending I was expecting. ...more

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Oct 12, 2012 Melindeeloo rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, shapeshifters, vampires, magic, arc, pif-sonja-2019

I thought that the premise for Dead Spots was interesting, the main character, Scarlett is a Null and magic doesn't work in her vicinity, and in this world that means that vamps and werewolves - who have evolved on a magical branch of the evolutionary tree - turn back to human in her presence. Initially, Scarlett's role in their world is really mundane - she's the cleanup crew who steps in when there is a supernatural slip-up and the evidence needs to disappear, so I was worried that she was I thought that the premise for Dead Spots was interesting, the main character, Scarlett is a Null and magic doesn't work in her vicinity, and in this world that means that vamps and werewolves - who have evolved on a magical branch of the evolutionary tree - turn back to human in her presence. Initially, Scarlett's role in their world is really mundane - she's the cleanup crew who steps in when there is a supernatural slip-up and the evidence needs to disappear, so I was worried that she was going to be merely an errand girl to the supernatural. But when a crime scene 'cleaning' goes wrong, her life becomes more interesting, Scarlett's suddenly on the hook to find the killer in less than two days.

I liked Scarlett and I liked newbie police detective Jess Cruz whose world view just isn't the same after interrupting Scarlett at the botched crime scene mop up - he ends up witnessing a naked man shift into a werewolf when she hightails it out of there and the magic starts working again. I felt a lot of sympathy for Jesse who is a really decent guy put in an awful situation the puts both his life and his job and his ethics on the line. And the switch between Scarlett's first person point of view to third person for Jesse's worked really well for me - I liked getting insight into him instead of just being stuck in Scarlett's head. I also liked the peril and the background mystery associated with Scarlett's do or die hunt.

There is a suggestion of a love triangle for Scarlett and Jesse and Scarlett and Eli, a surfing bartender werewolf who is now Scarlett's apprentice, but there is no on screen smexy stuff just references to one night stands in the past with Eli. (I would hate to have to pick between the two, since both of the guys are really nice.) With a couple interesting developments for Scarlett's character - and a 'what the heck' was that moment at the end - I am looking forward to the next installment and to finding out what's next for Scarlett.

ARC received via Amazon Vine - release date 10/30
...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Tiffany rated it it was amazing

4.5 stars. I am so glad I gave this one a chance! Scarlett is a null, meaning if she is within 10 feet of a supernatural they turn human for the amount of time she is in their range. Yes I know how odd this sounds! Trust me you will love Scarlett. A little broken, a lot tough she is quite the heroine. If I had one problem with the book it would be the men. I like my guys alpha and Jesse just wasn't alpha enough for me. He got better as I kept reading so don't give up in the beginning. As for ...more

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Sep 10, 2019 Daniel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, urban-fantasy

Outstanding! Incredibly well written, with great characters, superb pacing and an all around joy to read. So why four stars instead of five?? It does have the dreaded love triangle trope!! Not nearly as bad as some other novels but it still is annoying. Scarlett is dreadfully scarred and is a compelling MC, full of honor and sacrifice. The supporting cast is filled out with Werewolves, vampires, and cops!! So good cannot wait to start book two, Trail Dead!

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Nov 08, 2012 Steph rated it really liked it

Shelves: series-book1, series-ended, author-웃, year-read-2013, sos-games-bsb-r7, series-completed, audiobook-on-hand, author-first-time-read

With Dead Spots, Melissa has created a closed world where supernaturals, those with Old World magic (vampires, werewolves and witches), do what they can to keep their existence hidden from humans. LA is one of the rare cities where the Old World creatures share territory more or less in peace ... where Dashiell, cardinal vampire, is in charge. But, the weres take care of their own while the witches do the same. Dash takes charge if/when things overlap.

Scarlett Bernard is a null - a "dead spot With Dead Spots, Melissa has created a closed world where supernaturals, those with Old World magic (vampires, werewolves and witches), do what they can to keep their existence hidden from humans. LA is one of the rare cities where the Old World creatures share territory more or less in peace ... where Dashiell, cardinal vampire, is in charge. But, the weres take care of their own while the witches do the same. Dash takes charge if/when things overlap.

Scarlett Bernard is a null - a "dead spot in the supernatural world". If any supernatural enters her "little circle of peace", which ranges about ten feet around her, "... they lose whatever was supernatural about them." Most of the wolves don't mind because when they're around her, their wolf calms and they are at peace. The vampires are another matter. They regain their humanity around Scarlett; they must breathe and they can be harmed. So, it makes sense that not all of them would willingly enter her field. She keeps her distance, whenever possible, to be respectful of this. There is one vampire, however, Molly who was turned young and wishes to age. She spends as much time as possible with Scarlett and enjoys being human while she can.

As a null, Scarlett works for Dash, Will (the werewolf leader) and Kirsten (the witch leader) as a cleaner. She cleans sites of supernatural traces before the police become involved. At least, that's the plan. But, in the case of this particular crime scene, Scarlett arrives too late and is spotted by Officer Jesse Cruz before she can do any cleaning. Thankfully, for Scarlett, a werewolf bounds into her field and is instantly returned to his human form, which shocks Jesse long enough for her to get away.

It doesn't take him much time to track her down and start asking questions. Scarlett, given permission to read him in on Old World issues, does what she can to help him understand what happened. He's struggling with her job and the consequences of knowing about the supernatural. He wants justice, human justice, for the crime that has been committed, but he quickly learns that may not be possible.

"We sort of have our own justice system. And in the system, everyone can tell if you're lying, and smell where you've been, or do a spell that recreates the whole scene. Physical evidence just isn't important. For that, the only thing that matters is getting rid of it before it draws attention in your {human} world."

I really enjoyed Dead Spots . Melissa has done a fantastic job on her debut and I look forward to reading more about Scarlett and gang. It's clear that Scarlett has a lot to learn about a null's abilities. I look forward to learning along with her.

The only downside for me ... a budding love triangle, which I dread. Especially when, much like these three, I like all of the characters involved. ...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Ami rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Ami by: Experiment BL626

Shelves: urban-fantasy-paranormal-futuristic

3.65 stars rounded up

Quick recap (for my own sake):
Scarlet is a null and her ability makes all supernatural beings lost their power when they're within certain radius from her. She works as a cleaner who helps 'hiding' all traces of supernatural from crime scenes. Until one night, she is late to a horrible crime scenes where three vampires are killed brutally and an L.A.P.D Officer, Jesse Cruz, arrives first. Scarlett runs away but Jesse is able to track her, and she is forced to tell him about ...more

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Feb 09, 2017 Ina rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy-worth-reading, wow-surprised-me, urban-fantasy, 2017-reads

Even though this is only the first book in the series and some people here on Goodreads weren't impressed by it, I have to give it 4 stars. I didn't expect it to entertain me as much as it did and it gets bonus points for the surprising twist at the end.

Scarlett Bernard is a null, which means she disrupts magic. Vampires and werewolves lose their magic around her, so it's understandable that her job is to clean up magical messes. However, this time, that magical mess might end up killing her.

Even though this is only the first book in the series and some people here on Goodreads weren't impressed by it, I have to give it 4 stars. I didn't expect it to entertain me as much as it did and it gets bonus points for the surprising twist at the end.

Scarlett Bernard is a null, which means she disrupts magic. Vampires and werewolves lose their magic around her, so it's understandable that her job is to clean up magical messes. However, this time, that magical mess might end up killing her.

There is a few things I care a lot about in Urban Fantasy - protagonist, romance, crime solving, world building and supporting characters. In my time of reading UF, I've come to realize that most UF books usually get some of the aspects right, but not all of them (there are exceptions, of course, like Kate Daniels or Mercy Thompson). Dead Spots got almost all of them right. I liked Scarlett, she was smart, competent, not too whiny and not too bitchy. There were some things about her I didn't exactly love, but it's just a first book, so she has time to grow as a character, hopefully. Crime solving was probably the strongest aspect of this book - I expected the villain to be someone obvious, but I was pleasantly surprised - and I was pleasantly surprised again in the end, although I probably could have seen it coming. World building was great, because although we have the good old fractions - werewolves, vampires and witches - it brings something new. And the side characters were, in my opinion, pretty cool. I like Beatrice, Molly and werewolves and I'm not really sure about Dash and Cory, but I can't deny the fact that they are all interesting.

One weak spot is the romance. I love Eli and I like Jesse, but why do we have to get them both? If there was only one of them, I would give this book 5 stars. But I hate love triangles and I could certainly live without this one. Hopefully it will be resolved soon because I'm not in a mood to read about girl whining that there are two great guys fighting over her and she doesn't know which one to choose. ...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Beth rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, kindle, paranormal, vampires, werewolves, witches, adventure, mystery, action-adventure, amazon-prime-lending

Scarlett Bernard is a magical null. Just being around her will turn any vampire, werewolf or other magical creature completely mortal and human. Being a null gives her a special place in the supernatural community, she can use her abilities to clean up their crime scenes. On an extremely gruesome crime scene, Scarlett encounters Detective Jesse Cruz.

Jesse Cruz was in for the shock of his life, coming across an extremely horrific multi-murder with a beautiful woman holding a garbage bag and a ...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Kribu rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: vampires, witches, urban-fantasy, weres, read-in-2014

All things considered, probably not the best or cliché-free urban fantasy ever, but it worked for me.

Don't really have much to say, but ... yeah. I enjoyed it. Scarlett was a decent protagonist, believable enough and bad-ass without having a huge chip on her shoulder and actually letting other people help her when needed, the plot was engaging enough, and for a change I didn't even mind the sort-of love triangle, probably because it was kept fairly light and there was over-dramatic no ...more

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Mar 30, 2017 SheLove2Read rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017

3.5 stars/4
I liked it but I didn't love it. I can't put my finger on exactly what holds me back, but it's there.

I will say that I don't think the cover fits the story/heroine.

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Mar 15, 2017 Amanda rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, 2010s

Melissa Olson is a pretty reliable urban fantasy author for me -- snarky, world-weary female protagonists who are saving themselves from messes they didn't get themselves into. I listened to this as an audiobook, and it was very diverting even though I am more than a bit burnt out on reading at the moment; I ended up sitting in the car listening to the end.

This one specifically is about Scarlett Bernard, who is a null -- a very rare power who nullifies the magic that makes the supernatural what ...more

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Feb 03, 2020 Margaux rated it liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, vampires, 7-ku, ggg-book-bingo, machalo-tbr-cleaning-challenge-2020, ku-shitathon-2020

2.5 stars. Read for the 2020 Kindle Unlimited Shitathon challenge (this one was a read/listen).

The story was pretty boring, the characters just okay, and the book is in need of some editing, but there was some potential there with the MC's interesting "power." Unfortunately, the ending was trite, and in reading reviews for the next books in the series I think I'll pass.

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Nov 07, 2012 Hallie rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, audiobook

Very much enjoyed this - solid urban fantasy with a lot of what I tend to enjoy in UF, not a lot of what drives me crazy in some of it, and an interesting twist or two on the typical set-ups. (Only my take, and I'm hardly an expert on what's typical in UF, admittedly.)

Scarlett's "ability" - or nature - or non-power - is to cancel magic in other supernatural beings (vampires, werewolves and witches, so far). It makes her a useful tool/weapon to the more powerful vampires and werewolves,and Very much enjoyed this - solid urban fantasy with a lot of what I tend to enjoy in UF, not a lot of what drives me crazy in some of it, and an interesting twist or two on the typical set-ups. (Only my take, and I'm hardly an expert on what's typical in UF, admittedly.)

Scarlett's "ability" - or nature - or non-power - is to cancel magic in other supernatural beings (vampires, werewolves and witches, so far). It makes her a useful tool/weapon to the more powerful vampires and werewolves,and potentially very dangerous if she were to use it against them. She doesn't have any extra strength herself though, so there are many ways she can be killed, by humans or supernatural beings alike. She doesn't really know that much about what it means to be a null, as her mentor didn't teach her more than she had to, and they're (supposedly) quite rare. I liked the sound of all this, and wasn't disappointed. If Scarlett has a tendency to take on ridiculous amounts of guilt over things she has no responsibility for, her job is quite a grey-area one morally. And eventually the guilt comes to make sense - not that it's warranted, but it's easy to see better why she might respond as she does.

I'm pretty sure I complained quite narkily about a book that had alternating 1st and 3rd person POVs, and now have to sheepishly admit that I really enjoyed that exact narrative structure here. Scarlett's is the 1st-person, and then it switches to Jesse, the cop who becomes entangled in the supernatural stuff in LA, and works with Scarlett on the case of three dead vampires in a park. I liked getting out of Scarlett's head and into Jesse's for a bit. And lo and behold, there's a love triangle - I know, I know, unheard of in an urban fantasty. But this one didn't make me want to collapse from frustrated boredom - in part because it's rather muted, with a lot more emphasis on Scarlett's building trust and letting down her walls a bit with the two guys (the other is a werewolf) than on the super-angst and OMG-sex angle of too many love triangles. (There isn't even any sex in the present of the book - just a bit of flash-back description of how Scarlett came to have a few one-night stands with Eli.)

Nice little nods to the literary vampire story, and some good supporting characters helped too, so I'm looking forward to more in the series. (Which is not yet officially a series, on GR, but with an ending like the one we got here, more books *better* be coming soon!)

ETA: Just spotted this on the author's blog: scroll down to "Meet the star of Dead Spots". There was a lovely little scene between Jesse's dog and Scarlett, and Max is real! And also, Melissa Olson is right on about dog breeds.)

Note on the audiobook: reader was fine. Nothing that would have made me want to keep listening if I hadn't been into the story, and a bit too much at times, but not bad.

[That's all for the addenda for now.] [Don't take that "for now" as too threatening, as it probably really is all!] ...more

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Aug 08, 2013 Shera (Book Whispers) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, vampire, ebook, werewolves, animal-shifters, witches-mages-druids-wizards-other, ebook-m, 2012

Nulls. They're my latest obsession in my Urban Fantasy reads. I've been collecting them like crazy . . . and Dead Spots is the one I finally decided to try out. Up front nulls in this book are pretty cool, and the mystery behind what kind of powers they can truly develop is pretty mind tickling. Oh, and that ending!! Oh. My. Cliffhangers!

The problem is all of the above is pretty much all I carried away from this book. Or more correctly all I really cared about. Scarlett was not my favorite Nulls. They're my latest obsession in my Urban Fantasy reads. I've been collecting them like crazy . . . and Dead Spots is the one I finally decided to try out. Up front nulls in this book are pretty cool, and the mystery behind what kind of powers they can truly develop is pretty mind tickling. Oh, and that ending!! Oh. My. Cliffhangers!

The problem is all of the above is pretty much all I carried away from this book. Or more correctly all I really cared about. Scarlett was not my favorite person. Some bad stuff happened in her past. From things she could have never have changed or predicted. That type of thing scars a person. Totally get that. However, for all of her cutting people out and trying to protect people . . . she went about a very stupid way of protecting them. Ignorance is not protection, if she would have told her brother about what had happened things would have been safer. Also, she basically finds out that a psycho up turned her world and that other evil people knew what happened. Yet they said nothing and supported those actions. She basically goes about her life normally, not bothering to try and learn anything. Hiding behind her scars and leaving herself buck naked to danger.

The world is interesting, but overall nothing new to the genre. It felt very generic. From the cast of characters to the creatures. The mythology behind why all the “Old World” creatures got that way is kind of cool, but the rest of the series was dull. Oh, and after I read the prologue I figured I knew what was happening and who was doing it. It needs to be said how badly the prologue felt connected to the actual story. In fact, I think the whole book would have worked out better without it.

That being said the Scarlett Bernard world still interests me. That cliffhanger ending was worth it! Plus, in general it's always good to give a series second—sometimes three—chances. It can take a series, or author, a few tries to get into the swing of things. Overall Dead Spots isn't bad. It's told from two POVs and I actually enjoyed the—man candy’s, cough—cop's page time. While I felt him accepting the Old World didn't come off strongly on the page, I enjoyed him immensely. It will be exciting to see if he develops away from being par of just another love triangle. Because there is one here, and it was annoying that it felt so . . . young adult. Cheap young adult. The rest of the books won't be jumping up on my TBR pile anytime soon.

Sexual Content: Yeah, it’s there. Scarlett get . . . OK got some. There’s some sexual humor and talk, however it’s all really tame.

2/5- Average/disappointing, library check-out.

Originally reviewed at Book Whispers. ...more

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YA Buddy Readers'...: Scarlett Bernard series, starting with Dead Spots, by Melissa F. Olson - beginning November 30th, 2018	10	19	Dec 31, 2018 01:07PM

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About Melissa F. Olson

Melissa F. Olson

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Melissa Olson was born and raised in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and studied film and literature at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. After graduation, and a brief stint bouncing around the Hollywood studio system, Melissa landed in Madison, WI, where she eventually acquired a master's degree from UW-Milwaukee, a husband, a mortgage, a teaching gig, two kids, and two comically ...more