Cold Days by Jim Butcher

In this book Harry Dresden is back from the dead and stronger than ever--thanks to his agreement to serve as Queen Mab's Winter Knight. Harry has got to figure out how he can serve in this role without letting it corrupt him--but in the meantime, Chicago is likely to be at Ground Zero of a magical explosion of apocalyptic proportions (centering on Demonreach, of course) and Mab has given him his first assignment: kill her daughter, Maeve (an immortal, for those of you keeping score at home). I like the way that this book doesn't shy away from tough questions, or asking Harry to do morally questionable things. I think Butcher has done (and continues to do) a great job increasing the stakes so we see what's going on with the series long term (it's not just one adventure after another) while making each book individually great to read.

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner

This collection is united by the idea of werewolves and Christmas. The number of stories that started with someone spending the holidays alone for whatever reason got old really quick (even the Sookie story starts that way--a story, I might add, that also appears in the collection of Sookie stories). There were two that focused on Santa Claus that I thought were well-done and interesting: in one, a werewolf eats Rudolph and gets put in his place and in another, a couple of vampires discover that Santa is actually a vampire. I enjoyed the Kitty story by Carrie Vaughn.

Dark and Stormy Knights edited by P.N. Elrod

This collection of nine short stories is united by its protagonists: they're all somewhat morally ambiguous protectors of the weak (by choice or by compulsion). The Jim Butcher story ("Even Hand") features John Marcone instead of Harry Dresden and was really excellent. I also loved "Even a Rabbit Will Bite" by Rachel Caine about the last dragonslayer in an age that doesn't really need her anymore. "Rookwood and Mrs. King" by Lillith Saintcrow, "Dark Lady" by P.N. Elrod, "The Beacon" by Shannon Butcher, and "A Questionable Client" by Ilona Andrews were all intriguing--I'd especially be interested in the series associated with Elrod's and Andrews's stories. Some of the other stories (apparently part of stories) were really opaque: the magical systems, worlds, and rules were weird and not clearly explained and the characters had lots of missing backstory.