Book Review Alert: Apprentice’s Luck by K.L Noone

Reviewed: August 25th, 2024
Released: July 22nd, 2023
Genre: MM Fantasy Romance

Apprentice magician Talisman Morning has always been lucky. It’s a problem.

Talis knows his luck is a magical talent — but he can’t control it. And good luck for him can mean bad luck for other people, and a lot of trouble. He’s beginning to wonder whether he belongs with the magicians at all, or whether he should give up and run away … until he meets a royal guard who asks for his help.

King’s guard Jeryn de Machaut could use a magician. He thinks he’s overheard a plot against the king, but he has no evidence and no support. But a wayward apprentice with a knack for being in the right place — and stumbling over hidden objects — might be exactly the luck Jer needs.

Together, Jer and Talis will uncover a palace conspiracy, save a king, and find their own best chance at love. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Reviewed: August 15th, 2024
Released: September 3rd, 2009
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge. These words are spoken by Iris Chase Griffen, married at eighteen to a wealthy industrialist but now poor and eighty-two. Iris recalls her far from exemplary life, and the events leading up to her sisters death, gradually revealing the carefully guarded Chase family secrets. Among these is The Blind Assassin, a novel that earned the dead Laura Chase not only notoriety but also a devoted cult following. Sexually explicit for its time, it was a pulp fantasy improvised by two unnamed lovers who meet secretly in rented rooms and seedy cafés. As this novel-within-a-novel twists and turns through love and jealousy, self-sacrifice and betrayal, so does the real narrative, as both move closer to war and catastrophe. Margaret Atwoods Booker Prize-winning sensation combines elements of gothic drama, romantic suspense, and science fiction fantasy in a spellbinding tale. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Scarlett Legacy by Shelli Rosewarne

Reviewed: July 26th, 2024
Released: April 4th, 2024
Genre: Fairytale Retelling

Natalia doesn’t believe in fairytales. Until she’s thrown headfirst into one. Now she has to trust a big bad wolf with both her life and her heart.

Natalia is done with men. Her cheating scumbag of an ex-boyfriend just the latest in a line of disappointments. She’s definitely not going to be taken in by a sexy Scotsman with an honest-to-God castle, a disturbing affect on her libido, and a shit-ton of secrets.

Damian knows she’s his fated mate. He’s waited his whole life for her after all. But Natalia doesn’t believe in destiny, or wolf shifters, and she sure as hell won’t trust him to keep her safe. But if she doesn’t then her life and his whole pack are in danger.

Scarlett Legacy is the first in the Highland Wolves series, a set of stand-alone but interconnected paranormal romance stories. If you like fairytale retellings and sexy Scotsmen in kilts, then you’ll love this fast-paced shifter romance. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Solomon’s Compass by Carol Kilgore

Reviewed: July 23rd, 2024
Released: March 23rd, 2013
Genre: Contemporary fiction

One USCG Commander + One Veteran Navy SEAL = Fireworks from Stem to Stern

When Coast Guard Commander Taylor Campbell returns to Rock Harbor, Texas, to tend to her uncle’s estate, she meets a veteran Navy SEAL, Jake Solomon, and learns her uncle didn’t drown accidentally. His murder was one in a string of murders of a group of Vietnam veterans who called themselves the Compass Points.

Before her uncle died, he sent Taylor a message with the location of his buried treasure. Unearthing it will place her squarely in the killer’s crosshairs, but she’s determined to fulfill her uncle’s last wish.

Jake, sent to protect her and find the killer, has other plans. Despite the fact she’s a feisty dynamo in a pint-sized package, his mission would be much easier to accomplish if he could forget how good she’d tasted when he kissed her. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Unexpected Witness by MJ Blehart

Reviewed: July 18th, 2024
Released: February 28th, 2021
Genre: Science Fiction

When a high-ranking businessman and two clones are murdered, Marshal Onima Gwok of the Confederation Bureau of Investigation (CBI) gets assigned the case. But nothing quite adds up. Is there something more insidious going on? There is just one witness – a clone. When the war ended ten years ago, the clones who had fought it were discarded, forgotten, and became second-class citizens of the new confederation. Jace Rojas, designated AC J7-2247, is an infantry clone. When he proves to be more helpful than just being a witness to a murder, Onima decides to bring Jace along to join her team as they look for answers across multiple solar systems. But every question seems to produce no answers – only more questions. Will this be the start of a new war – or something worse? Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Ribbon Dance by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Reviewed: July 8th, 2024
Released: June 17th, 2024
Genre: Space Opera

On a world where cake is a necessity, it takes the Grid to protect the civilized and the deaf from the dire influences of the ambient and to keep the chaotic Haosa at bay.

Having arrived at recently Dust-bound Colemeno, Trader Padi yos’Galan is essential to Master Trader Shan yos’Galan’s plan to recoup Clan Korval’s fortunes by establishing new routes for the clan’s tradeship. Shan’s inner Healer insists Padi come to terms with her as-yet unplumbed psychic abilities, which might place her in the top tier of dramliz, if she can learn control.

Padi yearns to concentrate on trade, but Colemeno’s fey ambient and deadly long-term politics combine to bring her face-to-face with the Haosa, and in particular with the mysterious and untouchable Tekelia, as Korval’s trade mission’s necessity of a port audit collide with a cruel history of murder, deception, and brutality. Amid the dangers, Padi unexpectedly finds herself eagerly exploring her dramliz side when faced with the unspoken powers of the ambient, the sky-filling energy of the ribbon dance, and Tekelia’s mutable eyes. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: The Winter Prince by Constance Lopez

Reviewed: June 7th, 2024
Released: December 15th, 2023
Genre: Fairytale Retelling

A beastly prince. A cursed land. One last hope.

Breaking his bargain with another fae has earned Revi, Prince of the Winter Court, a terrible curse: he lives as a beast and must watch his people suffer under a withering blight. The only cure? A heart freely given.

When a human patrol steals one of Revi’s magical roses, a sliver of opportunity strikes. He agrees to spare their lives in return for a woman who must live in his castle for a year and a day. But could such a beauty learn to love a beast like him?

Although Kienna was warned of conniving fae before her arrival at the Winter Court, the Winter Prince, while beastly, is not the monster she expected. Her dreams plague her—or more specifically, the enigmatic silvery man who walks them does. She’s determined to find him in the waking world and free him from his imprisonment.

Her dream prince begs her not to trust her eyes. But… can she trust her heart?

The Winter Prince, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, is book 12 of Once Upon A Prince, a multi-author series of clean fairy tale retellings. Each standalone story features a swoony prince fighting for his happily ever after. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: The Fate in the Flames by Sierra Knoxley

Reviewed: May 31st 2024
Released: February 4th, 2023
Genre: Dark Fantasy

Fate wants me dead. I won’t allow that.

Sakura:
When the hateful shogun murders my family, I flee through the mysterious Ancestors Portal. But instead of reuniting with my loved ones, I’m dragged into a realm inhabited by vicious shapeshifter clans locked in endless feuds. Bloody competitions have replaced outright war, but death haunts me at every turn.
I must survive at all costs. My childhood love needs to know what became of us, and I want revenge, but I never expected to fall in love with the hellhound who hunted me.
Or to be a prime candidate for the great lords’ barbaric, ritualized sacrifice.
If I survive, it will only be to watch my lover compete in the champions’ death-match. He’ll be torn apart if I can’t save him, but what price will a powerful lord of the fox clan ask me to pay?
Surviving fate seems impossible. Or maybe I misunderstood my fate in the first place. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: The House Witch and the Charming of Austice by Delemhach

Reviewed: May 22nd, 2024
Released: January 4th, 2024
Genre: Cozy Fantasy

THERE’S A NEW SPY IN THE KITCHEN – AND IT TURNS OUT TO BE THE COOK . . .

Between his work for the King and Queen of Daxaria and a new (secret) relationship with Lady Annika Jenoure, Fin the cook’s life is anything but tidy.

Annika is being forced from the castle after there are threats to her safety. All the while tension is brewing with the kingdom of Troivack and war seems to draw ever closer.

As if he doesn’t have enough on his plate, Fin is soon promoted from cook to spy and sent into the city of Austice where he must sleuth out the plans of the Troivackian troops allegedly hidden there.

However, an unwelcome visitor is about to knock on his door, and Fin’s world starts to unravel even more . . . Re ad My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: A Song for Kitty by Angela Cairns

Reviewed: May 15th, 2024
Released: August 24th, 2023
Genre: Historical Romance

Lily Matthews had always known Aiden Donnelly, but nothing prepared her for the way their childhood friendship deepens into something more. Set in the turbulent years before World War I, and with preparations for the Coronation of King George and the suffragist movement in full swing, Lily and Aiden’s lives are about to change forever.

A chance encounter with Music Hall star and suffragette activist, Kitty Marion opens a world of possibilities. Lily, apprentice dressmaker, has dreams of designing theatrical costumes, Aiden, talented pianist and songwriter is waiting for his career break. One of them is left behind with a promise, the other is drawn into suffragette activism in the hope of creating a better world for them both. But will this opportunity bring them closer together or be the source of a devastating separation?

A Song for Kitty blends fictional and real-life characters to transport readers to a captivating time in history.
If you love romantic historical fiction, you’ll be enthralled by this gripping story full of powerful emotions, strong characters, and a dangerous conflict. Read My Thoughts…