Reviewed: March 10th, 2024 Released: February 16th, 2014 Genre: Magical Cosy Mystery
Regency widow shouldn’t be hunting spectres all night.
Lady Judith Avely’s magical gift for divining the truth makes her prodigiously good at lying. To absolve a guilty secret, she travels to the exiled Duke of Sargen’s estate, but the last thing she expects is to run into the duke himself, who is lamentably now even more attractive than in his volatile youth.
The duke has his own concerns: he has returned home to a haunted house, with skulls floating about and a footman apparently bashed by a book. Such vulgar circumstances are best avoided, but the duke needs Judith’s unique talents to help uncover the culprit – even if it might put her in the sights of a killer.
With the help of a tiny vampiric acquaintance and a continuous supply of drinking chocolate, Judith should be able to solve the uncanny mystery…if only the duke will stop making improper remarks about her mobcaps.
A lady who can discern lies, the duke who lied to her, and a gothic cosy mystery full of bats, skulls, and cocoa.
Lady Avely’s Guide to Truth and Magic features a mid-life heroine, a slow-burn second-chance romance, and a magical version of Regency England. Read My Thoughts…
I wish every day was World Book Day!! I suppose if we want it to be we could make it so. After all who doesn’t love curling up with a good book, a favourite beverage of choice and plenty of snacks.
Then we get to spend hours chatting about our favourite books, authors, characters, quotes, sayings, worlds, the list is endless.
I think that is what so wonderful about books, it draws like-minded people together, it grows communities, it gives people an outlet to express their frustration at a plot point, a character’s behaviour or when an author doesn’t write it how we want them to, and time to express our sheer love and enjoyment when they do!
Image: Canva
Do you have auto buy authors? I do. When I fall in love with the characters or a world, and I love the way an author writes, then I want more. I devour everything they have written. I love Space Opera, and one of my favourite authors is in fact a duo, Steve Miller and Sharon Lee. They have created an intricate universe full of amazing characters and complex cultures, and their way of writing is very distinctive as a result. If you’ve read them, I’m happy to chat about them! Who’s your favourite character? My favourite’s change every time they introduce new people, because they are all so engaging, though Pricilla Mendoza and Shan yos’Galan were the first characters I met and loved, so I guess they are my ultimate favourites. I can’t wait for their next book which is focussed on the Master Trader. Yes! she says, with a fist pump.
It brings me great joy when I hear my readers say the same of my books, characters, worlds or the way I write. There is no greater compliment to an author to be told you are a reader’s auto buy! Even the thought of it just makes me smile, because those readers get me and my worlds. We are on the same wavelength. We are our own book community.
I hope you spend this World Book day finding new authors to love, new worlds to escape into, and maybe a few like-minded folks who love the same books you do. Happy Reading!
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It is with great sadness that I write these words. One of my favourite authors died since I wrote this blog. Steve Miller passed away suddenly on February 20th, and having been a Patreon follower of Steve and Sharon for many years, you get to know them vicariously through the shenanigans of their home and author life, and although you may never have met them, they are there. As a result it is all the more shocking when suddenly they are not. My heartfelt sympathies go out to Sharon, as we mourn the loss of such a wonderful man, partner and author.
If you enjoy fantasy books then you will love my epic fantasy Sentinal series or the Romantic Fantasy SoulMist series. Or try my standalone Dystopian Science Fantasy, Harmony. Sign up to my newsletter and download a free novella called Sentinals Stirring and get notified when my next books are published.
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Reviewed: February 26th, 2024 Released: October 21st, 2018 Genre: YA Fantasy
Can the power of love save the world?
Ailie, a gutsy girl who possesses a sharp wit and a playful, irreverent voice that pairs well with that of her best friend’s, a werewolf; embarks on a quest for revenge with the help of her psychotic, warmongering, and good-hearted legal guardian. She alone can open the gates of hell just like Pandora did when she opened the jar that contained all evils.
And evil wants those doors open. Fallen Angels conspire to help her with Cupid’s Golden Arrow.
She finds herself in a whimsical world of myths, legends, glittering gowns, priceless jewels, life threatening enemies, and eccentric immortals that call themselves Strzyga.
However, there are side effects to the arrow. What’s not to like about a gorgeous, two-hundred-year old Strzyga prince who is totally and completely head over heels for her?
But things never go as planned, do they?
Will Ailie manage to save the world, or will she accidentally open the gates of hell? Read My Thoughts…
Reviewed: February 25th, 2024 Released: February 16th, 2017 Genre: Paranormal Fantasy Format: Audio Narrated by Kevin T. Collins
A Kindle UK Storyteller Finalist
A Missing Ferryman. An Undead Dilemma. An Immortal Detective.
An emissary from the Dark Council has just materialized in the office of the Montague & Strong Detective Agency, and makes Simon Strong an offer he can’t refuse. Charon is missing. The legendary ferryman responsible for transporting sorcerer souls across the river Styx hasn’t been seen in days. And with each passing hour, those unable to cross the river are left to walk among the living, tilting the world further out of balance.
Meet Simon Strong, an immortal, who is also the best private detective in New York City. Together with his surly partner-Tristan Montague, a mage of indeterminate age, they must find the Ferryman and get him back to work before another Supernatural War ravages the earth, destroys humanity, and Simon’s local coffee shop.
Time is running out. His landlord wants the rent and Karma with a capital K is paying him a visit, and she can be a real…
Join the Montague & Strong Detective Agency and help them locate Charon, so he can restore balance to the universe, put the dead sorcerers to rest, and maybe solve the age old conundrum-coffee or tea? Read My Thoughts…
Reviewed: February 11th, 2024 Released: October 24th, 2023 Genre: Science Fiction
FBI Agent Gene Wyke is the best of the best. But can he find a girl missing in another world?
High in the mountains of Colorado, veteran FBI agent Gene Wyke is tasked with locating ten-year-old Marigold Riley, an assignment he hopes will be the last of his career. But the investigation goes sideways when Marigold’s twin sister Katie vanishes as well. Literally.
In the middle of a forest clearing, Gene watches her dissolve into thin air.
To follow, Gene must leave his training behind and step through a doorway to another world—one filled with wonders, as well as dangers real enough to kill him. In the end, saving the two girls will take more than Gene’s cunning and skill; it will take his heart, and change it forever. Read My Thoughts…
Reviewed: February 8th, 2024 Released: February 7th, 2024 Genre: Cosy Mystery
A talented spell-weaving witch on the run is forced to find magical refuge in a mystery novel, playing the role of Emily Crookshanks, amateur sleuth and professional flirt.
Waking up with no idea who or where she is, Emily finds herself in the quaint 1920s English countryside village of Little Pucklewick, uncomfortably sharing tea and cakes with the not so Reverend Wilson-Smallsey, the village’s rather pompous womanising vicar.
After a series of shocking murders, Emily hooks up with the village doctor, a rather dashing ex-RAF fighter pilot known to his chums as ‘Ceddars’. Working together, they uncover clues and interrogate suspects.
Add an inept inspector, various pompous ladies from the regular vicarage get-togethers, a dashing explorer recently returned from the Orient, his very attractive career-minded secretary, and a whole host of motives and clues, including a series of nasty accusatory posters, and Emily finds herself in the middle of a most confusing and frustrating mystery.
But more than the murders, Emily suffers from terrifying visions of attack and desperate escape. And just what are wands and spell-weavery, and the smartphones and hi-def televisions she occasionally glimpses in her mind?
Despite everything, Emily knows that to survive, she must solve the mystery and, to do that, she must keep going to The End. Read My Thoughts…
Reviewed: January 30th, 2024 Released: July 1st, 2022 Genre: Science Fiction
An unknown invader. A devastating attack. And the system’s uneasy peace is broken.
Decimated, the Caprician Empire teeters on the brink of defeat. Her detractors, restive colonies and rapacious rivals alike, must come together to protect their system from invasion and domination.
Arsaces Wood is a man most wished had been killed the day he halted a doomed rebellion. Resented by the ruling Capricians and shunned by his kin, he now commands a Sentient, the AI warship Westerland.
Yet even as they join the system’s desperate defense, he discovers those he trusts most have been lying to him. Hiding secrets that threaten not only his life, but the very worlds he is fighting to save. Read My Thoughts…
Reviewed: January 25th, 2024 Released: October 10th, 2014 Genre: Paranormal Murder Mystery
Psychic psychologist Marnie Reilly battles inner demons every day. But when the “demon” is flesh and blood, will the final analysis be murder?
Marnie Reilly is a hot-headed counselor with a difficult past; a dead mother, father, brother and an abusive ex-boyfriend. She has publicly taken on “The Collective,” a group of psychics and charlatans who sell hope at top dollar to troubled people looking for answers. They have threatened her, but she hasn’t taken their “hoodoo voodoo” nonsense seriously – until now.
When the police find Marnie’s ex-boyfriend’s dead body in her shed, she finds herself in the middle of a murder inquiry. Serious questions arise about her involvement in the murder and Marnie is certain The Collective has framed her. Marnie, her Border Collie, a childhood friend and a cranky detective battle thunder, rain, ice and blizzards to end a rash of murders in the sleepy city of Creekwood. Will the ghosts of her past help too? Read My Thoughts…
Reviewed: January 21st, 2024 Released: August 18th, 2022 Genre: Mystery Suspense
A girl and a boy, haunted by their past, must battle their personal demons to fight the evil hiding in plain sight.
Eighteen-year-old Dee Bailey works hard on her personal brand. She’s intelligent and passionate about her community. To her peers, she’s a great friend and everyone’s favorite social butterfly.
But when alone, she’s terrorized by a secret that leaves her cowering to the floor. Until one night, a mysterious girl in white appears on the manicured lawn of her family’s vacation home. She follows the robed figure into the woods with no clue that she’s about to change the course of her future.
Meanwhile, Brandon Cuenca is drowning in the weight of his self-sabotage. Mourning the death of his girlfriend, he throws himself deep into a world of drug binges and questionable life choices—until the news of another disappearance of a Wakefield teenager forces him to set his problems aside. The victim was the third girl abducted in their social circle.
But when a chance encounter lands him in her path, he learns that bringing her home is more complicated than finding her. What happens when the missing doesn’t want to be found?
Followers of the Owl explores greed, avarice and the human need to find light in the darkness.
Trigger Warnings: Use of profanity, drug use/alcohol use, no sex but brief sexual interactions, dysfunctional relationships, brief discussions of triggering topics: sexual/physical abuse.
Reviewed: January 20th, 2024 Released: September 14th, 2023 Genre: Romantic Fantasy
ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, level-headed assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem, terror, and other Dark Things in General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits.
With ailing family to support, Evie Sage’s employment status isn’t just important, it’s vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer-naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie.
But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn, and someone wants to take the Villain-and his entire nefarious empire-out.
Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work… and ensure he makes them pay.
Helen Garraway 