Book Review Alert: Oops I Ate a Vengeance Demon by Laura Hignett

Reviewed: May 11th, 2024
Released: October 14th, 2022
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy

Getting possessed by a demon wasn’t on my to-do list. I was just too busy for that sort of thing.

I had a fifty-hour work week, a hellraiser of a toddler, debilitating morning sickness and a husband who thought his only job was taking out the trash. I was at breaking point.

I don’t remember being possessed, or attacking Terry, or my local priest pulling the demon out of me and trapping her in a banana (with the help of a stranger, a badass girl who apparently wrangled supernatural creatures for a living.)

But the aftermath was wild. Terry promised he’d try harder, and give me more support.

He lied. And I broke.

So… I ate the banana. I absorbed the vengeance demon.

She’s a part of me now, sharing my body; we’re like two people in a car. Most of the time, I’m driving. Sometimes, I let her take the wheel. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Reviewed: May 4th, 2024
Released: December 15th, 2014
Genre: Historical/Steampunk Fantasy

One spy. One dangerous book. One deadly mission. The first in a delightful fantasy mystery series, The Invisible Library is the astounding debut from Genevieve Cogman.

Irene must be at the top of her game or she’ll be off the case – permanently . . .

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. Along with her new assistant Kai, she’s posted to an alternative London. Their mission – to retrieve a dangerous book. But lo and behold, when they arrive, it’s already been stolen. London’s underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.

In this world teeming with supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic, Irene soon finds herself up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. And Kai is also hiding secrets of his own. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Revelations by Nikole Knight

Reviewed: April 14th, 2024
Released: February 7th 2020
Genre: PNR Fantasy

Riley thought he knew what to expect from college, but he never planned for angels, demons, or a team of attractive, overprotective Guardians.

When one fateful night opens his eyes to a world he never knew existed, Riley Shepard must navigate a host of supernatural dangers, all while struggling with new and confusing feelings for his guardian angels. With the promise of friends, family, and freedom finally within his grasp, he fears not only for his heart but for his life as well.

Lucky for him, some things are worth dying for. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: The Iron Crown by L.L. Macrae

Reviewed: April 7th, 2024
Released: May 28th 2021
Genre: Epic Fantasy

Fenn’s first and only memory is finding himself in the middle of a forest, face to face with a dragon spirit mocking him, all knowledge gone apart from his own name.

Lost and confused, his only hope for answers is Calidra—a woman living on the edge of the world with her partner. Forced to return home when her father dies, Calidra has put off facing her estranged mother for seven years, and she begrudgingly helps Fenn, forging papers for him so he can avoid the Queen’s Inquisitors.

But her mother is the least of her worries when they discover an ancient enemy is rising again. It should be impossible with the Iron Crown in power—and Fenn is terrified he might unwittingly be playing a part in the war’s resurgence.

Surrounded by vengeful spirits and powerful magic, Fenn’s desperate attempt to find his way home might well alter the fate of Tassar, and every power in it. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Shadow of the Sword by C.J.R. Isely

Reviewed: April 4th, 2024
Released: October 31st, 2022
Genre: YA/Epic Fantasy

He is imprisoned and bound for death.

But could his captor be his savior?

Laster has always wanted to prove himself to his father by becoming a knight of Alamore.

Only months away from the end of his training, he has his chance when his own mentor, Sir Dasroch, gives him the honor of riding in place of a knight on a borderland patrol.

But the perfect dream he has lived is shattered with the strike of a single lethal arrow.

After a nightmarish attack, Laster finds himself captured by the enemy, chained and imprisoned.

As his plans to escape are thwarted one after the next, Laster knows time is running out. It seems there is only one hope left. But can he really trust his life to the very Prince who put him in chains? Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Legend of Tal: A King’s Bargain by J.D.L. Rosell

Reviewed: March 28th, 2024
Released: June 1st, 2020
Genre: Epic Fantasy

The legend of Tal Harrenfel is sung across the Westreach—and with each telling, the tales grow taller. But though his king declares him a hero, Tal has never claimed to be more than a man…

After three decades of fighting warlocks, killing mythical beasts, and hunting enchanted treasure, Tal has had enough. Running from the deeds of his past, he retreats to his home village under a different name and meets an unlikely companion: Garin, a village boy who dreams of making a name for himself and seeing the world beyond their sleepy town.

When Tal receives a mysterious visitor, both he and Garin are thrown into a journey across the kingdom. Soon, they become embroiled in the plots of monarchs, on the frontlines of an ancient war, and at the mercy of a fabled sorcerer.

Now Tal must live up to his legend, and Garin discover his own power, to survive the forces pitted against them…….Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: A Dowry of Blood by S.T Gibson

Reviewed: March 19th, 2024
Released: February 23rd, 2022
Genre: Gothic Fantasy

This is my last love letter to you, though some would call it a confession. . .

S.T. Gibson’s sensational novel is the darkly seductive tale of Dracula’s first bride, Constanta.

Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things.

Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband’s dark secrets. With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death….Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Crescent City: House of Blood and Earth by Sarah J Maas

Reviewed: March 16th, 2024
Released: March 3rd, 2020
Genre: Fantasy

BOUND BY BLOOD.
TEMPTED BY DESIRE.
UNLEASHED BY DESTINY.

Bryce Quinlan loves her life. Every night is a party, and Bryce is going to savour all the pleasures Lunathion – also known as Crescent City – has to offer. But when a brutal murder shakes the very foundations of the city, Bryce’s world comes crashing down.

Two years later, Bryce still haunts the city’s most notorious nightclubs – but seeking only oblivion now. Then the murderer attacks again. And when an infamous Fallen angel, Hunt Athalar, is assigned to watch her every footstep, Bryce knows she can’t forget any longer.

As Bryce and Hunt fight to unravel the mystery and their own dark pasts, the threads they tug ripple through the underbelly of the city, across warring continents and down to the deepest levels of Hel, where things that have been sleeping for millennia are beginning to stir …Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Lady Avely’s Guide to Truth and Magic by Rosalie Oaks

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…

Book Review Alert: Legends of Astraea by Sophia Alessandrini

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…