All Booked Up

Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was good fun from start to finish. A small village in the English countryside is trying to return to some semblance of normal after the Second Great War when the murder of the village charwoman known for her snooping and drinking causes quite a stir. Is it an accident...or murder? Village doctor James Sommers is definitely hoping for the former. After years as a war doctor all he wants is quiet days. Enter Leo Page, charming spy, to turn the doctor's wish on its ear. I would go into more, but it'd really give away some of the beauty of discovering these characters on your own. And there was so much here to enjoy, especially if you're fond of Christie-esque whodunnits, colorful old ladies, and charming villages full of secrets. As always, Cat Sebastian does not disappoint. View all my reviews

The Queen's Witch by Karen Chance My rating: 5 of 5 stars "I am trying to decide whether to kiss you again, or throw you over my knee!" "Let me know when you make up your mind, " I told him. I thought both had possibilities. What's better than a fantasy spy story with a great protagonist? A story with 2 and that's just what I got here in the second novella featuring coven Elder Gillian Urswick and gentleman spy vampire Kit Marlowe. Starting only a day or so after the first novella, we find Gillian still on the run from the dreaded Circle, a magical order seeking absolute power in England. There are few, if any, allies Gillian can turn to for help in getting herself and her young daughter safe passage from England. Enter Kit Marlowe with the answer to her prayers. Separately, these characters are interesting, witty and formidable. Together, they're a powerhouse of sarcasm, stubbornness, intelligence, and palpabl...

Touch the Dark by Karen Chance My rating: 2 of 5 stars “I knew I was in trouble as soon as I saw the obituary.” When a book starts off like that, you tend to expect greatness. You might not get it, but you expect it. This was close to greatness, but never quite made it. Don't get me wrong, there are things here that I loved. The historical figures as supernatural entities, the witches, the hierarchy of vampires, the time-traveling, Cassie's powers, hell, even the gore at times. Vampires are violent creatures. But even with all of that going for it, this book had two glaring problems for me: 1) The info-dumps. Sweet Jesus, the info-dumps. Look, I read sci-fi so I know that information must be given. But if the character is in the middle of dying, it's probably not the best time for one. And that happened a lot. A. LOT. The story is told in first-person pov, so wherever the character's mind goes, the reader goes. Do you know how j...

The Gauntlet by Karen Chance My rating: 4 of 5 stars A very quick, but engaging read about an unlikely alliance between a powerful witch and a gentleman spy vampire. Having taken AP English for more years than I care to remember, Christopher Marlowe (who greatly inspired William Shakespeare) is among the playwrights that haunted my dreams when in school. Having him here, re-imagined, after his "mysterious death" to be this cheeky gentleman spy vampire is both hilarious and ingenious (since he was considered a spy in reality). However, the real star of this book for me is Gillian Urswick: Witch. Mother. Warrior. Taken by force with her young daughter and other covens by a magical order that wishes to eradicate those that refuse to bend to their will, Gillian is left with one choice: fight or die. "Will you fight , girl, for what is your?" And boy, does she! There were shouts and curses from the guards who fell with the walls, and f...

A Limited Engagement by Josh Lanyon My rating: 1 of 5 stars An abusive relationship from start to finish. No, thanks. View all my reviews

Icecapade by Josh Lanyon My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was cute. Something about their shared loneliness, despite their chosen paths in life, made it deeper for me. View all my reviews

Mummy Dearest by Josh Lanyon My rating: 5 of 5 stars My first book of the year was by Josh Lanyon and this, my 100th book of the year, is as well. This was just great time. Sweet, snarky guys and a Scooby-Doo adventure. What's not to like? View all my reviews

The Monuments Men Murders by Josh Lanyon My rating: 4 of 5 stars Adrien and Jake are my favorite JL couple - hands down, no contest; but Jason and Sam are right up there after this. I also hold a special place in my heart for Tucker (from the All's Fair trilogy), but Sam Kennedy.... whew Interesting mystery, decent supporting cast - especially J.J. Russell. I'm really starting to like him. View all my reviews

The Steep & Thorny Way by Cat Winters My rating: 1 of 5 stars If you've ever engaged me on this forum or read my review of Catcher in the Rye , you know that I have a special hate/hate relationship with all of the "classic" literature that was required reading in all of my AP English classes. Hamlet is the play that I dislike the least. I don't like the play, I just hate it a little less than most of the others. Don't even get me started on Hamlet's whore/Madonna complex because we'll be here all day; but the reason I hate the play a little less is because - spoiler alert - almost everyone dies. Given everything that happened in that play, it was the ending most fitting. If this book, a retelling of sorts, had ended that way, I'd have liked it a whole lot more. I could go into all of the reasons why this didn't work for me, and there are plenty, but it was mainly the narrator/main character - because she was...

Lord Tophet by Gregory Frost My rating: 5 of 5 stars A very enchanting conclusion to an awesome adventure. Some books just grab hold and don't let go. We can't always explain why the images the words create make us feel the way they do, and that's okay. I believe that there are some stories that are meant to be felt; and a book about a storyteller creating such emotions for her audience is very fitting. I felt this book. I felt Leodora wanting to be whole, to be loved, to have the things that have eluded her all of her life. Because underneath it all, she's just a girl. I felt Diverus feeling free enough, after a lifetime of slavery, to make his own choices. To love Leodora to the point of worship. I felt Soter grapple with his guilt for all of the things denied Leodora. I felt that he loved her and protected her the best way he knew how. My journey with them was amazing and I am content. View all my reviews

Your Closest Friend by Karen Perry My rating: 1 of 5 stars Let me tell you what I was up against while reading this book. Keep in mind that this is only one example in a book FULL of them: (view spoiler) [Somebody got their head yanked by a malnourished obsessed psychopath and hit a table. A hard metal edged glass table. So hard that there was a gushing wound, unconsciousness, and clearly a concussion. Somehow, they regain consciousness and crawled to an office (leaving a pool of blood from their goddamn HEAD next to the table they were lying prone against), didn't lock the damn door of this office and tried to find some way to get help after watching a malnourished psychopath enter their home with duplicate keys. This person, who has had their head ROCKED by a metal edged glass table, is then hit so hard in their already concussed head with something so heavy and with such force that their neck can be heard snapping across the room. ...this per...

His Revenge Baby: 50 Loving States, Washington by Theodora Taylor My rating: 2 of 5 stars I wanted something short and campy to get me out of this mood I'm in, but......no. There were some gems there, but as soon as ol' girl acknowledged that she was falling back into unhealthy patterns and continued anyway , I stopped caring. If she doesn't care what happens to her, why the hell should I? View all my reviews

The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll My rating: 1 of 5 stars All of the no that ever no'd. One dimensional characters that are impossible to like and/or root for, repetitive writing, purposely confusing prose that adds absolutely nothing to the story and, in fact, makes you not care at all what is happening because you're too goddamn confused. This trend of writing contemporary mysteries with unreliable narrators and this oh, my God, you'll never see this twist coming tagline is beyond annoying. Mainly because you know the twist pretty much from the start. Stop telling the twist and let it unfold naturally, please. Just write a solid mystery. Please! That's all I ask. View all my reviews