Special Agent Maximilian (Undercover FBI, #3) by Mimi Barbour

Special Agent Maximilian by Mimi Barbour
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Navy Seal Lieutenant Commander Nik Baudin is in New Orleans for a little medical R&R when he comes face-to-face with the twin brother he never knew he had and the mother he’d been told had died when he was just a toddler. His new-found brother, Max, is equally surprised as his mother, believing her youngest son had been killed by her abusive ex-husband, had kept that heartache to herself for all these years.

Before the two brothers can really get to know each other, Max, who is an FBI Special Agent, goes to meet with his confidential informer and gets the goods on a sex trafficking ring when he is attacked by the gang and left for dead on a rural back-country road. Before completely losing consciousness, he is able to phone Nik who finds him and takes him to a safe hiding place to heal and recuperate. Because the timing on this case is critical, Nik takes Max’s place to try and get back the vital incriminating evidence that was stolen. But there is a big complication in the way of Nik being able to successfully pull off his masquerade: Max has a partner, and she’s a by-the-book, no-nonsense woman that is not going to be easy to fool.

This is the 3rd in Mimi Barbour’s Undercover FBI series and the second that I’ve read. Once again, the author has developed a compelling story with mystery and romance to boot. Main characters, Nik Baudin and Special Agent Maya Barnes are both functioning adults, one carrying the burden of an unhappy and abusive childhood, the other saddled with memories of an unstable mother and early life, each suffering from the deep-seated, hidden damage. In addition to the two flawed leads, there are a variety of other interesting characters supporting the story: the twins’ mother, the surprising and entertaining Julian Freed, and a whole host of dastardly bad guys to overcome. As with the previous book in the series that I read, the city setting proves to bring another enjoyable aspect to the story. The plot is fast-paced with little downtime for the two main characters to talk themselves out of their attraction for one another. (No dithering about or on-again/off-again relationship.)

I recommend this book to readers that like romantic suspense or those that like mysteries with a sexy romantic storyline.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

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Posies and Poisons (Sweetfern Harbor, #1) by Wendy Meadows

Posies and Poison by Wendy Meadows
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Brenda Sheffield inherits a bed and breakfast from her uncle, she packs up her life as an assistant to a private investigator in Michigan and relocates to the charming small town of Sweetfern Harbor. As is the way, the residents there know everyone and everyone’s business but, for the most part, all get along very well. There is an exception though, and in this case, it is the local grande dame and largest property owner, Priscilla Pendleton. Soon after Brenda arrives, the town gets into an uproar because “Lady” Pendleton has announced another rent increase and is really putting the squeeze on the small, local business owners. When Lady Pendleton suddenly ends up dead and everyone in town has a motive to get rid of her, the local police detective asks Brenda to help him work through the long list of suspects.

Posies and Poisons is a short and quick introduction to the Sweetfern Harbor cozy mystery series by Wendy Meadows. The author has created a quaint setting in the small seaside town, one every reader will want to visit, if it were possible, with a variety of interesting characters to populate it. The main character Brenda Sheffield is calm and canny and very observant of her fellow residents. This amateur sleuth did not do anything out of the ordinary or put herself in harm’s way as most do, and that was a nice change. She was smart, sensible, capable, and likable. The police detective on the case, Mac Rivers, seemed less so. Likable, yes, and definitely a candidate as a romantic interest for Brenda but he seemed to jump from suspect to suspect too quickly.

The Audible edition of the book was easy listening and didn’t require strict attention to detail. It was fun. The narrator, in this case, had a pleasant enough voice however her delivery was rife with odd pauses which were very distracting from the story itself. I slipped into my Kindle edition of this book and found it a much better reading experience than this audio version.

I recommend this book for cozy mystery readers especially those that like those small-town stories.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.


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Coven of Secrets (The Bayshore Witch Legacy, #1) by C.J. Beaumont

Coven of Secrets by C.J. Beaumont
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

At 17, Roxanne Cole had been a very troubled, young witch headed down a path of darkness and destruction when her beloved Granny had pulled her back from the brink of death at her own hands. Seven years later, she is still recovering but has, pretty much, been getting her life together, making a living as a legal transcriptionist, when Granny passes away. Granny had been the high priestess of the Bayshore Witches Coven and by rights and responsibility, Roxanne should have stepped up to replace her. However, because of her earlier experiences, Roxanne had completely renounced magic and her place in the Coven, and Olivia, a distant relation from another bloodline, had taken on the role. Roxanne is the guardian of her younger sister, Kathryn, a teenager who is also grieving the loss of their grandmother and, as a result, has become quite difficult to manage.

One day, Roxy catches the local television news and is shocked to see Kat being interviewed as the planner and organizer of Bayshore’s first-ever Witch Festival. Kat (who’s skipped school) and several other young witches, too young to be initiated into the Coven, have outed the Coven and announced to the world that witches and witchcraft really exist. As she waits for Kat to get home and explain herself, Roxy discovers that her younger sister may be going down the same dark path she had traveled so many years before.

The sisters’ confrontation goes off the rails right away. Kat is an angry, young woman and has been rebelling against the old ways and the Coven on social media and is disgusted with Roxy’s decision to leave magic behind. Soon Olivia arrives and to de-escalate the tension between the two sisters, convinces Roxy to let Kat come and stay with her and her daughter, Darlene’s, family. (Darlene’s daughter, Sylvia, is Kat’s best friend.) Roxy reluctantly agrees and the following morning she receives a call from Darlene that Kat disappeared during the night leaving behind her cellphone and other possessions.

Frantically, Roxy searches for the missing teenager, and when she gets nowhere on her own, she has no choice but to accept the help of Ray Hammond, an old nemesis from high school. A former high school athletic stand out, pretty boy, and one of the “cool kids,” back in the day his buddies and their girlfriends had unmercifully bullied Roxy and been the source of much of her younger self’s anguish. But Ray was now a successful private investigator in town and may be able to get information and cooperation out of the Coven members that they have denied Roxy who they feel betrayed and turned her back on them.

But the case does not come to a swift conclusion as Kat’s whereabouts and well-being remains unknown and more witches, including the high priestess, Olivia, disappear. And when some of the missing witches are found murdered, Ray and Roxy know Kat isn’t just a disgruntled runaway but in the worst kind of danger.

Coven of Secrets is tension-filled from the first sentence, and warning, it starts out with a suicide attempt. I was drawn into Roxy’s world immediately and wanted her to be alright, succeed, and overcome the problems she was facing. Her younger sister seemed to be reacting pretty much as teens do but she is a mystery yet to be revealed. The chemistry between Roxy and Ray, although immediately apparent to the reader, evolves slowly as the two work through the search for the missing witches.

The author has created a great hometown in Bayshore and a good backstory creating the existing conflict between Ray and Roxy which plays into her mindset from the very beginning of the book. The history and hierarchy of the Coven are solid, easy to understand, and interesting. I anxiously await the next book in this new series. I recommend this book for readers that enjoy stories featuring modern-day witches and thrilling mysteries involving paranormal themes.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

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Gypsies, Traps, and Missing Thieves (Bohemian Murder Manor, #1, Bohemian Lake Cozy Mystery, #5) by Rachael Stapleton

Gypsies, Traps & Missing Thieves by Rachael Stapleton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mallory Vianu manages her family’s Gypsy Caravan Manor Resort along with her Nana and adopted sister, Danior. The ladies capitalize on its beautiful, yet haunting, Victorian architecture and reputation for harboring an actual ghost or two, by hosting paranormal-themed events. This weekend they are trying out a new feature: a murder mystery weekend where the manor guests work to solve a “murder” during their stay. Presenting the event is an old friend of the family, Joelle Mackay, who recently started this new enterprise in an effort to revive her struggling business, so Mallory, Danior, and Nana are free to play along for a firsthand experience. If the event is successful, the Vianu ladies hope to incorporate it into their resort’s corporate event offerings.

With an unexpected spring blizzard headed their way and the guests beginning to arrive, Mallory is under the gun to ensure things still go off without a hitch. But, to add to the stress, she finds out that Nana has invited a special guest, a blind date for her granddaughter!

As the weather moves in, close friend Penny Trubble, headed to the airport to meet her significant other on vacation, and her driver, Police Detective Kaden Bones drop off a guest from town, Mal’s best friend, Rebel Rouse, and become stranded there themselves when all flights are canceled and the roads become impassable. The two new arrivals are added to the game and the evening’s activities start off smoothly enough, with the exception of two missing guests at the opening scenario. But when the body of one of the missing guests is found at the bottom of a secret, hidden staircase, and it’s not part of the script; Mallory knows one of the players is a murderer!

If you’ve been following the unfolding Bohemian Lake Cozy Mystery series, you’ll recognize many of the characters in this first novel of off-shoot series, the Bohemian Murder Manor Mysteries. This storyline features the mysterious ladies of the Vianu family that operate the Gypsy Caravan Manor Resort on the lakeshore across from the town of Bohemian Lake.

And the ladies ARE mysterious. Matriarch Nana Vianu is known for her uncanny skills as a gypsy fortune teller. Mallory, her granddaughter, can see auras and talk to the spirit world. Danior was found as an infant and adopted into the family; who she is and where she came from is a complete mystery. And then there is the unexplained disappearance of Mallory’s mother, Jili, and her father’s death, both a decade earlier.

With the Victorian manor house setting the tone for spooky goings-on, this first story has it all: odd guests who are not who they say they are, ghostly apparitions, numerous bumps in the night, murder, tension, and suspicion all around. It is a complex tale but entertaining to watch as the players work their way through the mysteries: those of the game and those that are real.

I recommend this book to readers that enjoy cozy mysteries with a touch of the paranormal and that have read the previous books in the Bohemian Lake Cozy Mystery series. This is definitely a mid-point in a series and would be difficult to follow and enjoy as a standalone story.

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Sweet Dreams at the Goodnight Motel: A Valentine novel (Valentine, #6) by Curtiss Ann Matlock

Sweet Dreams at the Goodnight Motel by Curtiss Ann Matlock
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Claire Wilder reads the mysterious yet hopeful message about searching for ‘real life’ on the wall of the truck stop women’s room, she is inspired to kick off the trappings of her divorce-afterlife and hit the road herself. She quits her job, cuts her hair, packs her car and heads to … Valentine, Oklahoma. It was supposed to be just for one night: time enough to get an impression of the place she was born but never really lived. She just wanted to see where her father’s people – a father she’d never known - had lived and, eventually, passed away. And in her heart of hearts, she wanted a clue to why her father had never tried to contact her.

Claire has a lot to wonder about. On her way out of town, she’d run into her ex-husband, Andrew, who had had second thoughts about his impending marriage to his much-younger fiancée, and now wanted to try for a reconciliation with Claire (something Claire had been wishing for since the divorce two years earlier.) But having made her mind up about this solo trip, Claire surprises even herself by putting Andrew off and wanting to think about it.

Settled in at Valentine’s only lodgings, the Goodnight Motel, Claire begins her search for answers, starting with some of the locals who might have actually known her father or his family. With the help of the charming and gentlemanly, Winston Valentine, she successfully locates her grandparents’ final resting spot. However, the next morning she awakes to find her car and all her belongings have been stolen, and the thief has left behind his frightened and very vulnerable, pregnant girlfriend, Sherrilyn. As Claire tries to help the girl, she becomes more and more a part of the small rural community and her search for her father and his people becomes more and more a search for her real self and a real life.

This sixth book in the author’s Valentine series is a solid, satisfying story of not just one woman’s search for herself but two. Claire has been drifting through life reacting and not actively living, passively adapting around and to the actions of others, relying on others to make her a life, waiting for her father to return to her and her mother, to rescue them. It is good to watch as she finally takes the steps to lead her own life as she desires, overcomes her lethargy, and takes charge. The lost soul, Sherrilyn, is a beaten down thing but her pregnancy has given her a goal and the beginnings of some strength to protect herself and her unborn child. She stands firm when she doesn’t want to have an abortion against the abusive Denny, and refuses to agree to give up the baby for adoption. The characters that populate the pages of the book seem so very real, not unlike those that populate your own community.

I recommend this book for readers that like a story of overcoming the odds and taking charge of one’s life. There is romance and a strong sense of accomplishment throughout the book for many characters.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

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Dog Town by Debbie L. Richardson

Dog Town by Debbie L Richardson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Harry, a small brown dog of indeterminate breeding, lives in Little Rover, the small-dogs-only section of Dog Town, with his best friends, Junior, a beagle, and Fleabag, a Chihuahua. He’s a good boy that loves to run and, mostly, obeys the Dog Law. Mostly. Because each time Harry wins a race around Little Rover, he leads an excursion of small dogs into the forbidden territory of the large dogs, Big Rover.

One night on one such tour, Harry and his doggo tourists are surprised by the appearance of the leader of the large dogs, Grizzly, a Doberman pinscher, and his two hench-dogs, Chains and Diesel. The small dogs escape except for Harry who gets left behind, knocked unconscious, behind a large, blue dumpster. Unbeknownst to Grizzly and his pals, when Harry comes to, he realizes the big large dogs are searching for something, and it’s not him. As Harry creeps away, he discovers a hidden underground passage, a stormwater drainage pipe that leads him to a most amazing place: Cat World.

In Harry’s town, there are no cats; they have been extinct for as long as Harry can remember. It is only in dreams that Harry has ever seen a cat, or so he thought. But there in Cat World were all sorts of the creatures: playing, laughing, singing, even watching TV on a comfy sofa. Stealthily, Harry finds his out and back home to Little Rover where he now has a dilemma. If he tells the dogs of Dog Town about Cat World, Grizzly and his gang will destroy the place and harm the cats which Harry doesn’t want to happen. But the cats are hiding an awful secret. Inside their hidden world is a big, horrendous statue of a cat and it is made out of puppy teeth!

Author Debbie L. Richardson has created a fun world of dogs and cats long separated due to an argument among the best of friends – the worst kind of argument you can have! With fun, distinctive characters, readers young and old will enjoy watching them work out their differences. The races incorporated into the story are exciting and the big dogs and night-time settings provide the right amount of menace for thrills. There are doggy puns woven in every now and then that will have readers smiling as will the fun and appropriately doggo names of the streets in the town: Chew Toy Lane, Good Girl Avenue, Fat Belly Road, and the like.

I highly recommend this book, especially for middle-grade readers, and it would be perfect as a school or family read-aloud selection. The writing is so clear and descriptive you can easily see the action, colors, and characters in your mind’s eye. It would make a wonderful film!

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

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Hot Ash and the Oasis Defect by Philip Wyeth

Hot Ash and the Oasis Defect by Philip Wyeth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not at all what I expected: Hot Ash and the Oasis Defect by Philip Wyeth is also a good mystery.

The year is 2045, and it is almost two decades since society flipped on itself. The 2020s saw the rise of the empowerment of women, and in the elapsed time, the world has become a feminist-forward stronghold with men relegated to second-class status. Detective Ashley Westgard of the Jacksonville, Florida, Police Corps is at the apex of her physical prowess, her career is flourishing and on the rise.

After a night on the town with her gal pals, Ash is summoned to the scene of the annual Cheri Chat (being held this year in Jacksonville), a conference of the high-powered movers and shakers encompassing the female-led world of the day, where one of the original “Essential Planners” has been brutally murdered. As she and her partner, Detective Theodore “Ted” Gillard, one of the last men actively working in this field, gather evidence and launch an investigation, she is called to another crime scene – a nearby convenience store robbery-gone-bad where the store owner has shot and killed the would-be perpetrator. Talking with the deceased thief’s (Dayve’s) companions, two young male orphans known as “runts,” she hears that this act was completely out of character for Dayve, a shock and tragic surprise to his two friends. They believe his bizarre behavior is a direct result of his ingesting a new “tasty” he got that evening from his pill supplier.

Uncharacteristically for Ash, she immediately takes a very personal interest in one of the friends, a runt gamer named Vernon, and they end up spending a surprisingly satisfying night together. More amazing to her is the fact that she begins to have feelings about Vernon that are quite unlike those she’s experienced in her past relationships. Together, these two unlikely people team up to get to the bottom of Dayve’s actions and how it is related to the murders of some of the most prominent feminist thinkers of their time.

Although categorized as a Sci-Fi tale and reminiscent of those men’s action-adventure stories from an earlier time, Hot Ash and the Oasis Defect is also a good mystery.

The main character, Ash, begins as a pretty shallow, arrogant creature out for what she wants, no matter who she uses to get it. She’s even quite insensitive and rude with her police partner, Ted, frequently poking at him over his physical limitations (he’s got an artificial leg) and haranguing him about when he’s going to retire. Sooo not a buddy partnership.

Her thoughts and thought patterns are not like any woman’s I’ve ever known BUT the author is depicting an alternate future where women are the power gender (and have been, at the time of the story, for a couple of decades) so who knows for certain what this altered environment might produce in the population. I don’t think any men I’ve known, in real life, thought this way either but what do I know. I felt the author was trying to create an extreme on purpose, a vast contrast, maybe to provide for a greater change in attitude for the character to have later in the story.

There is a lot of “horn-dogging” on her part and that of her friends at the beginning of the book. There is a meaninglessness to Ash’s sexual relationships, past and present, but as the book progresses she is cognizant of her dissatisfaction and knows that something inside her is changing. She realizes she’s living recklessly, without meaning, drinking too much, doing pills, and going through sexual partners like issues. The focus of the book eventually narrows to solving the murders though and Ash experiences some surprising changes (to her) in her thoughts and behavior, especially toward the witness and a male gamer, Vernon.

The book is well-written making it easy and enjoyable to read. It’s a real page-turner with a future society that seemed plausible with an increase in the use of advanced AIs and things called Worker-Factory-Mechanics which have eerily embedded themselves into every aspect of life and that may pose a problem in future stories.

Although I was initially turned off by the character, Ash, I wanted to see her solve the murders and be absolutely right about her theories by the end of the book. (We really don’t find out about her theories though leaving room for sequels, I hope.) I really liked "the runts," Vernon, in particular, and her partner, Detective Gillard, and wanted a better situation to come about for all of them. Just another reason to hope there are more books in the future continuing this story.

I recommend this book for readers that like a futuristic mystery in a society that is very different from our present. There are sexual themes and scenes (male-female, female-female) throughout so this is not a book for some readers or younger ones. I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

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Murder in the Catacombs (A Bohemian Lake Cozy Mystery, #15, Penning Trouble, #4) by Rachael Stapleton and DeAnn Howe

Murder in the Catacombs by Rachael Stapleton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Penny Trubble wins an all-expenses-paid trip to Paris for herself and a group of friends, the gang from Bohemian Lake packs up and sets off on a private jet to be wined and dined in luxury. Naturally, all is not what it seems, and soon after arriving in the City of Lights, Penny is separated from the rest of her group while sightseeing, abducted, and dragged down into the Paris underground: the catacombs.

There she meets the wealthy Simone Lantz, the person behind the trip, who wants to retain Penny’s investigative services to locate her missing granddaughter. Simone fears that Michaela is being held against her will until her grandmother agrees to bankroll her son-in-law’s local occultist group trying to find their way to the lost city of Agartha, supposedly located deep within the core of the Earth. Reluctantly, Penny agrees to help because one of the people involved in this ‘Hollow Earth’ group is none other than the man that stole a valuable coin and family heirloom from the Vianus back in Bohemian Lake, Jocelyn Godwin.

Returned to her friends, the first stop that evening is a fashion show being held by Blanche and Sascha Saunier, Michaela's mother and father, and Penny plans to do a little snooping. However, she spots Godwin and before she can formulate a plan to figure out why he’s involved, Simone is shot and Eve is the most likely suspect. They hotfoot Eve away from the show and return to their hotel only to find that their rooms have been searched. The friends pack up their belongings at the hotel, just steps ahead of the police, and Maurice, Simone’s assistant, relocates them to a safer, guest house that Simone owns.

Compounding things, Sera Popescu and her coworker, Hans Dressler, who are supposed to be in Paris as well have gone missing. Now Penny and the group must not only find Michaela, but rescue Sera and Hans, and now Simone has disappeared, too.

Murder in the Catacombs follows closely on the heels of the previously published book in the series, Hyde & Seek, and nicely wraps up some of the details of the adventures begun in the Bookish Adventures in Witch-Lit thread. As with all the Bohemian Lake Cozy Mystery books, the action is non-stop and the dialogue is snappy. Many of the characters that give the series its unique charm are featured in this one and we get to see a little more of the various couples’ relationships: Penny and Cody, Mallory and Kaden, and last but not least, Eve Banter and Ren Trubble (Penny’s father.) Although this is Penny Trubble’s story, Eve Banter plays a major role and her current beau, Ren, is a delightful foil to her craziness. This book wraps up one of the mysteries from the Bohemian Murder Manor storyline and is the final Penning Trouble book.

Because the storylines are heavily entwined, the Bohemian Lake Cozy Mysteries are not standalone books and should be read in order beginning with the first book. However, they are quick, easy reads, each interesting and fun and well worth the time to catch up.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.


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Time Rep by Peter Ward

Time Rep by Peter Ward
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When out of work paperboy and slacker, Geoffrey Stamp, is hired as a holiday rep for a tour company, he expected exotic locations. What he got was the time of his life … literally.

When Geoffrey Stamp lost his job as a paper boy (the only job he’s ever held), one of the customers on his route offered him a place to stay and that’s where he’s been ever since – playing computer games and just vegging out. The roommate, Tim, never got all up in his business, never seemed to get too worked up over the cleaning up or Geoff’s failure to pay rent in the past two years, his lack of ambition or personal hygiene. Geoff had the total slacker life, and he was content to let time go by, occasionally wishing he had the nerve to ask out Zoë the mail carrier, but for the most part, just chillin’ on the couch in Tim’s front room.

One day, Tim talked Geoff into applying for a job he’d seen advertised in the newspaper as a “holiday rep” for a tour company, and Geoff’s ideal life took a decided left turn. Hired on the spot, Geoff finds out that the holidays he would be arranging were for tourists from the future who were time-traveling to visit the twenty-first century, and the reason that Geoff, with no prior experience or desire to accept the job, was snapped up is because his existence, in the grand scheme of life and the future, was totally insignificant. Apparently, Geoff’s existence was so insignificant that having him take on the job and interacting with people from the future would not impact and change the future in any way.

Well, except for that one seagull at the end of time that ends up looking right instead of left …

I was absolutely charmed by the book, Time Rep, by Peter Ward. It is reminiscent of the Douglas Adams Hitchhiker’s Guide series, but updated. The lead character, Geoffrey Stamp, is the epitome of a modern-day slacker but, eventually, we discover there are hidden depths. His inner dialogues are continuous and funny, and helped to reveal his growth from slacker to capable hero material. Roommate Tim, who turns out to be a recruiter for Time Tour, Inc., the time-travel travel company, is a wonderful straight man throughout. I found myself rooting for both his safety and his sanity.

Along with the “smack-in-the-face-you’re-totally-insignificant” storyline, the major plot of the book involves someone in the tour company working to change the past so an alien race hiding in plain sight on Earth can destroy the human race. There are a number of suitable candidates in the company to choose from which makes for a good mystery as our heroes struggle to stop the traitor. (I so didn’t want for it to be Tim!)

I really enjoyed the depiction of London and life in the future, and the concept of the time-travel tour company with Time Reps (tour guides from the actual period being visited.) There was quite a bit of silliness with that.

The book was entertaining from start to finish (and I was delighted to see that it is the first book in a trilogy!) I literally laughed out loud over dialogue. The book is fast-paced and the action is constant. There are unexpected “left turns” all along the way to the final page. And Ward’s handling of the problems of the past changing the future was fun. I look forward to reading more.

I highly recommend this book to readers that enjoy humorous SciFi/Fantasy, tales of time travel, and the aforementioned Hitchhiker’s Guide. I stayed up reading this way later than advisable; it was that entertaining.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

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The Last Alive – H. L. Wampler

The Last Alive by H.L. Wampler
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A young woman’s twin sister is infected with a mysterious and virulent virus from either a needle-stick at her job as a research lab associate or a bug bite while on a family camping trip. She dies in a hospital within 48 hours, in agony, but almost immediately reanimates as a mindless, flesh-eating zombie. She bites her nurse who quickly dies and comes back biting and infecting everyone in the hospital ER setting off an epic a chain-reaction. The healthy twin, a local police detective, along with one of the ER docs escapes the hospital but it is too late to contain the virus.

Jump ahead either four or five years and the world has been devastated by the virus. The few survivors cluster together in fortified cities reachable only by river routes as the land is overrun with the undead and marauding bands of outlaws that kill and destroy those from the cities. Our heroine, Emma, and her doctor friend, Nathan, have gathered up her family and friends and they all get by in the fortified city that once was Pittsburgh. When Nathan suddenly goes missing, Emma, who is now the police chief, figures out he’s returned to the hospital to re-stock his medical supplies. So Emma, her best friend, Meaghan, and the city’s Rescue & Search Team go outside the city fortifications to retrieve his irresponsible self.

What do I say about this book? I really enjoy post-apocalyptic stories, zombie stories in particular, and I did enjoy this one. HOWEVER, this was one of the toughest reading experiences I’ve had in a long time because of a lack of decent editing. It appears the author must have reconsidered the plot between draft and final edition but didn’t get catch all the mentions of the earlier premise and make the change. The book begins with a needle-stick being the cause of the virus but only pages in the origin becomes a bug bite. In one scenario, Emma and her sister, Becca, are 25 years old twins but later in the book they were only 20 years old when Becca dies and becomes a zombie. Chapters alternate between present time and the time of the outbreak, sometimes it is five years earlier, other times only four. Often it is unclear who dialogue is attributed to, and it may have changed which characters were delivering a segment of dialogue over time because there are references to male characters as her or she and female characters as him or he.

Grammar issues abound.

Logic issues pop up often. Yeah, this is a zombie story so you may wonder “What logic? It’s fiction!” But I’m talking about basic issues with the way things actually work that don’t make sense.

In short, this book is a mess BUT it still has a ton of potential as a really fun, exciting read! The author needs to pull it back out and do the grunt work of re-reading and editing. Maybe hire a professional editor or proofreader at the very least. It is all fixable and this story is so worth the effort! But, until it is, I cannot recommend this book to anyone.

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Hyde & Seek: A Bohemian Lake Cozy Mystery (Bookish Adventures in Witch-Lit, #2) by Rachael Stapleton and DeAnn Howe

Hyde & Seek by Rachael Stapleton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

On their second Gas Lamp Literary Tour, Sera Popescu and the rest of the Bohemian Lake book club members are touring Edinburgh, Scotland, and learning about Robert Lewis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. With tour director, Nelle Story, in London preparing the way for part two of the tour, Sera and her fellow bookstore staffer, Hansen Dressler, accompany the group to the various relevant sites (i.e., museums, spooky after-hours haunted cemeteries.) However, when one of the participants, Daniel Brodey, is discovered hanging from a tree during one of the cemetery tours, an apparent suicide, and another goes missing, Sera begins to suspect the witch hunter organization that plagued them during their previous tour is back. When the attacks against the group continue in London, Dr. Gretchen Dressler (Hansen’s sister) begins to act more erratically than ever, and Nelle Story seems to have secrets of her own to hide as well, Sera starts to look at the project materials Nelle has regarding her investigation of the Jack the Ripper case for possible connections.

This second outing for Sera, Hansen, and the book club from Bohemian Lake was every bit as dark as the previous one with quite a few deaths and some adult themes as well. It still tracks a well-known literary tale: this time a double dose. The authors did a good job of matching up aspects of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde theme and creating a very interesting plotline dealing with Nelle’s ongoing research in the mystery of Jack the Ripper. We have another trip with characters from book one and learn more about them all. We also get a fun, virtual tour through Edinburgh and London, courtesy of Gas Lamp Literary Tours, which really sets the scene in both history-laden cities.

I recommend this book to cozy mystery readers that don’t mind a little witchy magic in their stores and those that like a literary link. It is best to read the first book in this trilogy before jumping in here on book two, if not the entire Bohemian Lake series. They are very good, each one, and I highly recommend those as well.


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Landing by Moonlight (Spy Sisters, #1) by Ciji Ware

Landing by Moonlight: A Novel of WW II by Ciji Ware
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the early days of WWII, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Washington, D.C. mining heiress, Catherine Farnsworth Cahill Thornton, is in a loveless marriage to a British diplomat posted far out of sight to the embassy in Chile. She joins the US war effort supporting our Allies in Europe by successfully stealing, copying, and returning undetected the French naval codebooks from the embassy of the Nazi-puppet Vichy French government. Assisting her is French diplomat Henri Charles Leblanc, the press attaché at the embassy.

When the French delegation is ultimately ordered out of the country, Catherine and Henri are both recruited for Churchill’s newly-formed spy operation, the SOE, the British Special Operations Executive. Separated, they are trained in spy craft at various secret schools established in the English countryside and eventually sent to secret undercover positions in Nazi-occupied France.

Inserted into hidden networks supporting the French Resistance, Henri in Paris and Catherine on the Mediterranean coast, the Cote d’Azur, both work to disrupt Nazi war operations, provide the members of the resistance with weapons, information, and other supplies, and help to spirit out downed aviators and their fellow secret agents as needed. With D-Day approaching, all this is accomplished under the very noses of the Nazis and the dreaded SS.

Author Ciji Ware has crafted a well-researched and thrilling historical fiction novel of WWII. Landing by Moonlight has the kind of characters that grow on you and become people that you worry about chapter after chapter. And worry I did! This story focuses on a piece of WWII history not really familiar to me. I’ve read some about the undercover men and women working right under the noses of the Nazis but they were always secondary characters to the hero or heroine. Here, they are front and center.

This story immerses you in the constant danger they had to have been under at all times and made for a tense, and exhilarating, reading experience. The mantra, “Trust no one,” was really brought home for me. Not even knowing who among your old friends and acquaintances were working for the Nazis, maybe just to get food for their children, was terrifying.

Besides the constant threat of exposure, the characters are out in the field accomplishing the big tasks that helped turn the tide of war in favor of the Allies – tasks that someone really had to do – exhilarating when successful and exhilarating when it was over. Characters need to blow off a little steam and relieve the pent-up tension so there are sexual relationships and well-written scenes of a sexual nature.

Another aspect of this book I enjoyed were the various settings. The characters move around from location to location and each time this author made me see and feel the time and the place. My favorite had to be the setting in the south of France. I could almost feel the sun, see the old boats, and taste the ‘new’ red wines.

I recommend this book to historical fiction readers, especially those that want a pretty immersive tale. This one so very well done.

I received a copy of the title from the publisher for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

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Snowflakes and Sleigh Bells (Avon Calling! Season 2, Episode 15) by Hayley Camille

Snowflakes and Sleigh Bells by Hayley Camille
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With the Pinzola trial in full swing and Christmas fast approaching, Betty and Jacob continue to follow any lead they have as to the identity of The Boudoir Butcher, finally, getting an angle on Tilly’s whereabouts. But on the home front, Betty is dealing with daughter, Nancy’s, growing restlessness while worrying that her long-distance relationship with husband, George, is deteriorating as his memory of what happened in the basement of the orphanage returns.

Although this is episode 15 in the Avon Calling! series by Hayley Camille, the author still has plenty of surprises in store. Her description of the time and place makes the WWII New York City-setting a character in itself. I am continually amazed at the little nuggets of history and culture that the author’s research has uncovered that she weaves into the story. I also like the fact that Betty is not just a flash-bang superhero; she’s got emotions and vulnerabilities that every mother and wife has.

Snowflakes and Sleigh Bells is not a standalone story. If you haven’t read the previous episodes in Betty’s story, start now, at the beginning. They are so worth it! For those readers that are already up-to-date, this latest entry feels like a long-overdue welcome back. As always, I can’t wait for the next installment.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

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Book Review: Microphones and Murder (Podcasting Sisters Mystery, #1) by Erin Huss

Microphones and Murder by Erin Huss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A new true crime podcast team investigates a missing person cold case.

Liv Olsen was working on the number one true-crime podcast program in the nation, Cold in America, when she learned about the 10-year-old missing person's case of Amelia "Millie" Clark. Based on this case, she pitched the idea of a new podcast, Missing or Murdered, to her Cold in America boss, who not only turned her down flat but added insult to injury by scoffing at the idea of Liv as the host. With hurt feelings and injured pride, Liv quits her job and goes all-in to bring her dream to fruition, taking her younger stepsister, Camry Lewis, along as her assistant.

Camry has relatives in Santa Maria, where Millie had lived, so the girls set up a home base for their investigation and interviews for the show at Camry's Great-Aunt Hazel's home, which eases the strain on Liv's minuscule operating budget. Hazel is delighted to host the sisters, as her life has become somewhat quiet since her husband passed away. As she learns more about the girls' project, Hazel enlists the aid of her grandson, Oliver, who is a successful <i>YouTuber</i> with over 5 million subscribers to his channel.

Together, the four start looking into Amelia's disappearance, with their first step being to interview the original detective on the case. Now retired, he is anxious to see that his only open case is resolved. When one clue after another results in dead ends and Amelia's father changes his mind about the podcast reinvigorating interest in his daughter's disappearance, Liv worries that the podcast she has staked everything on is going down in flames.

Microphones and Murder is the first book in author Erin Huss's fun Podcasting Sisters Mystery series, and I was immediately drawn to the likable young narrator who decides to follow her dream of hosting her own show. The premise of the true-crime podcast is timely and exciting, and her characters are engaging. The story is told from Liv's perspective, and her narrative is witty, fun, and entertaining. I liked that Liv's character, although competent and confident, also has a very real vulnerability as she second-guesses her decision to go out on her own and follow her dream. Stepsister Camry is young, flirty, and sassy but has her vulnerabilities as well. I felt the mystery was sound, and Liv's investigation made sense. I'll definitely be reading more of this author's work.

With its topical premise, non-stop plot, and engaging characters, I recommend MICROPHONES AND MURDER to cozy mystery readers who like young, savvy female protagonists.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Hidden Gems.


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Lullabies for Suffering (Tales of Addiction Horror) – Mark Matthews, ed., Kealan Patrick Burke, Caroline Kepnes, Mark Matthews, John FD Taff, Gabino Iglesias, Mercedes M. Yardley

Lullabies for Suffering: Tales of Addiction Horror by Caroline Kepnes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lullabies for Suffering is a dynamite collection of six novellas or novelettes tied together by the central theme of addiction, more specifically, addiction horror. Some are drug addictions, another an addiction to pain, but each one is a deep, dark, maddeningly glittering gem of a tale.

Each entry is compelling reading; I couldn’t look away. Each is terrifying in what happens and is so very, very real. (I started hearing every creak and snap and pop of the house while I was reading Gabino Iglesias’ Beyond the Reef.) I don’t feel a 5-star rating for many books and never for a collection before (there’s always a weak sister or two) but this was a solid from the first word. I’m already looking for more from these authors, their backlists, which sounds a lot like the beginning of … an addiction.

I highly recommend this to horror fans and even general fiction readers that enjoy the dark underside of the human experience.

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The Murderous Macaron: A Provence Cozy Mystery (Julie Cavallo Investigates, #1) by Ana T. Drew

The Murderous Macaron by Ana T. Drew
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Julie Cavallo returns to her hometown of Beldoc in the Provence region of France, to open her own patisserie, Julie’s Gluten-Free Delights, and get a fresh start after her recent, and sudden, divorce. Business has been slow to build up but Julie is optimistic that her planned marketing events will get the word out: free Wi-Fi, free samples during the upcoming lavender trade show, and a class on making macarons at the shop. However, when one of her students drops dead in the first macaron class, the effect on her business is anything but positive.

Then when a friend of the deceased comes to the shop, Julie gets a “vision” that Maurice was being poisoned rather than experiencing a heart attack, she asks the local officer handling the death to look deeper. When the gendarmerie goes ahead and closes the case anyway, she decides to investigate the murder herself and prove that the shop was is no way responsible.

This first in a new series by author Ana T. Drew is a solid mystery with great characters in a small town setting. It is set in France but other than a few French terms and phrases, it really could have been any small town, not a lot of flavor, but not a detractor at all.

Julie has three sisters and is a twin to one, Catherine. “Cat” is mentioned regularly but really doesn’t make much of an appearance; the girls are estranged over the existence of their psychic abilities. (Cat makes her living using her skill while Julie has hidden it from everyone her entire life, and Julie is uncomfortable with Cat’s making this ability public.) But other than the intermittent psychic “snapshots” she gets, Julie seems to be a pretty normal woman working through some past traumas. I liked her curiosity and willingness to go ask questions of anyone involved in the deceased man’s life and then doubting and re-thinking her choices. She’s confident enough to approach her hostile next door business neighbor, Magda, and to attempt to mend fences she doesn’t even know she broke.

Other characters of note include Julie’s grandmother, Rose Tassy, a youthful and sassy survivor of the 60s who teaches “doga” classes and knows everyone in town. Also, the local notary, Maître Serge Guichard, a nice older man who is attracted to Rose. And then there is the potential love interest for Julie, Capitaine Gabriel Adinian with the Beldoc gendarmerie.

On the other hand, there are a number of characters introduced in this first book that don’t get completely into this story but are perhaps being set up for the future such as Denis Noble, a former junior-high-level classmate of Julie’s that is trying really hard to interest her romantically. But even Julie doesn’t know much about Denis and we were both left wondering what his true motives are in showing up now. Another interesting character is Julie’s sous chef, Eric Dol. He’s funny, sweet, sometimes a little awkward, and has his own tragic past.

In all, I liked one enough to give it 3 stars out of 5 for a “Good” rating, and to put it on my list to look for more books in the series in the future. I would recommend this book to cozy mystery readers, especially those that enjoy culinary settings.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

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Flask of the Drunken Master (Shinobi Mystery, #3) by Susan Spann

Flask of the Drunken Master by Susan Spann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is August of 1565, and the capital city of Kyoto is in the temporary “protection” of the feared samurai, Matsunaga Hisehide, since the seppuku of Ashikaga, the last official shogun. The city is under a veritable lockdown and everyone entering is viewed as a possible spy including Hattori Hiro and his charge, Jesuit priest, Father Mateo Ávila de Santos.

One morning in the city while purchasing noodles for breakfast, Hiro and Father Mateo see their friend, Ginjiro the brewer, being arrested and hauled off by the yoriki, for the murder of Chikao, a brewer from a poorer part of the city. The two had been heard arguing the night before, and the victim’s body was found outside Ginjiro’s home and place of business with the remnants of one of Ginjiro’s custom saké bottles at hand. The victim’s son apparently owed the accused a considerable amount of money and Ginjiro had refused to advance Chikao any further credit. Ginjiro asserts his innocence and his daughter, Tomiko, begs Hiro and Father Mateo to find the real killer and save her father from certain death at the hand of the executioner.

Author Susan Spann has again crafted a compelling murder mystery against the complex background of 16th century Kyoto, Japan. It is a very robust historical tale as, along with the murder investigation, there is the continuing story of the fall of the Ashikaga clan, the impending approach of the fierce warlord, Oda Nobunaga, and the arrival of the Portuguese and Jesuits in Japan. The relationship between Hiro and Father Mateo is great fun to observe as their two cultures and basic natures try to work together and get along as is the side story of Akechi Yoshiko, the female samurai who may have her eye on Hiro for romantic reasons. Additionally, another fun and interesting side story involves Hiro’s pet cat, Gato. The story explains that cats were not considered pets by the Japanese at this time in the past so having a cat in the house is a new experience for the tough, manly Hiro.

This is the third entry in the Shinobi Mystery series which currently numbers at seven total. Flask of the Drunken Master could be read alone but I highly recommend starting at the first in the series because they are just that good and worth looking for. I recommend this series to historical mystery fans especially those with an affinity for stories set in old Japan.

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Minor Mage, a novella by T. Kingfisher

Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Up until now, 12-year-old Oliver has lived a fairly peaceful, if not exactly normal, life with his mother, a retired mercenary, in the quaint village of Loosestrife. But as the village’s wizard when Loosestrife experiences a prolonged drought, the villagers expect him to do something about it. However, even though he is the village mage, he is still very young and still trying to figure out magic spells. He had been apprenticed to the village’s previous wizard and although the man was very kind, he was also very old and passed away before fully completing Oliver’s training.

With his mother away visiting his older sister and new baby and armed with the three spells he’s mastered, Oliver and his faithful familiar, an armadillo named Eglamarck, set out for the distant Rainblade Mountains to find the rumored keepers of rain, the mysterious Cloud Herders, and to save his village.

Minor Mage is a great story with genuinely likeable characters, witty dialogue, lots of action, exciting obstacles to overcome, and bad guys to foil. I read this one is one sitting and loved it. The story is suitable for both adult and juvenile audiences, and may be one that would keep even the most reluctant reader coming back and turning pages. (There are short, easily completed chapters, too.) I highly recommend this book for readers that enjoy fantasy quest stories and tales of magic-infused journeys, child or adult.

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The Key of Atrea by Nicholas Marson

The Key of Astrea by Nicholas Marson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jenny Tripper is barely keeping it together: an outsider at school, a ghost only she can see a constant companion, her 17th birthday coming up, and her mother, at the end stages of cancer, has come home for her final days. Living with her Aunt Bea, her mom’s sister, Jenny helps with expenses by reading tarot cards in her aunt’s shop, with the bleak expectation that she will take over the meager living when her aunt passes away. On her birthday, she receives a strange and mysterious puzzle box from her only friend, Michael, but before she can realize its solution her mother dies and she puts it away. Returning to it days later, she finds herself in a parallel universe where the mental anomalies she’d experienced back home were now revealed to be gifts: special powers she needs to learn to understand and control in order to save the Selkans, an alien race being hunted and enslaved by the current galactic rulers, the Tyr.

Jack Spriggan is also just barely scraping by. Previously, in his home star system of Balt, Jack had been an accomplished space fighter pilot but when the First Galactic War was over Balt had been required to dismantle their space fleet, and Jack found himself without his career. Now, in his small workshop on Lan Station, he keeps a roof over his head and food on the table by repairing anything mechanical that come his way. When his friend, Hocco, approaches him to make some REAL money piloting his restored Harbinger spacecraft, the Celestial Strider, he is reluctant at best. Jack is committed to staying on the right side of the law and away from the rebels hiding and running from the Tyr, the peacekeepers and victors of the First Galactic War. But the temptation proves too much and off he goes, not realizing that Hocco’s body has actually been possessed by one of the worst of the Tyr, Admiral Vae Victus himself, and the admiral is hot on the trail of the escaped Selkans.

With elements of fantasy and science fiction, adventure and romance, The Key of Astrea is one of the most entertaining stories I’ve read in a long time, keeping me reading way late into the evening. The story is fast-paced covering a lot of ground, literally planets and parallel universes, in a short span of time. A number of great characters populate its pages. Besides Jenny and Jack, there are a host of good guys, bad guys, and those we’re not quite sure of at times, well defined, and used to build a really good, satisfying story.

Besides the excitement, this is also a coming-of-age story for Jenny and some of her fellow recruits at Cabin, Inc., as they come to terms with their special gifts which, back home, had all been seen as handicaps, and as she deals with the loss of her mother and the discovery of a sister she never knew about. There is a teaser or two at the end that, hopefully, open up the possibility for a sequel. I give this one four of five stars and recommend it to readers who enjoy young adult science fiction/fantasy stories.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.


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John Rader (John Rader Thrillers, #1) by Ian Quarry

John Rader by Ian Quarry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

He comes to behind the wheel of a wrecked Porsche which is nose down a snowy slope head first against a tree. The blonde woman in the passenger seat is dead from a gunshot wound, and he cannot remember a thing – about himself, about her, about anything. He climbs out of the wreckage and makes his way to a roadway and a truck ride to the address he finds on the ID in his wallet.

And so begins the exciting and desperate story of John Rader. As Rader follows the clues to his identity, familiar places and familiar faces fill in the past he’s lost and gives him a direction to gain justice for the dead woman he left behind in the car.

At first, the story seems clouded with confusion right along with the main character but much of that clears up as John follows his leads, and I felt this really set up an uneasy, and at times, desperate atmosphere. And since John is not quite himself, the bad guys have a difficult time tracking him down to finish the job that began in the Porsche and got Miranda, his companion and love interest, killed. There is a wide cast of characters presented in the book: villains, henchmen, crooked cops, a prostitute with tragic backstory. The reader doesn’t get a full, complete picture of who John Rader is in this first book, but for me, it was enough of a reveal to enjoy it and look forward to the next book in this new thriller series, John Rader Thrillers.

I recommend this book for mystery/thriller readers that don’t mind an overt lack of back story information and those that like stories with an organized crime plot. I liked it!

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First Stone (The Stepping Stone Cycle - Season 1, Episode 1) by Gary Ballard

First Stone by Gary Ballard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After a particularly brutal case, forensic psychologist, Dr. Jack Carter, takes a much needed vacation with his wife, Sarah, up the east coast into Maine. A month later, Jack is found, catatonic, standing on the side of the road and there is sign of Sarah. Sometime later, he regains consciousness in the Meridian Mental Health Institute in Meridian, Connecticut, with no memory of what had happened nor where Sarah is. The police believe he’s killed her and is faking amnesia, but there’s no evidence to confirm she’s even dead. He spends the next year and a half there recuperating and in treatment, and when he’s finally cleared for release, he returns to his and Sarah’s home to try and pick up where his life left off and to search for his missing wife.

A former work connection in the FBI, Special Agent Bill West, has been assigned Sarah’s case however, it has come to a standstill for lack of any additional leads. But when a new case which has a possible connection to her disappearance comes to his attention, he contacts Jack to join him in the investigation. The mutilated corpses of a number of women have been found in an old shack up in the mountains of West Virginia and the guy all the evidence points to claims he also killed Sarah and wants to talk to Jack. But when Bill and Jack travel to meet the killer, he changes his story. He claims he is innocent of the murders and has never heard of Sarah or Jack. As Bill follows up on any leads he can from the crime scene, Jack begins interviews with the accused to determine his fitness to stand trial, and things get more bizarre as every day goes by.

What a great start to the mysterious Stepping Stone Cycle series by Gary Ballard. The story held my attention from start to finish and now I have to read more! Jack is a likeable but tragic figure and his FBI pal, Bill West, is as comfortable as a real friend. The story is not a straight up mystery either. There are spooky, paranormal, horror goings-on as well. I recommend this story to mystery readers looking for something out of the traditional “serial killer” genre that don’t mind paranormal/horror aspects. Good story!

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Special Agent Francesca (Undercover FBI, #1) by Mimi Barbour

Special Agent Francesca by Mimi Barbour
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

FBI Special Agent Francesca Donovan transfers to the Bureau’s Las Vegas office for a fresh start for her career. Her mother, Kathleen Donovan, a renowned Special Agent herself, had risen to the position of Special Assistant to the Director in New York, and had pretty much controlled her assignments up to now, and consequently, Frankie was really feeling the need to get out from under Mom’s influence and scrutiny, and make her own way.

Frankie and her mother have a real love-hate relationship. While each is all the other woman has ever had while Frankie was growing up, Frankie’s now a grown woman and is past ready to stretch her wings. Adding to the situation, Kathleen reveals that the father Frankie has never known anything about, and who knows nothing about her, actually lives in Las Vegas and is a Las Vegas police detective. Frankie determines her best course of action in the matter is to introduce herself to the man before they bump into each other professionally.

On her first night in Vegas, when she foils a strong-arm attempt against her hotel’s manager, she quickly finds herself up to her ears in an exciting and important joint FBI-Las Vegas PD undercover operation. The operation teams her up with hunky police psychologist, Sean Collins, the police chief’s best friend. The two must work to overcome some initial conflict and distrust but once they put aside their differences, they discover they are a lot more compatible than either would have expected, and sparks begin to fly.

This first book in the new Undercover FBI series by Mimi Barbour is a fun, action-packed story. While Frankie and Sean seemed to get together a little too quickly for my tastes, their coupling up was still romantic and sexy. Supporting characters such as Manuel the Taxi Driver, John Hampton, her father, and his entire family really added a lot of fun and emotion to the story. On top of that, Las Vegas is just such a great setting with so much variety available to put to use.

I would definitely be interested in reading more in this series, and the synopses of future books are quite tantalizing. I recommend this book for readers that enjoy romantic suspense and lighter mystery/thriller books.


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Tristan's Choice (The Darkest Day, #2) by Danielle Forrest

Tristan's Choice by Danielle Forrest
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After making it safely through the Orleans sabotaged diplomatic mission to meet with the first-ever extraterrestrials, Captain Tristan Faulk, Pilot Mila Dragomirov, and Kyle Avery have returned Earthside and have remained friends. In fact, Mila has moved in with Tristan but maintained an uneasy, platonic relationship. Both want more, but Mila cannot fathom a future together because of the country’s suspicious regard of shifters and her masquerade as best friend, May Trace.

While Kyle works to uncover and capture those behind the Orleans mission failure, Mila tries to come to terms with how to deal with both May’s family (who do not know that May is actually dead) and her own (who have no idea why their daughter disappeared without a trace so many years ago.

Captain Faulk receives orders to try again to get the Earth’s delegation to a meeting with the newly encountered aliens, the Incirrina. With Mila and Kyle as his only crew on a small shuttle, he successfully get the diplomats to Earth’s moon and the Kennedy Moon Station where they can finally begin negotiations to learn about each other and help each other out. However, all is not as it appears in the Earth legate and the aliens and Earthlings must work together against a new and powerful common enemy.

After waiting for what felt like a year until this second book in The Darkest Day series came out (it wasn’t that long really), it arrived and I could not put it down. This was one of those books where any interruption to reading it annoyed me to no end! I have so enjoyed this series. I’ve bonded with these characters; they feel like friends. The main characters have a lot going on in their private lives besides the main story thread I’ve outlined above and I look forward to some resolution for them. And now, the wait begins again. This author seems to write exactly to my taste and I look forward to more from her in the future.

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Ring-A-Ding Dead! (The Myriad Mysteries, #1) by Claire Logan

Ring-A-Ding Dead! by Claire Logan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When the newlywed couple arrived in Chicago by train, they went to check in at their honeymoon suite at the luxurious Myriad Hotel. But, rather than a relaxing room, what greeted them was the corpse of the hotel clerk dead on the floor behind the front desk! Both husband and wife, former private investigators, are immediately drawn into discovering what had happened, and when another death and the attempted poisoning of other staff members soon follow, they are asked by the hotel manager and the owner himself to investigate.

Ring-A-Ding Dead! is a fun and lovely start to a new mystery series set in 1920s Chicago at the fictional Myriad Hotel. The lead characters, Hector and Pamela Jackson (assumed names), are as big a mystery as the murders, and remain so even after the final page of the book. Details of their former lives, before coming to Chicago as newlyweds, slowly unfolds throughout but the whole picture is never fully revealed. At times, this left me feeling confused and uneasy, but as the tale went on, I think the not knowing became half the fun. I recommend this book to cozy mystery readers that enjoy the look and feel and flavor of Prohibition Chicago. I look forward to reading more about the Jacksons at the Myriad.

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Zombie City (Death Squad, #1) by Charlie Dalton

Zombie City by Charlie Dalton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The deadly virus spread through the city of Austin like wildfire catching everyone off-guard and by surprise. The biggest surprise was that those infected by the virus died and turned into flesh-eating, blood-drinking zombies. The most unexpected aspect though was that the virus was released on purpose.

As chaos and destruction erupted, the military went into action and erected a giant wall around the entire city, dropping it huge section by huge section into place with helicopters and effectively quarantining all that were within. Those inside the now walled city were left to hide out from their infected family, friends, and neighbors and fend for themselves as the government worked to contain the virus to this one location and find a solution. Then “The Walkers” were discovered.

Some of the infected didn’t turn into mindless, ravenous monsters. When they died and reanimated, they retained their ability to think rationally and the zombies seemed to leave them alone, somehow knowing they, too, were the walking dead. Among “The Walkers” is Sergeant Thomas “Tommy” Watts. He’d lost his entire squad in an ambush by zombies in the city but had ‘survived’ his own demise. When the military command determines that there is a living, breathing person or persons unknown behind the virus – one that was actively working to release the virus outside the walled city and infect the rest of the country – they enlist Tommy and four other ‘Walkers’ to return to the interior of the city to find and stop them.

Zombie City is the first book in the Death Squad, a new post-apocalyptic series by author Charlie Dalton. I found it full of action, horror, and a number of engaging characters. I liked that the setting was supposed to be Austin where the city motto is “Keep Austin Weird.” Okay! There are still a number of mysteries in the story yet to be resolved at the close of this book so be prepared for not having all your questions answered. I really enjoy these end-of-the-world, zombie stories and look forward to more in the series.

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Margin of Errors (Stygian Menace, #2) by Henry McAndrews

Margin of Errors by Henry McAndrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Margin of Errors, a sequel to the excellent series debut, Imminent Domain, has our hero, Evan Trystan and his two friends, Yna and Anil, back on board the Sydney, and trying to evade the Skukulkang, remove the ship, Sydney, from the influence of the Skuk, and alert their former companion vessels that the Alpha Centauri system they are headed for is under Skuk control.

With Anil’s help, Evan is able to override Sydney’s SI and free her and the operational droids from the influence of the Skuk. By commandeering some of the loyal droids, he is able to awaken his friend, Lieutenant Flynn Olafsson from stasis, but before they can get the rest of their squad operational, the Sydney is boarded by Skuk soldiers including Yna’s lost mother, Nadissa. The Skuk torture Flynn and Nadissa grabs Yna to present to the Skuk leader, Baron Kryt, and eventually, to the Suzerain Ugrot himself.

Retrieving his marine squad from stasis, Evan is dismayed when their commander, Lieutenant Elijah Moretti, decides to contact and reunite the Earth vessels in Alpha Centauri rather than pursue the Skuk and their captive, Yna. But when Eli succumbs to the after-effects of coming out of stasis, Evan takes advantage of his incapacitation to take a Skuk ship left onboard the Sydney to the Skuk’s home planet to rescue Yna.

As with Book 1, this story is a never-ending tale of action with Evan trying to determine what’s real and what is only a simulation, and who is a friend and who is not. More is revealed about the mysterious and quirky alien, Anil, and readers are introduced to Evan’s best friends and fellow marines. The story is fun and fast, with the look and feel of a top-notch, and addicting, videogame. I recommend this series for readers that enjoy middle-grade to young adult scifi stories, books featuring aliens, first contact, and generational spaceship travel. As each book builds directly on the action of the previous one, I recommend they be read in order.

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Imminent Domain (Stygian Menace, #1) by Henry McAndrews

Imminent Domain by Henry McAndrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When 16-year-old Evan Trystan awoke from his Simulated Reality-distributed studies, he expected to see a crew of over 200 people manning the generational spaceship, Sydney. What he found instead was a nightmare: the crew missing – left behind on a small planet when the ship was contaminated by gamma rays, their companion ships nowhere in sight, 240,066 people including his parents still in deep stasis, and he without the medical knowledge to safely awaken them. Oh, and as the ship approached the nearest habitable planet, he suddenly found himself smack in the middle of a war between two scientifically-advanced alien races.

Knowing he needed help to keep his fellow travelers alive, he descended to the planet to meet with the inhabitants, the alien race that had protected him thus far, the Enilingu shravat. Greeted by an alien doctor, Dar, and his daughter, Ynayilsaruviga, and reassured that they will assist him, he is shocked to discover the Sydney has abandoned him there on the planet.

Before he and Yna can come up with a plan to reunite Evan and the Sydney, the other alien race, the Skukulkang or Skuk, break through the En’s planetary defenses and invade the planet. The two escape the Skuk on the ground, procure a shuttle from the closest base, and flee the planet just in time to see the En home world destroyed. Now they must elude discovery by the Skuk and get back to the Sydney before they run out of oxygen and luck.

Imminent Domain is the first book in the middle-grade science fiction series, Stygian Menace, by Henry McAndrews. This book has non-stop action, good “good guys,” bad “bad guys,” and others that you just aren’t sure about their loyalties. And with the presence of the Simulated Reality Unit, you can never be quite sure if what is happening is actually happening or a simulation. This is a book the entire family can enjoy and would make a good one to share as a read-aloud. I think even the most reluctant readers would find this a page-turner as well.

(At this time, there is a second book available, Margin of Error, which continues Evan’s story. The author points out that he wrote Imminent Domain for his own children and since its publication, they’ve, of course, matured. This second book contains heightened action intended for a little older audience: 10 and above.)

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Ghost of a Chance (Southern Ghost Hunters, #2.5) by Angie Fox

Ghost of a Chance by Angie Fox
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When the ghostly spirit of the former Union officer, Major Matthew Jackson, decides to propose to his ghostly sweetheart, Josephine, he comes to Verity Long for help. When he was a living man, his mother had promised to give him a family heirloom, an opal necklace, to present to his bride-to-be when the time came. With his early death, a casualty of the War Between the States, that time never came, and with his alliance on the side of the Union, he had been banished forever from his home in Sugarland. However, his mother’s spirit still haunts the old homestead, and since he cannot approach her himself, he is hoping that Verity, with her ghostly gangster friend, Frankie’s help, can act as a go-between and retrieve the necklace.

This is another creative addition to the Southern Ghost Hunters series by Angie Fox. Series readers will have met most of the characters involved in the previous entries and it was especially nice to continue with Matthew and Josephine’s relationship. Frankie is his usual crabby yet fun-loving self with Verity caught in the middle of everything living and deceased. As with the previous stories, there are some poignant moments with the spirits of the departed. Hug your loved ones and let them know how feel while you can.

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Lost Shadows by Nathan J. Gregory

Lost Shadows by Nathan J. Gregory
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When a huge meteor shower hits the Earth, Jay Zander and his friends, Anna and Luke, go to check out one that landed in a farmer’s field near their homes. When Jay reached down to touch the space rock in the small crater though something happens setting off a chain reaction of lights, explosions, smoke, and sound. Jay recovers first and pulls his two unconscious friends away from the hole. Luke recovers next and the boys quickly leave with Jay carrying Anna all the way home.

When Jay’s father, a local scientist, is called to the location to help the police investigate, Jay follows him back to the field. Jay follows his father to his nearby worksite, and along with Anna and Luke once again, they descend into the hidden lab below the surface of the Earth. With explosions rocking the surface and creating havoc underground, Jay’s father sends Anna and Luke off with his assistant, Sue, and takes Jay to his private office. There he puts Jay into a clear tube where Jay is made to fall asleep.

When Jay awakes, he is alone. The lab is deserted and falling apart. Thirteen years have passed. Someone has left him a note with a helmet and he hears a voice in his head telling him to follow the light. He finds his way outside where he is chased by some very unfriendly creatures to an abandoned house. A strange woman wearing a gray hood and cloak saves him from the monsters and takes Jay under her wing. The woman turns out to be Sue, his father’s former assistant, and she is able to tell him what has been going on while he was in frozen sleep. They team up to try and locate the Ghosts, humans with super powers derived from touching the meteorites, and so the quest begins.

Lost Shadows is a delightful quest story in a post-apocalyptic setting if you can get past constant issues with unusual and inappropriate word choices. I noticed that other reviewers of this book have pointed out these same problems and with plenty of time having passed since then I’m surprised it hasn’t been fixed. It still reads like it was written by someone with English as a second language (and I just don’t believe that.) This book needs an editor. It DESERVES an editor. As is, it is just not ready for “prime time.” So much potential!

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The 12 Cozy Mystery Carols of Christmas by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson, Rachael Stapleton, Ava Mallory, Jenna St. James, K.M. Waller, Laina Turner, Sam Cheever, Stephanie Damore, Susan Boles, Tricia L. Sanders, Wendy Meadows

The 12 Cozy Mystery Carols of Christmas by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mistletoe and Hauntings by Rachael Stapleton is one of the cozy mysteries included in The 12 Cozy Mystery Carols of Christmas: A Collection of Holiday Cozy Mystery Novellas by Members of the Sleuthing Women Authors Collective, and is part of Stapleton’s Bohemian Lake series, most specifically, the debut novella in the Hexing Holidays in Bohemian Lake set featuring Mallory Vianu. I look forward to reading the other 11 stories based on how good this one was.

Mallory’s family owns the local lake resort hotel – the Caravan Manor – and the women of her family possess special gifts that allow them to see things that other people do not. For example, matriarch of the Roma family, Nana Vianu, is a gifted fortune teller whereas Mallory is a clairvoyant.

The setting of this story is the night of the annual Mistletoe Ball on the night of Yule, the longest night of the year as well as when the veil between the plane of the living and that of the dead is the thinnest and most fragile. It is during this time that Mallory is able to view and help the spirits of the deceased that have not yet crossed over to their rightful place of rest. This year’s ball is being held at the old Salazar Mansion which is sure to be chockful of stranded spirits and Mallory figures it will be a very busy night.

The new owner of the mansion is Caspar Holly, an obnoxious, recently-arrived resident out of Hollywood. Previously a famous film director, he’s quickly settled into the community (one in which he’d apparently lived 25 years earlier), and is directing the town’s annual Christmas play, and by all rumors getting pretty chummy with the too-young-for-that Meg Patone.

Mallory reluctantly attends the ball with her boyfriend, Officer Kaden Bones, by her side, and almost immediately runs into his yet-to-be-ex-wife, Donna, an FBI agent in town working on a case with the local department. Kaden and Mallory both have been trying to get Donna to sign divorce papers to no avail.

Drink in hand, Mallory is attempting to communicate with her first ghost of the night, the former owner of the mansion, Rory Salazar, when a scream erupts from the front of the house. Someone has poisoned the host, Caspar Holly and the best suspect is Mallory’s friend, the caterer, Pike. With Nana Vianu’s warning of the visitation of 3 spirits this night, Mallory and Kaden race to discover the murderer before the 3rd spirit is created.

This is another good, action-filled story in the Bohemian Lake series which just never gets old. Almost all of the series’ quirky characters make an appearance or get a mention and with the unfolding of the mystery readers get a few more interesting tidbits about these fun, loveable people.

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Dog! You’ll Never Look at Your Dog the Same Way Again by Mike Robbins

Dog!: You'll Never Look At Your Dog the Same Way Again. by Mike Robbins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The rescue dog was just beginning to settle into his new home with Bazza, a college professor, and his grad school girlfriend, Caz, when a monk arrived to stay for the semester. The dog had been in several homes recently but maybe this one would work out. And as he gets comfortable, memories of his previous human life start to come back to him.

If you have a dog companion animal, I know you’ve most likely looked into their eyes and wondered what they were thinking. And if you’ve ever adopted an animal, you’ve probably wondered about what they’d been through before coming to you. I think they probably have interesting thoughts and maybe interesting prior experiences, but most likely not on the scale as the dog in this story. The dog’s internal dialogue, commentary on his human companions, is entertaining but what really grabbed me was his flashbacks to his prior life as a man – a good story on its own set in wartime England.

Dog! is a novel on the shorter side but it packs quite a bit of story in those pages. There is a good twist to the ending, too, that I really appreciated. I recommend this for readers that like animal stories where (Spoiler Alert!) – the dog doesn’t die!


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They Came with the Snow Series (They Came With The Snow #1-2) by Christopher Coleman

They Came with the Snow Series by Christopher Coleman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dominic was a professor of English at Warren College, and he was cheating on his wife, Sharon, with a grad student. His infidelity saved his life. If he hadn’t been secretly meeting Naia at his office on that May Sunday when “The Event” occurred, he probably would have gone out in the unseasonable snow like everyone else had done and been turned into one of the hairless, white, featureless creatures he and Naia had christened “the crabs” (for the way they moved.)

After weeks alone, barricaded from "the crabs" in the Warren Student Union building, Naia was ready to break out to see if the rest of the world was a winter wasteland as the radio alerts had claimed before going silent. With supplies almost gone, Dominic creates a distraction at the front of the building as Naia readies to flee out the back door to race for their lives through the snow.

The two head to the nearest outpost of civilization they know of – a strip center with shops and restaurants situated just off-campus – followed closely by hundreds of "the crabs." They have no idea what they may find – help or more of the same?

From the strip center, Dominic returns to his home to determine his wife’s fate but his traveling companions from the strip center prevent him from sacrificing himself for guilt over not being there when “The Event” happened. The group continues on to escape the area they envision as 'Ground Zero' only to discover every avenue out of the county by land is blockaded and the main bridge barricaded, impassable, and loaded with “crabs” or the ghostly, white creatures that used to be their fellow citizens. They decide to cross the river out of the cordoned-off area using one of the numerous abandoned boats found near the bridge.

On their way across the water in an old, unstable motorboat, they stop to investigate a large luxury yacht left afloat midstream. With the “crabs” in the water attacking the old motorboat, Dominic leaves his companions on the larger ship and lures the "crabs" away from them downstream. Wet and freezing, he is able to get to the opposite shore to the pier for a seafood restaurant. As he’s searching for things he and his friends can use though, he’s captured by four soldiers and taken away in their RV for questioning.

As it turns out, Dominic knows more about what has happened to the world than the soldiers. They, too, have been separated from their units, and have figured out that they were ditched on purpose. As they accept Dominic as part of their group and head back to try to find out what has happened to Dominic’s friends, they discover the headquarters of the organization that Dominic believes may be responsible for “The Event” and the destruction of life as they know it.

The description of the "crabs" and their amazing agility was a terrifying image. I was on the edge of my seat the entire reading. Dominic seems to be such a weak individual at first – he’s a cheater and kind of undecided about everything – but I tended to forget this and began to root for his survival and his mission to find out what happened to his wife and to discover the truth behind “The Event.” The action and horror never quits in either book. One tense situation leads to another. What has actually happened at Warren College unfolds slowly but readers will have to wait for Book 3 to get the rest of the story. I recommend this to readers that like horror stories in general and post-apocalyptic tales specifically.


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