Murder on the Great Lake (A Pet Portraits Cozy Mystery #2) by Sandi Scott

Once again, Georgie Kaye and her sister, Aleta, are party to a murder. This time the sisters are along for a ride on the annual lake cruise of the Fit Family Gyms, a fitness franchise in the greater Chicago area when the evening’s award winner, Deck Zannowski, goes overboard and drowns. Deck had been a nice guy, and had taken the franchise’s problem location on and turned it around to become the highest earning one in the group. When the autopsy reveals that Deck had been given Rohypnol and with several suspects from which to choose, Georgie, Aleta, and Georgie’s ex-husband, Stan – the lead detective on the case, investigate to track down who might have shoved Deck overboard.

I am really loving this series and hope the author does many more. The characters of Georgie, Aleta, and Stan are charming (as are many of the supporting players). I love the setting in the city and neighborhoods of Chicago and the mention of real places and things there. The mystery of who killed Deck Zannowski is simple but not straight-forward so the detective work is necessary to come to a plausible conclusion. I would recommend this book and series to cozy mystery fans.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader copy of this book.

Welcome to the Apocalypse: CyberNexis by D.L. Richardson

The excitement in Book 1 (Pandora) of the series, Welcome to the Apocalypse continues in Book 2 (CyberNexis) as the story shifts from being the end-of-the-world scenarios being played inside a computer game to real-life. The Yellowstone Caldera, a supervolcano located under Yellowstone National Park, blew while the 100 plus Apocalypse Games launch day players were ensconced inside their gaming simulation pods at CyberNexis headquarters in San Diego. This triggered volcanoes around the world to erupt as well. The survivors in the U.S. have been directed to central evacuation camps near major population centers. The gamers were discovered by remnants of the military after an unheard-of three months hooked up to the CyberNexis system, and transported to the old site of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston because the gamers’ simulation pods and their physical conditions are so similar to astronauts coming out of a long space mission. Not all the gamers survived the damage that the CyberNexis headquarters sustained when the caldera erupted. Those that did are experiencing muscular dystrophy and other ailments.

The main characters from book 1 make a reappearance: some alive, some as casualties. Kelly Lawrence and Reis Anderson are recuperating at the NASA location. The doctors there are having difficulty though disconnecting Kelly’s brother, Jack Minnow, from the simulation pod and Pandora’s hold on him. And Jack doesn’t want to leave the game. He’s found and developed a bond with another player, Sasha Vaness, who though still alive in the game, was one of the casualties in real life.

The Lunar Receiving Laboratory was only meant to be a temporary stop for the Apocalypse Game players. On their recovery, they are to be bussed to the nearest evacuation camp in Fort Worth. Jack refuses to leave the lab and Sasha’s personality trapped inside Pandora as does Reekha Soodi, another player from book 1 who believes her husband, Naresh, is also trapped within. Kelly and Reis are both anxious to find their way back to California to check on family.

While Jack and Reekha conceal themselves at the lab, Reis and Kelly leave with the other gamers on busses headed for the Fort Worth evacuation center. Along the way, the bus convoy is attacked by a band of end-of-the-world mutations or Primals: humans that have survived and been changed somehow by the caldera eruption. Those that survive the attack crowd onto one of the other buses and make their way to the evacuation camp only to be redirected to Austin: no room in Fort Worth. The story continues from Austin as Kelly and Reis get on a train headed west and their goal – San Diego and CyberNexis, and from NASA headquarters where Jack and Reekha remained.

I enjoyed this installment of the series, and yes, there appears to be a third book coming – Welcome to the Apocalypse – Primal Scream (yay!) I enjoyed that a good portion of the story was set in my state near where I live and work. Of course, I compared for accuracy and found big differences, but who knows how the landscape would have changed after a supervolcano erupted, right? I recommend this book and this series but readers do need to have read the first book in the series to enjoy this one.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader copy of this book.

Welcome to the Apocalypse: Pandora by D.L. Richardson

Three friends (since their teens) pay to participate in the grand opening of the next generation of virtual reality games called The Apocalypse Game. Players pay $5,000 each to be enclosed in a glass pod, interface with the gaming system to try and outlast an apocalyptic scenario of their choosing. Those that perish during the game wait out the rest of the 24-hour session in a “death dream” – a pleasant interlude tailored for the player while the clock runs down.

Of course, something goes terribly wrong and when Jack, Kelly, and Reis successfully survive the first game, they are sent into a second scenario. At first, players think they’ve been rewarded for their initial successes, but as they keep continuing into new games and the scenarios keep getting more bizarre, it becomes apparent they are trapped inside the system while their physical bodies deteriorate inside their glass pods.

The author touches on many different end-of-the-world game scenarios and it is very entertaining. The main characters all have interesting back stories that slowly come to light as the games unfold. Kelly, the young, grieving widow, looking to reunite with the spirit of her game programmer husband. Jack who is there to watch out for his sister (Kelly) and scope out the Apocalypse Game for his adventure tour company, undergoes some real soul-searching and revelations. Reis, Jack’s partner in the adventure tour company is, and always has been, in love with Kelly. Interesting NPCs (non-player combatants) and other players pop up throughout the various games, a few of whom I really became attached to. The story ends well but somewhat abruptly leaving several loose ends and questions. Only one of the three main characters (I won’t say whom) is featured in the ending and we have no idea what has become of the other two, let alone the rest of the players. Significant looks and pauses between others in this scene lead me to believe there was way more going on in the world than just a malfunctioning game though. I look forward to reading book 2 to resolve the cliffhangers.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader copy of this book.

Cookies, Corpses, and the Deadly Haunt by Rachael Stapleton

As an addict of the various TV remodeling, fixer upper, house flipping shows, I was already inclined to enjoy this series, and this first story was a lot of fun!

Former couple, Juniper Palmer and Jack Young, are business partners in the house flipping firm, Spirited Construction. In this first book in the new series by Rachael Stapleton, they have come to Jack’s hometown of Bohemian Lake to find their next project: renovating a spooky, old Gothic Revival house that has seen its better days. That project turns out to be the haunted “Doctor’s House” where 100 years earlier, the owner, the Doctor murdered his wife, Victoria, before turning a gun on himself.

Creepiness aside, the house really has potential and the partners are beginning to make some headway in bringing the old place back to life when Juniper’s best friend and former college roommate, Pike Hart, who also calls Bohemian Lake home, talks them into letting her hold the town's annual fundraiser Halloween Ball at the soon-to-be completed home. But before that can happen, Pike’s co-chair on the fundraising committee (and a descendant of the original owner) is murdered in the attic of the house. Strange music keeps playing, and the vision of a woman in white (the Doctor’s murdered bride?) is spotted on the grounds. Hunky police detective Cody Lumos is assigned the case and his interests include Juniper herself.

I liked the main characters – Juniper Palmer (from whose point-of-view we watch all the action), Pike Hart – her best friend, Detective Cody Lumos – her new love interest, and Jack Young, her business partner and former love interest. There are a number of plausible suspects provided, and a load of other interesting characters filling out the town of Bohemian Lake.

I really enjoyed this book even though I had a couple of issues with the execution of the book itself: point-of-view switches from first person to third and some grammar problems that can be easily cleaned up at some point. I was reading an advance readers copy so I'm sure some of these issues will not appear in the final edition. In spite of this, I still really liked this story and I'm already impatient for the next book in the series to come out. I will be seeking out books in this author's other series to tide me over.

I received a free, advance copy of this book from the author in exchange for my unbiased review.

Murder in the Art Gallery by Sandi Scott (A Pet Portraits Cozy Mystery, #1)

Oh, I am so going to like this series if this first novella, Murder in the Art Gallery, is any indication of what’s to come!

Set in Chicago, the story revolves around the 66-year-old twin sisters, Georgie and Aleta Kaye. Georgie, the older, more outgoing, and artistic of the two, has dragged a reluctant (but supportive) Aleta to the opening of a new exhibit of the hot, new Occhipinti Art Gallery. She is actually there to meet the gallery owner, Nate Stephenson, and discuss his interest in exhibiting her pet portrait artwork that he had admired in the neighborhood Earwax Coffeehouse. In addition to scoring some awesome noms at the exhibit, the sisters are front row & center when another local artist crashes the reception and loudly threatens to burn down the gallery and murder the owner’s financial partner, Jamal Landry.

The next day when the sisters return to the gallery to follow up with Nate regarding the details for Georgie’s proposed exhibit, they discover the Jamal’s dead body sprawled in one of the galleries.

I really enjoyed the sisters, their family and friends. The Chicago setting is presented and used so well I was ready to plan a vacation to go see the sights. I particularly enjoyed the back and forth between the sisters and between Georgie and her ex-husband, Police Detective Stan Toon. I was hoping for their collaboration and reconciliation from their first scene together.

I’m definitely looking forward to more titles in this series with more dogs, too. I can recommend this book to mystery readers that enjoy their mysteries on the cozy side and are looking for sleuths on the far side of 40.

Hello Again by Brenda Novak

Hello Again is the 2nd full-length novel in The Evelyn Talbot Chronicles featuring Dr. Eve Talbot and hunky Alaskan Trooper Sergeant Benjamin “Amarok” Murphy. Eve has regrouped from the previous novel where she was dealing with opening the program at the new maximum security research prison for psychopaths in Hilltop, Alaska. Along with the pressure of opening this facility in climate-challenging location where the local residents had not been enthusiastic, to say the least, she had also had to juggle the desires and egos of a high maintenance and difficult staff, the attentions of a stalker, and the murders of some of her coworkers. Just recalling all that had occurred up to this time, I was wondering what could possibly top that?

Hello Again delivered! This book is full of twists and suspenseful action throughout as well as the steadily growing romance between the two main characters. Being set in a prison specifically for psychopaths gives the story an immediate creepy factor. Every character behind those bars has the potential for a story of terror. This story features a lot from the viewpoint of Eve’s personal, UNincarcerated psychopath though: Jasper Moore. He’s getting closer …

I particularly liked how the relationship between Eve and the awesome Amarok progresses. She was such a damaged soul, and she’s concerned about being more than a few years older than him. He has turned out to be so much more patient, caring, and understanding than the usual romance novel hero – without feeling unrealistic, too.

I can wholeheartedly recommend this book (and this series) to romance and romantic suspense readers. It is great, and I can’t wait for the next is the series.

I received a free, advance copy of this book from the author in exchange for my unbiased review.

Avon Calling: A Woman's Work is Never Done by Hayley Camille

Ding-dong, Avon Calling!

It’s the summer of 1943, and Betty Jones is living the perfect life. Married to her beloved, George, a successful insurance man, with two children, George, Jr., age 5, and Nancy, age 11, she completes her days helping her Avon business customers and friends. Just when life becomes a little too much, the sound of “Avon calling” and the little bit of pampering that accompanies it can really boost a girl’s day.

But Betty isn’t all that she seems. Underneath that perfect exterior, Betty has secrets. For one, she can hear your thoughts.

Wow! Betty is my new super hero, and Avon Calling! is my new favorite series. A Woman’s Work is Never Done is the first episode and is a great start to this series. Episode 1 introduces the character Betty Jones and her family, and gives us a glimpse into her backstory, growing up with an abusive father who is a member of a local crime family in New York City and her heroin-addicted mother who uses the drug to quell the voices she hears in her head. Her mother could also hear other people’s thoughts, and the constant barrage from these voices drove her to find relief, and ultimately her death, in a syringe.

The author has incorporated the fashion, the language of the time, and the cultural history of the door-to-door Avon Lady into this story of mob crime and paranormal gifts. I can’t with to get into the next episode A Dream That I Can Call My Own.

Indentured (The Mystic Saga, #1) by Scott McElhaney

Declan Stringfellow is on a vigilante mission to take out the drug dealers and their organization when he is shot, rushed to a hospital, and undergoes an MRI to determine the damage. One minute he’s entering the scanner and the next he’s waking up (in a new, healthy, and fit body) in the far distant future aboard a spaceship. Future humans have developed the technology to highjack the results of MRIs collected in the past and imprint them on the brains of commercially-developed human bodies. Although the original Declan and the others with him lived out their normal lifespan in the past, the new beings only have memories up to the point of the MRI and nothing further. To their horror, they have been created to serve as “Indentures” or slaves. They are on this space vessel bound for an uninhabited planet light years away with the goal of building a base for future colonists already enroute from Earth. However, not everything is as it seems and many of the Indentured aren’t “on board” with their new lives.

This is the first book in a five-book series, The Mystic Saga, by Scott McElhaney. With an interesting storyline that goes from modern times to well into the future, a variety of characters, cool tech, heartbreak, and mysteries all around, the story had me hooked right away. There are intriguing developments all along the way that the characters question, just like I was doing. I’ve already obtained Book 2, Legacy, to continue the fun.

Severing Sidney by Jason Werbeloff

When Geppetto (the Gutter surgeon and 'parts' dealer from The Organ Scrubber) receives the "Save the Date" (awesome touch!) announcing the "Merging" ceremony of his only child (only daughter), Simona, he leaves his home outside the New York Bubble and travels back to his home country, the Roman Bubble. The announcement has taken its time finding and getting to him in the Gutter and he must leave immediately as the ceremony is to take place in 2 days time. Arriving in his former home, he discovers the ceremony has actually already taken place and Simona has already "become one" with her intended, Neville. To recognize their new relationship and state of being, they have taken a new name, Sidney, a melding of both their birth names. But Geppetto cannot find the true essence of his beloved daughter in the new being and sets about to rectify the situation as only a surgeon in the Bubble World would do!

This slice of life in the Bubble World adds to our knowledge and understanding of author Werbeloff's universe and we get to see some of the backstory of characters that appeared in the very first story: Geppetto and his niece, Florenza. I particularly was surprised by the introduction of Geppetto's ex-wife, Lilly White. I was suitably horrified by this latest installment in the Bubble World saga and look forward to more.

Patenting Peter by Jason Werbeloff

Jason Werbeloff and "The Bubble" continue to entertain me with each new addition to this world. In this latest story, Peter is a discontented husband acting out while his wife is at work. He suspicions that he is under constant surveillance by the Tokyo Bubble government, in general, and his wife in particular, while toting up the “movement tax” on his actions. He tries to garner his wife’s attention with more and more outrageousness until he succeeds. And succeed he does. Just not with the results he was hoping for.

The Bubble World short stories are a super addition to the Defragmenting Daniel trilogy. Don’t miss it or the supplemental stories.

The Sixth Man by Rupert Colley

Occupied France – 1943 - Six Frenchmen, picked up by the Germans for conspiring with the Resistance, have been held in a detention facility for the past six months. They are due to be released to go back to their homes on the morrow when they are informed by their captors that a train has been blown up by Resistance members. During the attack, five German soldiers were killed, and as an example to deter future attacks, five of the six Frenchmen are to be executed rather than released. It is up to the six to determine which of them is to be spared while the others die.

During the tension-filled night, the six decide to each tell their story and then vote, based on the lives they’ve lived and the deeds they’ve done, who is to escape the executioner. Rupert Colley has written an engrossing story with interesting characters and great background vignettes. I won’t divulge the final decision or results from the tense night of storytelling. Historical fiction readers will really enjoy finding out what happens.

Defenestration by Matthew W. McFarland

Originally a short story published as part of the author's previous work Fifty/Fifty and Other Stories, Defenestration has been expanded to novella length.

The story opens with our main character, Adam, looking back up to the 12th story apartment he’s just fallen from. He's falling, falling, and then ...

He is greeted by Gabriel and Michael who welcome him to the afterlife and give him an overview of his new situation. Turns out, the afterlife is whatever you believed it to be whenever you were alive. Adam decides he wants to know why and how he got to where he is, and the story takes off. And take off it does with many delightful interconnections deftly woven together to bring the story back around to where it started.

I love it when stories come full circle and tie everything together. This one is excellent! There were quite a number of the twists and turns that I never saw coming. All to the better for me. I highly recommend this book and the previous short story collections by the author.

City of Hope and Ruin by Kit Campbell and Siri Paulsen

Theo lives to protect her people from hellish monsters that sweep over her city each night when the sun goes down. She leads a trio of fighters on patrol to seek out and destroy them or be destroyed. Theo is the longest serving fighter on duty and has had numerous trio members wiped out by the creatures.

Briony is a healer in her village which lies near the border of her country and that under the control of the vicious Scarred. As the Scarred invade closer and closer, Briony is desperate to get her family to flee away from the border to the safer interior of the country.

One twilight, while Briony is deep in the forest with her mountain lion companion, Poes, she comes face-to-face with a projection of Theo. Over a series of meetings, they learn the rudiments of each other’s world and decide that their societies can and must come together to defeat their enemies and survive. While they work to solve the mystery of how their two societies got to where they are, the two begin to fall in love with each other.

It was my understanding that City of Hope and Ruin is a collaborative work by Kit Campbell and Siri Paulsen with one author writing from the point of view of one character and the other from another. Right there I was intrigued. The result was a very nice story. The authors have also posted pictures on Pinterest of settings that resembled their ideas of their characters and various settings. This was fun and I only wish that I’d run across that earlier in my reading - great pictures that really fit the story! The character names are awesome by the way.

City of Hope and Ruin is a solid fantasy with good character and world building, loads of exciting action, mystery, intrigue, heartbreak, and romance. This is the beginning of a series and I look forward to finding out what happens next.

I received an ARC copy of this book, and I was not obligated to write a review. This is my honest feedback.

Manufacturing Margaret - More awesomeness from Jason Werbeloff!

I don’t know what this author does day-to-day but he needs to write more and do less of whatever that is. Author Jason Werbeloff has a New Year's Resolution to produce a short story based in the world of the Bubble every month in 2017. This is the January 2017 story.

Manufacturing Margaret is a delightful addition to the world and history of the Bubble from the Defragmenting Daniel trilogy. If you’ve read the trilogy, you’ll know that Margaret is the murderous android that Daniel encounters first in his quest to regain his donated organs. However, Margaret has her own quest – to become more human by incorporating actual human parts into her android frame. This story tells about her earliest beginnings and what starts her on this quest. Werbeloff has crafted a truly creative origin story for Margaret!

I received an ARC copy of this story, and I was not obligated to write a review. This is my honest feedback.

The Boy Without a Heart (The Defragmenting Daniel Trilogy #3) by Jason Werbeloff

The Boy Without a Heart is the third installment in The Defragmenting Daniel Trilogy by Jason Werbeloff, and it picks up at the scene of the end of Part II. (The parts are not standalone pieces. They need to be read in sequence to understand and enjoy the trilogy.)

Android Margaret was always a loose cannon but she’s really gone over the top when she and Daniel confront the Stanton brothers after their concert at the Bacchus Mall. She’d become impatient and was ready to obtain the parts she still lacked to complete her “project” of becoming a human. Not only do they recover Daniel’s lungs from the brothers but she gets her lips (and when Detective Kage Jackson gets on the crime scene, he also scores some necessities as well from the fresh corpses!)

Author Jason Werbeloff ratchets up the action, tension, and horror in the final part of the trilogy. Daniel is closing in on the recipients of his last two organs and they turn out to be individuals with whom he has a connection. Daniel faces the dilemma of what to do with a lot of heart though.

With The Boy Without a Heart, the trilogy is done and proves to be a really satisfying reading experience complete with absolutely awesome plot twists at the end. I recommend this story to mature readers that enjoy horror and dystopian society tales.

The Face in a Jar (The Defragmenting Daniel Trilogy #2) by Jason Werbeloff

Jason Werbeloff has delivered AGAIN in the exciting and tension-filled 2nd installment of The Defragmenting Daniel Trilogy called The Face in a Jar.

Daniel Mendez is steadily gather up his original organs (taken from him as payment for his childhood upkeep) from the wealthy, priveleged Bubble recipients. However, the private investigator, Kage Jackson, contracted by the Bubble PD to track down the "Organ Thief" is steadily figuring everything out and closing in. Daniel is helped and hindered in his quest to become whole by Margaret, the robot that wants to become human and needs just a few parts herself to achieve her goal - Project Alpha. Her assistance comes at a price: Daniel must collect her desired parts as well as his own. Kage, a trans male formerly known as Kassandra, helped by love-interest, Una, is also hampered in his successful completion of the case by the police themselves.

The Face in the Jar builds wonderfully upon the world created in The Organ Scrubber (Book 1) and solidifies the totally hedonistic realm that is life in the Bubble. It reinforces the achingly vast difference between Bubble residents and those existing in The Gutter (the broken-down, poverty-stricken area outside). The story has explicit gore and sex and so much imagination of what makes up this world. It is exciting, tense and a definite page turner!

The Organ Scrubber (The Defragmenting Daniel Trilogy #1) by Jason Werbeloff

Daniel lives a grim, futile existence of endless work as an organ scrubber – flushing and preparing human organs slated for reuse by the wealthy and privileged. Orphaned at birth, Daniel grew up in The Orphanage with others in the same circumstances, selling his own organs as required to pay the high debt that even his meager existence incurs, replacing them with inferior cybernetic parts.

On his 18th birthday, he is entitled to receive the identification of his parents. Father unknown, but Daniel receives his birth mother’s name and last known address and leaves the relative safety and security of The Orphanage to find her. Along the way he discovers the fate of his mother and encounters people living outside the control of the known government. More importantly, Daniel decides he wants his own organs back.

Defragmenting Daniel: The Organ Scrubber is the first in of a trilogy by the talented Jason Werbeloff, and it is one heck of a beginning. Daniel's world comes to life, grim and horrific. Characters of a wide variety populate it and the action is non-stop. I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the story!

Montana Rescue by Kim Law

After completing the first title in this new Kim Law series, Montana Cherries, and enjoying it so very much, I had to read book 2. I was delighted by the characters and setting in Montana Rescue. A handsome bull rider, Nick, part of a large family returns home, temporarily, to manage the family orchard business while his father and new stepmother take a long-needed vacation. Before even taking up his duties, he reconnects with the girl of his teenage dreams, Harper Stone, now widowed, who has also returned home after years away, and is helping her younger sister out with her business of providing the bucking bull stock to the Montana Pro Rodeo circuit (where Nick competes.) What follows is the story of how their relationship evolves and how they come to terms with their pasts.

It is a sexy, contemporary romance with two strong characters that totally melt when dealing with each other. It is also a story of healing and forgiveness – forgiving oneself and moving on. The setting in Montana was of interest to me. I’ve never been there but it sounds lovely and wild. Also, I enjoyed seeing this side of the workings of rodeo – that was a little different angle than I’ve seen before. As I mentioned before, this is the second book in this series about the large Wilde family but it stands on its own – you wouldn’t have to read the first book, Montana Cherries (although I liked it, too) to enjoy this one.

Montana Cherries by Kim Law

Dani Wilde’s life has been on hold for the last 14 years while she has kept house and looked after her father and brothers on their family farm after the sudden death of her mother during Dani’s first semester of college. But with the college graduation of her youngest brother, Dani plans to move back to New York City (where she’d been when her mother died) and pick up where she left off.

The plan is to stay through the summer cherry harvest when all her brothers return home, say her goodbyes, and attempt to restart her interrupted life. And then, in walks her older brother’s best friend, Ben Denton, the love of her life, who took her virginity 10 years ago and left for a high-profile, celebrity lifestyle as a fashion and “fashionable” photographer. But Ben has not returned home alone. He’s got his newly-discovered daughter, Haley, with him and no clue about how to proceed as a single father to a four-year-old girl.

The feelings between Dani and Ben are still strong, and when Ben and Haley are welcomed into the Wilde family with open arms, complications begin to develop. As harvest time closes in and Dani prepares to depart for New York, the truth and dysfunctionality of the family begin to come to light.

The characters in the story are all suffering and trying to heal from the impact of horrible mothers: the Wilde siblings, their father, Ben, and Haley whose mother kept her existence a secret until she dumped the child on Ben’s doorstep and abruptly left. All are victims of women that never should have had children. Each is trying to cope in their different ways under their different circumstances. There are some very heartbreaking moments.

The romance between Ben and Dani (both as their younger selves and in the present situation) is compelling and keeps the pages turning. I continued to wonder what the final outcome was going to be.

There is tension between family members rooted in their past but there is forgiveness and reconciliation as well making for some additional drama and emotional storytelling.

Altogether, Montana Cherries is unique in its premise and satisfying in its resolution. It is a lovely start to what I hope is a series featuring each of the Wilde siblings.

Her Darkest Nightmare by Brenda Novak

Twisted minds, twisted ending!

After a spectacular set up of the series in the prequel, Hanover House, author Brenda Novak has offered up a very suspenseful series opening in Her Darkest Nightmare. The story begins with a retelling of the horrific abduction, torture and murders of 16-year-old Evelyn Talbot’s 3 best friends by her boyfriend, Jasper Moore, and her subsequent victimization and almost murder when she discovers him in the act. Jasper escapes capture and justice, perhaps aided by his parents, and remains free to this day, haunting the adult Evelyn’s life and mind, always looming in the shadows ready to pounce and finish what he’d started all those years ago.

Dr. Evelyn Talbot is now a successful psychiatric leading a research facility attached to a new prison located in Hilltop, Alaska, studying psychopathic serial killers. Overcoming the fears of the locals and the only law enforcement in the area, Alaska State Trooper Sergeant Amarok, about having such a facility on their outskirts is tough enough but suspicions escalate with the murders of two prison staff members.

With the characters socked in and hampered by winter storms, the remoteness of the setting lending to the feeling of aloneness, and the absolutely terrifying craziness of some of the inmates, the story is really suspenseful. Evelyn and Amarok are immediately attracted to each other but their relationship is complicated by her past and his opposition to having the prison on his doorstep. Then, too, just when I thought I had it all figured out – SURPRISE!

I was so wrong.

And because I never saw it coming, the story was that much more frightening.

I highly recommend Her Darkest Nightmare to those that like their sexy romance with a big dose of suspense.