Three-star review of Choose Me by Tess Gerritsen and Gary Braver

This is a well-written murder mystery and a quick read. However, I had trouble with the idea of a college student obsessively seducing her professor. It didn’t seem to flow from the character as she was earlier described: a poor kid who worked hard to get into college to be with her high school sweetheart, who then becomes obsessed with the boy when he breaks up with her. All the misdirection was obvious. The little we learned about Frankie Loomis, the policewoman in charge of the investigation of the murder, was interesting and I could see how it could affect how she looked at the case. The overweight kid who was obsessed with the murder victim was a cliché at best. I’ve enjoyed other Gerritsen’s books much more than this one.

 

Four-star review for Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey

I’m still enjoying this series after seven books and a couple of the novellas, but this reads like the beginning of the second half or third third of the story (which it is in a way), as a set-up for what’s to come. The resistance to the Laconian invasion through the Sol gate, including everything that happens on Medina, are interesting in themselves, though, and we get to see a lot of our favorite characters including Avasarala even though it’s been years since the last book. Too much of the book was spent on the viewpoints of the Laconian characters, although I understand why this was done. There were a few sad moments too. Still, I look forward to books 8 and 9 and the (possible) appearance of whatever defeated the architects of the protomolecule.

 

 

Four-star review of The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne

 This is Mr. Milne’s only mystery. It’s dated, of course, but still well-plotted with interesting characters. Anthony Gillingham arrives at the Red House to meet his friend Bill Beverley, who’s a guest of the owner, Mark Ablett. He finds Mark’s cousin and secretary Matthew Cayley trying to get into the study and when they finally gain entrance from the French doors on the other side, they find a body. I already had an inkling of what was to come, who was dead and by whose hand, so there was no surprise for me  at the end, but it was still a good read. Quick to finish and satisfying in a way as Tony and Bill play Holmes and Watson to uncover the truth.

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

Five-star review of Soon by Morris Gleitzman 

Felix is older and less naïve than in the earlier books in this series, but he still doesn’t quite know how to read people or situations, which often makes him charming in the midst of terrible actions by some people and keeps his voice fresh. In this fifth book in the series, WWII has ended, and the Nazis are defeated. Still, life is difficult, even dangerous. The people Felix meets many people in this story, a few more important in his life than others. He also ‘adopts’ a baby and tries to take it to Ukraine, since he believes the baby is Ukrainian. The entire series should be required reading for preteens, because they present an awful part of human history in terms kids can comprehend.

  

Tuesday Book Review

 

Five-star review of Hard-boiled Wonderland and The End of the World by Haruki Murakami

 Very interesting book. Two stories told alternately, each in a different setting. The unnamed protagonist of the story set in a modern Japanese city has more fantastical adventures even than the also unnamed protagonist who recently arrived in the kind of walled village that often appears in fantasies. Echoes of one story appear in the other. Both have a library and librarian, both have skulls, to be precise, unicorn skulls. Slowly but surely the relationship between the two stories becomes apparent and so does the fact that Murakami is talking about the human mind. But the writing is clear and humorous and that makes the book easy to grasp and enjoyable even when it goes into absurd science fantasy or difficult scientific concepts.   

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

 Four-star review of Secret in the Stars: An Abi Wunder Mystery by Linda Wilson

When young teen girl Abi Wunder is stranded at an inn just before it’s scheduled to be demolished, the ghost of the former owner asks her to help his wife save the inn. This mystery is appropriate for middle grade/pre-teen kids who love a good ghost story, but I enjoyed it too. Will Abi be able to save the day, with the help of Star, the dog, Bell, the cat, and her new friend Jess? She soon decides solving mysteries is more fun than art camp

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

Four-star review of The Immortal Words by Jeff Wheeler

 This is the end of the trilogy about Bingmei’s efforts to defeat the dragons, especially Echion the Dragon of Night and his queen, Xisi, and restore the kingdoms he’d conquered. She must go beyond the Death Wall, accompanied much of the way by her faithful friend, the fisherman’s son Quion. Several prophecies are involved in her quest, including her visit to the phoenix shrine and the birth of her child by Prince Rowan. I’ve enjoyed Wheeler’s books for a long time, but this one seemed to drag in places, and the ending left so many unfinished plotlines without the promise of a book four or a second trilogy in this world. Somewhere along the way, instead of Bingmei being the only Phoenix-chosen, her son is, and did I miss the place where Rowan developed the ability to transform into a phoenix too? 

Tuesday Book Review on Thursday

 

Five-star review of Under Two Moons: The Paradisi Chronicles (Caelestis Series Book 2) by Louisa Locke

The history and secrets revealed in Book 1 of this series are just a start. In this book, that takes place two years after the first, Mei-Lin Yu learns so much more about Ddaera, its people and animals; what happened after the arrival of the ten families and others in the first ten ships from Earth; what happened to the Reachers; and her own abilities. It starts when she’s kidnapped on her way home to Mynyddamore from New Hong Kong. And then there’s Silence, the Snow Leopard, a sentient animal who’s Jaxon’s companion. The book ended before all was revealed and before Mei-Lin discovered what scheme her brother, Albert, is trying to push through the Council. But I would have read the third book anyway. The fact that the second book of my series is also named Under Two Moons did not affect my rating. 

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

 Four-star review of Killing Custer by Margaret Coel

 Although I’d never read any of the other books in this series of mysteries that take place near the Wind River, I had no trouble immersing myself in the lives of Father John and Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden. A Custer impersonator, Edward Garrett, is killed during a parade in the town of Lander, Wyoming, and suspicion falls on two of the young Arapaho men who took part in a dare ride around Garrett and the men impersonating two of his lieutenants. It’s up to Father John and Vicky to clear the names of the suspects by finding the real killer. The story is well-written, and the characters are fleshed out. The author has done her research on Custer and weaves what happened at the Little Big Horn and in Washita deftly into the story.

 Five-star review of Between Mountain and Sea: Paradisi Chronicles (Caelestis series book 1) by Louisa Locke

 Mei Lin Yu, a descendant of one of the ten families that fled a dying Earth for a planet they call New Eden, knows she’s different from her peers and has disappointed her parents. When her eye surgery prevents her from taking a college entrance exam, her nasty older brother sends her off to her grandparents who live at the Yu ancestral home at the base of the Mynyddamore mountains, the word meaning between mountain and sea in the language of the native peoples of the planet. There she’s tutored by her grandparents and gets to know her great-grandmother and the Ddaerens, even their animals. She finds the diary of her many times great grandmother, Mabel Yu. Each chapter starts with a piece from that diary. The world-building and characters are wonderful. Mei Lin’s growing awareness of her true heritage alone is beautifully executed. I’m excited to read the rest of this series and other books by other authors but set in the same world and following a few of the other families.

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

 

Five-star review of White Out by Danielle Girard

 Lily Baker wakes up after an accident on an icy road with no recent memories. Iver Larson has a severe case of PTSD and survivor’s guilt. He’s plagued by nightmares of killing a woman in the Middle East. He can’t remember what happened the night before either. Kylie Milliard is the detective who investigates the murder of a young woman near Iver’s bar during the time neither can remember. Slowly but surely, Girard reveals the pasts of each of the characters and how that plays into the murder and everything that happens next. I’ve enjoyed books by this author in the past. The characters are so well developed I’m sure I’ll enjoy the next one in this series. This is how a thriller should be written.

 

Tuesday Book Review

 

Five-star review of Kale is a Four-Letter Word anthology from the Corrales Writing Group

 This compilation of short stories and vignettes made me chuckle and smile, but it also contains a murder mystery and a fictitious history of kale. There are running reports from a marketing team searching for ways to use kale. Love it or hate it, kale has become a part of our health-conscious cuisine. It’s been touted as a superfood, containing vitamins and fibers, but then there’s the taste. Although, most of the pieces are on the anti-kale side, the book ends with mostly pro-kale recipes. I haven’t tried any, but I can see that they could be tasty. Of course, there’s one where the kale is processed by many methods, mixed with many ingredients, but in the end, the kale is tossed out leaving a delicious dish.

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

 Four-star review of Life, Unscheduled by Kristin Rockaway

 Romance with a message. I may be from a completely different generation than the first-person POV character, Nicole, and yet I can relate to the idea of letting one’s schedule rule their life. The type of personality that thinks having a schedule is equal to having control. The type that hides behind that schedule so as not to be hurt emotionally. Nicole works for a company that makes nanobots, ostensibly to help people. The corporate culture feeds into her determination to get a promotion, to do the best job she can. Meanwhile, her best friend is getting married and wants her to be the maid-of-honor, rather than the bride’s sisters. She shoehorns in time to be the best maid-of-honor that she can, while her friend resigns to the over-the-top wedding her family demands. And then Nicole meets a man who claims to understand that she has to be at the office 24/7. A recipe for the disasters that occur later in the story.

 

Tuesday Book Reviews on Wednesday

 

Four-star review of Death by Intermission by Alexis Morgan

 

Fun mystery with a couple of dashes of romance. Abby isn't the only McCree woman to get mixed up in a murder mystery. Her mother discovers a body at the end of the last outdoor movie of the summer. This was a fun story and a quick read. Interesting characters and situations.

Tuesday Book Review

 

Five-star review of Moonquest by Mark David Gerson

 I was caught up in the beautiful, lyrical writing of this fantasy story. Early on, the main character, Toshar, a bard in a land where being one is punishable by death, wonders what is dream and what is reality. When he lets his dreams guide him and his three companions, they achieve what they must, to bring M’nor, the fabled lost moon of old, back to the night sky. Each of the four has a character arc, but foremost is Toshar’s physical and mental journey to become Elderbard, to defeat the evil Fvorag, the king who banished all bardic tales from the land, and to save the other residents of Q’ntana. Highly recommended for those who love gorgeous storytelling.

 

Five-star review of Spellmaker by Charlie N. Holmberg

 The first book in this duology (Spellbreaker) was good, and this one is even better. More action and tension, more magic, more character development and just the right amount of romance. When Elsie is jailed for being an unregistered spellbreaker, Bacchus Kelsey’s solution is to claim she’s his fiancée. They still have Lily Merton to deal with, Elsie’s still trying to find her biological family, and Bacchus can’t forgive the Duke for have a siphoning spell put on him to drain his energy and restore the Duke’s.

The story is finished, but I’d love to read more about the engaging characters, including a couple of new ones.

Tuesday Book Review

Four-star review of World of Secrets by James Maxwell

 The sequel to The Girl from Nowhere is full of even more action and adventure for Taimin and his companions as they try to cross the firewall. Along the way they, they learn more and more about their world and where the five races came from. A sixth giant race is also revealed. The change in attitude of the members of one race near the end of the story was a bit sudden, and the giant race telling them all that they were fighting a consortium of the other five was like an enemy telling our heroes how to defeat him. This book answers many of the questions posed by the first book in the Firewall series. I’ll read on to find out what happens to the characters next.

Tuesday Book Review

 

Four-star review of The Survivors by Hammond Innes

 This old suspense/thriller (from 1949) is action-packed. Duncan Craig joins The Southern Cross, part of a whaling convoy in the Antarctic, although he’s never done any whaling before. After a series of events, he’s stranded with part of the crew on a moving iceberg. As their food dwindles, the situation goes from bad to worse, mainly due to the antics of the son of The Southern Cross’s captain. The rapid-fire action and the character development are old-school but made this an enjoyable read. Even the romances are handled in an old-fashioned way. I enjoyed this quick read.

 

 

Tuesday Book Reviews on Wednesday

 Five-star review of The Watchmaker’s Daughter by C.J. Archer

 I was in the middle of reading two other books when I started this and couldn’t go back to the others as I was so enthralled with this one. The well-written blurb sums it up, India Steele is desperate after her father dies and her fiancé not only jilts her but is willed her father's watchmaking shop. She meets Matthew there when she goes to rant at her former fiancé and agrees to help him find an elderly watchmaker who’d sold him a watch in America. As the story develops in a world where the watchmaking guild won’t allow women to be watchmakers, the relationship between India and Matthew changes and we learn more about them. I’m baffled by a few negative reviews for this story because I enjoyed it so much. It appears to be the start of a long series. I’m already looking forward to reading the next book.

Tuesday Book Reviews

 

Four-star review of Taking the Fifth by J.A. Jance 

I’ve enjoyed many of Jance’s novels in the past, even the ones with J.P. Beaumont as the Seattle-based protagonist. This one was very predictable, though, and far from memorable, but a good, quick read.

A few of the characters were well-developed. A few were dead before they could be, even in retrospect. Beau is flawed, and one of his flaws is how easily he’s dazzled by a woman, in this case an over-the-hill singer who’s making a comeback. Throw in a murder by high heel and what do you get?

 

 

Four-star review of Exodus by Jasper T. Scott

 The third book in the New Frontiers trilogy wasn’t as enjoyable as the first two. The twists and turns of the ending were the most disappointing. Alexander and Caty are to be passengers on a colony ship that would take them to settle a new planet in the Proxima Centauri system. We’re introduced to another passenger named Benjamin and his mother. We also see some of the story through the eyes of the crew of the ship. Before all the 70,000 passengers boarded, the ship is attacked. It’s from this point that the story spins through many strange happenings. I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened to the characters, but it was hard at the end to feel any hope for the characters.  This series appears to be a kind of prequel to another series. I’m no longer sure I want to read on, even though I’ve enjoyed all of the other books I’ve read by the author.

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

 

Five-star review of Long Time to Die by Robert Kidera book 5 in the Gabe McKenna series

 The series ends on a high note, or perhaps I should say, satisfying note after an exciting story. Gabe is in a witness protection program from the FBI in Arizona when this page-turner starts. The action takes place on a train to Chicago, in Albuquerque, in El Paso and in southern New Mexico not far from Las Cruces and features many of the characters of previous stories, including his daughter and grandson. He’s still dealing with the cartel and needs help, but in return he provides important intel to the FBI. Now that this series is over, I’ll miss it and the locales I’m familiar with. Mostly, I’ll miss the characters.

Tuesday book reviews on Thursday

 

Five-star review of After by Morris Gleitzman

 The fourth book in the series returns to 1945 to fill in some of Felix’s story. His distinctive ‘voice’ pulled me through this sometimes-harrowing story. He’s not as naïve as in the earlier stories, but he still makes childish assumptions. He finds out that Gabriek has been working with a group of partisans against the Nazis in the area. They give Felix the job as assistant to Dr. Zajak, his introduction to medicine, and in particular, surgery. He works with the partisans, but after an attack on the camp, he finds and helps six kids in a nearby town after it’s bombed. The remaining series of events show his emotional growth as well as the many things he’s learned. A very quick, smooth read that’s perfect for everyone.

Tuesday Book Reviews on Wednesday

 

Four-star review of The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

This world is fascinating, including the history, but the characters not so much. I like the way Perrin’s character has developed, but Mat is usually just a cipher and Rand is becoming annoying. As for the women, each one is inconsistent. I still like a few of the less major characters including Loial and Thom. This book was long and bogged down in parts. It was the least enjoyable of the series so far. With the characters spread out all over the map, this seemed like several different stories that jumped from one to another every few chapters. I lost track of most of the minor characters. It showed me how not to do a novel with several storylines and groups of characters. I still want to see how all this plays out, but there are so many more books in the series, and most are about as long. I probably won’t read another for a while, making it more difficult to remember who the cast of thousands are.

Tuesday Book Reviews

 

Three-star review of Last Chance for Murder by Estelle Richards

Despite the predictable plot and murder solution, I enjoyed the characters in the first book of a cozy murder mystery series. Nothing memorable, though.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD: Lisa Chance returns to her Arizona hometown after not making it as an actress in Hollywood and after her high school sweetheart cheated on her. It doesn’t take long for her to decide that what makes her happy is brewing coffee, so she’s determined to open a café – in the same old mansion where she was caught trespassing as a kid. And then the man she buys it from is found dead – by her. She has two love interests, a feuding mother and aunt, and a very pregnant feral cat to deal with. A nice change from the other books I’ve been reading.

Tuesday Book Review

 

Four-star review of Mindscape, book 2 of New Frontiers by Jasper T. Scott

 Like Excelsior, book 1 of the series, this story focuses on Alexander and his wife, but also the Mindscape, where everyone spends their free time to the extent that many work as little as possible and others not at all. Other stories have had similar settings. There could have been more differences between the real world and that of the Mindscape because I sometimes, along with Alex, wondered whether he was awake or not. Ben (or Benevolence), who was introduced in the first book, runs things now and decides who needs rehabilitation in the Mindscape, so it’s not just a place to go for fun and to fulfill your dreams. Alex and Caty’s son plays a part in the story too. There are a few twists and turns at the end of the book to lead into the third book of the series.

Tuesday Book Review

Five-star review of Now by Morris Gleitzman

 Felix’s eleven-year-old granddaughter (also named Zelda) tells the story of the time her doctor parents left her with him (now 80-years-old) in Australia while they worked for Médecins sans Frontières in Africa. There are bullies and a dog and brush fires involved, but it’s Zelda’s voice, the assumptions she makes – so like her grandfather did when he was ten – and her self-doubts that make this book at least as good as Once and Then. A quick read and the kind of thin book to take on vacation. You don’t have to have read the first two books, as Gleitzman’s references to what happened in them are very clear. There are three more books in the series to intersperse with much longer books. Not just for middle-graders. 

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

 

Four-star review of Girl from Nowhere by James Maxwell 

This is the first book in the Firewall Trilogy. Maxwell has built a fantastical world for this trilogy, filled with humans and other strange animals. Taimin’s parents are killed, and he’s injured to start his adventure. Raised by his aunt, he develops survival skills, which of course he needs later in the story. Much of what happens is predictable for this kind of story and some is contrived. I could have used a map to understand the relationship among the firewall, the wastes, the city, etc., and how big it all is. I am curious to see what happens in the next part, including what they find.

Tuesday Book Review - Late again

Four-star review of Fool Me Once by Harlan Corben

 

This was definitely a page-turner. A returning special-ops pilot witnesses the death of her husband and investigates his death and that of her sister (and a few other people). Assorted men help her. She’s suffering from PTSD, but that doesn’t explain some of the moves she makes. Few of the characters are fleshed out into believable people. The ending was more of a “What the…?” as an unsatisfying twist and I felt the final chapter about twenty-five years later from a different POV was added because the reveal was not reader-friendly. Still, I had a hard time putting the book down when I was reading it. 

Tuesday Book Reviews on Thursday

 Since I missed last week, here are two reviews

Four-star review of Excelsior, book one of New Frontiers by Jasper T. Scott

 Interesting first book for a series. This one takes place in the 2790s at a time when the world is divided into East, governed by the Confederacy, and West, where the Alliance calls the shots. Alexander and his wife live in the West and have traveled North to escape poverty but also to receive injections to be immortal and have perfect looks. To do this, he had to join the Alliance navy. At the start of the story, he is captain of a spaceship with a mission to go through a wormhole and determine if the planet, Wonderland, on the other side would be a good new home for Earth humans. The foreshadowing through the early parts of the book tended to give away what would happen later in the book. Still, this was an interesting story with good characters. The bits about time dilution that would mean a trip that took five months would translate to years on Earth were quite believable. I’ve enjoyed Scott’s books before, and although this wasn’t the best, it was still a quick and good read.

 

 

Four-star review of What Child is This by Rhys Bowen

 A short, quick read, really a long short story. Sweet and seasonal, it tells of a couple, Maggie and Jack, bombed out of their home on Christmas Eve in 1940, who find an abandoned child in an abandoned house in another part of London. The setup to enable them to continue to live with the child is a little too coincidental. Still, the characters are engaging, and the story gives a historically accurate picture of what citizens of London had to endure during the WWII bombings softened by the kindness of strangers. I hadn’t expected such a heart-warming story since Rhys Bowen usually writes mysteries.

Tuesday Book Reviews

 

Five-star review of Then by Morris Gleitzman

 

The story of Felix and his six-year-old friend Zelda continues in this novella, only now they’re calling themselves Wilhelm and Violetta (after the characters in the Richmal Crompton books they both love). He’ll do anything he can to protect Zelda. A woman named Genia takes them in and tells everyone they’re her orphaned niece and nephew. Felix is now more aware of what’s happening all around him, but still makes naïve assumptions about people’s motivations. He’s growing up and it’s reflected in his voice. The ending of this book might be hard for younger readers but it’s an important book for pre-teens to read. On to the next story in the series.

Tuesday Book Reviews

 

Three-star review of Gerta by Kateřina Tučková translated by Veronique Firkosny

 

Could not finish. This story about a half-German, half-Czech woman in Brno, Czechoslovakia trying to survive during and after WWII was too harrowing for me to continue reading. The lack of hope was the greatest hindrance to finishing the story. I recognized the writing is excellent but even though I generally enjoy books that touch me emotionally, I didn’t enjoy the emotions this brought out. 

Tuesday Book Review

 

Five-star review of Once by Morris Gleitzman

This is a sad story but also a funny one because it’s told from the naïve viewpoint of ten-year-old Felix, the son of Jewish bookstore owners in Poland who was left in a Catholic orphanage three years and eight months before. He interprets all that’s going on around him in terms of his life with his parents and is desperate to get back to them. His voice is one of the strong points of the book. It’s 1942 and he doesn’t understand why three men in suits come to the orphanage and burn books. His descriptions of everything that happens to him is so poignant, because we don’t have to be told what’s really happening. This is a wonderful book for pre-teens and younger teens. Highly recommended for everyone. I’m eager to read the sequel.

Tuesday Book Review

 

Five-star review of The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia, translated by Simon Bruni

 

A slow, beautifully written story about two boys growing up in northern Mexico between 1910 and 1920, during civil war, a world war, changes in major crops and the Spanish flu. From the moment Simonopio is found as an infant with a deformed mouth and bees lighting all over him, to his incorporation in the Morales-Cortes family, to the birth of Fernando Jr. several years later and Simonopio’s efforts to teach him all he knew, to the tragedy on Fernando Jr.’s birthday, we see how Simonopio and his bees helped his adoptive family. The lyricism of the translation must reflect on the original Spanish magical realism. The story is told from multiple viewpoints but ultimately from that of Fernando Jr.  

Tuesday Book Review

 

Five-star review for The Light from Far Below by Simon Williams

 

In the sequel to Summer’s Dark Waters, Joe and Amber are separated to protect them from the Order. Joe’s new friend Dean is a son of a member of the Order and inadvertently gives away Joe’s location. Meanwhile, Amber and her dad are found and separated. The kids travel through the Nothingness separately and find themselves in a maze controlled by the Order. Aimed at middle-grade and older readers, this is a great series to introduce kids to darker science fiction and fantasy. The writing is very good and is illustrated by drawings.

 

Four-star review of Legend by Marie Lu

 

A fast-paced, quick read about two fifteen-year-olds from different sides of a future Los Angeles. The Republic is in charge in the area and rules with an iron hand. June is a soldier for the Republic and, if you can believe a fifteen-year-old can be one, the most wanted criminal. In the belief Day killed her brother, June sets out to find him, and he finds her. Yes, it’s one of those kinds of stories. Trite at times and containing characters drawn with broad strokes, it was an enjoyable, easy read. I’ll probably wait until I’ve made a sizable dent in my TBR pile before I read the sequel, but I do what to learn what Day, June and the others do next.

Five-star review of Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey

 

In this continuation of the Expanse saga, Earth is trying to recover from the militarized meteors the Free Navy under the leadership of Marcos Inaros bombarded it with, Mars from the loss of people and ships, and factions of the Belt from being stripped by the Free Navy. Medina Station and the gates have been closed to new colony ships. And the Roci crew plus Bobbie and Clarissa can’t stay out of the action. Told from different viewpoints, the story increases in intensity from beginning to end. Telling it this way helps to emphasize how each of the sides feels, that they each have their concerns for the future. The continuing war between all the sides is central with a handful of people making efforts to create peaceful alliances including Avasarala and Michio Pa. I enjoyed this as much as all the books in the series. 

 Five star review of Uprooted by Naomi Novik

This fantasy showed me why Naomi Novik is so beloved by fans of the genre. Her lush descriptions accompany Agnieszka on her transformation from clumsy village girl to respected spell-weaver. The setting in a land similar to Poland touched something inside me. It’s based in part on the Polish fairytale about Baba Yaga, but it’s an enchanting fairytale in itself. Tension never let up, whether it was between Nieszka and the Dragon, between two armies or between the humans and the Wood. Through it all, the themes of family and friendship shine through. I particularly loved the early scenes where she first learned magical spells, and it was magical when she and the Dragon intertwined their spells.

The Silk Thief

 Cover Reveal for Claire Buss's latest Roshaven novels:

The release date for the novel is June 4th, 2021

Here's a link: mybook.to/SilkThief 

This is the next story about thief-catcher Ned Spinks and Jenni the sprite.

Special Edition Review

Five-star review of Dragon Mage by M. L. Spencer

available tomorrow 1/8/2021

M.L. Spencer’s latest book follows the journey of Aram Raythe, a bullied boy we might consider an Asperger’s savant, from the seaside village home through several defining moments to his being declared a Champion. His obsession with knots leads to skills that help him in that journey. His boyhood friend, Markus, is in and out of his life and finally in again. Ms. Spencer has created two fascinating worlds, the one above and the one below. Both contain sorcerers, but only the world below is filled with dragons and dragon-riders. The descriptions are excellent. The characters are believable. Aram’s arc, especially, is exceptional. This is very different from Spencer’s previous books but even better written and full of the details that make a story memorable.