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.