Engaging The Heiress by Juli D. Revezzo

Engaging The Heiress
by Juli D. Revezzo

Published: 2020
Publisher: self
Genre: Romance, Historical, England
Paperback: 305
Rating: 3
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Camden Girls series:
Courting the Stationmaster’s Daughter
Engaging The Heiress

First sentence(s):
"What are your plans for the Season, Miss Camden?"

Edwin Hetherington needs a fiancée, not a wife.

Years ago, his Irish family lost everything to an unscrupulous landowner--including the family title. Now, the elderly scalawag offers to make amends if Edwin weds Miss Jera Camden. As far as Jera is concerned, so long as she manages to avoid marriage to a certain Scotsman, the bluestocking is delighted to pose as Edwin's blushing bride-to-be.

Can Edwin and Jera dupe the old codger into honoring his promise before the wedding date arrives... or will their clever scheme result in wedded disaster?

My two-bits:

Interesting to see how the rumor mill nudges and propels this couple's relationship forward.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of author

Stolen Obsession by Marlene M. Bell

Stolen Obsession
by Marlene M. Bell

Published: 2018
Publisher: Ewephoric Publishing
Genre: Mystery, Romance, Suspense
Paperback: 294
Rating: 3
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Website

Annalisse series:
Stolen Obsession
Spent Identity

First sentence(s):
A ground fog shrouded investigators while they unearthed her roommate from the black dirt of a farmer's field.

People die, but legends live on.

New York antiquities appraiser Annalisse Drury recently lost her best friend to murder. The killer’s identity may be linked to her friend’s expensive missing bracelet—a 500-year-old artifact that carries an ancient curse, one that unleashes evil upon any who dare wear the jewelry created for the Persian royal family.

Weeks later, Annalisse sees a matching necklace at a Manhattan gallery opening. She begs the owner to destroy the cursed piece, but her pleas fall on deaf ears—despite the unnatural death that occurs during the opening. With two victims linked to the jewelry, Annalisse is certain she must act.

Desperate, Annalisse enlists the gallery owner’s son to help—even though she’s afraid he’ll break her heart. Wealthy and devastatingly handsome, with a string of bereft women in his wake, Greek playboy Alec Zavos dismisses Annalisse’s concerns—until his parents are ripped from the Zavos family yacht during their ocean voyage near Crete.

Annalisse and Alec race across two oceans to save his mother, feared dead or kidnapped. When the killer changes tactics and goes after Alec behind Annalisse’s back, can her plan to rescue Alec’s mother save them all?

My two-bits:

Busy with many players in this story of mystery, thriller, adventure, travel, and steamy romance.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of author

* part of Summertime time (schedule)

The Sweeney Sisters by Lian Dolan

The Sweeney Sisters
by Lian Dolan

Just released: April 28, 2020
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Women's Fiction
Hardback: 304
Rating: 3
Goodreads
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First sentence(s):
"Does this come in teal?"

Maggie, Eliza, and Tricia Sweeney grew up as a happy threesome in the idyllic seaside town of Southport, Connecticut. But their mother’s death from cancer fifteen years ago tarnished their golden-hued memories, and the sisters drifted apart. Their one touchstone is their father, Bill Sweeney, an internationally famous literary lion and college professor universally adored by critics, publishers, and book lovers. When Bill dies unexpectedly one cool June night, his shell-shocked daughters return to their childhood home. They aren’t quite sure what the future holds without their larger-than-life father, but they do know how to throw an Irish wake to honor a man of his stature.

But as guests pay their respects and reminisce, one stranger, emboldened by whiskey, has crashed the party. It turns out that she too is a Sweeney sister.

When Washington, DC based journalist Serena Tucker had her DNA tested on a whim a few weeks earlier, she learned she had a 50% genetic match with a childhood neighbor—Maggie Sweeney of Southport, Connecticut. It seems Serena’s chilly WASP mother, Birdie, had a history with Bill Sweeney—one that has remained totally secret until now.

Once the shock wears off, questions abound. What does this mean for William’s literary legacy? Where is the unfinished memoir he’s stashed away, and what will it reveal? And how will a fourth Sweeney sister—a blond among redheads—fit into their story?

My two-bits:

The premise of the story and mystery of the father were draws for me. But it took me awhile to get into. Mostly because I did not connect with any of the characters - kinda unlikable for various reasons.

The story picks up towards the last third of the book when all is revealed. And, the characters start to change their dispositions and relations towards each other.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of publisher

Kojiki by Keith Yatsuhashi

Kojiki
by Keith Yatsuhashi

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Published: 2016
Publisher: Angry Robot
Genre: Fantasy, SciFi, Japan
Paperback pages: 448
Rating: 3

Kojiki series:
Kojiki
Kokoro

First sentence(s):
Tokyo, Japan
Keiko Yamada lifted her battered thirty-five millimeter camera and held her breath.

Every civilization has its myths. Only one is true.

When eighteen year old Keiko Yamada’s father dies unexpectedly, he leaves behind a one way ticket to Japan, an unintelligible death poem about powerful Japanese spirits and their gigantic, beast-like Guardians, and the cryptic words: “Go to Japan in my place. Find the Gate. My camera will show you the way.”

Alone and afraid, Keiko travels to Tokyo, determined to fulfil her father’s dying wish. There, beneath glittering neon signs, her father’s death poem comes to life. Ancient spirits spring from the shadows. Chaos envelops the city, and as Keiko flees its burning streets, her guide, the beautiful Yui Akiko, makes a stunning confession – that she, Yui, is one of a handful of spirits left behind to defend the world against the most powerful among them: a once noble spirit now insane. Keiko must decide if she will honour her father’s heritage and take her rightful place among the gods.

My two-bits:
Female heroines, love triangle, progeny.
And, there be dragons.

~*~
* monthly theme: SciFi, Supper, Love, Sex and Marriage

Death in Brittany by Jean-Luc Bannalec

Death in Brittany
by Jean-Luc Bannalec
narrated by Jean Brassard

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Published: 2015
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Genre: Mystery, France
Hardback: 320
Rating: 3

Brittany Mystery series:
Death in Brittany
Murder on Brittany Shores
The Fleur de Sel Murders
The Missing Corpse
The Killing Tide
books 6-8 not yet translated

First sentence(s):
The seventh of July was a magnificent summer's day, one of those majestic Atlantic days that always lifted Commissaire Dupin's spirits.

Commissaire Georges Dupin, a Parisian-born caffeine junkie recently relocated from the glamour of Paris to the remote (if picturesque) Breton coast, is not happy when he is dragged from his morning croissant and coffee to the scene of a curious murder. The local village of Pont-Aven-a sleepy community by the sea where everyone knows one other and nothing much seems to happen-is in shock. The legendary ninety-one-year-old hotelier Pierre-Louis Pennec, owner of the Central Hotel, has been found dead.

A picture-perfect seaside village which played host to Gaugin in the 19th century, Pont-Aven is at the height of its tourist season and is immediately thrown into uproar. Dupin and his team identify five principal suspects, including a rising political star, a longtime friend of the victim, and a wealthy art historian. An obstinate detective whose unconventional methods include good food, good wine, and taking in plenty of sea air, Dupin finds his case further complicated when ongoing incidents compound the mystery. As Dupin delves further into the lives of the victim and the suspects, he uncovers a web of secrecy and silence that belies the village's quaint image. A delectable read, Death in Brittany by Jean-Luc Bannalec transports readers to the French coast where you can practically smell the sea air and taste the perfectly cooked steak frites in an expertly crafted, page-turning mystery.

My two-bits:

While I liked the setting and it was presented well, I could not get into the story or the characters.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Books, Inc. Foreign Intrigue Book Club (here)

The Things She's Seen by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina

The Things She's Seen
by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina

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Just released: May 14, 2019
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Genre: Mystery, YA, Australia
Hardcover: 208
Rating: 3

Nothing's been the same for Beth Teller since the day she died.

Her dad is drowning in grief. He's also the only one who has been able to see and hear her since the accident. But now she's got a mystery to solve, a mystery that will hopefully remind her detective father that he is still alive, that there is a life after Beth that is still worth living.

Who is Isobel Catching, and why is she able to see Beth, too? What is her connection to the crime Beth's father has been sent to investigate--a gruesome fire at a home for troubled youth that left an unidentifiable body behind? What happened to the people who haven't been seen since the fire?

As Beth and her father unravel the mystery, they find a shocking and heartbreaking story lurking beneath the surface of a small town, and a friendship that lasts beyond one life and into another...

My two-bits:

This story is a tale of a journey through grief that blends mystery and magical realism in the present day.

I appreciated the end notes as it explained the relation to folklore.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of publisher

An Improbable Pairing by Gary Dickson

An Improbable Pairing
by Gary Dickson

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Published: January 2019
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Genre: Historical, Romance, Travel, France, Switzerland
Paperback: 240
Rating: 3

First sentence(s):
How different Scott's life would have been had he been attracted to the young girl, the one more his age, who was standing at the railing of the ship, rather than her companion, the beautiful woman wearing a soft gray suite, her hair blond and straight, a cashmere scarf of a crystalline blue that matched her aquamarine eyes draped casually across her shoulders.

It began as a simple flirtation ...

In September of 1963, Scott Stoddard, an American graduate student, is traveling to Switzerland, when he meets the Countess de Rovere, a French divorcee; he is smitten, and she is intrigued. What begins as a little coquetry soon becomes a serious love affair, much to the consternation of the Countess’s ex-husband and mother, not to mention the Countess’s friends of European high society. A meeting of equals poses problems enough, but what about one between two people who seem to have so many differences? And when a man of traditional attitudes couples with an independent and self-confident woman, something’s got to give. It won’t be the countess. As their liaison transcends an affair that cannot be dismissed, they all agree that something must be done.

An Improbable Pairing is a historical romance that chronicles the enduring themes of a young man’s coming of age and the rebellious love of the mismatched. This pas de deux, set in the golden years of 1960s Paris, Geneva, Gstaad, and Cannes, provides an insider’s peek into the worlds of haute couture, three-star gourmet restaurants, and lavish hotel suites—the domains of rank and privilege. But society’s privileged resist when an interloper threatens to upset their cozy structure.

My two-bits:

This love affair with royalty was interesting to follow as it is portrayed from a young man's point of view.

The tediousness of social obligations and responsibilities makes this romance rocky which made the reading frustrating at times.

I liked the scenes of hobnobbing at the Cannes film festival as that is a place I want to visit in the near future.

Got me thinking of the reality of fairytale royalty romances.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of author

You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

You Think It, I'll Say It
by Curtis Sittenfeld

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Published: April 2018
Publisher: Random House
Genre: Short Stories, Women's Fiction
Hardback: 240
Rating: 3

A suburban mother of two fantasizes about the downfall of an old friend whose wholesome lifestyle empire may or may not be built on a lie. A high-powered lawyer honeymooning with her husband is caught off guard by the appearance of the girl who tormented her in high school. A shy Ivy League student learns the truth about a classmate’s seemingly enviable life.

Curtis Sittenfeld has established a reputation as a sharp chronicler of the modern age who humanizes her subjects even as she skewers them. Now, with this first collection of short fiction, her “astonishing gift for creating characters that take up residence in readers’ heads” (The Washington Post) is showcased like never before. Throughout the ten stories in You Think It, I’ll Say It, Sittenfeld upends assumptions about class, relationships, and gender roles in a nation that feels both adrift and viscerally divided.

With moving insight and uncanny precision, Curtis Sittenfeld pinpoints the questionable decisions, missed connections, and sometimes extraordinary coincidences that make up a life. Indeed, she writes what we’re all thinking—if only we could express it with the wit of a master satirist, the storytelling gifts of an old-fashioned raconteur, and the vision of an American original.

My two-bits:

Most of the contemporary stories in this collection had female protagonists with a slightly dark edge.

~*~
* part of Reese Witherspoon's Book Club (here)

Fever Dreams by Samanta Schweblin

Fever Dreams
by Samanta Schweblin
narrated by Megan McDowell

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Published: 2017
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Hardback: 192
Rating: 3

First sentence(s):
They're like worms.

A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a rural hospital clinic. A boy named David sits beside her. She’s not his mother. He's not her child. Together, they tell a haunting story of broken souls, toxins, and the power and desperation of family.

Fever Dream is a nightmare come to life, a ghost story for the real world, a love story and a cautionary tale. One of the freshest new voices to come out of the Spanish language and translated into English for the first time, Samanta Schweblin creates an aura of strange psychological menace and otherworldly reality in this absorbing, unsettling, taut novel.

My two-bits:

Interesting premise, but it did not translate well for me. Maybe reading the print version would make it a bit more clear with what is going on. I did not get the horror or thriller vibe.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Tournament of Books 2018 (here)

Dear Cyborgs by Eugene Lim

Dear Cyborgs
by Eugene Lim
narrated by Feodor Chin

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Published: 2017
Publisher: FSG Originals
Genre: SciFi
Paperback: 176
Rating: 3

First sentence(s):
This is in Ohio.

In a small Midwestern town, two Asian American boys bond over their outcast status and a mutual love of comic books. Meanwhile, in an alternative or perhaps future universe, a team of superheroes ponder modern society during their time off. Between black-ops missions and rescuing hostages, they swap stories of artistic malaise and muse on the seemingly inescapable grip of market economics.

Gleefully toying with the conventions of the novel, Dear Cyborgs weaves together the story of a friendship’s dissolution with a provocative and timely meditation on protest. Through a series of linked monologues, a lively cast of characters explores narratives of resistance―protest art, eco-terrorists, Occupy squatters, pyromaniacal militants―and the extent to which any of these can truly withstand and influence the cold demands of contemporary capitalism. All the while, a mysterious cybernetic book of clairvoyance beckons, and trusted allies start to disappear.

Entwining comic-book villains with cultural critiques, Eugene Lim’s Dear Cyborgs is a fleet-footed literary exploration of power, friendship, and creativity. Ambitious and knowing, it combines detective pulps, subversive philosophy, and Hollywood chase scenes, unfolding like the composites and revelations of a dream.

My two-bits:

This sort of reads likes a set of short stories. I liked parts here and there, but did not really get a sense of the whole of it.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Tournament of Books 2018 (here)

The Snow Job: The Great Game by Jenni Ferchenko

The Snow Job:
The Great Game
by Jenni Ferchenko

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Just released: February 1, 2018
Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Russia
Paperback: 340
Rating: 3

First sentence(s):
There is nothing which you might not hear.

When young associate Katya Kuznetsova loses her job at Lehman Brothers in London, she takes up a new investment banking role in Moscow, Russia. Determined to succeed, Katya finds herself trapped by her lifestyle.

At the same time she tries to prove her self-worth but subconsciously engages in self-punishment, including ever more destructive sex, alcohol and drug abuse.

Eventually, things get out of control, leading to the dreadful consequences Katya is trying to fix, humiltating herself and losing everything she owns; but she finds something, which was always there, she just couldn't see it, something priceless...

PeekAbook:



My two-bits:

I found this to be a convoluted story with shady dealings, financial doings and steamy sex scenes.

The characters were varied, they felt flat which made them unlikable. But there is some character growth which pulled me along.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of book tour

Sarong Party Girls by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

Sarong Party Girls
by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

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Published: 2016
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Chick-lit, South Asia, Singapore
Hardback: 320
Rating: 3

First sentence(s):
Aiyoh, I tell you. If we do nothing, we are confirm getting into bang balls territory.

A brilliant and utterly engaging novel—Emma set in modern Asia—about a young woman’s rise in the glitzy, moneyed city of Singapore, where old traditions clash with heady modern materialism.

On the edge of twenty-seven, Jazzy hatches a plan for her and her best girlfriends: Sher, Imo, and Fann. Before the year is out, these Sarong Party Girls will all have spectacular weddings to rich ang moh—Western expat—husbands, with Chanel babies (the cutest status symbols of all) quickly to follow. Razor-sharp, spunky, and vulgarly brand-obsessed, Jazzy is a determined woman who doesn't lose.

As she fervently pursues her quest to find a white husband, this bombastic yet tenderly vulnerable gold-digger reveals the contentious gender politics and class tensions thrumming beneath the shiny exterior of Singapore’s glamorous nightclubs and busy streets, its grubby wet markets and seedy hawker centers. Moving through her colorful, stratified world, she realizes she cannot ignore the troubling incongruity of new money and old-world attitudes which threaten to crush her dreams. Desperate to move up in Asia’s financial and international capital, will Jazzy and her friends succeed?

Vividly told in Singlish—colorful Singaporean English with its distinctive cadence and slang—Sarong Party Girls brilliantly captures the unique voice of this young, striving woman caught between worlds. With remarkable vibrancy and empathy, Cheryl Tan brings not only Jazzy, but her city of Singapore, to dazzling, dizzying life.


My two-bits:

Got a sense of a single gal's world (parties included) in Singapore. Fun way to learn a bit about Singapore and its culture.

Monsterland by Michael Okon

Monsterland
by Michael Okon

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Just released: October 13, 2017
Publisher: Wordfire Press LLC
Genre: YA, Horror, Vampire, Werewolves, Zombies
ebook
Rating: 3

series:
Monsterland
book two - tba

First sentence(s):
The sky was a sparkling, powder blue, mosquitoes droned lazily over the tepid water, frogs croaked messages while they sunbathed on waxy lily pads.

Welcome to Monsterland--the scariest place on Earth.

Wyatt Baldwin's senior year is not going well. His parents divorce, then his dad mysteriously dies. He's not exactly comfortable with his new stepfather, Carter White, either. An ongoing debate with his best friends Melvin and Howard Drucker over which monster is superior has gotten stale. He'd much rather spend his days with beautiful and popular Jade. However, she's dating the brash high-school quarterback Nolan, and Wyatt thinks he doesn't stand a chance.

But everything changes when Wyatt and his friends are invited to attend the grand opening of Monsterland, a groundbreaking theme park where guests can interact with vampires in Vampire Village, be chased by werewolves on the River Run, and walk among the dead in Zombieville.

With real werewolves, vampires and zombies as the main attractions, what could possibly go wrong?

PeekAbook:



My two-bits:

This amusing light horror read captured the amusement park setting with the added element of monsters on the loose. Although I wanted a little more on the why's and how's of it.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of blog tour

The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night

The Crowns of Croswald
by D.E. Night

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Just released: July 21, 2017
Publisher: Stories Untold Press
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade
Paperback: 314
Rating: 3

First sentence(s):
The village, well, it had a lot of secrets. And its secrets need to be kept safe. So, the town's name was like a key—those who knew the name could find the village. Let's call it The Town.

In Croswald, the only thing more powerful than dark magic is one secret...

For sixteen years Ivy Lovely has been hidden behind an enchanted boundary that separates the mundane from the magical. When Ivy crosses the border, her powers awaken. Curiosity leads her crashing through a series of adventures at the Halls of Ivy, a school where students learn to master their magical blood and the power of Croswald's mysterious gems. When Ivy's magic and her life is threatened by the Dark Queen, she scrambles to unearth her history and save Croswald before the truth is swept away forever.

My two-bits:

This first book in a series is an introduction into a magical world by way of a girl who finds out that she has a bit of magic in her - possibly more than expected (ahem). She learns about the possibilities of her abilities after being enrolled in a magic school.

Came across one fun creature called a "notical" which is a little itty-bitty that like to read.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of publisher

The Vestige by Caroline George

The Vestige
by Caroline George

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Just released: June 30, 2017
Publisher: Evernight Teen
Genre: Dystopia, YA
ebook
Rating: 3

First sentence(s):
"The loneliest moment in someone's life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly."

Zombie sighting:
"Jack," he says and shuts his book—some obscure zombie novel.
-chapter 1

Choose to see the unseen...

Julie Stryker has spent her life in the scenic streets of Charleston, South Carolina, bicycling to the local college, working at a coffeehouse, watching her family fall apart and back together. She has plans, dreams—all of which seem out of reach. Then she meets a handsome stranger at work, and she believes her life is on the brink of a much needed change. But after a tragic accident, Julie is whisked away from the only home she’s ever known and confronted with a life-altering secret: The end of the world has already occurred and a portion of humankind has been kept oblivious.

Tossed into a hidden world of deception, Julie must confront the truth within herself and reveal the government’s layers before the end of the world becomes a permanent reality.

1st Layer: What you can see.
2nd Layer: What you know is real.
3rd Layer: What you can neither see nor know is real.

My two-bits:

Coming of age and some romance during the perils of a world that has transitioned into a dystopia setting.

The experience of being part of a military unit with missions into enemy territories provide pieces to what has become of this world.

I liked the epigraphs which were mostly from well-known dystopia related books.


~*~
* review copy courtesy of author

* part of Dystopia Challenge (here)

The Darkest Promise by Gena Showalter

The Darkest Promise
by Gena Showalter

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Just released: June 13, 2017
Publisher: HQN Books
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Hardback: 432
Rating: 3

Lords of the Underworld series:
The Darkest Fire (bonus story)
The Darkest Night-- Maddox (Violence)
The Darkest Kiss -- Lucien (Death)
The Darkest Pleasure -- Reyes (Pain)
*The Darkest Prison -- Atlas and Nike (bonus story)
The Darkest Whisper -- Sabin (Doubt)
The Darkest Angel found in the anthology Heart of Darkness -- Lysander and Bianka
Into the Dark-- a compendium of The Darkest Fire and The Darkest Prison printed inside, plus the original The Darkest Facts
The Darkest Passion -- Aeron (Wrath)
The Darkest Lie -- Gideon (Lies)
The Darkest Secret -- Amun (Secrets)
The Darkest Surrender -- Strider (Defeat)
The Darkest Seduction -- Paris (Promiscuity)
The Darkest Craving -- Kane (Disaster)
The Darkest Touch -- Torin (Disease)
The Darkest Torment -- Baden (Distrust)
The Darkest Promise -- Cameo (Misery)

First sentence(s):
Like Alice on her way to Wonderland, Cameo, host to the demon of Misery, tumbled end over end down a long, dark cavern.

Possessed by the demon of Misery, Cameo isn't allowed to experience joy. If she dares, her memory is wiped clean. With no other recourse, she sneaks into a land more fantastical than any fairy tale, determined to find the one man with the key to her redemption.

Lazarus the Cruel and Unusual rules his kingdom with a single unwavering focus: to build his army and annihilate his enemies. Nothing distracts him—until Cameo. He is relentless in his quest to make her smile…and seduce her into his bed.

As dark forces conspire against them, threatening to destroy the fragile bond they've forged, the once-calm Lazarus grows crazed. Every heart-stopping kiss and wicked touch causes Cameo to teeter on the brink of happiness. But if she falls, she risks forgetting him forever…

My two-bits:

The story takes you into the underworld with its own set of beings wielding various powers.

The romance moves slowly forward with lots of back and forth of "should i / should i not" vibes which kind of got frustrating.

Of course being otherworldly creatures, their individual set of problems aside from the usual stirrings of lust and love come into play for much conflict and difficulties for the couple.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of tour

Lady of the Tarot by Juli D. Revezzo

Lady of the Tarot by Juli D. Revezzo
by Juli D. Revezzo
narrated by Christina Marie Morris

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Just released: May 5, 2017
Publisher: Raven Queen Publications
Genre: Historical, Gothic, Paranormal, England
audiobook
Rating: 3

Reign of Tarot series:
House of Cards
Lady of the Tarot

First sentence(s):
September 6, 1793
The morning dew sent a refreshing scent up from the roses, and Emilie tucked the Girandon propaganda pamphlet under her arm, seeking the gazebo. A little time to read before she made afternoon calls.

WHAT THE CARDS FORETELL MAY BE REAL, AFTER ALL

1793: Having escaped the Reign of Terror, Emilie Maigny took refuge in England, trying to come to grips with the life and loss she left behind. When her brother, Sinjon, returns, a terrifying evil swoops down upon her. Nightmares plague her now, providing strange clues ... but to what?

Scottish-born Linton Morrison spent his entire life in luxury, whiling away the hours in intense study of the tarot and the cards' hidden meanings, but until he met the lovely Emilie Maigny, he would never have guessed how important his study might be--to his life and Emilie's survival when terrible evil strikes.

A Cypher is all Emilie needs, but what is it? Is Linton the key? He may charm her heart--and he may be her only salvation.

My two-bits:

The audio version brings a fun color to this story with the french and british accents interspersed throughout.

Although the protagonist, Emilie, escapes the Reign of Terror, she enters another kind of dark world that requires cautious navigating.

A love triangle and tarot readings certainly creates action and adventure for Emilie.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of author via audible.com

Black Bullet by L.D. Rose

Black Bullet
by L.D. Rose

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Published: 2016
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
ebook
Rating: 3

The Order of the Senary series:
Releasing the Demons
Black Butler
Beautiful Liar - tba in 2017

First sentence(s):
Oh God, the pain.
Being torn limb from limb, cracking down the middle, shattering into pieces, his blood boing in his veins and his organs twisting in this belly. Shards of glass hammered into his eyes, wave after wave of agony crashing over him, and he roared, his howls filling the enclosed space around him.

Zombie sighting:
Blaze chuckled and glanced up at Jon. "Well, Look who it is. The walking dead."
-chapter 4

Fledgling vampire Jonathan Kerr has just met his match.

Not even his past life as a former Marine and FBI agent could prepare him for the battle against the monster inside him, struggling to take hold. After an old nemesis of the Senary surfaces in Brooklyn, unleashing chaos and terror in the battered borough, Jon sets out to take him down. Instead, he ends up with far more than he bargained for when he clashes with the beautiful half-vampire hybrid, Lawan Knight.

After escaping near death and suffering unspeakable horror at the hands of vampires, Lawan trusts no one, regardless of species. In between bouts of drunken stupor, her only goal is to exterminate all those who've wronged her, including every member of Jon's vampire bloodline. But Jon's soulful eyes and quick smile crawls under her skin, transforming her black and white world into a hazy shade of gray.

As the days rapidly grow darker, Jon and Lawan turn to one another, but their inner demons threaten to tear them apart. The only way either of them will survive is if they overcome their greatest fear--

Love.

My two-bits:

This novel continues the main storyline of romance and action in a paranormal world involving mostly vampires, hybrids and leeches.

Characters from the previous novel are spotlighted while others have minor roles in the background.

Along with the usual push and pull of the start of love relationships, the couple here must also deal with the struggles that involve battles with evil beings.

Includes: guns and a fierce cat

~*~
* review copy courtesy of author

Releasing the Demons by L.D. Rose

Releasing the Demons
by L.D. Rose

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Published: 2015
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
ebook
Rating: 3

The Order of the Senary series:
Releasing the Demons
Black Butler
Beautiful Liar - tba in 2017

First sentence(s):
Something scraped the floor.

Blaze Knight has been through hell and back, but the nightmares aren't over yet.

Five years after Blaze was maimed by Cyrus Chimola, a powerful vampire with a penchant for torture, he's still trying to pick up the pieces of his shattered life. As a genetically engineered mercenary with the ability to bend fire to his will and to see in infrared, Blaze's mission is to protect what's left of humanity. When Chimola and his crew return to the Bronx gunning for Blaze's blood, Blaze is forced to face the demons of his past. Hell-bent on revenge, he seeks the help of Valerie Medeiros, an NYPD detective who manages to steal his heart and save his life in more ways than one.

Motivated by her sister's gruesome death, Valerie has made it her life's goal to bury every vampire in the ground where they belong. When she brings in Blaze Knight for suspected murder, she discovers he's not only innocent, he isn't a man at all--he's a half-vampire hybrid working with a band of brothers for the U.S. military. Valerie has a hard time trusting anything with fangs, yet she quickly falls headlong into Blaze's life, a life full of darkness and horror she can't even begin to fathom. The bodies are stacking up, but Valerie can't seem to let go of this hybrid, a beautiful monster filled with pain, rage, and passion unlike anything she's ever known.

In a world where the line between good and evil is blurred, Blaze and Valerie will find danger at every turn, risking everything they've come to know and love, including one another.

My two-bits:

The opening action scenes takes us into a world that includes vampires and other creatures discovered. Some characters had special abilities and powers to spice things up.

While investigating a mystery, a romance begins that leads the protagonist into a darker world.

It was interesting to learn about and be in this world for while.

Steamy scenes included.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of author

The Second Jezebel by Peter Mowbray

The Second Jezebel
by Peter Mowbray

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Just released: January 2017
Publisher: Grosvenor House Publishing
Genre: Historical, Royalty
Paperback: 372 pages
Rating: 3

First sentence(s):
France by the summer of 1572 was a country on the brink of complete collapse.

The wedding between the Princess Marguerite de Valois and Henri King of Navarre was intended to be a celebration that would at last bring peace to the warring Catholics and Huguenots in France.

Instead, it was a precursor for the infamous Massacre of Saint Bartholomew.

By the time the bloodshed had abated, none was seen as guiltier of creating the horrors of that night than the Queen Mother - Catherine de Medici.

Seventeen years later, as Catherine's life hangs in the balance, the mob threatens to drag her body through the streets.

To them she is no longer Queen Mother, merely the second Jezebel in history to be thrown to the dogs.

My two-bits:

While interesting to read historical accounts of what went on with the royalty during the 1500's, this large cast of characters come across flat and mostly unlikable.

The political schemes, dastardly deeds, loveless alliances, etc. play out with little drama which again made for a dry read.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of author