Reading Fanatic Reviews
General Mysteries & SuspenseBulwark by Brit Lunden
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Bulwark*
Creepy Tale Defies Categorization
The fictional town of Bulwark, Georgia, is a town of secrets and mysteries. When this book opens, sheriff Clay is investigating a strange, large puggle that has a car trapped inside it. Soon, we meet other residents of the town, as well as injured newcomers who claim their children were stolen by a witch who lives in a gingerbread house on a street that Clay has never heard of. Taking the couple to the ED, Clay meets his estranged wife, Jenna, who is a nurse there; they are divorcing due to struggling with the disappearance of their daughter but haven’t signed the papers yet to make it official.
What’s going on in this small town? What other strange things will the sheriff find? Who will die? Who is in danger? What will happen with Clay and Jenna?
To me, this book has an almost Twilight Zone or Twin Peaks feel to it. If you decide to read this book, you can choose to go into it knowing that little will make sense for quite a while. If you can let go and allow that to happen, you might enjoy the ride because this book does take you to strange places.
On the book review site where I downloaded the ARC for this book, it was listed as a cozy mystery, a paranormal romance, and a small-town romance. The cover says paranormal thriller. I can see where the author would have a hard time pinning down the specific genre or genres of this book. I would say there are paranormal aspects, romantic aspect, but I wouldn’t call it a paranormal romance as that suggests to me that, say, a witch and/or shifter love story is happening. That’s not what happens here. The book is super slow burn until you get to the end, so I wouldn’t quite call it a thriller either. There’s definitely an element of the gothic here as well with the creepy, hidden mansion. It’s definitely not a cozy as it is far too dark for that. Although it takes place in a small town, I wouldn’t call it a “small-town romance” either. Maybe call it paranormal suspense with romantic aspects, but even that might not be wholly accurate as the paranormal elements weren’t clear until later in the book.
I am a registered nurse and have worked night shift in the hospital. There are definitely some medical and nursing errors in the book, but they most likely would not disturb anyone who is not a medical or nursing professional.
In a fun twist, the book has two alternate endings for the reader to enjoy and choose from.
Bleak December by Rachael Rawlings
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Bleak December*
Letter Raises More Questions Than It Answers
After a trip to the graveyard and settling in with Ramsey, Lenore receives a letter from her father that raises many questions about their family. Lenore wants answers, so she and Ramsey hunt for the person who should know.
What are the mysteries hiding in Lenore’s family closet? Will she and Ramsey be put in danger as they search for the truth?
This book is written in the first-person past. A great danger with this point of view is for there to be long, uninterrupted passages of straight narration of the protagonist’s inner thoughts as well as descriptions of what they see. Unfortunately, this book had an excess of narrative passages, making the book tedious to read at times.
Other than that, it was an enjoyable story.
Fianna’s Awakening by Ron C. Nieto
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
Fianna's Reawakening*
Is the Spear of Lugh Real in Modern Times?
Aisling is a modern-day fiann warrior. She protects a territory in Dublin, Ireland. An item has turned up that is to be auctioned off that may be the mythical Spear of Lugh. If it is, she needs to get her hands on it before anybody else does. Ronan is a professor of ancient history and is an expert in Celtic studies at Trinity College, and Aisling wants him to consult with her on this to determine the spear’s authenticity. Ronan, the professor, has his own desire and need for the spear if it is authentic.
Is the item the mythical Spear of Lugh? If it is, who will succeed in obtaining it, Aisling or Ronan? Why does Ronan need this spear?
What an incredibly action-packed, fun read! The book starts with a bang, where Aisling finds herself stalked and attacked on a dark Dublin street. The girl has got some mad fighting skills! It’s not easy to write a realistic and imaginable action scene, but this author pulled it off. While the book did slow down after the initial scene, at times it revved up again. Aisling is a fascinating protagonist. Even though she has strength, speed, and skill, she is not well regarded within her warrior group buy some. But still, she persists. She can be fearsome when she wants to be. I love the interaction between her and Ronan, first when they are trying to feel each other out and then as they work together.
I loved how this story was grounded deeply in the mythology of Ireland, bringing it into the present day. I also appreciated that this book was well edited. I’ve read some books lately that have had more than the usual amount of problems with grammar, punctuation, and usage. What a delight to read a book that correctly used commas and had no significant grammatical errors. It allowed me to simply enjoy the story.
If you like the fast-paced contemporary urban fantasy that’s based in mythology and heroic tales, you might enjoy this book.
The Minotaur’s Kiss by Erin St. Charles
Available at Amazon, Kobo, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
The Minotaur's Kiss*
Gods, Shifters, Latents, Magical Creatures … Oh, My!
In this complex world, alien gods use human concubines to procreate as the god’s genetic lines have been tainted by inbreeding. This has also given rise to a vigorous sex trade. The world is also inhabited by shifters, who may not understand their lineage until puberty. Because of the danger inherent in the sex trade, an army of social workers seeks to protect the industry’s workers. Diana is one of them. At an office event, she hooks up with a minotaur shifter she doesn’t know for a one-night stand. Unfortunately for her, he soon turns out to be her evaluating supervisor during a case that could make her career, smoothing the handover of a concubine. During what should be a routine inspection at one of the brothels, they find a sex worker whose missing. Soon, both she and Mac, the minotaur, are drawn into dangerous unforeseen circumstances, and Diana finds herself relying on him for protection.
Max is having a hard time dealing with Diana. He is usually a one-night-stand kind of guy, but their interactions have him rethinking his stance and even pondering a longer-term relationship. Thrown together on the job, he has a hard time keeping it professional. He’s never had such a sustained attraction to a female, and he’s not quite sure what to do about it.
By the way, this is a very steamy read. Within the first few chapters, we’re giving details about their one-night stand. The author has done a very good job at setting up the complexities of this world of gods, shifters, latents, other magical characters, and humans. She did a good job of creating tension-filled action scenes. Diana is a black woman, and I found it interesting that the author had her question racism as it applied to minotaurs, which was a sneaky way to get readers to think about the harshness of racism in our own world.
If you enjoy steamy stories about gods and shifters in a fast-paced read, this book might be for you.
Rejecting the Rogue by Riley Cole
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Rejecting the Rogue
Delicious Victorian Romantic Suspense
We’re in a slightly fantastical Victorian England. The heroine, Philomena Sweet, has done numerous despicable deeds with her cousins at the insistence of her father. She is now determined to make restitution, one case at a time. Renowned for her safe-cracking skills, she now uses them for good and not for evil.
A client comes to the group, asking for help to retrieve a journal that contains many secrets that could be damaging and is now being held for potential future use as blackmail. This is precisely the type of work that the Restitution League does.
Unbeknownst to the group, another one of London’s underbelly is being asked to steal this journal. None other than Spencer Crane, master jewel thief and Philomena’s former betrothed whom she caught in flagrante delicto, has also been charged to retrieve this by a former associate who threatens both Philomena and Spencer’s sister if he refuses to do the job.
What happens when these two cross paths? Will sparks other than those caused by anger result? Will Philomena and her group be able to help the client?
This book was well written. While there is more than one narrator, I love the section from Philomena’s perspective. She comes across as a lady with a jaded but hopeful, slightly snarky attitude, and it is delicious to read. The book has an edgy yet humorous, not-quite-real vibe to it.
The Foreign Desk by Alexander Clifford
The Foreign Desk
Gentlemanly Wit…But Not a Lot of Substance
I’m not quite sure how to categorize this book; it has elements of mystery, suspense, crime…but has the feel of a stream-of-consciousness buddy road trip. The tone is meant to be funny…and it is at the beginning with this rather droll 1st person narrator but doesn’t quite sustain through the novel. It is definitely meant to take place in the past, as the journalist protagonist works on a typewriter and the newsroom is smoke filled (and lots of legroom in a plane!), yet anachronistic things like a mention of snowboarding sneak in. The plot meanders…first the protagnist is on the hunt for a weather machine for his next story and then gets accused of murder that wasn’t really hinted at as a possibility.
The novel also suffered from lack of copyediting…or even proofreading. Inconsistent formatting (sometimes letters/articles are italicized, sometimes not), lack of or wrong punctuation (sometimes no period at ends of sentences), and odd style (starting a piece of dialog with a numeral, not a written-out number) sometimes made this a hard read. I downgraded the Amazon and Goodreads reviews by 1 star because of these issues.
If you like to read journalistic mystery that is written with humor and don’t mind that there isn’t much substance to it, you might enjoy this quick-read book.
I received an advance review copy for free, but it is currently available at Amazon for free.
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