Reading Fanatic Reviews
Books to Add to Your TBR list... or Not!Hey, ya’ll! I’m VERY behind getting my reviews up on the website! I’ve increased the reading and reviewing, leaving less of my leisure time available to update this website. I’ll do weekly posts with links to my reviews at Amazon; you can also check out my Amazon and Goodreads profiles.
By the way, I’m now a top 50 Amazon.com reviewer (#12 currently) and the top 8 US reviewer of all time on Goodreads (and top 9 in the world)… and the #6 US reviewer and #8 in the world in the past year. Cool stuff!
I hope to make updates to this site soon!
No End to Love by Grace Roberts
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
No End to Love*
Good People Try to Love Again
The book opens with a heart-rending scene where Adam loses his wife in a hostage situation. In the years afterward, his guilt at his failure as both a husband and a police officer are soul crushing. He actually retreats to his hometown with his daughter to heal and regroup as he decides how to move on his life. Ellie has inherited her grandparents’ cottage at the beach, and her new neighbor happens to be Adam. Ellie is a preschool teacher, and Adam’s daughter, Sophie, will be one of her students. They both feel an immediate attraction towards one another, but because of their histories, neither is quite ready for a relationship. But a friendship grows as they start to learn more about each other and interact because of Sophie.
Will Adam get over his guilt about his wife? Will he be able to move on to a new relationship, as his wife had pressed him to do in her last moments? Will Ellie’s past with men, which caused the professional problems for her, keep her from allowing a relationship with Adam?
Oh, my gosh! This book is quite an emotional ride from beginning to end. The opening scene is breathtaking and packs an emotional wallop. You can’t help but feel for Adam as he goes through it; the author did a great job making Adam a sympathetic character from the scene. It allows us to understand his struggles in the book to a much greater degree than if she had just told us about his past. I love Adam’s relationships with his mother and his brothers. I enjoy it when stories like this show a loving and supportive family. Too often in novels, families cause strife and conflict. I love it when the family is safe harbor, a soft place to fall. But Adam is now ready to spread his wings and become a bit more independent, and his family is supportive of that, too. They just want him to be happy.
Ellie is such a worthy heroine. Her backstory about how she came to her profession is beautifully rendered; she is genuinely a good and decent person who cares about everyone she meets. She wants to make a difference for her students. She’s the perfect preschool teacher, especially for the little ones who are having troubles in their lives. The two children highlighted in this story are both sweet and adorable in their own ways. Sophie is precocious, verbal, and precious. Poor little Sammy, he’s been through so much in his short life. Even though, of course, this is a fictional account, it is sweet to see how Ellie is so loving and compassionate with these little souls who have known so much tragedy.
The author has a very good sense of pacing and story structure. She has beautifully paired the opening scene with a scene at the end that gives Adam closure about his feelings of inadequacy. It was perfectly done.
I’ll freely admit this book made me ugly cry more than once; but to me, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. If you love heartfelt contemporary romance is a lot of depth and complexity, you might enjoy this book as well.
Shock of Fate by D. L. Armillei
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Shock of Fate*
Girl’s World Not What She Thinks
This book puts you right in the middle of the action immediately, which is always a great way to start a book! Michael Cross, part of an elite group, is out with a rookie doing a little demon hunting. Things go south rather quickly as the newbie puts herself in danger while she believes she is actually protecting an innocent. After this scene with Michael Cross, the book focuses on his fifteen-year-old daughter, Van. She’s celebrating with her friends after the placement ceremony, and after some issues with her boyfriend, she heads home. However, all is not as it should be there. She sneaks around the perimeter of the house and overhears that her father is missing and is believed to have killed some sort of prince. She slips into a ground floor room, her father’s study, and finds a few strange objects, which she takes with her. Most fascinating, perhaps, is a partially charred and singed book full of mysterious writing. The next day, she finds out that she will be going on a special mission for the group that her father works for during her summer break.
Where exactly is this mission? What has happened to her father? Has he really killed someone?
This book was surprising to me in a few ways. I was able to really get into that first scene with the father, the rookie, and the tragedy that followed. So I was surprised that the book took a completely different turn to focus on his teenage daughter, Van. The world of this book is very complex, and the details of it are slowly revealed—both to us as the reader and to Van. The world in which she grew up is so much more than she realized. And she and her father are caught in the maelstrom of what could be a catastrophe for everyone if she doesn’t live up to her destiny. So much was hidden from her growing up. What will it all mean for Van and her future?
Because I read a fair amount of paranormal, regular fantasy, and urban fantasy, I read more than my fair share of YA novels. Often in these books, the teenagers are actually quite mature, more like mini adults. But in this book, Van, Paley, and even Brux are definitely teenagers who don’t yet have the full control of their executive prefrontal cortices. In fact, sometimes the decisions made by the two girls made me just want to give them a firm shake, and say, “Girl, what are you thinking?” they get themselves into so much danger, sometimes unwittingly and sometimes by choice.
Still, the characters in this book, including these teenagers, are well-drawn and multi-dimensional. So much is going on here, both what we can see and what is hinted at under the surface. With great world-building, solid characterization, and a well-paced plot, I found this book to be a compelling read.
Body
The Reaper by Rob Jung
Available at Amazon, Thalia, and Bol.de
The Reaper*
Speculative Fiction about the Disappearance of Miro’s The Reaper
I usually like to start my book reviews with a little tease about the first eighth or quarter of the book plot and characters. This particular book does not lend itself to that kind of a review. It is comprised of two separate parts, one that takes place in the 1930s at the Paris World’s Fair (in part) while the larger second half takes place in 2009 and 2012. A prologue introduces us to the painter Joan Miro as he is finishing up his masterwork The Reaper.
The 1930s portion of the book is firmly set in Paris against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War and the looming world war that is to come. The author meticulously researched both the exhibitions at the World’s Fair and the greater world beyond it. Ernest Hemingway even shows up. The painting mysteriously disappears at the end of the exhibition; this is a historical fact, and the painting is still missing to this day. The 2000 portion of the book revolves around a mother and her estranged son. The son is an artist who makes good reproductions of paintings for use in private homes or businesses. A stranger approaches him with the desire for a reproduction of The Reaper, for which he will pay a large sum. It turns out that this is at his mother’s behest as a way to make amends to her son.
So much goes on in both halves of this book. In the 1930s portion, I can imagine myself in the exhibition hall and other places described. The author pays good attention to the details about these historic places and facts.
Unfortunately, the book felt a little overwritten to me. An excess of adjectives and adverbs cluttered of the work, sometimes giving strange juxtapositions like *vapid feel* when describing a room. I found myself wondering if the book would have been better served by being organized differently. The two halves of the book seem so separate from each other that I wonder if it would have worked better to interleave the two plot lines together, alternating every chapter or small section, like the movie about the Klimt painting, Woman in Gold.
A Captive Heart by Thalia Blake
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
A Captive Heart*
Childhood Betrothal Becomes Love Match
Princess Avenie is mourning the death of her father when her brother informs her that she is soon to leave the kingdom to wed a prince of another land. Apparently, they have been betrothed since they were children, but this is the first she has heard about it. Theoren, the prince, soon learns about this marriage-to-be as well, and he is not too pleased about it, wishing he had some control over who would become, ultimately, his queen.
The book alternates between Avenie’s and Theoren’s perspectives written in the first person. We see their lives as they begin to intertwine and as they separate. These are two people who had no control over whether they would come together, but a bond begins to form slowly. Unfortunately, the prince is taken away soon before the marriage because of issues with another land that he needs to attend to. What will this mean for Avenie and Theoren?
I love the way the book opened with a brief page that sets the scene about what is happening in Rayterre with gravitas. It puts you in the mind of a fantasy setting right away and gets you immersed in the book. Avenie is such a sympathetic character right away. Her brother treats her terribly and relishes doing so. He is a petty, mean-spirited man. But Avenie is resigned to her fate; could it be much worse than what she already knows? But she will be tested more than she realizes, first in her prince’s realm and then farther away as she tries to take charge of her life in a world where princesses aren’t supposed to do that.
I enjoyed this well-written fantasy novel where the characters grew and changed over the course of the story. Avenie’s and Theoren’s concurrent plotlines are intricate. I love how they danced around each other, bringing the characters together, tearing them apart, and then bring them back together, each now having a completely different perspective on themselves and each other through the trials that they had gone through.
A Witchy Bake-Off by Danica Britton
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
A Witchy Bake-Off*
Ghost Helps Solve Her Murder
Grandma Grant is determined to win the Spring Bake-Off in their small town. Her greatest rival is Adele, whom Grandma believes is using shady tactics so she will win. Grandma lets her displeasure be known all around town. So when Adele turns up murdered, Grandma is a suspect. That leaves it up to blank to show that Grandma did not do the deed. Surprisingly, she’s helped by Adele’s ghost! Who murdered Adele?
This book was delightfully well-written. I enjoyed the relationship between the two magical sisters and their magical grandma; it came across as warm and loving despite the limitations of the written word. The writing style was fluid and natural, allowing me to just get into the story and stay there. I love the paranormal elements in this, especially the concept of Adele trying to help solve her own murder, including the motive! Adele’s ghost was a fascinating character as well; she was three dimensional, even if her form was not.
If you enjoy cozy paranormal mysteries, you might find this a very engaging read.
The Viscount’s Mystery by Joyce Alec
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Viscount's Mystery*
Mysterious Viscount and Sibling Pact
Even though this book is called The Viscount’s Mystery, we don’t meet the viscount until after 12% of the book. Instead, we meet Charlotte and her brother. She considers herself a bluestocking who would be content to remain a spinster, but her brother wishes her to marry, and in fact, insists she does so before he weds. She is tired of her brother’s interference, so they make a pact. At the next ball, she will accept dances and discussions with a variety gentleman, and if she is good to her word, he will refrain—going forward—from mentioning her unmarried state and desires for her life. If he fails in this regard, she has the right to pick the girl he will court. She very firmly believes that she will win this. She’s out walking with a friend before this ball when they happen upon a man who is being roundly beaten by two other men. At some peril to herself, Charlotte stops the assault and brings the man back to her brother’s place for treatment. The man is mysterious, not wanting to go with her, not wanting help, and not wanting to reveal his name. He does stay there for some days under her care.
What will happen with the brother and sister’s pact? Who is this mysterious injured man? What role will he play in Charlotte’s life?
I enjoyed watching the brother’s and sister’s interactions in this story. Charlotte is very determined, much to her brother’s chagrin. Charlotte and Michael, the unknown injured man, have a feisty push-me, pull-you interaction. For her, there is definitely something intriguing about the man about whom she knows so little. Perhaps his anonymity makes her more candid than she would be in another situation.
This is the third book that I’ve read by this author. While I wasn’t so wild about one of them, I enjoyed the first one that I read and this one. In particular in this book, I enjoyed Charlotte’s character. One thing does seem strange to me. All of this author’s books that I’ve seen clearly stated on the cover that they are Regency, but inside at the start of each book, she just puts 19th century England. The Regency is a very short, very specific time in English history, from 1811 to 1820. If you’re going to be as specific as Regency on the cover, why would you be no more accurate than a hundred years’ span on the inside? I just don’t get it.
That said, I enjoyed Charlotte’s story and her pact with her brother as well as her trying to figure out the viscount’s mysteriousness and his mystery.
House of Scarabs by Hazel Longuet
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
House of Scarabs*
Immersive, Fast-Paced Read that Harkens Back to Ancient Egypt
Ben and Ellie have come to an out-of-the-way bookshop in a small town in England. After a pleasant time, as they’re walking out of the bookstore, they make accidental contact with a man coming in. Immediately, they seem to be transported far away in a strange sphere. They each receive an ancient Egyptian symbol and are then whisked away back to the present. A shadowy group of whom we know nothing seems to know that this has happened, even before the participants debrief, and mobilize to negate the group. Soon, Ben, Ellie, and Gerhardt are in a fight for their very lives that takes them from England to Egypt, all the while trying to understand what precisely has happened to them and what it means.
I read the prequel to this book first, Genesis. I really enjoyed immersing myself into a different and magical culture made real by descriptions of that very different world. The author pulled me into this book right away as well, even in the more familiar surrounding of a bookshop. She has a way of describing things that is very visual, so I can very plainly see both the usual and the unusual, yet the descriptions don’t seem over-wrought. Too often, I see writers who seem to use adjectives and adverbs as a crutch for not being able to find the right word, whereas this writer is able to choose words of all categories that are strong and make the world come alive for the reader with seeming ease. She is even able to make the more magical, otherworldly elements of this book seem wholly real.
This book is fast-paced, and oh, what a ride it is! I became absolutely immersed in its world and was loath to come out. I hope Ms. Longuet has a sequel up her sleeve; I will be one of the first in line to read it.
Finding My Lich by Christina Winds
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
Finding My Lich*
Beautiful Love Story Cloaked in Morality Play
Eric is the king of Abaddon who has been tasked with figuring out the way that his banished people will be allowed to be brought back to Earth. He has a portal through which he can go between Earth and Abaddon. He had thought this would be a relatively easy task, but centuries have gone by. He learned some lessons early on, like charity and justice, but others took longer to appreciate. Sands in an hourglass mark this immortal’s progress, and he hasn’t seen any in decades. What pieces of the puzzle is he missing?
This book comes across, and not in a bad way, as a mixture of morality tale and paranormal romance. Eric and Tamara are decent, good-hearted, and kind people who want the best for their worlds. They have different strengths and weaknesses, yet their strengths are intensified when they are together and their weaknesses diminished. It was interesting to watch Eric struggle as he was trying to figure out this big puzzle that has been set before him. He wanted to do right was by his own people, getting them back to a world they had been banished from, and by the humans, with whom he wants to coexist peacefully. The lessons that he learns are lessons that would benefit us to fully appreciate, which is why I call this, at least in part, a morality tale. But it is told with such beauty and elegance that it doesn’t feel like the author is preaching or moralizing. The love story between Eric and Tamara is beautifully rendered. You can truly see how each makes the other into a better version of themselves, in ways that are physical, mental, and spiritual.
The book did have some strange issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage. Some punctuation was left off, like an occasional period, and hyphens were not always used appropriately.
That said, I found this book to be an engaging read, both in the gentle moments and in the more harsh ones. Eric and Tamara are a great couple to follow as they learn about each other, each other worlds, and their true roles within them. It’s hard for me to figure out the precise genre for this, as it has elements of science fiction, romance, and the paranormal. There’s even a touch of suspense as Eric tries to figure out precisely what he is supposed to learn. If you like stories that cross genres like that, you might find this book to be as compelling as I did.
Sea of Darkness by Isadora Brown
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Sea of Darkness*
The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend
Kelia’s in the fight of her life against an Infant Sea Shadow, a newly turned vampire of the seas. Back on land with just a few scrapes after the encounter, she meets her father, who asks that she meet him after she is debriefed. Her handler seems surprised at how well she tackled this difficult mission, coming out relatively unscathed. Kelia’s life is upended when her father is found dead, she is told, from suicide. Something is not quite right, and soon Kelly is teaming up with a most unlikely ally, Drew Knight, one of the leaders of the Sea Shadows. She believes that her father did not commit suicide, and he believes that The Society is keeping dark secrets. So it’s the old “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” They team up to figure it all out.
What a complex world of The Society and the Sea Shadows! The author has done an excellent job of world-building—all the details about the Slayers, The Society, social structure, and the Sea Shadows. Yet she was able to do this without making it feel like it was an information dump. Seeing the world from both Kelia’s and Drew’s perspectives help to give a fuller picture of what is going on. There are so many layers of secrets, lies, and intrigue. Their world is definitely not what either of them initially believes. I love stories in which characters exist in a bubble world that gets shattered; these characters assume the world is one way because they have been told it is so, and so they are rocked to their very core when they learn it is different. That’s exactly what’s going on here, and the author has done a good job in slowly revealing the lies and deception. And I know there is much more to come!
I so enjoy the relationship between Kelia and Drew. He has that pirate swagger way about him and a sarcastic, humorous way of looking at things. He loves to bait and challenge her, and it is fun to watch. Their interactions make this book so enjoyable.
While this took did have closure on some points, it left much to be explored, I became immersed in this world, and I can’t wait to move on to the next book to see what’s going to happen next.
Beauty in Death by D. E. Dennis
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Beauty in Death*
Who Killed Beauty?
Beauty, daughter of a wealthy family, is not enjoying her 21st birthday party; nothing is up to her standards. But soon, Beauty is dead, and Grimm investigations is helping the family figure out who did this.
Who killed Beauty? What other Secrets will tracking down the killer reveal?
If you read the previous book in the series, you are familiar with Michael and Monica Grimm’s PI company. They help people on both sides of their community’s social spectrum, the regular folks in Castle Rock and the wealthy people in Fairy Tails. As in the first book, I quite enjoyed the interaction and banter between the brother and sister investigation team. The way they interact reminds me so much of the interactions in my own family, so I found that fun to read. We learn more about their family in this book, which I enjoyed. I like how this book and the previous book are slowly revealing more and more about this unique and mysterious place where fairy tales live but often take on a macabre bent.
By the way, I loved the tiny bit written from Beauty’s perspective! Oh, my gosh! You could just tell how self-centered and unpleasant she was. Not an easy task to show a narrator’s true colors when they are not the best of people. I just wish there was more of it. Kudos to the author on that little portion of the book.
If you enjoy cozy mysteries that are wholly invested in the real world yet contain just a hint of myth and fairytales, you might enjoy this book and this series.
Jamie Brydone-Jack
Reader, Editor, Writer
I’m an avid reader, for both fun and work/business. I enjoy a wide variety of books, including literary fiction, romance, thrillers, cozy mysteries, and fantasy for fiction and history, contemporary issues, philosophy, music, medicine, and cookbooks for nonfiction. I’m a freelance copyeditor who also does beta and alpha reading. I have two websites that are all about romance and mystery. You can also follow my reviews at Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub.
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