#Review - The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James #Mystery #Suspense #Supernatural

Series: Standalone
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Release Date: March 15, 2022
Publisher: Berkley
Source: Publisher
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Supernatural

A true crime blogger gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two cold case slayings in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel.

In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect—a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crimes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation of her mansion.
 
Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases—a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea’s surprise, Beth says yes.
 
They meet regularly at Beth’s mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she’s not looking, and she could swear she’s seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn’t right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house?

Simone St. James's The Book of Cold Cases is the story about a true crime blogger who gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two cold case slayings. This story takes place in the fictitious town Claire Lake, Oregon. In 1977, Claire Lake was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect--a rich, eccentric woman, seen fleeing one of the crimes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation of her mansion. 

40 years later, Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases--a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. Although Shea refuses to speak about it, 20 years ago, she was abducted and by the grace of luck, she was able to flee from her abductor and return home. She has forever been haunted by that experience because the man who abducted her, ended up killing his next victim. Shea's experiences have led to a life of ups and downs.

She divorced nearly a year ago, and moved into a smaller apartment where she could focus on her webpage. She is a collector of stories about unsolved murderers. One in particular, Elizabeth Greer, has peeked her interest. When she meets Beth by chance at Shea's work place, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea's surprise, Beth says yes. They meet regularly at Beth's mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she's not looking, and she could swear she's seen a girl outside the window. 

The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn't right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house? Interspersed between Shea's story, is Beth's. Is she really the cold blooded killer everyone believed she was? What really happened years ago, and why did Beth fade from the public spotlight?

Shea is a case study on what happens when an event is so damaging to you psyche that you end up putting up walls to keep everyone out. The only person Shea has any sort of relationship with is her sister Esther, who complains about not seeing her enough, a cat named Winston Purrchill, and a detective named Michael who has been working for her for years without actually meeting. 

Beth is a result of her environment. The Nature vs Nurture argument. Her parents hated each other and they basically took it out on their daughter. Then her father was murdered. Later, her mother died in a car crash. Beth's world is filled with secrets that are revealed page by page in horrifying detail, and you can't help feel like hoping something good happens to make up for all the bad in her life. This isn't my first rodeo when it comes to books by Simone St. James. She's brilliant, in my humble opinion, of alternating the past with the present to interweave a story that will keep you guessing until the final page is turned.

Chapter One

 

Claire Lake, Oregon

 

The Greer mansion sat high on a hill, overlooking the town and the ocean. To get to it from downtown, you had to leave the pretty shops and the creaking seaside piers and drive a road that wound upward, toward the cliffs. You passed the heart of Claire Lake, the part of town where the locals lived and the tourists didn't usually go. You passed a grid of shops and low apartment blocks, local diners and hair salons. On the outskirts of town, you passed newer developments, built between the foot of the cliffs and the flat land on the edge of the inland lake that gave the town its name.

The land was too wet and rocky to keep building, so the newer developments tapered off into woods and two-lane roads. Along the west edge of the lake were homes built in the seventies, squat shapes in brown brick and cream siding, the gardens neatly kept for over forty years by people who had never moved away. Past those houses, around the other edges of the lake, there was nothing but back roads, used only by hikers, hunters, fishermen, and teenage kids looking for trouble. In the seventies, the houses along the lake were for the up-and-coming ones, the people with good jobs. Everyone else lived in town. And if you were rich, you lived on the hill.

The road climbed on the north side of the lake. The houses were set far apart here for privacy, and the roads were kept narrow and uneven, as if trying to keep outsiders away. The wealthy had come to Claire Lake in the twenties, when the town was first created, looking for a place that was scenic, secluded, and cheap to build big houses. They brought their money from Portland and California and settled in. Some of the houses sat empty after the stock market crash, but they filled up again during the boom after World War II. The people who lived here called the neighborhood Arlen Heights.

The Greer mansion was one of the original houses in Arlen Heights. It was an ugly Frankenstein of a house even when it was built-a pseudo-Victorian style of slanted roofs and spires, though the walls were of butter yellow brick. And when Julian Greer bought it in 1950 with his newly inherited pharmaceutical fortune, he made it worse. He remodeled the lower floor to be more modern, with straight lines and dark brown wood. He also put in a bank of windows along the back wall to open up the house's dark, gloomy interior. The windows looked out to the house's back lawn and its drop-off to the ocean beyond.

The effect was supposed to be sweeping, breathtaking, but like most of Julian's life, it didn't work out as planned. The windows fogged, and the view was bleak. The lawn was flat and dead, and the ocean beyond the cliff was choppy and cold. Julian had done the renovations in hopes of pleasing his new wife, Mariana, but instead the relentless view from the windows unsettled her, and she kept the curtains closed. She decorated the rest of the house dutifully but listlessly, which was a harbinger of their marriage. Something about the Greer mansion stifled laughter and killed happiness. It might sound dramatic, but anyone who had lived there knew it was true.

By 1975, both Julian and Mariana were dead, Julian with his blood all over the kitchen floor, Mariana in the twisted wreck of a car crash. The house watched all of it happen, indifferent.

Tonight it was raining, a cold, hard downpour that came in from the ocean. Arlen Heights was quiet, and the Greer mansion was dark. The rain spattered hard on the panes of glass, tracing lines down the large windows overlooking the lawn. The dark skeletons of the trees on either side of the house bowed back and forth in the wind, the branches scraping the roof. Drops pocked the empty driveway. The house was still and silent, stoic under the wind and the water.

On the lawn, something moved across the surface of the grass. The touch of a footprint. Inside the house, one of the cupboard doors opened in the dark kitchen, groaning softly into the silence.

In a bedroom window a shape appeared, shadowy and indistinct. The blur, perhaps, of a face. A handprint touched the bedroom window, the palm pressing into the glass. For a second, it was there, pale and white, though there was no one to see.

The wind groaned in the eaves. The handprint faded. The figure moved back into the darkness. And the house was still once more.

Chapter Two

September 2017

Shea

The day before I met Beth Greer was a Tuesday, with a gray sky overhead and a thin drizzle that wet my face and beaded in my hair as I waited at the bus stop. It was unseasonably warm, and the concrete gave off that rainy scent it sometimes has, rising up from beneath my ballet flats. There was a man standing next to me, wearing an overcoat and scrolling through his phone with an exhausted look on his face. On my other side was a worried-looking woman who was frantically texting. I closed my eyes, inhaling the scent of the rain laced with a thread of cologne from the man next to me, overlaid with gasoline and diesel fumes from the street. This was my life.

It wasn't a bad one. I was twenty-nine and divorced. I lived in a small complex of low-rise condos on a tangle of curved streets with the aspirational name of Saddle Estates. In my mind I called it Singles Estates, because it was almost exclusively populated with romantic failures like me, people who needed somewhere to live when they sold off their married house and took their half of the money. The man in the overcoat was divorced, guaranteed, and I'd bet money the woman was texting a kid who was in school while spending a court-designated week with his father.

My divorce was still new. I had no kids. My place was small, smelled of paint, and only contained the bare necessities of furniture. But it wasn't the worst life I could have. I'd known since I was nine that I was lucky to have any life at all.

On the bus, I pulled out my phone, put my earbuds in my ears, and played the audiobook I was in the middle of listening to. A thriller: a woman in danger, most of the characters possibly lying, everything not quite as it seemed. A twist somewhere near the end that would either shock me or wouldn't. There were dozens of books just like it, hundreds maybe, and they were the soundtrack of my life. The woman's voice in my earbuds told me about death, murder, deep family secrets, people who shouldn't be trusted, lies that cost lives. But a novel always ends, the lies come to the surface, and the deaths are explained. Maybe one of the bad characters gets away with something-that's fashionable right now-but you are still left with a sense that things are balanced, that dark things come to light, and that the bad person will, at least, most likely be miserable.

It was dark comfort, but it was still comfort. I knew my own tally by heart: My would-be killer had been in prison for nineteen years, seven months, and twenty-six days. His parole hearing was in six months.

Work was a doctor's office in downtown Claire Lake. I was a receptionist, taking calls, filing charts, making appointments. As I came through the door, I pulled the earbuds from my ears and gave my coworkers a smile, shaking off all of the darkness and death.

"Busy day," Karen, the other receptionist, said, glancing at me, then away again. "We open in twenty."

We weren't bosom friends, my coworkers and I, even though I had worked here for five years. The other women here were married with kids, which meant we had nothing much in common since my divorce. I hadn't talked to any of them about the divorce, except to say it had happened. And I couldn't add to the conversations about daycares and swimming programs. The doctors didn't socialize with any of us-they came and went, expecting the mechanism of the office to work without much of their input.

I took off my jacket and put on my navy blue scrub top, shoving my phone and purse under the desk. I could probably make friends here if I tried. I was attractive enough, with long dark hair that I kept tied back, an oval face, and dark eyes. At the same time, I didn't have the kind of good looks that threaten other women. I was standoffish-I knew that. It was an inescapable part of my personality, a tendency I couldn't turn off no matter how much therapy I did. I didn't like people too close, and I was terrible at small talk. My therapists called it a defense mechanism; I only knew it was me, like my height or the shape of my chin.

But my lack of gregariousness wasn't the only reason my coworkers gave me a wide berth. Though they didn't say anything to me, a rumor had gotten out in my first week; they all knew who I was, what I had escaped. And they all knew what I did in the evenings, the side project that consumed all of my off-hours. My obsession, really.

They probably all thought it wasn't healthy.

But I've always believed that murder is the healthiest obsession of all.

Dont tell me, my sister, Esther, said on the phone. Youre hibernating again.

"I'm fine," I said. It was after work, and I was at my local grocery store, the Safeway in the plaza within walking distance to Singles Estates. I put cereal in my cart as I shoulder-pinned the phone to my ear. "I'm grabbing some groceries and going home."

"I told you to come over for dinner. Will and I want to see you."

"It's raining."

"This is Claire Lake. It's always raining."

I looked at a carton of almond milk, wondering what it tasted like. "I know you worry about me, but I'm fine. I just have work to do."

"You already have a job. The website isn't paid work."

"It pays enough."

My big sister sighed, and the sound gave me a twinge of sadness. I really did want to see her, along with her husband, Will, a lawyer who I liked quite a lot. Esther was one of the only people who really mattered to me, and even though she gave me grief, I knew she tried hard to understand me. She'd had her own guilt and trauma over what had happened to me. She had her own reasons to be paranoid-to hibernate, as she put it. The difference was, Esther didn't hibernate. She had a husband and a house and a good job, a career.

"Just tell me you're trying," Esther said. "Trying to get out, trying to do something, trying to meet new people."

"Sure," I said. "Today I met a man who has a hernia and a woman who would only say she has a 'uterus problem.'" I put the almond milk down. "I'm not sure what a 'uterus problem' is, and I don't think I'm curious."

"If you wanted to know, you could look in her file and find out."

"I never look in patients' files," I told her. "You know that. I answer phones and deal with appointment times, not diagnoses. Looking in a patient file could get me fired."

"You make no sense, Shea. You won't look at patients' medical files, but you'll talk about murders and dead bodies on the internet."

I paused, unpinning my phone from my shoulder. "Okay, that's actually a good point. I get that. But does it mean that in order to be consistent, I should be more nosy or less?"

"It means you live too much inside your own head, overthinking everything," Esther said. "It means you need to meet people who aren't patients, real people who aren't murder victims on a page. Make friends. Find a man to date."

"Not yet for the dating thing," I told her. "Maybe soon."

"The divorce was a year ago."

"Eleven months." I dodged a woman coming the opposite way up my aisle, then moved around a couple pondering the cracker selection. "I'm not opposed to finding someone. It's dating itself that freaks me out. I mean, you meet a stranger, and that's it? He could be anyone, hiding anything."

"Shea."

"Do you know how many serial killers dated lonely women in their everyday lives? Some divorce who just wants companionship from a nice man? She thinks she's won the dating lottery, and meanwhile he's out there on a Sunday afternoon, dumping bodies. And now we're supposed to use internet apps, where someone's picture might not even be real. People are lying about their faces."

"Okay, okay. No dating apps. No dating at all yet. I get it. But make some friends, Shea. Join a book club or a bowling league or something."

My cart was full. I paused by the plate glass windows at the front of the store, letting my gaze travel over the parking lot. "I'll think about it."

"That means no," Esther said.

"It means I'll think about it." The parking lot looked like any normal parking lot during after-work hours, with cars pulling in and out. I watched for a moment, letting my eyes scan the cars and the people. An old habit. I couldn't have told you what I was looking for, only that I'd know it when I saw it. "Thanks, sis. I'll talk to you later."

I bought my groceries and put them in the cloth bags I'd brought with me. I slung the bags over my shoulders and started the walk home in the rain, my coat hood pulled up over my head, my feet trying to avoid the puddles. The walk toward Singles Estates took me down a busy road, with cars rushing by me, splashing water and giving me a face full of fumes. Not the most pleasant walk in the world, but I put my earbuds in and put one foot in front of the other. Esther had long ago given up on telling me to get a car. It would never happen.

Besides, I got home before nightfall, so I didn't have to walk alone in the dark. I called that a win.

 

Chapter Three

September 2017

Shea

At home in my little condo, I changed into dry clothes, made myself a tuna salad sandwich, and powered up my laptop.

Despite the stress, the gnawing uncertainty, the expense, and-yes-the heartbreak, this was the upside of getting divorced: I had the freedom to sit in my underfurnished living room in pajama pants and a T-shirt, eating mayonnaise-drenched tuna and working uninterrupted for the rest of my evening. The project I was working on, the obsession of my off-hours, was my website, the Book of Cold Cases.

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#Review - Killing Time by Brenna Ehrlich #Thrillers #Suspense

Series: Standalone
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Release Date: March 8, 2022
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Source: Publisher
Genre: Thrillers & Suspense

Summer in Ferry, Connecticut, has always meant long, lazy days at the beach and wild nights partying in the abandoned mansions on the edge of town. Until now, that is.
 
Natalie Temple, who’s never been one for beaches or parties in the first place, is reeling from the murder of her favorite teacher, and there’s no way this true-crime-obsessed girl is going to sit back and let the rumor mill churn out lie after lie—even if she has to hide her investigation from her disapproving mom and team up with the new boy in town…
 
But the more Natalie uncovers, the more she realizes some secrets were never meant to be told.

Brenna Ehrlich's Killing Time follows a true-crime obsessed teenager who sets out to uncover a killer when her favorite teacher is murdered. With a dual POV that sends the reader back twenty years, this engrossing and twisty thriller is perfect for fans of Courtney Summers and Karen McManus. The story takes place in Ferry, Connecticut, and Evanston, Illinois. 18 year old Natalie Temple is a lover of anything true crime who just graduated from High School. Thanks to Mrs Halsey, Natalie and her best friend Katie joined her High School's the true crime club.

 

After her mother found out about the club, Natalie and Katie decided to create a podcast called Killing Time about true crime and murders. When her favorite teacher is murdered, Natalie races to find out what really happened and to feature it on her podcast. But when she finds a warning not telling her to stay out, the mystery grows even more. She won't let false information spread about someone she cared about. Natalie must hide her investigating ways from her mom as she doesn't approve of her daughter's fascination in true-crime. 

 

When her teachers husband is found murdered as well, Natalie finds herself in a similiar situation to her own mother 20 year earlier. Helen Temple, Natalie's mother, was in her freshman year at college when a fellow student disappeared without a trace. Helen is told that if she wants to be involved, then she needs to start asking questions of the family. 

 

The flashbacks give readers reasons why Helen is so protective of Natalie, and why she choose to return home and open up her own business in order to support Natalie when she goes off to college. Both Natalie and Helen make mistakes that could easily be avoided, but that also made them seem realistic. One of the biggest mistakes on both of their parts was lack of communication and respect. I think had Helen sat down and explained to Helen what happened 20 years ago, things might have been easier for Natalie. There are poor decisions and immature actions abound in this novel. Natalie’s best friend Katie Lugo is a brilliant character who is heading off to M.I.T. in the fall. Katie ends up coming up with a brilliant idea that wraps the book up nicely.

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#Review - A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson #YA #Fantasy #Historical

Series: Standalone
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: March 29, 2022
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Historical

From the author of Sing Me Forgotten comes a lush new fantasy novel with an art-based magic system, romance, and murder…

Myra has a gift many would kidnap, blackmail, and worse to control: she’s a portrait artist whose paintings alter people’s bodies. Guarding that secret is the only way to keep her younger sister safe now that their parents are gone. But one frigid night, the governor’s wife discovers the truth and threatens to expose Myra if she does not complete a special portrait that would resurrect the governor's dead son.

Once she arrives at the legendary stone mansion, however, it becomes clear the boy’s death was no accident. A killer stalks these halls--one disturbingly obsessed with portrait magic. Desperate to get out of the manor as quickly as possible, Myra turns to the governor’s older son for help completing the painting before the secret she spent her life concealing makes her the killer’s next victim.

 

Jessica S. Olson's A Forgery of Roses is a retelling of Picture of Dorian Gray. 17-year-old Myra Whitlock is a Prodigy, an artist who can alter a person’s body through painting. It is a dangerous gift that Myra keeps hidden, even more so since other Prodigies, including her mother, as well as her father, have gone missing. Since their disappearances, Myra has struggled to provide food and shelter for herself and her younger sister, who suffers from a debilitating disease and desperately needs medical care. 

 

When Myra is offered a significant amount of money to create a painting, it’s an offer she can’t refuse – especially since since it’s made by the governor’s wife, who also threatens to expose Myra if she can’t resurrect her dead son with the portrait. For Myra’s magic to work, she has to know exactly what happened to the subject of the painting and what they felt – and it soon becomes clear murder is involved. When the governor’s other son, August, offers his assistance, he and Myra undertake a dangerous journey to discover that truly happened.

 

Can Myra trust August, and what really happened to August’s brother Wilbur Harris, Jr? The more secrets Myra learns, the more her life becomes endangered. Then she meets a man named Vincent, and things become so dangerous, that Myra may end up losing everything. The only thing Myra can be sure of, as she searches for answers and dodges shadows with murderous intent, is that nothing is as it seems. August is an interesting character in that he's portrayed to have sort of anxiety representation, and it isn't until Myra's strength, that he breaks his shell.

You'll likely read this a lot but Myra’s relationship with her sister Lucy is the bright spot in the story. Their sisterly bond is really strong, and it is what motivates Myra throughout the story. They have such a wonderful bond, and they are very close. Myra loves her sister more than anything, and she will do whatever it takes to help her sister get well. Myra puts her own life at risk many times to save her sister. Lucy is also brilliant in that she wants to study biology and make life better for everyone around her. 

 

I am going ask the question that I can't seem to find an answer for. The ending leaves lots of questions. Was that a cliffhanger ending, thus a sequel will be likely, or are we supposed to make up our own minds what's to happen next. 

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#Review - Set Fire to the Gods by Sara Raasch, Kristen Simmons #YA #Fantasy

Series: Set Fire to the Gods # 1
Format: Hardcover, 432 pages
Release Date: August 4, 2020
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Epic

Ash is descended from a long line of gladiators, and she knows the brutal nature of war firsthand. But after her mother dies in an arena, she vows to avenge her by overthrowing her fire god, whose temper has stripped her country of its resources.

Madoc grew up fighting on the streets to pay his family’s taxes. But he hides a dangerous secret: he doesn’t have the earth god’s powers like his opponents. His elemental gift is something else—something that hasn’t been seen in centuries.

When an attempted revenge plot goes dangerously wrong, Ash inadvertently throws the fire and earth gods into a conflict that can only be settled by deadly, lavish gladiator games, throwing Madoc in Ash’s path. She realizes that his powers are the weapon her rebellion needs—but Madoc won’t jeopardize his family, regardless of how intrigued he is by the beautiful warrior.

But when the gods force Madoc’s hand, he and Ash uncover an ancient war that will threaten more than one immortal—it will unravel the world.

 

Set Fire to the Gods, by authors Sara Raasch, and Kristen Simmons, is the first installment in the authors Set Fire to the Gods duology. Avatar: The Last Airbender meets Gladiator in  in which two elemental gladiators (Madoc and Ash) must decide where their loyalties lie as an ancient war between immortals and humans looms on the horizon. Story takes place in a world like that of the Greco-Roman inspired world. Once there was a Goddess who ruled the world. She then made (6) Gods and Goddess that controlled the Six elements: Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Animals, and Plants. 

The gods of the elements separated the world into countries they govern. The gods came into power, protecting the humans from the Mother Goddess who grew jealous of the humans. The Gods teamed up together and destroyed her by combining their devine.  The Gods still go to war, but instead of invading each other’s lands, they select their best fighters and host Gladiator fights, betting their land and resources. The Gods created a class system between those who have a divine gift and those who are undivine.

Ash Nikau is a dancer grew up watching her fierce mother Char, a gladiator, fight for Ignitus, God of Fire. When Char's mother falls due to trickery to Geoxus, God of Earth's champion, it is Ash who is pulled into the Gods war after she interferes. The Gods who seem to be slowly tearing apart Ash's home. The Gods who seem to be working together to defeat Ignitus and take his land from him. Ash has a lot of resentment towards Ignitus. She blames him for how the people of Kula are struggling and how he keeps losing her country’s resources during the gladiator fights. Ash is determined to take him down. She cares about others but she has one goal in mind.  

Madoc grew up as an orphan after his father kicked him out of the house for not having any divine in him. He was taken in by Elias and Cassia's mother. Elias and Cassia are Devine, their mother is not. Madoc and Elias combine to fight in a ring against other gladiators. Madoc used his own strength and skills to fight, and the inane sense of understanding of his opponents, which sometimes feel as if it's more magical that simply reading body language. Then Madoc catches the eye of Lucius Pompino, Premier Gladiator sponsor in Deimos. Madoc will soon discover that he has been manipulated for a long time. He has a devine that hasn't been seen in a very long time.

Madoc is exactly what Ash needs but Madoc isn’t ready to risk it all to help the enemy. Madoc is trying to save his sister Cassia who has become a pawn in a much bigger game. By being one of the elite eight gladiator fighters, he can hopefully win her back. Ash and Madoc will end up unlikely allies. Pitted against each other in their god's war, the goal is to defeat the other. But when it starts to seem like there is more at stake than a war fought over a gladiator battle gone wrong, the two must team up to stop the gods from destroying both their countries.

The book took a few chapters to get really exciting, and for the authors to reveal what was up their sleeves. My only negative commentary is that I really, really wanted more gladiator fighting scenes. The whole idea of gladiators fighting for their Gods for their homes was the entire premise of this story. The stunning revelations at the end of the book, lead to an even more stunning cliffhanger ending that will lead into the finale Rise Up from the Embers.  

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#Review - Sword and Shadow by Michelle Sagara #Fantasy #Epic

Series: Wolves of Elantra # 2
Format: Paperback, 512 pages
Release Date: February 22, 2022
Publisher: MIRA
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Epic

For fans of epic fantasy, both familiar and fresh, this book continues the saga and expands the world of Elantra, following the quests of Severn Handred, an executioner with the Imperial Wolves.

In exchange for information about his past, Severn Handred is tasked with joining a Barrani lord on a mission to the West March—a Barrani enclave well outside the boundaries of the Empire, and therefore outside of Imperial law. Severn cannot go as an Imperial Wolf, because it would be too dangerous for him. But the instincts that lead him to the Wolves and the sense of duty that keeps him there can’t be discarded as easily as the tabard he wears.

In the heart of the West March, with the tangled web of secrets that have been kept for centuries, Severn's belief that execution is justified is going to be tested. There are murders to solve, people to protect, and truths to uncover—the latter of which Barrani will die and kill to protect.

It's one mortal man and his single Barrani friend in the West March against a community of Immortal Barrani who have spent centuries hiding truths that must not be revealed. But they’re up against the Wolves, now.

Sword and Shadow is the second installment in author Michelle Sagara's Wolves of Elantra series. This is prequel to the authors Chronicles of Elantra series. As an orphan scrounging in the lawless slums of Nightshade, young Severn Handred didn't have the luxury of believing in anything beyond his own survival. He met a young girl named Elliane (later she'll become Kaylin Neya) and her mother who became family but ended up betraying her after vowing to protect her.

When Severn was spotted tailing some lawmen of the Hawks--a not insignificant feat to go otherwise undetected--the recruiter for the Imperial Wolves thinks he should join their ranks. The Wolves are a small, select group that work within the Halls of Law, reporting directly to the Eternal Emperor. They are what you would call assassins. If the Emperor wants someone dead, he sends the Wolves.  Severn hopes to avoid the law--he certainly had no intention of joining it.

Fast forward almost a year, in exchange for information about his past and his parents, Severn Handred joins a Barrani lord (An'Tellarus) as well as his overseer Elluvian on a mission to the West March—an enclave well outside the boundaries of the Empire. Granted a leave of absence from the Wolves by his boss Helmut, Severn is in danger the moment he steps outside the reach of Imperial law. But the instincts that led him to the Wolves and the sense of duty that keeps him there can’t be discarded as easily as the tabard he wears.

In the heart of the West March, enmeshed in a tangled web of secrets that have been kept for centuries, Severn's belief in justice is going to be tested. When it seems that the Green of the West March wants something from Severn, he has to play it out. He's wanted to not ever offend the Green. Severn also made a promise to the man who saved him from certain death, that he would try to solve the mystery of whether a woman is still alive, or she's dead, or caught up in even more danger.

Readers who like their fantasy full-to-the-brim of political shenanigans and endless power struggles will adore this world and the deftness with which its story has been woven. The more you learn about Severn's past, the more fascinating of a character he becomes. He is a boy who grew up without a past into a young man with deep regrets. Even though he had a Barrani Master training him on the needs for the future, he deeply regrets how his actions have impacted Elliane. This book also solves the mystery of where he received his Barrani weapon and how he was able to keep it. 

As I remind you fine folks who read my reviews, it really does matter when you have pen and paper next to you so you can keep track of the characters, events, and places where the events happen. With almost every Epic Fantasy, there are a TON of characters and Severin is forced to learn the dynamics of all the Barrani families and key characters so that he doesn't say or do the wrong thing. The novel is very slow for the first two thirds. Lots of explanation and history, and little action. 

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#Review - The Assassins of Consequence by Marshall Ryan Maresca #Fantasy

Series: Thorn of Maradaine # 4
Format: EBook, 392 pages
Release Date: March 29, 2022
Publisher: DAW
Source: Publisher
Genre: Epic Fantasy

The autumn semester at the University of Maradaine is underway, and Veranix Calbert is doing his best to balance the new responsibilities of being a fourth-year magic student under the militant Altarn Initiatives, while still acting as The Thorn, the street vigilante deep in a personal war against the drug kingpin Willem Fenmere. With the help of his friends Kaiana, Delmin, and Mila, he’s been able to strike real blows against Fenmere’s empire.

But Veranix’s fight has earned him more enemies than just Fenmere, including the mad alchemist Cuse Jensett, the imposters Erno Don and Enzin Hence, and the Deadly Birds Magpie and Jackdaw. These five killers join forces to escape Quarrygate Prison and offer an alliance to Fenmere, bringing with them the perfect leverage to seal the deal: the Thorn’s identity.

Once Fenmere knows who Veranix is, he doesn’t just want to kill him, but to utterly shatter him. Calling on everyone in Maradaine holding a grudge against the Thorn, he unleashes a brutal hunt against Veranix. With old and new enemies all looking to claim the bounty on his head, stripped of the security of his secret identity, Veranix faces the most brutal fight of his all too-short life.

The Assassins of Consequence is the Fourth installment in author Marshall Ryan Maresca's Maradaine series. So, here's the deal, the author has begun Phase 2 of his Maradaine series. This is the first installment in that phase. The next book will return to The Streets of Maradaine with the featuring the Rynax brothers. Veranix Colbert, aka The Thorn, has made numerous enemies throughout this series trying to bring down Willem Fenmere, and stop the spread of a dangerous drug called effitte which has cost him his mother and father.

As the book begins, it is year 1215, and the autumn semester at the University of Maradaine is underway. Veranix is doing his best to balance the new responsibilities of being a fourth-year magic student under the militant Altarn Initiatives, while still acting as The Thorn, the street vigilante deep in a personal war against the drug kingpin Fenmere. With the help of his friends Kaiana Nell, Delmin Sarren, and Mila Kendish (who is a first year at Maradaine), he’s been able to strike real blows against Fenmere’s empire. But life is about to get extremely dangerous for Veranix and his friends.

Thanks to a breakout of Quarrygate Prison, some of the most dangerous individuals to have faced the Thorn (outside of Fenmere) include the mad alchemist Cuse Jensett, the imposters Erno Don and Enzin Hence, and the Deadly Birds Magpie and Jackdaw, are looking for revenge. These five killers join forces to offer an alliance to Fenmere, bringing with them the perfect leverage to seal the deal: the Thorn’s identity which only a handful of people including Kaiana, Delmin, Mila, Inspector Welling, who gets daily magic sessions with Veranix, knows the truth, and his cousin Colin.

Once Fenmere knows who Veranix is, he doesn’t just want to kill him, but to utterly shatter him. Calling on everyone in Maradaine holding a grudge against the Thorn, which is basically every single gang in Maradaine, he unleashes a brutal hunt against Veranix. With old and new enemies all looking to claim the bounty on his head, stripped of the security of his secret identity, Veranix faces the most brutal fight of his all too-short life. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Bendan and his squad, including Jace Welling, find themselves smack dab in the middle of a huge street war all looking for one person: The Thorn.

This book also introduces readers to a new player. Someone from Thorn's past has come back home after being gone for 4 years to reign down hurt on people who destroyed his family. While Veranix goes through literal hell in this book, this character could posse extreme problems for Veranix in future installments. It is nice to know that Corrie Welling was mentioned in this story. After her own story, An Untended Voyage, it's time for Corrie to come home. The author posted that the next title in this series is called The New King of Rose Street. 

Overall, this is a must read. It is highly entertaining, action packed, and suspenseful. Our hero and friends get tossed in the literal shredder, and it will take a miracle for them to all escape with their lives. I can't this enough, if you haven't started reading this author and his books yet, put it on your list of things to do this year. 

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#Review - False Witness by Karin Slaughter #Mystery #Suspense

Series: Standalone
Format: Hardcover, 448 pages
Release Date: July 20, 2021
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: Publisher
Genre: Mystery / Suspense

From the New York Times bestselling author of Pieces of Her and The Silent Wife, an electrifying standalone thriller.

He saw what you did.

He knows who you are…

AN ORDINARY LIFE …

Leigh Collier has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life.  She has a good job as a defense attorney, a daughter doing well in school, and even her divorce is relatively civilized—her life is just as unremarkable as she'd always hoped it would be.

HIDES A DEVASTATING PAST ...

But Leigh's ordinary life masks a childhood which was far from average … a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and finally torn apart by a devastating act of violence.

BUT NOW THE PAST IS CATCHING UP …

Then a case lands on her desk—defending a wealthy man accused of rape.  It's the highest profile case she's ever been given—a case which could transform her career, if she wins.  But when she meets the accused, she realizes that it's no coincidence that he's chosen her as his attorney.  She knows him.  And he knows her.  More to the point, he knows what happened twenty years ago, and why Leigh has spent two decades running.  

AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT.

If she can't get him acquitted, she'll lose much more than the case.  The only person who can help her is her younger, estranged sister Callie, the last person Leigh would ever want to ask for help.  But suddenly she has no choice...

Karin Slaughter's False Witness tells the story of two sisters’ whose ordinary lives are connected by a terrible incident from their past. The story is narrated by Leigh and Callie. The story begins in the Summer of 1998 where Callie is a babysitter for the family known as the Waleski's. Buddy is a bad man, and I will freely say he was a pedophile who took advantage of both Callie and her sister Leigh. Callie ended up in a fight with Buddy when she found out that he was recording her and sharing with other known pedophiles, including some who taught at her High School.

While defending herself, Callie ends up cutting Buddy's  femoral artery. Stunned and in a panic mode, Callie tries to call the police, but reaches out to her sister Leigh instead. They were able to make the monster disappear. 23 years later, Leigh Collier has grown up to be a tough-as-nails high-priced lawyer who has moved on from defending criminals who have no means to help themselves, to working for corporate elites who look after the rich folk. Callie is a drug addict who has all but destroyed her own body. 

Leigh could never imagine that her past would come back to destroy her in ways she never imagined. One day, she's assigned/volunteered to lead a case by her boss to represent a man who is accused for rape. The man’s name is Andrew Tenant and he insists he knows her. He does. He's the boy Callie and Leigh once babysat for. Trevor is now a man who has been accused of raping a series of women. Trevor is a car salesman by day, a sexual predator by night, and a highly manipulative monster. A man without a moral compass.

Trevor knows that he has Leigh over a barrel. He know exactly what happened to his father. He has enough blackmail material to believe he will be found not guilty as long as Leigh does exactly what he decides. She has no choice but to reach out to her estranged sister, Callie, for help. Callie knows that Leigh has taken bullets for her more than once before trying to find a way to live her life without that one horrible night. Callie also know that if Leigh goes down, her daughter and ex-husband will be next. 

The sisters could blame their upbringing on their mother who was abusive. Leigh protected her sister because she was the oldest in the family, and Callie was the baby of the family who saw too much, and experienced something no one of her age experienced. To this day, Leigh has compartmentalized everything that she's ever done. She and her ex-husband are divorcing. They have a 16-year old daughter who is in that stage where mom is overbearing and not needed. Meanwhile, Callie is likely two steps from shaking hands with the Grim Reaper for years of abuse with drugs and alcohol.  

This is a hard book to review. I don't normally put trigger warnings in my reviews since it's pretty much a given that if you read a Karin Slaughter novel you are going to get punched in the face with disturbing images. I will say that if you do choose to read this book, be prepared for the opening chapter. All the characters in this book are deeply flawed, troubled, and yes authentic. The one character I most felt for was Callie. I think that if Leigh was her mother, she wouldn't have allowed Buddy to do what he did to her. She wouldn't have dug her life so deeply into drugs, and other dark, and disturbing things.

While reading the author's note, I came to the conclusion that this author doesn't write for an audience. She writes for herself. She tends to step up on a soapbox and preach to the choir of like minded individuals. And, if you're not one of those like minded individuals, her stories are not for you. This is one of the few books that I have read where Covid was a major player in the book. It even touched on both of the main characters who were lucky to survive even if one of them had destroyed her bodies with a variety of hard drugs. Since there's not escaping it, unless you read exclusive fantasy novels, you can either like it, or rate the book lower.

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#Review - Lucifer's Game by Cristina Loggia #Historical #Thriller

Series: Standalone
Format: E-Galley, 340 pages
Release Date: October 14th 2021
Publisher: Lume Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Historical / Thriller

Rome, 1942. Cordelia Olivieri is a young, determined hotel owner desperate to escape Mussolini’s racial persecution. But as Fascist leaders gather in Rome, Cordelia is suddenly surrounded by the world’s most ruthless and powerful commanders.

In an effort to keep her Jewish heritage a secret and secure safe passage out of Italy, Cordelia forms a dangerous alliance with the British army who want to push the Axis out of North Africa once and for all.

Going undercover, Cordelia begins obtaining and leaking military intelligence to a British agent, hoping the intel will secure her freedom. But the more Cordelia uncovers, the greater the risks – especially for one handsome German Afrika Korps officer.

How far must Cordelia go to protect her identity and secure passage out of Rome?

Lucifer's Game is author Cristina Loggia's debut fiction novel. Spies, military secrets, and a personal crusade for freedom leads to an utterly gripping World War II thriller. This story is one of the first that I've read that centers mostly around Italy during World War II as well as scenes from Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox, in Africa who could have won the war for the Axis were it not for some very well placed spies and circumstances. 

It is also one of the first novels that I've read that addresses the issues of Jewish treatment in Italy, and the fact that the Vatican really didn't do enough to help them escape the brutality of Mussolini, Kesselring, and Goering. This story takes place mostly during the year of 1942. The story alternate's between a variety of good, and not so good characters.  

Lucifer is a British spy who is deep cover with the Italian black shirts. The black shirts were a violent militia of Benito Mussolini, similiar to Hitler's SS. The black shirts used Mussolini's 1922 Racial Laws to subjugate Jews to harsh treatments and worse. Lucifer is able to access all classified information about dates, routes, number of ships, troops and goods that the Italian command is sending to Tripoli, Libya to restock Field Marshall Erwin Rommel aka the Desert Fox. But his days are numbered after Rommel sends an investigator to suss out the spy.

Cordelia Olivieri is a young, determined hotel owner desperate to escape Mussolini’s racial persecution. But as Fascist leaders gather in Rome to hunt a spy, Cordelia is suddenly surrounded by the world’s most ruthless and powerful commanders. In an effort to keep her Jewish heritage a secret and secure safe passage out of Italy, Cordelia forms a dangerous alliance with Father Colombo, a Vatican librarian who has been working with the British. Her goal is to get out of Italy as soon as she can before her heritage is discovered. Going undercover, Cordelia begins obtaining and leaking military intelligence to a British agent, hoping the intel will secure her freedom. 

But the more Cordelia uncovers, the greater the risks – especially for one handsome German Afrika Korps officer named Schaeffer who is sent to uncover the spy responsible for disrupting Rommel's supply line. How far must Cordelia go to protect her identity and secure passage out of Rome? She must deal with dangerous men like Severi and Father Blasius who each have their own agenda's. Severi wants his command back from Schaeffer, Blasius wants to punch Schaeffer in the throat for what happened in the past. 

Overall, this is a well researched, and well thought out story that could have done away with a bunch of side characters, while focusing on Claudia and Schaeffer. Even though Cordelia isn't a real character, her surroundings are real. The threats from the Germans and Fascist Italians was real. The treatment of Italian Jews was real. The Italian Racial Laws (Italian: Leggi razziali) were a set of laws promulgated by Fascist Italy from 1938 to 1943 to enforce racial discrimination in Italy, directed mainly against the Italian Jews and the native inhabitants of the colonies. Italian Jews lost their civil rights, including those to property, education and employment. They were removed from government jobs, the armed forces, and public schools (both as teachers and students). To escape persecution, around 6,000 Italian Jews emigrated to other countries, including the USA.

On a side note: Falsely accused of having remained silent during the Holocaust, Pope Pius XII did more than any other human being to save Jew. It is said he saved up to 860,000.  

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#REVIEW - Realms of Ghosts and Magic by J.S. Malcom #Urban #Fantasy

Series: Fae Witch Chronicles # 1
Format: Kindle, 253 pages
Release Date: October 1st 2017
Publisher: Amazon
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Urban Fantasy

When the fae beckon, few resist. Even fewer return.

As a veil witch, I’m used to taking out the supernatural trash. Everything from poltergeists to vampires, you name it and I’ve dealt with it. So opening a paranormal cleanup business just seemed to make sense. If I’m already dealing with the pests, why not get paid?

But when I accidentally breach the faerie realm to encounter a girl recently reported missing, start seeing the ghost of a witch whose disappearance has never been solved, and discover a Book of Shadows that opens only for me, I can't just go back to business as usual. Especially when I also gain the interest of a sexy and mysterious mage. Timing is everything, and even as my desire grows, a little voice inside keeps reminding me to step carefully. I know all too well that, in the supernatural world, opening doors means facing consequences. In this case, those consequences might just mean never being heard from again.

Realms of Ghosts and Magic is the first installment in author J.S. Malcom's Fae Witch Chronicles. This is a spin-off from The Realm Watchers series that featured Autumn Winter. 26-year-old Cassie, Autumn's sister, is a veil witch capable of ejecting paranormal trespassers from the realm back to where they came. She recently opened her own business called Supernatural Cleaning Service. As a veil witch, she ages much slower than a normal human. In fact, people believe that she's around 17 which gives people pause when you show up at their homes to rid the home of pesky ghosts, or poltergeists, or basement dwellers who didn't know they were dead. 

Cassie is just getting back on her feet. When she was 11, she was taken by Vamanec P'yrin, aka body snatchers, and spent the next 15 years trying to find a way to her own body. Luckily, Cassie, as a veil witch, can escape their bodies before being locked in a virtual prison. She was able to find and share a body with a woman named Julia who had undiscovered psychic abilities before the two came together. The two are best friends and for good reasons. Cassie lives in a witches only apartment building called the Cauldron. Unfortunately, all the witches seem to do is party all night long. Oh, and there's a mysterious ghost hanging around that might give Cassie a clue to what's ahead.

She also works part time at a place called Grimoire. Here at Grimoire's Cassie learns about a book, Book of Shadows, written by Lauren Flannery, that seems to call to her. On top of that, a curious and mysterious man named Grayson has come out of nowhere and has decided that he wanted to get close to her claiming to work for The Shadow Order. Leads to some funny and heart wrenching experiences that give us deeper understanding of Cassie and what's she been through. The deeper mystery is why Cassie can seem to easily go into a different realm where it appears yet another deeper, and more dangerous mystery awaits. 

I have been told that although its probably not completely necessary to read the Realm Watchers series first it certainly helps - especially when characters are talking about people, places and things that would otherwise have very little meaning to a new reader. This book should be considered to be New Adult/Fantasy. At times, Cassie acts younger than she is, and I think that's because she's missing 15 years from her life that she could have used to come into her own like her sister did. 

Because I am a bit behind on this series, admit it, I am 5 books behind! Leaving me hanging at the end of the book as a ploy to buy the next book to find out what happens is a bummer. The ending implies serious troubles for Cassie and new confrontation on the horizon.

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