Hardback Homicide: A Shelf Indulgence Cozy Myster #1

This was another really quick read. I foresee reading a lot more like this next year, intermingled with all the true crime book I just picked up. 

Dakota Adair owns and runs a quaint bookshop called Tattered Pages, in the small town of Silverwood Hollow. She has a background in antique books and if often asked to assess value. One afternoon two sisters come in, Carrie and Marcy. Marcy requests that Dakota procure an antique copy of Alice in Wonderland. Dakota is able to find a copy and decides to drop it by her house. When she arrives, Marcy does not answer her knocks and Dakota starts to get concerned. She looks in the window and can see someone lying on the floor but can only see feet. She tries the front door and it pushed open and she finds Marcy, dead, on the floor. After calling the police and giving her statement she makes her way back to her shop. Two questions are still bothering her; was Marcy a victim of foul play and what was the strange smell in her house? As the story progresses strange things start to come to light. First, Marcys's house was part of a street that had been bought up by a conglomerate and second, Carrie is the sole heir to whatever fortune Marcy had. Which by all accounts was pretty large. Dakota is asked to look at the books Marcy had and there are a lot of first editions, signed, including a first edition Chronicles of Narnia.

All in all, a cute read. There were a few lines in the book that put me off but overall, I think this is a series I could get into. The characters are fun and have plenty of personality. There are a few things I think that could be tweaked as the series progresses. Dakota seemed to not know what she wants. She claims to not like the town gossips, want a quiet life with no man but then inserts herself into the investigation, and seems to be interested in at least two of the men in this story. Despite this I am willing to give it another chance. I received this book free from Amazon when I signed up for Kindle Unlimited. 

Captain Dead Man: A Sweetfern Harbor Mystery #3

This book picks up right where the last one ended, with Mac proposing to Brenda. She accepts of course but is dismayed when he asks her to withhold telling anyone, since the town is still reeling from the death of actress Ellen Teague. 

Brenda pushes the sadness aside and starts preparing for the sailboat race that has returned to Sweetfern Harbor. The bed and breakfast is booked solid and the town is bustling with people who have come out to not only see the race but the captains as well. Along with the locals and the tourists is an old friend of Detective Macs, Bryce Jones, a detective from Brooklyn.

Captains, Eddy, Pratt and Scully are local celebrities and have been best friends for decades. Having not only sailed against each other in this race but also all over the world, the locals and tourists are looking forward to seeing the go up against each other. The Captains, tell Brenda and Mac to come down the next morning for tours of their boats. They agree and show up the next morning, only to discover Captain Eddy, dead in his living quarters aboard his boat. 

They start investigating and soon realize they have no leads and no good suspects. No one can fathom that Captain Eddy had any enemies, or none that might actually want to kill him. The race goes forward and Bryce is asked to pilot, Captain Eddys ship. Not too long after the race starts, the boat starts to sink, and Bryce has to be rescued while the ship sinks to the bottom of the harbor. Detective Mac is more than a little upset that the evidence is now definitely gone. Who would want Captain Eddy dead and more importantly why? Can Brenda and Detective Mac find the culprit before it's too late?

Another great, short, cozy read. Perfect on a chilly day, sitting in my recliner, watching the squirrels. I really like the characters of this series. I am excited to see Mac and Brenda tie the knot and to see what other kinds of mysteries they can solve together. 

Killer Cupcakes: Lexy Baker #1

I think I say this every time, but I just love a good quick, cozy mystery read. This one at, 146 pages, is the perfect afternoon read. 

Lexy is a young woman, recovering from a breakup two years ago, she has decided to move on from Kevin and open up her own bakery. Her signature baked good being cupcake tops. She has recently moved into her grandmother's house after she decided to move into a retirement facility to be closer to her friends. The neighbor, Jack is a local sheriff and is instantly taken with Lexy.

The day after Lexy meets Jack, her ex-boyfriend, Kevin is found murdered, poisoned by way of her signature, cupcake tops, which unfortunately puts Lexy at the top of the suspect list. After the cops come and search her bakery, closing it for a few days while they test the ingredients, Lexy goes to talk to her grandmother, hoping for comfort. She gets that and so much more when her grandmother informs her that she and her friends are amateur sleuths and have solved a few cases already. They, with Lexys help, just might be able to figure out who killed Kevin and tried to frame Lexy.

This was a great story. Cute and clever, as usual, I was surprised to find out who the killer was. Cozy mysteries that are short, are a nice break from some of the darker stuff that I read, and this is a series that will go on my go to list for sure!

Dead in Bed: A Sweetfern Harbor Mystery #2

I read the first book awhile back and when I signed up for Kindle unlimited, books 2 and 3 were part of the deal. I really liked the first book and was excited to get to read the others. I love a good cozy mystery, and these do not disappoint. 

Brenda Sheffield runs a bed and breakfast in the little town of Sweetfern Harbor. A group of actors has come to stay including her idol, Ellen Teague. Most of the cast arrives before Ellen and Brenda is enjoying engaging with them. When Ellen arrives, the tone changes. The cast isn't as talkative, and Ellen seems very put off by not only the setting but Brenda herself. Brenda cannot figure out what she has or hasn't done, and it puts her off looking at her as an idol anymore. While watching them rehearse the next day, they inform her that her uncle, Randolph, was an actor and that's why they came to Sheffield Bed and Breakfast. They wanted to see why he gave up acting. Brenda had no idea that her uncle had been an actor.

The opening night of the play goes off without a hitch. Ellen puts on her best public face, and everyone is charmed by her. After the play, Brendas friend and attorney asks to speak with her. He informs her that Ellen is challenging Brendas ownership of the bed and breakfast, stating that Randolph had promised it to her instead. After the play, Brenda attempts to speak to Ellen about it to no avail. A huge argument ensues, and it leaves Brenda shaken. 

The next morning one of the other actors goes to get something from Ellen, only to discover she has been murdered. Seeing as Ellen was demanding and not well liked so the list of people who might want her dead. Brenda has been dating a local detective, Detective Mac and unfortunately, he sees her as a suspect too given that Ellen was going to sue her, and they had an argument. He gives Brenda one day to figure out who might have killed Ellen. Can Brenda figure out who killed Ellen before she herself is arrested?

I really enjoyed this series. I didn't realize just how many there are and I'm so excited to get to read all of them. If you enjoy, quick, cozy mystery reads, then this a series you should definitely check out. 

Hope Wharf

This was another author request and as usual I was not disappointed! I love a good mystery and the description of this book definitely had me intrigued. 

The town of Hope Wharf is a seemingly sleepy little town where people love to come visit and the residents never leave. The book opens with one of the residents attempting to leave. Unfortunately, he doesn't make it, instead he's dead and his untimely death is used as a cautionary tale to keep others from even trying to leave. Years later, Ryan and his friend Zac are starting to suspect that the town isn't exactly all it seems. Zac is determined to leave the town. He wants to travel and see the world. One night they decide to try to make it to the edge of town. A mysterious fog envelops them, and Zac is taken over. Ryan is able to revive him, and they make it back to the wharf only to stumble upon an even bigger mystery. What is it about this town that keeps the locals trapped? 

Without going into too much more, this is a fantastic story. A novella with so much packed in you won't be able to put it down. Its fast paced with great attention to detail. With vivid descriptions and engaging characters, this coming-of-age story will have you guessing until the very end. I really enjoyed this story. A huge thank you to the author for reaching out and sending it to me to read. I will definitely be looking for more from him.

The Neighbors

Holy balls!! This book! What a ride! This story gave me anxiety, had me on the verge of tears and in complete suspense until the very last few pages. 

Paisley and her husband Charlie and their German Shephard, Bear, have recently moved to a 40-acre plot of land for a fresh start. After a loss no parent should ever experience, this move is quite a change from their busy apartment in San Francisco but they both needed it and are excited to start anew. 

Paisley's optimism turns sour when her neighbor comes onto her property with a shotgun accusing their dog of killing all of his chickens. Charlie has been working 14-hour days and when he is home, he just sleeps so Paisley is constantly on high alert. Shortly after this altercation she starts hearing drums playing at night near their property. Not rock drums either, but the kind of drums that sound ominous. To top it all off, she keeps seeing new reports of women in the area being murdered, cut to bits in their own homes. It's enough to drive someone mad, or has this been the plan all along? 

None of the neighbors have been very friendly. Between the neighbor that threatened her and her dog, the drumming and the murders, Paisley is starting to regret ever moving to this small town. Charlie is gone all too often and isn't supportive when he is home. Paisley soon finds that not is all what it seems. She feels Charlie is hiding something and she is determined to find out what. 

This story is a ride, no doubt. Twists and turns I never saw coming and the ending! This is a must read. It will have you on the edge of your seat and definitely leave you wanting more. I received this book for free from Booksirens for an honest review. This book will be available January 11, 2022.

Nails

Jessie Clarke has gone missing. She was supposed to be meeting a blind date. Unfortunately, she met a sadistic killer instead. After her disappearance the police partner with a powerful clairvoyant, Amanda Kaidy, in the hopes of finding her alive. The police also discover this has happened before, going back decades. Can they connect the years, find the killer and rescue the girl, before it's too late?

This story was a little hard for me to follow. It could be just me; I had a little bit of a hard time keeping the story line and the characters straight, but I really enjoyed the basis of the story though and that's what kept me reading. The story is suspenseful, shocking, gruesome and yet I couldn't stop reading it. I really enjoyed the story despite the macabre subject matter. I am looking forward to more from this author.

Golem

"Some women's hearts are darker than any man who's ever existed". 

"No one wants the truth. They desire lies. The truth forces them to look, to see with wider eyes. So much easier to dismiss the unknown than to think through it".

I was contacted by the author to review this book. After reading the description, my interest was definitely peaked, and I was not disappointed! This book blew me away. The author states in his author note that his influences include, Dracula, Frankenstein, and Stephen King just to name a few. I also felt Lovecraft in his story. 

The story centers around a man named John Ashton, a beat cop recently minted a detective. He is asked by the captain of the police to follow up on the disappearance of the D.A.s daughter. A woman named Alena, who is a mental patient at Bellevue, has claimed to have seen the girl and is desperate for someone to listen to her. John sets out to make contact with her and to see what information she has, not knowing he about to step into a world that he will never escape. 

Alena is a wealthy socialite who is jilted by her lover and ends up lonely and isolated in her mansion. She starts creating a statue and wills him to come to life. When he actually does, she is happy, yet she knows not the evil which she has unleashed not only into her own life, but to the world. This Golem will be her undoing. I will not say any more about this fantastic story other than, go grab a copy of this book today! 

I really enjoyed the story. The descriptions are so vivid. The scenes horrific and yet I couldn't stop reading it. The characters are well thought out and the locations. Even the lore in this book is wonderfully written. I knew the term, golem, from the tv show Supernatural but I also knew it was from Jewish folklore, an animated clay creature. There are other creatures within this story that I recognized. Their names gave me pause, I did not want to say them, even in my head while reading. All in all, this is a story that you will not soon forget. I very much look forward to reading more from this author. 

Demon House

Another fantastic, 5-star read from A.N. Willis! If I could have given it ten stars, I would have. This is the third book in the Penny Wright series, and I cannot get enough of her story. This book was highly anticipated by me, and I was not disappointed!

I was really happy to see that Penny and Matthew were still together, maybe it's the romantic in me, but I really am rooting them on. Penny is still working in L.A. with her best friend and is on break to from it to work with The Mercury Group. Anderson Green has recruited Penny to join the other parasentives and to learn more about how to harness her powers. Within Mercury group, new characters, Zandra and Ben were introduced and I'm hopeful that they will play a larger part in further books.

The book opens with three people, two sisters, and a male friend, urbexing at the Demler House. They think they hear whispers and then see a large silver light. One of the sisters falls and is gravely injured, subsequently falling into a coma. They owner of the house and the camp adjacent to the house, Vera Miller (Demler) decided that it is time to figure out what's going on at the large house. She hires Anderson Green, and he has gathered Penny, Zandra and Ben to join him in Crimson Falls, Colorado, to clear the ruins of the large house of any remaining entities. The story behind the house is a grim one. In the 1990's a teenager by the name of Edmund Demler, murdered three teen girls and then killed himself by trying to burn his house down.

The house sits near Shady Valley Camp a place for troubled young women. The camp has long been closed but is now used as a motel. When the group starts to poke around the large house, they are met with whispers, spirit trails and a poltergeist. The decision is made to try their best to gather as much information they can about the Demler case and as they do startling revelations come to light that threaten to destroy the town and some of the people in it. Penny is a powerful medium, more powerful than she is aware and it really causes problems in this book. Can Penny and the others in the Mercury Group find out the truth before it's too late?

I'm going to stop there because I don't want to reveal too much. This story is full of twists, turns, love, suspense, and mystery. I did not want to put this book down and even stayed up late trying to finish it. I am very much looking forward to reading more about Penny and what other adventures she will get into. I received this book free from Booksirens for an honest review.

The Couple at No. 9

This is fantastically written! Well thought out, an intricate plot and so many twists! I was kept guessing until the very end. I love mysteries and the one thing I love about them is that I rarely figure it out before things are revealed. 

The couple at the center of this story are Tom and Saffron. They inherited a quaint cottage in Beggars Nook at No.9 Skeleton Place. Little did they know when they moved in just how appropriate the street name would come to be. The house needs a lot of updates. They decide to extend the kitchen and in doing so have to dig up the garden. Shortly after beginning the excavation of the garden, the building workers find something, well two somethings. Two skeletons buried under the stone slabs. They contact the police and soon are inundated with looky loos and reporters. Nothing like this happens in this tiny village. 

The police of course are investigating who the bodies are. They start asking questions of Saffron. She tells them she inherited the house from her grandmother, Rose, who only told her and her mother, Lorna about the cottage recently. Rose now lives in a care facility, dementia claiming the last years of her life and any memories about what might have happened to the two people there. 

After some investigating by the police and Lorna herself, they start to unravel the events of the past, 30 years past. Startling revelations about who Lornas father is, who the bodies are and who Rose is. Without saying more as not to spoil it, the secrets she's been keeping are HUGE! 

I really liked this story! I felt the characters were well developed and the setting descriptions made me feel like I was there with them. The author does a good job of weaving the story, not just in between the characters but also the years involved. I really liked how the chapters went back and forth between differing viewpoints and years. A 5-star read and definitely one I need to have in a physical copy. I received this book free from NetGalley for an honest review. 

Grimm and Dread

I received this book free from Quill and Crow publishing for an honest review. 

This book is a collection of fairy tales and though the original tales are often more dreadful than they're told by Disney, this book seeks to make them even more gruesome. Each retelling with its own twist.

The stories included are:

-What the Earth Bore: A Sleeping Beauty retelling by Mary Rajotte

-Black as Snow: A Snow-White retelling by Zeena Mubarak

-Where Shadows Fall: A Rapunzel retelling by Stephen Black

-The Devils Deal: A Bearskin retelling by Ryan Brinson

-Become a Flute, Become a Spy Glass, Become a Knife: a retelling of The Singing Bone by Elou Carroll

-Godmother Death: a retelling of Grandfather Death by Adam M. Faderewski

-That Which You Have Promised: a Frog Prince retelling by Sabrina Howard

-The Three Wounds: a retelling of the Three Snakes Leaves by Beatrice Hadwin

-A Tainted Rose: a retelling of The Seven Ravens by Brad Acevedo

-What's in a Name: a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin by J.S. Larmore

-The Wind So Mild: a retelling of Hansel and Gretel by Victoria Audley

-The Crow Princess: a retelling of Cinderella by Lucas Mann

All in all, I really enjoyed this retelling of so many of the fairy tales I am familiar with. There were some I had never heard of and that has prompted me to read the originals. There was a little more feminism than I prefer in my stories but that's just a personal preference. If you enjoy fairy tale type stories with a darker theme then this is the book for you. This book will be available December 10, 2021.

Fatal Cure

I was contacted by the author to read this in advance. And let me tell you, I was blown away! I was literally crying in the last few chapters. A story of finding love in the wrong place, dangerous enemies and the redemption that comes when you meet the right person, who can love you like no one else. 

Fallon is a young woman with a heartbreaking past. Her parents once doted on her and she was the center of their world. Until a freak accident landed her mom in recovery on pain pills. Unfortunately, that's where the addiction started and it would not end well, as they often don't. Her father fell apart after the death of her mother, and he himself became an addict. Fallon has basically been on her own since she was 11. All grown up now, she's determined to make it as a DEA agent. Her life goal to destroy and raze the drug organizations that decimated her family and others like hers. 

On the morning she is supposed to be joining a new DEA task force, she decides to hit the gym to burn off some excess energy. While leaving she takes the elevator and is met with a tall, dark haired and muscular stranger with spellbinding eyes. He introduces himself as Dillon. Suddenly the elevator stops and they soon realize they are in grave danger as there is a fire about to take out the cables holding them up. They manage to get out through the escape hatch at the top and barely make it to the next floor when the fire consumes the cables and the car crashes below them. Once out, Dillon asks her out as a thank you for saving his life. If that's not an opening chapter, I don't know what is!

From here their relationship progresses pretty quickly, as they are both drawn to each other in a way neither can explain. While on their first date they talk about their pasts and inside they both realize that for many years they have pushed others out and that maybe this time it will be different. But all they've built up is about the explode when Fallon starts to uncover shocking truths about her parents, her past and the men she is hunting. She doesn't realize just how close she is to catching the people who destroyed her family. Dillon has enemies, a lot of them. Dirty, cruel and ruthless, people that will blow up entire cities to get their point across. When it's discovered that a major drug cartel is trying to make a move to the states, things heat up. Putting not only her life and Dillon's life in danger but thousands of the people she has sworn to protect. Can Fallon change the course of things and save the lives of those she loves before it's too late?

As I said above the author asked me to read this book. I have already read Deadly Illusions, the first book in this series. I absolutely loved it and was thrilled and honored to be asked to read this one. I love the fact that the author uses real locations that I can look up, it gives a sense that this could be a true story. Dillon is an alpha male, which I'm drawn to and Fallon and Dillon have a love that I know. An electric, "I knew this was my soul mate" kind of love. The last few chapters of this book are so wonderfully written. I was in tears. A romantic, page turner that will keep you guessing until the very end. I very much look forward to more from this author.  I agreed to read this book free from the author for an honest review.