Today’s review was a book that took serial killer to a different level. Instead of concentrating on the killer… Truly, Madly, Deeply took the perceptive from the killer’s family.

Sophie was a young girl when her Mom’s boyfriend came into her life. He was everything she wanted as a father. While they grew as a family women were brutally murdered. Then one day Matty was arrested and Sophie’s world changed.

Now as an adult Sophie received a letter from prison…he wants to speak with her because he’s dying. This could be the chance to put things to rest. Told in Sophie’s perspective from the past and present, we follow her doubt if Matty is truly guilty. And we get know her mother Amelia-Rose from when they move from Massachusetts to London and having a serial killer as a boyfriend.

I have to say this was different from most murder/crime books I’ve read. It’s slow, maybe going from the past and present, and there are a few hints given throughout the the book that makes it known that all isn’t what is seems. The pace wasn’t as fast as I liked but it didn’t stop me from finishing this book. I did find Sophie’s obsession with Matty a little annoying and the build up to the end was very slow. You already know that Matty did something… it was just the wait to find out that was frustrating.

The ending did feel neatly wrapped up and there were a few surprises causing some twists and turns that left me satisfied with the book. It wasn’t as suspenseful as most murder/crime books but that’s ok! As I said before this has a different set up to that type genre and I actually liked that. I was engaged and wanted to know what happened. And sometimes reading a slower pace gets you to thinking about the story and where it’s going. There were some things I wasn’t surprised about but the ending was a bit of a shock. It seemed to come out of nowhere.

Should you read it? Yes, a different type of serial killer book with a twisted ending.

Sebastian and Ainsley are back! This sexy mafia romance is the final book in the Forever Series and it doesn’t disappoint!

I was happy to return to Ainsley and Sebastians world as they are in protective custody from Sebastians horrid mafia Father. But an old injury causes Sebastian to lose his memory of ever meeting Ainsley! He’s not even the same caring Sebastian we know and love. I can’t tell you the emotions I felt reading this book and my heart went out to Ainsley. Her struggles were my struggles as I wanted to yell at Sebastian to snap out of it.

Tara did a wonderful job at bringing the reader back into Ainsley and Sebastian’s world. It was an emotional rollercoaster as we watched Ainsley try and get the man she loved back. I couldn’t put the book down with all the twists Tara threw at us. I had to finish it. And man there were surprises in store with returning characters that added so much more depth and emotions to this book.

The story flowed and the pace was quick that I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. I felt Ainsley’s emotions of lost and heartache. I felt Sebastian’s confusion and fear. But most importantly the sex scenes were vivid and hot! Tara knows how to write hot sexy characters that any reader can connect with. This was the perfect ending to a wonderful series. I’m sad to say goodbye to these characters but Tara wrapped this series up with a nice bow and I’m deeply satisfied with the way everything turned out.

Should you read the book? Yes! A perfect wrap up to a wonderful series that will leave you satisfied and keep these wonderful characters with you always.

Order the book here!

It’s been a while since I did a review. Moving back to Arizona, getting a new job, and buying a house was a lot of work. But i’m happy to be home and happy to start reading again! Todays review is a creeptastic read about a very smart rat who is out for revenge.

Wrath is about Sammy the lab rat who was genetically altered with human DNA…he simply became very intelligent. And with the help of a little boy he escapes to cause chaos in New York city. There was a reminiscence of the movie Willard with revenge and the movie/book of Rats of Nimh with the genetically altered rats.

This book was about experiments and animal suffering, which unfortunately happens for medicine and beauty products. I do believe scientist do have the best interest at heart but sometimes their greed for power and the unattainable overshadows everything else they set out to accomplish. Noah and Sienna fell under that line. Messing with nature could have consequences.

I found the science behind the book understandable and most likely the authors did their research. It was very interesting on the lengths Noah and Sienna would o to obtain the perfect animal experiment. It was very disheartening and sad but then the rat killing human revenge scenes were horrifically good! Reminded me of Stephen Kings Graveyard Shift and Willard. Rats are viscous when need be. Especially when they gather together as one.

The book was vivid, especially the brutal death scenes by the rats. It gave me the heebie-jeebies thinking of how one could die from them! The plot flowed and the pace was quick. I turned each page with dread and anticipation. I loved Sammy and Dallas interaction. You could tell they cared for each other but ultimaltey Sammy had an agenda. I did like the different point of views from the characters. It was good to read about the human perspective, not just the rat’s. The ending had me worried but it was wrapped up neatly like a present with a bow. It left me thinking about the book for days and wondering what real science experiments are going on.

Should you read it? Yes! A thrilling horrific science fiction read that will keep you up at night of all the possibilities of animal revenge.

Today’s book is a very magical enticing read! Let’s take a look at Blood Like Magic!

After years of waiting for her Calling—a trial every witch must pass in order to come into their powers—the one thing Voya Thomas didn’t expect was to fail. When Voya’s ancestor gives her an unprecedented second chance to complete her Calling, she agrees—and then is horrified when her task is to kill her first love. And this time, failure means every Thomas witch will be stripped of their magic.

Voya is determined to save her family’s magic no matter the cost. The problem is, Voya has never been in love, so for her to succeed, she’ll first have to find the perfect guy—and fast. Fortunately, a genetic matchmaking program has just hit the market. Her plan is to join the program, fall in love, and complete her task before the deadline. What she doesn’t count on is being paired with the infuriating Luc—how can she fall in love with a guy who seemingly wants nothing to do with her?

With mounting pressure from her family, Voya is caught between her morality and her duty to her bloodline. If she wants to save their heritage and Luc, she’ll have to find something her ancestor wants more than blood. And in witchcraft, blood is everything.

Order the book here!

Note: Each Review I will link a Black Owned Independent Bookstore for you to order from. Let’s support our small bookstores!

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Tawney’s Review:

This was a great YA Urban Fantasy/Sci-fi book. The diverse characters and family dynamic were strong. The setting refreshing, as it took place in a futuristic Toronto. Yay Canada! I really enjoyed reading Blood Like Magic. ,

Voya is a descendant of powerful Black witches and waits for the Calling so she can inherent her magic. Of course things don’t go smoothly with impossible tasks and terrible consequences arise. This was a unique story with family at the heart of it. I loved how Voya would always fight for her family, even if the situation was difficult her family came first.

Liselle Sambury did a wonderful job at bringing her characters to life and keeping the futuristic magical world around them realistic. Each character had depth and you couldn’t help but fall in love and connected with them. The pace flowed with conflict and mystery, which had me turning each page with anticpation.

Should you read this book? Yes! A captivating read with wonderful characters that make you yearn for the second book immediately! Thankfully it’s a series so we can follow Voya and her companions again soon.

This month is national Asian Pacific American Heritage month so I decided to honor that by reading books by Asian authors. I love own voice authors, and this was a perfect month to find new favs. Today let’s take a look at Made in Korea.

There’s nothing Valerie Kwon loves more than making a good sale. Together with her cousin Charlie, they run V&C K-BEAUTY, their school’s most successful student-run enterprise. With each sale, Valerie gets closer to taking her beloved and adventurous halmeoni to her dream city, Paris. 

Enter the new kid in class, Wes Jung, who is determined to pursue music after graduation despite his parents’ major disapproval. When his classmates clamor to buy the K-pop branded beauty products his mom gave him to “make new friends,” he sees an opportunity—one that may be the key to help him pay for the music school tuition he knows his parents won’t cover… 

What he doesn’t realize, though, is that he is now V&C K-BEAUTY’s biggest competitor. 

Stakes are high as Valerie and Wes try to outsell each other, make the most money, and take the throne for the best business in school—all while trying to resist the undeniable spark that’s crackling between them. From hiring spies to all-or-nothing bets, the competition is much more than either of them bargained for.

But one thing is clear: only one Korean business can come out on top.

Order the book here!

Tawney’s Review:

Today’s review is a creeptastic read that I couldn’t put down.

Let’s take a look at What Big Teeth!

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Eleanor Zarrin has been estranged from her wild family for years. When she flees boarding school after a horrifying incident, she goes to the only place she thinks is safe: the home she left behind. But when she gets there, she struggles to fit in with her monstrous relatives, who prowl the woods around the family estate and read fortunes in the guts of birds.

Eleanor finds herself desperately trying to hold the family together―in order to save them all, Eleanor must learn to embrace her family of monsters and tame the darkness inside her.

Exquisitely terrifying, beautiful, and strange, this fierce gothic fantasy will sink its teeth into you and never let go.

Order the book here: Harriett’s Bookshop

Note: Each Review I will link a Black Owned Independent Bookstore for you to order from. Let’s support our small bookstores!

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Tawney’s Review: I found myself intrigued by this gory mystery of a book. Eleanor returns home from being at boarding school for 8 years to a family full of strangers. She returns with questions; why was she sent away and why is she treated like a stranger?

Eleanor’s family has secrets. Grandma Persephone is a witch, Grandpa Miklos, Luma and Rhys are wolves, and her mother mostly stays in the bathtub full of tentacles. Of course bizarre occurrences start to happen due to having a monstrous family. Eleanor fears them but also wants to belong with them, so this twisted conflict is quite captivating. Which make all the more for a good read.

Szabo did a wonderful job at writing a haunting story. The gothic setting wasn’t dreary but spooky and added a tone of dread. It also brought intrigue and mystery to the book. Add in monsters and ghosts and it brings a great cast of characters. The family dynamic is dysfunctional given the members are very different in their peculiar ways. We come to understand them as Eleanor grows familiar with her family herself. The biggest mystery is her cousin Arthur. He is the heir apparent to the family and seems to serve their every needs. There are subtle clues with twist and turns towards answers but the reveal at the end was satisfying.

Should you read it? Yes! With a haunting mystery and secrets lucking in every dark corner of this monstrous family it makes for a fantastic read.

I’m back! It’s been a while since I reviewed or posted anything. A lot has happened, especially at the beginning of this year.

I’ve been looking for a job since moving to Nashville last year and it’s been pretty much intense during this pandemic. That was why I took some time off reviewing. But I have been keeping myself busy by writing and reading.

My first review this year is on The Night Swim. I have read a lot of books in the last few months but this book has stuck with me. I devoured it once I started reading and couldn’t put it down until I finished. Let’s take a look at The Night Swim.

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In The Night Swim, a new thriller from Megan Goldin, author of the “gripping and unforgettable” (Harlan Coben) The Escape Room, a true crime podcast host covering a controversial trial finds herself drawn deep into a small town’s dark past and a brutal crime that took place there years before.

Ever since her true-crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall has become a household name―and the last hope for people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The new season of Rachel’s podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season 3 a success, Rachel throws herself into her investigation―but the mysterious letters keep coming. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insist she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody in town wants to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases―and a revelation that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

Order the book here: Estelita’s Library

Note: Each Review I will link a Black Owned Independent Bookstore for you to order from. Let’s support our small bookstores!

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Tawney’s Review:

I’ve always been into true crime, weather it’s podcast, books, documentaries or my favorite series Dateline and Forensic Files. That may be why I got a bachelor’s degree in Justice Studies and went on to work for the court system.

Rachel Krall is a successful true-crime podcaster with Guilty or Not. She is an investigative report who knows how to research, as her podcast last two season overturned a conviction and solved a cold case. She puts her listeners in the jury seat so they can decided if the person is guilty or not.

Now Rachel finds herself following a trial of Scott Blair, a North Carolina resident charged with raping a sixteen year old. Just like real life, the town is divided on who to believe. Scott is a swimming champion and very much liked. His wealthy parents have hired a top attorney to fight the charges as Scott, as a good chance to go to the Olympics. The victim is unable to speak up for herself as the court ordered her silence. She has been put in anonymity but everyone in town knows who she is. She is being bullied with defamatory language on social media. But when Rachel receives a note from a woman named Hannah, a new case emerges. Hannah’s sister drowned 25 years ago and she wants Rachel’s help in solving it. Hannah believes her sister was murdered.

The point of view flips from Rachel, as she investigates these cases, and to Hannah, as she describes her sister Jenny’s life. The back and forth point of views was very interesting and kept me engaged as both characters revealed new clues and suspects.

This was a very good psychological thriller. Golden did a fabulous job at placing the reader in each scene, whether it was in the courtroom or investigating witnesses. There were also transcripts from Rachel’s podcast that made for an interesting addition to the story. The victims’ stories are so relevant with what is happening in the world today regarding rape. The twists and turns made for an intense read. The dual mysteries combined to a fantastically shocking ending.

Should your read this? Yes! A psychological thriller with fantastic twists and turns.

Today I am so excited to spotlight my good friend author Dana Ridenour!

Her third book in the Lexi Montgomery FBI series comes out today! It has been fun watching Dana publish her books and see her progression in writing. She has taken her heroine Lexi on some turbulent cases and I can never put these books down until I finish them.

Today Dana joins us for some Q&A but first let’s take a look at Below the Radar.

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After her last assignment went horribly wrong, everyone tells FBI Special Agent Lexie Montgomery she needs a break. But Lexie is determined to keep going with her undercover work–so when a Dutch constable goes missing, she jumps at the chance.

Along with Blake Bennett, her unfamiliar new partner, Lexie is thrown into the Gathering, a haven for environmental activists planning illegal activity. It’s a dangerous situation, but she blends right in–a little too well, Blake thinks. As the pair of them try to get closer to the vanished constable, he begins to suspect that Lexie may be hiding an affinity for the eco-extremists’ cause.

With her loyalties in question from both sides, Lexie will be forced to prove herself as an undercover agent and as a new recruit for the terrorists’ cause. But as time starts to run out, staying below the radar may prove harder than she’d planned.

Order the book here!

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Q&A with Dana Ridenour

 

Check out the Lexi Montgomrary series

 

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About the Author:

Dana Ridenour is a retired FBI agent. She spent most of her career as an FBI undercover operative infiltrating criminal organizations including the Animal Liberation Front, an organization of domestic terrorists. Dana writes a series of FBI undercover novels.

 

Follow Dana: Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

I am so excited that DEAD GIRLS DON’T DANCE by H.G. Lynch is available now and that I get to share the news!

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author H.G. Lynch, be sure to check out all the details below.

This blitz also includes a giveaway for a super cute sugar skull clutch, courtesy of H.G. and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

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Title: DEAD GIRLS DON’T DANCE

Author: H.G. Lynch

Pub. Date: November 2, 2018

Publisher: H.G. Lynch

Formats: eBook

Pages: 33

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon

What would you do if you woke up dead?

Gabriella remembers only parts of dying. She knows when she wakes up in a casket that she didn’t survive the crash.

But being dead doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy the afterlife.

Antonio is mysterious, lonely, and charming. Fortunately, he’s dead too.

With only two days before the end of the Day of the Dead festival, they have to figure out how to catch a murder, avoid the Grim Reaper, and get their Spirits to the Other Side before the Gate – between the living world and the realm of the dead – closes for another year.

Check out the Book Trailer

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Excerpt:

I felt dead. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it felt like, but I knew the moment I woke up that I wasn’t alive anymore. It was a sort of inner silence, the lack of my body’s natural mechanisms ticking and tocking – no heartbeat, no gurgling stomach, no wheezy lungs.

Scattered around my casket were bouquets of flowers – rich golden marigolds and butter yellow chrysanthemums. The air smelled of their sweet perfume, and of sugar.

I sat up, my body stiff and cold. Looking around, I saw I was surrounded by headstones, each garnished generously with orange flowers, fine decanters of wine or brandy, and plates of cookies shaped like skulls.

The cemetery was also full of people. Men and women with brightly painted faces, in lavish clothing, knelt by the headstones, chatting, drinking, and sharing food. As far as I could tell, mine was the only open grave.

Curious, and tired of sitting in a hard casket, I tried to stand. But my body wouldn’t co-operate. It was like I had no balance. Grabbing onto the sides of the casket, I carefully got my legs under me, and then used the side of the hole to pull myself up.

It was easier than I expected to haul myself up over the lip of the hole and onto the grass. It was as if the muscles in my arms didn’t care how much I weighed.

Sitting on the edge of my own grave, I looked around to see if anyone had noticed me climbing out of the hole, but nobody was looking my way.

 

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About H.G.:

H.G. Lynch is a Paranormal Romance author from Scotland. She is an avid reader, and cat-lover. She spends most of her days writing, while wrestling her cat off her laptop. She loves horse-riding, Star Trek, and snow.

 

Her books are dark paranormal romances.

 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page

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Giveaway Details:

1 winner will win a sugar skull clutch.

Enter HERE!