Review: ABBY, SKYLAR, AND GWYN’S AWESOME APPRENTICESHIP ADVENTURES (Jon’s Mysteries and Mack’s Marvelous Manifestations Short Stories ) by AJ Sherwood 

Rating: 3🌈

This group of 3 short stories is a bit of a mixed bag to be honest. Centered around the teenage characters from AJ Sherwood’s Jon’s Mysteries and Mack’s Marvelous Manifestations series they range from problematic to interesting.

Spoilers:

I didn’t expect this, especially considering such cool characters to work with. 

AITA for Telling My Friend She’s Being Cheated On? This is the story I have major concerns about. Abby, and Skylar are both high school students with powerful magical abilities. One being able to read people. See relationships, health issues. In this case it’s that a friend is being cheated on. Fine. But it’s not the issue. 

The boy is not well liked. Nor is the girl who he’s having the other relationship with. Again not the problem. Although not handled well. 

The issue? Abby reads that the other girl is pregnant, a fact she doesn’t realize herself. Nor does he. 

All extremely serious, private sensitive information. Want to guess how it’s going to be handled? Yep announced to those involved by Abby at school. With no adults present until much later. 

Nowhere is there any discussion on ethics or ramifications of this matter.  We all know how deadly high school is.  None of this matters.  Abby has outed the cheaters. 

This was almost a DNF moment. 

The rest was just ok. Honestly after that. I was done.

The second story saw Gwyn settling in and the third was about ghostly call that went sideways. 

But that first? Nope. Poorly executed and not well executed. 

Where’s the ethics here? 

No recommendations.

Cover by Katie Griffin

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comAbby, Skylar, and Gwyn’s Awesome Apprenticeship Adventures …

Blurb 

Have a Mack’s Horribly Hellacious Ghost Town hangover and need more? Here are three new short stories featuring the apprentices from Jon’s Mysteries and Mack’s Marvelous Manifestations! Each story is about a first of some kind, learning moments for the girls.

Note: Gwyn was introduced in Mack’s Horribly Hellacious Ghost Town. It is recommended you read that book first, but it’s not necessary.

AITA for Telling My Friend She’s Being Cheated On?

One of Jon’s first lessons to me had been to mind my own business. He’d stressed to me that life would be better for me all around if I kept everything to myself unless someone asked for information. Or unless the situation called for me to reveal that secret.

I, uh, had no idea which heading this fell under.

All in the Family

I think anyone in my shoes would be nervous. I was meeting people who would be in my life for years to come. People who didn’t have to like me. Brandon and Mack assured me it’d be fine, that everyone in their family was easygoing and I’d become part of the family, but still. My own parents didn’t like me. How could I expect anyone else to?

First Time for Everything

Lazy Saturday morning with nothing to do? Check.

Unexpected ghosts needing passing? Check.

Being attacked by a ghost without Mack around to help? Uh…help?!

Tags:
apprentices, short stories, side stories, BAMF girls, milestones, ghosts, energy reading, AITA, found family, chosen family, F/F romance, psychics, bonds, Gwyn does her first exorcism, Eli

Review:  Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea (Tomes and Tea Book 1) by Rebecca Thorne 

Rating: 4.5🌈

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea, the first book in the cozy LGBT romance fantasy Tomes and Tea series by Rebecca Thorne, has an totally different feel than the excellent Moss’d N Space novel I just finished by this writer. 

Slower paced, more to the journey of the couple and the establishment of their new shop than the other space adventure. But the relationship between the two characters, the dynamics and the way Thorne builds her community is just as excellent and thorough. 

The women, each with their fears and strengths about their decision to leave and have a future together in Tawny, despite the ramifications, have relatable moments and credibility here. From talks about power imbalance to money, it’s a relationship between adults who want to make sure their relationship works. 

Even with magic, dragons, bandits, and a psychopath of a queen behind them. 

Reyna, the Queen’s Guard and Kianthe, the Mage of the Ages, fleeing to set up a tea and book shop in the cold hinterlands was a dream, until it became clear that Reyna needed to leave before she became a casualty of the Queen’s cruelty. 

The town of Tawney, its citizens are beautifully drawn. They are soon become part of this couple’s found family and new life. 

And there’s a mystery a foot that needs to be solved, and that’s will take investigating as well as a journey. 

And dragons. 

A slower delight and cozy fantasy mystery that I absolutely enjoyed. 

Another wonderful tale to share. 

Cover art by Irene Huang 

Cover typography by Amphi 

Map by Rebecca Thorne 

Chapter ornaments by Amphi 

Tip-in illustration by Eilene Cherie

Includes the short story:

“Meet and Greet” by Rebecca Thorne

Tomes & Tea (4 book series):

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea #1

A Pirate’s Life for Tea #2

Tea You at the Altar #3

Alchemy and a Cup of Tea #4

Buy link

 Book 1 of 4: Tomes & Tea 

Blurb 

In the tradition of Legends & Lattes, comes a cozy fantasy steeped in sapphic romance about one of the Queen’s private guards and a powerful mage who want to open a bookshop and live happily ever after…if only the world would let them.

All Reyna and Kianthe want is to open a bookshop that serves tea. Worn wooden floors, plants on every table, firelight drifting between the rafters… all complemented by love and good company. Thing is, Reyna works as one of the Queen’s private guards, and Kianthe is the most powerful mage in existence. Leaving their lives isn’t so easy.

But after an assassin takes Reyna hostage, she decides she’s thoroughly done risking her life for a self-centered queen. Meanwhile, Kianthe has been waiting for a chance to flee responsibility–all the better that her girlfriend is on board. Together, they settle in Tawney, a town nestled in the icy tundra near dragon country, and open the shop of their dreams.

What follows is a cozy tale of mishaps, mysteries, and a murderous queen throwing the realm’s biggest temper tantrum. In a story brimming with hurt/comfort and quiet fireside conversations, these two women will discover just what they mean to each other… and the world.

Bramble

Publication date

July 10, 2023

Language

‎English

Print length

345 pages

Book 1 of 4

Tomes & Tea

Review: My Emergency Contact Is A Wolf Shifter by Roxie Ray

Rating: 4.5 ⭐️

The authors writing under the name Roxie Ray have another really well crafted, emotional and surprisingly layered paranormal tale about two people, a potty-mouthed parrot, who find themselves in a relationship, and moving forward with their lives and fixing their issues along the way. 

That one is a wolf shifter who’s been estranged from his shifter community is an even better element. 

Therapy and therapists play a key role here for three characters, the first being a young girl who is a new neighbor of Zoey Yates. 

Zoey, who just moved to the new apartment and town in the Adirondacks for boundaries with her mother and their toxic relationship, is immediately “adopted” by Bobbi, her young neurodivergent neighbor. Bobbi appears often unannounced , backpack in hand, to interact with Zoey and Markie, Zoey, rescue African Grey parrot. Love that parrot btw. Hilarious. 

The characters and their dynamics are incredibly well executed and beautifully written. It’s a layered and believable relationship that develops as they, especially Zoey who wants to remain emotionally independent, starts to accept Bobbi and others as part of her circle. 

That includes Liam, the wolf shifter who ends up as her emergency contact. How that happens is hilarious and honestly, something that you can see happening. 

Liam too is someone who is in need of help, which he acknowledges. The need for protection stemming from his background. 

This is a thoughtfully written, well plotted book, funny, yes,I was absolutely laughing at parts, as well as having small moments of poignant realism, as with  Mr. Hardan.   

It was over far too soon. I found such joy in the company of these characters, the journey that Zoey had to take felt almost familiar in places, and so many truths were uttered here. 

Again, it’s that cover. Threw me totally. What’s that saying? Can’t trust a book by its cover? This book is so much better than the cute cover. 

Pick it up and read it for yourself. 

Highly recommended. 

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comMy Emergency Contact is a Wolf Shifter – Ray, Roxie

Blurb 

Zoey Yates doesn’t ask for help. She fixes things, handles things, and keeps a carefully maintained emotional perimeter around everything that matters. She has a plan, a parrot with a helpdesk vocabulary, and absolutely zero feelings about the wolf shifter she listed as her emergency contact after knowing him for approximately six hours.

Zero feelings. Completely fine.

The hospital called him anyway. He drove forty minutes in thirty-two. Now he’s in her apartment, cooking eggs she didn’t ask for, and her parrot—who has never liked anyone—has accepted a head scratch. Liam sits across the room, not beside her, because she hasn’t invited anything closer. He waits. He doesn’t push.

Zoey has spent her whole life being the person who shows up. She doesn’t have a protocol for someone who shows up for her.

She’s building one. Against her will. Slightly faster than planned.

My Emergency Contact is a Wolf Shifter is a steamy standalone paranormal romance about a woman who guards everything and the wolf who waited at the door

Special Fiction Books

Publication date

June 16, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

355 pages

Review: Wave Rider (Verdant String Book 1) by Michelle Diener

Rating :4.5⭐️

Wave Rider is the fifth book the Verdant String series but unlike other series, these stories are written as standalone novels and can be read separately from each other. 

The Verdant String are a group of green life bearing planets from 5 solar systems that make up the Verdant String Coalition. So the stories feature various species and worlds different from each other. 

I picked up Wave Rider because I really liked the premise of the book. An isolated woman scientist on an icy planet, a pod of water beings that sounds similar to whales, and a mysterious plot unfolding around her. 

There’s also an indigenous peoples who are wave riders who collect a substance similar to baleen and a matriarchal society. 

So many interesting elements here that I found myself wishing that the author had explored some of these in even more detail. Just so many great ideas and storylines here and not enough page time for them all. 

Anna and Cal, the team and even the relationships forming with the leviathan pods deserve a sequel. 

I’m so invested in this story and characters that I want to see more of them.

A new find and series by this author.  Recommended!

Cover Design: Creative Paramita

Verdant String series:

Each book in the series can be read as a standalone: 

Interference & Insurgency Box Set 

Breakaway 

Breakeven 

Trailblazer 

High Flyer 

Wave Rider 

Peace Maker

Buy link

 Book 5 of 8: Verdant String 

Blurb 

Isolated . . . Verdant String scientist, Anja Farucci, is frightened. Her calls for help from her remote coastal research station on the moon planet Fynian have been going unanswered, and strange things are happening with the leviathan pod she’s studying. Out of options, she sets out on the dangerous three-day journey to Rinc, the moon’s only city.

Stranded . . . Cal is a wave rider, and if anyone understands leviathans, it’s him, but when Kada, a young leviathan, grabs his boat and strands him on the southern peninsula, Cal is at a loss to understand what is going on.

Thrown together . . . When Cal and Anja cross paths, they discover Anja’s communications have been deliberately sabotaged. Someone doesn’t want anyone coming or going from the southern peninsula. When the people involved start hurting leviathans, though, neither Cal nor Anja can let it go.

What they don’t know, as they get deeper and deeper into the mystery, is that the secret they discover in the cold waters of Fynian’s ocean will change them forever.

WAVE RIDER is the fifth book set in the world of the Verdant String. Like the other books in the series, it can be read as a standalone novel.

The planets of the Verdant String, the green, fecund sources of life spanning five solar systems, comprise the Verdant String Coalition. This is the setting for the science fiction romance series from award-winning novelist Michelle Diener. While the people of the Verdant String know they have a common ancestor, a group of explorers who colonized the planets at the same time thousands of years ago, the mysteries of who they were, and where they came from, persist. 

Each book in the series can be read as a standalone: 

Interference & Insurgency Box Set 

Breakaway 

Breakeven 

Trailblazer 

High Flyer 

Wave Rider 

Peace Maker

Eclipse

Publication date

July 11, 2021

Language

‎English

Print length

284 pages

Book 5 of 8

Verdant String

Review: Order of the Red Sons (Forbidden Flight Book 2) by H.G. Chambers

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Order of the Red Sons, the second novel in the Forbidden Flight YA fantasy series by H.G. Chambers, takes Kiva’s tale of her journey to become her clan’s female windwalker towards a dark, treacherous place . 

Chambers has beautifully crafted a desert world where the people have long dug out an ages old survival among a hidden village place inside a desert cliff . There’s a  sense of an ancient civilization and laws that have arisen inside the rock walls is authentic and believable. So when Kiva goes against tradition of “men windwalkers” only, it’s an also a real issue for her here to go against their religion and laws. For her and her family. 

Order of the Red Sons sees the ramifications of her achieving her goals and bonding with her own kiraeen and becoming a windwalker. There’s an entire order within her village dedicated to stopping her and any other women who might follow her to become windwalkers. They believe she’s an abomination and should be punished. 

Who is a part of this secret society and what their ultimate goal is pushes this powerful storyline. It’s high action, even higher emotional energy, with betrayal and violence at every level.

All happening across richly described desert scenery and vividly imagined areas. And the culture is crafted in great detail by the author so it’s absolutely essential to the story and realistic. 

Order of the Red Sons (Forbidden Flight Book 2) by H.G. Chambers is even better than the first and now I can’t wait to read the third. 

What a fantastic series this is.Highly recommended.

Cover Design: vividcovers

Windwalker Series: 

Forbidden Flight #1

Order of the Red Sons #2

Bonds of the Forsaken #3

Buy link

        Windwalker: Order of the Red Sons

    

Blurb 

Betrayed by those she vowed to protect.

Kiva’s world shatters when a group of masked men attacks her within the walls of her own city. Forced to flee or risk the lives of everyone she loves, she learns the attackers are the Order of the Red Sons, a fanatical group bent on returning Madina Basin to a time when female windwalkers were forbidden.

As their influence grows, Kiva discovers that even the people closest to her are vulnerable to the Order’s dangerous propaganda. But the true threat lies far deeper—hidden in the twisted heart of the Order’s leader, whose dark plans could destroy everything Kiva holds dear.

Can Kiva stop the Red Sons before their victory leads to ruin for Madina Basin?

Grab your copy now and dive into an epic tale of betrayal, survival, and forbidden power.

Review: Dark Minds (Class 5 Book 3) by Michelle Diener

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Dark Minds is one that adds in deeper layers of knowledge to the overall expansion of this series universe in terms of understanding the AI beings and how they are involved with the abduction of the women.  And their own enslavement by the Tecran and struggles to become aware and free themselves. 

Imogene Peters is in a different situation than the previous women.  She’s been in a secret facility and she desperate situation as she escapes is suspenseful and emotional.  It’s so well written that the reader feels right there with her in her desperate flight to escape her captors. 

Captain Camlar Kalor, the Grih captain who was in charge of a mission to rescue a human woman, is captured and is taken prisoner along with his crew. 

This plot really differs from the previous storylines as does how the AI or thinking machine becomes involved. 

Gripping plot, and emotional twists. 

One of my favorites in a series I’m loving. 

A another winner from an author who’s becoming an auto read. 

Class 5 Series (7 book series)

Dark Horse #1

Dark Deeds #2

Dark Minds #3

Dark Matters #4

Dark Class #5

Collision Course #6

Crash Course #7

Buy link

        Dark Minds (Class 5 Series Book 3)

    

Blurb 

The mind is the most powerful weapon of all . . .

Imogen Peters knows she’s a pawn. She’s been abducted from Earth, held prisoner, and abducted again. So when she gets a chance at freedom, she takes it with both hands, not realizing that doing so will turn her from pawn to kingmaker.

Captain Camlar Kalor expected to meet an Earth woman on his current mission, he just thought he’d be meeting her on Larga Ways, under the protection of his Battle Center colleague. Instead, he and Imogen are thrown together as prisoners in the hold of a Class 5 battleship. When he works out she’s not the woman who sparked his mission, but another abductee, Cam realizes his investigation just got a lot more complicated, and the nations of the United Council just took a step closer to war.

Imogen’s out of her depth in this crazy mind game playing out all around her, and she begins to understand her actions will have a massive impact on all the players. But she’s good at mind games. She’s been playing them since she was abducted.

Guess they should have left her minding her own business back on Earth…

Eclipse

Publication date

July 22, 2016

Language

‎English

Print length

348 pages

Book 3 of 7

Class 5 Series

Review: Moss’d in Space (Moss’d in Space #1) by Rebecca Thorne

Rating: 5🌈⭐️

Moss’d in Space , the first book in the Moss’d in Space excellent science fiction adventure series is the first book I’ve read by Rebecca Thorne, and I’m absolutely thrilled I’ve found her. 

I don’t even know where to begin to describe the amazing qualities of this book.  It’s so fantastic and funny and uniquely crafted. And it’s a testament to the author’s ability to write great characters and relationships, including a sentient moss who is  emotionally upset with abandonment issues, that the reader is absolutely engaged with the story. 

I picked this up and read right through ‘til morning. Loving every single sentence, scenes, moments and character dynamics within it. 

The first character we meet is Moss, a sentient life support system on an alien spaceship who has been abandoned for over 100 years in a human space station, neglected in the dark.  The ancient odd looking spaceship is bought by Torian Razner, who’s on mission to save her sister’s life. 

Torian is a wonderful character. Earnest, struggling with her sister’s critical illness, and her own life choices. She’s easily one of the most relatable characters in the series, vulnerable and emotionally open. Which is why her relationship with Moss is so strong and funny and true once they begin to trust each other. 

In fact, all the systems are looking at evolving and having distinct personalities. Moss and his “conversations/interactions” with the other systems are blocked out and starts off each chapter. They turn into some of the fun and entertaining moments of the story, highlighting how Moss is changing along with its circumstances and new relationships as events evolve. 

Aliens. All types of aliens. Humanoid and ones that definitely aren’t along human evolutionary paths. Another great factor here. 

Is there a romantic relationship? Sort of. Torian and Amelia, a Captain of a galactic spaceship, have a history between them, a kiss and a “what if” moment before Torian left her service for buying her own ship.  So this looks like a really slow burn cozy romance. 

There’s plenty of other great characters, diverse species, to show off the community that’s starting to grow between them all, despite age, species and culture. 

And I was so immersed in the story and these lives that the cliffhanger ending actually shocked me. 

So I will be waiting until Summer of 2027 for the next book and the next chapter of their journey. I am very excited to see where the author takes them and us!

One of the best books I’ve read this year. Highly recommended.

Buy link

 Book 1 of 1: Moss’d in Space 

Blurb 

USA Today Bestselling author Rebecca Thorne delights in a brand new cozy science-fiction romance series for fans of Martha Wells.

Torian Razner finally bought a starship, and contrary to Amelia’s assessment, it was not “a meteoric sign of stupidity.” Sure, the alien starship may have been abandoned for a century, and it may be covered in moss now… but it’s Torian’s ticket to freedom, regardless of what her ex… ah, captain… said.

Except Torian’s first flight reveals a surprise passenger: the moss is actually an organic computer with a snarky attitude and serious abandonment issues. The target of its loathing? The immortal alien who built it (and then parked the starship, with Moss inside, and forgot about it). The same alien who just found Torian and accused her of “stealing” the ship.

It’s entirely possible that Amelia was right about this meteoric stupidity.

Bramble

Publication date

June 30, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

359 pages

Book 1 of 1

Moss’d in Space

Review: Dark Deeds (Class 5 Book 2) by Michelle Diener

Rating: 4.5⭐️

I really enjoyed Dark Deeds and am finding that, for me, it improves with each new book and expansion into the series arc.  

Yes, I finished the series. And the author does answer many questions about the series, like why only women being abducted, as various plots unfold. 

Fiona Russell, the second woman found by the Grih, is another who’s undergone extreme hardships after her abduction from her home. 

Each woman’s story is vastly different but their ingenuity, bravery and courage under incredible circumstances is portrayed credibly and realistically. Fiona’s battle to survive and get away from her captors is suspense filled and emotional.

 Class 5, Eazi comes into play here, along with Grih battleship captain Hal Vakeri, who rescues Fee from both the Krik and the Garmann slavers. 

The galactic political system and high intrigue between the  Tecran and their allies the Garmman and Krik , who have violated the treaty and laws on sentient beings rights , the other worlds in the galactic United Council, is a tension filled, complex plot. Often one with betrayals and conflicts within the same groups and societies that are involved with the sides officially saving the women.

The relationships that evolve between the women and the different AI or thinking systems (a really awkward name) vary greatly. Here it’s between Fee and Eazi, and I really enjoyed the interaction and end solution for both of them. 

The singing aspect is still important and is worked into each of their stories as they find out the importance and impact of their abilities to sing in Grih culture. 

I’d love to know more about the history behind the IA scientist, the wars, and the Grih Class 5 they became. 

Love the series, how it’s developing, and each new woman being introduced. 

A definite winner. 

Class 5 Series (7 book series)

Dark Horse #1

Dark Deeds #2

Dark Minds #3

Dark Matters #4

Dark Class #5

Collision Course #6

Crash Course #7

Buy link

 Book 2 of 7: Class 5 Series 

Blurb 

Far from home . . . Fiona Russell has been snatched from Earth, imprisoned and used as slave labor, but nothing about her abduction makes sense. When she’s rescued by the Grih, she realizes there’s a much bigger game in play than she could ever have imagined, and she’s right in the middle of it.

Far from safe . . . Battleship captain Hal Vakeri is chasing down pirates when he stumbles across a woman abducted from Earth. She’s the second one the Grih have found in two months, and her presence is potentially explosive in the Grih’s ongoing negotiations with their enemies, the Tecran. The Tecran and the Grih are on the cusp of war, and Fiona might just tip the balance.

Far from done . . . Fiona has had to bide her time while she’s been a prisoner, pretending to be less than she is, but when the chance comes for her to forge her own destiny in the new world she’s found herself in, she grabs it with both hands. After all, actions speak louder than words.

Eclipse

Publication date

January 4, 2016

Language

‎English

Print length

384 pages

Book 2 of 7

Class 5 Series

Review: Our Nanny is a Vampire by Lindsey Devin and Roxie Ray

Rating:5⭐️

Well, I’m absolutely flabbergasted by this book.  It’s starts with the cover. I mean, it’s cute, colorful, showing an adorable woman holding a teddy bear in a style that suggests this  story is going to be sweet, entertaining and honestly, lighthearted. 

What the reader falls into is a beautifully written exploration of a family deeply bound up in their grief and loss of their mother and their father’s love for his wife. Their center is gone and they’ve been shattered. After three years they haven’t started reconnecting with their father or outside of the home.  

There’s an equally strong emotional aspect here. A 200 year old vampire who is carrying her own trauma and deep emotional baggage that has never been fully recovered from.

The Lawrence household, overwhelmed, overworked father Conrad Lawrence, youngest girl Billie, middle child C.J, and oldest daughter Bianca, all of whom are brilliant, talented and perceptive in their own right, and hurting for their father, themselves and their loss.  

Immediately, after the children dispatched yet another nanny from the house with an amazing display of engineering enthusiasm, the family heads to the cemetery. And I’m both lost for words for this grieving family and lost in this world and story. 

The authors have me in tears and their grip. The dialogue are beautiful, apt to the characters and ages, clever but also poignant. Powerful and funny and emotional.  We know what they are thinking and how they feel about each moment.

“The cemetery sat behind a small white church twenty minutes from the house, tucked between old trees and a low, iron fence. Jade hadn’t been especially religious, but she’d liked the cemetery. She’d told me that if people had to be buried anywhere, they might as well be somewhere with decent shade and no highway noise.”

The children are so remarkable, real and connectable. I love them deeply. 

“Billie stared out the window with her brows pinched together. “Is Mommy cold?” she asked.”

Oh my heart.

Then , courtesy of the fabulous Lady Ferdinand,  Conrad is given a card and number to call:

Miss Winifred Carrington 

Private Childcare and Household Instruction Discretion Assured

I won’t spoil her entrance or what happened next. I will say it’s scene after scene of things I could picture in my head. The artfully executed conversations, the relatable relationships forming between Winnie and each child, the healing as the family starts to recover and move forward. 

There’s also an important side plot about Winnie’s past that comes with trigger warnings. But everything here is thoughtfully written and woven together with the dynamics of the family and slow burn romance that it’s extremely important for Winnie’s character to grow as well for this element to occur. 

I kept wondering if something would pop up to keep me from loving this. But even that ending was just right. She’s a vampire with eternal life, they are humans. That’s recognized by both Conrad and herself as a reality of their situation. She’s never going to get old. But the way love is treated and discussed here is impressive. 

And it makes sense and so the ending feels satisfying. 

I wondered how I would feel about this given how many writers are involved (each author is actually two writers or more) but it’s an absolute joy to read and a 5 star story. 

Really, that cover is such a mismatch between it and the complexity of the content inside. Love surprises like this.

Highly recommended!

Read the trigger warnings. 

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comOur Nanny is a Vampire eBook : Devin, Lindsey, Ray, Roxie

Blurb 

Conrad Lawrence has lost nine nannies in three years.

There was Nanny Franny McFine (four days). Marie Von Fire, who claimed she’d once worked for a duke. Mrs. Corrinna Rainer, who lasted until Billie released crickets into her suitcase. 

Mademoiselle Joella Frosty, who called his kids “creatively hostile” and blocked his number before she reached the end of the driveway.

So when nanny #10 walked through the door, Conrad wasn’t expecting much. Then Winnie shows up.

She’s calm where his house is chaos. Patient where his kids are relentless. And she sees the grief he’s been quietly carrying for three years without flinching from it — because she’s been carrying centuries of her own.

Winnie has survived two hundred years by never staying long enough to be found. But this house, this impossible family, and this exhausted, good-hearted father are the first things she’s wanted to keep in longer than she can remember.

She should have known better. Because the past doesn’t let go that easily — and hers is coming to collect.

✨ Perfect for readers who love: grumpy widower x unbothered 200-year-old nanny energy, slow-burn nanny romance, found family with a coffin parked under the trees, and exes who show up mid-domesticity like they weren’t already asked to leave

Special Fiction Books

Publication date

July 23, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

‘O567 pages

Review:  The Rut in the Road (Beyond the Veil #11) by K. M. Avery

Rating: 4.5🌈

Rayn’s journey has been one of the most haunting, and tormented of all of the characters to date in this immersive paranormal world where an Arcana virus swept across the world altering the human landscape forever. A large portion of the world’s population perished, others were left altered by the virus, becoming orcs, witches, weres of various species, zombies, vampires and other otherworldly beings. Quickly consigned to hospitals, or institutions or worse when society and families couldn’t accept them or the virus transitions were physically agonizing and long to take hold. 

By book 11, Humans only rights groups, not just the extremists, are fighting to remove the rights the Nids have gained. It sounds very familiar. And the fear and ugly hate groups, the crimes against the Nids going unpunished, is so well written that it feels lifted from events today. 

Rayn,older and working as a touch psychic in alongside Ward and Mason in BTV is still very much the under socialized, on the spectrum person he’s been even as he’s developed physically.  His childhood, and its accompanying deep trauma and abuse along with his lack of knowledge of his own powers, still makes Rayn an introverted, emotionally awkward person. He’s trying to get people to accept him as adult and not as a fragile little traumatized boy most who know his history see him as. 

Avery’s crafting of Rayn is immaculate, he is real in his skin, his efforts to navigate through the communication blocks and issues between Raj and himself are emotionally tough and difficult and feel absolutely credibly raw.  Hart plays a great supporting role here, once again revealing himself to be a fine, intelligent caring man. 

Raj has been a strong presence in the series and his involvement with Rayn starts in the previous book. But the issues between him and Rayn have been building and his extraordinary overprotective nature is a huge problem. 

It’s addressed and seems to be an aspect that he needs to work through. Do I believe that it’s resolved? Not sure. I never know with Avery, maybe it is or maybe it isn’t. There’s one more book in Rayn’s trilogy and the human only faction element has just gotten more complicated and suspenseful by the end of this very amazing story. 

I highly recommend reading it but it’s not something that you can read by itself. Each one should be read in the order that it was written for characters and overall plot development. 

Amazing series and fantastic characters. One of the best paranormal group of storylines I’ve read. Certainly one that has the most impact on current events.

Series couples to date (not standalone and have to be read in the order they are written):

Highly recommended. 

Beyond the Veil Series : 

💀Ward’s story (1-3): 

The Ghost in the Hall 

The Boy in the Locked Room 

The Skeleton Under the Stairs. 

💀Hart’s story (4-6): 

The Dog in the Alley 

The Bones in the Yard 

The Elf Beside Himself 

💀Seth’s story (7-9): 

The Turning of the Tables 

The Badger in his Burrow 

The Past in the Present 

💀Rayn’s Story (10-12) 

The Diamond in the Rough 

The Rut in the Road 

The Rock and the Hard Case (coming 2026) 

💀Dan’s Story (13-15) Coming 2026-2027

Buy link 

 Book 11 of 11: Beyond the Veil 

Blurb 

I was finally getting my life together—I had a job, a boyfriend, was working on my college degree, and was learning to control both my magic and my psychic abilities. I’d reconnected with my sister and I was starting to think that I might actually be able to have something approaching a healthy adult life, even if it wasn’t going to be an even remotely normal one.

And then I hit a rut in the road.

Or, rather, people started hitting other people. What started as a single hit-and-run had become several of them, all targeting Arcanids, and I was being asked to get into the mind of the killer… although I’m starting to think that maybe there’s more than one. Tracking one killer is hard enough, but when you think there might be several, things get a lot messier.

Especially when your boyfriend is a federal agent who just got called in to take over the case. It’s the first time we’ve worked together since we started dating, and it’s definitely taking a toll. I don’t want to have to choose between keeping him and solving the murders.

July 30, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

430 pages

Book 11 of 11

Beyond the Veil