“When a city girl inherits a remote Arizona ranch, she discovers two things: dead bodies keep showing up, and she can see the ghosts who might have witnessed the murders. With a mysterious fox who won’t leave her porch and a handsome veterinarian who keeps stopping by, Claire must solve crimes the living can’t… and the dead won’t rest until she does”
That’s the hook for the book and series and it’s a terrific one.
Death Rides The Desert is the first book in The Haunted Ranch Mysteries by Sara Bourgeois, a completed paranormal murder mystery series that I just started reading.
This story starts off strong, as Claire Caldwell, arrives in Perdita Springs, Arizona from Chicago, Illinois. She’s been fired from her longtime marketing job, dumped by a cheating fiancé, and trying to figure out what she is doing with her life. Her deceased aunt has left her a mystical ranch, and lands with some old mines. A legacy she’s has avoided dealing with until now.
But the story begins as she arrives weeks after the funeral. The ranch should be closed. But that’s not what she finds.
It’s the beginning of huge development in her character as she learns about her aunt, the supernatural beings , ghosts, and strange happenings , that make the ranch and land home. It includes a spiritual fox with one white paw that glows.
I love the cultural elements the author weaves throughout the story and series . It’s in the families and their food and history. It’s in the town and its traditions and tragedies. All conceptually important and beautifully rendered.
The mysteries that stem from the mines, the past territorial disputes, and the town’s shady developments that impact the region and its inhabitants are inherently dangerous and real. The reader understands these issues and their significance to the people and their families.
By the end, Claire has become a strong advocate for herself and the people of the town. She’s got a vision for the ranch. And this series is really ready to launch into remarkable status.
I loved the ghosts, the animals at the ranch, Luis the young ranch hand and TikTok enthusiast, and,, Claire, who absolutely grew on me.
I can’t wait for the next book to see what the ranch has become!
If you enjoy murder mysteries with a supernatural or paranormal aspect, this is absolutely charming.
A haunted ranch. A clever fox. Ghosts who won’t shut up.
Claire Caldwell came to Arizona to sell her great aunt’s ranch, lick her wounds, and escape back to Chicago.
Then the ranch decided it wanted a new owner.
A copper furred fox starts leaving gifts on her doorstep. Translucent cowboys appear in the barn. A woman who died in 1985 cooks tamales in Claire’s kitchen like she never left. And somehow, the dead all seem to know one thing Claire does not.
She can see them.
When the most hated man in Perdido Springs turns up dead on Claire’s property and the sheriff waves it off as an accident, the ghosts make it clear. Someone in town is lying. Someone is dangerous. And everyone had a reason to want the victim gone.
With a mystical fox at her side, a house full of chatty spirits, and a too handsome veterinarian who keeps showing up just when she needs him, Claire has to solve a murder nobody wants solved.
Before she becomes the next ghost haunting Whispering Saguaro Ranch.
Welcome to the desert, where the dead do not rest and the living keep secrets.
Readers of this series have been waiting on Izzy’s story and finally we get it in How to Drive a Dragon Crazy (Dragon Kin series Book 6) by G.A. Aiken.
Issabail aka Izzy, adopted daughter of Breic the Mighty and true daughter to his mate Talaith, former assassin, powerful Nolwenn witch, has had a long, dark journey with her mother to get to her current life. The reader has been able to see her mother and Izzy through much of their later dark years until they came back together under Queen Annwyn.
And we watched the drama happen between friends Izzy, dragon cousins Calyn, and Éibhear become something that ends up tearing apart the friendship and bond between all of them fracturing.
Now 10 years later, Izzy is the terrifying General of the Eighth, Fourteenth, and Twenty-sixth Legions of Annwyl the Bloody’s army. Shes often accompanied by her best friend, Brannie, a Cadwaladr warrior dragon. And Éibhear the Blue? He’s become Éibhear the Contemptible, a ruthless vicious fighter, part of the feared Mi-runach, a death squad made up of warriors who were problematic elsewhere.
How to Drive a Dragon Crazy brings Izzy and Éibhear together again for a mission that dives deep into both Izzy and her mother’s past in the Desert Kingdom as well as returning characters, Gaius Lucius Domitus, who is ruling the Quintillian Provinces along with his sister,Lady Agrippina.
The real threat and overall series storyline starts to emerge as new religious zealotry appears. Terrific elements that become even more powerful and threatening as the story continues.
But it’s old relationships to be renewed and damage repaired so that as the adults they are now can have a better chance of surviving and being happy.
It’s hilarious, action packed, and as Aiken is so fantastic at, believably layering emotional depths that swings from poignancy to anger to fear and finally to authentic uncertainty. Moments so real that it brings the readers so intimately into these characters journey that we feel everything along with them.
With each story, I always say, this is my favorite, while knowing I’ll feel this way about the next. But I love Izzy. Always have. Branny too.
And seeing her find her own roots. So amazing. Even if the series doesn’t return there, except to smack down Haldane again, this was truly wonderful.
Highly recommended as is the series which should be read in the order it is written.
Sanity is overrated in this “captivating, funny, exciting” fantasy adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of the Scarred Earth Saga (Smexy Books).
Some things never go away, like vile enemies, bad ale, and annoying kin. But I thought I was finished with the one dragon I’d have done anything for: Éibhear the Blue, a big, gorgeous, blue-haired beast who thinks the world belongs to him. The world and, apparently, me.
So if Éibhear wants to play the caring hero and travel into the most forsaken of Gods forsaken lands to protect the one woman who doesn’t need it—namely me—I’ll let him. Because while I’m trying to fulfill a ridiculous
Have you ever read a book and been absolutely irritated by an author’s decision to make their main character an absolute idiot? Mostly because of the time that you spent trying to make sense of the narrative and that character before giving up?
No it wasn’t a comedy. It was a science fiction story. With a romantic plot included.
A story made up of cardboard characters, a MFC who’s so poorly written that I found her not just ludicrously incompetent but whose actions just compromised what her character’s ability, history, and experience says she was.
Plus a MMC so largely physically cartoonish that his face has a “butt chin” (written term in the book) and a smile so white that you might expect that star twinkle when you see that flash of white teeth. He’s made so “beautiful” that he’s all she thinks about, even on a mission with a deadline that is high stakes and deadly to crew on an undercover planet.
Can I say SMH?
This isn’t to say that the book doesn’t have some interesting features or intriguing elements, because it does. Once again there’s a world divided into powerful Families, the top Five, the Ten Families next fighting for their own power and political interests, then the other Twenty families. And so on.
How that works or came about isn’t clear. That they are heavily modified genetically is. Or the most powerful are, and society isn’t a benign place.
Other interesting elements are secondary characters like Etzel, a crew member who’s also a former assassin cult member. More Etzel.
But instead we get a Capt who just acts as though she’s the newbie on the crew and it’s her first encounter and mission.
Does she knowingly eat food that she thinks is suspicious when in a hostile environment/encampment? Yes, and is drugged and poisoned. Threatening her crew, mission, and the other person there.
On a hostile planet and mission where they have actively engaged with enemies, has she as the Captain of her ship set adequate measures to protect her ship and crew from attack or invasion? No.
We’re not even at 50 percent of the story. How does a author present such a totally inadequate main woman character, so amazingly stupid in her choices and decisions, utterly hormonal that she appears to be thinking with her uterus 90 percent of the time, and with the tendency to flare up in anger like a toddler that I had to double check that a woman actually wrote this. Even a teenager is more credible these days.
This is a book where I felt myself losing brain cells the further I read. Passage after passage of just events that made my mind hurt. Dialogue that considering the status of their respective missions, the situations that they had maneuvered themselves into (honestly ,you rescued someone who didn’t want to be rescued and then don’t secure them? SMH), endlessly discussing things that have no relevance to the dire situation the crew and danger they are in.
Others were rating this story highly. I don’t understand why. Nothing made sense to me about it. Not the plot or characters.
No I’m not reading the sequel.
If you are interested, read it. Tell me your thoughts.
The captain of a ragtag mercenary ship is given an offer she can’t refuse by the ruthless head of an intergalactic noble family. The only catch? She’ll have to team up with his son–an upsettingly competent hardbody with his own agenda–to get her reward.
She’s got a ramshackle spaceship, a misfit crew, and a big problem with its sexy newest member…
Temperance Reed, banished from the wealthy and dangerous Fifteen Families, just wants to keep her crew together after their feckless captain ran off with the intern. But she’s drowning in debt and revolutionary new engine technology is about to make her beloved ship obsolete.
Enter Arcadio Escajeda. Second child of the terrifying Escajeda Family, he’s the thorn in Temper’s side as they’re sent off on a scouting mission on the backwater desert planet of Herschel 2. They throw sparks every time they meet but Temper’s suspicions of his ulterior motives only serve to fuel the flames between them.
Despite volcanic eruptions, secret cultists, and deadly galactic fighters, the greatest threat on this mission may be to Temper’s heart.
This is a side story in the terrific urban fantasy Witchwolf series written by co-authors Burns and Fawkes. That series is currently awaiting its next release of its second book but in the meantime, the authors have published a side story in the same universe that they wrote on the authors’ Patreon page.
I enjoyed reading it. The characters are engaging, especially the cat shifter Landon Smith, who’s a far more fully developed personality than the other main character Dean St. James.
Dean’s a big cat shifter but the story has the potential of becoming a much better version of itself. The entire tale has the feel of an almost completed outline of a novel than a finished story. One half of the couple, Landon, is more multi dimensional, given a better storyline and execution of his character and situation, while Dean’s character sits needing more heft. In his history, shifter foundation, and, even tragic past romance. We really don’t feel even remotely close to him and those events. But we do with the fantastic cat shifter, Landon. We love his new crew, his bravery in relocating away from everyone he knew and family, just everything about him. He’s a fully fledged amazing personality. He’s the one we relate to.
It also took me a while to remember how this was connected to Witchwolf. The company and the pack. I wish the authors had brought that element of the series stronger into play here.
As a standalone, there’s absolutely no world building. Within an established universe but with a minimum connection, it’s a good story with some terrific characters with great potential.
Read it for yourself and hope, like I did, that I will see Landon popping up again later on in this series. He’s a joy.
Landon Smith’s life has imploded in a dramatic fashion. Following a devastating betrayal, his brother is marrying his fiancé, and his family wants him to get over it already. The only way he can move forward? Fleeing across the country and cutting contact with them, starting his life over with a new job and new friends. Well, no friends, really.
But a new coworker introduces him to a whole new circle of people, including the alluring Dean St. James. The lyrics Dean writes speak directly to Landon’s heart, but Landon’s not ready to jump into another relationship, and Dean brings his own baggage to the table.
A brutal illness stole Dean’s childhood sweetheart, and with the walls he put up to survive, he’s not sure he’ll ever love again. But a fresh project sparks Landon’s lost passion and opens a door to a future Dean turned his back on.
Their unexpected collab has the highest stakes of all: the last hope of healing two broken hearts.
This novella is set in the same world as Witchwolf, but features different characters and can be read as a standalone. It was originally published on the authors’ Patreon page.
How to Reap a Soul (And Fail Miserably) is the first book in the urban fantasy series, Soul Management Bureau by April Kelley.
It’s a fated mate romance between reaper and their soul mates, so it’s instant love/instant sex romance with a plot that’s not always easy to follow because Kelley is trying hard to lay down all her histories and plotting for multiple characters, not just the main couple, and her world building into one story.
And it’s not always effective because someone gets lost in the narrative. Some connection between her characters, some chemistry is left behind in the rush to get it all accomplished.
It’s interesting but I’m not sure I’m really engaged with this world or characters.
Try it out and see for yourself if Grym and Elliot Coyne work together for you.
Cover artist: Miblart
Soul Management Bureau
How to Reap a Soul and Fail Miserably #1
How to Reap a Soul (And Lose an Assistant) #2 – Dec 29,2026
Love was never on my to-do list, but now that I have it, I’ll let the world burn before I let anything happen to him.
Grym
I’ve reaped souls for three hundred years without a single mistake. Until Elliot Coyne. I’m supposed to ferry him into the afterlife, not bring him back to life and turn him immortal.
Now HR is threatening me, the world is acting like it might explode, and my reaper brothers are stress-snacking like it’s Armageddon.
Even worse? My soul insists Elliot is my beloved. Reapers aren’t supposed to have those. Are they? Regardless, it’s wildly inconvenient.
Elliot So I die, wake up immortal and able to walk between realms, not that I know what those actually are.
The guy responsible is an annoyingly hot reaper who apparently broke the universe just to keep me breathing.
We’re suddenly stuck together, hunted by his supernatural bosses, and if we fall for each other it might tear reality apart.
Love isn’t supposed to end the world. Yet here we are.
This book was a recommendation so I picked it up to see what I would find. A Dragon Inside is a sweet, unsurprising fantasy novel that includes dragons, dragon riders, princesses and kingdoms in peril. But adds little to the already overwhelming world of books written about this genre.
It’s the first book in a series but wrapped up the first storyline and romance pretty well by the end of the novel. King realizes he has traitor close to him, his sister, the princess helps save the day, by rescuing the dragonrider. Who ends up with the princess.
King also looks to have a HEA too.
There’s a weird magic aspect that unexpectedly occurs towards the end that doesn’t make sense and has no foundation whatsoever laid out for it.
Perhaps it’s coming in the future books.
Some readers might excuse this by saying that the story is meant for YA but all writing, no matter what age the author is aiming for, should have depth in the characters, layers to the world building and intricacies of plot. None of which happens here.
The characters should be entirely believable or engaging enough for the reader to invest their time and emotions.
For me, I thought this was just a simple, sweet, and uncomplicated plot that didn’t ask much of the reader.
If that’s something that you’re looking for, here’s a book and series for you.
This author imo does not compare with KM Shea who was mentioned in the description. Not even close.
Cover art is by Turtle Trails Publishing. Interior art (part two) is by Legowo P. Interior art (after Chapter 31) is by Sidney Brady.
She is a princess. He is chained in the dungeon. They don’t trust each other, but they are Solvar’s only hope for escaping war.
Ellie
When I discovered that my brother imprisoned a dragon rider, I plunged head-first into a whirlwind of political drama, mysterious history, magic, and an alluring prisoner.
Now the secrets I uncovered keep growing deeper. I wanted to save my people from war, but that was only the beginning. My brother and our inheritance complicated everything, and I must find new ways to deal with rebellions, assassinations, and an attraction to an impossible prisoner.
Deryk
I expected to die, but everything changed when the fearless princess swept into my prison cell. Now I must choose between loyalty to my family and dragon or a dangerous trust to an unnerving princess.
It’s been a while since I read this series by G. A. Aiken aka Shelly Laurenston, a favorite author of mine, and I haven’t a clue why it’s been so long. Maybe because I was binging the other series (Honey badgers) of hers and my book budget was just getting out of hand but anyway I’m back and thrilled to be here.
Once you’ve immersed yourself in the world of the Dragon Kin, it’s easy to slip right back into it. But you need to have read all the previous books first because none of these are standalone stories and build upon each other.
Rhona the Fearless, a great character among many strong women or female characters. In this case a dragon warrior who has been not only the one who has been the caretaker of her siblings, raising them in their warrior mother’s absence but a renowned warrior herself, who left her real passion behind for duty and family.
I love her. She’s a tremendous character and all her relationships are grounded in family and friendships, deeply rooted connections that the reader feels are vital to her and the story.
Vigholf the Abhorrent (I really love their names) turns out to be an interesting and unique match for her. One of the Northlands dragons, a Lightning, he’s from the group we’ve known before. They are a rough, tough lot that’s already connected to Queen Annwyn. And with each new story, we get intriguing new additions to the growing fabric of dragons and magical humans that is the Dragon Kin overall series arc mystery.
The two together, as they adventured off on their mission, was a great dynamic. It introduces more of Rhona’s family history and actual current situation. Her dad, the lava dragon blacksmith, the triplets who are amazing in their own ways, it just came together in a very satisfying highly emotional fantasy tale.
And sets up the next one nicely.
Highly recommend reading this entire series. Binge it if you can.
“There’s never a dull moment with these dragons. Fighting! Mayhem! Danger! . . . a fun read” from the New York Times bestselling author (Vampire Book Club).
I was raised for battle. And as the first daughter of a warrior family, I’ve earned my reputation the hard way. Yet now I fight alongside uncivilized male Northland dragons who think a female is only good for breeding and waiting back home in the cave. But it’s the foolish and foolhardy who would try to stop me, Rhona the Fearless, from doing what I do best—destroying the enemies of my kind.
So the smartest thing wily barbarian Vigholf the Abhorrent can do for me is stay out of my way as we risk all on a deadly mission in enemy territory. I don’t care if he’s fascinated by me, even though he is as attractive as he is resourceful. He’s having far too much fun putting me in difficult situations and testing my sense of duty to the limit. And I’m going to enjoy challenging his insufferable confidence, outwitting his schemes, and making him surrender in the wildest ways . . .
Praise for the Dragon Kin Series
“Aiken’s patented mix of bloodthirsty action, crazy scenarios and hilarious dialogue have made this series a truly unique pleasure.”—RT Book Reviews (4½ Stars)
“A chest thumping, mead-hall rocking, enemy slaying brawl of a good book.”—All Things Urban Fantasy
Rating: 3.5🌈
This was a very hard book for me to rate because while I really delighted in this author’s world building and the diversity of the otherworldly creatures and elements of the story, the characters were the issues here.
One, Cinnamon ‘Cinn’ Saunders is a character who shows depths of personality and layers related to his background as the story develops. Cinnamon, definitely a doormat/enabler to a seriously addicted friend, is constantly surrendering his own future and safety to saving him again and again. How you view the author’s writing a character purposely so obtuse about another person’s character will determine whether you connect with Cinn. Because he’s constantly forgiving people for their awful actions against him.
That goes for the other main character, Julien, a son of a wealthy French businessman , who is now part of the hidden government institution in Switzerland that houses and teaches those with special magical abilities, “the moteblessed”. Julien is the most problematic of characters for me. While both have tragic histories, the author uses Julien’s to excuse selfish, egocentric, and frankly, oafish behavior. He has a goal that his other two friends, Elliot and Darcy, are aware of and are helping him to achieve. But it’s extremely dangerous and potentially fatal.
How he achieves it, who he uses, even though his friends warn him against certain actions, doesn’t matter or matter much. That’s a common refrain with Julien. He does what he wants. Others warn him of potential consequences. He thinks about it and does it anyway. And he’s forgiven over and over. Because he has charisma. And a sad background.
Yet he’s supposed to be a fantastic relatable main character and not a person with flags stuck all over his storyline. SMH
What is fantastic here is the system of magic, that “other dark world “ that’s so eerily similar to theirs but not. The fractured moon that hangs above a 1995 London writhing with sentient beings so dark and mysterious, and horrifying. The motes, another intriguing creation, makes this book. Sentient? Just don’t know.
If I continue with the duology, it will be due to the magical realm and the dark realm that pulls me forward. Not the human characters. So probably not.
Book cover design by @the.ravens.touch with artwork by Olga Panfilova
An action-packed MM romance duology featuring magic, mayhem, and two broken boys finding love.
Cinnamon ‘Cinn’ Saunders thought he’d learnt to control his little ghost problem.
That is, until the moment he brings back a malevolent spirit from the shadowrealm, and quickly finds himself unjustly arrested for the murder of four people.
After breaking free of foster care and a stint in juvie, all Cinn wanted to do was keep his head down and work his way up to become a professional chef. Now he’s forced to make a choice: life in jail, or allow a stranger to whisk him away to a mysterious institute in rural Switzerland with the promise of learning how to control his terrifying supernatural abilities.
Julien, the French charismatic charmer who is charged with warding over Cinn, also has a problem: the murder of his sister is still unsolved.
He needs help. Help that only Cinn can provide. He’ll do anything to get it, including making Cinn an offer that he can’t refuse. What Julien doesn’t expect out of the bargain is their undeniable connection, which only serves to complicate matters as they navigate uncharted territories together.
Between battling an uprising of deadly creatures that not only threaten the moteblessed community, but the entire planet, and fighting their ever-growing attraction, can this opposites-attract pair overcome their demons to save the world, and each other?
The Shadows Beyond is part 1 of an MM urban fantasy romance duology, and contains explicit content. Full content warnings can be found within the book and on the author’s website. The overarching plot continues into book 2, with the end of book 1 offering a ‘happy-for-now’ for the main characters.
A Broken Blade, the first book in the completed The Halfling Saga by Melissa Blair, an indigenous writer from Canada, is a fascinating read.
It’s Blair’s first published novel and it’s a dark fantasy that features a bisexual woman protagonist, a Halfing, who’s as layered and realistic as I have read recently.
Starting from the very first paragraph, the reader is drawn into a dark narrative because Keera, the King’s Blade or assassin is also a drunk who is losing her edge.
She’s become a guilt ridden alcoholic, all the deaths of innocents she’s taken on the King’s orders, most her own people, Halflings who only wanted freedom from slavery haunting her in a very specific way. She’s self harming, a cutter.
She’s also in charge of the Shades, a group of assassins of Halfling women, stolen as children and raised to become the monsters they are.
In a dying fantasy world of humans who hate the Fae and Halfings (those who have Fae blood), all of the Halfings physically are owned by the King.
Blair creates a realistic world where the poor are starving, lining the streets with their corpses while the King and his sadistic son live extremely well, shored up by his powerful assassins.
Until an enemy known as the Shadow strikes against the King, and he sends his Blade to find him.
This is a enemy to lovers dark fantasy with the main character having a strong tragic sapphic romantic backstory. The main male character isn’t as well written as she is, and that impacts their dynamics. He’s always a lesser character and while he’s still a good one, this aspect of the story reduces the power of the relationship.
I found Keera a trapped and emotionally haunted character. She’s constantly trying to escape her surroundings only to find that those around her haven’t been truthful.
Whether you as a reader find that is a betrayal to her or not is up to you.
Who and what she actually is remains part of the series mystery. It seems that it isn’t really revealed until the end.
As the series is finished, I did skim over the descriptions of the next stories (I know, bad me), and Keera’s journey is anguished, filled with deep tragedy, and relapse. Some people weren’t happy with the ending.
Was it dark? That would make sense because Keera actually said she should pay for the deaths of the innocent victims.
I don’t know. But as tough a read as this might be, I’ll probably continue reading. The main character is real and damaged by her choices. I’ll see her out.
Is this a series for you? There’s trigger warnings plenty. SA, torture, self harm, violence, alcohol abuse, and other issues. So only you can make the decision.
Keera is a killer. As the King’s Blade, she is the most talented spy in the kingdom. And the king’s favored assassin. When a mysterious figure moves against the Crown, Keera is called upon to hunt down the so-called Shadow. She tracks her target into the magical lands of the Fae, but Faeland is not what it seems . . . and neither is the Shadow. Keera is shocked by what she learns, and can’t help but wonder who her enemy truly is: the King that destroyed her people or the Shadow that threatens the peace?
As she searches for answers, Keera is haunted by a promise she made long ago, one that will test her in every way. To keep her word, Keera must not only save herself, but an entire kingdom.
Fans of fast-paced high fantasy such as A Court of Thorns and Roses series, The Inadequate Heir, and From Blood and Ash author Jennifer L. Armentrout, will enjoy the fierce female characters, sapphic representation, and fantasy romance of A Broken Blade.
This is the second series I’ve read by Jessie Mihalik and I find I’m actually enjoying it better. The world building is excellent and well laid out, it’s less Regency in space and more galactic exploration/ based, which suits me.
And while the “alien race “ isn’t all that alien, Mihalik has given a “theory” that’s accepted for the similarity of physicality of species.
This series takes place after a horrific galactic war between two species, humans and Valoffs. The main characters, Captain Octavia “Tavy “ Zarola, Eli, and Kee are all that’s left of their special military team , now living aboard their spaceship.
As veterans, each carrying their own nightmares, PTSD, from the war, the characters are engaging and relatable as a found family unit. Especially with their burbu, the animal they rescued while deployed.
When their former enemy comes in need of their assistance for a mission, old memories return as well as new relationships that are forged.
The Valoffs aren’t as strong an element as a whole. We don’t get a cultural or historical background on them, so as a people they are hard to grasp. Individually, they are characters that grow as events happen and relationships develop.
The stories are strong, the characters greatly expand into new areas of growth and it’s a fast paced series that’s entertaining and romantically a little spicy.
Tavy and Torran’s story is filled with adventures and battles and great moments. I love it.
Octavia Zarola would do anything to keep her tiny, close-knit bounty hunting crew together—even if it means accepting a job from Torran Fletcher, a ruthless former general and her sworn enemy. When Torran offers her enough credits to not only keep her crew afloat but also hire
someone to fix her ship, Tavi knows that she can’t refuse—no matter how much she’d like to.
With so much money on the line, Torran and his crew insist on joining the hunt. Tavi reluctantly agrees because while the handsome, stoic leader pushes all of her buttons—for both anger and desire—she’s endured worse, and the massive bonus payment he’s promised for a completed job is reason enough to shut up and deal.
But when they uncover a deeper plot that threatens the delicate peace between humans and Valoffs, Tavi suspects that Torran has been using her as the impetus for a new war. With the fate of her crew balanced on a knife’s edge, Tavi must decide where her loyalties lie—with the quiet Valoff who’s been lying to her, or with the human leaders who left her squad to die on the battlefield. And this time, she’s put her heart on the line.
After enjoying Hidden Storm, the first book in The Witch’s Bestiary by Evangeline Hunter, unfortunately, I found Midnight Storm suffering from second story syndrome.
It just doesn’t carry through on the potential from the original story. Many of the interesting elements, the Bestiary itself are relegated to just barest scenes and the fact that Alicia Stormwell is a powerful rescuer and ally of exotic species is an inconsistent aspect of this story.
The werewolf shifter she helped and is now her assistant, Kyle Matthews, is the most problematic character here. He’s still in search of his missing sister and wants Alicia to continue to help him find her. No issue here.
However, his behavior is extremely immature. For a grown adult. When they run into dead ends and Alicia, reasonably wants to enlist all the assistance they can get, police aid included, he objects. Whining, throwing tantrums.
As a reader, I both want to stop reading or put that character in a timeout. He’s that childish.
Only the author wants us to continue to connect with him and accept that this intelligent,highly powerful woman is attracted to this toddler? Just no.
And the storyline is further proof that the series has lost its original path when during the last section where the sister, just as irritating as her brother, has been located, it’s among the very abused exotics Alicia’s life is focused around.
But that’s hardly mentioned except for a sentence at the end of the story.
It should be a huge deal but it’s not. And even the sister doesn’t mention her role in their damage. It’s all about her.
I’m surprised I finished this. And I’m debating going forward. The only reason why I would is that wolf boy isn’t in the next book . A plus.
A brutal tournament, a missing sister, and a witch with nothing left to lose.
I’m Alicia Stormwell, a witch who spends her days rescuing fantastic creatures and my nights battling the dark underworld of magical animal trafficking. But nothing prepares me for the mess I’m about to walk into.
When my hunky werewolf friend, Kyle Matthews, asks for my help in finding his missing sister, Sabrina, I’m all in. Our search leads us to the Velvet Claw, a shadowy organization running a supernatural fight ring where lives are currency and losing isn’t an option.
As the tournament reaches its sinister climax, I must race against time and use every ounce of my magical skill to rescue Sabrina before the Velvet Claw gets its claws deeper into her life, Kyle’s, and mine.
The Witch’s Bestiary includes:
· Witches, Werewolves, and Vampires
· Hidden magic and a magical underworld
A slow-burn / RH romance
· Fantastic creatures
· A badass female main character with snark and humor
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 