In a series full of just outstanding books and incredible writing, this ranks among the top. There’s several reasons but high among them are the way that Raconteur has handled Jamie’s PTSD and reoccurring trauma from her past torture and kidnapping at the hands of the dark witch Belladonna.
That’s a huge element of this book as murder victims are delivered directly to Jamie’s door and the villain seems to have direct ties to the deceased Belladonna.
Great suspense, high magical energy and action! We get a new fantastic character in Chanty! New “old “ inventions. And waiting for Henri to still pop the question. More suspense.
No spice at all. Just mild kisses and on to more action. Fantastic characters and mysteries, some of which are built around actual obscure real cases.
Highly recommended. Highly addictive.
Love the covers.
Cover by Katie Griffin
The Case Files of Henri Davenforth (11 book series to date):
Someone left Jamie a prezzie and she would like to return it with a no thank you.
It all starts with a dead Robert Martin, the man who killed RM Burtchell. Jamie doesn’t know how, but it’s obvious he was yanked out of high security prison, murdered, and dumped on her front doorsteps.
Now the situation is entirely out of control. Someone obviously wants her attention–her people are being targeted and hurt, they can’t catch a lead, and it’s bringing up Belladonna vibes.
I have read all the preceding series as well as the prequel for this book but I was still very surprised and throughly thrilled by how great this series looks to be.
It might be my favorite of them all.
It’s not just that the author has done a fantastic job with creating horrifying murder mysteries with accompanying emotional effects and deeply poignant moments but how it brings the quietly powerful Det. Stacy back together with the ogre High King Krieg is incredibly well written.
Those familiar with the prequel story know why Krieg is so intensely focused on Stacy even though she’s unaware of his agenda. It’s the investigations and murders, as well as keeping her family safe, that’s her goal. Both of them are credible, powerful characters getting to know each other and their respective lives, while dealing with a dangerous and unpredictable investigation.
This makes for a fast paced, entertaining and just plain fabulous piece of storytelling.
I love that feathered snarky caladrius, Loki. Just hilarious. And the cameo appearances from other series. Plus you can see the beginning of a foundation of the group that will form around Stacy and Krieg here.
Just a great story and I can’t wait to read the next in the series.
Highly recommend this and dive into this universe if you’re not familiar with it already. I’ve listed the reading order below.
Cover design by Christian Bentulan. Published by Hellhound Press Limited.
The Other Realm Universe: Should be read in order to understand the world and characters .Events and relationships build upon each other.
The Other Realm series
⭐️Glimmer of Dragons- Book 0.5 (a prequel story),
Glimmer of The Other- Book 1, Glimmer of Hope- Book 2,
Glimmer of Christmas – Book 2.5 (a Christmas tale),
Glimmer of Death – Book 3,
Glimmer of Deception – Book 4,
*It is recommended that you read The Other Wolf books 1 to 3 before continuing with
Challenge of the Court– Book 5,
Betrayal of the Court– Book 6
Revival of the Court– Book 7.
⭐️The Other Wolf Series
Defender of The Pack– Book 0.5 (a prequel story),
Protection of the Pack– Book 1, Guardians of the Pack– Book 2, Saviour of The Pack– Book 3, Awakening of the Pack – Book 4, Resurgence of the Pack – Book 5; and Ascension of the Pack – Book 6.
⭐️The Other Witch Series
Rune of the Witch – Book 0.5 (a prequel story),
Hex of the Witch– Book 1,
Coven of the Witch;– Book 2,
Familiar of the Witch– Book 3; and Destiny of the Witch – Book 4.
Murder has crashed the party, so justice won’t wait for an invitation.
Champagne, caviar… and a corpse. This high-society party wasn’t meant to end in murder. When my brother calls me to investigate the brutal stabbing of a female ogre at the charity ball of the season, the glittering magical elite quickly become a sea of suspects.
Everyone who’s anyone was there, but glamour has given way to something far darker. Someone’s playing a deadly game, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. It’s my job to cut through the beauty and lies to find a killer hiding among the rich and powerful.
As a police inspector with the Connection, I’ve seen plenty of strange things, but this case reeks of entitlement, secrets, and old money with something to hide. Then the King of the Ogres storms in. Furious and formidable, he demands justice. Stopping him from tearing through the guest list is almost as hard as keeping my mind on the case, because rage and power look annoyingly good on him.
But when a dryad turns up dead at another elite event, I realise I’m chasing a serial killer who thinks they’re too rich to face consequences… and they’re setting my brother up to take the fall.
With a rookie partner finding his feet and my talking-bird sidekick offering sharp advice (and sharper insults), I’m racing against the clock to solve the case before my brother faces the lethal justice of the Other realm…
Immerse yourself in The Other Detective Series – perfect for fans of supernatural crime, complete with a fierce heroine, gritty murder investigations, and a slow-burn romance.
Side characters are often everything. And they, when fantastically crafted as they are in this series, make such an impact that you can’t help but wonder what happens to them afterwards. How did their characters go forward?
Author May supplies us with 5 short stories that focus on some of our favorites from this series and gives them their own HEA or something similar.
Did I have a favorite? No. I just adore each one. So totally satisfying and a wonderful reminder why I love and highly recommend this series so much.
Cover design by cheriefox.
Perfect Pixie Series
Perfectly Imperfect Pixie
Perfectly Perfect Pixie: Peaches’s Story
Perfectly Charmed Pixie: Parsnip’s Story
Perfectly Perplexing Zombie: Wendall’s Story
Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie: Phlox’s Story—finale
Perfectly Petite Shorts: Short Stories from the Perfect Pixie Series M/M
Necromancer Tales Series: Spin-Off from the Perfect Pixie Series
Ever wonder if our favorite ancient vampire, Nirgal, found his happily ever after? What about our morally ambiguous fairy, Hamish McIntyre? How exactly did Warlock Vander Kines meet Georgiana and why did she leave her daughter, Byx, in his questionable care? What Scuttlebutts think and how Trinket views her tribe? What about the perfect gift for a pixie who already believes he has it all? Hopefully the following short stories answer those burning questions.
Lighting the Darkness
Older than memory, vampire Nirgal is often simply referred to as ancient one. Help from his new friends across the pond, along with a desperate home-and-hearth pixie, might finally give Nirgal his own HEA, Lighting the Darkness invading his soul.
Magic’s Sight
Vander is near his breaking point. Thankfully, Magic has a plan and sends aid in the form of a precocious brownie child named Byx and her mother, Georgianna. Will Magic’s Sight be the answer that saves Vander’s life?
Phil’s Gift
Dillon and Ruthie set out on a quest to find the best present ever. Deciding Phil’s friends know him best, the children embark on their mission. Turns out dwarves, pixie best friends, fauns, and fairies have some interesting ideas regarding Phil’s Gift.
A Scuttlebutt’s Loyalty
Trinket will do whatever it takes to keep her tribe safe, even if that means tearing Dusk apart to do so. Too bad it just so happens to be during Wendall and Ray’s bonding celebration. Party be damned, a Scuttlebutt’s Loyalty is too important.
Cherry Blossom’s and Fairy Blushes
Why is Hamish so distracted by the dryad who walked through his office door? Why can’t Hamish seem to dismiss his new client, and why is he so concerned for his safety? More importantly, why is this dryad’s Cherry Blossoms causing his Fairy Blushes?
Perfectly Petite Shorts is a collection of five stories revolving around side characters from the Perfect Pixie Series. For optimum enjoyment, the previous books in the series should be read prior. Perfectly Petite Shorts contains questionable gifting ideas, protective scuttlebutt violence, magenta colored pixie dust, mischievously motivated sprites, trolls with questionable fashion sense, randomly sprouting cherry blossoms, and so much more.
This was a highly entertaining and a grand new book in the series. As the first case for Jamie’s Queen’s Own agency, it’s an intriguing mystery. It will take Jamie, Henri, and her crew of investigators that are quickly forming a core of friends as well, to new lands and new magical powers to explore.
It expands into the growing relationships between Jamie and Henri, Sherold, and others around them both. And the adorable Felixes are in the mix too.
The format of Henri’s notes, with different colored handwritten notations by others (Jamie, Sherold, Henri) are often funny, full of references and tiny emojis. I love it.
Don’t miss Jamie’s ever growing list of new additions to this universe of “inventions” from her world, new discoveries. It expands from book to book.
Highly recommended. Highly addictive.
Love the covers.
Cover by Katie Griffin
The Case Files of Henri Davenforth (11 book series to date):
Yay first Queen’s Own case! Yay first international case! Blowing people up with bombs, not so yay.
This is supposed to be a murder-suicide but the case smells. And not just because the dead potion maker lacks knowledge about the cure he supposedly created. Jamie’s got a smoking crater of an office (and body), a queen breathing down her neck, a witness clinging to life, and no answers.
One thing she knows for certain, however–this potion is a cure to die for.
While I’m really enjoying this subset of paranormal fantasy novels in the Nelson & MacIlwraith Mystery universe, this book doesn’t have the same level of complexity and depth for all the main characters as previous stories. And that lack hurts my connection to the narrative.
K Sterling is a fantastic author. Her ability to weave together a coherent and compelling narrative is a huge factor in her success. She uses her unique background of investigations, murders then adds more layers of natural history, geography, multicultural history, and mythology to create a unique world and experiences.
This is where I recommend readers not to forget to include reading all Sterling’s author’s notes at the beginning of this book. On this being a love note to our parks and its Rangers, but also to their own complex, oppressive history with our indigenous people and communities over lands that were confiscated by the government.
And, there’s a dictionary for those who want to know how to pronounce some of these Irish Gaelic words seen throughout the novel and series. Honestly, I loved this.
Now to the pluses and minuses of the book.
The plot is excellent but almost too removed from actual action and its deep roots in a nefarious bargain. We should have seen more of that. And perhaps less sex, more detailed work on a real relationship.
It’s framed in that the Oracle has seen that an innocent, a Park Ranger in the Shenandoah’s, will be in danger from a demon.
That’s more than enough for the crew of Demi Sun god MacIlwraith, Nelson, Merlin, the two hellhounds and their mates to make the trip to investigate and save him. This group is always a great source for the story and dialogue. And we see Nox MacIlwraith’s powers growing.
However, thing is , the main story revolves around the Ranger, Niall, and the demon, Cenn, aka Lord Smoak. Of the two, we get one fascinating character and one bland one dimensional character. Guess who is the one note person? Niall the human.
He’s got a great background story, but that not well represented in his actual personality. The dark damage he fled from wouldn’t be the same as someone who really just comes across as an introvert from a conservative background. It’s not believable as written.
Who is on point is Cenn, the demon Lord Smoak. First of all demons, arguably murderous, arrogant, dark and complex. And flexible in his ways and character to show the ability to make choices and changes as he sees fit.
Silas, a Sheriff and new character has the next book in the series and it’s already an interesting one from the small excerpt included here.
This left one aspect of Cenn and Niall’s relationship open as well as what happened to the first villain, an ongoing conflict.
So my take on Dead Air: A Nelson & MacIlwraith Mystery (Moon Murder Mysteries) by K. Sterling is that it’s interesting but doesn’t hold up well next to the preceding stories.
Read it as a bridge between the books, for the new characters and to see how the group is evolving. Nox especially.
Exquisite covers.
Cover art by @KillerLaurent
Moon Mysteries 1 – 3 (first series)
Nelson & MacIlwraith Mystery (Moon Murder Mysteries sequel series)
He hid in the woods to escape a monster but found a demon in his bed.
Six years ago, rising political star Niall Gilpatrick was living a lie. A fearless and vocal activist, he hid that he was himself a victim. After a brush with death, Niall ran, starting over as a park ranger in the Shenandoah Mountains.
But now, strange dreams and an impossibly dashing biologist have upended his tranquil existence.
And that was the point.
An ancient Irish demon, Chance Curn was sent to tempt this surprisingly wholesome mortal into selling his soul.
He’s haunting Niall’s dreams and playing with his heart, but it is Chance who finds himself in a dangerous trap.
Since when did demons have feelings?
Now, Chance has to decide if he’s willing to risk it all for a mortal and Niall must face his fears to trust a demon with his heart and his life. Can they save each other or will they become dead air?
Dead Air is a paranormal MM romance set in the mountains of rural Virginia. There’s Celtic mythology, an evil plot to foil, and an isolated cabin where no one can hear you scream. Dead Air is set in the world of Nelson & MacIlwraith, but can be read as a standalone.
V.L. Locey writes such amazing books. It’s actually hard to name a favorite among her many different books and series, considering the variety of themes and locations. And characters, of course!
Mornings by the Linden Tree , the third book in V.L. Locey ‘s Love’s Journeys series, is a marvelous example of how diverse her books are and how well she writes them.
If there is one aspect of the story that’s made it slow to connect with, it’s with the beautifully crafted character of Wesley Barlowe. He’s rich, rigid, so tightly controlled and self restrained that he’s emotionally unavailable, even to the reader. He’s absolutely believable, understandable, and not terribly likable. He’s a single gay divorce lawyer, in Boston, who doesn’t particularly like children, and loves a perfectly scheduled world.
Then his younger drug addict sister dies in another state, leaving him the guardian of a young child he wasn’t aware existed.
Cue the upheavals on every level.
Locey addresses many difficult topics here. Both in Aida’s case, the sister who had suffered from substance abuse for years and died of its effects to Wesley, who had abandonment issues that have plagued him, and now his niece who has, as a toddler who has suffered from the effects of her mother’s drug addiction and death, now has her own fears and nightmares. The author slowly explores each of these characters pain and damage, with sensitivity and realism, and using a wonderful humorous and compelling therapist to help them navigate through their own journey together. With funny socks.
And the romantic relationship, with a singer/performer , Lennon Cole , who helps them through their own initial experience and the upheaval of becoming a family. That too, is remarkable and real.
I mean, all the various side characters are pretty much great personalities and make indelible impressions on the reader and in their interactions with the characters in the story.
This includes Boston itself, it all it’s glorious magic. The buildings, the parks, people,and the legendary Red Sox!
The story ends as it should. A work in progress for the family. We see them happy together and going forward together with new plans, friends and family.
Mornings by the Linden Tree (Love’s Journeys #3) by V.L. Locey is another fantastic book in a great series. One I’m highly recommending.
When you think you have everything you need, fate will show you all you never knew you were missing.
Wesley Barlowe has it all. He’s a highly successful divorce attorney at one of Boston’s most prestigious law firms. His name is on the rosters of many elite clubs, his clothes are from famed designers, and his historic duplex overlooks Boston Common. His lovers are few and far between by choice, his car is a sporty hybrid, and his bourbon is always aged in white oak barrels. There are no surprises in Wesley’s tightly structured life. Until his estranged sister dies, leaving her three-year-old daughter in his custody. With no other family to pass the child off to, Wesley has no other option but to take his niece into his home.
Instead of spending his days in court and his nights at home studying briefs while sipping on triple mash twenty-year-old whiskey, he now finds himself joining single-parent online groups, waffling about how to handle temper tantrums, and how to entertain a rambunctious preschooler. During a particularly rough morning, she spies a musician on the Common singing to a small group of children. At his wit’s end, he carries his niece across the street and discovers that not only do the children seated on rainbow blankets adore the handsome, funny, and charming performer, but Wesley does too. There is something incredibly calming and warm about Lennon Cole and his silly songs. Something that will show the workaholic that there is more to life than litigations, courtroom wins, and million-dollar settlements.
Mornings by the Linden Tree is a slow burn, age gap, rich man/poor man, single father, biracial MM romance with two incredibly different men, a city along a famous harbor, a precocious child, a housekeeper with plenty of sage advice, songs about frogs in baseball caps, an indecent amount of clam chowder, evenings spent slow dancing with the baby monitor on, and a wicked awesome happy ending.
*Content Warning: This story has references to loss of a family member and substance abuse*
Here’s another fantastic magical science fiction series from the married authors (Ilona and Andrew Gordon) known as Ilona Andrews. They have quickly become my favorite authors and a must read, with my bookshelf full of great books and series of theirs.
The Innkeeper Chronicles is a complete series,a true delight of worlds and characters. It starts with Clean Sweep, a sentient inn in a small town in Texas where The Innkeeper, a actual galactic title associated with the house and its current owner is still getting herself established with her own Inn and her clients.
Dina Demille is the daughter of Innkeepers, her parents and their famous Inn mysteriously disappeared without a trace while Dina was in college and her siblings were away from home,far far away from home on other worlds. After years of searching and no clues, Dina has followed in their footsteps and become an Innkeeper herself.
Dina Demille is such a fabulously written character. She really stands out from the other characters in this genre of strong female characters in that she has her own unique history and challenges that she’s been working with. She’s incredibly strong, quietly intelligent and able to be flexible with multiple personalities and situations while still being a relatable person. Full of emotions, a width and depth of experience that is only slowly revealed, Dina is a whole new level of main female character energy!
She’s also got a very strange monster tiny dog that is her companion, a sentient Inn that’s home and more, and a current client who’s a lifetime resident and galactic criminal. And a favorite character!
We get to know the backgrounds and histories for Dina and those around her through the drama that descends on the town. Monsters are killing the townspeople’s pets.
It’s a fantastic storyline, we meet many important characters such as alpha werewolves and vampire royals. All beautifully crafted and supplied with a great history and dramatic backstory to tell.
This particular storyline is wrapped up completely and in a very satisfying way. But leaves the ending open for more adventures and further development for the three main characters and the group that is forming.
Honestly, it’s enormously difficult to hold myself back from binging this all the way through like I did with the fabulous Kate Daniels series.
On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast. But Dina is…different: Her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn is magic and thinks for itself. Meant to be a lodging for otherworldly visitors, the only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can’t leave the grounds because she’s responsible for the deaths of millions and someone might shoot her on sight. Under the circumstances, “normal” is a bit of a stretch for Dina.
And now, something with wicked claws and deepwater teeth has begun to hunt at night…Feeling responsible for her neighbors, Dina decides to get involved. Before long, she has to juggle dealing with the annoyingly attractive, ex-military, new neighbor, Sean Evans—an alpha-strain werewolf—and the equally arresting cosmic vampire soldier, Arland, while trying to keep her inn and its guests safe. But the enemy she’s facing is unlike anything she’s ever encountered before. It’s smart, vicious, and lethal, and putting herself between this creature and her neighbors might just cost her everything.
The Demon’s Due is the finale to Deborah Wilde’s Bedeviled series about a Jewish half demon supernatural agent and her Vampire Prince boyfriend who have to save the world, deal with their , admittedly extremely serious father issues, and a sort of shady government agency that Aviva and her mother work for.
And her identity problems and self acceptance, which finally happens here at the end.
There’s so much to unpack here, starting with how that cliffhanger at the end of book 4 is resolved. Luckily Demon’s Due picks up right away, an almost seamless transition from that narrative to this, so those binging can follow through.
Without any spoilers, Wilde doesn’t disappoint. This is a highly entertaining, great dialogue, fast paced novel.
Tons of moments that involve scenes of intimate moving moments, bloody action battle sequences, and plenty more of investigative work and plot twists that are satisfying and surprising.
The various fathers issues between Ezra and his father, then Aviva and hers are handled differently. Ezra and his father’s history and their relationship is a far more complex and tormented one. As is the outcome. Their dynamic was one of the most powerful emotional moments here. Aviva’s relationship never gets that same level of attention. And is left open for the most part. Unlike her relationship with her mother.
There’s always been that aspect of her personality where she’s separated her demon self into another “character “, Cherry Bomb, to keep from integrating with it as part of her. Finally, it’s acceptance time. An overdue moment actually. I thought it would come in book 4. Here it’s almost too late in this storyline.
There’s a great many action scenes towards end as everyone works to save the world. The magic was interesting and imaginative. I wish there was more of a follow up to this to see the aftermath.
The Demon’s Due: An Enemies-to-Lovers Urban Fantasy (Bedeviled Book 5) by Deborah Wilde is an excellent book. A fantastic way to finish the series and see these great characters off.
Magic has a price, and Aviva’s running out of ways to pay.
When an ancient healing ritual goes nuclear and vampires start short-circuiting, the supernatural world begins unraveling faster than you can say “apocalypse now.” Aviva isn’t just investigating a disaster—she’s living in the blast zone.
Meantime, with demon magic threatening her boyfriend’s life, Aviva makes a desperate choice: she forges a magic bond with him. Nice idea. Too bad it complicates everything. Now tethered to each other and racing against time, they must find a way to contain the chaos unleashed by the ritual—assuming their connection doesn’t destroy them first.
Time to fight fire with fire. Literally.
To save the world, Aviva must embrace both sides of herself: the dedicated operative and the demon who’s done playing nice.
Enter Cherry Bomb. The world better brace for impact.
Featuring a smart, funny heroine and a banter-fueled vampire romance, this wickedly addictive urban fantasy will keep you reading way past bedtime.
Short, adorable and great way to mesh these three series and zany group of characters.
Will you be lost if you don’t know the characters or their respective relationships? Pretty much. It’s still an entertaining read but having all the background information on who’s who and what series they came from makes those scenes and characters more enjoyable.
Definitely a gift to the authors fans. And I love every sentence.
Cover by Katie Griffin
Series and Characters Involved:
The Tribulations of Ross Young, Supernat PA (multiple shorts/crossovers)
Turns out bath bombs are actually magical portals. Or at least, in the hands of Master Mage Declan, they became portals. Even he’s not sure why.
Said magical portal connects to Ross’s bath tub.
Which means this is also now the Unholy Trifecta’s problem because Ross absolutely refuses to deal with portal magic by himself. Thanks muchly.
Tags:
Crossover time!, Unholy Trifecta, Supernat PA, Insanity of Reincarnated Mages, bath bombs gone wild, lots of bath tub hopping, I treat Canon like a Buffet but in a Gentle Way, Canon-Typical Poor Decision-Making, brain cells assemble, it’s just mindless fluff and shenanigans, Declan use your brain challenge: failed, crack treated like crack, neither author is sorry.
In the series penultimate story, author Deborah Wilde really kicks things up into the anticipated narrative high gear as the characters and storylines head towards the end.
Yes, this finishes on an agonizing climax and cliffhanger. Just a FYI.
Wilde does excellent work in continuing to make the Jewish faith, culture and religion, as well as history a major factor and foundation for the world building and characters. It’s seamless storytelling while still being able to create a compelling paranormal universe that has vampires and demons, half demons and other otherworldly beings as a part of the plot and as citizens.
This is a rich tapestry of beings that inhabit a complex layered universe of political magical powers, scheming, racial dynamics, and horrors. To go along with the typical vices of greed, overwhelming need for power and revenge.
Agent Aviva, her Maccabee director mother, Michael, hopefully bf Vampire Crimson Prince Ezra, and team are fighting multiple battles and investigating each crimes. Her demon father and his vampire mob boss father are both threatening each of them in various ways.
And a new , more complicated villain has appeared.
Aviva has yet to totally accept her demon self, still referring to herself as Cherry Bomb, a separate entity rather than herself. Hiding her true nature is getting to be a bigger part of her story and the overall theme here. It’s so important and well done.
Each character has depth and damage in their background. Issues they are very much still working through as events unfold. It’s challenging and a realistic growth in a paranormal world.
Welcome to Vancouver, where the coffee’s strong, the magic’s stronger, and the murders are getting personal.
With tensions between the magic and non-magic communities already at a breaking point, Aviva goes undercover on a murder case that could shatter the city’s fragile peace. As if that weren’t enough pressure, she uncovers a deadly connection to demons—and her own past.
But why have one code red crisis when you could have two? Enter the Ashbishop: a shadowy figure convinced a vampire breeding ritual is a good idea.
Spoiler alert: it’s not.
And forget juggling stolen moments with Ezra between supernatural smackdowns. Fed up with her work-life chaos, Aviva realizes that sometimes, the best disguise is no disguise at all.
Cherry Bomb is ready for her close-up.
Featuring a smart, funny heroine and a banter-fueled vampire romance, this wickedly addictive urban fantasy will keep you reading way past bedtime.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 