Cajole is the penultimate book in The Adventures of a Xeno-Archaeologist by Jenny Schwartz and I’m finding it very entertaining, while making me think a bit more about how some of the more “familiar” Earth elements made the passage through the gate and successfully established themselves in the new Human Section.
Donkeys, horses, many types of earth fauna as well as fauna is essentially as well known as they are as an Earth species. Which given the history, as colony ships so long ago, seems unusual. I wish their background had been explained as fully as some of the other “alien elements “ that Schwartz does so vividly.
The relationship dynamics, the Forgotten, those people in hiding, the entire storyline of how and why they are used and acquired through the galaxy is a fascinating story, and emotional one. It drives many of the characters and their interactions here.
And it’s also the hidden aspects behind the power of the thrones.
Driving the characters , the need to cage and the equal opportunity to flee for freedom.
Another exciting story and move towards the finale. Throughly entertaining.
If life on the border was complicated, life on Capitoline is insane. Nora and Liam struggle to reconcile her abilities and his duty, while caught up in the dangerous games of the powerful.
Political intrigue, family drama, and ancient alien technology combine in the fourth novel of the Human Sector.
Jenny Schwartz is really such a great go to author for me lately. And I’m having a blast reading this science fiction series about a strong woman building a new family and eventually a new life together for a found family clan that also includes a alien AI , an adopted daughter, and now a military or ex military war hero as a husband.
The science fiction and world building is a fascinating combination of familiar elements and imaginative burr alien science, one that includes intergalactic space currents that ships travel like rivers , space arrays that operate like doorways , and a veritable explosion of complex environments and scientific knowledge that builds, book upon book as the series progresses.
It’s interesting to see how Schwartz balances what’s essentially a galactic monarchy system so familiar with readers, along with its inherently continuous plotting of heirs, powers, and connections with that of a alien science, unknown realms, and potentially a unknown human world they’ve been unable to reconnect with.
The found family of Nora, Jonah, and Liam remain my favorite elements. Jonah being an alien IA.
Each book is around 14 to 15 chapters, so they go quickly. And it’s great to binge read them, one after another.
Which I’ve done.
Fabulous work. Creative, entertaining, and the universe is one that could be easily explored further with secondary characters.
Life is complicated along the Hadrian Line. Decisions made on the border will decide the fate of the entire Human Sector.
Nora is adjusting to her new role as a player in the games of the powerful. She’s gained some interesting enemies and some even more dubious allies. She has also been presented with a unique opportunity, courtesy of Jonah. The question is, who can she trust to explore it with her?
Independent action is a necessity for the sole Royal Capitoline Navy captain patrolling the border region. But Liam will have to defend his actions later in front of the Admiralty board. How can he best serve his realm? By a rigid definition of duty and defense of the status quo, or is there a greater cause, one worth his career and his very life?
This author continues to amaze me with the depth of his writing. It’s a fast paced science fiction/game Lit story, so jam packed with mind boggling elements, new technology gifted or created, and incredible characters who at this point it doesn’t even matter what species they or were after the alterations made to their bodies during the game.
It’s a brutal, messy, murderous and very sad slog from point to point as the players, including now the NPG players, try to keep going, until they get the chance to reach the next stage and level of the game.
Each book is one travel experience to the next level, with enormous losses, some wins with explosive attacks and equally devastating consequences.
The players we know and are familiar with can level up their skills and equipment, get sponsors, and also find a bigger bounty on their heads as they become popular. Carl, Princess Donut, Donut’s pet raptor Mongo, new player Katia have formed a team, albeit temporarily until Katia gets reunited with her old team of women players. One with a leader of many agendas.
This time the focus is on trains and subways. That’s how the players must travel to the next destination, their safe spaces, and the elevators to the next level when the designated time comes.
It’s full of new horrors, so so many body parts, and just when it’s a bit too much, things like this happen.
Carl is speaking to a NPG who just wants to read and has only a few books.
“I’ll tell you what,” I said. I pulled five Louis L’Amour books from my inventory. I’d read each of them already, from Sackett’s Land to Lando. I’d actually read almost all of them already, but I didn’t want to give them all up. “I’ll trade you these five for five of your books. Straight-up trade.””
So happens I love these myself. And some of the books Carl chooses? The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin and The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. All beloved reads of mine.
The narrative of quietly familiar scenes offset those that can immediately flow from high action intense scenes to the dramatic ones of fear, frustration or rage when Carl has a raw break alone to react with the reality of their situation and the insane amount of loss that they have suffered and will continue to endure going forward.
It hits the reader then equally hard. Keep the tissues nearby.
It’s hard not to care about the players. But this game is one where you find it hard to believe anyone will survive it.
I’m heading quickly to the next level and story.
The cover illustration is incredible. It’s so well done and exact to the characters and storyline. Honestly, you rarely see this fantastic artwork these days.
Cover Illustration by Luciano Fleitas Cover Design by Toby Dinniman
The top ten list is populated. The sponsorship program is open. The difficulty is ramping up. The first three floors were nothing compared to what Carl and Donut now face.
The Iron Tangle. An impossibly-complicated subway system built out of the world’s subterranean railway systems, all combined and then tied together into a knot. Up is down. Down is up. Close is far. The cars are filled with monsters, the railway stations are less than safe, and the exit is always just a few stops away.
But there is hope. For the first time, the crawlers are all working together. The loot is better than ever. And the secret to unraveling it all may be hidden in the pages of a seemingly-useless book. Welcome, crawlers. Welcome to the fourth floor of the dungeon
It’s not a good thing when I think I was being generous with my rating here. My love for The Portlock Paranormal Detective Series by Heather G. Harris and Jilleen Dolbeare prompted me to seek out individual stories by each of these authors as each has a fairly large number of books/series they’ve written.
So far I haven’t found the same level of depth of world building and characterization in the individual books as I found in their co-authored series.
Splintered Magic has the worst female main character yet of the ones I’ve read so far, which is highly disappointing. Especially as everything about her, the circumstances she finds herself in, and the premise of the story are incredibly promising.
It begins so well with the 40ish recently divorced Brigid Donovan pulling up to her family very old crumbling Victorian mansion/house in the middle of the night. Towing all her belongings in a rental trailer, she’s just arrived at the house, where long overdue renovations are underway.
The excellent descriptions of the house, the tall Pacific Northwest woods, and the rutted road leading into the shambles of a house full of memories and a family of construction workers, scrambling to get the work done brings the location and people alive.
And of course, a huge cat shows up, one that is a twin to the cat she grew up with decades ago on the same house. Huh.
Magical stuff starts to happen immediately to Brigid. And if perhaps, Dolbeare had gone a different route with the character, say extremely young and sheltered rather than older, experienced woman, someone who’s undergone a recent bitter divorce with a cheating spouse, and left everything behind, than I might have felt differently about the novel and this character’s reactions to, well, everything.
My biggest issue with the character of Brigid is her lack of believability as a woman. Given her age, experiences and current circumstances, how the author has her reacting in much of the scenes and events here just doesn’t make sense. If she’d come out of a nunnery perhaps, but even a high amount of tweens/grade schoolers have a better sense of caution and self awareness than Dolbeare has equipped her with.
She’s come home to a place she’s not been in for quite some time and not communicated with any of the people from her childhood. But immediately they, especially a girl she remembers as being a bit of a bully and mean girl, is automatically a “bestie “ on face value, because she seems nice.
No one does this. Ever.
Then when everyone, and I mean everybody, from her cat to , yes, another instant old boyfriend she’s decided she’s crazy for , tell her that this person and her entire group are bad bad people, does she listen? No.
Because they seem so nice.
It’s one incredibly stupid character development or decision making element after another. Poor Brigid turned into a TSTL character almost immediately here, making it literally impossible to take her or the entire story seriously.
Which is a shame because the series is complete but I don’t think I can handle any more of this twaddle.
There’s several other magical storylines, all of which are familiar plot lines. A person’s history and powerful abilities are stripped and hidden until they have the strength to handle it. But again, this part is silly as it isn’t well executed and is full of plot holes the more that you think it through.
Anyway. It ends on a cliffhanger that a reader could easily see coming. How involved you are here will determine if you go ahead with the series.
He left her with a broken heart… and a crumbling mansion full of magical secrets.
Brigid Donovan’s life is in shambles. Her husband ran off with his secretary, her ancestral home is falling apart, and all she wants is a quiet life in the heart of Oregon’s wild, ancient forest. But when her cat starts talking—and drops the bombshell that she’s the great-granddaughter of a fae lord—Brigid’s life goes from wrecked to downright weird.
She’s supposed to have magic. Power. A legacy. So where the hell is it?
As strange happenings ripple through the town of Kilchis, Brigid discovers her renovation team is a pack of werewolves, her new best friend is a witch, and her family history is a magical mystery wrapped in secrets. To survive, Brigid must reclaim her magic—before it claims her.
Welcome to Splintered Magic—a paranormal women’s urban fantasy full of wit, wolves, and wicked twists
Publisher: Vinci Books (February 14, 2023)
Publication date: February 14, 2023
Language: English
Print length: 206 pages
Werewolf shifter fantasy thriller, witch and wizard romance thrillers,
Brigid Donovan is divorced, adrift, and might be going nuts. Her desire to restore her family’s decaying Victorian Mansion isn’t going well. Mainly because her werewolf contractor is murdered on the job. And the only other choice to take over is the hot, if sketchy, cousin to the local coven’s head witch.
On top of these problems, her fluffy Ragdoll cat is now speaking to her—that can’t be normal, right? He tells her she’s the great-granddaughter of a fae lord, and very powerful. That’s all fine and dandy, but where is her magic?
Her search leads her to discover that her magic was taken from her at an early age and splintered into thirteen pieces of jewelry that she must find, reintegrate, and learn to use all before the local witch coven finds it first—and they play for keeps.
Luckily, she has a best friend, a Splintercat, a griffin, a teenaged dragon, and an angry werewolf pack to help. Everything should go smoothly…shouldn’t it?
Kennedy is another new to me author on my search for new writers of strong female characters and great stories.
Green Gryphon is the first book in Kennedy’s Mackenzie Green series, a novel set 50 years after magic drastically reappeared in the world, resulting in the death of billions, loss of the then governments of countries and chaos. Cities crumbled, anything created of plastic or non natural materials dissolved, leaving destruction and disaster behind. And magical beings that formed from some of those who were left.
Several aspects of this book surprised me. Not the foundation whereby a reappearance of magic destroys the world’s technology as well as its current countries structures, that’s a well established concept.
What caught me was the main character of MacKenzie Green and her small family. In a world of fantasy characters, dragons, gryphons, vampires, werewolves, and other mythical beings that this magical shift created, the book adds another element with her.
This is actually a darker story than I expected. Far from the sort of light tone that we get from the book’s blurb.
It’s far better than that.
It’s got a tinge of horror, that riding the edge of terrifying science fiction mixed with a fantasy vibe that makes this a fascinating and exciting story.
Plus dragon shifters and found family.
However, I’m thinking this novel should have trigger warnings as there’s plenty of bodies, bloodshed, and in the future stories, torture.
Mackenzie is a plant mage who’s hiding plenty of secrets. Those are slowly revealed towards the end of this book.
The world building is slowly coming together, as the author gives us the new structure as it pertains to this city and how humans and the otherworldly beings are governed. And the newly formed purity rights group that has formed within certain communities.
It’s highly suspenseful, action packed, and full of character driven storytelling.
I’m so invested in this character and series. Also thrilled it’s a complete one so I can binge through.
Mystery, magic, and more hidden secrets. That’s what Relics of the Wolf is focused upon.
Luna has, with all the betrayals, attacks, and bad news about her mother arriving together, decided to go full force with her wolf. It being the best way to ensure her safety and others survival.
The complex dynamics within Luna’s mother’s pack is one that is more feral, and less humanized than many other stories I’ve read. I appreciate this aspect even more because the Alpha is female, ruthless in running the pack as she works towards its future.
The story lines that Buroker is building, ones that include Luna and her pack, are among the strongest in the series. From the pack dynamics to the werewolves and their own history, the author is developing this element with each character and book. She’s revealing more about their mythology, genetics, and connections to other paranormal beings.
Luna is still a strong character, evolving her story and her wolf into a powerful role and magical being. I can’t wait to see more.
Duncan just continues to be an issue. He’s not a consistently well defined character, and I need that to be invested in him. For his part in Luna’s journey and me as a reader. The author does supply him with a newly revealed history but oddly, it didn’t make him any more believable here. It’s not a well constructed element. I’m just not connecting with him. Or this part of the story. It’s all too apparent.
Bolin remains outstanding. More of Bolin. Maybe let us in on his parents, too.
The shifter elements are exciting, Luna is fabulous, the Pack itself is full of complicated characters and hidden inter-pack political elements that add suspense and depth to the scenario.
Moving swiftly to the next book to see how the story develops.
Another winner for lovers of paranormal werewolf fiction and urban fantasy thrillers.
When Luna decided to reclaim her werewolf heritage, she had no idea what she was in for.
Frustrated, angry, and betrayed, she must find the mysterious artifact she lost, unravel the politics of the pack, and defend against attempts on her life.
With everything intertwined, she has a daunting road ahead, and her conflicting feelings about the lone werewolf, Duncan, aren’t helping anything. She doubts she can trust him, no matter how charming he is, but she may need to if she wants to get to the bottom of her troubles—and survive the week.
I’m constantly on the lookout for a strong FMC and storylines that are outside of the popular types and novel trends I’m seeing everywhere these days.
Lindsay Buroker is among those authors (ones I’m just now discovering) who are writing about older female characters that have been through challenges in their lives, divorces, losses, dysfunctional families and relationships. Lost jobs or in situations where they’re often making do with the economy , their skill sets, and getting by as best they can. Some have kids , young or in the case of the FMC here, two older sons who are living elsewhere.
In other words, female characters who are extremely relatable and relevant for many readers.
Luna Valens is a 45 yrs old divorced woman, with 2 grown children ,who’s been the Property Manager of the Sylvan Serenity Housing in Seattle, Washington for over 20 years. She’s also a werewolf who hasn’t shifted for 25 years. On purpose.
The novel opens with Luna carrying a toilet across the parking lot of the building complex where she’s getting ready to replace a renter’s toilet herself. The scene immediately gives the reader a full picture of who Luna is, tough, aware, dry observations about her own life and the way she is aging. Even the dull senses she’s has due to the fact she’s been drugging the shifter aspect of herself into non existence.
Buroker lends the character authenticity even as she’s giving us a mystery about the woman lugging the heavy weight around the parking lot with a lot more ease than any human can handle. It brought me instantly into the story and Luna Valen’s character.
For me the female characters are the best part of the story. Luna, her mother, who’s absolutely fierce, the idea of packs as a matriarchal line, are all amazing storylines.
Duncan, the werewolf treasure hunter, is a little more problematic as a character. His continued use of “My Lady” , while explained later, is something I find annoying. He just doesn’t have the same energy as Luna does.
But Bolin the intern does, he’s amazing. I’d love to see him as a full non romantic player here . From his intriguing history to his personality, he’s fantastic.
Definitely moving forward with the series and this terrific character.
It’s been more than twenty years since tragedy prompted Luna Valens to walk away from her pack.
Scarred by her past, she’s done her best to lead a normal human life. Thanks to a potion that suppresses her magic, nobody around her has a clue that she’s a werewolf.
Until…
Her potion supplier disappears, her family reestablishes contact, and a mysterious werewolf with a metal detector and a penchant for calling her my lady saunters into her life.
As if all that weren’t enough, someone from her past is trying to kill her. Someone dangerous.
To survive and figure out what’s going on, Luna will have to once again embrace her power. But, after so long, will she be able to summon the wolf?
~
A contemporary fantasy series for those enjoy second-chance stories, slow-burn romance, and werewolves with a sense of humor. Pick up Way of the Wolf today!
Doubt sees Nora’s solitary existence crumbling as she builds a found family, which includes that of her alien AI companion Jonah, a real favorite in the cast of well crafted characters.
An excellent and well written book that moves all the many elements and character relationships of this series into new territory by revealing more of Nora’s history and allowing the conflicts of the characters to be explored and worked on, if possible.
The burrs, the science (so fascinating in how Schwartz is describing it), and its expansion towards a wider role in the coming stories is highly important and exciting.
Again, this book will send you immediately onto the next.
A winner in the writing, characters, world building, and fabulous storytelling.
Alien mysteries. Parental responsibilities. The scout ship Kangaroo has jumped into trouble.
Nora Devi intended to leave her old life behind. But when a quick detour to acquire the funds for a new identity goes awry, she finds herself plunged ever deeper into the troubles she hoped to avoid.
The Human Sector is a stash of fuel cells just waiting for a spark to explode. The Great Game of politics and power has shifted from the inner realm to the border. Captain Liam Kimani of the battlecruiser RC Genghis Khan is the man in position to suppress the explosion – or ride the wave of it.
It’s been half a millennium since the Stranding. Is the power of the royals still worth supporting, or is it time to risk everything for the chance to rejoin the rest of humanity?
Two immediate thoughts about this remarkable story. One, I absolutely love it. Secondly, book two in the series isn’t going to be released until next year, so if you’re a reader who finds that hard to take, wait! Don’t read this yet. Because, much like me, are end of this book, you’ll be craving the next one. And knowing we have a long wait ahead. Argh!
That said, what a fabulous tale this is. Hunt is another writer I discovered via this series and whether it’s her ingratiating characters, smart, snarky dialogue and humor, or just plain great storytelling, I was invested from the beginning.
I love stories that switch up the perspectives. It’s the villains who are the main (and magnificent) characters. And the well written women who are supposed to be the damsel in distress but aren’t. Instead, they’re women who are intelligent, strategic, and powerful in their own right. A equal. And morally grey partner to the villain in her story.
As a fan of Hannah Nicole Maehrer’s Assistant to the Villain series, I was quick to pick this up. Its similar only in that the villain is the main character (a dashing, dark magical lord) and that the relationship between the Dark Lord, Kaz, and his Lady, Arabella, is a very similar, fully developed one of growth, understanding and trust. It’s their fantastic dialogue and fierce dynamic, combining all their own strengths and hidden fears as well as magical abilities that will eventually combust into a new hot full partnership.
But not until they have a strong understanding and connection with each other. That’s the key here. Respect, trust and understanding of each other. Remarkably adult thinking.
There’s plenty of bloodshed, and violence. He’s a villain. But also there’s plenty of villainous deeds done by “the good guys “. Including her family.
There’s interesting mythology that’s just getting started and will grow into the next book. A dark mystery too.
And a dragon!
But it’s Lord and Lady Blackrose ( yes, there are black roses, they bite) who make the story. They are an outstanding villainous couple. I love them and will find it hard to wait until next year to see what happens next!
Highly recommended!
Guides to Villainy and Love:
The Dark Lord’s Guide to Dating (And Other War Crimes) #1
The Dark Lord’s Guide to Honeymooning (And Other Villainous Deeds) – Feb 10,2026
Perfect for fans of Assistant to the Villain, but darker and spicier.
In this riotously funny dark romantasy, a conflicted villain and his unstoppable bride form the realm’s most chaotic alliance.
“What’s mine, stays mine.”
Step One: Kidnap someone cute.
Step Two: Force her into marriage.
Step Three: Try not to get feelings.
When Dark Lord Kazimir Blackrose kidnaps Lady Arabella for a forced marriage, he expects an obedient, trembling bride. What he gets is a knife to the throat and a furious woman with her own terms. He may need her heroic bloodline to achieve ultimate dominion, but she’s not about to make this easy for him.
Arabella has already survived her father’s tower prison and a lifetime of being treated like property. Being abducted by the realm’s most notorious villain is just another Tuesday. If she must be married to the infuriating (and infuriatingly attractive) Dark Lord, she’ll do it on her terms: freedom within his fortress, hands strictly to himself, and complete honesty about his plans.
But when his plans go awry, Kazimir faces his most terrifying challenge yet. He must actually date his own wife. Between magical training sessions, playing golf with the eyeballs of his enemies, and aphrodisiac dinners gone spectacularly wrong, his villainous seduction plans are failing at every turn.
As they navigate magical explosions and jealous exes, they discover a far more terrifying prospect than war or magical catastrophe:
They might actually be falling for each other.
This dark and sexy fantasy romance is perfect for readers who love:
A morally gray antihero (who stays that way)
A strong heroine who embraces her dark side (she doesn’t need rescuing, thanks)
Unfortunately for me, Future Tense, the newest release in Kristen Painter’s Ellis McFadden Mysteries series fell very short of all the previous stories.
While those centered around life and the mysteries on the star ship Ellis and her friends were living on, Future Tense brings in a new alien species, a element which ends up being the most underwhelming and poorly conceived aspect of the story.
It didn’t help that I had just finished another science fiction series where the universe building and science was exceptional.
The idea of a multi use enormous star liner, part science vessel, part military liner and civilian transportation ship, could easily let a rarely seen species go among its quarters , ship levels and communities , toting in unique and unknown objects throughout, spreading its messages across its media channels? Without tight controls and quarantines in place prior? None of this happens and it breaks down my belief in the idea of a sound narrative foundation that any part of this is a realistic idea of a scientific or military vessel or has officers with that status on board. The author seems to have forgotten her own statement about the Athos’ mission and its command in lieu of the theme of this mystery.
And when things go wrong, as one might expect, The Captain (military mind you) goes to her daughter, the ship’s librarian (and librarians are fabulous) and her wealthy retired IT boyfriend, to solve the mystery.
I can only suspend my belief so far. And it couldn’t go that distance.
Even so many other aspects of the story were not well constructed. At any time during the serious investigation into missing persons, including a teenager, was it an official crime matter or military action? No. On a spaceship considered a main fleet vessel, carrying a number of people in cryotubes? Maybe that part of the series has been sidelined. But it’s a science and military ship so where’s that structure?
And oh by the way, given the epilogue, it appears they could have figured out who those aliens and their ship were after all with a bit of space Google.
There were a few positive things like Ellis’s decision about remaining single because she and Frank enjoy their personal spaces and privacy but that’s countered by having the fascinating IA pets like Henry be reduced to saying “I’d like to watch fish today, Mom”, instead of being a integral member of the investigating team. Such an empty role as opposed to what they have been prior.
Given all the above, this book was a disappointment. I won’t be recommending it.
Cover design: Cover design and composite cover art by Janet Holmes
Step into the enigmatic world of the Athos—a vessel that blends the luxury of a cruise ship, the intrigue of a scientific research station, and the might of a military starship. Here, amidst the stars, you’ll find Ellis McFadden, the ship’s head librarian, embarking on adventures she never anticipated this late in her career.
The plot thickens when the Athos comes to the aid of a stranded craft, taking aboard three mysterious sisters and their father. They offer a tantalizing trade: visions of the future for those eager to know their fate. The crew and guests are soon captivated by the predictions.
But Ellis senses something amiss. The price for these glimpses into tomorrow seems too steep. So she, boyfriend Frank, and her android cat investigate, uncovering dubious secrets, but her friends are already entranced by the charlatans’ charms. Can Ellis break the spell and save the ship’s crew from an ominous future?
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 