Category: eBooks

Review:  In A Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles, #2) by Shelly Laurenston

Rating: 4.5⭐️

A 6 book series, stories 1 through 3 focus on the foundation family of the three MacKilligan sisters.  All three have the same criminal loser and absentee father a honey badger shifter who goes finds female companions like he does trouble, often leaving behind his children (from different mothers). Who then have to deal with his problems as adults. 

The first book centers around the oldest, Charlie Taylor-MacKilligan, a wolf/honey badger shifter who has been the caretaker for her sisters since her mother died.  Now they’ve settled into a sort of normality (for them) in a bear shifter neighborhood in a rental house. And Charlie’s got a bonded relationship with a grizzly bear shifter. 

But all the events in that book sets off a ripple effect that continues here in Stevie’s story. Stevie is the youngest, and the one who has the most issues. She’s brilliant, a certified genius. She’s got mental health issues, starting with extreme anxiety and depression that can cause her to spiral and lose control of her shift.  A concern when she’s a honey badger/tiger shifter hybrid.  The weird mixture of her father’s genes adds to her ability to do some pretty spectacular stuff. 

And for , honestly , some of the best scenes in the book, as well as in the last. 

Laurenston plays with the juxtaposition of how superficially Stevie’s perceived against the reality of what Stevie actually is. Or is capable of. This happens over and over. With multiple people. And I love it. That expectations are often wrong when taken on a simplistic level. 

Of course, this is the MacKilligan sisters, so we get all three and their often hilarious dynamics, fast paced and brutal action, and powerful scenes with full on snarky, clever, and often engaging dialogue. 

Shen, the Panda bodyguard who’s the love interest is vastly different and great in his unique role. He grows throughout the book and into the next. 

If I had an issue, it’s that Stevie kept making excuses for the father, a vile being.  I hope it doesn’t take six books to bring him down. 

This is a definite pleasure to read. And one I’m happy to share. 

Honey Badger Chronicles:

Hot and Badgered #1

In A Badger Way #2

Badger to the Bone #3

Breaking Badger #4

Born to Be Badger #5

To Kill a Badger #6

Buy link

        In a Badger Way: A Honey Badger Shifter Romance (The Honey Badger Chronicles Book 2)

    

Blurb 

Petite, kind, brilliant, and young, Stevie is nothing like the usual women bodyguard Shen Li is interested in. Even more surprising, the youngest of the lethal, ball-busting, and beautiful MacKilligan sisters is terrified of bears. But she’s not terrified of pandas. She loves pandas.

Which means that whether Shen wants her to or not, she simply won’t stop cuddling him. He isn’t some stuffed Giant Panda, ya know! He is a Giant Panda shifter. He deserves respect and personal space. Something that little hybrid is completely ignoring.

But Stevie has a way of finding trouble. Like going undercover to take down a scientist experimenting on other shifters. For what, Shen doesn’t want to know, but they’d better find out. And fast. Stevie might be the least violent of the honey badger sisters, but she’s the most dangerous to Shen’s peace of mind. Because she has absolutely no idea how much trouble they’re in . . . or just how damn adorable she is.

  • Publisher: Kensington Books
  • Accessibility: Learn more
  • Publication date: March 26, 2019
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 418 pages
  • Book 2 of 6: The Honey Badger Chronicles

Review:  Little Bo Sneak (Once Upon A Rhyme, #2) by Abigail Manning 

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Abigail Manning continues her excellent fantasy series with Little Bo Sneak, a tweak of an old classic nursery rhyme with a touch of an undercover spy thriller combined with a fairytale storyline. 

It works surprisingly well. Especially as it continues from the first tale, and reveals a new overall series thread that’s concerned with magic stones and sinister black markets within the Kingdom to obtain them.

It started with the first novel and how Lucy’s father was framed for the theft of several of important magical stones. And then she was subsequently cursed by one. That was  The Itsy Bitsy Liar. 

In Little Bo Sneak, Lady “Evie”Genevieve Rayelle Palleep, Lucy’s mistress and friend, is the main character here.  She’s also a very good spy. 

When some dangerous magical cloaks need to be traced and the culprits identified, Evie’s handlers decide she needs a partner. 

It’s a romantic thriller,a magical romp, and an all-around heroine to the rescue in another fabulous nursery rhyme tweaked for a new trope and grand adventure. 

I can’t recommend this and the series enough. Inventive, characters with depth and humor, and dialogue that conveys emotions and intelligence. 

Adore it.  And each story is interwoven into the next.

Beautiful lush covers are everything! Here’s another in a fabulous line of them. Each is from an important scene in the book. 

 Cover design by Karri Klawitter

Once Upon a Rhythm:

The Itsy Bitsy Liar #1

Little Bo Sneak #2

Hush A Bye Lady #3

Do You Know The Muffin Scam? #4

Baa Baa Black Market #5

Twinkle Twinkle Little Scars #6 – Sept 26,2025

Buy link:

        Little Bo Sneak (Once Upon A Rhyme)

    

Blurb 

What if Little Bo Peep, had a skill for catching crooks?

Lady Genevieve Rayelle Palleep loves to point out what no one else notices, which makes it a tad difficult to get along with most suitors. While tracking down details may not be beneficial for her life as a lady, it certainly has uses in her more secretive life. Since being recruited as a crown agent as a child, Evie’s talents have never failed to hunt down black market goods, runaway convicts, or anything else one could imagine… That is, until her next mission bears an interesting request.

When eight magic-fused wool cloaks go missing from the black market, the agency doesn’t feel that Evie can handle the task alone. Much to Evie’s regret, she’s assigned her very first partner, an obnoxiously attractive agent by the name of Shepherd. He wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t have to go undercover as courting lovers… or if he wasn’t so perfect.

With her new partner in tow, and a mysterious stack of cloaks ready to be found, Evie is determined to prove she never needed Shep’s help from the start. She’s worked too hard to let another man drag her around like a wandering sheep. Will Evie be able to track down the missing wools? Or will her distrust of her partner leave them both lost?

Once Upon A Rhyme is a collection of clean, intercepting stories, best enjoyed when read as a series.

  • Publication date: July 11, 2023
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 339 pages
  • Book 2 of 6: Once Upon A Rhyme

Review:  Out Of A Fix (Torus Intercession Book 7) by Mary Calmes

Rating: 4.75🌈

Out Of A Fix brings an end to Mary Calmes wonderful Torus Intercession series with the last of the original fixers, 52 year old Nash Miller takes a job in a small town in Washington state where the family she left behind of a woman who is now in WITSEC program resides. Her brother is concerned their safety isn’t a priority for the FBI and wants Torus to insure they are protected during this trial. 

Seems simple enough. However, that’s not the case that Nash finds out when he enters the town. The ex-husband is absent on a job site. The kids are in trouble and he’s desperately needed there as a fixer. On many levels. 

Calmes quickly turns this last story into a heartbreaking then finally heartwarming tale of a family rescued . Which  turns into an engaging emotional story about a family that has finds their hearts and home rebuilt into a new beginning, including their own fixer. 

The children are so well written. They grab at the readers hearts just as they do Nash’s. Whether’s Tatum, the youngest child or the oldest son, whose behavior has brought him into the worst possible situation, these are kids who are fragile and need help immediately. And get it. 

The issues are slow to be revealed and are addressed as needed. This includes issues of the dad’s too. Luke Duchesne doesn’t get an immediate pass on his behavior but there’s also an effort made to understand and address it. And to do better. 

Therapists have a prominent role here and that’s a positive element of the story. For each of these characters have issues to overcome. 

The plot moves forward swiftly, the romance is not always the center of the story but the forming of the family which folds in the newly created dynamic of Nash and Luke.  That feels very realistic and seated in the story. 

It’s fantastic to see all the characters from the Agency and the couples reunite here at the end. We see where each of them are in their own lives and relationships as well.

This is just an outstanding sendoff to one of my favorite series. 

I’m highly recommending it and have starred my favorite stories below. I’m sure we each have our own. 

Cover art Copyright © 2025 Reese Dante

Torus Intercession series: 7 books complete:

No Quick Fix #1

In A Fix #2❤️

Fix It Up #3 ❤️

The Fix Is In #4

The Big Fix #5

Get A Fix #6

Out Of A Fix #7

Buy link

        Out Of A Fix: Torus Intercession Book Seven

    

Blurb 

If you put a family back together, how can you ever leave them? 

Through the years, Nash Miller has watched all his buddies fall in love and get married. It was romantic, and he’d wondered when he himself would find the one. Now, older, wiser, he realizes that what he’s always wanted—a husband and a family—just isn’t in the cards for him. And that’s all right. He has wonderful friends, a good life, and he gets to help people, which has always been his true calling. So when the time comes to protect a family in a tiny town in Washington State, he’s more than willing to get on his white horse and ride.

The family needs a bodyguard, but it goes beyond that. The mother abandoned them for a new life, and the father is absent, stuck on a work project he took on to keep his family afloat. What Nash finds are three kids in need of a fixer, and lucky for them, that’s exactly what he does. Providing support and structure is second nature to him, and he’s on solid ground, confident…until their father, Luke Duchesne, gets home. He’s nothing like Nash assumed he’d be, and with each passing day, the lure of the man, and his great kids, gets harder to resist. But he can’t stay there. He’s a fixer, after all, and what they’re all feeling is simply gratitude. Isn’t it…? Though when Luke kisses him, it starts to feel like so much more. Nash hopes he’ll be able to explore a life with Luke—he just needs to make sure his own isn’t cut short.

  • Publication date: September 23, 2025
  • Edition: 1st
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 349 pages
  • Book 7 of 7: Torus Intercession

0Check Out This Fab Tour for “Gear Child“  by Mark David Campbell (excerpt and extras)

Gear Child - Mark David Campbell

Mark David Campbell has a new queer YA sci-fantasy book out (gay, lesbian, homonormative) Gear Box book 1: Gear Child.

From our beloved teddy bear to our cherished first car, we form deep emotional bonds with inanimate objects. Will AI machines inevitably develop the capacity to love us in return?

In a post-apocalyptic world that survives on garbage left over from the Gawd Wars eight generations ago, Sunny Boy, a semi-organic machine initially made to emulate a thirteen-year-old, and later modified as an eighteen-year-old, longs to be loved. His quest to find a family takes him from a farm in Winnipeg to the far reaches of the known galaxy. When Sunny Boy becomes embroiled in an ancient battle between a collective intelligence and a parasitic alien crystal, the boundaries between organic and inorganic life are called into question.

Warnings: Very low sex and violence (no gun play)

Series Blurb

The Gear Box Trilogy, which includes: Gear Child, The Arena of Mayhem, and The Wayward Star, is a journey of the heart that takes you from a devastated post-Gawd Wars Earth, across the Solar System to the far reaches of the galaxy, and explores the line between inanimate machine and animate life form.

Told from the perspectives of Sunny Boy, Fancy Larry, and Loofah—three AI machines—who understand the world around them through symbols, metaphors, and allegories. Along with their capacity for creative thought, empathy, and growth, they likewise struggle with issues of self-identity and self-esteem. Most of all, Sunny Boy, Fancy Larry, and Loofah, like any intelligent being, crave acceptance and long to be loved.

Gear Box Trilogy

Buy Links:

Gear Child: Universal Buy Link | Goodreads

The Arena of Mayhem: The Arena of Mayhem | Goodreads

The Wayward Star: The Wayward Star | Goodreads

Find All Three Books Here (Click on the Cover for More Details)

Excerpt

Gear Child meme

From Chapter Thirteen

I unlatched the glass, and a salty, humid breeze blew into the cabin like it was saying welcome. In no time, the burnt land below us gave way to water, and the Captain veered the airship southward.

In the distance, I made out the silhouettes of broken and battered glass and steel towers all jutting out of the ocean like fingers of drowning men reaching up to be saved. I watched as the shadow of our airship glided along the surface of the water, silently sliding over the towers.

“Is that a city?”

“Once was.” The Captain nodded. “Greatest in the world. But that’s all that’s left of it.”

“Why is it underwater?”

“Ha!” the Captain snorted. “It happened a long time ago, during the Gawd Wars and the Great Flood, when my great-great-great-granddaddy was a boy.” The Captain scratched his head. “See, way back then, everybody had their own books full of old stories about Gawd. Most of the stories were the same, but everybody told them in a different way.” He furrowed his brow. “People started fighting and killing one another to prove their way of telling the stories was right, and the way other people told the stories was wrong.”

I looked at him with my mouth hanging open, trying hard to understand why people wanted to kill each other over a bunch of old stories.

“Was Gawd bad?”

“No, I don’t think so.” He shook his head. “But by the time everybody got tired of killing one another and blaming it on Gawd…” The Captain cleared his throat. “They’d already blown up all the big cities and poisoned the land. And as if that weren’t enough, they’d also melted the polar ice caps and flooded everything remaining along the coast.” Taking his beard in his hand, he stroked it a couple of times. “People don’t talk much about Gawd anymore.”

“Is that the hand of Gawd?” I pointed to a giant green hand sticking up above the surface of the water, holding what looked like a torch.

“No. That’s the hand of a giant woman. She was one of the idols they used to worship a long time ago.” He eased the throttle and floated the ship in closer so I could get a better look.

“What happened to her?” I tried to make out her body and head below the surface of the water, but all I saw was a cluster of barnacles and algae.

“I guess she got old and tired, and people had no use for her anymore.” The Captain veered the ship southward and pulled on the big wheel. Leaving the city of dead fingers behind, we continued on down the coast, rising slowly toward the jet stream, again.

“Oh, please! Who do you think designed robos in the first place—the military! And it wasn’t only for cleaning and sex.”

“Only those who get caught are sorry.”

I thought about all the people who had died, and I felt sad, but mostly I felt sad because my name would never be recorded there or anywhere else.

“Hey, kid, don’t feel bad. It’s not about you. That boy’s head’s so full of crap, he wouldn’t know a ray of sunshine even if it was beaming up his butt hole.”

He swept the scanner across the pilot’s groin, looked at it, and laughed. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. Your sperm look like a bowl full of goldfish somebody forgot to feed.”

“I thought I was dead.” He grasped both my hands. “Who are you? Some kind of a superhero?”

I felt my face flush. “No, I’m only a robo.”

He took my hand and kissed it. “Not to me.”

“Something tells me we’ve just met the resistance.”

Spinner frowned. “Beyond those doors, there’s nothing for me. I’m not like you.”

“I’m a robo, like you.”

“No, you’re not!” Spinner practically spat out the words. “You can grow, adapt, and evolve. I can’t. This is all I can ever be.”

“We’ll go to the opera and art galleries. You’ll learn about second-hand stores and how to shop for bargains, we’ll create and redecorate, dance the night away, and sit in cafes trashing the latest clothing trends until the sun comes up.”

Author Bio

Mark David Campbell

I have a passion for science/speculative fiction that is socially and culturally driven. Maybe that’s why I studied anthropology and archaeology.

My recent publications include: Eating the Moon (NineStar Press, 2021), a dystopic story of an elderly anthropologist who stumbles across a hidden society where homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuals are marginalized. Secrets of Ishtabay (Ninestar Press, 2023) is the story of a Maya village in Belize, which struggles with its transition to globalization after the completion of a highway linking it to the outside world. The Homework Assignment (Polar Borealis Magazine of Canadian Speculative Fiction, March 2025) is a short story about an anthropology professor who asks his students to imagine first contact with an alien intelligence with whom they share only one sense.

Currently, I live in Milan, Italy, with my husband. When I’m not writing, I work with Italian sociologists, biologists, and psychoanalysts, assisting them with their English academic publications. I enjoy reading both classic and newer books, immersing myself in steampunk and futurism. I love adventure stories, and most of all, I want to fall in love with a great MC. I am dyslexic, which means I can’t spell, and I have a love/hate relationship with computers and the internet.

Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markdavid.campbell.9

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/14116939.Mark_David_Campbell

Author Liminal Fiction: https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/mark-david-campbell/

Other Worlds Ink logo

Review: The Itsy Bitsy Liar (Once Upon A Rhyme Book 1) by Abigail Manning

Rating: 4.5 ⭐️

Another fantastic new book, series and author! Starting with that great cover, The Itsy Bitsy Liar (Once Upon A Rhyme Book 1) by Abigail Manning is a fabulous read, a fairy tale story with a twist of a cursed young woman who can only tell lies but ends up with the prince, being a beloved Queen who saves the day. 

Manning’s characters, especially the young woman, Lacey Arachne, who was cursed to tell only lies as a child to prevent her from telling people her father was framed for a crime. Now an adult, we see how she (and her mother) have adapted to her curse in practice and how she’s been able to get through life with it. She’s intelligent and adaptable. And working as a Lady’s maid. 

Through a complex process, she and her Mistress end up together at the castle in a contest for the hand the Prince. But they’ve switched places and Lacy is pretending to be Evie with disastrous consequences. 

The story and romance that follows is smartly crafted. It involves one of friendships, communication, plotting and several wonderful twists. 

The characters are all very engaging and fully formed. And Evie, a terrific friend and character gets the next story. 

I’m thrilled to have found this and to be able to share it. 

Beautiful lush covers are everything!

 Cover design by Karri Klawitter

Once Upon a Rhythm:

The Itsy Bitsy Liar #1

Little Bo Sneak #2

Hush A Bye Lady #3

Do You Know The Muffin Scam? #4

Baa Baa Black Market #5

Twinkle Twinkle Little Scars #6 – Sept 26,2025

Buy link:

 Book 1 of 6: Once Upon A Rhyme 

Blurb:

What if the itsy bitsy spider could only weave a web of lies?

Lacey Arachne has been cursed since she was a child to only speak lies and wants nothing more than to keep it unknown. As a common handmaiden, she’s learned how to navigate her twisted words fairly well. But that all changes when her mistress makes her switch places with her in the prince’s bride competition.

Unable to refuse her mistress’s plans, Lacey is forced to play the role of a noble and compete in a competition she has no interest in winning. Well, at least that’s the lie she tells herself after she meets the charming Prince Carlex…

With the punishment for impersonating a noble being death, Lacey must blend in with the other competitors at all costs. But how does a bold-faced liar avoid standing out amongst scrutinizing eyes? Especially when her childhood enemy certainly doesn’t seem keen on letting her go unnoticed… Can Lacey untangle herself from the webs she’s crafted? Or will she be doomed to fall with the coming storm?

Review: Inked in Emeralds (Inkbound Book 3) by Shannon Mayer

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Shannon Mayer has taken her readers on quite the fairytale journey in her Inkbound Trilogy. 

After her mother, the Queen of C’aan Saas,  sealed her away in the book of fairytales for her safety, Mayer has sent the heroine, Harmony, and her best friend first through the tale of Cinderella, with some horrific twists, in Inked in Ashes. The second story, Inked in Onyx, saw Harmony and friends fall over the page into the world of Peter Pan , Tinkerbell, the Lost Boys and Captain Hook. 

That was another world where nothing was as it seemed, Harmony showed even more development, and important friends were left behind by Harmony as she and Hook traveled over the page to find the answers necessary to go through to Harmony’s final chapter.  

They end up in Oz! The Emerald City. Land of Flying Evil Monkeys and Munchkins. And the Wizard behind the curtain. And more twists before ending home for the final battles. 

This last book is so good. Familiar yet not as Mayer throws in her own twists and surprises here, making this familiar tale new , poignant and exciting. 

The battle scenes were great, the characters in their respective emotional growth and relationships were fantastic and beautifully executed. Harmony and Hook each are so well done. 

Inkbound is a fabulous fairytale fantasy trilogy. One I’m highly recommending. 

Love the covers. 

Cover by HiJinks Ink Publishing

Inkbound series:

Inked in Ashes #1

Inked in Onyx #2 

Inked in Emeralds #3

Buy links 

 Book 3 of 3: Inkbound 

Blurb 

There’s no place like home… 

Surviving a pirate-infested hell-scape—complete with a giant crocodile and a fairy with bad intentions—was rough. I’d been hoping for better days when a cyclone of story-magic dropped me and Hook smack in the middle of a place called Oz.

At first it seems like paradise, but as always, there’s a catch. The Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkeys are terrorizing the townsfolk, and they’re in desperate need of saving. A job made near impossible when I find out that my mortal enemy, Almira, and The Wicked Witch of the West are one and the same… And she will stop at nothing to end me.

If I ever want to get back to C’an Saas and save my own people, my band of misfits and I will have to defeat the strongest witch who ever lived. With the right combination of wits, heart, and courage, we might have a chance. I just have to hope that the dark pirate of my dreams and Prince Charming don’t kill each other in the process…

  • Publisher: Hijinks Ink Publishing
  • Publication date: September 16, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 381 pages
  • Book 3 of 3: Inkbound

Review:  Sanctuary (Roman’s Chronicle’s) by Ilona Andrews

Rating: 4.5⭐️

“Hang on. I stuffed all my feelings down like a proper man, and it takes some effort to bring them back up.”

Yes! It’s time for some more great Ilona Andrews writing team and diving back into the Kate Daniels universe with Sanctuary, a book about Roman, the Black Volhv, a reoccurring character from the main series. 

This is a holiday season story where Roman is “holed” up in his remote cabin, trying to ride out the season when it’s interrupted by a mysterious, badly hurt young man and his puppy asking for sanctuary.

This story turns out so differently than I expected, which I loved. The twists, the fact that I thought it was headed one way but the authors always had a totally unexpected path for the characters made this story deeply interesting and moving.

Roman’s character is explored in multiple ways in the story. His magical connections with his god and how his magic is fused with the creatures and structures around him is so believable and vivid. And much more interesting, Roman’s background is gone into greater detail .Roman’s complicated family dynamics and his relationship with his father are explained through important conversations and scenes with various characters. 

The mythology and gods that impact the story are fascinating and always make me want to research more into each culture and myths surrounding them. 

Sanctuary is a one of one series. I don’t expect any more. But I’m thrilled to have this one. 

It’s not really a standalone book but one that fits within a wider collection of stories, the Kate Daniels universe. That’s a fabulous place to start as well as one I highly recommend. 

Buy link 

 Book 1 of 1: Roman’s Chronicles 

Blurb 

It’s not easy serving Chernobog, the God of Destruction, Darkness and Death…especially during the holidays; and especially when you’re out of eggnog and one of your pesky, freeloading mythic creatures has eaten your last cookie.

Roman would like nothing more than to be left alone, but when a wounded boy stumbles into his yard and begs for sanctuary, Roman takes him in. Now elite mercenaries are camped out on his property, combat mages are dousing the house with fire, and strange priests are unleashing arcane magic. They thought Roman was easy pickings, just a hermit in the woods, but they chose the wrong dark priest to annoy. For while Roman might be patient, he is the Black Volhv, filled with the love of his terrible god. For his adversaries, it’s a fight to the death, but for him, it’s just another day in the neighborhood.

Includes a bonus short story and more!

Reading Order : Kate Daniels Universe series:

Kate Daniels Series 

MAGIC BITES 

MAGIC BLEEDS 

MAGIC BURNS 

MAGIC STRIKES 

MAGIC MOURNS 

MAGIC BLEEDS 

MAGIC DREAMS 

MAGIC SLAYS 

GUNMETAL MAGIC (Andrea and Raphael)

MAGIC GIFTS – comes with/ is part of Gunmetal book

MAGIC RISES 

MAGIC BREAKS 

MAGIC STEALS 

MAGIC SHIFTS 

MAGIC STARS (Julie and Derek)

MAGIC BINDS 

IRON AND MAGIC #1 (The Iron Covenant /Hugh d’Ambray  & Elara Harper) a must before the finale 

MAGIC TRIUMPHS – OG finale

Kate Daniels World 

BLOOD HEIR (Julie and Derek)

Roman’s Chronicles SANCTUARY 

Kate Daniels: Wilmington Years MAGIC TIDES 

MAGIC CLAIMS 

UNTITLED IRON AND MAGIC (The Iron Covenant /Hugh d’Ambray  & Elara Harper #2) -NRD

  • Publication date: July 30, 2024
  • Language: English
  • File size: 4.7 MB
  • Print length: 152 pages
  • Book 1 of 1: Roman’s Chronicles

Review: Tempests & Tea Leaves (The Charmed Leaf Legacy Book 1) By Rachel Morgan

Rating: 5⭐️

I was intrigued by the hook of this book, described as a fantasy twist on Regency fantasy classic stories. Think fae Pride and Prejudice. 

“Rachel Morgan Regency romance meets cozy fae fantasy with a dash of Pride & Prejudice in this sparkling, no-spice tale of magical debuts, an enchanted tea house, and banter-filled romance.”

With this introduction, I started into the book with certain expectations. Oh    how this exceeded my hopes for this story and far beyond my highest anticipations for how the author used magic and her marvelous characters to create something truly special here. 

Lady Rivenna Rowanwood, proprietor of The Charmed Leaf Tea House, an enchanted tea house with a mind (and magic) of its own. A place where Bloomhaven’s elite fae society comes to eat ,  drink tea , and expand their social connections. It’s the heart of the setting, a fae reimagined Regency realm that so well crafted. 

There’s a United Fae Isles instead of England, and Bloomhaven standing in for a Regency London and the setting is brought vividly to life, scene by scene. It’s magical perfection as a Season of demonstrating powers manifested during the past year instead of a coming out of debutantes exhibiting pier status, glowing looks and the newest clothes from Paris is about to arrive. It’s courtship and mating on a fae level!

But the real beauty is in the characters and their relationships, their struggles within society and their own families. 

Iris Starspun, half human, half fae, has been brought to Bloomshaven by her parents for the Season. She’s there to find a marriage prospect that will help save her family and their fallen status (and financial burden). But her magic is not powerful and she’s looked down upon because of her birth. 

Especially by Lord Jasvian Rowanwood, heir to the powerful Rowanwood dynasty. He’s rigid in his thoughts, arrogant and narrow minded about fae classes. 

Let the clash of wills, wild magic , and fantastically intense and smart dialogue between them begin. 

Especially when his aunt, Lady Rivenna Rowanwood, gets involved. 

This is such an amazing story. Beautifully written, with characters that are very well developed and just perfectly executed in every detail. From their histories and various magical powers to their own distinctive personalities and capacities for lively hilarious, intelligent dialogue.  Did I love them? Yes! Oh so much!

Morgan is setting down an entire cast of characters and a landscape for future seasons and relationships to come. The lines of society are blurring a bit and more mixing up with each species is sure to follow. 

I can’t wait to see what happens next. An absolute fabulous read and one I’m so excited to share. 

The Charmed Leaf Legacy :

Tempests & Tea Leaves #1

Deals & Dream Spells #2

Love & Letter Charms #3 – Oct 35,2025

Buy link

 Book 1 of 3: The Charmed Leaf Legacy 

Blurb 

Regency meets cozy fae fantasy with a dash of Pride & Prejudice in this sparkling, no-spice tale of magical debuts, an enchanted tea house, and banter-filled romance.

In a world where both race and magic determine one’s place in society, half-fae Iris Starspun has always known she doesn’t belong. Having a human mother is bad enough, but being magicless as well? That’s simply unforgivable.

But when Iris unexpectedly manifests magic at age nineteen, her parents see it as their chance to save the family from financial ruin. Never mind that her silly paper-folding magical ability is considered frivolous at best, useless at worst. And never mind that she decided long ago not to marry. The Bloom Season has begun, and Iris must attempt to secure a match—or watch her family’s future crumble.

Enter Lord Jasvian Rowanwood, heir to the most powerful family in the United Fae Isles. His ability to calm the deadly magical tempests that form in his family’s lumyrite mines is revered by all, and he takes that responsibility very seriously. Perhaps too seriously, if you ask his meddlesome grandmother. But Jasvian knows exactly what magic should be: practical, purposeful, and definitely not involving delicate paper creations or half-human debutantes with razor-sharp tongues.

But then Jasvian’s grandmother—the formidable Lady Rivenna—does the unthinkable and offers Iris the coveted position of apprentice at The Charmed Leaf Tea House, the most influential establishment in all of Bloomhaven. Now Iris must navigate both her new role and the scorn of Lady Rivenna’s grandson, all while trying to secure a match that might save her family.

Set in a whimsical world of paper magic, mischievous gossip birds, and a tea house with a mind of its own, this charming romantasy serves up a perfectly steeped blend of swooning romance and delightfully barbed banter.

Review: Brew Diligence (Maya’s Blog’s Book 2) by Lara McKenzie

Rating: 5⭐️+

“I’ve had some revelations since moving into my own place: 

-Living alone means no witnesses to my weirdness, which is empowering until you accidentally flood the kitchen while making noodles.  Fairy lights are an emotional support infrastructure.  -There is no middle ground between I am thriving and I just organised my socks by emotional damage level.  -There is no such thing as too many mugs.”

From Maya’s Blog, readership is now climbing up to the millions. 

When we last saw Maya, she’d left her abusive family and finally gotten the one room apartment that she had wanted, decorated with fairy lights and a coffee mug. Safe. But Gary the Grim Reaper who had helped saved her from the serial killer was missing, presumably because he violated his own laws. 

Brew Diligence, a book of endless quotable sentences and incredibly moving moments, follows the same perfect format and flow of the first book. Maya, our brave woman barista continues to blog about her experiences to her followers who became her friends and family. 

From 5 to millions, chapters of her moving forward, overcoming some huge challenges with hilarious stories and enormous amounts of pain and anxiety. And bravery. 

Now she and her friends who are also her colleagues are in the midst of the fight to free Gary the Grim Reaper from his prison sentence for helping her escape from the serial killer. 

Gary, another fabulous character, is missing not from the story but from the hole he left behind in the close relationships he formed. Plus his ghost cat, too, who left behind, is ruling the apartment at Maya’s. 

There’s so much trauma and emotional scars here in this story. It’s balanced by the author’s carefully crafted humor and sensitivity to the subject matter and scenes.  Hilarity and horror. Love and hate. Death and rebirth.  

Despair and hope.  It’s brilliant and brutal that all these things exist within this universe, these characters and their stories. 

Is this really only the second book? Surely not.  I’m astonished at the fact that this is so amazing on every level of excellence. 

Yes, highly recommended. If I had more stars in the rating, they’d be there. So many stars!

Love this so much! Including the covers. 

Cover Illustration Main image by Manuka Madushan, Digital Illustrator.

MAYA’S BLOGS:

Espresso Yourself #1

Brew Diligence #2

Uncharted Grounds #3

Flat White Flag #4

Little Bean #5 (coming soon)

Buy link

        Brew Diligence: A Paranormal Comedy with Heart (Maya’s Blogs Book 2)

    

Blurb 

Just as Maya thinks she can relax into recovery and a budding romance with a demon general, the afterlife throws her a curveball.

The Grim Reaper who saved her wasn’t just locked away—he was erased from existence.

What starts as a rescue mission quickly becomes a masterclass in magical bureaucracy, inter-realm politics, and one seriously unhinged plot twist.

Join Maya as she blogs her way through enough supernatural shenanigans to short-circuit reality.

  • Publication date: June 23, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 304 pages
  • Book 2 of 4: Maya’s Blogs

Review:  Of Owls and Oolong (Owls, Tea Shops, and Other Magical Nuisances, Book One) by Shari L. Tapscott

Rating: 3.5⭐️

Of Owls and Oolong, the first in the Owls, Tea Shops, and Other Magical Nuisances series by Shari L. Tapscott, is an enjoyable fantasy tale.  Tapscott’s story encapsulates everything from cozy mysteries, fantastical creatures and mythical places, to slow burn romances with elements of magic and darkness. 

I be honest, I don’t understand book descriptions that I feel misrepresent the story. Nothing about this story reads “rom-com”.  Sad, poignant, hopeful, and new beginnings. But rom-com? I don’t see it. 

Kit is a summer Pixie who inherited her great aunt’s old cottage and tea shop in a magical tourist town across the country from her home and family in Washington state. 

Moss Hollow, Vermont caters to the human tourist industry while hiding the fact that it’s a paranormal community that exists along side them.  No cars inside the township, just carriages and buggies pulled by animals. Part of the charm during the many festivals. 

The author builds a believable small town dynamic with all the various kinds of shops and shopkeepers of differing species, each with their own backstories. 

It’s Kit, Rowan the Owl who’s not an owl she inherits along with the house and shop, along with Ash, her reserved neighbor and Council member, that’s the most of the main focus here. 

I appreciate the world building, and the way Tapscott wove some of the darker elements of Kit’s background into the story. But that also works against it as well, because it’s so tragic and threatening that to have that aspect of the story be a part of the bigger plot at this point feels like it doesn’t have any foundation laid out for it. 

The relationships between Kit and Ash, or Kit and Rowen aren’t really there yet. It’s a beginning but not established. So the ending feels rushed. 

I’m looking forward to seeing more of the characters and series to see how the author develops them. 

No spice, mystery, and fantasy. 

Entertaining and very enjoyable. 

Love that cover!

Cover Design by Covers by Juan

Owls, Tea Shops, and Other Magical Nuisances:

Of Owls and Oolong #1

Of Pixies and Pekoe #2 – Jan 2,2026

Buy link

 Book 1 of 2: Owls, Tea Shops, and Other Magical Nuisances 

Blurb 

The author of A Vampire’s Guide to Gardening and Obsidian Queen brings you a lighthearted fantasy full of humor and romance, set in a cozy contemporary fae town. Welcome to Moss Hollow.

There are three things you need to know about my great aunt—she’s eccentric, she’s rich, and she’s dead. No, make that four things. She also named me as the sole beneficiary of her fortune. There are, however, a few stipulations.

1. I must move into her cottage in Moss Hollow, Vermont—a magical community that values tradition and tourists.

2. I must keep her beloved tea shop open and running for at least three years.

3. I must take care of her tiny owl, a prickly creature by the name of Rowan. He’s moody, opinionated, and he used to be a mage.

He doesn’t like me, he doesn’t like my dog, and he really doesn’t like the handsome fae councilman who starts hanging around as soon as I arrive in town.

But for a small fortune, Rowan and I are going to learn to coexist long enough for me to figure out how to turn him back into his normal self with my “cute and worthless” pixie magic—preferably before he ruins my dating life or drives me insane.

Owls, Tea Shops, and Other Magical Nuisances is a rom-com style contemporary fantasy. The perfect lighthearted escape, this story is sure to delight readers who enjoy cozy magic and humor.

The books in this series feature smoldering-but-sweet, closed-door romance. (Passionate kisses and some innuendo, but no spicy scenes.)