Family and Honor (Jacky Leon, #2) by K. N. Banet is another example of the second book in the series moving forward with character development, overall depth of series foundation and plot structure in such an exciting and fast paced way.
I honestly loved it better than the first for many reasons. Banet brings Jackie back into her territory, her home base where she’s comfortable. So we see a different aspect of the character. Right before the author begins to shake Jackie’s base and hard won stability up again.
An impulsive contract made because, once again the human child Carey is involved, will be the one thing that will pry open the solid isolation from werecat politics that Jackie’s maintained.
And ends up bringing her back into contact with her werecat family.
Banet has written a complicated, high paced, multi layered book. It has murder mysteries to investigate, multiple paranormal species involved, travel outside of Jackie’s territory, and further exploration into her family dynamics and history.
A real exciting, emotional thriller! Another late night finish! Just fantastic! Highly recommended!
I got away with it. Carey and her family are safe and I survived to tell the tale. Now I’m the only werecat in the supernatural community that can say a small family of werewolves lives in my borders. But, in the effort of saving Carey and helping her father, I had to begin shedding the secrets that kept me safe for years.
My identity is out there now. As one of Hasan’s children, more is expected of me and I had no idea what sort of repercussions would come from my decisions. Werecats are reporting problems all over the world and when two go missing, I can’t avoid the feeling of guilt.
My name is Jacky Leon and I am a child of Hasan, ruler of the werecats. I have to learn how to live up to the obligations and expectations of my family before more people die.
I’m reading a lot of strong women main character centric content, mostly urban fantasy and paranormal stories. Luckily there’s so much out there to explore from a multitude of writers as it’s a very popular genre, something I’m very excited about.
Oath Sworn, the beginning of the Jacky Leon series by K. N. Banet, is a strong start into the series, and really great take on this popular trope.
Banet is a new to me writer, and I’m unfamiliar with The Tribunal universe that this series takes place in. However, I don’t think that not having read other books from other series impacts on my experience here. The world building is slowly layered in as the events occur, giving them a solid foundation and putting the political and governmental system in place as needed.
What or should I say who really does it for me here is the main character, Jackie Leon. She’s a werecat. In this story one on a mission to recover a human child stolen out of her care by a werewolf gang. She’s tracked them down and is bent on retrieving the child, which means violating The Tribunal Laws.
It’s a terrific story with lots of storytelling and plot lines to develop and carry through to completion. It introduces Jackie, some of her origin story (part of which is an ongoing mystery). Her troubled dynamic with her werecat father, and current life. Then the father of the human child, Carey Everson , stolen from her. He’s the current Werewolf Alpha, and wolves and the werecats are vicious enemies historically.
There’s so many emotional undercurrents and unresolved conflicts between the species, so tensions are high, constantly threatening the tentatively established peace and process needed to search for Carey amidst rising enemies.
The story is extremely well written. The action is fast paced and often emotionally charged.
Each species is well defined and there no romantic relationship. But a hint of what might be developed in the future.
I liked that Banet wrapped up this story completely so we start fresh in the next book.
I’ve never been the type to find trouble. Owning a bar takes work and that was all I wanted. Serving cold beers and paying my taxes. Those were the responsibilities I wanted for the rest of my life.
I didn’t ask to be a werecat. I didn’t ask for the responsibility to uphold an ancient treaty. I didn’t ask to get pulled into the middle of a werewolf pack’s coup.
But Carey Everson, the very human daughter of a werewolf Alpha, needs me. Her father’s enemies are on her heels and I’m her last defense. And I’ll be that defense until my final breath, even if it means challenging the very Laws that govern the supernatural. I gave her my word.
My name is Jacky Leon and nothing is going to stop me from honoring my word.
The Jacky Leon series is an Urban Fantasy series with a slow-burn romance.
I loved Veiled Justice, the first book in this series but feel that this excellent story far exceeds my expectations for the second novel and character development.
Krieg, King of the Orcs and Detective Stacy and her companion caladrius, Loki are back in action in a fantastic new story. Stacy and Krieg are further along in their new relationship. They are getting to know each other, their history as Krieg continues to make himself a part of Stacy’s life, professional and personal.
This is happening, framed around several brutal murders. Each rawly heartbreaking that’s so realistically relayed by the followed investigative scenes to the next of kin.
Writing that shows it doesn’t have to be current fiction or fantasy for losses and brutality to hit hard.
This type of storytelling continues throughout this book.
As all involved, Stacy and her team, race to uncover the killer before another is kidnapped, the suspense is ratcheted up and the tension is heightened.
Towards the end, we see exactly the toll this case has taken on Casey, and a hidden part of her story is partially revealed.
There is also something going on with Loki that’s subtly disturbing. I don’t believe it was part of this storyline. So now I can’t wait for the next book to come.
Harris has a fantastic series here that’s complicated and getting better with each new story.
This might be my favorite series in a multi-series universe.
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.
A drowned dryad. Ritual markings. A killer who isn’t finished.
They pulled her from the lake – young, beautiful, and very, very dead. As Chester’s only magical Detective Inspector, I get the cases the Common police can’t handle, and this one has Other Realm written all over it.
When the medical examiner discovers runes carved into the corpse’s bones, I know we’re in for a bumpy ride. Elemental runes. First victim drowned. My gut says there’s more coming, and my gut is rarely wrong.
Then a centaur drops out of the sky, literally, and my theory’s confirmed. The only link between the victims? Botany, a vampire-owned bar that serves the magical and the mundane… and never seems short of trouble.
I’ve got a new unit at my back, Unit 13, and we’re still figuring out how to work together. Add Krieg, the King of Ogres – deadly, smart, and far too good at getting under my skin – and things get complicated fast.
With a killer on the loose and the clock ticking, we’ll have to move quickly… or the next body that drops may well be one of ours.
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.
Books 4 through 6 (to date) focus in on Max’s childhood friends and basketball teammates. These females are also dangerous honey badgers and have been a part of a tight knit group of friends that have run their own small time operations since their school days. It been Max, Streep, Mads, Nelle, and Tock. Through crime and punishment (often with Charlie as backup and safety for the younger girls).
This is Mads book, and along with the other teammates, get hooked up with the Malone brothers, Keane, Finn, and Shay ,Siberian Tigers, who are searching for the people who killed their father. These Tiger shifters are also related to Max, Stevie and Charlie as Nat, their younger sister turns out to be half honey badger and a half McKilligan. Complicated relationships introduced as well as some awkward dynamics during the last fantastic story .
Laurenston weaves tightly packed, violent action scenes and densely layered storylines into developing new found family bonds and growing group relationships. The “Black Malones” tigers start out emotionally stunted and reactive yet during intense interactions and small one to one conversations, each Malone exhibits surprising emotions and hidden depths.
And while the focus is on Mads, and her interactions with her awful family and the growing one with Finn, the strengths of this series, the MacKilligan sisters (Charlie, Max and Stevie) still have impactful moments and roles to play here.
As do others. So many new and familiar characters here , beautifully detailed and engaging in their own personalities. It just one more reason I can’t get enough of this series.
There’s an overall plot and mystery that seems to be going through the next section of books. It’s a really great one. I can’t wait to see how it’s explained.
Remember these books are gory, violent and murderous. Blood and body parts everywhere. FYI.
Highly recommended.
I really like the covers for the series. Great work. Eye catching and character related.
It’s instinct that drives Finn Malone to rescue a bunch of hard battling honey badgers. The Siberian tiger shifter just can’t bear to see his fellow shifters harmed. But no way can Finn have a houseful of honey badgers when he also has two brothers with no patience. Things just go from bad to worse when the badgers rudely ejected from his home turn out to be the only ones who can help him solve a family tragedy. He’s just not sure he can even get back into the badgers’ good graces. Since badgers lack graces of any kind . . .
Mads knows her teammates aren’t about to forgive the cats that were so rude to them, but moody Finn isn’t so bad. And he’s cute! The badger part of her understands Finn’s burning need to avenge his father’s death—after all, vengeance is her favorite pastime. So Mads sets about helping Finn settle his family’s score, which has its perks, since she gets to avoid her own family drama. Besides, fighting side by side with Finn is her kind of fun—especially when she can get in a hot and heavy snuggle with her very own growling, eye-rolling, and utterly irresistible kitty-cat . . .
“Filled with high-octane action, some serious snark, and a plethora of humor.. the resulting madcap adventures are sure to please series fans.”
Badger to the Bone, the 3rd in the MacKilligan sisters “group” of this series. Now we get to Max, the middle sister and the only full blooded honey badger of the three sisters.
Max “Kill It Again” MacKilligan’s Asian honey badger mother is in prison doing hard time for robbery after their father left her and others caught in Russia after the theft went wrong. She’s been with Charlie since she was young.
Her personality has been described as family first and psychopathically dangerous.
She smiles a lot. Apparently that goes with her being a honey badger. They are a violent, vicious breed despite their size.
This takes Max on quite the journey, one that sees her saving someone unexpectedly, taking on a new albeit temporary career, and chasing down criminals, her father and family alike with vicious zest and a ton of weaponry.
Max is unapologetically who she is. Violent, often aggressive, naked and even murderous. And the author has created her in such a way that it meshes absolutely perfectly with her animal instincts and shifter side. She is a honey badger, no matter what form she is in. She’s not human and that realistically tracks here.
And while her other two sisters might be ambivalent at times about parts of their own shifter instincts and abilities, Max has none of those here.
I absolutely howled in parts at certain scenes, and they were both when Max was all honestly and truly honey badger. And deadly.
The next story starts with side characters and they are great. I’m sure I’ll enjoy those greatly. But Max? She’s fantastic. And I look forward to seeing her and Zé Vargas, the cat shifter again in upcoming novels.
Another winner!
I really like the covers for the series. Great work.
She’s the woman he’s been hired to kidnap. But ZeZé Vargas has other ideas . . . like getting them both out of this nightmare alive. Just one problem. She’s crazy. Certifiably. Because while he’s plotting their escape, the petite Asian beauty is plotting something much more deadly . . .
Max “Kill It Again” MacKilligan has no idea what one of her own is doing with all these criminal humans until she realizes that Zé has no idea who or what he is. Or exactly how much power he truly has.
But Max is more than happy to bring this handsome jaguar shifter into her world and show him everything he’s been missing out on. A move that might be the dumbest thing she’s ever done once she realizes how far her enemies will go to wipe her out. Too bad for them Zé is willing to do whatever it takes to keep her alive . . . and honey badgers are just so damn hard to kill!
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.)
This is yet another review I found myself editing due to my exasperation with the main character, particularly how, at the penultimate book in this series, the author is still continuing to have Daphne’s character remain in the same place as it was at the beginning of the series.
Hignett has previously promised some growth for Daphne, especially with her annoyed “2 personality” inner dialogue, an element of the story and character that was highlighted prior as an issue.
Those constant ongoing conversations between violent‘brain Daphne’ and the other kind, naive and frankly, TSTL Daphne are an element that are repetitive, slow down the narrative, and honestly, irritating at this point. I thought the two halves were reconciled but ,no ,here we are, still with the same ongoing arguments that were old several books ago.
Brain Daphne: let me stab whoever. Emotional Daphne: No it’s wrong. Brain: stabby Stab!
ED: no, we must carry on with our internal dialogue while there’s some poor soul watching us stand here.
Just no. At 23 percent. Well the entirety of the book. Then it gets worse when one part of her calls the other part an idiot. And I’m agreeing.
Myf, the tortured alcoholic dragon shifter is now an enemy. Guess who is whining about that betrayal after Myf stayed locked in cabinets, soused after drinking binges with Dwayne, for ages, while Daphne deals with other drama? Daphne. SMH.
There’s multiple side storylines. The ones with Dwayne , which I’m sure will have ramifications in the finale, still feel like literal fluff.
By the end of the story, while there’s some good stuff here with Myf’s rescue, and a revelation, Daphne’s still such an oblivious, whiny character that I just can’t care about her anymore.
Daphne has gotten to be unreadable. Dwayne,her companion Chaos god, as well.
I’ll probably get the last one just to see what happens. But characters like Daphne? Are only interesting to me when they evolve and develop as the series progresses. By book 7, she shouldn’t be the same person as she was in the first novel. Now she’s just one more uninteresting trope.
Too bad because there is interesting mythology and world building going on, and some fascinating concepts here. Those got the rating points.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 