Mercy Blade is a book whose description is one I think was deliberately kept succinct and vague for a reason. And that was to keep the readers from any plot spoilers that might have been picked up from a longer blurb.
Mercy Blade itself opens up an entire introduction to new characters, paranormal species, and several areas of ways that the various beings govern themselves, or have the ability to.
Hunter has really constructed a complex universe that is just starting to emerge here. And it’s going to spread throughout the course of the series and over the country.
The few things I will say is that Mercy Blade sees the official emergence of a African black were-leopard group, in New Orleans to meet with Leo, a tumultuous revelation that includes Rick, and yet several more paranormal species that will have ongoing conflicts and roles for the future.
Jane’s life will be more heartbreaking, dangerous and in an unstable state where she’s scrambling for trust and support.
It’s a danger greater than anything before and makes for a fantastic story.
Jane, a shapeshifting vampire-hunter-for-hire, crosses paths with a stranger who has arrived in New Orleans, enlisted to hunt vampires who have gone insane-or so he says…
Jane Yellowrock quickly became my favorite main character from her introductory story and Blood Cross just continues my love for her complex paranormal if not completely known being. Her past traumatic history is slowly being rolled out by flashes of ancient memories returning and others sharing their knowledge of gods and mythology.
The enigma of Jane’s past is threaded throughout her current life of a rogue vampire hunter now temporarily living in New Orleans.
As a hidden skinwalker, she’s both Jane and Beast, the big mountain lion is now an integral part of Jane, despite continuing as a separate entity that Jane can change into, the main animal, although there’s others.
Blood Cross continues the plots laid out in the first book with Jane continuing to deal with the ramifications of those events. Leo, the Vampire Master of the City is still deeply grieving the loss of his son. He’s borderline insane and blames Jane for the death and is coming for her, even though she’s blameless.
There’s a rogue to catch and dispatch, multiple mysteries to investigate and resolve, and Jane’s traumatic past continues to haunt her in dreams and shattered memories.
The character development and complexity of series storytelling is incredible. The dynamic history and relationships between the different paranormal beings, the mythology, and cultural influences is amazing.
My only concern or issue is how Jane shoulders too much of the guilt of others due primarily to her being torn by her cultural identity. Her Christian beliefs and her lost memories of her Cherokee family and heritage.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in future books.
One of paranormal fantasy’s toughest heroines is back on the prowl in this second installment of Faith Hunter’s New York Times bestselling Jane Yellowrock series
Jane Yellowrock is a shape-shifting skinwalker and vampire hunter for hire. But lately, instead of just slaying vampires, she’s been working for them.
The vampire council has hired skinwalker Jane Yellowrock to hunt and kill one of their own who has broken sacred ancient rules-but Jane quickly realizes that in a community that is thousands of years old, loyalties run deep…
Once Bitten (Cursebreakers, Inc. Book 4) by A.M. Rose just continues to show what an absolutely fantastic series Cursebreakers is. Dark, heartbreaking at times, and thrilling in its weirdly beautiful, damaged characters, Once Bitten is up there among my favorites so far.
It’s been a while since the series has had an update but it doesn’t take long to dive back deep into this dark landscape of brilliant psych damaged children, then men, brought up in a government institution and then put in a forced family setting that would “balance” their talents while using their abilities for government missions. No matter what age they were.
Here we get two family houses of talents , one for each city, who will have to work together because of the sheer size of the cursed problem and organization that they are facing.
It’s also the element that will bring Wren, whose talent is that of talking to animals, removing their curses from them, and Teddy, a cursebreaker who loved Wren when they were young together. Forced apart by NEXUS, that government agency that had control over them, both Wren and the readers finally get the truth about the secret to Wren’s history and the heartbreak he’s endured.
We get new fantastic characters from Teddy’s family. The twins, Saint and the scary Eerie especially to the fragile Echo, I loved Teddy’s family as much as Wren’s. That includes Wren’s animals like Blu and Sable.
Once Bitten is the best yet. Horrifying, devastatingly cruel and tragic, multiple intriguing storylines and Wren and Teddy’s story, interwoven with heartbreaking handwritten letters that span the years they were separated.
I think the authors wrote something extraordinary special here. In the characters and the multiple plots, one of which is ongoing.
I can’t wait for this to continue.
Fantastic work by the team that is A.M. Rose. Highly recommended!
Wren had been called that and worse since the moment he could openly express his hatred of Nexus and everything it stood for. But he played along. Not for them. But for the animals he helped along the way and the one boy who made those words sound like compliments instead of insults. Until they took him away.
Loveable. Inspiring. Exemplary.
Teddy had been seen as perfect since the moment he started training. He wasn’t perfect, though. He had broken only one rule, but it was the biggest one of them all. He fell for another cursebreaker. He gave his heart to the one he wasn’t allowed to. And they both paid the price for it.
Forced apart, they spent a decade loving the memory of each other, until a shocking case brings them back together. Will their love prevail, or will the Little Bird be forced to leave his Teddy Bear behind?
Moonmagic, the second of the Witchbook series by Sam Burns and W. M. Fawkes is a story I find a bit of a mixed bag. I really like the character of the witchwolf, Dakota, the Japanese mage, who found out about his tragic family history and the clan he was born into in the first book.
Dakota has a layers to his personality, depths given to him by the two cultures, the one he was raised in, the other he is tied to by family. And the powers of his own magic and now as a shifter. He’s continually trying to connect with the pack and work mentally through his inner struggles with his past. One of which appears here, in a new form. It’s a fantastic aspect of the story.
Dakota is a multicultural and layered character and when he is in the narrative, he elevates Moonmagic’s storylines beyond that of just a good story.
The issue comes in with his mate, Jax, the Alpha werewolf, and other main character. After much inner debate, the best word I could come up with for him that explains or sums up his character is ineffectual. Jax is supposed to be the head of a billionaire company, and Alpha of a pack of werewolves who separated from an abusive prior Alpha and left for a better life.
But that strong, powerful Alpha isn’t here. Instead Jax is a bit of an emotional mess. Doesn’t come off as all that intelligent and with the same fluctuating emotions as you would associate with a hormonal teenager. He doesn’t spot where the dangers are coming from to his company and pack, clear and simple dangers.
And when one traitor has been caught, after committing a heinous crime, he lets him go. Then after the fact, goes I should have torn him to pieces. Rawr. But I’m too nice.
SMH. He’s like this throughout the story. Had there been no Dakota this book would have been a DNF.
Spoilers. Dakota actually wins the day because he was both strong and smart, knows his mate is too nice *cough* weak to do what is necessary and uses his powers to help felicitate the right outcome.
Jax wins a fight by accident but he’s so sorry. Boohoo.
I like the other pack who’s more interesting.
There’s a sample of the side story that has already been released. It’s fine but doesn’t have a lot of depth for one character, so it’s very uneven. Very much like this.
Read it if you’re fans of the authors or to finish the series.
After having his world rocked by a hot billionaire CEO werewolf and the unveiling of a world of magic he didn’t know existed, Dakota is finally settling into being the alpha mate of the Crescent pack. With Jax at his side, he can even handle being heir of the witchwolf legacy, but before he can catch his breath, life throws him another curveball.
First, Dakota returns home after their visit to Japan with a barnacle of a ghost, and his great-great-grandfather isn’t terribly impressed with his descendant leading a werewolf pack.
Worse, they disembark the plane to a bloody welcome home. A member of the wolf pack Jax fled from has been attacked, and he carries a dire warning: The Wildwood wolves are coming, and they plan to retake control of the Crescent pack.
To protect everything they’ve built and hope for, Dakota has to own both his legacy and his future, but if Jax can’t face the mistakes of his past, they could both lose it all.
Moonmagic is a direct sequel to Witchwolf and should be read in order. Get ready for an extra cuddly alpha werewolf, a comforting tray of mac and cheese, a snarky Japanese ghost who gets . . . less terrible, eventually, and a pack war our heroes wish they didn’t have to fight. This book has Jax and Dakota’s HEA, as well as a few other loose ends tied up, and introduces a whole new pack to explore in our next series, Wolves of the Wildwood.
Witch At Odds picks up shortly after the ending of the first novel. Jinx has solved her first mystery, and her best friend since childhood has come to be partners with her in the sentient store left to her by her magical aunt.
I like the mystery here, and the addition of several magical beings. Jinx and her best friend, Tori, do come across as two people who have long time relationship dynamics. That’s nicely illustrated here.
And the ghost of the cemetery, especially Beau, the Confederate Colonel. He’s genuinely a great person and developing into a major figure here.
Now for the issues. The author has almost all the important characters,with the exception of Tori, withholding if not outright lying to Jinx about who they are, what they are, and their relationship with her and the town’s history and secrets. So yeah, so many huge enormous hidden secrets here.
Ones that adversely impact Jinx, her actions, and the town. Those around her are aware of the fact, and still argue about telling her.
As a reader, I find this irritating and frankly toxic. Especially as one of the characters lying to her about his identity and her relationship to him and his family is the one “courting” her. Her supposed boyfriend.
Another is her ghostly aunt Fiona, who keeps up with the poor excuses as to why she has or doesn’t give Jinx the knowledge or support she needs. As in “I didn’t think she would do anything that magical yet with her powers “. Then aunt Fiona pops out to vacation somewhere else.
All feel incredibly lame or what I refer to as “Narratively lazy”. Awful for the characters but the author needs it down in her series arc so there you go.
She does sorta solve the problem here but it ends on a cliffhanger. And with both “girls” going to see their mothers to discuss their past histories.
So it looks like the revelations are going to happen next book unless a drama pops up again. I’ll check with it.
I’m going to see where this goes next.
The Jinx Hamilton Series (16 book series): complete and all released.
Resigned to her new life as a witch and determined to make a success of both that and her business, Jinx has a lot to learn. She sets out to both study her craft and get a true direction for her aunt’s haphazard approach to inventory. Not to mention the fact that she wouldn’t mind getting to know neighboring business owner Chase McGregor much better. Although Jinx can call on Aunt Fiona’s ghost for help, the old lady is far too busy living a jet set afterlife to be worried about her niece’s learning curve. That sets Jinx up to make a major mistake and to figure out how to set things right again.
*Note: This is a republished version of Witch At Odds.
“The Lunetti Pack is a steamy MM Enemies to Lovers Paranormal Romance series set in New Trinity, a city ruled by three crime families: the Lunetti Pack of mafia wolf shifters, the vampire mobster Cruor Coven, and the witch Elemental Mayhem MC. It features knotting (and other paranormal fun) but no mpreg.”
His Mate By Defiance is the penultimate story in Mel Aitchess’ paranormal mafia crime fated mate series. The Lunetti Pack has followed several top level members of this criminal wolf shifter pack as they fight to keep their place and power in the trinity of politics that’s New Trinity City, a dark horror of a city where it’s divided into sections ruled by witches, vampires or shifters, depending on the territory.
This is Rafe, the pack doctor’s romance, one that starts years prior with his first encounter with a badly injured young jaguar shifter in an underground fighting ring.
This meeting is recapped here and then we come forward to present day, where the jaguar shifter, Adrian ,aka Adri, is still part of the fight scene.
The author does an excellent job explaining Adri’s background and meshing that with the natural history/instincts of the jaguar to give Adri a distinctive personality and outlook from that of the other shifters.
And Rafe, as someone older and with different skill sets, has a perspective on what their relationship and how it might develop than Adri has.
Their dynamic is excellent and is the best thing about the story.
There’s also another aspect of the book, a continuation plot that’s not resolved here but will continue into the final story. It sets up the last fated mates match.
But the lack of at least some sort of completion to some aspect of this complicated conspiracy left me frustrated.
The romance was certainly completed but it’s a HFN, and far too many people were hurt and issues left unresolved.
I am certainly looking forward to the last book to see how it all wraps up. If you like to binge, wait until it’s finished, and read right through.
A definite winner.
Lunetti Pack (5 book series) :
His Mate By Vengeance #1 – Angelo and Vin
His Mate By Resistance #2 – Luca and Cal
His Mate By Allegiance #3 – Rocco and Emilio
His Mate By Defiance #4 – Rafe and Adri
His Mate By Dominance #5 – Alpha Marco and Seth’s, the finale. Feb, 21,2027
“For you? I will take it all. All your pain. All your desire. Everything. It’s all mine.”
Rafe is done giving Adri space. For thirteen years, he’s waited for his jaguar shifter mate to be ready to acknowledge what’s between them. Thirteen years of tracking the pack’s fighting ring and racing to respond whenever they need a doctor. The night he turns up to find Adri brutalised by a feral shifter in the ring, he knows he’ll never let him go again. Especially when shifters start going missing.
Adri told the doc he didn’t need saving over a decade ago, and nothing’s changed since. The last thing he needs is Rafe’s overbearing protectiveness when he’s trying to save his friends from a new unsanctioned fighting ring and whatever bioweapon is at play. Waking up in Rafe’s bed wasn’t in the plan. As soon as he’s healed, Adri’s out of there.
His Mate by Defiance is an MM paranormal romance with a bite. It features age gap, fated mates, and hurt/comfort
Ghostly Interests (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 1) by Lily Harper Hart has so many issues, and I think many (but not all) might have to do with the year that this book was published in.
Written in 2015 and it’s showing its age. I almost feel like I should list the issues and be done with it.
Main characters in their late twenties whose dialogue is more characteristic of someone much younger than themselves. Even with the colloquialism of the times and references of that specific decade.
The lack of any broader understanding between the other characters of the idea of a found family or strong female and male friendships/bonds that act like a sibling relationship without any blood relationship so it’s spelled out like one would in general terms in the book.
While it’s a given understanding these days.
How the main character and those characters around her see her body and their bodies in different aspects of attractiveness. And the terminology that’s used. The idea of body positivity is no where near here but 1950 is.
The male/female dynamics are annoying and toxic, depending upon the relationship. The men tend to talk over the women, dismiss their complaints and comments. At one point, Zander actually told Harper to shut up while he spoke to the cop about whether he thought he could date her.
Funny? Not particularly. Although I’m sure the author meant it as a humorous comment. Same I’m sure when Harper’s mom called Zander a derogatory word for a gay man and it’s shrugged off as being ok because it’s her mother. No, again not ok.
This sort of casual bigotry and sexism is written throughout the book.
While the main woman character, Harper, has a gay best friend, Zander, who’s also a partner in their ghostbuster business, how every day sexism and sexual harassment is handled here is seriously outdated.
One of the younger men who works for them is outright engaged in verbal sexist remarks towards Harper, making remarks about her body, as well as marking disparaging comments about their younger intern who’s crushing on him. Zander himself makes crude remarks towards women that’s insulting. But it’s noted he’s a masculine gay.
There’s the issue with the entire point that the men often defer to the roommate, Zander, for information that they will believe. Even though Harper has just told whoever the same story. Even though she’s the main character. More sexism.
And it’s taken as a joke or commentary, in the father’s case, as situation normal.
“I do want the divorce.” “Why are you calling Mom ‘your woman’ then?” Harper asked. “Because we’re not divorced yet and I don’t like anyone taking what’s mine before I’m ready to give it up,” Phil said. “That’s not the way things work.”
That’s the kind of relationship/dynamics written and dated tone that’s displayed here by all the characters, at every level.
It’s old at page one.
Then there’s just things that make you stop and think:
A young American woman who says “Bleeding tragic “ which no one would say at her age and situation, even as a ghost.
And the fact that a victim who is SA has that element totally glossed over as well as a predatory college professor.
In the words that Zander would understand and say. “Ewww.”
Harper Harlow lives in a world of ghosts. She sees them. She talks to them. She investigates them. She sends them on their merry way. She’s not embarrassed by her abilities, and she’s not afraid to be who she is. She’s also not looking for a relationship. Enter Jared Monroe, a smooth-talking police detective who sees things in black and white and ignores any shades of gray. He doesn’t believe in ghosts, and while he’s intrigued by the feisty blonde ghost detective, he’s not interested in the paranormal. When twenty-one-year-old Annie Dresden’s body washes up on the beach of Whisper Cove, Harper and Jared collide. Sparks may be flying, but so is confusion and mistrust. Harper calls on her loyal band of ghost hunters to solve the crime, and Jared relies on his training to tackle the same problem. It doesn’t matter what approach they take because all paths are destined to intersect. Can Harper and Jared learn to work together? And, more importantly, can new ghosts let go of the past and give in to an obscure future? It’s anyone’s guess when big personalities go to war and find they might have more in common than they think.
I enjoyed Witches With Benefits (A Nightshade Detective Agency Cozy Mystery Book 1) by Amanda M. Lee but it’s a novel that, once you finish it, you realize, it doesn’t really have a lot of substance to it.
It’s like a bag of diet popcorn. You eat it. You enjoy eating it. You finish the bag. Then you think about the flavor that’s missing, the butter and the salt. All the ingredients, the great “stuff” that’s the reason why you eat popcorn. And then you realize you probably won’t be eating that brand anymore.
This is exactly like that.
It’s moves swiftly along with an interesting plot, on the surface. But then again, there’s no depth to anything. To the characters, the world building, the arc, the battles and especially the magic.
The missing sister aspect of the story? The one that is supposed to be the most traumatic and polarizing? It’s also the most inconsistent. We know nothing about the sister. And to pull the reader into this family’s tragic story,we should be able to see how much that sister and the family dynamic were real and believable. But we get nothing. No understanding of anyone or any kind of relationship other than briefly superficial.
In the following years, the father , parents are understood to have let the sister disappearance go. But Freya is said to both have become a detective to continue looking for her and also considers her sister dead. It’s a 50/50 thing depending upon what page you are on.
The characters around her have no discernible layers. That includes an alligator shifter who works with her , and a rich girl best friend who’s extremely irritating. It’s she’s rich and he’s a good old boy gator shifter from a large New Orleans family. That’s pretty much it. And the main character isn’t better developed.
Freya Holmes, a witch/vampire woman who has a hugely powerful vampire father (but only because we are told he is, no actual actions or abilities we see) and a powerful witch mother who is largely unknown. She has unique powers ( we’re told) that she “activates” the way that the Power Rangers do. As in “I’m going to be actively using my more powerful vampire powers now”. SMH
Then whoosh or whatever that powers are, it just happens. We don’t know what happens. It’s not written because Freya “blanks “ conveniently out. And any battle scene is over , bad guys are vanquished, and everyone is gazing at Freya in awe. That’s the scene. Everyone gazes at Freya in awe. Gods included.
I kid you not. That’s how all the battles are fought. No real fights. No powers for anyone seen or written out. Not even a KaBam. So poorly done.
On top of no magical abilities designed or written, the local gods and powers are shortchanged as well. It’s all mouth work. I’m gonna tell you how bad I am. Not going to show you anything but I’m definitely going to tell you that I’m pretty darn scary. Boo.
They are there but what they do? Not a clue.
Yes, there is a beginning of a romance. But they don’t have an adult relationship and the dialogue reads like 3 year olds in a sandbox. You did it, no I didn’t, yes you did.
No it’s not intelligent or particularly snarky.
So I’m leaving this here. There’s another book that will be published soon. But I don’t think it’s something I’m interested in.
You be the judge if this is what you want to read.
Freya Holmes is unique in an already eccentric city.
New Orleans may be a paranormal mecca but even in a world where every type of shifter and witch is commonplace, a vampire-witch hybrid is something to worship … and fear.
Freya has never been interested in her parents’ opulent world. She finds her power in magic, which is why she formed Nightshade Detective Agency in the first place. She’s interested in helping people … even when that help might come at the cost of her life.
Knox Cullen grew up on the poor side of New Orleans. His shifter genes allowed him to climb out of poverty and embrace a certain lifestyle as a paranormal bounty hunter. He can take a punch and throw one. He’s not ready for Freya, though.
When a local mobster ends up dead and the culprit appears to be a supernatural assassin, both Freya and Knox are on the case. Unfortunately, they have no intention of working together and two hard heads don’t make for a soft landing.
Freya has her hands full. In addition to Knox, who is hiding something big, there’s a paranormal investigation unit seeking a partnership that takes advantage of her hard work and their impressive reach. The Legacy Foundation has quite the reputation, as do the two people—Charlie and Jack—who approach her with an offer she might not be able to refuse. Can she trust them? Can she trust anybody?
The clock is ticking. Freya needs to save the French Quarter. Sadly, she might lose herself in the process.
Death Waits at Dead Rock was actually so different because the reader became familiar and fond of the victim, as did Claire. Which made what follows so personal and upsetting. A very different experience from every murder and investigation prior.
When a invitation to a weekend at a vineyard for influencers and potential clients turns into a murder investigation the story ventures into a new realm of acceptance of Claire’s abilities from those closest to her and an investigation into someone she’d grown close to.
Death Waits at Dead Rock ends with a new paranormal mystery rising about the land and Claire, an old mystery solved sort of about the town, and on moment for all that was both moving and bittersweet depending upon what character was the focus.
A wine tasting. A viral treasure hunt. A body at the base of Dead Rock.
Claire Caldwell thought she’d seen every kind of weird the desert could throw at her. Ghosts in her kitchen, omens from a spirit fox, and the occasional town scandal that required a very large cup of coffee. What she did not expect was a swarm of influencers descending on Perdido Springs for a luxury “Desert Vines Weekend,” complete with ring lights and sponsored smiles.
The big gimmick is supposed to be harmless fun. Collect the special labels, piece together the artwork, and you get a treasure map to a legendary stash hidden near Dead Rock.
Content gold. Tourist bait. Everyone wants in.
Then the weekend’s headliner turns up dead at sunrise.
Claire would love to let law enforcement handle it, but Buster is… Buster. Rosa’s ghost has opinions, Rusty is tracking something no living person can smell, and the closer Claire gets to the truth, the clearer it becomes that the “treasure” isn’t just old wine and a cute story. Someone in town has been protecting what Dead Rock is hiding for a long time, and they’ll do anything to keep it buried.
Now Claire has to sift through secrets, suspects, and a trail of clues disguised as a party favor, before the killer strikes again… and the next toast becomes a death sentence.
Body Beneath the Wither brings several things to a head in Claire and Sam’s relationship that’s needed to be resolved, the fact that she’s been hiding so much of herself and what actually happens around the ranch from him.
That definitely becomes a factor when a podcaster comes to town chasing ghosts and ends up being his own story, among other mysteries on an ominous ranch hiding many secrets.
I liked that this eventually moved Claire and Sam’s story forward. Plus the darkness of the Wither is one that seems to be one that’s not fully resolved for a reason.
The author always has multiple storylines going on and each one is different and weaves fully into the narrative and series arc.
The animals are great characters and the desert is so beautifully written that it’s feels as though you can step into the town and find each place without hesitation.
A dead tree. A dead podcaster. A desert that remembers everything.
Claire Caldwell was ready for wedding planning, not another corpse.
But when her fiancé’s vet call takes them down a lonely road outside Perdido Springs, Rusty blocks their path and leads them straight to Broken Acres, a long abandoned farmhouse with a twisted tree locals call the Wither.
Beneath its dead branches lies Craig Dooley, better known to his listeners as Stone Coldwell, the loudmouthed host of The Cold Files. He came chasing ghosts, chasing fame, chasing the thrill he’d lost… and now he is the newest spirit the desert refuses to forget.
His unhinged ex turns up screaming and clawing at the body, a will is found in the dirt, and two siblings are suddenly at each other’s throats over a secret fortune that should have died with their father.
Then the whispers start.
A grieving woman in old fashioned clothes begs Claire to help the man she has waited a hundred years to see, and the Wither’s shadow seems to sink into everyone nearby, feeding paranoia, greed, and old resentments until even the living feel haunted.
Claire has solved murders before, but this one is different… because Sam is watching, and he is finally noticing the things Claire has been hiding.
To catch a killer, Claire will have to face what waits under the Wither.
And she might have to tell her fiancé the truth… before the desert takes someone else.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 