A MelanieM Review – Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Review: Deadly Lover: Special Edition (Exit Strategy #1) by Jocelynn Drake

Rating: 4.5🌈 Deadly Lover is my second book that I “backtracked” to when I discovered the couple in the course of reading a sequel series, Shadow Elite. This couple, now “semi-retired”, are deadly assassins who are uncles to Alexei, an assassin as well and lover of Soren. They’re both infamous and family due to their… Continue reading Review: Deadly Lover: Special Edition (Exit Strategy #1) by Jocelynn Drake

Review: Accidental Lover (Exit Strategy #5) by Jocelynn Drake

Rating: 4.5🌈 Alexei Prescott , assassin and nephew of assassins extraordinaire, has a target. Gabor Kalman, shady arms dealer. Soren Jessen, cat burglar, ex CIA, has a target. Gabor Kalman, shady arms dealer. One will kill him, the other will steal from him. At the same time. The mission puts both men on a collision… Continue reading Review: Accidental Lover (Exit Strategy #5) by Jocelynn Drake

Review: Wolf Blood (Outcast Pack, #2) by T. J. Nichols

Rating: 4🌈 At 124 pages, Wolf Blood is an exciting, engaging paranormal romance. It’s a quick read with all the books in this series flowing pretty seamlessly from one to the next. If you’re a fan of Nichols’ Familiar Mates and Mythos series, then you will have a good understanding of the universe Outcast Pack… Continue reading Review: Wolf Blood (Outcast Pack, #2) by T. J. Nichols

Review: Wolf Heart (Outcast Pack, #1) by T. J. Nichols

Rating: 4🌈 The Outcast Pack series takes place in the same universe as this author’s Familiar Mates and Mythos series. So if a reader is familiar with those books then they will be able to supply the missing foundation information one would normally expect to receive from a first story here. Paranormal/human interaction. Officially none.… Continue reading Review: Wolf Heart (Outcast Pack, #1) by T. J. Nichols

Review: A Christmas Outing: A Veterans Affairs Story by A.E. Wasp

Rating: 3.25🌈 A Christmas Outing is a wonderful heartwarming holiday story whose narrative gifts are tarnished by the errors and mistakes that are found inside. Continuity issues, once again, thy name is A Veterans Affairs. The most striking example is Troy’s best friend growing up, Leo. A closeted gay himself, it was his death that… Continue reading Review: A Christmas Outing: A Veterans Affairs Story by A.E. Wasp

Review: Incoming : A Veterans Affair Novel by A.E. Wasp

Rating: 3.5🌈 Incoming, the beginning of Wasp’s Veterans Affairs series, is a terrific book marred by poor editing and continuity issues, things that unfortunately continue into the next story, Christmas Outing. Released in 2016, it dates itself with elements that I regard fondly. Music, a car with actual paper road maps in the passenger seat,… Continue reading Review: Incoming : A Veterans Affair Novel by A.E. Wasp

Review: Foxed by Jay Hogan

Rating: 3🌈 Foxed, Fuddled, Swallowed a Hare, and Other Words for “Drunk”. Right from the title, Jay Hogan’s new release and I just couldn’t connect. For me, foxed always has meant drunk. Hogan goes with a different definition. FOXED: To be thrown into a state of uncertainty-flustered, bamboozled, bewildered, puzzled, vexed. That’s how I felt… Continue reading Review: Foxed by Jay Hogan

Review: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain (The Singing Hills Cycle #2) by Nghi Vo

Rating: 4.5🌈 “THE TAVERN WAS LITTLE more than a waxed canvas tent, tilted towards the south by the wind that rushed headlong down the mountain. The woman who tended the makeshift bar had a thin wispy mustache styled into pointed wings over her lip, and Chih took down her family history while the mammoth scouts… Continue reading Review: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain (The Singing Hills Cycle #2) by Nghi Vo

Review: The Empress of Salt and Fortune (The Singing Hills Cycle #1) by Nghi Vo

Rating: 4.75🌈 I’m not sure how I came across this incredible author and series. Perhaps it was that amazing cover or the hints of cultural magic mixed with references to strong women within an ancient history fantasy setting in the description. The Hugo award helped. Doesn’t matter. It doesn’t prepare a reader for the sheer… Continue reading Review: The Empress of Salt and Fortune (The Singing Hills Cycle #1) by Nghi Vo

Review: Jon and Mack’s Terrifying Tree Troubles (Jon’s Mysteries Case Book 5) by A.J. Sherwood

Rating: 4.75🌈 A crossover story with Sherwood’s Mack’s Marvelous Manifestations series, Jon and Mack’s Terrifying Tree Troubles is a great entertaining, somewhat terrifying white knuckle thriller of a murderous paranormal mystery story. That it contains laughs, some kinky sex, cats, yeeted tombstones, multiple characters we’ve come to love between two series, and ghosts out the… Continue reading Review: Jon and Mack’s Terrifying Tree Troubles (Jon’s Mysteries Case Book 5) by A.J. Sherwood