Tag: #newbookreleases

Review:  Ride Or Die (The Body Shop Book 5) by Hailey Edwards 

Rating : 4.75⭐️

Ride Or Die wraps up this fantastic series with mythical battles, high stakes, epic magical revelations, and an absolutely satisfying ending for all the characters. 

The Body Shop series has followed Frankie and her adopted siblings, the Mary’s as they call themselves after the official ‘house of horror’ they were forced to live as children, they’ve come through perilous events and horrific experiences that’s seen them come out more powerful individually and as a found family. 

From one where Frankie was the one who provided and held everything together to a family that worked together as a unit for a common purpose.  The character development and plotting was even, strong and often compelling. And Edwards didn’t leave any character behind in bringing relationships and old friendships forward as things went further into new developments. 

Kierce sacrificed himself for Frankie and now she’s going to save him. It’s time for revelations, god comeuppances, and the final showdown. And some real surprises. 

Dis Pater is shown to be even worse than thought to be. But the biggest bad is a well crafted evil, multi dimensional villain who’s horrific in his clarity of vision.  

It’s reasonable and believable and makes this credible that’s there’s a cost of defeating him.  It wouldn’t have made sense otherwise. Or been in keeping with the types of magical powers and abilities that were used by all of the characters here. 

In the end, we get a sense of how the characters are in their lives and how they feel going forward. It’s contentment and happiness. And that makes The Body Shop a well written, highly compelling and satisfying series, one I’m happy to recommend. 

Love the covers. Every single one.

Cover by Damonza

Illustration by Marouane Hs

The Body Shop – series complete: 5 books:

Fair Market Value #1 

Amber Gambler #2 

Midnight Auto Parts #3 

Cheater Slicks #4 

Ride or Die #5 – series finale 

Buy link

        Ride or Die (The Body Shop Book 5)

    

Blurb 

Kierce sacrificed himself to save Frankie, and now it’s her turn to rescue him. Whether he wants her to or not. That means venturing into Abaddon, the land of the dead, and hoping she can locate him within its shadowed depths before Dis Pater notices his favorite toy is missing. But Dis Pater isn’t the only deity she has to fear.

Frankie’s father has learned of her journey down to his domain, and he won’t take no for an answer when he welcomes her into his home. As if one MIA parent materializing wasn’t bad enough, her mother arrives with her own emotional baggage in hand. Forget the perils of traversing the underworld. Navigating this family reunion just might be what kills her.

  • Publisher: Black Dog Books
  • Publication date: September 16, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 241 pages
  • Book 5 of 5: The Body Shop

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: 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:  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.)

Review: A TOUCH OF MURDER (Touched Book 1) by E.M. Leya

Rating: 4🌈

E.M. Leya writes the terrific Ghostly romance mystery series and this is the first in her new paranormal murder mystery series, Touched.

The main characters , located in the small town of Hidden Falls , WA, are Barrett Whitestone, 34, PD detective skeptic and Adam Wrecker , 32,a psychometric psychic. That’s someone who can , by touch, sense events and experiences from an object they have been given. 

A missing girl brings the two men together and the cosy nature of the small town dynamics repeatedly makes repeated visits necessary in various ways. 

One aspect of this story that’s out of the usual box for this author is the graphic depiction of violent SA, torture and murder of the victim here. I suspect that, given the circumstances surrounding the psychic gift of Adam Wrecker that this will be a reoccurring issue.  

I feel this series and story should have trigger warnings associated with it given those elements.  FYI. 

Leya is creating a new cozy mystery atmosphere for her series by introducing a full cast of townsfolk and shopkeepers, police officers included. It’s a tiny town that counts on tourism. But most cozy mysteries don’t have such raw material as part of their storylines. 

There’s a sweet, slow burn romance between the two characters but countered by the graphic horror of the victim’s death. 

For me, the other seems jarring here. I get that it helps authenticate Adam as a psychometric, but it’s out of “character “ for the rest of the narrative.   If this was a harder type of story with characters who are hardcore, a romance with an edge , and  darkness, then I’d expect this aspect of the novel. 

But with donuts, small towns communities dynamics and cozy spaces, along with the occasional slow burn sweet kisses, it other feels out of place. 

Adam comes across as very believable in his gifts. The slow investigation of the culprits and frustrations of the small police force also seems real and credible. 

A Touch of Murder is a good start to a new series. I look forward to seeing what the author has in store for us next. 

 Cover Art by: Annabella Stone

Buy link

 Book 1 of 1: Touched 

Blurb 

Officer Barret Whitestone loves the small town of Hidden Falls. After all, he grew up there. He takes his job of protecting the people seriously, and so when a case brings him to Touched, he’s sure he has just met the biggest fraud and charlatan in town. With a murder case to solve, he doesn’t have time to waste with someone he’s sure is taking advantage of a grieving family.

Adam is a psychometric—a person who has the rare ability to sense an object’s history through touch. But unlike most others with his gift, he can’t turn the ability off. He’s used to people not believing him, but when it comes to murder, he knows he can help identify a killer.

With pressure from the town, Barret humors Adam. At first, he’s convinced he’s wasting time and energy, but when what Adam tells him starts to match with the evidence, he can’t help but believe there may be something to Adam’s ability.

Forced to put their differences aside, the two slowly piece together what happened to a missing woman. Navigating through a confusing case while searching for evidence that can be used in court, they’re both determined to bring a killer to justice and learn to trust each other along the way.

  • Publisher: E.L. Publishing
  • Publication date: August 31, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 290 pages
  • Book 1 of 1: Touched

Review: The Wolf Vs The Dragon: The Hidden City Supernatural Sleuth #7) by Lauretta Hignett 

Rating: 3⭐️

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. 

Book Cover by Atra Luna Graphic Design

Hidden City Supernatural Sleuth:

The Wolf Vs The Vampire #1

The Wolf Vs The Warlock #2

The Wolf Vs The Shifter #3

The Wolf Vs The Witch #4

The Wolf Vs The Monster #5 

The Wolf Vs The Shadow Fae #6 

The Wolf Vs The Dragon #7

The Wolf Vs The World #8 – Nov 15,2025 – finale 

The Wolf Vs Santa: A Little Christmas Mystery

Buy link 

        The Wolf Vs The Dragon: The Hidden City Supernatural Sleuth

    

Blurb 

I don’t want to hurt her… but she definitely wants to hurt me.

Betrayal doesn’t sting. It hurts worse than that; it feels like a rake over coals, a disembowling, a slow, agonizing stretch on the torture rack.

Myf is hurt, and she’s found someone to blame. She’s focused all her pain on one target.

Me.

The Wolf Vs The Dragon is book seven in the Hidden City Supernatural Sleuth, a hot new Urban Fantasy series by bestselling author Lauretta Hignett.

Review: A Dragon Rider’s Guide to Retirement (Dragons of Safeway Haven Book 1) by Julia Huni

Rating: 4.5⭐️

What a wonderful find and absolutely fabulous read!  Julia Huni is an author I hadn’t heard of before but she’s now firmly in my author list to look forward to. 

A Dragon Rider’s Guide to Retirement, the first book in Dragons of Safeway Haven series by Julia Huni, is a quietly stunning story.  I’m not sure I’ve read one quite like this in a group of novels about dragons and dragon riders. 

There’s no fast paced adventure, no real action or battles. At least not yet. Those have already happened. In a long,  dark ongoing war between two countries that’s continuing to escalate and claim the lives of many, this story focuses on the recent retired warriors of each country.  One a battle witch who’s losing her powers and one a disabled dragon rider who lost his dragon in the war.  Both in their early 50’s and they’ve retired to Safe Haven , a mystical island unbeknownst to each other. At first. 

 What author Huni delivers is beautiful, deeply believable characters, ones who are dealing with their own trauma and personal losses. Who then are confronted with not only the physical enemy they have been fighting all these years, a enemy that has cost them greatly in terms of unbelievable loss and suffering, but they also have to face the fact that perhaps they have been rigid and bigoted in their own ways. 

Huni’s story doesn’t preach but slowly sees change occur as the characters interact with each other and the town people who are accepting them into their own lives.  It’s a magical place, full of many different kinds of beings and beautiful creatures. Including dragons. 

Acceptance, loss, grief and the ability to see things from different perspectives and move on is key here.  The dragon rider William Ordell, slowly becoming a part of Safe Haven, readjusting his views as he feels more at home with his new surroundings. And Calantha Stormbringer, a battle witch whose powers are fading, has returned to her home, feeling like a stranger only to find herself confronted by the very thing she was fighting in the war. 

Calantha and William are both very relatable and very well defined in their own personalities and challenges that each are facing in their respective retirements. From Calantha’s loss of powers after she reached menopause, (and the fact that most battle witches never survived to this age) to William dealing with the loss of his bond with his dragon, his dragon, his small corp of brother riders, and country and his leg.  They are the unlikely survivors of a deadly war that’s still going on. And this writer gives us remarkable insights into what happened, and how emotionally and physically this has and continues to affect them both. 

But there’s also light-hearted and heartfelt content in this book. Magical moments and a slow burn love story as well. 

I love it. Have to wait for the next one but totally worth it. I’ll savor this one and reread it just before the next is released. 

A definite winner and one I’m thrilled to recommend. 

Cover designed by Mariah Sinclair Designs

Dragons of Safeway Haven :

  • A Dragon Rider’s Guide to Retirement #1
  • A Blacksmith’s Guide to Dragon-Rearing #2 – Aug 31,2026

Buy

 Book 1 of 2: Dragons of Safe Haven 

Blurb 

They survived the war. Now they just have to survive retirement.

When dragon rider William Ordell is grounded by a battlefield injury, he trades conflict for peace and purchases an abandoned lighthouse on the island of Safe Haven. But quiet doesn’t suit a man used to action. After a series of mysterious fires, William finds himself launching the island’s first fire brigade—with help from the local sea dragons.

Calantha Stormbringer has left war behind, along with the last sparks of her fading magic. She retreats to Safe Haven to rebuild her late aunt’s dusty bookshop—and maybe herself. Restoring the shop will require patience, intelligence, and gold. Calantha figures two out of three isn’t bad.

What neither of them wants? To run into each other. Again.

Old grudges, magical dragons, and one cozy, nosy village—what could possibly go right?

A Dragon Rider’s Guide to Retirement is a cozy, low-stakes fantasy filled with magic, mischief, and a slow-burn romance that won’t steam your glasses. Perfect for fans of Legends & Lattes, Cursed Cocktails, and J. Penner’s Adenashire series.

  • Publisher: IPH Media, LLC
  • Publication date: August 5, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 336 pages
  • Book 1 of 2: Dragons of Safe Haven

Review:  The Sinner’s Son (Sawyer and Royce: Felonies and Fatherhood Book Two) by  Aimee Nicole Walker

Rating: 4🌈

The Sinner’s Son is the second in the Sawyer and Royce: Felonies and Fatherhood series by Aimee Nicole Walker.  It’s a ongoing dramatic story about a couple who have traveled from their first encounter and police cases as police officers through the obstacles of a complicated process of their relationship and respective careers through the process of marriage and now fatherhood. 

With any long history and multiple series like this, there is going to be books that will hit on every level and some that will fall short. 

For me, The Sinner’s Son fell a bit short. Too much of repetition in terms of certain aspects of the storyline. I felt like I anticipated the plot and villain. Especially since the overall mystery going through to the next book seems clear. 

For me the best elements are those surrounding the impending birth, their emotional state about fatherhood, their friends and support. 

The mystery feels less well developed than usual. Or maybe I just read too many mystery novels. And listen to too many crime podcasts. 

Either way, I enjoyed the first novel more. And will look forward to reading Brokered Betrayals later this year.

Cover photo © Wander Aguiar 

Cover design © Natasha Snow 

Sawyer and Royce: Felonies and Fatherhood series: 

The Paternity Puzzle #1

The Sinner’s Son #2

Brokered Betrayals #3 – Dec 16, 2025

Preceding Necessary Locke and Key Series :

Zero Hour (3 books)

Sawyer and Royce: Matrimony and Mayhem (3 book series)

Related series:

Sinister in Savannah (3 book series)

Buy link

        The Sinner’s Son (Sawyer and Royce: Felonies and Fatherhood Book 2)

    

Blurb 

Can a sinner’s son outrun his father’s shadow, or will darkness follow him everywhere and taint everything? 

No one’s life should be reduced to random items in an evidence box, only to collect dust for decades. Seeking justice for the forgotten will bring a temporary partner into Sawyer’s life who threatens his carefully curated peace. Alec Bishop, the son of a serial killer, arrives in Savannah with an audacious ego, an unwillingness to accept boundaries, and an overzealous fan club. Calling it quits isn’t part of Sawyer’s character, but he might not have a choice when the circumstances surrounding the sinner’s son take a dark twist.

Nature versus nurture? The age-old question forces Sawyer and Royce to reevaluate the relationships with their fathers, and it influences the parents they aspire to be now that the countdown to Baby Locke has begun.

The Sinner’s Son is book two in the Felonies and Fatherhood trilogy, the third installment in the Royce Locke and Sawyer Key story arc. ** New readers should start with the Zero Hour and Matrimony and Mayhem trilogies before reading Felonies and Fatherhood. **The Sinner’s Son continues Royce and Sawyer’s happily ever after as they move into the most anticipated phase of their lives. Though some storylines span the trilogy, this book does not end in a cliffhanger. Heat, humor, heart, and homicide abound. You have been warned.

Review: License to Curse (The Merlin Mysteries, Book One) by Kim Richardson 

Rating: 3⭐️

I have written and rewritten this review several times.  And finally decided to try and keep it as concise as possible. 

This was a DNF multiple times for me for many reasons but ultimately I finished it and enjoyed it. But I won’t be going further with this series. 

Main issues revolve around the characterization and plot issues. Things and elements that repeatedly occur throughout the story or seem to be a part of the main character makeup which makes any credibility of a magical law enforcement officer impossible. 

Arcane witch Rhea Morven is a newly credited Merlin. That’s a Magical Enforcement Response League Intelligence Network. Basically they’re the magical law enforcement agents who police the paranormal world. Rhea’s got a sketchy family history and wildcard powers. And she’s a newbie. But still an agent with a badge. 

And she’s sent out to an equally sketchy town, Gallows Gate, where a fellow agent disappeared and 3 teenagers have gone missing. 

Should be a great mystery and law enforcement storyline. 

However, author Kim Richardson gives little insight or foundation into the political structure or powers here. So instead of the Merlin coming into town as a powerful magical force or police officer, there’s nothing to this aspect of the plot. 

The agency has given no resources and dumped her. Might as well be a civilian. And she’s whiny. When the Council (and parents) blame her for certain crimes/events that have happened in her absence and without an investigation, she immediately agrees she’s a failure. She’s been there one day. 

People refuse to listen or talk to her. Fine. Off she goes. No procedure. What training? Zero credibility as a Merlin for me as a reader. 

Rhea’s personality too is lacking. Absolutely gullible as written, especially for a trained agent and magically powerful person. Rhea who listens to the person who’s got “big bad Villain“ stamped on their forehead while suspecting the person who’s saved her repeatedly and reeks of ancient great being.  Let’s do that. 

While there are some funny moments and engaging characters, like the ghost who’s attached to the dilapidated house that called the local Merlin office/ home, they’re swamped by scenarios and situations that are frankly eye-rolling. 

The narrative continues to grow less credible as events unfold that the reader recognizes aren’t well developed mysteries but rather easily explained events.  But the author keeps insisting that Morven can’t have the intelligence to guess immediately who and what is going on. 

Example: The previous Merlin who was investigating several cases disappeared ten days ago. Now a new body of a man has been discovered. Looks like he’s been there a while. Week, maybe ten days . Oh no! Whoever could it be? Not like there’s a missing person or something. SMH. 

Then in the dramatic climax and battle, a character turns into a well used trope. Why not. No foundation laid but ok. 

For me this became a kitchen sink paranormal narrative, with little cohesion thrown together with some likable characters but not enough to make me go forward. 

Read it if you’re a fan of this author. 

Cover design by Kim Richardson

The Merlin Mysteries:

License to Curse #1

Witch on Probation #2 – Oct 31,2025

Magical Misconduct #3 – Nov 30,2025

Buy link:

 Book 1 of 3: The Merlin Mysteries 

Blurb 

First day on the job? Missing teens. Dangerous magic. Zero backup.

I’m Rhea Morven, rookie Merlin agent, walking magical anomaly, and proud owner of a cursed bloodline no one trusts.

My first case dumps me in Gallows Gate, a hidden town full of secrets, politics, and creatures that bite. The assignment? Find three missing paranormals before the town tears itself apart. The twist? They’re not just anyone. They’re the children of the ruling council.

Now I’m stuck navigating vampire egos, witch rivalries, and suspicious council members who’d rather see me fail.

Good thing I’ve got a sharp tongue, a dangerous kind of magic, and a very low tolerance for bullsh*t.

Also, there’s a broody shifter with eyes like gold and a tendency to save my life. Not helpful for focus.

They sent me here to fail, but I’m not leaving without a fight.

Love found-family, magical suspense, and snarky witches who bite back? Welcome to The Merlin Mysteries, where a cursed bloodline meets a case from hell.

  • Publication date: July 22, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 281 pages
  • Book 1 of 3: The Merlin Mysteries