Stir of Shadows by Jaime Lee Mann

This is the sixth book in the fantasy Legend of Rhyme series and is aimed at middle grade so has no scenes of foul language or sexual connotations.

Marigold is far too big to be a pixie, yet that’s what her family tell her she is. Frederick is far too small to be a giant, yet that’s what his family tells him he is. Pyra the phoenix has awakened, which means disaster has struck. Starla’s sister Blue is desperate to speak to her, but she could inadvertently hurt Teagan by her actions when Teagan goes exploring in places far away from safety. Elizabeth is still stuck in the grimoire and is desperate to get out. Grimblerod is still dealing with the nightmares of abduction. These and other stories are about to mesh with dire consequences.

I liked the introduction of Pyra and the effect she has on the continuation of Coraira. It was also fair that Asher got to claim a power which made him feel more like the hero he is meant to be. You can feel that the culmination of the series is coming as the families get to find out that they are related and how they need to work together.

I think to be this far into the series, and having to keep up with the myriad of characters (both still around or gone), it becomes a little confusing. While the poems at the beginning of each section help to remind the reader of what has happened with the characters previously and where they are now, it’s still a little difficult orienting yourself to what land or story you are in. I found that because of the story having to be spread in so many directions, that not enough substance was spent on the parts of the stories now and certain storylines were only just touched on. Some of the chapters were a little too punchy, and a situation would be brought in and immediately solved. I felt the action was missing a bit.

The Kindle edition had the first 6% taken up by hyperlinks which made it a bit irritating to keep flipping until you reached the story. I liked the catch up of characters at the end even if the author did feel like it was a bit of a spoiler alert, it did help to reorient the reader as to where they were with the characters. As usual, the story questions at the end were a great addition as a discussion point for a class. The story ends with a great cliffhanger and the bonus excerpt from the next book really gets the reader guessing. It’s not the best one in the series, but necessary as a gateway. I would still recommend the series for a magical fantasy read filled with mystery and all manner of beings. 

Storm: It’s a Curse to Remember by Gurpreet Kaur Sidhu

Storm: It’s a Curse to Remember is Book One in a series but can be read as a standalone novel and is a thriller which deals with past lives.

Evan Storm wakes up with terrible nightmares every morning about a past life where he is an abusive husband. He and his sister are orphans, and his psychic grandmother raised them from when they were small. Evan has just met his new neighbour Shadow Hex, and is shocked to find that she is the reincarnation of his abused wife from his previous life. Evan feels a bond with her and knows immediately that he must protect her at all costs. What Evan doesn’t know is that there is a secret agency out there that deals with problems for wealthy clients and that one of their agents, Marvin, used to be engaged to Shadow. Marvin wants her back and will use everything in his arsenal, which could include getting rid of Evan or anyone in his life. Can you fight against one who actually doesn’t exist? Evan’s sister Denise has her own problems, as her husband was in an accident and has lost 7 years of memories, including the knowledge that he has a son. Is there a happy ending in anyone’s future?

The story had a good idea behind it, but a lot of things let it down. Firstly the formatting was completely out. Letters of words were divided up between lines and many words had no spaces between them. Some pages had lines between paragraphs and other pages had paragraphs which just ran into each other.  Sometimes the word order was incorrect and other times there were prepositions missing which changed the meaning of the sentence. The paragraphs were filled with head hopping and you could get multiple POV’s in a paragraph (including in some instances the POV of a cat). The only tie-in I could see with Denise’s story was the parallel between memories lost in her family, while Evan is struggling with more memories than most in his. Otherwise, the two parts don’t fit together at all and indeed have no impact on each other. Without giving away too much, the ending was very strange for me. Many past life memories are brought in which have no bearing on any of the current characters and actually make the ending more confusing. The intense fear of the agency and the build-up to a confrontation fizzles out and I hope that some of the character’s paths are expanded on more in the next book.

A story with past lives interfering with present ones as well as secret agencies with evil agendas does sound intriguing, but the story needs work to make it more coherent. I had to remove stars for the editing and formatting as well as for the storyline which left me hanging. I wish the author well and hope that she continues and grows in her writing.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.   

The Bathwater Conspiracy by Janet Kellough

The Bathwater Conspiracy is a standalone novel, set in a post-apocalyptic world of sorts where men have been eradicated after the Testosterone Wars and women are the only sex that remain.

                                                                                 

A young lady has been murdered and the body mutilated in ways that have not been seen for years. Detective Carson MacHenry jumps straight onto the case and is determined to find out what happened, but has been warned off by the Darmes, a branch of law enforcement that is way above Carson’s pay grade. This in itself is peculiar as why would they not want a horrific murder like this solved? Carson gets lumped with the newbie Nguyen as a partner and sends her on all sorts of wild goose chases so that she can concentrate on what she thinks is best. As she moves deeper and deeper into her own investigation, she stumbles across a sinister genetic experiment that may prove to undo years of advancement. Add to this political intervention and a genuine fear for her own life and you have a fast-paced and thought-provoking look at a dystopian future.

This book was a lot more insightful than it seemed at first. Even though it is explained that the male genes were eradicated I somehow thought for the first half of the book that the principal character was male. It goes to show how clever the writing is and how your brain interprets it. Some books with similar themes have ideas so out there that the reader can just shake their heads and put it aside as a book. This theme, while very controversial, is not impossible with the current changes in gene experimentation. The book shows how emotional manipulation can lead to different outcomes and what happens when one woman will not back down. A very interesting concept and well-written book.

Mentoring Darkness by David Ring III

Mentoring Darkness is a psychological thriller novella and a quick read at 104 pages.

Leo receives a worried text from his friend Anita about a troubled youngster Nick, that Leo has taken under his wing. Leo, who has survived an abusive childhood, thinks Anita is blowing up the issue but knows he will see her later and they can chat about her fears. When he arrives at her place, she is nowhere to be seen. It soon comes out that Anita is gone and Leo is being blamed for it. In light of the text Anita sent to him about Nick, he is torn between reporting it or doing some investigating himself. The more he looks into it, the more he realises that things are most definitely not what they seem.

The blurb of the book sounded so promising that I thought I’d start it quickly one night before I went to sleep but landed up reading the whole thing. Unfortunately, it was a huge hit and miss for me. It had all the elements of a disappearance, a person being accused unjustly, snippets of info that could lead to a number of people being the killer and other storylines of romance and abuse being involved. All of a sudden, BAM, the story is over. I turned the page to see if who the killer is claimed to be is definitely the one and there is no more story. It felt like the book just ended in the middle of a chapter. There are too many unanswered questions for the story to end satisfactorily, and as the reader, I wasn’t sure if I believed the ending or not. The characters are engaging and the author does a great job of connecting the reader with their inner struggles, but too many paths are left open at the end. While I have no problem with cliffhangers, this was more of not knowing how to finish character’s stories off. It would be interesting to see more of this author’s work to see if that writing is in the same vein.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.

Last Seen: A Dr Pepper Hunt Mystery by JL Doucette

This is a standalone novel and is about a disappearance and the lives connected to it. It falls under the cop/thriller genre and one of the main characters: Dr Pepper, will be featured in future books.

Kimi, a crime reporter, has gone missing and the fear is that she has been taken by the serial rapist. Her husband oscillates back and forth between showing emotion that she is gone and indifference to her possible demise. Dr Hunt, Kimi’s psychologist, has been treating Kimi who has been experiencing some dissociative disorder and is brought in as a consultant to the case which is being led by Sheriff Scruggs and Kimi’s cousin Detective Antelope. Throw in a creepy colleague, her brother Diego who is a convicted sex offender, and Cass, Antelope’s previous love interest and Kimi’s best friend. If this is the serial rapist, why has Kimi not been returned like everyone else who has been attacked? As time runs out and more clues are revealed, it seems as though not everyone has been as upfront as they should have been. People have secrets, but some are a doozy.

The primary characters are well described, and you feel for them as they go through their ups and downs and face demons that surface throughout the case. I really enjoyed this book. It’s a typical detective thriller where clues are fed to you throughout and even though just before the end you figure out who it is, it takes no oomph away from the ending.

It Ends with Her by Brianna Labuskes

It Ends with Her is a standalone thriller featuring a psychopathic serial killer and the FBI team that has been on his trail for years.

His name is Simon Cross. Agent Clarke Sinclair is technically one up as she knows his name. So surely she should be able to find him? As the years of baiting each other continue, Simon keeps taunting her with photographs and clues but Clarke is no closer to bringing him in. His MO is to target girls with red hair, so why has he now taken a blonde? Has he made a mistake or is there something else underlying his actions? Clarke gets pulled in deeper to find that everything was geared to her, so to finish it, it ends with her.

The story is told mainly from 3 POV’s and timelines: you have Clarke who is a supposed FBI star but is an alcoholic with self-harm issues, Adelaide, an orphan who spent time with Simon in a foster home and Bess, the latest of Simon’s victims who was in an abusive relationship. Clarke’s character is difficult to like as she is self-centred and able to push the blame for most of her actions on others. I did find a lot of her whining annoying, but I think the author did a great job of making us try to understand an unlikeable character. The clues and games lead to a great ending, which you think you have guessed but are not quite sure. There were a few questions left unanswered in the book, but as a new author, I think the story and writing were captivating. I just think the relationships between some of the characters could have been explored a little more.

Overall a great read and would definitely recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review it.

Corkscrew by Peter Stafford-Bow

Corkscrew is a standalone novel and one filled with comedy and farce about the wine tasting and buying industry.

Felix Hart is a rogue and a scoundrel and it comes as no surprise that he is being questioned for dubious practices. But as with all stories, the tale must be told from the start. So begins a tale about how Felix was kicked out of school for ‘spreading his wild oats too liberally’ and being introduced to the world of wine. Felix soon learns how to manipulate the people and the system and works his way up to being a buyer for a large chain of stores. As he becomes set to offer the biggest Asti Spumante deal in history, he finds himself embroiled in some crazy schemes taking him to many places all over the world. Added to that we have his test to become a Wine Minstrel and the secret powder he had mixed in South Africa. By all accounts, Felix shouldn’t be alive with what he has put his body through. Yet here he is at the start of a new adventure.

You have to suspend all belief when you take this story on. Just put aside preconceived notions about what alcohol does to the body, what animals in the bush do and do not do and about the sucking effects of sunken toilets. If you can look past that you will literally laugh out loud as you enjoy this book. Sometimes you need something in life like this that will take you away from reality and just have a good laugh. Since I’m from South Africa and can understand the Afrikaans use in the book, I was often in tears at some of the things said. As much as Felix was actually a terrible person, I enjoyed his character so much I wanted him to get away with everything he got himself involved in! He seemed to genuinely believe that nothing he ever did was wrong or really his fault.

I highly recommend this book as a light-hearted read filled with fun, craziness and lots and lots of alcohol.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book. 

Feeder by Eliza Green

Feeder is a YA sci-fi novel and the first in a series.

Anya and her brother Jason have been left orphaned after their parents were killed by the rebels, right in front of them. With the radiation levels rising, they are moved to Essention where Jason is too old for the adult skills plan in Arcis, but Anya is placed on floor one. Here she meets a host of other characters that she doesn’t realise could literally be the death of her as she tries to rise up through the floors. Jason is put to work and finds himself sucked into a secret plan that could just as easily get him killed. Someone in charge of all of this seems to be playing a game with them, and it’s a game that seems rather biased. The siblings will need to form alliances if they are to stay alive, but who can they trust?

The book started off a little slow for me, but I soon got sucked into the secrets and alliances. It was interesting to see how the different puzzles on the floors were justified. Some of the decisions that had to be made really tested their characters and the author did a great job of letting us into their lives to try to understand their actions. Anya was a character that you couldn’t quite put your finger on. She was so strong and steadfast in many decisions but as soon as a romantic interest came in she turned into a bit of a girly girl and kept second guessing herself. The book doesn’t end on a cliffhanger as such but definitely leads into the next book. I had quite a few unanswered questions with this book which I hope will get answered within the series.

I enjoyed the blend of machinery and living tissue, the uncertainty of where the floors were heading and who could be trusted to go on the ride, and the revelation that the story was not actually the main story, but a point in a greater tale. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next one.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.

34 Days by Anita Waller

34 Days is a standalone thriller and is a story of revenge, lies and secrets.

Anna and Ray have been married for 35 years. It’s been a marriage filled with abuse and unhappiness, but this anniversary proves to be different as Anna finally gets up the courage to leave. What Anna hasn’t realised, is that her actions have sparked off a chain of events that will threaten to expose long-buried secrets and tear apart families forever.

When I read the blurb, I was intrigued to find out more as not much is given away with the specifics of the book. As you read it you realise why the spoiler alert cannot be let out of the bag and are eager to read more.

Once I finished the book I felt rather ambivalent about it. The story in its entirety has a good idea as its base, but it gets very drawn out until just before the end when all of a sudden you move at breakneck speed and then it’s over. In a way, you can see it coming, as well as the snippet that might lead into another book, but the pacing just seemed odd especially in light of the revelations. I felt the characters could have used a bit more fleshing out and Anna’s ability to just up and change her life seemed a bit easy considering her abuse. I also found it strange that in order to accomplish what drastic actions Anna’s daughter-in-law wanted, she was willing to use so many innocent people. Perhaps the author set it up this way to show something about a hidden side.

Overall I enjoyed the story as a concept, but can only mark it as average as things seemed to fall into place just too quickly and tie up too neatly.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.