A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas follows the life of a 19-year-old huntress, Feyre Acheron, who was brought into an unfamiliar magical realm after killing a faerie in the forest. Upon entering the world of the faeries, she was forced to adapt and live in a world where humans don’t belong. As Feyre becomes more involved with the people around her, she becomes aware of the looming catastrophe she must face to save everyone.
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Book Review
From the description alone, most people, like writer Anjitha M, will say that it’s a simple retelling of the classic Disney movie Beauty and the Beast. However, despite the obvious reference to the Disney classic, Maas was able to craft something different on her own that makes the book unique from the movie.
A Court of Thorns and Roses is the first book in the series of the same name. The author’s strong worldbuilding immerses readers in a setting that offers both excitement and uncertainty as we, the readers, set foot in the world of Fae through the eyes of Feyre. In A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR to its legions of fans), we get to meet various characters who all have different backgrounds and perspectives, and we get to journey with a female protagonist who can stand on her own and shoot arrows with her bow.
The story starts with Feyre’s life-changing encounter with a faerie in the woods, which obliged her to leave her family in the human world for a place she had only heard of in stories. Even though Feyre is human, the story revolves around her journey as she interacts and connects with the fantastical creatures of the Fae. As readers, we get to acquaint ourselves and learn about the world’s culture along with her. Feyre’s determination to remain strong despite being thrown in an unfamiliar place with no allies is something worth admiring about her.
Although the first part was a bit slow-paced, the latter half brings so much action and drama. It makes it impossible to not pick up the second book and read what happens next. Reading ACOTAR on its own isn’t enough to fully understand and appreciate the world that the author has created for us. If you plan to read the following book, A Court of Mist and Fury, you can expect more gripping drama, intense romance, and exceptional worldbuilding from Sarah J. Maas.
ACOTAR is a page-turner if high fantasy, adventure, and romance suit your preferences. Once you finish you will want to check out the entire series since the beginning only gives you a glimpse of what’s to come.
Now may just be the best time to read it too as Deadline announced that producers plan to release an ACOTAR TV adaptation on premium cable and streaming networks. If you want to delve into the world of the Fae with vibrant visuals, you can check out the TV adaptation soon. However, if you’re interested in more action-packed adventures and romance books than fantasy, you should add Guild Boss by Jayne Castle to your to-read list. Accompanied by Lucy and Gabriel, you can discover the lawlessness of Illusion Town.
BAYOU BOOK THIEF (Vintage Cookbook Mystery Book #1) by Ellen Byron is an enjoyable contemporary cozy mystery set in New Orleans with everything I am looking for in a cozy mystery, wonderful characters, well-paced plot, and writing that gives colorful visual imagery of the setting.
Miracle “Ricki” James-Diaz is a twenty-eight-year-old widow who is beginning a new life in the place of her birth, New Orleans. She is excited to land her dream job of running a gift shop featuring vintage cookbooks and kitchen gadgets in the former home of a New Orleans legendary restauranteur at Bon Vee Culinary House Museum.
While opening several boxes of donated books to Bon Vee, Ricki and Cookie are shocked to find the dead body of a recently fired tour guide who was caught stealing books from the gift shop. Ricki decides to put her research skills to work investigating the death when one of her new friends is considered a suspect. Will Ricki be able to find the killer without getting herself in hot water?
This is a perfect cozy mystery read to me! I loved the main character, Ricki and all her quirks and her messy background. The cast of secondary characters are all fully fleshed and realistic window dressing to the city of New Orleans. The plot builds steadily to the climax, and I was guessing right up to the end. Ms. Byron uses her characters, red-herrings, and plot twists to full advantage to keep me turning the pages. New Orleans lifestyle and culture is seamlessly woven into the story without slowing the pace. An all-around enchanting cozy.
I highly recommend this cozy mystery and I am looking forward to revisiting these characters in the next book in the series!
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About Ellen Byron
Ellen writes the USA Today bestselling Cajun Country Mysteries and Catering Hall Mysteries (under the pen name Maria DiRico). MARDI GRAS MURDER won the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel and was nominated for a Best Humorous Mystery Lefty Award by Left Coast Crime. A CAJUN CHRISTMAS KILLING and BODY ON THE BAYOU, both won the Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery, and were nominated for Agatha Awards in the category of Best Contemporary Novel. PLANTATION SHUDDERS, the first book in the series, was nominated for Agatha, Lefty, and Daphne awards. Cajun Country Mysteries offer “everything a cozy reader could want,” according to Publishers Weekly, while Library Journal says, “Diane Mott Davidson and Lou Jane Temple fans will line up for this series.” HERE COMES THE BODY, the first book in her Catering Hall Mysteries, is inspired by her real life. LONG ISLAND ICED TINA, the second in the series, recently launched, with both books in the series garnering great reviews.
Ellen’s TV credits include Wings and Just Shoot Me; she’s written over 200 magazine articles; her published plays include the award-winning Graceland and Asleep on the Wind. She is a native New Yorker who lives in Los Angeles and attributes her fascination with Louisiana to her college years at New Orleans’ Tulane University. She also worked as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart, a credit she never tires of sharing.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for SHADOW OF THEGYPSY by Shelly Frome on this Virtual Author Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review
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Book Description
A nemesis out of the past suddenly returns, forcing Josh Bartlett to come to terms with his true identity.
Josh Bartlett had figured all the angles, changed his name, holed up as a small-town features writer in the seclusion of the Blue Ridge. Only a few weeks more and he’d begin anew, return to the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut and Molly (if she’d have him) and, at long last, live a normal life. After all, it was a matter of record that Zharko had been deported well over a year ago. The shadowy form Josh had glimpsed yesterday at the lake was only that—a hazy shadow under the eaves of the activities building. It stood to reason his old nemesis was still ensconced overseas in Bucharest or thereabouts well out of the way. And no matter where he was, he wouldn’t travel thousands of miles to track Josh down. Surely that couldn’t be, not now, not after all this.
SHADOW OF THE GYPSY by Shelly Frome is a suspenseful crime mystery with family drama and a little romance all thrown into the mix of an intriguing read.
Josh is hiding from his past working on a small-town weekly paper. In the mysterious beginning of this story, the reader learns of his dysfunctional upbringing and the blonde girl he dreams about that he hopes to return to soon. But his past catches up to him, even though he has changed his name. He learns he was tricked into a debt to the man he is hiding from, the gypsy, Zharko.
I felt the first few chapters were confusing, but once the pieces of Josh’s past begin to unfold, the story began to pull me in. Josh and all the other characters are all fully fleshed and interesting. They are on a good vs. evil spectrum that has very few shades of gray. Just like his nefarious characters, the author also gives the landscape an atmospheric feel of foreboding. The story moves at an ever-increasing pace and yet I never felt as if I knew what would be reveled or what was about to happen right up to the climax. Mr. Frome has a unique style which in this novel gives the story a noir feeling to this crime mystery and so much more.
I recommend this unique mash-up crime mystery.
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Excerpt
Slipping away from the patio, keeping low like he did as a kid in the Connecticut hills playing Indian scout, Josh skirted the bushes, circled behind the low-lying activities building, and hunkered down by the near side of the visitors’ parking lot. He got behind the tailgate of a red Chevy pickup and glanced around the edge of the truck bed. Then, in practically no time, he spotted him.
At first, he wasn’t absolutely sure. After all, the figure was still almost a hundred yards away blurred by the shimmering sunlight. The guy could be on the grounds crew. He could be the driver of the pickup. After all, there were countless wiry workmen in denim for hire in these parts, especially now that spring had arrived.
With his mind revving like crazy, he reminded himself that his old nemesis had been booted out of the country. Josh had, in fact, recently flown back to New England once or twice to make sure, to touch base with his estranged mother and, most of all, to see Molly, his erstwhile childhood sweetheart. He’d been harboring thoughts of dropping his cover, starting over and living a normal life. That is, if he still had a chance with her and their relationship wasn’t a lingering fantasy. If he could hold out a bit longer to make sure.
Yet, as the figure pivoted and headed back in Josh’s direction, it was no use. He noted the black denim, shiny cowboy boots, and red blouse protruding from an open Levi jacket. If nothing else, the twisted, sparkling earring gave him away. That and the furtive way he scurried around, trying to get a bead on the whereabouts of his quarry. His thin, chiseled face and high cheekbones were also a dead giveaway, though it had been a few years since Josh had actually laid eyes on him.
As a youngster, gazing out the window of his mother’s cabin in the woods, he’d frequently caught sight of the gypsy van and that thickset, baldheaded companion called Vlad. And once, surreptitiously catching snatches of dialogue as he berated his mother in that awkward speech pattern of his: “Your boy still tractable for sure, tell me true? He is like well-behaved dog? . . . Day is coming when he will be useful. Not now but maybe soon because feds hounding me worse than ever ”
But Josh had it on the highest authority that Zharko had been deported. Threats of Zharko finding him useful had abated over the years, except in nightmares now and then, and hopes and daydreams of becoming free and clear had taken their place.
But now, Zharko Vadja was close by and Ackerman was waiting impatiently.
He remained hunkered down and, though he needed to get a move on, again found himself sifting through his memory bank, desperately trying to put this in some perspective. It was during that foray to touch base– to see how Molly was doing and learning she was teaching second grade at that very same elementary school they’d both attended before he’d been shipped off. But underneath Molly Hunter’s ingenuous veneer, trying not to dwell on his shortcomings, there was that same dubious background; the way his mother had treated her over a Christmas present, plus his mother Irina’s animosity toward Molly and her ilk.
There was also his name change leading to his affable mask as good ol’ Josh Bartlet. Which led to that troublesome exchange as she revealed she’d had another offer of marriage.
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About Shelly Frome
Award winning author, Shelly Frome is a member of Mystery Writers of America, a professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University of Connecticut, a former professional actor, a writer of crime novels, cozy mystery novels, and books on theater and film. He is also a features writer for Gannett Media’s Black Mountain News. His fiction includes Sun Dance for Andy Horn, Lilac Moon, Twilight of theDrifter, Tinseltown Riff, Murder Run, Moon Games and The Secluded Village Murders.
Among his works of non-fiction are The Actors Studio and texts on the art and craft of screenwriting and writing for the stage. Miranda and the D-Day Caper was his last foray into the world of crime and the amateur sleuth, until now. He lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
POISON EVIDENCE (Evidence Book #7 on Goodreads, Book #8 on Amazon) by Rachel Grant is another thrilling installment in the Evidence series featuring another brilliant member of the Naval History and Heritage Command team. This book is easily read as a standalone, but there is carryover of characters from previous books in this series. Any history from previous stories between characters is explained without going into detail and seamlessly keeps the current story flowing.
Ivy MacLeod is sent to the islands of Palau with her new advanced remote sensing technology known as CAM to map a WWII battle site. Ivy is happy to leave the states and distance herself from her ex-husband’s trial for treason. When she is attacked at a party for dignitaries on the island, she escapes with the help of Jack Keaton, an American on vacation in Palau.
Jack Keaton is not who he seems, but he has saved Ivy’s life. When Ivy learns the U.S. government has betrayed her, she must make up her own mind who is the spy, who is the protector and who is the villain.
I love this series! The heroines are accomplished, intelligent women with intriguing jobs whose personal lives become very complicated with heroes that are alpha males and over-achievers in their own right. Ivy has always been socially awkward due to her intelligence and then she suffered the ultimate betrayal from a husband she loved. Her invention is her life until she meets Jack, but he has many identities and Ivy has to trust him with her life even as he could be as bad as her ex. Jack’s backstory and the reasons for the way he lives his life make him a sympathetic character and the author does a great job of keeping him on that fine line between hero or villain. The plot is an intricate, edge-of-your-seat, fast paced spy thriller that leaves the reader questioning the motives of most of the characters right up to the climax. The sex scenes in this book are all smokin’ hot and explicit, but never gratuitous.
I highly recommend this romantic suspense/spy thriller, as well as every other book in this series!
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About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Rachel Grant worked for over a decade as a professional archaeologist and mines her experiences for storylines and settings, which are as diverse as excavating a cemetery underneath an historic art museum in San Francisco, survey and excavation of many prehistoric Native American sites in the Pacific Northwest, researching an historic concrete house in Virginia, and mapping a seventeenth century Spanish and Dutch fort on the island of Sint Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles.
She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and children.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for TOXIC SOUP by R.R. Rowley on this Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, and excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy and good luck on the giveaway!
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Book Description
The Poisoning Must End
Toxic waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation has been poisoning the environment, human beings, and wildlife for more than six decades. When her brother dies a horrible death at Hanford, Casey Long, a kayaker and windsurfer by day and bartender by night in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon/Washington, swears to put an end to the upriver contamination. But, how can she possibly take on the entrenched fortress of a facility?
After she confides in Little Bear, a bitter Native American fisherman, they contrive a dangerous plan. Joined by a peculiar mishmash of collaborators, they risk everything to save the environment and achieve justice for all injured parties, past and present.
Genre: Environmental Thriller Published by: The Wild Rose Press Publication Date: April 11, 2022 Number of Pages: 272 ISBN: 1509241167 (ISBN-13: 978-1509241163)
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
TOXIC SOUP by R.R. Rowley is an environmental thriller set in the area around the Columbia River Gorge with a protagonist on the path of revenge for the death of her brother.
The Hanford Nuclear Reservation has been slowly poisoning the environment in the Pacific Northwest for over six decades. The government has the facility locked down, but the volatile waste is unstable and continually escapes in the air and water. Casey Long receives a life-changing call that her brother and only sibling has died in a terrible accident while he is working on the nuclear waste site on the border between Oregon and Washington. Casey is devastated and after seeing her brother’s remains and the treatment of the men in charge she must deal with at Hanford, she decides she will not rest until she has revenge for her brother.
The once easy going and friendly bartender devises a plan for revenge. She cannot get into Hanford, but she can get to the men in charge. With the help of one of her roommates, her lover, an ex-con bar regular and Little Bear, a Native American fisherman who also hates the facility and its poison, she looks for justice for her brother and hopes to bring to light the environmental nightmare that the facility is to the area.
I enjoyed the scenic descriptions of the area and the watersport scenes that Casey and her roommates enjoyed in the beginning of the story. I felt the author did a lot of research and was able to intertwine it seamlessly throughout the story to get the ominous human and wildlife environmental foreboding into the story without being just an info dump. The plot moves at a steady pace throughout much of the story with the predicted climax, but with a tragic twist ending. As much as this thriller is an environmental wake-up call, it is also a tragic story of revenge. Casey changes into a person that you can feel sadness and sympathy for, but I lost my empathy for her. The secondary characters are interesting and unique, but none are able to or attempt to change Casey’s path of revenge.
I found this environmental thriller intriguing and sad, but well worth the read.
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Excerpt
When the abandoned reactor sites came into view, they swung their kayaks into a backwater eddy. Spooked ducks sprang into flight in front of them. Boats gliding, they studied the depth of the water, avoiding the chance of running aground. Before them, some sickly grasses appeared at the edge of the river. Was this it? Casey paddled closer, excitement rising. Pointing to a spot upon the bank, she called to Rex, “See that? See that? Is water trickling out of the ground over there?”
He removed his sunglasses and squinted. “You’re right. There is a wet spot over there.”
Straggly, yellowed grasses drooped away from the seeping water. They moved even closer to get a better view. A foam rose from the trickle of liquid and spread to a nasty orange and pink gunk smeared over exposed rocks. “I see it!” Rex cried out, a jolt of fear zapping through him. “Radioactivity!” he screamed, quickly backstroking. “You’ve got your evidence. Let’s get out of here! I don’t want to be anywhere near that stuff.”
She had her proof. Toxicity flowed into the river. How many other places existed? Perhaps beneath the water, the contamination was much worse. Untouchable Hanford is getting away with whatever they want. Something needed to be done, but what? Something not only for Charley but for the birds, the fish, and all the little creatures suffering at the hand of man’s dereliction of duty. She knew what she had to do.
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Author Bio
R R Rowley has lived coast to coast in the USA, in London, UK, and has spent many years on his farm in Grenada, West Indies. He has owned and operated several companies and was involved in start-ups. Currently, he resides in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State.
Today I am sharing by Feature Post and Book Review on the Blackthorn Book Tour for RIEBECKITE by O.R. Lea.
Below you will find book description, my book review and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Dangerous spores gather on Earth after an asteroid strikes the moon. Humanity watches the skies…but the real danger is at their feet.
After an asteroid strike on the moon, a strange blue dust began to flow down through Earth’s atmosphere. It’s harmful to breathe, but at least the microscopic creatures within the dust are dormant. Or so we thought.
Tahira made a childhood promise to a friend that the crisis would bring their people together… before a violent riot tore their lives apart. Now, as an adult, Tahira works as a biologist for a corporation constructing experimental towers to force the spores—known as riebeckites—to germinate into harmless colonies.
Except they’re about to learn everything they think they know about the dust is wrong. The real threat isn’t the asteroid that struck the moon and by the time humanity figures it out, it might be too late.
Riebeckite combines suspense and conspiracy with heart-in-mouth action sequences and nightmarish encounters, all in an immersive near-future setting and, at its core, a heartwarming story of friendship against the odds.
RIEBECKITE (Bruised Moon Sequence Book #1) by O.R. Lea is an engrossing mix of speculative fiction, sci-fi and horror that comes together in a story that is impossible to put down. It is also a story of friendship that spans not only years but cultural prejudice and politics.
We meet best friends Tahira who is Azerbaijani and Zareen who is Iranian when they are eight years old. They are separated as children when the Iranians are annexed and held behind an electrified cable wall.
Decades later, the two may be separated by a wall, but they are in touch and friends once again. Tahira studies the biology of the riebeckites that large turbines clean out of the air and deposit in the seas. They are from the moon dust and may not be as benign as the population has been led to believe. She discovers the monsters Zareen has been telling her about in the Annex, that the Azerbaijanis believe are urban legends, are real monsters. The riebeckites are a bigger threat than anyone believed. Will humanity survive?
I loved this novel! It was in a genre I usually do not gravitate toward, but I could not stop reading it. Not only is it in a different genre, but it is set in the Persian Gulf, which is unusual too. Tahira and Zareen are both strong female characters, but in differing ways. It is partially due to their circumstances, but their personalities are very different even as young girls. The riebeckites are such an interesting new biological species that are equal parts believable and disgusting. The author’s descriptive writing at times sent shivers up my spine as well as turned my stomach. The plot moves at an ever-increasing pace with plenty of action scenes especially in the second half of the story. There is a satisfying climax and conclusion to tie up many plot threads, but there is an opening for more.
I highly recommend this unique book and I am excited to read future books in this series.
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Author Bio
Raised and educated in North Wales, Oliver spent his early 20s working for a theatre-in-education music troupe for as long as it took to feel like his GCSE in Welsh language had provided its money’s worth. Since then, he’s lived in Portsmouth and currently works as a laboratory analyst. His biggest failure as a writer has been in his attempts to settle on a genre, having written about Middle Eastern vampires, African mercenaries and supernatural Welsh murderers. His first ‘properly’ published novel, “Riebeckite”, is a near-future speculative fiction story set in the Persian Gulf.
