Spotlight (#Giveaway): Benefit of the Doubt by Neal Griffin #adultlit #mystery @kayepublicity

Title: Benefit of the Doubt: A Novel
Author: Neal Griffin
Publisher: Forge (Macmillan)
Spotlight Organizer: Kaye Publicity
Release Date: May 12, 2015
Neal Griffin is a twenty-five year veteran of law enforcement. He's seen it all, from routine patrols to drug enforcement to homicide investigations, from corrupt cops to men and women who went far above and beyond the call of duty.

Benefit of the Doubt is a gripping thriller that exposes the dark underbelly of policing in small-town American, where local police departments now deal with big-city crimes and corruption.

Ben Sawyer was a big-city cop, until he nearly killed a helpless suspect in public. Now a detective in the tiny Wisconsin town where he and his wife grew up, Ben suspects that higher-ups are taking payoffs from local drug lords.

Before long, Ben is off the force. His wife is accused of murder. His only ally is another outcast, a Latina rookie cop. Worse, a killer has escaped from jail with vengeance on his mind, and Newburg—and Ben Sawyer—in his sights.

Praise

“Benefit of the Doubt needs none--there is no doubt that this fine debut novel is the sure-handed work of an exciting new author.” —Don Winslow, New York Times bestselling author of Savages

“[A] unique and suspenseful debut novel by a cop-turned-author who knows the turf. The story moves at warp speed.” —Joseph Wambaugh, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“A taut and cleverly-plotted page-turner! Griffin is a terrific story-teller, and this compelling tale will keep you guessing from the first chilling line to the unpredictable and completely surprising last page.” —Hank Phillippi Ryan, a Mary Higgins Clark, Anthony, & Agatha Award-winning author

“A visionary, scathing, supremely effective peek into the darkness that permeates small town Americana. Drawn in vibrant colors upon an ambitious canvas, this major debut is destined to take its place alongside the work of Robert Parker, C.J. Box, and Harlan Coben when it comes to unrelenting suspense and wondrously staged, multi-layered construction.” —Jon Land, bestselling author of Strong Rain Falling and The Tenth Circle

Buy your copy on Amazon!


About the Author

Blog Tour (Spotlight): Doll Parts by Azzurra Nox @YABoundToursPR @diva_zura

Title: Doll Parts: Tales of Twisted Love
Author: Azzurra Nox
Publisher: Twisted Wing Productions
Blog Tour Organizer: YA Bound Book Tours
Release Date: December 8, 2015
A haunting trio of short stories about love, obsession, and secrets. Each short story is titled after a song, The National's Apartment Story, Placebo's Scared of Girls, and Skunk Anansie's Post Orgasmic Chill.

Apartment Story
A lonely married woman nostalgically rekindles a friendship with a former lover and the apartment they shared. Dark secrets and mysteries surround the apartment building and its new tenants that delve deep into the woman's psyche and prove to be fatal.

Scared of Girls
A glamorous go-go dancer and a failing university student are bound by a dark secret that may change their fates forever.

Post Orgasmic Chill
The destinies of a cynical rock star, a groupie, an arrogant DJ, and naïve university student intertwine in a rainy London that serves as the backdrop to their tormented lives. Secrets and lies coincide in this dark tale of love gone wrong.

Hauntingly spare, beautiful, and twisted, Doll Parts is a disquieting and at times darkly morbid collection of short stories about normal people who suddenly discover their own dark possibilities.

Buy your copy on Amazon!


About Azzurra Nox

Audiobook Review: Dreamer's Pool by Juliet Marillier #BibPleaseReview #Fantasy #AceRocStars #Audiobook

Title: Dreamer's Pool (Blackthorn & Grim #1)
Author: Juliet Marillier
Narrator: Scott Aiello, Natalie Gold, & Nick Sullivan
Publisher: Roc (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: November 4, 2014
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
Award-winning author Juliet Marillier “weaves magic, mythology, and folklore into every sentence on the page” (The Book Smugglers). Now she begins an all-new and enchanting series that will transport readers to a magical vision of ancient Ireland...

In exchange for help escaping her long and wrongful imprisonment, embittered magical healer Blackthorn has vowed to set aside her bid for vengeance against the man who destroyed all that she once held dear. Followed by a former prison mate, a silent hulk of a man named Grim, she travels north to Dalriada. There she’ll live on the fringe of a mysterious forest, duty bound for seven years to assist anyone who asks for her help.

Oran, crown prince of Dalriada, has waited anxiously for the arrival of his future bride, Lady Flidais. He knows her only from a portrait and sweetly poetic correspondence that have convinced him Flidais is his destined true love. But Oran discovers letters can lie. For although his intended exactly resembles her portrait, her brutality upon arrival proves she is nothing like the sensitive woman of the letters.

With the strategic marriage imminent, Oran sees no way out of his dilemma. Word has spread that Blackthorn possesses a remarkable gift for solving knotty problems, so the prince asks her for help. To save Oran from his treacherous nuptials, Blackthorn and Grim will need all their resources: courage, ingenuity, leaps of deduction, and more than a little magic.

My Review

Dreamer's Pool caught my eye last year when it came out, but I didn't get around to reading it until I received the sequel, Tower of Thorns, from the publisher. Since I love listening to fantasy audiobooks, I opted for that format, and I think it caused me to love the book all the more.

Review: The Slush Pile Brigade by Samuel Marquis #mystery #giveaway @KHeniadis

Title: The Slush Pile Brigade (Nick Lassiter #1)
Author: Samuel Marquis
Publisher: Samuel Marquis Books, LLC
Release Date: September 15, 2015
Acquired Via: Publisher
On his thirtieth birthday, Nick Lassiter has lost his girlfriend and his job, is wanted by the police, and has discovered that his unpublished thriller, Blind Thrust, has been stolen and turned into a blockbuster movie called Subterranean Storm. Even worse, the movie is based on a soon-to-be best-selling novel by Australian thriller writer Cameron Beckett, one of the world’s biggest brand name authors. Rather than seek revenge through a financial settlement or public humiliation, Lassiter sets out for New York to obtain mea culpas from Beckett and his renowned literary agent, whom he is certain colluded with the Aussie in stealing his debut novel.

Unexpectedly aided by his CIA father, Director of the Russian Counterintelligence Desk, and his former girlfriend turned CIA-informant, Lassiter and his comrades take to calling themselves the Slush Pile Brigade. Outmatched and outgunned, they are foiled at virtually every turn but still they are determined to win. But will justice be attained? Can they prove that Beckett and his crooked literary agent have stolen Lassiter’s blockbuster novel and are undeservedly reaping the success? And more importantly, will they solve one of the most important counterintelligence cases in CIA history and actually live to tell about it?

My Review

I had never really thought about all the books that are sent to editors, and don’t get printed. But Samuel Marquis not only did, but wrote a fast-paced thriller that gives us a glimpse into the world of publishing.

Review & Interview: Auld Lang Secrets by April Patterson Clemens #Giveaway #BibPleaseReview @KHeniadis

Title: Auld Lang Secrets (A Saffron Ellis Mystery #1)
Author: April Patterson Clemens
Publisher: Clementime Press
Release Date: September 7, 2015
Acquired Via: Author
After Saffron Ellis returns to Ville de Bois, Wallace Hadley just knows his life is about to get more exciting. When a girl ends up dead at a New Year's party, Saffron and Wallace decide to solve the murder themselves, and Green Scarab Investigations is born!

In Auld Lang Secrets, book one of the Saffron Ellis mystery series, you'll be introduced to Saffron's eccentric family, peer into the souls of the residents of Ville de Bois, and discover Wallace's deep love for food. Come along for the cozy, clue-filled ride!

Author Interview

Kim (Bibliophilia, Please): Being a book lover, your second name stood out to me. Any relation to Richard North or James Patterson?

April Patterson Clemens: Not that I’m aware of. My great grandfather, Jessie Patterson, was an Irish cowboy, so not unless either are some relation to him.

Kim: This is your third novel (The Tale of Lord Zancrist and Bartholomew Trinket, being the first two), which all centralize around a mystery. Do you read a lot of mysteries?

Blog Tour (Guest Post): #ChasingSecrets by Gennifer Choldenko #giveaway #historicalfiction @randomhousekids

Title: Chasing Secrets
Author: Gennifer Choldenko
Publisher: Wendy Lambe Books (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: August 4, 2015
Newbery Honor–winning author Gennifer Choldenko deftly combines humor, tragedy, fascinating historical detail, and a medical mystery in this exuberant new novel.

San Francisco, 1900. The Gilded Age. A fantastic time to be alive for lots of people . . . but not thirteen-year-old Lizzie Kennedy, stuck at Miss Barstow’s snobby school for girls. Lizzie’s secret passion is science, an unsuitable subject for finishing-school girls. Lizzie lives to go on house calls with her physician father. On those visits to his patients, she discovers a hidden dark side of the city—a side that’s full of secrets, rats, and rumors of the plague.

The newspapers, her powerful uncle, and her beloved papa all deny that the plague has reached San Francisco. So why is the heart of the city under quarantine? Why are angry mobs trying to burn Chinatown to the ground? Why is Noah, the Chinese cook’s son, suddenly making Lizzie question everything she has known to be true? Ignoring the rules of race and class, Lizzie and Noah must put the pieces together in a heart-stopping race to save the people they love.

Guest Post

One of the best things about writing for kids is I get to read books I love to read and that fascinate my characters. I picked up a nonfiction book about rats partly for Jimmy Mattaman from the Al Capone books and partly because I’m partial to quirky facts. While reading Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants, I discovered there was a plague outbreak in San Francisco in 1900. I’ve lived in the San Francisco Bay area most of my adult life, and I’d never heard of a plague outbreak here, so I immediately became interested.

Top Ten Tuesday: Characters Who Are Fellow Book Nerds

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Kim's Top Ten Books That Have Characters Who Are Book Nerds
I’m going back to one of my favorite genres for this Top Ten list. I have been reading cozy mysteries for years. Cozies and people working in the book field go hand in hand, so here’s a list of ten mysteries with Fellow Book Nerds.

And if you’ve never checked out http://www.cozy-mystery.com, you really should.



1. Chocolate Covered Mystery Series by Kathy Aarons
Michelle Serrano is one of the owners of Chocolates and Chapters, which is a combination bookstore and chocolate shop.





2. Bibliophile Mystery Series by Kate Carlisle
This series features Brooklyn Wainwright, a rare book expert in San Francisco.

Blog Tour (Review): Name of the Devil by Andrew Mayne (ARC) #Thriller @AndrewMayne @HarperCollins @TLCBookTours

Title: Name of the Devil (Jessica Blackwood #2)
Author: Andrew Mayne
Publisher: Bourbon Street Books (HarperCollins)
Release Date: July 7, 2015
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
In this electrifying sequel to the crowd-pleasing thriller Angel Killer, magician-turned-FBI agent Jessica Blackwood must once again draw on her past to go up against a brutal murderer desperate for revenge at any price.

After playing a pivotal role in the capture of the Warlock, a seemingly supernatural serial killer—and saving the FBI’s reputation in the process—agent Jessica Blackwood can no longer ignore the world she left behind. Formerly a prodigy in a family dynasty of illusionists, her talent and experience endow her with a unique understanding of the power and potential of deception, as well as a knack for knowing when things are not always as they appear to be.

When a church congregation vanishes under mysterious circumstances in rural Appalachia, the bizarre trail of carnage indicates the Devil’s hand at work. But Satan can’t be the suspect, so FBI consultant Dr. Ailes and Jessica’s boss on the Warlock case, Agent Knoll, turn to the ace up their sleeve: Jessica. She’s convinced that an old cassette tape holds the key to the mystery, and unraveling the recorded events reveals a troubling act with far-reaching implications. The evil at work is human, and Jessica must follow the trail from West Virginia to Mexico, Miami, and even the hallowed halls of the Vatican.

Can she stop a cold-blooded killer obsessed by a mortal sin—or will she become the next target in a twisted, diabolical game of hunter and prey...?

My Review

You can read my review of Angel Killer (Jessica Blackwood #1) HERE.

If you read my review from yesterday, then you know that I absolutely adored Andrew Mayne's Angel Killer. I was so excited about reading Name of the Devil that I actually bought a Kindle copy (even though I had an ARC) so I could read it on my phone at work, in the bathroom, in line in the grocery store, etc. These books are that unable-to-put-downable. In this follow-up to the first book, there is a very different sort of mystery, but I enjoyed it just as much.

Audiobook Review: Angel Killer by Andrew Mayne

Title: Angel Killer (Jessica Blackwood #1)
Author: Andrew Mayne
Narrator: Jennifer O'Donnell and Fred Berman
Publisher: Bourbon Street Books (HarperCollins)
Release Date: September 23, 2014
Acquired Via: Personal Collection and ALA
In this self-published bestselling e-book by a real illusionist—the first thriller in a sensational series—now available in paperback, FBI agent Jessica Blackwood believes she has successfully left her complicated life as a gifted magician behind her ... until a killer with seemingly supernatural powers puts her talents to the ultimate test.

A mysterious hacker, who identifies himself only as “Warlock,” brings down the FBI’s website and posts a code in its place. It hides the GPS coordinates of a Michigan cemetery, where a dead girl is discovered rising from the ground ... as if she tried to crawl out of her own grave.

Born into a dynasty of illusionists, Jessica Blackwood is destined to become its next star—until she turns her back on her troubled family, and her legacy, to begin a new life in law enforcement. But FBI consultant Dr. Jeffrey Ailes’s discovery of an old copy of Magician Magazine will turn Jessica’s carefully constructed world upside down. Faced with a crime that appears beyond explanation, Ailes has nothing to lose—and everything to gain—by taking a chance on an agent raised in a world devoted to seemingly achieving the impossible.

The body in the cemetery is only the first in the Warlock’s series of dark miracles. Thrust into the media spotlight, with time ticking away until the next crime, can Jessica confront her past to embrace her gifts and stop a depraved killer?

If she can’t, she may become his next victim.

My Review

Before the review, I have a little story. For the library, we are doing something called "Super Reads" to promote our summer reading program. We (the staff) were asked to share something about a book that we were planning to read this summer. Since I have my review for Name of the Devil coming up on Thursday, I knew that I needed to read Andrew Mayne's first book in his Jessica Blackwood series, Angel Killer. I also wanted to have something as kitschy and nerdy as possible attached to my name for the library. Here's what I said:

"I plan on reading Angel Killer by Andrew Mayne because I’m curious to see whether there’s magic in the famous illusionist’s debut thriller."

Want to know a secret? There is magic. Oh. My. Bob. Is there magic.

Book Blast: The Memory Painter by Gwendolyn Womack #Giveaway

Title: The Memory Painter
Author: Gwendolyn Womack
Publisher: Picador (Macmillan)
Release Date: April 28, 2015
What if there was a drug that could help you remember past lives?

What if the lives you remembered could lead you to your one true love? What if you learned that, for thousands of years, a deadly enemy had conspired to keep the two of you apart?

Bryan Pierce is an internationally famous artist whose paintings have dazzled the world. But there’s a secret to his success: Every canvas is inspired by an unusually vivid dream. When Bryan awakes, he possesses extraordinary new skills…like the ability to speak obscure languages and an inexplicable genius for chess. All his life, he has wondered if his dreams are recollections, if he is re-experiencing other people’s lives.

Linz Jacobs is a brilliant neurogeneticist, absorbed in decoding the genes that help the brain make memories, until she is confronted with an exact rendering of a recurring nightmare at one of Bryan’s shows. She tracks down the elusive artist, and their meeting triggers Bryan’s most powerful dream yet: visions of a team of scientists who, on the verge of discovering a cure for Alzheimer’s, died in a lab explosion decades ago.

As Bryan becomes obsessed with the mysterious circumstances surrounding the scientists’ deaths, his dreams begin to reveal what happened at the lab, as well as a deeper mystery that may lead all the way to ancient Egypt. Together, Bryan and Linz start to discern a pattern. But a deadly enemy watches their every move, and he will stop at nothing to ensure that the past stays buried.

A taut thriller and a timeless love story spanning six continents and 10,000 years of history, The Memory Painter by Gwendolyn Womack is a riveting debut novel unlike any you’ve ever read.

Praise for The Memory Painter

“Gwendolyn Womack’s tale dazzles.” - US Weekly (Standout Spring Novels)

“The guy-meets-girl story as you’ve never heard it before…A mind-explosion of a journey ensues that involves time travel, mystery, love, and a whole lot of plot twists.” - Refinery29

“Suspenseful and ambitious…We predict The Memory Painter’s story of love and revenge will be one of 2015’s biggest literary hits.” - Paste Magazine (Best New Books of the Month)

Review: Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan (ARC)

Title: Daughter of Deep Silence
Author: Carrie Ryan
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: May 26, 2015
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
I’m the daughter of murdered parents.
I’m the friend of a dead girl.
I’m the lover of my enemy.
And I will have my revenge.

In the wake of the devastating destruction of the luxury yacht Persephone, just three souls remain to tell its story—and two of them are lying. Only Frances Mace knows the terrifying truth, and she’ll stop at nothing to avenge the murders of everyone she held dear. Even if it means taking down the boy she loves and possibly losing herself in the process.

Sharp and incisive, Daughter of Deep Silence by bestselling author Carrie Ryan is a deliciously smart revenge thriller that examines perceptions of identity, love, and the lengths to which one girl is willing to go when she thinks she has nothing to lose.

My Review

I'm glad that I thought Daughter of Deep Silence was a historical mystery, otherwise I probably would have never picked it up.

Daughter of Deep Silence was set in present day and was surprisingly good. Frances/"Libby" has been biding her time, waiting for the opportunity to get revenge upon those she holds responsible for the Persephone massacre - namely Senator Wells and his son, Grey. On the yacht, she watched her family get shot to death, and then she watched her friend, Libby, slowly die on the life raft while waiting to be rescued. The years she spent healing were also used to research the Persephone and every aspect of the Wells family in extreme detail.

Blog Tour (Review): Love is Red by Sophie Jaff #Thriller #Mystery #AdultLit @TLCBookTours

Title: Love Is Red (Nightsong Trilogy #1)
Author: Sophie Jaff
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: May 12, 2015
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
Redefining the thriller's tale of the hunter and the hunted, This electrifying, hypnotically beautiful debut spins dark suspense and literary fantasy into a mesmerizing story of survival.

Katherine Emerson was born to fulfill a dark prophecy centuries in the making, but she doesn't know it yet. However, one man does: a killer stalking the women of New York City, a monster the media dubs the "Sickle Man" because of the weapon he uses to turn his victims' bodies into canvases for his twisted art. People think he's the next Son of Sam, but we know how he thinks and how he feels...and discover that he is driven by darker, much more dangerous desires than we can bear to imagine. He takes more than just his victims' lives, and each death brings him closer to the one woman he must possess at any cost.

Amid the city's escalating hysteria, Katherine is trying to unknot her tangled heart. Two very different men have entered her previously uneventful world—handsome and personable David, alluring yet aloof Sael—and turned it upside down. She finds herself involved in a complicated triangle...but how well does she really know either of them?

Told from the alternating viewpoints of Katherine and the Sickle Man, Sophie Jaff's intoxicating narrative will pull you in and hold you close. As the body count rises, Katherine is haunted by harrowing visions that force her to question her sanity. All she wants is to find love. He just wants to find her.

Ablaze with fear, mystery, and possibility, Love Is Red is the first book in the Night Song trilogy. With this unforgettable novel—one that combines the literary and the supernatural, fantasy and horror, the past and the present—Katherine's moment of awakening is here. And her story is only just beginning.

Praise for Love is Red

“The writing in this debut thriller is evocative and, simply put, gorgeous. Jaff does an amazing job at conveying all five senses at every moment…. The lush language and intricately fleshed-out characters make this a series — and author — to watch.” — RT Book Reviews

“The excitement (and there’s plenty of it) comes from the serial killer’s creepy, second-person accounts of his moves and from watching the cat-and-mouse game with Katherine... Frightening.” — Booklist

“The kick of this ridiculously entertaining book is the haze of delirium it creates in the reader’s brain... Jaff’s woozy supernatural saga is effectively scary and great fun to read.” — New York Times Book Review

My Review

The great thing about reading adult literature, I get to learn things about myself, as well as visit the worlds within the novels that I read. What I learned about myself in Love is Red is that it is extremely difficult for me to read about anything to do with sexual violence. Making it even worse (or better, if it doesn't bother you), is that Jaff is a tremendously talented writer who is able to pull you into each scene - good, bad, and ugly.

Audiobook Review: Huntress Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff

Title: Huntress Moon (The Huntress/FBI Thrillers #1)
Author: Alexandra Sokoloff
Narrator: R.C. Bray
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (Amazon)
Release Date: January 27, 2015
Acquired Via: Author
FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke is closing in on a bust of a major criminal organization in San Francisco when he witnesses an undercover member of his team killed right in front of him on a busy street, an accident Roarke can’t believe is coincidental. His suspicions put him on the trail of a mysterious young woman who appears to have been present at each scene of a years-long string of “accidents” and murders, and who may well be that most rare of killers: a female serial.

Roarke’s hunt for her takes him across three states...while in a small coastal town, a young father and his five-year old son, both wounded from a recent divorce, encounter a lost and compelling young woman on the beach and strike up an unlikely friendship without realizing how deadly she may be.

As Roarke uncovers the shocking truth of her background, he realizes she is on a mission of her own, and must race to capture her before more blood is shed.

My Review

Huntress Moon and Blood Moon are part of today's Kindle Daily Deal on Amazon. Today only, each is only $1.99.

I think there's a general rule regarding reading/movies/media consumption tastes and professions: lawyers and cops can't watch legal shows and doctors don't watch medical dramas. So, one of the main reasons I like urban fantasy so much is that they combine police procedurals with paranormal for a mix that is so unbelievable, it works for me. However, when Alexandra Sokoloff approached the blog about reviewing Huntress Moon, I actually jumped at the chance.

Audiobook Review: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Title: Seraphina (Seraphina #1)
Author: Rachel Hartman
Narrator: Mandy Williams, Justine Eyre
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (Random House)
Release Date: July 10, 2012
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend the court as ambassadors and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

The newest member of the royal court, a uniquely gifted musician named Seraphina, holds a deep secret of her own. One that she guards with all of her being.

When a member of the royal family is brutally murdered, Seraphina is drawn into the investigation alongside the dangerously perceptive—and dashing—Prince Lucien. But as the two uncover a sinister plot to destroy the wavering peace of the kingdom, Seraphina’s struggle to protect her secret becomes increasingly difficult...while its discovery could mean her very life.

My Review

Seraphina.

Seraphina...

*sigh*

Even after being a blogger who writes about books and a librarian who talks about books almost daily, it is still difficult to put my feelings about this book into words. I read Seraphina for the first time three and a half years ago (before its release), and I had nothing to say to sell this book. I was slack-jawed.

A month later, I am still looking at the draft of this review. Yes, I have been toying with it for that long.

Review: To Kill a Warlock by H.P. Mallory

Title: To Kill a Warlock (Dulcie O'Neil #1)
Author: H.P. Mallory
Publisher: Self
Release Date: July 3, 2010
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
The murder of a dark arts warlock. A shape-shifting, ravenous creature on the loose. A devilishly handsome stranger sent to investigate. Sometimes working law enforcement for the Netherworld is a real bitch.

Dulcie O’Neil is a fairy. And not the type to frolic in gardens. She’s a Regulator—a law-enforcement agent who monitors the creatures of the Netherworld to keep them from wreaking havoc in the mortal world. When a warlock is murdered and Dulcie was the last person to see him alive, she must uncover the truth before she’s either deported back to the Netherworld, or she becomes the next victim.

Enter Knight Vander, a sinfully attractive investigator sent from the Netherworld to work the case with Dulcie. Between battling her attraction to her self-appointed partner, keeping a sadomasochistic demon in check, and fending off the advances of a sexy and powerful vampire, Dulcie’s got her hands full. As the body count increases, Dulcie finds herself battling dark magic, reconnoitering in S&M clubs and suffering the greatest of all betrayals.

My Review

I had come across H.P. Mallory’s other series, Jolie Wilkins, whose main character is a witch, about eight months ago and ordered it for the library where I work. I started reading the first book in the series, Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble, but I just couldn’t get into it. So when I came across Mallory’s Dulcie O’Neil series, I was a bit apprehensive, but I thought I would give it a chance. I am pleased that I did.

Blog Tour (Review): Medium Dead by Paula Paul (ARC) @readalibi @tlcbooktours

Title: Medium Dead: An Alexandra Gladstone Mystery (Dr. Alexandra Gladstone #4)
Author: Paula Paul
Publisher: Alibi (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: April 14, 2015
Acquired Via: Publisher
Sure to delight readers of Jacqueline Winspear, Emma Jameson, and Laura Childs, Medium Dead features Queen Victoria herself—and she’s rumored to have slain a local psychic in Newton-upon-Sea. Now the task of clearing her name and catching the real killer falls to Dr. Alexandra Gladstone.

Under Victoria’s reign, women are barred from calling themselves physicians, but that hasn’t stopped Alexandra Gladstone. As the first female doctor in Newton-upon-Sea, she spends her days tending sick villagers in the practice she inherited from her father, with her loyal and sometimes overprotective dog, Zack, by her side.

After the corpse of village spiritualist Alvina Elwold is discovered above ground at a church boneyard, wild rumors circulate through the charming seaside village, including one implicating a certain regal guest lodging nearby. Tales of the dead Alvina hobnobbing with spirits and hexing her enemies are even more outlandish—but as a woman of science and reason, Alexandra has no doubt that a murderer made of flesh and blood is on the loose.

Finding out the truth means sorting through a deluge of ghostly visitors, royal sightings, and shifty suspects. At least her attentive and handsome friend Nicholas Forsyth, Lord Dunsford, has come to her aid. Alexandra will need all the help she can get, because she’s stumbled upon dangerous secrets—while provoking a deadly adversary who wants to keep them buried.

My Review

Medium Dead by Paula Paul is just the kind of mystery. Through Alibi, I've found that though I don't really care for mystery overall as a genre, historical mystery is really satisfying. And since I love Victorian-set historical fiction, Medium Dead was a full win for me. I haven't read any other books in Paul's Alexandra Gladstone series, but I didn't ever really feel that I was missing too much background information. I realize that if I had read them, the characters in Medium Dead would have had a little more depth, but it works fine as a standalone.

Review: Dragons Are People, Too by Sarah Nicolas (ARC) @Sarah_Nicolas #yalit

Title: Dragons Are People, Too
Author: Sarah Nicolas
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Acquired Via: Publisher
Never judge a dragon by her human cover…

Sixteen-year-old Kitty Lung has everyone convinced she’s a normal teen—not a secret government operative, not the one charged with protecting the president’s son, and certainly not a were-dragon. The only one she trusts with the truth is her best friend—and secret crush—the über-hot Bulisani Mathe.

Then a junior operative breaks Rule Number One by changing into his dragon form in public—on Kitty’s watch—and suddenly, the world knows. About dragons. About the Draconic Intelligence Command (DIC) Kitty works for. About Kitty herself.

Now the government is hunting down and incarcerating dragons to stop a public panic, and a new shape-shifting enemy has kidnapped the president’s son. Kitty and Bulisani are the last free dragons, wanted by both their allies and their enemies. If they can’t rescue the president’s son and liberate their fellow dragons before getting caught themselves, dragons might never live free again.

My Review

I love stories with dragons and strong female leads, so a story about a teenage dragon who happens to be a former secretive operative now on the run from the U.S. government seemed like a perfect fit. However, I had a ton of issues, and I considered DNFing Dragons Are People, Too at about 50% in but I had less than an hour left (according to the Kindle), so I powered through.

Waiting on Wednesday (104): Last First Snow by Max Gladstone

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Title: Last First Snow (Craft Sequence #4)
Author: Max Gladstone
Publisher: Tor Books (Macmillan)
Release Date: July 14, 2015
Forty years after the God Wars, Dresediel Lex bears the scars of liberation—especially in the Skittersill, a poor district still bound by the fallen gods' decaying edicts. As long as the gods' wards last, they strangle development; when they fail, demons will be loosed upon the city. The King in Red hires Elayne Kevarian of the Craft firm Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao to fix the wards, but the Skittersill's people have their own ideas. A protest rises against Elayne's work, led by Temoc, a warrior-priest turned community organizer who wants to build a peaceful future for his city, his wife, and his young son.

As Elayne drags Temoc and the King in Red to the bargaining table, old wounds reopen, old gods stir in their graves, civil blood breaks to new mutiny, and profiteers circle in the desert sky. Elayne and Temoc must fight conspiracy, dark magic, and their own demons to save the peace—or failing that, to save as many people as they can.


Three Parts Dead was one of my favorite finds from last year, and although I wasn't equally as in love with the sequel, I'm still looking forward to continuing in the series. I still need to read the the third in the series, Full Fathom Five, but that will just get me more excited for this one!

What are you waiting on this week?

Blog Tour (Review & #Giveaway): The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver (ARC) @FierceReads @tleaver

The Secrets We Keep Tour Schedule



Title: The Secrets We Keep
Author: Trisha Leaver
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Macmillan)
Blog Tour Organizer: MMSAI Tours
Release Date: April 28, 2015 Acquired Via: Publisher
A girl takes over her twin sister's identity in this emotionally charged page-turner about the complicated bond between sisters.

Ella and Maddy Lawton are identical twins. Ella has spent her high school years living in popular Maddy's shadows, but she has never been envious of Maddy. In fact, she's chosen the quiet, safe confines of her sketchbook over the constant battle for attention that has defined Maddy's world.

When—after a heated argument—Maddy and Ella get into a tragic accident that leaves her sister dead, Ella wakes up in the hospital surrounded by loved ones who believe she is Maddy. Feeling responsible for Maddy's death and everyone's grief, Ella makes a split-second decision to pretend to be Maddy. Soon, Ella realizes that Maddy's life was full of secrets. Caught in a web of lies, Ella is faced with two options—confess her deception or live her sister's life.

Praise for The Secrets We Keep

"Trisha Leaver crafts a powerful and haunting novel that will keep you up long after you read the last page. Full of twists and turns and FEELS, this book questions how far a person will go for her family . . . even if it means losing herself." - Lynne Matson, author of NIL

Haunting and beautiful, The Secrets We Keep, is a gripping, evocative examination of siblings' complex relationships. It compels us to question what we know, or think we know, about our loved ones and--most of all--ourselves. - Karen Rock, award-winning YA author and co-writer of the bestselling Camp Boyfriend series

My Review

I have no idea why I decided to review The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver because I have a problem with switcheroos in a novel. However, I'm so glad that I did because there is nothing better than a good cry while reading a well-written book. Do not be disheartened by that, my lovelies, if you don't like "sad" books - there was also smiling through the tears.

Review: Dream a Little Dream by Kerstin Gier (ARC)

Title: Dream a Little Dream (The Silver Trilogy #1)
Author: Kerstin Gier & Anthea Bell (Trans.)
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. BYR (Macmillian)
Release Date: April 14, 2015
Acquired Via: Publisher
Mysterious doors with lizard-head knobs. Talking stone statues. A crazy girl with a hatchet. Yes, Liv’s dreams have been pretty weird lately. Especially the one where she’s in a graveyard at night, watching four boys conduct dark magic rituals.

The strangest part is that Liv recognizes the boys in her dream. They’re classmates from her new school in London, the school where she’s starting over because her mom has moved them to a new country (again). But what's really scaring Liv is that the dream boys seem to know things about her in real life, things they couldn't possibly know—unless they actually are in her dreams? Luckily, Liv never could resist a good mystery, and all four of those boys are pretty cute....

My Review

You can read Kayla's review HERE.

I read Gier's first trilogy The Ruby Red Trilogy and really enjoyed it. Considering I'm not generally a time-travel fiction fan, this was quite a feat. Gwyneth from Ruby Red was just so spunky and had such a silly, witty humor I had to smile while listening. Liv from Dream a Little Dream has the same spunk and humor so I just knew that I was going to enjoy it just as much. And if I had to wrap up the entire book into one word it would be "cute". In fact, in my two pages of notes on the book, I called it "cute" 6 times. I need a thesaurus apparently.

I do wonder if the slightly British humor is due to Gier's writing or Anthea Bell's translation, however. Bell translates both The Ruby Red Trilogy and Dream a Little Dream so either is possible. Either way, I want to be best friends with both of them. I did miss the narrator from The Ruby Red Trilogy, because her crisp British accent just added to my overall enjoyment of the story.

Regardless, I smiled throughout pretty much the entire book. I loved Liv's snark in her head like calling one of the gorgeous boys in school "Shaving Fun Ken." I did roll my eyes a few times about how much of an inquisitive idiot Liv was, but it advanced the cute story (See? I can't help myself). I giggled about how stubborn Liv was in refusing to believe in the supernatural. She's also a little more pragmatic than the normal YA heroine, because she and her sister both refuse to reduced to ninnies at the sight of a cute boy.

There is a little bit of a meandering plot that doesn't really go anywhere until the end. But I was so amused by Liv's humor and all the happenings in her family, I really didn't care. I was a little leery of the "Gossip Girl" type gossip blog at the beginning, but it worked its way into the story without feeling too much like a clone.

If you want a light and cute YA read with some British humor then pick Dream a Little Dream up. I'll definitely be picking up anything Gier writes and Bell translates in the future.

- 3.5/5 Stars -

Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Fishpond | Google Play | IndieBound


To satisfy FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that I received an advance copy of the book for reviewing purposes through the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way affected the outcome of my review.