The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Fantasy
Content: Strong Language (I think), Implied Sex 


How do you stop a murder that’s already happened?

At a gala party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed—again. She's been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden's only escape is to solve Evelyn Hardcastle's murder and conquer the shadows of an enemy he struggles to even comprehend—but nothing and no one is quite what they seem.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a mystery that crosses over a bit into the fantasy genre. The best way to describe it would be Quantum Leap meets Groundhog Day, set in an Agatha Christie like novel. I don't think I've ever read a mystery quite like this.

After what I thought was a bit of a slow start (it seemed to take a while to find out who Evelyn Hardcastle was and how she fit into the story) I found it impossible to put down, and it kept me guessing the whole time. Every time I thought I knew what was going on something else got thrown in there that I didn't see coming.

"If this isn't hell, the devil is surely taking notes."

 

The story is set in a place called Blackheath and it really isn't what it seems. I really can't say much more in my review without spoiling things, but I thought this was a well written book. I really couldn't tell that this was a debut author. The story is well constructed with lots of bits and pieces that all come together very nicely in the end, and that can be hard to do in a time loop kind of story. I definitely recommend this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.

August 2018 Book Club: The Land: Founding

The Land: Founding by Aleron Kong

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, LitRPG
Content: Strong Language (not sure about anything else)


Tricked into a world of banished gods, demons, goblins, sprites and magic, Richter must learn to meet the perils of The Land and begin to forge his own kingdom. Actions have consequences across The Land, with powerful creatures and factions now hell-bent on Richter's destruction.

Can Richter forge allegiances to survive this harsh and unforgiving world or will he fall to the dark denizens of this ancient and unforgiving realm?

I'm giving up on this one. I'm almost halfway through and it isn't so much the book as it is literary RPG just isn't for me. Although I find the book amusing there are only so many times I can read about someone going on a quest and leveling up. Maybe the quests get better, I don't know, but that alone just isn't enough for me. I need a deeper story with more in-depth characters. If there's another literary RPG out there that has those things I might be interested in trying again.

The Hallowed Ones and The Outside

Since I posted my review of the latest book by Laura Bickle I thought I would post my reviews of the YA duology that introduced me to her writing. This duology remains a favorite of mine in the supernatural horror genre.




The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Supernatural Horror
Content: Non-descriptive sex between two teens, Strong Language


Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers can get a taste of the real world. But the real world comes to her. Rumors of massive unrest on the “Outside” abound. Something murderous is out there. Amish elders make a rule: No one goes outside, and no outsiders come in. But when Katie finds a gravely injured young man, she can’t leave him to die...

When I added The Hallowed Ones to my to-read list I thought it was more along the lines of a serial killer type thriller. Maybe something more along the lines of Witness, but was surprised that this was not the case. The killers were vampires instead, and not the seductive pretty kind either. For some reason they sort of reminded me of the creatures in I am Legend a little. It being set in an Amish community made it even creepier to me. There is that sense of quiet unassuming peace, of naivety, and of being separated from the rest of the world and what's happening in it that makes the story all the more unsettling.

Although this is a YA book, it is not for the faint of heart. There are quite a few descriptions in it that would be very unsettling for some people. I personally enjoyed it very much, despite the creepy horrific parts. I also thought it was interesting to read about the conflicts within the main character Katie, regarding her desires for certain things and her religious beliefs. I can't say I was always pleased with her choices, but they made sense being that she was coming from a very sheltered background. I am looking forward to reading the next book.

The Outside by Laura Bickle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Supernatural Horror
Content: Non-descriptive sex between two teens, Strong Language


One girl. One road. One chance to save what remains…

After a plague of vampires is unleashed in the world, Katie is kicked out of her Amish community for her refusal to adhere to the new rules of survival. Now in exile, she enters an outside world of unspeakable violence with only her two “English” friends and a horse by her side. Together they seek answers and other survivors—but each sunset brings the threat of vampire attack, and each sunrise the threat of starvation.

The Outside was a very good conclusion to the story that began in The Hallowed Ones. I found the mix of science and religion interesting and this book was just as creepy as The Hallowed Ones. There was not quite as much description when it came to the gore in this book, so it would be a little easier for the squeamish to read. This concludes pretty well, but there is room for another book if the author ever wants to add to the story.

If you're looking for a good creepy YA supernatural horror story, try this duology. I would love to read more YA from this author.

Witch Creek by Laura Bickle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Supernatural Horror, Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language


As the daughter of an alchemist, Petra Dee has battled supernatural horrors and experienced astonishing wonders. But there’s no magic on earth that can defeat her recent cancer diagnosis, or help find her missing husband, Gabriel. Still, she would bet all her remaining days that the answer to his disappearance lies in the dark subterranean world beneath the Rutherford Ranch on the outskirts of Temperance, Wyoming.

This is the fourth book in the Wildlands series (previously the Dark Alchemy trilogy). With the exception of book two I've felt like this series has gotten better and better. The story was very engrossing and I had a hard time putting this book down. However, this book was not perfect. There were some things that seemed a little contrived and too convenient, but I think the fact that I'm enjoying this series so much made those things more tolerable.

All the characters that I liked from previous books are back; Petra, Maria, Gabe, Nine, and Sig. Petra is fighting cancer in this book and her friend Maria is acting the mother hen. I have to admit that annoyed me a little. I could understand Petra's feelings about the Chemo and the hospital and Maria's feelings about wanting her friend to take better care of herself, but they both still annoyed me a little bit.

Gabe is dealing with his own circumstances perpetuated by Owen and Petra sets out to find him. Besides the cancer, there are several obstacles along the way, one being the mermaid-like creature that has been living in the underground lake beneath the Rutherford ranch. Then there is the bar owner Lev, who gets more page time in this installment and his character gets expanded upon. I did enjoy finding out more about him, but I almost thought there was a little too much going on. In the end it ended up all being tied together. I won't say how so as not to spoil anything.

As I said before, it felt a little contrived and too convenient, but it was still very enjoyable. I was left with a few big questions at the end of the book, and a theory that I kind of hope is wrong. I'll definitely be reading the next book in the series to find out the answers.

The Stars Now Unclaimed by Drew   Williams

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Space Opera
Content: Strong Language

 
Jane Kamali is an agent for the Justified. Her mission: to recruit children with miraculous gifts in the hope that they might prevent the Pulse from once again sending countless worlds back to the dark ages.

Hot on her trail is the Pax--a collection of fascist zealots who believe they are the rightful rulers of the galaxy and who remain untouched by the Pulse.

This book is full of action and adventure. I feel like it depended far too much on action scenes, sort of like those big blockbuster movies that are all special effects and not much plot. And while it was a fun read at times, there was so much action that I wanted the book to slow down for a little while so I could get to know the characters. That does eventually happen and we get back info on most of them, but it wasn't quite enough for me. I wanted to dig deeper into who they are. I wanted them to interact in more ways than just the battle scenes and confrontations. This is definitely an action based book and I tend to like more character driven stories, so at this point I'm not sure if I will continue on with the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with a free copy of this book.

No Place Like Home by Rebecca Muddiman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Psychological Thiller
Content: Strong Language (includng the C word a couple of times), A sex scene without much detail

 
What would you do if you came home to find someone in your house?

This is the predicament Polly Cooke faces when she returns to her new home. The first weeks in the house had been idyllic, but soon Jacob, a local man, is watching her.

What does he want and why is he so obsessed with Polly?

There isn't a lot I can say about this book without spoiling it so I'll keep my review brief. I found this easy to read and hard to put down. I know some reviewers have said they had a hard time reading this because the jumping back and forth in the timeline was confusing to them, but I didn't find it confusing at all. Probably if the author had kept adding where we were in the timeline at the beginning of each chapter it would have eliminated the confusion, but I found it quite easy to figure out.

The story has some twists in it that are supposed to be surprising, but I guessed what was going on pretty much from the beginning. When this happens there is always that feeling of satisfaction that I was able to figure out what was going on, but also the feeling of disappointment that I wasn't surprised. That isn't to say that the book didn't offer any surprises at all though. There were things done in this book that still surprised me, mostly I was surprised at how horrible a certain someone ended up being and how they were able to do the things they did to someone else.

Overall this was a good read and I would recommend it to fans of psychological suspense thrillers.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloodhound Books for providing me with a copy of this book.

Magic Binds by Ilona Andrews

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language, A sex scene


Mercenary Kate Daniels knows all too well that magic in post-Shift Atlanta is a dangerous business. But nothing she’s faced could have prepared her for this…

In this ninth book in the Kate Daniels series things start to come to a head with Kate and her father Roland. After reading nine books in this series I can say that I'm so ready for that battle to happen, but we still have one more book to go. Despite how much I've loved reading this series, I did feel like this should have been the last book. It's gotten a little too drawn out for me, partly because I felt like book 8 had some filler in it that could have been left out.

Overall, I thought this book was better than the last one. Most of what happens in the book is connected to the main plot, and it was downright fun to read. There was the familiar humor I've come to love, that always balances out the dark plot in this series. On the negative side, there was a betrayal that I didn't see coming and that I felt was pulled out of thin air, and Kate was a little annoying with her inner monologue at times, but other than that this was a solid addition to the series.

Like Never and Always by Ann Aguirre

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Content: Strong Language, Underage Drinking, Some sexual content and talk of sex among teens


On a hot summer night, a screech of brakes and shattering glass changes two lives forever.

Liv wakes in the hospital, confused when they call her Morgan. She assumes it’s a case of mistaken identity, yet when the bandages come off, it’s not her face in the mirror anymore. It’s her best friend Morgan’s.

Like Never and Always had me at the first sentence. It's a mild thriller/mystery that involves a bit of a supernatural twist and some romance. The best thing about this book to me isn't really the mystery aspect of it, but how Liv learns to live her life as Morgan and all the repercussions that involves, including dealing with feelings for two brothers, one that Liv was dating at the time of her 'death' and the other one that Morgan was dating. This would be one of those times a love triangle adds to the story in a good way.

The lack of thrills in this book may disappoint some people since it is billed as a thriller. Normally I would agree with that, especially since it seems like most thrillers aren't nearly as thrilling as they promise to be, but this time around I was able to appreciate other aspects of the book and that was ok. I do feel like there was a sub plot thrown in that should have either been left out or expanded upon because it got lost in the story. I don't want to spoil what it is but it's something we learn about Morgan's father near the end of the book. It felt kind of random and tacked onto the story to me. There also seemed to be some political bias that seeped into the story and I didn't really care for that. I don't get political in my reviews because that's not what they are about, and I also prefer my reading material to not be about that either.

Overall I liked this a lot. Some things about it reminded me of Parallel by Lauren Miller, but this is a lot better.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with an advance copy of this book.

Brief Cases by Jim Butcher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language, an almost sex scene

 
Brief Cases is the second short story collection set in the Dresden Files world. All but one of these stories were previously published in other anthologies. Since I don't typically buy anthologies that multiple writers contribute to, I had not read any of them, so this was a real treat for me. It sort of helped to tide me over until the next Dresden Files book is released. Let's hope we don't have to wait too much longer for Peace Talks though.

Here are my ratings for the 12 stories in this book:

A Fistful of Warlocks: 3 stars. I really enjoyed this story. It was nice to get a look at a part of Anastasia's past, as she is a character I've always liked. The best thing about this story was the weird, weird west setting. Wizards -well the supernatural in general- and the old west just have this off beat vibe to it that I find appealing. There is also a surprise appearance by a famous someone from history. Overall this was a pretty good story, but I did feel like it got less interesting towards the end.

B is For Bigfoot: 3.5 stars. In the beginning I wasn't particularly interested in reading about Bigfoot, as he's never really appealed to me that much, but this story surprised me and I ended up liking it a lot. I sure wish all kids that were bullied had Harry Dresden in their corner.

AAAA Wizardry: 4 stars. In this story Harry is relating a story, as a teaching tool, to a group of student wizards. He's trying to get them to problem solve and think outside of the box. I liked this one a whole lot, mainly because I thought it there was a clever twist thrown in that I didn't see coming.

I Was a Teenage Bigfoot: 3.5 stars. This was another pleasant read about Bigfoot's son. There is yet another supernatural threat, he does seem to attract that kind of attention. This was very amusing at times, especially the whole Fabio bit, but the perpetrator was glaringly obvious, so that knocked a half star off my rating.

Curses: 3 stars. This story involved the supposed curse on the Chicago Cubs. It was a fun story and I loved having Bob in the story, if only briefly.

Even Hand: 4 stars. This one is from Gentleman Johnnie Marcone's POV. It was interesting getting to read something from his POV. This story has Justine coming to him for help and I completely enjoyed it.

Bigfoot on Campus: 3.5 stars. The third and final story about Bigfoot's son. He's in college now and dating trouble. I found this one to be pretty entertaining and I liked the resolution to the father/son relationship and the romantic complications. And of course Bigfoot's son, the supernatural magnet would be dating her, haha.

Bombshells: 4 stars. I always enjoy reading about Molly, and when she teams up with Justine and Andie for a case in this story I was thoroughly entertained. And the Charlie's Angels thing had me cracking up!

Coldcase: 3.5 stars. This was probably the darkest story in the book. It's about Molly and her first job as the Winter Maiden. There are a couple of hard lessons Molly learns here and I wasn't expecting that ending. Yikes! The lovecraftian feel to the story was interesting and I also liked the banter between Molly and Ramirez, I always thought they had good chemistry together, and it was nice that she was interested in someone besides you know who.

Jury Duty: 3 stars. In this story Harry finds himself on Jury Duty. Of course this case can't be a simple one. Harry has a nose for supernatural things, so he sets out to find out what really happened and exonerate the accused who looks dead guilty to everyone else.

Day One: 4 stars. I love Butters and seeing how he goes about becoming a knight and how it adapts to his nerdiness was very amusing. I laughed so hard at the game references in this story. And the sword turning into a light saber was pretty good too.

Zoo Day: 4 stars. This story is the one story that hasn't been published before. I thought it was a great look into Harry's relationship with Maggie. Part of this had me tearing up. People's struggles with fitting in and being accepted always make me cry, and this time around it's combined with Harry and Maggie getting to know each other, along with Mouse and his bond with them as well.