Wild Country by Anne Bishop

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language, A non-descript sex scene, Off page torture and rape 



There are ghost towns in the world—places where the humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the shape-shifting Others.

One of those places is Bennett, a town at the northern end of the Elder Hills—a town surrounded by the wild country. Now efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live and work together.

But as they reopen the stores and the professional offices and start to make lives for themselves, the town of Bennett attracts the attention of other humans looking for profit.

I enjoyed this book, but not quite as much as the previous ones set in this world. As this story focuses on the resettlement of the town Bennett there were a lot of different character points of view. That in itself wasn't bad, but it did take the story a while to find it's footing. This book was definitely an ensemble cast without a true main character and I have mixed feelings about that. In general I felt like I got to know the characters I wanted to get to know the most, but there were others that felt more like window dressing that could have been shone more. Some of them just seemed to have been added to create a little more drama or tension and little else, like Maddie and her family. Even though they were likable I just didn't see the need. I felt like the character of Abigail could have been left out of the story altogether as well. I just didn't really feel like she added all that much to it.

Yet again we have a book where the humans think they can overcome the terra indigene, and of course are sadly mistaken. Tolya summed it up pretty well in this book...

"But you are cattle in a pen, Mr. Blackstone, "Tolya said.

The wild west feel that permeated the book was kind of fun, and I liked the build up to the "showdown" but I was a little disappointed at how long it took the terra indigene to act in this book, and a couple of the human outlaw deaths were not as gruesome as I had hoped they would be (yes I know, call me morbid), but overall this was a pretty good read. I'm not sure what direction the author will go in other books in this series, but I'm still interested.

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.

Terminal by J.L. Bryan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Ghost Story, Paranormal
Content: Clean


 
Ellie Jordan and her apprentice Stacey investigate a house in an elaborate planned community that was only half-built before it went bankrupt, leaving an instant ghost town with only a few residents. Unfortunately for Ellie, this is no simple haunting, but just one symptom of the cursed land on which the suburban community was built.

After liking the last book so much and thinking it was an improvement over the first two, I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately this one was a disappointment. The story fell flat and was just plain boring at times. The idea of the ghost train with all the ghost passengers was kind of cool, but there was no real tension, and none of the ghosts were creepy to me. The whole point of reading a ghost story is for it to scare you at least a little bit. So yeah, this one fell flat.

Then there was the lack of any chemistry in the relationship between Ellie and Michael that was beginning to build in the last book. I was really happy that Ellie was dating someone and had a personal life other than just solving cases. There was huge potential there, but this time around she is ignoring Michael's calls because apparently she is scared of getting into a relationship. It felt like needless drama to me. Eventually she ends up talking to Michael after Stacey forces her to, and makes a date with him. A really weird cheesy date in which they double with Stacey and Jacob. There was some of the fun banter between the two of them that I liked in the last book, but that was about it. Then he ends up joining her on her ghost hunt. At times it felt like it did when reading Nancy Drew when Ned tagged along on one of her cases. Needless to say, I was disappointed that there wasn't more spark between them.

After being this disappointed I'm having to reevaluate this series. Since it is so hit or miss I'm not sure if I want to continue.

A Gathering of Secrets by Linda Castillo

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Content: Strong language, A gruesome death 


 
When a historic barn burns to the ground in the middle of the night, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called in to investigate. At first, it looks like an accident, but when the body of eighteen-year-old Daniel Gingerich is found inside—burned alive—Kate suspects murder. Who would want a well-liked, hardworking young Amish man dead?

I'm now caught up on this series, with the exception of book 11 which I've got an advanced copy of. For the most part I'm still enjoying this series, but I still have the same complaints as usual. It would be nice if the books in this series would not all follow the same formula. Can we have one where Kate doesn't get ambushed alone somewhere? It happened twice in this book, and for me it has gotten old. One part seemed rather random and it didn't really make sense to me that this person would have lured Kate out somewhere and started shooting at her. And the way Kate parks in front of the truck with its headlights blinding her so she can't see clearly into it wasn't a very smart thing to do. Circling around and parking behind the truck would have been much smarter. It just seems like as a police chief it would have occurred to her to do that. Yet again in this book Kate has to tell us how good she is at her job. I think the author really wants us to believe that, but she isn't showing it. Those things aside I thought the mystery was pretty good. It did keep me guessing for quite a while.

This book had another gruesome death in it. I found it hard to read about someone burning alive. I don't really recommend this series if you are squeamish about things like that. What I continue to like the most about this series is the relationship between Kate and Tomasetti, and the little details about their life together at home. There isn't a lot of that, but it adds a nice touch to the series. I also enjoy continuing to learn more about the Amish community. This time around we have characters that are part of the Beachy Amish sect, that actually drive cars and use more modern day conveniences.

Star Nomad by Lindsay Buroker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Space Opera
Content: Strong language, An attempted rape



When system-wide civil war broke out, fighter pilot Captain Alisa Marchenko left her family and accepted a commission in the Alliance Army to battle the empire’s tyranny. Four years later, the empire has been toppled, but chaos and anarchy now rule the system. Alisa, after being injured in the final battle, is stranded on a dustball of a planet billions of miles from home. She learns that her husband died during the bombings, leaving their daughter on Perun, a planet that has become the last imperial stronghold.

Alisa must find a way to Perun, even if she has to steal a dilapidated ship from a junkyard overrun by murdering savages to do it.

This was great fun! It reminded me a lot of Firefly, and there was definitely a nod to it which made me smile. What I liked most about this book were the characters. I really liked all of them, but especially Leonidas, Alisa, and Mica. The rapport between Alisa and Mica was great right from the beginning. Mica and her pessimism was amusing.

“Pessimism is an admirable quality in an engineer. Pessimistic people check their work three times, because they’re sure something won’t be right. Optimistic people check once, trust in Solis-de to keep the ship safe, then blow everyone up.” “I think you’re mistaking the word optimistic for inept.”

Beck with his portable grill and BBQ was also amusing, as well as Yumi and her chickens. I came to care about every one of the characters, except for maybe Alejandro. I'm not sure about him or his motives yet. And there is a certain item that he has in his possession that had me thinking of Gollum in Lord of the Rings. I could see him petting it and saying "My precious!"

This book wasn't all humor. It had its tense moments. The beginning especially had me on the edge of my seat. There was also another part with space pirates that had me really worried about a couple of the characters. I thought it was the perfect balance of tense storytelling and humor.

Finding Spring by Bridget E. Baker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance
Content: Clean



Life's never perfect, but sometimes love can be.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I think it's my favorite so far in the series. I loved both Trudy and Paul. I found them both to be relatable characters. Trudy and her son, Troy stole my heart. I liked that Trudy wanted to do certain things for herself before she got into a relationship, and I loved that Paul gave her the space to do that.

This series is pure escapism with hot rich guys, beautiful women, and everything always gets tied up in a nice neat little bow of happily ever after. At times I couldn't help think of how easy things seemed for Trudy being in the situation she was in as a single mother who went back to school, and then had to find a job. It seemed far too easy for her to find the perfect job, and then get the subsequent promotions. But as I said, this is pure escapism and I'm able to mostly ignore the things that I find unbelievable. I also appreciate that these are clean romance books that focus on romance instead of sex, and they remind me a lot of Hallmark movies, which are also pure escapism. If you enjoy escaping into these sorts of books then you will probably like it.

Thanks to the author for giving me an advanced copy of this book.

Wolfhunter River by Rachel Caine

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Content: Strong language, Mildly descriptive sex scene



Gwen Proctor escaped her serial-killer husband and saved her family. What she can’t seem to outrun is his notoriety. Or the sick internet vigilantes still seeking to avenge his crimes. For Gwen, hiding isn’t an option. Not when her only mission is to create a normal life for her kids.

But now, a threatened woman has reached out. Marlene Crockett, from the remote town of Wolfhunter, is panicked for herself and her daughter. When Gwen arrives in the small, isolated rural community, Marlene is already dead—her own daughter blamed for the murder. Except that’s not the person Marlene feared at all. And Gwen isn’t leaving until she finds out who that was.

This is the third book in the Stillhouse lake series. Ideally I would have preferred Stillhouse Lake had been a standalone. It certainly could have been if a little more had been added to it. I knew when I read it though, that there would be another book and I thought this was going to be a duology. Then when I heard about this book I thought it was going to be a trilogy. Now it seems this has turned into a series with no end in sight. Unfortunately I do not see the need for it at all.

Although I really thought this third book was not needed as everything was wrapped up in the two previous ones, I was willing to give it a try, especially since I thought it was the last book in a trilogy. There ended up being little in relation to the first two books, and a side story became the main focus. I thought there was way too much going on with Miranda and the group of people making the documentary, the kidnapped little girl, and the whole town full of crazies. It also felt really unbelievable. I got tired of some of the repetition and rehashing from the two previous books as well. It just all started to get on my nerves after a while.

It's obvious when reading this that the author was trying to transition this book into the start of a series with Gwen becoming an investigator. I really don't find it plausible that this woman, with all the harrowing stuff she has been through would want to continue to put herself and her children through this sort of thing by taking on other people's horrific problems. Unfortunately this series has overstayed its welcome.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for providing a copy of this book.

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fairy Tale
Content: Strong Language



Fall in love, break the curse. Break the curse, save the kingdom.

This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and I'm pretty much always willing to read one of those, but I was a little apprehensive when I found out it had a modern day twist to it. I'm not usually too crazy about the modern day person being brought to an alternate medieval world type thing. It's been done to death, but this book ended up being really good.

I loved all the characters so much. I loved the feisty main character Harper, and it was refreshing to have a main character with a disability. Both Grey and Rhen are also great characters, especially Grey. I also loved that this book differentiated between love and lust. So many books seem to confuse the two. This story took its time with the love story. Nothing happens instantly, but there is a slow build up starting with attraction that I loved.

I also liked that the story wasn't predictable even though it was a retelling. Not everything falls neatly into place by the end and the ending left me with some questions. It's a good thing there will be a second book!

Down a Dark Road by Linda Castillo

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Content: Strong Language


 
Eight years ago Joseph King was convicted of murdering his wife and sentenced to life in prison. He was a "fallen" Amish man and, according to local law enforcement, a known drug user with a violent temper. Now King has escaped, and he’s headed for Painters Mill.

I liked this book a lot even though I figured things out very early on. It was still very suspenseful and it kept me reading. Just like the last book Tomasetti plays a much smaller role in this one, but it didn't bother me. I very much enjoyed the glimpses into Kate's childhood. However, as a police chief Kate still does not come off as competent as I think she should be in certain situations, but this is probably going to be the case throughout the whole series. I also think that Kate should have been able to figure out what was going on way before she did. Her disbelief at who was involved just didn't ring true, especially considering what happened in the last book and who was involved in that. I'm still enjoying this series though, even with its flaws.

Mistress of the Wind by Michelle Diener

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantasy 
Content: A somewhat descriptive sex scene


Bjorn needs to find a very special woman . . .

The fate of his people, and his own life, depends on it. But when he does find her, she is nothing like he imagined, and may just harbor more secrets than he does himself.

Astrid has never taken well to commands. No matter who issues them . . .

She's clashed her whole life with her father, and now her lover, the mysterious man who comes to her bedroom in darkness and disappears to guard his mountain by day as a bear, is finding it out the hard way. And when he's taken by his enemies, no one is prepared for Astrid's response.

Mistress of the Wind was the last retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon that was on my list to read. It's the fourth one I've read and also my least favorite. It wasn't all bad -- there were things I liked a lot about it, like the way the four winds and the wind hags are incorporated into the story-- but it just wasn't as good as the previous retellings I've read. I think that if I had not already read the other three versions I might have liked this one better, but this one just lacked some of the character development and magical feel that the others had.

A good part of the story felt rushed. This was the part where Bjorn and Astrid are getting to know each other so I would have liked it better if the author had taken more time with this part of the book. It resulted in the romance feeling a bit shallow and it moved way too quickly. Astrid is saying no one minute, and then suddenly decides she all for it the next. I didn't care for the way that played out. I would have preferred a much slower burn. I do need to mention that unlike the other versions I've read, this version of the story is not YA, and Bjorn does not just climb into bed with Astrid and go to sleep every night. However, with the exception of one scene most of that is left to the imagination. After the rushed feel of the romance the part of the book, the part after Bjorn has been taken by the trolls seemed to drag on too long. I liked some things about this part of the book, but I think the character and relationship development should have been emphasized more and this part pared down a bit.

Phoenix Falling: A Wildlands Novel by Laura Bickle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language


 
In the Yellowstone backcountry, a merciless source of evil carries a torch for the past…

Petra Dee and her immortal husband, Gabe, have been trying to gain a toehold in what passes for ordinary life in Temperance, Wyoming—

a wickedly enchanted land founded generations ago by the alchemist, Lascaris. Petra may be adept when it comes to the uncanny, but as a reasoned geologist, Petra still can’t fathom the wildfires suddenly engulfing Yellowstone National Park, or why Gabe claims to have seen the sky explode in flames. The answers could lie in the past.

This is the last book in the Wildlands series and I felt for the most part that it wrapped up the series really well. There was just enough drama without the main villain overstaying his welcome, which I appreciated. Overall I liked this series a lot. There were some lows --I still don't care for the second book all that much -- but the characters kept me coming back for each book. I've categorized this as urban fantasy, but it's a mix of genres really. There are supernatural elements mixed with a bit of horror and alchemy. The horror is sort of "monster of the week" as different creatures are mixed into the plot, but there is also the main story line that continues throughout the series that has a more urban fantasy type feel, even though it's not super urban -- the setting is a small town in Wyoming near Yellowstone.

I've really come to enjoy reading this series every year, so now that I've finished reading the last book in the series I will miss it. I grew to really like Gabe, Petra, Maria, Nine, and Sig. After reading the previous book I also grew very interested in the character Lev. I thought there would be more time to get to know him and uncover all his secrets, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Lev's story would be the only thing that wasn't really wrapped up as much as I would have liked. I think the author could write a whole series just about Lev and I would read it, but whatever she writes next, I'm looking forward to it.

Raven's Shadow by Patricia Briggs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong Language


 
Seraph is a Raven mage and among the last of the Travelers. Unwelcome among those who fear magic, the wizard clans have been decimated by the very people they've sworn to protect. But Seraph is spared a similar fate by the ex-soldier Tier - and together they build a life where she is no longer burdened by her people's responsibility.

But now Tier is missing - or dead - and Seraph's reprieve from her duty is over.

Several years ago I read the first book in Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series and I was hooked. I immediately looked up other books by the author. I went on to read each of the Mercy Thompson books, the Alpha and Omega series, and the Hurog duology, but somehow this one got buried deep under my to-read pile. I always intended to read it, but there was always something else that I needed to read first. I am happy to say that I finally moved this book to the top of the stack and I'm so glad I did!

This is one of the few high fantasy stories that Briggs wrote and I loved it. I thought it was really refreshing that it features a whole family who works together and is devoted to each other. I did have some reservations at first. I wasn't sure about it when there was a twenty year time gap in the story. I was afraid we had missed out on a lot of character development and story, but it ended up working out just fine, and those details were woven into the story. I loved every one of the characters in this book and I'm looking forward to reading the second book soon.

Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Suspense. Thriller
Content: Strong Language, Some brutal killings


 
Gwen Proctor won the battle to save her kids from her ex-husband, serial killer Melvin Royal, and his league of psychotic accomplices. But the war isn’t over. Not since Melvin broke out of prison. Not since she received a chilling text…

You’re not safe anywhere now.

I read Stillhouse Lake last year and I really liked it. It was creepy and suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat. One thing I liked so much about it was the lake house setting. This time around Gwen has had to leave the lake house and is both hiding from and hunting her ex-husband who has escaped from prison.

Every time Gwen closed her eyes, she saw him in her nightmares. Now her eyes are open, and he’s not going away.

This story is told from multiple points of view. There is Gwen of course, and Sam, Lanny, and Connor. One thing I liked less about this book is the fact that they are split up as a family. The story hops around from place to place as Gwen and Sam try to track down the whereabouts of Melvin. They meet some unsavory characters on the way and uncover much more than they thought they would. Of course I'm not going to spoil it here, but at times I felt like it was highly implausible, but the more I thought about it the more plausible it became, because unfortunately we really do live in a world with many depraved and evil people in it. Meanwhile, the kids are staying with friends who are well armed and prepared to protect them. That doesn't stop the kids from getting themselves in a lot of trouble though.

There were times I felt completely sorry for Gwen and completely upset with every one of the other people in her life that were supposed to be her friends, but under the circumstances their reactions were probably believable, at least to an extent. I'm not sure I would have reacted any differently. Also, there were so many times that I wanted to yell at the characters to not do what they were about to do. Talk about a nail biter!

I like this book a little less than the previous one but overall I thought it was a good conclusion to the series. For some reason there is a third book. I'm not really sure it was necessary but I'll be reading it anyway since I've got an advance copy from Netgalley.