The Dream Gatherer by Kristen Britain

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean



This book consists of three stories related to the world that Green Rider is set in. One thing I really liked about this book is the author tells how the Green Rider series began and came to be published. The book also includes some of her own drawings that relate to each story. I enjoyed these stories quite a bit, especially the main one that the book is titled after. I'll put my reviews for each individual story below.

Wishwind

Finding peace during the Long War. Raised in an orphan camp, Green Rider Danalong has known only war and strife, until a shipwreck leaves him stranded on a mysterious island.

3 stars. This is a short story and I liked it a lot. I found it a little hard to get into a first, but by the middle of the story I was really enjoying it and I loved the conclusion and the lesson taught.

Linked, on the Lake of Souls

A story of friendship within a story of friendship. In the sixth volume of the Green Rider series, Firebrand, a wounded Karigan G'ladheon asks her friend Estral to tell her a story to take her mind off her pain. This is that story.

3.5 stars. Another short story, I liked the strong bond of friendship and how the characters used their individual strengths to work together.

The Dream Gatherer

Dreams can be dangerous. A visit with the eccentric Berry sisters turns dangerous when an arcane device is discovered in their house that can summon dreamers through their dreams, and one of them is a nightmare.

4 stars. I adore the Berry sisters and was really happy that this novella was about them. We start out with a little back story of the ship that's stuck in the house and one pirate that they find who has been secretly still living there. The gorgeous cover art is of the house from this story and I think the artist did a great job depicting it. This story features Estral, Karigan's best friend and I enjoyed reading about her as well. This was quite the fun read and I really don't think I could ever get enough of the Berry sisters. Here's hoping Kristen Britain writes more about them one day.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with and ARC of this book.

Suppressed by Bridget E. Baker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic
Content: Clean



A blood-borne virus requires a blood-born cure, but can Ruby survive saving everyone else?

I was really excited to read this second book in the Sins of Our Ancestors trilogy. Ruby barely escapes from Galveston and joins up with the Marked to try to develop a cure. Unfortunately her escape comes at a high cost. The loss of someone important and the loss of her father's last journal, which holds the key to developing the cure. I was delighted to see that the Marked have a major base in my home city of Baton Rouge in this book. I knew exactly where they were and it was easy to picture the setting changed to a post-apocalyptic one.

Wesley plays a much bigger role this time around and I like him quite a lot, and there ended up being a few parts involving Wesley that I thought were amusing. I can't say that I like him as much as Sam, but I like him in a different way, and it was fun to read and see the differences in the two characters and the strengths they each bring individually to the story, and how they each have helped Ruby through this.

That being said, the love triangle is a negative for me in this book. It didn't bother me in the last book, but unfortunately this time around it became a bit of an annoyance. Ruby ends up a bit conflicted about her feelings here. I like ruby but this did cause me to have some conflicting feelings about her, but at the same time she is a teenage girl who never had a romantic relationship in her life before, so I can see that perspective of it as well. On a positive note - I was extremely happy when she realized she shouldn't be blaming herself for so many things that weren't her fault, but it did take a long while for her to get there.

The book ends with Ruby left in a situation that she is not happy about, but it's not a cliffhanger at all. Although I didn't like this one quite as much as the first book, I thought it was still very good. I'm looking forward to reading the final book in the trilogy, and I'll definitely be looking for more from this author in the future.

Thanks to the author for proving me with an ARC in exchange for a review.

An Hour Unspent by Roseanna M. White

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Christian
Genre: Historical Romance, Mystery
Content: Clean



Once London’s top thief, Barclay Pearce has turned his back on his life of crime and now uses his skills for a nation at war. But not until he rescues a clockmaker’s daughter from a mugging does he begin to wonder what his future might hold.

This third and final book in the Shadows Over England companion series was just as entertaining as the previous two books. Roseanna M. White has become one of my favorite Christian romance authors. I love the historical settings of her books and the added mystery involved in each of them. This series involved spies during World War I. She makes sure to include little bits of history in each of her books, including real people from history who make appearances.

My one problem with this book, just like most historical romance, is that there is a silly thing that breaks the couple up for a while. It's always either a lie or a misunderstanding. This time around it was a lie that was believed way too easily. I began to dislike the character Evelina to an extent at this point, and it took until the end of the book for me to really like her again. I do wish that authors would come up with some other way to create drama in their romance stories. On the other hand I loved Barclay throughout the book. It was really nice to get to read his story this time around.

Other than that I thought this was a good ending to the series. All three books included themes that I found interesting. The first book was about books -so that was a given- and the second one was about music. This time around it's clocks and mechanical inventions. I liked the clock-maker aspect of the book and all of the toys and things he invented, and the invention of the synchronization gear for the bi-planes during the war was a good plot devise. This time around, the historical figure we meet is the inventor of the Rolex watch. We see the beginnings of the use and popularity of the wristwatch, an idea that was embraced by the military because of its ease of use during wartime.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bethany House for providing me with an ARC of this book.

The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Some brutal killings



For more than a year Royce Melborn has tried to forget Gwen DeLancy, the woman who saved him and his partner Hadrian Blackwater from certain death. Unable to get her out of his mind, the two thieves return to Medford but receive a very different reception --- Gwen refuses to see them.

I really enjoyed this second book in the Riyria Chronicles (the prequel series to the Riyria Revelations). It's always good to be back with Royce and Hadrian, but I also really loved the other characters in the book as well. It was nice seeing Hilfred, Arista, Alric, and the Pickerings as young teens. The frog hunting scene was one of my favorite parts of the whole book.

On another note, I was completely surprised at how dark Royce was in this book, and how far he went to exact revenge on someone. I mean, I knew he was an assassin who had killed people, but this was worse than I thought. I'm still a bit stunned.

I'm looking forward to continuing on with this series. I really can never get enough of these characters.

Culinary Mysteries

Do any of you like reading culinary mysteries? A friend of mine on Goodreads has created a great resource for them. I'm pretty sure she has every one ever written on there! Check out her website. https://culinarymysteries.net/

Murder on Millionaires' Row: A Mystery by Erin Lindsey

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Historical Mystery, Paranormal
Content: A small amount of strong language



Rose Gallagher might dream of bigger things, but she’s content enough with her life as a housemaid. After all, it’s not every girl from Five Points who gets to spend her days in a posh Fifth Avenue brownstone, even if only to sweep its floors. But all that changes on the day her boss, Mr. Thomas Wiltshire, disappears.

Having previously read Erin Lindsey's fantasy Bloodbound, I was curious to see what she would do with a mystery. It also intrigued me that this book included a paranormal element. The result was an engrossing start to a new series. Set in New York during the Gilded Age, Rose is a maid who longs for something more. She also has a huge crush on her employer Mr. Wiltshire, and when he goes missing she sets out to investigate his disappearance. The story includes several other interesting characters. Most noteworthy is Clara the cook, who harbors some secret skills and may have dreams of something more herself. I felt like the story moved a little slower than I would have liked, but I loved the plucky Rose, her employer Mr. Wiltshire, and the cook Clara.

Just as I hoped, the paranormal element was an interesting addition to the historical mystery. I thought it was incorporated into the story pretty well. At the end of the book we are left with a mystery to solve that relates to a ghost in this story. I'm expecting her to show up in at least one more book in the series, but I'm curious to see how other ghosts and possibly other types of creatures will play a role in future books.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book.

The Remnant Chronicles: The Kiss of Deception, The Heart of Betrayal, and The Beauty of Darkness

I started reading The Remnant Chronicles right when the first book was released and I really loved it.  Now that I've read the last book in the trilogy I'm adding my reviews for all three books here. If you like YA fantasy with romance then give it a try.




The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Content: It's been a while so I can't remember



The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can't abide. Like having to marry someone she's never met to secure a political alliance. So she flees on her wedding day. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her.

I don't usually like love triangles in YA novels, but this one was different. The Kiss of Deception is mainly about Lia, but we also get the perspective of the prince she has run away from and the assassin who has been sent to kill her. After we get to the point where she meets them both, not knowing who they are, this story does something interesting. We as readers are not told which is which and are left to figure it out. Every time I decided I knew which one the prince was and which one the assassin was, I soon realized I still wasn't sure. This really kept me turning the pages.

It's soon apparent who Lia is going to fall for, even though we don't know if he is the prince or the assassin. I was really rooting for one over the other and hoping he was who I wanted him to be. I thought all of the characters in this were really well drawn. I thought a bit more world building could have been done initially on the background of the world, but overall I thought this was very well done. It ends with two people in a very sticky situation, but the ending is also really sweet at the same time.





The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Content: From what I remember it's clean



“For we must not just be ready, for the enemy without, but also for the enemy within.”

While The Kiss of Deception was focused a lot on romance this second book in the series really turned up the volume on the tension and intrigue. While I still like The Kiss of Deception better, The Heart of Betrayal was every bit as good. This was one of the strongest second books in a series I've read. The book started pretty much where the last book ended. What I found interesting about this book is that Lia becomes quite adept at deception. Something she was very angry at both Rafe and Kaden about in the last book. This deception leads to the betrayal that the title alludes to.

While I love Rafe, and was happy to read the chapters from his perspective, I felt like we got to know Kaden more than we got to know Rafe in this book, so hopefully we get into Rafe's head more in book three. This book was at times heartbreaking, and with the way things were left at the end I was really eager to know what happens next.





The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Content: A couple of sex scenes. One non-descriptive, the other a bit more-so, but not graphic in any way, An attempted rape.


“I left and went to the roof, where it was only me, a thousand blinking stars, and the beauty of darkness stretched to the ends of the universe, snuffing out the endless games of courts and kingdoms.”

I loved the first two books in this series and I was really eager to read this one when it was published, but somehow life got in the way, and an endless stack of books that I was obligated to read, and so this book got lost in the shuffle for two whole years. It also probably didn't help that I seem to have a bit of an aversion to actually finishing trilogies I start. I'm blaming it on the fact that I really do not like endings. But now that I've finished it, I'm so glad that I finally got around to reading this book. For the most part I liked it. There were some frustrating times, especially involving Lia and Rafe, but I can happily say that it ended well for all of the characters I came to love. I do feel like a novella with a certain couple and a baby would be a wonderful idea. I would like to see how that story unfolds.

This book was less focused on individual characters and more focused on conflict and the world as a whole, which was a departure from the two previous books, but somehow it worked for me. There were of course the issues I usually have with YA books where the characters seem older and more experienced that they should, and I did feel like there were some things that happened too easily with the end battle, a couple of which were not all that realistic to me, but overall this was a good YA fantasy-romance trilogy and I'm looking forward to reading the spin-off series set in the same world. As far as I know none of the characters from series are featured in it, but who knows, maybe we will run into a few of them in cameo appearances.