This time around Breena finds herself keeping watch over a fairy mound. The Hollows group are all acting super weird, so she can't count on them. She quickly finds her own merry band of misfits to help her out. She's strong-willed and even more determined this time around. Especially when she finds out the scheming ex is trying to sell Gran's house right from underneath her. There's plenty going down in the Shadow world without having to deal with "Himself" on top of it. 

"Big girl panties were a bitch to put on some days. But I yanked those proverbial panties up and got to work. Because work was something I could control, something I was actually pretty good at."

Some of the issues I had with the first book ironed themselves out a little. I didn't find Breena's constant moaning and groaning about being old and overweight as annoying. Not to say she still didn't do some of that, but certainly not as much.  Corb is difficult for me as a love interest because he was not very nice to her in book one, constantly berating and demeaning. It's like the kid on the playground picking on you and being told it's only because he likes you. No. I can excuse some of it due to the relationship with her ex that was emotionally abusive but come on, Bree. While Breena is older, there is no need to constantly be bashing younger women, like they have it all. 

Robert the skeleton was my favorite character in the first book, but he has completely been replaced. My new main man is a great baker. It's not his fault he's covered in hair. That's right. I'm talking about Eric the Bigfoot. I love the big ol' hairy guy. Not that he's a love interest, thank goodness. That might be a bit weird. Besides, Crash has that covered. Things are heating up where he is concerned but Corb is still waiting in the wings. This is a sloooow burn, so for those readers who want the goods, sorry you have to wait!

Midlife Fairy Hunter grabs you from the beginning and doesn't let you go. There are magics and mischiefs afoot! With this assembled team, they can (and do) take on anything. 

I give Midlife Fairy Hunter 4 out of 5 propellers

Review at Wicked Cool Flight

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who walked through the dark woods to grandmother's house. Oh, you've heard this story before? I guarantee you haven't heard this version of the story, for you see—in this story, the little girl is the wolf.

This was such a lush and spellbinding version of Little Red Riding Hood. A dark, deep wood encompasses the village, barely kept at bay by those who live there. Only the careful eye of the watch who stand guard with torches keep the threatening woods from encroaching further, or so they believe. There's another watcher in the woods, however. Adele thought she has her life all planned out until she discovers her true fate and everything she thought she knew changes overnight. Thrilling, pulse-pounding danger awaits Adele in the woods and she is uniquely equipped to meet it. Risks and uncertainly await Adele every day and she's forced to make decisions that change her destiny and those of the villagers.

Blood and savagery are about and it's not only the wood's monsters who are fearfully made. Rachel Vincent has crafted an environment where deviating from the norm is dangerous, and where secrets must be kept to survive. This is witch-burning territory and it only takes a word to incite the villagers viciously into action. Like the dark woods, Vincent's world is perilous and full of wonder. This is a tale of fur and teeth, haunting and harrowing.

With inspiration drawn from the 1907 novella "The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood, T. Kingfisher's disquieting novel could be regarded as portal fiction. However, this newfound doorway isn't an opening to Wonderland and instead beckons the reader into a cruel and indifferent world. With endearing narrator Kara and barista turned wise-cracking cohort Simon, the blend of quirky characters and the highly unconventional setting of the Glory to God Museum of Natural Wonders, Curiosities and Taxidermy might make this story more accessible to readers who don't typically favor cosmic horror.

Some might find the momentum sluggish to start as the author crafts three-dimensional foundations of the two characters. That quickly changes with the discovery of an impossible hallway behind a wall of the museum—transforming the story into something insidious and consuming. There is a slow build of terror, a feeling throughout of wrongness that creeps and worms itself around. The novel manages eeriness in both the landscape and what resides there without resorting to undue gore. The imagery is hauntingly beautiful, yet decidedly uneasy as the characters explore this foreign world. Finding their way back is fraught with seen and unseen danger and this is only the beginning. The Hollow Places is a clever read, harrowing and still darkly entertaining.


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Unnerving's Rewind or Die series is an love story to the blood-spattered covers of horror movies of the 70s', 80s', and 90s'. Capturing the spirit of those garish gore-filled films, this series seeks to recreate the B-horror feel of those decades and once again, Zachary Ashford has created a volume overflowing with viscera and wit.


Sole Survivor II: Drop Bears on the Loose picks up after the island carnage of Sole Survivor. Now our lone survivor December Foss is trying to find her way back in the "real world" after the broadcaster reality slaughter. Permeated with survivor's guilt, December is struggling to fulfill her obligation to continue to promote the show that took the life of her friend Robin. Constantly bombarded with the same questions on every talk show and podcast that she has to appear on, now December is the target of an animal rights group known as the Ark—as if she is the one responsible for using the drop bear massacre as entertainment. You certainly don't need to read the first novella to enjoy this one, but it definitely ups the enjoyment.


Ashford wastes no time in delivering the same ridiculous amount of mangling and macerating as before, beginning with the gruesome death of an activist cameraman. With blood fountaining and teeth and nails tearing, it's a bloody start to a second helping of transmogrified drop bear chaos. It's a slice-and-dice free-for-all as the modified bears proliferate and dispense havoc and destruction over all who come in contact with them. As before, there is unquestionably nothing cute and furry about these creatures but it's even worse now. This time we get behind the scenes and some up close and personal action with television network owner and producer, Joseph Steinberg and his pet scientists as they perfect their creature mutations.


The dialogue is snarky and funny (though the jokes do occasionally dip into crude, an unwelcome change from the first novella). The violence is ferocious, the blood is flowing, and the guts are spilling. The large cast once again allows for plenty of grisly and raw deaths. This marsupial murder mayhem is absolute. Characters are introduced just to be ripped and torn to pieces by the beasts and sometimes even by Steinberg's goons. If you thought it was thankfully all over, the ending is left open with just enough opportunity to make this duo a trio.


This is just a merry romp gruesomely filled with blood and gore and monstrous killer koala uproar. Like the tag line says: Bigger, badder, hungrier...". If you are looking for twisted timelines and plot points you have to concentrate to comprehend, you won't find it here. But you won't have this much fun anywhere else!

Review at Ginger Nuts of Horror

I love "when animals attack" eco-horror. It's one of those genres that I do tend to get a bit giddy about simply because I enjoy the concept of animals taking their revenge. The Lodge essentially follows that pattern. A guest at a hunting lodge in the remote Scottish Highlands experiences a harsh end, choking during dinner. Andrew, the constable sent to make sure there was no foul play at hand, then gets snowed in at the lodge with its owners and guests.

There's no wait to get into the action as the guest dies in the first few pages. It's not long after that the weird stuff starts happening and there is plenty of weird. Eco-horror either plays itself completely straight or on the campy side. The Lodge is a strange mix of the two. On one hand, you have a horde of intelligent rats dismantling the vehicles so there is no escape and on the other, you have some Evil Dead taxidermy waling on the wall. There's absolutely some great imagery here though.

The Lodge has a lot of flashback-style, character backstories, which honestly, didn't really further the book for me and distracted me from the here and now. Taking the reader out of the story to a backstory blocked the flow of the novel as the backstories didn't always feel organic. While show vs. tell has always been a debated writing tool, the info dump chosen often here instead made them feel flat.

I grew up in a hunting family and my husband hunts. None of my family, even the most enthusiastic of hunters, were ever like the ridiculous caricatures of hunters that are in the book. There are probably hunters out there like this, but I've not met them. On top of that, the actions of the characters just didn't make sense. They all seemed to be stereotypical ideals of what they should be, even the vegans.

The Lodge seemed to have the perfect formula for a great read. There were multiple storylines that converged in the end, but there really weren't any surprises. It was intriguing enough to be a fast read but the plot seemed to get more convoluted as it went. I liked the idea but found the execution bland.

2.5 rounded to 3

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What if you could pinpoint the one moment in your life where everything went wrong? Would you go back and fix it even knowing that it could change everything? That’s the bargain laid out to Joey. Over forty, overweight, she’s been fired from yet another dead-end job and nothing to show for her life except a busted wrist from a car accident in her teens that ruined her life. She was on her way to the Olympics as a gymnast, but that accident took everything from her. When she encounters Robin Goodfellow (yes, that Robin Goodfellow), she has the chance to change everything with only an open-ended favor given to the fae prince.

Joey is one of those characters that just can’t see her own worth. In her mind, the thing that she was meant to do—the Olympics—defined everything for her. That’s where her life was supposed to go and all of her passion is. Without that, she’s adrift with no purpose. When sexy trickster Robin comes along and tells her she can be her own fairy godmother, well why not use that to set the timeline right? Only, as she’ll find out, the grass isn’t always greener. Her path of self-discovery takes her to some interesting places with some interesting characters.

And boy, I loved those characters! Her feminist mother that she feels disapproves of her, but really, like any mother, wants to see her find her spark again. Her Grammy B with her witticisms like “If it has tires or testicles, it’s going to give you problems.” Her supportive best friend Darcy showing up for Wine Wednesdays and Margarita Mondays was an extra treat. Then there is Robin, who is just too handsome for his own good.

Over the Faery Hill was a joy to read. Filled with great characters, funny moments, and cheeky dialogue, this is a great addition to the paranormal women’s fiction genre. I can’t wait to read The Fae Side of Forty and see how Robin’s last words play out!

I give Over the Faery Hill 4 out of 5 propellers

Review at Wicked Cool Flight