If you hate cliffhangers, do yourself a favor and don’t pick up this series. Seriously, EVERY. SINGLE. BOOK. I myself, am a glutton for punishment, so off I go with a smile on my face. Book three, Midlife Ghost Hunter, ended once again abruptly. Bree and Crash were in the forge and things were just heating up and…WHAMMO. End of book. Thankfully, Shannon took pity on us and started Midlife Zombie Hunter at the exact moment that we left off with Bree and Crash getting busy. BUT Bree’s suddenly writhing on the floor and not in a good way. Hello, hospital, and hello morphine! Of course, because chaos follows Bree everywhere she goes, the hospital is about to be spelled on lockdown thanks to a zombie outbreak. She’s then offered a buttload of money to figure out who is raising the dead. That will get her everything she’s wanted since the start, right?

If you’re expecting that you are finally going to get answers in book five, oh my sweet summer child, no. We are strung along for another ride. Crash is attempting to be heroic by protecting Bree from the shadow world, but what he doesn’t realize is that she can protect her damn self…mostly. His knight in tarnished armor act is getting old. Is he? Isn’t he? Does he? Doesn’t he? Ugh. He thinks she can’t possibly want to be with a man tied to the darkness but can he open his friggin eyes already? She’s in it deep as well. Robert is looking better and better every minute. Except Crash’s fae queen ex-wife has absconded with him. Her friends are acting strangely and loyalties are called into question. It’d be really easy for Bree to sink into despair about right now but in typical fashion, she pulls herself up and keeps fighting.

"For just a moment I didn’t see myself. Not my forty-three-year-old face or body. Not the wrinkles I was earning every damn day or the increasing laxity of my skin. Not the failure I so often saw. Certainly not the girl who wondered if she’d ever get it right. No, I saw someone else. I saw a damn boss bitch ready to take on the day. I saw a woman who had earned her scars. I saw a woman who faced each day with all the energy she had left. I saw a woman who loved with all her heart, even when it hurt her. I saw a woman I liked very much; a woman I’d like to see more of."

This ending is absolutely heartbreaking. Sometimes you have to lose everything to find yourself. Bree’s offered an impossible choice by an unlikely ally, but there’s always a trick with the fae. Now that she finally knows a bit more about her bloodline and the powers that she has, she might have someone who can help her learn to use them. And if that means that Crash doesn’t have the same zing for her anymore? Well, it might be the best way to protect her heart.

I don’t know what is going to be pulled out for book six, but we have to wait until January to find out. *whines*

It's hard to believe that this is the final book of the Sandman Slim series. The series finale finds Stark in the midst of a viral pandemic where everyone is wearing masks. LA is in chaos. And in the midst is gang leader King Bullet, who seems to have a vendetta for Stark. Hold on to your hats because the train is barreling into the station and there's no one at the helm.

This is a welcome change as the last book in the series, Ballistic Kiss, definitely felt like one of the slower books. Kadrey put a lot more emotion into Stark, with more introspection than the kick-ass action that I have come to know and love from him. King Bullet takes us back to everything that the Sandman Slim series has been. Once again, there is a very eccentric villain (King Bullet) that Stark has been tasked with taking care of. He's questioning why exactly he was tasked with it, lending credence to the idea that Abbott has not been on the up and up with him.

This pandemic is no COVID, as terrible as that has been. This one causes autophagia, the consumption of your own body. Yes, these people are chewing their lips and fingers, and...ugh. Disgusting. In a lot of ways, it's a parallel of a lot of what's happened since COVID. Businesses are shuttered, masks have to be worn everywhere, and for other reasons, riots have happened. Honestly, I read to escape the real world, so reading a story about a novel pandemic in the midst of a novel pandemic wasn't really my cup of tea.

Kadrey certainly wraps up all the loose ends with this finale. All the character arcs are settled without feeling like they were quickly tied up for the sake of completion. I think most fans will be happy with the fulfillment of the Sandman Slim series. Don't think we can completely count Stark out though. That ending might just leave the tiniest bit of wiggle room.

Review at Wicked Cool Flight

A.K. MacBride is flying into your TBR with another small town, slow-burn romance that will break your heart into a million tiny pieces and force you to glue it back together one tiny fragment at a time.

Maddie is a dancer who tried to make it in the big time but failed. She's is stuck in the same spot after her dream crashed down around her. Working at her parent's hardware store, she feels unsupported. Her parents think that dance is a hope that will never come to fruition and can't understand why she can't leave it behind and grow up. You get her frustration and inability to feel like anything but a failure.

Nothing makes her happier than dancing. It's the one time she can express herself; all her doubts and insecurities mean nothing as long as she's moving. . Her grandmother left her a beachfront cottage.  A cottage that has a sexy new but grumpy neighbor. It's easy to imagine a picturesque sunrise on the beach and Maddy out there dancing her heart out and even easier to see Adam out there unable to look away. 

Adam is not your typical brooding alpha male, which I always appreciate. Like most of A.K. MacBride's characters, he has a history that is full of pain and a lifetime of regrets. His wife died in a house fire and his last words with her were ruined by the fight they were having. As a trained firefighter, he arrived home in time to see the house engulfed and tried to save her but was unable to. Can you even imagine carrying that around the rest of your life? That failure has coated his every waking moment. His scars from the fire won't let him forget so he shuts everyone out. He moved to Clearwater Bay to get away from it all and to allow him to live without the pitying looks of his family and friends. Who wouldn't want to be a grumpy recluse after all that? Oh, but not in this story!

Separate, they are broken. Together, they might find happiness if they can get past the shattered pieces of their lives. Something has brought them together at the same place in time and if they can work through their pain, they might find something incredible. I always find myself rooting for the MCs of her love stories but man, she makes you inpatient for that HEA! 

What I love about A.K. MacBride's stories is that the characters are so well developed from the first few pages. You get an immediate feel for who they are before you find out what their passions are and the challenges they face. Adam wears his scars on the outside for the world to see, but Maddie has the internal struggle. They are imperfect people struggling to find their way through the world. They have the same misgivings, insecurities, and apprehensions that plague us all. Her characters aren't perfect and they have shortcomings and broken dreams. Falling in love doesn't magically get rid of those problems. Sometimes it's one step forward and two steps back and that happy ever after you want so badly takes work...a lot of it. 

There are some very heavy emotions to get through in this book, but there are some lighthearted ones as well. Maddie's dog, nicknamed Fugly by Adam, made for some hilarious moments. The stupid but sweet dog kept sneaking over next door until he wormed his way into Adam's heart. If nothing else, read it for Fugly!

I give Slow Burn 4 out of 5 propellers! Lots of great chemistry and a swoon-worthy romance.

Walk Among Us is a collection of three novellas set in the world of Vampire: The Masquerade. For those of you unfamiliar with Vampire: The Masquerade, it's a gothic tabletop RPG that rose to popularity in the 1990s. Set in the "World of Darkness", players play vampires, complete with the struggle to maintain some humanity as well as navigating treacherous political machinations of both vampire and human alike. True to the vampires of that world, these stories are dark and broody. The vampires within these tales have diverse backgrounds and ideologies.

"A Sheep Among Wolves" is the first foray into the world of White Wolf. This story by Genevieve Gornichec was the weakest of the bunch for me. In it, a college student dealing with depression and loneliness finds herself realizing a whole other world has been right in front of her. I struggled with this story the most. The pacing was incredibly slow and I really had to push myself to get through it. The main character felt very insipid and reserved. Any supporting characters went the reverse direction and were absurdly stereotypical. While I certainly appreciated the overall mental health theme, this one just felt like something I'd read before.

The second story, Cassandra Khaw's "Fine Print", certainly elevates the collection. Bringing a modern-day touch, the main character here is someone that you love to see get what he deserves. Khaw brings this detestable character to life in hi-def and lets us take a seat to watch his undoing. Arrogant and overbearing, this rather tedious specimen of manhood thinks that he's getting the better deal when in all actuality he's getting played by vampires way older and smarter than he is. This one truly shows that vampires are inexhaustible masters of manipulative and cunning.

"The Land of Milk and Honey" by Caitlin Starling brings up the rear in this collection. This unique story combines ethics and vampirism with this setting of sustenance and sustainable farming. Out of all the stories, I enjoyed this one the most. The strange quandary of needing blood to survive but to do so without killing is one that has been touched on before in vampire fiction but never quite in this way. It brings up some interesting parallels to our own struggles. This story has a bit of everything, some romance, a little treachery, and a lot of manipulation.

For a collection that only holds three stories, it took a while to get through this one. I enjoyed the variety of themes presented by each story. Vampire fiction has been around for a long time so getting something that feels fresh is a unique experience in itself.


Website | Twitter | Pinterest

This is my second book by Lindsay Currie and I absolutely love her style. (You can read my review of Scritch Scratch here.) Her books so far seem to follow a pretty basic formula: preteen gets to head into some spooky sites, manages to find herself mixed up in a Scooby style mystery, and does some sleuthing into the past to discover exactly why what's happening is happening. Though just because something is formulaic doesn't have to mean it's boring or predictable. There's plenty here to draw you in and get you invested.

Ginny is a great character with relatable worries and fears. Of course, part of that is moving out to the middle of nowhere into this ginormous mansion while her father discovers what it will take to rehab the old place. Especially when she hears that there may be more to Woodmore Manor than she expected...a lot more. Ginny also happens to be very smart and curious about things that she doesn't already know about so it's not long before she's researching its history. She's a huge Agatha Christie fan so figuring out the mystery is completely her thing. She also manages to drag her brother and a newfound friend into helping solve the mystery. Family and friendship feature front and center in the relationships that Lindsay Currie creates.

If you think middle grade can't be spooky, there are plenty of chills in this haunted house story. The author starts slowly with a few unnerving encounters that could easily be brushed off, but as the story proceeds, those moments become more and more startling. As with Scritch Scratch, there are some pretty terrifying moments that our protagonist Ginny encounters. One in particular probably would have pre-teen me sleeping with the lights on. I love that she doesn't hold back with the scares. However, by the end of the book, she also manages to make it all okay or at least manages to make it all make sense. Sometimes just knowing why something is happening makes it less scary.

This is one of those books that keeps you turning pages until the very end. The pacing is fantastic and once it starts rolling, this story doesn't slow down. I couldn't wait for Ginny and the crew to figure things out. While there are some things that might seem a little predictable, it's almost in that yell-at-the-characters-on-tv way. You might have figured it out watching from the outside in, but they haven't and you can't wait until it all clicks for everyone. What Lives in the Woods was a treat and I can't wait to read whatever comes next.



Website | Twitter | Pinterest

It Calls From the Sea is a new anthology by Eerie River Publishing containing "brutal tales of horror from the deep blue sea". I was excited for this collection, having a personal fear of the oceans—due to my cousin getting wrapped up in a Portuguese Man-O-War when I was very little. That, and let's be honest, growing up in the "Jaws" generation. There's something about not knowing what's in the deep waters underneath your feet that can send shivers up your spine. Or even worse, knowing what actually is! What better to read than a themed collection about one of the things that truly terrifies me.

Containing twenty tales from twenty different authors, this collection of watery horrors has a little something for everyone. There's killer kelp, menacing mermaids, elder gods, family curses, and all things in between. Honestly I'm amazed at the variety of the stories while still keeping with the aquatic theme. Mythology from multiple pantheons, body horror, tales of revenge, and maritime monstrosities all find their way across these pages. These tales are claustrophobic, tense, and oh, so wonderful.

Some standouts in the collection:

"The Ocean Sings Softly" by Christopher Bond - I loved this tale of a grandmother and her horrifying past. A past that is reaching out with cold dead hands to drag her granddaughter down with it.

"Please Leave" by Watt Morgan - The sea gave something back this time, something that should have never drug itself out of the waters of the bay. This one creeps up little by little and had some pretty horrifying imagery that was very effective.

“The Hunter and the Prey” by McKenzie Richardson - When a story starts with " You'd look even prettier if you smiled", I can't wait to see where it leads. The twist at the end of this one was simply marvelous.

"Cry of the Hunger Fish" by Lin Darrow - Talk about a claustrophobic tale. This definitely gave me Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" vibes as the narrator's experience becomes more and more surreal.

"Euphoria" by Chris Banner - I adore stories about Kelpies, those water horses in Scottish folklore that drown their victims. While the author didn't reinvent the wheel, this was the perfect horror version of one of my favorite creatures.

Eerie River Publishing has also put out collections It Calls From the Forest (Vol 1 and Vol. 2) and It Calls From the Sky. Considering this strong collection of works, I will definitely be adding those others to my TBR.



Website | Twitter | Pinterest

The Monsters of Rookhaven is a delightful middle-grade gothic tale of a little girl named Mirabelle and her family. For centuries, the Family has lived protected in their home away from the eyes of most humans. Until one day, the veil tears and two abandoned and abused human children find their way in. They are promptly and fiercely championed by seemingly normal Mirabelle to stay. While the rest of those living at the estate are unsure, the children are quickly settled in amongst the strange and usual characters. The rift, however, leaves the family vulnerable to those that might wish them harm and it has been out there patiently waiting.

The world that Kenny weaves is mysterious and enchanting. The estate that the family lives on is brooding and sprawling, replete with unnatural flowers guarding the paths. Each of the family has a unique "talent". There's Uncle Betram, who can transform into a huge bear. Aunt Eliza is made up of spiders. Gideon can transport via portals. The twins, well they are their own breed. Piglet is the literal monster in the basement. We have to learn much later what their talent is, but the family keeps them behind a tremendous locked door and whispers "Piglet is dangerous."

There are themes of friendships and found family, and how the monsters aren't always the one to be feared. It's not all love and sweetness though—the last half takes a very dark turn. There is a defined evil under the the burgeoning friendship and comfort that the family supplies. Secrets often can cause harm and there is a big ominous secret waiting in the wings for Mirabelle. It will change everything.

I was lucky enough to get The Monsters of Rookhaven on audiobook narrated by Emma Noakes. She has a gift with voices and made the listen that much more enjoyable. Her volume ebbed and flowed through all the different voices, bringing each character to life in turn. I found myself smiling while listening. I couldn't wait to get my earbuds plugged back in to this unforgettable story with its captivating narrator.

Fans of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will be charmed by this story. It's fantastical and magical. Perfect for middle-grade readers or for those wanting a little more enchantment in their lives.



Website | Twitter | Pinterest