First of all, I must give homage to creator Daniel Strange to the cover artwork. After all, that's what drew me to want to read The Beast of Nightfall Lodge.

I came for the art. I stayed for the story.

If Indiana Jones and Clint Eastwood had a love child, it would be this book. With plenty of adventure, horror, and action, this western-horror mashup is gleefully and unabashedly fun.

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I love short stories. I find that great authors shine when presented with the limitations of a short story. You only have so many pages to explore a topic and I love that the really good ones always leave me yearning for more. Whether it's an anthology or a collection all by the same author, it gives you the ability to sample various themes and narrative styles.

Typically, a collection of this magnitude finds me relishing some stories and yet bored with others. In the case of That Which Grows Wild, I savored every one. Eric J. Guignard excels at the short story, molding each new location with care, and crafting vibrant characters in spite of the short season dedicated to each. With topics varying from spontaneous human combustion to Bigfoot and tones ranging from horrifying to whimsical, under each is a surprising fount of emotion.

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Love, Cutter was an enjoyable read. It was very unique with Carter in a coma for a lot of the book. I liked it because it gave the other characters their moment to be truthful with themselves and with Carter. I thought it was great how Carter came out changed and wanting to do better, but still knowing that he wouldn't be perfect all the time.

While I enjoyed the relationship between Carter and Kinley, they both felt immature to me. It felt more like a YA read than anything. Michelle Jester has a very unique writing style that apparently others struggled with, but I didn't mind at all.

I do think that the ending was a little unrealistic. Very Hallmark movie-ish. That being said, it was a pleasant read that kept my attention until the end. I felt like the author did a fantastic job of handling the subjects of depression, self-harm, and suicide.

Alex Fisher is a well-known romance author, who lost her husband three years before Peony Red takes place. Ever since Kyle died, she can’t seem to connect to anything anymore and her writing career is suffering as a result. When she receives two postcards from an unknown “Eli”, written in her dead husband’s handwriting, inviting her to Granite Harbor, Maine, she decides on a change of scenery. Granite Harbor is a quaint little town and Alex quickly makes friends with the couple that owns the bakery, Hello Good-Pie. In walks game warden, Eli Young. Inspired by Eli and his job, Alex immediately decides to write a series of contemporary romances centered around wardens. And, hey, the butterflies Alex keeps getting around him certainly don’t hurt!

Alex and Eli have an instant connection, but they are both struggling with their own pasts. Alex feels like she is dishonoring her husband’s memory and Eli hasn’t yet bothered to file divorce papers, even though he and his wife are no longer an item. They both are trying very hard to not get involved but to no avail.

Wicked Cool Flight

You had me at "cut a stone out of his own bladder". Can you imagine?

I'm the type of person that, if something is mentioned in passing, that I medically have no knowledge of, I will go straight to Google to learn more. I'm also a notorious Web-MD'er, but let's not talk about that. 😸 I love medical knowledge. My mom was a nurse and I married a paramedic so talking about various and sundry medical issues is commonplace for me. I even took various Anatomy and Physiology and Medical Terminology classes in college as electives! While I find the medical field fascinating, I chose not to go into a career in it, simply because I don't think I have the patient interaction skills necessary ( i.e. I have RBF). That doesn't stop me from finding it fascinating and always wanting to learn.

Under the Knife is filled to the brim with medical knowledge. Each chapter presents a medical condition and gives historical examples. It then supplies you with a medical aside in which it very simply sets out and defines the condition with how it may be treated today.

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I debated whether to read this one. I'm not much on drama type historical books and that's what it seemed like from the cover and the blurb. Then I read the "A historical adventure with a paranormal twist" label that it has. Okay, now we are talking!

The story begins with Karina sneaking through the dark. We learn bits and pieces of her backstory as we go. Karina's husband, Thebo leaves her to go whaling. He doesn't make it home. She's hit rock bottom. She's alone. She's starving. She's asked her sister, who lives in Amsterdam with her merchant husband, to send her money so that she can join them there. The money never comes. Karina decides that her only option is to stow away. Any ship will do as long as it gets her out of there. She cuts her hair and dresses in her husband's boots and off she goes.

I loved the first 1/3 of this book. I liked Karina's character. She's not a dominant personality but she has grit and determination. She's not a complete doormat but still keeps her head low. Her life aboard the ship and her interaction with all her shipmates, even once her presence and her true identity were discovered, was an entertaining story.

The twist in the plot surprised me. I was excited to see where the paranormal skew would lead. Unfortunately, everything that followed was unsatisfying. I couldn't get into the ensuing tale. None of the new characters struck a chord with me. I didn't enjoy the metamorphosis of Karina's character. I honestly think I would have enjoyed the book more without the paranormal twist.

Set in 1233 in the city of Amicae, the city is broken up into Quarters," like a massive tiered cake". Job and status determine which quarter a person lives in, with First being the richest, and Fifth being the poorest. There's a Sixth Quarter which is where the army lives. Each city is isolated from the others and travel is dangerous between them. Technology is equal to the modern day. Magic is real and used for various purposed in amulets. Amulets are made by artisans in many shapes and sizes and occasionally need to have their magic refreshed.

Our heroine, Laura, is apprenticed as a Sweeper. We aren't talking literal broom sweeping. Laura is learning to clean up monsters created by broken magic. Created as an anti-magic defense system against the other kingdoms, the creators lost control of the system, were killed by the monsters, and the malicious magic has spread. The only problem is the city has hidden the existence of the infestations creating these monsters and blames the destruction on the mob. Now you have a career that precious few know about and even fewer that choose to do it. It's a dangerous trade and none of the past apprentices have made it. Suddenly, the monsters are becoming sentient and more. They are learning as part of a hive mind. Enter Laura.

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That's an interesting prospect, isn't it? To still be able to communicate with those that have died. To see their words, hear their voices? Who would be able to say no to that? You might think that you are that person, but when it comes down to it, would you really be able to walk away?

That's where Ben finds himself when approached by Jess, "Lingering Specialist" as her card says. At first, Ben is angry that someone would approach him at the cemetery of all places, as he is visiting his murdered fiancée's gravesite and try to capitalize on his grief. However, he quickly finds himself in the lobby of what appears to be an old, abandoned mill, turning over Carissa's cell phone to Jess in return for getting even a tiny spark of her back. Soon he's getting text messages seemingly from Carissa, and phone calls speaking in her voice. Is it enough to have this small part of her back? Does it assuage his grief, or it is only a crutch? When Jess and her boyfriend Nick, tell Ben that they can build an AI wearing Carissa's face, how far is too far?

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Spells, Salt, & Steel is a collection of four novellas. Each follows Mark Wojcik (Voy-chick, not Whoa, chick!), mechanic and monster hunter extraordinaire on his nightly escapades tracking down and sometimes not-so-quietly ridding the world of things that go bump in the night. Sure the monster hunter thing has been done before, but never so well as this. I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself at the end of the first novella. Why? Because I had forgotten that it was a novella!

Read more at Cats Luv Coffee

Spells, Salt, & Steel is a collection of four novellas. Each follows Mark Wojcik (Voy-chick, not Whoa, chick!), mechanic and monster hunter extraordinaire on his nightly escapades tracking down and sometimes not-so-quietly ridding the world of things that go bump in the night. Sure the monster hunter thing has been done before, but never so well as this. I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself at the end of the first novella. Why? Because I had forgotten that it was a novella!

Read more at Cats Luv Coffee