TL;DR Review: Stranger Things meets The Magicians, as written by Stephen King. A dark, brooding, mysterious urban fantasy story of fate-defying friendships. Synopsis: From the acclaimed author of A Cosmology of Monsters comes an epic contemporary fantasy: a story of dark magic, terrible mistakes, and second chances. “You can never go home again,” the saying goes—but Hal, […]
Paranormal Fantasy
Book Review: Girl of Hearts (The Luck Gods #1) by J. Gabriel Gates
TL;DR Review: A fun, fresh, and fast-paced urban fantasy with neurodivergent representation done right. Synopsis: Four tribes of ruthless demigods rule over luck in our world. Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades. To save her mom, Aggie must join them… As a future scientist, I don’t believe in gods or in luck. My OCD is […]
Review: Evocation (The Summoner’s Circle #1) by S.T. Gibson
Read Evocation when you want a character-focussed, slow-burn romance with a arcane backdrop. While the plot is present Evocation is far, far more about the evolution of David, Rhys and Moira’s relationship, with a special mention for how David and Moira’s friendship, and eventual relationship grows. The plot is really just a backdrop for our trio to bond, and while I did enjoy the plot it’s quite a slow mover until the very last pages where it suddenly concludes in just a few pages.
Review: The Reanimator’s Heart (The Reanimator Mysteries #1) by Kara Jorgensen
Synopsis: A reluctant necromancer, a man killed before his time, and the crime that brings them together. Felipe Galvan’s life as an investigator for the Paranormal Society has been spent running into danger. Returning home from his latest case, Felipe struggles with the sudden quiet of his life until a mysterious death puts him in […]
Review: Eve (Eve #1) by Mark Jonathan Runte
Synopsis: They’ve spent their lives looking over their shoulders – knowing their parents’ pasts and fearing a return to their birthplace until they lost the youngest of their sisters a year ago. One night shatters that tentative peace and sets Phoenix on edge, distracting the city from the growing threat of a viral outbreak. While […]
Review: Pieces of Eight (The Guardian of Empire City #2) by Peter Hartog
Synopsis: How do you stop a killer who’s already dead? Some secrets never die. When the mutilated corpse of an ex-con is found in the bowels of an old church, haunting Biblical verses scrawled at the crime scene speak of divine retribution, and a killer hellbent on revenge. For Special Crimes detective Tom “Doc” Holliday […]
Series Review: The Adam Binder Novels (White Trash Warlock, Trailer Park Trickster, and Deadbeat Druid) by David R. Slayton
Series Synopsis: Not all magicians go to schools of magic. Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. But for much of Adam’s life, that power has […]
Review: Uncanny Vows (Huntsmen #2) by Laura Anne Gilman
Gilman opens up this sequel in one of my absolute favorite ways across media, and that is by zooming in from a seemingly normal and sweeping outdoor scene, into an indoor one of absolute chaos and mayhem. And so it is that months after the events of book one, we find Rosemary and Aaron battling pesky imps wreaking havoc during a routine hunt. Not only is this kind of scene absolutely hilarious but the medias res allows you to hit the ground running back into the action you left off from book one.
Review: Cold As Hell (Black Badge Series #1) by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle
Synopsis In the West, there are worse things to fear than bandits and outlaws. Demons. Monsters. Witches. James Crowley’s sacred duty as a Black Badge is to hunt them down and send them packing, banish them from the mortal realm for good. He didn’t choose this life. No. He didn’t choose life at all. Shot […]
Review: The Darkness in the Pines (A Hell in Haven Prequel Novella) by David Green
Synopsis Before ‘The Devil Walks In Blood’ and ‘One Life Left’, Nick Holleran, Haven’s one and only Paranormal Detective, finds himself drawn into a dangerous game destined to change his second life completely. Treading water after being brought back from the brink of death, and finding his perception of reality altered forever, Nick is simultaneously […]
Review: Uncanny Times (Huntsmen #1) by Laura Anne Gilman
I found this first entry in the Huntsmen series an excellent start to a hopefully long saga that promises good times, feels, sibling shenanigans, and lots of action. Also, there’s a molosser dog with one upturned and one downward ear as the animal companion and his name is Botheration. Need I say more?
Review: One Life Left (Nick Holleran Series #3) by David Green
Synopsis ONE LIFE LEFT Nick Holleran’s life in Hell is about to get a whole lot worse. Failing to learn from his previous escapades, Haven’s one and only Paranormal Detective stumbles through life, and makes deadly enemies in all the wrong places. Implicated in a growing number of murders, Nick scrambles to clear his name […]