TL;DR Review: High on the steam, spice, and sass. An insightful exploration of the burdens of duty and the cost of desire. Synopsis: Low stakes. High heat. Sharp steel. Mattinesh Jay, dutiful heir to his struggling family business, needs to hire an experienced swordsman to serve as best man for his arranged marriage. Sword-challenge at […]
Reviews
Review: The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses by L.V. Russell
Synopsis: Theodora Corvus can hear the whispers of her crumbling family home. She can hear the whispers of Kingsward Manor, her place of employment. She sees the watchers by the lake, black-eyed and waiting. But Broken Oak is silent. Broken Oak is empty. When Theodora takes the job as governess to young Ottoline Thorne, she […]
Review: A Promise of Blood (Amefyre #2) by R A Sandpiper
Death becomes her Synopsis Suri survived the fallout of Queen Lera’s ceremony, but now finds herself deep in unfamiliar territory—the City of the Damned. The City’s deadly ruler, Kol, believes she’s the key to breaking the curse upon the desert wasteland. Suri just wants to save her brother and forge her own destiny away from […]
Review: The Pariah by Anthony Ryan
Synopsis “A gritty, heart-pounding tale of betrayal and bloody vengeance. I loved every single word.” —John Gwynne The Pariah begins a new epic fantasy series of action, intrigue and magic from Anthony Ryan, a master storyteller who has taken the fantasy world by storm. Born into the troubled kingdom of Albermaine, Alwyn Scribe is raised […]
Where Sirens Roam (The Twin Worlds Saga) by Cameron Michaels
Synopsis Fear lies in the depths.Daruhm just wants to be left alone, away from the broken world he inhabits.However, as one of the last remaining scribes of his kind, he is tasked with joining the Iron Dragon for a voyage across the Great Sea, giving an account of their findings, alongside an ancient race that […]
Book Review: The Path of Pain and Ruin (The Gods Path) by Joel Glover
Synopsis: In the wastes beyond the Last City, all is quiet. Everyone has heard of the Hundred Blessed. Of the Final War between the Empire of Blue and Green and the Empire of Red and Ivory. Of what they did. But the war is never over. You can’t outrun your past. And you can’t hide […]
Review: The Night Cyclist by Stephen Graham Jones
Synopsis: “The Night Cyclist” by award-winning author Stephen Graham Jones is a horror novelette about a middle-aged chef whose nightly bicycle ride home is interrupted by an unexpected encounter. There must be no compulsion to hide the bodies. Otherwise I’d have never found them. Review: Every now and then, I need to remind myself that […]
Book Review: Falling Into Oblivion Aaron M. Payne
TL;DR Review: Colorful characters inhabit a futuristic world at once familiar and fresh. A cyberpunk thriller that had me enthralled from the first page. Synopsis: MODIFICATIONS COME AT A PRICE. Detective Sol Harkones is tangled in the wires of a deadly conspiracy involving defective body modifications causing permanent brain damage. A suspect is known, but […]
Review: A Stitch Between Worlds by Frasier Armitage
Synopsis “The differences between worlds — they’re like two tapestries, one made of silk and the other of wool. But this door is a needle that sends me between them, and I’m what stitches them together.” A future where memory is currency; a land of dinosaurs seeking the refuge of outer space; a city where […]
Review: Death of a Mad Dragon by Alex Valdiers (Standalone, The Roake Gang Series)
Synopsis There are good dragons and bad dragons. And then there are mad dragons … The Raoke Gang goes on a wild dragon chase. A horde of dragons crushes the Raoke Gang’s plans to rob a space cruise liner. In the heat of the battle between humans and dragons, the Raoke Gang vouches for the […]
Review: Shoestring Theory by Mariana Costa
It’s tough to describe what this book is. The publisher has gone with ‘A queer, madcap, friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers time travel romance’, which to be honest is about as close as you can get. It’s also been described as ‘cosy’ which I don’t necessarily agree with as much but I can see why it might dip into the category at times. Basically it kind of defies explanation and you’ve just got to go with it and see where it takes you.
Review: BestGhost by C.J. Daley
Synopsis: The world’s best ghost hunters, the town’s most haunted mansion, what could go wrong? A debut sample from the forthcoming Tales From Cemetery! The Old Mayor’s Mansion sits just a few miles outside the town of Cemetery. When best friends Sean and Devon want to increase views on their ghost investigation channel, they know the […]