November 2022 Wrap UP

Here is what I read/posted in November.

As always, let me know if you have read any of these books and (if you did) what you thought of them.


Books I Read:

No review
No review
No Review
No Review
Review coming December 1st
Review coming December 27th, 2022
No Review
Review coming January 3rd, 2023
Review coming January 10th
Review coming December 9th
No Review
No Review
No Review
Review coming December 2nd
Review coming December 10th
No Review
No Review
No Review
No Review
Review Coming December 3rd
Review Coming December 4th

Books I got from NetGalley:

Publisher Invite
Publisher Invite
Publisher Invite
It was a limited-time Read Now book
It was a limited-time Read Now book
Publisher Invite
Publisher Invite
Publisher Invite
SMP/Minotaur Influencer Program
SMP Widget invite
SMP Widget Invite

Books I got from Authors/Indie Publishers:

From Author
From Novel Cause
Author Request
Author Request
Author Request
From Novel Cause
From Novel Cause

Goodreads Giveaway

Paperback

Books Reviewed:

The Last Huntress by Lenore Borja (review here)

Alias Emma by Ava Glass (review here)

A Broken Clock Never Boils by C.J. Weiss (review here)

The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu (review here)

A Sliver of Darkness by C.J. Tudor (review here)

Shadowed Intent by Reily Garrett (review here)

Death in a Dark Alley by Bradley Pay (review here)

Conviction by Michael Cordell (review here)

The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang (review here)

Wicked Bleu by E. Denise Billups (review here)

A Maiden of Snakes by Jane McGarry (review here)

Mostly Human 2 by D.I. Jolly (review here)

Shampoo & Condition by M.L. Ortega (review here)

Spies Never Lose by M. Taylor Christensen (review here)

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez (review here)

The Last Huntress (Mirror Realm: Book 1) by Lenore Borja

Publisher: Sparkpress

Date of publication: November 1st, 2022

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Series: Mirror Realm

The Last Huntress—Book 1

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | AbeBooks | Alibris | Powells | IndieBound | Indigo

Goodreads Synopsis:

Alice Daniels has a problem. Her reflection keeps misbehaving when she looks in the mirror–and the longer she ignores it, the harder it tries to get her attention. On her eighteenth birthday, she learns why: she is a huntress, someone gifted with the power to enter mirrors and the magical world that exists beyond. But with this power comes immense responsibility, for in the Mirror Realm lurks an evil that has infected the human race for centuries: demons. It is up to her and her three huntress sisters–with the help of one handsome and overbearing protector–to hunt and banish this evil one demon at a time, thereby keeping the chaos in check. But when an ancient god pays Alice a visit that turns deadly, it is clear the Mirror Realm is more than it seems, and she soon finds herself in a race against time to save the life–and soul–of the one man the gods are determined to never let her have.

The Last Huntress is a story of redemption and sacrifice, the bonds of true sisterhood, and the impossible, sometimes frightening, things we’ll do for love.


First Line:

Alice watched the blood pool into a dip in the asphalt.

The Last Huntress by Lenore Borja

The Last Huntress is the book that made me rethink my NetGalley hiatus. When I got the invite, I didn’t notice that it was from the publisher (I thought it was from the author). I also didn’t see the address of the link that was in the email. So after reading the blurb, I was very interested in this book, made up my mind to read it, and clicked the link—which brought me to my deactivated NetGalley account. So, I decided to reactivate it and start my NetGalley journey again. I am glad I did because this was a fascinating book.

The Last Huntress is book one in the Mirror Realm series. Any of the usual stuff I write in this section doesn’t apply.

The Last Huntress had an exciting storyline. Alice has just moved to Arizona after her parent’s divorce. Living in her mother’s childhood house, Alice is convinced that she will hate it there. Around the same time, Alice notices that her reflection is acting up. Thinking nothing of it, Alice ignores it until she can’t anymore. When things start to implode around her, Alice meets Soxie, Olivia, and Hadley.

Along with Colin, they tell her that what she is experiencing is real because she is a Huntress. She is supposed to hunt demons in the Mirror Realm. But Alice soon discovers more at stake than being a Huntress. What she finds out sets off a series of events that holds grave consequences for her and her loved ones. What is Alice? Can she stop whoever is manipulating her? And can she stay one step ahead of the person she loves the most?

I liked Alice for about 90% of the book. She was headstrong and wasn’t afraid to stand up to anyone. She did have her moments of weakness, though, centered around Colin. There were points where I wanted to shake her and say, “Dude, just leave him be.” Her storyline did get a bit convoluted when the author introduced Greek mythology. I figured it was going in that direction when the girls explained Colin’s/The Mirror Realms backstory, and there was an abundance of Greek mythological figures being named. But I wasn’t expecting it to get as messy as it did. Honestly, I wasn’t a fan of it and wished that the author had just stuck to her being a Huntress and left out the other stuff (but then again, those scenes with Hades and Persephone wouldn’t have happened).

I didn’t like Colin. Even with knowing his backstory, I felt that he was a bully. He refused to acknowledge his feelings for Alice, and when he did, he turned into a psycho. But, in the end, he did prove himself when he tried to save Alice by going into the Mirror Realm (he was forbidden too).

I loved Olivia, Soxie, and Hadley. They were everything that Colin wasn’t, and they weren’t afraid to tell him where to go. They took Alice under their wings and taught her everything they knew about the Mirror Realm and defeating demons. They even helped when Colin turned psycho. They were the besties that every girl wished they had in high school.

The storyline with Alice, Colin, the girls, and the Mirror Realm was exciting. I loved the lore behind how the Mirror Realm came to be. I also liked the twist thrown in that storyline about Alice being a Huntress. Also, Colin’s relationship with the goddess is interesting. I wish the author had expanded a little bit on it.

The storyline with Alice and Colin was interesting but disturbed me at the same time. I will come right out and say it; there was Instalove. It was immediately with both, but Colin, the d-tickle, refused to acknowledge it. The disturbing part was what happened after Colin admitted his feelings and discovered what would happen to Alice. I was horrified to read about the drugging and keeping her sequestered from everyone else. All because of a prophecy.

The author amazingly wrote the storyline with Alice and the Greek Gods. I couldn’t get enough of reading about that. The author extensively researched everything, and it showed. The main gods showcased were Hades and Persephone. The Fates were also talked about (and man, were they scary!!). Zeus also makes a very brief appearance toward the end of the book. I was enthralled with what I was reading.

The author very well wrote the young adult angle. I did feel, though, that teenagers went one of two ways. They were super immature and did stupid things or acted like mini adults (everyone else). There was no in-between with them. Still, I found that the teenagers written about were well-written and had depth.

As I mentioned above, the author did a fantastic job incorporating Greek mythology into the storyline. The fantasy angle was also well-written. I liked that the darker the fantasy angle got (and it got pretty dark toward the end of the book), the more well-written it was.

The romance angle was meh. As I mentioned above, I wasn’t a fan of it because of the Instalove bit and the fact that Colin was a tool for 90% of the book. Of course, that storyline did take an unexpected turn at the end of the book.

The end of The Last Huntress was exciting and a little twisty. I wasn’t expecting the twists thrown in about Persephone toward the end of the book. I also wasn’t expecting the twist about Colin and what happened to him. That last chapter messed with my mind.

I would recommend The Last Huntress to anyone over 16. There are non-graphic sexual situations, language, and mild violence. There are also scenes of kidnapping and drugging.


If you enjoyed reading The Last Huntress, you will enjoy these books:

Bookish Travels—October 2022 Destinations

I saw this meme on It’s All About Books and thought, I like this!! So, I decided to do it once a month also. Many thanks to Yvonne for originally posting this!!

This post is what it says: Places I travel to in books each month. Books are wonderful and take you to places you would never get a chance to go. That includes places of fantasy too!!

So….enjoy!! Please let me know if you have read these books or traveled to these areas (other than the fantasy….lol).


Here’s where I traveled in October:

United Kingdom:

Various fictional areas of England

London

London


United States

Phoenix, Arizona
Pennsylvania and Connecticut
Texas, Arizona, Washington State (mountains/coast)
Woodlake, New Hampshire
North Boston, Massachusetts
Herber, Arizona
Denver, Colorado
Pennsylvania and Connecticut

Massachusetts (Boston), California (Los Angeles, San Diego), Oregon (Portland), North Carolina (Sugar Mountain, Asheville), New York (New York City, Atlantic West), Florida (Tampa area, Jacksonville, Nassau), Colorado (Montlake), Montana (Polson), New Jersey (Northside), Georgia (Fulton County), Ohio (Dayton), Texas (Fort Worth),


The Mirror Realm

Various locations in the Mirror Realm

France

Paris

Fantasy China

The Grass Sea and various cities

Fantasy Japan/Southeast Asia/maybe China


Outer Space

The Ark

Ellwyn

Country of Ellwyn


St. Thomas

Indigo Royal Resort


Australia

Peridot Island


Canada

Vancouver

October 2022 Wrap Up

October was a busy month for me reading/writing reviews. I finally feel that I am getting back to where I was preCovid!!

Here is what I read/posted in October.

As always, let me know if you have read any of these books and (if you did) what you thought of them.


Books I Read:


Books I got from NetGalley:


Books I got from Authors/Indie Publishers:


Books Reviewed

Nightmares & Daydreams by Dominic J. Anton (review here)

The Lost Son by Aidan Lucid (review here)

The Man without Shelter by Indrajit Gara (review here)

Fleshed Out by Rob Ulitski (review here)

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner (review here)

Steel Fear by Brandon Webb and John David Mann (review here)

The Last Huntress by Lenore Borja (review coming November 1st)

Alias Emma by Ava Glass (review coming November 2nd)

Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett (review here)

A Broken Clock Never Boils by C.J. Weiss (review coming November 3rd)

A Sliver of Darkness by C.J. Tudor (review coming November 8th)

WWW Wednesday: October 5th, 2022

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Personal:

  • Thursday was Miss R’s birthday. She turned 9 years old. We didn’t do anything big for her, just a few presents and a cake. Speaking of that, I forgot to order her birthday cake. So much was going on over these last couple of weeks; it slipped my mind. Thankfully, she was OK with a mini cake and a bunch of cupcakes.
  • Miss R’s horseback riding lesson moved to Wednesday afternoon because of Hurricane Ian. Noting too much to talk about there except she fell, hit the horse on the muzzle, the horse reared up, and then stepped on her foot. Thank God for pasture boots!! Her foot wasn’t even bruised.
  • They canceled school on Friday due to Ian. Of course, the kids were thrilled. Me, not so much…lol. And Ian didn’t hit us like they thought it would. We barely got rain and wind.
  • We went to our local Comic Con on Saturday. 2 out of 3 kids were happy that we went. The 3rd one was a grouch. We got some knick-knacks, and I got this awesome picture. One of the girls that go to school with Miss B drew it. I think she is very talented.
  • We finally got our insurance cards. Now I can breathe easy, and the kids can get sick…lol.
  • I haven’t been updating my old blog posts lately. I haven’t had the time, and honestly, at night, all I want to do is go to bed. But I do plan on starting it up again shortly.
  • Wednesday, I took Jesper to his yearly vet appointment. There, I got it confirmed that he is deaf. I think my vet was worried that I would relinquish ownership of him because she told me that she could put me in touch with a rescue if I wanted. I was like, “No, I just need to know to put it on his chip information and for you to have it at the office.” That sweet cat isn’t going anywhere.

So that’s the essential things for this past week. How was your week?

As always, let me know if you have read or are planning to read any of these books!!


What I Recently Finished Reading:

Alice Daniels has a problem. Her reflection keeps misbehaving when she looks in the mirror–and the longer she ignores it, the harder it tries to get her attention. On her eighteenth birthday, she learns why: she is a huntress, someone gifted with the power to enter mirrors and the magical world that exists beyond. But with this power comes immense responsibility, for in the Mirror Realm lurks an evil that has infected the human race for centuries: demons. It is up to her and her three huntress sisters–with the help of one handsome and overbearing protector–to hunt and banish this evil one demon at a time, thereby keeping the chaos in check. But when an ancient god pays Alice a visit that turns deadly, it is clear the Mirror Realm is more than it seems, and she soon finds herself in a race against time to save the life–and soul–of the one man the gods are determined to never let her have.

The Last Huntress is a story of redemption and sacrifice, the bonds of true sisterhood, and the impossible, sometimes frightening, things we’ll do for love.


What I am currently reading:

Emma Makepeace is about to spend the longest night in her life.

She’s on her first operation with a shadowy organisation known only as ‘The Agency’, assigned to track down and save an innocent man wanted by the Russian government.

All Emma has to do is bring him in to MI6 before sunrise, and before an assassination team gets to him first.

But the Russians have hacked the city’s CCTV cameras. There are spies all over London searching for the two of them. And her target, Michael Primalov, doesn’t want to be rescued.

As London sleeps, a battle is taking place on its streets as Emma fights to keep Michael alive.

But what sort of reception await them if and when they get to MI6?


What books I think I’ll read next:

The debut short story collection from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man, featuring ten bone-chilling and mind-bending tales

Timeslips. Doomsday scenarios. Killer butterflies. C. J. Tudor’s novels are widely acclaimed for their dark, twisty suspense plots, but with A Sliver of Darkness, she pulls us even further into her dizzying imagination.

In Final Course, the world has descended into darkness, but a group of old friends make time for one last dinner party. In Runaway Blues, thwarted love, revenge, and something very nasty stowed in a hat box converge. In Gloria, a strange girl at a service station endears herself to a cold-hearted killer, but can a leopard really change its spots? And in I’m Not Ted, a case of mistaken identity has unforeseen, fatal consequences.

Riveting and explosively original, A Sliver of Darkness is C. J. Tudor at her most wicked and uninhibited.

An epic fantasy ode to martial arts and magic—the story of a spoiled hero, an exacting grandmaster, and an immortal god-king from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lives of Tao.

It has been foretold: A child will rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, a cruel immortal god-king, and save the kingdom.

The hero: Jian, who has been raised since birth in luxury and splendor, celebrated before he has won a single battle.

But the prophecy was wrong.

Because when Taishi, the greatest war artist of her generation, arrives to evaluate the prophesied hero, she finds a spoiled brat unprepared to face his destiny.

But the only force more powerful than fate is Taishi herself. Possessed of an iron will, a sharp tongue—and an unexpectedly soft heart—Taishi will find a way to forge Jian into the weapon and leader he needs to be in order to fulfill his legend.

What follows is a journey more wondrous than any prophecy can foresee: a story of master and student, assassin and revolutionary, of fallen gods and broken prophecies, and of a war between kingdoms, and love and friendship between deadly rivals.

Ohioana Book Award finalist Ruth Emmie Lang returns with a new cast of ordinary characters with extraordinary abilities.

Five years ago, Nora Wilder disappeared. The older of her two daughters, Zadie, should have seen it coming, because she can literally see things coming. But not even her psychic abilities were able to prevent their mother from vanishing one morning.

Zadie’s estranged younger sister, Finn, can’t see into the future, but she has an uncannily good memory, so good that she remembers not only her own memories, but the echoes of memories other people have left behind. On the afternoon of her graduation party, Finn is seized by an “echo” more powerful than anything she’s experienced before: a woman singing a song she recognizes, a song about a bird…

When Finn wakes up alone in an aviary with no idea of how she got there, she realizes who the memory belongs to: Nora.

Now, it’s up to Finn to convince her sister that not only is their mom still out there, but that she wants to be found. Against Zadie’s better judgement, she and Finn hit the highway, using Finn’s echoes to retrace Nora’s footsteps and uncover the answer to the question that has been haunting them for years: Why did she leave?

But the more time Finn spends in their mother’s past, the harder it is for her to return to the present, to return to herself. As Zadie feels her sister start to slip away, she will have to decide what lengths she is willing to go to to find their mother, knowing that if she chooses wrong, she could lose them both for good.

Two warriors shepherd an ancient god across a broken land to end the tyrannical reign of a royal family in this new epic fantasy from the author of The Vanished Birds.

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022—Tordotcom, BookPage, LitHub

The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—hold the countryside in their choking grip. They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace.

But that god cannot be contained forever.

With the aid of Jun, a guard broken by his guilt-stricken past, and Keema, an outcast fighting for his future, the god escapes from her royal captivity and flees from her own children, the triplet Terrors who would drag her back to her unholy prison. And so it is that she embarks with her young companions on a five-day pilgrimage in search of freedom—and a way to end the Moon Throne forever. The journey ahead will be more dangerous than any of them could have imagined.

Both a sweeping adventure story and an intimate exploration of identity, legacy, and belonging, The Spear Cuts Through Water is an ambitious and profound saga that will transport and transform you—and is like nothing you’ve ever read before.

WWW Wednesday: September 28th, 2022

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Personal:

  • Miss R had a better week at school. Her teacher only called me once, and that was to let me know that she was begging to go home (which I said no to because she wasn’t sick). She wasn’t my biggest fan for a couple of days but got over it.
  • Wires were crossed last week. What do I mean by that? Well, I pick up a little boy from school and drop him off at his mother’s work Monday-Thursday. I don’t mind doing this because a) I have known her for over 6 years (Miss R and this boy played t-ball together), and b) I am not going out of my way to drop him off. On Thursday, she never texted me to let me know her husband was picking him up. So, I grabbed him and ignored the horn blaring behind me (people are very aggressive to others waiting in the pickup line. It’s an issue). The secretary, who was directing traffic, made me stop and told me that his dad was behind me. I told her that I would pull over at the first safe area, which was beside the school, in the bus lane. Thankfully his dad was super nice and kept apologizing to me. He also said I would hear from him if he picked up his son other than Friday. I was so embarrassed. BK told me I shouldn’t be and was doing what I was supposed to. That the boy’s mother was to blame for not telling me.
  • Miss R has gotten her groove back with riding. She finally cantered last week, and if you all could see the look on her face!! Her instructor was very excited and told me she hoped to keep this up. I told her that I do too.
  • I don’t know if I mentioned this, but Miss B is on her high school’s prom committee (along with several of her friends). She is very excited about prom (it is a combined junior/senior prom). They are also having a winter dance but no homecoming (this school isn’t included in that for some reason).
  • I am still ahead with reading. I have dipped into the first couple of books on my NetGalley list that I have mentioned. So far, I knocked two off (go me!!). I am hoping to get those reviews posted fairly soon.
  • Loki and Vinnie had their vet appointments on Monday. Loki weighs a lot less than I thought (10lbs). Both are in perfect health!!

So that’s the essential things for this past week. How was your week?

As always, let me know if you have read or are planning to read any of these books!!


What I Recently Finished Reading:

The moment Navy SEAL sniper Finn sets foot on the USS Abraham Lincoln to hitch a ride home from the Persian Gulf, it’s clear something is deeply wrong. Leadership is weak. Morale is low. And when crew members start disappearing one by one, what at first seems like a random string of suicides soon reveals something far more sinister: There’s a serial killer on board.Suspicion falls on Finn, the newcomer to the ship. After all, he’s being sent home in disgrace, recalled from the field under the dark cloud of a mission gone horribly wrong. He’s also a lone wolf, haunted by gaps in his memory and the elusive sense that something he missed may have contributed to civilian deaths on his last assignment. Finding the killer offers a chance at redemption . . . if he can stay alive long enough to prove it isn’t him.

What I am currently reading:

A god wages war—using all of humanity as its pawns—in the unforgettable conclusion to the Founders trilogy.

Sancia, Clef, and Berenice have gone up against plenty of long odds in the past. But the war they’re fighting now is one even they can’t win.

This time, they’re not facing robber-baron elites, or even an immortal hierophant, but an entity whose intelligence is spread over half the globe—a ghost in the machine that uses the magic of scriving to possess and control not just objects, but human minds.

To fight it, they’ve used scriving technology to transform themselves and their allies into an army—a society—that’s like nothing humanity has seen before. With its strength at their backs, they’ve freed a handful of their enemy’s hosts from servitude, even brought down some of its fearsome, reality-altering dreadnaughts. Yet despite their efforts, their enemy marches on—implacable. Unstoppable.

Now, as their opponent closes in on its true prize—an ancient doorway, long buried, that leads to the chambers at the center of creation itself—Sancia and her friends glimpse a chance at reaching it first, and with it, a last desperate opportunity to stop this unbeatable foe. But to do so, they’ll have to unlock the centuries-old mystery of scriving’s origins, embark on a desperate mission into the heart of their enemy’s power, and pull off the most daring heist they’ve ever attempted.

And as if that weren’t enough, their adversary might just have a spy in their ranks—and a last trick up its sleeve.

What books I think I’ll read next:

A hair-obsessed serial killer…
A flesh-eating motorway pileup…
A grotesque holiday illness…

Forget what you think you know about the human body. In Rob Ulitski’s debut short story collection, get ready for a thrilling, gut-churning ride through death, disease and destruction.

Boasting thirteen unique stories and a whole host of brutal bodily afflictions, ‘Fleshed Out’ explores the fragility of flesh and blood, and the gruesome ways our bodies can twist, contort and transform into our worst nightmares.
Alice Daniels has a problem. Her reflection keeps misbehaving when she looks in the mirror–and the longer she ignores it, the harder it tries to get her attention. On her eighteenth birthday, she learns why: she is a huntress, someone gifted with the power to enter mirrors and the magical world that exists beyond. But with this power comes immense responsibility, for in the Mirror Realm lurks an evil that has infected the human race for centuries: demons. It is up to her and her three huntress sisters–with the help of one handsome and overbearing protector–to hunt and banish this evil one demon at a time, thereby keeping the chaos in check. But when an ancient god pays Alice a visit that turns deadly, it is clear the Mirror Realm is more than it seems, and she soon finds herself in a race against time to save the life–and soul–of the one man the gods are determined to never let her have.

The Last Huntress is a story of redemption and sacrifice, the bonds of true sisterhood, and the impossible, sometimes frightening, things we’ll do for love.
Emma Makepeace is about to spend the longest night in her life.

She’s on her first operation with a shadowy organisation known only as ‘The Agency’, assigned to track down and save an innocent man wanted by the Russian government.

All Emma has to do is bring him in to MI6 before sunrise, and before an assassination team gets to him first.

But the Russians have hacked the city’s CCTV cameras. There are spies all over London searching for the two of them. And her target, Michael Primalov, doesn’t want to be rescued.

As London sleeps, a battle is taking place on its streets as Emma fights to keep Michael alive.

But what sort of reception await them if and when they get to MI6?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Fall 2020 Reading List

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

How it works:

She assigns each Tuesday a topic and then posts her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re welcome to join her and create your list of top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.). Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.


I have a lot of books on my TBR at the moment and keep adding more each day. But these books that I am going to showcase here are books I will be reading this fall. Some you might see reviews for, some you might not. Some might be books sitting on my TBR shelf, some might be author/publisher request book reviews, and others might be books I took off my NetGalley Will Not Give Feedback page. But, I plan to read all of these books this fall (and I will let you guys know under which category these books fall).

As always, let me know if you have read any of these books and what you have thought of them!!


1. Nightmares & Daydreams by Dominic J. Anton (author request)

Nightmares & Daydreams unravels the dark consequences of suppressing one’s innermost traumas and pain. Kalim, a 27 year old songwriter living with his boyfriend in Marseille, becomes tortured by nightmares, hallucinations and out of body experiences, as the trauma from his past starts to ripple from the depths of his subconscious. An entity starts to emerge through the fog of his tortured mind, haunting him within his nightmares.

After violent nights and dark days of suffering and relapsing into volatile vices, Kalim is forced to follow the ominous entity as his final hope for salvation. Dominic Anton’s third book and first paranormal fiction thriller further comprises a section of poetry expanding on the theme’s of addiction, trauma, loss of faith, and shedding the skin of the past.

2. The Lost Son by Aidan Lucid (Author Request)

A NEW EPIC FANTASY ADVENTURE BEGINS!!

It’s November 5th, 1945. Captain Edward Johnson and Sergeant Conor MacCall are flying somewhere over the Bermuda Triangle. What should have been a routine patrol mission turns into a fight for their lives when they are attacked by two dragons! After barely escaping, they think the worst is over. It’s not.

Fast forward to present day America and seventeen-year-old Henry’s life is turned upside down when he finds a magical gold coin. It takes him to Zargothia. There he meets the US Airforce pilots and Jasper the cat. Together they learn that they have been chosen to free King Argoth and the people of Zargothia from a cruel oppressive race known as the Sadarkians. With King Argoth’s army being vastly outnumbered, however, will Henry and his friends succeed?

In this fast-paced fantasy adventure, danger lurks around every corner and nothing is what it seems.”

3. The Man without Shelter by Indrajit Garai (author request)

Lucy, a young lawyer, is on fast track to partnership in her firm. Arnault, a convicted felon, leaves prison after two decades through a piece of evidence in his favor. The two of them come together during a rescue operation at the centre of Paris, and then they go on with their separate lives.

Months later, their paths cross again at a camp for migrants on the edge of Paris.

4. Fleshed Out by Rob Ulitski (author request)

5. The Genesis of Evangeline by Rachel Jonas (from TBR pile)

Wolves, dragon shifters, and a fallen kingdom destined to rise again.

Evie Callahan is positive there’s something strange going on in Seaton Falls, her new home. The locals are bigger, stronger, and faster than most. That includes Nick, the boy next door who’s become her silver lining in this godforsaken town.


She wants to trust her instincts–about Nick, about what she suspects in Seaton Falls–but rumors of wolves and dragon shifters makes it hard to tell what’s real. With a history of odd dreams and the nagging sense that she’s never belonged, Evie fears she’s losing touch with reality. Her concern only grows when someone who’s haunted these dreams is suddenly tangible… and claims to hold the key to unlocking her true identity.

Finding out her entire life has been a lie is scary enough, but what’s downright terrifying is discovering who she’s destined to become.

Evie’s much more than your average, seventeen-year-old girl.

And this is her genesis.

6. Dirty Blue by N.E. Henderson (from TBR pile)

D R A G O   A C E R B I

I’ve known his name a long time. You’d have to live under a rock not to know of the heartless and cruel reputation the Acerbi family has established. They are monsters cloaked in suits and ties, or so my colleagues in blue have said. Being on the job, you quickly learn to watch your back, trust no one, and as much as I hate to admit this, sometimes that includes a fellow badge.


But to want to kill your own child for being born? Now that’s monstrous. Unjust. And something I will not stand for. I’ll take him down before I allow an innocent to be harmed.

Even if that means not only taking on the most dangerous family in Southern California but bringing down the drug lord they’re in bed with too.

7. Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner (NetGalley Will Not Get Feedback)

Six years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life, looking as lovely and successful as ever, with a massive favor to ask. Daphne hasn’t spoken one word to Drue in all this time—she doesn’t even hate-follow her ex-best friend on social media—so when Drue asks if she will be her maid-of-honor at the society wedding of the summer, Daphne is rightfully speechless.

Drue was always the one who had everything—except the ability to hold onto friends. Meanwhile, Daphne’s no longer the same self-effacing sidekick she was back in high school. She’s built a life that she loves, including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Letting glamorous, seductive Drue back into her life is risky, but it comes with an invitation to spend a weekend in a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. When Drue begs and pleads and dangles the prospect of cute single guys, Daphne finds herself powerless as ever to resist her friend’s siren song.

A sparkling novel about the complexities of female friendship, the pitfalls of living out loud and online, and the resilience of the human heart, Big Summer is a witty, moving story about family, friendship, and figuring out what matters most. 

8. Steel Fear by Brandon Webb and John David Mann (NetGalley Will Not Give Feedback)

The moment Navy SEAL sniper Finn sets foot on the USS Abraham Lincoln to hitch a ride home from the Persian Gulf, it’s clear something is deeply wrong. Leadership is weak. Morale is low. And when crew members start disappearing one by one, what at first seems like a random string of suicides soon reveals something far more sinister: There’s a serial killer on board.Suspicion falls on Finn, the newcomer to the ship. After all, he’s being sent home in disgrace, recalled from the field under the dark cloud of a mission gone horribly wrong. He’s also a lone wolf, haunted by gaps in his memory and the elusive sense that something he missed may have contributed to civilian deaths on his last assignment. Finding the killer offers a chance at redemption . . . if he can stay alive long enough to prove it isn’t him.

9 Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett (NetGalley Will Not Give Feedback)

A god wages war—using all of humanity as its pawns—in the unforgettable conclusion to the Founders trilogy.

Sancia, Clef, and Berenice have gone up against plenty of long odds in the past. But the war they’re fighting now is one even they can’t win.

This time, they’re not facing robber-baron elites, or even an immortal hierophant, but an entity whose intelligence is spread over half the globe—a ghost in the machine that uses the magic of scriving to possess and control not just objects, but human minds.


To fight it, they’ve used scriving technology to transform themselves and their allies into an army—a society—that’s like nothing humanity has seen before. With its strength at their backs, they’ve freed a handful of their enemy’s hosts from servitude, even brought down some of its fearsome, reality-altering dreadnaughts. Yet despite their efforts, their enemy marches on—implacable. Unstoppable.

Now, as their opponent closes in on its true prize—an ancient doorway, long buried, that leads to the chambers at the center of creation itself—Sancia and her friends glimpse a chance at reaching it first, and with it, a last desperate opportunity to stop this unbeatable foe. But to do so, they’ll have to unlock the centuries-old mystery of scriving’s origins, embark on a desperate mission into the heart of their enemy’s power, and pull off the most daring heist they’ve ever attempted.

And as if that weren’t enough, their adversary might just have a spy in their ranks—and a last trick up its sleeve.

10. The Last Huntress by Lenore Borja (Publisher Request)

Alice Daniels has a problem. Her reflection keeps misbehaving when she looks in the mirror–and the longer she ignores it, the harder it tries to get her attention. On her eighteenth birthday, she learns why: she is a huntress, someone gifted with the power to enter mirrors and the magical world that exists beyond. But with this power comes immense responsibility, for in the Mirror Realm lurks an evil that has infected the human race for centuries: demons. It is up to her and her three huntress sisters–with the help of one handsome and overbearing protector–to hunt and banish this evil one demon at a time, thereby keeping the chaos in check. But when an ancient god pays Alice a visit that turns deadly, it is clear the Mirror Realm is more than it seems, and she soon finds herself in a race against time to save the life–and soul–of the one man the gods are determined to never let her have.

The Last Huntress is a story of redemption and sacrifice, the bonds of true sisterhood, and the impossible, sometimes frightening, things we’ll do for love.