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One Line Reviews Of Some Books I Read This Year (January โ June 2023)
This is a round up of the books I read on the 1st half of this year that Iโm too lazy to do a full review.
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SERIES REVIEW: Secrets and Scrabble Books 6-7 by Josh Lanyon
Secrets and Scrabble: Lament at Loon Landing – Josh Lanyon
Fakes, folk music, and ghost fires
When legendary folk singer Lara Fairplay agrees to make her comeback appearance at Pirate Coveโs annual maritime music festival, everyone in the quaint seaside village is delightedโincluding mystery bookstore owner and sometimes amateur sleuth, Ellery Page.
Lara is scheduled to perform a recently discovered piece of music attributed to โthe father of American music,โ Stephen Foster.
Several mysterious accidents later, Ellery is less delightedโespecially when it becomes clear to him that someone plans to silence the celebrity songbird forever.
Rating:
4 Stars โ minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Loon
Artist: Volody
Album
Secrets and Scrabble: Death at the Deep Dive – Josh Lanyon
When Pirate Cove’s mystery bookstore owner and sometimes-amateur sleuth Ellery Page discovers a vintage diving collection bag full of antique gold coins tucked away for safe keeping in the stockroom of The Crowโs Nest, it sets off a series of increasingly dangerous events, culminating in meeting Police Chief Jack Carsonโs parents. Erโฆ Culminating in murder.
Rating:
4 Stars โ minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Dive
Artist: Olivia Dean
Album
Secrets and Scrabble is a charming cozy mystery set in small-town Pirates’ Cove starring former actor and now bookseller Ellery Page, and his boyfriend, Police Chief Jack Carson.
At this point, the series is now more cozy than mysterious. The experience more a pleasant visit to old (very nosy) friends than an exercise at sleuthing. The books are highly entertaining, the characters are mostly septuagenarians running a very, very efficient gossip mill, and Ellery and Jack are uber-endearing as a couple.
For Lament at Loon Landing, the island is graced by the presence of an ex-con folk singer and her colorful entourage. With death threats hanging over her head, Ellery is voluntold to find out if the threats are real. Our boy now has a reputation as a sleuth, and as much as it exasperates Jack, the chief is still the supportive boyfriend who helps Ellery with tips a.k.a. case notes here and there.
Death at the Deep Dive circles back to the doubloons Ellery and Jack found during their diving date in Book 5, Body at Buccaneer’s Bay. The matriarch of one of the old families, the Shantys, hired Ellery to find out who killed her brother, the former owner of the doubloons.
For both books, the culprits were very obvious. I’m not sure if author Josh Lanyon is mirroring the real world, where the main suspect is usually the criminal. It was all a matter of tagging along until Ellery connected the dots.
Not to say the mysteries are not intriguing because they are. It’s how they weave through island life, moving Ellery through various peoples and locales of Pirate’s Cove. It makes everything more immersive.
In Book 6, the conflict between the MCs is Jack torn between his duty as the police chief and his personal connections with the people involved in the case. I am Team Jack here because the Chief is really just doing his job.
For Book 7, not much relationship conflict here. Things are getting more serious between Ellery and Jack. The ending was a super cute surprise!
Lament at Loon Landing and Death at the Deep Dive kept Secrets and Scrabble‘s cozy small-town magic going strong. The mysteries might not be mindboggling, but overall, I’m eager for another exciting stay.
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RELEASE BLITZ: Deliciously Enchanted by Jessamyn Kingley (Excerpt)
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RELEASE TOUR: Leonidas Nightshade and the Amethyst School for Spellcasters by Dion Marc (Giveaway)
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REVIEW: The Rycke by Lily Mayne
Monstrous: The Rycke – Lily Mayne
Life as a raider in the Wastes, where monsters roam and the military lurks, is as easy as it sounds.
Iโve been out here for a long time, and the fear that courses through my blood every time I have to step outside our camp walls to scavenge never fades. No matter how many monsters you faceโand have to run for your life fromโit doesnโt ever get easier.
But when I come across a bound and injured monster in an abandoned military base, I canโt leave him behind. His presence in our camp is causing tension, but I canโt bring myself to care when I get to see a different side to himโwhen he starts to show me who he is, beneath the pain and lingering trauma.
But despite his gentle nature, I soon discover why others are so desperate to own him. Why the military, and now this stranger lurking outside our camp, want to put him back in chains and take him away from me.
Thereโs something hiding under his skin. Something that threatens to upend my entire life, the one Iโve spent my years carefully protecting out here.
Thereโs a reason why all other monsters fear him.
The Rycke is Book Three of the Monstrous series, a post-apocalyptic m/m fantasy series that features monsters and human men falling in love. It is best to read the series in order. Warning: This m/m love story contains explicit sexual content and is not suitable for young readers. It also contains graphic depictions of torture and violence, and deals with PTSD.
I wish I read this series sooner because three book in, it’s pretty obvious Monstrous is one of the best MM fantasy series out there! The books should be read in order because each monster/human couple has been a delight so far.
The series is set in post-apocalyptic America, where twenty years ago, a rift allowed monsters to come to earth. The only safe places for humans were the coastlines. The military controlled everything, and those who disobeyed were left to die in the Wastes. However, some chose to live there. Raiders built isolated camps, wore masks and used code names so the military couldn’t identify them.
The third book, The Rycke, is told from the POV of Gage, raider name: Ghost. He and his best friend, Rig, were scavenging through the wrecked army base from Book 1, Soul Eater. They found a chained, injured monster, Aury, who they quickly set free and took their raider camp to heal. To their surprise, Aury is the rycke, a monster so fearsome that even his fellow monsters avoid him.
It was hard to believe because Aury has such a gentle, shy nature. How this kind-hearted, soft-spoken individual turned into a maelstrom of death and destruction was one of the most jaw-dropping scenes in the entire series!
The writing brilliantly lulled me with its fluffy, angst-tinged romantic development akin to the swooniest YA romance. We learned more about the other denizens of the Wastes, the raiders, a mysterious woman with monsters for pets, a rare monster-human hybrid and asshole extraordinaire named Moth who has his own book, and another enigmatic but deadly character named Lilac whose book I’m super excited to read.
Gage is the camp scout, always tasked to make forays to many dangerous places to scavenge or find clues to the whereabout of the camp’s other leader, Cat, who is missing. He hates doing this but feels it’s the only way to make himself useful. It led to antagonistic encounters with the camp’s other leader Anchor, and another nay-saying raider, Cutter.
In one of these missions, Aury snapped! And holy shit, it was beast-mode gone nuclear!
This forced Gage to make life-altering decisions. These were also some of the most heartbreaking scenes where Gage learned how much of a martyr ryckes actually are. Aury and Gage’s story was intensely emotional, and narrator Michael Lesley wrung every emotion out of those scenes. I found myself holding my breath through these pivotal moments. Nearly cried at the part where beast Aury was trying to say Gage’s name.
This book would have been a 5, but the separation scene in the last parts didn’t make much sense to me given that they quickly reunited just because Moth took it upon himself to fetch Aury. The ending was also bittersweet and not as satisfying as, say, Wyn, the Soul Eater making it his mission to have his human, Danny, be with him forever (from Wyn the novella).
The Rycke is another brilliant monster romance. A story of self-sacrifice, friendship, and survival sweeping me away in a whirlwind of tears and feels!
Rating:
4.5 Stars โ perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Black Moon
Artist: Greg Dully
Album: Random DesireP.S.
Meet the other monster+human couples in Soul Eater and Edin.
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SOUL EATER: Kindle | Audiobook
EDIN: Kindle | Audiobook
THE RYCKE: Kindle | AudiobookIf you like my content, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi or PayPal. Your donations will help keep this website going. Thank you so much!
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RELEASE BLITZ: The Realist by Riley Hart (Giveaway)
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REVIEW: Zero Divergence by Aimee Nicole Walker
Zero Hour: Zero Divergence – Aimee Nicole Walker
Zero Divergence, noun: no deviation from a course or standard.
After a key piece of evidence goes missing, a suspected serial rapist and killer evades prosecution. More than Royce Lockeโs reputation is on the line when his investigation into the failed chain of custody suggests Franco Humphries mightโve had inside help. Thereโs no one Royce trusts more than Sawyer Key to help him right a wrong and uncover the traitor in their midst, but can they do it before the Savannah Strangler strikes again?
Relentless plus fearless equals flawless. Sawyer and Royce have come full circleโfrom hostile strangers to best friends and lovers. Neither a sniperโs bullet nor an arsonistโs fire could keep them apart, but what about a psychopath hell-bent on revenge? The stakes are high, and thereโs no turning back now because the zero hour is upon them. Tick tock.
Zero Divergence is the conclusion to the best-selling Zero Hour series, which follows Locke and Keyโs investigations and evolving relationship. This is a series you MUST read in order. It contains mature language and sexual content intended for adults 18 and older.
Trigger warning: Part of the storyline involves coming to terms with a friendโs suicide, which may be difficult for some people to read.
Back when Zero Divergence was newly released, I read a review complaining about the unsatisfying parking lot HFN closing scene of the series finale. It put me off this book, but now we know author Aimee Nicole Walker has something more in store for Sawyer and Royce, in their second series, Sawyer and Royce: Matrimony and Mayhem.
Before I delve into that, this finale needs to be read.
The story picks up right after the big fire in Book 2, Devil’s Hour. Sawyer is coping with the aftermath of his injuries, bit of a blow to his vanity but trying not to let it so. Royce is the extra supportive and loving boyfriend so relationship-wise, the boys are stronger than ever. Uptight Sawyer now shows his playful side more often.
The plot tackles the case of a serial killer who was convicted but released after key evidence went missing. It is a disturbing tale of how charismatic serial killers could be and the lengths their rabid, deluded fans go through to aid and abet their evil schemes.
So the detectives had to play it smart, especially with the killer easily gaining sympathy and many people still believing his innocence. The investigation brought together various frenemies with the necessary skills, many of them characters from the spin off series, Sinister in Savannah.
This is the kind of mystery where I enjoy tagging along with the detectives. I am also heavily invested in them giving the villain his comeuppance. The bad guys were already known, and it was a matter of retracing evidence, and gathering new ones to make sure the vile bastard stayed in prison for good.
Zero Divergence doesn’t read like a series finale, and we now know why. But it gives us one hell of a showdown and a satisfying conclusion to a gripping investigation. Overall, a solid police procedural and a romantic suspense that delivers the squees and the thrills!
Rating:
4 Stars โ minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Bound
Artist: Indiana
Album
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Zero Divergence: US
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ZERO DIVERGENCE
If you like my content, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi or PayPal. Your donations will help keep this website going. Thank you so much!
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BLOG TOUR: Asking for a Friend by J.J. Harper (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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BOOK BLITZ: Starseer by Katya Hernandez (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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BOOK TOUR: Hawthorne Manor by Bryan T. Clark (Excerpt)
