This is a weekly meme in which anyone can choose and highlight a random book from their Goodreads TBR. It was formerly featured on LaurensPageTurners and was taken over by Budget Tales Book Blog.
Tremble Dawson thinks her biggest worry is completing her college internship at a mega successful advertising agency. That is, until she discovers her seemingly normal upbringing has all been an illusion. Her life is turned upside down when a handsome stranger pays a visit and offers to be a special kind of bodyguard to protect her from an evil force bent on making her fulfill a twisted prophecy.
Perhaps, she should have paid more attention to her unusual bosses or the sparks that uncontrollably fly out of her fingertips. Despite the clues along the way, Tremble is not prepared to learn that her existence is full of secrets—secrets from another world. As she discovers her true identity and the mystery that surrounds her heritage, Tremble realizes there’s a bounty on her future and she is the one who must pay the price.
Join Tremble on a bewitching adventure as she begins her journey to another world full of enchanting surprises.
This is a weekly meme in which anyone can choose and highlight a random book from their Goodreads TBR. It was formerly featured on LaurensPageTurners and was taken over by Budget Tales Book Blog.
There’s really no way to prepare…for something…like this…
Step into the shrouded realm of mysteries – a place where ordinary people have extraordinary abilities, where dark shadows hide unspeakable evil and pure light veils unbelievable power…
Tray and Ember Pateman are gypsies, living on their own, hiding in plain sight. They appear to be average high school siblings, but appearances can be deceiving. Gifted with supernatural abilities, they must learn to wield their epic powers before the approaching evil arrives.
Join them as they face off against the wicked shadows. Unearth a clandestine culture. Discover the shrouded unknown. Begin to unravel the mysteries in Ember Rising Light, book one in the epic fantasy six book Ember Series.
This is a weekly meme in which anyone can choose and highlight a random book from their Goodreads TBR. It was formerly featured on LaurensPageTurners and was taken over by Budget Tales Book Blog.
Doctor Benjamin Abbott started his career as surgeon, working in all parts of the world with one goal…to bring medicine to people who would never see it otherwise. With a brilliant mind and determined drive, he quickly found himself working for pharmaceutical companies, research labs and governments across the globe. He should have been prepared for any place his career could take him. He could never be more wrong about that…. Ben’s Last mission left him freezing and alone on a desolate island in the North Atlantic, or so he thought until he was captured and at the mercy of an entire warrior race. An undiscovered breed of humanoids with a thirst for battle and no regard for human life. He is quickly duped into marrying a woman who had become infatuated with him, and soon learns the price of such a mistake. The only way to keep himself and her alive is to use his healing powers to barter not just for his freedom but for his protection. As word spreads of his skills he finds he is little more than a trophy and commodity to the Joutone, kidnapped, bartered for, traded, fought over, but never to return home. Ben’s only hope for survival becomes the one beast who seems to want nothing more than to see him dead. It is at his mercy that he learns there is no hope of ever seeing home again, and that the rest of his life will be a struggle for survival.
In this darkly funny supernatural mystery about an unlikely crime-solving duo that launches a commercial, unique, and genre-blending series, death is only the beginning.
Ruby Young’s new Boston apartment comes with all the usual perks. Windows facing the brick wall of the next-door building. Heat that barely works. A malfunctioning buzzer. Noisy neighbors. A dead body on the sidewalk outside. And of course, a ghost.
Since Cordelia Graves died in her apartment a few months ago, she’s kept up her residency, despite being bored out of her (non-tangible) skull and frustrated by her new roommate. When her across-the-hall neighbor, Jake Macintyre, is shot and killed in an apparent mugging gone wrong outside their building, Cordelia is convinced there’s more to it and is determined to bring his killer to justice.
Unfortunately, Cordelia, being dead herself, can’t solve the mystery alone. She has to enlist the help of the obnoxiously perky, living tenant of her apartment. Ruby is twenty, annoying, and has never met a houseplant she couldn’t kill. But she also can do everything Cordelia can’t, from interviewing suspects to researching Jake on the library computers that go up in a puff of smoke if Cordelia gets too close. The roommates form an unlikely friendship as they get closer to the truth about Jake’s death…and maybe other dangerous secrets as well.
First Line:
I didn’t know how long I saw cross-legged in the snow, waiting for the dead man crumpled on the ground in front of my building to wake up.
Important details about A New Lease on Death
Pace: Fast
POV: 1st person (Cordelia and Ruby)
Content/Trigger Guidance: A New Lease on Death contains themes that include suicide, cheating, infidelity, domestic abuse, domestic violence, alcohol consumption, alcohol abuse, blood, body horror, dead bodies, physical injuries, death, grief, loss depiction, gun violence, murder, attempted murder, and physical assault. Please read carefully if you are triggered by any of these.
Language:A New Lease on Death contains mild swearing and language that might offend some people.
Sexual Content: There is mild sexual content in A New Lease on Death.
Setting: A New Lease on Death is set in Boston, Massachusetts.
My Review
The main storyline of A New Lease on Death was exciting and well-written. It is split into two POVs (Cordelia and Ruby) and then further divided into two separate storylines (Jake’s murder and Cordelia’s suicide).
The storyline of Jake’s murder was interesting. First off, I liked how Cordelia was first on the scene and waited for Jake to wake up (for lack of a better word). When that goes sideways, Cordelia returns to her apartment and Ruby. I liked how Cordelia revealed herself to Ruby (she was worried about her last living plant) and how they started investigating Jake’s death together. Ruby had me chuckling throughout the book as she struggled to communicate with a ghost and not look insane.
The storyline that involved Cordelia and her death was sad. The author deliberately kept the facts of her suicide few and far between. There was an acknowledgment that her drinking was a little much and that it could have been a factor in her death. Then, the author puts a neat spin on that angle and sends the storyline in a different direction.
Both mystery angles were well written. I was shocked at who killed Jake and the reason why. Everything said about the guy up until the reveal contradicted it. I also want to give Ruby kudos for bravery because I know I would have freaked out. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, I was surprised by the twist the author put on Cordelia’s death.
The end of A New Lease on Death was mixed for me. I loved that the author could wrap up the storyline with Jake. However, she left Cordelia’s storyline open, and I was slightly frustrated at how it was left. That frustration made me want to read the second book, so it worked.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin, NetGalley, and Kristyn J. Miller for allowing me to read and review this ARC of Given Our History. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
This is a weekly meme where anyone can choose and highlight a random book from their Goodreads TBR. This meme was formerly featured on LaurensPageTurners and was taken over by Budget Tales Book Blog.
This is a post-apocalyptic story about how a hero, John Harris, leads a group of people in rebuilding the country after a major nuclear and EMP attack. A coalition of Islamic Terrorists, Drug Cartels and rogue US Government thugs kill over 200 million people in the USA and Western Europe. John leads the fight against the rogue Department of Home Land Security and Mexican Drug Cartels while the remnants of the US military deal with the terrorist countries overseas. There is no electricity and food and water are running out. Looting, rioting and gang violence are the rule of the day. John’s team fights for survival against very long odds, but John is a hard man for hard times. The four book series spans from 2020 to 2048.
Set in rural Vermont in the volatile 1960s, Agony Hill is the first novel in a new historical series full of vivid New England atmosphere and the deeply drawn characters that are Sarah Stewart Taylor’s trademark.
In the hot summer of 1965, Bostonian Franklin Warren arrives in Bethany, Vermont, to take a position as a detective with the state police. Warren’s new home is on the verge of monumental change; the interstates under construction will bring new people, new opportunities, and new problems to Vermont, and the Cold War and protests against the war in Vietnam have finally reached the dirt roads and rolling pastures of Bethany.
Warren has barely unpacked when he’s called up to a remote farm on Agony Hill. Former New Yorker and Back-to-the-Lander Hugh Weber seems to have set fire to his barn and himself, with the door barred from the inside, but things aren’t adding up for Warren. The people of Bethany—from Weber’s enigmatic wife to Warren’s neighbor, widow and amateur detective Alice Bellows — clearly have secrets they’d like to keep, but Warren can’t tell if the truth about Weber’s death is one of them. As he gets to know his new home and grapples with the tragedy that brought him there, Warren is drawn to the people and traditions of small town Vermont, even as he finds darkness amidst the beauty.
First Line
The day was hot and clear, the sky overhead a thick blue traced here and there with ragged wisps of stringy clouds that reminded Sylvie of the bloody scratches she got when pruning brambles.
Important details about Agony Hill
Pace: Slow but does pick up to medium by the end of the book.
POV: 3rd person (Warren, Alice, and Sylvie)
Series:Agony Hill is the 1st book in the Franklin Warren series.
Content/Trigger Guidance: Agony Hill contains themes that include homelessness, poverty, classism, sexism, misogyny, dubious consent scenario*, adult-minor relationships*, emotional abuse, alcoholism, alcohol consumption, alcohol abuse, pregnancy, blood, cancer*, dead bodies, death of a spouse, grief & loss depiction, death of a parent, fire & arson, gun violence, conscription*, war, murder, and animal cruelty. Please read carefully if any of these triggers you.
Dubious Consent Scenario:Sylvie remembers her first sexual encounter with Hugh. She was pressured into having sex because it was her wedding night.
Adult-Minor Relationship: Hugh was thirty-five when he met and married Sylvie, who was in her mid-teens.
Cancer:Alice goes and visits a neighbor who is dying of cancer during her investigation into who stole bullets and framed a friend of hers.
Conscription: The draft is mentioned at various points during the book. Sylvie interacts with a young man who is a draft dodger.
Language:Agony Hill contains mild swearing and language that might offend some people.
Sexual Content: There is no sexual content in Agony Hill.
Setting: Agony Hill is set in 1965 in Bethany (a fictional city), Vermont.
My Review:
I enjoy reading police procedural novels. I have been reading quite a bit of them, and I am always fascinated by the work and time that goes into solving a case. My fascination grows even more when the book is set in the early days of forensic science. Agony Hill is one of those books.
I was also pleased to see that Agony Hill takes place in Vermont. I can count on one hand the number of books set there in the past year.
Agony Hill is the first book in the Franklin Warren series, but it can also be read as a standalone.
Agony Hill takes place in 1965, and the author mentions the Vietnam War and the draft. The author does explain in her note (at the beginning of the book) that she didn’t use the spelling that most small-town papers used for the war (theyseparated Vietnam into Viet Nam). She didn’t want to confuse people; I am happy she did that. I am also glad there weren’t too many scenes with anti-war protests (actually, there was a brief scene of a veteran marching against the war in the parade).
The main storyline of Agony Hill is centered on Warren (a recently hired detective from Massachusetts), Sylvie (thewife of the victim), and Alice (an amateur detective who is more than she seems). The book is slow. Usually, I’m not too fond of it when books start and stay slow, but in this case, it worked. It allowed me to digest the clues that Warren uncovers, try to figure out who Alice was and the motive behind Hugh being killed. It took me a long time to read, but I enjoyed it.
I have never read a book in which people were so happy to see someone die. I get that Hugh Weber was unlikable, but to have no one, not even his wife or children, mourn for him was a bit much. Of course, the more Warren uncovered about this unpleasant man, the more I could understand why people felt that way.
I liked the main characters (Warren and Sylvie). Each had a compelling backstory, which added mystery to the main storyline (Warren’s background and everything about Sylvie).
I do want to mention Alice. I loved her. She was the epitome of your busybody, widowed neighbor. However, as the author got into her background, it was surprising to discover that she was so much more. Alice has a lot of layers to her, and I feel that the author isn’t done yet with this character.
The mystery angle was well written. The author kept me on my toes about who killed Hugh and why. I had several suspects on my list but started mentally crossing them off as Warren began talking to people. I was shocked at what happened and even more surprised at what Warren did. But, having thought about it, it was the right call.
The end of Agony Hill was interesting. I liked how the author wrapped everything up, but I also liked how she left a little room for the next book. I have a feeling that Bethany, Vermont, is going to be a hopping place now that Warren is there.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, NetGalley, and Sarah Stewart Taylor for allowing me to read and review this ARC of Agony Hill. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
If you enjoy reading books similar to Agony Hill, then you will enjoy these books:
This is a weekly meme where anyone can choose and highlight a random book from their Goodreads TBR. This meme was formerly featured on LaurensPageTurners and was taken over by Budget Tales Book Blog.
Two Fates. Two Worlds. One Love.
Eighteen-year old Daria Jones feels trapped in the cow-strewn suburbs of Fresno, California. And with a father so overprotective he’s installed video and thermal surveillance down the street, she doesn’t get out much. Until the night he disappears.
Following the trail of notes he’s left behind, Daria gathers three things: a dark force is hunting her, her father’s fled to another world on a cryptic mission, and the only one left to trust is her ex-best friend, Alexander Anderson. The more she learns about her father’s absence, the more she realizes she must go to this other world to find him. And Alexander is the only one who knows how to get there.
Amidst a world of diabolical creatures, ancient magic, and bizarrely intuitive vegetation, Daria must find her father before the dark force finds her. But the truth of who she really is could be her greatest enemy of all.
A new Regency romp of a series, about governess who believes in cultivating joy in her charges, clashes with the children’s uncle who hired her, only to find herself falling in love.
When the flighty older sister of former naval captain, Henry Kincaid, decides on a whim to accompany her explorer husband on an expedition to Egypt, he finds himself unwittingly left in the lurch with her three unruly children and her giant, mad dog. With no clue how to manage the little rascals, a busy career at the Admiralty that requires all of his attention, and no idea when his sister is coming back, Harry has to hire an emergency governess to ensure that everything in his ordered house continues to run shipshape. In desperation, he goes to Miss Prentice’s School for Girls prepared to pay whatever it takes to get a governess quick sharp to bring order to the chaos.
Thanks to her miserable, strict upbringing, fledgling governess Georgina Rowe does not subscribe to the ethos that children should be seen and not heard. She believes childhood should be everything that hers wasn’t, filled with laughter, adventure, and discovery. Thankfully, the three Pendleton children she has been tasked with looking after are already delightfully bohemian and instantly embrace her unconventional educational ethos. Their staid, stickler-for-the-rules uncle, however, is another matter entirely…
First Line:
Georgie stared up at the strange building while her stepfather’s latest dour housekeeper supervised the unloading of her things from the back of the hackney.
Important details about All’s Fair in Love and War
Pace: Medium
POV:3rd person (Henry and Georgina)
Series:All’s Fair in Love and War is thefirst book in Miss Prentice’s Protegees series.
Content/Trigger Guidance: All’s Fair in Love and War contains themes that include the death of a parent, child abuse, emotional abuse, animal cruelty, abandonment, classism, era-appropriate sexism & misogyny, anxiety, anxiety attacks, alcohol consumption, military service, military deployment, and conscription.
Language:All’s Fair in Love and War contains mild swearing and language that might offend some people.
Sexual Content: There is moderate sexual content in All’s Fair in Love and War.
Setting: All’s Fair in Love and War is set in London (Mayfair), Plymouth, and Cawsand, England.
My Review
When I started reading All’s Fair in Love and War, I badly needed a book that didn’t require me to think about what I read. The previous three books I had read before this one were heavy books, and I badly needed one that I could coast through. Thankfully, All’s Fair in Love and War let my overstimulated brain rest.
All’s Fair in Love and War is the first book in the Miss Prentice’s Protegee’s series. Since it is the first book, there will be no warning if it is a standalone. You can dive right into this book without having to worry about that.
The storyline of All’s Fair in Love and War follows Georgina and Henry. Georgina has been trained to be a governess at a prestigious school, where she is the founder’s protege. However, she has been having issues finding work because she does not adhere to conventional teaching or raising children. Because of her childhood, which was spent being shuttled from naval base to naval base by her stepfather, she abhors rules and believes that children should be seen and not kept in the classrooms or out of sight. These beliefs have cost her jobs. When Henry, a former naval captain on the fast track to becoming an Admiral, inquired at the agency about governesses after his sister left her three children with him, Georgina was presented and hired. Georgina and Henry’s relationship begins, both working and personal. The more time the two spend together, with and without the children, the closer they get.
Georgina (or Georgie) was way ahead of her time, education-wise, and I liked that. I do have a feeling that Georgie’s views on education and childrearing will upset some of the die-hard Regency readers (too modern), But, for me, it was refreshing. I liked seeing the children bloom under Georgie’s care. I was also surprised when it was revealed (by the children) that their mother taught them and that all of them were smart beyond their years. Georgie considered that in their lessons, and I loved seeing the children learning in an environment that enriched and supported them.
I liked Georgie. She wasn’t afraid to let people know her feelings and views. Her childhood (and the abandonment at Miss Prentice’s school) did scar her, but she refused to let it bring her down. She was authentically herself and stayed true to herself throughout the book.
I also liked Henry. He did come across as an uptight, rigid person at the beginning of the book. But, as his backstory was explained, I understood why he was that way. He was terrified of reliving his childhood with irresponsible parents. But, at the same time, he was also terrified not to live up to the standards that his grandfather and the Royal Navy beat into him. He was also a workaholic and was severely stressed out when Georgie and the children came into his life. He needed them, even if he wouldn’t admit that to himself. His character growth was fun, and I loved seeing him unwind. I also loved seeing him slowly realize there is more to life than work and promotions.
I can’t write this review without mentioning the children or the dogs. The children and Norbert (thedog) stole scenes when they were in them. I laughed at their shenanigans. I also agreed with Henry when he said that they were hellions. And Norbert, you have to read the book to understand my Norbert love (and I am including his son, too). Everyone should have a Norbert.
The romance angle of All’s Fair in Love and War was sweet and a little spicy. Henry fought, falling in love with Georgie. At a point in the book, I got a little frustrated with him because he was hung up on something that happened years earlier (being forced to break an engagement). I would be rich if I had a nickel for every eye roll I did when that woman’s name was mentioned. I liked that Georgie was more straightforward. Once she got to know Henry (saw past what he projected), she fell in love with the inner him.
Of course, there is sex in this book. Because of the chemistry and the build-up that the author did with Henry and Georgie, the sex was fantastic—a little vanilla but amazing.
The end of All’s Fair in Love and War was your typical HEA. I liked that everything worked out for Henry and Georgie. But I am curious about the next book and whether it will be anything like Henry and Georgie’s romance.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin, NetGalley, and Virginia Heath for allowing me to read and review this ARC of All’s Fair in Love and War. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
If you enjoy reading books similar to All’s Fair in Love and War, then you will enjoy these books:
This is a weekly meme where anyone can choose and highlight a random book from their Goodreads TBR. This meme was formerly featured on LaurensPageTurners and was taken over by Budget Tales Book Blog.
Pope Benignus is dying, and the man who takes his throne will hold the reins of an empire. Conspiracies swirl like shadows around Livia, the pope’s daughter, who refuses to be anyone’s pawn: chasing the whispers of a deadly coup, she vows to expose the truth and save her church from disaster. Livia has secrets of her own, though, and one wrong move could cost her life and her soul.
Felix is the scion of a dying merchant house, a man with just one chance to save his family and the woman he loves. His last hope lies in the snowbound hell of Winter’s Reach, a former prison colony turned “free city” under a brutal tyrant’s reign.
Livia and Felix have never crossed paths, but they’ve both been snared in a far greater web than they can imagine. They — along with a pair of veteran bounty hunters, an exiled politician, and a sadistic coven of witches — are cogs in one man’s apocalyptic plan for revenge. A plan which, if it succeeds, will leave an entire nation in flames.
Rise and shine. The Evans women have some undead to kill.
It’s 1999 in Southeast Texas and the Evans women, owners of the only funeral parlor in town, are keeping steady with…normal business. The dead die, you bury them. End of story. That’s how Ducey Evans has done it for the last eighty years, and her progeny―Lenore the experimenter and Grace, Lenore’s soft-hearted daughter, have run Evans Funeral Parlor for the last fifteen years without drama. Ever since That Godawful Mess that left two bodies in the ground and Grace raising her infant daughter Luna, alone.
But when town gossip Mina Jean Murphy’s body is brought in for a regular burial and she rises from the dead instead, it’s clear that the Strigoi―the original vampire―are back. And the Evans women are the ones who need to fight back to protect their town.
As more folks in town turn up dead and Deputy Roger Taylor begins asking way too many questions, Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and now Luna, must take up their blades and figure out who is behind the Strigoi’s return. As the saying goes, what rises up, must go back down. But as unspoken secrets and revelations spill from the past into the present, the Evans family must face that sometimes, the dead aren’t the only things you want to keep buried.
A crackling mystery-horror novel with big-hearted characters and Southern charm with a bite, Bless Your Heart is a gasp-worthy delight from start to finish.
First Line
Edwin Boone was not the kind of man to be intimidated by a walk in the dark.
Important details about Bless Your Heart
Pace: Fast (the entire book takes place within a week of the first death)
POV: 3rd person (Ducey, Lenore, Grace, Luna, Deputy Roger Taylor, Sherriff Johnson, Crane, Snow Ledger, and Edwin Boone (the last two being victims of the vampire))
Series: 1st book in the Bless Your Heart series
Content/Trigger Warnings: Bless Your Heart contains themes of death, gore, violence, blood, body horror, child death, murder, animal cruelty, vomit, medical content, death of a parent, injury and injury detail, homophobia, grief, alcoholism, eating disorder, toxic relationship, mass/school shootings*, and bullying. Please read carefully if any of these triggers you.
Mass/School Shootings—Bless Your Heart takes place the summer after the Columbine school shooting. While Crane didn’t attend Columbine, he was bullied because he wore a trenchcoat and Goth attire.
Language:Bless Your Heart contains moderate swearing and language that might offend some people.
Sexual Content: There is no sexual content in Bless Your Heart.
Setting: Bless Your Heart is set in a small town (the name was never given) in Southeast Texas.
My Review:
In a previous review, I mentioned that books containing vampires are some of my favorites. I also mentioned that I very rarely review them. That was until last week when I read two ARCs that included vampires and vampire hunters.
The cover and the blurb attracted me to Bless Your Heart. I was interested to see how a book about women funeral parlor owners and vampire hunters would read, if I could connect to any of the characters, and if the storyline was good. I am happy to report that it was a yes to all of those.
The main storyline of Bless Your Heart was interesting, and it kept me glued to the book. The storyline centers on the Evans women (Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and Luna), their family life, The God Awful Mess-which took place fifteen years earlier, and their history with vampire hunting. Bless Your Heart was a well-written and gut-wrenching book that had me up reading late.
The author did a fascinating job of telling the storyline. She chose a different family member/law enforcement/victim and had the chapter revolve around what they were feeling/doing. The chapters containing Ducey, Lenore, and Grace were self-explanatory (with the funeral parlor business and killing the vampires). Those chapters also gave insight into how The God Awful Incident affected each woman. Luna’s chapters were a little different. In the beginning, it showcased how she was an ordinary teen. But, once she learned about the family’s side gig (the vampire killing), her chapters got dark, fast. The law enforcement chapters showed the confusion and the different theories floated around. And lastly, the victim’s chapters were the most heartbreaking to read, mainly because the people who were killed and turned were doing nothing but going about their daily (or nightly) chores.
The Evans women were unlike any characters I have read. They each had their own personality, and the author allowed those personalities to shine. At the same time, I saw how dysfunctional they had become after The God Awful Incident. But even with that, I liked how they banded together to protect each other and Luna.
The horror angle was on point. There was a point where I started to dread when a new body was found. Each scene was worse than the last. I don’t get grossed out easily by stuff like that, but I got close in this book. Blood and gore spread across the pages; by the book’s end, it was one bloody scene after another.
The mystery angle of the book was good. I was taken by surprise by who the master vampire was and how Luna figured into it. While that was going on, The God Awful Incident was revealed, and it indeed was A God Awful Incident. It was the revelation that led to a shocking revelation about Luna. Both of those revelations took me by surprise. I did have the master vampire pegged on someone else and was happy that I was proven wrong.
The end of Bless Your Heart was heartbreaking. I’m not too fond of it when there are deaths involving main characters. But the ending scene gave a glimmer of hope. Because of what was shown, I am super curious to read book two.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, NetGalley, and Lindy Ryan for allowing me to read and review this ARC of Bless Your Heart. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
If you enjoy reading books similar to Bless Your Heart, then you will enjoy these books:
Escape Into Reading 