Kelley Armstrong: I’ll Be Waiting

Kelley Armstrong shows you never know who is on the other side of the veil when you call:

Nicola never believed that she would live this long, let alone find a career she loves and the love of her life. Nicola has Cystic Fibrosis and most children do not live to see adulthood. She knows that she needs to live every moment and she wants to do that with her Husband Anton. Neither of them thought that he would be the one to leave first, his final words to Nic haunting her every day, "I'll Be Waiting". This take Nic on a path of trying to contact Anton, talk to him one more time to say a proper Goodbye, but something sinister has come across instead, something with death and vengeance on their mind.

I'm a huge Kelley Armstrong fan. I love the way that she constructs her story and her ability to draw the reader in. I have read one other book by Armstrong that was more of the horror side of genres. This book had me hooked from the beginning, but i will say that it was heartbreaking at the beginning middle and end. Speaking of the end, the last 30% of the book goes by so fast as you try to turn the pages faster and faster to see what is going to happen next.

You cannot help but feel for Nicola from everything thing that she has gone through in her life, and what she is having to deal with now, not only the tragedy but also those trying to profit on the death of her husband. There are always those who will try anything to make a buck and that is highlighted in this book with the amount of mediums or psychics who say they will have the ability to contact her Husband Anton. With everything really falling apart it make sense why Nicola starts question everyone and everything around her, and herself, maybe she herself is going insane.

This book is only told from Nicola's POV and while I appreciate that but I think I would have enjoyed a different perspective at times and be in the minds of other people in the house, to truly see what they were feeling and experience. I think a POV from Dr. Cirillo and his reasons for being there would have been an interesting POV and scientific one at that.

Although this book is touted as a supernatural horror, I didn’t think it was that scary, but the creepy atmosphere was on point. Things do get a bit gory at times, especially near the end of the book, so i think some people will find it scary and fit the horror genre but for me it does not. 

Was able to figure out the twist but you really don’t know who is going to be there in the end.

I did enjoy this book even though it was not quite what i wanted it to be (and probably my least favourite of Armstrong’s books). I think those looking for a creepy book that has an eerie atmosphere, then pick up this book.

Enjoy!!!

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Steve Cavanagh: Kill For Me Kill For You

Steven Cavanagh shows that the strangers we meet can ruin one's life but also in strangers we can trust:

Two strangers meet by chance and they share a tragedy in life, the loss of their child, loss of the life that they had. They cannot live with culprit walking around free while their loved ones are cold and buried. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect plan from the famous work, Strangers on a Train. Across town a woman is attacked in her home by a blue-eyed stranger, a face she will never forget, will she ever feel safe again with Him out there stalking/hurting/killing other woman? Her husband is beside himself with worry and what would he do if he ever encountered that blue eyed man. A city full of violence and a few people willing to do what they thinks it takes to make the city a little bit safer, so no more have to suffer, especially if one can get away with it.

This is the first book that I have read by Cavanagh (I still want to read his Eddy Flynn series) and with all the hype surrounding this book I went in with high expectations. I really loved the idea of a modern versions of strangers on a train and I was looking forward to how Cavanagh would achieve this with such a change of technology from then to now. 

Overall, I just felt underwhelmed by this story. While the premise is done in a unique way and I felt invested in the characters, especially Amanda but i felt like this book lacked the suspense that I thought it was going to have as i found that it was fairly predictable. This was really sad as i found the beginning really captured you with what had happened to Amanda and Ruth (both heartbreaking in their own ways) but after that high the book begins to petered off.

I was able to figure out most of the twists except for the final one but by then I wasn’t really invested in the story as much as I wanted to be and I was like huh that was clever. I didn’t have the draw dropping moment most seem to have with this book.

I also wish there was more POV for Farrow, he felt underdeveloped and I really enjoyed him as a character and Detective. His drive to solve cases, his compassion to the victims or victims' families, I would read a book where he was the lead and solving the cases that no one else can solve or wants to put in the work to solve.

I can only really recommend this book to people who don’t read a lot of thriller or murder mystery books or someone who is looking to get back into the genre. As someone who reads A LOT in these genres I found this book okay at best but also predictable and didn’t have the thrills or mystery that I wanted it to.

Cheers!!!!

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S. A. Cosby: Razorblade Tears

S. A. Cosby shows what two fathers will do in a quest for Vengeance:

Ike and Buddy Lee are strangers to each other, even though their sons were married and had a daughter together. When their sons are murdered in a drastic way, they do not think that anything can get any worse, but their headstones are destroyed above their graves. This causes Buddy Lee to reach out to Ike and seek their own sense of justice for their boys. Even though they were both ashamed of their kids while they are alive they see this as a small way to atone for that, to set things right and bring Vengeance to those who dared to hurt their boys.

This is the first book that I have read by Cosby and this book was making quite a few ways when it was released in 2021 and i can see why, the act of vengeance and why Ike and Buddy lee go down this path is very powerful and Hell i can't blame them for it. A parent should never have to bury their children, and one's children should never be murdered how their son's were. So once you start reading the book you cannot help but root for them. Nothing else matters, not race or that they are both ex-cons, all that matters is Justice.

Ike and Buddy Lee are very different men, but very much the same as well. Ike, is ruthless in this book and I am hear for it, Buddy Lee is more of the comedic relief in the book through his comments/idea but he shows up when you need him too. Both of them HATE how they treated their son's while they were alive and this vigilantism is a way to atone for that. It is sad that Ike and Buddy Lee could not understand their sons’ life and who they loved. Although this book takes a short amount of time, there is growth in both characters as they spend more time together, especially Ike and how he sees gay men.

This book is quite dark and graphic at times, enough that one needs to know this going in to the book. Ike has a particular set of skills and anger to go along with it that he not afraid to pull this other side of him out in this book (he is savage at times). I also appreciated that Cosby understood that Ike and Buddy Lee are older men and the hinderances that comes with this, but also the men using this to their advantage with all the young bucks out there. 

All that said above this book took me a bit to get into. Is tarted this book on Audio and the character voices just didn’t really work for me, for lack of better words the voice was too soothing that it made me sleepy (lol). Once i started reading it in physical copy form I was able to get into the book. I did find the book a bit predictable as I was able to guess the twist well before the end.

I enjoyed this book by Cosby and I would like to read other books by him. I enjoyed the premise of this book of two different but same men coming together to get justice for this sons.

Enjoy!!!

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Kelley Armstrong: Death at a Highland Wedding

Kelley Armstrong is back with the next installment in her Rip Through Time Series and this time Death is happening on the road:

Mallory, Gray and McCreadie are off to the Scotland Highlands to attend the wedding of McCreadie's younger sister. McCreadie's younger sister is upholding a match between the McCreadie's and the Cranston's as McCreadie canceled his engagement to Cranston's sister, so things are going to be a bit awkward. But Mallory is happy to escape the city, and the Cranston Estate is beautiful. But beauty can only hide so much especially when Cranston has placed deadly traps around the grounds, a wildcat is killed and one of the Wedding Guests turns up dead, it is up to Mallory, Gray and McCreadie to find out who the murderer is before another life is lost.

As this is the fourth book in the series, I highly recommend that you read the first three books in the series, starting with A Rip ThroughTime. These previous books will set up the relationship and time travel aspect in this book and really the struggle that Mallory has gone through from moving from the 21 Century to the 18th Century. I think that Armstrong does this aspect very well and builds upon with each book in the series.

I will admit that I was not sure about this series when I first started it but this one and the book before it have me even more hooked. I love that even Mallory was even more out of place in this one, as herself, Gray and McCreadie don’t have the tools and connections they have come to rely on. The country law enforcement leave much to be desired. I enjoyed that Armstrong did not rely on body after body to keep the reader's attention in this book and with that it turns out to be more of a who-done-it. This leaves a lot of room for deduction as none of them can rely as much on forensic science as they may do (even if this is less than Mallory is used to). I think that Armstrong did a great job in creating possible suspects and motives throughout the book and by the end I had not guessed who the murderer was, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Another aspect I thought that Armstong has done throughout the series is the relationship and co-worker relationship that Mallory and Gray have. They are really in a Gray area when it comes with the two of them being in private together for the time period. Their relationship that they have has this Oh Shit moment in the book, and i wonder how Armstrong is going to use that in the future.

I really enjoyed this book, the mystery it has and the relationships that Armstrong has created here. I look forward to reading another book in this series and to see where Armstrong takes this series.

Enjoy!!!

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Laura Thalassa: Pestilence

In the first book in a series, Laura Thalassa releases the first Horseman on the world, Pestilence:

Pestilence is coming for Sara Burns town, and it is now her duty to try and stop him. She has never killed before, but if her actions can save not only those that she loves but people beyond that, she knows that she has to take action. Pestilence does not take kindly to Sara and her attempt to kill him. Instead he decides to make her suffer as no human has suffered before, by keeping her alive to witness the death of humanity. But can so much time together let each one understand the other, or is Sara destined to die just like everyone else.

This is the first book that I have read by Thalassa and I really enjoyed this book as it was such a ride. Thalassa was able to draw me in right from the beginning and had me invested in Sara right away. I would classify this book as very much a popcorn fantasy romance book, with a darker side. I mean there are quite a few dark moments in the book (really starts at the beginning), and I am happy that Thalassa included this as I think the book would be lacking without it. I mean the book is about death and plague and you would be hard-pressed do have that as the major element in the book without darker aspects. Even as Pestilence kills, it is not a swift death, nor is anyone spared from is, whether they are young, old, health sick or even kind, they all face the same death. The book also shows the horribleness that humankind has no problem reverting to in dark times.

I feel like the trope enemies to lovers is over used a lot when authors try to promote their books, and it will be like one second of them hating each other and then they are in love. So when I say that this book is a true enemies to lovers, I 100% mean it (Unaliving attempts happen). These two truly hate each other and both believe they would be better off if the other did not exist. 

Sara is a really strong character and you cannot help but feel and relate to her as she struggles with what she has to do, not only at the beginning at the book but what she has to go through when she is with Pestilence. She feels like she has to show Pestilence what it actually means to be human and the depths of human emotions and society, even though it is Pestilence's presence that brings out the worst in people.

Pestilence is also an interesting character, he sees himself above Humans and the answer to the damage that human has done on the Earth. He struggles, boy does he ever struggle with understanding Sara and her motives and the things that she does. He struggles with the depth of Emotions that he didn’t seem to think that people could have

I really enjoyed this book and if you are looking for a popcorn fantasy romance, that is darker at times, then pick this book up. I know I'll be reading the next book in this series.

Enjoy!!!!!

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Emilia Hart: The Sirens

Emilia Hart is back with another take on a mythological creatures, the Sirens:

In 2019, Lucy awakes with her hands wrapped around, a man's neck, a man that she thought she could trust. Horrified with what she had done, and what was being said about her, Lucy flees to New South Wales to her sister Jess who she hope can help her understand what was happening. When She arrives she discovers Jess is gone and in order to understand her sister better, Lucy decides to snoop. In the 1800s Mary and Eliza are sentenced to deportation to Australia and they must suffer the many month trip at sea in the darken hold, with other women, but the more time they spend at sea the more they see the changes in their bodies. Centuries apart but connected in a way that no one would understand.

After reading Weyward, which I thoroughly enjoyed this last year, I was super excited to read The Sirens. Where Weyward was more whimsical when it came to the idea of witches, Sirens is more dark and eerie like the deep Ocean. If you are looking for something similar to Weyward, this book does have some of the same elements (especially when it comes to men and male characters) but the atmosphere is very much different. I personally liked the more eerie atmosphere, but i did not think that it entered in the creepy or disturbing areas, was more just greys and deep blues, well like the Ocean.

I found the historical timeline more interesting than the more modern one, though I did feel for what Jessica and Lucy have gone through, I just thought that it was the weaker of the storylines, and something that I had read before. Hart could have written an entire book about Mary and Eliza and I would have devoured it. I will say that how Hart interconnected the timelines was well done and how she chose to do this was interesting as well. It may not be for everyone but I liked it.

I appreciated Hart's take on Sirens, what they look like, how they hid in plain sight and the ever call to the water. I also like the Mission that they set upon for themselves, not quite the Sirens from Greek mythology. I think that Hart's take is more modern and I was here for it.

I was able to figure out the "twist", i think it was supposed to be a twist but I felt it was quite obvious. This book is much more of a character driven book than plot one, so i'm never sure about twists in what happens.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, especially the farther I got into it. I will say that don’t go into this book expecting another Weyward, which is not a bad thing, but I read some reviews that that is what they were expecting and not what they got. I would read another book by Hart and I look forward to see what mystical creature or folklore she takes on next.

Enjoy!!!!

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