We follow three different characters Orka, Varg and Elvar as they are slowly drawn into the political intrigue. This is set in a viking themed fantasy world where magical creatures abound. There is violence and betrayal. I preferred Orka‘s and Varg‘s stories, but all have incredibly hard journeys until in the end they all land in the same bloody, violent battle. I enjoyed this and am looking forward to the second in the series.

Wow, this was quite a ride. I finished it in one day. This is a fast moving murder mystery that evolved into so much more. There was a big twist towards the end that surprised me. The main characters were great. I hope Eli, Marge and Alyssa can get together again to solve more cases.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I think werewolf stories are my favorite type of monster stories. This was a really great anthology and I liked everything in here. These are not romance werewolves, these are the dark and gritty kind. Many of my favorite authors are featured here, including Ray Garton and Jonathan Janz and Jeff Strand. There are also stories by new to me authors that I will seek out in the future.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3
The story started out pretty good, as we follow Detective Delilah Jackson on the job and in her personal life. You can tell from the start that she has mental issues. She holds it together for the first two murders. Then things start falling apart. Unfortunately the big reveal at the end was not a surprise. The plot alternated from excitement to boredom and I didn‘t feel invested in the story.

My mini bookhaul from the Books and Blooms Makers Market today. 2 books and a pair of bookish earrings. I got to meet the authors too.

This book was fun to read, but I was expecting a little more from it. The quest that they go on, I thought it would be a little more difficult, considering how many others had tried and failed. The Diviners was an interesting concept, but they should have figured out what their fate was going to be after 10 years. It felt like things fell into place too easily for Sybil so there wasn't much tension in her story. The ending was a big disappointment

To anyone else who‘s read this book, did you look at Boneback Mountain and think Brokeback Mountain?

I love this series. I still think the first book was my favorite, but the 2nd and 3rd books are great. I liked the way the story wrapped up.
I love the storyline of Xiala the Teek. She is by far the most interesting character.
This was a complex world with lots of clans. I liked how each clan had a spirit animal to help them.
There are so many characters to follow, it became a little difficult to remember who was aligned with who.

A tense, space exploration story. A group of six lands on a remote planet for exploration purposes. I really liked the scenes on the planet. The isolation and harsh conditions led to the eerie atmosphere. The main character is Ophelia, a psychologist there to keep everyone sane. But all of them have secrets they are not sharing, especially Ophelia. There are also evil corporations that view the crew as expendable. I enjoyed this.

The cool thing about this book is that every chapter heading has this blood splatter.

A collection of vampire themed science fiction stories, written from the 1930‘s to the 1980‘s. I didn‘t remember I had this book on my shelf but I‘m reading my physical TBR and this book came up. It was a nice surprise with some pretty good stories. There were stories by Ray Bradbury and Roger Zelazny, two of my favorite authors from my childhood. Really there wasn‘t a bad story in the bunch.

A collection of Winter themed horror stories. 3.5 stars
Cold As Ice - Awww, I really liked this story. It was a sweet ending.
Father‘s Last Christmas - Satisfying
Nice - love the little boy
Thaw - never vacation in an isolated cabin
Those 4 were my favorite stories. There were some stories I didn‘t like as much. It makes me wonder why they were included in this anthology. Like any collection there are hits and misses. More hits this time.

This was a fun, quick read. I liked the characters and their relationships. There is a minor misunderstanding with the boyfriend which is resolved quickly. This is good because I hate when a romance is in peril because of a stupid misunderstanding. There are several suspects at first and I liked how they are eliminated as suspects. I would definitely read more of this series and I hope it continues. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher.

My birthday book haul. Presents from family and friends. First up is Ghost Station.

3.5 stars

A pretty fast read. It only took a couple hours. A memoir of grief and musings on the nature of life and death. Written by a mother whose newborn daughter is diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. My daughter was also diagnosed with leukemia at age six, although my daughter had the more treatable variety. I enjoyed reading their story and was happy everything ended well for them.

I first read some of this series 15 years ago and remember enjoying them. This started a little slow for me but turned into a good police thriller. At about the half way point I wondered how they could drag this out much longer, but then it suddenly got interesting. The villains here are terrible people who kill without a second thought. I had no problems with their deaths.

This was a fun book. I really like SCYTHE as an organization of grim reapers. When one of the employees finds out her brother is set to die that day, she takes him on a road trip to try and avoid death. I like their relationship and how they get to meet up with long lost family. There is also a parrot who almost seems supernatural in her behavior and provides some comic relief. I would love to read more about SCYTHE and the people who work there.

This book follows Detective Ben Wade as he works two cases. The death of a migrant teen, and a serial killer who is terrorizing the local community. This is less a police procedural and more an in depth look into Ben‘s mind as he wrestles with personal demons brought on by one of the cases.

I subscribe to the Night Worms book box. I expect to receive horror books. Sometimes they don't sent horror, they send "dark" fiction. This is one of those non-horror books. 14yrold Veronica is about to go to high school, while dealing with a family tragedy. The book was well written, but not what I was looking for. There was a small amount of cannibalism but that was not the main focus. If you are looking for family drama you may enjoy this book.

A cozy mystery with a paranormal twist. The main suspects are a married pair of vampires. The main characters were likable and there are some interesting side characters. I did find the way Sal was so energetic and always cracking jokes, to be very annoying. I would go crazy if I had to be around him very much. Arthur, the other vampire, was a more grounded character. I enjoyed the paranormal elements and wish they played more into the story.

This was a good collection of 3 horror short stories. They all had a strange, horrific element that I found fascinating. I wanted to keep reading, both to figure out what was going on with the story, and to see what would happen next.

This book is told from the point of view of 3 characters, Opaline, Martha and Henry. The chapters alternate between all 3. Opaline in the past, Martha and Henry in the present. I liked all 3 stories and enjoyed reading them. Opaline's made me the most furious with the injustices done to her. At the end of the book all 3 stories converge. There was a bit of magicalness in the lost bookshop that made the book more fun. This was a pleasant book.

I have not read many sports romances, but I really liked this YA hockey romance. This follows High School seniors Dani and Alec, as Dani moves back to town and back into Alec's life. I liked the budding romance between the two, and I liked the depiction of how important hockey was in the small Minnesota town where they lived. This is a YA book, so romance is limited to kissing and hand holding. I enjoyed the writing style. Overall, a good book.

I didn't know much about Queen Victoria so I learned something new. When I think of Queens and Kings I think of older people, so it was interesting to read about Victoria taking the crown when she was 18 years old. This book covers the first two years of her reign, including her meeting with Prince Albert, her future husband. I felt like I was reading a history book. The characters did not have enough personality for me to see this as a fun read.

A detailed look at the life and subsequent murder of Anne Marie Fahey by Thomas Capano. The two had an on again off again affair for years that ultimately ended in murder. Tom Capano was such a manipulator that he was able to string along several women at the same time, with none of them knowing about each other. He was very hateful and made me cringe with his behavior. I did feel like the story went on too long.

I am enjoying this series so much. I like the overall story that is happening. I find some of the fight interludes to be a little boring and repetitive. But the main story is still interesting, and I like trying to figure out what is happening behind the scenes and with the NPCs. Carl and Donut still have a fun relationship, and I love Mongo. I'm also excited to see what Katia will be doing for the team.

While I loved this book overall, there were definitely parts I didn't like so much. The parts discussing the game play of earning points and leveling up were definitely not my favorite. On the plus side, I like the interactions of Carl and Princess Donut. Their banter is entertaining. The overall concept of the book is interesting. I am going to continue on with book 2, but am not sure how far I will be continuing with the series after that.

I've enjoyed reading other books by this author. I loved the thought that Allie is a caterer, but also works in a bookstore with her best friend. The main characters were all likable, but I was annoyed that Allie's love interest was suspicious of her when she was framed for murder. I liked the actual mystery and liked that I didn't guess the murderer until near the end.The setting is nice and makes me want to read more of the series.

I don't want to rate this like a regular book, since this is a reference book. There is not real narrative structure to it. Mostly a small blurb about a book, followed by a spoiler free review of sorts. I read a lot of horror, and I still had not heard of most of these books. The books all tend to blur together after a while and I can't say I found many I want to read because of how bland the descriptions were.

I loved the first book in the series. Book two was not quite as good, but still a great read. I love the world building. The politics get a little hard for me to follow at times, but when we are following the main characters, it's very enjoyable. Currently they are spread apart, but I am looking forward to when everyone comes together.

This is a crazy book. It is a thriller/romance, but the male lead acts like a stalker and I can't understand why any woman would put up with his behavior. But rather than reporting him to anyone, Adeline just allows him to continue.

Part of the plot involves Z trying to shut down human traffickers.

Reading this was fun and crazy. Most of it made no sense. This is more of a mood than anything else.

NetGalley 3/24/26

I absolutely loved this book. It was a fun and cozy monster romance. I love how Luna thinks she is living her best life, but being stranded in Claw Haven makes her realize what she is missing. I love the growing relationship between Luna and Oliver. I love the world building where all sorts of creatures live together and are seen as normal. I want to live in Claw Haven.

This has been sitting on my shelves for years. I finally read it, and I thought it was great. I liked the world building and the magic system. The main character Alina was a pleasure to read, as she grew into her power. My favorite parts were her first months in training to be a Grisha. She was a little naive, especially when it came to the Darkling. I feel a romance between them could have been a lot of fun.

I love slashers set at a camp. We are presented with two stories. One is the original movie shoot of Grad Night. The other is the original actors and director of the film back for a reunion documentary 20 years later. A terrible event was covered up after the first movie was filmed, and now someone wants to find out what really happened. The book was interesting and fun, and there was one reveal at the end that really surprised me. I enjoyed this.

This was a really good book. It was fun and exciting. It was a new take on werewolves and I thought it was very imaginative. I liked the setting of the small seaside town. It seemed like a great place, until the werewolf arrived. This is the second book I have read by Chris Coppel, and I like his writing style.

I decided to bail at page 102. I gave it a chance but the book just became more and more boring to me. I didn't like the unreliable narrator. It was like a boring stream of consciousness. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. I was so disappointed because the description sounded great. The book didn't live up to it.

I don't like the miscommunication trope so that took away some of my enjoyment of the story. The setting of the Christmas town was wonderful and made me want to visit. All four of the main characters are likable and make you want to root for them to get together and reveal their secrets. Other than the miscommunication there was very little conflict here. This is a nice little novella that makes a fun afternoon reading.

This is the first book published by author Seanan Mcguire. I felt a lot of time was spent introducing the reader to new locales and characters. As this series has made it to 19 books, that has probably paid off by now. But at the time, it felt like too much to keep track of. I liked the main character, Toby, and enjoyed her snark level. This is a murder mystery with fairies, and ultimately the mystery is solved. This was fun.

Wow, this book was amazing. I didn‘t expect it to be as good as it was. There was a lot of creepiness and a lot of secrets. This is a haunted house story told from 2 points of view. My favorite was the book Ewan wrote but Maggie‘s story was good too.

This is a collection of 4 stories and I thought it was great. The stories are creepy and the artwork was amazing. I recommend this book.

This is the story of Tabitha and Pearl, two young women who volunteer for the Salvation Army. Jack the Ripper and Medusa are supporting characters. I wish we had more of them. I really liked Tabitha and found her story the most interesting. Pearl was more boring and her religious musings irritated me. I wasn't sure how Medusa would fit into the story at first, but then it made sense. The book started slow, but picked up towards the middle.

We follow three characters Yvonne and Sarah in the present day, and a group of black men in the 1800‘s looking for a safe place. Although the story in the 1800‘s is the least fleshed out, in the end we see how all the stories meet up. The book felt slow in the beginning and the only likable character was Yvonne.

This was well written. I was caught up in the story from the beginning. The writing style kept me hooked. I liked this take on vampires and thought having like a council of vampires was a really good inclusion. I wished we had read more about them, but I'm guessing they will show up more in future books. I liked all the main characters and as they began to team up, they worked well together. I had a really good time reading this.

Wow, this book was amazing. I have not read Ragnar Jónasson before, but now I am ready to pick up his earlier works. This book could be read as a stand alone, but does reference characters from previous books. It ends on a cliffhanger, so hopefully there is a followup to this, as I need to know what happens. I enjoyed reading this, and loved that the detective was also a dedicated reader of crime fiction.

I first read this in the late 1980's to early 1990's. I remember only good things about this series. As I was reading this recently, I realized that there was a lot of the plot that I had forgotten. This first book has a lot of espionage. We are introduced to the vampire. As Harry learns to manipulate the space time continuum it becomes confusing for me. It's best just to accept things without thinking about them too much.

I enjoyed the first portion of the book, when Enka and Mathilde are in art school. Then as the art world starts to fall apart the story felt like it was moving slowly. The description from the blurb about a device that lets Enka access Mathilde's mind doesn't come until the end of the book. I was starting to think the author forgot to write that part. This book was ok when I was reading it, but as I think about it, there is not much I like here.

I was aware of the big twist at the end, but even knowing that I really enjoyed reading this book. It was well written and easy to read. The character of Teddy was a good character. The exploration of the insane asylum was very interesting.

The motivation of the killer was overly complicated and didn't make much sense to me. I did like the main character Willow, and her interactions with the fellow campers. This talks a lot about cancel culture and the fallout from that. I thought that was pretty interesting. Most of the characters are likable. This book was good. It didn't seem very scary as much of it felt cliche. I would give it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

The first few stories were interesting. Then as the book progressed they became less so. My favorite stories were:

Mother's Mother's Daughter - This was a really interesting story about witchcraft. I liked the use of the body to do magic.
Pig Feet - a very creepy story. Disturbing.

I could really do without all the poetry. It is my least favorite thing to read. I'm just here for the short fiction.

This is a low pick for me.

I watched the tv show a few times but never read any of the books. This was a fun book. Even though it was a murder mystery, it still felt low stakes, there was not a lot of tension, and we barely knew anything about the murder victim. Jessica is the star of the book, and she is a pleasure to read. I like how she used her contacts in the Boston book world to help solve the murder. This is a good book to read when you just want a cozy mystery.