Monday, January 13, 2025

#BookReview: Only the Guilty Survive by Kate Robards



A podcaster digs into strange connections between a cult’s mass suicide and the murder of a local beauty queen in this twisty psychological thriller about true crime culture, perfect for fans of Riley Sager and Lisa Jewell. The mass suicide of a cult known as The Flock sent shockwaves through the small rural town of Iola, Michigan. Led by the charismatic Dominic Bragg, The Flock camped at an abandoned bird sanctuary before their sudden and shocking demise. The deaths came just weeks after one of their members, Laurel Tai, a local pageant queen, was abducted. The town turned its blame and fear onto the sole survivor, Claire Kettler–Laurel’s best friend. Burdened by grief and unanswered questions about her friend’s murder and her fellow cult members’ deaths, Claire can’t help but wonder what really happened, especially when the cult leader is nowhere to be found. When podcaster Arlo Stone begins poking around ten years later, determined to uncover the truth about the cult and Laurel’s murder, Claire is propelled back into action. In a desperate attempt to puzzle out the past and keep her secrets from being spilled for the entertainment of thousands of listeners, Claire must dig into a tangle of unanswered questions before time runs out and history repeats itself. 



#BookReview: Dark Restraint (Dark Olympus #7) by Katee Robert




Ariadne Vitalis is in trouble. She's betrayed her father―and his benefactor―and now she's left to rely on the questionable mercy of Olympus to keep her safe. As with everything in this city, mercy comes with a price. For Ariadne, that means a marriage to Dionysus. She has no choice but to agree, even if there's only one man she's ever wanted―a man she's feared just as much as she desires. The Minotaur never had any illusions about Minos's plans. He was willing to get his hands dirty as long as the old man kept his word―at the end of this, the Minotaur would be given Ariadne as a reward. Nowhere in that deal was her walking down the aisle to a different man. She's meant for him, and he means to have her. Ariadne knows better than to encourage the Minotaur. Her relationship with her new fiancΓ© might be more friendship than burning passion, but she is all too aware of how much fiery passion can hurt. She and the Minotaur are no good for each other. She can never forgive him for what he's done, and he can never change. But when his hands are on her body and his wicked words are whispered in her ear, she might just be willing to let all of Olympus burn…


Saturday, January 11, 2025

#BookReview: The Dryad Storm (The Black Witch Chronicles #5) by @laurieannforest @HarperCollins



The New York Times bestselling series!

Magical forces clash and Erthia hovers on the brink of ruin in the can't-miss finale of Laurie Forest’s epic fantasy series, The Black Witch Chronicles!

Who can survive the Shadow storm?

Black Witch of prophecy Elloren Gardner Grey has unleashed her powers and embraced her legacy as a Dryad and guardian of the Forest. But the losses—of life, of love—have been almost too great to withstand as the Shadow continues to devour the world. With only a tattered shred of hope remaining, the Bearers of the Wand of Myth must battle their way back to each other to mount a final stand.

But Elloren and her allies are not only facing Mage Vogel's advancing forces—the armies of the Eastern Realm will stop at nothing to see the Black Witch struck down.

With Elloren's bonded mate prophesied to kill her, Shadow demons rising, and the ties between allies unraveling, can this fracturing world unite to face down the coming storm?

Read all the books in the Black Witch Chronicles!

*Also available in print in The Rebel Mages anthology



#BookBlitz: Summer's Seduction by C.L. Briar @RRBookTours1


Summer's Seduction: A Sinful Seasons Novel Publication Date: December 31, 2024 Genre: Dark Romance/ Dark Fantasy Romance

Witches
Greek Gods
Vampires
Blud Play
Dark & Spicy
Mental Health
Morpheus couldn’t be trusted. He was the son of Hypnos, the god responsible for aiding Demeter, killing witches, and stealing my little sister. Morpheus had the rest of them fooled with his smug grin, sharp cheekbones, and golden eyes glinting with sex and privilege, but I saw through his cocky smirk. Hades thought Morpheus would keep me in line, prevent me from making thing worse for The Underworld in this war, but neither of them realized just how far I was wiling to go to save my sister. The first hint of her fear scented the air. A piece of me crumpled at the knowledge that I was the cause of it. I wished to the depths of my soul that this could’ve been different. In another life, another rebirth, perhaps we might’ve stood a chance. 

#BookReview: The Stars of Ember (Night Lore, #2) by Genesis Batista



A QUEEN. A VAMPIRE. A DEADLY ATTRACTION.

Queen Atreya thought surviving the arena was the hardest battle she'd ever face. She was wrong.

When the magical wards protecting Ember shatter and her husband threatens everything she loves, Atreya is forced to make an impossible trust Ronan—a dangerous vampire who delights in tormenting her—or watch her kingdom burn.

Their mission is cross the hellscape of Ferenz to find help from her greatest enemy, the notorious Rebel King. But nothing about Ronan is what it seems. Bound by a blood vow and promised a ring that could let him walk in daylight, he serves the very man Atreya has spent her life hating.

As they journey through the wasteland together, Atreya discovers that surviving the monsters isn't her biggest challenge—it's resisting her growing attraction to the vampire who holds both her fate and her heart in his deadly hands.

Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Jennifer L. Armentrout, THE STARS OF EMBER is a dark fantasy romance filled with sizzling tension, dangerous magic, and enemies-to-lovers passion that burns hotter than dragonfire.

In a world where magic strikes like lightning and desire cuts deeper than steel, some temptations are worth dying for...



#BookBlitz: Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver by D. Wallace Peach @XpressoTours #Giveaway $25 Amazon gift card

Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver
D. Wallace Peach
Publication date: January 9th 2024
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

“Already the animals starve. Soon the bonemen will follow, the Moss Folk and woodlings, the watermaids and humans. Then the charmed will fade. And all who will roam a dead world are dead things. Until they too vanish for lack of remembering. Still, Weaver, it is not too late.”

In the frost-kissed cottage where the changing seasons are spun, Erith wears the Weaver’s mantle, a title that tests her mortal, halfling magic. As the equinox looms, her first tapestry nears completion—a breathtaking ode to spring. She journeys to the charmed isle of Innishold to release the beauty of nature’s awakening across the land.

But human hunters have defiled the enchanted forest and slaughtered winter’s white wolves. Enraged by the trespass, the Winter King seizes Erith’s tapestry and locks her within his ice-bound palace. Here, where comfort and warmth are mere glamours, she may weave only winter until every mortal village succumbs to starvation, ice, and the gray wraiths haunting the snow.

With humanity’s fate on a perilous edge, Erith must break free of the king’s grasp and unravel a legacy of secrets. In a charmed court where illusions hold sway, allies matter, foremost among them, the Autumn Prince. Immortal and beguiling, he offers a tantalizing future she has only imagined, one she will never possess—unless she claims her extraordinary power to weave life from the brink of death.

In the lyrical fantasy tradition of Margaret Rogerson and Holly Black, D. Wallace Peach spins a spellbinding tale of magic, resilience, and the transformative potency of tales—a tapestry woven with peril and hope set against the frigid backdrop of an eternal winter.