#BookReview: Haunted to Death (Domestic Partners in Crime #3) by Frank Anthony Polito

This All Hallows’ Eve, partners and home renovation hosts Peter Penwell and JP Broadway try not to flip when their newest fixer-upper is rumored to be a haunted house . . . Kicking off season three of their hit reality TV show Domestic Partners is a home renovation project with an irresistible hook. Woods Hall is a lavish 1913 manor home in the Detroit suburb of Pleasant Woods, once belonging to the town’s founding family. It also comes with its own ghost. Twenty-five years ago during a Halloween night party, automotive heiress and beauty queen Emma Wheeler-Woods, wearing a white Princess Diana wedding gown as a costume, fell from a third-floor balcony to her death. Or was she pushed? Fiona Forrest recently inherited the home after learning she was Emma’s daughter, and she and her fiancé have hired the Domestic Partners to restore the family property to its original splendor. But ghostly sightings, injured crew, secret passageways, locked rooms, and sabotage beg the Is the place actually haunted? And perhaps more practically, was Fiona’s mother murdered? Hustling to have work finished in time to shoot the finale on Halloween—the anniversary of Emma’s mysterious death—do Peter and JP have a ghost of a chance of also solving a cold case from a quarter of a century ago before someone else takes a fall?

#BookReview: The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska

The Wicked Deep meets House of Salt and Sorrows in this new standalone YA fantasy set in a snow-cloaked kingdom where witches are burned, and two enchantresses secretly compete for the heart of a prince, only to discover that they might be falling for each other.

It's Karnawał season in the snow-cloaked Kingdom of Lechija, and from now until midnight when the church bells ring an end to Devil's Tuesday time will be marked with wintry balls and glittery disguises, cavalcades of nightly torch-lit "kuligi" sleigh-parties.

Unbeknownst to the oblivious merrymakers, two monsters join the fun, descending upon the royal city of Warszów in the guise of two innocent girls. Newfound friends and polar opposites, Zosia and Marynka seem destined to have a friendship that's stronger even than magic. But that's put to the test when they realize they both have their sights set on Lechija's pure-hearted prince. A pure heart contains immeasurable power and Marynka plans to bring the prince's back to her grandmother in order to prove herself. While Zosia is determined to take his heart and its power for her own.

When neither will sacrifice their ambitions for the other, the festivities spiral into a wild contest with both girls vying to keep the hapless prince out of the other's wicked grasp. But this isn't some remote forest village, where a hint of stray magic might go unnoticed, Warszów is the icy capital of a kingdom that enjoys watching monsters burn, and if Zosia and Marynka's innocent disguises continue to slip, their escalating rivalry might cost them not just the love they might have for each other, but both their lives.

#BookTour: Never Broken by Everly Claire @RRBookTours1

Never Broken (The Unchained)

Publication Date: January 15, 2025

Genre: Dark Fantasy Romance in a Dystopian World

Forbidden Love

Dark Dystopian World

Rich Girl/Poor Boy

Enemies to Lovers

Morally Gray MMC

Us Against the World

Captivity

Forced Proximity

Touch Her and 💀

Hurt/Comfort

Spice in Secret

The rules say we can’t touch. The only solution? Burn them all ...

New North America, 2025

Louisa

My family name is an empire. I was destined for a fortune built on the bloodied backs of slaves.

But I’m one failed college course away from losing it all.

The only one who can help me is my father’s newest purchase: the golden-haired slave with eyes too sharp for hard labor, with hands that should be discovering universes, not locked in shackles. The one who just whispered something shocking as he passed me with the wheelbarrow.

The one I know is dangerous.

His words don’t matter. He’s here to clean gutters, not to teach me, not to save me, and definitely not to make me spiral with every stolen glance.

We’re forbidden. He shouldn’t look at me. He’s not allowed to touch me.

And I won’t let him. Not my hand, not my heart, not anything …

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A number. Not a name. That’s all I’ve ever been to them. I’ve been whipped, chained, beaten, and brutalized by everyone who’s ever owned me.

But never broken.

And now I’ve clawed and schemed my way through pain and grief to get to this manicured wasteland, find my sister, and kill those who stole her away. So what if one of them is my new master?

And If I have to use his spoiled brat daughter to do it, fine. I’ve spent my whole life playing their game, but this time, she’ll be a pawn in mine.

Except, okay, Louisa’s not spoiled. She’s brave, she’s learning, and she’s making me want things I’m not allowed to want. Things I won’t allow myself to want.

They stole everything else from me. I’ll never give my heart, too.

But here, just one broken rule can kill you, so we might just have to shatter all of them.

Starting with the ones we made for ourselves.

Never Broken is your first taste of an epic, twisty, us-against-the-world forbidden romance trilogy set in a chilling dystopia a little too much like ours. Although the world and themes are dark and potentially triggering, the romance has a soft side. This book ends with a combined happy-for-now and a cliffhanger that will make you gasp. And with Never Bound and Never Lost, you get a complete arc with a guaranteed happily-ever-after.

#BookReview: The Four by Ellie Keel

"I don’t regret what we did. And I would do it all again."

Each of the four had, for their own reasons, been desperate to come to High Realms. Marta, Rose, Sami, and Lloyd beat out thousands of applicants for spots at one of the most exclusive private schools in the UK, whose alumni can be found at the highest levels of society. As the only scholarship students in the class of 1999, the four form a crucial comradery as they navigate the school’s web of rivalries, honor, loyalty, and revenge.

Because within the maze of red brick buildings, between the stables and the vast old library, a sinister undercurrent of violence is brewing. And when one of the four reveals a devastating secret, each of the friends must wonder what risks they will take to remain at High Realms.

What follows is a hauntingly atmospheric and compulsively page-turning academic noir that explores the secretive world of elite institutions and the complex and often dangerous bonds of friendship.

A dark academia suspense debut perfect for fans of The Secret History and If We Were Villains, The Four follows a group of scholarship students whose dreams become a reality when they are accepted into an exclusive boarding school, but they are soon bound by a dark secret that could save one of them… or destroy them all.

#BookReview: Long Live Evil (Time of Iron #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan

A TALE FOR EVERYONE WHO’S EVER FALLEN FOR THE VILLAIN…

When her whole life collapsed, Rae still had books. Dying, she seizes a second chance at living: a magical bargain that lets her enter the world of her favourite fantasy series.

She wakes in a castle on the edge of a hellish chasm, in a kingdom on the brink of war. Home to dangerous monsters, scheming courtiers and her favourite fictional character: the Once and Forever Emperor. He’s impossibly alluring, as only fiction can be. And in this fantasy world, she discovers she's not the heroine, but the villainess in the Emperor's tale.

So be it. The wicked are better dressed, with better one-liners, even if they're doomed to bad ends. She assembles the wildly disparate villains of the story under her evil leadership, plotting to change their fate. But as the body count rises and the Emperor's fury increases, it seems Rae and her allies may not survive to see the final page.

This adult epic fantasy debut from Sarah Rees Brennan puts the reader in the villain's shoes, for an adventure that is both 'brilliant' (Holly Black) and 'supremely satisfying' (Leigh Bardugo). Expect a rogue's gallery of villains including an axe wielding maid, a shining knight with dark moods, a homicidal bodyguard, and a playboy spymaster with a golden heart and a filthy reputation.

#BookBlitz: Surviving Karma by Mark Nistor @RABTBookTours

The Karma Series, Book 2

 

Literary Fiction, Mystery

Date Published: November 9, 2024

 

Officer Bella Streit's abduction has yet to make headlines. Her captor once again humiliates police by nabbing Captain Stark's protective detail from the precinct parking lot. Her predecessor, the third officer taken, adds to the comedic nature of embarrassing the police. Taken from the scene of an accident, Officer Tauron Sandoval's handling reflects the lengths at which Pin will go to feed his hunger. Now with Bella secured, Pin no longer needing Tauron leaves her to a fast moving hourglass of life. Her minimal sands flow as two other officers succumb.

Pin seeks revenge through torturing those he deems as old police. Detectives Rix and Jain work the case. They find a roadmap offering clues to the serial killer's endgame. The roadmap given to them by informants. However, unknown by the detectives is Pin also has informants feeding him information. Double agent informants play their roles as if trained spies. Both parties question the loyalties while traversing to the ultimate showdown.

Surviving Karma will require finding the common ingredient to their sandwiches of life.