Review - - Family Lies

Family Lies

by Karen Rose

The San Diego Case Files - Book 4

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: March 31, 2026

Reviewed by Nancy

As an infant, Kit McKittrick’s foster sister Akiko was abandoned at a firehouse. Now 32, Akiko has received an unsettling phone call from a woman who says that she knew her birth mother but refuses to divulge any details except in person. Akiko is nervous but also thrilled at the prospect of finally learning about her blood relations.

Kit has a bad feeling about this and insists on accompanying Akiko to meet the woman. Sure enough, as they stand on Mary Sherman’s doorstep, shots are fired and Kit is hit...and inside the house is a corpse: Mary Sherman herself.

Although she’s on medical leave and forbidden to work the case, Kit cannot rest. With police psychologist Sam Reeves, she undertakes a covert investigation into the mysterious Mary Sherman. Was she Akiko’s birth mother? Why did she reach out after all these years? And who had a motive to kill her?

As more bodies pile up, Kit starts to put together the pieces of the frightening puzzle that is Akiko’s birth family, and she’ll come to wonder whether some secrets should stay buried after all.

Nancy's Thoughts:

Karen Rose has a knack for putting a mystery within a mystery so that progress on the cases facing her protagonists often leads to more twists and turns that make matters worse. That ability is on full display in Family Lies, the fourth book in the San Diego Case Files series.

Longtime readers of this series are aware that Kit McKittrick’s foster parents have provided homes to many lost young people over the years. They’ve adopted many of those young people, most of whose stories are full of more questions than answers. One of these is Akiko.

The more Kit and Sam delve into Mary Sherman’s death, the more they learn about Akiko’s birth family. Yet every discovery leads to more questions. Each path they pursue leads to more confusing revelations about Akiko’s family history. One of the witnesses they’re seeking survives an attack but refuses to divulge information that might help them.

The threat to Akiko, which becomes more serious as the story goes on, torments Kit with echoes of the sister she lost not long after coming to live with the McKittricks. Dealing with those memories and the present-day threat to Akiko challenges Kit emotionally.

On top of that, someone shoots at Kit three times, wounding her once. Her insistence on investigating, despite being told to back off, leads to conflict between her and some officers in the police department. Some detectives rally around her, however, in a way that fits perfectly the found family theme that runs through this series.

A longtime supporting character provides an unexpected wrinkle in the investigation. While surprising, it’s not inconsistent with that character’s story to date. It works in the context of the story and the overall context of the series.

A complex story like this can be confusing or difficult to believe. The developments here, though, are presented a few at a time so they’re easy to follow, and the motivations behind them make them believable. When everything comes together in a final, nail-biting confrontation, more twists and turns occur even as what came before finally becomes clear.

Seeing Kit’s parents, Harlan and Betsy McKittrick, is always a pleasure. The story spends only a little time with their latest group of foster children but gives them interesting and distinct personalities. Sam’s parents have less page time but are sympathetic and interesting.

One of my favorite parts of this series has been the slow-burn romance between Kit and Sam. Every book brings it just a little farther along the road. Many thriller and mystery series have slow-burn romances between the protagonists, but they are rarely as grounded in the characters’ backstories and emotions as this one is. For those who want a trope, it’s hurt-comfort, and it’s beautifully handled.

Overall, I enjoyed Family Lies tremendously. The story pulled me in from the first page. The main characters are engaging and easy to root for. The supporting characters, even the ones who’re a problem for the investigation and are not especially likeable, are drawn with layers. The story moves at a good pace.

Highly recommended

5 Stars

Nancy

Review - - Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel

Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel

by Elizabeth Everett

Publisher: Ace

Release Date: March 10, 2026

Reviewed by Nancy  

 

When a magical hotel appears smack-dab in the middle of the most unmagical of worlds, the last thing the residents expect is to fall in love.

Manager of the Number Five Wayside Inn and World Travel Hub, Pax Nomen has one of the easiest jobs in all the known universes, unless you count the occasional plumbing disaster. When Number Five Wayside gets stranded on a non-magical world, even Pax's trusty Wayside Handbook can’t help him. How is he going to “reboot” the hotel and keep it on its magical journey?

Josie LaChusia is a single mom experiencing debt, having parenting doubts, and tipping dangerously toward depression when an ad pops up on her phone that an apartment is available in a building she’s never seen before.

Pax needs a new guest to restart his hotel, and Josie needs a nudge to restart her life. In a building occupied by faeries, gargoyles, and a gnome with a bad attitude, two souls from very different places come together to create a home like no other.

Nancy's Thoughts: 

Magic & Mischief at the Wayside Hotel is a charming cozy fantasy with a strong romance thread. It’s set in an intriguing world that left me with some questions that didn’t stop me from enjoying the story. Pax and Josie are very well drawn and engaging, and the secondary characters have enough layers and detail to seem real without taking over the story. 

The Wayside Inns travel between realms. Travelers seeking to reach one of these realms go to a place that’s a stop for one of the inns and register as guests. The inns have strict rules to make different, sometimes mutually hostile species, coexist peacefully. The problem this Wayside Inn faces is that it has run out of magical fuel. That’s how it comes to land, and be stranded, on our Earth. Some of the inns have disappeared, but no one knows why. 

We don’t learn much about these other worlds, but Pax shows Josie records of one that’s drawn in vivid and appealing detail. The brief explanation of the inns’ traveling implies that any inn can go to any and every destination. I couldn’t help wondering how this worked and whether there actually were routes for the individual inns. 

Pax and his assistant manager, Maddy, don’t know what to do to fix the Wayside so it can resume its travels. The inhabitants, who’ve paid for transportation, understandably want to reach their intended destinations. Pax has an idea, bringing in an ordinary person, making a change in an effort to “reboot” the inn, which the instruction manual directs them to do but does not define. Some of the guests favor this approach, some do not, and a couple want to try using an ordinary person as a blood sacrifice. In the end, they advertise an apartment for rent, knowing a nonmagical human will move in because this world has nothing else. 

Contemporary popular culture plays a big role in this book. There are many pop culture references. For the most part, they were a lot of fun. I loved seeing the stranded fairies become enamored of TikTok and cheerleading, for example. By the end of the book, though, I felt that there were too many pop culture callbacks.

One of the threads that runs through the book is Pax learning contemporary American culture. His internal questions about various topics, which he then consults Google for information about, are humorous and endearing. Josie’s son, Amos, plays a big role in this part of Pax’s education. 

Pax grew up in an orphanage on his world, where all orphans are slated for the Army of the Light, which defends the existence of magic. Pax was a paladin, a leader, and very good at his skills that come in handy for dealing with the assortment of non-human beings—faeries, a vampire, a gnome, gargoyles, and a zombie, just to name a few—who’re marooned in the inn. Because of his upbringing, Pax has no experience of love and doesn’t understand it. 

Josie lands at the Wayside because she sees the apartment ad. She can’t afford her current rent, so, despite some odd experiences when she views the apartment, the Wayside is a godsend. Her life has been difficult though she and Amos’s father, Dan, had a good relationship until he died. Now Dan’s mother undercuts Josie’s parenting at every opportunity. 

Josie lacks confidence in her ability to make decisions. She doesn’t trust her own judgment. Pax doesn’t understand love, and neither of them knows what will happen to the romance building between them when the Wayside recovers and goes on its way. As she and Pax find their way to each other, they also become stronger, more confident people, in the best tradition of romance. 

The inn itself is both sentient and magical, and it takes an indirect hand in the various developments. Everett uses scent effectively as a tool to interpret the inn’s actions. There are also visual cues. The changes the inn makes at time almost drive Josie away, but she does need a place to stay. 

There were a few downsides to the book for me. There were also a couple of passing references to contemporary American politics. Whether I agree with such a references or not, I don’t want them in my escapist reading. Amos’s grandfather is described as letting his wife do the talking but steps aside from that at an important point. I didn’t feel it had been seeded well enough. I need a little more foreshadowing for his move. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book tremendously. Highly recommended. 

4.5 stars 

~ Nancy

Review - - Christmas at the Ranch

Christmas at the Ranch

by Julia McKay

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons

Release Date: September 23, 2025

Reviewed by Nancy

She hasn’t been in love in ten years, but she’s about to get back in the saddle.

With the holidays around the corner and her father recently imprisoned for financial fraud, disgraced journalist Emory Oakes doesn’t know where to turn. She’s only certain of one thing: She needs to get away.

Fate takes the wheel, leaving her stranded in snowy Evergreen, the picturesque town where she spent her happiest Christmas as a teen — and chronicled every moment in her journal as she fell in love with handsome local, Tate Wilder, at his family’s idyllic horse ranch — until it all went wrong.

Emory isn’t ready to face Tate, but kismet and Christmas magic have other ideas. As the love they’ve denied for a decade rekindles, the betrayals that kept them apart resurface, as does Emory’s family scandal. Yet Tate Wilder and his ranch feel more like home than anywhere ever has. Will Emory and Tate’s alchemy fizzle or will their Christmas wishes come true?

 

Nancy’s Thoughts: 

Christmas at the Ranch is a delightful second-chance holiday romance about two engaging people. I enjoyed the story very much, but I had some problems with the book’s structure. 

I’ll save the structural issues for last and start with the setup and the characters. Emory is easy to root for. In her wealthy, society-oriented family, she often felt like a changeling, so she makes her living as a freelance journalist and doesn’t touch her large trust fund. The scandal of her father’s arrest, however, tanks her journalism career. That and family pressure related to the scandal cause her to flee. She’s well on her way to Evergreen when she realizes where she’s headed. 

Her failed romance with Tate Wilder a decade previously makes Evergreen a less attractive refuge than it might’ve been, but she has nowhere else to go. She figures she doesn’t have to see him. A combination of unfortunate circumstances, however, traps her at the Wilder ranch, where Tate’s father insists she stay in Tate’s house, which is empty because he’s away at a trade show. 

Of course, Tate returns early, and their reunion is beyond awkward. He doesn’t seem to hold any ill will from their long-ago past, though. He and Emory reconnect over the Wilder horses, but the past is always a stumbling block, and Emory attributes any withdrawal on his part to unpleasant memories of the past coming between them. That’s not always the case, though. 

Tate is courteous and friendly. There are lovely, emotional moments where he and Emory connect again, even though they both retreat afterward. Their shared love of the ranch’s horses and Emory’s pleasure in riding again help bring them together. He’s responsible, kind, and concerned that Emory not leave town until she has somewhere to go. 

The book is written in first person, present tense, so we have only Emory’s viewpoint and excerpts from the diary she kept ten years before. The present-tense form is not a favorite of mine, but I’m aware many readers enjoy it. 

My main problem with the story is in its use of the diary. The book opens with a diary entry from ten years previously that tells us how Emory and Tate met. As a prologue, this works. This entry, like all the others is beautifully written. This one shows us the immediate attraction between Tate and Emory in a believable way. The action then skips ten years to Emory’s family scandal. Flashbacks in the form of lengthy diary entries are interspersed in the story. Every one of them stops the forward action and, for me, slows the pace. 

Despite all this looking backward, we don’t know until nearly the end of the book exactly what happened between Emory and Tate that has her so sure he would never want to try again. Emory obviously remembers what happened, and we spend the entire book in her point of view. Yet that information isn’t shared until late in the story. If I had known what happened between them, I would’ve been more sympathetic to her qualms and more inclined to share them. 

Emory refers a couple of times to a book by the author bell hooks, who does not capitalize her name. Because I had never heard of her, seeing the name made me wonder each time whether the book was about hooks for bells. I couldn’t figure it out until I resorted to a Web search. I’m not quibbling with hooks’s choice about capitalization, but I do question McKay’s choice to use the name in a novel where readers might not be familiar with it and so might be stopped by it, as I was. 

The resolution to the romance was satisfying and also tied up some of Emory’s longstanding family issues as she dealt with her father’s scandal. The descriptions of small-town life and of trail rides in the snowy woods were very well done. Aside from the diary flashbacks, the story moved at a good pace. The townspeople had distinct, varied personalities, and the hesitation some of them felt about Emory’s return was believably grounded in her father’s actions years before. And Tate and Emily had me rooting for them from the beginning. 

Overall, as I said, I enjoyed the story a lot. I highly recommend it.

~Nancy

Review - - Ember Eternal

Ember Eternal

by Chloe Neill

Souls Burn Brightest – Book 1

Publisher: Ace

Release Date: November 25, 2025

Reviewed by Nancy

4.75 stars 

Fox is a thief with morals—she steals from those who can afford it and takes only a little at that. But she has no choice. Fox and her closest companion are indentured servants to an unscrupulous wealthy woman in the stronghold. Unable to pay off their debts with the work they’re given, they steal in the hopes of one day being free—truly free. 

While searching for an easy mark, Fox identifies a would-be assassin with her rare magical ability, and then helps a royal bodyguard fend off his vicious attack on the prince. Soon that good deed embroils her in a vast and shimmering world of imperial politics, long-lost magic, and improbable romance. But Fox longs for freedom, and must decide if love is its own kind of cage. 

 

Nancy’s Thoughts: 

In Ember Eternal, veteran author Chloe Neill offers a romantasy set in a fully-realized, beautifully described pre-industrial world. She always gives the reader a complete picture of the characters and their surroundings, so the mental images that flow from the pages are never vague or puzzling. Yet that picture is painted so efficiently that the description doesn’t slow the pace. I’m happy to say the book includes zero made-up terms that may sound cool but are never explained, even though they pop up often. Using words that way is a pet peeve of mine. 

The heroine, an orphaned thief named Fox, can see ghosts and has other magical senses she doesn’t fully understand. She only steals what she needs and avoids taking from someone who needs the money more. Her best friend, Wren, also a thief and an orphan, is Fox’s sister in all but blood. The two of them are bond servants to a wealthy woman who hires them out for money. Neither Fox nor Wren knows how much is owed on her bond, and neither expects ever to pay it off. 

Fox’s creed is “Never be noticed.” Forced to choose between doing the right thing or not being noticed, however, she chooses what is right. Almost everything that happens to her in the story springs from one such choice. 

The hero, Nik, arrives at the stronghold, the city where Fox lives, in the train of the prince who is its new ruler. An assassination attempt against the prince leads Nik and Fox to work together. The romance between them builds slowly, and their cooperation leads to a number of unwelcome surprises for Fox. Her abilities draw the attention of a magic-wielder who means to destroy the prince’s dynasty, the Lys’Careths. 

The characters are sympathetic, engaging, and layered, and the romance, while not the primary storyline, is strong and well developed. The heat level increases as Fox and Nik’s emotional intimacy deepens. 

Because the story is told in first person, we have only Fox’s viewpoint on events and the relationship. We do get a good idea of Nik’s feelings from his reactions. 

The supporting characters are varied and elicit different levels of sympathy. The Lady, who holds Fox’s and Wren’s bonds, is mercenary and grasping but not unkind to them. The palace staff and guardsmen are loyal and efficient, a contrast to the local city guard, and each has a moment to show individual personality traits. 

Unfortunately, Fox isn’t the only woman interested in Nik’s heart. The other woman, while manipulative and not generally trusted, has a moment that sparks Fox’s grudging sympathy for her. 

The plot is logical and builds off the unique features of the story world. The choices Fox and Nik make are believable because they are in keeping with the characters’ beliefs as established earlier in the story. The book doesn’t wrap everything up at the end, but the ending was satisfying and believable. 

I’m reluctant to include more about the characters or the plot. I don’t want to spoil the twists the story takes. 

You may have gathered that I was cruising toward a five-star review. I was. But one thing about the book pulled me out of the story and frustrated me. In four or five places, I needed dialogue attributions that aren’t supplied. When more than two characters are in a scene, it isn’t always possible to tell which one is speaking based on the content of the dialogue. When I’m confused because I don’t know who is talking, I have to stop and count lines back from the last attribution. Even then, I can’t always tell. This happened in only four or five places, and balancing those rare frustrating incidents against my tremendous enjoyment of the rest of the story led me to take off only ¼ of a star. 

I highly recommend this book, and I can’t wait for the next one. 

~ 4.75 stars 

Nancy

 

Reader questions from Nancy: 

Do you read romantasy? 

If you’re a romantasy reader, where on the continuum of worldbuilding do you fall? Do you like detailed worldbuilding, or are you closer to the minimalist level of a preindustrial setting, some magic or otherworldly elements and maybe some made-up terms? Or are you somewhere in between? 

Do you prefer the romance in a romantasy to be the central story, a strong but subordinate element, or a 50/50 split?

 

Review - - Atonement Sky

Atonement Sky

by Nalini Singh

Psy-Changeling Trinity - Book 9

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: July 15, 2025

Reviewed by Nancy

Justice-Psy Eleri Dias knows the end is near for her, her mind one step away from fatal psychic exposure. In the short time that remains, she is determined to atone for an act of omission that has haunted her for a long, cruel decade. But that decision not only means facing a powerful changeling wing leader, but also putting herself in the path of a serial killer.

Falcon wing leader Adam Garrett is fiercely protective of his family and his clan. After losing his parents as a teenager in a shocking act of malice, Adam has no forgiveness in him for the J-Psy who betrayed him, betrayed them, at the most painful moment of his life. But the evil that stalks his territory will allow him no respite, forcing him once more into contact with the J he has never been able to forget.

Everything that could’ve been between Eleri and Adam was lost years ago, a shimmering promise crushed. As they work to uncover a monster, the moment of reckoning looms ever closer. Soon, there may be no more time left for either atonement…or love…

Nancy’s Thoughts: 

One of the pleasures of the Psy/Changeling universe is that it holds so many beings with so many different skills. The Psy have a variety of abilities, some valued more than others, and many of them two-edged swords. The Changelings come in a wide range of species, each with commensurate abilities. And the PsyNet, the interconnected psychic web the Psy need to survive, is deteriorating. All that makes rich ground to mine for stories. 

In Atonement Sky, we get a close look at the J-class Psy and the price they pay for using their abilities in the justice system. When walking in the memories of serial killers and other criminals becomes too much for them, they undergo a reconditioning process that scrapes off a layer of their personalities. Each time, the procedure scrapes away another, deeper layer. Having undergone this reconditioning several times, Eleri no longer feels emotions. She believes that anything left of the woman she once was is so deeply buried that she’ll never access it. As most J-Psy do, she has planned to self-terminate before she loses the last shreds of her psionic shielding and is overwhelmed by the thoughts of everyone around her roaring into her skull. Before that happens, though, she wants to track down the serial killer known as the Sandman. That hunt brings her to Raintree, Arizona, home town of the WindHaven falcon changelings. 

When Adam realizes she’s the newcomer in town, he confronts her. He demands to know whether she’s in Raintree in hopes that he might forgive her for not correcting her mentor’s lie at the trial of his parents’ accused murderer. That lie let the murderer go free and crushed the nascent mating attraction between Adam and Eleri. 

She explains that she’s tracking the Sandman and believes he’s based in Raintree. No matter how he feels about her, Adam can’t take the chance that a serial killer is hiding in his hometown. He’s torn between wanting her and wanting to punish her, even to destroy her, for letting that injustice stand. Eleri’s flat manner contrasts with the warmth that drew him toward her before her mentor’s lie shattered any hope of anything between him. 

Seeing Adam again, Eleri finds herself drawn to him despite her inability to touch the feelings she remembers having for him. Certain he will never forgive her, believing her time will run out soon, she vows to focus on the hunt that brought her to Raintree. 

When one of Adam’s clanmates is shot and hovers so near death, frozen in mid-shift, powerful empaths cannot reach him. They do sense something in his mind, though, and his brain wave patterns show one unusual reading. Adam knows his friend, Jacques, doesn’t want to be kept alive on machines, but he can’t call an end to the treatment until Jacques is truly gone and not trapped in the depths of his mind. 

Eleri agrees to try to help Jacques, and her willingness to risk herself and the fragile state of her shields helps break through Adam’s old anger. She pays a price for her efforts, and he gradually comes to realize the events at the trial were more complex than he knew. As he and Eleri spend time together, the old attraction between them flares, and understanding follows. 

Changelings are family-oriented, and the family around Adam is loving and fun. Eleri also has a family, four longtime friends whose abilities are also rolling toward a point of no return. One, Bram, is particularly well drawn. So are Adam’s wing second, Dahlia, his sister, Saoirse, and Saoirse’s daughter, Malia. Eleri admires his dedication to clan and family. 

There’s a delightful scene with Eleri and a very young fledgling, and the interactions between Bram and one of the falcons were both touching and fun. The characters are easy to root for and enjoy, and the plot moves at a good pace. 

I enjoyed the beautiful, evocative descriptions of the southwest. The use different types of falcons and the culture of WindHaven were also engaging points in the story. 

The deterioration of the PsyNet isn’t a major point in this book, but it is one in the overall arc of this series. Singh pulls that thread through without letting it disrupt the flow of the main story. 

The serial killer plot is well constructed and logical. I could’ve done without the scene in the killer’s point of view, though. For me, it didn’t add anything to the story. 

My other quibble with the book is a scene where four J-Psy whose shields have collapsed are in a single space with falcon changelings. Singh establishes early in the story that changeling shields mostly compensate for the lack of them in the J-Psy. I was baffled, though, as to how four Psy with no shields could be in close proximity without their unshielded minds crashing. After I thought about the nature of that space, I came up with what I think is the answer, which means the space affects telepathy in a way that wasn’t clearly established earlier. Wondering what was going on with that distracted me from the story. A sentence of explanation would’ve clarified that and let me stop wondering. 

Despite the quibbles, I recommend this story highly. 

4 Stars 

~ Nancy

Review & Giveaway - - The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin

The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin

by Alison Goodman

The Ill-Mannered Ladies - Book 2

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: May 6, 2025

Reviewed by Nancy

 

To most of Regency high society, forty-two-year-old Lady Augusta Colebrook, or Gus, and her twin sister, Julia, are just unmarried ladies of a certain age. But the Colebrook twins are far from useless old maids. They are secretly protecting women and children ignored by society and the law.

When Lord Evan—a charming escaped convict who has won Gus’s heart—needs to hide his sister, Hester, from their vindictive brother, Gus and Julia take Hester and her lover into their home. But Lord Evan’s complicated past puts them all in danger. Gus knows they must clear his name of murder if he is to survive the thieftakers who hunt him. No easy task—the fatal duel was twenty years ago and a key witness is nowhere to be found.

In a deadly cat-and-mouse game, Gus, Julia, and Lord Evan must dodge their pursuers and investigate Lord Evan’s past. They will be thrust into the ugly underworld of Georgian gentlemen’s clubs, spies, and ruthless bounty hunters, not to mention the everyday threat of narrow-minded brothers. Will the truth be found in time, or will dangerous secrets from the past destroy family bonds and rip new love and lives apart?

Nancy's Thoughts: 

The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin combines mystery, romance, and social commentary into an enjoyable story. Some elements of the plot carry over from the prior book, The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies. While this story can be read as a standalone, the character conflicts may resonate more with readers who’re familiar with the first book.

Gus and Julia are fortunate in having inherited enough money to live independently. They participate in salons, attend social functions, and ride in Hyde Park. Unfortunately for them, their brother, the Earl of Duffield, disapproves strongly of this independent lifestyle. He and his class-conscious, very traditional wife, are constantly trying to force his sisters to give up their own home and live, for all practical purposes under his thumb. The resulting tension between the siblings causes unpleasant encounters from time to time.

This difficult relationship also complicates their efforts to keep Lady Hester safe because Duffield is a friend of Lady Hester’s elder brother and guardian, the Marquess of Deele. The sisters cannot afford to have their brother learn they are sheltering—harboring, to Duffield and Deele—Lady Hester and her lover, Miss Elizabeth Grant. Deele disapproves of the relationship and has gone so far as to have Hester incarcerated in a brutal insane asylum. His attitude raises the stake in the effort to clear Lord Evan’s name. Until he was convicted of killing someone in a duel and was transported, he was Marquess of Deele. If he can clear his name and resume his title, his sister and her lover will be safe.

The search for a possible witness to the duel and the other party’s death leads Gus and Evan to The Exalted Brethren of Rack and Ruin, a private men’s club that makes the Hellfire Club look like an afternoon tea party. Investigating the Brethren, they discover extensive abuse of women from the streets. They also uncover what they hope is evidence. 

Their quest is complicated by a brutal thieftaker named Mulholland who is hot on Lord Evan’s trail. Gus is certain he doesn’t plan to arrest Evan but to murder him—if he can catch him.

Julia and Gus, afraid Deele or Duffield will discover that the sisters are sheltering Hester and Elizabeth, first visit a friend, who agrees to take them. They devise false identities for the two fugitives as a widow and her sister. Unfortunately, other guests create complications that force them to move on.

They then seek sanctuary with two women who live together as a couple in Wales. They hope the women will shelter Hester and Elizabeth. On arrival, they’re chagrined to learn that Beau Brummell and his friend Lord Alvanley, two leaders of the ton, are having dinner with their hostesses. Will they support Lady Hester against her brother? Or will they side with Deele?

This was also the era of the Luddite riots against the use of machines in textile mills, which put them out of their jobs. Militia in the area increase the risk to Lord Evan, who has followed Gus, Julia, and his sister to Wales. With him is a Bow Street runner, Mr. Kent, who has agreed to aid him in clearing his name and who is in love with Julia.

I was pleased to see that Julia and Gus’s relationship evolves in this book. They aren’t static characters. Nor are Lord Evan and Mr. Kent. The author presents an unusual view of Beau Brummell as involved in certain intrigues, but it works. 

I have one minor quibble with the story and one major one. The minor one is a mistranslation of the Latin phrase Ex Deo as being For God. Gus does this in an effort to throw off another character. If there had been an internal comment hoping the other wouldn’t realize she was using it incorrectly, I would’ve been fine with it. But there was nothing to that effect, which leaves the impression that Gus thinks ex translates as for. It actually translates as from or out of. This won’t bother readers who never took Latin. I did, though, and it yanked me out of the story.

The bigger quibble, which I’m hoping will change in future adventures, is that Duffield and his wife are one-dimensional characters. They’re completely adversarial and unsympathetic. Even when he does something that helps his sisters, he turns out to have done it to protect his social standing. Duffield’s greatest wish is to compel his sisters to return to their family estate and live as he wishes. He couches this in concern for them but also admits, in what is clearly his primary motive, that their independence embarrasses him and his wife.

For the most part, though, the characters are likeable. Julia’s relationship with Mr. Kent progresses, and his character has to make some life-altering decisions. Gus and Julia’s Black butler, Weatherly, is sympathetic and helps his employers. The author takes enough time with the friends who shelter Gus, Julia, Hester, and Elizabeth, to make them seem real.

The climax of the story is an action-packed confrontation with the Mulholland and his comrades in the woods at night with Lord Evan, Kent, and Gus in danger. I don’t want to spoil it, but the ending is satisfying.

The story moves at a good pace, and the social commentary is woven through the story, affecting the plot, and not dropped in as an annoying aside. As a whole, the threads of the story fit well together. I recommend this book.

4 Stars

~Nancy

Readers, have you read Alison Goodman yet?

Do you enjoy books that weave action and social commentary throughout the story?

One person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, May 24 will receive a print copy of The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin.

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

 

Review & Giveaway - - Archangel's Ascension

Archangel’s Ascension

by Nalini Singh

Guild Hunter - Book 17

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: May 6, 2025

Reviewed by Nancy 

 

Aodhan and Illium. Adi and Blue. Sparkle and Bluebell. Friends become lovers, their future a wild unknown.

Finally reunited in New York, they must now learn to navigate the monumental shift in their relationship. But for these two members of Archangel Raphael’s legendary Seven, there is no time to rest. As they investigate a case for the Tower that echoes the darkness from Aodhan’s past, they will be forced to confront not only the scars that mark them both, but the promise of a vast power that flickers in Illium.

The threat of ascension has haunted and troubled Aodhan’s Blue for too long, the forces of change immutable and without mercy…and uncaring of Illium’s fierce wish to remain part of the Seven. Change is a constant in an immortal’s life, and this new horizon will bring with it both terrible heartbreak and a joy extraordinary enough to reverberate through time…

Nancy’s Thoughts:

Archangel’s Ascension is a sequel to Book 14, Archangel’s Light, which took Illium and Aodhan from friends to lovers. Readers can follow the story in Archangel’s Ascension  without having read the prior volume, but I think the emotional arc will have stronger resonance for those who’ve read it.

My one quibble with that earlier book was the absence of a moment when either man hesitated to cross the friend line for fear of losing that irreplaceable friendship. In Archangel’s Ascension, Singh explores both Aodhan’s and Illium’s emotional baggage and its effect on their relationship in a way that addresses everything.

Aodhan is too well aware of his issues, but Illium doesn’t realize the causes of his own unspoken fear. Archangel’s Ascension is a beautiful story of their efforts to work through their baggage so they can relax and trust fully in their love.

The story begins in present time, some 700 years after the end of the last book, Archangel’s Lineage (Book 16). This is labeled Today. A life-altering event occurs near the beginning of the book, which then flashes back to Yesterday, a period about 50 years after the end of Archangel’s Lineage. Much of the story occurs in this earlier period, which looks at Aodhan’s and Illium’s childhood, their relationships with Archangel Rafael, his Seven (the aides he most trusts), and other characters in the series.

Most of the book centers on Aodhan and Illium’s relationship, with the shadow of the Today opening events hovering over this storyline. The pair work together to solve the murder of a young vampire and his female love. This plotline also involves their emotional scars, especially Aodhan’s. It’s well done but not a huge part of the overall story.

The timeline then moves back to Today, to the aftermath of the earlier events and their repercussions. Illium has changed, and everyone around him, including Raphael and Aodhan, must deal with that change in their own ways.

Readers may be able to guess what that change is, but I don’t want to spoil it.

The storyline then moves back and forth between Illium finding his new footing in Today and moments important to his and Aodhan’s relationship in Yesterday. I found the time shifts a little disorienting because I wasn’t sure where we were in the timeline, which parts of Yesterday we were visiting. I suspect this is an issue that will resonate with some readers while others just roll with the shifts.

Each of the familiar supporting characters of the Guild Hunter series gets a nod, even those mortals who, due to the 700-year time jump, are no longer alive in the story world. Singh depicts new characters with enough detail for us to feel that we know them, with emphasis on their importance to the lead characters.

We also see a few major events in the lives of other characters in the series. These interactions aren’t part of the romantic arc and so may feel slow to some readers. Overall, though, the story moves at a good pace. The emotional arc is sometimes intense but always satisfying, and the ending is perfect.

Highly recommended.

~Nancy

 

Readers, tell me what you're currently reading. One randomly chosen person posting a comment before 11:00 PM, May 9 will receive a print copy of Archangel's Ascension.

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

  

Review - - The Geographer's Map to Romance

The Geographer's Map to Romance

by India Holton

Love’s Academic Book 2

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: April 8, 2025

Reviewed by Nancy

 

Professor Elodie Tarrant is an expert in magic disasters. Nothing fazes her—except her own personal disaster, that is: Professor Gabriel Tarrant, the grumpy, unfriendly man she married for convenience a year ago, whom she secretly loves.

Gabriel is also an expert in magic disasters. And nothing fazes him either—except the walking, talking tornado that is his wife. They’ve been estranged since shortly after their wedding day, but that hasn’t stopped him from stoically pining for her.

When magic erupts in a small Welsh village, threatening catastrophe for the rest of Britain, Elodie and Gabriel are accidentally both assigned to the case. With the fate of the country in their hands, they must come together as a team in the face of perilous conditions like explosions, domesticated goats, and only one bed. But this is easier said than done. After all, there's no navigational guide for the geography of the heart.

Nancy’s Thoughts:

The Geographer’s Map to Romance mixes a marriage of convenience, a second

chance at love, and a grumpy-sunshine pairing with a dose of humor, including a

sendup of the academic world. The result is a delightful book. It’s set in a Victorian

England where geography (earth science) includes dealing with magic, which is a force

of the land. Instead of ley lines, we have fey lines and magic forces measured by

thaumometers.

Elodie and Gabriel Tarrant are obviously still attracted to each other, possibly even

obsessed with each other, but neither thinks the other reciprocates their feelings. As a

result they spend a lot of time trying to dodge each other and to convince themselves

they don’t feel what they plainly do. Elodie is imaginative and poetic and sees the joy in

everything. Gabriel is serious, careful, and determined to remain grounded. He’s so

stern with his students that they’ve nicknamed him Professor Tyrant.

The pair and their assistants, along with a cost-conscious fellow from the Home Office,

arrive in Wales to discover that wild magic is levitating animals, starting fires, and

transforming people and objects into plants, animals and birds. The situation escalates

as they investigate, and the combination of danger and proximity brings their feelings for

each other to the fore. For example:

He took a step closer to her. She tossed back a loose strand of hair and stared him

down (or, more accurately, up, since he was some four inches taller). The air between

them crackled with a magic considerably more potent than that which was exploding

pebbles on the road beyond.

But they both carry on trying to ignore their emotions until the situation reaches a point

where that’s impossible.

One of the things I most enjoyed about the book is Holton’s wry narrative voice. I also

enjoyed her use of internal language, sometimes with strike-throughs, to show the

feelings Elodie and Gabriel are trying to suppress. In Chapter One, they meet at the

train station, having both been dispatched to deal with the magical emergency, each

unaware the other is involved until they meet at the train station. Elodie responds this

way:

Approaching him was the hardest thing she’d done in a long while, and this was coming

from a woman with a doctorate that had required extensive knowledge of trigonometry.

She hated the coldhearted, unforgiving man. Absolutely, completely loved—wait, no,

loathed him. Arriving at his side on the platform, she offered a terse yet completely

polite greeting.

But Gabriel went on staring at the block in his hand, such a calm, somber beauty to his

face that it made Elodie’s throat ache. Ache like I’ve just swallowed poison, she

amended furiously.

That wry internal narrative also supplies humor. When a tourist drawn to the magical

mayhem in Wales blathers about the excitement of magic, Gabriel has this reaction:

Bloody hell. The fellow was either an incoherent lunatic or a humanities student.

(Gabriel did not always find it easy to spot the difference.)

Then there’s this:

“What about free will?” Elodie argued, setting her hands on her hips.

“What about it?” Gabriel asked, as if free will was something he, as a university

professor, simply could not countenance.

(In the interests of full disclosure, I’ll note that I have a degree in history, grew up in a

college town, and am married to an academic. The wry references to academia are not

mean-spirited or unkind and fit the characters’ personalities.)

The supporting characters include a professor who’s supposed to deal with magical

disasters but has a knack for causing them, as when he took his class to see what he

thought were singing stalactites but were really razor-sharp, spinning stalactites. Yet

he’s likeable because he’s always willing to pitch in and do his part.

The silliness of the tourists who’ve come to see the magical disaster is so like the

onlookers who rush to see disasters today that it works extremely well in context. The

cowardice of the man from the Home Office contrasts nicely with Elodie and Gabriel’s

determination. And the villagers’ desire to capitalize on this opportunity is not only

understandable, though it’s inconvenient for Elodie and Gabriel, but often humorous.

The romantic arc progresses in a believable and satisfying way, with the magical

disaster woven through it instead of occurring parallel to it.

The worldbuilding is original, cohesive, and well explained.

By this point, readers may be wondering why, if I liked so much about this book, I gave it

4 stars instead of five. It’s because there’s one part of it that bothered me a lot. The

romantic conflict, the marital problem that sent Elodie and Gabriel in opposite directions

a year before the story starts, is based on a misunderstanding of a comment—a true

comment—that five minutes of conversation could have resolved. Yet neither pursued it.

Near the end of the book, we see Elodie developing insight into Gabriel’s personality

that leads her to look differently at that misunderstanding. He’s gaining similar

understanding of her. Those bits are written very well, with the story leading up to them

nicely. In order for me to buy that misunderstanding as the book’s main romantic

conflict, though, I needed their internal reactions in the moment the breach occurred (a

moment the story includes as a flashback) to know why they didn’t pursue that

conversation, and they aren’t there.

The relationship conflict is central to a romance, and when one doesn’t work for me, it

has to affect the way I rate the book. A lot depends on how much I enjoyed it otherwise.

Would I keep reading the book if I hadn’t committed to review it? How much did I enjoy

it apart from my issue with the conflict? In this case, I would have kept reading and

enjoyed the overall story immensely. So it gets four stars, and I highly recommend.

~Nancy

Review - - Bride of the Shadow King

Bride of the Shadow King

by Sylvia Mercedes

Publisher: Ace Books

Release Date: November 12, 2024

Reviewed by Nancy

 

Though she is the oldest daughter, Princess Faraine lives in the background, shunned from court and kept out of sight. She’s told her gods-gift makes her a liability to the crown, and has learned to give place to her beautiful, favored younger sister in all things.

When the handsome and enigmatic Shadow King comes seeking a bride, Faraine is not surprised that her sister is his choice.

King Vor is not eager to take a human bride, but he is willing to do what is necessary for the sake of his people. When he meets the lively Princess Ilsevel, he quickly agrees to a marriage arrangement. 

So why can’t he get the haunting eyes of her older sister out of his head?

 

Nancy’s Thoughts: 

Bride of the Shadow King is the first of three romantasy novels under a series banner of the same title. The forbidden love romance is nearly flawless, and the worldbuilding is different and intriguing despite occasional sparse descriptions. 

Princess Faraine, the heroine, has been banished to a distant convent far from the court of Gavaria, her homeland, because she inadvertently wrecked her father’s plan to marry her to a prince she loathed. We meet her as she is returning home to convince her sister Ilsevel, who has locked herself in a tower and is throwing crockery at anyone who approaches, that she must marry the Shadow King, Vor, for the good of their kingdom. They’re at war with Prince Ruaven, a fae, and they need the fierce soldiers of the trolde realm. Vor needs the human magic to vanquish the deadly beings intruding into his kingdom. 

Prince Ruaven’s fae attack Faraine’s entourage. Faraine isn’t trained to fight, but she displays courage and determination to survive in the face of these lethal foes. Her party is outnumbered and suffering casualties at a rapid pace. Fortunately, the trolde king and his escort, who are en route to Gavaria so he can woo Ilsevel, come across the battle and wade in. They rescue Faraine and her brother. 

Faraine has the gift of sensing the emotions of those around her. She can also affect their emotions. To keep the flood of feelings she senses from overwhelming her, she has a crystal necklace she grips to help her stay centered. Despite the carnage of the fight surrounding her and Vor, all she picks up from him is calm. That has tremendous appeal for her. He admires her poise and finds the hint of song he senses around her intriguing. 

Faraine knows, however, that her father, King Lorangar, would not want her to become friendly with Vor. Lorangar intends Vor to wed the lovely Ilsevel. Faraine has been summoned home only to convince her sister to go along with this plan. 

After they arrive at Beldroth, the Gavarian king’s palace, Vor remains intrigued by Faraine and seeks her out. She feels drawn to him but gently discourages his interest, which could lead him to prefer her to Ilsevel. Her father would be furious at the mere idea. 

The push/pull of their shared attraction is well done. Faraine’s fear of offending her father is understandable in context and sets up the situation that leads to disaster later in the story. Discouraged from pursuing her, Vor turns his attention to Ilsevel. Faraine continues to intrigue him, but he needs this alliance to gain access to human magic. If that means he must court only Ilsevel, he will do so. 

Both Vor and Faraine are resolved to do their duty despite the personal cost, but they aren’t whiny about it. Their matter-of-face acceptance of the situation despite their disappointment is sympathetic, and I was rooting for them both. 

The betrothal goes forward. Faraine returns to her convent. Vor resolves to put his feelings for Faraine aside, stop thinking of her, and devote himself to Ilsevel. After Vor returns to his own realm to prepare for his bride, who’s going on a pre-wedding pilgrimage, tragedy strikes. I won’t spoil the story by saying what happens, only that King Larongar’s focus on Ilsevel and his refusal to trust Vor lead to a sequence of dire events that sweep up Faraine, Vor, and his court. 

The supporting characters are individuals with layers, not cookie-cutter figures. A character who isn’t especially sympathetic in the beginning of the story comes into her own by the end, and I’m now interested to see what happens to her in the next two books. 

All that is great, so readers may wonder why I’m giving the book 4.5 stars instead of five. It’s because there were too many stoppers for me. Otherworldly creatures aren’t fully described, unfamiliar terms aren’t explained, and I don’t know why I what the problem is that leads to Prince Ruaven’s incursions except I’m told he’s the bad guy—and not much else. There’s a big inconsistency about the rules of travel between realms at a crucial moment. 

Every time I hit an unfamiliar term in a book, it stops me unless its meaning is obvious from context. Every time I encounter an unfamiliar creature, I need a description to get a visual in my head. Without it, I don’t have a clear picture of the action in the scene and am frustrated. If I’m stopping to wonder about the meaning of a term or the appearance of a creature, I’m not reading the story. I’m pulled out of it. 

The trolde kingdom is a brilliant concept, and the characters we meet there are well-drawn and varied. The landscapes are nicely done, with clear, detailed imagery and contrasts between the Under Realm and Gavaria. The problems I had were in smaller moments. Because I hit so many points where I wanted more—a couple of adjectives, a short phrase—to give me a picture, I often felt frustrated. 

The following are just a few examples. 

Casualties need “an ugghra healer,” but what is that? What sets them apart from other healers? Or is there even a difference? 

The trolde ride shadowy creatures called morleths, which are interdimensional and can manifest from shadows, which is really cool. For description, though, we’re told they have sinuous, barbed tails and snort smoke or sparks. They have fur over scales on their withers and flanks. All that’s great, but we don’t know what shape or size their heads or bodies are or how tall they are or how many legs they have. Presumably they have at least four since people sit on their backs, but it could be six or even, like Odin’s legendary mount, Sleipnir, eight. 

There are numerous references to roag poison. Is that the creature or the plant that produces the poison? If so, what kind of creature or plant is it? I’m assuming roag doesn’t mean poison because that would be redundant. 

At the point when Vor’s bride is about to cross into his lands, the Under Realm, her attendants make a big fuss about the rule that she can only take with her what he has given her. She therefore wears a new gown he sent for her. A companion lies to the trolde woman in attendance about something  the bride wants to take having been a gift from Vor, so she gets to take that. Yet the bride wears a veil she brought from home and no one says anything about that. 

For some readers, a cool-sounding term and a vague description suffice, and that’s fine. But I need more. Rating this book overall, I give the romance plot a five and the worldbuilding a four, solely I was so often stopped by needing more explanation. 

The story moves at a good pace except from the bits I stumbled over, and it kept my interest. Despite the stumbles, I would’ve continued reading even if I hadn’t committed to review the book. 

The story ends on a cliffhanger. That isn’t an issue for me, but readers who prefer a complete story may want to wait until the next two books are released to read this one. 

4.5 stars 

~Nancy