Death by Coconut by Susie Black

May 25, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Death by Coconut by Susie Black
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Obnoxious Mystique Swimwear sales rep Simon Posnick was universally despised by competitors and customers alike. So the question wasn’t who wanted the lying, cheating scoundrel dead. The question was who didn’t. Mariel Levine, Laurie’s Fashions’ swimsuit buyer and Holly Schlivnik’s career mentor, is wrongly arrested for murdering Posnick by impaling him with the jagged edge of a coconut shell at the base of his skull. The wisecracking, irreverent President of Mermaid Swimwear jumps into action to uncover the real killer. But the treacherous trail holds more dangerous human predators than the alligators and black pythons in the Everglades. Everything turns out differently than amateur sleuth Holly thinks it will as she tangles with a vengeful killer.

He might have been a jerk, but he still didn’t deserve to die.

I was pleased by the character development that has happened since Death By Sample Size introduced Holly Schlivnik to the world. She has matured in all sorts of wonderful ways since I first met her, and her experiences solving the previous mysteries have clearly played a part in her personal growth. This made me want to go back and catch up on the titles in this seriesI haven’t read yet to discover more details about how that all occurred.

While the beginning and ending were fairly fast paced, I did find the middle portion’s pacing to be slower and sometimes uneven in certain places. This lead to my interest in the plot wavering for a while due to the reduced number of events that were leading the protagonist to the truth. If not for that issue, I would have given this a full five-star rating as everything else about it was memorable and entertaining.

The romantic subplot was woven into this tale beautifully. I especially appreciated how Holly balanced the role she played in trying to find the murderer with her attention to her private life. She’s a character I’ve grown attached to and was rooting for as she tried to make time for work, romance, and a lot of sleuthing along the way. My fingers are crossed we’ll get even more details about her personal life in the future.

This is the seventh instalment in the Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, but it can be read as a standalone work as well.

Death by Coconut kept me guessing until the end.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

One Night of Passion by Elizabeth Boyle

May 22, 2026 By Leave a Comment


One Night of Passion by Elizabeth Boyle
Publication: Avon Books
Gene: Historical, Romance
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Mistflower

They Met At London’s Notorious Cyprian’s Ball . . .

Georgiana Escott has one night to find the perfect man to ruin her and leave her with a tattered reputation so she can avoid an arranged marriage to an aging, despicable roue. With a misstep, she tumbles into the arms of the disgraced and dashing Lord Danvers. But Georgie doesn’t know that the lover she has enticed to follow her into the night and the stranger she holds responsible for her misfortunes are in the same . . .

When Lord Danvers find himself entangled with a tempting Cyprian, his secret mission to expose a dangerous spy goes awry. Yet once he starts to unmasked this bewitching lady, he realizes the seductress who claims his heart may be the traitor he seeks. Mistrust makes them adversaries in a perilous game—but how can he dismiss his obsession with her when one night of passion entwined their lives forever?

I haven’t been inspired to write a book review in almost a year. I’ve read many books since then, but none made me want to sit down and tell people why they absolutely should read it—until now. I just finished One Night of Passion by Elizabeth Boyle, a library find that completely swept me away.

I feel like I’d been starving for a book like this without even realizing how hungry I was until I started reading it. Once I opened this thirst-quenching novel, I couldn’t put it down for fear of going back to the reading slump I’d been stuck in before. Even after finishing the epilogue, I still didn’t want to close the book—and by then it was 2:00 in the morning with my alarm set for 6:00 a.m. for work.

To be fully transparent, I’ve been lazy about sitting down to write reviews lately. I debated whether I really wanted to spend the time and mental energy writing one, but this book compelled me to do it because it was just that good.

The storytelling felt like watching a movie without commercials—smooth, immersive, and impossible to pause. The plot flowed effortlessly, pulling me from one chapter to the next. When I finally did force myself to put the book down for the night, I ended up dreaming about the hero, Captain Danvers. I honestly can’t remember the last time I read a hero worthy of the title “book boyfriend.” He was handsome, intelligent, romantic, and brave—the kind of character that makes you want to be rescued by him yourself.

The heroine, Georgie, was equally entertaining. She was every bit the lady who could pack a punch—quite literally. She was a delightful damsel in distress who made me laugh out loud several times throughout the story. I found her personality incredibly relatable because of her strong will and determination once she set her mind on something.

And the chemistry between Georgie and Captain Danvers? Absolutely palpable. Their witty banter was one of my favorite parts of the novel, especially because of the timing and circumstances in which it happened. Watching their romance slowly evolve was pure delight.

The character development throughout the entire cast was wonderfully done. The mix of heroes, villains, and morally questionable characters all played important roles in the constantly twisting plot. I know I already said it, but I truly could not put this book down—even though I knew I should because it was a work night. I was completely riveted, turning pages nonstop with every new revelation. The storytelling made me feel like I was part of the adventure myself. I never once felt sleepy because there was simply no good stopping point.

One of the strongest parts of the story was how unpredictable it was. I had absolutely no idea who the traitor was. Near the end, I was reading faster and faster, second-guessing every theory I had—and in the end, it wasn’t who I expected at all.

The epilogue tied everything together perfectly with a beautiful finishing touch. I loved this entire journey from beginning to end and felt compelled to recommend it to others immediately. This is absolutely a “keeper shelf” book for me—one I can easily see myself rereading a second or even third time.

The best part? I discovered this is the first book in the Danvers Family series. I honestly can’t believe my luck finding it in the library’s honor book section. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

Heritage Mountain by Karen Black

May 20, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Heritage Mountain by Karen Black
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance, Cozy Mystery, Action/Adventure, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

In a world where the mystical and the actual coexist, adventure, romance, and a touch of mystery unfold. Set in the majestic Adirondack mountains, when Marco Cason leads an expedition to explore the history of the mountain wilderness, he doesn’t know his colleagues are guardians of the fae.

Searching for clues about ancient societies that inhabited the Adirondacks centuries before, the team delves into legends, navigates ancient maps, and learns that folklore about magical clans is based on facts. When a pixie introduces herself to Maria, the expedition takes a different path. The guardians realize the mountain is filled with mystical clans whose homes are under attack. Negligent use of dynamite, illegal mining, and disregard for nature and the environment has destroyed much of their habitat. It has also cost lives.

Faced with the truth about the existence of magical beings, Marco is forced to reevaluate everything he believed. Still, he becomes a central force when he battles beside the fae to save Heritage Mountain as elves, stargazers, and goliaths fill the pages and the explorers unite with the supernatural creatures to save the mountain from invaders whose greed is destroying their territory.

Themes of friendship, conservation, love, and acceptance flourish, as well as a heavy dose of karma.

The mountains are full of possibilities.

Romance and fantasy are often combined into the same plot, so I wasn’t too surprised to see that happen here. While the latter definitely took up more space, the occasional romantic moments scattered here and there provided additional depth to the characters and gave them some tender experiences interspersed among more serious and sometimes even dangerous ones. I think using this form of love sparingly but purposefully was a great decision for this universe.

The slow pacing and repetition made it difficult for my interest level to remain high even though I was quite curious about this book when I requested it. While I did feel as though I had a good understanding of who everyone was in the large cast of characters, introducing so many of them meant that the protagonists needed to repeat their reasons for being on Heritage mountain and, in some cases, their abilities to see or communicate with mystical beings over and over again. Unfortunately, this only slowed down the storyline even more and made it harder for me to remain highly invested in what was happening.

There was plenty of attention paid to the world building which made this a satisfying read in that regard. I wasn’t aware this was part of a series when I began the first chapter, but it worked pretty well as a standalone piece given the explanations of what seemed to be the most important events of past books. It was especially interesting to me to find out what the various types of magical beings thought of each other and how they organized their societies in order to remain hidden in a world filled with nosy and sometimes destructive humans.

Heritage Mountain was filled with wonder.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Dear Missing Friend by Susan McGuirk

May 19, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Dear Missing Friend by Susan McGuirk
Publisher: Sea Crow Press
Genre: Romance, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Three hearts. Countless letters. One impossible choice.

Through letters exchanged across oceans and Manhattan streets, Irish immigrant Catherine McGuirk navigates love, ambition, and heartbreak. Torn between her seafaring husband, the suitor she once refused, and her own dreams, Catherine’s fate unfolds in an intimate, epistolary saga of passion, resilience, and 19th-century life.

Not all choices are equal ones.

Being an immigrant requires courage and the hope that that things will improve. Some of the most memorable passages were the ones that described the prejudice Irish people faced when they came to the United States in the 1800s as well as how Catherine and her loved ones pushed through their struggles to find housing, employment, and a sense of community in cities and towns that were anything but accepting of them. These sections were written tenderly and with so much sympathy for all of the hard times this family experienced as a result of their social class and ethnicity.

I struggled with the slow pacing of this novel, especially in the beginning as the characters were being introduced. Since not everyone’s relationship to the protagonist was explained immediately, this only made those passages trickier to get through. This is something I’m saying as a reader who enjoyed the plot in general and was hoping to choose a much higher rating for it. I simply needed things to unfold a little faster and with a bit more attention paid to how everyone knew each other.

The realistic and bittersweet ending fit the characters and the era they lived in perfectly. While this was a work of fiction, it was loosely inspired by the life of author’s great-aunt. There was a section at the end that shared some of the research Ms. McGuirk did about her family tree in the 1800s and this relative in particular. I love it when historical fiction authors use real life as inspiration for their work, and despite my struggles with the pacing I thought this was a good example of how to use a few historical records to imagine what might have happened generations ago that was never written down. Life was incredibly difficult back then for the vast majority of people, and I liked the fact that this was acknowledged as Catherine lived out her days.

Dear Missing Friend was thoughtful.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , ,

Bear Country by Mary Hallberg

May 6, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Bear Country by Mary Hallberg
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Romance, Action/Adventure, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Woman versus nature

Casey doesn’t want to go on the camping trip. She’s not a big outdoors person, and would rather stay inside with her paintings — and her air conditioning. But it’s her high school graduation trip, and her mom is making her go.

When one of Casey’s classmates disappears during the night, the teachers and park rangers assume she’s at the library and aren’t concerned. But Casey’s crush, Trevor, isn’t so sure and wants to go looking for her. A handful of others agree to join him — including Casey, despite her disdain for the woods.

But the trek turns deadly when the group encounters the reason their classmate went missing — an enormous, predatory grizzly bear, hellbent on destroying everything in its path. Now Casey and her classmates must find their way back to civilization without becoming bear food.

Never turn your back on nature.

There were some entertaining plot twists along the way as Casey and her classmates attempted to outrun and outwit their pursuer. Readers who are already familiar with this genre may be able to predict some of them ahead of time, but this wasn’t something that relied on the element of surprise in order to shock and frighten its audience. Instead, it was the journey from beginning to end that mattered with the plot twists providing the characters extra opportunities to learn from their most recent attempts at escape and try something different the next time they were attacked. I thought that was a good way to prolong what could have otherwise been a much shorter work.

The explanation for why the bear was so strong and aggressive was what held me back from giving this book a higher rating. While there were a few hints shared about its possible origins, they were not developed enough for its behavior to make sense to me. Knowing this information was critical in order to understand why a bear would suddenly begin attacking so many humans in a busy national park, especially given that none of the attacks were provoked or included usual reasons for an animal to behave this way such as a mother protecting her cubs.

With that being said, I loved the man (and woman) versus nature themes. Most of the characters knew little to nothing about camping, hiking, or coexisting with apex predators in the wild, and they did make a few mistakes early on that more seasoned campers would have avoided. The plot explored both the fear of the unknown and the anxiety some people feel when surrounded by nothing but trees and wildlife. These are themes that aren’t included in the horror genre as much as I’d prefer to see, so I was thrilled to find them here.

I should note that this was a pretty gory read, just as it should have been given the subject matter. Fans of that type of horror, take note!

Bear Country kept me perched on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Artificial Elephant by Eric J. Hull

April 28, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Artificial Elephant – stories of loss, magic, and hope by Eric J. Hull
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, LGBTQ, Horror, Paranormal, Romance, Holiday, Contemporary, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Character-driven literary speculative fiction for readers who crave haunting emotional payoffs.

A boy grieves the impossible beast that healed him. A house searching for its lost family. A vampire steals back her lovers’ tears. A scavenger hunt gone hilariously awry. Two lovers dancing at the end of the world.

Ghosts. Love. Winter. Hope. These 22 stories of fantasy, science fiction, and horror cast flickering light against the crowding darkness. They embrace the transformations between grief and love, kindness and bitter fate.

Sometimes the line between facts and feelings is paper thin.

In “Christmas Lights,” a smart house searched for its missing family for many years. I loved the fact that this was written from the perspective of a building instead of a human one. It was a unique way to frame the storyline and made me wonder if the house would ever find out what happened to the parents and two children who had once lived there. The twist ending was as poignant as it was logical for this universe as well.

Katie was a three-year-old girl whose body grew so impossibly cold she couldn’t eat anymore in “Katie Dreams” because any food or liquid she tried to consume froze solid when it was moved too close to her. I was nearly as fascinated by the scientific attempts to understand and reverse her condition as I was by her mother’s response. The strong emotional bond between them made this something I couldn’t possibly stop reading until I knew how it ended. In my opinion, memorable science fiction begins with the relationships characters have with each other before anything unusual occurs, and I would have happily read a full-length novel about Katie’s family and how they coped.

A teenager’s grief for his dead sister took on a new form in “Charcoal.” As he recalled a few of their shared childhood memories during his last few days at home, strange things began happening that were as bittersweet as they were inexplicable. This was a beautiful metaphor for how gut-wrenching it is to say goodbye to someone who died far too young in life, and the plot worked just as well on that level as it did when read from a paranormal perspective.

What ultimately convinced me to give this collection a five-star rating was the breadth of characters and experiences that were included here. I wish I had the space to mention all of them in my review as there were so many other gems to discover that included genres ranging from romance to horror. It takes talent to imagine such a wide variety of characters, all of whom remained distinct in my mind.

The Artificial Elephant – stories of loss, magic, and hope was exactly the sort of diverse speculative fiction I enjoy reading, and I can’t wait to see what Mr. Hull comes up with next.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Kiss Me at Sunset by Laura M. Baird

April 17, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Kiss Me at Sunset by Laura M. Baird
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Michelle Bosak is finding her way again at age fifty after being widowed. She’s always had an adventurous side, but entering a wet t-shirt contest among twenty-somethings? It was meant to be harmless fun. She never factored in the instant attraction to the sexy mountain of a man acting as bouncer. And then to discover he’s a talented musician who makes her heart yearn again? Yeah, the night just got a lot more interesting.

Xander Phillips enjoys playing music with his band, helping his sister at her bar, and living life freely on his terms at age fifty-two. But one look at the hot little woman on stage has him all out-of-sorts. He can’t resist staring at her gorgeous body, touching her flawless skin, and finding a way to learn all there is to know about her.

When they go from get-to-know-you conversation to a night together that’s hotter than the Florida sun, will these seemingly opposites—who discover they have much in common—make room in their lives for more?

Everyone deserves to live happily ever after.

The chemistry between Michelle and Xander was sizzling. Given how quickly their romance heated up, the early scenes that explored the spark between them was essential in order to explain why they were both interested in moving fast with each other. Ms. Baird couldn’t have done a better job at setting up their mutual interest in the first scene and then allowing her characters to escalate their interactions from there.

I did find myself wishing that a bit more time had been spent exploring why these two protagonists would make a good longterm match. Yes, they were great in bed together and shared some common interests, including the conscious decision to remain childless by choice which is something I’d love to see more of in the romance genre, but it would have been nice to see an extra scene or two that discussed what they hoped to be doing five years in the future as well to see how compatible those dreams were. Had this been included, I would have happily gone for a full five-star rating.

This book was filled with funny, playful banter that made me chuckle. I especially enjoyed seeing how their friend groups merged together and what everyone thought of each other as there were some humorous moments included there, too. Everyone in their social circle was in a stage of life where they had the time and money to enjoy late evenings out which made their adventures even more amusing.

What a heartwarming read Kiss Me at Sunset was.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , ,

The Abnormal Gumshoe by Tamar Anolic

April 1, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Abnormal Gumshoe by Tamar Anolic
The Fayetteville Series, Book 2
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Chloe Weaver is the oldest daughter in a conservative Christian family of Fayetteville, Arkansas who lives biblically: long skirts for the women, home-schooling for the children, weekly church attendance and old-fashioned courting rules that lead to marriage.

As she turns thirty and remains unmarried, however, Chloe begins to wonder if she’ll ever have the happy marriage and many kids that she has been led to believe constitutes the perfect life. When her parents allow her to court Barnabas Anderson, Chloe knows she should be ecstatic. Instead, she is uncomfortable with the twelve-year age gap between her and Barnabas. Besides, Barnabas has always been a little… weird.

When Barnabas’ brother visits the Weavers, bringing tales of Barnabas’ previous wife and her untimely death, Chloe realizes how little she knows about Barnabas. As she prepares for a prayer assembly in San Francisco, where Barnabas used to live, Chloe decides to investigate his past and his wife’s death. With the help of Detective Logan Cartwright of the San Francisco Police Department, Chloe steps out of her comfort zone to find the truth- and find hope for her future.

What’s done in the dark will always be brought into the light eventually.

Chloe’s character development seemed weak at first, but after thinking about it I have come to the conclusion that this could very well have been done intentionally in order to show how emotionally and socially stunted she was as the result of growing up as the eldest child in a large family, being homeschooled, and otherwise being sheltered from the outside world. Having known a few kind but also quite naive people who grew up in similar Quiverfull households, so many of her mannerisms and habits reminded me of them from the parental role she took on for her fourteen siblings to the joy she felt when doing perfectly ordinary things like going out to dinner or ordering a coffee from a cafe. Kudos to the author for not only portraying this subculture pretty accurately but also for trusting the audience to pick up on the clues and understand why Chloe felt kind of flat in the beginning.

Another round of editing would have helped to clean up the typos in this novel. While all of them were mild errors that did not interfere with my understanding of the storyline, they happened often enough that I felt compelled to mention it in my review and refrain from giving this the higher rating I would have otherwise happily chosen for it.

The mystery was straightforward and, to be honest, felt rather realistic when it came to the authorities not always paying attention to the clues before them or knowing the right questions to ask when interviewing someone who lives a very different lifestyle than their own. Being a police officer does not automatically mean someone understands the nuances of every subculture or can easily pick up on small signs that something has gone terribly wrong in a case even if they are genuinely trying to understand, after all!

The Abnormal Gumshoe has piqued my interest and made me want to read the rest of this series.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Demon’s Delight by L. Alexander

March 30, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Demon’s Delight by L. Alexander
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Action/Adventure, Historical, Paranormal, Romance
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Summoning a demon may be my only option for survival.

Captured.
Exploited.
Bonded to a Demon Prince.

After being taken from the forest near my home, I’m tormented in the name of research, and forced to use my healing gift for my captor’s profit.

Desperate to escape, I risk it all. I steal a spell book, and summon a demon for aid.

I’m prepared to beg a creature that’s vicious and cruel for help, but a Prince of Hell arrives instead. One that’s devastatingly charming. Kind. It’s easy to forget he’s a demon at all.

Though the contract demands he travel with me on my journey back home, I start to wonder if our bond is more than just obligation. I can’t resist his charm or his thoughtfulness, and his protective flirting seems genuine.

What awaits me back home will test not only our connection, but everything I know about myself and my magic.

Have the fates forsaken me altogether, or have they given me the greatest gifts of all?

Hailon is a healer, but having been captured and sold, trafficked and experimented on these last few months for her powers and gift, she’s on the edge, utterly desperate. When she manages to steal a small notebook she discovers in it enough knowledge to piece together how to summon a demon. Seir is the demon prince from Hell who answers her call. Both of them embark on an adventure, one that neither of them had ever expected.

After picking this up on a whim I discovered it’s the third in the series – but having never read anything previously by this author I found this book stood very well on it’s own. I found Seir to be an enjoyable and amusing main lead character – totally different to the “demon prince” I was half expecting – and I thoroughly enjoyed how he simply relished experiencing everything on Earth. Hailon was in many ways a far more normal and relatable character to me and one I could empathise with for much of the story.

Readers should be aware that while this book does have romance and “fated mates” and a bit of spice – for much of the first ha;f of the full length novel it’s primarily Seir and Hailon getting to know each other and travelling. Readers looking for a “dark romance” novel or something heavily erotic might not enjoy the pace of this story. I greatly enjoyed the almost epic traveler/fantasy sort of style and thought it was quite well written. The fact Seir and Hailon were interesting characters and learned to trust each other was well worth the time and read to my mind.

Once the action kicked off I felt the pace of the book really did speed up a bit. Admittedly a number of secondary characters also appeared (like Seir’s brothers and their wives, whom I presume are from previous books). There is some spicy romance scenes in this but I strongly feel the book is predominantly a paranormal/adventure style of book. While the romance is present it felt very much “in addition to” the plot and actual progress of the book – not front and center or taking up an enormous portion of the storyline.

An interesting blend of paranormal, alternate reality and romance, this was a fun and enjoyable full length novel and a book I really enjoyed. There appears to be two connected series with this book and I’ll be looking into both of them. Recommended.

Filed Under: Other, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Baby Box by Linda Palmer

March 23, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Baby Box by Linda Palmer
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Camryn Jacobs, direct descendant of witches persecuted at Salem, has a problem. Fireman Declan Walsh, a lycan, is standing on her front porch at two in the morning with an infant car seat hanging off his arm. Asleep inside it is a baby witch who was surrendered in accordance with the town’s “baby box” law, which states that infants may be left in a customized vault at the fire station—no questions, no blame, no repercussions—if the parent/s cannot care for it.

Declan isn’t about to hand over the baby to human foster parents, the reason he braved a winter storm to get to Camryn. He asks if she will consult her coven tomorrow and, until then, take in the baby. He even volunteers to stay over and help. Camryn can only agree that this magical baby can’t go to foster parents who aren’t preternatural. She also agrees to let Declan stay over, a happy surprise for him. He’s been careful not to confess the reason she popped into his head the moment he saw the baby–he’s had his eye on her for a while but wasn’t sure if she’d go for a witch-wolf relationship.

As the hours pass, they all get to know each other. A definite spark ignites between Camry and Declan, but the coven’s head witch has a shocking personal agenda that threatens not just their budding romance, but the baby and Camryn’s ancestral home, as well.

There’s a fine line between being busy and being overwhelmed.

Turning a baby box deposit into a mystery was what originally drew me to this title, and I thought this conflict was handled nicely. It’s difficult to go into much detail about why the baby was abandoned without giving away spoilers, but I enjoyed mulling over the possibilities as Camryn and Declan received a crash course in infant care and tried to figure out where that little one came from. I certainly wouldn’t know what to do if an infant showed up in my life, especially under such mysterious circumstances. This was a unique romantic mystery that relied on new life to keep the characters guessing instead of the usual homicide that I’d expect to find.

Due to how many different genres were included in this story, there were a few times when I felt as though that worked against the cohesiveness of the plot because of how much was going on simultaneously. Focusing on the romantic elements could have been a good way to tie everything together more securely. Love, both romantic and platonic, was what kept Camryn going when she was in a tight spot, so having a few additional scenes that explored her budding romance would have felt completely appropriate to me. With that being said, this was a minor criticism of something I thought was otherwise well done.

The strong world building here was a huge draw for this reader. There was never a good stopping point which meant that I was always eager to come back when I did need to take breaks. I especially enjoyed the scenes that explored the complicated historical relationships between witches like Camryn and lycans like Declan. It was something I could have kept reading about for dozens of pages due to how complex it was and how each community reacted to members who dated out.

The Baby Box was heartwarming.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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