Tag: fiction

Book Review: This Shattered Tempest, by Thea Guanzon

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Title: This Shattered Tempest
Author: Thea Guanzon
Genre: Sci-fi/fantasy
Rating: 5 out of 5

When the storm swallows the world, who will be left standing?

Throughout their political marriage, Alaric and Talasyn struggled to resist the undeniable pull between them, even as rising tensions forced them on opposite sides of a looming war. Hand in hand, they vanquished the cataclysmic threat of the Moonless Dark—and started to hope for a future together.

That hope is shattered when a devastating attack sets off a chain of events that tears them apart once more. Now, as two rival nations prepare for a final, decisive clash, the Master of the Shadowforged Legion and the last Lightweaver fight to find their way back to each other. But the odds are stacked against them, and time is running out…

Is love enough to rewrite destiny? Can a new beginning rise from the ruins of the past? Or are Alaric and Talasyn doomed to meet as enemies on one last battlefield? This explosive third and final book brings the beloved Hurricane Wars series to a stunning conclusion—where passion and power collide, and the fate of a divided world hangs in the balance.

I really enjoyed this trilogy! Yes, the first book especially gave me Star Wars déjà vu, but I ended up loving these characters and worlds for themselves. So much intrigue here! And lies. Everyone is playing a game, telling lies, and manipulating everyone around them. That’s probably a very accurate picture of the lives of politicians, but it was disturbing to me. I enjoyed how everything wrapped up, even though there was a lot to be sad about, too.

Thea Guanzon is a bestselling author. This Shattered Tempest is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Avon and Harper Voyager | Harper Voyager in exchange for an honest review.)

Sundays are for Writing #393

This was a good writing week: I wrote three book reviews. Strange Lights, by Mira González (quirky and a step above meh), Fallen Beauty, by Astrid Scholte (very meh), and This Shattered Tempest, by Thea Guanzon (I enjoyed this very much!).

Happy writing!

Book Review: Strange Lights, by Mira González

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Title: Strange Lights
Author: Mira González
Genre: Sci-fi/fantasy
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Parenting is never easy, but it’s a hell of a lot harder when your toddler is a chupacabra.

Paranormal investigator and cryptozoologist Reggie has embraced her fate as parent to an adopted toddler, Eldi—a blood-sucking chupacabra with a fondness for goats. Reggie wants nothing more than to put her complicated past in the rearview mirror and fade into as much obscurity as her toddler will allow. But a rash of UFOs in the night sky and a couple of crop-circle-carving Roombas force Reggie into an investigation that attracts the attention of an old enemy, an anti-supernatural agency hunting for creatures like Eldi. To outwit them, Reggie must team up with Calvin: a podcaster-turned-werewolf whose charm is a real threat to Reggie’s rule against romantic attachments.

With Reggie’s history quickly catching up to her and Eldi in the agency’s crosshairs, any shred of normalcy evaporates. Reggie must decide: Can she confront her dark past to save Eldi—and an entire alien species—from getting wiped out of the universe?

Me, trying to tell a friend what this book was about, “Werewolves, aliens, chupacabras. Maybe some Men in Black vibes.” There was quite a bit going on here, I’m not going to lie. I loved Eldi! The relationship between her and Reggie was so great! Definitely a relatable parent/child relationship. This felt a little bit like a bad sci-fi movie, but I really liked the characters and the action level.

Mira González lives in Fiji. Strange Lights is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of Bindery Books in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Where There’s Smoke, by Rachel Louise Adams

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Title: Where There’s Smoke
Author: Rachel Louise Adams
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Rating: 4 out of 5

A lot has happened in Dolores Hawthorne’s life since the events of last Halloween. She’s divorced, traded being a forensic pathologist for a job as a medical examiner, and now lives in small-town Wisconsin, close—but not too close—to her family.

Dolores doesn’t have much in the way of work, but that all changes when a body is found at the local slaughterhouse. Benedict Marcy owned Marcy’s Meats, and is affectionately called Mr. Mercy across the region. This high-profile case quickly catches the attention of Dolores’s friends at the FBI.

From the very beginning, this case is full of contradictions and surprises, and the team quickly learns someone is willing to go to extreme lengths to stop them from finding out the truth behind Benedict Marcy’s murder.

The cover for this novel is so creepy to me! Definitely fits the vibe of the book. I haven’t read the first books in this series, but that wasn’t a problem (although having read the first one would probably have added some nuance to this read). The crime scene was very gross and illustrated the layers of confusion that filled the mystery itself. This was a solid thriller read, and I’ll probably go back and read the first one as well.

Rachel Louise Adams was raised in Brittany. Where There’s Smoke is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press | Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review.)

Sundays are for Writing #392

That has not been a very good writing week: only one book review, Where There’s Smoke, by Rachel Louise Adams. In my defense, I had an internal audit at work, and I put in 45 hours in four days, so sleep was much more of a priority that reading or writing.

Happy writing!

Book Review: The Worst Is Yet to Come, by Trish Lundy

Image belongs to Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group | Henry Holt and Co. (BYR).

Title: The Worst Is Yet to Come
Author: Trish Lundy
Genre: YA
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

High school might be officially over, but the real nightmare is just beginning. When two best friends are attacked on graduation night, only one of them makes it out alive.

Left for dead at an abandoned house but determined to find out who killed her best friend, Rose is rescued by former high school quarterback and heartthrob, Jake, who becomes an unexpected ally. . . and maybe something more. But when she learns that fifteen years ago, another girl suffered the exact same fate in the exact same place, she wonders if a murderer might be back with a vengeance. . . or is a copycat killer on the loose?

Time is running out, because whoever the killer is, they’re eager to correct their biggest letting Rose live. As Rose follows the trail of evidence, she’s led down a path of horrors that threatens to expose the insidious secrets at the heart of her community—secrets the killer will do anything to keep quiet.

This was…a decent read. It wasn’t horrible and I didn’t figure out what was going on before the reveal, but I wasn’t on the edge of my seat, either. There were a few decent red herrings and I did question Rose’s headspace a time of two—why would you visit an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night? Why?—and some of her decisions seemed a bit like a horror movie character who you just know is about to die, but this was a quick, entertaining read.

Trish Lundy lives on the West Coast. The Worst Is Yet To Come is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group | Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: In the Woods They Wait, by Carrie Lee South

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Title: In the Woods They Wait
Author: Carrie Lee South
Genre: Mystery/thriller
Rating: 3 out of 5

Fifteen years ago, Audrey Figg’s little brother, Benny, vanished on a family vacation to Devil’s Den state park, a day that split her life in two.

Now, Audrey is a park ranger in the very same woods with expertise in wilderness search and rescue. Audrey has found a rhythm to her training new rangers, tending to injured hikers, protecting the backcountry, and still, searching.

When a little girl, Ivy, suddenly goes missing on the trails, Audrey can’t help but notice the similarities to her own brother’s case. As Audrey widens the scope of her search, she begins to believe Ivy wasn’t merely lost; it looks like she was taken by something—and maybe Benny was too. Yet the closer Audrey comes to answers, the more old memories push to the surface. Audrey is haunted not only by her brother’s loss, but a terrible secret from that day. A secret she has never shared with anyone.

I don’t think this was a terribly good fit for me. I didn’t really like Audrey much. She spent way too much time feeling sorry for herself and being rude to everyone around her because she was so much better than everyone else. She came across as very judge-y. This novel did not make me want to be out in the woods at night, so it had some creepiness going for it, but honestly, I was so annoyed by the stupid things Audrey kept doing that I didn’t really care what happened to her.

Carrie Lee South lives in Arkansas. In the Woods They Wait is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Little, Brown and Company in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Murder on the Sacred River, by Tasha Alexander

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Title: Murder on the Sacred River
Author: Tasha Alexander
Genre: Mystery, historical fiction
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

1908: Lady Emily and her husband Colin Hargreaves, along with an eccentric group of English tourists, are vacationing in India at Ahilya Fort, the old home to the Maharaja’s family, when a man is found shot along the Narmada River. Emily and Colin jump into action, but their suspect list is large, including a wonderful spinster and her not-so-wonderful companion; a local doctor; a widow who lives nearby; an English explorer; and an Englishman who now runs a tea plantation near Darjeeling.

1740: Fifteen-year-old Ahilyabai has been married to the son of Malharrao Holkar, the Lord of the Malwa territory, for seven years. Now the time has finally come to produce an heir. But though Ahilya’s in-laws have shown her nothing but kindness, her notoriously-drunken husband remains a mystery to her, having rarely spoken to Ahilya since their wedding as children. Faced with this tortured and distant man, Ahilya’s sense of loyalty is tested as she attempts to balance fulfilling her duty with forging her own destiny. Her decisions will have ripple effects across time—including Lady Emily’s investigation almost two hundred years later.

Lady Emily’s case takes a dramatic turn when a shocking new person arrives at the fort—and when the killer strikes again shortly afterwards, she and Colin must race to uncover the villain’s identity before it’s too late.

This wasn’t a bad read, it just felt very slow. I’ve read one other Lady Emily novel, and I didn’t have trouble following at all, the story just teetered on the edge of boring for me, both the Lady Emily storyline and the Ahilyabai one, too. I had trouble keeping the Englishwomen straight in my head—actually, all the English characters sort of blurred together for me. This wasn’t a bad read, just not an exciting one.

Tasha Alexander lives in Wyoming. Murder on the Sacred River is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press | Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review.)

Sundays are for Writing #391

This week, I had a surprisingly good writing week, considering I worked 2.5 days and then went out of town for three more.I wrote four book reviews: The Henchperson’s Guide to Unionizing, by Marshall J. Moore, Murder on the Sacred River, by Tasha Alexander, In the Woods They Wait, by Carrie Lee South, and To Vex & To Hex, by Neena Noon.

Happy writing!

The Best Books I Read in September (2026)

In September, I read 17 books, bringing my total for the year to 125 books read. I’m so far behind schedule, according to Goodreads! 100 books behind!

Most of those were solidly okay read,s with a few more”meh,” but a handful were truly good reads!

The Gods Will Sing Our Song, by Autumn Krause. I do love WWII historical fiction, but this dealt with an aspect I haven’t seen much of, which was terrible. It also mixed in some fascinating mythology, and I really enjoyed it.

Immortal Rose, by Alexandra Bracken. This was an excellent read! Apart from the city being a poorly-named facsimile of London….The magic was cool, I loved the characters, and I was engrossed from the beginning.

Sisters of the Midnight Sun, by Fiona Valpy. This was such a a good read! Both timelines/MCs were very well-done and I couldn’t wait to find out how things turned out for them.