The writing team known as May McGoldrick returns with the third volume of the Scottish Relic Trilogy, Tempest in the Highlands. Miranda MacDonald is carrying a heavy burden. Her mother, Murine, was endowed with second sight thanks to a power-enhancing rune stone she holds, and a wicked privateer will do anything to lay his hands…
It’s no secret that my least favourite trope is the one in which the heroine passes herself off as a man. I find it too difficult to believe that nobody would notice she wasn’t one, even within the idealised setting of a romantic novel. That’s not to say that some authors haven’t managed to pull…
One of the hardest things about reviewing is grading a book with strong writing that for some reason leaves you cold. Bright Smoke, Cold Fire is such a book. Normally, I love books that put a different spin on classical literature, and stories featuring lovers from rival clans is one of my favorite tropes. But…
They say never judge a book by its cover, but the cover is why I picked out The Cottage on Pumpkin and Vine. I love all things autumnal, and I can’t recall seeing another romance that focuses around Halloween. This collection of three novellas centers around Rose Cottage Bed and Breakfast and its somewhat mystical…
R.H. Burkett’s story of war, love and redemption was not at all the book I was expecting. Soldiers in the Mist is a reissue of a book originally published in 2011 and the storyline is what I can only describe as convoluted and pretentious. The book opens with the author herself, Ruth Weeks Burkett, being…
This is the second in the author’s Custard Protocol series, following up on last year’s Prudence. This time, in addition to the usual silliness I adore, we also get some bittersweet moments as Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama – or Rue to her friends – faces serious issues with her birth parents. If you haven’t read…
Most readers probably recognize Sherry Thomas as an author of superb historicals. The Burning Sky, set in an alternate world that intersects somewhat with 1880s England, marks her first foray into YA. I enjoyed the characters and the world created for them, and this book would definitely go on my DIK shelf. Our heroine, Iolanthe…
This is the first story in the Sorcerous Moons series. It’s a planned three-book trilogy and Lonen’s War sets the stage for the romance between Oria and Lonen. It can be read as a standalone but the story arc is clearly meant to continue in the next two books. Clearly much thought has gone into…
The Ocean Herself saves Kahlen from drowning in a shipwreck and promises her a century free of aging and disease. All Kahlen has to do is join her sister Sirens in singing humans and ships to a watery grave when the Ocean’s hunger becomes overwhelming. With twenty years left to her service and a memory…
The Immortal Heights is the final book in Sherry Thomas’ YA fantasy Elemental Trilogy, and brings to a very satisfying conclusion the story of Prince Titus of the House of Elberon and Iolanthe Seabourne begun in The Burning Sky and continued in The Perilous Sea. I don’t normally read Young Adult fiction, but I’m a…