#TuesdayBookBlog – Myth and Magic by Mae Clair

My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

“As children, they played games of myth and magic . . . .” 

An old inn with a mysterious past. Ladies in white, ghosting through the trees. Unexplained sobbing noises during the dead of night. Strange happenings, all, and the quest to understand who–or what–is trying to drive guests away from Stone Willow Lodge is at the heart of Mae Clair’s shivery romantic suspense novel.

Anyone who has visited Bookin’ It very often knows that I’m extremely partial to angsty, conflicted men, and heaven knows, private investigator Caithelden Lairen is the very personification of angst and conflict. Born Caithelden Breckwood (his mother has a thing for myth and magic, herself, naming her other sons Galen, Aren, and Merlin), Caith has been estranged from his family for years. A childhood trauma has left him scarred and angry, especially at his father, and thus it is that his son, Derrick, has never even met his grandather.

When Breckwood Industries (the family firm that has made, and kept, the Breckwoods extremely wealthy) hires Caithelden to investigate the shenanigans going on at Stone Willow Lodge, their company retreat, he must return to his home town of Coldcreek, facing both his family, and Veronica Kent, the only woman he’s ever loved. And therein lies the romance part of this romantic suspense.

Mae Clair’s writing is excellent–clean, solid, and well-paced–and she leads the reader on a tense and riveting journey, from the opening chapter to the last page. I thoroughly enjoyed Myth and Magic, and I highly recommend it, especially to fans of mystery, romance, and spooky encounters with things that go bump in the night.

Myth and Magic

 

#TuesdayBookBlog Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine

My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

I’ve been waiting for SOOO long for this second book in The  Great Library series, and finally, I have it. On my shelf, and again on my Kindle, because it’s so beautifully done, I didn’t even want to take a chance of creasing a single page. Truly a stunning cover, to go with another stunning story. If you didn’t read my review of Book 1, Ink and Bone, you can check it out HERE. I adored it, and I adored this one no less.

Rachel Caine is a very strong writer, and creates characters that are flawed but endearing. I’ve been a fan of hers since the Weather Warden series, and read her YA Morganville Vamps series, as well. The Great Library books are nothing like either of those, except in the quality of writing, and the strength of the characters.

I do not do book synopses, and I hate spoilers. Even small ones. I don’t read reviews that have them, and I won’t write them either. But what I can tell you is that Jess Brightwell is an endearing and touching character, who finds himself in a world he never imagined being part of. One where nothing is as he had always believed, and time is running out in which to right great wrongs. And even though the cast of players is largely a young one, you never doubt for a minute that they will find a way. It’s more a question of how, and who, if anyone, will fall to the enemy along the journey. There are tense moments galore, believe me.

My personal favorite things about the book–besides the great library of Alexandria itself, which in this world, was never destroyed, but has become the most powerful force in the world–would have to be the automatons. Automata? Oh, the huge mechanical lions and sphinxes, and even the giant, spear-wielding Spartan! I loved the scenes describing them.

And the ending, while wrapping up the part of the story focused on in this book, has left me panting for Book 3. I will put it on pre-order the first day I can. And that, my friends, is about the highest testimonial I can give it.

If you’ve read Ink and Bone and enjoyed it as much as I did, you will want to read Paper and Fire. If you haven’t read either, you can find them here:

Ink and Bone

Paper and Fire

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The Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo #TuesdayBookBlog

My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars. Or maybe 6 of 5 Stars. Or . . .

A short time ago, I reviewed Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy, giving all three books five stars. I loved the series so much, I couldn’t wait to read her next one, and immediately downloaded Six of Crows. After oohing and aaahing over the stunning cover design (I may have mentioned once or twice how much I love cover art), I dove straight into the tale.

As you can read on the cover, the book is about “six dangerous outcasts, and one impossible heist.” Those of you who love stories about gangs of less than upstanding citizens, sting operations, and movies like Ocean’s Eleven, should be pulled in by those words alone. Me, I’m not usually drawn to those particular topics, but knowing the book was set in the same world as the Grisha trilogy, I was hooked, anyway–and I was not disappointed!

The antihero, and leader of this gang of six, Kaz Brekker, pulls you into his world and forces you to care about him, whether you want to or not. He’s a wonderfully odd character, fully developed, incredibly complicated, and many-faceted. I loved him, and pretty much his entire gang of misfits.

And then there’s the “impossible heist.” If you think you’ve read enough about those types of things, think again. I can almost guarantee this one will have you hooked from the get-go, worrying who will survive the ordeal, and who won’t.

My only complaint about the book is that I raced through it in two days, and then was left dying to get my hands on the next in the series, the equally beautifully clad Crooked Kingdom, due out September 27.

If you haven’t read The Grisha Trilogy yet, I say start with that, so you are thoroughly steeped in the magic of the world, and then immediately grab Six of Crows. If you hurry, you can finish all four by the time Crooked Kingdom arrives!

Six of Crows

 

Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos

In addition to my Tuesday Review (coming later today), I thought I would start re-running a few of my favorite reviews from time to time. I’ve chosen Falling Together to be the first, because I can’t think of any book more beautiful. If you love exquisite writing and deeply moving love stories, this is the one book you can’t miss! Check out the review, and then go buy the book. You won’t be sorry!

Bookin' It

My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

I didn’t think it was possible to love a book more than I loved Marisa de los Santos’ first book, Love Walked In,   but I was wrong.  Falling Together is the most profoundly beautiful love story I’ve read in years…maybe ever. The sheer poetry of the language, combined with the astonishingly beautiful portrayal

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