Summer Vacation :)

Happy Reading.  See ya in August.  :) 

My Week in Review: 5/11/19-5/18/19

Man, it is getting hot now - and summer has not really kicked in yet.  :)  All the more reason to stay in with the A/C and a good book.  

Here are the books I want to share with you today:

SSS: Year One by Yumoyori Wilson - 4 Stars ****

When being different leads to the best years of your life.

There are three key components required to get into the most prestigious, top spy school in the world:

Skills.

Strength.

Survival.

My name is Silver Spell Solange. No, I didn't plan for my initials to be the same rank needed to enter the spy school But I would do anything to get into the one of a kind school. I have the magical capability of an Elemental Witch, the strength to kick anyone's ass, and quick problem-solving skills to get my teammates out of any jam. There’s only one small problem – the other 'S' I’m missing.

I'm not a part of the supernatural race.

After realizing that my only shot at my dreams is at the brink of extinction, I'm unexpectedly teamed up with a werewolf, a dragon, a fallen angel, and a hellhound. The four of them carry the assets and abilities I need to gain my spot into the Supernatural Spy School (SSS).

With the clock ticking and not much leg room for an SS score, I accept their bet, knowing I’ll easily handle whatever they request from me.

I didn't think their bet would lead me to date all four them.

It's time for me to buckle up. This four-year roller coaster is about to begin, and its a bumpy one-way ticket to becoming the next "supernatural" spy.

Trick of Shadows by Alex Owens - 4 Stars ****

In the wrong hands, magic is dangerous. In hers, it's deadly.

As a child, Quinn killed a friend with a wayward blast of magic. That guilt drives drives her to redemption by tracking rogue shifters through snowstorms, toasting demented demons, and romping through graveyards playing zombie whack-a-mole, with a blessed sword in one hand and a fifth of Fireball in the other. That guilt is why she'll hunt the monsters and why they'll fear the hell out of her--Quinn has nothing to lose and everything to atone for.

But a girl's got to start somewhere and Quinn's first job isn't off to a blazing start. She's already lost the thing she was hired to retrieve, there's a nerdy-hot guy all up in her business, and her fanged employer is threatening to call her mother if Quinn doesn't get her act together and finish the job.

Some moms nag, but Quinn's bites. Failure is not an option.

Siren's Song by Lysa Daly - 3 Stars ***

Lacey thought she was finished with the Society of Shadows...

When a kindly old wizard goes missing, she's determined to get to the truth behind his disappearance. Even if that means upsetting werewolves, necromancers and a deadly mermaid queen.

A Path to Utopia by Jacqueline Druga - 3 Stars ***

In the time it takes to create a single beat of a heart, 75 percent of the population drops dead. Within hours, another 20 percent succumb leaving only a speck of human life remaining.

Believing they are victims of a preliminary act of war and eventual invasion, a group of survivors trek across a barren United States following a radio signal. The simple plan was to band with others to fight and defend their homeland. However, their journey not only brings them together with other survivors but also brings them a chilling truth. What had happened to their country was not a prelude to invasion, but rather the groundwork of global extermination.

The enemy is not what they expect.

House of Darken by Jaymin Eve - 3 Stars ***

Some rules are made to be broken.

When Emma moves to Astoria, Oregon, she is given two rules:

#1 – Don’t cross to “their” side of the street.

#2 – Don’t mess with the elites, especially Lexen Darken, top elite and resident bad boy.

While she finds this both weird and insulting, Emma has no actual intention of breaking these rules - until her guardians go missing. Now all bets are off. Only a single line separates her side of the street from the elites', and she's crossing it.

Captured and held by Lexen and his brothers, she learns the rules are in place for a very good reason. There's a secret world hidden in this small town which goes far beyond the one she knows and understands.

A world not for humans.

I hope you see something you'd like to try.  As always, thank you for stopping by.

~Michelle

My Week in Review: 5/4/19-5/11/19

Last week was my birthday and Hubs took me to Savannah for the weekend - of course I had to head to the huge B&N.  :)

Here are the books I want to share with you today:

Curse of a Demon King by April Rankin - 5 Stars *****

"What do you call a demon who can't come? Dead." - Brynna, witch extraordinaire

"Witches are deceitful, conniving bitches and are good for only two things: Fucking and target practice." Rhys, Overworld Demon Prince

Mistakenly accused of cursing Rhys with erectile dysfunction after a single night of uninhibited pleasure, Brynna wants nothing more to do with the demon. Granted, his grounds for believing in the curse are legitimate, but it's not her fault he hasn't been able to come for the past three months.

Rhys truly believes she's cursed him, and in order to have the hex removed, he kidnaps the witch from her coven and nullifies her powers. With all intentions of sexual torture until she removes the curse, Rhys finds himself at her mercy as the toxin in his system builds with no outlet and his strength wanes.

They must work together to find his mate before the toxin kills him. The only problem is that she could be any one of several women he'd been with that same night three months ago. And Brynna can't help thinking of that night and the passion they'd shared, a passion that still leaves her breathless. Watching him kiss all the frogs in order to find his princess is sure to drive her insane.

Can they find his mate before the toxin builds and leaves the last heir to the demon throne dead? Or will the fiery hatred between them get him first?

Shadowspell Academy by Shannon Mayer and KF Breene
4 Stars ****

You Don’t Choose The Academy. The Academy Chooses You.

I had no idea how those words would change my life. Or how they’d changed my life already…

Until the day the most dangerous man I’ve ever met waltzed onto my farm and left us a death sentence.

In an invitation.

My younger brother has been chosen for the prestigious, secret magical school hidden within the folds of our mundane world. A place so dangerous, they don’t guarantee you’ll make it out alive.

If he doesn't go our entire family will be killed.

It’s the same invitation my older brother received three years ago—the same place he mysteriously died.

The academy has already killed one sibling. I’ll be damned if they take another.

I do the only thing an older sister can: chop off my hair, strap on two bras to flatten the girls, and take my brother’s place.

Magic and monsters are real. Assassins are coming for me, and the dead are prone to rise. What’s a girl faking it as a boy supposed to do? That’s right—beat the academy at its own game.

Or die trying.

Side Effects: Vision of Despair by Dusti Dawn Rose 

4 Stars ****  

In the last week, the world has turned to madness. But Mitch is a man who overcomes, and this is no different. Now that his family is back together, all they need to do is hunker down and stay safe. At least that was the plan until one of their own was taken by a madman whose sanity has slipped away along with the world’s safety. Mitch quickly realizes that the zombies outside are not the biggest threat. The true threat lies with human fear--taking over rational thoughts which in-turn leads to devastating decisions.

Juliette knows how lucky she was to be saved by this mysterious family and invited into the relative safety of their cabin. But she is struggling to pull herself from the depths of despair as she tries to process the loss of her sister and the rest of the madness that threatens to pull her under forever. As she forms bonds with each of her new found friends, she begins to see that there is still reason to fight.

At the heart of their mismatched group is a peculiar little boy with seemingly endless wisdom and insight. But the truth of the future may prove to be a burden that is too heavy to carry, and the weight of it may snuff out the last remaining shreds of hope.

Daughter of Shadows by Zandria West - 3 Stars ***

The tips are good in Hell.

The hours are brutal.

And the clientele is... interesting.

Every night, I cross the Barrier to the demon realm to sling drinks at Hell on Earth, a bar on the edge of Darktown.

I’ve always been fascinated by demons. It’s a fascination I’ve never quite learned to control and it just might get me killed.

One fateful night, a darkly handsome, not-quite-human patron grabs my arm, leaving a magical mark burnt into my skin.

Determined to find out what the mark means, I do the unthinkable: I venture alone into the demon realm.

What I discover is terrifying.

Things are changing in Darktown. The ancient enchantment that maintains the Barrier between worlds is failing. Demons are breaking into the human realm, ready to kill.

And I just might hold the key to restoring the Barrier.

Four sexy Darktown residents are magically bound to protect me.

But can my dark protectors keep me safe for long enough that I can uncover my true destiny?

Secondborn by Amy A Bartol - 3 Stars ***

Firstborns rule society. Secondborns are the property of the government. Thirdborns are not tolerated. Long live the Fates Republic.

On Transition Day, the second child in every family is taken by the government and forced into servitude. Roselle St. Sismode’s eighteenth birthday arrives with harsh realizations: she’s to become a soldier for the Fate of Swords military arm of the Republic during the bloodiest rebellion in history, and her elite firstborn mother is happy to see her go.

Televised since her early childhood, Roselle’s privileged upbringing has earned her the resentment of her secondborn peers. Now her decision to spare an enemy on the battlefield marks her as a traitor to the state.

But Roselle finds an ally—and more—in fellow secondborn conscript Hawthorne Trugrave. As the consequences of her actions ripple throughout the Fates Republic, can Roselle create a destiny of her own? Or will her Fate override everything she fights for—even love?

That's my week.  I hope you are reading something wonderful.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Michelle 

   

My Week in Review: 4/27/19-5/4/19

I had a very good reading week - I found a couple of new to me authors and I am looking forward to more from each.

Here's what I want to share with you today:

Gathering Storm by Victoria Danann - 5 Stars *****

When elite Black Swan Knight, Sir Engel Storm, is lost in another dimension, he learns firsthand that there's really no place like home.

When Storm begins acting like somebody else, his friends, the famous vampire hunters,reunite to try to salvage his reputation before it's shredded beyond repair.Everyone who can help is called in as a high stakes search is mounted. The demon Deliverance thought he'd found his son-in-law, but instead brings home a doppelganger who causes havoc because the only thing he shares in common with Storm is looks.

Meanwhile, the real Storm has been mistaken for a gambling addict heavily indebted to a loan monster. He'll need his quick wit, his training as a Black Swan knight,and a lot of luck to survive until he can be returned to the world where he belongs.

Side Effects: First Days by Dusti Dawn Rose - 5 Stars *****

Eighteen  year old college freshman, Emily Adler, has found herself in the middle of a waking nightmare. People are randomly going crazy and feasting on the flesh of those around them. Worse than that, once dead, the others return to join in.

Her only hope of survival is to rely on the training that her father has given her and pray that she can reach her family’s cabin nestled in the safety of the Cascade Mountains. Her father has supplied it with everything they could need to survive, if only she can reach it unscathed.

Armed with a bugout bag and a fierce determination, she sets out on a harrowing journey with her best friend Drew and her roommate Anna. The question of what they will find when they reach the cabin becomes more pressing as they get closer to their destination and further from what’s left of the civilization they once knew.

Five Roads to Texas A Collaboration - 4 Stars ****

It spread fast- no time to understand it- let alone learn how to fight it.

Once it reached you, it was too late. All you could do is run.

Rumored safe zones and potential for a cure drifted across the populace, forcing tough decisions to be made.

They say only the strong survive. Well they forgot about the smart, the inventive and the lucky.

Follow five different groups from across the U.S.A. as they make their way to what could be America’s last stand in the Lone Star State.

Graveyard Druid by M D Massey - 3 Stars ***

When the local vampire coven hires him to stop an undead outbreak at the city graveyard, it sounds like money in the bank to everyone’s favorite down on his luck druid, Colin McCool. But when you’re cursed by an ancient fae sorceress with a score to settle, nothing is ever as it seems…

Colin McCool here, otherwise known as the Junkyard Druid. Not my favorite title, but since it’s my only title I guess I’m stuck with it.

But hey, things are looking up. Sure, a powerful and sentient magical artifact may have taken up residence inside my skull, and I’m still burdened with a nasty curse cast by an ancient sorceress of the Tuatha Dé Danann…

...but I’m trying really hard to look on the bright side of things.

Seeing as how I’ve been dragged back into the world of the fae, I figure I may as well be of use. And if I can make a little scratch while using my druidic talents for good and not evil, so much the better.

Which is why I took this job working for Austin’s vampire coven, cleaning up a ghoul infestation at the city cemetery. It’s not their work and they don’t want the heat, so they hired me to take care of it before it gets out of hand.

Easiest. Job. Ever. I’ll just whack a few ghouls, hide the bodies, and collect my fee.

I mean, seriously—what could possibly go wrong?

The Book of Flora by Meg Elison - 3 Stars ***

In the wake of the apocalypse, Flora has come of age in a highly gendered post-plague society where females have become a precious, coveted, hunted, and endangered commodity. But Flora does not participate in the economy that trades in bodies. An anathema in a world that prizes procreation above all else, she is an outsider everywhere she goes, including the thriving all-female city of Shy.

Now navigating a blighted landscape, Flora, her friends, and a sullen young slave she adopts as her own child leave their oppressive pasts behind to find their place in the world. They seek refuge aboard a ship where gender is fluid, where the dynamic is uneasy, and where rumors flow of a bold new reproductive strategy.

When the promise of a miraculous hope for humanity’s future tears Flora’s makeshift family asunder, she must choose: protect the safe haven she’s built or risk everything to defy oppression, whatever its provenance.

That's a wrap.  I hope you see something you'd like to read.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

~Michelle 

My Week in Review: 4/20/19-4/27/19

We just came in from our Easter get together and it was such a beautiful day.  The grandbaby is not quite ready to hunt eggs, but he ate like a big boy.  :)  

Here are the books I want to share with you today:

Caravan Witch by Shannon Mayer - 4 Stars ****

As if surviving the end of the world, and the theft of my powers weren’t enough on their own, a heaping pile of Ogre and a side of human raiders has been added to my plate while trying to feed our starving caravan.

The worst of what I face though is far harder to admit. My black magic takes it’s pound of flesh every time I use it, and each time the cost climbs. And yet, it calls to me, seducing me, all the while consuming little pieces of my soul. It’s a right bastard like that.

I don’t know how much longer I can withstand its strength, because in this world strength is safety, and safety is all I can offer those around me. May the gods have mercy on me, because I don’t have it in me to refuse the magic that blackens my blood any longer….

Fire Born by Rayanne Haines - 4 Stars ****

Independent, tough as nails, and fierce to her core, Alex Taleisin can't quite believe it when she has to fight for her life against something not-quite-human in the YMCA parking lot.

That's when her aunt lets her in on the family secret. They're immortal--Elementals to be precise, and Alex is the long-lost daughter of the strongest female warrior of their time.

Her guardian (a freaking Dragon!) and the sexiest man Alex has ever seen gives her a choice. Go with him, learn how to control her fire, and find her father's people, or try to survive on her own. It's an easy choice considering she's only twenty-six. And the Elders may already be on her trail thanks to the fight with the nut job in the parking lot kick-starting her dormant DNA.

Enter an insane grandfather, a shifter with a hidden agenda, and a witch with a shoe addiction, and suddenly loner Alex is wishing for a quiet house in the hills with the dragon she's falling for.

But a fight is coming and Alex knows the only way to find her answers is to trust her powers and become the warrior she was destined to be.

The Colony by Kathleen Groger - 4 Stars ****

Sixteen-year-old Val lives by these three rules etched on her arm. Her rules and her gun are the only things standing between her and assimilation by hordes of human-looking aliens she calls Raspers.

By day, Val gathers supplies. By night, she hides and wishes she could go back in time...before her family died...before the annihilation...before the Raspers began stalking her and demanding she join their collective.

But when the Raspers attack in broad daylight, the truth becomes startlingly clear.

They're evolving.

A fellow survivor crashes into Val's life. Adam's full of charm and promises--like rumors of a safe haven--but there's something wrong. He's survived with no supplies, no weapons...no plans. Time is running out. With the formula for survival shifting around her, Val must decide how many rules she's willing to break to escape the Colony.

Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron - 3 Stars ***

As the smallest dragon in the Heartstriker clan, Julius survives by a simple code: keep quiet, don’t cause trouble, and stay out of the way of bigger dragons. But this meek behavior doesn't fly in a family of ambitious magical predators, and his mother, Bethesda the Heartstriker, has finally reached the end of her patience.

Now, sealed in human form and banished to the DFZ--a vertical metropolis built on the ruins of Old Detroit--Julius has one month to prove he can be a ruthless dragon or kiss his true shape goodbye forever. But in a city of modern mages and vengeful spirits where dragons are considered monsters to be exterminated, he’s going to need some serious help to survive this test.

He only hopes humans are more trustworthy than dragons...

Demon Slayer by Linsey Hall - 3 Stars ***

Got a demon that needs killing? I’m your girl.

So, I'm in trouble. Big trouble. I'm a demon slayer, and one of those suckers has escaped. Even worse, it knows my secret... that I'm a Dragon Blood, able to create new magic and kick some serious butt with it.

If anyone finds out what I am, I'll be hunted down like a dog and used by the magical government. No way I want to become their guinea pig. So I've got to catch that demon. Fast.

Things get complicated when I start clashing with a sexy AF bounty hunter. His name's Declan, and we're after the same demon. Bounty hunters are my enemy, and this stupidly hot fallen angel keeps getting in my way.

The only way to save the city--and myself--is to team up with Declan. I have two goals: don’t kill him & don’t screw him. Both easier said than done, since self control isn’t really my thing. But it’s a race against time to catch the demon, and there’s no way in hell I’ll fail at that.

That's my week.  I hope you are reading something wonderful.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Michelle

My Week in Review: 4/13/19-4/20/19

Last week was a nice break - we had some much needed rain that helped wash away some of the pollen.  I got caught up in a Netflix series about zombies and binge watched it over the weekend.  :)

Here are the books I want to share with you today:

Homecoming by Jeff Favreau - 3 Stars ***  

The Jordan Rose Duology concludes it’s harrowing survival adventure in Homecoming - As Rose, Jamie, and others continue to struggle against the infected hordes that now roam freely, a battle for humanity’s future was all but inevitable.

Two years after the events of Break Away, Jordan Rose wonders if her respite in the woods of Northern Quebec has been long enough to outlast the infected. Haunted by memories of the past and forced to confront the perils of the future, a new journey is about to be thrust upon her. The choices she makes will either steer Rose and her companions away from danger or put them at the mercy of a superior enemy whose threat to humanity is far greater than anyone thought possible.

Pursued by infected and uninfected alike, Rose will again find herself a leader and must form allegiances that will have far-reaching and dire consequences. When all seems lost, the future of the human race may rest solely in the veins of a child, a child Rose may have to give her life to protect...

Glow by SM Boyce & Martha Carr - 3 Stars ***

Everything you know is about to change.

Victoria Brie is getting her life together. She may be just a cashier, but she has big dreams and high hopes for what comes next. In the meantime, she has everything that matters: her family and her best friend.

If only life were that simple.

When she comes home to find her parents murdered by an elf — yeah, an elf — she’s thrust into a world of magic, mystery, and a madman who wants her dead. The question is… why? Merged with a powerful artifact created by an evil mastermind, Victoria is hunted, stabbed, burned, shot, and attacked in the street… but she’s a survivor, damn it, and no one’s taking her out. She falls in love with the magical underground city of Fairhaven, and when the elf who assassinated her parents comes after her new home, she not taking any prisoners.

Phantom City by Gena D Lutz - 3 Stars ***

When magically altered drugs begin to surface in Sonnet Vale’s hometown, all signs point to one place for answers-- Phantom City.

Z-Risen Outbreak by Timothy W Long - 3 Stars ***

A Navy engineer and a tough as nails Marine must learn how to survive the zombie apocalypse without first killing each other.

When the USS McClusky (FFG-41) was overrun by the dead, Machinist Mate First Class Jackson Creed, and Marine Sergeant Joel "Cruze" Kelly, were forced to abandon the ship, and take their chances in San Diego.

Now they are stuck in a city that has been completely overrun with the dead and as the days go by they must range farther and farther away from 'fortress' in their search for supplies. Even though both were trained by the military neither one of them could have anticipated the horrors from a nightmare world that is intent on killing them at every step.

Steel by Terry Bolryder - 3 Stars ***

A dragon as a handyman? Ridiculous.

At least Liam Steel thinks so. Sure, he and his crew of newly-awakened metal dragons are experts at building things, but after being sunk at the bottom of a frozen ocean, all they want is to find the mates they were sailing in search of in the first place, and Liam isn't sure how that can happen while he's playing in the dirt. Until he meets his first client, a sweet, curvy, no-nonsense business-woman busy taking care of everyone but herself. His heart screams 'mate', and he's ready to get his hands on more than her yard.

Kate Hinton doesn't know what to make of the beefcake Rent-A-Dragon sent over to help with her yard. Impossibly tall with soulful teal eyes, dark hair, and the features of a male model, she's pretty sure he should be walking a runway rather than digging trenches in her yard. And the way he looks at her? Like nothing else matters in the world. But the more she gets to know her kind, friendly, amazingly efficient handyman, the more she is realizing he's not from her world.

He lives in a remodeled castle. He doesn't know certain modern words. And he definitely doesn't understand the rules of modern courtship. But somehow, Kate is finding herself falling in love with this 'dragon' all the same, and finding out there is a whole other world outside her own. One full of secrets, and danger, and maybe even the love of a lifetime.

That's my week.  I hope you are reading something wonderful.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

~Michelle

My Week in Review: 4/6/19-4/13/19

This week will be short and sweet.  :)

See ya next week.

~Michelle