Steph Reviews A Stitch in Time By Kelley Armstrong, Narrated by Samantha Brentmoor

Publisher: K.L.A. Fricke Inc
Format Read: Audiobook
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: October 13, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Thorne Manor has always been haunted…and it has always haunted Bronwyn Dale. As a young girl, Bronwyn could pass through a time slip in her great-aunt's house, where she visited William Thorne, a boy her own age, born two centuries earlier. After a family tragedy, the house was shuttered and Bronwyn was convinced that William existed only in her imagination.

Now, twenty years later Bronwyn inherits Thorne Manor. And when she returns, William is waiting. William Thorne is no longer the boy she remembers. He’s a difficult and tempestuous man, his own life marred by tragedy and a scandal that had him retreating to self-imposed exile in his beloved moors. He’s also none too pleased with Bronwyn for abandoning him all those years ago.

As their friendship rekindles and sparks into something more, Bronwyn must also deal with ghosts in the present version of the house. Soon she realizes they are linked to William and the secret scandal that drove him back to Thorne Manor. To build a future, Bronwyn must confront the past.

Steph's DNF Review: City of York (Kingdom in Darkness) By A. Person

Series: Kingdom in Darkness #1 

Publisher: Elmhurst Park Capital
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 15, 2020
Buying Link: Amazon* 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links. 

Blurb from goodreads:

The Kingdom has been around for as long as mud has been on the planet. Magic abounds—and dragons are its physical manifestation. Once vibrant and proud, they now live in varying states of depression after having their wings clipped. New dragons have not been created since that fateful day, and the magical force has only dwindled with the passing of each dragon.
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The Community, the residents of the Kingdom, are no longer the dominant beings in the world. They have ceded that title to humans, or as they inconsiderately call them, Cromies. To ensure the Kingdom’s survival, the Council of Elders made the monumental decision to concentrate all the magic in one place: New York City. From the far corners of the world, the Exodus occurred. Dubbed the City of York by this mythical Community, here they all follow the Order to stay concealed and not bring harm to the general population. Unbeknownst to the inhabitants at large, the Community lives among them.

In the present day, Emily and her friends Cat and James run a start-up news organization. Their quest to inform the public has them unexpectedly crossing paths with members of the Community. When it is discovered that they have an affinity to magic, they are all provided guides, and they immerse themselves in this hidden world.
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A motley cast of additional characters is encountered along the way. Prominent among them is Hollister McAvoy, who is a magically made billionaire. He has harnessed the power emanated by dragons and brought cheap, renewable energy to the city. While the Cromies rejoice, he continues to work toward his ultimate objective. There is an age-old prophecy that foretells the dawn of a magical revival. With access to money and technology, he aims to fulfill it by creating prosthetic wings and returning dragons to their former prestige. Can the Kingdom remain in darkness when dragons once again fly?

Steph Reviews Three Mages and a Margarita By Annette Marie, Narrated By Cris Dukehart

Publisher: Tantor Audio
Series: The Guild Codex
Format Read: Audiobook
Source: Purchased from Audible
Release Date: October 16, 2018
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Broke, almost homeless, and recently fired. Those are my official reasons for answering a wanted ad for a skeevy-looking bartender gig.

It went downhill the moment they asked me to do a trial shift instead of an interview - to see if I'd mesh with their "special" clientele. I think that part went great. Their customers were complete dickheads, and I was an asshole right back. That's the definition of fitting in, right?

I expected to get thrown out on my ass. Instead, they...offered me the job?

It turns out this place isn't a bar. It's a guild. And the three cocky guys I drenched with a margarita during my trial? Yeah, they were mages. Either I'm exactly the kind of takes-no-sh-t bartender this guild needs, or there's a good reason no one else wants to work here.

So what's a broke girl to do? Take the job, of course - with a pay raise.

Steph's Mini Review of 50 Shapes of Cakes: A Fifty Shades of Erotic Bakery Parody By David Ellis

Publisher: Independently Published
Format Read: E-Book
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: February 20, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Welcome to the phenomenomenom that is 50 Shapes of Cakes. (Soon to be a major movie...maybe? Hollywood, call me!)Romantic, stimulating, liberating and quite possibly utterly mind-blowingly bonkers but still totally, insanely addictive, you will obsess over 50 Shapes of Cakes, wondering where it all began and why. Yes, specifically why. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure myself.One thing however is for certain. You may have been innocent going in but you certainly won't be innocent coming out! Consumed by our own desires for pastry related products, it is here that we truly begin to learn more about ourselves and the saucier side of our everyday lives.The erotic bakery is now open for business and erotica will quite literally never be the same again.

Steph Reviews: Midlife Bounty Hunter: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel By Shannon Mayer

Publisher:  Hijinks Ink Publishing
Series: The Forty Proof Series Book 1
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Format Read: Ebook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Release Date: February 16, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon*
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

One day I’m married, living in Seattle, and magic isn’t real.

The next, I’m divorced and living in the guest room of my ex’s hotter- than-sin cousin’s place in Savannah . . . and talking to an animated skeleton named Robert.

I have to admit, Robert isn’t my worst date.

At forty-one, I didn’t think I’d be starting over. But I’ll be damned if my ex thinks I’m down and out because he pulled a fast one on me.

When a job comes my way that offers me a chance to use my childhood training in the shadow world, I take it—I need the money more than I care about my sanity.

It’s dangerous. I have to embrace the magic and dark of my past. And I need Advil to keep me going.

But those who’d hold me back better sit up and take notice, because a new woman is in town, and she’s not about to be counted out by anyone.

Even if she does groan when she rolls out of bed in the morning.

DNF Review: The Girl With The Louding Voice By Abi Dare

Publisher: Dutton

Format Read: E-Book
Source: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Google | Kobo
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who knows what she wants: an education. This, her mother has told her, is the only way to get a “louding voice”—the ability to speak for herself and decide her own future. But instead, Adunni's father sells her to be the third wife of a local man who is eager for her to bear him a son and heir.

When Adunni runs away to the city, hoping to make a better life, she finds that the only other option before her is servitude to a wealthy family. As a yielding daughter, a subservient wife, and a powerless slave, Adunni is told, by words and deeds, that she is nothing.

But while misfortunes might muffle her voice for a time, they cannot mute it. And when she realizes that she must stand up not only for herself, but for other girls, for the ones who came before her and were lost, and for the next girls, who will inevitably follow; she finds the resolve to speak, however she can—in a whisper, in song, in broken English—until she is heard.

Steph Reviews Theirs to Pleasure: A Reverse Harem Romance By Stasia Black

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Series: Marriage Raffle Series #2
Format Read: E-Book
Source: Purchased From Amazon
Release Date: May 31, 2018
Buying Links: Amazon* * affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

In the New Republic, every woman must marry five men. It’s the law. Welcome to the apocalypse.

Shay came into the township knowing she’d be a lottery bride. So she’d have to marry five men. She wasn’t the naïve girl she’d been eight years ago. She’d learned the lessons that had been beaten into her and she’d learned them well. So yes, so she’d share her body with her new husbands. But her secrets were still her own.

The men are different than she expected, though. They each had their own reasons for entering the lottery. There’s Charlie, who’s so sweet and kind. Rafe, who’s a light-hearted jokester during the day but dark and demanding in bed. Then Jonas and Henry and Gabriel, each bringing their own damage and beauty to the clan until, day by day, they begin to feel like a real family.

There’s just one little problem with the happy new family clan.

One of them isn’t who he appears to be. He is a spy for the enemy. Will Shay and the township be doomed before she and her husbands have a chance at lasting happiness?

Please note that this book contains some dark elements and covers sensitive topics. Any reader that feels they shouldn't venture into this apocalyptic world of sometimes harsh realities should please consider before reading.

Steph Reviews Fever Claim (The Sigma Menace Book 1) By Marie Johnston

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Series: The Sigma Menace #1
Format Read: E-book
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Release Date: December 11, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* * affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Can he turn one night into forever?

After being ditched only weeks before her wedding, Cassie Stockwell wasn’t out looking for a hookup. Then the devastatingly handsome bartender she’d been trying not to obsess over for months offered to give her a ride home. What could one night hurt?

When his future was almost taken away after one impulsive decision, wolf-shifter and ex-con Jace Miller waited patiently for months before making a move on the woman he knew to be his destined mate. But will one night of passion keep his little human by his side once she learns of his world and the danger it brings to her doorstep?

Steph Reviews Wild Wild Weasel By Salvo Lavis & James Munn Illustrated By Dave Leonard

Series: World of the Weasel
Publisher: Spitball Studio LLC
Source: the pr firm in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: June 15, 2018
Buying Links: Amazon*
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The weasel and boy are back! Space travel was a breeze compared to their latest challenge: obedience school. But can a weasel be trained? Find out what happens when wild animals go to school, just like kids. Wild Wild Weasel is a follow-up to Once Upon a Weasel and the second book in the World of the Weasel series.

Steph Reviews Leah & Rhea: Spell: Book 1 By Melissa Hines Helms Illustrated by Stephanie Parcus

Publisher: Helmshines Publications
Series: Leah & Rhea #1
Format Read: E-Book
Source: From the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: April 17, 2018
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Leah and Rhea, twin fairies living in the quiet hollows of a beautiful forest, never had a mentor to help them realize their magic. Left on their own after the tragic death of their parents, they’ve made a life among friends in the wilderness. Until one day Leah and Rhea discover a terrible sleeping spell has been placed upon their friends, and they soon embark on a quest to counter the evil magic cast by the witch Matilda—a quest that could split them apart forever. The sisters must find the courage to face foes and gather allies as they leave behind everything they know, battling creatures they never could have imagined. Will Leah and Rhea be able to find the inner strength and resourcefulness to secure the freedom of their most cherished friends? Join them on a journey that could determine their future or spell doom for them all.

Steph Reviews Marine Knots: How to Tie 40 Essential Knots By Patrick Moreau & Illustrations by Jean-Benoit Heron

Publisher: Harper Design
Format Read: Paperback
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: April 3, 2018
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository*  |  Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Waterproof Cover and Detachable Practice Rope

Packed with helpful step-by-step instructions and beautifully detailed illustrations, Marine Knots includes forty different knots every water sportsperson—including sailors, motor boat enthusiasts, waterskiers, paddle boarders, kayakers, canoers, and more need to practice their craft or hobby safely and confidently. With Marine Knots, you’ll learn how to tie a variety of common knots, including:

• Stopper Knots 
• Hitch Knots 
• Lashing Knots 
• Eyes or Closed Loops 
• Bend Knots 
• Longitudinal Tension Knots
• Whipping Knots
• Symbolic Knots

Marine Knots comes with a convenient practice rope to help you perfect each knot and a handy plastic waterproof binding so you can stash it on board without worrying about the weather—or a rogue wave. The spiral binding allows the book to stay open for easy practice whether you’re out on a lake, at sea, or in the backyard or living room.

For everyone who loves spending time on the water, Marine Knots is a reliable, portable, and invaluable guide—and the perfect accessory for popular water activities.

Group Review of Pet Dad by Elanna Allen

Publisher: Dial Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 1st, 2018
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository*  | iBooks* |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Plum wants the perfect pet, but instead realizes she has the perfect dad in this charming and hilarious picture book that's great for father's day.

Plum wants a pet. Plum's dad wants NO pets. So Plum, who never takes no for an answer, gets the only pet she can: a pet dad. Dad is a great pet--he loves playtime, tummy rubs, and scratches behind the ears. But every time Plum tries to get him to sit, or fetch, or chase, dad barks NO. Plum doesn't take no for an answer. How will she train her perfect pet (without getting a time-out)?

Hilariously relatable and with ultra-cute art, Pet Dad is perfect for kids who love or want pets--or who already have the perfect parents to make up for it. 

Group Review of Astronaut Annie by Suzanne Slade, Illustrated by Nicole Tadgell

Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers
Source: publicist in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 6th, 2018 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository*  | iBooks* |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Career Day is approaching, and Annie can’t wait to show her family what she’s planning to be when she grows up. But, she must keep it a secret until Friday! So curious family members each ask Annie for a clue. Convinced that she’ll be a news reporter like he once was, Grandpop gives her his old camera and notebook to use for her presentation. Grandma is sure Annie wants to be a champion baker like her, so she offers a mixing bowl and oven mitts to Annie. Hopeful she'll become the mountain climber he aspired to be, Dad gives Annie an old backpack. Mom presents Annie with a pair of high-top sneakers to pursue Mom's favorite sport in high school -- basketball.


Grateful for each gift, Annie cleverly finds a way to use them all to create her Career Day costume. When the big day arrives, Annie finally reveals her out-of-this-world dream to everyone.

Bea & Steph Review Storm Crossed by Dani Harper

Series: Grim #4
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 9th, 2018 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository* |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The latest stand-alone novel in Dani Harper’s Grim Series will delight old and new fans alike, transporting them to the ancient fae realm beneath the modern human world, where magic rules and menace abounds…

Heir to a noble fae house, Trahern is forced to watch helplessly as his twin brother is cruelly changed into a grim—a death dog—as punishment for falling in love with the wrong person. Trahern doesn’t believe love exists, but he will do anything to keep his brother alive—even join the Wild Hunt and ride the night skies of the human world.

Lissy Santiago-Callahan believes in love but has no time for it. She’s busy juggling her career as an academic and her home life as a single mom to a young son with Asperger’s. Her hectic life in sleepy eastern Washington is made even more chaotic with the sudden arrival of a demanding fae and his unusual “dog.”

Mortal and immortal have nothing in common, and the attraction between Lissy and Trahern surprises them both. But when their desire places Lissy and her child in the path of a deadly faery feud, will the connection last, or will their separate worlds prove too great a divide?

Steph Reviews Hagar's Mother By Jim Nelson

Publisher: Kindle Press
Series: The Bridge Daughter Cycle #2
Format Read: E-Book
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Release Date: November 15, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The anticipated sequel to BRIDGE DAUGHTER—Single mother Hanna Driscoll struggles to raise her “bridge daughters,” twins born pregnant with Hanna’s children. In six weeks the girls will give birth and die, leaving Hanna with two infants to raise.

Then Hanna’s busy life is shaken when an activist threatens to rescue her daughters from their fate and kill the children they bear.

A thriller of twists and turns, Hanna faces challenges from all sides to protect her infants-to-be…only to discover she too questions the mortality of her bridge daughters.

Steph Reviews Bridge Daughter By Jim Nelson

Publisher: Kindle Press
Series: The Bridge Daughter Cycle
Format Read: E-Book
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Release Date: June 7, 2016
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Young Hanna thinks her thirteenth birthday will be no different than the one before--until her mother explains the facts of life. Hanna is a "bridge daughter," born pregnant with her parents' child. In a few months she will give birth and die, leaving her parents with their true daughter.

A mature bookworm who dreams of college and career, Hanna is determined to overcome her biological fate. Navigating through a world eerily like our own, she confronts unyielding attitudes and instinctive fears as old as humankind itself.

Then Hanna learns of an illegal procedure that will allow her to live to adulthood...at the cost of the child's life.

Jax and Steph Review Flame in the Dark by Faith Hunter, with Special Bonus Short Story and Giveaway

Series:  FLAME IN THE DARK (Soulwood #3)

Publisher: Ace/Roc

Source: pr firm in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: December 5, 2017

Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble

* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Nell Ingram has always known she was different. Since she was a child, she’s been able to feel and channel ancient powers from deep within the earth. When she met Jane Yellowrock, her entire life changed, and she was recruited into PsyLED—the Homeland Security division that polices paranormals. But now her newly formed unit is about to take on its toughest case yet.

A powerful senator barely survives an assassination attempt that leaves many others dead—and the house he was visiting burns to the ground. Invisible to security cameras, the assassin literally disappears, and Nell’s team is called in. As they track a killer they know is more—or less—than human, they unravel a web of dark intrigue and malevolent motives that tests them to their limits and beyond.

Steph, Liam, & Bea Review Elvis Presley's Love me Tender Illustrated by Stephanie Graegin

Publisher: Dial Books
Source: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: November 14, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository*  | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The king of rock-and-roll's #1 hit song "Love Me Tender" is now an endearing picture book.

Adapted from the unforgettable classic song, Elvis Presley's Love Me Tender is a heartwarming ode to the special bond between children and the adults who love and care for them--be they parents, grandparents, adoptive parents, aunts, uncles, or guardians. With its simple, timeless message, Elvis Presley's Love Me Tender is destined to join Guess How Much I Love You as a baby shower staple. And the sweet, inclusive illustrations make it a book every family will treasure "all through the years, 'till the end of time."

Group Review of If Picasso Painted a Snowman by Amy & Greg Newbold

Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: October 3rd, 2017 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Tilbury House | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

If someone asked you to paint a snowman, you would probably start with three white circles stacked one upon another. Then you would add black dots for eyes, an orange triangle for a nose, and a black dotted smile. But if Picasso painted a snowman…

From that simple premise flows this delightful, whimsical, educational picture book that shows how the artist’s imagination can summon magic from a prosaic subject. Greg Newbold’s chameleon-like artistry shows us Roy Lichtenstein’s snow hero saving the day, Georgia O’Keefe’s snowman blooming in the desert, Claude Monet’s snowmen among haystacks, Grant Wood’s American Gothic snowman, Jackson Pollock’s snowman in ten thousand splats, Salvador Dali’s snowmen dripping like melty cheese, and snowmen as they might have been rendered by J. M. W. Turner, Gustav Klimt, Paul Klee, Marc Chagall, Georges Seurat, Pablita Velarde, Piet Mondrian, Sonia Delaunay, Jacob Lawrence, and Vincent van Gogh. Our guide for this tour is a lively hamster who—also chameleon-like—sports a Dali mustache on one spread, a Van Gogh ear bandage on the next.

“What would your snowman look like?” the book asks, and then offers a page with a picture frame for a child to fill in. Backmatter thumbnail biographies of the artists complete this highly original tour of the creative imagination that will delight adults as well as children.

Bea and Steph Review A Face to Die For by Andrea Kane & A Giveaway

Series: Forensic Instincts #6
Publisher: Bonnie Meadow Publishing LLC
Source: PR firm in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 19, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Kobo | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from PR Firm:

Urban legend says that everyone has a double, or exact look-alike. Would you search for yours? And if you found them, would you risk your life for theirs?

When a chance encounter outside the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan results in mistaken identity, wedding planner Gia Russo is curious to find the person whose cell phone picture has been shown her—veterinarian Dr. Danielle Murano, her exact look-alike. A Facebook private message blossoms into a budding, long-distance friendship, and the two women agree to meet in New York and see the truth for their own eyes.

Shocked at the sight of one another, they quickly bond over drinks, childhood pictures and an uncanny feeling that they share more than just a visual resemblance. Together they decide to end the speculation and undergo DNA testing for siblingship. But when the tests confirm they’re identical twins, more questions are raised than answered.

And with good reason. The same mysterious forces that separated the sisters years ago are still at large, frantic to keep the two women apart. Their attempts to do so become more violent once it becomes clear that the two sisters have found each other. But when the danger escalates and the sisters fear for their lives, Gia turns to a former client of her wedding planning company, Marc Devereraux of Forensic Instincts, for help.

Despite being embroiled in another case, Forensic Instincts agrees to help Gia and Danielle discover who has been threatening them. And when Forensic Instincts discovers that this case is linked to the [Mafia, Organized Crime], they must dig up skeletons better left buried, and get at the frightening truth without destroying the sisters and the families they have grown to love.