Phantasma

Phantasma by Kaylie Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow - what a way to end my year of books! This book had me completely hooked and I plowed through it in little over one day. It had all the things I wanted - paranormal mystery, romance, exciting twists, and smutty goodness. I am usually not one for historical stories (yuck to corsets and whatnot), but this book had me overlooking the time period because of the addictive story.

This book takes place in some sort of olden time, where cars are not common, women wear corsets, and showers are not a thing. It seems like the paranormal is commonplace here, but this takes place in New Orleans, so who knows. Ophelia and her sister have just lost her mother, and Ophelia is forced to take over her mother’s powers to continue the family line. She collects her mother’s locket, her powers, and, apparently, a ton of debts that will take their house away from them. It’s this, that her sister had kept secret from her, that send them into a fight that ends with some rash decisions. While their family drama is playing out, there is a roaming competition appearing. This game at Phantasma signs up contestants to compete for a devil’s favor. It’s this game that Ophelia ends up following her sister into.

As a necromancer, Ophelia may be uniquely qualified for this competition, because she’s already met one of the house’s haunts and ends up being approached by him again with a deal. After a night of horrors, mystery doors, and not knowing who to trust, her locket seems to be urging Ophelia to strike a bargain with the mysterious Blackwell. These two partner up (also in smutty ways) to navigate this hellscape (sort-of literally) and end up breaking some rules (like don’t fall for anyone in the house).

There’s a lot of secrets and near-death scenes all thrown at you one night after another, which had me rapidly flipping pages and on the edge of my seat. It felt like a fools bet to hope for a happy ending through all this gore and chaos, but I couldn’t help myself. Also, I didn’t realize this was part of a series, so figured I’d have to get some solid resolution at the end for a stand-alone read. Thankfully, that happens, though this is apparently one of a few in this series. While I figured out the mystery a bit earlier in the book, it was still great to watch it play out - even better than I imagined. Great read!

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A Twist of Amethyst

A Twist of Amethyst: A funny, feel-good contemporary romantic fantasy by Essie Foxford
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was definitely not your typical genie book and took me on bunch of unexpected twists and turns along the way.

Amethyst has recently returned home after yet another failed adventure. Things rapidly take a turn for the worst when first her brother disappears, then her father, then her mother, leaving Amethyst suddenly the head of the household. She tries taking on her mother’s cleaning jobs for some extra cash for overdue bills, but then ends up finding a full time job at her dad’s old work. This particular work, however, ends up involving a talking/sentient library, magical places built out of nothing, and wish-granting gone wild.

Amethyst ends up following clues around to ultimately connect the dots, but not without loss along the way. This book was a weird puzzle, filled with random twists and turns, lots of misdirection, and then I guess we finally get to a sort-of tied up ending that seems happy enough. We did end up losing folks along the way, but the big bads end up punished by their own devices, so that’s satisfying. I can honestly say that I’ve never read a genie story like this one before.

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The Ministry of Witches

The Ministry of Witches by Dael Astra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh my gosh, I simply fell in love with this! It feels like a Harry Potter book mixed with a cozy romance all rolled into a “we need to save the company” type mad dash.

The world this takes place in is one where the city of New York’s government elite knows about witches, but the rest of the city does not. They keep things running without much thanks or money to show for it. The previous head of the ministry was running the place into the ground, however, and that’s where we join Aleda, a plant witch who has been sent to the governing floors of the building to fetch a seed from the archives. On this journey, however, the council, after dismissing the last minister of witches, invoked a fail safe clause that the next person who walked into the chambers would be elected. Congrats to Aleda!

Aleda, luckily, has a mostly supportive staff behind her. The exception is Juliene, the archivist, who has a reason to be skeptical of the untrained witch. These two are like fire and ice for the first part of this book, but you should know by now that this usually ends up great for everyone. Aleda and Juliene are forced to work in close quarters to come up with a unique solution to their latest audit issues, which leads to more than just thinking outside the box. The entire ministry and their lives are thrown into a sort of lovely chaos by the end. I absolutely loved every chapter of this book, even with the bumps and bruises Aleda gets along the way.

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Truly Eternally Mine

Truly Eternally Mine by Stormy O'Hara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book takes place in a universe that feels fully formed, complete with others characters I am already building future mate-matching stories with. This book centers around Max, who started his life as Leo many years ago, before a secret order of vampires (and one particularly obsessive one) ends up turning him into an immortal.

Poppy is from a small town and has ended up in Hollywood because her brother has gone missing. He fell in with yet another secret order, this one that wants to kill vampires. On the side, they run a house cleaning business, so that’s where Poppy is hired on, determined to follow any clues to her brother’s whereabouts. When this secret society tries to infiltrate Max’s mansion, Poppy is one of the only people hired, so they put extra pressure on her to find proof he’s a vampire OR ELSE. She didn’t really buy into the whole vampire thing, but figures it’s worth looking into.

Max and Poppy hit it off from the start, sizzling the pages and making this a super easy read. There are a few twists and turns, some obligatory misunderstandings, and bad guys getting what they deserve (I hope). All in all, this a was a super fun and exciting world to get to know. I can’t wait to see what happens with Trix on her adventure!

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An Unlikely Coven

An Unlikely Coven by A.M. Kvita
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oooh this felt like great first book of many in a series! We got to get introduced to this wonderful witchy world filled with vampires, fae, and everything else that goes bump in the night. Oh, but don’t worry - there’s still enough family drama to be relatable.

Joan has graduated with a degree in architecture, which she pursued despite her witchy parent’s urging to follow in the family footsteps. She has always been a bit of a black sheep because, while she can absorb magic, she can’t control it to cast it. This makes her a magical anomaly, but not very useful in witchy society. It’s clear where she ranks in her family when nobody shows up to pick her up from the train, leaving her to catch up with her vampire BFF, CZ. CZ is a highlight of the book for me, showing true misfit-type friendship and a willingness to put himself in harm’s way for Joan in every instance.

Joan’s arrival happens to coincide with a magical shocker - rumors abound that someone has transformed a human into a witch, something that has never been successfully done before. How Joan should be helping with this particular issue was unclear, but she ends up getting dragged in anyway when CZ ends up sort-of kidnapping the new-ish witch. Things spiral from there, with lots of family lies, fights, betrayal, and ultimately the forming of a little rag-tag bunch of witchy misfits. I loved the slow burn romance/attraction, loved that the stakes were real, and especially enjoyed watching Joan step into her power. What a great start to a series!

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Road Trip with a Vampire

Road Trip With a Vampire by Jenna Levine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was an adorable romantic comedy where two damaged supernaturals manage to find love. I started this book series at book 2, so I’m sure if you wanted to, you can start the series here, but you’d likely get more out of it if you didn’t follow my example.

Zelda abandoned her life as one of the most powerful witches in the world after one of her infamous pranks goes horribly wrong. She leaves her BFF, Reggie, a vampire, behind without any note and it wasn’t until the end of the previous book that she broke her silence to him. It’s this connection that has him sending a vampire with no memory her way. Peter, the amnesiac vampire in question, shows up at Zelda’s yoga studio with little more than a handful of clues to follow. Zelda herself could use a little bit of a break from the yoga life to dig deeper into why her magic is acting up, so she hastily agrees to (as the title tells us) a road trip with a vampire.

Peter doesn’t seem like a mean guy, but with every clue they follow, it seems more and more likely that he was not a nice man before he lost his memory. Also, it appears his previous employer is following him and determined to get “what they paid for.” All of this obviously ends up coming to a head in the most timely fashion, when the road trip is at its end. I was rooting for these two reluctant love birds the entire way and it was a truly satisfying ending.

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Dog with a Bone

Dog with a Bone by Hailey Edwards
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

OK, so I am definitely reading all these books in the wrong order, but after being introduced to Thierry in a much later series, I figured it would help me to understand her backstory a little more. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this was not it. I’ve already bought the rest of the series, so I’m in for it, whether this one wowed me or not.

Thierry is young, and it is very, very obvious. She’s pretty irritating, but I guess that should be expected, when you are the son of a god-like being and entering a training program for supernaturals. She’s got pretty cool powers, but unfortunately they appeared when she was unable to prepare herself, and managed to kill all her young friends. She is found by Shaw, an incubus, who offers to train her, as their powers are similar. I’m a little icked out, because we join them after they’ve been training together for a while, and it is very clear they have some Mulder/Scully attraction going. I’m not ready to get over the fact that we have some vampire-romance-level age issues going on here.

So - as I said, we join Thierry as she is in training, on the cusp of becoming a “real” agent in a supernatural-type agency. She is partnered with Shaw for on-the-job training on what should be a straightforward case but ends up getting oodles of folks killed and almost takes them both off the job permanently. As an introduction to these characters, it was ok, but I am still struggling to find the dynamic between these two. Here’s hoping a longer story up next will let us delve in further.

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Jingle Spells

Jingle Spells by Emily Grimoire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oak Haven is a hidden town full of witches and magic. There’s a spell that keeps anyone who visits accidentally from remembering anything about their time there. This seemed like a protection but now feels like more of a punishment to the witches we’ve met so far. I read book #1 but I’m pretty sure you can dive in here if you want.

Delilah was always the responsible sister, running the inn their family owned even after their father tragically died. It seemed like everyone else got to deal with their feelings in a more natural way, but Delilah has now taken to running away with her spell-learning-obsessed sibling. It’s here where we meet up with her, trying to recover from the last magician attack on the town, only to now be pulled back to manage yet another attack.

Jasper is a very organization, methodical history-obsessed record keeper. He can’t resist following a mystery to Oak Haven, where he has already been put through the memory eraser spell several times. On this most recent time, however, he ends up getting drawn into the Oak Haven fight against magicians and falling for one certain witch. This love story is tragic and so wonderful. The journey we go on with them both is so not what you’d expect that it surprised me at every turn. The ending, while not traditional, was also very refreshing.

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The Mermaid’s Bubble Lounge

The Mermaid’s Bubble Lounge by Seana Kelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I would read 100 of these books set in Sam’s world. It’s so cozy and fun - all the characters are great, and we’re even starting to scavenge some crossover characters, too!

Coming off Sam’s inadvertent destruction of pretty much the entire vampire guild in the last book, Clive and some of his closest guild vampire friends are trying to figure out how to fill the gaps. It might sound like that’s the big plot here, but it totally is not. Instead, Sam doesn’t get a break because there appears to be a string of supernatural murders happening at the bubble lounge and of course she’s pulled into it.

This book managed to tie together some previous loose ends while also getting to show Sam being the strong heroine she is. We get to learn a bit more about random fae stuff, have fun and not-so-fun in the folly, and spend quality time with Clive. This book felt very quick and easy, with not huge leaps in the larger plot, with a lead in to the next adventure at the end.

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The 5-Time Rejected Gamma & the Lycan King

The 5-Time Rejected Gamma & the Lycan King by Stina's Pen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked this book up. I’m used to longer books, but this might be the longest one I’ve read this year! For such a somewhat straightforward storyline, I didn’t expect to be 200+ chapters in by the end. That being said, if you’re looking for a book you can really really settle into - this is one for you.

Lucy is the 5-time rejected gamma from the title. She has had a lot of ups and downs in her life, but her unique standing and her unmatched fighting abilities have put her in a position where she is at the big gathering of werewolves and lycans. In this world, both are “out” in the public and there is a definite class system where lycans have been the ruling class for a long time. Xandar, the king of both species, has set about to change that, and has just now realized that by doing so he has met his fated mate.

Lucy, having gone through this several many times before and been burned each time, almost immediately rejects the king. Lucky for us all, she ends up giving him a chance and that’s the story we get. It is filled with lots and lots of political machinations, rogue attacks, death, love, romance, and yes even some smutty goodness. Lucy ends up having some even more extraordinary talents by the end, and it was super satisfying to watch all the bad guys get their punishment. All in all, a very satisfying universe, but it certainly took many many chapters to take us there.

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Atlanta’s Guide to Cryptids

Atlanta's Guide to Cryptids by Kevin A. Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was one of those that starts with a full backstory for all the characters, but we only get to learn little tidbits throughout. While it forced me to confirm that I was indeed reading book #1 of this series, I liked the feeling that all the characters had so much more to tell us.

Kristen is a witch who thought she was being recruited to the FBI, but was actually recruited to the Department of Realm Containment. Her team leader is a dragon, and the rest of her crew is made up of another witch and a vampire. They are tasked with containing the x-files-like cases that come across their desk, or copier as the case may be.

I’m not sure how this book ended up on my to-read list because there is exactly zero romance in here, but it is a very interesting police procedural, with a bunch of twists and turns, but a solidly solved case at the end. The characters were interesting enough that I would give book 2 a shot. This one was queued up in my audible because I was limping along with free books until my credits replenished, but it was well worth the time.

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Dealing with a Desperate Demon

Dealing with a Desperate Demon by Charlotte Stein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am not usually one for a retelling of a classic story (like Beauty & the Beast), but somehow the self-awareness of this story had me giving it a pass at every turn. I also didn’t read book 1 of this series, but did not have any trouble diving in to this small town and all the oddities.

Nancy is a bookstore owner and she finds herself stunned when the town loner and jerk (who eagerly hates on books) shows up in her shop. When trying to have a conversation with him, he freaks out on her and leaves, departing before buying the book he was looking at. A nice thought on her part, just dropping the book off at his house, ends up upending both their lives. Turns out that Nancy has been hiding her past, having already been exposed to the supernatural but shoved it down hard.

Jack, her new rather reluctant BFF, has a bit of a hidden side too - a much darker one than Nancy. He is tiptoeing around a devil’s bargain put on him, while trying to navigate “normal” human life as a man. I didn’t want to enjoy what was very obviously a blind spot for Nancy, but I really did. This book is dirty in a great way, but also heart-warming. What a great not-fairytale!

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Seizing Fate

Seizing Fate: A Gargoyle Order Novel by Tracey Kyler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book felt like an installment in a larger series with the Gargoyle Order, but either I dove into the series already in progress, or there is a lot more to learn about this world.

Cora has led a life filled with tragedy and loss. The world is now something completely different after some big catastrophic event. Now things have gone back to basics, which means Cora can hide away from life in a much needed library, missing the technology they used to take for granted. Arik, a member of the “Gargoyle Order,” has a bit of mixed heritage. He is part of the order, but comes from a line of evil demons. It’s some of those that end up attacking Cora, but Arik has already realized that she is his fated mate, so is there to rescue her.

This seemingly random meeting ends up setting off a series of events where the demons are only a step away from getting Cora a few times. One of these times, however, after Cora and Arik have already become a true couple, they have used up all their good fortune. Arik has to risk it all to get back the woman he loves.

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Wolf

Wolf by Rebecca Zanetti
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I ran out of audible credits and was perusing the included titles with an audible membership when I saw a familiar author name. I’ve read a lot of Rebecca Zanetti’s work but hadn’t see this series pop up. As the start of a series, this was unique enough, but could also certainly be read standalone.

Mia is a woman who has recently gone through a trauma. Acting as a profiler, she attracted the attention of a killer, who ended up holding her mother hostage. While she and her family recover, Mia has taken a temporary gig helping her friend, the local sherif, in a mining town run by one particular family. Seth, a member of said “ruling family” ends up holding her attention and he seems just a smitten. Of course, there’s a secret that keeps him away from her - as you know from the title.

Mia, not an idiot, ends up uncovering one too many clues and is rapidly thrown into the deep end of werewolf drama. The big mystery of this book ended up completely surprising me, which is such a rarity! I was on the edge of my seat until the very end, and would be willing to give book 2 a chance.

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Hollow Heathens

Hollow Heathens: Book of Blackwell by Nicole Fiorina
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Our book club picked this book up, I’m not sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t this. We were looking for a spicy paranormal romance and this was certainly way more world building than typically included in a “simple” book club read.

Fallon is a girl who has always been strange, seeing ghosts, being raised by her mother’s friend after she lost both her mother and her father. Just when she thought she had lost all her family, a letter arrives from her grandfather, who happens to be ill and living in a faraway town. This all sets Fallon on the path to a magical town where one faction wears masks and another is even more nefarious. There’s a lot of backstabbing, magic, mystery, and tragedy all in this story.

Julien is the required bad boy, one of the “hollow heathens” who can’t remove his mask without tragedy. He and Fallon are a bit of Romeo & Juliet in this story, with a MUCH darker spin. Like I said, there’s tragedy, but there’s also some questionable consent, murder, some very tragic death, and so much more. This book really took the long way to get to a HEA for our main characters. The world building was definitely interesting, but something about the pacing kept me from truly diving in. That being said, while there is another book in the series, we decided to stop here.

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