Trifles and Folly

Trifles and Folly by Gail Z. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am embarrassed that it took me so long to get through this anthology. I started it a while ago on a vacation trip and since lost track of it in my kindle. A short story anthology is both good and bad that way because I was able to stop easily at the end of a story and pick up with the next one years later without missing anything.

I don't have experience with this world outside of this short story set, so needed the intro that is tacked on to every story in the set. It introduces you to Cassidy, the touch psychic who runs the shop, Teag, her partner, and Sorren, the last silent vampire partner. They work together to using intelligence, magic, connections in the neighborhood, and sheer luck to remove antiques with bad mojo from the market. I will say, while I appreciated the intro when starting and then picking the book up, the way this anthology is designed, I would almost recommend that as your strategy for reading it, otherwise it quickly becomes redundant.

There are a ton of stories packed into this set, some that I enjoyed more than others, but the highlights for me were at the end, in the bonus section. This included Sorren centric stories of his history and "onboarding" into the magical saving community. The world is unique, the stories are interesting, and the size of each story was very manageable for a quick read. I would recommend this set for someone who wants to casually read a short story anthology, perhaps with different breaks for books in between.

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Confessions of a Puppetmaster

Confessions of a Puppetmaster by Charles Band
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In an attempt to break out of my PNR shell, I grabbed this book for review. I'm a big fan of full moon entertainment, grew up on puppetmaster and ghoulies, movie rentals, and all the other wonderful things that this book details.

So - what is this book about? Charles Band is one of the key figures in the wonderful world of awesome horror. He's had a full and varied life, filled with lots of risks and craziness, but balanced with production of some wonderfully weird movies. I'm not going to go through the details, but I will say that his storytelling is very engaging. I couldn't stop this book once I started, so got through the whole book in a single day. I did this via kindle, but I'm sure the audiobook is also amazing. You can feel his energy coming through the page even when it's written word.

I would (and have already) recommend this book to anyone who is a horror fan in the age range of 30-50, or who appreciates the wonderful world of full moon entertainment. I learned a lot about the history and background behind what went into establishing the films I appreciate.

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Shadow's Claim

Shadow's Claim by Kresley Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After the last one, I thought we'd keep heading down that road of not caring about the consent of the mates here. Luckily, it seems like this one was way more interested in the mate in question going along with the relationship, but still a little iffy. If that's not your scene, you should probably skip this one.

Bettina is the future ruler of a demon monarchy. She is, however, a half-breed and was stripped of her powers not long ago. Having always been a bit of a freak, and under the tyrannical rule of her godparents, she ends up agreeing to a tournament of champions, where the winner is her husband. There's some questionable reasoning to get us here, but here we are with another big tournament. Trehan is a Dacian who we met in the previous book. He's the assassin who devotes his whole life to his work and his kingdom... until he finds his mate. Said mate doesn't understand much going on that night, so there's a bit of a hiccup in a HEA here.

Trehan is also at a bit of disadvantage because he was originally sent to this kingdom to kill Bettina best friend/crush. The high points in this story were more around the battles, the smutty bits, and the side relationship Bettina has with her phantom servant. Since we've already seen a bit of this from the other side in the previous book, there's not some really huge surprises, but it was still an entertaining read. I'm hoping we eventually get to see the rest of the fallout from the Order's kidnapped victims in the coming books, too!

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The Immortal Conquistador

The Immortal Conquistador by Carrie Vaughn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rick is the best. If you're a fan of the Kitty Norville series (which, I'm pretty sure is the only way you would stumble into this book and/or enjoy it), then you know Rick just isn't your typical vampire. This set of stories all from Rick's perspective give the super rare glance into his inner workings and his history.

I found I was enjoying the stories more as the rather quick book continued on. You can almost feel his frustration and exasperation at the other vampires who keep expecting him to act a certain way. I am particularly happy with the resolution we get at the end of the book. I don't want to spoil anything so will leave it at that. These stories were enjoyable and made me smile.

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Poison in the Blood

Poison in the Blood by Robyn Bachar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am going to add a disclaimer that historical fiction is not my genre of choice. Something about the extra skirting and manners just irks me. That being said, I added this book to my queue because I really enjoyed the other series related to the two stars here and was hoping for the same feelings.

This set of 2 stories is really different, so be prepared. Emily is a sheltered sort of woman, as is expected from her time period. She is, however, wasting her seer abilities playing matchmaker for magicians. At a party of such magicians, she ends up being drawn into a murder mystery that sets her whole life in motion. She finds her soul mate, starts a rocky relationship with his mentor, and gets the satisfaction of solving a mystery. This sets up the true romance between Michael and Emily.

The second story is longer and deals with a guardian run investigation, more soul mates, and very dark deeds. Emily is in her marriage, but a bit adrift. Her husband has just been turned and she no longer finds satisfaction and a clear path for her future. Lucky for us all, she is a seer. Her gifts give her the appropriate nudges to put her in the right direction for later books to happen. I even softened a bit to the big bad Simon by the end.

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Immortal's Honor

Immortal's Honor by Rebecca Zanetti
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book totally tricked me into reading another motorcycle club book without me even noticing. It was fun, smutty, exciting, and ultimately took some big steps to the "big showdown."

Sam is yet another super secret member of the Seven's plan/protection for the big bad. With each book we get closer to a potential showdown, and even get some good progress here and epic battles. Since Sam is a protector (see what I did there?) he steps up to take on some of what should have been the role of his niece. Things are obviously not going well, since he gets his own book. He's blowing things up, lighting them on fire, and randomly getting pulled into different dimensions. The newest bonus, upon meeting Honor, an enhanced female, he somehow "infects" her with a similar affliction.

Honor has been swimming along in her weird life, content with normality until this hulking brute enters her life. Their interactions were simply wonderful to watch. She isn't one of those "save me, I'm a princess!" types, and it was refreshing. At every turn, she tries to get herself out of a bad situation before even thinking someone could help her. As a match, they are pretty good and work towards a balanced pair. The side stories for Hope and her friends also seamlessly mix with this story, giving us a good chance to progress the big plot. Overall, this is one of my favorite recent installments in the series.

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Blessing of Luna

Blessing of Luna by Blaise Ramsay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is a unique spin on the typical werewolf/vampire book, with oodles of mythology and world building.

Jillian is immortal, made so by a curse because her fated mate is someone meant to bring balance to the very unbalanced world/war between werewolves (lycans) and vampires. He is reincarnated randomly into new bodies, and it's one such new body that shows up in her town in the form of Damien. Damien knows something is off about him, but doesn't quite understand the extent of that. Through a mix of a bit of stalking, threats on his life, one very understanding father, and very petty friends, Damien finds himself in the middle of a real war.

We start this book in somewhat normal territory, with Damien starting school, getting to reconnect with childhood friends, getting over some trauma, but that rapidly escalates into fated mate, fighting for your life territory, complete with tents and prophecies. While I am still a little unclear on Damien's complete set of powers, he certainly has a lot of weight on his shoulders. The book took us on a whole journey - what felt like years worth of time for Damien. As the setup for a series, this certainly delivered on world building.

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