Trifles and Folly 2 (Deadly Curiosities)

Trifles and Folly 2 by Gail Z. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is my second journey into this world and I found I enjoyed this one even more than the first anthology. You can certainly start here (and I'd recommend it), but I'm sure this serves as a great accompaniment to the series as a whole.

The set follows the same set of characters, with the main being a touch psychic who owns an antique shop. She works with some other magical and non-magical folks to make sure cursed or other dark objects don't make it back out to the public, but also appears to dabble in un-haunting houses in this set. I really enjoyed all the characters and stories contained in the set, with a particular focus on the very interested inter-personal relationships along the way.

Who would I recommend this set to? Someone who wants a nice, easily digestible story that could either be read as standalone or all together. Someone who likes mysteries and magic, with a touch of paranormal romance thrown in for good measure.

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Azuri Fae (Caledonia Fae, #2)

Azuri Fae by India Drummond
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

We are working through these books for book club and while they are interesting, they are definitely not exactly what I'd usually keep coming back to. It's like a mix of high fantasy, contemporary procedural (a little), and fade to black romance.

This book picks up after the outcome of the previous book. Eilidh is a bit of a hero, having saved her kingdom from the insane fae who could have destroyed them all. He also uncovered druids, so she is associated with that re-discovery as well. The big thing here is... war, pretty much. Things aren't well in the kingdom, beginning with the queen who may be a little mad herself. There is a division in the kingdom because some want to welcome the fae they previously exiled while others are more traditional.

There's also a big thread of Munro and Eilidh struggling with their fated relationship. For Munro, he's all in, but unable to navigate the fae way of life so easily. For Eilidh, she's struggling to open herself to such a wild change in her life. Who knew that would be the smallest change. Things in this book escalate super quickly, so brace yourself. The twists and turns that center around a mystery (which ends up being... not so big?) kept me interested but not necessarily invested. I find the side characters more interesting than the main. We'll see what happens after the big end of this book, but I think most of these characters are a little hard to relate to.

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MacRieve

MacRieve by Kresley Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At this point, if you've been reading the previous books in this series, nothing should be a major surprise. There's a formula and most of it lately has been centered around aftermath from the Order's prison facility.

This book is about Will (I won't try for his actual name) and Chloe. Will is a tortured soul who made some bad decisions when he was young and it has messed him up. As an immortal, he has forever to brood and become even worse. His twin has tried to keep him right, but after he was kidnapped by the Order and tortured in prison, all his old wounds are fresh again. Chloe is a soccer player who suddenly has been developing heightened senses. Her dad is - gasp - the evil leader of the order facility! She didn't know that until after he went MIA and she was subsequently kidnapped by witches, though.

They are fated. I don't think that's a spoiler, because that is just the start of this. She's obviously changing from vanilla human into something else and also has to accept that her dad is the big bad. Will and Chloe have some issues - him being the key one - but it was nice seeing someone stand up to the overbearing males in this world. Other than Chloe's awesomeness, this was pretty much an average book in the series. Good, but nothing amazing or mind blowing.

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Second Nature

Second Nature by Amber Boudreau
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book really drew me in. At first, I wasn't sure what to make of Mavis, but she definitely grew on me.

Mavis has amnesia. She came awake in a hospital with no memory of her earlier years. While she remembers some basics of her "previous life" like how to make cookies or that she never learned to drive, the rest is a blank. After an extended stay under the care of an attentive doctor and mean nurse, she ended up renting a studio apartment in town with money she makes from a receptionist gig at a car repair place. Her boss is surly, but accommodating, and she's made some friends in town, but there's still something missing (other than her memory).

Through a bit of nosey behavior, some sleuthing, and some truly insane twist and turns, she ends up uncovering more than just her own information. With a world and story this big, it's clear that it couldn't wrap everything up in one installment. Still, I was sad that we end the book on a little bit of a "to be continued" setup. I want to know more about how Mavis lives with her new truth and where she goes next. I guess that's where book 2 will take us, though.

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Banshee Song

Banshee Song by Jen Katemi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow! I'm super happy that I came back to this series and read book 2! This one is much easier to get into and is even stronger than book 1.

We continue meeting banshees here, but this one is a little different. Indigo is a banshee who has learned to channel her song into an actual... song. She is a singer and it is during one of her shows when she meets Tarrien. He's the ice cold warrior that we met in the last book, but here he has been tasked to protect another daughter of the questionable lady in winter. These two sizzle right off the page from the start and it only gets hotter from there

While there is a bit of a quick timeline, mashing in the obligatory misunderstanding phase, I found the action and story engaging enough to write it off. I was completely obsessed with where these two would end up and how they would get out of the rather difficult bind at the end. I'm happy to see a nice resolution and eager to check out book 3!

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Blood Faerie

Blood Faerie by India Drummond
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book lands somewhere around 3.5, rounded up to 4 stars here.

We read this book for book club and that was a key driver for me finishing this. While the story and world building were interesting, this is definitely book 1 - the setup book. We learn about the world of faeries, their politics and beliefs about good and bad powers, and the badness that can occur when they are outcast. Eilidh (who has a nice reminder for pronunciation woven into the text) has been banished from the rest of her fae brethren because she was born with "bad powers." During her many years of exile, she has not been tempted to step in until there are signs of a blood faerie murdering druids.

The bad guy is known, identified, and we see from perspective (in case that's not your thing). The good guy, Quinton, is a police officer who is assigned to the murders and bodies the bad guy is leaving behind. He has always had "hunches" which turn out to be correct, apparently an indicator that his lineage may have magic in it. Reluctantly, Eilidh and Quinton end up teaming up (in the non-smutty way) to stop this big bad. No huge surprises here, and a rather quick wrap up at the end, but it should be interesting to see where things go for them moving forward.

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What the Fang?

What the Fang? by Stacey Kennedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow, I read this book so quickly! It had all the things I love - witches, vampires, smut, and magic! As book#1 for a series, I am surely hooked.

Willa is a witch, but she never grew into her powers. She lost her mother at an early age and never knew her dad. Being raised by her aunt, the leader of her set of witches, she was particularly disappointed when she was shunned upon not showing any signs of magic. She's resigned herself to her new life, even embracing her misfit status by being the only witch running a business in vampire run town. Vampires are "out" in this world, but have segregated themselves by "owning" key towns in the US. They are OK with Willa in one of their towns for the most part, probably only because she hasn't presented any powers so is pretty much human.

The big shift for her happens when she is suddenly attacked and promptly rescued by vampires. Sounds confusing, and it is, but it brings Killian, the warden of her town, into her life. Willa, however, is a force to be reckoned with. She's awesome in just about every way in her handling of the twists and turns of her new life. Oh, and her friends are AWESOME. In fact, all of these characters are amazing.

The big story here, without spoiling anything, is that Willa's life comes with some mysteries. All those mysteries end up coming out in sudden ways, leading her into a whole new future. Killian is the vampire entering her life for the most part, with smutty goodness. I absolutely cannot wait until the next book to see what antics everyone gets up to.

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