The Mermaid in the Shot Glass

The Mermaid in the Shot Glass by Hailey Edwards
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rian and Ana’s relationship is slowly building as she starts to find her own footing, but this book was very short so didn’t make much progress. There was still a storyline - Ana gets to try out some of her fledgling dragon skills but there is something troubling going on in the pack. Oh, and there’s some polar bear stuff that happens that is both alarming and cute. Since these are like small novellas, I don’t want to over share any details. The characters are still growing and developing, but I enjoy this world.

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The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These books are all great. This one had me shaking my head at Carl more than previous books, but I am sure that we will all end up OK in the end. He takes so many unnecessary risks!

Hitting on the highlights here - Samantha is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. Don’t worry, Donut is still excellent and the way they are gearing up for Faction Wars is just… perfection. But that being said, we spend a lot of time in dark areas doing dark things or learning dark secrets in this one. We, once again, surprisingly address the looming big bad in a really fast couple of chapters. I thought for sure the sunrise at the end of the last book would linger and begin to slowly erode at the team’s dynamic, but no - almost right away it gets brought to light. These gods, though - I’m sure there is a lot building for future floors there. I was happy to learn a little more about the drama between Odette and Mordecai.

I have to say that I really did not like the card game of this floor. I was channeling donut for most of the rule descriptions where my brain would just shut off. I don’t think you need to understand it all because the AI or the showrunners end up screwing with things along the way. We also began to learn more about the AI and the drama there that’s building. These books somehow make me cry one moment and then laugh out loud the next. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

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The Butcher’s Masquerade

The Butcher's Masquerade by Matt Dinniman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I did myself a huge disservice by not reviewing this before starting the next book. Now everything is merging together so I’ll just hit the highlights. Since I am blowing through these books at a rapid rate, I am obviously enjoying them. Maybe this book is slightly better than the last one? They are all excellent.

One thing these books do is surprise me, all the time! While I know I am signing up for good witty banter, and lots of twists and turns, Carl never does what I expect him to do. Also - we deal with a lot of things that I thought would derail everything (no reference to the iron tangle), but instead are over in a flash (see: Odette’s program “surprise”). I love all these characters so much that I want to throttle Carl when he does reckless things.

A surprise star in this book was Mongo and his, uh, relations? I was surprised at how much progress is being made with Carl’s focus on the NPCs and cannot wait to see how it all ends up playing out. The ending is, again, filled with all sorts of surprises that give the next book even more to address. Oh, and Wonderwall.

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Bloodlust Storm

Bloodlust Storm by Luanne Bennett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wait - what? Is this the last book in this series?!?! I’m not ready to leave this world and I definitely don’t want to leave things this way!

Charley and gang have their big showdown with the big bad vampire that has been trapped under the witch’s house for a while. The closer he comes to freedom, the more the vampires in town begin to lose their minds, as seen by the previous book and Charley’s split with Samuel. I wish I could say it gets better, but it gets much darker and worse before this is all over. I’m very conflicted about the events and ending of this big story, though we do get to address Charley’s magic and her acceptance of her abilities.

So, this big bad vampire, it turns out he’s related in vampire terms to a group that attacks the bar. Charley is able to rally the troops to fight back but we are unfortunately missing Samuel, who was such a fixture in this series. I’m not sure if I can get over the abrupt ending of their relationship, honestly. All that aside, Charley shows the town that she is truly a power to be feared, and we get to turn the page on to… spinoffs? Please?



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Reaper’s Quest

Reaper's Quest by Debra A. Kristi
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

When you begin a book about reapers, I’m not sure what you conjure up, but this book will surprise you. It throws you headlong into a complicated, political world and then take you on a train to what feels like the zombie apocalypse.

Raven is the daughter of a famous reaper family with all the pressure that comes along with it. Chace, similarly, is from the corresponding feuding reaper family. They have been told to avoid one another, but Chace seems to have had the harder life overall. They are, of course, paired up on a secret mission that spirals out of control rapidly. They have to travel to a place that is secretly somehow able to avoid all readings. Why? How? That’s what they have been tasked with solving.

Things go right off the rails from the start when the train they are on is attacked by winged creatures. From there, they are denied entry and have to sneak into the kingdom that essentially traps them. Because Raven and Chace are forced into an adversarial relationship, neither fully trusts and that is ultimately their undoing. Secrets mount, horrible things and magnificent things happen, but don’t expect this book to give you all the answers. This is very clearly part of a series that must be completed to get resolution.

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A Witch and Her Vampire

A Witch and Her Vampire by Emberly Wyndham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Oops, I started this book series at the end, here, with Maeve and Severin. I think I was able to catch up along the way, but I probably should’ve started from book 1.

This book, oddly like others I’ve read lately, is about the naughty relationship between teacher and student. While sometimes there is a could years of age gap between teacher and student, when we introduce the fact that Severin is a vampire, it makes for a little bigger gap. Maeve is a rebel and is unwilling to accept that her hot teacher is off limits. They almost immediately break all the rules, but the relationship is more of a slow build. Maeve is determined to control her rather uncontrollable storm magic and Severin is assigned to teach her some of his restraint. Ironic, because they both end up wild and free by the end.

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An Arcane Education

An Arcane Education by Lyla Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m not sure what combination of elements led to me absolutely devouring this book, but I couldn’t put this thing down! There’s some naughty student/teacher romance, really great wizard school vibes, and a world I want to get to know more.

Vivian has always been the grown up in the house, taking care of her younger brother, working to help the family out, giving up all her free time to make ends meet for them all. During one of her rare moment alone, she ends up getting attacked and surprised when she suddenly can control the plants around her. She’s not like poison ivy - she’s somehow exactly how I’d expect a plant nerd to be gifted magical abilities. From there, she gets invited to a magical graduate program and the rest is both amazing and terrible. She gets to go through the awkward roommate bit, only her roommate is a vampire. She makes wonderful, magical friends, and she also accidentally hits it off with her instructor. That ends up working out because the sizzle is off the charts!

So what’s the larger story about? Other than Vivian trying to “catch up” to her fellow classmates who have known about magic their whole lives, she is also trying to piece together the mystery of her deceased father. Turns out, he also went to school here and had both friends and enemies. Oh, and there are some weird plant happenings going on in the forest. When bodies start showing up, the administration gets involved in a not so expected way. We still manage to get to a happy ending, but I need more! When is the next book out?

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