I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews. Overall I liked it but this book had a lot of heavy lifting to do to wrap up the series so some things felt underdeveloped or hand-waved away. Catalina and Alessandro however? A+
I’m over at Dear Author with Sirius, reviewing House on Fire by Jenn Burke. Not as successful for me as the first one.
The Tyack & Frayne series by Harper Fox Well… less of a review and more of a series recommendation really. As you might know, I attempted to cut off the top of one of my fingers a few weeks ago and the recovery period has left me struggling with typing. As a result I took a break from review books while I recovered (well, mostly recovered) and read/listened to things already on my TBR/TBL. As much as it is a privilege and pleasure to read review books and have early access to them, it is also a delight to read or listen just for fun.
One of the fantastic things I did over the past few weeks was listen to all of the Tyack & Frayne mysteries by Harper Fox. The entire series is not available on audio yet (alas), but the first 7 book are and – joy of joys, they’re all available in the Audible Plus catalogue. (Also at the time of writing this, book 1 is available to buy for only $3.99.) The series is built around Cornish local police officer, Gideon Frayne and Lee Tyack, a clairvoyant who is called in by the Truro police to consult on the disappearance of a young girl from Gideon’s village. There are mysterious and spooky goings on and along the way, Gideon and Lee fall deeply in love. Each of the available audiobooks is self-contained – no cliffhangers – but they do need to be consumed in order as they build one upon the other.
I love the connection Gideon and Lee have and I also enjoy the Cornish setting and the use of local myth and legend which adds to the atmosphere.
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of The Brightest Star in Paris by Diana Biller. A different tone than Biller’s first book but beautiful all the same.
One Fine Fae by Molly Harper, narrated by Amanda Ronconi & Jonathan Davis – B- I listened to the most recent full length book in this series recently, Shifters in the Night, and realised I’d missed this novella where Jillian and Bael’s baby is born. So I backtracked, naturally. Charlotte is a fae-human midwife who uses her magic to bless the babies she assists into the world. Leonard is the hapless assistant to Sonya and Jillian at the League, living under a longstanding family curse which makes him clumsy when stressed. The more stressed he is, the more clumsy. Charlotte is instantly drawn to the sweet-natured Leonard and discovers that she may be able to break the curse.
And, of course, Jillian’s baby arrives. Given she is carrying a “giant metal egg” inside her I was interested in how she was going to manage quite apart from just wanting to listen to how the happy event occurs for Jillian and Bael’s benefit.
One Fine Fae is novella-length and does not have a suspense plot like the other books. I kept waiting for it but it never arrived.
