Reviews and Comments

I love a rich setting that integrates seamlessly with the characters. Hetta's reluctance. Jack's truculence. Wyn's ethereal mystery. Even Aunt Sibyl's waspish tongue. All mixed up with the uncertainty of the Valstar estate and who should lead when the old lord dies.

This is another of those books that just grabbed me by the nose and dragged me back to it - even when I should have been working on my own books. I loved it and will be working through the whole quartet.

A J Lancaster has dished up a feast of a first-in-the-series with this book.

Very highly recommended.

I loves me some Jenny Schwartz. Her xeno-themed works always press all the right buttons. The Pax Galactica Corps series is off to a great start with Doctor Galaxy.

As always, it's the characters. Alexi, Elif, Soren, Dr. Tzutki, and Mani Dyo - all of them, really. Even the "bad guys." The story pulled me in and dragged me along, a willing follower to its eldritch song.

Yes, this is science fiction romance with all that entails complete with a HEA. Two of my favorite genres. A delicious morsel of a story that a bag of Reese's couldn't have made any better.

Highly Recommended.

It's the characters for me. Always the characters and a great setting never hurts. Garner's The Queen's Chair has both.

The city of Verida practically vibrates off the page with its unique neighborhoods and varying images. It's almost as much a character as Anastasia Fielding-Horne. When you add in the rest of the ensemble cast - Jasper, Collin, Babe, and of course, Queen Constance - the result is a rich stew of a story that needs little more than a good chunk of time to dig in and savor it.

I read widely and like a lot of books. I can highly recommend them without reservation, because they're that good. This one? I loved it, and I don't find that many books that make the extra grade.

Very Highly Recommended.

Joe Friday has nothing on Inspector Giskard. Dry as dust. Just the fax, ma'am. Networking takes on a whole new dimension as the MC takes on a murder/kidnapping case and sees it through to the absolute end. No shortcuts allowed. Humans need to be mollified but justice must be served.

Not gonna lie. I loved it. Very low key - like an old Dragnet episode - but without all the preachy goo.

Giskard (perhaps a nod to Asimov's R. Giskard Reventlov) spins out the tale deftly, keeping me interested in the details of robot-detective work as he interfaces with humans across a wide spectrum of the species.

Kudos to Jim Henderson for making his robots seem more interesting - and more human - than the actual humans.

Highly recommended.

Llew's gift/curse carries her from her comfortable surroundings in a dreary mining town called Cheer into the arms of a deadly enemy. While there are a few moments of joy, the story carries on relentlessly from one town to the next. Bedroll and campfires abound on good days.

A lot of people die. Yet, Deb Howell manages to spin an engaging tale of suffering and sacrifice into one of hope and redemption.

If you like your fiction with a harder, darker edge and a pounding pace, this is the book for you.

Highly recommended.

A classic adventure tale cataloging every fish, seaweed, and coral in the various oceans. Some of them are real.

As adventure tales go, particularly from this classic era, it's pretty good. I read it as a young teen and remember it fondly, although perhaps my fondness comes from the Classics Illustrated comic as much as from the actual text.

In honesty, it doesn't bear up as well as I'd hoped. Nemo's unexplored misandry against the M. Arronax's relentless intellectualism left me with too little satisfaction to give the story more than four stars.

Recommended, if only for the picture of what early science fiction looked like post-Frankenstein and pre-War of the Worlds.

A lot of fun here. A lot of angst. A window into what it's like on the inside looking out.

The characters weren't exactly fun, but they felt real, even when they played new roles. I couldn't help but like them as they struggled to work together, to support each other, and to find a way through they each could live with.

When I started this story, I wasn't sure which world represented the NPC. Was it the one being held up as real life? Or the one in the game? Like is Tar's job at the museum the NPC role or is it their role in the game? Neither? Both?

The tension gets resolved nicely before the story ends but it really made me think about how that game space exists for me. Digitally or mentally. Digitally AND mentally.

Highly Recommended!

This book is all about second chances. It even got a second chance from me. I'd sampled and passed on it a few weeks ago, but after reading Shake Things Up, I went back to give it another go. I'm so glad I did.

Vivi and Finn make such an adorable couple. The tension ratcheted up as I watched them both misinterpret what the other said. Should I? Shouldn't I? Will they? Won't she? Delicious and the steamy, breath taking moment when those questions get answered are only the beginning for these two lovely people.

Highly Recommended.

I burned through this book in a single day, not because it's short (it's not) but because it was so good I couldn't stop.

This year I've been squelching my tendency to burn through a whole series if I like book one. I want to read more authors, not just more books, in 2023. Mel Todd's Twisted Luck series got it's grip on me and I couldn't get away before I found myself deep into the next volume after finishing My Luck.

Cori Catastrophe is back, the weird keeps on happening until she discovers the truth about herself and has to face a future that was not the one she wanted.

Highly Recommended.

Mel Todd's rich world building and engaging characters drew me and wouldn't let me go. I burned through my normal reading time and stayed up late reading more. I was able to put it down but I couldn't leave it down for very long.

Cori Monroe and her circle of friends and found family strike just the right chords to create a spellbinding tale of magic and mayhem. The subtle clues telegraph what's happening just below the surface in a way that made the story stronger. That fantastic "wait a minute" feeling when the disparate pieces come together to form a picture.

I loved it.

Highly recommended.

It's always the characters with me. Noelle, Allie, and Matt - along with the ensemble casts - dragged me into this story and let me steep in the warm bath.

This niche lays so far outside of my normal realm, it might as well be written in another language. Parts of it might well be but I understood the meanings well enough to know this is a terrific story of love and lust, of decisions and doubt, of friends and lovers ... or friends who might become lovers ... or lovers who have friends.

Yes, there's some sex talk in here. There's also some pretty frank examples of consent, autonomy, and just play big-hearted warmth.

I loved it. Steamy bits and all.

Highly recommended.