Tattoo artist Talia is inking her last customer of the night with a hideous snake on his butt when she runs out of ink. With little option she enters her boss’s office and swipes a little of the ink she is forbidden from using.

And suddenly the snake that was a tattoo, is no longer a tattoo but a very real snake hissing at her.

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At first I wasn’t really feeling this book. I picked it up in a sale at audible and honestly if it wasn’t on special I probably would not have bought it. 

But I’m man enough to admit when I was wrong. 

This is a great book. Took a while to suck me in, but suck me in it did and I ended up loving it.

Young Adult / Dystopian

A virus has turned the planet into a dystopian wasteland. After their father is bitten Dayna and Pax venture out after hearing the promise of a vaccine. What they find are religious fanatics, deviants and a group who have decided they are in charge and will crush anyone who stands against them. 

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Day of Now reminded me of so many books. I can see reflections of the John Wyndham classic, The Day of the Triffids, a book I last read in the late 1970s by Robert C. O’Brien, Z is for Zachariah and more recently a book by A.M. Geever, Love in an Undead Age. It’s all of those books and it’s none of them. I really hope young people read this one because I think it has the potential to be something they will remember reading in 50 years just like I remember reading Z is for Zachariah when I was young.

Alex Carter book 5

Wildlife biologist Alex Carter takes a job in Hawaii monitoring the nesting sites of endangered Hawksbill Turtles. While there she finds herself dealing with wildlife traffickers and even worse. As a hurricane descends on the nesting beach threatening the eggs laid there a group of criminals are also heading in her direction.

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Book 5 of this series once again delivers a suspenseful adventure with a gentle education in conservation. I love this series, I love that the author doesn’t really try to moralise. She has done her research and taken a side and she puts that on the page.

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After Chloe and Bran’s disastrous blind date they go their separate ways and hopefully never see each other again. Then he shows up at Chloe’s shop to pick up her boss Dawn for lunch, also his soon to be married mother. And adding to her problems she finds herself carpooling with him on a road trip to attend Dawn’s wedding.

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I haven’t read nearly enough of the Smartypants Romance books and there is no excuse. They don’t disappoint. The entertain and educate which is honestly quite a feat. And Ewe Complete Me is a great book from an author I haven’t read before but will definitely read again. Lovers of Contemporary Romance read this, you’ll love it and then read the rest.

Native American Lore / Fantasy?

Reviewing as a white Australian who has no knowledge of the background lore of the Tlingit people. 

After trapping Raven who was trying to steal his fish Elán learns that the one of the mystical beings that are terrorising their community dropped a magical weapon into a distant bay. A group of warriors are assembled let by Elán who is not a warrior to retrieve the weapon. 

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If I’m honest I found this book challenging. It’s a bit like watching a movie in another language with no subtitles. You get a feel for the story but you can’t quite grasp the deeper meaning. There is an ambiguity to the story and aspects of the story are given to you without much in the way of explanation. 

And that is what I like the most. I don’t need to understand everything, but listening is its own type of strength. 

Contemporary Romance (LGBT)

After meeting Marin on a bus in New York, a meeting that ended disastrously when Marin was hit by a car just as she got off the bus, Charlotte escaped New York and returned to her childhood home in Vermont. Working as real estate agent she is stunned when her new client is none other than Marin. 

After her accident, Marin’s life changed in big ways. She realised she was a lesbian and ended her loveless marriage. She quit her job and decided to make the change complete she would leave New York and take up a teaching position at a small university in Vermont. But with scars and chronic pain she is taking things slowly. 

As they look at houses, Marin fights her growing attraction to Charlotte who is straight. And for her part Charlotte is wondering if perhaps she is not as straight as she thought she was. 

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Margin for Error is primarily contemporary romance although with a mystery subplot in which Charlotte is trying to find out what happened to her mother who disappeared when she was a child. The sex scenes are quite steamy and honestly I flicked through those sections a little but I’m not lesbian, not even a woman so I’m not the target audience. 

It’s quite a sweet book and I enjoyed it despite the fact that it wasn’t written for me.

This book will be published February 3, 2026

Mystery

Detective Noelle Marshall is called after a young woman collecting cans discovers a body in a local teen hangout in the woods. FBI Special Agent Max Rhodes is investigating chatter about a possible terrorist attack. A car bomb explodes on the street destroying a local judge’s car and a body is discovered in the trunk. 
The cases seem unrelated but as they investigate connections start to appear. 

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Kendra Elliot delivers an exciting page turner, a great story with characters you love. I’ll reread most of her books over the course of a year but this one is extra special. It joins the top shelf of favourites. 5 Stars.

Young Adult / Fantasy

The Summer War Cella curses the brother she loves after he decides he can longer live the lie that has been forced on him. Regretting her curse she immediately tries to undo it and joins forces with the brother she doesn’t love to fix the mess she has created. But it will all be for nothing if the Summerlings exact their revenge on her father who defeated them in the Summer War.

The Guardians of Dreamdark Magpie is the greatest (only) devil hunter in the land. When some mannies (humans) accidentally release the Blackbringer thinking it a genie who will grant them wishes all hell breaks loose. The Blackbringer is more than just a devil it is the first and greatest devil and it took a god to imprison it the last time.

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Why together? Laini Taylor and Naomi Novik brilliantly blend fairy tales into dark stories for young adults. These two books are very different but they also share some similarities. And the key similarity is they are both brilliant (in their own way).

Romantic Suspense

Bree Taggert is called to a brutal murder and all the evidence points to a socially awkward man the victim met on a dating app. The suspect calls in Morgan Dane to protect his interests. With the sheriff and Morgan Dane both investigating things start to look hokey. Then another woman who dated the suspect is murdered. 

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Another instalment in Melinda Leigh’s popular Bree Taggert series. These characters and stories are familiar and loved. Honestly book 10 is as good as book 1, it’s just not breaking new ground. I enjoyed it because it is another Bree Taggert book even if I didn’t really learn anything new about the characters.

Young Adult / Mystery

“I wrote Sisters in the Wind because the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA, is under attack and –– SPOILER ALERT ––the battle has nothing to do with the best interests of the children.” (from the Author’s Note)

As a child Lucy was told she was Italian and it was only after her father died that she learned she was in fact Native American. Thrown into the foster care system she encounters a few good people and a whole lot of awful people. She does her very best to survive, to be a good person and to protect those who are weaker than she is but the system is against her at every turn.

When a Native American introduces himself at the diner where she works she finds out she has a mother who desperately wants to meet her, but others are searching for her with more malevolent intentions.

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The last page of this book left a vacuum. A silence. An emptiness. Angeline Boulley returns to the same world as Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed and just like those books there is a brilliant, entertaining story that hides within it profound lessons. Everyone will love this book but if I’m honest it is people like me, white men who need to read it.