Speculative Fiction / African

For many hundreds of years the Anyi have shared their most precious resource, the Lifeblood which is used in everything from weapons to medicine. But it is drying up and in desperation they send an envoy to a neighbouring kingdom to ask for help. The enjoy is killed and his body carried back to them by an ape.

In anger the 3 daughters of Anyi’s dying queen invoke an ancient curse. They awaken an ancient war goddess that sleeps within a young Anyi girl, Aseye. And as the goddess begins to possess her she starts on her blood drenched quest for vengeance.

She is followed by two groups, those who love her and want to save her, and those who want to kill her.

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Some books drop you into worlds that you don’t quite understand. Rebecca Roanhorse’s brilliant Between Earth & Sky series is a good example. You are carried through the story as an observer who doesn’t quite get the full picture. And that is OK. You don’t need to understand something to enjoy it.

And that is this book. It confused me on every level but I still loved it.

I received this review copy as an audiobook from Netgalley narrated by the author. And she does a good job. I would much rather hear the authors voice than an AI voice. So kudos to the author for taking that path.

Benny & Joy host a wildly successful podcast where they explore stories of survival. On air they are funny, quirky and a little bit oddball and their fans love them. But their lives away from the podcast are not so idyllic. 

Feeling the stress of a life changing deal Joy tells Benny she wants to take a break. And that very night both she and her husband Xander disappear. Worried for his best friend he calls in the police but very quickly fans, the media and the police start looking in his direction.

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This Story Might Save Your Life is a deeply satisfying book. It reminds me of so many things. Liane Moriarty, Lisa Gardner, those amazing noir films of the 1930s. It’s a first book and it isn’t perfect, I think maybe there was a bit too much of it but the good in it is so good. It might not end up being the best book I’ve read this year but it will be close. 

Dusty and Opi live in a house in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. After their mother abandoned them Dusty retreated into herself and her books but one day while out foraging for mushrooms with Opi a dark presence descends on them. 
They escape but Dusty is changed. While at a party she realises that Eli, one of the popular crowd, has also changed. They escape into the wilderness to try and figure out what is wrong with them and discover that to survive they need blood. 

Black River pushes into a lot of genres, it’s Young Adult, Paranormal (maybe a little Romantasy), Sci/Fi, Mystery and perhaps even Horror. If I’m honest it’s not my typical book but that isn’t to say it’s not good. It’s very good. But it feels a bit like Twilight and I think folks who loved that will also love this. For what it’s worth I enjoyed it and will read book two. 

Narration

I don’t often talk about narration but this book was given to me as an audiobook by Netgalley and as such I think it’s worth offering a few thoughts. The book is narrated by Geraldine Hakewell who I’ve never heard before and she is great. The best narrators disappear, you forget they are there and Geraldine Hakewell is that level of good. Where you forget you are listening to the story and are just pulled into it.

Mystery / Thriller

Logan comes into Emma’s life after a suicide attempt, at a time when she just wanted someone to tell her what to do, where to be, how to live. He is a control freak and at her most vulnerable it seemed to be what she needed, but as the years go by his gaslighting and controlling lead into domestic violence.

When Emma meets Taylor, Logan’s former girlfriend she immediately knows what is happening and she comes up with a plan to get Logan out of both their lives. But everyone has secrets, everyone has a plan.

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How to Survive in the Woods reminded me of a lot of different things. Gaslight, the old Ingrid Bergman move, Sleeping With the Enemy and maybe just a little Double Indemnity. It is a dark mystery thriller which holds its secrets close and only releases them begrudgingly. If I’m honest, the first half of the book was a struggle, it’s a painfully slow build but the second half more than makes up for it.

Trigger Warning: suicide, domestic violence

Zompoc

When the world ended Vicki was quite happy drinking herself into oblivion. Until her neighbor hammered on her door and asked her to look after her two young girls, Gabby aged 5 and Tina aged 2 while she went out looking for her sister. Her neighbor never returned and now Vicki a borderline alcoholic has found herself looking after two young children the oldest of whom is quite happy pointing out her flaws.

As they navigate the fallen world they make friends and lose friends, they encounter bandits and live with the ever present threat of zombies as they search for a safe place to be.

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If you enjoy Post-Apocalypse / Zompoc there aren’t too many better than this series. I read her previous <i>Sundown</i> series, well I read the first two books and the novella and didn’t like it nearly as much. Babysitter of the Apocalypse is right up there with Sarah Lyons Fleming. Great and it joins my list of “must read” books when the next instalment comes out.

Romantic Suspense

Olivia Cruz lives with the demons of her kidnapping three years earlier Save Your Breath (Morgan Dane Book 6). In an effort to exorcise those demons and get on with her life she agrees to talk with her friend, true crime podcaster Zoe March. But when she shows up for the meeting, Zoe is nowhere to be found. She has vanished off the face of the earth. 

Police are called but it quickly becomes obvious that Olivia and her boyfriend Lincoln are the only ones who really care about Zoe. 

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The Olivia Cruz series has been a long time coming. Melinda Leigh has focused on Bree Taggert for the last few years but now that series is winding down and there is some clean air to explore Olivia’s story. This story is great, it offers the familiar characters we know and love while introducing a few new characters who no doubt will come forward in the next few books. It is solid romantic suspense done well.

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.