Review: The Tarot Trials

The Tarot Trials by Katee Robert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars.

Kestrel is an orphan living a precarious life as a thief in the Dregs - an overcrowded slum in the shadow of The Wall - the city's only defence against the creatures outside in the Wilds. Every twenty-two years the city has the Tarot Trials in which any citizen young or old, rich or poor, noble or thief can vie to become one of thirteen Champions of the Tarot. Those thirteen then compete in a vicious elimination battle to become the five remaining, the Cinque, who stand alongside the Guilds and the Minor Court in running the city, which itself is the epi-centre of commerce for the wider realms.

Twenty-two years ago Kestrel's mother fought and became one of the Cinque as Champion for the Moon, but then she was accused of treason and killed by one of her allies, the Champion of Death. Now Kestrel is determined to seek vengeance for her mother's murder and an explanation for why her allies turned on her so readily. If she can survive the fight.

If it sounds a bit like The Hunger Games, Katee Robert admits in her acknowledgments that the book inspired her to think about what death games could accomplish, as well as Kresley Coles' Arcana Chronicles which I have not read. In a world where the four minor houses Swords, Wands, Pentacles, and Cups have wealth, food, clean water, and fresh air the Dregs and those communities outside the Wall have very little and risk everything to stay alive. Can Kestrel trust anyone in the trials? Will alliances hold? Will she get the answers she is looking for?

I started reading this a while ago but got bogged down in the names and the history and the found family that Kestrel has gathered together in the Dregs and left it. But a few days into a holiday, with all my other TBR books either DNFd or read and reviewed I returned to this and devoured it. Absolutely brilliant. Dark, frightening, clever, twisty, with some romance chucked in too. I am sooooo glad this is the start of a series and I can't wait for the next one.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Available on Kindle+ and currently available for 99p at some ebook retailers.

View all my reviews

Review: Emergency Contact

Emergency Contact by C.G. Macington
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The blurb

Dr. Liam Winters has built walls around his heart after a devastating betrayal. As Metropolitan General's respected emergency physician, he's all about saving lives—not risking his own heart again.

Until paramedic supervisor Noah Bennet wheels in a trauma patient, and everything changes.

Their connection is immediate and inexplicable. They anticipate each other's moves in the trauma bay without words. They finish each other's medical procedures before instructions are given. And the electricity between them? Impossible to ignore.

But their uncanny connection doesn't go unnoticed and soon the gossip mills are flying. Add some tension and can these two love birds stay together?

I liked it but I didn't love it.

Available on Kindle+.

View all my reviews

Review: The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones

The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Lex Croucher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The blurb

Briar always dreamed of attending the Temple School of Thaumaturgy, the elite boarding school that's produced the most CEOs and Prime Ministers in history, long rumoured to be magical. Briar's best friend, Sebastian (Seb), just wanted them to stay together forever.

When Seb gets an acceptance letter and Briar doesn't, their relationship is shattered - until, at eighteen, Briar secures a temp job sorting through the magical junk in Temple's attic, and discovers that quiet, sensitive Seb, the boy they once loved more than anything else in the world, has become Bastian the villain.

In fact, Temple is more of a horror show than Mallory Towers (since Hogwarts is now problematic because of HER).

Briar cannot believe that the older children are allowed to torture and humiliate the younger children, even worse that it is actually encouraged by the headmaster - its an extreme form of hazing intended to weed out the weak. Although you could argue it weeds out those with a moral compass who refuse to participate. Anyway, Briar soon becomes friends with three students who have made it their mission to disrupt the 'trials' and expose what really goes on at Temple.

Briar is still angry at Seb/Bastian for going to school and never looking back, not even returning for Christmas - but Bastian has a shocking story to tell him.

This was a a very dark story, some of the characters were just awful people through and through. Briar was an amazing character, and great to see a non-binary character in such a prominent position.

Absolutely loved it - just sorry it wasn't the first in an epic series!

I was lucky enough to buy the Kindle edition for 99p.

View all my reviews

Review: Book Club Confidential

Book Club Confidential by Julie Hatcher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The blurb

Once upon a time, friends Tessa, Kate, and Hallie dreamed big. Now they’re all that’s left of a once-thriving book club, meeting weekly to drink wine, talk novels, and quietly wonder how their lives got so small.

. Tessa is killing herself working stupid hours in marketing for a promotion, Kate is an influencer trading on her rich Southern aristocrat vibes, and Hallie is a qualified chef working in a coffee and cakes shop for a brutal boss.

None of them are happy so they make a pact - spend one month being authentic like the Main Character in the story of their own lives. Soon things start to unravel. Tessa doesn't get the promotion, her boss gives it to an under-qualified guy with whom he plays golf, Kate starts losing followers, and Hallie is just going along with everything her fiancé and his uber-wealthy family dictate about their wedding.

This was okay, but it had very little to do with a book club and the endings were totally predictable.

View all my reviews

Review: Not His Problem (Anymore): 1 Key, 694 Euros, and a Conflict of Interest

Not His Problem (Anymore): 1 Key, 694 Euros, and a Conflict of Interest by M.T. Liu
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

Sophie Tremblay and Pierre-André (PA) Sainte-Rose work for a Montreal advertising agency. He's a lawyer and she is a copywriter. She likes to fix things with words, he wants everything to be precise. At a work event Sophie tells a self-deprecating story about the time she tried to open the wrong door in an Airbnb and broke the key in the lock. Everyone laughs until PA drops the bombshell that her funny moment cost him €697. Awkward.

But then Sophie and PA are thrown together in crisis mode when one of the firm's clients has numerous customers complaining that their face cream brought them out in hives. Sophie is looking for the right words to land with the customers, PA wants to limit liability. The two of them clash but there is also a spark.

I read the previous book in this series (but didn't remember and also didn't recognise the characters who also feature here). I think some of my concerns which were not articulated there are amplified. Half the time I didn't know what was going on because the two of them speak in half sentences and never actually say what they mean. Also, I assume that the author is in the industry because the talk was so full of industry babble that I didn't understand half of the things that went on in the business meetings.

Only for those who understand the industry or who like everything alluded to but never spoken. I mean, I don't even get what her costume was supposed to be?

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Available on Kindle+.

View all my reviews

Review: Out, Damned Scot

Out, Damned Scot by Catriona McPherson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lexy Campbell, Scottish ex-pat living in California is over nine months pregnant and guest of honour at a Burns Night dinner - let's be honest it's a travesty of a burns night dinner featuring a ceremonial haggis and a dinner of chicken wrapped in asparagus! While Lexy is still reeling from the shock the master of ceremonies' dirk goes missing, only to be found in the back of one of the guests who promptly face plants into a pile of orange mush (sweet potato). The oddest thing about an evening of weirdness is that no-one knows who the dead guy was. He wasn't invited, he just seemed to appear at the table, he spoke to no-one, and the servers had to lay an extra setting for him. The police suspect the couple sitting either side of the dead guy and so they hire Lexy and her friends at Trinity to clear their names.

I enjoy this series tremendously, especially since Catriona McPherson has reduced the number of times Lexy and her friends are divided by US-English and Scottish-British. This was great fun, taking in Carmel, Napa Valley, a circus and a family history so convoluted I only got about half of it.

If you like British humour and a murder mystery look no further.

I received an ARC from the publishers via NetGalley.

Available on Kindle+.

View all my reviews

Review: Partners in Crime

Partners in Crime by Elsie Marks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Maisie Baxter is an ethical assassin. In the first book she discovered that she was actually working for the bad guys, took them down and now she and her boyfriend Will have struck out alone. But things aren't all rosy. Maisie froze on a recent operation, Will seems to be keeping secrets from her, and her best friend Beth wants to know far too much about Maisie's job.

To put the final cherry on the cake, a pop star that Maisie helped by killing her abusive and controlling producer has recently released a new single, its very edgy, unlike her usual stuff, and the video depicts the pop star, Skyla killing a man in a similar fashion, while herself dressed in a carbon copy of his signature suit together with a look-alike distinctive watch. Maisie is not amused, but when she visits Skyla she discovers that she is not the only person entering her home through unusual means and ends up being hired to protect Skyla from person or persons unknown.

It took me a while to get into this book, not sure why. I think may be I was concerned that having just got together at the end of the first book, Maisie was going to find out that Will couldn't be trusted (I confess I've been traumatised by the 1990s TV series La Femme Nikita where each series the bad guy turned out to be someone she trusted in power). Anyway, a long day's travel gave me the opportunity to carry on and I finished it practically at one sitting. The ending alone gives off James Bond vibes.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Who's There?

Who's There? by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Three and a quarter stars.

Our favourite Team Weird get sent to apprehend some rogue time travellers in the long-distant past. But the time travellers have stolen something important and if Team Weird don't return it there could be consequences.

A fun spooky short story for Halloween, although missing some of Jodi Taylor's trademark humour.

View all my reviews

Review: A Cinderella Christmas

A Cinderella Christmas by Sabrina Jeffries
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

THE MISTLETOE MAIDEN * Sabrina Jeffries
The blurb ...

Once arrogant and aloof, Noel Davenant, the Viscount Cokesbury is determined to help childhood friend Eve Archer restore her family’s fortune. Queen Charlotte’s upcoming charity Christmas embroidery contest is the perfect place for Eve to display her skills and gain opportunities. But though Noel has chosen a wife, by midnight it’s clear that guarding his heart is impossible when desire proves an irresistible gift . . .

I read the most of this novella out of the three and didn't enjoy it (six chapters). Davenant was planning on marrying for the opposite of love and is quite insufferable and hte plot about the Queen's embroidery contest just seemed silly. DNF

THE CINDERELLA CHALLENGE * Mary Jo Putney
The blurb ...

Rejected by her bigoted family, gifted young Casey has survived by disguising herself as a young man and working in the offices of the Chatham Royal Navy Dockyard. But when she reports her suspicions of a plot against Britain's most brilliant engineer, she doesn't expect handsome investigator Cameron Tremayne to swoop in and decide to the solve the mystery of her as well. Can their unlikely partnership bring them a future of loving Christmases together?

Read eight and a half chapters, couldn't get over the woo-woo factor. DNF

A WINTER'S WISH * Anna Bradley
The blurb ...

While she designs the stunning gowns that have made her wicked stepsisters the toast of London, Estella Harley also plans to escape her cruel stepmother. Posing as a lady's maid, she seizes her chance at a glittering Yuletide house party thrown by the mysterious Duke of Hawthorne. But when it comes to secrets—and longing for a real-life fairytale—the duke and Estella have more in common than meets the eye . . .

I hate anything which is a retelling of a fairy tale and I don't know this author so I didn't even start the novella.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Goalie Interference

Goalie Interference by K.C. Carmichael
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ander Bouchard and Nikolai Ivanov are goalkeepers so rivals. Especially after Ander's team The Buffalo Blizzards beats Nikolai's team the St Louis Mules in the Stanley Cup. These two couldn't e more different, Nikolai is the typical stoic Russian, a man of few words, whereas Ander never seems to stop talking. But when Ander start shaving panic attacks it seems Nikolai is the only person who can calm him down. Soon these two are best friends, texting and talking on almost a daily basis, but while Nikolai has acknowledged (at least to himself) that he is gay, Ander has no idea.

But what future can the two of them have when they can never be on the same team and therefore must always be rivals?

I feel like I have progressively liked these books a little less as the series goes on. For me, personally, the smexy times to plot ratio was a little off, I felt there was a lot of rubbing tab A against tab B repetition at the expense of real relationship development and it didn't feel romantic or erotic. Also, I know that there are a lot of Russians in ice hockey but it felt a bit of a stereotype complete with broken English.

I liked it, but I didn't love it the way I loved The Kennedy Rule.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: The Secret Garden Murders

The Secret Garden Murders by J. R. Ellis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When an old lady is murdered in a walled garden of a stately home DCI Jim Oldroyd is baffled. The only entrance/exit to the garden was through a locked door and the door was locked with the key still in the lock and a bolt drawn on the inside. But as the police investigate they discover Clarissa Morden was not the sweet little old lady she appeared to be, and there were several people in the small village of Bishop Hewick who had reason to want her dead. Maybe too many.

I thoroughly enjoyed this - it kept me guessing right to the end, there is just the right amount of personal detail of the characters to develop alongside the murder.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews