As a bit of a change up, I picked up “Match Making for Psychopaths” by Tasha Coryell, a book that my partner gifted me for Christmas. The title itself was intriguing, the blurb was filled with promises of heartbreak, betrayal, romance and murder! I mean, what more could a girl want?
As always, spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk!
This book follows matchmaker Lexie, who has the most heartbreaking experience on her birthday. Her best friend takes her shopping for a birthday dress, she shows up to dinner to find her fiancé and her best friend (wearing a very similar dress by the way) announcing their affair and the end of her engagement. Her fiancé didn’t even remember that it was her birthday! But her so called best friend sure knew, what a heartless move! Lexie leaves dramatically and gets drunk at a bar, then a party and then a hotel room with a dark mysterious man who she confessed all of her deep dark secrets to. Secrets that no one, not even her fiancé, knew about.
Lexie spends her day job working at a matchmaking service, her specialty, helping psychopaths find love. Lexie has a deep understanding of what makes psychopaths tick, yes her psychology degree helps with that but her personal experience has given her more insight than anything else…her parents were serial killers, and very famous ones at that. Lexie spends her time pretending that they don’t exist, and proving that she is nothing like them. However, her perfectly crafted little world begins to fall apart when she the mysterious man shows up as a client at her work, and that he exhibits psychopathic traits and has developed an obsession with her. She also develops an overly friendly connection with another client, a woman who is also a psychopath. Safe to say, Lexie is just drowning in psychopaths from start to finish!
As the story goes on, we find out that there is so much more to Lexie than just her childhood trauma and her excessive need to be boringly normal, especially when body parts start being dropped at her house. So, what does a person do when they discovers a grisly piece of someone that has been horrible cut away from them? Bury it in the woods of course! I have to admit, while the book wasn’t a fast paced book like I prefer, I found the different facets of Lexie’s character engaging and amusing, especially as you find out more and more about her past and her parents.
While not an action packed mystery, I found the scenes and actions of characters engaging and the storyline entertaining. I especially love how the romantic interest in the mysterious man did not take centre stage in the story, instead it complemented Lexie’s character growth and acceptance of who she is, which carried on to the very last page.
It was an amusing read, and good for a change of pace if you’re looking for one. Just a warning for those of you looking for spice, there is none! All closed door and implied, no explicit details what so ever.
I just finished the second instalment of the Dream Harbour series by Laurie Gilmore, “The Cinnamon Bun Book Store”. The first book, “The Pumpkin Spice Cafe”, was such an adorable story and totally hit home for me that I couldn’t resist reading the next book. It was a fun and adorable read for a Saturday with an iced coffee!
As always, spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk!
This book follows book store manager, Hazel Kelly, who is two months away from her thirtieth birthday and is feeling as though she has not achieved much in her life, especially the idea of fun. That is until she discovers that someone has been leaving defaced books in the romance section, specifically highlighted sentences that remind Hazel of particular moments in her life. She tries to ignore it, but ends up drunk in a blueberry garden as a result of her first clue. Then queue in the love interest! Noah is a local fisherman tour guide during the summer, a bar tender during the winter, and a playboy for tourists year round. That is until Hazel catches his eye, he’s been systematically buying romance novels from her store in an attempt to get her attention, while also expanding his romantic notions based on her recommendations.
Hazel tells him about the books, thinking it was him but Noah denies any involvement. Instead, he offers to help her follow the clues from the books and have a summer of fun before she hits her thirty year old milestone. Noah believes that she asked him because he knows how to have casual fun, based entirely on his reputation as the tourist playboy, but Noah soon realises that this summer will not end in casual fun but perhaps with his own broken heart. Little does he know, Hazel is also facing this concern, no matter how much she tries to convince herself that it will never happen. Such a typical romance, but it was just so adorable to read! Let’s not forget the spice for those of you who love that in a romance, nothing too kinky but definitely spicy.
Anyways, the romance aside. Hazel and Noah embark on all sorts of adventures around the town based on her book clues: the beach, the carnival, sailing etc. and not to mention the amusing interactions between them and the other small town characters. I have to say, Laurie Gilmore has an amazing talent for developing and showing relationships between characters, she makes it so real and relatable. I think that’s what I love about this series the most, how real the relationships are.
If you are after a fun loving small town romance, I highly recommend the Dream harbour series.
A friend from work asked me for some recommendations to read over the christmas holiday period, this came my way after she had finished reading Quicksilver by Callie Hart and she knew that I read similar books and I have quite the extensive book collection (currently 460 physcial books – not including the ones I am no doubt getting for Christmas, and funnily enough 460 ebooks on kindle. Yes, I have a problem. No, I do not want to fix it lol!)
So, as I perused my collection, I thought about some books that would complement her reading of Quicksilver, and some that she might enjoy as something a bit different. Naturally, I put a list together on a pretty canva slide:
Slideshow created using canva displaying book recommendations including the title of the book or series, the author and an image of the book covers.
She was so appreciative that I decided I would share them with all of you. So, let’s begin!
The books that I had suggested (as seen in the slideshow above) were:
The Gold Plated Prisoner series by Raven Kennedy
The Ever Seas series by L.J. Andrews
The Wicked Games series by Kaylie Smith
The Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor
Assistant to the Villain series by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
The Dangerous Damsels series by India Holton
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
Darkly by Marisha Pessl
The Crucible series by Abigail Owen
I have read most of these, what I haven’t read are mainly the end of some of the series listed, but what I have read so far I have really enjoyed!
The Gold Plated Prisoner Series by Raven Kennedy
This series is inspired by the Greek legend of King Midas, who was bestowed with the power of golden touch, granting him the ability to turn everything he touched into gold. Literally, everything. This gift quite quickly turned into a curse, and this seems to be quite emphasised in the series, from what I have read of it so far. The story follows Auren, the woman who was “gold-touched” by King Midas as his most coveted mistress. She is put on display and kept in a golden cage that spans through the golden palace, convinced that this is for her own safety. It is very obvious from the beginning that Midas is not the loving partner Auren views him as, and you find out later in the first book that there is much more to Auren and Midas then initially presented, especially that Midas’ golden power is not his own.
Auren is forced to endure more captivity and threats, even taken prisoner by Midas’ enemies only to be traded back to her gilded cage. The story so far follows Auren’s development into a stronger woman with more strength and power then she had first possessed, finding out the truth of the world she lives in and the world she fled as a child, and the challenges she faces when determining her future.
The series includes:
Gild
Glint
Gleam
Glow
Gold
Goldfinch
I admittedly stopped reading the series when I realised that there were still two books left to be published and I didn’t really want to play the ‘waiting in anguish’ game, now that the series appears to be complete I’m going to be working on finishing it!
The Ever Seas Series by L.J. Andrews
I came across this series on instagram after my readings of SJM’s huge series, and I absolutely fell in love with it! It is an ongoing series, and based on L.J. Andrews previous series, The Broken Kingdoms, which appears to be a prequel to The Ever Seas, it will not be completed for a while!
This series is set in a fantasy world where there are two halves the world, one is where the earth based fae reside and the other is where the sea based fae are. For many years, these halves were locked away from each other after a horrible war, that is until the seal is accidentally broken by an earth fae princess, Livia. This is felt by the Ever King, Erik, who was once a prisoner of war to the earth fae, until he was released back to his world before it was sealed off. He returns to the earth fae with one goal in mind, kidnap the princess, gain his revenge against her parents and their people. But these things are never that simple.
Livia has a stubborn streak that becomes achingly evident to Erik, and while they speak to each other like complete enemies, their
Wicked Games Series by Kaylie Smith
I just finished the currently published books, with more on the way I’m sure! The first book “Phantasma” follows Ophelia Grimm, a necromancer who has just inherited her mother’s power after her mother’s unexpected and shocking death. Her sister, Genevieve, disappears and enters a devil’s competition called “Phantasma” in an attempt to solve the inherited debt they received from their mother. Ophelia goes in after her sister and discovers all the hidden truths about her mother, her birth father and her family’s purpose for living. The second book is “Enchantra” and it follows Genevieve, who somehow manages to get herself caught in another devil’s competition while trying to find someone from her mother’s past.
Both books have a hunger games style competition, with more of a paranormal twist to it. Not much in terms of a slow burn, but a lot of spice so you tend to blush at that sort of thing, maybe don’t read this series!
The series includes the following titles so far:
Phantasma
Enchantra
Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy by Laini Taylor
I read this while I was in university, those long train rides provided plenty of reading time! Anyways, the story follows a young woman named Karou who is an art student in Prague. She goes about her days attending classes, dodging her ex-boyfriend and completing errands for her family. Her family being a group of humanoid creatures called chimaera, who live in a workshop that is nestled between the human world that Karou lives in and another world that Karou is forbidden to ever enter. Brimstone, the owner of the workshop and essentially the one who raised Karou as his daughter, provides a very special service and the only thing that Karou knows about it is that it requires teeth, human and animal but never baby teeth, which is what she collects from the human world for Brimstone.
On one of these errands, Karou is attacked by another creature, a seraph, who has a rather strong interest in her that goes beyond his orders to kill her. Karou begins investigating the war between the chimaera and the seraph, finding out the truth about what Brimstone uses the teeth for, especially the single purchase of baby teeth before Karou was around, the other world that Brimstone keeps from her and the truth of who Karou really is. Of course, this story would not be complete without a romance, heartbreak and more romance.
The titles are:
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Days of Blood and Starlight
Dreams of Gods and Monsters
There are also a few novellas to go with this series, but I don’t think that they are absolutely necessary for the main trilogy, that being said I haven’t actually read them.
Assistant to the Villain Series by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
This was an amazing rom-com! It was such a traditional girl likes boy but thinks it’s inappropriate to like him, while boy like girl but refuses to accept it and chooses to ignore it. Not to mention how full of giggles it was!
First, some context. Set in a magical based medieval style world, Evie gets a job as the assistant to the local villain after an encounter with him in the forest. He is a brute who likes to set monsters upon his apprentices and does not hesitate to kills people, while Evie is a splash of sunshine who keeps his life organised, his evil plans successful and keeps his apprentices alive and unharmed in the workplace. She also has an awful habit of getting in the middle of dangerous situations which forces her boss to step in and save her, often ditching his villain persona.
We find out later that Evie and the Villain were meant to find each other, but that’s a part of the story that I won’t give away!
The published books so far include:
Assistant to the Villain
Apprentice to the Villain
Accomplice to the Villain
The Dangerous Damsels Series by India Holton
This is another fun loving rom-com series that is filled with magic, in a more victorian era style world complete with thieves, pirates, witches and spies! Admittedly, I’ve only read the first two books in the series but I absolutely loved them both! The first book follows a lady scoundrel who’s skills lie in thievery and managing the flying house for her aunt, however her day-to-day plans are thwarted by a pirate who was sent to abduct her! They work together to find out why someone wants her, in the midst of this investigation is the slow burn romance that permeates their entire dialogue, however there is no spice but the slow burn and giggles make up for it!
The second book follows a witch who encounters another pirate from the first book, the pair embark on another mystery that results in a much faster developed romance, battles with other pirates and witches, and just as many giggles as the first!
This series includes the following titles:
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels
The League of Gentlewoman Witches
The Secret Service of Tea and Treason
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
This is the first book by Krystal Sutherland that I had read, and out of all of them, “House of Hollow” is still my favourite! It is a dark urban fantasy mystery that follows three sisters: Iris, Grey and Vivi. The mystery starts when the three girls mysteriously disappeared together at a young age, only to reappear just as mysteriously. After their reappearance, their memories of life beforehand had vanished and they began to experience physical changes, such as their hair turning white, eyes turning black and an alluring air about them that makes people absolutely obsessed with them.
The girls have learned to live with it, that is until their father’s sudden death some years earlier and the eldest sister, Grey, disappearing. Iris and Vivi work together to find their sister, and solve the mystery of their disappearance from their childhood. There is old school magic, gothic horror and a fantastic mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat!
It is a stand alone and I strongly recommend it for anyone who loves a good gothic mystery horror.
Darkly by Marisha Pessl
This book gave me some “House of Hollow” vibes in terms of the gothic mystery that was going on. “Darkly” follows a teen girl who style and personality was definitely born in the wrong century, she is obsessed with the Darkly games and its creator, Louisiana Veda, which leads her to apply for a once in a lifetime competition held by the managing team of the Darkly games. Dia wins a spot and is sent to the island when Louisiana created her dark games along with a group of other competitors, they are tasked with the challenge of finding the missing Darkly Game that vanished before Louisiana stopped creating games, eventually leading to her natural death.
The teens soon discover that the game still exists, and someone has been playing it with the local town teens. This mystery very quickly opens questions about Louisiana’s creations, her mind, her fears and eventually her grief. Dia then realises that their group was not selected at random, they chosen for a reason and that reason may just lead to their destruction.
An amazingly well paced book with a great mystery, another fantastic stand alone book!
The Crucible by Abigail Owens
This series by Abigail Owen had me hooked from the mention of Greek Gods, being an Ancient History major, that completely hooked my interest. The first book “Games Gods Play” sets the scene in a modern day city where the Greek Gods still interact with humans, holding games with their selected champions to determine who will be the King of Gods for the next few years before the next crucible. Hades has never participated until now, choosing an unlikely champion in the form of Lyra Keres, an orphan in the thieves guild who was cursed by Zeus to be utterly unloved. Hades chose her for a reason, but Lyra still hasn’t worked it out yet.
Another Hunger Games style competition where there is death around every corner, but there is also an underlying mystery that Lyra is trying to untangle while trying to avoid the sexual tension between her and the god of death. Such a greatly paced story, and the action was fantastic! Not to mention the slow burn that culminates in a pretty spicy scene for those of you who love that kind of thing!
Fair warning, it does end on a cliffhanger which leads into the second book, the third has been announced but not released yet so prepare yourself for that!
I have to admit, I finished reading “Alchemised” three days ago and it’s taken me that long to try and work out how I was going to write about it on here, especially since I have some very mixed feelings about it. So, my first heads up is that my view on this book may be quite controversial for some people, so please don’t take it to heart, everyone has their own views and opinions that are different to others.
As always, spoilers ahead! Continue at your own risk! And I mean, some actual significant spoilers this time.
When this book came out, I was so excited to read it, especially since Kmart had the sprayed edge copy for a fantastic price! The blurb on the back completely hooked me: a world of alchemical magic, war, amnesia, potential morally grey love interest – totally my bag! Not to mention the art that was popping up on instagram, it looked amazing!
First of all, the world building was great! You’ve got a post-war world fuelled by traditional alchemical magic, which is something not a lot of authors write about and it completely caught my interest. It definitely gave off some “Babel” vibes by R.F. Kuang, which was a really good sign. Then you had the industrial additions such as motor cars, and stasis tubes to fill in the various parts of the story which I thought was well done. This brings me to the context of the world, there was a devastating war between different types of alchemists, and of course there was the motivation of eternal life and power for those to join the “dark side” and eventually the good guys lost. Their leaders were brutally executed and the resistance fighters were forced into a form of slavery and their powers nullified by cuffs that ran through their wrists.
Queue the main character, Helena Marino was a part of the resistance as a healer who had attended the alchemy tower for her studies before the war, she joined the resistance due to her friendship with their leader, plus she was a foreigner and didn’t really have anywhere else to go. We find out that something was done to her to force her to be conscious while in the stasis tube, then she woke up when she wasn’t suppose to and the scientists running the tubes realise that there was no record of her being put in stasis. In fact, she was recorded as being one of the dead int he final battle of the war. We also find out that Helena has no memory of the last fourteen months of the war, and that an Animancer had somehow managed to completely alter her mind and hide away her memories, which was believed to be completely impossible without the subject dying. It was believed that her hidden memories held some important information from the resistance, so she is sent by the high necromancer to the high reeve to have her memories extracted.
Time for the main male character, Kaine Ferron, who was also a student at the alchemy tower started the war by killing the resistance leader’s father (who was in charge of the city) and then became the high reeve, the necromancer’s right hand who did all of his dirty work. Helena is sent to him to have her mind ripped through and her memories recovered, which becomes and very painful and dangerous process, so dangerous that Ferron can only attempt it once a month to prevent Helena from dying. Their relationship is dark and abusive, however, you see the occasional act of tenderness from Ferron which is quickly stamped out by his rage and hate of Helena and the resistance.
Helena attempts to find ways to kill herself to protect whatever hidden information is in her mind, but Dr Stroud makes repeated visits to keep her healthy and repairing her body from the stasis tank. After a visit to the necromancer, Helena and Ferron discover that Helena was in fact the Animancer who had rewired her own brain to hide her memories after a bombing that should have killed her, a bombing that she had apparently set off. It turns out, that even though Helena wears the cuffs to prevent her using her magic, her power has been used internally since the bombing and has been consistently keeping her memories hidden even with the cuffs. Helena begins to be plagued with dreams that don’t make sense to her, the recent papers show that Stroud had developed a breeding program to ensure the birth of alchemists that the population had limited supply to due to the war. She plans to use the resistance survivors with alchemical abilities to repopulate the city with more alchemists, much to Helena’s horror especially when she finds out that the women were in fact being raped by ruling classes of the town. That part I found disturbing, I know that with war and often with post-war situations that rape is a factor that occurs, however considering that this world have developed stasis tubes to keep people alive, I would have thought that there would have been some form of artificial insemination that was developed.
Anyways, continuing on. After another visit from Stroud, Helena finds out Stroud had been reversing the sterilisation process that Helena was forced to do to join return to the Alchemy Tower. This was due to her power as a Vivimancer, someone who could alter the human mind and body to the point of necromancy, and a power that everyone at the time feared due to the high necromancer. Stroud had managed to make her fertile again without Helena or Ferron knowing, she claimed it was to ensure the birth of an animancer for the high necromancer’s use as a vessel. Helena was naturally horrified of being sent back to the city and being raped until she got pregnant, however, Stroud said that she must get pregnant by Ferron as he was also an animancer and that would ensure the baby’s alchemical power developing into animancy. Helena had to choose between being raped by multiple complete strangers, or just by Ferron, which to me is just a horrible decision to have to make. Helena chooses to stay and forces herself to endure the rape, while Ferron’s reactions before and after seem to indicate that he is not a willing participant and is as much forced into this as she is. I will say that SenLinYu’s presentation of the rape scenes were done very delicately and were very much a closed door style scene, which I personally very much appreciated.
Helena becomes pregnant, and because her body must grow a baby, she can no longer maintain the animancy that was hiding her memories. So, part 2 of the book was a complete recount of the lost fourteen months of the war which revolved around Ferron becoming a double agent for the resistance, Helena becoming his handler and attempting to seduce him to ensure his complete devotion to the resistance. Their relationship is as volatile as it is in the first part, however Ferron teaches her how to protect herself using her power and hand-to-hand combat, Helena teaches him how to use his dreadful power to heal rather than to kill and eventually they fall in love. Ferron knows the end of the war is near and the resistance is going to lose, he wants to get Helena to safety but she refuses to go without her pregnant friend. He agrees to get both of them out, but has to do it in two trips, he takes the friend first as per Helena’s request, and while he’s gone she develops a bomb to take out the enemies research lab in an attempt to severely wound their progress in the war. That gets us to Helena’s assumed death and being hidden in a stasis tube, Ferron tearing the city a part trying to find her while keeping her friend hidden and safe, then we are brought back to the present.
Helena has to face the fact that her lover raped her to get her pregnant, but she is surprisingly ok with that, Ferron is the one who is having difficulty dealing with it. I find these reactions extremely surprising and hard to believe, if anything, I would say that Helena would be even more distrustful of Ferron because of this but she isn’t. Anyways, in an attempt to protect Helena and the baby, Ferron helps Helena find a way to put an end to the high necromancer and free Ferron from his control. They only manage to do one of those things, which allows them to run away and hide with Helena’s friend who Ferron had been protecting for her. The rest of the book is spent with them hiding from the second outbreak of war, Helena having the baby and Ferron being pushed by Helena to love the baby as her father no matter how it was the baby came into the world. I was a little disappointed to see them hiding from the end of the war, I was hoping for a bit more of a come back for the two of them and taking down the necromancer but that didn’t happen. All in all, the book ended happily.
So, where do my mixed feelings come in?
I felt that the book was too long and lacked the necessary tension filled scenes to keep me engaged with it, which is unfortunate because the storyline was fantastic and the world building was amazing! Instead of the book being broken into three parts, it could have been three separate books which I think would have had better pacing and kept me totally hooked. While I liked Helena as a character, and I usually fall in love with the morally grey male character, I had some trouble really falling for Ferron, especially with the toxic way he treated Helena and communicated with her. That triggered a few things for me and made me like him less.
While this book had amazing potential and I wanted so badly to love it, I did struggle with the pacing and lack of tension in scenes of combat and the like. So, it was good for a first time publishing, but like all new authors there are some things that need strengthening. I really hope that SenLinYu keeps on writing, because they have one hell of an imagination!
After reading “Phantasma”, the first book in the Wicked Games series by Kaylie Smith, “Enchantra” has been on my bookshelf for a while and I finally read it. First thing, I really loved the storyline of “Phantasma” and I did in fact come to like the main characters: Ophelia and Salem. Which I suppose is why I had such high hopes for “Enchantra”, while I enjoyed the storyline (which was pretty similar to “Phantasma”) I didn’t come to like the main characters as much as I did previously.
Before I continue, as always, spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk!
Now, where the first book followed Ophelia Grimm, the eldest daughter of Tessie Grimm who inherits the family’s necromancy magic after the sudden death of her mother which then leads Ophelia and her younger sister to participate in a devil’s competition called Phantasma, where Ophelia releases her very own Prince of Devils who becomes tied to her own soul. This second book follows her younger sister, Genevieve, who has a rather irritating personality compared to Ophelia. She’s headstrong, stubborn and I found her to be a rather difficult character to connect with. Putting her character analysis aside, Genevieve finds herself in another Devil’s game with a family of wraiths, one of whom seems to utterly dislike her (queuing sexual tension!). Said wraith is named Rowlington, or Rowlin, who finds himself married to Genevieve in order to make her a Silver, so she can participate in the games without being killed by a devil for accidentally entering the arena without being related to the family in any way.
Genevieve is forced to help Rowlin survive the game, which will also allow her to survive all the while trying to find a way for Rowlin to free his family of the Devil’s claws and cure his mother of a disease that’s slowly killing her despite her being a demon. She dodges killing blows from his siblings while trying to avoid any kind of emotional connection with her now husband, which is practically impossible for her (queuing sexual tension and spicy scenes!)
Now, I said that I wasn’t a fan of Genevieve’s character, but because of this I took a little more notice of the minor characters, aka Rowlin’s siblings. Sevington (Sevin) is the jester of the family, and despite his attempts to kill Genevieve I still really like him. He’s the comic relief of the story, and I really wished that he was in it more. Remington (Remi) is Rowlin’s identical twin brother, while Rowlin is covered in tattoos and has piercings in some interesting places, Remi does not. Other than that, there’s not really much that is revealed about Remi during the story which intrigues me. Wellington (Wells) was also another likeable sibling, but unfortunately he was knocked out of the game pretty early so you don’t find out much about him either, other than that he is rather playful and likes to place bets on parts of the game. Ellington (Elli) is the twin sister of Wells and we have a little more of an idea of what her character is like, she is loving towards her siblings, especially her twin, however when it comes to winning the game she will use their weaknesses against them, especially her being the only sister in their group. She can be caring, ambitious, totally ferocious and competitive but completely devoted to her family. I loved her character and I hope to see more of her in the next book. The last sibling is Gravington (Grave), who is the dark and brooding brother who is completely focused on targeting Genevieve throughout the game, even during the resting hours. His character comes across as the type that you are suppose to hate but you also know that there is a little bit more to him, which is revealed towards the end of the book.
For me, I think the best parts of the book was the setting description of the gothic style mansion that they were all trapped in and not to mention the enchanted rooms. I have to say, Kaylie Smith has a gift when it comes to painting the settings of her stories. The other part was the ending of the books, I loved the twist when it came to finishing the game, it was unexpected and I really hated myself for not picking up on it sooner. I also liked the epilogue, Kaylie Smith dropped a few easter eggs in there leading into the next book which piques my interest. I’m thinking it will be mainly about Sevin, but I am also keen to see the interactions between Grave and little miss Luci.
All in all, it was a good read, not as good as “Phantasma” but still good. If you do decide to read it, I strongly suggest having lower expectations than you originally had from “Phantasma” but then again, you may enjoy it a lot more than me.
My first read of 2026, and I really enjoyed it! This book is written by indie author Hazel Longuet and published in 2018, my partner bought the series for me as a Christmas present due my love of history and egyptology being my introduction to ancient history as a child. “House of Scarabs” is a book that reminds me a little bit of the 1999 film The Mummy with Brendan Fraser, which I still love to watch on repeat!
I’ve found the story to be totally engaging, exciting and just a touch emotional. Before I get into it, as always, spoilers ahead! Continue at your own risk!
This story follows three characters who are inexplicably connected to each other, although I’m still not entirely sure what that connection is, I’m sure I’ll find out in the next couple of books! Anyways, the first two characters we are introduced to is Ellie and Ben. Ellie is a ferocious linguist teacher hailing from Egypt with a deep seated distrust of men since her divorce from her husband a few years previously, I have to say I loved her character although her hard headedness can get quite frustrating in certain situations. Ben is a rather charming egyptologist and archaeologist from the USA who has achieved a fellowship in Egypt, problem is when he applied for it he claimed to be fluent in Arabic, which he isn’t. So, he’s paid an exorbitant amount for one-on-one lessons with Ellie to become fluent in Arabic within four months before heading to Egypt, during which time Ellie has tried everything to get rid of him due to her current hatred of men. They meet our third character when they are leaving a bookshop, at which time their fates for the remainder of the book are intwined. Gerhard is an elderly German man, who grew up in Peru and came to England when his wife fell ill but unfortunately passed away. He set up the bookshop in her memory and had stayed in the area ever since. He’s a bit like that loveable grandfather character, so sweet and caring that you just fall in love with his character. You find out later that Ellie and Gerhard have some connection to Egypt, however Gerhard’s connection is not so clear as his parents refused to tell him anything of his familial heritage but he holds a watch that has clear connections to Egypt, which was left to him as a family heirloom. Ben, is a complete mystery, we have no idea what his connection to Egypt is apart from his chosen occupation, but if the other two characters are any indication, Ben must have some kind of familial connection to Egypt, we just don’t know what it is.
As the story goes on, we find out that Ellie, Ben and Gerhard are chosen representatives of three Egyptian Gods: Sobek (crocodile), Khepri (scarab) and Bastet (cat). They are forced to stay in proximity to each other or face their own personal terrors, which I personally found a touch confronting on Ellie’s behalf, even though it was in no way explicit the description of poor Ellie’s horror certainly gave the scene that effect. After experiencing visions and conducting research, the trio decide to travel to places that are linked to their gods in an attempt to put an end to their apparent prison, however there is an organisation out there who are determined to stop them by any means necessary, and it turns out that they have been trying to keep these particular bloodlines separate for centuries but now that they have come together the group has resorted to killing them. There are several attempts throughout the book to kill our characters, and unfortunately there are collateral damage that really tug at the heartstrings, as well as a few twists and turns that show just how long the group had been keeping an eye these bloodlines, including a few betrayals that really surprised me and broke my heart.
The book takes us travelling through England and then Egypt, culminating in the characters taking steps to understand what is happening to them, revealing truths about their pasts and the motivation behind the group’s need to kill them all. It was adventurous, captivating and enlightening, especially since the story tells you more about Egypts history, cultural customs and mythology which is what started my love for history in the first place.
If you do decide to read this book, there is a prequel to read before the second book, which from my understanding (as I have not read it yet) provides context for the events that happened in “House of Scarabs” but you must read it after the first book. The prequel is “Genesis” and the second book is “House of Resurrection”.
My partner bought me a Christmas themed book to read for December, called “He Sees You When You’re Sleeping” by Alta Hensley. If you were a fan of “Lights Out” by Navessa Allen, then there is a really good chance that you will enjoy this book, and the sequel that goes with it “He Knows When You’re Awake”. It was a nice way to bring 2025 to an end, especially for this Christmas season!
As always, some spoilers are present, so continue on at your own risk!
“He Sees You When Your Sleeping” follows Chloe, an online jewellery influencer with a major case of the “scrooge” for the Christmas holidays, which is fair enough considering her parents died in the same accident she survived on Christmas a couple of years previously. However, she has a dark side that is only ever revealed on a site called “Dark Secrets” where she explores her darkest sexual fantasies with her subscribers, but if anyone found out she would lose her job, her reputation and her livelihood. Then there’s the stalker love interest, Jack, a firefighter who helped save Chloe in the accident and has kept a very close eye on her ever since, but naturally she doesn’t remember him. Jack manages to keep his distance until he was passing by one morning to see Chloe trying to pick up her elderly neighbour from the slippery pathway, this was his chance to get to know her and he took it, but that didn’t stop his stalking escapades.
It was these escapades that led his discovery of Chloe’s alter ego online, he instantly became a subscriber and Chloe found herself falling in love with who she thought were two completely different people, and it was tearing her up inside! It wouldn’t be a dark romance without another stalker whose intentions are far less noble and absolutely freak poor little Chloe out. Of course, Chloe finds out the whole truth about Jack eventually and I have to say, she had a rather healthy and way more believable reaction to it than other authors have penned for these rather important revelations in these dark romances.
As far as the story goes, I found the development of the plot pretty good although it seemed eerily similar to “Lights out”. It held the same notes of stalking, invasion of privacy and the need to protect the subject of the stalking as well as explore dark sexual fantasies with them. The real differences, however, is what makes this book good. The stalker has dark fantasies but has never acted on them, while the stalkee explores their fantasies online via an alter ego, and then you have a believable development of a romantic connection that spans both the lighter half of Chloe and her darker alter ego, not to mention the much more believable reaction to her finding out the truth about Jack. Oh, and the true panic when her two worlds begin crashing together and the threat of her employer finding out about her not so perfect identity online.
I’m sure everyone will be happy to know that there is a HEA set up for the end, which is preferable in these dark fantasies, especially since this is a Christmas themed book! Not to mention the steamy scenes that we all know is why we read these books in the first place!
It was a fun read and a definite change of pace for the holiday season!
Anyways, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Don’t get into too much trouble before 2026!
I have literally just finished “Princess of Blood“, the sequel to “Servant of Earth” by Sarah Hawley, and oh my goodness it did not disappoint! It was as well written and jaw dropping as the first book, I still cannot sit still!
As always, some spoilers ahead so continue reading at your own risk!
“Servant of Earth” ended with such a dramatic turn of events, with Kenna being blessed with fae immortality and the magic of Blood House by the shards, which made her Princess of Blood House. She was then forced into a very dangerous set of politics in which she is the deciding vote of who the next ruler in her not-so-merry band of allies is going to be. However, choosing the next ruler is never so easy. Kenna’s allies are faced with another fae, Imogen, who is already claiming to be Queen and is playing the long game, being constantly ten steps ahead of them.
Kenna is being wooed by fire and void house, each trying to prove why they are the better choice to rule Mistei, as well as trying to run her brand new house that seems to be growing in numbers everyday. This sequel revolves around political intrigue, Kenna’s growth as a princess and protector of those unable to protect themselves, and her growing relations with the different houses including multiple assassination attempts. By this point, Kenna’s character as a woman needing to do the right thing by everyone, especially those who can’t do it for themselves, is strongly emphasised and is a key component of this sequel. That being said, her character also develops other unexpected qualities that really show her growth not only as a protector but as a princess with a people to protect.
Not only do we get an enticing story that keeps you on the edge of your seat, but Sarah Hawley paints such a vivid world that you can see every detail in your mind. From the lavish parties that the false queen throws to win over the people to her side, to the secret passages that Kenna traverses to gather hidden information and the physical interactions displayed during dances, training sessions and other more romantic situations. Not to mention to the incredible complexity of some of the characters in this book, your feelings for a character can change in an instant with any number of the revelations that Sarah Hawley throws into the story. Especially in the development of some particularly hot and heavy relationships, Sarah Hawley is definitely a talented writer of sexual tension!
But before you decide to pick up this series, it is ongoing and the third book has not yet been announced. Also, Sarah Hawley seems to have a habit of leaving things on a bit of a cliff hanger which just makes you ravenous for more of Kenna’s story! That being said, I do highly recommend this series even though it is going to cause some mayhem amongst readers!
I often get asked by students what books I would recommend to them to read, and I always stop myself because the books I read now I would definitely not suggest to them. So, I have to think back to when I was their age and honestly I feel like it’s getting harder and harder to remember that far back, even though many people tell me that it wasn’t that long ago!
I may not be anywhere near middle-aged, but when you’ve read so many books it’s hard to keep track of them! That’s why I started logging my reads, that has made remembering so much easier! I strongly recommend storygraph and TBR – Bookshelf. If you love the stats that go with your reading for the year, storygraph is for you, and the free version works perfectly well! If you’re someone who loves the aesthetic of a book log, then TBR – Bookshelf is a good one. You can change the colour themes and it presents your read books in a digital bookshelf, and again the free version works great!
But I digress, the books I remember most from my high school years are:
Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick
Lockwood and Co. by Jonathan Stroud
Legacy Series by Cayla Kluver
The Night World Vol. 1 by L.J. Smith
Glass Series by Maria V. Snyder
Study Series 1 – 3 by Maria. V. Snyder
The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins
Firebird Series by Claudia Gray
The Infernal Devices Series by Cassandra Clare
The History Keepers: The Storm Begins by Damian Dibben
Wolf Springs Chronicles by Debbie Viguié and Nancy Holder
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto
You can see where my adult taste in books came from! Although, my current taste has evolved to include a broader range of genres (and some definite explicit details), but that will have to be saved for another post. Let’s kick off the summaries!
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
The Hush, Hush book series by Becca Fitzpatrick was the first complete series that my mum had bought me, and I think it was the fastest I had ever read a series and I still have it! It was especially memorable because I had to wait for the final book to be released when I had finished and I was so upset about it, a frustration I experience all the time now! It was a story about a teenaged girl, Nora, who becomes fascinated by a new boy, Patch, at school who suddenly appears everywhere she goes, she attempts an investigation into his past which amuses Patch, especially when she finds nothing. You find out later on that Patch is a fallen angel who wishes to be human and the only way to rid himself of his angelic identity is to kill a particular person, Nora, but the angels throw a spanner in the works and tell him that he can be reinstated to his full angelic being if he saves the soul he is suppose to kill instead. There’s a bit of mystery, a bit of teenage angst but nothing explicit which is perfect for a teenage audience, and then of course the blossoming of a romantic relationship. Nora and Patch’s story coninue on for a total of four books:
Hush, Hush
Crescendo
Silence
Finale
Rest assured, the series ends with a happily ever after, but not after some heart break and losses so be prepared!
The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud
The Lockwood & Co series by Jonathan Stroud was my first step into paranormal based books, and I loved the first book! The Screaming Staircase was the first book, introducing the primary characters who were a part of Lockwood & Co: Anthony Lockwood, Lucy Carlyle and George Karim. While there are three characters that the storyline revolves around, the story is told by Lucy Carlyle, a young psychic detective who’s abilities are far beyond what anyone can imagine. Lockwood & Co is a paranormal agency started by Anthony Lockwood, who investigate paranormal phenomenon and extinguish it. Lucy was the last to join and actively tries to cover up how powerful her gift of sight and clairvoyance is, unfortunately they encounter a haunted artifact that forces Lucy to reveal her abilities to the rest of the team. The series focuses mainly on various paranormal mysteries that get linked up to the growing strength of Lucy’s abilities, eventually culminating into the biggest challenge that the team will every face in the final instalment of the series. You get an education in the different types of ghosts, how they are made through brutal deaths and the role that their artifacts play in their existence. There’s mysteries, modern day deaths and the development, as well as the breakdown, of various relationships throughout the series. The series has a total of five books:
The Screaming Staircase
The Whispering Skull
The Hollow Boy
The Creeping Shadow
The Empty Grave
Out of the whole series, The Screaming Staircase is still my favourite. If your teen is looking to dip their toe into the paranormal genre, I do recommend this as an introduction.
Legacy by Cayla Kluver
Legacy is a part of a trilogy by Cayla Kluver, and was a bit of a different read to what I would have normally read at the time, but I absolutely loved the storyline and the growth of the main characters. I also still have my copy of this series. The series follows a young princess, Alera, who is the eldest of two daughters and has the responsibility to marry the next King. A suitor has been chosen for her by her father, but Alera is struggling with the sudden reality of her duties as the high princess of her kingdom, especially since she has this need to do things that are considered to be unbecoming a princess, such as climbing boulders to help her little sister and breaking into locked rooms that she has no business being in. Unfortunately, her antics and that of her younger sister and best friend lead her to discover the so-called spy sent into their kingdom by their enemy. They quickly realise that the “spy” is in fact the missing brother of her best friend who was abducted as a baby by the enemy kingdom, as part of some kind of prophecy to win the war. Alera is quickly drawn to him, and the Captain of the Guard decides to use that connection to convince Alera to be a spy and find out as much information as she can about the boy and the enemy’s plans in the war. This quickly leads to the development a forbidden love and Alera is faced with making the choice between fulfiling her duties or following her heart. The trilogy follows this difficulty with the inclusion of kidnapping, magical torture, blackmail, romance and survival. That being said, there is nothing explicit in this story, it is all heavily implied.
The titles of the trilogy are:
Legacy
Allegiance
Sacrifice
The Night World by L.J. Smith
The Night World series by L.J. Smith is a currently nine book series, although I only read the first three in school as they were the only ones I could get my hands on at the time. Each book follows a different set of characters but they are all linked to each other, following the return of the soul mate principle. The romantic relationship in the first three books were between a mortal human and a supernatural creature, the first book The Secret Vampire followed a mortal girl dying of cancer and her vampire best friend who tries to turn her to save her from dying with the help of her brother. The second book, Sisters of Darkness, follow the relationship between a vampire and a mortal girl as well as a witch and a mortal boy, with the inclusion of a few more witches and a rogue werewolf. The third book, Spellbinder, follows the love triangle of two witch sisters and a mortal boy, but there is no harem or polygamy of any kind, the story resulting in a singular relationship. There is nothing explicit or sexual in these books, following a naturally developed new teen romance that is 100% appropriate for pre-teens and teens.
The series has the following book titles currently published:
The Secret Vampire
Daughters of Darkness
Spellbinder
Dark Angel
The Chosen
Soulmate
Huntress
Black Dawn
Witchlight
Goodreads suggests that there are still two upcoming titles, to wrap up the series:
Strange Fate: Mystic
Strange Fate: Apocolypse
Whether or not these titles will be published, I cannot say, but might be an idea to keep an eye out for them just in case you get hooked!
Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder
The Glass series was the first set of books by Maria . Snyder that I had ever read, and I loved them! Full of budding romances, tension, mystery, magic and adventure, I absolutely fell in love with this author. The storyline follows a young girl named Opal, she comes from a family of glass makers, but she has the unique ability to trap threads of magic inside her glass sculptures, providing magic users with the ability to communicate across log distances with her products. Unfortunately, that is the only magical ability she has, which makes her an outcast amongst the magic users. She is called to attempt to remake specific glass orbs for the storm dancers to trap large and destructive storms, their glass maker was killed before passing the secret on and Opal has to try and figure out how to make the orbs before the largest storms come in from the coast, and before the killers come after her.
The trilogy follows Opal’s magical development as well as her relationships and her growth as a person, especially as she tries to work out where she stands within this magical society. There is nothing explicit in the story, however, there is some description of non-bloody torture, and references to sexual assault as Opal’s sister was abducted, assaulted and killed in a previous series (which I will discuss next). While there is nothing explicit in this series, there are introductory references to these dark realities, and Opal is faced with the possibility of an assault in the second and third book although this does not come to fruition. This series is probably best saved for older teens, but this is up to the parent’s discretion, I admittedly read this around the age of 14 years old but I don’t think my parents knew what the content of the book was going to be about.
The series titles are:
Storm Glass
Sea Glass
Spy Glass
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
The Study series is actually set before the Glass series, and meet Opal for the first time in the second book of the series. This series follows a young woman named Yelena, who has been arrested and put on death row for murder. When she’s removed from her cell, she is convinced that it is her time to die, when she is offered a deal by the Commander’s Assassin, Valek. Her sentence is suspended if she agrees to become the new poison taster for the Commander, if she survives any posion attempts to continues living a comfortable life. Is she doesn’t survive, well her death sentence is concluded. Yelena agrees, she is trained to identify various poisons and convinces some soldiers to train her in self-defense since she keeps getting attacked in the Cammander’s complex, despite Valek’s attempts to keep her safe. We find out later on that Yelena is an orphan and she killed the son of the man who took her in, because they had spent years torturing her and when she couldn’t give them what they wanted his son sexually assaulted her. While it’s not hugely explicit, it is a bit more descriptive than what the Glass series was and continues to be throughout the whole Study series, so that is something to be wary of.
There’s mystery, murder, torture, ritualistic killings, romance, growth of friendships and challenging decisions to be made. Again, a really good read, but it did emphasise the darker parts of humanity a bit more than the Glass series.
The series includes:
Poison Study
Magic Study
Fire Study
Shadow Study
Night Study
Dawn Study
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Peak Hunger Games era was when I was in high school, the book series came out and then I had to scramble to make sure that I had read the books before I watched the movies, I remember the stress well!
Anyways, for those of you who don’t already know, The Hunger Games is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the working part of society are separated into twelve districts, and are wuled over by upper society known as the Capitol. Some decades before, there was a rebellion against the Capitol which the districts has loss, this resulted in the complete destruction of District 13 and the development of the Hunger Games which were held every year. Each district would randomly select a boy and a girl between the ages of around ten and seventeen years old, they would comete in the games and fight to be the last child surviving. These games were made to remind the districts of the results of the rebellion and that it is a blessing that they were not destroyed like District 13, but also that they will never be free of the Capitol’s control.
The series follows a teen girl named Katniss, who volunteers as that year’s female tribute in place of her younger sister who was randomly selected. This one act became a symbol of rebellion against the Capitol, which is the underlying theme of the whole series. Katniss spends three books surviving alongside the male tribute, Peta, and eventually enciting the biggest rebellion the Capitol has ever seen since the destruction of District 13. There is murder, loss, survival, romance, tension and fights for freedom. There is nothing explicit in this book, but death is seen and described, as well as instances of torture and drug use, although not in great detail.
The main series included:
The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mockingjay
Recently, Suzanne Collins has released two more books that provide more background information to the main series:
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Sunrise on the Reaping
I personally haven’t read them, I tried to read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes but I feel like it’s still written more for a teen audience rather than adult, so it didn’t hold my interest. If your child is looking for something with a survival adventure feel to it, this series is one to go for.
A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
This is a trilogy that has more of a sci-fi fantasy sort of feel to it, A Thousand Pieces of You is a series focused on a young woman named Marguerite Caine. Her parents are world renowned scientists, focused on the theory of multiple dimensions and the possibility of travelling between them, while their passion is clear, Marguerite’s passion is for art, which her parents are very supportive of. On the eve of her father’s death, Marguerite finds out that her father’s greatest invention was stolen, possibly by one of his most trusted students, Paul. With this knowledge, Marguerite jumps through dimensions trying to track down Paul and retrieve her father’s lifes work, but not all is what it seems.
This trilogy follows betrayal, mystery, adventure, alternate realities, finding of self and the development of love. It was a rollercoaster ride of a read, but I loved every minute of it! There are mentions of drug use, gangs, minor violence and consentual sexual encounters but there is nothing explicit in the descriptions of these scenes. As always, this is up to parent discretion.
The trilogy includes:
A Thousand Pieces of You
Ten Thousand Skies Above You
A Million Worlds with You
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
The Infernal Devices series is what got me into Cassandra Clare’s world of Shadow Hunters, even though her Mortal Instruments series was published well before that. The Infernal Devices is one the prequel series to Mortal Instruments that provides a fair bit of context for some of the events in the Mortal Intruments sere. This series follows a young woman named Tessa Gray, who was abducted by two strange elderly women and forced her to unlock her magical ability – to shape shift into any person or creature. While shape shifters were not a unique creature in this world, Tessa very different, she could retain the memories of any person or creature she shifted into, which is what the women were interested in. Tessa is later saved by a young shadow hunter, William Herondale, and she is taken to the local Shadow Hunter’s Institute, where they work to find her missing brother and how Tessa actually came into existence. This series explores the mystery of how Tessa came to be, why these dark creatures want her, and her struggle to love two people.
While there are battles, described injuries and death, there no explicit descriptions and while Tessa struggles with her love for two people, there is no polygamy and sexual encounters are not explicitly described.
This was a great read set in Victorian London, I was totally captivated by the story and characters, and I have reread the series several times since being a teenager.
This specific series is a trilogy, including the following titles:
Clockwork Angel
Clockwork Prince
Clockwork Princess
However, it is a part of a much larger series, if you are not committed to reading the whole series, that is totally ok! This triolgy can be read as a stand-alone, but if you are interested in the other books, they are as follows:
The Last Hours (set in the same period as the Infernal Devices series)
Chain of Gold
Chain of Iron
Chain of Thorns
The Mortal Instruments (set in the modern day and the start of the Shadowhunters era)
City of Bones
City of Ashes
City of Glass
City of Fallen Angels
City of Lost Souls
City of Heavenly Fire
The Dark Artifices (continues on from the Mortal Instruments series)
Lady Midnight
Lord of Shadows
Queen of Air and Darkness
Other continued stories from the Shadowhunter world
The Bane Chronicles
Stories from the Shadowhunter Academy
The Shadowhunters Codex
The Red Scrolls of Magic
The Lost Book fo the White
Ghosts of the Shadow Market
There are also a few more books to be published in the future.
The Storm Begins by Damian Dibben
This was a part of a series called The History Keepers, I only read the first book but I’m pretty sure that three were published. The story focuses on a young boy named Jake, who’s parents have gone missing and he’s trying to find out what happened to them. He finds out that his parents are a part of a secret organisation called the History Keepers, who have developed a way to travel back through time in order to ensure that the recorded events stay that way, even the most horrible events that most people wish had never happened. There is another organisation, however, who wish to change history to their advantage and they are the ones who have taken Jake’s parents. Jake finds the History Keepers and gets help from the other children, but they very quickly find out that the enemy organisation were not entirely after Jake’s parents, but someone else entirely.
There’s plenty of adventure, no explicit violence and a great mystery to go with it. If your child has an interest in history, while I wouldn’t use this as a historical resource, it certainly has some historical facts to fill out the story.
The titles in the series are:
The Storm Begins
Circus Maximus
Night Ship to China
Unleashed by Debbie Viguié and Nancy Holder
Unleashed is the first book of the Wolf Springs Chronicles, which is a trilogy. It is a story focused on the changing life of a young teen named Katelyn McBride, who was forced to move to Wolf Springs after a tragic accident that killed her mother and left Katelyn on her own. Her only remaining relative was her Grandfather, Ed, who lived in Wolf Springs. He took custody of her and enrolled her in the local highschool, teaching her how to drive his truck (ute for the Aussies reading this!) so she could easily travel from his isolated home in the woods into town. Grieving the loss of her mother and her future in gymnastics, Katelyn gets caught up in the local lore about werewolves and the recent deaths of teen girls who appeared to be attacked by some kind of wild animal. Katelyn is warned by her Grandfather and her new found friend, Trick, to always be home before dark and if she isn’t able to leave town before then, to find a place to stay until morning. Naturally, Katelyn gets so distraught over some teen drama that she leaves a party at night and decides to drive home but ends up with a flat tire. While she tries to change it, she’s attacked but a giant wolf but manages to fight it off and gets back in the car. She tells her grandfather that she was attacked by a medium sized dog in town, so he takes her to get stitches and some shots. Katelyn later finds out that she was possibly attacked by a rogue werewolf and seeks help from the daughter of one of the oldest local families, the Fenners, who she later finds out is the head of the local pack. Katelyn was in fact bitten and turned by a rogue werewolf and is adopted into the pack, she learns to navigate wolf politics, her place in the pack, her newly developed abilities, romantic connections, feuding packs, and the one thing that all werewolves are afarid of, the Hell Hound.
While there is the exploration of romantic relationships, nothing evolves beyond kissing and sexual tension, so it is not explicit at all. That being said, they are werewolves and the story follows the traditional acceptance of nudity when the humans turn into their wolf forms but there are no explicit details in regards to this. There are deaths and battles between packs, but again, there is nothing overly explicit.
The titles of the trilogy includes:
Unleashed
Hotblooded
Savage
I absolutely loved this trilogy, and have read it repeatedly since I first got it.
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Anna Dressed in Blood is a part of a duology by Kendare Blake, it is a paranormal mystery focused on a teen boy named Cas. He is the son of witch and a ghost hunter, who moves around a lot so Cas doesn’t get the chance to develop any meaningful relationships, that is until they move to Thunder Bay. Cas has chosen to follow in his father’s footsteps, especially since a ghost killed his father some years previously, so every place they move to, Cas hunts and kills the ghosts who occupy the area until they move along. His mother has accepted this, although she worries about him.
Cas comes across the legend about Anna, the ghost of a young girl who was brutally murdered on the night of her prom and now haunts the house she lived in, killing whoever enters it. This story doesn’t just revolve around Cas being a hunter, it focuses on him developing genuine friendships, exploring the mystery behind Anna’s murder which had a lot more to it than people realised, and Cas facing the idea that perhaps not all ghosts are cold blooded killers.
This does lead into a sequel, which I never read because I was so happy with how the first one ended that I didn’t want to ruin it, especially since it follows on with Cas and Anna dealing with the aftermath of the first book.
The titles for the duology are:
Anna Dressed in Blood
Girl of Nightmares
There is nothing explicit in the book, although it does describe Anna’s murder in some detail and it also includes the performing of dark magic.
I have read this book several times to the point that I ruined my original copy from repeated reading! I now own it on kindle.
Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto
Ghost House is also a part of a duology, it is another paranormal story following a teen girl named Chloe Kennedy, who travels and stays with her Grandmother on her estate in the south of England after her mother’s sudden passing. This time of grief is especially difficult when Chloe realises that her ability to see ghosts has returned, after losing her ghostly sight as a little girl she is suddenly being haunted by all ghosts who still walk the earth, and her Grandmother’s estate is full of them.
Chloe comes across a 157 year old young man named Alexander Reade, as they get to know each other and Chloe’s ability becomes stronger, she encounters the vengeful spirit of Alexander’s past love, Isobel, and she is far less friendly. This story follows Chloe as she learns to navigate her abilities, seeing into Alexander’s and Isobel’s pasts, trying to solve the mystery of what made them stay as ghosts, her relationships with the people around her and dealing with her own grief. There is nothing explicit in this story, however there is mentions of nudity and sexual activity although there are no specific details. There are also some descriptions of injuries and implied murders throughout the story.
The sequel to Ghost House focuses on Chloe’s journey once she has returned home from England, attending school just to find out that there is a whole new ghostly mystery for her to solve. I haven’t personally read the sequel, but from what I’ve come across, it is just as good as the first with many more twists and turns!
The titles of the duology are:
Ghost House
Haunted
This brings an end to my posting, it became much longer than I expected it to be! If you are looking for books for your teen, these are a bit older but are books that are not as explicit in some details as some of the newer books tend to be, which make these great introductory reads!
After a bit of a reader’s slump, I’ve finished “The Detective” by Matthew Reilly. It was his most recent publication that my partner had bought for me as I had read a number of his other books, ranging from his series involving main characters Jack “Huntsman” West Jr and Shane “Scarecrow” Schofield, and his stand alone books such as “The Great China Zoo”, “The Contest” and “The Tournament”.
The thing that drew me to Matthew Reilly’s books were how he incorporated aspects of modern and ancient history as well as cultural stories and legends into modern day storylines (with the exception of books such as “The Tournament” and “Mr Einstein’s Secretary” – which I am yet to read), some bordering on the absolute mythic and science fiction fantasy, and yet still so captivating. He is an author with an amazing skill in spinning a modern day adventure and mystery, usually with some kind of government conspiracy involved, with insanely action packed scenes that have some kind of link to different aspects of history. “The Detective” is no exception, although it’s a bit of a different storyline than what I would usually expect from Matthew Reilly.
As always, spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk!
The main protagonist of “The Detective” is the detective himself, Sam Speedman. A short, scrawny white guy with thick glasses and strong case of Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 1/2. Usually, I cringe a little when an author tries to portray a neurodivergent character, having ASD run in my family and worked with students with varying degrees of ASD, I usually find authors missing the mark. That being said, Matthew Reilly absolutely hit the nail on the head with Sam Speedman, from his OCD, his misunderstanding of social interactions and yet still having a strong sense of empathy despite not being able to display his own emotions in way that other people deem normal. I absolutely loved reading Sam as a character, and could definitely relate him to people I know with high-functioning ASD.
Sam is a Private Detective with different degrees in law and criminal psychology, which he used to try to get into the FBI but failed their personality test due to his ASD (which in reality is so common) so he instead got his license to become a Private Detective and started his own business, quite successfully. Despite having difficulties socially, people love his loyalty, devotion and need to achieve justice for those who can’t get it through the regular authorities. So, he has a group of waitresses at hooters who wait on him hand and foot, and plenty of connections through his business who are always more than willing to help him out when he asks. Which is what lands him in the biggest problem of the book, his missing persons case LaToya Marten. Having failed to solve the case seven years previously, Sam receives a notification for a data search he had set up years earlier (through his highly illegal but hand hacking skills that he had taught himself through his wide range of reading), that indicated that LaToya was in fact still alive. He dives back into the case, reawakening the other patterns and anomalies that he had uncovered at the start of the case: four African American female prostitutes missing every twenty-five years or so, and the missing or dead detectives who were assigned their cases.
Very quickly, Sam almost becomes one of those missing or dead detectives alongside our secondary protagonist FBI Agent Audrey Mills. They uncover a conspiracy that spans across 150 years, linking the modern day mystery to historical events in true Matthew Reilly style. There’s death, torture, cover ups, slavery, kidnapping, if I listed any more details I would give away the story!
The story hooked me so much I started and finished the book in around four to five hours. I loved Sam as a neurodivergent character and as a detective, I grew to like Audrey but admittedly I loved Sam’s loyal friends more. I especially loved seeing Sam’s development socially and romantically, this mirrors the struggles that many neurodivergent people experience everyday, especially those who are high-functioning. Anyone looking for a mystery with a fair bit of action, I strongly recommend “The Detective” by Matthew Reilly.
Green Mage Writings 