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A Review of Bethany Baptiste's "The Poisons We Drink"

Bethany Baptiste’s “The Poisons We Drink” gives us an in-depth look at civil rights through the lens of the supernatural. In her world, witchers and humans live side by side, but all is not peaceful between the races. Humans restrict how many witchers may gather at one time, and a law to require registration for all witchers is coming up in Congress.  Many witchers want to stop this bill, and young Venus, a brewer of love potions, and her crew are drawn into the intrigue and battle surrounding the bill. There are casualties, both lives and relationships, as secrets are revealed and Venus battles her own inner demons to keep her family together.  This was an awesome book told with heart and experience. Venus is a strong yet fractured protagonist, and her allies and enemies are well drawn and multifaceted. Baptiste did her subject matter justice, and readers will leave with more than just entertainment by the end. I hope we can revisit these characters in another installment set in this
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A Review of A.M Vergara's "Firefax" (audiobook)

A.M. Vergara’s “Firefax” is a bit hard to find on Amazon. Search for the author’s full name: Amelia Maria Vergara. Every time I attempted to search by the title, Amazon would autocorrect to “Firefox.” The extra work to find this title is worth it, however, if you are a fan of a certain sort of retro adventure story.  The Firefaxes are assassins. Some work for the family business; some work for spy networks on both sides of the Revolutionary War. One of them knows the secret of the island where the family has been hoarding its spoils of war for centuries, and another spy wants that gold for himself. The rest of the Firefax family must follow their eldest brother to the island, both to save one of their own and to protect their fortune from potential thieves.  This reminded me a lot of the book “The Twenty-One Balloons,” as well as quite a few other novels from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century: “Herland,” “The Mysterious Island,” “The Lost World.” When the earth wasn’t com

A Review of Premee Mohamed's "And What Can We Offer You Tonight" (audiobook)

Premee Mohamed’s “And What Can We Offer You Tonight” is an ambitious, speculative-fiction novella. The main character, Jewel, is a prostitute in a very good house, but her situation goes horribly wrong when, first, one of her friends is murdered by a client. This friend then comes back to life to find revenge for her own murder. Then, another friend is mutilated by his own client. When Jewel and her dead friend go after the attacker, Jewel puts her own comfortable existence at risk.  Novellas are hard to write because they often must cut corners on one element or another: lack of characterization, lack of exposition, lack of narrative drive... Limiting the world-building to mostly inside the brothel walls and using a first-person perspective helped with that. I would like more background regarding Jewel and the world in which she exists. How did she get where she was? Why did the world become what it is? What magic exists to bring people back from the dead? The narrator, Elana Dunkelma

A Review of Robert Jackson Bennett's "The Tainted Cup"

In a world where leviathans rise from the ocean, march across land, and threaten civilization, Din and his boss, Detective Ana Dolabra, must find a devious killer whose murders are putting the world even more at risk.  Robert Jackson Bennett’s “The Tainted Cup” is a masterpiece of world-building. Told in the classic mystery style of the first-person narrative from the perspective of the detective’s assistant, this book has the tropes of Doyle and Christie that you want, but in a fantasy setting rich in complicated detail. I enjoyed how different everyone was, the science/magic of the grafts people receive to enhance their skills, and the looming threat that a giant beast from the sea could destroy the town at any moment.   I loved this book. I savored it. I’d wake up in the middle of the night and read, not so that I could fall back to sleep, but to see what would happen next. Looking back over my reviews of 2023, I’d have to say this is easily in my top three. I recommend “The Tainted

A Review of Stacia Stark's "A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty" (audiobook)

“A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty” is book two in Stacia Stark’s Kingdom of Lies series.  Prisca, a hybrid, and Lorian, an elf, have been thrown together in a battle against a nefarious human king who uses other people’s magic to keep him young and in power. His reign of over four hundred years must come to an end, but exactly how can they bring that about?  This is standard fantasy with some very spicy scenes thrown in. I usually don’t read erotic romance to review, since it’s my job to edit said genre, but I do enjoy a fantasy adventure, so I took a crack at this one. Having not read the first book in the series, I was a bit lost at the beginning. This series does have the feel of one really big book that was split into three parts, so you can’t skip the prequels. I eventually figured out what was going on and afterward enjoyed the ride. I look forward to the next book in the series.  I like it when a book has multiple first-person perspectives (the direction a lot of romance is takin

Review of A.S. Thornton's "Son of the Salt Chaser" (audiobook)

I listened to the first book of this series, "Daughter of the Salt King" in June of last year. I realized I didn't post the review here, though. I've put it at the end so you can see my feelings on that as well. A.S. Thornton’s “Son of the Salt Chaser,” the sequel to “Daughter of the Salt King,” is a fantasy romance that draws on the lore and motifs of the Middle East.  Saalim, the genie Emel loves, has become human, and with this transformation, has forgotten their shared past. Now Emel is a refugee, following him to this city by the sea. She hopes she can rekindle their relationship, but his betrothal to a girl from the other side of the ocean may make that difficult. Instead, Emel finds comfort with Kas. But all is not as it seems, and Emel and Saalim slowly uncover secrets and information that will change their futures.  Like the first book, this is a very solid fantasy romance with lovely world-building and wonderful settings. I really enjoyed the developing rela

A Review of Hunter H. White's "Treasures of the Lochs" (audiobook)

Hunter H. White’s “Treasures of the Lochs” was a fun, fast-paced read that anyone who liked “National Treasure” will enjoy.   You know the trope: a less-than-perfect son, Carter Porter, is dealing with a mystery surrounding his recently deceased father. Between Carter’s drinking, divorce, deaths of his daughter and father, and an attack on the historical site he was supposed to be guarding, Carter is having a bad run. It gets even worse when his car share driver is shot to death. When a mysterious letter arrives with the promise of a first-class ticket to Scotland, Carter takes it without thinking. In Scotland, inn worker Hassie Douglass is dealing with her own loss: her grandfather’s terminal lung-cancer diagnosis. When she finds some gold coins on the edge of Loch Ness, she believes they’ll help get her father better care. Instead she is drawn into a plot to find and steal a centuries’ old treasure meant to help the Jacobites put a Stuart king on the English throne. She and Carter, a