Writer and Editor C.B. Calsing/ G.G. Royale

As soon as I finished Genoveva Dimova’s “Foul Days,” I jumped online to see when I could expect the sequel. I was so happy to get it almost immed iately. “Monstrous Nights” picks up right where the action in “Foul Days” ends, and it does not disappoint .   Kosara teams up again with Asen, working to finish the job of tracking down the infamous smuggler Konstantin Karaivanov while fighting off the city’s monsters . Along the way, Asen is thrown a major curveball, but  finds belonging in unlikely company . Kosara has to learn to control her new-found powers while exploring her developing feelings for Asen.   This was, again, a very satisfying, atmospheric read that ticks all the boxes in an urban fantasy romance mashup. The use of Eastern European lore and folktale gives it a f resh spin. The characters are fun and varied. I would love to see these two books adapted into film or a TV series. I received this book from NetGalley .  

“The Dream Haunters” by Megan Mary is about as close to a fall beach read as you can get. Imagine sitting on a blustery dune, the wind whipping the gray waves, a thermos of hot cider nearby… You get the picture. This is the book you will want to read or listen to while bundled beneath your woolen cloak. Hannah Skye has lost most everything she ever valued: her parents, her cat, her grandmother, and her job. Out of nowhere, she receives a letter and a plane ticket from her estranged aunt. The same day, she learns her aunt has disappeared. Immediately enmeshed in the mystery, Hannah sets out to Maple Hollow and her family’s ancestral Skye Manor. Maple Hollow exists in a state of perpetual fall, with pumpkins growing and the leaves on the trees in shades of orange, yellow, and red. There, she must uncover the truth of what happened to her aunt as well as find her own truth. This was a very quick listen. The narrator, Pearl Hewitt, did a lovely job giving life to the different characters, ...

If you enjoyed “Logan's Run,” but wished it were a bit darker, then you will probably love “The Monsters in our Shadows” by Edward J. Cembal.  In a sort of alternate future, humankind has been devastated by Shivers, a ghostlike being that attaches itself to a person and eventually devours them. There is no knowing when the beast will decide to feed. You could live with your shiver for years. Once the Shiver consumes its host, it will eat any person it comes across. Anthem is the Exilist for Atlas, a small settlement of survivors. His job is to remove those who are about to be consumed by their Shiver and leave them on the other side of the city wall so the Shivers won’t run amuck in the town. But then, the town’s leader sends him on a mission beyond the wall to save the small population, and Anthem learns that all is not as he has been taught.  This was a fun read. Don’t you love it when, as a reader, you come up with a solution to a problem, and you think, “Boy, I hope the au...

Lilliam Rivera’s “Tiny Threads” is part horror novel, part behind-the-scenes glimpse at the workings of a fashion house.   Samara is finally ready to move away from the sphere of her parents and their life in New Jersey to take a job as a copywriter at a fashion house in Vernon, California. The designer, Antonio, welcomes her with open arms at first but slowly becomes volatile as the date of his big fashion show a pproaches . This, however, is not Samara’s only problem as she is plagued by noises in the walls of her historic apartment and the inability to function throughout the day without just a splash of vodka. Then there’s the beautiful woman she keeps seeing but can never really find .   Is Samara  being haunted, or are her own psychosis and trauma raising their ugly heads?   I love the description of this book. I think the premise and the basic plot have a lot going for them. I appreciate the details about the town of Vernon. It is definitely a charact...

Claudia Gray’s “The X-Files: Perihelion” adds another adventure to the lives of Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. I’m a huge X-Files fan, having watched the entire series two or three times straight through, seen the movies multiple time, and read a couple of other books from different authors as well. I really looked forward to this read.  Now working for an independent genetics clinic that helps children, Scully finds she is pregnant again. She and Mulder move in together in an effort to finally create a normal family. Both are still mourning the loss of their first son, and Mulder is somewhat adrift when it comes to his career. When a mysterious assassin, who can disappear in a cloud of smoke, attracts the attention of the FBI, Mulder and Scully are called back to the agency. At the same time, however, a serial killer is brutally murdering pregnant women, and Scully has caught his attention. While torn between tracking down the two killers, Mulder and Scully also must address t...

Props to this cover artist. Excellent and evocative. Yolanda Sfetsos's "Wings of Sorrow" is a modern take on a more classic gothic novel, based in myth and set on an appropriately windswept cliff, complete with anachronistic manor and neighboring lighthouse. Thera inherits her aunt’s house, and she decides to go clean it out before listing it. Hector, her horror-writing husband, comes along for the potential inspiration. The house immediately draws him in and the words begin to flow. Thera, however, is battling the ghost of her aunt and her ominous warning that nothing good will come of Thera and Hector staying at the house. The premise of this story is intriguing with the genders sort of swapped from the more traditional tellings. The why of things, which we learn from the ghost and Thera’s forgotten memories, are equally fascinating. The delivery, however, left something to be desired. The truth comes out in a lot of exposition where I would have liked to see more myst...

Genoveva Dimova’s “Foul Days” is a fun paranormal mystery suitable for fans of Van Helsing and similar monster-story revisions.  Kosara is a witch who, one fateful night, must trade her shadow in order to escape from her former demon (dragon?) lover, Zmey the Tsar of Monsters. With the help of a copper from the other side of the wall, she must recover her shadow before she fades away completely. Together, they battle various monsters as they run to ground the clues to help save themselves and the city of Chemograd.  I really enjoyed this story. It was fun, action-filled, and the world-building was spot on. It felt like a soviet-era spy novel, but with witches, ghosts, and other ghouls. I would absolutely read any follow-ups.  The narrator, Zura Johnson, did an excellent job with the different characters’ voices and the emotion needed to tell this story.   I definitely recommend this book. It’s a fun summer read or listen and kept me engage from page one. I recei...

Victor Dixen’s “The Court of Miracles” is the follow-up to “The Court of Shadows.” In an alternate reality, King Louis XIV became a vampire. Three hundred years after his transformation, he still rules France and a great deal of the rest of Europe. A few determined humans are attempting to fight back. One, Mademoiselle Diane de Gastefriche, has made it into his closest circle, that of his squires. He sends her and two others into the underworld of Paris in a bid to flush out a new vampire that may be a threat to him. But Diane has her own agenda. Who will succeed?  Though this was clearly a sequel, I was not lost at all as far as the world-building or character relationships went. The author did a good job supplying enough background information without overburdening the text with exposition. I enjoyed the main character, her drive and the conflict she faces. In addition, the mix of magic and science was entertaining, as was the idea of a world in which the Sun King still rules. Th...

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...

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 w...