Forever Wolf (The Legend of All Wolves, #3) by Maria Vale – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, favorite series, favorites, Maria Vale, nature, pack, romance, wolves

About Forever Wolf by Maria Vale

Born with one blue eye and one green, Eyulf was abandoned as an infant and has never understood why, or what he is…Varya is fiercely loyal to the Great North Pack, which took her in when she was a teenager. While out on patrol, Varya finds Eyulf wounded and starving and saves his life, at great risk to her own.

Legend says his eyes portend the end of the world…or perhaps, the beginning…

With old and new enemies threatening the Great North, Varya knows as soon as she sees his eyes that she must keep Eyulf hidden away from the superstitious wolves who would doom them both. Until the day they must fight to the death for the Pack’s survival, side by side and heart to heart…

**********************

Review of Forever Wolf

From the beginning of the series, I have admired the unique take on the wolves that can wear skin. This is truly a unique world. After reading book three, I am now into the head of one of the bravest wolves of the Great North Pack. This is what the author does. With the first person perspective, Ms. Vale has told a story through a remarkable character and I am even more in love with this series.

And this story blew me away.

Forever Wolf is told from Varya’s view point. She is an introvert. She only speaks when necessary. The author such does an incredible job of getting the reader into the heroine’s head, that other characters often seem to have little importance. This is an introvert’s way of observing the details without engaging other people. Even Eyulf (the other half of the romantic couple in Forever Wolf) is in the background for most of the story. Until he isn’t.

At first, Varya appears cold and distant. Emotionless. Hard to relate to. But Varya has emotions. Sister, does she have them! They will be triggered by the arrival of Eyulf, and also by a pack crisis.

The story of the pack continues with the shifters bearing down. Causing trouble, not just for the pack as a whole, but within the pack. The pack must make a critical decision that could mean destruction or freedom. Silver (main character in book 1) becomes a speaker to keep the old ways. I love that from book 1 to to book 3, Silver has become so much more.

The decision the pack makes will have immediate consequences. Varya and other pack leaders do everything they can to insure pack survival. Because, ultimately, that is what the story of The Legend of All Wolves is about. Survival of pack.

The ending – climatic, explosive and emotional – had me in tears. Hence, my earlier ‘blew me away’ comment.

As much as I would like to tell you that it is possible to jump right into the series with Forever Wolf, I would recommend reading the first two books in The Legend of All Wolves to get the understanding of the Great North Pack and how they got to the position they are in. Besides, it truly is a great series.

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. On a totally different but related note, I was the very happy winner of a giveaway of a signed copy from Ms. Vale. Having a signed book is cool.  Reading the books is even better!

**********************

Links

Add Forever Wolf to your Goodreads shelf:

Pre-order Forever Wolf (releases 3/26/19):

**********************

 

Advertisements

A Hanging at Lotus Hall (The Steampunk Detectives, #2) by Corrina Lawson – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, Corrina Lawson, historical, magic, romance, series, Steampunk

About A Hanging at Lotus Hall by Corrina Lawson

Family secrets are the most dangerous…

All is not well at Lotus Hall, the home of the Dukes of Bennington, powerful mages who sit at the highest levels of power in the British Empire.

Consulting detective Gregor Sherringford, youngest brother of the current duke, is summoned home by his mother, the Dowager Duchess, after the mysterious arrival of a family member long presumed dead.

Joan Krieger, Gregor’s investigative partner and lover. accompanies him. In her experience, families bring nothing but grief. Besides, she’s no proper match for Gregor, with her reputation as a “fallen” woman, and being from a Jewish merchant family.

Her fears are realized after their arrival at Lotus Hall. The duke is distant, Gregor’s mother is concealing a secret, Gregor’s other brother is hiding an affair, and the other guests, important members of the Metaphysical Society, warn Joan of dire consequences if she continues to use forbidden magic in her investigations.

When one of the signature Sherringford inventions is used to kill, uncovering the truth behind all the facades becomes imperative. For someone is hunting Sherringfords and unless they can all learn to trust each other, their family will be utterly destroyed.

**********************

Review of A Hanging at Lotus Hall

From page one, heroine Joan Krieger is placed in a situation that will be challenging to navigate. Why? Because she is a woman that wields magic. Make that a Jewish woman that wields magic. Illegally, since only men are considered to be able to handle the power of magic. But Joan’s challenge came in the form of an offer to be the first to teach girls at a mage school. Does this mean that society is ready to accept female mages?

Add all this to the fact that Joan is both the magical apprentice and lover of Gregor Sherringford, the 3rd son of a duke, and you can see that Joan’s life is not uninteresting.

When Gregor’s mother asks him to return home and bring Joan with him, the game is afoot. While only an attempted murder has occurred at this time in the book, the trip home sets up the circumstances for the real murder. Suddenly Gregor is the detective, with Joan as his assistant and everyone, from Gregor’s brother Jared (the Duke) to his niece, Anne, is a suspect.

This country manor murder mystery is both classic and original. The setting, the Sherlockian elements (down to the name of Moriarity), the family dynamics – those are all time-honored ingredients of many very good mysteries. Add the mage factor, the changing mage society in England and the conflicts that go with that and you have a fresh twist on the English manor murder mystery.

Intertwined in the mystery is the ongoing story of Gregor and Joan. Their relationship is solid, but on a wood foundation sort of way, as opposed to bedrock. Gregor is extremely protective and uncommunicative. These are Joan’s pet peeves and her reason for holding back. This is a couple that will always be interesting, but I would really like to see their relationship mature to more of a partnership. Hoping that A Hanging at Lotus Hall is not the last book in the series, I will be patient!

Gregor and Joan are the main characters, but this book is full of fascinating supporting characters. Gregor’s mother Vai, the returned-from-the-dead Edward Dale, and older brothers Jared and Nick. Just to name a few. Pay attention to each and everyone for clues if you wish to solve the mystery.

I read book one in the Steampunk Detectives series, The Curse of the Brimstone Contract, in 2015. At that time, I was really getting into steampunk. So I ate it up. Similarly, I devoured A Hanging at Lotus Hall. This book is for anyone that enjoys a complex plot, great character, and mystery with twist.

Many thanks to the author who provided a copy of her book in exchange for my honest review.

**********************

Links

Add A Hanging at Lotus Hall to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase A Hanging at Lotus Hall:

**********************

 

The Dirt on the Ninth Grave (Charley Davidson, #9) by Darynda Jones – Review

Tags

5 stars, Darynda Jones, Lorelei King, paranormal, romance, series

About The Dirt on the Ninth Grave by Darynda Jones

In a small village in New York lives Jane Doe, a girl with no memory of who she is or where she came from. So when she is working at a diner and slowly begins to realize she can see dead people, she’s more than a little taken aback. Stranger still are the people entering her life. They seem to know things about her. Things they hide with lies and half-truths. Soon, she senses something far darker. A force that wants to cause her harm, she is sure of it. Her saving grace comes in the form of a new friend she feels she can confide in and the fry cook, a devastatingly handsome man whose smile is breathtaking and touch is scalding. He stays close, and she almost feels safe with him around.

But no one can outrun their past, and the more lies that swirl around her—even from her new and trusted friends—the more disoriented she becomes, until she is confronted by a man who claims to have been sent to kill her. Sent by the darkest force in the universe. A force that absolutely will not stop until she is dead. Thankfully, she has a Rottweiler. But that doesn’t help in her quest to find her identity and recover what she’s lost. That will take all her courage and a touch of the power she feels flowing like electricity through her veins. She almost feels sorry for him. The devil in blue jeans. The disarming fry cook who lies with every breath he takes. She will get to the bottom of what he knows if it kills her. Or him. Either way.

**********************

Review of The Dirt on the Ninth Grave

I am terribly behind in this series. The finale, Summoned to the Thirteenth Grave, is out and I am up to #9. In order to promote the latest in the series, NetGalley was offering Read Now downloads of the rest of the series. So, I grabbed #9.

If you have never read any Charley Davidson books, The Dirt on the Ninth Grave would be an interesting place to start. But if you plan to read it without reading books 1-8, quit now, or there will be spoilers.

Imagine if you are not familiar with Charley’s background and you dive into book 9 and there is this amnesiac who has some strange abilities. She is surrounded by a group of people, co-workers and customers, that are at the diner she works for every day. One of her co-workers quickly became her best friend.

But you do know Charley’s background and you know that Charley is the amnesiac who mysteriously transported from New Mexico to New York at the end of book 8. Reyes, Cookie, Uncle Bob, Gareth, and Osh have found her and now they hang with her every day, but don’t tell her who she is. Why? You have to keep reading to find out.

As is typical in a Charley story, there are ghosts that need to figure out how to move on, a mystery to solve and the continuation of Charley’s supernatural life. The format of the story has not changed, just the name. Jane Doe. Or Janey Dooer, “because Jane Doe was so last week”.

Charley’s supernaturalness gets more supernatural with every book. She will never be one of us again. By us, I mean basic human. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I like, no, I love, Charley as she is. Smart, funny, brave, highly irreverent, and always knows exactly what to say. Will she ever lose any of those traits that we love as she transcends to her fated self? I hope not!!!!

This is the first Charley Davidson book I have actually read. Audiobooks got me through books 1-8. But narrator Lorelei King is sooo good, I could hear her voice as I read book 9. I’ve got to get back to the audiobooks as I continue. Or Ms. Jones’ writing is so good that Lorelei King and I are in sync when we read the story. Either way, I love these books and I will get caught up!

Through NetGalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book so that I could bring you my honest review.

**********************

Links

Add The Dirt on the Ninth Grave to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase The Dirt on the Ninth Grave:

**********************