Review: The Stolen Girls by Patricia Gibney

The Stolen Girls (D.I. Lottie Parker, #2)

by Patricia Gibney

Release Date: July 6, 2017

2017 Bookouture

Ebook Edition; 465 Pages

ISBN: 978-1786812186

ASIN: B071Y84BQK

Audiobook: B073RMVCBG

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4.25 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

One Monday morning, the body of a young pregnant woman is found. The same day, a mother and her son visit the house of Detective Lottie Parker, begging for help to find a lost friend.

Could this be the same girl?

When a second victim is discovered by the same man, with the murder bearing all the same hallmarks as the first, Lottie needs to work fast to discover how else the two were linked. Then two more girls go missing.

 

Detective Lottie Parker is a woman on the edge, haunted by her tragic past and struggling to keep her family together through difficult times. Can she fight her own demons and catch the killer before he claims another victim?

 

My Thoughts

The Stolen Girls was a complex mystery with a number of interconnected story lines. Unfortunately, if you have not read the first book in the series, I don't know if the entire book would make sense as one of the story lines from the first book does continue into this one as the characters deal with the aftermath and the trauma from what happened.  Lottie's family was deeply affect by the events and this continue to play out in this book, something for which I am glad as trauma doesn't end just because a particular story has completed.

 

Lottie is very much a type A personality and her months at home, while beneficial, have also left her feeling restless and unmoored. While she does try really hard to balance home and work, her job makes that really difficult at times, so the lines do get crossed quite often, and with the loss of her husband, this makes her job as a single parent that much more difficult. This adds extra stress to her job, her life, and to her relationships with her children.  And because she oversteps the boundaries at work so often, which means she doesn't listen and does her own thing, she puts herself and others in jeopardy which puts her job in jeopardy as well.  This aspect of her personality actually drives me wild as she gets away with things she really shouldn't, then reams out her underlings when they do the same thing. Hypocrite!

 

While I really enjoyed the relationships in this book and the character development, the part that really hit me in the feels was the story line that dealt with the women. It's hard to talk about without giving too much away, but I will mention that some of it is graphic and does deal with sexual assault and sex traffiking so if you have triggers regarding those two subjects, you might want to be careful when reading this book.  I read a lot of horror and I flinched quite a few times reading this book as it was hard to read the women's POV and what they suffered.  There was one scene where I was quite proud of Lottie when she gave a bollicking to a couple of her detectives for doing something offensive, especially when they are the law and should, by rights, be shutting places down. I will leave that there and you can read about what happened.  There are lots of secrets in this book, from Lottie's daughter, to the women, to the men running a women's shelter, to Lottie, to everyone. The pace moved rather quickly and the author really knows how to capture your interest from the use of dialogues to descriptive scenes to flashbacks. 

 

Verdict

The Stolen Girls had a darker theme than the first book and it had a lot of different themes and story lines running through it with a solid resolution in the end, even if it was not quite what you would want.   And the themes were heavy in this one; sexual assault, sex traffiking, self-injury/cutting, secrets, loyalty, manipulation, trauma, death, abuse, loneliness, and the list goes on.  I thought the author did a great job managing a lot of the themes in this book through dialogue and other means, neither dismissing the trauma or excusing the behaviour of people who participated in the events.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to read a gripping mystery. 

 

 

 

Review: Grave Pursuit by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

Grave Pursuit (Rachel Ryder, #12)

by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

Release Date: March 17, 2026

2026 Severn River Publishing

Ebook ARC; 328 Pages

ISBN: 978-1648757044

ASIN: B0FKH51GD6

Audiobook: B0GMKJZY3H

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3.75 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Detective Rachel Ryder and her partner Rob Bishop have seen their fair share of brutal crimes in Hamby, Georgia—but nothing like this. Chilling photos of the dead arrive at the police department, the victims eerily preserved in white robes from an exclusive Atlanta hotel. Their faces are obscured. Their a mystery. With no clear jurisdiction and no obvious connection between the victims, the case is already a challenge.

Desperate for leads, the department goes public, casting Rachel as the face of their plea for information. As the inevitable media firestorm erupts, it draws attention from all sides—including the one they fear the most. And when a suitcase appears on Bishop’s doorstep, a corpse inside, it’s clear the killer has made their reply. This time, there’s no mystery about the message. Pinned to the victim’s robe is a chilling Rachel’s next.

 

My Thoughts

Grave Pursuit is the next book in the longish running Rachel Ryder series, and while this one was interesting and I did like the connection to chess, I wasn't sold on the culprit and there was a lot of time spent in Rachel's head.  Normally I don't mind these psychological meanderings, but when it's repetitive, and I mean repetitive, it gets old, fast.  

 

One of the things I did like about this book however, is the development of the secondary characters. Although the entire story is told from Rachel's POV, and we are in her head a lot, we still get a good idea of how the other characters interact with her and her relationship with them. And while she presents a tough outward appearance, she is actually a big softie, and stresses a lot about her actions.  Does it prevent her from making mistakes though? No, but I do like the fact that her partner reams her out several times and even threatens certain actions if she continues to behave in a way that puts others in danger. I really appreciated this as I get so annoyed when a detective goes off alone or goes against direct orders, puts themselves or others in jeopardy, saves the day, and is never called out for their behaviour.  And while I do like Kyle in her life, why do authors make people behave like children whenever they have a conflict? 

 

One of the things I do have to mention here though, and while it may seem like a small thing, it bothered me throughout the book. At the beginning of the story, Kyle and Rachel were having a small friendly running competition.  OK, that's fine.  But as a long-time runner, maybe the author should have looked up running times before using them in this book? Apparently, her main characters can run 4 miles in 16 minutes and change; that's 6.4 km. Would anyone like to know what the world record for 5km is for a woman? 13:58  That would mean Rachel would be a world record holder as running at world record pace means 4 miles would take 17:38.  Huh!!! This may seem petty, but if the author can't check these facts, how many other facts are wrong in this book?

 

The plot moved along rather quickly and while I enjoyed the mystery, I wasn't sold on the culprit nor was I sold on the motive. And while I did enjoy the game of chess as well as the explanations (I tried learning chess and it was an epic fail), I always felt like I had to suspend belief while reading this story including how they got from A to B in their deductions.  For a killer who was so superior and intelligent, what happened just didn't make sense and goes against everything that the killer was portraying about themselves. I did like how the author portrayed Rachel's visits with the therapist as they seemed believable; if you are not ready for therapy and ready to open up, you can't force someone to go through the actions so I always find this aspect interesting.  

 

Verdict

Grave Pursuit was a quick read as Rachel found herself caught up in the middle of a game with a serial killer.  I did enjoy the character development of the secondary characters, but by book twelve, it is hard to develop anything new with Rachel. We do spent a lot of time in her head as she is being psychologically tested, something I always find interesting; how much can a killer push someone before they hit their breaking point.  But we are in her head a lot and some of it is quite repetitive.  While not my favourite in this series, it is still worth the read. However, I do recommend reading from the beginning in order to get a sense of the characters and what happened to Rachel's husband. 

 

 

 

Review: Buried in a Book by T.C. Lotempio

Buried in a Book (A Cozy Bookshop Mystery, #2)

by T.C. Lotempio

Release Date: March 3, 2026

2026 Severn House

Ebook ARC; 240 Pages

ISBN: 978-1448319237

ASIN:  ‎ B0FR9RC9ZM

Genre: Fiction / Cozy / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3.5 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Retired thriller author and current bookshop owner Charley James is preparing for Halloween in her small hometown of Austin, Pennsylvania—what she isn’t prepared for is discovering the body of a woman at the local inn.

Charley recognizes the stranger as a suspicious customer who popped in just to hide a rather peculiar book at her store—did she already know she was about to lose her life for it?

Pursuing this mysterious case, Charley can’t seem to stay out of trouble, and no one knows this better than Detective Hottie, Ian Grant. But Charley has a mind of her own and, together with cat Poe, sets off on another puzzle-riddled quest, unaware that the killer might be someone she knows . . .

 

My Thoughts

Buried in a Book was a fun read and I enjoyed the Halloween-themed aspects in the story, particularly those relating to Edgar Allan Poe. I didn't read the first book in the series, but I didn't feel like I was missing anything in the back story or when it came to the relationships.  I liked the town, the relationships between the characters, the mystery (except for the ending), but had a major problem with the main character, Charley, as I am not a fan when a character is reckless or hides information because they think they are smarter than everyone else. 

 

So, let's start with the positives. I really enjoyed the secondary characters and liked how they interacted with Charley as well as with each other.  For the most part, each of them had distinct personalities and I enjoyed learning more about them.  Because I have a love for books as well as horror movies, this one was right up my alley as the content combined the two concepts by exploring a book about Edgar Allan Poe and some famous early horror movie actors, like Vincent Price and Bela Lugosi, to the point where I dug up my old movies and spent a night watching some fun horror movies.  "The Raven" will continue to be a favourite of mine and have both read it and watched the movie numerous times.  

 

While I did enjoy the plot, I did think it pushed credibility quite a bit and I did figure out the culprit quite early in the book.  Sometimes all it takes is one sentence or one thing that is off and boom, you know who it is and that is what happened.  That is not what bothered me in this book though as I did enjoy the overall mystery.  It was Charley herself, the main character.  I thought she was selfish and quite thoughtless at times, but I'll leave the why for you to read for yourself as it does give away spoilers from the book. She constantly withheld evidence from the police and tried to convince others to do the same, from the same chief of police whom she wants to date. She is told not to investigate, but does so anyways, then cries 'wolf' when something happens to her or to her store.  The store, by the way, which is never open as she just closes it on a whim whenever she needs to investigate.  Yes, a MC can be clever and still investigate, but do so in such a way that makes sense, not because you are sneaky, lie, and go behind someone's back. 

 

Verdict

Buried in a Book was a fun mystery to read, but I was not a fan of the main character as I thought she was inconsiderate, sneaky, and a liar.  I did really enjoy the secondary characters however, and was on the side of the female police detective when she got snarky with Charley.  While the plot was a bit far-fetched, I did enjoy the link between Edgar Allan Poe and early classic horror movie actors as I thought that was fun.  The writing style was fine, but the twists and turns were easy to figure out and you just had to go with what was happening and try not to roll your eyes every time Charley opened her mouth.  All in all, I enjoyed it and will probably try the third book when it comes out.   For the record, Poe, the cat, was my favourite character. 

 

Review: Sisters in Science by Olivia Campbell

Sisters in Science: How Four Women Physicists Escaped Nazi Germany and Made Scientific History

by Olivia Campbell

Release Date: December 31, 2024

2024 Park Row

Ebook Edition; 384 Pages

ISBN: 978-0778333395

ASIN: B0CQ5GY9RN

Audiobook: B0CSL5XYD9

Genre: Non-Fiction / History / Science

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

2 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

In the 1930s, Germany was a hotbed of scientific thought. But after the Nazis took power, Jewish and female citizens were forced out of their academic positions. Hedwig Kohn, Lise Meitner, Hertha Sponer, and Hildegard Stücklen were eminent in their fields, but they had no choice but to flee due to their Jewish ancestry or anti-Nazi sentiments.

Their harrowing journey out of Germany became a life-and-death situation that required Herculean efforts of friends and other prominent scientists. Lise fled to Sweden, where she made a groundbreaking discovery in nuclear physics, and the others fled to the United States, where they brought advanced physics to American universities. No matter their destination, each woman revolutionized the field of physics when all odds were stacked against them, galvanizing young women to do the same.

 

My Thoughts

Sisters in Science is one of those books that I was excited to receive as I did my undergrad in science and my son is a theoretical physicist so I thought a book that finally highlighted the achievements of women during a time period that constantly put them down or credited the men with which they worked would be great to read.  Unfortunately, while I was glad to see the emphasis put on these women, I couldn't get past some of the projection that was written into this book, especially with how the women thought and felt without actual proof, nor did I enjoy the addition of rhetorical and leading questions that guide the reader to a certain way of thinking. Sorry, but this is not scholarly non-fiction writing.  

 

First of all, I do want to mention that this is an extraordinary topic and more research needs to be done on pioneering women in a variety of research fields, to highlight their achievements, to ensure their discoveries are credited to them, and to show how difficult it was for them in a world that was dominated by men.  As someone who also has a background in history, I appreciated the historical context, the difficulties as they struggled to get their voices heard, to get credit for their work, in a time period that was becoming even more and more challenging.  However, as a historian, I also can't overlook the issues in this book.

 

While this was interesting, the author did take some liberties in this book that just didn't sit well with me.  I wonder if perhaps this would have worked better as a fictional novel rather than a non-fiction book. One, unless there are journals and personal accounts, how a person feels and thinks should never be mentioned and I couldn't find any evidence to support this in this book.  My professors used to call this projection and it was always considered a big no-no in non-fiction writing.  Second, making assumptions and leading readers through questions to your way of thinking.  Another big no-no. Showing two sides to an issue is fine if there is supporting evidence, but asking rhetorical questions in such a way to lead readers to your viewpoint or to how a historical person many be thinking or feeling, not good scholarship writing.  The reality is, we just don't know what they were thinking or feeling.  I also felt the writing style was quite meandering; it didn't need to be chronological necessarily, but I did find it jarring to jump back and forth so much because the transitions weren't smooth or clear.

 

Verdict

Sisters in Science had a lot of potential and highlighting women's achievements in a subject area where women are constantly underrepresented made me happy.  And while it does go into detail with regards to physics, I didn't feel like the descriptions were unrealistic for someone without a science background to follow.   The author clearly put a lot of research into this book, but too many liberties were taken with the writing style that I just couldn't overlook. The meandering style was a slog to read after a while and I think I just finished it out of stubbornness. I was really excited to learn more about these groundbreaking and pioneering women in science, but honestly, I've read textbooks that were more interesting.   

 

Review: A Deadly Inheritance by Kelley Armstrong

A Deadly Inheritance

by Kelley Armstrong

Release Date: March 24, 2026

2026 Tundra Books

Ebook ARC; 424 Pages

ISBN: 978-1774888032

ASIN: B0FFFWX9G5

Audiobook: B0GGY4P383

Genre: Fiction / YA / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3.75 / 4 Stars

 

Summary

In the wake of her mother's death, Liliana Chamberlain's estranged (and very wealthy) grandparents swoop in. Or their lawyer does. Her grandparents aren't ready to meet her, but they want her to have the life her mother walked away from, starting with Westwood Academy, the elite boarding school her mother attended. 

Westwood Academy is a school of secrets as well as intriguing classmates. As she gets to know them all, Lili realizes there's more to the school than elite-level networking. Something deadly.

For the new girl at school, investigating the deaths of past students is a very dangerous game. Do those deaths have something to do with why her mother fled Westdale at the cost of her inheritance?

 

My Thoughts

A Deadly Inheritance is one of those books that you kind of have to take with a grain of salt and a bit of a dash of suspension of belief in order to really enjoy it, so that’s exactly how I approached the book after the first few chapters. I told myself I could deal with the coincidences because Liliana was a character that I really liked and was one in which I could really empathize. Yes, her lawyer just happens to show up exactly when the social worker shows up to take her away. Yes, she is whisked to an expensive boarding school. Yes, it is at her grandparents’ request even though she has not met them. Yes, she is the new heiress to a billion dollar fortune. Yes, yes, yes… Ok, I can live with these. 

I really enjoyed Lili as a character. She was determined, tough, vulnerable, and intelligent. She took chances, but was also very careful in her choices, making sure she was safe in what she was doing, something I liked as I dislike it when a character constantly walks head first into danger without thinking about what they are doing or who they are putting into danger. She doesn’t have a problem assimilating into the world of the rich and famous although being the heiress of a huge fortune doesn’t hurt her either.  Mind you, most of the students at the school come from similar backgrounds so she doesn’t really stand out in that respect and I love it when she fangirls over her friend’s mom who is a famous movie star.  I also liked the female relationships Lili develops, ones that are without drama, as so often these books are filled with drama, distrust, and dislike. 

And while I really enjoyed both the female and male relationships in this book, I was not a fan of the romance aspect of this book. It’s not that I am opposed to what happened as I am not a prude, nor am I opposed to relationships and sexual feelings in YA novels. My issue is that it didn't quite feel genuine as it happened too quickly, without any development.  Plus, I am not a fan of instalust/love.  I would have preferred to have seen the emphasis on the development of the friendships first, then the romance.  

The plot was fun and I did enjoy it.  I didn’t guess the culprit and to be honest, didn’t quite believe the story that was given for the motive, but I did like the consequences of what happened.  There were many twists and turns, and to be fair, I am always a sucker for secret societies and just secrets in general, having to do research, and mysterious happenings, so it is not hard for me to get sucked into a story like this. However, there were some huge plot holes in this book as well as things that didn’t quite make sense.  And these were things that just couldn’t be overlooked no matter how good the tension or the character development.

Verdict
A Deadly Inheritance was fun to read as there were secrets, secret societies, broken loyalties, murder, and mysteries to solve.  And who doesn’t love a boarding school mystery? I did enjoy the character development in this book although I was not a fan of the ‘romance’. And despite the nice tension that was built throughout the story, the plot holes were too numerous to overlook.  And while I liked the consequences that happened as a result of the events in this book, I didn’t buy into the reason behind what happened and I definitely didn’t feel the ‘culprit’ was believable.  Otherwise, this was an enjoyable read. 

 

Review: The Hidden City by Charles Finch

The Hidden City (Charles Lenox Mysteries, #12)

by Charles Finch

Release Date: September 6, 2025

2025 Minotaur Books

Softcover ARC; 288 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250767165

ASIN: B0B9KW8YQZ

Audiobook: B0BJLBQ68Z

Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Historical

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

It's 1879, and Lenox is convalescing from the violent events of his last investigation. But a desperate letter from an old servant forces him to pick up the trail of a cold case: the murder of an apothecary seven years before, whose only clue is an odd emblem carved into the doorway of the building where the man was killed. 

At the same time, Lenox must contend with the complexities of his personal life: a surprising tension with his steadfast wife, Lady Jane, over her public support of the early movement for women's suffrage; the arrival of Angela Lenox, a mysterious young cousin from India, with an unexpected companion; and the dizzying ascent of his brother, Sir Edmund Lenox, to one of the highest political posts in the land. 

 

My Thoughts

The Hidden City is one of those book to which I was looking forward because of the events in the previous book and how it ended.  I was curious as to his convalescence as well as the repercussions to the events in the United States. However, while I found the historical details to be captivating and the character development continues to be  top notch, the mystery itself was lacklustre and quite frankly, boring. 

 

What did I like about this book? Everything except for the mystery. Lenox' cousin show up from India and add a complexity to the story that I really enjoyed and highlighted more of the women's issues that were plaguing England during this time period.  This worked well with the secondary story line of Lenox' wife who has taken an interest in the suffrage movement with Lenox unsure how to support her in her cause and unsure of the backlash an earl's daughter could receive with such doings.  There are things going on in Lenox' world that I absolutely loved, but then I am a history nerd and lap up that stuff. Tell me about the food, what everyone is wearing, the disdainful looks when someone does something inappropriate, yes, bring it on.  These things with friends are the highlight of the book and I really enjoyed the interactions with family and friends.  

 

While all of the above were great, the mystery itself was...boring.  And definitely not up to the usual intensity we have seen in previous books.  And that's a shame as I thought the villain was actually worthy of a good mystery.  And yes, I was totally sympathetic towards the villain and their situation, but a little more tension, a little more mystery, a little more investigation would have made this more interesting. I did enjoy the peek into early medicine via apothecaries and how even then they mixed improper things into their medicines because of a lack of ingredients. As well as the peek into making illegal ingredients. But that didn't make up for a meandering mystery that was actually quite slow.

 

Verdict

The Hidden City is a well-written book and I definitely enjoyed the attention to the historical details and the world the author brought to life. The character development is always very good. However, the mystery meandered all over the place and dragged quite a bit and had, I will admit, a bit of an unsatisfactory conclusion.  What does that mean for me in terms of continuing the series? This author is great at making you feel immersed in the time period, and for that, I will definitely read the next book in the series, Midnight in the House of Commons, which I already received as an ARC. 

 

Review: The Shadow Carver by Nadine Matheson

The Shadow Carver (Inspector Anjelica Henley, #4)

by Nadine Matheson

Release Date: March 10, 2026

2026 Hanover Square Press

Ebook ARC; 432 Pages

ISBN: 978-1335000354

ASIN: B0F7XGXGYB

Audiobook: B0FN9VR2B6

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

When a string of grisly murders begins painting the city in terror, DI Henley soon realise a vigilante killer is scalping their victims before leaving them for dead. Henley is thrust into a web of secrets, unravelling connections between the victims while battling demons from her own past. As the killer raises the stakes, the line between predator and prey begins to blur. With time slipping away and her own life in jeopardy, Henley must outwit a psychopath who views murder as an art form. Can she hunt them down before the final stroke of the scalpel closes the case forever?

 

 

My Thoughts

The Shadow Carver is the next book in the Inspector Anjelica Henley series, and I enjoyed the mystery as well as learning more about the characters and their on-going relationships in this book.  The mystery itself was quite complex and because there was a connection to some cases in which the team worked in the past, it affected the current mood and members of the team quite a bit.  I like how this book examines the past and how it can impact future investigations as well.

 

First of all, if you have not yet read the previous books in this series, I do highly recommend it as the author does not really explain the connections and the relationships between the characters assuming you have read the previous books.  While it doesn't necessarily impact the overall enjoyment of the book, it does impact the richness of the character development as someone who starts with this book will not know some of the links between the characters and why they react the way they do.  I think this author does a great job with the characters and develops a lot of richness to their relationships, and while the relationships are often messy and ugly, that is also how the real world works.  In a job where your life can hang in the balance, it can be quite hard to compartmentalize feelings, and again, this is where I think the author does shine.  So, while I do think the characters sometimes behave in a silly manner towards each other, you are able to empathize with the reasons behind them even if you just want to put them all in a time out. I'm not sure I like the addition of the new team member as I feel that was thrown in to add some drama to the relationships that really wasn't needed, but I am curious to see where it will all head in the next book. But holy, DC Copeland drove me nuts.  Personally, not a fan of using this technique to add drama to something just because it is thought to be needed.  

 

This was a book about vigilantism, but it was definitely much more than that, something I definitely appreciated. It's hard to explain more about this without giving important plot points away from the story, but when someone takes it into their hands to do what they are doing, it can be quite frightening.  The people are killed in quite violent ways, and I definitely appreciated the discussions that surrounded their deaths and why the investigating officers struggled with the investigation itself.  It would be hard to investigate people who should be in jail, people you tried to put there yourself after a months-long investigation, but something prevented that. And if that sounds vague, it has to be as I will give too much away. The pacing of the book was quick and despite the in-depth delving into their personal relationships, the action actually quite a few twists and turns, some of which were predictable, some of which were surprising.  I will also mention here there is a secondary plot line woven throughout this book that would only make sense if one has read the previous books in this series, and I am looking forward to when this plot line actually gets off the ground as there should be some explosive stuff coming down the pipeline with what has been revealed so far.   

 

Verdict

The Shadow Carver was a good entry into a series that has so far been fun to read, and I really liked both the plot and the character development, except for one issue with a new character which I thought was just silly.  However, the mystery had a lot of depth to it and I did spend some time reflecting on how I would respond if I was in that situation fully understanding the position in which the police officers found themselves.  It would be so difficult to put your personal hatred aside and just do the job some days.  I am definitely looking forward to the next book in this series as some of the scenario has been set up in this one and it should be explosive.   And considering the author is a criminal defence lawyer, I really enjoyed the insights provided in this book about how the system works. 

 

Review: Death at a Highland Wedding by Kelley Armstrong

Death at a Highland Wedding (A Rip Through Time, #4)

by Kelley Armstrong

Release Date: May 20, 2025

2025 Minotaur Books

Softcover Edition; 336 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250321312

ASIN: B0D89278JQ

Audiobook: B0DG99K68D

Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Historical

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Mallory, Gray, and McCreadie are on their way to the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie's younger sister's wedding. The McCreadies and the groom’s family, the Cranstons, have a complicated history which has made the weekend quite uncomfortable. But the Cranston estate is beautiful so Gray and Mallory decide to escape the stifling company and set off to explore the castle and surrounding wilderness. They discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, a slightly pompous and prickly man, has set up deadly traps in the woods for the endangered Scottish wildcats, and they soon come across a cat who's been caught and severely injured. Oddly, Mallory notices the cat's injuries don't match up with the intricacies of the trap. These strange irregularities, combined with the secretive and erratic behavior of the groom, put Mallory and Duncan on edge. And then when one of the guests is murdered, they must work fast to uncover the murderer before another life is lost.

 

My Thoughts

Death at a Highland Wedding is the fourth book in the Rip Through Time series and while I had some issues with the third book in the series, I thoroughly enjoyed this latest addition to Mallory's story.  Mallory continues to embrace her role as assistant to Dr. Duncan Gray and is learning a lot more about the time period in which she has now decided will remain her home.  I enjoyed learning more about Hugh McCreadie, his past, and his family, and thought the mystery was quite interesting.  

 

The author continues to explore the lives of the characters in these books and in this one we learn a lot more about Hugh McCreadie, his sister Fiona as well as about his former relationship with his ex-fiancee Violet.  I thought the author did a great job bringing women's roles to the forefront during this time period  as well as the difficulties they faced through both Violet and Fiona, women bound by their status who fought to be more independent but are stifled by societal rules and what is expected of them. We also tend to see this a lot through Isla, but it is definitely more apparent in this book, especially with Violet and I felt so much empathy for this character. Mallory herself is a character that is full of depth and complexity and we see this through her relationship with Duncan as well as with Isla, but with the addition of Fiona and Violet, we got to see how these women can manipulate and use what they have to their advantage as well and I found this aspect to be quite interesting.  The way they voice their opinions is true dialogue gold. 

 

The plot itself was interesting, and there were quite a few twists and turns, some of which caught me off guard.  It certainly went in a darker direction than I thought it would, and this was an area I thought the author could have explored a bit more. While there are certainly hints that Isla's former marriage was abusive, it is just hints and not really discussed, but this book brings out that aspect of her marriage and hints at the much darker side of a woman's plight when things go badly wrong and there is nobody to protect them.  The author's writing style in these books is very fluid, and while the pace doesn't quite move along as quickly as in previous books, there is a reason for that and it works very well.  I was still captivated by the story line as well as the darker themes of this book.  

 

Verdict

Death at a Highland Wedding certainly went in a direction I wasn't expecting, but the overall tension was good and the character development continues to be top notch.  There is certainly a lot to explore in this book with regards to thematic elements, everything from women's roles and rights, sexual abuse, societal expectations, marriage, loyalty, honesty, deceit, betrayal, secrets, and so much more.  I enjoyed the world-building and admire Mallory's ability to keep quiet about the future and what she knows as I don't know if I could. Looking forward to reading the next installment of this series, An Ordinary Sort of Evil, which releases in May.  

 

Review - A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James

A Box Full of Darkness

by Simone St. James

Release Date: January 20, 2026

2026 Berkley

Ebook ARC; 352 Pages

ISBN: 978-0593200414

ASIN: B0F5PKRY8L

Audiobook: B0F67PW6QM

Genre: Fiction / Horror / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

2 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Strange things happen in Fell, New York: A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks. For Violet, Vail, and Dodie Esmie the final straw was their little brother's shocking disappearance, which started as a normal game of hide-and-seek.

As their parents grew increasingly distant, the sisters were each haunted by visions and frightening events, leading them to leave town and never look back. Violet still sees dead people—spirits who remind her of Sister, the menacing presence that terrorized her for years. Now after nearly two decades it’s time for a homecoming—because Ben is back, and he’s ready to lead them to the answers they’ve longed for and long feared.

 

My Thoughts

A Box Full of Darkness is one of those books I thought I would give a chance simply because I really enjoyed this author's earliest works and I always want to give the new ones a chance as the concept always sounds intriguing.  This one had an interesting concept, it returns to Fell, the setting of a previous book, there are ghosts involved, and includes my favorite, a decrepit house with a lot of secrets.  However, the mystery never really grabbed my attention and I wasn't invested in what happened with the siblings.  Basically, the whole thing felt forced and silly.

 

The three siblings were the main characters and their stories were told through their POVs. They hadn't really seen each other in twenty years and personally, I don't think the relationship between them was developed very well as it felt forced and contrived.  The dialogue was stilted and focused mainly on superficial things even though the author tried to force some sentimentality with childhood reminiscences that didn't quite hit the mark.  After twenty years of not being interested in the house, it did seem odd that the three would suddenly leave their jobs in order to investigate the house when 'something' happened, as if they can just drop their lives at the drop of a dime.  

 

I did enjoy the creepy vibe of this book and really liked the crumbling house with the forest behind it that no one went into. Boy, as kids they really didn't explore a lot as I would have been all over those woods.  So, imagine the shock when they discover things in those woods they didn't as kids. Imagine! And even though the book took place in the 80s, you couldn't tell because the author didn't really take advantage of the nostalgia of the time period.  Even the mention of the hotel, the setting of a previous book, didn't seem to fit the tone of the book and was jarring. 

 

The plot is kind of where this book missed the mark for me. Let me just say that I did enjoy the creepy vibe of the house and loved the ghost sightings, but those are things I live for in books.  The story itself didn't make sense though and a lot of questions were left unanswered or you just had to suspend belief and just move on.  Um, no.  Too many questions, no explanations, so the book fell flat.  And all of the questions were centered on Ben, his arrival, and his disappearance as well as Violet's sightings of another evil entity in the house.  The plot holes were so big you could drop this book right in them.

 

Verdict

A Box Full of Darkness is one of those book for which I had high hopes, that it would be the type of book I first read from this author, but it was not to be. While I did enjoy the supernatural element and loved the setting, it wasn't enough to get past a plot that left me frustrated and annoyed due to the many plot holes and unexplained elements as well as poorly developed characters.  This book just didn't make sense. 

 

Review: Make it Out Alive by Allison Brennan

Make it Out Alive (Quinn & Costa, #7)

by Allison Brennan

Release Date: January 27, 2026

2026 Hanover Square Press

Ebook ARC; 392 Pages

ISBN: 978-1335001412

ASIN:  ‎ B0F7XJN4YP

Audiobook: B0FN9DVLKX

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Three newlywed couples have disappeared from an exclusive resort in Florida, only to turn up dead soon after. With the location and the similarities between the female victims as their only leads, it’s up to the FBI Mobile Response Team to catch a serial killer before anyone else ends up dead. And they have the perfect bait—Detective Kara Quinn, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the targeted women.

Undercover as newlyweds pretending to enjoy their honeymoon, Kara and FBI Agent Matt Costa set a flawless trap. When their plan works and they arrest the predator, Matt sends the rest of the team home so he and Kara can have the weekend for some much-needed R&R. But on Monday morning, the couple doesn’t show up to work, and the MRT learns they never checked out of their hotel.

 

My Thoughts

Make it Out Alive is the seventh installment in the Quinn & Costa Thriller series, and while it had a decent premise, there was definitely something missing in this one, that something that usually keeps me glued to the pages and flipping quickly because of the high level of tension.  While I really enjoyed the locked-room scenario that played out and forced Quinn and Costa to examine their feelings for each other, the chapters with the killers just made me roll my eyes and I definitely didn't buy into the reasons for why they did what they did.   

 

By the time we hit the seventh book, the character development sort of stalls, and unfortunately, that was the case in this book.  The fact there is still tension between Kara and one of the other team members after all these books drives me wild, and that same profiler is constantly questioning herself because of what happened all those years ago.  I understand the trauma she went through, but she is supposed to be a professional so maybe behave like one?  

 

The plot was a bit disjointed in this one as you were thrown into the end of an investigation and really had no idea what was going on when the book began.  I'm not opposed to being thrown into an investigation this way, but the way it was done was a bit weird and threw me off a bit.  The team thinks it has its killer, sends everyone home, then suddenly Matt and Kara go missing so they realize the profile was off and have to do an emergency regroup to find out what happened to Matt and Kara.  Not implausible, but the way it happened made me realize I was reading a different type of book than the previous ones and had to just go along for the ride.  Unfortunately, you also knew who the culprit was right from the beginning and this didn't help the tension of the story.  And I really disliked the POV chapters of the killer. It really felt like the author was fishing really deep to come up with reasons for why the killer did what they did and I couldn't help but roll my eyes during their chapters.  I don't know what it is with the use of a locked-room type scenario lately, but while I enjoyed it, it just seemed so far=fetched for this series considering the deep investigations the author presented in previous books.  

 

Verdict

Make it Out Alive is definitely not my favourite book of this series due to the disjointedness of the story as well as poor reasons from the killer's viewpoint.  I don't have to like a killer or agree with what they did, but the reasons do need to be somewhat believable and for me, these were sitting on the edge of 'rolling my eyeballs into the back of head' type of reasons. I could even ignore the neediness of a professional profiler who whines whenever anyone questions her report, but I couldn't ignore the lack of tension or suspense nor the fact this required quite a suspension of belief to get through.  Will I continue to read the series? Yes, because I really enjoyed the earlier books in this series and hope the next one will have more relatable characters and more intriguing reasons for doing what they do. 

 

Review: Bloody Crowns: A New History of the Hundred Years War by Michael Livingston

Bloody Crowns: A New History of the Hundred Years War

by Michael Livingston

Release Date: October 21, 2025

2025 Basic Books

Ebook ARC; 592 Pages

ISBN: 978-1541607705

ASIN: B0DVSNML5L

Genre: Non-Fiction / History / Europe

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

5 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Henry V at Agincourt. Edward III at Crécy. The Black Prince at Poitiers. Joan of Arc at Orléans. The period we call “the Hundred Years War” was a cascade of violence bursting with some of the most famous figures and fascinating fights in history. The central combatants, England and France, bore witness to uncountable deaths, unbelievable tragedy, and uncompromising glory. But there was much more to this period than a struggle between two nations for dominance.  

Bloody Crowns tells a new story of how medieval Europe was consumed, not by a hundred years’ war, but by two full centuries of war from 1292 to 1492. During those years, blood was spilled far beyond the borders of England and France. The Low Countries became war zones. Italy was swept up. So, too, the Holy Roman Empire, the Iberian Peninsula, Scotland, and Wales. The conflict drove enormous leaps forward in military technology and organization, political systems and national identities, laying the groundwork for the modern world.

 

My Thoughts

Bloody Crowns did what I didn't think was really possible, bring a confusing mess of a series of skirmishes and battles into something fairly coherent that even someone without a background in history could somewhat understand. Everything else I have read about this time period has been fairly convoluted and while I have a history background and taught it my entire career, let's face it, the political, social, and religious situation of this time period was very different from out modern day sensibilities, so it's sometimes hard to understand why a certain person did this or why they chose to do that. Michael Livingston did a great job trying to show why certain decisions were made and why other options just weren't available for these people at the time. 

  

In this book though, the author goes beyond the actual timeline of the Hundred Years War and argues convincingly that it actually began years before the historical start of the war.  The political events before the events that are typically attributed to the Hundred Years War are vital to understanding how the events spiraled out of control and should be included in the timeline.  Even my own history professors agreed with this concept as events don't typically just start, except for a few exceptions, but are part of a timeline of events that led into the major skirmishes that have far-reaching consequences.  While I don't think the concept is 'radically original' as stated by the author as my own professors thought this way, it certainly does help to understand what led into the major events of the Hundred Years War, what led to Agincourt (for another great read, see Livingston's Agincourt: Battle of the Scarred King) and the importance of Jeanne d'Arc (I'm French so I just don't think of her name in English terms.) 

 

This is a very tumultuous time in history and it doesn't help when every third person is named Henry, Charles, or Louis and property boundaries of countries as well as allegiances changed between breakfast and dinnertime.   I thought the author did a great job sorting out who was who, what was what, trying to explain the allegiances in terms of the time period and what that meant, and the importance of what was happening, even the little things, and trying to explain to people who had a familiarity with France where some of these skirmishes would have taken place today.  And this is what I found the most interesting, the attention to the details of things non-battle that nevertheless played such a critical role in what happened during this time period. Something like the development of weapons that changed the course of a skirmish, the wedding between two nobles that may have changed an important allegiance, the death of a child, the birth of a child, the friendship between former foes, the madness of a king, the death of a king, etc... It wasn't always the big battles that had a profound effect on what was happening, but the smaller, but still very significant events that changed the course of history.  England's claim to the throne pushed France into strengthening its central monarchy (leading to the development of the God-kings we will see in the future), asserting control over independent duchies like Brittany, Burgundy, and Gascony to name a few, and developing a centralized army that would be funded by a taxation system (one that would have repercussions in the future we all know about, but that was still three hundred years away), all controlled by the crown.  And what happened to England? The War of the Roses.

 

Verdict 

Bloody Crowns walks the reader through centuries of battles, politics, and people concisely, but manages to do so in a way that is fascinating and interesting, without falling into that dry recitation that some of these books sometimes do.  Personally, I'm not sure how difficult this book would be for someone who has absolutely no knowledge of the subject as I have a really good background and have no difficulty understanding the players in this drama, but it did seem like the author did a great job explaining who was who and what was what.   I also know that not everything was covered in this book, as the author readily acknowledges, but that was not the point of this book, it was to show how the Hundred Years War started much earlier than historians typically think, a point he made very, very well.  For history buffs though, it does give you a lot to think about and I highly recommend.