Friday, March 30, 2018

The Night Dahlia by R.S. Belcher Blog Tour: Review and Excerpt

Today I'm a stop on a blog tour for Night Dahlia by R.S. Belcher. For my stop, there's my review and an excerpt from the book courtesy of the publisher.

Laytham Ballard is picked up off the street where he had flopped face first and taken to meet with Theodore Ankou, a faerie mob boss. Ankou's daughter Caern had disappeared 9 years earlier and her trail has gone quite cold. He's heard that Laytham often succeeds under circumstances like these where others have failed. Laytham accepts the job, and unwillingly, the company of Vigil Burris an elf who works for Ankou. Laytham's main concern seems to be, does Caern want to be found...

Laytham Ballard is a violent, foul-mouthed character. And yet he has his endearing moments. For some reason, in spite of all of his violence and negativity, people still care about him. He is good at what he does. And he is dangerous as all get out as he does it.

It's a fast-paced story. It has lots of things going on. Ballard and Burris burning up Los Angeles between the two of them. There are gangs and magic mixed together. Magic is everywhere in the world of  The Night Dahlia. It's just not recognized by everybody. And as if finding Caern wasn't enough, there is a magical assassin after Laytham. In addition to all that, I like that the magical worldview is not limited to just one culture.

This can be read as a standalone. There is enough information given so that you can enjoy it. You will probably want to go back and read the first book, Nightwise, afterward if you haven't already.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It's definitely readable and creative. I would recommend it to people who enjoy urban fantasy and don't mind violence and swearing.

The Night Dahlia is expected out April 3, 2018 from Tor Books.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions herein are my own and freely given.

Below is an excerpt from The Night Dahlia courtesy of the publisher. It starts in chapter two. Hope you enjoy it!

The Voodoo Queen on Milby Street was a dive that tried a little too hard to be a dive. It made the hipster kids feel like they were really slumming without the need for paying gangland tolls and packing pistols. I liked the joint from my last visit to Houston because the music was good and the folks there didn’t skimp on the alcohol in their drinks. I bypassed the voluminous menu of concoctions that came in hollowed-out pineapples and fishbowls with little totem poles of fruit spears and paper umbrellas for buying the lone bottle of Pappy Van Winkle Reserve they had up on the top shelf. The fetching lass that sold it to me had hair dyed white and a tapestry of tattoos covering her slender body.
You’re kidding,” she said. “That’s like a three-thousand-dollar bottle of twenty-three-year-old whiskey. You know that, right?” I handed her a wad of cash.
Here’s four K,” I said. “It’s a tip for being the prettiest sight I’ve seen all day, darlin’.” The bartender looked at the money, back to me, and stepped to the back bar to count the bills and make sure they weren’t fake by the light of the enormous fish tank full of brilliantly colored clown fish that adorned the back wall of the bar. She came back with the bourbon like she was cradling the Ark of the Covenant, and a glass tumbler.
Ice?” she asked.
Be like pissing in holy water.”
What’s the special occasion?”
It’s my birthday,” I said, getting up from the bar.
Happy birthday!” she said and actually meant it. “Hey, I get off at eight. I’ve never tasted twenty-three-year-old bourbon before.”
Well, come find me,” I said. “I’ll introduce you to it, but I suspect that whiskey is older than you are.”
She laughed, and I retreated to the shadows of the bar floor.
Funny thing, when you buy a bottle like this, they pretty much let you camp any damn place you please. I went around a velvet rope and sat myself down in a corner booth of a closed section. The only lights in here were the small round fills built into the ceiling, bright light under them, and deep shadow all around. I could still hear the music from the jukebox. It was playing the Swan’s cover of “Can’t Find My Way Home.” I poured a drink and sipped it like the first kiss from an old lover in a long, long time. I had stayed dry for eleven months, Magdalena’s influence on me. She was gone, little Joey was gone. Gone, baby, gone, like the song goes. But Dean-fucking-Corll would go on forever. That little girl was gone, but my evil ass sat right here in air-conditioned comfort, getting good and tight. Cheers. Seeing children’s brains sprayed all over walls seemed as good a reason as any to take a flying leap off the wagon. I drained my glass; it was smooth as Sinatra, worth every penny. I poured myself another one, saw that little girl’s eyes as she slipped away, and toasted the darkness.
Happy birthday, asshole,” I said.
Half a bottle or so later, a waitress came back to see how I was doing. I told her to bring me a bottle of the cheapest, nastiest tequila they had and a Budweiser in a bottle. I gave her five hundred dollars for her trouble. After that, I had no shortage of customer service.
The bottle of tequila was almost gone, and a forest of empty brown beer bottles covered the table. The afternoon crowd in the bar had mostly been office folks skipping out for a beer at lunchtime, a few college kids with no classes and money to burn, and of course my people, the barflies who didn’t give a fuck about the décor or the crowd as long as there was a seat for your ass and booze to whittle away the hours of your life until the end. There is a certain Zen meditation present in hard-core alcoholism.
The evening crowd was in now. It consisted of more sketchy locals from the Second District, the surrounding neighborhood, and swarms of hipsters, nursing the one PBR they could afford. There was a battle over who was setting the tone for the night on the jukebox, the music jumping from blues, to dance, to country. I did my part for the war effort by tossing in Johnny Cash’s cover of “I See a Darkness” and followed it up with K.Flay’s “Blood in the Cut.” Take that, alt-folk scum! I paid the club manager a grand to keep my section closed. I wanted to be in a fishbowl, watching life, seeing how normal assholes spent their Friday night.
I had almost finished off the Pappy Van when the tattooed bartender walked up to my table with a stride like a panther. The black lights made her white hair almost glow. “You didn’t forget about me, did you?” she said over the throbbing music and the traffic jam of voices. She had a glass in her hand. I nodded for her to sit and she did. I poured her a glass, the last of the bottle, leaving a single swallow for myself. She raised the glass, and I raised the bottle.
Happy birthday,” she said, “and congratulations on another successful fulfillment of your ongoing obligation, Laytham.”
I paused in drinking the last of the bottle and cocked my head at the bartender, who drained her glass and sighed. I looked across the bar and saw the same bartender, same tattoos, same hair, waving bye to the other bartender on duty as she headed for the door, her purse over her shoulder.
That,” said the bartender sitting across from me, “is what sin tastes like.” I slipped a cigarette between my lips.
Got a light?” I asked the Devil.
You had two images prominent in your mind,” the embodiment of all malice said as she lit my cigarette like any good bartender would. “This sweet young thing you visualized rutting with, and that dead little girl back at the school. Since it was your birthday, I chose, sorry for this, the lesser of two evils.”
What do you want?” I asked. “You are assassinating a very expensive buzz. I did your dirty work, and got you your AWOL scumbag back.”
You did, Laytham,” it said. “I would have manifested sooner, but I had to wait until your consciousness was altered sufficiently for us to interact. I wanted to congratulate you on heroically saving that poor boy’s life, Laytham. Bravo.”
Fuck you,” I said, and drained the last of the bourbon. It tasted like ashes.
Technically, fuck you,” she replied, pouring herself a glass of the last of the oily tequila, “since you were the one who bartered away three years of your life in my service in exchange for those wishes you needed so desperately at the time.” I watched the Devil drink the last of my booze. I think there was a metaphor in there somewhere. “Haven’t we had fun these past few years? Me, breaking up the wearisome monotony of your plodding march toward self-induced oblivion with my little honey-do list of tasks. You, a villain most foul, given chances over and over again to act the hero, like you did today. Tell me, hero, how does it feel to be back on the side of the angels?”
I looked across the table for anything left to drink. There was nothing. I looked up at this thing of purest self-hate, conjured out of my own mind, and said nothing. There was nothing to say. The Devil knows you, because the Devil is you. She went on, taking one of my American Spirits out of the crumpled and almost empty pack. “I wanted to congratulate you,” she said, lighting the cigarette between those full lips, “and let you know I was here to give you a little birthday present of my own. You have worked off about a year’s worth of your debt in the past two. I am forgiving almost all of the remaining time on your account tonight, my dear Laytham.”
Almost?” I said, leaning across the table, knocking several beer bottles over as I did. I think a few smashed on the floor.
I’m holding onto one minute,” the Devil said. “That’s all. One measly minute, and of course the ragged chunk of your soul invested in that time will remain in escrow until that minute is paid. Am I not a generous god?”
You’re what my granny would call a hoodooer,” I slurred. My companion nodded.
Well said. How is your dear grandmother these days? Don’t hear much from her since you ‘helped’ her all those years ago, eh, hero?”
I roared and launched myself across the table at the son of a bitch. The table tumbled over as I fell. Bottles shattered everywhere. I was on the floor with all the other broken things, trying to get back up. The pretty bartender was gone; I was alone. I had been alone the whole time.
Okay, big spender, time to call you a cab.” Thick hands lifted me off the floor and to my feet.
Letgoame,” I said, articulately, and tried to pull away. It didn’t work. The guy holding me was a good six inches taller than me and outweighed me by maybe eighty pounds. He had a hardness behind his eyes that told me the smile fixed on his face was a lie. If I pushed, he would beat the hell out of me. “You have any idea who you’re fuhkin’ with?” I said.
Look, friend,” the bouncer said, walking me out of the closed section, “Let’s just go outside and talk about this, okay?”
Fuhyou,” I said and took a swing at him. “I’m fuhkin’ Laythm Ballard, you muther fuhker!” It connected, but there wasn’t anything behind it. I might as well have slapped him with a bar rag. I tried to put together a spell, some kind of spell, death spell? Fire-fall? My concentration was like mercury, and my energies were as scattered as any other broken-down old drunk’s would have been. The bouncer snapped off two quick, tight jabs at me. He wasn’t just a meathead that stood at the door and checked ID; he had training. There were bright lights popping behind my eyes, and I was falling. Then there was movement after some time in the dark. A female voice was near my ear.
Who did he say he was?”
Nobody, just an old, rich drunk,” I heard the bouncer telling the girl, “celebrating his birthday a little too hard. He was back there talking to himself for the last half hour.”



R. S. BELCHER is the award-winning author of NightwiseThe Brotherhood of the Wheel, The Six-Gun Tarot, The Shotgun Arcana, and The Queen of Swords.  He lives in Salem, Virginia. You can visit him online at rsbelcher.net.




Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #231: Shadow Dancing by Julie Mulhern


"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event which had been hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. I'm now linking up with "Can't-Wait Wednesday" hosted over at Wishful Endings.

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Visiting a psychic is outside the norm for Ellison Russell. Finding bodies is not. Unfortunately, the psychic’s crystal ball says she’ll soon be surrounded by death. Again. 

Drat. 

Now there’s a corpse in the front drive, a witchy neighbor ready to turn Ellison and her (not so) little dog into toadstools, and a stripper named Starry Knight occupying the guest room. 

How did 1975 go so wrong so quickly? 

Ellison must handle Mother (who’s found a body of her own), make up with a certain handsome detective, and catch a killer, or the death surrounding her might be her own. 


Shadow Dancing by Julie Mulhern is expected to be released June 19th, 2018 from Henery Press. It's book #7 in The Country Club Murders series.

Why am I waiting on this one? I've enjoyed all the other books in this series that I've read. I like Ellison and her family and housekeeper. I'd like to see her make up with Anarchy Jones. It's a fun series to read.

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Teaser Tuesday: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
 Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
 BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 
A little kung fu, a little John Wayne, and a few casual threats.
So far, I thought, my nerves jangling, just one more night on the job. (p.27)
Fool Moon by Jim Butcher is the second in the Dresden Files series. It was published January 2001 from Roc. 
Jim Butcher has a collection of Dresden Files stories called Brief Cases, most of which have already appeared in other places, due out June 5th, 2018 from Ace. The exception being a novellette that is all new for the volume. He also has a new Dresden Files novel, Peace Talks, in the works.
Would you keep reading? What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Review: Uneasy Prey by Annette Dashofy

In the sixth book in the Zoe Chambers series, an elderly woman appears to have fallen down a flight of stairs to her basement. On the way to the hospital, she recovers enough to whisper to Zoe that she was pushed. A pair of con men has been visiting older members of the community posing as utility workers and casing houses for future robberies. Are they responsible for her death?
When the robbers visit Zoe’s former landlady, she decides it’s a good idea to move back in short-term as protection. Police Chief Pete Adams, her boyfriend, is adamantly against this. Her decision ultimately places her in the path of danger, but it doesn’t stop her from trying to figure out who is responsible for the robberies and Oriole’s death.
For those of us who have older friends and family or perhaps are older ourselves, this mystery hits home. Anyone could fall for what those con men were doing.
Then there is the addition of a character – a pesky reporter type. Zoe finds she is suspicious of the woman and her motives. The chief just doesn’t really like her at first because of her pushiness.
The characters are interesting and varied. They range in age from adolescent to senior citizen. They all come across as real people. There is a little character development as they grow and react to things going on around them.
The plot moves along at a good speed. It flows smoothly, is complex, and is well written. There is a secondary mystery, but I don’t want to go into it because of spoilers.
This was my first Zoe Chambers mystery. You can read it as a stand-alone, but I found it whet my appetite for the earlier mysteries in the series. I will definitely be reading more by this author.
I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. The book is well-written. The characters come across as real people. And the mysteries are well done. There is enough background given to enjoy it even if it’s the first book you are reading in the series. I recommend it to people who enjoy cozies.
Uneasy Prey by Annette Dashofy is due to be released March 27th, 2018 from Henery Press.
Disclaimer: I received a  copy of the book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions herein are my own and freely given.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #230: My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris


"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event which had been hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. I'm now linking up with "Can't-Wait Wednesday" hosted over at Wishful Endings.


Synopsis from Goodreads:

The romance novel that lets you pick your path, follow your heart, and find happily ever after

You are the plucky but penniless heroine in the center of eighteenth-century society, courtship season has begun, and your future is at hand. Will you flip forward fetchingly to find love with the bantering baronet Sir Benedict Granville? Or turn the page to true love with the hardworking, horse-loving highlander Captain Angus McTaggart? Or perhaps race through the chapters chasing a good (and arousing) man gone mad, bad, and scandalous to know, Lord Garraway Craven? Or read on recklessly and take to the Continent as the “traveling companion” of the spirited and adventuresome Lady Evangeline? Or yet some other intriguing fate? Make choices, turn pages, and discover all the daring delights of the multiple (and intertwining!) storylines. And in every path you pick, beguiling illustrations bring all the lust and love to life.


My Lady's Choosing: an Interactive Romance Novel by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris is due to be released April 3, 2018 from Quirk Books.

Why am I waiting on this one? I enjoyed the Choose Your Own Adventure books growing up. While this is a different company, this sounds like an interesting grown-up blend of that with a romance. It seems like it would be fun to read.

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Teaser Tuesday: Uneasy Prey by Annette Dashofy


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
 Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
 BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 
Harry lowered his voice further. "People are dying. And not because they're just old. Someone here is a murderer." (60% through on my Kindle)
Harry is speaking to his son the police chief. Harry has Alzheimer's, so his son isn't sure what to make of his statement.
The above quote is from an ARC and may appear differently in the final edition.
Uneasy Prey by Annette Dashofy is due to be released March 27, 2018 from Henery Press. It's #6 in the Zoe Chambers mystery series.
Would you keep reading? What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!

Monday, March 19, 2018

Quickie Review: Herding Cats: a Sarah Scribbles Collection by Sarah Andersen

Herding Cats: a "Sarah Scribbles" collection by Sarah Andersen earned a 4 star review from me. It's an interesting collection of comic strips. You might like it even more if you happen to be an introvert, an artist, or a pet lover.

In Big Mushy Happy Lump Sarah discovered her love for cats. This continues into Herding Cats. There are many strips showing her interacting with a cute black cat (like on the cover).

Also, there are several strips showing her attitudes towards being an artist and an introvert. I am somewhat of an introvert and found myself nodding along with some of the strips, including one where she avoids conflict by saying yes when someone asked her for a favor when she really wanted to say no. Of course you don't have to be an introvert to have that happen, which makes it even better.

The latter part of the book is dedicated to giving advice to artists online, especially younger artists. I thought this was a valuable, interesting read. It includes advice on how to take criticism and suggestions for how to handle trolls among other things.

All in all, it's a good read. Mostly humorous, it generated lots of smiles, laughs, and some nods. It's worth a read. If you enjoyed either of her previous collections, you will like this one as well.

Herding Cats is due to be released March 27, 2018 from Andrews McMeel Publishing.

You can check out more of Sarah's work online on Facebook, Twitter, and at GoComics.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions herein are my own and freely given.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #229: Dark Queen by Faith Hunter


"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event which had been hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. I'm now linking up with "Can't-Wait Wednesday" hosted over at Wishful Endings.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Jane Yellowrock used to hunt vampires, but now she must fight--and win--beside them.

As Enforcer to the vampire Master of the City of New Orleans, Jane Yellowrock stakes her reputation and her life on keeping her territory safe. But Leo has been issued a blood challenge by the emperor of the European vampires, who seeks to usurp all of his power and possessions. If Leo loses the match to the death, the city will be forfeit, and the people of New Orleans will suffer the consequences. Jane can't let that happen.

Preparing for the duel requires all of Jane's focus, but with so much supernatural power in play, nothing goes according to plan. She has to rely on herself and the very few people she knows she can trust to stand and fight. Only two things are guaranteed: nothing is sacred, and no one is safe.
 


Dark Queen by Faith Hunter is due out from Ace May 1, 2018.

Why am I waiting on this one? It's #15 in the Jane Yellowrock series. And while I haven't read them all yet, I have read enough to know I would probably enjoy reading this one as well. It's one of the best urban fantasy series available.

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Review: The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror by Mallory Ortberg


The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror
by Mallory Ortberg is a collection of retellings. Most of the retellings are of fairy tales, but some are based on other literature such as the tale, "The Rabbit," which is based on the Velveteen Rabbit. There are 11 tales in total.

There is a horrifying aspect to each story. Mallory Ortberg takes a tale that has some level of darkness to it and twists it to make it even darker. For example, the retelling based on "The Little Mermaid" has a particularly gruesome necessity that must be met before she can return to the sea. 

The tales also have a feminist aspect to them. The female characters are not all submissive and often take an active role in their fate. And often the pronoun he or she is used for what appears to be someone of the opposite sex. In the "Frog Princess," the princess is consistently referred to with the pronoun he.

I gave this collection 3 out of 5 stars. I liked it. It was ok. I didn't love it. To be honest, I didn't enjoy it much. I found the pronoun use in some of the tales more confusing than edifying. I did find several of the tales haunting though. If you like dark retellings, there's a good chance you will like this collection. 

The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror by Mallory Ortberg was released March 13, 2018 from Henry Holt and Company.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions herein are my own and freely given.

Teaser Tuesday: The Merry Spinster by Mallory Ortberg


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
 Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
 BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 
"Let her alone," Catherine said without looking up from the newspaper. "Beauty is determined not to thrive, and if you take the coffee cups from her, she might murder us all in our beds, just to have something to tidy up." 
(50% through on my Kindle in the story "The Merry Spinster" a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast")
The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror by Mallory Ortberg is being released today from Henry Holt and Company.
Would you keep reading? What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #228: Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King


"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event which had been hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. I'm now linking up with "Can't-Wait Wednesday" hosted over at Wishful Endings.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are back in the New York Times bestselling series that Lee Child called "the most sustained feat of imagination in mystery fiction today."

A June summer's evening, on the Sussex Downs, in 1925. Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are strolling across their orchard when the telephone rings: an old friend's beloved aunt has failed to return following a supervised outing from Bedlam. After the previous few weeks--with a bloody murder, a terrible loss, and startling revelations about Holmes--Russell is feeling a bit unbalanced herself. The last thing she wants is to deal with the mad, and yet, she can't say no.

The Lady Vivian Beaconsfield has spent most of her adult life in one asylum after another, yet she seemed to be improving--or at least, finding a point of balance in her madness. So why did she disappear? Did she take the family's jewels with her, or did someone else? The Bedlam nurse, perhaps?

The trail leads Russell and Holmes through Bedlam's stony halls to the warm Venice lagoon, where ethereal beauty is jarred by Mussolini's Blackshirts, where the gilded Lido set may be tempting a madwoman, and where Cole Porter sits at a piano, playing with ideas...
 


Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King is due to be released June 12, 2018 from Bantam. This is number 15 in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series.

Why am I waiting on this one? It sounds interesting from asylums to Venice. I haven't tried this series yet, but I am willing to give this one a go and see if I like it enough to go back and read the series from the beginning. From the information on the Goodreads page it sounds like the characters have grown and developed as the series progresses.That intrigues me as well as far as reading the previous mysteries goes.

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Teaser Tuesday: Killing in C Sharp by Alexia Gordon


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
 Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
 BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 
"I don't think he can see me in all my glory. And the rest of that ghost hunting bunch wouldn't know I was there if I dumped ice water on their heads." Eamon glowed an impatient turquoise.
- 27% through on my Kindle - The ghostly Eamon is talking to the protagonist Gethsemane Brown.

Killing in C Sharp by Alexia Gordon is being released today by Henery Press. 

Would you keep reading? What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Review: Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire

Tricks for Free is the seventh book in the InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire. Antimony Price aka Melody West is in Florida working at a busy amusement park, Lowryland, that is in direct competition with Disney. How did she get here? Why is she here? And why is she alone? Something went south with the Covenant and now they are chasing after her. The amusement park seems like the perfect place to hide out. So many people would make it hard for them to track her.

Still, there are unexpected occurrences. She is rooming with a sylph and a gorgon. She is scorching her sheets at night with the fire she is trying to control. Someone wants to teach her to control her fire and she jumps at the chance. Then bad accidents in the park start to occur. What or who is causing them? Annie works at resolving the issues and finding a way to return to the family fold.

This is my first Seanan McGuire novel. And it wasn't a bad place to start. It certainly whets my appetite for more in the series. And I will be checking out her other series as well.

The characters in the novel are interesting. Those closest to Annie are the most well developed. I want to know more about them as well. I find especially interesting her former babysitter, a crossroads ghost, who pops in and out pretty much at will.

There is enough background given to follow the action quite well and to see what lead Annie to the predicament she finds herself in. You could read this as a standalone, but you will probably want to read the sequel as well as some of the earlier books in the series.

The plot moves along at a good pace. I found it a little slow in the beginning, but that was because things were being established that the rest of the book would depend on. It didn't slow me down or make me stop reading. It was just something that I noted. As the book progresses, the pace picks up.

There's a short story at the end of the book. It works well and brings up what happened to her mice and what happened to her boyfriend after the end of the previous book. It's interesting and I enjoyed it. I was not familiar with Aeslin mice and it was nice to get to know them even in such a brief time.

I give this novel 4 out of 5 stars. It's well-written. The characters are interesting. The pace is good. I would definitely recommend this series to fans of urban fantasy. I will be reading more books by this author.

Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire is going to be released March 6, 2018 from DAW Books.

Seanan McGuire is a Washington State-based author. The October Daye novels are her first urban fantasy series, and the InCryptid novels are her second series, both of which have put her on the New York Times bestseller list. She is the first person to be nominated for five Hugo Awards in a single year. You can find out more about her and her books on her website here.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions herein are my own and freely given.