Review: Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson

Blood in the WaterBlood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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In Tiffany D. Jackson’s Middle Grade Debut we follow 12-year old, Kaylani, a Brooklyn girl headed to Martha’s Vineyard for the summer to stay with some family friends. A trip she’s not exactly excited about.

The family in question, the Watsons, are extremely wealthy and powerful. In fact, Kaylani’s Dad used to be close with them and worked for them, prior to his incarceration for financial crimes Kaylani is positive he didn’t commit.

She doesn’t have time to go to the stuffy ole’ Vineyard, when all she wants to do is study the law and try to figure out a way to free her Dad.

In spite of her hesitations though, both Kaylani’s parents insist she go. She needs to have fun, be a kid and let loose. She’s been so worried about her Dad, and focused on his case, she’s sort of put her life on hold.

Even on the ferry to the island though, Kaylani knows it’s going to be a rough summer. The Watson’s granddaughters, London and Cassie, are also on the ferry and London instantly makes Kaylani feel uncomfortable and judged.

In spite of this, once on the island. Kaylani does start to settle in. It’s beautiful and there are lots of other kids. Maybe it won’t be a completely terrible summer. Sometimes, she and London even get on a little, or at least find ways they can be mutually-beneficial to each other.

The day after the girls attend their first beach party, they’re shocked to learn that one of the other kids from party, a boy named Chadwick, has been found dead.

The circumstances are mysterious, and rumors fly as to whether it was a drowning, a shark attack, or even worse, murder. Chadwick happens to be Cassie Watson’s ex-boyfriend, and suspicion falls onto her.

Kaylani’s innate curiosities are triggered and she’s determined to get to the bottom of it. She’s confident Chadwick’s death was no accident, but how can she prove it?

Blood in the Water was really fun and so cute, with a great MC. Kaylani is a character you can connect to instantly. She’s smart, determined, she loves her family and she’s just an all-around good kid. She’s someone you want to see succeed.

I love the setting on the Vineyard. I live on the neighboring island of Nantucket, and appreciated all the true-to-life details that Jackson brought to the story. It made it feel extra special for me and helped me picture everything perfectly.

I also loved having a true murder mystery where the majority of our main players were kids and teens. Kaylani getting her sleuthing on, and making friends to help along the way, was such a delight. Additionally, I loved Kaylani’s relationship with both of her parents, but her Dad especially.

My only complaint was that I wish it had been like 30 to 40-pages longer. I wanted to know even more about the characters, and to get more details on Kaylani’s stay on the island. Overall though, a great MG debut for Jackson.

Jackson is such a talented writer, definitely one of my all time faves and I loved seeing what she could do in this new age-range. Thank you so much to the publisher, Scholastic, for providing me with a copy to read and review!

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Review: Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson

Coffin MoonCoffin Moon by Keith Rosson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

Coffin Moon centers around Duane Minor, a Vietnam Vet working as a bartender in his wife, Heidi’s, parent’s bar, and his 13-year old niece, Julia, who the couple recently took in.

Duane is struggling with his sobriety, while Julia is struggling with some very traumatic events in her home life that has left her separated from her mother and brother.

When Minor ends up crossing the baddies that try to pull some shady sh*t at the bar, it changes all of their lives forever. Leading the charge for the bad guys is a man named John Varley, not your average killer, who sleeps during the day and whose teeth grow extra long at night.

After Heidi is killed in retaliation for Minor’s interference, he is wracked with guilt, while Julia is filled with rage. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game of pursuit across the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Their goal is to root out John Varley and make him pay for all he’s taken from them.

Will any amount of blood be able to sate their grief and guilt?

This was devilishly good. Set in the 1970s, I feel like Rosson did a fabulous job channeling the gritty Crime Fiction vibes of that era. The tone of it, it’s morose, devastating and heavily vengeance-focused. We love to see it.

I’d love to read this again and take more time with it. This time through, I went rather quickly, so focused on what was going to happen. In future, I think it would be worth a revisit to focus in more on the character work and relationships.

I loved both Minor and Julia. Their interactions together and the way their bond evolved, it felt so natural and it truly tugged at my heart-strings.

Additionally, John Varley was fascinating. We learn quite a bit about him and his history, and those are some of the moments that I would like to revisit the most. There was something sweeping and epic-feeling about his story that brought even more to the historical meat of this story.

There were so many devastating moments in this book. Moments where I would read it and think, OMG, how would you get over that? But Minor and Julia just kept on going on, and I love that resilience and even if it was driven by rage in Julia’s case, I respected the hell out of their strength.

It felt like Rosson poured a lot of emotion into this one. It hurt my heart a bit, not gonna lie, but it was so worth it. I was sad about much of it, but impressed with the fact that Rosson could make me feel so much for these characters in such a short amount of time.

Overall, I found this to be such a unique and classic-feeling Horror story. I have never read anything from this author before, but I will be reading more in the future.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Random House, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I think this will definitely be one of my most memorable reads of 2025!

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Review: Murder on the Marlow Belle (The Marlow Murder Club #4) by Robert Thorogood

Murder on the Marlow Belle (Marlow Murder Club, #4)Murder on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Murder on the Marlow Belle is the 4th-installment in the Marlow Murder Club series. I’ve had a lot of fun with the previous 3-books in this humorous Cozy Mystery series, so had been anxiously awaiting this latest.

This series follows Judith Potts, a widow in her 70s, and her two best friends, Suzie and Becks, as they tackle mysteries in their local Marlow community.

This mystery begins when Verity Beresford contacts Judith asking for help locating her missing husband, Oliver. Verity, like most residents of Marlow, is well aware of Judith’s superior sleuthing skills, and she believes Judith maybe able to help her find Oliver faster than anyone else.

Oliver’s only been missing overnight, but the circumstances are concerning. Oliver, the founder of the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society, had hired The Marlow Belle, a private pleasure cruiser, for a party cruise for his committee members, but no one remembers seeing him disembark.

Of course anytime someone goes missing upon the water, there’s cause for concern. In this case, it’s more than warranted, when shortly thereafter Oliver’s body is discovered, having washed ashore with two bullet wounds.

As it turns out, Oliver was a complicated man, with no shortage of enemies. Nevertheless, Judith and her friends are confident they can weed out the killer.

Unfortunately, the task proves more difficult than they’d hoped when they discover what a twisted web the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society actually is.

Will the ladies be able to find Oliver’s murderer before they’ve flowed out of their grasp like the River Thames?

Overall, I thought this was a really fun installment to this Cozy series. I love books set at a theater, or involving a theater troupe, so this was perfect for me in that regard.

I’m fully attached to this charming cast of characters at this point, so find it hard to believe that I would dislike any of these books. Judith is plucky and resourceful.

I love that she’s found these two friends at this stage of her life, and though they’re all very different, they’re so supportive of one another. Squad goals!

I’m in for the long haul with this series. I have no clue how long it is slated to be, but I’ll be reading each and every one.

I would highly recommend this series to all Cozy Mystery fans, in particular if you enjoy friendship groups solving mysteries together, or elderly amateur sleuths. The small town vibes are on point as well.

Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m excited to solve more cases with Judith, Suzie and Becks.

The 5th-book in the series, The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts, is set to release on January 15, 2026. I’ll be marking my calendar, and so should you!

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Review: 13 Months Haunted by Jimmy Juliano

13 Months Haunted13 Months Haunted by Jimmy Juliano
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

13 Months Haunted follows Piper Lowery, a public librarian, who meets a strange young girl while volunteering at the local middle school.

The events of Piper’s tale take place in the 1990s, but the set-up of the story itself, is Piper actually relaying these events to an interested relative. I did think that was a fun and slightly-different way to present this story.

The young girl’s name is Avery and she is new to the school. She does have some odd behaviors, but the oddest thing about her is the fact that her mother attends school with her, sits in all Avery’s classes, and literally tails her daughter like a shadow, even to the restroom.

Piper begins hearing rumors about Avery and her Mom. They’re sort of the talk of the town. People say the Mom is a witch, that they fled their old town after Avery’s sister and father were killed by a supernatural force.

While Piper finds this a bit extreme, there is something off about the mother-daughter duo. Through multiple interactions, Piper ends up befriending them and the rest proceeds from there.

This book started off great. It captured my attention early and I loved the small town setting, and the fact that the main action takes place in the 1990s; definitely a nostalgic period for me.

I was about the same age as Piper was during this same time period, so I could relate to a lot of what she was experiencing starting out her life as a young adult. There’s also a lot of focus on the new, popular use of the internet.

For people who grew up using the internet from the time they were small children, let it be known, it was very different for those of us who never really had access, or even email, until around college-age. It was like a wild-west landscape. Unless you were in IT, you didn’t really know what was going on, or how it worked.

Piper has a blog and she shares a lot on it. It was really more of a diary for her and she does relate the odd goings-on after she meets Avery for the first time.

So, there are some fun details involving that whole aspect of her life as well, particularly after she starts getting comments on what she’s posting. It added a bit of a mixed media element, which I do tend to enjoy.

I loved the mystery surrounding Avery and her Mom as well. I really wanted to know the truth about them, and their past. Was something supernatural actually at play?

Even though the rumors circulating about them were fairly vicious, Piper comes to learn that there may have been some truth to them, but how much? She starts digging in with force, really out of an effort to try to help Avery, and I enjoyed those amateur sleuthing components.

Unfortunately for me, eventually the intrigue started to wear off. I’m not sure exactly why, but the plot just seemed to drag for me after about the halfway point.

I had theories, none of which I was particularly confident in, but it did start to seem repetitive and took me over 2-weeks to finish. I can’t explain why I felt this way about it.

I just think once the initial mystery of what was going on with Avery was out of the way, it sort of lost it’s main excitement factor. I did like the way it wrapped-up though. I felt the conclusion interesting to contemplate. There were some real repercussions there at the end.

Overall, I did find this to be an interesting and unique story. Although some of it did seem a little drawn out to me, I did love the ending and overriding premise. Additionally, the mysterious elements were solid, as were the details of Piper’s amateur investigation.

Thank you to the publisher, Dutton, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Juliano is very talented. I love his concepts and will continue picking up his work for a long time to come!

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Review: Killing Stella by Martin Haushofer (Translated by Shaun Whiteside)

Killing StellaKilling Stella by Marlen Haushofer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Killing Stella is a subtle Domestic Horror story, originally published in the late-1950s, which has recently been translated into English for the 1st-time.

I was intrigued by the premise and always enjoy exploring more Classic Horror stories. This is a novella, coming in at around 88-pages, and was very easy to get through.

The story is written in a sort of confessional-style, with our protagonist, Anna, relaying the tragic events that befell her family after she and her husband, Richard, took in an acquaintance’s teenage daughter, Stella.

I found this interesting and easily readable, though I wish it would have delved even deeper into the events that surrounded Stella staying with Richard and Anna.

It is very stream of consciousness, as again, you are reading this as a bit of a confessional from Anna. In fact, at the very end, she comments how she had been writing for 2-hours. It was like she needed to purge the events, and the subsequent guilt, from her body.

While I appreciated the topics explored by Haushofer, and I’m sure this was a bit risque at the time it was written because of those topics, I’m not sure how well it holds up in the modern Domestic Horror landscape.

I think this will be enjoyed most by Readers who enjoy the Classics, and also who enjoy more psychologically-focused, quietly-told, Horror stories.

At the end of the day, I’m glad I picked this up. I’m happy it was translated and that I got to experience it. I think it’s important to explore and appreciate the roots of Horror, my favorite genre.

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Review: Let’s Split Up (Let’s Split Up #1) by Bill Wood

Let's Split Up (Let's Split Up, #1)Let’s Split Up by Bill Wood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Let’s Split Up is an entertaining YA Horror novel that made me nostalgic for the scary stories of my youth. This is a multi-perspective story that follows a group of teens in the small town of Sanera, California.

Amber, Jonesy and Cam have been best friends for years, and when new girl, Buffy, arrives, led by Amber, they quickly envelop her into their crew.

Prior to meeting our group though, we get a Prologue, where two of their popular classmates, Brad and Shelley, exploring an abandoned estate, Carrington Manor, end up getting brutally murdered.

That’s how this book kicks off, and it definitely sets the stage for what’s to come. The deaths of the two students rocks their local high school, and our main cast is caught up in the consequences of all of that.

Rumors fly around the small town that the Carrington ghoul is responsible for Brad and Shelley’s deaths, but could that really be true? A paranormal entity is hard to fathom.

When they don’t trust the local authorities to figure out what happened to their classmates, Cam, Jonesy, Amber and Buffy decide to investigate themselves, heading to Carrington Manor to dig around.

When things take a turn, and they find themselves in danger, they decide to split up in hopes of getting answers faster, thus breaking a widely recognized rule in Horror.

From there it’s balls to wall craziness as these kids just try to survive their town day-to-day. No matter the danger, they’re determined to crack this case.

Let’s Split Up was a lot of fun. The author mentioned in his acknowledgements at the end that he had wanted to explore what it would be like if Scooby-Doo was scarier, and I think he definitely succeeded.

This gave me all the Scooby-Doo vibes, with a touch of Scream mixed in, making it a truly entertaining YA Horror story. I love that there’s already a 2nd-book set to release in the Spring. I’ll definitely be reading it.

This is super trope-filled though, I do want to caution you, in case you don’t enjoy books like that, but for me, I thought that aspect was so fun.

Personally, specifically in YA Horror, I love to see all the tropes. It makes it feel more nostalgic for me, bringing me back to the stories I enjoyed as a youngster, when I first fell in love with my most favorite genre.

It’s pure entertainment. The characters were fun and I enjoyed their relationships a lot. I think it will be fun to follow them again on different cases. They have so much room to grow, and I wanna be there for it.

Initially, I wasn’t crazy about getting three different perspectives — Jonesy, Amber and Cam — but I did come to really enjoy that aspect. I think as the story continued it started to make more sense for it to be told that way.

Overall, I think this was a really enjoyable read. It’s not perfect by any stretch, but I like how it didn’t take itself too seriously. It was revisiting some of the best tropes in Horror, and I adored the added Scooby-Doo vibes. As mentioned above, I’m looking forward to the 2nd-book.

Thank you so much to Scholastic for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to reading more from Bill Wood!

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Review: Asylum Hotel by Juliet Blackwell

Asylum HotelAsylum Hotel by Juliet Blackwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Asylum Hotel follows architect, Aubrey Spencer, who after a devastating incident at work has begun seeking solace through photography. Her area of interest: abandoned places. Cue the spooky music.

The Seabrink Hotel, a stately-yet-crumbling seaside hotel, once catering to the rich and famous, is Aubrey’s current subject. The hotel is soon set to be renovated, so Aubrey wants to be sure to capture it 0n film before that occurs.

As she’s roaming the site, she runs into a man she recognizes, Dimitri Petroff, who she knows from his YouTube channel where he explores abandoned places.

The two end up hitting it off, and spend the night together. The following morning, Dimitri’s body is found at the base of a seaside cliff. Aubrey is in shock.

How could this have happened? It doesn’t make sense. The police wrap up the scene quickly, assuming it’s suicide, but Aubrey’s not buying it.

Unable to let it rest, Aubrey sets out to discover the truth of what happened to Dimitri. Local legend leads her to think something he may have seen at the Seabrink could have resulted in his death.

Digging into the hotel’s past, Aubrey uncovers a dark and sordid history that leaves her unsettled and believing that there may be some truth to the local legends.

Y’all, I really, really enjoyed this. This is a true Paranormal Mystery, so if you’re not into that sort of thing, if you’re looking for a strict Mystery-Thriller, it may be best if you steer clear. For those who like a little Paranormal sprinkled on top though, this one is for you.

I loved the setting and all the dark history surrounding the Seabrink Hotel. I enjoyed Aubrey as a MC as well. I haven’t read a lot of stories where the MC is an architect, so that was a nice touch.

My favorite aspect of this though, oddly enough, was the dynamic between Aubrey and her best friend, Nikki, who comes to stay with Aubrey after Dimitri’s body is discovered. There was something about the two of them together that just filled my heart.

Maybe because I live long distance from my own best friend, I’m not sure, but I loved how involved and supportive they were with one another. Their interactions added a lot to this story for me. It made me more connected in a way.

Additionally, I have to mention the fabulous audiobook narration done by Xe Sands. As always, Sands brought this story to life. I felt like I was listening to Aubrey relay the story to me directly. It’s really well done. Sands is one of the best in the business. There’s no denying that.

At the end of the day, while this isn’t a perfect book, I did have a lot of fun with it. It hooked me and I got through it so quickly. I liked many things about it and look forward to picking up more from Juliet Blackwell.

Thank you, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review!

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Review: Stone Certainty (The Holy Terrors Mysteries #2) by Simon R. Green

Stone Certainty (The Holy Terrors Mysteries)Stone Certainty by Simon R. Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Stone Certainty is the 2nd-installment of the Holy Terror Mysteries series, but the 3rd-book that I’ve read from the series. It’s also my highest-rated thus far.

My reading order was the 1st-book, The Holy Terrors, followed by the 3rd-book, Which Witch?, both of which I received as ARCs, and then I was enjoying the series enough to come back and pick up this middle release.

Luckily, as with any Adult Mystery series, they can really be read in any order, with each one focusing on a completely distinct mystery. What remains the same is our two MCs: Alistair, a young bishop, and Diana, a vibrant actress.

I think the reason this is my highest rated thus far isn’t because the mystery of this is better than the others, I think it’s more to do with the fact that I have become quite attached to Alistair and Diana at this point.

I mentioned in my reviews for the previous books how I started this series expecting Horror, and it’s definitely not that. To me this is a Cozy Mystery series, pure and simple, that just so happens to explore mysteries that have a strong, is it paranormal, is it not paranormal element.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. I love Cozy Mysteries. They’re one of my most read genres, I just went in with completely different expectations and it did have an effect on my initial enjoyment level.

At this point though, I know exactly what I’m getting and am enjoying it. This one in particular, set in the village of Chipping Amesbury, was especially fun. The mystery involves a stone circle, think Stonehenge, and all the local lore and legends that come along with that.

I adored the setting, in particular, how shifty the locals were being in regards to the stone circle and outsiders being there poking around it.

At the end of the day, I’m really glad that I continued on with this series, even though initially it didn’t knock my socks off. I’m having a lot of fun with it now and hope that it continues on.

I would definitely be down for reading more mysteries with Alistair and Diana investigating together. Their chemistry is fabulous and I know there’s so much more in store for their future together!

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Review: The Whistler by Nick Medina

The WhistlerThe Whistler by Nick Medina
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars rounded up**

The Whistler follows our MC, Henry, a young man who is grappling with his new reality of being confined to a wheelchair after being paralyzed in a horrific accident.

Before his accident, Henry was happy. He was a talented musician, had a beautiful girlfriend, Jade, who he had a great, active relationship with, and his ghost hunting channel was actually gaining some traction.

Post-accident, Henry has to move in with his grandparents, relying on them for even the simplest tasks. His relationship with Jade, as well as with his best friend, is estranged. He feels useless, hopeless and emasculated.

His grandparents, Jade, everyone is trying to talk him up, telling him he can still live and have a good life, but they just don’t understand how he feels. Henry feels so alone.

Oh, and he’s also being haunted…

As the being haunting him gets continuously closer and more bold, Henry realizes he needs to confront his past, and the events that caused his injury, if he is to have any hope of banishing it for good. He can’t do it alone, so Henry is forced to open up to those around him that he’s been shutting out.

The Whistler took me completely by surprise. Not because of how incredible it is, but because of its connection to Indian Burial Ground, which I wasn’t expecting at all.

I’m such a Nick Medina fan. I love the quality and richness of his storytelling. The tone of his stories, they take me through every different emotion and leave me simultaneously gutted and inspired. This story is an absolute roller coaster ride of feelings.

The Prologue, which doesn’t follow Henry, but is related to the events that caused his injury, was terrifying. I read it home alone in the dark, and I was genuinely creeped out.

From that moment on, I was gripped by the story, that’s mainly told through Henry’s past and present perspective. I loved the depths that Medina went with this character.

Seeing the difference in Henry between his past, happier, times and his present, post-injury, was very jarring. It made him feel so incredibly real, as everything happening to him, and the journey he was on emotionally, it was raw and messy. I felt that representation was done with great care.

The haunting elements were so well-imagined. Medina created some stellar horror imagery on page. I loved how the never whistle at night lore was woven through as well.

In fact, the first time I read Medina’s work was in the Indigenous Dark Fiction anthology, Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, which was where I learned of that belief. I was excited when I saw that Medina had written a full novel incorporating that lore.

As mentioned above, this story is related to Indian Burial Ground. It’s not a sequel, or anything, and of course can be read as a standalone, however, I do feel it will have the greatest impact for those people who have already read IBG.

Overall, I was so impressed by this. It’s such a gripping, mysterious, haunting, and well-rounded story.

I would definitely recommend this Horror readers, or readers of Indigenous Fiction in general. Also, anyone who read and enjoyed Indian Burial Ground, you have to check this out.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I can’t wait for whatever Medina writes next!

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Review: Which Witch (Holy Terrors Mystery #3) by Simon R. Green

Which Witch? (Holy Terrors Mystery, #3)Which Witch? by Simon R. Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

Which Witch is the 3rd-installment in Simon R. Green’s Holy Terrors Mystery series, which I would argue is a straight-up Cozy Mystery series, though the assigned genres on the book’s main page would disagree.

I read the 1st-book, The Holy Terrors, when it was released, mistakenly believing it to be a Religious Horror. I couldn’t have been more wrong, and the reality versus expectation divide did end up effecting my enjoyment.

Nevertheless, even though that wasn’t the best reading experience for me, as time passed I kept thinking about the main characters, and how if it had been pitched to me as a Cozy Mystery, I would have had so much more fun with it.

I ended up skipping the 2nd-book in the series, but then when I read the synopsis for this one, and discovered it revolved around a theater production of Macbeth, I knew I had to read it. Happily, it was a success.

I’m proper attached to the two MCs, Diana and Alistair, now. Their relationship is so sweet. I’m left wanting more.

If you’re unfamiliar with this series, Diana is an actress and Alistair is a young Bishop. The two were brought together during the 1st-book and really hit it off. They work well together when it comes to solving mysteries, and have a lot of chemistry to boot.

In this installment, Diana has been hired to play Lady Macbeth at a local theater. When things start going awry, and the whispers start that the production is cursed, Diana reaches out to her old pal, Alistair, inviting him to investigate the mysterious happenings.

Is the theater actually cursed, or is something more mundane at play?

Which Witch was a much better experience for me than that 1st-book, although TBF, I think that’s because I went into it with the right expectations. Don’t be fooled by the darker-themed cover, this reads like a Cozy Mystery.

I do really enjoy Diana and Alistair together. Their chemistry is undeniable. I also loved the theater setting with the active production, and all the actors and stage hands involved. It was quite a mixed group and I had a lot of fun trying to guess what was going on.

At times the dialogue does seem a little forced, but the mystery of this one was very engaging. It does have a nice is it paranormal, is it not paranormal feel that I tend to enjoy, so that was def another plus.

While I wouldn’t say this was the most memorable story, it was entertaining and I’m now excited to go back and read the 2nd-book in the series, Stone Certainty.

Thank you to the publisher, Severn House, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to more Diana and Alistair!

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