Once Wicked Always Dead by T. Marie Benchley

Synopsis from Goodreads.com:
Molly Madison’s life is shattered with the sudden death of her beloved parents and the revelation of her husband Phillip’s affair—with another man. Molly heads west to Montana, resolved to run the family ranch, the Ghost Bear, and to move on with her life. Her attraction to Clayton Leatherbe, the ranch foreman, is instant, but before a romance can blossom, the ranch falls prey to sabotage by wealthy land developers determined to drive Molly out, and Clayton learns of a family secret that could put the ranch—and Molly’s life—in jeopardy. A sharp mystery that deals with the themes of family secrets, betrayal, love, and loss, Once Wicked Always Dead is a strong debut from an author with literary blood in her veins.

My Review:
I haven't read a murder-mystery thriller in ages so thought I would try this one seeing as I've had it from Netgalley for absolutely ages. It was ok, but not great. I actually got bored of reading it about halfway through and was constantly looking at the percentage marker on my Kindle to see how much more I had to go. I hate to feel like this about books, but I managed to get through it and actually it didn't end too badly and definitely not the way I expected.

Molly's parents die in a tragic accident leaving her as the only heir to their cattle ranch in Montana, a place her husband wants her to instantly sell to aid his political career, but somewhere she feels at home and really doesn't want to lose. Then to make matters even worse, her husband's secret lover reveals their affair to Molly, and all her worries about her marriage are completely explained when Philip's lover is revealed to be his male assistant. Of course the news gets out and Philip's career and marriage is basically over. Molly runs off to the ranch, determined to make a new start.

However, this new start does not turn out at all well for Molly. There are several offers on her ranch but she doesn't want to sell - she wants to carry on her father's legacy and is determined to prove that a woman can do the job just as well as her father did. But...someone is determined to undermine her and tries several attempts to ruin her plans and the ranch. To help her cope with all the underhand tactics is Clayton Leatherbe, the ranch foreman, who catches Molly's eye, but he has a few secrets of his own and tries to help Molly with her problems, without actually telling her about them! This romance was a little aside and not really the main plot, but the last sexual scene was quite sweet even though it ended badly!

Alongside all of this is a serial killer who only kills paedophiles and abusers, but takes an interest in Molly's husband's lover as well and causes him a great deal of pain and embarrassment. Eventually it was revealed who this killer was and it wasn't who I expected at all.

The plot was actually quite good, but I felt this story lacked action. It felt quite slow and even though it was pretty obvious who was sabotaging the ranch, none of the characters really suspected him until it was a bit too late! Sloan, Philip's original lover, I thought was completely crazy and really disliked his last scene in the field. I really didn't feel it leant anything to the story at all, other than leading to his demise, which would have happened anyway! And I'm not convinced by Molly's turnaround towards her husband and his new lover. I don't believe I would have been this laid back about meeting him after finding out about his first affair and inviting him to stay with me.

Anyway I would like to thank the author and publishers for sending me this book free through Netgalley.

Seducing the Demon Huntress by Victoria Davies

Synopsis from Goodreads.com
Trick or treat, survive until the night's complete.

For most people Halloween is a night of candy, costumes and revelry but for Kerilyn, it’s the most dangerous night of the year. Hailing from a line of demon hunters, Kerilyn’s family has long been hated by the ruling lords of the Netherworld. On All Hallow’s Eve, the deadly brothers are released from their realm, along with their subjects, the spirits and the demons. Like every good hunter, Kerilyn fortifies her home with spells and tricks to keep her safe. But there is one man no spell can protect her heart from.

Arawn, Lord of the Spirits, has appeared at her fence every Halloween for years. While the handsome lord may turn her head with his heated looks and seductive words, Kerilyn knows without a doubt that should she ever invite him in, her life would be forfeit. But when his brother, the Lord of the Demons, kidnaps her niece, Kerilyn must leave her sanctuary. Now she has a choice. Can the man she’s dreamed of for years be trusted, or will the spirit lord help his brother destroy her?

My review
I really enjoyed this short story, but my only gripe with it was that it was just a little too short, so I am hoping there will be a follow up detailing how Kerilyn and Arawn get on in the Spirit world.

Kerilyn is the last of her hunter family. She knows that Hallowe'en is not just a fun night, going out trick or treating and that instead she must stay indoors with all the jack o'lanterns lit to stop the spirits from getting to her.

Arawn is the Lord of Spirits and has visited Kerilyn for the last nine Hallowe'en nights. He is determined to get her to open her gate and invite him in, but she finds him harder and harder to ignore each year.

This year is different though. Her niece has been kidnapped by Arawn's brother, the demon king and there is no-one else who can save her. This means Kerilyn has to leave the safety of her house for the very first time on Hallowen'en night. Will Kerilyn be able to get to Sarah in time? Will Arawn help her or lead her straight to the demon king's trap? Kerilyn doesn't know whether to trust what Arawn says or not, but she knows that she is going to go down fighting either way.

This was a lovely romantic story, with a great action plot alongside it. Although Arawn showed Kerilyn exactly what he felt about her, I can completely understand her reservations about him. Will definitely be on the hunt for the next book if there is one!

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and would like to thank the author and publisher for the opportunity to read it!

Moonglow by Kristen Callihan

Synopsis from Goodreads.com
Once the seeds of desire are sown . . .

Finally free of her suffocating marriage, widow Daisy Ellis Craigmore is ready to embrace the pleasures of life that have long been denied her. Yet her new-found freedom is short lived. A string of unexplained murders has brought danger to Daisy's door, forcing her to turn to the most unlikely of saviors . . .

Their growing passion knows no bounds . . .

Ian Ranulf, the Marquis of Northrup, has spent lifetimes hiding his primal nature from London society. But now a vicious killer threatens to expose his secrets. Ian must step out of the shadows and protect the beautiful, fearless Daisy, who awakens in him desires he thought long dead. As their quest to unmask the villain draws them closer together, Daisy has no choice but to reveal her own startling secret, and Ian must face the undeniable truth: Losing his heart to Daisy may be the only way to save his soul.

My Review
This was the second book in the Darkest London series and was just as good as the first, if not a bit better. This one revolved around Daisy, sister of Miranda from the first book and Lord Ian Ranulf, who also appeared in the first book. Daisy really didn't like Ranulf at all after he tried to come between her sister and her husband-to-be at the time by making frequent passes at her, so when Daisy finds herself involved in a werewolf attack and Ranulf saves her, he is the last person she wants to be near.

Ranulf is a lycan, a half man, half wolf who has not yet made the full turn into a werewolf. If he ever does there's no return for him! Living in London, exiled from his lycan clan after refusing to take the leadership of it after his father died, Ranulf just wants to live a normal life, but Daisy changes all of that. There is a werewolf attacking and killing humans, all of whom smell like Daisy and Ranulf knows that unless he keeps her safe, she will soon be on the werewolf's killing spree list! One problem with that! Daisy doesn't want Ranulf to keep her safe, but soon enough she starts to care and feel for him, even though at the same time she doesn't really like him.


I loved how the romance built up between these two. There was no denying there was a lot of passion between them and even though Ranulf had tried to build these impregnable walls around himself, Daisy still managed to worm her way into his heart. Loved the ending as well - I did think that maybe Daisy would do what she did in order to be with him. I didn't expect the werewolf to be who it was as well, so a nice twist in there too.

Daisy was a great character. Although set in the Victorian times, she was certainly no push over for Ranulf and gave him as good as she got. He was very funny as well - very sarcastic at times, my kind of humour!

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and would like to thank the author and publisher for the opportunity to read it!

Firelight by Kristen Callihan

Synopsis from Goodreads.com

Once the flames are ignited . . . 

Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family's fortune decimated and forced her to wed London's most nefarious nobleman.

They will burn for eternity . . .

Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it's selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can't help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn't felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask.

My review

This book doesn't fit neatly into any one category but it is mostly historical romance with a touch of paranormal thrown in for good measure.

Miranda has a gift, which she sees as more of a curse - the gift of creating and manipulating fire. Archer is a very strange and mysterious man, wearing a mask to hide his face, supposedly to hide his disfigurement and inflicts fear amongst men and passion amongst women everywhere he goes. Miranda's father sells her off to Archer as his bride and Miranda, when given the choice by Archer, readily accepts if nothing more than to escape her father's constant bitterness and anger towards her.

She doesn't know what to expect when she marries Archer, but she certainly doesn't expect her feelings towards him to develop so quickly or so intensely. And boy were they intense for most of the book! She is thrown into noble society, full of powerful and rich men, but when these men start being murdered and all the evidence points to Archer, Miranda knows she must help find the real killer, even if it means putting herself in danger and using her most feared powers.

I loved the mysteriousness of Archer. I was constantly begging the author to reveal what he was - he was stronger than average, so indicated some some of supernatural being, but when it was finally revealed it was so not what I expected. Just a man playing God really!

Loved the big baddy at the end as well - took me a while to work out that one too! Looking forward to reading the next book in the series now!

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and would like to thank the author and publisher for the opportunity to read it!

Hounded by Kevin Hearne

Synopsis from Goodreads.com
Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old—when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old. Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.

Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power—plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a sexy bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish—to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil.

My Review
Atticus O'Sullivan is an Irish Druid, an original Druid from 2100 years ago, but currently living in Arizona with his dog, running a herb shop. He's actually been on the run for a few hundred years now from one of the old Celtic gods, but unfortunately that god has now found out where he is and is sending everything he can after Atticus to retrieve a very powerful sword which Aenghus Óg believes should be his. Attitcus has basically had enough of running and decides he likes Arizona too much to move again so he's going to fight the battle this time, only he has to make sure he can win against the gods and all his hellish demon creatures! Lucky for him he has some powerful friends to help out against his enemies and against those who stabbed him in the back. As Atticus would say "Never trust a witch!"

Although there was a lot of mythology in this story, it didn't distract from the read at all, it was fed in nicely without overloading you with information. I loved the style of writing and found it moved at a nice, brisk pace. I totally loved the conversations between Atticus and his dog Oberon (yes he can talk to his dog through his druidic powers!). Oberon is just so funny and all he cares about is getting his own harem of French poodles!

A completely different style of story to what I usually read, mostly because the main protagonist is male, but a fantastic read all the same. Looking forward to reading some more in this series!

I did receive this book free from the publishers through NetGalley, but my review is my own opinion. Thanks to the author and publishers for my copy!

In a Fix by Linda Grimes

Synopsis from Goodreads.com
The start of an original new urban fantasy series starring human chameleon Ciel Halligan

Snagging a marriage proposal for her client while on an all-expenses-paid vacation should be a simple job for Ciel Halligan, aura adaptor extraordinaire. A kind of human chameleon, she’s able to take on her clients’ appearances and slip seamlessly into their lives, solving any sticky problems they don’t want to deal with themselves. No fuss, no muss. Big paycheck.

This particular assignment is pretty enjoyable... that is, until Ciel’s island resort bungalow is blown to smithereens and her client’s about-to-be-fiancé is snatched by modern-day Vikings. For some reason, Ciel begins to suspect that getting the ring is going to be a tad more difficult than originally anticipated.

Going from romance to rescue requires some serious gear-shifting, as well as a little backup. Her best friend, Billy, and Mark, the CIA agent she’s been crushing on for years—both skilled adaptors—step in to help, but their priority is, annoyingly, keeping her safe. Before long, Ciel is dedicating more energy to escaping their watchful eyes than she is to saving her client’s intended.

Suddenly, facing down a horde of Vikings feels like the least of her problems.

My Review

Ciel Halligan is an aura adaptor, which basically means that she can change her appearance to that of any other person as long as she has had physical contact with them and has absorbed some of their energy. She has her own business standing in awkward situations for her clients so they don't have to deal with their own problems. Her current client wants her to get a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, but what starts off as a fairly straight forward job ends up being an absolute nightmare of one instead.

Ciel's best friend Billy and her long-time crush Mark as also adaptors and are also involved in her small job, which through Mark's job in the CIA turns out to be an international problem involving kidnapping, drug dealing and planned murder.

Although I enjoyed the light banter between Ciel, Mark and Billy, I did think she was a rather immature character. She played her role of the babied little sister very well and I half expected her to pout her bottom lip out all the time in a strop. She came across as a typical spoilt little rich brat and I got really irritated with her a lot of time. She was constantly told what to do to keep her safe by Mark, who was the leader on this mission, but she defied him at every turn and ended up being caught by the bad guys over and over again. When was she going to wake up and realise that she was making life difficult for everyone?! Although she did come in very handy towards the end, so she did redeem herself a bit!

I really liked the idea of the adaptors and would like to read another book in this series about a different character or Ciel again if she matures a bit more!

I would like to thank the author and publishers for allowing me to receive and review an ARC copy of this book through NetGalley.

Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter by Richard Parks

Synopsis from Goodreads.com
In an ancient Japan where the incursions of gods, ghosts, and demons into the living world is an everyday event, an impoverished nobleman named Yamada no Goji makes his living as a demon hunter for hire.

With the occasional assistance of the reprobate exorcist Kenji, whatever the difficulty — ogres, demons, fox-spirits — for a price Yamada will do what needs to be done, even and especially if the solution to the problem isn’t as simple as the edge of a sword.

Yet, no matter how many monsters he has to face, or how powerful and terrible they may be, the demons Yamada fears the most are his own!

My Review
This was my first ever venture in reading anything about Ancient Japan and some of their mythology and I quite enjoyed it! Yamada no Goji is a demon hunter, but not the demons of modern day urban fantasy books, but ancient Japanese demons who can shapeshift into various forms, some of whom are dangerous and some can be quite helpful, for a price! Not knowing anything about this period of history I wasn't sure what to expect, but the author has obviously done his research and everything was explained fully and was well written too.

This book consisted of several short stories all revolving around our hero, who, with frequent help from his priest friend Kenji, aids those in need to solve supernatural mysteries. Yamada is well known for his discretions and his love of sake and whilst not a rich man, certainly knows his demons and ghosts! Each short story follows on from the previous and they all flow very well. I liked Yamada as a character - he was very realistic and likeable. Kenji, his almost side-kick was amusing at times too.

The only problem I had with this book was the female characters. There were no major female characters, which wasn't a problem, but those that did appear were not the strong characters I usually like to read about; they tended to be quite devious instead. I guess that is just a sign of the times in which this book was written in though.

I would like to thank the author and publishers for providing me with a copy of this book through NetGalley.