Once Lost by Blake Pierce (Riley Paige Book 10)

 

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Pages: 252

Genre: Thriller and Mystery

Rating: 4⭐

"Still reeling from her former partner Lucy’s death and from her partner Bill’s PTSD, FBI Special Agent Riley Paige does her best to try to keep herself stable and to patch together her family life. She has to decide what to about April’s boyfriend, recovering from his abusive father, and about Blaine, who is ready for their relationship to move ahead.

But before she can work it out, Riley is summoned for a new case. In an idyllic suburban town in the Midwest, teenage girls are going missing—and a body has already turned up. The police are stumped, and Riley is called in to catch the killer before another girl goes missing.

Making things worse is that Riley is assigned a partner she does not want—her nemesis, Special agent Roston — who had been interrogating her in Shane’s case.

Even worse: Shane is on the loose, he wants revenge—and he has Riley’s family in his sights."

Ok.... let's put this here (because it need to get out of my mind):

"wait what??!! Like a lunatic? He really wanted to kill her full family?!"

Now we can start... 

I really got lost in this one regarding who is the killer. It was just so sick at the end. How normal and "perfect" people hide such dark secrets and behaviors. 

It was a time that I really got close but after I remembered the prologue and it was a HE so I got confused with myself and let it go...

For Shane... I was expecting him to kidnap the family and make them watch him killing Riley.... not acting like a lunatic guy... but well... that was an open end and I want to know more about it!

Book 11 here I go but first I need a little break from this genre.... 😉

Her Romeo by Quinn Marlowe

Language: English 

Format: ebook 

Pages: 209 

Genre: Mafia Romance 

Rating: 5⭐

"She's my best friend from childhood. The girl I thought I loved once. And the woman who just threatened to put me in jail, courtesy of the case she's prosecuting in court. She's also now my prisoner.

Sloane Brennan thought she was on top of the world. Hell, she was on top of the world. But she's also the daughter of my father's enemy, and when my father decides to kidnap her and use her as leverage against her own father, then puts me in charge of watching over her...

Let's just say it puts ideas in my head. Bad, bad ideas. Ideas that I've been fantasizing about for years.

After all, I'm supposed to be taking care of her while she's under the Rossi umbrella, right? And no one actually defined what that means. Right?

When the plan goes awry, though, and it becomes apparent that Sloane's life is actually in danger and my feelings run a whole lot deeper than I realized, I have to recalculate my actions, and decide whether my loyalty is to the family... or the girl I've always loved."

Want to thank bookstagrammers.com program for the ARC

This book start 3 years after the prequel and once again MCs cross paths again but this time danger in in every corner.

They love/hate each other: he is the heir of the rival family of Sloan and they used to be best friends in kids. Not only that but Sloan actually is lawyer and against Joseph's family style.

I fall in love with the prequel and now even more but I'm made with Quinn: how dare you to end the book like that? 

Now I need to wait until May for the next book! 

*Her Romeo is the second book of three in Sloane and Joseph's story, and is a dark mafia romance and includes violence and mature sexual themes. If you’re triggered by guns, sex, rape, or murder, this isn’t the series for you.*

A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs

 

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Pages: 480

Genre: YA fantasy, mystery

Rating: 3⭐

The first three novels in the series introduced Jacob Portman and the world of the peculiars - and saw that world threatened by, and spared from, destruction by a hostile splinter faction and their monstrous servants. Now, in a thrilling new story arc, Jacob's adventure continues as Ransom Riggs reveals even more secrets of the peculiar world, set against the rich landscapes of American history.

Don't think its a bad story or the book is less importante than the previous 3 but I feel I was turning in circles all the way after they got the mission and also I got a lot of points that was just making a lot of WTF in my head:

1 - Why they lied to peculiares about Caul?

2 - Why if feels ok to send a kid (Jacob) to a suicide mission?

3 - Why it look like all peculiares are trying to kill each other in America

4 - Why we have no information about why America is like that?

I was expecting something more like the 3rd book but got disappointed...

Hope next 2 books get me impressed

The Librarian (The Librarian Chronicles #1) by Christy Sloat

 

Language: English

Format: Kindle

Pages: 230

Genre: Romance

Rating: 4⭐

"He’s from 1892 England, she’s in a small library in 2017. And that's just the start of their troubles.

Emme never meant to stay in Maine. She'd come only to find a librarian for her Gram's library, a custodian for the collection of mysterious books she'd promised to protect. On a dark, wintery night, alone in the library, she takes her first glance into one of the antique novels and finds herself transported to 1892 England staring into the eyes of handsome and dashing hero Jack Ridgewell. As each chapter passes she learns you can truly fall in love with a character in a book, that book boyfriends are real and Emme must choose between the real world, and his.

When the last page is read he's gone and Emme feels the cold loneliness of lost love. Will she find Jack again, or will their love be forever lost? The answer lies within the pages"

The time traveling concept is very good looking and impressive if you think about how it works in this story and the same happens to the "Librarians" and all the magic concept.

For moments I really though that Emme will just stay in 1892 or was part of the Jack's history but finally no... I mean yes and no. 

Glade to see that you can always fixe your mistakes! 

The end was perfect! Sad and happy but just perfect for this volume!

Hope book 2 and 3 get better!

Once Stalked by Blake Pierce (Riley Paige Book 9)

 

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Pages: 214

Genre: Thriller and Mystery

Rating: 4⭐

"When two soldiers are found dead on a huge military base in California, apparently killed by gunshot, military investigators are stumped. Who is killing its soldiers, inside the secure confines of its own base?

And why?

The FBI is called in, and Riley Paige is summoned to take the lead. As Riley finds herself immersed in the military culture, she is amazed to realize that serial killers can strike even here, in the midst of the most secure location on earth.

She finds herself in a frantic cat and mouse chase, racing to decode the killer’s psychology. Yet she soon discovers she is up against a highly-trained killer, one that may, even for her, be too deadly an opponent."

All this Army stuff was...expected. I know that Army go by codes and honor and have more secrets than we can imagine but this book is not a 5 stars because I simply got no answer about the killer! I know the motive but not the rest of the story (of course he is a lonely wolf and that can explain a lot) and I feel some loose points was needed to be done but.... Im not the writer so I only need to accept...

Now.... Shane Hatcher situation: 

I was not hoping this twist but now Im concerned with Riley

I know for sure that Shane will target Riley itself and not the family or anything else. He will use the information and secrets she told him against her because he have a code! 

It will destroy her carrier? Im pretty sure that her image over Bill and Lucy will get a big damage and for love stories too... 

Get that I can only found out in the next volumes

Covet by Tracy Wolff

 

Language: English

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 680

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: 5⭐

"I may have reached my breaking point. As if trying to graduate from a school for supernaturals isn’t stressful enough, my relationship status has gone from complicated to a straight-up dumpster fire. Oh, and the Bloodletter has decided to drop a bomb of epic proportions on us all... Then again, when has anything at Katmere Academy not been intense?

And the hits just keep coming. Jaxon's turned colder than an Alaskan winter. The Circle is splintered over my upcoming coronation. As if things couldn’t get worse, now there’s an arrest warrant for Hudson’s and my supposed crimes—which apparently means a lifetime prison sentence with a deadly unbreakable curse.

Choices will have to be made...and I fear not everyone will survive."

This book was.... OMG! 

If it was to leave only emojis it will be: 👀👏👿💣😡😡😨😱😰😰😲😭😭😭😤😤

The scenes are just WOW! 

All the interaction with Grace and Hudson leave you to the edge and wanting more!

New characters are just so intense as the "old" ones and yes, I've some questions about Remy.... Do I trust him? something tell me only a bit!

The prison is just..... a big fraud? ahah Sorry guys it just that it was odd and now that I finish it I can truly say: even for Paranormal the justice is just like here in real life, a corrupt system!!

Now it comes the big question: Is really Grace the only one of her kind? 

I think that in book 4 I have the question solved but its still on the mail and on the way to me so I will need to wait and pick up another book meanwhile... 

Once Cold by Blake Pierce (Riley Paige Book 8 )

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Pages: 215

Genre: Thriller and Mystery

Rating: 5⭐

 

"There is one cold case that has plagued Special Agent Riley Paige for her entire career, dwelling at the corners of her consciousness, forcing her to return to it again and again. The only case she has never solved, she has finally put it out of her mind.

Until she gets a call from the murdered victim's mother.

It spurs Riley to face the case once again, and to not give up until she has found answers.

Yet Riley barely has time to catch her breath when she receives a lead for another cold case, one which, if possible, strikes an even deeper note within her. It is a lead that promises to solve the case of her own mother's killer.

And it comes from Shane Hatcher."

In last book I was with 2 big questions: 

1. Ryan is a bastard and Riley, April and Jilly will put him out of theire lifes?

2. Shane Hatcher..... Friend or enemy?

Well question 1 was solved... but question 2 not yet!

This book got a 5 ⭐  rating due the twists and twists but principally due the last one and last chapter.

It's a cold case, a 25 years cold case and I truly believed that the resolution of this was: killer is dead. 

But nooooo... he is alive but quiete! so quiete that when Riley comes with how he looked like I was 😮

Never got that idea at all but I was wondering the eyes stuff.... And it was just a perfect thriller/mystery volume!

The other cold case was another story... I believed that it was Riley's father fault and guess what yes but not as I wanted (I painted that man as true evil but seems he is evil but not that much...for now)

I just hope that the new BAU agent will not face death while trying to find Shane... but for that I need to pick up the book 9!

Once Forsaken by Blake Pierce (Riley Paige Book 7)

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Pages: 207

Genre: Thriller and Mystery

Rating: 4⭐

"When Special Agent Riley Paige finally decides to take a well-needed rest from the FBI, a request for help comes from the most unlikely source: her own daughter. April's best friend is devastated by the death of her sister, a freshman at Georgetown. Worse, she is convinced that the suicide was staged, and that her sister was murdered at the hands of a serial killer.

Riley reluctantly looks into the case, only to discover that two other freshman girls at Georgetown recently killed themselves in the same grotesque way--by hanging. As she realizes foul play may be afoot, she brings in the FBI. The case takes Riley deep into the privileged campus of one of the world's most esteemed universities, into the unsettling world of the wealthy and driven families that pushed their children to succeed. In time she discovers that this case is far more twisted than it seems--and that she just may be up against the most psychotic killer of her career."

For once we don't have that part of the book where Riley is thrown out of her current case and that's good! 

In this book she is the one who started the investigation against everyone and guess what? She got it correct!

I was thinking that to find the killer will be very hard and in this book we don't have a view from him at all.... no interaction, no indication of stalking or any kind of idea how he is acting or why and it was se same sensation Riley and BAU got.

Probably I developed a certain sense but as soon as the name of the killer appear in the book I knew it was him: it was so.... I don't know how to explain.... As soon as a read the first lines of it I felt that something was fishy! I mean how he know about the drugs or how he got a knife? And the scene of the hospital was too perfect....

And the private life of Riley look like a repeat of the marriage... I have a strong vibe that something bad will happens to her fragile heart regarding Ryan....

Guess I will need to read book 8 to check this theory! 😀

Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

 

Language: Portuguese

Format: Paperback

Pages: 419

Genre: YA fantasy, mystery

Rating: 5⭐

"A boy with extraordinary powers. An army of deadly monsters. An epic battle for the future of peculiardom.

The adventure that began with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and continued in Hollow City comes to a thrilling conclusion with Library of Souls. As the story opens, sixteen-year-old Jacob discovers a powerful new ability, and soon he’s diving through history to rescue his peculiar companions from a heavily guarded fortress. Accompanying Jacob on his journey are Emma Bloom, a girl with fire at her fingertips, and Addison MacHenry, a dog with a nose for sniffing out lost children.

They’ll travel from modern-day London to the labyrinthine alleys of Devil’s Acre, the most wretched slum in all of Victorian England. It’s a place where the fate of peculiar children everywhere will be decided once and for all."

I wish to tell you it was as perfect as book 2 but the truth is that I got bored in the middle of the book. Why you may ask? Because I wanted action and some answers from some characters...

at the end I got my actions of course and it saved the rating!

Did I thought this was the end of this serie? Yes

Did I thought that evil will win? Yes

Did I wish for another end of book? Yes

Did I got mad with how it ended? YES

Thats why I checked for a book 4 and found out that this end in book 6! 

Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brothehood Book 3) by J. R. Ward

 

Language: Portuguese

Format: Paperback

Pages: 434

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Rating: 5⭐

"A former blood slave, the vampire Zsadist still bears the scars from a past filled with suffering and humiliation. Renowned for his unquenchable fury and sinister deeds, he is a savage feared by humans and vampires alike. Anger is his only companion, and terror is his only passion—until he rescues a beautiful aristocrat from the evil Lessening Society.

Bella is instantly entranced by the seething power Zsadist possesses. But even as their desire for one another begins to overtake them both, Zsadist’s thirst for vengeance against Bella’s tormentors drives him to the brink of madness. Now, Bella must help her lover overcome the wounds of his tortured past, and find a future with her"

Until now this is one of my favorite books from this serie! 

Zsadist life story is really sad: he got separate from his family as a baby, work as a servant into a noble vampire house and after that? He become a slave and got a lot of emotional damage (and physical)

Even if his body was saved by is twin brother you can guess that is mind was still under the mist of the past.

And after all this you think: oh so he is the lonely Brother of them all.... sad but ok. 

Nay Nay! He truly believe he don't deserve that happy ending...  but who is better to deserve love than him?! 

Oh.... the way he improve and change was wonderful and comforting.

All the tension around Bella hostage and how that "guy" acts is really 😱 😤 💀.  No empathy for that zombie guy!

But the fact she is strong make my heart beat normal again. She is a wonder women and the end? Oh! How perfect for Zsadist!

Now I want to know more about Rehv, the Shadows and Xhex.... something tell me I will fall fully in love..... 

Crush by Tracy Wolff

Language: English

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 704

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: 5⭐

"Everything feels off—especially me. I’ve returned to Katmere Academy, but I’m haunted by fragments of days I have no recollection of living and struggling to understand who, or what, I really am.

Just when I start to feel safe again, Hudson is back with a vengeance. He insists there are secrets I don’t know about, threatening to drive a wedge between Jaxon and me forever. But far worse enemies are at our doorstep.

The Circle is caught in a power play and the Vampire Court is trying to drag me out of my world and into theirs. The only thing Hudson and Jaxon agree on is that leaving Katmere would mean my certain death.

And not only am I fighting for my life, but now everyone else’s is at stake—unless we can defeat an unspeakable evil. All I know is that saving the people I love is going to require sacrifice.

Maybe more than I’m able to give."

OMG! It was so easy to read this one! 

The development of the characters in this volume is just perfect and you can see true faces coming!

Hudson and Jaxon need to solve some business because I don't see how it will work in the future but knowing that the Vampire Court made a great work regarding the hate for humans just make me believe that they also work to make sure both brothers hate each other more. Everything regarding them is just 😱 and honestly I'm not sure about the rest of the Circle... or they accept for fear or they are just sick like the King and Queen (probably more the King)

Book 3 is already in my hand and ready to show me Katmere and Alaska once more! 

Betting In Love by Mary Beesley

 

Language: English

Format: eBook

Pages: 262

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Rating: 3⭐

"Tempest Swan is out for revenge. Billionaire Leonard Allred's software program has put her out of a job. She makes a bet with a friend that she'll get Leonard to take her on a date so she can get retribution, but a fortuitous accident with an adorable nerd might just derail her vengeance.

Leonard has reasons for hiding his identity from the public. It's worked well for him so far, until he starts falling for the honest and witty Tempest. But how can he destroy their budding romance by admitting he's actually the guy she hates?"

It's a good story really but it didn't hit me as expected ! (probably because is not one of my favorite genre)

Making a bet when you are drunk is not a good move at all but also it's the funniest one that comes like that.

I related with Tempest... the fact that it took long to admit the true is not easy to put behind.

And the family situation? WOW! I was all the time expecting they get along so I keep reading to find out how and when and believe me, for moments I though they will not get together at all or ruin the parents wedding.

It's a perfect book for Valentine day if you want to melt with the story 😊