By Earth, by T. Thorn Coyle.

The Witches of Portland, Book 1

Cassiel is a witch who moved to Portland, Oregon a couple of years ago. As a teenager in Tennessee she began to see ghosts and tried to help them move along, including being involved with law enforcement. Burned out and spiritually drained, she moved across the country hoping to create a better life.

In Portland she has found a community and joined a coven. But life in Portland has its own problems. She’s about to lose her apartment due to rent increases and a housing shortage. To make matters worse, a ghost appears to her while she’s working magic with her coven. The beautiful woman asks her to help a man finish something and mentions Joe and Darius. They next day Joe shows up at the cafe where she works. He’s friends with her boss, a fellow coven member.

Joe is a contractor. He works with his brother rehabbing houses. He’s still recovering from the death of his girlfriend. Although it was ruled a suicide, he has a hard time believing that. Tarika just wasn’t that type of person. She was a reporter and was working hard on a juicy story at the time of her death. He can’t believe she would suddenly commit suicide when there was no sign of trouble beforehand.

After meeting Cassiel, Joe finds out that Tarika’s brother Darius has been investigating her death. He believes it was related to the story she was working on about a series of fires that have occurred at new housing projects in the area.

Eventually Joe, Darius, Cassie and her coven begin investigating the fires with guidance from Tarika. Together, will they be able to untangle the mystery and bring the wrongdoers to the surface?

I really enjoyed this book. The mystery, characters and paranormal elements blended together in a very satisfying way. The romance was subdued, but that felt appropriate for the situation. The series features the various members of the coven and their different magical talents. I look forward to finding out all about them.

January 22, 2021January 22, 2021cre8tiveadmin Leave a comment

The Bears of Valor Lake Box Set

The Bears of Valor Lake Box Set is worth notice. Each book covers a different family/clan of bear shifters who live around Valor Lake. The clans don’t agree on much. Managing resources, distributing wealth, and above all, keeping the secrets of the shifters are a constant source of problems between the clans. Then you have the exiles who don’t want to live by the rules but are forced to stay in the area. All in all it has the ingredients for a rich world full of conflict and romance.

April 13, 2019April 13, 2019Kasey Briggs Leave a comment

Mated to the Pack II by Jade Alters

As Mated to the Pack II begins, Courtney is ready to quit. She’s had enough of her assignment in Afghanistan. It’s too much. The heat, the dirt, the animals and wolves outside of camp….everything! Suddenly a handsome soldier she hasn’t seen before sticks his head in her tent and tells her they have to move, right then! She and the doctors are thrown into a truck and driven to an airstrip. Then the plane explodes and it’s just her and four remaining soldiers running for their lives in the wilderness. Will, Clay, Manny and Titan are doing their best to keep her safe while they figure out why they’re being attacked.

I enjoyed the book. The intensity of the beginning creates a tight bond between Courtney and the soldiers. The plot was exciting and the mystery was interesting. When the plot is discovered they all work together to come to a solution. I’m interested to read the other books in the series. Each book is a stand-alone story.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

November 4, 2018Kasey Briggs Leave a comment

Promised at the Moon, by Rebekah Ganiere

Book 1 of the Wolf River series.

Story teaser:

Twenty year old Natasha is awakened in the middle of the night and her mother hands her a bug-out bag and urges her to run. Her ex-boyfriend won’t give up on her and now her family is under attack. A voice through her headphones guides her along an escape route. The voice belongs to Tate, from Night Shift, a shifter relocation service. Tate and her contact Liam may be her only hope to get through this alive.

Liam helps get Natasha established in a new town and enrolled at a community college. He and Cara, her new roommate, help her adjust to a new life, but she can’t help worrying about her parents and wondering if her ex is still looking for her.

Despite their plans, Liam and Natasha are attracted to each other. But they’ve both been hurt before and don’t know if they can trust again.

Opinions:

I really enjoyed the book. The plot had lots of action and suspicious characters so you didn’t know who to trust or what their motives are. It was a good foundation to the series and I look forward to reading more.

I received a free review copy of this book. My opinions, as always, are my own.

August 30, 2018November 10, 2018Kasey Briggs Leave a comment

Reign of the Vampires, by Rebekah Ganiere

Book one of The Society series.

In Reign of the Vampires, humans are a rarity and are slaves in an elaborate stratified society run by Vampires at the top, vampyrs next and vamps at the bottom. An outbreak 15 years ago turned most humans into vamps and caused human civilization to fail. Vampires took over and rebuilt society.

The book opens on a group of humans trying to eke out a living on the run. They are forced to steal to survive and are constantly pursued by slavers. Mason, one of the strongest in the group, has an anger problem. He’s not “just” human and has a raging beast inside that he must constantly calm to avoid others finding out about him. When his group is captured by slavers, they’re all at great risk, particularly Mason with his secret.

Danika is a vampire lord in charge of the Midwest area and her family’s corporation. She feels that her position is precarious because she is young, the only female lord, and unrated. In addition past mistakes have made some question her rule. As the book opens she is in poor health because she hasn’t been eating or sleeping.

When Danika tours an upcoming slave auction she meets Mason and plans to buy him and some others in his group. She’s intrigued by Mason, immediately realizing that he’s not not a normal human. Meanwhile, Mason’s beast awakens for Danica, despite his hatred of Vampires.

At first I wasn’t sure I would like this book because the tempo slowed after the capture of the humans as the Vampire world was set up and explained. This was intermixed with mysterious clues about Danika and Mason’s secrets so that it kept things interesting. After the backstory and world was established the plot really picked up and I was hooked. Once I got into it, I enjoyed the book very much and I look forward to reading other books in the series.

I would classify this book as a mystery/paranormal romance based in a dystopian urban setting. There was a lot of world-building, but that is necessary for the first book in a series with such a unique world.

I received a free review copy of this book. My opinions, as always, are my own.

August 15, 2018August 15, 2018Kasey Briggs Leave a comment

Angel Awakening, by Starr Huntress, S. A. Ravel & Emma Alisyn

I didn’t think I was going to like this book. I read a preview that I didn’t like much. However, I’ve read many of this author’s works and enjoyed them, so I gave the book the benefit of a doubt. I’m so glad I did.

The story was exciting from the very start with Abella breaking away from serving her family in a big way. She takes a job as a housekeeper on another planet. Her sister insists she return to “take care of the estate” but Abella wants to fly free for a change.

Abella doesn’t know a whole lot about her new job, but when her new boss suddenly “rises” from his sleep in the sea, it quickly becomes clear that their connection is special. But can Abella give up on her ideas of total freedom enough to allow Ishaiq, her winged Archan, to lean on her for the support he needs?

— Kasey’s Book Nook

February 7, 2017November 10, 2018Kasey Briggs Leave a comment

Warrior’s Bond, by Starr Huntress and Emma Alisyn

Yadeshi Brides #1

Zoriah, a single mother with 3 children, works hard just to get by. The class system on this rather dystopian earth isn’t easy on single mothers. She’s not thrilled to fond out that her son has been skipping school to train with alien warriors.

Benyon, a Yadeshi warrior, has been training her children and convinces her to make it official to keep her son out of trouble. Soon she finds herself training to be a Yadeshi bride for the benefits provided.

Zoriah’s not thinking beyond the present, but Benyon has been planning ever since he met Zoriah…

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had plenty of story background as the first book in the series, but the plot moves quickly and there’s plenty of romance.