Book Beginnings + Friday 56: Over the Woodward Wall (The Up-and-Under #1) by A. Deborah Baker

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading. Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice and asks you to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your ereader and share a non-spoilery sentence or two.

This week I'm featuring Over the Woodward Wall (The Up-and-Under #1) by A. Deborah Baker which is another pen name for Seanan McGuire.

About the Book

If you trust her you’ll never get home…

Avery is an exceptional child. Everything he does is precise, from the way he washes his face in the morning, to the way he completes his homework – without complaint, without fuss, without prompt.

Zib is also an exceptional child, because all children are, in their own way. But where everything Avery does and is can be measured, nothing Zib does can possibly be predicted, except for the fact that she can always be relied upon to be unpredictable.

They live on the same street.
They live in different worlds.

On an unplanned detour from home to school one morning, Avery and Zib find themselves climbing over a low stone wall into the Up and Under – an impossible land filled with mystery, adventure and the strangest creatures. And they must find themselves and each other if they are to also find their way out and back to their own lives.

Book Beginnings

In the same ordinary town, on the same ordinary street, lived two very different, very ordinary children who had never quite managed to cross paths with one another.

Friday 56

They fell quickly through what felt like a layer of mist or fog, something cool and clammy that chilled the skin and saturated the clothing, leaving all of them damp and somewhat bedraggled.

What have you been reading lately?

Review: The Cottage on Ghost Lane (The Beach House Mystery Series #1) by Christy Barritt

About the Book

Each house has a history. Each person has a secret. Each turn of events leads to danger.

Come back to me.

Cole Dalton’s wife, Caroline, had the words etched onto a pendant for him. Each time he deployed overseas as a military bomb tech, she stitched the pendant into his uniform. Cole returned safely from the battlefield . . . only to bury his wife after a tragic car accident.

Cole moves into their beachside cottage to both heal and find closure after Caroline’s death. But on the first day he arrives, he finds an intruder searching for something and desperate enough to kill.

Mysterious incidents continue to occur, leading Cole to ask: Was Caroline hiding something in the months before she died? But what? And why?

Amazon / Goodreads

Available in Kindle Unlimited

MY THOUGHTS

I really enjoyed The Cottage on Ghost Lane. It was a great start to this new series by Christy Barritt that features standalone mysteries with the common theme of beach houses. This one was set in Rodanthe.

It's fast-paced and hard to put down. I finished it in two days which is speedy for me lately, lol. Filled with boatloads of intrigue, great characters, a compelling mystery that kept me guessing, a gorgeous setting, and a fascinating conspiracy, it had exactly what I look for in a good mystery. It's the perfect summer read. I highly recommend it!

4.5 STARS

Can't Wait Wednesday: Carved in Stone (The Blackstone Legacy, #1) by Elizabeth Camden

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights and discusses the books we're excited about that we've yet to read. Generally, they're books that are yet to be released. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week I'm featuring Carved in Stone (The Blackstone Legacy, #1) by Elizabeth Camden releasing August 31.

About the Book

Gwen Kellerman is an heiress to the infamous Blackstone family, whose history of scandal nearly destroyed her. She now lives a quiet life at the idyllic college founded with her family's fortune and hopes to keep the tragedies of her past safely behind her.

Patrick O'Neill survived a hardscrabble youth to become a lawyer for the downtrodden Irish immigrants in his community. He's proud of his work, even though he struggles to afford his ramshackle law office. All that changes when he accepts a case to challenge the Blackstones' legacy of greed and corruption by resurrecting a thirty-year-old mystery.

Little does Patrick suspect that the Blackstones will launch their most sympathetic family member to derail him. Gwen is tasked with getting Patrick to drop the case, but the old mystery takes a shocking twist neither of them saw coming. Now, as they navigate a burgeoning attraction, Patrick is the only one who can save Gwen from new danger on the horizon.

What upcoming release are you eagerly anticipating?

Review: A Void of Magic (Kennedy Rain #1) by Sandy Williams

About the Book

They trusted her to keep the peace between the paranorms. They made a mistake.

Kennedy escaped the family business when she turned eighteen. Now, an ill-timed vacation pulls her back to The Rain Hotel, the only known null zone on the planet. It’s a place where vampires can see the sun rise and werewolves can avoid the lure of the full moon. And it would be the perfect place for a paranormal wedding…if the bride wasn’t the local alpha’s daughter and the groom the scion of a vicious master vampire.

With a sexy werewolf determined to sabotage the wedding and dark forces threatening The Rain, Kennedy’s life is thrown out of balance when she’s forced to confront a past she swore to avoid. Ultimately she must choose: will she maintain the stability of the supernatural world…or will she destroy it.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY THOUGHTS

I absolutely loved this book! I'm a big fan of this author's Shadow Reader series, so I was thrilled when I found out about this new one. This first installment did not disappoint. It was fast-paced and hard to put down. And I loved the whole idea of the null zone and the Rain Hotel. It was so unique.

Kennedy's an awesome character. She's got a take-charge attitude and never backs down from a challenge. It seemed like nothing was going right for her. She had to deal with one crisis after another after another, but she kept her chin up and did what needed to be done. Even though she would've rather been doing anything else. I admired that about her. Was her attitude abrasive at times? Sure, but in the kind of world she lives in, she pretty much had to be that way to survive.

This story took some twists and turns that I did not expect. Wow, I didn't see that coming! The next book in the series can't come out soon enough! If you're a fan of urban fantasy, I highly recommend checking this book out.

I received an advanced copy of this book and voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and comments are my honest opinion.

FIVE STARS

Heartbroken....

Hazel died very unexpectedly Wednesday and we're all heartbroken. It's too quiet around here without her. 

She was the happiest dog I've ever known. Her tail was always wagging and she always looked like she had a smile on her face. She had such a bubbly personality. She could turn a bad day good just by hanging out with her.

She never met a stranger. She loved everybody and would greet everybody enthusiastically (maybe a little too enthusiastically sometimes, lol).

She was the best helper. Always eager to help in the garden and with the chickens, quail, and goats. It was amazing how gentle she was with them. If a chicken or a quail got loose, she'd eagerly get them back where they belonged. And she was great at finding wayward eggs. Bringing them back as gently as she could. We did learn to not leave her unattended in the garden or with the bucket of just picked crops because she LOVED squash and would gobble it up as fast as she could. She loved tomatoes, strawberries, and potatoes too. She'd steal the potatoes, toss them around like they were a ball, and then when she was done playing with it, eat it.

Man, I'm gonna miss sweet Hazel so much. I haven't been able to fully wrap my head around the fact that she's really gone. 💔😭

Book Beginnings + Friday 56: The Cottage on Ghost Lane (The Beach House Mystery Series #1) by Christy Barritt

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading. Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice and asks you to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your ereader and share a non-spoilery sentence or two.

This week I'm featuring the first book in a new series of standalone mysteries by Christy Barritt, The Cottage on Ghost Lane.

About the Book

Each house has a history. Each person has a secret. Each turn of events leads to danger.

Come back to me.

Cole Dalton’s wife, Caroline, had the words etched onto a pendant for him. Each time he deployed overseas as a military bomb tech, she stitched the pendant into his uniform. Cole returned safely from the battlefield . . . only to bury his wife after a tragic car accident.

Cole moves into their beachside cottage to both heal and find closure after Caroline’s death. But on the first day he arrives, he finds an intruder searching for something and desperate enough to kill.

Mysterious incidents continue to occur, leading Cole to ask: Was Caroline hiding something in the months before she died? But what? And why?

As danger closes in and a storm lingers off the coast, Cole must find answers. But ghosts of the past have a stranglehold on him. With his heart on the line, he must overcome the grief haunting him . . . or his story will become part of his cottage’s tragic history.

Book Beginnings

"Are you sure you should do this?"

Friday 56

The haunted look remained in Cole's gaze. He was obviously still trying to work through all this.

What have you been reading lately?

Release Day Review: Unleashing Fire (Fallen Legacies #3) by Julie Hall

About the Book

The world will ignite and so will I.

The Forsaken hunger for vengeance, leaving Steel and I with no choice but to follow Camiel to the only place strong enough to protect me — Eden, an ancient, hidden city darkened by my family’s secrets.

But Eden isn’t the safe haven I expected, and family runs deeper than blood.

As Thorne grows stronger by the day, his Fallen forces threaten to raze London — and then the world — to cinders. In order to stop him, the entire angelic community has to unite, but ancient feuds and millennia of prejudice put everything at risk.

My heart knows where I belong — fighting besides my loved ones — but I have a secret that could doom them all. There’s a dark power growing inside me, hellish and spiraling beyond my control.

The realms have merged. The darkness calls to me. And there's only one thing standing in my way... Steel.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY THOUGHTS

What an epic conclusion to this awesome series! I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts into words. It was just so good!

It starts off right where the last one left off. It's fast paced and had me racing through the pages. Things got so intense at times that I could hardly catch my breath. And I got so frustrated at myself because I couldn't read fast enough. There were shocking reveals, surprising twists that I never saw coming, and so many anxiety-inducing moments. I experienced pretty much every emotion you could think of.

I don't want to say much more because I don't want to accidentally spoil something, but trust me, Unleashing Fire was awesome! One of the best books I've read this year. I wholeheartedly recommend this series. I loved it!

I received an early copy of this book and voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and comments are my honest opinion.

FIVE STARS