Book Reviews, Paranormal Fiction, Reverse Harem

Book Review: Freak by Elizabeth Dunlap

Freak by Elizabeth Dunlap

ByMs Ali Cat: Ali Crean | On September 24,20 | 0 Comment

Title: Freak (Highborn Asylum #0.5)
Author: Elizabeth Dunlap
Genre: Paranormal Romance
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Freak is a short little wind-up Prequel for the Highborn Asylum Series. Usually, I feel like there isn’t enough of a bite to chomp on with these novelettes, but this was a brilliant nosh.

Violet, known as Letty, is a patient at Highborn Asylum, where she can hear the walls hum and fellow patient Olivander follows her like an eerie shadow. I kept picturing Olivander as a Gerard Way-esque character, and then Guy is introduced, and I’m further sunk because I envisioned an Andy Black-like sort–you can see I have a type.

Highborn Asylum isn’t just any psychiatric facility; there is something very shady of the paranormal bent here, especially since they try to hold and control a witch with a harem. After all, they have to keep wiping Letty’s memory and telling her that the walls don’t make noises.

I can’t wait for this series. I’m hoping it lives up to this nosh.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary advance copy of this book.

Adult Fiction, Blog Tour, Book It, Cover Reveal, Fantasy Fiction, Occult Fiction

Cover Reveal: Nightmare Thief by Dara Kent

Nightmare Thief by Dara Kent

ByMs Ali Cat: Ali Crean | On September 24,20 | 0 Comment

Title: Nightmare Thief
Author: Dara Kent
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Occult Fiction
Release Date: 06 April 2021

Summary:

If you do bad things for a good reason … are you still a villain?

Remy Novem is the not so ambivalent caretaker of the dreamscape Somniare, the place where all creatures go to dream. Her job is to keep the barriers strong between worlds, so nightmares stay where they belong, and no one ends up dead or worse. Her magic feeds off of terror, sweetened by the little bit of torture she enjoys doling out to unsuspecting dreamers. Nocturnal suffering in exchange for safety, not a bad deal as far as Remy is concerned. But not everyone is pleased with the current status quo.

When a mystery foe starts springing nightmares from Somniare, causing havoc in all the worlds, Remy will find out exactly how wrong she was about … everything.

Blog Tour, Book Blitz, Book It, Guest Post, New Release, YA Fantasy

Guest Post: Jessi Kallison, Author of Where Angels Can’t Follow

Where Angels Can't Follow by Jessi Kallison

ByMs Ali Cat: Ali Crean | On September 22,20 | 0 Comment

Where Angels Can’t Follow: The Origin

Angel photo by Kathy Hagood at Angel Finger Photography. It’s now displayed on Jessi Kallison’s Wall of Weird.

There’s a slightly creepy and definitely weird piece of art on my wall. The print caught my eye at a local festival a few years back, and I bought it because it intrigued me.

My kids hated it when I hung it on the wall, but my tastes haven’t gotten less eclectic since. (Sorry, not sorry, nerdlings.)

I obsessed over the details. I wondered why the angel woman was headless and whose much larger hand was on her stomach? Was he human? Another angel? Why was he touching her at all? Was the owner of that hand a good guy? Why would she be a statue? And why would she be a headless statue after that?I don’t know the real story. But my brain wouldn’t let go of the image and decided to start making up its own story that began with an angel statue. And Where Angels Can’t Follow was born

Book Blitz, Book It, New Release, Women's Fiction

Book Blitz: The People We Meet Along the Way by Beth Rinyu

The People We Meet Along the Way by Beth Rinyu

ByMs Ali Cat: Ali Crean | On September 21,20 | 0 Comment

Title: The People We Meet Along the Way
Author: Beth Rinyu
Genre: Romance, Women’s Fiction
Release Date: 17 September 2020

Summary:

Would you be able to grant the same forgiveness to someone else that you’re so desperately seeking yourself?

Jillian O’Rourke’s marriage died long before her husband’s tragic accident. Years of battling with infertility and demanding careers melted their once solid relationship. Bearing the burden of guilt over his death, Jillian gets lost in despair and a series of what ifs. But one chance encounter with a stranger, changes everything. Now being faced with newfound knowledge and a painful decision, Jillian must push past her anger, learn to forgive and open her heart in ways she never could’ve imagined. As she comes to grips with the devastation of her past, she learns to embrace the possibility of a future she never thought possible. A bittersweet story of love, forgiveness, and the unexpected destiny that is sometimes handed to us in life from the people we meet along the way.

Book Reviews, College Romance, NA Romance, Romantic Comedy

Book Review: My Best Friend’s Ex by Hazel Kelly

My Best Friend's Ex by Hazel Kelly

ByMs Ali Cat: Ali Crean | On September 20,20 | 0 Comment

Title: My Best Friend’s Ex (Beta Brothers #1)
Author: Hazel Kelly
Genre: College Romance, New Adult, Romantic Comedy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Has an off-limits (not precisely off-limits) brother (not exactly brother) ever been hotter than Hazel Kelly’s Beta Brother, Logan Jones? I’m positive you will give Zoey Petersen a pass for lusting over her adopted brother when you hear the things this naughty dirty talker says to her.

Hazel Kelly’s muse must have been working overtime because this novel is spicy. Logan and Zoey have been stewing over each other since first sight. A broken boy with a lot of baggage has little hope for a Happily Ever After, but the Petersens offer him a place in the family of foster and adopted misfits. He can’t stop self-destructing long enough to think he will ever be worthy of the girl who shines with an innocence that is utterly foreign to him, his foster sister. He makes the worst out of his new situation by going for the option of her best friend, Piper. And two kids desperate to tune out their reality make hell for each other while Zoey watches to her heartbreak.

A plot like this can go two ways: taboo relationships within a family story like these are either spicy and compelling or awkward enough to make you squick.

I know the reason stepbrother romances have taken off despite the forbidden fruit angle is that broken stepbrothers for fixer sisters warm the hearts of many pervy readers. (Hello! It’s not an insult, I’m a pervy reader, and this is a shout out to my people).

Blog Tour, Book Blitz, Romantic Comedy

Release Blitz: Well This Sucks by Carrie Gray and Coralee June

Well This Sucks by CoraLee June and Carrie Gray

ByMs Ali Cat: Ali Crean | On September 20,20 | 0 Comment

Title: Well This Sucks
Author: Carrie Gray and Coralee June
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Release Date: 20 September 2020

Summary:

I treat eating pancakes on patios like it’s a personality trait.

Brunch is my jam. I like the beach, shopping, carbs, and reading naughty books on the train during my commute. I wear pink. Lots of it. If Tinder were an Olympic sport, I’d take home the gold. I can rock stilettos like they’re a pair of Nike joggers. I’m basically basic.

I’m in the prime of my life. I’ve got my dream job as the head of marketing, and I’ve been steadily dating myself for the better half of the last decade. I’m thirty, flirty, and thriving.

Or at least I was, until some jerk had the audacity to turn me into a vampire.

I don’t do blood and doom and gloom. I sure as hell don’t like sleeping in a coffin, avoiding garlic bread, and these ridiculous vamp politics. And don’t get me started on Diego. He’s vampire royalty and a pain in my butt. A very sexy pain in the butt. When he’s not driving me crazy with all his rules, he’s turning my panties into Niagara falls.

I absolutely refuse to live the rest of my immortal life in some wannabe nineties grunge music video.

This SUCKS!

Blog Tour, Book It, Paranormal Romance, YA Fiction, YA Romance

Blog Tour: Eternal Curse by Kara Leigh Miller

Eternal Curse by Kara Leigh Miller

ByMs Ali Cat: Ali Crean | On September 19,20 | 0 Comment

Title: Eternal Curse ( The Cursed #1)
Author: Kara Leigh Miller
Genre: Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult
Release Date: 15 September 2020

Summary:

After pulling the plug on her mother’s life support, seventeen-year-old Chloe Madison moves to live with relatives she hardly knows. Her new hometown in the Adirondack Mountains is barely more than a pinpoint on the map, but it’s shrouded in deadly secrets and strange family legends. Chloe is determined to keep her head down, finish high school, and get the heck out of there. Until she meets the enigmatic Trent Halstead. Something intriguing hides beneath his quiet self-assurance and hero hair. Maybe there’s something—or someone—worth sticking around for after all.

But when a rash of unsolved murders leaves two of Chloe’s classmates dead, she begins to suffer from disturbing hallucinations that build to the horrifying image of Trent as a murderous vampire. With nowhere else to go, she’s stuck in a town she hates, surrounded by people she can’t trust, and she’s pretty sure she’s going to be lunch.

If all that isn’t bad enough, Trent is hiding a lethal secret, besides the whole immortal bloodsucker thing. He’s the not-so-proud owner of an ancient, family curse—no Halstead will ever know true love—and he’s desperate to find a way to break the curse. Could Chloe be the key to his happiness or just another secret Trent wished he never unlocked?

Blog Tour, Book It, Contemporary Romance, Retelling

Book Tour: Ivory White by Cambria Hebert

Ivory White by Cambria Hebert

ByMs Ali Cat: Ali Crean | On September 18,20 | 0 Comment

Title: Ivory White (House of Misfits #1)
Author: Cambria Hebert
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: 18 September 2020

Summary:

Once upon a time…

There is a girl with skin as fair as ivory and hair as black as night.

She was the apple of her father’s eye, but now that he has died,

someone wants to dip that apple into poison.

Advised to flee, Ivory escapes her elite world in New York City

and stumbles into a place she didn’t know existed.

A modern-day princess, afraid and lost on the dark streets, running for her life.

Ivory White has no one to call, nowhere to turn.

All she has is a random number scrawled on a torn napkin.

She calls. He answers.

Ivory is thrust into a house filled with misfits—

a band of completely untrustworthy men.

But can this group of men keep her safe?

Book Blitz, Book It, Book Reviews, Cultural Heritage Fiction, New Release

Book Review: All Visible Things by Brian McPhee

All Visible Things by Brian McPhee

ByMs Ali Cat: Ali Crean | On September 17,20 | 3 Comments

Title: All Visible Things
Author: Brian McPhee
Genre: Cultural Heritage Fiction
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

All Visible Things is an excellent book to get lost in.

When doctorate candidate Lauren Patterson uncovers pages from the journal of Paolo del Rosso, she couldn’t guess that her find would reveal secrets of the great artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci. Nor would she have known it would kick up a thirst for the mystery of what lay within its sheets.

Brain McPhee artfully creates our hero, Paolo del Rosso, through pages and pages of diary entries. And although we are only experiencing him ‘second hand’ through-out our story, he always feels very much at the forefront of our attention. His crafting, so well done, he’s often the arbiter of our views and our most trusted narrator, despite him being long dead and merely a study subject.

Book Reviews, Dystopian, Supernatural Prison, YA Romance, YA Sci-fi

Book Review: Lock Down by Aella Black

Lock Down by Aella Black

ByMs Ali Cat: Ali Crean | On September 16,20 | 0 Comment

Title: Lock Down (Supernatural Prison #1)
Author: Aella Black
Genre: Paranormal, YA Fiction
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disturbing.

A couple of years ago, I read the series Into the Shadows by Karly Kirkpatrick, and Lock Down kept reminding me of those books. If you like those books, this is for you!

Phoebe is doing her best to remain low-profile because any attention will mean that someone could see she’s fending for herself. While she’s a competent sixteen, Phoebe’s still sixteen, and no one is letting her be her own guardian if they find out she’s alone. But the last of her problems is foster care when she dies and resurrects from the dead, ending up in a Supernatural Prison for juveniles. Suddenly, foster care sounds much better–especially when she’s told supernaturals aren’t considered humans.

The Phoenix can’t begin to imagine the awful that happens outside her cell in prison, and the days get dismally worse, even when unimaginably promising things come to her in Leavenworth. Nothing is worth the price she pays there.

Lock Down is a terrifying look at the violation of dehumanized people. Aella Black does a fantastic job of dragging you further and further down a dismaying rabbit hole. The fact that she is giving you a view from a child/young adult’s eyes is more devastating. I couldn’t turn away from the story; Lock Down is a page-turner.