"Blood Roses" by J.A. Cummings

Rowena Glass and her familiar, Grendal, are on vacation at the Bermuda Island Monster Resort. It is a vacation that she very much needed after her metaphysical bookstore and crystal shop were burned down. She had refused the sexual advances of a local pastor and he had turned his church members against the witch living in their town. She had escaped the fire with her life and her familiar, but nothing else.

At least her insurance had left her with enough money to take a luxury vacation in the Bermuda Triangle where no humans were around to torment her, and where she could simply rest and relax for a while.

At least, that is, until she attends a masked ball where she meets a handsome vampire who captures her heart and who needs help to be freed from his mistress. Can Rowena find a way to help to free Lucius from the vampire who had turned him so very long ago? And at what cost?

I enjoyed this story a great deal, as I have many of the other books published by Ms. Cummings. The tale told here was captivating & easily held my interest throughout the entire story. If she continues with other books in this series, I would definitely look forward to reading them.

My only complaint was that I wish the book had been given another pass by the editor/proofreader as there were a few more typos than I am used to seeing in her books. Regardless of that fact, I did greatly enjoy the story and will gladly read more of them if she continues with this series.

"The Amish Widow: The Amish Secret Widow's Society Book 1" by Samantha Price

Emma Kurtzler has recently lost her husband. He was killed in a construction accident because he had not been wearing his safety harness. Emma is feeling quite lost without him. Uncertain of what she will do now, she soon becomes friends and part of a group or widows within her small Amish community. At virtually the same time, she has a real estate agent trying to get her to sell her farm. It seems the man already has an interested client for the property. But Emma has no wish to sell. And that’s when things start taking a turn for the worse and causing her to ask questions about a number of the people who have been her friends and neighbors for years. Can the Widows’ group help her come to terms with Levi’s death? And can they help her to find the answers to the questions she has begun to ask?

This was an interesting little mystery. It was a quick read and I thought it very entertaining. I felt that it could have used another quick pass by an editor or proofreader, but overall the story itself made up for the small errors that I noticed. I enjoyed the plot and will likely look for more books in this series in the future. For those that enjoy Amish themed stories, I would recommend this one. As I mentioned above, it was a fun, quick read.

"Spinning Time: A Time Travel Romance" by D.F. Jones

Julia Boatwright has just turned 21 years old. Her parents are throwing her a very elaborate birthday party. They hope that she will fall for one of the proper young men that were invited, but Julia finds them all pretty much the same as each other. In other words, rather boring. But the handsome young man who had arranged to be hired as extra waitstaff in the hopes of meeting her, him she finds fascinating. She knows her mother will definitely not approve of the thought of Julia dating him, but she doesn’t care. And when he eventually proposes to her, she immediately says yes.

But then things take an unfortunate turn when Julia falls through a random hole in time and finds herself suddenly quite a bit in the future. She doesn’t understand how she got there nor does she know how, or even if she can find a way to return to the past that was her home. Everything she knew seems to be gone or changed, and all she wants is to return to her beloved Phillip. But can she return? Or will that wind up changing history?

I enjoyed this story. At first when I started reading it, I kept thinking about far too many “but what if…” thoughts that seemed as if they might cause plot holes. However the author had already seemingly thought of each of those same problems and they were dealt with pretty much as soon as I came across them. She did a very good job of explaining and dealing with such questions well before they actually became an issue. I was very impressed with how she handled the problems that often seem inherent in many time travel stories.

On top of all of that, the story was fun and entertaining. It dealt with a number of twists thrown in by the author in ways that worked quite well the tale being woven. Overall, I enjoyed reading this story.

"Upon the Flight of the Queen" by Howard Andrew Jones

Things have grown quite desperate for everyone. The Naor are attacking and winning the war, claiming the lands won for themselves, but destroying as much as they claim and control. When the Naor take over a town, the people there are turned into slaves and used as blood sacrifices. The town of Alantris’ defences have been breached and it has become clear that the town will not survive, but can the Altenarai who have been defending the town manage to find a way to rescue and save more than a few of the people living within the town? And what about the other towns that are also under attack by the Naor? How can the country as a whole defend against Naor dragons that can destroy whole sections of walls with no more than a roar?

There are a number of strange things happening in the background of this story that involve the hearthstones. What exactly are they, and are they truly helpful or is there a danger to using them? And why is the queen willing to throw away and betray ancient alliances and promises to collect as many of them as she can? What is she hoping to do with all of the hearthstones that she has been collecting? And why is it apparently more important to the queen than the safety of her own people seems to be?

This is an exciting book with a lot of plot twists and turns. There is a great deal going on in this story and it kept me entertained and wanting to see what will happen next. It is an intricate story with a plot that still contains secrets to be discovered by the reader. I am definitely looking forward to book 3 in this series to find out the answers to some of the questions I discovered in this book. This book focuses a great deal on the resistance efforts of the people as well as the continued defense and strength offered by the Altenarai who defend the people.

The version I read was an uncorrected copy, which did contain a number of typos. I expect that a majority of those typos will be corrected before the official release date. But even if they are not, the story is still excellent and very enjoyable. I am looking forward to book 3 in the series to find out about how it will come to a conclusion.

"Deadly Act" by Mary Stone and Bella Cross

Kylie Hatfield works at Starr Investigations as an assistant to the P.I. Often, however, she forgets to mention the fact that she herself is not yet a licensed Private Investigator when speaking to potential clients. This often tends to get her in trouble in a number of different ways.

Kylie is accompanied most everywhere by her very large dog, Vader. She is also quite attracted to Vader's dog trainer, Linc, though she finds him as annoyingly frustrating as he appears to find her. Her efforts to solve a case on her own often seem to wind up including him in the trouble she very quickly finds herself in.

I found this to be a fun little mystery involving a main character who appears to wind up attracting trouble more often than not. But in this case, she finds herself quite literally in the middle of more trouble than she was prepared to handle.

This book was one that quite easily held my interest and had me wanting to know what would happen next. Kylie is a very likeable main character with very human flaws and an overwhelming desire to help those who may be in trouble. In my opinion, it makes her more relatable than characters without such human flaws.

I recommend giving this book a try if you're looking for a fun and entertaining mystery to enjoy. I'll be continuing on with reading this series.

Scarred Mail Order Bride and her Lonely Bachelor" by Florence Linnington

Leanne Robinson had almost completely given up hope of having any sort of a happy life. She had been left permanently scarred and injured in the fire that took the life of her father, and things seem to have gone downhill from there. She had been working as a nanny for a family that did not appreciate her nor did they treat her well. But when she received a letter from the mail order bride company that she had placed an ad with, she begins to once again have hope that things are finally looking up.

Unfortunately, the letter she received appears to have been lost in the mail for the past six months. Could the man who had written her possibly still be in need of a wife? And if she shows up and he’s no longer interested, what will she do then? She doesn’t have an answer to that question, but she feels it is a risk worth taking.

This was the story of Theo and Leanne. I enjoyed watching the two of them overcome a number of problems as they are trying to find a way to deal with more than a few losses that each has experienced in their lives. Both of them may have started out as “broken”, but with a little help they just might be able to help each other overcome their own previous tragedies and find a new way to move forward in life.

I enjoyed reading their stories a great deal. As with her previous books, Ms Linnington has woven a fascinating tale of two people who each need help, but who do not know how to ask for it, or even what it is that they are truly seeking.

"No Treats for Charlie" by Tiegan Clyne

When a male witch takes revenge for the wrongs he feels were committed against him, he does so by punishing all witches and not just those who had actually done something to wrong him. Can Matilda and her familiar Charlie discover a way to both stop him and undo the harm he had already done to a number of witches?

This was a wonderful Halloween novella that focused on a witch that no one respected and her familiar, the one no one else thought was "pretty" enough to want. I really enjoyed this story. Ms Clyne has given us a very well written story, one that managed to tug on this cat lover's heartstrings.

If you're looking for a quick but fun Halloween story, I recommend giving this one a try. I don't think you'll regret it.