DDBook Reviews

  The Dead Queen by Briar Knightly is a dark retelling of the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. In this version, Sienna, heir to the Fox throne, is forced to return home to a palace and a position she does not want. Caught off guard by an arranged marriage to her childhood friend—now one of the King’s Guard—she must also contend with rumors of another heir soon to be born. If it is a boy, her life will be forfeit. Haunted by memories of her grandmother and the elusive moth motifs scattered through the city, Sienna vows to uncover the truth behind her grandmother’s death. When one of the Dead Queen’s Wolves is discovered in the Fox King’s private office and thrown into the dungeons, Sienna heals him and helps him escape. Fleeing with Hunter, her childhood friend, and Tristan, the Wolf, she learns the true cause of the war dividing North and South. As the fugitives face the Fox King’s guards and the dead that wander the northern lands, Sienna makes a decision that will haunt her f...

  Black Bird by JT Bishop is a pulse-pounding 10th installment in her thrilling Detectives Daniels and Remalla series. In this nail-biting episode, Daniels and Remalla dive deeper into their investigation of the secretive Black Bird society. Not knowing who to trust, they keep their personal quest to infiltrate the secret society quiet. All while they hunt for the assassin, Rhonda and Margaret Redstone's partner, Winnie. The high-stakes investigation and constant interference by Margaret strain Rem's relationship with his girlfriend, Mikey. As Rem uncovers the reason for Damien Rook's grudge against him, he realizes how intricately their previous cases are linked. After another police officer is shot, Daniels and Remalla, supported by their friends and family, take a huge gamble with their lives as they face the full force of Damien Rook and his unknown power. Will they survive and finally be rid of the psychopaths who have affected their lives? Will this be the end of th...

  Hidden deep within the boarded-up remains of an old opera house in New York's warehouse district, something ancient and vengeful begins to stir. Born of trauma, heartbreak, and a violent end, a restless presence now lingers—unseen, but very much alive. When Christine Danau, the daughter of a renowned music professor, and her fiancé Raoul set out to restore the forgotten opera house as a community venue for musical talent, they awaken a history far darker than they could have imagined. A creeping sense of dread, strange sightings, and a series of deadly accidents rattle the renovation team and Christine alike. But when Raoul reveals a secret music room he has renovated for her, Christine finds herself face-to-face with a spirit who is as gifted as he is tragic. With the help of a parapsychologist, she begins to uncover a buried past—a serial killer in 1910, a devastating fire, and a tormented soul left behind. To bring peace to the opera house, Christine must face the darkness b...

  Red Summer by Ana Lee is a compelling new adult fantasy that follows Wilder, a boy with unruly red hair and slate-gray eyes who has spent his life in foster care. Wilder has always seen strange, otherworldly things—like a tiny knight riding a mouse—and has an unsettling tendency to start fires unintentionally. After his latest incident, he faces yet another move, this time out of the city. Instead, he runs. With a storm brewing that mirrors his emotions, Wilder encounters a mysterious white owl that seems to be guiding him. He follows it to a crumbling building, only to discover that it conceals a grand Victorian structure behind its illusion. There, he's greeted by Terra, a new girl at his school, who informs him he's not human at all, but likely a Summer Fay—his bright red hair being the giveaway. Wilder is introduced to a hidden world of Vampyrs, Lycans, Magem, and other Fay. Among them, he finally begins to feel at home. With a war brewing in the shadows, Wilder and his n...

Cicero James by Hal Emerson is a cracker-filled urban fantasy and so much fun to read. Cicero James is a Worker – someone who through some horrible tragic event in his life awakened the ability to fight creatures from the space between spaces. He has a Mentor, an older doctor who took Cicero in after his mother passed. Cicero does the mundane thing, the daily grind at his uneventful job, but in his free time, he does Works, meaning he takes contracts from the Worker higher-ups and then sends the beasties back to where they belong. Unfortunately, his last beastie killed him. At least that was what should have happened. When Cicero wakes up in the morgue with no deadly wound to his chest, let’s just say things get complicated. Cicero has to escape an unknown threat and prove to Marlowe’s associates that he is to be trusted while coming to terms with his apparent Immortality. Hal Emerson has written an exciting and action-packed urban fantasy and Cicero James reminds me of Harry Dresden...

  In the land where the seven Kingdoms struggle to live peacefully, heir after heir is born in the hope that they would be the ones to run the race for the Last Kingdom, a Kingdom that would unite them all under one rule. Each kingdom has paid its price as the parents of the newborn heir die so the new heir can live. Seven monarchs grow up as orphans made who they are by those who raise them in their parent’s stead. Emberly from Snowark and Leon from Seavale both had a hard upbringing and when the portals to the race for the Last Kingdom open for them to compete, they both have conflicting emotions regarding their suitability to compete in the race. As they face the seven stages Ember and Leon face heartbreaking tragedy and physical challenges that test them almost to death. When the two Monarchs and their teams meet up and decide to work together, Ember and Leo could not have guessed that they would end up as friends and maybe more. But, who will rule if both of them finish the ra...

Kryn Darien stands at the cusp of reaching his goal, which he has pursued for over seven centuries. Once a humble and devout Soul Warden, Kryn promised his brother his soul would be in paradise after he died in the Oceanic Conflict. But when he confronts a wizard who had been killing travelers through a curse, he is confronted with a magical mirror that shows him a vision of his brother in anguish. He is granted a boon for his service to the church and is granted a visit to the Gardens of Eternity to search for his brother's soul. But Kryn has a latent magical aptitude, and the magic mirror has blessed him with visions. When he realizes, thanks to these visions, that the likeness of his brother in the Gardens of Eternity is not real, he sets out to discover the truth about the Seraphs and magic. In his quest, he learns about the true nature of the Seraphs, and the lies the church has been propagating. Alone and hiding, he learns magic and becomes a powerful wizard with one goal. Sa...