DDBook Reviews

  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...

 An Elf, a warrior, a dwarf, and a weedy man enter a pub in Slagbottom, and soon all four are dead. As the local crime-solving busybody, Miss Marble is in the hospital, Constable Big-Girl’s-Blouse asks the Met to help with the investigation. DS Dogsbreath is sent to start the investigation that will be done by the Corner of the Yard (aka DI Aloysius Corner of Scotland Yard). As the investigation develops, DS Dogsbreath finds it challenging to navigate the suspects, all of whom swear that they did not see who committed the crimes, if there were even crimes. The four strangers did not either commit suicide or die by some freakish accidents. After all, who knew the cistern could fall on a dwarf’s head and kill him or that a man could be killed by billiard balls or a lone dart to the head. When Dogsbreath insists that the four deaths were murders and he comes close to discovering the secret kept by all the villagers, Miss Marble solves the crimes from her hospitable bed, declaring all ...

  Zee Morani, author of a syndicated opinion column, wants to become a "serious" journalist. To do this, she has secured an interview with disgraced scientist Dr. Ian McNeary, but when she arrives at his office, she is met with a horrific sight. Dr. McNeary has been murdered! After she identifies a possible culprit and he subsequently implores her to solve the murder because he is innocent, Zee starts to investigate, gathering evidence, making dumb decisions, and landing herself in dangerous situations. She is supported by her best friend. Fontina is a holistic mystic who teaches yoga and believes in herbs, meditation, and intuition. The problem is that Zee's intuition lands her in trouble and the emergency room. Seeing herself as an investigative journalist, Zee does what she thinks is necessary, visiting the victim's father, his old friends, and colleagues and searching through old garbage dumpsters in search of the murder weapon. Through her tenacity, she solves th...