I haven’t been writing lengthy reviews lately, but I have been reading, and I found several cool books to add to my Favourites list on my Kindle. I’ve gotten more ruthless about books recently, particularly ebooks. I downloaded so many free books over the past year that it’s becoming apparent I haven’t a hope in hell of getting to them all. These days I curl up with my Kindle, open a book, and if it hasn’t captured me within the first ten pages, I just move on. Sometimes I’ll have a vague interest in how the story plays out, so I’ll skip through it. Now I only finish books I want to, and it’s actually a relief and somewhat liberating not to force myself to read on. Here are some books I have enjoyed recently. These reviews were posted on Goodreads.

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Guardian of Fate by L.J. Kentowski                                   A fun and sexy romp.
Cassie has a full time job saving souls that doesn’t leave much room for relationships. She’s a Guardian of Fate, tasked with preventing demons from hell from stealing souls. Enter Hunter and Caleb, two delicious men she meets in a bar. Who is the better choice? Who is deceiving her?                                                                                                At the start I preferred Caleb, as I don’t find arrogant and pushy men attractive, so Hunter didn’t really do it for me. But we shall see how that goes with book two. Deadly and sexy supernatural hi-jinks ensue from the opening page. Guardian of Fate is fast-paced and enjoyable with steamy sex scenes. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next book in the series.
And how about that cover? It’s stunning. Find it on Goodreads

The Willows: Haven by Hope Collier                                                                                        Slow start, but about a third of the way in I was hooked and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. I finished this in one evening. The forest Ashton visits reminded me of Rivendell from Lord of the Rings. I loved the fairy, magical feel to the place. The Willows: Haven has different kinds of supernatural creatures to a lot of YA books right now. I felt Ashton’s deep sense of betrayal by so many trusted people in her life as much as she did, the mark of an excellent writer. I did hike my eyebrows at a late interaction between Gabe and Ashton. All forgiven with little explanation? Hmm, didn’t quite work for me, but I am eager to see what happens next. Hope book two will be out soon.  Find it on Goodreads

Weathering Rock by Mae Clair                              Beautifully Written.
The words in this book roll off the tongue like poetry. Clair knows how to write setting (the writing is exquisite). As for the romantic hero, if you have a weakness for Southern, old style gentility mixed with the heady sensuality of a werewolf, you’ll like Caleb. I sped through this book, finding it very enjoyable, though the time travel elements did boggle my mind, so I tried not to think about that too much.
Arianna is a likeable female lead. She’s independent and knowledgeable with a deep interest in the Civil War. Ending up with a soldier who actually fought in the War was meant to be. Romance fans will not be disappointed by their love affair. Wyn and Lauren were also great characters. In fact, I felt more of an attraction to Wyn than I did to Caleb, so I’m delighted Wyn is the protagonist in the next Weathering Rock book.
And I smiled at the ref to Vincent Price! Find it on Goodreads

The Gnome by Lauralynn Elliott                                                                                                  The giggling, garden gnome scared the crap out of me. I’m so glad I don’t have any garden ornaments and can say with certainty now that I will never, ever be buying any. I collected gnomes as a child, the toy ones from the cartoon. I thought they were charming – not anymore.
This is a short read; I finished it in one sitting, in bed (not the best place to read a freaky story). I was hoping Tara would do a little more ass kicking, and she did towards the end, but I guess I’ve been watching too much Buffy 🙂 The scenes with magic near the end of the book were vivid and beautiful. Altogether, a fun and creepy read.  Find it on Goodreads

Gothic: Ten Original Tales                                                       I found this at the bottom of a box of books in the shed. As far as I can remember, I’d been given this as a gift many years back, so I sat down with the book recently to read through it properly. Some of the stories were quite enjoyable, like the haunted barn/hayride tale by Vivan Vande Velde, “Morgan Roehmar’s Boys”, which I would have loved to read as a full length novel. “Stone Tower” was beautifully written and kept me turning the pages rapidly to find out what tragedy had befallen Tara. “Watch and Wake” was creepy, Melanie’s snarky voice resonated strongly in “The Prank”, and I chuckled reading “Have No Fear Crumpot is Here”, but others I found a little pointless and just didn’t understand. On the whole, they were enjoyable. Find it on Goodreads

Tales from the Mist                                                                 I picked up this book because I follow Catie Rhodes’ blog and enjoy her Freaky Friday posts. I adore haunted house and ghost stories, so of course my favourites in this collection were “The Consuming” and “Beneath Still Waters”. Catie’s story “Haste” was a refreshing and humorous change from the typical ghost story, and I found “To E.A. Poe” to be disturbing and chilling.        There were a couple of tales I didn’t enjoy very much, but that’s the case with every anthology.  A reader is not going to love every story. Tales from the Mist is very well-written. A few of the stories even scared me, since I was up late in a quiet house with the lights dimmed while reading.  Anyone who enjoys a good paranormal story should pick this up. Find it on Goodreads

Have you read any of these? How many books do you have on your TBR list?

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