A Waltz with the Bone King

Even though this was a novella, Amanda Cessor crafted a lush, complete world, with well rounded characters. Lorelai is a sickly young woman with a bright and macabre mind who finds her affections divided between the worlds of the living and the dead. Love and loss are closely entwined in this tale and Death is such a sweet, respectful suitor to Lorelai. The ending was so beautiful and perfect it brought tears to my eyes.

Merry Mischief in Winter Bliss

A Court-Ordered Romance, A Spark of Trouble, and A Frenemy in Need are 3 books (all by different, but equally talented authors) about a trio of misfit demons who get into a spot of trouble while back in the town they grew up in.

In A Court-Ordered Romance by Lark Green, Vale is a former highschool dork turned Hollywood heartthrob, who uses acting as a way to hide his deep-seated insecurities about his stutter and small horns. He's back in Winter Bliss because his publicist thought doing an interview in the picturesque town would be great publicity for Vale's upcoming movie release.

After stumbling across his highschool best friends in a bar, the trio all get blitzed and end up committing a bit of property destruction that gets all 3 slapped with probation and mandatory community service.

I won't give any spoilers as to how, but Vale finds himself in a fake marriage to the new therapist in town and their forced proximity causes sparks to fly. But even as their fake marriage feels more and more real, they both know it has an expiration date.

I loved the genuine growth that Vale and Coco experience over the course of the book. Vale goes from hiding his true self behind the facade of a diva movie star to embracing all facets of himself. Coco goes from a perfectionist buying herself in the expectations she thinks others have for her to embracing what she herself truly wants from life.



A Spark of Trouble, by Lucy Limón, covers the misadventures of Iggy, a demoness who can't do the 1 thing demons excell at (making fire). She's back home in the town of Winter Bliss for a job interview at a nearby resort. She goes to a dive bar to celebrate doing well at the interview and bumps into Chad, a park ranger who was a side character in the three previous Winter Bliss books.

Chad reminds me a little bit of Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove; good hearted and a bit clueless (especially around women). Luckily for Chad, Iggy knows what she wants and they had a steaming hot one night stand.

Later Iggy stumbles into a reunion with her best friends from high school, Vale and Rex and as the evening winds down, drunken shenanigans ensue. The resulting chaos causes all 3 to be slapped with probation and a boatload of community service hours.

After a month of hiding away in a rental cabin (and accruing fines she can't pay because she's neglecting her community service hours) Chad comes to her rescue. She can bunk with his niece (since she can't pay for the cabin anymore) and he'll get her signed up as a volunteer park ranger to fulfill her community service hours.

A Spark of Trouble was a delightful black cat/golden retriever duo romance and it was wonderful to see Chad get redemption and his own HEA since he was a bit of a punchline in Beastly and Bookish.



A Frenemy in Need is by Lark Green and covers the story of Rex.

Rex is the brother of Rom, the hero from a previous Winter Bliss book, Beastly and Bookish. Rex has always felt like an outsider in demon circles because he lacks the innate demon drive to excell at business. He has always preferred a more blue collar, hands on approach to life.

While back in Winter Bliss helping Rom start up some new coffee shops in the area (the family business) Rex bumps into his high school best friends Iggy and Vale. A night of drinking devolves into drunken escapades that result in all 3 on probation and on the hook for a lot of community service hours.

After Birdie (Rex's highschool frenemy/crush) is left at the altar, Rex convinces her to let him work at her ranch/animal rescue to get his community service hours in.

Birdie and Rex always had a knack for pushing each others buttons, but as they spend more time together their relationship begins to change. I love how Rex and Birdie bring out the best in each other. Birdie can see all the strengths Rex has that he doesn't recognize and vice versa. And the animals at the rescue are such adorable sidekicks (I seriously want a magical, venomous owl as a pet now).

90's Nostalgia with Vampires!

I read a lot of books. Like, between 100-200 books per year for the last 3 years kind of a lot. So mediocre books get quickly forgotten. This review post is about a book that is the opposite of forgettable.

In January I read Through a Glass, Darkly by Nenia Campbell and it has lived rent free in my head ever since. Thought it pains me to use the word retro to describe the setting (because seriously, how am I old enough that my teen years fall into the retro category??), the 90's vibes Nenia infuses into the story are IMPECCABLE.

The story begins in 1997 with the protagonist, Bethany, and her BFF/friend-with-benefits Dory meeting a couple of gorgeous, older men at a record store. This meeting leads to a series of events that turn Bethany's life upside down and causes her to spend several subsequent years of her life being plagued by memory loss and fugue states.

10 years later Bethany bumps into the unreasonably attractive James, and the mysteries of her missing memories begin to unravel. Because it turns out, James is a vampire and he's the cause of her missing memories. And because he keeps erasing himself from her memories, she doesn't realize that the last decade of her life has been a long cat and mouse game between her and a vampire that she keeps falling for, and then forgetting.

Through a Glass Darkly, while being a true dark romance, is also so much more than a dark romance. It's a study on the ripple effects of religious trauma, depression and addiction. And that's why it still lives on in my head almost a year after initially reading it.