Book Review: Echoes Of The Heart by Susanne Ash

Author: Susanne Ash

Title: Echoes Of The Heart

Series: The Alphabet Sweethearts

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Novella

Format: ebook

Pages: 56

Published: March 4, 2025

Where I got It: Kindle Unlimited

Summary: 

Ben Holloway has spent his life protecting the Juniper Falls Mountain Preserve, following one rule above trust the land, not people. Raised by a single mother who warned him that everyone leaves, Ben’s past experiences have only reinforced her words. The last thing he needs is an ambitious wildlife photographer disrupting his quiet world with her bold ideas and relentless optimism.

Natalie Quinn is passionate about conservation and believes a visitor center at the preserve could inspire others to protect the wilderness. She didn’t expect her proposal to face fierce opposition from the gruff and stubborn park ranger—or to end up living under his roof after spraining her ankle during a rescue mission.

Forced to spend time together caring for an injured eagle, their sharp disagreements begin to give way to shared respect and undeniable chemistry. But when Ben’s insecurities and Natalie’s outsider status collide, old fears resurface, threatening to tear them apart.

With hearts—and the future of the preserve—on the line, Ben and Natalie must decide if they’re willing to take the ultimate trusting each other.

Review:

This is such a fun short series, and I love this town!

This time, we are following Natalie and Ben. The two love nature and want to protect it, but they have HUGE disagreements about how to do so. During a rescue mission to save an injured eagle, she sprains herself in the process. Ben saves her, saving an eagle, and now he's taking care of both. They realize how much they actually have in common and how much chemistry is between the two. However, Ben has deep insecurities, and Natalie is an "outsider" who will probably not stay. 

I liked this one. Natalie and Ben are sweet. They both care about nature. However, their ideas of conserving nature are vastly different. He wants to lock nature away and keep anyone from it. Natalie wants to make it open to the public to teach the people. Educate the next generation! 

Very sweet, and I loved watching them fall into friendship and then love. It was quick, but it worked for them after being stuck with each other. 

But yes, I can't wait for more from this town. It's sweet and quick. 

5 stars for this. 

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

Series: Hoid's Travails (#2), The Cosmere Universe (#18)

Format: 365 pages, Paperback

Published: January 1, 2023 by Gollancz

FantasyScifi/own

I am conflicted, I love Sanderson, but it is just...this was sort of dull.

I love the idea of it. Two worlds, two souls that visit each other. Yumi is powerful for her people and not really allowed to do anything except get spirits to come. Then she ends up in another world and meets Painter, but as their souls kind of switched he is kind of a ghosts. Painter as she calls him protects sleeping people from living nightmares, but now he cant do anything. Except when he is in her world, where he is in her body and there he is helpless too and the people wonder why she can not bring out spirits anymore.

BUT, I do not know, I was kind of meh about the whole thing. I did not give up, cos hello Sanderson. But for me this was not one of his better ones

Yumi comes from a land of gardens, meditation, and spirits, while Painter lives in a world of darkness, technology, and nightmares. When their lives suddenly become intertwined in strange ways, can they put aside their differences and work together to uncover the mysteries of their situation and save each other’s communities from certain disaster??

Audiobook Review: Death at a Highland Wedding by Kelley Armstrong

Author: Kelley Amstrong

Narrator: Kate Handford
Title: Death at a Highland Wedding

Series: A Rip Through Time #4

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Fantasy
Format: Audiobook
Published:  May 20, 2025
Where I Got It: Borrowed from library

Summary: 

After slipping 150 years into the past, modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson has embraced her new life in Victorian Scotland as housemaid Catriona Mitchel. Although it isn’t what she expected, she's developed real, meaningful relationships with the people around her and has come to love her role as assistant to undertaker Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie.

Mallory, Gray, and McCreadie are on their way to the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie's younger sister's wedding. The McCreadies and the groom’s family, the Cranstons, have a complicated history which has made the weekend quite uncomfortable. But the Cranston estate is beautiful so Gray and Mallory decide to escape the stifling company and set off to explore the castle and surrounding wilderness. They discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, a slightly pompous and prickly man, has set up deadly traps in the woods for the endangered Scottish wildcats, and they soon come across a cat who's been caught and severely injured. Oddly, Mallory notices the cat's injuries don't match up with the intricacies of the trap. These strange irregularities, combined with the secretive and erratic behavior of the groom, put Mallory and Duncan on edge. And then when one of the guests is murdered, they must work fast to uncover the murderer before another life is lost.

Review:

This series is great. I am loving it soooo much. 

We are back with Mallory and the crew. This time, they are heading up to the Highlands for a wedding. McCreadie's sister is marrying the eldest Cranston. This is slightly awkward and uncomfortable due to a...complicated history. After a series of events, a guest is found murdered, and they must work fast to uncover the truth before the wrong person is charged or another body appears. 

We got a LOT of backstory in this one with McCreadie and the crew. Mallory, being from a different time, didn't know the full story, and soon, we find out there are secrets that everyone is keeping. I loved every second of it!

Between finding the murderer and uncovering secrets....it was addicting. I didn't want to stop listening!

At the same time, Mallory is realizing she has feelings for Dr. Grey. I think he has feelings, but Mallory doesn't see it. Victorian men can def keep it close to the chest. 

I am nearly caught up. I have a novella (which I'll be getting to that soon), and then the new one will be released later this month. I may end up buying it because I know my library won't have it :/ Should I just buy the whole series? I can see myself revisiting it! We shall see. 

I hope the narrator continues forth! She is soooo good. She is perfect. 

All-in-all, I adore this series. I adored this book. I want more. Need more...is the right thing to say. 

5 stars. 

 

Reading Challenges

- Audiobook #16

- Library Love #11

Book Review: Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

Author: William Shakespeare

Title: Titus Andronicus

Genre: Classics, Historical Fiction

Format: ebook

Pages: 402

Published: 1594

Where I got It: My shelf (Amazon)

Summary: 

Titus, a model Roman, has led twenty-one of his twenty-five sons to death in Rome’s wars. We follow Titus Andronicus as he descends into a cycle of brutal vengeance against Tamora, Queen of the Goths, and her lover Aaron the Moor, after they wrong his family

Review:

Play 2 for Shakespeare Club is done and in the books! I'm really loving the live reading and discussion afterwards. It's like English class without the test. 

Here we jump to one of the most bloody plays good ol' Billy has ever written. It is so Roman that the Romans would be proud. Tragic and bloody. Titus, the perfect Roman, has returned home to bury yet another one of his sons. Chaos ensues. Blood will be shed, and revenge is never-ending. 

So yes. This was bloody, and we had a death count as we went through each Act. No one is safe. There is also a tragic scene involving Titus' daughter that definitely warrants a trigger warning. You don't "see" it happen, but you see the aftermath.

Elizabethans adored it. They love a good blood shed, so Billy certainly got his name out with this play. 

Even in the mud of blood, there is a story. It is tragic and actually really good. You really have to pay attention to what the characters are saying and doing. There is a message to be had for sure. This was one of Billy's first works, and you can see some foreshadowing into what will be written in the future. It was kind of poetic. 

We all joked that Quentin Tarantino should remake this. This would be right up his alley. 

But yes, this is....a lot. There is a scene at the end that I whispered, "What the fuck."

At the end of the day, this was intense and bloody, and I can see why the Elizabethans ate this up. Tragic, bloody, and wild. I'll give this 3 stars.