Blodeuedd's Monday Review: How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

Series: Dark Lord Davi (#1)

Format: 392 pages, Paperback

Published: May 21, 2024 by Orbit

Fantasy/own

I do hate a groundhog type of book, luckily, most of that is over with already. Davi has been doing this for 1000 years! And just said F it all, I am going evil.

Davi came from our world, fell into a fantasy world and was told she was their saviour, but for the last 1000 years she has been killed by different Dark Lords and everything has started again. Yeah I would be fed up with it too.

It is written with humour, very dark too, and there is lots of talk about suicide and other dark things. She has been been brutally murdered and tortured for a 1000 years.

She gathers a horde and sets out to become a Dark Lord....things will get tricky...

I liked it, and I do want the next one to see how it all ends. Because, I mean, will she go and kill all humans? That is the path of the Dark Lord. We will see.

Groundhog Day meets Guardians of the Galaxy in Django Wexler’s laugh-out-loud fantasy tale about a young woman who, tired of defending humanity from the Dark Lord, decides to become the Dark Lord herself.

Davi has done this all before. She’s tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she’s rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she’s killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she’s been defeated every time.

This time? She’s done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that’s who she needs to be. It’s Davi’s turn to play on the winning side

Blodeuedd's Monday: More Than A Best Friend by Emma R Alban

Series: Mischief & Matchmaking (#1)

Format: 370 pages, Paperback

Published: January 11, 2024 by Penguin Books

Historical romance/library

I liked this one, it was fun, it had some drama, and at the same time it just had this vibe.

Beth has her first season and she needs to find a husband, or her mother and her will be destitute.

Gwen has had many seasons, and finding a man, eh, she would rather have fun with her friends. Her dad is fun too, a widower with an eye for the ladies, and drinks.

Gwen and Beth becomes friends, and well after a while they will also realise that they like each other more than friends. What I liked here is that the author kept it real. Sure we wish we could change the past, but there still places in the world were it was illegal. So yes they can not be publicly with each other, it is forbidden. But maybe they could find a way to still be together?

So the question is, should Beth marry to save her and her mother (or should they find a husband for her still young mother?). Or should she just forget it all and find a way to get true love?

This is a romance, there is a HEA. Love always finds a way. I enjoyed this a lot. Light and fun.

Love is more than just a game for two. It’s 1857, and anxious debutante Beth has just one season to snag a wealthy husband, or she and her mother will be out on the street.

Gwen, on the other hand, is on her fourth season and counting, with absolutely no intention of finding a husband, possibly ever. She has plenty of security as the only daughter of a rakish earl, from whom she’s inherited her penchant for drinking too much and dancing ‘til dawn.

Beth and Gwen are enchanted with each other on sight. And it doesn’t take long for Gwen to hatch her latest scheme: rather than join the husband hunt, they should set up Gwen’s father and Beth’s newly-widowed mother.

They had a fling years ago, after all…

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Atonement Sky by Nalini Singh

Book 9 in the Psy-Changeling Trinity series

Author Nalini Singh

Narrated by Angela Dawe

Publication date Jul 15, 2025 by Tantor

Running time 14 hrs

Paranormal romance

Eleri and Adam met 10 years before at a trial. He knew she was his mate. But then a killer walked free and they never saw each other again. Eleri is J-Psy and is hunting a serial killer. Adam is a falcon shifter who will do everything to keep his people safe.

But Eleri has had her brain wiped many times, her brain is also failing and she knows she does not have a lot of time left. While Adam, even if angry at first, really wants his mate. Drama.

There is the hunt for the serial killer, and the attempts to save Eleri´s mind. The world outside rests for a while in this book, but yes the Psy net is failing and I would really want to know what will happen there.

An enjoyable book that felt a bit like a sidestory, but something is found in this book that will probably help later on. I also must say, bird shifters, eh, I prefer my wolves and cats. But I guess a bird has its charm.

Angela Dawe is fantastic as always, it would not be a Singh book if it did not have Dawe. She has it all.

Justice-Psy Eleri Dias knows the end is near for her, her mind one step away from fatal psychic exposure. In the short time that remains, she is determined to atone for an act of omission that has haunted her for a long, cruel decade. But that decision not only means facing a powerful changeling wing leader, but also putting herself in the path of a serial killer.

Falcon wing leader Adam Garrett is fiercely protective of his family and his clan. After losing his parents as a teenager in a shocking act of malice, Adam has no forgiveness in him for the J-Psy who betrayed him, betrayed them, at the most painful moment of his life. But the evil that stalks his territory will allow him no respite, forcing him once more into contact with the J he has never been able to forget.

Everything that could've been between Eleri and Adam was lost years ago, a shimmering promise crushed. As they work to uncover a monster, the moment of reckoning looms ever closer. Soon, there may be no more time left for either atonement . . . or love . . .

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: SeatMate by Cara Bastone

By: Cara Bastone

Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi, Zachary Webber, Josh Hurley, Carol Monda, Corey Allen, Allyson Johnson, Eric Yves Garcia, Tanya Eby, Dina Pearlman

Series: Love Lines 3

Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins

Release date: 03-24-22 by Audible

Contemporary romance

I have listened to the two previous ones so I wanted to try this one too.

Sam and Gwen are seatmates on a bus. Over 5 hours before the reach their destination. They can ignore each other, or well talk and that they do. They joke, they get to know each other. Then there is bus drama and the clock is ticking.

Sam is going on a blinddate that his mother set up. Gwen is going to a interview and it is an opportunity of a lifetime.

Obviously in the end they will realize that they want to give each other a chance.

It was fun and it works so well when all they do is talk. Perfect for audio. The narrators were great too, she doing her parts, him doing his and then there were some narrators were a few side characters that jumped in quick too.

I have exactly 5 hours and 10 minutes to get from Boston to New York City or the professional opportunity of a lifetime disappears. My only travel option? The second to last seat on a discount bus. Across from the bathroom. Wearing last night’s clothes (don’t ask). All worth it if I can make it in time.

My nerves almost get the best of me, but then there he is, sitting down in the seat next to me. Tall. Friendly smile. Bright indigo streak in his brown hair. The perfect distraction. Turns out he’s on his way to reconnect with an old flame. The one who got away. We can both make it on time - just barely - if the traffic keeps flowing.

Playing road-trip games, avoiding calls from his mother, and effortless conversation keeps us from clockwatching...until the bus breaks down. And my seatmate turns into my copilot as we wrangle a ride in a car three decades old. And hit all the traffic. And oh, Lord, the detours. And somehow I end up careening cross-town on the handlebars of a Citi Bike carrying a box of kittens. (Yeah, don’t ask.)

He’s my hero every step of the way...and I might be falling for him. But what happens when we reach our final destination? Could my seatmate really be my soul mate?

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey

306 pages, Hardcover

Published: February 4, 2025 by Random House

Magical realism/own

I seriously remember writing a review for this one yesterday, but I guess not.

Oh it made me cry at the end, it was just so, I can not say because spoilers. I did not believe I would but that last page. Ack bittersweet.

It is a slow book, but not in a bad way. It is set in Alaska and the pace is just slower. You just live. Her prose is so good and she sets this melancholy mood, and the the need to run away.

The book is about Birdie who lives with her young daughter Emaleen, and Birdie has this urge for more. So she meets a man called Arthur and goes to live with him in the wilderness. In a cabin not fit to live in. Far away from civilization in bear country. But there is freedom there and she craves it.

This is magical realism and she weaves it so well. I believe that would be true.

Oh and the name, seriously how did I not spot it before the end! Makes so much sense.

Well written, and good.

An unforgettable dark fairy tale that asks, Can love save us from ourselves?

Birdie’s keeping it together; of course she is. So she’s a little hungover sometimes, and she has to bring her daughter, Emaleen, to her job waiting tables at an Alaskan roadside lodge, but she’s getting by as a single mother in a tough town. Still, Birdie can remember happier times from her youth, when she was free in the wilds of nature.

Arthur Neilsen, a soft-spoken and scarred recluse who appears in town only at the change of seasons, brings Emaleen back to safety when she gets lost in the woods. Most people avoid him, but to Birdie he represents everything she’s ever longed for. She finds herself falling for Arthur and the land he knows so well. Against the warnings of those who care about them, Birdie and Emaleen move to his isolated cabin in the mountains on the far side of the Wolverine River.

It’s just the three of them in the vast black woods, far from roads, telephones, electricity, and outside contact, but Birdie believes she has come prepared. At first, it’s idyllic, but soon Birdie discovers that Arthur is something much more mysterious and dangerous than she could have imagined, and that like the Alaska wilderness, a fairy tale can be as dark as it is beautiful.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden

By: Freida McFadden

Narrated by: Megan Tusing, Daniel Thomas May

Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins

Release date: 07-01-25 by Tantor Audio

Thriller

I did not think it, but this one sure packed a punch! Every time I thought I was right I was proven wrong. Twists and turns and such epic ones. I am really impressed.

It starts with murder. And it does seem he deserved it. Quinn goes on the run but gets stuck at a creepy motel because of a snowstorm. Only one other guest who lives there all year around, a managed that seems nice and his wife who is spying from their house.

I really can not say too much because I would just spoil it, but wow, well done. I need to read more even she always gives twists like this.

A great one to listen too, those last 1,5 hours, oh they kept me at the edge of my seat and the narrator did an amazing job with all voices and povs. There is also a male narrator that comes in later.

Quinn Alexander has committed an unthinkable crime. To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job, and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she’s done.

But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night.

Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn’t the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching.

In the morning, Quinn must leave the motel. She'll pack up her belongings and get back on the road to freedom.

But first, she must survive the night.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Format: 416 pages, Paperback

Published: April 23, 2025 by Penguin Australia

Fiction

Library

Seriously, what do people categorize this one as? Because it certainly is not a romance. Yes there is romance, but is more romantic fiction  if that even. I enjoyed it, but this is my second Henry book and neither has been romance, and still...oh I do not know.

This is a book about two journalist competing about who can write the tell it all book about a famous socialite. And see that is the story, Margarets story. She tells about her family, and her life. Alice is a side character who gets to listen, and when she is not listening she runs into Hayden and sparks does fly in the end. Byt yes to me this is truly The Ives family story.

Romance, well I would say there is as much romance between these two as there are between others in the book. Margaret does tell about a lot of people.

The book was good, I really enjoyed learning the Ives tragic story. Did I agree with some choices they made, no, but that was life.

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.

Blodeuedd's Monday: Finding Mr Write by Kelley Armstrong

Format: 368 pages, Paperback

Published: June 25, 2024 by Forever

Contemporary romance/own

I had some issues with this one because I had just finished Yellowface, and sure this is nothing like that. But Daphne decides to publish under a male penname and then she keeps up the lie and even finds a guy to play the part. There is just so much lying. It would have worked so much better if I had not recently read a book about the anger that any lying causes. Big or small.

But yes they get to know each other as Chris needs to know how to play the part of Zane. And the more they lie the closer they come to a big shown down. Because her book becomes a big hit and he is sent to bookfairs and talks in panels. And I kept thinking, people will be maaad.

There is also the romance bit as they get closer. Though to be fair, the romance lacked a bit. It would have made it even more about the romance. Now there was a lot of other things going on.

It was a good book, though do not read it after reading books where people lie about stuff and a trainwreck begins. LOL. Here there is not a trainwreck in that sense because this is in the end a romance.

A  fun romantic comedy about a woman writing under a male pseudonym and the man she hires to play the role in public.

Daphne McFadden is tired of rejection. After submitting her manuscript to dozens of agents, she's gotten rejection after rejection, and now it's time for something drastic. And so, Daphne submits her manuscript again… under a man's name.

Imagine her surprise when it sells for big money at an auction and soon becomes a publicity darling. Only she needs a man to play her super macho alter ego Zane Remington. Enter Chris Stanton, who absolutely looks the part of a survivalist and has a talent for pressing her piss‑me‑off‑I‑dare‑you buttons while somehow being endearing at the same time. But Chris has a few secrets of his own, including the fact that he’s really an accountant who has no idea how to chop wood or paddle a canoe. When Daphne's book becomes a bestselling sensation and they're forced to go on tour together, Daphne finds herself wondering if this city‑boy geek is exactly what she needs to push her to claim her dreams.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Yellowface by RF Kuang

Format: 319 pages, Paperback

Published: May 25, 2023 by William Morrow

Fiction

Library

I enjoyed it, but, oh you know the story, for me it was too hyped up. So for me I did feel somewhat disappointing when it was not amazing. And that is why I should not listen to hype cos then I would not have felt disappointed, I would just have enjoyed a good book.

This one is so hard to review, it is one of those twitter trainwrecks that we all used to watch back in the day. Oh you know you watched it. One could not look away.

Juniper´s friend dies. And she then steals the manuscript for a book that friend was working on...and finishes it. Damn, ok, wtf girl. She becomes a huge success. But there is the voices about how she is white, she writes about Chinese workers. The name she uses that can be mistaken for Chinese, and last how her friend was a well known American-Chinese author.

The trainwreck begins.

Then she makes it worse.

And she is loosing her mind too, seeing her dead friend. About that, I would have loved that aspect to be honest, a horror story. Alas no.

The ending was a bit too open for me. I would just have crawled under a rock, but Juniper is not going down. And we do not know what will happen.

Honestly so much to say about this one, so many aspects of the publishing world. The good, and the bad.

Authors Juniper Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena is a literary darling while June is a nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls?, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse, stealing Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Cowboy Under the Mistletoe by Grace Elena

By: Grace Elena

Narrated by: John William Maddux, Stacy Gonzalez

Series: Alpine Ridge 2

Length: 3 hrs and 17 mins

Release date: 05-27-25 by Tantor Audio

Contemporary romance/ from Tantor

The holidays, a novella, sure thing why not read this when summer starts. I am not familiar with this series, I just dove straight in for a short story.

Katherine is divorced, and thinking of doing some changes in her life. Then one night she steps under the mistletoe and meets a cowboy.

It was short, it was intense at times....in that way. And there was a happy ending. This could have been a full book too. But I take what I can.

It was two narrators and they both did well with their parts. Sometimes I find that one narrator has one speed and the other has another speed, but here it worked when they changed from one to the other.

Wishing for a Christmas miracle is harder than it seems. Katherine Pearson has lived her whole life in Alpine Ridge, TN. From marrying her high school sweetheart to being divorced in her mid-thirties, Katherine is feeling stuck. Stuck in life, stuck in her hometown, and stuck in love.

When she finds herself at a dive bar at the edge of town, there’s a sense of solace that she can’t quite place. A sense of belonging that she hasn’t felt in a long time. Stumbling into a cowboy under a mistletoe is the last thing she expects to happen to her. It doesn’t help that he’s a cowboy who just seems to understand everything she’s feeling this holiday season.

Maybe Santa does have Katherine at the top of his list this year.

Blodeuedd's Monday: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher

Narrated by: Patricia Santomasso

Release date: 10-12-21

Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher: Tantor Audio

YA /from audible

This was a cute fantasy. I tried it in audio, thanks to audible.

Mona works for her aunt, baking. She has some magic and can make gingerbread men dance, and she made this angry sourdough start that she named Bob.

Then she finds a dead body, someone is killing mages, and something is wrong in the city.

Quite the little adventure as she tries to save the day. Even the smallest baker can make a difference.

Just sweet and good you know. Also great narration

Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance.

But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: One of Those Flings by Lauren Blakely

Narrated by: Andi Arndt, Jason Clarke, Erin Mallon, Savannah Peachwood, Emma Wilder, Jakobi Diem, Dan Bittner

Length: 1 hr and 17 mins

Release date: 08-31-20

Publisher: Audible Originals

Contemporary romance/from audible

Ok so this one was really short, but that is why I chose it.

I have not listened to many books like this, or any. It was entirely told through dialogue, and it does work well. But it was different because no inner thoughts, more like a movie then. A cast of narrators, sound effects, a lot for a short story.

But hey it worked for me. Girl goes on vacay alone, meets hot guy, and then they will eventually live happily ever after.

It works

Skyler’s breakup survival plan is simple: Swear off men for a year and celebrate her man cleanse with a solo tropical vacation to Hawaii. Snorkeling, sightseeing, zip lining, and leisurely dinners by the sea are just what the doctor ordered to mend her broken heart.

That is, until she meets a hunky adventure tour guide who makes her want to break all her own rules. Handsome, funny, and exciting, Caleb is by far the hottest local attraction. Will a romantic island fling lead to more heartbreak - or a new beginning?

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Bryony and Roses

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins

Release date: 10-13-15 by Tantor Audio

From audible

Fantasy

I was sure I had written a review already, but I guess not.

This is a Beauty and the Beast re-telling, but really close to the actual story.

Bryony is trying to get home and seeks shelter in an seemingly abandoned mansion. But there lives a Beast, and the house seems alive and magics things for her.

She starts to garden. The beast cant say what is wrong...but something is wrong in this spooky house.

A bit darker than the original. Not dark dark, just spookier. But for me to close to the original.

Good narration. But then I really like Eyre.

Bryony and her sisters have come down in the world. Their merchant father died trying to reclaim his fortune and left them to eke out a living in a village far from their home in the city.

But when Bryony is caught in a snowstorm and takes refuge in an abandoned manor, she stumbles into a house full of dark enchantments. Is the Beast that lives there her captor, or a fellow prisoner? Is the house her enemy or her ally? And why are roses blooming out of season in the courtyard?

Armed only with gardening shears and her wits, Bryony must untangle the secrets of the house before she—or the Beast—are swallowed by them.

Blodeuedd's Review: Daughter in Redwinter by Ed McDonald

352 pages, Paperback

Series: The Redwinter Chronicles (#1)

Published: September 12, 2023 by Tor Books

Fantasy/own

My bookclub theme was Finish that book. So this poor book was it. I started it last summer and never got far.

So what was the problem? I think it was Raine, the main character. I did not like her. If she had died at the end I would have been all meh, shit happens.

The world was interesting, but yeah Raine was pretty meh. Everyone around her is killed, she is pretty meh about it. She rides out with the people who was there doing that. She makes some friends, bad things happen.

I just never warmed up and it sort of ruined things for me :/

Those who see the dead soon join them.

Raine can see―and speak―to the dead, a gift that comes with a death sentence. All her life she has hidden, lied, and run to save her skin, and she’s made some spectacularly bad choices along the way.

But it is a rare act of kindness―rescuing an injured woman in the snow―that becomes the most dangerous decision Raine has ever made.

Because the woman is fleeing from Redwinter, the fortress-monastery of the Draoihn, warrior magicians who answer to no king, and who will stop at nothing to reclaim what she’s stolen. A battle, a betrayal, and a horrific revelation force Raine to enter the citadel and live among the Draoihn. She soon finds that her secret ability could be the key to saving an entire nation.

Though she might have to die to make it happen . . .

Blodeuedd's Monday: Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong

356 pages, Hardcover

Series: Rockton/Casey Duncan (#6)

Published: February 9, 2021 by Minotaur Books

Thriller /own

This hellish town filled with hellish, and some very nice people, is coming to an end. In this one Casey finds a wounded hiker and takes her back to town. And things gets bad.

And we finally learn what the hostiles are about. There have been clues and more through out the series. Crazy hippies going around killing people. But now I know. And it was crazy.

Hunt for, well everything as things are getting intense. And this town, well, the whole idea behind it is so good. But when money talks and they are getting serial killers with women fleeing abusive exes. Well then the whole idea behind the town has gone down the drain.

One more! Eeek, but hey I have already spoiled it for me since I first read the series after this one.

Detective Casey Duncan has noticed fewer and fewer residents coming in to the hidden town of Rockton, and no extensions being granted. Her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, presumes it’s the natural flux of things, but Casey’s not so sure. Something bigger is happening in the small town they call home.

When an injured hiker stumbles from the woods, the sole survivor of a hostile attack, it’s all hands on deck. Even a member of the elusive Rockton council comes in to help. This council member also comes bearing news: Rockton is being shut down due to the hostile situation.

Casey and Eric must now race to save the town that has allowed residents to have a fresh start, away from the mistakes of their past, while also getting to the bottom of this latest attack.

Blodeuedd's Monday: Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

Format: 290 pages, Hardcover

Published: August 30, 2022 by St. Martin's Press

Fiction/own

It has been ages since I read this author, I like her magical realism books. Though here the magical realism, well it was so real so...well I have to doubt things a bit. But here there clearly are ghost.

Zoey moves into a flat. She has her own problems, horrid family. Her mum died long ago. She befriends other in the building, all with their own ghosts. And then of course someone dies the first day too.

Old secrets are slowly coming to light and all these strangers will become friends

Trying to make it short. Good book. Very lovely

Between the real and the imaginary, there are stories that take flight in the most extraordinary ways. Right off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island, The Dellawisp sits—a stunning old cobblestone building shaped like a horseshoe, and named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.

When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment at the Dellawisp she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors, including a young woman with a past, two estranged middle-aged sisters, and a lonely chef, and three ghosts. The sudden death of one of Zoey's new neighbors sets off a search that leads to the island's famous author and to a long-estranged relative of the sisters.

Each of them has a story, and each story has an ending which hasn't yet been written.

Blodeuedd's Monday: Laird of Misrule by Mary Wine

By: Mary Wine

Narrated by: Antony Ferguson

Series: The Enchanted Well, Book 1

Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins

Release date: 03-25-25

Publisher: Tantor Media

Categories: Historical romance

Recieved from tantor for a review

Wine sure does writing about bitchy women who tries to bully our heroine. It is not the first time.

I so disliked the lady of the manor. I wanted to slap her, sooo much. Ok backtrack.

Prudence is a puritan who ventures out to a Samhain fire. Her puritan dad would not like that. She meets a hot Scot and he helps her home. Because the party is getting wild and he is a gentleman.

In comes bitchy Lady of the Hay. Dugan is a bastard, and his father´s wife does not like that he is so respected. She fears for her own son. While Dugan does not really give an F about lairdship. So this horrid woman kidnaps Prudence and says it is for her own good because evil Dugan spoiled her and her family would have cast her out. Why you wonder, well the Scots hates the English and Prue is English so they will loose respect for Dugan when he has to marry her. Arghhh, it made me so mad! Prudence was so nice, Dugan was so nice. And many others were not.

But these two trust together will fall in love, and Prudence will show she is more than just a sweet girl.

I enjoyed it, and Anthony Ferguson is always a brilliant narrator. I like his Scottish accent and this is not my first Wine book by him. They are always fun to listen too.

Tonight, Dugan planned to make sure the little lass venturing out to peek at her future got what she was looking for.

One moonlit encounter. That was all it might ever be, and yet, Dugan discovered he craved more. Much more. At the end of the harvest, Samhain bonfires had been held under the moon for as long as anyone remembered. Were they sinful? Perhaps. But they were fun, and Dugan intended to give himself another chance to see the lass he’d encountered at the well.

Tonight though, he’d go so far as becoming the Laird of Misrule. The position came with a very pretty queen consort while the bonfire blazed.

Her mother warned her against indulging in impulses. But that didn’t stop Braylin from sneaking out to dance around the bonfire on the first night of Samhain. It was a chance to be free, if only for one stolen moment.

But fate has other ideas. Dugan is illegitimate, and his stepmother is determined to make sure he will never inherit the Hay lairdship. When the lady hears that Dugan has danced the night away with an English, a Puritan girl, it’s the perfect chance to ensure her own son inherits instead of Dugan. For if Lady Hay brings the English girl to Hay land, Dugan will have to wed her or see his honor tarnished.

Blodeuedd's Monday: The Mystery of the Spanish Chest by Agatha Christie

A Hercule Poirot Short Story

By: Agatha Christie

Narrated by: Hugh Fraser

Length: 1 hr and 25 mins

Release date: 06-11-20

Publisher: HarperCollins

Categories: Literature & Fiction

I had 1 day left of my audio subscription and it is so difficult to find things there so...yes I went with Agatha Christie again. Short and nice.

A man found dead in a chest while a party was going on. Oh and he did not attend the party. Who killed him?

Poirot gets interested in the story and solves the case!

Nice and short

Previously published in the print anthology The Adventure of The Christmas Pudding

Major Hastings and Hercule Poirot are not interested in the mystery of the Spanish Chest, which has been reported in the papers so often that it seems to be an entirely closed case. But, when Hastings persuades Poirot to attend a fabulous party given by Lady Chatterton, they discover someone sequestered upstairs who is desperate for their help. Will the contents of a dead man’s pockets reveal to the inscrutable eye of Hercule Poirot who the culprit is?

Blodeuedd's Monday: One Thing Leads to A Lover by Susanna Craig

By: Susanna Craig

Narrated by: Esther Wane

Series: Love and Let Spy Series, Book 2

Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins

Release date: 06-03-21

Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC

 A random find, I wanted to listen to a historical romance. And this one looked so fun.

Amanda is a widow with 2 boys. Then she gets a hold of something and is pulled into a game of espionage.

Major Langley Stanhope is a spy and he needs to solve a certain problem. And then he meets the lovely Amanda and everything gets difficult.

They fall in lust, they fall in love. There is a hunt for something and danger.

Yes I read book 2 first, it works well in HR. But I am curious what kind of spying is going on in the other books.

Great narration too. I like her voice for make and females

Amanda Bartlett, widowed Countess of Kingston, is a woman beyond reproach. Married at nineteen, she dutifully provided the Earl with an heir and a spare before his death three years ago. Since then, Amanda has lived a simple, quiet life. A life that, if she were honest, has become more than a trifle dull. So when an adventure literally drops into her lap, in the shape of a mysterious book, she intends to make the most of it—especially if it brings her closer to a charismatic stranger...

Major Langley Stanhope, an intelligence officer and master mimic known as the Magpie, needs to retrieve the code book that has fallen into Amanda’s hands. The mistaken delivery has put them both in grave danger and in a desperate race to unearth a traitor. It’s also stirred an intense, reckless attraction. Langley believes the life he leads is not suitable for a delicate widow, but it seems he may have underestimated the lady’s daring...and the depths of their mutual desire.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Trees of Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

Series: The Cosmere (#28), Secret Projects (#1)

Format: 384 pages, Paperback

Published: April 2, 2024 by Tor Books

From: Own

Genre: Fantasy

A fairytale esque book set in the Cosmere.

Tress grows up on a boring little dangerous island. Everything in this world is dangerous and can kill you. She has a best friend, but one day he is taken away. And she says, nope, not on my watch. And she goes to find him!

A pirate adventure. A tale of friendship, danger and going for what you want.

A sweet adventure. Where everything goes well just as in a fairytale.

The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?