Where Fiction and Reality Meet
Title: The Case of the Missing Maid Series: Harriet Morrow Investigates: Book One Author: Rob Osler Publisher: Kensington Publishing Length: 321 Pages Category: Historical Mystery Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: Not fast paced but paced perfectly for the time in which the story is set, when life was a little slower than we know... Continue Reading →
Title: Geist Fleisch Series: Haunted Hearts Author: Christian Baines Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 176 Pages Category: Historical Fantasy, Paranormal Rating: 5 Stars At a Glance: Geist Fleisch is not only a fantastic peek into Baines' imagination, but its historical setting adds a particular sense of dread to the story, and the human monsters that troll... Continue Reading →
Title: The Woods All Black Author: Lee Mandelo Publisher: Tordotcom Length: 153 Pages Category: Historical Fantasy Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: Horror is not always about the things that go bump in the night or hide in the places that light can’t touch. Horror is as often about the inhumane masking as human, the... Continue Reading →
Title: Fever Author: Jordan L. Hawk Publisher: JordanLHawk.com Length: 241 Pages Category: Historical, Horror Rating: 5 Stars At a Glance: This is not a cozy story; it's claustrophobic, which is a feat unto itself. The vast and barren environment, nothing but sky and an eerie silence, closes in, and it didn't take much for my... Continue Reading →
Title: The Sins on Their Bones Author: Laura R. Samotin Publisher: Random House Canada Length: 414 Pages Category: Historical Fantasy Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: The Sins on Their Bones is decidedly more character than action driven, but that doesn't mean the story lacks urgency. It's the very urgency of the threat, in fact,... Continue Reading →
Title: Death in the Spires Author: KJ Charles Publisher: Storm Publishing Length: 273 Pages Category: Historical Mystery Rating: 5 Stars At a Glance: Death in the Spires is a brilliant story of the illusory invincibility of dreams and the powerful provocation of betrayal. If you love moral gray areas, this story serves a delicious one.... Continue Reading →
Title: The Titanic Survivors Book Club Author: Timothy Schaffert Publisher: Doubleday Length: 308 Pages Category: Historical Fiction Rating: 5 Stars At a Glance: The Titanic Survivors Book Club is a book that loves books. Deeply and without reservation. This novel romances its readers with lyricism and a lushness of prose. It reached for the way... Continue Reading →
Title: An Education in Malice Author: S.T. Gibson Publisher: Redhook Length: 346 Pages Category: Dark Fantasy, Historical Rating: 3.5 Stars At a Glance: An Education in Malice is not meant to be light on drama. It foments darkness, steeps in a soup of its own secrets, complicates itself with a fixation on a decades-long separation... Continue Reading →
Title: A Fine Tangle Series: Silver Locket Origins: Book Two Author: Kennedy Sutton Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 340 Pages Category: Historical Drama Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: While I prefer more dialogue in telling a story than this book offers, the things that happen to Mickey and Hugh, and the things they make happen... Continue Reading →
Title: Most Ardently Series: Remixed Classics: Book Nine Author: Gabe Cole Novoa Publisher: Feiwel & Friends Length: 304 Pages Category: Teen Fiction, Historical Fiction Rating: 3.5 Stars At a Glance: This story is told with an abundance of heart, and while I do feel there could have been a deeper dive into the characterizations—Most Ardently... Continue Reading →
Title: Death at the Dionysus Club Series: Lynes & Mathey: Book Two Authors: Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold Publisher: Queen of Swords Press Length: 359 Pages Category: Murder Mystery, Gaslamp Fantasy Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: There were moments in this book where I imagined the authors could have been inspired by Lewis Carroll.... Continue Reading →
Title: Gwen & Art Are Not in Love Author: Lex Croucher Publisher: Wednesday Books Length: 352 Pages Category: Historical, Teen Fiction Rating: 5 Stars At a Glance: Full of charm and clever dialogue, rife with peril and betrayal, Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a sweet and sublime book. Reviewed By: Lisa Blurb:... Continue Reading →
Title: Death by Silver Series: Lynes & Mathey: Book One Authors: Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold Publisher: Queen of Swords Press Length: 375 Pages Category: Historical Mystery, Fantasy Rating: 3.5 Stars At a Glance: While I remain perplexed by all the accolades heaped up this book, if you like a good procedural mystery, Death by... Continue Reading →
Title: Wrath Becomes Her Author: Aden Polydoros Publisher: Inkyard Press Length: 304 Pages Category: YA/Teen Fiction, Historical Fiction, Speculative Fiction Rating: 5 Stars At a Glance: Aden Polydoros has an immense gift for telling stories that are exceptional, eloquent, and introspective. Wrath Becomes Her is far and away one of the best books I’ve read... Continue Reading →
Title: The Spirit Bares Its Teeth Author: Andrew Joseph White Publisher: Peachtree Teen Length: 399 Pages Category: YA/Teen Fantasy, Paranormal, Historical Rating: 5 Stars At a Glance: Andrew Joseph White is an uncompromising storyteller. His canvas is the page, his imagination the palette, and his words and experiences the color he uses to paint a... Continue Reading →
Title: Lavender House Author: Lev AC Rosen Publisher: Tor Forge Length: 288 Pages Category: Historical (1950s), Murder Mystery Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: I'm not sure what the author's plans are for Andy, but the Evander Mills Mysteries seems like a great title for a series, and Andy is a character I'd happily get... Continue Reading →
Title: Bone Weaver Author: Aden Polydoros Publisher: Inkyard Press Length: 403 Pages Category: YA/Teen, Fantasy/Folklore, Historical Rating: 5 Stars At a Glance: Aden Polydoros has once again penned a Teen novel that reaches beyond its intended audience and bewitches readers who love fantasy, horror, monster fiction and folklore, and he effortlessly weaves these things into... Continue Reading →
Titles: The Yellow Canary, The Black Cat, The Blue Parrot, The Red Raven Series: L.A. After Midnight Quartet Author: Steve Neil Johnson Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 240 Pages, 246 Pages, 277 Pages, 252 Pages Category: Historical Mystery/Suspense Rating: 5 Stars At a Glance: The L.A. After Midnight Quartet is a turning back of the clock... Continue Reading →
Title: A Dowry of Blood Author: S. T. Gibson Publisher: Redhook/Hachette Length: 250 Pages Category: Historical Fantasy, Gothic Horror Rating: 4.5 Stars At a Glance: A Dowry of Blood is an homage to Dracula, passionate and evocative with a lushness of prose that heightened the emotions of the story Constanta tells. It’s a sort of... Continue Reading →
Title: Dust to Dust Series: The Sutter & Adler Mysteries: Book One Author: Jess Faraday Publisher: Self-Published Length: 54 Pages Category: Historical, Mystery Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: I’m so excited to see Ira Adler and Calvin Sutter again and to see where Jess Faraday is taking them as they get down to the... Continue Reading →
Title: The City Beautiful Author: Aden Polydoros Publisher: Harlequin/Inkyard Press Length: 330 Pages Category: Young Adult, Gaslamp Fantasy, Paranormal, Murder Mystery Rating: 5 Stars At a Glance: The City Beautiful is exquisite in its storytelling, its characterizations, and the ways in which Aden Polydoros grounds his readers in the time and place, giving readers the... Continue Reading →
Title: Ophelia's Room Author: Michael Scott Garvin Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 349 Pages Category: Psychological Thriller Rating: 5 Stars At a Glance: Ophelia's Room is at times a turbulent story while, in jarring contradiction, it lulls readers into a false sense of serenity in its everyday folksiness. There are so many things in which this... Continue Reading →
Title: The Bayou Author: Arden Powell Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 97 Pages Category: Southern Gothic, Horror, Fantasy, Historical Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: Arden Powell melds the feral and predatory with the fantastical and dreadful. Their writing is claustrophobic in the best ways, capturing the sultriness of the setting, and that special something for... Continue Reading →
Title: Incubus Author: Leighton Greene Publisher: Self-Published Length: 431 Pages Category: Noir Mystery, Historical Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: Incubus most certainly won't be everyone's cuppa. The cruelty is the point in this dark, twisted, base, deviant, and yet ridiculously compelling story. I couldn't put it down. Reviewed By: Lisa Blurb: Los Angeles, 1956.... Continue Reading →
The Novel Approach Reviews 