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Three Reasons You Should Read This Adult Urban Fantasy:
For Whom the Spell Tolls by HP Mallory is an action-filled revolution to take back the Netherworld from an evil tyrant.
Dulcie is in for the fight of her life and needs to figure out who she can trust before all her plans come crashing down.
If you’ve been reading along with this series – this is a great mid-point wrap up. Many of the loose threads get tied off, and the stage is set for the next phase of Dulcie’s adventures.
As a Regulator for the Association of Netherworld Creatures, I’ve dedicated my career to keeping the peace between our world and the supernatural beings living among us.
But everything I thought I knew just turned upside down.
Why? Because the head of an illegal street potions ring who is also terrorizing my city is none other than my father—a father I never knew existed until now.
And he’s not just any criminal; he’s Melchior O’Neil, the tyrannical ruler of the Netherworld itself.
Now I’m caught in an impossible situation.
My father’s assassins are gunning for me, my allies are becoming suspects, and I can’t seem to get a handle on my complicated feelings for Knight.
As if that wasn’t enough, there’s Bram, the charismatic vampire whose loyalty is as questionable as his intentions toward me.
With The Resistance planning to invade the Netherworld and overthrow my father, I need to decide where my allegiances truly lie.
In this deadly game of supernatural politics, the stakes have never been higher—and for the first time, I’m not sure if I’ll make it out alive.
When family secrets and forbidden attraction collide, for whom will the spell toll?
I started out loving this series. It was funny, quirky, a little dark at times, and had some great adventures and mysteries. The characters were amazing, and I want to be best friends with most of them. Books 1 through 6 feel like one big story, with lots of small steps and side quests in each individual book – like a TV show. This was Season 1.
While I really enjoyed much of For Whom the Spell Tolls, there were just too many aspects that started feeling repetitive by the end of Book 6. Everyone wants Dulcie for her body, and it seems to be a plot point in most of the storylines. Bram’s infatuation, while cute and funny at the beginning, got to be a little too much too often.
The characters I wanted to see more of in this part of the story were strangely absent. I never really understood Melchoir and his backstory or reasons for being the big bad. I just wanted more growth and change from everyone.
While I still enjoyed reading them, and they were written very well. This was just a natural jumping-off point for me.
Title: Over the Fence Author: Debbie Schrack Genre: Young Adule Suspense
Kidnapped from her front yard in Oklahoma eleven years ago, seventeen-year old Eve Anderson lives a wretched existence in Bell Meade, Minnesota with her abductor, “Papa,” his common-law wife “Mama,” and Honey, Eve’s four-year-old daughter with Papa. Papa keeps the family hidden behind locked doors, boarded-up windows, and an eight-foot tall fence that surrounds their backyard.
Emma Love, also seventeen, recently moved to Bell Meade with her Aunt Vi to take care of her big sister Noelle, who’s in a vegetative state after being savagely beaten by her boyfriend, Jack Armstrong. He is charged with grievous bodily harm, but Emma worries that the popularity and influence of the Armstrong family will keep Noelle from getting the justice she deserves.
When Eve and Emma start talking through the fence that adjoins their backyards, they soon form a connection. Emma finds it comforting to talk to Eve about Noelle, and Eve sees parallels between Noelle’s situation and her own. She acts as Emma’s confidant, but does not reveal her own secrets, for fear of Papa’s wrath if he finds out.
But when Papa decides to marry Eve and move the family to an isolated farmhouse, Eve must risk everything to save herself and Honey. Will she have the courage to escape from Papa before it’s too late? And will Emma have the strength to help her new friend, even as she struggles to save her own sister?
Noelle is on the fifth floor, in the Traumatic Brain Injury Unit. Before we enter her room, I close my eyes and say a little prayer. Please, God, bring Noelle back to me today…But it takes less than a second for the hope in my heart to sputter out like the air in a deflating balloon. Because today is no different than yesterday or the day before. Noelle’s lying on her back in bed, propped up by pillows, in exactly the same position she was when we left last night. Her eyes are open and fixed on the ceiling.
Aunt Vi goes to her first, murmuring in her ear and fussing with the blankets on the bed. She picks up Noelle’s chart. Her eyes skim over the top page, like maybe she’s an MD and not an archeologist.
“I’ll just find a vase for these flowers,” she says, setting down the chart and brushing past me, tears in her eyes.
I take a deep breath and approach the bed.
“Hi, Sis,” I say. I do my best to make my voice cheery and bright, but the bile in my throat adds a sharpness to it. I take Noelle’s hands and squeeze them, wishing with all my heart that she would squeeze back. But her hands, the ones that used to fly across piano keys like they were possessed by Mozart’s spirit, are lifeless.
I sit down in a chair close to the bed and start strumming my guitar. If anything can wake Noelle, it’s music. I watch her face as I play, searching for awakening in her eyes, a hint of something besides blankness. She’s still so beautiful. The bruises have faded away. On the outside, she’s herself again, just less alive, like someone put her in a copy machine. The blonde highlights in her hair are almost grown out now. Her sun-freckled skin has gone pale. She has the same brown eyes with the same thick lashes. I’ve always envied those lashes. Now I just wish those eyes would look at me again, that she would smile or laugh…
“How can I ever say goodbye to you…”
Aunt Vi comes back in the room, followed by Dr. Massey. I stop playing.
“They did another MRI this morning,” she says.
My eyes raise to Dr. Massey’s. He’s an older man with sharp but kind eyes, cropped white hair and a beard that goes halfway down his chest. He reminds me of a skinny Santa Claus, except he brings devastating news instead of presents. He shakes his head. Disappointment punches me in the gut, but I ignore it. Noelle needs me to be strong for her. For us.
I stand up and face Dr. Massey, hands on hips. “Okay,” I say. “What now?”
Debbie Schrack is the author of SAVING SOPHIE, a young adult contemporary romance, which won the 2022 Paris Book Award for young adult fiction. She is also the winner of the SCBWI Haunted States of America contest for the state of Virginia. A former teacher, she lives in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. When she’s not conjuring dark and twisty plots or hanging out with her family, you can find her riding her horse or poring over travel brochures, ready to check off another box on her bucket list of travel adventures. You can follow Debbie on Facebook or Twitter @debbie_schrack or contact her through her website debbieschrackbooks.com.
Title: Wicked Games Author: Nancy Brown Genre: Thriller
Wicked: Evil, Naughty. Games: To play or manipulate based on skill, strength or luck.
One Woman. Two men. A race against the clock.
The Players:
Avery Carmichael is a brilliant criminal attorney. She is also the daughter of Jonathan Carmichael, the future governor of New York. She hates games and she doesn’t have time for romance. She is running scared from the only man in her life. She calls him Tic Toc and he wants her dead. Her only objective is to survive.
Liam Sanders is tall, dark and deadly handsome. He’s also the twin brother of Luke Sanders and the newest member of Cross Security. He has a job to do. He doesn’t have time for distractions. But just one look at Avery Carmichael and his game plan changes. He wants her and he’ll do whatever it takes make her his.
Tic Toc is a man who loves games. He’s also a sociopath who communicates through cryptic notes, dead roses and crippling fear. He’s bitter and angry, and nothing will stop him from achieving his goal. He’s set the timeline for the game to playout. When the game ends…so will Avery Carmichael’s life.
The stakes are high.
Each player has their own set of rules.
Time is ticking down…Who will win and who will lose.
Nancy Carolyn Brown is an author of contemporary romance, fond of writing love stories about hunky badass men endowed with massive hearts, and strong heroines with just the right mix of sweet and sass… flaming hot chemistry and thrilling nail biting suspense is always guaranteed!
She loves cosmos and chocolate and a swoony good book with a strong storyline.
She lives in sunny southern Alberta, Canada with her high school sweetheart husband and naughty Bengal cat. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys the simple things in life like spending time with family and friends, reading and running with her favorite playlist blasting in her ears.
