Month: May 2025

Betrayal from Beyond by Deb Marlowe

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Part of a Series, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

Betrayal from Beyond (The Kier and Levett Mystery, #6)Barbara’s rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars
Series: The Kier and Levett Mystery #6
Publication Date: 4/14/25
Period: Victorian
Number of Pages: 276

After their honeymoon trip on the continent, Kara and Niall have finally returned to London. They loved their relaxing days filled with love and laughter, but – AH! Being home is exquisite. There is nothing like the comfort, safety, and love surrounding them at home with their ‘found’ family. However, they’d hardly gotten their bags into the house before real life intruded – in the form of archvillain Petra Scot.

Petra is out for revenge against Kara and Niall, and she wants them to suffer unimaginably before she finally puts them to death in the most awful way possible. Petra will happily hurt, maim, and murder all they hold dear before bringing them down – and at the same time, she’s going to bring England to its knees. YIKES!!!

Petra tauntingly stays just out of reach as Kara and Niall dash around London trying to find her and unravel the mystery. Everyone is involved in this fast-paced story with Stayme, Turner, Gyda, and even little Henry contributing their talents to the search. As bodies keep turning up, and the danger circles closer and closer, Kara and Niall begin to wonder if they’ll ever prevail. However, they are as skilled and determined as Petra is – more!

These stories are always interesting and entertaining. They’ll make you hold your breath – and then let it out slowly. The Kara and Niall world is wonderfully developed with endearing characters and wonderful mysteries. If you enjoy a fast-paced mystery with unique protagonists and vile villains, you’ll want to try this book.

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The South Wind by Alexandria Warwick

On By TracyIn Fairytale Retelling, First Person Narrative, New To Me Author, Paranormal / Fantasy, Part of a Series, Romantasy, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

The South Wind (The Four Winds, #3)The South Wind by Alexandria Warwick

Tracy’s Rating: 2.5/3 of 5 stars

Series: The Four Winds, #3

Release Date: May 27, 2025

Princess Sarai of Ammara has less than three months to live before death claims her. Cursed as a child to die on her twenty-fifth nameday, she will do whatever it takes to secure her realm’s future, including an arranged marriage to Prince Balior, a handsome young noble from a neighboring kingdom. But another man vies for her attention as well: Notus, the South Wind, god of the desert breeze, and Sarai’s ex-lover.
Sarai is determined to stay away from the god who betrayed her and honor her father’s plan. But Prince Balior has an agenda of his own, and as Sarai learns more about her betrothed, she realizes he might be a dangerous threat to her people. So despite her hatred for Notus, she fakes their engagement to escape the arranged marriage and unearth Prince Balior’s true motives surrounding his obsession with the menacing labyrinth that sits in the palace’s grounds.
But darker forces are at work, and time is running out. Together with Notus, Sarai must face the horrors dwelling inside the labyrinth to save herself and her realm—but in order to succeed, she must confront her pain and the monsters she carries within herself…

My Thoughts:
I loved the idea of this story, a mix of myth and fairytale, featuring a fake betrothal and a slow burn second-chance romance with a bit of intrigue to keep the pages turning. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me for several reasons, the primary reason being that the book is written in the first person (this is obviously a personal opinion, I dislike reading books written in FPN, so if you like that style please disregard my bias) the second reason was the lack of chemistry between Notus and Sarai and finally, Sarai herself annoyed me, she was whiney for most of the book and while she does redeem herself, it was too little too late for me. Overall, I think my dislike of the FPN tainted this book for me and while I liked the idea of the story, I didn’t like the execution and felt like it was more of a YA story than adult romantasy, however, I did like Notus and enjoyed the mythic elements of the story and I thought the intrigue was very well done. This is the third book in the series, but I believe they can each be read as standalone titles without diminishing the reader experience.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *