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Merissa (13398 KP) rated Burn Baby Burn (Fairytales of the Myth #1) in Books

Jan 27, 2021 (Updated Aug 7, 2023)  
Burn Baby Burn (Fairytales of the Myth #1)
Burn Baby Burn (Fairytales of the Myth #1)
Miranda Grant | 2020 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
7.8 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
BURN BABY BURN is the first novella in the Fairytales of the Myth series and there is no easing gently into this series. Oh no! Instead, we jump straight into the action with children fighting, followed by 'real' fighting, slaves, abuse, you name it.

Ella has put up with more than any person should, but her childhood enemy turned friend, Cadeyrn, got her through. When she feels he has betrayed her though, all bets are off and she turns to a pact with the Dark Fae, Daman.

I thoroughly enjoyed being with Ella in this novella. Seeing things from her perspective, and feeling her pain, it was a brilliant read. The only thing I wasn't sure of was the ending with Delentia. I couldn't quite get my head around what she actually wanted.

Nevertheless, this was a brilliant read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jan 25, 2021
  
40x40

ClareR (5996 KP) rated Sun Damage in Books

Jul 4, 2023  
Sun Damage
Sun Damage
Sabine Durrant | 2022 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Sun Damage is a slow burn of a book, dripping in paranoia!

Ali and Sean are confidence tricksters: they get people to trust them, and then extract large amounts of money from them. Except something goes wrong when they try to con Lulu, and Ali goes on the run - with a large sum of money from Sean’s safe. Ali thinks she has found the perfect hiding place in a gîte in the South of France, but it seems inevitable that her past will catch up with her.

This is all set in the summer, when the heat is as oppressive as Ali’s paranoia. The whole novel feels claustrophobic - will Ali be found out? Will Sean find her? What will her employers do?

We see Ali’s past and childhood in some detail, and I found myself forgiving her for her terrible behaviour - although I doubt I would have been so forgiving if I was the one being swindled!

This is probably the ideal summer holiday read - great for by the pool, somewhere hot. Although you’ll be a lot more suspicious of anyone you don’t know trying to strike up a conversation!

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for another great serialisation.
  
Puzzle Me a Murder
Puzzle Me a Murder
Roz Noonan | 2024 | Mystery
3
3.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Missing Pieces
Alice Pepper enjoys having her friends over to work on puzzles most nights. Among the group is her childhood best friend Ruby Milliner. When Ruby arrives home from a business trip early, she catches her husband with his mistress. The next morning, Ruby’s husband is dead, and the police are looking at Ruby as their prime suspect. Alice jumps in to find the killer. But does she have all the pieces to solve this puzzle?

Despite the fact that I’m not much of a jigsaw puzzle guy, I thought this sounded like a fun premise for a series. Sadly, I was wrong. I didn’t feel like the characters ever went beyond being types, and it felt like they had too many interests or skills in their background. It felt like the author was checking boxes instead of making well rounded characters. There wasn’t attention to detail, so these things bumped me out of the book. The novel could have lost 60 pages without losing anything, the pacing was that off. And the climax, while logical, seemed abrupt to me. I really did want to like it more, but I won’t give this series another chance.
  
Claimed by the Bear (Mokoaroa Shifters #2)
Claimed by the Bear (Mokoaroa Shifters #2)
Lenora Baxter | 2025 | Paranormal, Romance
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
CLAIMED BY THE BEAR is the second book in the Mokoaroa Shifters series, and features Liam and Ava, childhood friends who went their separate ways when Liam became an Alpha Elite and Ava didn't know about shifters.

This story has a lot of potential, but it also needs a run-through by an editor. The flow is disjointed in places, with times changing in just a paragraph, sometimes from one day to another, and the continuity needs checking as one moment Liam packs Ava's swimsuit, and the next, she has to borrow one. The perspective also changed from first to third person within the same paragraph. And Gormack, Liam's uncle, became Gormuck on more than one occasion.

All this meant I couldn't lose myself in the story as I wanted, especially when there is a great supporting cast of characters I would love to hear more from. All in all, a good read with great potential.

** Same worded review will appear elsewhere. **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jun 11, 2025