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Lake of Flowers (The Lord Hani Mysteries, book 5) by N.L. Holmes – Review by Sherry Sharpnack

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Lake of Flowers (Lord Hani #5)Lake of Flowers by N.L. Holmes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Lake of Flowers” is my second book by NL Holmes, who does a very thorough job creating ancient worlds that are new to me. In “The Lightning Horse,” we learned about the Hittite Empire; in the series of which “Lake of Flowers” is Book #5, we are in the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, in the reign of Queen Nefertiti (King Akhen-Khepra-Ra in the book).
Hani is a diplomat of the Dynasty. He is tasked by Lord Ay (the king’s father) and also by the Great Royal Wife Mery-Aten to look into the suspicious death of a midwife, and also into the thefts of small things from the Queen’s chamber. These are two completely different mysteries – or are they? But since the new king’s husband had just died, all diplomatic assignments are on hold, so Hani and his trusty secretary/son-in-law, Maya, set about investigating in both the new capital city and the old.
As I said, there is all sorts of world-building, as well as a BUNCH of confusing names. I would probably have been better off starting the series w book #1 but it was #5 that presented itself to me cheaply. I never did keep the names all straight, but really loved the action scenes, which Holmes writes very well, and Hani’s interactions w/ his family members, one of whom is a physician in the royal household, are also engaging. What does Hani’s physician daughter know about the thefts – or the midwife’s murder?
Things become progressively more complicated as the thefts turn out to be attempted poisonings – and more midwives start getting murdered. Do the murders have something to do w/ the actual parentage of the boy-prince, Haru-in-the-Nest (to be known as Tukhen-Aten to history)?
I like that the Lake of Flowers has to be crossed to get to the Field of Reeds – the afterlife. It is a lovely metaphor for Hani getting through the dangers caused by these investigations into a smoother life for himself and his family, although there is a lot of suspense and action getting to his smoother life!
The world created by the book has really stuck w/ me for days. Even though there are too many hard names of characters and places, and the plot line started s-l-o-w-l-y, I give the story 3.4 stars, rounded down to three.

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Travels Through Aqua, Green, and Blue: A Memoir by Mary E. Gregory – Review by Sherry Sharpnack

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Travels Through Aqua, Green, and Blue: A MemoirTravels Through Aqua, Green, and Blue: A Memoir by Mary E. Gregory
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a memoir by Mary Gregory about life w/ a mentally ill mother while suffering from a facial deformity. What.A.Combination.
Mary’s mother leaves her husband b/c the husband, a pastor, comes out as gay. She moves the family around, eventually cross-country to California. Mom has mental issues, but the three kids don’t know that, nor understand. They just know they spend a lot of time in the car, eating fast food or from convenience stores/gas stations. Mary is ugly b/c of her cleft lip, and has problems w/ eating b/c of the holes in her mouth from her cleft palate. I deeply felt all her problems in school with classmates.
It’s understandable that when the family finally lands in Long Beach, CA, Mary eventually ends up as a drug addict and exploring a different lifestyle. This makes me sad, b/c for a while, she was really into basketball, fitness, and school, but slid away from that. The eldest, Paul, leaves the family as soon as possible. Sam, the elder daughter and middle child, bonds w/ an undocumented immigrant boyfriend and spends years getting him back to California from Mexico. This leaves Mary to fend for herself, and for her mother. Mary’s mother gets fatter and fatter, and less and less able to manage her own life, much less raise children. Reading the descriptions of the mother’s various domiciles left me nauseous.
Mary eventually falls for a guy eleven years older than her, another immigrant who needs her to marry him for a green card. It is surprising that this works out at all, but it does. The reader roots HARD for Mary to find love and stability outside of her nuclear family unit. After Mary meets Pierre, it feels like the memoir speeds up, far more superficial than the parts about her young childhood.
The whole book reminds me of Tara Westover’s “Educated,” without the Mormon background, and w/ an overtly schizophrenic parent. I was SO pleased to read about Mary finally getting surgeries to fix her deformities!
I will round up to four stars for this nearly stream-of-consciousness salute to a girl who survived to find a better life.

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The Divine Devils (The Divine Devils Book 1) by R Weir – Review by Sherry Sharpnack

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The Divine DevilsThe Divine Devils by R. Weir
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

TRIGGER ALERT: Kidnapping, gore, torture.
Hunter Divine is a gun-for-hire after losing his job as a US Marshal over an incident for which he was blamed, which was not his fault, of course. A former flame, Paige, calls for his help b/c her children are being threatened w/ a kidnapping by some unknown person. The action – often gory – starts immediately w/ an attempted kidnapping of the teenagers as they are on their way to school.
This book reads like a stereotypical action movie, where the men are men and the women are glad. The women are all tall and strong, even the teenage daughter. There are plenty of woman-on-woman fight scenes to add to the sense of this novel being a male fantasy. Many of the sentences are only sentence fragments, short and choppy. I don’t know if this was the author’s writing style, or if the Kindle formatting was just bad. There were a lot of incorrect homophones as well, as spellcheck cannot catch those. Plenty of clothing descriptions added to the above-mentioned issues distracted me from the plot as well.
There are all kinds of plot twists to keep you guessing as to the bad guy behind everything and his motivations, and the ending is can’t-put-your-book-down tense. I also liked the diversity of the characters. Therefore, I’m rounding this one up to three stars, even though it would usually not be my cup of tea for reading material.

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Bake Believe by Cori Cooper – Review by Sherry Sharpnack

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Bake BelieveBake Believe by Cori Cooper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cat awakens on her last day of summer vacation, itching to get to the pool w/ her best pal and cousin Robyn, so they can flirt w/ boys and live their best lives. She meets super-cute Tobey and they share an amazing soft pretzel from a new bakery next door. Cat didn’t realize baked goods could taste so amazing b/c her mom never cooks. I mean, NEVER cooks, like she has a phobia or something.
School starts the next day, and horrors! There is a mix-up in Cat’s schedule and she ends up in Culinary class – w/ super-cute Tobey. Cat is SO embarrassed b/c she has NO IDEA how to read a recipe b/c remember, her mom has a phobia about cooking. But Cat’s Aunt Marissa is a GREAT cook, which Cat finds out by eating at Marissa’s house for once. Which is another thing her mom doesn’t usually allow.
Cat helps bake a batch of cookies, feeling very happy to be working w/ Tobey. Robyn helps herself to one of the cookies – and is just over the moon w/ joy. Hmmm? Why is Robyn in such a good mood all of a sudden? Cat’s mom and aunt freak out when they hear she’s been baking in school, and her mom insists she drop Culinary class. So Cat’s all upset when she bakes the next day, and everyone who eats the no-bake cookies from class is in a terrible mood afterwards.
OK, so what is going on? Why are Cat’s moods, while baking, affecting others?
This is an interesting premise to go on for a cute little story that should be entertaining for any middle-schooler. As an adult, we think “Eh, this too shall pass.” But the kids? Maybe if they read this, they’ll understand that our moods DO affect other people, even if we don’t have a “gift” for baking that Cat – or is it her whole family? – apparently does.
Big ideas about emotions are presented in an entertaining way – and each chapter is named for the baked good that Cat makes in that chapter, w/ a mouth-watering recipe for that item closing the chapter. The recipes are given w/ funny instructions, not the typical recipes in culinary cozy mysteries. And I love the unusual font for the chapter names; it looks like icing dripping off a cupcake. 3.7ish stars rounded up to 4 stars.

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Murder at Honeybee Lake (Shadow of a Doubt Book 2) by Jessica Aiken-Hall – Review by Sherry Sharpnack

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Murder at Honeybee Lake (Shadow of a Doubt, #2)Murder at Honeybee Lake by Jessica Aiken-Hall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

WARNING: Somewhat graphic descriptions of jailhouse violence and suicide attempts.

“Murder at Honeybee Lake” is a follow-up to “Rebecca Remains,” a very twisty paranormal mystery. This one begins a year after “Rebecca…” resolves. In this one, Tessa’s friend Randy – who provided her with a guest room when she was hiding from Keith – has been living with Ben at their home at the lake for a year now. Down at the dock one evening, Ben pulls a dead body out from under the dock. Randy handles this badly, refusing to believe that Ben found an actual body until the police confirm it the next day. Ben is deeply offended by Randy’s behavior, yet he readily accepts Randy’s marriage proposal later in the week. Their engagement starts on a rocky note as Randy is arrested for the murder of his … already dead lover? WHAT? Denver died years before, from cancer. How did he end up in the lake? And how did the murder weapon show up under Randy’s deck? Ben runs away from all the drama, leaving Emily’s (Tessa’s sister) wife Mandy to solve the murder, as she knows her brother Randy could NOT have murdered any one! If Randy didn’t do it, did Ben? Did Denver “engineer” his own death? Randy undergoes severe abuse and homophobia from the prison guards, and has to depend upon Mandy and Randy’s estranged father, a lawyer, to get him out of the horrendous jail conditions. This is pretty hard to read, even though Randy finds a friend in the jail’s nurse and a closeted gay guard, Simon.
The paranormal is much stronger in this book than in book #1. Randy and Ben both act strangely at times, and both attempt suicide. Were they … not themselves … when the suicide attempts occurred? This is all really twisty and the plot points of either Ben or Randy being the murderer are very convincingly drawn. So who murdered the already-dead Denver? Can Tessa contact Denver to find out?
Parts of this novel get pretty repetitive, but it is twisty and suspenseful. The repetition knocks down the star rating from a 3.3ish to an even 3 stars.

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Rebecca Remains by Jessica Aiken-Hall – Review by Sherry Sharpnack

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Rebecca Remains (Shadow of a Doubt, #1)Rebecca Remains by Jessica Aiken-Hall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

TRIGGER WARNING: Scenes of domestic violence and a somewhat graphic description of marital rape.

Tessa and Keith have been married for a year now. Keith is everything Tessa has ever wanted in a husband: attentive and protective. Even if she gave up her relationship w/ her last living relative – her sister – and her job to be Keith’s wife. Tessa and her sister have been estranged the entirety of Tessa’s marriage, b/c Emily did not like their eloping nor Keith’s over-protectiveness.
Tessa begins dreaming about a woman with long, red hair, warning her that Keith will hurt Tessa, just like he hurt her. It turns out that this woman really exists – existed? – because she is Rebecca, Keith’s former wife. Rebecca shows Tessa proof of the abuse she suffered and tells her that she was actually murdered – by Keith.
In Tessa’s non-dream life, she reaches out to Emily, to end their estrangement, and for help. Since we readers now know that Keith is an abuser, it makes sense that he gets upset at Tessa and Emily re-connecting. When Tessa begins suffering endless headaches and fatigue, Keith arranges for a doctor’s appointment; it turns out Tessa is pregnant. Her dreams of beginning a new family are coming true! Except – they are not. After finding proof that the dream woman was telling Tessa the truth – and the episode of marital rape by her supposedly-perfect husband – Emily and her girlfriend, Mandy, help Tessa move out.
Between the frightening dreams, and trying to establish a new life in which Keith cannot find her, Tessa and Emily try to solve Rebecca’s murder. Tessa needs peace and Rebecca deserves justice. Emily encourages Tessa to explore her gift – communicating with dead people, in order to accomplish both goals.
The story becomes progressively more suspenseful, as the reader awaits the probable confrontation with Keith What a plot twist awaits! Not only do we get the confrontation, but it is nothing like we expected, as we also learn the truth about the fates of Tessa’s and Emily’s parents! It certainly was NOT what they had been told.
There is very little exposition at the beginning of the novel: the plot becomes suspenseful immediately. A bit more exposition would have been helpful. Tessa makes unrealistic leaps in knowledge, seeming to understand situations well before she should have. It seems unrealistic for a woman being stalked by her husband to jump as quickly into a “new” relationship as Tessa does with her high school flame, Tommy. I was really sickened by the marital rape and abuse. Fortunately, the plot improved from there, becoming more about establishing a new family from friendships as opposed to more traditional family arrangements.
I rounded the book up to 3 stars. It is not my typical genre, and I will probably stick closer to paranormal cozy mysteries as opposed to more “realistic” suspenseful mysteries like this one.

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The Lightning Horse (Empire at Twilight Book 1) by N.L. Holmes – Review by Sherry Sharpnack

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The Lightning Horse (Empire at Twilight #1)The Lightning Horse by N.L. Holmes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tiwatipara is a charioteer, working for the Hittite King Hatusshili, as his father and grandfather have done before him. He loves caring for the great horses who pull the chariots, as well as the chariots themselves. Tipa drives the chariot of the crown prince, the eldest son and probable heir of the King.
And then a tragedy occurs: while racing, Tipa’s grandfather is severely injured and his father is killed in an accident while driving the king. When Tipa discovers that the chariot had been sabotaged, his life’s purpose becomes finding the saboteur and exacting revenge.
This is the basic plot line for the rest of the book, but mostly, there is a lot of world-building and so many unusual names – of people, cities, and nations. If a reader pronounces words in their heads as they read, the reading will be slowed to a crawl by the difficulty of doing so w/ the unusual names. The intertwined relationships amongst the books characters are also difficult.
That being said, the descriptions of charioteering, marching armies, and battles are pretty thrilling. Constant heartbreak for Tipa – and an unexpected, huge plot twist – keep one reading. The major flaw in the plot – besides the difficult names – is that the saboteur of the king’s chariot is so glaringly obvious as to remove most suspense from the novel.
I read the Kindle version of the novel, in which the author’s notes, acknowledgements, and a glossary of names were at the end of the book. It would have been most helpful to have read them all first, as many of the people and conflicts delineated in the book are actually historical. This information elevated the number of stars that I will assign the book to 3.4 stars, rounding down to 3.

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Wolf’s Beautiful Beast (The Untold Stories Book 3) by Suzanna Lynn – Review by Sherry Sharpnack

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Wolf's Beautiful Beast (The Untold Stories, #3)Wolf’s Beautiful Beast by Suzanna Lynn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Wolf’s Beautiful Beast” is Book #3 in the “The Untold Stories” series of “fractured” fairy tales. In Book #1, we learned how Capt. Jameson Shaw became Captain Hook; in Book #2, we learned that Red Riding Hood is NOT a victim of the Big Bad Wolf; in Book #3, we get a fantastic twist on the tale of Beauty and the Beast.
We are reunited w/ Red, Rapunzel, and Lycus the white wolf shapeshifter (THE Big Bad Wolf??) from Book #2. They are on their way to Oz when they get waylaid in a land ruled by King Garrart and his Queen, Cora. They had a daughter, Arabella, who disappeared five years earlier, kidnapped by a fearsome beast whom none can gainsay, according to the king anyway. Our three heroes get thrown into prison, and Lycus is only released upon promising to rescue the long-lost princess from the fearsome beast. Lycus accompanies General Drax and his men to the abandoned, crumbling castle where Arabella is held captive, the entire place guarded by magical entwining red roses. Drax and his men leave Lycus for dead when he tumbles down the stairs into the beast’s clutches.
Or does he? The twists in this “fractured” fairy tale keep coming, and it’s just a thrill ride from here on out, w/ one revelation after another setting this fairy tale on its ear. As much as I enjoyed “Red’s Tangled Tale,” this one is just an entertaining thrill ride until the end. 4.6 stars rounds up to 5 stars!

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Hook’s Little Mermaid (The Untold Stories BOOK 1) by Suzanna Lynn – Review by Sherry Sharpnack

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Hook's Little MermaidHook’s Little Mermaid by Suzanna Lynn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is Book #1 in “The Untold Stories” series by Suzanna Lynn. I accidentally read Book #2 first so backtracked to this one.
In this tale, we learn about how Captain Jameson Shaw became Captain Hook, obsessed w/ Peter Pan and a little mermaid friend of Pan’s. As I am absolutely NOT a fan of the Peter Pan complex – in which men never want to outgrow being little boys – I have to admit that I’ve never read “Peter Pan,” and thus know very little about the actual fairy tale. However, one can enjoy this tale w/o knowing the “real” story.
Shaw is obsessed w/ finding and killing Peter Pan, blaming him for kidnapping his son, a child he had only recently met. The child was apparently killed while being one of the Lost Boys. Pan is friends w/ a little mermaid, Elynna. Shaw encounters a witch in the form of a mermaid, who has her own reasons for wishing to hunt down Pan and his little friend. We meet Red Riding Hood again, when Red gives Shaw some of the ever-burning ash from the Blakx Forest to defeat the kraken at sea when he goes on his quest for Pan. But first, Shaw and his crew go to Fairyland to kidnap a fairy, as they will need fairy dust to capture Pan. Thus we meet Tinker Bell, who honestly is my favorite character in this story, as she stays mostly true to herself and her own goals, as opposed to every other character in this story!
As in all fairy tales, nothing is as it seems. Shaw’s thirst for revenge makes him overlook the shady character of Zerena the mermaid witch until it is too late. Pan isn’t all selfish little boy, either. There’s lots of action and plenty of tongue-in-cheek dialogue, which is enjoyable. The action occurring when Shaw accidentally loses his hand was confusing, but it IS a fairy tale, so doesn’t have to always make sense.
All in all, I just didn’t enjoy this tale as much as the one about Red Riding Hood, and am looking forward to Book #3 which is about the Beauty and the Beast. I’m looking forward to how Ms. Lynn treats that story. As long as the beautiful library is there, I’ll be fine!

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Love Between the Lines by A.D. Brazeau – Review by Sherry Combs Sharpnack

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Love Between the LinesLove Between the Lines by A.D. Brazeau
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don’t often read romances, but this romance was intriguing: how could I not like a story about a romance writer who hasn’t experienced any romance in the two years after a bad break-up? And this book has one of the greatest opening lines EVER: “Under the Sheets was always a good time.”
Well, we’re off with a bang! Or — maybe Marlowe wasn’t referring to what I thought she was referring to…
Marlowe Bennet is a romance writer w/ a serious lack of romance in her life. She is a successful romance novelist who has two great friends in her sister Lucy and best friend Iris, a fellow romance writer. Marlowe is content w/ her friends, her two cats, and just wants to live in her sweats, write her books, and hide from her anxiety disorder. But then she runs into the hunky Heath Rochester, a cover model for romance novels (like Fabio?) w/ whom she’d shared a few steamy kisses a year before. It turns out Heath has a surprising career outside of modeling that perfectly compliments Marlowe’s own career. Undeniable sexual chemistry and fate ensue.
Again, this isn’t a typical romance as it doesn’t follow the usual trope of girl-meets-boy, snogs boy, then contrived misunderstandings force them apart. I like that we get a view of strong female friendships, and some sparkling repartee between the characters. For all these reasons, I give the book a solid four stars.

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Red’s Tangled Tale (The Untold Stories Book 2) by Suzanna Lynn – Review by Sherry Sharpnack

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Red's Tangled Tale (The Untold Stories, #2)Red’s Tangled Tale by Suzanna Lynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Red’s Tangled Tale” (Book #2 of “The Untold Stories” series) by Suzanna Lynn is a new look at the old tale of “Red Riding Hood,” and flips the fairy tale on its ear. “Red” is NOT a victim of the Big Bad Wolf in this tale; she is a strong, fierce heroine who helps feed her local village by entering the spooky Blakx Forest and hunting, including killing any of the ginormous wolves that inhabit the Forest, one of whom killed her father.
“Red’s” friend, Captain Jameson Shaw – aka “Captain Hook” – arrives in her village, apparently on a mission to find any aid possible in rescuing his friend, the Little Mermaid, from an evil witch, apparently a sister of King Neptune? He needs some ever-burning ash from the Blakx Forest – the very quest in which Red’s father died. Red leads Hook and some of his pirate companions into the Forest, but what does she find there? Do they succeed in their quest? What else does Red find in the Forest besides the “ash?” Is the white wolf more than it seems? I’d love to tell you, because I LOVED the addition of other fairy tale folks into the mix, but that would spoil a surprising twist in the tale, and I don’t want to include any spoilers.
Again, I loved the re-framing of the old fairy tale. I loved that Red was a strong heroine and that a pirate needed HER help, instead of HIS rescuing HER.
There were a couple of things I didn’t “love:” This book can definitely be read as a stand-alone, but I feel I would have understood more of the story if I had read Book #1 first, as it addresses how the Little Mermaid was captured. I also didn’t love the overuse of the verb “hissed.” Red and Captain Hook “hissed” a lot of their dialogue to one another, and in a couple of spots it was just glaringly misused. So since I liked the book a LOT, I’ll give it 4.4 stars, which unfortunately rounds down to 4.

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