Review: Three Kisses, One Midnight: A Novel

Three Kisses, One Midnight: A Novel by Roshani Chokshi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Onny’s grandmother left her a recipe for a love potion.  She was told that it can’t make someone love you, but if there is a spark … it can fan the flame.  Onny, True, and Ash (The Coven) decide to create this love potion and use it during the masquerade ball.  But love is fickle and these girls learn that there is more to love than what they thought.  Will The Coven succeed in finding true love?  What truths about themselves will they discover along the way?

Three Kisses, One Midnight is a stand-alone novel that is part supernatural and part romance.  Neither genre overpowers the other and readers will be delighted with how the story unfolds.  I was interested to learn more about each character as they tried their best to find love and the subordinate characters were just as interesting as they weaved in and out of the main characters’ tales.  Three possible romances with one overarching story made this an extremely fun read.

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Review: Ashfall Prophecy

Ashfall Prophecy by Pittacus Lore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Syd knows he is different.  He was raised by his human mother and doesn’t really remember his alien father.  It turns out that Syd’s father died on the planet Ashfall protecting a secret about humans and Denzans.  Syd is now faced with an impossible choice.  He can free humans from the limitations of Earth or he can destroy Earth itself to keep humans from attacking other species … again.  Syd knows that he has been prophesied a world-killer, but can he choose his own path?  Was his father’s death in vain?

Ashfall Prophecy is the second book in the Ashfall series.  The book’s introduction tells readers that this is a duology, but after finishing this book I believe Lore can write more in this sci-fi universe if he chooses.  This novel is full of space travel, aliens, adventure and personal conflict, so many reader types will enjoy this book.  The overall feel is similar to Lore’s other novels and I found myself wondering if the worlds were crossing, but readers do NOT need to have read the other series to enjoy this one.

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Review: Blue Bloods: After Life

Blue Bloods: After Life by Melissa de la Cruz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Schuyler has just sacrificed Jack in order to defeat Lucifer when she wakes up in 2020 New York.  Not only is the city not as she remembers it, but she also isn’t in her regular body and everyone else is different in some way.  She quickly finds out that she isn’t in her New York … she is in a different universe.  Here, Lucifer is still alive and the mayor of New York; Jack is also alive, but is Lucifer’s right-hand man.  Schuyler doesn’t know what is going on and then Kingsley contacts her.  He remembers their world and has his own ideas about what has happened.  Will Schuyler be able to defeat Lucifer again?

Blue Bloods: After Life is a spin-off of the original Blue Bloods series.  I found it interesting that the time jump brings the characters into the fall of the Covid-19 outbreak (in our world) and the vampires were taking advantage of a mysterious illness and the vaccine that was being released.  If this is a one-and-done spin-off book, it was fun and worth the read.  If this becomes a new series, though, I will need to save my thoughts to see where de la Cruz plans to go with the storyline.  It was a nice escape to revisit old characters and this might be the introduction needed to bring this series back into the hands of young readers.

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Review: Primeval Fire

Primeval Fire by C.T. Rwizi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Salo died and the world is at war.  When members of his clan start having odd experiences, the mystic tells them that a signal is coming from the west and they must respond.  During this same time, Ilapara and Tuk decide that they are going to raise Salo from the dead.  They seem to be successful, but the Salo they resurrected is not behaving like the person they remember.  Why are these groups pulled towards the west?  Will they be able to keep the world they know from collapsing?

Primeval Fire is the third and final book in the Scarlet Odyssey series.  Rwizi didn’t spend much time getting readers caught up with past events and I am happy because this book had enough length and I enjoyed just jumping in and following the adventure.  With that being said, I recommend that readers start with the first book and work their way through it so that they can enjoy the full story and readers will want to reach the end to enjoy the climax.

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Review: Upgrade

Upgrade by Blake Crouch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Logan is a very lucky man.  He was hit by a bomb that infected him with a virus.  What made him lucky was that the virus didn’t kill him or change his genetic structure.  He is released to return to his family and then he notices some small changes … nothing major.  He can finally concentrate long enough to finish a book, he can multitask, and he can beat his daughter at chess.  Then he finds out the truth.  His genome has been hacked and he is told “You are the next step in human evolution.”  Logan is off the chart smart, now, and it will be up to him to try and stop the larger plan that has already been set in motion.  Will Logan be able to stop this human evolution?  What changes will he need to embrace in himself to protect everyone else?

Upgrade is a science fiction story that was also a wonderful escape.  I loved the near future aspect with science that was only a little beyond what we do now.  This story could be our future if we stay on the track we are moving and that makes this book that much more believable.  We don’t need to suspend disbelief to accept aliens or far space travel.  Everything happens in our true backyard and readers will want to get to the end to discover what happens next.  

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Review: Gage

Gage by Christina Bauer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gage is the leader of L’Griffe and this dragon shifter mafia takes care of illegal and legal aspects of dragon shifters on Earth.  The other groups of non-humans also have their own gangs.  Usually, they stay away from each other, but when the demons create The Horde, the balance of power shifts considerably.  Gage knows they must conquer this new threat and, lucky for him, his love interest’s family are fierce warriors.  They learn that the leader of The Horde is an old foe long thought dead.  Will this group be able to overcome all the obstacles that come their way?

Gage is the eighth and final book in the Angelbound Offspring series.  Bauer mentions at the beginning that she didn’t do her usually backstory reminders and that readers should have read the previous books first.  I second that thought.  This story jumps right in and the characters fight evil and their personal passions in their usual way … which may be confusing for those who start here.  I enjoyed the cameo appearances of some of my old favorites and was sad to think this is the last book.  I’ve read most of Bauer’s works, though, and who knows where they might pop up in the future.

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Review: No One Is Alone

No One Is Alone by Rachel Vincent
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Michaela has a good life.  She has a best friend she can tell anything and a single mother who she has a good relationship with.  She doesn’t see her dad very often, though.  He lives a few towns away and only comes around near holidays and on her birthday.  That all changes when her mother is hit by a car and dies.  She learns she must move in with her dad … and his other family.  Turns out he wasn’t a confirmed bachelor who didn’t want a family.  He already had a family and her mom was the other woman.  His wife knew about Michaela, but her two brothers and her sister just found out, hours before she was brought over to live with them.  Will this new family ever become hers?

No One Is Alone is a stand-alone realistic fiction story that grabbed my attention at the beginning and kept me reading until the end.  Vincent created characters that were easy to understand and empathize with.  I lost my father when I was young, but I didn’t learn about another family that needed to be understood while also grieving.  This could have happened to me (or anyone else) and that realization made the book that much more compelling.  I recommend No One Is Alone to everyone who enjoys a good read.

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