Audiobook Review: Turning Darkness into Light by Marie Brennan

Turning Darkness into Light
Author: Marie Brennan

Narrator: Barrie Kreinik & Raphael Corkhill
Publication: Tor (August 20, 2019); Macmillan Audio (August 20, 2019)

Length: 11 hours and 35 minutes

Description: A scholar of dragons uncovers a dangerous conspiracy in this epistolary historical fantasy from the author of the Lady Trent series.

Turning Darkness into Light is perfect for those readers who appreciate a light touch, thoughtful characters, and antagonists who almost but not quite topple into one-dimensional props in a melodrama." —Locusmag.com

As the renowned granddaughter of Isabella Camherst (Lady Trent, of the riveting and daring Draconic adventure memoirs) Audrey Camherst has always known she, too, would want to make her scholarly mark upon a chosen field of study.

When Lord Gleinheigh recruits Audrey to decipher a series of ancient tablets holding the secrets of the ancient Draconean civilization, she has no idea that her research will plunge her into an intricate conspiracy, one meant to incite rebellion and invoke war. Alongside dearest childhood friend and fellow archeologist Kudshayn, Audrey must find proof of the conspiracy before it's too late.

My Thoughts: This story, told through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles, tells the story of Audrey Camherst who is a philologist and the granddaughter of the famous Lady Trent. She has been hired to translate some recently discovered tablets left by the early Draconian civilization. She has also been sworn to secrecy and, unknown to her, has had her correspondence read and the contents shared by the ward of her employer. 

She is being encouraged to translate as quickly as possible so that the translations can be published before a convocation which will deal with whether or not the descendants of those Draconian's should have citizenship rights. The politics are complex with some agitating for destroying the Draconians or at least keeping them to their enclave. 

Audrey is definitely not in sympathy with the most extreme viewpoints. She is good friends with dragon-scholar Kudshayn. She convinces Lord Gleinheigh to let Kudshayn work with her, Together the two work to translate the tablets which are a creation story and the race's great work. Kudshayn suffers something like a crisis of faith as the translation goes on because the tablets introduce other gods than those his people worship and seem to provide an alternate history of the Draconian people. 

Meanwhile, Audrey is trying to make a name for herself and live up to her illustrious family. She has already been burned by a scholar who romanced her in order to steal and publish her ideas before she could. He is also involved in the questions Audrey has about the provenance of the tablets she and Kudshayn are translating. Audrey and Kudshayn find themselves involved in conspiracies centering around the place the Draconians will have in society.

This was an interesting and engaging story. I liked the format. I also liked the worldbuilding and can see how my experience would have been richer if I was familiar the Lady Trent series. Even without that knowledge, I really liked this story.

I bought this one for $1.99 on May 16 and added the audiobook on August 16. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts

Midnight Bayou
Author: Nora Roberts
Narrator: James Daniels & Sarah Burr
Publication: Brilliance Audio (June 10, 2008)
Length: 9 hours and 14 minutes

Description: Declan Fitzgerald had always been the family maverick, but even he couldn't understand his impulse to buy a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans. All he knew was that ever since he saw Manet Hall, he'd been enchanted - and obsessed - with it. So when the opportunity to buy the house comes up Declan jumps at the chance to live out a dream.

Determined to restore Manet Hall to its former splendor, Declan begins the daunting renovation room by room, relying on his own labor and skills. But the days spent in total isolation in the empty house take a toll. He is seeing visions of days from a century past, and experiencing sensations of terror and nearly unbearable grief - sensations not his own, but those of a stranger. Local legend has it that the house is haunted, and with every passing day Declan's belief in the ghostly presence grows.

Only the companionship of the alluring Angelina Simone can distract him from the mysterious happenings in the house, but Angelina too has her own surprising connection to Manet Hall - a connection that will help Declan uncover a secret that's been buried for a hundred years.

My Thoughts: Declan Fitzgerald leaves his home in Boston, job in a law firm, and fiancée to purchase a rundown mansion outside of New Orleans and begins his new career as a carpenter and builder. The task is daunting not only because of the scope of the renovation but also because of the ghosts who haunt the house. 

Angelina Simone is a local bar owner whose grandmother is Declan's neighbor. She also has a family connection to Manet Hall. Angelina is also afraid of falling in love and trusting her heart to anyone. However, Declan takes one look at her and decides that she is the woman he is going to marry and build a family with. 

Together the two need to deal with the ghosts and Angelina's prejudice against love. Declan finds himself taken over by the ghosts which results in memory loss and sleepwalking which frighten him. 

The ghost's stories are told in flashbacks when a poor, Cajun young woman marries into a wealthy family whose matriarch really despises her. She is raped and murdered by her brother-in-law leaving her infant daughter and a husband who grieves her disappearance to the point of suicide. 

This was an excellent story about honoring the past without repeating it. The characters were intriguing and well-developed. The romance was nicely done. 

I bought this one June 29 for $5.31. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter
Author: Heather Fawcett

Narrator: Genevieve Cocke
Publication: Del Rey (February 17, 2026): Random House Audio (February 17, 2026)

Length: 11 hours and 25 minutes

Description: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A woman who runs a cat rescue in 1920s Montréal turns to a grouchy but charming magician to help save her shelter in this heartwarming cozy fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of the Emily Wilde series.

“Absolutely magnificent! Full of cats and magic, this is the kind of book you want to instantly reread. I loved every character, every cat, and every moment with all my heart!”—Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop.

Agnes Aubert leads a meticulously organized life, and she likes it that way. As the proudly type-A manager of a cat rescue charity, she has devoted her life to finding forever homes for stray cats.

Now it’s the shelter that needs a new home. And the only landlord who will rent a space to a cat rescue is a mysterious man called Havelock—who also happens to be the world’s most infamous magician, running an illegal magic shop out of his basement. Havelock is cantankerous and eccentric, but not not handsome, and no, Agnes absolutely does not feel anything but disdain for him. After all, rumors swirl about his shadowy past—including whispers that his dark magic once almost brought about the apocalypse.

Then one day a glamorous magician comes looking for Havelock, putting the magic shop—and the cat shelter—in jeopardy. To save the shelter, Agnes will have to team up with the magician who nearly ended the world . . . and may now be trying to steal her heart.

Havelock is everything Agnes thinks she doesn’t need in her life: chaos, mischief, and a little too much adventure. But as she gets to know him, she discovers that he’s more than the dark magician of legend, and that she may be ready for a little intrigue—and romance—in her life. After all, second chances aren’t just for rescue cats. . . .

My Thoughts: Widowed Agnes Aubert runs a cat rescue organization in Montreal. She has a problem. Since a magical attack that made her building uninhabitable, she has been looking for a new rental within her budget for a new shelter. She's excited when she finds a new place at a too-good-to-be-true rent but snaps up the deal. 

However, she starts to notice strange visitors to the shop and soon becomes suspicious about her absent landlord. She really hates magicians for what they have done and especially hates Havelock Renard because he is called the Witch King and might have cast the spell that almost annihilated everything. 

She is surprised to learn that her landlord is Havelock and that he is not at all like he has been portrayed. He's absent minded and messy which is a sin to Agnes's Type A personality. He is also in a battle with his sister who wants a book she's sure Havelock has which will let her actually annihilate the world. 

Behind finding homes for street cats and reorganizing Havelock's shop, the two fall in love. But they will have to find a way to defeat not only Havelock's sister but the police who want to root out all magic and magicians in Montreal. 

This story is perfect for the cat lover since there are many cats with many personalities in the story. It is also a great story for fans of romantacy since it has a sweet romance the grows as the danger threatens all that Agnes and Havelock love.

I bought this one June 23 for $2.99 and added the audiobook August 13. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Dirty Thirty by Janet Evanovich

Dirty Thirty
Author: Janet Evanovich

Narrator: Lorelei King
Series: Stephanie Plum (Book 30)
Publication: Atria Books (October 31, 2023)

Length: 8 hours and 15 minutes

Description: Janet Evanovich, the “most popular mystery writer alive” (The New York Times), is in top form as she sends Stephanie Plum on the trail of a stolen stash of dirty diamonds in this instant #1 New York Times bestseller.

Stephanie Plum, Trenton’s hardest working, most underappreciated bounty hunter, is offered an assignment that seems simple enough. Local jeweler Martin Rabner wants her to locate his former security guard, Andy Manley (a.k.a. Nutsy), who he is convinced stole a fortune in diamonds from his safe. Stephanie is also looking for another troubled man, Duncan Dugan, a fugitive from justice arrested for robbing the same jewelry store on the same day.

With her boyfriend Morelli away in Miami on police business, Stephanie is taking care of Bob, Morelli’s giant orange dog who will devour anything, from Stephanie’s stray donuts to the upholstery in her car. Morelli’s absence also means the inscrutable, irresistible security expert Ranger is front and center in Stephanie’s life when things inevitably go sideways. And he seems determined to stay there.

To complicate matters, her best friend is convinced she is being stalked by a mythological demon hell-bent on relieving her of her wardrobe. An overnight stakeout with Stephanie’s mother and Grandma Mazur reveals three generations of women with nerves of steel and driving skills worthy of NASCAR champions.

As the body count rises and witnesses start to disappear, it won’t be easy for Stephanie to keep herself clean when everyone else is playing dirty. It’s a good thing Stephanie isn’t afraid of getting a little dirty, too in this “uproarious, crazy, laugh-a-minute caper” (Booklist, starred review).

My Thoughts: Stephanie Plum's 30th adventure has her babysitting her boyfriend Morelli's large orange dog while he is away in Miami on police business. Bob will eat anything including Stephanie's couch if she doesn't keep him with her all the time. So Bob comes along as Stephanie attempts to locate bond jumpers who were both involved in a robbery of a jewelry store.

She encounters the first when he attempts to commit suicide by jumping from a four-story building. Save from death by a convenient awning, she thinks he is secure in the hospital until she can bring him in to renew his bail. But he disappears one day despite a broken leg and broken ribs. 

The second fugitive is known to Stephanie. She went to school with Andy Manley (a.k.a. Nutsy) and knows he'll do anything for a dare. She's hired by the jewelry store owner to find him because the owner is sure that he walked away with a tray of diamonds at the time of the robbery. 

Meanwhile, Lula is sure that she is being stalked by Grendel, a mythical monster from a video game. She sees him in her apartment and notices that some of her extensive and eclectic wardrobe has gone missing. 

As the two find and lose their targets numerous times, Stephanie does capture others who have missed their court dates but her two main skips continue to elude her. With Morelli out of town, she is depending on Ranger to help her with her skips. And when her apartment is firebombed shortly after Lula's apartment is firebombed, she finds herself moving in with Ranger despite her commitment to Morelli. 

Stephanie is torn between the two men in her life. She loves them both. She might be ready for marriage, maybe, but she isn't sure either of her men are. Until, that is, that both of them propose to her. Now, what's a girl to do?

I bought this one for $2.99 on July 20, 2026, and added the audiobook August 11. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: The Raging Storm by Ann Cleaves

The Raging Storm
Author: Ann Cleaves

Narrator: Jack Holden
Series: Detective Matthew Venn (Book 3)
Publication: Minotaur Books & Macmillan Audio(September 5, 2023)

Length: 9 hours and 47 minutes

Description Ann Cleeves—New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows—returns with The Raging Storm, the extraordinary third installment in the Matthew Venn series.

Fierce winds, dark secrets, deadly intentions.

When Jem Rosco—sailor, adventurer, and legend—blows into town in the middle of an autumn gale, the residents of Greystone, Devon, are delighted to have a celebrity in their midst. But just as abruptly as he arrived, Rosco disappears again, and soon his lifeless body is discovered in a dinghy, anchored off Scully Cove, a place with legends of its own.

This is an uncomfortable case for Detective Inspector Matthew Venn. Greystone is a place he visited as a child, a community he parted ways with. Superstition and rumor mix with fact as another body is found, and Venn finds his judgment clouded.

As the winds howl, and Venn and his team investigate, he realizes that no one, including himself, is safe from Scully Cove’s storm of dark secrets.

My Thoughts: This story begins when Jem Rosco comes to town. He's a sailor, adventurer, and local legend but not universally loved. When his body is found in the sea Matthew Venn and his team come to this small town to investigate the crime. Greystone is a small insular town that Matthew had visited as a child. It is largely inhabited by members of the cult he left as a teen. 

Venn and his team need to deal with local secrets and superstitions to solve this case which puts him and his sergeant in the direct line of fire from the villains. There are numerous suspects who all have some connection to Jem and who might have wished him dead. 

This was another atmospheric mystery filled with intriguing characters. 

I bought this one May 28. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Murder on the Sacred River by Tasha Alexander

Murder on the Sacred River
Author: Tasha Alexander
Series: Lady Emily Mysteries (Book 20)
Publication: Minotaur Books (September 22, 2026)

Description: In this next enthralling mystery in Tasha Alexander’s bestselling series, Lady Emily chases down a killer in India along the misty banks of the sacred river Narmada.

1908: Lady Emily and her husband Colin Hargreaves, along with an eccentric group of English tourists, are vacationing in India at Ahilya Fort, the old home to the Maharaja’s family, when a man is found shot along the Narmada River. Emily and Colin jump into action, but their suspect list is large, including a wonderful spinster and her not-so-wonderful companion; a local doctor; a widow who lives nearby; an English explorer; and an Englishman who now runs a tea plantation near Darjeeling.

1740: Fifteen-year-old Ahilyabai has been married to the son of Malharrao Holkar, the Lord of the Malwa territory, for seven years. Now the time has finally come to produce an heir. But though Ahilya’s in-laws have shown her nothing but kindness, her notoriously-drunken husband remains a mystery to her, having rarely spoken to Ahilya since their wedding as children. Faced with this tortured and distant man, Ahilya’s sense of loyalty is tested as she attempts to balance fulfilling her duty with forging her own destiny. Her decisions will have ripple effects across time―including Lady Emily’s investigation almost two hundred years later.

Lady Emily’s case takes a dramatic turn when a shocking new person arrives at the fort―and when the killer strikes again shortly afterwards, she and Colin must race to uncover the villain’s identity before it’s too late.

My Thoughts: Lady Amelia and her husband Colin Hargreaves are vacationing in India after Colin does a little something for the king. They find themselves invited to Ahilya's Fort on the banks of the Narmada River along with an assortment of other English travelers.

When the body of an Englishman is found in a boat with a gunshot wound to his head, their vacation becomes an investigation because the local police are more than willing to hand the case off to them. Once the man's identity becomes known after an initial misidentification, Amelia and Colin discover that many of their fellow travelers might have had reason to kill him. 

The eccentric lady and her bad-tempered companion, the visiting historian, a man named Mr. Ralston, a local doctor, and a local widowed lady are all suspects in this one. 

Woven into the mystery plot are flashbacks to 1740 and the woman for whom the fort is named. She was married at eight to the future maharajah and educated to be a helpmeet to him. The flashbacks tell of her life from childhood to old age. She did a lot of good as ruler after the deaths of her husband and in-laws and has become a figure of importance in the region. Rumor has it she left a treasure behind her which excites current (1908) day fortune hunters. 

This was an entertaining historical detail filled with wonderful scenes of India at the time period. Amelia greatly enjoys the food and drink and the culture while still investigating and solving the mystery. 

I did rather miss that their boys were left home in England but enjoyed Henry's letters pleading for an elephant.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (September 14, 2026)

 It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

Want to See What I Added to My Stack? links to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality.

Other Than Reading...

This was another nice, quiet week. My dentist appointment for my new crown went without any excitement. My dentist and I both wanted a boring appointment since the last was so exciting. I did dream all week about swallowing the crown AGAIN but it was a completely trouble-free experience this time. 

Since I was out and about, I stopped at my pharmacy and got both my flu shot and a Covid booster. As usual, my only reactions to the shots were slight soreness at the injection sites. The Covid site is still sensitive to the touch but not really a bother. 

I gave myself a week off to finish my In Death reread and to listen to the audiobook of the latest which I had reviewed earlier. Now, I'm back to reading what is on my calendar. I have five review books on the pile for this week. Well, six if you count the one I have listed as currently reading but which I haven't actually started yet. 

I see that most of my book reviews posted this week have blue covers which I hadn't notice previously since I read on my black & white Kindle. I also see that it will be Christmas time this week as I have four books centered around Christmas on my stack. 

I'm also watching baseball as the season is winding to a close. My Braves would need a disaster to miss the playoffs this season. I hope they do well there this year. 

There has been no change in my review stack. I still have 39 books on the pile. I did lower my 2026 TBR pile to 16 this week. 

This week I'm the designated cook since my brother works all day shifts. I have some plans but not very firm ones beyond a pot of lentil soup for Monday. I've been looking at the remainder of a bag of red lentils in my pantry for a while. So, when I saw a ham hock in the "sell now" bin of meat at the grocery store, a plan was born. I have been saving a lot of recipes from my Facebook feed which will give me some options too. 

Read Last Week

• Passions in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)
• Bonded in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)

• Framed in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)
• Stolen in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)
• Fury in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)

• Dragon Blood by Eileen Wilks (Kindle, mine since September 2) -- Urban fantasy. Fourteenth in a series. My review will be posted on September 30.
• The Astral Library by Kate Quinn (Kindle & Audiobook, mine since August 30) -- An excellent love story for books and libraries. My review will be posted on October 1.

DNF

• Dive Bar at the End of the Road by Kelley Armstrong (Review, October 6) -- I read 20%. I like the author but really don't like horror.
  

Currently

• The Lady Jewel Diviner by Rosalie Oaks (Kindle, mine since July 20)
• Jay to the World by Donna Andrews (Review, October 13)

Next Week

• Written in Starlight by Sloane Brooks (Review, October13)
• Home for the Homicides by Elle Cosimano & Hannah Morrissey (Review, October 13)
• Please Enjoy Your Stay by Tara Goedjen (Review, October 13)

• Bark Humbug by David Rosenfelt (Review, October 13)
• Don't Look Back by Amanda Quick (Kindle, mine since August 13)
• The Christmas Competition by Zoe Allison (Review, October 20)

Reviews Posted

• Shards of Glass by Michelle Sagara (Audiobook)
• The Case of the Christie Conspiracy by Kelly Oliver (Audiobook)
• Lily Starling and the Voyage of the Salamander by Christian Hurst (Audiobook)

• A Field Guide to Death & Deceit by Michelle L. Cullen (Review copy)
• A Deadly Entanglement by Cathy Pegau (Review copy)
• I Am the Monster Under the Bed by Emily Zinnikas (Review copy)

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Review:

Bought:

• Fury in Death by J. D. Robb (Kindle and Audiobook)

What was your week like?