Audiobook Review: Owlsight by Mercedes Lackey

Owlsight
Author: Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon
Narrator: Kevin T. Collins
Series: The Owl Mage Trilogy (Book 2)
Publication: Tantor Audio (October 10, 2017)
Length: 16 hours and 8 minutes

Description: It has been four years since Darian saw his village sacked and burned by barbarians. Taking refuge with the Hawkbrothers, he soon finds his life's calling - as a Healing Adept. But even as he learns the mystical ways of this ancient race, Darian cannot escape the dangers threatening his future. Another tribe of barbarians is approaching. The time has come...to stand up and fight.

My Thoughts: This is the second book in the Owl Mage Trilogy. It has been four years since Darian saw his village attacked and fled to the Hawkbrothers. He has bonded with an eagle owl, learned his magic, and is ready to go back to Errold's Grove to see up a vale and act as an ambassador from the Hawkbrothers to the Valdemarans. 

Meanwhile, Keisha Alder has taken over duties as healer in Errold's Grove. She tends both the humans and the animals. The area's lord wants to send her to the Healer's collegium, but she knows that there is no one to replace her in Errold's Grove. Besides, she knows that leaving Errold's Grove would be bad for her. She has been trying to learn more about being a healer from books given her by another healer, but she doesn't understand everything she reads and needs help. 

When Darian and his group get back to Errold's Grove, Keisha has a chance to work with another healer in the new vale and quickly learns about many of the confusing things from the book. She had never learned to create a shield to protect her mind and was in danger of becoming a hermit or going mad with one. 

Just as things are settling down, they learn that there is another group of barbarians coming toward Errold's Grove. They have been spotted by the Hawkbrothers' bond birds. This group is different than the group that overran Errold's Grove four years earlier. They have brought along their women and children and their animals too. 

The Queen has sent a military force to counter any attack from the new barbarians. The leader of that group joins with the leaders from the vale and the Valdemaran lands to go to meet this oncoming horde and find out what they want. 

Keisha who has been learning from the army's healers is along on the trip and is one of the first to learn that this group is following their guiding totem who has promised to find them a new place to live and healers for the debilitating disease they call the summer fever. 

The healers all fear that the disease will jump its way to the Valdemaran people who have no built-in immunity to deal with it. And the healer's oath means that they have to try to help these invaders whether or not the military and civilian authorities think it's a good idea. 

This was an excellent young adult fantasy. I loved the worldbuilding. I also loved the way the characters, especially Darian and Keisha, handle their coming-of-age journeys. The world is also full of marvelous creatures from griffins to Companions. 

I bought this one at Chirp on March 15, 2026. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: An Ordinary Sort of Evil by Kelley Armstrong

An Ordinary Sort of Evil
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: A Ripped Through Time Novel (Book 5)
Publication: Minotaur Books (May 19, 2026)

Description: New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong returns to Victorian Scotland in the latest in the genre-blending Rip Through Time series.

Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Mitchell has grown accustomed to life in Victorian Scotland after travelling 150 years into the past into the body of a housemaid. She’s built a new life for herself. Even though she works as an assistant to forensic-science pioneer Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie, she considers them true friends. And with Gray in particular, perhaps, someday, something more.

Late one night, Gray and Mallory are summoned urgently to the home of Lady Adler, a patron of Gray’s undertaking business, and they assume there's been a death in the household. But instead, they arrive in the midst of a seance with a ghost demanding Gray's presence. The ghost is Lady Adler's former maid, who had gone missing but now requests that Gray investigate her murder. Although Gray and Mallory are skeptical, they agree to look into the matter, whether she's dead or alive. But unsure if there's been a murder or not, unable to call out the medium as a fraud, and concerned for the fate of the young maid, Gray and Mallory are once again drawn into a mystery much more puzzling--and more dangerous--than it first seems.

My Thoughts: The fifth book in the Ripped Through Time series has Mallory and Gray investigating the death of a young housemaid. Called in to investigate by Lady Adler, one of Duncan Gray's patrons in his undertaking business, Mallory and Gray learn that it was Madam Paix who told Lady Adler about the death during a seance. 

Gray doesn't believe in ghosts but isn't eager to alienate a patron. The puts the investigation in Mallory's hands, after all she was a police detective in Canada before traveling in time to Scotland during the reign of Queen Victoria. Gray is a scientist who is developing some forensic techniques aided by Mallory's knowledge of history. Gray, his sister Isla, and his friend Detective Hugh McCreadie are the only ones who know Mallory has come from the future. 

The young maid's body is found in a pond an apparent suicide victim as was another young woman some months earlier. Gray's autopsy indicates that she was murdered. However, the official police coroner has declared, without actually seeing the body, that she was another suicide victim. Hugh can no longer investigate without getting in trouble with his superiors because the case has been closed. 

This puts the investigation squarely on Gray and Mallory's shoulders. It isn't all that is concerning them though. With Isla soon set to marry Hugh, Mallory will no longer be able to live in Gray's house since she'll have no chaperone. Gray's offer of a marriage of convenience won't work for Mallory since she's fallen in love with him and can't image marrying a man who doesn't love her. There is a lot of tension between Gray and Mallory.

The situation gets even more complicated when they learn that Queen Victoria is a devoted reader of the chronicles of their earlier cases and wants an in-person report of how this investigation is going. 

This was another excellent episode in this series. I like the setting. I also like the way Mallory baffles both Gray and Hugh with her 21st Century slang. I also like the careful way she tries to introduce things about investigations and forensics that are well known to her but not yet invested in the Victorian period. 

I was especially pleased when I learned that one of Mallory's young informants on this case happened to be a preteen Arthur Conan Doyle. 

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? (May 11, 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...

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! We're in a cold, dry spell here in Northern Minnesota with a sunny 41 degrees as I'm writing this Sunday morning.

This past week saw two doctor's visits for me which ate up a lot of Monday and Tuesday and provided no new information. ENT says maybe Speech Therapy to deal with my chronic cough which is a path I'd never have thought of. 

The rest of the week I struggled with two of my review books. Although I ultimately enjoyed Skyring Water, it was a slog keeping track of all the various factions in this espionage thriller set just after World War II especially when being derailed by very detailed descriptions of weaponry. A Pair of Aces was also a slow go because it spent a lot of time showing the pasts and personalities of the two main characters and had very little action. It did shed a light on a period of history I don't know very much about. 

I'm hoping the stack for next week will be more exciting since it has five review books on it. I'll probably continue the In Death audiobook rereads for some variety. I was so excited when I got the review copy for Fury in Death which will be book 63 in the series. I'm up to 46 in my re-listens. 

This coming week should be quiet. I don't have any appointments. 

Read Last Week

• Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg (Kindle First) -- Goldberg introduces a new detective who solves crimes based on elements of design. His new sidekick is a wanna-be actor who narrates the story. My review will be posted on May 29.
• Skyring Water by Louis L'Amour & Beau L'Amour (Review, June 2) -- Throwback espionage thriller with stolen Nazi treasure. Read like James Bond but with Tom Clancy's technobabble. My review will be posted on May 27.
• A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (Review, June 2) -- Historical biographical fiction tells the story of how Madam Polly Adler and ADA Eunice Carter brought down Lucky Luciano. My review will be posted on May 28.

• Stolen in Death by J. D. Robb (Kindle & Audiobook, Mine since February 13) -- The most recent In Death features a murder and a vault filled with stolen goods some of which were stolen by Roarke. My review will be posted on June 4)
• Echoes in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread)

• Secrets in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread)
• Scream for Me by Karen Rose (Kindle & Audiobook, Mine since December 31, 2025, and May 4) -- Romantic suspense set in Georgia. Multiple viewpoints. I rated the audiobook with 3 stars but the story with 5. My review will be posted on June 5.

Currently

• Beach Thriller by Jamie Day (Review, June 9)
• Dark in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)

Next Week

• A Botanist's Guide to Tradition and Treachery by Kate Khavari (Review, June 9)
• Blood on the Sand by Kacey Ezell (Kindle, Mine since April 10)
• The Last Time We Saw Her by Jaclyn Goldis (Review, April 16)

• Murder at the Spirit Lounge by Jess Kidd (Review, June 16)
• Wildflower by Becky Jenkinson (Review, June 16)
• Restless Bones by Gillian Flynn (Review, June 16)

Reviews Posted

• Griffin Speaker by Jan M. Flynn (Review copy)
• The Anniversary by Alex Finlay (Review copy)
• Owlflight by Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon (Audiobook)

• The Cupid Dilemma by April Asher (Review copy)
• Rules of the Game by Nora Roberts (Audiobook)
• When You See Me by Lisa Gardner (Kindle & Audiobook, Mine)

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

Review:

• Fury in Death by J. D. Robb (September 8)
• The Key to a Killer by Olivia Blacke (October 20)
• Infinite Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver (November 10)

Bought:

• A Liaden Universe Constellation Volume 6 by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (Kindle, $8.99)
• Scream for Me by Karen Rose (Audiobook Add-On, $5.61)

What was your week like?

Audiobook Review: Rules of the Game by Nora Roberts

Rules of the Game
Author: Nora Roberts
Narrator: Kate Rudd
Publication: Brilliance Audio (December 29, 2013)
Length: 6 hours and 36 minutes

Description: A story of stubborn wills and impassioned hearts from number-one New York Time best-selling author Nora Roberts.

Television director Brooke Gordon thinks that baseball player Parks Jones is an insufferable cad with an inflated ego. Unfortunately, he's also brilliant and her client's spokesman. Brooke is determined to ignore the intense attraction she feels while directing Parks in a commercial. But Parks is willing to break a few rules to convince Brooke that love isn't just a game to him. It means forever....

My Thoughts: Brooke Gordon has come from an impoverished childhood being shuffled from home to home in the foster care system to a very successful producer of commercials. Parks Jones was born with a silver spoon in his mouth but decided to be a professional baseball player instead of entering the family business. 

Brooke isn't eager to work with Parks when he is chosen as the spokesperson for a line of men's clothing but knows that she can get the best out of whatever talent he may have. She doesn't know anything about baseball and hasn't heard of the award winning third basemen. 

Parks is nearing the end of his career since he had already decided to retire by 35. With his team contending for the World Series, he is at the pinnacle of his career. When he first meets Brooke, he doesn't know that he'll soon be working for her and she doesn't enlighten him. 

Sparks fly when they work together but they make an excellent product and fall in love. Brooke is afraid to trust in him since she's been betrayed before, but Parks convinces her to take a chance on him since he's already completely fallen for her. 

A whirlwind marriage leads to some conflicts as they try to mesh their strong, stubborn personalities. It takes a California wildfire to let them see what their priorities really are. 

I bought this one March 13, 2026. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: When You See Me by Lisa Gardner

When You See Me
Author: Lisa Gardner
Narrator: Kirsten Potter
Series: D. D. Warren (Book 11)
Publication: Brilliance Audio (January 28, 2020)
Length: 10 hours and 55 minutes

Description: #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner unites three of her most beloved characters - Detective D. D. Warren, Flora Dane, and Kimberly Quincy - in a twisty new thriller, as they investigate a mysterious murder from the past...that points to a dangerous and chilling present-day crime.

FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy and Sergeant Detective D. D. Warren have built a task force to follow the digital bread crumbs left behind by deceased serial kidnapper Jacob Ness. When a disturbing piece of evidence is discovered in the hills of Georgia, they bring Flora Dane and true-crime savant Keith Edgar to a small town where something seems to be deeply wrong. What at first looks like a Gothic eeriness soon hardens into something much more sinister...and they discover that for all the evil Jacob committed while alive, his worst secret is still to be revealed. Quincy and D. D. must summon their considerable skills and experience to crack the most disturbing case of their careers - and Flora must face her own past directly in the hope of saving others.

My Thoughts: The 11th book in the D. D. Warren series brings in some characters from earlier books in the series and drops them into rural Georgia when a skeleton is found off a hiking trail. 

A task force is formed including FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy, Boston Sargeant Detective D. D. Warren, and Flora Dane, kidnapping victim turned vigilante. Also included in the task force is Keith Edgar who is a true crimes expert and a computer expert. 

They begin by thinking that the body is another victim of Jacob Ness who kidnapped Flora and kept her prisoner for over 400 days until she managed to kill him. Flora doesn't know if she'd ever been to the town because Jacob kept her in a pine box a lot of the time. When more bodies are found, Kimberly, D.D., Flora and Keith wonder what secrets the town is keeping. 

Since one of the viewpoint characters is a young mute maid at the local B&B, we learn that the town is a hotbed of sex trafficking, illegal organ sales, and murder. Lots and lots of murder. The young woman was shot in the head and suffers from brain damage. Finding a way to tell the new cops in town what happened to her isn't an easy thing. She uses drawings to communicate. 

This was a very twisty thriller. I liked the setting and the way the characters each played to their strengths during the course of the investigation. 

I bought this one March 20, 2026. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Cupid Dilemma by April Asher

The Cupid Dilemma
Author: April Asher
Publication: St. Matin's Griffin (May 12, 2026)

Description: In the new paranormal romance from bestselling author April Asher, a down-on-her-luck wedding planner demigoddess and a Muse-less rockstar agree to a fauxmance that quickly turns anything but…

A lover of love and a champion for happily ever after. Those are two of many things people expect from Aphrodite’s daughter. To Adalyn Whitlock, ‘love’ pays the bills, and currently, not well. Business is dropping at Happily Ever Forever, with her latest wedding planning catastrophe ending in a negative social media storm and her sister Maxi’s matchmaking ability on the fritz. To top it off, there’s an ex-boyfriend calling her ‘the Anti-Aphrodite’ and paparazzi pics linking Addie to her new client’s older brother.

Phoenix "Nix" Cross―songwriter and drummer for the hot new band, The Stone Talons―is no saint, but he's far from the womanizer the band’s image rep bestowed on him. If anything, Nix is a romantic, hopeful he'll find a love like the one his parents share. With the band’s star quickly rising and the record label pressuring him to deliver their next hit, Nix’s writer’s block couldn’t have come at a worse time. But when he opens his door to his irate new next-door neighbor, Nix feels the brief flash of inspiration for the first time in ages. And it just so happens that his new Muse is none other than his little sister’s new wedding planner.

With Addie needing an end to her public-relations nightmare and the record label breathing down Nix’s neck, the pair agree to a fauxmance. But what happens when the emotions turned on for the cameras don't turn off?

My Thoughts: This paranormal contemporary romance stars Adalyn Whitlock who is the daughter of Aphrodite and the owner with her sister and cousin of a wedding planning business named Happily Ever Forever and Phoenix Cross who is a songwriter and drummer for an up-and-coming rock band named The Stone Talons. 

Addie's wedding planning business hits a roadblock when the wedding of a society influencer goes wrong. Pillar candles, drunk guests, and a flammable wedding cake means fire. Addie is trying to put out the cake when Nix comes along with a fire extinguisher which coats both the cake and Addie in foam. The influencer vows to ruin Addie's business in retaliation.

Nix has a problem too. He wants to be a songwriter writing more than the panty party songs his label demands for the Stone Talons. But he's lost his writing mojo. 

Meanwhile, Addie is being annoyed by her next-door neighbor. First, he got the apartment she wanted. Second, he's prone to playing very loud music very late at night. She discovers that it is the helpful hottie from the wedding when she goes to his door demanding silence.

The two think of a way to solve both of their problems. Nix and Addie decide to start a fauxmance to overcome Addie's reputation as an Anti-Aphrodite while providing Nix with a muse to help his songwriting. It looks like things are working out for both of them, but their fauxmance is in danger of turning into a real romance which scares Addie to death since she doesn't believe in love. 

This was amusing. I liked the way the ancient Greek gods had a place in the story. This was also a spicy romance for those who enjoy that sort of thing. 

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

ARC Review: The Anniversary by Alex Finlay

The Anniversary
Author: Alex Finlay
Publication: Minotaur Books (May 12, 2026)

Description: Every May 1st, a serial killer stalks a small town. Every year he comes for them . . .

On May 1, 1992, Jules Delaney and Quinn Riley hardly know each other.

Jules is high school queen bee in a small Midwestern town when she survives a brutal attack by the elusive May Day Killer―a predator who strikes every May 1st and then vanishes without a trace. Quinn, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, is arrested the same night after trying to break up a fight and nearly killing someone.

By morning, their lives are forever connected.

A year later, Jules is haunted by trauma and guilt, tormented by one question: Why was she spared? Quinn is newly released from juvenile detention and returns home to devastating news―the unsolved murder of his mother.

Over the next decade, their lives are revisited on a single day each year: May 1st.

As the years pass, secrets surface, lies unravel, and the paths of Jules and Quinn draw closer together. Two mysteries edge toward the truth―what really happened the night Jules was attacked, and who murdered Quinn’s mother? All the while, the May Day Killer is still out there.

And the clock is racing toward another anniversary.

Twisty, high-concept, and emotionally charged, The Anniversary is an addictive murder mystery and nail-biting thriller―but it’s also a tender, heartrending story about fate, innocence lost, and two people bound by a single day. With its masterful structure and propulsive tension, The Anniversary reaffirms Alex Finlay as one of the leading thriller writers today.

My Thoughts: May 1 is the anniversary. This story begins in 1992 when Jules and Quinn meet in high school study hall. They are from different cliques. Jules is upper class and Quinn comes from the wrong side of the tracks. They do begin a tentative friendship though. Events come to a head on May Day when Jules is abducted and raped after ditching her cheating boyfriend at a concert and Quinn takes part in a fight that almost kills a guy. Jules doesn't tell anyone, but her life is disrupted. Quinn finds himself in Juvie and also has his life disrupted when his mother is murdered.

The next May Day Jules is discovered by a model agency and Quinn joins the Army. And the May Day Killer continues to take and kill young girls.

And the years go on. Jules has a successful career as a fashion model and masks her pain with drugs and alcohol. Quinn is invalided out of the Army after action in Somalia and, with a career in law enforcement impossible because of his injuries, becomes a private investigator in Omaha. Between his cases, he continues to investigate his own mother's murder because he doesn't believe the boyfriend did it. He is also working on the case of missing 8-year-old that the police have given on and put in the cold cases file. 

Then Jules younger sister is taken by the May Day Killer. She finally tells her parents that she was one of the lucky ones the killer didn't kill. She opens a nonprofit which searches for the missing. The May Day Killer is not the only source of missing persons.

Through the years, Jules and Quinn do keep running into each other, but it never seems like the right time for them. She's modeling in New York. He has a girlfriend. 

This was an excellent mystery. It was also an excellent story about friendship and love, lost innocence, and lost opportunities. I really enjoyed it. 

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