Audiobook Review: Owl Be Home for Christmas by Donna Andrews

Owl Be Home for Christmas
Author: Donna Andrews
Narrator: Bernadette Dunne
Series:  Meg Langslow (Book 26)
Publication: Dreamscape Media (October 15, 2019)
Length: 9 hours and 32 minutes

Description: The 26th book and the sixth Christmas mystery in the Meg Langslow series, Owl Be Home for Christmas is yet another wonderfully merry and funny book from New York Times bestselling author Donna Andrews.

It's a few days before Christmas, and Meg's grandfather is hosting a scientific conference on owls at the Caerphilly Inn. Most of the family are there, helping out in one capacity or another, including Meg's grandmother, Cordelia--invited by Grandfather in rare gesture of peace-making, to share her expertise on rehabilitating large birds, including owls. An unexpectedly severe snow storm traps the conference-goers in the hotel, and one of the visiting ornithologists is murdered. Even if Caerphilly is able to clear the roads in time, Chief Burke doesn't want the various suspects to scatter to half a dozen continents before he identifies the killer, so there's a very real possibility that none of them will make it home for Christmas . . . at least not unless Meg comes to the rescue.

Full of intrigue and snow, this Christmas mystery will take readers home to Caerphilly for Christmas.

My Thoughts: A sudden snowstorm maroons the attendees at a scientific conference on owls put on by Meg's grandfather. The attendees and a lot of Meg's family are at the Caerphilly Inn helping with the conference. The snowstorm, coming so close to Christmas, has really put a damper on people's holiday plans. 

The death of an obnoxious attendee puts even more of a damper on the conference and the holidays. Luckily, Horace has found himself stranded at the Inn since he couldn't get home from patrol. And the Chief of Police is available on the other end of the satellite phone. 

The investigation is not easy given that the victim was almost universally despised by the other attendees. The one exception is his assistant who seems to have an unhealthy obsession with the victim. As Meg and Horace try to sort out the timelines and question the suspects, they discover that many of the people at the conference seem to have good reasons for killing the man. 

This was an entertaining episode in this long-running series. I enjoyed Meg's investigations even though they put her in danger. 

I bought this one December 7, 2025. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Murder Will Out by Jennifer K. Breedlove

Murder Will Out
Author: Jennifer K. Breedlove
Publication: Minotaur Books (February 17, 2026)

Description: Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award winner Jennifer K. Breedlove brings coastal Maine to life in Murder Will Out, a lighter, modern gothic mystery that's as atmospheric as it is heart-warming.

Come for the memories. Stay for the murder...

Little North Island, off the coast of Maine, is so beautiful it could be a postcard. Organist Willow Stone cherishes her memories of childhood summers spent on the island with her godmother Sue... even though her visits ended abruptly, and she hasn't seen or heard from her godmother in over fifteen years. Until a letter from Sue―and word of Sue’s death―brings Willow back to the picturesque island.

The islanders rarely mention Sue without also bringing up Cameron House, and the controversy around Sue’s unexpected inheritance of the sprawling mansion. When Willow overhears someone threatening the next heir to the property, she starts to question whether Sue’s death was really an accident, and can’t help but wonder whether someone on this sleepy island is willing to stop at nothing―even murder―to claim Cameron House for their own.

Through Willow’s eyes, as well as those of others on the island, a mystery unfolds that keeps drawing Willow back to Cameron House and the very real ghosts that walk its corridors.

My Thoughts: Graduate student and organist Willow Stone receives a letter from her godmother Sue which calls her back to Little North Island off the coast in Maine. Willow hasn't seen Sue since her parents took her away when she was thirteen. She never knew why she no longer spent summers on the island. Unfortunately, the letter was delayed, and Willow arrives just in time to play at Sue's memorial. 

She interacts with Sue's friends on the island including her fiancé Rina. Mostly she interacts with Cameron House, a haunted mansion on the island. There have been some suspicious deaths centered around Cameron House including Sue's. Sue's letter indicated that there was something she wanted Willow to find. 

Willow has to discover a bunch of secrets and find out who is killing the heirs to Cameron House. The island is populated with a number of interesting people. Many of Sue's friends came there after living different lives Away.

I liked Willow who was a young woman who was introverted and needed a lot of quiet time. She was curious and brave. She gradually makes a place for herself on the island. And she could see many of the Cameron House ghosts who tried to help her with discovering what she needed to find.

I enjoyed this debut mystery and will be looking for more from the author. 

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

ARC Review: First Sign of Danger by Kelley Armstrong

First Sign of Danger
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Haven's Rock (Book 4)
Publication: Minotaur Books (February 17, 2026)

Description: New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong continues the atmospheric Haven's Rock series as Casey Duncan investigates a threat to their off-the-grid Yukon town.

Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are entering a new chapter of life as parents to their six-month-old baby. Their family is hidden away in the sanctuary town of Haven's Rock where they can live safe and private lives. But when they encounter hikers too close to the borders of Haven's Rock, they realize they're in danger of being exposed.

When they find one of the hikers dead the next day, they realize that their paranoia was justified, but they're no closer to finding out who these people were and what they were doing in the vicinity of Haven's Rock. Only by tracing the hikers' movements, as well as examining the recent behavior of their closest neighbors, the workers of a secretive mining camp, will they be able to figure out where the threat is coming from and shut it down. Otherwise, the lives of everyone in Haven's Rock--and their safe, secure new existence--are at risk.

My Thoughts: The fourth book in the Haven's Rock series begins with a couple of hikers getting too close to their new secret community. Casey and Eric are hiking with their baby Rory when the come upon hikers who are well off the beaten path and hiking at an odd time of the year.

When one of the hikers is killed and carried off by a grizzly, Casey and Eric need to find out who they were and why they were hiking where they were. They suspect that their other neighbors who are supposed to be gold mining might have some association with the deaths. 

Missing hikers, a grizzly, a buried body, and a mysterious mining camp cause Casey to be pulled in lots of directions as she tries to discover what is going on and if their new settlement is safe. This was an enjoyable mystery with lots of twists and turns. 

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

Audiobook Review: The Reckless Bride by Stephanie Laurens

The Reckless Bride
Author: Stephanie Laurens
Narrator: Simon Prebble
Series: The Black Cobra Quartet (Book 4)
Publication: HarperAudio (October 26, 2010)
Length: 14 hours and 54 minutes

Description: The fourth book in New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Stephanie Laurens’s sensational Black Cobra Quartet, The Reckless Bride is a brilliant mix of intrigue, danger, and historical romance from one of the very best in the business. A breathtaking adventure set in England’s Regency Era, The Reckless Bride continues the acclaimed romance novelist’s extraordinary chronicle of love and duty, as brave ex-officers of the Crown band together to destroy the traitorous fiend known as The Black Cobra.

My Thoughts: This book is the conclusion of the Black Cobra Quartet. Rafe Carstairs is the one who has the original of the letter that will bring the Black Cobra to justice. He and his companion have decided to travel overland from India to England in the hopes of outwitting the Black Cobra's minions.

In Buda, the come upon Lady Congreve who has been beset by criminals. They rescue her and she invites them to travel with her party as guide and guard as they travel rivers to get back to England. In her party is her grand-niece Miss Loretta Michelmarsh. He takes one look at the beauty and wonders just what he has gotten himself into. 

Meanwhile, Loretta has been dragooned to travel with her aunt after turning down her eighth proposal of marriage. Loretta has been hiding herself behind a meek and mild personality and therefore attracting men who are drawn to that sort of woman. But the men bore her silly. She has a hidden identity of a correspondent for a newspaper and is using her trip to send back vignettes of European travel. She is dismayed and surprised by her attraction to Rafe. 

As they travel along the river and sightsee at the various stops, they are beset by criminals. Rafe immediately assumes that these are hirelings of the Black Cobra despite the fact that they are not Indian and are not wearing the distinctive black headgear of the gang. 

As they travel, Rafe and Loretta become closer despite each's determination to stay away from the other. The fires burn hot and love scenes ensue. I will have to say that I found the lengthy love scenes just a little bit boring and wanted a return to the action of the story. 

They do eventually arrive in England and find their way to the rendezvous point. This time they are really in danger from the Black Cobra's minions. I enjoyed the scenes where the Black Cobra was exposed and captured. I also liked the updates on the other couples from the earlier three books. 

I bought this one December 26, 2025. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Half City by Kate Golden

Half City
Author: Kate Golden
Series: Harker Academy (Book 1)
Publication: Ace (February 17, 2026)

Description: Welcome to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. Keep your daggers sharp, and your wits even sharper.

Viv Abbot is an average twenty-one-year-old girl. She lives in an expensive city where the rent is too high, works long hours at a thankless job, and is dating a guy she doesn’t even like in the hopes of winning her prickly mother’s approval.

Ever since her father's murder, she's been forced to hunt deviants alone, meaning everyone, including her family, sees her as an outsider . . . until the day she crosses paths with a dangerously alluring demon, Reid Graveheart. The reformed deviant tells her of a school for people just like her: Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. If she enrolls, she'll learn to hone her craft, work with other hunters, and never be alone again.

But Viv has a deadly secret. One that not even her new friends at Harker can know about, not if the school might hold the answers to untangling the mystery surrounding Viv's father’s death. When strange occurrences begin to plague the students, Viv will have to figure out who she can trust, all while trying to ace her classes, avoid falling for a demon, and make it through her first year at Harker in one piece. How hard could that be?

My Thoughts: Viv Abbott lives in Astera. She's twenty-one and works at a museum for her sister-in-law. She is also an aeon - a specialized and rare sort of demon hunter. She has been hiding that part of her life from everyone since she watched her father - another hunter - lose his life to a band of Brood demons. 

When she is spotted rescuing a young mother and her children from a monster attack, she is recruited to attend the Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. There, she finds friends who understand her. She also finds romance in the person of one of her instructors who also happens to be a Brood demon, but one who has sworn off taking souls. There is also something dangerous and secret going on at Harker. It looks like someone is trying to gather the ingredients for a spell that will give unimaginable power to the Thane - the head demon. 

Viv has to deal with all sorts of stresses. She's still trying to maintain her human life and friends while learning more about her powers and the world the lives alongside the human world. 

This was an engaging start to a series. The was a cliffhanger ending but lots of things were resolved in this episode. I liked Viv. She is smart, impulsive, and carries a deep loneliness inside. Finding friends, even if she is still keeping some secrets from them, expands and enriches her life. I am eager for more in this series. 

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? (February 9, 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...

I had a nice week even though I didn't meet my goal of finishing my February review copies before my friend arrived on Thursday. I did finish four of the six. Once my friend arrived, we switched to audiobooks which we could listen to together while she made red resistance hats and I played computer games. 

We first listened to The Gift of the Magpie by Donna Andrews which I will be reviewing later in February. Then, since she has started reading books by Anne Bishop, we listened to Turns of Fate. I had listened to it before. It was still good to listen to. Then I began Written in Read. She is eager to come visit again soon because we just finished chapter 15 when she had to leave for home. 

I have a quite week coming. There are no appointments on my calendar. 

Read Last Week

• Kindred in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread)
• The Whisking Hour by Ellie Alexander (Review, February 24) - The 22nd Bakeshop Mystery has a very pregnant Jules trying to solve the murder of a much-disliked visiting director at the OSF. My review will be posted February 17.
• Fantasy in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread)

• Buried in Shamrocks by Lisa Q. Mathews (Review, February 24) -- Second Irish Bed & Breakfast mystery. My review will be posted on February 19.
• The Curious Case of the Poisoned Professor by Lucy Connelly (Review, February 24) -- First in a new cozy series set in Wales. A retired newspaper editor turned college professor solves the crime. My review will be posted on February 17.
• The Wolves Are Watching by Victoria Houston (Review, February 24) -- 4th Lew Ferris mystery is centered around lost wolf watchers, a cache of illegal weapons, and someone attempting to cheat at a high school fishing tournament. My review will be posted on February 18.

• The Gift of the Magpie by Donna Andrews (Audiobook, mine since December 7, 2025) -- Meg Langslow, book 28. Meg is running Helping Hands for the Holidays and needs to convince Harvey the Hoarder to let people into his house to help him organize and do some house repairs. My review will be posted on my blog February 26.
• Indulgence in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread)
• Turns of Fate by Anne Bishop (Audiobook Reread)

Currently

• How to Get Away with Murder by Rebecca Philipson (Review, February 24)
• The Ghost Women by Jennifer Murphy (Review, February 24)

Next Week

• A Ghastly Catastrophe by Deanna Raybourn (Review, March 3)
• Collared by David Rosenfelt (Mine since September 29, 2023)
• Don't Open the Door by Allison Brennan (Mine since May 12, 2025)

• Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey (Audiobook, Mine since February 7, 2025)
• Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer (Audiobook, Mine since January 18, 2026)
• Spellbound by Murder by Stacie Ramey (Review, March 10)

Reviews Posted

• Maybe This Once by Sophie Sullivan (Review copy)
• Enola Holmes and the Clanging Coffin by Nancy Springer (Review copy)
• Antihero by Gregg Hurwitz (Review copy)

• From a High Tower by Mercedes Lackey (Audiobook)
• One Step Too Far by Lisa Garnder (Mine)
• The Midnight Taxi by Yosha Gunasekera (Review copy)

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

Review:

• A Deadly Inheritance by Kelley Armstrong (Review, March 24)
• Enter the Nightmare by Jayne Castle (Review, June 30)
• Hot Girl Murder Club by Ashley Winstead (Review, July 14)

Bought:

• Jules Cassidy, PI by Suzanne Brockmann (Kindle, Gift Card)
• Magelight by Kacey Ezell (Kindle, Gift Card)

What was your week like?

Audiobook Review: From a High Tower by Mercedes Lackey

From a High Tower
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Narrator: Jennifer Van Dyck
Series: Elemental Masters (Book 10)
Publication: Audible Studios (June 2, 2015)
Length: 11 hours and 47 minutes

Description: The tenth novel in Mercedes Lackey's magical Elemental Masters series reimagines the fairy tale Rapunzel in a richly-detailed alternate Victorian world

Giselle had lived fourteen years of her life in an abandoned tower. Her mother kept Giselle, a young Air Master still growing into her abilities, isolated for the sake of herself and others.

This life left her unprepared when a handsome young man appeared at the base of her tower. But when the young stranger entered her window, he tried to force himself on her. She was saved by Mother, an Earth Master, who hurled the man out the window he had climbed in.

The Foresters of the Black Forest were Earth Masters whose job it was to cleanse the ancient forest of evil elementals, and over the next four years, they shared their fighting expertise to teach Giselle self-defense. By the age of twenty, Giselle was an expert markswoman, and it was this skill that she used to survive when Mother died. Cutting her long hair, she masqueraded as a boy to enter shooting competitions and used the prize money to support herself.

But she could not forget the first man who assaulted her, for when that stranger had fallen from her tower long ago, his body had never been found. In Giselle’s heart, she was certain his magic had helped him to survive the fall. Surely, it was only a matter of time before he found her and sought revenge. Was she prepared to stand against him?

My Thoughts: This is a riff on Rapunzel and is set in Victorian Germany. Giselle was purchased by her mother from a poor family because she recognized Giselle's potential magic. Her mother was an Earth Master and Giselle is a budding Air Master. 

When Giselle was fourteen and while her mother was away gathering supplies, a handsome young man arrives and tricks Giselle into letting her into her tower. He assaults her and Giselle is only rescued by her mother's convenient return. Her mother has the Foresters teach her self-defense skills including marksmanship. Giselle becomes an expert marksman which lets her survive when her mother dies.

At twenty, Giselle is out disguising herself as a man in order to enter shooting contests to earn money. A local army commander sees her and wants her in the Army. Giselle uses her air spirits to get away from him, but he dies in the escape which fills Giselle with guilt. She goes to a local Earth Master for healing, and the Earth Master introduces her to a traveling American Wild West Show where she is treasured for her shooting. 

However, the man who assaulted her is not finished with her. When Giselle brings the Show home with her to winter over at her isolated home, the masters in the company have to fight off the villains who are determined to capture Giselle and her supposed treasure. 

This was an engaging coming of age story with ties to the ninth book in the series. Giselle becomes friends with that story's heroine who assists her with her problems, teaches her about her magic, and provides a course to the future for Giselle. 

I bought this one September 28, 2021. You can buy your copy here.