Audiobook Review: Miss Amelia's List by Mercedes Lackey

Miss Amelia's List
Author: Mercedes Lackey

Narrator: Zura Johnson
Series: Elemental Masters (Book 17)
Publication: DAW (December 24, 2024), Tantor Media (February 18, 2025)

Length: 13 hours and 7 minutes

Description: The seventeenth novel in the magical alternate history Elemental Masters series follows Amelia Stonehold and Serena Meleva as they navigate property acquisition, marriage proposals, and other ancient horrors in Regency England, but with the help of elemental magic

The year is 1815, and an American, Miss Amelia Stonehold, has arrived in the Devon town of Axminster, accompanied by her "cousin" Serena Meleva. She’s brought with her a list to tick off: find a property, investigate the neighbors, bargain for and purchase the property, staff the property and...possibly...find a husband. But Amelia soon finds herself contending with some decidedly off-list trouble, including the Honorable Captain Harold Roughtower, whose eyes are fixed on her fortune. Little does Amelia know that his plans for her wealth extend far beyond refurbishing his own crumbing estate — they include the hidden Roman temple of Glykon, where something very old, very angry, and very dangerous still lurks.

But Roughtower isn’t prepared to reckon with the fact that neither Amelia nor Serena are pushovers. And he certainly isn’t ready for the revelation that he has an Earth Master and a Fire Mage on his hands — or that one of them is a shapeshifter.

My Thoughts: This seventeenth Elemental Masters fantasy takes place in 1815 and stars Amelia Stoneheld and Serena Meleva. They are young Americans from South Carolina who have come to England with a list. They are eager to connect with other elemental masters, find a property for their brother to extend the family business of textiles and dies, and maybe find spouses. 

Amelia is an Earth Master and a channel while Serena is a fire mage and a shapeshifter whose second form is a leopard. They are welcomed by the same family already hosting Amelia's brother James. The are also elemental mages and eager to introduce the two young women into society. 

The girls are rather between classes. While Amelia's father owns substantial land in South Carolina, he is also in trade. This means that they aren't acceptable to the haut ton but there is a large society of tradesmen and another of elemental mages for the girls to enjoy. There are typical young women who enjoy parties and fashion.

They have arrived in England at a very difficult time. Napoleon has escaped and is causing panic in England while running roughshod over Europe. But, even worse, a huge volcanic exposition in the south seas has caused dangerous weather changes. It is the year without a summer and with a very hard winter in the future. A lot of the story has to do with preparing for the upcoming weather changes by gathering supplies and stockpiling winter clothing. 

The girls have been befriended by Lord Alderscroft who is the head of the hunt in England. His patronage should make fulfilling their goals, and checking things off Amelia's list, easier. He's found them a rental property in Axminster to be their base as they try to check off the rest of things on their list. The only bad thing about the move to Axminster is that they will be in close proximity to fortune hunter the Honorable Captain Harold Roughtower and his friend Mr. Phillip Nightsmith whom Amelia overheard making very rude comments about her.

This was an engaging story, but the pacing was odd. All the danger and action seemed to have been packed into the last chapter. After a story that had almost no action, things ramped up very quickly. I like the worldbuilding in this series. I like the way Regency manners combine with hidden magicians and magical creatures. 

I bought this one on Kindle June 16, 2025, and audio on May 12, 2026. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Owlknight by Mercedes Lackey

Owlknight
Author: Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon
Narrator: Kevin T. Collins
Series: The Owl Mage Trilogy (Book 3)
Publication: Tantor Audio (October 31, 2017)
Length: 14 hours and 27 minutes

Description: From fantasy legends Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon comes the third and final volume in a powerful saga charged with war and magic, life, and love....

Two years after his parents' disappearance, Darian has sought refuge and training from the mysterious Hawkbrothers. Now he has opened his heart to a beautiful young healer. Finally Darian has found peace and acceptance in his life. That is, until he learns that his parents are still alive - and trapped behind enemy borders....

My Thoughts: The finale of the Owl Mage Trilogy has Darian achieving mastery and also being made a knight of Valdemar. After a whole bunch of ceremonies, he finally has some time to think and to look for some sort of closure for the loss of his parents. 

It is discovered that his parents were caught in a change circle. Some bones are found and Darian's teacher uses a spell to connect the bones to the body which tells Darian that his father, whose foot was found, is alive. However, no one knows how to track change circles. Finally, a clue comes in with some of the northern tribes as they come to join the Ghost Cat tribe and take advantage of the advanced medical knowledge in Valdemar. One of the new arrivals has a vest with embroidered symbols on it that are duplicated of his mother's work. 

An expedition is formed which includes Darian, Keisha, and Keisha's sister who is a new herald of Valdemar and her companion. Others from the vale and Ghost Cat settlement also go along. The book is a story of their adventures with hostile tribes, magical creatures, and travels through areas unknown to Valdemar or the Hawkbrothers. 

This was an excellent conclusion to the trilogy. I enjoyed the descriptions of the journey and all the things the company learned on their travels. I also liked that Keisha and Darian managed to work out their differences as they planned their future together. 

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

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.

Audiobook Review: Owlflight by Mercedes Lackey

Owlflight
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Narrator: Kevin T. Collins
Series: The Owl Mage Trilogy (Book 1)
Publication: Tantor Audio (August 8, 2017)
Length: 13 hours and 40 minutes

Description: Apprenticed to a venerable wizard when his hunter and trapper parents disappear into the forest never to be seen again, Darian is difficult and strong willed - much to the dismay of his kindly master. But a sudden twist of fate will change his life forever when the ransacking of his village forces him to flee into the great mystical forest. It is here in the dark forest that he meets his destiny, as the terrifying and mysterious Hawkpeople lead him on the path to maturity. Now they must lead the assault on his besieged home in a desperate attempt to save his people from certain death.

My Thoughts: Owlflight is a coming-of-age fantasy story set on the far borders of Valdemar. Darian is a young orphan who has been apprenticed to the local wizard after his parents' disappearance in the Pelagirs. Darian isn't happy with his placement. He hasn't accepted his parents' deaths, and his future plans were to be a trapper like his parents were. 

The Wizard Justin is an old man who was damaged fighting in a war. He doesn't have much magic left but is an adequate healer and can still forecast the weather most of the time. He long since recognized that Darian had magic and could be trained to take his place. 

After Darian runs away in anger after a conflict with Justin, he sees his town being invaded by barbarian raiders and sees Justin die defending a bridge against the raiders. Darian flees into the forest not knowing what to do.

Darian is rescued by a group of Hawkpeople who are in the area to try to build new nodes of magic after the Mage Wars disrupted the flow of magic in the world. They are also hunting the change beasts created by the same magic. 

Darian finds acceptance and friendship and even reconciles to being trained to use his magic. But before he can embrace his future, the barbarian raiders have to be driven from the town he lived in, and the locals need to be rescued. Luckily, his knowledge of traps gained from his parents have the small group of Hawkpeople defeat a much larger horde and their mage too. 

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

Friday Memes: Heir of Light by Michelle Sagara

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

The Academia required students. Apparently, it also required vast quantities of paperwork, much of which appeared to be stacked in teetering piles on the chancellor's desk.

Friday 56:

"Teela believes that the current activities--or the activities that involve you and your family--are tied in some fashion to the Barrani court. If this is true, it might possibly work to my advantage in the long run."

This week I am spotlighting Heir of Light by Michelle Sagara. I am a fan of her complex fantasies. Here is the description from Amazon:

There is always a price to be paid for power and justice.

With the Academia now awakened from its centuries-long slumber, Robin, a student who hails from a prestigious family, must own up to his destiny. As heir to the Gardianno seat, a highly coveted position within the human caste court, Robin stands to inherit great power when he assumes his birthright—but at what cost?

Under the guidance of a formidable Barrani lord named Teela, Robin wrestles with his newfound duties and the societal complexities that come with the privilege. Soon, however, it’s apparent that others feel entitled to the seat…and they’re willing to do the unthinkable in order to get it.

With Teela and his best friend, Raven, at his side, Robin is ready to battle for what is rightfully his. But when the Halls of Law consider reopening the investigation into the baffling murder of his parents, the truth could lead Robin right to the heart of danger.

Book Review: When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

When Women Were Dragons
Author: Kelly Barnhill
Publication: Anchor (May 3, 2022)

Description: In the first adult novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Ogress and The Orphans, Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of.

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden.

In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small—their lives and their prospects—and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.

My Thoughts: WHEN WOMEN WERE DRAGONS was a fascinating story of our recent past with one significant change. On April 25, 1955, there was a mass dragoning when more than 600,000 women spontaneously turned into dragons and the government instituted a massive coverup to hide dragoning.

Alex Green was a young girl when the dragoning took place. She was four when she saw her first dragon who happened to be a neighbor who had been kind to her. Alex's mother had cancer and was away for treatment during that same time period. Alex was cared for by her Aunt Marla, her mother's older sister. She was eight when the mass dragoning happened and her Aunt Marla was one of those women who dragoned. 

It was a repressive time. No one ever talked about dragoning or cancer or women's health issues. But Alex tried to stifle her curiosity but had many questions. She didn't know how to feel when her mother brought Marla's infant daughter home and declared that Bea had always been her sister and that Aunt Marla had never existed. Alex quickly became Bea's greatest protector which didn't change when her mother died of cancer when Alex was in eighth grade and when her father remarried and established Alex and Bea in an apartment and sent financial support but never visited his daughters again. 

Alex was left alone with responsibilities that should never have been placed on a child's shoulders, but she was determined to study and even attend college one day despite her father's refusal to support that dream. She did have a friend and supporter in Mrs. Gyzinska who was the head librarian at the local Carnegie Library. 

The story is told not only in Alex's voice but through newspaper articles and excerpts from the work of Dr. H. N. Gantz who had lost his positions as a university professor and doctor of medicine when he refused to stop researching and writing about dragons. 

This was an intriguing story. I enjoyed the rich language and deep emotions. Alex was a character who wasn't going to let the common values of the day stop her from becoming who she was meant to be. I liked the whole underground rebellion against the repression of facts in which Mrs. Gyzinska and Professor Gantz were deeply involved. 

Favorite Quote:

There cannot be science without the free and unfettered dissemination of truth. When you, as the creators of policy, seek to use your power to curtail understanding and thwart the free exchange of knowledge and ideas, it is not I who will suffer the consequences of this, but rather the whole nation, and, indeed, the entire world. 

I bought this one July 24. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

The Friday 56 was hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice. This meme is currently on hiatus but many of us are still including a sentence from page 56 or from 56% of the ebook. Anne @ Head Full of Books is picking up the slack until Freda is ready to return. I think this link will get you to the correct place. 

Beginning:

Greetings, Mother --

I do not have much time. This change (this wonderous, wondrous change) is at this very moment upon me. I could not stop it if I tried. And I have no interest in trying.

Friday 56:

In those first chaotic weeks after the Mass Dragoning, Sister Margareta, my third-grade teacher, taught us the earliest accepted explanation: that dragons, either escaped from Hell or intentionally released its Demon Gate by sinister forces in the hidden global war between good and evil (Russian, presumably), had devoured a certain subset of the nation's mothers, for reasons unknown. And likely reasons unknowable. After all, who can reason with a dragon?

Thie week I am spotlighting When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. I have read some of her young adult books and enjoyed them. Here is the description from Amazon:

In the first adult novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Ogress and The Orphans, Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of.

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden.

In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small—their lives and their prospects—and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.

Audiobook Review: Bastion by Mercedes Lackey

Bastion
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Narrator: Nick Podehl
Series: Collegium Chronicles (Book 5)
Publication: Audible Studios (October 1, 2013)
Length: 11 hours and 13 minutes

Description: Mags returns to the Collegium, but there are mixed feelings--his included--about him actually remaining there. No one doubts that he is and should be a Herald, but he is afraid that his mere presence is going to incite more danger right in the heart of Valdemar. The heads of the Collegia are afraid that coming back to his known haunt is going to give him less protection than if he went into hiding. Everyone decides that going elsewhere is the solution for now. So since he is going elsewhere--why not return to the place he was found in the first place and look for clues? And those who are closest to him, and might provide secondary targets, are going along.

With Herald Jadrek, Herald Kylan (the Weaponsmaster's chosen successor), and his friends Bear, Lena, and Amily, they head for the Bastion, the hidden spot in the hills that had once been the headquarters of a powerful band of raiders that had held him and his parents prisoner. But what they find is not what anyone expected.

My Thoughts: BASTION ends the five-book story arc that tells Mags' story. From abused mine slave to Herald of Valdemar is quite a journey and it was fascinating watching him grow up and come into his own. Throughout the whole series we have watched Mags search for his history. In this episode we finally find out about his people.

Mags has escaped from the people who kidnapped him, but he is afraid that he brought trouble back with him to the Collegium in Valdemar. He is very worried about Amily, the young woman he loves, and his friends becoming targets. He did gain a promise from his kidnappers to stop trying to assassinate the Crown that Mags is sworn to protect. 

So a plot is hatched. Mags will go out on circuit with a mentor as most young heralds do and along the way he will "die." His friends will also get out of town for various reasons of their own. They will meet up and hope to elude the assassins. They will be patrolling the north of Valdemar including the Bastion which used to be a bandit hide-out. The same bandits who killed his parents. Mags is hoping to find some clues about them. 

He and his mentor weren't expecting to find an area that was hostile to heralds and many problems to solve. Nor was he expecting to find the family that he had wondered about for years. His cousin Bey is a fascinating character who tries to convince Mags to come "home" with him and be part of the assassin's guild that Bey hopes to take over. 

This story had romance as Mags and Amily finally get together. It had danger as Mags and company had to fight off assassins who also wanted to take Mags home with them. It was a nice conclusion to a story arc.

I bought this one at Audible. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Redoubt by Mercedes Lackey

Redoubt
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Narrator: Nick Podehl
Series: Collegium Chronicles (Book 4)
Publication: Audible Studios (June 3, 2013)
Length: 10 hours and 44 minutes

Description: Life at the Heralds' Collegium in Haven has definitely improved for Mags. He's even become something of a hero since risking his own life to rescue Amily--daughter of Nikolas, the King's Own Herald--from Karsite kidnappers. But Mags still doesn't know who his parents were, and Bear, Mags' Trainee friend, was not one to let him forget: "You gotta deal with your past Mags, you have to. If you don't, it'll just keep coming back to haunt you, and one day it'll do something to you that you can't get out of."

Mags began his special training as Nikolas' undercover partner and future spy for the crown. Disguised, they work at night in one of the seedier parts of Haven, where Nikolas had set up a false identity as a pawnbroker and fence. Mags poses as his deaf-mute nephew, covertly watching and listening from behind the desk. He was especially good at the trait that had kept him alive as a child laborer in the gem mine--ferreting out hidden motives.

Now Mags has graduated to a new role: Nikolas' partner and information broker. Mags channels his old cunning self from the mines and discovers that he's quite good at his new job. So good, in fact, that Nikolas decides to let him open the shop alone one hot, summer night. Mags has barely unlocked the shop when everything goes black in a blinding flash of pain.

He wakes with an agonizing headache, bound, blindfolded, in a conveyance of some kind. But worst of all, he's head-blind. No Mindspeech--he can't even sense Dallen. And if he can't sense or hear Dallen, then no one can sense him. And if no one can sense him, no one can come to his rescue.

My Thoughts: This fourth book of the Collegium Chronicles starts out as one sort of book and then turns into something else. When the story begins, Mags and the rest of Haven are preparing for the wedding of Crown Prince Sedric and his bride Lydia. So the story begins with a romance that turns other characters' thoughts to romance too. Mags questions the consequences of his feelings for his mentor's daughter Amily and Bear and Lena run off to get married which solves some major problems for both of them that were begun in earlier books in this series. It was a good story about growing up and forming adult relationships. But there was more...

We also get to see Mags playing his beloved game of Kirball and learning in every situation not excluding watching rope walkers entertain at the wedding. Mags is constantly observing everything which is a large part of why he is being trained by the King's Own to be a spy. But the one thing that he is willing to overlook is the mystery of his own beginnings. He has done some research and learned that his parents where well-dressed foreigners who died when he was two or three. He has come to a dead end in his search to learn more.

It looks like they mystery is coming to him when he is kidnapped, drugged and dragged into Karse by the same assassins who have been attempting to kill or kidnap other Valdemarans and who have attempted to kidnap him before. 

The sections of the story where he is experiencing drugged hallucinations about the terrible time he spent as a small child in the mines were very moving. (As was the description of his life there that he was finally able to share with his mentor Nikolas and a Healer.) Gradually, he gains control of his mind and manages to escape his captors in a raging thunderstorm. 

Then we have a survival story of a young man who isn't trained in wilderness survival and has few assets but who has a strong will and desire to survive and return home. After being attacked by demons, Mags is rescued by a hermit Karsite priest and his suncat. He learns that life isn't good for anyone is Karse because of the abuse of the black robed priests who control the demons. He is recaptured, drugged again by the assassins, and gets some information about his past that he will still need to sort out since it came as a series of drug-induced visions. 

Beginning with romance and ending with heart-pounding danger, REDOUBT moves the story of Mags along. I look forward to more volumes so that more of the mysteries will be solved.

I bought this one from Audible. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Changes by Mercedes Lackey

Changes
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Narrator: Nick Podehl
Series: Collegium Chronicles (Book 3)
Publication: Brilliance Audio (October 4, 2011)
Length: 10 hours and 48 minutes

Description: Mags was a Trainee in the Heraldic Collegium in Haven, Valdemar’s capital city. Though his background of poverty and abuse at Cole Pieters’ gem mine set him apart from most other trainees, nonetheless he had found his own group of friends. Bear, Lena, and Amily were all students whose situations in life set them apart from more usual Trainees. The four of them had found mutual support in their shared misfortunes, and together struggled to help one another find solutions to their individual problems

But Mags’ friendship with Amily brought him to the attention of the King’s Own. The seemingly immortal Companion Rolan had Chosen Nikolas to suit the specific needs of the current monarch, and those needs were for an agent who could collect information surreptitiously. Nikolas recognized the same traits in Mags that Rolan had recognized in him, and because of Mags’ friendship with Amily, no one would think twice about seeing her overprotective father spending time with Amily’s “suitor”. So Mags began training as Nikolas’ partner.

They worked in disguise at night with Mags as Nikolas’ deaf and mute helper, where his extensive knowledge of gems - especially his skill at separating the real from the fake - would be an added benefit. Hiding in the shadows behind the desk, pretending to neither hear nor speak, Mags could better “observe” the clients, and even the surrounding neighborhood. And Nikolas could send him out on “errands” to chase down leads.

But this new job was far more dangerous than Mags had ever considered. For there were mysterious agents in the city - agents who sought to bring down the kingdom, and no one knew where they came from or who they worked for. They were smart, talented, and preternaturally fast. And most of all they were willing to do anything - anything - to bring Valdemar to ruin.

My Thoughts: In the third book of the Collegium Chronicles, Mags is beginning his career as the King's spy by working with his mentor King's Own Nikolas in a pawn shop down in the town with is Nikolas's cover to find out things happening. Mags is playing a deaf mute boy with a talent for knowing gems and the ability to separate the fake and the real.

But there are still agents in town who want to bring Valdemar down and finding them soon becomes the focus of their work. Though Mags can't penetrate their shields, he is able to locate them if they get near enough to him. However, they are smart and talented and have an agenda that is still hidden from the Heralds. 

Foreseers have dreamed that they would like to disrupt the kingdom by kidnapping the King's Own's daughter Amily who is crippled after an accident she had as a small child. Amily and Mags are courting and Mags is very determined to keep Amily safe.

Bear and some other healers have come up with a procedure to fix Amily's damaged leg but the threat from the agents has made them put off the procedure which Amily hates. It is especially bad because no one is telling her or Mags or any but a small circle why the procedure is being delayed. 

And tempers are rising even as the summer heat does. There are so many fights and arguments breaking out that no one knows what to do. Mags, Lena, Amily and Bear aren't spared the arguments either. Lena and Bear are falling in love but both have unresolved parent issues. Lena's is a bard who only notices her when he wants something from her and Bear's family has no respect for his talents since he doesn't have the healing gift. 

This was another excellent episode in the Collegium Chronicles. The worldbuilding is great. I am enjoying watching Mags and his friends grow up and claim their new adult responsibilities. 

I bought this one from Chirp Audiobooks. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

The Golden Enclaves
Author: Naomi Novik
Series: The Scholomance (Book 3)
Publication: Del Rey (June 27, 2023)

Description: #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Saving the world is a test no school of magic can prepare you for in the triumphant conclusion to the New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate.

FINALIST FOR THE HUGO AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Paste, Publishers Weekly

The one thing you never talk about while you’re in the Scholomance is what you’ll do when you get out. Not even the richest enclaver would tempt fate that way. But it’s all we dream about: the hideously slim chance we’ll survive to make it out the gates and improbably find ourselves with a life ahead of us, a life outside the Scholomance halls.

And now the impossible dream has come true. I’m out, we’re all out—and I didn’t even have to turn into a monstrous dark witch to make it happen. So much for my great-grandmother’s prophecy of doom and destruction. I didn’t kill enclavers, I saved them. Me and Orion and our allies. Our graduation plan worked to perfection: We saved everyone and made the world safe for all wizards and brought peace and harmony to all the enclaves everywhere.

Ha, only joking! Actually, it’s gone all wrong. Someone else has picked up the project of destroying enclaves in my stead, and probably everyone we saved is about to get killed in the brewing enclave war. And the first thing I’ve got to do now, having miraculously gotten out of the Scholomance, is turn straight around and find a way back in.

My Thoughts: In this finale to the Scholomance trilogy we learn what happens after El, Orion, and her colleagues manage to get everyone out of the Scholomance. Well, almost everyone, Orion stayed behind which makes El determined to find a way back in to get him.

There are some problems to overcome first. Something is killing enclaves, and the various enclaves are on the brink of war. Looking for help uncovers all sorts of secrets. Secrets that could bring the whole system of enclaves tumbling down. 

El's plans for the escape from the Scholomance did manage to cut the number of mals in half but didn't do anything for the most awful of all the mals. The maw-mouth doesn't just kill wizards. It keeps them alive inside it in such a way that they can't die. And killing them has been a task that requires a large group of adult wizards working together. At least it did until El. 

This was an excellent conclusion to a very good series. I loved the worldbuilding. I loved the way El grew through the trilogy. She had so many decisions to make. 

Favorite Quote:

I imagine it's always easier to do something monstrous if you can convince yourself you aren't going to, up to the last minute, when you do. 

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

Audiobook Review: Intrigues by Mercedes Lackey

Intrigues
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Narrator: Nick Podehl
Series: Collegium Chronicles (Book 2)
Publication: Brilliance Audio (October 11, 2010)
Length: 10 hours and 9 minutes

Description: Mags was an orphan and slave of ‘bad blood’ who toiled in a gem mine all his young life. He would have died before adulthood, had he not been Chosen and taken to Haven to be trained in the new Herald Collegium.

Now, Mags was never hungry and never cold. He slept in a real bed in his own room and, most importantly, he had Dallen, who was like another part of himself. And yet, aside from Lena and Bear, both loners like he was, he couldn’t relate to most of the Herald, Healer, or Bard trainees. He was the only trainee who came from what - to the others - was unimaginable poverty.

There was another factor that contributed to Mag’s isolation. Foreign assassins, masquerading at court as envoys, were discovered. As they fled from the Guard, one of them seemed to “recognize” Mags. Now, Mags was an object of suspicion.

He had always been curious about his parents, but after the incident it became urgent for Mags to discover exactly who his parents were. And at Haven, he had access to the extensive Archives. Poring through the Archives, he got only incomplete information: his parents, found dead in a bandit camp, had been two of a number of hostages, some of whom had survived. The survivors had told the Guard that Mags’ parents spoke a language that no one understood or recognized.

This information did not help, for the ForeSeers had been having visions of the king’s assassination by “one of the foreign blood”. Some had even Seen Mags with blood on his hands. How could Mags defend himself against a crime that hadn’t yet been committed?

My Thoughts: The second of the Collegium Chronicles sees Mags beginning to fit in at the Collegium. While still mainly a loner who feels he has nothing in common with most of the other students, he has made some friends with Lena and Bear and Amily. Each of them are different than the other students too. 

When Lena's father comes to the Collegium, Mags learns that he is a famous bard who had ignored Lena all her life. He is totally self-centered, but Lena wants his love and approval. He can only see her if there is some way he can use her like when Mags becomes a champion at a new sport being developed and when Mags becomes a hero for saving Bear's life when he's kidnapped.

Meanwhile Bear is facing his own problems. He comes from a family of healers, but he doesn't have the magical gift of healing. However, he is an excellent herbalist consulted by everyone including senior healers at his school. And he is good at surgery and other healing too. But his family wants him to come home, get married, and sire children who might have the healing gift. He's under constant pressure because of their demands.

Then Mags comes in for his share of pressure when those who can see the future predict that someone foreign born will assassinate the king. Mags has just learned that his parents were captives of bandits and were from some unknown country. That makes Mags immediately an object of suspicion. And since part of his heraldic gifts includes a touch of empathy, Mags is totally aware of the suspicions which feed into his own insecurity about his right to be a Herald. 

This was an emotional story with Mags and his friends all dealing with deep personal issues. But there is also the problem of the foreign envoys who disappeared from the palace and have some sort of hidden agenda. They seem to have some mind gifts to go along with their agenda and only Mags is able to tune into them. 

This was a fun story with great worldbuilding. I'm enjoying watching Mags build confidence and become a Herald of Valdemar. 

I bought this one from Chirp Audiobooks. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

The Last Graduate
Author: Naomi Novik
Series: Scholomance (Book 2)
Publication: Del Rey (September 28, 2021)

Description: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The specter of graduation looms large as Naomi Novik’s groundbreaking, New York Times bestselling trilogy continues in the stunning sequel to A Deadly Education.

“The climactic graduation-day battle will bring cheers, tears, and gasps as the second of the Scholomance trilogy closes with a breathtaking cliff-hanger.”—Booklist (starred review)

HUGO AWARD FINALIST • LOCUS AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Polygon, Thrillist, She Reads

In Wisdom, Shelter. That’s the official motto of the Scholomance. I suppose you could even argue that it’s true—only the wisdom is hard to come by, so the shelter’s rather scant.

Our beloved school does its best to devour all its students—but now that I’ve reached my senior year and have actually won myself a handful of allies, it’s suddenly developed a very particular craving for me. And even if I somehow make it through the endless waves of maleficaria that it keeps throwing at me in between grueling homework assignments, I haven’t any idea how my allies and I are going to make it through the graduation hall alive.

Unless, of course, I finally accept my foretold destiny of dark sorcery and destruction. That would certainly let me sail straight out of here. The course of wisdom, surely.

But I’m not giving in—not to the mals, not to fate, and especially not to the Scholomance. I’m going to get myself and my friends out of this hideous place for good—even if it’s the last thing I do.

With keen insight and mordant humor, Novik reminds us that sometimes it is not enough to rewrite the rules—sometimes, you need to toss out the entire rulebook.

The magic of the Scholomance trilogy continues in The Golden Enclaves

My Thoughts: This middle book of the Scholomance trilogy concerns El's Senior year. She begins the year being the target of the Scholomance and honing her fighting skills. She has managed to make some friends and build some alliances but is separated from them for most of her classmates and when she is put in a seminar with assorted Freshman.

She is determined first to find a way to get her friends through to graduation and through the fight that is necessary if they are to leave the Scholomance behind. But gradually, she determines that she won't be satisfied until she gets all of the Seniors out alive. Since many of them don't trust her and even more don't know her, this is going to be a difficult task. Luckily, she is befriended by the class's valedictorian who has more than enough ideas of ways to make El's task possible even if she is a difficult person and not El's friend.

As the training goes on, El realizes that the only way she will be satisfied is if she manages to get all of the students out of the Scholomance - Freshman to Seniors. To do this she is going to have to depend on most of the other students to help and to put aside the rivalries and self-centered behavior that were the skills that got them out before.

This wouldn't seem like a good time to fall in love but El manages to fit it in. She and Orion Lake have been rivals since their first days in the Scholomance. He's the popular Enclaver who has become the school hero by saving countless lives including El's. He's also the only one other than El who is almost certain to be able to win their way out of the Scholomance. 

The worldbuilding in this story is fantastic. From a complex political system and magical system to a wide variety of evil creatures determined to eat the young wizards, the story is packed with intriguing ideas. It is also packed full of adventure. But even more it is packed with ethical dilemmas and the need to make the right choices. 

Fans of epic fantasy will enjoy this one - but read A DEADLY EDUCATION first. 

Favorite Quote:

"There's no such thing as normal people," I said, a desperate flailing. "There's just people, and some of them are miserable, and some of them are happy, and you've the same right to be happy as any of them -- no more and no less."

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

Friday Memes: The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice. This meme is currently on hiatus but many of us are still including a sentence from page 56 or from 56% of the ebook. Anne @ Head Full of Books is picking up the slack until Freda is ready to return. I think this link will get you to the correct place. 

Beginning:

Keep far away from Orion Lake.

Friday 56:

The cushion-monster was lumping straight towards her back: it would get her before she got ten steps onto the walkway. 

This week I am spotlighting The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik. This is the second book in the Scholomance Trilogy. I recently read the first in the series. Here is the description from Amazon:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The specter of graduation looms large as Naomi Novik’s groundbreaking, New York Times bestselling trilogy continues in the stunning sequel to A Deadly Education.

“The climactic graduation-day battle will bring cheers, tears, and gasps as the second of the Scholomance trilogy closes with a breathtaking cliff-hanger.”—Booklist (starred review)

HUGO AWARD FINALIST • LOCUS AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Polygon, Thrillist, She Reads

In Wisdom, Shelter. That’s the official motto of the Scholomance. I suppose you could even argue that it’s true—only the wisdom is hard to come by, so the shelter's rather scant.

Our beloved school does its best to devour all its students—but now that I’ve reached my senior year and have actually won myself a handful of allies, it’s suddenly developed a very particular craving for me. And even if I somehow make it through the endless waves of maleficaria that it keeps throwing at me in between grueling homework assignments, I haven’t any idea how my allies and I are going to make it through the graduation hall alive

Unless, of course, I finally accept my foretold destiny of dark sorcery and destruction. That would certainly let me sail straight out of here. The course of wisdom, surely.

But I’m not giving in—not to the mals, not to fate, and especially not to the Scholomance. I’m going to get myself and my friends out of this hideous place for good—even if it’s the last thing I do.

With keen insight and mordant humor, Novik reminds us that sometimes it is not enough to rewrite the rules—sometimes, you need to toss out the entire rulebook.

The magic of the Scholomance trilogy continues in The Golden Enclaves

Book Review: A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

A Deadly Education
Author: Naomi Novik
Series: The Scholomance (Book 1)
Publication: Del Rey (September 29, 2020)

Description: I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life.

Everyone loves Orion Lake. Everyone else, that is. Far as I’m concerned, he can keep his flashy combat magic to himself. I’m not joining his pack of adoring fans.

I don’t need help surviving the Scholomance, even if they do. Forget the hordes of monsters and cursed artifacts, I’m probably the most dangerous thing in the place. Just give me a chance and I’ll level mountains and kill untold millions, make myself the dark queen of the world.

At least, that’s what the world expects. Most of the other students in here would be delighted if Orion killed me like one more evil thing that’s crawled out of the drains. Sometimes I think they want me to turn into the evil witch they assume I am. The school certainly does.

But the Scholomance isn’t getting what it wants from me. And neither is Orion Lake. I may not be anyone’s idea of the shining hero, but I’m going to make it out of this place alive, and I’m not going to slaughter thousands to do it, either.

Although I’m giving serious consideration to just one.

With flawless mastery, Naomi Novik creates a school bursting with magic like you’ve never seen before, and a heroine for the ages—a character so sharply realized and so richly nuanced that she will live on in hearts and minds for generations to come.

My Thoughts: This story is told by Galadriel, call her El, about her time at the Scolomance, a school for budding magicians. El has a difficult time there because prophecy has said that she will become an evil sorcerer. But El was raised by her flowers and butterflies and positive thinking mother and knows that she can fight her destiny and become the sort of sorcerer she wants to be. 

El's nemesis is Orion Lake. He's the school hero and has single-handedly saved a quarter of their class from being devoured by the many monsters that haunt the school. El doesn't want his help. She's determined to survive the school on her own. But Orion keeps turning up and saving the day. 

There are two kinds of magic in El's world: mana and malia. Mana is positive magic created by effort; malia is negative and stolen from other lives. The school is determined to make El into the sort of sorcerer who pulls and uses malia and turn her out into the world as a maleficer. She's determined not to be turned into one.

There is wonderful and complex worldbuilding in the story. It is filled with magnificent and hungry creatures of all kinds. It is also filled with engaging and well-rounded human characters. I especially liked that El gradually makes friends with some of her human classmates including the dreaded Orion Lake. 

Favorite Quote:

Some sorcerers get an affinity for weather magic, or transformation spells, or fantastic combat magics like dear Orion, I got an affinity for mass destruction. 

I bought this one September 29, 2020. You can buy your copy here.

Book Beginnings: A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice. This meme is currently on hiatus but many of us are still including a sentence from page 56 or from 56% of the ebook. Anne @ Head Full of Books is picking up the slack until Freda is ready to return. I think this link will get you to the correct place.

Beginning:

I decided that Orion needed to die after the second time he saved my life. I hadn't really cared much about him before then one way or the other, but I had limits.

Friday 56:

Most people get alchemy assignments to produce antidotes or preventative elixirs, or the good old standby of producing gold out of cheaper elements. I'm never set recipes for anything useful; I've got to trade for them.

This week I am spotlighting A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik. This one has been on my TBR pile since September 29, 2020. Somehow it got lost on my TBR mountain. Now, there are three books in the series, and I have all of them.

Here's the description from Amazon:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Uprooted and Spinning Silver comes the first book of the Scholomance trilogy, the story of an unwilling dark sorceress who is destined to rewrite the rules of magic.

FINALIST FOR THE LODESTAR AWARD • “The dark school of magic I’ve been waiting for.”—Katherine Arden, author of the Winternight Trilogy

I decided that Orion Lake needed to die after the second time he saved my life.

Everyone loves Orion Lake. Everyone else, that is. Far as I’m concerned, he can keep his flashy combat magic to himself. I’m not joining his pack of adoring fans.

I don’t need help surviving the Scholomance, even if they do. Forget the hordes of monsters and cursed artifacts, I’m probably the most dangerous thing in the place. Just give me a chance and I’ll level mountains and kill untold millions, make myself the dark queen of the world.

At least, that’s what the world expects. Most of the other students in here would be delighted if Orion killed me like one more evil thing that’s crawled out of the drains. Sometimes I think they want me to turn into the evil witch they assume I am. The school certainly does.

But the Scholomance isn’t getting what it wants from me. And neither is Orion Lake. I may not be anyone’s idea of the shining hero, but I’m going to make it out of this place alive, and I’m not going to slaughter thousands to do it, either.

Although I’m giving serious consideration to just one.

With flawless mastery, Naomi Novik creates a school bursting with magic like you’ve never seen before, and a heroine for the ages—a character so sharply realized and so richly nuanced that she will live on in hearts and minds for generations to come.

Audiobook Review: The Sorcery Trial by J. A. Armitage & Claire Luana

The Sorcery Trial
Author: J. A. Armitage & Claire Luana
Narrator: Ann Marie Gideon
Series: Faerie Race (Book 1)
Publication: Live Edge Publishing (July 1, 2019); Tantor Audio (November 26, 2019
Length: 252 p.; 6 hours and 2 minutes

Description: Welcome to The Faerie Race—an epic adventure through a realm as compelling as it is deadly…

Fame. Fortune. Your most extravagant wish granted. These are the prizes promised to the team that wins The Faerie Race, the first and only reality television show to venture into the dangerous realm of the fae. But that’s not why Jacqueline Cunningham wants in. She’s after any sign of her sister—who vanished without a trace into the faerie world two years ago. Jacq thought getting into the race would be the hard part. But she didn’t count on the other competitors—who will stop at nothing to finish first. Or her distractingly-handsome jerk of a partner, who seems to be hiding secrets of his own.

Plunged into a world where everything wants to kill her, what starts as a hunt for the truth turns into a desperate contest for survival. Now that Jacq’s in the race, it will take all her wits to make it to the finish line alive.

My Thoughts: This is the start of an urban fantasy trilogy. Faerie has announced itself but getting into the fae lands isn't easy. That is why Jacqueline Cunningham decides that her best chance to find out what happened when her sister disappeared into faerie lands is to join the Faerie Trial - a reality TV show that pairs a human with one of the fae and sends them into the faerie land to perform feats. The winners will get fame, fortune, and their greatest wish granted. 

Jacq has been working as a gofer in Hollywood but she really wants to be a stuntwoman. At first she's denied the opportunity to try out for the Faerie Trial but a daring rescue gives her a chance. She can do the physical stuff easily enough. But performing magic? Not so much. 

She does manage to get into the trial by squeaking in. She's in last place. That means she is left with the one fae partner she didn't want. He's dark, brooding, and doesn't want her as a partner either. However, she and her partner will have to work together if they want to survive. Because the other teams would like to see them dead.

There are lots of quests, lots of handsome boys who may or may not be working in Jacq's best interests, and there is a hidden agenda that is just barely revealed in this episode. 

I enjoyed the worldbuilding. I liked the characters especially Jacq and her partner. My only complaint is that there were lots of loose ends left at the end of this episode which makes reading the rest required to find out what happens. 

I bought this one as Kindle and Audiobook February 5, 2021. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: First Truth by Dawn Cook

First Truth
Author: Dawn Cook
Narrator: Marguerite Gavin
Series: Truth (Book 1)
Publication: Ace; Reissue edition (May 28, 2002); Blackstone Audio (April 23, 2010)
Length: 356 p.; 13 hours and 21 minutes

Description: Alissa doesn't believe in magic. Her father's stories about the Hold, a legendary fortress where human Keepers learn magic from the enigmatic Masters, are just that stories. But her mother insists Alissa has inherited her father's magical ability, so she must go to the Hold to be trained. On her way, she crosses paths with Strell, a wandering musician from the plains. Though Alissa is not sure she can trust a plainsman, Strell has something Alissa needs one of her father's old maps. Traveling together, they can reach the Hold before the snow sets in. But they don't know that the Hold is nearly empty. The Keeper Bailic has sent the Masters on a fool's errand and systematically killed the other Keepers in his search for the First Truth, a book of magic that will give him ultimate power. And he believes that Alissa and Strell hold the secret of the book's hiding place.

My Thoughts: This epic fantasy/coming of age novel follows the adventure of Alissa and Strell. Alissa is the daughter of a Keeper but her father has been missing for years. She is also a half-breed. She's not accepted by the local villagers. When her mother determines that she has inherited her father's magic, she insists that Alissa travel to the Hold for training. 

Along the way she meets Strell who is a Plainsman who has been sent away from his family to work as a bard. He has just learned that his whole family was lost in a flood and is wondering what to do with the rest of his life. He was given a map by Alissa's mother in a trade. Alissa wants that map since she knows it was made by her father and she is able to read it. 

The two team up to find their way to the Hold before winter overtakes them. There they learn that the sole inhabitant is Bailic who has killed or imprisoned the rest of the Keepers and has been searching for a magical book for many years. Alissa's father had the book but hid it before entering the Hold and being murdered by Bailic. Now Alissa wants to find his book at least as much a Bailic wants it.

This was an entertaining story with lots of magic and adventure. I liked the growing relationship between Strell and Alissa. I liked the worldbuilding. My only complaint is that this is the first of four books and thus leaves all sorts of plot threads hanging. 

I bought this one as a paperback July 5, 2009. The Audible copy was available to me as a part of my subscription. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: What Have We Done by Alex Finlay

What Have We Done
Author: Alex Finlay
Publication: Minotaur Books (March 7, 2023)

Description: A stay-at-home mom with a past.
A has-been rock star with a habit.
A reality TV producer with a debt.
Three disparate lives.
One deadly secret.

Twenty five years ago, Jenna, Donnie, and Nico were the best of friends, having forged a bond through the abuse and neglect they endured as residents of Savior House, a group home for parentless teens. When the home was shut down―after the disappearance of several kids―the three were split up.

Though the trauma of their childhood has never left them, each went on to live accomplished―if troubled―lives. They haven’t seen one another since they were teens but now are reunited for a single haunting reason: someone is trying to kill them.

To survive, the group will have to revisit the nightmares of their childhoods and confront their shared past―a past that holds the secret to why someone wants them dead.

It’s a reunion none of them asked for . . . or wanted. But it may be the only way to save all their lives.

What Have We Done is both an edge-of-your seat thriller and a gut-wrenching coming-of-age story. And it cements Alex Finlay as one of the new leading voices in thrillers today.

My Thoughts: I enjoyed this thriller which brings together people who spent time in Savior House as parentless teens twenty-five years earlier. After the home was closed in part due to the disappearance of the director, the teens were split up to live their own lives.

Jenna found herself in Savior House after the death of her parents in a car accident. She wasn't their long when she was plucked out by a representative of The Corporation and trained to be an assassin. She's left that life behind, married, and is the stepmother to two girls. But then she gets called in to do one last assassination. Only she finds that her supposed target is another one of the kids from Savior House who has become a tech billionaire. After purposely missing the shot, she finds herself the target of killers who want to kill her to clear up loose ends. 

Donnie is a has-been rock star with a drug and alcohol habit who is performing with the remnants of his old band on a cruise ship. He is attacked and thrown off the ship but is picked up by a fishing boat and rescued. His manager makes a deal with a writer for a tell-all book which forces Donnie to look back on those years spent at Savior House even though he doesn't want them to be any part of his story. 

Nico is a television producer for a reality show set in the West Virginia coal mines. He has a major gambling habit and is deep in debt to some criminals. When one of the stars in the show asks to meet him on the set, deep in a coal mine, he is ambushed and left for dead after an explosion happens. He is rescued in the nick of time and wants to find out who set him up. 

The story switches between these viewpoints and the viewpoints of the twin assassins who were sent to kill them all and who have already killed another of the kids who was now a federal judge - the Honorable Robert Benjamin Wood.

The three survivors all meet at the judge's funeral and begin to compare notes. They need to find out who wants them dead if they are ever to have their own lives again. The plot was twisty. Flashbacks from each viewpoint tell more about their lives a Savior House and expose the secret they are all hiding. 

This was an excellent story filled with characters I cared about.

Favorite Quote:

"I said I was done with all this," Jenna tells her. "They said I was free and they wouldn't--"

"That's above my pay grade."

"Please, I can't."

The woman shakes her head. "You'd better. For Simon, Willow, and Tallulah's sake."

The woman steps past her and calmly disappears. 

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