Audiobook Review: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Fourth Wing
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Narrator: Rebecca Soler & Teddy Hamilton
Series: Empyrean (Book 1)
Publication: Recorded Book (May 2, 2023)
Length: 21 hours and 22 minutes

Description: Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away … because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

My Thoughts: Violet Sorrengail's life is changed when her mother who is a general in the army demands that she enter the Riders Quadrant instead of the Scribe Quadrant. Fragile since birth, Violet has been educated to be a scribe. Now, out of depth and with very little of the right training, Violet has to survive the brutal training to become a dragon rider. 

Luckily, Violet is very smart and has the written advice of her older brother Brennan who, along with his dragon, perished in the Tyrrish rebellion some five years earlier. Her older sister Mira who is also a dragon rider passed the book along to her to help her survive. 

Survival will be an issue. Not only are there not enough dragons willing to partner with all the candidates who are willing to kill to better their odds of securing a dragon, but the quadrant is also the home of the children of losers of the last rebellion who will do anything to kill the daughter of the general they blame for their parents' deaths. 

She should have a friend in the place. Her childhood friend Dain Aetos is a year ahead of her. But he is so busy trying to protect her and encourage her to flee to the Scribes Quadrant that he is stifling her growth. Then there is the wingleader, third year Xaden Riorson whose father led the revolt and who would really like her dead. Or would he?

I enjoyed the worldbuilding in this one. I thought it was a great adventure filled with romance and political intrigue. I liked the way Violet found a way to survive in a brutal environment. I also liked the way the mostly unlikely of romances between Xaden and Violet grew. I loved the dragons including the unprecedented two who lay claim to Violet.

Rebecca Soler and Teddy Hamilton did a great job narrating this one. I liked the way they built the suspense and depicted the difficult relationship between Violet and Xaden. I liked the two additional chapters retold from Xaden's point of view that ended this audiobook.

I bought and read the Kindle July 8, 2023. I added the Audible copy February 13, 2025. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Big Fix by Holly James

The Big Fix
Author: Holly James
Publication: Kensington (March 25, 2025)

Description: Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard meets The Fall Guy starring Ryan Gosling in a modern blend of screwball action and romantic attraction when a case of mistaken identity lands a college professor on the run with a mysterious—and dangerously hot—fixer . . .

When bookish Penny Collins reluctantly lets her sister drag her to an estate sale at a neighbor’s house, she’s hoping for a little diversion rummaging through dusty antiques. Instead, she ends up in a public squabble over candlesticks with the deceased owner’s nephew, Anthony—right before a dead body tumbles out of a closet.

Penny’s plan for the summer involved finalizing tenure at the university where she’s a computer sciences professor. Instead, she’s suddenly on the run with a man she barely knows, scaling walls, evading bullets, and accidentally stabbing henchmen. It seems the wrong people have got it in their heads that she’s Anthony’s girlfriend and, by association, in possession of something they desperately need—and will do anything to get.

As for Anthony, he has a top-secret occupation as a fixer, but a recent fix went dangerously awry, and now he and Penny are dodging both a ruthless billionaire and the FBI. And it’ll take all of Penny’s plentiful savvy and common sense, in addition to Anthony’s particular set of skills, to survive long enough for her to see the next semester . . .

My Thoughts: This romantic thriller finds Penny Collins on the run with Anthony Pierce after innocently attending a house sale and discovering a body in the closet. Penny's sister Libby had some matchmaking in mind. All Penny wants is to finish up all the requirements for tenure at the university where she teaches computer science.

When the erroneous news spreads that Penny is Anthony's new girlfriend, she finds herself on the run from people who want to use her in order to get Anthony to tell what happened to a billionaire's missing wife Portia. 

Portia has been Anthony's friend since childhood. He promised her brother that he's take care of her when her brother died. They had gone their separate ways with Portia reinventing herself in California and marrying a tech billionaire and Anthony becoming an Econ major at Penn before joining his uncle's firm. His uncle was a highly successful and somewhat shady fixer. 

Now, Portia is missing, and her billionaire husbands isn't willing to let her go. She knows too much about his shady dealings.

Penny and Anthony fall in love while trying to elude the bad guys and find a way for Portia to begin a new life. 

This was an entertaining story. The cover which looks to me to be cartoonish and promising a light read doesn't really do justice to the more serious nature of the story inside. While there are some lighter moments, the book is more thriller than romance. 

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? (March 17, 2025)

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

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

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

Other Than Reading...

This week has been a temperature roller coaster. We hit a record-breaking high of 62F on Monday and currently it is 20F as I'm writing this on Sunday. We also had a third of an inch of rain on Saturday which is much better than the snow which had been predicted. Most of the ground is bare. The only remaining snow is resting in shady areas and where the snowplow deposited it. This works for me since I have a lunch out with friends on Wednesday and would prefer to drive on snow-free streets. There is, however, a slight chance of snow on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week but the high temperatures those days should be in the 40s which will mean none of the snow will stick. 

We had our taxes done last Monday and by the end of the week both my State and Federal tax refunds were in my bank accounts. It is nice to have that done for the year. Then the property tax bill arrived... Oh, well, the money isn't due until May 15 so I can luxuriate in my relative wealth until I have to write that check. 

As far as my reading goes, I have been spending a lot of time in Eve Dallas's world. The books I listened to this week are sort of a dark part of the series as Eve is dealing with more and more nightmares as she finally recalls the parts of her childhood that she has repressed. She and Roarke are also learning more about each other which sometimes results in major, heartbreaking fights. I decided to give the series a bit of a rest and listen to some of the audiobooks that are on my April calendar. 

I've been sort of skipping around in my Review books too. I have been reading A Drop of Corruption for a while since it is a dense fantasy mystery that I can only read in small chunks at a time. I have been interspersing some cozies to cleanse my palate and skipping the next fantasy on my review stack until I've finished A Drop of Corruption. I have a couple of my own books on the stack for next week and am still debating if I want to read or listen to Undone by Blake Pierce. I do have 5 Audible credits but like to spend them on books I plan to listen to more than once and I'm not sure Undone qualifies.

We have all the ingredients for Corned Beef and Cabbage to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this week, but our feast will be on Tuesday not Monday since Bill works on Monday and our housecleaner is coming that day too. Meals other than Tuesday are still undecided. Today looks to be Chinese take-out and homemade fried rice since the take-out is in the refrigerator already. 

Read Last Week

• Purity in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)
• Written in Stone by Paige Shelton (Review; April 1) -- Tenth book in the Scottish Bookshop Mystery series. My review will be posted on March 27.
• Portrait in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)

• Imitation in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)
• Divided in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)
• Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd (Review; April 8) -- First in a new series starring a former nun. Set in 1954. My review will be posted on April 2.

Currently

• A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Review; April 1)
• Executive Order by Max Allan Collins (Audiobook; Mine since June 28, 2024)

Next Week

• The Wind Weaver by Julie Johnson (Review; April 8)
• A Proposal to Die For by Molly Harper (Review; April 8)
• Undone by Blake Pierce (Mine since December 16, 2022)

• One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman (Review; April 15)
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (Audiobook; Mine since July 5, 2021)
• Death Sits Down to Dinner by Tessa Arlen (Mine since December 31, 2024)

Reviews Posted

• The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen (Review Copy)
• The Library Game by Gigi Pandian (Review Copy)
• Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (Review Copy)

• A Map to Paradise by Susan Meissner (Review Copy)
• The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths (Audiobook)
• Twice as Dead by Harry Turtledove (Review copy)

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

Review:

• Dead of Summer by Jessa Maxwell (Review; July 22)
• Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (Review; July 29)
• Death at an Irish Village by Ellie Brannigan (Review; August 26)

• Beyond Her Reach by Melinda Leigh (Review; September 16)
• Murder at Blackwood Inn by Penny Warner (Review; September 23)
• Murder on a Scottish Train by Lucy Connelly (Review; October 14)

Bought:

• Victorian San Francisco Mysteries by M. Louisa Locke (Chrip Audiobook, $.99)

What was your week like?

Audiobook Review: The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

The Stranger Diaries
Author: Elly Griffiths
Narrator(s): Andrew Wincott, Esther Wane, Sarah Feathers, and 2 more
Series: Harbinder Kaur (Book 1)
Publication: Recorded Books (March 5, 2019)
Length: 10 hours and 32 minutes

Description: Death lies between the lines when the events of a dark story start coming true in this haunting modern Gothic mystery, perfect for fans of Magpie Murders and The Lake House.

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she even teaches a course on him. But when one of Clare’s colleagues is found dead, with a line from Holland’s iconic story “The Stranger” left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with her favorite literature.

The police suspect the killer is someone Clare knows. Unsure whom to trust, she turns to her diary, the only outlet for her suspicions and fears. Then one day she notices something odd. Writing that isn't hers, left on the page of an old diary:

Hallo Clare. You don’t know me.

Clare becomes more certain than ever: “The Stranger” has come to terrifying life. But can the ending be rewritten in time?

My Thoughts: This was an excellent modern Gothic thriller. Framed around a creepy story by Victorian writer R. M. Hubbard, English teacher Clare Cassidy, her daughter Georgia, and Detective Inspector Harbinder Kaur find themselves trying to track down a killer before the killer completes his horrible agenda.

Clare is disturbed to learn that a fellow English teacher has been murdered in her home and a quotation from R. M. Hubbard is left by the body. When the police come to talk to her, she is reluctant to share what happened at a workshop/conference they both attended the past summer. She doesn't want to spread gossip. 

Clare has enough to deal with in her life with a fifteen-year-old daughter who is dating a twenty-one-year-old "older man." She has also been working on a book about Hubbard along with her duties as a teacher which have grown exponentially since her colleague's murder. 

Meanwhile, Georgia is keeping a whole secret life from her mother. She is a talented young writer who is taking classes at a local college while feigning disinterest in her current schooling and complete lack of interest in her future education. 

Harbinder Kaur is a Hindi, gay police inspector who has mentioned her sexuality to her parents yet. Nor is she interested in revisiting her past as a student at the school where Clare currently teaches or her own past encounter with the tutor who is coaching Georgia.

Kaur is certain that the killer is someone close to Clare. She becomes even more certain when Clare discovers that someone has been adding comments to her private diary. 

I enjoyed that the story was woven between the three main characters. I was also more than a little creeped out by the male narrator of R. M. Hubbard's famous short story which begins and ends this book.

I bought the Kindle January 2, 2025, and added the Audible Plus copy. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

 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:

"If you'll permit me," said the Stranger, "I'd like to tell you a story. After all, it's a long journey and, bu the look of those skies, we're not going to be leaving this carriage for some time. So, why not pass the hours with some story-telling? The perfect thing for a late October evening."

Friday 56:

There are no photos of Hythe and I don't know how to scroll back as far as July on her timeline. Where did Harbinger find the comments she was mentioning?

This week I am spotlighting The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths. I added the Kindle and Audible Plus editions in January. I see that it has won an Edgar Award, but I chose it because I've enjoyed other books by the author. Here's the description from Amazon:

Death lies between the lines when the events of a dark story start coming true in this haunting modern Gothic mystery, perfect for fans of Magpie Murders and The Lake House.

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she even teaches a course on him. But when one of Clare’s colleagues is found dead, with a line from Holland’s iconic story “The Stranger” left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with her favorite literature.

The police suspect the killer is someone Clare knows. Unsure whom to trust, she turns to her diary, the only outlet for her suspicions and fears. Then one day she notices something odd. Writing that isn't hers, left on the page of an old diary:

Hallo Clare. You don’t know me.

Clare becomes more certain than ever: “The Stranger” has come to terrifying life. But can the ending be rewritten in time?

ARC Review: Twice as Dead by Harry Turtledove

Twice as Dead
Author: Harry Turtledove
Series: City of Shadows (Book 1)
Publication: CAEZIK SF & Fantasy; First Ed edition (March 18, 2025)

Description: Rudolf Sebestyen is missing, and Marianne Smalls is involved in an illicit affair with the shady Jonas Schmitt. Both cases converge when Dora Urban, Rudolf’s beautiful and mysterious half-sister, and Lamont Smalls, Marianne’s suspicious husband, hire Jack Mitchell, a hard-drinking, chain-smoking private investigator. Dora wants Jack to uncover what happened to her brother, while Lamont seeks proof of his wife’s infidelity.

But Dora is a vampire, in a city teeming with creatures of the night.

As Jack dives deeper, he discovers that both cases are linked to vepratoga—a dangerous new drug spreading through Los Angeles. Twice as Dead is brimming with vampires, wizards, zombies and zombie dealers, the Central Avenue jazz scene, an exclusive after-hours club, adultery, a New England ghost who prefers Southern California’s warmer clime, corrupt cops and politicians, spying rats, and a smart-mouthed talking cat.

When Jack’s home is burned to the ground, the strands of his investigations culminate in a showdown at a tire factory, where even the reliefs on the walls are not what they seem. In this unique noirish urban fantasy set in postwar Los Angeles, Jack finds more adventure, danger, and romance than he ever imagined—and learns that success may come at too high a price.

My Thoughts: TWICE AS DEAD combines urban fantasy with noir detective stories. Jack Mitchell is a hard-drinking, chain-smoking war veteran who is Black but light enough to look ethically ambiguous. He's living in LA after what would be the equivalent of World War II. In his world the enemy was the fylfot. Different name but same prejudice against Jews. 

The first clue that this is an urban fantasy series is that Jack has a cat who talks but is otherwise as self-centered as any other cat. The second clue is that one of the clients who walks in the door is Dora Urban who happens to be a vampire. 

Dora wants Jack to find her half-brother Rudolf Sebestyen. As Jack investigates, her find that Rudolf was not an upstanding vampire. He's planned a hit on the local blood bank and he's involved somehow with a new drug that is exciting all kinds of interest in shady circles.

But finding Rudolf is not Jack's only case. Celeste Jethroe has come to hire Jack to find out what happened to her missing husband Frank. He worked at U.S. Rubber and disappeared one day after work and after an argument with his supervisor. 

Jack's third case has to do with proving that the wife of a local newspaper editor is having an affair. 

The whole story was filled with questions to be answered and narrated by the very cynical Jack. The worldbuilding with includes vampires, wizards and zombies juxtaposes with the corrupt cops and built-in prejudices of the time period.

It was an engaging story with interesting characters.

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

ARC Review: A Map to Paradise by Susan Meissner

A Map to Paradise
Author: Susan Meissner
Publication: Berkley (March 18, 2025)

Description: 1956, Malibu, California: Something is not right on Paradise Circle.

With her name on the Hollywood blacklist and her life on hold, starlet Melanie Cole has little choice in company. There is her next-door neighbor, Elwood, but the screenwriter’s agoraphobia allows for just short chats through open windows. He’s her sole confidante, though, as she and her housekeeper, Eva, an immigrant from war-torn Europe, rarely make conversation.

Then one early morning Melanie and Eva spot Elwood’s sister-in-law and caretaker, June, digging in his beloved rose garden. After that they don’t see Elwood at all anymore. Where could a man who never leaves the house possibly have gone?

As they try to find out if something has happened to him, unexpected secrets are revealed among all three women, leading to an alliance that seems the only way for any of them to hold on to what they can still call their own. But it’s a fragile pact and one little spark could send it all up in smoke…

My Thoughts: This story, which takes place mainly in December of 1956, tells the story of three women who though outwardly very different find that they have a lot in common.

Melanie Cole is hiding out in a house supplied by her lover after both were blacklisted in Hollywood having been accused of being Communists. Melanie had just had her first success as a movie actress and received rave reviews for her performance. Now, she is distraught that her career has ended and that she has been wrongly accused of being a Communist.

Eva is a housemaid and a refugee from Europe after the second World War. She is claiming to be Polish but is actually a Volga German. Her family for some generations has kept their German language and culture while living in Russia. Eva was almost sixteen when her father, older brother, and sweetheart were arrested and sent to a gulag. She flees with her sweetheart's mother and sister to Germany and spends some years in camps for displaced persons until she finds a sponsor to help her emigrate to the United States. 

June Blankenship lives next to Melanie's house where she cares for her agoraphobic brother-in-law who makes his living writing film scripts. Unknown to most, June has been her brother-in-law Elwood's script doctor for years while Elwood shuts himself in dwelling on the car accident that severely injured him and killed the woman he had fallen in love with. 

When Elwood commits suicide, June panics at the thought of losing her only home and source of income and buries him in his beloved rose garden. Melanie, who has been using Elwood as a sounding board for her troubles, gets suspicious when he stops communicating with her. She sends her maid Eva to find out what is going on in the Blankenship home.

The three women agree to work together once they understand each other's needs. All of them are displaced in one way or another and all of them are looking for a home filled with love and security. 

This was engaging historical fiction and was a great story of women's friendships. 

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