The Invisible Ones – Stef Penney – (AUDIOBOOK) – 28.10.22

I was very quickly drawn in to this story and became gripped by the missing person mystery set in the gypsy traveller community. I loved the language and character development and was having a lovely time until about half way through the book, when I suddenly worked out the mystery twist completely. I know it’s nice to work out some bits of the mystery, as it makes the reader feel clever, but because I worked out everything so early, the rest of the book started to annoy me because it seemed so obvious to me and I couldn’t understand how the characters didn’t see it themselves. It is true that the reader gets several points of view, and the characters don’t all have all the pieces of the puzzle that the reader does, but still. On the whole though, I did like the book.

The Magpie Key (Crow Investigations Book 8) – Sarah Painter – 30.10.22

This latest installment in the Crow Investigations series is quite dark and scary, as Lydia has dealings with her boyfriend Fleet’s estranged dad who is a very bad being. The ending is very dramatic and interesting and of course I now can’t wait for the next book in the series!

A Marvellous Light (The Last Binding Book 1) – Freya Marske – 27.10.22

I did enjoy this book set at the turn of the twentieth century. It is both a polite comedy of manners (at least that is the phrase they use on Amazon to promote it!) and a period drama urban fantasy, in that the protagonist stumbles upon a magical underworld which most ‘normal’ people know nothing about. In fact the usual practise is to give the ‘muggles’ a tea which has the same effect as the obliviate charm in the world of Harry Potter so they forget everything.

I was somewhat jarred by the strong language and very explicit sex scenes between the two male protagonists, as it felt out of place with the otherwise gentile feel, although one supposes that beyond the polite social conversation, swearing and having sex all happened in the Edwardian times, they just weren’t included in books written during that period (at least not any I’ve read!).

I did feel invested in the story though, and I liked the magical world. I will look out for more books in the series.

About Time: The Time Police, Book 4 (AUDIOBOOK) – Jodi Taylor – 26.10.22

Another fun romp with the loveable Time police (not so) rookie (anymore) team. I do get a bit confused with the chronology between this series and the St Mary’s books and because I was listening to an audiobook rather than reading a physical or kindle version I couldn’t flick to the dramatus thingammy at the beginning if I forgot who was who. Still, I very much enjoyed the listen and learning more about the team’s past and seeing their characters and relationships develop. I think Jodi Taylor is very good at handling the love interest side of things without being annoying – her burgeoning relationships are relatably bumbling and embarrassing while still being sweet.

The Sandman Act 3 (AUDIOBOOK) – Neil Gaiman – 22.10.22

For some reason, when I listened to The Sandman Act II it didn’t blow me away as much as Act I, but, for me at least, Act III was back to cracking form and I loved it!

I was gripped with the stories which were both exciting and emotionally deep, I loved the cast of fabulous actors who really brought the stories to life and I can’t wait for the next one (and I can’t wait for the next installment of the TV adaptations!!)

Keeper of Enchanted Rooms (Whimbrel House Book 1) – Charlie N. Holmberg   – 20.10.22

I enjoyed this magical book set in the eighteen hundreds. An author, Merritt Fernsby inherits a haunted house in a remote part of America, and forms a relationship with the woman from the society that preserves magical buildings as they try to work out who is haunting them, while at the same time a very bad man is after them both.

It was more cosy mystery then horror, although with some gentle horror elements and the inevitable romance between the two main leads was overall more sweet than annoying.

I’ll look out for more books from the series.

The Final Girls Support Group – Grady Hendrix (AUDIOBOOK) – 12.10.22

This is another audiobook that took me ages to finish, although this time it wasn’t my fault! My hubby and I listened to a Grady Hendrix short audiobook (Horrorstör) on a very strange and emotional road trip during lockdown to attend my mum’s funeral, and I managed to persuade him to listen to another on our next (less strange and emotional) road trip, which was this one. My hubby is not really into fiction and also he said listening made him sleepy while driving, or he missed bits when he was concentrating, etc etc, which meant, a year and a half later we still hadn’t finished listening to this book. So I told hubby that I would just finish the book without him, and so I did.

I’m a big Grady Hendrix fan (I’m very excited because I just discovered there’s a new novel coming out in January) and I did enjoy this one, but maybe not as much as some others… -(which could be because of the long hiatus?!).

Anyhoo, there were lots of fond digs at the horror genre tropes and interesting twists and turns and female empowerment, and I would recommend this book to fans of light hearted horror.

Taken: Alex Verus Novel 3 – Benedict Jacka – 09.10.22

I’m still enjoying this urban fantasy series set in modern day London’s magical underworld.

Alex worries for his own apprentice, Luna, when several young trainee wizards start disappearing and things come to an exciting head at a magic dueling tournament in an old enchanted house in the countryside!

I have these books in my Amazon wish list and regularly check to see if they’re on offer, at which point I eagerly buy and read them.

Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo (Audiobook) – 06.10.22

I enjoyed The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, so when this was on sale at Audible I bought it. Well, it took me a very long time to finish it. I started it and got bored, so I listed to a couple of different audiobooks, then tried again, then got bored again, and left it, and finally decided to finish the experience on my holiday in Wales this September (I hate not finishing books).

The Ninth House (which I did enjoy) was an ‘urban fantasy’ in that it was set in the ‘real world’ but with a paranormal magical hidden society existing along side ‘real life’. Six of Crows, however, is more classic fantasy in that it is set in a completely made up world with all the classic fantasy tropes of a sort of medieval street urchin society with warring overlords and groups of people with different magic traits/abilities. I remember liking that sort of thing in my youth, but either I’ve grown out of that, or this just wasn’t an example of the genre that piqued my interest but I found it turgid and boring and annoying. There were several narrators, and one of them really annoyed me as well. Lol. Didn’t love it.

The Curious Life of Ada Baker – Karen Hamilton-Viall – 06.10.22

I won this book on a twitter competition and I remember entering because I thought it sounded just like the kind of book I enjoy. There was no obligation with the prize to write a review. (This is how I began my review which I posted on Amazon – I know from experience how valuable Amazon reviews are! The rest of the review is just copied and pasted below.)

The main character, Ada, has always had the ability to see dead people (not in a scary way – more like the relationship between Lydia Crow and her nerdy ghost flatmate in Sarah Painter’s Crow Investigations book series, or the ghosts in the TV comedy show Ghosts!). There are elements of history as there are ghosts from different time periods, as well as nods to Ben Aaronovitch’s brilliant Rivers of London series and C.K. McDonnell’s (also brilliant) Stranger Times books.

I read the book in a couple of days, and I liked it a lot. I hope this is the first in a series and I will look out for more books by this author.