REVIEW: Know No Evil by Graeme Hampton

Title: Know No Evil (D.I. Denning and D.S. Fisher #1)
Author: Graeme Hampton
Publisher: Hera
Publication Date: July 2019
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Buy The Book: Amazon | Audible

Description: Old crimes don’t stay buried forever…

It’s high summer, and London sizzles in the grip of a heatwave. But when the body of young mother, Leanne Wyatt, is discovered in an East London park, the heat rises to boiling point for D.I. Matthew Denning. Under pressure to solve the case, and fast, he delves into Leanne’s history and finds that she was close to some dangerous individuals – could one of them have taken her life in an angry rage? But when another woman is found dead in similar circumstances, Denning is forced to consider that a killer stalks the capital’s streets.

But when young, ambitious, D.S. Molly Fisher, discovers a horrifying link to these deaths and a killing spree in South London a decade ago –a terrifying summer where young women died at the hands of a psychopath the press dubbed ‘The Bermondsey Ripper’, the case is blown wide open. Anthony Ferguson is serving a life sentence for the crimes, so are these new deaths the result of a copycat killer - or did the police convict the wrong man? Whatever the case, Denning and Fisher need to stop a killer in his tracks – before he sets his sights on them.

My Thoughts: The first title in a series introducing the reader to D.S. Molly Fisher and D.I. Matthew Denning who begin working together to track down a killer whose crimes ring eerily familiar to a case from over a decade ago and who someone has already been convicted and is now serving a life sentence. Is the wrong man in prison? Is there now a copy-cat killer looking for his or her fifteen minutes of fame?

This book is a slow build as the author does a great job of character building, allowing the reader to get to know not just Molly and Matthew, but also the people in their lives, families, friends, coworkers and even enemies. I really liked Matthew and Molly and got a good sense of the pressure they are under as well as the flaws in their characters, making them feel more like normal, every-day people dealing with the stresses and challenges of their lives and careers.

As the murders increase, I could empathize with Molly’s frustration that her investigative theories are falling on deaf ears, while coming face to face with disturbing revelations about her boyfriend. Meanwhile, Matthew is frustrated that his ex-wife and her new boyfriend are making plans with his son during his scheduled visitation time and his new wife seems less supportive of him and more about moving on up to a higher priced neighborhood.

The story offers a lot of red herrings as to who is behind the killings and it took me to nearly the end of the book to even begin to suspect the identity of the culprit.

My Final Verdict: Well developed characters and an interesting story with some wonderful twisty and nail-biting moments will please fans of mysteries and thrillers. I look forward to spending more time with Matthew and Molly and see what they get involved in next.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Know No Evil from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The Witch with No Name by Kim Harrison

Title: The Witch with No Name (The Hollows #13)
Author: Kim Harrison
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: September 2014
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: Rachel Morgan's come a long way from the clutzy runner of Dead Witch Walking. She's faced vampires and werewolves, banshees, witches, and soul-eating demons. She's crossed worlds, channeled gods, and accepted her place as a day-walking demon. She's lost friends and lovers and family, and an old enemy has become something much more.

But power demands responsibility, and world-changers must always pay a price. That time is now.

To save Ivy's soul and the rest of the living vampires, to keep the demonic ever after and our own world from destruction, Rachel Morgan will risk everything.

My Thoughts: As this is not the last book in the series, I could have done without the last chapter as there is a huge time jump, but it was amusing to see what Al ends up doing. Of course, that is all subject to change as this is not the last we will see of Rachel, Trent, Jenks, Ivy, Al and yeah, I guess Nina too, though I still haven’t warmed up to her.

I found the story to be satisfactory and enjoyable for the most part. I felt a smidge of empathy for the desperation of the undead to get their souls back, though it will mean certain death as they become suicidal and walk into the sun. For some of the bloodsuckers in this book, I would gladly hold the door open for them to high step it out into the sunshine, but I certainly have to wonder how Ivy would feel about getting her soul back once she is truly one of the undead. She has her hands full with Nina right now so hopefully that won’t be an issue for a very long time.

Rachel definitely has her hands full trying to convince Cormel that getting his soul back is a bad idea and trusting Landon to help him is even worse. Hopefully, we have seen the last of him because I just have no patience for stupid vampires. Otherwise, I am still enjoying the relationship she and Trent are developing and hope it continues.

Jenks and Al remain my favorites and I hope they continue to appear prominently throughout the remaining books.

My Final Verdict: Had the series truly ended with this book, I would have been satisfied with the outcome, though I would have missed these characters. Hopefully the rest of the series continues to delight and entertain us.

REVIEW: A Quick Bite by Lynsay Sands

Title: A Quick Bite (Argeneau #1)
Author: Lynsay Sands
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: October 2005
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: That hot guy tied to Lissianna Argeneau's bed? He's not dessert - he's the main course!

Lissianna has been spending her centuries pining for Mr. Right, not just a quick snack, and this sexy guy she finds in her bed looks like he might be a candidate. But there's another, more pressing issue: her tendency to faint at the sight of blood...an especially annoying quirk for a vampire. Of course, it doesn't hurt that this man has a delicious-looking neck. What kind of cold-blooded vampire woman could resist a bite of that?

Dr. Gregory Hewitt recovers from the shock of waking up in a stranger's bedroom pretty quickly - once he sees a gorgeous woman about to treat him to a wild night of passion. But is it possible for the good doctor to find true love with a vampire vixen, or will he be just a good meal? That's a question Dr. Greg might be willing to sink his teeth into...if he can just get Lissianna to bite.

My Thoughts: When it comes to vampire fiction, especially romance, I’m such a fangirl who has been known to have several “squee” moments when finding a new release. Unfortunately, though this story was good, there were no moments of squee for me. I liked Lissianna and Greg quite a lot and thought that a vampire who faints at the sight of blood was intriguing, but it just didn’t carry the story into excellence. Instead, it tiptoed around campy and cheesy.

There were way too many characters being thrown into the mix for the reader to keep up with. I know it’s a tactic to advise the reader that there will be more (so many more) books to give each and every dang person in the book their own story. Normally, that wouldn’t bother me, but it felt like the story wasn’t as focused on Lissianna and Greg as much as it should. Don’t get me wrong. I liked the other characters, but there was too much a sense of watching the clowns at the circus instead of a psychologist trained in the curing of phobias trying to figure out how he was going to cure Lissianna.

I felt the romance and Greg’s decision whether to become one of the undead was rushed. Within a couple of days of meeting one another, they are talking about whether they are life mates and if Greg wants to become a vampire. Nope, I don’t buy it.

What did I like? I liked the story in general. A blood-phobic vampire and the psychologist who is brought in (kind of against his will) to treat and cure her. I liked that these are not your normal Hollywood run of the mill vampires. They aren’t evil. They don’t turn into bats. They are from the lost city of Atlantis and the vampirism is nothing more than a scientific result of nanos that requires the consumption of blood to stay alive…for a very long time. The story takes place in Toronto so there are no “I vant to bite your neck” Transylvanian accents running amok here either.

My Final Verdict: The story was good but I can’t enthusiastically recommend it or the series to fans of vampire romance as I’m not motivated to continue it.

REVIEW: The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Title: The Royal We (Royal We #1)
Author: Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: April 2015
Genre: Chick Lit / Contemporary Romance / New Adult
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: "I might be Cinderella today, but I dread who they'll think I am tomorrow. I guess it depends on what I do next."

American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it's Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain's future king. And when Bex can't resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.

Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother, Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, Nick's sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family whose private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he's fated to become.

Which is how she gets into trouble.

Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she's sacrificed for love-her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself-will have been for nothing.

My Thoughts: Enjoyable story of an American student studying at Oxford who falls for the heir to the British throne. I enjoyed the parallels this story has to Kate Middleton and Wills. Meeting at university, long-term relationship before the engagement and marriage brouhaha. Of course, Kate is not an American like Bex is, so I enjoyed that twist, but I found it a slight nod to the red-headed spare heir and his American bride. I found it interesting how much my mind noticed just how similar is this story to Kate and Wills as well as similarities of Freddie to Harry. I mean, really, even the cover gives the reader a nod to Kate and Wills before the story even begins. I am sure it’s all fiction, and good fiction at that.

I really liked Bex and Nick as a couple. They start out as friends who enjoy eating American junk food while binge watching episodes of Bex’s favorite television show sent across the pond by Bex’s sister, Lacey. Bex even begins dating one of Nick’s mates, if you can call a shag buddy dating. The blossoming of their relationship from friends to more is a treat to watch, not only because he’s the future King of England and how cool is that?! but also because their relationship is really sweet and I was rooting for these two from the beginning.

I also liked Freddie, the rascal that he is, but his friendship with Bex is special. Through her eyes, we see Freddie as the brother, the second, the flirt, and the one who appears will never measure up in the eyes of their father. The pain and hurt he carries at feeling rejected resonates keenly and you can’t help but feel a lot of empathy for him and understand the masks and personas he hides his true self behind, but Bex sees through him.

I also enjoyed getting a bird’s eye view into the workings of the royal family through Bex’s eyes. I learned they aren’t all that different from any other family. They have their good days and bad days, successes and disappointments, secrets and scandal. The only difference is that their lives are heavily documented all over the tabloids for our entertainment.

I also found the circus that Bex is put through to “train” her for her upcoming roles as Duchess of This That Or The Other as well as Baroness What’s Her Name and Countess So and So were interesting. Things that those of us who live in the commoner’s world would never worry about, such as exiting a car with grace and style, how to hold a flute of champagne or even how to cross one’s legs when sitting.

My Final Verdict: This story ends with some interesting twists so it came as no surprise that there’s a sequel which I will have to read as I’m nowhere ready to see the end of Bex and Nick and hopefully Freddie will get his happily ever after too.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of The Royal We from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.