A- #BookReview: Trouble’s Turn to Lose by Susan M. Boyer My Review: P.I. Hadley Cooper and her significant other, SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) Agent Cash Reynolds, promised each other NOT to get involved in each other’s cases. (Even though that’s EXACTLY how they met in the first place in Big Trouble on Sullivan’s Island) Which REALLY meant that Hadley promised not to take clients involved in Cash’s cases, as he has much less choice in what he gets assigned than she has in what cases she chooses to take.

A- #BookReview: Trouble's Turn to Lose by Susan M. Boyer #booksky #susanmboyer #WomensFiction #RelationshipFiction #CozyMystery #CarolinaTales #SouthernFiction

Grade A #BookReview: Fierce Poison by Will Thomas My Review: A man drops dead at Cyrus Barker’s feet. That’s happened before, even occasionally because Barker has caused the death. But he’s never had it happen in his office before. Mostly because his reputation proceeds him into every room and back alley of London, and no villain who is good enough to get that close is stupid enough to try it in Barker’s own stronghold.

Grade A #BookReview: Fierce Poison by Will Thomas #WillThomasAuthor #MinotaurBooks #booksky ‪@minotaurbooks.bsky.social‬ @stmartinspress.bsky.social
#HistoricalMystery #HistoricalFiction #BarkerAndLlewelyn

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 4-19-26 This week - and last week - both felt like Hecate looks in today's picture. Like my eyes are crossed trying to cope with the thing heading towards me. On her, the incoming nose boop just looks adorable. For me, it meant that last week ended in a 'flail and bail' and I re-worked this week's schedule more times than I care to count.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 4-19-26 #SundayPost #NightstandBooks #TBR #TBRshelf #nightstand #booksky

Stacking the Shelves (701) You know what? This bunch of covers isn't really pretty at all. That's kind of weird, actually. They're just not. Some are pretty interesting, but not really pretty. Very weird. Also a lot of red. A lot of literally bloody red. OTOH, there are three in this stack I definitely picked up for their titles. Specifically The Dragon Has Some Complaints…

Stacking the Shelves (701) #STS #StackingTheShelves #TBRshelf #TBR #newbooks #booksky

A- #AudioBookReview: Time Will Tell by Hannah Bonam-Young My Review: Too much of a good thing is not always wonderful. Especially when the good thing is all about a bad thing. I’ll explain later. Nevertheless, that’s how I found myself searching for something a whole lot lighter and fluffier than the book I had planned to close out this week. Which, come to think of it, is how I ended up reviewing…

A- #AudioBookReview: Time Will Tell by Hannah Bonam-Young #booksky #bookreview #hannahbonamyoung #amazonoriginalstories #improbablemeetcutesecondchance #booksky #romcom #contemporaryromance #bookreview

Rain Drops on Roses Giveaway Hop Welcome to the Rain Drops on Roses Giveaway Hop, hosted by Mama the Fox and Mom Does Reviews! This hop gives me an earworm every single year. Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittensBright copper kettles and warm woolen mittensBrown paper packages tied up with stringsThese are a few of my favorite things… Of course, the words are from…

Rain Drops on Roses #Giveaway Hop #bloghop #GiveawayHop #GCgiveaway #giftcardgiveaway #bookgiveaway #AprilHop #SpringHop #booksky

#AudioBookReview: Lightning Runes by Harry Turtledove My Review: I picked this up because I fell hard for the first book in the series, Twice as Dead and was hoping for more of the same. That first book managed to combine the hard-boiled, noir-ish sensibilities of down-on-their-luck detectives like Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe and Easy Rawlins with the paranormal world of Dan Shambles into an urban fantasy that mixed the best of the ‘old skool’ of that genre with a bit of paranormal romance and the kind of thoroughgoing alternate world building that the author is famous for.

#AudioBookReview: Lightning Runes by Harry Turtledove #booksky @hntdove.bsky.social #CaezikSFandFantasy #urbanfantasy #althistory #cityofshadows #paranormal @tantoraudio.bsky.social

A+ #BookReview: Stay for a Spell by Amy Coombe My Review: There’s a saying that every cloud has a silver lining. As this story begins, Princess Tanadelle has just been cursed - which really should have been the cloud. But not for Tandy. Being cursed to be confined to a bookshop in the tiny town of Little Pepperidge wouldn’t exactly be a curse for any lifelong reader - and Tandy certainly is that.

A+ #BookReview: Stay for a Spell by Amy Coombe #booksky #amy_coombe_author #acebooks #fantasy #cozyfantasy #romantasy #fantasyromance

A- #BookReview: Death Meets Cute by J. Penner My Review: What’s a witch to do when a blessing has curdled into a curse? Not that the Weyward Sisters generally have much to do with blessings because they have a well-earned reputation for evil to maintain. After all, they’re the ones responsible for the recent mess with that Scottish King who came to such a terrible end. Then again, he did kind of ask for it.

A- #BookReview: Death Meets Cute by J. Penner #booksky @jpennerauthor.bsky.social @sourcebooks.bsky.social #PoisonedPenPress #fantasy #cozyfantasy #fantasyromance #romantasy #grumpysunshineromance

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 4-12-26 This year's Blogo-Birthday Celebration is definitely in the wind-down phase. The book giveaways ended yesterday, while the big Gift Card giveaway ends this coming Friday. So there's still a chance there! Speaking of chances, today's cat picture is of the trio, Luna, Tuna and George, all hoping for a glimpse of the little bird that keeps trolling them. The kickplate on our front door is brass, so it's a reflective surface.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 4-12-26 #SundayPost #NightstandBooks #TBR #TBRshelf #nightstand #booksky

Stacking the Shelves (700) This one is big even for one of my stacks, but it's because there's a pile in the middle of the pile. I decided to read the Perveen Mistry historical mystery series, which means I needed to get them all first - because I'm a terrible completist - and the local library was happy to oblige. Certainly the 700th Stacking the Shelves…

Stacking the Shelves (700) #STS #StackingTheShelves #TBRshelf #TBR #newbooks #booksky

Grade A #BookReview: Double Shadow by Andrew Ludington My Review: Archaeologists dig up formerly hidden caches of important artifacts all the time. As often as Egypt’s Valley of the Kings has been explored and looted over the millennia, the last undiscovered royal tomb of the 18th Egyptian dynasty (the dynasty that included Tutankhamun), wasn’t discovered until February, 2025. It’s not that historians and archaeologists didn’t know that Thutmose II existed, or that he must have a tomb someplace, they just couldn’t locate it.

Grade A #BookReview: Double Shadow by Andrew Ludington #booksky #andrewludingtonauthor #minotaurbooks #timetravel #sciencefiction #historicalfiction #mystery #thriller

A- #AudioBookReview: Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar My Review: I picked this up because I’ve had mixed reactions to the author’s previous works, This Is How You Lose the Time War, co-authored with Max Gladstone, and her solo novella, The River Has Roots. Most readers LOVED Time War, but I have to confess that I did not. Howsomever, I fell hard for River, to the point that I was talking back to the marvelous audio version because I felt for the characters, wanted better for them SO MUCH, and saw the tragedy coming miles away.

A- #AudioBookReview: Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar #booksky @amalelmohtar.com @torbooks.bsky.social @macmillanaudio.bsky.social #fantasy #shortstories #sciencefiction #bookreview #rachelelizabethsmithnarrator

#BookReview: No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah My Review: I don’t normally start by talking about what other reviewers have said, but it’s brilliant and possibly the best short summary I’m going to find OR come up with myself. Because the reviewer who said that this “definitely seems to be a Marmite book” was spot on. For those readers on my side of the pond who didn’t spend a childhood watching…

#BookReview: No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah #booksky #sourcebookslandmark #mystery #bookrant

#BookReview: The Museum of Unusual Occurrence by Erica Wright My Review: This looks like it should be a Gothic romance. Or a paranormal mystery. Or something in the middle, even if I’m not entirely sure what that middle would look like. Let’s just say that the cover has a certain vibe. It begins as a mystery that might, or might not, be a Gothic mystery - even if the setting is utterly right - or ripe - for that.

#BookReview: The Museum of Unusual Occurrence by Erica Wright #booksky #ericawrightauthor @severnhouse.bsky.social #cozymystery #gothicmystery #psychiccitymystery

A+ #BookReview: When the Wolves Are Silent by C.S. Harris My Review: In the fall of 1816, when this 21st book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series opens, Regent’s Park was new - and mostly vacant - and Primrose Hill was outside even the outskirts of London. Also outside the bounds in other ways, as recently revived interest in Druidic myths and legends - and the scams that inevitably grew up around them - seemed to center in the area.

A+ #BookReview: When the Wolves Are Silent by C.S. Harris #booksky #csharrisauthor @berkleypub.bsky.social #SebastianStCyr #historicalfiction #historicalfiction #regencymystery

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand BIRTHDAY EDITION 4-5-26 + #Giveaway Sadly, today marks the end of this year's Blogo-Birthday Celebration. Weirdly, today is Easter Sunday, it's the middle of Passover (which began on April 1st) AND it's my birthday. So if you celebrate either Passover or Easter, I hope this is a good holiday for you! If you're here for my birthday, or just for the Sunday Post, thanks for stopping by to celebrate with me!

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand #blogoversary #BIRTHDAY EDITION 4-5-26 + #Giveaway #SundayPost #NightstandBooks #TBR #TBRshelf #nightstand #booksky

Stacking the Shelves (699) BLOGO-BIRTHDAY EDITION + #Giveaway This is the 699th Stacking the Shelves post here at Reading Reality, and tomorrow is my 69th birthday. Who says there are no such thing as coincidences? Today is the penultimate, meaning next-to-the-last, day of Reading Reality's 15th Blogo-Birthday Celebration Week. Today is also Reading Reality's official blogoversary, as the first post on what was then "Escape Reality, Read Fiction", was posted on April 4, 2011…

Stacking the Shelves (699) BLOGO-BIRTHDAY EDITION #STS #StackingTheShelves #TBRshelf #TBR #newbooks #booksky #blogobirthday #blogoversary #giveaway

A+ #BookReview: The Politician by Tim Sullivan + #Giveaway My Review: Just as yesterday’s book was the fourth book in ITS series, The Politician is the fourth book in Tim Sullivan’s DS Cross series - and it’s ALSO every bit as good as the three that came before it, The Dentist, The Cyclist and The Patient. As all the books in this series - so far - are titled after the vocation or avocation of the victim, we’re not actually surprised that a politician is the victim of murder.

A+ #BookReview: The Politician by Tim Sullivan + #Giveaway #booksky @timsullivanauthor.bsky.social @atlanticcrime.bsky.social #bookgiveaway @groveatlantic.bsky.social #DSGeorgeCross #mystery #thriller

A+ #BookReview: Legacy of the Dead by Charles Todd + #Giveaway My Review: In the immediate aftermath of World War I and the Spanish Flu epidemic, it seems as if everyone left in Britain carries one or more legacies from the dead they left behind - or are responsible for. Or, in Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge’s case, both. It’s a strange case indeed that brings Rutledge across the border into the Scottish lowlands.

A+ #BookReview: Legacy of the Dead by Charles Todd + #Giveaway #booksky @charlestodauthor.bsky.social #bantambooks #InspectorIanRutledge #mystery #historicalmystery #bookgiveaway

Honey Bunny Giveaway Hop Welcome to the Honey Bunny Giveaway Hop, hosted by Mama the Fox and Mom Does Reviews! Today is also April Fools' Day, but there's nothing fooling about this hop! However, the 'timely' proximity of April Fools' Day and Easter DOES give me the annual opportunity to use this hop to talk about Easter Candy. Because chocolate is ALWAYS an excellent thing to talk about no matter the season!

Honey Bunny #Giveaway Hop #bloghop #GiveawayHop #GCgiveaway #giftcardgiveaway #bookgiveaway #AprilHop #EasterHop #SpringHop #booksky

Grade A #BookReview: In the Devil’s Nebula by Anna Hackett + #Giveaway My Review: This is the second book in Anna Hackett’s re-release of her Phoenix Adventures series, and I was reminded yet again of how much I loved this series back when it came out ten or so years ago. I’m also pleased beyond imagining that the stories - at least so far and we’ll certainly see - are still just as good a decade later.

Grade A #BookReview: In the Devil's Nebula by Anna Hackett + #Giveaway #booksky #blogobirthday #blogoversary #AnnaHackettAuthor #PhoenixAdventures #sciencefictionromance #SFR #SFRom #scifiromance

Fifteenth Annual Blogo-Birthday Celebration Week and GIVEAWAY! Today marks the start of Reading Reality's FIFTEENTH Blogo-Birthday Celebration Week. When I looked ahead this time last year, I realized that this year's celebration would be weird as both Reading Reality's official blogoversary, April 4, and my own birthday, April 5, both fell on a weekend. This time last year, I thought I'd be conducting the Celebration Week BEFORE the official dates.

Fifteenth Annual Blogo-Birthday Celebration Week and #GIVEAWAY #booksky #Blogoversary #BlogoBirthday #GCgiveaway #GiftCardGiveaway

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 3-29-26 This is the first "normal" weekend we've had in a while. The floors are finished, the handymen have come and gone after fixing several years of minor stuff that accumulated into a fairly big list, and the cats are finally settling down into some slightly different behavior patterns. (The night that the cats decided to test the new acoustics AT 2AM will live in infamy).

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 3-29-26 #SundayPost #NightstandBooks #TBR #TBRshelf #nightstand #booksky

Stacking the Shelves (698) If pretty is as pretty does, most of these covers don't. There's not a lot of pretty here, but I think that's a sign that there's a lot of mystery/suspense in this stack. Although Wisdom Corner looks like the exception to that rule, as it is an adrenaline-fueled story and it does have a beautiful cover. At least as long as the drippy bits are paint and not blood.

Stacking the Shelves (698) #STS #StackingTheShelves #TBRshelf #TBR #newbooks #booksky

#BookReview: Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel by Elizabeth Everett My Review: The premise of this was just a teensy bit familiar, which is what made me pick it up. If you’ve read Ilona Andrews’ Innkeeper Chronicles, well, let’s just say that the Wayside Hotel and Gertrude Hunt, Innkeeper Dina DeMille’s Texas B&B, have more than a bit in common. The Wayside Hotel finds itself very much by the wayside as this story opens.

#BookReview: Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel by Elizabeth Everett #booksky #acebooks @acebookspub.bsky.social #cozyfantasy #romantasy

A- #BookReview: Hunter Squad: Marc by Anna Hackett My Review: This third book in the Hunter Squad series, after Jameson and North, takes a classic case of jeopardy and mixes it with an equally classic romance trope. Then it stirs the pot - and plot - by adding what appears to be the full reveal of the series’ overall big bad to create a pulse-pounding sci-fi adventure romance with a whole lot of heart at its, well, heart.

A- #BookReview: Hunter Squad: Marc by Anna Hackett #booksky #Anna_Hackett_Author #HunterSquad #HellSquad #ScienceFictionRomance #SciFiRomance #SFR #SFRom

#BookReview: Trace Elements by Jo Walton and Ada Palmer My Review: I picked this up because I loved two of Jo Walton’s previous books that looked into both the business of and the writing of science fiction and fantasy, What Makes This Book So Great and An Informal History of the Hugos, and was hoping for more of the same - except with different books. What I got wasn’t like either of those first two, but it IS in dialogue with both of them, as well as the business of writing genre fiction in general AND an actual dialog between Walton and her co-author Ada Palmer.

#BookReview: Trace Elements by Jo Walton and Ada Palmer #booksky @bluejo.bsky.social #torbooks @adapalmer.bsky.social @torbooks.bsky.social #booksaboutbooks #sciencefiction #fantasy #literarycriticism

A- #AudioBookReview: Tiny House, Big Love by Olivia Dade My Review: This is the follow-up to last week’s Desire and the Deep Blue Sea. I’ll admit that that first book didn’t work all that well for me, so I was hesitant about this second one. OTOH, I generally like this author’s work so I set aside my misgivings and dove right in. While both stories are set in stories wrapped around a fledgling cable TV network and their stable of reality shows - hence that…

A- #AudioBookReview: Tiny House, Big Love by Olivia Dade #booksky #bookreview @oliviawrites.bsky.social #joynashnarrator @dreamscape-media.bsky.social #loveunscripted #contemporaryromance #romcom

A- #BookReview: The Legend of the Nine-Tailed Fox by Katrina Kwan My Review: Yue is a demon. Not the horned and cloven-hoofed demon of Western mythology, but rather the nine-tailed fox of Asian legend, known as a kitsune in Japan, a kumiho (or gumiho) in Korea and, in this particular story, the Chinese húli jīng. Perhaps mixed with just a bit of the kumiho - or at least their signature nine tails.

A- #BookReview: The Legend of the Nine-Tailed Fox by Katrina Kwan #booksky #katrinakwan @sagapressbooks.bsky.social #fantasy #romantasy #mythicretelling #asianinspiredfantasy