Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald

This is the second Fantastic Beasts film.

      This installment goes as well at the first. It immerses you once again in a darker world with magic, but has beautiful creatures in it. It also has some surprising revelations, and twists that make the story even more engrossing, and by the end, their are some big character changes, and for once, I can't wait for the next installment of this film.
     I want to follow Newt and the others in his life to the end of this journey.

Fury Rising by Yasmine Galenorn

I am reading Galernorn's  Sisters of the Moon, or The Otherworld Series, and when I found out about this series, I decided to check it out.

     Galenorn once again creates a world of magic and the mundane beautifully blend into a new world where not only the Fae roam, werewolves and other shifters exist, but Gods and Goddesses from many myths are alive and well.

     And like her Otherworld, the world Kay inhabited came about with its own magical bang. Of course, every good series needs a heroine or hero, and of course a villain of some sort.

     Kay is a Theosian, specifically a Fury. So her life is complicated. She serves the Goddess Hecate, but has a semblance of a normal life, side jobs to keep the rent paid and food on the table.

     As the story progresses, the rollercoaster rides begins, between Kay's past, the world changing threat that looms over them all, and its all balanced with the characters lives as they intersect and life itself throws its own curve balls, good and bad, as the ride continues and by the end, you realize you want to follow these characters and see where life takes them.

     I book that's worth the time to read and a promise of a good series.

Antman and the Wasp

Not sure why it took me so long to add this review. It has been rolling around in my head off and on for a while.

     Antman wasn't bad, but this film was surprisingly good. The story was much more fluid and easier to get lost in. The new characters were interesting, and the old were better scripted this time around. The humor was much better timed and fluent with the flow of the story, it was natural feeling, not pushed in the story.
     The story was an interesting past and present mesh that ended up fitting perfectly with the previous film. I do admit I liked this film, and if you saw the first, this isn't a bad sequel at all, but not worth getting for a movie collection in my opinion.

Excavation by James Rollins

I got introduced to James Rollins through his Sigma series. Excavation his one of his standalone novels. And that all started because I read a Clive Cussler novel and got an author suggestion.

     James Rollins has done it again. A perfect blend of historical fiction, plenty of action, characters you want to follow, and the right amount of twists and turns.

     And it all starts with a mummy and by the end a twist I never expected. Worth the time to read and is another page turner. Just in case your curious about the Sigma series, Sandstorm is the first in the Sigma series.

The Turn by Kim Harrison

This is the prequel to The Hollows or Rachel Morgan series. The series was completed before this book was written. The first in the series is Dead Witch Walking.

     It is rare for me to find a book that I get excited for. When I found out The Turn was out, I had to read this.

     Since the prequel takes place decades before The Hollow series, you don’t have to read it first, to enjoy The Hollows. Though the way this story connects to some of The Hollows characters, it doesn’t hurt to read it first, if you haven’t started the series.

     When I first read the summary to Dead Witch Walking, I wasn’t sure about checking out the book. Kim Harrison was an author suggestion since I read Jim Butcher, and after deciding to overlook the whole tomato virus, The Hollows series was good.

     What I like about this prequel, is it makes the absurd sounding tomato plague make perfect sense. The right blend of interesting characters, some old and some new if you know The Hollows series. I really enjoyed this prequel, even though, I will not spoil anything, but it does have a scene that made me emotional. I won’t say happy or sad.

     I story is truly good and well written when I truly get invested in it. When I laugh, cry, hold my breath in anticipation of what could happen next to the character or characters. That line or detail that makes those characters come alive, and those details that make you say, hey, I do that, or that’s like me.

     Kim Harrison creates a world that is believable, and once again, she doesn’t disappoint at all. She engineers one whopper of a roller coaster ride. The right amount of twists and turns, perfectly balanced out. It’s worth the invested time to read it.

Night Shift Anthology edited by Nalina Singh

This anthology contains four stories and I read it because it has an Ilona Andrews story in it form the Kate Daniels series.

     The first story is by Nalina Singh. It's Secrets at Midnight.

A young woman discovers that she may be more than just human...

     The second story is Magic Steals by Ilona Andrews.

An interrupted date night , turns into an ancient call of duty for Dali, and with the help of her boyfriend, Jim, they discover that a missing person case, is just the tip of the iceberg, of something much more sinister.

     The third story is Lucky Charms by Lisa Shearin.

A first day, umm, night on the job, starts out cleaning up another teams mess and by the time dawn breaks, a "simple" snatch and return mission reveals so much more.

     The fourth story is by Milla Vane. It's The Beast of Blackmoor.

A young woman is sent on a quest to tame a beast of a man...

     Overall these stories were pretty good. I'm not sure but Secrets of Midnight felt like it was from a series of some sort. I was able to get into it, though and it was a decent enough romance.
     I love Kate Daniels world and the characters in it. I also love getting to see some of the character stories that can't be covered in a normal novel. It didn't disappoint.
     The third should have been titled The Trouble with Leprechauns, not Lucky Charms. This is actually a prequel to a series by Shearin. It definitely felt like that and I verified it on her site. This story gives the reader a nice glance into this world of magic and humans, and the characters are definitely interesting and a bit fun. I'm going to eventually check Shearin's series out.
     The final story, The Beast of Blackmoor, appears to  be the beginning of a series. One I have no real desire to pursue because even though this was a decent tale, I had trouble delving into this world.
I read a lot of fantasy, so swords and magic are fine with me. That wasn't the issue. I did think it had a tad bit more explicit sex in it, than was "needed". I can overlook that. But if you are going to create a mythos for your world, and from what I can tell, the gods and goddesses are made up, you need to add information for me to understand statements made from the characters that refer to the mythology. Think of it like this, to do addition, I need to know my basic numbers first... To get lost in a world, I need to understand about Vela, and the other gods and goddesses that exist in that world. Otherwise, when a god or goddess is mentioned, I'm a bit confused and pulled out of the story, because I don't know why that god or goddess is mentioned. I can infer to an extent, but I shouldn't have to.
     Sorry, if that was a bit long. But overall the anthology is a real good read and worth checking out.

Soul Jacker by Yasmine Galenorn

This is the first in the Lily Bound series (currently this series is on hold because the author does not have her writes to the series after leaving Indy publishing, but hopes to continue it in the future).

      I’m not sure I would have read this book, because it may never be serialized, but I got it as a gift and found out later about the series on hiatus. I had it, so I figured why not.

     I really hope things work out because I really enjoyed this book. The characters are well developed, and the story runs smoothly, and never has a dull a moment, and surprisingly a lot less sexual romps than I expected, considering it’s about a succubus.

     Soul Jacker introduces the reader to Lily, who is a Succubus and uses her “Private Salon” to sate her need for chi, or energy. Her life has been quiet for a while until a client is found dead in her salon.

     If that wasn’t enough, she discovers that the murderer has ties to not only her but several of her friends and acquaintances are in danger because they all had once gotten a tattoo from The Soul Jacker.

     Then enters P.I. Archer, and Lily’s life as she knows it begins to unravel, and not all in bad ways…

I’m still glad, continued or not, to have read this book. I really enjoyed and think it’s worth reading.