I love worlds where dragons are real in any shape or form, and the dragons in this world sound pretty nice to look at when they're in their human shape. When Aoife finds out the handsome stranger in her life isn't just a trick of her imagination, but real life dragon shifter, she has two reactions. 1) Extremely pissed off that no one believed her and they locked her up in a hospital, and 2) holy crap!!

Aoife was a very sarcastic woman with a lot of witty (but crazy) lines throughout the book. While I am all for a quirky character, sometimes she got just a tad annoying. Kostya, our dragon, is such an opposite to Aoife it made both their characteristics really stand out. Kostya was stubborn, grumpy, and determined to never talk about his previous mate or anything to do with mating every again. 

Pair that with a very strange curse that makes Kostya's dragon clan attack each other on sight, and you are set with quite an adventure. Throw in some fancy magic, a demon, and a handful of demon lords, and there is sooo much going on. But Katie MacAlister handled the craziness well. I never got lost or confused in the action, and the side characters all added their own important element to the story.

This was a great start to the series, with a really fun couple, a super romantic HEA, but several strings in the overall scheme of things that still need to be tied.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

Now That You Mention It was a bit different than what I expected. When I first meet Nora, she seems a little insubstantial. Like there was really nothing to her personality. She's a successful doctor, dating another successful doctor - until she gets hit by a car - and then dumped while she believes she's actually a ghost. The scene was devestating for her, but Kristan Higgans gave it just a bit of a lighthearted feel somehow.

The bulk of the story takes place when Nora returns to her roots - Scupper Island. Everything and nothing has changed, and Nora still feels like she doesn't belong. Throw into the mix her mother, who still can't seem to show any affection, and her niece, a moody and withdrawn teenager whose mother is in jail, and Nora puts on a brave face and starts to pretend that everything will just be OK.

But, of course, it isn't. There are old high school rivals, bullies, and mean girls to contend with. And a few are still holding a very serious grudge. But Nora tries not to let that get to her. She's determined to make the most of what she has - even if it doesn't seem like much at times. I loved how determined Nora was, while still showing a vulnerable side, and I really loved how much she loved her family and was willing to do just about anything to reconnect with them.

In the long run, Nora grows into someone far more complex and likable that she was at the beginning. There a a few fantastic twists and turns with the people around her, and I was really surprised be a couple of them. I highly recommend this book. It was an enjoyable, relaxing listen with just enough excitement laced throughout.

I really loved this book. It was a mix of sci-fi, psychological thriller, suspense, and police procedural mystery. The different aspects wound around each other very nicely, with none really outshining the others overall.

It did take a few pages longer to completely get into the story though. There are lots of characters from the get-go, and the technology of the masques and their various add-ons was something you started to understand as you went through the story instead of right away. 

I found the whole concept of the masques fascinating. Changing who you were on a whim and a few credits (if you had them). Masques were a way to set apart the rich from the poor, the Legacies from the Unders. The ultimate status symbol - and a key piece of evidence in the murder of a high-profile tech company owner.

The investigation leads you into a mix of stories including a divorced police detective, twin masque designers, and Legacies that feel they are above the very law itself. There's even a side story that's a touch of romance with a paranormal-ish element. I'd really like to see more of where that one went.

The mystery remained unsolved until that one key piece of evidence was finally found - and I really liked it that way. I was guessing right along with the detective, and I followed every single one of his thoughts and swore he'd figured it out - until things changed. A great story that I think many will fall in love with.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

I am really enjoying the Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries. Verity Long has a way of finding trouble, and her small southern town has its fair share of drama and mystery. In this case, one that goes back several generations. It's a good thing she has her new best-ghost-friend, Frankie, to help her out. This one gets a bit dangerous.

When Verity finds a body in the library, she begins her trip to a convoluted past full of lies. Someone killed the woman because she found out a family secret, but which family and what is the secret? But wait!! What if it isn't just one secret? Verity has to pull the strings to unravel one heck of a historical coverup - and she couldn't have done it without Frankie.

To complicate things a bit more, there's a station filming a documentary about the town's most famous battle. Verity's almost mother-in-law is heading the charge to make the town famous and won't let anything stand in her way.

I loved visiting some past ghosts from book one, meeting a few really nice new ones, and watching Frankie's antics as he tries to unground himself from Verity's house. Lots of great banter, some dangerous situations, and a mystery solved in a very clever way. Highly recommend this series.

Nocturnal is quite a rollercoaster ride of paranormal suspense mixed with a good dose of horror. It starts out like a gritty cop drama, with Bryan and his partner, Pookie, showing up at the scene of a gruesome murder. But even though they are the best in the city, they don't get assigned to the case. In fact, they're told to stay away from it.

So, of course, they don't. They follow along, getting themselves deeper and deeper into a world they never even imagined existed. Monsters, a hooded hunter, a rising King all wait along the way. 

This book isn't for the squeamish - there were a few times my stomach turned at the scenes and descriptions - so be warned. But it's well worth it, and I just had to know what was going to happen next. 

My only complaint about the audio was that Pookie (one of the detectives) sounded exactly like Mike Wazowski - the little green guy from Monsters Inc - so that is what I pictured every time.

This second-chance romance hit all the feels for me. Rafael and his best friend fell in love with the same woman when they were just kids. Now, his best friend is dead, and Isobel is a widow. But she's still off-limits. Rafael swore to look after her and make sure she was OK, and he has other, more personal reasons to keep his distance.

Isobel still has dreams of having a family. She refuses to accept that those dreams disappeared when her husband died. So she sets her sight on Rafael as her baby daddy - not husband. Their two worlds collide when Rafael decides to take her up on her offer - with conditions. They have to "date" first to make sure it's what she really wants.

Watching these two get to know each other all over again was quite entertaining. Rafael is quite wealthy and Isobel sees him as a playboy. But there's a lot more to him than that, and he's going to show her. But he still knows that it's all for nothing - he will never be able to give her what she really wants.

There were so many small moments and touching acts between these two. They fall in love slowly and deeply. They have to come to terms with a lot of issues from their pasts, and at times it almost drives them apart. Nina Croft didn't disappoint with her characters and their story in this one.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

What if we weren't as unique as we thought we were? What if we were just one form of evolution from DNA placed by aliens around the universe? What if we found a way to find others that were like us - but different?

The Damocles sets off on this very mission, following coded coordinates to a planet far away (like so far I can't really comprehend). When they come out of deep sleep as they approach the planet Didet, they are about to come face to face with Earther's ancient cousins (of a sort). As they prepare to drones to scan the planet before they make contact, their ship has a hissy fit (yes, a hissy fit, the crew talks about the propulsion crystal as if it were a person). They are forced to make contact before they are prepared, and they are trusting Meg, their language specialist, to get them through first contact.

I loved first contact. It was stressful and suspenseful, and Loul (the Dideto) and his POV were fantastic. I loved the hurdles of them trying to learn complex concepts such as trust, family, and question mark. I was excited every time they had a breakthrough and the awe and wonder on both sides. Meg does an amazing job of learning to communicate, and her love of discovery shows in each of her pages.

Now, this might sound like a bit of a dull story, but it was far from that. We have the Dideto government trying to make moves, the media trying to find a new scoop, and the workers just trying to figure anything out. Several times things start to fall apart and the struggle to keep things on track (and not give anyone a reason to shoot at anyone else) is clear in so many of the interactions.

And the ending - well, it was pretty intense for a while. But the actual ending - the last few pages (minutes?) were a bit of a letdown. I wanted to see how it all turned out. I wanted to know just a little bit more about how everyone's story ends. Still, a story that I will be listening to again.

The narrator did a fantastic job. Her portrayals of both the Earthers and the Dideto were fantastic. She caught the emotion and did a great job of distinguishing voices and personalities.

The end of the third book in the Charlie Davidson series was emotionally draining and somewhat traumatic. Betrayal all around, and I wondered how Charlie was going to come out of this one. 

Well, she doesn't exactly. Which was a stroke of brilliance by author Darynda Jones to make her seem more human and real. She is no longer the Grim Reaper and PI Extrodiarre, she is also Charlie - the woman who was hurt, betrayed, and tortured - trying to come to terms with what she's going to do next and looking for comfort in her credit card and home shopping channels.

It takes a new case to start to bring her back to herself. And this case was pretty interesting. I loved the look at the psychology behind our memories and what trauma can do to them. There were some pretty nice twists in it as well, and while I sort of had things figured out, there was one really big surprise that I didn't see coming at all. I understand that Charlie's cases need to be action-packed and exciting, but I'd like to see her come of out one without a near-death experience.

Reyes is back and not in Charlie's good graces. But he has a few things up his sleeve still to try and make things right with her. I'm incredibly curious to see where their storyline goes as we find out more and more about Charlie's unknown abilities and Reyes' background and motives.

I think the narrator for this audiobook is one of my favorites. She tells the story so well and is very easy to listen to.