Countdown to Zero Hour

author: Nico Rosso

I love foodie characters, so if an author has a chef or a bartender, I’ll automatically give the book another once over.

Hayley Baskov’s dreams of opening her own restaurant are temporarily on hold after her now ex-boyfriend and business partner bailed. So instead, she’s taken to serving her homemade Russian fare outside clubs in hopes of catering to the drunk crowd. Unfortunately for her, the deliciousness of her food has gotten the attention of mob boss and club owner, Rolan.

Artem Diaz is undercover, working as bodyguard/enforcer for Rolan until the rest of his team can take Rolan down. After Rolan invites Hayley to serve as the personal chef for a week-long getaway, Art not only has to keep Hayley out of trouble, but also make sure his undercover operation goes according to plan.

The descriptions of the food were amazing and I made the mistake of starting this book late at night. I have a strict “no eating after 10pm” rule and I’m pretty sure I could feel my stomach eating itself. I also loved Hayley’s passion for food. You could tell that she loved cooking and feeing people, which I get. There’s something special about watching someone take that first bite of a meal you cooked for them.

However, I felt as if I were missing something. The book had this strange feeling of dropping you into the middle of things, even though it technically didn’t. The relationship between Art and Hayley felt more reminiscent of one that had past history rather than two strangers. If I’d been reading a paper copy, I would have sworn the book was missing a few pages or that I’d inadvertently skipped a few important exchanges.

While Hayley and her prowess in the kitchen was a big plus for me, I could never seem to get my footing as a reader.

– Amanda

Romantic Suspense, Romance

Revisionary

author: Jim Hines

Revisionary is the conclusion to the wonderful Magic Ex Libris series. DO NOT START READING THE SERIES WITH THIS BOOK. Start with the first one, Libriomancer ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ).

For one thing, nothing in Revisionary will make sense if you haven’t read the rest of the series (and it’s only four medium length books, so not a huge commitment). For another thing Libriomancer is really great and I’d hate for you to miss it. I previously reviewed all the other books in the series, if you’d like to near more: Libriomancer, Codex Born, and Unbound.

It’s difficult to sum up the plot of Revisionary without spoiling the rest of the series, so I’m not going to sum up much. Basically, in this series, some people have the talent to extract objects from books. The item must physically fit through the book, so for instance, if you have a Star Wars novel, you can reach in and pull out a lightsaber but not the Millennium Falcon. Some items are locked, and therefore unusable. Sadly, The One Ring is off limits. The series involves the efforts of various competing groups who wish to control this magic, keep it secret, or expose it, and the consequences of their actions. 

Revisionary is a satisfying conclusion to a fun series that contained solid emotional content, an inclusive group of characters, romance, humor, action, and some serious imaginative chops. It’s always scary to start a new series, because you never know if everything might fall apart at the end. Luckily this is not the case with Revisionary. Revisionary fits well with the rest of the series and feels both nicely wrapped up and tantalizing full of more potential stories. Characters end up in places I never would have imagined at the start of the series, and yet their journeys feel believable and natural. I am so, so sad that this series is over, but pretty content with where it ended up.

NB: You can also learn more about the series, and its author, Jim C. Hines, in our podcast interview.

– Carrie S

Science Fiction/Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Tycoon

author: Joanna Shupe

This is the inaugural novella to Joanna Shupe’s new series, The Knickerbocker Club.  The series is set in late 1800s New York City, among the stinking rich industrialists who have a fuckton of money and power.

Ted Harper runs New York’s largest bank, and as he is waiting for his private train car to be ready in Grand Central Station , a woman runs up and does that thing of attaching herself to him and saying things like “OH MY FIANCE THANK GOODNESS I’VE FOUND YOU” that any other woman would recognize as “Please help me I’m trying to get rid of someone unpleasant and also dangerous” but Ted at first thinks that she’s crazy until he eventually recognizes it for the plea for help. They end up on a cross-country train journey together in his private coach, and go through the threads of a) who is she running from and b) is she a con artist and c) can we get to bone town?

It’s a novella, so the round of “I just met you, and this is crazy, but let’s have an adventure and get down maybe?” only sorta works. I liked these two crazy kids, and there’s a touch of crazysauce to spice things up, but there’s just not enough time to make me buy the relationship.

What this really does well is set up the world of this series and rags-to-riches industrialists and the Gilded Age in general. I went down a rabbit hole of “how do private rail cars work” and “Jesus fuck who has this money” and stuff like that (it’s a good thing when authors send me down a Google rabbit hole). I’m super excited about this new series and a new-to-me time period to learn about, and

I’m super excited about this new series and a new-to-me time period to learn about, and Magnate, the first full-length book, JUST arrived in my greedy little hands the day after I finished Tycoon.  HAPPY DAY TO ME.

 

– Redheadedgirl

Historical: American, Novella, Romance