Taylor Fenner's Blog, page 4

First Line Friday: 21 February 2025

This week I’m joining First Line Friday. First Line Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Carrie @ Reading is My Superpower! So grab the book nearest you, your current read, or the book on top of your TBR stack and share the first line.

My pick this week is…

Unravel Me by Jenn PlummerBlurb:

Sawyer
I was ruined for anyone else from the moment Ivy walked into my life. Six years of loving each other and then she was gone, taking my heart with her. It’s been ten years since she left and no amount of time apart could change the way I feel about her. The control she still has over me is a constant reminder of the hollow space she left in my chest when she ran away.

Now she’s back, her life in tatters and hiding from her possessive ex-boyfriend. She’s hurting, and I’ll do anything to take the pain away. Even if that means I have to let her go again.

I want Ivy back in my life, but I don’t know if she feels the same. Regardless, I will do anything to prove we belong together.

But I can’t help but wonder, will she run again?

Ivy
I’ve been surviving in a life that I was manipulated into living. A life I never wanted for myself.
Now I’m unemployed, homeless, and lost.

As everything crumbles around me, I’m forced to run back to the last place I truly felt safe.
Aspen Ridge.

For ten years, I never looked back. Until now.

I planned to stay under the radar, but everything falls apart when the only man I’ve ever loved finds me, reminding me how it feels to be loved, wanted, and protected.

For the first time in a decade, hope for my future fills me.
But I can’t help but wonder, can I really just stay and pick up where we left off?

**Unravel Me is book one in the interconnected Aspen Ridge Series and can be read as a standalone. HEA guaranteed!**

And the first line is…

That stupid motherfucker.

Well someone’s mad… lol. And justifiably so! But you’ll have to read on to see why.

ARC Review: Cold as Hell by Kelley Armstrong

Cold as Hell (Haven’s Rock Book 3) by Kelley Armstrong

Thriller, Haven’s Rock #3

eBook, Hardcover, Audiobook, 352 pages

February 18, 2025 by Minotaur Books

Blurb:

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong returns to Haven’s Rock in Cold as Hellas Casey Butler hunts down a dangerous killer during a deadly blizzard.

Haven’s Rock is a sanctuary town hidden deep in the Yukon for those who need to disappear from the regular world. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are starting a family now that they’ve settled into their life here. As Casey nears the end of her pregnancy, she lets nothing, including her worried husband, stop her from investigating what happens in the forbidden forest outside the town of Haven’s Rock.

When one of the town’s residents is drugged and wanders too close to the edge of town, she’s dragged into the woods kicking and screaming. She’s saved in the nick of time, but the women of the town are alarmed. Casey and Eric investigate the assault just as a snowstorm hits Haven’s Rock, covering the forest. It’s there they find a frozen body, naked in the snow. With mixed accounts of the woman’s last movements, the two begin to question who they can trust—and who they can’t—in their seemingly safe haven.

My Review:

I came into this book blind. I like this author and have read and enjoyed other books by her. That being said I’m unfamiliar with this series or the one it was a spin off of but was offered an eARC from the publisher due to reviewing some of her previous books. From what I gathered Haven’s Rock is a refuge for people who have committed crimes deep in the Yukon wilderness. The main character states early in the book they have 70 residents and the character who is attacked in the prologue talks about a shared residence that only has 3 bathrooms (for I’m not sure how many people) but 2 are plugged because the residents are used to shoving whatever they want down the toilets. 

The character in the prologue is attacked and our main character who is heavily pregnant is called upon to investigate which leads to the discovery of a body in the woods. 

Looking back at the first book the body in the woods thing seems to be a common theme. The main character and her husband vaguely reminded me of characters from another series I’ve read by this author which made me instantly like them however I found that going into this book blind made it extremely hard to get into the story as I was playing catch up to figure out what this town was and what was going on. 

I would recommend it to fans of the first two books as it was an interesting read. I do not recommend jumping in here at book three like I did as you’ll be playing catch up quite a bit. 

My Rating:

3 of 5 Knives!

The Sunday Post: Valloween, Taking Back the Weekend, and Blazing Through Books

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Valloween, Taking Back the Weekend, and Blazing Through Books

Hey Book Blogger Friends! How was your week?

I don’t do Valentine’s Day. I hate it. Ever since middle school when my school had the bright idea to sell flowers and candy you could send to a special someone like the candy cane thing in Mean Girls (and my school did that too) and I was forced back to homeroom at the end of each day to watch the popular girls get stacks and stacks and not once did anyone, not even a friend send me anything… well you get my point. Instead I celebrate “Valloween…” what I like to think of as second Halloween. I decorated a Ghostface mask with pink glitter, watched My Bloody Valentine, and avoided all the cheery people on social media.

I’ve decided to take back my weekends even when I work most of them and go back to basics. I spend most of my time running from one task to another even on my days off that I never get to just.. stop and sip the coffee. So I’m trying to do that more on my weekends. My grandmother and I always used to watch cooking shows on weekend mornings every week and I miss that as much as I miss her.

This week’s snowpocalypse has allowed me to catch up on reading. I read the Web of Silence duet by Leigh Rivers and loved it. I’m definitely in a dark romance mood this week. I’m also making good progress in Onyx Storm and hoping to finish it by tonight.

Last Week on the Blog:

ARC Review: You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego

Title Reveal: Book 3 in the Echo Trails Series by Hannah Marae

This Week on the Blog:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 17 February 2025

ARC Review: Cold As Hell by Kelley Armstrong

Can’t Wait Wednesday

New Book Mail on My Shelves:Physical:(signed)

Title Reveal: The Echo Trail Series Book 3

Today I’m helping my talented friend Hannah Marae reveal the title of the upcoming third book in her Echo Trail series…

Urban Fantasy, Echo Trail Series #3

eBook, Paperback

Spring 2025 from Somewhere Press

Blurb:

If you like shows with Supernatural vibes this is a must read series! Catch up on books 1 & 2 now! Both are available in Kindle Unlimited and Paperback!

Resurrection Road (Echo Trails Series #1)Blurb:

For as long as she can remember, Eden has been on the run. 
The open road is the only freedom she’s ever known, the only life she’s ever had. But when the road ends in a backwater town, a mysterious phone call sends her on a new journey.

Lazarus is no stranger to ghosts. 
Shades and spirits are his constant companions, it’s the living that set him on edge. The decision to help a troubled mage will find him taking on more than he bargained for.

Becoming a hunter was never part of Zeke’s plan.
He finds himself stepping into all the dark places where horrors lurk and spirits roam free—until a job gone wrong shows him there’s more than one way to deal with a monster.

A missing friend.
A chance to prove himself.
A desire to keep the darkness inside at bay.
Together, the three set out on the long road east, each pulled by a secret.
But a powerful presence lurks in the shadows, eager to make a deal that will change their lives forever.

Read Now Terminal Static (Echo Trail Series #2)Blurb:

After months on the road hunting monsters and freeing ghosts, Eden and the Morgans are ready for some much-needed R&R. While Mab continues the search for her missing sister, they’re off to their next destination: Westwood, Colorado.
A few weeks of small-town charm are just what they need: board games and baked goods, all in the safety of the Morgan family home. Anything to forget the blood mage, Josephine Laurent, and the night that nearly destroyed them all
No jobs.
No ghosts.
No monsters.
But something has followed them to Westwood, a being equipped with their darkest nightmares. The creature lurks behind the television screens, hidden within the static. And whenever it reaches out, someone pays the price.

Read Now

ARC Review: You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego

You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego

Thriller, Standalone

eBook, Hardcover, Audiobook, 384

February 11, 2025 by Bantam Books

Blurb:

An exclusive thriller writer’s retreat hosted on a private island turns lethal when one of the authors is found murdered in this twisty locked room mystery.

When renowned anonymous author J. R. Alastor hires former aspiring writer Mila del Angél to host a writing retreat at his private manor off the coast of Maine, she jumps at the chance—particularly since she has an ax to grind with one of the invitees. The guest list? Six thriller authors, all masters of deceit, misdirection, and mayhem.

Confess the crimes, survive the tropes.

Alastor and Mila have masterminded a week of games, trope-fueled riddles, and maybe a jump scare or two—the perfect cover for Mila to plot a murder of her own. But when a guest turns up dead—and it’s not the murder she planned—Mila finds herself trapped in a different narrative altogether.

One by one, you’ll lose your turn.

With a storm cutting off the island, and the body count rising, Mila must outwit a killer who knows literally every trick in the book.

Until only one of us remains…

My Review:

I loved this book, right from just reading the synopsis I knew I would. It gave me all the And Then There Were None meets Clue vibes and I was hooked from the very beginning!

A group of mystery writers are invited to a remote island off of Maine for a writing retreat with the mysterious, reclusive J.R. Alastor – an author so anonymous he has never done an author event and requires all the writers to sign NDAs. 

Organizing it all is event organizer Mila del Angél who has a plan of her own when it comes to one of the writers – one who did her wrong. But by the second day when one of the writers goes missing it will become clear to everyone in attendance that someone is very, very wrong. Someone knows their darkest secrets and is meting out their own form of justice.

As I said, I loved this book. It kept me going late into the night because I had to know what was going to happen next. I enjoyed seeing in all the characters perspectives and trying to figure out who the killer was. I also loved all the secret passages in the house and the book map that looks like a Clue game board. 

This book is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year (reading this as an ARC in 2024) and I can’t wait to get a physical copy! 

My Rating:

5 of 5 Knives!

The Sunday Post: Snowed In

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Snowed In

Hey Book Blogger Friends! How was your week?

We had a lot of weather extremes this week from freezing rain to high winds and now a snowstorm that dropped about 6-7 inches of snow. It’s been the perfect weekend to grab a blanket, a hot drink, and settle in for a movie marathon or an afternoon of reading.

Last Week on the Blog:

ARC Review: The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman

ARC Review: A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

ARC Review: Sweet Girl by Jenn Plummer

This Week on the Blog:

ARC Review: You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego

Title Reveal: Book 3 in the Echo Trails Series by Hannah Marae

Cover Reveal: Once the Skies Fade by Vanessa Rasanen

New Book Mail on My Shelves:Physical:

ARC Review: Sweet Girl by Jenn Plummer

Sweet Girl (Aspen Ridge 2.5) by Jenn Plummer

Spicy Romance, Valentine’s Day Novella

eBook, 212 pages

February 5, 2025 by Wild Lupine Books LLV

Blurb:

Dom
When I see my two best friends looking at my sweet girl with lust-filled eyes, we come up with a plan to ease her into the idea of being shared. One weekend, all four of us. Aidan and Cruz spend weeks flirting with her, edging all of us, and filling her head with dirty possibilities. What none of them know is that I don’t just want to watch Emma with my best friends, I want her to be what keeps the four of us together forever. This is more than just one weekend of fun. I’m confident that our sweet girl is going to melt like candy for all of us. She wants this. Wants us.

Valentine’s Day is just the beginning.

Emma
I’m desperately in love with my boyfriend. But when his two best friends start to flirt shamelessly with me, filling my head with tempting thoughts, my feelings for them rapidly change from platonic to desire. What’s more complicated is that Dom seems to like it when they watch me, muddling my head further. Could Dominik want to share me with Aidan and Cruz?

I may be his sweet girl, but something tells me that whatever they are planning is going to be far from sweet.

**Sweet Girl is book 2.5 in the interconnected Aspen Ridge universe and can be read as a standalone. HEA guaranteed!**

My Review:

This is the second holiday novella I’ve read in this series and although I’m not generally a fan of Valentine’s Day I loved this spicy, why choose romance! You can definitely see Emma gain confidence and allow herself to explore and take what she wants with the help of her adoring boyfriend Dom and his sexy friends Aidan and Cruz. Aidan was my favorite but I loved Cruz too and Dom’s love not only for Emma but his friends as well shines out of every page. And as for spice? This one was so hot. This author is definitely a new go-to for me!

I will say that as usually is with why choose romance I liked one of the guys less, and unfortunately in this book it was Dom. He just didn’t click with me even though he was the one that set everything in motion. Aidan was sweet and had loved Emma from afar since high school and Cruz was wild and dangerous leading to sexual tension build up which exploded into such steamy scenes but Dom was just so-so for me.

I loved seeing a glimpse of Lilith from Ready or Not and seeing her happy with Wes and I was so happy that Emma got a happy ending too!

My Rating:

4 of 5 Knives!

ARC Review: A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

Thriller, Standalone

eBook, Hardcover, Audiobook, 304 Pages

February 4, 2025 by Flatiron Books

Blurb:

A woman invited to her wealthy fiance’s family retreat realizes they are hiding a terrible secret—and that she’s been there before, by the bestselling author of What Lies in the Woods.

A whirlwind romance.
When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.

Stay away from Connor Dalton.
Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

I’ve been here before.
Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.

My Review:

Theodora Scott is a woman without a past. Before she was adopted as a child her memory is just… blank. Theodora Scott is not her real name.

Now, after a whirlwind romance with the wealthy Connor Dalton Theo is going home for the holidays to the Dalton family winter retreat – Idlewood.

There she will be fed to the wolves – Connor’s implacable grandmother, his grandfather – a wolf in sheep’s clothing, his uncle who insists he knows Theo from somewhere, his troublemaking brother and cold, businesswoman sister. But as she arrives and begins settling in one thing becomes apparent: Theo has been to Idlewood before.

As memories begin to resurface and her past comes back to haunt her Theo finds herself in the crosshairs of a family that will do anything to keep their dark secrets buried.

This book was everything you could want from a chilly winter thriller: an isolated family manse, a snowstorm to keep them all stuck, dark secrets coming to light and a main character fighting to survive. So many of the characters are devious and as the pieces of Theo’s past fall around her like dominoes you’re on the edge of your seat trying to figure out who knows what and what length they will go to to keep their dark secrets.

Kate Alice Marshall’s storytelling is as addictive in this one as it was in the very first book I read by her, Rules for Vanishing. I devoured this book!

My Rating:

5 of 5 Knives!

ARC Review: The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman

The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman

YA Thriller, Standalone

eBook, Hardcover, 336 Pages

February 4, 2025 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Blurb:

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of They Wish They Were Us and The Counselors, comes a page-turning murder mystery set at a prestigious New England boarding school and the dark secrets a killer desperately wants hidden.

Secrets don’t die when you do.

It’s the first week of senior year at Middlebrook Academy. For Amy and her best friend Sarah, that means late-night parties at the boathouse, bike rides through their sleepy Connecticut town, and the crisp beginning of a New England fall.

Then tragedy. Sarah and her boyfriend are brutally murdered in their dorm room. Now the week Amy has been dreaming about for years has turned into a nightmare, especially when all eyes turn to her as the culprit. She was Sarah’s only roommate, the only other person there when she died—or so she told the police to cover for her own boyfriend’s suspicious whereabouts. And even though they were best friends, with every passing day, Amy begins to learn that Sarah lied about a lot of things.

Liz, editor of the school newspaper and social outcast, is determined to uncover the truth about what happened on campus, in hopes her reporting will land a prestigious scholarship to college. As Liz dives deeper into her investigation, the secrets these murdered seniors never wanted out come to light. The deeper Liz digs, the messier the truth becomes – and with a killer still on campus, she can’t afford to make any mistakes. 

The Meadowbrook Murders is a gripping mystery about the inextricable way power, privilege, and secrets are linked, and how telling the truth can come at a deadly price.

My Review:

3 tries. That’s how many attempts it took me to get through this book. The blurb sounded like something I would love but right off the bat I could not connect with the story or either of the main characters. Liz comes off like a teenage Gale Weathers and just like Sidney in the Scream movies I majorly wanted to deck Liz. Talk about underhanded journalism… and these are high schoolers.

Then we have Amy, best friend of one of the murder victims. She and her best friend fought the night before her best friend was killed and Amy was in the same dorm suite and slept through the whole thing. I think this was kind of meant to throw some suspicion on her kind of a “let’s team up and clear my name” thing with Liz.

After the first probably 5-10 chapters I really just felt like skimming the rest of the book.  

My Rating:

2 of 5 Knives!

The Sunday Post: Hello February, Hiking, and Catching Up on ARCs

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Hello February, Hiking, and Catching Up on ARCs

Hey Book Blogger Friends! Update from last week: my friend Natalie was able to find me a copy of Onyx Storm and I can now rest happy!

January 2025 is in the books. Thank goodness. I saw somewhere recently someone said January was the Monday of the year and boy is that true. Now we’re on to a new month, new goals, and tons of great books releasing.

This week I was able to get out for a hike since the weather was above average for January in Wisconsin. The trail I went on is more urban, completely paved, and takes you through the city behind a university. Perfect for easing back in.. even though I wore the wrong shoes and I’m currently hobbling around like I’m 80.

A view from the trail!

This month I’ll be primarily getting caught up on ARCs. I have 3 reviews posting this coming week, one the following week, and 3 so far due in March although I’ve already read one of the March ones, just have to compose the full review.

Last Week on the Blog:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 27 January 2025

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 New-To-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024

Can’t Wait Wednesday: Tears of the Wolf

Book Review: All the Missing Pieces by Catherine Cowles

First Line Friday: 31 January 2025

This Week on the Blog:

ARC Review: The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman

ARC Review: A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

ARC Review: Sweet Girl by Jenn Plummer

First Line Friday: 7 February 2025

New Book Mail on My Shelves:Physical:eARC: