A roundup of several smaller reviews I wrote in Fall 2025. Beware of spoilers!
Title: Dead Wrong
Author: Kate Allenton
Series: Cree Blue Psychic Eye Mystery #1
Not great. Very simplistic and superficial storytelling. Too short to include much detail or character development.
The MC, Cree*, is more foolishly headstrong than spunky, and waaayyy overpowered: clairvoyant, psychometric, knows when people are lying, and she can see and communicate with ghosts? She must also be rich, because she’s entirely unbothered by the cost of anything. The only things she doesn’t know are the things the author doesn’t want revealed yet. Time for a plot twist? The voices beyond the veil are suddenly reticent, her Spidey senses strangely absent. The ghosts have absolutely zero bearing on the narrative, she doesn’t even need that ability.
*Her name is Cree Blue. No explanation. Is that a common name in the South? Every time I read it, all I could think of is the blue-skinned Kree race from Marvel. *googles* Apparently there’s an indigenous people called Cree in Canada, which I doubt has connection to a Southern Belle.
There’s very little conflict, not only because she’s overpowered but because everyone likes and has confidence in her. Cree decides to do something and does it no matter what anyone says, that’s how the plot’s driven. Strangers might be skeptical for about 0.72 seconds, then think she’s great and thanks her for the amazing cookies. She doesn’t get in trouble for anything she does. The mob boss doesn’t double cross her. His personal goon decides to work for her instead, just because he likes her. The cop’s attracted to her and the FBI agent has the hots for her sight unseen; I smell a love triangle and plan to avoid it.
Life’s pretty easy for Cree, with few consequences, which makes for a pretty uncompelling story and an unlikable, unrelatable MC, in my opinion.
And for someone who claims her psychic abilities are secret to all but a close few, she doesn’t much hesitate to tell a bunch of strangers.
Two things I want to remark on: First, it made no sense to me when she dressed up as Grammy Blue to go to the crime scene with Mason instead of wearing the police uniform he brought her. How does it make more sense for a cop and an elderly woman to be at a crime scene than two cops?
Second and lastly, at one point Cree was puzzling how to get into her plantation house and thought of the “stone tunnels that my ancestors had built during one of the wars.” I was shocked to stumble across such an ignorant statement. Could her ancestors have been anti-slavery and actually dug the tunnels themselves? Sure. But I doubt it.
Title: Dark Shadows
Author: Kate Allenton
Series: Psychic Oversight #1
Better than Cree Blue’s Dead Wrong in that this story took a little time to develop (200 pages vs 165), and there was a little character development. Not very deep in either regard, though.
Entirely possible I missed it, but I couldn’t find the name of Savanah’s hometown, which seems like a strange and glaring omission considering its thematic importance. I’m not even sure which state they were in. Presumably somewhere in the South. Just some generic small town, apparently.
Speaking of the town—the morgue’s next to a gift shop?? Stranger things have happened, I’m sure, but that struck me as bizarre. The author could have at least addressed the weirdness of that with a dry remark.
The book’s ripe with inconsistencies. The opening line sets Savanah’s family up as Christians, but church and religion never show up again, no thematic bearing or internal conflict. The prologue talks about a birthmark on Savanah’s ear and mentions her habit of tugging on it, but I don’t recall her doing it at all beyond the prologue. In the beginning the killer seems to catch blood in bowls and implies he’s going to take it and use it somehow, presumably in an occult ritual, but the bowls are still there when the body’s found. Neither the police nor the feds remark on the gathering of or intended use for the victims’ blood. Savanah’s name is spelled Savannah, Savanah, Vanna, and Vannah. Interestingly, when used in full, it’s most often spelled with one N, but the diminutive always has two.
Question: Jacob remarks that Mason’s starting to sound more Southern every day. Was Mason not from Mississippi? I don’t recall Dead Wrong mentioning that his accent isn’t Southern or mentioning he’s not from the South. We learn very little about his character. He’s an FBI agent, his BFF is Cree Blue, and he has an absent daughter. That’s about it. Savanah’s more central to the story, so we learn more about her, but personality-wise, she’s pretty bland.
Unfortunately, the story is more shoddy police procedural than talking to ghosts. I think Savanah only speaks with ghosts two or three times in the book. She doesn’t talk to the murder victim, which is an interesting choice; isn’t that the point of having ghost whisperers involved in murder mysteries? I’ll give Ryley’s series a shot, but so far I’ve been very disappointed in the ghost elements of Allenton’s work.
Shoddy police procedural because 1) Savanah’s role in the investigation is never defined. She’s not a witness or a victim. She’s kind of treated like a consultant, but she’s never called one nor officially hired as one. All Mason had to do was question her: he had no need to completely disrupt her life and drag her back to town with him. Actually he probably endangered her by bringing her back—he hand-delivered her to the killer. (Pretty convenient for him that she didn’t have any ties, friends wondering about her, cat to feed, fridge to clean out, etc. She also apparently wasn’t scheduled to work for several days, because she took off without a thought for covering shifts.)
2) They speak openly about the case in public. Nothing was confidential. They’re apparently at liberty to discuss the open investigation at will with anyone who asks.
3) We’ve got local police and feds apparently working the same case? I didn’t notice discussion of jurisdiction or who’s in charge. I was confused.
4) Harrison’s talking about Savanah joining Mason’s team at the end, everyone’s aware she and Mason are in love*, yet workplace romance is never discussed or even acknowledged.
5) It just didn’t seem like they did much investigating. It seemed like Mason and Savanah mostly talked to people about the past and canoodled while others did the work behind the scenes.
*100% instalove. There was definitely more development to Mason and Savanah’s attraction than there was to Mason and Cree’s, but it’s still instalove, fast and easy.
Random question: Does Richard make a new lid for her box? I’d think the current inscription would be an unwelcome reminder.
Lastly, supernatural characters can be really fun, but their powers need limits. If they can know everything easily, the story falls apart because there’s little conflict or struggle. Especially in a mystery—where’s the mystery if the psychic knows everything? What’s worse is when the author’s solution to this problem is to have those overpowered characters simply withhold answers. It’s lazy writing—I want easy answers when I need them, but I also need the story to happen, so once in a while I’ll just pretend some obscure cosmic power cockblocks the investigation. To me as a reader, it’s a slap in the face every time I read an exchange like—“Ghost: Someone’s watching you. Character: Who? Ghost: Not for me to say. This is your story.” Is it not worse to have the ghosts and psychics appear apathetic than just to limit their knowledge? Bah, so annoying.
Title: Welcome to AuDHD
Author: Megan Griffith
Series: n/a
I’m disappointed. It’s less about AuDHD and more about the neurodivergent landscape, and advice for navigating it. It’s also surprisingly generalized, ostensibly written from the perspective of AuDHD but applicable to other conditions as well.
Overall it’s unsatisfyingly vague, like it’s just touching on topics but not thoroughly exploring them. Including the author’s own experience and, unfortunately, AuDHD itself.
This book does not do a good job of describing the unique ways these conditons present together; it felt very eithor-or. So for someone like me who’s not sure they’re AuDHD and looking to find themselves in examples of everyday presentation, this won’t get ya far.
If you’re instead looking for advice on navigating discrimination, internal and external, as well as a primer on the social and political climates surrounding conditions like ADHD and autism, you might find this helpful.
I wish she’d done extensive testimonials for every topic, not just about disability.
Title: AuDHD – Diagnosis Delayed
Author: Kyra Mrdjan
Series: n/a
I called it about halfway through the time chapter. The writing is dense and cerebral and the book reads like a research paper. It demands a lot of mental energy to absorb, comprehend, and digest, at least for me. I had to take a nap.
Her degree and interest in developmental psychology shows—takes over the book a bit, actually. I was surprised to find the author doesn’t have a PhD. The epigenetics and generational trauma was interesting and new to me, and I’m endlessly fascinated by how AuDHD presents, but when we dove into parenting techniques, she lost me.
I found the organization of the topics rather baffling. The chapter header would guide us at first, then in the next section it seemed like we were talking about something else entirely, then the next section was back to the original topic, then the next would stray again. At times I’d think, this is all interesting, but what’s her point? Could be I just failed to identify the relevance. Section headers would help but I’m not sure they’d solve the problem completely.
I was also a little disappointed that it was more about neurodivergence in general than AuDHD specifically.
Lol in the prologue the author said she wrote this book on her phone, and I swear just reading that gave me a headache and carpal tunnel. Writing this review on my phone is bad enough.
Title: The Warrior Priest
Author: C. J. Archer
Series: After the Rift side story
I had planned to skip this one—I have zero interest in priests, warrior or otherwise—but it popped up as available at the library, so I figured what the heck, it’s C.J. Archer.
I read the After the Rift series years ago but don’t remember much of the story now. Luckily, you really don’t need to know anything about that story to read this one. You just might wonder why the king keeps being mentioned when the story has nothing to do with him.
This book was disappointing and frustrating. Not much happens, really, just the same things over and over. It felt like the plot was spinning its wheels because it had nowhere to go, so it made staying in place as dramatic as possible.
A plot: This girl, Jac, pines after this priest, who also loves her but nothing can happen because priest. So she pines, he’s overly protective, she pines some more, he’s overprotective some more, rinse and repeat. It’s one of those romances in which a lot of emotional turmoil could have been avoided if they’d just sat down and had a frank conversation instead of always making assumptions about one another. I was so happy when Jac went to train with Giselle. But even when she comes back, it’s just more of the same.
B plot: This was even more disappointing and tire-spinning. Jac’s hiding from her uncle, who sees or catches her several times—several—but Jac always manages to escape or get rescued. Her uncle’s reason for wanting her fizzles, so the subplot itself fizzles away. Very anti-climactic. Related, we learn Jac possesses magical abilities, and absolutely nothing cool happens with it. They’re just shrugged off, like oh, that’s what that was.
As for the characters, Jac was likeable enough but boring in her lack of ambition. She wanted to be with Rhys and that was about it. Which makes sense considering it’s called The Warrior Priest—it wasn’t meant to be her story. Which makes the decision to focus on her absolutely baffling.
Rhys I disliked. He was both the abused spouse who won’t leave and the cheating husband who’s not sorry. I could see that his marriage to the priesthood was toxic and abusive, could see that he was unhappy and unwell, and I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just LEAVE this obviously unhealthy relationship. Beyond that, the narrative literally revolved around all the meaningless sex he’s had and the sacred vows he broke to do it. Talked about it nonstop. So no, I didn’t like him and didn’t really want him around Jac, either.
Overall, the story just failed to evolve and come into its own potential. If Archer had set aside the romance novel formula, focused on Rhys and delved into his psyche, this could have been a multifaceted story of overcoming trauma. Or she could have committed to Jac’s journey and followed her as she broke the cycle, moved beyond her crush and became something greater. Or both. Instead, it’s neither—just a bad romance novel.
Title: Blackthorn
Author: J. T. Geissinger
Series: n/a
Thank you to J. T. Geissinger, Tor, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF 24% because we were just presented with the intriguing mystery of the missing grandmother and instead of investigating that, we’re in the second chapter—not page, chapter-–of a pointless scene of lunch (maybe dinner, unclear) at a Mexican restaurant and I can’t take this awful banter anymore. If they’re going to barf exposition on each other and call it character development, can they at least be doing something plot related please? Also it’s making me super hungry but I can’t eat right now and I resent that. Also after it was made clear Ronan had cleaned his plate, somehow Maven tries his food? Also Maven totally ditched her daughter with the aunts twice now, which isn’t doing her character any favors. Maybe Bea and the aunts would have liked Mexican for lunch too.
Ronan’s appeal vanished for me the moment he put a cigarette in his mouth and acted like a creep. Smoking is an instant turn off for me, as is not taking no for an answer. No is all Maven tells him, and he takes zero of it seriously. Pry bc Maven spews threats but doesn’t follow up in the least; it’s like watching an adorable kitten hiss—you know it can’t really hurt you, it’s just afraid. I don’t dislike her but I don’t particularly like her either.
I’m so disappointed! The blurb was intriguing and the book started out with this enigmatic, gothic atmosphere that morphed into a Practical Magic vibe with the aunts. But the bad red flag romance is shitting all over that potential. I’m tempted to skim just to see where the plot goes but I don’t think I can stand Ronan. Bah humbug.
Title: Princess of Blood
Author: Sarah Hawley
Series: Shards of Magic #2
This is more political intrigue and character development than action and battles, so pacing-wise it’s a slow burn with a rather boring start and slowly increasing tension and stakes. If the characters were any less compelling it wouldn’t work, but I love Kenna and Calen, Lara, Aiden, Hector, Una; I was even sympathizing with Dresdan and I’m honestly not sure why. (I listened to audio, so apologies for mispellings.) I wish Anya had gotten more attention, more because she needs it than because I like her. She has to play a big part in book 3, otherwise she serves no purpose and should have died in book 1. I kept waiting for her to whip out a big reveal about Ozrick or something.
I wish there had been more magic and less court-chess; the best parts were when magic was displayed, though Illusion seems absurdly overpowered. So many conversations, so little actually doing anything. I wanted to explore Kenna’s power with her and watch her get stronger, see her organize a thriving society within her house (How is everyone cared for??? I didn’t understand that, seemed pretty convenient that the house just magically takes care of hundreds of people and space and funds are no concern). But there wasn’t time for that amid parties and sneaking around. Little to no build on Blood House lore or faerie lore in general really. We learned pits and pieces about the relevant characters, but the world didn’t get much more development than it already has. Kyto was strangely docile and absent; there, but silent and content, I guess? I thought for sure it’d drive Kenna mad.
All that said, I inhaled the last third or so of this book and would have dove right into book 3 had it been out already. The cliffhanger’s a doozy. So while I wish it was more, I’m good with what it is.
I can’t wait to see if book 3’s title sticks to pattern (Queen of Fae, perhaps) or deviates (Prisoner of Light—or whatever house that was at the end, I got a little confused).
Title: The Resurrectionist
Author: Kathleen S. Allen
Series: n/a
DNF 65%. It’s frustrating because I usually love this kind of story, and it’s not that I didn’t find the book compelling; I wouldn’t have gotten over halfway if I didn’t. But when I realized I was avoiding listening to it, I realized it was a DNF. I think the biggest problem was that I found the protagonist unlikeable. Sympathetic, yes, very, but I didn’t really want to spend time with her. I’ve read similar protagonists in other books, but something was off with Odelia. She was arrogant, self-centered, entitled, and spiteful. Her sister wasn’t much better, pious and resentful.
I also didn’t like the little—epigraphs, insights, flashforwards, not sure what to call them—that began some chapters. I found them disorienting and—redundant, for lack of better word, teasing conflict and tragedy that I’ll experience in due course if you’d stop wasting my time with teases and let the story progress! This isn’t the first time I’ve complained about this sort of device. They’re meant to build tension and keep the reader intrigued, I’m sure, but I instead felt they were fluffy momentum killers.
I was also absolutely baffled by the girls’ circumstances. They’re underage, or at least unmarried, and currently have no one to support them. Shouldn’t a relative have swooped in to direct their futures? How did things continue to be paid for? The girls piddled with getting jobs, but they didn’t try very hard or seem overly concerned about their security. The staff remained, they weren’t kicked out of their house. It might have made more sense if their father hadn’t died and was just away while the events of the plot unfolded.
Anyway, not my cuppa. I wrestled with two stars or three and decided on three because it had a lot of potential and was perhaps just not well executed. Because I’m sorry, but did Dilly really think dissecting dolls was comparable to humans?
