New Releases ~ week of 11/26/2018

A Duke Changes Everything by Christy Carlyle (#1 Duke's Den)

A Midwinter's Tail by Bethany Blake (#4 Lucky Paws Petsitting Mystery)
Affliction by Tom Abrahams (#4 The Alt Apocalypse)
Bright Light by Ian Douglas (#8 Star Carrier)
Buried Lies by Kaylea Cross (#2 Crimson Point)
Cherish by Olivia Ryann (#4 Cherish)
Choices by Mercedes Lackey (#13 Valdemar)
Cut to the Chaise by Karen Rose Smith (#8 Caprice De Luca Mystery)
Deceased and Desist by Misty Simon (#3 Tallie Graver Mystery)
Fatal Invasion by Marie Force (#15 Fatal)
Hard Night by Jackie Ashenden (#3 11th Hour)
Her Mafioso King by Terri Anne Browning (#4 The Vitucci Mafiosos)
How to Knit a Murder by Sally Goldenbaum (#13 Seaside Knitters Mystery)
Insistent by Kaylee Ryan (#4 Soul Serenade)
Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny (#14 Chief Inspector Armand Gamache)
Let the Dead Keep Their Secrets by Rosemary Simpson (#3 Gilded Age Mystery)
Numb As a Statue by Tymber Dalton (#85 The Suncoast Society)

Oath of Office by Tom Clancy, Marc Cameron (#18 Jack Ryan)
Robert B. Parker's Blood Feud by Mike Lupica (#7 Sunny Randall)
Runebreaker by Alex Kahler (#2 Runebinder Chronicles)
Secretly Dating the Lionman by Sue Brown (#2 Cowboys and Angels)
Silent Scream by Karen Harper (#5 South Shores)
Slay in Character by Lynn Cahoon (#4 Cat Latimer Mystery)
Someone to Trust by Mary Balogh (#5 Westcott)
Storm Rising by Sara Driscoll (#3 FBI K-9)
Sweet Clematis by R. Cooper (#9 Beings in Love)
The Coloring Crook by Krista Davis (#2 Pen & Ink)
The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman (#5 The Invisible Library)
The Name of the Rosé by Christine E. Blum (#3 Rose Avenue Wine Club Mystery)
The Novel Art of Murder by V. M. Burns (#3 Mystery Bookshop)
The Spectral City by Leanna Renee Hieber (Spectral City #1)
The Whispered Word by Ellery Adams (#2 Secret, Book & Scone Society)
Their Perfect Melody by Priscilla Oliveras (#3 Matched to Perfection)
Until Cobi by Aurora Rose Reynolds (#3 Until Him)
Violet Tendencies by Kate Dyer-Seeley (#2 Rose City Mystery)

Book Review ~ Darker Still

Darker Still (Magic Most Foul #1)
by Leanna Renee Heiber
published by Sourcebooks

Summary: I was obsessed.

It was as if he called to me, demanding I reach out and touch the brushstrokes of color swirled onto the canvas. It was the most exquisite portrait I'd ever seen--everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable...utterly breathtaking and eerily lifelike.

There was a reason for that. Because despite what everyone said, Denbury never had committed suicide. He was alive. Trapped within his golden frame.

I've crossed over into his world within the painting, and I've seen what dreams haunt him. They haunt me too. He and I are inextricably linked--bound together to watch the darkness seeping through the gas-lit cobblestone streets of Manhattan. Unless I can free him soon, things will only get Darker Still.

My Thoughts: It took me forever to read this book because I kept putting it down. While I like Natalie and Mrs Northe, I did not feel any connection with Lord Denbury. I had a hard time believing the way every woman that came across his painting seemed to fall madly in love with him. I think I would have understood it more if there had been some kind of spell that was put on the picture rather than the way we were given.
I enjoyed the process of Natalie finding her voice and herself and that was the thing that kept me picking the book back up after setting it aside. She seemed to get stronger as the events going on got weirder and darker.
A couple of things I didn't get. If Natalie could see these other things/beings in her dreams, why didn't her mother just show herself to her instead of going through Mrs Northe? Also, I don't like when scenes have no purpose. Like Maggy trying to do a seance when Natalie shows up to free Denbury. It added nothing, you could take that part out and just had Natalie show up and wait for the devil and had the same outcome.
I ended up liking enough that I will probably give the second book a try. The society and what part Maggy ends up playing has potential to bring me back.

Rating: 3.5