The Reckoning

The Reckoning
by Kelley Armstrong

Book: Darkest Powers #3
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: April 6, 2010
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Format: Print
Source: Bought 
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon  Bookshop  
 
Chloe Saunders is fifteen and would love to be normal. Unfortunately, Chloe happens to be a genetically engineered necromancer who can raise the dead without even trying. She and her equally gifted (or should that be 'cursed'?) friends are now running for their lives from the evil corporation that created them.

As if that's not enough, Chloe is struggling with her feelings for Simon, a sweet-tempered sorcerer, and his brother Derek, a not so sweet-tempered werewolf. And she has a horrible feeling she's leaning towards the werewolf...

Definitely not normal.

 
My Review: The final book was by far the better one in the series. 

Chloe and her friends are once again planning a way out. The ones meant to help them have been secretly behind many of the things going on, like the rouge werewolves causing Derek and Chloe trouble. 

Oh and if that wasn't enough, they get betrayed yet again by them when they knock them out and bring them RIGHT back to the very place they are running from. They are all too powerful ans difficult to handle and so the best thing was betray them and send them right into the enemy. 

Welp, we've seen this movie already. Everyone must work together to break out yet again and hopefully this will be the last time they get caught and have to escape because this is just a bad repetitive cycle.

It doesn't take long before Chloe reached out to the demon hanging around and together they come up with a plan for everyone to escape and get what they want.

A very long day of escaping, fighting and destroying the place, we finally get an ending that everyone deserves. Yes, they might have to be on the run for who knows how long. But they are together, they are family and they will make the best of this.

Plus Chloe and Derek finally have their moment.

Overall, it wasn't a bad series at all. If you're closer in age to these characters, then you will probably love this on a whole different level. If you're like me and had these books sit on your TBR for 10 years before diving in, well, we should have read it sooner. It's a little bit harder to enjoy and relate when you're no longer in a similar age group as the characters.
 

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪

Weekly Spotlight - Books Set at Sea

 

The Woman in Cabin 10
In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…

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The Amalfi Curse
Powerful witchcraft. A hunt for sunken treasure. Forbidden love on the high seas. Beware the Amalfi Curse…

Haven Ambrose, a trailblazing nautical archaeologist, has come to the sun-soaked village of Positano to investigate the mysterious shipwrecks along the Amalfi Coast. But Haven is hoping to find more than old artifacts beneath the azure waters; she is secretly on a quest to locate a trove of priceless gemstones her late father spotted on his final dive. Upon Haven’s arrival, strange maelstroms and misfortunes start plaguing the town. Is it nature or something more sinister at work?

As Haven searches for her father’s sunken treasure, she begins to unearth a centuries-old tale of ancient sorcery and one woman’s quest to save her lover and her village by using the legendary art of stregheria, a magical ability to harness the ocean. Could this magic be behind Positano’s latest calamities? Haven must unravel the Amalfi Curse before the region is destroyed forever…

Against the dazzling backdrop of the Amalfi Coast, this bewitching novel shimmers with mystery, romance and the untamed magic of the sea.

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From Below
No light. No air. No escape.
Hundreds of feet beneath the ocean's surface, a graveyard waits...

Years ago, the SS Arcadia vanished without a trace during a routine voyage. Though a strange, garbled emergency message was broadcast, neither the ship nor any of its crew could be found. Sixty years later, its wreck has finally been discovered more than three hundred miles from its intended course...a silent graveyard deep beneath the ocean's surface, eagerly waiting for the first sign of life.

Cove and her dive team have been granted permission to explore the Arcadia's rusting hull. Their purpose is straightforward: examine the wreck, film everything, and, if possible, uncover how and why the supposedly unsinkable ship vanished.

But the Arcadia has not yet had its fill of death, and something dark and hungry watches from below. With limited oxygen and the ship slowly closing in around them, Cove and her team will have to fight their way free of the unspeakable horror now desperate to claim them.
Because once they're trapped beneath the ocean's waves, there's no going back.

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The Last One
When Caz steps onboard the exclusive cruise liner RMS Atlantica, it’s the start of a vacation of a lifetime with her new love, Pete. On their first night they explore the ship, eat, dance, make friends, but when Caz wakes the next morning, Pete is missing.

And when she walks out into the corridor, all the cabin doors are open. To her horror, she soon realizes that the ship is completely empty. No passengers, no crew, nobody but her. The Atlantica is steaming into the mid-Atlantic and Caz is the only person on board. But that’s just the beginning of the terrifying journey she finds herself trapped on in this white-knuckled mystery.

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The Awakening

The Awakening
by Kelley Armstrong

Book: Darkest Powers #2
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: April 28, 2009
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Format: Print
Source: Bought 
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon  Bookshop 
 
If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl - someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I’m as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment - not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a sinister organization called Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters. I'm a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control: I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever.
Now I’m running for my life with three of my supernatural friends - a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch - and we have to find someone who can help us before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.
 
My Review: Welp, I will say book two was better and got mem more interested in the series, but I still think it would've been more of a hit if I read it closer to when it released than have left it sitting on my shelf for so long. 
 
Chloe is slowly becoming more knowledgeable about who and what she is. While not exactly in control right now, she is more powerful than people may think. 
 
Right now, the main point is to escape with her friends (Tori still questionable on the friend scale at first) and somehow venture back into the normal world. Even if that means living on the streets for now. Though normal doesn't have the same meaning anymore, but together they can make it work. 
 
I still can't get over the way Chloe is constantly talking to herself, more than what a possible person might do and was just too much for me and would have wanted more maturity but then again it's been a while since I read YA and so the younger immature characters are kinda hard for me to like these day. Overall, I did like this one better and finally more glued into this world and can't wait to read the next one.

 

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪

The Summoning

The Summoning

by Kelley Armstrong

Book: Darkest Powers #1
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: July 1, 2008
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Format: Print
Source: Bought 
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon  Bookshop 

Chloe Saunders used to have a relatively normal life.

But now she finds herself in the middle of some really strange situations because:
~She suddenly starts seeing dead people.
~She gets locked up in a group home for unstable teens.
~The group home isn't what it seems.

My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost—and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? It's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House... before its skeletons come back to haunt me.

My Review: I'm finally catching up on the older books on my TBR and this was a series that I probably should've read when it came out. I might've been more hooked than reading it at a much older age.

I liked the book enough to finish the series but have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. 

The main character, Chloe, is annoying and that's the nicest way to put it. She is constantly talking to herself in the most annoying and immature way possible. It almost makes it seem as if she really is crazy, despite her episode in school being something real. 

Chloe is a good average kid. Goes to school, studying film in art school and just going day by day really. Nothing super special for a HS freshman. She's had to move numerous times, had a few nannies since her dad is constantly away for his business.

However, normal is about to go out the window the second she is screaming and school staff is trying to hold her down and calm her. She saw a ghost, a real actual ghost. But, that can't be right, they aren't real and she just had a mental breakdown. 

Welp, that's how it looked from every angle anyway. So the school wants her to get some help before returning and thus off to a group home she goes for treatment. 

Her diagnosis is a fake one. She is more than meets the eye. The people at this home all have secrets. Nothing is what it seems and Chloe is about to find that out and then some.  

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪

Weekly Spotlight - Kings of Carnage MC

 

Chaos
I’ve given up my entire life for my father’s club. He and I agreed on a compromise years ago and I haven’t looked back since. When things get messy… I’m the one they call to come in and clean it up. They call me Chaos for a reason.

We have a motto we stand by as the Kings of Carnage… Brothers before all others. No exceptions.
Until her.

She crashes into my dark world like an explosion to the heart and as I watch her naked body hang in an empty room, I have to decide whether to save her from the darkness or become her worst nightmare.

The club expects one thing… but I want another. The only question is, how bad do I want it?

My Review

 

Bash

Sweet Savannah Mae hit me out of nowhere ...or, I should say, I hit her- literally. My bike smashed right into her. Talk about a way to make a lasting impression. One look at her, and I swore I'd met an angel. She was the light to my dark that stirred up emotions I didn’t think I possessed.

In a blink, Savannah becomes everything to me. When I find out the truth she’s hiding, it rocks my world. I’m the vice president of the Kings of Carnage MC - a spot I’ve earned. If any man thinks they can harm what’s mine, they’ve got another think coming.

But, so do I, because Savannah isn’t all she seems. No, my woman’s an angel with a spine of steel. She doesn’t need a knight in shining armor to save her. She needs a pair of wings to help her fly.

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Jinx
If it doesn’t concern the Kings of Carnage Motorcycle Club, then it isn’t my business.

Nothing, and I mean, nothing matters but the Kings. As Road Captain my life is about the ride.

She doesn’t belong in my world. Then again, if you ask her, she doesn’t belong anywhere. Catching out¾Talia Peppertree lives her life from one ride to the next … train rides that is. Her life is rail hopping, and somehow, she lands in rural Georgia.

Stealing rides seems to be more than her pastime.

When she steals my truck, she enters my world in a way I don’t intend to let her off the hook for.

As much as she infuriates me, she intrigues me.

She’s fearless in a way that frustrates me. She’s hot in a way that I can’t stop thinking about. The more time I spend with her, the more I crave her.

As everything from Talia’s rail-life falls off track, I have this primal urge to protect and punish her.

I don’t know her history, and I don’t care. Bottom line, she stole more than my truck, she claimed my very soul. She’s mine, and I’m not letting her slip away, no matter the cost.
Stealing rides seems to be more than her pastime.

When she steals my truck, she enters my world in a way I don’t intend to let her off the hook for.

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North
Being the enforcer of the Kings Of Carnage MC it’s my job to watch over the women and protect them from dirt bags that strut into Centerfolds.

Aspen worked the pole like every other stripper that night. She wasn’t trying to get my attention, she just wanted what was in my wallet ... cash.

The more she was unfazed by me, the more I wanted to be someone she wouldn’t dare forget.

I get off on a challenge.

I had plans to make it rain dollars on her c-cups with an arrogant smirk on my face all while she worked.

That was before I realized she brought her little girl to work that night.

Now having my full attention, I find Aspen in depths of trouble only my brotherhood can help her and her daughter escape.
I’ll be her prick, and she’ll be the pain in the ass I never wanted. I didn’t need her to fix me, I just wanted her to sit with me in the dark and accept that neither of us was meant to be normal. But can she?

My Review

 

Bouncer
I was born a 1%ER.
I earned the right to be a King.

For the past ten years, I’ve dedicated my life upholding the legacy that is Kings of Carnage Motorcycle Club. My job as a Nomad is to ensure that King Nation thrives as a whole. And that the poor decisions of one charter doesn’t determine the fate of the patch.

When I get the unsettling news that ghosts of the club’s past have come back to haunt our mother chapter, I head home to Uprising—prepared to unleash Hell on those who think they can take the kingdom myself and my brothers before me built.

What I’m not prepared for is the loud, infuriating, foul mouthed brat with the ridiculous name who cleans the clubhouse. Despite her incessant talking and overly cheerful mood, there’s a sadness in her eyes that pulls at my protective instinct. Ignoring the feeling is easy. Until she comes up missing. And for the first time in ten years, I find myself questioning if King Nation is still most important thing in my life.

When you’ve been cursed with a name like mine, you develop a thick skin and a high tolerance for jerks. But even Apple Seven VanHolland wasn’t a horrible enough name to prepare me for Kings of Carnage Nomad Bouncer.

He’s the most narcissistic person I’ve ever met. Even his sexy tattoos, perfect body, and killer eyes can’t atone for his rudeness. He acts as though he can’t stand me. But I notice the way he looks at me—like he can see into my soul. Like he can sense my despair. My struggle. And most importantly, the war that rages inside me.
Unbeknownst to him, I can see his too.

My Review

 

Sly
Kitten, you’re in way over your head—
SLY—
As treasurer of the Kings of Carnage MC, I collect protection payments from local businesses in our small Georgia town, and one business is behind on payments. When I show up at Mooney’s Pub to collect, I find her—the gorgeous new manager with hair the color of pale fire and a body made for sin. I’m instantly attracted, and when she turns that sassy Irish mouth on me, I’m damn near obsessed. She’s not what I expected, to say the least, but when it comes to club business, I’ll deal with her same as any man. She will bend to my will, one way or another.

Because one thing is law in our town; anyone who wants to do business here is either owned by the club, partners with the club or protected by the club—for a price. In this town, no one rides for free.

Michaela—
At twenty-two, the last place I expect to find myself is back home running my father’s bar, Mooney’s Pub. But when he dies suddenly and suspiciously, I’m determined to find out why more than the accounting books don’t add up. I swear I’ll find his killer.
Seems my father has secrets he’s been hiding; the mortgage is in arrears and now the bank is breathing down my neck, ready to foreclose. All that’s holding my family together is my sheer determination and stubborn Irish grit.

Then he walks in—a badass biker, demanding payments my father owes the club. I’m beginning to realize where all the money’s been going.

Oh hell no!
Determined to hang on to my family’s business, I wonder just how far I’ll go when I’m beyond desperate.

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Fairest

Fairest
by Mairi MacMillan
 
Book: Stand Alone
Publisher: One More Chapter
Pub Date: February 13, 2026
Genre: Adult, Dark Romance, Retelling
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon  

A dark mafia retelling of Snow White. Perfect for fans of H D Carlton, Emily McIntire and Penelope Douglas.

I never wanted to be part of his life. I am the law, and he is everything I’ve vowed against.

But every time I see him, I can’t help but imagine what I want him to do to me.

RED AS BLOOD
He has a reputation. A dark possessive side.
I know he’d hurt me. But maybe that’s what I want…

WHITE AS SNOW
I never wanted to hurt her. She should’ve known to stay away from me.
But there’s something about her innocence that I desire.
She’s everything my fiancée is not.
But my fiancée is a jealous woman. She’s also powerful.

I know where my loyalties should lie, but the taste of purity is too tempting. Just one drop and I promise, that’ll be enough…

My Review: DNF

Uh...no. Absolutely not. 

Generally, I'm not the biggest fan of Snow White but I love a good retelling and dark mafia, so I had to give it a chance. Well, I rarely say it, but I regret reading this one. 

I've never been so bored and hated a book at the same time. This book was trying too hard and had way too much stuff going on and filler that it just made it worse. 

The pace was a bit slow, the characters didn't grasp me at all and I wanted to skip over so much of this book.  I ended up giving up before the halfway mark. There was no way I was going to be able to force myself through this horrible mess. 

My Rating:

✪

He Sees You When You're Sleeping

He Sees You When You're Sleeping
by Alta Hensley

Book: Naughty or Nice #1
Publisher: Avon
Pub Date: September 16, 2025
Genre: Adult, Romance, Holiday
Format: ARC

Source: Publisher

Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon  Bookshop

Why choose between naughty or nice in this steamy, suspenseful Christmas-themed stalker romance that’s perfect for dark romance fans seeking a spicy, festive listen.

It’s the night before Christmas and I’m alone in the house…

Popular jewelry influencer Chloe Hallman is steeling herself to spend another holiday on her own. Instead, she finds herself drawn to two different guys… a smoldering hot fan of her secret, seductive online persona, and a sexy fireman named Jack who looks out for her in their NYC neighborhood.

She has no idea that I know her better than she knows herself. Her deepest secrets, her darkest desires—she's careful, but I’ve been watching, never leaving footprints in the snow outside her home.

Jack was the first responder to the accident that stole a beautiful young woman's family two Christmases ago, and he's been quietly guarding her ever since. When Jack uncovers Chloe’s secret account, his obsession only grows. Both he and Chloe are drawn to the darkness that mirrors their own.

She’s my Christmas wish come true. And I'm hers. She just doesn’t know it yet.

Will Chloe’s Christmas be a tale of fiery passion...or a dangerous game with a man whose love knows no bounds? 

My Review: HMMMM.... I'm torn when it comes to this book. I've read and loved previous books by Alta and loved them. However, I didn't love this book but didn't hate it either. 

Chloe was interesting, the way she lead a double life. The kind and sweet Chloe that markets jewelry and the darker Chloe that dresses more sensual and makes particular videos. Nothing wrong with any of it until she rejects someone who happened to get a hold of the photos, leaked it and possibly costing her career. 

Then you have Jack the stalker. He isn't the worst kind you could have, though don't take it as glamourizing it. There are plenty of horrid ones (take it from someone with their own stalker for decades)

Jack simply watches her at first. Shovels her driveway for her. Tries to plan way to run into her, like at the coffee spot she goes to and even what her order is. 

When they finally start to talking, it is a bit weird. It's what Jack want's but his inner dialog is all over the place and freaking out about it. They chat and hang out and it seems almost normal despite what it really is. 

Overall, the book isn't bad. I wouldn't go diving for this book, but if I had nothing else to read or wanted something holiday themed then I'd have gone for it. The characters were fine. The first half and building up to everything was the better part of the book. It's also not a dark romance as it may suggest, which was disappointing. I'm probably not interested enough to read the next one though. 

My Rating:

✪✪✪

Weekly Spotlight - Books set in Spain

 

The Shadow of the Wind
Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals from its war wounds, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax's books in existence. Soon Daniel's seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

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The Fountains of Silence
A portrait of love, silence, and secrets under a Spanish dictatorship.
— Madrid, 1957 —
Under the oppressive dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine. Among them is eighteen-year-old Daniel Matheson, the son of an oil tycoon, who arrives in Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother's birth through the lens of his camera. Photography—and fate—introduce him to Ana, whose family's interweaving obstacles reveal the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War, as well as chilling definitions of fortune and fear. Daniel's photographs leave him with uncomfortable questions amidst shadows of danger. He is backed into a corner of difficult decisions to protect those he loves. Lives and hearts collide, revealing an incredibly dark side to the sunny Spanish city.
Master storyteller Ruta Sepetys once again shines light into one of history's darkest corners in this epic, heart-wrenching novel about identity, unforgettable love, repercussions of war, and the hidden violence of silence—inspired by the true postwar struggles of Spain.
Includes vintage media reports, oral history commentary, photos, and more.

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The Prisoner of Heaven
Barcelona, 1957. It is Christmas, and Daniel Sempere and his wife Bea have much to celebrate. They have a beautiful new baby son named Julian, and their close friend Fermín Romero de Torres is about to be wed. But their joy is eclipsed when a mysterious stranger visits the Sempere bookshop and threatens to divulge a terrible secret that has been buried for two decades in the city's dark past. His appearance plunges Fermín and Daniel into a dangerous adventure that will take them back to the 1940's and the dark early days of Franco's dictatorship. The terrifying events of that time launch them on a journey fraught with jealousy, suspicion, vengeance, and lies, a search for the truth that will put into peril everything they love and ultimately transform their lives.
Full of intrigue and emotion, The Prisoner of Heaven is a majestic novel in which the threads of The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game converge under the spell of literature and bring us toward the enigma of the mystery hidden at the heart of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a collection of lost treasures known only to its few initiates and the very core of Carlos Ruiz Zafón's enchanting fictional world.

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Court of Lions
Sometimes at the lowest points in your life, fate will slip you a gift. Ken Follett meets Jodi Picoult in a stunning new novel from Jane Johnson.
Kate Fordham, escaping terrible trauma, has fled to the beautiful sunlit city of Granada, the ancient capital of the Moors in Spain, where she is scraping by with an unfulfilling job in a busy bar. One day in the glorious gardens of the Alhambra, once home to Sultan Abu Abdullah Mohammed, also known as Boabdil, Kate finds a scrap of paper hidden in one of the ancient walls. Upon it, in strange symbols, has been inscribed a message from another age. It has lain undiscovered since before the Fall of Granada in 1492, when the city was surrendered to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Born of love, in a time of danger and desperation, the fragment will be the catalyst that changes Kate's life forever.
An epic saga of romance and redemption, Court of Lions brings one of the great hinge-points in human history to life, telling the stories of a modern woman and the last Moorish sultan of Granada, as they both move towards their cataclysmic destinies.

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