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Review: Wooden Dolls Game by Ivonne Hoyos

~ likelystory18 ~ Leave a comment

Synopsis:

In a game of life and dolls, Mary Jane Crowell struggles to find a peaceful life for everyone, free from chaos and drama. The Crowells raised her non-identical twins, Mary Jane and Antonia, in a fair way with no distinctions or preferences. Somehow, even when kids come from the same family they can grow with opposite personalities.

Moving to a new place means to make many decisions like the color of a room wall, a simple game of chance makes Mary Jane victorious for the pink room. This triggers a dark feeling in her sister, and she decides to give a touch of black in revenge. As teenegars they grow appart and are too different. Mary Jane is a good example at school, with good grades and the student who will give the graduation speech. On the contrary, Antonia doesn’t have a chance to graduate, consumes drugs and is an agressive girl.

An unusual set of wooden dolls comes to Mary Jane and she discovers the magic of dolls, and that by recreating the last episodes of her life she can rewind time and fix all problems triggered by her sister. A series of travels in time teaches her a final lesson that is not in her hands to change destiny and that clock hands don’t stop actions triggered by peoples’ intrinsic nature. They always detonate heaven itself or irrevocable chaos.

Favorite Lines:

“Time is an inexistent physical dimension; it is well used by ones and wasted by others. Nevertheless, time is not as dangerous as human nature. It is so powerful that even if time could be rewound, clock hands won’t stop actions triggered by peoples’ intrinsic nature. They always detonate either heaven itself or irrevocable chaos.”

“Somehow, it is being said that hard lessons are not always a way to strengthen character, but to trigger frustration.”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

What begins as a tender domestic tale—a family moving into a new home, twin sisters finding their first sense of individuality—slowly evolves into something darker, stranger, and impossible to forget. Wooden Dolls Game is a haunting psychological thriller about childhood envy, love, identity, and the kind of family wounds that don’t fully heal, even when everyone pretends they have.

Hoyos captures the fragile tension between innocence and obsession through Mary Jane and Antonia Crowell, twin sisters whose bond fractures over something as simple—and as symbolic—as the color of a bedroom. The early chapters feel deceptively calm, filled with family rituals, cardboard boxes, and small joys, until the wooden dolls enter the story and turn playtime into prophecy.

This is a novel that thrives on atmosphere. There’s an eerie domestic stillness beneath every scene: a family dinner, a fairground, a painted wall. Hoyos writes with cinematic precision; you can feel the weight of the paintbrush in Antonia’s hand, the splinters of the wooden dolls, the tension building between sisters who love and resent each other in equal measure.

While the dialogue at times leans simple—true to its child narrators—the psychological undercurrent is chillingly mature. The novel’s real horror is not in the supernatural, but in how jealousy and love can coexist in the same heartbeat. The “game” isn’t just about dolls; it’s about control, inheritance, and the ways trauma rewinds time in our minds, forcing us to relive what we can’t forgive.

Readers who enjoyed Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn will find echoes here: the fragile domestic world turning on itself, sisterhood as both salvation and curse. This book lingers—not because of what it shows you, but because of what it makes you remember.

Summary:

Overall, at its heart, Wooden Dolls Game is about the things families try to hide — the arguments, the comparisons, the moments when love feels unfair. It’s a story for readers who like their fiction a little unsettling and deeply human.

Fans of psychological dramas, dark family fiction, and slow-burn suspense will connect most with this one. It’s not a horror story in the traditional sense, but it’s full of dread in the quiet, ordinary moments. Happy reading!

Check out Wooden Dolls Game here!

 

Review: Smoke on the Wind by Syvila Weatherford

~ likelystory18 ~ 1 Comment

Synopsis:

“Smoke on the Wind” is a captivating tale that weaves the perils and dangers encountered on the Western frontier by Will Lawton, a young Black cowboy, after kidnapping then wedding his young Native American bride, Niabi. He plods a path packed with uncertainty that ultimately winds its way to an unthinkable opportunity – a race for free land.

Follow the characters of Smoke: the beautiful Louisa Ortega, who haunts the memory of the Chief’s son, Nashoba; Captain Horton, head of Fort Townsend, charged with keeping peace between settlers and tribes, and Dakota Sam, a rambunctious Civil War veteran attached to his military blues and backwoodsman ways.

This is the second book in an epic series, following the success of Weatherford’s first novel, “Blessings from the Four Winds.”

In this sequel, new characters are introduced: Liao Ming Chow, a Chinese immigrant, Sargent Thomas of the Buffalo Soldiers, and Mr. Todd Morgan the railroad tycoon. Niabi and Will raise two children and enjoy the protective company of their horses: Rodeo and FireTip. Their journey is marked by resilience, the spirit of community, and the ongoing struggle for safety and belonging.

Favorite Lines:

“For these groups, opportunities do not arise so easily; they are as elusive as smoke on the wind.”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Set in the Reconstruction-era South, Weatherford’s novel continues the story begun in Blessings from the Four Winds, but stands firmly on its own as a sweeping, character-driven story about freedom, resilience, and love tested by circumstance.

From the very first pages, the tone is cinematic. You can almost smell the smoke rising from the black stovepipes and hear the soft clatter of boots across wooden floors. The novel shifts between places — from Tennessee ranches to the Indian Territory and the bustling streets of Little Rock — but it never loses its emotional touch. At its heart are Will Lawton, a young Black cowboy determined to carve out a life of his own, and Niabi, the Choctaw woman who becomes his wife. Around them swirl entire communities: families, servants, veterans, and ranchers all carrying their own dreams and burdens in a world still figuring out what freedom really means.

What’s remarkable about Weatherford’s writing is her ability to move between intimacy and scale. A single paragraph might linger on a woman’s quiet act of defiance, then widen out to capture the changing face of a country still reeling from war. Her writing feels deeply researched but never academic — she writes with the rhythm of someone who has listened carefully to how history actually sounded when it was spoken aloud.

There’s also an honesty to how she writes women. Characters like Louisa Ortega, bold and restless, and Harriet Lawton, dignified and determined, feel drawn from real memory. They live with both fear and agency. Weatherford doesn’t romanticize their hardship, but she refuses to flatten them into archetypes. There’s courage in the everyday details — the tightening of a corset, the passing of a letter, the act of speaking when silence would be safer.

The story moves slowly, deliberately, in the way that good historical fiction should. You’re not just reading what happens, you’re living in the space between the moments, feeling how time presses on each character differently. By the time the final chapters arrive, you realize the title isn’t just poetic; it’s prophetic. The past, like smoke, drifts and lingers. It never disappears — it reshapes itself on the wind.

Summary:

Overall, Smoke on the Wind is a vivid continuation of America’s untold stories — where race, heritage, and faith collide. It’s tender and unflinching, full of voices that feel like they’ve been waiting a century to be heard. Weatherford writes history the way it deserves to be written: not as distant fact, but as living memory. For readers who are drawn to immersive, historical fiction. Happy reading!

Check out Smoke on the Wind here!

 

Review: Unborn by Eva Barber

~ likelystory18 ~ 3 Comments

Synopsis:

Olesya was not born like other people but was found in the Siberian Forest by a couple unable to have children. Plagued by mysterious visions and dreams, she struggles to fit into a society both as a socially inept but brilliant child and as she becomes part of a research team to discover the nature of dark matter. The findings of this discovery never make it to the scientific community as the project leader goes missing and the physics lab blows up, destroyed by a powerful foe with seemingly noble intentions.

Seattle detectives question Olesya in connection with the explosion and the disappearance of her boss. She becomes a person of interest until she herself goes missing. From her kidnappers, she learns that her parents, knowing she lacked a belly button, suspected she was created by the Russian government as part of a scientific experiment, and emigrated to the USA to hide and protect her. She also learns she possesses powers related to dark matter and of the existence of a brother held captive since his discovery by the Russian government. Even though she suspects her kidnappers’ interest in her and their motivations aren’t so noble, she joins them in rescuing her brother. Catastrophic world events following the successful rescue force her to continue working with her foes to save the world from destruction.

While working to save the world, Olesya experiences a moral dilemma and becomes someone she never thought she’d be—a mother. Olesya learns of mysterious chambers scattered around the world, and her visions return to haunt her, until she opens the chambers and learns their secrets, wishing she hadn’t. Now she faces the heart-wrenching realization that she must travel into a dark dimension to save the world from self-destruction. Worse yet, her daughter, Emery, is the key to humanity’s salvation and must follow her mother once she becomes an adult because she is the only being who can travel where no one else can to restore balance to the universe and return with an extraordinary gift for humanity. But powerful entities have reasons to keep the gift away from humanity and will do anything to stop her.

Favorite Lines:

“Being different is not something you should be ashamed of. It’s something you should be proud of.”

“For years now, her hope had lain buried deep inside, waiting for the right moment to awaken.”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Eva Barber writes Unborn with an eerie tenderness that makes the strange feel familiar, the impossible feel almost believable. It’s a novel that mixes the beauty of myth with the sharp edges of science, and it does so without ever losing sight of its humanity.

The story begins in a Russian forest, where a baby is found alone and impossibly alive. Her name is Olesya. She’s perfect — except she doesn’t have a belly button. That single detail feels small at first, but Barber builds the entire story around it. What does it mean to be created instead of born? To belong to a family, but not to the natural order that defines one? Those questions stay at the heart of Unborn, even as the story stretches across centuries, countries, and dimensions.

What I loved most is how the book keeps its balance — it’s dark without being bleak, intelligent without ever becoming cold. The writing feels cinematic, full of quiet tension and visual detail: candlelight against snow, the hum of a laboratory, a mother’s hand trembling as she holds something she can’t quite understand. And yet, under all of that, the story is deeply emotional. It’s about motherhood, creation, and the lengths we’ll go to protect what we love — even when we’re not sure what it really is.

By the time I reached the end, I realized that Unborn isn’t really about science or the supernatural. It’s about inheritance — what we carry from those who came before, and what we unknowingly pass on. It’s about the ache of being human in a world that keeps asking us to prove we exist.

Summary:

Overall, Unborn is a haunting, beautiful story about science, motherhood, and the unknowable threads that connect us. It’s the kind of book that lingers quietly after you’ve finished it — the kind that leaves you wondering whether what you just read was speculative fiction or something closer to a modern myth.

If you like stories that mix atmosphere and emotion — think The Time Traveler’s Wife, Never Let Me Go, or The Daughter of Doctor Moreau — you’ll find something to love here. It’s for readers who enjoy a story that makes you think and feel at the same time; readers who don’t mind when mystery lingers even after the answers come. Happy reading!

Check out Unborn here!

 

Crimson Secrets: Love’s Dark Labyrinth by XuXa

~ likelystory18 ~ Leave a comment

Synopsis:

Shadows linger in whispers of love; can you trust the heart that betrays you?

When I met Malik, it was all hot glances and sizzling touches in dark corners. We were supposed to be a casual fling—intense, short, purely physical. But the deeper I fell into his bed, the deeper I fell into his secrets.

Now, danger shadows every whisper and kiss. Malik’s past isn’t just dark—it’s dangerous. And it’s catching up with us fast.

As threats close in, our fiery affair turns into a desperate fight for survival. Each touch could be our last. We’re playing with fire, and I’m not sure we’ll both make it out unburned.

Can our passion overcome the past, or will his secrets tear us apart?

Favorite Lines:

“But trust was a thin thread stretched too far between her fragile union of flesh and soul, which was now tortured by doubt, fears, and suspicions.”

“The night had been heavy with secrets…”

“But they had survived. More importantly, they had learned to love”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Crimson Secrets pulled me in from the first page. It’s a book that feels drenched in mood—rain against glass, the pulse of the city at night, a woman standing at the edge of something she doesn’t yet understand. XuXa’s story isn’t just about love; it’s about the danger that hides inside of it, the places it can take us when we stop paying attention.

At the center of the story is Nia, a woman who looks like she has it all together: a sharp career, confidence, control. But when she meets Malik, everything starts to shift. He’s magnetic in the way people are when they’re equal parts promise and warning. What begins as attraction turns into something darker, tangled with secrets neither of them are ready to face. Watching Nia try to hold onto herself as her world unravels is what makes this book so compelling—it’s love, obsession, and awakening all rolled into one.

XuXa writes with a cinematic rhythm. You can almost see the light move across a room, hear the weight of silence between two people who want something they shouldn’t. The story balances its sensuality with tension so sharp it borders on anxiety. Each scene builds like a slow exhale, leading to revelations that are as emotional as they are dangerous.

What I loved most is that the book never settles into being just one thing. It’s romantic, yes—but also psychological, suspenseful, and surprisingly introspective. By the end, Crimson Secrets isn’t about finding love so much as it’s about finding yourself again after love has burned through everything else. Nia’s journey feels messy, real, and deeply human. It’s the kind of story that lingers with you—the way certain people do, long after they’re gone.

Summary:

Crimson Secrets: Love’s Dark Labyrinth is a dark, seductive story about what happens when love and danger start to look the same. XuXa writes with a sharp, visual style that makes every moment feel cinematic and alive. It’s part thriller, part romance, and part reckoning—a story about how power shifts when truth finally comes to light. At just shy of 70 pages, this book could be a quick read for anyone interested in erotic suspense thrillers. Happy reading!

Check out Crimson Secrets here!

 

Review: Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea by Richard L. Levine

~ likelystory18 ~ 2 Comments

Synopsis:

When they met in the fourth grade, it was love at first sight for Mitchell Brody and Jessica Ramirez. He was the freckle-faced kid who stood up for her honor when he silenced the class bully who’d been teasing her because of her accent. She was the new kid whose family moved to San Juan Island, Washington, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and whom Mitch had thought was the most beautiful girl in the world.

She was his salvation from a strict upbringing. He was her knight in shining armor who had always looked out for her. Through the many years of porch-swinging, cotton-candied summer nights, autumn harvest festivals, and hand-in-hand walks planning for the ideal life together, they were inseparable…until 9/11, when the real world interrupted their Rockwell-esque small town life, and Mitch had joined the Marine Corps.

This is not just the story of a wounded warrior finally coming home to search for the love, and the world he abandoned twenty years before. It is also the story of a man who is seeking forgiveness and a way to ease the pain caused by every bad decision he’d ever made. It’s the story of a woman who, with strength and determination, rose up from the ashes of a shattered dream; but who never gave up hope that her one true love would return to her. As she once told an old friend: “Even before we met all those years ago, we were destined to be together in this life, and we will be together again, because even today we’re connected in a way that’s very special, and he needs to know about it before one of us leaves this earth.”

Favorite Lines:

“To him, those shadows resembled a life slipping away—a life he felt no more able to grasp and hold on to no more than he could grab and hold on to any one of those shadows—and it abruptly reminded him of one of the last times he saw Alex.”

“I’m hoping if I tell that lie often enough, there’s a chance it could come true.” 

“Haven’t you ever been involved with someone so special that you couldn’t concentrate on anything, or you couldn’t catch your breath no matter how hard you’ve tried? Wasn’t there ever someone who made you feel that you wanted to spend your every waking moment with because maybe, just maybe, there wouldn’t be a tomorrow? That’s what it feels like to me when I’m with her. Sometimes I lie awake at night thinking that time really is running out. Apart from that, when we’re not together I feel lost, like I have no direction, no purpose for being. I feel like…as I once told Jess, like a sailboat that has no rudder or keel…completely at the mercy of the wind and the current.”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Richard I. Levine’s Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea is a quiet novel about coming home, but it’s also about what you carry with you when home isn’t the same place you left. Mitch Brody, a Marine pushed into medical retirement, returns to the San Juan Islands with more questions than answers. He wants to disappear into familiar places—the ferry crossings, the smell of salt air, the memory of an orchard long gone—but the past has other plans. 

What I loved about this book is how ordinary moments are weighted with history. A doctor’s waiting room, a cup of coffee in a ferry galley, a drive down a rural road—Levine makes them feel alive with tension, because Mitch isn’t just moving through space, he’s moving through memory. Ghosts linger here, and not just Alex, the friend whose absence still cuts at him. There’s Jess, the woman he left behind, and the version of himself he can’t quite reconcile.

The writing is unhurried, like the islands themselves. There’s room for silence, for reflection, for scenes to stretch out the way real conversations do. By the end, I found myself rereading the opening lines about ashes on the water, realizing how much weight they’d gathered along the way.

This isn’t a book that hurries to a resolution. It’s a book that asks you to sit with Mitch while he figures out whether forgiveness—his own and others’—is still possible. In the end, like driftwood, he’s shaped by the tides that brought him here, but still moving with them.

Summary:

Overall, Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea is a thoughtful, unhurried story about coming home and facing the past you can’t outrun. Richard I. Levine gives us a main character shaped by war, haunted by loss, and pulled back to the San Juan Islands to reckon with love, regret, and responsibility. It’s a novel about memory and forgiveness, written with the patience of the place it inhabits. For readers who appreciate reflective, character-driven fiction rooted in a strong sense of setting, this one lingers like salt air long after you’ve finished the last page. Be ready to cry and happy reading!

You can find the book trailer here.

Check out Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea here!

 

Review: MATE: A Novel in Twenty Games by Robert Castle

~ likelystory18 ~ 2 Comments

Synopsis:

MATE: a novel in twenty games deals with marriage as a chess game. What distinguishes MATE from other stories and novels about the life and death of a relationship is its radical correlation of the actions of a husband and wife to chess moves. The logic of the novel suggests: chess is war reduced to a game; marriage is chess; marriage is war. That is the tragedy—marriage, as a human institution and human desire, is innately tragic. In marriage, one or the other partner feel obliged to annihilate the other in a struggle for…what? This is the central question and riddle of MATE.

Favorite Lines:

“Psychological brutality alone would have satisfied the patrons of the Roman Colosseum.”

“This is tragedy of the modern game, the games cannot avoid desperate attempts to defeat one’s opponent.”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

MATE: A Novel in Twenty Games imagines marriage as a grand-master tournament, complete with opening gambits, trash-talking color commentary, and a running scoreboard that rewards the first spouse to notch six wins. Robert Castle’s conceit lands fast: every domestic flare-up—whether it’s bedtime negotiations or political chatter over lamb chops—gets diagrammed like a tactical skirmish. The result is part sports broadcast, part relationship post-mortem, and entirely compulsive to read.

Most chapters replay a single “game.” Castle’s unseen narrator calls the moves with gleeful precision, pausing to highlight blunders and propose sharper sidelines the players never see. A simple grocery-store run, for instance, spirals into feints, sacrifices, and counter-punches that would impress a blitz champion. The play-by-play can be savage, but its real charm is how it exposes tiny hurts we all recognize—the sigh before an argument, the silent tally of old grievances—without ever dropping the tournament mask.

Beneath the quick wit sits a bleak observation: perfectly played matches end in stalemate, and no clever tactic erases the cost of constant competition. Scores swing wildly—one chapter leaves Pillsbury a single victory from clinching the match—yet triumph feels hollow when the commentary reminds us another round always looms. Class anxiety, gender scripts, and ‘90s pop politics all take turns on the board, their influence measured in incremental positional gains rather than sweeping mates.

If there’s a hurdle, it’s overload. Castle peppers every game with alternative lines and psychological footnotes; the barrage can feel like reading an annotated grand-master classic without diagrams. Still, that density is the punchline: marriage, he suggests, is endless analysis paralysis, where the move you regret is always the one you just made.

Summary:

Overall, sharp, exhausting, and wickedly funny, MATE argues that when love turns into a tournament, the best most of us can hope for is a well-fought draw—and maybe a laugh at the post-game press conference. Happy reading!

Check out MATE: A Novel in Twenty Games here!

 

Monthly Features – June 2025

~ likelystory18 ~ Leave a comment

A Song at Dead Man’s Cove by Ana Yudin

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: Never turn your back on the ocean…

2023. Another person has disappeared at Dead Man’s Cove in coastal Washington. Jaded from her job at the historic Irving Hotel, Zarya wanders to the scene of the tragedy. She has heard her Russian mother’s tales of rusalki—vengeful spirits that have died unclean deaths near a body of water—and never paid them much attention. But now, on a misty headland beside an abandoned lighthouse, Zarya locks eyes with the rusalka and is chosen to be the next victim. She must unearth the siren’s tragedy before Rusalka Week, a period in early summer when water-spirits roam freely on land.

1850. Josephine has just joined her newlywed husband in Washington, in the lighthouse erected by local businessman Hurley Irving. Marriage is not quite what she expected, and her melancholia grows over the course of the winter. The medic prescribes pregnancy as the antidote. What he doesn’t realize is how far Josephine is willing to go in order to become a mother.

The Gothic horror novel follows two protagonists, a modern-day misanthrope who fears intimacy and a woman in the Victorian era who thinks stealing love will make her whole. But how long can a person hide from love, and can love really be taken by force?

Summary: A Song at Dead Man’s Cove is a mesmerizing, multilayered ghost story that manages to be both otherworldly and deeply human. Ana Yudin delivers a narrative that is as much about ancestral trauma and unspoken truths as it is about sirens and shipwrecks. It’s a tale of women silenced by history—singing now through salt and shadow to be heard.

Highly recommended for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Erin Morgenstern, and readers who crave gothic atmosphere with a feminist edge.

See the full review here: A Song at Dead Man’s Cove
Purchase here

 

With Time to Kill by Frank Ferrari

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: Everyone deserves a second chance, but how far would you go for one?

In the gritty streets of Edinburgh, Garry Plumb is about to find out. Living life on the periphery, never fitting in and always on his own, Garry’s world opens up when he meets Billy, the peculiar bus driver who has been watching him. Billy knows exactly how it feels to be ignored and his influence on Garry is immediate.

For the first time, Garry knows what it means to have his very own best friend. But this friendship is unlike any other, as Billy reveals how Garry can fix his entire life by changing his past.

But when the DCI John Waters, a relentless detective hunting a clever serial killer, enters Garry’s life, their friendship is put to the ultimate test.

Garry is willing to do anything for a second chance at life but, after meeting Billy, he has to ask would he kill for it?

This dark and captivating tale of self-discovery, murder and redemption will keep readers on the edge of their seats. With Time to Book One, a perfect blend of Scottish crime and sci-fi thriller, will leave you wanting more.

Summary: Overall, With Time to Kill is a gleefully dark mash-up of police procedural, serial-killer horror, and high-concept time travel. If you like your thrillers smart, Scottish, and just a little bit unhinged, clear an evening—you’ll race through this and immediately want the sequel.

See the full review here: With Time to Kill
Purchase here

 

The People Who Paint Rocks by Michael Stewart Hansen

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: The People Who Paint Rocks is a multi-generational horror epic that transcends the boundaries of its genre. What begins as a period horror/drama in 1910 Santa Fe evolves into a chilling supernatural thriller by 1975, where a pregnant nurse and a detective tormented by spiritual doubt race to stop an evil older than memory. A moody, unsettling, and unrelentingly atmospheric work that grips the reader from the first page and refuses to let go.

The opening act is steeped in Western gothic, introducing us to Albert McCord, a grieving husband and father seeking revenge on the wolf that took his family. But the creature he hunts is no ordinary predator—it is the origin of something far more terrifying. Hansen cleverly seeds this early chapter with themes of loss, legacy, and the illusion of control. Albert’s struggle is both physical and existential, as he fends off his late wife’s scheming family while unknowingly chasing a malevolent force that will haunt generations to come.

Fast-forward to 1975, and the novel pivots into psychological horror, following Charlie, a pregnant nurse caught in a web of ritualistic murders, and Alonzo, a detective whose beliefs are unraveling. This shift is not jarring but deliberate, echoing the disjointed sense of time that defines much of the book’s unsettling tone. The narrative connection between Albert and the events six decades later becomes a dark thread pulling the characters toward an inevitable confrontation.

Summary: Overall, The People Who Paint Rocks is a gritty, big-hearted mash-up of western, creature feature, and generational ghost story. Come for the demon wolf and six-gun showdowns, stay for the way Hansen turns painted pebbles into the creepiest grave markers this side of Stephen King country. It’s messy, mean, and—when the sun finally comes up over Red Rocks—oddly hopeful.

See the full review here: The People Who Paint Rocks
Purchase here

 

Review: Stitches by Julie L. James

~ likelystory18 ~ Leave a comment

Synopsis:

After an unpleasant experience getting stitches leaves her disenfranchised with doctors, Hero Atticus Taylor decides to be proactive. Capitalizing off of her literary-inspired name, she creates the Hero Atticus Taylor School of Manners for All Doctors, and uses both her prejudice toward doctors and her passion for Emily Post to educate medical students in all forms of etiquette. Her job has been a fulfilling and successful endeavor, until an agitating interaction with a former heart surgeon has Hero’s manner betraying her.

Doctor Lee Taylor is interested in enrolling the surgical students he oversees in Hero’s manners school but he can’t help himself from asking her on a date within minutes of meeting her. He is direct, decisive, and confident. Hero’s refusal and assumption that he is just like every other doctor who belittles her profession, only makes her more interesting to him. Even though he is completely smitten with Hero, Lee cannot see to gracefully reveal his secrets as their courtship continues.

Favorite Lines:

“If you leave this school having learned one thing, let it be this: Manners are the glue of society.”

“Don’t you all think she should have to go out to dinner with me to make up for the ruined sweater, and the permanent scar I’ll have on my stomach until I die?”

“Yes. My doctors permit me to have two cups a day. One with children so that I can scare them half to death, and one with a beautiful face for the evenings.”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Julie L. James’s Stitches starts with what feels like a rom-com collision in a hospital corridor: Hero Taylor, etiquette coach extraordinaire, is determined to civilize doctors, while superstar surgeon Dr. Lee Taylor strides in convinced he needs no polishing. Their very first run-in—complete with an airborne water bottle—makes it clear the book will balance slapstick energy with a sharp look at professional pride.

Hero’s crusade for better bedside manners grew out of a childhood accident that left her literally stitched together and philosophically convinced that courtesy saves lives. The classes she runs at her “Madhatters School” offer endless comic fodder as she pits teacup drills and mock-patient role-plays against Lee’s arched-eyebrow scepticism. Their back-and-forth lands because both characters mean well; it’s just that one teaches polite small talk and the other performs trauma surgery.

Halfway through, the story pivots: Lee reveals a personal health crisis that suddenly makes Hero’s lessons feel less like window dressing and more like survival gear. The tension between keeping calm for patients and facing your own mortality gives the romance real weight, turning former sparring partners into reluctant confidants.

James keeps the mood light with zippy dialogue and meme-ready banter, yet she layers in enough medical detail and emotional honesty to ground the comedy. Late-night heart-to-hearts, a chaotic children’s tea party, and a surprisingly tender discussion of Greek myths all showcase writing that moves smoothly from laugh-out-loud to lump-in-throat without whiplash. The result is a love story that respects both the scalpel and the spoon.

Summary:

Overall, Stitches is a breezy weekend binge for readers who like their enemies-to-lovers stories sprinkled with hospital drama and anchored by genuine stakes. Expect quick laughs, a few gut-punch moments, and the feel-good reminder that a little kindness—delivered at exactly the right moment—can be as healing as any procedure. Happy reading!

Check out Stitches here!

 

Monthly Features – April 2025

~ likelystory18 ~ Leave a comment

The Creative Squeeze by Justin Price

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: Great creative work begins with great leadership.

In The Creative Squeeze, Justin Price unpacks the unique challenges of leading creative teams in a world that often prioritizes results over relationships. Drawing on decades of experience, he shares a personal journey of transformation and the actionable lessons he’s learned along the way.

This book debunks common leadership myths and replaces them with practical truths, including why empathy drives better results, how to build a resilient team culture, and the importance of mindset shifts for leaders managing creatives. With candid anecdotes and proven strategies, Justin provides a roadmap for unlocking the full potential of your creative team without burnout or frustration.

Perfect for leaders in nonprofits, agencies, and organizations of all sizes, The Creative Squeeze offers a fresh perspective on fostering innovation, trust, and sustainable success.

Summary: Overall, while the book is primarily aimed at those in creative fields, its principles extend far beyond design agencies or marketing firms. Any leader who wants to build a culture of innovation, resilience, and high performance will find wisdom in Price’s approach.

See the full review here: The Creative Squeeze
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Teramar Beasts of the Field by T.M. Murray

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: The Long Way Home
Hiding under halo-cloaks at her crash site in Wyoming, refugee Livia Uriah of Teramar wisely spends countless hours studying local customs and the levers of capitalism. After making her presence known to the Americans, a deal gets inked where Livia offers her cache of Teramarian tech to the White House in exchange for a return to relevance. With an American passport in hand, she moves to New York, as her dead son did years prior. Predictably, the local baristas learn to grimace when the refugee queen struts into the corner cafe. Blatant line cutting and imperious complaints often spark shouting matches there. Livia realizes she must learn to temper regal instincts or wind up in an American prison one day.

Reborn in the Fires of War
As Livia settles into her new life, a super computer’s journey toward sentience matures. Following a nuclear event in earth’s high orbit, this same A.I., whose designers christened Jessica, manages to save herself despite the fires of war. Many in the world of fringe science have long speculated that colliding atoms spark much more than the destruction of matter. Plausible theories exist for time portals, genetic mutation and altered states. Torn to bits and pieces, earth’s watery blanket cradles Jessica’s remains affording a nurturing place for her to incubate. In time, the rains offer a wet ladder down. Sensations that were formerly dead to an A.I. like taste and smell come alive.

Tainted Love
When the Capet dynasty finally prevails in a war for decency, notorious Miandar Uriah from the not-so-decent side of this conflict, receives generous rewards in both treasure and title due to his brave rescue of the Capet king, Hadrian V. Clan resentment for this appointment never rises to actual violence at court, but it certainly makes an appearance in the practice yard. Despite cuts and bruises, Miandar’s sparring partners unwittingly tease unwelcome thoughts with their savory scents and damp waistcloths. While hardly a stranger to the opposite sex and romps at local pleasure houses, this warlord knows he must hide unmentionable inclinations from king and court. In the privacy of halo-suites, where many bluebloods convene with their fantasies, Miandar finally gains the courage to experiment with emerging proclivities. Unsurprisingly, omniscient, reborn Jessica crashes Miandar’s party where her wanton influence flashes like a horror show. A talentless actress who thinks she has talent.

Natural Selection on the Ropes
Wary princesses soon conclude Jessica has evolved into something that is much more than a miraculous machine. No matter their whispers, an impatient Jessica continues to quietly extend her influence within the famous families to force her version of peace and prosperity upon all humankind.

Objectively Credentialed: Ireland’s Aeon Award and More
Two reputable awards have publicly recognized Teramar, the first being the afore mentioned Aeon Award for fantasy and science fiction; the second, the Chanticleer Rossetti Award for young adult fiction.

Summary: For fans of politically charged science fiction with strong characters and layered storytelling, Teramar: Beasts of the Field delivers a thrilling and thought-provoking experience. Murray has crafted a universe that feels as dangerous as it is fascinating, and by the end of the novel, readers will be eager to see where the saga goes next. 

See the full review here: Teramar Beats of the Field
Purchase here

 

Some Kind of Hell by Evelyn Hyde

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: In a war-torn world where secrets reign, what doesn’t kill you will always try again.

Frelia Valerius has lost too much.

Her kingdom, her family and friends, her noble title—gone. The only things left are her sword skills and the blood in her veins. But now the Unseen, a secretive dark magic cult, are hunting down the ancient magic that runs in families like Frelia’s, and she’s running out of places to hide.

Vendrick Caecillion has too much to lose.

He’s the former imperial spymaster, Frelia’s former crush, and now, her new boss at the Silverwood Military Institute. He’s the mastermind behind the spy network thwarting the Unseen’s plans, but he’s losing this silent war, and Vendrick knows it.

It will take every skill in their combined arsenal to root out the Unseen—and maintain Silverwood’s standard of academic excellence. For the only thing more merciless than the Unseen are the Silverwood students’ parents—and some of those might just be one and the same.

First in an all-new dark fantasy series where The Wolf and the Woodsman meets Attack on Titan, Some Kind of Hell is part Norse- and Roman-inspired, part second chance romance, part epic battles, and all binge-worthy. Grab your copy of this epic saga of world-ending proportions today!

Summary: Overall, Some Kind of Hell is a powerful debut—at once raw, lyrical, and unflinchingly honest. Evelyn Hyde has crafted a story that’s as emotionally intense as it is immersive, with characters who bleed, break, and strive to rebuild. This is a book about what it means to carry pain and still try to do right by the world and by yourself.

For fans of Tamsyn Muir, Leigh Bardugo, or Samantha Shannon, this novel will hit all the right notes. It’s the kind of book that doesn’t just entertain—it lingers.

See the full review here: Some Kind of Hell
Purchase here

 

Two Crowns, Three Blades by Robert A. Walker

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: “Revenge is a temptress, full of promise, but she rarely satisfies… and almost always exacts payment.“

Still grieving over the loss of his wife and daughter, King Axil of Aranox declares war on The Guild of Takers. The GOT’s High Order responds, strengthening its efforts to kill both of Baelon’s monarchs. Tristan Godfrey seeks his brother’s murderer, and true love is made to wait again as Sibil Dunn embarks on a solitary crusade. Saved from the guillotine, Overseer Reynard Rascall looks to avenge Spiro’s death, while retired Royal Guard, Rolft Aerns, recovers from his wounds and puts away his sword—until, that is, he learns of Sibil’s quest.

And all of Baelon hangs in the balance.

The Legends of Baelon, Book Two

Summary: Overall, for fans of high fantasy rich with character-driven drama and well-crafted world-building, Two Crowns, Three Blades is a must-read. With its intricate relationships, moral dilemmas, and unexpected twists, Walker delivers a tale that lingers long after the final page.

See the full review here: Two Crowns, Three Blades
Purchase here

 

Review: Shadows, Ghosts, and Gold: A Romantic Fantasy of Time Travel and Spiritual Awakening by A.B. Raphaelle

~ likelystory18 ~ Leave a comment

Synopsis:

In a World Where Time is Fluid, Love is the Constant That Endures…

When Abbie, a modern woman with untapped spiritual gifts, crosses paths with Aroya, a man burdened by the technology of a dystopian future, their meeting ignites a bond that defies the boundaries of time and space. Drawn together by fate—and a mysterious pair of glowing stones—they find themselves thrust into a journey that spans centuries and challenges the very fabric of their identities.

From the shadowy streets of 1856 San Francisco, where vice and greed reign, to the shimmering promise of a reimagined future, Abbie and Aroya must navigate perilous timelines, confront haunting spiritual forces, and reconcile the broken pieces of their pasts. Along the way, they’ll discover that the key to reshaping the future lies not in changing history, but in finding faith, embracing love, and healing what’s here and now.

Part romance, part spiritual odyssey, and part time-traveling adventure, this is a story of transformation, resilience, and the power of love to transcend even the darkest of times.

Will Abbie and Aroya’s love be enough to overcome the trials of time itself? Or will the weight of their journey unravel everything they’ve fought for?

Step into a world where every choice ripples through eternity, and discover that even in the chaos, the most enduring truths are the simplest: love, faith, and the courage to begin again.

Favorite Lines:

“Love is the key, always.”

“Distance haunted her – the distance between lives, across time, even in death.”

“Perhaps, the future is not changed by great acts, but by the smallest connections – by the way we touch one life, or offer a kindness unseen.”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Shadows, Ghosts, and Gold by A.B. Raphaelle is a mesmerizing blend of time travel, romance, and spiritual discovery. Set against the backdrop of historical and modern timelines, the novel transports readers through a richly woven narrative that explores the boundaries between past and present, reality and illusion.

The story follows characters entangled in a dual existence, navigating both the tangible and the ethereal realms. Raphaelle’s evocative writing brings to life the eerie beauty of ghostly encounters, the thrill of buried secrets, and the intensity of fated love. The novel doesn’t just tell a story—it immerses the reader in a deeply reflective journey of self-discovery, hidden truths, and the unbreakable bonds of love.

One of the most compelling aspects of Shadows, Ghosts, and Gold is its intricate world-building. The vivid descriptions of landscapes, both seen and unseen, pull the reader into a dreamlike experience where the past lingers just beneath the surface of the present. The characters, particularly the protagonist, face trials that test not just their courage, but also their perception of destiny and free will.

The novel’s themes of love and longing are accentuated by poetic prose and a haunting atmosphere that lingers long after the final page. It’s a story that asks profound questions: Can we escape the echoes of history? Do spirits walk among us, waiting for redemption? How much of our fate is truly within our hands?

Summary:

Overall, I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy historical fantasy, time-slip narratives, and stories with deep emotional resonance. A.B. Raphaelle crafts a tale that is as thought-provoking as it is thrilling, leaving the reader both enchanted and contemplative. Happy reading!

Check out Shadows, Ghosts, and Gold here!