J.R. Ward is best known for her Black Dagger Brotherhood series and its spinoffs - full of vampires, shifters, and angels. Crown of War and Shadow has her moving into the fantasy realm for the first time (to my knowledge, anyway). Crown is a highly enjoyable first entry into the Kingdoms of the Compass series. Our lead is an outcast cursed with abilities no one wants to admit to needing. Her past is murky and her life is lonely. When the boundaries protecting her realm from t

The Final Target is Nora Roberts’ latest standalone novel. It’s the saga of Arden, an author, and the man that stalks and attacks her. I consider Roberts’ writing comforting, even when she’s writing really dark stuff. While this book should come with lots of trigger and content warnings (stalking, sexual assault, gun violence) you can count on it, like most of Roberts’ books, to turn out ok. The plot moves along pretty quickly, using both Arden’s POV and that of her stalker.

*I was invited to read the e-arc of this book by the publisher through NetGalley. I appreciate their generosity!* Dark Sisters by Kristi De Meester is a captivating tale of witchcraft, a cult, and men usurping women’s power. Focusing on three women and the women in their orbits in three time periods, Dark Sisters paints a picture of women trying their hardest to take control of their own lives and being thwarted by the men around them; men who happen to be involved a cult th