Sharon Sala's Secrets and Lies trilogy comes to an end with "Dark Hearts"

Description:
Betsy Jakes was having nightmares, nightmares that could solve a decades-old mystery. And for someone in her small town, that meant she had to die. 

When Sam Jakes returns home to help his brother solve their mother's murder, two things shake him to the core. This crime is clearly the work of a serial killer who has struck twice before. And…Lainey Pickett is still in town. The woman he walked away from without an explanation years ago has just walked back into his life. She still holds a grudge—and his heart. 

As Sam digs deeper into the murders and thirty-year-old secrets begin to emerge, he finds himself racing against time not only to catch a killer but to keep Lainey, the only woman he'll ever love, from falling victim, too.

Three people are dead and Trina, Trey's sister, is fighting for her life after being shot point blank. Trey calls his older brother Sam, who has been estranged from the family since facing a road side bomb in Iraq and being scarred. Sam immediately comes running home to help his brother find out who killed their mother and her classmates. They know that the killings stem from something that happened on graduation day, but not what happened that night.

Sam looks up Lainey, the girl he left behind. It's kind of a quick turn around from both of them being so mad and hurt about Sam not returning to them being happy go lucky back together again, but who cares, I love Ms Sala's work!

What was really great about this trilogy is that, I had absolutely NO IDEA who the killer was until Trina woke up! Wow! I was not expecting that! But what a GREAT ending to this series!

Adi Rule brings us an all new young adult novel "The Hidden Twin"

Description:

For eighteen years a girl with no name, a Redwing, has been hidden away in a small attic room within a city of hissing pipes and curving temples perched on the side of the great volcano, Mol, while her sister, Jey-identical except for her eyes-has lived her life in public as an only child. Their father had hoped the hidden girl would one day grow up to be a normal human girl and not the wicked creature mythology has promised, so he secretly spared her life as an infant.

But when she switches places with her sister, striking up a flirtation with the son of the Empress while working in the royal gardens and gets attacks by two suspicious priests on her journey home, she is forced to call forth fire to protect herself, unleashing her previously dormant powers and letting her secret out. She soon catches the attention of a cult with a thousand year old grudge as well as a group of underground rebels, both seeking her for their own gain. But when her sister goes missing and the Redwing uncovers a great plot to awaken Mol and bring fiery destruction upon them all, she is forced to embrace her powers.

Jey and hers sister were born twins, the children of a human and an Other. When twins are born, a priest will come and bless them and make sure they are human. If an other is born, they are immediately killed. But Jey and her twin's parents loved them very much. Their mother dies protecting them and their father flees with them. Jey goes to Temple and learns while her sister, who has no name, spends her time in a glass room on the top of their home, hidden from sight. 

But when Jey and her sister switch places, the sister is attacked and and she uses magic to save herself. She finds help with a resistance and almost finds death with a religious cult. 

Her sister goes missing and the newly recognized Redwing will do anything to save her. Including helping the Resistance to take out an artifact that could prevent destruction.

I enjoyed this book very much. I was stuck at home after having surgery, bored out of my mind, and this book kept me occupied. I couldn't put it down, I read it in a couple of hours, and was sad that I had finished it. I liked Redwing, I hated her twin sister (which makes me feel bad because I have an identical twin sister myself). I wish there had been more emphasis on the secondary characters, but it was great.

Anne Bishop returns with a new book in the Others series "Marked In Flesh"

Description:
For centuries, the Others and humans have lived side by side in uneasy peace. But when humankind oversteps its bounds, the Others will have to decide how much humanity they’re willing to tolerate—both within themselves and within their community...
 
Since the Others allied themselves with the cassandra sangue, the fragile yet powerful human blood prophets who were being exploited by their own kind, the delicate dynamic between humans and Others changed. Some, like Simon Wolfgard, wolf shifter and leader of the Lakeside Courtyard, and blood prophet Meg Corbyn, see the new, closer companionship as beneficial—both personally and practically.
 
But not everyone is convinced. A group of radical humans is seeking to usurp land through a series of violent attacks on the Others. What they don’t realize is that there are older and more dangerous forces than shifters and vampires protecting the land that belongs to the Others—and those forces are willing to do whatever is necessary to protect what is theirs...

Anne Bishop has been one of my favorite fantasy authors for many years now. She was the first fantasy author I read after getting hooked on fantasy because of Harry Potter. I loved the Black Jewels series and I liked her other series. This series, though, I have really loved, too.

Meg Corbyn has become a very important person in the lives of the Others who live in the Lakeside Courtyard. With their help, many others like her were saved. She works continuously to find ways for the other girls to acclimate to the outside world, and she keeps working on that in this book.

The human organization that wants to rid the world of the others is becoming increasingly.They are attacking people who are friendly with the Others and stores that allow Others to shop there. They are killing wild animals in mass amounts that are on Others' land, that they use for food. Two of the girls like Meg are having visions and are luckily able to communicate to help the Others escape danger.

But, the Elders, those elusive Others that no one sees, are done with it. They send a message to Simon and Lakeside Courtyard, asking are humans worth saving. The courtyard Others know that something is going to happen and they have to decide whether humans live or die.

This was another fantastic installment in the Others series. Meg and Simon are developing a relationship, and I am hoping that eventually it will come to fruit! I like the interactions between the characters and meeting new characters as well.  I'm hoping she keeps this series going for a good while yet, because I look forward to them every year!

Patricia Briggs brings back Mercy in a new novel out March 2016 "Fire Touched"

Description:
Tensions between the fae and humans are coming to a head. And when coyote shapeshifter Mercy and her Alpha werewolf mate, Adam, are called upon to stop a rampaging troll, they find themselves with something that could be used to make the fae back down and forestall out-and-out war: a human child stolen long ago by the fae.
 
Defying the most powerful werewolf in the country, the humans, and the fae, Mercy, Adam, and their pack choose to protect the boy no matter what the cost. But who will protect them from a boy who is fire touched?

To be honest, Mercy Thompson needs to introduction. Many of us have been reading this series for years and love every bit of it. Our favorite characters return this time, with Zee and Tad as well as Mercy and Adam. 

Mercy and Adam get a call about some weird monster on the bridge, so off they go as well as some of their pack to figure out what is going on. The weird monster is a troll, set loose by the fey. They are helped by Zee and Tad and a strange boy named Aiden who is Fire Touched. They manage to kill the troll.

They fey want Aiden and will do anything to get him. He seeks sanctuary with Mercy and Adam and the pack, but they are unsure of who and what he is. But what they see is a small child, about ten years old, who needs their help. Mercy proclaims the Tri Cities the packs territory and offers sanctuary to those who need it, which upsets some of the pack. Bran cuts them off from Pack in an effort to stop a war between fey and werewolf. 

They meet with the fey in an effort to gain control of the situation, but they need something to appease the fey in leiu of Aiden, who they will not give back. Aiden was a child stolen by Underhill hundreds of years ago, who managed to escape. Although he does not have much control over his powers, they cannot allow the child to be taken back and tortured and killed. Aiden, Mercy, and Adam journey to Underhill to find an artifact to appease the fey, but nothing is ever easy. 

Just, wow. I am so glad I found this series, because it is just amazing. If you  have not yet read Mercy's story, start at the beginning with Moon Called and get busy with it!