clairetrellahill's reviews
3229 reviews

House of Roots and Ruin is the sequel to House of Salt and Sorrows, a book I really enjoyed. This book follows Verity, a Thaumas sister and painter, who learns she can see ghosts and runs away from home to take a portrait commission in Bloem, but all is not well…..

I really love the ATMOSPHERE that Erin A. Craig creates in her stories. Everything drips with gothic flair and foreboding and it’s the same for HORAR, full of creepy plants and flower lore. This story took some time getting off the ground in the first half but the second half was full of revelations and twists! Good fun and great to see another piece of the world she’s created. Four stars!

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC copy. This is my honest review. HORAR comes out July 25, 2023. 

IDENTITY is a new Nora Roberts book that walks the Romantic Suspense line but still has the hallmark NR romance staples. I read this arc in a day. The first chapter felt a little 'tell'-y but it sets us up for what is a very very good novel about Morgan Nash Albright, a bartender (Nora loves a specialty trade) who runs afoul of an opportunistic serial killer who steals identities and money from the people he kills. When her roommate gets dead instead of her, Morgan has to deal with the fallout of his intrusion in her life and move back home with her mother and grandmother. This book muses on what it means to put down roots, and what it means to find your identity in a place, in people.

Nora Roberts books have a lot of things but there are several trademarks: the hero or heroine has a special job and you are going to learn all about it (in this case, bartending), the small towns are big into the arts (the DREAM let me move to this town), Ms Nora loves a craftsman and hard worker in a man (same), and the characters who are new to the scene get quickly drawn into the community that cares for them and appreciates them as people. I teared up SEVERAL times during the book and maybe that's because I'm getting a cold but I think it speaks to the fact that Ms Nora knows what she's doing. I've read other romantic suspense books of hers and I liked this one very much because it didn't leave me super stressed. The tension is there and it's a good tension but it doesn't keep you from enjoying Morgan's romance with Miles and appreciating her rebuilding her life. I liked the message the book sends--even when horrible things happen, you will make it to the other side, and you will grow, and you will thrive.

I would give this book an enthusiastic 4.5 stars.
Heat level: 3 for on page scenes but not what I'd consider particularly explicit.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the review copy. This is my freely given honest review.

YeoWoo remains my favorite character and I support gumiho rights and gumiho wrongs

Fun but yet another book about pirates where no actual piracy happens. Best part was Raksh and I look forward to his reappearance and their family

The Bee King is a Horror novel with a gothic roaring twenties setting and a dark fairytale undertone. Mathilda Zeller takes you on a journey filled with feminine rage and the dark, sticky slide that people take once power gets ahold of them. I loved the spooky Bee Men and their mythos associated with the Bee King, the Moon Honey, and all the deliciously sweet details dripped through the story.

I found this story to be slow starting, but once I hit around 30% things really began to take off and secrets began to unravel. It activated a lot of latent teen/feminine rage about not being believed and wanting to burn something down that you never agreed to. I found the underlying premise pretty interesting and unique. This is going to go great on my gothic/spooky shelf. 4 stars. 
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this arc.

This was a really fun read in a really unique location!
Jade is looking forward to her college semester on a cruise ship so she can get away from the best friend who burned her and her ex boyfriend who dumped her. But lo and behold, the two people she wants nothing to do with are on board. And then people start whispering, and everyone seems to have hidden agendas. And then somebody dies.

I found this book a romp, leaning into the teen/college age “no thoughts head empty” emotion fueled thought process as Jade tries to navigate her friendships that have crashed and burned with the aid of a mysterious guy named Felix, the only person who takes her side when everyone points their fingers at her. He book really ramps up towards the end. I had suspicions but didn’t see the climax coming the way it did at all.

I saw one reviewer call this a teen retelling of Death on the Nile, but with a European setting, and it didn’t occur to me while reading but I can totally see that! If you’re looking for a boat themed murder mystery this is a really great option.
Four stars!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this arc copy.