Jennifer Ashley

Series: Kat Holloway Mysteries #4
Publication Date: 8/4/20
Number of Pages:320

The ONLY problem with devouring this book in one sitting – as I did – is that I now have to wait a year for the next one. I always have great intentions – of reading the books in this series slowly and savoring each word – but I’m weak and can never put them down once I start reading. The writing is excellent, the plot is tight and perfectly paced, and the characters are full and interesting. I love that we show more learn more and more about Kat and Daniel in each new book – and their relationship deepens. Daniel is one of the most enigmatic characters I’ve ever read and I can hardly wait to learn his full story. Then, of course, there are the returning secondary characters that we already love, but get to know better with each new book. Definitely, a wonderful ensemble cast within a compelling and exciting mystery.

Kat Holloway is a gifted cook in an aristocratic home – and she also has a soft, giving heart and a penchant for solving mysteries. When Kat learns that it is suspected that children are missing from London’s Foundling Hospital, she determines to get to the bottom of the mystery. Are the children missing, or aren’t they? If they aren’t missing, then, where are they? If they are missing, then, where are they and how did they end up missing? Kat’s greatest fear is that they’ve somehow ended up in the clutches of flesh peddlers and she’ll stop at nothing to rescue them from that fate.

Kat knows she cannot do it alone and asks for help from Daniel McAdam. Daniel has been her friend for several years and yet she still doesn’t know his full story. She knows she admires him; she knows he has some loose connection to Scotland Yard, but she knows very little of his early history. She’ll learn more in this book and even meet his ‘brother’. (It will be interesting to see in that brother has any roles in upcoming books.)

The search intensifies when a lovely nurse from the foundling home disappears. What could have happened to young Nurse Betts? Several days later, Daniel discovers that her body is in the morgue at Scotland Yard. She was literally beaten to death and Daniel’s brother, Errol Fielding, a vicar, is incensed because he had a tendresse for the young woman.

Kat and Daniel definitely have their hands full trying to keep Fielding in check and still uncover the fate of the children as well as the murderer of Nurse Betts. They’ll need all of their friends to help them – James, Bessie, Tess, Lady Cynthia, Mr. Elgin Thanos, Bobby – and new friend Miss Townsend. Of course – all of the investigating and crime-solving have to be worked around so Mrs. Bywater, Kat’s employer, is unaware of what is happening below stairs in her home.

This was an exciting, unputdownable read and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. You certainly cannot go wrong when you have such engaging characters solving such intriguing mysteries. I did like that there was move movement on the romantic front between Kat and Daniel, but it is definitely moving too slowly to suit me. I can hardly believe that I now have to wait a year for the next installment!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. show less

3.5 stars

"Very well, then." Mary's chin came up. "I will sneak to Kilmorgan with you."
Malcolm closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ye aren't going t' be an obedient and unquestioning wife, I'm thinking, are ye?"
"Certainly not. Englishwomen are resilient creatures. I do not know why people assume we are sweet and docile, innocent and weak." Mary unfolded her arms and rested her hands primly in her lap. "Look at Boadicea, who led forces against the Roman army for a long, long show more time, Queen Elizabeth, who often had to remark she was 'only a woman' to spare the feelings of gentlemen she could out-think. Even Aunt Danae has survived three husbands and is entertaining thoughts of a fourth, on her own terms. You have no need to worry about me."
A slow smile had spread across Malcolm's face as he listened to her speech. When she finished, his eyes were alight, the depths of gold warm.
"Ye see? I knew ye had fire inside you, lass. An inferno of it. You and me---we're going to burn up the world."

If you like reading about the Jacobite Rebellion,you'd enjoy this one. Malcolm and Mary start off with a "look across the room" kind of romance, which I normally don't like, but it works here because everything that follows that look is hard earned love. The beginning was full of mentions of Jacobite political figures, the climate and atmosphere, and how everyday people (our MacKenzie family) maneuvered around the going ons. I was kind of disappointed when in the middle, we lose a little bit of that (I'm a history nerd) and the story focuses more on our couple Malcolm and Mary. The building blocks of their relationship are created here, making their love more believable from their auspicious start, while the political atmosphere hovered around them but wasn't the focus. The last half reengaged with the Jacobite Rebellion and our couple fighting to stay together. The Battle of Culloden was featured here in a way I've not often seen it, less focus on the battle stratagems and fighting and more on the emotional devastation as it was happening. Our hero is there while family and friends are cut down and how mercilessness the English were about ending the rebellion; it was harrowing to read.

Even though this is #8 in the series, it can actually be read as a standalone as it's a prequel, the hero is the great-great-or so-grandfather of the previous heroes in the series.
This had a little different tone than usual romance reads, devastating emotional that this time period can only be, but was better for it. If you're looking to read about a family and couple caught up in the swirling political times, look no further. show less

Mate Claimed
4.5 Stars

Iona Duncan is a half-shifter raised as human and taught to keep her wildcat identity secret. Unfortunately, she has entered the transition stage and her animal instincts are raging out of control. Shiftertown leader, Eric Warden, not only recognizes Iona, but is well aware of the fact that her failure to accept her true nature will have disastrous consequences.

Not only is Eric and Ione’s story a huge improvement on the previous installment, but it rescues Ashley’s show more Shifter’s Unbound from the approaching series chopping block.

Eric and Iona’s romance is intense and passionate. In fact, they have some of the best sexual tension and chemistry I’ve encountered in PNR, and it enhances rather than overshadows their emotional connection.

The plot revolving around the machinations of a dangerous human foe is intriguing as it introduces several new characters with definite potential. The first is the Alpha of the wolf pack that has been forced to relocate and challenges Eric for leadership, and the second is a severely damaged tiger shifter who has been subjected to horrendous experimentation reminiscent of Lora Leigh’s Breeds series.

There are also updates on couples from the previous books and it is fun to catch up on Liam and Kim.

In sum, Jennifer Ashley is a wonderful writer and the her world building in this series is captivating. I look forward to seeing the new directions she is taking the shifters’ story. show less

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: London, 1816
Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars, burned out, fighting melancholia, his career ended. His interest is piqued when he learns of a missing girl, possibly kidnapped by a prominent member of Parliament. Lacey's search for the girl leads to the discovery of murder, corruption, and dealings with a leader of the underworld. He deals with his own disorientation transitioning from a soldier's life to the show more civilian world at the same time, redefining his role with his former commanding officer making new friends--from the top of society to the street girls of Covent Garden.

My Review: This will be your only warning: AVOID THESE BOOKS IF YOU ARE OF A SERIES ADDICTIVE BENT

Have y'all left who're leavin'? Good.

Go get this Kindle freebie, everyone else, and settle in for the haul. This series, starring wounded warrior Captain Gabriel Lacey, will now grab you by the heartstrings and cause you to leak water from the vicinity of your eyes. I do not know what this phenomenon is called, but it is unsettling.

I read mysteries, as I've mentioned before, in order to assauage a weird little part of me that craves the World to do the right thing. It doesn't, as the Supreme Court has proven yet again, five old men in black dresses telling a bunch of religious dupes that they can decide who has access to birth control (as if this is anyone's goddamned business but the woman seeking it), but I still crave a glimpse, even in fiction, of a world where the right thing is done.

I am not talking about the law. The law is written by lawyers. This means less than nothing when it comes to doing the right thing, or even following the promptings of honor.

The right thing, in this story, is learning the fate of a powerless girl. Learning the reason a girl ups sticks and runs as fast as she can away from her loved ones. Learning the secrets of people so powerful that knowing they *have* secrets is a life-threatening prospect.

And learning, in the end, who one needs to forgive and what one needs to forget aren't necessarily obvious at first glance. And certainly aren't easy tasks. Forgiveness, if sincere, is seldom anything but hard-won and almost never without a heavy, heavy price.

I read this book in about half a day because it answered a call in me, and left me deeply satisfied that I'd found a friend. An honorable idiot, with a foul temper, and a complete and thoroughgoing unwillingness to do things the easy way. In short, an uncomfortable companion and an irreplaceable friend.

Ten more books await me. I am deeply satisfied by that knowledge. Make of this what you will, but remember that you were warned.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. show less