A trade of Blood by Roberth Jackson Bennett

Series: Ana and Din Mysteries (#3)

Format: 380 pages, Paperback

Published: August 4, 2026 by Hodderscape

Fantasy/own

Why am I so late!!!! Srsly, this review will not be as good as it should be since I read the book 1,5 weeks ago

Ana and Din has another mystery to solve. Two families at war, people dying. And this is the cattle district and things need to function.

Who did it? Oh I can never solve these things. I am surprised to the end.

As for Ana...yeah things are being discovered.

Good mystery, good story and I can´t wait for more

Detective Ana Dolabra must prove a condemned man’s innocence and confront a terrifying magical technology in this fantasy-mystery from the bestselling author of The Tainted Cup, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy awards.

The heir to one of the Empire’s most powerful families sits in jail, accused of murder. His hands are covered in the victim’s blood, and he can neither deny his guilt nor explain his actions.

But if the great detective Ana Dolabra cannot save him from the noose, the farming canton of Sapirdad will explode into war, threatening to plunge the whole Empire into starvation and chaos.

As Ana investigates—her assistant Dinios Kol, as ever, acting as her eyes and ears—she fears her task is even more daunting than it seemed. For this murder is just the latest in a deeper, subtler web of death, woven by a mastermind with an ancient weapon at his disposal.

With their customary skill, Ana and Din pursue their adversary through the canton’s wild ranges, sprawling ranches, and reeking slaughterhouses. Yet even they are not prepared to learn the horrifying secret behind their opponent’s powers.

Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald

Format: 496 pages, Paperback

Published : January 25, 2024 by Penguin Books

YA Mythology/own

When I had finished this one I read it was YA. Huh, I actually did not know that. It really works as both.

In this one Persephone says F it! She does not want to be a prize given away to whatever God wins. She choses her own fate so she jumps into the underworld. And Hades is not happy, but grants her sanctuary.

This was about Persephone finding her voice, her self worth and well all of that! She grows and no Gods or Goddesses can tell her what to do.

It takes a while for something to grow between her and Hades but it does. And I like it.

To hell with love, this goddess has other plans...

Thousands of years ago, the gods told a lie: how Persephone was a pawn in the politics of other gods. How Hades kidnapped Persephone to be his bride. How her mother, Demeter, was so distraught she caused the Earth to start dying.

The real story is much more interesting.

Persephone wasn't taken to hell: she jumped. There was no way she was going to be married off to some smug god more in love with himself than her.

Now all she has to do is convince the Underworld's annoyingly sexy, arrogant and frankly rude ruler, Hades, to fall in line with her plan. A plan that will shake Mount Olympus to its very core.

But consequences can be deadly, especially when you're already in hell . . .

TMST

 

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Carole´s Monday. Playing Hard to get

 

Author: Monica Murphy

Narrator: Rock Engle & Meg Sylvan

Title: Playing Hard to Get

Series: The Players #1

Genre: Sports Romance, Contemporary Romance, New Adult

Format: Audiobook 

Published: December 1, 2022

Where I Got It: My shelf (Audible)

Summary: 

Knox Maguire is the king of our college campus, the star offensive tight end on the football team.

He is the complete opposite of me in every way. I'm quiet. He's loud. I'm shy. He's definitely not. Everyone loves him. No one knows me.

Fresh out of a breakup, I don't really trust him, and why should I? Knox is the ultimate player. When I become his English tutor, I tell myself we need to keep things between us strictly business. Watching my mother deal with my ex-athlete father long ago taught me to stay far away from that type of man.

Yet Knox is impossible to resist. Next thing I know, we're getting hot and heavy in the library—and that was never part of the plan. When Knox admits he can't stop thinking about me, I have a realization: I can't stop thinking about him either.

Instead of keeping my distance, I pull him in closer. Until somehow, we're spending all of our time together, and I find myself falling for Knox. Hard.

Will this actually work between us? Or am I getting played?

Review:

I was looking for a football romance since football season was on the way! 

Here we follow Knox, our resident football player, and Joanna, our resident book nerd and tutor. They couldn't more different, but they start bounding as Joanna helps Knox with his reading. Knox has dyslexia, and he's put off his English class for as long as possible, but he needs it to graduate college. Joanna is still working on her broken heart and Knox has a bet to not have sex until after the season is over. However, lust and love can't be stopped sometimes. 

This was a very sweet story. Yes, there is spice, but this was relatively low-key drama. Yes, there is a smidge, but nothing over-the-top or wasn't fixed after TALKING. I liked it!

I liked Joanna, and I did warm up to Knox. Knox was kinda annoying, but I did warm up to him especially when you could see him fall in love. It was sweet. 

My only issue was the Joanna has issues with football because of her dad being a footballer who abandoned her family. I feel like that lil factoid was breezed over. I think we needed some more time to dive into that and maybe….get a resolution? IDK. Maybe we’ll see something in book 2?

I am curious about book 2 because I feel like that will rock many boats, and I'm curious how Knox will react. Mmmmm I may have to download it. 

The narrators were good. They did well. 

But yes, this was very sweet and made me excited for Fall and football. I liked the low-key drama....it was fitting. I just really liked them talking, falling in love, and the spice was spread out enough not to be too much. It was nice. I think I needed something low-key in my life right now. Life has been lifing. 

4 stars. 

Reading Challenges

- Audiobook #37