Tag: Kelley Armstrong

This Chick Read: Cold As Hell (Haven’s Rock #3) by Kelley Armstrong

Detective Casey Duncan and Sheriff Eric Dalton are living out their dream in the Yukon in the town they helped create, Haven’s Rock. They are starting a family and is nearing the end of her pregnancy, when one of their residents is drugged and abducted into the forest. She’s saved in the nick of time, but Casey launches an investigation, despite Eric’s worry over her own health and safety. When a huge snowstorm hits town during their investigation, they stumble upon a naked body in the middle of the lake and realize they have a killer in their midst.

I’m completely invested in these stories after reading the Rockton series and now Haven’s Rock. Casey and Eric’s romantic partnership is always a part of each novel, but it’s a mystery that cements each story and keeps me coming back. Cold As Hell wraps the two things together. Casey’s pregnancy is problematic and her doctor wants her in a city closer to a hospital when they find the body frozen on the lake. Reluctantly they leave town in the capable hands of their deputy, Anders, but Casey’s detective instincts never turns off and she’s able to investigate from afar and finds out some things that lead them back to Haven’s Rock away from the safety of healthcare nearby. This adds to the tension of the mystery keeping the reader on the edge of their seat.

The fact that each person in town was handpicked and not supposed to have any predilections to violence is also an added twist to the story. How could this happen? How do they ensure the safety of their residents in the future? etc. It opens the door to more re-creations to this town they want to build and call home. I relished being back in Haven’s Rock and can’t wait to see what future installations will bring. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest!

Click this link to purchase this book!* Cold As Hell

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This Chick Read: The Boy Who Cried Bear (Haven’s Rock #2) by Kelley Armstrong

Finally at home in their new Haven’s Rock, Casey and Eric are sheltering a family from the Witness Protection Program that includes two children, one a ten year old names Max. While on a nature walk through the woods Max spots a bear trailing their group. When he later goes missing they are fearful that they have a predator tracking their group, but is it of the animal variety?

I’m a big fan of Casey Duncan, the main protagonist in this series. A very smart investigator and interesting human, I’ve watched her character grow, fall in love, deal with family issues,find murderers, etc. in both the Rockton series and now this spin-off of Haven’s Rock. In this novel we dig even deeper into Casey’s psyche opening up some of her secret fears to the reader. She was already pretty humanized, but I love these additional glimpses into her person. She and her husband Eric are still together, in love, and now in a new environment. They are no longer sheriff and investigator but they continue to act in that capacity and this mystery is especially intense because it involves a missing child.

We are still getting to know some of the newer characters in Haven’s Rock and not all of them are respectable. The group of miners not too far from Haven’s Rock adds an eerie, dangerous vibe to the story. Their interactions are fraught with tension and the developing drama between them and Haven’s Rock is setting us up for future transgressions. I love it.

If you like somewhat dark relationship novels, I think you’ll love the quirky landscape that is Haven’s Rock. I’d start with the first book in the series, but this one carried on in the mysterious tradition and I know I’ll keep following where this author leads me. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Boy Who Cried Bear

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This Chick Read: Dead Letter Days (Haven’s Rock #.5) by Kelley Armstrong

A prequel to the off-shoot of the Casey Duncan series, Dead Letter Days takes place when Casey and Eric are at a lodge with the other townspeople from Rockton as they are waiting for their new town, Haven’s Rock, to be built. Someone in their group plants fake dead bodies in the woods around the lodge as a joke because Casey has stumbled across quite a few dead bodies in her time as an investigator, but in this case the mystery she stumbles upon is for a cold case of a missing person. As she and Eric investigate, Eric learns some things about his past that he’ll need to make a decision on so that he can move forward with a clean slate in his new life.

This short novella was unusual in that it didn’t actually involve any dead bodies and was missing the eeriness of some of the Rockton mysteries. In fact, they mystery Casey and Eric ended up solving gave these characters a small bit of peace. I enjoyed the different feel of this novel. Despite the things Eric finds out about his past, which cause him a bit of distress, it seems like a happy time for these characters and the mood in the writing reflected that. It was a nice change.

There isn’t too much to say about this because it was only about 100 pages and I don’t want to give any details away, but I enjoyed this short story. What I learned about the characters set’s the reader up for the first novel in the next series and I’m looking forward to seeing how these characters grow into their new place. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Dead Letter Days

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This Chick Read: Murder at Haven’s Rock (Haven’s Rock #1) by Kelley Armstrong

If you were worried that the Casey Duncan series was finished you can rest easy. Haven’s Rock is the spin-off where Casey, Eric, and their close group of friends build their own version of Rockton. A version where they are in charge and can pick the people that live in their community. This novel opens with Haven’s Rock under construction and a couple of their construction members go missing. Casey and Eric are flown in to investigate. They don’t yet live there and are excited to see their town come to life, but missing people doesn’t seem to be the best omen to start fresh. When they discover a body that looks to be a homicide they decide to investigate her death, plus they still have the missing to recover.

I love these novels. They are the perfect mix of eeriness and comfort. That sounds weird but I feel like I know these characters so well that it’s easy to just slide back into their story, despite the mystery being new. Murder at Haven’s Rock is a new location, yet not too far away from Rockton so the landscape they are tromping through (or investigating) is very familiar. What is inside these woods are not. So there is an element of surprise that maybe the previous series had lost. I liked not knowing what was in the woods beyond a bear or two. It made me pay a bit more attention to the text not wanting to miss a nuance. That added to my reading experience and helped in creating that sense of eeriness and comfort.

Familiar characters, with a few new ones thrown in also meant I was kept on my toes. I didn’t know everything so there were surprises within the town as well. I really enjoyed the quirkiness of a couple of these characters and am looking forward to seeing where their future lies. I’m also looking forward to seeing how Haven’s Rock will be different than Rockton. Will it be Shangri La? My guess is that there will continue to be mysteries to look forward to in their new Haven.

If you have not read the Casey Duncan series you may miss some nuances to the story but should be ok starting fresh with Murder at Haven’s Rock. Either way you’re in for a great mystery and a fun weekend of reading. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review and it was honest.

Click this link to purchase this book!* Murder at Haven’s Rock

Copyright 2023 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

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This Chick Read: A Turn of the Tide ( A Stitch in Time #3) by Kelley Armstrong

Miranda Hastings has seen both of her sisters travel through the stitch in time in Thorne Manor and has been waiting on her opportunity to follow in their footsteps. However instead of traveling to the future as her sister Rosalind did, she travels to the past. She finds herself in Thorne Manor during the Georgian era arriving just in time to divert privateer Nicolas “Nico” Dupree from his untimely death. She has seen his ghost walking the lane where he dies, in her own time, and is determined to save him from his death. While intruding on that fateful night she stumbles upon a conspiracy and with the help of Nico and a couple other ghostly friends, she lends a hand hoping to save the day and send these ghosts on to their final rest.

This novel was a little different than the previous two in that Miranda knew exactly what she was in for when she stepped through that stitch in time in the attic of Thorne Manor. She didn’t expect to travel to the past, but her instant connection to Nico made sticking around pretty easy. MIranda’s independent nature was stifled in her own time and her chemistry with Nico and he “friendly” nature, allows her to experiment with a sexuality that men of her time trod upon. I actually really liked the more sexy nature of this book as it added another layer to a mystery that was pretty easy to solve. I also liked that NIco and MIranda were a mixed race pairing. No one really seemed to pay attention to that fact at all, which may not have been historically accurate but it was refreshing.

This novel was definitely easy to read and the mystery wasn’t much of a mystery at all. Despite my wanting a little more depth I did enjoy this novel and always like to support a favorite author. If you find yourself wanting to read a paranormal romance, I don’t think you need to read the previous two novels. This book stands alone on it’s own, but I bet you’ll be interested enough to go back and read the first two. My favorite was the first novel A Stitch in Time. ❤️❤️❤️❣️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest!

Click this link to purchase!* A Turn of the Tide

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*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

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This Chick Read: A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong

Mallory is in Edinburgh, Scotland to visit her dying grandmother. A homicide detective in Vancouver, she takes note of a couple of murders that has happened in the area but she never expects to confront the killer when she’s out for a run. Hearing a woman’s cry of distress, Mallory see’s the image of a young woman in Victorian costume being strangled in an alley when she herself finds a rope around her neck. Losing consciousness she wakes up inhabiting the body of the girl she saw, Catriona, a maidservant to an undertaker named Dr. Gray. Trying to find her way back home, she decides she must catch the Victorian killer who almost murdered Catriona while helping Dr. Gray and his detective friend.

A Rip Through Time is a pretty straightforward time traveler novel. What sets this one apart from others is that detective Mallory is actually inhabiting someone else’s body instead of being transported in her own. Once she gets over the shock of what’s happened the story settles in to a bit of sleuthing. Of course, when your a house maid, your time isn’t your own and finding the time to sleuth becomes a bit difficult. Luckily for her, Dr. Gray isn’t just an undertaker, he is also interested in forensic science and has the imagination to listen to her evaluations and ideas. Not something that would normally happen in the Victorian era, prior to women’s rights. The arrival of Dr. Gray’s sister, Isla, a chemical scientist, is when the story takes off. Mallory finds someone she can trust and the story starts to move along a little quicker.

I’ll admit to loving time traveling novels. It’s always interesting to see how our main characters resolve themselves to their new lives in the past. Mallory decides her time will be best spent assisting Dr. Gray until she can find the murderer who will hopefully transport her home. I wish a little more time had been spent on descriptions of her surroundings, the era, and anything else that would help the reader transport themselves along with Mallory, but I find those moments surprisingly lacking. Unless you’re a history professor, that would take a ton of research so I understand, I just wished for a little bit more than what we got. The most enjoyable part of the novel was the actual hunt for the killer and when we got to those scenes it was easier to lose myself in the story, so it was just the first part that was a little light on details.

If you like time traveler mystery novels, this one was good! Except for a couple of small issues at the start, I did really enjoy reading the story.

❤️❤️❤️❣️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest!

Click this link to purchase this book!* A Rip Through Time

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*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

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This Chick Read: The Deepest of Secrets (Casey Duncan #7) by Kelley Armstrong

It’s hard to keep the peace in Rockton when all of its citizens have secrets. When those secrets threaten to be revealed, it’s Casey’s job to find out who is the culprit. When it becomes clear that that person may also cause harm and possibly murder people, solving the mystery becomes imperative. With the help of her boyfriend Sheriff Eric Dalton, Casey navigates the secrets of Rockton, against a deadline that may split them up forever.

Set in the isolated forests of the Yukon, Rockton was a city that was built for one reason. To make money from people who are desperate enough to want an escape from their real life. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a resort town, this is a town that survives because its inhabitants work to make it survive. They arrive in Rockton with no past, their lives scrubbed clean. However, the reasons they’ve left the world behind may not be easily wiped clean, coming out in their habits and personalities. When the committee starts accepting people who are no longer escaping bad situations but are bad themselves, the community begins to change and Casey’s life investigating crimes becomes much busier, but the one thing that stays consistent is that no one knows anyone’s history. In The Deepest of Secrets, that ideal is threatened. The first to have his secret revealed is fellow officer, Will Anders, one of Casey’s best friends.

This series has been so enjoyable because of the complicated characters, their bonds with each other, and the city and location. It’s mysterious, eery, and the perfect setting for a fantastical mystery series. These flawed people have worked hard to make a community, made friends and built connections all while a mysterious committee has the power to change their lives. That fear of not knowing what comes next is a huge theme in this book. Casey is solving a mystery, but she’s going against their rules and running out of time. This sense of urgency is prevalent throughout the novel making my stomach churn with an uncertainty. Is this the last novel in the series? I am sad that it may be over, but boy, it was a fantastic ending. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review and it was honest.

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Deepest of Secrets: A Rockton Novel (Casey Duncan Novels Book 7)

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This Chick Read: A Twist of Fate (A Stitch in Time #2) by Kelley Armstrong

New mother and beloved wife, Rosalind Courtenay, likes to ride horses late at night. When her horse is found dead after falling over a cliff, it’s feared that Rosalind has died from the fall but her body is never found. What has happened is that she has found a stitch in time and has traveled to the 21st century. Four years have passed and despite returning monthly to the scene of her time travel, Rosalind has been unsuccessful in returning to her life in the past. Until one night her attempt is successful and she needs to figure out how to reveal herself to her son and her husband August. She travels to his estate in disguise and ends up as her sons new governess and becomes embroiled in a mystery filled with specters, missing governesses, and a little boy who can see and speak with ghosts. Rosalind needs to solve the mystery and reveal who she is to her family without becoming one of the missing herself.

When I received the ARC of this book I was so excited! I love Kelley Armstrong and have read almost all of her books. Then I saw it was book #2- oh no! Luckily I was able to get a copy of A Stitch in Time at my library so that I wasn’t reading these books out of order. The basis for these characters time travel is set up in the first novel so I’m really glad I was able to quickly read that book so I knew all of the characters, and past history needed to read this novel. Truthfully, I probably could have done without but I like to read books in order and I do think it helped my feelings towards the characters, knowing their past history.

What I love the most about this series is the fact that these books are historical mysteries, have a bit of fantasy thrown in with the time travel, and ultimately that they’re love stories. In a Twist of Fate, Rosalind had a head on her shoulders! Her character used lived in the future for four years helping her evolve from a modern woman in her century to an evolved woman from the 21st century and use that knowledge upon her return. She has read up on medicine and understands germs, etc. but is by no means a nurse or a doctor. She just has more sense. Overall she was easy to relate to, Rosalind had a lot of fortitude, was fun, and when danger comes Edmund’s way, she was a mama bear and very protective. She also very much loved her husband August.

Kelley Armstrong has a great sense of fun, and uses fantasy, to enmesh her readers in familiar worlds which are slightly different. This ghostly mystery was quick and entertaining but it was also really well written and engaging. I can’t find any faults at all other than that I hope this isn’t the end of the series because I want to read more!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest.

Click this link to purchase!* A Twist of Fate (A Stitch in Time Book 2)

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*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

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This Chick Read: A Stranger in Town (Casey Duncan #6) by Kelley Armstrong

Casey and Eric find dead tourists in the woods who look like they have been attacked. When one of that group is found alive they take her back to Rockton but have to restrain her because she is totally out of her mind hallucinating and speaking a foreign language. As the law in their small town Casey and her boyfriend Sheriff need to find out who did this and if those people will be threatening their town.

I have read every one of the novels in this series and A Stranger in Town does a great job of answering some of the many questions that readers have had about these characters and the city they live in. How did Rockton get started? Who is the “council”? How did the separate colonies split off? How did one of them go crazy? I’m not going to spoil the novel by telling you any of these answers but I will say that there were a couple of surprises and the answers are definitely worth reading.

I have enjoyed reading about these characters and watching the evolution of their relationships with each other. When Casey’s sister April became the doctor in Rockton and all of their past ill feelings towards each other was brought to light I loved how reading Casey’s inner conflict and watching her struggle to read an exchange with her sister with the knowledge she now has as an adult is fascinating. I really like how they are using this experience in being in this small town of 100-150 people to really repair their relationship. Another relationship that has kept going through an evolution is the one between Casey and her boyfriend Eric. They are most definitely in love, but that has not kept them from hurting each other by seeing situations through their past individual experiences. Of course we all do that but in their case, Eric was raised in Rockton from a small child, and Casey’s experiences are from outside. Those differences have crafted their personalities and in this novel we see them actively dis-engaging from those experiences to treat each other in a more healthy manner.

The mystery in this novel was intricate, fun, kind of gross, and turned everyone on their heads. The best kind of mystery, right? So why do I get the feeling this author might be finished with this series? I can only hope I’m wrong because i’m not done with these characters, I’d really like to see them go through another evolution perhaps raising a family or a litter of puppies.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review and it was honest.

Click this link to purchase! A Stranger in Town: A Rockton Novel (Casey Duncan Novels, 6)

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*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

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This Chick Read: Alone in the Wild (Casey Duncan #5) by Kelley Armstrong

While on a camping trip with her boyfriend Detective Casey Duncan here’s a baby crying. With a foot of snow on the ground Casey searches out the sound and finds a baby lying in the arms of a dead woman buried in the snow. Casey and Eric take the baby back to the safety of Rockton determined to investigate. Was the dead woman the baby’s mother? Or had she taken the baby from it’s mother. Alone in the Wild shows us a different side of Casey and pushes she and Eric into making an emotional decision.

I really enjoyed how Alone in the Wild was this great mystery but it was also a self discovery novel that pushed Casey and Eric into making decisions about their future. Which one was more interesting? Truly they were both great. The mystery was excellent and it each discovery gave a little more information about this world and some of it was eye opening.

This series is now in it’s fifth installation and my interest in the town of Rockton and Casey and Eric in particular has not waned at all. The two of them keep getting more interesting and as their romance becomes more emotional I want to learn even more about them. While taking care of a baby we see a softer side of both Casey and Eric and I kind of liked it. They are both so tough that it’s nice to see that they can have deeper emotions, not just for each other, but for someone that needs their care and support.

I was really looking forward to this novel and it lived up to my expectations. It was not just a mystery it was a look into the souls of our two main characters. Luckily, the depths of these two characters held up and made this novel even stronger. I’m really looking forward to what their future holds and can’t wait for the release of the next novel!

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review and it was honest!

Click this link to purchase!* Alone in the Wild: A Rockton Novel (Casey Duncan Novels)

Copyright 2020 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

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