Tag: Kelley Armstrong

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

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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

Copyright 2022 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 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

Copyright 2022 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: 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)

Copyright 2022 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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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)

Copyright 2021 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 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)

Copyright 2021 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: 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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This Chick Read: Wherever She Goes by Kelley Armstrong

When Aubrey Finch is running at the park she see’s what appears to be a child kidnapping, a little boy pulled into a car against his will. She reports it to the police but when no one reports a child missing they treat her like she’s delusional and ignore her report.As a mother herself, Aubrey can’t let this crime go and starts to investigate on her own. Her investigation starts to reveal pieces of her past that she’s tried desperately to keep hidden from her estranged husband and brings her to the attention of some dangerous suspects.

Wherever She Goes combines action and psychological thriller making this a very easy, gripping, read. Aubrey’s character and background is part of the mystery. How does this mom have the skills to investigate a crime that even the police think is a waste of time? Each reveal about her past makes her more fascinating and as she unravels the mystery. As a mom she often second guesses her own decisions making the contrast of diving into a dangerous investigation even more compelling. Who is this woman and why has she settled for what has become of her life? That’s an even greater mystery and one that I relished discovering the reasons why.

As I read this novel I realized there were actually a few different mysteries I was trying to unravel. 1) Aubrey’s background 2) the missing child and 3) the reason why her relationship fell apart with her husband. Kelley Armstrong does a great job of intertwining all of these mysteries so that each reveal is intertwined with a personal reflection Aubrey has about her life. I loved how all of those ties bound the novel into one cohesive, solid piece of fiction. This was a story that didn’t get bogged down in descriptions, but was told through the eyes of a woman going through some big emotional revelations. The only negative was that the ending didn’t quite give me that happy glow, but after mulling it over for a bit I realized it was pretty realistic.

Wherever She goes was easy to read and really interesting! I’d totally recommend it to anyone who loves a fast moving mystery.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher (St. Martin’s Press) for my honest review and it was honest!

Opinions from around the Blogosphere

“Overall, Wherever She Goes is a nice read with good writing and great characters. The premise is intriguing and the fast pace keeps you reading, but the plot could have been a little more fleshed out. The ending is also a bit underwhelming, but it does lend a hopeful tone to Aubrey’s story that makes it a nice conclusion to the book.” Owls Reads

Click this link to purchase!* Wherever She Goes: A Novel

Copyright 2019 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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This Chick Read: Watcher in the Woods (Casey Duncan #4) by Kelley Armstrong

Investigator Casey Duncan and her boyfriend Rockton Sheriff Eric Dalton again find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation. This time investigating a Federal Marshall who tracked his criminal to their small, hidden town. Rockton, a safe haven for victims and criminals who have paid to hide out is not unfamiliar with mysterious crimes. What is unfamiliar is that as Casey investigates she narrows it down to a surprising person.

In the previous novel, This Fallen Prey, one of their townspeople and leader of their militia, Kenny was shot in the back. Casey and Dalton reach out to her sister April who despite their lack of closeness does agree to come to Rockton with them for a brief time to operate and help Kenny in his recovery. Watcher in the Woods shifts focus from Casey and Dalton’s relationship to Casey and her sister April. What Casey finds out about her sister explains their lack of closeness in the past and this opportunity gives them a chance to part on better terms. I thought this sub plot revealed a lot . about Casey’s character in the past and showed her emotional growth. She was in a place where she could “see” her sister clearly and was able to understand her better. I really enjoyed their interactions and added an emotional punch to an otherwise kind of unemotional mystery.

The mystery of who killed the Marshall was interesting but kind of lackluster for me. I don’t know if it was because he was only introduced and then killed in the first couple of chapters and I really didn’t care? Or because a lot of the book was an exploratory into a few newer characters, but the pages didn’t fly by as much as they have in the previous three books. Kelly Armstrong writes a great mystery and I didn’t guess who had done it, it just took a long time to get to the conclusion. I’m sure my feelings are in the minority on this one, but it is how I felt.

Watcher in the Woods is one of those books in a series that you need to read because it reveals things about characters that you will probably need to know in a future book. Despite it’s slowness, I really did like the sub plot between Casey and her sister and am looking forward to seeing where that leads in future novels but the mystery just didn’t knock it out of the park for me. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a free ARC of this novel for my honest review and it was honest!

Opinions from around the Blogosphere

“In the end, Watcher in the Woods is a lovely and intriguing read. It has action, a bit of romance, murder, and quite a few plot twists and reveals. It tightens the overall series arc and sets things up for the final installment, while still developing the characters and keeping the world-building and setting fresh.” Owls Reads

“All of the Rockton tales are action packed and full of secrets, double backs and, yes, romance. That is what makes them so entertaining to read. This one, however, was a bit slow for me in the beginning and I suspect that it was because there was a great deal of minutia laid out for readers who might be joining here at book four rather than at the beginning.” Macsbooks

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

Copyright 2019 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate

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This Chick Read: Rough Justice (Cainsville #8) by Kelley Armstrong

Rough Justice is a novella revolving around Olivia’s first Hunt as Matilda for the Cwn Annwn. The Hunt provides justice to those who have killed descendents of the fair folk and the Matilda leads that hunt as witness when justice is served.  Olivia’s day job is as an investigator for her boyfriend lawyer Gabriel, so admittedly it’s hard for her to accept their prey’s guilt without proof, and because of that he goes free. Olivia investigates the murder and finds that the solution is not as clear cut as portrayed.

Kelley Armstrong has written another great novel in this series giving us just a taste of being back with our favorite characters. The mystery traversed a path that was unexpected and I enjoyed that journey, however the tension that filled the other novels was missing from this one with only a mild segue into the current status of Gabriel and Olivia’s relationship. Maybe I’m nitpicking but that tension was a big part of why I felt the series was so gripping.

If you need a Cainsville fix this novella will give you one, but I hope she is writing another one quickly because this is just an appetizer and not a whole meal.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Rough Justice

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Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am an Amazon Associate and will receive a small stipend if you purchase this novel through the above link.

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