“Verena’s Whistle” is an urban fantasy adventure that is steeped heavily in Slavic folklore. We follow our main character, Verena, who finds out very quickly that her families dwindling magical talents are needed in order to close a portal that has allowed monsters from another place and time to enter our world. Verena’s family has always known that they are the last line of magical defense should this very thing happen, so there really isn’t much of a secret there. But Verena’s particular talent manifestation comes as a surprise, especially as their magical strength has been dwindling over the centuries. But while the synopsis claims there are secrets and Verena must decide if she’s capable of leading, you’d never know that by reading the book.

“The Urban Boys” follows five friends in high school who, after one night in a preserve their families have forbidden them from going into, are gifted with heightened senses in order to protect a luminous supernatural race, and by proxy, all of mankind. But for such high stakes, the boys thankfully can save mankind by simply protecting their idyllic town from the evil-doers that have taken over a neighboring town. Stuck in a conflict that has been simmering for twenty years, it’s up to these five friends to keep strong, and save their town when no one else is capable of doing so. This is a story that attempts to cover a lot, especially with such a large cast of characters, and it’s a book I think is far better suited for middle-grade book lovers. If you go into it with that mindset, I think you’ll enjoy the “Urban Boys” a great deal.

“Terminal Static” is the second book in the Echo Trail series, so if you haven’t read “Resurrection Road” yet, do that before reading this review. I’ll do my best to avoid all spoilers, but you never know what may slip through the veil. In this second book, Laz, Zeke, and Eden are looking to relax after surviving their encounter with the blood mage, each has changed to varying degrees, but none more so than Zeke. This second book focuses more on his emotional journey and I loved seeing him struggle with wanting to remain who he was in the face of all the new changes he’s undergoing, and what that may mean for his family—considering his father got out of the hunting life a long time ago. But of course, the consequences of their showdown with the blood mage continue to follow them in surprising, and really creepy ways!

I am a big fan of fantasy, a big fan of crime and mystery novels, and a big fan of sarcastically dry characters. “Storm Front”, on the surface, absolutely ticks all those boxes. We’ve got a sarcastically dry wizard who consults with the Chicago police department when murders don’t make sense in the traditional manner. I absolutely love, love that premise! And I did go in knowing that Harry, as an MC, is written to be chauvinistic, and have been assured that he, as a character, gets better in that regard, so I tried to not let that bother me as I was reading. So why did a book that ticks so many of my boxes end up being kind of… meh for me?

What do you get when your cross the concept of Jurassic Park with a B horror movie? You get the fast-paced “Monsterland”, that’s what. “Monsterland” is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a theme park full of real-life monsters, namely zombies, vampires, and werewolves. The premise being that vampires and werewolves have always lived amongst us, just hidden, until a plague that created zombies sweeps the planet and now a billionaire mogul, Vincent Konrad, decides to make a theme park housing all these monsters for “study”, and profit obviously because why make a theme park out of it if you didn’t want to make cash? Wyatt, one of our many MC’s (but the main, main one) idolizes Vincent and wants nothing more than to go to the park opening night. He gets his wish, but of course everything changes and this supposedly “safe” park is anything but. Things escalate FAST once Wyatt and his friends are in the park, perhaps too fast to really get a feel for, well, anything. Hence the B movie vibe…