Available to Annette Marie's newsletters subscribers, Prince of Shadows is a short story featuring Yumei. It details his first encounter with Tsuchi, the yokai spirit realm and later his first meeting with the Kunitsukami; Sarutahiko of the Mountain and Uzume of the Wood.

This was alright. It fills in a few details, but is really too short to otherwise get a feel for. 2 stars.

Charming bunch of stories for children with some amusement for the adults reading as well. The narrator nails the questions and logic of a child and manages to inject a silly humour they'll love. Although I was surprised by the gun. I mean Christopher Robin's what 4 years? What on earth made Milne think of adding that detail? Shows how times have changed, that's for sure. My favourite part was the "deception which we are practising on these bees". 4 stars.

“It’s like this,” he said. “When you go after honey with a balloon, the great thing is not to let the bees know you’re coming. Now, if you have a green balloon, they might think you were only part of the tree, and not notice you, and if you have a blue balloon, they might think you were only part of the sky, and not notice you, and the question is: Which is most likely?” “Wouldn’t they notice you underneath the balloon?” you asked. “They might or they might not,” said Winnie-the-Pooh. “You never can tell with bees.” He thought for a moment and said: “I shall try to look like a small black cloud. That will deceive them.” “Then you had better have the blue balloon,” you said; and so it was decided.

Milne, A. A.. Winnie-the-Pooh (AmazonClassics Edition) (pp. 10-11). AmazonClassics. Kindle Edition.

“Isn’t that fine?” shouted Winnie-the-Pooh down to you. “What do I look like?” “You look like a Bear holding on to a balloon,” you said. “Not,” said Pooh anxiously, “—not like a small black cloud in a blue sky?” “Not very much.” “Ah, well, perhaps from up here it looks different. And, as I say, you never can tell with bees.”

Milne, A. A.. Winnie-the-Pooh (AmazonClassics Edition) (p. 11). AmazonClassics. Kindle Edition.

“Christopher Robin!” “Yes?” “Have you an umbrella in your house?” “I think so.” “I wish you would bring it out here, and walk up and down with it, and look up at me every now and then, and say ‘Tut-tut, it looks like rain.’ I think, if you did that, it would help the deception which we are practising on these bees.”

Milne, A. A.. Winnie-the-Pooh (AmazonClassics Edition) (pp. 12-13). AmazonClassics. Kindle Edition.

“Christopher Robin, you must shoot the balloon with your gun. Have you got your gun?” “Of course I have,” you said. “But if I do that, it will spoil the balloon,” you said. “But if you don’t,” said Pooh, “I shall have to let go, and that would spoil me.” When he put it like this, you saw how it was, and you aimed very carefully at the balloon, and fired. “Ow!” said Pooh. “Did I miss?” you asked. “You didn’t exactly miss,” said Pooh, “but you missed the balloon.”

Milne, A. A.. Winnie-the-Pooh (AmazonClassics Edition) (pp. 15-16). AmazonClassics. Kindle Edition.

This had a folklore/fairytale moral vibe. It was very preachy about the environment and the damage humans are doing. It was a bit strange and kind of depressing. I liked Little Fur though and I may even continue to read the series.

I actually really liked Kit and Jude. The action was fast paced and exciting. The comebacks were amusing. My biggest problem with this novella (apart from the length and isn't that always the case with novellas?) is the swearing. I do not like the c word. And I find it entirely unnecessary to use it seven times in twenty-one pages. It ruined it for me. And loses a star because of it. 3 stars.

Resistance to Interrogation is a bonus chapter for Stormbreaker (fitting in somewhere between chapters 5 and 6) and follows Alex as he undertakes the training with the SAS unit, specifically focused on resistance to interrogation.

I very much enjoyed Alex besting everyone. Especially since Wolf is a jerk.

Steamy police procedural with some angst, some flirting and a fair few laughs. Detective Sawyer Key has been through hell the last few years and a fresh start in a new job is just what he needs to pick himself back up. But his new partner, Detective Royce Locke is still dealing with his own tragedy and isn't so keen on rolling out the welcome mat.

I read this author's other book, Ride the Lightning and I was really impressed with the way she weaved a romance and procedural together, but I was disappointed to find it was somewhat of a spinoff series and I'd missed a whole bunch of books. Specifically this one!

So instead of reading the sequel I decided to start at the beginning with Ground Zero. And I'm glad I did. This was fantastic. Unlike a lot of procedurals where the focus is on one specific case, Walker does a great job of portraying an actual case load with multiple investigations taking place and even chipping away at some cold cases. I really liked the way it was done and I was totally invested in the outcomes.

The romance was pretty angsty at points but to be expected with Locke and Key's back story.

Sawyer Key was married and lost his husband to cancer. Locke has just lost his best friend/unrequited first love/cop partner to suicide.

But when it wasn't angsty it was steamy and flirty and really sweet. And it was pretty funny as well. The puns were hilarious and the banter was gold.

I liked the rest of the characters in the police department, Sawyer's mother, Evangeline and the cat, Bones and I loved the puns about Locke and Key. The character development was really good and the plot was riveting. I can't wait to read the next one. 4 stars.

This was okay I guess. The romance sucked but for the most part I enjoyed the plot and the characters were alright. But about half way I lost interest - I just didn't care anymore. There was so much back and forth of not talking and going round in circles. It just became ridiculous and over the top and dramatic and angsty and it annoyed the crap out of me. 2 stars.

Short story told in first person. Christmas at Gunpoint is set before Stormbreaker and Alex reminisces about a Christmas he spent with his uncle, Ian Rider, and almost discovered his secret spy life. This story is now available as part of the short story collection;

Secret Weapon.

I didn't feel this was as good as the later novels or short stories. Alex is kind of dim. I mean jeez how many hints can you get? And fair enough if he just decided not to ask but he didn't even seem to realise something was up with his uncle.

It bothers me when the girl or the guy is in a relationship but lusting after someone else. So I didn't love the start of this. In fact I liked the idea of this more than the execution. Just felt flat. I didn't really like either character. Some of it was kind of ridiculous.

Multiple shifter animals? Dragons? Pick your worldbuilding and stick with it but this just seemed a mess of ideas.

Erotica with thin plot. It all happened way too fast, with no character development, a very thin veneer of a plot and lots of sex. 2.5 stars. I didn't love it but I'm sure other people will.

I never much liked Jennings and Gleitzman books. They were super popular with my classmates but I always just found them creepy.

Dawn and Rory hate each other. Unfortunately for them their parents, Jack (Dawn's dad) and Eileen (Rory's mum) are getting married. But they have to work together to save their parents when Rory finds his pets, the slobberers, are killing machines, sucking the life from anything they come into contact with and he put some in their honeymoon stew as a protest against their marriage.

This wasn't well written. All the characters are flat and there's a ton of backstory but all of which is lacking explanation. Dawn's mum apparently killed herself. On a bus. While other people were on it - one of whom was Rory. Rory's dad left his mum and him and never calls or writes or visits. There was no depth to the characters and every fact just brought up more questions.

And frankly I just didn't care. It was creepy and disgusting and I just wanted it to be over. 1 star.