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Review of The Reincarnationist Papers by D. Eric Maikranz

April 5, 2021 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Blurb:

”For fans of The Matrix and Memento, a twisty, exciting adventure!” –Diana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander series

The basis for the major motion picture Infinite

Discovered as three notebooks in an antique store in Rome at the turn of the millennium, The Reincarnationist Papers offers a tantalizing glimpse into the Cognomina, a secret society of people who possess total recall of their past lives.

Evan
Michaels struggles with being different, with having the complete
memories of two other people who lived sequentially before him. He
fights loneliness and believes he is unique until he meets Poppy. She
recognizes his struggle because she is like him, except that she is much
older, remembering seven consecutive lives. But there is something else
she must share with Evan — she is a member of the secretive Cognomina.
They are, in effect, immortals — compiling experiences and skills over
lifetimes into near superhuman abilities that they have used to drive
history over centuries.

Poppy invites Evan into the Cognomina, but he must face their tests before entering this mysterious society as their equal.

Review:

I love twisty stories about past lives and secret organizations, so the synopsis of The Reincarnationist Papers grabbed my attention right away. The story follows a fellow named Evan Michaels, a professional arsonist-for-hire. Evan, however, is different than most people in that he is living with three sets of memories inside of his head: his current life and the complete memories of two other people. He suspects that he’s crazy and lives his life the best he can.

But then he meets Poppy, who recognizes Evan for what he really is: someone who has complete recall of their past lives. As it turns out, Poppy has lived seven consecutive lives, so in this way, she’s much older than Evan. She subsequently invites him to apply to a secret society called the Cognomina, a group for people who are like the both of them: immortals who recall all of their past lives. But first, Evan has to go through a series of tests to prove that he is, in fact, one of them, and in so doing, we go more in-depth into his past lives as well as the others in the society via the narrative and flashbacks. I found the drama and the interwoven secrets between the Cognomina members throughout their many lives to be compelling and a lot of fun.

What was entertaining about this book is that it felt like it was a non-fiction story — a sort of documentary in which the author comes across these “Reincarnationist Papers” in an antique bookstore in Rome and is now sharing those notebooks in book format for all of us to read and ponder. So in this way, I found the world-building to be phenomenal. I thought this aspect was such a unique and refreshing take on the past life genre and really added to the story’s overall enjoyment. It was fascinating how all of the characters no longer feared death at all because they knew they’d be coming right back. This was quite an interesting philosophy on the overall theme of life after death.

We’re also treated to a delightful set of eccentric and hedonistic personalities in the Cognomina, all of which added an essential element to the story. Each character was captivating and described in such detail that I could easily picture having a conversation with any one of them, resulting in a vivid and atmospheric story. I especially enjoyed the character arc of Evan as he experienced considerable growth throughout the book.

We also learn the origin of the Reincarnationist Papers — who wrote them and why. But that’s all I’ll say on that lest I move into spoiler territory. But I can say that The Reincarnationist Papers is a delightful and enthralling read that makes you ponder who you are, where you come from, and what your responsibilities are to both. Told in alternating perspectives with crisp writing, I found this to be quite a thought-provoking book that I thoroughly enjoyed.

A huge thank you to TK and Blackstone Publishing for providing a review copy of this book.

Purchase The Reincarnationist Papers on Amazon

Review of The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris

April 4, 2021 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Cost of Knowing book cover The Cost of Knowing is a young adult novel that follows sixteen-year-old Alex Rufus, a black teen, and his twelve-year-old little brother Isaiah whose parents were killed in a car accident a few years prior. Alex isn’t quite like other kids because ever since the accident, he has the gift of psychometry – that is to say, he can see the future whenever he touches an object or a person. For instance, if he touches an ice cream scoop at work, he sees himself using it to scoop ice cream a few minutes later. If he touches his car, he sees it wrecked and underwater a few years from now.

He also saw his childhood best friend’s death a few years prior, so since then, he lives in pretty much a constant state of anxiety surrounding his gift. This burdensome ability also makes it challenging for Alex to maintain relationships because since he foresaw his friend’s death, he’s generally avoided touching the people he cares about, which isn’t always easy to accomplish and has led to additional complications for Alex. For instance, it’s caused conflict between him and his girlfriend, who isn’t aware of Alex’s “gift” and doesn’t understand why Alex won’t hold her hand.

But one day, his world turns completely upside down when, after picking up an old family photo, he sees the funeral of his little brother, Isaiah. Alex knows that the events of his visions cannot be prevented — what he sees has always come to pass. So now, Alex is determined to be the best brother possible during Isaiah’s remaining days and to do everything in his power to ensure that his days are safe and happy.

Though this is the story of two brothers, at its core, the book is also about what it means to be a young Black man today. In fact, the author dedicates the book: “To all the Black boys who had to grow up too early.”

As Alex attempts to protect his brother, we witness how the boys have to deal with the realities of racism, stereotypes, and constant microaggressions, especially given that they live in a primarily white neighborhood. We see their continuous fear and anxiety of being targeted as criminals because of the color of their skin. The author illustrates nicely how people can be racist without believing they’re racist and addresses several themes such as the effects of trauma, systemic racism, intergenerational trauma, intimacy, grief, fear, guilt, toxic masculinity, mental health, Black history, ignorance, privilege, power, and more. Additionally, there was the compelling theme of Black ancestral pride in which the legacy of Alex’s ability is explained through the lens of familial history and heritage. I also enjoyed the underlying theme of the necessity of working through our traumatic experiences.

I loved the beautiful relationship that developed between the two boys. Up to this point, they were mostly estranged because Isaiah spent all of this time hiding in his room (as it turns out, Isaiah has his own secrets). It warmed my heart to see the boys open up to each other and experience joy together. They even discover that they have the same musical tastes, a scene which brought a smile to my face.

Though at times heartbreaking, The Cost of Knowing is also uplifting. It’s a gripping and magical book that’s relevant, moving, and poignant. Though the narrative does examine several serious themes, the powerful and addictive plotline, as well as the relatable characters, made this a page-turner for me. I loved this brilliant book and give it 5 Stars.

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Review of The Lake by Louise Sharland

March 31, 2021 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Blurb:

The truth lies just beneath the surface…

Kate’s world falls apart when her teenage son drowns in the waters by his school. She’s convinced it wasn’t just a tragic accident, but no one will listen.

Then, six years later, Kate unearths Michael’s lost diary and realises she may finally be able uncover what really happened that night.

But as she delves deeper, she begins to realise that she didn’t really know her son – or the people in his life – at all. And that, sometimes, secrets are better left submerged…

An absorbing, emotionally-charged and addictive page-turner that will keep you gripped into the dark hours, perfect for fans of Linda Green and Teresa Driscoll.

Review:

The story follows a mother who is grieving the passing of her 15-year-old son Michael who drowned six ago. When she accidentally discovers his diary, she begins to suspect there was much more to his death than a mere drowning — and that someone else may have been with him at the lake that night.

What follows is an intense, fast-paced thriller as she slowly uncovers Michael’s past and gets closer to discovering the truth of what really happened. The mother’s pain was heartbreaking as she unearthed her son’s past, desperately searching for closure and justice, resulting in quite an unsettling narrative. The emotional depth of Kate’s search draws us deeply into her spirit, to the point that her pain is our pain, her joy (as little as there is of it) is our joy. So in this way, I felt that The Lake hits at an intensely visceral level. Anyone who has known the pain of losing a loved one will no doubt see themselves in this story. I knew this subject matter would be a gut puncher- but was woefully ill-prepared for how much.

There is depth to this story, which delves into some pretty dark themes of grief, loneliness, religious extremism, mental and emotional abuse, teenage pregnancy, and inappropriate sexual relationships. While I found this indeed to be a compelling story, I typically like my thrillers with more twists and turns, which I thought were lacking here, rendering the story a tad predictable and underwhelming. But apart from that, I really enjoyed this whirlwind of a novel. I found it emotive, heartbreaking, and utterly engrossing, and aches with past and present bruises. But a few surprises and red herrings would have been nice.

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Review of The Player’s Encore by Joe Consentino

March 28, 2021 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Blurb:

Can a man and a ghost be soulmates? When young music teacher Andre Beaufort unleashed the ghost of dapper Roaring Twenties playboy Freddy Birtwistle from his antique player piano, he never imagined they would fall in love and solve two murder mysteries. Now Freddy yearns to visit his family’s beach house in Florida. So, Andre and Freddy embark on a vacation to the stunning home which has become a bed and breakfast. Before Freddy can say “zotched,” a young, mysterious houseboy is murdered, the second hunky houseboy to meet the same fate. Will Andre and Freddy find the murderer to save the inn—and themselves?

A year later, Andre and Freddy venture off on a vacation with Andre’s uncle, an ex-priest, to Tuscany, staying at an inn which happens to have once been Freddy’s old family villa. Before the sun sets golden on the hills, a handsome young guest is murdered. Will Andre and Freddy uncover the secrets of Freddy’s ancestral home, solve the mystery, and find eternal love?

The Player’s Encore, the second installment in the popular Player Piano Mysteries series by Joe Cosentino, includes two cozy mysteries: The Beach House and The Villa.

Review:

This is the second book in the ‘Piano Player Mysteries’ series. We again follow Andre Beaufort and his ghostly lover Freddy Birtwistle as they solve crimes and travel to homes that formerly belonged to Freddy’s family. Like the first book in the series, this volume actually contains two novellas: ‘The Beach House’ and ‘The Villa’.

‘The Beach House’ takes place in Freddy’s former home in Key West, Florida, where we learn that the head houseboy was murdered there five years prior. As it turns out, the same thing occurs again: someone murders the head houseboy at the house by pushing him off the balcony. So Andre and Freddy take it upon themselves to investigate.

The second book, ‘The Villa,’ occurs in Tuscany, where Andre and his Uncle Daryl book a stay at a gay-friendly villa that once belonged to Freddy’s family. This time, a wealthy guest drops dead during dinner, and the detective on the case, knowing that Andre has solved other murders, requests his help.

These were both zany and fast-paced whodunnits with oddball secondary characters and plenty of 1920s humor from Freddy. Because Freddy is attached to the pianos and cannot leave the room, Andre does all the legwork of interviewing guests. Through his interviews with the wacky (and in some cases, despicable) characters, we get to piece together the mysteries step by step, though there are a few red herrings thrown in to keep the reader guessing. The murder mysteries at the core of these books were gripping and twisty, with both keeping me guessing until the end.

I found both stories to be equally quirky and delightful. Like the first book, we get a mixture of contemporary society along with Freddy’s scandalous stories from the Roaring 20s, and the humor provided many laugh-out-loud moments. There are some fairly silly and over-the-top developments and plot twists, but they are all part of the whimsy. I won’t spoil anything, but we see some new sides of Freddy and get some insight into his family and the heartbreaking events surrounding them.

To conclude with the characters, I’m pretty invested in them at this point, and I enjoyed seeing the evolution of Andre and Freddy’s relationship — how in each book, they grow closer and more in love. I really savored the stories, and I’m going to miss these characters until the next installment comes out. Another fun, highly entertaining cozy mystery in the Piano Player Mysteries series!

NOTE: This book was provided by the author for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews

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Review of Keeping Casey by Amy Aislin

March 26, 2021 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Blurb:

Casey Preston is the guy with the plan. The list-maker. The one who micromanages his own life.

Spontaneously offering to be his best friend’s fake boyfriend to get Ethan’s annoying team captain off his back?

That’s not thinking things through. It’s not even smart given Casey’s been fighting his feelings for Ethan for years.

Ethan Rain just wants to play hockey and get his college degree. Adding a fake boyfriend to the mix? He doesn’t need that complication.

If Casey were his real boyfriend, though? If he got to keep Casey forever? Now we’re talking.

But what if Casey doesn’t want to be kept?

Review:

Keeping Casey is a sweet college romance that contains many of my favorite tropes/elements: gay hockey players, friends-to-lovers, and fake-dating, so I was super excited to delve into this book. The story follows Casey and Ethan, who have been best friends throughout their entire lives. Ethan is demisexual, and Casey is gay, and both of them have a secret crush on the other — but neither has ever been brave enough to act on their feelings, each certain that their love is unrequited. Thus, there’s plenty of angst as well as mutual pining going on. What’s fun is that pretty much everyone around them assumes that they’re a couple because of the way they act towards each other, and their friends call them out on it more than once.

It’s also worth mentioning that the boys are bonded by a shared family tragedy: they both lost a parent in the same horrific construction accident, so this tragedy has overshadowed their decisions in life and affected each of them in different ways. They take care of each other, support each other, and provide that unconditional yet unspoken love that really is what they both need so desperately.

Their relationship takes a turn when, on the fly, they decide to become fake boyfriends in order to put Ethan’s homophobic team captain in his place. Suddenly, their intense feelings for each other are forced out into the open with some unexpected results. I love how these two move through so much indecision and inner doubt as they toy with the idea of falling for each other.

Note that this is an extremely slow burn and low heat story — in fact, they don’t even kiss until near the end of the book. In this way, sex is secondary to the intense emotional bond that the men share. So if you’re looking for a steamy romance, this isn’t it. What we do have, though, is a deep love and bond between two men who have intimate knowledge of each other’s faults and imperfections. Yes, both characters are flawed and slightly broken — but their complementary characteristics balance out their flaws.

Though this is a tender, lighthearted romance, there’s also a serious aspect to it as the story delves into topics such as homophobia, love, grief, parental distancing, chronic illness (Ethan is living with rheumatoid arthritis), fear, insecurity, and sexuality. The sprinkling of humor throughout, however, kept the story from being too heavy.

Though Keeping Casey may be a bit cliché in the way that it ends up resolving some pretty big problems and conflicts, it is an endearing romance that allows a reader to enjoy a bit of escapism into a beautiful relationship that never really falters. Their love is engaging and passionate — and Casey and Ethan have become one of my favorite couples. They both become different people by the end of this book, and it is lovely to see it happen. So though a tender romance is at the heart of this book, the story is also about facing unimaginable heartbreak and loss — and coming out stronger on the other side, no matter how long it takes you.

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Review of Where There’s a Kilt, There’s a Way by Ella Stainton

March 25, 2021 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Blurb:

Two years ago, Dr. Ainsley Graham proved the existence of ghosts, and fell in love—hard to top that. But a trip to Sweden to research at a prestigious University for the summer is nothing to sneeze at, especially since his partner, psychologist Joachim Cockburn, will be teaching alongside him. A change of scenery might be just the thing.

Their idyllic trip to Sweden is interrupted by a ghost with a proclivity for rude hand gestures and graphic curse words—and a ghastly history begging to be investigated. Life among the living is complicated, too, by a gruff professor who can’t take his eyes off Ainsley, and an enticing new job offer for Joachim.

What starts as an adventurous trip abroad turns into mayhem, murder, and…a magical moose? And everyone—well, perhaps not the moose—is a suspect in the death of the ghostly young man who brings them together to expose secrets, loves lost, and a crime that will shock them all

Review:

This is the second book in the “Kilty Pleasures” series, and it was fun to spend time with Dr. Graham and Dr. Cockburn (Ainsley and Joachim) once again. In this story, Ainsley heads off on a field expedition to Sweden to research folklore about a ghostly moose (I know, right?). The kicker is that the Swedish professor who Ainsley will be accompanying may be a murderer — or at least, the ghost who’s haunting Joachim claims that he is. Worried that his lover’s life is in jeopardy, Joachim rushes off to Sweden to his aid. The two men then take it upon themselves to solve the ghost’s murder and bring the culprit to justice.

As was the case with the first book, there was plenty of fun and witty banter between our two main characters, lovable and quirky secondary characters, lots of zany situations, as well as misunderstandings and jealousy along the way. There were even gnomes!

I loved the chemistry between Ainsley and Joachim and enjoyed how the story was told from both of their points of view. allowing us a glimpse into each other’s thoughts. The story wasn’t only entertaining with its captivating setting, but the author also gives us a compelling ghostly mystery to solve. This is one of those warm, fuzzy stories where everyone gets what they deserve in the end, in the very best possible ways. But it’s the romance between Ainsley and Joachim that still steals the show. Their bond is a powerful one, and I adored their interactions.

The author has created a delightful world here, and I look forward to reading more books in this series with these endearing characters. There’s something about the comfortable familiarity, as well as the charm and lightheartedness with which the author approaches the world-building and the characters, that’s just fun.

Purchase Where There’s a Kilt, There’s a Way from Amazon