2022 Novella Reviews – Baskerville Book Reviews

Review: Life Ever After

Tech City: Society is obsessed with relentless progress and the possibility of eternal life. A woman and a man meet in waiting room, anticipating a procedure that will incorporate the latest science and technology into their minds and bodies, heightening their awareness and increasing their productivity. Years pass, their relationship deepens and fades, and they grow increasingly uncertain where the AI stops and where they begin. A romantic drama exploring the potentiality of transhumanism, Life Ever After is a rich listening experience that is at once naturalistic and poetic.

Playwright Carla Grauls was awarded a commission through the Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund, an initiative dedicated to developing innovative original plays driven by language and voice. As an Audible commissioned playwright, she received funding and creative support to develop Life Ever After.

Review: The Roommate

This audio novella is a stand-alone prequel to the Cormac Reilly series.

Twenty-two-year-old Niamh Turley thought she had problems dealing with the obnoxious principal of the school she’s teaching in as well as the anxious parents of her little charges, but when she wakes one morning to a missing roommate and a garda knocking on her door, her life spirals out of control fast…

Review: Even Tree Nymphs Get the Blues

A hilarious new standalone novella brimming with otherworldly charm from the reigning queen of paranormal romantic comedy Molly Harper!

Ingrid Asher is the newest resident of Mystic Bayou, a tiny town hidden in the swamp where shapeshifters, vampires, witches and dragons live alongside humans.

Ingrid doesn’t ask for much. The solitary tree nymph just wants to live a quiet life running her ice-cream shop in peace. Unfortunately, she can’t seem to shake her new neighbor, Rob Aspern, head of the League’s data science department and so good looking it just isn’t fair.

If there’s one thing Ingrid doesn’t need, it’s someone poking around in her business. But the more she gets to know the hunky mathematician, the more she finds herself letting her guard down. Can she trust him with her secrets, or will her past destroy everything?

Review: In the Heart of the Fire

A bloodthirsty sheriff is terrorizing a small Texas town where justice has been buried with his victims. Until Nameless arrives – a vigilante whose past is a mystery and whose future is written in blood.

Anyone who crosses Sheriff Russell Soakes is dead, missing, or warned. One of them is a single mother trying to protect her children but bracing herself for the worst. Nameless fears the outcome. He’s seen it in his visions. Now it’s time to teach the depraved Soakes a lesson in fear. But in turning predators into prey, will Nameless unearth a few secrets of his own?

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz comes In the Heart of the Fire, part of Nameless, a riveting collection of short stories about a vigilante nomad, stripped of his memories and commissioned to kill. Follow him in each story, which can be read or listened to in a single sitting.

Review: Starting Over

Cara Wallace is stunned to find Nathan Reynolds back in Henderson County. His sudden arrival brings to the fore unresolved questions of what might have been.
How could she unwrite the past?
How could she undo the mistakes?
How could she unlove him?

Nathan Reynolds can’t understand why Cara chose to stay in this small town. How could she sacrifice her career, her future and their love for a small run-down cottage in the middle of nowheresville? Whatever her reasons, Nathan intends to
find out and start over again!

Review: Her Patriotic Prince

It was only supposed to be one night…

Laura Cunningham is gorgeous, witty, and tough as nails…and still single in her late thirties. After dating every man in Manhattan, she’s resigned herself to the fact that true love just might not exist for her. Certainly a bummer for the woman who observed her two best friends fall in love with sexy, strong men who were their soulmates.

Adam Gardner is a soldier who’s been committed to the cause his entire life. Nearing 40, he realizes that once his next mission is complete, he wants to settle down and build a home and family.

Laura and Adam meet on a romantic summer evening, knowing their time is limited due to Adam’s impending deployment. Taken by their instant chemistry, they commit to spending one passionate and intimate night together.

Years later, Adam returns to find Laura with a daughter who shares his sky-blue eyes. Determined to be a father to the little girl, and still enamored by the woman he could never forget, he strives to discern the best path forward.

Laura is shocked by the appearance of the man who stole her heart so many years ago…and who still possesses it. Can the star-crossed lovers build a life together, or will their secrets and fears keep them from achieving happiness?

Secret baby, only one night, and insta-love trope lovers – this one’s for you! Like all of Ayla’s books, this is a sweet, steamy, fast-paced novella with a sexy hero and guaranteed HEA. The conclusion to the trilogy is here!

Review: Immortal Beginnings

Immortal Beginnings

Can a deamon who has never felt a lover’s touch win the affection of a beautiful but wary vampyre widow?

Strong and stoic Dragos yearns to build an honest life after the War of the Species ends. Due to his servitude to the Dark Lord Crimeous, he never had the opportunity to experience love or true emotion.

Vampyre widow Raina promised she’d never love another. Yet, she’s taken with her handsome, enigmatic new neighbor and his kindness to her two sons.

When Raina realizes Dragos has never had a lover, she gives in to their mutual passion, never realizing she might also lose her heart to the man who somehow invaded every crevice of her soul….

Dear listeners, you know I love an inexperienced hero! Settle in and enjoy this sweet, steamy story with a guaranteed HEA.

Review: Axed in Austin

Nick O’Flannigan needs a break.

The Austin music scene is just the ticket, and throwing in a little recreation seems like a good idea. But a local musician has been killed, and a new friend of Nick’s wants his help. However, the police have warned him off the case, and he really doesn’t want to be involved.

One step back

But something is wrong. There’s a critical clue, a footprint at the scene, and only Nick seems to suspect it means something more. Will his insight save the day, or will he find himself once again in deep trouble?

From a deep mystery, some great music, and the gritty atmosphere of Austin, Texas, you won’t want to miss this travel murder mystery, the next in the Capital City Murders series.

Review: The Battle That Was Lost

When there is something you can’t do or won’t do yourself, you get a bastard to do it for you. They are thieves, cheats, and murderers, loyal to nothing but the coin. Everyone knows that,

Yet in war, payment in blood is more likely than payment in coin.

Staegrim knows coins better than he knows people, and he isn’t giving his life away for free. Not to the rebels, not for the lords, and not for all of the bloody coins in Rengas.

But then… Everyone has a price.

Review: Stung in Santa Fe

Nick gets Stung in Santa Fe.

While on his year long assignment to photograph every state capitol building for Travel USA magazine, Nick O’Flannigan gest stung by a wasp. But he isn’t the only one. A strange death, ruled an accident, happened at a lab researching a vaccine for bee and wasp stings. Nick feels like there is something wrong. It doesn’t feel like an accident.

He doesn’t want to get involved.

When a small detail in a photo stands out, he just can’t shake the feeling that there is a killer on the loose, and he needs to be brought to justice. But will the evidence be enough to convince anyone that he’s right? Or will Nick once again find himself in the middle of a mystery he has no business being involved in?

If you love the Lord Peter Wimsey series, you’ll love Capital City Murders!