Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

Stalking Jack the Ripper #3

Publisher: JIMMY Patterson

Publication Date: September 18th, 2018

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Source: Purchase

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 416

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Summary (from Goodreads):

In this third installment in the #1 bestselling Stalking Jack the Ripper series, a luxurious ocean liner becomes a floating prison of scandal, madness, and horror when passengers are murdered one by one…with nowhere to run from the killer. . 

Audrey Rose Wadsworth and her partner-in-crime-investigation, Thomas Cresswell, are en route to New York to help solve another blood-soaked mystery. Embarking on a week-long voyage across the Atlantic on the opulent RMS Etruria, they’re delighted to discover a traveling troupe of circus performers, fortune tellers, and a certain charismatic young escape artist entertaining the first-class passengers nightly.

But then, privileged young women begin to go missing without explanation, and a series of brutal slayings shocks the entire ship. The strange and disturbing influence of the Moonlight Carnival pervades the decks as the murders grow ever more freakish, with nowhere to escape except the unforgiving sea. It’s up to Audrey Rose and Thomas to piece together the gruesome investigation as even more passengers die before reaching their destination. But with clues to the next victim pointing to someone she loves, can Audrey Rose unravel the mystery before the killer’s horrifying finale?

So, I'm going to start this review off by saying that I absolutely adore this series with my whole heart. But this one was not my favorite. I feel like this is the book in the series that is suffering from sequel slump.

This book picks up shortly after the end of Hunting Prince Dracula. Audrey Rose, Thomas, and Audrey's Uncle are on the RMS Etruria on their way to America to solve a case. But on their trip, they wind up with a new case to solve as the bodies of young women start turning up during the evening carnival performances. And it looks like someone in the carnival is the killer, but they have to figure out who it is before they arrive in America and the killer gets away.

I am not 100% sure why this book didn't so much do it for me like the other two did.

I feel like Audrey Rose taking Mephistopheles up on his midnight bargain was really out of character for her. The only things that she seemed to truly think through in this book were in dealing with the bodies and sorting through the evidence and clues they found.

I feel like Thomas was just really unimportant in this book? Like, I feel like he didn't offer anything serious in this one? I don't remember the first two books super well, but I don't remember thinking that he was basically just comic relief in them. Because of Audrey Rose's bargain with Mephistopheles, she couldn't really hang out with him all that much and it seemed like when she got a moment with him, Mephistopheles showed up and took her away for something or other.

Now, let's get to the romance. I went into this book thinking that Audrey Rose and Thomas were a ROCK SOLID PAIR. I saw people talking about how there was a love triangle in this book and I was like..

What is your definition of a love triangle, people?!

But holy crap, there was a love triangle in this book. Like, in all reality, I can see why Audrey Rose felt the way she did in this book. But at the same time... No. I feel like she never should have ended up in the situation to begin with because it just seemed so... wrong for her to do. Also, they are perfect together. Like, honestly, Thomas deserves more than this.

Beyond that, some of the thought processes in this book felt repetitive to me. I feel like there were parts where I was confused on what exactly was happening, but that could be because I was reading this book so fast because I wanted to finish one of my spookathon books DURING spookathon.

But on the plus side, Audrey Rose was still her badass, feminist self. I loved seeing her and her cousin Liza interact. I liked seeing her working her magic. Thomas was still his same shamelessly flirty, ridiculous self. The mystery was interesting and it was interesting to see how it all connected in the end.

I liked the carnival aspect of the book. I liked the performers. It took me a bit to warm up to Mephistopheles because he was always in the way of my ship. I feel like based on the name of this book, Houdini should have been a bigger part of the story. Like Stalking Jack the Ripper was about the Ripper murders, Hunting Prince Dracula was a good name for a book that took place in Dracula's castle and was about murders reminiscent of a vampire attack. But Escaping from Houdini just doesn't seem super fitting after finishing the book.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, I loved seeing Audrey Rose and Thomas again and seeing them work their magic to solve a case, but this was definitely my least favorite in the series so far. I will definitely revisit that thought next year when the last book comes out and I do a full reread though! Maybe if I take more time to read it, it will turn out better for me.

Have you read Escaping from Houdini yet? What did you think of it?

Review // Leaping Wolf by JP Harker

Leaping Wolf by JP Harker

Caledon Saga #2

Publisher: JPH

Publication Date: June 9th, 2017

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: Author

Format: Paperback

Pages: 604

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Summary (from Goodreads):

Lepidus is defeated and Rhianwyn’s precious Caledon is at peace, but still Gawan of the Gorvicae is troubled. What future is there for men like him in a world with no more need for warriors? With his tribe saved he knows that he ought to be contented, but more and more he finds himself dwelling on his past, and the life he abandoned for what he thought was a greater duty. Though amends for that will have to wait as, even as the alliance of tribes is formed, the Caledon seems ready to collapse. Rhianwyn is struggling for control, Gawan’s own tribe is leaderless, and with unexpected enemies arising from the south, Gawan suspects the time for warriors may not be over yet...

Leaping Wolf picks right back up where Wildcat left off. The battle at Second Nantwyn is over and Lepidus is defeated. The warriors of the Caledon are headed back to Bryngarth to deal with funerals, picking new Chieftains, and worrying about what they're going to do with themselves if they can't fight each other anymore.

They don't have to worry about this for long though because the Chieftain of one of the Caledon tribes is murdered and the warriors are needed once again.

Where Wildcat felt like it dealt more so with Gaian politics, this book seems to focus more on tribal and intertribal politics. You get to see how the Caderyn hold trials for people accused of crimes and how they decide things. You get to see the Gorvicae hold a moot to choose a new Chieftain. Since the Caledon is such a new thing, you get to see how they kind of try to include other tribes in their decision making now. It was all very interesting.

There is so much more to this book than what you get in the synopsis. It's so vague! I feel like I got to the end of what I was expecting to find in this book and there was so much book left! And I didn't know what to expect from it. Not a complaint, more of an observation. I personally prefer to not know too much about the book I'm going into.

This book mostly follows Gawan. I wasn't really sure how I felt about this in the beginning just because I didn't particularly like him that much in the first book. I thought he was kind of a grumpy butthead, but he really grew on me throughout this book. He's really reasonable and values honor. He is dealing with a lot of feelings in this book. I liked understanding what was going on in his head.

There is still a lot of Rhianwyn in this book, which I liked. I really liked Rhia and how she always tries to make the best decisions for her tribe and for the Caledon as a whole. She makes some tough decisions in this book.

There is a bit of romance in this book, but it either ends poorly or is unrequited. I am not hopeful for happily ever afters in this series at this point. I just hope that the characters I like come out alive! D:

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I feel like it was a solid sequel. Once again, there was a lot of internal stuff going on with the characters, which made it feel a bit slow just because I feel like that isn't something I notice in the books I usually read.

It made me like characters I didn't particularly care for, which always feels like a big plus to me. I kind of predicted which of the potential Gorvicae Cheiftains was working with the shady guys. I'm really excited to read the next one because I want to know what kind of shady business these guys are up to.

Also, this book hurt my feelings twice. I got a little teary-eyed a couple times and honestly, it's so unfair. Marius deserves better than this!

If you haven't read Wildcat yet, you totally should and then you should come and talk to me about it!