When Among Crows by Veronica Roth

 When Among Crows by Veronica Roth-166 pages

⭐⭐⭐1/2

Dymitr seeks out and acquires a special fern flower to break a zmory's curse so that he can exchange the potential cure for a potential audience with the legendary Baba Jaga. He doesn't say why he wants an audience with Baba Jaga. He only says that he wants one. Dymitr appears to be a "normal" human surrounded by monsters in Chicago. He is unafraid, however, and the "creatures/monsters" wonder why he's not afraid. There may be more to him than meets the eye. 

I liked reading this, but I found the world building a bit lacking which is why I didn't give it 4 stars or higher. I like that the book is short, but that is both good and bad because it doesn't allow for enough background and world building. 

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

The Ex Hex (The Ex Hex #1) by Erin Sterling, 308 pages

"Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths…and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn’t use her magic this way, but with only an “orchard hayride” scented candle on hand, she isn’t worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.

That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and make an appearance at the annual fall festival turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all. 

Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous wind-up toys, a pissed off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off the charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it’s too late." --Goodreads blurb

The synopsis of this story sounded great, but just didn't end up being a good read for me. I think some of it had to do with the audiobook narrator, but a lot of it had to do with the writing and stuttering plot as well. 

The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb

The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb - 352 pages

From award-winning novelist Wendy Webb comes a spine-tingling mystery about family secrets set in a big, old haunted house on Lake Superior.

Grace Alban has spent twenty years away from her childhood home, the stately Alban House, for reasons she would rather forget. But when her mother's unexpected death brings Grace and her teen-age daughter home, she finds more haunting the halls and passageways of Alban House than her own personal demons.

Long-buried family secrets, a packet of old love letters and a lost manuscript plunge Grace into a decades-old mystery about a scandalous party at Alban House, when a world-famous author took his own life and Grace's aunt disappeared without a trace. The night has been shrouded in secrecy by the powerful Alban family for all of these years, and Grace realizes her family secrets tangle and twist as darkly as the secret passages of Alban House. Her mother was intending to tell the truth about that night to a reporter on the very day she died - could it have been murder? Or was she a victim of the supposed Alban curse? With the help of the disarmingly kind--and attractive—Reverend Matthew Parker, Grace must uncover the truth about her home and its curse before she and her daughter become the next victims.

This was the first book I have ever read from this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was basically a Goosebump book for an adult. Throughout the whole book you were guessing until the very end because nothing is as it seems. I will be looking for other books by this author in the future.

Tactics, v.3 by Sakura Kinoshita

Tactics, v.3 by Sakura Kinoshita - 180 pages

This continues the story of Kantarou and the demon eater Hakura.  This volume contains two stories.  The first is of two sisters and the men in town who are being killed.  It was fairly obvious who was behind the killing but I have to admit the motivations were not what I thought they would be.  The second story is the search for a magical item versus an old school rival.  I believe this story is setting up a future arc with the introduction of a couple new characters and the revelation about a previous character.  I'm enjoying this series more with each story.  I look forward to reading the rest of the series.