BOOK REVIEW ~ Peter Darling By Austin Chant

Book Review for Echoing Books

Peter Darling
by Austin Chant
Publication date: February 15, 2017
Genres: Fantasy, LGBT, Romance, Retellings, Transgender, Young Adult,  MM Romance
Format: ebook
Source: N/A
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The Lost Boys say that Peter Pan went back to England because of Wendy Darling, but Wendy is just an old life he left behind. Neverland is his real home. So when Peter returns to it after ten years in the real world, he’s surprised to find a Neverland that no longer seems to need him.

The only person who truly missed Peter is Captain James Hook, who is delighted to have his old rival back. But when a new war ignites between the Lost Boys and Hook’s pirates, the ensuing bloodshed becomes all too real – and Peter’s rivalry with Hook starts to blur into something far more complicated, sensual, and deadly.

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My Thoughts

First off, all this is my first non-horror book I’ve read this year. Let me celebrate this as I am struggling to keep reading anything but horror or mystery. I haven’t read a lot of retelling books but I can tell you I really enjoyed this Peter Pan retelling. Can’t wait to go read more retelling books. This novel deserves the 4 Hearts I am giving this.

“Dreamers are always welcome here, whatever their reasons.”
― Austin Chant, Peter Darling

This book was so cute and sweet, and I really wish it could have been longer. I really did not know I needed this before reading the synopsis. I mean who would have thought Peter and Hook together as a couple. I did not see it coming and yet it was SO CUTE. This was your typical slow burn with Hook being the enemy to Peter at the beginning with all the sword fighting and attacks. I saw this as their version of foreplay as Hook finally come alive again. Peter was the only one who could injure Hook in a very long time.

I loved how they explored Neverland and what it could have been for each character.

“The very world here bends for the sake of your stories, Pan. I see no reason why I, a mere man, should not.”
― Austin Chant, Peter Darling

This book was unique, and I can tell you I adored it. I would very much reread it when I need a cozy read at night. I most certainly did not expect a trans Peter and that was one of the strongest elements and Austin Chant did an incredible job with Peters character.

xoxo Ryna


About The Author

S. A. (Austin) Chant is a novelist, prize-winning pie baker, and ardent tabletop gaming enthusiast. They are the author of three novels: Peter Darling, Coffee Boy, and Caroline’s Heart. They live in Seattle with a frightening amount of books and a cat who was recently described as a ‘gooey cryptid.’

Find them on Twitter @essaychant and on Instagram @s.a.chant.

Recent Projects and Publications:

  • Fantastic Intersections: Speculative Fiction and Romance. Panel with the Seattle Public Library and Clarion West.
  • Building Trans-Inclusive Worlds. Workshop on gender-diverse worldbuilding for Clarion West.
  • “High Maintenance.” Short story published in Your Body Is Not Your Body, an anthology of trans-authored horror, from Tenebrous Press.
  • The Speculation Postcard Club. Epistolary microfiction club on Patreon.

Goodreads | Website  | Instagram | Twitter

BOOK REVIEW ~ The Ravenous Dead (Gravekeeper #2) by Darcy Coates

Book Review for Echoing Books

The Ravenous Dead (Gravekeeper #2)
by Darcy Coates
Publication date: March 15, 2022
Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Ghost Stories,  Mystery
Format: ebook
Source: Kindle Addition 
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He’ll never let go…

Keira, hired as Blighty Graveyard’s new groundskeeper, lives surrounded by the dead. They watch her through the fog. They wordlessly cry out. They’ve been desperately waiting for help moving on—and only Keira can hear them. But not every restless spirit wants to be saved.

Sometimes the dead hate the living too much to find peace.

As Keira struggles to uncover the tangled histories of some of the graveyard’s oldest denizens, danger seeps from the darkest edges of the forest. A vicious serial killer was interred among the trees decades before, his spirit twisted by his violent nature. He’s furious. Ravenous. And when Keira unwittingly answers his call, she may just seal her fate as his final intended victim.

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My Thoughts

This is the second book in this series and I noticed that you can read this as a standalone but I personally would recommend that you read the first book of the series before you read this. It gives us more backstory about Keira and how she met Adage, Mason and Zoe.  I liked this book just a tiny bit more than the first novel. That is why this has a 4 star review. This story begins right where it left of from the first book.  There are multiple mysteries going on just like The Whispering Dead. Keira is still intend to find out more about herself but it feels like it is on the backburner.  She is so intent to find out the identity of the John Doe buried in the cemetery but there is a malevolent and angry ghost intend to consume all the energy of the ghost and people. The more energy it consumes the stronger it becomes.

Keira’s friends are both different. Zoe is so quirky and she has a lot of paranoid conspiracies. I just wish the back stories of both Mason and Zoe would be explored more. I would like to know why Mason left his studies for being a doctor.  Zoe is researching the insignia of the organization that is targeting Keira but yet again we wont find out anything about that in this novel.

There is a tiny bit of romance but I mean you have to squint for that. Mason’s care for Keira is seen but nothing happens to take further action in the romance part. Once again this novel could have been spookier but this is still a quick and fast read. I would like to call it a cozy read. Wish I could have read this laying comfy in my bed instead of listening to the audio while at work. I love seeing the trust starting to build between the three friends with Adage knowing about her gift with Keira being afraid to tell Mason and Zoe. Yet when they know they help even more than before.

Still I enjoyed this novel and I will always look at Darcy Coates books first if I am in the mood for Horror or ghost stories.

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xoxo Ryna


About The Author

Darcy is the USA Today Bestselling author of Hunted, The Haunting of Ashburn House, Craven Manor, and more than a dozen horror and suspense titles.

She lives on the Central Coast of Australia with her family, cats, and a garden full of herbs and vegetables.

Darcy loves forests, especially old-growth forests where the trees dwarf anyone who steps between them. Wherever she lives, she tries to have a mountain range close by.

Business enquiries: darcy (at) darcycoates.com

You can hear about her next book by joining her newsletter: www.darcycoates.com/subscribe/

Follow on Twitter: @darcyauthor

Join the official reader Discord: https://discord.gg/bau65HMHf8

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Review for Safe with Me by Kristen Proby

Book Review - Safe With Me
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Safe With Me 
Kristen Proby
Publication date: September 21st 2013
Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Format: Ebook
Source: N/A
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Keeping others safe is what Caleb Montgomery does. He’s never had a problem taking on an assignment, whether it was during his dangerous SEAL days or his most recent job of training war mercenaries. But being assigned to keep Brynna Vincent and her adorable daughters, Maddie and Josie, safe from an unknown threat has thrown Caleb off his axis. Hot for the tall brunette since she came back to town more than a year ago, being close to her day in and day out is cracking Caleb’s resolve to keep his hands off her gorgeous body and his head in the mission.

Brynna is sick and tired of being afraid. All she wants is a normal, quiet life for her and her precious girls. Just as she’s settling into her new home in Seattle and feeling safe again, Caleb shows up on her doorstep insisting the danger is as high as ever. But whether she needs to be sheltered from the threat in her past, or from the intense emotions she feels for the sexy, protective man sleeping in her home, remains to be seen. What will happen if Brynna and her girls fall in love with a man so broken he may not be able to protect them from the danger that threatens, much less himself?”

SAFE WITH ME is the fifth book in the With Me In Seattle series, and continues to follow this tight-knit, loving family through life’s trials and tribulations with humor, passion and everlasting love.

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My Thoughts

This book was really sweet and amazing. Caleb loved Brynna and both her children and I just loved reading every moment of it. The book melted my heart a few times and that ending was just so amazing and there was lots and lots of love. A very amazing, sexy, hot romance book. 

I can’t say that this is one of my favourite book of the series but I really did enjoy it. Kristen knows how to write hot steamy romance novels. The book starts when Brynna is forced out of her town back to Seattle for her safety. She works for her cousin’s husband under the table and moved into Nat’s old house. Matt who is the cop in the story knows what happened so does Isaac and Caleb that’s the only people in her family who knows about it.

After someone started looking and asking questions about the Montgomery family Matt and Caleb thought they are looking for Brynna again so Caleb decided to move into her house with her and her children. Brynna just wanted to feel safe again but it was hard for her when Caleb moved in with her because she liked him a lot and she was lusting for him. He liked her a lot to but he thought she deserves better. He doesn’t think that he’s capable of a relationship; his experiences as a SEAL left him broken and damaged. He doesn’t think that he has anything to offer Brynna or her girls. But that doesn’t mean that he stops wanting her any less.

“God, she can destroy me with just a look. I’ve faced horrors that no man or woman should have to see and faced them without qualms, but this woman and her two daughters bring me to my knees.”

Brynna was a real amazing heroine. She was no pushover and she did not whine when she didn’t get her way and I loved how she handled Caleb and his problems. She was real patient with him and she trusted him and helped him in every way possible and she understood him. Caleb was just pure sex on a stick. Kristen Proby definitely did not disappoint in the sex department. This book was HOT. This book was a real page turner and these two just burned of the pages. I liked that Brynna went after what she wanted and sis not shy away from getting it. I also loved the kids they were adorable and I liked how Caleb was with them.

Now why only for stars? Well for me they just glossed over the danger in the books and I just did not connect that much with Brynna and Caleb. That’s why I give four stars instead of five. . I just felt like something was missing. It seemed like there was all this build up, and then in the end the quick resolution just fell slightly flat. There could have been more danger in it to show that Caleb is good at protecting. What I loved is there was a little teaser of the next book at the end and I really love a dirty and kinky cops.

“I drop my face to my hands and scrub hard.

“I wish I had your boobs,” I hear Sam announce and raise my head to see who she’s talking to. Of course, she’s talking to Bryn.

“Right,” she smirks and takes another bite of brownie.

“Dude, I do!” And just like that, Sam saunters across the room and cups Brynna’s tit in her palm. “See? You have the perfect boobs. Stace, have you felt her boobs?”

Just kill me. Put a bullet in my head and end the agony.

“Oh yeah,” Stacy waves her off. “She has great tits.”

She has amazing tits.

“I wanna feel!” Jules bounces over and joins in.

“Give me more chocolate and you can touch all you want.” Brynna laughs and then glances over at me. “This is the most action I’ve had in months.”

“Motherfuckingsonofawhore.” I grumble.

“Is Brynna single?” Mark asks Will.

“Keep your fucking hands off her,” I growl at him before I know what’s coming out of my mouth.

“Hey,” he holds his hands up in surrender and laughs. “It was just an innocent question.”

I love the girls when the drunk I mean they are really funny then. Can’t stop laughing at them with them talking about sex and orgasms and piercings in unmentionable places.  I love this family.

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xoxo Ryna


About The Author

Kristen was born and raised in a small resort town in her beloved Montana. In her mid-twenties, she decided to stretch her wings and move to the Pacific Northwest, where she made her home for more than a dozen years.

During that time, Kristen wrote many romance novels and joined organizations such as RWA and other small writing groups. She spent countless hours in workshops, and more mornings than she can count up before the dawn so she could write before going to work. She submitted many manuscripts to agents and editors alike, but was always told no. In the summer of 2012, the self-publishing scene was new and thriving, and Kristen had one goal: to publish just one book. It was something she longed to cross off of her bucket list.

Not only did she publish one book, she’s since published close to thirty titles, many of which have hit the USA Today, New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestsellers lists. She continues to self publish, best known for her With Me In Seattle and Boudreaux series, and is also proud to work with William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins, with the Fusion Series.

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