YVO’S SHORTIES #242 – Blood Lines & Starlight Over Bluebell Castle

Time for another round of Yvo’s Shorties! This time around two sequels (although belonging to completely different genres) I both ended up enjoying.

Title: Blood Lines
(DI Kim Stone #5)
Author: Angela Marsons
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Detective
First published: October 27th 2016
Publisher: Bookouture
Finished reading: July 6th 2021
Pages: 388

“It was universally known that not every piece of evidence could be found at a crime scene but it was good if the guys had a fighting chance.”

I guess that 2021 is the year I finally catch up with this series… Blood Line is already the sixth book of the DI Kim Stone series I’ve had the chance to read this year, and there is no doubt that it is another satisfying read. This is a series that just keeps delivering, and book five is another suspenseful, dark, twisted and engaging story… A little warning if you haven’t read the previous books yet: an important character first featured in book two Evil Games returns in this sequel (Doctor Alexandra Thorne), so it’s definitely important to read at least that story to avoid huge spoilers. Talking about Alexandra Thorne: while I do get why the author decided to return to this character, I’m having mixed feelings about having to deal with her again. She is great for the plot and excellent for building up tension, but there was just something about her and the constant focus on Kim’s past that started to annoy me. This is only a minor blip though as the rest of the plot mostly made up for it. Kim Stone and her team have another intriguing case to investigate, and as always I had a great time following them around and seeing their different personalities shine. Some of the final reveals were a tad farfetched for me, but as a whole this was another solid sequel and I definitely can’t wait to read the next book (although I do hope this is the last we see of Alexandra Thorne to be honest).

Title: Starlight Over Bluebell Castle
(Bluebell Castle #3)
Author: Sarah Bennett
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
First published: November 1st 2019
Publisher: HQ Digital
Finished reading: July 8th 2021
Pages: 384

“People don’t have a finite capacity to care. If you don’t ever let your shields down, it’s not possible to have more than superficial relationships.”

I confess that I don’t usually read Christmas themed stories unless it’s December, but after highly enjoying the first two books of this trilogy, I didn’t want to wait five months until reading Tristan’s story. And I definitely liked what I found! Starlight Over Bluebell Castle has once again confirmed to me that Sarah Bennett‘s writing and me are a perfect match, and I love the way she writes her romances. This is such a sweet and adorable read and I loved meeting up with the different characters again… They are all so easy to like, and I loved how Jess and the little ones fitted right in with the rest of the bunch. The story isn’t overly Christmas themed, as most of the focus is on organizing the upcoming Holiday event including the winter festival. And there are so many wonderful descriptions included that make you wish you could visit the castle and the grounds yourself! The writing is engaging, and makes it really easy to keep turning the pages, and I liked how the story wrapped up in the end. I will definitely read more of her books in the future.