Book reviews: The Crow Series by Kristy McCaffrey

The Crow and the Coyote:

In Arizona Territory, Hannah Dobbin travels through Cañon de Chelly, home to the Navajo, in search of a sorcerer who murdered her pa. Only when she retrieves the silver cross taken from her father's corpse will she be able to free her pa's spirit, and allow him to be at peace.

Bounty hunter Jack Boggs—known as Crow—is on the trail of a vile Mexican bandito when he discovers Hannah and her companion, a superstitious old Navajo woman. He knows he must protect them, but with the shadows of Hallowtide descending, more dark magic is at hand than any of them know.

My review:

Sweetly charming, Jack and Hannah's happily ever after is sure to please!

In the middle of a manhunt, Jack comes across Hannah and finds himself caught up in her own troubles. As they dance around the other while working together, their connection sparked and burned bright.

I loved watching their interactions and seeing Jack and Hannah fall for each other. So many times I caught my breath with the trouble they found themselves in and again when the sweet flowed off the page. 

With just the right amount of mystic and adventure, this novella packs a punch, delivering a charming love story.

The Crow and the Bear:

Bounty hunter Callum Boggs—sometimes called Crow—arrives in the mining town of Silverton on a cold October day in search of a man who has committed unspeakable crimes. Skilled in the technique of dream scouting, Crow has narrowed the location of the criminal to Silas Ravine. No normal man would dare to venture into this region, where so many gruesome and unexplained murders have taken place—a piece of land forever haunted where Death still walks. But Crow is no normal man…

Jennie Livingstone knows her papa is in trouble. When none of the local men will come to her aid, she must accept a newly-arrived stranger—a half-Comanche bounty hunter—as her only ally. As they head into the mountains to track Jennie’s father, she can hear more than the whispers of man. The mines carry spirits, and her only hope in navigating the living and the dead lies with the Crow.

But is Jennie prepared for the consequences of where her fate with Callum Boggs may lead? And is she the woman who can hold fast to the Crow’s heart after all his years alone? Bewitched by the beautiful young woman, Callum must do everything he can to stay one step ahead of the spirits that can’t rest—just to keep Jennie and himself alive.

My review:

Mmmm mmmm!! Feel good fuzzies accompany the creepy in Callum and Jennie's story.

I loved how Callum just arrived on the scene in Jennie's time of distress and quickly proved to be the man to protect and care for her. I giggled with the way she quickly wound him around her finger and he humored her quirks. Jennie has a unique presence and heart within her, with how in-turn to the world around her as she was. This softness made her especially charming.

With some surprising twists and lots of unnerving second guesses, The Crow and the Bear is sure to do the trick for a short, easy, sweet and fun Halloween story!

A Murder of Crows:

Bounty hunter Kester “Kit” Boggs, along with his brothers, tracks and destroys the vilest of men, both from this world and the next. With a Scottish and Comanche lineage, his connection to the supernatural is tied directly to the crow. For too long, he’s been hunting El Viejo del Saco, a demon known as The Bag Man who feeds on the blood of children. A rumor leads Kit to the Mexican frontier, where he must find a man called Hamish Kerr. But with Hallowtide descending, Kit has lost his ability to hear spirits, and his only hope is a woman whose family is a sworn enemy to the Boggs’ clan.

Eliza McCulloch’s ancestors hail from Scotland, her clan carrying an ancient curse and a warning—a McCulloch may never bind herself to a Boggs. When Eliza learns that Hamish Kerr stole her family’s book of spells, the McCulloch Grimoire, nearly two decades ago, she sets out to reclaim it. Often called witch, she possesses a unique skill to open doorways to the other side. But when she finds herself beholden to a Boggs for protection, her abilities take an unexpected turn.

As Kit and Eliza unearth far more than a stolen book, they must work together if they are to survive. But with the past pushing into their future, can they resist the growing desire between them? Is it possible for a Boggs and a McCulloch to find lasting love? Or will defeating the demon separate them forever?

My Review:

With a little bit of magic and a little bit of eerie, Kit and Eliza's story enchants!

I loved getting to meet Kit and Eliza and see their determination and personalities separately, because once they set eyes on each other... you can just feel the intensity and connection between them. They compliment each other so well, but you don't even understand how deeply that runs right away.

I loved how strong Kit was, not just physically, but mentally, and how gentle he treated Eliza. He didn't let anyone or anything get in his way once he knew what he wanted.

Eliza... oh! I'd love to have some of her spirit and mettle and heart! Either that, or I want to be her best friend and be along for the ride with her!

If you're looking for an enjoyable novella that gives you a taste of otherworldly magic along with a thrilling romantic story, this is a book to try!

Purchase Link:

          

A little flower magic by Kaye Spencer

[NOTE: This post is a variation of the original one I wrote for another blog a couple of months ago. I'm re-sharing it here because it is timely to the current Halloween-themed anthology releases from Prairie Rose Publications.]


My story contribution to the Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico Anthology, Volume 2—For Love of a Brystile Witch—involves a hereditary witch for whom fate brings the last living male descendant of the judge who condemned her grandmother, of 10 generations in the past, to hang as a witch. In creating the heroine’s home, I drew upon three of my personal interests, which are paganism, witchcraft, and medicinal herbal lore. I have an extensive collection of resources on these subjects and, some of what I know, I learned first-hand from my maternal grandfather. Although it was never said outright, as I look back on my childhood and teen years, I realize my grandfather was probably a solitary practitioner of 'pagan' beliefs. As a youngster, I knew the community thought he was odd and eccentric, but they seemed to accept his oddness with amused acceptance.

But back to my heroine’s story…

Since she supports herself by selling the tinctures, salves, oils, powders, etc. that she makes from the plants she grows, I managed to work in a line about how she uses the essential oil from the orange cosmos flower.

While cosmos flowers have no particular herbal or medicinal attributes other than attracting certain insects that prey on 'worse' insects, the flower does attract fairies (I didn't include that in the story.) The main reason to grow cosmos in your yard or garden is for their powerful influence in sorting out life's confusions and for helping to put everyday 'things' in order. These flowers offer the 'gift' of integrating body and spirit to keep them in sync with each other, while also assisting with a person's clarity of thinking (as in keeping a sharp focus).

Although the flowers have a light, barely discernible scent, cosmos are not for picking or confining in a vase in the middle of the dining room table on display. These flowers are free spirits meant to be treasured in their natural environment. They are a silent flower, meaning they make no sound in the wind when they rub against each other—they keep your secrets.

Cosmos are low-maintenance perennials that thrive in adverse conditions of poor soil and little water, but they do need a lot of sunlight. They bloom in late June to mid-July and will continue to bloom through frost. Once the flowers dry up, the seeds are available for hand-harvesting. Store the harvested seeds in such a way that they can dry out before putting them in a paper sack until ready to plant. You don't want them to mold. Stored seeds are still viable after several years of dormancy. If you plant a new bed of cosmos, just scratch them into the ground, and lightly cover with dirt to keep birds from eating the seeds.


The word 'cosmos' derives from the Greek 'kosmos', which means order and harmony and also 'the world'. Cosmos are considered group flowers because each individual flower grows close to its neighbor to offer the strength of community effort to withstand the onslaught of the wind. To take this farther, cosmos flowers embody a balance of the magical elements of Air, Fire, Earth, and Water, in that order, and here is why...

AIR
At its heart, the cosmos is a flower of the wind. It thrives in windy conditions, which makes it a perfect prairie flower, which is where I live. It is a tall plant that reaches toward the sky and will often grow to chest high, especially the pastels of the pink, purple, red, and white varieties. The orange variety, which is my favorite, has a different leaf structure from the pastels and does not grow as tall. All colors of flower heads sway in a graceful dance in the tiniest of breezes. The stalks are flexible, yet strong enough to withstand even strong winds. The foliage is fernlike, which gives it an airy quality. The blossoms, though delicate, flutter with the wind rather than take succumb to the wind's battering. The seeds are well-adapted to blowing in the wind for distribution.


FIRE
Cosmos thrive in hot, sun-beaten conditions with little shade or even a lack of shade. It seems they 'look' for places to grow that expose them to the heat and light of the sun without even the tiniest hope respite from the heat. In the wild, cosmos choose to thrive in dry and sunbaked, ground, and they prosper during the hottest, driest time of the year, which is during the height of the summer and into early autumn. The blossoms expand up and then outwards in the manner of the sun's rays. The centers of each flower are dark to flame-yellow, and the blossoms tend to orient their faces towards the sun. When the woody stems dry after frost, they can be used as fire-starter material.


EARTH
The main stem of the cosmos flower appears spindly and willowy, but are actually thick, tough, and woody. They have a strong connection to the Earth element because of their expansive root system, which is in counterbalance to their tall, branching stems, thus allowing the plant to resist uprooting by wind.


WATER
Because the cosmos plant is made up of thin, flat, dry-to-the-feel leaves with stems that offer minimal area for transpiration or moisture retention, and that the plant physically needs little water to thrive, the element of Water is the lesser of the elemental attributes. However, when water is available, the cosmos takes full advantage and does not waste a drop. Since the cosmos is in full bloom in the late summer/early autumn and is considered an autumn flower, the Water element is actually strong in it because the ancient Celtic calendar associates autumn with the element of Water.


Sadly, my cosmos patches have all but dried up as we move farther into the autumn season. I'll wait until spring arrives to pull up the old stalks to make way for the new sprouts, because many 'critters' find shelter throughout the winter in the dense midst of the flower beds.


Until next month,


Kaye


Fall in love...faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances
www.kayespencer.com
Twitter - @kayespencer


**Pictures from Kaye's back yard**
Note - for more information about Cosmos flowers, visit: http://www.americanmeadows.com/wildflower-folklore and http://www.flowersociety.org/Cosmos-plant-study.htm

Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico, Volumes 1 & 2

available on Amazon and other on-line book distributors

Vol. 1: http://amzn.com/B00NVX5Y2C

Vol. 2: http://amzn.com/B00NVXNT5G