Blog Tour & Giveaway: The Darkest Gateway (Booke of the Hidden #4) by Jeri Westerson
Book Blurb:The Darkest Gateway
Booke of the Hidden Book Four
Jeri Westerson
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Publisher: JABberwocky Literary
Date of Publication: October 2, 2019
Number of pages: 301
Word Count: 90,181
Cover Artist: Mayhem Cover Creations
“Whoever said country life was dull didn’t know Moody Bog.”
With the arrival of Samhain, the supernatural Booke of the Hidden is set to release a barrage of deadly creatures onto the hapless village of Moody Bog, Maine.
Tea proprietor Kylie Strange knows the showdown is coming and wants to end the Booke for good. But the only way to accomplish this is a journey to the Netherworld and get the help of the only being powerful enough to destroy the Booke: Satan himself. And, though the brooding and elusive demon Erasmus Dark has captured Kylie’s heart against her better judgment, she ignores his repeated warnings that the mission guarantees her doom.
I moved to the very edge of the road and waited.
The sound grew louder. It couldn’t be anything except hoofbeats. They clopped, not in a gallop but in a leisurely canter. And soon, there was the Dullahan coming around the curve. His head looked even greener and slimier under his arm than it had before, if that were possible.
His weirdly roving eyes spotted me easily. He kicked his red-eyed horse’s sides and hurried toward us. All the while, he swung that spine whip. With each revolution around his headless neck, the weapon grew longer and longer.
I kept the spear close to my side. I didn’t want that whip to catch it the way it had gotten the crossbow the last time.
He was almost upon me when he shrieked, “Kylie Strange!”
“That doesn’t work on me, you idiot!” I yelled.
The face frowned under his arm. It cast its googly eyes toward Erasmus and opened his mouth to yell his name.
“He’s a demon, remember? We’ve been through this before. Boy, you sure have a short memory. Must be because your brain is decaying faster than the rest of you. Looks like a bad case of melting Roquefort you got there.”
His dead face either grimaced or it really was melting. “Then I don’t need to say your name,” he said in a high screechy voice.
He spun the whip. Before I could get out of the way, it came at me and wrapped around my body, trapping my arms at my sides. I barely got out a yell before I was yanked off my feet.
The horse started galloping and I was flung out behind it almost parallel to the road. I couldn’t bring the spear up. I was whipping around in the air and getting a little seasick, but it was better than being dragged behind on the asphalt. There wouldn’t have been much left of me after that.
The bones of the spine whip were digging sharply into my skin. I tried wriggling free. If Headless decided to fling me off a cliff, there wasn’t much I could do about it. I knew Erasmus must be around somewhere, but this was up to me to figure out…if I could.
The Dullahan galloped around a sharp curve and I was thrown and dragged through the limbs of pine trees shouldering the road.
“Dammit!” I yelled, spitting out pine needles. “I am so going to kill you!”
He lifted his head up with his other arm. It swiveled and glared at me. “Not if I kill you first, Mistress Strange.”
“No need to be so formal,” I grunted, struggling. I slammed into some holly bushes and OW!
The face cackled and turned away, tucked back under his arm again. Then I looked up and saw what he was cackling about. The next curve of the road didn’t have any nice prickly holly bushes or spikey pine boughs. It was just granite all the way up the rock face. “Shit!”
Genre: Another-World, Mystery, Romance, Scary, Supernatural, Suspense, Urban Fantasy, Werewolves, Witches--
Kylie is done with battling the demons that come out of the Booke, craving the normalcy that she originally moved to Moody Bog to find. Looking for any solution, she decides that she will travel to the Netherworld to the one creature that has the ultimate power to destroy the book completely- and that creature is Satan, who will want Kylie's soul in return.
Last year I was killing time while at a work conference in a different state and I found an independent book store where there was a display of signed books. On a whim, I decided to pick one of the books, Booke of the Hidden, because it was signed, listed as urban fantasy and had a great cover. Who would have thought an impulse buy would have lead to me discovering what turned into one of my favorite Urban Fantasy Series?
On a side note, the book was oddly romantic too. I was surprised by how The Darkest Gateway had all the feels! The unexpected relationship between Kylie and Erasmus was endearing, two being who should be enemies yet instead become lovers and then something more. I enjoyed watching the cold and unpracticed Erasmus come to terms with actually having feelings (and be able to do "love magic").
The thing about the Booke of the hidden was its vicious element of surprise. You never knew what would come out of it or when, and I think the Booke took pleasure in the chaos it created with maximum terror potential.
In other words, the Booke was a dick.
Reading this was bittersweet, I have loved every minute of this series and I was a little apprehensive that this was the last book and could it live up to my lofty expectations. Well, Jeri hit it out of the ballpark again. This was so action packed, every page was crammed with some sort of conflict or battle. The Booke upped it's game, unleashing all kinds of demons to terrorize the town and making Kylie battle non-stop. I never knew what direction the story would take next and I did not want to put the book down. The entire series takes place in less than a month, with so much happening in a short period of time, blink and you will miss something!
The ending to the book was practically perfect, wrapping up all the loose ends that I had questions about. I am so sad to see the series end but I am so happy with what Jeri created. I don't want to say goodbye to Kylie, Erasmus and the hodge podge gang, but at least I can look forward to the WereJeff spinoff sometime! I recommend this series (I highly recommend binging the series since they are all out now and take place in such a short time frame) for fans of urban fantasy, paranormal romance, creepy creatures and scary encounters, and great action.
Book Blurb:“Westerson creates an utterly believable history of witches, demons, and magic for her claustrophobic New England village including a heroine with enough spark, smarts, and stubbornness to keep both the bad guys and the deliciously dangerous love-interest on their toes.” —Kat Richardson, author of the Greywalker series
After a relationship gone bad in California, Kylie Strange moves to rural Maine for a fresh start. But she gets more than she bargained for when she finds a supernatural book bricked into the wall of her new tea shop, Strange Herbs and Teas. As soon as she opens the Booke of the Hidden, the quiet town of Moody Bog suddenly becomes a lot more interesting.
First the mysterious and handsome Erasmus Dark shows up unannounced, claiming to be a demon and warning Kylie of untold destruction. She waves him off, until a museum proprietor turns up dead, and the sheriff targets Kylie as a suspect. With the help of Erasmus and a ragtag group of local Wiccans, Kylie unravels the Booke's secrets, and they begin to believe the culprit is someone--or something--much more sinister than a run-of-the mill human murderer.
Award-winning author Jeri Westerson crafts a tale of magic, murder, and romance, drawing us into the mystical world that surrounds Strange Herbs and Teas.
Book Blurb:Deadly Rising
A Booke of the Hidden Novel #2
by Jeri Westerson
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pub Date: 10/23/18
Things were quiet in Strange Herbs & Teas. For about a week.
Our crossbow slinging hero and her ragtag gang of Wiccans have earned some rest. But when Kylie learns that the Booke may have released not one, but two creatures of horror out into the world, it’s up to her to save Moody Bog. Again.
Calling upon the devilishly handsome demon Erasmus once more for help, Kylie’s determined to handle the mischief of the Booke and go back to a normal life. But when digging through Moody Bog’s history leads her to the ghost of her grandfather, the past she once knew is turned upside down.
Can Kylie save the town and her grandfather, or will the horrors of the Booke be too much to handle?
You can read my 5 Star review of Deadly Rising HERE
Book Blurb:Shadows in the Mist
A Booke of the Hidden Novel #3
by Jeri Westerson
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pub Date: 05/14/19
Small town tea shop proprietor Kylie Strange already has a lot on her plate. The last thing she needs is more trouble to spring up from the mystical Booke of the Hidden. Keeping one step ahead of a scheming demon, supernatural assassins, and Baphomet—an angry god hellbent on stealing the Booke—it’s all more than enough for one person to handle. And that’s without mentioning her competing affections for the handsome and human Sheriff Ed and the demon Erasmus Dark. But soon enough, Kylie and her coven hear whispers of new disturbances in Moody Bog. Strange creatures have been stalking the townsfolk through the fog and rumors of violent encounters confirm their deadly intent. Worst of all, the Booke of the Hidden is not to blame, and no one is sure who is. Kylie and her coven of wiccans need to prioritize. Which is worse? The mysterious and lethal figures in the mist, or Baphomet, who—if he gets his way—will unleash Hell on Earth onto oblivious little Moody Bog.
Los Angeles native JERI WESTERSON is the author of twelve Crispin Guest Medieval Noir Mystery novels, a series nominated for thirteen national awards from the “Agatha” to the “Shamus”. Her fifth novel BLOOD LANCE was named one of the Ten Hot Crime Novels for Colder Days by Kirkus Reviews, and her sixth, SHADOW OF THE ALCHEMIST, was named Best of 2013 by Suspense Magazine. For BOOKE OF THE HIDDEN, her urban fantasy series, Publishers Weekly said, “Readers sad about the ending of Charlaine Harris’s MIDNIGHT, TEXAS trilogy will find some consolation in Moody Bog.” The fourth and final in the series, THE DARKEST GATEWAY, releases October 2, 2019. Jeri also writes the humorous SKYLER FOXE LGBT MYSTERIES under the pen name Haley Walsh. Jeri’s short stories were included in several mystery anthologies, including Shaken: Stories for Japan (for the 2011 Earthquake Relief Fund). Jeri was also featured on two local NPR shows, “My Awesome Empire” and KVCR-Arts. She has served two terms as president of the Southern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, twice president of the Orange County Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and as vice president and California Crime Writers Conference co-chair for the Los Angeles Chapter of Sisters in Crime. See more about Jeri at JeriWesterson.com, BOOKEoftheHIDDEN.com, and SkylerFoxeMysteries.wixsite.com/novels.
Thanks so much for that! The first WereJeff book, Moonrisers, is already done. It will release in 2020.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. This book sounds great. I am going to check out this series.
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