Berls Reviews Along Came a Spider | Blog Tour

Posted May 26, 2022 by Berls in Blog Tour, Review / 2 Comments

 

We are back with another Transplanted Tales novel as we celebrate the series 10-Year Anniversary. In this third novel, we are hunting vampires with Trish Muffett and Nicky, aka “Little Boy Blue”. Come read my review, an excerpt, and enter to win some goodies before grabbing a copy!

I received this book for free from Caffeinated PR in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Berls Reviews Along Came a Spider | Blog TourAlong Came a Spider by Kate SeRine
Series: Transplanted Tales #3
Published by Kensington Books on May 1, 2022
Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Retelling, Paranormal Romance
Format: eARC
Source: Caffeinated PR
Goodreads
five-stars

Along came a spider…
When Trish Muffet is attacked at a grisly crime scene, the last person she expects to come to her rescue is Nicky “Little Boy” Blue. But since walking away from everything two years before, Nicky’s been doling out vigilante justice as “The Spider,” taking on the vicious predators of the night in hopes it’ll lead him to his ultimate target – Vlad Dracula. And he needs Trish’s help.
Although Nicky’s renegade style goes against everything Trish stands for, she’ll do what she must to bring Dracula down. With danger stalking her, Trish knows the only person she can count on is the one man who has the power to leave her breathless. There’s no way she’s letting this spider frighten her away…

My top thoughts:

This series is FANTASTIC and this may be my favorite so far? We already knew both the main characters fairly well from the previous two books and I was so eager for their story. And it surpassed my hopes and expectations – not just in their romance and character development, but in the plot as well.

What I liked/didn’t like:

I think one of the things I’m enjoying most about this series is the way it’s breathing life into often ignored fairy tale / nursery rhyme / fictional characters (called Tales) and combining them with familiar ones. We started with Tess “Red” Little (Little Red Riding Hood), a more familiar character that gets lots of attention. But then we drifted it a little with Lavendar (Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother). And now we’re so far off the beaten path with Trish Muffet… Little Miss Muffet! I doubt she’s ever had a book and definitely not one like this. I already knew I loved her from the previous books, but there was so much more to her than I knew. She’s a no-nonsense, tough as hell, forensic scientist for the FMA (Fairytale Management Authority). And I just love the way the nursery rhyme about the spider is all twisted into something so much more in this book. And then her love interest – Nicky Blue – is little Boy Blue (again, way off the beat path)! And I also knew I loved him from previous books. He’s a good bad guy – in that he’s plays on the wrong side of the law, but he’s not out to hurt people – and he’s built wealth for himself in the Here and Now after being a nobody in Make Believe. I felt for him instantly, as his wife (Juliet, from Romeo and Juliet) was killed in book one and he’s tormented over his inability to protect her. He’s busy seeking vengeance. I think if I have one complaint it would be that everyone is Red’s Ex and I like to start seeing stories where she hasn’t slept with the love interest (and I do think those are coming). Not that this caused any friction in this book – Nicky is not in love with Red (though he does care for her) and Red is so in love with Nate. In fact, I also really loved seeing the continuation of her story – she’s pregnant – and Lavender’s story too – they visit! It’s nice the way old characters keep cropping back up.

Beyond the characters, the story is just fantastic. There’s a mystery element – I think these definitely qualify as Fantasy Mysteries/Detective stories. And we have a continuing element that has been a problem since the first book, namely Dracula. But we have a new player on the scene – The Agency – that’s very bad news for the Tales. Well, new in the sense that I think this is the first we’ve heard about them, but they’ve been around for a while. Just in the past two years (which is when book 1 started) they’ve been changing into more of a problematic player. I’ll let you read it and learn more about them for yourself, as you really truly must read this series. I do think you could hop into this one and understand what’s going on, but you’d miss out on a lot of background information and character development, so I wouldn’t recommend it. But they’re great, so why would you want to skip ahead?

This is truly a great combination of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, crime/detective genres to give you all awesomeness.

 

5 stars Flipping Fantastic

We are back with another Transplanted Tales novel as we celebrate the series 10-Year Anniversary. In this third novel, we are hunting vampires with Trish Muffett and Nicky, aka “Little Boy Blue”. Come read an excerpt, and enter to win some goodies before grabbing a copy!

Along Came A Spider

 

Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Apple

Little Miss Muffet and Little Boy Blue are all grown up—and hunting the world’s most famous vampire—in this gritty paranormal romance novel.

Ever since Make Believe characters were transported into the ordinary world, their Happily Ever Afters have been a thing of the past. So when Trish Muffet is attacked at a grisly crime scene, the last person she expects to come to her rescue is Nicky “Little Boy” Blue. But these days Nicky’s doling out vigilante justice as “The Spider,” taking on predators of the night in the hopes of locating his ultimate target—Vlad Dracula. And he needs Trish’s help.

Although Nicky’s renegade style goes against everything Trish stands for, she’ll do what she must to bring Dracula down. With danger stalking her, Trish knows the only person she can count on is the one man who has the power to leave her breathless. There’s no way she’s letting this spider frighten her away.

Transplanted Tales Series

 

Red

Grimm Consequences

The Better to See You

Along Came A Spider

Ever After

Better Watch Out (Fall 2022)

Read an Excerpt

 

I glanced around, searching frantically for some escape, but it was useless. Unless I suddenly discovered some latent ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound, I was well and truly hosed. I pressed my lips together and squared off. If I was going down, I wasn’t going to make it easy. They’d have to earn my blood.

“Come on, you bitch!” I growled at the blonde. “You want a piece of me? Bring it on!”

She leaped forward like she was on a spring. My eyes went wide, my courageous last stand suddenly not such a brilliant idea. But a split second later, she jerked back with a screech, her hand clawing at a small black arrow lodged in her shoulder. I heard an answering screech from the brunette and swung around in time to see her head snap back as an arrow pierced her eye.

What the hell?

            There was a scuffling noise behind me that brought my head around in time to see the blonde struggling with a figure dressed in black fatigues and wearing a black ski mask. As I watched, he swung his fist, catching her jaw with a right hook, then slamming her chin with a left uppercut that knocked her on her ass. In the next instant, he had a knee on her chest and snatched from his ammo belt something that looked like a railroad stake. The blonde didn’t even have time to react as he drove it down into the center of her chest.

I hadn’t even realized I was holding my breath until it burst from me with a gasp. But my relief was short-lived. An arm came around my throat, cutting off my air. I drove my elbow into my attacker’s ribs, but it barely fazed her. I grabbed her arm and tucked my chin down to take some of the pressure from my esophagus, then drove the edge of my snow boot down along her exposed shin, making her howl in pain.

“Get down!”

My eyes darted toward the sound of the man’s voice. He stood over the body of the blonde, a small crossbow aimed at the brunette. I bit down on the vampire’s arm as hard as I could, drawing her tainted blood. When she roared with rage, her grip loosening for a fraction of a second, I dropped, rolling out of the way as the man in black fired the crossbow. The arrow struck the center of the woman’s chest. Her eyes went wide for a fraction of a second before she crumpled into a permanently dead heap.

            So this was the infamous Spider…

I totally took back everything I’d said about the guy being no better than the criminals he brought down. He was my new BFF. I was tempted to see if he was a bit parched after the ass kicking he’d just doled out and maybe wanted to join me for a super stiff drink at Ever Afters, but then the mind-numbing pain in my wrist reminded me I probably had other business to tend to first.

Out of breath, I scooted myself back with my good arm until I could lean against one of the dumpsters. My adrenaline left me in a rush, and I was suddenly completely exhausted. I closed my eyes and let my head fall back against the dumpster.

“Are you hurt?”

My eyes snapped open, my stomach clenching painfully. There was something so familiar about that voice. . . . “What?”

My rescuer squatted down in front of me. “Are you all right?”

I blinked at him, suddenly experiencing a serious case of déjà vu. The man’s tone was rough, clipped, and there was no hint of mischief or roguish charm. Still . . .

“My wrist is broken,” I said a little breathlessly. “But it’s already healing. I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

He gave me a tight nod and started to rise, but then seemed to reconsider and resumed his crouch before me. He studied me for a long moment, giving me a good glimpse of his eyes, but they were in shadow, obscuring the color, and he was completely on his guard. There was no way I was getting in.

“You did good, doll,” he said finally. “Made my job one helluva lot easier.”

I felt my cheeks going warm at the praise. “Thanks.”

His eyes narrowed, crinkling a little behind his ski mask and giving me the impression that he was grinning. “But you know, you shouldn’t be out here alone at night, even if you can kick ass,” he admonished. Then he reached up and twisted one of my ringlets around his gloved index finger and pulled gently before letting it spring back into place. “I’d hate to see harm come to a girl as pretty as you.”

My eyes went wide. Holy shit. “Nicky Blue?” I gasped. “You’re the Spider?” He jumped to his feet and took a few quick steps before I found my voice to cry out, “Wait! Nicky! It’s okay—I know you!”

He halted midstride and shook his head. “No, you don’t,” he said over his shoulder. “No one does. Not anymore.”

I scrambled awkwardly to my feet, my knees still shaky from my encounter with the vampires, but when I looked up again he was gone. I turned a full circle, searching for him in the shadows, but he had slipped away as silently and mysteriously as he’d come. I let out a disappointed sigh.

            “You’re wrong, Nicky Blue,” I announced to the darkness. “Nobody knows you better than I do.”

 

About the Author

Kate SeRine (pronounced “serene”) is a hopeless romantic who firmly believes in true love that lasts forever. So it’s no surprise that when she began writing her own stories, Kate vowed her characters would always have a happily ever after. She’s the author of the award-winning TRANSPLANTED TALES paranormal romance series as well as two romantic suspense series: PROTECT AND SERVE and DARK ALLIANCE.

Kate lives in a smallish, quintessentially Midwestern town with her husband and two sons, who share her love of storytelling. She never tires of creating new worlds to share and is even now working on her next project — probably while consuming way too much coffee.

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Giveaways

Along Came A Spider Blog Tour Giveaway

Enter to win a $25.00 eGift card from retailer of your choice (Amazon, Apple, B&N or Kobo). Ends June 5, 2022


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10-Year Anniversary Giveaway

 

Join Kate SeRine’s newsletter for the chance to win a US Amazon eGift Card. Winner will be selected at random from her active subscriber list on December 16, 2022. Enter here ➡️ https://www.subscribepage.com/w8n0q1

 

About Berls

Michelle adopted me as part of her blog when I decided to close down my blog, Fantasy is More Fun. The blog was dying, but my love of reading and the blogosphere was still strong as ever - so I found my new home here at Because Reading!

I'm not just a book lover, but a one time author (that hopes to be more in the future), wife, mom to the cutest, happiest, best 2 year old and step-mom to the craziest, sweetest 22 year old on the planet. My family mean everything to me and they appear frequently in the Sunday Post with Berls. So grab a glass of wine and chat books, blogging, and family with me!

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