Jordyn
If you like your books to have a very clear, direct plot, this is not the book for you.
If you dislike your books to have a very dreamy, foggy, fairy-tale like quality, this is not the book for you.
If you aren't completely in love with the idea of stories -- telling, listening, learning them -- this is not the book for you.
HOWEVER, if you like all of those things, then dive right in. This book is about other books. About stories. About beginnings, middles, and endings. Its about meanings, and directions, and finding where you are meant to be. There are cats, and bees, and books, and ballrooms, and ships. And doors. So, so, so many doors.
I really, really enjoyed this book. It has a very similar feeling to The Night Circus without being similar actually at all. Does that make sense? You'll feel a little bit like you're floating along, following the story by your nose.
I have a feeling I'm going to have a bit of a book hangover with this one.
I'm not going to pretend this was anything other than what it is – shifter smut barely disguised as a romance. There's pretty decent world building in the background of this, and I hope that eventually the author would go further into detail but overall this was just fun. Not a great work of literature, but who needs that during the Horrors that currently are? I recommend if you need a break from anything serious, because this wasn't.
I loved how Kael was down bad for Claudia pretty much immediately. I love a man who is LOUD about loving his woman, thanks.
In case we haven't met digitally before — Hi, my name is Jordyn, and I love to read. I especially love books about magic, cats, and love. It should come to absolutely no one's surprise that I adore the original book version of Howl's Moving Castle very much. So, when I saw that A Harvest of Hearts was immediately compared to Howl, well, I had to request a copy of it. I won't lie to you — I wasn't immediately taken with this book. However, it did grab me eventually, and I sunk very deep into the pages. A Harvest of Hearts is almost too-obviously inspired by Howl's Moving Castle. There's a sorcerer who lives in a magic house, and has to harvest hearts to do magic. There's enough different here that it works, but it is still VERY OBVIOUS where the author got her ideas from. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I do want to add!
Our main character is a young woman named Foss who describes herself as hardy, solid, squat, and ugly. Foss is extremely capable, and despite the way she feels about herself, seems to be liked well enough in her town. (Foss claims to be bullied by the other girls, but we see no evidence of that on page. However, a boy she has a crush on is mean to her.) Everything moves along at a plodding pace until we meet the Sorcerer — Sylvester. (Which as a name, I'm not going to lie, did not work for me. I just kept seeing the black and white cat cartoon.) Foss is immediately snagged by his magic, and has her life completely turned upside down. As for Sylvester, he is almost an exact copy of Howl, when it comes to personality. He's whiny, self-important, and vain. He does end up melting his ice-cold exterior eventually, but it does take quite a long time to get there. I don't even think I enjoyed his presence on page until well over half the book.
Through Foss's eyes we are shown why the magic-users must harvest hearts, and what they do with them. We see the horrors that the King is willing to do, and the horrid, toxic personality Sylvester's sisters actually have beneath their beautiful faces. It takes a good long while to get to any sort of point when it comes to the plot, however. We find out that Sylvester is young, and barely seems to know what he's doing when it comes to magic. We find out, eventually, that the King is a horrible person who steals street urchins right under everyone's noses. Right at the very end, we find out why Foss is so different compared to everyone else in her village.
There-in lies my problem with A Harvest of Hearts — it was about a hundred pages too long. While the story itself is very interesting, and the writing well done, the length it takes to get to any sort of resolution is somewhat irritating. This book could have been excellent, and many will probably have the opinion that it is so! Unfortunately for me, I believe it needed a heavy hand with the editing pen. Despite my complaints, I did enjoy most of this book. Three and a half stars.
I FINALLY FINISHED THIS ONE. It took forever (about a week) due to children, work, chores, and being flat out exhausted. BUT IT'S DONE, AND WHAT A BOOK IT WAS.
We saw Carl, Donut, Katia, and even Samantha grow so much. We're introduced to former crawlers, we see some horrifying things happen, along with some really nice things, too. Donut grows up quite a bit, and you all know how I feel about her. I want to give her a big hug and cuddle. Poor girl needs some snuggle time, I think. Carl needs a year-long vacation, an open bar, and a full body massage.
Anyways, I enjoyed this one so much – probably about as much as I enjoyed the first one. There's a lot going on in this (rather long) book, but it's all worth it for how this wraps up. This is the Faction Wars, people, and we meet so many cool people. SO MUCH HAPPENS. I know I said that already, but oh my god I MEAN IT. So much. So much happens. I literally cannot wait to find out what's gonna go on next. WHEN IS THE NEXT ONE COMING OUT, I NEED TO KNOW!!!!!
Side note – anyone know how many of these Dinniman is going to write??
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
Thanks to Ballantine Books for the eARC!
Dungeons & Dragons has taken the world by storm over the past couple of years. Once something only geeky nerds used to play, now almost everyone has HEARD of it, if not played it themselves at least once. (I was a pirate rogue!) As such, there's a lot of references now to the game in popular culture. I know of at least two other contemporary romances that have to do with the game. Despite being very heavily entrenched in Dungeons & Dragons, you don't need to know the game in order to enjoy Roll for Romance. The story takes place both IN GAME as their characters, and in ‘real life'. You get to see both main characters gain confidence in playing DND, and grow into themselves a bit more. (At least with Sadie, anyway.)
This is an adorable, tooth-achingly sweet book. There's no real villain, nothing goes wrong. AND BEST PART – SERIOUSLY, BEST PART – THERE'S NO MISCOMMUNICATION. I can't tell you the last time I've read a contemporary romance without some stupid miscommunication in it. Both Sadie and Noah are very open with each other, and though there's some worrying and anxiety on Sadie's side, Noah was always very up front with her.
If you're looking for something without like any stakes at all, please read this one. It's cute. It's funny. It's surprisingly spicy? There's ONE good sex scene, and it's much hotter than I was originally expecting, so props to Lenora Woods there. The characters are all nice enough, but they're fairly flat and one dimensional. Which is fine for background characters in a romance novel - no one's here for the background characters, I don't think. I do wish we learned more about Noah's family (or lack thereof), because we see a decent amount of Sadie's mentioned.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It's a quick, easy, enjoyable read, and I highly recommend it!
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
Oof, this one too me a bit to get through – I enjoyed it, it was a fun read, but it felt like slog at times. I think perhaps this particular entry into the DCC universe was a bit too long for me. If it had been maybe a hundred pages shorter, this would have been perfect. We're getting some VERY interesting things set up, though, so I am very excited to get to the next book, which is the last one that's been released! After I read that one, I'll be caught up and I'll have to wait for the next book like everyone else. BOOOOOO.
Donut still reigns supreme, and Samantha is growing on me – I found her annoying in the first book she was in. I love seeing Carl just dominate pretty much every situation he's put into. He's a master at thinking on his feet, and it's so much fun to watch as the story moves on. I wasn't a huge fan of the Katia side-plot, simply because I didn't like seeing her in pain. I hope she gets an eventual resolution that makes her happy. She's had a rough go. I mean, they all have, but Katia is someone we've seen lots of.
Anyway, on to the next!
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
I really wanted to like this one more than I did.
Netherford Hall is the start of Natania Barron's paranormal Austen retellings. This particular book is a queer Pride and Prejudice retelling with witches, and vampires. I love anything related to Jane Austen, and you all KNOW how much I love paranormal romances, so yeah, I jumped at this one. Unfortunately, it didn't really HIT the way I wanted it to. I don't think it's really the author's fault, either. I think this one is fully on me.
Netherford Hall is written GORGEOUSLY – Natania Barron is an AUTHOR, I just found myself not really caring about the characters, one way or another. I did like how bright Poppy was, but I thoroughly did not care about Edith, like, at all. She had a horrid backstory, and a horrible event happen to her and her family and it just didn't feel like she cared very much? It would have been nice to see some emotion on page, instead of her being sooo stoic. I know she's supposed to be Darcy in this Pride and Prejudice retelling, and that's literally what he's known for, but still. I want to care about the characters, especially the main two!!
The background / additional characters were lovely, though. Tons of representation – POC, queer, etc. All well done, and without really drawing attention to it in any particular way. This version of Britain is perfectly content to let people live their love lives however they want, which is so very refreshing. I wish more romances were written like this – we have enough prejudices in real life, thanks, we don't need to read about them, too! (Not all the time, at least) I really adored Edith's uncle, Auden, and I hope that we see more of him in future books.
I have an ARC of the next book in this series, The Viscount St. Albans, but I'm not sure I'm going to dive into it right away. I might need a bit of a break before I jump back into this world. Hopefully, I like the next book better than this one. Three and a half stars.
Wooof this one was LONG. Good, but long. A lot happened, and I'm not entirely sure exactly what happened at the end, but I'm willing to keep going. Princess Donut is still my favorite – I just love a talking cat, what can I say? I'm worried about Carl's mental health, but I mean, he IS in a giant game designed to kill him and his friends, so there's only so much one can do there. I did end up liking this one more than the previous two, thankfully! Here's hoping Book 6 is even better!
Btw – these are described as popcorn fantasy a lot, and they absolutely are most of the time. HOWEVER, there is a LOT of death in this particular book, and I just want to warn everyone before you dive in. On to the next!
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
I picked up Amid Clouds and Bones after seeing it highly recommended on the fantasy romance subreddit. (I get a fair few of my book recommendations from reddit — they're good if you know what subreddit to ask in!) Someone posted this book saying that it was a great example of enemies-to-lovers actually done right. And you know what? I agree with them. This was a fantastically done version of that particular trope — you really get the feeling that Mildred and Ataken actually hated each other to start. Mildred was a delightful heroine, and Ataken is kind of awful at first, but you do grow to love him in his own way.
My favorite sort of relationship in a romance book is one of antagonistic, knit-picking, teasing and fighting but not really hating each other. You get a lot of that here, but with the added bonus of being actually afraid that Mildred is actually physically in danger from Ataken. There's a lot of twisty turns in here, with a second possible romantic partner that shows up around mid-book — Vane. I loved Vane at first, mostly because he's described as being a huge man with wings, and a heart of gold, and then surprise – more twists! I hated that one, personally, but oh well. It did make sense in the context of the story, so I can't be too upset with that one.
You grow to love all of the characters, and just...this was fun. A lot of fun to read. Not necessarily the best written fantasy-romance that I've ever read, but it doesn't matter! I couldn't put this one down — I think I would have read it in a matter of hours if I wasn't a mother and didn't have to work! Four and a half stars, for pure enjoyment's sake. Oh AND — this is a standalone!
Quick review bc I have something I need to go do, BUTTTT – I liked this one better than the third, but not as much as the first or second. Hoping with the open world in the next book that I like that one even more. The bubble concept was interesting, but I missed seeing the crawlers we were used to. Carl has gotten even more determined, on top of being scarily willing to do crazy stuff. Princess Donut is still my favorite, but I do wish that her and Carl had more time to chat about literally anything other than the dungeon. They need some more down time - which I know isn't exciting to readers or whatever, but still.
I ENJOYED THIS, and will be reading the next one soon!
I finally picked this one up, and finished it! Uprooted has been recommended to me about a million times over, and for some reason or another, I never actually dived in. (I think I might be the last person on here to read this book?) I'm glad I did. This wasn't as good as I wanted it to be, but I still enjoyed it. I think I was looking for more romance, but there just wasn't a whole lot of it in here. My fault for thinking it would be – this one is NOT listed as a fantasy romance. It's a retelling of Polish myths. It's exceedingly well done, just not quite what I was expecting.
I did love Agnieszka very much. She's stubborn, but airy. She's of the earth, and absolutely not bound to any rigid rules about magic. She baffles The Dragon very much, and I loved watching that dynamic play back and forth between them. I loved that her magic flowed, and wasn't really forced in any way whatsoever. The Dragon is very much a mimic (not copy) of Howl Pendragon, and I did like him but I really, really wanted to see more of a softer side of him. At least in a more obvious way than what we are given.
Kasia, I adored. She spent her whole life thinking one thing was going to happen to her, and when that didn't happen she didn't just wilt and give up. She kept going, kept searching for her freedom. I loved that Agnieszka was able to save her, that they both were able to get what they wanted at the end.
Four stars, and I do recommend it if you haven't read this one yet!
I enjoyed this one, but not as much as I enjoyed the first two. The premise behind the floor they're on in this book was way, way too complicated. Even after it was explained (a few times!) I still am not quite sure what happened at the end, there. Like what did Carl and Katia figure out? WHAT WAS GOING ON? Still fun, but this one was confusing a great deal of time. Moving on to the next.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
This was just fun, and really not meant to be taken seriously. Dungeon Crawler Carl feels like you're supposed to be eating popcorn while reading, sitting on the edge of your seat as you read about the aforementioned Carl and his cat, Donut, as they are forced onto an alien game show. I absolutely adored Donut – talking cats will get my attention ANYTIME. She's blood thirsty, but hates getting blood on her fur. She'd much rather sit on the edge of fights and tell Carl what to do while also shooting magic missiles at the enemies. I loved her.
The premise of the book is wildly original, too. I'm going to happily be diving into the rest of the series simply because it's entertaining without having to think too hard about it. Basically, if you're in need of a book to read to distract you from The Horrors, well, DCC isn't a bad choice. Not at all.
Easily four and a half stars, simply for enjoyment's sake.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
Thanks to Amazon Original Stories for the eARC!
I'm not usually one for short stories – I like longer books, usually, because you have time to sink into the setting, to get to know the characters, and all that. I mostly requested The Knight and the Butcherbird because I absolutely adore Alix E. Harrow's writing. This was fantastic. A nice little bite-sized piece of excellence, just like I suspected it would be.
The Knight and the Butcherbird takes place in what we assume to be an post-apocalyptic Appalachia. There's no real explanations at what caused said apocalypse, but there are hints enough to guess. Cancer and illness is everywhere – people aren't expected to live past 40. But despite that, this story has an overwhelming feeling of hope.
“Demons” are the primary cause of fear in this little rural town that we're set in. A knight – an older gentleman with fighting experience – has come to town to deal with the demon that's plaguing Iron Hollow. The story takes on twist after twist, and gah. For being quite short, this is was just so well done. I would have read a whole length novel set in this world. Five stars.
I'm not going to bother giving this one a long review, because it doesn't really deserve it. Like, there are enough reviews from everyone else that I really don't need to wax poetic on this one. Not that it deserves it.
Neon Gods is a Hades/Persephone retelling except the characters are all named after the Greek Gods. You'd think it was just a modern day retelling, because they have phones and cars and guns, except no. These characters have no powers. They're supposedly the rulers of Olympus but we see no real way HOW they're ruling? It's all glossed over in favor of so much smut. The smut IS well written, I will give the author that, but there is so little world-building here that the ‘retelling' aspect truly feels like an after thought that.
If you're gonna write a retelling, for the love of the gods, please include SOMETHING of the original myth in there? Especially if you're using the ACTUAL NAMES of the original gods, and calling the setting Olympus. Hades rules the ‘lower city' but there's frequent references to the ‘underworld'. Is that what he rules or no? What is his job, exactly? What does Zeus do? Why is he King if they have no powers? [enraged screaming] I don't even know how to classify this one bc no one has powers, but it is a retelling. Is paranormal romance? Is this contemporary romance? WHAT IS THIS!!!
Sooo yeah, this gets three stars purely bc the steamy bits are well done. Otherwise, this is the laziest retelling of the Hades/Persephone myth out there.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
Thank you to Berkley for providing me with an e-ARC.
If you've been looking for a pirate fantasy-romance book, look no further. Soulgazer is the book that you've been waiting for. I have a feeling that this is the book that everyone's going to be talking about this year. Rapier does an absolutely fantastic job of knitting a beautiful tapestry with her words – there's a gorgeous, interesting world at the base, and a compelling love story between a pirate, and a girl with magic in her veins at the forefront.
I adored this, plain and simple. As soon as I saw the cover for the first time, Soulgazer became a must read for me. I requested an e-ARC on Netgalley with low, low hopes that I would actually get approved. (For some reason Berkley doesn't tend to grant my requests, but THANK YOU SO MUCH BERKLEY.) To my utter shock, I was granted a copy. I pretty much immediately dived in – and flew through this book. It is so good. So, so good.
Our main character is Saoirse – a 22 year old young woman who is cursed with the ability to see glimpses of the future. She is stuck in an absolutely horrible life. Her father, the king of her island, despises her because he believes she caused her brother's death. The king keeps her locked away from everyone else, and doesn't allow anyone to touch her. Saoirse hasn't been physically touched by anyone in ages. Her mother allows this, and basically ignores her daughter (while also crying about it.) Saoirse blames herself for everything bad that happens, even though literally none of it is her fault.
We start the book with a holiday? Of sorts. All eligible young men and women are dressed up as animals and dance around an island. I think to find their future spouses? (This part isn't fully explained, but there's enough to guess at what goes on.) Saoirse dresses as a magpie. She participates on the edges of the holiday, and is caught by her father who explains that she is to wed another king – someone awful. Saoirse is both furious and terrified, and runs away from her father right into the crowd where she meets our MMC – Faolan.
Faolan is pretty much everyone's dream romantic pirate. He's cocky, handsome, and flirty. His crew loves him. He's got a secret heart of gold. You know, all the great things about romantic pirates. I adored him. I would have read eight million more pages of him flirting with Saoirse, and her getting flustered and frustrated with him. Faolan and Saoirse come up with a plan to get her away from her horrible life, and run away.
Together, they snipe at each other, pick and tease and argue, but all the while they're falling for each other. My personal, favorite kind of romance.
There's magic woven deeply throughout the whole book, along with a quest of sorts. I'm not going to spoil this, because I want you (and everyone else) to read this! I wish this book had been twice as long. I loved Soulgazer so so much, but my one (literally one!) beef with it is the ending. There is nothing in my ARC that says this is the first part of a duology. I had to go look up the author, and even then, I only saw she was working on the second book on her Instagram.
The book ends on a hopeful, but sad note, and THERE IS NOTHING THAT SAYS IT'S GOING TO GET BETTER. I am begging Berkley to add a TO BE CONTINUED or something before this gets sent to be printed or there's going to be a lot of sad readers out there.
Anyway, please, please pick this one up once it comes out. Soulgazer is the pirate romance you've been looking for, I promise.
I am on a never-ending quest to find more well-written werewolf romance books. They are surprisingly hard to find, especially when you're extremely picky about how werewolves work.
The Wolf King hit almost all of my favorite werewolf tropes in such excellent ways that I'm honestly wondering if the author can read my mind. This was so much fun to read. The Wolf King takes place in a fictional UK (I think it's fictional? I can't remember if they say any real places, but I'm fairly certain the author used mostly vague terms.) The werewolves are seemingly Scottish (which I looooove), while the “bad guys” are mostly English. I think. So yeah, just picture a bunch of werewolves running around in kilts and saying things like ‘wee lass'. [shrug]
Completely unashamedly, it does it for me.
ANYWAY, I absolutely adored Callum, our MMC. He hit all the high points – alpha, big and scary looking but with a soft gooey center. He rescues our FMC, Aurora from what would have been an absolutely horrible abusive marriage. Aurora is kind of a wimpy damsel in distress until she finally gathers herself together and becomes BOLD. They run away up to quasi-Scotland and there she learns what it's like to live around a bunch of wolves who hate humans. It's great. They slowly fall in love, and then things get steamy and yada yada yada. The usual romance stuff.
The characters are just perfect. I would read about a thousand different versions of this same type of story. Please just inject this into my veins. Five stars.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
This was EXCELLENT.
Okay, so you know the feeling of fairy tales, right? Rhymes, magic, and legends brought to life in an all-too-real way. Well, that's what The Shepherd King duology feels like at its finish. A new fairy tale for the new generations. It's done wonderfully, magically, and just plain perfect. I enjoyed this series so very much, I really hope that I'll convince more of you to read this one.
Two Twisted Crowns brings the story to a close, and I honestly couldn't think of anything that I would change if I had been the author. All questions are wrapped up, and answered, and all the characters get satisfying endings. We find out more about Ravyn, Elm, and Elspeth. Annnd we get so much of the Shepherd King's backstory that you really start to feel sorry for him – he's also his normal better-than-you, annoying self for the whole book.
We even get to meet the Spirit in the Wood.
Gah.
I know this is touted as a fantasy-romance, but there's so much going on here that I personally would just classify it as a fantasy series. Yes, there's romance, but it isn't the sole focus of the story. Things that happen to characters other than the main couple are important, not just filler. I am glad to report that this series DOES have a happy ending, so you don't have to worry about the romance going wrong or anything. I really, really loved seeing Ione and Elm get together, and how they fit in ways that I hadn't really seen in the first book. They are unbearably cute together. Ravyn and Elspeth are tragically not together for the majority of the book for reasons that make sense. They spend almost the entire novel doing whatever is necessary to get back together, though. Tragic, but in a beautiful way.
Please pick this one up, especially if you like fairy tales or fairy tale retellings. This one isn't a retelling, but it'll give you the same feel as one. Gillig is a master at her work, and I can't wait to pick up more of her books. Easily five stars.
When One Dark Window first came out, I wasn't really all that interested in it. It didn't sound like something I'd want to read, let alone something that I HAD to read. However, after seeing almost all my book-friends praise it, I thought I'd give it a go. After all, the whole duology was on Kindle Unlimited, so I didn't even have to work to find the books. Easy peasy.
Rachel Gillig really has a way with setting an atmosphere. The whole book felt smoky, misty and uncertain. You aren't really sure what's going on, or who to trust the entire time. Once things become a little clearer, all you feel is overwhelming dread.
I did like our heroine, Elspeth, but I spent a great deal of time mentally shouting at the book when it came her total lack of communication. JUST FREAKING TELL SOMEONE WHAT'S GOING ON. I did like Ravyn, too, but we hardly know anything about him by the time the book ends. I really want to know more about him. He is INTERESTING, and well, I'm intrigued. Perhaps we dive more into that in the next book? Maybe? Hopefully. The Nightmare is also attention-grabbing, and I'm very curious to find out what his motivations are. Does he want something (other than to be let out) or is he just sort of along for the ride? There's like...hinted answers for this one, but nothing solid.
The romance between Ravyn and Elspeth was a little lackluster, almost to the point that I wasn't sure what everyone was talking about? Yes, there's on-page steamy bits, but nothing shocking or surprising. The romance is almost ALMOST love at first sight, and to me, at least, it felt rather mediocre. I wish we had seen them trust each other / talk to each other a bit more about something that wasn't the plot. Anything, more about themselves, etc. Instead, they're sort of thrust together due to circumstance and end up falling for one another.
One Dark Window is sitting at a 3.5 to a low 4 star rating for me at the moment. I'm definitely diving right into the next book, with hopes that the romance is done better, and that all questions are answered!
In a word: fun. This is not high-brow, need-to-think-on-it-awhile literature, people. But who needs that all the time? No one. This was just fun, a classic sword-and-spell kind of adventure with a lot of longing and hot steamy bits. And the most important bit? It's well-written, which means you can dive right in without having to justify your interest in the story. You wanna read fantasy romance that doesn't take too long to get to the good bits? Here you go, pick this one up right off of Kindle Unlimited.
The main male character, Kael, is a barbarian/warrior/conqueror who has a secret soft heart for his people. The main female character, Anja, is a warrior-ish princess who at first absolutely does not like our conqueror, but then (of course) grows to love him as she learns more about who he actually is.
Four absolutely fun stars. I think I'll read the rest of these when I get the chance!
King Arthur and the Arthurian legends have always been a spot of interest for me, and when I saw this book being promoted by the author on Bluesky, I decided to take a look at it. It's a very unique take on the legend, as this one is told by Arthur's sister, Anna. (Apparently in the original versions of the story, Arthur had a sister. Who knew!) Anna is prophesied to be forgotten by history. She leads a rather miserable life, unfortunately. She's married off to a man MUCH older than her, has three kids, and just...well. It's miserable. Thankfully, we don't spend a lot of time in her misery – it's rehashed a couple times during the novel, but for the most part we see Anna grab hold of her life and change it to be what she wants.
We see all the usual faces in this book, Arthur, Merlin, Morgen, Lancelot, Bedevere, etc. I enjoyed this for what it was, but I do wish it had been a slightly more happy novel? I know the Arthurian legends aren't really feel-good stories, but I feel like Anna deserved to get a happier ending than the one she did receive. I guess I need to find a version of the legends where Merlin isn't a bad guy, and where we get to be happy for at least a little bit before things go wrong.
Three and a half stars, rounded up as the writing itself was gorgeous. I'm not sure I'll be reading the rest of this series if this is the tone the rest of them have.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
I think we all know I'm a sucker for fae-driven fantasy romance books. As long as it's good fun, and written moderately well, I AM THERE. Quicksilver fits that bill pretty much perfectly. PLUS there's the addition of vampires to this particular world, which was weird at first, but I grew to like. (I like vampire romance novels, too, but my PREFERRED cryptid would be werewolves. If someone could write a fae-werewolf romance I think I'd die and go to heaven.) ANYWAY –
Kingfisher is a grumpy shadow-powered fae that's unreasonably powerful. Sound familiar? Probably, because I swear there's a version of this character in just about every fae-driven fantasy romance out there. CAN I GET A MALE LEAD WITH SUN POWERS OR SOMETHING???? I know dark and forbidden is niche atm but c'mon. CHANGE IT UP A LITTLE BIT, CAN WE? Despite my complaints, I really did like him. He ended up having a soft heart (of course he did) and well, c'mon. [waves hands at book]
Saeris was hard to like at first. She was DETERMINED to help her brother who ended up being a god-dang idiot and also not needing help due to another character. Saeris was gruff, brash, and just kinda prickly. (Also sound familiar? BECAUSE YEAH. Whatever, it doesn't really matter bc I WILL READ ALL THE BOOKS LIKE THIS.) Once she finds out and discovers her really kinda cool, unique power, and figures out that Fisher doesn't really want her dead, well, things go better for her and she becomes tolerable.
I wish we had seen more of them actually falling in love instead of just sort of insta-lust, and then oh yeah they're together now. Maybe in the next book we'll see the soft spots between them? I have hopes.
Anyway, I really enjoyed Quicksilver. There was some seriously cool world-building aspects, but I do have questions on like....the government / ruling class. How does it work? Who pays for stuff? Is it a monarchy? An empire? A democracy? (No on that one, I'm sure.) OH WELL. More world building will happen eventually. Probably. Hopefully. Despite my unanswered, unimportant questions, Quicksilver was a solid 4.5 stars for me. Pick it up if you're at all into fae romances!
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Thank you to Orbit Books for providing me with an eARC.
The Third Rule of Time Travel is my first book by Fracassi, and WOAH, what a phenomenal read it was. I'm a sucker for all things related to time travel, and this novel didn't disappoint. The Third Rule of Time Travel has a serious hint of horror in it, a creeping sense in the background that something has gone horribly wrong. It's like a discordant humming in your ear – you know something is coming, you know it, you can sense it, but you're not quite sure what it is. Just amazing writing by Fracassi.
The main character, Beth, is a bit flat when it comes to characterization, but it doesn't really matter because the rest of the book is so interesting that you don't care. Gah. This was so well done. I highly recommend this one – especially if you're like me and love time travel stories.