Jordyn

Ooooooof what a series – a phenomenal one, one that ends on a sad, but hopeful note. This didn't end the way I really wanted it to, but I do like how it ended. The Poison Song wraps up the Winnowing Flame trilogy in such a way that is both satisfying and makes sense in the world that Williams created.

Tor, Noon, and Vintage were all absolutely wonderful characters that I will be thinking about for a good long time. We got to see a great deal more of Noon in this book, and I love just about every second of it. We find out what she did as a child, and it is heartbreaking. We see more of the war-beasts, but I do wish we had seen what happens to them in the future. The end is vague enough that we don't really get to know what they do. BUT despite that, The Poison Song was so good.

I enjoyed Jen Williams' writing so freaking much, and will definitely be looking into her other books for sure. If you're at all looking for an epic fantasy series to dive into, I highly recommend this one. Not only is there a really excellent new world, cool magic, neat and original races...there's also queer representation as well. This is a well done fantasy with such cool characters that I really want to shove it down everyone's throats.

Sorry not sorry.

So I didn't totally love The Bitter Twins quite as much as I loved The Ninth Rain BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I DIDN'T STILL ABSOLUTELY LIKE THIS. This book starts out slow – there's a definite build up to what comes, but still. It took a little bit for me to actually sink into this one. But that's okay, to me, anyway. I knew I loved the characters already, so I was willing to sit and wait for the story to unfold before me.

I loved the additional world-building in this book, and how we learn so so so much more about what is going on in Sarn. I do wish we had gotten more insight into Noon's personal thoughts. She felt very much like a background character for most of this book - we rarely get a look at how she's dealing with all the new developments as they occur. Instead, we have new POV characters in Aldasair and Bern which are both equally lovely!! I just wish we had gotten more from Noon as well. (Also, Tor? Just freaking talk to her, man!!!)

BUT REGARDLESS –

I really enjoyed The Bitter Twins, and I'm thoroughly thoroughly looking forward to finding out how this series wraps up in The Poison Song. I hope there is a good, happy ending or this is going to feel like I read three books for nothing. Heading right into the next book, The Poison Song!!

Well, SHIT I loved this. It's been a hot minute since I've read something like The Ninth Rain. Feels like a classic fantasy, but there are some genuine sci-fi bits thrown in, too. I'd been missing a good ol' fantasy novel, and well, I got that. Loved the tropes seen here! Truth be told, I'm a little sad I didn't pick this one up sooner! It was so much fun. There was representation abound – gay characters, bi characters, characters of color, and all sorts. Nothing was ‘taboo' or made to seem weird inside the world, either. Loved it.

The Ninth Rain was just chock full of originality, and teeming with awesome characters. I really, really love Tor, and Vin. Noon was a little wishy-washy for me at first, buuuuuut as the book goes on I ended up loving her, too. I honestly can't wait to find out what happens next – I'll be hopping right into the sequel now, actually!

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

Thank you to Del Ray for providing me with an eARC.

I love, love, loved the first book in this series, The Tainted Cup. It was wildly original, super well written, and just a blast of fun to read. I can honestly say the same thing about A Drop of Corruption. The world-building in this series is immense, but so well done that you really don't think about it too much. You take in what you need to know at just the right pace, and aren't left floating about in confusion. The Leviathans in question don't appear alive in this book, but their shadow and threat still covers the world and plot.

Ana and Din are fabulous main characters, and the reveal at the end about who (and what) Ana really is was SO well done. It paid off, and I am now anxiously awaiting the next entry in this series. I hope this one is longer than a trilogy, because the way that these books are written means that this could be a nice lengthy series if Bennett so chose. Feels almost like a fantasy Sherlock Holmes sort of deal.

I spent the whole book thinking I had the mystery figured out, but I was entirely wrong. Of course. I'm not that intelligent. BUT STILL. So enjoyable, and I can't recommend this one enough. Easily five stars!

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

Thank you to Alcove Press for providing me with a digital ARC!

I know very little about Irish mythology, but mythology in general is one of my favorite things to learn about. So when I saw The Gods Time Forgot up on Netgalley, with that very interested synopsis, and that very beautiful cover, I thought I'd take a shot and requested it. Thankfully, Alcove Press pretty much instantaneously approved me, and I dived right in.

This book is written beautifully. I absolutely loved how fiery Rua was, how done she was with “polite society” rules, and being “accepted” into the higher classes. She wanted nothing to do with these people, and she basically let them know it. The Gods Time Forgot has a very interesting premise, one that I didn't really catch on to what was happening until about 75% of the way through. I had inklings but there was enough going on that I wasn't sure.

Finn was not as widely explored as Rua, unfortunately. I do wish we had learned more about his life before he was The Lord of Donore, and how he came to be. It's sort of handwaved at the end, but I was very interested in him. Even before we know who he is.

The romance is well done, in my opinion. There's enough steam, enough chemistry there that it's entirely believable. They sort of pick at each other to start, and then they really do fall in love. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them fall for each other.

My one beef with The Gods Time Forgot is that it ends SO abruptly. The last chapter reads like there's going to be at least another few to follow, but nope. It just sort of...ends. I really would have loved to follow Rua and Finn as they figured out life together, but nope. We don't get to see that. I wouldn't even really say that it's a true happy ending. It ends before we get to see them happy, which really hurt how I feel about this book. If it had ended appropriately, The Gods Time Forgot would have easily been 5 stars for me. Instead, it's dropped down to a four star read. Still good, but not great.

I'd still recommend this book, especially if you're a fantasy-romance lover with an interest in mythology. Just go into it knowing the ending is a bit disappointing.

Long Live Evil is a wildly unique novel about a dying girl in our world who gets thrown into her favorite book series. It's a take I've never seen done quite this way, which was really really fun. I love ‘people getting thrown into books' as a trope, and Long Live Evil is no exception to that. I did really love Rae's take on deciding to be evil – you never see people take the ‘bad' side so it was fun to watch her realize that she could do whatever she wanted with little recourse. (Was interesting watch her battle with wanting to be evil, but also wanting to help people.) Rae falls in with an actual sociopath, her maid who betrayed her, and the main love interest of the book.

I saw the ‘twist' at the ending coming a mile off, but it didn't matter at all because the reveal was so satisfying. I can't wait to pick up the next book to see what's going to happen to Rae, and the story itself.

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

Thank you to Tor for providing me with eARC.

I requested Upon a Starlit Tide on Netgalley first because the cover absolutely drew me in, and second because it was described to me as A Little Mermaid mushed up with Cinderella. I'm a sucker for fairy tale retellings so I was absolutely drawn to this book. To my surprise (it's been a bit) Tor accepted my request, and I dove right in.

Upon a Starlit Tide is an absolute wonder. Kell Woods is a phenomenal writer – you're dropped into 18th century magical France and every ounce of you believes it. I loved the main character, Luce. She's got quite a wonderful life, seemingly only soured by the fact that her feet are ruined. She's in pain every second that she walks around. However, she is sweet despite her pain. She cares for her sisters, her mother, and most of all, her father. Luce and her family are extremely wealthy – her father owns a bunch of ships and is a merchant. There's some interesting family dynamics that I won't get into because I don't want to spoil anything.

Luce is torn between wanting to remain a loyal daughter, and wanting to go out and explore the world. She is in love with the sea, and wants nothing more than to be a ship's captain. Of course, this is impossible because she's a woman. She's also torn between two young men. Morgan, the rich shipmaster's son whom she rescues from the ocean, or Samuel, a master smuggler who's been her friend for years. Yeah, there's a love triangle. Ish. You'll prefer one man over the other very quickly, or at least I did.

When I got to the end of Upon A Starlit Tide, I was terrified that it was going to end on a sad, but happyish note. HOWEVER, there was an epilogue and I can confirm that there is a true happy ending. So don't worry about that too much – enjoy the journey for what it is. I absolutely recommend Upon A Starlit Tide to anyone who loves fairy tale retellings, mermaids, or historical fiction! Four and a half stars.

I'm not sure I understood most of this book the way the author intended, but I definitely enjoyed it. (It feels infinitely more intelligent than I am.) I will be picking up the next books in the series as intended, but possibly not for a little bit until I am in the right headspace for it.

I loved Roger. I loved Dodger. I wanted Leigh to die in horrible ways.

Y'know, the signs of good characters!

This one was darker than I thought it was going to be, but it's also my first foray into Seanan McGuire's work. I really do like how she writes!

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door ended up being better than I first expected it to be. I really thought about DNFing this around 20% of the way in, but ultimately I'm glad that I didn't. I'm not going to lie to you, though, this book is a bit boring at first. I was having a hard time wanting to pick this one up to read it, but I forced myself and soon found that I really, really wanted to know what was going to happen.

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door is a bit dark academia, a bit fantasy, and a tiny bit found family. There are fae, but they're the mean, tricky kind. We also don't see very many fae at all, but they're the cause of most of the plot. I wish there had been a little bit more world building, a little bit more showing and not telling.

The characters are (mostly) rich, egotistical, self-important magical kids. You kinda hate them at first, but then you get to know them a bit better and like them. Except for one character you always kinda hate. Just me? Whoops.

BUT DESPITE THAT, I really enjoyed how this one wrapped up. I didn't see where the resolution was going, which was really fun. If you like books set around academia, if you like magic schools, I bet you'll like this one. Four stars.

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

I really wanted to like this more than I ended up doing. The Bright Sword had some serious promise as a modern retelling of the King Arthur legends, but uh, it falls flat at the end. Literally...the very end just kinda goes limp like a poorly made soufflé. For the most part, I loved Grossman's takes on the characters, I loved the journeys they went on, but dangit I did not love how this book ended.

I love King Arthur. I love when King Arthur is presented as a good, but complicated man. We have that here. Cool, I'm there. Lancelot gets turned into a not-so-nice, too-good-at-everything kinda guy, but whatever. He's never been my favorite of the Arthurian characters. Guinevere is in here, but not really a main character. Kinda lame. Merlin's an ass, and Nimue is pretty badass. I am really tired of ‘retellings' where Merlin is either completely incompetent or a total asshole. Nimue is rarely shown in retellings that I've seen, even though she's a pretty neat character.

I do want to mention there is trans, and gay representation in this book. I think it's done well, and isn't shoved in simply to include it. It works very nicely along with the characters.

If you like the Arthurian legends at all, I'd say this one is worth trying. Maybe you'll like it more than I did. I'm giving The Bright Sword 3.5 stars.

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

I think I might have a new favorite contemporary romance book. Holy shit, I loved this. I loved how much Truly fell head over heels for Colin, and EVEN MORE I loved how much Colin was just DOWN BAD for Truly. He wanted her IMMEDIATELY, and it was so easy to see. Like, I could have read a million more pages of these two. This was so enjoyable, and DANG was it dirty. IN THE BEST WAY. Woof.

If you're into enemies-to-lovers (but not really enemies), antagonistic relationships that is flirting by being mean and kinda picking at each other....well, please pick this one up. SO MUCH FUN.

I appreciated the fact that Colin never once gave up on Truly. He was steadfast and willing to wait her issues out. He wanted her that badly. GAH.

Delightfully funny and refreshing. (I can easily see how my favorite author was influenced by Pratchett. T. Kingfisher has the same dry humor and wit in her works, too!) This is the second Discworld novel I've read, the first being [b:Guards! Guards! 64216 Guards! Guards! (Discworld, #8; City Watch, #1) Terry Pratchett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431127356l/64216.SY75.jpg 1128601] This one was just as funny, and just as enjoyable. I can only hope the rest of the books are similar.I'm rather fond of how Pratchett does Death's voice - the all caps bit, and whatnot. Not to mention that he's an excellent character and I can't wait to read more about him.

Well, that was creepy and unsettling. No one does unsettling like T. Kingfisher.

The only way I can get through horror books is if I only read them while it's light outside, AND I read something funny when it's dark out. (The book I read along with this one is Mort by Terry Pratchett!) It also helps that Kingfisher is so fantastic at blending the humor with the absolutely batshit terrifying situations she comes up with. I'm not one who really enjoys being scared, but I love Kingfisher's books and writing enough that I power through.

But dang, the stones and effigies in this one were creepy. All in all, a good book to round out Spooky Season with. I definitely recommend if you like horror at all!

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

I love, love, love Lloyd-Jones's other works in this universe with all my heart. She has a knack for taking old Welsh stories and myths and turning them into something absolutely wonderful. (Not that the original stories AREN'T wonderful, but you know what I mean!) Just like The Drowned Woods and The Bone Houses, The Wild Huntress is wildly entertaining, and more than a little bit heartbreaking. There's a betrayal in this one (just like the other books) and while I didn't really see it coming, I probably should have.

It hurt, when it finally came about. It hurt a lot. I don't really agree with Branwen's forgiveness at the very end. BUT WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO. Loved this, love Lloyd-Jones's work, and will continue to pick up anything that she puts out.

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

Thank you to Del Ray for an ARC of this book.

Oh this was really, really cute. Total no-real-stakes contemporary witchy romance. There's a bit of insta-love, but with the way this one is written I was 100% okay with it. I absolutely adored Dina as a main character – she was sweet, and wanted the best for her friends all while completely second-guessing herself. Scott, the love interest, felt a bit bland. We didn't know too much about him, but it was fine. He's fine.

This book is not profound, people, it's just FUN.

Oh and the steamy bits? Very, very well written. Extra steamy, extra interesting. Totally worth it.

Dina's parents, especially her mom, are delightful. I loved whenever they were on page. I would have loved magic being included even more than it already is, but I love fantasy elements in just about anything. The author doesn't go real into detail about how the magic works in this universe, but again...this book is just a fun little romp. We're not building out a great magic system or anything. And we don't need to! The romance is cute enough on its own.

Basically, if you're looking for a good spooky-season witchy romance with almost zero-stakes...pick up Best Hex Ever. You'll love it.

This was resoundingly ‘meh'. It wasn't quite paranormal romance, but it wasn't really a regular vampire book, either.

There wasn't a whole lot of vampiring~.

Sunshine is sort of just about a baker named Sunshine in what was sort of a post-apocalyptic US. There was world-building, but not quite ENOUGH world building. You aren't really given answers as to what happened to everything – just that something happened. There's ‘bad spots' and magic, and just...who knows. I think this book COULD have been really entertaining, but not a lot really happens, or is explained well enough. Maybe this was supposed to be a series?

I wanted more from this, especially considering how many people I know love this book. I'm gonna give Sunshine a mediocre barely-there 3 stars. Didn't really do it for me, but I'm glad I read it so I know now!

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

The last Kingfisher book I read didn't really live up to my expectations, but I'm very very happy to say that A Sorceress Comes to Call redeemed my favorite author for me. HOLY CRAP did I enjoy this book. It felt like a classic fairy tale, but with Kingfisher's trademark sarcasm and wit running throughout it.

I love, love, loved Hester. She (and Cordelia) are the main characters, but Hester was absolutely my favorite of the two. She's in her fifties, has bad knees, and wants (more than anything) to rescue Cordelia from her evil mother's clutches. Cordelia is a wet blanket for most of the book – with good reason. She's been made to be a background character in her own life. She eventually gets her confidence back, but there's quite the journey to get there.

There's missed-chance love, an evil horse, and so much terrifying magic in this book. The idea of ‘obedience' is just plain horrifying.

If there was a way for this one to have a sequel, I'd pick it up without a second thought. Please grab this book. You won't regret it.

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

After seeing a bunch of my friends talk about how much they love the movie (that I've never seen), I thought I'd pick up the book and see where that got me. I enjoyed the story, but the way the book was written – extremely passively – wasn't my favorite. I will, however, definitely be watching the movie whenever I get the time to!

When it comes to the story, it's never exactly clear if Sally and Gillian's aunts are actual witches or not. It's also not super clear if magic exists, either, or if it's all just luck. It's all vague enough that you can believe whatever you want to, which is fine by me. I choose to think there was magic, but also some of it was just luck. A MIDDLE GROUND between the two options, I suppose.

The characters are all interesting enough, but again, the writing is so flat and passive that it's almost boring. I don't know that I'll pick anything up by this author again, if this is how she writes all the time. We'll see.

BUT either way, Practical Magic was a timely spooky-season read. I'm going to give it three stars. Noooooooooow to find the movie. Somewhere.

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

So this was a little bit of a disappointment. There's an AWFUL lot of Diana in this book, and almost almost no de Clermonts. The vampires are and have always been my favorite part of this world, so the lack of them is really felt for me. I'm going to say this is hitting at a 3.5ish stars. I still adore the characters and the world, but there just wasn't enough SUBSTANCE here. We do get a whole helluva lot of world-building, though, and a lot more information about witches. Which is good! We didn't know a whole lot about how magic works, and we certainly didn't know a lot about Diana's family. But again....not a WHOLE lot happens other than some serious character development.

The Black Bird Oracle is pretty definitively a part one to what will hopefully at least another book. It's a lot of set up for something that just isn't in this book. Unless I'm very much mistaken, it seems Harkness is setting up another series here in the All Souls world. (I do hope we'll get Gallowglass's book sooner rather than later, though, as he's my favorite.) ALSO, I do hope we'll see more from daemons at some point. They are extremely neglected in this world – I want to know more about them!

ANYWAY, the gist of the story is that Diana's family on her father's side finally makes an appearance in her life. They want to help train her in higher magics, and they want to be part of her life....finally. I didn't really understand why they waited so long to introduce themselves, but whatever. Magic, y'all. It seems there's a big, huge secret somewhere in Diana's family and we don't find out what it is in this book. LAME, but its a good set up for a few books.

Diana and Matthew's children, Becca and Philip are both huge characters in this book, which was entertaining. Learning more about them and what their strengths are was definitely fascinating.

So despite not hugely liking this one, I'll still pick up the next. I love this world, and these characters. I'll just hope the next one has more going on.

For more of my reviews, check out my blog.

Thank you to Orbit for providing me with an ARC copy.

I am absolutely blown away with how perfectly this series ended. Gwynne knocked it out of the park by wrapping up each story line nicely. No one died ‘unnecessarily' or ‘gratuitously'. Everything made sense in the context of the story. I think I will definitely be picking up some of Gwynne's older work as this series was the first by him that I've ever read. Anyway – The Bloodsworn Saga is absolutely worth the read. I can't recommend this one enough – especially if you're fond of Viking-esque stories.

My one ‘complaint,' I guess you'd call it, is that Snaka's appearance was extremely short-lived and almost (almost!) unnecessary. It did bring some gravitas to the situation the characters found themselves in, but ultimately it didn't really do anything to the story that wasn't already happening.

My absolute favorite warrior, Orka, continued to hold her own throughout the whole book. She is so, so, so cool. How awesome is it that the most badass warrior of the bunch is a woman? And not even a young woman – Orka's a middle-aged mother! Such a neat character. I would have read the series if it was only through her POV, honestly.

ANYWAY, please go read this series. It's so good, and it finishes in a very nice, well-rounded way.

Not exceptionally well-written, but still enjoyable. Probably says something that my favorite character was Ellie's dog.

This one was really really fun. I was very worried about Derek, who is one of my favorite characters from this series. Loved the gladiator contest, too, and the nasty nasties they had to fight. Needed even more Curran, though. Watching Kate and him circle around each other is so much fun.

I liked this one less than the first book, but still very much enjoyed this. I didn't really buy Kate suddenly caring about Bran at the end, but maybe that's because I'm running on not a lot of sleep right now. (Thanks baby girl!) I hope we get to see more of Curran soon because he is endlessly entertaining.

Okay, so I loved this and will absolutely be reading the rest of the series. I think it's the perfect maternity leave series – short books with easy plots. It's a paranormal romance – or it will be. I think it's a looong drawn out thing but I'm here for it.

Really enjoyed this! Was expecting to, after loving Jensen's latest book. It's hard to find a good fantasy romance that doesn't feel like it was written JUST for the romance. There's an actual plot here, thankfully. The ending has me worried about how the next book will go, but not sure when I'll get around to reading it. The library doesn't have it, and it's not on KU anymore.