Jordyn
Oh this was astoundingly lovely. There was no miscommunication plot, no cheating (or the presumption of cheating), nothing untoward. Y'know the usual suspects in histroms. It was VERY NICE to read something that didn't have those tropes. Just a rake in need of reformation, and a girl willing to help him for a price of her own.
The rake in question, Kieran, quickly only had eyes for his heroine, and the leading lady was SO STUBBORNLY herself it was refreshing. Plus the dirty talk and banter coming out of these two. WHEW. High heat.
All in all an absolute joy to read, highly recommended. Absolutely going onto the next book in the series.
I genuinely don't know how to review What the River Knows.
There were parts of this book that I truly enjoyed, but for the most part I found myself baffled that it got published at all. I guessed almost every single ‘twist' before it had even happened, which isn't necessarily bad writing, buuuut woof. When things are telegraphed THIS BOLDLY, yeah it comes across as being written poorly. The only twist I still can't make sense of is the one in the epilogue. It's vague enough that I literally have no idea what it's talking about. There's too many different things it could be about. If that's not bad writing, I don't know what is.
There's magic, but it's thrown into the book in such an odd and half-hazard way that it makes no sense. Like, if you took the magic out, the book would pretty much be the same thing. There's no real reason it's there. It doesn't affect society in a way that makes life better or worse. It's just...there. Doing silly little things that don't really matter. What's the point of magic if it's not going to affect your world building in any way whatsoever? LAME.
The ‘romance' doesn't make any sense either. The main character suddenly decides that she's attracted to the ‘bad boy' archeologist despite the fact that he teases, berates and is generally mean to her. Oh but wait that just means he's flirting. Ish. But she can't trust him because he works for her uncle. But wait! She's going to trust him anyway, but it back fires!!!
MADE. NO. SENSE.
And don't even get me started on how idiotically stupid the main character, Inez, is at MULTIPLE POINTS in this book. She's 19, finds out her parents have been murdered, and the first thing she does is run off to Egypt. By herself. To a country that she's never been to before, and then has zero plans past that because she's hopeful her uncle will come rescue her. DUMB, DUMB, DUMB.
If you enjoyed What The River Knows, I'm happy for you. I wanted to like this so much more than I did. Ancient Egypt and archeology are endlessly fascinating, and I had high hopes that the story present here would live up to that. Unfortunately, it did not. To me, What The River Knows was mostly a jumbled-up, badly written mess.
Okay, so.
This book doesn't get ENJOYABLE until Ariadne meets up with Dionysus. I'm serious – the first third of this book is almost unbearable. The dialogue is horrendous, bordering on painfully bad, and the action is only so-so. Ariadne's life is miserable, and apparently we have to be miserable reading about it, too. I seriously considered DNFing this about 20% of the way into the book, because I was straight up NOT having a good time. Crown of Starlight has been seriously hyped up on X/Twitter and honestly? I was ready to start posting about what a let down this was.
And then I got to the point in the book where we meet Dionysus. You can tell IMMEDIATELY that this was the character that the author wanted to write. Ariadne is the main character, but Dionysus is the run away star. The writing finally LIGHTS UP. The characters become people you want to know, the action is something you want to read more of. IDK what happened to the beginning of this book, but it is leagues and LEAGUES behind the rest of it. It honestly does a complete disservice to the rest of the novel, and I will remain somewhat hopeful that the book will go through another round of edits to fix it because its ROUGH y'all.
BUT MOVING ON.
Dionysus is immediately taken with Ariadne, and we as the audience are completely taken with him. Right away. He's interesting, funny, and eager to do what he can to help Ariadne with all her (horrible) problems. Their relationship starts off platonic, but eventually shifts into a full on romance. Yes. From BOTH sides. There is no unrequited anything here, I'm so happy to say. The steamy scenes are HOT and way way more sexy and kinky than anything I've read professionally published in awhile. Kudos to Miss Corrain – she did the God of Hedonism proud.
And yes, we see Dionysus in all his different aspects. God of Hedonism, of wine, of sexuality, of revolution, etc, etc. Corrain doesn't shirk from any of part of him!
The plot of the book is...fine? Like, there's nothing wrong with it. It was easy to follow and made sense within the scope of the book. I was 100% reading to see how Dionysus and Ariadne developed their relationship. I really couldn't have cared less about the actual plot. Give me more smooches and tender face touches, okay? I loved watching them together, I loved seeing Ariadne open up, and bloom into the person she was meant to be.
SO YES, despite the horrendous beginning of this book, please pick it up and read it once it comes out. It's a lot, LOT more fun than the beginning lets on.
TO DO A QUICK SUM UP – I think I liked Fourth Wing better, but I still very much enjoyed Iron Flame.
The world feels much BIGGER in Iron Flame, and I think that might be one of the reasons the book suffers. There's just so much going on, and so QUICKLY that it's a tiny bit hard to keep track of where characters are, and what they're doing. I loved the world building, but I do wish the book had slowed down JUST A LITTLE so we could SAVOR these new places. Instead, we're ripping along at a lightning pace to get to where we need to be.
Violet and Xaden's relationship suffers a little bit due to lack of trust, and while I still love them to pieces...I really wanted to grab Violet by the shoulders and shake her silly. Actually, scratch that, I wanted to shake them both. What silly miscommunications they had. Why couldn't they SIT DOWN AND TALK it out much earlier? Xaden, I'm talking to you, buddy. Why are you making Violet jump through hoops. JUST TELL HER. Hell, if they had taken even ten minutes to actually talk, half the problems in their relationship would have been solved like...10 pages into the book. Instead, we're left watching them argue and nitpick at one another for like half the book. THEY DO FIGURE IT OUT, and the sex scenes are delightful, but c'mon. Very much a YA style relationship here. That sort of thing worked better in Fourth Wing when they were still in school.
The dragons are, of course, a huge highlight of the book. I loved seeing Andarna come into her own. I LOVE the reveal – what a cool COOL thing. I hope we get even more dragons in the next book. (This seems a given, but who knows.) I hope we get to TALK to other dragons in the next book. I'd love to see more of Tairn and Sgaeyl's relationship, or at least get to know her a little better.
The ending of the book was a massive, huge, confusing as hell battle. I, like many other reviews, agree that this part of the book could have used a heavy editor's pen. I think there are some great scenes, but I think it needs to be reworked into something MUCH CLEARER. I know battles are confusing, I know things move SO QUICKLY, but c'mon. Pull back a little and make it easier to understand what was going on.
I'm not sure how I feel about the very end. I really don't. I know I'll be right there waiting for the next book to see how things work out. The VERY end of the book has me torn. I'm hoping Yarros has a good way to make this all right in the end, because I need things to be all right. I really do.
Thank you to Netgalley and Tordotcom Publishing for providing an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I am so thankful that Tordotcom granted me an ARC of A Power Unbound – the last book in The Last Binding trilogy, a series that has absolutely captured my heart. I adore the first book in the series – A Marvellous Light, and liked but didn't love the second, A Restless Truth...I was a little worried that A Power Unbound would leave me wanting by the end. THANKFULLY, it did not.
It really did not.
A Power Unbound took everything I liked from the previous books and expanded on it. All the characters you fall in love with in the prior novels make appearances again, and to my ultimate joy, become something of a found family. A found family where they actually CARE about one another, and it isn't just that they're working together. This was glorious, and I'm so happy that Marske went this way with the series.
The main characters in this book are Lord Hawthorne (to my delight) and Alan Ross (aka Alonzo Rossi), the journalist from the second book. Hawthorne starts off the book by being his rather stoic, grumpy self, but then we rather quickly see him realize that all he's doing is pushing people away. He opens up (slowly) and allows himself to actually join the aforementioned found family. Alan Ross is quite the character. He does everything that he does simply to protect and provide for his rather large family. He's not quite trustworthy, but he's fascinatingly interesting, and you find yourself really trying to figure out what he wants.
Together, Hawthorne and Rossi and like a bonfire. They build off each other, pick at each other, and provoke one another into fights. It shouldn't work. It shouldn't at all – there's too big of a power difference between the two of them, but dang. They make it work. (And DAMN, Freya Marske, you weren't joking when you said this one was the kinkiest/dirtiest book of the bunch. WOAH.) I love, love loved watching Hawthorne and Rossi open up to one another and realize that yes, they do actually like each other. Surprise!
When it comes to the plot itself, I don't want to give too much away. SO I will simply say this – every single character had a part to play here, and no one was given ‘too much' to do at the end. The resolution of the entire series required EVERYONE in a way that I am so satisfied with. The found family had a purpose besides love!
Thank you, Freya Marske for writing such a fantastic LGBTQ+ series. I cannot wait to pick up your next work. Five stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
A Fragile Enchantment is my first foray into Allison Saft's work. A Far Wilder Magic has been on my TBR for what feels like forever – maybe now that I've dipped my toes into the water, so to speak, I'll finally get around to reading that book. BUT REGARDLESS – I really enjoyed A Fragile Enchantment. It felt very low stakes throughout the whole book, which is exactly what I needed. I've been having a hard time reading anything lately – the world is awful, I have a toddler, I'm pregnant with baby #2 – there's a lot going on. But A Fragile Enchantment hit at just the right time for me. It's relatively easy to follow, written very simply without being boring, and has characters that make you feel for them.
All in all, it's a great read for anyone looking for an entry level fantasy romance. The spice level is almost nonexistent, but there are two scenes where something gets started, but we don't really see all the way to the end. It's a mostly fade to black, basically. Not my PREFERRED type of romance, but the rest of the story made up for that particular lack.
This seems to be based on the Irish potato famine, and Britain's involvement in it. It's all in a different world, but the way things are described, and the placeholder country names definitely seem to point this way.
Niamh is our main character (you pronounce this name as Neev) and honestly? She's okay. She just kinda blends into the background a lot of the time. Her personality is mostly ‘clumsy' and ‘interfering'. But you do grow to like her as the book goes on. Her love interest is Kit, a scandalous prince. This is mostly enemies to lovers. Or Dislike to Lovers, I should say. They aren't really enemies, ever. Kit's just an asshole for a good part of the book until you realize he's hiding some trauma.
Anyway, I enjoyed this. I think it will do well, but I can see parts where people are going to complain. But for me, this is a solid four stars!
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
It's been a hot minute since I've actually written a whole review for a book. Life's taken a million turns, and we've been so busy lately that I just haven't had the brain power to do anything other than sit and play video games at night. But I finally scrounged up enough oomph to finish an ARC. It's late, of course, but it's done!
The Hexologists was a book that I grew interested in after hearing about it from Orbit's monthly newsletter. It looked vaguely steam-punky, vaguely historical, and it just sounded extremely unique. Well - I'm happy to say that it lived up to all of that and more. I'm not sure I would have picked this one up without Orbit harping about it. The cover is beautiful, but it doesn't really give you a hint at what's inside. I think they maybe did a disservice with the cover, but whatever. The book is worth picking up!!
However, it's hard to find something similar to compare it to. The closest I can come is – The Parasol Protectorate series. There's differences, of course, but it has the same ~serious but also a little silly~ vibe to it. There are tentacle monsters, talking birds, ghosts, magic, and just...it's just wildly original, and so much fun. The setting is interesting but vague enough that the author can add on to it at any point without it feeling forced.
I adored the main characters - Iz and War. Iz is a no-nonsense hexologist (a type of magician) who investigates mysteries for a living. Her husband does not appear to have any magic, but is more of her body guard than anything else. I love love loved how much they cared for one another. This was so apparent right away, I never had any question that War or Iz would give their life for the other.
The mystery at the center of the book had so many twists and turns that it was hard to follow. The reveal at the end was jaw-dropping, mildly terrifying, and so worth the journey. I will be lining up to read the next book in this series, no question.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
Sarah MacLean is one of my favorite romance authors. I would even hazard to say that she's my favorite historical romance author, period. There's something about her heroines that I haven't found in any other romance book that just really resonates with me. They're powerful, they're not afraid to break out of their assigned roles, and they (usually) take absolutely zero shit from their men. That's the case here, with Imogen in her very own book, Knockout. We've seen Imogen before, in the other two Hell's Belles books, and I was always very interested in her. What's not to love with a curvy heroine who has a penchant for explosives?
Is this Sarah MacLean's best work? I would say no, but that doesn't mean that I didn't have fun. Imogen was explosive (heh), eager to help those less fortunate, and head over heels for Tommy Peck. (Sidenote — I don't love that the love interest was a cop in this one, but seeing as Peck was probably one of the only good cops ever, and also head over heels for Imogen, he gets a pass.) Tommy Peck is huge, bearded, and ready to take down the entire Scotland Yard to protect his lady love. He didn't think he deserved her but damn if he was going to let something happen to her.
I loved them together, but I do wish I could have smacked Tommy over the head a couple times. Maybe Imogen should have lightly exploded him just to get his head on straight. Dude was ready to give up the love of his life just because she was a lady and he was from Shoreditch. Imogen didn't care, so why did he???? (There's actually a really good reason that he did, so again, he gets a semi-pass.) ANYWAY, Imogen and Tommy forever.
All in all, this is almost five stars, but not quite. I can't even pin down why, but there you have it. Do I recommend this? Yes, if you love historicals, you'll love Knockout. But bet sure you read the first two novels or you'll miss some things.
Oh there we go. I MISSED THIS. This particular book finally brings the Veronica Speedwell series back up into the extraordinary category. The past two books were my least favorite of the series, but this one brings everything back around. We finally see Veronica realize it's not a bad thing to depend upon Stoker. He has never let her down, and I can't imagine him doing so ever. I love those two together so much, and so I am thrilled with the ending of this book.
The mystery in this book was FASCINATING – I had no idea who had done the murder(s) until everything was revealed at the end. There's dinosaur fossils, murder, betrayal, strychnine. Basically, just a fantastic plot.
Four and a half stars. Loved this one.
This entry into the Veronica Speedwell series was slightly better than the last. I say that because Veronica apparently has been keeping a rather huge secret from everyone for....six books. I understand that she is a very private individual, but this particular secret felt like it came out of nowhere. I hadn't seen any hint of this secret being true in any other book.
I also wasn't a fan of how she ultimately treated Stoker, and I sincerely hope that he makes her work for redemption in his eyes. He deserves someone who absolutely loves him, and trusts him completely. VERONICA, THAT SHOULD BE YOU. I love how much they mirror each other, and I do hope they can work things out.
Tsk, tsk, Veronica.
The mystery in this one was interesting, but very much not my favorite of the series. Onto the next.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
You all are fired. Not a single one of you told me how freaking cute this book was. NOT A SINGLE ONE OF YOU. It reminded me so much of an actual rom-com movie. There was sadness and more than one serious topic broached here, but Part of Your World could easily be adapted for the screen like...tomorrow. This was SUCH a fun book to read. I fell in love with the characters almost instantly. Daniel and Alexis were such perfect foils of one another. I'm pretty sure that Daniel is the perfect man – what other explanation is there for his ability to cook, woodwork, do hospitality, and care for baby animals?
Alexis had such a miserable life before Daniel wandered into it, and there was a real moment there where I was so worried something awful was going to happen to her. Instead, Alexis grabs her own bootstraps and FIXES her life. Fantastic.
There is ZERO steam in this book. There are a few fade-to-black scenes, and mentions of dick picks but we see zero sex on page. Normally, this would bother me, but Part of Your World was cute enough that it didn't matter. I cannot recommend this book enough, if you're looking for a cute romcom to break up the monotony of your life. FIVE STARS. I LOVED THIS.
This was still fantastic, but I really wanted more of their relationship when they were HAPPY. We so rarely get that in romance novels – I want to see the romance actually LINGER instead of just be challenged over and over. I also wish we could have seen Meg enjoying being royalty for even a little bit? Why doesn't she revel in nice clothes, or love being able to do things for people? Instead, she just whines. A lot.
I still recommend this little duology, because it is a lot of fun! Just know going in there's hardly any REAL emotional connection until the end. Galen and Theo and Meg forever!!!
Short, extremely hot intro novella into the full series. Once the leads meet, the whole thing is basically one long sex scene with minimal pauses. Very limited plot, but Robert sprinkles in little tidbits to get you excited for the series. Dipping my toe into the series to see if it lives up to this novella. The steam is absolutely worth the read.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
Sister of the Bride is a remarkably cute friends-to-lovers contemporary romance. The absolutely adorable cover is the reason I requested an ARC of this one, and to be completely honest with you, I wasn't sure if the book itself would live up to the cover. But I am happy to report that it does! I, for some stupid reason, thought this was going to be one of those stupidly chaste closed-door contemporary romances, but nope. We get a full steamy scene, with a few not-quite-all-the-way scenes thrown in for good measure. There's dirty jokes, and heavy references to ~adult~ things that I fully appreciated.
What I did not appreciate, though, was Pippin. I wanted to like her so much, but girl. CALM. DOWN. She was upset over literally everything — which, I mean, makes sense bc her entire life was crashing down around her — but reading about her freaking out got old really quickly. It did not ruin the book for me, but it came close. Especially when she took so damn long to realize what a catch Toby was. Which, by the way, takes over 50% of the book. They flirt pretty well together, but Pip is DETERMINED to not be attracted to Toby. Idiot.
Toby, however, is a giant precious cinnamon roll. I loved every second he was on page — especially his stupid dad jokes that began every chapter. He's smart, hot as sin, funny, and a doctor. WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT, PIP. Seriously, woman, tell me.
ANYWAY, Sister of the Bride is absolutely worth the read, especially if you like friends-to-lovers. Four stars!
Merged review:
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
Sister of the Bride is a remarkably cute friends-to-lovers contemporary romance. The absolutely adorable cover is the reason I requested an ARC of this one, and to be completely honest with you, I wasn't sure if the book itself would live up to the cover. But I am happy to report that it does! I, for some stupid reason, thought this was going to be one of those stupidly chaste closed-door contemporary romances, but nope. We get a full steamy scene, with a few not-quite-all-the-way scenes thrown in for good measure. There's dirty jokes, and heavy references to ~adult~ things that I fully appreciated.
What I did not appreciate, though, was Pippin. I wanted to like her so much, but girl. CALM. DOWN. She was upset over literally everything — which, I mean, makes sense bc her entire life was crashing down around her — but reading about her freaking out got old really quickly. It did not ruin the book for me, but it came close. Especially when she took so damn long to realize what a catch Toby was. Which, by the way, takes over 50% of the book. They flirt pretty well together, but Pip is DETERMINED to not be attracted to Toby. Idiot.
Toby, however, is a giant precious cinnamon roll. I loved every second he was on page — especially his stupid dad jokes that began every chapter. He's smart, hot as sin, funny, and a doctor. WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT, PIP. Seriously, woman, tell me.
ANYWAY, Sister of the Bride is absolutely worth the read, especially if you like friends-to-lovers. Four stars!
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
This was EXCELLENT. The level of writing is highly reminiscent of Captive Prince, but the relationship itself is nothing like Laurent and Damen. That isn't a bad thing – this is an entirely different sort of story – courtly love turned on its head. The Lion and the Crow is quite short, but uses every one of its 153 pages to its fullest capability. It doesn't FEEL short, when you're in the thick of the story.
I really loved Christian and William together. They are two different types of man, and they managed to fit together quite nicely. Christian is a ‘pretty' man, thin, muscular, with feminine features. He's a beast with a bow and arrow. William is large, strong, and powerful – an excellent sword fighter. Together, they end up on a journey to rescue William's sister from a terrible, cruel husband.
My one complaint is that I much preferred the first-written epilogue to the one that is now attached at the end of the story. The ‘current' epilogue ends everything on a very sad note, while the original epilogue had a little shining piece of hope in it. That's the only reason I docked this a star.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
I've loved pirates and just about anything to do with them since Pirates of the Caribbean came out way back in 2003. I saw that movie more times than I want to admit in theaters, and well........the obsession has stayed with me since then. I loved Black Sails, and am always on the lookout for unique takes on the subject. Upon hearing about Dark Water Daughter...I had high hopes. Extremely high hopes. It sounded like a blend of fantasy and history and just...yes. Yes, yes, yes. Unfortunately, this book didn't really do it for me.
Dark Water Daughter was a resounding meh. There are many characters, and I didn't care about any of them. Except for one — Captain James Demery. He's a side character at best, not on page all that much but he was THE ONLY ONE I remotely cared about. I didn't give two blinks about the main characters, Mary and Samuel. I didn't believe their weird romance-on-and-off-like thing they had going on. I wanted to like these characters, but they were so incredibly blank that there was nothing to like!! The only mildly interesting thing about Mary and Sam was that they could do magic! THAT'S IT. They didn't have hobbies, or cool personalities. They were literally just husks for magic.
That's not to say that the magic wasn't really cool, because it was. There are three different types — Stormsingers, Sooths, and Magni. Stormsingers do literally what it says on the tin — they can change the weather through song. Sooths can see the future. Magni can influence people without them knowing about it. The ideas behind the magic were unique, and cool. It doesn't, however, make me care about any of the characters, or their fates. Something drastic happens to one of them towards the end of the book and I swear to you that I originally thought it happened to a different character because I COULDN'T TELL THEM APART.
Not to mention the overarching plot was a tad bit confusing. They were going for a treasure hoard but also to rescue Mary's mom? But also kill a dangerous pirate and rescue tree spirits? Too many things going on, too much confusion. Needed some streamlining. I might be completely on my own by saying this, but I was disappointed by Dark Water Daughter. I wanted so much more.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
Books about books have always struck a chord with me, and Cloud Cuckoo Land was no exception to that rule. At the very heart of this story, we have a lost ancient Greek text whose remnants leave echoes through history. This story takes place across thousands of years — we see two characters at the sacking of Constantinople right around 1500, then we see another during the Korean War, another in the early 2010's, then another way in the future, after Earth has burned and is no longer inhabitable. Throughout all of these people's lives the tale of Cloud Cuckoo Land rings loudly. We have some characters who use the story as a means to carry on with their lives, others who's life work it is to translate the text, others still who do whatever they can to protect the text itself.
Cloud Cuckoo Land is an astonishing love note to humanity, and our need to create and belong beyond all else. I thoroughly enjoyed this, but I can see how others might find it boring. It is a history book, peeking backwards at our fore bearer's lives. There are sections where nothing much happens — sections where you get the chance to breathe the story in a bit more. I loved the pieces in Constantinople, I loved seeing how people must have lived back then. I love history — I always have — and Cloud Cuckoo Land hits a lot of my buttons in such a good way.
I really don't want to say too much about the plot itself, because I really do believe this is one of those books that you have to discover as it unfolds. This is not one you want to go into with too much information. It's better left a bit mysterious.
If you have any interest in history, anthropology, or just love a good book about books, please check this one out.
Read this one bc one of the ladies on Fated Mates recommended it as one of her favorites. Honestly, this one is not up there for me. The male lead, Jimmy, was just a plain dick for like...ninety percent of the novel. I did not understand how Lena ever fell in love with him. I need my romances to be at least semi-realistic. Oh well. Onto the next.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
This was an astoundingly lovely historical romance with: an age gap with the woman being the older, a stiff-backed military man forced to bend his self-imposed rules, a secondary gay couple, and doesn't end in a marriage or with the couple expecting a baby. All things that are relatively rare in this particular genre. I loved this. It was so, so much fun, with quite a lot of steamy bits interspersed.
Duncan McCameron and Beatrice, the Dowager Countess of Farris, are absolutely two puzzle pieces that needed to be forced together. They start off very prickly towards one another, but can't help but fall for each other as circumstance after circumstances smooshes them against one another. Beatrice is on a mission to go to an orgy held out in the countryside, and Duncan has been tasked with bringing her there safely. So so much goes wrong, but they manage to get through it all without major bodily harm. Duncan is SO rigid and unbending that it was a little frustrating, but Beatrice got him to warm to her relatively quickly.
BEATRICE herself is just...a warm spot of sun. She's a widow, and absolutely determined to bring herself as much happiness and joy as she can. Her thought process was literally, “If I want to do it, and it brings no one else harm, why shouldn't I do it?” She was delightful, and I loved her to pieces.
There are a few giggles, but honestly this one was just a huge breath of fresh air and I'm so glad that I read it. Four and a half stars!!!
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
A sweet, chaste m/m retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Zero steam. It's quite short – I was able to read it in a manner of hours. I don't think it needed to be any longer, either. There is minimal character development, but it isn't really needed for the type of story that this one is. I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure that I'll ever pick it up again. It did what it needed to do, and there isn't much replay value for me here.
The romance itself was only minorly believable – it seems that one day they just sort of...decide to love each other? There was minimal courting, and almost no tension at all. As for the Beauty and the Beast bits – it has an enchanted manor, rose, invisible servants, and of course, the beast himself. This ‘beast' is actually a man cursed to be a dragon. That was very original, and I did enjoy that bit. There just wasn't much character to go on here. The parson had more to him, but by the end of the book we don't know much about Briarly at all.
Overall, this one was just sort of meh?