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416 reviews
The Serpent and the Swan by Ashland Pym
5.0
◦ I've received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ◦
A cursed princess by her unconventional parentage. A kingdom brought almost to ruins by her father's greed. A ruthless queen with a heart that can't be mended and a quest that will either salvage everyone or destroy everything.
This has been such an amazing fairytale with lessons to learn along the way. Cygna is being born with a swan wing instead of a left arm and even tho her father loved her, he never actually accepted her the way she was. He kept her in the dark, made her wear uncomfortable dresses to hide her wing, and when she came of age instead of making her the queen of the throne, he accepted the Queen’s advice and sent Cygna on a quest to save the castle from the monster of the Underworld – the Lindworm.
It's not very often when I get to read fairytales, and this one was surprising. The story is based on traditional stories like The King Lindorm from Scandinavian folklore, where a human is being trapped in a serpent body. He is angry, self-righteous, and greedy inflicting cruelty on those around him. In this tale, it takes a brave female to liberate him from his curse – stripping him from his awful traits and break him down to his barest self before he can redeem himself as a monarch and a husband.
However, in our story, Cygna is not being married to the Fae King but sent on the quest on saving the castle from his wrath. But Cygna is not on this quest just to redeem the king, but also for her own redemption. The 9 layers of clothing she is stripping are her old self, her persona that she was before. The 9 layers of skin the king is shedding are the traits that he leaves behind to be reborn. Both of them go through a transformation that will change and break them before they can find themselves again.
The story has amazing world-building, especially the Underworld. The fae folk is being described so fantastically and even tho for the normal people were considered unnatural, for themselves they were perfect just the way they were. For sure I’d try and read more fairytales because I always find them interesting since most of them have some lessons at the core – and until now I had no idea about the Lindorm folklore.
A cursed princess by her unconventional parentage. A kingdom brought almost to ruins by her father's greed. A ruthless queen with a heart that can't be mended and a quest that will either salvage everyone or destroy everything.
This has been such an amazing fairytale with lessons to learn along the way. Cygna is being born with a swan wing instead of a left arm and even tho her father loved her, he never actually accepted her the way she was. He kept her in the dark, made her wear uncomfortable dresses to hide her wing, and when she came of age instead of making her the queen of the throne, he accepted the Queen’s advice and sent Cygna on a quest to save the castle from the monster of the Underworld – the Lindworm.
It's not very often when I get to read fairytales, and this one was surprising. The story is based on traditional stories like The King Lindorm from Scandinavian folklore, where a human is being trapped in a serpent body. He is angry, self-righteous, and greedy inflicting cruelty on those around him. In this tale, it takes a brave female to liberate him from his curse – stripping him from his awful traits and break him down to his barest self before he can redeem himself as a monarch and a husband.
However, in our story, Cygna is not being married to the Fae King but sent on the quest on saving the castle from his wrath. But Cygna is not on this quest just to redeem the king, but also for her own redemption. The 9 layers of clothing she is stripping are her old self, her persona that she was before. The 9 layers of skin the king is shedding are the traits that he leaves behind to be reborn. Both of them go through a transformation that will change and break them before they can find themselves again.
The story has amazing world-building, especially the Underworld. The fae folk is being described so fantastically and even tho for the normal people were considered unnatural, for themselves they were perfect just the way they were. For sure I’d try and read more fairytales because I always find them interesting since most of them have some lessons at the core – and until now I had no idea about the Lindorm folklore.
Daybreak by A.J. Navab
4.0
◦ I've received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ◦
2 different worlds with 2 different people but their life colliding together in strange ways.
Mafuyu is a normal human boy born on earth even since childhood he knew he is special. He could see things that other people couldn’t and he thought that’s normal until he found out in the worst possible way that it was only him seeing the creatures around him. People around him were either wary or ridicule him for constantly “lying” or playing make-believe. Even his parents made sure he was excluded from almost everything in his life and never understood him and as the years passed he felt more like a burden for his parents than their son, until one day when he decided enough is enough. At the age of nine on a very cold winter day, he left his home and by luck, he was found by Zen, a young man who just like him was special and could see things around him.
Bezaleel a Teiyyan born on the Raathri’s clan – the first Deva ever. Trained since the age of 5, he was the best assassin the Raathri clan could have until he becomes the worst enemy they could have.
The story is set in Japan, where Zen is the leader of an organization of Hunters, that hunt different creatures called Rev’er, they’re from different levels, the lowest level is the strongest. The story begins with Mafuyu on a hunt to eliminate a creature until he figures out that a 3rd Level Rev’er is acting as an intelligent being.
The book is gripping from the beginning and catches you into a world full of monsters, powerful creatures, and fight overpower. The story concentrates mostly on Bezaleel and Mafuyu’s story, there are different pov’s from which the story is being told and you get to see the fights each one of them is going through, the secrets are hidden, and how Bezaleel isn’t the monster everyone thought he is.
I loved the story because from the beginning of the pages is full action-packed and brings you a glimpse of their world and what they’re going through. I liked the fact we got to read about Mafuyu’s life even if it was short explained, but what was more amazing was the life of Bezaleel, it was explained in detail and you could understand more of where he’s coming from and how he has changed.
I wished the story would’ve had more character development and more details about their backstory more time on developing their friendship. While the friendship between Mafuyu and Bezaleel has warmed my heart I felt they needed a little bit more time. They moved from strangers to best friends way too quickly. While the author did an amazing job of showing us Bezaleel’s life I felt like she forgot about the other characters. We get small moments here and there about Mafuyu and explanations about him and why he sees the creatures he sees but I felt like something was missing.
The book doesn’t have romance in it, it got sweet moments of friendship, action, funny moments and it is engaging for sure, it does keep you hooked – especially during Bezaleel’s life explanation that really sucked me in and wanted to read more and more about it.
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2 different worlds with 2 different people but their life colliding together in strange ways.
Mafuyu is a normal human boy born on earth even since childhood he knew he is special. He could see things that other people couldn’t and he thought that’s normal until he found out in the worst possible way that it was only him seeing the creatures around him. People around him were either wary or ridicule him for constantly “lying” or playing make-believe. Even his parents made sure he was excluded from almost everything in his life and never understood him and as the years passed he felt more like a burden for his parents than their son, until one day when he decided enough is enough. At the age of nine on a very cold winter day, he left his home and by luck, he was found by Zen, a young man who just like him was special and could see things around him.
Bezaleel a Teiyyan born on the Raathri’s clan – the first Deva ever. Trained since the age of 5, he was the best assassin the Raathri clan could have until he becomes the worst enemy they could have.
The story is set in Japan, where Zen is the leader of an organization of Hunters, that hunt different creatures called Rev’er, they’re from different levels, the lowest level is the strongest. The story begins with Mafuyu on a hunt to eliminate a creature until he figures out that a 3rd Level Rev’er is acting as an intelligent being.
The book is gripping from the beginning and catches you into a world full of monsters, powerful creatures, and fight overpower. The story concentrates mostly on Bezaleel and Mafuyu’s story, there are different pov’s from which the story is being told and you get to see the fights each one of them is going through, the secrets are hidden, and how Bezaleel isn’t the monster everyone thought he is.
I loved the story because from the beginning of the pages is full action-packed and brings you a glimpse of their world and what they’re going through. I liked the fact we got to read about Mafuyu’s life even if it was short explained, but what was more amazing was the life of Bezaleel, it was explained in detail and you could understand more of where he’s coming from and how he has changed.
I wished the story would’ve had more character development and more details about their backstory more time on developing their friendship. While the friendship between Mafuyu and Bezaleel has warmed my heart I felt they needed a little bit more time. They moved from strangers to best friends way too quickly. While the author did an amazing job of showing us Bezaleel’s life I felt like she forgot about the other characters. We get small moments here and there about Mafuyu and explanations about him and why he sees the creatures he sees but I felt like something was missing.
The book doesn’t have romance in it, it got sweet moments of friendship, action, funny moments and it is engaging for sure, it does keep you hooked – especially during Bezaleel’s life explanation that really sucked me in and wanted to read more and more about it.
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Lies of the Blood Moon by Nina Walker, Kimberly Loth
5.0
◦ I've received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ◦
After Poppy being saved on Night of the wolf moon, things take a very concerning turn on Lies Of The Blood Moon. The beginning of the book took me by surprise because I got confused about who’s pov we’re getting to read. The book begins with Joanna’s pov and for a little bit it threw me off not knowing what is happening, especially since we only got one pov.
The character development in the 2nd book has been tremendous – Poppy has grown so much more feisty, brave, and is no longer taking anything from anyone and is determined on finding who the killer is and keeping herself afloat when comes to the scoreboard. The way she’s grown in this book was really pleasant, she reads better, she takes better care of herself and one thing that I’ve loved is she’s so much bolder than in the previous book and her feelings for Ryne grow and her inner monologue and the struggle regarding the feelings is bittersweet because there’s so much going on.
Joanna is another character that has grown on me and I’ve liked her from the first book. She’s never shutting her mouth, she always speaks what she thinks and she is bold – extremely bold for her own good sake. And the friendship between Poppy and her is really sweet and I love them being together and going through all the ups and downs and never giving up on each other.
The relationship between Ryne and Poppy is a very complicated and twisted one. On one hand, they can’t keep their hands off of each other, and more than once they’ve ended up in some spicy situations (but nothing smutty or too revealing, just some heated moments spent together) but in the same time their relationship is forbidden and that complicates things.
Elle for me at the beginning has been an annoying character because I couldn’t figure out what is her story. However, once you get to know her story you get to like her and see that she as anyone else is just another pawn on the bigger picture.
The thing I can’t wrap my head around on liking in this book was Anders – one of the most despicable and horrible characters. He is ruthless, rude and so degenerate and whenever I read about him all I want is to just skip it forward because he is giving me all the weird feelings in the world. I can’t say it's triggering but is definitely doing something to me because I can’t stand him. Another character that I do not enjoy is the King – the father of Ryne, he is almost the same as Anders if not even worst.
The book can have some triggers for people such as public execution – the act didn’t quite happen but the overall scene can be a trigger for people. Then the abuse, the fighting between the wolves and the Lycans – however, the scenes aren’t very, very graphic but can be a trigger for people.
Overall the story is very catchy, you’re getting told and showed the whole story like you’d read a journal written by Poppy and her overall experience and feelings. The book has some hilarious moments where I’ve laughed out loud especially when Abi one of the shy characters really stood up and did something incredible. But at the same time, the story also has some dark moments because living in a world ruled by the shifters, is for sure not the most sunshine story. But even with the dark moments in the story, I really enjoy this series and while I wasn’t a fan of the ending of the book I am excited for the 3rd one and what we’re getting into.
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After Poppy being saved on Night of the wolf moon, things take a very concerning turn on Lies Of The Blood Moon. The beginning of the book took me by surprise because I got confused about who’s pov we’re getting to read. The book begins with Joanna’s pov and for a little bit it threw me off not knowing what is happening, especially since we only got one pov.
The character development in the 2nd book has been tremendous – Poppy has grown so much more feisty, brave, and is no longer taking anything from anyone and is determined on finding who the killer is and keeping herself afloat when comes to the scoreboard. The way she’s grown in this book was really pleasant, she reads better, she takes better care of herself and one thing that I’ve loved is she’s so much bolder than in the previous book and her feelings for Ryne grow and her inner monologue and the struggle regarding the feelings is bittersweet because there’s so much going on.
Joanna is another character that has grown on me and I’ve liked her from the first book. She’s never shutting her mouth, she always speaks what she thinks and she is bold – extremely bold for her own good sake. And the friendship between Poppy and her is really sweet and I love them being together and going through all the ups and downs and never giving up on each other.
The relationship between Ryne and Poppy is a very complicated and twisted one. On one hand, they can’t keep their hands off of each other, and more than once they’ve ended up in some spicy situations (but nothing smutty or too revealing, just some heated moments spent together) but in the same time their relationship is forbidden and that complicates things.
Elle for me at the beginning has been an annoying character because I couldn’t figure out what is her story. However, once you get to know her story you get to like her and see that she as anyone else is just another pawn on the bigger picture.
The thing I can’t wrap my head around on liking in this book was Anders – one of the most despicable and horrible characters. He is ruthless, rude and so degenerate and whenever I read about him all I want is to just skip it forward because he is giving me all the weird feelings in the world. I can’t say it's triggering but is definitely doing something to me because I can’t stand him. Another character that I do not enjoy is the King – the father of Ryne, he is almost the same as Anders if not even worst.
The book can have some triggers for people such as public execution – the act didn’t quite happen but the overall scene can be a trigger for people. Then the abuse, the fighting between the wolves and the Lycans – however, the scenes aren’t very, very graphic but can be a trigger for people.
Overall the story is very catchy, you’re getting told and showed the whole story like you’d read a journal written by Poppy and her overall experience and feelings. The book has some hilarious moments where I’ve laughed out loud especially when Abi one of the shy characters really stood up and did something incredible. But at the same time, the story also has some dark moments because living in a world ruled by the shifters, is for sure not the most sunshine story. But even with the dark moments in the story, I really enjoy this series and while I wasn’t a fan of the ending of the book I am excited for the 3rd one and what we’re getting into.
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Lost Towers by Angelina J. Steffort
5.0
◦ I've received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ◦
The book picks right where the last ones have ended. We’re being shown the struggled Armand is going through to contain the blue fire that has engulfed a part of his castle that even now cannot be contained no matter what decisions and ways he tries to find. And on top of that, his father is for sure not a reliable human being so he is all alone in this fight.
The magic system in the book I can’t compare with anything I’ve read so far since I’ve not read any of the popular books but for me the way that there is so much mystery involving Gandrett and how she, as a human got magical powers, is really interesting and captivating.
The character development has been amazing from the very first book. We see Gandrett growing up and becoming the powerful woman she was supposed to be. We have McKenzie who as spoiled as she showed up through the very first books she is now growing and becoming the lady to lead armies. Armand and Brax who had no care in the world before everything went to hell we see them now taking the lead and become the strong and powerful men they need to be – which is so amazing because both of them lived their lives without a care in the world and now they’re facing so many hardships.
As usual, Angelina has given us a roller coaster of emotions and made me go from anger to happiness to tears in a matter of minutes. The more pages I was reading, the more my emotions would go crazy and made me obsessed so much that at one point I legit dreamed what I was reading, that’s how obsessed sometimes I can get with a book. I really love good enemies to lovers and this book even from the beginning has delivered it. You do not get that full-blown romance in every single book, you get adventure, action, funny and light moments, and also heartbreaking moments that really make you feel your character's feelings. Besides the enemies to lovers trope, you also get the one bed and one room trope which slowly becomes my new favorite because I really love how most of the girls get all flustered but they’re also feeling so tempting to their partner.
However, this time the book has surprised me to the fullest. I’ve waited 4 books to finally get that closure between Gandrett and Nehelon and when that happened – angels were singing!! I loved their internal struggle and how everyone knew what they’re feeling but not them – that was very frustrating because it was so obvious minus for them.
The book doesn’t contain smutty or very detailed events, however, it does contain some triggers such as abuse, worshipers going on their killing spree, and the loss of a family member. Most of these scenes aren’t very detailed or very described but they’re enough to possibly trigger some people. For me what was a trigger was the encounter between Gandrett and the Meister, I don’t usually get very quick triggered but their encounter was horrible and it really made me feel uncomfortable and I really wanted to skip past that because I had a lot of negative thoughts toward the Meister and I hope he really has a horrible ending because he so deserves it.
Gordan has to be my new favorite character, his charisma is such a breath of fresh air in the book and it will make you giggle so many times. I loved the way she was disturbing Gandrett and Nehelon so many times and the way Nehelon reacted to such moments was really, really funny.
The book for me is a 5 star rating because I loved everything – minus the Meister but that’s not enough reason for me to take away from the stars. If you love good enemies to lovers, one room/bed trope, Fae’s, an amazing magical system that is still very mysterious to a lot of people, and a badass heroine with amazing character development then this one is for you.
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The book picks right where the last ones have ended. We’re being shown the struggled Armand is going through to contain the blue fire that has engulfed a part of his castle that even now cannot be contained no matter what decisions and ways he tries to find. And on top of that, his father is for sure not a reliable human being so he is all alone in this fight.
The magic system in the book I can’t compare with anything I’ve read so far since I’ve not read any of the popular books but for me the way that there is so much mystery involving Gandrett and how she, as a human got magical powers, is really interesting and captivating.
The character development has been amazing from the very first book. We see Gandrett growing up and becoming the powerful woman she was supposed to be. We have McKenzie who as spoiled as she showed up through the very first books she is now growing and becoming the lady to lead armies. Armand and Brax who had no care in the world before everything went to hell we see them now taking the lead and become the strong and powerful men they need to be – which is so amazing because both of them lived their lives without a care in the world and now they’re facing so many hardships.
As usual, Angelina has given us a roller coaster of emotions and made me go from anger to happiness to tears in a matter of minutes. The more pages I was reading, the more my emotions would go crazy and made me obsessed so much that at one point I legit dreamed what I was reading, that’s how obsessed sometimes I can get with a book. I really love good enemies to lovers and this book even from the beginning has delivered it. You do not get that full-blown romance in every single book, you get adventure, action, funny and light moments, and also heartbreaking moments that really make you feel your character's feelings. Besides the enemies to lovers trope, you also get the one bed and one room trope which slowly becomes my new favorite because I really love how most of the girls get all flustered but they’re also feeling so tempting to their partner.
However, this time the book has surprised me to the fullest. I’ve waited 4 books to finally get that closure between Gandrett and Nehelon and when that happened – angels were singing!! I loved their internal struggle and how everyone knew what they’re feeling but not them – that was very frustrating because it was so obvious minus for them.
The book doesn’t contain smutty or very detailed events, however, it does contain some triggers such as abuse, worshipers going on their killing spree, and the loss of a family member. Most of these scenes aren’t very detailed or very described but they’re enough to possibly trigger some people. For me what was a trigger was the encounter between Gandrett and the Meister, I don’t usually get very quick triggered but their encounter was horrible and it really made me feel uncomfortable and I really wanted to skip past that because I had a lot of negative thoughts toward the Meister and I hope he really has a horrible ending because he so deserves it.
Gordan has to be my new favorite character, his charisma is such a breath of fresh air in the book and it will make you giggle so many times. I loved the way she was disturbing Gandrett and Nehelon so many times and the way Nehelon reacted to such moments was really, really funny.
The book for me is a 5 star rating because I loved everything – minus the Meister but that’s not enough reason for me to take away from the stars. If you love good enemies to lovers, one room/bed trope, Fae’s, an amazing magical system that is still very mysterious to a lot of people, and a badass heroine with amazing character development then this one is for you.
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Nisha by Airin Efferin
5.0
◦ I've received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ◦
The story begins with the curse that fell over Niha’s castle because of the words she addressed to the son of Lord Luft – she called him a brat. Even from the beginning, I loved Nisha and her personality – she is so feisty and strong and doesn’t regret the words she said or the events that followed afterward.
Nisha’s age and the age of Ged Luft isn’t disclosed in the book – which gave me a little bit of a hard time because I couldn’t imagine exactly how they are – especially with Ged acting like a small spoiled kid, I had a hard time to imagine their age exactly. The frenemy relationship between Ged and Nisha is an ongoing war, she hates him, he is spoiled and annoying and during one of their confrontations, he starts saying bad words about her mom leaving Nisha in a total state of confusion and demanding answers from her father.
There was a lot of mystery involving her mother, and eventually, she received the answers she was seeking and also helping her mother to be normal again thanks to their combined magic. The magical system in the book is really intriguing – everyone has some sort of magic, the magic of Outer Movement and magic of Inner Movement, those with the Outer Movement can work with the elements of moving nature such as animals, wind, etc. The Inner Movement magic such as Nisha’s can work with the micro-elements inside people’s bodies – including their mind or their strengths and then there is Saad who is neither of the two Elements mentioned and his power is pretty unknown between the people so they are not very sure how powerful he is in fact.
The way their magic is described and also shown to us is really interesting because you get sucked into that magical world and you learn so much more about their abilities.
The whole story I’ve enjoyed it a lot, I disliked the fact that their age was never disclosed so I had a hard time imagining how old they are – especially after Nisha and Ged got engaged by their parents for business purposes and the way Ged asked, REALLY made me question his age because he was such an annoying character.
Nisha is a coming-of-age short novella that takes you on a short adventure with a very feisty, brave, driven, and fearless young girl, and together with her friends, they’re up to greater things. The ending of the story leaves you curious about what’s yet to come and I’m really curious about following through with the story.
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The story begins with the curse that fell over Niha’s castle because of the words she addressed to the son of Lord Luft – she called him a brat. Even from the beginning, I loved Nisha and her personality – she is so feisty and strong and doesn’t regret the words she said or the events that followed afterward.
Nisha’s age and the age of Ged Luft isn’t disclosed in the book – which gave me a little bit of a hard time because I couldn’t imagine exactly how they are – especially with Ged acting like a small spoiled kid, I had a hard time to imagine their age exactly. The frenemy relationship between Ged and Nisha is an ongoing war, she hates him, he is spoiled and annoying and during one of their confrontations, he starts saying bad words about her mom leaving Nisha in a total state of confusion and demanding answers from her father.
There was a lot of mystery involving her mother, and eventually, she received the answers she was seeking and also helping her mother to be normal again thanks to their combined magic. The magical system in the book is really intriguing – everyone has some sort of magic, the magic of Outer Movement and magic of Inner Movement, those with the Outer Movement can work with the elements of moving nature such as animals, wind, etc. The Inner Movement magic such as Nisha’s can work with the micro-elements inside people’s bodies – including their mind or their strengths and then there is Saad who is neither of the two Elements mentioned and his power is pretty unknown between the people so they are not very sure how powerful he is in fact.
The way their magic is described and also shown to us is really interesting because you get sucked into that magical world and you learn so much more about their abilities.
The whole story I’ve enjoyed it a lot, I disliked the fact that their age was never disclosed so I had a hard time imagining how old they are – especially after Nisha and Ged got engaged by their parents for business purposes and the way Ged asked, REALLY made me question his age because he was such an annoying character.
Nisha is a coming-of-age short novella that takes you on a short adventure with a very feisty, brave, driven, and fearless young girl, and together with her friends, they’re up to greater things. The ending of the story leaves you curious about what’s yet to come and I’m really curious about following through with the story.
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The Book of Gates by Audrey Verreault
4.0
◦ I've received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ◦
The book begins slowly with JudyAnn and Ingrid her best friend. Both live in Aldorham, the small, fortified village, forgotten and more isolated than the rest. They both attend the Inn with JudyAnn’s stepmother and her stepsister. The book initially gave me some Hunger Games vibes because they were isolated each into their own village and survived based on their skills, either gardening or hunting.
JudyAnn from the beginning seemed like an interesting character – with a very mysterious past, a phoenix as a pet, endless love books and reading, and a lot of questions about her future once she turns 19. In The Book of Gates, everyone who turns 19 is being checked if they possess magic, and if they do possess magic, their life takes a 90 degrees turn - going through some tests and based on the tests their life either takes a nice turn or a very bad turn. If they are found to possess no magic then their life doesn’t change much, they live the same life as before in poverty going from one day to another.
The magic system in the book was really interesting to me, I loved the fact that inferniths which are half-human and half-demons were also part of the magic, be it vampires or muses, and each one of them had different powers from charming the people through their songs to being fast and powerful to enchanting people through their eyes. The magic system was really nicely built and thought through, It was something new to read about and my imagination went crazy throughout the book with the amazing details of everything. Their tests also gave me some Harry Potter vibes because of the whole scene presented to us, so that was fun to read too.
The book can also give you some sort of sci-fi feelings too because there are more than just one dimension where people are living in – including our own world which is called Disenchanted and the high-rank people go all over the dimensions to find the people who show signs of magic, including from our world.
However, there were some things that I didn’t really like. The book is translated from French to English and I felt more often than not that the translation wasn’t the best. There were some phrases that didn’t quite make sense to read and it pulled me out of my reading mood. Another thing I wasn’t a fan of – short sentences. The story has an amazing description of things and we get to see the actual action and not just being told to us, but the descriptions are made in very short sentences and it got a little bit frustrating because some sentences had like 7 words then stopped, then another 5 words then stopped – I wished the descriptions of things to have longer sentences because the descriptions and the whole magical world was actually really nice, but the short sentences really bothered me.
The book has a slow-burn romance between JudyAnn and the vampire Vincent and the romance is sweet, innocent, nothing too revealing or smutty. There is also the one-room/bed trope but since Vincent is a vampire and doesn’t sleep, it was more a one-room trope which felt nice – and might be a new fave of mine to read more often.
And here comes the trigger warning – the book might not be smutty, but for sure you’ll get scenes on a market that sells dried human eyes for the inferniths who are feeding off human flesh. That scene I can say it made me a little bit squirmish but it came fast and went away the same way so it wasn’t a very long scene but it was enough to make my stomach churn.
I’ve scored the book 4 stars because overall I’ve loved the magical system, the story behind it – really amazing, the descriptions loved them but I wished the translation was better, the sentences longer and the development of the characters – that for sure lacked from JudyAnn to her friends no one has grown or changed along with the book so that was a little bit disappointing. I do hope that in the next book in the series we get to see more character development. All in all, if you love a new magical system with some dash of sci-fi, slow-burn romance / prohibited romance between the vampire and the witch this story is for you. And for sure I’d like to read the next book in the series.
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The book begins slowly with JudyAnn and Ingrid her best friend. Both live in Aldorham, the small, fortified village, forgotten and more isolated than the rest. They both attend the Inn with JudyAnn’s stepmother and her stepsister. The book initially gave me some Hunger Games vibes because they were isolated each into their own village and survived based on their skills, either gardening or hunting.
JudyAnn from the beginning seemed like an interesting character – with a very mysterious past, a phoenix as a pet, endless love books and reading, and a lot of questions about her future once she turns 19. In The Book of Gates, everyone who turns 19 is being checked if they possess magic, and if they do possess magic, their life takes a 90 degrees turn - going through some tests and based on the tests their life either takes a nice turn or a very bad turn. If they are found to possess no magic then their life doesn’t change much, they live the same life as before in poverty going from one day to another.
The magic system in the book was really interesting to me, I loved the fact that inferniths which are half-human and half-demons were also part of the magic, be it vampires or muses, and each one of them had different powers from charming the people through their songs to being fast and powerful to enchanting people through their eyes. The magic system was really nicely built and thought through, It was something new to read about and my imagination went crazy throughout the book with the amazing details of everything. Their tests also gave me some Harry Potter vibes because of the whole scene presented to us, so that was fun to read too.
The book can also give you some sort of sci-fi feelings too because there are more than just one dimension where people are living in – including our own world which is called Disenchanted and the high-rank people go all over the dimensions to find the people who show signs of magic, including from our world.
However, there were some things that I didn’t really like. The book is translated from French to English and I felt more often than not that the translation wasn’t the best. There were some phrases that didn’t quite make sense to read and it pulled me out of my reading mood. Another thing I wasn’t a fan of – short sentences. The story has an amazing description of things and we get to see the actual action and not just being told to us, but the descriptions are made in very short sentences and it got a little bit frustrating because some sentences had like 7 words then stopped, then another 5 words then stopped – I wished the descriptions of things to have longer sentences because the descriptions and the whole magical world was actually really nice, but the short sentences really bothered me.
The book has a slow-burn romance between JudyAnn and the vampire Vincent and the romance is sweet, innocent, nothing too revealing or smutty. There is also the one-room/bed trope but since Vincent is a vampire and doesn’t sleep, it was more a one-room trope which felt nice – and might be a new fave of mine to read more often.
And here comes the trigger warning – the book might not be smutty, but for sure you’ll get scenes on a market that sells dried human eyes for the inferniths who are feeding off human flesh. That scene I can say it made me a little bit squirmish but it came fast and went away the same way so it wasn’t a very long scene but it was enough to make my stomach churn.
I’ve scored the book 4 stars because overall I’ve loved the magical system, the story behind it – really amazing, the descriptions loved them but I wished the translation was better, the sentences longer and the development of the characters – that for sure lacked from JudyAnn to her friends no one has grown or changed along with the book so that was a little bit disappointing. I do hope that in the next book in the series we get to see more character development. All in all, if you love a new magical system with some dash of sci-fi, slow-burn romance / prohibited romance between the vampire and the witch this story is for you. And for sure I’d like to read the next book in the series.
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Stolen Shadow Bride by S.M. Gaither
5.0
◦ I've received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ◦
The way the story begins, the two different sisters, and the way their story is being told gave me such a fairytale feeling and I’ve been immersed instantly into the story.
I’ve enjoyed the fact that by the time the prince of the Sun Court comes to gather his wife they’re over the age of 18, they’re adults and mature and the length Sephia went to keep her sister safe, shows us how much she loves her and how strong she as a human is – especially after the rumors she heard about the prince and how cruel he can be and the horror stories she has heard about the other wife’s taken by the Sun Court.
I enj0yed a lot the differences between Nora and Sephia and how different they are, from their appearance to the way they acted. Sephia being always the most active and more reckless and Nora being more calm and grounded.
The book at the beginning has more dark tones with Sephia finding an old painting about a wife being kidnapped by the other prince and the picture is pretty gruesome and the rumors that envelope them leaves you with a lot of questions if they’re in fact true or not.
There might be a trigger warning – the prince after picking his wife becomes to be a bit cruel and is pretty close to verbal abuse. I did felt a little bit strange during this exchange of conversation so that for me has been a small trigger, but not so big to make me not like the story anymore because Sephia really knew how to stand her ground and make her point so that was a silver lining.
I loved the extra fantastical characters we get – especially Ketzal who made my imagination go crazy and made me giggle so many times. As you keep on reading the story, you get to know more about the prince, their background story, and how a log of that brute appearance is just a facade because of the people and to keep them away from their lands and protecting them.
I loved the fact that they began as enemies sort of at the beginning, but slowly they started getting feelings for each other and there were some hot moments between the two of them – the moments were pretty vanilla so there’s nothing too sexual on it but the whole vanilla event was pretty hot and swoony. I loved the internal monologue Sephia had – because she came there instead of her sister for a very big reason but her own heart betrayed her and her whole plans just got destroyed before she even got the chance to put them into action.
The story is a fast-paced read, short, and very engaging. I’ve had a blast reading this fantasy love story.
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The way the story begins, the two different sisters, and the way their story is being told gave me such a fairytale feeling and I’ve been immersed instantly into the story.
I’ve enjoyed the fact that by the time the prince of the Sun Court comes to gather his wife they’re over the age of 18, they’re adults and mature and the length Sephia went to keep her sister safe, shows us how much she loves her and how strong she as a human is – especially after the rumors she heard about the prince and how cruel he can be and the horror stories she has heard about the other wife’s taken by the Sun Court.
I enj0yed a lot the differences between Nora and Sephia and how different they are, from their appearance to the way they acted. Sephia being always the most active and more reckless and Nora being more calm and grounded.
The book at the beginning has more dark tones with Sephia finding an old painting about a wife being kidnapped by the other prince and the picture is pretty gruesome and the rumors that envelope them leaves you with a lot of questions if they’re in fact true or not.
There might be a trigger warning – the prince after picking his wife becomes to be a bit cruel and is pretty close to verbal abuse. I did felt a little bit strange during this exchange of conversation so that for me has been a small trigger, but not so big to make me not like the story anymore because Sephia really knew how to stand her ground and make her point so that was a silver lining.
I loved the extra fantastical characters we get – especially Ketzal who made my imagination go crazy and made me giggle so many times. As you keep on reading the story, you get to know more about the prince, their background story, and how a log of that brute appearance is just a facade because of the people and to keep them away from their lands and protecting them.
I loved the fact that they began as enemies sort of at the beginning, but slowly they started getting feelings for each other and there were some hot moments between the two of them – the moments were pretty vanilla so there’s nothing too sexual on it but the whole vanilla event was pretty hot and swoony. I loved the internal monologue Sephia had – because she came there instead of her sister for a very big reason but her own heart betrayed her and her whole plans just got destroyed before she even got the chance to put them into action.
The story is a fast-paced read, short, and very engaging. I’ve had a blast reading this fantasy love story.
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The Connection by Dana Claire
5.0
◦ I've received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ◦
Beatrice Walker thought she lived in a normal world – even tho the death of her mom never made sense to her. Returned to her hometown after losing her mom, she’s rekindled her friendship with her best friends but also caught the attention of Cash Kingston who’s broody and mysterious and for some reason whenever he’s close to her, she feels like a radio static energy crawling under her skin.
Cash Kingston and the Flannerys are 2 sets of triplets that are coming from the Ferro planet, they were sent on Earth to observe until they are called back, but things go wrong, so wrong. The girlfriend of Cash is being killed, her power source stolen and for some reason is hidden inside of Beatrice who has no clue about it and the only one that knows the reason why… is Faye, her mother.
After having a hell of a day at school, Beatrice goes home to find out that Cash is at her home and is supposed to protect her, and this is when hell breaks loose. She’s finding out the truth from her mom kidnapping her to the source inside her to her parents being part of the DOOA as secret agents to the fact that Cash and the triplets including his sister aren’t humans.
At first, the book can give you some vibes of Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout if you’ve read them, from the alien part to the radio static under the skin to their powers of moving objects and looking human-like, but the book and the story is so much more than this, and it's such an amazing and original approach.
Even from the first few pages of this book, you’re being thrown into a swirl of emotions, actions, and events that leaves you speechless. I loved the fact there were no slow moments since you started to the end, the danger, the adventure, and the love-hate relationship made this book an amazing 5 star read for me. I finished this book I think in 2 days, that’s how quickly I read through it.
The story is being told from 2 pov’s which I enjoyed because it gave you a glimpse of Cash thoughts about Beatrice and the whole situation, which without it I think it would’ve feel incomplete. The story is amazing, heartbreaking in some parts but overall is fast-paced and a quick easy read.
The fact the cover says “2 Worlds one connection” is so true with this book because Beatrice has been born on Earth but she’s more Ferroean than human due to her mom’s actions and Cash is 100% Ferroean coming from the Ferro planet, but their connection goes so way back and even tho the source wants to connect with Cash’s source, their feelings are true and powerful and even if their “relationship” started as a hate-love situation, towards the end their feelings are so visible that they can’t deny it anymore.
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Beatrice Walker thought she lived in a normal world – even tho the death of her mom never made sense to her. Returned to her hometown after losing her mom, she’s rekindled her friendship with her best friends but also caught the attention of Cash Kingston who’s broody and mysterious and for some reason whenever he’s close to her, she feels like a radio static energy crawling under her skin.
Cash Kingston and the Flannerys are 2 sets of triplets that are coming from the Ferro planet, they were sent on Earth to observe until they are called back, but things go wrong, so wrong. The girlfriend of Cash is being killed, her power source stolen and for some reason is hidden inside of Beatrice who has no clue about it and the only one that knows the reason why… is Faye, her mother.
After having a hell of a day at school, Beatrice goes home to find out that Cash is at her home and is supposed to protect her, and this is when hell breaks loose. She’s finding out the truth from her mom kidnapping her to the source inside her to her parents being part of the DOOA as secret agents to the fact that Cash and the triplets including his sister aren’t humans.
At first, the book can give you some vibes of Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout if you’ve read them, from the alien part to the radio static under the skin to their powers of moving objects and looking human-like, but the book and the story is so much more than this, and it's such an amazing and original approach.
Even from the first few pages of this book, you’re being thrown into a swirl of emotions, actions, and events that leaves you speechless. I loved the fact there were no slow moments since you started to the end, the danger, the adventure, and the love-hate relationship made this book an amazing 5 star read for me. I finished this book I think in 2 days, that’s how quickly I read through it.
The story is being told from 2 pov’s which I enjoyed because it gave you a glimpse of Cash thoughts about Beatrice and the whole situation, which without it I think it would’ve feel incomplete. The story is amazing, heartbreaking in some parts but overall is fast-paced and a quick easy read.
The fact the cover says “2 Worlds one connection” is so true with this book because Beatrice has been born on Earth but she’s more Ferroean than human due to her mom’s actions and Cash is 100% Ferroean coming from the Ferro planet, but their connection goes so way back and even tho the source wants to connect with Cash’s source, their feelings are true and powerful and even if their “relationship” started as a hate-love situation, towards the end their feelings are so visible that they can’t deny it anymore.
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Across Dark Seas by Clare Sager
5.0
◦ I've received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ◦
Across Dark Seas takes us to the beginning of Avice’s life and we get a glimpse on her innocence, on how split she is between doing what’s necessary and being who she wants to be – wild, free, an author of wild stories, but yet, she needs to be obedient, dutiful and meek.. just like her mother. Living under her father’s house and under his temper she needs to rein in all of her feelings and all of her dreams.
Even from the beginning I felt like she isn’t happy and can’t wait for an escape, and when Evered Lyons, proposes to her to marry him, she accepts happily knowing that he will let her be who she wants to be, however, there’s a big obstacle to overcome, and that’s her father approval.
When we first met her father the atmosphere is tensed, very dark and very dominant, her mother a barely human behind him sitting quiet and only speaking when he allows her, gives you the feeling of such an unhappy family – you can feel the tension in the air and the fear on Avice to speak to her father about this, and with good reason. He was the one applying the worst punishments a child can go through, locking her in a cupboard without water and food, days in a row because she didn’t obey him or she was too “wild” as he called her more often than not. It was pretty sad seeing her going through this events, especially the way she saw herself through her father eyes.
I loved the fact that her mom came to her aid and helped her escape, even tho she knew the consequences of such acts, she didn’t care, she wanted her daughter to escape her husband and be free, the moment when she told her to not settle and become like her was pretty sad.
Once they escape her father and end up on the ship the book gets even more hilarious for me. Avice is getting tired of her husband who still can’t bring her over “the edge” in bed and also not getting better from the sea sick, he’s always moaning about everything, the way her hair stays, the way she smells the fact she works when in fact he doesn’t do anything and you can see her struggle of saying what crosses her mind and put him in his place and still act like a lady – the internal struggle is very palpable and it made me feel like I want to slap Evered more often than not.
Evered for sure wasn’t my favorite character and the way he found his end in the book should’ve made me gasp or feel sad, instead it made me laugh, because he was so sure on himself that he will become the first mate on the captain and he will gain their way and do that and be that when in fact he was… useless, Avice did the whole hard work and in my opinion he was such a neanderthal who thought women shouldn’t have any pleasure, just lay down and that’s it. While Avice was mourning the loss of the husband she lost she also showed how strong and the way she was coping with everything that was going on and also the biggest change that I’ve enjoyed the most is how she discovers her fae powers! Its been really interesting reading the beginning of Avice and the changes she goes through.
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Across Dark Seas takes us to the beginning of Avice’s life and we get a glimpse on her innocence, on how split she is between doing what’s necessary and being who she wants to be – wild, free, an author of wild stories, but yet, she needs to be obedient, dutiful and meek.. just like her mother. Living under her father’s house and under his temper she needs to rein in all of her feelings and all of her dreams.
Even from the beginning I felt like she isn’t happy and can’t wait for an escape, and when Evered Lyons, proposes to her to marry him, she accepts happily knowing that he will let her be who she wants to be, however, there’s a big obstacle to overcome, and that’s her father approval.
When we first met her father the atmosphere is tensed, very dark and very dominant, her mother a barely human behind him sitting quiet and only speaking when he allows her, gives you the feeling of such an unhappy family – you can feel the tension in the air and the fear on Avice to speak to her father about this, and with good reason. He was the one applying the worst punishments a child can go through, locking her in a cupboard without water and food, days in a row because she didn’t obey him or she was too “wild” as he called her more often than not. It was pretty sad seeing her going through this events, especially the way she saw herself through her father eyes.
I loved the fact that her mom came to her aid and helped her escape, even tho she knew the consequences of such acts, she didn’t care, she wanted her daughter to escape her husband and be free, the moment when she told her to not settle and become like her was pretty sad.
Once they escape her father and end up on the ship the book gets even more hilarious for me. Avice is getting tired of her husband who still can’t bring her over “the edge” in bed and also not getting better from the sea sick, he’s always moaning about everything, the way her hair stays, the way she smells the fact she works when in fact he doesn’t do anything and you can see her struggle of saying what crosses her mind and put him in his place and still act like a lady – the internal struggle is very palpable and it made me feel like I want to slap Evered more often than not.
Evered for sure wasn’t my favorite character and the way he found his end in the book should’ve made me gasp or feel sad, instead it made me laugh, because he was so sure on himself that he will become the first mate on the captain and he will gain their way and do that and be that when in fact he was… useless, Avice did the whole hard work and in my opinion he was such a neanderthal who thought women shouldn’t have any pleasure, just lay down and that’s it. While Avice was mourning the loss of the husband she lost she also showed how strong and the way she was coping with everything that was going on and also the biggest change that I’ve enjoyed the most is how she discovers her fae powers! Its been really interesting reading the beginning of Avice and the changes she goes through.
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Beneath Black Sails by Clare Sager
5.0
◦ I've received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ◦
Beneath Black Sails begins with Lady Vice, years later after the first encounter from Across Dark Seas. She’s still part of the same crew when we first met her on Across Dark Seas but the change she went through from the prequel to the first book is so big. She’s got now a reputation that would make everyone jealous, and on top of that, she also got a pirate hunter on her heels. She’s totally changed, her character growth from the prequel to this book is unbelievable. She’s confident, strong and for sure doesn’t care what people think about her, she’s finally her true self, the same self she always longed to be but was never allowed to.
At first, I didn’t know what to expect from a pirate story, since I’ve never read one before, but this has taken me by surprise. You have plenty of elements in the story that weaves together so effortlessly, you have pirates, hunter pirates, fae-touched, fae-blooded, and a world full of adventure that awaits to be explored. The story since its a pirate story contains a lot of wording about ships and pirates and having English as the second language, it did make my reading a little bit tricky, but also very interesting because you get so much information about the ships and how they work and the world-building makes your imagination go like crazy.
The story is very intricate and so full of twists and moments that will leave you speechless. The relationship between Knigh and Vice is a bittersweet enemy to lovers with a dash of forbidden love, the sexual tension between them is such a bliss, and their sensual moment is very, very steamy. I liked the fact they are so opposite but at the same time, they’re so alike which makes their “relationship” even more amazing. When Knigh discovered the past connection between them that was such a breaking moment because everything changed and if his actions in the past were not so noble, what he did next for her was really, really beautiful.
Another thing I loved about this story was the body positivity, Vice thought bodies are just bodies and everyone’s body is beautiful and I so loved that part, because even tho Knigh was described as being very hot she never looked at him like a piece of meat ready to be grabbed, but saw him beautiful and didn’t understood why females never said that more often to the men. I really loved that. Also, we get such an amazing cat as a character, Barnacle is like my favorite pet from this story and I hope it will show up in the next books because Barnacle is more than a cat!
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Beneath Black Sails begins with Lady Vice, years later after the first encounter from Across Dark Seas. She’s still part of the same crew when we first met her on Across Dark Seas but the change she went through from the prequel to the first book is so big. She’s got now a reputation that would make everyone jealous, and on top of that, she also got a pirate hunter on her heels. She’s totally changed, her character growth from the prequel to this book is unbelievable. She’s confident, strong and for sure doesn’t care what people think about her, she’s finally her true self, the same self she always longed to be but was never allowed to.
At first, I didn’t know what to expect from a pirate story, since I’ve never read one before, but this has taken me by surprise. You have plenty of elements in the story that weaves together so effortlessly, you have pirates, hunter pirates, fae-touched, fae-blooded, and a world full of adventure that awaits to be explored. The story since its a pirate story contains a lot of wording about ships and pirates and having English as the second language, it did make my reading a little bit tricky, but also very interesting because you get so much information about the ships and how they work and the world-building makes your imagination go like crazy.
The story is very intricate and so full of twists and moments that will leave you speechless. The relationship between Knigh and Vice is a bittersweet enemy to lovers with a dash of forbidden love, the sexual tension between them is such a bliss, and their sensual moment is very, very steamy. I liked the fact they are so opposite but at the same time, they’re so alike which makes their “relationship” even more amazing. When Knigh discovered the past connection between them that was such a breaking moment because everything changed and if his actions in the past were not so noble, what he did next for her was really, really beautiful.
Another thing I loved about this story was the body positivity, Vice thought bodies are just bodies and everyone’s body is beautiful and I so loved that part, because even tho Knigh was described as being very hot she never looked at him like a piece of meat ready to be grabbed, but saw him beautiful and didn’t understood why females never said that more often to the men. I really loved that. Also, we get such an amazing cat as a character, Barnacle is like my favorite pet from this story and I hope it will show up in the next books because Barnacle is more than a cat!
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