beccaannekent's reviews
635 reviews

Scream Baby Scream by Sonia Palermo, Sonia Palermo

dark mysterious fast-paced

3.0

Short and spicy. 

Not really “Halloween”. It just happens on Halloween and is minimal to the very little plot. 

The Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Picking up a couple of months after the events of Crimson Moth, we find Rune unwillingly plotting with Cressida to take back their home with the support of Prince Soren. 

Recapped via different characters, cleverly reminding you of the events of the previous book, this is fast paced and action packed and I physically could not stop reading. 

This authors writing style is beautiful. It flows so smoothly and envelopes you into her world, her characters and their lives so beautifully. What really excels is how agonisingly perfect Rune and Gideon are as a true enemies to lovers storyline. There is so much hate between them, so much pain and strife, yet they are inexplicably drawn to one another in all the best, and frustrating ways. With, thankfully, absolutely NO miscommunication tropes!! 

One of the easiest and fastest 5 star reads I’ve given this year. 

I want to thank NetGalley, Harper Collins UK and Kristin Ciccarelli for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. The review is my own opinion and I have given this freely. 

Phantasma by Kaylie Smith

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A dark, adult variant of Caraval. Phantasma immediately sucked me in and didn’t let go. 

The FMC, Ophelia, is portrayed exceptionally. The inclusion of OCD, represented correctly, is excellently done and it was refreshing to have a FMC who knew she had a flaw and worked around her weakness when she could (its manifestation of a creature was very much One Dark Window esque). 

Blackwell, as a MMC, was very well written. I loved the slow release of his backstory and, without giving too much away, the twist at the end. 

If anyone loves a morally grey MMC, the darkness of the hunger games and the mystery of caraval, all with a spooky, and spicy vibe running throughout then this book is definitely for you. 

Stitches by Violet Taylor

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

God I loved this, a clever and spicy little novella retelling of one of my favourite Halloween movies. 

Trick My Treats by Reese Rivers

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A fun, little spicy Halloween novella! 

Dollface by R.J. Powell

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

*chuckles nervously* what the fuck was this? 

Maison De Fous by Nova Kane

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Much darker and way more spice than the first. I can’t seem to drag myself away from this series and these characters so you bet I’ll be back to read Jonny’s story soon. 

À La Folie by Nova Kane

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed this, but the warnings I got from the author and previous readers made this sound so much darker than it was…which actually left me a bit disappointed! 

Sinful Bite by

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Such a cosy, paranormal fantasy romance. Felt very apt for the time of year, and just what I needed to break up some heavier fantasy I’ve been reading. 

The internal monologue of the FMC is a bit much, and did make the middle drag out a little. But I still absolutely devoured it in a couple of days! 

Mortal Memories by F.A. Eden

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

With a few tweaks and some editing, I think this has the opportunity to be something special for sure!

We follow Carra, a mortal human who has suddenly and unexpectedly lost her memory and searching for it. She is found and saved by Straid, a grieving heartbroken fae who is avoiding his own past. 

As a Romantasy, I expected the magic and the intrigue, plus a decent romantic subplot but this gave us just a little bit more with the acceptance of Sex Workers and some fantastic representation of boundaries and consent. I absolutely applaud the author for ensuring this is included. The relationship development between Carra and Straid is this books strong point, a very lengthy Slow Burn and both characters hesitation about one another result in a beautiful story of learning to trust and eventually love. 

My main concern with this book is the backstory. I understand we’re not going to get much from Carra, and her background does develop as the memories come back. But we need to know more about the world, its people, its layout. The relationship between Fae and Mortals in more detail (maybe Straid should have recanted this as a reminder of the history and why it is like this as part of helping Carra return her memories).

I do not know the plan for the physical book, but the visualisation of this world would 100% be enhanced by a map. I’m not sure of the layout of the town, its closeness to the mortals and so on. 

I think, if the author could put some time aside and expand on the background just a little bit more we would have a fantastic introduction to a new series. 

One final, strong, opinion. The very final epilogue is unneeded. This should have been the beginning of book 2, the original ending with its cliffhanger was perfect and just enough to frustrate you to the point of needing boom 2 ASAP.  

I want to thank NetGalley, BooksGoSocial and F.A Eden for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. The review is my own opinion and I have given this freely.