Book Review: The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If I could give this book a thousand stars, I would. This book series has become one of my new comfort reads, and I would read this story over and over again. AnnaQuan might be one of my favorite characters that I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, and I wish Helen Hoang wrote another book in this series, but I’m fine with the three. So The Heart Principle is about Anna Sun, a violinist who becomes a breakout star after the video of her playing beautifully, who’s stuck in trying to recreate that moment…but can’t. Each time she works on a piece, she stops and starts over again, hearing the wrong notes each time. Then her boyfriend, Julian, asks for them to be in an open relationship-which threw her way the hell off.

In her therapy sessions, the therapist told her that she might be autistic, in which Anna didn’t believe at first. But the more research she’s done, the more she realize that she is part of the spectrum (which is not a bad thing, though in Anna’s mind in the beginning she didn’t believe it.) When she called and told her sister about it, though…her sister shot it down (in which I hated her the moment she dismissed it.) As for the open relationship, Anna decides that she wants to have an one night stand…

…enter Quan Diep, the cousin of Michael and the brother of Khai Diep. Quan had surgery after he had cancer, and he’s also working with his cousin with MLA (Michael Larsen something, I forgot). He and Anna met on a dating site and their one night stand…two night stand…even the third one didn’t happen, and when it did, it happened in the dark. But their dates were so cute-they talked about their love of ocean documentaries and the octopus, Quan’s company with Michael, and he was there for her when she freaked out or talked through everything.

And then her dad had a heart attack and was sent to the hospital.

Anna, along with her hateful sister (I’m sorry, I really don’t like the sister) and her mother all took care of her father when he couldn’t do anything for himself, which made me think about my grandparents when things like this happen. Anna was getting tired of taking care of her father, and one time her father tried to tell her that he just couldn’t do it anymore. And the way Pricilla talked to their father reminds me of my auntie, of when she would talk to my grandmama and papa like a child…anyway, Pricilla thought it was a GOOD IDEA for them to throw their sick father a birthday party, inviting Julian and pretty much forcing Anna to play for him.

Quan did come around a couple times-once with food and the other times, and Anna was happy that he was there. Whenever Anna talked about him, it was like a light shined on her. When she told her hateful sister about the deal with LVMH, Pricilla immediately said “you know it probably never happen, right?” and that just made me mad. She didn’t know a darn thing about Michael or Quan, so she should sit down.

Then the day came of the party, and everything kinda went to hell. Julian “proposed” to Anna, without her knowing, and Quan came to see her, but sadly it wasn’t the happy times Anna thought thanks to Julian messing it up. Then when it was time to play the song, Anna started to grab her violin, but then, as she came down the stairs, she realized that she couldn’t do it, so she smashed her violin, shattering it into a million tiny pieces, and then when she learned that her sister and her mother wanted to buy her a new violin and told her to play Pricilla’s old one, Anna said no, got into an argument, and left, never speaking to them ever again. She felt so bad for what happened to Quan that she went over to apologize, and the bravery Anna did when she and Quan finally slept together with the lights on almost made me cry.

The ending was sad because the father died sadly, but at least after all the drama, it was good at the end. This book also deals with burnout, but I liked how at the end, she stepped back for a minute to do something else, instead of just working at it. This book also talks about home caring for your loved ones and doing it yourself, without no help. I was with Anna-why didn’t get the help her father needed so he could at least get better??? Because it would’ve been much better and more handled. But all in all, I really enjoyed this book and I’m sad now that this series is over.

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Book Review: Dragon Castle by Joseph Bruchac

Dragon Castle by Joseph Bruchac
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I truly enjoyed this one. I thought for a minute that I wouldn’t enjoy it, but as I kept on reading, it turns out that this doesn’t feel like a YA novel-this feels like a novel about a young man wanting to save his home from an evil baron and his daughter, even though it was just him and his brother. His parents were hanging out with the fae under a false invitation, and they came home the moment they heard the younger son’s voice.

This book was a really good fantasy, along with a side of learning Slovak words that I would never care about. It also has a inbetween story about the legend of Pavol the Good, and I had a fear that this tale would take over the novel, but in reality it didn’t. It just enhanced the story as the main character, Rashko, figures out how to fight the evil Baron Temny and his daughter, Poteshenie and her demon cat, Laska. I also liked how the Slovak words were slipped in there, along with the English translation of it, which I was very happy about, because I’ve never read a book like this before.

And the way this book is set up, you wouldn’t believe that Rashko was the only smart boy throughout the series. But as you keep on reading, you realize that he is, but at the same time he loves his family so much that he would do anything to protect them. I liked how in Pavol’s story, he has a pouch on his side and picks up certain things so when it’s time, he uses them to kill the dragons, but only keeps one alive to help protect the castle. And seeing the dragon from the legend was shocking, because I thought he was dead this whole time-not sleeping. But I really enjoyed this book, would highly recommend.


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Book Review: Her First Christmas Cowboy by Maisey Yates

Her First Christmas Cowboy by Maisey Yates
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A outlaw on the run, and a teacher trying to grade her students grades meet in this age-gap Christmas cowboy romance. I thought that I would immediately hate this book because of the age-gap trope–it’s an ick of mine, but this novella makes me want to reconsider it a tiny bit, because this was written so well that I didn’t hate it. In fact, I enjoyed it. It also helped that the outlaw, Clayton Everett, sounded like Arthur Morgan in my head.

Tala Nelson was having a lovely night drinking chamomile tea and grading her students homework when her door opened and…a man dressed in black bust through her door, bleeding like hell from a gunshot wound, and he falls down on her floor. So what does she do as calmly as she can? She helped him clean up his wound (the bullet grazed him), and fixed him some food. Clayton Everett, the outlaw, agrees, and the two settle into the cutest domesticated relationship that bloomed into love, something I never thought I liked, but I did.

The domestic relationship between Tala and Clayton was so very cute. She got worried about him while they settled into a really good and comfortable relationship before they made love one night. I also liked that Tala was curvy, which was a plus. And the fact that Clayton can cook too? BOY I WAS SOLD. I wish there was more to the story, because I would’ve loved it more, but now it makes me want to read more outlaw novels because now I want one that can cook and kiss me. Darn it.

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Book Review: Keep Me Warm at Christmas by Brenda Novak

Keep Me Warm at Christmas by Brenda Novak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Keep Me Warm at Christmas was very different. It was Christmassy, yes. But it was also about grief, pain, and two people living in a house together falling in love, all while living in the small town of Silver Springs. It also shows the author’s research when the female MC, Tia, talks about her past life as a Mennoite woman, and even though I wouldn’t live there, I understand and respect them. Because I, too, like Seth, though it was like the Amish, but it’s not.

The story starts off with Tia coming to live in Maxi’s house. Maxi is a friend of hers and let her stay in the guesthouse, since Tia had an accident and the side of her face is messed up. She has to take care of the bird Kiki, and Tia thought it was a good idea-no one will bother her, she will be in the guest house, and everything is going to be fine…right???

Enter Seth Turner. The artist who is a widow since his wife died a long time ago. He moved into the guest house, and he was supposed to be alone and leave Tia alone…right?? That was the plan, not finding ways of getting her out of the house and falling in love with her. Also, he has to deal with his wife’s parents trying to get money outta him-which sucks, btw. Turns out, the father in law has a gambling problem, so that’s an oof. Also on top of that, Seth and Tia has to deal with a man who works for the paparazzi who wants a picture of Tia’s face-something Tia doesn’t even want to happen because she wasn’t ready yet.

Tia didn’t want no one to see her face-in fact, she’ll always find ways to hide her face from everyone. But as the story went on, you see her slowly start to relax and be okay with showing her face from the world. She was even brave enough to call People magazine to do a story on her, and they did it with so much grace that even she was shocked.

The whole thing with Ray Kouretas getting a shot of Tia and hounding her like that was a weird plot line, but as I kept reading, I understood completely, seeing that it connected to Tia. Though seeing Ray go through all those hoops to get her to give him what he wants was a bit of an oof to read.

And I really loved Seth’s mother, Aiyana, who helped Tia get to where she was today, and it was so sweet and cute to see her worry over her son while he’s dealing with everything that’s happening with Ray and his dead wife’s parents. All in all this was a cozy book to read, really liked reading it, and Brenda Novak’s work is pretty darn fun to read.

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Book Review: Curio and Shadow of Night by Evangeline Denmark and Deborah Harkness

Curio by Evangeline Denmark
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was very interesting to me. I haven’t read a steampunk book that can pull me into the world that fast. Even though it took me a while to read it, I truly enjoyed the story, the world and the writing was very good. Curio was a place I don’t think I’ll like if Lord Blueboy is still running the place-I think he’s some kind of porcie vampire-but all in all, I really liked this book.

I also like the tiny magic system when it comes to the Chemia, but the whole potion ration thing was confusing. I didn’t get it, even though it was brought up throughout the book. The world of Curio and the hierarchy was different but can also be scary. All the words they use to describe movement-”are you still ticking?” is one of them, I believe-would confuse me if I did go and visit there for a bit. The broken porcies, even though it feels like a dark place and you want to help them, are trying to live their lives the best way they know how, until they started a revolution over clean water.

And in the middle of all of this is Grey Haward, a young woman who was out late on curfew and gave her portion to her friend Whit, who was “striped” because of touching her (which is so misogynistic, tbh), and Grey insisted, over and over again, that she takes the punishment. But the Chemists wouldn’t let her, and something deep inside her-the blood of the Defenders, an extinct race that fought a bloody war with the Chemists and lost-helped her fight back, if only a little bit. Sadly, her father and grandfather were either turned into stone or taken in, and her grandfather’s helper took her into the shop, cut her wrist or palm, and told her to “bring him back here.”

The “him” in the story is Blaise, whom the porcies called the “Mad Tock '' because of the way he either looked or something like that, and he basically fixes broken porcelain citizens and also get into a fight with Lord Blueboy. Blaise stayed in Curio for a long time, fixing broken porcies and fighting at the same time, and when Grey fell into the world, he helped her try to get away from Lord Blueboy, but when something goes wrong, he nearly gets hurt, and then his left wing was broken during the attack on the water thing that I can’t recall right now.

Now back to Lord Blueboy, aka Benedict. I don’t like this man. One, he’s all sweet and nice, then he turns around and drinks from one of the maids like he’s a bloody vampire. Then he claims that Grey is his and no one else, and nearly got his ass whippped by Blaise when he wanted to turn him into dust. But Adante…he has to be my favorite villain in the book. He was cool and calculated, always sulking around the shop, and he got his when Grey beat him.

Now Whit’s whole arc in the book was an eh to me. He wanted to repay the Hawards for what they have done, and he found Marina and Maverick, twins who wants freedom I believe from the Chemists. They lived in the mountains and also they helped Grey’s father, and Whit wanted to help. The he got high on a potion that one of the potion makers made, and that was…kinda funny, in a way? But this was an good book, had some action in it, and it was quite fun to read.

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Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book along with the official ALL SOULS FB group, and I have to say, this book might be my favorite book out of the trilogy. I really enjoyed how the world expanded from London to Prague to Sept-Tours to France. I felt like I was on a tour of the past of Elizabethan England and learning so many things about the history and the people and the world that have brought this book to life.

I did call Matthew switching from modern day to Elizabethean Matthew a ‘switch’ because that what it felt like when he and Diana came to 1590. I thought when that happen, that we will lose the Matthew we know and love, but he calmed down, even when they had that talk about vampire literature and how vampire courted their mates in the book. When it came to Philippe de Clermont, I was kinda scared of him, to be honest. I didn’t know what to think about Philippe when Diana met him, but when you get to know him, it felt like it went all away when he became lively. BUT THAT FIGHT IN THE BARN WITH MATTHEW….my heart was in my throat. I was worried about Matthew, but to use that as an example to show Matthew’s blood rage? I was mad. But then, at the end, I was glad that it was over, and that Philippe accepted Diana.

As for Diana, learning about Elizabethan England and how they lived and worked and how she fit into this felt like I was learning along with her. Then when she finally learned magic and learned what she was-a weaver-I was excited. I was worried that she won’t learn magic while they were there looking for the book, but the more she learned about Ashmole 782 and magic and everything around her, the more the darkness was creeping over her and Matthew.

One of my favorite parts of this book was the talk Diana and Matthew had about children, because I felt like that was a very healthy conversation between a couple who didn’t know if they wanted to have children or not. Even though Diana got pregnant once and lost it, to me to felt like Matthew was grieving so much (Diana did too) that he acted like an freaking idiot and didn’t touch her. But at least they go back together and went to Prague…

…aka the Simping Court, because Emperor Rudolf II was simping HARD for Diana, not even giving her time to bloody BREATHE. I was so angry for Diana for having to deal with the Emperor, simping RIGHT IN FRONT OF MATTHEW like he’s not there. That’s like fawning and trying to get with someone else’s woman, which I don’t think he knew it was wrong. But I was SO GLAD that she got away from the court, even though it was by Louisa’s hand.

Meeting Lousia like this was scary, but at the same time, I was shocked and worried for Diana (basically my emotions was all over the place while reading this book) but the sweetest thing happened when Matthew saw Louisa and Kit jousting for Diana-Jack Blackfairs came and asked him if he was having a nightmare. Matthew said yes and held his hand, which was so cute. I really enjoyed this book and I was happy to meet new characters, like Gallowglass and Philippe and Jack and Annie. I have an side eye for Father Hubbard because I just don’t trust him, but at least Diana knows her firedrake (the coolest part of the book, honestly, I loved that firedrake) and that she can weave any spell now.

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Book Review: The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye

The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Crown’s Game was okay. I felt like it could be more, since I had some very high expectations for this book. I did like the Russian scenery and how magic was woven into it. But the whole thing with the game and how petty it was…it was a bit of a letdown. I was hoping for something else, I guess, even though the chapters were short. I was hoping for some action, romance, something. But it felt flat throughout the book. I mean, it does have some political intrigue, but then, that also felt flat as well.

The Tsar was eh, he wasn’t someone that wasn’t worth mentioning at all. Pasha and Nikolai being friends was the only thing I cared about, until the whole thing blew up between them at the tavern they were in, and then he had to become Tsar all thanks to Nikolai’s mother, Aizhana.

Speaking of Aizhana, she came out of nowhere. I wasn’t even expecting her, but when I did, it was like “oh…okay….moving on.” I really didn’t care about these characters at all, and they fell so flat for me, that the more I was reading, the more bored I actually got. At the end, somehow Nikolai revived Vika, which was cool and all, but then he just…died. No explanation of how he did it, he just…did. Which was sad in itself.

All in all, I didn’t care for the characters, the plot was okay, and I was hyped for this book, but it fell flat for me. I wanted to read the second one, but eh, decided not to. Glad I read this one, though.

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Book Review: BBC Doctor Who: The Blood Test by James Goss

The Blood Cell by James Goss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a quick and an okay read. It was action-y like the show, but it was told by the point of view of the Governor who ran the Prison. He tells us how he runs the place with Bentley and how everyone was his friend. But when he meets the Twelfth Doctor, he gets so annoyed with him escaping and has tried to make a deal with him, keeping him in his cell. But when the killings begin, that’s when he has no choice but to deal with the Doctor as he and Clara help him stop the murder.

I thought it was fine to me, to be honest. I haven’t been watching Doctor Who in a while, and reading this brought me back to the world. But seeing it through the Governor’s eyes kinda annoyed me, because he reduced the Doctor to nothing but a number, which I really didn’t like, and think that ‘oh, he did so many crimes, he’s a bad person’ when in reality, the doctor wants to help people and save them.

The only funny parts that came up in the book was Clara coming by and showing up with signs and stuff, and when she finally got in the jail, she was actually pretty helpful. She was her usual, cheery self, which I liked. But the Blood Cell…eh it wasn’t that scary, to be honest. It was just a cell with a weird Custodian in it, looking for “the perfect specimen” which was just…okay. Cool beans. But I’m glad everyone on level 7 was saved, and wasn’t that surprised that the Governor was a hated man in HomeWorld.

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Book Review: Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dragonlance has been around for a long time, and now reading the first book made me so happy to read it, but I realize that some of the characters kinda tick me the hell off. I’ll get into more later, but for now, let’s talk about my thoughts.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight is a fantasy novel split into two books-one is meeting the characters and them going on an adventure to help a barbarian chieftain named Goldmoon and her lover Riverwind, to return a staff that’s blue and also find the disks of the goddess Mishakal. The second half of the group has them pick up a couple people to go to Pax Thakas so they can stop the Dragon Lord Verminaard and his dragon, Ember, from attacking the eleven city and also in the process save the miners and their families that Verminaard has kept far away from the workers, hiring draconians and gully dwarves. Book one was kinda slow for me and it irritated me, mostly because of Raistlin rushing everyone to get to Xak Tsarsoth, but then when I read book two, that’s when things started to pick up, and I started to like it even more.

The whole relationship thing was good, though the one I just felt like it was forced was Tanis and Laurana, even though they have been friends/lovers since they were children. Laurana annoyed me, mostly because she acts like Tanis still wants her, when I don’t think he does. When he tells her that he fell for Kitiara, Caramon and Raistlin’s half-sister, she got angry enough to get the ring back, then turned around and followed him to Pax Thakas. Like girl, really?? You love him that much?? Calm down.

And Raistlin??? Even though he annoyed me about his rushing people to get someplace, I actually like the mage-to a fault. I’m suspecting him for some reason, like I don’t really trust him that much. But I’m gonna keep a close eye on him. Caramon, he’s cool, honestly. He and Raistlin reminds me SO MUCH of Dante and Vergil from Devil May Cry-Vergil wanting to be alone, Dante chasing after him.

Strum is the least likeable one I liked. He just annoyed me for some reason, and I kind of wanted him to stop, tbh. Yes, he’s a Knight of Solamina, but he takes it too far in some parts of the book that I silently wanted him to shut up and either let Tanis lead or quit suspecting Raistlin because you don’t like him, my guy.

Sheesh.

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Book Review: Public Library and Other Stories by Ali Smith

Public Library and Other Stories by Ali Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First time reading anything by Ms. Ali Smith, and I have to say…it was alright. Nothing to run home too, tbh. The stories were short, sweet, and had different themes throughout it-death, love, sometimes books and poetry. These shorts, though don’t really talk about libraries, have one character centered into the stories and they are going through things that don’t talk about libraries. But in between the stories, they do have people talking about what the library means to them and what they did for them or how they used to go as a child and how libraries made them.

This was a very interesting book and my first time, like I said, reading a short story collection. Some of the words felt like they were like run-on sentences, but the rest felt like stories I can slip into a little bit so I can read more short stories every once in a while-maybe from an anthology or something like that. Do I want to read more of Ali Smith’s work? Maybe, even though these short stories were cute and short. I think the only ones I liked were Grass and The Poet. The rest were alright, nothing to run home and tell mama about, tbh.

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Three Book Reviews-the rest of October

Murder in the Drawing Room by C.J. Archer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A little bit confusing with finding out who's cheating on the husband (or wife), then turns into a murder when the wife is dead in her drawing room. Cleopatra and Harry Armitage solves the case of whodoneit, and I have to save, even though this one is my least favorite one out of the three I've read, I've really enjoyed this one. I loved Cleo and Harry's banter, I loved how Cleo was fighting so hard to find what she wanted, and the whole other storyline about the cook pocketing the money was funny, not gonna lie. Still liked it though.

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Gothghul Hollow by Anna Stephens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Killer. Sorceress. Scholar. Priest.

These four people team up to stop a beast that is attacking the Hollows and unraveling a mystery that starts with one word: Mhurghast.

I really enjoyed this book. It was short, yes, but it was a good short novel that deals with magic, murder, a beast that turns out to be something else, and also a mystery. My favorite out of all of them was the sharpshooter Runar and the sorceress Erdea. The priest Tiberius was okay, but the father, A-A-ric (dang right I did it like that inner-city school skit by Key and Peele) I really didn’t like, mostly because he kept sheltering Erdea with everything and it was really ticking me off.

The beast reminded me oddly of the tale of the Beast of Gevaudan in the beginning, but then as the mystery of Mhurgast starts to unravel, starting with Erdea’s mother, Hepizibah I think her name was. She started to do research on the Four Heralds, and then it became her obsession as she worked so hard on figuring it out, that when she gave birth to Erdea, the beast came and took her, leaving baby Erdea there.

The hint of a romance is there between Erdea and Runar, the sharpshooter, but it wasn’t much, which is very refreshing and it didn’t overpower the story. The four of them worked to unravel the mystery of the Mhurghast, and when they did in the end, it turned out to be a vampire named Genevieve Dieudonne, which I have to say, I’ve never read a fantasy that had a vampire in it, and I kinda like it. Genevieve is very interesting as a character and I want to read more of her story. Who was she? Why was she the beast? What did she learn that could help them solve the mystery of the Mhurghast? I want to know more, but maybe one day I will.

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Blood and Fog by Nancy Holder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So this Buffy novel fell flat for me. Yes, it takes place in season six, and yes, it does have the Spuffy pairing, but in all honesty, it fell flat for me. The whole thing with Buffy hiding her relationship with Buffy was just weird, then Xander, Tara, Dawn or Anya was barely in it, maybe like a couple of seconds before they disappeared. Angelus, Darla and Dru was in it as well, but as a flashback.

Jack the Ripper as a fae was…okay?? I guess??? It didn’t feel like I should be all scared of him and stuff. He was just all, “I’m going to unleash hell on Sunnydale with a fog, unalive 12 women and become and god” and I was all like…okay? Can you do something more sinister, more evil, I guess? But I guess he can’t??? And the whole Tuatha thing was weird as well, along with the thing of ‘Buffy’s blood is going to drip by her enemy’ and it turns out to be…Willow??? Of all people??

(I know why, since I’ve watched season six).

This just fell flat for me, sadly, and then the other side story of Giles in England was just weird as hell as well. But while I did hear the flashbacks of the Fanged Four (which I actually liked because they made the book much better, to be honest) I did hear Dru’s voice, and maybe Darla’s?? But throughout the book I did hear Spike’s voice, so there’s that.

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All the Books I've Read in October-Book Reviews

 Hello friends!

Today's post is a long one, because today is all the books I've read in October-with three more to come. So this is a two parter, because I've about around eight-nine books??? And I actually enjoyed them?? So let's get started on this very long book review.

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The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really good book. It reminded me of the old 90s show I loved as a kid, which was Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but more adultier and with chaos involved (I realize that I like books with chaos in them). Rhys and Vivienne’s second chance relationship was so cute to read, and having this set in my homestate made this book feel more cozy and funnier than ever. Also, I love the opening line, “Don’t ever mix witchcraft and vodka.” As soon as I saw this line, that’s when I knew I was going to love it.

The book opens with Vivienne placing a curse on her ex, Rhys Penhallow, drunk on vodka. Years later, he comes back to fix the ley lines…only to find out that Vivi placed a curse on him that she thought was a joke. Turns out that it wasn’t a joke, and the chaos that happens around Graves Glen are horrendously funny-the skeletons coming to life, Rhys’ tires popping, and also the ghost of a student who was trying to summon an ancestor of Vivienne who was going to be sold by some ghost hunter or something like that.

Rhys and Vivienne does get back together, but when they found out the real reason why the ley lines are so fucked up, thanks to their respective ancestors, the Jones witches go to the cave and fix it, unlike the first time Rhys and Vivienne goes and they unleashed a curse on the whole town when Rhys went to fix it. Even though that ending kinda went flat for me, I wanted more than just “the Jones witches did this, and now the town is saved, hooray!” I kinda wanted a little bit more.

Hopefully in book two it’ll be much better and the ending much better as well because I really love this book and the ending just fell a bit flat for me, that’s all.

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The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Once again, T. Kingfisher has blown it out the park for for with this horror novel and I loved every bit of it. The plot was so good that I stuck with the ride and I was on the edge of my seat to the end. This has to be one my favorites of all time, and that I would honestly reread this book over and over again because it was THAT good.

This was about a woman who went through a divorce and is working and living in her uncle’s taxidermy museum. One day a hole appeared in another dimension, and she and her friend, Simon, went through it. They start to explore it, learning about this other dimension, which they thought was another world. While they were in that world, they learned about the bus with all those kids in the chair, an army that was in there but somehow none of them got out. So Simon and Carrot got out (don’t remember her name, I’m sorry about that) and then Carrot started having some very bad dreams about that world.

So she had Simon handcuff her down so she won’t move, but she kept going back to that world, even when she had Simon fix the wall and make everything safe again, but that monster from the other world came out and possessed a taxidermied animal and attacked…

Then all the other forest animals came alive and attacked the taxidermied animal and won, sending the thing back to hell where it belonged, and Prince (that’s right, Bambi’s daddy) even helped defend her!! God I love that about that Prince (even though I’ve never seen Bambi, only as an adult, I believe) and then everything was back to normal. I know the husband called and tried to talk to her, but she was kinda not into it or not paying attention to him?? And then the uncle that runs the place had to go to the hospital, so she was alone in running the place.

I truly enjoyed this one, gonna give more of T. Kingfisher books a go because they are SO GOOD.

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Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So Daisy Jones and the Six is my new favorite book. I read this book with the audiobook, and the experience was so good. I loved every bit of the audiobook, listening to the different voices that goes to the different characters as they tell the story of how this band became big in the seventies. I thought while I was reading this book that this band was real, but the more I read and listen to the audiobook, the more I fell in love with the characters.

My favorites are Daisy, Karen Karen, Graham, Simone and Camilla. CAMILLA IS BEST GIRL AND SHE DID NOTHING WRONG, YES SIRRR. All she did was be the best wife to Billy and the greatest mother ever, but seeing Daisy and Billy on stage during SNL I think?? I think she was really mad, but she didn’t want to say anything. But when she visited Daisy??? And told her to leave??? Honestly, that’s one of the most shocking things I’ve ever read in a book, mostly because I wasn't expecting that from her, but I felt like Camilla was in the right??? I think??

The whole KarenGraham situation felt like a fast car crash that was waiting to happen. I loved them together, but when he got mad because she went to get an abortion because she didn’t want the baby? Yeeeahh that’s when I wanted to punch Graham in the face. Because it was HER decision to get that abortion because she didn’t want kids. I know Graham wanted kids, thinking that her keeping it would change her mind, but I stand with Karen and her decision.

Billy…I don’t like him. In fact, I hated Billy throughout the book (and I know when the show comes out, my hatred for Billy will come out). To me, Billy was this bully that wanted everything that he wanted, not giving one damn about who he hurt or who he stepped over. And yes, he tried to resist Daisy so much-I mean, he TRIED, I will give him that. But each goddamn song he wrote? Was about Camilla. Every. Goddamned. Song. I’m glad Daisy challenged him to change tune, because if I did live back then, I wouldn’t want to hear about Billy and Camilla. When Daisy told him to “put a little darkness” in the lyrics, I silently thanked her.

I really really enjoyed this book and I want to read more from this author.

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Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku, Vol. 1 by Yuji Kaku
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a really interesting manga. I really liked Gabimaru and the fact that he's alive for his wife. The girl-Yamada Asaemon-was there for his many executions, and tells him that he's picked for looking for an elixir that'll make the Shogun immortal. And where is this said elixir? On a long, hidden island where monsters lurk.

I really liked Gabimaru and how he's calm, cool and collected he is, then slip into this mode where he just kills everyone. There is a bit of a trigger warning of bloody hands groping Asaemon's chest and depictions of murder, but other than that it was very enjoyable read.

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In the Company of Witches by Auralee Wallace
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Alexandra Roselyn recommended this book, I ordered immediately and read it. And I loved every bit of it. I really loved how this book deal with grief and how she made this book so cozy that I wanted to live in the B&B and never, ever leave. I really loved this book so much, and I realize that I liked cozy mysteries if they have a witchy characters in there-and murders. Oh and if they can do magic. And they have really good food as well.

Brynn Warren lives in Evenfall with her aunties, Evanora and Isadora, and they own and run a B&B. Brynn had stopped using her magic when her husband, Adam, died one fateful day. They have a very bad-tempered guest named Constance Graves who mysteriously died in thier home…and the police thinks that it was Aunt Nora who did it. Not wanting her auntie to be in jail forever, Brynn decides to go and solve the case.

This book felt like a mixture of Witches of East End meets Practical Magic meets a murder and it WAS SO GOOD. This book, like I said before, deals with grief as you watch Brynn go through her grief, and that her aunties were trying to help her. When she told them that she was stop doing magic, her auntie Nora didn’t believe her and told her that her magic was the one that’s making all of those cracks and things that were happening each time they were doing magic.

At the end, when they found out who did it, it was quite shocking (in fact, I didn’t even know that they did that) and Brynn talking to Constance’s ghost was pretty good. I really enjoyed this book and I’m going to read more of this series.

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A Spell for Trouble by Esme Addison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A cozy mystery written by a BIPOC author? Sold. Esme Addison is the first author that I’ve come across that writes cozy mystery, and I enjoyed this one. It was cute, cozy, and also, witchy. It does drop a bit because of the confusing history lessons about the Warsaw mermaid (that I found that I really liked), but this also felt like a really nice small town soap opera, with daughters of mayors and another family warring with another family, and a love triangle between Alexandra, Dylan and Jack?

And also ATHENA IS BEST GIRL THROUGHOUT THE BOOK?? Yes, please.

Alexandra Daniels had just lost her job and her father, and she and her adorable dog Athena moves to Bellamy Bay to live with her family-her aunt and her two cousins. She starts to work at their apothecary, Botikana, and one day a man named Randy comes in, asking for some tea and something else, and her aunt made a scene…to the point that she’s accused of murder! Her aunt swears that she didn’t do it, and Alex decides to solve the case, since the police thinks that she did it.

Alex goes to Dylan to help after a bit of magical screwups are happening around town, and finds out that it was his sister Brynn who’s doing all of this all for the reality office and the land that supposedly have the Warsaw Shield. This does also deal with magic from a baby witch, which I find that I really like to read about, because most books just have witches that just know what they’re doing. And also seeing everything through Alex’s eyes was also kind of refreshing, because you get to see everything that happens in the town of Bellamy Bay and her life.

Even though at the end Dylan ticked me off for what he did (like my guy, BUT WHY), I started to ship them together, though now that I think about it…I kinda wanted her with Jack SO MUCH. At least he won’t hurt her and all that. But all in all, I really enjoyed this book, would like to read more from the author.

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Book Reviews: Nettle and Bone and Curse the Day

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was my first time reading a T. Kingfisher novel, and I have to say, this book DID NOT disappoint. This book is now a huge favorite fantasy, and I want to read more of T. Kingfisher’s novels, because I fell in love with the writing, I fell in love with the characters, and most of all, this book sucked me in hard.

This book is about a girl named Marra who’s family has been married to the Harbor Kingdom for years. Her sister is about to marry Prince Voling who likes to put his hands on his brides. Once her sister dies without giving the kingdom a heir, that’s when the Prince marries her other sister, and Marra was sent to the Lady of Grackles convent, where she learned how to sew and deliver babies. Oddly, her sister keeps getting pregnant and having babies, and Marra couldn’t take it anymore. So she goes see a dust-wife, who gives her three tasks:

Sew a cloak of nettle and bone
Create a bonedog
Catch the moon in a jar

Marra does those things, and that’s when she and the dust-wife, along with her demon chicken (look, you HAD me at demon chicken, and THE DEMON CHICKEN IS BEST GIRL IN THE BOOK, TO THIS DAY) goes to the goblin market to get a knight. Along with Bonedog (also BONEDOG IS BEST BOY AS WELL. BOTH DEMON CHICKEN AND BONEDOG ARE THE BEST) they go into the market and free a knight named Fenris, who wanted to die by…and this cracked me up…going to a fairy ring and sleeping there. Well the dust-wife and Marra freed him so he joined along, and they went to Marra’s kingdom to get one more person…

Marra’s godmother. Who, it turns out, is her great-aunt. So all of them goes to the kingdom and meets with the Prince’s godmother, who is tied to the old king, to give immortality to her and to protect his bloodline. So they come up with a plan to king the current King, and it does go swimmingly, since Agnes, the dark grandmother, replaced the original godmother and pretty much cursed the child (and give him good health, of course), and before you can shout “Well, crap” Fenris does the Jaime Lannister (ha ha) and kills the king.

Whoopie.

So…now what? What happens now??

Well for one, Marra’s sister, Kanna, I believe her name is, is now Queen, and the dust-wife went back to her cottage, Agnes took over the old godmother’s place and Fenris was supposed to die by thirst, but thanks to some quick thinking, he didn’t die. Instead, he, Marra, and Bonedog (who was killed and was brought back) are going on another adventure, one I wish them both well.

I really loved this book-even finished it before class even started, that’s how good it was-and I would reread this book all over again, just to revisit these characters once more.

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Curse the Day by Annabel Chase
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hi, hello, I find that I’m starting to like cozy mysteries, especially if it involves witches of some kind, which I’m starting to love SO MUCH.

So this cozy mystery was recommended to me by Darling Desi on youtube, and it has all the witchy, spooky vibes I was looking for. It’s also a Brittany Book (a book in which things happen that you can’t explain, makes you laugh real hard to the point that you can’t breathe sometimes, and also a whole bunch of diversity) and I couldn’t stop reading it until it was done. Emma Hart is now one of my favorite witches, and I am going to read this whole entire series, along with more works by Annabel Chase.

Emma Hart was once a human lawyer who one day stops and sees a man about to jump to his death. Stopping her car, she gets out and tells him not to…only to find out that homeboy is an ANGEL. WITH WINGS. Since she’s afraid of heights, she clings on to him as they fly down safely…and her car plummets to the river. Emma tries to leave, but then she smacked into a invisible wall. Turns out…she’s a witch. And she is whisked away to Spellbound, where everyone from every supernatural and fantasy race you can THINK of lives there. She then hears of a vampire named Garreth who was killed and now she’d taken his job and his home, along with his cat Magpie. During the day, she works as a lawyer who’s working on her first case-a stealing jewelry case with a goblin named Monford, who, turns out, killed Garreth, along with getting his hands on some jewels, and at night or whenever she can, she goes to a school to learn magic (in which she’s getting better at, but in the beginning, she sucks at). Also she does rub elbows with the local vampires (including Demetrius Hunt, who sounds fine as hell).

This was so cozy, funny, reminds me a bit of Once Upon a Time, and also I wanna live in this town forever and never leave. I want to know what happens next in this series, I want to know how Emma’s life is now that she’s a witch, and also enjoy this cozy town of Spellbound, because I really love this town so much.

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A Very Huge Book Review Post-August/September

 Sooo guess who haven't done a SINGLE book review in so long???

Me. 

Well I have reasons-school, reading a lot, FORGETTING to post up books after I get done reading them...so I'm going to do this quite differently. Instead of just posting up full book reviews, I'm going to do one sentence reviews of these books, because they deserve it, and then I'll be back on my one post review posts soon. 

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenon, performed by Richard Armitage

Five Stars

I was distracted by Richard's voice to forget what happened in this book, but I really enjoyed the horror and creepy parts.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Five Stars

Loved it all, found Calcifer funny AF, and I didn't know that Howl was Welsh. 

Lore Olympus volume one by Rachel Smythe

Five Stars

Any Hades and Persephone retelling is a book for me. 

Pathfinder Tales: Shy Knives by Sam Sykes

Five Stars

It has centaurs in it, and a bunch of political intrigue. Need I say more??

A Certain Appeal by Vanessa King

Four stars

A pride and prejudice retelling, but has burlesque in it. Really didn't like Wickham in this, really didn't. 

For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

Five Stars

I'm conviced that Eammon is a druid, and also I hate Solmir with a passion. Can't wait to get to book two. 

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Five Stars

I found my new favorite genre when I read this book. Loved every bit of this book. 

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

Five Stars

Has all my favorite gothic literature tropes and loved every bit of it. I want more of Caitlin Starling's writing, please

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Five Stars

Two writers writing two different books??? And trying not to fall in love??? You got me, Miss Henry. 

A Scot in the Dark by Sarah MacLean

Four Stars

A scandal, grumpy Scot who hates England, and a woman who's been alone all her life. Sounds like a really good book, yes? Yes. 

The Steel Prince by V.E. Schwab

Five Stars

A prince goes to another country and fights a pirate queen who can control bones. Sounds really cool and the art was incredible.

The Red Palace by June Hur

Five Stars

Loved it, loved it, loved it. Right next to Iron Widow and Legendborn for favorites of the year. 

Book Review: For the Love of Mike: A Molly Murphy Mystery by Rhys Bowen

For the Love of Mike by Rhys Bowen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For the Love of Mike was actually a really good book. I went in with worry and low expectation, but then as I read, it was actually quite delightful. I loved every bit of the book. I was prepared for the women’s suffrage movement, when Molly went to work for Mostel’s, then Lowenstein to find out who has been stealing Mr. Mostel’s designs, and also working another case to find where Katherine was, along with a man named Michael Kelly.

There is also a bit of a love triangle in the book between Molly, Jacob and Daniel. I felt like Daniel was trying to get Molly to fall in love with him and demand to be with him, but she stood her ground, which I liked SO MUCH, and kept bringing up his fiancee. And when Molly started hanging out with Jacob, OH NO, Daniel didn’t like that. He kept trying to get Molly to see that she didn’t love Jacob, and she loved Daniel. But once again, I find that I really like Molly, said, very nicely, hell to tha nah, I’m not gonna fall in love with you, not gonna be with you, and if I want to be with Jacob and marry him, then I’ll marry him while you’re with your fiancee.

With the case of someone stealing Mr. Mostel’s designs, I actually enjoyed this one. You get to read about Molly working in TERRIBLE conditions (like really fucking terrible) and then Seedy Sam barking out all types of stuff and even turning the clock forward a bit just to tell them that they’re late and all that, WHICH IS BULLSHIT. And then she went to Lowenstein’s, where it’s much worse??? And she almost got raped by the disgusting forman (who’s name I don’t give a flying fuck to remember) and thank god for her friend to stay over and catch him before he did anything else.

Then Molly joined a women’s union group and did a walkout and stood in front of Lowenstein’s sweatshop, demanding rights as they should, along with better pay and getting off early for Shabbat, and there was a bit of a ruffle outside of Lowensteins-turns out, it was some hired people who were trying to get the women to go back in and do their work, and well…it didn’t work, because Molly got into a fight with them, giving them what they wanted, and spent a night in jail..woof. Jacob got her out, and the two had dinner with his mother and father, who don’t speak English, but it was okay.

Then when the women won and got their demands and went back to work. Molly, though fired, went back to Mostel’s and worked there a little bit more, only to discover that the conditions was worse, and that the woman she was looking for was hiding in the basement of the shop. Then the sweatshop got caught on fire, thanks to the jackass that decided to lock them up when they were about to walk out and the poor, scared girl knocked over one of the stoves. Bravely, with Katherine’s help, the women escaped the burning building, and Molly found out it was one of the women that worked there stealing the designs of Mr. Mostel.

After she told Mr. Mostel who did it and was paid one hundred dollars for her work, she went back to her new apartment to find a note by Michael Kelly, telling her to come alone because he kidnapped Bridie. She was about to head out and go, but the Katherine stopped her and the two went alone to face Michael. When they got to where Michael wanted to meet up with Molly, Birdie was on a very unsturdy catwalk. The three of them got into a tussle and the police showed up and saved them by shooting Michael.

At the end, Molly almost made money, she shut down Daniel YET AGAIN, and she and Jacob became friends. All good for a lady investigator! And it was a really good book that surprised me.

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Book Review: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book felt like a really old 80s action movie, starring Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Segal, or like the Expendables, but you add in the Game of Thrones bit and the powers, then that’s Glass Sword. I felt like in this book Mare was Sylvester’s character Barney in the Expendables 3, trying to come up with a team to take down Maven (in which I was curse him out at the end of this review). She does have Cal, and yes, she does get with him, but at the end it didn’t end well with them. Surprisingly, this time in this book we have Shade, Mare’s brother, but she kinda…I wanna say treat him like crap before he was killed, but at least she treated him like a brother at the end.

What Maven did at Chapter Nineteen pissed me off to high heaven for MANY reasons. One of them was that after what he did, he kept leaving messages for her to find, which I found very creepy (but at the same time, kinda gave me ideas for no good reason) and then as they try and find people to recruit, they didn’t find much because of Maven. Then they went to break into a jail, and, well.. THAT didn’t end well, for many reasons why.

One, because every single Silver that was guarding the place was dying and yet when it came to Queen Elara, I had a feeling she was sneaking around the place, waiting for Mare to show up. And when the two of them faced off and she died in that malestorm, I thought it was a sucky ending for her. I actually wanted her alive at least till the next book, and then she dies. But it was pretty gruesome to keep her dead body around and show all of Norta that she’s dead and that Maven is a big fat liar (which he is, BTW.)

As for Maven, he wasn’t really in this book. His presence was there, but it was like he just wasn’t gonna deal with Mare’s shit and went to pretend he was king and all that. But he just pissed me off for SO MANY REASONS, even for what he did in Chapter Nineteen, doing that poor person like that. Just to get at Mare, and the clicking, switching thing he got to make sure she doesn't really leave his presence, which sucks, TBH. AND HE’S STILL A JUMPED UP LITTLE SHIT AND I HOPE SOMETHING REALLY BAD HAPPENS TO HIM, HE DOESN’T GET THAT JOB, HE DOESN’T GET ANYMORE PROMOTIONS, I HOPE HE GETS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BECAUSE IT WILL POSSIBLY GET WORSE FOR HIM.

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Book Review: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book isn’t that funny, TBH. I hate starting out a book review like this, but it’s the truth. The only time it made me wheeze laugh was when they brought up Cub Foods, and that was my childhood store that me, my mama, and my grandmama went into every single friday. Now yes, the free trip to Maui was cool and amazing, but to lie to your boss when you meet him that you’re married to your worst enemy, to me, is wrong. Then the whole ending kinda threw me off when they did the whole ‘my sister’s husband flirted with me, and oh we found out that he’s a massive serial cheater and had cheated on his wife with three women’ and then Olive’s life turning upside down-from getting fired to breaking up with Ethan…it was a whole-ass mess. I was so close to DNFing this book because of how chaotic it was, but there was some good parts to it…the Cub Foods mention was the only thing that made me laugh real hard. The rest…the rest was just one weird ride that was just otay.

First off, we meet a young woman named Olive who’s twin sister is getting married, and she has to deal with all the wedding shit that goes with a wedding. During the reception, erryone gets sick with some stomach flu, and that leaves Olive going on a honeymoon…with none other than the man she hates more than life itself, more than me hating Dio and Maven with a passion…Ethan Thomas. The man basically has a weird phobia with buffets and hates Olive’s guts.

First off, he fat-shames her, which is a huge-ass YIKES in my book. Then they have to act married when they get there, and then they spend half the vacation spending time with Sophie, his ex, and her fiance, Billy (the assistant manager of Cub Foods…DAMMIT), and then they meet up with Olive’s boss and his wife for dinner.

Then the one sex scene was just eh, okay. Kinda wanted more, but it happened close to the end, and when the went back to the real world, that’s when Olive lost her dream job with her dream business, Dane hit on her, and when she told Ethan he didn’t believe her, so they broke up, then she told Ami about Dane, and then the sister didn’t believe her.

Uh…okay…I thought this book was about enemies to lovers, the thing booktok likes??? Where the hell did all this hate and animosity come from, all because Olive told the truth about the sister’s husband? All in all, this book confused the hell out of me and I did like it, but I wish it was less confusing, more funny, and more enemies to my liking before they become lovers. This is otay, like I said, nothing to run home and tell mama about, tbh.

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Book Review: Murder at Marble House by Alyssa Maxwell

Murder at Marble House by Alyssa Maxwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This mystery (can we call this a mystery?) is set in the Gilded Age, during the days of Alva and Consuelo Vanderbilt, and reading about this from a fictional standpoint was okay-nothing to run home and tell mama about. This was a murder and a go willingly kidnapping all together, and honestly, it confused the hell out of me for some reason. I felt like this book would’ve been much better if Emma Cross focused on just one thing instead of just two things and connecting to it and trying to figure it out. Also her and her love interest just somehow click but at the same time it kinda works??

So basically Emma got a phone call from her cousin Consuelo, who was being frantic. So Emma goes over and it turns out Consuelo really don’t want to marry the Duke of Marlborough (which, when I did my research, she did),and her aunt Alva was locking her up in her room, keeping her in the house until she did (which, in my opinion, was bullshit). So Aunt Alva somehow convinced Emma to talk to Consuelo into marrying the Duke, but Emma did the opposite, telling Consuelo to live her life the best way she knows how. Consuelo agreed and the two went downstairs, where they meet a tarot card reader named Madame Deveraux.

Taking Consuelo’s hand, Madame Deveraux tells her something very ominous about her future, about not going to be with that man. Aunt Alva thought she was talking about the Duke, so before everyone went outside and have a reading done by her, Emma overhears Aunt Alva threatening Madame Deveraux to expose her if she tells Consuelo to marry the Duke (this is why I hate mothers in books sometimes-they pull shit like this) and once she goes outside and have a nice chat with the ladies-Mrs. Stanford and Miss Beaumont-there was a scream, and everyone came to see Madame Deveraux dead.

Of course, Aunt Alva assumes that her maid did it, but in reality, it was the fake gardener Consuelo…fell in love with, I guess, after not giving Winston Rutherfurd or “Winty” a second chance?? And the whole kidnapping thing was so unnecessary that I just rolled my eyes a bit and wished it wasn’t in the book. It was an okay book, like I said. There is some mygsongy when it came to Emma and her trying to get her name in the paper, and after what felt like a long time, she got it, but it was on the third page instead of the front page. But at the end, it was good, Consuelo married the Duke, Emma found out that the love interest, Derrick, has moved in her childhood home that she really wanted to buy for herself, and that’s about it.

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Book Review: Night Embrace by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Night Embrace by Sherrilyn Kenyon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Teenage me is very happy to get nearly all of the Dark Hunter novels and read them all…but when I checked to see if I reviewed this one…turns out I didn’t. So let’s get started with the review…with a bit of a complaint.

The complaint is…

Talon of the Morrigantes, Spierr of the Morrigantes, my boy…I FEEL SO SORRY FOR YOU BECAUSE SUNSHINE DIDN’T FEED YOU SOME *ACTUAL* FOOD. No offense to the people who are vegan and what not, because I understand. But good lord, there has to be some Popeyes SOMEWHERE around your house or at least a couple miles so he can get some chicken or some Mickey Donalds or hell, some goddarned WENDYS so he can have his burger or some chicky nuggets or SOMETHING. Good lord. Maybe every once in a while you can go to Longhorn or Outback to get him a nice, juicy steak in here??? Please??? (okay, mini food rant over)

But as I was saying, Talon of the Morrigantes is a Dark Hunter…who got hit by a Mardi Gras float. Thanks to Sunshine Runningwolf, the woman that saved him, he’s okay…but he falls in love with her (and the spice? nice) but then he gets distracted when another ‘Acheron’ tells him to say with Sunshine, and he starts to talk all weird…when Talon knows his friend don’t act the way he used to, he realizes things aren’t going the way they’re supposed to…

That’s when things started to hit the fan.

Like the fact that his sister wasn’t around to warn him about that, Talon and Sunshine thinking that she’s his reincarnated wife Nynia (she is if she’s having flashbacks about him) and the fact that he punched her ex-husband while in Sanctuary while also accidentally exposing the Dark Hunters?? Y-yeah that…that happened…but hey, at least at the end Sunshine and Talon found out that Sunshine’s grandmama is the Morrigan and that both of them were under her protection after Talon bit and drank some of Sunshine’s blood while they were getting their swerve on on the grass, but then they had to stop Dionyous, Camulus and Ash’s brother, Styxx before they released Apollymi the Destroyer…only to stab Acheron in the heart and made him switch his humanity off, but Talon calmed him down, and he was back to normal.

Oh yeah, Zarek was in there, but it was like he was getting in trouble left right and was working with wink, blink, and nod, but then when Sunshine made the deal to give up her soul for Talon…it didn’t go well. There were screams and a bolt of lighting…sigh. But at the end, Talon and Sunshine did get their HEA, and now I’m worried about Zarek. And like Simi says…Artemis is a bitch-goddess…no seriously, she is.

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Book Review: Wedding Cake Killer by Livia J. Washburn

Wedding Cake Killer by Livia J. Washburn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

CW: murder (off-screen), conmen

So this small town Texas cozy mystery is basically if Dororthy Zbornak was a retired schoolteacher in Weatherford, TX solving mysteries and also at the same time getting in trouble with the DA and the law…somehow. Because I felt like I was going to become a senior citizen once I was done with this book. I liked it but I just didn’t like how the DA was acting when the best friend’s partner died and blamed her for it…like she had a really good reason to kill her husband.

On top of that, they didn’t know Roy that well until they found out by a private investigator that he was a conman, falling in love with women and then getting all their money and leaving. It’s like it came out of nowhere, and I was kinda thrown back a bit, because I just thought that Roy was just a good ol’ boy who loved Eve, but it turns out homie was a conman who was murdered at a bed and breakfast…ah. Interesting.

In the middle of all of this is Phyllis, Weatherford’s Sherlock Holmes, who owns a house and shares it with her friends Sam, Eve, and Carolyn. I felt like, throughout the book, I was hanging out with 60-something year old people trying to solve a murder that happens after a wedding…which was out of the blue for me because I thought Roy and Eve was going to be together forever. Looks like that’s not going to be the case, and that she’s a widow after she married about three times I believe.

I liked this book, the recipes sound good and I didn’t like the DA in the book. He just rubbed me the wrong way.

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Book Review: A Dowry of Blood by ST Gibson

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

CW: Depression, Unhealthy & abusive relationship, blood & gore (please take care of yourselves after reading this book, please)

You liked me best when I was like an oil painting; perfectly arranged and silent.

First off, I really didn't know what I was going into when I picked up this book. All I knew is that is was a vampire novel about a reimaging of Dracula's Brides. But when I finally read it, it blew me away. It is a story about Constanta, the first of his brides who is in a relationship with Dracula-and fun fact, he's not even named in the book, which I thought was good-he is known as "you" and nothing else. In the beginning, it's just them, Constanta and Dracula, living their best lives. Then you see him being a total dick, which made me want to punch this man in face, because he started to become obsessive, making sure she stayed in the house, telling her everything he could to make her stay inside the house, like he had this fear that someone was after him, and this family they were building was going to die because of the humans and all of that. Then it became poly when they went to Spain to meet Magdalena, and it was the three of them.

I loved the relationship between Constanta and Maggie, because they always protected each other and always tried to please said arsehole who had force them to basically shut them out of society, and Magdalena went into a depression (yop she did, and I felt sorry for her). Dracula tried to bring her back to life with all his lies and trying to coax her out of her depression, but that didn't work, so they went to Russia, when they met Alexi, who became their last and final bride, and that's when thine shit hit the fan.

Because it was Alexi that got so sick and damn tired of being cooped up in the house all the time, so he did something shocking-he brought people in the house. Of course, Magdalena was fucking happy that the house was lively, but oh no, Mr. "Y'all can't have humans in the house, they'll expose us and shit" couldn't take it and downright expose them, pissing Alexi off, telling him that they were his friends, "so why can't we have friends over?"

Nooope. Mr. Dracula wasn't havin' that, so he put his hands on him (actually, he just slapped Alexi) and that was the tip of the fucking iceburg (if you can't tell, I really hate Dracula in this book SO SO MUCH). Constanta then started to have an idea: why don't we kill Dracula? We're sick and tired of his shit, so let's kill him. Of course, at first, Alexi and Madgelena didn't agree, but then after thinking about it, they came together and said sure let's kill him.

So how did they do it, you ask?

Well one, they waited till he was gone to go down to his precious basement that they can't go down in, to look for information on how to kill him. When they find out, they (meaning Alexi and Constanta) came back up and decided to kill him the next day-which was when the mob came and tried to burn the house down. So they coaxed him from his basement, tricked him into bed, and then Constanta staked the hell out of him, even when the dick begged her not to do it.

This book does have sex scenes (not that much of it, tbh), gore and a meditative look into a terrible, horrible relationship, and seeing one woman taking it upon herself to free the three of them, because if they kept him alive, he'll keep doing this for the rest of their lives, and they weren't havin' it. It does have bisexual rep and also polyam rep, and honestly, I loved this book so much (while hating Dracula all the same at the same time) that I wished I could give this book a ten star. But please, if you can, take care of yourselves after reading this book...even though it's really, really good.

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Book Review: A Dance with the Fae Prince by Elise Kova

A Dance with the Fae Prince by Elise Kova
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Once again, Elise Kova kicked it out of the park with this book. I annotated this one, and I have to say, I really liked it, and on top of that, I found things I didn’t even know I liked. I would’ve given this book a three out of five stars if it wasn’t for Katria getting on my last nerve about not being in love and all that, but then after I saw her reasoning and how slow burn this romance was (I don’t even like slow burn romances that much) and why, because of her father and Joyce (whom I hate with a passion) showed her that she didn’t want to fall in love, but when Davien showed her what love is and told her that he’ll show her what it is, what love really is, she keeps shutting him down, calling him a liar each time.

To tell you the truth, I read this as a straight up fantasy novel, not a fantasy romance novel, so for me, romance is kinda low on the list of things I want in a fantasy novel. But the more the romance came up in the book, the more I actually…started…to…like…it? A lot? Though for a minute it started to aggravate me because she keeps turning him down. And the first time he walks in the room he tells her to close her eyes…like bruh, I want to see your face, I don’t want to hide it, darn it!

When they brought up the Boltov bloodline and how they’re taking out the Aviness bloodline so they can keep the throne, I got more interested in that than the romance. But watching Katria and Davien grow to fall in love and have it a slow burn romance was kinda fun to watch, tbh. How Katria killed the old Boltov king with just a knife was actually really good to see, because we get to see her grow from being the human who worked hard and was scarred, to being brave and strong to the point, she learns that she’s half fae and that they clipped her wings (ow that hurts). Davien thought the reason was that because her family kept her human and the way she was to keep her grounded, I guess.

At the end, Katria became Queen, she went back to the human world to get her horse and sister back, and she’s living happily ever after with Davien. This book was really good and very interesting to annotate, and if I could write a millions of things I loved about this book-from the worldbuilding and the history of Dreamsong and the Boltov and the Avieness family, then we’ll be here all day. So I’ll leave it here and keep thinking about both Davien and Katria.

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