Book Review: Make Believe Match by Melanie Harlow

Make-Believe Match by Melanie Harlow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Marraige of Convience? Checkeroo.

Marrying your enemy to save your family's snow lodge? Also a checkeroo.

But falling in love with him after he respects you and wants to help you save your family's snow lodge while at the same time being very good with his mouth and other things? My brother in Christ I am on my hands and knees for you.

I had some high expectations when I went into this book, and I'm glad those expectations were met. Deviln Buckley had me on my little ol' knees as he did everything he could to ensure Lexi kept her family's snow lodge and fell in love with her. He is very respectful and will cook and clean for you without even asking, and also ask for your opinion. That right there is a man and I loved it. I wish this book was longer because that's how much I loved it.

Lexi didn't want to marry anyone. She tried to take over and redo the snow lodge, but her grandmother said nope, you can't do that, you have to have a husband and he can help you restore the place. After meeting Deviln one night at a bar and having a charming night with him both in and out of the car, she found out that he was working for Black Diamond to try and get the lodge so they can force their grandmother to shut down and they can bulldoze over it. Even though Deviln tried, he realized that he couldn't do it, so he quit and left. Then, he came up with a LOVELY idea: marry Lexi.

At first, Lexi said no, But the more they talked about it, the more it made sense for them to go to Vegas and get married, which they did. Then they came back to Cherry Tree Harbor, and the two started spending time together, even planning on what they could do for the snow lodge. They even exchange stories about each other while trying to figure out why Lexi's cousin was acting weird. Deviln introduced her to his family and it was so cute and loved how Lexi just become a part of the Buckley family, and Deviln's daddy gave her his mama's pearl earrings, which she gave back when she and Deviln decided to get mini-divorce. But then at the end, they got back together and they remarried...again, which I loved at the end.

I also loved how we saw Devlin with his kids at Camp Lemonade, which brought a small smile to my face and my heart, because Sara reminded me of some of my kids from work. I loved this book so much, and Melanie Harlow is becoming one of my favorite contemporary authors.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen

The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Kingdom of Sweets is a beautiful retelling of the Nutcracker-one I never thought I needed until now. It was a very fast-paced read, and I enjoyed every bit once I finally dug into it and read till the last word. Making Clara have a twin and then do that switcheroo, that twist made me go, "Hold on, hold on, hold on..." Mrs. Johansen, you have a new lover of your writing on your hands. Because I wasn't even expecting it, wasn't even aware of it, but when it happened....I was hooked, I was in, and I wanted to know more.

Clara and Natasha are sisters who were cursed by a man named Drosselmeyer. Every year it seemed like Clara was the favorite, and Natasha was being pushed into the dark, never to find any love or anything in her life ever again. Natasha hated that, and that one Christmas Eve party, when everyone was having a good time and Natasha was trying to look for her beau, Drosselmeyer comes in and gives them gifts: Clara a nutcracker and Natasha and clown that was supposed to kill her, get rid of her. But it didn't work out like Drosselmeyer wanted, even though he announced that Clara and Natasha's beau, Conrad, were to be married, because sadly Clara in this version of the book is pregnant with another man's baby.

Natasha was upset, even when Clara tried to tell her before Drosselmeyer announced it. But then everything changed when the sisters went to the Kingdom of Sweets. Clara was with her nutcracker while Natasha was on the road following them, meeting the gingerbread men and the other nutcrackers and seeing the sweets fall apart because of Clara eating them as much as she could. They reach the Sugar Plum Fairy's castle where Natasha makes a deal with the Sugar Plum Fairy, who really isn't the Sugar Plum Fairy at all--she's actually someone called The Queen of Spades, and what she wants is Drosselmeyer, and what Natasha wants is Clara dead.

Well she got her wish, and that's when the twist happened--and this is what made me read more.

Natasha "killed" Clara...and woke up in Clara's body.

That was when I wanted to not sleep and know more, because OMG yes? I need more? Please?

And you see Natasha, as Clara, married to Conrad and how she's dealing with her life and her marriage, how she's secretly doing things that is kind of Clara like, like buying up chocolates, going to the slums, and throwing the candy to the poor so they can eat and have money to do so. But the Sugar Plum Fairy wants the price to be paid...and she does pay it, with Drosselmeyer's death. But then, that's when things start to become weird, when Clara shows up again, and now the Sugar Plum Fairy wants Natasha now.

Natasha was worried about the turn of events, so she does everything to tie up loose ends, even meeting with Ozov I believe his name is, to get a nutcracker and give it to her sister, so when they finally see each other again, Natasha does the reverse and they went back to their bodies and Natasha stayed in the Kingdom of Sweets, and Clara went back to the real world.

I have to say, not catching on about the Russian Revolution was pretty smart to me, and how Natasha prepared for it, even when she ran away from the Sugar Plum Fairy. Going to America to escape it all and read what happened to Clara in the newspaper was pretty smart too, until the end, when both Clara and Natasha met back in the Kingdom of Sweets again. It was sad and fun and I wish it didn't end like that, but the twist was so much fun and I enjoyed myself reading it.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: My December Darling by Lauren Asher

My December Darling by Lauren Asher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was such a really cute novella! It was filled with romance and a little bit of spice, and it had the Lauren Asher charm that I have come to love so much. AND there was a mention of CalLana?? The bakery? My boy's doing well? I'M SO HAPPY. Catalina and Luke working in the hospital made it extra cute as well because they worked there and slowly fell in love, which I liked because at first, she hated him SO SO BAD. After all, he was her ex-boyfriend's best friend. But seeing how Aiden and her sister tricked her into coming over to Aiden and Luke's house to eat and build LEGOS together was really, really cute and fun, and I wanted more of that. It seemed so wholesome and so cute that I almost cried.

I also liked the slightly darker parts of the story, like when they had a loss at work. They both had different ways to deal with it, and it seemed like it was going to be something the both of them worked at, including the disgusting coffee in the NICU that Luke replaced with a better coffee machine.

The one thing I didn't like as much as I thought was Catalina trying her best to stay away from Luke, though it was funny when she called him Lucas. Even though she tried to correct him, she decided not to and just kept calling him that. Even when they shared things about their lives and he even showed up for Christmas carols around the neighborhood Catalina's mom does every year, it was so cute and sweet, even though they were together for a whole month.

I enjoyed the ending. I loved it so much, that they decided to do a long-distance relationship, and it worked somehow, and she was now looking for a job when she came back to Lake Wisteria, which was nice. I even loved the fact that Luke actually kept an eye on jobs for her while she was gone for a month. So I'm glad they are together, even though it took them a month to do so.

I liked this one, it was very cute and cozy and adorable.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid

Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.75 hate-filled stars. I didn't know that this would be a feminist retelling, but it made me rage...so, so hard. I hated all the men in this book and wished they would disappear each time they showed up, including Macbeth. I started to like him in the end, but then it just went down the drain around the second-third act of this book. I was cheering for Lady Macbeth the whole book and hoped everything was going well for her until Macbeth started to change for the worst, and then I got worried and angry to the point that I was so mad at this book. So, so mad at it.

At the beginning of the book, it was really good--Lady Roscille comes to Glammis to meet with her new husband, gets married, and she starts asking for gifts because she didn't want to lie in bed with him. After hearing stories about how people treat their women, she was trying very hard not to be with him in bed. Then she meets the three women who are ancient and old and does Macbeth's laundry, and when he asks of a prophecy, they all reply: "Hail Macbeth, Thane of Glammis, Hail Macbeth, Thane of Cawder!" which I'm like, "Okay, cool bro." but oh how it gets weird the moment he went to Cawder to conquer it and come back with Roscille's prize....

One day, Roscille is tasked to write a fake letter to King Duncane or some enemy while Macbeth is away, and she and Banquho's son Fleance decide to go and deliver it, when I think something bad happens, and she cooks up a plan to trick Macbeth into believing that she and Fleance got attacked by nameless thieves and had to injure Fleance and herself, just to make it believable. Well Macbeth believes it, even when he comes back with her first requested gift: a golden necklace with a ruby in the middle, and it puts it on tightly around her neck and even does a ritual to see if Fleance's neck starts to bleed.

Then after that, when King Duncane comes to Glammis, Macbeth tells Roscille to kill King Duncane and his sons, but thanks to her power of compulsion, she has two guards kill the king, but his son, Lisander...well, she tried to kill him. But then after almost laying with him in bed, he discovers the dagger and starts to ask her questions, in which she tried to answer and then goes back to her room. And then once this part happens, everything went to hell immediately and I started to rage read this book real fast.

When Macbeth leaves for war and he leaves Roscille in charge of Glammis, Banquho doesn't like that. He tries to rule it the way Macbeth wants it, but Roscille does what she wanted, which results in Lisander being thrown in the dungeons and her getting a beating on her legs. When Macbeth comes back a second time in a row with Roscille's second prize, he does take advantage of her and the two are in bed, finally, even though once she and Lisander break out of the dungeons they do make love, that's when close to the end, Macbeth started doing things to her that made me so mad.

One, he threw Roscille to the witches and left her there to rot and die and turn into one of them, but the witches and his ex wife decides to change that and let her live, but she came back in the end and fulfilled that prophecy, he covers her eyes so none of the men gets compelled to do anything if she looks at him, and other things.

This is a really good book, the writing was great, but good lord I hated the men in this book.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke

Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Plum Pudding Murder and the murder mystery at a Christmas Tree Farm made me hungry for the recipes in this book. What I was not expecting was Moishe being an attack cat and just attacking Hannah's Christmas Tree, Hannah dating two men, and the two men actually liking each other. Shocking, I know, but that's not all happening in this book.

The book is about Hannah working at the Cookie Jar and trying out new recipes, as usual. Then, her mother comes in and asks if she could spy on her friend Carrie, Norman's mother. Carrie has been acting very weird lately, and she wants to know why. So she helps out, even though she didn't want to at first. But then during a late date or something like that Norman asks Hannah to spy on her mother, even though she didn't want to in the beginning. So Hannah agrees, and with Mike's help, she finds out why Norman's mother was very weird and odd--she was dating a man named Earl and Earl wants to marry her. Awe, that was sooo cute!!!

The mystery part of the book was about a man named Larry Jaeger and how he was murdered in his house at the Crazy Elf Tree Farm. While Hannah is solving the case (okay and helping her BF Mike), she learns that Mr. Jaeger isn't a really good businessman. He put out a sign that said that he was going to sell the tree at half cost or something like that, and he tells Hannah that he saw it on a TV Commercial once and he kept it for all of his businesses. During the murder and all that is happening, she and her mother go to a business class, and the teacher, Mrs. Whiting, teaches the class and gives them homework about bad businesses. Who would've thought that one of the bad business homework she gave out was about Larry Jaeger himself?

The twist was that Mrs. Whiting was Larry Jaeger's ex-wife, and she was the one who killed her father and then when she finally came to Lake Eden, that's when she came to the Christmas Tree farm one day, walked in, killed him, and shot the big screen tv three times. Which was weird but okay queen, pop off. When Hannah connected all the clues after she went to her sister's performance, that's when Mrs. Whiting revealed herself and tried to kill Hannah, but that's to Mike's quick thinking, Mrs. Whiting was merked and Hannah lived to cook her Christmas Eve dinner--which, by reading the recipes sounds really, really good.

Well, it was.

Until her sister invites her ex Bradford Ramsey over.

Oof.

I really liked this one, I enjoyed it, the romance and the mystery was really well written, and I now need to watch the movie because this one was really good and I enjoyed myself.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Cold Queen by K Webster

Cold Queen by K. Webster
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cold Queen...I'm left torn with this book.

It has the captor/captive trope between King Bloodsun and Queen Whitestone, which made me uncomfortable, but at the same time, I kinda understood why she let herself be captive to a man who turns around and made her much better after pulling the wool from her eyes thanks to King Bloodsun and him being the Truth Seeker, reminding me of Nevada Baylor from the Hidden Inventory series. But the way Queen Elzira was treated throughout her reign, letting people she knows poison her throughout her entire reign without her knowing, was sad to me. I was waiting for her to say something to someone, but she didn't and just let the poisoning happen to her, slowly dying and not even knowing. Even when she put her sister Yanna first, she didn't even know that Yanna was jealous and poisoning her, just like her mother did to Elzira's mother, which was such crap, but then I got over it.

King Bloodsun just...to me, was too pushy, and when he realized what was going on, he decided to calm himself down and started finding the truth about why Elzira was dying. And once he figured that out, that's when he started weeding them out, even keeping Yanna away from Elzira, even though he said he wanted to marry her. But once he started weeding everyone that was poisoning her and slowly killing her, that's when he turned around and started taking care of her, like feeding her, setting the fires, and realizing that there was no such thing as a spore in the fires, he heats up her bath water after realizing that it was cold (something her sister ordered, secretly) and he also noticed how Cavon, a warrior and a right-hand of Elzira, seemed to look at her as if he was still in love with her.

How King Bloodsun and Queen Elzira got together was...alright, I guess. Nothing to run home and tell Mama about. The spice was good, I'll admit, but the way King Bloodsun talked to both Yanna and Elzira made me uncomfortable, and I wanted to DNF this book immediately. But I kept on going, and I'm glad that I did because seeing the change Elzira made from being a sickly queen to a married woman who has finally found herself thanks to her new captor/husband was fun to read and understand completely. I liked that she didn't stay at home because she was pregnant, she went ahead with her new husband and saved more women and young children who were being used and also being food to some terrible men, and to use Diamondblades was a pretty good idea to use and to give a character like Elzira.

Since this is a spicy retelling, I think it's alright. Nothing to get excited about it. The whole captor/captive trope just turned me off from the book and I did enjoy the writing very much.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore

The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I bought this book on a whim when I saw Darling Desi pick it up, so I decided to buy it, and I'm so glad that I did. This has the grumpy x sunshine trope but reversed: a character that loves dogs but hates Christmas, and a man who always helps people but never helps himself to anything who's a golden bloody retriever, aka Air Bud but without a job. That was something I wasn't expecting when I opened this book, but it made me keep on reading--and it turns out it's something I did need because Bennett Ellis? My boy? Has the most filthy little mouth I never thought I'd needed,

The book is basically like a Hallmark movie, with a side of a mystery in town. At first, I didn't like Kira North. She was a Grinch that looked like she hated everything and wanted to start her homesteading dreams that she always sees on social media. Ever since her sister, Chloe, leaves her to go to Switzerland with her fiancee, she decides to spontaneously, not even going to look at it and see if that's what she wants and buy a Christmas Tree Farm. At first, I thought she wasn't going to make it, with no heat and no gas or any business plan. But one day while trying to get service, she runs into Mr. Bennett Ellis, the brother of the Pumpkin Spice Cafe's owner, I believe, Jeanie Ellis. Bennett has three dogs he was walking, and when they met, it seemed like sparks were flying, but because she's trying to keep her Grinchy heart intact, she didn't want to deal with him or be with him. So they decide to become a fling, and during a snowstorm, well...let's just say that things got heated between them.

I was scared for a moment when they had their third act break up, because it felt like they had baggage--mostly Bennett did, with him moving to San Francisco to follow a girl that he thought he loved, but instead, she was using him because of how nice and helpful he was. I found that very crappy in my opinion, because I felt sorry for poor Bennett. The woman he went to California for, Nicole, really hates dogs and only uses him when she's lonely or wants to see him during the holidays. Well, Bennett got tired of it, and he finally ended it with Nicole, and went back to Dream Harbor, where he surprised Kira with a greenhouse and the dogs, and also the LETTERS. OMG, the letters. They were SO GOOD that it almost made me cry.

The inspiration for the letters? The letters Edwin, the old owner of The Christmas Tree Farm, left for his dear wife. Those letters were smutty AF, and Kira did one time get worried that things like letters are going to left in the dust because of our generation and the fact that we use phones and DMs a lot. But when Kira wrote him a letter after their third-act breakup...it was beautiful. Made me cry. But the ending when they found a box filled with really expensive jewelry, they decided to use it for the business they were creating, which is a really good thing, because I was worried they weren't going to use it or find it after reading all those letters.

I really did enjoy this book and it might be one of my favorite Christmas novels ever.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter volume 1 by Reia

Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter (Light Novel) Vol. 1 by Reia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This might be my favorite light novel of all time. I randomly picked this up because I had nothing else to do and didn't want to read the books I said I would read, and I'm so glad that I picked this book up. I got worried for a minute that this was going to be like every single isekai/fantasy book I've read, but as soon as I got started reading it, I loved every bit of it. I loved it so much that I had to tell my friends about it and begged them to read it.

Iris Armelia had broken her engagement to Prince Edward, the second-born son of the king, and she went back home, fearing that she would go to a nunnery for the rest of her life because of what she did and said to Prince Edward's new girlfriend, Yuri. But her father gave her a chance to turn it all around: by giving her the acting duchy/governor of Armelia. She accepted and went to Armelia and got to work, being a boss bitch and doing everything she could to make Armelia rich and better for everyone, including the commoners. She made a bank, she started her own business, she even went to the villages to tour them, to see what is it that people need and silently give it to them. She even went to see the Mayor and the Merchant's Guild to work with them and see how she can make what she wanted into fruition, which I really, really loved.

I really liked how Iris got everyone that worked for her-from the streets-and she even went to the orphanage to spend time with the children there. She even tried to protect them from a very evil landlord who wanted all of them to get out. Iris is just living her best life away from high society that she didn't even care about them--until the ending, when she got an invitation to go to the Foundation Ball. I also really liked that the people around her wanted her to take a break after working so hard to keep Armelia prosperous, which was something I really, really liked and have also enjoyed very much.

There was a scene where Yuri mentioned that she wanted to disband the military so they can feed the poor, and Iris's brother Berne started to dislike Yuri, even when he went to the country seat and seen what his sister had done while he was away at school. He saw what his sister had done, even with newcomer Dean helping around and making sure that she was doing well and Armelia was thriving.

But now I'm wondering what's going to happen at the Ball and how would Iris feel when she leaves to go back to the high society that kicked her out? I cannot wait to find out soon

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Hooky volume 3 by Miriam Bonastre Tur

Hooky Volume 3 by Míriam Bonastre Tur
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this whole book in a DAY and my heart was both full of bursting and also in pain. Seeing Dani as the Queen of Witches was heartbreaking to read. It was also heartbreaking when she thought that Dorian was dead and she cursed herself to do so. But the only thing I really liked about this book was that it showed that friends will fight for you, even though it pains them to see you deep in the darkness. But the way they did it was so funny that I couldn't help but laugh and gasp as I read on, and got really worried that they weren't going to free Dani from the darkness.

I was glad that they found Dorian sleeping for three years, but he looked like a skeleton after all this time he was sleeping, and he was being protected by a dragon. It was funny to see him trying to find out how long he was out, and when he did find out, he wanted to go and save his sister. They tried everything to get Dani back to normal, but it was getting hard. The friends-Nico, Damien, Will, and Monica, along with others (because I can't remember who else was there) went to go and find them and try to figure out how to snap Dani out of it, and when all it took was Monica speech about wanting everyone, human and witch, together, and Dorian changing the color of the hats to many colors, Dani broke free of her own curse, and after that she started to get better.

The relationship between Monica and Will wasn't gonna work. Even though they got married like their parents wanted, it turns out that Monica was in love with Dorian, and it also turns out that Will was in love with Damien, but he held it in all this time and didn't know if he would return his feelings. Even though he did, it was funny each time Damien blushed at the kiss and the moves Will put on him, but I loved it nonetheless.

My favorite part about this book was the ending and how all the characters, including the villains, got some kind of ending. For the characters, they got happy endings, like Monica and Dorian dating while Dorian is a professor at a magic school. Dani wanted to do something with her life, so she became Monica's messenger so she could spread Monica's word about humans and witches working and living together. Nico became a fortune teller, but he joined Dani on her adventure and it was so cute. As for Damien, he stayed at the castle with Monica and his boyfriend, Will, and they lived happily ever after, and I really loved that so much.

Just like the other book, I'm kinda sad that this series is over, but I'm glad that I read it and had so much fun reading it :)

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: The Excalibur Curse by Kiersten White

The Excalibur Curse by Kiersten White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The ending of a series is something I sometimes dread but I greet it with a smile. The Excalibur Curse was an okay book, but there was nothing to run home and tell Mama about. It was a fun time reading about Guinevere's growth and how she could love a lot of people, like Branigen, Isolde, Lily/Guinevach, Mordred, and Arthur. I still think that Guinevere and Arthur had the driest relationship throughout the series, so I felt like I was reading about a dry wine. Guinevere wanted some romance, and I felt like she got it with Mordred before he left them (I was worried that Mordred was gonna die, but thank god that he didn't) and Arthur not listening to Guinevere when it came to her unmaking herself because she wanted to give the Guinevere she thought was dead and wasn't her a life she deserves, and I'm glad that it didn't go that way, because I don't think I would be interested in the new Guinevere and she just goes back to being Nimue.

The addition to the new characters was actually pretty fun to read about. I liked reading about the Picts and the Saxons, and also how Fina joined up with them so she could become a knight. When Guinevere wanted to betray Arthur so she could go and free Merlin at the end, I thought it was a great plan. But how it was executed was very weird and odd and it really didn't make any sense at all, even when Lancelot used Excalibur to break the spell on the rocks so she could go inside and confront Merlin, only for Guinevere to turn around and create a devil's trap for the Dark Queen. Then when Merlin asked for the sword, over and over again, Guinevere said no and she killed both of them...which was fine, though I really didn't want Merlin to die, tbh.

I did like it when Guinevere, thanks to Morgana, went through her friends to see how they're doing, only to find out that Morgana was just using them to get information and to kill Arthur, but when they were in the Green Church, it got flipped around and she was killed by Arthur, all because Merlin told him to and to not listen to anything she said, which was fucked up but I was sad that Morgan died.

Was I happy about the ending? Not...really. It fell flat for me, and I wanted more from the book, and Kiersten White making Guinevere choose both Lancelot and Arthur was okay, I guess. I wanted more, but when it ended like that and everyone was happy that Guinevere didn't unmake herself and become a new Guinevere, and also Arthur gave Excalibur back to the Lady of the Lake. Oh, and Guinevere has no more magic.

I really enjoyed this book series and I don't know if I'll read it again, but it was really fun reading it.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: The Camelot Betrayal (A Camelot Rising Novel) by Kiersten White

The Camelot Betrayal by Kiersten White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second book was pretty good. I enjoyed watching Guinevere grow in the book and how she was such a badass, but at the same time, she was thinking/worried about her knight Lancelot and how she's always protecting her and is always around her, talking to her and what not, and also thinking and dreaming about Mordred, which she's like, "I really shouldn't be thinking about him, I should be thinking about Arthur and how much I love him." and, to be fair, she does. I'm happy about that, but to be very honest, I feel like her relationship with Arthur is dry, like very dry, very respectable, but at the same time, it feel like love but to me, it doesn't for some reason.

The love between Guinevere and Arthur feels flat and boring, but at the same time, it feel like Arthur really loves and cares for her, but she wants to fall in love and have a kiss. When she brought up children, I'm was surprised and glad that they talked about it, and that Arthur wants to wait until she was ready for it.

At the same time, she was trying to figure out her sister Guinevach. At first, she thought that Guinevach was working with the Dark Queen, and she tried so hard to suss her out, with everything she had, but it turns out that Guinevach, or Lily as she wants to be called, was actually trueful and she knew the real Guinevere, and Guinevere thought and feared that Lily could see right through her, but she didn't, and the two became like sisters.

The relationship between Branigen, Isolde and Tristan was perfect. I really loved the twist on the Tristan and Isolde story and made Isolde gay. I really loved it and I'm glad in the third book they are together. I hope they do stick together forever, because I love them so much.

Now when Morgana le Fay appeared, first as a old maid named Anna who followed Lily to Camelot to her true form...tell me why the first person I thought of IMMEDIATELY was Katie McGrath?? I was wondering what she was doing, as Morgana, in this book, but then as I kept reading and found out what happened with her and Mordred, I was shocked and I wanted to know more. I wanted to see how powerful she was, even though she escaped.

With Hild and the dragon, I was happy about it, seeing Hild for the first time, even though I never heard of her before. But when it came to the dragon and how all of Hild's brothers hunted it down and killed it, I was so mad when they did that....but when they went to free Isolde from her terrible husband King Mark, I was worried that it wasn't going to happen, but when Guinevere tried to escape, the king nearly hurt her, but then she erased his mind and now she feels guilty about it.

Now that she made a barrier to hide Camelot from the Dark Queen, only for it to backlash and for Mordred tell her that the Dark Queen was coming for her, and to make Lancelot mad...how would Guinevere get out of this one?

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I first started reading this book, I wanted to DNF it-Anna was annoying, she didn't know what she wanted, and she hated her father, a best-selling author who writes terrible romances. But in Paris, the City of Love, it sounded like Anna wasn't going to have a good time and was working hard to go back home to Atlanta, where everything was normal and something she was used to.

Instead, she meets and falls in love with a boy named Etienne St. Clair, who has his own problems. From having a girlfriend, hating his daddy, and wishing he was in California with his mama, but can't because of his father controlling everything he wants, St. Clair sounds like a treat. But with the miscommunication trope huge in this book, and seeing Anna discover her own Paris while she was enjoying her senior year at SOAP (weird name for a school, but I'm going to let it go), this was fun, and I'm so glad that I stuck with it.

I was kind of worried at first that I wasn't going to like this book, because it had the miscommunication trope in the book, with Anna overthinking things and St. Clair running to his girlfriend Ellie what seems like EVERY SINGLE BLOODY TIME, I actually enjoyed myself reading this book, and like I said, I'm glad that I read this book. It was fun, I felt like I was back as a teenager again in my senior year, going through the motions with Anna and St. Clair, and watching them fall in love during the whole year of them in school. I don't know if I'll pick up the rest of the books in the series, but I'm glad that I read this one. It was really fun and I enjoyed myself.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent

Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book had Castlevania Dracula x Lisa vibes the MOMENT I opened this book, and I'm so glad that I started this book first. I loved every bit of it, and the only thing that I wish would make it perfect is that it was longer, but hey, it's okay. I really enjoyed it and I loved Vale and Lilith so much. I also like the science part of the book, and how the both of them worked to find a cure of her sickness.

I also liked how they fell in love, which was very sweet. The six roses in exchange for blood were cool, and I liked how they tried to keep their relationship on a professional level. When they started to fall in love and it became more, to the point that a god came down and cursed her, and Vale killed some of the god's acolytes in order for Lilith to survive and to also get away from him.

I also thought while I was reading this book that lowkey Lilith wanted to be a vampire so she could go around the world and learn stuff, and also she wants to see the world, and I was hoping for her that it happens, even though it did and I was happy for her. This book didn't disappoint and I loved it, and now I want to read every single book written by Carissa Broadbent because they were that good.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hi hello I loved this book.

Was it because of the diabetic rep? Yes.

Was it because of Jack Smith-Turner? Also yes.

Was the romance perfection? Yes.

Basically, this might be my favorite Ali Hazelwood book that I've ever read, and I enjoyed every minute of it. For once, I really didn't care about the romance that happened in this book. All I cared about was Elsie's growth from creating a lot of versions of herself to finally finding the strength to tell people what she really thought. I really did cringe a bit at the Twilight reference, but I pushed them aside. The only thing that nagged me throughout the book was the fact that she wasn't doing the things I was doing with my diabetes, but then when she said that she was Type 1, I let it go and continued reading.

Jack Smith-Turner kind of reminded me of a sciencey Nanami Kento without the whole "WORK I SHIT!" vibes that I love very much. He's sweet, kind, and focuses all on Elsie and wants to protect her and help her create who she is and help her be as honest as she can, which is a huge plus for me, because I'm starting to like heroes like that. And Elsie going through so many emotions and then going through five stages of grief is kind of fun to read and I enjoyed myself reading this book and need to Ali Hazelwood as usual. Thank you.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Star Wars: The High Republic: Path of Vengeance by Cavan Scott

Path of Vengeance by Cavan Scott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"I don't understand your reference, but vengeance is my shit."-Shoto Todoroki, probably

Sadly this book was a bit of a miss for me. I was prepared for the vengeance to happen, and the Stars to start Warring...instead, it was a space opera about two cousins, Marda Ro and Yana Ro, and they are trying to figure out what to do about the Path of the Open Hand and how the Mother is very charismatic and is making herself sick with a four-legged animal named the Leveler and is pretty much telling people what to do. Marda is called the Guide, and she keeps disappointing the Mother and the group, so Marda goes out and proves herself by going on a little trip to get some eggs for the Mother so she can be back in her good graces. When that doesn't work and the people Marda starts to love start to die, she kicks off a war between the Jedi and the people on Dalna to either please the Mother or prove to herself that she doesn't need her.

Her cousin, Yana Ro, starts to get suspicious about the Mother and tries to confide in her cousin, but Marda doesn't want to listen. So Yana does her own investigation, teaming up with the Jedi to find out what's going on. When the battle breaks out, Yana tries to stop whatever the Mother is planning, and yes, the two cousins do come to blows, but they set their differences aside and they fight the Mother, which, turns out, was a Jedi's sister. Once the Battle was over, the two decided to go their separate ways, and that was...it.

I did like the battle, that was probably my favorite battles that I'll ever read. But it kinda felt slow for me, and it was almost a struggle to read it, but I'm glad that I read it and enjoyed myself.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: The Bump in Their Forbidden Reunion by Amanda Cinelli

The Bump in Their Forbidden Reunion by Amanda Cinelli
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was alright, tbh. I thought he was a NASCAR driver, and she wanted to artificially inseminate herself with her dead husband's baby, only to find out that it wasn't her dead husband's sperm, but Grayson's sperm he donated or something like that? Which was completely fucked up, tbh. Then she left the hospital to go to the chalet her dead husband gave an address too, turns out it was owned by Grayson Koh himself, and the two of them spent time there, coming up with an arrangement: sleep with me, and I'll give you a baby.

O...Okay, bro? I guess....how are you gonna do that?

The spice was good in this book, nothing to run home and tell Mama about. Then there was a race in here that I thought was a NASCAR race, but sadly it wasn't-I think it was one of those Formula One races? I think? And the nickname 'The Golden Lion' was weird AF too, but honestly, I just enjoyed myself, it was a fun time, tbh. Not my favorite book, but it was okay.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation volumes 4 & 5 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 4 by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Good lord this miscommunication trope nearly KILLED me in this volume, but OMG the (view spoiler)[golden core story (hide spoiler)] and how painful it was...I nearly cried. And WEN NING IS BABY, he deserves everything, including A-Yuan. And I did crack up laughing when they meet up again, and also Lan Zhan got drunk and did everything Wei Wuxian did when he was younger was also very funny. I truly enjoyed this so much.

View all my reviews *~*~*~*~*~* Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 5 by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book hurt my soul in ways I didn't think it would hurt my soul.

I tried to prepare myself when it comes to this book. I tried so hard to prepare myself. Instead, I jumped in, knowing that I would be in pain the moment I opened the book, because the Guanyin Temple Arc was painful. I was even thinking about the show in my head as I read this book. But I really enjoyed myself. The sex scenes didn't take me out, even though it almost did. I was honestly giggling and kicking each time they got together.

The short stories that were in the book were actually pretty damn fun. I liked "The Incense Burner", "Gate Crasher", "Iron Hook" and "Yunmeng". Even though the eight stories were pretty great, those stories just stand out in my mind because I really liked reading them and I felt like I was there. "The Incense Burner" made me laugh because they were going through each other's dreams and they were getting much spicer and spicer the more I read it.

"Gate Crasher" and "Iron Hook" were my absolute favorites, mostly because of the juniors in it and how they were solving the mystery of these two ghosts and trying to figure out the origins and how they can solve the mystery, with both Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian or just Wei Wuxian, which I thought was pretty fun to read and to see the juniors solve a mystery with help from the both of them. If you ask me which mystery I liked the most, I have to say "Iron Hook", though "Gate Crasher" was pretty funny.

"Yunmeng" nearly made me cry because we get to see Yanli again, and Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng at home, along with "Lotus Pods"-that one might be my favorite as well because of the ending, when Lan Zhan started asking Xichen about things that Wei Wuxian likes to do, like eat lotus pods from the lotus roots with the longest stems or leaves or eat a watermelon rind.

I'm sad that this series is over, but at the same time I'll be thinking about these books as I move on to a new series, Heaven Official's Blessing.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: The Fine Print by Lauren Asher

The Fine Print by Lauren Asher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After Rowan and I had a come-to-Jesus meeting and I smacked him around with a baseball bat, I enjoyed this book. I know, I'm not the type of girl that would read a billionaire romance and love it, but honestly, I liked Rowan. He was boyfriend material, I wanted to shake the poor bastard (and yes, I did slap him around a couple of times, he'll be fine) but I still enjoyed this book nonetheless.

So all of this started with a letter from Rowan's grandfather, telling him to be his theme park's director and oversee the project. At first, Rowan was so dang grumpy and mean, cutting almost everything and ensuring everything was running smoothly. Enter Zahra, a Creator who drunkenly sent an application, tearing down a ride and something, and she was hired. Every day Rowan and Zahra kept seeing each other at work, and Rowan thought that she was the most annoying person on the planet. He kept doing and saying things to her to rile her up, but she didn't even move an inch. Instead, she laughed at everything he says to her to his face, which angers her even more.

But slowly but surely, they fall in love, and they even have a date in NYC, where Zahra met her favorite author and they spent that cold NYC day around NYC, doing many things until she got sick. Rowan started getting worried, poor boy almost had a heart attack while he was taking care of her, and when he found her in the floor of his home, face down, that's when Rowan called the hospital and was there for her...until he decided to do some asshole breathing and did the first form on poor, sick in the bed Zahra, and did he feel guilty about what he did?

Yes, yes he did.

Oh, and don't get me started on the fact that he pretended to be 'Scott' so he could find out about her true intentions...which were pure and nothing bad. He even invited her to his house so he can explain everything--his past and all. The spice was good, I'm giving it three chili peppers, but when he revealed everything, Zahra threw up the deuces, told him never to come near her ever again, and even when he tried to win her back after everything he did, she stood her ground and ever broke...until she got a letter from Brady, Rowan's grandfather, about being on the board that will be the final vote.

When Rowan found out about it, he tried to get her to fall right back in love with him, but sadly it didn't work, and when the meeting came, Rowan did a whole presentation to everyone, nearly making Zahra cry of how he presented his information and also mentioned so many people that needed more medical attention and wanted to give them more. I did do a first pump when Zahra told Rowan's father off, and then Rowan invited her to his house again, where he apologized and they got back together, and the ending was just perfect. Very perfect.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: The Hidden Moon (Pingkang Li Mysteries) by Jeannie Lin

The Hidden Moon by Jeannie Lin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was alright. It went over my head, the mystery part. I thought, to be fair, that is was a romance between Shen Gao and Wei-Wei, and the both of them solving a murder mystery in the Pingkang Li. There was a murder, that I know of, but then it kinda switched over to the romance between Gao and Wei-Wei. The writing was good, I liked the writing, it drew me in and I was in the Pingkang Li, but the mystery was eh, I didn't really either care about it, or it just flew over my head and it didn't make me want to follow the mystery and find out who did it.

That's all I honestly remember-the relationship between Gao and Wei-Wei, and how Gao has tried, multiple times, to stay away from Wei-Wei, only for her not to do that and she needed to get with Magistrate Li, only for her to go up to the mountains and live with Taoist monks. Gao, who helped catch the who did it and the killers and what not, got money, became the magistrate (a county one) and asked Wei-Wei's dad for permission to marry her. Wei Wei's father was like, "Okay, you can marry her. But go back up to the mountains and get her" and he did, and they got married. That's all I remember.

Ask me about the mystery, I can't tell you a damn thing. But all in all I enjoyed this book.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Unbreakable: A Cloverleigh Farms novel by Melanie Harlow

Unbreakable by Melanie Harlow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First time reading Melanie Harlow, and it blew me away. I thought I wasn't going to like this, but the more I read this book, the more I fell in love with the world of Cloverleigh Farms, and I really loved the relationship between Sylvia and Henry. I loved how they gave each other space and they took the time to understand each other, and I liked how Sylvia and Henry learn about the farm together while she was staying there.

So about the farm...first off, I thought it was an actual farm, with the chickens and the cows and all of that. But when I read that it was a wine farm, I was hooked. I loved learning about how they make the wine and how they distribute the wine, I really enjoyed learning about that, and I wanted to read more.

My favorite character in the book is Sylvia. I loved reading how she got drunk from the many drinks at the country club and told the room to "not be an asshole/dick" to moving back home to figure out what she needs to do now since she and her ex-husband are not together again, and she's now a single mom who needs to think about her kids and her and what she needs to do in order to pick herself up again. I really love how she was straightforward in her relationship with Henry, and how she was sad to break it up because of her and her kids. Honestly, I was cheering for Sylvia for the whole book and I loved it.

Now Henry is my favorite character as well (basically, this couple is my favorite character by far). He's kind, sweet, a hard worker, and someone who gave Sylvia some time to think about what she wanted, and if she wanted him, he was ready to jump in the relationship with both feet. And when Whitney showed up to talk to him and basically told him to be a hero for her mom, and that she needs more than her and her brother to make her feel fulfilled.

All in all, this was such a really cute romance and I might be reading more from this author because this was really good.

View all my reviews

 

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my first time reading anything by Katherine Arden, and The Warm Hands of Ghosts was perfect. I don't read WWI books, but reading this one opened my eyes to things I never thought possible. For one, the writing was beautiful. I enjoyed reading about how two siblings are currently in different places and fighting to get back to each other. I like reading books about siblings fighting to get back to each other. I also was very curious about the man Faland and how he's a crossroad demon who wants stories so he can write music for his violin. I kept getting crossroad demon vibes the more he hung out with Freddie and kept asking him stories about his life, and kept asking him about what happened to him and a German soldier named Winter in that pillbox. Why was Faland so curious about him and Winter? Why did he want that story so bad?

Laura...Laura was very pushy and was very strong about wanting to find her brother, to the point that she kept forgetting to take care of herself. When she, Pim, and Mary walked into Faland's hotel and she saw Freddie (or Freddie's ghost, as she believed) she started to go crazy, but then she stopped and even tried to get Pim to stop looking for Faland after Pim looked in the mirror. But the way the book intertwines with the characters and how they're trying to get back to each other-Freddie and Laura in another period for a moment, then somehow Laura hears news about Freddie and how he was this place and he was that place, and when she finally met the German Winter and he told her about Faland, that's when she went to find him, only to have the ghosts tell her where Freddie and Faland was.

And Freddie...poor, poor Freddie. He was stuck with Faland, drinking all the time, sleeping all wonky, giving him story after story. At one point I thought he was gonna turn into Choso for a good second and go mad, but he didn't, thank god, and when Laura finally found him, that's when the both of them went to try and escape the maze that was Faland's hotel, only to come out and find out that Pim made a deal with Faland and is now traveling with him after killing a general who killed her son.

This was a different book than I'd normally read, and I'm glad that I read it because now it's one of my favorites.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal

We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even though this took me a long time to read, I have to say, this was a very satisfying read. I enjoyed the action, the romance between Nasair and Zafira was beautiful, and I hope the Lion is burning in hell for what he did to Altair and Aya and Nasair's father, even though Nasair's father was a horrible person to him. I also liked how Lana and Yasmine were in it and somehow grounded Zafira because I had a scary thought that the Jawarat was going to control her and make her do things she would regret, like the time she killed the Demenhune caliph. Was I proud of Zafira in that moment when she did so? Yes, yes I was. But then, was I a bit sad that she did that, but she never really killed anyone other than the things she hunted in the Arz, and now that the Arz is gone, she is no longer the Huntress. She is Zafira bint Iskandar (hopefully I got the name right), and she is her own person.

In fact, I really liked how, in the whole book, they gave her space. She was going through so much throughout the book, along with planning on how to take down the Lion so he can go to hell, and to also find a way to restore magic. It felt like she was struggling--from her thoughts and feelings with the Jawarat near her, her feelings for the Prince of Death, and her feelings about trying to stop the Lion. I'm going to be honest, I really didn't like Zafira and Nasair together, but once I started reading this book, that's when I started to ship them and even loved them, cheering them on with their relationship.

Let's talk about Altair for a minute. I was ready to throw hands when he betrayed them, only to turn around and say that he was trying to kill the Lion, his father, mind you, himself. I was both shocked and still wanted to throw hands at him. But when Aya...sweet, kind, strong healer Aya betrayed us....these hands were rated E for everyone at this point. Because I was so mad at the both of them for betraying the zumra for the Lion, and the Lion taking Altair's eye just about to make me go off. I kinda felt sorry for Altair for watching his father get his heart implanted in, but was damn glad he escaped and turned around to face his father once more.

This duology might be one of my favorite books of all time, and I'm so glad that read it. It was a wild ride and I loved every bit of it.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Proven Guilty: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even though this was a slow read for me, I enjoyed this book nonetheless. Harry Dresden, Chicago's only Wizard, has dealt with a lot. But with a case dealing with horror movie monsters coming to life and attacking him, and someone very close to him using magic to the point that she may or may not have messed up someone's psyche for good, it's up to tired ol' Harry to grab his blasting rod, his skull Bob, his dog Mouse, and every single wit he has to solve the case and find out why his friend would do such a thing and maybe try to fix everything.

This one might be my least favorite Dresden, but that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy this book. I liked how it went from Harry trying to get over what happened during the Warden's meeting with the Merlins, to how the phobophages got in and started attacking people and leaving some wounded, to finding out it was Molly that was did magic on her friends, to scare them to stop taking drugs and put them on the straight and narrow, only to realize that she may have scarred her now ex-boyfriend, Nelson, with the spell she did.

The most shocking thing throughout the book was Molly's mom, Chasity, actually taking a stance and went into Arctis Tor to save Molly when the agents of Queen Mab kidnaped her. I wasn't expecting it, it was so left field and it was totally badass. I did laugh a bit when Caine actually tried to sell Dresden on ebay-that was pretty darn funny. Anyway, back to goin into Arctis Tor to save Molly, Dresden does an oopsie and let out the Summer Fire, and once they saved Molly, had to get out of there quick before pretty much all of Winter Court comes down on his, Chasity, Molly, Thomas and Murph's heads. When they did leave though, Dresden did think that he saw Mab's eyes winking at him somewhere. Oh, and his godmother, the Leanshitde, was locked up for some reason, and that she wanted to leave, but sadly couldn't.

I enjoyed reading this book, it was funny and showed the best Dresden, even when he's bone tired, but at the same time, it was fun to read and I enjoyed myself. Gave it a four because it was just slow for me, that's all.

View all my reviews

 

Book Reviews: Hooky Volume 2, Heartless, The Vanderbeeks on the Road & We Hunt the Flame

Hooky by Míriam Bonastre Tur
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The art style was perfect and my heart kind of broke in the end. Also I still love Princess Monica and I'm now worried about Daimen and Dani. That means TIME TO READ BOOK THREE

View all my reviews

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Heartless by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Heartless by Marissa Meyer felt like you're looking inside the mind of a famous literary character and how she turned completely evil. I liked reading about the humble beginnings of Catherine Pinkerton and how she wanted to open her bakery, because she could make the best pastries in Hearts. But thanks to her dear mother, who thinks that she shouldn't be doing that, is pressuring her to fall in love with the King of Hearts, marry him, and live happily ever after.

Yeah, right.

During the night of the King's Ball, she meets a man named Jest, and the two of them have some really cool adventures-going to Hatta's shop to have a real tea party, going out and seeing the real Hearts at night, I guess, and also trying to figure out how to keep their relationship a secret. When the Jabbawocky starts to attack, everyone in Hearts is scared and afraid and doesn't know what to do. So Catherine, along with Jest and her maid Mary Ann, figure out where the Jabbawocky is coming from and why it's attacking people.

Who would've thought that the attacks and the Jabberwocky is actually Sir Peter Peter's wife? I wasn't even expecting that outcome, but when it did, I was shocked, and was worried when Catherine finally got to fight the Jabberwock, but once it died and Jest was killed (QUITE VIOLENTLY, BY THE WAY) and that they wanted her heart because she was supposed to be the Queen of Hearts...well....that changed up Catherine's whole world completely.

Seeing her turn into the villian we know and love was very well-written and I loved every bit of it. Seeing the three sisters and how each of the characters turned out at the end was very good, though painful, and this might be my first book I like of a Alice in Wonderland retelling.

View all my reviews 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

The Vanderbeekers on the Road by Karina Yan Glaser
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the second Vanderbeekers book that I've read, and once again, I loved it. In this book, the Vanderbeekers are on the road to surprise Papa about the road trip his grandfather (or father, I think?) wanted to take with him before he passed. But like any Vanderbeeker book, this does come with funny hijinks and worry about a family splitting apart.

Laney tried to keep Jessie and Orlando from going to Berkley by doing everything she could possible to make them miss their interviews, and she did make Orlando miss his, but instead, with that turnaround, Jessie used her interview to talk about Orlando and he go it, and now Jessie isn't going to Berkley. Isa and the others were wondering what was going on, and why Jessie and Orlando were being secretive, all over their phones and whatnot. Even one time Oliver and Laney broke into their phones and wrote them a fake email changing the times so they wouldn't go to their interviews.

At the same time, everyone is stuck in this van, trying to go and see their Papa and also deliver two cats to their Auntie, who was speaking at the Monterey Bay Aquarium I believe, and for Mr. B to go up to Auntie Penny (I think that's her name) and they also stayed at a Dude Ranch when the van broke down. I really liked the pictures of the many states they went through--I thought that they were a really nice touch, and the miles the family went though to get to Monterey Bay was also fun as well.

I am planning on reading the rest of this series, because it is a fun time and I love it so much :)

View all my reviews 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I AM UNWELL.

That ending. What-how-EXCUSE ME?!

So first off, before I go off a weird tangent on why this book surprised me, this is my second time reading Hafsah Faizal's books, and We Hunt the Flame might have to be the second book of hers that I like. This book felt like a weird combination of Assassin's Creed and Skyrim, with the names I peeped (Altair and Haytham) and how this book felt like a very long episode or movie of a really good fantasy show, and I really didn't want it to end.

My favorite characters would have to be Zafira, Nasair, and Altair, shockingly. I do like the other characters, like Yasmine, Lana and Deen, and the villain of the month goes to the Lion of the Night, because SHEESH brother. SHEESH. And that reveal about the Sliver Witch and Nasir and the Lion of the Night and Altair. Like, I NEED to know more, because ma'am, you can't just drop that and then end the book! You just...you just can't!

The atmosphere and the danger of it all was set up really nicely, and the fact that I wasn't even expect half of the things that happened in the book was so good that I almost screamed. I'm so glad that I got book two so I can read it and find out what happened next, because I GOTS TA KNOW, DARN IT.

View all my reviews

Book Review: All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace

All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the first time reading anything by Adalyn Grace, and I have to say, this was a pretty fun book. I loved the action, the adventure, everything. It made me want to pick up the next book in this series, and then finally read Belladonna, because Adalyn Grace has become one of my favorite authors of all time right now.

This book is about a princess named Amora, who was training and was about to become the next High Animancer, when the soul magic that she uses took over her, and her father threw her in jail. Thanks to the help of a pirate named Bastien Bargas, she gets on his boat, the Kneel Haul, and starts to escape...but her fiancee, Ferrick, comes to try and stop them, only for him to come along with them on their adventures. Amora wanted to be on the ship and learn how to steer one for so long, that being on the boat feels like a dream. The three of them go to three islands to find and learn about a man named Kaven, who wants to take over the kingdom of Viridia.

There is a tiny bit of romance in the book which I liked, but I also liked how Amora was strong and wanted so hard to see and save her kingdom from what her family has done to it after all this time. Seeing the world and seeing where her father didn't do what he was supposed to do when it came to protecting the kingdom and helping the rest of the islands was so heartbreaking to read. I felt so bad for her to witness all the pain that happened, and when she finally met Kaven and learned about where the soul magic came from and how it twisted into what she knows now.

When she lost her magic, it felt like she lost a part of herself, and she didn't even want to get out of bed. But thank god someone (Bastian and Ferrick) told her that she can save her kingdom with or without her soul magic, which she did, but thanks to Kaven tying her father's soul to him and then her father turning around and killing himself (ow that hurts so much!) she finally got the strength to kill Kaven, but at the same time, learn that Bastian tied himself to her and that part of her soul is with him, just like Bastian's soul was with Kneel Haul. I am so invested in this story that I NEED book two to know how it ends.

I really enjoyed this book so much, and I'm so glad that I read it. Adalyn Grace, you're my new favorite author, I love you

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: The Perfect Wife by Lynsay Sands

The Perfect Wife by Lynsay Sands
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So this was an okay romance, nothing to run home and tell Mama about. It's about a girl named Avelyn, who's curvy and perfect, but thanks to her cousins, her self-esteem is torn to the point that she thinks she's ugly and not attractive to her husband that she betrothed to. When Paen comes to marry her, she thinks that Paen would find her disgusting and would run the moment he sees her. Instead, Paen falls in love with her, and once he finds out why her self-esteem is so messed up, he helps her see that she's perfect the way she is.

Some funny things keep happening to Avelyn, like her dress ripping to the side, her near drowning and Paen getting on her horse to clear out her windpipe, and her falling to the point that her dress caught and saved her. It turns out that someone was trying to kill her because she was with Paen and not her daughter, which was clearly messed up. But it was funny that the killer was scared of Avelyn's pet piglet, Samson, who just came up the stairs and just ran towards her.

The spice scenes were okay, it wasn't the ones that made me go "Well godddamn!" and all that. It did make me laugh every once in a while, but other than that it was alright, nothing to come home and tell mama again (again, because it was just okay).

The murder plot against her was fine, it wasn't all that shocking to me anyway, but all in all it was a really good book, I enjoyed myself, and I might pick up the next book, I might now, Idk.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faisal

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very interesting book. In the beginning, it was introducing the characters and nothing happened. It was quite nice, and I liked the setup of how they were going to save the teahouse. But when it got to the action, it fell a bit flat to me. It was like the author was waiting for the right time for the characters to be badasses, and it can get a bit frustrating for them to do so. When it did get to the parts of them ready to let them do what they gotta do, it got really fun.

I do like the triple POVs of Arthie, Jin, and Flick, and seeing them preparing for the heist, but when it falls apart and they have to regroup and figure something else, secrets come out-things that some people want to keep hidden. One example of this secret is Arthie being a half-vampire and keeping it a secret from practically everyone. I wasn't even expecting it, to be fair. I thought she was just hiding something and didn't want to tell anyone about it, but to confess to Laith, who looks like some anime character, even though he was captain of the Honored Guard, even though he figured it out and tried to steal her gun from her was kind of messed up. The way Jin was scared of fire was interesting and how he finally just jumped inside the burning Spindrift, just to save Arthie but turned around to get saved by Flick was really nice. And, to me, the best character growth has to be Flick, because she finally stood up to her mother, only to turn around and get shocked when her mother was the Ram.

That's right, Flick's own mother is the Ram.

Another shocking thing was the ending, when the Wolf of White Roaring, whoever he was (maybe it was Matteo?) knew where Arthie was and picked her up...and that was it. I wanted to know more about this Wolf that keeps getting mentioned--who is he? Who are they? Did they know where Arthie was? What's going on here?

And Jin. Poor Jin. Getting turned after getting shot by the Ram. But hey, I did like the side romance between him and Flick, and how he got comfortable enough to finally call her Flick after calling her Felicity multiple times, even when she told him to call her Flick.

Flick standing up to her mother was actually fun to read. I know it was probably hard for her to do, but at least she did it, and gave back the lighter so she can finally be free of her. When she found out that her own mother was the Ram, and how she was going to start a war with a bunch of starved vampires....it hurt her so much.

This was the first time reading anything by this author and it was very interesting, and I want to read more of her work.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a fascinating retelling of Arthur and Guinevere, and the twist that Guinevere is a changeling sent to protect Arthur was very interesting indeed. I found that I enjoyed this book more than I thought, mostly because of how we see this Guinevere learn and struggle with her position of being a queen, then trying to be a wife to Arthur and also trying to protect him at the same time. I feel like this is quite refreshing to see, instead of just Guinevere marrying Arthur, and then oh she meets Lancelot and oh she betrays Arthur by being with Lancelot and all that good stuff.

I also liked the romance that blossomed between Arthur and Guinevere. It was quite refreshing to see two people learn to love each other instead of just knowing each other and then hop into bed. This romance between Arthur and Guinevere is sweet, kind, and gentle, and then Mordred appears almost every single time next to her, acting like he was "protecting" her, saying little things like "Oh, I know what you are" and all that jazz. But when Malagear, I think his name is, kidnapped her, he did show up...and he gave her an idea about waking up the trees.

Well, Guinevere did do that, spilling her blood so she could wake the trees up, but then it backfired on her, when it turns out Mordred tricked her into summoning his mother/grandmother, I believe. I was shocked when that happened because I wasn't expecting it. But I still enjoyed it nonetheless, and I now want to finish reading the series to find out what happened next.

Bringing up legends like Sir Tristan and Isolde and making Sir Lancelot a girl (in which I wanted them to get together, but ah well), to making Merlin, shockingly, look like the villain in the book about what happened to her and why she only knows knot magic and not actual magic to help protect Camelot, I enjoyed myself. Seeing Guinevere struggle in Camelot and try to hide everything she is while doing so, also trying to figure out her feelings for Arthur, it was actually pretty darn good and I cannot wait to read the next book in this series, because I need to know what happened and how Camelot survive, and also how Arthur and Guinevere get on in their blooming relationship.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell #1) by Deanna Raybourne

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If a book can make me fall asleep three times a day while reading it, then I have to say that this is a slightly boring book without the murder part, I guess I can say? Because I was looking for the murder part of this cozy mystery, and I felt like it never...came. When it did, I guess I missed it because it was all about her parents and who her father was and all that...which was fine, I guess, but at the same time....I was kinda shocked about it???

So this book introduces Veronica after she buries her Aunt, and she has lunch with the vicar and his wife, she tells them that she and her aunties are not related, stating that she is an orphan and she'll be fine living her best life studying fairies and also not getting married. Leaving them after a really good lunch, she returns home to find that the cottage she was about to sell is about to get robbed. Before she can smack the heck out of them with a German sword, a baron shows up to take her to London, telling her that she's in "grave danger".

Okay...why???

When she gets to London, she is put in the care of a man named Stoker, a naturalist, and a taxidermist. She spends a couple of days with him, helping him with the elephant for a lord and also making sure his collection and place are spot on, when news of the baron's death is in the newspapers. Next thing you know, they are gone on an adventure, not solving the mystery until like the last hundred or so pages, going to the circus and posing as a husband and wife, then having to leave after a fight once the freak show is done.

When we focused back on the mystery aspect of the book, it went back to Veronica and why people was after her. It turns out that people are after her because she is the legitimate daughter of Prince Albert, the son of Queen Victoria. There was something about her mama falling for the prince and them getting married, then nine days later once Victoria was born, that's when Prince Albert gets engaged by Princess Alexandra of Denmark, I believe, or something like that??

At first, Veronica didn't believe it, but the more she looked at the papers and birth certificate, that's when she realized that the children Prince Albert and Princess Alexandra had, including his marriage to her, was void and declared illegitimate, and she was the rightful heir to the throne. Well, she doesn't want the throne-she wants to be her own person, and she wants to live her own life as a naturalist.

Well with her and Stoker getting kidnapped and them meeting her uncle, breaking into the baron's home to find out why she was in grave danger, and also getting the people that want her on the throne or dead in one place so she can destroy the place, it was kinda fun to read and I enjoyed that part. But when she asked Moranday and Sir Hugo Montgomerie who wanted her gone, Moranday only said that it was a "she" not a "he", which makes me think that it's Queen Victoria who's watching over Victoria.

During the Queen's Jubilee, she came and watched her royal family go by, and she was giving a glimpse of them, and that felt like you're with her, watching them go by and actually thinking of the what ifs if the royal family actually accepted her as one of the family, what would her life be. Then one day at dinner, she talked to the Lord who owns the Belvedere if she could work for him getting his natural things together, and when he agreed, that's when she told Stoker (afterwards) and the two started talking about it, thus ending the book.

I have to say, even though this book put me to sleep and it bored me to death in certain parts, but other than that, I really liked it, enjoyed myself reading it, and I might wanna pick up the rest of the series.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue! by Karina Yan Glaser

The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue by Karina Yan Glaser
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my first time reading anything by Karina Yan Glaser, and this book didn't disappoint-it made me want to read all of the books in the Vanderbeekers series. This was set during a week of Spring Break, and things were happening left, right, and sideways, and it was also pretty funny as well. Oliver, Laney, Isa, Jess, and Hyacinth planned for a really good Spring Break--with Mama's bakery about to be in Perch Magazine, to Isa's audition and Mama's birthday, things were going well...well it was.

First off, it went off the rails when a city official came to do an inspection, and it failed--twice. So the kids come up with a way to get rid of all of the animals that keep on appearing in the backyard of their brownstone so the next one can work smoothly, but sadly it didn't work the second time, and they also didn't tell Mama about it, which I was sad about. But while they figure out why all these animals are popping up, the children are also doing other things to keep themselves occupied.

Oliver, the builder of the family, wants to make a treehouse. When he couldn't make it because it was raining, he was upset, but he did make bookcases for it. Then when it cleared up, he and his uncle makes the treehouse, and he and his friends sleeps in it. The next morning when they woke up, chickens appeared in the yard, and while he and his siblings were thinking about what to do about who was leaving the animals in the yard, Oliver remembered a camera their Papa had, and he uses it to find out who was leaving them.

Isa is worried about her audition that was coming up during spring break. She practices so hard, even though the noises of the animals and her siblings around her. When it was time for her to finally have her audition, she thinks she does well, but then she does laugh during it, which was something she needed, because right after the kids went to see Herman's dad, who automatically told them no and also told his son that he couldn't hang out with them anymore (meaning I need to read the books to find out why).

Laney fell in love with a black and white cat she named Tuxedo, and then she also fell in love with a bunch of guinea pigs that she knew how to take care of. When Herman is going through his father's slides, Laney sees a place she knows would be perfect for Mama, and the kids go and see it. When they do go and see it--Laney cleans it up a bit--that's when Oliver has an idea for the shop, and how it can be the perfect solution for all of the kids and their Mama, who was studying to become an accountant again. Along with a cat that looks like Tuxedo, they surprise their Mama on her birthday with a sign for the Treehouse and Cat Cafe. When Mama started crying happy tears, that's when they knew that it could work--and it also helped them with their cat problem and animal problems.

This was a really cheerful book that made me tear up once, and I really loved all of the characters and how each of them worked hard to find something for their Mama, and also deal with their animal problem, one day at a time. Also I like the article in Perch Magazine about the cat cafe in the end, and that they went to someone who ran a cat cafe to get some advice.

View all my reviews

 

Book Review: Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan

Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A beautiful ending to a beautiful duology. Heart of the Sun Warrior not only hurt my feelings and my soul, but it brought this lovely series to a close. I read Daughter of the Moon Goddess at the beginning of the year, to remind myself what happened before getting to the book, and I wasn't disappointed at all with this book. It broke my heart, made me cry a little bit (in a good way!) and it also shocked me, because it had a love triangle, and I thought she was going to choose the first one, but after she realized who she really loved, that's when she wanted the other one...until he died.

Now Liwei...I thought he was going to be it. He was handsome, the Crown Prince, and pretty much did everything to help her without asking, but she couldn't picture herself sitting there on the throne next to him as the Celestial Empress, fighting for power and trying to be the best Empress she can be. She didn't want to hurt Liwei like that, so she chose Wenzhi, who I really didn't like at all at first, even in the first book, he started to look funny, making me giving him a side-eye. So I wasn't a huge fan of him at first. But in this book, I hated him in the beginning like I thought, but then he started to look appealing as he too started doing things for Xingyin and making sure she's alright, that she, after everything that happened between them, she realized that she loved him.

The small romance of Houyi and Chang'e was so cute. I was gushing when they got back together and he apologized for leaving her and even getting mad at her for taking the elixr. When he protects her it is so cute, even giving her a rabbit because she thought she was lonely awe :) Houyi was so cute and adorable, and seeing Chang'e happy when she got her husband back was so cute.

But everything else hurt my soul. I cried, and gasped, hating Wugong altogether and wished that he was dead, even going so far as to taking the throne and imprisioning the Celestial Emperor. I cannot believe that even the Celestial Empress got into the fight, but she died, which was sad, but at least she died a hero. But I'm also mad at the Celestal Empress who gave Xingyin that ultimatum when they met up. I still a little upset that she kept it, but then once it was broken, I also kinda wish that Xingyin got with Liwei, even though she carried on with the pact with his mama, but even though she chose Wenzhi in the end, I'm glad that they are still friends after all of this.

I really did enjoy this book and I would read this duology all over again.

View all my reviews