Book Review: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2) by Matt Dinniman

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Length: 371 pages
Author: Matt Dinniman
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: September 24th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

“The training levels have concluded. Now the games may truly begin.”

The ratings and views are off the chart. The fans just can’t get enough. The dungeon gets more dangerous each day. But in a grinder designed to chew up and spit out crawlers by the millions, Carl and Princess Donut need to work harder than ever just to survive.

They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered prostitutes rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose.

Carl still has no pants.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. For Carl and Donut, it’s anything but a game.

ENJOYABLE SEQUEL.

I don’t have much to say about this installment?? It was a good, but not GREAT sequel. There’s definitely enough momentum that I will be picking up book three. I still delight in the uniqueness of this series and how different it is from my usual stories. I find the world fascinating and I’m always curious where each turn will lead. I feel like there’s a lot we don’t know yet and I’m super curious where it’s all going to lead.

Carl and Princess Donut are humorous and easy to follow. I like all of the video game pieces and NPC’s. There’s more achievements and another level conquered. I’ll be getting to book three soooooon!

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy / Sci-Fi
  • Language: moderate-strong
  • Romance: none
  • Violence: high
  • Content warnings: murder and loss of life, near death experiences

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ARC Book Review: This Silent City (The Grim Empire #2) by A.C. Hobbs

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Fantasy Romance
Length: 488 pages
Author: A.C. Hobbs
Publisher: Counterpoise Press
Release Date: April 24th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

As the fallout from Xavier Raske’s crimes spreads through the Capital, alliances fracture-and the Devil of Eastgate tightens his grip on the city.

Demetrius Raske wrestles with the damning secret that his own uncle murdered dozens, challenging his faith in the League, his family, and even himself. Desperate to redeem his family name, Demetrius throws himself into the fight for peace between humans and vampires. But an increasingly hostile Senate threatens that dream. Xavier Raske must be brought to justice, but he’s vanished into the shadows. Fortunately, Demetrius knows the Devil who owns every dark corner in the city’s underworld.

Hades Cronus, the cursed gangster who runs the city’s largest crime syndicate, has problems of his own. His involvement in League affairs has attracted the attention of rival ganglords. Hades must decide where he belongs: as a clandestine official or as an Eastgate kingpin. A growing attachment to his protégé Gabriella Rose only complicates matters.

Gabriella’s growing mastery of her newfound powers has ignited her thirst for revenge. That hunger twists into a dark fascination with the gangster sworn to protect her. She senses that Hades possesses answers about her parents, Xavier, and the League’s darkest secrets-answers she’s determined to pry from his defenses. But Hades Cronus is running his own con, one with consequences none of them can predict.

By winter’s end, the Capital will discover the cost of trusting the Devil.

Thank you to the author and publisher for an eARC.

WHAT A STUNNER.

It’s often said the sequel in a trilogy doesn’t hold up, THAT IS NOT THE CASE TODAY FOLKS. May I present my most recent obsession?? And if you’re wondering now if you should go read book one that answer is emphatically YES.

This increased the action, drama, romance, world, magic and all the things. I loved how brutal and raw this book felt. The emotional pacing is perfect. Getting the soft and tender moments from the last character you’d expect while also getting his back story?? Savage. Amazing. NO NOTES.

I’m obsessed with all of the characters. Even the smaller roles have my attention. I love this kind of writing where the POV floats effortlessly from person to person creating this dynamic story telling that has you flipping the pages with fervor. I feel like I got everything I could have wanted in book two and I know I’ll be aching to get my hands on the finale.

I am very much feral over MANY of these scenes and I love seeing the push and pull between romantic relationships, friendships, political rivals and other bosses. This Silent City does not miss.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fantasy + Romance
  • Language: mild+
  • Romance: vague/brief open door
  • Violence: high
  • Content warnings: loss of life, grief depiction, assault, attempted murder, physical violence, weapons violence, murder

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Book Review: Nightshade (Sorrowsong University #1) by Autumn Woods

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: New Adult Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Autumn Woods
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: June 24th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When Ophelia Winters accepts a scholarship at a prestigious Scottish university to prove that her parents’ death was the fault of Cain Green, an American aviation tycoon, her plan is simple; keep her grades up and her head down. The last thing she wants is to wind up in a mafia war or step on the toes of royalty.

Her plan gets off to a rocky start when the mysterious man that almost kills her on her first day turns out to be Cain’s eldest son. As far as she’s concerned, Alex Corbeau-Green is a younger version of his billionaire father. A monster hiding beneath a beautiful facade.

Loneliness has been Ophelia’s only dependable companion for years, but when anonymous threats and mysterious occurrences start to haunt her time at Sorrowsong, she wonders if she really can survive there on her own.

Between being paired together for a project and ending up as each other’s alibi for a murder, avoiding Alex becomes increasingly impossible. She begins to fall for the soft heart that hides beneath his hard exterior.

Tormented by a malicious stalker and growing closer to Alex, Ophelia’s desperation for revenge wavers for the first time. Can she really bring herself to pull the trigger on Cain now that she knows the family it’ll split into two?
__________

Dark Academic Romance – Enemies to Lovers – Slow Burn – University Setting

This work is dark in places and contains several triggers throughout. Please heed the warnings before reading.

I THINK I LIKED THIS?

I’ve decided that I will continue with this duet. It’s got the dark vibe I love and things started to grow on me in the second half. It kind of has Maxton Hall vibes? But with a much darker angle. Did anyone watch My Fault: London? Kind of on that wavelength.

This had a dark academia mood that I thought was balanced well with the characters. I loved the brewing found family and getting the backgrounds on many of the students.

Ophelia and Alex had a good connection and I thought the banter worked well between them. I wish there would have been more of them in the first half. I loved how many interactions they had in the second half of the story. THOUGH, the ending made me a bit cranky, but I can’t explain it without spoilers so it is what it is.

I feel like reading the next book? It was different than the usual rom-coms I read so it was nice to mix it up. I have many questions and want to see the fallout from the ending.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: open door, low explicit; innuendo
  • Violence: moderate – high
  • Content Warnings: murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, loss of parents (recounted), declining mental health of a parent, anxiety, drowning

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Book Review: Rites of the Starling (Shield of Sparrows #2) by Devney Perry

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 500 pages
Author: Devney Perry
Publisher: Red Tower Books
Release Date: April 7th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

RITES OF THE STARLING is the epic, heart-pounding sequel to Devney Perry’s #1 New York Times-bestselling SHIELD OF SPARROWS. A princess journeys across a cursed realm to find the truth about her family, only to discover her quest intertwines with the fate of a lost warrior. Love, danger and magic collide in a captivating romantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros.

Calandra’s five kingdoms are on the verge of destruction. The crux migration is coming. And in the wake of a devastating attack, I’ve been separated from the man who owns my heart.

I’m lost. Terrified. Homesick. Hunted by monsters, driven to exhaustion, and kidnapped by a powerful priest, the only thing keeping me going is the little girl counting on me to keep her safe. It’s my turn to become the Guardian.

Our lives change one fateful night. A night of death. A night of monsters. A night of truths. That night, I learn the real meaning of fear—and the depth of my own strength.

Everyone wants me to be something I’m not—a queen, a spy, a sacrifice. But what if I embrace my crown? What if the secrets I uncover save our realm?

What if my sacrifice means salvation for the man I love?

For too long, I’ve feared the monsters we make.

It’s time to discover the monster within.

I’LL TAKE IT.

I feel like big, anticipated sequels can go south quickly and I’m grateful that this was not the case for Rites.

But. I do have some issues.

I really can’t stand when the main couple is split for so long when they’ve already become an official couple. It just makes me cranky the longer the pages go on without Odessa and Ransom working together. I do love the interactions between them and loved when we finally got the chance to see them.

There was also a new POV. And I am still trying to figure out why it was added in the first place. YES, we got some back story but I do not think it needed to take up so much page time. It was as if the book needed more pages and this was the chosen way to fill them and it took me forever to feel emotionally invested leaving less room for the main story line to move forward.

I genuinely had an easy time reading this and was invested enough. I love all of these characters. The main leads and the side ones too. I think the world is great and the magic system continually intrigues me. While this book didn’t provide any answers I’m still looking forward to seeing how the [big issue] is solved.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 4-5ish brief open door
  • Violence: high
  • Content warnings: loss of life, loss of loved ones, murder

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