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ARC Book Review: What Blooms From Death (What Blooms From Death #1) by S.M. Gaither

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Rating: ★★★★.25
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 618 pages
Author: S.M. Gaither
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: April 17th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Princess Bellanova has spent years surviving on her own, forced to flee her palace in order to escape the curse that put the rest of her royal family into a death-like slumber and set their lands to rotting. After spending her exile honing her thievery skills alongside her innate necromancy powers, Nova has earned a reputation as one of the fiercest outlaws the kingdom has ever suffered.

But soon she’ll be the fiercest outlaw who ever died.

A death that will be on purpose.

For rumor has it that the true cause of her family’s demise—Luminor, the Blade of Light—is buried deep in the belly of the underworld. Stealing that blade back into the realm of the living will mean a chance at undoing the curses it left, restoring her family, her reputation, and her kingdom to life.

The only things standing in her way are the endless twists and turns of the underworld, its terrifying monsters, unpredictable magic…and Aleksander, the infamous Light King himself—keeper of the blade, and the one who wielded it on the night of her family’s ruin.

King Aleks has spent nearly a decade trapped in the underworld, a phantom of his former self, unable to truly die. When Nova crash lands into his purgatory—an inexplicably bright and lively being in a sea of endless dead things—he begins to dream of the world above for the first time in ages.

He needs her to get him back to that world above. She needs him to undo the curse. But as the two form a reluctant alliance that soon blooms into something dangerously deeper, they find themselves unraveling ancient magic and dark secrets that will have greater consequences than either of them could have ever imagined…

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

A GOOD STARTER.

I’ve continually enjoyed S.M. Gaither’s books over the years and this was no exception. I love the complicated world building that’s filled with so many layers that weave throughout that make this book feel epic. I loved the concepts brought up in WBFD and how that connected to the magic system. It led to some big reveals and I’m excited to see those unfold in future books.

I don’t know that I would call this enemies to lovers though. There wasn’t enough animosity for me to believe it, but I did think that Aleksander and Nova had solid chemistry. I would have loved even more on page time with them. By the end I was much more invested in their relationship and what the fallout is going to be in the sequel. And I just really enjoyed both characters on their own too (there were some Aleksander POV chapters and I am here for them all!!).

Brutal cliffhanger alert (my fav). S.M. Gaither doesn’t miss.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 4-5 open door
  • Violence: high

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Book Review: With a Little Luck (Fortuna Beach #2) by Marissa Meyer

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: YA Romance + Magical Realism
Length: 368 pages
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: February 13th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

After being magically gifted with incredible luck, a boy discovers this gift just may be a curse when it comes to love, in this YA novel by #1 New York Times -bestselling author Marissa Meyer.

Jude is determined to fly under the radar. He just wants to draw his comics, host regular D&D night with his friends, work at his parents’ vinyl record store, and escape high school as unscathed as possible. That is, until the night he comes across a mysterious twenty-sided dice and finds himself inexplicably gifted with a bout of supernatural good luck.

Suddenly, everything Jude has ever wanted is within reach. His first art submission is accepted to his favorite fanzine. He helps his friend’s song become a finalist in a songwriting competition. And he’s the 100th caller to a local radio contest, winning him a pair of coveted concert tickets, which he uses to ask out the popular girl he’s been crushing on since elementary school. For a few blissful weeks, he feels invincible.

But when he loses the magic dice at a local music festival, his luck takes a turn for the worse. He struggles to reclaim his good fortune while fighting off long-buried feelings for his best friend―who is definitely not the girl he’s supposed to be in love with. Can Jude risk stepping into the spotlight long enough to win the true girl of his dreams? Or is he doomed to be unlucky in love forever?

IT WAS ALRIGHT.

Friends to lovers is a hit or miss trope for me. And this was my least favorite way of handling the situation. Jude spent most of the book focused on another girl and dating her, etc. rather than his long time best friend where there’s clearly something there.

I adored Jude’s family and all of his sisters. Even more so that there were active parents here. The clueless/no consequence parent trope feels kind of old to me and I appreciate seeing parents who participate in their children’s lives. The setting is great, I loved all of the music content. There’s also a bunch of D&D matters too. I liked it, but the tangents into “fantasy stories” that Jude had created as dungeon master took me out of the book and didn’t add to the plot.

The magical realism aspects were good, subtle and worked well within the story. I liked the overall themes and it’s a good read for a younger audience.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult contemporary romance + magical realism
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses

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Book Review: It All Comes Back to You by Melissa Wiesner

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 344 pages
Author: Melissa Wiesner
Publisher: Bookouture
Release Date: August 22nd, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

An absolutely unforgettable and heart-shattering romance, perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover, Lucy Score and Carley Fortune, that does keeping secrets destroy true love?

Anna works two jobs to get herself through college and never, ever talks about her family. It’s easier to keep her distance from everyone until she can finally leave her old life behind. That is, until chance throws her together with Gabe …

Gabe is top of the class, in a fancy fraternity, and has a big, perfect, warm-hearted family. He is everything Anna is not. Their connection is undeniable. His silver-blue eyes pierce right through her, and he makes her laugh in ways she never thought possible. But Anna would do anything to stop Gabe from discovering her darkest secret, and the real reason she goes home every night to a cold, silent apartment…

When Gabe and his family get close to the truth, Anna runs, vowing to never see them again. But forever is a long time…

Years later. Tragedy brings Anna back to the town she grew up in—a place she escaped a decade ago. When Gabe wraps his strong arms around her, it’s like finally finding home.

But when the truth comes out after all these years, will both their worlds come crashing down? Gabe is the one person Anna trusts but what if he has secrets, too? And how much pain can two hearts endure, before they are torn apart forever?

It All Comes Back to You will make you laugh, cry with both joy and pain, and hold your loved ones tight.

Thank you to Nerd Fam and the author for a gifted copy.

HERE WE GO.

I went in with best intentions on this one. I was excited to try a new author and the initial premise was good. Consider me intrigued.

And while plenty of the book is fine. I had one glaring issue. The FMC, Anna. Based off of her past and situation I could understand why she ran away the first time…and maybe the second time too. I’ll give you that one. But then, that became the whole plot. Anytime that Gabe wanted to have a good conversation, maybe a hard one too, or was telling her something she absolutely needed to hear, Anna would run. And I’m talking, take a plane, I’ll see you in a few years run and it was exhausting.

The timeline went from the “past” for half the book and then jumped three years every chapter in the second half. The whiplash created by this made the romance feel lack luster. I appreciated that there was no romantic entanglement when they first met, but I would have loved more true swoony moments to actually feel some chemistry between them.

All of the supposed reveals and turns are nothing you weren’t expecting from the beginning. My will to keep going felt dashed and I kept waiting for this book to wrap things up.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: fade to black
  • Violence: low
  • Content Warnings: child abandonment, domestic violence (side plot/character), drug use/addiction

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Book Review: Taken With Trouble (Caught in Chaos #2) by Jenessa Fayeth

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 263 pages
Author: Jenessa Fayeth
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: December 10th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Serena Cruz

Being taken hostage by a criminal was not on my agenda for the week. The plan was to catch Liam Hawthorne, the billionaire con artist, and finally prove myself and gain the attention of my boss.

Liam caught me instead.

Forget the bounty, I’m killing him. However, it’s proving a rather difficult task–especially when he convinces me to help him.

He’s trying to con me, but I won’t be falling for it.

Unfortunately, ignoring his flirtations and kindness is getting harder. It’s possible the conman is…more than he seems.

Falling for him would be stupid, especially with bullets flying and lives in danger. So why do I melt every time he touches me?

Only one of us will make it out of this mess a free person, and it’s going to be me.

Liam Hawthorne

I’ve stolen many priceless and beautiful things, but nothing compares to FBI Agent Serena Cruz. I rather enjoy the company of the feisty woman intent on killing me…clearly I’ve been on the run for too long. Or has pulling guns on someone always been this seductive?

I digress. I took her to save her, though she doesn’t believe that. I can’t say I blame her when there’s someone trying to kill us at every turn.

It’s all my fault. I tried to be better, but instead, I dragged her into this mess and now our lives are both in danger.

I was fine when it was only my life on the line.

Serena Cruz has stolen my heart.

OKAY THIS WAS GREAT.

My first book by this author but certainly not my last. This really grew on me and by the end I was glued to my screen because I had been utterly charmed.

I WILL NOTE NOW, please read the first book in this series before this. My original understanding was that these were standalones. But the whole time I was reading Taken I thought I was missing some information and lo and behold, that shows up in book one.

Liam is such a golden retriever puppy. And I adored his energy. Apparently I really love this dynamic. The flirting and protectiveness and the history?? Stop it right now. The banter was great and I appreciated the fast paced that kept things moving. I want more spy rom-coms like this now. Fun and sweet with some hold your breath moments. Looking forward to more!

Overall audience notes:

  • Spy Rom-Com
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings: physical violence, weapons violence, kidnapping, attempted murder

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