Author: GoodeyReads

Book Review: The Witch Collector (Witch Walker #1) by Charissa Weaks

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 343 pages
Author: Charissa Weaks
Publisher: City Owl Press
Release Date: November 2nd, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Every harvest moon, the Witch Collector rides into our valley and leads one of us to the home of the immortal Frost King, to remain forever.

Today is that day—Collecting Day.

But he will not come for me. I, Raina Bloodgood, have lived in this village for twenty-four years, and for twenty-four years he has passed me by.

His mistake.

Raina Bloodgood has one desire: kill the Frost King and the Witch Collector who stole her sister. On Collecting Day, she means to exact murderous revenge, but a more sinister threat sets fire to her world. Rising from the ashes is the Collector, Alexus Thibault, the man she vowed to slay and the only person who can help save her sister.

Thrust into an age-old story of ice, fire, and ancient gods, Raina must abandon vengeance and aid the Witch Collector in saving the Frost King or let their empire—and her sister—fall into enemy hands. But the lines between good and evil blur, and Raina has more to lose than she imagined. What is she to do when the Witch Collector is no longer the villain who stole her sister, but the hero who’s stealing her heart?

SECOND HALF SAVE.

Oh blessed be that the second half was better. The initial start was good, but then it fell of steeply in pacing (and going around and around and around in the woods) that I almost lost faith in all of the good reviews I’ve seen.

I liked the development of Raina’s character. A bit jaded and bent on revenge at first she slowly comes around to listening and seeing how things are more different than she would have thought. Character growth is one of the biggest things I look for in a read and I appreciated seeing that here.

The romance grew on me. I liked the banter and enemies to lovers vibes. I think it took off quicker than expected (I thought it would be more slow burn to the second book), BUT there’s lots of options on how book two, plot wise, plays out. I do like Raina and Alexus together and all of the reveals about Alexus’s path have me waiting more!

There’s a pretty good plot here that I do think for the magic and world building was developed well. My issues lied in the pacing. I thought for a first book in a series I got enough information (without info dumping) to want to continue this series.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: open door
  • Violence: medium
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: war themes, loss of life, loss of loved ones, near death experiences

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Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: March 2023

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I had a GREAT READING MONTH Y’ALL. 45 books, so many five stars. I’m reading for spring!

Favorites this month!

  • Last Violent Call
  • Pleasantly Pursued
  • Betting on the Boy Next Door
  • Blackmoore
  • Kulti
  • The Bear and the Nightingale
  • The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
  • When the Day Comes
  • The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Reread)
  • Things We Never Got Over
  • Along a Breton Shore
  • Return to Satterthwaite Court
  • Six Scorched Roses
  • Juniper Bean Resorts to Murder
  • Lady of Darkness
  • The Girl in the Tower
  • The Winter of the Witch
  • Tilly in Technicolor
  • Kissing for Keeps
  • Wicked Walking

Least favorites:

  • The Impossible Princess
  • Trial of the Sun Queen
  • A Crown of Swords
  • [Novella] Last Violent Call (Foul Lady Fortune #1.5) by Chloe Gong
  • Pleasantly Pursued (Bradwell Brothers #2) by Kasey Stockton
  • The Heir and the Spare by Kate Stradling
  • One Iridescent Night (The Iridescent Series #1) by Brianne Wik
  • Infinity + One by Amy Harmon
  • [ARC] Betting on the Boy Next Door (Betting on Love #1) by Melanie Jacobson
  • [Reread] Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson
  • [ALC] Long Live the Elf Queen (The Elf Queen #2) by J.M. Kearl
  • [ARC] When Tomorrow Came by Hannah Linder
  • Gentleman Jim (Somerset Stories #2) by Mimi Matthews
  • [Reread] Kulti by Mariana Zapata
  • [ARC] Oxford Star by Laura Bradbury
  • [Reread] The Bear and the Nightingale (The Winternight Trilogy #1) by Katherine Arden
  • The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (Amina al-Sirafi #1) by S.A. Chakraborty
  • The Impossible Princess by Kiera Dominguez
  • When the Day Comes (Timeless #1) by Gabrielle Meyer
  • [ARC] Legends and Liars (Echoes and Empires #2) by Morgan Rhodes
  • [Reread] The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia #1) by Carissa Broadbent
  • The Fire in the Glass (The Charismatics #1) by Jacquelyn Benson
  • Sir Andrew and the Authoress (Clairvoir Castle Romances #3) by Sally Britton
  • Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout #1) by Lucy Score
  • [ARC] Along A Breton Shore by Arlem Hawks
  • Trial of the Sun Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos #1) by Nisha J. Tuli
  • A Crown of Swords (The Wheel of Time #7) by Robert Jordan
  • Nightbirds (Nightbirds #1) by Kate J. Armstrong
  • [ARC] Return to Satterthwaite Court (Somerset Stories #3) by Mimi Matthews
  • A Companion for the Count (Clairvoir Castle Romances #2) by Sally Britton
  • The Prince of Prohibition (Fae of the Roaring Age #1) by Marilyn Marks
  • Oathbound (The Royal Rose Chronicles #1) by Victoria McCombs
  • [ARC/Novella] Six Scorched Roses (Crowns of Nyaxia #1.5) by Carissa Broadbent
  • [ARC] Juniper Bean Resorts to Murder by Gracie Ruth Mitchell
  • Lady of Darkness (Lady of Darkness #1) by Melissa K. Roehrich
  • [Reread] The Girl in the Tower (The Winternight Trilogy #2) by Katherine Arden
  • [Gifted] Love Redesigned (Some Kind of Love #1) by Jenny Proctor
  • Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen
  • Lady of Shadows (Lady of Darkness #2) by Melissa K. Roehrich
  • This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang
  • Seven Faceless Saints (Seven Faceless Saints #1) by M.K. Lobb
  • [Reread] The Winter of the Witch (The Winternight Trilogy #3) by Katherine Arden
  • [ARC] Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings
  • The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest
  • Battling the Bluestocking (The Donovans #3) by Martha Keyes
  • [ARC] Kissing for Keeps (Sheppard’s in Love #1) by Martha Keyes
  • [Gifted] Wicked Walking (Fallow Creek #2) by Claudia Cain
  • The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre by Natasha Lester

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Book Review: Wing and a Miss (Deadlights Cove #3) by B. Perkins and Aimee Vance

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Paranormal Romance
Length: 324 pages
Author: B. Perkins and Aimee Vance
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: February 4th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Dr. Selene Flores spent the last 13 years in Boston creating a life outside of Deadlights Cove. Successful practice, her own condo, and a lackluster social life. When Mayor Orion calls in a debt, her life is turned upside down.

Ryker, supernatural bounty hunter and mercenary, is injured on his way back from tracking down the demon-witch causing chaos in their world. The wound should be impossible for an ancient magic-wielding dragon shifter, yet it’s not healing with magic, and Selene is the only witch medically-trained who might be able to help him.

Only problem is, Selene has been avoiding Ryker since their one-night stand on Halloween.

The two are forced to put their differences aside when chaos strikes again, impairing the magic in Deadlights Cove and beyond. Who better to continue the hunt for the culprit than the one witch who doesn’t rely on her magic?

Except there’s no way in Hel that Ryker is letting Selene take over his job. Not alone.

Follow Selene and Ryker’s story, along with the quirky band of local misfits, in Book 3 of the Deadlights Cove series, Wing and A Miss. While each book follows a different couple, the Deadlights Cove series is best read in order, starting with Smoke Show.

NEW SERIES FAVORITE.

I have highly enjoyed every book in this series, but Wing and a Miss is my new favorite. It hit a new level of perfectly placed banter and with a grumpy protective hero? SIGN ME UP.

Even though Selene and Ryker started off a one night stand (which yay for me was off page prior to the book) they built their relationship from that and I was very much connected to seeing them fall in love. There were so many good moments between them. The snarky taking care of you scenes, to the cabin in the woods, to every other stolen time they got. LOVED it all.

The over arching plot continues to keep my attention too. I like that it adds the action and intrigue while the romance stays at the fore front. This book are a lot of fun. I like that they make me laugh, swoon and sit on the edge of my seat. There’s multiple other couples I can’t wait to get books for!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Paranormal Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: 3 open; low-med explicit
  • Violence: mild
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: gun violence, kidnapping

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ARC Book Review: Juniper Bean Resorts to Murder by Gracie Ruth Mitchell

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance + Mystery
Length: 368 pages
Author: Gracie Ruth Mitchell
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: March 31st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Juniper Bean has big plans for her writing career. Swoony kisses, sigh-inducing happily ever afters—she’s going to write them all.

There’s just one problem: she can’t seem to stop killing off her main characters.

After accepting that a genre change is in order, Juniper sets out to do some research. What’s the best way to carry a dead body? How exactly does one pick a lock? Juniper is going to find out—with the unwilling help of her new roommate, Aiden.

But Juniper’s plans go haywire when she stumbles across an actual, real-life dead body—and before she knows it, she and Aiden are thrust into the middle of a murder mystery that seems suspiciously tied to Juniper’s past.

Who killed the girl in the woods? Can Juniper ever get the hang of mystery writing? And, perhaps the biggest question of all: Why the heck does Aiden look so good in a tweed jacket?

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

WHAT A COMBINATION.

I increasingly became obsessed with this story the more I read. It was a beautiful combination of romance, mystery, vulnerability and humor. My new favorite book by Gracie Ruth Mitchell.

This romance was off the charts tender. With a dash of second chance and a feeling of fate playing a role, Juniper and Aiden found each other [again]. I loved the way they bounced off of each other and how you could really see the growth in their bond as they worked together to solve a murder mystery. There were incredibly vulnerable moments from both Aiden and Juniper about how they perceive themselves and things they knew they needed to work on and it had me all misty-eyed at the end. I felt all the feels.

The mystery played out well!! It was woven in behind the romance (without overshadowing) and I was still very much intensely involved in solving the crimes. Those more intense ending scenes were exactly what I was hoping for and all of the grand reveals simultaneously broke my heart and gave me relief for the characters involved.

A really great read. I could keep gushing about all of the tiny moments I absolutely adored that came together to make this book huggable. I know this was a mix-up in what GRM usually writes and she NAILED IT.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance + Mystery
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, knife violence, alludes to sexual assault and rape (of a side character), loss of a mother, lack of food resources

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