Book Review: City of Ghosts (Cassidy Blake #1) by Victoria Schwab

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆  
Audience: Middle-Grade Paranormal
Length: 285 pages
Author: Victoria Schwab
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: August 28th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

They’re here.
They’re watching.

Cass can pull back the Veil that separates the living from the dead.

When Cass’s parents start hosting a TV show about the world’s most haunted places, the family heads off to Edinburgh. Here, graveyards, castles and secret passageways teem with restless phantoms.

But when Cass meets a girl who shares her “gift”, she realizes how much she still has to learn about the Veil—and herself. And she’ll have to learn fast. The city of ghosts is more dangerous than she ever imagined.

DELIGHTFUL AND SPOOKY.

And a fantastic audio book!! I really enjoyed this. I haven’t read a middle grade book in a long while and this reminded me why I like adding these into the mix. This was fun in a creepy way, and had cute friendship moments that I adored.

I thought Cass was a great main character. The writing was amazing in that I felt like she was definitely younger, but it never became annoying or drew me out of the story. I wanted to be her friend, cheer her on, and keep reading this story. The dynamic between her and Jacob was so sweet. I’m curious how that relationship will grow and evolve over the books (tears coming? MAYBE).

The plot was complex in its simplicity and I feel that really sways to middle grade. You knew exactly where things were going, but because of the writing and set-up, enjoyed the ride it took you on.

I just love Schwab’s books. And this is her first middle grade book I’ve read. After this, I have plans to read more of these!

Overall audience notes:

  • Middle grade paranormal contemporary
  • Language: none
  • Romance: none
  • Violence: a little physical, nothing intense

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Book Review: Poison Study (Poison Study #1) by Maria V. Snyder

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: New adult fantasy
Length: 361 pages
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Publisher: Luna Books
Release Date: September 27th, 2005
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Choose: A quick death . . . or slow poison.

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear. 

A GOOD START.

I’ve never had this book on my radar, and have only heard of it a few times. Yet, when a Bookstagram friend decided to do a read-a-long for it, I jumped on board! The premise was enough to convince me.

I found this interesting. It was a set-up I haven’t seen before and let me curious as to how all of these characters got here. Yelena was a great main character. Her strength and bravery in-front of horrid situations was amazing. I thought some of her inner monologues became repetitive, but Yelena in general was a favorite.

The romance between her and Valek was slow-rolling and enjoyable. It didn’t come on strongly and I found myself cheering them on. I adored Valek in his own right and these two made for a good story.

I’m a bit confused by the magic system here. I can’t even describe it because it kind of came out of nowhere and I’m still figuring out the rules of the game. I’m hoping in the next book there’s more explanation as to how it fits into the world. Speaking of the world, it was intriguing too. The way the land was split up, and how it was under a type of military regime. I’d be curious how this continues to develop as well.

I may have been left with a lot of questions, but the story really did work well as a first book in a series. I’m happy to continue reading them!

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy + Romance
  • Language: occasional
  • Romance: kisses; one little detailed love scene
  • Violence: murder, swords, physical altercations, arrows, poison
  • Trigger warnings: mentions of being raped with one brief flashback scene to it; sexual assault and harassment, torture, attempted rape

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ARC Book Review: The Knockout Rule (Showmen #4) by Kelly Siskind

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 340 pages
Author: Kelly Siskind
Publisher: CD Books
Release Date: February 24th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Siskind’s latest slow-burn romance is stay-up-all-night addictive and proves love hits when you least expect it…

Growing up with an adoring father for a boxing legend isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. It looks more like hospital visits, bloody noses, and cracked ribs.

Isla Slade now works as a physiotherapist, helping athletes heal their bodies. Except for boxers. She has no interest in reliving the stress of her teen years. Dating someone in the boxing world? She’d rather snort wasabi powder.

Until she meets Preston Church.

Preston manages heavyweight boxing darling Brick Kramarov. A brute who’s built tougher than his name, with a cocky attitude to boot. She wants nothing to do with either man, but her father begs her to help them prepare for a huge Vegas fight.

She doesn’t expect Preston to recite romantic poems and slowly break her resolve. His fascinating mind gets under her skin, even if his star athlete reminds her how much she hates boxing.

Too bad it’s Brick coaching Preston how to woo Isla, falling for her from the sidelines. Once she finds out, she’ll have to decide if she can risk loving another man who puts it all on the line for the knockout.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own!

BEAUTIFUL STORY.

Oh I adored this! A sports romance gem.

What I loved most was the truly real feeling of the characters. There are some raw and tender moments as over and over our main characters come to terms with the situations around them. I loved the dialogue and conversations that occurred because of this. It exponentially brought another level to the novel by creating beautifully flawed humans who saw some true growth.

Isla and Eric were such a match!! I loved their chemistry and banter. The absolutely precious moments between them. It was spicy and romantic. Even better, I did like how the conflict and resolution came out between them. It worked perfectly for the story and allowed for an adorable ending. I did think [for me] the romance was a bit heavy-handed and I did have to skip over a few scenes, but if you like higher steam, this is definitely a read for you!

I love that this was a sports romance. I found it really insightful actually to boxing. I don’t like boxing at all, but was impressed with seeing another side to it than just fighting. Even when the big match came up I wasn’t quite sure who would win. The way Siskind wrote out this narrative was on point and I’m happy it went the way it did!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong throughout
  • Romance: kisses to a few very open door scenes
  • Violence: boxing matches
  • Content/Trigger Warnings: depictions of anxiety and panic attacks, coping with learning a loved one has a degenerative illness

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Book Review: The Enemy (It Happened in Charleston #2) by Sarah Adams

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary romance
Length: 258 pages
Author: Sarah Adams
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: August 29th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It’s been twelve years since I’ve seen him. Twelve years since he won our war of wits by outsmarting me with a tactic I didn’t even know was allowed. But tonight…I resurrect the battle.

Ryan Henderson is back in town for our best friends’ wedding, and I plan on showing him exactly how much I don’t care about him—or the almost kiss he ruthlessly dangled over me after graduation.

A lot has changed since our feuding days. I’m a successful bakery owner now, and I plan to rub every delicious detail of my life in his ugly face.

Just one problem: his face is gorgeous.

He wasn’t supposed to look like this or pursue me like a sexy guided missile. I must stay strong until the wedding is over and Ryan scurries back into whatever alternate universe he escaped from.

His interest in me is nothing but a continuation of the games we played in high school…right?

But the longer he stays, the more I wonder if I’m wrong and his tender smile and heated attentions are genuine. Maybe it’s not a game.

Ha! Who am I kidding? This is Ryan we’re talking about. Of course it’s a game. A game called war. And this time, I will win.

I WANT A DOUGHNUT NOW.

I wasn’t originally planning on reading this because I didn’t love the first one in this series. A few friends reviews convinced me this was better, and they were RIGHT. I loved this one so much more and I’m happy that I read it. I may have enjoyed it enough to read it in one day. I was that smitten with Ryan.

This enemies to lovers romance took a bit different spin that most I’ve seen. Instead of *fighting the love* until closer to the end, Ryan especially, worked towards making things worked out sooner. With their past laid out well I love how this flowed and progressed. What made me even more happy was that the conflict (that you can always expect in a contemporary romance) fit into the story and instead of taking a turn for the ridiculousness, actually worked out beautifully. Some communication between Ryan and June turned the tables and solidified a great romance.

I struggled with June’s character for at least half the book. I understood why she was written in such a matter, but maybe it was pushed too hard? I don’t know, she just rubbed me the wrong way about how she chose to treat Ryan initially and a few other things. It was nice to see her character growth over the book.

The Enemy was entirely a different story than The Match. And one that I felt had a lot more to it. You don’t necessarily need to read The Match first, but the main characters do show up in this book and it may spoil a few things.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses / make-outs
  • Violence: physical
  • Trigger warnings: cheating fiance

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