Tag: atria books

ARC Book Review: The Shadowed Land (The Lost Queen #3) by Signe Pike

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Fantasy
Length: 400 pages
Author: Signe Pike
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: December 3rd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

King Arthur and his contemporaries are boldly reimagined in this “mystical, epic, and captivating” (Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author) series that resurrects the real historical figures who inspired one of our most enduring legends. Kingdom of Gododdin, AD 580: After defeating the Angles at the Battle of the Caledonian Wood, Languoreth, her daughter Angharad, brother Lailoken, and the warrior Artúr mac Aedan are reunited. But all too soon, fate pulls each back to their own path. Artúr receives a mysterious summons from his father in Dalriada. Languoreth and Lailoken return to Strathclyde with the dangerous former bishop Mungo in tow, determined to maintain the fragile peace between the Christians and the people of the Old Way. Meanwhile, Angharad must travel deep into the shadowed land of the Picts, hoping to become the initiate of Briochan, a druid who practices the secret Celtic art of summoning weather. As they rise to their destinies, they are pushed to impossible new frontiers as each must decide whether they are willing to do what it takes to be the heroes their harrowing days demand. This “rich, immersive” (Kirkus Reviews) saga transports the reader to a vivid world of mysticism, beauty, and meticulously researched early medieval history.

Thank you Atria Books for the Goodreads Giveaway win.

THIS DID NOT BRING PEACE.

Oh how the devastation hits me every time I read one of these books. I love how entranced I become by the history and fantasy colliding and am pulled in by the depth of these characters. I love all of the POV’s and the different dynamics they bring to the story. It’s a book where mistakes are made and rights sometimes turn out wrong and where you will FEEL for each of these characters.

I loved this next installment and the slow and languid build to an intense ending. I loved having more of Artur’s story line and his rise to power. The research that clearly had to go into this to bring the atmosphere and plot to life is astounding. The writing is carefully crafted and filled with nuanced themes that will hit you in the soul.

Originally I thought this was a trilogy, but this definitely left space for more story and I am once again enthralled and in need of the next book.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical fantasy
  • Language: low
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content Warnings: brief allusions to sexual assault (recounted), infidelity (recounted), murder, battle themes, loss of life, grief depictions

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: August 2024

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

I’m just happy football is back. A big list of favorites this month!

Favorites this month:

  • Not Safe for Work
  • Ghostsmith
  • Delicate Escape
  • So True a Love
  • Better Than the Movies (reread)
  • A Heart Sufficient (reread)
  • Nothing Like the Movies
  • A Peculiar Combination
  • Quicksilver
  • Elizabeth of East Hampton
  • The Mist Thief
  • How to Hide in Plain Sight
  • Runaway Bride and Prejudice
  • Apprentice to the Villain
  • Demon Copperhead
  • Once Upon a Boyband
  • The Never Curse
  • [ARC] Drown Me with Dreams (Sing Me to Sleep #1) by Gabi Burton
  • The Fiancé Dilemma (The Long Game #2) by Elena Armas
  • Not Safe for Work (California Love #2) by Lindsey Lanza
  • Hearts That Cut (Threads That Bind #2) by Kika Hatzopoulou
  • [ARC] No Match for Love by Karen Thornell
  • The Mirror of Beasts (Silver in the Bone #2) by Alexandra Bracken
  • Not You Again by Ingrid Pierce
  • Songbird of the Sorrows (Myths of the Empyrieos #1) by Braidee Otto
  • [ALC] Ghostsmith (House of the Dead #2) by Nicki Pau Preto
  • [ARC] Beyond Ivy Walls by Rachel Fordham
  • [ARC] Delicate Escape (Sparrow Falls #2) by Catherine Cowles
  • The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love (Love’s Academic #1) by India Holton
  • [Novella] Better Than Before (Better Than the Movies #0.5) by Lynn Painter
  • [Reread] Better Than the Movies (Better Than the Movies #1) by Lynn Painter
  • [Novella] Better Than the Prom (Better Than the Movies #1.5) by Lynn Painter
  • [ARC] So True a Love by Joanna Barker
  • [Reread] A Heart Sufficient (The Penn-Leiths of Thistle Muir #4) by Nichole Van
  • [ARC] The Thirteenth Child by Erin A. Craig
  • [ARC] Serpent Sea (The Spice Road Trilogy #2) by Maiya Ibrahim
  • [ARC] Nothing Like the Movies (Better Than the Movies #2) by Lynn Painter
  • Black Tide Son (The Winter Sea #2) by H.M. Long
  • Haunted Ever After (Boneyard Key #1) by Jen DeLuca
  • A Peculiar Combination (Electra McDonnell #1) by Ashley Weaver
  • Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy #1) by Callie Hart
  • Positively, Penelope (Skymar #1) by Pepper Basham
  • [ARC] A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang
  • Elizabeth of East Hampton (For the Love of Austen #2) by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding
  • The Mist Thief (The Ever Seas #3) by L.J. Andrews
  • [ARC/ALC] Long Live Evil (Time of Iron #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan
  • [ARC] How to Hide in Plain Sight by Emma Noyes
  • The Maid and the Crocodile (Raybearer) by Jordan Ifueko
  • The Grandest Game (The Grandest Game #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
  • [ARC] Runaway Bride and Prejudice (Appies) by Emma St. Clair
  • [ARC] Bring Me Home by Ashley Weston
  • Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other by Bethany Turner
  • Apprentice to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain #2) by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
  • Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
  • Wisteria (Belladonna #3) by Adalyn Grace
  • [ARC] Once Upon a Boyband (Midnight Rush #1) by Jenny Proctor
  • The Never Curse (The Otherworlds Series #1.5) by Courtney Millecam

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: The Long Game (Long Game #1) by Elena Armas

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Elena Armas
Publisher: Atria
Release Date: September 5th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A disgraced soccer exec reluctantly enlists the help of a retired soccer star in coaching a children’s team in this smalltown love story in the vein of Ted Lasso and It Happened One Summer —from the New York Times bestselling author of The Spanish Love Deception.

Adalyn Reyes has spent years perfecting her daily routine: wake up at dawn, drive to the Miami Flames FC offices, try her hardest to leave a mark, go home, and repeat.

But her routine is disrupted when a video of her in an altercation with the team’s mascot goes viral. Rather than fire her, the team’s owner—who happens to be her father—sends Adalyn to middle-of-nowhere North Carolina, where she’s tasked with turning around the struggling local soccer team, the Green Warriors, as a way to redeem herself. Her plans crumble upon discovering that the players wear tutus to practice (impractical), keep pet goats (messy), and are terrified of Adalyn (counterproductive), and are nine-year-old kids.

To make things worse, also in town is Cameron Caldani, goalkeeping prodigy whose presence is somewhat of a mystery. Cam is the perfect candidate to help Adalyn, but after one very unfortunate first encounter involving a rooster, Cam’s leg, and Adalyn’s bumper, he’s also set on running her out of town. But banishment is not an option for Adalyn. Not again. Helping this ragtag children’s team is her road to redemption, and she is playing the long game. With or without Cam’s help.

WELL.

If you know anything about me, it’s that The Spanish Love Deception is one of my all time favorite romance reads. I love Elena Armas books. Buuuut I will say this one missed a few marks for me. Still recommend, still good, just not everything I hoped for.

The second half was MUCH better. I thought the chemistry finally combusted and you got to see both characters together a lot more without as much contention. I know this had an enemies to lovers vibe and it kind of worked? The soccer girls were real cute and I love all things small town romance. There’s some realllllllly great swoony lines that had me in a puddle and I ended up loving Cam. Doing all of the little things paints a big picture.

The first half though was definitely missing something. I didn’t feel that connection between Cam and Adalyn and the plot wasn’t going much of anywhere. And with the third act, it didn’t make me wildly angry, BUT I did see a clear route it could have gone and I think would have been even better. And it happened at NINETY PERCENT? That’s too late. Adalyn could have really used a karmic retribution moment. I wanted to see a few people in her life actually suffer the consequences of their actions. She was left out to try way too many times.

I still enjoy the writing and story telling style. It’s not a bad book, just missing some of those key aspects that I was hoping to find.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: very strong
  • Romance: 3-4 open
  • Violence: low

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: The Cloisters by Katy Hays

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Genre: Mystery 
Length: 320 pages
Author: Katy Hays
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: November 1st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination.

Desperate to escape her painful past, Ann is happy to indulge the researchers’ more outlandish theories about the history of fortune telling. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future. When the dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition at The Cloisters turns deadly, Ann becomes locked in a race for answers as the line between the arcane and the modern blurs.

A haunting and magical blend of genres, The Cloisters is a gripping debut that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Thank you to Book Club Favorites and Simon & Schuster for the gifted copy.

BORING.

Goooood heavens. I thought I was getting one book and got another and I’m sad about that.

Things started off well, I liked the initial vibes and was curious about how all of this was going to go down, little did I know, how monotonous it would be.

Mostly it’s Ann going to work, hanging out with coworkers and occasionally finding something interesting. THEN SOMETHING EXCITING FINALLY HAPPENED, a murder! Who’s done it?! And while for a minute there I wasn’t sure, it became pretty clear, pretty quickly, who it was.

And then I spent the rest of the book trying to speed (3x audio) read through it.

The writing itself was good, it was the organization of plot and ideas that I found lacking. Parts of the ending had some tidbits that were interesting and at last gave the book the “dark” academia vibe I was told it had.

I just really needed more in many areas.

Overall audience notes:

  • Mystery
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: medium
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, fatmisia, drug use and abuse, car accident

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph