ARC Book Review: What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez

October 26, 2023August 1, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Historical Fantasy
Length: 416 pages
Author: Isabel Ibanez
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: October 31st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns the most: her globetrotting parents—who frequently leave her behind.

When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and an ancient golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.

With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance—or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.

The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in this lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the eARC.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED.

This has got to be one of the best cliffhangers I’ve read in recent memory. When I tell you my jaw DROPPED and I frantically read the last page multiple times trying to figure out what happened, ohhhhh boy. That right there deserves a lot of praise. I love a good blindside. BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN.

The tension in this romance will send you to space. Whit and Inez are two planets orbiting each other but not quite close enough. AND I LIVED FOR IT ALL. Give me all of the build moments. I am a sucker. I loved both of them as separate characters too. Complicated backgrounds and trauma, learning to be open and lean on each other, just all the goodness I love seeing in main characters.

I thought the plot was fantastic and it sent me on multiple internet dives to read more about Cleopatra and Egypt. I loved the way that history was blending in with the fantasy and how lush and beautiful the words built the world. Immersive and daring and WILD twists and turns. I may have caught one, but in no way caught them all.

I NEED BOOK TWO NOW.

Overall audience notes:

YA Historical Fantasy Romance
Language: a little strong
Romance: heated make-out
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: gun violence, murder, kidnapping, loss of loved ones, near death experiences

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Book Review: A Queen Comes to Power (An Heir Comes to Rise #2) by C.C. Penaranda

October 25, 2023October 30, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 535 pages
Author: C.C. Penaranda
Publisher: Lumarias Press
Release Date: August 1st, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A DUTY…

Bound in service to the king within the city, Faythe grapples with morality to keep herself and her friends safe. Nik’s loyalty is tested as he struggles against his father’s cruel ways. When blood and duty divide the heart, can love conquer all?

AN ALLIANCE…

While the kingdoms prepare to unite, Faythe is forced to remain hidden in plain sight. But suspicions quickly arise with the mysterious fae general from an ally court. Getting close to Reylan could unravel truths she longed for, but trust is hard to gain and even harder to hold. When lurking evil threatens the alliance that keeps them all safe, Faythe may find herself on the side where danger meets desire in a force that could break past the guard on her heart.

A CHOICE…

For the threat of battle isn’t the only conflict to fear. Faythe can’t forget the deal she struck in the woods to save her friend’s life–and it’s time to fulfil. Finding the temple ruin leads them to harrowing discoveries within the castle…and something far more sinister than the war that lingers. It seems everyone will receive more than they bargained for. A history that haunts, truths that destroy, and a tangled destiny they didn’t expect.

When courts collide, blood may be spilled. But when destinies collide, blood may hold power.

GO READ THRONE OF GLASS.

I don’t feel good about continuing this series so I’m not. I think this is an icky line of plagiarism and I’m not cool with it whatsoever. I know books occasionally resemble others, it happens, but barely changing names and the plot doesn’t make a new book, it makes a copycat.

The writing is fine and I enjoyed listening to the audiobook. I think there’s a lot of potential for these characters if things weren’t this close to Throne of Glass. I would love to see them in a completely new setting with plot modifications.

I’m going to stop here because there isn’t much point of reviewing something I won’t be continuing. If you read this, read Throne of Glass first.

Overall audience notes:

Fantasy Romance
Language: some strong
Romance: brief open door
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: physical and magical violence, torture, kidnapping, loss of loved ones

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ARC Book Review: A Not-So-Distant Love by Heidi Kimball

October 24, 2023October 5, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 288 pages
Author: Heidi Kimball
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Release Date: October 24th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Lady Charlotte Darrington’s path in life is clearly laid out before she will select a suitable husband, marry, and one day inherit her father’s Scottish dukedom. But a growing restlessness has her desperate for a bit of freedom before her all-too-certain future closes in. When the opportunity to travel to America arises, Charlotte leaps at the chance and soon finds herself across the Atlantic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her American hosts and their friends couldn’t be more welcoming―all except one. The insufferable Dr. Galloway captures her eye―and her ire. Life has made Dr. Alec Galloway wary of everyone, including the self-important Lady Charlotte Darrington, who thinks herself above Pittsburgh society. He makes no qualms about voicing his disapproval of Britain’s archaic peerage system, or of a certain peeress herself, though he never intended for his brusque opinions to reach her ears, sparking a conflagration neither could have foreseen. Yet as Charlotte gains insight into Alec’s wounded past, she offers him something that changes everything―her friendship. Despite Alec’s determination to keep everyone at bay, she slowly erodes his defenses, allowing him glimpses of a future he never imagined. Soon he must decide whether to face his past fears and grasp a second chance at love or risk losing Charlotte forever.

Thank you to the publisher and author for an eARC.

I LOVED THIS SO MUCH.

This was exactly what I needed when I picked it up. I was misty eyed finishing those last few pages because this book held so much goodness and powerful themes and that raw human nature of coping with grief and the battering your faith can take sometimes.

I ADORED Charlotte. I loved that she was a take charge type of character and that she knew what she wanted. And Alec? SMITTEN doesn’t even begin to cover it. I felt deeply for his soul and the struggles he was working through. I loved every single moment of their romance. From getting off on the wrong foot, to finding true friendship and falling into that soulmate kind of love.

This was beautiful. I already want to read it again so I can highlight many lines and pages. I love the way Heidi Kimball presented the faith elements and how profound the characters are. The general them of second chances was scattered throughout and with many of the side characters. My heart was fit to burst reading this y’all.

Another incredible book by one of my favorite historical authors.

Overall audience notes:

Historical Romance
Language: none
Romance: toe curling kisses
Violence: moderate
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a spouse, mentions of epidemics, depictions of grief/depression, loss of loved ones

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Book Review: Deja Brew (Deadlights Cove #2) by Aimee Vance and B. Perkins

October 23, 2023October 30, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Paranormal Romance
Length: 292 pages
Author: Aimee Vance and B. Perkins
Publisher: Revel Books
Release Date: October 1st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Nimue Fitzpatrick never really meant to leave Deadlights Cove, but after she’d impulsively kissed her best friend, Kit Sayana, it suddenly became easier to take freelance photography jobs out of town. Just what she needed to forget the mess and the amber eyes she couldn’t bear to face anymore in the Cove. Now, after four years away, it might be time to admit that she’s been avoiding him.

The last four years haven’t been the easiest for Kit as the pressure to assume his responsibilities as future Alpha for the Arrowwood skulk takes over his life. Needing space, he moved out of his family home and into the apartment above his tea shop, Immortali-Tea. Despite the closeness among the members of his skulk, there is one thing he hasn’t shared with anyone, even his closest friends: ever since he kissed Nimue all those years ago, he’s known she’s his mate. The problem is that an interspecies mate bond is impossible, so it can never be.

When Nimue returns home for her cousin Blaze’s Halloween party, everything changes. No matter how the two childhood friends try to avoid their feelings for each other, fate has other plans. With magic turning on the shifters, the town is set into a panic that requires everyone to work together — especially Kit and Nimue.

Can they recover their prior friendship enough to come together and solve the next mystery, before it has lasting effects on the shifters in town?

Follow Kit and Nimue’s story, along with the quirky band of local misfits, through the Deadlights Cove series, in book two, Deja Brew.

While each book follows a different couple, the Deadlights Cove series is best read in order. Catch up and find out what Petra and Blaze discover in book one, Smoke Show, first.

FIERY.

I love this quirky town. It’s like my favorite small town contemporaries but make it spooky and I am here for it. There’s all sorts of paranormal creatures running around and I love that there’s different focuses on learning more about them with each book.

Fated mates reallllly worked for me between Kit and Nimue. It was written incredibly well that had me feeling all the chemistry they had for each other. It was hot and sweet and all the things in between.

The outside plot is interesting and I like how it subtly continues. Not overshadowing the romance but upping some intensity and bringing the action. This is a great writing duo and I look forward to the future books in this series!

Overall audience notes: