Book Review: My Imaginary Mary (Mary #2) by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

September 1, 2023September 21, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Historical Romance
Length: 496 pages
Author: Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: August 2nd 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It’s aliiiiiiiive! The bestselling authors of My Lady Jane are back with the electric, poetic, and (almost) historical tale of the one and only Mary Shelley.

Mary may have inherited the brilliant mind of her late mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, but she lives a drab life above her father’s bookstore, waiting for an extraordinary idea that’ll inspire a work worthy of her parentage—and impress her rakishly handsome (and super-secret) beau, Percy Shelley.

Ada Lovelace knows a thing or two about superstar parents, what with her dad being Lord Byron, the most famous poet on Earth. But her passions lie far beyond the arts—in mechanical engineering, to be exact. Alas, no matter how precise Ada’s calculations, there’s always a man willing to claim her ingenious ideas as his own.

Pan, a.k.a. Practical Automaton Number One, is Ada’s greatest idea yet: a machine that will change the world, if only she can figure out how to make him truly autonomous . . . or how to make him work at all.

When fate connects our two masterminds, Mary and Ada learn that they are fae—magical people with the ability to make whatever they imagine become real. But when their dream team results in a living, breathing, thinking PAN, Mary and Ada find themselves hunted by a mad scientist who won’t stop until he finds out how they made a real boy out of spare parts.

With comic genius and a truly electrifying sense of adventure, Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows continue their campaign to turn history on its head in this YA fantasy that’s perfect for fans of The Princess Bride and A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue.

IT’S [MOSTLY] ALIVE.

I have an up and down relationship with these books. In the previous set, I loved the first and then things started going downhill from there.

This felt like a turn back to the original My Lady Jane. HALLELUJAH.

What a fun book. It’s very quirkny and had interesting twists and turn of phrases that absolutely made me laugh more than once. I love the vibe of these reads and the unique take on historical and fantastical combinations.

Frankenstein turned automaton was cool!! I really liked this switch and it made the plot feel different with all of the hints of the original. Who knew I’d be into Frankenstein based books so much? I enjoyed the characters and nods to different figures and not to mention a lot of well placed pop culture references.

Towards the end things do start to feel a bit stretched and lengthy. Luckily I was able to kick my audio speed up a few notches. Otherwise, a good read that makes me hopeful to continue the other books (and go back to the first) in this series.

Overall audience notes:

YA Historical Fantasy
Language: a little
Romance: kisses
Violence: medium
Trigger/Content Warnings: kidnapping, physical altercations

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ARC Book Review: Just Don’t Fall (Sweater Weather #1) by Emma St. Clair

August 31, 2023August 22, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Sports Romance
Length: 300 pages
Author: Emma St. Clair
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: August 31st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Before Logan Barnes was hockey’s hottest bad boy, he was my brother’s best friend … and my first crush. Oh, yeah–and the guy who ghosted me and broke my teenage heart.

Now Logan is back in Harvest Hollow, but not willingly. Recovering from an injury (and some bad press), he’s stuck playing for our minor league team. Which means I’ll be working with him almost daily. As the hockey team’s social media manager, it’s my job to wrangle all the guys into filming TikTok trending videos. But Logan doesn’t want to be wrangled. Turns out … neither does my heart. Because my old crush never died.

And when Logan becomes my accidental fake boyfriend, those old feelings flare hot enough to melt the ice. But this is all totally one-sided. Totally fake. Isn’t it? No matter what signals he seems to be giving me or how real things start to feel, I know Logan’s not home for good. I survived Logan leaving me once. But this time, I’m not so sure my heart will recover …

Just Don’t Fall is a small town, closed door hockey romcom with all the fake dating, brother’s best friend vibes. You’ll get smoking chemistry and characters to root for but NO spice. (Yes, you read that right–a low spice hockey romance.) Perfect for fans of sports romance who want a less heat.

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

THE SWOON.

I NEED MORE closed door sports romances. Oh my goodness this was so good. Binge in a day, go to bed too late, GOOD.

First and foremost I have got to say that I read the hottest no kissing scene I have ever [potentially] read. GOOD HEAVENS. The heat, I was BURNING (I feel like I need to reiterate again that there is no spice in here, Emma St. Clair does an incredible job of writing steam without it being spicy). ANYWHO. I loved it. The slow burn, fake dating romance had me begging for the real thing and it delivered.

I adored Logan and Parker. Both on their own and separate. I loved seeing the character progression for Logan. He’s rough and protective, but also comes to a lot of realizations about his life and how he wants to move forward. And Parker is a beautifully strong woman who knows how she wants her life to look. I loved that she was flexible without compromising. And them together just brought all of the sparks and chemistry of an old unrequited crush.

There’s definitely some hockey aspects, some goofy TikTok dances and a grand gesture [or two]. It is light, filled with depth, will make you smile and bring all of the fall vibes.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Sports Romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: strained parental relationships

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ARC Book Review: The Phoenix King (The Ravence Trilogy #1) by Aparna Verma

August 31, 2023July 25, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Fantasy
Length: 512 pages
Author: Aparna Verma
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: August 31st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In a kingdom where flames hold magic and the desert hides secrets, an ancient prophecy comes for an assassin, a princess, and a king. But none are ready to face destiny—and the choices they make could burn the world.

“If we carry the burdens of our fathers, we’ll never know what it means to be free.”

For Elena Aadya Ravence, fire is yearning. She longs to feel worthy of her Phoenix god, of her ancestors who transformed the barren dunes of Sayon into a thriving kingdom. But though she knows the ways and wiles of the desert better than she knows her own skin, the secrets of the Eternal Flame elude her. And without them, she’ll never be accepted as queen.

For Leo Malhari Ravence, fire is control. He is not ready to give up his crown—there’s still too much work to be done to ensure his legacy remains untarnished, his family protected. But power comes with a price, and he’ll wage war with the heavens themselves to keep from paying it.

For Yassen Knight, fire is redemption. He dreams of shedding his past as one of Sayon’s most deadly assassins, of laying to rest the ghosts of those he has lost. If joining the court of flame and serving the royal Ravence family—the very people he once swore to eliminate—will earn him that, he’ll do it no matter what they ask of him.

But the Phoenix watches over all and the fire has a will of its own. It will come for all three, will come for Sayon itself….and they must either find a way to withstand the blaze or burn to ash.

Thank you to Orbit for the ARC.

DISAPPOINTED.

This book was a struggle to get through. I think unfortunately I got off on the wrong foot with it because I wasn’t super into the writing style and it went downhill from there.

I’m very confused by the world building. It’s fantasy, but sci-fi, but dystopian? I’m not quite sure and I wish some more time was spent in creating a world that made sense.

The characters were pretty cardboard too. My favorite was Leo. That man was jumping off the deep end, but at least he was doing something and had a personality. You never knew quite what he was going to do next and that was somewhat intriguing. Yassen and Elena were every fantasy main character you’ve ever seen. There romance was suuuuper lack luster and I wanted to connect more with them too. For 500 pages I felt like a lot was missing.

There’s some cool ideas here with the Phoenix/Prophet scenario. I was surprised by some of the things that happened at the end. But I can’t tell you if I want to pick up book two. Maybe on audio.

Overall audience notes:

Fantasy
Language: some strong
Romance: one very brief & vague
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of loved ones, battle themes, torture, being burned alive, mass murder

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Book Review: Rhythm, Chord & Malykhin by Mariana Zapata

August 30, 2023September 13, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 398 pages
Author: Mariana Zapata
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: August 21st, 2015
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Twenty-six-year-old Gaby Barreto might be a lot of things (loyal, sarcastic, one of the guys and a pain in the butt depending on which family member you ask), but dumb isn’t one of them. When her twin brother invites her to go on tour as his band’s merch girl, she isn’t exactly screaming at the top of her lungs with joy.

With no job opportunities pounding on her door, an ex-boyfriend she would still like to castrate, and no end in sight to moving out of her parents’ house in Dallas… it would be dumb to say no to the chance of a lifetime. Two bands, three continents, one tour. Spending the next ninety-plus days with three beloved idiots and eight complete strangers shouldn’t be a big deal, right?

If only the singer of the headlining band didn’t have tattoos… a great personality… a fantastic body… and if he wasn’t so funny….

Let’s be real: Gaby never had a chance against Sacha Malykhin.

CHALLENGED.

I am trying to read through MZ’s backlist, and unfortunately realizing those aren’t hitting as well for me as her newer stuff. BUT, this book got progressively better and I didn’t mind reading it in the end.

I was turned off by the high level of crass and off-color jokes between the band. I’m sure it was trying to set the stage for how the group interacts and messes around with each other. Yet the found family vibes fell a bit flat with some of the commentary. They did take care of each other when it really counted though and I did appreciate that.

The romance hero was super different from previous books too (nothing bad, just a comment on it). Sacha is a CINNAMON ROLL. I adored how soft he was and how he and Gabby formed a friendship that blossomed into something more.

While the plot held a good forced proximity notion I think it also fell a bit flat. It was simply a band on tour. And then filler pages of random crap they did to continue the story. I do struggle to get on board with actor/musician based books and I think that became apparent here again too.

Overall audience notes: