Book Review: Together We Burn by Isabel Ibañez

May 24, 2023June 20, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Isabel Ibañez
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: May 31st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Eighteen-year-old Zarela Zalvidar is a talented flamenco dancer and daughter of the most famous Dragonador in Hispalia. People come for miles to see her father fight in their arena, which will one day be hers.

But disaster strikes during their five hundredth anniversary show, and in the carnage, Zarela’s father is horribly injured. Facing punishment from the Dragon Guild, Zarela must keep the arena—her ancestral home and inheritance —safe from their greedy hands. She has no choice but to take her father’s place as the next Dragonador. When the infuriatingly handsome dragon hunter, Arturo Díaz de Montserrat, withholds his help, she refuses to take no for an answer.

But even if he agrees, there’s someone out to ruin the Zalvidar family, and Zarela will have to do whatever it takes in order to prevent the Dragon Guild from taking away her birthright.

An ancient city plagued by dragons. A flamenco dancer determined to save her ancestral home. A dragon hunter refusing to teach her his ways. They don’t want each other, but they need each other, and without him her world will burn.

ALMOST FOUR STARS.

I was really on my way to super enjoying this. I LOVED the setting and cultural aspects. Easily one of my favorite parts of this book. I felt the world come alive with the language, food and cityscape descriptions. There was great writing involved in much of that and the audiobook helped create that tenfold.

Zarela was a main character who I liked as a YA heroine lead. She truly was just trying to do her best in a rough situation. I liked her tenacity to hold on to her family’s legacy and the willingness to learn new things and make tough choices to see everything through. The romance between her and Arturo had the best kind of banter. A bit of enemies to lovers that grew into something more. I do think the steam went a bit past YA levels, but it was still relatively low overall.

What threw me was the villain. I can get behind a lot of background antagonist stories. This one was fine, I’ve seen it before, but what got me was his obsession with claiming Zarela? I don’t want to spoil so I can’t really say much more, it just didn’t click for me.

I’d say this is a pretty solid fantasy for a standalone (which are hard for me to be pleased by). A fast paced read that covers a lot. I can’t believe I almost forgot to mention there’s DRAGONS and flamenco dancing. Lots of incredible things, just a few meh.

Overall audience notes:

YA Fantasy Romance
Language: a little
Romance: brief/vague open door
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of parents, kidnapping, animal death and cruelty, murder, misogyny, grief/loss depiction

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Book Review: A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones #1) by Kate Golden

May 23, 2023February 21, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 456 pages
Author: Kate Golden
Publisher: The Daisy Press
Release Date: December 15th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Captured by a king of darkness. Forced to find the light within.

Arwen Valondale never expected to be the brave one, offering her life to save her brother’s. Now she’s been taken prisoner by the most dangerous kingdom on the continent, and made to use her rare magical abilities to heal the soldiers of the vicious Onyx King.

Arwen knows better than to face the ancient, wicked woods that surround the castle on her own, which means working with a fellow prisoner might be her only path to freedom. Unfortunately, he’s as infuriating as he is cunning—and seems to take twisted
pleasure in playing on Arwen’s deepest fears.

But here in Onyx Kingdom, trust is a luxury she can’t afford.

To make it out of enemy territory, she’ll have to navigate back-stabbing royals, dark magic, and dangerous beasts. But untold power lies inside Arwen, dormant and waiting for a spark. If she can harness it, she just might be able to escape with her life—and hopefully, her heart.

COLOR ME SURPRISED.

I did not expect to love this the way I did. I put it off for a bit because it seemed too hyped and I wanted to see more reviews. Then on a whim, HERE WE ARE. 4.5 stars of romantasy goodness.

This had a much more true slow burn that worked better for me than a few recent books. I loooove hidden identity plots so dang much. Even when I know it’s coming, still makes my day. And this kept slowly revealing Kane’s history and nature and I loved every second of it. I thought Kane and Arwen had some actual chemistry and I enjoyed the banter between them. I liked seeing them get to know each other and have some soft moments amidst the action.

And plenty of action was had! I loved that it kept a pretty fast pace with enough things going on that I rarely felt a drag. Within that though is my one small complaint. A lack of world building. More of it made sense towards the end, but I have MANY questions about the dynamics of everything.

I think the FMC could use a bit more work, but as far as character arcs go, I am very much on board with the sequence. I am soooo excited to see how book two continues the development of characters and storyline.

It was a good read y’all.

Overall audience notes:

Fantasy romance
Language: some strong
Romance: 1 open; + some innuendo
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: war themes, physical and magical altercations, near death experiences, loss of a mother, weapons violence, kidnapping, attempted sexual assault

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Book Review: Winterlight (Green Rider #7) by Kristen Britain

May 22, 2023June 15, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy
Length: 848 pages
Author: Kristen Britain
Publisher: DAW Books
Release Date: September 14th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

This seventh novel of the Green Rider series follows the adventures of messenger, magic wielder, and knight Karigan G’ladheon as she fights to save king and country from dark magic and a looming war.

After her capture at the hands of Grandmother and the Second Empire, Karigan G’ladheon is making halting progress towards recovery. Karigan takes on increasingly dangerous missions, haunted by the specter of her torturer, Nyssa, and sinking ever further into the mire of her recollections of the past and the losses she’s sustained.

Meanwhile, the forces of the Second Empire are moving on Sacoridia and their primary target is a vulnerable garrison that guards a crucial mountain pass. Faced with new fatherhood and a country on the verge of war, King Zachary sends a contingent of soldiers and Green Riders to the pass–but his own recovery from the events of the north is not yet complete either.

Reunited with her fellow Riders at the pass, Karigan takes on a leadership role, but quickly finds that the Riders are not as she last left them. As tension mounts and war draws ever closer to the heart of Sacoridia, Karigan must discover what it truly means to be a Rider and a hero of the realm–and what sacrifices must be made to truly heal from her past.

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW.

Fair warning: this series does not have an end date.

AND I AM IN TURMOIL.

There’s not even news on the next book?!

Anyways, actual book review information.

Another enjoyable installment. I liked most of the direction for the characters here and how the plot continually thickened around many aspects. My mind is pulled in so many directions while reading this series and yet, I am easily able to move through each segment and remember what’s happening and who’s doing what. I love the readability of these books and how much the audio is a game changer for them as well.

Karigan kind of at least, caught a few breaks this go around. I love seeing her continual development as a character and I am here to follow her wherever she goes. I don’t know how I feel about the romance sub plot though?! I’m more conflicted than I was after reading Mirrorsight. It’s a very tangled web that fits the nature of the book, but leaves me wanting a bit more.

I have truly enjoyed reading this hidden nook series in the fantasy genre. I highly recommend if you’re looking for something off the beaten path with multi-POV, high action and intense situations.

Overall audience notes:

Fantasy
Language: very little
Romance: kisses
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: PTSD (for torture), loss of life, war themes and battles, poisoning, near death experiences, emotional infidelity

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Book Review: To Swoon and to Spar (The Regency Vows #4) by Martha Waters

May 20, 2023April 23, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Martha Waters
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: April 11th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Regency Vows series returns with this story about a viscount and his irascible new wife who hopes to chase her husband from their shared home so that she can finally get some peace and quiet—only to find that his company is not as onerous as she thought.

Viscount Penvale has been working for years to buy back his ancestral home, Trethwick Abbey, from his estranged uncle. And so he’s thrilled when his uncle announces that he is ready to sell but with one major caveat—Penvale must marry his uncle’s ward, Jane Spencer.

When the two meet in London, neither is terribly impressed. Penvale finds Jane headstrong and sharp-tongued. Jane finds him cold and aloof. Nevertheless, they agree to a marriage in name only and return to the estate. There, Jane enlists her housekeeper for a scheme: to stage a haunting so that Penvale will return to London, leaving her to do as she pleases at Trethwick Abbey. But Penvale is not as easily scared as his uncle and as their time together increases, Jane realizes that she might not mind her husband’s company all that much.

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

I SWOONED.

This was my first book in this series that I’ve read and I enjoyed it! I am a sucker for marriage of convenience tropes and I thought this was a slightly different take on the start of their relationship.

I thought Penvale and Jane had some good chemistry and really did have that nice slow burn as they realized how much they truly connected with each other. I loved the forced proximity and one bed moments and watching their passions ignite.

The only thing I didn’t quite get was the ghost-based plot? I don’t know, it seemed kind of silly when the story came out at the end. Without that, I think it’s a great historical romance and it was easy to read as a standalone! I noticed the mentions of the other couples but that doesn’t bother me! There were a good group of friends and I’m thinking about now going back and reading the others.

Overall audienc notes: