Tag: Book Review

ARC Book Review: The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart #2) by Stephanie Garber

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Stephanie Garber
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: September 13th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The fiercely-anticipated sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller Once Upon a Broken Heart, starring Evangeline Fox and the Prince of Hearts on a new journey of magic, mystery, and heartbreak.

Not every love is meant to be.

After Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, betrays her, Evangeline Fox swears she’ll never trust him again. Now that she’s discovered her own magic, Evangeline believes she can use it to restore the chance at happily ever after that Jacks stole away.

But when a new terrifying curse is revealed, Evangeline finds herself entering into a tenuous partnership with the Prince of Hearts again. Only this time, the rules have changed. Jacks isn’t the only force Evangeline needs to be wary of. In fact, he might be the only one she can trust, despite her desire to despise him.

Instead of a love spell wreaking havoc on Evangeline’s life, a murderous spell has been cast. To break it, Evangeline and Jacks will have to do battle with old friends, new foes, and a magic that plays with heads and hearts. Evangeline has always trusted her heart, but this time she’s not sure she can.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for my early audio copy!

DEVASTATION.

The way I gasped at a particular scene near the end. Holy wow. Gotta give it up to Stephanie Garber. I wasn’t super on board with this series after the first book (but still enjoyed). I took a bit more convincing here and then realized just how attached I had become to these characters.

Jacks and Evangeline have great snarky banter. I love the give and take and that they got a lot more softer moments here. There’s an intense and undeniable pull between them that I can’t wait to learn more about. I think Jacks is too much of a hidden character, even after two books. I want a few more layers peeled back on him so we can get the raw intensity of his past that I know is coming. Evangeline bothered me a whole lot less too and I think it’s kind of fun to be apart of her mindset as she handles all of the fates and prophecies.

Things occasionally felt bogged down by the tangents of story telling. Gratefully they did actually connect back into the main plot so I didn’t feel lost for long. The audio was fantastic! I loved the narrator and it made for a great listen.

I’m of course, very much curious where this series is going to continue onwards to. There’s plenty left open and I adore Garber’s writing and her passion for love conquers all mentality. I’m going to be sitting in a puddle of anxiety until I get my hands on the next book.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy Romance
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: make-outs
  • Violence: med/high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: physical altercations, near death experiences, kidnapping, magical weaponry

Book Review: The High King’s Tomb (Green Rider #3) by Kristen Britain

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: High Fantasy
Length: 680 pages
Author: Kristen Britain
Publisher: DAW
Release Date: November 1st, 2007
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

For Karigan G’ladheon, the call of magic in her blood is too strong to resist. Karigan returns to the Green Riders, the magical messengers of the king, to find she’s badly needed. Rider magic has become unstable, many Riders have been lost, and the Rider corps is seriously threatened. The timing couldn’t be worse. An ancient evil, long dormant, has reawakened, and the world is in peril. Karigan must face deadly danger and complex magic to save the kingdom from certain doom.

BEST [YET].

Didn’t realize that this would almost bring me to tears by the end. OH STAR CROSSED LOVERS. Such a tensely filled trope.

I love Karigan! She is strong and incredibly in tune with things around her. I like how she takes on danger and takes down opponents. But also, that Karigan is filled with flaws and is continually practicing at things she struggles with. I love a nuanced character you truly want to cheer for.

The romance is definitely not at the forefront of this story, but we all know I love a good dash and this is no exception. Karigan and Spoiler might run me absolutely ragged by the end of this series. WE’LL SEE.

Once again the audio book is amazing. I feel attached to many of the characters and love the every changing points-of-view that provide different angles to this very large plot. Some questions were answered and more were added. A new favorite for this series for me and I can’t wait to read the next book!

Overall audience notes:

  • High fantasy
  • Language: very little
  • Violence: physical and magical altercations; blood depiction
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: kidnapping, torture, loss of loved ones, war themes

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Book Review: Suffering the Scot (Brotherhood of the Black Tartan #1) by Nichole Van

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historiacl Romance
Length: 386 pages
Author: Nichole Van
Publisher: Fiorenza Publishing
Release Date: April 26th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Lady Jane Everard cannot abide the new Earl of Hadley. The unmannered Scot is a menace to genteel ladies everywhere, what with his booming laugh and swishing kilt and endless supply of ‘ochs’ and ‘ayes.’ Jane wishes Lord Hadley would behave as an earl should and adhere to English rules of polite conduct.

Andrew Langston, the new Earl of Hadley, knows that the English aristocracy think poorly of his lowly Scottish upbringing. This is hardly new. History is littered with the English assuming the worst about Scotland. By living up to their lowest expectations, he is simply fulfilling his civic duty as a Scotsman.

Jane sees Andrew as an unmannered eejit. Andrew considers Jane to be a haughty English lady. But, as the saying goes, . . . opposites attract.

And what if beneath his boisterous behavior and her chilly reserve, Andrew and Jane are not nearly as different as they suppose? Can Scotland and England reach a harmonious union at last?

GREAT READ.

I have found a new series I would love to work through. Absolutely love a Scottish romance. This had Outlander vibes, but without the very long list of content warnings.

Enjoyable characters that I can fall behind are always something I’m looking for and this group was that for me! There’s many avenues of adventures to explore and different romance tropes to get to and I’m excited for that.

I really liked the chemistry between Jane and Andrew. Andrew continually brought out Jane’s true nature and basked in it. I love a man falling first, and he’s clearly smitten from the get-go. It would have been nice to overall have a little more showing rather than telling. I wanted more close moments between these two (though they’re some great swoony ones don’t worry!).

The murder mystery aspects were a nice touch and kept the plot moving. I liked the small flashbacks that gave depth to Andrew’s story and how that played into who he is now. I love a good villain unveiling and was surprised by this one! The way the ending came about was exactly as I hoped for too.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical romance
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: passionate kisses
  • Violence: minor blood
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a friend, shipwreck, slavery, kidnapping, attempted murder, blackmail, extortion

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Book Review: How Sweet It Is by Dylan Newton

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Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Dylan Newton
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: July 13th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

What happens when the queen of romance falls for the king of horror–you get “a hilarious rom-com comp,” perfect for fans of Beach Read. (Kirkus, starred review)

Event planner Kate Sweet is famous for creating the perfect happily-ever-after moment for her clients’ dream weddings. So how is it that her best friend has roped her into planning a bestselling horror writer’s book launch extravaganza? But the second Kate meets—or rather, accidentally maims—the drop-dead-hot Drake Matthews, her well-ordered life quickly transforms into an absolute nightmare.

Drake Matthews is tired of the spotlight and tired of his reputation as the Knight of Nightmares. He’s really a nice guy! But he’s not prepared for Kate, a fearless agent of chaos in steel-tipped stilettos, or for that sweet sting of attraction he feels for her. She’s inspiring him to take his writing in a whole new direction—one that no one expects. Because now Kate and Drake are changing up the rules, and this plot twist might just surprise everyone . . . including themselves.

ALL THE FALL VIBES.

Sometimes I just really love the atmosphere of a story. The surrounding aura that creates a well defined structure (even in a contemporary vs. fantasy). For How Sweet It Is, there was an inherent sense of fall and Halloween and I ADORED it all.

Kate and Drake were pretty dang sweet on each other. I thought from the get-go they had a humorous meet-cute and a natural progression to their relationship. I liked the banter and how sweet on Kate that Drake was. I loooove getting the hero’s POV chapters and a few throughout this book helped me get inside his head too.

I didn’t love all of the conflict. It felt very forced, especially since Kate explicitly explained the problem and apologized (it was a true accident) and Drake refused to listen. And I’m sitting here wondering how you just slept together and are all about trusting and then threw that out the window the first chance you got? Eh, no good there. Otherwise, a strong romance, but the conflict can easily bring down a story for me.

The event planner meets horror novelist was fun and inventive as far as couples go in romances I’ve read so far. I love the Halloween release party at the end and all of the antics that went into creating a fantastic party. I’d be open to reading another book by Newton and seeing what other stories may entail.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: some
  • Romance: kisses to open door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: cheating recounted, mentions of domestic abuse, PTSD (military related), suicide mentioned, terminal cancer recounted, death of a mother recounted

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