Tag: fantasy romance

ALC Book Review: Dark Water Daughter (The Winter Sea #1) by H.M. Long

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 464 pages
Author: H.M. Long
Publisher: Titan Books
Release Date: July 11th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A stormsinger and pirate hunter join forces against a deathless pirate lord in this swashbuckling Jacobean adventure on the high-seas.

Launching the Winter Sea series, full of magic, betrayal, redemption and fearsome women, for readers of Adrienne Young, R. J. Barker and Naomi Novik.

Mary Firth is a Stormsinger: a woman whose voice can still hurricanes and shatter armadas. Faced with servitude to pirate lord Silvanus Lirr, Mary offers her skills to his arch-rival in exchange for protection – and, more importantly, his help sending Lirr to a watery grave. But her new ally has a vendetta of his own, and Mary’s dreams are dark and full of ghistings, spectral creatures who inhabit the ancient forests of her homeland and the figureheads of ships.

Samuel Rosser is a disgraced naval officer serving aboard The Hart, an infamous privateer commissioned to bring Lirr to justice. He will stop at nothing to capture Lirr, restore his good name and reclaim the only thing that stands between himself and madness: a talisman stolen by Mary.

Finally, driven into the eternal ice at the limits of their world, Mary and Samuel must choose their loyalties and battle forces older and more powerful than the pirates who would make them slaves.

Come sail the Winter Sea, for action-packed, high-stakes adventures, rich characterisation and epic plots full of intrigue and betrayal.

Thank you to RB Media and Titan Books for the ALC.

SAVED BY THE SECOND HALF.

Audiobook review: LOVED. I loved the narrators. They kept this book going for me. I loved that this was dual POV. Great audio read!

For the first half of this book I wasn’t quite sure where things were going. There was a lot of chasing Mary around as she was captured back and forth between pirates. Not a lot going on at the moment. Fortunately the second half picked up the pacing in a multitude of ways and now I’m curious where book two will lead.

I liked our two main characters, Mary and Samuel. They are both on different sides of the current conflict and slowly find out that they might actually be allies (and that there might be a romance in the future??).

What really kept me going was the vibes. If you’re looking for a high seas, pirate filled book, this will give you that. I thought the magic system was interesting and there were just enough twists in the second half that had me going, well what happens next.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy
  • Language: light
  • Romance: kiss
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: attempted murder, kidnapping, brief sexual assault (unwanted kissing and touching over clothes), near death experiences

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Book Review: City of Gods and Monsters (House of Devils #1) by Kayla Edwards

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 760 pages
Author: Kayla Edwards
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: January 25th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Welcome to the city of Angelthene. We hope you survive.

Loren Calla has only ever been ordinary. As a human struggling to survive in a city that caters to the needs of vampires, werewolves, witches, and other supernatural creatures, she always assumed her life would remain simple, predictable, and as safe as her world would allow.

Until she barely escapes abduction at the hands of Darkslayers—supernatural bounty hunters that possess the Sight, a magical tracking ability that allows them to see a person’s aura—and one of her friends is taken in her place. The abductors are demanding a ransom: Loren’s life in exchange for her friend’s safe return. Loren will do whatever it takes to get her friend back—even if it means accepting help from Darien Cassel, the leader of the Seven Devils, the most feared Darkslaying circle in the city.

Darien specializes in tracking down demons and criminals that are better off dead than alive, so when he takes a job to track down Loren and finds out she is human—and couldn’t hurt a fly if her life depended on it—he decides to protect her instead of turn her in for a reward. As much as Loren doesn’t want to admit it, Darien is her best and only chance at finding her friend alive, if she can somehow manage to get along with him—and not fall head-over-heels in love with him in the process, which is far easier said than done.

When more women start disappearing, and some of them slowly turn up dead, Loren and Darien’s search for answers takes them deep into Angelthene’s corrupt underbelly, where they discover a dark secret that threatens to unravel their world. And when tragedy strikes, Loren learns that love can make an ordinary person do extraordinary things.

From the author of Dreams of Ice and Iron comes a new fantasy romance perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas, Ilona Andrews, and Cassandra Clare.

Please note: This book contains darker content that might be triggering for some readers, including violence, mature language, sexual content, drug abuse, death of an animal (with a HEA), sexual harassment, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and suicide. It is not intended for anyone under the age of 18.

I LIKED THE SECOND HALF.

I am in a big fantasy mood, and 700 pages? BRING IT ON.

I liked the way this one started of. It is well written and the story immediately gave me Crescent City vibes. I liked the set-up and the mystery surrounding Loren’s past.

What bugged me was the weird lust vibe throughout the first half (because it disappeared in the second for a long time??). I truly think there’s just better ways to emit emotion and connection with someone without it constantly being about what’s in their pants. I said what I said. When they weren’t walking around like horny teenagers, I actually enjoyed the romance between Loren and Darien. They had some great relationship building moments. Some good, WHO DID THIS TO YOU scenes and, my favorite, taking care of someone sick/injured. It turned out to be a super slow burn with actual spice not showing up until 90%+.

I was intrigued by the overall plot and magic system. I was kept in the dark just enough to not be annoying, but to inspire to keep reading to know what happens next. The side characters added a lot of great charm and I hope to get to know them more if I decide to pick up book two. I did find one scene to be a spot on copycat of a scene from ACOMAF. And while I don’t mind vibes and some similarities, I do kind of cringe when things to a little to exact. But that’s just my opinion!

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: open door; explicit
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: graphic violence, drug abuse, suicide, torture, murder, loss of life

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Book Review: To Hunt a Demon King by Madeleine Eliot

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 287 pages
Author: Madeleine Eliot
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: May 1st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Little Red Riding Hood meets spicy romantasy in this witchy retelling of a classic fairy tale.

Elara has only one goal in her life: to convince her mother to treat her like the fully grown witch she is and let her attend a Coven meeting. But on her twenty-fifth birthday, Elara discovers that her mother had good reasons for keeping her away from the Coven and her grandmother, its unfeeling Crone.

Now forced to run for her life to hide a magic she shouldn’t possess, Elara is told to find the wicked Demon King and claim his protection. But when she runs into a handsome hunter and his wolf in the forest, her journey takes on a dimension she never expected.

CONFLICTED.

I really wanted to LOVE this and I did enjoy a lot of it. There were a few things though that are holding me back and writing this review is going to help me figure it out.

The Little Red Riding Hood vibes are perfectly there. It was a fun retelling in those aspects. Elara comes off pretty naive and bugged me sometimes, but she does have the FMC starting point I often see in fantasy books. I can see her rise in power over the series.

I was mostly into the romance. I wanted a slower burn though. When Elara mentioned herself that it’s been a week and they already slept together I was like, yeah girl too fast for me. From reluctant allies/strangers to lovers would have worked better it would have been drawn out a bit more. And then it went past my personal line of smut over plot and I was ready to be finished in the second half.

It does read super fast. And I did like the world building aspects and am kind of curious about the way the magic systems work and more of Elara’s past. I have theories and thoughts and am still deciding on reading book two.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: multiple open; high explicit
  • Violence: moderate

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Book Review: The Syren’s Mutiny (The Syren’s Mutiny #1) by Jessica S. Taylor

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 480 pages
Author: Jessica S. Taylor
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: November 8th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Brigid knew the superstition, but when her father tried to marry her off, she had no choice but to stowaway on a ship bound for Bhodheas. When she’s discovered and discarded, her fate seems sealed…until she’s saved by the ocean and its queen.

Transformed into a syren and given new life, Brigid now has the power to seek revenge on those who wronged her.

Caelum has spent his entire life trying to help those who couldn’t help themselves. After years suffering the cruelty of his pirate father, saving others from a similar fate was ingrained in him. But when he’s unable to save a young girl from being thrown overboard for hiding away, he’s devastated.

Until one day, when he’s thrown into the water by unforeseen forces, he comes face to face with the past, and maybe, with his future.

But there’s a darkness lurking on the seas they both call home. And Caelum and Brigid have no idea just how intertwined their stories really are.

—–

This book contains dark and adult themes and may not be suitable for readers under 16. Possible trigger warnings include: violence, drowning, death, dismemberment, torture, non-explicit flashbacks to physical abuse, brief and non-explicit references to child kidnapping and deaths, mentions of past domestic violence, mild sexual content, depictions of anxiety and depression, and mentions of past arranged marriages.

NOT FOR ME.

Oh how I wanted this to work out. But I’m tired of hearing forbidden romance/enemies to lovers and getting absolutely zero angst, animosity, tension and passion between the main couple. Everything was too easy. I was never emotionally drawn in because neither were the characters. Drunken kisses don’t work for me and the romance scenes between them were a bit awkward.

I think I didn’t connect with the writing style and then the further plot fall out caused a general collapse. It’s a very slow and drawn out plot, and that can be fine, but this was not the case here either. Mostly a lot of sitting around, waiting for things to happen and the ultimate “battle” at the end was seen from oceans away.

I don’t want to continue my rant fest. In conclusion, this is not a book I’d recommend.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: two open door
  • Violence: medium
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, ship wrecks, weapons violence, drowning, loss of loved ones

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