the traitor’s ruin – GoodeyReads

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Young adult fantasy
Length: 400 pages
Author: Erin Beaty
Publisher: Imprint
Release Date: July 9th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Unlikely alliances are forged and trust is shattered in the stunning conclusion to The Traitor’s Trilogy.

A new queen under threat.
An ambassador with a desperate scheme.
Two kingdoms with everything to lose.

Once a spy and counselor to the throne, Sage Fowler has secured victory for her kingdom at a terrible cost. Now an ambassador representing Demora, Sage is about to face her greatest challenge to avoid a war with a rival kingdom.

After an assassination attempt destroys the chance for peace, Sage and her fiancé Major Alex Quinn risk a dangerous plot to reveal the culprit. But the stakes are higher than ever, and in the game of traitors, betrayal is the only certainty.

A FANTASTIC HAPPY-ENDING FILLED CONCLUSION.

OH HOW I LOVED THIS SERIES.

I question why it took me so long to get to this. I had heard mixed things, but should have trusted my gut. After I picked it up I never looked back. Perk of waiting so long? I barely had to wait to have all three books in my hands. A top series of 2019.

Sage went on an amazing character journey. I love that she realized her faults and choices had caused harm to her friends. She was able to apologize and actually become a better person for it.

The only tiny issue I had was how much Clare annoyed me. I could not handle her woe is me style and thought she was going to be a downfall to the plot. LUCKILY, things highly improved on this front and I loved how her story came to an end and thought it made sense for her and Sage’s relationship.

ALEX AND SAGE. One of my new OTPs. UGH HOW I LOVE THEM. They infuriated me a lot less in this book, but I distinctly had a moment of being reallllll angry with Alex, WHY DUDE. But, hot dang, did he recover with fireworks. Their quiet moments WERE MY EVERYTHING. Typing this review makes me want to reread this book purely for their interactions. Oh, how I love them so.

A lot more drama and actual plot progression here too. It was easy to flip pages, and slowly read, savoring all of the moments this book had to give. I loved how much more intrigue this book had. There was less battle and more focus on the politics (and this change was done well). It kept me on my toes, when even I was pretty sure I knew who was behind everything there was still so much more to explain! I was interested in this as much as I was making sure Sage & Alex got the happy ending THEY DESERVED DANG IT.

Lots of female power in this too. Sage and her friends, Lani, Clare, and Queen Zoraya are a force to be reckoned with and I like that their subplot allowed a lot more insight into all of their lives. I learned more about them and their journey which had me really invested in them getting happy endings too (OHEMGEE the very end *shrieks with joy at how cute that scene was*).

Overall audience notes:

Young adult fantasy + romance
Language: a little light language
Romance: kisses, a few tasteful little detailed FTB scenes
Violence: arrows, murder, swords, fire
Trigger warnings: PTSD (from an extreme burn), mentions of past drug dependence

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Book Review: The Traitor’s Ruin (The Traitor’s Circle #2) by Erin Beaty

May 23, 2019May 8, 2019 GoodeyReads

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Erin Beaty
Publisher: Imprint
Release Date: July 10th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

After proving her worth in book one as a deft spy and strategic matchmaker, Sage Fowler is now comfortably positioned in high society as the royal tutor. When she’s called upon to teach his majesty’s soldiers how to read and write, she jumps at the chance to serve her kingdom of Demora—and to be reunited with her fiancé, Captain Alex Quinn.

During a skirmish, Sage and Alex are separated. She watches him die before he can deliver important military intel—or so she thinks. She escapes from the enemy and makes an unlikely alliance with a mysterious soldier from a third nation. As Sage tries to rally their support against a common foe, the important political alliance is plagued by secrets and betrayal.

Can Sage complete Alex’s mission and save her kingdom once more?

The Traitor’s Kiss Review – ☆☆☆☆☆

Y’ALL I AM SMITTEN BY THIS SERIES.

Some books hit you at the right time, causing you to love them on an even grander scale than you thought you originally thought you might. This has been that case and I can NOT stop gushing about it.

Alex & Sage ARE LIFE. THEY ARE SO PRECIOUS AND I LOVE THEM. And I can’t stop using capitals. Bear with me. They’re so many emotions to express.

Oh how miscommunication wears on me in books. I didn’t hate the way this was done though. Alex was struggling through some PTSD-like emotions that were causing him to have a hard time coping. This lead to some issues with Sage that sent her into dangerous situations. While I am all over cheering Sage on, I was also like GIRL. STOP RUNNING TOWARDS DANGER. But she can handle herself, this is a favorite fact of mine. But really, once they started working together, magic happened. WHOOP.

The bad guy was kinda silly in this because he didn’t have the most villain-y reasons for battle and attempted kidnappings. The other political aspects were much more flourished and I loved getting to travel all of the map. It was amazing world-building full of getting to know other kingdoms, lands, and people.

One of my favorite tiny tidbits is that Alex actually shows emotion. He CRIES, and I want to cry with him. I always hate when guys think they’re too good to shed a few tears at truly awful situations. He cares so much and I feel that on every level.

Overall audience notes:

Young adult fantasy romance
Language: very little (I believe shoot was used once or twice)
Romance: lots of kissing and wanting each other
Violence: knives, fire, physical, battles, quicksand, torture, arrows

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Top 10 Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Rainy Day Reads

April 16, 2019April 15, 2019 GoodeyReads

Alright, after the week break we are right back at it with another Top Ten Tuesday!

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not even sure what qualifies for a rainy day read. Whenever it rains I want to read in general. Doesn’t really matter, whatever book I’m currently reading is the one I want.

So in light of that struggle, I instead have decided to twirl this as Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Want to Read Soon, If it’s Raining That Day, AWESOME (which, because of where I live it rains a few times a week).

All weather is good weather to read. My only rule is that these books have to be out already so I could theoretically pick them up immediately.

The Traitor’s Ruin (The Traitor’s Circle #1) by Erin Beaty

Y’all, I LOVED the first book. Can’t help it. So I need book two, STAT. It had some elements that I absolutely adore in YA romance/fantasy books. I have high hopes for the series.

The Boy Who Steals Houses by C.G. Drews

I’ve been impatiently waiting for this book to make it to me from Australia. COME ON BOOK DEPOSITORY. YOU CAN DO THIS.

The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson

This is going to be my next audible pick! I’m really into everything Sanderson does this year. My goal is to finish most of them by the end of 2019.

The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles #1) by Patrick Rothfuss

I’m listening to this actually as I type. Y’all, this book is taking a bit to get into, but I’ve heard such good things so I’m going to keep going. I need to catch up with my husband who’s a couple hours ahead of me.

The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker

Adventurous, wild romance in Alaska? YOU BETCHA I BOUGHT THIS. It was also on sale for 6 bucks. I can’t pass that up.

Kingdom of Exiles (The Beast Charmer #1) by Maxym M. Martineau

My next Netgalley read! I really want to read this. I might have to make it my very next read. It sounds so interesting.

More Than We Can Tell (Letters to the Lost #2) by Brigid Kemmerer

DID YOU KNOW THERE’S A SECOND BOOK? BECAUSE I DIDN’T KNOW. Now I do, now I need to remedy this situation. I absolutely loved Letters to the Lost.

Beartown (Beartown #1) by Fredrik Backman

I have only read A Man Called Ove by Backman but I have heard so many good things about this series that I really want to pick it up soon.

Age of Swords (The Legends of the First Empire #2) by Michael J. Sullivan

Mmmm. High fantasy. ALWAYS GOOD TO READ.

The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy #1) by S.A. Chakraborty

I had to order the UK hardcover because I couldn’t find a US one I was willing to purchase (price + out of stock + wanting hardcover = hard time). So now it’s in my possession and now I need to read this. Getting on that hype train.