Tag: urban fantasy

Book Review

Book Review: Roaring by Lindsey Duga

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical + Urban Fantasy Romance
Length: 390 pages
Author: Lindsey Duga
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: July 24th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Colt Clemmons is an agent in a specialized division within the Bureau of Investigation-one that hunts down not just mobsters, but also monsters.

For reasons that are kept top secret, Colt is the only person who can resist a siren’s voice. But he’s never had a chance to test this ability. The last siren left in the world mysteriously disappeared years ago.

Then one night, with a single word, she reveals herself. It seems too good to be true.

And it is. Because nothing about this siren-her past, her powers, or her purpose-is what it seems…

ADORED.

I technically would give this four stars, BUT GOSH DANG I enjoyed the heck out of this read y’all. I did. It was exactly what I needed to pull me out of a few books I didn’t love as much. I beg of y’all to give this a chance, it deserves it.

Why four stars? Part of the plot felt repetitive in nature. Go over here, get captured, be rescued, move on. That was the base of the story, BUT, there’s also enough else happening that I overlooked it. Once again, for pure enjoyment purposes.

Monsters and mobsters?? Oh so clever a setting. I loved the 1920’s speakeasy vibes and the clothes, the perfectly used pet names (doll? SWOON) and more. Undercover agents turned monsters?! All the urban fantasy things I struggle with absolutely captivated me here.

And the romance was sweet. It was a slow burn that grew on me. I liked how Colt had a lot of personal growth, trying to move past childhood trauma. Eris was easy to love and intensely compassionate. Both are characters to cheer for as they attempt to escape their forced upon fate.

Intense action, swoony kisses, all the monsters.

Read it.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical + Urban Fantasy Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: make-outs
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: medical experimentation on children, loss of life, explosions, torture, kidnapping, gun violence

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Book Review

Book Review: Wicked Walking (Fallow Creek #2) by Claudia Cain

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Urban Fantasy
Length: 370 pages
Author: Claudia Cain
Publisher: Black Sheep Books
Release Date: August 30th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

After killing a monster and dragging herself home from another world, Cassandra Reilly has become more than a witch – she’s a hero. Sure, she can’t sleep through the night and she’s haunted by what she saw, but things should be looking up. Right?

Except something followed her out of the woods that day. And despite her best efforts – and the help of Merich, the handsome Fae Warden – Cass has failed to find any trace of it. Vanishing entities rarely bode well, but maybe no news is good news. And with a ticket out of town and her future on the horizon, Cass could really use a lucky break.

She’s not going to get one.

Thank you to the author for a gifted e-copy!

INVESTED.

I thought book one was good. And I think this one was even better. It is written so well and I am captivated by this really creep story and all of the characters involved. I liked the progression of the initial plot and the expansion of ideas surrounding The Child. There were many super spooky moments with the possessions and lights flashing and things showing up in the dark. It’s a book that I felt like I needed some lights on to keep going.

I liked Cass a lot more in this book too. She still holds to her wants, and also strives to solve the problems before her. I LOVED that we got more Merich content (sub plot of romance that I am adoring). And I still love Theo. There’s some good twists in here too that I was surprised by and have been wondering where in the world things will progress to next.

This has been a great urban fantasy series so far. I’m hopeful to possibly see new locations and characters be mixed in with the next book.

Overall audience notes:

  • Urban Fantasy
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings:  death, mild gore and depictions of injury, mild body horror, mentions of suicide and depictions of anxiety

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Book Review

Book Review: Book of Night by Holly Black

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Rating: ★★☆
Audience: Urban Fantasy
Length: 320 pages
Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: May 3rd, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black makes her stunning adult debut with Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies in the vein of Ninth House and The Night Circus.

In Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences—but also to increase power and influence. You can alter someone’s feelings—and memories—but manipulating shadows has a cost, with the potential to take hours or days from your life. Your shadow holds all the parts of you that you want to keep hidden—a second self, standing just to your left, walking behind you into lit rooms. And sometimes, it has a life of its own.

Charlie is a low-level con artist, working as a bartender while trying to distance herself from the powerful and dangerous underground world of shadow trading. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires. But when a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie’s present life is thrown into chaos, and her future seems at best, unclear—and at worst, non-existent. Determined to survive, Charlie throws herself into a maelstrom of secrets and murder, setting her against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, shadow thieves, and her own sister—all desperate to control the magic of the shadows.

With sharp angles and prose, and a sinister bent, Holly Black is a master of shadow and story stitching. Remember while you read, light isn’t playing tricks in Book of Night, the people are.

TURTLE.

This might be the slowest book I have read in a long dang time. And not in a good way. Within the first few chapters I was worried this wasn’t going to be a great read for me, and unfortunately that was the case.

With terrible pacing came a plot that did have some good twists. I was surprised by a few things that were intriguing yes, but a major lack of dialogue left me desperate for more. Not to mention, lack of world building with info dumps. A 300 page fantasy book is a hard task to accomplish without some guides. I also don’t know why there were flashback chapters??? They didn’t add much of anything to the storyline.

Vince was probably the best person here. I liked him. He was an enigma I wanted to put together and carried much more of the story than I expected.

I just really struggled to read this. It was a fight and I think the ending should have pulled more emotion out of me, but I can’t see myself picking up the next book. Not one I’d recommend. Stick to Black’s The Cruel Prince series.

Overall audience notes:

  • Urban fantasy
  • Language: some
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: multiple blood/gore depictions of gruesome murders, self harm to get magic, child abuse, general violence, depression and grief, panic attacks, anxiety, gun violence, drugging

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Book Review

Book Review: Queen (Fae Games #3) by Karen Lynch

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Rating: ★★★☆ (3.5)
Audience: Urban Fantasy + Romance
Length: 428 pages
Author: Karen Lynch
Publisher: Tempest Press
Release Date: February 22nd, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Jesse recovered the missing ke’tain to keep her parents safe, but it came at a high price. In the weeks after her brush with death, she struggles to adapt to her new life, while burdened with the terrible secret she learned about her brother Caleb.

On her first visit to Faerie, Jesse faces new challenges and perils amid the splendor of the Unseelie court. Her relationship with Lukas grows stronger, but her happiness is overshadowed by a threat to both worlds. She might be the only one who can save them if she is willing to risk her own future to do it.

Together with an old friend, Jesse takes on the most dangerous job of her life. She discovers an inner strength she never knew she possessed; one she will need when she confronts her greatest enemy. Secrets are revealed and lives are changed forever. Jesse will make her last play, but will it be enough for her to survive the final showdown of this lethal game?

ENDED WELL.

Ah, I do hate feeling a bit let down by a series ender. This was good, but the second half was much better and I struggled to get there to even enjoy it all.

I love Jesse. I think she’s a brave and bold main character. Faithful to her family, strong in who she is (even when that’s changing) and able to make the difficult decisions. I loved her and Lukas together, BUT WHERE WAS HE. This feels like the romance component is supposed to be playing a stronger role and it never hit that mark for me. I hoarded every moment he was in a scene, and looked for him too often.

The plot was good, but slowwwww. The first half is spent with a lot of very nuanced day to day activities that weren’t apart of the previous two books. After there was more headway in solving some key issues in the plot, progression was at last made! Still felt a bit random, buuuut it worked. I think.

A final series thought, it was good. I haven’t read Lynch’s books in a few years and it was nice to read them again. There was plenty of good things to go around and I know some friends who love this story on a whole other level. Can’t wait to see what’s next!

Overall audience notes:

  • Urban fantasy
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: mild
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: kidnapping, torture, physical altercations, poison, being drugged without consent, sexual harassment and assault, murder

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