Tag: urban fantasy

Book Review: Dust (Heirs of Neverland #1) by Kara Swanson

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: Urban Fantasy Retelling
Length: 348 pages
Author: Kara Swanson
Publisher: Enclave Escape
Release Date: July 21st, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The truth about Neverland is far more dangerous than a fairy tale.

Claire Kenton believes the world is too dark for magic to be real—since her twin brother was stolen away as a child. Now Claire’s desperate search points to London… and a boy who shouldn’t exist.

Peter Pan is having a beastly time getting back to Neverland. Grounded in London and hunted by his own Lost Boys, Peter searches for the last hope of restoring his crumbling island: a lass with magic in her veins.

The girl who fears her own destiny is on a collision course with the boy who never wanted to grow up. The truth behind this fairy tale is about to unravel everything Claire thought she knew about Peter Pan—and herself.

PRETTY GOOD.

I’m new to Peter Pan retelling and this one was alright! I thought the concept was interesting and I liked how it was woven into a urban fantasy style plot. The dual POV with Peter Pan was great because it added another layer to the depth of the story.

The entire book just felt slow though. I kept waiting for *something* to pick up and I’m not sure it ever truly did. Seeing all of the other characters for the original story was cool. I liked how Swanson adapted them and the roles everyone played.

I’m undecided on the romance. I once again was wishing more something more to it. There’s some sweet romances and the expected conflicts. I don’t know yet if I’ll read book two.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Urban Fantasy Retelling
  • Language: light
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: kidnapping, physical and magical altercations, loss of life

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Book Review: Feather (Angels of Elysium #1) by Olivia Wildenstein

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Urban Fantasy Romance
Length: 486 pages
Author: Olivia Wildenstein
Publisher: Twig Publishing
Release Date: January 16th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It was supposed to be a quick mission. The only thing quick about it was how rapidly I failed.

With only a month left to earn her missing feathers, twenty-year-old Leigh embarks on a trip to Paris to meet her newest project, twenty-five-year-old Jarod Adler, leader of the Parisian Mafia and the worst kind of sinner… a Triple.

If Leigh can get Jarod to accomplish a single act of kindness, she stands to win 100 feathers, more than enough to complete her wings and ascend to Elysium, the land of angels.

What she doesn’t count on is Jarod’s dark charm costing her feathers.

She’s dead set on saving him, and he’s dead set on destroying her.

Until he realizes destroying her wings is also destroying her heart.

A heart he longs to hear beat only for him.

Trigger warnings: graphic sexual scenes and a difficult ending. Not recommended for Young Adults.

IT WENT THERE.

I’ve heard about this book in passing and I’ve been enjoying this author’s newest series so time to do some back list diving. AND OH MY GOSH. I still haven’t recovered from that ending!!!! I am emotionally DISTRAUGHT.

I enjoyed a lot of this. Though I think I tend to struggle with Wildenstein’s FMC’s. One again Leigh was a bit too meh for me. I wish she had more of a backbone. I know there’s supposed to be this big contrast between Leigh and Jarod, but something was missing from that aspect. Otherwise I loved the romance. It has forbidden written nicely all of it and I AM HERE FOR IT. They had good chemistry and for spice fans, this personally went past my spice line, but to each their own!

The plot is well crafted and I’m grateful for the explanations of world building and magic system. It helps make the ending make more sense too. I’m curious how the politics of it all lay out. I couldn’t put this book down and must find out what happens next.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: 4+ open; high explicit
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: graphic violence, murder, suicide, physical and weapons violence

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ARC Book Review: Sincerely, Secretary of Doom (High Court of the Coffee Bean #2) by Jennifer Kropf

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Urban Fantasy + Romance
Length: 410 pages
Author: Jennifer Kropf
Publisher: Winter Publishing House
Release Date: May 29th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The High Court of the Coffee Bean returns with a sassy, wicked streak.

Months after the deadly assassins-turned-baristas left the Four Corners of Ever behind for good, Doom comes knocking at Mor Trisencor’s door. And it’s wearing stilettos.

When the Fairy Post gets an unexpected, grand following in the human realm for its vintage feel and whimsical words, Mor gets busier than ever typing out articles, following up on leads of fairy mischief, and everything else that goes along with being a faeborn reporter. But his heavy workload comes to a screeching halt when he spots someone in the human realm that shouldn’t be there—an old foe of his. One he thought he would never see again. One he’d prayed to the sky deities that he wouldn’t cross paths with after the day Mor abandoned the Shadow Army, leaving a trail of flames and destruction in his wake. For the first time since the Fairy Post was published, the newspaper gets put on hold and Mor goes hunting.

Mor can think of nothing else but stopping this foe before ripples of doom begin to stir up the human realm.

Violet Miller is a journalist with a mysterious past her amnesia forbids her from remembering. But when she gets let go from her job at the most prestigious news station in the city, her unexplained past becomes the least of her problems. She thinks it’s all over for her as a journalist, until she sees a job posting for a secretary position at a niche, laughable “old school style” newspaper called the Fairy Post.

The day Violet shows up at Mor’s house—or, creepy, dark cathedral is more like it—is the day that everything changes for her. Before Violet even has a chance to ask about the job, she’s mistakenly marked as Mor’s lover by his “enemies” and she finds herself in the crosshairs of a battle of inhuman creatures who’d rather “stab first and ask questions later.”

This marks the beginning of a love-hate relationship (mostly hate) between a fae assassin born of the Shadows, and a lipstick-wearing, mascara wielding human born to be in the spotlight.

While reading this second installment of the High Court of the Coffee Bean series, you may find yourself craving macaroons, listening to the wind for signs of fairy magic, and wishing you had a “creepy, dark, creaking, abandoned cathedral” of your own to call home.

Thank you to Book of Matches Media and Jennifer Kropf for the gifted copy.

A DELIGHT.

I think this series is so much fun. I love how unique it is in the urban fantasy sphere and the cozy vibes really play well into the story. I love this entire group of fae and they crack me up with the antics and shenanigans.

I’m not usually one to read an amnesia book, but this is definitely an exception to the rule. I loved how it played out and how the flashback chapters wove into the present timeline. There’s a good amount of backstory that makes so many things make sense as you go along.

The romance was sweet and I liked how it unfolded. I think I would have loved just a bit more romance, but I digress. I loved all of the banter and sass and even the nine-tailed fox.

I’m definitely looking forward to book three!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Cozy Urban Fantasy
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low-moderate

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Book Review: Chain of Thorns (The Last Hours #3) by Cassandra Clare

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Urban Fantasy Romance
Length: 800 pages
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Walker Books
Release Date: January 31st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

James and Cordelia must save London—and their marriage—in this conclusion to the Last Hours series from author Cassandra Clare.
Chain of Thorns is a Shadowhunters novel.

Cordelia Carstairs has lost everything that matters to her. In only a few short weeks, she has seen her father murdered, her plans to become parabatai with her best friend, Lucie, destroyed, and her marriage to James Herondale crumble before her eyes. Even worse, she is now bound to an ancient demon, Lilith, stripping her of her power as a Shadowhunter.

After fleeing to Paris with Matthew Fairchild, Cordelia hopes to forget her sorrows in the city’s glittering nightlife. But reality intrudes when shocking news comes from home: Tatiana Blackthorn has escaped the Adamant Citadel, and London is under new threat by the Prince of Hell, Belial.

Cordelia returns to a London riven by chaos and dissent. The long-kept secret that Belial is James and Lucie’s grandfather has been revealed by an unexpected enemy, and the Herondales find themselves under suspicion of dealings with demons. Cordelia longs to protect James but is torn between a love for James she has long believed hopeless, and the possibility of a new life with Matthew. Nor can her friends help—ripped apart by their own secrets, they seem destined to face what is coming alone.

For time is short, and Belial’s plan is about to crash into the Shadowhunters of London like a deadly wave, one that will separate Cordelia, Lucie, and the Merry Thieves from help of any kind. Left alone in a shadowy London, they must face Belial’s deadly army. If Cordelia and her friends are going to save their city—and their families—they will have to muster their courage, swallow their pride, and trust one another again. For if they fail, they may lose everything—even their souls.

FINISHED.

This was a good book. It was a lot more romantic than I feel like previous ones have been (which was a slight detriment to the large plot, that I’ll get into in a second) but I do love romance and there were a lot of great couples here. Still forever obsessed with Cordelia and James, EVEN IF I WANTED TO SHAKE THE CHARACTERS AROUND A BIT. But, I digress.

This is my fourth completed Shadowhunter series and I kind of feel like…if you’ve read one series, you’ve read them all? Maybe blasphemous but there’s just not anything new. A bad shadowhunter pairs up with a demon, a portal to hell is open and there’s a few action scenes. Rinse and repeat for each dang series. I just wish it would have evolved in someway.

I enjoy the characters and stories that go along. I’m happy that I went with the audiobook because I didn’t feel like physically picking this up (audio was great by the way). I think I might just be finished with Shadowhunter books for now.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Urban Fantasy Romance
  • Language: some
  • Romance: one vague open + closed door
  • Violence: medium
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: light blood/gore depiction, loss of life, possession, near death experiences, magical, physical and weapons violence