Tag: urban fantasy

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

Book Review: Beauty and the Blade by S.C. Grayson

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Urban Fantasy Retelling
Length: 297 pages
Author: S.C. Grayson
Publisher: City Owl Press
Release Date: January 26th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Most London socialites dream of marrying for love or status, but Contessa’s wedding is about justice—and revenge.

Nathanial Woodrow is known on the streets of London as the Beast, leader of the fearsome Lion gang who mark their victims with three slashes on their face. Since her mother was found dead with the signature slashes years ago, Contessa has wanted nothing more than to see her murderer brought to justice. However, the Beast has been impeccable at maintaining his façade as the high society Mr. Nathanial Woodrow, and nobody has been able to gather enough evidence to convict him. When the Beast unexpectedly asks Contessa’s father, the Chief of the Royal Police, for her hand in marriage, Contessa and her father hatch a plan to bring him down from the inside.

As Contessa enters the lion’s den in search of evidence to convict the Beast, she finds that not everything is as she once thought. Her father’s work, hunting down Talented that use their magic to rule the criminal underworld, is thrown into question with each glimpse of the kind-hearted man beneath the mask of a hardened gang leader. As Contessa navigates her search for justice, she finds herself questioning what side she’s really on, and why she finds herself drawn to a man she’s supposed to hate.

NOTHING NEW.

This book was honestly completely fine. But that’s also all I can really say about it. I have no raging issues to throw down nor do I have anything that I felt like was the best ever. So while it might be middle of the road for me it might be a better read for you.

It’s very easily a Beauty and the Beast retelling. A little too similar for me. Yet once again that was my thought about it, if you love a pretty true rundown this would be a great pick. I liked the characters and that Contessa confronted her own thoughts and feeling about Nate. She was open to changing her mind when she received new information and that’s something I appreciate with characters.

This is NOT a fantasy. I’d say urban fantasy or something akin to magical realism. It’s set in London and the magic system isn’t well explained but there do seem to be people with “talents” that help with random things? That was never full explained. I did like the London/Regency setting and time period.

The relationship is good overall too. The enemies to lovers isn’t full blown and they do take the time to get to know one another before forming ALL opinions. There was a nice ending that wrapped things up.

Overall audience notes:

  • Urban Fantasy
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: one brief open door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: executions, physical altercations, kidnapping children, weapons violence

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