Tag: urban fantasy

Book Review: Celestial (Angels of Elysium #2) by Olivia Wildenstein

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Urban Fantasy Romance
Length: 424 pages
Author: Olivia Wildenstein
Publisher: WildStone Publishing
Release Date: January 5th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In ninety-two days, the feathered appendages that link me to the people I loathe finally come off. Dear, winglets, you will not be missed.

Celeste has spent the last four years building a life outside of angelic guilds—parties, check—pursuing human ambitions instead of celestial ones—college, check—and shedding feathers across Parisian cobblestones and more recently New York sidewalks—speaking her mind, always check.

She swore off angels, but the death of the woman who took her in the night Leigh died brings them soaring back into her life . . . and not just any angel but the most detestable one, the one complicit in Leigh’s death—Seraph Asher.

Although Celeste tells the archangel to feather off, the unreasonably pretty and obstinate man doesn’t leave her alone. He returns and insists she complete her wings. When she asks him for one good reason to do so, he gives her an unbeatable one: what he did with Leigh’s soul.

Asher never meant to share his damning secret, but he knows it’s the only way to save Celeste—the rebellious Fletching he can’t get out of his head . . . or heart.

* WARNING: contains graphic scenes. Recommended for 18+.

NEW FAV.

This will probably be my favorite of this series. I was VERY surprised when I realized this had new points of view (I’m not a synopsis reader by nature). After that shock and settling into the story I became HOOKED on this romance.

I looooved Celeste and Asher. Oh my goodness. This is how you write a fated romance. There’s good banter and some enemies vibes. Celeste is actually reasonable once she learned all of the facts and allowed Asher in more. Asher is a PROTECTIVE ALPHA type and I could not get enough of him showing up and taking others down.

The larger conflict of the story continued progressing too and once I figured out what the author was creating with the entire series I immediately became curious in seeing this through. I am excited to read the finale.

Plenty of action, politicking, intrigue and very good amount of swoon. This series is clearly underrated.

Overall audience notes:

  • Urban/Paranormal Fantasy Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: 3+ open; high explicit and some fade to black
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: blood/gore depiction, physical/magical altercations, loss of loved ones, organ farming, medical surgeries without consent

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

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

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

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

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

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

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

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

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

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

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

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

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph