Tag: 4 Rating

Joint Review: “Mate”

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Book: “Mate” by Ali Hazelwood

Publishing Info: Berkley, October 2025

Where Did We Get This Book: the library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Serena Paris is orphaned, pack-less, and one of a kind. Coming forward as the first Human-Were hybrid was supposed to heal a centuries-long rift between species. Instead, it made her a target, prey to the ruthless political machinations between Weres, Vampyres, and Humans. With her enemies closing in on her, she has only one option left—if he’ll have her.

As Alpha of the Northwest pack, Koen Alexander commands obedience. His authority is so absolute, only a fool would threaten his mate. It doesn’t matter if Serena doesn’t reciprocate his feelings, nothing will stop him from keeping her safe.

But power-hungry Vampyres and Weres are not the only threats chasing Serena. Sooner or later, her past is bound to catch up with her—and Koen might be the only thing standing between her and total annihilation…

Previously Reviewed: “Bride”

Serena’s Thoughts

I deeply disliked this book. Part of the reason comes down to the natural comparisons to its predecessor, but some of it also includes a spoiler for the book. I think it’s a pretty obvious part of the story (a big part of the problem actually is how obvious it is), but I wanted to give people a heads up before they read on!

Anyways, so yes, I really, really didn’t enjoy this one. For one thing, I don’t think either Serena or Koen hold up well in comparison to Misery and Lowe. For her part, Serena was almost too similar to Misery to come across well. She felt like a non-stop snark fest from the start to finish, but somehow missing the heart that Misery brought to her wit. What’s worse, much of Serena’s character arc involved exploring some of her very damaged perceptions of self. Indeed, these themes were so strongly touched on in the first half of the book, that I was confidently waiting for the scenes where she was forced to confront these toxic views of herself. And I waited, and I waited, and nothing really came of it, except for more snark, of course.

As for Koen, the very first scene with him set him up in a fairly poor light, and it just never recovered. Beyond this initial poor impression, the story also included a series of flashbacks that also painted him a very negative light. The conflict that was set up in Koen and Serena’s relationship was incredibly contrived (and equally conveniently hand-waved away at the end) and easily explained between adults. Of course, it wasn’t. But beyond failing basic communication, Koen was unnecessarily cruel to Serena again and again. For absolutely zero reason. He only started behaving better late in the book, and by that point, my dislike had hardened pretty solidly.

I also really, really hated the romance itself. I’m not into the whole breeding kink as it is, but even if I was, I don’t think I would have enjoyed this version of it. For one thing, it boggles the mind that readers are expected to buy that not only one but TWO werewolf doctors failed to recognize the incredibly common condition of heat in a female werewolf and instead proclaimed her as dying of a super rare and unlikely condition. Perhaps there was meant to be some commentary on healthcare services and women, but if there was, it didn’t land.

Beyond this, from a love story perspective, the heat thing combined with the fated mates trope sucked the romance entirely out of the story for me. At no point did I feel any true connection between Koen and Serena. Instead, we had two characters who were biologically drawn to and tied to one another, and the story never did much to advance their relationship beyond this. Indeed, even by the time we got to the steamy bits (and there was much of this, though all crammed into the last quarter of the book, which hurt the pacing), it never felt like there was much of an impetus behind their coming together beyond these biological factors. As such, it felt like lots of steamy sex scenes, but no actual romance.

So yeah, I didn’t like this one. Perhaps if readers are fans of the fated mates trope and heat/breeding kinks, they might enjoy it more than me. But even those aspects aside, I think Koen and Serena were weak characters and the plot, for what there was, was all over the place and solidly an afterthought to the spice. This was a stark contrast to the first book, where we not only had solid leading characters, but a developed love story and a plot worth caring about.

Kate’s Thoughts

Okay, so…… I didn’t hate this book as much as Serena did. There were definitely things about it that I liked, and I will start with those because a few of said things I found to be pretty interesting. The biggest thing that I DID like was the way that Hazelwood brings in pack politics and dynamics, and the offshoot fringe group (led by a megalomaniac named Constantine) that had a huge run on power in the past that shook the Northwest Pack (the group that Koen leads) to its core, involving lots of violence, death, enslavement, and bad tensions between Weres and humans. Which has left a huge mark on the group as time has gone on. This kind of thing is always interesting to me, with cult stuff and fringe extremists catching my eye in basically anything I’m reading, watching, consuming. I enjoyed that aspect of the book (incredibly predictable plot reveals about it aside). And Serena’s (character) characterization didn’t bother me as much as it did Serena (blogger), as I’ve just kind of come to expect this from Hazelwood in many of her female main characters: they’re going to be quippy, they’re going to be cute, and they’re going to be hand wringing about their attraction to the guy they can’t believe they feel attracted to.

But generally, I do agree with a fair amount of the other stuff that she said at least a little bit (I do think that the misogyny in medicine leading to a crap diagnosis landed more than she did, but I also think that it was kind of ludicrous just as a plot device to lead to Koen’s magic dick banging it all out for our characters). I also really didn’t enjoy Koen as a male main character, as he is hostile and he is a huge jerk to her throughout a lot of the narrative. I get why it was happening within the narrative, but it was still just kind of a rough character to have to follow and root for romantically, especially since Hazelwood CAN write standoffish and conflicted male main characters that don’t feel like flat out assholes. I’m guessing that there is an audience for this kind of character in a exploring this type of dynamic through fantasy, and I’m not going to yuck anyone else’s yum in that regard because explore away! But it rarely clicks with me.

I also think that overall I just wasn’t as entertained by the story as other books that Hazelwood has written. And I do think that it’s because 1) I’m not really an Omegaverse reader (though I’m not against it, don’t misunderstand me), and 2) the characters just didn’t hit because of the lack of chemistry and the way I just couldn’t gel with Koen. Not to mention some predictability in the plot points. There is almost assuredly an audience for this book, but I was just kind of bored. I still appreciate Hazelwood exploring all sorts of sub-genres, but with the huge swath of story types they will almost certainly not all be winners for me. “Mate” fits into that category.

Serena’s Rating 4: I have a clear memory of coming up for air about halfway through and realizing that I was actively hate reading the book. As I continued, nothing swayed me from this perspective.

Kate’s Rating 5: I liked some of the lore, but the main plot at hand was just kinda middling for me.

Reader’s Advisory

“Mate” is included on these Goodreads lists: Gimme a Beast and (because I can) “Serena”.

Serena’s Review: “The Wolf King”

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Book: “The Wolf King” by Lauren Palphreyman

Publishing Info: Bloom Books, November 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: When a princess is kidnapped by an alpha , war rages between the humans and the wolves. But soon, forbidden attraction starts to grow. . .

Princess Aurora longs to escape the castle and the marriage that has been arranged for her.

But on the night before her wedding, at a dog fight where captured werewolves are made to fight for sport, she spares the life of a young wolf. It puts her on the radar of the powerful alpha who was going to kill him. And it changes everything.

That night, when the alpha escapes, he kidnaps her and takes her to the rugged lands north of the border — where the once warring werewolf clans are beginning to unite. He thinks that she is the key to winning the war against the humans.

Only, as they spend time around one another, forbidden attraction starts to grow. And as Aurora learns that not all wolves are bad, the alpha discovers that she is in danger from both his enemies, and those he once considered friends.

With monsters on both sides, a bloodthirsty war between humans and wolves raging, and undeniable passion growing between them — will their story end in love? Or tragedy?

And will Aurora ever get home?

Does she even want to?

Review: I’m going to be honest, this was a really tough one to think about reviewing. To sum up my experience, for the first third of the book, I was absolutely loving it. The main character was interesting enough, if a bit generic and predictable. But the romantic interest was a breath of fresh air! Funny, friendly, considerate, gasp blonde… I have a very clear memory of thinking, “Finally! A breath of fresh air to the standard romantasy fare, proof that there is more to the world than dark, secretive, shadow daddies!” And then… the shadow daddy entered the scene, and I actually slammed my Kindle down in immediate frustration. Honestly, I would have DNF’d it on the spot if it wasn’t for the fact that this was a NetGalley request, and I wanted to follow through on a review.

Now, to be fair, this is an incredibly subjective reaction per my own preferences—so much so that I’m going to go on a rant about this later in the review. But it’s not fair to review the book purely on the rage this “twist” induced in me as one unique reader. For those who enjoy ACOTAR and the sort of romance that has (unfortunately) taken over the romantasy genre ever since, I think this book will be a great fit. Indeed, I was having enough fun with the readability of the prose itself that even I, hating everything about what’s happening with the love story itself, am considering checking out the next book. So, yes. It’s incredibly readable. The main character is not insufferable. And the primary love interest of this book was a character I enjoyed.

So that’s my fair review of the book. Now on to the rant! There will be spoilers for this book and predictions for the next included, so be warned!

I’ve mentioned this point before, but I think romance is one of the few genres that not only benefits from but should almost require some sort of tags for tropes. It’s just such a subjective thing, and it’s all the more infuriating when a book summary sets the reader up to expect one thing and then delivers something completely different. In this case, we have the Tamlin/Rhysand situation where an entire first book is devoted to one love interest, but a secondary (the true!!!) love interest is introduced toward the middle/end. The expectation is then that something will occur in the second book to either make the original love interest intolerable, dead, or otherwise unavailable so that the true romantic lead can slot in.

And boy, do I hate this! I have a long TBR list—so long that I’m never going to get through it. And what this horrible trope has essentially normalized is taking what should be a passing comment found in many romance novels—“My ex was a jerk”—and turning that line into an entire, freaking, hundreds-of-pages-long book! I’m reading romance, for heaven’s sake! One of the primary conventions is a “happily ever after.” And when I start a book and am given two romantic leads, I think it is fair that I then expect those characters to have that happy ending. But no. Instead, I get an entire book devoted to a character who is going to be, essentially, a throwaway line in the main character’s toxic relationship history. That’s not romance! That’s… I don’t even know what!

And the author herself has pointed out the reason that she—and I imagine other romance authors—does this: it’s to get to the smut scenes sooner. And frankly, I find that kind of demeaning as a romance reader. Look, it’s fair to want to read erotica for the, well, erotica of it all. But that is a genre in itself, and there are plenty of options to be had there. Romance is a love story. Yes, there are steamy sections often, but the love story between two people is the heart of it. That being the case, why am I being given an entire book of smut scenes between the main character and her soon-to-be ex? Just because I, the reader, can’t go twenty pages without a smut scene, according to authors and publishers in romantasy? It’s belittling, is what it is.

Of course, this entire rant is very much just my opinion on this matter. And, of course, it’s completely fine to disagree with me, as I imagine many romantasy readers do. But this gets to my final point about tags. I had to read over a hundred and fifty pages of this book to even get an inkling of the fact that this book was taking on this trope. And I’ve looked ahead at reviews for the next book, and it looks like I’d have to go AN ENTIRE BOOK MORE only to find this all completely confirmed. At that point, as a romance reader, I’d have read two entire books about two characters who aren’t going to have a happily-ever-after. And I just think that’s the sort of thing I should know before opening book one. Heaven forbid I had actually paid money for this, having been given zero reason to expect a bait-and-switch like this.

So, yes. Ultimately, I think this author has a compelling style, and I was completely on board for the situation that I was originally sold: Outlander but with werewolves. Unfortunately, that is not at all what we got (Jamie Fraser would never end up being the probably toxic ex). All of this said, if you enjoy the old Tamlin/Rhysand switcheroo, this book is definitely for you! However, if you don’t enjoy this trope, definitely steer away.

Rating 7/4: On its own merits, this is the score I’d give it. Based on my own preferences, this is probably around a 4 due to the sheer gall of writing an entire book about an FMC and her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend and calling it romance.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Wolf King” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Only one horse scenes in romantasy and Historical Fiction/Fantasy with Werewolves.

Joint Review: “Overgrowth”

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Book: “Overgrowth” by Mira Grant

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, May 2025

Where Did We Get This Book: Kate received an eARC from NetGalley,

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Annihilation meets Day of the Triffids in this full-on body horror/alien invasion apocalypse.

This is just a story. It can’t hurt you anymore.

Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she’s an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has been willing to listen.

Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it’s already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia’s biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.

What happens when you know what’s coming, and just refuse to listen?

Kate’s Thoughts

I have read a fair amount of Mira Grant, and have mostly enjoyed basically all of the stories I have read! I really enjoyed the “Feed” Series, and also liked “Into the Drowning Deep”, and I always find her horror stories fun and incredibly readable. So when Serena approached me asking if I wanted to do a joint review of her newest book “Overgrowth”, I immediately jumped on board. Sure it sounded a bit more Science-Fiction-y, but at the same time the idea of plant aliens invading Earth sounded a lot like “Little Shop of Horrors”! And plus, it was Mira Grant! I had high hopes!

Me picking up this book, before disaster inevitably struck (source).

But. I did not like this book. What did I like? Well, I did like the little nods to “Little Shop”, including Stasia having a cat named Seymour, which REALLY tickled me. And I liked that Grant continues to do a bang up job of having great rep for LGBTQIA+ characters in her books, this time having Graham, Stasia’s trans boyfriend, being a well rounded and compelling player in the story. I even liked the way that Grant draws comparisons between the treatment of marginalized groups being Othered with Stasia and her own Othering as an alien who never hides who she is, and is seen as weird and treated as such by others.

But the not so good. The first thing is that the pacing is a bit stilted. It can go from feeling like it’s lagging and slow, to going WAY too fast by the end (once we got to the invasion itself, VERY close to the end of the book, it was warp speed, and that was jarring). The second thing is that this is definitely more heavy on the Sci-Fi than it is horror, and that genre just isn’t for me outside of some very VERY specific parameters. But the biggest issue for me includes a spoiler, even if it’s very early in the story and will be clear pretty quickly, but still, be warned: SPOILER ALERT. We have a very gruesome scene almost right away in which a three year old little girl gets consumed by an alien plant, in lots of really unsettling and upsetting detail. With little to no warning. This is just the kind of stuff that I really can’t abide anymore in books that I read, and had I known that it was going to include that, I wouldn’t have read it. Is this probably more of a ‘me’ problem than a problem with the book? Yeah, almost assuredly. But it really turned me off, and there wasn’t really any recovery in regards to my reading experience, so my review stands as such.

Will “Overgrowth” work for others? Yeah, probably! But for me, I didn’t enjoy it.

Serena’s Thoughts

I largely agree with Kate. While I have read Mira Grant’s “Feed” series, I’m more familiar with Seanan McGuire (Mira Grant is her pen name for most of her horror and horror adjacent titles) and her fantasy works, all of which I’ve enjoyed to some extent or another. But yeah, this one was a struggle.

Kate already touched on the pacing, and I completely agree with her assessment there. I’ll also add that tonally the book felt equally out of sync as it did with its pacing. It starts out in an incredibly dark and gruesome manner (I’ll also talk a bit of spoilers in my last paragraph and will warn you ahead of time!) and then ends in a way that, I felt, was also pretty dark. But in between it seemed to be almost going for a romcom-like tone? There were a bunch of quirky characters and found family moments and much more emphasis on the love story than I had been expecting. Of course, I’m never one to complain about a love story, but, again, the romcom-like tone of the love story sat uncomfortably alongside the more serious aspects of, you know, the world being invaded by plant aliens.

I didn’t mind the science fiction elements nearly as much as Kate (obviously, since this is a preferred genre of mine). But at the same time, there’s a reason I don’t read horror, and for me, this book highlighted my struggles with that genre. So, it’s kind of funny in how predictably Kate and I reacted, with regards to our priors of genre preference! Mostly, this came down to the darker aspects of the horror elements. By no means do I need every book to wrap up with flowers and rainbows, but I also tend to struggle with the horror genre with the morally grey/questionable/is it really over?? type endings that you sometimes find. And this one…yeah, I couldn’t feel great about any of it. However, I do want to applaud the author for following through on her concept.

Likewise, and here come the spoilers, I had similar feelings about the beginning. Right away, you know it’s going to a dark place in that first chapter. And she GOES THERE. So, on one hand, I can appreciate that she didn’t shy away from the horrific nature of what she was writing. But on the other hand, yeah…I, too, could have lived without reading this scene. I don’t think I’m overly sentimental as a mother, but there are definitely new lines that I really try to avoid crossing in my media consumption, and this was a perfect illustration of that exact line. Beyond the scene itself being hard to read, I never really recovered. I know it’s not the main character’s “fault” that this happened, but I couldn’t ever really invest in her either, with this horrible image constantly in my mind. Like Kate said, this was definitely a personal reaction to this scene, and other readers may not struggle with it as much.

So, there ya go. Unfortunately, this one didn’t really work for either of us. But I also think it’s one of those reads that others may enjoy much more!

Kate’s Rating 4: This just didn’t work for me, in spite of the “Little Shop of Horrors” nods and the well done representation of queer and trans characters. I had high hopes that weren’t met.

Serena’s Rating 5: I think that trigger warnings can definitely go too far and get into spoiler territory sometimes, but one definitely could have been used here! Other than that, some mismatches in tone and pacing also let this read down for me.

Reader’s Advisory

“Overgrowth” is included on the Goodreads list “2025 Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction”.

Serena’s Review: “Firebird”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Firebird” by Juliette Cross

Publishing Info: Bramble, April 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: A conqueror captivated…
A witch prophesied to save them all…
A world where dragons rule Rome.

From the moment Roman general and nephew to the emperor Julianus Dakkia laid eyes on Malina, he was enthralled by the Dacian dancer. Years later, the fierce beauty stands before him on a scarred battlefield, her life in danger. He instinctively shifts into his fierce dragon form to save her, an action that may mean his head on the imperial gate. But he and his dragon know one thing: she belongs to them.

Malina can’t believe that the centurion who had once bestowed a secret talisman on her is the Roman general of legendary brutality. His warrior prowess cannot be denied, yet they don’t reveal the secret he hides. All Malina knows is his protection and gentle touch. And she cannot deny how her soul has always seemed to answer his.

As they navigate a world where flying deathriders conquer and burn, their love will ignite a firestorm that can only end in heartbreak or death. Or both.

Review: This is a difficult book to review. On one hand, it’s simply following a tried-and-true romantasy equation, almost point by point at times. On the other hand, within the greater context of the story, I think many of these tropes rubbed the wrong way for me. However, given how standard much of the language and tropes used in this book are to the genre, I fully expect my opinion of this one to be an outlier. Ah well. By this point, I’m well used to being on the wrong side of these dragon romance books. (But wait! I did like “Dragon Unleashed” by Grace Draven, so it’s not all bad all the time automatically or anything!)

As always, I do want to start with a few positives. For the most part, I did enjoy the setting of this book, being based on ancient Rome. I feel like this is a bit of a trend recently, and as I enjoy Roman history, it’s been fun seeing it pop up within the fantasy genre (largely because the history is so long and full of different highs and lows and focal points that you can end up with quite a lot of variety even with this focus).

That said, I don’t think this particular iteration did much with this concept. For example, this book was hyped as a combination of ancient Rome meets George R.R. Martin. Do you know what those two things have in common? A strong focus on political machinations! Do you know what this book had practically zero of? That’s right, political machinations. Anything you do see is so superficial as to be practically worthless. Instead, the comparison to Martin would more accurately come down to the book’s focus on the horrendous treatment of women in this civilization. Obviously, there is historical accuracy behind much of this. But that alone doesn’t justify a heavy focus on the subject unless it’s going to be addressed thoroughly. And, like Martin, there were times where this book seemed to be reveling in the horror of it all, rather than including them for any truly important reason. Pay attention to the trigger warnings on this one, for sure.

My real problem came down to the romance, however. In so many ways, this romance exemplified the many ways that romantasy tropes can go wrong if sprinkled into any old plot line without much care. For some background, an important feature of this book is the fact that the MMC (morally grey with tons of secrets, obvs) participated in the razing of the MFC’s people. Which, again, this sort of thing is a staple of the genre, and the obligatory reveals of his ulterior motivations can be expected. But, necessarily, that explanation has to be incredibly good to counterbalance the actual gruesome harm he participated in, something that cannot be simply erased. Some authors are capable of turning this corner with their MMC. Others…are not.

Beyond this, the entire set up of the book and the romance is based around the fact that the MMC captures the FMC and keeps her as a “body slave.” So, that’s a pretty heavy topic to manage in a romance, that sort of dynamic, where the power imbalance is so extreme. Again, this can be navigated, but it takes a careful hand on the wheel to do so. Unfortunately, we didn’t see that here. Instead, the romance starts up quickly and hits hard, without ever really dealing with the facts of this power imbalance. And for me, this left an inescapable sheen of ickiness over the entire affair.

Further, the inclusion of dragons into this story lead to a strong focus on mating bonds. Beyond the laziness factor of this trope (which allows authors to just handwave away any actual character growth or natural progression of romantic interest/feelings and instead justify instalove/lust), the language that accompanied this choice rubbed up incredibly awkwardly (to put it mildly) against the slave/master nature of the relationship. “You’re mine.” “Say you’re mine.” etc. etc., are all very common phrases in romance/romantasy, especially when you’re dealing with any sort of mating bond situation. However, when paired with the set up of this story and the dynamics between Juliannus and Malina, this all began to feel rather gross. And, again, this isn’t to say that mating bond books can’t be done well! I think “Bride” by Ali Hazelwood is an excellent example of how to navigate this trope, avoiding the instalove pitfall as well as the questions regarding consent. This book, however, did not do any of that.

So yeah, I really disliked this book. I think it’s a perfect example of the “plug and play” style of writing that is all too prevalent in the rising star that is the romantasy genre. Everyone wants to cash in and the results are books that feel as if the author/publisher simply drew popular tropes out of a hat and mashed them together, with no concern for how well they would work together. Mating bonds and the possessive language that often accompany it? Sometimes good! Pair that with a slave/master dynamic and fastburn intimacy? Absolutely not.

I don’t recommend this book. I think there are much better examples of all the tropes included to be found elsewhere, and I think the author’s inability to properly explore the power imbalance of her central romance ruins any attempt to enjoy it.

Rating 4: Tropes gone bad and a rather gross slave/master romance at its heart really ruined this one for me.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Firebird” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Greco – Roman Fantasy and April 2025 Most Anticipated Romance Releases.

Joint Review: “Lucy Undying”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Lucy Undying” by Kiersten White

Publishing Info: Del Rey, September 2024

Where Did We Get This Book: We received ARCs at ALAAC24.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: In this epic and seductive gothic fantasy, a vampire escapes the thrall of Dracula and embarks on her own search for self-discovery and true love.

Her name was written in the pages of someone else’s story: Lucy Westenra was one of Dracula’s first victims. But her death was only the beginning. Lucy rose from the grave a vampire, and has spent her immortal life trying to escape from Dracula’s clutches–and trying to discover who she really is and what she truly wants.

Her undead life takes an unexpected turn when, in twenty-first-century London, she meets another woman who is also yearning to break free from her past. Iris’s family has built a health empire based on a sinister secret, and they’ll do anything to stay in power.

Lucy has long believed she would never love again. But she finds herself compelled by the charming Iris, while Iris is mesmerized by the confident and glamorous Lucy. But their intense connection and blossoming love is threatened by forces from without. Iris’s mother won’t let go of her without a fight, and Lucy’s past still has fangs: Dracula is on the prowl again.

Lucy Westenra has been a tragically murdered teen, a lonesome adventurer, and a fearsome hunter, but happiness always eluded her. Can she find the strength to destroy Dracula once and for all, or will her heart once again be her undoing?

Kate’s Thoughts

I am going to preface my review with some caveats. The first is that I have genuinely enjoyed all of the books that I have read by Kiersten White. Like, not a clunker in the bunch in my experience. The next is that I have a very, very personal connection to the original story of “Dracula”, as I read it in my all time favorite college class which was taught by my very favorite professor turned friend Andy, who tragically passed away due to a brain tumor far too young, and his analysis and contextualization of the novel made for very rewarding reading. And I really liked the idea of approaching Lucy Westenra, who was basically a character to be a tragic woman victim to drive the men in her life towards justice, to get some more complexity and time to shine. After all, we know that women don’t have to just be victims there for man pain. With these things in mind, I was so, SO anticipating “Lucy Undying”, White’s newest retelling and reimagining of a classical piece of Western literature. My hopes were so high.

And man. I really didn’t like this book.

There are many things that I didn’t like about this book and I don’t want to turn this into a long rant, so I will do my best to keep this brief. What I will say is that I started out liking it for a bit. Some of the set up was promising. But then it fell apart once we got into the nitty gritty. This book is told in multiple perspectives. The first is Iris, a woman living in the modern day who is trying to escape the clutches of the toxic MLM that her family, particularly her now dead mother, has been running and has made them powerful and dangerous. When she arrives in London to try and sort out some property that her family has, she finds the diary of Lucy Westenra, the tragic victim of vampire Dracula (but also almost everyone around her) centuries before. Iris has also met the mysterious ‘Elle’, who is quite obviously vampire Lucy. Along with the present day, we have TWO perspectives from Lucy. The first is her diary from her time shortly before becoming a vampire (which Iris has found), as well as transcripts from therapy sessions that let us know what Lucy was up to AFTER her turning and before now. It’s a hefty amount to juggle, and unfortunately it isn’t juggled very well, feeling meandering and bloated. It’s a lot of telling instead of showing when it comes to Lucy and her exploits, and it makes the pacing lag as we jump between the three. I wish that one had been cut completely to be frank. And then to make matters more convoluted, the tone does a sudden shift later in the book, and it feels like two different novels being combined into one, but shoehorned in in an awkward fashion.

But the most egregious thing to me was how in an effort to bolster Lucy up beyond the admitted victimized waif that she was in the original text BASICALLY EVERY OTHER CHARACTER FROM “DRACULA” has been turned into a devious villain who meant to do her harm. And look, I get the drive to do so. I wholly understand the way that many women were treated during the Victorian era by the men in their lives. I can understand wanting to make The Five Heroes perhaps not as gallant as the original text did, that maybe they were men of their time with all the baggage that comes with it. Hell, I can even perhaps get into the debate of trying to treat a dying Lucy with blood transfusions when she wasn’t REALLY consenting to it (though it sure wasn’t unheard of, and I know this because I once worked in a historic upper class Victorian house in St. Paul that has SO MANY medical horror stories, especially for the women). But making Dr. Seward a psychopath? Making Quincy a total dumb dumb? Making Arthur scheming for more wealth? MAKING VAN HELSING AN ‘OLD PERVERT’?! Hated it. And the biggest sin? Mina is not exempt from this. So what is supposed to be a feminist re-envisioning makes the choice to throw the only other woman from the original text under the bus to make Lucy look better and wronged and scorned and etcetera etcetera. It’s the same lazy trap that that vanity project “Maleficent” fell into, and I HATED that movie and I really disliked this book because of this. I admit that I may be too personally fond of the original story to really give this the fairest of shakes, but this kind of approach almost always sticks in my craw, beloved text or not.

I do have a positive I will share because it’s only fair to do so after this long rant of a review: I absolutely loved the predatory Utah based MLM storyline, Goldaming Life and how Iris and Lucy connect to it. In the author’s note White mentions that she’s writing a book that does more Utah MLM culture deconstruction and oh my GOD I am SO here for that. Though in another moment of ranting, Arthur’s title in “Dracula” was spelled “Godalming”, not “Goldaming”. I think this was just a misspelling as there was no indication that misspelling was intentional. I’m hoping this will be corrected in the final product.

I still intend to keep reading Kiersten White’s books, as overall I still really like her as an author. But I really disliked this book, which was such a disappointment because I had such high hopes for it.

Serena’s Thoughts

If I just type “same” and call it good, would that count for my half of this joint review? But honestly, much of what Kate expressed was my own experience as well. I want to re-emphasize truly how much of a shock this was. Like Kate, I’ve loved every book I’ve read by this author. Sure, I’ve had favorites (I particularly enjoyed her “Vlad the Impaler” trilogy), but none of them have whiffed nearly as badly as this one did. I’m honestly not sure what happened. It could be simply a case of the author having too much tied up in her own head canon regarding Lucy (as she admits in the author’s note in the end), and then the story itself was lost in the shuffle.

I’ve only read “Dracula” once, so I don’t have the same deep ties to the story as Kate does. That being the case, I was happy enough to go along with the reinterpretation of some of these characters. But very quickly, I ran into the exact problem that Kate expressed: the “reinterpretation” was the same for every single character, namely, they were all terrible people in comparison to Lucy. I really lost it, however, when this carried over to Mina. I truly dislike it when authors attempt to write “feminist” re-tellings of classic characters and the way they end up showing this is by demonizing the other women surrounding them. It’s just icky. This was made all the worse for Lucy then being written as your tried-and-true special snowflake who literally inspires every other woman around her and, yes, essentially ends WWI all on her own.

Beyond that, while I think the modern day story was better written, I don’t feel that it fit comfortably alongside Lucy’s own history that was slowly unfurled through diary entries and therapist notes. It also wasn’t helped that, personally, this storyline was simply of less interest to me. I can see that it was better done, but my original draw to this story was in the original “Dracula” time period and characters (I’ll also say that I think the cover is a bit misleading, as it definitely leans towards a more historical/gothic vibe than the large chunks of contemporary horror/thriller storylines that we got here).

Overall, I have to agree with Kate in pretty much every way. This was a disappointing read, all the more so for it coming from an author who has been such a sure thing in the past.

Kate’s Rating 3: A huge misstep from an author I usually quite enjoy, “Lucy Undying” is bloated, convoluted, and relies too much on demonizing other characters in order to bolster Lucy up. Very disappointing.

Serena’s Rating 3: A bizarre missing of the mark from an author who has had great success tackling similar re-tellings in the past.

Reader’s Advisory

“Lucy Undying” is included on the Goodreads lists “Queer Vampire Books” and “The Vampire Renaissance”.

Kate’s Review: “Never Coming Home”

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Book: “Never Coming Home” by Kate Williams

Publishing Info: Delacorte Press, June 2022

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: The beach read you have been dying for! When ten of America’s hottest teenage influencers are invited to an exclusive island resort, things are sure to get wild. But murder isn’t what anyone expected. Will anyone survive?

Everyone knows Unknown Island—it’s the world’s most exclusive destination. Think white sand beaches, turquoise seas, and luxury accommodations. Plus, it’s invite only, no one over twenty-one allowed, and it’s absolutely free. Who wouldn’t want to go?

After launching with a showstopping viral marketing campaign, the whole world is watching as the mysterious resort opens its doors to the First Ten, the ten elite influencers specifically chosen to be the first to experience everything Unknown Island has to offer. You know them. There’s the gamer, the beauty blogger, the rich girl, the superstar, the junior politician, the environmentalist, the DJ, the CEO, the chef, and the athlete.

What they don’t know is that they weren’t invited to Unknown Island for their following—they were invited for their secrets. Everyone is hiding a deadly one, and it looks like someone’s decided it’s payback time. Unknown Island isn’t a vacation, it’s a trap. And it’s beginning to look like the First Ten—no matter how influential—are never coming home.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

I have various weaknesses in my entertainment, and one of those weaknesses is how I love to revel in schadenfreude of people who are kind of assholes. Especially if said assholes have influence and power and could stand to be knocked down a few pegs. I absolutely devoured both Fyre Festival documentaries and thoroughly enjoyed watching start up scam dramas like “The Dropout” and “WeCrashed”. So when I read about “Never Coming Home” by Kate Williams, and how it was taking a number of influencers, luring them to a remote island with a promise of luxury and a status resort, and then picking them off one by one because of their secrets, I was so interested. But once I started reading it, I realized that this wasn’t going to be what I wanted it to be. Which was super disappointing.

I’ll start with the positives. Namely, as someone who appreciates a good slasher movie with some creativity under its belt, “Never Coming Home” has some really gnarly kills. Why limit oneself to mere poisonings and moments that could be accidents when you could use bees (VERY “Sleepaway Camp”), or full on mutilation, or explosive bodily fluids out of various orifices (admittedly, I did not care for this one as it was way gross)? Williams clearly had a fun time thinking of nasty deaths for the various nasty players, and that I can and will tip my hat off to. And there is so much potential here. The whole concept of Influencers being taken to a Fyre Festival-esque hoax that is really a trap to pick each of them off is just SO tantalizing!

God DAMMIT I wanted this to rock SO BADLY! (source)

But now let’s talk about the negatives. Firstly, the characters. I know that there are definitely limitations on how much attention you can pay to each character in a “And Then There Were None” kind of story, since you have a big victim pool and only so many pages unless you want to go “War and Peace” in terms of length. But in “Never Coming Home”, I didn’t feel like I got to know anyone very well, and what we did see were very two dimensional and tropey characterizations for almost everyone. You had the cartoon villainy of a scheming CEO to the poor little princess rich girl to the superstar with more depth than people realize, and with maybe one or two exceptions, none of them stretched beyond their archetypes. No one was very likable or even fun to hate, and since they all get picked off one by one it felt like a slasher movie cast but without the suspense. Even a good slasher movie will give you something in SOME of the characters so that you have investment in them while others are just there to be meat sacks. This book didn’t give us much of that. I know that I’m absolutely not the target audience, but I would like to give teen readers a little more credit than this.

I also had a hard time suspending a lot of my disbelief when it came to some of these characters and their influencer, well, influence. They’re all under twenty but are wunderkinds in one way or another in ways that feel half baked. Be it the woman-centric email start up to the character who was listed as being a former Minneapolis City Council member on the ‘cast of characters’ reference page (and he’s under twenty?! IN WHAT WARD I ASK YOU? There’s been a LOT about the Minneapolis City Council and its dynamics and members in the news here in the Metro as of late and I just don’t believe this kid pulled a Ben Wyatt in MINNEAPOLIS), I couldn’t swallow it. I just couldn’t. Perhaps had they been aged up a bit it would have rang more true, but then it wouldn’t fit as a YA novel, I suppose.

And finally, I hate it when a book feels a need to just write the entire solution out instead of showing us the way. And “Never Coming Home” has an entire last section that does exactly that. It just spells out who the killer is, how they got away with it, and what their motivation was. I’m not saying that I needed a villain monologue or anything like that, but this is the second “And Then There Were None” retelling that did this. Given that I haven’t read “And Then There Were None” I could be missing something. Is that how the solution comes through in “And Then There Were None”? That could be more forgivable if so, but the problem is that it still feels like a great big info dump that brings the story’s pacing to a screeching halt.

“Never Coming Home” was a big ol’ let down. Again, I’m not the target audience so I very well may be missing the mark here, and it may go over better with others. But I was just disappointed by this one.

Rating 4: This just didn’t work for me. Between the underdeveloped characters and the overdone premise it failed to capture my interest.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Never Coming Home” isn’t on many Goodreads lists yet, but it would fit in on “‘And Then There Were None’ Trope Novels”.

Serena’s Review: “The War of Two Queens”

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Book: “The War of Two Queens” by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publishing Info: Blue Box Press, March 2022

Where Did I Get this Book: bought the ebook

Where Can You Get this Book: Amazon | IndieBound | WorldCat

Book Description: From the desperation of golden crowns…

Casteel Da’Neer knows all too well that very few are as cunning or vicious as the Blood Queen, but no one, not even him, could’ve prepared for the staggering revelations. The magnitude of what the Blood Queen has done is almost unthinkable.

And born of mortal flesh…

Nothing will stop Poppy from freeing her King and destroying everything the Blood Crown stands for. With the strength of the Primal of Life’s guards behind her, and the support of the wolven, Poppy must convince the Atlantian generals to make war her way—because there can be no retreat this time. Not if she has any hope of building a future where both kingdoms can reside in peace.

A great primal power rises…

Together, Poppy and Casteel must embrace traditions old and new to safeguard those they hold dear—to protect those who cannot defend themselves. But war is only the beginning. Ancient primal powers have already stirred, revealing the horror of what began eons ago. To end what the Blood Queen has begun, Poppy might have to become what she has been prophesied to be—what she fears the most.

As the Harbinger of Death and Destruction.

Previously Reviewed: “From Blood and Ash” and “A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire” and “The Crown of Gilded Bones”

Review: This was another massive book, so as much as I wanted to get my review out as close to the release day as possible, here we are, a few weeks later. It was partly the length. But it’s also partly that I (and a lot of others, it seems!) had a lot of thoughts and feelings about this book, so it’s taken a bit to get my mind in order with what exactly I wanted to say about this book. But, be warned, there will be spoilers for the book in this review, so read on with that in mind. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Casteel finds himself in the last place he ever wanted to be: trapped in a dungeon and in the grasp of the cruel Blood Queen. But he’d do it all again, at least Poppy is free out in the world. For her part, Poppy is lost without Casteel. Newly made queen of a people and country that barely know her, let alone trust her, she knows only that she must save Casteel as soon as possible. She is joined by Kieran, Casteel’s best friend who hurts almost as much as she does with Casteel’s loss. Together, they will work to save their King and overthrow the Blood Queen once and for all.

The way I’m going to review this book is as follows: I’m going to start with a review of the objective state of this book, then move out to my own interpretations, and then briefly discuss the fan reaction. So, first off, my general impression of this book. Anyone who has read my reviews of these books before will note that I’ve always been hesitant to say much in favor of the general quality of the writing and world-building in these books. They’ve all been bloated, poorly edited behemoths of books. I’m not sure if it’s because of the popularity of the series or what, but it seems that the publisher has taken a very hands-off approach to editing this series. This book showed many of the same flaws.

The pacing was snail-paced, with very little happening for huge chunks of time. What we do learn about the world comes through exposition. And there are so many “reveals” about the world and Poppy’s own heritage that it is well past the point of ridiculousness. I will say that I thought there were more actual grammatical/spelling errors in this book than the others. But for the most part, if you’ve read the other books, you’ll know the flaws you’re working with and none of them are improved in this book. Four books in, these flaws of bad world-building and endless secrets begin to feel as if the author just never planned her series. At some point, the story needs to move past the “discovery” phase and into the “action” phase. Either way, none of this is truly shocking. Indeed, I’ve said repeatedly that I’m really only there for the romance. And that’s where we get to the subjective portion.

This book gives us Casteel’s perspective for the first time in the series. And I think this was actually part of the problem. What should have been an exciting addition (finally the heroes perspective!) was actually a flaw that made what was happening in the rest of the story all the more uncomfortable and unlikable. We have Casteel’s thoughts almost entirely focused on Poppy and how glad he is that he is the one locked up and suffering instead of her. And Poppy? Whelp, she’s off sharing a bed with naked Kieran, developing feelings for him, and getting asked why her husband’s best friend is acting like her husband by family friends. Her answer? “It’s complicated.” Yeaahh, it reads pretty bad and checks all my marks for emotional cheating in my book (honestly, bordering on actual cheating with that naked sleeping scene). On there own, these actions are pretty condemnable from a partner who is in an established exclusive relationship. It’s all the worse when contrasted with Casteel’s thoughts of her. So, subjectively, this ruined most of the series for me. Like I said, I was here for the romance, and this effectively crushed that. Even when Poppy and Casteel are reunited, Poppy’s mentally bemoaning Kieran not being around. It’s uncomfortable, unlikable, and decidedly NOT what I want from my “soulmates” romance stories.

And this last bit gets to the general fans reactions and the author’s approach with this series. Look, we here at The Library Ladies believe in “Every book its reader, and every reader their book.” But the converse of that is true: some people make choices of what to read based on what is and what is not in their books. For romance readers, this is almost even more important than for general fiction readers. There is an unspoken but strong understanding between the author and the readers of what they are there for, be it happily ever afters, smut, etc. And this book was marketed, spoken about by the author (she repeatedly said that Cas and Poppy were the main/only relationship for the last several years), and then set up for THREE BOOKS as an exclusive soulmates-style romance.

If the author had wanted to write a polyamory romance, that’s fine! There are readers for it, and I’m sure many would have gobbled it up! Many are probably already loving the series anyways! The problem is what I said before: that’s not what this series set out to be (or at least there’s no rational interpretation of the previous books or author’s statements that could lead you to thinking otherwise). So when devoted fans get to book four and see what looks pretty clearly like emotional cheating and then a polyamory relationship, they’re going to feel misled and cheated by the author. What’s more, I’ll go as far as to say that had the author set out from the beginning to write a polyamory book (beyond the fact that she failed to truly set that up in any real way), this was a truly bad way to go about it. I can’t imagine anyone from that community would like the parallel drawn here between their accepting and consensual love with the kind of emotional cheating that Poppy and Kieran were getting up to behind Casteel’s back and without his knowledge. This is not good representation and instead plays into very negative stereotypes about the entire lifestyle.

This was a huge disappointment for me. Objectively, it has the same flaws as we’ve seen in the rest of the series. Subjectively, the romance was the only reason I was really still here, and that was badly damaged/ruined by the emotional cheating from Poppy. And thirdly, the author seems to have broken a social contract with her readership by creating a soulmates romance story, publicly calling it such for years and writing three books setting that up, and then blindsiding them with a poor representation of a polyamory relationship at best or emotional infidelity at worst.

I’ll probably check out the reviews of the next book when it is released, but I’m probably out. These books were huge time commitments, and I’m the type of romance reader who reads for the happily ever after. And emotional infidelity isn’t it, friends.

Rating 4: A case study in how to turn your rabid fan base against you and misunderstand why they’re there in the first place.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A War of Two Queens” is on several lists, but I think it most deserves to be on this one: Most Disappointing Sequels/Prequels.

Book Club Review: “Project Duchess”

We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. Our current theme is “Romance”, in which we each picked a book that is a romance, or has elements that fit romance tropes to a T. For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club!

Book: “Project Duchess” by Sabrina Jeffries

Publishing Info: Zebra, June 2019

Where Did We Get This Book: The library!

Romance Trope: Grumpy/Sunshine

Book Description: A series of stepfathers and a difficult childhood have left Fletcher “Grey” Pryde, 5th Duke of Greycourt, with a guarded heart, enviable wealth, and the undeserved reputation of a rogue. Grey’s focus on expanding his dukedom allows him little time to find a wife. But when his mother is widowed yet again and he meets the charmingly unconventional woman managing his stepfather’s funeral, he’s shocked to discover how much they have in common. Still, Grey isn’t interested in love, no matter how pretty, or delightfully outspoken, the lady . . .
 
Beatrice Wolfe gave up on romance long ago, and the arrogant Duke of Greycourt with his rakish reputation isn’t exactly changing her mind. Then Grey agrees to assist his grief-stricken mother with her latest “project”: schooling spirited, unfashionable Beatrice for her debut. Now that Beatrice is seeing through Grey’s charms to his wounded heart, she’s having trouble keeping him at arm’s length. But once Grey starts digging into her family’s secrets, she must decide whether her loyalties lie with her family . . . or with the man whose lessons capture her heart . . .   

Serena’s Thoughts

Ostensibly, this book should have been for me. When I do read romance, I generally prefer historical romance, with all of those grand ball scenes and the obsessively weird culture of manners. I find that the overly formal way of moving through life in these books is a nice balance to the actual bodice-ripping romance of them. Sadly, this book wasn’t for me though.

There were a few problems that I had. Firstly, the romance itself doesn’t feel very well built up, with the “hero” pretty much sexualizing the heroine immediately. Obviously, some of this is expected in romance novels, so it’s not the fact that it happened that was the problem. More, it was the fact that it was right off the bat which just immediately set him up in a bad light for me. Beyond that, the book is very “tell-y” with this character in general. We’re told over and over again that he’s this “rake-ish” individual, but we never see any evidence of this “bad boy” persona.

Much of this problem comes down to the fact that the entire book takes place on the family’s country estate. That’s right! There are no grand ball room scenes or society gossip, because the entire story is removed from all of that. Instead, we have only Grey’s family and Beatrice’s brother for any and all social interactions. Not only does it feel limited, but it was very obvious that the author was almost equally devoted to setting up all of these other characters as potential leads in her future books as she was with telling the actual story on hand. It all played against me becoming at all invested in Grey and Beatrice.

I also didn’t love the mystery that was included in this story. Again, this probably should have been a hit for me as, when I do read mysteries, they’re often historical mysteries of just this sort. But here, by cramming the mystery in alongside the romance, the author missed the mark on both. The romance was lukewarm. And the mystery was unappealing. Not only did we always know that the main suspect would be innocent, but the story ends on a cliffhanger in a misguided attempt to get readers to pick up the next book. In my case, that just worked against it. I felt even more put off by the story in not having this resolved. This plot line took up a ton of page time and arguably reduced changes to increase my interest in the romance of the story, the thing most readers who pick up this kind of book will be looking for. Fans of historical romance can likely find better options out there.

Kate’s Thoughts

Okay, we have officially moved into romance territory that I rarely dare to tread. I can count the number of ‘bodice ripper’ romance on one hand, including this one… And I think that the number is 2. MAYBE 3 if we want to be a little loosey goosey with our time periods. And while thus far our book club romances have been mostly contemporary (with one fantasy), I knew a Regency romance would probably have to happen. So I went into “Project Duchess” trying to have an open mind. But by the time I was finished, I realized that this subgenre of romance really… REALLY isn’t for me.

I have a lot of the same thoughts as Serena, from the clunky way that the characters are used, to the telling vs showing, to the isolated setting (though I admit that I had NO idea that this was a thing until it came up in book club; it wasn’t until Serena pointed out that keeping it on a country estate with no dances, urban gossip, or new characters was incredibly limiting. Once she pointed it out I was like ‘oh hey, yeah!!!’). I also thought that giving Beatrice a darker backstory involving her lecherous uncle wasn’t handled super well, as it was there to make her tragic but wasn’t examined in a way that felt healthy. One good fuck probably isn’t going to wash away trauma. I know it’s a romance novel and a little unrealistic storytelling isn’t a crime (in any book really), but it just didn’t sit right with me.

AND I am going to echo my frustration with the mystery. I, being a gal who loves a good murder plot, wanted to know what HAD happened to all of Lydia’s husbands! Once it clicked that we weren’t going to get any answers in this book, as the story was setting up a whole series involving all the boring characters (excluding Gwyn. I liked Gwyn), I was pretty frustrated.

“Project Duchess” was a miss for me. I would say that maybe it’s just because it’s not my genre, but seeing Serena’s review above, it makes me think it’s maybe a miss all around.

Serena’s Rating 6: Not for me, which was a shock considering that, on paper, it should have been right up my alley.

Kate’s Rating 4: I wasn’t expecting too much but was still disappointed.

Book Club Questions

  1. How well do this hero and heroine fit the “grump/sunshine” romance trope?
  2. What did you think about the mystery at the heart of the novel? What predictions do you have going forward?
  3. Beatrice’s history with her uncle is quite dark. How well do you think the book tackled this topic?
  4. What did you think of Beatrice and Greycourt as a couple and the various iterations of their romance that we saw throughout this book?
  5. This is clearly the first book in a set-up series. Will you continue reading? What character are you most interested in reading about next?

Reader’s Advisory

“Project Duchess” is on these Goodreads lists: Romance Heroes and Heroines Over 35! and 2019 Historical Romance.

Find “Project Duchess” at your library using WorldCat or at a local independent bookstore using IndieBound!

Next Book Club Book: “Beach Read” by Emily Henry

Serena’s Review: “Given”

Book: “Given” by Nandi Taylor

Publishing Info: Wattpad Books, January 2020

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

Book Description: As a princess of the Yirba, Yenni is all-but-engaged to the prince of a neighboring tribe. She knows it’s her duty to ensure peace for her people, but as her father’s stubborn illness steadily worsens, she sets out on a sacred journey to the empire of Cresh, determined to find a way to save him at any cost, even though failure could mean the wrath of her gods and ruin for her people. One further complication? On the day she arrives at the Prevan Academy for Battle and Magical Arts, she meets an arrogant dragon-shifter named Weysh who claims she’s his “Given”, or destined mate. Muscular, beautiful (and completely infuriating), he’s exactly the kind of distraction Yenni can’t afford while her father’s life hangs in the balance.

But while Yenni would like nothing more than to toss Weysh the man into the nearest river, Weysh the dragon quickly becomes a much-needed friend in the confusing northern empire. Yet when her affection for the dragon starts to transfer to the man, Yenni must decide what is more important: her duty to her tribe, or the call of her own heart.

Review: This book had two things going for it immediately: first, the cover is so cool! There was an alternative cover that was much less compelling, but the one I highlighted here was the one I saw and the one that initially drew me in. And second, it’s a book about dragons. Lump me in with all the other unoriginal fantasy fans who love dragons, I don’t care! A good dragon story will always be right up my alley. A bad dragon story, however….

Yenni has always grown up with duty at the heart of her life. But when her father falls prey to a mysterious illness, this duty takes on a new form. Not only must she travel to a distant academy to follow through on her next steps to queendom, but while there, she desperately hopes to find a cure for her beloved father. The last thing she needs is distractions. Especially not distractions that show up in the form of infuriating, handsome, young men. And frankly, the only thing in this particular young man’s favor is his dragon form whom Yenni forms a close relationship. Sadly, one comes with the other. But as Yenni finds herself growing closer to man and dragon, the choices before her and the duties that call to her begin to blend and meld.

I probably should have known from the description that this probably wasn’t going to be a winner for me. YA books that describe their romantic heroes as “infuriating” and “arrogant” are almost always underselling it, with the terms “demeaning” and “borderline-abusive” often being the words I would substitute. Alas, so was the case here.

There were so many cringe-worthy lines (also to be expected from most fantasy romances that center around some sort of “mate bond”…can we just stop with this entire idea??). And what was worse was how quickly Yenni ultimately got over her first impression made by some of these rude interactions. Her initial reaction of dislike is completely justified. Her 180-turn like five pages later was….less so. And that’s all without touching the utter lack of romance involved in an insta-love connection. Or any of the other trope-ridden high school romance boxes that were dutifully checked off as the story progressed. All the worse in that these were supposedly more adult characters! Sadly, every aspect of this romance didn’t work for me and pretty much ruined my experience.

Perhaps it’s for the best, then, that I also didn’t feel like there was overly much to ruin in the first place. The writing was strong enough, but wasn’t accomplishing anything truly note-worthy. There was an over-reliance on the author telling readers how they should feel about things, rather than creating situations and dialogue that would resonate with readers and do the showing for her. And the world-building and magical school were incredibly predictable and unoriginal feeling. Sure, one can say that with “Harry Potter” looming large, it’s almost impossible to write a magical school book that doesn’t feel like either a straight-up copy attempt or a pale comparison. But in response, I will point you to Naomi Novik’s “A Deadly Education” and leave it at that. It definitely can be done. This one just doesn’t manage it.

Ultimately, I was really disappointed by this book. Not only did it not live up to the awesome, bad-ass heroine who seemed to be depicted on the cover, but it fell into every negative romance trope you can think of in recent years. I really wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. There are better dragon stories out there. Better leading ladies. Better worlds. In a word, better books.

Rating 4: Not only did it not bring anything new to the table, but it highlighted another unhealthy romantic dynamic as some sort of wish-fulfillment.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Given” is on these Goodreads lists: 2020 Fantasy and Science Fiction Books by Black Authors and Fantasy That Isn’t Fantastic Straight White Men Doing Epic Things….

Find “Given” at your local library using WorldCat!

Kate’s Review: “What She Found in the Woods”

Book: “What She Found in the Woods” by Josephine Angelini

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Fire, December 2020

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Book Description: Running from a scandal at her New York private school, Magdalena heads to her family home to recover under the radar.

Over-medicated and under-confident, she’s fearful she’ll never escape her past.

Until she meets Bo out hiking. Wild, gorgeous and free, he makes her believe she might finally be able to move on.

But when a mutilated body is discovered in the woods, Magdalena realises she can’t trust anyone. Not even herself.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

In a moment of ‘why did no one tell me this’, last November I was looking at my Highlights list for December, only to discover that one of the books I had highlighted had been postponed until Spring of this year. So I needed to go looking for a new title that I could highlight, and hit a bunch of lists for December publications. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I panic! But I was happy when I saw “What She Found in the Woods” by Josephine Angelini, as the description was checking off a LOT of my boxes. A privileged girl running from a private school scandal, a strange boy who may be hiding something, and dead bodies popping up in the wilderness, my gosh, what a treasure trove! I was lucky enough to get a copy via NetGalley, and dove in hoping for a fun read. But sadly, checked boxes or no, “What She Found in the Woods” ended up not gelling for me.

While it certainly has a promising premise and it did have some moments of tension because of a solid build up, “What She Found in the Woods” just didn’t thrill me the way that I wanted it to. The first issue I had was the characters themselves. Magdalena, our protagonist, had a well plotted slow burn of a reveal to her past, but I feel like there was too much piled on once we got past the first initial ‘bad thing’ that was revealed just to make it ‘extra bad’. We really didn’t need the additional issues after the first one (being vague as best as I can here), as it felt like too much to me. There was also a huge reliance on mental health problems as plot progression, or being used as potential foreshadowing, which doesn’t really count as character development, and is a bit problematic as it’s seen as a weakness or potential for violent behavior. And then there is Bo, the mysterious Wild Boy who lives in the wilderness with his family. I thought that Angelini did address how his social skills may not be up to par, though he felt a little manic pixie dream boy for a good amount of the time. There was also a glossed over ‘oh he’s going to go to college’ aspect to his storyline which didn’t feel very thought out, as how? How is he going to go to college? There are so many hoops that he would have to jump through within the context of him going that just saying ‘oh he’s going to’ doesn’t really cut it.

On top of that, the story itself wasn’t too thrilling for me. I wasn’t invested in who was maybe killing people in the woods, as to whether it was Bo or a mysterious entity known as Dr. Goodnight. The commentary on addiction and poverty was interesting enough, but ultimately it barely scratched the surface and the bigger priority was whether or not the instalove between Magdalena and Bo was going to work out, either because of her mental issues, or his potential for having a role in what was happening in the woods. By the time we got to the big climax, I just kind of wanted to be done for the sake of being done.

I’d been really struggling with if I wanted to go into spoilers for this review, just because those who may want to read it should go in without having to worry about having aspects of the mystery ruined. But one of my biggest gripes outside of ‘it just didn’t thrill me’ is tangled with a pretty big spoiler. But I think that I need to address it, so, as always, here is your

(source)

So, one of the big questions in this mystery is why Bo and his family have been living in the woods off the grid, and why they are so paranoid about Bo being discovered, and why he has to pretty much say goodbye to them once he leaves the woods for a college life. It is eventually revealed that Bo’s father Ray was an anesthesiologist who started doing a Dr. Kevorkian kind of service, where people who were dying and in agony wanted him to euthanize them to end their suffering. I actually liked that this book brought up issues of euthanasia and bodily autonomy, and whether or not people should have the right to decide when they end their life with the assistance of those who can make it painless and with dignity. This is the worst thing that he has done in this book (so this is the big spoiler: he is NOT Dr. Goodnight), a string of acts that are illegal, but seen as a huge grey area depending on whom you speak to. SO THAT SAID, since he is eventually shown as a medical professional who was participating in illegal, but morally complicated, acts, and wasn’t actively seeking out to cause pain and suffering to others, it felt COMPLETELY incongruous when in the story he encourages Magdalena to go off her very complex prescription regimen when that is SO dangerous to do. When it was possible that he was doing that as a sadist, I was thinking ‘okay, maybe’, but when it’s revealed that no, he’s NOT a sadist, that whole aspect just felt like either a lazy red herring (which IS incredibly damaging, as even though Magdalena eventually gets back on medication that she needs, it’s mentioned in passing, which doesn’t stand out), or a complete disservice to the character in that it just doesn’t mesh with who we eventually see him as.

“What She Found in the Woods” really had potential on paper, but just didn’t live up to it. I think that if I knew someone was just starting to dabble in unreliable narrator tropes in their stories I could see myself recommending it, but there are many that are better executed.

Rating 4: A promising concept to be sure, but a ho hum and at times uneven execution.

Reader’s Advisory:

“What She Found in the Woods” isn’t on many specific Goodreads lists, but I think that it would fit in on “YA Involving Mental Health Issues (2000-Present)”.

Find “What She Found in the Woods” at your library using WorldCat, or at a local independent bookstore using IndieBound!