Tag: 7 Rating

Kate’s Review: “This Might Hurt”

Book: “This Might Hurt” by Stephanie Wrobel

Publishing Info: Berkley Books, February 2022

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

Book Description: Welcome to Wisewood. We’ll keep your secrets if you keep ours.

Natalie Collins hasn’t heard from her sister in more than half a year.

The last time they spoke, Kit was slogging from mundane workdays to obligatory happy hours to crying in the shower about their dead mother. She told Natalie she was sure there was something more out there. And then she found Wisewood.

On a private island off the coast of Maine, Wisewood’s guests commit to six-month stays. During this time, they’re prohibited from contact with the rest of the world–no Internet, no phones, no exceptions. But the rules are for a good reason: to keep guests focused on achieving true fearlessness so they can become their Maximized Selves. Natalie thinks it’s a bad idea, but Kit has had enough of her sister’s cynicism and voluntarily disappears off the grid.

Six months later Natalie receives a menacing e-mail from a Wisewood account threatening to reveal the secret she’s been keeping from Kit. Panicked, Natalie hurries north to come clean to her sister and bring her home. But she’s about to learn that Wisewood won’t let either of them go without a fight.

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

Given that Stephanie Wrobel’s first book “Darling Rose Gold” took inspiration from a notorious true crime case, it’s probably not too shocking that her second book “This Might Hurt” took inspiration from another one. I, for one, am a-okay with such things, as I really enjoyed “Darling Rose Gold” because of the twisty dramatization that Wrobel created from the real life event. When I read the description of “This Might Hurt” I immediately thought ‘oh this is NXIVM’. I mean, an isolated self help community in the Northeast, and family members wondering what is going on with their loved ones? NXIVM was all over the pop culture consciousness these past couple of years, so I wasn’t surprised and was definitely interested.

I liked the narrative structure of this book. It has some of what you would expect, and then an aspect that I wasn’t expecting but ended up liking the best of the three perspectives. But in terms of the more obvious choices, we have both Natalie and Kit providing us with first person perspective chapters, separated into sections. Natalie is rooted firmly in the present, so we get to see Wisewood in the moment and how unnerving and creepy it is as a self help island disguising a cult. For Kit we get some past perspectives, seeing what made her decide to seek out Wisewood in the first place, and how she has adjusted to living there (as well as how she has ascended up the ranks to become a pet of the leader, ‘Teacher’). They eventually come together to play out the story, and it meshes well, even if the way that it all parses out isn’t super surprising or unique.

It does, however, build at a pace that slowly raises the tension and suspense, as Natalie looks for Kit on this isolated island where people are seemingly trying to keep her at arm’s length. Throw in the fact that Natalie has her own secrets and you have double the mystery going on, though that, too, isn’t terribly shocking once we get to it. I think that part of the problem is that neither Natalie nor Kit are interesting enough as characters to me, so I wasn’t super invested in their outcomes. Sure, in the moment the malevolence of Wisewood is definitely unsettling, and the tension in that regard is well done. But since I didn’t really care about Natalie OR Kit, it never felt super high stakes to me.

But it was the third unexpected component that I liked the most and lifted this story up beyond a run of the mill thriller. These were perspective chapters from a mysterious third person, whose childhood with an abusive father and passive mother and older sister sets her onto a path dealing with magic tricks, self control, and eventual thirst for power and dominance. It becomes pretty clear that we are, indeed, seeing the story of Rebecca, the leader of Wisewood, and it was her moments that I was most looking forward to, as she felt like the most complicated character in the book. Certainly more complicated than Natalie and Kit, whose archetypes we have seen in this kind of book many a time. With Rebecca, while we do see characters like her from time to time, the way that Wrobel lets us see the slow and full transformation is the most chilling aspect of this book, and the one that worked the best for me as I read it.

“This Might Hurt” is a solid thriller. Some beats are familiar, while others are surprising, and it is certainly very, very addictive, and fairly disturbing when all is said and done. Wrobel knows how to make a setting feel dangerous, and seeing how a spider catches flies in her web was the biggest success of this book.

Rating 7: “This Might Hurt” is an entertaining book about cults and the relationship between sisters, though it’s the examination of a cult leader’s transformation that is the most interesting part.

Reader’s Advisory:

“This Might Hurt” is included on the Goodreads list “The Most Anticipated Mysteries and Thrillers of 2022”.

Find “This Might Hurt” at your library using WorldCat, or at a local independent bookstore using IndieBound!

Joint Review: “Dead Silence”

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

Book: “Dead Silence” by S.A. Barnes

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, February 2022

Where Did I Get This Book: We received eARCs from NetGalley and Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: Titanic meets The Shining in S.A. Barnes’ Dead Silence, a SF horror novel in which a woman and her crew board a decades-lost luxury cruiser and find the wreckage of a nightmare that hasn’t yet ended.

A GHOST SHIP.
A SALVAGE CREW.
UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS.

Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.

What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick trip through the Aurora reveals something isn’t right. Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora, before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.

Thank you to NetGalley and Edelweiss+ for providing us with eARCs of this novel!

Kate’s Thoughts

We’ve gone over this before, but I always like to preface my reviews of this genre with a note: I’m not super into Sci Fi as a genre, though there are certain exceptions that I am good with. Namely, “Star Trek”, the original “Star Wars”, and Space Horror as a subgenre. So when I saw “Dead Silence” by S.A. Barnes being chatted about on Twitter and Goodreads, I couldn’t help but have my interest piqued. Something described as “Titanic” meets “The Shining” is bound to be a unique combination, so I tossed my Sci Fi apprehension aside and took a chance! Especially since I was also getting some serious “Event Horizon” vibes from the description.

Where we’re going we won’t need eyes to see… (source)

And if you throw in “Alien” and “Aliens” into this mix, you pretty much have “Dead Silence”, which makes it a familiar but engaging space horror novel. Barnes does a good job of setting up our story, with our protagonist Claire at the end of her run as a Team Lead for a corporate space mission, who is worried about what she does next, as she has no money and no prospects due to a checkered past. So when she and her crew stumble upon a distress signal from the long lost space liner Aurora, which disappeared with numerous wealthy passengers on board, she sees an opportunity she can’t pass up. Things, of course, don’t go as well as she would hope, and carnage ensues. And in terms of space horror beats, “Dead Silence” hits them all pretty well with a combination of slow burn build up, well done exposition, and a genuinely disturbing scenario that will set the reader on edge. I was enthralled during the first half of the book, loving the haunted ship and how it was messing with Claire and her crew, as well as how Barnes slowly reveals Claire’s backstory and why she is already perhaps a little unreliable in her own mind in terms of what she thinks she is, or isn’t seeing.

But it’s definitely familiar. From a mysterious distress signal to a ship that perhaps is haunted and drives people to the brink to a corporation having a vested interest in what may or may not be on board, “Dead Silence” has a lot of elements that are straight call backs to other space horror stories. I think that had we not diverted from the original ‘crew goes aboard an abandoned vessel and finds terrible things’ plot, I probably would have enjoyed it more, but when we get to the very “Aliens”-esque ‘and now they’re forcing her to go back for their own motives’ plot in the second half, I was a little less enthused. That isn’t to say that it was poorly done, as it wasn’t. I still found it entertaining. But once a bit of the mystery was gone, or at least had changed a bit, the dread and suspense went down for me. And perhaps that’s because it started to lean more on other Sci Fi things that don’t resonate as much for me.

Regardless, I had a fun time reading “Dead Silence”. It totally makes me want to revisit the stories it was paying homage to.

Serena’s Thoughts

Hi! Surprised to see me reviewing anything with the slightest twinge of “horror”? But, like Kate with her reading of science fiction stories, I do make exceptions for horror stories that cross over into my preferred genres. I’ve read a few good horror fantasies last year, but this is the first horror sci-fi book I’ve read in quite some time. And man, emphasis on the “horror” part!

Like Kate references, there have been plenty of science fiction horror stories in the past, both on the screen and on the page. So with that in mind, going in I always feel like there are two rather predictable routes the book can take. And this book does employ one of those and some other commonly seen tropes. That said, the actual horror, dread, and jump scares of the book still came in hot and fast. The first half of the book had me on the edge of my seat. And, I won’t lie, several of of these scenes have stuck with me and popped into my mind at inopportune times when trying to get to sleep, even days later. It also helped that Claire herself was an unreliable narrator, so it was hard to know exactly what horror was coming from her and what was coming from the strange happenings on the Aurora.

But I’ll also agree with Kate that the book lags a bit towards the second half. It almost feels like the author got up to speed on the horror of the situation and then slams on the brakes, cutting all tension and suspense off at its knees. From there, it shifts gears, and while the story does build to a different sort of tension, we never regain the jittery creepiness of the first half. And that’s such a shame! As we learn, there was plenty of scary stuff to come and for some reason the author just jets us away from it all unexpectedly. It’s a bizarre choice, frankly.

That said, I definitely enjoyed this read and gobbled it up over only a few reading sessions. For me, a little horror goes a long way (can’t have too much nightmare fuel all at once), but this was definitely a good choice for one my rare ventures into the genre.

Kate’s Rating 7: Pretty serviceable space horror with some good scary moments, but also pretty familiar in terms of plot points.

Serena’s Rating 7: Very creepy when it stuck to its horror themes, but a bit baffling with some of the choices the author made later in the story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Dead Silence” is included on the Goodreads lists “Space Horror”, and “2022 Horror and Sci Fi Releases”.

Book Club Review: “From Blood and Ash”

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

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: “From Blood and Ash” by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publishing Info: Blue Box Press, March 2020

Where Did We Get This Book: The library!

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

Romance Trope: Secret Identities

Book Description: A Maiden…

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty…

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom…

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.

Kate’s Thoughts

Okay guys, I’m about to blow your mind. I actually enjoyed this fantasy novel. WHAT? I know! I always go on about how fantasy is a really hard genre for me, and admittedly when Serena picked this for book club I groaned. It was long. It was fantasy. It sounded silly. But shut me up, I ended up enjoying “From Blood and Ash”, so thank you, Serena! I will happily eat crow!

I mean, yes, it has kind of a slow start, and yes, it has a lot going on. Probably too much. But I found myself enjoying this book, for a couple of reasons. One, I enjoyed Poppy, our main character. I liked the backstory that was given to her, I thought that her personality was well formed and pushed back against what we can sometimes see with the kind of role she is playing, and I liked that she actually had agency as well as reasons for her various abilities. I also liked a number of the side characters, like Poppy’s friend Tawny, her lady in wait, or her guard Vikter. I felt that Armentrout did her due diligence to give them some personality as opposed to just be players to prop Poppy up. And in terms of the vampire mythology that Armentrout wove in, it wasn’t anything super new, but it was fun enough, and creatively placed into a fantasy dystopia setting.

I am at the very least going to try the next book in the series. I can’t guarantee that I will commit to the entire series, as it’s long and fantasy and I are tenuous. But “From Blood and Ash” was fun.

Serena’s Thoughts

I didn’t realize just how long this book was when I selected it for bookclub! Sorry Kate! I picked it because it was the top rated fantasy romance on Goodreads at one point, and while yes, the premise sounded kind of silly, I thought that all of those high ratings had to be based on something.

Like Kate said, this book definitely has a slow start. There’s a ton of world-building that gets laid out in this story, and as it’s told in first person, much of that world-building is simply given to us by Poppy herself. Usually this would be a pretty negative thing for me, but I think it speaks to the strengths of Poppy’s character that she was so solid and entertaining that I didn’t even mind the way much of this information was delivered. Given how long this book is, Poppy’s compelling inner thoughts and character work are integral in keeping the pace of the story going. The dialogue was also excellent and had me laughing out loud at times.

I completely agree with Kate about the side characters, so I won’t repeat what she said about them. I’ll also definitely second what she said about Poppy defying typical romance heroine conventions at times. She was given enough back story to explain her motivations for learning and doing what she does. And the author gave us early opportunities to put these aspects of Poppy’s character to the test and let us see her in action. There were also a few decisions she made towards the end of the book that were incredibly satisfying and definitely not the sort you typically see from romance heroines in this type of situation.

I’ll also say that I really enjoyed the romance. Hawke was a very swoony hero and, again, defied many of my expectations at different times. There were some fairly predictable twists that came along with him, but I was happy enough with the way the story played out to not be overly concerned that I could guess where it was headed before it got there. I also really liked the twists the author brought to the fantasy aspects of the story. Again, unlike Poppy, the reader will be able to pick up on a few of them right off the bat. But there were additional levels, so to speak, to these traditional fantasy beings that were revealed as the story continued. I will say that with all of this world-building and mythology, the book could definitely have used a map to at least relieve some of the mental burden on the reader trying to keep track of this all!

Kate’s Rating 7 : It had a bit of a slow start and had a LOT going on, but I ended up enjoying this romantic fantasy!

Serena’s Rating 8: Maybe a bit generous as a rating for half one, but we’ll round up with the more satisfying aspects of half two.

Book Club Questions

  1. This book’s romantic trope was “secret identities.” Did you like the way this was incorporated into the book? How did you feel about the reactions of both parties when the secret identities were revealed?
  2. How did you feel about Poppy and Hawke as the romantic heroine/hero? In what ways did they conform to stereotypes? In what ways did they break them?
  3. There was a lot of world-building and fantasy building in this book. Were you able to fully picture this world and society? Did you have any questions about place or people?
  4. The author plays with some staple fantasy characters such as vampires, zombies, and werewolves. Did you like her interpretations of these mythical beings?
  5. Would you read the other books in the series?

Reader’s Advisory

“From Blood and Ash” is included on the Goodreads lists: Sarah J. Maas Clones and Romance, SMUT Action, And The Supernatural.

Next Book Club Book: “Project Duchess” by Sabrina Jeffries

Serena’s Review: “Only a Monster”

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

Book: “Only a Monster” by Vanessa Len

Publishing Info: HarperTeen, February 2022

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: It should have been the perfect summer. Sent to stay with her late mother’s eccentric family in London, sixteen-year-old Joan is determined to enjoy herself. She loves her nerdy job at the historic Holland House, and when her super cute co-worker Nick asks her on a date, it feels like everything is falling into place.

But she soon learns the truth. Her family aren’t just eccentric: they’re monsters, with terrifying, hidden powers. And Nick isn’t just a cute boy: he’s a legendary monster slayer, who will do anything to bring them down.

As she battles Nick, Joan is forced to work with the beautiful and ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family that hates her own. She’ll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .

. . . she is not the hero.

Review: This book seems to be getting a decent amount of hype, and a lot of reviewers have been rating it pretty highly. That, plus the super cool cover, was enough for me to place a request. But while I can see why it’s been a hit for many, sadly, it wasn’t quite for me.

Joan’s world explodes one day on what should have been a simple date with her crush, Nick. But it turns out that Nick is a famous monster hunter and, what would you know, Joan herself comes from a family of monsters. Suddenly drawn into an age-old war, Joan must quickly learn what she is capable of. In her battle against Nick, she’s joined by Aaron, a young man from a rival monster family. With him comes more questions and, potentially, another foe? Not knowing who to trust, Joan must race to save her family from ruthless forces on either side.

So, there’s a lot going for this book right off the bat. The idea itself is quite interesting. It’s hard to really go into much of the abilities and situation around Joan’s “monstrousness” without getting into some pretty major spoiler territory, but I will say that the main twist to this book took me completely by surprise. The book description does a good job of setting up the stakes of the story without giving away any clues as to how exactly all of this comes to pass. And it’s a pretty big “how.”

For her part, I thought Joan was a fairly compelling heroine. I liked that so much of the story was based around her love for her family and her drive to save them from a dark fate. I did have some quibbles about how this character was handled with her execution of that desire to save her family. She knows literally nothing about this monster world that opens up to her, but she goes in with guns blazing playing with incredibly high stakes. On one hand, I like this type of brash character; but on the other hand, the way she was written didn’t acknowledge just how brash and crazy some of these actions were. She definitely could have used a bit more questioning and investigation of everything involved before diving in so fully. I mean, by the end of the book, even I was left with some questions. For one thing, the term “monster” was a big question mark for me from beginning to the end, and I never felt like much explanation was given as to why that term was used.

I also really didn’t like the so-called “romance.” It’s sold as an “enemies to lovers” romance, something that I’m definitely all for, generally. And we have two options set up with both Nick (the monster hunter) and Aaron (the family rival), and yet I never really connected with the romance with either. There were also some fairly convenient moments towards the end of the book that resolved some of these things in what I felt were fairly unsatisfying ways.

All told, I think this book has a lot of potential to connect with a lot of YA fantasy readers. It’s fast-paced, original, and Joan is a compelling leading lady. I will say that those looking for a solid romance may end up being disappointed by this one. But readers less interested in that aspect might want to give this one a shot!

Rating 7: A major twist carries this book through, but the romance fails to hold up it’s own weight in the equation.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Only a Monster” is on these Goodreads lists: Fantasy Frenemies and 2022 YA Historical Fiction.

Serena’s Review: “Creatures of the Night”

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

Book: “Creatures of the Night” by Grace Collins

Publishing Info: Wattpad Books, July 2021

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: Milena’s twentieth birthday, the day she would join the ranks of her village’s hunters, should have been the most exciting day of her life. Being a hunter meant she would be able to help protect her village from the murderous wolves who take human form—the creatures of the night. But a chance encounter with Elias, the enigmatic leader of the creatures, leaves her questioning everything she has ever believed to be true.

Up until now, Elias has managed to protect the creatures of the night and keep the secrets of his past well hidden. Now, as tensions between the groups grow, Elias is forced to make hard decisions: ones that will cost lives. Nobody is safe, especially Milena, the person he is inexplicably drawn to even though it could destroy them both.

Review: Milena has never understood why her caretaker has made her wait until her twentieth birthday to join the rest of the villagers on the hunt when everyone else has participated since they were sixteen. But the day is drawing near, and she hopes that by helping protect her people from the vicious creatures of the night, she will at last be accepted as a member of the village. All is not as it seems however, when she meets the mysterious leader of the creatures of the night. Suddenly, her world is turned upside down and no one is who she thought they were. Including herself.

While this book didn’t really work for me, first let’s discuss where it did succeed. Again, Collins has presented a fairly unique fantasy world to drive her story. Surprising no one, the creatures of the night are your fairly typical werewolves/shifters. But there were also two other fantastical beings, the hollowers and the whispers. Each of these last two were very intriguing, especially the hollowers who are the true villains of the story. I can’t go into much detail about either of these different beings as that would spoil a few of the reveals in the story (you can probably guess a few of the basic points already, but just in case!).

Sadly, I was less thrilled with the characters and the romance of this story. For one thing, the book desription seems to setting up a story that will have POV chapters from both Melina and Elias (this is similar to Collins’ M.O. from some of her other books), but instead we only have Melina’s perspective. And it’s just…bland. It was all the more disappointing because, given her history and set-up, there could have been an excellent story arch for her to traverse. And while there are hints of deeper moments of reflection but, in the end, they never come to much. She’s incredibly passive throughout the story. It’s understandable in the beginning, but again, she fails to grow into anything more as the story continues. She’s not particularly brave or kind or curious. Just a mellow, nice young woman.

For his part, Elias is similarly bland. His mysteriousness quickly loses its appeal and becomes more frustrating than anything else. By the time he does share some of his secrets, it’s too little too late and I was left wondering why he played some of these cards so close to his chest when, if known, they could have made everything a bit easier. Between these two fairly flat characters, there was little room for the romance to bloom into anything truly compelling. To make matters worse, because both characters were fairly noncommunicative (Melina for being a more quiet character and Elias because he’s “mysterious), there wasn’t a lot of dialogue between the two.

Overall, this was an underwhelming story. It also ends on a cliffhanger, which was frustrating given the rest of the story. I’m invested enough to want to find out what happens, but I’m not enthused about the prospects for these two characters unless they both manage to grow personalities.

Rating 7: Not up to my expectations for this author, but not without merit.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Creatures of the Night” is on this Goodreads list: Wattpad Books Publishing.

Serena’s Review: “Crown of Bones”

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Book: “Crown of Bones” by A.K. Wilder

Publishing Info: Entangled: Teen, January 2021

Where Did I Get this Book: audiobook from the library!

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

Book Description: Raise. Your. Phantom.

For fans of epic fantasies and sweeping adventures, this ensemble cast will immerse you in a world of unique magic, breathtaking action and unforgettable characters.

In a world on the brink of the next Great Dying, no amount of training can prepare us for what is to come …

A young heir will raise the most powerful phantom in all of Baiseen.

A dangerous High Savant will do anything to control the nine realms.

A mysterious and deadly Mar race will steal children into the sea.

And a handsome guide with far too many secrets will make me fall in love.

My name is Ash. A lowly scribe meant to observe and record. And yet I think I’m destined to surprise us all.

Review: “Fans of epic fantasies and sweeping adventures”: count me in! This one has been on the backburner for a while, but it finally showed up as available as an audiobook from the library so I jumped on it right away. I’ve struggled in the past with some of the audiobook readers that are often chosen for YA novels, and while neither of these narrators were terrible, I still struggled a bit with this book in that format. Both narrators didn’t change their voices or inflection style for different characters, so there were times where I was confused about who was speaking, etc. But on to the review of the actual book!

Ash has always dreamed of being a Savant, an individual with the ability to raise a powerful Phantom that possess unique abilities. Alas, her time came and went and no Phantom appeared. Instead, she’s devoted herself to the life of a scribe, providing support and friendship to the heir of the kingdom, Marcus. His Phantom, though powerful, has always resisted his control. So when he, Ash and a group of other Savants set off on a journey to gain more knowledge and control over their Phantoms, he has high hopes that he can finally come into his own as a true Savant. But along the way, they fall in with a mysterious sailor named Kaylin. Through him, they discover that many forces are moving in the world and perhaps Marcus’s Phantom will be more needed than ever. And Ash…she, too, will be needed.

One of the first things I noticed about this book is its pace. This is a high-action, fast-paced book. The narrative jumps from one action set piece to another with a sort of frenetic energy, and I whipped through the audiobook in only a few days. So from that perspective, the book is very readable and energetic. But once I got done and was able to catch my breath, I did find myself questioning more and more aspects of the rest of the story.

Because it moves so quickly, the story never allows its character to really breathe. The book description sets this up as Ash’s story, but the narrative is actually divided between her, Marcus, and the sailor Kaylin who arrives later into the story but still has a few chapters devoted to his POV. With all of the action and adventure, there’s a lot of room for character growth, but instead the book seems to just jump straight into another scene. It never felt like any of these three characters were truly reacting, absorbing, or being changed by these major events. It was incredibly frustrating, as there were some real character arcs that were hinted at for each of these characters, but we never delved deeper than the very surface level reactions. Ash, for her part, also existed in the background of a lot of the story, which I found particularly frustrating. And we never really were given much to understand Kaylin’s shifting loyalties throughout the story.

The world-building and the magic system were very unique and interesting. This was probably the aspect of the story that held it most together for me. The various ways that the Phantoms could use their powers was intriguing, and I enjoyed seeing them in action throughout the story. But there was also just SO MANY different magical elements added to this story that, again, it started to feel like none of them were sufficiently explained on their own before another thing was added. I don’t fully understand the Mar people or their motivations. The titular “Crown of Bones” was referenced here and there, but again, I don’t fully understand how that is playing into the mythology of this world. There was just so much, but none of it felt like it was organically weaving together or building to a fully-realized world.

Overall, this book was a bit hit and miss. It was a fast, enjoyable read. But on reflection, much of the character work and world-building felt shallow and as if several opportunities were missed throughout. I’m curious to see where the second book goes, however, as a few “reveals” (these were obviously telegraphed from the beginning of the book, which I also thought was a strange decision) might lead to some interesting changes in the narrative. Fans of fast-moving fantasy stories might want to give this a shot, but it’s definitely of the “beach read” variety of fantasy.

Rating 7: Exciting and fast-paced, but missing the heart and reflection that truly makes a story land with its readers.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Crown of Bones” is on these Goodreads lists: Epic High Fantasy/Romance/Mythology in 2021 and We do Bones.

Serena’s Review: “Into the Heartless Wood”

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Book: “Into the Heartless Wood” by Joanna Ruth Meyer

Publishing Info: Page Street Kids, January 2021

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: The forest is a dangerous place, where siren song lures men and women to their deaths. For centuries, a witch has harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow her domain.

When Owen Merrick is lured into the witch’s wood, one of her tree-siren daughters, Seren, saves his life instead of ending it. Every night, he climbs over the garden wall to see her, and every night her longing to become human deepens. But a shift in the stars foretells a dangerous curse, and Seren’s quest to become human will lead them into an ancient war raging between the witch and the king who is trying to stop her.

Review: I’m not sure why it took me so long to get to this book. On the surface, it has tons of things working in its favor for me specifically. The cover is lovely and the story sounds like the exact sort of fairytale fantasy that I absolutely love. But every time I picked it up, I just couldn’t quite get into it. So, this last December I decided to really give it a go. And, while it still isn’t my favorite read ever, at least this time I did manage to get through the entire thing!

Everyone knows the true sirens live not in the sea but in the woods. Deep in the dark forest, a witch weaves a powerful spell to lure men and women beneath the canopy of trees where she can use her magic to feed their souls to the trees themselves. But it turns out that tree-sirens may want more, at least Seren does. When she meets a human, Owen, she begins to understand what it is to be human and longs for a soul of her own. But darker forces are shifting and the clash between the witch and a powerful king is soon to come.

This book is a tough one for me because of two dueling aspects of the story. One that I love. And one that I hate. Let’s start with what I loved. Obviously, I’m here for all of the fairytale fantasies, and this was just the type that I enjoy. The language was lyrical and of that “old-timey” style that I particularly enjoy. There was also numerous nods to English/Welsh folklore that very much reminded me of Juliet Marillier’s work. And really, anything that can be compared to one of my favorite authors has to be good. And yet, here I am giving a middling review to this book. Well, that comes down to what my problem was with the story. Notably, our two main characters and their romance.

Sadly, this was a hardcore instalove story. I mean, these two characters pretty much fall immediately in full-on love by page 60 (unsurprisingly enough, this is about where I fell-off in my reading in previous attempts). For me, instalove like this immediately sucks all of the interest out of the romance of the story. There’s no where for this relationship to go if it starts out at 100% milk. This makes the romance itself read very bland and boring, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that both main character also felt rather flat and uninteresting. I did like that their roles were somewhat reversed, with the heroine coming from a villainous role and the hero having a softer, more open personality.

So, there you have it, a book made of two equally powerful sides of my preference-coin. Love the fairytale story and lyrical quality of writing. Really hated the instalove romance and flat main characters. For those who are less annoyed by instalove, this could be a real win of a story. But sadly, it was enough to bump this one down a few points in my own rating.

Rating 7: Really loved parts of it, really disliked others, so take from that what you will!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Into the Heartless Wood” is on these Goodreads lists: Books To Read In Winter and Magical Forest.

Serena’s Review: “Sin & Chocolate”

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Book: “Sin & Chocolate” by K.F. Breene

Publishing Info: Hazy Dawn Press, Inc, October 2018

Where Did I Get this Book: from the library!

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

Book Description: Some people are ordained for greatness…

Those people usually have a lot of drama in their life. Drama I happily do without. I live in a forgotten corner of nowhere for a reason: there is safety in anonymity. I have enough problems just trying to get by.

But when Kieran, a sinfully sexy demigod at the pinnacle of power, crashes into my life, suddenly my whole world is turned upside down.

He’s harboring a deadly secret, one that could destroy all he holds dear. He thinks I’m the key to his salvation, and he wants me to help him claim vengeance.

He also wants me with a passion that burns my body from the inside out.

To ignore him is impossible, but to give in to my desires, even for a night, would thrust me into danger I might not survive.

Can I resist the temptation?

Review: So, I started reading this book under a bit of a false pretense. Mostly, that I thought it fell fairly purely under the subgenre “urban fantasy.” I typically only have a few urban fantasy series that I follow, and now that a few of them have ended and few other have become disappointments, I was hankering for a new series. And this title appeared on a few lists, so I thought, let’s give it a shot! And it’s not bad, by any means. But I’d definitely have went in with different expectations if I had seen this cover when I picked it up (or, frankly, read the description above):

Yeaaaah, definitely looks more like a romance novel cover than an urban fantasy cover!

Existing between worlds, that is between the magical and the “normal” world, is both the most dangerous place to be but also one of the few places where one can fully disappear. This is where Lexie exists, trying to keep her head down and provide for her two wards, each with their own unique needs. But her quiet existence is rudely interrupted by Kieran, a powerful magical being who very much does not exist in the shadows. And in Lexie he sees someone much more powerful than she claims or suspects.

I think my confusion about this book is also kind of fair. A lot of romance “series” are books linked by a shared world/group of people but focus on different main characters and couples in each. Urban fantasy, on the other hand, usually follows one or two main characters over the course of a series, similar to other fantasy genres. So, while this one does have the romance novel cover and a lot of the romance novel plot/language, it also fits into the urban fantasy genre.

For one thing, this book is clearly the first book in a series and as such spends much of its time developing the world in which Lexie and Kieran exist. There were a lot of interesting elements involved in this world where magic and magical beings have been living out in the open for quite a while. We see the political nature of it, with various groups coming down as either supportive or discriminatory towards magical beings. There’s also the pull and push of the power players on both sides of the magical and nonmagical line. And with this struggle comes the cracks that the vulnerable fall into. Through Lexie’s eyes, we see how both the magical and nonmagical communities have let down those who they don’t see as important. It’s a narrative that is very easy to take out of the fantasy genre and apply to the world around us.

That said, this focus on world-building, while interesting enough on its own, also very much slows down the pace of the story. That was probably my biggest problem with the book: the pace. I struggled to maintain interest, even within a book that was introducing what should be exciting new fantasy elements every which way. But for some reason, the plot itself felt plodding. There were witty conversations, but much of it felt like it wasn’t really leading to anything or illuminating anything new about the characters themselves.

I felt like I knew who these characters were the moment I met them, and that was also a bit disappointing. Lexie was ok, but I also feel like I’ve read variations of her a million times before and I, personally, can’t relate to some of her fixations with shopping and other things. Not that those are not worthy hobbies or interests, they’re just not really my thing so I couldn’t really invest in some of her fixations there. And Kieran was your typical arrogant, powerful hero who also has a heart of gold towards the woman he briefly meets and immediately becomes intrigued with.

In the end, this was just ok. It didn’t blow me away, but it was also solid enough for what it was trying to do. I do think that if I had had it in mind as more heavily focused on the romance side of things before I started I would have at least been in the right mindset. However, I’m still left looking for another urban fantasy series to get started on!

Rating 7: This book walks a strange line between romance novel and urban fantasy but doesn’t quite fit in either category.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Sin & Chocolate” is on these Goodreads lists: Under the Radar Page-Turners and NEW ADULT fantasy & paranormal romance.

Book Club Review: “Take A Hint, Dani Brown”

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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: “Take A Hint, Dani Brown” by Talia Hibbert

Publishing Info: Avon, June 2020

Where Did We Get This Book: The library!

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

Romance Trope: Fake Dating.

Book Description: Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. Romantic partners, whatever their gender, are a distraction at best and a drain at worst. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits—someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom.

When brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and ex-rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Now half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae—and Zaf is begging Dani to play along. Turns out, his sports charity for kids could really use the publicity. Lying to help children? Who on earth would refuse?

Dani’s plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, grumpy Zaf’s secretly a hopeless romantic—and he’s determined to corrupt Dani’s stone-cold realism. Before long, he’s tackling her fears into the dirt. But the former sports star has issues of his own, and the walls around his heart are as thick as his… um, thighs.

Suddenly, the easy lay Dani dreamed of is more complex than her thesis. Has her wish backfired? Is her focus being tested? Or is the universe just waiting for her to take a hint?

Serena’s Thoughts

This is going to be a good bookclub theme for me, I think. Because, while I do read a decent amount of romance fiction, it’s usually within some greater genre preference, like historical fiction or fantasy fiction. So this, as a contemporary romantic novel was fairly out of my wheelhouse. That being the case, this wasn’t my favorite book out there, but I can also see the general appeal to readers who do like contemporary romcoms.

For the most part, I liked both of our main characters. I really liked how the author played with gender roles, especially Zaf’s love of reading romance novels. It was very meta as well as nicely representing that romance is by no means only the domain of women. It takes two to form a romantic pair, so naturally both have an interest in romance in general. But for some reason, enjoying romance novels or movies is seen as purely a feminine pursuit and one that people are judged for enjoying, even women but especially men. I also really liked Dani’s initial, unapologetic commitment to noncommitment. Again, something that we usually see from the hero in these romantic pairings but gender swapped here.

However, I did have a hard time really connecting to either of these main characters. My biggest problems with contemporary stories like this is my inability to really buy into the idea that people like this would walk about in our every day world. I mean, who is naturally this quippy? Who really talks like this? It’s a fairly minor point overall, but it’s something that I personally always struggle with in contemporary fiction. So this is definitely a subjective critique and something that will hold varying levels of water depending on your own preferences.

Overall, I thought the story was fun enough, but it wasn’t really my cup of tea. I think the author did some creative things with her character building, but I couldn’t ever fully invest myself into Dani and Raf’s lives.

Kate’s Thoughts

I admit that by the end of 2021, I had gathered SO MANY romance novels for my book pile that by the time I’d worked my way through, I was a little burned out on the genre. I was happy to give romance more of a chance in 2021, and overall I found a lot of books I liked. But there is, in fact, a reason that I tend to limit my consumption of it. Maybe that doesn’t bode super well for our Book Club theme, but I’m going to work through it (and I think so long as I just stick to romance for book club I’ll be good). And it’s good that “Take A Hint, Dani Brown” was the first selection of the cycle, because while I’m burned out on romance, this one was meta enough that I thought it was fun enough.

Like Serena said above, I liked that Hibbert toyed with our expectations of the genre and gave Zaf the more stereotypically feminine role (being romantic at heart, interested in love over lust, etc), and Dani the more stereotypically masculine role (not into commitment in any way shape or form). I also liked that we explored themes of trauma and loss through Zaf, as his brother and father were killed tragically a few years before the events in this book, and how we got to see a realistic examination of grief and PTSD through his character. Honestly I just really liked Zaf. He’s snarky and adorable and vulnerable and funny as heck. Dani was pretty good too, and much like Serena I liked how flippant she is about romance and love at first. Quippy for sure. I don’t have as big an issue with that (I do love me a good quippy banter), though I think that maybe Zaf got a little more understandable vulnerability than Dani.

And I’m always interested in seeing how the sexy moments in romance novels happen. I’ve found myself very particular about how these things unfold and are portrayed when it comes to the smut and romance (but to each their own obviously!), and “Take A Hint, Dani Brown” was basically the kind of build up and pay off that I liked: a nice slow build of tension followed by very satisfying, uh, climaxes… if you will. There was a bit of a weird rushed factor to make conflict after a bit of this, but that was really the only glaringly clunky thing for me. Overall, it’s steamy and fun.

“Take A Hint, Dani Brown” is enjoyable and cute. I’m a bit worn out on the romance page, but this one held my interest enough that I wasn’t feeling like it dragged.

Serena’s Rating 7: Not really my thing, but a fun romcom for fans of this sort of contemporary romance story.

Kate’s Rating 7: I’m feeling a little burnt out on romance, but “Take A Hint, Dani Brown” had enjoyable characters and some good moments of steaminess.

Book Club Questions

  1. In this book the ‘fake dating trope’ is taken on in a very self aware and meta way. Did you think that it was a good send up? Why or why not?
  2. What did you think of the supporting cast? Did you have any favorite side characters?
  3. What did you think of the progression of the romance between Dani and Zaf? Do you think that it would last in a real world setting?
  4. What were your thoughts on the way the book tackled anxiety and grief? Did these themes feel well explored?
  5. Would you read the other books in the series?

Reader’s Advisory

“Take a Hint, Dani Brown” is included on the Goodreads lists “Radical Romance”, and “Contemporary Romance by Black Authors”.

Next Book Club Book: “From Blood and Ash” by Jennifer Armentrout

Serena’s Review: “Age of Empyre”

Book: “Age of Empyre” by Michael J. Sullivan

Publishing Info: Grim Oak Press, May 2020

Where Did I Get this Book: own it

Book Description: A door opens. An army of dragons advance. And the fate of the living rests with the dead.

After obtaining the secret to creating dragons, the leader of the Fhrey has turned the tide of war once more—but gaining the advantage has come at a terrible price. While Imaly plots to overthrow the fane for transgressions against his people, a mystic and a keeper are the only hope for the Rhunes. Time is short, and the future of both races hangs in the balance. In this exciting conclusion to the Legends of the First Empire series, the Great War finally comes to a climactic end, and with it dawns a new era in the Age of Empyre.

Previously Reviewed: “Age of Myth” , “Age of Swords”, “Age of War” , “Age of Legend”, and “Age of Death”

Review: I’m not sure why it’s taken me this long to finishing up this series, but…well, it did. I was really enjoying the audiobook versions, and I had half a mind to wait for the library to have a copy. But over a year later, it looked like that wasn’t going to happen, so on to my purchased copy! The last book ended on a pretty big cliffhanger that I still remembered vividly over a year later, so I was pretty excited to see not only how that was resolved but how the entire series was going to be wrapped up.

The war is coming to a head. With the secret to creating dragons now known to the Fhrey, the Rhunes one real advantage has been crippled. But all is not lost and those who set out on a quest into the heartland of the Fhrey people still have hope to cross the realms of the dead. But all who started out will not return, and the future of both races hang in the balance.

This was a bit of a tricky read for me, the first of its kind in this series which, overall, I’ve greatly enjoyed. I did start having a few questions around the midpoint of the series. The author surprised me with some sudden swaps in main characters and removal of other, previously central, figures. For the most part these played well and I remember praising the Sullivan for breaking some tried and true fantasy stereotypes and not getting precious with his characters. But around this point the story also started to feel meandering and lacking in the tight pacing and focus that I saw in the first three books. This was most noticeable in the last book, which had previously been one book that was then cut in two. And it showed. It really felt like the author simply gave himself a page count and then just ended the book when he reached it. Because of that, this book has similar problems in that it feels like the second half of the first book, rather than a story with its own unique arc.

I also struggled with a couple of the character actions (some carried over from the previous book, choices made there that made little sense that then had massive repercussions in this book). It felt like Sullivan had to quickly tie up the many loose ends left, but this resulted in several characters with arcs that, over the entirety of their story told over multiple books, felt ultimately rather pointless. Why were some of these characters even introduced if it feels like their story really didn’t go anywhere in the end? It was very disappointing.

I especially struggled with Persephone’s story. She was one of the strongest characters in the first several books, but in the last few, it feels as if she’s barely on the page. And if she is seen, she feels aimless and without agency. I get that Sullivan is trying to tell the story of many characters, some of whom played bigger roles in certain parts of this grand tale and less in others, so perhaps it was simply the manner in which some of them (particularly Persephone) rose and fell out of prominence felt clumsy. This book also tied up a few characters’ stories in ways that I felt undermined much of their previous journey, making it feel like much of it was for nothing. I can’t name names without spoiling big reveals, but you’ll know them when you see them.

It’s tough, because I still enjoyed the general experience of reading this book. Sullivan has an engaging, approachable style of writing that makes the process of reading his stories fun and easy. It was only when I sat down after the fact and reflected on this series as a whole that I truly began to feel disappointed. I would still ultimately recommend this series and this author to epic fantasy fans. Even though I had some quibbles with this ending, it wasn’t a dumpster fire by any means and was largely satisfying (even if I had personally wanted different endings for a few characters/aspects). I’m excited to check out the other series by this author, however. Technically, they were written before this series but, chronologically, happen afterwards. Should be a fun reading experience!

Rating 7: Solid enough as its own book, but lacking a bit as the conclusion to the series as a whole.

Reader’s Advisory:

Find “Age of Empyre” at your library using WorldCat or at a local independent bookstore using IndieBound!