Category Archives: reviews

Review: Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber

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**Contains some Spoilers**

This book started off so intensely and then lost steam. Holland is a graduate student. I can’t even remember if she is pursuing her Master’s or a PhD. I don’t think they even say what for. Only something to do with myths and urban legends. Her professor teaches a secret class about urban legends that may be true, and Holland is her best student. One night, she decides to go down a shady alley in search of one of the legends and brings along someone she is dating. The next day, she is called in to meet the new professor, Adam Bishop, who tells her that Professor is no longer her mentor and is a liar. Then the guy she was dating dies at the exact time the legend tells him, and she only has 24 hours to live. She can prolong her life if she finds the Alchemical Heart that no one has ever seen or knows what it looks like or knows where it is. Enters Gabe, a random guy who deactivates her car and says her twin sister sent him to protect her. They start to follow clues that lead them to a mysterious bank that is also part of a legend from her class. She finds out that her professor runs the bank and needs her to give her the heart once she finds it. Oh, and Gage may have killed his wife for powers. So she runs away from Gabe and runs into Adam, who also says that he was sent by her sister to protect her. And off they go following clues until the big reveal at the end. It’s roughly around the time that Holland starts searching with Adam that I felt the lack of urgency that was in the first half of the book. I can’t say why, I felt that way, but yeah. Things start to slow down for me. Not to spoil too much, but the resolution left some questions. It never really answered why Gabe was looking for the heart or what happened between him and his wife. Like, why bring it up and all? We never find out which one her sister sent to help her, if any, or what her sister’s role is in all of this. She is obviously part of this world, but it feels like she is pulling more of the strings than anything else. It wasn’t a bad book, but it just left me unsatisfied. It started out so good. I just wish it could have kept up the momentum.

Review: Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

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I am so glad I found this series because it continues to entertain me. It is funny, charming, and all the characters are so damn likable. I can’t get enough of the back and forth between Evie and Trystan. I cheered when Becky finally kissed Blade and then immediately ran off. lol. I am glad that we got more of Kingston and his story. It was just a treat to read. We begin not that long after the last book ends. King Benedict has taken one of the Guyvre’s needed to fulfill the prophecy, and Trystan’s magic is going haywire every time he is around Evie. Evie and Lyssa are coping with the return of their once-thought-dead mother. There are a lot of feelings going around. As there should be. A lot has happened to our beloved Villain and his crew. It still amuses me that he runs his villainous empire as any other corporate company with HR and finance teams. He may be the Villain, but he does know how to take care of people. Something that Trystan is just discovering he has been doing all along, but now he is discovering he actually cares. To save the magic, they must figure out the prophecy that they don’t know, but King Benedict does. Hijinks ensue. Twists and turns happen, and oh boy, did we get a fun ending. I thought this was a trilogy, but we are getting at least another book. Which is great because I am not ready to leave these crazy characters.

Quick Review: The Fallen and the Kiss of Dusk by Carissa Broadbent

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In the ultimate sacrifice, Mische saves Asar, making him a half God and starting off an eternal night. Of course, they are the only people who can fix it. This time, they have to find God artifacts above ground and well, they are sort of successful. They make many more enemies. I do love the chemistry between Mische and Asar. They just fit each other. It was also nice to get some time with Raihn and Oraya. The couple that started this whole thing. The pacing of this book was a little inconsistent. The last section, at first, felt out of place to me, but I eventually saw what she was doing. I thought this was the last of the books, but apparently, there are more. They didn’t fix things as much as they created more problems for everyone. Not to mention the Gods of the White Pantheon are kind of dicks. Fun book. A good bridge book to the next installment of the series.

Review: The Dark Mirror by Samantha Shannon

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Five books in, and I truly believe this series keeps getting better. At the end of the last book, we were left with uncertainty as to what would happen to Paige next. In this book, Paige does not know where she is or who she is with. She has to escape, and thank goodness, she knows how to take care of herself because she immediately finds Maria and safety. She finds herself first in Poland, then in Czechia, and then eventually in Italy. She is for the first time outside of Scion, and we, as the readers, get our first glimpse of the world outside of Scion, but also what the resistance to their spreading influence is like. We were already introduced to Domino in the last book, but we get even more info on how the organization is run. Despite Paige being in the “free world,” she is not safe. Scion has put out a bounty on her, and new organizations want her, too. Paige, however, is focused on finding out what happened to her over the last couple of months and finding Warden. Finding Warden is paramount to the plot because not only is he the key to helping Paige restore her memories, but Italy is being threatened by Scion from within, and they need his knowledge to stop it. I won’t go too much more into the plot so as not to spoil anything, but I love seeing the expansion of the world. Paige is such a good character. She has this powerful gift, but what makes her the most effective is her street smarts. She knows how to navigate the world by using her own knowledge and instincts. Her powers help, but even when she doesn’t have them, she is still dangerous. Which is really why Scion and other organizations want her. They know how dangerous she is. They have seen how she can get people to rally behind her and fight. With only two more books to go in the series, we are only now seeing the true potential of Paige. Scion knows it, and now Paige knows it, too.

Review: The Ruined by Renee Ahdieh

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***Contains Spoilers from this book and possibly from the series as a whole.***

I want to say first that as a whole, I enjoyed this series. I found it to be very entertaining with some interesting characters. That being said, I didn’t like the final book. The Ruined is fine but to me, definitely the weakest of the books. In picks up, right after the end of the Righteous and our main characters are all separated. Celine is with her mother, who was just shot. Bastien is with the dark Fey, Arjun, is in mourning because Poppy is thought to be dead because she was last seen being bitten by a werewolf and carried away. That’s the problem. They all spent the entirety of the novel away from each other. In particularly, Celine and Bastien, they have only one chapter in the book that they have an actual conversation with each other. The rest of the book, they are either in different places or just happened to be in the same room. What made these books work for me, was their chemistry. Their witty banter back and forth. Even in the second book when Celine had lost her memories, they still had that chemistry and it was very much was lacking in this book. As for Arjun and Poppy, we get a couple of chapters from their POV’s, they get reunited and then not seen again until the end and even then, they barely had anything to do with the final battle. That’s a shame, because with Poppy beating the odds and not surviving a werewolf bite but turn into one. So much could have been explored in her transition and we got none of that. Not to mention, the Court of Lions are completely missing for the final battle for the most part, even though it takes place in New Orleans. In fact they are pretty sidelined for the whole book. We never really got a sense of what Odette is feeling after what she had been through. It’s just disappointing, that a good series ended like this. I do appreciate that after all that Celine and Bastien did to each other and to others, that they didn’t just get the stereotypical happy ending. The deserved to face the consequences of their actions but also leaves things open should the story want to continue.

Review: A Wilderness of Stars by Shea Ernshaw

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I didn’t know much about this book when I started it. I got it as a part of a mystery bag I bought last year at NYCC. That’s what I love about getting books like this because they can surprise you. I am not sure I would have picked it up on my own. Vega is the Astronomer. Like her mother before her and her mother before her, she is the only one who can read the stars. The world has been consumed with sickness and it is said that the Astronomer will read the stars and save them. The action begins when Vega sees two stars in the sky that were not there before. This is the sign. She must find the Architect to take her to the see. A couple of issues. She doesn’t know how the Architect is and she has also never left her home in the valley. She runs into Cricket and then Noah, who help her out but there is a group of men, who will do anything to find her. The Theorist, basically a gang but run by a man who obsessive in finding the Astronomer because he more then anything wants to save himself. Vega, who has been sheltered her own life, is very brave. She doesn’t hesitate when she sees the stars even though her mother just died because she knows what’s at stake. Despite all the advisory she faces, she never wavers from her mission and keeps going. The twist at the end, I’ll admit, I did not see coming and the ending does leave it open for a sequel. The part of me that wants a happy ending hopes there will be but I also do like an open-ended ending. Life keeps going no matter what happens. Even in fiction.

Review: The Righteous by Renee Ahdieh

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Poppy is on the case. Everyone should have a friend like her. When Celine goes missing, she will literally go through a looking glass to find her. Arjun just wants to save a friend. Picking up after the end of The Damned. The Court of Lions are reeling from the fight with the werewolves. Odette is barely hanging on to life and Celine and Bastien are in the among the Fae to escape the the French detective who came to take her back to Paris. Poppy knows something strange is going on. She witnesses Michael wolfing out but what she really cares about is Celine and finding her before she gets married. Following Arjun, she crosses over to another world and to save her, Arjun pretends they are engaged. I do love a fake engagement trope. I got the vibes these two had chemistry and were stoked to read their adventures. I was not disappointed. I enjoyed their witty banter back and forth. Poppy may seem like your typically British aristocrat but she has real grit. Just like everyone, she has a secret and will do anything to save her family. Which makes sense since she will do almost anything to save her friend. It shouldn’t surprise you that they fall in love. Things don’t turn out the way they hoped and now peace between the fae courts is broken. Celine is about to enter in her villain era and I’m here for it. I can’t wait to pick up the final book in the series because it’s going to be a wild ride.

Review: The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy

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The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy was so good; I tore through it. In a world where only women can be witches, Lorel, who has always been seen as a boy and who wants to be a witch, agrees to take her friend Lane’s place when the witches come to collect Lane. What unfolds is a story of magic, identity exploration, friendship, magic, grief, joy, and growth. The witches must find the source of a plague, the colddead, that is spreading across the land or else they will take the blame for it and probably be destroyed. To do this, they must trace the source of the magic of the Sapling Cage, a golden cage with a magical sapling in it that allows anyone, not just witches, to do magic.

Lorel is a delightful character and excellent narrator. Her friends, the other whelps who have also recently joined the witches, were interesting and varied and the whole thing made for a good story. I pledged to the kickstarter campaign for this book, which is why I have an actual physical copy. I don’t buy a lot of books anymore. The only thing I find disappointing about it is that it is the first in the series and now I have to wait for the next one to come out.

The Review: The Songbird and the Heart of Stone by Carissa Broadbent

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Vampires. ✅ Enemies to lovers ✅ Journey through dangerous lands ✅ Yep, this checked off a lot of my boxes. This book takes place maybe a year after the last Crowns of Nyaxia book. It follows Mische, who left the Night Court because she wants to find herself but also she knows she killed the Prince of the Shadowborn and she doesn’t want the consequences coming for her friends. Of course, we find her that she has been caught by the Shadowborn and is about to be executed until the bastard son, Asar, of the King shows up and says I need her to complete my task from the Goddess Nyaxia. In Mische’s human life she was a priestess to the Sun God. Her God abandoned her when she was turned into a vampire but now shows up and gives her the task of sabotaging Asar’s mission. So of course, they go on a long journey between the world of living and the dead to collect what they need for their task and of course they fall in love as they go. In typical fashion, Asar’s reputation is he is ruthless, which you know right away that he isn’t going to be that. I like the banter between the two of them. They have good chemistry. The ending did leave a pretty nice cliffhanger. Not to spoil anything but things did not go as planned. Thank goodness, the next book in the series is already out so I will be reading it soon.

Quick Review: The Damned by Renee Ahdieh

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I will admit. I am a sucker for a moody vampire. Bastien is the moodiest. Sure I can understand why he is. Afterall, he didn’t choose to be turned. He lost his life, his humanity and the girl he loved. As for Celine. She is recovering from the injuries from the end of the last book. She is struggling with her memory loss. To help her out is Michael, who she is dating, kind of and her friend Poppy. The narrative plays out in multiple POV’s beyond Celine and Bastien. The world has grown. It’s not just vampires but werewolves and the Fey. The story still revolves around Celine and Bastien but it also is no longer just their story. It’s a story of found family and secrets. It’s about overcoming trauma. Really more about dealing with trauma because there are definitely a few that never did deal with it and that is why we are where we are now. I am so glad that Kate recommend this series because I am very much enjoying it. I can’t wait for the next book to become available at my library so I can read what happens next. It sounds like it’s going to be a Poppy centered book and I’m stoked about that. She is the one character that didn’t get a POV chapter and the one I am most interested in.