Book Review: Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue (Gaslight Mystery #18)

 

Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue

Victoria Thompson

4/5

It took me forever to start this book cause the events of the last book wrapped everything up so nicely. Not to say I didn't want more content, but I knew that this one was going to be from a different point of view. It took mea  little longer to get into it than it normally does with these books, and I would never want all of the books to be like this, but it definitely had its moments. 

It almost felt like a comic relief filler episode. It was definitely relevant to the character arcs of Maeve, Gino, and the Deckers, even to the Malloys through a second degree. However, with Malloy and Sarah being almost completely absent, it felt more like a novella side quest. I didn't like the feeling of filling in the gaps, I get very attached to the protagonists and though Mrs. Decker is great and Sarah's mom and similar to Sarah, she's not Sarah and I would never want her to be Sarah. 

So this is the first book in the series that I really would say would make a better standalone. Not really, because it's important to know all of their arcs and how they got here, but the mystery was a lot better than what I was giving it credit for. Like I said, it won me over with how funny and wholesome it was. But I'll never like it as much as I love the banter and originality of Frank and Sarah. 

Book Review: The Gilded Shroud (A Lady Fan Mystery #1)

 

A Gilded Shroud

Elizabeth Bailey

2/5

Hired as a temporary companion to the dowager marchioness, Ottilia is quickly subject to a brutal murder. Being the sister of a doctor and extremely meddling, she takes it upon herself to assist the family in solving the crime and absolving the patriarch of guilt. 

I wanted to like this book a lot, it's exactly my kind of book. I just couldn't get behind it. The mystery was kind of dull, no big surprises or interesting clues. The characters spent the entirety of the book praising Ottilia. No one really got their own story line because they were too obsessed with her. Because of that they all felt weak, especially the romance. Francis and Ottilia talked like twice, no dramatic exposition in their back stories, they literally fell in love only on the basis of solving a murder together. 

I didn't like the historical roles either because there was the opportunity for a conflict and it was wasted. Francis is the second son of a marquis, he's way up there in terms of social standing. Ottilia is the sister of a doctor? I don't think he was a knighted doctor, maybe he was a gentleman who knows like I said absolutely no backstory. It was great if all I wanted to hear about was how good at solving mysteries, talking to people, and just being amazing Ottilia was. Otherwise, it was kind of boring. 

 I didn't hate it all together. To an extent, I love it when the protagonist is special and great at what they do. But they also have to be fallible or else it just loses value for me. I might continue in the series just to see if things get more interesting, but I hope that all the characters get over Ottilia. 

Book Review: Unravel the Dusk (The Blood of Stars #2)

 

Unravel the Dusk

Elizabeth Lim

4/5

I really went back and forth between four stars and five stars. Like, the ending was five stars for sure. The beginning and all the waffling and filler content kind of took the star off for me. But the ending brought it all back together because wow I absolutely loved it. I loved the first book in this duology last year, but a lot of people talked to me afterwards about the questionable age difference Maia and Edan. I stand by it on the basis of it being fantasy and immortality being a kind of gray area on age differences. I think that Elizabeth Lim took that into account, or it was just the natural progression of Edan as a character. He was so wholesome and just supportive in this novel and so much less broody, you could hardly tell how many hundreds of years old he was. 

The relationship is an essential part of the story, but there is also a beautiful blend of other legends and myths of the region. The dresses were a great story line in the first, but introducing the Red Strings of Fate, AKA one of my favorite legends, I was a thousand percent more invested. Everything just has such a nice place in the progression and the book honestly deserves so much more hype. If you had reservations after the first one, the ending of this one is just so beautifully cohesive and definitely worth the read. 

I don't want to spoil anything but I loved the last hundred pages a lot. It simultaneously had me so happy yet bawling. Introduce ghosts to the story and have them apologize for dying? I don't know that always GETS ME. Yeah I recommend it though, totally worth the read!

Book Review: The Winter King (Weathermages of Mystral #1)

 

The Winter King

C.L Wilson

4/5

I read this book a few years ago and the re-read did not disappoint. If you love the arranged marriage trope and enemies-to-lovers, this is truly top notch. Khamsin is the fifth child of the King of Summerlea, but she has never truly been acknowledged as an heir to the throne. Her father hates her for the poor health and eventual death which her birth cost her mother. By hate I mean seriously hate, like to the point of zero redemption and complete sadism. Her eldest brother wronged the King of Wintercraig and now after three years of war he is demanding one of the Summerlea princesses as his bride. 

There is really a lot going on in this book that isn't represented by the lame cover art at all. Why do adult fantasy-romance books consistently have such bad cover art? I also think that it's whitewashed? They're fantasy kingdoms so race as we know isn't factored in, but she's consistently described as dark-skinned and that cover model is most definitely not. But yeah, don't let the cover fool you, there are enough plot twists and interesting story lines to keep you interested. 

Not to say it doesn't have its flaws, the instant-attraction thing was a little overdone. I do love it when the male protagonists realizes that he was being horrible though and works double-time to try to make up for it. I don't know why, that's just something that always gets me. But yeah though, magic, intrigue, wolves, and more romance than you could ever hope for. Would recommend just on that basis if you don't mind things being kind of excessive at points.

 

Book Review: Promise of Darkness (Dark Court Rising #1)

Promise of Darkness

Bec McMaster

3/5

This book was pretty good, it was a quick and interesting read that was mostly centered on romance. It's a free Amazon e-book, so I think it was especially good for being free. That being said, it was super predictable. I feel like every "twist" or plot event of any significance was kind of marked out way before it was said. 

Iskvien and Thiago are forced together at Iskvien's mother's insistence, as terms to seal a treaty. Vi is told that it's the perfect opportunity for her to murder the Prince of Evernight. His level of familiarity surprises her though and she quickly becomes confused as to who the real enemy is. 

Predictable but enjoyable. Like it says in the main description, it's based on Hades and Persephone. Which is the best Greek romance of all time if you ask me. Compared to that, this is a little weakly fleshed out. Doesn't mean it didn't have some great moments, but it wasn't something that was anything unique. It was also very reminiscent of ACoTaR, if you really liked that one you'll either love this one or consider it a lame imitation.

Book Review: A Stroke of Malice (Lady Darby #8)

 

A Stroke of Malice

Anna Lee Huber

4/5

I love this series so much. Kiera and Sebastian are some of the best detectives and definitely one of the best romances I've ever read. In this book, they're attending a party hosted by the Duchess of Bowmont when they come across a dead body. These two really find so many bodies it's unbelievable everyone really has no problems with murder.

I loved the mystery, it was well-developed as they always are. I loved the romance, Sebastian and Kiera have such a strong and functional relationship it's incredible. I also really like the side plot-line that was created about one of the duchess's children, it'll be great to see how that one progresses in other books. I'm ready for things to get a little shaken up and it's kind of annoying to me that a certain character was so hypocritical on Kiera in previous novels given this revelation. 

I don't like how often Kiera has to say that she's not like other ladies or like other members of the aristocracy. I think that it's pretty obvious from content that she behaves differently and at this point we're eight books in and we don't need to be constantly reminded about it. I was also annoyed by how rude her family members were being in this one. I really liked Alana and Trevor as characters and appreciated how supportive they always were. Now I'm not sure though- you shouldn't really take anything that an injured pregnant woman says so seriously especially after you were the one to insult her first and she extended you an olive branch. 

Even with those things considered, I can't wait until the next in this series. I'm excited for Kiera to have her baby and nervous to see what could possibly be worse than a cholera epidemic.

Book Review: A Duke by Any Other Name (Rogues to Riches #4)

 

A Duke by Any Other Name

Grace Burrowes

3/5

Lady Althea wasn't always a lady, as a child she was a beggar with a father who really was the scum of the earth. This is the fourth book in a series that I didn't read, there's a lot of information about the family in the other books but I understood everything perfectly well coming in on number four. 

I didn't like how long this book was considering the resolution. There wasn't a real conflict or a real villain here, the problem was hyped up to be a lot more than it apparently was. It feels like they either gave Robert's mental predicament too much credit or not enough. I know it was suggested that there would be problems in the future and there's a sequel coming out it just felt like we spent three hundred pages dwelling on this and then he just got over it.

I loved Althea as a character, she was so interesting and strong and just amazing. Nathaniel was okay, he was cool but they tried to play up the dark edgy guy too much and he wasn't all that mysterious. It was an interesting read, but nothing all that special happened. It was entirely predictable, in a fun way, but really just a read if you're trying to get out of a lull.

Book Review: The Lady in the Coppergate Tower

 

The Lady in the Coppergate Tower

Nancy Campbell Allen

3/5

There was so much going on in this novel and I was losing track of it all. I didn't go into it knowing that this was the third book in the series, if I had I might have read the others considering all of the different characters that were introduced. That being said, it can still be read as a standalone. It follows Hazel and Sam, a doctor and his assistant, as she discovers unknown things about her heritage and subsequent abilities. 

It was set in the 1800s but a steampunk version, there were also magical powers and vampires and shapeshifters, mythology, and the fairy-tale twist. Every time I thought that I had gotten used to something BAM they add Vlad the Impaler or some other crazy element. I think that despite all of this, a lot of the central parts of the book were rather mundane. How can something be so crazy yet so simple? 

That being said thought the romance was amazing. There's just something terrific about a male protagonist who sets out to save the female only to realize that she's strong enough to do it by herself. That being said, he still rushes head first into danger but not out of a need to dominate but just because he loves her and wants to. I know that this sets the bar rather low but I honestly live for it. 

It's confusing at points with all the conflicting elements but honestly worth a read just for this romance. I didn't even know it was a Rapunzel rewrite until the end, maybe if I had I would have recognized and appreciated the parallels a little more. Overall though, super unique and pretty fun.  

Book Review: The Thorn and the Blossom

The Thorn and the Blossom

Theodora Goss

2/5

This was a creative book, it was presented in a format that I haven't really seen before. The sequence of events though didn't make a ton of sense, it would have really benefited from some extra pages explaining everything. I understand the appeal of leaving things open-ended, but it was really treading the line between fantasy and contemporary the whole time and I feel like there was a real lack of validation for us as readers and for the characters. 

I also felt kind of sketched out by the main character's love interests? <spoiler> He was married, his wife had been comatose for three years but he was actively pursuing romantic relations outside of that? I understand that she was in a vegetative state and all, but he didn't tell Evelyn about it and that just made it feel so much more sketchy? She didn't tell him about her visions or whatever but like I feel like that's way less relevant than being actively MARRIED maybe I'm wrong though. </spoiler>

The characters didn't have enough depth, the plot didn't have enough depth. It could've been longer than a hundred pages and more stuff could have happened to resolutely plant it in either genre. I can't believe the ending though, so many things were just opened and left open. I don't think I would recommend it to anyone besides fans of the folktale specifically. 

Book Review: Death Wind (Elven Alliance #3)

 

Death Wind

Tara Grayce

4/5

The third book in the Elven Alliance series following Essie and Farrendel started off pretty depressing given the ending of the last book. I'm done with seeing these two suffer but I'm glad that it was at least done in a way that didn't destroy the integrity of their romance. It was just done in a heartbreaking way that made me want to just skip till the end. 

The progression of time is a little weird for elves- you live a thousand years and decades can pass like weeks. Things are a little different when you're being tortured though, and Farrendel has once again found himself in that unfortunate situation. The bond between him and Essie is strained but at the same time only getting stronger. Obviously he's in a horrible place and he's been there before, he's got PTSD pretty bad. He's a fighter though and all he really cares about is that Essie doesn't suffer as well. They're both constantly fighting for each other. 

The beginning of the book was kind of drawn out. I also predicted the ending pretty exactly so that was a little disappointing. Didn't mean there weren't moments that I loved, it was just a little less endearing than the other books in this series. Looking forward to the next one though!

Book Review: Suddenly Mrs Darcy

 

Suddenly Mrs Darcy

Jenetta James

4/5

Another Pride and Prejudice Variation because I have no self-control! I'd like to give a shout-out to this cover for being nice despite its Kindle Unlimited status. This variation follows another forced marriage, Mrs. Bennet perceives Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth being in a compromising situation and forces them to get married. Elizabeth feels like a burden, she tries to do right by her duties and her new family, but she can't help but feel out of place. Especially considering the secrets which Darcy is keeping from her and some opposition from society and his own family. 

It's well-written, the characters follow the original characters very nicely. I also appreciate that it follows the same themes as the original but with different events. I want that perfectly written blend of pride and prejudice that Jane Austen accomplished so well and this one matched up pretty nicely. There are misunderstandings motivated by misunderstandings rather than malice. Moments when they could've solved all their problems with communication but rather they perceive them as slights from one another. 

I liked it and if you're binging variations like I am, this one is one of the best. It was a little rushed at the end considering how long it took to build up to that point, I don't know if I believed that Mr. Bennet could be that out of character either. But other than that, it was a fun and interesting read. 

Book Review: Ninth House (Alex Stern #1)

Ninth House

Leigh Bardugo

5/5

I'm having so many 5/5 reads this year it's great. Ninth House is Leigh Bardugo's first foray into adult and I was extremely hesitant. Her books are generally pretty hit or miss for me, big fan of SOC and not so much of the rest of the series. This one was amazing though, believe the hype because it's one hundred percent justified. Galaxy "Alex" Stern is a freshman at Yale though she never graduated high school or got her GED. She's extremely behind her other classmates and she's held back by the full-time job of monitoring Yale's secret magical societies. She's also dealing with all these ghosts that have followed her her entire life.

It's not chronological in the first half. It flashes between her time with Darlington, a senior at Yale who was basically her guide through the whole situation. I loved their interactions and needed so many more of them. I held back on reading this mostly due to the lack of romance, I don't have a lot of focus and I love romances. Little did I know, there's kind of a romance here but also it's not a romance at all and neither of them really admitted any feelings beyond platonic. I mean kind of it's really dramatic and complicated and I loved it and need more of it. 

The secret societies were a little difficult to follow, similar to her classifications in the Grishaverse. Like I said, I'm not very big-brain and the lack of sequence made it a little complicated. Didn't take away from the drama of it. I love books where the protagonist can see ghosts, I don't know what it is about it it's just a great plot line to me. This one was no different. The dichotomy of the main characters, the friendships, the betrayals, they all hit me so hard and were so surprising. 

If you're holding back on this one like I was out of fear that it won't match up to SOC, you're missing out. It's not the same genre as the Grishaverse, it's obviously contemporary, but it has so many amazing moments. Bardugo brings her same amazing ability to weave characters together through tragedies and triumphs, nobody's perfect but everyone's interesting.