Book Review: A Purely Private Matter (Rosalind Thorne Mysteries #2)

A Purely Private Matter

Darcie Wilde

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

A Purely Private Matter is the second book in Rosalind Thorne Mysteries, it has it's own separate mystery combined with the ongoing narrative of Rosalind Thorne. Rosalind is a self-made woman, she thrives off of aiding society women in figuring their way out of sticky situations. She's finds herself in the crossfire of another murder and she knows she won't be satisfied until she knows the truth. 

Listen, I didn't really have a problem with the mystery. It was a little dull at part but it was pretty consistent straight through. I wasn't super shocked by the ending and I think that's mainly due to how many names were being thrown around. The main problem I had with it was the progression of the love triangle?? I have no idea who she's going to end up with but like they're really lowkey developing her and Adam Harkness despite the ongoing assumption that she's going to end up with the Duke? I don't know it's kind of weird. 

It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either and generally I'm afraid that it's a bit forgettable. I don't know if I'll be reading on in the series because they're a little hard to get from the library and I'm not super into it. 

Book Review: The Atlas Six (The Atlas #1)

 

 The Atlas Six

Olivie Blake

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 4/5

Characters: 2/5

Writing style: 3/5

Attention-grabbing: 4/5

The Atlas Six is a kind of combo sci-fi urban fantasy combo that follows the journeys of six individuals trying to become magical scholars of the lost Library of Alexandria. The six who are selected to train for this prestigious honor are driven to the very edge of their magical capabilities, even considering they are recruited as the six most talented magicians of their time from the start. But there's a catch, only five of the recruits are actually going to make it to initiation and there's something much more sinister than pure academics driving the process. 

I thought that this book had a lot of potential in how absolutely trippy and convoluted the magic was. There was so much going on all the time and honestly it made me lightheaded trying to keep track of it all. The differences in their powers were balanced and gave a lot of insight into the differences between perceived and actual strengths. And the way that their backstories and the discovery of their magics were revealed gave us a lot of intriguing hints at the functionality of the world that they live in. Which is far from just your normal magic-featuring urban fantasy as it also features some kind of abstract cataclysmic fall of the life as we currently know it. 

The magic was the highlight, the characters were the major problem. I wasn't tied to any of them and they were way too spaced out for me to get a good read on any of them. We get to see them through an entire year of education and growth and yet I didn't see any real growth. And any real character traits that I thought I understood about them were completely debunked by random things that kept cropping up. I understand that some people are a lot more capable of keeping track of such diverging plot lines than I am, so I don't think it's probably universally bad, I just think it lost track of a lot of the central progression. 

So it's enjoyable but I'm very thrown off by the pacing. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a duology, though I could be wrong, and I have no idea how that'll pan out as I feel like we haven't been given a lot of insight into why things are the way they are. The only things we do know that completely and totally push the plot forward were given to us in twenty pages of info dump. It's great if you love a gritty magic that requires you to reread it several times over to understand it and you're not really all that particular about getting attached to the characters, but a little hard to love if you favor characters more than plot.

 

Book Review: Magic Study (Study #2)

 

Magic Study

Maria V. Snyder

Overall: 4/5

Plot and themes: 4/5

Characters: 5/5

Writing style: 4/5

Attention-grabbing: 4/5

Magic Study is the sequel to Poison Study, the second book in the Study trilogy and the second book in the Chronicles of Ixia that run as simultaneous series. Yelena has defeated all her demons and has returned to her homeland to train the magic which threatens her sanity and life if she fails to control it. She leaves her captors and horrible memories behind but also her friends and Valek to join the people who are supposed to be her family. While some praise her return, she's treated with a lot of suspicion as one raised in a foreign nation. She has to figure out her magic and her place all the while dealing with a new and powerful adversary. 

I know I discussed the placement of sexual abuse and age gaps and power dynamics in the review for the last book, and that remains a topic for consideration here. I think that it shouldn't be read without reflecting on the presentation of such significant issues, and that it could've probably be written with a bit more consideration. 

That being said, I'm totally biased towards loving the characters. I still hold onto the biases from the first time I read them when I was 12-13 years old and didn't consciously understand everything that was going on. Again, I understand the damage and pain that can cause to readers and do feel like it should probably be provided as a TW. But I just love their dynamics. Valek is some all-powerful assassin who has spent the last 15 years besting nearly every adversary, but he isn't afraid to be powerless to provide Yelena a better chance of survival. I think their romance is a great element but it's also not all-encompassing, they have their separate loyalties to their friends and those that they serve. While it could definitely be perceived in a different way because of the power dynamics, I think they work wel together. 

Yelena's powers are a little OP and difficult to follow at this point, but I do like how they thread into her narrative and upbringing. I have always loved the original trilogy for a reason and though there are different issues to consider in the re-read, I still believe it to be an exciting and enjoyable read.

Book Review: A Touch of Brimstone (Magic of the Damned #1)

 

A Touch of Brimstone

McKenzie Hunter 

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 2/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

A Touch of Brimstone is the first book in the Magic of the Damned series, following Luna's accidental run-in with Dominic, a Prince of the Underworld. She accidentally releases some crazy powerful magic that simultaneously releases all the nasties from the underworld's prison and has to help Dominic figure out how to eliminate the real perpetrator and get everyone locked back up. 

I didn't mind this book much, I thought it was a decent start to a paranormal series. I do think it could've done a lot more to get us involved with the characters and their relationship. I couldn't really get behind Luna and Dominic as a couple because while I thought they had decent banter, I don't think they had enough interactions to make me feel the whole relationship build up. 

The plot of the actual adventure and the romance work together to make a pretty interesting story-line, but I'm looking forward to seeing more intensity on an emotional level rather than just their base kind of physical attraction. Side note- I did think all the interactions with her ex were pretty funny and added to her character so like I definitely see potential in the writing and characters.

Book Review: Bite Me (Shadow Guild: Vampire Bride #1)

 

Bite Me

Linsey Hall

Overall: 2/5

Plot and themes: 2/5

Characters: 1/5

Writing style: 1/5

Attention-grabbing: 1/5

Bite Me is in the same world as a lot of other books by Linsey Hall and Veronica Douglas, where there's a magical part of the world and a non-magical part. Mac is part of the magical side, she works at a bar that is a gateway to this magical side and she takes great pride in being able to defend herself from all sorts of the scum that come in. When an all-powerful vampire shows up demanding that she help him as penance for locking him up five years ago, she doesn't really have a choice in the matter. 

This book was like incredibly direct. All the plot elements were spoon-fed to us in the most glaringly obvious fanfiction-type way. I didn't like it all that much at all and I thought it could've been done a lot better. I just read Veronica Douglas's most recent addition to the universe and I thought that it was pretty good so I was looking forward to this one, but it was just too much for me. 

I don't know, I don't have a lot of positive things to say about this. It's not difficult to keep up with the plot so even if you lose focus halfway through it'll be easy to jump back in? Not much of a romance or a thriller and kind of disappointing on all fronts.

 

Book Review: House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)

 

Crescent City

Sarah J. Maas

Overall: 4/5

Plot and themes: 4/5

Characters: 5/5

Writing style: 4/5

Attention-grabbing: 4/5

House of Earth and Blood is the first book in the new Crescent City series by SJM. And up until like five minutes ago I thought it was called Crescent City rather than House of Earth and Blood but I guess that's not really all that important. The book starts of strong by massacring nearly every single loved one that the protagonist, Bryce Quinlan, holds dear and just goes from there. It's a paranormal/urban fantasy type book, something I did not know when I started out and it's hefty weighing in at nearly 800 pages. While every page of this 800 page journey was far from riveting or even essential to the story, the ending definitely caught me off guard with how invested I got into it. 

Honestly, I think this is the best book by SJM that I've read. It finally got the right balance between friendship and romance- something she tried to do in ACOTAR but in that one she forgot to add the friendships in until the end. In this one, the friendships are front and center the whole time through and they really are essential to Bryce's arc. Usually after I read a SJM book I spend the following days figuring out more and more reasons why I disliked it, but this one is really going to stick with me for good reasons. 

I will say I wasn't much of a fan of the length and a lot of the repeated terminology. I think we could've cut it down to 600 pages by removing the words "party girl" and "alphahole" all on their own. I nearly DNFed like thirty times because trudging through the first like 400-500 pages was such a chore. But you know, everyone who has been telling me for the past year and a half that it's an essential read wasn't totally wrong. I did cry like three times while reading it, so while it was far from perfect it does get you feeling things. 

I'm going to say I recommend it, but probably not for SJM's usual fans as this is much more solidly PNR. I really forgot I was reading SJM multiple times (probably a good thing in my case) and I think that's pretty interesting in the progression of the paranormal versus fantasy debate. But yeah, I'll be on the look out for the sequel and I won't be totally dreading reading it. Though I will just a bit cause like why do they have to be such behemoths?

 

Book Review: Poison Study (Study #1)

 

Poison Study

Maria V. Snyder

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 2/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 2/5

Attention-grabbing: 4/5

Poison Study is the first book in the Study series/Chronicles of Ixia. Yelena is on death row, awaiting the noose for a murder which she feels completely justified for. Right at her final hour she's offered a different solution; become the poison tester for the Commander. This would give her an extended lifespan and leave her survival up to the perfection of her own skills. This works well for her until her past catches up to her and she rallies herself to save others from a similar violence.

I read it about eight or ten years ago and was really invested in the series, while I still enjoyed this read and think that anyone who's doing a reread who liked it originally would still like it but would see quite a few problems with the story. For one thing, it's obviously written as more of a YA story but deals with sexual assault in a way that kind of minimizes the trauma and significance of that. It definitely feels like a debut novel with the weak developed of a kingdom supposedly based on the equality of all individuals but allowing its most susceptible members to be consistently abused and then punished for standing up for themselves. 

I'm a fan of Valek and Yelena out of pure loyalty from my 13 year old self at this point. I had somehow blotted the fact that she's 19 and a victim of severe traumas and he's 33 in a position of ultimate power out of my head. It's not the worst example of this kind of thing that I've ever seen in YA, but it's a little questionable especially considering how he trains her through the first seventy percent of the book. Again, I'm still a fan and I recognize that this isn't the best but also you know it is what it is. 

I did appreciate the conclusion to an extent because I think there was a lot of consistency with the separate characterizations. The Commander remains a genocidal maniac, Valek remains loyal to that, and Yelena continues to defend herself and those around her. There were some flaws with it but I still think it was nicely tied up. I don't know if I'm recommending this series at this point but I'm definitely loving it for the nostalgia.

Book Review: Head Above Water (Gemini #2)

 

Head Above Water

Hailey Edwards

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 4/5

Writing style: 3/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

Head Above Water is the second book in the Gemini series following Camille and her unique Gemini powers. The Earthen Conclave is convinced that her case is closed, but she knows that that's not really the truth. She teams up with Graeson under the guise of a fake relationship and gets her family involved with bringing this mysterious killer (who knows way too much of her past traumas) down. 

I like this story, but the progression of events in this one was a little more confusing. We haven't gotten any resolution towards the identity of the actual killer, not even a hint really. And the extent of their powers are confusing and I think poorly defined. Plus, I stand by the weird suddenness of the relationship. We're told over and over that Camille is guarded but then she just kind of jumps into the whole thing after a minimal level of real interactions. 

I still liked it and thought it could set things up for a much better third book, but it was a lot of filler too. This series has like six books but I'm pretty sure that the third one ends Camille and Graeson's story directly. So we'll see how well everything is tied up.

Book Review: Dead in the Water (Gemini #1)

 

Dead in the Water

Hailey Edwards

Overall: 4/5

Plot and themes: 4/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3/5

Attention-grabbing: 4/5

This series is in the same universe as many of Hailey Edwards books but with a completely different plot line. Camille Ellis works for the Earthen Conclave, using her ability to shift into others to fight murderers and personally atone for the crimes she holds herself responsible for. When a murderer starts targeting children and unearthing the secrets of her past, she teams up with a victim's brother to put an end to it no matter the cost. 

I thought this book was pretty enjoyable. The magic was a bit difficult to understand and confusing at first but once I figured it out I thought it was really well defined and interesting. The political structure and interconnections of all of Hailey Edwards books continues to amaze me, she really goes into such different elements with every one of her books. It makes it difficult to have favorites because she does such a good job of representing different perspectives and getting you on other people's sides. 

My only issue was the weird pacing of the relationship. They had some chemistry and conversations but then all the sudden the ending came out of nowhere. The more I thought about it, the less that the motivations for that made sense. It was a good motivator for pushing their plot forward but I think it should have been supported a bit more. I still recommend this book though and thought it was a good addition.

 

Book Review: Moonborne

 

Moonborne

G.K. DeRosa

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 2/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 2/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

This book covers the ill-fated Sierra, a half-blooded witch who spent four years being bullied at school for her lack of powers. It was made bearable by the annual appearance of Hunter, an anonymous masquerade guest who sweeps her off her feet every year. When she finds out her mom was lying to her about her real heritage, she's sent packing to a new place where the rules are completely different to the ones she spent four years struggling with.

Every thing that happened in this book was super convenient. Like, the dude told her that his name was Hunter and then she randomly meets a man named Hunter who she's also attracted to immediately upon arrival? But then can't figure out it's him? And don't even get me started on all the dropped plot devices that were supposed to be "hints" but really just smacked us in the face. I liked the plot of it all to an extent I really just saw it all coming from a mile away. 

In terms of PNR on Kindle Unlimited it was middle ground and I think there's definitely room for it to grow and improve. I don't know if I was a huge fan of it right off the first though just cause it was all so obvious.

Book Review: It Ends with Us

 

It Ends with Us

Colleen Hoover

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 2/5

Writing style: 2/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

It Ends with Us is a standalone contemporary romance that is sort of non-chronological as we see our protagonist, Lily, experience her present day romance superposed over the diary entries which summarized her first love. We get to see highs and lows from different perspectives of her life and then we get to see the big mash-up once everything gets super screwy and the timelines converge. 

I struggled with the ratings because, to be brutally honest, the first fifty percent of the book was bad for me. Lily was giving me major pick-me vibes and she really felt like she was being victimized by both of her love interests in different ways. I wasn't feeling the strength of the romance and I wasn't feeling her strength of character. But then a bunch of stuff happened during the second half of the book (like I'm talking a bunch of stuff we literally go through like two and a half years after the halfway point when the first half was like a year where nothing really happened). But it was pretty good after that point and had a nice message where I really saw some character development until the epilogue. I was satisfied with some elements and I thought I really felt like I was learning alongside of the protagonist.

I'm going to get into spoilers here though as to why I don't think the book is worth the hype. The romances should not have existed simultaneously and as contrary elements to one another. I think it's a great story of conquering your own limitations and growing up and finally understanding the position of a parental figure that you could never understand as a child. But I really think that the ultimate message should have stuck with that independence and drive rather than the convoluted message of first love that was attempted in the epilogue. I think that drained the significance of independence and fighting for your own goals that was built up in the second half. Not so much that she ended up with Atlas, but that she just ran after him and he was like "you've finally made it to shore" he should not have been her shore when the reality of the matter was that she was her own rock through the whole process. I appreciated that she didn't rely on him to pull her through the hard times cause that would've been an even worse message, but I didn't like the implication that her ultimate security and fulfillment was based on Atlas. Or that all that she had suffered was only to bring her back to him. 

So yeah, hate to be the one to say it but this book would've been better off staying a doomed romance. I didn't need the reward of a spare relationship. And when a person who really only reads HEA romances says that I think it's a pretty good indicator.

Book Review: Sky in the Deep (Sky in the Deep #1)

 

Sky in the Deep

Adrienne Young

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 2/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

After spending the last five years thinking her brother died a horrible death on the battlefield, it's pretty shocking for Eelyn to see Iri on the opposite side of the battlefield. She risked everything thinking she was saving him, but she really ends up a prisoner of the opposition with a traitor for a brother. Now, she has to figure out how to gain her freedom without losing her honor and deal with losing a brother all over again. 

I thought this book was pretty good but pretty insubstantial. If we had focused on her dealing with her brother, her enemies to lovers romance, or the impending war as individual events or plot elements that had separate substantial value it would've been better. Instead, everything felt insta and poorly developed. I guess the way she developed the relationship with her brother was okay, but I didn't really feel any chemistry between her and Fiske and then it was like bam they're in love and willing to give their lives for one another. 

I'm kind of a fan of the ultimate evil in a lot of ways because books make it so much easier. In the reality of a war, no side is completely evil because even if you're supporting an evil cause you couldn't pick the geography you were born in and it stands to reason that there are good people fighting only because they have no other choice. In a book, you can kind of ignore that in favor of being like oops these guys are Evil with a capital E. I don't even remember what the opposition was called in this book cause they were mentioned maybe three times before oh my god they're the worst thing to ever besiege the world we have to band together to stop them. And even though fighting is like their whole goal and they have a scheduled war every five years just for fun, they kind of suck at fighting. It was pretty difficult to get behind especially when the slaughter came without a single hint of consideration for their motives. 

So yeah, it was okay. I was pretty interested as I read it but I was always looking for more in everything that happened. I wouldn't say don't read it because it's easy to get through and has it's perks, but it's definitely not a book you want to overthink.

 

Book Review: Wolf Marked (Magic Side: Wolf Bound #1)

 

Wolf Marked

Veronica Douglas 

Overall: 4/5

Plot and themes: 4/5

Characters: 4/5

Writing style: 4/5

Attention-grabbing: 4/5

I'm going to be honest, I download a lot of books on Kindle Unlimited cause they're free and I'm bored and not cause I think they'll be particularly good. This one actually surprised me because I really liked it. Savannah is working a dead-end job waitressing in a small town and trying to make ends meet when her life is thrown all out of whack by the appearance of the supernatural. Now, she has to rely on one of the same creatures who just nearly killed her to keep her safe while also trying to get her magic under control. She's dealing with dangerous family members she's never met or heard about and a wolf pack that definitely doesn't trust her or want her around. 

I thought it was a very nicely paced enemies to lovers romance. Where the tension is high and they can slip into accidentally being like oh shoot I'm interested in you but can also maintain the fact that they definitely should not be together. But they're also getting to know each other at the same time and building a foundation up from something other than their mutual attraction which I respect. 

I'm also a fan of the slow-reveal of her heritage and powers and everything. Even though I would very much prefer if I had read this when more books had already been out, I'm willing to wait for it. I think it's a very nice and well-balanced PNR that I could definitely see myself reading to the end and recommending to others (as long as they're PNR fans cause it's definitely an acquired taste).

 

 

Book Review: Wraith

 

Wraith

Helen Harper

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 4/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

Back on that Helen Harper grind cause her books are honestly addictive. Wraith is a standalone about exactly what the title describes: a wraith. Wraiths are able to disconnect their shadows from their bodies and use them to creep through the night unopposed. They're usually murderers and thus rebuked by society. Saiya is a wraith but has never been a shadow assassin, using her ability to collect secrets to have enough money for a food in a militarized town owned by savage goblins. When a dark elf shows up, they have to team up to take them down. He's a big fan of hers- but a huge enemy of the wraiths. 

It was really good till probably 70 percent in when we started seeing the cracks of a rushed standalone. I'm a little confused where all the negativity towards wraiths came from, we should have probably spent some time ironing out the details of that. Especially when it became such a hindrance in the central romance. A hindrance that disappeared as fast as it really became an issue, making it feel like it was a big deal only to drop it like immediately. It just fizzled out for me. 

The romance was okay but rushed. Could have probably been better if it was developed over a longer page count. Here, it was an instalove trying to disguise itself as something with a stronger foundation. I enjoyed it well enough and Helen Harper has some great writing, it just was a little too short for me to really feel invested.

Book Review: Flame and Starlight (The Esteria #1)

 

Flame and Starlight

Dana Isaly

Overall: 2/5

Plot and themes: 1/5

Characters: 1/5

Writing style: 2/5

Attention-grabbing: 2/5

I've been seeing this book recommended because people are saying it's like "reminiscent of ACOTAR" or even that it's a better ACOTAR.  Uhm bro this is literally just ACOTAR like it's literally ACOTAR rewritten with different character names and a slightly different plot. I'm not really a huge ACOTAR fan either and don't remember everything that happened but I think it's summarized pretty easily by the fact that the pick-me girl got swooped up by the tatted up High Lord of the Night Court. By swooped up I mean literally swooped up as he also coincidentally and conveniently has those wings with the same... properties as the bat boys. 

It's just stale. I read a lot of fae books and a lot that are obviously trying to emulate ACOTAR. That's fine with me cause that's the trend and I think it's fun to see the different spins while staying in a familiar territory. This isn't a spin and it's not even something that had me attached to the randos that were introduced. The characters only personalities were being as close to their ACOTAR OGs as possible. The romance was laughable because we had the fated mate thing that was disguised as a choice? I don't even know. 

I'd give it a single star but it was decent enough to get to the end of. I'm not going to recommend it unless you really love ACOTAR and you're hungover or something. Even though this one would probably just make you feel hollow.

 

Book Review: Captive of the Horde King (Horde Kings of Dakkar #1)

 

Captive of the Horde King

Zoey Draven

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

I avoided reading Ice Planet Barbarians during the hype phase only to read this one a couple of months later so like I don't know. It was pretty decent, gave me real Golden Dynasty vibes but without the amazingly and astoundingly horrible depictions of romanticized sexual assault. This one runs the line more cause you're like yeah uh that was consent but also if these were real people uhm it's literally called captive of the horde king so that's not okay. Basically, Luna's brother was an idiot and lit a fire when it's very illegal and he would've been killed if she hadn't sacrificed herself. She thought she'd either die or you know become a slave but instead the king marries her and so on and so forth. 

I think it was much better at the beginning when she was figuring out whether she should hate him or not. The end was just a predictable amalgamation of tropes used to make us feel like we had seen a resolution. Like I understand it's hard to find a rise and fall on books like these when the central conflict is getting the romance to work, but it was a bit of a disappointing progression. 

But I was a big fan of the king not being the biggest jerk on the planet. Like I said, these books run a thin line of okay and not-okay when it comes to the male protagonists and this one was pretty tolerable. Probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone who I didn't know liked this kind of world but if you do it's definitely a fairly well-written version.

 

Book Review: The Savage and the Swan

 

The Savage and the Swan

Elle Fields

Overall: 2/5

Plot and themes: 2/5

Characters: 1/5

Writing style: 2/5

Attention-grabbing: 2/5

So the baseline of this book is that there's a savage king and a princess who has lived under lock and key out of fear that this savage dude is going to murder her. When they meet cause she casually decides to peruse the lands one day, he (shockingly!) doesn't kill her and they have to figure out how to balance their separate kingdoms and separate tendencies with their feelings for each other. 

Full disclosure, I'm rather behind on writing reviews and I read this about a week ago and have mostly forgotten about what happened in it. That's not really a shining recommendation for it but gives you a good idea of how interesting it is. Everything is extremely straightforward and predictable and yet still poorly explained and fleshed out. Like I got to the end and I'm still confused why they started the war. I understand there was a prophecy and everything that made them try to kill a baby but like it just seemed like poor tactical approaches on both side. 

And him, as the wolf king, somehow also has wings? How is that aerodynamic in any way I really just cannot picture it. It was kind of just dropped out of nowhere on us too. I hate when books are like "oh the most powerful can do such and such" yeah okay so obviously that's going to be you or the other protagonist and why did you drop it on me like that. The romance felt just angry and without any kind of real chemistry. If anything it was domineering in a very bad way. 

So I'm definitely not recommending it unless you're interested in just occupying the time. Sometimes I like reading just to look at words and this one did it for me.

 

 

 

Book Review: Float Plan

 

Float Plan

Trish Doller

Overall: 4/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 4/5

Writing style: 4/5

Attention-grabbing: 4/5 

Content/trigger warnings: mentions of suicide

What do you do after the life you planned for yourself goes completely off the rails? You get on your deceased fiance's boat ready for a sail around the Caribbean obviously. Anna is going through a lot, she doesn't know what to do with her life anymore and she feels lost. The least she can do is complete this trip in her fiance's memory. But when she starts and realizes how difficult it's actually going to be, she hires a guide.

This really just made me want to drop everything and buy a sailboat. But really only if I could meet an Irish guide with besties on every island. The progression of their relationship was *chef's kiss*. When characters are dealing with trauma, it's difficult to know how they'll lash out or if they'll even properly handle their emotions before jumping into a relationship. This book handles it all very nicely, there's no insta-love but there's definitely insta-companionship that runs a lot deeper than any kind of attraction. It's amazing and I know they're fictional characters but they manage to be exactly what they need in their respective lives. 

The only problem that I would have is that I wanted more content. It was a super short book and I think we could've all dealt with an extra hundred pages to lay down stronger foundations into both their personal lives and maybe even an epilogue. Again, it's a fantastic book that was super cute and wholesome and I'd totally recommend it but I was just desperate for more. 

 

Book Review: Proof of Life (The Potentate of Atlanta #4)

 

Proof of Life

Hailey Edwards 

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 4/5

Writing style: 3/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

Proof of Life is the fourth book in the Potentate of Atlanta series following the adventures of Hadley and Midas. Things are heating up- both in their relationship and the war they've started with a coven of blood witches. They're both trying to balance a crazy number of things and it doesn't help that Hadley's family is coming to visit, both her real and fictional one. 

I generally like how the story is progressing. It's nice to see them building up from their traumas and working towards being a cohesive unit both in their separate positions. I do think the timeline is a little weird, it feels like it's taking forever but then they're like oh yeah five days ago. It feels like there are a lot of injuries for that short of a timeline. But I'm enjoying the little plot of Hadley and Ambrose becoming besties like that's what I like to see. 

So I'm excited to round the series out, I've really enjoyed it and I continue to enjoy it. I did take some points off here cause I thought the ending was way too much of a rush but I guess that's just how things work in this universe.

Book Review: Change of Heart (The Potentate of Atlanta #3)

 

Change of Heart

Hailey Edwards

Overall: 4/5

Plot and themes: 4/5

Characters: 4/5

Writing style: 3/5

Attention-grabbing: 4/5

Change of Heart is the third book in the Potentate of Atlanta series and sets us up pretty well for the rest of the series. We've got an expansion on the previous plot elements, they may have saved Ford from the mutant roaches but they're far from gone. Hadley and Midas are trying to deal with balancing their growing relationship with the duties of their separate positions along with all of the secrets they feel like they're holding so close. 

I have once again finished the next book before writing the review for this one. As such, I can't say much for what happened in here at risk of giving more away. But basically it's good. I think it's more excited than the second book, there's a boss battle that really draws your attention along with the trauma of revealed secrets and the recovery from said secrets. If you haven't read anything by this author like me, it'll be easy for you to jump in aside from a few missed references that don't do much to this storyline. It's exciting and definitely keeps your attention.