Book Review: Shattered Dreams

Overall: 2/5

Plots and Themes: 3/5

Characters: 2/5

Writing Style: 3/5

Attention Grabbing: 2/5 

Lady Elyssa Prescott has consigned herself to a life of spinsterhood. It could be worse, she has a loving family who she knows will always support anything she does. And she has her horses that give her a sense of mobility and autonomy that she could never manage in her every day life. But when she meets Brentan Montgomery, she begins to wonder if there could be more to that life. 

Everything felt a lot more forced than I would have preferred. We have this inorganic romance forming where they're never really on the same page about anything. Then they're just sort of together automatically and we as readers are supposed to view it as a dramatic come-together but just feels icky in light of the secrets being kept and the lack of previous conversation. Plus, the random flips to the brother and best friend's side romance that is just a boring case of miscommunication stifled the drama. 

I like drama to an extent, but I don't like it when it has no build up and no motivation. Like of course, we knew from the second he told her to hide that she would somehow find herself perilously threaded into the narrative of the chase. I was just sick of it at that point. So while it had some good points, I had pretty much lost it by the end. 

Book Review: How to Romance a Rake (Ugly Duckling #2)

Overall: 2/5

Plots and Themes: 2/5

Characters: 2/5

Writing Style: 3/5

Attention Grabbing: 2/5 

Juliet has been a wallflower (at best) ever since an accident gave her a limp several years ago. Any attention she receives is typically derogative and she's sick of it all together. When she meets Lord Deveril, she's surprised at his attention and the assistance he provides in the quest to find her missing friend. 

The best I can say about this one is that it had the unique inclusion of how a certain disability would have been dealt with in this time period. The author obviously did the research she could in seeking out the description. But beyond that, I found the plot sort of basic and boring. One of my biggest pet peeves in romances with characters with disabilities is when the able-bodied protagonist sort of falls in love with them based only on their disability? I don't know how else to phrase that, but it seemed like the most critical bonding that the two experienced centered around her uniqueness on that front. 

I don't know, very non-memorable. I wouldn't want to trash it too much cause it was definitely good enough to finish I just wanted more from either the mystery or the romance. Ideally both, but even one would've livened things up considerably. 

Book Review: Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales #1)

 

Overall: 3/5

Plots and Themes: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing Style: 3/5

Attention Grabbing: 3/5 

When Theodora Ettings was young, a faerie took half her soul. She has spent the time since trying to act normal when she is nearly entirely without emotion. She doesn't react the way young women are supposed to act, and her aunt is constantly trying to rid the family of her oddities. But then Dora meets Lord Elias Wilder, a sorcerer for England, she starts her journey to reestablishing those emotions she's missed for so much of her life. 

I have a problem with these fae books sometimes. They just feel so disconnected from the actual characters, like I'm reading it through the lense of a dream. Also, this was advertised as a combination of Pride and Prejudice and Howl's Moving Castle and while it was definitely not a bad read, you might feel that way if you go into it expecting that. I liked Dora despite how difficult it might be to empathize with her as essentially robotic character- you do see the depth of her emotion though she doesn't technically think she has any. I don't think she and Elias had all that much chemistry, they weren't around each other all that much so it had the feeling of insta-love.

I do love a good historical book with magic infused into the plot. This one isn't my favorite example of that, but it has it's moments. 

Book Review: Chain of Thorns (The Last Hours #3)

Overall: 3/5

Plots and Themes: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing Style: 3/5

Attention Grabbing: 2/5 

Chain of Thorns is the third and final book in the Last Hours, covering too many characters to list out succinctly. It's the children of the characters in the Infernal Devices, and as their children they're just obligated to get into twice as much trouble. We have demons, we have necromancy, and we have a lot of unlawfulness in a society where the law is hard but it's the law. 

Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with this book as a finale. At this point in her career, Cassandra Clare isn't just ending a trilogy summarizing 3-4 years of work, she's ending a trilogy that closes a chapter for our favorite characters from TID and leads into the drama that is TMI, TDA, and ultimately TWP. But it was a major let down. If we put all the continuity issues aside- because I will cut her some slack that it's been like 15+ years since TMI and we're living in a very different world than how it was then- the pacing of the series beyond book one has just been way off. I loved book one, I thought it was one of her best ever because it balanced the sort of plot-heavy vibes of TDA with the sedate yet action-packed rhythm of TDA. But she couldn't hold it together, she started threading in all sorts of things that just felt like they weren't really as relevant to the plot as they should have been. She couldn't mess with the TID parents because she had already written the Clockwork Princess epilogue and guaranteed their survival so she couldn't figure out how to write well-rounded characters where their parents were loving and supporting - since she also couldn't traumatize them by making their parents mean because it would destroy the integrity of TMI. And it felt like she realized with 50 pages left that she had about a million loose plot threads and so she decided to slam them all shut as quickly as she could with just about zero exposition or closure. I liked how we dealt with some of the characters trauma, but I think she committed to so many separate plots that she wasn't really able to do any of them justice. 

To get to the spoilers: she should not have killed Kit. It was cheap and it was lazy. She paired off all the other characters (aside from Matthew, Charles, and Grace) and decided Kit was the one who could die. And the fact that there was absolutely no reaction, that everyone was more upset about Matthew and James being in Edom, was pretty cruel. And we didn't get to see the reactions of his parents, she could have easily banked a few points by giving us some heartfelt mourning especially since most people reading have already bonded with the parents and the aunts and uncles. But no, she used him as a throwaway character. And she let James and Lucie get away with everything way too easily. James in the treating Cordelia poorly for the past two books and Lucie in the committing literal crimes but not even having to testify. Cassandra Clare just decided you know what, I'm going to make him Jesse again and the notoriously brutally lawful shadowhunter society will just deal with it. It honestly was inconsiderate to us as readers who spent years trying to figure out how this series would end (and I mean literal years my friend and I have been tossing theories back and forth since we were in middle school ten years ago) to try and just sweep everything under the rug at the last second. And the absolute cherry on top was James and Lucie losing their powers, which makes no sense to me and is also another cheap tactic. Like, we know that Tessa retains her powers through TDA so how do her kids lose that of which is threaded into their genetic composition when Tessa doesn't? Her father should've just stayed a faceless eidolon demon. 

This isn't really a review anymore more of just a rant, but I felt a little wronged as a reader. There were still good parts, I don't regret reading the series or staying up-to-date with it, but I think that Cassandra Clare should put in a bit more if she wants people to stick with something that has gotten as lengthy as the shadowhunter universe has. Sad that we're closing the story but happy to have seen more into their lives and into the lives of the TID characters (barely). 

Book Review: Devil in Spring (The Ravenels #3)

Overall: 3/5

Plots and Themes: 2/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing Style: 3/5

Attention Grabbing: 3/5

Devil in Spring is the third book in the Ravenels but can be read as a standalone. Lady Pandora Ravenel doesn't like balls, she's not looking to get married, all she really cares about is her family and her board games. When she's caught in an "it's not what it looks like" position, a family friend thinks he's helping by forcing the man into marrying her. She's obviously strongly against this. 

It was pretty mid until the end. A pretty standard wallflower-who-is-actually-gorgeous type situation until the author decides to throw a random little danger plot in at the end. That conflict didn't make a lot of sense to me, but it was obviously just for that little extra thrill. I feel it should have built a bit more throughout the book for it to really have that flare that I think the author was looking for. Without it, it was giving that sort of fanfiction-style strategy of throwing something in just for a reaction. Other than that though, a pretty entertaining read. 

Book Review: Through a Darkening Glass

Overall: 3/5

Plots and Themes: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing Style: 3/5

Attention Grabbing: 3/5

London in 1940 is on the precipice of war, no place for a literature student like Ruth Gladstone anymore. So she escapes to the country with her grandmother to visit a great-aunt she never knew existed. While she becomes engrossed in the town rumors and wartime gossip, she investigates the long-standing urban legend of a white lady ghost who haunts the hillside with the help of her new neighbor, a wounded soldier with an even more wounded wife. 

I liked quite a few parts of the story. It had a lot of POVs and it did a good job bringing the townspeople to life through them. Ruth was a great protagonist to follow with her curiosity and strong drive to get to the bottom of things. Though she probably felt closer to 18-20 than 25, she also lived a sheltered life. Her relationship with Malcolm was strange and very deliberately ambiguous at the end. I think it makes sense, and I'm glad we didn't try to vilify Elise for her circumstances, but I also think we spent a whole lot of time to basically get nowhere. 

The ghost story took the back seat through the whole narrative.  It was convoluted and it wasn't all that fun to follow because the ghost wasn't really doing anything. Rather than a ghost story or a mystery, I think this book would be better framed as a way to depict the more common WWII stories, what many of the people did to escape the tragedies of wartime. Not the most exciting thing out there, but the reality for many people and an interesting time in history. 

Book Review: Murder at Blackwater Bend (A Stella and Lyndy Mystery #2)

Murder at Blackwater Bend

Clara McKenna

Overall: 3/5

Plots and Themes: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing Style: 3/5

Attention Grabbing: 3/5

After the intrigues of their original meeting, Stella and Lyndy are expecting that the announcement of their betrothal and their subsequent marriage will be smooth sailing. But when they discover the body of a family friend floating in the river on an early morning fishing expedition, they can't help but be dragged into the mystery of it. 

I think that this and the first installment have been interesting enough, I love a good murder mystery. But I'm having trouble seeing how it can continue as a mystery series in the same sense as other detective novels of similar periods. We have no infrastructure for actual crime solving, they're really just both in the right place (or wrong depending on how you see it) at the right time. They're not making names for themselves as investigators and they're not really gaining any skills aside from the ability to look at bodies without throwing up. 

So while I didn't mind the mystery itself, I also spent the whole book wondering if we were going to see any real growth in the characters positions as actual detectives. It was a little disappointing for this to be another mystery based purely on their proximity rather than seeking it out or being sought out.

The Women of Troy (Women of Troy #2)

 

The Women of Troy

Pat Barker

Linsey Hall

Overall: 4/5

Plot and themes: 4/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 4/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

The Women of Troy is the second book in the Women of Troy series, which I did not know until after I finished the book. The thing is that it relates so closely to the events of the Odyssey and everything that I figured we were just jumping right into it, which was my bad. But if you want to read it as a standalone it is in fact possible. 

I love books that depict historical events, or myths or stories like this, from a non-traditional perspective. It's easy to be swept away by the heroics of mythology or to imagine suffering exclusive to the heroes of the narratives, but the ripples of their perceived "strengths" were probably widespread. I appreciated the strengths of the women, Briseis specifically but also Cassandra and the others around her. Comparing it to the "hero narrative" is also a fun kind of side-by-side that emphasized the comparative of the perceived struggles. 

So much of it probably went way over my head but I don't mind that much as I enjoyed it. It was a bit dull at points where we were just living the day-to-day of everyone, but I liked the way that it felt.

 

Book Review: The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter (The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club #1)

 

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter

Theodora Goss

Overall: 4/5

Plot and themes: 4/5

Characters: 5/5

Writing style: 4/5

Attention-grabbing: 5/5

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter is sort of a mystery-urban fantasy-historical fiction hybrid set right at the turn of the twentieth century. The protagonists take turns reflecting upon the twists and turns of their lives as the daughters of some of the most iconic creators of monsters from the horror novels of the 1800s. This is backed through the tales of their current mysteries, fighting as a squad of female detectives backed by Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. 

It's such an interesting combo of characters. They all reflect so nicely upon one another, filling in the gaps where they each fall short and developing into such a nice team. The mystery is fun, the action is quick-paced, and you find yourself being sidetracked constantly by their arguments during the editing stages of the novel. That's what makes this book even more unique, it's backed by a series of dialogue as the main characters are writing about the events of their past in order to get sell it to fund current exploits. It's fun especially because you know that all of the narrators are going to make it to the end of the book but you get little hints of what's to come as the book progresses. 

I think it's cool and quirky and has a lot of potential to grow into a truly interesting mystery series. I'm also very much holding out for a romance between Sherlock and Mary, I choose to ignore the age difference in favor of loving how awkward they are with each other but how well they work as a unit. I'm excited to see how it all plays out.

 

 

Book Review: At Last Comes Love (Huxtable Quintet #3)

 

At Last Comes Love

Mary Balogh

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3/5

Attention-grabbing: 4/5

At Last Comes Love is a regency romance following Margaret and Duncan. Margaret is a spinster, she spent the glory of her youth caring for the siblings which her parents left orphaned. Now, her former lover has returned a widow and has the audacity to think their marriage is a given. She hopes to finally agree to a repeated marriage proposal, only to find herself alone on the dance floor. She happens to run straight into Duncan, the only person in the whole room more desperate for a fiancee than her. 

I thought  the whole story was fun and entertaining with a very nice underlying message. Obviously, our present society doesn't think of 30 as quite the spinster sentence that it seemed in the 1800s, but the thought that you're never to old to form a new bond or start a new chapter of your life resonates nicely even in present day. The two mains also had a nice balance between awkward getting to know each other and real chemistry that I though made the book a lot more believable. 

My biggest issue was the idea of Lauren and Tobias and his whole hidden family. It was framed in a way that would take as much blame as possible away from Duncan because we obviously can't have a main protagonist who isn't secretly a saint. But also, the way that Margaret reacted to it all at the end just made me like her so much less as a character. She very much picks and chooses what she sees as morally correct even after having been taught a lesson about everything not being as it seems. Even if you get past that, she was justifying abuse and stuff at a level I just didn't get behind. 

Other than that though, I thought it was a nice light romance with just enough depth to be realistic. I would recommend it for fans of this genre and just romance in general.

Book Review: The Portrait of a Scarred Duke

 

The Portrait of a Scarred Duke

Patricia Haverton 

Overall: 2/5

Plot and themes: 2/5

Characters: 1/5

Writing style: 2/5

Attention-grabbing: 2/5

I was in the serious mood for a regency romance and this book really just did not deliver what I was looking for. The Duke of Worthwood needs a portrait painted, a complicated endeavor for a man with a face like his. When his primary artist gets sick, he endorses the artist's daughter as the proper replacement. But the more time he spends with her, the more he comes to see her goodness and think that she maybe could be more than just his artist. 

It's bland, and that's on me for not recognizing it and reading it straight through. I wanted to give it a proper chance but it was dull all the way through. I think it had a decent starting premise but that there wasn't enough real conflict to give the book any substance. We didn't even really get the conflict of heart as the duke had to make the decision to marry for love rather than position. I don't really think a commoner could marry a duke with as little fuss as what was created through their match. So it wasn't authentic to the period and it was just disappointing. 

It wasn't the worst regency romance I've ever read and maybe I'm being too harsh on it, I just didn't find it super entertaining or enjoyable.

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: A Wicked Conceit (Lady Darby #9)

A Wicked Conceit

Anna Lee Huber

Overall: 4/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 4/5

Writing style: 4/5

Attention-grabbing: 4/5

A Wicked Conceit is the ninth and latest book in the Lady Darby series following Kiera and Sebastian Gage as they hunt down murderers and solve mysteries. Kiera is in the final days of her first pregnancy but there's drama unfolding in the city as a book released by an anonymous author throws them into another scandal. Despite her upcoming due date, Kiera is unwilling to let it rest and let her child be tainted by the idea of illegitimacy. There are also other things she's kept from Gage and everything's going wrong all at once. 

I thought this was a nice addition the series and I liked the mystery and how the character arcs are progressing. I will say that I was unhappy with the way that Sebastian and Alana treated Kiera and for very different reasons. To some extent though I can respect that Sebastian is really acting the best that a man of his class and station could ever be expected to act in the situation. Also though it's annoying how he keeps praising Kiera for her independence of mind then turning around and biting her head off for the same thing. Alana felt like she was just trying to get involved in something that wasn't her business and she was being really rude while doing so then they just threw in some past angst to justify it. 

I'm glad it all worked out and I thought it was a pretty fun and wild ride through and through. I'm glad that they're staying consistent with their original personalities while still growing and expanding as characters. It was a little weird and misplaced though for Lady Darby to meet her first Black person ever and then be like oops racism better do something. I don't really like how she consistently reflects on her ability to go above and beyond with her employees and those around her. That should be something we see rather than get a monologue about. But even while saying that I'm glad we're seeing her reconstruct her life with her new priorities and not losing any of her original spark. 

But yeah, it was a good addition to an amazing series and I'm really glad I read it. I can't wait to see where the characters go next! I have a horrible feeling that this whole thing with Bonnie Brock might become more integral to the plot though and we know who would have to die for that to happen so uh that better be a crazy and far out prediction.

Book Review: The Hummingbird Dagger

The Hummingbird Dagger

Cindy Anstey

3/5

Lord Ellerby feels as though he's been scrambling after his little brother since their father's death last year. When he gets into a curricle race that drives a carriage off the world and injures a young woman, he feels it is his responsibility to take her in until she recovers. Unfortunately, she has amnesia and can't remember her name or where she came from and no one has come forward to claim her. It soon becomes evident that her origins are more nefarious than they first appeared and that she and the family that helped her is in danger. 

It was good, it was better at the beginning but was pretty interesting all the way through. The real problem was that it's definitely a book you read once, you solve, and then you never pick up again. I was intrigued and I pushed through it all in a couple of hours but I wasn't really asking for more. The ending felt particularly rushed in the idea that the relationship was just fine. I hate it when author's write characters and they're like "oh wow no one else has ever interested her so you're special..." when she was interested from like the first two minutes. The romance was just so obvious and straightforward. 

So yeah, average but still enjoyable. If you're in a reading slump and you like historical mysteries, this one would yank you out by how easy it reads. But if you're a fan of intricate historical romances with a scary twist, it would probably be a bit bland.

Book Review: The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Stuart Turton

3/5

When Aiden Bishop wakes up, he has no idea who or where he is. He has just one name on his lips, Anna, who he thinks he just saw being murdered. He soon discovers that everything is fabricated, that he isn't just one person and that he has been hopping from mind to mind for eight repeated days for decades. The only way out is to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle, but he is not not the only one attempting to do so. 

This book is so complicated. It's non-chronological in the most difficult way to process because you're constantly getting snippets from other days, that are also simultaneously the same days? I really think that the best way to describe it is Knives Out meets Black Mirror, only because it's very Knives Out in the attempts to solve the murder but has a weird paranormal sci-fi element that's somewhat reminiscent of Black Mirror?

It just felt a little difficult to make it through at points because it was just so heavy with information. I don't have great critical thinking skills so it was hard for me to understand. I'm also much more character-focused than plot-focused, and this wasn't really a book that focused on the characters. Like, the characters and their senses of self were important to the plot but I also felt like I didn't really know them because they were so lost in their alternative lives. It just made the choice at the end feel kind of weak because I couldn't really feel the buildup to it?

It wasn't bad by any definition, it just felt a little too complex. I did appreciate what it was trying to go for though, it's a super unique premise that really kept you guessing until the very end.

Book Review: The Dark Days Deceit (Lady Helen #3)

 

The Dark Days Deceit

Alison Goodman

3/5 

The third and final book in the Lady Helen trilogy, The Dark Days Deceit picks up about six months after the ending of the last one. Lady Helen is engaged to the Duke of Selburn, they are set to be married on the first day of the new year and it's going to be big. Everyone's congratulating her for making such a perfect match, but she's not very happy with it. For one thing, she's on track to fight the first Grand Deceiver in hundreds of years and that's a bit scarier than getting married. But also, she's kind of in love with someone else. 

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually liked this book to be quite honest. Like, it's literally everything I want in a plot- regency, demon hunting, special powers, romance. But it just fell kind of flat to what it could have been. The ultimate villain felt kind of predictable and all the deaths along the way were kind of predictable as well. I think I was probably in a bad headspace to read it though because it's my third book in a row where the happy-go-lucky sidekick was killed to advance the arc of the main protagonists. 

A lot of things at the end just felt so rushed and incomplete. We've been hyping these things up for the whole trilogy and then they were just done? It just didn't feel like the ending that these characters deserved. The chemistry between certain characters felt off the whole time and I don't think that was ever acknowledged. I'll still recommend this series to people because again, it checks all the boxes and was kind of enjoyable along the way. I just feel like it could've been more.

Book Review: Chain of Iron (The Last Hours #2)

Chain of Iron

Cassandra Clare

4/5

This is the sequel to Chain of Gold, which is the prequel to TMI and TDA and the sequel to TID. It's so complicated that I don't recommend them to my friends at all because I know they would just get confused. It starts up four months after the conclusion of Chain of Gold and immediately jumps into the action and drama. Will James and Cordelia actually make it to the alter? Will Belial come back? What part does Tatiana really play in all this chaos? A ton of questions and fifteen years of backstory to contemplate as you go. 

When I think about it, I don't even know if this was a 4 star read I'm just really attached to the characters. I think that she did great on the whole story line with James and Cordelia, no spoilers but they were a lot easier to get behind in this book than in the last. But I think that she took on too many characters and most of them didn't feel like they had enough time to get truly developed in this one. 

I liked Chain of Gold because I felt as though she had branched out to a different story line, a more interesting one. But I feel like a lot of things were dropped and a lot of random things were picked up. I think that it's probably easy to run into repetition when you spend so long in a singular universe and you've seen a certain idea succeed so comprehensively that you want to try to replicate it on another bracket in the family tree. I just didn't vibe with it, it all needed more exposition for it to be as significant as she really thought it was. 

Again, I don't really recommend this to my friends because it's too complicated but if you're already invested then it's not that bad of a read. Minus, and this is a spoiler so proceed with caution, the continued and somehow casual references to incest. Like Cassie, you can't keep getting away with this why would you even write that in as a plot device. Sure, it's supposed to represent the villain and evil and all that but you've really done enough with that during your literary career and I would appreciate if you dropped it. Other than that though, the third book has the potential to be a lot better if she doesn't fall into her old habits.

Book Review: An Unexpected Peril (Veronica Speedwell #6)

An Unexpected Peril

Deanna Raybourn

5/5

I'll start by saying thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in return for a fair and honest review. I'm extremely invested in the characters in this series and I honestly don't think that any of their adventures could be boring at this point. In this sixth installment, Stoker and Veronica are investigating the potential murder of a fellow Curiosity Club member. In doing so, Veronica discovers that she looks very much like the Crown Princess of the Alpenwald, paving the way for her to step into this princess's shoes when she mysteriously disappears for a bit. 

Nothing shocked me more than the first book in this series did. Though I think this book fell a little short of where the other books did in terms of the mystery, I think it made up for that with the banter and character development of our two protagonists. I read a lot of historical fiction and when I tell people that, they expect it to be something stuffy or difficult to understand. Veronica Speedwell is anything but, though it doesn't completely disregard the mentalities of the time period in definitely infuses it with witty conversations and personalities that a typical person would not expect.

I had 33 highlights in this book, more than I think I've ever done in any book. I can't describe how clever everything has been during the course of this series. Everything that you expect is completely subverted, from the tropes to the mysteries. When we were first introduced to Stoker in the first book, I don't think I could ever have expected him to be quoting Keats and stealing sweets. And Veronica, she has her moments but she's really growing and realizing that you don't have to be all of one thing. While I have loved her throughout the entirety of the books, I love that she's not so selfish and that she recognizes the things that she wants even outside of her independence. I really appreciate that their growth is authentic to their characters, they're consistent to who they were at the beginning they're just stronger and better people.

So as I do every year when one of these books comes out, I strongly recommend reading this series. It has literally everything that you need from a book and continues to get better with every installment. Veronica and Stoker will always hold a special place for me and I'll keep reading them as long as they keep being written.

Book Review: The Dark Days Pact (Lady Helen #2)

The Dark Days Pact

Alison Goodman

3/5

After being basically thrown out of her home and thrown headfirst into the deep end of a shadow world she didn't even know existed, Lady Helen has to adapt to living a whole different kind of life. She also has to balance her growing feelings for Lord Carlston, who is still technically married and kind of being consumed by some dark demon mania. She's being pulled in ten different directions and the stakes are only getting higher. 

I struggled with this one a bit because I feel like it dragged a little. I wasn't really feeling chemistry with her and Selburn or her and Carlston for most of it and it was being described as such a big deal. The last hundred pages redeemed most of the book for me because they were way more exciting and had more interactions between the protagonists. But a lot of this book felt like filler, which is the cardinal flaw for so many second books in a trilogy. 

I do really love the world that Alison Goodman is creating though. When you add paranormal elements to historical fiction, it gets tricky to stay authentic to the other cultural elements of the time. I think that she does a great job of balancing how stressful it would be to turn your back on every single mandate that has been instilled into Lady Helen's head since birth. It isn't just the instantaneous need for rebellion, she's growing with the book. 

I'm still pretty invested in the ending, like I feel a need to finish reading. I hope that the next one is more action-packed. There are also a lot of things that need to be resolved so I hope that everything can be tied up in the conclusion. 

 

Book Review: What the Wind Knows

What the Wind Knows

Amy Harmon

3/5

Anne has spent basically her entire life with her grandfather as her best friend. She has written novels, traveled the world, and just grown up with his constant presence. When he dies she promises to take his ashes back to Ireland where he was born and spent his childhood. She goes to the exact place he told her to and finds herself transported back to the 1920s to when her grandfather was a child. Mistaken for his mother, she takes it as an opportunity for more time with him and the man who has been raising him. 

It's a little bit of a weird premise and time travel always trips me up when I think about it too hard. But as a basic love story I think it was pretty interesting. Anne is a little bit of a difficult character to like though only because we have to be told how much we should admire her for her strength rather than observe it on the pages. I also don't trust protagonists who don't have any friends except for the ones who have to be their friends and then rely immediately on the male protagonist. I think to be a strong character even in a more romantic book you need to see how they interact and form friendships with other side characters. All of her friends were his friends and she didn't have a lot on her own timeline. 

The ending was confusing to me too. I didn't mind it as much as I probably should have because I like a neatly tied standalone, but I'm just kind of not impressed by how time travel was explained. I think that the rise and fall of the book was also a little weird, it was like we didn't get to the main conflict till 75 percent in and then it was over. It was like the revolution was supposed to feel important but didn't get the page time that it deserved, it really didn't feel like all that much of a problem.

It seems like a roast but it's always easier to point out flaws than it is to talk about what you like. I didn't hate it, I was generally rooting for the characters and wasn't able to completely figure out what was going to happen in the end. This is my fourth Amy Harmon boo, I think she's good at keeping me interested and making me want to finish reading. I do think she relies on similar relationship dynamics across different genres though. But I would read other books by her and recommend this one if you like a slightly trippy romance that's still pretty much just a romance.