Book Review: Phoenix and Ashes (Elemental Masters #3)

 

Phoenix and Ashes

Mercedes Lackey

4/5

I once again started on the third book in a series without knowing that it was the third book. That's okay though, I think that these can easily be read as standalones. Kind of urban fantasy? I'm not entirely sure where to place this, like historical fantasy fiction? It's also a fairy tale retelling, so once again there is a lot going on here. 

Eleanor was set to be one of the first females to attend Oxford, though they aren't yet handing out degrees to women. Then her father married an evil woman and World War I happened. Suddenly, her father is dead and her stepmother cuts off her finger to bind her forever to servitude. It's a harsh and hopeless life, she isn't allowed to go against any of her stepmother's commands and works till she collapses of exhaustion for years without end. 

Reggie is an Air Master and flew planes against the Germans until another Air Master took him out of the sky and he was captured beneath the earth for days. I'm not really sure what the age difference is between him and Eleanor, I think he's a couple years older but he already attended Oxford for a couple years. He and Eleanor meet again after years without seeing each other and are able to speak clearer than they have with anyone else. It's all about dealing with her super powerful stepmother from there on out. 

I really liked it, especially the base story line. There's just something so interesting about fairy tales told with more modern context yet with the same amount of magic. I loved it and I loved the characters. I do wish they had had more face-to-face conversations before they decided they were in love. But I think that was validated with the ending, not too fast for that period or even compared to some of the books that come out today. It's not incredibly original because it keeps so many of the elements of Cinderella, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend for sure.

Book Review: Written in Red (The Others #1)

 

Written in Red

3/5

Anne Bishop

I'm bored so I'm doing re-reads. I don't feel like enough new material has been released this year so I'm really just out here spending hours trying to figure out what to read. Anyways, I read this one initially a couple of years ago and my rating kind of stands. I remember it getting better, but this one is just a little weird. I don't think that I could ever explain this to someone who hadn't read it because I don't think they would understand the intricacies of the universe and they would just find it super strange. 

Meg is a cassandra sangue, prophecies are in her blood and if she cuts her skin then those prophecies emerge. So that's a warning if any kind of cutting is your trigger, it does happen here pretty frequently as it is pretty integral to the plot. That being said, I think that it's well-established that it's an addiction and that she's trying to control it. I think it's an original idea, I've never seen anything like it before and it kind of stuck with me as something specific to this series even years after reading it. 

I think that the names for things could be a little more original. This is an adult book and yet we're calling people Bigwig and there's a place called Sparkletown. It's like she decided to use the same names for everything but decided to change them slightly by dumbing them down. It's kind of reflective of the main character, one of her traits as a cassandra sangue is her "innocence" that exists to protect her from the intensity of prophecy. I wish that could be explained a little more because it feels like a cop out. 

All in all, it's a pretty interesting read. Re-reading it is fun but just makes me remember how angry I was when Bishop decided to continue the series away from Meg and Simon. I think that they're great characters that really reflect the shortcomings of one another and that they kind of got abandoned. Their build-up in this one is good though.

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.