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BOOK REVIEW: Once Upon A Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

February 14, 2022 / Chelsea / 4 Comments

Once Upon A Broken Heart (Once Upon A Broken Heart #2)
by Stephanie Garber
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval, the first book in a new series about love, curses, and the lengths that people will go to for happily ever after.

Evangeline Fox was raised in her beloved father’s curiosity shop, where she grew up on legends about immortals, like the tragic Prince of Hearts. She knows his powers are mythic, his kiss is worth dying for, and that bargains with him rarely end well.

But when Evangeline learns that the love of her life is about to marry another, she becomes desperate enough to offer the Prince of Hearts whatever he wants in exchange for his help to stop the wedding. The prince only asks for three kisses. But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’s pledged. And he has plans for Evangeline that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy…

“I don’t think you and I have the same definition of hurt.”
“Be thankful for that, Little Fox.” Jacks gave her a smile that was all sharp edges. A drop of blood fell from the corner of his mouth, and something godforsaken washed over his expression. “Hurt is what made me.”

Damn this book. Damn this stupid book that I didn’t even care about. Was it the heroine? Was it the storyline? Was it the way the words flowed so beautifully upon opening up the story? Could it have been the absolutely gorgeous cover? Or was it simply that I felt at home, at peace, just happy when I read it? Or, the scariest question of all-Was it Jacks?

He looked like a bad decision some unfortunate person was about to make.

 And that’s the whole point-I truly cannot say why I ~~liked~~ loved this book so much. I was so blase about OUABH’s impending release, so meh, so whatever that I didn’t even know it was released until all the editions began pouring onto my doorstep. And isn’t that the kicker? I knew. Deep down my soul knew that I’d love this story. So, book hoarder that I am, I possess them all, naturally, before even having read the story and even believing I wouldn’t care one way or another for it. But, again, why? I still can’t even tell you.

“Heroes don’t get happy endings. They give them to other people.”

This book, to me, felt so different than the Caraval stories. It’s the same world, really honestly the same characters-so why was it so different? I think the thing is, it really wasn’t. Perhaps Garber has grown as a writer, maybe she simply wrote from a deeper perspective. I don’t quite understand how a writer can have all the same mannerisms, yet churn out a book that felt so wholly me when the others kind of failed to do so.

“She hates me,” Jacks said pleasantly. “So even if she likes you more, that’s not saying very much.”
“Are you certain about that?”

I loved Tella. I loved Scarlett. I adored Julian and Legend…And the stories were absolutely spellbinding, always wrapped in a haze of fairytale type enchantment. It was no joke when people said this felt somewhat like a fairytale-and I keep telling myself that was why I loved it so much. But if this was, in fact, a fairytale, it was certainly a demented version of one. And…there it is. I truly think that’s it: This was no fairytale . There was no happily ever after. It was my favorite kind of story, ripe with a sea of possibilities: Happily Never After.

She knew her story had the potential for infinite endings—and that belief hadn’t changed. There was a happy ending waiting for her.

Yeah, Evangeline will find it, sure. But the journey she took, the desperate attempts at creating love at first sight, at believing her one true love was within grasp at all times, the way she was so willing to love and trust and forgive and risk it all for both her kindness of heart and the idea of hope. Hope that someone else would do the same for her, hope that her one true love would be her knight in shining armor, hope that good would win over evil, always…I love that she didn’t just get that. I love that her journey is so rocky, deceptive, and convoluted. But, most of all, I loved the unpredictability-because there was literally not one moment (save, bad guys) that I could have predicted.

She just wanted someone to want her the way Jacks had wanted this girl. And she didn’t want it to be because of a spell or a curse. Evangeline wanted a real love powerful enough to break a spell.

Well…maybe I could have, but I’m not sure how. And, to be honest, part of that unpredictability comes from the hero (?What even is Jacks?) himself. I have never been anything but transparent when it comes to Jacks in the Caraval series: I truly do not remember a thing about him, but I remember enough I just didn’t care or get why anyone would root against Legend for Tella’s heart.

According to the myths, the Prince of Hearts was not capable of love because his heart had stopped beating long ago. Only one person could make it work again: his one true love. They said his kiss was fatal to all but her—his only weakness—and as he’d sought her, he’d left a trail of corpses.

Yeah, okay, bad boy with bad intentions and even badder actions who deserves good and sweet and adventurous girl-I get it, but come on. She loved Legend, end of story. BUT, that being said, this world? It was made for Jacks. And, truthfully, I loved Evangeline FOR Jacks. Remember that quote the Mockingjay, the one about her [Katniss] being fire and Gale being fire, as well, and Peeta was the dandelion in the wind? That’s Tella and Jacks-they just didn’t go. This book, while not wholly about Jacks himself, helped him to shine a little (duh, obviously). And, again, yeah I know-He is a main character therefore he doesn’t have anything else going on to really contend with, but this is also what I loved about Garber’s storytelling here….this book really didn’t throw Jacks all up in our face. Like…at all.

He was terrible. There was no other word to describe him—except maybe heartless or depraved or rotten. The way Jacks seemed to enjoy pain was absolutely staggering. The apple in his hand probably possessed more sympathy than he did. This was not the same young man who’d practically bled heartbreak all over the knave of his church. Something inside of him was broken.

Romances that aren’t really romances are my favorite kind-the tension, the unknowing protectiveness, mean pet names turning to something sweeter and kinder (Side note: This book is home to probably my favorite intimate little pet name I’ve heard in a while. I don’t know why, but Little Fox just really is my favorite thing ever. Every time I saw it, my heart just went berserk. Crazy. And, let’s be honest, if we’d have been stuck with him calling her ‘Pet’ the whole book, I might have raged. That, in tandem, is probably my least favorite pet name (and Woman. Who the eff wants to be called ‘Woman?’). No thanks. Hard pass), the jealousy. It all adds up to a million non-kisses and unplanned heroic acts and I am all here for it-and so was Garber because her book is riddled with so many tantalizingly sinful moments without even closely bordering smutty-barely restrained bites, caresses, touches, and-ahem-okay, I won’t say the last but *insert red face sweating emoji*.

“Do you stare at everyone like that, or just me?” Jacks looked up.

Evangeline reached out to Jacks in a moment of desperation, so they started out as tentative allies, turned untrusting partners, turned actual allies, to somewhat friends. The addition of Jacks only being able to kiss his one true love without it resulting in death? Umm…yes please. Bring the tension. I THRIVE on sexual tension. Bring on ALLL the tension. Who needs kisses when you can have…other things.

“I’m curious about a lot of things. I’m curious about you, but I don’t want you to bite me!”
The corner of Jacks’s mouth twitched. “I’ve already done that, Little Fox.”

Evangeline’s naive view of life and quest for her one true love, her selflessness and willingness to help those around her that she cares about is perfect for Jacks’s hard-nosed Fury self who is cynical, heart-broken, and cold as stone-she is the yin to his yang, she will slowly break down his long-built up barriers and crumble his resolve as he saves her time and again, as he continues to play games and use her in his quest for something Fate-ish and top secret and realizes she really does mean something to him. We saw so many wonderful moments where we got tiny fractures in his exterior, moments where we saw flares of vulnerability…and only more will come. I lived for these far and few between moments, losing sleep long into the night daydreaming and aching for more, all the while knowing that I was getting exactly what I love most, romance wise, yet still pining for so much more and knowing it will be a year before we get any gratification.

“I didn’t think you cared.”
“I don’t. But you still owe me one more kiss, and until I collect it, you’re mine, and I do not like to share.”

Some books have crazy endings, amazing epic awesome cliffhangers….and some have subtle ends, subtle chaos, but cliffhangers all the same. And, I’ll be honest, the books with subtle cliffhangers, such as this one? They are far more likely, in my opinion, to have an epic final book. An author can write a crazy end, and I get SO excited as they are my favorite thing ever, but I’m always willing to wait because I’m so nervous that the next book won’t be worth the wait, that it won’t hold up to those monumental final moments. But with endings like these, I can’t help but feel helpless, as if I’m drowning, because it’s as if I can’t breathe knowing I have to wait until literally next year to see what type of story Jacks and Evangeline are going to get. How (notice I did not say if) he will eventually crumble and break and (omg I HOPE) profess his love for her (Fates tend to get kind of obsessed, don’t they??), how he will protect her at any cost…I just, I can’t wait. I seriously cannot wait. It makes me ill to think how far away it is-but that’s my fault, isn’t it? Giving into the urge so quickly? So easily? Well, shame on me.

Hope is a difficult thing to kill, just a spark of it can start a fire.

Basically this review is a horrible non-review with very little in way of what I would normally write, but I had no direction because I have no clue what worked and why it hit me differently than the Caraval series did. I absolutely ADORED Caraval-I did-but there was just something so wholly satisfying about a non romance littered with a girl who dreamed of a fairy tale romance that I couldn’t help but to be dazzled. Easy romances are boring, period, and this was and will be anything but. The promise of something so much greater, grander, magnificent than just a normal romance might be what excites me most-the idea that Garber could literally take this story anywhere. But, perhaps the most promising of all, is the notion that Jacks will slowly lose his mind, will become jealous of any other person who seeks Evangeline. The idea that he will do anything to protect her, even though he says he wouldn’t and doesn’t care, that she is and will be a more guarded, less doe-eyed girl who only wants her happily ever after-its going to be a cacophony of chaos and heartbreak and destruction (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET THERE BE CHAOS AND HEARTBREAK)…it sounds like a pretty dark book to me. Now, if only I didn’t have to wait.

****

Guys…this one just got me good. I don’t even know why…it just resonated deep within me, and I’ll be honest when I say I never really cared for Jacks. Now, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him. I picked this up expecting to simply tolerate it, and instead walked away enthralled, obsessed, and more than upset I didn’t get more from Jacks and Evangeline. No clue what to read next, but I’ve always been a sucker for fairytale type stories and this somewhat quenched that thirst-Nothing will really touch my mood now.

So, if it’s not obvious, I literally cannot wait to write this review.

REVIEW: The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3) by Holly Black

February 11, 2022 / Jen / 6 Comments

The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3)
by Holly Black
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
A powerful curse forces the exiled Queen of Faerie to choose between ambition and humanity in this highly anticipated and jaw-dropping finale to The Folk of the Air trilogy from a #1 New York Times bestselling author.

He will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne

Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.

Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan's betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her twin sister, Taryn, whose life is in peril.

Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict's bloody politics.

And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity . . .

Review:

The Queen of Nothing was a breathtaking conclusion! With so much up in the air, the story felt as though it moved faster, so I wasn’t able to put this book down. Especially when pieces of the puzzle came together that I never even knew belonged to it in the first place. So while I guessed a few things right, like the ending, others took me by complete and utter surprise. If you’re a fan of fantasy, you definitely need this series in your life. Some of my favorite things were…..

It’s okay to want something that’s going to hurt, I remind myself. I move toward him, so we are close enough to touch.

Jude had come so far. I laughed, I cheered and I rooted for Jude every step of the way. She was capable of doing the unthinkable many times and proved why she was a heroine we could look up to and respect. I loved Jude with every fiber of my being!

“Mock me all you like. Whatever I imagined then, now it is I who would beg and grovel for a kind word from your lips.” His eyes are black with desire. “By you, I am forever undone.”

Then there was Cardan. He will forever have a place in my heart. Even if he tortured it a time or two…or more, he made it so happy. I loved the moments that showed how much he cared. I loved that he could be sweet. I was shocked when the words perfect left my mouth to describe him. Because that was exactly what he had become to me by the end of this trilogy.

“I never wanted to be your enemy,” I say. “But I didn’t want to be in your power, either.” With that, I take off through the snow. I do the one thing I told myself I would never do.

Relationships were pivotal in this story, and they all had their personal struggles. So I loved watching many push through hardships, heartache and get past where they were even comfortable. I loved even more watching them each find their way. So the fact that many relationships were mended by the end of this trilogy made me ecstatic. My heart was so happy, I didn’t expect as much as we were given. Especially the redemption arc of a certain character.

We stare at each other for long moments, breathing hard. His eyes are bright with something entirely different from anger.
I am in over my head. I am drowning.

The stakes kept getting higher and higher. I was so nervous for them and actually gasped out loud. I cried. And this story gave me the chills. With tricky riddles, life and death situations, and huge risks, this story felt larger then life. But there were also quieter moments that resonated with my soul. Every part of this story was a favorite to me.

“It’s you I love,” he says. “I spent much of my life guarding my heart. I guarded it so well that I could behave as though I didn’t have one at all. Even now, it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. But it is yours.” He walks to the door to the royal chambers, as though to end the conversation. “You probably guessed as much,” he says. “But just in case you didn’t.”

With twists and turns, The Queen of Nothing held me in the palm of her hand. With a HEA for those we love and a HFN for others I’ve come to care for, I absolutely loved this book. Trust came to be. And caring did too. Two words that seemed to not exist between Jude and Cardan back in the beginning of their story. And those letters at the end?! Oh my. They were everything and ended their story beautifully!

BOOK REVIEW: The Last Graduate (The Scholomance #2) by Naomi Novik

February 10, 2022 / Chelsea / 2 Comments

The Last Graduate (The Scholomance #2)
by Naomi Novik
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
A budding dark sorceress determined not to use her formidable powers uncovers yet more secrets about the workings of her world in the stunning sequel to A Deadly Education, the start of Naomi Novik's groundbreaking crossover series.

At the Scholomance, El, Orion, and the other students are faced with their final year--and the looming specter of graduation, a deadly ritual that leaves few students alive in its wake. El is determined that her chosen group will survive, but it is a prospect that is looking harder by the day as the savagery of the school ramps up. Until El realizes that sometimes winning the game means throwing out all the rules . . .

Praise for A Deadly Education

"The scholomance is the dark school of magic I've been waiting for, and its wise, witty, and monstrous heroine is one I'd happily follow anywhere--even into a school full of monsters."--Katherine Arden, New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale

"Novik deliciously undoes expectations about magic schools, destined heroes, and family legacies. A gorgeous book about monsters and monstrousness, chockablock with action, cleverness, and wit."--#1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black

"A must-read . . . Novik puts a refreshingly dark, adult spin on the magical boarding school. . . . Readers will delight in the push-and-pull of El and Orion's relationship, the fantastically detailed world, the clever magic system, and the matter-of-fact diversity of the student body."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

I had friends. Which felt even more unreal than surviving long enough to become a senior, and I owed that, I owed every last bit of it, to Orion Lake, and I didn’t care, actually, what the price tag was going to be. There’d be one, no question. Mum hadn’t warned me for no reason. But I didn’t care. I’d pay it back, whatever it was.

Did I want to immediately jump on here and write a review rather than dive into my next October Spooky Read? No. Did I want to think about this book all day at work and while doing mundane things around my house? No. Did I want to be so out of breath, so insanely drunk on adrenaline and the nerve-wracking peril butterflies borne from pain and panic, thus causing me to stay up all night in a crescendo of feels so inevitably dark, alluring and cataclysmic that I couldn’t help but re-read the same devastatingly amazing scene over and over again until there were undeniable bags under my eyes today? I mean…yes. Yes. Yes to all of this-I totally lied. I am a monster and my monster has been fed THUSLY.

You could ask people to be brave, you could ask them to be kind, you could ask them to care, you could ask them to help; you could ask them for a thousand hard and painful things. But not when it was so obviously useless. You couldn’t ask someone to deliberately trade themselves away completely, everything they had and might ever be, just to give you a chance, when in the end—and the gates were the end, the very end of things—you knew you weren’t any more special than they were. It wasn’t even heroism; it was just a bad equation that didn’t balance.

This is a review that didn’t allow me to start another book, that didn’t allow me to catch up on another review I’m behind on, that didn’t allow me proper sleep even tonight, because the thoughts and emotions and utter helplessness that comes from such an amazing end of a book cannot and will not be contained inside this masochistic cranium of mine. I am bent. I am broken. And I LIVE for the mind-numbingly chaotic chaos that is YA fantasy when done correctly.

Either they’ll tell you to do what you want to do anyway, in which case you didn’t need their advice, or they’ll tell you to do the opposite, in which case you’ll have to choose between sullenly following their advice, like a little kid who has been forced to brush her teeth and go to bed at a reasonable hour, or ignoring it and grimly carrying on, all the while knowing that your course of action is guaranteed to lead you straight to pain and dismay.
If you’re wondering which of those two options I picked, then you must not know me, as pain and dismay were obviously my destination.

And make no mistake, this was done right. It was done well. It was evil, cruel, so satisfyingly macabre that I can’t help but sound like a demon as all I have talked about is my withering sanity that surely went south with this weirdly perfect masterpiece of a series (thus far). Naomi Novik is no novice in writing fantasy-Uprooted remains one of the most surprising favorites of my past to this day. So when I saw she was going a possessed school type route (what even is the Scholomance if not a school that lives and breathes as its own entity?), I was all in.

The Scholomance isn’t exactly a living thing, but it isn’t exactly not, either.

If she won me over with, like, random tree monsters and other such nonsense (I hate this type of nonsense, weirdly), then surely one of my favorite types of tropes ever could be written to utter godly heights by this woman.

Naturally as soon as he dared think about what he might want, surely that made him a monster. But as someone who’s been told she’s a monster from almost all corners from quite early on, I know perfectly well the only sensible thing to do when self-doubt creeps into your own head is to repress it with great violence.

I’ll admit the first book shocked me. I knew Novik was an odd writer, for me anyway, but this was….beyond absurd. Weirdly wonderful. And, beyond that absurdity of absurdness I’ve yet to explain, the wordiness is enough to scare anyone off. I used to hate that type of writing, so how Uprooted got through my crusty barriers years ago is beyond me. Don’t get me wrong-I’m all for it now-but I used to not be able to stand it. POINT BEING, this series is so beyond wordy that I’m shocked that so many people got past this book to get to that juicy last chunk of the book. I will admit, even to myself, the beginning was a bit of a chore.

“Sure,” Orion said blithely, and I didn’t literally gnash my teeth because no one does, do they, but I felt as if I were gnashing my teeth. With no justification in the slightest.

I try harder than most-I rarely DNF a book-but I had to push. Look, I am one who really reallyyyy loves those smidgens of romance. One might say they are my driving force. But, when the romance isn’t necessarily…blossoming…I expect other things to keep me occupied. In book one, we got a lot of Orion, but it’s not like he was the star of the show-clearly we are in snarky Galadriel’s head forever and always and it’s an endless rant much like what goes on in my head 24/7, thus why I love her so hard. I swear-the bitchiness is unparalleled. But we got…lots of action. There were so many things that happened with so many different people in so many different areas that it was just so alluring. So gripping. And that ’we’re not dating but are really dating’ storyline remains one of my newest favorite non tropes. In this one, I felt it was a lot of being in her head, and lots of hanging with her friends doing the same-ish things.

I don’t know that I’d have bent my neck the way she did, apologizing to me and even asking to be friends after I bit her head off. I’m not sorry for doing the biting, I had more than enough cause, but I still don’t know that I’d have had the grace.
Oh, who am I lying to? My supply of grace wouldn’t overflow an acorn cap.

Now, okay, I was super sick for book one and lots of book two-I admit I completely scrapped this read when I got to about halfway and there was some serious feels that should have been felt that I most definitely didn’t feel and I knew I was checked out and couldn’t focus-I re read all the first half of the book when I began to feel better and I am SO GLAD I did. The second time around was so much more rewarding-but it still didn’t feel like we got a lot of what I wanted for much of the book.

I’m not some sort of pallid romantic who insists on being loved for my shining inner being. My inner being is exceptionally cranky and I often don’t want her company myself…

Well. Ha ha Novik says, because this book kicked it into overdrive and it never really stopped. The Last Graduate did not go in any direction I would have imagined it to go, and I can’t say I didn’t want things to perhaps follow the school vibes of A Deadly Education a little more similarly but, in the end, I loved how the path the author took showed the journey of El and how she really is a snarky, rude soul that could stand to be nicer to my poor Orion, but what her true self looked like on the inside-who she really was and how she really was deep down-she had more depth in character and personality than perhaps anyone there. It was a very peculiar journey…but I see why the author did it. There was no other way, really, to show just how much El had progressed and changed from the beginning of book one when she was just a miserable outcast who would have blasted pretty much anyone out of the way to secure her place at freedom during graduation to the self-sacrificing martyr anyone would be shocked to see today.

Mum would only warn me off something bad, not something painful. So obviously Orion was the most brilliant maleficer ever, concealing his vile plans by saving the lives of everyone over and over just so he could, I don’t know, kill them himself later on? Or maybe Mum was worried that he was so annoying that he’d drive me to become the most brilliant maleficer ever, which was probably more plausible, since that’s supposedly my own doom anyway.

Much of the book is spent with El and her allies, which was cute, but I’m all for when we began to mingle more as a larger group, more for when Orion got to come out of his shell and we got to actually see some more depth from him, as well. We knew El was deep-but this whole series we were told time and again all Orion knew was fighting mals and that he’d sooner set up a date mal hunting for mana than hanging with friends his age or even show interest in a girl.

“They’re freaked out over Orion.”
“After you’ve only been dating two months?” Liu said.
“We’re not dating!”
Aadhya made a dramatic show of rolling her eyes heavenwards. “After you’ve been doing whatever you’re doing that is not dating but totally looks like dating to everyone else, for only two months.”

And that goes back to what my friend said when she told me I needed to read it: Orion has a hero complex, but it’s so much deeper than that-and, although I didn’t think we’d see it at all in this series seeing as how he is talked and alluded to-we finally got a glimpse into his tortured soul. YES. You heard me right- We have a bonafide tortured hero, here , and damn if I didn’t have to work for it, but I unearthed him and he has a permanent place in my heart. He was an adorable cinnamon roll, sure, but now he is…he’s just…he’s more. And I suppose that goes without saying, doesn’t it, as Novik doesn’t really write one-dimensional worlds or characters. But, I’ll admit, I thought she was going for intentionally flighty here, and I’m so so so glad she cracked open the shell that is Orion Lake and proved my assumption wrong (It only took two whole books but okay).

At least they had certainly stopped worrying about doing any killing of their own. Even Orion had got over being enraged and was just standing gawking at me—in an infuriatingly starry-eyed way, in his case, demonstrating his continuing total lack of judgment and sense.

El is a wonderfully diverse character who says it like it is-she’s selfish, she knows what she has to do to survive, and not much stands in her way as far as distractions go. But what happens when you make friends, find a guy you [won’t admit it but we all know it] would take a bullet (or a mal) for, and see that things just aren’t right, that you can do more. What then? We get to see what humanity means to El when she’s really backed into a corner, when she sees the school isn’t going to settle for one of the most powerful students in history just coasting through and graduating like a ’normal’ person. And that’s where we get to see the El we knew was hiding all along. She did a good job pretending she didn’t care, acting blasé at the most horrendous things…but in each rude remark, each turn of phrase, each knee to Orion’s groin, we saw through it (or at least I did) and, in the end, the school got to see the true El, too.

And yeah, hey, speaking of that before I go, she is just so mean to Orion. I love it, I always did, especially in book one, but wow my heart cringed for the poor guy. Dude’s obviously obsessed with her and she can’t help but glare and put him off at each and every turn-when, clearly, she is just as obsessed with him as he is her. Honestly, if I didn’t say it before (I did), her inner monologues about him were enough to power me through my day. The simple way she’d glare at him if he wanted to run off and hunt mals, how she lectured him to do his homework, how she would glare and coolly dismiss him with a British flair of iciness to make it clear he wasn’t getting to anybase was the much needed dark humor that fanned the flames of their weird passionate non-relationship and, at the end of it all, it paid off so spectacularly that the wind was stolen right from my lungs, my knees taken out from underneath me, and the floor disappeared out of seemingly nowhere. That’s exactly what epic is, in case you were wondering.

…and then the bastard looked down at me with his entire heart crammed into his eyes and his face and said, barely a whisper, “Galadriel.”

All in all I did love book one more, just because I’m a book one kinda gal, mostly. They almost always speak to me in unsung ways that are unable to be fulfilled once my heart is full of those puppy love moments, the first dregs of death and destruction, the way the battlefield is set and the story could literally go anywhere from that moment. Second books rarely stand a chance with me, to be honest. But, I’ve found second books have a great little weapon in their arsenal: The end. Book one may be the strongest nine times out of ten, but the second book in a series generally packs a punch so agonizing that book three can’t come soon enough. Alas, that generally leads to a wimpy book three…but I’d like to think Novik is better than that, better than such mortal worries-but I guess we’ll see, won’t we?

******

Ohmighod I just…I can’t….I want…

Omifuckinggodthiswassogoodsofuckingepicccc

RTC

BOOK REVIEW: The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2) by Holly Black

February 9, 2022 / Jen / 4 Comments

The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2)
by Holly Black
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince.

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.
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Review:

It seems hopeless to fight something so vast. It seems ridiculous to believe we can win.

Traps are set, plays are made and so much is shrouded in shadows. The Wicked King was a fabulous follow up to The Cruel Prince and I couldn’t put this book down! I would feel giddy one moment and terrified the next, I was constantly left reeling with my thoughts and emotions. With traitors, tricks and betrayal cutting deep into the pages, this book was a fabulous addition to this series!

“For a moment,” he says, “I wondered if it wasn’t you shooting bolts at me.”
I make a face at him. “And what made you decide it wasn’t?”
He grins up at me. “They missed.”

Jude had to use blood, sweat and tears to survive in the world of Fairy. So of course I loved the fight and fire within her! She went on so many times when others wouldn’t. But at the same point, she had her limits. So I was cheering her on when she would take a stand against Cardan and the others, I loved that she refused to be controlled. But I also loved that Jude was smart and cunning. As she slowly started putting pieces of the puzzle together, I was terrified what would become of her. Because even when the odds were against her, she was brave, true to herself and fought like a warrior! She did not back down. In some situations, she had to play along with their deadly games just to survive. And my heart felt like it was cute open and bleeding for her. I just wanted her to have allies. But most of all, I wanted that allie to be Cardan. Yet I never truly knew where he stood.

Our eyes meet, and something dangerous sparks.
He hates you, I remind myself.
“Kiss me again,” he says, drunk and foolish. “Kiss me until I am sick of it.”

Months later of Cardan being High King, he still tried to hurt Jude with his words. With partying and not seeming to take his job seriously, he could be such a little shit. But at the same point, he wasn’t. So while I didn’t always understand the meaning behind his actions, many of them still made my heart happy. Like when he would stand up to someone for Jude, or put someone in their place or even when he was training and learning tricks from the Roach. Because so much of Cardan seemed like a facade. And underneath it we saw that he could be sensible and logical. We saw that he could be loyal. So some of his sacrifices brought me to tears. He slowly grew into someone that I not only loved but respected. And I didn’t think respect and Cardan would ever go together after how he was in The Cruel Prince. But regardless of whether Jude wanted to acknowledge it or not, Cardan always seemed to be thinking about her.

I hate you,” I whisper before he can speak.
He tilts my face to his.
“Say it again,” he says as the imps comb my hair and place the ugly, stinking crown on my head. His voice is low. The words are for me alone.

So many times when Jude and Cardan were together, they made me smile, laugh and feel giddy. Yes they both tricked the other. But it was almost the nature of their relationship at this point in their story. And while he did try and help, Jude was overcautious. In Fairy words could always be seen in another light, and so much could not be trusted. But as the story unfolded, so did their relationship. Things changed. Even when he spoke to her, it felt as though each word was coated with so much emotion. He had her and my full attention. And I loved their moments together. Their stolen kisses. Their ability to try and build trust. Even though they still stood on such shaky ground. But underneath it all, they had a common enemy. The Queen of the Undersea who was a threat to the both of them. And I held my breath over what would come of it.

“You can take a thing when no one’s looking. But defending it, even with all the advantage on your side, is no easy task,” Madoc told her with a laugh. She looked up to find him offering her a hand. “Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to.”

Something else continued to pull at my heart, and that was Jude’s relationship with her twin, Taryn and her surrogate father, Madoc. I wanted to find redemption with Taryn, but it was so hard to unearth. From the very beginning of this series I was leery of her, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Jude and Taryn can mend their tattered relationship. And Madoc?! He treats Jude as his own. He took care of her even though he murdered her parents. And he didn’t have to raise her or treat her how he did. Yet he did. And I feel messed up respecting how protective he could be and how much he cared for Jude, but I couldn’t help how my heart felt. Because while Madoc was such a grey soul, I still cared for him. Call me crazy, because I know that Madoc had evil in him, yet I couldn’t bring myself to hate him. I desperately wanted to find every single drop of goodness in him that I could.

I keep thinking of the steady way he looked at me when we were both naked, before he pulled on his shirt and fastened those elegant cuffs. We should have called truce, he’d said, brushing back his ink-black hair impatiently. We should have called truce long before this.
But neither of us called it, not then, not after.

Traitors, liars and cheats…there were so many that I hated within these pages. But with Cardan and Jude, my heart beat strong for the two of them. And with the requests that seemed impossible, the debts that were called, and all of the political intrigue, it made this book impossible to put down! The Wicked King definitely did not suffer from middle book syndrome and I can’t recommend this series enough!

Our eyes meet, and the odd smile on his face is clearly meant for me. I remember what it was to hate him with the whole of my heart, but I’ve remembered too late.

PS I want the Bomb and the Roach together please!

BOOK REVIEW: My Song’s Curse (Duet of the Gods #1) by Poppy Minnix

February 8, 2022 / Jen / 4 Comments

My Song's Curse (Duet of the Gods #1)
by Poppy Minnix
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Ultimate control has its downside, especially when it comes to romance. But will it be enough to keep them together?

As a siren Lula Aglaope can bend anyone to her will with the smallest whisper, but she’d give up her power for one meaningful, honest conversation.

She wants a normal life, like the open, true connections the humans seem to pull off with such little effort.

When she meets Alexiares, God of Warding off Wars, all thoughts of normalcy fly out the window. The beautiful demigod cannot be controlled! He’s frustrating, irresistible...and utterly off-limits.

Alex has watched Olympus slowly fall apart. The old gods continue their archaic control of the Universe, denying the progress of humans and other deities. But Alex has plans to repair the damage, and Lula is a major player.

She just doesn’t know it yet.

Falling for her is the worst idea. And just when things move in the right direction, danger arises that no one expects, plunging the sirens into the deadly Olympian spotlight.

With Lula’s sisters missing, and a pile of broken laws surrounding them, will Alex and Lula change the Universe for the better or destroy it?

If you like Kevin Hearne, Molly Harper, and Shannon Mayer, you’ll love this fun paranormal romance steeped in mythology!

Review:

My Songs Curse was seductive, intoxicating and I was obsessed from just that first page. This was a forbidden love story that wove mythology, friendship and love throughout the pages, and I loved every minute of it. If you enjoy paranormal or adult romance, then you definitely need this book in your life!

Each of us has experienced the same.
Just a taste. I scratch at the tightness below my throat

Lula lived such a lonely life. She couldn’t be around humans for long, without them changing or ruining themselves. And with her siren sisters scattered across the globe, she was entirely alone. That was until she met Alex. Alex, aka Alexiares, was a demigod from Olympus. He was the son of Hercules and grandson of Zeus, king of Olympus. He seemed to appear in Lula’s life out of nowhere. Yet there were things already in motion. So as we watched the story unfold, through both of their eyes, we got taken on a journey that was mesmerizing.

I cover my hot face with both hands. I don’t want this. The control I possess hangs its heavy weight around my neck, threatening to strangle, and I can’t shrug it off and walk away.

I loved Lula, she was resilient, strong, brave and kind. But she was so lonely. So when Alex walked into her life, everything changed. Being able to have a conversation and kiss someone of their own free will was beyond unique to her. In her 182 years of living, that had never happened. Because when she was around the humans, even a word or laugh from her lips consumed and twisted them. With Alex, she could just be. Yet, them being together was completely forbidden and Lula was unaware of the plans he had for her.

“Godsdammit, Lula, you’re my perfect torture,” he says, breathless.

Alex was sigh and book boyfriend worthy. He was determined, astute, seductive and charming. With being a demigod, so much had been handed to him. Yet Lula was unlike others in Olympus. She didn’t bow down to him and she treated him like an equal. And she not only challenged him but enticed him too. Meeting Lula face to face was not part of his plan, at the moment. Yes he had been watching her, but so much was at stake and in play. Yet from the first moment he spoke to Lula, there was no way he could walk away.

There is only this moment. May it last for eternity.

Alex and Lula together were exhilarating. There was so much chemistry between them, that even them making food together felt seductive. But they were forbidden. A siren was not supposed to be with a demigod. And anything more then a kiss could be catastrophic. I loved that they couldn’t not touch the other, and as the story progressed their moments together were sizzling sexy *fans face*. But there was so much more going on. There was political intrigue, plots about Olympus, a missing siren and so much unknown. With friendship, laughter and loyalty laced throughout the pages, this book was so much fun!

“I want to experience every inch of you more than anything. Every mysterious thought, every blush, every eye-roll. I’m choosing you.”
My mouth opens even though I haven’t a clue what to say, but speech is impossible anyway because he closes the distance and captures my lips.

My Songs Curse was a forbidden love story that was mesmerizing. The story-line captured my heart and I always had to know what happened next. And with side characters who felt larger then life, I heart Comus and Rath!, this story was so well rounded out. The ending left us at the perfect place. Yes there was still lots up in the air, but we were left beyond happy and at a perfect resting spot. I enjoyed this story so much, and Minix has definitely created a fan for life!

*I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book, provided by the author. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*