Saturday, April 27, 2024

Week 17 Review: The Isles of the Gods

From Goodreads:
When Selly's father leaves her high and dry in the port of Kirkpool, she has no intention of riding out the winter on land while he sails to adventure in the north seas. But any plans to follow him are dashed when a handsome stranger with tell-tale magician's marks on his arm boards her ship, presenting her and the crew with a dangerous mission: to cross the Crescent Sea without detection so he can complete a ritual on the sacred Isles of the Gods. What starts as a leisure cruise will lead to acts of treason and sheer terror on the high seas, bringing two countries to the brink of war, two strangers closer than they ever thought possible and stirring two dangerous gods from centuries of slumber...

My Review:


Author: Amie Kaufman 
Series: The Isles of the Gods #1
Read: April 26th, 2024 
Source: Bought 
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really great, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2024 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published: May 2nd 2023
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars

Week 17 Review: Tempt Her

From Goodreads:
Behind every good woman are three men ready to tempt her.

I've snapped the necks of evil men already — but there's one I never got to, and he took the most from me. So when a blonde beauty queen opens the door with tears in her eyes, heads are gonna roll. But I have my orders. I'm just here to paint the walls, not save a snobby seductress from a cruel man. Except my men have other plans…With Luke and Mateo's blood rushing south, I'm the only one thinking clearly. Getting involved with a senator's wife would screw us all sideways. 

Ain't it my luck…that's exactly what they want. Although they know how to tempt me, loss is the only truth I know — and for years, Luke and Mateo have been the one good thing in my life, and my bed. But this woman isn't just looking for romance; she wants revenge. And you can resist Stacey Evans like you can resist gravity. You’ll fall for her no matter what. From the "Queen of Spice," author Kelly Finley, comes an all-new steamy standalone that will burn your cheeks and pages. Tempt Her is a multi-POV, why choose, revenge romance with a HEA all will crave. For a full list of tropes, tags and CWs, see the author's website.

My Review:


Author: Kelly Finley 
Read: April 26th, 2024
Source: Ebook.bike 
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2024 Book! 
Publisher: Kelly Finley Books 
Published: June 24th 2023
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars

Week 17 Review: All for Him

From Goodreads:
Silas Van de May —

You know the fairytale where the princess leaves her glass slipper behind?
This version is tragic; the details are darker.
It was a clunky shoe and her demon was real.
And I'm the forbidden prince who ran after her, but I never found my wounded princess.

It’s been years and now I've got billions. I'm the heir to a southern fortune. I'm supposed to be a rich bastard, a sexy scoundrel, and sow my wild oats… and y'all… I have.

None of it means anything. I want true love. The kind of love that owns your heart, like the memory of that girl with her shoe still grips mine.

Eily Dove —

Like a little klutzy, cursing princess, I fell into his world.
Like a fairytale, he finally found me.
Like a curse, we can't be together.

To be with a shocking, tempting prince like Silas? To join his scandalous, forbidden world and everyone he loves? He thinks I'm too innocent. I am. But I want to lose everything to him, maybe even my lonely life.

Because I’m tired of being the good princess.

I'm ready to be all his.

My Review:


Author: Kelly Finley 
Read: April 26th, 2024
Source: Ebook.bike 
Reason Why: Love her writing, and it's a SAC 2024 Book! 
Publisher: Kelly Finley Books
Published: April 4th 2023
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars

Week 17 Reviews: Sovereign Sacrifice, Crystal Caged



From Goodreads:
Vi was supposed to be the perfect crown princess. Then, she abandoned her throne.
Vi was supposed to save the world as its Champion. Then, the world she loved vanished.

Now, all she knows is that she has deadly magic and brutal cunning and she's ready to settle some scores.

Old loves and new allies tell her to play it safe. But Vi is done with caution. She has a chance to right ancient wrongs and this princess-turned-warrior isn't turning back.

She's ready to bring an end to the vortex of death the world is trapped in.

The magic, romance, and epic adventure continue in book four of Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles.

From Goodreads:
The highly anticipated and breathtaking finale of Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles by USA Today bestselling author Elise Kova.

One way or another... she will be the end of the world.

With powers that weren't supposed to be touched by mortal hands, Vi Solaris is determined to free herself and the world from the deadly vortex it's trapped in. This mission has taken her to forbidden lands and has transformed her from a sheltered princess to a fearsome warrior.

But the ultimate triumph requires the ultimate sacrifice, forcing Vi to choose between the last tethers to her humanity and the very people she's sworn to protect.

Vi's story of magic, sacrifice, triumph, and love reaches its epic conclusion in Crystal Caged. 

My Review:


Author: Elise Kova 
Series: Vortex Chronicles #4, 5
Read: April 26th, 26th, 2024
Source: Bought 
Reason Why: Love her writing and this series, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2024 Books, and Crystal Caged is a End of Series 2024 Book! 
Publisher: Silver Wing Press
Published: October 15th 2019, March 14th 2020

Sovereign Sacrifice:
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








Crystal Caged: 
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars

Week 17 Review: A Sorceress Comes to Call

From Goodreads:
A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic

Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn't have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.

After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia's mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada's sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia's mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.

Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.

My Review:


Author: T. Kingfisher 
Read: April 25th, 2024 
Source: NetGalley 
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2024 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Tor Books 
Expected Publication: August 6th 2024
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars

Week 17 Review: Fate Be Changed

From Goodreads:
What if the witch gave Merida a different spell?

If you could change your fate, would you? Merida understands that as princess of Clan DunBroch, she has certain obligations—but that doesn't mean she has to like it. Especially when one of those obligations means losing her freedom by becoming betrothed to a man she has never met. Merida balks at this tradition, but her mother Queen Elinor insists that Merida must do this to embrace her role as future queen.

Determined to chart her own path, Merida follows magical wisps to a witch's cottage, where she is given a magic pastry and promised it will incite "a great transformation" in her mother. But instead of feeding Elinor the pastry, Merida eats it herself.

Merida awakens in the past, a now-teenage Elinor holding a knife to her throat and accusing her of espionage. She's been transported to a time when the Clans MacCameron and DunBroch are bitter enemies. And it just so happens that the timing of Merida's arrival has kept Elinor and Fergus from meeting.

Will Merida be able to bridge the rival clans, help her parents fall in love, and change her own fate?

My Review:


Author: Farrah Rochon
Series: A Twisted Tale #17 
Read: April 25th, 2024
Source: Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Love his series and it's a 2024 Retelling Reading Challenge Book, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2024 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Published: April 2nd 2024
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars

Week 17 Review: Song of the Six Realms

From Goodreads:
Judy I. Lin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Magic Steeped in Poison, weaves a dreamy gothic romance worthy of the heavens in Song of the Six Realms.

Xue, a talented young musician, has no past and probably no future. Orphaned at a young age, her kindly poet uncle took her in and arranged for an apprenticeship at one of the most esteemed entertainment houses in the kingdom. She doesn't remember much from before entering the House of Flowing Water, and when her uncle is suddenly killed in a bandit attack, she is devastated to lose her last connection to a life outside of her indenture contract.

With no family and no patron, Xue is facing the possibility of a lifetime of servitude playing the qin for nobles that praise her talent with one breath and sneer at her lowly social status with the next. Then one night she is unexpectedly called to the garden to put on a private performance for the enigmatic Duke Meng. The young man is strangely kind and awkward for nobility, and surprises Xue further with an irresistible offer: serve as a musician in residence at his manor for one year, and he'll set her free of her indenture.

But the Duke’s motives become increasingly more suspect when he and Xue barely survive an attack by a nightmarish monster, and when he whisks her away to his estate, she discovers he's not just some country noble: He's the Duke of Dreams, one of the divine rulers of the Celestial Realm. There she learns the Six Realms are on the brink of disaster, and incursions by demonic beasts are growing more frequent.

The Duke needs Xue's help to unlock memories from her past that could hold the answers to how to stop the impending war… but first Xue will need to survive being the target of every monster and deity in the Six Realms.

My Review:


Author: Judy I. Lin
Read: April 25th, 2024
Source: Bought 
Reason Why: Love her writing, and it's a SAC 2024 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Published: April 23rd 2024
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars

Week 17 Review: Lakesedge

From Goodreads:
A gothic fantasy about monsters and magic, set on the banks of a cursed lake. There are monsters in the world. When Violeta Graceling arrives at haunted Lakesedge estate, she expects to find a monster. She knows the terrifying rumors about Rowan Sylvanan, who drowned his entire family when he was a boy. But neither the estate nor the monster are what they seem. There are monsters in the woods. As Leta falls for Rowan, she discovers he is bound to the Lord Under, the sinister death god lurking in the black waters of the lake. A creature to whom Leta is inexplicably drawn… There's a monster in the shadows, and now it knows my name. Now, to save Rowan—and herself—Leta must confront the darkness in her past, including unraveling the mystery of her connection to the Lord Under.

My Review:


Author: Lyndall Clipstone 
Series: World at the Lake's Edge #1
Read: April 24th, 2024
Source: Bought 
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounds really great, and it's a DAC Book and a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2024 Book! 
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Published: September 28th 2021
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars

Week 17 Review: The Confidence Games

From Goodreads:
Two female con artists must pull off the ultimate heist in this rollicking caper from a dazzling new voice. Emma Oxley and Nellie Yarrow have been inseparable their whole lives. Ever since they reinvented themselves, changing their names and wiping clean their digital footprints, they have made a game of following wherever the next adventure leads and challenging themselves to thefts, street cons, and mind games. 

Adhering to only two rules—they will only swindle men, and only ones who deserve it—Emma and Nellie are secure in their reputation as the most trustworthy swindlers on the European black market. Until suddenly, they must play to save their own lives. Blackmailed into stealing a priceless bracelet from a high-security exhibit, Emma will re-examine everything she believed to be true. This heist takes her far beyond her comfort zone...and she and Nellie will need allies among the glitzy bejeweled gathering in London in order to survive. Will they be able to do the right thing before it's too late?

My Review:


Author: Tess Amy
Read: April 24th, 2024
Source: NetGalley 
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and it's a DAC Book, SAC 2024 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Berkley 
Expected Publication: July 9th 2024
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars

Week 17 Reviews: Rhapsodic, A Strange Hymn


Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past. For the last seven years she's been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she's received. Only death or repayment will fulfill the obligations. Only then will the beads disappear.

Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer to make it happen. He's a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects.

But for one of his clients, he's never asked for repayment. Not until now. When Callie finds the fae king of the night in her room, a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, she knows things are about to change. At first it’s just a chaste kiss—a single bead's worth—and a promise for more.

For the Bargainer, it's more than just a matter of rekindling an old romance. Something is happening in the Otherworld. Fae warriors are going missing one by one. Only the women are returned, each in a glass casket, a child clutched to their breast. And then there are the whispers among the slaves, whispers of an evil that’s been awoken.

If the Bargainer has any hope to save his people, he'll need the help of the siren he spurned long ago. Only, his foe has a taste for exotic creatures, and Callie just happens to be one.

Siren and soulmate to the King of Night, Callypso Lillis survived the clutches of Karnon, the mad king, and his twisted prison. But the nightmare isn't over. Callie wears the physical reminders of her time as a captive, and mounting evidence suggests the Thief of Souls is still out there.

When a fae celebration thrusts Callie and her mate, Desmond Flynn, into the Kingdom of Flora, they take their investigation with them. But under the bright lights and striking blooms of the realm, they find there are more immediate issues to deal with. No place is more uniquely savage than the great fae halls, and no amount of bargains can save Callie from royal intrigues.

Fairies play dangerous games. Some want love, some want vengeance, some want flesh, and some want things too unspeakable to utter. One thing is for sure: no one is who they appear to be. Not even Des, who only grows more enigmatic with every passing secret.

But the Kingdom of Flora has its own secrets, from bleeding trees to branded slaves and missing guards. Something is stirring in the land of all that grows, and if Callie isn't careful, it will claim everything and everyone she loves—and her along with it.

My first review of Rhapsodic, A Strange Hymn
My Review:


Author: Laura Thalassa
Series: The Bargainer #1, 2
Read: February 23rd, 24th, 2022
Read: April 24th, 24th, 2024
Source: Bought/Audible
Reason Why: Rereading, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2024 Books!
Publisher: Bloom Books
Published: November 15th 2016, May 26th 2017

Rhapsodic:
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








A Strange Hymn:
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars







Week 17 Review: My Killer Vacation

From Goodreads:
It was supposed to be a relaxing vacation in sweet, sunny Cape Cod—just me and my beloved brother—but discovering a corpse in our rental house really throws a wrench into our tanning schedule. Now a rude, crude bounty hunter has arrived on the back of his motorcycle to catch the killer and refuses to believe I can be helpful, despite countless hours of true crime podcast listening. Not to mention a fulfilling teaching career of wrangling second graders.

A brash bounty hunter and an energetic elementary schoolteacher: the murder-solving team no one asked for, but thanks to these pesky attempts on my life, we're stuck together, come hell or high tide.

I'm just here to do a job, not babysit an amateur sleuth. Although… it is becoming less and less of a hardship to have her around. Sure, she's stubborn, distracting and can't stay out of harm's way. She's also brave and beautiful and reminds me of the home I left behind three years ago. In other words, the painful hunger and protectiveness she is waking up in me is a threat to my peace of mind. Before I sink any deeper into this dangerous attraction, I need to solve this murder and get back on the road. But will fate take her from me before I realize the road has been leading to her all along?

My Review:


Author: Tessa Bailey 
Read: April 23rd, 2024
Source: Ebook.bike 
Reason Why: I enjoy her writing, and it's a SAC 2024 Book! 
Publisher: Avon Books
Published: June 6th 2022
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars