fairy tales

Mountains Made of Glass…..and something else too

by Stefani

Mountains Made of Glass by Scarlett St. Clair

Published: March 7, 2023 by Sourcebooks Bloom Books

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

“Could you love me?” he whispered. The question stole my breath and burned my lungs in the silence that followed.

I wanted to answer, to whisper yes into the space between us, but I was afraid.

All Gesela’s life, her home village of Elk has been cursed. And it isn’t a single curse—it is one after another, each to be broken by a villager, each with devastating consequences. When Elk’s well goes dry, it is Gesela’s turn to save her town by killing the toad that lives at the bottom. Except… the toad is not a toad at all. He is an Elven prince under a curse of his own, and upon his death, his brothers come for Gesela, seeking retribution.

As punishment, the princes banish Gesela to live with their seventh brother, the one they call the beast. Gesela expects to be the prisoner of a hideous monster, but the beast turns out to be exquisitely beautiful, and rather than lock her in a cell, he offers Gesela a deal. If she can guess his true name in seven days, she can go free.

Gesela agrees, but there is a hidden catch—she must speak his name with love in order to free him, too.

But can either of them learn to love in time?

Rating:

Review:

This littler novella was a lot of fun and a good use of my time overall. There were a lot of things about it that I really loved. The incorporation of several different fairy tales was a nice touch and she weaved them together quite well. The entire thing also has an atmosphere surrounding it that’s creepy, dark, foreboding and very menacing. I felt that was all very true to the fairy tales that she was drawing inspiration from, a lot of them have a similar tone.

The characters were also well done. Gesela is a woman of the village that produced her. She has watched countless of her fellow villages experience horrific consequences of being forced to break a curse. She recounts people who were carried away by monsters, others who were turned into monsters, still others who ended up being enchanted to do things like eat themselves to death. But, the villagers must keep breaking the curses, because otherwise the entire town will be doomed. It’s a sacrifice for the good of the many. Except now it’s her turn.

Fairly soon the book because….well, quite raunchy. I am not opposed to some good smut but I didn’t expect it in such a short novella. We didn’t have much time. In fact, that is one of my biggest complaints about this book. The entire middle is just sex. Lots and lots of sex. Very creative sex. Intense sex. Passionate sex. Angry sex. Under a spell sex. These two characters pretty much screw themselves into falling in love. The rest of the plot fell to the wayside because those two were too busy…well, you get the idea.

The ending felt rushed, probably because we spent so much time on sex. Err, falling in love. That was supposed to be the point after all. In the end I was left slightly disappointed. The world and the plot had so many wonderful things about it. There was so much richness and horror left to be explored. And then it was over and we didn’t get to explore it because it was all about the sex. A disappointing journey overall, but I would definitely read this author again.

Our Vengeful Souls: A Magical Mermaid’s Tale of Love and Revenge

by Stefani

Our Vengeful Souls by Kristi McManus

Published: June 6, 2023 by CamCat Books

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

When magical mermaid Sereia saves her little sister and overshadows brother and rightful heir, Triton, the position of next ruler of the sea is in question. Determined to keep his throne, Triton curses Sereia, transforming her into a human and stripping her of magic. Banishing her from their underwater kingdom, he gives her a final warning: if you should ever return, you will become a monster.

Left for dead, Sereia washes up on the shores of Atlantis, discovered by a kind merchant with a tragic past. Patient and charming, he helps her build a life on land, leaving her realizing that everything she was taught about humans may have been wrong. But legends are powerful forces, and mermaids are burned for their magic by humans who fear their power. Sereia is forced to keep her true identity a secret, even as her feelings for her savior deepen.

Channeling her skill with a blade, she finds a place within the ranks of the Atlantean army, finally giving her the chance to become the respected warrior she always desired. During her training, however, she discovers the legend of a trident of equal power to her father’s exists, and is within her grasp in Atlantis. With a way back to the sea in her grasp, she wavers between the pull of revenge and the possibility of love on land, all under the hateful eye of a vengeful enemy within her ranks. But when the fate of a friend is in the balance, she must make the hardest decision of all: be burned at the stake as a witch, or turn into a monster should she return to the sea.

Rating:

Review:

This book was spectacular! There is no other word for it. It felt magical. The words came to life, the world and characters came to life. From the first word, I was hooked. Sereia is a great character. She has always felt lesser than her brother. She has skill with fighting but only useful to her father as a sparing partner for Triton. She has skill with magic but it’s never respected. She has more of a head and disposition for leadership, but she’s female so it doesn’t matter. She has spent her entire life feeling overlooked. And then her sister goes missing. When they find her, Sereia gets the unexpected opportunity to step in where her brother failed and save their sister. She can prove to her father that she’s better than him. And she does. Her father starts to reconsider Triton as his heir, and Triton doesn’t like it.

That’s where the story really kicks off. This was a difficult story to write, I am sure of that. The author is trying to weave elements of The Little Mermaid fairytale, Greek Poseidon mythology, and Atlantis mythology all into one book. There are countless ways that she could have failed, but she didn’t. She wove all of those threads together seamlessly. The stories are so blended that they make perfect sense and it feels as though they were all the same story all along.

The story of Sereia and Callan was amazing. They don’t get off to the best start. He rescues her from death, sunburned, wounded, and unconscious on the beach. She repays him by stabbing him as soon as she wakes up. But he is ever patient with her. With teaching her all about Atlantis, teaching her to walk, teaching her to make food for herself, and most importantly he always lets her be exactly who she is. As Sereia learns about Atlantis’ history she discovers a potential way to get home. But by the time she does, she isn’t entirely sure that she wants to leave. She has fallen in love with Callen. She has built a life for herself with friends and being a fighter in the Atlantean army. Ultimately she believes that she has come up with a plan to do both, get her revenge on her brother and then return to Atlantis. Which is when the whole story takes a sideways turn.

Until the last 50 pages or so, I was convinced that this book was going to end on a cliffhanger and a lead in to another book. The first twist to the story is one that I expected, they tell you about it in the blurb. But immediately after that came another bombshell, then another. In just a single chapter the entirely trajectory of this story changed. I felt dizzy but I couldn’t stop reading. I sat in my living room completely silently and read the last 50 pages in one sitting. I was riveted. It wasn’t at all what I expected, but it fit the story so perfectly. And it was a completely standalone story in the end. It was perfect and I couldn’t have loved it more.

“You believe you have won, and maybe for a time you have. But I will never forget, and I will never forgive. One day, perhaps centuries from now, I will bring you to your knees. And as your world crumbles and burns, I will rise like a phoenix from your ashes.”

One last thing, that epilogue, holy cow! It was everything. Literally everything that I have ever wanted in an epilogue.

New Releases Wednesday – August 7, 2024

by Stefani

Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid

Published: August 6, 2024 by Del Rey

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ava Reid comes a reimagining of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s most famous villainess, giving her a voice, a past, and a power that transforms the story men have written for her.

The Lady knows the stories: how her eyes induce madness in men. 

The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed.  

The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of strategy, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive. 

But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world. 

She does not know this yet. But she will.

House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen

Published: August 6, 2024 by St. Martin’s Press

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie.

A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny – in the midst of her parent’s bitter divorce – and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella’s mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there’s something eerie about the house itself: It’s a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny’s murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny’s boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella’s supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

Published: August 6, 2024 by Tor Books

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

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.