romantasy

Heartless Hunter: Exploring blood magic

by Stefani

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

Published: February 20, 2024 by Wednesday Books

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

Synopsis:

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Rating:

Rating:

This book was another recommendation by friends and luckily this one was much more successful than the first. I really loved this book. Rune was a fascinating character. She felt like a real person. She tried to make the right decisions and she was trying to do the right things, but she didn’t always succeed. It was really refreshing to read a young adult female heroine who isn’t absolutely amazing and perfect at literally everything. That’s a very annoying trope in the young adult space and I am ready for it to stop. But Rune was different and I appreciated that.

The magic system in this book was fantastic. I loved the idea of magic having a price. You may be a witch and be able to wield magic, but you have to pay for it with blood and scars. And the more complex the spell is, the higher the price. Some spells are outlawed because they required the unwilling sacrifice of someone else’s blood.

We learn early on in the book that this world used to be ruled by three witch queens, sisters. They were evil and abused the non-magic citizens horribly and used their magic to make the general public their slaves in every sense of the word. So, they overthrew the witch queens. Killed them. And outlawed witchcraft. Then we institute the Bloodguard. Their job is to hunt down witches and then execute them.

One thing that didn’t make a lot of sense to me was Rune’s insistence on saving all witches. She knows that some witches are evil and corrupted by their power. But she insists on saving all captured witches as the witch version of Robin Hood. She doesn’t even know these women but is convinced that she should save all of their lives. Why> How does she know that these women are innocent? Most of them likely are but not all. But this book doesn’t really delve into that moral gray area, which disappointed me. I hope that might be a bigger theme in the second book.

The big reveal at the end was also a bit predictable. I knew it was coming a long way off. The payoff of the reveal was still really good though. Overall this was a great book and I immediately jumped into book two.

Why Fourth Wing’s Dragons Steal the Show

by Stefani

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Published: May 3, 2023 by Entangled: Red Tower Books

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

Synopsis:

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

Rating:

Review:

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or out in the vast wilderness you’ll know that the 3rd book of this series came out recently. You can’t get away from it. Onyx Storm is everywhere. And everyone seems to love it. Maybe if I was still a doe-eyed 20 something then I would have liked it more too. I decided to give this series a shot and while it is entertaining, it has problems.

I listened to this on audiobook and thought the narrators did a fabulous job. They told this story and the characters to the best of their ability.

**Spoiler alert** Read no further if you wish to remain unspoiled

I love dragons. Adding dragons to a fantasy is a really big winner for me, especially intelligent dragons. The dragon that pairs with Violet is very witty and intelligent, and frankly he was my favorite character. But, it also made me wonder, what does it say about a book when the most logical character is a dragon? The dragon politics in this book was interesting but it also made me ask a lot of questions. Mainly, what do dragons need humans for? They have power, intellect and magic all on their own. They have their own laws, their own politics and their own functioning world. Why do they want to bond with humans? Share their magic with humans? Weaken themselves to empower the humans? Most importantly, why do they want to assist the humans in their wars? Even if the dragons had the same enemy, they seem perfectly capable of fighting on their own. And unfortunately we never get the answers to those questions.

Xaden was a great character, very complex and morally grey. But as soon as I heard his name I knew we were getting a cheesy romance starring Xaden Riorson. And it’s the stuff of every YA book’s dreams. Unreasonably jealousy, trying to make jealousy sexy. On a side note, can we please stop trying to make jealous outbursts sexy? They aren’t. But most importantly, we get Violet and Xaden angsting at each other until they finally find their way into each other’s pants. I probably would have enjoyed this more if I was still a naive 20-something. Instead, fully adult me, rolled my eyes and moved along.

I also found the timeline really confusing. So, there’s a war that seems to have been going on for centuries. The enemy wants to break into their kingdom, but they don’t know why. Everyone seems to just suggest that they obviously want something really badly but…it’s been 600 years? You haven’t had a single peace negotiation to find out? And there was also an internal rebellion that seemed to have happened a lot more recently. A lot of the characters talk about it like it was a long time ago, but since Xaden is involved with the ending of that rebellion it can’t have been any more than maybe 5 years earlier? Xaden is only around 23, so it can’t have been too long ago. But as it turns out the people they’re fighting against (the people in the war or the rebellion, can’t really tell) want magic from the kingdom, because they’re being attacked by magical creatures that no one thinks actually exist. So…instead of just explaining the situation you’re in, you start a war and sacrifice more fighters trying to steal the thing you need? Someone was missing battle sense.

This book was full of tropes. Violet is “so frail”, so tiny, so boring, so unremarkable. Who then ends up doing so many amazing things that no one has ever done before! Eye roll. Sexy jealousy. Eye roll. Childhood friend who has all the feelings. Eye roll. Heroine having an “addiction” to the bad boy. Eye roll. So many tropes.

The things that pulled me into this were the dragons, who were pretty badass. The magic system was very well done and interesting. And the enemies we finally get introduced to right at the very end. Those things have kept me invested enough to probably read the 2nd book. But if the worldbuilding doesn’t get a lot tighter than I’m bowing out of the series for good.

Exploring the Dark Fae World in ‘Servant of Earth’

by Stefani

Servant of Earth by Sarah Hawley

Published: November 12, 2024 by Ace

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

Synopsis:

In the underground Fae realm, only the strongest and most ruthless have power—but a young human woman forced into a life of servitude is about to change everything.

Kenna Heron is best known in her village for being a little wild—some say “half feral”—but she’ll need every ounce of that ferocity to survive captivity in the cruel Fae court.

Trapped as a servant in the faeries’ underground kingdom of Mistei, Kenna must help her new mistress undertake six deadly trials, one for each branch of magic: Fire, Earth, Light, Void, Illusion, and Blood. If she succeeds, her mistress will gain immortality and become the heir to Earth House. If she doesn’t, the punishment is death—for both mistress and servant.

With no ally but a sentient dagger of mysterious origins, Kenna must face monsters, magic, and grueling physical tests. But worse dangers wait underground, and soon Kenna gets caught up in a secret rebellion against the inventively sadistic faerie king. When her feelings for the rebellion’s leader turn passionate, Kenna must decide if she’s willing to risk her life for a better world and a chance at happiness.

Surviving the trials and overthrowing a tyrant king will take cunning, courage, and an iron will… but even that may not be enough.

Rating:

Review:

This book wasn’t really on my radar at all when the new year started, until I saw it listed as a newly available audiobook from the library. So, always keen on starting a new romantasy series, I dove in. And, I was pleasantly surprised!

The characters in this one were very good. I found them nuanced and realistic. Although some of their interactions and motivations were a little predictable, the narrative was interesting enough that I didn’t mind the predictability too much. The handsome charming Fire prince, the cold and distant Void prince….if you’ve ever read a romantasy series you know exactly what that dynamic is setting up. And I had trouble with why Kenna was drawn to one of the princes, but such is the way of a love triangle right? There is always one leg of the triangle that you want to yell “Girl, what?!” about. At least in my experience.

The portrayal of the fae court was absolutely amazing. The visualization of it was lovely and dark and cruel, I absolutely loved it. I could read stories about this world all day long. This is also definitely NOT a young adult book, though the cover and synopsis and love triangle make it feel like one. There is a lot of violent content in this, but seems to be aiming at the typical young adult romantasy crowd with the cover and synopsis so I hope it will find its audience. I also enjoyed the conflicted nature of some of the fae. Some of them seem to understand why the cruelty of their world should be changed, but at the same time they are immortal and in power so they struggle to find the will to change anything. I really enjoyed the conflicts this presented between the characters and it added a really interesting dynamic to the plot. Also let’s not forget the sentient homicidal dagger. I found that absolutely delightful every time it started whispering to Kenna.

Some of the plot was very well thought out and original, some of it was a bit predictable. It telegraphs where the story is going very early on. But, in the end, even though I knew where the story was going I enjoyed the journey and Kenna so much that I didn’t care. This was a worthy start to a romantasy series and I’ll be tuning in for what happens next.

Upcoming Releases – November 10, 2024

by Stefani

The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson

Expected publication: February 25, 2025 by Random House

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

In the first year after her child is born, Jane suffers a series of strange episodes: amnesia, premonitions, hallucinations, and an inexplicable sense of dread. As her psychiatrist struggles to solve the mystery of what is happening to Jane’s mind, she suddenly goes missing. A day later she is found unconscious in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, in the midst of what seems to be an episode of dissociative fugue; when she comes to, she has no memory of what has happened to her.

Are Jane’s strange experiences related to the overwhelm of single motherhood, or are they the manifestation of a long-buried trauma from her past? Why is she having visions of a young man who died twenty years ago, who warns her of a disaster ahead? Jane’s symptoms lead her psychiatrist ever-deeper into the furthest reaches of her mind, and cause him to question everything he thought he knew about so-called reality—including events in his own life.

Why this caught my eye:

This book sounds really good as a psychological trauma. The period after having a baby is such an intense time, and even if everything is going normally it’s very common to feel like you are a stranger to yourself. When it goes badly, it goes really badly.

The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor

Expected publication: February 25, 2025 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Seven years ago, Maeve Abenthy lost her world, her father, even her name. Desperate to escape the stain of her father’s crimes, she lives under a fake name, never staying in one place long enough to put down roots.

Then she receives a mysterious letter with four impossible words Your father was innocent.

To uncover the truth, she poses as an apprentice for the Otherwhere Post, where she’ll be trained in the art of scriptomancy—the dangerous magic that allows couriers to enchant letters and deliver them to other worlds. But looking into her father’s past draws more attention than she’d planned.

Her secretive, infuriatingly handsome mentor knows she’s lying about her identity, and time is running out to convince him to trust her. Worse, she begins to receive threatening letters, warning her to drop her investigation—or else. For Maeve to unravel the mystery of what happened seven years ago, she may have to forfeit her life.

Why this caught my eye:

I love magical worlds, they are so much fun to immerse yourself into. I like the sound of this one with the blend of a magical fantasy and a mystery.

The Beasts We Bury by D.L. Taylor

Expected publication: February 4, 2024 by Henry Holt & Co

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Daughter and heir to the throne, Mancella Cliff yearns for a life without bloodshed. But as a child, she emerged from the Broken Citadel with the power to summon animals—only after killing them with her bare hands. Her magic is a constant reminder of the horrors her father, the ruler of the realm, has forced upon her to strengthen their power.

Silver is a charming thief struggling to survive in a world torn apart by Mancella’s father’s reign. When a mysterious benefactor recruits him for the heist of a lifetime, a chance to rob the castle, Silver relishes the opportunity for a real future—and revenge. But he’ll have to manipulate Mance and earn her trust to pull it off.

As the deception and carnage mount, Mance must find a way to save her realm without becoming the ruthless monster she’s been bred to be. And when Silver discovers that his actions are fueling the violence that Mance wants to prevent, he’ll have to choose between his ambition and the girl he’s falling for.

Why this caught my eye:

For the most part this sounds like a typical young adult book about an heir to a magical throne who falls in love with a potential usurper. I’ve read lots of books like that, but they can be very entertaining. And I like this idea of the magical heir being able to summon animals, that’s a unique idea that I haven’t seen before. Also this cover is very beautiful and complex, it took me a few looks to notice the creature in the flowers.

The Honey Witch: A Magical Love Story in Innisfree

by Stefani

The Honey Witch by Sydney J Shields

Published: May 16, 2024 by Orbit

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

Synopsis:

The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. That is her curse to bear. But when a young woman who doesn’t believe in magic arrives on her island, sparks fly in this deliciously sweet debut novel of magic, hope, and love overcoming all.
 
Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who’ve tried to woo her. So when her grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence come with a curse. No one can fall in love with the Honey Witch.
 
When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn’t believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can’t resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home—at the risk of losing her magic and her heart.

Rating:

Review:

**Warning** This review will contain spoilers.

I wanted to love this book. So much. I talked about this book back in May and was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I wonder if this book suffered because it was the author’s debut novel. There were many times that I felt as though the author was uncomfortable taking chances. She played it safe and as a result the book wasn’t as good as it could have been. I wonder how amazing this book would have been if the author tackled this idea in 5 years, when she had matured in her craft a little. Alas, we’ll never know.

Marigold was a lovely character. I found her smart, sassy and kind. She fit the role of the Honey Witch perfectly. I also liked that she displayed a lack of confidence in her abilities at first, it made her feel much more real. I wish we had spent more time with her learning her magic because I found that to be the most enjoyable part.

I loved the magic in this book too. It felt real and profound. Tying magic to honey is a brilliant idea. And the book is written in a sumptuous, rich way that reminded me of honey. This brought an unexpected magic to the words that I really enjoyed. It was wonderfully executed and I have no doubt that the author has a very bright career ahead of her.

The worldbuilding in this book was very confusing. It wanted to be Regency-esque. You had the Regency lifestyle, but then there are pieces added in that didn’t make sense at all. The whole first third of the book is a very long diatribe about patriarchy. Marigold expounds at length about how the only ambition a girl is allowed to have in her world is who she marries, which is something Marigold isn’t interested in. So in this world there are very clear class and gender norms that have to be adhered to. Which is very typical of Regency books. But, then you also have complete acceptance of characters who are LGBTQ. And while the author yells at us about partriarchy a lot most of the men in this book are….pretty cool actually. They don’t seem to have any problem with Marigold’s unconventional choices, nor the choices and relationships of others. This felt like the author wanted Regency, but without all the pesky problems that come with that era. As a result the worldbuilding felt inauthentic.

The curse was also really confusing. It served no functional purpose. The curse is that no one can ever fall in love with the Honey Witch. The author tells us that the evil witch cast this curse with the intention of ending the line of Honey Witches. But, as Marigold’s grandmother points out, you don’t need to be in love to have child. Indeed, Marigold’s grandmother used magic to conjure a child out of nothing. You would think that the evil witch had considered those things. The curse functionally serves zero purpose except to create a star-crossed lovers narrative. That narrative was very well executed, but there were many other options for initiating their separation, it didn’t need to be this curse.

The evil Ash witch serves almost no purpose to the story. We are told that the duty of the Honey Witch is to protect Innisfree from the Ash witch. Why does she want it? I have no idea, even after reading the book. Why is the Ash witch evil? Because she does evil things. But why does she do those evil things? No idea. We learn almost nothing about the Ash witch except that she attacked Innisfree when Marigold was a little girl, and she attacks again at the end of this book. We have no idea why she wants Innisfree, why she holds a grudge against the Honey Witches, or why she does anything she does. I really hate villains that are evil just for the sake of being evil. I really hate villains that only do evil things, because it’s not realistic. Not a single living creature is all good or all evil, and all of them have some kind of motivation for their actions. All of these reasons made the Ash witch feel like a cardboard cutout. She is there to be the villain, because the book needs one. It was a disappointing ending.

Chasing Firebirds: The Phoenix Keeper Analysis

by Stefani

The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean

Narrated by: Stephanie Bentley

Published: August 13, 2024 by Orbit

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

Synopsis:

As head phoenix keeper at a world-renowned zoo for magical creatures, Aila’s childhood dream of conserving critically endangered firebirds seems closer than ever. There’s just one glaring caveat: her zoo’s breeding program hasn’t functioned for a decade. When a tragic phoenix heist sabotages the flagship initiative at a neighboring zoo, Aila must prove her derelict facilities are fit to take the reins.

But saving an entire species from extinction requires more than stellar animal handling skills. Carnivorous water horses, tempestuous thunderhawks, mischievous dragons… Aila has no problem wrangling beasts. Inspiring zoo patrons? That’s another story. Mustering the courage to ask for help from the hotshot griffin keeper at the zoo’s most popular exhibit? Virtually impossible.

Especially when that hotshot griffin keeper happens to be her arch-rival from college: Luciana, an annoyingly brooding and insufferable know-it-all with the grace of a basilisk and the face of a goddess, who’s convinced that Aila’s beloved phoenix would serve their cause better as an active performer rather than a passive conservation exhibit.

With the world watching and the threat of poachers looming, Aila’s success isn’t only a matter of keeping her job: the future of a species depends on her.

Rating:

Review:

I wanted to like this book a whole lot more than I did. For a lot of reasons this one just didn’t work for me. The premise of the book was great. I have always loved the idea of magical creatures and creating a world where zoos are trying to save those magical creatures from extinction is a fantastic idea. Throw in some romance and it should have been a great book.

While I felt like audiobook narrator did a good job, sometimes her tone didn’t match the emotions being conveyed very well. When Aila was supposed to sound determined or anxious, it came across as whiny. I can only partially blame the narrator for this though because Aila is pretty whiny in general. She spends most of this book worrying, hating things and whining about it. She is supposed to be 28 years old but she sounds like a 14 year old. We spend a lot of time hearing about Aila’s social anxiety, but it comes across less as anxiety and more like hatred. She isn’t anxious about social situations and people, she just hates them. As someone who also hates socializing I understand but I would never insist that it’s social anxiety, because it isn’t the same thing. And since the book is told from Aila’s perspective, we have to listen to her talk about really boring things for an awful long time. I got to 40% of the audiobook and she hadn’t even gotten the male phoenix yet. We’d just talked about…things. Not interesting things, just things.

Another issue I had with this book was the worldbuilding. Namely that there wasn’t any. Apart from zoos full of magical creatures I know nothing about this world. I have no idea what the locations we hear about are like, the author didn’t both to tell me. Do phoenixes like in tropical places? Deserts? Mediterranean? I know they like to nest in olive trees, but apart from that clue I was told nothing about this world. I know that DVDs exist and so do emails, so I feel like we’re stuck in the late 1990s or early 2000s. But, that’s all we know about this world. I wanted to know how magical creatures exist in this world? If magical creatures exist, does other magic exist also? If not, why not? I wanted more and I didn’t get it.

The romance was incredibly lack luster and virtually non-existent. Aila spends approximately 70% of this book hating the intended love interest and pining after someone else entirely. They don’t actually get together until the very ending of the book. So while the blurb promises a “soul restoring queer romance”, this is tepid at best.

The “villain” of the book was very boring. First, it was obvious what was going on. The only question I had was if the same person was responsible for the phoenix stealing at the first zoo, or just gotten the idea. The motive was ok but since the character was so boring it just didn’t matter. At no point did I ever feel like there was tension in the plot. Aila professes to be running for her life trying to save her phoenixes from being kidnapped, but I didn’t feel an ounce of urgency or tension.

This book would have been better if it was marketed as a young adult. Aila definitely reads as a young adult character, the romance would be better suited to the young adult genre. Overall I probably would have liked it better. As an adult fantasy it wasn’t very good.

The Crimson Crown: A Captivating Tale of Magic and Betrayal

by Stefani

The Crimson Crown by Heather Walter

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Published: August 27, 2024 by Del Ray

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

Synopis:

Legends tell of a witch who became a queen—the heartless villain in the story of Snow White.

But now the wicked queen is stepping out of Snow White’s shadow to become the heroine of her own legend.

Her real “once upon a time” begins when she is just Ayleth, a young witch who lives in the forest with her coven. The witches practice their magic in secret, hiding from the White King and his brutal war against witchcraft.

Ayleth, however, faces a war of her own. Her magical gifts have yet to reveal themselves, and as the threat of the Royal Huntsmen intensifies, Ayleth fears she will never become the witch her coven needs.

To prove herself, Ayleth sets out on a perilous quest that sends her to the White Palace, a decadent world of drama and deceit. There, Ayleth encounters an unlikely figure from her past: Jacquetta, a witch who once held Ayleth’s heart—and betrayed her.

As events at the palace escalate, Ayleth finds herself caught in the web of the White King, whose dark charisma is as dangerous as the sinister force that seems to be haunting the palace—and perhaps even Ayleth herself. With the threat of discovery looming, Ayleth and Jacquetta must set aside the wounds of their past and work together to survive.

As she uncovers the secrets of the White Court—and those of her own heart—Ayleth must find the strength to transform into someone she never imagined she could be.

A powerful witch, the very wickedest of them all.

Rating:

Review:

This book is such a difficult one for me to rate. Overall, I liked it. That narrator was great, the worldbuilding was great, the idea of the story was great. But for a lot of it, I was just bored. This was a really long audiobook, about 16 hours. That hardcover is 544 pages. That’s a really long book. And I don’t feel like the plot was interesting enough or complex enough to require that many pages. Everything took so long to happen. I have to admit that I dozed off a few times and when I woke up it didn’t seem like I had missed anything at all.

About halfway through is when the plot really started cooking and I felt like things picked up fast. The romance story was fabulously executed. Two women who had been separated through tragic circumstances and then come back together in a time of need. It was romantic. It was sweet. In the end, it was exactly what this book needed. Ayleth was a whiner for a lot of this book and it was annoying. She was upset she had no magic talent. She was upset that everyone blamed her for her sister’s death (no one actually DID blame her, but she kept insisting that people did). She was disgusted by her mother’s affinity for dark magic, but equally horrified at a woman who doesn’t want to affiliate with coven magic. She gets a lot better when she arrives at the city though. She finds her strength in a big way, but I was still left wondering…how exactly does this woman end up as the evil queen? Ayleth was way too big of a goodie two shoes for that.

When it all starts to set into motion though…oh…my…God! My face was painted in shock. All of the little pieces that had been planted earlier in the book came together in the most deliciously evil way possible. I loved it. I was completely enthralled with the ending of the book. If it had all been that fascinating then this would have easily been a 5 star book for me. I positively squealed when we got to the ending and she said the line. “Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” The ending was so great. I really just wish the rest of it could have been just as amazing. I will be reading the 2nd half of this duology an crossing my fingers that it drags less than this one.