Tuesday Review: Daggermouth

 

Set in a corrupt surveillance state ruled by the masked elite, this true enemies-to-lovers dystopian romance that’s Conform meets V for Vendetta follows a mercenary who botches the assassination of the president’s son and ends up forced to marry him.

The first thing you’ll learn in New Found Haven is that mercy doesn’t exist. The second thing is that, from the highest glass atrium in the Heart to the windowless slums of the Boundary, the Veyra are always watching.

The last lesson is the hardest, but you must remember it: Love outside of your ring is a death sentence.

The city is carved into rings of privilege and poverty, ruled by the masked elite who will do whatever it takes to hold onto power. Obedience is demanded. Rebellion is crushed.

Greyson Serel has spent his life caught between two worlds. Publicly, he’s the flawless heir to the presidency. Privately, he’s entangled in secrets that could topple the regime. But when he’s forced into a political marriage meant to bind him tighter to the government’s brutal laws, he finds himself shackled to a bride as lethal as she is unwilling.

Shadera Kael is a mercenary raised to kill, not to wed. Yet when her bullet misses its mark, survival leaves her tied to the very man she was sent to eliminate. Trapped inside the corrupt heart of the city, she becomes both prisoner and wife, her every step watched, her every move tested.

Their union is no love story—it’s a battlefield. As secrets come to light and betrayals fester within the walls of power, Greyson and Shadera must decide between annihilating each other or burning the city to the ground together.

In a world where passion has consequences and loyalty is paid for in blood, their forced bond may be the spark that ignites a revolution. Or the fire that consumes them both.

Okay, this book put me THROUGH IT.

I buddy read this one with my bestie, and I’m honestly glad I had someone along for the ride because there was A LOT to unpack. If you grew up on The Hunger Games and Divergent and have been looking for a dystopian romance that gives you that same feeling but grown up, this one needs to be on your radar.

Shadera is a mercenary who is forced to marry the president’s son after failing to assassinate him, and when I say these two are actually enemies, I mean it. The tension between Shade and Greyson was top tier. The fighting, the hatred, the slow burn, the betrayal, all of it. Add in a society where the elite hide behind masks, political intrigue, mysteries everywhere, and THREE men I couldn’t decide if I trusted or wanted to add to my book boyfriend collection, and I was hooked.

The feminine rage was probably one of my favorite parts of the entire book. Shade is angry, messy, and complicated, and I loved her for it. I also really enjoyed the side characters, especially Lira and Callum, and watching all of their stories slowly start connecting as more of the bigger picture was revealed.

And then there’s THAT DAMN ENDING. H. M. Wolfe, what was that?! I’m still not over it. This book chewed up my heart, spit it back out, and somehow left me ready to do the whole thing over again.

Shade and Greyson may have officially ruined enemies-to-lovers for me, and after that ending, I need book two immediately.

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Tuesday Reviews: Ravenous

 

Beyond the mortal world lies the Skein, a realm of mythic beauty and savage desire ruled by creatures of legend. Here, vampires, witches, demons, and wolves wage war—and hunt their pleasures just as fiercely.

Now, the Accession has begun, an ancient cycle of chaos and destiny that reignites old hostilities and forges fated bonds too hot to resist.

A witch queen on the rise defies the brutal wolf king who stands in her way. But when fate twists their battlefield into a bed of temptation, sworn enemies become something far more perilous. Lovers.

A vampire princess trades her crown for freedom, only to be bound to a scarred Berserker, a man whose possessive touch both terrifies and tempts her.

An incubus spy and a cunning vampiress strike a dangerous bargain for survival, and profit, but lust becomes the one gamble neither expected.

And when a wolf and an enchantress from opposing clans dare to make peace, their forbidden attraction could doom the Skein…or spark a love that defies the gods.

I really wanted to love Ravenous because I love Kresley Cole, but I spent way too much of this book trying to remember who everyone was, where they were, and what exactly they were doing. There are SO many POVs, characters, relationships, and different storylines happening at the same time that every time I finally got invested in one, we were off somewhere else with someone I barely remembered.

That being said, there were definitely characters and individual storylines that I loved. I found myself wanting to get back to certain POVs because I needed to know what was happening with them, and I actually really enjoyed all the politics and different factions at play. The world itself is interesting, but there is just so much introduced in this first book that I never felt like I completely had my footing in it.

By the last few chapters, everything was happening at once. I’m still not entirely sure who I’m supposed to be rooting for, some choices left me with A LOT of questions, and I genuinely have no idea where book two even begins after that ending.

Overall, there were parts of Ravenous that I really enjoyed, but I think the number of POVs and competing storylines kept me from getting as attached to the characters and relationships as I wanted to. I’m intrigued by what Kresley is building here, but I’m still undecided if I’m invested enough to continue with book two.

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Tuesday Review: Henry Tudor Must Die

 

One queen exiled. Another headed for the gallows. Both hungry for revenge. England’s most infamous queens unite in vengeance against Henry VIII.

Anne Boleyn is going to die, and neither her cleverness nor her witchery can save her. So when her late rival, Catalina de Aragón, miraculously appears in her cell at the Tower of London on the eve of her execution, very much alive and offering a daring escape plan, no one is more surprised than Anne.

Lina doesn’t have Anne’s magic—but she has just as much hate for England’s wretched king. Severed from her daughter and stripped of all her influence, Lina breathes only for the Hellebore Sisterhood, a clandestine and powerful society with a vested interest in keeping both queens alive . . . and using their particular skills to advance womankind.

Anne and Lina’s old rivalries pale in comparison to a common enemy. And they're not alone. Anna von Kleve, Kat Howard, and even Catherine Parr all have their own bones to pick with the king. One by one, they capture their pawns, infiltrating the court and eliminating the men who plotted against them. Always inching closer to their true target . . .

I’m a huge Tudor history nerd, so the second I saw the premise of Henry Tudor Must Die, I was interested. Henry VIII’s wives, magic, a secret sisterhood, and revenge? There was no way I wasn’t going to read this.

And honestly, the concept was probably my favorite part. Catherine of Aragon showing up to save Anne Boleyn from her execution and basically saying, hey, want to come with me and get some revenge? Yes. I also really liked getting to see all of these women reimagined outside of the way history usually pits them against each other. Watching them slowly come together and choose each other was such a fun take on people and stories I already know really well.

Where this lost me a little was the pacing. With a premise like this, I expected things to be a little more chaotic and revenge-filled than they actually were. There were parts, especially through the middle, that moved pretty slowly, and I kept waiting for things to really kick into gear.

I still had fun with it, though. It wasn’t exactly the witchy Tudor revenge story I had built up in my head before starting it, but I loved the idea behind it and the way these women were given the chance to rewrite their stories. If you like Tudor history, alternate history, magic, and women deciding they’re done putting up with Henry VIII’s shit, this is definitely an interesting one.

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Tuesday Review: An Arcane Education

 

Magic. Wealth. Beauty. Reputation.

Here, all of them amount to the one thing everyone desires: Power.

Welcome to Arcadia Academy. Trust no one.

The day I’m attacked is the day I discover magic is real – and I have the power to wield it.

Two days after the incident, I receive an invitation to the graduate program at Arcadia Academy, an elite, mysterious school of magic hidden on an island somewhere off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. With the courage to finally leave behind the mundane life of responsibility I never asked for, I enroll at the prestigious institution, determined to find my place and prove myself.

Unfortunately, my goal isn’t as simple as it seems. New to the world of magic, years behind my classmates, and struggling to control my powers, I’m barely surviving – until the strict, enigmatic, and devastatingly handsome Professor Alaric Vale offers to tutor me. But the longer we spend together, the harder it becomes to deny the forbidden spark burning between us.

Furthermore, not everything is as it seems at Arcadia Academy, with its crawling ivy, ancient stone buildings, and dense forests shrouded in fog. Everyone has secrets to hide, some darker than others. Darker still are the strange plant aberrations occurring in the depths of the forest – ones seemingly related to Professor Vale’s suspicious top-secret research.

When my personal investigations lead to me becoming the talk of campus as a primary suspect in another student’s death, I’m forced to prove my innocence, all while learning to control my magic, concealing the secrets I share with Professor Vale, and uncovering a shocking mystery related to my own past.

I really wanted to love this one because it had so many things that usually work for me. A magical academy, professor/student romance, secrets, politics, and an interesting magic system? Absolutely. And for the first half, I was hooked. I loved the atmosphere of the academy, Vivian’s friendships, and the way the story slowly introduced the world and its magic.

The romance is where it started to lose me a little. I liked Vivian and Alaric together, and their dynamic had so much potential, but I wanted to actually experience more of their relationship developing. A lot of that progression happens during private tutoring sessions that we don’t get to see, and then the story jumps forward and tells us how much the tension between them has grown. Those were the moments I wanted on the page. Because we missed them, some of the bigger romantic moments didn’t hit quite as hard for me as I wanted them to.

The pacing outside of the romance was a little uneven for me too. There were some really interesting mysteries being set up, but a few of the answers seemed to come together very quickly toward the end. I wanted a little more buildup, especially for some of the bigger reveals.

That being said, I really enjoyed the academy setting, the friendships, and the magical side of the story. There are still a lot of secrets I want answers to, and I’m curious enough about where everything is going that I’ll definitely be picking up book two.

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Tuesday Reviews: Die for Me

 

A stay-up-all-night, smart, spicy romance following a doctor who finds herself falling for an alluring, much-younger man with a deadly secret

Sean’s not in the market for love. The only female, let alone Black, interventional cardiologist at her hospital, she’s watched too many of her male colleagues divorce their first wives to marry younger models—and then there’s the abusive relationship she’s spent the better part of her early 30s healing from. Her passions are reserved for her best friend, her goddaughter, and her job.

Then she meets Julian. Brooding, beautiful and eleven years her junior. In short: A bad idea.

Julian pursues her in a way that sets off alarm bells in her mind, but she finds herself unable to resist their undeniable chemistry—even starts fantasizing about him in dreams that feel altogether too real. They also have a lot in common despite their age gap. So, to hell with it: If men can date younger, why can’t she? But the more Sean gets to know him, the more impossible Julian seems: He has a depth and sorrow to him that’s beyond his years, and sometimes there’s a look in his eyes that’s less than human, and leaves her feeling more like prey. Plus, Sean herself has been exhibiting odd symptoms—memory lapses, a lack of restraint that's unlike her, persistent exhaustion—that all trace back to Julian, making Sean feel more than a little afraid. Who—or what—is she falling, irrevocably, in love with?

Die for Me was one of those books where I closed it and had to sit with my thoughts for a while. There was a lot I enjoyed, especially Sean, Onix, the paranormal elements, and the first half of the story. I also had absolutely no idea what was going on with Julian for a good chunk of the book, and I actually enjoyed trying to piece that part together.

Things got a little more complicated for me in the second half. I liked Julian overall, but there were times when his persistence crossed a line for me and made it harder to root for him. I also struggled with some of Sean’s choices. She starts out as such a strong, independent character who has already learned some hard lessons from her past relationship, so watching her repeatedly forgive things from Julian that I expected her to push back against was frustrating.

The pacing was probably my biggest issue. The first half worked really well for me, but later there were sections that seemed to linger while other things happened much faster than I expected. By the time I reached the ending, I wanted a little more room for everything to play out.

Overall, 3.5 stars. There were some really interesting ideas here, and the paranormal side of the story was probably what I enjoyed most. It just ended up being a much more mixed read for me than I thought it would be going in.

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Tuesday Reviews: The Midnight King

 

A king should know better than to make an enemy of his wife.

Hours after her wedding, Aurora stood over her husband with a blade to his throat. Desperate to slay his beasts before they doom her world, she made a reckless bargain—become a pawn to a despicable queen in exchange for royal status and an army. But even a princess’ tiara might not be enough to destroy the beasts her husband created.

Theron has been outplayed by his traitor bride. He should be furious that he’s returning home with an enemy army nipping at his heels, except he can’t fully hate the beautiful new wife who outwitted him. Convinced he can win Aurora back and turn her army around, Theron offers her something irresistible—help mastering her time magic.

Neither Aurora’s insolent soldiers nor her cunning husband can be fully trusted. Yet the closer she gets to Theron’s kingdom, the blurrier the line between friend and foe becomes. All Aurora knows for certain is that if she fails to master both her magic and her heart, the tragedies of history are doomed to repeat themselves.

The Midnight King is the second epic fantasy romance novel in the Cycle of Calamity series where The Legend of Zelda meets a Bronze Age Outlander. If you love fated romance, time travel, court intrigue, and enemies to lovers, escape into The Midnight King!

I really enjoyed The Oracle of Dusk, so I was excited to jump back into Aurora and Theron’s story with The Midnight King. This one definitely expands the world with more magic, politics, secrets, betrayal, and quite a few twists I didn’t see coming. I really liked seeing Aurora come more into her powers while also trying to figure out who she can actually trust and what choices she’s willing to make. But honestly, Aurora and Theron together were probably my favorite part. Their relationship is complicated, neither of them is completely good or bad, and there’s still plenty of tension between them as everything around them gets messier. I also really liked the time magic aspect and how much more we get to learn about the bigger world in this book. There were a few parts that dragged a little for me, but once things got moving again, I wanted to know what happened next. Overall, this was a really solid continuation of the series with enemies-to-lovers, court politics, magic, high stakes, and plenty of twists. I’m definitely curious to see where Elyse Thomson takes Aurora and Theron next

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