Review: Beg Me by Adriana Locke

Beg Me by Adriana Locke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via the author, all opinions are my own.

This was a really fun addition to the Play Me series. Markie has been betrayed by all of the men that she has let into her life. Even her half-brother treats her poorly, with no respect and no consideration for her time or her feelings. He only calls her when he needs to her take care of business for him in town. She keeps holding out hope that maybe one day they can have a relationship, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The one thing she looks forward to every year is the town's pickeball tournament and she is the reigning champion. Her partner has been her boyfriend, but since he cheated on her, she is now without a partner in more ways than one. Enter Jory Plath, a professional rugby player, with pre-teen son who has the confidence of a CEO. Gus meets Markie at the farmer's market and decides to play matchmaker to get a little bit of freedom as his dad is a little overprotective. They are new to town and Jory is new to being a dad. Markie has sworn off men, but Jory is sweet and his looks don't hurt either. Turns out he is her brother's best friend from college and living in his rental property so one of those business items he asks her to take care of for him is to give Jory the keys for something in the house. From there she ends up tutoring Gus in math, because math just happens to be her thing and Jory agrees to be her pickleball partner in exchange.

Jory and Markie were really cute together. They had good banter, and despite her pushing him away he was patient. I loved revisiting with all of the other characters from the town and they made a great support group for not only Markie but Jory as well as they navigated each other and their situations. I know nothing about pickleball, but it was evident that they had chemistry both on and off the court. I also loved Gus, he was hilarious as he played matchmaker and he was so full of himself but in a funny way.

I always love Addy's recaps at the end of a series that bring each couple's story to a close. You spend so much time with them and it really gives closure to the series as they move on to whatever is next and you feel like you can let them go a bit easier or you can start over from the beginning right away or revisit old friends whenever you want. This was a great ending to a great series!

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Review: Tales from the Territory by Travis Baldree

Tales from the Territory by Travis Baldree
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC and ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

If you are a fan of the Legend & Lattes series from Travis Baldree this is a must read!  This is a collection of short stories set in the Legends & Lattes universe and follows Zyll, Thimble, Viv, and Tandri in a collection of shorts.  Some of these I've read before while other's I haven't.  I loved all of them!

Goblin's and Greatcoats is available as a free downloadable e-book from Subterreanean Press and follows our favorite goblin Zyll as she solves a murder mystery in her own unique way.  We met Zyll in Brigands and Breadknives and I absolutely love her and her antics.  

Just a Thimbleful was the heartwarming backstory about Thimble, the baker at Legends and Lattes.  We get to see his love for baking bloom and how he came to work for Viv.

Pages to Fill is a short that appears in 2nd editions and later of Legends and Lattes which I've read before and features Viv prior to owning her coffee shop.  It is a short adventure where Viv and her fellow adventurer pursue a dapplegrim and Viv discovers coffee for the first time.

Mirograph gives us insights into Tandri's time as a scholar prior to her life with Viv and some of her struggles being a succubus.

Cavaliers and Coffees is a short about our favorite cafe being threated by a cheat and a copycat.  

I loved all of these and loved revisiting the world and the characters.  I adore this series and Baldree always does a fantastic job narrating.  I always look forward to seeing what the characters are getting up to in this cozy fantasy realm.  

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Review: Cemetery Boys: Espíritu by Aiden Thomas

Cemetery Boys: Espíritu by Aiden Thomas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This takes place directly after Cemetery Boys, so I would highly recommend reading that first.  You will want an understanding of what happened and who Julian and Yadriel are before reading this.

In the aftermath of being sacrificed and no being welcomed as a brujx, Julian is coming to terms with being able to see spirits and communicate with them.  Fortunately, his boyfriend Yadriel grew up knowing all about spirits and has also recently been accepted as a full brujx.  Julian is struggling with balancing his magical life which he has to keep secret from his real life family and responsibilities.  His family misses him and wants to keep him safe, so they are naturally concerned when he starts keeping secrets and disappears at odd times.  When a new brujx shows up with abilities that align with what is going on with Julian and his powers.  Julian thinks Ángel will be a great friend and ally.  Their methods don't exactly align with what Julian and Yadriel know about spirits, and strange things start happening.

I enjoyed this, but I definitely enjoyed Cemetery Boys much more.  I felt like the plot was a little all over the place.  There wasn't enough of Ángel's backstory for it to make sense and when we finally get to the resolution there weren't enough details.  Julian and Yadriel's relationship was sweet and I loved them together, but Julian didn't treat his family and other friends very well and they gave him way too many chances.  I feel like they forgave him way to easily for all of his misdeeds and secret keeping.  You have to suspend your belief a bit as there is little to no adult supervision as things go wrong around our teenagers.  This is often an element in YA novels, but even as a kid I always asked myself where the grownups were when reading YA or watching TV in these situations.  Overall, this was good, but it didn't live up to my expectations 

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Review: Scion by James Islington

Scion by James Islington
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This was an interesting book about an assassin turned protector.  Azure is normally contracted to take out "lifers" aka people with so  much money they can afford a treatment that will allow them to live forever.  He works for an outfit that puts hits out on the ultrawealthy for one reason or another, he doesn't really care about the details.  He has some weird genetic condition that allows him to be compatible with some technology that makes him better at his job than most of his kind, and he doesn't really have emotions about it one way or the other.  Protection jobs aren't really his thing, but he doesn't really get to pick and choose his jobs.  This job just may be his last based on who the client is and who is after her.

This was action packed and at times violent and gory.  It was just OK for me.  I loved Jasa and Azure's banter.  I really enjoyed Azure's character and the premise, but I wanted more character development and world building.  This was only about 250 pages so we got more action in lieu of development, which I hope to see as the series progresses.  You can only fit so much in a shorter book and I understand that.  The ending sets us up for more adventures with Azure and Jasa, and I'm interested to see where this goes in the future.

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Review: Firstborn by M.J. Hastings

Firstborn by M.J. Hastings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC and ALC of this book via Netgalley all opinions are my own.

This reminded me a bit of An Ember in the Ashes, atleast when it came to Bryn and the firstborn soldiers training to be a soldier. If you are fan of YA dystopian/fantasy in the vein of The Hunger Games or An Ember in the Ashes I think you would enjoy this.

In this world children are broken up by birth order, firstborns train to be soldiers, second borns are scholars, and third borns are taken but don't ask questions about where or why. Bryn is first in her family and best in her class, the annual tradition of the Long Night is approaching where firstborns must kill or be killed to graduate training. She is expected to win, but the night before discovers a plot involving her brother and sister. While she has tried to push them away and put her country first, she can't shake the connection she has with them and the fact the they might be in danger or involved in something dangerous.

This had good action, world-building, decent pacing, and a good amount of action to keep things moving and interesting. I do hope to see more character development as the series progresses. Bryn for as great as a soldier in training was, didn't always act like a soldier in the field when it came time to fight and her relationship with her siblings and other people in general needs alot of work There is alot going on in this politics, corruption, magic, and more. I will say I almost DNFed this when a love triangle entered the picture. I never liked them and thought we were done with those about 10 years ago.

I appreciated that while there was romance, it didn't overwhelm the plot. It was there but more of a subplot not a main plot. It also wasn't super spicy.

Overall, I enjoyed this debut. I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

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Review: Hawk & Sparrow by Anana Gray

Hawk & Sparrow by Ayana Gray
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC and ALC of this book via Netgalley all opinions are my own.

This follows Vesper, an ambitious female reporter in an age when women are still breaking into the working world.  Vesper is invited to attend and report on the happenings of a high society gala when the unimaginable happens.  The guest of honor is found murdered after revealing an invention that could change the lives of everyone.  In this world, those with sorcery live in luxury but they must study for many years to learn the language that allows them to use magic.  This new machine will bring sorcery to those without magic.  The host of the event happens to be a sorcerer and the main suspect.  Valuing Vesper's investigative prowess, Max hires her to help prove his innocence. 

I enjoyed parts of this book, but overall I felt underwhelmed.  The pacing was too slow and the romance didn't work for me.  There wasn't much chemistry between Vesper and Max, but they love each other by the end.  Perhaps that was intentional and appropriate given the time period this is set in, but I needed more emotion and tension from them.  Vesper constantly talks about Tom, the owner of the paper who took her in when she was orphaned and gave her a place to stay and a job, but we never get to know this  father figure who is so important to her.  I did enjoy the investigation and the mystery part of the plot.

I enjoyed the social commentary that the magic machine drew parallels between today's use of AI without checks and balances.  Max brings up the years of study he had to go through to understand the consequences and nuance of using the magical language, without understanding it can cause great harm.  Today we have AI that spits out hallucinations and makes up information that people take as truth.  Without boundaries and smart people to guide it, AI can also cause great harm.  There is also quite a bit of social commentary about the class system in place and gender discrimination.

While this wasn't for me, I think this will be great for younger readers or readers who are looking for a fun magical mystery.

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Review: The Blue Moon Café & 24-Hour Occult Emporium by Lexie Sharabianlou

The Blue Moon Café & 24-Hour Occult Emporium by Lexie Sharabianlou
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley all opinions are my own.

This was really cute!  The Blue Moon Cafe is a front to keep the magical population safe from humans when they need safe passage to a new location.  The cafe serves terrible coffee but has all of your occult needs covered.  This is ironic because the shop's barista and daughter of the owner Talula is a talented chef who makes amazing hot cocoa, but struggles to use her own magic.  She also goes weak at the knees when local aspiring writer comes into the cafe everyday for cocoa and inspiration.

Talula and Dahlia's romance was slow burn, despite it being obvious to everyone.  Talula has alot going on and overthinks pretty much everything.  She is torn between her magical life and her human one, but with the help of her magical mentor and Dahlia she is able to find a happy medium between the two.  I really loved how that storyline came together and she faced her magical fears as well as her fears around relationships both romantic and within the town.  

This was a lovely cozy read with great characters in a fun setting.  The personal turmoil Talula faces is very relatable.  There was some great humor to balance out some of the more serious moments.  The romance was sweet and the magical wasn't overly complicated but it made sense.  This is a great read for fall as it has those cozy fall vibes.  

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