Review: Devious Prey by Scott Reintgen

Devious Prey by Scott Reintgen
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 concept, a smuggler and a mage both happen to be onboard an airship when it crash lands on a deserted island during a storm.  The smuggler happens to have some very dangerous cargo onboard that escapes after the crash.  The mage is being escorted to be tried for crimes he claims he didn't commit with his magic bound, but he might be the survivor's only hope to get off the island and back to safety.

I didn't really understand why Pearl and her Aunt were smuggling the dragoness in the first place.  I'm not quite sure if that was ever explained.  I really liked the concept of the dragoness.  She was a unique being with unique abilities.  Unfortunately her whole purpose seemed to be to prey on the humans and get defeated.  I was hoping her character would be more involved in the plot and explored more.  I have so many questions about her kind that didn't get answered and why she was there.  I thought the magic system was interesting as well, where mages have to find an anchor to use their magic and sacrifice that thing each time they use their power.  I liked that the author tapped into that "there is a cost for using" magic concept.  

As for the characters, the book mainly focuses on Marken the mage and Pearl the smuggler.  Though there are many other side characters throughout they mainly fade into the background and Pearl and Marken work together to figure out how to get off the island or get back to civilization.  There are other twists, turns, and reveals as the story progresses but most of the other characters weren't relevant to the story.  Pearl's character gets a bit darker and colder in the second half of the book.

Overall this was a fun YA fantasy.  Reintgen is a favorite author, and while this isn't a favorite he has written some of my favorite books in the YA and middle grade ranges.

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Review: Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai

Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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

This was a unique YA fantasy that follows a priestess who guides the dead back to their loved ones for their last rites.  Kang Siying's most recent client is an important one with a generous commission that her family desperately needs.  She must travel to the most recent site where the two warring territories solders have fought to find the missing prince, reanimate his remains, and return them to the king's palace to receive her payment.  When she performs her rituals, things go awry, and the prince doesn't just reanimate, he returns to life but with weakened qi.  Siying must find a way to restore his qi, or Prince Ren will truly perish.  In their travels Siying must balance her duty to her family and her contract, while also educating Ren on all of the things he doesn't know about life outside of the palace.  As they complete more tasks and meet more people as Ren restores his qi, he realizes that there is much he doesn't know about his father the king and his beloved brother.  He has much to learn about politics and the unrest in their land.

I really enjoyed the narration, and it worked well as Siying and Ren went on their adventures.  There was a lot of emotion going on between the two as they get to know each other and as she bites her tongue about how people live and barely survive and the illness that plagues her family.  She often scolds Ren about his place in the royal family and his naivety about what is truly happening.  His cluelessness and carefree attitude was a nice balance to her more serious demeanor.  While there is a bit of a slow burn romance element, it is very clean and sweet.  The spirit element  would be more disturbing for young readers than the romance, but even that isn't very gory.  I thought the pacing was good and the lore and magic had a purpose and explanation.

This was a very well done debut and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future!

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Review: Accidentally Marrying the Mafia Don: a smutty age gap romance by Evie Rose

Accidentally Marrying the Mafia Don: a smutty age gap romance by Evie Rose
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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

This was a fun, mafia romance.  Silver fox and uncle of the bride Dante is determined to make sure his niece has the perfect Italian wedding.  When everything starts to go wrong on the big day the mafia boss improves and works with what he's got to make things go off without a hitch.  This is where junior hairdresser Ruby comes in, she is quick on her feet and available to stand in as a witness and bridesmaid when disaster strikes.  Ruby and Dante have immediate chemistry, but their 18 year age difference and her inexperience give him pause.  Fortunately for Dante and Ruby, his meddling sister believes in romance and love at first sight and make sure they get together by way of marriage certificate.  I thought that was a funny way to deal with forced proximity and instalove.  

As this is a novella, there isn't a ton of time to get to know our characters, but the author does manage to fit in a lot of information in a short amount of time.  There were a few statements about Ruby's relationship with her mom that I hoped were going to be expanded, but they were left unexplored.  I did appreciate that our characters don't just jump right into bed and get to spicy times together, they do spend some time getting to know one another a bit until things get down and dirty.  Things do get dirty if you know what I mean.  

This is the first book I've read by the author and there are other books in the series so I'm not sure if they are connected, but this does read as a standalone novella.  This was light and fun, and perfect for a 1-2 sitting read.  While the mafia is mentioned there is no violence, the focus is purely on the romance.

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Review: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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

This was my first time reading from this author, and I don't know what rock I've been living under but they have a ton of fantasy works that I now need to check out. This is the first book in a new series following Maggie, who is from our world in the current day. She somehow ends up waking up in the middle of her favorite unfinished fantasy novel series. She uses her intimate knowledge of the series to insert herself into the politics and plotlines of the characters. This makes both allies and enemies for Maggie, but it also helps her put together a sort of found family to help and protect her as she moves through the story within a story.

This is full of all of the things you could possibly want in a fantasy novel. It has political intrigue, plotting, scheming, betrayals, assassins, magical creatures, mages, magic wielding families, and more. This isn't going to be for everyone. It is told in almost a flashback sort of format as Maggie often has to recap what she knows from her near perfect recall of the "books" to her allies and to prove that she is trustworthy to new people that she meets as the story progresses. She is treated as a seer or prophet since what she says almost always comes true in some fashion. The more she "helps" the more the timelines and events change, but the heart of the fantasy world she is living in stays the same. The character building and world-building suffer at the hands of continuing to tell the story within the story to set up Maggie's relationship with the world and the characters. I expect as the series continues, her knowledge is going to run out and she will experience the world organically. I enjoyed the relationships Maggie is able to build with her crew and how quickly she was able to operate in this strange land. I liked the pacing and the action and all of the political posturing and scheming. I was entertained the entire book. This does end on a pretty big cliffhanger, which sets up the next book. There are still alot of threads left to explore from the this book. We have yet to find out how Maggie got to Kair Toren and if she will ever find a way back to the "real" world. She also isn't really looking for the answer to that question.

I loved the narrator! There are a ton of characters in this book, and she was able to give each one of them a distinct voice. She narrated each character some with accents some without with emotion and tone appropriate to the scene. Fantastic job!

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Review: As You Wish by Danika Brown

As You Wish by Danika Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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

This was such a cute, small town romance.  This follows Honey Baxter, a rule following magical auditor sent to investigate a wishing well on the Hale farm.  Ethan Hale is a single dad doing his best to raise his three daughters and keep the farm afloat.  When Honey shows up to audit their wishing well chaos and compliance come together about as well as oil and water.  Ethan doesn't like people in his business even if he has known them all his life and they are offering to lighten his load.  Honey is a complete stranger from the government, and the last time the government set foot on his property it didn't end well for the Hale family.  With both Ethan and Honey trying to do what is best for the farm and the family, lines get a little blurry as her investigation progresses and feelings get involved.

This was adorable.  I love a good small town storyline, and this one was a bit on the cozy side.  The addition of some magic to the story was also a nice touch.  Honey and Ethan spend most of the book pining quietly for each other as they both have pretty thick walls up and don't easily let people in, but it was sweet to watch them slowly lower their defenses as the story unfolds.  They were a great opposites attract couple.  I enjoyed getting to know the people of the town, and hope to see more of them as the series progresses.  This is very clean with only a few kissing scenes, so if you are looking for something on the sweeter side give this a read.  

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Review: Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher

Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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

This is another weird one from Kingfisher, but I expect nothing less at this point. If you are not a fan of insects, I would steer clear of this one as they are mentioned quite a bit in this book.  I'm not a fan of creepy crawlies myself, but as long as they stay in their environment and out of mine, I respect their place in the circle of life.

Set in the late 1890's in North Carolina, Sonia Wilson is looking for a job.  Her father has recently passed, and there isn't much work for women in general let alone a naturalist.  Sonia is a talented painter and scientific illustrator, and while her father had made a name for himself in the scientific community, Sonia's name does not carry much weight during this time period.  She has not had much luck finding gainful employment, until the cranky, reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position working on his unfinished book.  Halder's area of study is entomology, which is not Sonia's expertise but she needs the work and is quickly able to put her talents to good use.

During her stay at the Halder manor, Sonia begins to notice some strange things about the insects she is illustrating.  She asks scientific questions of her patron, and only more questions begin to bubble up.  She begins to question strange things she sees in the woods around the house, local stories and lore she hears from the housekeeper and the local healer.  The more answers Sonia gets the darker the truth seems to get.  Sonia isn't sure if it is her anxiety manifesting or if something truly sinister going on around her.

I enjoyed this gothic tale.  There is a slow buildup to the action, but once things start happening things start to speed up from there. This was a more atmospheric book, as I find most gothic novels to be, where you know something creepy is going to happen and things build up to that. I thought the slower pacing in the beginning worked well to help build to the reveal of what was really  happening and who the true villain was. It was an interesting mix of science, social topics, and horror.  The author does a wonderful job building out the world describing things in specific paint colors as Sonia would paint them from the eye of an artist.  I believe the author is an artist (former illustrator) as well so this was a nice touch.  This really amps up the ick factor as the horror elements are revealed in the second half of the book as things are described and the atmospheric elements really close in.  Again if you aren't into bugs and body horror, this isn't going to be for you.  Kingfisher did such a good job with the story and the descriptions.  

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Review: The Girls From Alcyone by Cary Caffrey

The Girls From Alcyone by Cary Caffrey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was gifted an audible code from the author, all opinions are my own.  

It has been over 10 years since I originally read this via ebook.  I own the entire series and have been meaning to get back to it.  I jumped on the chance to listen to the audiobook.  The audio narration is fantastic, Kristen James does different accents for all of the characters.  I enjoyed the book even more via audio the 2nd time.  I also love the new covers!

This follows Sigrid and Suko from a young age as they train to become bio-enhanced mercenaries in a dystopian world.  The girls start out as best friends, and eventually their relationship turns into something more.  As expected Sigrid and Suko must go on assignment as they have been training for, and Sigrid is the first to be sent away.  When that happens, Sigrid finds herself at the center of a power struggle she could never imagine and has to figure out who she can trust.  Suko on the other hand has remained at the school where she was raised and is training the next generation when they are attacked and kidnapped.  She isn't sure if she will ever see Sigrid again or escape her captors.

This is a fun, exciting scifi storyline with a sapphic romance element.  I'm looking forward to diving into the rest of the series.

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