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My December in Book Reviews

1. A Curse So Dark and Lonely



Synopsis:

Fall in love, break the curse.

Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. Before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, Harper learned to be tough enough to survive. When she tries to save a stranger on the streets of Washington, DC, she's pulled into a magical world.

Break the curse, save the kingdom.

Harper doesn't know where she is or what to believe. A prince? A curse? A monster? As she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what's at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.

Review:

The first thing I'd like to say is that it was around *checks status updates* 36% into this book when I realised that the name of the book is not A Curse so Dark and Lovely but actually A Curse so Dark and Lonely. I felt so stupid, and I still feel a little stupid.

Now, on to the book itself. I love The Beauty and The Beast. I always have, and I think I always will. I have enjoyed most retellings of this fairytale, and this was not an exception! I loved this one, even more so for the new directions it took from other retellings.

The thing I liked best about this was maybe that our main character had cerebral palsy. I personally don't have a lot of GK about CP, and I'm glad this book opened my eyes to this medical condition which affects so many people, especially children around the world. I don't think I've ever read a book before with a character with CP. I always like reading and learning more about different medical conditions, and this one didn't disappoint.

I also liked the pretending to be a princess part of this, and the enemies-to-loves relationship, because I love that! I usually don't love the groundhog day concept, but since it was only in the background in this, and not part of the plot as such, I could ignore that part.

The ending.....what do I even say View Spoiler

Apart from all of that, there isn't really anything particular that stands out about this book. I loved it, and will definitely continuing with this series! I recommend it to anyone who likes CP representation (and would like to know a bit about it), Beauty and the Beast retellings, strong badass female characters who turn into hellcats when provoked, the pretending-to-be-royalty trope, and the enemies-to-lovers trope.



2. Notorious



Synopsis:

The cure for a willful wife...

Drusilla Clare is full of opinions about why a woman shouldn't marry. But that doesn't stop the rush of desire she feels each time her best friend's brother, notorious rake Gabriel Marlington, crosses her path. So imagine her dismay when she finds herself in the clutches of a scoundrel, only to be rescued by Gabriel himself. And when Gabriel's heartless—and heart-pounding—proposal comes, it's enough to make Dru's formidable resolve crumble...

...is a smitten husband.

She's sharp-tongued, exasperating—and due to one careless moment—about to become his wife. Still, something about Drusilla has Gabriel intrigued. First there's the delicious flush of her skin every time she delivers a barb—and then the surprisingly sensual feel of her in his arms. Gabriel even finds himself challenged by her unusual philosophies. And when he discovers a clandestine rival for Dru's affection, his temperature flares even hotter. But the real threat to their happiness is one neither of the newlyweds sees coming. If they're to save their future—and their very lives—they'll need to trust in each other and their growing love.

Review:

I loved this!!

While it was a typical historical romance with bits of feminism and lots of smut thrown in, this also tried to incorporate quite some amount of plot and while people might have loved this more for that, I honestly thought we could have done without it.

It was actually not that big of a deal; if it had been, I would have made a lot more fuss, believe me, and this would not have gotten 5 stars. And it did, so it didn't mess it up that bad.

I felt that we were given depth to characters that we did not need. For example, I didn't think we needed the whole guy who's trying to kill him for no discernible reason subplot and the kidnapping and subsequent drama subplot and the other subplots that I might have appreciated in romances for a bit of plot, but here seemed extra because the romance was that good.

I felt all that plot was forced, as if the book was trying to be too many things it wasn't or shouldn't be, because it ended up slightly overshadowing the romance. Which was supposed to be the primary genre for this.

The smut. Oh the smut. Where do I even start. I'm putting it all in spoiler tags, because I feel really weird writing this down. View Spoiler

And that brings me to the best part of this book, the romance. I felt it was so good, that it didn't need all this stuffing.

We had the enemies to lovers trope, we had the forced marriage trope, we had the bucketful of angst that was awesomely done by the way and the secret kid trope too. All the aforementioned parameters are some of my favourite ingredients to a good romance.

I am intrigued about Eva, but not a lot? I didn't actually completely understand the love interest for that one, and that paragraph where he suddenly understands and has a revelation or something about how he isn't doing anything right felt really forced.

I loved it, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes enemies to lovers, forced marriage, loads of angst, a secret kid, misunderstandings and well written historical romance( in my opinion).



3. Ember Queen



Synopsis:

The thrilling conclusion to an epic fantasy about a throne cruelly stolen and a girl who must fight to take it back for her people.

Princess Theodosia was a prisoner in her own country for a decade. Renamed the Ash Princess, she endured relentless abuse and ridicule from the Kaiser and his court. But though she wore a crown of ashes, there is fire in Theo’s blood. As the rightful heir to the Astrean crown, it runs in her veins. And if she learned nothing else from her mother, she learned that a Queen never cowers.

Now free, with a misfit army of rebels to back her, Theo must liberate her enslaved people and face a terrifying new enemy: the new Kaiserin. Imbued with a magic no one understands, the Kaiserin is determined to burn down anyone and everything in her way.

The Kaiserin’s strange power is growing stronger, and with Prinz Søren as her hostage, there is more at stake than ever. Theo must learn to embrace her own power if she has any hope of standing against the girl she once called her heart’s sister.

Review:

I really loved it!!!

This was the best book in the trilogy! That might have been for many reasons, but it was mainly the lack of the love triangle drama that had been overdone in the first two of these books.

We see Theo ready mature from being just a princess out of her depth, and we see her taking charge and making calm cool and rational decisions without letting her heart get in the way. While it's usually an endearing trait in protagonists, to see them defy all logic and save the love interest, I was getting really tired of all that. Especially when it messes up everyone's plans. I am very glad this was different from that.

Another way this was different from most us series-enders was that instead of one big battle, we had these small fights being fought in many different places, and the final scene where we don't even have that traditional big defeat. And in being away from the battlefield, the final triumph felt so much more personal somehow? As if it was a victory not only for Astrea, but for Theo as well. All that doing everything for Astrea finally paid off.

I am very very glad that we finally got an end to all the romance drama. View Spoiler

I loved that we got to see more of Heron and Erik, I was really looking forward to reading more of their romance, and I wasn't disappointed! Though I did want more conclusion to their arc. Maybe there'll be a sequel series? Also, I didn't think Artemisia was going to get a slight romance, but her View Spoiler was an absolutely fantastic scene, especially when we get to see her so flustered!

I loved it and I recommend it to anyone who started this trilogy and for some reason might not have continued with it. This was the best book in the series, and if you didn't like the last one there's a good chance you'll like this one.



4. The Christmas Holiday/ Around The World With My Ex



Synopsis:

Fall in love this winter on a romantic trip around the world ending in a fairy-tale winter wedding!

As winter comes to London, journalist Mia Walker is desperately hoping for her big break as a travel writer, dreaming of exotic locations and sun-soaked beaches. When she’s invited to write a romantic travel piece that ends in a huge winter wedding in London, she jumps at the chance. The only trouble is, the photographer is renowned adventure-junkie Hunter Scott, who Mia last saw five years ago when she ended their engagement.

It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, and Mia knows she’d be mad to say no – even if it does mean spending weeks travelling round the world with the one man she never wanted to see again! But as the wedding approaches, and the magic of Christmas begins to take hold, Mia can’t help looking out for mistletoe – and wishing she hadn’t cancelled her own engagement after all…


Review:

I liked it, but not as much as I had expected.

One of the main problems I had with this book was one of had with the book I'd read just before this, Notorious. The problem was that it was trying to be too many things it was not, or should not have been. Every character does not need to have a traumatic past or a traumatic experience to make them character.

I would honestly love a bit more of this incorporated in today's romances, giving people normal pasts, normal childhoods, normal parents. Not to say that people who do not have these are abnormal, but with characters, especially in rom-coms, which are things I read when I want to improve my mood, or to take a break from life, to take a break from books which require more brainpower; I dont want or need there to be anything more than what's necessary. And that includes traumatic pasts and experiences.

That is not to say that character with traumatic pasts are not interesting or intriguing or valid, but more to say that such characters are better suited to a genre other than rom-coms maybe, or if they are in rom-coms, we need not have all our major characters with issues.

Moving on from all of that, I loved the tourist aspect of this, but I wish it had been more explored. I loved the India part of their tour, but the Floridean and Malaysian and Scottish-island part of the holiday was just so glossed over. I wanted to know more about them too. I am an Indian so it was interesting to see India from an outsiders point of view, but I would have liked to see more of the other tourist destinations as well.

Yet another issue I had with this was the denial and the angst. I love angst, but there's a limit to the amount you can include onto a book without it seeming repetitive and filler and boring and unrealistic. This book could have been shorter and I would have still loved it equally as much, if not more.

Maybe another aspect of why I didn't love this was that I just don't like second chance romances as much as I like the out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new-love-interest trope. I just don't like that as much.

On the whole I liked it a lot, and I will be continuing to read other books by Maxine Morrey. I recommend it to anyone who likes second chance romance, books with traveling and touristing (god knows I needed this after the awful year that this has been), denial, denial, and more denial, angst, angst, angst; characters with traumatic pasts that are appreciated but extra and wants to see a bit about touristing in India, because I can confirm as an Indian, that it was pretty well portrayed.



5. Prodigy



Synopsis:

Injured and on the run, it has been seven days since June and Day barely escaped Los Angeles and the Republic with their lives. Day is believed dead having lost his own brother to an execution squad who thought they were assassinating him. June is now the Republic's most wanted traitor. Desperate for help, they turn to the Patriots - a vigilante rebel group sworn to bring down the Republic. But can they trust them or have they unwittingly become pawns in the most terrifying of political games?

Review:

This is more 4.5 stars than 5, but I'm rounding this up because this gave me all the feels :)

I am just shocked. It's been three days, but I still can't come up with an accurate way of portraying why this left me so speechless.

The first problem I had with this was this it was so long. This book was a journey really, and I really thought the amount of content, not length, in this, was enough to fill two books. Maybe I felt that way because I decided to try out audiobook, and thus took days to listen to this and only when I was doing homework, which, now that I think of it,is probably not the way one can get a good reading experience, but still.

Though this actually took place over like two weeks, it felt like it had been months.

The next problem I had with this was the romance. Not like the way I had in the previous book, but more that this had love triangles. Yes plural. As in both our protagonist had individual love triangles, both of which included the two themselves. View Spoiler

In the first book I hated that there was insta-love. In this one I hated that they weren't seeing sense.

I would like to say this, if you're going to go with insta-love I'd like you to stick with it, and not give me this depressing shit. This was the exact problem I had with Blood & Honey, just without the insta-love. There were other problems too hat I had with Blood & Honey but it was similar in the sense that relationship dynamics completely changed from one book to the next.

I didn't like that we led this book with declarations of love. And then we had this whole angsty separation thing where Tess was just not helping. At all. And then we had that ending.

Because even after all of that, that ending left me sobbing, and that's why this has this many stars. I did suspect that those headaches were serious but not this. I did not want this. View Spoiler

I loved it on the whole, and I'd recommend it to anyone who read the first one and gave up because of the insta-love. You'll be wishing for that insta-love by the end of this.



6. Cruel Beauty



Synopsis:

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Review:

This was nothing like I'd expected. And I loved it.

I had expected a typical Beauty and the Beast retelling. While there is no such thing a typical retelling, this one blew my mind.

The first way in which this surprised me was the Greek myth setting. I had not expected that, and I was really surprised. I love PJO and this one made me really nostalgic.

This one made me realise that the Beauty and the Beast fairytale is essentially a Hades and Persephone retelling, and they're not that different. Why I'm saying this: ACOTAR. I've read in many places that it seems like it started out as a Beauty and the Beast retelling but turned to a Hades and Persephone retelling. I say that the former's a retelling of the latter.

Maybe.

I'd like to say that this review was written when I was supposed to be sleeping, so the above theory might be a bit farfetched.

I loved the [b:The Shadows Between Us|35702241|The Shadows Between Us|Tricia Levenseller|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558027905l/35702241._SY75_.jpg|57195957] vibes that I got from this, but I felt there was a difference in that the shadows between us had a more morally black vibe than this. This did have slightly dark characters but they were definitely grey. View Spoiler

This had insta-love. There was no question of it. I hadn't expected it but it was there. But I still loved it and it still bewilders me how I hate a trope and I still love it. In certain circumstances.

I felt that this story moved too fast. Or too slow depending on how you look at it. A smaller amount of content was taking up a larger amount of length, and so while it felt like you'd only read a little, you'd actually gone through a lot. Or is it the way there way round?

That ending. Oh my goodness that ending.

View Spoiler

I loved it, and I recommend it to anyone who loves a Beauty and the Beast retelling, loved The Shadows Between Us(read that if you liked this)(It's the same but different), likes or isn't bothered by insta-love, and I don't know, Greek myths? Maybe this had nothing special in it. But I still loved it.



7. A Gathering Of Shadows



Synopsis:

It has been four months since a mysterious obsidian stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Prince Rhy was wounded, and since the nefarious Dane twins of White London fell, and four months since the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift--back into Black London.

Now, restless after having given up his smuggling habit, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks as she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games--an extravagant international competition of magic meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries--a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

And while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night will reappear in the morning. But the balance of magic is ever perilous, and for one city to flourish, another London must fall.

Review:

Reviewer's Note: Fair warning, this was written when I was supposed to be sleeping, and I've only made it readable and understandable. All thoughts written here are unedited, and might not make sense. But I don't care.

Editor's Note: What the f*ck is half of this?!?! I hate my phone's keyboard.



I'm tired. I'm sleepy. Why am I writing this? Because this book has one job. Just one. I have no idea what that job was, but it definitely wasn't this.

The first problem I had with this was the amount of time this took to get to the point. I'm not saying all those chapters with what everyone's doing and how they're suffering weren't good,, but that they weren't what I wanted. At all.

It took 75% of the book to get to the point where Kell and Lila actually meet. 75%. I'm not saying I wasn't here for the other characters I'd loved, namely Rhy, but I was definitely mainly here for Lila and Kell. And it took 75% for there to be Lila-Kell.

Besides that, this book was basically Lila-Lila-Kell-Kell-Rhy-Holland-Some-Black-Shi-Ojka-Holland-Lila-Lila-Lila-Kell-Rhy-Kell-Rhy-Lila and so on and so forth but there was no Lila-Kell

Basically this book was not a good sequel. It was a good book but a bad sequel, because the only reason I want to read the next one is because there was a cliffhanger. I have literally zero motivation to read it otherwise. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Other parts of this book were....not boring....but just not what I wanted. I liked Alucard, wanted to see more of Rhy, wanted to understand what the f*ck was going on in White London and for the King and Queen to start behaving like they were in the previous book...basically like good parents who love Kell and I hated that they hated him so much in this and they were not seeing how much Kell was suffering.

Also I currently have this theory View Spoiler I really wanted some good romance from this like the previous one but there was like nothing. I don't think was much romance in the previous book either, but there was so much potential.

I also didn't like that the setting was just so different from the previous one. This was supposed to be about the tournament, but there was just so little of the tournament in the end.

What else even was in this book. I loved the crew and hope we get to see more of them, and Lila and Kell working out whatever it is between them, and Rhy and Alucard to get some good scenes, and Ojka and Holland to just die because I am just so tired. I am so tired and I have no idea why I am writing this except that I want to sleep and this thing had me really frustrated.

On the whole it was just okay, and probably the only reason this has 4 stars instead of three is that this was a bad sequel but a good book....in fact this was exactly what I liked the first book for. But I really wish everything gets sorted out in the next book.



8. Everless



Synopsis:

In the kingdom of Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich aristocracy, like the Gerlings, tax the poor to the hilt, extending their own lives by centuries.

No one resents the Gerlings more than Jules Ember. A decade ago, she and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident forced them to flee in the dead of night. When Jules discovers that her father is dying, she knows that she must return to Everless to earn more time for him before she loses him forever.

But going back to Everless brings more danger—and temptation—than Jules could have ever imagined. Soon she’s caught in a tangle of violent secrets and finds her heart torn between two people she thought she’d never see again. Her decisions have the power to change her fate—and the fate of time itself.

Review:

I didn't expect to, but I really liked it!

Yes, the love-triangle-sorta was irritating, yes this was really boring in the beginning, yes I still don't understand a lot of this, but do i care?

No the answer is no.

Funnily enough I'm not particularly sure why I likes this in the first place.

But I do. And so the 4 star rating.

I will read the next one asap.

I love this concept. Blood currency is amazing and I think the author did a good job of it. It's just that this had a lot of not that good stuff too

And this is why one doesn't write a review so many (10) days after reading the book; one forgets everything.

I did feel that this was a bit boring in the beginning....but it slowly picked up, and picked up well! The only big problem I have with this book is that nothing about it made it really special or notable for me...I literally don't even remember a lot about this, and it's been 10 days since I read this. Its really forgettable, and that's not a particularly good thing.

I didn't like the romance as much as I thought I would and the love triangle wasn't really a triangle in the end, which is something you think I might have liked, but I just didn't find a lot interesting.

I did have some theories, some of which were somewhat correct but most were farfetched. I also didn't realise till like the absolute end that the Alchemist was female all along, and I didn't read it correctly the first I-have-no idea-how-many-times.

On the whole, a pretty good book, and one whose sequel I will be reading , but in the end very forgettable.



9. Courting Darkness 



Synopsis:

Death wasn’t the end, it was only the beginning…

Sybella has always been the darkest of Death’s daughters, trained at the convent of Saint Mortain to serve as his justice. But she has a new mission now. In a desperate bid to keep her two youngest sisters safe from the family that nearly destroyed them all, she agrees to accompany the duchess to France, where they quickly find themselves surrounded by enemies. Their one ray of hope is Sybella’s fellow novitiates, disguised and hidden deep in the French court years ago by the convent—provided Sybella can find them.

Genevieve has been undercover for so many years, she struggles to remember who she is or what she’s supposed to be fighting for. Her only solace is a hidden prisoner who appears all but forgotten by his guards. When tragedy strikes, she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands—even if it means ignoring the long awaited orders from the convent.

As Sybella and Gen’s paths draw ever closer, the fate of everything they hold sacred rests on a knife’s edge. Will they find each other in time, or will their worlds collide, destroying everything they care about?

Review:

3.5 rounded up to 4....very grudgingly.

I am really disappointed.

The sad part is, I did actually enjoy a lot of this, but this turned really boring and disappointing around 80% in the book...it was getting there for a while, but it really started irritating me then.

I love Sybella and Beast, I do, but I really thought that their starcrossed lovers thing would last...well..exactly like that. I didn't want the angst in their relationship, and I'm glad there wasn't a lot.

I loved Gene and Maurad I did, but I was disappointed here...I really expected this to follow in the footsteps of the previous book and have a happy ending relationship and it didn't.

The thing is, most of this book and the next one could have been avoided if Gene had some common sense.

Spoiler alert: Gene does not have common sense.

I was loving Gene and Maraud, but she turned so stupid somehow?!?! I mean, what even was her plan?!?! There was no concrete plan and it was all made up on the go.

I love Sybella, but seriously, this Pierre and d'Albret drama had gone on for too long. Just die already Pierre. Beast was amazing but we got to see so little of him in this.

I loved Anne, and her story was really the most interesting in this. I was prepared to like the king from the ending of the previous book, and I was liking him in the beginning as well, but it seemed like as if he just changed a lot and became so unlikable for me. I underestimated him. A lot.

The regent is a horrible person, and another one I wish would just die.

You hear me!??!?! Pierre and Regent just die already.

I feel this series peaked with Mortal Heart, and really liked whatever it had. With this one,
I can't even say whether I didn't like this because it was worse than Grave Mercy or because it was worse than Mortal Heart, which raised my expectations.

On the whole, not a book I enjoyed completely, but except the last 20-30% this was pretty good. I would recommend this for those who finished with His Fair Assassin, but to take this recommendation with a grain of salt.



10. Gilded Wolves



Synopsis:

No one believes in them. But soon no one will forget them.

It's 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from his home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in arms if not blood.

Together, they will join Séverin as he explores the dark, glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the course of history--but only if they can stay alive.

Review:

4.5 stars, rounded up to 5

I really loved it, but felt it would have been better a standalone. Or maybe that the sequel groundwork could have been laid more thoroughly, and subtly, because the sequel plot feels really forced here.

My favourite characters were not whom I expected them to be. I had expected to really love Severin and Laila, like I did Kaz and Inej, but my favourites were Zofia and Enrique. I'm not sure why, but they were the ones I was really invested in. I kinda wanted Zofia to end up alone, and Enrique with Hypnos, but by the end I was so confused that I'll take a polyamorous relationship between the three of them and I'll be happy.

I loved Zofia's POVs a lot....POVs with neuroatypicalness have always appealed a lot to me, and I felt that Zofia was somewhere on the autism spectrum. If you can't tell, I love Sherlock fanfics, and I loved The Rosie Project, and it's just really interesting to see the world from a perspective that's not exactly new, or different, but maybe more pronounced than the way I do.

And so I really loved Zofia. And I also was shipping Hypnos and Enrique from their first meeting, but I really would have preferred zero love triangle. I'm tired of love triangles and someone getting hurt.

Severin I was liking till that part where he said that to Laila, and that was just unforgivable. I really loved Laila, bring an Indian, it's really rare to see great Indian origin character in fantasy, and I did like Aru Shah and the first book, though I still haven't read the rest of the series, I remembered loving Roshani Chokshi's writing in that, and this one didn't disappoint.

Once we move on from the characters, I don't think there's a little in this. This plot was....I really didn't get why they were doing the things that they were doing sometimes.

And Tristan just.....Tristan and me just did not vibe, and View Spoiler

I went back to characters didn't I?

I'm onto plot now I promise.

Plot: I have no idea. I just don't. A lot of the twists were really obvious and underwhelming, but I did enjoy them

The part I might have liked the most in this was the interaction between different mythologies and cultures and puzzles....and I loved the science and math stuff we had in this too. In short I really liked the explanations.

I loved this, and I will be reading on because I loved the characters. Plot-wise this could have ended in this book and it might have been better. I recommend it to anyone who likes Six of Crows, awesome characters, doesn't mind the lack of coherent plot at times, and obvious plot twists.



11. Champion



Synopsis:

He is a Legend.
She is a Prodigy.
Who will be Champion?

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps-Elect, while Day has been assigned a high-level military position.

But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them: just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything.

With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion.

Review:

This book left me really surprised and happier than I expected it to!

After the ending of the last book, I was really worried about the direction this was going to take ....mainly whether June and Day would ever end up being a thing....and I was rightly worried.

Most of this book passes in the angst of what will happen and how they will survive this war and plague. And most important, whether Day will survive.

I was happy that Day's secret came out pretty early in this book, compared to what I was expecting, and I can't say I didn't enjoy the resulting angst. I did find Day pretty irritating at times..but soon got over it. Because, let's face it Day is always going to be like that.

We see June suffering more or less and then finally being a little happy with Day being back, and then.....

You might be wondering why my review sounds so bland. Its pretty simple actually, my review's bland because the really noteworthy parts of this book were the last twenty percent or so....and those are really spoilery. And I'm getting bored of this unspoilery review, so let's move on to the spoilers

View Spoiler

So... The main thing in this for me was definitely the romance ..I was way less interested in the plot, but it was good too...that being said I can't actually remember a lot of it.

I can't wait to read Rebel, but to be honest I'm only reading it for the Day and June content....who cares what happens to Eden.

I love this series much more now in reflection and I thank Brinley a lot for recommending it! I would definitely ask readers who read Prodigy to give this a try because if you were missing realistic like me, this has tons of realisticness.



12. The Wrath and The Dawn



Synopsis:

One Life to One Dawn.

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Review:

This is more of a 4.5.

This book. I enjoyed it way more than I expected to.

This book really surprised me. I actually first started with the audiobook for this, but I've got to say the narration for that was horrible. No offense to the narrator or publishing company, but maybe when narrating a book with words from a language that is not english and definitely needs a different accent for certain words, just take a narrator who speaks in that language? Or can maybe do that accent?

Because the narrator was American, or maybe British (can't remember), and the way she was saying the words that were Urdu/Arabic was just wrong and really getting on my nerves.

And so I switched to the ebook. And my reading experience improved dramatically.

I love the Thousand and One Arabian Nights stories though I think I've only read some of them...and I used to love that show on Discovery Kids but that's a separate matter. And the things that maybe disappointed me in this book was the lack of the actual stories she was supposed to be telling.. and also to length of the stories that she was telling....how early does sunrise happen here anyway?

Those stories can't have taken more than half an hour to get through and you can't tell me they had sex for like hours because that was obviously not the case and that brings up the question of how late was the guy coming to her chambers anyway.

Another thing that bothered me about this book was the sex on the first two days. And why I liked that this book included something like that is that it raised the question in my head as to what exactly qualifies as consent.

If you ask anyone what consent is, and how it's usually approached in books, I think the answer is that both or more parties want to have sex. They willingly approach the other parties involved and the other parties involved also want to have sex. And that is what I thought qualified as consensual sex.

But in this book since we were in Shazi's POV we see that she doesn't really want to have sex. She wants to seduce the guy so she can have her revenge yes but did that invitation count as consent? I don't know.

Also the guy never had sex with any other of his wives so that was just plain weird and all. And then when we see that the guy doesn't seem particularly eager to have sex either it gets really confusing whether it's consensual because the only reason they're having sex is because she literally threw herself on him. And he wanted that.

Where this gets infinitely more confusing is when it happens again on the second night. And this time it seems even less consensual but not exactly? And maybe what I wanted to achieve from this really long essay was to communicate that consent is confusing. And it shouldn't be.

Once we move on from that and the insta-love that this then incorporates, this book got amazing. It got much better than I had expected and the romance got beautiful and I had so many changes of heart that I was devastated by the end of this book.

Once we move on from the romance there really isn't much left in this and I was liking it for that. I didn't particularly want anything else because I was really enjoying the romance.

And that is why I hated the Tariq-trying-to-save-her subplot and the her-father-doing-whatever-the-hell-he-was-trying-to-do sideplot and that other-father-manipulating-him subplot and the trying-to overthrow-the-kingdom subplot in this.

I really believe I would have liked this more as a standalone novel than a series but I will still be reading the next book. Because I need to know what happens next.

I liked it and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a good enemies-to-lovers, slightly questionable actions by love interests, does not mind side plots that fell unnecessart and slightly stupid love triangles that aren't exactly love triangles. I mean, it's pretty obvious who she actually wants and I can so get onboard one of those kinds!



13. Blood and Ash



Synopsis:

A Maiden…

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty…

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom…

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.

Review:

This book was really a pretty big disappointment.

You might be wondering how could you rate a disappointment 4 stars, Trisha and you're right. I'm not exactly sure but it has a number of reasons.

Its mainly stems from the hype that surrounds this book. The fact that this won in the Best Romance category of the 2020 GR choice awards. View Spoiler

Anyway the first 80% of this was like a dream come true....we had this badass female character who goes about killing people, has the telepathy/empathy-like powers, is isolated and not allowed to do anything, is abused regularly, but is fighting back; I mean, what could go wrong!??!

What is it that could ruin this?

View Spoiler

And there were so many good scenes in this especially the fighting scenes because this author has a lot of talent writing fighting scenes. I had so much fun reading them! They have the right amount of violence and badassness, combined with the twists, and periodically the threat of small injuries, and I loved those scenes.

View Spoiler

I started out loving Hakwe, even after that problematic beginning scene View Spoiler

But when he was like this arrogant asshole without the vulnerability, and with like excessive cockiness bordering on creepiness, I had to stop. View Spoiler the next book. Which I will read, but preferably after it's been a few weeks since I read this.

This is in no way the best romance of this year, at least in my opinion. I felt that the other nominations, regardless of whether I decided to vote for them, were definitely better.

On the whole, a good book, but one that was just not for me. I recommend it to anyone who likes romance, a lot of sex scenes, vampires, badass female characters fighting stuff and killing people, characters with telepathy/empathy like powers, and good love interests, View Spoiler .



14. How to Fail at Flirting



Synopsis:

One daring to-do list and a crash course in flirtation turn a Type A overachiever’s world upside down.

When her flailing department lands on the university's chopping block, Professor Naya Turner’s friends convince her to shed her frumpy cardigan for an evening on the town. For one night her focus will stray from her demanding job and she’ll tackle a new kind of to-do list. When she meets a charming stranger in town on business, he presents the perfect opportunity to check off the items on her list. Let the guy buy her a drink. Check. Try something new. Check. A no-strings-attached hookup. Check…almost.

Jake makes her laugh and challenges Naya to rebuild her confidence, which was left toppled by her abusive ex-boyfriend. Soon she’s flirting with the chance at a more serious romantic relationship—except nothing can be that easy. The complicated strings around her dating Jake might destroy her career.

Naya has two options. She can protect her professional reputation and return to her old life or she can flirt with the unknown and stay with the person who makes her feel like she's finally living again.

Review:

I JUST LOVED THIS!!!!

It has been a while since I enjoyed a rom-com so thoroughly, and I'm so glad I decided to read this! This had been iin my sights for a while, and GR had so many articles including that I just had to check it out!

And that turned out to be a really good idea! This was really enjoyable, with awesome laugh out loud moments, pining, misunderstandings, and an abusive ex-boyfriend who finally learned his lesson.
It had the right mix of fun with seriousness, tackling serious issues without letting them takeover your enjoyment of the light-hearted(mostly) romance.

The most important thing, I felt, about this book was the insight into working conditions for women in any industry, really. We see how a single rumour can destroy oppurtunities, abusive people can take advantage of the mindset of people and get away with harassing others with little to no consequences.

Some of the scenes in this were really scary, in the sense that you are scared for the protagonist, who is in a situation no one ever wants to be in. You're left hoping to God that she gets out of it okay, and seeing her get hurt was really scary and angsty (I seem to have left my vocabulary in 2020).

Moving on to the romance, I JUST LOVED IT!! This was a slightly differently structured rom-com, in the sense that the angsty stuff started a bit early. And it was good that it was there early, because it let our characters grow into it, rather than it being unrealistically perfect.

I loved Jake, and the way he reacted and then dealt, and then adapted to Naya's needs was really well portrayed, I think. He was so sweet and everything, but I hadn't expected View Spoiler . And those pencils were so sweet!!! I want someone to give me pencils with my name on them. Uncommonly named people unite!

I really loved it, and I recommend it to anyone who likes realistic romance, insight into the lives of working women, insight into survivors and their thought-process, sweet but angsty romance, an awesome best friend, and awkward sorta one-night stands that might lead to something more.


15. Forever Your Duke



Synopsis:

This year, the Duke of Nottingvale's Christmastide house party doubles as a bride hunt. The handsome duke seeks a blue-blooded debutante as respectable as he is, and his parlor is brimming with paragons of propriety.

Inveterate spinster and unapologetic hoyden Miss Cynthia Louise Finch does not fit the mold. Any mold. Her younger cousin is perfect for the duke! By matchmaking the two, Cynthia will save her favorite cousin from a horrific fate. The only problem? Cynthia has always held a tendre for the duke. And for the first time, she seems to have caught his attention...

The Duke of Nottingvale knows his responsibilities: Duty and decorum above all else. A respectable lord would never sneak away for stolen moments with a fearless, audacious minx he cannot make his duchess. He definitely wouldn't kiss her. Or fall in love…

Review:

This was my first arc, so it was a slightly new experience, but I really enjoyed it!

The reason I picked this up was because I'd been seeing this in my feed, and seeing 'Duke', 'Christmas', and 'Romance', I was sold. This might be one of the very few Christmas themed books I've read this month, but this was definitely one of the best.

Though, when I say best, I do not say this is the best romance I've ever read. Or even the best Christmas romance. Or the best Historical Romance. Ratehr, this was one of the best in terms of enjoyment.

This book is pure indulgence. It reads like a crack fic in some places, but I love it for that. I read this when I wasn't able to sleep, and finished it in one sitting, under one and a half hour, because this was short and sweet.

We had the opposites attract trope and the insta-love trope (are you in disbelief that I liked a insta-love? Believe me I am too), but it was done so well, and and not only done well, but...I don't know exactly, but the execution was just awesome!

That being said, I probably liked the dog and Gertie more than I did the actual characters, but who cares?

In some portions this seemed so bewilderingly stupid and awkward that I had to put down the phone and scream into my pillow because everyone around me was sleeping. Not that I would have screamed if everyone was awake, but you get the point.

This book reminded me a lot of Serpent & Dove, in the sense that Cynthia Louise and her vulgarity and boisterousness reminded me a lot of Lou's. really, when I was reading 'wenching-ladies', all I could think of was 'Big Titty Liddy'. And similarly, Alexander and his closetedness, the obsession with 'duty' and 'the right thing', reminded me a lot of Reid.

On the whole a very good feel good romance, but be warned, this is not supposed to make sense. This is pure indulgence. I recommend it to anyone who likes historical romance, dukes and their duchies, boisterous and loud characters paired with shy and uptight ones, and a good feel-good romance to commemorate the holidays.




Remarks:

The last month of this Godforsaken year which no one will miss, I think. My reading has been steadily declining, not only a side-effect, but because of a conscious effort to study more. Still, I read a number of good books, and I started reviewing on Netgalley (only 1 up till now, but I'll be reading more next month). Can't wait for the new year!

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Hi! I'm Trisha, and this is my blog for saving my reviews, and maybe other things with the start of the new year! I hope you like it!

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