I won't lie, the first chapter of this book had me questioning myself and my reasons for picking this one up. I am happy to say that I am SO glad that I kept going. 

I absolutely love the push and pull of Kon and Athena; their relationship was so swoon worthy. I couldn't get enough of these two, and watching their walls come down around each other was absolutely everything. 

AND! On top of that, we get this book full of mercenaries and heists, and it's basically a spicy Indiana Jones! (it's not, haha). 

But on a more serious note, the characters in this book are wonderful and so fun. There's great banter, spice (that isn't cringey, IMO), and a serious revenge plot. You really couldn't ask for more. 

I really liked this one much more than the first, which is saying a lot as The Nutcracker is one of my all-time favorite stories, and Alice isn't, but here we are.

There was a lot more in-depth plot in this one, which I was really happy to see. While there is still a ton of smut and “spice” it wasn't as heavily focused on, and there was still a decent plot for me to follow. 

I think I wanted more of Alice here, though. And more of the queen. We saw a few glimpses of her and her chaos, but I wanted more of a focus on her and her destruction. Too much of this book was based around Clara and Fin, and to be quite honest here, they already got their story. 

Here's the thing. I don't really like these books. (I'm sorry, why am I here?) But I also love retellings… and this one was a step above the last, and the next is an Oz retelling… so I'm hoping I love the next one (even though I didn't love the last 2) and I'm forging on! Fingers crossed.

This one… wasn't exactly my cup of tea. 

I kept putting this one off because I was terrified it was going to ruin the Nutcracker for me, which would be disappointing because it's in my top three favorite stories. 

I was right. This is The Nutcracker on smut steroids. You almost wouldn't know it even is a retelling because there's so little plot. You honestly can't read an entire page without sex being mentioned or some kind of sexual act occurring… or a story of a past sexual act. Or some kind of fluids being involved. 

I'm not a smut girl, but I'm perfectly happy skipping past those parts to continue through a story; there almost wasn't even a point here. 

I'm giving this two stars because I did like the idea of the Fae cross-over, and some of the non-smut parts were quite good. 

I liked the idea, I just wanted more plot. 

Man. You don't even find out who dies until over 50% of the way through this book. Not only that, other than tiny little hints throughout the first half, I didn't even understand why everyone was gathered together. Quite frankly, the author had to dumb it down and spell it out for me at the end of the book just to clear it up, and I STILL didn't understand why they made such a big deal about it all. 

There are so many povs that things were constantly being repeated from one person to the next. I was also having to check back to see whose pov i was reading because it was so muddled and messy; I couldn't keep things straight. 

I also don't like any of the characters. Literally, not one.. Probably because all any of the characters do in their povs is bitch complain and gossip about everyone else. They all pretty much secretly hate each other and aren't shy about it. 

Nothing about this one worked for me. Nada. It was a mish mash of ideas poorly put together and called a murder mystery. 

I didn't love this one as much as the last, but I still had a lot of fun with it. My daughter loved Jack and Jill just as much as she did Hansel and Gretel, but she agrees that it wasn't quite as good. 

I love the adventures these kids go on, they're so outrageous, disgusting, and occasionally; I'm so here for it. 

I love that every chapter is kind of like its own little mini story and piece of their adventure; so every night that we sit down to read we're dying to see what kind of creature this chapter is about. 

Super shout out to Eddie, who was one of the best parts of this one. 

I appreciate that this book was more pirate focused than the first. But it just didn't work for me. 

Just like the first, the plot is decent, and the idea is there, but the characters are just so immature and bland that I just can't get into it. I also really hate a OW/OM trope, and while it's explained, it's still a huge chunk of the book. 

I liked the time travel twist, it was fun, and it went along with the whole Bermuda triangle aspect so well. But as soon as we get to this point, Milo is separated from everyone, and Bellamy pops up. I think this might have worked better for me if Milo actually did something with his chapters other than drink excessively and pout about his dad not being the person he thought it was. 

I needed more done with the plot, I just feel like I kept getting my hopes up that something big was going to happen, and then it didn't. 

I won't lie, Katrina mixing her paints with her tears pushed me over my eye rolling limit for this book, and that was barely halfway through. 

Part two of this series was so much stronger for me than the first. I truly loved this book. 

There is so much more plot in this one than in the first, and it was so strong. We have another haunted house, but more than just the monster possessing Elise, we also have the story of Miss Bishop, and I adored her. It was nice to have kind of a secondary mystery while trying to discover how to save Elise from her possession. 

This book definitely outshines the first for me, but it could be because we weren't busy laying the foundation for a marriage or explaining the monster from scratch. We already had that history there. 

Can't recommend this enough. Honestly, anything written by Darcy Coates is a win for me every time. Quick reads that aren't short on plot. 

I'm a huge sucker for a Darcy Coates book. The fast pace and the way her books are written make for quick reads, and sometimes, that's exactly what I need. 

I really enjoyed this one. The story of this cursed family that has been dying these brutal deaths for generations is so well done. The Gothic vibes paired with the cold harsh aunt, and the obviously haunted niece created just a great atmosphere for the plot, and it created the perfect amount of suspense. 

I appreciated the romance in this book. It wasn't thrown in your face. It didn't seem forced. They just fell for each other for such sweet reasons in a terrifying time. 

And then end! The end. I'm so excited for book 2. 

I really loved the beginning of this book, I went into it completely blind and the first third had me so hooked. I really had such high hopes for the whole story after such a strong start, and it just didn't come to fruition for me. 

What started off as a happenstance run in with a killer, really just turned into a cat and mouse chase, and to be quite honest here, it wasn't even a very good one. 

This one is pulling me in two different directions. 

I promised undead pirates… and I feel like what was given to me was undead wannabe pirate teenagers. Considering the two mmcs in this book were twenty-something when they became undead, and then continued to live 300 undead years, I can not believe that their mindsets still left them like 15 year old boys. 

Also, I need to mention this because it drove me crazy. These guys have been coming to.shore and spending time in Constantine for 300 years. Enough so that Milo found a motorbike, taught himself the mechanics, and then repaired it. But yet NO ONE has ever batted an eyelash at these unaging men trapezing through town for decades? Unlikely. They also have no idea what movies are or other modern technologies even though they've been around. I don't know why, but my mind snagged on that every single time. 

So, I didn't love the characters in the book. Everyone is super immature, and it's unrealistic at best. But. BUT. The story of Cordelia is amazing. I freaking love a scorned woman, and she was the scorndest of scorned women. Having her story unravel through the rest of the plot is the sole reason I stuck around, and the sole reason I gave this book 3 stars. I wanted more of her. I almost wish this book had a dual time frame and bounced back and forth between Cordelia and Trina. 

Anyway, there's that. Lackluster characters, great subplot.