Fortuna Sworn is the first book in a paranormal fantasy series by K.J. Sutton and if you’re looking for a fast-paced book about fae and other paranormal creatures, you should consider picking this one up. I’ve really enjoyed the other stories that Sutton has written so was excited when this hit my Kindle.

Fortuna Sworn is a nightmare and that means that with just a touch, she can make someone see and live their greatest fears. She’s also the last of her kind since her brother has been missing for two years. Through her search for her brother, Damon, Fortuna finds herself in a tough situation when the book opens as she was grabbed and taken to be sold on the black market. I mention this because as she’s sitting in a cage plotting her escape, a few things happen. First, it became very clear to me that Fortuna is resourceful and unwilling to give up. Second, she’s also dangerous and willing to do whatever it takes to survive and protect those she loves.

Fortuna’s main goal these days is to find her brother and bring him back. She hasn’t had much luck but when a mysterious faerie, Colith, offers to take her to him, she knows she will need to make a bargain. Unfortunately for her, the only thing he is willing to take in the bargain is her and there is no question in her mind that she will give him what he wants. Of course, you have to know there is a twist, but Fortuna doesn’t learn anything about what her decision really means until she’s already in the Unseelie court. Not only does this put her in danger but it creates a huge level of distrust between Fortuna and Colith.

Colith is an interesting character. I’m not going to reveal much here because I don’t want to give his story away but he’s a pretty powerful faerie and even with all his power, he is still unable to fully protect Fortuna from the majority of her decisions. What he does do is try to help her with the repercussions but even then, I really just wanted him to be more forthcoming with her. As things move forward with the story, Fortuna wavers back and forth between her feelings for Colith and I can’t really blame her.

The other characters in the book were well done and really helped move the plot forward. First, you have Laurie helping and supporting her along the way. He’s another character that I won’t spend too much time talking about, but he becomes the person Fortuna relies on the most and I can’t see what happens next. As her reason for going to the court, Damon is significant, but I really wanted more understanding of what really happened to him and I wanted him and Fortuna to have a discussion about it. Especially knowing how important they were to each other. The other character I will mention is Oliver who happens to be the man of Fortuna’s dreams…literally. I loved it when they were together, and I am interested to see where that storyline goes.

The story itself was pretty fast paced. One minute Fortuna would be a party and the next she was battling a Leviathan. It kept me turning the pages to see what was going to happen and to be honest, I didn’t want to put the book down because I wanted to know everything. If you are looking for a paranormal that has interesting characters, quite a bit of danger, and some romance, definitely check this one out. Overall, I really enjoyed this one and as I mentioned, I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book. With the way this one wrapped up; it should be another great story with a few more challenges for Fortuna.

Thank you to the author for the copy in exchange for an honest review!

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig is a book I had my eye on ever since I saw the cover. I know the saying but don’t judge me…I love a pretty cover! All of that aside, the book was great so in this case, I feel justified.

Annaleigh is the main character and she lives at Highmoor, a fairly isolated manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and their stepmother. At one time she had twelve sisters but through a number of tragedies, four of Annaleigh’s sisters are dead and there are rumors that their family is cursed. As Annaleigh digs into the death of her sister who died most recently, she begins to believe the deaths are not accidents.

There are a number of things going on in this story that really helped to keep things moving and although it may seem they aren’t connected to the main story of the deaths, think again. As the family has been mourning for a very long time, there is a sense of loss, not only for the sisters, but for everything else the girls would like in their lives. They want to be able to go to parties, meet boys, and wear clothes that are not for mourning. When their stepmother takes the opportunity to announce her pregnancy (tackily at the most recent wake), everyone begins to argue that they should be celebrating, and it’s decided that the family will have a party in honor of the twins’ birthday. Annaleigh pushes back a little and I thought she would have stuck to her guns a bit more (even with her father pushing her along) but eventually she joins in and follows the lead of her sisters.

As the party nears, Annaleigh meets a mysterious stranger in town and is immediately drawn to him, but he clearly has some secrets. When the party doesn’t have the outcome the girls were hoping for, they find another way to have fun by going to balls and dancing all night. Annaleigh decides to skip out on this activity after experiencing some disturbing things around the manor, but she also worries that the parties are having a negative effect and taking a toll on her sisters.

I loved how the relationships were addressed in the book. Of course, the sisters are key to the core story, but they had a lot of engagement with their father and stepmother...especially Annaleigh, and it helped to see those interactions and relationships to understand her and her motivations more.

All of these things combine to make an interesting story. I’m clearly not going to tell you all the things here as I don’t want to ruin the mysteries behind it all but there are a number of twists and turns in this book that I wasn’t expecting which made me enjoy it even more. Add to that well-developed characters and writing that sets the stage and atmosphere, and you’ve won me over as a reader!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to add a finished copy to my bookshelves. Based on this story, I will be looking for more books from Erin A. Craig in the future and I recommend you pick this one up when you can.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love this book. The only thing that bothered me was the fact that there was zero use of contractions which really stood out to me in the audio. I don't remember it at all in the book. Regardless, I love this story and can't wait to read Rage!

So good! Review to come!

I read a lot of historical romance and I have to say Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore is one of my favorite reads so far this year as well as at the top of my favorites for the genre. I devoured this in one day and couldn’t get enough of these characters.

Annabelle Archer is smart and while she has lived in the country and as a daughter of a vicar, she has earned a place as part of the first group of female students at the University of Oxford. The catch is that in exchange for her scholarship, she needs to support the women’s suffrage movement. That means she needs to get men of influence interested in championing their cause.

I loved Annabelle as a character. She is smart and she’s willing to put herself in an uncomfortable situation if it means she can make a difference. Her drive to want and be more than what society tells her she should be as a woman is something I love most about her, and I was so happy that Dunmore gave her a group of women to connect with through it. The friendships Evie develops not only help her in her mission, but also when she needs it most.

Sebastian Deveraux, the Duke of Montgomery, is driven to restore his family’s legacy and as a leader in Britain, he has the opportunity to get his ancestral home back as long as he agrees to be the chief strategic advisor for the election campaign of the Tory party…and keeps the current Prime Minister in power. Unfortunately for Sebastian, he really has no choice. Add to that the fact that the Tory party is against amending the Married Women’s Property Act and things are about to get really interesting for both Sebastian and Annabelle.

I do want to call out that I loved how Annabelle and Sebastian meet. Their immediate attraction and his willingness to dress down the guard who pushed her made me like him despite how he is described and the coolness with which he addressed Annabelle on the street. As Annabelle finds a way to infiltrate Sebastian’s home (along with her friends), their attraction only grows. I loved the banter and the fact that she is willing to challenge him.

Unfortunately for them both, once they do realize how much they are attracted to one another, they face the challenge of status and what that means in regard to a relationship between them. They both recognize that a vicar’s daughter and a Duke could never marry and Annabelle refuses to be his mistress. This leaves them in a place with no resolution and the only thing Annabelle can do is ask Sebastian to leave her alone but when the suffragist march on Parliament gets out of hand and Annabelle finds herself in a situation she can’t get out of, Sebastian is the one to save her but her actions do have consequences.

As everything comes to a head in this book, decisions need to be made both by Annabelle and Sebastian. I’m not going to tell you everything about this one so if you want to know, you will have to go get this book when it is released. Trust me, you will want to know ALL THE THINGS so if you don’t have this on your TBR shelf yet, go add it now. I will definitely be sitting back waiting for more books by Evie Dunmore as this debut has made me a fan. If you are looking for a historical romance with great characters, an interesting story, and slow burn romance you should definitely check this one out.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy in exchange for an honest review!

I’ve had Crown of Coral and Pearl by Mara Rutherford on my to read shelf for a while so when I was able to get at copy while at ALA this year, I bumped it up on my reading schedule.

The main character is Nor and she has grown up in the ocean village of Varenia so she’s been surrounded by water her whole life. Her village is struggling to get by because of the limits they have on trade as well as the fact that the pearls they hunt and sell to survive are becoming more and more scarce. The only way villagers have to become more is to have a daughter chosen to go to Ilara. For generations, the princes of Ilara have married the most beautiful girl in their village and because Nor was injured and scarred years before, she knows her chance is gone. Luckily for her family, Nor has a twin named Zadie.

As the time comes for a girl to be chosen, the inevitable happens and Zadie is chosen. Unfortunately, she doesn’t want to leave. She’s in love with Sami (the Governor’s son) and she’s happy in their village. When Zadie does something drastic to stay, she puts Nor in a bad position and ultimately pushes the leaders of the village to send Nor in her stead. I get that she wanted to make her own choice but she basically removes any choices Nor has and even puts her life in danger so she comes across as selfish.

I’ll start with Nor’s family relationships. The relationship between Nor and Zadie was interesting. Nor is very clearly willing to do anything to keep her sister safe. I didn’t love the way Zadie forced Nor into the situation she was in and then ultimately did nothing to sway the leaders of their village that Nor was not guilty of what they were accusing her of. Don’t even get me started on their mother. I disliked her almost immediately and the fact that she made Nor feel like she wasn’t beautiful because of a scar only made her worse in my mind. Nor’s relationship with her father was solid and I loved that he saw through everything.

As Nor is sent off to marry the prince under the guise of being Zadie, she realizes she might be in over her head at court. Not only is her betrothed, Prince Ceren, cold and someone who makes her uncomfortable, she finds out that the emissary sent by the prince was actually his brother, Prince Talin and she is drawn to him in a way she knows she should not be. It was interesting to see Nor try to navigate the politics of court as well as balance Ceren’s weird moods. Where she can, she attempts to bargain with Prince Ceren for the safety of her family and her people, but it doesn’t always work out as she planned.

While Nor’s relationship with Talin strengthens, she puts herself in a risky place with Prince Ceren and things come to a head when he finds out what she can do because of her childhood accident. Ceren immediately looks for a way to use her ability to give him more strength and power and when he finds what he wants, he delivers an ultimatum.

Overall, I thought this was a good book. I do want to mention that the world building is really well done. From the ocean village to the castle fortress, I was able to picture how the world came together. On top of that, the story kept me interested and the characters were well-developed. While I would have liked to see more development in the relationship between Nor and Talin, I thought Ceren was a great villain. I would have liked to learn more about what was going on with Zadie as well, but knowing that this was Nor’s story, I see why we only got a glimpse of it via Sami.

If you’re looking for a YA fantasy that has an interesting twist, consider checking this one out. I enjoyed it and will be looking for more from Mara Rutherford in the future.

Thank you to the publisher for the copy in exchange for an honest review.