Solid narration and I now have to go read the next book because I completely forgot about the ending on this one.

I enjoyed this second book in the Endeavor series. Admittedly I had to do a quick review of the end of book one to recall how things had wrapped up but if you're looking for a solid sci-fi with some romance, consider picking this series up.

The story took me on quite a ride as there is plenty of action and with the introduction of new characters, we get to learn more about what's at stake and what Tess is willing to do to help others. I thought Bouchet did a fantastic job of keeping me engaged in the story by including a number of twists and turns.

As Tess and Shade's relationship is pretty new, they continue to learn more about each other and while their connection is strong, they are still learning to trust each other and sometimes the past comes back to haunt them. Similar to the first book, the secondary characters were well developed and it felt like they were much more involved in the story, which I loved.

I definitely recommend checking out this series if you haven't yet. It has strong characters, an interesting story, and if you know me, you know I like romance too...which this one has.

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

A Royal Kiss & Tell was a nice, quick historical romance and while Caroline was slightly annoying at first, I have to admit she grew on me. She's pretty and she knows it but she is looking for someone who will appreciate her for more than her looks. With that said, she is drawn to Prince Leopold but he only thinks of her as someone who has no respect for the rules as she doesn't address him appropriately and she speaks out of turn constantly.

Leopold grew on me as well. As a second son, he never had to worry about any expectations other than the fact that he eventually has to marry. Unexpectedly, he is pulled into an investigation that involves Alucia. Unfortunately for Leo, things take a turn for him and his reputation takes a hit and he now has to work with Caroline to get to the bottom of what is going on.

While I didn't read the first book of this series, I think it was fine. The first book is Leo's brother so the only gap I had was the detail in his brother and now sister-in-law's story. If you're looking for a quick and engaging read, consider checking this one out.

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

Of Silver and Shadow by Jennifer Gruenke is a book that caught my attention because of the cover…it’s so pretty. With that said, the story itself was quick to grab my attention and I found I didn’t want to put it down until I finished. The fact that I finished it in less than a day should tell you I enjoyed it. I’ll do my best not to include spoilers but be warned, that might be harder than I think.

The story is told from multiple perspectives and normally I favor one over another but in this case, I liked all perspectives equally. I think this speaks to Gruenke’s ability to make every chapter as engaging as the last, regardless of who’s perspective it was.

Now to the story – Ren Kolins is a silver wielder. This is important because a number of years prior, the King did what he needed to to eliminate anyone who had this magic but wasn’t a member of the royal family. Ren’s family was killed but she ended up surviving and living on the streets of Erdis. Ren is definitely a survivor. With the help of her magic, she’s actually been able to get by and you could say she’s a pretty successful thief and pit fighter. When Ren is approached by the leader of a group of rebels to join them and use her magic to overthrow the King, she bargains to get a fortune that will get her out from under the thumb of a gang leader she owes money to.

Our rebel leader is Darek and he doesn’t really make a great first impression with Ren. Having taken on the mantle of leader of the rebels when his mother died, Darek isn’t interested in Ren’s reasons for not doing whatever she could to make things better for the people of Erdis. Having grown up protected by his father and their money, he doesn’t really know what Ren has gone through and it shows. Luckily for Darek, he has his younger brother Markus, who is a bit more sensitive and is able to talk (negotiate) a deal with Ren to get her on board.

Adley Farre is one of the King’s Children; a group of warriors raised and trained by the King so you can imagine her life hasn’t been that easy. With that said, she has been able to carve a place for herself within the castle walls and by doing so, she is now a primary person responsible for hunting down the rebels. Her motivation is the competition the king has created amongst the Children. Whoever is able to hunt down the rebel leader will be made the King’s Fang (his right hand) and Adley sees this as an opportunity to obtain her freedom (and potentially that of the person she loves, another warrior named Lesa).

The final point of view is that of Kellen, the second son of the King. His ability to get in and out of the castle and make people believe that he doesn’t have a care in the world are what helps him survive in the world he grew up in - Kellen recognizes just how dangerous his father and his brother are. Unbeknownst to Kellen, his relationship is what gets him pulled into the world of the rebels and with a side gig he has, he finds himself right in the middle of Ren’s world.

I loved how Gruenke developed the characters, brought them all together, and leveraged them all to move the story forward. Yes, Ren is right at the center of everything but everyone in this book has a role to play and it makes the story that much more interesting.

This book has plenty of action and the pacing felt right. Every time I thought I had the storylines figured out, there was a twist or something else happened that required the characters to completely adjust their intended plans and it made things more interesting.

That’s about all I can say without giving anything away. If you’re looking for a new young adult fantasy, consider adding this one to your tbr shelf. I will definitely be picking up more stories from Gruenke whenever she writes them as this was a great read!

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

The Firey Crown is book two in the Forgotten Empires books by Jeffe Kennedy and if you are looking for a fantasy with some romance included, you might consider checking this series out. As a book two, I’ll do my best not to include any spoilers for this installment, but I can’t promise anything for book one.

This book picks up shortly after book one wraps up. Conri and Lia are trying to figure out how to navigate their new marriage right along with figuring out who the other is…and it’s not very easy when despite their shared enemy, they have slightly different ideas of how to get to their shared goal.

The story makes a lot of progress in this installment as both Conri and Lia face off with Anure and come to realize what is really most important to them. I thought Kennedy did a great job of not only showing the conflict Conri and Lia had with Anure but also between themselves. They continue to battle each other as Conri wants his revenge and Lia is determined to protect Calanthe and neither can see yet how to do both.

As Lia and Conri begin to open up, they start to learn more about each other, and it was nice to get more background on both. Lia’s background and connection to Calanthe becomes a bit more clear and I found it to be a piece of the story that makes this fantasy unique.

The secondary characters continue to help drive the story forward. Ambrose is still a bit of a mystery but I’m hoping the next book gives us a bit more. In addition to this, there was plenty of action and enough of the sexy times to make me call out the romance aspect. It is very clear that Lia and Conri do not have a problem connecting in that arena.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and will pick up the next book when it comes. If you’re looking for an adult fantasy, consider checking this series out. It’s a fairly quick read, has an interesting story, and solid characters whose stories will keep you turning the pages.

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

Marry in Scarlet by Anne Gracie is the fourth (and I believe, final) book of the Marriage of Convenience series and I’m so sad that it is over as I loved these characters. With that said, I am so glad I finally got to read George’s story and I loved how it all wrapped up.

If you recall, the last book had Rose leaving the Duke of Everingham at the altar which turned out well for her in the end. It wasn’t a love match, so he wasn’t that broken hearted about it but he’s definitely having to deal with the gossip and he doesn’t really have any interest in finding a replacement.

Lady Georgina Rutherford is determined not to marry. When she comes of age, she wants to move to the country and raise horses and dogs. Unfortunately for her, that means that until that happens, she has to continue to go to all of the parties and social events whether she wants to or not. George actually has a good reputation with the gentlemen of the Ton because she has always been up front with her plans and even though she still gets offers of marriage, she is clear with her intention not to marry.

George catches Hart’s interest at first because of her aunt Agatha. They never really interacted all that much when Hart was engaged to Rose but when Agatha offers George up as an option as a bride, Hart’s interest is piqued. Of course, he declines (adamantly) but when he starts to engage with George at parties and then also finds out she owns a magnificent horse he would like to own, he decides he wants her and does whatever he has to in order to make her his.

I loved how these two came together. I was worried it was going to be weird with Hart having almost married Rose, but it actually wasn’t as they didn’t have any feelings invested. As George continues to challenge and push back at Hart, things get more interesting until they find themselves in a situation where the only way to save both their reputations is to get married. Unfortunately for George, she is the one to suffer because of this. Having declined other offers, people now think she was scheming for a title and even though she doesn’t really care what people think of her, she does care if what they think is completely incorrect.

As Hart and George start to learn more about each other and correct some assumptions they had along the way, their relationship becomes about more than just the contract they agreed to and it was wonderful to see these two figure it out.

Overall, I thought this was a great wrap up for this group. I loved every one of the stories and George’s was a solid ending. I think everyone who loves Historical Romance should be reading Anne Gracie’s stories as they rank amongst some of my favorites. She develops wonderful characters, interesting stories, and makes the romance swoony. Gracie has quickly become an auto-buy author for me in this genre and I can’t wait for the next book she writes to come out…whatever it is.

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

4.5 stars

Dark Skies, book two of the Dark Shores series, by Danielle Jensen is a book I have been waiting to read since I turned the last page of Dark Shores. If you have not yet started this series, you definitely should. Please be warned, if you haven’t yet read book one, I don’t think I will spoil anything but you can’t hold it against me if I do.

This book runs somewhat parallel to the story in book one as this one focuses on Lydia and Killian and while at first I was all about getting more about Teriana and Marcus, Jensen made me quickly forget that line of thought and focus on these characters and I love where this story is going.

Lydia is Teriana’s best friend and she is briefly mentioned in Dark Shores, but we get her full story in this book and I loved her. Despite the fact that she’s grown up with an influential father, when Lydia when goes against the most powerful man in the Celendor Empire, she finds herself in Mudamora (nope – can’t / won’t tell you how). Unfortunately for Lydia, she ends up there in a really bad time for Mudamora…more to come about that.

Killian…I loved him. Having been Marked by the God of War, he is thought to be the one who will save Mudamora from the Corrupter and when the wall falls while he is in command and the armies invade, he finds himself in a situation where he has to rely on the crown princess to save him by having him swear his sword to her for life. This is not exactly the path Killian had in mind for himself but as he finds himself caught up in politics, he can’t stop thinking of the people and every night he goes out to do what he can to help whether that’s bringing food to orphans or saving a girl who happens to be wandering around after dark…which most know not to do.

From the moment Lydia and Killian met, I could feel the tension and the build of their relationship throughout this book was fantastically done. Lydia is in a foreign world and is desperate to get back to Celendor to help her father. Unfortunately with what is going on in Mudamora, she doesn’t have an easy solve and when she agrees to something that changes her in a big way, she finds that she has now put herself in a more dangerous position than she was before. I thought Lydia showed a lot of growth in this story. She faces a lot of tough decisions and she makes most of them based on the impact to those she loves no matter the danger she is in…all the way to the last page of the book.

The secondary characters in this book were interesting and helped to move the story along. I had so many mixed feelings about Malahi, Killian’s older brother, Hacken, needs to be punched, and I want to know more about Rufina and the Corruptor. I will be curious to see what happens next for all of these characters as well as those from book one. I am hoping they all begin to cross paths soon because of reasons.

That’s about all I can say about this book without ruining anything for anyone. Just trust me – you need to pick this one up and lucky for you, it comes out soon, so you don’t have to wait very long. If you’re looking for a series that has great characters, political intrigue, plenty of action, and swoony bits, this one is for you!

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