5 gazillion stars for this - it was so good I can't even put words together about it right now.

So, I have done my best not to completely fangirl as well as give anything away here. Continue reading with the idea that I had to completely hold myself back and if you have not started this series yet...what the heck are you waiting for...seriously - go do it now.

I've been waiting what feels like forever for this book and boy did Sarah Maas come through. This was the one book I had to leave BEA with and thank the lord I got my hands on a copy. If it would have any influence whatsoever, I would offer up cookies or my first born child for the next book - just putting that out there.

Crown of Midnight picks up with Celaena acting as the King's Champion. A lot happens in this book and there is also a lot revealed. I'm not going to go into any of it because I don't want to give it away but if you enjoyed Throne of Glass, you will really like book two. I felt like the pacing was well done and it was the perfect mix of action, mystery, swoon and snarky banter.

Celaena is still one of my favorite characters...ever. She is still arrogant, tough, smart and sarcastic and I love this about her. She also now has people that care about her and that she cares about. Celaena knows she is playing a dangerous game that could end badly (for her, Chaol, and/or Princess Nehemia) but she is willing to take chances and do what she feels is necessary to stand up to the King. There was also a point in the book where it was clear she is good at what she does and seeing it through Chaol's eyes made it even more impactful.

"She was a whirlwind of steel and blood. As he watched her cut through the men like they were stalks of wheat in a field, he understood how she had gotten so close to touching Endovier's wall that day. And at last - after all these months - he saw the lethal predator he'd expected to find in the mines. There was nothing human in her eyes, nothing remotely merciful. It froze his heart."

Review to come.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge is one of those stories that I wasn’t really sure how I was going to feel about it prior to diving in but I quickly became invested in the story and characters which made it next to impossible for me to put this down. This story is a beauty and the beast retelling but different than what you might expect in that it mixes in demons and greek mythology.

Nyx and Astraia are twins and were raised with the intent that one of them would fulfill a promise made by their father. Because of a deal made early in their lives, at the age of 9, Nyx is informed that she has been chosen to save her family and all of Arcadia. To do so, she must marry The Gentle Lord (who just happens to be the prince of demons) and then kill him – something she has been training with her father on since he informed her of her destiny.

The first thing that won me over was how much Hodge was able to convey Nyx’s struggle with her destiny. She loves her sister and wants her to be safe but at the same time, she truly resents the fact that she is free to be happy and live her life while Nyx is forced to go off and face this demon who has destroyed her family and will most likely destroy her as well. Before she leaves for the wedding and the Gentle Lord’s castle, she lets her frustrations out on both her father and her sister which leaves her feeling as if she is a horrible person when in fact, she is anything but.

On her first night in the house Nyx encounters not only Ignifex, her new husband, but also Shade…his shadow who happens to look very much like her husband…just washed out. Ignifex explains how his 8 other wives died (from what he can recall) and as the Lord of Bargains, he shares the rules of the house. Essentially she isn’t allowed to leave and every night she will have the opportunity to guess Ignifex’s real name. If she guesses correctly, she wins her freedom and if she is wrong, she dies.

Ignifex was definitely a mix of impressed and maybe a bit thrown off by Nyx. His comment “Definitely different.” shows that he wasn’t expecting the fight she had. He also doesn’t really have any love for his role as the Gentle Lord. He knows what he represents and it is clear that he feels trapped in his role as well. Despite the fact that he is actually a demon and supposedly evil, I found myself liking Ignifex. He didn’t try to hide who/what he was and I found the first few times he and Nyx were together were great. I loved the dialogue and his overall attitude.

“I’m the evil demon lord. I know it’s not a compliment, but I do like a wife with a little malice in her heart.” He poked my forehead. “If you don’t sit up soon, I’ll use you for a pillow again.”

The majority of the story is Nyx trying to solve some of the mystery of who the Gentle Lord is….both with help and without. She is determined to figure out a way to save Arcadia and hopefully herself. Overtime, her relationship with both Ignifex and Shade change and I don’t want to give too much away here but due to the changes in those relationships, she finds herself back in a situation where she needs to decide who is most important to her both inside and outside the castle.

I really liked the end of this story and found myself rooting for Nyx to come out on top alongside the people she loves. I thought Hodge did a wonderful job of explaining how things came to be as well as wrapping everything up. I found myself unable to put this book down and if you enjoy fairytale retellings, I think you will like this one as well. I will definitely be watching for more books by Hodge as she completely won me over with this story.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Balzer + Bray for the ARC.

I would give this a 3.5 if i could. This book has an interesting premise and am interested to see where it goes. The main character, pierce, is someone who seems lost through the beginningof the story. As we learn more of the back story things get a bit clearer and she starts to become more engaged in the things going on around her.

I wish wehad been able to learn more about John's story. Perhaps that will come in the next book but not getting to learn about him and thedetails regarding coffin night (as they apparently relate directly to him) was a bit frustrating.

I will definitely read the next book but if you don't like stories that aren't resolved, hold off until this is complete. There are a lot of unanswered questions from book 1.

Review to come.

3.5 stars. Review to come.

I really enjoyed this one - great premise, lovely characters and a wonderful story. 5 stars for keeping me turning the pages.

The main character is Wren - she is a 17 year old reboot. A reboot is someone who has died due to KDF - a virus that allows the dead to come back to life....sort of. Each person is different and it is thought that the longer it takes for someone to come back, the better they will be as a reboot because they have less emotion and are tougher fighters. A reboot can't really be killed in a normal way either. They heal from gun shot wounds and broken bones in minutes. Wren happens to be a reboot who was dead the longest - 178 minutes.

Very early on we are also introduced to a newbie - Callum 22. He was dead for 22 minutes and in the reboot world, he is considered too human still. He moves slowly, still has feelings and isn't very tough. As a matter of fact, any reboot under 60 is typically seen as a liability. It is Wren's job to train newbies - typically she chooses the highest numbered one but she has made the decision to take on Callum and it changes her world completely.

It is implied throughout the story that because she was dead for so long, that Wren doesn't have feelings. This couldn't be further from the truth. One of the things I loved about this story was seeing the change in the character. Wren spent 5 years thinking she was this unfeeling shell and to take Callum's words, a monster, because that is what the humans and HARC made her feel. With the introduction of Callum, he forces her to see that she does have feelings and even though she isn't necessarily human anymore, she is still more than just a tool the HARC uses to keep people in line.

I really enjoyed how the relationship was built between Wren and Callum as well. There were definitely the ups and downs in the beginning - Callum made Wren face things she didn't necessarily want to and she had to get him ready for missions but they eventually came to see that they needed each other.

The secondary characters were done well too - Ever, Addie, Leb, Tony and Desmond. All were integral to the story and I hope we get to see more of them

Spoiler

at least those we can

in the next book.

Well done for a first book in the series and I am really looking forward to book 2 and what happens with the Reboot Reservation.

I started this one immediately after finishing The Reckoning and I am glad I did. Katsu does a great job of summarizing the previous books and bringing the reader back into Lanore’s life but I am always super impatient with series books and because there are so many characters and so much going on, reading both books in a row helped me keep it all straight. This is very much a character driven story and although Lanore and Adair and the main characters, we still get introduced to a number of new characters as well as revisit some old ones.

After leaving Adair in book two, Lanore made the decision to go back to Luke. Unfortunately it is only 4 years later and Luke, being the mortal he is, has died after suffering from a brain tumor. Lanore honored her promise to him and stayed with him to the end but she always had thoughts of Adair and Jonathan in the back of her mind. She also started to have nightmares about the fate Jonathan was facing in the Underworld which prompts Lanore to find Adair and ask him to help her go help him.

When Lanore finds Adair on a remote island, she notices immediately he has changed. He clearly has taken her letter as well as what Jonathan told him to heart and is trying to be better than he was so that he can make Lanore see he is worthy of her love. Little does he know that Lanore has slowly come to the conclusion that she has loved him all along. With their past, she is just afraid to admit it to him yet.

Ultimately Adair makes the decision to help Lanore go to the Underworld despite the danger he feels she will be in and the potential danger it would mean to him if the Queen of the Underworld finds him. On top of this potential concern, Adair thinks the two women living in his house may be connected to some witches he wronged in his past. While this is only something he has just recently determined, he worries that he will have to figure them out before something bad happens.

Once Lanore goes, Katsu revisits some key parts of their separate histories through flashbacks. I thought it was done well and answered some remaining questions I had. I thought the section between Lanore and Sophia provided some closure for Lanore that she wasn’t able to get due to the way she and Jonathan had to leave town. Additionally, the section with Luke was a good way to wrap up their relationship. Luke clearly knew he wasn’t the most important person in her life ever but I thought having had their conversation, he ended up realizing he was one of the important people.

In addition to Lanore’s flashbacks, Adair has some as well. I enjoyed getting a peek at his early life and how he came to have the books/recipes in his hands. As if we didn’t already know it, those flashbacks just showed to what extent Adair was willing to go to in order to have control and power. He thought the magic was the way to get it. While waiting for Lanore to give him a signal that she is ready to come back to Earth, Adair sits and watches over her body. He struggles with doing what he wants to do and what he knows he should do and it is clear he is trying to be a better man so that he can be worthy of her love.

Eventually Lanore finds Jonathan in the Underworld but finds out things are what she and Adair worried about – she was truly bait and is being used to get Adair there. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really expecting Adair to be who he was…that’s right, I’m not telling. It was an interesting twist and explained some of his personality. Knowing what I know now, the changes in him were even more impactful and I was glad to see them.

This series was wrapped up well. The only thing I thought that was left unanswered was what happened to the rest of the immortals left on Earth at the end of the story. Clearly things have changed for Lanore and Adair and I would assume they would for the others but wasn’t entirely sure what would happen to them. Keep in mind, all of these characters aren’t redeemable and I thought Katsu did a wonderful job of showing that. Overall I thought this was a great series. There is love, deceit, danger, and of course a bunch of immortals. Katsu did a wonderful job of building out these character’s lives and showing that immortality isn’t always the best thing. If you like stories that weave a bit of history along with magic into their books you might enjoy this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy.

3.5 stars. Review to come.