morganthebee's reviews
452 reviews

I remember reading Rochelle Wolf’s Act Two and wishing it was longer, and I feel the same way about Room for Two. I liked the premise, and I felt like we got to know Steph fairly well since the novella is solely from her perspective, but I didn’t feel like there was enough time for us to really know Bea and see the connection between them as much as I would have liked. Their interactions were great, as were those with other characters, and I particularly enjoyed Steph’s boss Cheri.

I really see a lot of potential in Wolf’s novellas, and I’d love to see them try their hand at a longer, more involved story, or even reworking one of their novellas into a full-length novel. Wolf does really well with sweet, fairly low-angst stories, but I want more!

I received a free ARC from BookSirens, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.

I think in royalty romance it can be hard to find a balance between realistic and unbelievable, and that can be even harder when you use one of the most famous monarchies in the world as your foundation. While the writing quality was good, I don’t think Keeley did herself any favors with the decision to do just that, and I wasn’t able to suspend my disbelief.

Princess Alice and Sara were fine characters on their own, but I didn’t buy their connection, and I didn’t believe that Alice’s grand gestures would have swayed anti-monarchist Sara. It felt a bit icky to me, to be honest. The only character that I truly loved was Sara’s daughter, Libby. I usually love the fake dating trope but this one just didn’t do it for me, and I didn’t believe that Sara would have gone along with it. Her Royal Happiness isn’t a bad book, but it wasn't for me.

I debated a lot about my rating for Love on Moonlight Lake. I really enjoyed the plot and found the premise convincing. Two best friends who have been in love with each other forever, suspect how the other feels, but neither has made a move for reasons? Hell yes I buy that. I also liked that we were able to just dive right in and the connection and chemistry was obvious from the jump, so there wasn’t a lot of time spent on building that up in this novella (novel? I’m never sure what the cutoff is). I loved both Gianna and Raven (oh, did I empathize with Raven’s overthinking), and Gianna’s Nan was a hoot.

That said, I felt that it was a bit jumpy at times and there were transitions that weren’t as smooth. I just wanted it to be a bit cleaner—not in a spice way, because I love spice and that was pretty good here, it just seemed messy sometimes. And, although I don’t ding ARCs for punctuation and grammatical errors because I know I may not be reading the final version, this one had quite a few issues and I found it pretty distracting.

I received a free ARC from the author, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.

I love futuristic dystopian sci-fi, and when you throw in pirates, mercenaries, and sapphics on an Earth where the continents are underwater and the oceans virtually unlivable, that’s even better. This is a first-person single POV from the perspective of the eponymous Compass Rose. She was born facing due north, and she has an unerring sense of direction along with the ability to sense the water and movement within it. This ability sees her tasked with a secret mission by the Archipelago Admiral she serves under to join a mercenary crew as their navigator.

The characters were strong and complex, particularly Rose but also Miranda and Orca, and the plot was great. The start was a little slow as Burke built the world and set the scene, but once Rose joins up with the mercenaries the pace picks up. There’s a huge amount of character growth for Rose, who goes from a bullied loner to a strong and capable survivor, and I enjoyed all the twists and turns the story took.

I’ve read a few of Anna Burke’s books, and so far Compass Rose is my favorite. You’d never know it was a debut novel, and I’ll definitely be checking out the sequel, Sea Wolf, when it comes up in my library holds.

 Okay, two things right off the bat: first, this is book two in the Deal with the Devil duology, and it cannot be read as a standalone; and second there are a lot of triggers here, which Masters lists at the beginning of the book. Please make sure to check them before diving in. 

 

If you haven’t read When Flowers Wilt stop reading now, because while I’m not planning to spoil this book, I am going to spoil that one. Okay? Okay. So. We start off right where the first book left off. Vivian is held captive by Phanes as he breaks her physically and mentally, and she has given up hope. Venus is gravely injured, unable to think of anything but rescuing Vivian. This part is hard to read, particularly Vivian’s experience, but what follows is a master class on trauma, its aftereffects, and loving someone through it. 

 

One of the benefits of a series is that characters are generally established in the first installment, so the next can take those characters and run with them. We get deeper into their thoughts and feelings, build on relationships, and, when done well, fall even more in love with them. This is done well. When Death Blooms is an incredible story, and I can’t wait to read more from G.E. Masters. 

 

I received a free ARC from the author, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.