This book is breathtaking. The story, the worldbuilding, the characters, the backstory... everything is so deftly woven into this thrilling debut novel. I'm so grateful I was given this as an ARC, because I need people to read it and discuss / wait for the sequel with bated breath with me.

Vasalie has been imprisoned for two years for a murder she didn't commit by a king who knew she was innocent. When he offers her the chance to resume her previous role--as a dancer, but this time, also as a spy for him--in exchange for her vindication and freedom, Vasalie has no choice but to agree. But her body is not what it used to be, and she struggles to relearn how to dance. And she is quickly thrust into a position she never imagined, being the solo dancer and spectacle she has been ordered to be for the largest royal gathering of the Northern Kingdoms.

I feel I can't say too much more about the plot for fear of giving anything away, but rest assured, it's a tightly plotted, intricate story with political intrigue, forbidden romance, reclaiming one's past and finding your own strength, even in the darkest of places.

One of the things I feel the strongest about in regards to this book is the invisible illness representation. The author prefaces the book stating that she herself deals with multiple "invisible" ailments, and she wanted to have a heroine who similarly experienced such incongruity between bodily autonomy and  limited physical ability. I also experience conditions like the author's, and I felt so seen in the beautiful depiction of Vasalie's physical and mental strength in the wake of her imprisonment and the subsequent "breaking" of her body and spirit. I often read fantasy with badass FMCs, and I've always longed to be like them, wielding a sword and my wits in battle (even if that aspect is, itself, a fantasy). With this book, seeing Vasalie dance and perform feats she never believed she was capable of, and deal with the various traumas of her past that simultaneously bolster and hinder her... it feels like healing. Even if my body may struggle to, or my mind tells me I'm incapable of recovery, having a heroine like Vasalie, and a writer like Brittney Arena dedicated to telling gorgeous stories such as this one, give me so much hope.

I truly cannot wait for the sequel. I'm so invested in this world, and know it's only going to get bigger and more intricate. And to the author, even though you'll likely not see this: thank you so much for the gift of this book. I am so, so grateful to feel like I, too, could be a badass fantasy heroine through your eyes.

SO many thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

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As much as I wanted to finish this, I got bogged down by the backstory. The premise was intriguing, the title fascinated me, and the wit/sec narrative was compelling. But I never made it that far. 

I'd really like to return to this someday, but for now, I think the difficulty of hearing about Curtis' upbringing and his desire to perform music, knowing his true debut was eventually going to come to a crashing halt, is one of the reasons I stopped reading. I was approved for the ARC the day before the book was released, and I endeavored to finish it quickly, but as I continued, other books beckoned and I ultimately abandoned this one.

Unfortunately, after over a month of not touching the book, I think it's time to call TOD. But I do hope to return to it when I'm feeling more emotionally ready for a contemporary novel of this kind.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Doubleday for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Current rating: 3 stars

If you need a quick, fantastical palate cleanser of a book, Lured By The Siren has got you covered. As long as you don’t go in expecting it to be high literature or intricately plotted, and you’re a fan of light (slightly spicy) romance, you’ll be happy with this one. 

It’s a fast read, but a lot of that is due to what effectively boils down to negligible character development and a plot that fails to materialize. The conflict resolves quickly, but the stakes never felt very high in the first place. Some classic fantasy elements are in place, but don’t feel cohesive. The insta-love/lust immediately put me off, but that’s because I care so much about deep character development, and I knew early on this wouldn’t provide me with that. 

All that said, it’s still a fun, short read. If you’ve been reading anything really dark and/or emotionally heavy, this one will help break the monotony between books or as you get back into further fantasy realms. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but it was a light and enjoyable excursion. 

Many thanks to Realm Studios for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!

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This wonderful, funny memoir made me laugh, cry, and reflect on both the wonderful and truly, deeply hurtful parts of my life. I immediately found myself so similar to author in her early hopes and crushes and in the feelings of being repeatedly crushed. This book, and her words, make me feel so seen and give me hope. 

While it is primarily about author Kiersten Lyons’ experiences with love, loss, and the interminable lessons we experience in between, whether we want to or not, Crushed fundamentally offers readers a story on healing, and recognizing that grief and our own recovery isn’t linear, but it is possible. I was pulled in immediately by the premise, noting the similarities in things I experienced both growing up (is there something in the water in MD?), and to this day, in Kiersten’s words. Her humor lightens the darkness of the situations she goes through, and it truly seems as though you have a caring older sister commiserating with you as you read through her own non-linear journey to her unexpected, but perhaps more meaningful, present. 

Thank you so much for this one, Kiersten. I may not have loved Jonathan Taylor Thomas like you did (I was more of the age of Orlando Bloom and Heath Ledger), but to know that someone was brave enough to tell their story—and show that loving someone is always a good choice, even if they don’t or can’t love you back. 

And many thanks to NetGalley and Regalo Press for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I’ll write a longer review when I have more time, but I believe the series needs to be reviewed as a whole. Each book fits as one part of a whole, and they all read very quickly. I could have easily finished the whole series in just over a day if I had the time for it. 

Overall, Eliza Rayne is great at keeping the reader enthralled, but as I experienced with the series starting with Of Blades and Wings, the stories seem to run their course in an insufficient manner. This book concludes so quickly it is practically a deus ex machina, and the explanation for most of the mysteries somehow both feels incredibly obvious but also inexplicable. Things are simply stated as fact, and things are resolved without much explanation. It feels like all the tension was built up for nothing. 

My main issue with the series beyond that, however, is the main love interest. Maz is withholding, intensely untrusting, and does not communicate on any level that would constitute the heroine falling for him. When they suddenly decide they love each other in this book, it makes such little sense, I barely cared. They were always going to end up together, but their flip-flopping on how they felt and how they interacted absolutely would never have led to the ending it does. It didn’t feel natural at all, considering how inconsistent and untrusting their relationship was 90% of the time. 

All that said, I will happily continue to read Eliza Rayne’s work when I have free time to do so. I’m also looking forward to whenever the next series in this Brides of Mist and Fae collection comes. I don’t expect it to be some great piece of literature, but her characters and worlds do consistently ensnare me for a light, easy distraction in a Norse-inspired world, and I will always enjoy returning to something like that. 

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I’ll add a review later, when I’m done with the series. 

Will write when done with series. 

The Phoenix Pencil Company is a multi-generational epic story of sisterhood, love, betrayal, and the ways we tell stories. It is historical magical realism within an epistolary novel of letters and journal entries across two time periods (wartime Shanghai and 2018 Massachusetts) in which college student Monica returns home to help take care of the grandmother who raised her, and who's slowly succumbing to dementia. In searching for her grandmother's lost-lost cousin so that they can reconnect, Monica stumbles upon more than she expected: a family secret, and the dangerous truth the women in her family have held close to their hearts for generations.

This was a truly beautiful book. The characters are all fully fleshed out, highly flawed, but doing their best to survive. The amount of research needed for this book is obviously vast, and I'm now determined to learn more about Chinese history, especially under Japanese occupation and the civil war that followed. The world of occupied Shanghai is vivid and yet haunting, a depiction of wartime that many have had the privilege of not facing themselves. The harsh realities--and intricate, fantastical mysteries--depicted in The Phoenix Pencil Company held my attention tightly and I am so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to read it.

So many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Too excited to not immediately continue. Will review later. 

The only reason this isn’t a five star is because there isn’t enough depth to the characters yet. It’s mostly just action, and I know the rest will unfold throughout the series. It’s a great part one, though!

And DAMN does Eliza Raine write insanely enthralling books. 

I am so in love with this duology.

Starting right where we left off at the end of The God and the Gumiho, this beautiful, emotional and simply hilarious novel brings us straight to Seokga and the reincarnation of his lost love Hani, Kisa. And then, as quickly as we meet her, Kisa dies. But Seokga doesn't know this--and spends the next seven years desperately trying to find her, somewhere fate's thread attempts to lead him. At the insistence of his therapist and joined by his brother, the Emperor Hwanin, Seokga is reluctantly dragged to the Death God's realm for a vacation cruise. And it is here, of all places, that he finally reunites with the new woman who is both so different and yet alarmingly reminiscent of his gumiho. But she doesn't remember the god who loved her, and she is decidedly not Hani.

This book is yet another wild ride, similar to the first, taking the reader through both a beautiful second chance love story with a twist, and a murder mystery with divine consequences. Seokga and Kisa's love story is beautiful and new despite its undercurrent of lost love, and plagued by the question of whether Kisa and Hani are truly the same person--and if that distinction matters. 

We're introduced to delightful characters, new and old alike, and insight into what has passed during the years between Hani's death and Kisa's reunion with Seokga. Tensions have risen, technology has changed, old grievances haven't. The story is a hilarious coming-to-terms with the passage of time and whether fate can be wrong, and I am so happy to have had the honor to get lost in its pages.

SO many thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!