The Children of Jocasta follows the infamous Greek myth of Jocasta and Oedipus, as well as the children based on Sophocles' plays Oedipus Tyrannus and Antigone. It's a dual POV that follows Jocasta and her life as well as her youngest daughter, Ismene. 

Thebes has suffered a horrible plague that has decimated their population. In the aftermath of them rebuilding, Jocasta is a noble's daughter that is forced to marry the King of Thebes when she is a pre-teen. She becomes Queen, but suffers the horrible loss of her first child and in the decades that follows she becomes withdrawn from the kingdom and her husband. After his death, she becomes the sole ruler of Thebes and meets a handsome stranger Oedipus. In the future from Ismene's point of view, her parents are dead and her brothers are joint rules of Thebes. There is contention in her brother's rule that leads to sibling rivalries and tensions between her family.

This is a relatively loose retelling, and for me being unfamiliar with the plays I think this was beneficial. Obviously Oedipus is known for killing his dad and marrying his mother, but this book doesn't focus on *that* aspect of the myth as much. Haynes is a master at making these retellings focus on the women and the woman's perspectives. Jocasta is seen as the consequence of Oedipus' journey, but in this book, her decisions are front and center. She is intelligent, as is able to be even tempered when Oedipus is not. Ismene is the youngest and forgotten daughter in these stories, and this shows her own journey and agency. 

As expected from Haynes, the writing and prose is absolutely beautiful. Despite it being a looser retelling, the historical aspects are well researched and it is noticeable. If you are interested in greek mythology, this is definitely a lesser known retelling that should be picked up!

The Scarlet Alchemist is a YA fantasy story inspired by the Tang dynasty and creates a world where alchemy is real and immortality has been found. 

Fan Zilan is the daughter of a foreigner, with her Chinese mother dying early in her life. She lives in Southern China in a very impoverished town with her aunt and uncle, and her cousins. Zilan has been able to learn alchemy on her own, using the very illegal alchemy of raising the dead in order to make ends meet. She dreams of becoming a royal alchemist which she has to pass trials, while her cousins Wenfu and Yufei are studying to pass the scholars exams. Zilan gets wrapped up in the political machinations of the imperial court and starts to get close to the Crown Prince, Li Hong.

I found the first 50-100 pages to actually be very intriguing, we learn about alchemy and the magic system as well as understand the family dynamics. I find the magic system to be very unique and very well explained. The world-building was good, and the author did a good job of showing and not telling. I  enjoyed learning about the cousins (who are more like siblings to her) and Zilan's struggle with her identity and belonging with true family. In fact, I think I liked Yufei and Wenfu more throughout the story.

The pacing was very fast, which I enjoyed for the most part. Towards the 60% mark, it felt like everything was going so fast and seemed a bit repetitive. There were a couple characters we spent so little time with and their deaths weren't impactful for that reason. From what I understand, this is pitched as a darker fantasy, I almost wish this book was more adult and they leaned into the goriness and gruesome aspect of the alchemy and creatures. 

I think the romance also suffered from the fast-paced nature. There was a lot of banter, but I felt there was a lack of the tension and yearning that would have made the romance believable, especially since most of the time Zilan seemed annoyed with Li Hong and the romance developed rather quickly despite that.

The ending was a huge twist that I thought was done well, and it sets it up for an interesting sequel I am likely to pick it. I think this book had a lot of potential with its premise that it could have expanded on, but I did enjoy it overall. Unfortunately, it just didn't stick out to me, but I feel this is still a good choice to pick up if you like historical fantasy, trials, and political intrigue.

Thank you to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! 

Stars and Smoke Is a YA contemporary novel that combines a spy thriller and romance. I personally am a huge Marie Lu fan, but I was hesitant about reading this because it was not my preferred genre and Lu has deviated from her other books.

Winter is a 19 year old global popstar that is just at the beginning of his career and selling out stadiums. He gets an invite to perform for an oil tycoon's daughter's birthday party. Upon this invite, a shadowy spy agency reaches out to Winter and puts him up to the task of helping with a mission to get in the inner circle and expose the oil tycoon. Sydney is also 19 and is a junior agent at this spy agency, and her main goal is to become a full agent. She is assigned this mission with Winter, and becomes his bodyguard as her cover.

One thing to keep in mind (as someone who does read political thrillers), you definitely got to suspend your belief on how "realistic" the spy aspect is. Also both characters are 19 years old with extensive backgrounds, especially with Sydney working for them starting at like age 16 I think?

The plot twists and turns, and overall it was very enjoyable. I expected it to be more YA, but it was more mature than I was expecting. Marie Lu's character's are always the best parts of her stories. Sydney and Winter have truly heartbreaking backstories, which drives their motivations and flaws. Even the side characters felt fleshed out and three dimensional. The romance is a bit insta-love, with how little time they spent together, but I found I still enjoyed it. 

Spolierish on the ending,

I really enjoyed that they didn't choose their love over their passions and different priorities in life. The ending is open, and I believe that was the best way that it could have concluded.

Imagine my surprise when I discover there will be a sequel! I just found out when going through the reviews, so I am definitely interested in what they will expand on since everything felt pretty wrapped up.

Sun of Blood and Ruin is an intriguing Mesoamerican inspired historical fantasy that explores the themes of belonging, freedom, and oppression. It's set in sixteenth century New Spain (colonized Mexico)and pitched as a gender-swapped retelling of Zorro. 

Leonora de las Casas Tlazohtzin is the viceroy's sister of nobility in New Spain, but she carries a secret identity. She is a Nagual, a sorceress that uses magic to shift into her other form and wield superior strength, speed, and senses. As her hidden identity, Pantera, she fights against Spaniards and their injustices against the indigenous. However, Leonara is engaged to marry the Crown Prince of Spain and has to decide between fighting as the Pantera, or choosing her noble life.

The world building is immersive and I found the setting very rich. It is very inspired by actual historical events, mythology, and indigenous culture. I personally do have knowledge of this time period, with the colonization of South and Central America and the mythology, which I think helped me with picking up the world-building. It does feel a bit info-dumping at times, with Leonara switching between the present and the past as she was training. Overall, I felt that the ongoing explanations and just the extensiveness of the world-building was something I really enjoyed. 

The characters themselves were complex, their motivations made sense, and they were flawed. Leonara struggles with her identify and knowing where she belongs. Her brother that she loves dearly is the Viceroy of New Spain, which is the helm of the colonizers that are subjugating the indigenous. But she also shares a connection with the indigenous on her mother's side and spends ten years living with them and learning their culture. As a mestizo, she has a foot in both worlds and trying to consolidate that is one of her biggest struggles throughout the book.

The main drawback and thing I didn't like was the pacing. The plot also felt very full to me. The first 50% of the book I really enjoyed and there was a central idea and plot that was moving forwards. It builds up into a climax of a big battle, but then there's another 50% to go. In that time, there was so much going on it was hard to pick up on the reveals and the book felt very full. I do wish this was split up into the sequel or more books. 

The highlights of this book were the characters and the overall world and history weaved into the story. I thoroughly enjoyed it despite those flaws, and I will pick up the next!

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! 

I'm going to review the whole series with this review, both books 1-3. 

Our main character, Emelle, is a cupid whose job is to foster love in all the different realms. After she had died decades ago, she decided that's the afterlife job she wanted. However, it becomes lonely and she missed everything about being alive. One day, she is blasted with magic and is stuck on an island with three fae. 

I had read Kennedy's Gild series first, so I figured that writing style would be similar, but it is COMPLETELY different. The main character can be extremely annoying and prone to outbursts, and her internal dialogue was not my favorite thing. The only thing that kept me really interesting was the uniqueness of the plot. Mixing fae and cupids? It's something unique in itself!

I don't think these series are meant to be critically reviewed, they are just enjoyable romances with a bit of fantasy sprinkled in. Fun to binge, but not exactly the best piece of literature. 

This was definitely an improvement from the first book! Overall, this series ended in the middle for me. 

Fallon has been captured underground by Dante Regio after he learns of her importance and heritage of half Shabbin/half Crow. Dante plans to marry her and control her powers, while Fallon fights to get back to her mate and help him take back control of Luce, with her at his side. 

I think the plot and pacing was well done and the first 25%-30% of this book was interesting and a page turner for that reason. After that, it was a lot of fluff and it wrapped up easily and quickly. The family relations became INSANE, like all these twists that didn't make sense and seriously made Dante somehow a relation to Fallon, Fallon being related to Justus and random siblings and aunts being thrown in. I did appreciate that we spent much more time with Justus as a character and his relationship to Fallon, which I feel we lacked with her own father, Cathal. 

The author seemed to have so many ideas on twists and different magic systems, but a lot of this felt just added into the third book without any forethought and hinting in earlier books. Additionally, the way that Fallon and Lore spoke in their thoughts felt so unrealistic. Fallon would be describing the setting or about how "Lore barked about this..." and he would respond with "I don't bark." In my thoughts, I don't actually spell out "This person said this" word for word so that pulled me out of the story often. 

The romance was meh. The majority of their romance is just spice and the plot becomes about little things rather than the overall war with Luce. By the end, it is wrapped up mostly neatly, with some things left with the spin-off that comes out next year. 

After we left off on the last book, I was surprised by the turn of the plot in this one. Truly, this book really disappointed me. 

Fallon has resurrected the Crows and their King, Lore. She discovers that he is her mate, but she doesn't want anything to do with him. Lore is planning to take control of Luce and Fallon's friends are helping him once she returns to her home city. 

I feel like Fallon regressed as a character, I can't explain how annoying she was. She was extremely immature, far more than the first book. Her stubbornness and straight naivety made it hard to continue at points. There was good banter between her and Lore, but overall I also felt like the romance was lacking. Personally, I really like Lore as a character and feel he is pretty fleshed out. I just can't seem to root for Fallon. 

Also, their miscommunication and Fallon's dislike to him are just resolved with them sleeping together. Yes, there are little moments were they share romantic touches and words. But I swear that came out of nowhere, and suddenly Fallon is in love with him after proclaiming all she wants is freedom from him and their bond. 

The ending was good, I'll admit. It's a good cliffhanger, and I am interested to see where the series ends up because the first book was much better.