the_cover_contessa's Reviews (1.75k)

Thank you to Harper Colins and Edelweiss for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
To say I was excited to read this installment in the Serpent and Dove world is an understatement. The Scarlet Veil was one of my top reads for 2024. I enjoyed Serpent and Dove by The Scarlet Veil too Mahurin's story and writing to the next level. And since it ended on a huge cliffhanger, I had been chomping at the bit to get an early copy and see the outcome.
This book starts off right where the last book left off, so don't go reading this thinking you'll understand anything at all. You have to have the background from the first book. I would even say you need the background from the Serpent and Dove trilogy to truly understand it all. Reading this series without having read the trilogy will ruin relationships for you and leave you wondering about the magic system and how the world was built.
Celie is a vampire and her world has been thrown into upheaval. Death is hounding her to take her place as his bride and she is trying her hardest to adjust to her new life while keeping her friends safe.
I really loved Celie's growth in the first book of this series. I wasn't a fan of hers from the trilogy but The Scarlet Veil really pushed her to a height I wasn't expecting. Unfortunately, she didn't grow more with this book. That growth leveled out and this book was more about her fighting the good fight and saving the world (and her friends and family along with it). She does come into herself a bit as her new form: a vampire. She learns what she needs to do to survive. But above that she is the same.
I will say I enjoyed the romance in this. It was a slight slow burn, which we had in the first book, as well. But the first book showed the relationship might not go anywhere where this book focuses on her and Michal becoming closer and falling into each other. Michal had the most growth in this book of any of the characters. I do wish there was more than one point of view in the book so I could have been a bit inside his head.
More than anything, I love the side characters in this book. I feel like they are my friends given their development from the beginning of the first trilogy. I enjoyed how they were always there for Celie, accepting her for who she is and not judging her for who she was.
The pacing of this book was definitely slower for me than the first. I didn't feel drawn to run and read it whenever I had a chance, though I wanted to. And there were times I was actually bored and found myself skimming and then having to go back so I could understand what was happening. I dare say it suffers from second book syndrome even though this series is a duology. The journy the characters take is kind of all over the place jumping back and forth between the veil but never getting anywhere until the very end. The story was a little disjointed, as well. Sometimes I was totally lost as to what the characters were talking about or doing and how it related to the story. Other times they would come to conclusions that I didn't really understand. Perhaps had I read the books back to back I may have been more in tune, though I do remember the first book quite well.
There were quite a few plot holes, with things being forgotten that were important to the story line making for a messy read at times. Elements that made no sense being part of the story and leaving me wondering why they may have even been introduced if they were never fully developed. It pulled me out of the story and made me feel lost. And I had a hard time visualizing some of the scenes.
Overall, this was more disappointing to me than I would have liked. I did enjoy the story and I was pretty happy with the ending but overall I just felt like it wasn't as tightly put together as the first book.

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Are you looking for a cute, small town, slow burn romance series with some magic sprinkled in? Then you should be reading the Moonville series by Sarah Hogle. If you love Sarah Hawley's Glimmer Falls series (which I ADORED), you will enjoy these stories and characters. While you don't need to read the first book in the series to read this one, I definitely found this one more enjoyable because I knew the side characters. I highly recommend reading them in order but if you don't mind knowing some outcomes for the other characters, then pick this one up and dive in!
I will say, this one had much more magic than the first book did. I wasn't expecting the level of magic to be ramped up so much but I loved it for that reason so much more.
After many disastrous moves and an inability to write anything new for her publisher, Zelda Tempest moves home to live with her sisters in the hopes creativity will spark. What she wasn't expecting was Morgan Angelopoulos to get in her way. And she certainly wasn't expecting the foretelling of her and her sister's love lives to take shape and become true!
I really liked Zelda. She was quirky and creative and a lot of fun to get to know. I also loved that Hogle included some mental health representation with her character. Someone who could not keep herself together but learned that medication and talking about her issues helps. She questions everything, including the witchiness of her sisters and niece. She's a skeptic and doesn't want to give into her base being of magic. But holding it back just makes her more confused. Once she accepts who she is, she blossoms so much.
Morgan is an interesting character. To be honest, he was hard to figure out. He's a bit eccentric and unusual not only in his personality but in his dress and the way he presents himself. I didn't get much of a read on him when I read the first book, just that he was a journalist who had taken up residence in their store. I enjoyed getting to know him more in this book. 
I loved the idea of the enemies to lovers trope in this book. Though I'm not sure they were so much enemies as they were forced to be in each other's proximity. And Zelda gave off the grumpy vibes while Morgan was definitely more sunshine. Their chemistry was a bit unusual. One moment Zelda is saying she knows she needs to find her true love but it's not Morgan and the next she's kissing him. There's a lot of push and pull on her end. Morgan, on the other hand, has his mind made up from the start; he knows he wants Zelda but he is patient enough to wait for her until she realizes what they have.
It was fun seeing all the characters from the first book. Especially Zelda's sisters, Romina and Luna. And I love Zelda's niece Aisling. It would be fun for her to have a book, though she's a little young for such romance yet!
One thing I will say is that Hogle does a lot of jumping around in this book. At some points, I was rather confused with what was happening and had to read scenes a few times to have the plot click. Other times, I felt like a chapter ended and then jumped somewhere else, but the previous plot point was not wrapped up. I feel like the magic sometimes got in the way of the story.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, though not as much as the first. I'd love to pick up some of the other titles this author has written. And I'm looking foward to Luna's story because I know it's going to be a doozy!

Review to comeThank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Ballentine for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I've been a fan of Jennifer E. Smith for a long time. Her YA books really are great and I was excited when she decided to take a dive into the adult world. I really enjoyed the Unsinkable Gretta James and was excited when I was approved to read this new title early!
This book is about family and it's ups and downs. The crises family goes through together and apart. The rifts that are made and then healed through time and space. It's an emotional journey of a family finding itself again and realizing how much they all need each other despite the secrets they've kept and the mistakes they made. Despite the title and fun cover, there are some very heavy subjects addressed in this book. Smith does so with care, honesty, and, above all, kindness.
Smith presents us with four siblings who follow completely different life paths from soccer star, to movie star, to well known author, to every day marketing strategist. Three years ago they stopped speaking to one another, despite having been close all their lives. Despite having been raised more or less by their oldest sister because their parents were physically and emotionally unavailable. There's so much trauma they have all endured over the years dealing with parents who just were not there. The bond they share truly is unbreakable, despite the distance they put between them.
Each character has a very unique story and Smith does a wonderful job developing them and showing who they are. 
Gemma, the oldest, who is trying for a baby at 43 and not sure she would ever really make a good mother. Connor, the author who shot to stardom telling a tale that rather closely resembles the story of his family's life. Roddy, the star soccer player who is aging out of the sport and trying for one last time to be known, despite the rift it puts between him and his partner. And, finally, Jude, Roddy's twin and the famous movie start who has always been rather closed off with what is going on in her life but who organizes a trip to bring the family back together and put all her cards on the table. Smith uses each character to tell us not only about themselves, but about their family and the ups and downs that have been the Endicott's. I enjoyed hearing from each unique character; seeing the story from these different points of view made it whole.
What begins as a trip to bring the family back together, quickly devolves into a weekend of drama when they are snowed in at a cabin with no electricity. The story unravels showing us both the present and the past. Smith builds on their relationships through the flashbacks. And also gives us insight into the secrets all the siblings are holding close to their hearts. 
The story is an emotional rollercoaster ride from beginning to end. It started off a bit slow for me as Smith built the world and showed us who each character was but it picked up once all the siblings were finally together and their stories started to unfold. I had moments where I was laughing out loud and moments were the tears flowed freely. It was definitely a trip worth taking. And the ending was done nicely. I love that Smith didn't tie everything up into a neat little package, That there was still trauma for the siblings to process and an understanding that they always needed to be there for each other no matter what. Smith creates believable characters who drive a poignant and touching story through a nostalgic journey, steal your heart, and make you trust in the power of the family bond. 

DNF at 60%
Thank you to NetGalley and Bramble for supplying me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Let me start by saying I have been a Juliette Cross fan for a very long time. Before anyone really knew who she was. I love her writing and her stories. This one had such promise with it's setting in the Roman empire to the fact that dragons were included as the new history. I was excited to see how the world was built and how Cross would bring the dragons into that time period.
Unfortunately, this one was just not for me despite the excitement I had to read it.
What I did like:
The prologue and what it could potentially mean.
The idea of the book and it's setting. This time period is very intriguing to me as I haven't studied as much as others. I was looking forward to learning more.
Dual point of view is always something that I adore. It helps me to understand the characters so much more when I get to be in their heads.
Men who become dragons. Yes, please! I love the idea of this transformation. And in the setting of war it's that much more fascinating.
What I was not fond of:
I'm totally and completely surprised there were no trigger warnings at the beginning of this book. I do not have any TW myself, but the contents of this book and quite a few of it's themes will definitely trigger some people. I know this is an ARC but at this point in the publishing phase, when they know exactly what the book contains, TW should be offered.
The world building just was not there. I didn't understand how the dragons were part of the world. Seeing as in history there were no dragons during this time period, I needed to truly see how things fit. The prologue did give us some understanding of it but the world building stopped there. Then the book became a journey of the romance. Don't get me wrong, I love romance and especially romantasy, but there has to be a story line to go with it. At over halfway through the book, I was still struggling to figure out just exactly what that storyline was. And when we were given any snippets of what the war was about, the information was told to us rather than shown. I was also confused by the magic in the book. I have no idea what it is about or how the system works.
I needed more character development. Same as with the world building, the characters were never shown to us but rather we are told about them over and over again from the FMC or MMC's point of view. While the dual point of view usually works for me, the characters didn't seem all that different when they were narrating, Their voices were practically the same.
The romance was also just not there for me. I needed chemistry between these two characters and by the time we had our first spicy romantic scene, I still didn't feel it. The FMC kept saying she was attracted to him, but it was never shown. Same with the MMC.
Finally, the pacing was just slow. I felt like nothing was happening. I found myself skimming paragraphs of narrative so I could get to the dialogue in the hopes of getting some information.
Overall I just felt like this book needed so much more tightening and fleshing out. I'm sad I didn't like it but I do see it's gotten many good reviews and I'm sure others will enjoy the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for providing me with an egalley of this title to review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I am totally enamored with this world and this author's writing. When I picked up Phantasma, I wasn't sure I'd like it. There was so much hype over it and often times I am disappointed with the books that get such publicity. But it was a great story that sucked me right in and made me fall in love with all the characters. I was truly excited to pick up this second installment and see where Smith would take it.
This book takes us across the ocean to Italy, far from the world of New Orleans we encountered in the first book. But the country where the book doesn't matter so much as the place. As with the first book, this book takes place on the grounds of an estate. This time one hidden away in the hills. We encounter Ophelia's sister, Genevieve, who is searching for others like her. She stumbles across a letter her mother received from an old friend, Barrington Silver, and decides to the write up on their offer to come for a stay. But her timing could not be worse as she enters and ends up being trapped for the duration of a deadly game the estate's residents are forced to play every year.
In all honesty, I was expecting a bit more from the setting of this book. After all, it takes place in Italy. I wanted to see the hills of Tuscany and how they might play into the story. But the country really didn't matter. The story could have taken place at an estate anywhere in the world and still been a fabulous read. I do understand the need for the author to move the location given that Phantasma moves around and we'd already experienced it in New Orleans. What I did love was the sprawling estate with rooms upon rooms and secret passages in all the nooks and crannies. Oh, and there's a hedge maze, to boot! So much potential for all the things that happened in the story.
If you're looking for an anti-damsel in a story, you must read this. Genevieve Grimm is truly a strong and determined woman who knows what she wants. She does have fears that bleed into her life but she doesn't let them stop her from going after what she wants. I adored her and her character development. She smarts, sassy, curvy, stubborn, and confident. If she were real, I would pursue her as a best girlfriend. She loves fiercely and with her whole self. And she doesn't sugar coat who she is, which was my favorite part about her. 
Rowinington "Rowin" Silver, on the other hand, is an enigma. He's definitely grumpy, closed off, and does not give off any information about himself. From the start, he doesn't like Genevieve, though you cannot truly tell why since he has never met her before she shows up on his doorstep. Try as he might, he cannot chase her away. But what he is is smart and sees an opportunity when it's placed in front of him. Genevieve could be the key to ending his family's curse and setting them all free. Trust me, you will grow to love his grumpy, to understand it, and then to love him just as he is.
What I truly loved about this book more than anything were the relationships between Rowin and his siblings. He has created a bit of a rift having been the winner of their odd family game for the last 15 years. At the same time, the dynamics that exist from whatever sibling foundation was create prior to the family game still exists. You can see it in how the siblings talk and interact with one another. Smith created some of the best side characters I've read about in a while. Often times these small characters lend very little to the story line of a book but here, we had an entire family who had truly nuanced relationships. I would love more of a back story on Rowin and his brother Remington, though. And several times the characters mentioned something about a previous marriage or perhaps engagement of one of the siblings but that story isn't given freely in the book. I would love some side stories about all these siblings.
I also enjoyed the deeper look into the devils. In the first book we met several. This book happens to have just one but we get an even deeper understanding of just how sinister they are and jsut what they will do in order to get what they want.
As with the first book, this one is fast paced as Smith takes us on a ride through Enchantra and the games the siblings play to try and earn their freedom from being bound in Hell for a year. This story, like the first, definitely gives off The Hunger Games vibes. I love the idea of everything taking place in the different rooms in the house. And I love Smith's writing. She has a knack to take the darkness and still make it light. This book has tense moments but also the humor we saw in the first, plus a good amount of delicious spice!
I have to admit, I've not read much dark romantic fantasy, though I would say I love dark academia and that gives off a very similar vibe. What I can say is that I am now all about this genre and where it will take me. I can see so many different stories stemming from this one and I really hope the introduction of a character we knew from the first book means she is going to get her own book next. I would also love to see more back story on Tessa Grimm, Barrington Silver, and Gabriel. We also get to see some of the characters we me in the first book. And the ending Smith gives us definitely leaves room for more books in this world.
This book has just as many addictive qualities as it's predecessor. While the theme is similar, it is not the same. It's fresh and new and shows us a different side to the paranormal world we encountered in the first book. I haven't rated many books 5 stars so far this year, but this one deserves it. I loved it even more than the first one, mostly because Vivi is my new book girlfriends but also because  it was just twisty enough to keep me on the edge of my seat and panting for more. I cannot wait to see what Smith writes next.

I'm so hesitant these days to read hyped books or books that end up on TikTok. More often than not I'm disappointed with the writing, the characters, or even just the story in general. This book, though. This book was worth every bit of hype I have heard about it. This was so much more entertaining than I could have imagined it would be.
Imagine a world where paranormal beings such as necromancer's and devils exist. This is that world. Set in the lush and magical landscape of New Orleans, the story follows Ophelia, a necromancer who has inherited her gifts from her recently departed mother and who must save her sister from certain ruin.
There so much I could say about this book but I don't want to give the story away. I will say that Smith builds a rich, immersive world where people compete for a chance to earn the devil's favor. The games they play are deadly and the price of staying alive steals them of their humanity as the contestants move through a house full of supernatural beings who want nothing but to see them suffer. It pits the contestants against each other for the pleasure of the devils. Think Hunger Games with magic and surreal landscapes.
Ophelia is not a character I thought I'd grow to love. At first glance, she is all "oh wo is me" because she has been groomed to carry on her family legacy while her sister was able to lead a more normal life with friends and parties and fun. She hides herself from everyone and is completely closed off. But you do see the love she has for her family, her sister and mother, from the start. So there was always hope for me she would open up and bloom. And she did. She went from a bit of a timid flower to this powerful person who was willing to fight to keep what makes her happy. The inclusion of her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder makes her that much more interesting and Smith handled this part of Ophelia's personality with care and understanding. The mental health of this character becomes paramount to how she progresses through the competition.
Blackwell, well, he's a being on a totally different plane. And I mean that since he's a Phantom. I was enchanted by him from the very start and knew I would only grow to love him more as the story progressed. I loved how he never lost sight of exactly what he wanted and how he chose to immediately protect Ophelia. Of course there were times I wasn't sure he was trustworthy. But I love me some morally gray characters and he fit that bill well.
The slow burn forbidden romance hit all the right spots for me. I loved the chemistry between Ophelia and Blackwell. It was magnetic and explosive and it wasn't insta-love, which I appreciate. But you definitely feel their pull to each other from the very beginning of the story. Smith also does the spice in this book very well. It wasn't over the top and the complete center of the story.
The pacing of the book is fast. Set inside a fantastical mansion where things are never quite what they seem. Smith creates a world where paranormal beings are the norm and no one is surprised to meet something otherworldy. New Orleans, with it's rich history of spirits and mystery, was a great backdrop for this story. It added a wealth of gothic ambience. Add in the seven deadly sins as the themes of the trials and you've got yourself a story that is captivating. There are many twists and turns throughout the story that are unexpected and keep it moving forward and keep the reader wanting more. The ending as not what I expected at all, though I had my suspicions things were not quite as they seemed.
This is my first dark fantasy romance that I can remember reading and it hit all the good spots with how the world was built, how the romance progressed, and just that right amount of horror and suspense that kept me wondering what would happen and how things could possible end up right at the end. Smith has created a unique concept that drew me in and made me want more. I'm excited to read Genevieve's story and see where Smith could possibly take it!

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Provide me with a witch book to make me happy? Check! Make that book a second chance romance with tons of swoon? Check! When I was offered the second in this interconnected series, I was worried I would miss out on something by not reading the first book first. I have yet to read the second book so I can't say if it will make a difference but I can see where knowing the characters for book 2 might become important.
This book started out quite slow for me and was honestly a bit confusing at first with all the characters and the animosity between the FMC and MMC. The transitions from chapter to chapter didn't flow initially and I wasn't sure I would end up liking it. But about halfway through the book all the things clicked and I ended up falling in love not only with the characters but also the town of Moonville. There's something about a small town story that makes my heart super happy. Maybe it's because I grew up in the busy city and love the idea of slowing things down and everyone knowing everyone and looking out for them. This story gave those vibes for sure.
And the second chance romance with him falling and never letting go. Total swoon. 
The FMC, Romina, so unsure of herself in any type of relationship having been burned before. Her heart not totally healing until she allowed herself to morn the loss enough to see it made her a stronger person. I do wish there was more witchiness in the story. It's billed as similar to Sarah Hawley's Glimmer Falls but there is not much paranormal in this story at all. It's more about intentions and the connections people have with nature. About how those connections lead us to certain places or people.
The MMC, Alex, was great. I loved how he had no qualms about making his intentions know to Romina, even if she didn't catch on at first. 
I will say the FMC and MMC didn't come off as being in their 30s. I really got more of a 20s vibe. And their enemies to lovers vibe was a bit choppy. It went from enemies to lovers without much in between and I needed more from that part of their relationship.