thecandlelightlibrary's Reviews (1.25k)

I loved the concept of a male domestic witch, especially one working as a royal cook! I'm also excited to see more slice-of-life, low stakes fantasy. However, this was originally webfic and it still reads like something that was written in installments rather than one cohesive narrative, and some chapters with different POVs really read like filler rather than building depth or advancing the plot. While the premise was wonderful, the novel would have benefited from more polishing and a sensitivity read for some problematic things. My biggest issues were with the supporting characters (of which many felt like caricatures rather than developed individuals) and the world building (which acknowledged that things like homophobia, sexism, and strict class divides were awful and shouldn't exist in the world...but then went ahead and included them anyway and didn't satisfactorily address them).

Justice Ginsburg had a phenomenal way with words, but I don't think this was the right presentation for them.

Thank you to Macmillan/TOR for sending me an ARC of this title. I received this copy for free and this review contains my honest opinions. 

 

Starter Villain took awhile to engage me but then picked up and turned into a quick read. Overall I think this novel hit the feeling it was going for: a blend of ridiculousness and chaos, with just enough reality to make it believable. Some scenes were exceptionally funny and I really loved the additions of both the cats and the dolphins. However, I found the main character pretty bland and I think more time could have been spent on the uncle’s supervillain business and lair: while we do get an understanding of how things work, everything could have been explored much further. Thank you again to the publisher for sending me a free ARC. 

Thank you to Macmillan/Tor Nightfire for sending me an ARC of this title. I received this copy for free and this review contains my honest opinions. 

 

Red Rabbit is a paranormal western folk horror and definitely not my usual genre. While parts are dark and gruesome, the story rarely dwells on them and moves along quickly. I enjoyed the writing style and atmosphere and felt the historical western setting was the right choice for this story. That said, this book was SO close to understanding the points on sexism and racism it almost made, without actually making those connections. I thought the story always stopped just short of where it needed to go, and that resulted in what I thought were some missed opportunities and a couple of disappointing character arcs. Also, I thought the racial slurs were completely unnecessary and this story could have done without them. Thank you again to the publisher for sending me a free ARC. 

Thank you to Macmillan/St. Martin’s Griffin for sending me an ARC of this title. I received this copy for free and this review contains my honest opinions. 

 

Fly With Me was a decent debut: I enjoyed the writing style and liked the meet cute romance between two lovable main characters. This book tackles some heavy subjects, and while I usually gravitate to lighthearted stories, I thought these subjects were handled with compassion and balanced with the romance plot so they never felt overwhelming. 

 

However, some of the plot choices weren’t my favorite and for a book that’s projected to be 384 pages, I wish things felt both more developed and more resolved by the end of the story. This book tries to tackle so many different things, which means some things progressed too quickly and many things never really got the attention and development they deserved. Thank you again to the publisher for sending me a free ARC. 

Thank you to Macmillan/Bramble Romance for sending me an ARC of this title. I received this copy for free and this review contains my honest opinions. 

 

Calamity was such a fun, quick read! I thought the world building and characters (especially the crew) were the strongest parts of the story, although I did enjoy the plot and the consistent humor. I was a little concerned when the cult appeared fairly early on (not my favorite thing to read), but while the cult plays a role in the plot, it’s mostly secondary to other things going on. My least favorite part was actually the romance - it didn’t quite work for me even though I wanted it to. I think a large part of that was how Temperance and Arcadio never really felt like enemies, despite the story repeatedly telling us they were supposed to be. 

 

Overall, though, this was a fairly strong novel that I felt was fairly balanced in world building, characters, plot, and intrigue. This is the author’s debut novel-length work and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next! Thank you again to the publisher for sending me a free ARC.