The end of the year!! I was not expecting to read much this month. Clearly finishing 10 books was far from my expectations. I guess there is something to be said for being surrounded by the soft, warm glow of Christmas lights that gets me in the mood to read. By the time this post goes live, the lights will be gone and I’m sure I miss them!
A Crown of Glass and Ivy By: Claire Legrand
The story is slow. Everything unfolds almost at a snail’s pace. But there’s enough to have kept my attention.
As usual, this first book in the series is full of foundation; history, world setting, back stories, etc. Unlike many, it is not information overload that makes your head spin. Sure, there were moments where I though, I don’t really care. Not enough to really impact my overall feel of the book though.
Which was a positive? A question because I can’t really say I liked this book. Nor did I dislike it. The story was great. So were the characters, plot, writing style, and the few twists.
I rated the book high because it was well done overall. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood to read this when I did because it didn’t hit with me for some reason.
Gemma is almost an outcast the way her father treats her. Family in a feud with another prominent bloodline. Not only is Gemma the only one in her family that doesn’t posses magic, she is almost allergic to it.
Talan, a man orphaned (if I remember correctly) by a demon, wants to restore his family’s name. The two team up to go after the demon that is likely responsible for both Gemma’s family’s blood feud and Talan’s family. Neither know the full truth of who the other is nor what is truly happening.
As I said, it wasn’t a hit with me. Maybe I was in a slump? But I would recommend you give it a try.
A Shadow in the Ember By: Jennifer L Armentrout
Sera was raised believing she was the answer to curing the Rot taking over her kingdom. Groomed from birth to be the Consort to the Primal of Death to fulfill a deal made long before her time.
She has a secret up her sleeve. She hasn’t only been training to be a submissive consort, she has been honed into a weapon to expose and exploit the primal’s weakness.
When the time comes, things do not go as planned. Sera gets pulled from a world that treated her as an object they were burdened with to one where she is almost as unwelcomed and completely out of her element.
I love the world Jennifer has built.
A Light in the Flame By: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Nothing but halves. From her temper to extreme denial to her naivete. Thinking she knows all there is to a situation and resigning herself until Sera realizes she is in a world of ridiculously powerful beings.
What I really liked, despite Sera’s whiplash inducing inner monologue, was the story. Very character driven. The story as a whole was good, but the plot…there really wasn’t one other than survive and discover the truth.
Both Sera and Nyktos have grown greatly since the last book though.
Of course delving deeper into the inner working of the nearly-immortal race of primals brings about more lies, betrayal, twists, and turns.
As much as I did like this book, I skimmed more than I
would have liked. There was just so much detail that I didn’t care about. Nor did it really sound that important. All that skimming and I don’t feel I missed anything.
I still love not only the dynamic between Sera and Nyktos, but everyone else based in and around the Shadowlands as well. And of course Attes. The more Sera gets involved, the more she imprints on people.
Searching for answers on how to handle the embers Sera carries, consort for real or in title only, finding trust in one another.
A Fire in the Flesh By: Jennifer L. Armentrout
This was my least favorite thus far. So repetitive. Sera spiraling as she spends 95% of the book overthinking absolutely everything.
We did gain some knowledge and history that will no doubt prove useful in the future. This could have easily been condensed into a novella or the first hundred, or less, pages of the third and final in the series rather than stretching it out to four.
Nothing really happened that warranted an entire lengthy novel. Sure, Sera is in Kolis’ care, and able to witness how he runs his court. Learning the inner working of his twisted mind.
The different gods and primals that are loyal truly versus those you have superficially pledged. Most of this we already knew. I was bored.
Carnival Stalker By: Selena Winters
This was not good.
I’m no stranger to dark romances. This tried to be one. Kidnapping, claiming, drugging… it came across as redundant and kind of icky at times.
Tillly, the FMC is weak. She kinda fights but it’s so half-hearted it wasn’t worth the energy of the space of the page.
Phoenix, the MMC, doesn’t have to try very hard to ‘break’ her. He just has to drug her, kidnap her, build a future for them without her knowledge, and great. She even starts working in the carnival.
Phoenix, the carnival master (whom Phoenix owes his life to), and a few other carnies have some sort of illegal side hustle. What it is you may ask. We never find out!! Total fail there.
Integrating Tilly into his carnival life just happens all willy-nilly. No one seemed to question anything. One day she’s being secretively held captive in his caravan, the next she’s made friends and is working the carnival games.
You also might be wondering what this sexy scary man does in the carnival. Yeah, we never find that our either.
Devil’s Deal By: Aleatha Romig
I didn’t expect to like this, but, surprise!
Emma thought she had lost her family years ago. Until a not-so-chance encounter with Everett Ramses begins to change her beliefs. What was supposed to be a meeting with a potential investor, turned into the beginning of the rest of Emma’s life involved in the mafia.
Walking away with Everett as his intended meant she was walking away from the life she worked hard to build.
My copy included the short story Fate’s Demand that shows that first meeting between Everett and Emma. Which I found weird that that scene isn’t part of the original story. It is so short and pretty crucial.
I really enjoyed the way Aleatha brought us into this world of NOLA mafia. The twists and slowly unfolding
the mystery of who Emma could trust, if anybody, kept me turning the page. Not to mention the chemistry the two of these have.
This is the first book I’ve read by Aleatha Roming. Not only am I going to continue with this duology, I wouldn’t mind picking up another one of her books.
Icebreaker By: Hannah Grace
My friend recommended this to me after seeing something on TikTok about a book-dropping event that supposedly takes place. My copy didn’t have that event.
I liked the story and plenty happened. Nothing had me dropping my jaw or even widening my eyes.
Anastasia is on the Olympic track as one half of a pairs figure skating duo. And she is on a mission! Despite her partner being a grade A ass hat.
Nate’s life revolves around his hockey career and future in the NHL.
A bitter ex sabotages the hockey ice rink forcing figure skaters and hockey players to learn to share.
As usual, this story follows the typical romance formula with a few detours. Anastasia has a male best friend who is also her bed buddy. But no complication there – none.
Even though that while situation, the way it was handled, did end up being a bit refreshing. Waiting the whole story for that one moment, that one point of misunderstanding that threatens their entire relationship and has the reader questioning if they will truly end up together?! Well, sheer disappointment there.
I don’t even want to talk about how wishy-washy Nate is. Or how over dramatic and ‘I’m not like other girls’ Anastasia was trying to be. Neither MC hit with me. Neither did this story. It had just enough to keep me engaged. Honestly, I was waiting for the Third Act Conflict to hit unable to guess what it would have been. I think Hannah Grace couldn’t even come up with one and copped out. Not continuing with the series.
Saint By: Sierra Simone
The fourth and last in the series and the third I have read. I actively skipped over Midnight Mass because it is just a novella about Poppy and Tyler from Priest, the first book. Since I could not stand Poppy, it wasn’t a hard decision. If you have read my reviews on the other two book, Priest and Sinner, I haven’t been the biggest fan. For some reason I felt that I needed to see this series through – mostly.
Well, I wasn’t disappointed. I like this one more than the others, which, admittedly, isn’t saying much. It wasn’t bad.
Aiden, like his older brother, had chosen to follow the path Christ has called him to – monastic lifestyle. Like his older brother Tyler, once an ordained priest, Aiden is having trouble reconciling his life after losing the love of
his life. Then, of course, when Elijah, the ex, shows up at his monastery, things get complicated. Elijah is engaged. Elijah and Aiden go on a forced proximity journey, literally and figuratively. As in the other two books, the struggle between devoting one’s life and heart to God by means of life-long commitment and vows versus living in His light as a layperson.
This story was the most philosophical and non-secular. Exploring many facets of a faithful existence and basic human instincts. At first I wasn’t a big fan how Elijah was presented – through articles and journal entries he had written. But I understood that in a book from Aiden’s point of view, Sierra was being creative and acceptably limiting Elijah’s POV just to entice and minimally explain. It worked.
I feel Aiden was written well. Still, it seems there was a thin wall between the reader and Elijah. Like we got to see who he was but not clearly. I felt we got to know Elijah’s fiancé better than the man himself.
It was spicy and monastic. Not two things I thought I would ever put together, but there you go. I can’t necessarily recommend the entire series, but the books seem to be able to be read as stand alone novels. You don’t get the insight of a deep background, I don’t think anything is really lost by not knowing. Enough is explained or touched upon.
Shift By: Hugh Howey
Can’t lie, I was weary about reading this since it was presented as a prequel. Usually I am not a fan when a story is broken up with a prequel shoved in the middle. It has a tendency to take you out of the world that was built in Wool.
Man was I wrong, this was fantastic!
Alas, the order must be read in this…order. Otherwise so many connections are lost. This story is told through two timelines. One that begins in the ‘present’ day where construction of the silo is still being worked on paper.
The second is within a silo as unrest begins that leads to its destruction. In Wool, the after math of that destruction is touched on. Now we are learning the hows and whys.
A first hand look into how humanity ended up the way it
did and where it is projected to go. Both timelines give an interesting and completely different perspective of life as the story spans hundreds of years. From those trying to just peacefully survive to the ones believing they are doing what is best by hiding the truth an manipulating thousands.
Following several key people placed in very different rolls in the silos. A original creator, a boy that is nothing more than a pawn unknowingly under the silos’ control, a survivor forced into his position since boyhood, and a few others. It’s messy, scary, an inevitable.
One of the criticisms I had from Wool was that I didn’t really care much about any of the characters. Not the case in this one!
Eventually, these two lines verge into one filled with drama an impending doom and meeting up where we left off in Wool.
Thunderhead By: Neal Shusterman
From the beginning, I was a fan of this series.
What an end to a series. So much going on without getting muddled or overwhelming. Excellent!
It’s a race to save the human race from Goddard. Who now has such a vendetta against Citra and Rowan it literally threatens life as they know it.
Luckily there are so many working parts between the scythes that want to save humanity’s way of life, the Thunderhead, the Toll and his people, and of course Citra and Rowan. Each playing a crucial part.
My favorite was the small interjections throughout the story as the Thunderhead was taking things into its own hands, so to speak. That was very unexpected but made total sense.
An epic way to tie up every loose end and give as many HEA as possible without it being forced or unrealistic. As in The Thunderhead, there is a lot of death and destruction. Still I was left smiling at the end. Highly recommend this series.
