Gypsy Madden's Blog, page 7
October 12, 2021
Book Review: Come to the Cemetery
Come to the Cemetery by Jackson Dean Chase
4 stars
Category: Teen
Note: Short story.
Summary: Cara’s three best friends are now all dead. They all mysteriously died of heart attacks, each just one month apart from the next, and each body was found lying on top of a particular grave. Too strange to be a coincidence, Cara is determined to figure out what happened to her friends, before it happens to her as well.
Comments: I liked the guy who popped up in it to play her Watson with a side of wanting to be a boyfriend. He reminded me of the guy in that scene at the end of Sixteen Candles. And I did like her playing detective, going to the cemetery, interviewing the caretaker, researching the history, asking the former boyfriend of one of her friends, etc. The story though, I was expecting a creepy story full of ghosts and thrills, a little like the new Nancy Drew series (which is part detective, part ghost horror). What I got though was a discussion on Mormon religion and polygamous marriage with a side of emphasizing how sex before marriage is a sin, and it relatively glossed over spouse abuse in the wake of marriage duty. In a nutshell, it was too religious for my tastes and I wasn’t scared by it at all (though it did freak me how women just went along with things like that in the past in the name of religion). Also, Amazon lists this as being 105 pages. It is not. The story ends at the 30% mark (making the story actually only 30 pages long) and the rest of it is multiple chapters of multiple other books.
4 stars
Category: Teen
Note: Short story.
Summary: Cara’s three best friends are now all dead. They all mysteriously died of heart attacks, each just one month apart from the next, and each body was found lying on top of a particular grave. Too strange to be a coincidence, Cara is determined to figure out what happened to her friends, before it happens to her as well.
Comments: I liked the guy who popped up in it to play her Watson with a side of wanting to be a boyfriend. He reminded me of the guy in that scene at the end of Sixteen Candles. And I did like her playing detective, going to the cemetery, interviewing the caretaker, researching the history, asking the former boyfriend of one of her friends, etc. The story though, I was expecting a creepy story full of ghosts and thrills, a little like the new Nancy Drew series (which is part detective, part ghost horror). What I got though was a discussion on Mormon religion and polygamous marriage with a side of emphasizing how sex before marriage is a sin, and it relatively glossed over spouse abuse in the wake of marriage duty. In a nutshell, it was too religious for my tastes and I wasn’t scared by it at all (though it did freak me how women just went along with things like that in the past in the name of religion). Also, Amazon lists this as being 105 pages. It is not. The story ends at the 30% mark (making the story actually only 30 pages long) and the rest of it is multiple chapters of multiple other books.
Book Review: Dark and Deadly Things (Haunted Houses - Book 1)
Dark and Deadly Things (Haunted Houses – Book 1) by Kelly Martin
5 stars
Category: New Adult
Summary: Elise Morgan quit her family’s ghost hunting show shortly after her mother was killed by a ghost. Though her father currently fakes most of the ghostly evidence on his show, Elise knows there are definitely real spirits out there, even if he doesn’t believe her when she tells him that she can see them and has since she was a child. So, while watching the Halloween episode of her father’s show, she sees a dark ghostly mass appear behind him. When the show cuts to static, the family at the house is killed with the exception of the son, and her father is blamed for the murders since he is the most unscathed. Abel, the surviving son from the Halloween episode, comes to Elise in search of answers for what happened to his family.
Comments: I love paranormal books focusing on ghost hunters and though Elise technically isn’t a ghost hunter anymore, Abel drags her back into the ghost hunting field in his pursuit for answers and to try to help other families so they don’t share the fate of his own family. With this being book one in a series, not all of the questions get answered and I’m dying to answer so many questions still like what’s up with Abel’s odd power of calmness or is that just Elise’s crush on him? And the mystery of what really happened to Elise’s mother and Abel’s mother, and just what was the black ghostly mass? So many questions because the story of what happened on Halloween night gets carried over as arc over the entire book series, while the story gets turned more into an episodic ghost investigation. I loved Elise. I loved how disillusioned and anti-social she was, and how pain pills made her ramble, and how very hilariously ironic and sarcastic she was. I loved her narrative voice as she berates her past self for being so naïve and how she never follows her own advice or plans. I also loved the ghost in her dorm who has a lot of attitude for a dead girl and am dying for Elise to solve her mystery (since it’s down right disturbing that there’s a female victim who looks that bad on campus, but yet Elise doesn’t seem to think much of it since she’s so inured to the ghosts wandering past her). I liked Abel, too, who seems mysterious and odd, though outwardly friendly and charming to everyone, so I totally want to uncover he truth of him. And I love the chemistry between Elise and Abel, even if he was just dragging her around for his own purposes, regardless of the fact that she needed recuperation after her accident. Since this is a series, this book ends on a cliffhanger, leading in to the next book (though it did resolve the current episodic investigation part). Can’t wait to dig into the next book in the series!
5 stars
Category: New Adult
Summary: Elise Morgan quit her family’s ghost hunting show shortly after her mother was killed by a ghost. Though her father currently fakes most of the ghostly evidence on his show, Elise knows there are definitely real spirits out there, even if he doesn’t believe her when she tells him that she can see them and has since she was a child. So, while watching the Halloween episode of her father’s show, she sees a dark ghostly mass appear behind him. When the show cuts to static, the family at the house is killed with the exception of the son, and her father is blamed for the murders since he is the most unscathed. Abel, the surviving son from the Halloween episode, comes to Elise in search of answers for what happened to his family.
Comments: I love paranormal books focusing on ghost hunters and though Elise technically isn’t a ghost hunter anymore, Abel drags her back into the ghost hunting field in his pursuit for answers and to try to help other families so they don’t share the fate of his own family. With this being book one in a series, not all of the questions get answered and I’m dying to answer so many questions still like what’s up with Abel’s odd power of calmness or is that just Elise’s crush on him? And the mystery of what really happened to Elise’s mother and Abel’s mother, and just what was the black ghostly mass? So many questions because the story of what happened on Halloween night gets carried over as arc over the entire book series, while the story gets turned more into an episodic ghost investigation. I loved Elise. I loved how disillusioned and anti-social she was, and how pain pills made her ramble, and how very hilariously ironic and sarcastic she was. I loved her narrative voice as she berates her past self for being so naïve and how she never follows her own advice or plans. I also loved the ghost in her dorm who has a lot of attitude for a dead girl and am dying for Elise to solve her mystery (since it’s down right disturbing that there’s a female victim who looks that bad on campus, but yet Elise doesn’t seem to think much of it since she’s so inured to the ghosts wandering past her). I liked Abel, too, who seems mysterious and odd, though outwardly friendly and charming to everyone, so I totally want to uncover he truth of him. And I love the chemistry between Elise and Abel, even if he was just dragging her around for his own purposes, regardless of the fact that she needed recuperation after her accident. Since this is a series, this book ends on a cliffhanger, leading in to the next book (though it did resolve the current episodic investigation part). Can’t wait to dig into the next book in the series!
October 8, 2021
Book Review: Wicked Warlock
Wicked Warlock (Cursed Coven – Book 2) by Marina Simcoe
4 stars
Category: Adult
Note: Novella-length. $0.99 cents on Amazon.
Summary: This is a Beauty and the Beast inspired story. April, who works as housekeeping at a hotel, responds to a call from the penthouse suite. She finds a man bundled up in a hooded robe asking for her assistance. He claims he’s a warlock under a curse, warping his appearance, and that he can’t touch electronics, so he needs her to make cell phone calls for him, and drive his car, chauffeuring him around New Orleans as he pays a visit on an old friend who might be able to shed some light on lifting his curse. The old friend tells him that he can either pass the curse that will kill him within 10 days on to someone else, or to break the curse he will need to fall in love, which is quite a feat for Oliver with his playboy lifestyle.
Comments: Each book in this series is written by a different author and is a stand-alone. I adored Marina Simcoe’s The Real Thing. The hero was a magician who could do real magic and had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, and the heroine was an adorable fan. So, being that this had a warlock, I was expecting for there to be plenty of magic. And besides the curse, there wasn’t, not really. He managed to make some flowers appear in one scene, but the focus was more on his wealthy lifestyle. I did love the opening couple of scenes of this book with the rags to riches style of the housekeeper having to bus around the mysterious wealthy penthouse occupant who we know is a warlock with presumably plenty of magic at his disposal. I do love Beauty and the Beast retellings, but all Beauty had to do in this was not to look at his appearance. He was a completely nice, kind guy, so she didn’t have to get past a prickly and sometimes violent exterior to understand the man underneath. It never really felt like the two of them really got to know the other outside of skimming the surface and being attracted to each other’s bodies. So, the endearments felt awkward and out of place (not to mention that calling her Baby felt demeaning). And I nearly set the book aside after the scene in the car. It was again awkward and demeaning, gratuitous, and more than a little gross. I did like Oliver. He came off nicely mysterious with the carefree rich-boy attitude, and made sympathetic with his despair and desperation as he races against the clock at first and then resigned to his fate. The story feels like it went downhill when it went back to his house and they just started day to day living. The resolution happens all too easily though without really any hiccups in the way except for one toward the mid-point. And the ending does feel all too modeled on the Disney Beauty and the Beast and we never dealt with the witch who cursed him. She never made any further appearances, making the story feel not resolved, though it did have a conclusion for the two main characters.
4 stars
Category: Adult
Note: Novella-length. $0.99 cents on Amazon.
Summary: This is a Beauty and the Beast inspired story. April, who works as housekeeping at a hotel, responds to a call from the penthouse suite. She finds a man bundled up in a hooded robe asking for her assistance. He claims he’s a warlock under a curse, warping his appearance, and that he can’t touch electronics, so he needs her to make cell phone calls for him, and drive his car, chauffeuring him around New Orleans as he pays a visit on an old friend who might be able to shed some light on lifting his curse. The old friend tells him that he can either pass the curse that will kill him within 10 days on to someone else, or to break the curse he will need to fall in love, which is quite a feat for Oliver with his playboy lifestyle.
Comments: Each book in this series is written by a different author and is a stand-alone. I adored Marina Simcoe’s The Real Thing. The hero was a magician who could do real magic and had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, and the heroine was an adorable fan. So, being that this had a warlock, I was expecting for there to be plenty of magic. And besides the curse, there wasn’t, not really. He managed to make some flowers appear in one scene, but the focus was more on his wealthy lifestyle. I did love the opening couple of scenes of this book with the rags to riches style of the housekeeper having to bus around the mysterious wealthy penthouse occupant who we know is a warlock with presumably plenty of magic at his disposal. I do love Beauty and the Beast retellings, but all Beauty had to do in this was not to look at his appearance. He was a completely nice, kind guy, so she didn’t have to get past a prickly and sometimes violent exterior to understand the man underneath. It never really felt like the two of them really got to know the other outside of skimming the surface and being attracted to each other’s bodies. So, the endearments felt awkward and out of place (not to mention that calling her Baby felt demeaning). And I nearly set the book aside after the scene in the car. It was again awkward and demeaning, gratuitous, and more than a little gross. I did like Oliver. He came off nicely mysterious with the carefree rich-boy attitude, and made sympathetic with his despair and desperation as he races against the clock at first and then resigned to his fate. The story feels like it went downhill when it went back to his house and they just started day to day living. The resolution happens all too easily though without really any hiccups in the way except for one toward the mid-point. And the ending does feel all too modeled on the Disney Beauty and the Beast and we never dealt with the witch who cursed him. She never made any further appearances, making the story feel not resolved, though it did have a conclusion for the two main characters.
October 7, 2021
Book Review: Love is in the Airship
Love is in the Airship by Catherine Stein
5 stars
Category: Adult
Note: Novella-length. $0.99 cents on Amazon. I obtained a free copy via Prolific Works.
Summary: Euphemia “Effie” finds herself hiding in the rose bushes of her family estate on her wedding day, hiding from the ceremony and hiding from her husband-to-be who she spied cheating on her. She never really wanted to marry him anyway. She hides out on an amazing looking airship that her old boyfriend, Charlie, would have loved. Charlie had been planning to stop the wedding and suggest that she marry him instead, but after he talks himself out of ruining the wedding, he boards his airship and finds Effie herself already onboard, still in her wedding dress. She insists that she wants to tag along with Charlie on his adventure, even if he’s just selling airship designs to clients. During their highflying adventure, they rekindle their old romance, and tangle with air pirates, and try to evade her step-father determined to drag her home for a proper marriage to someone titled, which Charlie isn’t.
Comments: When I saw the cover, I thought the thing wrapped around Effie’s shoulders was tentacles of a kraken, which had me really excited, but it turned out that was actually her mechanical snake which bites into her finger and displays a light telling Effie about her blood sugar levels with her being diabetic. Honestly, I’m not really certain why it was mentioned since it really didn’t play any part in the course of the book, and even the snake itself didn’t play much part except to bite a pirate in one scene. It just felt like an extraneous detail to make Effie sound slightly more diverse than just the basic British heiress. Though the frequent mentions of her generous bosom, had me wondering if it was written by a man. The plot is a fun one, and kept me very entertained with plenty of adventure and romance, and steampunk gadgets and technology, and a spunky, progressive heroine trying to escape her proper, planned fate. The opening scenes for our heroine and hero were both brilliant. I loved the thought of our heroine hiding in the rosebushes, getting her wedding dress snagged as she debated how to escape unseen from the wedding. And I loved Charlie debating with himself how to object during the ceremony, and how far he had come in life during his absence. Though it did make me lose confidence in him when he decided against speaking up during the ceremony. It’s a fun, short, light-weight adventure with some light sexiness in it.
5 stars
Category: Adult
Note: Novella-length. $0.99 cents on Amazon. I obtained a free copy via Prolific Works.
Summary: Euphemia “Effie” finds herself hiding in the rose bushes of her family estate on her wedding day, hiding from the ceremony and hiding from her husband-to-be who she spied cheating on her. She never really wanted to marry him anyway. She hides out on an amazing looking airship that her old boyfriend, Charlie, would have loved. Charlie had been planning to stop the wedding and suggest that she marry him instead, but after he talks himself out of ruining the wedding, he boards his airship and finds Effie herself already onboard, still in her wedding dress. She insists that she wants to tag along with Charlie on his adventure, even if he’s just selling airship designs to clients. During their highflying adventure, they rekindle their old romance, and tangle with air pirates, and try to evade her step-father determined to drag her home for a proper marriage to someone titled, which Charlie isn’t.
Comments: When I saw the cover, I thought the thing wrapped around Effie’s shoulders was tentacles of a kraken, which had me really excited, but it turned out that was actually her mechanical snake which bites into her finger and displays a light telling Effie about her blood sugar levels with her being diabetic. Honestly, I’m not really certain why it was mentioned since it really didn’t play any part in the course of the book, and even the snake itself didn’t play much part except to bite a pirate in one scene. It just felt like an extraneous detail to make Effie sound slightly more diverse than just the basic British heiress. Though the frequent mentions of her generous bosom, had me wondering if it was written by a man. The plot is a fun one, and kept me very entertained with plenty of adventure and romance, and steampunk gadgets and technology, and a spunky, progressive heroine trying to escape her proper, planned fate. The opening scenes for our heroine and hero were both brilliant. I loved the thought of our heroine hiding in the rosebushes, getting her wedding dress snagged as she debated how to escape unseen from the wedding. And I loved Charlie debating with himself how to object during the ceremony, and how far he had come in life during his absence. Though it did make me lose confidence in him when he decided against speaking up during the ceremony. It’s a fun, short, light-weight adventure with some light sexiness in it.
October 6, 2021
Book Review: In the Garden of Gold & Stone: A Beauty and the Beast Retelling
In the Garden of Gold & Stone: A Beauty and the Beast Retelling (The Last Elixir series spinoff) by Ryan Muree
5 stars
Category: New Adult
Note: I read this as included in the Of Beasts and Beauties anthology.
Summary: When Rowec’s brother steals an armload of fruit from a walled off garden, they are both captured by the Tialan people, creatures that are a mixture of scales, plant, and human and are entirely female. Rowec bargains for his brother’s release, agreeing to stay in his place. The Tialans are all monsters to him, with the exception of Nida, the weakest and most human-like of the Tialans and he develops a friendship with her as she tries to be a bridge between Tialan and human and show him that they aren’t so different. And that once he helps them with the ceremony to waken their seedling baby sisters as ceremonial mate to their queen, he will be free to go. But their queen has been lying about the ceremony, and Rowec’s promised freedom.
Comments: Though it did feel stereotypical and a safe choice for the guy to fixate on the girl who was the most human among the bunch. As in, he technically didn’t fall for a beast and overlook her outward appearance (on first appearance, he thought she looked pretty and didn’t belong among the monsters), making him a bit more superficial than the usual heroine who falls for the beast. I did love all of the different characters in this. Nida is a fun character in how down trodden she is, thought of as less by most of the characters, including her sister the queen, and how being with Rowec makes her see herself as beautiful. I loved her vain, superficial sister the queen, who was freaking out about that she was molting and didn’t want anyone to look at her, and how she had set ideas in her head of how things should go and did everything in her power to control things to go her way (like the idea that her “mate” should be in love with her, despite the fact she couldn’t even remember his name), and I loved her sister Ascara who was frivolous, and teenage, and boy-crazy, and definitely not focusing on being proper. It was a bit disturbing of how they thought about the humans being practically animals or pets, but yet they expected to mate with them. I did like that it was an interesting adventure in that you want Rowec to be free, and for Nida to be saved from her family since most of them were cruel to her (with several of them beating her up and bullying her), but she had to figure out how to solve all sides of her situation (fulfilling her duty as keeper of the nursery, her friendship with Ascara, and loyalty to her queen, and confront the idea of leaving and seeing the world, while keeping the queen happy who had fixed on the idea that Rowec ought to be in love with her), as well as solving the problem of the ceremony (which actually mentioned how it could be solved long before the characters worked it out, making me doubt their intellect). I loved the world that was built here with Rowec and his forest tribe, and the Tialans with their golden palace with lush gardens, and the plant nursery for their sisters, to the outside jungle with plants that were part animal. The world reminded me of the imaginative world-building detail that goes into Juliet Vane’s Luminous Lands series and Naomi Novik’s Uprooted and has me very tempted to read more of this series (even though it follows a completely different set of characters).
5 stars
Category: New Adult
Note: I read this as included in the Of Beasts and Beauties anthology.
Summary: When Rowec’s brother steals an armload of fruit from a walled off garden, they are both captured by the Tialan people, creatures that are a mixture of scales, plant, and human and are entirely female. Rowec bargains for his brother’s release, agreeing to stay in his place. The Tialans are all monsters to him, with the exception of Nida, the weakest and most human-like of the Tialans and he develops a friendship with her as she tries to be a bridge between Tialan and human and show him that they aren’t so different. And that once he helps them with the ceremony to waken their seedling baby sisters as ceremonial mate to their queen, he will be free to go. But their queen has been lying about the ceremony, and Rowec’s promised freedom.
Comments: Though it did feel stereotypical and a safe choice for the guy to fixate on the girl who was the most human among the bunch. As in, he technically didn’t fall for a beast and overlook her outward appearance (on first appearance, he thought she looked pretty and didn’t belong among the monsters), making him a bit more superficial than the usual heroine who falls for the beast. I did love all of the different characters in this. Nida is a fun character in how down trodden she is, thought of as less by most of the characters, including her sister the queen, and how being with Rowec makes her see herself as beautiful. I loved her vain, superficial sister the queen, who was freaking out about that she was molting and didn’t want anyone to look at her, and how she had set ideas in her head of how things should go and did everything in her power to control things to go her way (like the idea that her “mate” should be in love with her, despite the fact she couldn’t even remember his name), and I loved her sister Ascara who was frivolous, and teenage, and boy-crazy, and definitely not focusing on being proper. It was a bit disturbing of how they thought about the humans being practically animals or pets, but yet they expected to mate with them. I did like that it was an interesting adventure in that you want Rowec to be free, and for Nida to be saved from her family since most of them were cruel to her (with several of them beating her up and bullying her), but she had to figure out how to solve all sides of her situation (fulfilling her duty as keeper of the nursery, her friendship with Ascara, and loyalty to her queen, and confront the idea of leaving and seeing the world, while keeping the queen happy who had fixed on the idea that Rowec ought to be in love with her), as well as solving the problem of the ceremony (which actually mentioned how it could be solved long before the characters worked it out, making me doubt their intellect). I loved the world that was built here with Rowec and his forest tribe, and the Tialans with their golden palace with lush gardens, and the plant nursery for their sisters, to the outside jungle with plants that were part animal. The world reminded me of the imaginative world-building detail that goes into Juliet Vane’s Luminous Lands series and Naomi Novik’s Uprooted and has me very tempted to read more of this series (even though it follows a completely different set of characters).
October 3, 2021
Book Review: Wings of Gold & Snow (Apprentice's Wings - Book 1)
Wings of Gold & Snow (Apprentice’s Wings – Book 1) by S. A. McClure
4 stars
Category: New Adult
Summary: Nadine is under a curse. If she leaves her home for more than 3 days, she will die. She has also recently broken up with her lover, the crown prince, because she’ll never be able to be his queen with being tied to her home where she lives with her cruel step-mother and step-sister. But one day, she falls into a well and suddenly finds herself in a strange land where a talking owl named Archibald leads her to the home of Lady Milanda, a sorceress who rules over the land, and has the power to release Nadine from her curse. But Lady Milanda is cruel and full of darkness, and eager to have Nadine within her clutches. But why would she want a powerless girl?
Comments: The largest issue with this is that it ends on a to be continued note (not exactly a cliffhanger, but just plenty of open plot threads) and there’s no book two in sight (even after two years of being published and nearing three). Nadine’s character is a bit hard to latch on to. I read it, following along accepting the idea of her being basic fairy tale heroine with a heart of gold and always caring for those around her. And I like that type. So it threw me for a bit of a loop when we get back to her sister, and in narration she explains that she doesn’t have patience for the weak person that her sister is. Her sister is a gentle soul, so it’s jarring to hear Nadine talk so sharply to her. It also makes my opinion of her turn against her. I loved the beginning with her wistfully watching the prince, and it really made me wonder how they met, how they actually got a romance started with them being such different social standing, but none of that is actually explained here. I did love that we actually get to see the prince a bit, and he’s completely unlike what I was picturing from her descriptions (convinced that she’s ordinary and beneath him, which begged the question of why he was romancing her previously if he thought that way), but he’s still an interesting character. Archibald… He’s one of the unfinished plot threads. He’s a flirt with others, and even a lover of others, so even though she might be convinced he looks at her differently, I want to hear it from him, or it feels like an open thread. When her mother was revealed as a shifter (I’m not saying what kind since that would be spoiler), but it’s one of the indie common cliched ones which I had to roll my eyes at. For all the demand around her character, I expected it to be something special. The plot itself is interesting. I mean, each time I think it matches up with another story, I think I know where it’s going to, then it suddenly changes. As in, the opening made it sound like it was going to be yet another retelling of Cinderella, then she goes through the well and meets a character who she has to do something for and he promises her a favor (one of the open plot threads) (sounding a lot like the old woman who meets the soldier at the beginning of The Twelve Dancing Princesses or the old man who Jack trades his cow to for magic beans), and then the story turns into having to do tests to get to Lady Milanda’s house (the trials sounding a lot like the challenges in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – getting past the many headed-dog and having to get through the vines). I was bored with the scenes where Milanda was doing her magic training since they were dreamlike and abstract. It makes it hard to get a concrete image in my head when things go dreamlike and vague. There were some random scrolls introduced in one scene that turned into yet another open plot thread. And it seemed rather anti-climactic when her curse gets broken far too simply. In all, I thought it was a fun adventure with interesting characters (other than the main heroine), and I was interested in continuing it, especially with the storyline feeling unfinished with so many open plot threads, but without any further books to follow this one up with this set of characters, it seems I won’t be going any further.
4 stars
Category: New Adult
Summary: Nadine is under a curse. If she leaves her home for more than 3 days, she will die. She has also recently broken up with her lover, the crown prince, because she’ll never be able to be his queen with being tied to her home where she lives with her cruel step-mother and step-sister. But one day, she falls into a well and suddenly finds herself in a strange land where a talking owl named Archibald leads her to the home of Lady Milanda, a sorceress who rules over the land, and has the power to release Nadine from her curse. But Lady Milanda is cruel and full of darkness, and eager to have Nadine within her clutches. But why would she want a powerless girl?
Comments: The largest issue with this is that it ends on a to be continued note (not exactly a cliffhanger, but just plenty of open plot threads) and there’s no book two in sight (even after two years of being published and nearing three). Nadine’s character is a bit hard to latch on to. I read it, following along accepting the idea of her being basic fairy tale heroine with a heart of gold and always caring for those around her. And I like that type. So it threw me for a bit of a loop when we get back to her sister, and in narration she explains that she doesn’t have patience for the weak person that her sister is. Her sister is a gentle soul, so it’s jarring to hear Nadine talk so sharply to her. It also makes my opinion of her turn against her. I loved the beginning with her wistfully watching the prince, and it really made me wonder how they met, how they actually got a romance started with them being such different social standing, but none of that is actually explained here. I did love that we actually get to see the prince a bit, and he’s completely unlike what I was picturing from her descriptions (convinced that she’s ordinary and beneath him, which begged the question of why he was romancing her previously if he thought that way), but he’s still an interesting character. Archibald… He’s one of the unfinished plot threads. He’s a flirt with others, and even a lover of others, so even though she might be convinced he looks at her differently, I want to hear it from him, or it feels like an open thread. When her mother was revealed as a shifter (I’m not saying what kind since that would be spoiler), but it’s one of the indie common cliched ones which I had to roll my eyes at. For all the demand around her character, I expected it to be something special. The plot itself is interesting. I mean, each time I think it matches up with another story, I think I know where it’s going to, then it suddenly changes. As in, the opening made it sound like it was going to be yet another retelling of Cinderella, then she goes through the well and meets a character who she has to do something for and he promises her a favor (one of the open plot threads) (sounding a lot like the old woman who meets the soldier at the beginning of The Twelve Dancing Princesses or the old man who Jack trades his cow to for magic beans), and then the story turns into having to do tests to get to Lady Milanda’s house (the trials sounding a lot like the challenges in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – getting past the many headed-dog and having to get through the vines). I was bored with the scenes where Milanda was doing her magic training since they were dreamlike and abstract. It makes it hard to get a concrete image in my head when things go dreamlike and vague. There were some random scrolls introduced in one scene that turned into yet another open plot thread. And it seemed rather anti-climactic when her curse gets broken far too simply. In all, I thought it was a fun adventure with interesting characters (other than the main heroine), and I was interested in continuing it, especially with the storyline feeling unfinished with so many open plot threads, but without any further books to follow this one up with this set of characters, it seems I won’t be going any further.
September 26, 2021
Book Review: Salty (A Retelling of the Little Mermaid)
Salty (A Retelling of the Little Mermaid) by Holly Hook
4 stars
Category: Teen
Summary: Youngest princess Carlen feels trapped by her odious suitor Edward (Edwart). When her kingdom is threatened by sea storms because of their missing tribute to the underwater kingdom, and the invading forces of neighboring Queen Natalus, her father forces his daughters into marriage, promising Carlen to Edward. She flees the palace, right into the hands of a waiting old woman enchantress, who helps to rescue her from her forced marriage and provide her with a way to meet with the king of the underwater kingdom. The woman turns Carlen into a mermaid, but she also steals away Carlen’s voice.
Comments: I love twists on the classic tales. And I’m a sucker for mermaid stories, especially ones that actually try to bring to life their underwater world and spend the larger percentage of the story underwater. The reverse part of this isn’t the genders, really. It’s that the princess starts out as human this time and turns to mermaid. Yes, Carlen is rather spoiled, but then that is a problem of being a princess, especially a doted on youngest daughter. She is opinionated (which I did like about her, even though it’s definitely not the behavior of a princess since she acts out over meals, and interrupts her father’s meetings) and used to getting her own way (as in if people try to get her to do things a certain way, she’ll eventually sneak around and do it how she wants to, like sneaking outside and not dressing properly). This is aimed at younger readers, since she is very much in her teen years, and so very hung up on the cute mer-guy, and rebellious, determined not to do what others want her to do. All of that is fine and well, where I didn’t connect with the story was that she kept doing rather irrational things without thinking things through. A lot of the things she did, really didn’t make any sort of sense to me. Like going to talk to the king, even though she didn’t have a voice. My largest issue with this was the guy she was crushing on. The mer-guy was very objectified and marginalized. She pretty much only was crushing on him because of how cute he was. He kept running from her, and ditching her, and acting like she was just someone he met along the way, like a total jerk, but she stayed in denial about it each time because of how hung up on him she was (I keep wondering if the problem of Vonek getting marginalized and objectified was because the focus of the story was on Carlen and not focusing on him as well). The ending felt too easy. I mean, it was like the cures to both of her problems were just found and given to her. Done. Also, there was nothing really made of his mis-labeling Carlen as her sister when he started calling her by the right name (which felt awkwardly handled). I did like the magic in this, the evil lady was a lot of fun, the way she was playing all sides, and disguising herself, very Ursula, but with far more political clout. Though I kept wondering if she was the ruler of the more powerful human kingdom with a huge army at her finger tips, why was she bothering with the mer kingdom? And it’s not like one person can rule both on land and in the water at the same time. But I guess it had to turn its focus to the mer kingdom to follow the climactic scenes from the Disney movie. And I loved that Edwart was broadened as a character. Usually the prince’s finance is just there as a complication, but never really broadened and given an actual personality. Each time I read these Disney-style retellings, I keep wishing the other siblings would come into the story more. It’s a handful of characters, potentially all fascinating, yet no one attempts to flesh them out more or give them really anything to do to advance the story and make it feel like she has more of a family support system and less of an only child, but then again, that might have to do with the spoiled, self-centered princess attitude.
4 stars
Category: Teen
Summary: Youngest princess Carlen feels trapped by her odious suitor Edward (Edwart). When her kingdom is threatened by sea storms because of their missing tribute to the underwater kingdom, and the invading forces of neighboring Queen Natalus, her father forces his daughters into marriage, promising Carlen to Edward. She flees the palace, right into the hands of a waiting old woman enchantress, who helps to rescue her from her forced marriage and provide her with a way to meet with the king of the underwater kingdom. The woman turns Carlen into a mermaid, but she also steals away Carlen’s voice.
Comments: I love twists on the classic tales. And I’m a sucker for mermaid stories, especially ones that actually try to bring to life their underwater world and spend the larger percentage of the story underwater. The reverse part of this isn’t the genders, really. It’s that the princess starts out as human this time and turns to mermaid. Yes, Carlen is rather spoiled, but then that is a problem of being a princess, especially a doted on youngest daughter. She is opinionated (which I did like about her, even though it’s definitely not the behavior of a princess since she acts out over meals, and interrupts her father’s meetings) and used to getting her own way (as in if people try to get her to do things a certain way, she’ll eventually sneak around and do it how she wants to, like sneaking outside and not dressing properly). This is aimed at younger readers, since she is very much in her teen years, and so very hung up on the cute mer-guy, and rebellious, determined not to do what others want her to do. All of that is fine and well, where I didn’t connect with the story was that she kept doing rather irrational things without thinking things through. A lot of the things she did, really didn’t make any sort of sense to me. Like going to talk to the king, even though she didn’t have a voice. My largest issue with this was the guy she was crushing on. The mer-guy was very objectified and marginalized. She pretty much only was crushing on him because of how cute he was. He kept running from her, and ditching her, and acting like she was just someone he met along the way, like a total jerk, but she stayed in denial about it each time because of how hung up on him she was (I keep wondering if the problem of Vonek getting marginalized and objectified was because the focus of the story was on Carlen and not focusing on him as well). The ending felt too easy. I mean, it was like the cures to both of her problems were just found and given to her. Done. Also, there was nothing really made of his mis-labeling Carlen as her sister when he started calling her by the right name (which felt awkwardly handled). I did like the magic in this, the evil lady was a lot of fun, the way she was playing all sides, and disguising herself, very Ursula, but with far more political clout. Though I kept wondering if she was the ruler of the more powerful human kingdom with a huge army at her finger tips, why was she bothering with the mer kingdom? And it’s not like one person can rule both on land and in the water at the same time. But I guess it had to turn its focus to the mer kingdom to follow the climactic scenes from the Disney movie. And I loved that Edwart was broadened as a character. Usually the prince’s finance is just there as a complication, but never really broadened and given an actual personality. Each time I read these Disney-style retellings, I keep wishing the other siblings would come into the story more. It’s a handful of characters, potentially all fascinating, yet no one attempts to flesh them out more or give them really anything to do to advance the story and make it feel like she has more of a family support system and less of an only child, but then again, that might have to do with the spoiled, self-centered princess attitude.
September 22, 2021
Book Review: The Human Circle
The Human Circle by Nickie Cochran
4 stars
Category: Adult
Note: Novella-length. I obtained a free copy via Prolific Works.
Summary: Belinda, a fairy princess, flees the palace to escape an evil fairy determined to make her his bride so he can take over her kingdom, and merge it with his own to make his kingdom even larger. To evade him, she jumps into a Human Circle, a circle of mushrooms said to lead to the human world, even though the humans are supposedly violent and dangerous. She finds Pete on the other side who is astonished when a beautiful woman steps out of the fairy ring that he was investigating. He is a professor at a university in Germany, in Scotland for a vacation. Though he doesn’t really believe Belinda is a fairy princess, he humors her because she’s beautiful and in distress, and he gets wrapped up in trying to help her solve the problem of the evil man after her.
Comments: This is a cute little tale with the usual skeptic who has to eventually learn to believe and understand a magical world. It’s very simple, and doesn’t dive into deeper emotions and ideas, so it can be read by a younger audience, though the main characters are adults. I did like the imagination that went into this, the premise that where there are fairy circles in our world that legend has it leads to the fairy world, the same thing exists in the fairy world with legends of leading to the scary and dangerous human world. I loved Belinda attaching to the idea of calling him Pee, instead of Pete. And I liked that though she was a damsel in distress in the human world, when she returned home, she was anything but. She was a fully trained warrior and Pete found himself out of his depth with the idea of her protecting him. It was like his male mind just couldn’t wrap itself around the very idea. I did tire a bit of his constant denial of the fairy world, convinced that Belinda must be partially crazy. And I loved her brother with his love of Pete’s camera. I think though the reading level seemed a bit too young for my tastes, even though the characters were adult.
4 stars
Category: Adult
Note: Novella-length. I obtained a free copy via Prolific Works.
Summary: Belinda, a fairy princess, flees the palace to escape an evil fairy determined to make her his bride so he can take over her kingdom, and merge it with his own to make his kingdom even larger. To evade him, she jumps into a Human Circle, a circle of mushrooms said to lead to the human world, even though the humans are supposedly violent and dangerous. She finds Pete on the other side who is astonished when a beautiful woman steps out of the fairy ring that he was investigating. He is a professor at a university in Germany, in Scotland for a vacation. Though he doesn’t really believe Belinda is a fairy princess, he humors her because she’s beautiful and in distress, and he gets wrapped up in trying to help her solve the problem of the evil man after her.
Comments: This is a cute little tale with the usual skeptic who has to eventually learn to believe and understand a magical world. It’s very simple, and doesn’t dive into deeper emotions and ideas, so it can be read by a younger audience, though the main characters are adults. I did like the imagination that went into this, the premise that where there are fairy circles in our world that legend has it leads to the fairy world, the same thing exists in the fairy world with legends of leading to the scary and dangerous human world. I loved Belinda attaching to the idea of calling him Pee, instead of Pete. And I liked that though she was a damsel in distress in the human world, when she returned home, she was anything but. She was a fully trained warrior and Pete found himself out of his depth with the idea of her protecting him. It was like his male mind just couldn’t wrap itself around the very idea. I did tire a bit of his constant denial of the fairy world, convinced that Belinda must be partially crazy. And I loved her brother with his love of Pete’s camera. I think though the reading level seemed a bit too young for my tastes, even though the characters were adult.
September 21, 2021
Book Review: Fate of Dragons (The Guardians series - Book 1)
Fate of Dragons (The Guardians series – Book 1) by Bella Andrews
4 stars
Category: Adult
Note: Novella-length
Summary: Sienna is a witch trying to blend with the world around her to hide. So she works as a medicine woman for the town. A local teenager demands she train her since she has magic too. But before she can explain much to Bre, a man nearly dying from poison shows up on her doorstep. Sienna realizes the man is her former childhood boyfriend Wade, who moved away years ago. And that he isn’t just all grown up, but he’s also a dragon shifter. He tells her about an evil mage terrorizing his dragon community and that he couldn’t fight the feeling of being drawn to her which has grown even stronger since they were kids.
Comments: I had a hard time swallowing the idea that Sienna hides and blends in with the modern world by working as a medicine woman/midwife who swings around on tree branches as a mode of travel, because that totally blends with the modern world where Bre uses a cellphone to contact her online coven (I love that idea, btw. Magic in the modern world and learning spells via apps). Yes, Wade is every inch the handsome, heroic, loyal, romantic book boyfriend that we need him to be. He yearns to honor the promises he made to Sienna when they were kids and never forgot her. I think I didn’t really latch on to Sienna. She seemed a little too much like she had everything handed to her: hot boyfriend who’s been obsessed with her since they were children, powerful magic at her fingertips to solve all of her problems with just a couple of whispered words and a dash of herbs, a key to unlock even more magic, a wonderful nearly brother, and finding she’s a chosen one with special powers and can do something others practically worship. I did like the couple of twists and turns in the story, but I grumbled at each of the reveals. And this book ends on a cliffhanger. Book 2 isn’t available on Amazon anymore, just to be even more annoying.
4 stars
Category: Adult
Note: Novella-length
Summary: Sienna is a witch trying to blend with the world around her to hide. So she works as a medicine woman for the town. A local teenager demands she train her since she has magic too. But before she can explain much to Bre, a man nearly dying from poison shows up on her doorstep. Sienna realizes the man is her former childhood boyfriend Wade, who moved away years ago. And that he isn’t just all grown up, but he’s also a dragon shifter. He tells her about an evil mage terrorizing his dragon community and that he couldn’t fight the feeling of being drawn to her which has grown even stronger since they were kids.
Comments: I had a hard time swallowing the idea that Sienna hides and blends in with the modern world by working as a medicine woman/midwife who swings around on tree branches as a mode of travel, because that totally blends with the modern world where Bre uses a cellphone to contact her online coven (I love that idea, btw. Magic in the modern world and learning spells via apps). Yes, Wade is every inch the handsome, heroic, loyal, romantic book boyfriend that we need him to be. He yearns to honor the promises he made to Sienna when they were kids and never forgot her. I think I didn’t really latch on to Sienna. She seemed a little too much like she had everything handed to her: hot boyfriend who’s been obsessed with her since they were children, powerful magic at her fingertips to solve all of her problems with just a couple of whispered words and a dash of herbs, a key to unlock even more magic, a wonderful nearly brother, and finding she’s a chosen one with special powers and can do something others practically worship. I did like the couple of twists and turns in the story, but I grumbled at each of the reveals. And this book ends on a cliffhanger. Book 2 isn’t available on Amazon anymore, just to be even more annoying.
September 19, 2021
Book Review: A Dark Faery's Love (Fate's Fables - Book 2)
A Dark Faery’s Love (Fate’s Fables – Book 2) by T. Rae Mitchell
4 stars
Category: Young Adult
Note: This is Book 2 in a serial to be read in order. Fate's Fables
Summary: Fate and Finn have crossed into another fairy tale. This one is about a dark faery man who falls in love with beautiful, innocent Mae, a peasant girl. Instead of cowering at his scary appearance, she giggles and decides that she wants to be his friend. He turns into a handsome man and tries to court her, though she is hesitant. To earn her trust, he pledges never to harm anyone. On the day of their wedding, a seer sees through his disguise and points him out to the villagers who all attack him. When he is killed, Mae dies as well since she had pledged him her heart. To be released from the tale, Fate and Finn must bring a happy end to the tale. Fate decides on her own that the happy ending should be to kill the dark fairy before he meets Mae.
Comments: I loved the tale of the Dark Fairy. Beautiful, tragic tale that brings tears to the eyes and reads just like an actual fairy tale. The tale makes the dark fairy sound misunderstood, and redeemable. And then we meet the Dark Fairy and he really is a villain full of cruelty, which makes the reader see just why Fate wants to do away with him, though we know that feels drastic and if the tale plays out, he’ll still bend to love. The talking snake is a corny and hokey, and I keep picturing the snake from the Disney Robin Hood cartoon. We get a bit more about Finn in this installment, in that Fate realizes who he is, obviously a character come to life, but she doesn’t spell it out for the audience. When he said his full name as Finn McKeen, it made me think of Finn McCool, the legendary Scottish hero. I was more than a little irritated at Fate when she leaned toward killing someone, even if he was a villain in a story. It really made me question the books that Fate writes, if she really didn’t feel any sympathy for the characters in her own books as well, if she saw them as just books. Granted, I get this is a learning experience for her and she’s supposed to grow as a character. Fate found herself in danger several times in this story, and it finally hit her that the danger isn’t just a story, but something that could really kill her.
4 stars
Category: Young Adult
Note: This is Book 2 in a serial to be read in order. Fate's Fables
Summary: Fate and Finn have crossed into another fairy tale. This one is about a dark faery man who falls in love with beautiful, innocent Mae, a peasant girl. Instead of cowering at his scary appearance, she giggles and decides that she wants to be his friend. He turns into a handsome man and tries to court her, though she is hesitant. To earn her trust, he pledges never to harm anyone. On the day of their wedding, a seer sees through his disguise and points him out to the villagers who all attack him. When he is killed, Mae dies as well since she had pledged him her heart. To be released from the tale, Fate and Finn must bring a happy end to the tale. Fate decides on her own that the happy ending should be to kill the dark fairy before he meets Mae.
Comments: I loved the tale of the Dark Fairy. Beautiful, tragic tale that brings tears to the eyes and reads just like an actual fairy tale. The tale makes the dark fairy sound misunderstood, and redeemable. And then we meet the Dark Fairy and he really is a villain full of cruelty, which makes the reader see just why Fate wants to do away with him, though we know that feels drastic and if the tale plays out, he’ll still bend to love. The talking snake is a corny and hokey, and I keep picturing the snake from the Disney Robin Hood cartoon. We get a bit more about Finn in this installment, in that Fate realizes who he is, obviously a character come to life, but she doesn’t spell it out for the audience. When he said his full name as Finn McKeen, it made me think of Finn McCool, the legendary Scottish hero. I was more than a little irritated at Fate when she leaned toward killing someone, even if he was a villain in a story. It really made me question the books that Fate writes, if she really didn’t feel any sympathy for the characters in her own books as well, if she saw them as just books. Granted, I get this is a learning experience for her and she’s supposed to grow as a character. Fate found herself in danger several times in this story, and it finally hit her that the danger isn’t just a story, but something that could really kill her.
