Book Review: Tame the Spark (Mirrorside - prequel)
Tame the Spark (Mirrorside – prequel) by Jessica Lynch
4 stars
Category: Adult
Note: Novella-length. I obtained a free copy via Prolific Works. Currently free on Amazon.
Summary: Elizabeth comes from a wealthy family and is engaged to the son of one of the father’s business partners to help solidify his power and marry well. Though she’s ambivalent about Charles (though he’s in love with her), she’s determined to fulfill her duty and marry him. She’s approached by a mysterious white-haired man who suggests to her that her destiny is greater than her arranged marriage. Intrigued, she meets with him, only to have him abduct her and take her to a different world, where he tells her that she is Hera reborn and he is Zeus and couldn’t take seeing her about to marry another man and that he needs her to restore balance to this other world because all of the magic is being reborn to Earth instead of there. But she has seen him with prostitutes, and Hera remembers all of his infidelities in the past, and isn’t interested in setting herself up for more heartbreak.
Comments: I loved that this story wasn’t set in the modern world. It felt like it was set somewhere between Victorians and 20s, in the point where women didn’t have much in the way of rights, so Elizabeth was waffling between her duty to marrying and doing what her parents which felt rather Regency, alongside her own independence of wanting more than a loveless marriage (though it didn’t entirely feel like it was set in Regency since there was an absence of companions/chaperones and servants). It was focused on the relationship more than anything else, and not so much on the mythology or fantasy aspects, other than the duality of legendary characters residing in them. The whole crux of the situation of the world being out of balance was very vague and that the old ways were dying, also very vague. There was nothing concretely pointed at as being wrong with the world, so I didn’t really grasp the whole concept of it being imperative that they bring the mythologic characters back to life and back into their past relationships. I also didn’t really grasp why it was so important that they be together, other than his claiming that he was stronger with her by his side, but other than that vague concept, he didn’t really have anything else to bolster that idea. And looking back on it, there wasn’t really anything romantic between the two characters other than their shared past and his flirtiness. It was mostly selling her on the idea of being with him again, but without the philandering. There didn’t seem to be any real reason to it.
4 stars
Category: Adult
Note: Novella-length. I obtained a free copy via Prolific Works. Currently free on Amazon.
Summary: Elizabeth comes from a wealthy family and is engaged to the son of one of the father’s business partners to help solidify his power and marry well. Though she’s ambivalent about Charles (though he’s in love with her), she’s determined to fulfill her duty and marry him. She’s approached by a mysterious white-haired man who suggests to her that her destiny is greater than her arranged marriage. Intrigued, she meets with him, only to have him abduct her and take her to a different world, where he tells her that she is Hera reborn and he is Zeus and couldn’t take seeing her about to marry another man and that he needs her to restore balance to this other world because all of the magic is being reborn to Earth instead of there. But she has seen him with prostitutes, and Hera remembers all of his infidelities in the past, and isn’t interested in setting herself up for more heartbreak.
Comments: I loved that this story wasn’t set in the modern world. It felt like it was set somewhere between Victorians and 20s, in the point where women didn’t have much in the way of rights, so Elizabeth was waffling between her duty to marrying and doing what her parents which felt rather Regency, alongside her own independence of wanting more than a loveless marriage (though it didn’t entirely feel like it was set in Regency since there was an absence of companions/chaperones and servants). It was focused on the relationship more than anything else, and not so much on the mythology or fantasy aspects, other than the duality of legendary characters residing in them. The whole crux of the situation of the world being out of balance was very vague and that the old ways were dying, also very vague. There was nothing concretely pointed at as being wrong with the world, so I didn’t really grasp the whole concept of it being imperative that they bring the mythologic characters back to life and back into their past relationships. I also didn’t really grasp why it was so important that they be together, other than his claiming that he was stronger with her by his side, but other than that vague concept, he didn’t really have anything else to bolster that idea. And looking back on it, there wasn’t really anything romantic between the two characters other than their shared past and his flirtiness. It was mostly selling her on the idea of being with him again, but without the philandering. There didn’t seem to be any real reason to it.
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