Monday, October 28, 2024

#Review - The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent #Fantasy #Romance

Series: Crowns of Nyaxia (#2)
Format: Hardcover, 608 pages
Release Date:  June 4, 2024
Publisher: Bramble
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Dark Fantasy / Romance

Love is a sacrifice at the altar of power.

In the wake of the Kejari, everything Oraya once thought to be true has been destroyed. A prisoner in her own kingdom, grieving the only family she ever had, and reeling from a gutting betrayal, she no longer even knows the truth of her own blood. She’s left only with one certainty: she cannot trust anyone, least of all Raihn.

The House of Night, too, is surrounded by enemies. Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a slave. And the House of Blood digs their claws into the kingdom, threatening to tear it apart from the inside.

When Raihn offers Oraya a secret alliance, taking the deal is her only chance at reclaiming her kingdom–and gaining her vengeance against the lover who betrayed her. But to do so, she’ll need to harness a devastating ancient power, intertwined with her father’s greatest secrets.

But with enemies closing in on all sides, nothing is as it seems. As she unravels her past and faces her future, Oraya finds herself forced to choose between the bloody reality of seizing power – and the devastating love that could be her downfall.


The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King, by Carissa Broadbent, is the second installment in the authors Crowns of Nyaxia series. The Crowns of Nyaxia series will be 6 books total, broken up into three duologies: The Nightborn Duet, which follows the House of Night, The Shadowborn Duet, which follows the House of Shadow, and the Bloodborn Duet, which follows the House of Blood. This book starts right after the events of The Serpent & the Wings of Night

It alternates first POV past tense between Oraya of the Nightborn, daughter of Vincent, the fallen leader of the House of Night, and Raihn Ashraj a former human turned vampire 200 years ago who is now King thanks to Oraya's wish after winning the Kejari to get his long awaited revenge against the House. In the wake of the Kejari, everything Oraya once thought to be true has been destroyed. She's a prisoner in her own kingdom, grieving the only family she ever had, and no longer knowing the truth of her own blood or her parentage. She’s left only with one certainty: she cannot trust anyone, least of all Raihn.

Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a slave. As the House of Blood schemes to rip the kingdom apart, Raihn proposes a secret alliance that could help Oraya reclaim her throne and get revenge on her traitorous lover. To pull it off, she’ll need to tap into an ancient power linked to her father's dark secrets. But with enemies lurking everywhere, Oraya faces tough choices: go for the ruthless power she craves or risk everything for a love that might just lead to her undoing. 

This book also includes Vale, once a General for the House, and the human he turned into a vampire in Six Scorched Roses, Lilith. One of the positives of this book is actually getting to know who Vincent is, and the love he lost, and the daugher that he did everything in his power to protect from losing to those who hated him.
Not everything he did was right or justifiable, but you can truly see his efforts to make amends with Oraya. That struggle adds an interesting complexity, revealing that he’s not purely evil but rather a flawed individual trying to navigate his way through his mistakes.

The most disappointment for me in this book is Oraya. In the last book, Oraya went out and night and killed vampires who preyed on humans. This time around, she really loses what I loved about her. Yes, Oraya had every right to be mad at Vincent, and the reasons will become crystal clear why he tried to protect her. If people knew the actual truth about Oraya, which again, comes out later in the book thanks to Raihn pushing her buttons, they would have likely killed her leaving Vincent without a legitimate heir. In this book, there are interludes, and if you don't pay attention, you will have no clue who is telling the story. 

This book spends a majority of the time going back and forth between Oraya and Raihn as they put aside their hurts, and expectations, and realize that there is more to what is happening in this world, than Oraya's hurt feelings about being forced to becoming Raihn's wife, and apparent Queen. As I sad before, this series features (3) Houses. House of Blood, House of Night, and House of Shadows. We meet all three in this story when a huge betrayal happens that causes Oraya to finally grow up and discovers that she is more than a puny human, but a powerhouse.

While the book is allegedly the final book in the Nightborn duology, and the ending still leaves room for questions as to what happens next, it's not the end of the the world that the author has created. Next up is The Songbird and the Heart of Stone which takes place in the House of Shadow which was briefly mentioned in this story. That story will focus on Raihn's best friend Mische who has a similiar horror story when it comes to being forcibly changed from human to vampire.  





Friday, October 25, 2024

#Review - Court of Talons by Jennifer Chance #Fantasy

Series: Fang & Fire # 1
Format: Kindle, 451 pages
Release Date: October 8, 2024
Publisher: Oliver Heber Books
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Romantic Fantasy

For twenty-one years, Talia of the Tenth House has been her house’s deepest shame. Now, she’s their last hope.

Each year at the Tournament of Gold, first-blooded and firstborn male warriors battle alongside their massive, otherworldly monsters for fame and power. But when Talia’s beloved younger brother is murdered on his way to the tournament—and his beast unexpectedly bonds with Talia—all hope for the Tenth is lost.

The powerful, arrogant, and dangerously seductive Fortiss of the First House would never let a woman vie for a seat on the Court of Talons. He might also be her brother’s killer. Desperate for answers and to protect her house, Talia assumes her brother’s identity and enters the tournament.

But beneath the pomp and glory of this year’s battles, Talia discovers a dark conspiracy carefully crafted to destroy the entire realm. In an ever-more-deadly dance across gilded ballrooms and brutal fighting pits, she must sacrifice her heart, her freedom, and even the precious, mystical bond she’s formed with her glorious monster to win at all costs.

Because only Talia understands the truth:

If she’s discovered…she dies.

If she loses…she dies.

And if she doesn’t stop the evil screaming toward them through the shadows…everyone dies.

Court of Talons is the first installment in author Jennifer Chance's Fang & Fire series. 21-year-old Talia is a first-born female child to the Tenth House in a world where only first born sons are valued. She has no rights. She is less than nothing to her father, and he is happily within his rights to send her off to another House in order to marry the heir of the House. Her younger brother Merritt is the pride of the family because he, not Talia, is the bonded warrior to a Giant Divh, an otherworldly monster that the men can bond with and then summon at will to battle.

Talia, Merritt, Talia's best friend Adriana, and a Priest named Nazar, along with a protection detail are on their way to the Tournament of Gold in the City of Trilion to hire soldiers for their house, but on the way trouble strikes. Merritt is struck down by an arrow, Adriana is also killed, and the only survivors are Talia and Nazar. But what happens during the attack surprises Talia when Merritt's bands bonding him to his Divh slip off and end up on her arm. She now has her very own Divh which is unheard of. 

With the assistance of Nazar (who has his own secrets to tell), Talia becomes Merritt. She lives each day in fear of discovery, and her only hope is to return home with warriors to protect her family while she accepts whatever punishment her father deems appropriate. Along the way, her plans get a bit derailed when she encounters Caleb, a one armed squire who is as fierce as he is brave. He soon becomes her squire, as she searches for answers to who killed her brother. 

Each year at the Tournament of Gold, first-blooded and firstborn male warriors battle alongside their massive, otherworldly monsters for fame and power. But beneath the pomp and glory of this year’s battles, Talia discovers a dark conspiracy carefully crafted to destroy the entire realm. Talia soon becomes embroiled in a curious connection to Fortiss, the powerfully arrogant and seduction heir to First House who she met along the road to the Tournament who doesn't have his own Divh, but should. 

Could be Merritt's killer? Desperate for answers and to protect her house, Talia assumes her brother’s identity and enters the tournament. The further she gets involved in the tournament, the more dangerous it becomes for her. In an ever-more-deadly dance across gilded ballrooms and brutal fighting pits, she must sacrifice her heart, her freedom, and even the precious, mystical bond she’s formed with her glorious monster to win at all costs.

*Let's just say that I have ranked this as the best book I have read this year, and for me, that's saying a lot. I loved Talia. She trained in secret thanks to Nazar. She was fiercely loyal to her brother until his untimely death. Caleb was another character who warmed my heart, especially after he figured out that Talia wasn't really Merritt. Talia’s Divh Gent is absolutely amazing, and what he does during the Tournament made me smile and cheer. There is obviously more going on in this world that hasn't been revealed, but I am hopefully the author will not let me down when the sequel is released. 





Wednesday, October 23, 2024

#Review & Excerpt - The Book of Witching by C.J. Cooke #Historical #Fiction #Horror

Series: Standalone
Format: Paperback, 384 pages
Release Date: October 8, 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Source: Publisher
Genre: Historical Fiction / Horror

A mother must fight for her daughter’s life in this fierce and haunting tale of witchcraft and revenge from the author of A Haunting in the Arctic.

Clem gets a call that is every mother’s worst nightmare. Her nineteen-year-old daughter Erin is unconscious in the hospital after a hiking trip with her friends on the remote Orkney Islands that met a horrifying end, leaving her boyfriend dead and her best friend missing. When Erin wakes, she doesn’t recognize her mother. And she doesn’t answer to her name, but insists she is someone named Nyx.

Clem travels the site of her daughter’s accident, determined to find out what happened to her. The answer may lie in a dark secret in the history of the Orkneys: a woman wrongly accused of witchcraft and murder four centuries ago. Clem begins to wonder if Erin’s strange behavior is a symptom of a broken mind, or the effects of an ancient curse? 


C.J. Cooke's The Book of Witching is a story that mixes present day mystery, with a historical fiction event. The book opens in the present day at Fynhallow, Isle of Gunn, Orkney, where a park ranger finds a teenage girl covered in blood with a burned body, still alive, lying on the ground. When Clementine gets a horrifying phone call informing her that Erin is hospitalized and in a medically induced coma in Orkney, she rushes to find out what’s going on. She discovers that Erin is unconscious, with several fingers amputated and suffering from serious burn marks. Erin's boyfriend Arlo, who was on the trip with her, is found dead with his body burned and hands bound. 
 
Her best friend Senna is missing. The police start an investigation and, based on text messages, suspect Erin might be responsible for Arlo's death and possibly harmed Senna, who has not contacted her parents. What's even more bizarre, is that Erin claims her name is Nyx. What happened to her on the Orkney Islands? What was the black book with ugly pages that Clem saw in the restroom, which disappeared before her eyes? Who was the woman burning at the stake that appeared and vanished? The answer may lie in a dark secret in the history of the a woman wrongly accused of witchcraft and murder four centuries ago. Clem begins to wonder if Erin’s strange behavior is a symptom of a broken mind, or the effects of an ancient curse?
 
500 years ago, Alison Balfour was living an easy life with her family as a healer. She has turned her back on the Triskelle, the oldest clan in Scotland, lifestyle, but that doesn't stop her mother from initiating her youngest daughter, and son into the lifestyle. It has been 2 years since the King started putting scores of women to death because he believes woman are open to the calling of Satan. Months after the initiation, Alison is confronted by John Stewart, Master of Oakney who wants a certain potion to get rid of Earl Patrick. After she refuses, she is arrested and charged with treason, and a litany of other charges. 
 
Even though she is clearly innocent of the charges, she is nonetheless facing certain death by fire because the Triskele are no longer regarded as a noble warrior clan of magic and spell witches. The persecution of Alison led to her torture and eventual execution during a contentious period of political turmoil, which provided the backdrop for the North Berwick witch trials. Alison’s story is one about resilience as she endures unspeakable pain and torture to keep her children safe. There’s this powerful overall emphasis on family, with the bond between parent and child serving as a central theme for both timelines, and both women feel more relatable and sympathetic because of it.
 
I have to admit, by jumping back and forth, and keeping the connection between the two women in her pocket until the very ending, made for an appealing mystery. I don't normally get this in depth, but I think the author humanized the situation much more when you simply have one woman who genuinely thought she was doing the thing over and over again, only to have those in power wield that against her because they could. How many women were wrongly accused of witchcraft and murdered because of power hunter priests, and politicians? More than 200? Were they ever exonerated for their alleged crimes? 



CHAPTER ONE

Fynhallow

Isle of Gunn, Orkney

May 2024

It's almost sunrise.

A magenta streak across the horizon, a smooth, glittering sea.

The ranger's dog is barking, a wild, staccato squeal that splits the calm.

She shouts at him now to be quiet, her voice growing louder, her pace quickening as she moves toward him. He's a springer spaniel, two years old, easily roused. But he's never barked like this before. As though he's afraid.

Fynhallow's sand is soft, silken white, a seam that joins the Isle of Gunn to the North Sea.

The silhouette of the dog noses and whines at a dark shape by the caves that run along the outcrop. It must be a dolphin, she thinks, perhaps a pilot whale. Except there's no fin, no shape of a tail.

She sees the shape of two legs, and gasps.

The curious odor that she caught earlier registers: something has been burning. The wind was in the wrong direction before, but now she catches notes of flame and meat. The dog paws the ground near the body; she sees the hands are bound together at the end of bent, blackened arms.

Her pulse racing, the ranger reaches for her phone and flicks on the torch, and when the harsh white light falls on a charred grimace she drops the phone to the ground with a shout.

It lands upward, the white glare of the torch falling on the body. It is clear that the person is dead.

And her torchlight picks out another shape farther along the bay. She breaks into a sprint, talking to the dog as he follows her, soothing him.

Somewhere, embers glisten in a nest of twigs like rubies.

She lurches to a stop, just where the tide meets the sand. At her feet is the body of a teenage girl, a Nirvana print visible on her sooty T-shirt, tattoos of mermaids and beer cans on her forearms. Her face is encrusted with blood. The ranger crouches, noticing the dog is licking the girl's foot and whining.

Oh God, she thinks, fear thumping in her throat. Was this an accident, or murder?

She moves her fingers to the girl's neck, gasping with relief as she finds a faint pulse.

The girl is still alive.

Quickly the ranger snatches up her phone and begins to dial.

CHAPTER TWO

Fynhallow

Isle of Gunn, Orkney

January 1594

ALISON

I wake to the smell of fire.

I rise quickly, scanning the earthen floor of the cottage lest the carpet of ferns I have placed to hold the heat has set alight. Silver moonlight pours through the cottage window that overlooks the bay. Above my bed, the posy of herbs I fastened to the beam is silvered with frost. The air is filled with winter's teeth.

I wrap my shawl across my shoulders against the chill and make for the stove, enjoying the warmth. It is not yet dawn, and no one else stirs, not even the chickens in the rafters nor the calf that Beatrice has taken as a pet. Outside, an owl calls, and I stiffen. An owl is an omen. It brings a message.

I hold my breath, listening for the owl's tidings. These should unfurl inside my mind as a thought with edges, an instinct. But only the faces of my children come, and I realize with a start that I cannot hear either of them. Edward and Beatrice are restless sleepers, often calling out in slumber, even responding to each other, as though they inhabit the same dream. But tonight, there is only the call of the owl and the distant wash of the sea.

Edward's bed is empty. I tear back the coverlet and search beneath the straw mattress lest he has fallen beneath the ground, dissolved into vapor. He is not there.

"Beatrice?"

She does not stir. I lunge toward the gaping square of the neuk bed, set into the stone wall of the cottage for warmth. The calfling is curled up on the coverlet, where it usually is, for Beatrice likes it to sleep with her. But my daughter is gone.

A cold terror sluices around my shoulders, enclosing my heart in ice. Have the children been taken? William is yet in Kirkwall, repairing the stonework in the cathedral. When last we spoke, he had redoubled his efforts with the cohorts there who seek to overthrow the earl. And although the plot has yet to take shape, their consultation has not been without danger-the calfling that sleeps now in my daughter's bed was born of the milking cow we found put to death outside our front door five nights afore. Her throat had been cut from ear to ear.

I pull on my kirtle, cloak, then my cap and boots, before dashing into the night air, scanning the field and the byre for any sign of the children. No sign of them. William tore out the hedges that ran along the bank so we could keep watch for approaching visitors, but in the dark no such view is afforded. The black sky is clear, a full moon fixed above, creating pools of light and wells of deep shadow.

"Edward? Beatrice? You must call if you hear me!"

All is silent.

And still, the wind carries the musk of an open flame.

I hasten after it, heading first to the caves that run along the outcrop above the beach. Behind me, the owl lifts silently toward the moon, its white wings set aglow by moonlight. But then it curves around behind me, headed toward the brae behind our cottage.

That is where I am to go.


Voices swirl in the air as I near the top of the brae, though the clamor of my heart is enough to drown out almost all sound. The climb to the towering rocks is fearsomely steep, and for much of the year it is almost impossible to traverse on account of ice or flooding. The children often take their sledges out in the snows and hurl themselves down apace, and I watch, praying for their safety. It is sheer desperation now that helps me climb to the top, tearing my boots on the rocks as I do. Drenched with sweat, I grasp the base of the rock that stands at the top of the hill and pull myself to the summit.

I am careful to conceal myself as I peer down into the fairy glen below. The glen is named for the spiral of rocks found there, which legend says marks the spot where the fae meet. Tonight, it seems a different kind of gathering is occurring. Two score men and one woman congregate around a large fire in the center of the spiral, smoke pluming toward the sky. As my thoughts begin to untangle from the snare of blind fear, I remember-tonight is no ordinary moon. It is the Wolf Moon, the first of the year, marking a season of change, bravery, and loyalty.

I crouch behind the rock, aware that someone is drumming, and someone is speaking. It is difficult to hear their words, but then a figure amidst the crowd takes a familiar shape, and I realize that it is my mother. She is wearing a long cloak made of wolfskins and a helmet of deer horns. She approaches the fire, holding hands with two others. A girl, and a boy, both wearing cloaks of wolfskins.

Edward and Beatrice.

I open my mouth to call out, but then I recognize others in the group. The woman singing and drumming the bodhran is Jonet. She and I played together throughout many a summer on Fynhallow when we were children. The two men standing in front of the fire with crossed halberds are Solveig Anderson and David Moncrief, the blades of their weapons glinting in the flame.

The gathering is the Triskele, the oldest clan of magic-wielders in the world. And they are initiating my children.

I creep down the other side of the hill toward another rock, my mind wheeling for answers. I am outnumbered, and the Triskele will not halt an initiation ceremony at my bidding. They will not hesitate to cut me down if I attempt to stop it.

Even though I was once one of them.

So I watch, my heart in my mouth, as the children answer questions posed to them by the halberd bearers. They must answer the questions correctly, or face being impaled. I scramble to my feet, the impulse to protect them overcoming my fear of their weapons. But as I move from behind the rock, poised to hurl myself down amidst the crowd, I see David and Solveig stepping aside, and the children kneel by the fire, their hands in the air in supplication.

The drumming grows faster, and a wild cry rises up from the group.

I watch on as Duncan, one of the older members of the group, large as a bear, approaches Edward, carrying what looks like a black slab of stone. But I know it is not a stone-it is a book. A book with black pages, its binding made from a tree.

The group begins to sing along to the drumbeat, a long, sustained note held in unison. My son holds the book to his face.

Suddenly, he lets out a long scream, a cry of anguish. My instinct is to race to him to see if he is well, if he is injured. But then Beatrice also shrieks like a wounded creature, and some long-buried memory rises up of my mother telling me to do the same.

My children are not merely being initiated into the Triskele. They are being ordained as Carriers, by signing the book.

One's purest signature is the sound of one's fear.

And The Book of Witching holds them all forever.


I lie still in bed, nerves jangling, anxious for my children’s return. When dawn inches across the fields like a gold sheet drawn across a bed, I hear them tiptoeing into the cottage, trying not to rouse me. I force myself to lie still instead of jumping up to drill them with questions. Beatrice is merely six years of age and does not know my mind on the matter of the ritual. But Edward, at twelve, knows I will not stand for the Triskele.

I refuse to be wounded by his decision, however. He is yet young enough to be persuaded, and my mother is very persuasive. It is she who is responsible for this infraction, not my children. They are simply caught up in a family dispute.

It takes a great deal of patience to wait until I am free to head to my mother's cottage. She is choleric in the mornings, and besides, I need time to soften my anger. And I ought not to abandon my chores. I go into the field and let the sheep and goats out of the byre, scattering oats for them across the frosted ground and breaking the ice in their water trough. The well is similarly frozen over, and I gather a bucket of stones to break the surface before drawing water and carrying it home in buckets.

Beatrice and Edward are usually up by dawn, the noise of the chickens a blare through which even the dead could not sleep. But today they do not stir, exhausted from last night's initiation. I think of William, and how I dare not tell him. What if he had been here? Would my mother still have taken the children from their beds?

Unlike me, William would not have hesitated at the sight of the weapons wielded by the Triskele. He would have risked his life to stop the children being initiated.

I serve them oatcakes at the stove, picking motes of ash out of Beatrice's hair-remnants from last night's initiation.

"Are you well, Mother?" Edward asks. He can see I am ruminating.

I kneel between them. "I saw you last night. In the glen. You know my mind on the Triskele."

"But you are Triskele, Mama," Beatrice says, flicking a look at her brother. "Grandmother said you would be pleased."

"No, she didn't say that," Edward scolds. He glances at me, guilt written large upon his countenance. "She gave us a choice. She said we ask your permission, that you would likely say no. Or we could go with her in secret."

"And you chose to go in secret," I repeat slowly. "Despite knowing I would be displeased."

His cheeks burn, and he lowers his eyes.

"I want to be like you," Beatrice says, reaching out to touch my hair. She hates that her own hair is blonde, like William's, and not dark, like mine and Edward's. "And it was fun, Mama."

Edward scoffs. "You were scared."

"I was not scared," Beatrice flings back.

"You said the fire was scary."

"I said it was hot," she snaps, eyes blazing.

I tell them to be quiet, for my head is throbbing after a night of little sleep. "You must not tell your father," I say. "Agreed?"

"Why?" Beatrice asks, puzzled. "Will he be cross?"

"Yes, but not with you."

"With who, then?"

"Grandmother," Edward answers.


I head across ice-hardened fields under a glancing white sky, the mountain’s round head blanched by a scree of cloud. The weather is wild again this morning, hard rain driving sideways as I make for the brae where my mother’s cottage stands. Much of Orkney’s land is fen, swamp, mire, sinuous lines of sandstone and basalt rimming the coastlines. But Gunn is heavily forested, copses and boscages undulating through deep valleys to the cliffs. Storms have rendered this woodland treacherously muddy, tree roots roping across the path. The old wych elm that marks a hundred paces to the pool has shed its golden leaves, standing naked save its fresh coat of lichen and beard of rooty branches. I am mindful always when I take this path of the coal seam that runs alongside, the signature of a dead forest from long ago. I appreciate the black line of it, the afterlife of all the trees and leaves that once flourished like the wych elm providing warmth and light in our homes so many years on.

I have been wary and cautious since I was a bairn. The only one of my mother's six weans to survive past adolescence, I sense I was her least favorite, or the one who inherited the fewest of her traits. I am more like my father was-quiet, preferring to wander the halls of my own mind than those of any dwelling wrought of stone or wood. My mother is bold as a wildcat, born for war-our family heralds both from the old clans of Orkney and the Vikings that usurped them, and surely my mother would feel at home on a longship, wielding an ax. Her nickname for me is peerie moose, which means "small mouse," on account of how quiet I was as a child. Or at least, that was how she explained it. She said I had a penchant for both hiding away from her and keeping so still and so quiet that I could never be found. I would both infuriate and scare her half to death, slipping inside a bale of rushes or a coffer while she called my name, frantic. When she shares such tales-laughing at the memory of it while using it to illustrate what a torment I was as a child-I wonder why my younger self sought to worry her so. I must have heard the fear in her voice as I hid in the dark, quiet as a rock.




Monday, October 21, 2024

#Review - Starling's Weave by L.E. Sterling #YA #Fantasy

Series: Unknown
Format: Kindle, 321 pages
Release Date: October 21, 2024
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy

Truth is more dangerous than fiction…in this exhilarating upper YA fantasy that will capture fans of Shadow and Bone and Dark Water Daughter

In ancient times, the Elder Wrights breathed their magic into the fabric of the seven seas. Now what was once an ocean of plenty is slowly becoming a sea of death, and the Talin—a race of hidden mages—are beginning to starve.

And for the first time ever, one of their own has no magic.

Ostracized by her own people, Nieve is certain that the old stories hide a missing piece of the puzzle. It’s just a matter of unlocking the secret.

But when a stranger comes sailing into their harbor, Nieve’s world is suddenly blown wide open. Now she’s sailing on the seven seas—with a too-charming, swashbuckling pirate, a group of strange misfits, and a woman who claims to be one of the Elder Wrights.

It’s like Nieve is living one of the stories she’s always loved…only now, she’s weaving a legend of her own.

Except that the old tales don’t mention those journeys that end in tragedy, a king’s calculated interference, or a world poised on the tides of death.

And they certainly don’t mention mutineers with a talent for stealing a girl’s heart…and lying all the while.


L.E. Sterling's Starling's Weave is an upper Young Adult Fantasy novel that will likely appeal to readers of Shadows and Bones and Dark Water Daughter mainly because it has quite a few sexual situations. Key Characters: Nieve Septile (18), and Keir Manseray (22). In ancient times, the Elder Wrights breathed their magic into the fabric of the seven seas. Now what was once an ocean of plenty is slowly becoming a sea of death, and the Talin—a race of hidden mages—are beginning to starve.

Nieve, a member of a Talin tribe—a group of people given water magic by the Elder Wrights—is the first born in 1400 years without the water magic that their village thrives upon, and for that she is shunned by her people. Nieve is certain that the old stories hide a missing piece of the puzzle that may bring magic back to the world. It’s just a matter of unlocking the secret. Then Nieve loses her only connection to the village thanks to a plague that kills quickly, and is soon captured and nearly sold, but meets an unusual pair of characters. 

Arisame, who claims that she is one of the missing Elder Wrights of Dragon Fire, was locked away in the dark. Her companion is a Vauna High Priestess Karima who apparently found Ari when she woke up from her slumber that lasted thousands of years. Ari, who claims she is dying, needs to find a weaver to unlock her missing memories, and soon the trio find themselves working with Captain Keir Manseray of the Floating Star. Keir needs Nieve to help him retrieval the ships captain, Edsel Bo from the notorious King Hyperion who wants magic to die.

Keir, who has a truly loyal crew that lives by a free life creed, knows that unless he can use Nieve to break into one of most dangerous on the planet, the world as he knows it will likely end thanks to magic dying, and Hyperion's Black Guard hunting down any remaining Elder Wrights. Keir watches as Nieve realizes that there is much more to her than meets the eye, and that it is Nieve who might be the key to saving magic if they can survive a dangerous journey to a place called Kiro while being chased non-stop by Hyperion and his black Guard.

*So, my review is based on the fact that there was little to no worldbuilding. It is also based on some choppy editing where it appears the story is in the first person, and then jumps back to the third person. I am, unfortunately, a person who skips over large chunks of the book whenever there are sexual scenes. They don't do anything for me except make me turn the pages faster. While the ending leaves me with feelings of being unfulfilled, it appears that there won't be a sequel which doesn't make sense. Apparently, the reader is supposed to figure out what comes next with Nieve and her role in fixing the seven seas why exploring more with Keir, Ari, Karima and the rest of the crew.





Friday, October 18, 2024

#Review - The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M Waggoner #Cozy #Mystery

Series: Unknown
Format: Paperback, 352 pages
Release Date: September 24, 2024
Publisher: Ace
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Contemporary

A librarian with a knack for solving murders soon realizes there is something supernatural afoot in her little town in this cozy fantasy mystery.

Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies—and solving murders. But she's concerned by just how many killers she's had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count...but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural.

But when someone Sherry was close to ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, is possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry realizes she is going to need an exorcist more than a detective. With the help of her town's new priest and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the "Demon Hunting Society," Sherry needs to solve the murder and get rid of the demon.


The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society, by C.M. Waggoner, is a riotous mix of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Murder, She Wrote is a lesson for demons and murderers alike: Never mess with a librarian. In a rural village in Upstate, New York called Winesap, there lives a woman named Sherry Pinkwhistle (63) who happens to be a librarian. Sherry, it seems, is a cross between Poirot, Jessica Fletcher, and Miss Marple. Sherry is an unofficial consultant to the local Sheriff, as she is always investigating and solving the murders. 
 
She is smart, self-sufficient, and always creative in working with the sheriff, and the towns people all know that Sherry will find the culprits. But when her boyfriend who she grew close to is murdered hours after they were together, Sherry has the feeling that she is a pawn in a much larger game. You see, nobody close to Sherry has ever died before. Oh sure, she's been divorced once, and she apparently may have been friends with a not very nice person who may have been guilty of murder, but this seems personal. Things get even more twisted when her cat (Lord Thomas) starts talking about HER which can only mean a demon.  
 
Sherry realizes she is going to need an exorcism more than a detective. With the help of her town's new priest and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the "Demon Hunting Society," Sherry needs to solve the murder and get rid of the demon. But the demon has plans for Sherry, and those plans may have to be interrupted if Sherry is going to save her town where nobody, it seems, has left in a very long time. I would have likely given this a higher rating, but I searched all over the place to see if this was a standalone since the author definitely hints that Sherry isn't done with being the towns investigator.  


One

Sherry Pinkwhistle woke up to the deep silence of snowfall, cozily ensconced in the warmth of her bed and the knowledge that she had just solved another murder.

She'd woken up five minutes before her alarm-it was 6:55-and she wanted to stay in bed for a while longer than she usually would, just for the sake of luxuriating a little. A treat. A thank-you to herself for a job well done. It was no good, though: Lord Thomas Cromwell came into the room at exactly two minutes past seven and started shouting for his breakfast, and there was nothing for Sherry to do but get up, push her toes into her warm slippers, and start her day.

Sherry didn't like to think of herself as a dull person, but she did like to stick to her morning routine. Lord Thomas Cromwell had his breakfast-a half can of salmon-flavored wet food: he was on a strict vet-ordered diet (Sherry was as regimented about Lord Thomas Cromwell's health and fitness as she was lax about her own)-before she started the coffee. While the coffee was brewing, she went out to fetch the paper. Then she made her egg (soft-boiled) and her toast (with lots of butter) and poured herself a cup of coffee before sitting down at the kitchen table next to the window to have her breakfast.

While she ate, she read the paper and watched the snow fall onto the pine trees in the woods past the garden, with Lord Cromwell curled up comfortably in her lap and purring with all his fat, warm strength. It was an early April morning to meet expectations, with the boldest crocuses sitting up straight to spit in the eyes of the snowflakes. In just another few weeks she would be able to start working in her garden again. A few months after that there would be sunflowers, and the deep-green smell of tomato vines, and she'd sit at the kitchen table in the evenings working on new little houses for the fairy garden that she'd started building two summers ago. Maybe she'd add in some toadstools. When she was a little girl, she'd spent a lot of time hoping to spot a fairy in the inhospitable environment of her suburban backyard. After she'd grown up and gotten married, her husband had always rolled his eyes at her being whimsical. Now she was getting old, and she lived alone, and she could have all the toadstools that she liked.

Sometimes, when she was working on her fairy garden, she would think of her best friend. They had had their fairies-and-witches phase together and had tried to make potions out of dirt and berries they'd found in parks and carved magic wands out of twigs long after they both should have grown out of it. Neither of them had ever really grown out of it. Or maybe Caroline had, by now. Sherry hadn't spoken to her in years.

She tried not to think too much about Caroline.

She returned her attention to the Winesap Herald. The murder was on the front page, of course. prominent local realtor arrested for business partner's murder. There was no mention of Sherry's involvement. Sheriff Brown tolerated her helping out with his cases, but he wasn't interested in sharing credit for his arrests with the local librarian. That suited Sherry just fine. She didn't help him with his cases because she wanted fame and glory. She did it because she was good at it.

Sherry took her time with the rest of the paper, paying particular attention to whether or not the advertisement she'd taken out for the upcoming library bake sale had been printed correctly. It had been. She also took note of a cello recital that she'd like to see in Albany. Then, finally and reluctantly, she read the national news. She always read the national news so that she'd be a well-informed person, but she'd noticed more and more recently that she had trouble remembering any of it. The world's affairs seemed very far away, in Winesap.

Once she'd dispensed with the paper and cleaned up after her breakfast, Sherry got washed and dressed and battled fruitlessly with her crop of wild graying cowlicks for a minute or so. Sherry generally thought of authors as powerful and mysterious creatures, like Olympians, but if she ever met one in person, she would feel compelled to speak to her kindly but sternly on the topic of hair. There seemed to be a general agreement among authors that unruly hair was a sign of a free-spirited and artistic nature, as if zaniness was extruded through the follicles. I'm afraid, Sherry imagined saying to the author (who would have very tidy blonde hair in a chignon and be wearing a cream-colored silk blouse), that I'm not free-spirited and artistic at all. I'm very cautious and conventional. I clip coupons for laundry detergent out of the monthly mailer, have only ever slept with one man, and never learned how to appreciate poetry. My hair just comes out of my head like this.

It occurred to her, abruptly, that this was a distinctly zany thing to think about. Maybe the authors were onto something.

Sherry gave up on her hair and bundled herself in all her warm winter things. It was just about freezing outside, which wasn't particularly cold, as early April went. Sherry was a sturdy Upstate New Yorker now, firmly removed from her soft and vulnerable Floridian youth, and prided herself on her ability to be scornful about any temperature above zero degrees Fahrenheit. Besides, the sun was out. She passed a few evergreen bushes still clinging on to bright-red berries that stood out like exclamation points against the dark greens, whites, and grays of the landscape. They were the sorts of berries that she and Caroline would definitely have put into their potions when they were little girls. They had a wicked look to them, like something that would poison a princess in a fairy tale. Snow white, bloodred, Sherry thought, and the branches of the trees as black as ebony. She assumed they were, at least. She'd never known what ebony actually looked like.

A few brave jays and chickadees were shouting salutations or obscenities at each other as she walked across the road and down the long gravel driveway to Alice Murdoch's house. Like Sherry's own driveway, Alice's driveway was snow covered except for a narrow walking path that ran down the left side, and would remain so until she had a guest who needed a place to park. When they'd first met, they'd bonded over the fact that they were two of the only people in town who didn't own a car.

Sherry rang the bell, as usual, and as usual waited for a long time in the screened-in porch for Alice to emerge. The porch was even more cluttered than usual. There were more pairs of skis and snowshoes than Sherry remembered having seen on Friday morning, along with several paper shopping bags from the local grocery store, what looked like an egg incubator, and, inexplicably, a large plastic cat carrier. Alice didn't own a cat. Sherry considered what she might be doing with the carrier. In the sort of book that Sherry felt somewhat embarrassed to admit to reading, Alice would have trapped a boggart in it.

Eventually Alice appeared, her fine blonde hair so full of winter static that it floated in the air between her shoulders and her hat, which was bright blue with a pom-pom on top like something that had been made for a small child. She was already apologizing. "I'm sorry, I just turned on the TV and saw about the murder on the news. Was it you again, Sherry?"

Sherry responded modestly. "It wasn't me, really. I just noticed a thing or two that the detective hadn't quite gotten to yet, and pointed them out to him. He did all of the rest."

Alice nodded, not taken in for a second. Everyone in town knew that Sherry was good at murders. Sherry appreciated the recognition, if not the phrasing. "I knew it," Alice said. "I knew it had to be you. Oh, wait a second," she added, and retreated back into her house. She reappeared a moment later with a lumpy little something wrapped in foil that she thrust into Sherry's hands. "Banana bread," she said. "I couldn't sleep, so I got up early to bake it."

Alice wasn't usually the most domestic kind of girl. Generally, she reminded Sherry of a small, damp animal that someone had just found huddled under their front porch and brought inside, despite the animal clearly not understanding how it was supposed to be behaving inside a human home. There was something feral about her, not in the sense that she might lash out, but in the sense that you worried that if you made too much eye contact she might hide under the couch and refuse to come out again. If she was a character in a book, she would be the housemaid who became hysterical when the police spoke to her but calmed down in the soothing presence of Miss Marple. She was the sort of person who normally had the baking done for her by concerned motherly types, rather than doing the baking herself, and the fact that she'd made banana bread to share with Sherry felt somehow as momentous as when a stray cat consented to being petted.

"Thank you," Sherry said, touched. Then she tucked the banana bread into her big quilted bag-it was more than big enough to accommodate her lunch, two paperbacks, and a loaf of banana bread, and much more practical than the sort of little purse that she'd almost managed to convince herself that she'd enjoyed carrying when she was younger-and they started to walk down the hill together toward town.

Alice had moved into the ramshackle little house across the road from Sherry's cottage three years earlier, as an even younger, thinner, and more terrified-seeming girl with a few dollars in cash, a giant bruise on her left cheekbone, and a recently revoked driver's license. Sherry hadn't asked any questions. Instead, she'd spent a few weeks bringing Alice casseroles and the local paper folded to the want ads. Soon enough Alice had gotten her job at Alan's antiques store, and they'd been walking into town together almost every morning since. The antiques store opened at ten, but Alice liked to sit in the library in the cozy corner near the door to the locked room that they never used and read before work. Sherry suspected that she didn't particularly enjoy spending too much time at home alone.

They always had nice chats on their morning walks. This morning, they talked about Sherry's latest murder case. It had been a particularly tricky one: the perpetrator, Mr. Wenchel, who was the victim's partner in a real estate firm, had met his victim in an empty house by posing as a potential buyer under an assumed name, and had created an alibi by hiring a man to pretend to be him at the state real estate association's annual dinner. Sherry had only managed to figure out the ruse when she spoke to the other dinner attendees and learned that "Mr. Wenchel" had blundered an extremely basic point of real estate law while chatting with a colleague during the cocktail hour.

They arrived at the library at exactly fifteen minutes before nine, and Sherry unlocked the doors with the specific blend of anticipation and resignation that she always felt in the few quiet minutes before the library opened in the morning. Soon there would be patrons asking for her to find "that book by that lady who was on Oprah a few months ago, it had a blue cover, I think?" and old Mr. Agnes getting snippy with Connie the assistant director over an interloper in his favorite chair, and children smacking each other over the head with the Little Golden Books. Soon there would be a prolonged hunt for a collection of local maps from the late eighteenth century, and little girls all bright-eyed over their newfound power to use their very first library cards to check out the complete works of Louisa May Alcott, and long meetings about an upcoming series of evening performances by local folk musicians, and the particular pleasure that came of turning the circulation desk over to her staffer Beth in order to take a peaceful twenty minutes to drink hot plastic-scented tea from a thermos and eat an egg salad sandwich. Soon there would be all those things, but for now there was peace and quiet, and the smell of old paper and ink, and the hum and click as the fluorescent lights came on one after another and the library woke up for another deliciously monotonous Friday.

Alice retreated into her favorite nook by the nonfiction section to read-she was in the middle of a self-improvement phase at the moment, which made Sherry miss the endless Jodi Picoult of last winter-and Sherry finished making her rounds to turn on the lights and make sure that no one had left anything disgusting in the reading room. Then she went to the circulation desk just in time to answer the first phone call of the morning.

The day went on mostly as usual, with a bit of additional chaos introduced by a new library page who had mis-shelved all of last month's periodicals into the wrong parts of the back volume section. Then, finally, it was time for lunch and the relative peace of the sheltered area behind the circulation desk where Sherry was hidden from view by the corkboards where she posted announcements. She had just taken her first bite of egg salad sandwich when she heard someone calling her name. "Sherry! Sherry, are you back there?"




Thursday, October 17, 2024

#Review - Fear the Flames by Olivia Rose Darling #Fantasy #Romance

Series: Fear the Flames # 1
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: September 17, 2024
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Romance

As a child, Elowen Atarah was ripped away from her dragons and imprisoned by her father, King Garrick of Imirath. Years later, Elowen is now a woman determined to free her dragons. Having established a secret kingdom of her own called Aestilian, she’s ready to do what’s necessary to save her people and seek vengeance. Even if that means having to align herself with the Commander of Vareveth, Cayden Veles, the most feared and dangerous man in all the kingdoms of Ravaryn.

Cayden is ruthless, lethal, and secretive, promising to help Elowen if she will stand with him and all of Vareveth in the pending war against Imirath. Despite their contrasting motives, Elowen can’t ignore their undeniable attraction as they combine their efforts and plot to infiltrate the impenetrable castle of Imirath to steal back her dragons and seek revenge on their common enemy.

As the world tries to keep them apart, the pull between Elowen and Cayden becomes impossible to resist. Working together with their crew over clandestine schemes, the threat of war looms, making the imminent heist to free her dragons their most dangerous adventure yet. But for Elowen, her vengeance is a promise signed in blood, and she’ll stop at nothing to see that promise through.

An immersive fantasy filled with a sizzling reluctant-allies-to-lovers romance, a world to get lost in, dangerous quests, dragon bonds, and an entertaining band of characters to root for, Fear the Flames marks the stunning debut of Olivia Rose Darling. 


Fear the Flames, by Olivia Rose Darling, is the first installment in the author's Fear the Flames series. Once upon a time, a little girl named Princess Elowen was born in Imirath. Her parents were so happy, that they invited royalty from other Kingdoms to partake in the celebration. One Queen brought Elowen 5 dragon eggs that were so old, that nobody thought anything of it. Until the eggs sprang to life and immediately bonded with the little girl, revealing a dire prophecy for Imirath that will either destroy the country, or save it. 
 
For the next 14 years, Elowen became a creature of darkness thanks to her father King Garrick, locked away in the dungeons and tortured repeatedly as her father and others tried to break that bond between her dragons. Until she escaped with a bit of help and found a new country to create for others looking for a new home. Having established a secret kingdom of her own called Aestilian, she’s ready to do what’s necessary to save her people and seek vengeance.  
 
Her new home, however, is struggling to feed its people and needs help. When Elowen hears that Vareveth has been sending soldiers into an area that doesn't belong to them, Elowen investigates. Here is where Elowen meets Cayden Veles, Commander of Vareveth who desperately wants to free Elowen's dragons, knowing a war between Kingdoms was imminent. Cayden is ruthless, lethal, and secretive, promising to help Elowen if she will stand with him and all of Vareveth in the pending war against Imirath. 
 
Despite their contrasting motives, Elowen can’t ignore their undeniable attraction as they combine their efforts and plot to infiltrate the impenetrable castle of Imirath to steal back her dragons and seek revenge on their common enemy. This is a story where even the second line characters are brilliant and interesting, especially Ryder, Saskia, and Finnian who has been with Elowen through the darkness of times.

This book tends to be dark since Elowen is a no holds barred kind of heroine. Same goes for Cayden. If you like 50 Shades of Grey, which I don't, you will enjoy the romp, literally, through this story which seems non ending. Personally, when a book is about dragons, I want more dragons not sex scenes! This is the authors debut so maybe if she reads some of these reviews, she will have more roles for these beautiful and deadly creatures. I would also love more worldbuilding, again, hopefully the author takes these kindly suggestions and broadens her world.

Chapter One

Rain and wind whip against my cheeks as I urge my horse to run faster into the dark forest with only moonlight and lightning to aid my vision. Thunder rumbles throughout the sky in tandem with horse hooves pounding the dirt. There are many reasons for a mission that requires riding through dangerous conditions—secrecy, desperation, curiosity, revenge, and haste, to name a few. I stopped trying to dissect my intermingling emotions years ago but can’t deny the overwhelming sense of curiosity that courses through me tonight.

The steep mountainside resembles a maze of fallen trees, uneven paths, and slick rocks. My cloak does little to keep the chill from seeping into my bones, and several strands have ripped free from the braid that falls down my back, sticking to my face as if they’re coated in syrup. But I’ll never pass up an opportunity to gain information about the tension brewing between Vareveth and Imirath.

Hatred coils through me and a grimace contorts my face when I think of my imprisoned dragons. King Garrick will pay for what he’s done in blood, and even that won’t be enough. The patrol I sent out informed me of a sighting of soldiers from my father’s enemy kingdom, and I want to know what they’re doing so far from home and traveling in one of the most dangerous parts of the continent.

The Terrwyn Forest is filled with beasts, bandits, and several poisonous plants, and the mist that leaks down from the mountains is enough to send even the most seasoned explorer plummeting off a sharp cliff. If you keep your wits about you and follow the faint sound of trickling river water, you’ll find my kingdom, Aestilian, hidden in a valley beside the Syssa Falls.

Finnian’s horse increases its pace and strides beside mine. His ginger curls lie flat against his forehead, and his porcelain skin almost glows through the darkness. “Are you going to tell me why you ran into the house and dragged me out like a deranged goblin?” he shouts over the storm.

Technically I never told Finnian why we left, but we stopped clarifying details with each other years ago.

Wherever I go, he goes.

Wherever he goes, I go.

“A deranged goblin?”

“Yes.” He clears his throat, and I already know he’s about to imitate my voice. “Finnian, make haste! Get your ass on a horse! A corpse moves faster than you!” His voice cracks on the last word, which only increases my laughter.

“Vareveth soldiers were spotted at a tavern here, and it’s a bit of a hike for a pint.”

We slow our horses while passing through the weather-worn gate, their hooves sloshing in the muddy road. The scent of salt lingers in the air that wafts off the sea. I’ve been to this village before, but the dark wood houses, shops, and taverns look even drearier while shrouded in gloom.

I follow Finnian toward the rowdy establishment packed with soldiers, and we tie our horses off on a post. It’s best to keep them close in case anything goes wrong. We’re lined with weapons but no armor, for the sake of blending in as travelers. Knives adorn my waist corset and down my legs until they reach my boots; the only hint to my identity is the two dragon daggers I never go without.

Lantern light dances across Finnian’s freckle-dusted cheeks. “What’s the plan?”

“You stick to the lower levels and see what you can find out from the soldiers who are too deep in their pints. I’ll spy through the floorboards on those of higher ranks.”

He nods, straightening out his red tunic before disappearing into the tavern.

A few minutes later, I’m encompassed in a sea of off-key musicians as the creaky door falls shut behind me. I’ve never been a fan of noisy places, but Finnian thrives in them. It’s what makes us a good pair. I peer through the crowd and spot him sitting at the bar, surrounded by several dark green cloaks. He throws his head back in a boisterous laugh, and even though I can’t hear him, the song of his laughter is a melody that’s stitched into my brain.

I steady my footing on the uneven floor while making my way to the dark staircase in the corner, keeping my head down as I weave through the mismatched tables filled with soldiers playing cards or shouting for another round of drinks. Nobody turns toward me. They’re all too absorbed in whatever is in front of them.

The tavern is as plain on the inside as it is on the outside. There’s no point in fuss and frills when everyone comes here for a single purpose—to get drunk while passing through. Wooden beams shoot up toward the ceiling to support the second floor, and the walls are completely bare aside from the rusting lanterns with hardened puddles of candle wax beneath them.

My eyes water as I walk through thick clouds of pipe smoke that waft through the small space. I stick to the shadows along the wall and take my first step up the rickety staircase. It creaks so loudly that if I hadn’t done this ascent countless times, I would think the wood isn’t strong enough to hold any weight. But I continue my journey without a second thought, dodging cobwebs along the way.

I pause at the top of the stairs, straining my ears for any signs of movement or breathing, but nothing reaches me. The open attic is filled with bags of grain, barrels of wine and ale, dust-filled furniture, and anything else the tavern may need. It’s the perfect place to escape for dalliances in the dark. The only light infiltrating the space comes from moonlight trickling through holes in the roof and lantern light rising from cracks in the floorboards.

My steps are light even though nobody will be able to hear them over the noise. The last thing I want is dust raining down on one of their drinks, giving me away before I’ve even had the chance to acquire any information. I navigate the floor while picturing the layout of the tavern in my mind—maneuvering to the section where I know the generals sit, hoping they’ll reveal something worthy of squatting in an attic. I cringe while looking down at the dirt- and dust-covered floorboard I always press my ear to. It’s far dirtier than usual.

I take a knife from my thigh and rest my head against the small crack after wiping it with my cloak. The familiar steel is a welcome presence in my palm. Ever since I escaped Imirath, I’ve never gone a single day without a knife—even before I knew how to use them. I close my eyes and let all other noises disappear, zoning in on the conversation that drifts into my ears as smoke rises through the air.

“King Eagor may be a pushover sometimes, but he won’t give up on this,” a deep male voice rumbles.

“He knows this is in Vareveth’s best interest, and Cayden won’t let him,” a sharp feminine voice answers.

Cayden.

Cayden Veles, Commander of Vareveth, is both the most feared and youngest warlord on the continent at only twenty-nine. He’s as rich as a greedy god paired with the morals of a demon. Many even refer to him as the demon commander, or demon of Ravaryn.

“He’s tired of losing soldiers at the border in pointless skirmishes. Tension’s nearly at a boiling point already.” The same male voice cuts through the music.

“Yes, but this war will be over before it even begins if King Garrick finds a way to control the dragons.” My eyes snap open, and shock surges through my body. My heart pounds so rapidly that I worry it’s knocking like a fist against the floor. Garrick doesn’t let anything slip about the dragons. The only reason I know they’re alive is that I would have felt their death. The bond I share with them would have broken, and it would be excruciating. The mere threat of the dragons keeps all of Ravaryn from his borders.

When I was born, my parents threw a ball in celebration of the Atarah heir, and all kingdoms were invited, including Galakin. Queen Cordelia brought her court seer to offer my parents a piece of good fortune in honor of their baby princess. Dragon eggs that should’ve been no more than stones were laid at the foot of my cradle, and five dragons sprang free.

The prophecy stated that my soul is forged in flames and bonds me to five dragons, and that I would either destroy Imirath or bring it immeasurable glory.

I was four when my dragons were ripped away from me and I went from being a princess to a prisoner overnight.

Shaking my head, I refocus on the conversation below me.

“Cayden has a plan for that. You know he’s always scheming or plotting,” the male voice says.

“Well, let’s see what happens. Maybe Princess Elowen truly is out here.” A chill creeps up my spine, and I inhale a breath so sharp that my face mask clogs my airways. One of my hands tightens around the hilt of my knife while the other pulls the mask below my chin.

Vareveth soldiers are here . . . because they’re looking for me.




Wednesday, October 16, 2024

#Review - The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning #Gothic #Fantasy

Series: The Watch Hill Trilogy # 1
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: October 1, 2024
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: Publisher
Genre: Gothic / Fantasy

#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning is back with a gripping, imaginative, and seductive new series in which a young woman moves to Divinity, Louisiana, to inherit a large fortune and a Gothic mansion full of mysteries and ominous secrets...

Zo Grey is reeling from the sudden death of her mother when she receives a surprising call from an attorney in Divinity, Louisiana, with the news she has been left an inheritance by a distant relative, the terms of which he will only discuss in person. Destitute and alone, with nothing left to lose, Zo heads to Divinity and discovers she is the sole beneficiary of a huge fortune and a monstrosity of a house that sits ominously at the peak of Watch Hill—but she must live in it, alone, for three years before the house, or the money, is hers.

Met with this irresistible opportunity to finally build a future for herself, Zo puts aside her misgivings about the foreboding Gothic mansion and the strange circumstances, and moves in, where she is quickly met by a red-eyed Stygian owl and an impossibly sexy Scottish groundskeeper.

Her new home is full of countless secrets and mystifying riddles, with doors that go nowhere, others that are impossible to open, and a turret into which there is no visible means of ingress. And the townspeople are odd…

What Zo doesn’t yet know is that her own roots lie in this very house and that in order to discover her true identity and awaken her dormant powers, she will have to face off against sinister forces she doesn’t quite comprehend—or risk being consumed by them.


The House at Watch Hill, by Karen Marie Moning, is the first installment in the authors The Watch Hill trilogy. The story is told in the first person narrative past tense. Zodecky (Zo) Grey is your main character, however, there are curious other characters who also partake in telling the story, especially Alisdair. Zoe has struggled for years to take care of her mother who has incurable cancer. While at yet another interview, Zoe gets a call saying her home is on fire. 

After her home burns to the ground, and her mother dies, Zoe is told that she has inherited a house outside of New Orleans from someone who she never heard of. Without having time to process the shock, she’s summoned to Divinity, Louisiana, to inherit from an estranged relative, Juniper Cameron, a pillar of the town she never met. Zoe's new lawyer, James Balfour, informs her that she must remain in the house for 3 years. She will get a stipend every month, and $1 million if she remains a full year. 

If she stays for the full 3 years, she becomes quite wealthy. However, there are strange rules she must obey, including that nobody can live with her for three years, and her guests cannot stay more than two days, meaning her best friend Este can only visit her briefly. Zoe is a woman who takes what she wants. When she wants sex, she goes out and gets it without thought of continuing any long term relationship. She only long term relationship she has is with her best friend, Este Hunter who has her own secrets.  

Zoe devoted everything to her mother, losing her was devastating. She was left with no family, and no ties to ground her. They moved often running from some unknown danger, her mother never explained. The more Zoe explores Cameron Manor, the more mysteries are unraveled. Especially when it comes to the mysterious Devon who apparently lives on the grounds. Zoe also has to deal with a coven of local witches who don't take kindly to outsiders. Especially outsiders who may not like the kind of person she turns out to be after getting a shocking surprise from Este.

The House at Watch Hill series is Lives of the Mayfair Witches meets Mexican Gothic, with a dash of True Blood and shades of Shirley Jackson for good measure. This series shares enough DNA with the Fever (which I never finished for the same reasons I likely won't continue this either) series to delight the author’s massive existing romance fan base, and introducing new elements like the lush Southern setting, eerie Gothic atmosphere, and lineage of witches to entice new readers.  

A small hint: Moning’s stories have a tendency of unravel slowly, but as each piece is revealed, it paints a vivid, powerful picture. You can not predict what is going to happen in this book, because it kind of all jumps out and punches you in the gut. Especially the ending.