Another quick little roundup of several smaller reviews I wrote in Autumn 2024. Beware of spoilers!
Title: A Rivalry of Hearts
Author: Tessonja Odette
Series: Fae Flings and Corset Strings #1
Thank you to Tessonja Odette, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a nice romance but I needed breaks from it or I’d tune it out. It’s a very busy story in which not much actually happens—a lot of it is world building. We just go on this book tour with the hero and heroine and they banter and snipe at each other until they fall in love. Pretty conventional, actually. *shrugs*
I knew it would be spicy, but I expected it to be spicy behind closed doors, if you know what I mean? Like just explicit internal monologue and sex scenes. I suppose because of the regency flavor of the setting. Instead, sex topics are discussed openly throughout. There’s an orgy scene. (They observe, not participate, though it’s a bit of a close thing.) So fyi.
The entire plot is William and Edwina’s bet. Both vying for a coveted publishing contract, they wager on who could take the most lovers while on their tour. Winner gets the contract. Which alarmed the hell out of me, coming on the back of realizing the book was not shy. I was afraid they were each literally going to fuck a parade of strangers every night. I was not going to listen to that and almost quit the novel.
But then they specified any acts of intimacy in a private setting would count in the bet, even just a hug. I still didn’t want the hero and heroine getting any level of intimate with other people during their own romance, so the book nearly lost me anyway. Then excuses began to be made, and neither of them could bring themselves to make points—and finally I realized the bet was hollow and they’d only be intimate with each other despite it all. At that point I relaxed and enjoyed their development.
Edwina didn’t have much of an arc. She mostly just fell in love. William’s the one who had secrets and facades and changed the most emotionally. Both were likable with sympathetic conflicts, and their chemistry was through the roof.
Overall a fun story with unique world building. I just wish I’d known better what tone to expect going in so I wouldn’t have spent so much time cringing and worrying the book would go somewhere I didn’t want to follow. I hate surprises.
Title: Murder in Highbury
Author: Vanessa Kelly
Series: Emma Knightley Mystery #1
Thank you to Vanessa Kelly, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF 39%. This book has been on my radar for months, endorsed by many of my favorite authors. Supposed to be highly anticipated, or at least that’s the impression I got. (Great job, marketing team!) I was so excited to see this pop up on NetGalley.
Aaaand it’s boring. Quickly became a chore to listen to. All the characters, with the exception of George and Emma, are dicks and wasps with nothing better to do than be dicks and wasps. I heard the words “gossip” and “society” enough times to make me want to puke. And all the characters, with the exception of George and Emma, are neurotic as hell. Also, everyone whines to George. Do something, George! Make this stop, George! Do this, George, do that, George! Help us, George! George, George, George.
When after over 4 hours I realized I still had about 8 hours more to listen to (at 1.25 speed, because the narrator talked ssssllllooooowww), I called it. Why is this book FOURTEEN hours long?!? Why?!? Absolutely no reason it needs to be! If it had been eight or nine, I might have stuck it out, but god.
I’ve never read the Austen book that features Emma, so I didn’t have any previous attachment to the characters going in, and it feels like Kelly expects readers to already know and love Emma and George. Nope, sorry, you’ve made an ass out of u and me.
Others may think this book is perfectly fine, but it was not my cuppa. FOURTEEN hours for a cozy mystery!
Title: Faceless
Author: Kenley Davidson
Series: Legends of Abreia #1 – 3
Thank you to Kenley Davidson, Dreamscape Select, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was originally going to review each book in this set separately and give the series its own post, not add them to the roundup. But I didn’t like them so they’re getting thrown in here.
1: The Faceless Mage – 3 stars
Wait….it ends there? Well that’s annoying. Thumbs down for this book—incomplete plot. We find out a lot but little of it yet means anything to the reader. Leisa assessed Garimore for danger, found some, and went to report back.
Now read that sentence again but stop after “and.” That’s the exact situation.
Either Davidson doesn’t know how to write a complete narrative, or she’s greedy. “Writing’s hard and I want money. I’m going to sell an incomplete story to force readers to buy the next book and hide behind the excuse that’s it’s a series. Integrity, inshmegrity.”
This galley of the first three books is free, or I’d refuse to purchase book 2 on principle.
I like Leisa’s character and the Raven, but it feels like we’re just starting to get to know them, especially the Raven. I wish I could feel more chemistry between them, assuming they’re meant to become a couple.
*frustrated sigh* It really feels like we’re just getting started, yet this is supposed to be a complete book? Yeah, I don’t think so.
Let’s see what book 2 accomplishes.
2: The Unseen Heir – 1 star
I’ve decided it’s both—greedy and wouldn’t know a plot point if it slapped her in the face.
Books 1 and 2 could have been one storyline, meaning one book, if Davidson had picked up the pace and limited her tangents.
So Leisa tells her king that Garimore is sus, he locks her up because reasons. I Forget His Real Name is waiting for her to come back and is taken prisoner by guards. A fae dude frees Leisa. Leisa in turn frees Adrianian—fuck it, I’m calling him the Raven. They’re pursued, escape, and wander into the Raven’s home village. We meet a bunch of new people we’re supposed to suddenly care about, dabble in the boring-ass politics, receive no explanation whatsoever for wtf they even are—they’re called night elves but they’re wolf shifters and don’t act fae at all—wait, were they elves or fae? Don’t remember, don’t care, doesn’t matter anyway. Leisa skedaddles back to the king because looks like Garimore is ready to start war, then someone is engaged to someone, then the night elfaeries are there for some reason, wyverns became important somewhere. There was very little development to Leisa and the Raven’s relationship; Davidson seemed to just decide okay they’re in love now. They were apart more than they were together. Leisa’s background was teased then left dangling with no actual answers.
Sounds like a mess, doesn’t it? That’s because it is. I would be shocked if Davidson isn’t a pantser. Swear to god this reads like a flow-of-consciousness first draft.
I have absolutely no desire to keep my hands and feet inside this ride. No book 3 for me.
I would not recommend giving this author your money. Not until she gives hers to an editor, at any rate. Narrator was fine, though.
I will say, it was beyond nice to find no sex in this book. It was bad enough without empty smut.
Title: The Grimm Society
Author: Chanda Hahn
Series: Grimm Society #1
Much thanks to Chanda Hahn, Tantor, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Loved this! I got Harry Potter vibes and Everly channeled Feyre a bit during her test, which tickled me.
It felt like there got to be too many plot lines, though; they got tangled in my mind and I struggled to keep up with Everly. “Oooo a clue! Wait, which mystery does that matter to?” Relative, Everly’s suspicions were kept a little too secret from the reader. “Ohhhh, she noticed something . . . she’s getting fingerprints . . . I don’t know why or what it indicates but cool . . .” Or maybe the pace got going too fast toward the end, or maybe my ADHD brain just couldn’t keep everything straight, I don’t know, but the last third to quarter I struggled to keep up.
All the G words got tangled in my brain, too—grievers, grimms, gravemark, etc
Regardless, I liked this story a lot and can’t wait to spend more time with Everly and her found family of likeable, quirky classmates. I can’t wait for Holland to gain some confidence and feel valuable. I want Cat to come out of her shell, just enough to accept friendships.
I’m not a fan of love triangles, but I’ll tolerate them if the parties involved don’t act petty and immature, and if there’s no cheating. Everly’s path to Hunter seems to be clearing with only Holland left to maneuver around . . . but I have a feeling Ian is endgame, which would be fine with me. I’m guessing with the secrets out of the way, Everly and Ian will be able to relax around one another and open up. Hunter’s nice, but he comes across rather privileged and cocky; I get the sense that he’s a boy and Ian’s a man.
Oh, and Everly’s mom! I want to know more about Everly’s mom. Everly does, too, but she still isn’t able to admit it.
If I thought harder I’d probably find fault in the academia setting; Everly sure didn’t spend much time in the classroom. What’s the point of the school if she isn’t going to learn things that help the plot advance or come back around later on?
The world building could have been a bit richer, the lore a bit clearer. So anyone who’s witnessed a death is a griever? And all grievers can see grimms? No, I don’t think that’s right. Once you’re a griever you’re noticeable to grimms? But only some grievers can see grimms? Only some learn to fight them? I guess I’m not quite understanding where the line is between grievers and “muggles,” if you will. Can you witness a death and not go to griever school? And what makes Everly special that she can “see” other creatures, like dryads?* Yeah, the rules of this world could use some clarification. More will be explained in books 2 and 3 I’m sure, but it’d be nice if book 1 made more sense as well lol!
*I liked Everly, but she did feel like a weird mix of Mary Sue and hapless/feckless. She was exceptionally competent in some ways, utterly worthless in others. Her father taught her to take care of herself, yet she sure passed out a lot and needed rescuing. Contradictory—either she knows what she’s doing or she doesn’t, make up your mind.
I’ll be watching for the galley of book 2 in a couple weeks!
Title: Later On We’ll Conspire
Author: Kortney Keisel
Series: part of the Christmas Escape series with books by other authors
Thank you to Kortney Keisel, Dreamscape Select, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is a pretty funny rom-com that’ll remind you of all the spy movies. Knight and Day and Mr. and Mrs. Smith in particular came to mind for me, and Mission Impossible was a clear inspiration. The book references Bourne and Bond, but this isn’t anywhere nearly serious enough to be like them.
No, this story is pretty fun, though it did stretch on a bit long. Or it might have just seemed that way because I listened at normal speed for once; 1.25x was too fast and the NetGalley app doesn’t have anything in between because it’s dumb. Yeah, thinking on it, the narrative’s pace was fine.
I wasn’t comfortable with Park and Lacey’s manipulation of poor Mary Bradshaw, but they didn’t have sinister intent and they didn’t just use her and walk away. Mary became family, which made me feel much better about her involvement.
The narrators, Amanda Friday and Andy Harrington, were great. I didn’t care for Harrington’s speech rhythm at first but got used to it. He sounds a lot like Matthew Broderick.
Overall a pleasant and festive read.
Title: Baking It Merry
Author: Samantha Chase
Series: n/a
Thank you to Samantha Chase, Dreamscape, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Meh. Not great but not a dumpster fire. Daphne seemed great, very likeable. Tristan, not so much. Chase tried really hard to make him likeable, but I wasn’t buying it. Just because he’s ready to spew apologies doesn’t mean he isn’t toxic. He was a self-involved, inconsiderate jerk. Daphne deserved better. I didn’t feel chemistry between them, and their argue/insult-each-other foreplay wasn’t sexy. If you just want to read a Christmas book and don’t need deep character development, this might scratch the itch for ya.
Title: Much Ado About Margaret
Author: Madeleine Roux
Series: n/a
Thank you to Madeleine Roux, Random House, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I tried three times to get into this book. The furthest I got was 36%. The further in I went, the less I absorbed because it just couldn’t keep my attention. Margaret seemed okay, and I wanted to accompany her on her journey, but it was taking too long to do too little. The MMC had a sympathetic problem but again, not enough happened quick enough. Sorry, boring, not for me.
Title: All’s Fair in Love and Treachery
Author: Celeste Connally
Series: Lady Petra Inquires #2
Thanks to Celeste Connelly, St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and listen to free ARCs in exchange for an honest review.
This was pretty good. I can’t remember squat of the first one from a year ago, so this felt fresh to me. Could have been shorter, had a bit of a saggy middle and could have stood to lose a few unnecessary characters. I got a bit lost on the mystery between the beginning and the end, forgot what the objectives were and was distracted by Petra’s rather annoying impetuousness. Her jump to a negative conclusion at the beginning soured me toward her character; she’d been friends with Duncan since childhood, sleeping with him for how many years, claimed to be in love with him—I mean, those demonstrate his loyalty at the very least—yet some nobody leaves her a vague note saying Duncan was a liar and a traitor, and she doesn’t question it? Yeah I wasn’t going to respect her much after that. The book tries to address it—if she wasn’t silly she wouldn’t be the woman Duncan loves *fart noise*—but she was telling herself an excuse to make herself feel better. She should be ashamed that she believed the worst of him without hesitation. She was also reactionary, headstrong, and a bit full of herself. She was probably what I disliked most about the story.