Tag: Arc review

adult fantasy

The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab

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6/5 stars

When I heard one of my all-time favorite authors was writing a NEW series in a FAVORITE fantasy world, I was ecstatic, borderline unhinged with excitement. The original Shades of Magic trilogy is a series that means so much to me and I love and adore the characters and the world more than I can say.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from The Fragile Threads of Power. I didn’t know if our old characters would have cameos or be featured at all, and there’s always a little bit of trepidation for me when I’m approaching a much-loved fantasy world with characters that I don’t know yet.

But if you were wondering if we see our old characters rest assured that we do, they are back, changed of course after the events of A Conjuring of Light and also seven years older. I loved seeing how they had grown and changed since the end of that book, and it was so comforting to have what felt like old friends on the page again in Red London having new adventures.

There are, however, new characters to get to know and love too. Two of my favorites were Kosika from White London, and Tes from Red London. We get to see a lot of their backstory for the first third of the book until we see the even that features them as major players in Threads.

The first third of the book does have a lot of flashbacks and switching between POV’s. All of which is very deliberately done to get us to the meat of what the threat is in the current book and how the past got us here. And that can sometimes be something that is hard for me, but I felt equally invested in every storyline that was being told and didn’t feel pulled out of the story at all.

V.E. Schwab does a lot of things right for me in her books, and one of my favorites is her character and relationship development. I love seeing Lila and Kel back as well as Rhy and Alucard, and the added dynamic of a Queen and child in that family unit. Another thing I love about Schwab’s books is her world building and plotting. The opening chapter of this book is particularly strong for world building, plotting, and character introduction. We are immediately introduced to what this world is, who this person is, and what might happen from this one event. And then the way Schwab weaves in all the other characters, their past histories, and the threads of what is to come in the final chapters of this book was masterfully done.

I loved every single page of this book. I was captivated and never wanted to put it down. When I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it until I could get back to reading it again. This book honestly exceeded every expectation I had and is a new favorite from this author and for the year.

I received an ARC for review, thank you to the author and Tor Publishing! The Fragile Threads of Power has a release date of September 26, 2023 and is the first in a new series called The Threads of Power which is in The Shades of Magic Universe.

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Marry Me By Midnight by Felicia Grossman

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Marry Me By Midnight by Felicia Grossman

4/5 stars, New release review

This was a super unique and really well researched historical romance with a fun reverse Cinderella spin on it!

I have never read a historical romance with Jewish main characters before, and I think the author did a great job of giving the reader enough insight and history to how Jewish people lived and were treated in England at the time to help us understand the stakes of the characters.

I loved our hero and heroine, I thought they were really well fleshed out and unique. A fiery, determined heroine who hires the hero (a custodian) to dig up dirt on potential future husband’s so she always has something to hold over their heads if they decide to mess around with her father’s business she’s running. And the hero had a heart of gold and just the right amount of self-loathing.

The romance had great chemistry, the plot was unique, and the characters were solid.

The swoon in the romance was hit or miss at times, and I think the writing style was a bit overly descriptive for me.

But it was definitely fun, well thought out, and creative.

I received an ARC for review.

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An Earl To Remember by Stacy Reid

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In classic Stacy Reid style, this is a very unique story, even with the similarities to Overboard.

Georgie is trying to raise her three sisters in their falling down manor after the death of her parents and also trying to get paid and live her dreams as a chef. She’s hired to cook on Lord Stannis’s ship, and after a heated look shared across the room, their chemistry leads the Earl to believe she is meant to join his party with multiple women that night.

A jealous mistress demands he fire Georgie when she sees how he looks at her, and therefore, Georgie must leave the ship with no pay. The Earl and his mistress argue, she pushes him overboard, he gets amnesia, and winds up in Georgie’s town where she quickly lays claim to him as her husband to preserve her reputation.

Bonkers. And also delightful.

By far the best part about the whole book was watching who the Earl became at Georgie’s home. The way he wanted to give her the entire world but felt restrained by his believed lack of finances was BEAUTIFUL. Watching this fancy Earl do hard manual labor and do it happily for his wife was enough to melt me.

Daniel was pretty unlikable in the beginning, a Rake in every sense of the word, and…it was pretty distasteful, but I was ready for the character development that could bring.

I think the main reason this is a 4 instead of a five is for how much of their relationship was based purely off their physical chemistry, and that final moment right before the end which had me doubting if Daniel had grown as a character at all.

This one definitely requires some suspension of disbelief but I was happy to do it as I find Stacy’s books to just be such a good time.

Not as good as the first in the series but a book I’d still recommend.I received an ARC for review