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3.7 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

“Never attack in anger,” he whispered, his lips so close to her ear that she could feel his breath on her skin. “And never start a fight you can't win.”

Prophecy is an updated and revised fantasy story (The Gypsy King) that follows a girl trying to fight destiny and the way it pulls and pushes her into dire consequence situations. We first meet Persephone as a shackled enslaved late teens girl who is trying to protect chickens from a boy a little older than her that is trying to steal them. When Azriel gets a look at her face in the moonlight, he seems to know her and wants her to come with him, which Persephone refuses. Only to have Azriel show up the next night impersonating a lord and buys her. This sets her off on a journey where she constantly tries to find ways to break away for her freedom but is shackled not in chains this time, but to the seemingly workings of an old prophecy.

Once, she'd believed the prophecy of the Methusian king to be nothing more than the wishful thinking of a hunted people. Now she knew it was a death sentence for all those it touched.

In almost the opposite of an info dump, this first book in The Fractured Kingdoms series, takes it's time, and doesn't get there for some aspects, in introducing readers to this fantasy land. After a prologue that introduces readers to a Methusian seer who gives us a prophecy of a Methusian king that will reunite the clans of Glyndoria right before she's attacked and killed, the next chapter jumps us fifteen years later. As we follow Persephone and Azriel on their road trip, the worldbuilding gets placed in here and there with the gist of it being that there are four clans who make up this world, a boy king of the Erok clan is currently crowned but as he's not quite eighteen yet, his regent Mordesius runs things. Mordesius has a deformed body from a fire and is mad for the legend of a Methusian magical pool that could heal his body, he also hunts Methusians not only to torture them for their knowledge but to kill the children for their blood, thinking that has healing powers too. The advertisement of this saying it's like the Princess Bride and Game of Thrones kind of fits, you'll get light and goofy with Persephone and her animals that follow her but some gruesome killing and torture with a wanna be Little Finger in Mordesius.

“I do not believe that the Fates will allow you to refuse. I believe that a path stretches out before us, Persephone, and though I cannot say exactly where it will lead, I would stake my life on the certainty that we are meant to walk it together, come what may.”

Most of this first book in the series is more of a meet and greet to learn the players and set them in their roles. Persephone will annoy at times with her bratty determination that doesn't always make sense, she wants to escape Azriel and the Methusian prophecy they think she has a part in, but escape to what? Persephone never really has a plan just a “I want to be free” that feels forced to keep her apart from Azriel. Their budding romance had moments, they have some sweet and heated teasing between each other, but it definitely felt in the lighter young adult realm that this is categorized in. In the second half where the prophecy has them headed to the capitol to rescue a Methusian boy, along with an added girl Rachel who looks a lot like Persephone and no one is sure who the prophecy is about, the story started to feel a little dragged out. We get point-of-views from the other side, Mordesius, to further the overarching plot, but there was still not enough moved along for me.

I enjoyed this because of the cute chemistry between Azriel and Persephone but Persephone's insistence in wanting to “escape” when it didn't quite make sense, had me frustrated with her a lot of the time. This first installment delivered on some answers but a lot still isn't clear and with a sudden cliffhanger, I find myself wanting to start the second in the series right away. This was at turns cute, goofy, gruesome, and had fun back and forth chemistry, I just wanted Persephone to accept she could be a heroine in a fantasy story more readily.

2.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

“You’re from the future.”

Love and Other Paradoxes was a story about how your future could change if you knew your future. Joe is a twenty year old student at Cambridge who aspires to be a poet like the greats he's studying, but as he's studying, he's also getting a heavy case of impostor syndrome. A middle class Scot in the rich environment of Cambridge and raised in a household that was encouraging but also worked to keep his feet on the ground, Joe feels lost as he tries to measure up and graduate. When he bumps into the barista he was having some chemistry with and he picks up the book that fell out of her purse, he sees his name on the cover and picture of himself as a sixty year old man. As a panicked Esi tries to grab it out of his hands, Joe runs and finds himself in his dorm room with a piece of his future.

“I want to be remembered.”

Told all from Joe's point-of-view, the first half of this had me locked in as Joe learns that Esi is from the year 2044. She's accessed Joe's current time, 2005, by paying a time tourist company that allows people to take trips to observe famous people, which he'll be in her time for writing poetry. The time travel gets as deep as “I traveled through a wormhole” for most of the book and instead focuses on how knowing your future could change a person. Joe knows that he writes an impactful and famous book of poetry for a girl he's only glimpsed on campus and they fall in love later in life. So when he has the chance to meet this girl, he enters a poetry contest with one of the poems from his future book and ends up paired with her as she'll do a dramatic reading of the poem, he's all in, ready to start to his future now. This leads to Joe living life different, taking more chances and slacking off from school, as he thinks nothing he does matters as his future is already determined.

Determinism was nice in theory, but it didn’t actually save you any effort.

After the rush of knowing his future wears off, Joe starts to wonder if he's actually changing his future with his current actions as he learns that Esi's whole point of taking the time trip wasn't to observe him but to try and change her mother's future, as she ends up dying in a car accident when Esi is eight. This leads to some themed questioning of determinism and we get a second half that meanders and jumps weeks at a time as Joe begins to realize that not only what he does now still matter, the future he thought he wanted may not be what he truly wants. The beginning also had Joe and Esi developing a friendship that had some sparks but the middle abandons them a bit as Joe tries to start his romance with his future wife early. I missed their companionship and when Esi comes back into the picture in the later second half, they had lost some momentum for me.

He wanted to be with her, even if it was temporary, even if it was doomed. He wanted to taste every moment they could possibly have before it was over.

If you've been or are familiar with Cambridge, you'd probably enjoy the setting descriptions and Joe's roommate and other secondary characters added to the flushed out feeling of the world. It just felt like the beginning was more tightly held together and then the second half got lost in where it wanted to go and how to work everything out regarding the time travel aspects. You won't get solid spelled out answers to how everything wraps up for the characters but more of “infinite universes” and a kind of weak easy solution for how Joe and Esi's romance endures. This started strong with an interesting concept, the underlining discussion on determinism was thought provoking, Joe and Esi had beginning spark, but then the second half lost its way and Esi disappeared for too long, only to anemically drift back in. If feeling nostalgic for 2005 Cambridge, with some romance, wormholes, infinite universes, and inventive weapons for the campus game Assassins, this had those eclectic elements.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

“I spelled my heart.”

Second in the Estrada Family series, The Anatomy of Magic is about Lily, the youngest sister. If you read the first (The Enchanted Hacienda) you'll know that generations ago, an Estrada woman made a desperate deal with the Aztec goddess Mayahuel. The deal was for every female descendant to be blessed with their own brand of magic that is enhanced by plants and flowers. Lily's magic is memory and when a patient's son utters a line from her past, she is shocked into a distant memory and then tragically loses for the first time a patient on the operating table. This causes her to go home to her family flower farm in Mexico and face the consequences of the intensified memory spell she put on herself to try and forget her first love Sam.

“It’s because something else is taking up space in your heart, and you have to heal that.”

Told all from Lily's point-of-view this was a more sedate moving story about how not dealing with past pains can bubble up and impact you when you least expect it. It's a magical realism setting with the flower magic and a family generational story, even though each book takes turns focusing on a different Estrada woman. There's the love interest Sam, who doesn't appear until around the 25% mark, but his character isn't so much there for his story to be told but in service of showing how Lily is the way she is today and how she has to work through that. The love thread is a second chance romance as the two were childhood sweethearts and then eleven years ago when they were nineteen, Sam out of nowhere says he doesn't love her anymore, giving no other explanation. This causes Lily to spell her heart to try and forget their years long love but also works to deaden her emotionally somewhat. The story was more about Lily discovering she should feel again and how she could go about it than showing Lily and Sam working together to resolve their past pain. A little later into the second half, Sam tells Lily why he broke up with her and Lily pretty much forgives him right away. The romance arc was more working through Lily's pain, hearing the reason she always wondered about, and then immediately moving on to we're in love.

“Azalea came to me in a dream,” I say. “And?” “She told me to go back to the beginning.”

The ending has some family and magical drama from a decision Lily makes but we get a resolving of that for no cliff-hangers, also an epilogue to deliver what looks like a Lily and Sam worked out happily ever after. I enjoyed the continued magical realism aspects and Estrada family relationships that were laid out in the first, you could pick this up as a standalone as there's enough relaying to clue new readers in, but the pace got a little slow for me as Lily glummed around. I also missed the romance thread being stronger and having more working through to give the second chance more impact. This wasn't the strongest installment for me but I'm still entranced by the Estrada women and their flower farm and will be looking out for the next one to fall in love.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

a woman once lived here emerald eyes and bright smile born on the last frontier raised along the arctic mile

A Place No Flowers Grow was a book in verse told in pantoum and quintain poem format. Divided into five parts, with an epilogue, readers are taken on a haunting journey.

it's for science, though, right? the cold makes his hands throb his mettle tested by the never-ending white Roen wonders why he took the job

The first part introduces the main characters, Octavia, Roen, and Fox. Octavia grows up in the Arctic with loving parents who teach her the importance of nature. Her mother gets sick and this leads to Octavia studying plants to try and find a cure for her. Roen grows up with his mother and grandfather and dreams of doing something extraordinary. With his grandfather being deaf, this leads to Roen studying, experimenting on animals in hopes of finding medical ways to help humans.

she was defenseless in her love for him he made hand puppets in the shadows she made him feel weak in every limb we could make lovely little weirdos

Part two has Octavia and Roen moving to Alyeska, meeting and falling in love, while part three shows that the Fox we previously meet in the wild is now caged in Roen's lab. We get povs from all three characters, showing us Octavia and Roen falling love, with Roen thinking about how the experiments are cruel to the animals but thinking the end justifies the means and how Fox is getting changed by the experiments and about to have a Rise of the Planet of the Apes “NO!” moment. It's a good contrast of how oblivious beings inhabiting the same world can be of each other, the happy in love Octavia and Roen and the angry Fox.

she thought of the caged beasts she'd avenge it felt good to be out in the wide open readying to exact her revenge Fox dreamt in her ice cave den

Parts four and five deliver the climax of the happy and angry worlds colliding and lead to an epilogue that delivers on a Gothic tale ending feel. This story was told in an interesting way and I hope readers give the format a chance because it's an atmospheric and engaging story. It's a does the ends justify the means, with morality and ethical questions, and look at all the ways humans respect, use, and abuse their place in nature, all wrapped up in a vengeful, Gothic feeling love tale.

if you wed in the spot known as Crimson Vows Vale bring yarrow and buttercups for good luck

2.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

He’d been the one person she’d trusted with her dreams and he’d single-handedly unraveled them.

Scot and Bothered was a second chance story told in alternating Then and Now chapters, that pretty much last throughout the whole book. Brooke is an American who is studying at the University of Edinburgh in their English program, she has the dream of being a writer. Jack is a Scotsman who is in the MBA program, he supposed to help with his family's tour guide business when he graduates. When they meet at a party, they're both instantly drawn to each other, until Brooke shows up to class one day and Jack is one of the T.A.s in the class. They know they shouldn't start anything but they can't help themselves and when Jack feels like his hand is forced and makes a decision without telling Brooke, they both feel the consequences. It's not until seven years later that these two are forced together to collaborate on Jack's aunt's memoir, Brooke's mentor, that old wounds are finally healed.

It was easier to slip into someone else’s story, someone else’s voice, than to admit she’d lost her own.

I'm not a strict linear reader, so I don't mind alternating timelines that are simultaneously showing our characters in present time and pushing the story forward while also going back in time to show how they got where they are and why they are the way they are. However, I usually like the past timeline to be wrapped up around midway point, having gotten the foundational information needed to understand but then fully in the present so the characters have time to work out what they need to and fall in love again. The alternating timelines kept up until, almost the very end of the book and I was left feeling like Brooke and Jack didn't spend that great gritty time working out what they needed. When Brooke and Jack are forced together, Brooke's writing her mentor's memoir, while Jack's taking the photos for his aunt's book, Brooke is still extremely angry over how everything went down seven years ago. She does not take her foot off his neck for awhile but it seemingly takes one, I'm finally getting angry line, from Jack and she kind of lets it go. It's an apology of sorts but I still felt she let that strong anger go kind of quickly.

“I feel bound to a life I didn’t pick. I have never felt free.” The anguish in his voice broke her heart in two. And spoke to something she never felt allowed to voice.

Considering the set-up of Jack being not her specific T.A. but a T.A. in her class, I'm not sure I felt the desperate “we must be together” even though we could wait and there would be no consequences. I could see Jack caving but Brooke's character is described as very by-the-book and she's there on scholarship and talks a lot about how important this all is to her. I know she's in love for the first time and likes how Jack brings out her adventurous side but it still felt a betrayal to some of her characterization, because they wouldn't have to stay away forever, just for the semester or even two. I spent more of the Then chapters shaking my head and thinking the big blow up coming could be easily avoided. How unromantic of me, but there it is.

“I fucked up. So badly . I wish more than anything I could take it back. I know I broke your trust and it’s unforgivable.”

Around 30% is when Brooke loses her red mist of anger and they start to talk. They're hiking the Skye Trail in Scotland, the mentor/aunt founded the trail and the memoir is focused on that. If you read the first in this series, you'll remember the amazing way the author incorporated aspects of Scotland, geography, historical facts, and legends. We mostly get geography here and while I didn't find it as encompassing as the first, I still enjoyed how the setting, the land and trail, added atmosphere to the story. We get some secondary characters that are hiking and a little bit of Jack's family, what connects the series, but mostly this was focused on Brooke and Jack.

It wasn’t the look of someone who’d never cared. It was the look of someone who still cared.

Around 70% Brooke is ready to try with Jack again and like I said, I never felt like there was much working out the emotional problem in the Now chapters, Brooke felt like she just kind of mellowed and their instant connection from the Then chapters was what I felt left with to explain and feel why they were giving in to this second chance. It felt odd that Brooke's over what happened in the past before readers even find out how everything blew-up, which is revealed around 80%. How could I the reader move on with her if I didn't even know what happened yet?

“Sometimes we have to fuck it all up to know how to do it right.”

The alternating timeline chapters went on too long for me and I didn't get the knuckle down and work it out for this second chance romance, it felt like it came too easily (lower angst readers would enjoy more). The Skye Trail descriptions gave good setting but the pace dragged in the later second half as I felt the characters were stagnating because the Then chapters were still behind where the Now Brooke and Jack seemed to emotionally be. There was a brief upset moment to add late second drama but gotten over quickly and a two years in the future epilogue to cement the HEA. This didn't quite hit like the first for me but I'll definitely be returning to the series for the third brother's romance.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

The farmer is dead, he is dead and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.

Broken Country was the story of Mess, told in literary style and awash in melodrama. It centers on Beth, a young woman that grew up in the English countryside and how the decisions she makes shapes and twists her life. Told in five parts (four named for the males in her life) and alternating three timelines, readers are started off with a murder. It's obvious that there's lies to be figured out as Beth's point-of-view clues us in but then we're taken back to the months before the murder and the arrival of Beth's past love Gabriel. When a horrible incident has Beth entering his life again, by way of watching his young son as he's a new single dad, readers can feel Beth being pulled into trouble. The story then jumps to Beth and Gabriel meeting as young teens and from there the alternating timelines are set, the beginning in 1950s with Beth and Gabriel's romance, the past in 1968 with Beth and Gabriel entering each other's lives again, and the present in 1969 with a murder trial.

But we are not who we once were.

The alternating timelines weave the reader in and around the characters' relationships showing how they were formed and their emotional ties. The literary style works to elevate the tone but the way Beth goes about things is pure Mess. There's the alluring rich boy Gabriel, the country girl Beth who doesn't feel worthy but has big dreams, and the strong stoic farm boy Frank who yearns and loves Beth from afar until he gets his chance with her. Even though these characters do fit into these common molds, I did think the author infused them with enough depth to keep you absorbed into their characters and lives. Frank's stoicism was probably the most I wanted to break out of, feeling a little noble poor idealistic. The secondary characters of Frank's younger brother Jimmy, Jimmy's girlfriend, and other friends and family appear and provide enough to give a good rounding out of the main characters' world.

Our love triangle – the farmer, his wife and the famous author – has been prodded and picked over and sensationalised out of all proportion in Fleet Street.

This started off with me trying to work out the mystery of the who, what, and whys of the murder mystery, but I slowly drifted from that to becoming more invested in how Beth's grief (there are content warnings in this for death of a child, death of an animal, murder, and alcoholism) had her pulling from those close to her and trying to escape into a past idealized life that was no longer there for her. The last twenty percent delivers reveals readers were waiting for and one that felt hinted at but will still shock some, and an ending that will first hurt until an epilogue delivers the healing. If you enjoy melodrama mess in literary style that takes you on an alternating timeline journey as the murder mystery is slowly untangled, then you'll want to pick this one up.

1.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

She was here on a mission: to find her third-great-grandfather’s history.

Gate to Kagoshima was a time travel historical fiction feeling, through internal observation and introspection of 1877 cultural Kagoshima Japan, with a romantic element story. Isla grew up in Scotland but has ancestral roots in Japan, roots that she feels a pull to search for more information about. When she has some free time from her study aboard courses in Tokyo, she takes a trip to Kagoshima. Armed with some vague knowledge that her third great grandfather was one of the famed Samurai of the Satsuma Rebellion, she travels there to try and research more about him. Only she gets more than she bargained for when she gets lost exploring a shrine and goes from 2005 to 1877.

Isla tried to remind herself that Takamori Saigō died one hundred and twenty-eight years ago, along with the rest of the last samurai, but knowing this didn’t make the man she was staring at seem either a fluke or trick.

The first half of this was somewhat slow going, it leaned heavily into the historical fiction aspects. I enjoyed the mixture of real life historical figures and events with fictional characters but, as this was told mostly from Isla's point-of-view, with Maeda Keiichirō having a good amount of pov passages and then one or two from other secondary characters, most of the story was told from inside her head, relaying her thoughts about what she was seeing. This was more observational introspection, with not much dialogue (we do get more in the second half). I like inclusion of historical elements but this felt like focusing on the research for spouting facts purpose; it was a story about setting instead of characters, readers who came for a more character journey would struggle with this first half.

History was unfolding before her eyes.

The story did get going with the time travel right away, Isla was in 1877 by 20% in and she met Keiichirō right away. He gets tasked with sheltering her and watching her as they think she could be a spy. After Isla integrates herself into the community life a bit, the second half did pick up some steam with the historical march and fighting at Kumamoto Castle. There we get some jarring, for what the tone of the story felt like previously, gory scenes of death and fighting and Isla worrying over Keiichirō. The romance wasn't really romancing for me as it wasn't too focused on in the first half and then the second half just kind of tries to force the reader that they feel this incredible love for each other. In his own words Keiichirō summed it up for me: They had never touched unless by accident, or talked about deeply personal things, or even stared into each other’s eyes. And yet Keiichirō knew his life would be less if Isla wasn’t there, and her absence would be like draining all the colour from the world. He just knew. You're just supposed to know that they have this intense love, because there wasn't any development for it.

The rain pelted the hillside, the torii gate waiting on top.

The latter second half had some awkward time jumps, feeling like jumbled scenes together, an open-door scene that also did not feel like it fit at all, and some reveals. One of the reveals involved Keiichirō's sister and it honestly was so incredibly not needed and because of the time period I'm living in right now, it felt pointed jammed in a way that had my hackles raising all the way up. I'll put what it was in spoiler tags Years ago when Keiichirō's dad found his sister pregnant, she told him that she was raped. The dad slices the rapist's throat in his sleep, which makes the killing not honorable and so as a samurai, the dad commits seppuku, kills himself. Towards the end it's found out that the sister lied about the rape to hide her promiscuity and there's some relaying at how this lying destroys so many people. Just personally not in the mood for this kind of messaging when we know the percentages of fake rape accusations and prevalence of rape If this doesn't raise your hackles, you'd probably not have the bad taste in your mouth like I did towards the end. The ending stayed true to the real historical event and the romance gave a Knight in Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux-ish end. The first half was slow paced but could interest observational historical fiction readers but the second half and ending was a jumbled mess of pace, tone, and scenes.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Les Normaux was a Webtoon series turned graphic novel about late twenty something characters trying to find their place in the world. Centered on human, but has the magical capabilities of a wizard, Sébastien has just moved to magical Paris and meets vampire Elia. They're both taking a moment in a hidden alcove in a club when instant chemistry hits them and they're making out, only for Sébastien to call a halt to things and run off. Which would have been less embarrassing if Sébastien didn't run into Elia the very next morning, as they both live in the same building now.

The story started off immediately with them meeting and readers are thrown into the world without a lot of context. Later in the the book, we get a little nugget of worldbuilding when it's relayed that a wizard created, built this magical Paris parallel to the human Paris, as a haven for supernatural beings that may feel lost. We do get some backstory on Sébastien and Elia as we get to know they're characters separately. Sébastien's parents tried to get him to suppress his magical abilities as the magical gene skipped them, this, along with being gay in an environment he thought he had to hide it, has left Sébastien having some social anxiety, being an overthinker, and just wanting to run away when things feel overwhelming. His first step to independence is him moving to magical Paris, his aunt and uncle who do have magical abilities are there to support him, and attending university, where he'll study and learn about his wizard magic. Elia seems to come from a storied, wealthy family where he helps with their fashion line business. We don't get as much about his background but he seems to feel immense pressure from his family and this causes him to dissociate when he gets overwhelmed.

Along with our main couple's story, we get some secondary character side-story lines from Elia's three girl friends, with a focus on Ronnie's budding romance, and an introduction to two male friends that Sébastien meets at university. There's also a few side-story inserts about Sébastien's bunny Pierre (a normal rabbit that was given infused magically by Sébastien's grandmother) and how he seems to be about world domination. It was cute but not fully making sense to me.

The jump from scenes sometimes didn't feel smooth, I was left questioning how much time had passed between scenes but the artwork added to the characterization and world, giving it a more inclusive and lively reading experience. This was volume one and that was felt in it's more introductory feeling, I do wish world-building had been laid out a bit more. If you're looking for a different kind of reading experience than you're usual written novel, this graphic novel had magic, budding romances, friendships, familial and personal issues working through, and a bunny bent on world domination.

4.5 stars

*This is a #TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion.

“Who is he?” I asked Zhou Dan as we moved to where he’d left the carriage. “No one you should associate with,” he replied abruptly. I took one final glance back over my shoulder at Gao. He stood still and tall in the middle of the street, watching me. It wasn’t long before his tall figure faded into the darkness.

This month's TBRChallenge theme was “Previously, in romance” and I knew immediately this was my chance to return to The Pingkang Li Mysteries series. Remember when I lost my mind reading The Lotus Palace in 2022 for a TBRChallenge theme? I've been itching for the chance to read the rich girl and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks next in the series romance. I'm also a very, very behind book blogger and only remembered the third Wednesday of the month was today around 9pm last night, so while I knew I couldn't finish The Hidden Moon, I knew I could the novella prequel to it, The Liar's Dice.

I shouldn’t have wanted for anything, yet I wanted. I stared down at my hands and how soft and empty they were. I didn’t even know what I wanted.

If you haven't read the previous two books in the series, Wei-wei is the rich sheltered sister of Huang (book 1) and Gao is the street kid who kind of works with/for Huang but also stabbed him once. When I found out these two were going to be paired up, I lost my mind, lol. This prequel would work to jump into the series here, as you get to know Wei-wei and Gao, previously secondary characters we got glimpses of. This novella delivered a mini murder mystery and a tantalizing look at the beginning of their romance.

“Your brother pays me whenever he needs things done, Lady Bai. We are not friends.”

Wei-wei is twenty-five and realizes she's a sheltered rich girl and is starting to itch against some of her restraints, while also realizing that she doesn't want to move out of her parent's home. She's created a niche where she helped her older brother Huang and now her younger brother study for the Imperial exams. This takes place in the Tang Dynasty China, so there was a wealth of new historical elements that will have you wanting to go down rabbit holes on. She has purpose but is starting to realize it feels for other people and not herself but she also has some freedom, she can get one of their servants, Zhou Dan, to keep secrets for her and her parents kind of let her do her thing.

“You want me to stay away,” I said. “I want you to stay away.”

Wei-wei doesn't want to marry and lose what she has at her home but her favorite tale, The Butterfly Lovers about Zhu and Liang, has her wondering if she could also dress like a male and experience life outside her home walls. She tests these limits one night by getting Zhou Dan to take her to Mingyu's (book 2) tea house and while she enjoys the conversation she gets to overhear, if not yet participate in, she also gets lost when trying to find Zhou Dan. In the alleyways she meets Gao and comes upon a murder victim. From here, we get a murder mystery that twists and weaves, involving Huang and gives Wei-wei opportunity to be in Gao's presence.

I reached out to him, just my hand against his chest for no reason other than that I wanted to. Just so he’d know, and so I’d know, but this time it was Gao who moved away.

This was all told from Wei-wei's pov but we get enough from her observations of Gao to know his feelings and how hard he's trying to repress them. Y'all, from the first time they meet and he puts his hand on the small of her back (screeching!) I was losing it for this couple. It's obvious Gao likes her, finds her actions and thoughts interesting and frustrating when they put her in danger and some of that she's the sun warming him and Wei-wei finds him intriguing in that he's supposed to be dangerous but why do I feel safe with him and why does he bring out a side of myself that I try to quiet. In case you didn't know, I'm goo for this kind of dynamic. They have a kiss but Wei-wei is too thrown by it to really react and Gao's insecurity has him thinking Wei-wei is probably doing a version of slumming.

When I was around him, I could be fearless too.

The murder mystery has Wei-wei land in danger and Huang and Gao have to come in to rescue. We do get a wrap-up to the who and why of the mystery, which was honestly pretty strong for a novella, but the romance is left drifted off for it to continue in the next book. Wei-wei and Gao both had a quiet intensity to them but also a sweet playfulness that I'm dying to read in their full story. If anyone wants to buddy read The Hidden Moon in March, let me know! This was a perfect appetizer novella and great if you wanted to jump into the series here (but don't, the first two books are so good!)

A simple message, one without words that held all the promise in the world. It had been folded into the shape of a butterfly (Gao knows Wei-wei's favorite tale is the Butterfly Lovers!!! He's sending her a message he hasn't forgotten about her, at the end of this.)

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Somehow, he knew that she wasn't a choice.

If you read The Au Pair Affair, you'll remember Sig and Chloe and their, ….are they? In Dream Girl Drama we get a look at how they first met and why the tension felt so turned up between them. Sig's on his way to dinner with his father, who he didn't meet until he was eighteen because his mom says the guy abandoned them, when his truck breaks down. He makes it to a country club that doesn't want to admit non-members when a blonde comes out of nowhere and claims Sig's with her. From there it's stolen champagne, a kiss on the green, and love at first sight. Until Sig finally makes it to dinner and finds out that his father's newest wife-to-be has a daughter and it's Chloe.

Leave...them to chance? Can't do it.

Look, I can't say I found it wildly taboo that a twenty-nine year old man who didn't grow up with his father and only communicates with him a handful of times in a decade is in love with a twenty-five year old future step-sister that he only met the night before. They're strangers who are adults and will never live in the same house developing a familial relationship. So, fair to say that part of the angsty start-crossed aspect was lost to me. I'm also not one for insta-love, so when Sig is thinking/feeling in love immediately, I wasn't exactly getting the tingles with him. However, I do think that Bailey shows and gives us those falling in love emotions as the story progresses, it just might not be everyone's cup of tea of why/how Sig is in love with her. Chloe grew-up 1%er rich, so she has no concept of taking care of herself, she's also a harp prodigy and used to gliding by on her talents. At twenty-five, and I think a push from meeting Sig, she decides that she wants to spread her wings and move out of her home and to Boston. This puts a bit of a wedge between her and her mother, thus putting a wedge between Sig and his dad, but they're not really in the story, just some occasionally coming in from the sides. Sig's love language is taking care of and he does it all for Chloe, helping pay rent, buying groceries, basically what you learn to do for yourself when you first move out. Chloe's pretty oblivious to it all until the beginning of the second half, so if you can't handle immature, flighty female main characters that take a while to grow, you'd probably struggle with this one.

They were a messy pair. Everything about what they were doing was messy but stopping seemed impossible.

This had that trademark Bailey heat, mostly on the back of the repression the two have to observe towards each other. They don't want their reputations ruined, Sig is a professional hockey player who's team is about to make captain and offer a lucrative contract and Chloe is trying for first chair in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I get we're in the TMZ era of being in people's business but since I didn't fully feel the step-sibling taboo-ness, I felt like it was somewhat overplayed (NHL is no stranger to drama, Martin Brodeur's past mess, anyone?) It was a lot of we're not staying away from each other but we can't physically act on our feelings, while Sig hires a private investigator to dig up dirt on his dad so Chloe's mom won't want to marry him. If this is your type of back and forth, you'd be in heaven.

Had she ever heard him this raw and honest before? Is this what he'd been holding back?

If you showed up for a sports romance or worried there would be too much for you, hockey features maybe 2% in this, we don't even find out Sig's a winger until 60% and see Chloe at like one game. The scene where they snap and give into their lust was hotly great but there was some, to me anyway, immature actions and feelings that took this a little over-the-top fluffy fun. The whole baseball versus hockey players rivalry game came off pretty goofy to me. When it seems like things are going to be impossible for our couple, a surprise reveal has them getting their happily ever after, which we see in a five years later epilogue, that also teased the next book couple. I didn't completely feel the angst keeping these two apart but I felt their lust and sometimes that's enough.

1.5 stars

"The show must go on."

NO00000.

This was a locked boat mystery where a carnival full of contortionist, fire breathers, palm and tarot readers, and Houdini (???) perform every night on the trip from England to America. The beginning was flashy and mystical with the carnival and it's people, the mysterious ringmaster who gets involved in a love triangle with our couple, kept me intrigued but when a murder occurs each night of the show and the whole point of this series, with the romance, is that our couple are forensic detective apprentices and there was barely any detecting going on and no one seemed overly concerned about the murders, enough to stop the shows, it all began to feel deeply unserious and I had a hard time investing in the story and characters.

Ok, I did start this continuous same couple series at book 3, so I missed some foundational emotion between this young couple but, meh, to feeling much between them.

The carnival delivered some flashy described cool scenes but the plot was structurally messy af and the characterization was wonky; a lot of elements didn't track.

I'm exhausted trying to figure this book out and so thankful I buddy read it with thevintagechronicles over on Fable because I had someone to whine, complain, and get my frustrations out with, would have lost my mind otherwise, lol.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

“I need you to become my thief.”

In a magical realism late 1800s France, The Kiss of the Nightingale was a story of what you're willing to give up for the life you think you want. Told in first person, present tense, Cleo is a nineteen year old who is trying to keep her father's tailoring business going while caring for her sick younger sister. In this world, Talents mean everything. Centuries ago, gems infused with magic that greatly enhanced a person's gifted talent, were mined and then distributed among the population. A few decades ago, the mines dried up and Talents became impossible to get, unless you inherited them from your family. This has created increasingly lopsided economic statuses, especially when Elite Talents are horded by the aristocracy. Cleo's father was supposed to pass on his Tailoring Talent but after his emotional spiral downward after Cleo's mother's death, his body was found drowned in the river, with the Talent gem missing from his ring. Knowing that Cleo doesn't have a Talent, customers abandon her father's once flourishing business, leaving Cleo and her sister to poverty.

In our relationship, I'm the dangerous one.

Desperate to find a way to pay for a doctor for her sister has Cleo attempting to rob an aristocrat, but she's found, kidnapped and brought to Lady Sibille, better known as Dahlia and the Queen of the underworld that deals with stolen Talents. Cleo is seduced by Dahlia, physically and emotionally, and ends up agreeing to become a thief and steal Vicomte Nuriel Lenoir's Mathematical Talent in exchange for Dahlia gifting Cleo with a singing Talent and becoming Lady Adley. Unfortunately for Cleo, she feels drawn to the arrogant Nuriel and starts to develop feelings for him, leading her to feel guilty for her subterfuge and how she's going to betray him.

But Cleo, it's not worth it if it keeps you from home.

The beginning was interesting with the magical realism world set-up and obvious in it's message of resource hoarding, social status hierarchies, and what you should want out of life. However, the middle really sagged for me as Cleo did a lot of rinse and repeat of feeling guilty and battling enjoying her riches full new life with missing her sister. Since we're only in Cleo's head, the stagnate wishy-washy gave no escape and slowed the momentum of the story for me. The scenes with Cleo and Nuriel had some banter that you could feel and believe in their budding relationship but not quite enough depth to really delve into their romance. With the inclusion of magic, it felt obvious that Cleo's feelings were probably being manipulated by Dahlia in some way, so even though there seemed to be flashes of conveyed realness, I didn't quite feel the tormented pull Cleo was supposed to be in. Dahlia seemed like a very interesting secondary character that I would have loved to have seen more of, but again, all in Cleo's head, we only get those flashes.

Light and darkness. Safety and danger. Integrity and deceit. But under it all is desire. And the realization that, deep inside, I'm torn.

The ending worked to draw me back in when Cleo finally has to make a decision regarding who's side she's going to be on and what she wants out of life and we get some action. The world-building was adequate, I could have used a little more in regards to the magical Talents but it was magical realism intriguing enough. The secondary characters were plentiful and each brought something to the table; I can see Cleo's sister possibly getting her own romance. The romance, between Cleo and Dahlia and Cleo and Nuriel was there but lacked romance genre depth for me. Where this excelled the most for me was in it's underlining message of how resource hoarding hurts not only individuals but holds back societies as a whole and how talents can come from anyone and all corners of the world. This had a, mostly, wrapped up ending, but some characters were left in the wind and while some relationships were getting started, there is definitely room to add to character journeys. At points intriguing, meandering, left me wanting more depth, and thought-provoking.

3.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

From that first meeting, she’d found herself equally appalled and intrigued by him.

Readers of the Las Leonas series have been waiting for this book ever since Aurora and Apollo first sizzled on page. You could start the series here, you'd miss out on a little bit of groundwork laid between our two leads but there was enough here to understand and feel the connection between the friends and their relationships in this one. The prologue gets us going right away when the key Apollo put into Aurora's pocket months ago, finally has her showing up at his door. They have heat between them and they act on it but they're both also emotionally going through it for their own reasons, Apollo's revenge against his father has been meted out, only for him to die and now Apollo finds himself the Duke of Annan, while Aurora's family has cut off her payments from her trust fund. They physically let out some steam but too in their own heads to finally deal with their emotions.

The long and short of it was that the fastidious, forbidding, scrupulous Aurora Montalban was spending her nights committing crimes under everyone’s nose.

After the prologue we jump a few months where Apollo is back in England and learns that Doctora Aurora is working at the Le Bureau (brothel) and uses it as an excuse to go back to Paris to check up on her. Through their friends (main characters from the previous two books in series) they meet back up and we get Apollo and Aurora striking a deal that Apollo will donate a building for Aurora to have a women's clinic in, so she's not in danger running around Paris trying to meet-up with patients, and teach her some self-defense moves (capoeiragem). For Aurora's end, she'll give her advice and expertise on how to run a clinic and she wants sexual lessons from Apollo, mainly help her learn what she likes. These are the reasons for keeping the two in each other's orbit, what is trying to pull them apart is the lingering part of Apollo's revenge, he wants the aristocracy to accept him and gain some feeling of respect through that for his mother who has died, this is pushed a lot by his tia who is trying to set him up with respectable heiresses. There's also an in the wings aristocrat villain that works to discredit Apollo. Aurora's issues are from when she was taken advantage of when she was a teen by an older man, she felt ignored and unloved in her family, and is eventually forced into a decision that has her going against her family and distances her even more emotionally from them. It's what caused her parents to send her to a finishing school, which series readers know is where the Las Leonas meet and form.

Why must you always be so angry?

These two pretty much like each other right off the bat, sure there's some friction from two hard-headed people, but the physical and emotional attraction is baked in. Apollo chases her a good amount, Aurora has a lot on her plate with being a doctor and trying to get around men to best serve her women patients. This is very much a historical romance of the time and I can see future generations centering and pointing to it. There was a lot of passages and lines that I highlighted, ex.: This was a woman of means, and yet in her letter to the clinic she’d indicated her inability to pay for her visit because she could not spend any money that could not be explained to her husband. The plot and romance are there but what grabbed me the most was the we've had these battles before and we found ways to win vibe and underlining message.

The prickly, censorious doctor who behind closed doors became his Fiera.

I really enjoyed how Luz Alana and Manuela, together with Aurora make up the Las Leonas who the series is about, made many appearances in this. Their friendship is written so beautifully and I enjoyed seeing them together. I did think the ending did get somewhat drawn out, because of the past decision Aurora made and the reason she didn't feel love from her family, she feels she'll only be a hindrance to Apollo's need to fit in with the aristocracy. The whole book felt like a showing by Apollo all the things he was willing and did do because he loved Aurora, even if there was some, feeling like, forced spouting of I need a respectable debutante. I guess I didn't completely still buy into what was keeping them apart around the 70% mark.

“I’m the Duke of Annan, and I’m using my power, my position and my money to give you what you deserve. What about it?”

These two were spicy together and I believed in their emotional connection, but what I really fell for was the historical-ness of this. You'll get setting and atmosphere, 1889 Paris with bonus lavender fields and French Riviera and historical shout-outs, Sarah Loguen Fraser (considering the day I'm writing this review, let me give my own shout-out, Rebecca Lee Crumpler). It was a great series send-off and I definitely spotted some characters that could be spin-off material. If you're looking to get into a new historical romance series, this has been my recent favorite.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

You'll find her in the Highlands, among the heather and the stone, You'll find her in the Highlands, where her heart has found it's home.

A love letter, history and geography lesson, and tale telling, Lochs and Legends was a fun trip through parts of Scotland travel guide.

Our travel guide, Andy the Highlander (may recognize him as a supporting actor from the Outlander tv show), obviously loves his homeland and it comes through each tale and description of the land. Starting off in Fife, we get tales of a haunted palace, witch trials, and a 500 year old Inn that travelers could visit. The guide then journeys through Edinburgh, Perthshire, Gateway to Highlands, Stirlingshire (The Kelpies and Falkirk Wheel may be known to many), Cairngorn, Inverness, Outer Hebrides, Isle of Skye, Western Highlands, Argyll, Clydeside, and Glasgow, among others.

Each stop highlights Scottish heritage sights tourists might want to see, on the well trodden path and off-beaten. From nature walks, sharks, castles, book shops, and pubs, there's plenty here to entice you to make the trip. Andy's knowledge and gift for gab, with help written from Lily Hurd, made this an entertaining read, whether it was relaying of historical events, people, and places, or more whimsical with fairy and ghost folklore and stories. As an American, the sheer amount of historical places fascinated. The ending also gave us a Scottish Culture section where recipes and music could be found and a Resources section to give starting places if planning a trip. Definitely recommend if wanting to learn about Scotland, for going on a trip or just personal enjoyment.

Let me tell you that I love you and I think about you all the time Caledonia you're calling me and now I'm going home. If I should become a stranger you know that it would make me more than sad Caledonia's been everything I've ever had.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

“What if I told you that my country is on another planet and it takes three years of Earth time to get there?”

Order of Swans starts us in a prologue from Jobi's point-of-view, he's an alien from the planet Bellis who's currently on Earth. As the third most powerful being from the Order of Sight, he can see parts of the future and he knows that Kaley, a half-light, a baby born of a Bellisian and Earthling, is going to end up being vastly important to his world, if not knowing exactly why. As he manipulates circumstances that has Kaley's Bellisian mom sent back to their planet and growing up with her father and grandparents on their farm with himself guiding her and teaching her things he foresees she'll have to know, he plans for her future. After the prologue, we're jumped twenty-six years into the future and Jobi has once again manipulated things so that Kaley, unknowingly, is traveling with him back to Bellis.

Those fairy tales had been written decades ago. But here, on these isolated islands, they were happening now.

The majority of this was told from Kaley's pov, and she's one of those female main characters that takes everything in stride, a little too well. She thinks she's just in a different country and does not know that she was knocked out for the three years it took to travel from Earth to Bellis. However, she has some kind of chip in her arm that at different points, helps her instantly understand languages and heal her when activated by others and, oh yeah, there's a dragon and events and people that curiously seem to follow the fairy tales and folklore stories she has spent studying for her PhD, the reason she agreed to go to Jobi's home “island”, to learn new stories to study. Kaley's had an unnatural ability to bond with animals all her life, so every few pages, she's making some kind of new animal friend, too. This had a curious mix of fantasy and scifi that didn't quite gel right for me. Kaley gets to Bellis early on and then the story became a road adventure pretty quickly as she and her two companions, Sojee, a tree of a man sent as body guard, and Tanek, who communes with swans and who Kaley has the physical hots for while emotionally dipping into growly with each other to lovers (no bedroom scenes here, only a kiss), are sent to bring back the King's son, so he can be married.

“Flush toilets but no computers,” she said to herself. “Crossbows but no guns. Spaceships but no cars.” She didn’t think she would live long enough to understand the planet.

The road adventure had Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, and other fairy tales popping up for our little crew to encounter. Around halfway, Kaley learns that she's not on a wild island adventure but in fact on a different planet, she, in character, handles it with little fuss other than some brief anger over being lied to. The world building was a little weak but we do know that the kingdom does seem to be a little in disarray and there are hierarchies of Orders: Sight, Swans, Royals, Kings, and Peacekeepers. This is the first in a Duology, so while the setting and characters are introduced, not a whole lot is explained, except that Jobi knows Kaley is important to their world. Tenak's son, Mekos, at one point gets kidnapped and the latter second half has them working to rescue him, which brings in a couple new characters and more reveals that leave you nothing but more questions.

“This isn’t how fairy tales are supposed to end.”

The ending delivers a kiss between Kaley and Tanek, they were together the majority of the time but there still, to me, wasn't a strong build up to their romantic relationship and while we get declarations of love, I didn't feel the depth. We're also left with a cliffhanger, remember, duology, and the future of our couple is in question, along with Kaley's foreseen purpose by Jobi and, honestly, what is actually happening on this fantasy scifi planet. While this had some interesting mashups of concepts and ideas, this kind of read more like a roughly filled in outline and I wanted more of a filled in and shored up story.