Book Review: Bad Words by Rioghnach Robinson

I've never understood the appeal of the whole enemies-to-lovers trope in books. So many of them that I've read over the years are just people with a bit of a misunderstanding that doesn't really feel like a true conflict that would keep them apart. However, with THIS book, I finally get the appeal. This book, the way it started with our leads hating each other and their feud, made me uncomfortable with their conflict and what they were each going through together and separately. I honestly wondered if I was going to even like this book, the conflict was just so visceral to witness on the page. But then the shift started to happen, the changes that felt natural, that inspired hope, and I started to realize that I was going to absolutely ADORE this book before it was over.

I want to read this book all over again and mark down every brilliant line in it and force all my friends to read it and why, you ask? Because it was BRILLIANT!!

Bad Words follows two leads, Parker Navarro, a novelist whose second book will be out soon, and Selina Chan, a book critic for a magazine. Their connection is simple. When Parker's first novel was released, Selina wrote a review that made it flop. Now that Parker's second book is on the horizon, Selina's magazine gives her the assignment of reviewing it and Selina takes the job. Selina writes another blistering review and Parker confronts her at a party because of it. Their confrontation ends up in the news and a feud between them reaches heights neither expected to happen. As the feud brings all kinds of attention down on both of them, Parker and Selina start to come together on their own, working through their issues with each other, their family, friends and their careers in ways that change everything they thought they knew.

The writing and the world-building here made everything so easy to step into for this book. I was right there with Parker when he realized that the critic who panned his first book had written a similar review for his second. I was right there watching Selina as she realized her review had gone live and flat out said she should not have been the one to review it. Their reactions felt natural, their conflict easy to understand, and because of the fact that I write reviews of my own for books I read, I was able to sympathize with both sides of the equation here. Robinson made everything feel easily accessible with each point-of-view, showing us both Parker and Selina's reactions to each escalating moment of their feud. There were moments where I could understand their reasoning for what they had said or done but then there were moments where I felt that they'd gone too far with something and it was this balance that helped make the writing soar for me. Robinson didn't make it easy to love these characters because they were written in a way to show their good and their bad traits. Selina and Parker felt real and because of that, their world felt real, as well.

As for the characters, Selina and Parker were absolutely amazing. I believed their every moment, their every struggle, their triumphs and their moments of conflict. I loved how Robinson made it that it was easy for each character to make a choice that could go either way for the story at any time, to question if they were right, to wonder what the ramifications of something would become. One moment, it was easy to understand why Parker made one choice but then a moment later it was just as easy to shake my head and want to hit the back of his head because NO, why did you DO that? The same went for Selina although I will say that I loved her just a tad bit more. Where Parker seemed to come across as more emotionally motivated with the things he did, I LOVED how level-headed Selina would be when confronted with different things in the story. Her reasoning was impressive and there were moments where she talked through situations in a way that made her feel like a kindred spirit to me. I could see how much each of them tried in the different aspects of their lives and when they started to finally come together, I could see how well they would work together if they could only get out of their own way. But even though I was expecting their coming together, I could also see how simple it would be for each of them to move on and away from each other and it was that delicate balance that Robinson imbued in this story that elevated it for me as a read.

As for the rest of the cast, Robinson filled this book with a lot of different personalities that helped with driving the feud to new heights and helped with keeping the leads in a safe place where they could reassess their situations. I loved Parker's roommate, Arthur, from the moment that he appeared on the page, ready to shield Parker from Selina's review online and everything that was resulting from it. I loved Selina's friends, Jacob, who she'd known since college, and his wife Cassie, who supported Selina when she needed them all while working on their own lives as parents to a growing baby girl. We see bits of family life, a little of Selina's to show the strained relationship she has with her parents but we see all of Parker's siblings and his mom, to show how much he's made himself a problem-solver and how much he's made himself into what he thinks will make others like him. I loved how Robinson showed these pieces of the leads and then made it that when they were together, they found something different and that difference slowly became more appealing the more they got to know each other. These are everyday people with their struggles and pain, realistic because of that and able to draw readers in by being people who could actually exist.

Which brings me to the plot. The idea of this book, a critic being confronted by an author they wrote about, felt like the one of the worst things I could imagine. I could understand the wanting to confront someone, to fight back and try to make them take their words back, but the fact that Parker did it and how he did it, just made my jaw drop a little. It made me feel on edge, wondering about the effects my own reviews could have and I can only hope that my own words have never had the outcome that Selina's had. The ideas of the creative sphere of writing made me wonder about who has the right to decide what anyone can write. Selina was purposely given Parker's second book to review, for the purpose of writing something similar to her previous work. It was expected that she would write something scathing with the hope that it would garner interest from anyone wanting to see the effect her words had on the book's release. The idea seemed to suggest that as a critic, Selina's words had a certain amount of power and it made me wonder, was it right to give her that kind of credit? Was she really able to make or break someone's writing career with her words or was she only drawing attention to merits and flaws that other people would benefit knowing about a book? What if she'd written a glowing review, would they have believed her words or would they have dismissed them because it wasn't what they wanted to read from her?

Were Selina's critics right to make the "points" that they did, to suggest that she was hired for reasons other than the fact that she was a respectable writer? On the other hand, were people fair to make assumptions about Parker's writing, to zero in on lines that they thought were "offensive" when they didn't know what motivated Parker to put those words on the page in the first place? By using words online to criticize Parker and Selina, couldn't it be argued that the audience was just doing the same thing, passing judgement without knowing the whole story, giving too much power to the words they read and the words they were writing in response? How could they pass judgement on something that didn't involve them and weren't the many different responses only showing their own character as opposed to revealing anything true about the two people at the heart of the feud? I loved the discussion this created in the book, the fact that it questioned the effect words have and how learning to see both sides helped Parker and Selina to find the right words for each other going forward. I loved how they both seemed so staunch in their positions before learning to bend, to see a bigger picture, to understand that there was something to benefit from with getting to know each other and the how and whys for the choice of words they would write. They were able to cut out the words of other people and only pay attention to the ones that they cared about, the words that mattered most, and that was a beautiful concept to see come to fruition in the story.

That last line of the book made me smile, the idea it provoked for me making me feel content in a way I wasn't expecting from this story. It was a beautiful book, there's no other way to say it.

Rating on my Scale: 10 Stars. Was there really any doubt I would give it 10 Stars? Well, yes, in the beginning there was but I was willing to see what everything came down to and I'm so grateful I took the chance to read this book. I'll be looking into everything that Rioghnach Robinson has written and will write for the rest of time.

 

Book Review: Take Me to My Grave by Christopher Golden

Take Me to My Grave is the first book I've read by Christopher Golden but it won't be the last. And I do mean that literally because I checked, and I ALWAYS meant to read Straight on 'Til Morning because it uses the story of Peter Pan for a horror novel, of which I am a big fan of doing, so YES, I will be reading that lovely horror novel next. As for this book, I needed something that was just a straight up, no holds barred, HORROR novel and this was just the perfect book to fill that bill. Also can't forget that it is also essentially a vampire story and I can't even remember the last time I sat down to read a great horror novel that had vampires in it. I've probably avoided them for some time but thanks to THIS book, I have a small list of other vampire books to read next, inspired by how impressed and enthralled I was with Take Me to My Grave. I've made it a point this year to seek out more horror titles and I'm so grateful to have had the chance to read this book. I've already recommended it to my friends who adore vampires and horror, that's how much I ended up loving this book.

Take Me to My Grave follows Malcolm Wise, home again while he waits with his sister-in-law, Violet, for his mother, Maggie Wise, to die. Growing up, Malcolm and his brother and sister had to listen to the neighborhood kids talk about their mother being a witch and after the siblings being apart for so long, Malcolm is now the only one home to stay with Maggie (not Mom) while she takes her lasts breaths. Except that Malcolm and Violet aren't the only ones waiting for Maggie Wise to die. Across the street, something watches the house, waiting for Maggie to pass on and in a cornfield somewhere, something is digging its way back to the surface. Before she dies, Maggie tells Malcolm that he must return her remains to her birthplace in Shediak, Maine before the morning of the second day after she's gone. Once they are on the train though, something follows them, wreaking havoc on the passengers, determined to get Maggie Wise's remains before her son can complete his task, and they won't stop until they get what they want.

The choices for the world of this book really helped with the horror elements. The book is set in 1956, which means that modern day technology is gone. Malcolm and Violet have to depend on basic communication and travel to accomplish their goal of getting Maggie to Maine on time. There is waiting for phone calls to make when they get to various destinations and when they need news of what has transpired back home, they depend on finding newspapers that may have caught wind of the news from their town to help them out. All of this helps with the immediate threat presented of the leads being pursued by the creatures trying to get Maggie. Nothing is easily accessed, there is no way to allow for research about what is happening in the present or even what occurred in the past. One character has literally traveled the world in pursuit of learning more about her past and family because that was the only way to be able to find that kind of information. When an accident happens, the residents of a town gather in the streets and talk to each other, trying to understand what happened and see if anyone has anything new to share. All of this helps to highlight the time period and the sense of Malcolm and Violet being cut off while they are being pursued. There is no way to warn people about the danger coming and there are essentially no distractions to keep them from focusing on their goal. I honestly believe the story works brilliantly because of its setting and world, bringing to mind the ideas of simpler times in the past and how the horror of the vampires in the dark is even more of a threat because while community exists, people only have so many ways to contact each other and are basically cut off and on their own.

As for the characters, I loved this group of people, I admired their strength and their faith in each other. I thought Malcolm was a good man, someone who despite how he'd grown up, had managed to become more than what he was raised to be, a man with honor that drives him to keep his promise to his mother, and the fact that he referred to her as Maggie throughout the book really drove home the kind of relationship this woman had with her kids. I thought Violet was insanely strong, just a seriously wow kind of woman because it takes real strength to choose to stick around when the threat is vampires and she not only stepped up to help but she actually stuck around even when she was told she could get away and be free. She had guts and she and Malcolm together were the perfect pair to follow with this story. Now, there are a few more characters I would LOVE to talk about but at the same time, I feel like getting further into the specifics here would veer too far into spoiler territory. Suffice to say that my heart broke for one particular character that was in the group and when another character showed up in the nick of time for a rescue, I actually cheered. The way Golden writes the people of this book, a reader feels invested in their journey, we want them to succeed, and everyone in this story felt necessary. Also, it bears mentioning that there are multiple points-of-view in this story, which helped with giving a wider scope, filling in everything that was happening around Malcolm and Violet, until everything finally comes together by the end of the book. It all worked to make the story to be a truly enthralling read.

As for the plot, while it seemed straightforward at the start, get Maggie Wise's remains back home, it evolved into a story about self-discovery and self-worth. Malcolm was the one that was home with his mother, he was the one that Maggie knew would complete the task of taking her remains back to Maine. The book works to show the whys about Malcolm and how this is important for him. He was the only one that would be able to make the journey but the reasoning is what expanded this book into a brilliant read. There is also the idea of what makes a person who they are meant to be. Maggie Wise was not necessarily the best mother, she practically drove her children away, and yet, somehow, Malcolm managed to become something more and while he would have wanted to have more love from his mother, the book showed that he didn't need that validation as he made the journey to Maine, battling monsters along the way. I thought it was such a poignant point to make, about the connection between parents and their children and what children take away from them when they grow up.

By the end of the book, I mourned for certain things and felt relief for others. The story wrapped up the only way it could have and it has left me feeling eager to read more works by Golden in the future. Lucky for me, there are many books to choose from and I will be working my way through what I can find for the foreseeable future.

Rating on my Scale: I'm giving this the good old 10 Stars. I loved this horror story, it left me feeling like I wanted to hug my kids closer and to keep them off of trains until the end of time. I'll be seeing rows of teeth in my dreams and eyeing emergency vehicles with trepidation for who knows how long so if that is any indication, this was one great story.

My thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Christopher Golden for the eARC of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

Book Review: The Wildborn by Perri Torani

Oh, this book. The characters, the themes, everything has my heart in my throat and I am sitting here wishing I could protect everyone in this story from everything. I'll just have to settle in and wait for the next book to be released (there will be another one right? Because that ending has made my heart ache). The cover drew me in and the synopsis cemented that I needed to read this book but it was the inner turmoil, the yearning for something more, the driving need to find somewhere to belong that has made this one beautiful book and everything I never knew I needed from one of my most anticipated July reads.

The Wildborn follows Airik, brought up to be a morazir, a warrior forced to serve the Veynari, who have made it a point to conquer civilizations. Airik must live with the oaths of a morazir, specifically to remain untouched, untaken and unconquered. When Airik is given the task of decommissioning a planet, he sees a rogue spacecraft heading towards the planet and he pursues it in time to see it crash. Rather than follow the rules that he should, he decides to rescue the occupant within, a young woman named Nora. This book also follows Nora, a young woman who had been living on a space station until her uncle forces her to flee from an unknown threat. Now Nora is at the mercy of an alien soldier who is determined to keep her alive but is bound by his oaths that mean his touch is only meant to destroy. Now forced to stick together, they go on foot in search of something to send word back for a rescue to come to their aid. Airik is determined to keep to his oaths but there is something enticing about Nora that makes him remember things he thought he'd lost in his childhood and their connection begins an irresistible pull between them that Airik is set on keeping once they leave the planet. As time passes and the pair grow closer, Airik has to consider the truth that the Veynari won't allow one of their soldiers to be weakened by something like love. In order to keep what he has found with Nora, Airik will have to find a way to keep her safe from the world he came from after finding a way to rescue her from a planet they are both stranded on.

The world in this book is in a way, terrifying to behold. The idea of this empire in space that has made it a point of taking over different civilizations and the various experiments that they commission is horrible enough but then we're given the details about how the morazir are chosen in childhood and the fact that only so many of these kids survive to adulthood and it just all serves to highlight exactly what kind of force is at work here. Torani gave the readers an interesting start to the book, showing Airik's parents and then parts of his childhood to add emphasis to the fact that Airik is considered a "wildborn". His parents truly loved each other and rather than allow for him to be modified in the womb, his parents chose to keep him as he was naturally meant to be. The fact that this kind of thing is controlled is chilling to think about and then add that to the fact that the Veynari take from everything, and this force driving Airik is like the boogeyman, always in the background, something that adds a hint of threat to every moment. It's something that Airik has been unable to escape and yet, once Nora enters the picture, readers are able to understand exactly what is at stake when Airik begins to consider a different future.

I thought the fact that Torani made this book a dual-narrative really helped to highlight the differences between how the two leads were raised and yet how they are able to connect through their losses, proving that personal struggles transcend the conflict of aliens versus humanity. The detail given to the planet that Airik and Nora are stranded on also served to emphasize what the Veynari would commission and how quickly they would be to get rid of something they have no use for. The planet is contaminated by a contagion that they are determined to get rid of and this threat is something that Airik is personally familiar with. Seeing the effects of it on the plants and wildlife give the book a threat that they can deal with in the present moment but it also can have lasting effects on the whole of the universe if it is left the way that it is currently. There is also the threat of whatever forced Nora's uncle to evacuate his niece from the space station. Altogether, the world of this story is a threatening place and our leads will be forced to contend with many different obstacles over the course of not only this book but several more installments, to say the least.

As for the characters, I can't rave enough about Airik and Nora and Lucky and Torren. Each of these characters worked their way into my heart and I have not been able to let them go yet. I think these people will be living in my head and my heart for the foreseeable future, I just can't let them go yet. I felt so much sorrow for Airik and the losses he had and I rooted for him from the start to let himself fall for Nora because he deserved something more for his life, something his parents had and which he deserved to have as well. As for Nora, I wanted to help this poor girl to find peace. I wished I could have helped her more for the losses she had in childhood and I really admire the way Torani handled the themes of grief and destructive thoughts with Nora. It felt realistic in the sense that while Nora had received therapy, she still felt the things she did because of her environment and the adult influences she had in her formative years. I was so grateful that these two characters found each other and were able to if not move on, at least find a common ground that would help them find ways to process their trauma in a healthier way and fall in love.

I want a Lucky for myself, I LOVED this little animal companion, quickly taken in by Nora to become a formidable animal companion for the rest of the book. I loved how Lucky became a member of their family, how Airik trusted Lucky to take care of Nora and how Nora trusted Lucky to find Airik when she needed him. All books need an animal companion and Lucky is one of the best ones I've seen in any book. As for Torren, I loved how he was the one piece of Airik's childhood that was determined to stick around. Torren literally calls himself Airik's "brother" and is happy to repeat that to anyone, especially when he knows that Airik is denying it. Their relationship was heart-warming and each time he came back into the story, I knew I was in for some heartwarming scenes between the two morazir. I can't wait to see what comes next for each of these characters in future installments.

As for the plot and themes, Torani has made something beautiful here with the careful handling of Nora and Airik and their trauma. Nora broke my heart with her belief that she wasn't worth love and when the truth was revealed, I wanted to swoop in and rescue her alongside Airik. Torani worked the themes of grief with a careful attention to the way grief has a way of changing the mindset of the individual, showing Nora and her disregard for her safety until Airik starts to make it his point to keep her safe. I also appreciated the fact that Torani didn't have Nora and Airik automatically healed by their new relationship. The foundation is there to make changes for the future but the healing will take time to truly take effect, if there is ever a way to completely heal from trauma. There are no easy solutions to the issues in this book and I love that.

The journey to get off the planet is only the start of the many plot threads in this book that have been planted here to expand into future stories. There is also the issue of the substance on the planet that Airik is meant to decommission, a substance that could kill everyone that inhales it. Alongside the threat of the Veynari, both of these threats will be major players in the future that will force Airik, Nora, Lucky and Torren into new trials that I can't wait to read. It also bears mentioning that the spicy scenes in this book felt like a natural progression to the relationship between the characters. This wasn't done to be gratuitous, the spice was added to enhance the connection already building between the leads and it felt like a necessary part of their new love. I adore when books take their time with the spicy scenes because when done right, they feel earned and the new level to the relationship feels important with the physical added in with the mental connection that already existed between the characters. There is spice because all new love stories have spice eventually and it was not added in to hide the fact that the leads don't understand each other as individuals or cared about each other before the physical became a component of their relationship.

In the end, I LOVED and ADORED this book. It was everything I was expecting and everything I didn't know I needed from my new read. Read it for the alien romance but be amazed by the blossoming of young love and a found family I can't wait to see more of in the future. 

Rating on my Scale: 10 Stars. Seriously, this book is a solid 600+ pages and I still would have been able to read twice that amount just to stay in this world with these people a little longer. I can't wait for my special edition to arrive so I can read it all over again.

Book Review: The Hierarch Wars by M. J. Badal

It was an easy yes for me to read this book. I'm so immensely grateful that I got the opportunity to read this tale because it was everything I expected and so much more. A book that melds The Hunger Games and Avatar: The Last Airbender? Say no more. I cared so much about each character in this book and I have so many questions that I'm keeping my eyes peeled for news about when to expect the next release. Here's hoping it's soon because goodness, I don't think I'll be alone in saying we readers need the next installment, it's just that good.

The Hierarch Wars follows Evalene Lovejoy, Queen of the Witches of Reyland, who have been kept separate from the rest of Aeltheon, feared for the magic they have and cut off from the power everyone else has within easy reach. The Fourteenth Hierarch has died and after careful negotiations are made, the Witches will be able to send their own champion to compete in a series of deadly trials to choose the next Hierarch and for control of the Heart, the source of magic and power. "Evy" has been chosen to represent her people but she has to move forward with extreme caution. As much as Evy believes becoming the next Hierarch could give her people everything they've been denied for so long, it could also bring down the might of every person who would rather rid the world of witches for good. Evy has to work her way through every trial, gaining allies amongst the other competitors, and hoping to prove that the Witches deserve acceptance in their world, the same as everyone else.

The world in this book grabbed my attention from the start with Evy and her life as the Queen of the Witches. Within pages we learn about the connections that witches have to spirits and how spirits choose who to link with and how it is done. From the start I could feel the heavy expectations placed on Evy as Queen with the duties she had to perform and then also how she was expected to compete in the Hierarch Wars. Once Evy is in place for the competition, every interaction she had with the Council and with the townsfolk made it explicitly clear how the entire population viewed witches, even though it was obvious that they'd never personally interacted with witches. All of their beliefs are based on hearsay and it colored the world perfectly to show just how much Evy was being forced to overcome in her new role as a competitor. As the first book in what I'm sure is meant to be a series, it sets up an interesting dynamic, showing how Evy was able to use her power and her sense of self to gain friends and allies and to survive the trials. As the story continues, the world in this story is poised on the verge of change and I for one, can't wait for the many less savory characters in this world to eat their words and turn to Evy for help. So much in this world needs to changed and the characters in this story are in place to make that happen.

I cared so much for Evy and the friends she made, Royen, Celeste and Zafir. I thought Evy had a very sensible head on her shoulders, a tendency to be headstrong and yet able to pause and make careful considerations when needed, trying to find the best solution for every task set before her and her newfound allies. I trusted this young woman from the start and I felt her frustration at the treatment she received from most everyone in charge of the trials. The fact that she kept such a level head for so long was so impressive and even a little astonishing because I would have blown up a lot earlier if I were in such a situation. Every move she made proved that she would have been a worthy Hierarch and the fact that she was constantly thinking about the good of her people as she tried to win just made my heart ache for her. As for the others, I loved Celeste and her easy light and kind heart from the start, especially how quickly she made it a point to include Evy in all of her plans. I loved how Zafir trusted Evy and at the same time made it point to help her when she needed it. I loved how Royen, the one favored to become Hierarch, was quick to make it so that he was on equal footing to the rest of his of the group and how he was willing to do what it took to keep his friends safe. This was a group that I could see being the ones to change how everything worked and making great strides to have everyone made equal. Here's me with my fingers crossed, hoping to see more of the group dynamic again in the next installment.

As for the overall plot and themes, I was immersed from the start with all the different threads weaving this story together. Every person in this story had their own stakes at risk, their own pasts that colored their present, and so much of what is happening in this story feels like it could be the tipping point that makes everything fall apart or fall into place. It was delicate balance to achieve in this story and Badal proves to have a deft hand at controlling each aspect of this story, shifting pieces and giving reveals that make everything before that moment pale in comparison. Honestly, some of the reveals in this book made my eyes widen because with everything happening with the Trials, I was not expecting those turns to be taking place in other parts of the book. As much as this story is about the trials and finding someone to become the next Hierarch, it is also very much a story about a young woman carrying the weight of her people on her shoulders and facing the prejudice of so many people. I have so many questions still about the Witches and how the Council has used its power to keep the control and how they maneuver the people to keep their positions. All of it made me want to know more and I can't wait to see what Badal has in store for readers with the next book.

In the end, this was a great read. I'm sitting here days after finishing this book, still thinking about what could possibly come next for Evy and her friends. I want them all to be safe and happy and for the Council to go up in flames but I will sit here patiently and wait to read the next book to see what happens. The next book can't happen fast enough but that's my humble opinion.

Rating on my scale: 10 Stars. I have absolutely no complaints about this book. I want to know more. I want to read it again. I want to take up arms and help these characters. All of this just proves I loved this book and my copy will now take its on my shelf with room next to it for what I'm sure will be a very interesting, entertaining and brilliant series of books to come.

Book Review: Rage of Krakens by Juliette Caruso

It was one of those no-brainer types of scenarios. Want to read a book about a former knight and witch? Definitely. As I was reading, I found hours just passing by, I was so completely immersed in this world and devoted to its characters. I loved the ideas of the world-building, the characters, the way everything evolved and moved. By the time I got to the end, I was wishing for more but at the same time, I am so grateful to know that this book is whole on its own. How much did I love this book? I have started collecting other Juliette Caruso books for myself to start reading when I want to read a romantasy book I KNOW I will love. I have three more books already waiting for me to read.

Rage of Krakens follows former knight Cai, living in exile after she was accused of witchcraft. Two years earlier, her warship was attacked by the King of Witches. Cai tried to defeat him but was injured in the fight and her ship and its entire crew was lost. Cai only remembers something in the water taking her to safety, an ancient beast deep in the water. Now, Cai is forced to watch over a prisoner, Roiven, the same King of Witches she fought before. Roiven has been enchanted to follow her every command but as things begin to change on the isle where they are both being kept, Cai starts to realize that the Empire she has devoted her life to is not what it seems. The two begin to trust each other, with Cai starting to come around to wanting to help the witches in the war, until Roiven makes a mistake, driving Cai away. Cai has to find the truth about her past and her connection to the Kraken in order to be the force the witches need to keep them from being destroyed by the very force she worked for her entire life.

The world-building in this book was so interesting, every aspect kept my attention and I loved the fact that the world we readers are first given changes over the course of the book. The book starts off on a warship with Cai, where we learn how the Empire runs their ships and what they sacrifice for power and that they are at war with the witches. Within pages we have a big attack on the ship, showing the threat  that Cai lives with as a knight and what it means for her to defend her crew. This is only one side of the equation though, for as quick as we are given Cai in battle, as a respected knight, we are just as quickly given Cai in exile on an isle where she has been living for the last two years, seemingly forgotten by the Empire and her adopted father. The world has changed and readers learn the ins and outs of it alongside Cai as she learns them when the King of the Witches is assigned to her as a prisoner to guard. The magic system was the best part of this book, the way the witches used their power and how they bonded to a familiar, explaining it as their bond made the witch and their familiar a part of the same soul, which made their connections resonate so much more compared to how the Empire took power and used their magic for force. I loved seeing the different aspects of the witches as Cai started to interact with them over the course of the book. As the world changes, it also expanded in so many ways, making this world feel real and the battles in it high-stakes for the people in them.

I loved these characters. I'll admit, Cai had a habit of being quick to judge at the start but over the course of this adventure, she starts to recognize when she would need to think something over again and I loved seeing that kind of growth in a character that was so stubborn and strong from the start. Once Roiven enters the picture, I loved the banter between him and Cai, the way they butted heads and hated one another at the start and how the subtle shifts started between them as they began to trust each other. On his own, I loved how Roiven was devoted to his people and to his familiar, how he was willing to do all he could to keep the witches safe and how that, in turn, led to him wanting to help Cai and keep her safe. The cast was filled with so many interesting people, from the witches in hiding that Cai begins to interact with to the people she still cared for from the Empire and even the magical familiars we got to see on the page. I could see how difficult it was for Cai to take the strides necessary to change and yet as she worked to do more, her development was a driving force for the novel. Besides a few characters, nearly every person in this book was worth following and you know a book is great when you're ready to defend its cast of characters to the death.

As for the plot, I knew what we were going to expect with a development but the way it unfolded kept me enthralled with every reveal for Cai. As her connection to Roiven changes and her opinion on the war between the Empire and the Witches starts to expand, it filled me with both joy and a little bit of anger on behalf of Cai. Everything develops naturally, nothing felt extraneous, and by the end of the book, I was so happy with the journey the book took and the way things concluded for its characters. If Caruso ever decides to come back to this world, I would love to see more of these people. The good thing is that the book feels exactly as it should for a stand-alone adventure. All questions were given the answers they needed and the outlook for the future of the characters feel like they are where they need to be to be in a good place.

I loved this book in the end and I'm so grateful I had to opportunity to read and review it. I have my hardcover ordered and I'm waiting patiently for it to come home where I can put it on my shelf with other favorite reads.

Rating on my Scale: 10 Stars, obviously. I loved this book. I know a book is great when I lose time while reading it.

My thanks to Behind the Pages PA and Juliette Caruso for the eARC of this book. 

Book Review: The Castle & The Cloister by Laura E. Weymouth

I have been collecting Weymouth's books since the first one, The Light Between Worlds, was released. Each book has been a different adventure, something unique that I've enjoyed each time I receive a new book by Weymouth to read, and I have LOVED each and every book release. This one, however, is my new favorite. The characters and their motivations, the politics that they have to navigate while trying to make a better world for the future, everything kept my attention engaged while I worked out who to root for and who to watch with a wary eye. The world that Weymouth has built in this story is so detailed and well-crafted and filled with people that could be real, it was hard to sit with their turmoil at moments because I just wanted to swoop in and save them. I knew that in the end, Weymouth would leave me wanting more from this story and I can't wait for the final book to be released.

The Castle & The Cloister is set in the nation of Honoria, conquered two centuries earlier by the Inver clan, who choose to rule with ongoing wars and blood. Honoria's current king is set on a course to start a new war that could mean more pain and loss for Honoria. Honoria used to have their people devoted to pacifist goddesses and certain cloisters still hold to the old beliefs, resisting the changes wrought by the Inver clan. In the sun goddess Raea's cloister, Fia and her daughter are seeking refuge, with Fia determined to give her daughter the safety and security she lacked growing up. But before they can truly be allowed in as part of the cloister, Fia is given a task that takes her into the heart of the kingdom, to the mountain fortress where the Inver king and queen reside, and to the political machinations at work there. In the fortress, Ariana Inver was once a follower of the goddess of the stars but is now the queen. After years trying to keep peace for the nation, Ariana has to find a way to keep her husband from moving forward with his new plans for conquest. In the mountain itself, underneath the fortress, the man known only as the Priest is in charge of keeping the Inver religion. Blinded during an attempt by the king to clear all claims to the throne, the Priest will have to work to find a way to a new future for Honoria, one that might change everything that the people have known. Together, these three will either find a way to bring peace or have the nation dragged into another war.

First of all, the world-building here is so vast and intricate, it felt like something that could have existed once in history. From the way the pacifist goddesses used to keep the nation of Honoria to the way the Inver clan moved in and, well, demolished everything, all of it held my attention, making me feel rage or wonder at different turns in the book. I hated certain characters, I rooted for others, and so much of that was also based in how much this world was made to feel real to the reader. Weymouth focused on the settings described in the title itself, the Castle where the Inver clan keeps their stronghold and then the Cloister, where Fia had hoped to make a life for herself. Two opposing forces bent on changing the other to their own ends. The castle wants to take control of the cloister and for the sake of forcing them to bend to Inver rule, to unite all the people so that Honoria will be a force to contend with when it comes to other nations declaring war against them. The castle also wants all the resources of the land that the cloister keeps under its protection. On the other hand, the cloister is determined to keep the peace, to help all of the people, not just those in Honoria, and the only way that can happen is by trying to curb the murderous tendencies of the king and possibly forging an alliance that both sides can uphold. The world-building also had an interesting religious system in place to further fill in the ways of the Inver clan as opposed to the cloister and their followers.

The fact that the Invers made blood the focus of so much of what they did, even offering blood when they prayed, drove home the fact that they were a brutal force, used to making threats and following through on them. The fact of the matter is that the king himself dispatched most of his siblings and his father in order to gain the throne and these acts proved that he was the best candidate for king because of what the people believed. It felt like everything was settled with some kind of fight to the death scenario and with this being the accepted way of things in the world made it that much more of a hard hitting truth. With the cloister however, they were meant to keep peace and spilling blood was something they were supposed to avoid unless it was meant to heal. It was an intriguing force to oppose the Inver way, the fact that the cloister had its own beliefs that were yes, against the Invers, but at the same time, could be argued that they weren't exactly the best to be in charge either, with their vows and tasks given to postulants, or the women who followed the goddesses in their cloisters. The cloister also had their own methods for doing things that felt difficult to understand, seen with Fia and Ariana and their paths in the book. Weymouth made these people feel real because everyone had their reasons, their beliefs, and neither side was strictly right or wrong. That precarious sense of middle ground for the world, where the leads make their home, is what draws the reader in because if neither side can be wholly in charge, perhaps the next step towards an actual lasting peace would be to find a way they can meld together.

As for the characters, I can honestly say that aside from one secondary character, I was sincerely impressed with every person focused on in this story. I can't even say that I have a favorite because each lead had their own path, their own things that I supported and their own things that I was against. I loved Fia because of the fact that she was a nursing mother, forced to leave her daughter behind for the sake of helping the queen, Ariana, in trying to stop a war from starting. Fia also helped with Ariana in the post-partum recovery, as the start of the book has Ariana giving birth to the new heir of the kingdom. Both of these women are so strong already but to show them in these situations as new mothers adds another layer to their fortitude, showing just how people in all ways of life have to pick themselves up and continue on after one of the most excruciating experiences of their lives. And I appreciated this so much because of the, let's call it, recognition it provided for people who have been in the same position. Ariana is literally bleeding through her clothes but she is putting herself in front of peace talks because she is queen and she hopes to prevent a war.

Both Fia and Ariana were also motivated by their own beliefs, Fia with her neglected childhood and her search for a home and Ariana with her upbringing in a cloister where all she ever knew was her religion and devotion to her goddess which has now been cast aside in her new role as queen to a king whose family history was filled with cruelty and murder. Fia could be cold and calculating but over the course of the book, she slowly comes to realize that the circle of people she cares for has grown and that change means she will take up whatever new role comes for her and make the best of the situations she finds herself in. Ariana has to find a way to reconcile the life she now leads with the beliefs she still holds, as keeping them separate for so long has not done much good for herself or her role as queen. There is also much to say about the Priest, who I felt had been dealt a hard hand in his life and yet managed to be such an intriguing character. I could not have made the life that he had created for himself after what he'd gone through. I would have thought he'd be motivated by revenge but the Priest surprised me by how level-headed he was, how quick he tried to protect people and the way he chose to step up when change was inevitable. His devotion to his new nephew was lovely to see compared to the way the king, Orden, regarded his new son. As for Orden, while I didn't love this character, I did appreciate his devotion to his queen, even though he never truly understood Ariana. I found it interesting that he did everything he could to make her happy, to protect her in his court, and yet at the same time, he loved the way she would show her devotion to him in turn, which came across as an imbalance in the power dynamics of their relationship. Weymouth drew every character with a deft hand, filling them with real world concerns and because of that, every nuance feels earned and respected over the course of the story.

Concerning the plot, it felt straightforward enough at first. Our three leads have to find a way to stop a war before it begins. Their positions in the kingdom and their backgrounds make it difficult to find a true, sure way through to making that a reality. At the same time, Weymouth had so many twists and turns, reveals that made me sit up and reconsider everything that had come before that moment. Various things that were exposed over the course of this story made my jaw drop because in the end, there were so many threads weaving together or being pulled apart that the final picture at the end of the story was not the one I expected to see. Honestly, I'm still sitting here after that epilogue and reconsidering everything that was seen in the book and I'm eyeing the release date like I could somehow make it change to earlier in 2027 because I NEED to know how everything resolves. I'm grateful for the fact that this release is book one of a duology. I don't know if my heart could take waiting years for a series to come to a conclusion.

At the end of the day, this is such a respectable read. I was infinitely impressed with everything Weymouth created here and when my copy arrives, I will be going through it with a fine-toothed comb, just to be sure I grasped everything that was so carefully crafted for this book. For now, I will be trying to find the time to go back and read every other Weymouth book I own while I wait for the conclusion to this book to be released.

Rating on my Scale: 10 Stars!! I had no doubt in my mind that I was going to absolutely LOVE this book. I want to find other readers so we can discuss everything about this book for hours. Read this book for the political intrigue set in a fantasy world and meet a cast of characters that pull at your heartstrings whether or not they are the hero of the story.

My thanks to NetGalley, Saga Press and Laura E. Weymouth for this eARC in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.

Book Review: When Dealing With Dragons by Dana Swift

This was one of the sweetest and most poignant dragon books I've read this year. I was drawn in by the title, which brought to mind a classic Wrede book that was my entire personality when I was twelve. This book has dragons, which automatically draws my interest, but it also has a sweet love story, a struggle to protect animals in a world that would destroy them and finding a place where you're completely loved, accepted and safe with family and when I put all of that together, the vibes and the feelings I'm left with after finishing this book are pure exhilaration because I LOVED this story. Which means I need to go back and read the rest of Swift's books as soon as I can gather them in my library.

When Dealing With Dragons has a world where people have bonded with dragons, allowing them to craft the metal that the dragons are associated with, such as copper, bronze, tin or silver. This story follows two school rivals, Farren Walsh, a young woman hoping to become a dragon veterinarian like her father, and James Murphy, a dragon racer from a prominent silver-crafting family. James is Farren's biggest competition for a college scholarship so when James Murphy manages to gain an internship with her father at their dragon sanctuary for the summer, Farren is forced to work with her school nemesis on a daily basis. But Farren has a secret she is trying to protect, something that could change everything about the rules of the world around them. James has a secret of his own to keep, using the internship to gain the knowledge he needs to become a veterinarian himself in the future and to get away from his father, but he is also trying to hide how Farren has been his crush for years. As time passes, Farren starts to learn more about James and begins to understand his dreams and his fears, realizing that she was wrong about him and his actions for years. But Farren knows her secret needs to stay safe and she does not know if she can trust James to keep it because of the reputation his family has with dragons and the racing world. If she gets too close, her secret could be exposed, bringing down everything she and her family have been trying so hard to protect and Farren can't allow that to happen.

The world-building here was excellent. The idea behind the bonding of dragons to humans and how this relationship has been fostered was so intriguing. I loved seeing both sides of the equation with how Farren and her world was about the protection of dragons, cultivating trust and love with their training of the dragons, while the other side was James's family who kept dragons in cages and forced them to shield themselves in their metal by using fear tactics and sometimes even resorting to abuse. This entire world felt carefully considered and developed, enough to make me feel rage for the dragons that suffered on the page and off and to feel awe at the idea of taking care of dragons in such a way that they would still be able to trust you after some horrible histories for some of them. I thought the system of keeping the people affiliated with certain metals to their own class an intriguing one because of the struggle it gave to Farren and James. Farren's family is copper and because James is from a silver family, any relationship between them would be frowned upon as it's only been so long before mixing "metals" was considered illegal. All of these details helped to fill in so many corners of this world, to rachet the tension about the secret the Walsh family is hiding and about how much James is trying to distance himself from his own silver family. Knowing these details about the world was something I kept in the back of my mind while reading the book, keeping the tension moving as Farren and James started to work together and highlighting the struggle they would face at every new trial they faced.

As for the characters, Swift filled this book with some very interesting people. Oh Farren, you sweet, silly child. I loved this girl, I really did, from the moment she appeared on the page and her determination to believe the worst about her school nemesis, James. Farren was intelligent and fearless and admirable at every turn in this book. Swift made an interesting choice to write this book as a dual-person narrative and really, I loved the switching between these two kids because their banter and their gradual growth together was so sweet to witness. Because while I thought Farren's opinions of James were harsh at times, it helped to jump over to James to see things as he did, to see his struggle to overcome his shyness to be able to talk to the girl of his dreams. James was a cinnamon roll lead, a young man conscious of the privileges he had and yet yearning for something else, a place to feel safe and at home. He was quick to help and protect Farren, willing to risk himself to keep her safe from dragons, willing to lie to keep her secret once he learned it. They were so wonderful together and it was beautiful to see their coming together by the end of the book. I thought the contrast between the two sets of parents to be an interesting dynamic, one that highlighted the found family that James quickly became a part of by joining the Walsh sanctuary for dragons with his internship.

The Walsh parents were a partnership that worked together and kept their business moving while also taking pride in the strides their daughter was making. On the other hand, the Murphy parents were the ones quick to judge and disregard others, even their own son, in the pursuit for whatever it was they wanted. Even secondary characters, like Colm, a young man trying to become better than James and who treats Farren horribly and Cara, a former friend of Farren's that has been pushed away because of the secret but who still tries over and over to be Farren's friend, are so well-developed in the few scenes they are in that they feel as well-known as the rest of the cast. Even the dragons deserve their own call-out because each one felt so individual and unique, impressive when you consider that they don't speak. I loved Hort, James's dragon, a playful racer that James had trained since he was a baby and I even loved Bex, Hort's mother, a dragon that had been a racer but was now being used for other purposes by the Murphys. Everything felt important about these characters, serving to show how the audience needed to care for the dragons just as much as the people trying to save them.

As for the plot, I knew what the secret was within the first few chapters but the rest of it caught me by surprise. Swift set things up in such a brilliant way that when the reveals hit, I'll be honest, I did not see that coming. I had my beliefs and Swift managed to turn them on their head and then twist them again because WHAT JUST HAPPENED!? Still, to talk any more about what happens would veer into spoiler territory so I'll move on. I loved the journey that Farren took to learn that what she thought was wrong and that learning to trust and open herself up to others was a good thing. I loved that James was able to find somewhere to be himself and to gain the confidence he needed to become Farren's friend with the hopes of something more because a love story based on a friendship is so heart-warming when done right, just as Swift managed to do here. And I loved the strides these people made to keep dragons safe, to make a difference in the way their world treated them and to gain a safer means of existence for them with the Walsh sanctuary and the services they provided as veterinarians. Changes have to start small and this book shows that even one person can make a difference.

Read this book for the dragons and stay for the sweet love story and the acceptance that every person deserves to find for themselves to be happy, whatever their future might hold.

Rating on my Scale: 10 Stars. I know I give a lot of 10 Stars but I've honestly lucked out with a lot of my reads in recent memory. If a book leaves me feeling happy enough to kick my feet, smile and sigh a little, it deserves all the stars. Simple as that.

My thanks to NetGalley, Wednesday Books and Dana Swift for the eARC of this book in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.