This story is filled with a princesses fierce determination to do what needs to be done. Her nation is starving. Year after year, century afObsessed.
This story is filled with a princesses fierce determination to do what needs to be done. Her nation is starving. Year after year, century after century they suffer famine all because of a goddess’s act of selfishness. She ran away with her lover and was destroyed for it.
Now, 1000 years later one nation reveres the goddess and receives bountiful harvests and the other receives famine and suffering. But a powerful relic of the goddess could change everything, and our main character Lia has set out to claim it. The relic is rumored to be located in enemy territory- and the only way to get there is a one way ticket that will likely end with her meeting the gods of the underworld. The enemy nation has a special way of honoring their goddess through sacrifice. They allow women from their enemy nation a chance at freedom and serving their goddess as a priestess IF they can survive the run from the docks to the temple.
Just like the goddess herself ran from her responsibilities to live her own life, the maidens must too run for their lives. The men are permitted to hunt them in this sacred trial of fire.
The moment Lia steps off the boat, it is the first of many trials she will face while on enemy soil. But she has a plan. Survive, find the relic, save her people. But she never expected to be distracted and aided by an infuriatingly handsome sailor who just happens to be everywhere she least expects him.
I loved this story of female empowerment, determination and found family. This was a huge set up for the next book and I cannot wait for more!
And a shout out to the geese guarding a library. I’ve never laughed so hard!...more
Phantasma was an absolutely addicting story! After losing her mother our FMC Ophelia inherits her necroThis was FANTASTIC- perfect spooky season read!
Phantasma was an absolutely addicting story! After losing her mother our FMC Ophelia inherits her necromancy powers and a special locket she can never take off. The family unfortunately also inherits her mother's debt and Ophelia's sister runs away to a legendary game called Phantasma with hopes of winning to free their family.
Ophelia follows her to it and enters herself to stop her sister from making a huge mistake. People who enter don't always come back out, and those who do are never the same. There are very few rules in Phantasma, the biggest being don't fall in love. In Phantasma, the competitor has to go through trials based on the 9 layers of hell, while facing all manner of deadly sins. But the prize being a wish granted from the prince of devils makes it all worth it.
It has a bit of the same ambiance as Kingdom of the Feared (not wicked) or Throne of the Fallen and a bunch of spice. It's dark and gruesome with a sizzling romance I couldn't get enough of!...more
I am living a teenage dream right now! When I was in school I loved Sophie Jordan’s firelight series and now she wrote this new adult dragon shifter rI am living a teenage dream right now! When I was in school I loved Sophie Jordan’s firelight series and now she wrote this new adult dragon shifter romance?! This was everything I wanted it to be! Arranged marriage, touch her and die vibes, brute of a man, and a woman who’s more than she seems. I loved this!!!!...more
UPDATE: Ok now that I’m not rambling off a review at 2am… this book absolutely had issues. I hated the ending. But I still read a 450ish page book in oUPDATE: Ok now that I’m not rambling off a review at 2am… this book absolutely had issues. I hated the ending. But I still read a 450ish page book in one sitting because it kept me entertained. Was this original? Not at all. Did I care? Nope. It’s angsty, it has no world building, but the characters were messy and fun. A friend compared my feelings to watching a silly movie and that’s basically what this was. It was a good time if you don’t think too hard and just enjoy it for what it is!
****
It’s uh… 2am. 5stars.
Was this perfect? No absolutely not. Did I care? Not a single bit.
It was somehow The Serpent and the Wings of Night meets the hunger games meets fourth wing (for the academy) with a sprinkle of crescent city. There were definitely things taken from other books but not in a way that was bad? If that makes sense?
It was addicting and I obviously couldn’t put it down to have read the entire thing tonight into the early hours of the morning. Idk maybe I’ll feel different in the morning but for now it remains 5stars....more
In a world full of monsters, a thief is doing her best to survive. She takes a job to steal a ring from a wealthy home, but it was much more than it sIn a world full of monsters, a thief is doing her best to survive. She takes a job to steal a ring from a wealthy home, but it was much more than it seemed. She was caught by a monster who needed up offering her a job instead of something worse. He needed her particular set of skills to obtain something he wanted. A business relationship turned something more over the course of the story.
The Wren in the Holly Library has a promising start but quickly ran into issues. From the flow of a scene, to plain typos, to plot holes… it was messy. When did they learn to do that “skill”? They were just doing jobs for a couple thousand dollars because of their worth and suddenly they’re negotiating for millions… the magic didn’t make sense, and just so much more could have been done better.
Example: character gets into a fight that dislocates their shoulder, gets it put back in and can suddenly fight with that arm without hindrance or mention of the injury. In the same like, hour. Example: character is standing having a conversation, next paragraph they’re suddenly sitting and in a different set up.
So on, and so forth… over and over again.
I couldn’t figure out what timeframe this was set in either. It read like a 1920-1940s mob-ish New York. But they had cell phones and computer technology. It was strange.
Unfortunately this is another case of a much needed editor. I WISH Red Tower put funding into getting books edited rather than just making them look pretty. Granted, they are gorgeous books… It needed a line editor. Hell, it needed another draft.
The base of the story had huge potential it just fell flat. 2⭐️ *ARC provided by red tower, clearly all thoughts are my own....more
Ehhh. I didn’t think this was anything special. It was an almost too predictable beauty and the beast retelling with crow shifters for beasts.
The autEhhh. I didn’t think this was anything special. It was an almost too predictable beauty and the beast retelling with crow shifters for beasts.
The author definitely got the monster part down because I didn’t care for how they were described physically at all… unfortunately that also hindered trying to see one as a romantic interest.
I also really didn’t care for the FMC the entire book and, well, I gotta like the main POV.
I really enjoyed this one! There are things I loved and things I could see irritating people.
The good: Easy to follow world building 4.5 rounding up.
I really enjoyed this one! There are things I loved and things I could see irritating people.
The good: Easy to follow world building and magic! A great plot from the start and the pacing was done really well! The trial of the gods was not overly done and really created a starting point for the real meat of this story. The relationships and romance were done really well! A delicious SSLLOOOWWWWW burn that pays off! A lot spicier than I initially thought it was going to be haha
The ehhh: This story is VERY clearly inspired by many of our favorite books/series. While nothing is out right copied you can tell where the inspiration came from and at times it seems a bit too close. This is where it might irk some people but ultimately it is its own story. I just hope it stays that way, keeping its own direction and doesn’t fall down the pit that many others do....more
3.5 rounding up. It has potential. I wouldn’t be surprised if book two takes off!
It was very predictable but a good time nonetheless. Nothing complic3.5 rounding up. It has potential. I wouldn’t be surprised if book two takes off!
It was very predictable but a good time nonetheless. Nothing complicated here folks, just fantasy + some spice with booktok tropes thrown in for funzies. This somehow felt like a filler book and its book one. Attempted world building but ultimately not much. The last 80 pages are where the book really started! Very interested to see where book 2 goes. ...more
2.5 rounding up. Unfortunately I feel like this series just went downhill after the first book.
Book 1: absolutely addicting, loved every freaking mom2.5 rounding up. Unfortunately I feel like this series just went downhill after the first book.
Book 1: absolutely addicting, loved every freaking moment of it and wanted more! Book 2: it was fine but still pretty boring Book 3: what are we doing… oh, nothing just smut. Book 4: literal filler book with one last anticlimactic war scene that was a re written SJM battle.
I was not a fan of how this series progressed and it makes me so sad. ...more
This book is a great example of what happens when you get a bad narrator.
I want to be clear here, the female narrator is amazing. She did the first tThis book is a great example of what happens when you get a bad narrator.
I want to be clear here, the female narrator is amazing. She did the first two books single narration and I loved them. This is book 3 in the series and they went dual. The male narrator literally killed the story for me.
If book 4 is dual narrated I definitely won’t get the audio. I’ll have to just physically read it (which is fine and I might do it anyway.) but yeah, authors, be careful. A narrator can make or break your books. ...more
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