review

Book Review of The Lady and The Thief by Megan Derr

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Title: The Lady and The Thief

Author: Megan Derr

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 3/5

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This is book 5 in the Deceived series, although I don’t believe they need to be read in order

Back cover:

Adeline has been at the mercy of others her entire life: the aunt and uncle who constantly remind her she should be grateful they took her in after her parents died of a tragic illness. Her guardian in the city who constantly reminds her that she should be grateful they’re giving her a coming of age in the city. The suitors who make it clear she should be grateful they’re lowering themselves to even consider her.

The only person who’s ever made her feel wanted was Lisette, the maid she once fell in love with. The maid who fled in the night with stolen goods, including the pearls that are all Adeline has left of her mother.

Then, while at yet another ball where she feels alone, out of place, and trapped between choosing happiness or doing what’s expected of her, Adeline encounters the beautiful Lady Wisteria—whom Adeline knows better as the maid Lisette…

I found this story to start out really good, but then about half way through it sort of gets confusing and goes back and forth for the romance. I really like the characters and found them to be well written, but it seemed like the two main characters couldn’t make up their minds. I felt it to be a little indecisive and it wasn’t my cup of tea.

It was, however, a cute girl’s love/lesbian story that I think people who read that genre would enjoy. I was rooting for the characters and wanted to know more, even if I felt that they weren’t being decisive enough. I recommend for those who like a complicated love story.

~Dani

Book Review of The Dark That Dwells by Matt Digman & Ryan Roddy

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Title: The Dark That Dwells

Author: Matt Digman & Ryan Roddy

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 5/5

Release date: July 10, 2020

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Back cover:

An immersive new space opera featuring an unforgettable ensemble cast, set in a sci-fi world with a fantasy twist.

In this evocative science fiction series, four strangers are swept up in a gripping adventure of thrilling battles, ravenous creatures, and the return of forbidden magic.

Ranger.

Warrior.

Tyrant.

Arcanist.

As their paths interweave in love and hate, redemption and revenge, one threat will eclipse their greatest fears: a being of utter darkness and its imminent return.

This is a great, interesting space opera mixed with some magic! It had an ensemble of characters but it was easy to keep track due to the different voices each had, and the use of symbols for switching POV. Instead of *** they used a fox (yay!) and some other symbols so you had a mental note of who to think about. I thought it was really cleaver! I just wished Ban was the fox symbol (even though Fall had a reason he was a fox) for obvious anime “Seven Deadly Sins” reasons. 😛

But all in all, the world was really clever, the military aspect was well research and made sense, but wasn’t overly technical where you couldn’t understand what was going on. It had a nice mix of fantasy that was really cool to have in sci-fi. I thought it was really interesting and if you like Space Opera and Sci-fi military, I definitely recommend!

~Dani

Book Review of Elemental by Tam Chronin

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Title: Elemental

Series: The Godslayers

Author: Tam Chronin

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 5/5

Buy on Amazon

Back cover:

I was just a child.

A wizard came to my town. He came to find me. In a fiery blast I lost my home, my friends, my family. The entire town was obliterated.

I grew up a fugitive, surviving on the charity of others. As I hid, my powers grew. The nightmares grew as well. Something was welling up from within me. Something that could not be contained.

As an adult I took my place among the wizards. I ruled my country as a figurehead, a puppet of those with greater power or experience. I wasn’t to be trusted, or even talked to, for five long years.

The other wizards decided my fate. I was to be imprisoned, watched, guarded by the very wizard responsible for the death of my parents.

I had to lose everything, even my sense of self, before I found out who I was, and who my real enemies are.

Tam does a great job bringing her character to life. Agrad is given a lot of depth as he has his family taken away from him and he has to make it on his own. He felt really real in the way he had to cope with everything that had happened in his life, giving the story a more realistic aspect versus being pure fantasy.

Secondly, I found how the villain in this series very multidimensional as well. There is more this story, and we see throughout the book that maybe he isn’t really a villain but someone who had to live by his own circumstances. I really liked him a lot and wanted to learn more.

The world building in this book is great and I definitely recommend to anyone who loves dark fantasy!

~Dani

Book Review of The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

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Title: The Last Wish

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 5/5

Read the Series

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Back cover:

Geralt the Witcher — revered and hated — holds the line against the monsters plaguing humanity in this collection of adventures in the NYT bestselling series that inspired the blockbuster video games and Netflix adaptation.

Geralt is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent.

But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good…and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

Included in this collection are the short stories which inspired episodes 1-5 of The Witcher.

I haven’t had a chance to watch the Witcher on Netflix all the way through for a few reasons I won’t get into, but I really liked the idea and wanted to read the books before preparing myself to watch the show. I decided to read them in the order given by Orbit instead of the publishing order.

The first book in the series is definitely top notch and I can see why it has been given so much attention. I love how the Witcher is portrayed, how well the description is given without going into big drawn out info-dumps (but if that is your thing, good for you, but I don’t enjoy that). I loved the battles he faces in this and wished that one of them, with the vampire of course, was drawn out more. I wanted to know her story but alas, it wasn’t the point of the story.

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This book really captured my attention and I read it a lot quicker than I thought it would take me. I’m excited to read the other books in the series as well and make some time to watch the show. I definitely recommend this to anyone who loves the fantasy genre, whether they have seen the show or not.

Also, Dandelion is annoying and I can see why people mash him with John-Ralphio…

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~Dani

Book Review of Shielded by KayLynn Flanders

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Title: Shielded

Author: KayLynn Flanders

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 5/5

Release date: July 21, 2020

Preorder the Book Here

Back cover:

For fans of Sorcery of Thorns and Furyborn comes a thrilling new fantasy about a kingdom ravaged by war, and the princess who might be the key to saving not only those closest to her, but the kingdom itself, if she reveals the very secret that could destroy her.

The kingdom of Hálendi is in trouble. It’s losing the war at its borders, and rumors of a new, deadlier threat on the horizon have surfaced. Princess Jennesara knows her skills on the battlefield would make her an asset and wants to help, but her father has other plans.

As the second-born heir to the throne, Jenna lacks the firstborn’s–her brother’s–magical abilities, so the king promises her hand in marriage to the prince of neighboring Turia in exchange for resources Hálendi needs. Jenna must leave behind everything she has ever known if she is to give her people a chance at peace.

Only, on the journey to reach her betrothed and new home, the royal caravan is ambushed, and Jenna realizes the rumors were wrong–the new threat is worse than anyone imagined. Now Jenna must decide if revealing a dangerous secret is worth the cost before it’s too late–for her and for her entire kingdom.

This book was really fascinating. I loved the world that Flanders created, and the characters as well. I found them all to be really well rounded, interesting, and I felt they were believable. The romance was adorable and not too over the top like some YA. There were many surprises throughout the book, and it left me wanting more. I can’t wait for the second book and definitely want to read it whenever it comes out.

One of my favorite parts of this book is how it was in first-person, but there weren’t many uses of the word “I”. Flanders is a very good author to be able to make it feel like you understood what was in Jenna’s head, but not falling into the “I” pit that a lot of authors (including me) do. I was very impressed.

The only problem I had was that some chapters had a shift in perspective to the bad guy. I felt these pulled me out of the story and didn’t add anything. I wish that they weren’t included, although they weren’t too terrible as it didn’t affect my rating. It was more of a personal preference.

All in all, I definitely recommend!

~Dani

Book Review of Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

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Title: Horrorstör

Author: Grady Hendrix

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 4/5

Buy the Series Here

Back cover:

Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.

To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

A traditional haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting, Horrorstör comes packaged in the form of a glossy mail order catalog, complete with product illustrations, a home delivery order form, and a map of Orsk’s labyrinthine showroom.

Designed by Andie Reid, cover photography by Christine Ferrara.

So I thought this was a comedy zombie horror. It’s not, just a dead up. Rereading the blurb, it’s clearly not a zombie book (idk how I got that) but I did and instead it was a really really really scary book. I won’t be able to go into an Ikea for awhile…

However, my mistake does not change how I rank my reviews. I just wanted to let people know, it’s not as comical as you might think…

I thought it was a pretty original story, and quite funny as we all know how Ikea is laid out. It’s a maze, and imagine a ghosty horror happening there. It would suck. I liked the legend behind it, and thought the ending was pretty good. It made sense and I couldn’t imagine if the story took place at where it was headed in the epilogue (I won’t spoil it).

My only critique was that the characters were just typical horror movie stupid. Like, call the cops in the beginning and none of this would have happened. Also don’t build there. Just don’t. I also didn’t quite understand the cop scenario… why didn’t they show up? Was it because the place was haunted? I needed to be sorted out a little more.

I you like horror, I definitely recommend! If you wanted comedy horror, don’t do it… don’t do it…

~Dani

Book Review of Her Majesty’s Fury by Stephanie Mirro

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Title: Her Majesty’s Fury (Immortal Relics: Book 2)

Author: Stephanie Mirro

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 4/5

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Back cover:

When you’re working with the Roman god of chaos, things can always get worse.

Bacchae, the supernatural creatures that spawned vampire lore, are real. For the last several thousand years, they’ve kept to the shadows. Until now…

This is the second book of the series and I found that it definitely pushed the story forward. I really like how Mirro weaved together a lot of different mythologies. As someone who got a degree in anthropology, I really love with different folklores are intertwined like this. And I love vampires, so it was a win-win.

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The only problem I really felt with this story was that Theo was keeping too much from Sera. I hate when characters aren’t straightforward when they are going against the big bad, though I know I do it in my own writing as well. I also felt that there needed to be more with deal with the death of another character in the first book (I won’t spoil that) but everyone handles that different, and she had to stand up to face the big bad. I also wished we got a little more information with the gods that they did come across, as I felt it was a little too light.

All in all, I definitely recommend this series for anyone who loves folklore and vampires!

~Dani

Book Review of Gunsligner Girl by Lyndsay Ely

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Gunslinger Girl

Author: Lyndsay Ely

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 5/5

 

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Back cover:

James Patterson presents a bold new heroine — a cross between Katniss Everdeen and Annie Oakley: Serendipity Jones, the fastest sharpshooter in tomorrow’s West.

Seventeen-year-old Serendipity “Pity” Jones inherited two things from her mother: a pair of six shooters and perfect aim. She’s been offered a life of fame and fortune in Cessation, a glittering city where lawlessness is a way of life. But the price she pays for her freedom may be too great . . .

In this extraordinary debut from Lyndsay Ely, the West is once again wild after a Second Civil War fractures the U.S. into a broken, dangerous land. Pity’s struggle against the dark and twisted underbelly of a corrupt city will haunt you long after the final bullet is shot.

I am so in love with this book! YA SFF Westerns is apparently a genre I need more of as I realized my favorite anime is Trigun and I am in love with K. Lynn Smith’s graphic novel Plume, which will be getting a review shortly as well. I really loved the character in this book, Pity Jones, who just wanted to get out of her small abusive farming community and see the world, and more importantly, to be free.

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The characters in this book are all spectacular and I loved how Ely weaved together her city and her community. It has great world building, great tech ideas for post war, and brings on enough mystery to keep me wanting more.

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It is rare for me to want to reread something, but this is definitely a book I want to read again, and wish for another book that I know won’t be coming 😦 It wraps up well, leaving your imagination to fill in the future.

A definite recommendation from me! Check this book out!

~Dani

Book Review of Wicked Fox by Kat Cho

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Wicked Fox

Author: Kat Cho

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 5/5

 

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Back cover:

An addictive fantasy-romance set in modern-day Seoul.

Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret–she’s a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.

But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead–her gumiho soul–in the process.

Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl–he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to men. He’s drawn to her anyway. When he finds her fox bead, he does not realize he holds her life in his hands.

With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous and reignite a generations-old feud . . . forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon’s.

This book caught my eye at the book store, as I do love foxes and folklore. At first I thought it was the Japanese Kitsune, but I found out it was the Korean gumiho! I haven’t done much research in Korean folklore and looked forward to learning more and reading a fantasy book about it!

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The characters in the this book are well rounded, made sense, and evolved throughout the story. There are a lot of Korean terms, which I think is awesome for bringing you into a culture as language is essential. Luckily there is a glossary in the back to help you figure out the terms, but most made sense by context, and a lot of dishes are now on my to-cook list.

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I also loved the story of the gumiho that was weaved in, and how you were slowly given the folklore of this creature. I also loved learning about the different powers, magic, and religion in the area and how it was never info dumped, but gradually introduced.

A definite recommendation from me! Check it out!

~Dani

Book Review of Captivated by J.R. Thorn

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Captivated

Author: J.R. Thorn

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 3/5

Amazon

Back cover:

Four sexy vampires. One mortal-born witch. An ancient secret that will test them all.

I’m not a very good witch. It’s not my fault. Being born a mortal sucks and my black cat familiar follows me around like a security blanket. All the other coven brats make fun of me.

My vampires don’t seem to mind. They pose as my mentors and get Aunt Sandra off my back. My initiation into the Royal Covens is only three days away. They’re supposed to teach me how to hide what I really am: a reincarnation of some ancient and powerful witch. I think they’re just telling me that to get in my pants.

What my vampires don’t hide is their hunger for me, both for my blood and my body. That dangerous kind of thrill is going to get me into serious trouble.

Captivated: Royal Covens Book 1 is a medium-burn reverse harem romance and part of a 3-book series.

This book has a great idea but I feel it wasn’t executed very well. There were a lot of characters who weren’t consistent and a lot of stuff wasn’t well research. Although magic in fiction can be whatever you want, there wasn’t enough put in to catch my interest. There were only three or four flowers/herbs mentioned when plants were supposed to be big in getting energy, and the blood magic was inconsistent in that everyone used blood but then someone was considered a rare blood witch. Then she used runes, which is cool, but never named a rune, and never described a rune, and didn’t explain what the runes were. This made me lose interest as there didn’t seem to be much research or world-building. Also slicing large sections is getting old in fiction in general, even if you can heal fast. It is unnecessary for blood magic and would be very, very messy.

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I did like the vampires and the idea that they are her guardians was pretty cool. I just wished I could find out more about them, and wished they weren’t quite as resistant in helping her when they are supposed to be her guardians. The grammar and writing was done well and it was easy to read. Recommend for people wanting a different take on the vampire x witch genre.

(Also, this is not for young adults as there were many sex scenes)

~Dani