The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling

 

Do you like when books combine two holiday seasons?  I do, it gives me a Nightmare Before Christmas Vibe.

Bowen Penhallow prefers to live life alone on a mountain in Wales studying ancient magic.  He ventures out to meet Tamsyn Bligh.  Tamsyn is not a witch, but she does procure magical items for witches.  She becomes exclusive to helping Bowen procure items.  She does decide to do one last private job on her own where she will make a lot of cash.  While on this job, she meets Bowen at a wedding that they are both crashing for different reasons. Will they be able to help each other with their projects?  Will sparks fly?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This is the third novel in the Ex Hex series.  I have enjoyed this entire series.  It is a lighthearted and fun series that is great for the Halloween season.  I hope this series continues!

·       This novel was a steamy romance.

·       I really liked the time travel elements of the story.  Bowen meets his grandparents right before their wedding.

·       The story got a bit slow for me in the middle, but then it picked up again and held my attention to the end.

·       It was set a Christmas, so it was both a Christmas and a Halloween read.

·       I loved how Bown and Tamsyn had an opposites attract story.  Bowen is grumpy and Tamsyn is all sunshine.  They had good banter.

·       In the 1950’s storyline, the child Emerald is a hoot.  She is always catching the two of them at awkward times, and she knows that they are up to something.

·       I enjoyed that the author tried something different in this world to keep the story interesting.

Overall, The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling was an enjoyable, fun story with great romance, time travel, and fun banter.  It is perfect for both the Halloween and the Christmas seasons.

Book Source:  Review copy from NetGalley. Thank-you!  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

One Cursed Rose by Rebecca Zanetti (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

 

Do you have a favorite fairy tale?

One of my favorite fairy tales is Beauty and the Beast.  I was excited to see that One Cursed Rose was a dark romance rewrite of the Beauty and the Beast Fairy Tale.

Alana Beaumont is a young twenty something social media influencer.  She is the heir to Aquarius Social, which is one of the four major social medial companies.  The four families that own the four main social medial companies have been rivals for centuries.  They gain power from different gems or crystals that are specific to a family, and they use this power to run their social media networks.  Thron Beathach is the owner of the current number one company, Mafia Media.  He is obsessed with Alana and he saves/kidnaps her during an assassination attempt.  Why is someone trying to murder to Alana and is it related to her brother’s mysterious death?  Who is working against Thorne and freezing his gems?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I loved that this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling and that is what first caught my attention.

·       One Cursed Rose was an engaging and very readable story.

·       This is a dark mafia romantic suspense fantasy novel.

·       I really enjoyed the mysteries and the suspense in this novel and that is what kept me reading and unable to put the book down.

·       I enjoyed that this was a dual narrative novel with Alana and Thorne telling the story in alternate chapters.

·       One Cursed Rose is the first in a new series.

·       I liked the secondary characters.  Alana’s friends, Thorne’s brother, etc. were all great.  I wanted to know all their background stories and I’m hoping that they will get their stories as the series progresses.

·       Alana came off as a spoiled rich kid at first, but she is smart and has depth.  I liked her.  Thorn is morally gray.  He is sexy, knows his own mind, and does like to help people.  But he also kills people and stalks Alana.  There is great banter between the two.

·       I would have liked more description of how exactly the crystals worked.

·       This was the first dark romance that I’ve read, and I am not sure about the “dark” elements.  Are all dark romances all like this novel and very spicy and violent?  Or is this extreme kink?  I didn’t like that the heroine was an inexperienced virgin with the families talking about her virginity and her getting tested before an arranged marriage to ensure her purity.  This did not seem like something that would be happening in 2024. The sexually experienced hero basically rapes her, beats her, threatens her, and does whatever he wants.  But it’s okay because she eventually enjoys it?  SPOILER ALERT:  Thorne puts a knife in Alana’s vagina and also beats her with a belt on her clitoris while she cries and begs him to stop.  This was too far for me and quite frankly, horrifying. SPOILER END. It reminded me of the 1970s and 1980s romances with this type of thing.  I was not a fan of the very graphic and long descriptions in the violent sex scenes as the novel went on. I ended up skimming these chapters. 

Overall, The Cursed Rose was a very engaging story, but I had to skim through the graphic sex scenes.

The Night Island by Jayne Ann Krentz

 

Title:  The Night Island:  The Lost Night Files, Book 2

Author:  Jayne Ann Krentz

Narrated by:  Eva Kaminsky

Publisher: Recorded Books

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 23 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com

What is your favorite island to visit?  While I dream of visiting a tropical island, I’d say my favorite island to visit is Mackinac Island in Michigan.  I love the Victorian charm, the history, and that there are no motorized vehicles on the island.  It’s like stepping back in time.

The Night Island is a paranormal romantic mystery.   Talia March, Pallas Llewellyn, and Amelia Rivers host a podcast that investigates cold cases.  They all have psychic abilities and believe that a shared experience from months ago that they cannot remember gave them these abilities.  When a fan, Phoebe, calls with a lead, Talia goes to meet her.  She does not find Phoebe, but does find Luke Rand, a man with psychic abilities also looking for answers.  The two of them follow clues to find Phoebe and end up on Night Island.  Night Island is the location of a remote retreat in the Pacific Northwest that advertises an unplugged experience.  It turns out that Phoebe is not the first guest to disappear on the island, and she will not be the last.  Will Talia and Luke be able to solve the mystery and leave the island alive?

Night Island is very creepy and has glowing, carnivorous plants.  I liked the suspense, and quick moving story.  I also liked the romantic tension between Talia and Luke.  This paranormal novel reminded me of the X-Men with Wolverine searching for his past and trying to determine what had happened to him. 

This is the second book in the Lost Night Files.  I did not realize that until I started reading the book.  The book did well as a standalone novel, but I would like to go back and read the first book in the series. 

I read this audiobook in January for the 2024 Brenda Novak Book Group Reading Challenge.  I enjoyed Eva Kaminsky’s narration of the audiobook.

Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong

 Title: Immortal Longings

Author:  Chloe Gong

Narrated by:  Jeena Yi

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 57 minutes 

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you @simonandschuster #BookClubFavorites for the free books!

What is your favorite fantasy novel?  I am always looking for an engaging new fantasy world to learn about.  My all-time favorite is still the Lord of the Rings.

The world of Immortal Longings is a set in the kingdom of Talin, in the twin cities of San-Er.  Every year a set of games is held that anyone can enter.  The goal of the game is to be the only person left alive at the end to win great riches. Anyone can enter and the games take place across the city.   Making things more interesting is that some people can enter other people’s bodies and force their souls to leave.   Who will be the winner of this year’s games?

The story centers on three main characters.  Princess Calla Tuoleimi killed her parents in a massacre five years ago and has been in hiding since then.  She has returned to enter the games for the opportunity to get close to and kill her uncle.  She is aided by King Kasa’s adopted son, August, who wants to make the world a better place.  Princess Calla’s toughest opponent is Anton Makusa.  He is an aristocrat in exile trying to earn enough money to pay the medical bills for his love who has been in a coma for years.  Only one can win.

I felt like this story was the Hunger Games grown up, set in the Capital with body jumping added in.  It also is a story where there can only be one winner.  The beginning of this book was slow as the world was built, but the action increased as the story went along.  I was stunned by the end of this book, and it left me wanting more.  I can’t wait for the second novel in this series.  

As this is an adult book, there was also a love story and a long drawn-out steamy love scene.

The body jumping kept throwing me for a loop.  I would not want to live in a world where someone could just oust you from your body and take over.  

There was plenty of fighting and battles in this story.  It is billed as an Antony and Cleopatra story.  I’m a fan of the real historical figures and of the Shakespeare play.  I will admit that I didn’t think it was really an Antony and Cleopatra story at all except for the fact that there was palace intrigue.

Jeena Yi was a great narrator who had unique voices for different characters.

The Awakening by Nora Roberts

 

Title:  The Awakening

Author:  Nora Roberts

Narrated by:  Barrie Kreinik

Publisher: Macmillian Audio

Length: Approximately 15 hours and 27 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com

 

Are any trees flowering where you live?  There are some very beautiful flowering trees in my neighborhood.

Nora Roberts is a prolific author that can cross genres.  I have been meaning to read her new fantasy trilogy since the first book of the Dragonheart Trilogy, The Awakening, was published in 2020.  Luckily, it was the May selection for the Page-turners Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.

Breen Kelly is living with her best friend Marco, just trying to make ends meet.  She is a people pleaser and focuses on trying to keep her mother and everyone around her happy instead of pursuing her own dreams.  One day while caring for her mother’s plants, she comes across a bank statement and realizes her mother has been hiding from her that her missing father has sent her vast sums of money over the years.  Breen uses the money to fund a trip to Ireland with Marco to find out what happened to her father and more of her roots.  While there, she discovers a portal to another world and her real past.  Will she be able to defeat the evil force that is waiting for her?

I liked the character development and world building in the Awakening.  The descriptions of Ireland were wonderful.  I really liked her best friend Marco and how he helped push her to achieve her dreams.  I also liked the theme of found family.  Breen’s mother is something else, but luckily, she has others in her life that help her out when she needs them.

I didn’t like that The Awakening was a very slow-moving novel.  There were dreams of future things to come, but no climatic battle.  It was really about meeting the characters and Breen training for some future battle.  I really wanted more to the story.  I really didn’t like Breen’s mother.  I couldn’t believe what a cold person she was.

We had a good discussion about this book at book club.  I still need to figure out if I want to continue with the trilogy or not.

 Barrie Kreinik was a good narrator, and it was enjoyable to listen to in an audiobook.

Once Upon a December by Amy Reichert

 

Do you like to read books that are set locally?

I was delighted to discover that Once Upon a Christmas is set in Milwaukee.   Astra Noel Snow is a librarian at a branch of the Milwaukee Public Library.  She loves her yearly tradition of joining her best friends at the Milwaukee Christmas Market.  Julemarked is a special street with many wonderful Christmas shops including a bakery that specializes in Kringles.  The Clausen brothers run the shop.  Jack Clausen loves watching Astra come to visit the shop every year.  Jack wants to ask Astra out, but he has a problem.  Julemarked is a magical place that moves around the world through the year, never guaranteed to be back in the same spot.  Every four weeks it’s a new December somewhere else in the world and Julemarked is there.  Once it leaves a location, the people there magically forget about it until it returns.  Will Jack and Astra be able to find a happily ever after?

I liked that Once Upon a December had a very unique premise.  Julemarked was a magical alley.  It all seems wonderful, especially that you are basically immortal, until you realize that to have someone from the outside join that life, you would have to give up everything that you love about your normal life.  Or if you leave Julemarked, you are also leaving the world that you love and immortality.  This makes it an interesting conundrum for dating.

I loved that Astra was a librarian and thought it was interesting learning about her job.  I also, loved all of the Wisconsin and Milwaukee references.  I have lived in Milwaukee in the past and currently live in Northeast Wisconsin.  It was fun to visualize where they were talking about in Milwaukee.  It was also fun that they bake different flavored kringles, which are a Wisconsin traditional pastry.  Does anyone outside of Wisconsin know what they are?

The only part of the book that annoyed me was how much of a door mat Astra was for her ex-husband Trent.  She was still doing his mending and basically allowing him to barge into her home at any time.  I don’t understand why she didn’t change her locks.  I was glad when she finally stood up for herself.

Overall, Once Upon a December was a fun, unique, and delightful Christmas romance. 

Review Copy from NetGalley.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

 

Do you like to read holiday themed novels?  I do.  With Halloween fast approaching, I really enjoyed reading The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling.

 Nine Years previous, Vivi Jones went through a sad break up with her boyfriend Rhys Penhallow when she found out he had a “betrothed” back in England. Vivi and her cousin get drunk to commiserate and put a curse on Rhys.  They don’t believe it’s a real curse at all, although they know they shouldn’t mess with their powers in that way. 

 When Rhys returns to town as a descendent of the original founder to participate in the fall festival, Vivi is struck by him anew.  She also realizes her drunken curse may have been a real curse after all when things start to go awry all over town.  Can Vivi and Rhys work together to save the town and will they be able to deny their chemistry?

 This book was truly delightful.  I loved the characters and the unique storyline. The witches, their town, spells, and history were interesting and perfect for the season.  I also loved the humor in the book.  My favorite was when the cat started to talk and mostly just said, “treats” all of the time.  That would be my cat if he could talk.  The chemistry between Vivi and Rhys leapt off the page.  I love second chance romance and enemies to lovers, and this was both tropes.  The characters both had flaws and had to figure out how to move forward.  I liked that.  This is a steamy romance.

 Overall, The Ex Hex is a fun read for Halloween or anytime.  I highly recommend it.

 Source:  Review Copy from Netgalley and Avon