The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden

Format: e-ARC, 336 pages

Publisher: Random House UK, Ebury Publishing

Published: 12 January 20217

ISBN: 9781785031045

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Sci Fi & Fantasy

Back cover blurb: ‘Frost-demons have no interest in mortal girls wed to mortal men. In the stories, they only come for the wild maiden.’

In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, an elderly servant tells stories of sorcery, folklore and the Winter King to the children of the family, tales of old magic frowned upon by the church.

But for the young, wild Vasya these are far more than just stories. She alone can see the house spirits that guard her home, and sense the growing forces of dark magic in the woods…

My review: I think this is a case of “it’s not you, it’s me.” The book was beautifully written but I just didn’t feel any connection to it. I don’t think I’ll bother with the rest of the series.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 3/5

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Game of Cones, by Cynthia Baxter

Format: e-ARC, 304 pages

Publisher: Kensington Books

Published: 24 November 2020

ISBN: 9781496726827

Genre: Mystery & Thrillers

Back cover blurb: In Cynthia Baxter’s fourth Lickety Splits Mystery, ice cream shoppe owner and amateur sleuth Kate McKay doesn’t waffle around scooping up new clientele at a historic hotel, but her hopes of becoming the Hudson Valley’s reigning ice cream queen melt fast when murder checks-in!

From the moment Kate arrives at the imposing Mohawk Mountain Resort, not even luggage brimming with hot fudge can sweeten her stay. Instead of savoring alone time with her on-again boyfriend Jake and leading workshops on whipping together delectable frosty treats, she finds herself stranded at the isolated hotel with a small group of nutty characters–and a dead body.

When the corpse of wealthy cosmetics executive Bethany La Montaigne is suddenly found following a blackout, any of the five strangers trapped with Kate and Jake could be the killer. Chilled to the core, Kate vows to discover whether the victim’s mortal enemy was a smooth-talking playboy, bubbly millennial, mousy librarian, charming Englishman, or the Mohawk’s creepy general manager…

Bethany’s life was chock full of scandals and there’s little doubt that someone refused to endure another taste. With just a sprinkling of clues, it’s up to Kate to bring justice to a culprit who believes that revenge is a dish best served cold…

My review: I chose this book from Netgalley because of the punny title and the fact it was about ice cream. I was unaware it was the fourth book in a series, but I don’t think that mattered much. It soon became apparent, though, that this was very poorly written. The title and the ice cream were the best things about it.

The characters were unlikable stereotypes who didn’t seem to care that someone had been murdered in their midst and their body left somewhere in the hotel, never to be mentioned again. One even had a complete change of character, going from creepy to puppy dog in a matter of a few pages. The plot was ridiculously implausible. Police would have been on the spot, no matter what the weather, and it would not have been up to one of the guests to inform the family about the death. Mrs Moody’s backstory was extremely unlikely from a legal perspective. And what kind of ice cream business owner goes to a remote hotel without knowing if there are decent refrigeration facilities?

At once stage, Kate’s niece said Google was her friend, and it’s clearly the author’s friend also because she used it to provide unrelated facts about ice cream at the start of each chapter, even down to including the URL of the website the fact came from. There were pages describing what a cult was, like it was some novel concept, and even an explanation of foosball. One can only assume the author thinks she needs to spoon-feed her readers because they aren’t capable of looking up new words for themselves if they don’t know them. But would they really not have heard of them?

And then there was the actual writing. At one point, the word ‘suddenly’ was used three times in two short sentences. This could have benefited from a good editor, both for writing and content. Kate was written much older than she was meant to be, more Miss Marple than Nancy Drew.

Overall, then, not one I would recommend. Despite the ice cream, I won’t be reading the rest of the series or any other by Baxter.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 1/5

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Beneath the Keep (The Queen of the Tearling, #0), by Erika Johansen

Format: e-ARC, 420 pages

Publisher: Random House UK, Transworld Publishers

Published: 11 February 2021

ISBN: 9781787632356

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Sci Fi and Fantasy, Teens and YA

Back cover blurb: In a world far in the future, society in the Tearling has reverted to feudalism.

Evil forces have converged to ensure that the rich and powerful stay in control while the poor are plunged into ever-greater depths of suffering. The only hope is a prophecy, whispered about among the poor, that a True Queen will rise up and save the kingdom from succumbing completely to despotism.

But, none of this affects the Mace. We meet the Mace in the beginning of his life, when he is enslaved as a paid fighter in the Creche, the clandestine and sinister underworld beneath the kingdom. The decrepit Creche is the only home Mace has ever known.

Meanwhile in the Keep and in the countryside, some of the same villains at play in the Mace’s world are inciting ever-escalating class conflict. Princess Elyssa must decide if she should align herself with her mother the Queen, or join the socialist rebellion group Blue Horizon, which has captured her heart. As the people rioting across the countryside decide Elyssa holds the key to the Kingdom’s future, she is running out of time to make her choice–and to outrun those who hope to make it for her.

When the Mace must leave the Creche for the first time in his life, his own fate intertwines with the prophecy of the princess and the battles of country peasants uniting in mutiny, and everything changes. The hope that Elyssa represented may be snuffed out by dark magic, and the Mace finds himself called into the service of something bigger than himself — a fight for a better world.

My review: I’ve always loved the Mace, and this new book from Erika Johansen – a prequel to her Tearling trilogy set in the period just before Queen Kelsea’s birth – gives us his origin story, from a childhood in the Creche to years in the ring as a child fighter and then his introduction to the Queen’s Guard. At the same time, we get to see Kelsea’s mother’s descent into madness, and all the evil machinations of the high-born classes and the desperation of those forced to live below them.

In her author’s note, Johansen makes it clear she is making a political statement about the haves and have-nots, and many times I appreciated when she made a sly dig at the recent US political turmoil.

As with the other books in the series, I must state that, although categorised as YA fiction, the subject matter really isn’t for children or for the fainthearted. Paedophilia and rape are ongoing themes, and there are some very gory, stomach-churning descriptions. Scenes in the Creche just broke my heart and I could picture them clearly because of Johansen’s amazing writing.

Many fans were upset at the ending of the third Tearling book, but with this prequel I see an exciting new beginning and very much hope we will see more from the time of Kelsea’s childhood.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 4/5

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Wicked Heart (Starcrossed, book 3), by Leisa Rayven

Format: e-ARC, 320 pages

Publisher: St Martin’s Press

Published: 17 May 2016

ISBN: 9781250065988

Genre: Romance

Back cover blurb: Liam Quinn is talented, gorgeous, and one of the biggest movie stars in the world.

He’s also the only man Elissa Holt has ever truly loved.

After being out of her life for six years, he and his gorgeous fiancé are set to star in the new Broadway show Elissa is stage managing. The only trouble is, when late night rehearsals bring Elissa and Liam together, the line between what is and what could have been gets blurred, and one moment of weakness will lead to a scandal that echoes around the world.

Elissa knows that falling for Liam again would be a tragedy in the making, but as any good romantic will tell you, love doesn’t always follow the script.

My review: It took me ages to get around to this one, and that was before I even realised it contained one of my least favourite tropes. The writing was fine and I have certainly enjoyed Rayven’s work in the past, but I could see where this was going from a mile off, and it didn’t hold my attention as much as it perhaps once would have.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 4/5

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The One for You, by Roni Loren

Format: e-ARC, 352 pages

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Published: 31 December 2019

ISBN: 9781492693192

Genre: Romance

Back cover blurb: The highly-anticipated fourth book in Roni Loren’s unforgettable The Ones Who Got Away series.

She got a second chance at life.
Will she take a second chance at love?

Kincaid Breslin wasn’t supposed to survive that fateful night at Long Acre when so many died, including her boyfriend—but survive she did. She doesn’t know why she got that chance, but now she takes life by the horns and doesn’t let anybody stand in her way

Ashton Isaacs was her best friend when disaster struck all those years ago, but he chose to run as far away as he could. Now fate has brought him back to town, and Ash doesn’t know how to cope with his feelings for Kincaid and his grief over their lost friendship. For Ash has been carrying secrets, and he knows that once Kincaid learns the truth, he’ll lose any chance he might have had with the only woman he’s ever loved.

My review: I really enjoyed the first book in this series but have not as yet picked up the middle two books. That didn’t matter, though, as this could have been read as a stand-alone. Kincaid is great, but Ash stole my heart, and I especially loved that a bookshop and letters were central to their romance. There were plenty of laughs, too, to lighten a story based around survivors of a school shooting. I will definitely be catching up on the two books in the series I haven’t read yet.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 5/5

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The Last Donut Shop of the Apocalypse, by Nina Post

Format: e-ARC, 216 pages

Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press

Published: 23 February 2017

ISBN: 9781620070963

Genre: Humor, Sci Fi & Fantasy

Back cover blurb: After narrowly preventing the last apocalypse, Kelly Driscoll finds herself with an unlikely day job. She’s the interim manager of Amenity Tower, one of the few buildings still left standing in the rubble of Pothole City. But after answering a mysterious phone call, she signs up for a new mission that’s a perfect match for her skills: locating the missing president of the famed Cluck Snack brand.

As Kelly quickly learns, the missing executive is only the beginning of Pothole City’s problems. The city’s leading donut shops — run by two very different Gorgon monster siblings — are engaged in a bitter territorial dispute. Plus, the residents of Kelly’s building have hatched a new plot to kill the beloved single-purpose angels and set the stage for another apocalypse.

Teaming up again with her allies from the first book — including Af the Angel of Destruction, Stringfellow the ferret, and Tubiel and the other single-purpose angels — Kelly is up for the challenge. But can she rescue the missing president and restore peace between the donut shops before Pothole City is destroyed yet again?

My review: Netgalley recommended this to me, and since the title mentioned donuts, I was in. However, I had a problem right from the outset since I hadn’t read the first in the series and had no idea what was going on. This is a very weird story, and clearly all the world-building took place in the first book because no time is spent here explaining what has already occurred. I no doubt would have liked it more if I’d been reading the series in order, but I’m not intrigued enough to want to go back and find book 1. Not for me.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 1/5

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A Lie for a Lie (All In, book 1), by Helena Hunting

Format: e-ARC, 285 pages

Publisher: Montlake Romance

Published: 15 October 2019

ISBN: 9781542015356

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Romance

Back cover blurb: From the New York Times bestselling author of the Pucked series comes a romantic comedy about instant attraction, second chances, and not-so-little white lies.

Sometimes I need an escape from the demands, the puck bunnies, and the notoriety that come with being an NHL team captain. I just want to be a normal guy for a few weeks. So when I leave Chicago for some peace and quiet, the last thing I expect is for a gorgeous woman to literally fall into my lap on a flight to Alaska. Even better, she has absolutely no idea who I am.

Lainey is the perfect escape from my life. My plan for seclusion becomes a month-long sex fest punctuated with domestic bliss. But it ends just as abruptly as it began. When I’m called away on a family emergency, I realize too late that I have no way to contact Lainey.

A year later, a chance encounter throws Lainey and me together again. But I still have a lie hanging over my head, and Lainey’s keeping secrets of her own. With more than lust at stake, the truth may be our game changer.

My review: I didn’t think much of Rookie in the Pucked series, particularly in Lance’s book, but I immediately changed my view after only a few pages of Helena Hunting’s latest book and first in a new spinoff series. He was a wonderful hero and had obviously matured in the intervening period. Lainey was a good heroine but I couldn’t help feeling her lie was much bigger than his, tipping the balance in his favour for my sympathies. Thankfully, there was no contrived external conflict to break these two up in the latter part of the story. However, as other reviewers have stated, this book is not exactly what the blurb describes, and if you don’t like the trope – and I’m not a fan – you may feel blindsided. Still, I couldn’t put this down and will definitely be reading the rest of the series.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 5/5

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Shadow of the Fox, by Julie Kagawa

Format: e-ARC, 416 pages

Publisher: Harlequin Australia, HQ YA

Published: September 23, 2018

ISBN: 9781489267368

Genre: Sci Fi & Fantasy, Teens & YA

Back cover blurb: One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish—and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos.

Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn.

Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half kitsune, half human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief. Until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll.

There are many who would claim the dragon’s wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll…at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival. But he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart.

With an army of demons at her heels and the unlikeliest of allies at her side, Yumeko’s secrets are more than a matter of life or death. They are the key to the fate of the world itself.

My review: Julie Kagawa has been a bit of a hit-or-miss author for me, but I was keen to try her take on Japanese mythology after enjoying the Talon series. The prologue was incredible, but as things went on, and each chapter became more like “the journey continues…oh, and here’s another new demon to fight” without really progressing the plot with the scroll, I began to wonder why I was continuing. There is a slow-burn romance brewing, but I’m not sure I’m keen enough to bother with book two to find out if it eventuates. The ending did redeem the middle 300 pages, especially the very last scene, so I’m glad I persevered. If only there had been more Suki and Lady Satomi throughout.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 2.5/5

 

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Consumed, by J.R. Ward

Format: e-ARC, 416 pages

Publisher: Hachette Australia, Piatkus

Published: October 2, 2018

ISBN: 9780349420622

Genre: Romance

Back cover blurb: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the popular Black Dagger Brotherhood series comes a brand-new novel about arson investigator, Anne Ashburn, who is consumed by her troubled past, her family’s scorched legacy, and her current case: chasing a deadly killer.

Anne Ashburn is a woman consumed…

By her bitter family legacy, by her scorched career as a firefighter, by her obsession with department bad-boy Danny McGuire, and by a new case that pits her against a fiery killer.

Strong-willed Anne was fearless and loved the thrill of fighting fires, pushing herself to be the best. But when one risky decision at a warehouse fire changes her life forever, Anne must reinvent not only her job, but her whole self.

Shattered and demoralized, Anne finds her new career as an arson investigator a pale substitute for the adrenaline-fueled life she left behind. She doesn’t believe she will ever feel that same all-consuming passion for her job again–until she encounters a string of suspicious fires setting her beloved city ablaze.

Danny McGuire is a premiere fireman, best in the county, but in the midst of a personal meltdown. Danny is taking risks like never before and seems to have a death wish until he teams up with Anne to find the fire starter. But Danny may be more than a distraction, and as Anne narrows in on her target, the arsonist begins to target her.

From the creator of the bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood, get ready for a new band of brothers. And a firestorm.

My review: Ward’s new series starts out okay, but with such an unlikeable heroine at its centre it was a bit of a slog to get through this first book.

Had it not been for the fact I read the prequel novellas I would find it difficult to see what Danny saw in Anne. She was very unsympathetic, and I had a hard time with her choosing to take the word of an acquaintance over Danny. She was pretty tough on her mother, too. Anne’s brother was horrible, and I also had a big problem with the idea that a fire chief could be in his thirties. Only Danny was great, and his buddies seem good guys – so far, so like the BDB. It seems Ward can write heroes really well but the women she has trouble with.

In fact, the more Ward I read, the more I am convinced she’s not a great writer. Her style is full of clichés and “gangsta lite” – instead of saying Danny lit a cigarette, Ward writes that he “got his smoke on.” Ugh. Tighter editing and removal of some of the clichés could have made this a much pacier, more enjoyable read.

I’ll probably continue with the series, but only because I know the heroes will probably be worth it.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 3.5/5

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Flame in the Mist, by Renee Ahdieh

Format: e-ARC, 400 pages

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Published: 16 May 2016

ISBN: 9781473657977

Genre: Teens & YA

Back cover blurb: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn, comes a sweeping, action-packed YA adventure set against the backdrop of Feudal Japan.

Mariko has always known that being a woman means she’s not in control of her own fate. But Mariko is the daughter of a prominent samurai and a cunning alchemist in her own right, and she refuses to be ignored. When she is ambushed by a group of bandits known as the Black Clan enroute to a political marriage to Minamoto Raiden – the emperor’s son – Mariko realises she has two choices: she can wait to be rescued… or she can take matters into her own hands, hunt down the clan and find the person who wants her dead.

Disguising herself as a peasant boy, Mariko infiltrates the Black Clan’s hideout and befriends their leader, the rebel ronin Ranmaru, and his second-in-command, Okami. Ranmaru and Okami warm to Mariko, impressed by her intellect and ingenuity. But as Mariko gets closer to the Black Clan, she uncovers a dark history of secrets that will force her to question everything she’s ever known.

My review: Firstly, I loved that this was set in feudal Japan. Ninjas! Throwing stars! Tea ceremonies! Add to that a kickass heroine, swoony boys, and magical powers, and you have a great read. I agree with other reviewers who found the names a bit tricky to keep track of, especially since some characters had multiple names, but other than that I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading the sequel. This was my first Renee Ahdieh book and I will certainly be reading her other works now.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 4/5

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