Mythology is a long-time love of mine, especially when it collides with history. Add in a Gilded Age backdrop, and I’m already halfway to devotion. So when I read the description of The Gods Time Forgot—a historical romantasy where Irish mythology entwines with turn-of-the-century Manhattan—I had high hopes. I finished it deflated. What begins with…
A monsoon is moving in while Prince Alaric, the Night Emperor’s son, and Talasyn, his new bride, frantically try to merge their magic to protect their world from an advancing enemy. This fantasy romance, set in Southeast Asia, is the second book in The Hurricane Wars series. I liked A Monsoon Rising even better than…
Author Ann Liang tackles the conflict between the Yue and Wu nations in A Song To Drown Rivers, a retelling of the legend of Xi Shi, who is one of the Four Beauties of Ancient China. Like most legends, there are multiple iterations of the tale, with this book mostly sticking to the basic story…
If I had to describe Freya Marske’s latest novel, Swordcrossed, in one word it would be, I’m afraid, ‘disappointing’. Having really enjoyed her Edwardian-set The Last Binding trilogy I was looking forward to this standalone fantasy romance that promised secrets and intrigue and swordplay, and that gorgeous cover spoke to me of swashbuckling and adventure….
I’m a lifelong fan of paranormal, sci-fi and thrillers in television and movies, and I’m your go-to-girl for romantic suspense in literature, but I’m not very well versed in the fantasy genre. Yet, over the last year or so, I find my interests are inadvertently broadening to include it. I followed Lore Olympus from its…
I really enjoyed this first title in Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes young adult fantasy series. While it offers many of the tropes familiar to a fantasy, it puts a unique spin on them and creates something more compelling than so many others in this genre. Five hundred years ago, the Empire was…
The back blurb for Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop says it is “Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic.” That is pretty much a perfect descriptor, since this charming novel is a lovely, magic-infused delight. Kiela and her sentient spider plant friend/assistant, Caz, have spent the past…
Holy cow did I love this book! I don’t know if I’ve ever laughed so much while reading the way I did with A.K. Caggiano’s Throne In the Dark, the first in her Villains and Virtues series. Damien Maleficus Bloodthorne is evil. He’s the son of a demon, and he’s a blood mage, and he…
Amber Chen’s Of Jade and Dragons is the sort of novel I would have loved back when I was fourteen. At its best, it’s a YA Mulan with delightful worldbuilding and a compelling mystery to be solved, but at its worst… well, we’ll get into that. Eighteen-year-old Aihui Ying is the oldest daughter of an…
I knew by page two that I would struggle to get through Anacostia Miller’s The Last Leviathan, what appears to be the unfortunate first entry into a series I can only hope is short. Because holy cow, the writing is… rough. So rough. And sadly, nothing else about the book comes close to making up…
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