Review: Red, White & Royal Blue

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was AWESOME. Seriously, I loved every minute of it. It was light-hearted, but still felt like it had high stakes. It was political, but not so much that it was depressing or overbearing. It was almost fairy-tale-esque romance, but not so much so that it didn't feel deep or true or powerful. It was realistic in ways that, unless you've gone through coming out and hiding love, you just wouldn't understand the depth of the realism.

Set in a world where the hateful didn't win 2016, it's a world of hope, and Alex and Henry are a breath of fresh air. It honestly makes me want a dreamy prince of my own... but to be fair, I've been told I look a lot like Prince Harry, so it might be awkward to marry a doppleganger prince... and he's taken now anyways. *sigh*

I adored this book and highly recommend it. Five stars.


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Review: Storm Cursed

Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Ace/DAW for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

First, let me get this out of the way: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGWOW. Okay. Phew, that's all said and done.

Patty, you've outdone yourself. What a rollercoaster! Bringing back the vampires, throwing in a bunch of dark witches, tying a bunch of storylines together and revealing that you've got a much more devious master-plan kind of mind than we've realized before... game officially upped!

This one starts with all of the craziness that happened in Europe still fresh on everyone's mind. Lots of little things start to happen that seem to indicate something bigger is going on, and someone is playing with Mercy and the pack because of their declaration over the Tri-Cities area. Meanwhile, you've got the Fae and the government trying to work out a deal/peace between everybody, and of course, Mercy and the gang are all wrapped up in that too. Nothing like having a bunch on your plate, right? At least the stakes are super low, right? Oh wait, no, just the fates of humanity and Fae and everything in between on the line. Lots of pressure, check.

I can't really say much more without spoiling a ton, but let's just say it had everything I've been wanting from an urban fantasy book lately - humor, witches, werewolves, fae, plot twists - and also included things I had no idea I needed - like zombie Nigerian dwarf goats. Yep, turns out those are a necessity. :)

Highly recommended (and as always, I definitely suggest reading the entirety of the Mercyverse beforehand - both Mercy's books and the Alpha & Omega series).

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Review: Dark Shores

Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!!!

Wow, what a ride! I *loved* this book. I didn't expect to love it, but I did. I expected the romance to be typical YA, which it had hints of, but seemed to be a little more realistic in my opinion. I expected the characters to be all tropy, which for the most part, they weren't (and where they were, the author really tried to flip the tropes upside down). I expected the stakes to be lower in the first book, since we knew already that it was going to be a series. Nope, they were pretty high.

Overall, I was impressed at how this book wowed me, because I just really didn't think I'd love it going in. I loved the main characters, but the secondary ones really won me over. The world was awesome - I loved the magic and the gods and the god-marked... I want more of that in the next books!

One downside to loving this one so much? Now I have to wait forever for book two! *sighs heavily*

Highly recommended.

PS- While the main female character and her nation are labeled pirates, they're really just swashbuckling traders that sometimes trade contraband. They don't rape, pillage, steal, kill, etc. They do drink and gamble though. Just a heads up for those going in with the OMG PIRATE GIRL mindset so they don't get their hopes dashed.

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Review: Little Darlings

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is difficult to review, probably because it was so hard to read. Not because it wasn't well written, mind you, in fact the opposite is true. It's fantastic... but it's difficult because of the awful nature of events. I think it was mostly supposed to be a quasi-urban-fantasy-sci-fi-thriller-mystery-with-a-twist amalgamation, but it was also psychologically a little bit in the horror genre as it explores many people's deep-rooted fears - children being kidnapped, not being believed and everything thinking you're crazy, being locked up and medicated in an institution, creatures that are coming after you, etc.

Honestly, this book was super compelling, hard to put down, and successful in what it attempts to do - get in your head, stir up your mental pot, and set things a-boiling.

I don't want to spoil too much, so I can't really go into too much more detail, but I also feel like this book could be an exploration of post-partum as well. As someone who can't and will never experience that difficulties of childbirth and postpartum, I can't speak much on the subject or whether this is the author's intention.

But I will say this much. #notteamPatrick
___
This book was hard and powerful and devastating and intriguing.

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Review: Hope for the Best

Hope for the Best by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I. LOVE. THIS. SERIES.

AND. PUTTING. PERIODS. RANDOMLY. FOR. EMPHASIS.

AND. MADELEINE. MAXWELL.

Huh, that makes me feel like A.I.D.A.N.

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