The Dark King by Gina L. Maxwell REVIEW

 

The Dark King by Gina L. Maxwell

3.78 out of 5 Stars

 

The Dark King is described on the cover as being, "Neon Gods meets Fifty Shades . . . Deliciously dark and sexy!" -- #1 NYT Bestselling Author Helen Hardt. Bryn Meara is sent a promotional offer to stay at the most high-end hotel and casino in Vegas which is owned by Caiden Verran, who is also the king of the Dark Fae. None of the early events that led Bryn to Vegas, or to her and Caiden's marriage, have been purely organic, and as Bryn and Caiden grow closer, they also realized that they have been thrown together by someone with ill intent toward the Dark Fae and Court. 

 

I really liked this book! It was a bit on the simple side, but sometimes, that's not too bad when the character development is really good, which is the case for this book. It's a little edgy, a little sexy, and a little sweet. For anyone looking for a romance book like this, which, I can definitely see the similarities to the romance books compared to in the blurb, definitely check out the full description on the back of the book or online to see if it sounds like something you'd be interested in. If so, I'd say go for it! The Dark King is the perfect romance novel escapism for a handful of hours.

Plot:

Beyond the scope of the romantic development between Bryn and Caiden, there is a legitimate plot about the politics of the fae world with actual stakes that are in addition to the longevity and health of the romantic relationship. We love to see it, but we really only started to see it until the middle of the book. The first half of the book, suspicious things took place, but the were more just oddities and didn't raise any suspense like the developments in the second half of the book. For the overall development of this story-line, I think I would have liked those earlier moments to be more ominous or sinister in tone instead of just curious so that this story-line had more room to grow and breathe properly. 

The romantic plot was spot on perfect. The development was gradual, with each character reaching their own mental internal progress about the relationship by reasonable increments, and together, they meshed really well without one overpowering the other at all times. 

Characters: 

I really liked all the characters, but, the dialogue was waaaaayyyyyy too cheesy at times, mostly in the beginning of the book, and damn near entirely with Bryn's dialogue. Everything else about the characters was fabulous, but why why why could the dialogue have not been solid at all times? It feels like cherry picking for flaws, because it really is, but the cheesiness was off the charts to where it took away from the book for me.

Writing:

This is definitely a book about the characters, and the author does an excellent job writing them. On the whole, I think the writing was nice and smooth, which is great, but nothing really about it stood out (excepting the dialogue moments mentioned above). The character development is great though, including for a handful of key minor characters. So if you love reading for the characters, this is definitely one of those books you'd enjoy. 

A nice little new romance! I think I came across this title from the online marketing, which looking back on it, may be a little exaggerated in tone compared to the actual book, but hey, I still found a copy of this book to read, so marketing did their job right. Definitely worth checking out if you are looking for a romance with this description!

Thanks for reading!

Book Blitz: In the Shadow of the Apennines by Kimberly Sullivan

 

In The Shadow of The Apennines
by Kimberly Sullivan

~ Book Blitz with Xpresso Book Tours~

Giveaway at the end!

 

Publication date: October 21st 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Historical, Women’s Fiction

An American divorcée. An Italian shepherdess. Separated by a century, united by common dreams.

The sleepy little Abruzzo mountain town of Marsicano seems about as far as Samantha can flee from her failed marriage and disastrous university career. Eager for a fresh start, Samantha begins to set down roots in her Italian mountain hideaway.

At first, the mountain retreat appears idyllic, but an outsider’s clumsy attempts at breaking into the closed mountain community are quickly thwarted when the residents discover Samantha’s snarky blog ridiculing the town and its inhabitants.

Increasingly isolated in her mountain cottage, Samantha discovers the letters and diaries of Elena, a past tenant and a survivor of the 1915 Pescina earthquake. Despite the century that separates the two women, Samantha feels increasingly drawn into Elena’s life, and discovers startling parallels with her own.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

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SNEAK PEEK:

Pescina, Italy

25 April 1914

Where do I begin? Mamma blames it all on Father Ignazio. She says if only he had left me to the chores I was employed to carry out at San Berardo and the parish house, my cooking and cleaning would be much improved, and I would not be constantly scribbling on any piece of paper I could find and begging for books to read.

She worries I will never find a husband.

“What man wants a wife who only cares about book learning, when she should be tending the goats, washing the clothes, and baking the bread?” Mamma warns me every day.

Mamma says no peasant girl should study beyond the first years of elementary school. Writing the letters to sign your name and computations for simple transactions are more than enough for a female in our region. She calls it getting above oneself. To mamma, this is the worst sin.

Of course, we weren’t always peasants. We used to have some money, back before papà lost his property. It was never much, but our lives were so much easier back then. My brothers and I even had a tutor to teach us to read and write and to know our history and literature. Those hours were the highlight of my day. My tutor was very pleased with me.

It was hard on us when we lost everything. Only mamma said maybe it was for the best – at least for me. Now she could insist I concentrate on what was most important for girls.

I suppose I am lucky it was Father Ignazio who insisted I keep up with my learning. Mamma may often speak her mind, but she will never argue with our parish priest. She respects him too much, and she worries about punishment in the afterlife if she talks back to a priest. So mamma, who is quick to speak her mind on every occasion, bites her tongue until she draws blood whenever Father Ignazio praises my learning to her.

Papà is proud of my reading and writing. He is the one who bought me this diary and the pen and ink for my birthday. Yes, I can hardly believe it, but today I am sixteen.

Mamma is probably right that a girl who reads and writes would scare off the local boys. Boys in Pescina mostly work the land like their fathers or tend the sheep. But even if I am now sixteen and townspeople consider me a woman, I still feel like a little girl.

All my friends talk about getting married, about preparing their wedding chest and living with their husbands. They make eyes at the boys returning with the sheep, the same boys we scrambled over the mountaintops with just a few years ago.

My friend Concetta even has a sweetheart. She always goes to the fountain to gather the water at the same hour so that she can meet Domenico on his way back to town after a day working in the fields.

Sometimes I see them together walking on the path back to town, the ruins of the castle watchtower above them in the distance. They look so happy in one another’s company, laughing and talking, finding excuses for their hands to brush together.

When Concetta and I are together, sewing or baking bread, she always seems to have a far-away look in her eyes, and I sense that she does not hear what I say, that her thoughts are only for Domenico now. Mamma says one day I’lll feel that way about a boy, too, but I wonder if I ever will.

Author Bio:

Kimberly grew up in the suburbs of Boston and in Saratoga Springs, New York, although she now calls the Harlem neighborhood of New York City home when she’s back in the US. She studied political science and history at Cornell University and earned her MBA, with a concentration in strategy and marketing, from Bocconi University in Milan.

Afflicted with a severe case of Wanderlust, she worked in journalism and government in the US, Czech Republic and Austria, before settling down in Rome, where she works in international development, and writes fiction any chance she gets.

She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA) and The Historical Novel Society and has published several short stories and three novels: Three Coins, Dark Blue Waves and In The Shadow of The Apennines.

After years spent living in Italy with her Italian husband and sons, she’s fluent in speaking with her hands, and she loves setting her stories in her beautiful, adoptive country.

Website / Goodreads / Instagram / Bookbub / Twitter

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Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

Anatomy: A Love Story

 

by Dana Schwartz

3.50 out of 5 Stars

 

***Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review***

 

Anatomy is a gothic historical fiction set in 1817 Edinburgh following Hazel as she seeks to find her way to becoming a surgeon. To get the practical education she needs with cadavers, she works with resurrection man Jack to dig up corpses despite the odd disappearances happening in the city and the return of the Roman Fever.  

Given the premise, I really wanted to love this book. I wanted to love this book so badly. It seemed so wonderfully gothic and perfectly set up to be a creepy ambiance to get me ready for Halloween. But instead, while I enjoyed it, it just didn't deliver in some important ways. Although, this is 1000% a book to buy if you are looking for an aesthetic bookshelf -- I mean, just look at that gorgeousness of a book cover.

Plot: 

I loved the plot and the setting of the story. I don't know how much of Edinburgh specifically was really coming through the pages, so much as general Great Britain vibes, but the time period and the medical understandings for that period were fantastic. It is the perfect opportunity to have a very earnest desire to believe these fantastical beliefs about science -- things that we know today to be wrong, but back then were illusions that could reach tangibility if you could figure it out. Using this foundation, I also loved the story of a young woman trying to become a physician or surgeon. That aspect of the story never once wavered, and I think it was developed wonderfully. We see the build to finding education, the obstacles that organically are put in her path, and how she creatively carves her own way to achieving what she wants. It was excellent. 

Characters: 

Hazel -- Hazel is a rich girl, but incredibly intelligent not just naturally, but through constant and consistent self-education, which I think was a great aspect to her character. We find out how she used to sneak into her dad's study past bedtime to read medical text books, and that tenacity in her pursuant of knowledge is exemplified in her actions throughout the course of the story. She's a bit single-minded when it comes to becoming a physician, but I think that's just par for the course for her. I wouldn't expect anything else, and I think her character was well-developed.

 

Jack -- No idea who Jack was. There are the basic facts about where he comes from, what drives his actions, and what he looks like, but there weren't enough nuances about personality quirks, deeply emotional reveals, or otherwise extended development of his character. Overall, he was kind of just there to serve a purpose to Hazel? Which, if this were a story solely about Hazel, I would still not like it, but I wouldn't mind it as much. As it is, there is a romance between them, and it just feels like Jack is underdeveloped.

Writing: 

Sadly, this is where I think I struggled with the book. The writing overall wasn't bad, but it also was difficult to get through at times because it felt choppy. It wasn't a smooth reading experience. There were moments when the language was flowing really nicely, but it was inconsistent. Because of the evidence that there can be really good passages of writing, I don't know how the book as a whole came to have those choppy parts in them, but it makes me wonder what the entire writing process looked like for the author.

 

Also, I don't think there was any need for there to be actual fantastical elements to this story. Like, at all. This is my biggest pet peeve with the book and why I only gave it three stars on Goodreads. The fantasy piece was so minimally there, that it was a huge distraction when it came up. This should have remained a historical fiction and that's it. I'm not even going to add a "fantasy" label to this review. Like I said earlier, the great thing about this time period is that science and medicine was still so unknown and exciting it already felt fantastical. To try to mix in actual fantasy with that felt so out of place. I don't think it's impossible to fantasy books written in this time period, but I think the presence of fantasy needed to be much, much stronger in order for it to be properly incorporated into the story.

 

Thanks for reading!

The Complete Language of Food by S. Theresa Dietz REVIEW

The Complete Language of Food by S. Theresa Dietz

3.93 out of 5 Stars

 

***Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group -- Wellfeet Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review***

 

Goodreads Description: Awaken both your inner foodie and your inner yogi as you journey into the consciousness of everyday foods, from their origins in myth to modern interpretations today. 

 

This was a really kinda cool book to check out! It is a very well organized series of quick facts about a very wide variety of herbs and plants with a handful of other guides about foods in dreams at the end. I was expecting some more illustration ~pages~ based on the description, but the ones that were there I thought were gorgeous, and I loved the style of art alongside each plant.

I think what I liked most about the book was that it was incredibly organized. It is indexed and cross-referenced, so you have the ability to look things up by scientific name, common name, or the spiritual property you are looking for. I think without this, I would have thought the book was a lump of dense material that would be impossible to navigate. But, because of how organized it is, it is so very easy to use, which is wonderful.

In terms of what is slightly off about this book for me is that I can't tell who the exact audience is. I imagine if someone wanted to use the book as a legitimate guide as to how these plants are used, there would need to be a little more information for each plant. For example, if plant is denoted as to having medicinal purposes, there could have been some guidance as to how to use said plant for the medicinal purposes. Yet, if it is meant to be more of a coffee table book, I would think there needs to be more pictures and less information. As it is, the book is sort of straddling those two audiences. 

Who would like this book ...  Honestly, I think there's a good amount of people who would like this book. Anyone who is a deeply immersed foodie, people interested in wellness and spiritual connections, people looking to fill out their collection of kitchen books, those who want an interesting centerpiece -- I imagine with enough creativity you could even get this book to mesh into some sort of seasonal decoration. It's pretty cool, and I definitely thought it was interesting. Plus, it looks like it's part of a series, alongside The Complete Language of Flowers, The Complete Language of Herbs, and The Complete Language of Trees  (exp. pub. 2023). So if you really want to get a whole set like this or gift someone a set like this, you could.

Thanks for reading!

The North Wind by Alexandria Warwick REVIEW

The North Wind by Alexandria Warwick

3.88 out of 5 Stars

 

***Thank you to Andromeda Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review***

 

From Goodreads: Lush. Dark. Romantic. Introducing a newly reimagined tale written in the vein of Beauty and the Beast and Hades and Persephone. 

 

Honestly, that description is accurate. (Although, I think "written in the vein of" is a syntax sin -- "along the lines of" would be more accurate.) The North Wind is a the kind of story you want to be reading when the weather first starts to turn or snow is right about to fall. The atmosphere of this book is insanely strong: dark, cold, brisk. Because of that, it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but hey, to each there own and personally, I love an atmosphere like this. Besides the atmosphere, I think the mash-up description of Beauty and the Beast and Hades and Persephone is a dead on description that was followed through well. 

 

The biggest advice I would give anyone reading this or to anyone considering reading this is that it is not a smut book. So if that's what you're looking for, walk away. There are some new adult scenes mixed in, but this is not high up on the graphic scale of romance books if that makes any sense. I think I'm just throwing that out there because I have seen reviews about the lack of romance or that this is a boring book, and I worry that those people went into this book with the wrong expectations and therefore have given it a bad review. And I just don't think that's fair, because it is a fantasy romance book, and I think it's a pretty damn good one at that.

Plot:

I would say that there were two primary plots in this book: the love story and the issues with the Shade. To the first plot, I don't really have any issues with it. It moves at a pace as needed given the characters, which admittedly is a bit slow. However, I think the root cause is more related to the irritations I have with the characters rather than the development of that plot line. Before the love plotline can be sped up a bit, the characters had to be different or developed faster. So because of that, I actually think the progression of the love plotline is fine. 

 

The plotline with the Shade is only fine. This is where the real interest of the story laid for me because it was the point that made this book unique to any other retellings of Beauty and the Beast/Hades and Persephone. But I think proportionally this plotline not only didn't progress fast enough, but that we didn't see as much of it. I would have loved to have dug into the history of the Shade more, maybe hear some odds and ends tragedies or adventures that the Shade has as its legacy, but the plotline was borderline only a tool to progress the love story plotline, and I just wish it had more opportunity to shine because I thought it was good and I wanted more of it.

Characters:

Wren -- I'm all for an unenjoyable main character, but this was just a step too far for just a bit too long. Her hypocrisy in calling out Boreas for being narrow-minded, and yet never herself trying to understand his motives and accept truths contrary to her beliefs, drove me up the wall. Maybe this is just some sort of pet peeve of mine so it was extra grating, but I really didn't like that. The alcoholism lasted for a bit too long I think, but ultimately, it was addressed and corrected. Likewise, her bullheadedness was also grown out of later on in the book, but I just wish these things happened a little sooner.

 

Boreas -- Very similar to Wren, the traits about him that I didn't like and the development of his character just all needed to be addressed a bit earlier in my opinion. I like the stoicism that he presents. It is a solid characteristic that not only was easy to grasp onto, but heightened the atmosphere of the book. But after awhile, that stoicism led to, not distance, but detachment, which I don't think is ever desired for a book character. Once we dipped into the second half of the book, that's where we got to see more of his background, see more of what he does, and learn about his emotional reactions to things. It just took so long to get there.

 

There are several other sides characters that tended to be a bit predictable, but overall served their purposes and were well written. Nobody else really stood out though. I think there's room for growth, certainly, which will be exciting to see in the second book (**cough clearly Zephyrus given book 2's name cough**) but for the most part, the story centered on Wren and Boreas, which I think is okay for this story.

Writing: 

My biggest complaint of this book is that the first half of it seemed to drag on for far too long, when then as you can tell affects everything. Everything from plotline progression to character development to world building really started to pick up steam only in the second half of the book. Timing seemed to be the biggest flaw when thinking about the book as a whole. Despite the pacing being off, the writing was good. Different character expressions and emotions were well-captured. The description of the world and the matching tonal quality of the writing was very good. And when there was a critical scene, my attention was grabbed for the duration of that scene.

Final word of the day is that I would recommend this book to friends. I feel like I just ragged on it for the entirety of this review, but I don't want people to take away that it is a bad book. On the contrary; it's got some interesting designs to it, is good for a nice break from reality without having to mentally work hard, and is a sweet little fix for anyone craving a Beauty and the Beast/Hades and Persephone hit. Maybe just don't read this in the summer, given how chilly the atmosphere is, but overall, The North Wind was good and I want to read the second book. 

Thanks for reading!

Twist by Martha Collison REVIEW

Twist: Creative Ideas to Reinvent Your Baking by Martha Collison

4.32 out of 5 Stars

 

A Note: I am not a professional chef or baker. I am just the average Plain Jane everyday sort of gal in the kitchen.

 

Welcome to my first review of a cookbook! Buckle in, we don't know what we're doing, it's going to be a great time. I'm going to give this some structure as seen with the three headings below, but in all seriousness, this is my first time trying to review a cookbook, so it may go wrong or there may be something people are looking for that they may not find here. (If so, please let me know what so that I can add it in the future!) I actually read quite a lot of cookbooks and love trying them out. This is just the first time I'm reviewing one because I want to try to grow as a reviewer. And the reason I'm reviewing this one is because I love love love the Great British Bake Off, and Martha's book was the first cookbook that I went out and bought to try the recipes. 

Overall, I adore this cookbook. There are stains and sticky spots all over my copy from how often I've used it, and it is one I regularly check whenever I need a basic recipe for something really common, like a chocolate cake or a simple cookie. I would 100% recommend this book to people as a great basic recipes book, as well as learning how to take something basic and expand on it.

Difficulty:

In my opinion, the recipes weren't too hard to follow. There were a couple of techniques, particularly when it came to handling the sugars and gelatin, that were more challenging to me. But, I think that was more so because I just didn't have the experience at that point, not because it was described poorly. Also, I was definitely not used to the metric measurements. Everything I had been using up to this point were solely American cups, tablespoons, etc. I had to go out and buy a cooking scale because I just had never needed one before and I got sick of trying to convert everything from one measurement system to the next.

Originality:

I really loved how the recipes were simple, basic things, but then there were different ways your could vary them, or "twist" the recipe to make it your own. It makes the recipes much more versatile and multi-purposeful, so each recipe will be more than just a one time creation that is repeated over and over and over again. You can mix it up, and Martha guides you on how to do that while still achieving good results.

Favorite Dish:  

Martha's Lemon and Earl Grey Tea Cakes

Oh my god, this is probably one of my new favorite desserts of all time!!! Especially with the earl grey marshmallow topping, the whole thing was just so perfectly sweet without being overly sugary. It's also a flavor profile that I am just not used to seeing or encountering in my day to day life, so the novelty of it is fun and heightens the enjoyment of this dish. Working with the gelatin in the marshmallow was completely new to me too, but it worked! And I am so glad it worked because it was the best part of the whole thing!

Thanks for reading!

Original Sin by Lydia Michaels REVIEW

 Original Sin by Lydia Michaels

1.48 out of 5 Stars 

 

***Thank you to Bailey Brown Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review***

In full transparency, I DNF'd this book at 45%. Please keep that in mind when reading this review in case you have a different opinion or are looking to use this review as advice as to whether or not to read this book. For me, it was not my vibe, by really any means. And normally I don't DNF books, even if I don't like them, but there were some persistent themes in this book that I was straight up not comfortable with and I could not see them turning any corners to better (read, "healthier") portrayals by the time I put the book down. I'll get into those problematic themes a little further down, but ultimately, I just don't think this book was the right fit for me.

PLOT

The premise of the story is a vampiric soulmate connection that, when realized within the vampire character, needs to be sought out in order for them to not lose their minds. One of our leads, Adam is vampire, who gets such a call for the other main character, Anna, and a steamy romance ensues. I was very intrigued by this premise because the connection needing to be affirmed in order for the character to survive was so interesting and enticing when wrapped up in a romance novel. However....

The themes I had trouble with overrode any excitement I had about the premise of the plot. Adam is a "gentleman" and won't force himself on Anna, but at the same time, he legitimately kidnaps her, constantly takes away her free will, forces her to completely change her way of life and self-expression, and views his relationship with her as "his right." Many things wrong here. Many, many things, which significantly lowered the rating for me because I just could never in a million years be comfortable recommending such content to someone. To do so would be essentially an endorsement that behaviour such as Adam's and the relationship Adam and Anna fall into is okay and healthy, when it really is not. 

I was waiting for these toxic possessive edges and forceful removals of identity to be recognized and to have those attitudes (as expressed by Adam and his family) corrected. But by 45%, they hadn't started to change at all, and if anything, the attitude of "his right" and "it's necessary for survival" were becoming more ingrained, and I couldn't stand it anymore, so I stopped reading. Really sad, because I think the premise of a soulmate connection having such a strong impact on a person is a great one, but this was so bogged down by these horrible themes that I couldn't see a way out or a way to redeem it.

WRITING

What makes all of this so much sadder is that I actually liked the author's writing! I believe this may have been one of her earlier books, so there is no way I am writing off this author. Her style, while not high-brow literary, had that captivating edge to it that I love. It's the kind of writing that will draw you in and before you realize it you're up past midnight. Excellent writing, I just wish the execution of the story had been vastly different. 

 

So in the end, I can't recommend this book because of its thematic issues. However, I am open to reading more from this author and seeing what else she has created!

Thanks for reading!