Interview with Author Janella Angeles

The Spectacular Show that is...

Where Dreams Descend:

An Interview with Janella Angeles

Janella Angeles's debut novel Where Dreams Descend is the sizzling start to a magical duology where the magicians are both celebrated and feared. Kallia enters a competition to become the next headliner at the Conquering Circus, but magicians keep disappearing and a darkness is attacking performers behind the scenes. I'll have a review for the book out later today, but for now, I am so excited to share this interview with you all! I am so happy that I got to ask Janella some questions about this wonderful debut of hers and I hope you enjoy reading it!

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1. Which scene would you describe to someone to capture their attention and convince them to read the book?

Oooh I would definitely describe Kallia’s audition scene. It was such a fun, exciting scene for me to write, as it perfectly establishes the kind of defiant contestant Kallia is going to be in this very rigid show—and also because that’s the point where our characters converge. In many ways, it feels like the official start to the show, and the start of another story within the story.


2. Are there any themes or motifs that you are especially hopeful readers pick up on or connect to?

One thing I would especially love readers to connect with is Kallia’s relentless ambition and perseverance in pursuing dreams and making them happen, but also learning to enjoy what makes the journey worthwhile. Kallia’s story in many ways mirrors my own publishing journey, where at times I had so much tunnel-vision just to get published. It wasn’t until I really started opening myself up to the community and friends and the fun of publishing that I felt like I found success. Not because it was concrete success, but because I now suddenly had a lot more as a writer than I did before—which is exactly the journey Kallia herself goes on.

 
3. The whole book is explosive and constantly gripping, even from the very beginning (one of my favorite things about it). How were you able to achieve this and were there any inspirations to start the book so fast-paced?

Thank you so much!! Weirdly enough, this book is the first one I’ve written with such a quick beginning. Usually I slog through beginnings, trying to get to know my main character and the world they live in because I don’t really understand them that well, yet. However, I just remember drafting in Kallia’s POV and she was demanding we get her where she wanted to be. You’d think the author has full control of the story, but sometimes a character will take the lead and you just hope you’re quick enough to follow!

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Where Dreams Descend is currently out and available!! Keep an eye out later today for my full review of the book! I have to give a HUGE thank you to Wednesday Books and Janella Angeles for letting me be a part of this blog tour and giving me this opportunity to ask questions about the book! I am so excited that everyone can now go read this book and become enthralled in this magical fantasy. :)

Thanks for reading!

My First Giveaway!!!

My First Giveaway!

Celebrating hitting 100+ subscribers!

Okay, I am SO excited for this... I'm hosting a giveaway!!!

I actually wanted to do this months ago, but my summer was so crazy that it just fell off my radar for awhile. But I wanted to celebrate hitting 100 subscribers on Bloglovin' and give back a little bit with a giveaway! I'm well past 100 subscribers now (HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU), but I still think I can celebrate. :)

Here is what I'm giving away:
 ONE person will get 6 BOOKS, listed below.

A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Illusionarium by Heather Dixon

Belleweather by Susanna Kearsley

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM TO ENTER :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for reading! (Fingers crossed this works!)

Excerpt from Lobizona by Romina Garber: Blog Tour

 

Excerpt from  

Lobizona by Romina Garber

Blog Tour

COMING AUGUST 4

I am so so so freakishly excited to be a part of this blog tour and share with you all today an excerpt from Romina Garber's Lobizona!!!! Using Argentinian folklore, Lobizona tells a fantastical story set in Miami where the main character finds herself uncovering truths about "myth" like lobizónes and brujas. This book comes out next week and I cannot wait for everyone to get the chance to read it! Without further ado. . .

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2

 

I awaken with a jolt.

It takes me a moment to register that I’ve been out for three days. I can tell by the well-rested feeling in my bones—I don’t sleep this well any other time of the month.

The first thing I’m aware of as I sit up  is an urgent need  to use the bathroom. My muscles are heavy from lack of use, and it takes some concentration to keep my steps light so I won’t wake Ma or Perla. I leave the lights off to avoid meeting my gaze in the mirror, and after tossing out my heavy-duty period pad and replacing it with a tampon, I tiptoe back to Ma’s and my room.

I’m always disoriented after lunaritis, so I feel separate from my waking life as I survey my teetering stacks of journals and used books, Ma’s yoga mat and collection of weights, and the posters on the wall of the planets and constellations I hope to visit one day.

After a moment, my shoulders slump in disappointment.This month has officially peaked.

I yank the bleach-stained blue sheets off the mattress and slide out the pillows from their cases, balling up the bedding to wash later. My body feels like a crumpled piece of paper that needs to be stretched, so I plant my feet together in the tiny area between the bed and the door, and I raise my hands and arch my back, lengthening my spine disc by disc. The pull on my tendons releases stored tension, and I exhale in relief.

Something tugs at my consciousness, an unresolved riddle that must have timed out when I surfaced . . . but the harder I focus, the quicker I forget. Swinging my head forward, I reach down to touch my toes and stretch my spine the other way—

My ears pop so hard, I gasp.

I stumble back to the mattress, and I cradle my head in my hands as a rush of noise invades my mind. The buzzing of a fly in the window blinds, the gunning of a car engine on the street below, the groaning of our building’s prehistoric elevator. Each sound is so crisp, it’s like a filter was just peeled back from my hearing.

My pulse picks up as I slide my hands away from my temples to trace the outlines of my ears. I think the top parts feel a little . . . pointier.

I ignore the tingling in my eardrums as I cut through the living room to the kitchen, and I fill a stained green bowl with cold water. Ma’s asleep on the turquoise couch because we don’t share our bed this time of the month. She says I thrash around too much in my drugged dreams.

I carefully shut the apartment door behind me as I step out into the building’s hallway, and I crack open our neighbor’s window to slide the bowl through. A black cat leaps over to lap up the drink.

“Hola, Mimitos,” I say, stroking his velvety head. Since we’re both confined to this building, I hear him meowing any time his owner, Fanny, forgets to feed him. I think she’s going senile.

“I’ll take you up with me later, after lunch. And I’ll bring you some turkey,” I add, shutting the window again quickly. I usually let him come with me, but I prefer to spend the mornings after lunaritis alone. Even if I’m no longer dreaming, I’m not awake either.

My heart is still beating unusually fast as I clamber up six flights of stairs. But I savor the burn of my sedentary muscles, and when at last I reach the highest point, I swing open the door to the rooftop.

It’s not quite morning yet, and the sky looks like blue- tinged steel. Surrounding me are balconies festooned with colorful clotheslines, broken-down properties with boarded- up windows, fuzzy-leaved palm trees reaching up from the pitted streets . . . and in the distance, the ground and sky blur where the Atlantic swallows the horizon.

El Retiro is a rundown apartment complex with all elderly residents—mostly Cuban, Colombian, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, and Argentine immigrants. There’s just one slow, loud elevator in the building, and since I’m the youngest person here, I never use it in case someone else needs it.

I came up here hoping for a breath of fresh air, but since it’s summertime, there’s no caress of a breeze to greet me. Just the suffocating embrace of Miami’s humidity.

Smothering me.

I close my eyes and take in deep gulps of musty oxygen, trying to push the dread down to where it can’t touch me. The way Perla taught me to do whenever I get anxious.

My metamorphosis started this year. I first felt something was different four full moons ago, when I no longer needed to squint to study the ground from up here. I simply opened my eyes to perfect vision.

The following month, my hair thickened so much that I had to buy bigger clips to pin it back. Next menstrual cycle came the growth spurt that left my jeans three inches too short, and last lunaritis I awoke with such a heightened sense of smell that I could sniff out what Ma and Perla had for dinner all three nights I was out.

It’s bad enough to feel the outside world pressing in on me, but now even my insides are spinning out of my control.

As Perla’s breathing exercises relax my thoughts, I begin  to feel the stirrings of my dreamworld calling me back. I slide onto the rooftop’s ledge and lie back along the warm cement, my body as stagnant as the stale air. A dragon-shaped cloud comes apart like cotton, and I let my gaze drift with Miami’s hypnotic sky, trying to call up the dream’s details before they fade . . .

What Ma and Perla don’t know about the Septis is they don’t simply sedate me for sixty hours—they transport me.

Every lunaritis, I visit the same nameless land of magic and mist and monsters. There’s the golden grass that ticks off time by turning silver as the day ages; the black-leafed trees that can cry up storms, their dewdrop tears rolling down their bark to form rivers; the colorful waterfalls that warn onlookers of oncoming danger; the hope-sucking Sombras that dwell in darkness and attach like parasitic shadows . . .

And the Citadel.

It’s a place I instinctively know I’m not allowed to go, yet I’m always trying to get to. Whenever I think I’m going to make it inside, I wake up with a start.

Picturing the black stone wall, I see the thorny ivy that twines across its surface like a nest of guardian snakes, slithering and bunching up wherever it senses a threat.

The sharper the image, the sleepier I feel, like I’m slowly sliding back into my dream, until I reach my hand out tentatively. If I could just move faster than the ivy, I could finally grip the opal doorknob before the thorns—

Howling breaks my reverie.

I blink, and the dream disappears as I spring to sitting and scour the battered buildings. For a moment, I’m sure I heard a wolf.

My spine locks at the sight of a far more dangerous threat: A cop car is careening in the distance, its lights flashing and siren wailing. Even though the black-and-white is still too far away to see me, I leap down from the ledge and take cover behind it, the old mantra running through my mind.

Don’t come here, don’t come here, don’t come here.

A familiar claustrophobia claws at my skin, an affliction forged of rage and shame and powerlessness that’s been my companion as long as I’ve been in this country. Ma tells me I should let her worry about this stuff and only concern myself with studying, so when our papers come through, I can take my GED and one day make it to NASA—but it’s impossible not to worry when I’m constantly having to hide.

My muscles don’t uncoil until the siren’s howling fades and the police are gone, but the morning’s spell of stillness has broken. A door slams, and I instinctively turn toward the pink building across the street that’s tattooed with territorial graffiti. Where the alternate version of me lives.

I call her Other Manu.

The first thing I ever noticed about her was her Argentine fútbol jersey: #10 Lionel Messi. Then I saw her face and realized we look a lot alike. I was reading Borges at the time, and it occurred to me that she and I could be the same person in overlapping parallel universes.

But it’s an older man and not Other Manu who lopes down the street. She wouldn’t be up this early on a Sunday anyway. I arch my back again, and thankfully this time, the only pop I hear is in my joints.

The sun’s golden glare is strong enough that I almost wish I had my sunglasses. But this rooftop is sacred to me because it’s the only place where Ma doesn’t make me wear them, since no one else comes up here.

I’m reaching for the stairwell door when I hear it.

Faint footsteps are growing louder, like someone’s racing up. My heart shoots into my throat, and I leap around the corner right as the door swings open.

The person who steps out is too light on their feet to be someone who lives here. No El Retiro resident could make it up the stairs that fast. I flatten myself against the wall.

“Creo que encontré algo, pero por ahora no quiero decir nada.”

Whenever Ma is upset with me, I have a habit of translating her words into English without processing them. I asked Perla about it to see if it’s a common bilingual thing, and she said it’s probably my way of keeping Ma’s anger at a distance; if I can deconstruct her words into language—something detached that can be studied and dissected—I can strip them of their charge.

As my anxiety kicks in, my mind goes into automatic translation mode: I think I found something, but I don’t want to say anything yet.

The woman or girl (it’s hard to tell her age) has a deep, throaty voice that’s sultry and soulful, yet her singsongy accent is unquestionably Argentine. Or Uruguayan. They sound similar.

My cheek is pressed to the wall as I make myself as flat as possible, in case she crosses my line of vision.

“Si tengo razón, me harán la capitana más joven en la his- toria de los Cazadores.”

If I’m right, they’ll make me the youngest captain in the history of the . . . Cazadores? That means hunters.

In my eight years living here, I’ve never seen another person on this rooftop. Curious, I edge closer, but I don’t dare peek around the corner. I want to see this stranger’s face, but not badly enough to let her see mine.

“¿El encuentro es ahora? Che, Nacho, ¿vos no me podrías cubrir?”

Is the meeting right now? Couldn’t you cover for me, Nacho?

The che and vos sound like Argentinespeak. What if it’s Other Manu?

The exciting possibility brings me a half step closer, and now my nose is inches from rounding the corner. Maybe I can sneak a peek without her noticing.

“Okay,” I hear her say, and her voice sounds like she’s just a few paces away.

I suck in a quick inhale, and before I can overthink it, I pop my head out—

And see the door swinging shut.

I scramble over and tug it open, desperate to spot even a hint of her hair, any clue at all to confirm it was Other Manu— but she’s already gone.

All that remains is a wisp of red smoke that vanishes with the swiftness of a morning cloud.

 

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In case you haven't heard enough to sway you to pick up the book yet, here's some more praise that this book has gotten!

“With vivid characters that take on a life of their own, beautiful details that peel back the curtain on Romina's Argentinian heritage, and cutting prose that shines a light on the difficulties of being the ‘other’ in America today, Romina Garber crafts a timely tale of identity and adventure that every teenager should read.”–Tomi Adeyemi New York Times bestselling author of Children of Blood and Bone

“Romina Garber has created an enthralling young adult fantasy led by an unforgettable Latinx character Manu. In Manu we find a young girl who not only must contend with the injustice of being undocumented she also discovers a hidden world that may explain her very existence. I fell in love with this world where wolves, witches and magic thrives, all in a rich Latinx setting!” –Lilliam Rivera, author of Dealing in Dreams and The Education of Margot Sanchez

Huge thank you to Wednesday Books for letting me be a part of this and to Romina Garber for writing such a wonderful story!

Thanks for reading!

Folklore (Taylor Swift) Inspired Reading List

f o l k l o r e

an album inspired reading list

hello!

i hope you are all doing well and enjoying the post-album release of taylor swift's folklore! if you were not aware, TS released a surprise album last friday and while it is pop, this is a much more mellow version of her music. i personally love the album and i think the tones and styles compliment her voice so well. it is a little softer for her music, but i still really love it! i wanted to do something to celebrate this magical sudden release, but i didn't really want to go into like an album review... although maybe that wouldn't be a bad idea because TS is so literary heavy in her lyrics. (below each song title are some of my favorite lyrics from that song.) but this is a reading list because (a) i would enjoy listening to the album all the way through again, and (b) i love putting together book lists.

some of these books i have read. others i have not (yet). but i'm going to do my best to match up songs with books and give you all a reading list that is fantastical, mythical, enchanting, and enrapturing. this is also has been the hardest list for me to put together. i think it may be in part that i just need to read more (*sigh of defeat*), but for the most part i think it's actually just that TS tells such vivid stories in her songs. to try to match those narratives with books creates a very narrow scope of possibilities. if anything, i could see a whole story unfold from listening to a song, and then realize that it was no story i had ever read before. it was really interesting and beautiful and frustrating all at once. so i just did my best. :) 

1. the 1
but we were something, don't you think so?
roaring twenties, tossing pennies in the pool
and if my wishes came true
it would've been you

the great gatsby by f. scott fitzgerald

the 1 is a hopelessly romantic pining love. and of course because there's a 

line about the roaring twenties, i wanted a book set around that period. gatsby 

and daisy... we'll always look to you for lessons about impossible love.

2. cardigan 
and when i felt like i was an old cardigan
under someone's bed
you put me on and said i was your favorite

 white hot kiss by jennifer l. armentrout

one of the current fan theories that i've seen online is that this one is one third 

of the "teenage love triangle" trilogy on the album. (cardigan = betty's perspective; 

august = inez's perspective; betty = james's perspective) so, taking that all in, i was 

looking for a love triangle series for these three songs. you'd think that'd be easy, but 

i realized i have read no books where the love triangle is two girls and a guy... 

that's weird right? anyway, so i gender flipped it to two guys and a girl and came 

up with the dark elements series. this makes cardigan roth's song, which is hysterical 

if you have read the book before because this song is not roth in personality at all. 

it just describes his role in the triangle.

3. the last great american dynasty
there goes the last great american dynasty
who knows, if she never showed up, what could've been
there goes the most shameless woman this town has ever seen
she had a marvelous time ruining everything

little fires everywhere by celeste ng

straight up- i haven't read this book yet. i can literally see my copy of it right 

now, but i have yet to read it or even watch the tv show. *shrugs shoulders* 

however, based on the synopsis and the show trailer, i think this book fits the song's 

idea about family trouble and chaos in home and the community. 

4. exile
we always walked a very thin line
you didn't even hear me out (didn't even hear me out)
you never gave a warning sign (i gave so many signs)

evertrue by brodi ashton

it was so hard for me to think of a book for this one because it is such a strong 

work of art that i couldn't think of anything to accurately match the song's narrative 

and tone. evertrue is my choice because it is the last book in the series and there 

is a 'break-up' that one of the characters is rocked by while the other is pretty 

confident about it. the whole series is great, but this last book has the events 

that i think match the song.

5. my tears ricochet
and if i'm dead to you, why are you at the wake?
cursing my name, wishing i stayed
look at how my tears ricochet

betrayal by gillian shields

this was one of the songs where i could literally see a story unfold behind my 

eyes, but then i couldn't think of any sort of book to match it. betrayal is, i 

think, the best bet here because the entire song is about betrayal and the hurt, 

pain, and anger that comes with that.

6. mirrorball
hush, i know they said the end is near
but i'm still on my tallest tiptoes
spinning in my highest heels, love
shining just for you

enchanted by heather dixon

to me, mirrorball was the most fairytale-esque song on the album and 

because there's so many references to dancing, what better match than a 

retelling of the twelve dancing princesses? enchanted has been one of my 

beloved books from early high school and i still think it is just as 

endearing as i did back then.

7. seven
your braids like a pattern
love you to the moon and to saturn
passed down like folk songs
the love lasts so long

little women by louisa may alcott 

such a heartwarming song, seven sweetly spins a story about childhood friendships. 

and for me, when i think childhood memories, friendships, loves, etc., i think of the 

moments i loved with my siblings. to honor that, little women is the book for seven 

because siblings and sisters are some of your best friends and help create the best memories. 

8. august 
and i can see us twisted in bedsheets
august sipped away like a bottle of wine
'cause you were never mine

stone cold touch by jennifer l. armentrout

part two of the love triangle trilogy, i believe august is about the other woman. 

going off the same series of books that i have from cardigan, zayne is "the other 

man" in this series. stone cold touch would definitely the book for this song 

then because it is the only book where he really gets to have a romantic relationship 

with layla. and this song is about inez's time with james.

9. this is me trying
they told me all of my cages were mental
so i got wasted like all my potential
and my words shoot to kill when i'm mad
i have a lot of regrets about that

heir of fire by sarah j. maas

this was maybe the easiest song to match a book to because everything about 

this song screamed aelin's mental and emotional journey through heir of fire. it's 

rough and emotional, really depressing and hard to read at times, but the 

understanding of aelin's attempt to grow in her personhood and the strength it 

takes to do that makes it so worth the read.

10. illicit affairs
and that's the thing about illicit affairs
and clandestine meetings and stolen stares
they show their truth one single time
but they lie and they lie and they lie
a billion little times

red, white & royal blue by casey mcquiston

the topic for this song was something that i thought would be easy to match a book 

with, but then i realized i haven't really read a whole lot of books where there's a 

secret romance or the like. red, white & royal blue though fits the bill perfectly. the 

book is about a secret romance between the prince of england and the president's son. 

there was a lot of hype about it back when it came out and honestly, it lives up to it.

11. invisible string
all along there was some
invisible string
tying you to me?

from blood and ash by jennifer l. armentrout (personal prediction)
crave by tracy wolff
empire of storms by sarah j. maas
a court of mist and fury by sarah j. maas
relentless by karen lynch
they both die at the end by adam silvera

lolololol so here lies my non-exhaustive list of books with mates/soulmates/etc. 

for those who are unaware, this is one of my all-time favourtie tropes. invisible 

string is strongly invoking that idea in my mind though and i love sharing books 

with this trope so it's a win-win!

12. mad woman
you made her like that
and you'll poke that bear 'til her claws come out
and you find something to wrap your noose around
and there's nothing like a mad woman

hamlet by william shakespeare

hamlet has one of the greatest "mad women" of all time literary history (imo). ophelia 

is a stunning character with an absolutely tragic ending. i feel like this is the perfect 

vindictively redemptive song for her where she could finally express her frustration 

and urge to go "mad" because of how the people around her treat her. 

13. epiphany
something med school did not cover
someone's daughter, someone's mother
holds your hand through plastic now
"doc, i think she's crashing out"
and some things you just can't speak about

i'm actually not going to list a book for this one and just take a second to thank 

everyone on the front lines facing this virus. you're work is appreciated on a level 

beyond comprehension and we will never know the true amount of work done and

lives saved. thank you!

14. betty
most times, but this time it was true
the worst thing that i ever did
was what i did to you

every last breath by jennifer l. armentrout  

the last part of the love triangle trilogy, betty is the song from james's perspective, 

so this book needs to be the girl's perspective of the dark elements (as per the 

series that i've picked for comparison). i think every last breath is layla's 

equivalent to james's betty because this is the one where she makes the decision 

of who to be with and come face-to-face with how she's hurt the men in her life. 

15. peace
but i would die for you in secret
the devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me
would it be enough if i could never give you peace?

the retribution of mara dyer by michelle hodkin

peace is one of my favourite songs on the album. there's that heartbreaking 

doubt resonating throughout this piece that is so wonderfully potent. and it's sad, 

but it's also very telling of how deeply in love the singer is with the subject of the 

song. i feel like this would be something mara would sing to noah because she is 

such a tragic character in her own right, but she clings to her love and keeps on 

with it despite her doubts about herself.

16. hoax
my only one
my kingdom come undone
my broken drum

a tale of two cities by charles dickens 

sydney carton may be one of my favourite literary characters of all time. a 

tale of two cities is the book for hoax because i could see sydney connecting 

with this song. i don't think lucie is as directly involved as the lyrics of this suggest 

would suggest, but i could definitely see sydney thinking that she is the only one 

for him and her lack of reciprocity (literally) kills him.

t h a n k s   f o r   r e a d i n g !

Review of The Wicked Trilogy Novellas by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Wicked Trilogy Novellas by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Prince

4.05 out of 5 Stars

The King

4.66 out of 5 Stars

The Queen

4.51 out of 5 Stars

As a part of 1001 Dark Nights, JLA has been putting out these Wicked novellas since 2018. I just binge-read all of them in one fell swoop and because they're all back-to-back, centered around the same romance, so I thought it might be fun to review them together!

First, background. The original trilogy (Wicked, Torn, and Brave) takes place in New Orleans and follows Ivy, an Order member sworn to protect the human world from fae. Without getting into the actual plot of the trilogy, what you need to know about the setting is that it (a) takes place in New Orleans-- beautiful, (b) picks up pretty much immediately after the trilogy ends-- love it, (c) involves a lot of the same characters that were developed beforehand-- sweet, but (d) the novellas' main characters are not as developed in the trilogy. What does this all mean? There's a killer background that readers of the trilogy will absolutely love, but there's enough originality to these novellas to allow any reader to pick them up.

Second, the reviews.


The Prince
4.05 out of 5 Stars
We start the novella trilogy technically only two weeks after the full trilogy ends. But then there's a five-year time gap, so I don't really know when to explain the starting timeline for the novellas. Either way, I really liked how we had that connection to the last Wicked book. For me especially, it has been three years since I've read these books. Literally, I read Brave within its first week of publication, so it's been a minute since I've been in the fae-new-orleans world. So I really appreciated that split second of connection to what had been happening beforehand politically between the worlds and how the characters were all connected to each other. I think it was a really clever way to introduce the relationships and dynamics while also plunging into the substantive plot.

I think this was a great way to start mini-series with semi-new characters! I really liked the pacing, a liked the borderline insta-love/are-they-bonded thing going on between Brighton and Caden. And I love Caden. There is a small part of me though that wishes it was a full novel. Like, I just enjoyed reading it so much that I wanted more. I think if there was more content (aka not a novella), there may have been a better chance to draw out the connection between Brighton and Caden. I also think I might have liked to see more of the larger plotline filled out. It was a really great read! I just wish I had more of it.

(Although, to I think maybe clarify that last sentence(?), I totally respect the sheer quantity of writing JLA does each year and respect whatever reasoning she made in making this a novella and not a novel. I guess my main point in that last paragraph is to say, while I liked the novella format because it was shorter, I also would have loved to keep reading her writing.)


The King
4.66 out of 5 Stars
So you may have noticed already, but I rank this novella as the best of the three.
If you have read the novellas, you may be shocked. There is some really dark and twisted stuff that happens in this one. BUT, as gut-wrenching as that whole series of chapters are where Brighton's with Aric, it is precisely because of my intense reaction that I think this one was the best. Just because it wasn't all warm and fuzzies doesn't mean it wasn't an excellent book. I actually think it's irrelevant what emotional reaction you get out of a book, any strong reaction is a job well done on the writer's part. And that's what this novella was. It was sucker punch after sucker punch. There were a few really sweet moments as well, so it wasn't all doom and gloom and there was a nice balance.

What made this one really stand out to me as the best of the three was that all of the character were essentially fully developed and we were really digging into the meat of the plot and tension. If you were to put all three of these novella together (OMG if the publisher were to ever decide to do that I would 100% get a physical copy) the highest tension and the riskiest climax of the story would be in this portion. We didn't have to worry about set up or tying up loose ends. . . it was all just go go go diving into the twists and turns of the story.

The Queen
4.51 out of 5 Stars
Overall, I think this was a great "end," but here's the thing. I have a feeling JLA isn't done with this world yet because Neal is still out there and there are still winter fae conspiring to get Queen Morgana to Earth. And I feel like Neal was too developed as a character to have just been a one-off and quick mention at the end. I think he's our next big baddie in whatever spinoff series or novellas JLA creates. Not only am I totally down with that, but I would love to see more of Tink and to be able to revisit Ivy and Ren and now Brighton and Caden. So that's my hope/speculation/prediction.

Wrapping up on Brighton and Caden, I think they're adorable. I am complete trash for any sort of soulmate or bond trope which makes this pairing even better, but even putting that aside, I really like them as a couple. What I especially appreciate is that even as Brighton had to pull herself out of a really dark and vengeful place, Caden (barring extreme physical safetey concerns) let her do it and furthermore loved her either way. The epilogue was especially sweet when we got to see them all chilling at Hotel Good Fae. It was a cute little bow on top of the present that fit perfectly with the novellas as a whole. 

Now, before I leave this post, I have to say, Tink is one of my favorite characters of ALL TIME. I want more Tink. I want a Tink and Fabian story. I want to see Tink be a godfather. I want to see Tink annoy the crap out of Ren. I am Tink trash. Not only is he the ye olde great comic relief character, but he is incredibly loyal and lovable. If I were to compare him to another JLA character, I would say he reminds me a lot of Luc from her Lux/Origin series. She just does Tink so well as a character. He'l loving and lovable and yet so complex past the surface presentation. For example, I want to see Tink break out some epic brownie powers. I think that would be SO much fun to read. Even if we get nothing else from this world though, I just wanted to take this moment to write a Tink appreciation paragraph!!! :)

Thanks for reading!