ARC

Mistaken Identity by Beth Urich

Posted on by DragonSusie

Could have been better

There was so much that could have been right about this book, but so much that went wrong, too. It’s probably obvious that it’s the author’s first book, even though it has been recently updated.

Kate is the typical reporter, really: pushy, desperate, sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. So of course, she’s the one who has to solve the puzzle, too. And what makes it even more complicated? Oh, right – her father has been accused of the murder, an investigation which just happens to be led by a Detective Sergeant who is also an ex of hers. Who does she actually know who isn’t involved in the plot somehow? Add to that, she finds out that her current boyfriend was keeping secrets from her as well.

It had some nice twists and turns, but in the end just wasn’t gripping enough. Too many clichés, nothing concrete. Although the ending, which could probably have been seen coming a mile away, was still a nice twist, even if it didn’t save it. Especially as some of those final scenes were the worst, just drove me mad, with all the dithering. If someone is going to shoot someone, they just get on with it! Hanging on too long just loses all of the suspense.

Anyway, an OK read, but nothing great.

Final rating: ★★★☆☆ – Sort of liked/OK

*I received a free digital ARC via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

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Ogre King by Chera Zade and Fanny Mills

Posted on by DragonSusie

No time for monstering

As should be expected from the Zade/Mills combo, this is a very short short story. Although I should have reigned in my expectations, I still expected more from this.

The book is split into two parts, where we first hear the Ogre King Ugrort’s POV, who deliberately gets himself captured, and then the Princess Eleta’s POV, who had already been fantasising about “green monsters” before she even heard that there were ogres in the dungeon.

This ends on a cliffhanger, so obviously set up for the next book in the series. But, in this first part, the two lovers-to-be (as it’s obviously going to go that way) don’t even meet! It is all steamy enough in what does actually happen, including a consensual sexual “treatment” that the princess receives from the court physician. But far more is needed, and the second book isn’t even available as of yet!

I would have been much happier for a complete story, instead of these bits, but considering that the book isn’t published anymore, I doubt that we’ll ever get a conclusion.

Final rating: ★★★☆☆ – Sort of liked/OK

*I received a free digital ARC via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

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The Goblets Immortal by Beth Overmyer

Posted on by DragonSusie

Just shut up already!

First thing to note here – this is the start of a series and ends on a cliffhanger, with no sequel mention as of yet, nor a series for it to be based in. Although, I assume, it will be based around these Goblets Immortal.
[Edit: Just noticed on Amazon that the sequel is due to come out next week and that the series is, indeed, entitled “The Goblets Immortal”]

Now next, to explain my title. Our MC, Aidan, you could pity him in the beginning. He lost his parents in some freak accident, where he is charged and outlawed for making them disappear. Then his only friend in the world turns on him, apparently for money, greed making him want more. But that is where the sympathy stops.

Once Aidan chances upon Slaine, he takes turns in treating her terribly and then regretting his actions, even minor actions, with a lot of his thoughts being riddled with remorse. This, of course, confuses Slaine, who is quite used to abuse, as she can’t make head nor tail of him. Neither can I. I mean, at one point he’s close to going too far, in a strange drugged state, then spends another page full of remorseful thoughts.

Then there’s the magic. We’re led full tilt into all the magical terms, without a single explanation of what they mean until one or two chapters later. It’s just confusing as hell.

The general storyline was OK, with the usual hijinks that come with an adventure fantasy (I don’t even want to call it “epic”), and the “hero” being able to get them out of trouble quite easily. But, I just don’t know. With all the annoying elements of Aidan, I just wanted to step into the book and punch him most of the time. Reading other reviews, it turns out that I wasn’t the only one.

Final rating: ★★★☆☆ – Sort of liked/OK

*I received a free digital ARC via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

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Fangs For All by Laura Greenwood and Arizona Tape

Posted on by DragonSusie

Awesome ending

Ha! What a conclusion! Considering I’d been following the series from book one (which is best, as otherwise it’s impossible to keep up), there are certainly some things I didn’t see coming.

So, we learn more about the Blood Slave auctions and, of course, Lucy and her band are still hot on the tail to try to stop them, at any cost. Yet, what will it cost them? For Lucy, it costs her more than she would have wanted at the beginning of her journey into the dark side of vampire high society. Yet, when stepping into her inheritance appears to be the answer to almost all of her aims and questions, she finally does it, and with flourish.

Mika. Now, I wouldn’t have expected that to be the real background story! Yet, with all her strangeness, it does make perfect sense. Despite everything, she proves quite an ally.

But that damned cat! When will we finally understand what’s going on with him?!

And then there’s Lucy and her men… Not quite a complete HEA, yet things appear to definitely be working out for her! Not that her mother would approve, but hey – isn’t she one of the ones supporting keeping the Blood Slaves…?

With her grandmother somehow speaking from beyond her Sleep, all the clues have been right under Lucy’s nose the entire time.

Final rating: ★★★★★ – Loved it/couldn’t put it down

*I received a free digital ARC via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

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Forgotten Gods: The Complete Series by Laura Greenwood

Posted on by DragonSusie

Ups and downs

This is a series based on Egyptian Gods coping with living in the modern world. Each book in this box set is reviewed individually below.

Book 1: Protectors of Poison
Serket has been hiding for years, pretending to be the human, Sera. She moves around a lot, so not to create suspicion on the fact that she ages extremely slowly. She’s quite happy to have left her old life behind, despite her waning power, but nothing lasts forever.

Serket just happens to be the God of Poisons, her animal form being a scorpion. She’s quite far away from her many scorpions, when it appears someone is not only trying to wipe her out, but has managed to use her scorpions to fix a crime onto her…

This, unfortunately, ended with no full conclusion. I was a bit stumped by the ending. The story itself was full of lots of promise, which didn’t pan out fully. I still enjoyed it overall, though, just not as much as if it were complete.

Rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

Book 1.5: Priestess of Truth
I actually read and rated this book before, which can be found here. Unfortunately, the reread didn’t make me feel any better about the book.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ – Sort of liked/OK

Book 2: Daughter of the Sun
Sekhmet is the Goddess of Vengeance. She has been cursed by her father, Sun God Ra, and has been trapped inside a sphinx for millennia. Yet, her father wants to find her again, not to apologise for the years she’s been trapped, but to gain her help in stopping the God of Chaos, Seth. Yet, her freedom has a caveat – no blood-blind vengeance…

She is encouraged, throughout the story, to embrace her alter-ego, Bastet. A surprise romance somehow manages to calm her fiery side, bringing her closer to peace than she’s been in many years.

And, of course, she finds out the truth about the curse and why she has been “disabled”…

Unfortunately, this is another story with no true progression or resolution. It was enjoyable, but the ending left me disappointed again.

Rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

Book 3: Servant of Chaos
This story follows Rhodopis, one of Seth’s slaves. It is loosely based on the legend, which is a kind of Cinderella story (and, according to Wikipedia, the earliest known variant of this). She has some power within the household, yet is unable to escape – anyone caught escaping is brutally beaten, even killed. Anyone even daring to anger Seth in even the smallest way can be subject to this fate. As the God of Chaos he, of course, likes nothing better than upsetting people and causing mayhem. Yet Rhodopis tries to keep the peace as much as possible, encouraging the other slave girls to follow the rules and not stand out. Unfortunately, she cannot save them all…

Rhodopis herself is saved when she attracts the attention of one of the party of a visiting dignitary. Yet she knows that any brief moment of escape will only make the following years of torture worse.

This has a loose ending and no true resolution. Rhodopis knows she’ll never be free from Seth, so how is that an ending, trying to “pretend” that everything will be OK? Or, at least, that’s how it seemed.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ – Sort of liked/OK

Conclusion:
What’s most annoying about these books is that they don’t actually follow on from each other. There are snippets that you believe should, with hints of things to come in the previous books, yet there’s no story arch at all! I had expected at least some reference between books two and three, at the most, considering this one defining factor is mentioned. Yet, there is nothing. It’s a real shame, as each story has such an incomplete ending, that it would have been so much better if the stories were linked in some way. I should be rating the series lower than the average of 3.5, but I’ll round it up as it was still good in places.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free digital ARC via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

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The Gamble by Tara Crescent

Posted on by DragonSusie

Plenty of hotness in a second-chance romance with a twist

This is a new reworking of the book Gambling with Gabriella. I hadn’t read this book, so everything inside is completely new to me. I actually read it in pieces, as part of a newsletter release. Not something I’ve actually done before, so I got to submit a couple of corrections, and enjoy the book as each part came out.

Moving onto the story itself, wow does that contain some huge hotness! As my title says, it’s a second-chance romance with a twist – Gabriella had a one-night stand with two hot guys, which was wonderful, but at the time she wasn’t up for anything else. Yet, there they are, still in her mind. And it appears that they can’t stop thinking about her, either.

A complete chance meeting happens as she is given a PR assignment in Atlantic City, and just happens to be staying in the very hotel that these two hot guys, Dominic and Carter, own. With a little bit of awkwardness at first, it’s only a matter of time before these three hook up again. Yet, is it a match for life, or just another night of fun…?

And of course, there are plenty of twists and turns. Carter is at risk of losing the nephew he’s looked after for so long for good. And Gabriella has a nasty secret of her own – she’s gotten herself addicted to underground gambling as a way of earning enough to start her own business, threw all caution to the wind in one night of madness, and ended up seriously in debt.

As each storyline twists and brings our three MCs together, they end up saving each other in more ways than one.

Final rating: ★★★★★ – Loved it/couldn’t put it down

*I received a free digital ARC via the author and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

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Valkyrie’s Choice by Arizona Tape

Posted on by DragonSusie

Resolution, but no resolution

Yes, we get a resolution to everything that happened in the previous book! The true characters all come out! Bryn finally stands up to her grandmother, in several ways, managing to impress her as much as piss her off! And Bryn finds out what she truly wants to be as well. But…

Yes, there’s always a “but”. The ending left me quite disappointed. We have here a slow-burn romance, which doesn’t fully resolve. Everything is building up to something that doesn’t quite happen. Maybe in the main series, we’ll get to see how that develops, but unfortunately it doesn’t happen here. I believe that that was the biggest let down of the two books, knowing that there could have been so much more.

What I liked most, however, was the deeper digging into the mythology, as Bryn travels through the afterlife on her own, discovering other lines in the mythology belonging to some of the other beings, which she in turns relates back to these other beings in the living world.

All in all, it isn’t bad. Bryn learning “BSL” (in this instance, Banshee Sign Language instead of British Sign Language) is an interesting one, along with why they use the sign language. Along with other little quirks, it makes it an interesting story.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free digital ARC via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

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Burn the Dark by S.A. Hunt

Posted on by DragonSusie

Poor Start to Near-Epic Finish

This book started off with a bunch of bad sayings, that made no sense whatsoever. Well, it was a review copy, so may have been updated by the time the book was released, but there is nothing more off putting (well, perhaps there is) than a bunch of author-created nonsensical sayings.

But, once I got into the book, despite the horror edge to the story, I actually quite enjoyed it. A few laughs, a few gory moments. A few excellent characters to top it off, with a few interweaving storylines.

The witches themselves are devious. And there is just something not right about that house… Yet Robin manages to go back to where she grew up and find out more about her past than she could have wished for, gaining a handful of trusty sidekicks along the way.

I might not understand much about the background or culture (typical Brit trying to watch US TV dramas and failing to get the context), but all in all it wasn’t bad at all.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free digital ARC via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

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Valkyrie’s Oath by Arizona Tape

Posted on by DragonSusie

Well…

My ambiguous title is due to my mixed impressions. I was so confused when I started the book that I hated the first couple of chapters. Well, hate might be a bit strong, but I disliked it. Even up to the point of the MC becoming attracted to a new teacher. Eurgh! It just wasn’t for me at that moment.

But then, something happened. I left it a day and, when I restarted, I just had to read further. I went from “dislike” to “intrigue”. I don’t believe that it had anything to do with the writing per se, just that I’d come from reading a book with a completely different style. Besides, I usually like this author’s works, so maybe coming back with a fresh head meant that I could actually invest myself in this story.

Although I do believe that the beginning didn’t help any. I haven’t read any of the sister series, although that shouldn’t have an effect, as the first book wasn’t published that long before this one. But it felt like being thrown into the deep end without a lifesaver ring, no explanations, surrounded by laughing, warring, teenagers.

So, as I said, maybe that was it – the complete change of pace and style from the book I’d just finished. Although I would have been happy with a few more explanations, once I did finally get into the book, everything was fine!

I should have expected that ending, really. A cliffhanger, but none of Bryn’s supposed “friends” really felt like friends, anyway, especially with their attitude. At least one felt more like a hanger on. Considering how she’s an heir, you can expect that she’d have a hoard of frenemies in place of real friends, those who pretend to look after her but are really just waiting for her to slip up.

Anyway, my complete turnaround meant that I was invested in the story by the end, quite happily so, which came as a real surprise to me. So soon on with the next it is!

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free digital ARC via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

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The Infamous Duke by Allyson Jeleyne

Posted on by DragonSusie

Great sequel!

Of course, we know from the beginning how this has to turn out – it is a HEA in planning! And we’ve already met both Wade and Cassie in the previous book, and this book starts with repeating the garden party, but from their POVs.

There is an almost instant attraction that goes on here, but Wade starts as the pursuer, with Cassie being convinced. Although, due to her delicate health and having been told that her “women’s troubles” will prevent her from marriage, she tries to push him away, subtly, in the beginning, just like she has done with many suitors, although she does make sure to enjoy the attention whilst it lasts.

Cassie’s oldest sister, Octavia, tries to convince her to not let Wade get too close, as he’s a known womaniser and cad. She doesn’t listen, knowing that it could be the one chance to enjoy such attention from someone of his position, before she returns to her confirmed spinsterhood.

Cassie believes firmly that Wade won’t be interested in her once he learns of her health problems, yet he is so enamoured with her as a person, that he doesn’t let this get in the way. In fact, he is ready to prove himself reformed, just for her, just to keep her. And so, with her refusing marriage, Wade tries to convince her to join him at his stately home in Cornwall, as his mistress.

Will Cassie accept this proposal? And will the two find their way through the complications of health, station, and reputation?

We have to wait right until the end of the book to meet up with Simon and Octavia again, who not only wish to check on Cassie, but are also ready to share their happy news. Oh, and they learn of what Honoria’s been up to – via an article in the Times!

Now I should comment on the setting. It should have clicked sooner with me, Wadebridge and Cornwall, as I’ve actually been to Wadebridge! It’s not just a small fishing village now, with the tourists lining the streets during the summer. There’s a Camel Trail, which runs between Padstow and Wadebridge, an old disused railway line that has been converted into a cycle path that runs alongside the Camel estuary. It is a beautiful route, but what should be noted is that Wadebridge lies at the mouth of the estuary, and not directly by the sea, as insinuated in this book. Some liberties have been taken with regards to the Duchy, also, as there is a Duchy of Cornwall, but not Wadebridge (Wadebridge would have been too small to host a Duchy, anyway, historically).

Anyway, despite my niggles, it was an enjoyable book all in all! Both MCs prove to have such heart that you can’t help but adore them.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free digital ARC via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

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