Tuesday, December 19, 2023

#BookReview: The Brilliant Death (The Brilliant Death, #1) by A. R. Capetta






Synopsis: For Teodora DiSangro, a mafia don’s daughter, family is fate.

All her life, Teodora has hidden the fact that she secretly turns her family’s enemies into music boxes, mirrors, and other decorative objects. After all, everyone in Vinalia knows that stregas—wielders of magic—are figures out of fairytales. Nobody believes they’re real.

Then the Capo, the land’s new ruler, sends poisoned letters to the heads of the Five Families that have long controlled Vinalia. Four lie dead and Teo’s beloved father is gravely ill. To save him, Teo must travel to the capital as a DiSangro son—not merely disguised as a boy, but transformed into one. 

Enter Cielo, a strega who can switch back and forth between male and female as effortlessly as turning a page in a book. Teo and Cielo journey together to the capital, and Teo struggles to master her powers and to keep her growing feelings for Cielo locked in her heart. As she falls in love with witty, irascible Cielo, Teo realizes how much of life she’s missed by hiding her true nature. But she can’t forget her mission, and the closer they get to the palace, the more sinister secrets they uncover about what’s really going on in their beloved country—and the more determined Teo becomes to save her family at any cost.


Monday, December 18, 2023

#BookReview: Endless Water, Starless Sky (Bright Smoke, Cold Fire #2) by @rosamundhodge @HarperTeen






Synopsis: In the last days of the world, the walls of Viyara are still falling, and the dead are rising faster than ever.

Juliet is trapped—ordered by Lord Ineo of the Mahyanai to sacrifice the remaining members of her family, the Catresou, to stave off the end of the world. Though they’re certain his plan is useless, Juliet and her former friend Runajo must comply with Lord Ineo’s wishes—unless they can discover a different, darker path to protecting Viyara.

Romeo is tortured: finally aware that his true love is alive, he is at once elated and devastated, for his actions led directly to the destruction of her clan. The only way to redemption is to offer his life to the Catresou to protect and support them . . . even if it means dying to do so.

When Romeo’s and Juliet’s paths converge once again, only a journey into Death will offer answers and the key to saving them all—but is it a journey either of them will survive?


#BookReview: Winter Glass (Spindle Fire, #2) by Lexa Hillyer






Synopsis: A curse comes undone. A kingdom shatters. But some bonds can’t be broken.

Princess Aurora, torn from the dream world, plots to assassinate the faerie queen Malfleur, only to confront temptations she never expected. Isabelle, meanwhile, opens her heart to Prince William as they attempt to unite their kingdoms and wage war against Malfleur’s army. But when the appearance of an unbreakable glass slipper prompts Isabelle to discover more about her lineage, her true identity begins to take shape and her legacy becomes as clear as ice. 

Devoted half-sisters Isabelle and Aurora will grapple with their understanding of love and loyalty as they face a threat even greater than that of the evil queen—the threat of losing each other forever.


#BookReview: Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron, #4) by Ashley Poston






Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him.

Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them.

When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive.

What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?


#BookReview: Blood of a Thousand Stars (Empress of a Thousand Skies #2) by Rhoda Belleza






Synopsis: Empress

With a revolution brewing, Rhee is faced with a choice: make a deal with her enemy, Nero, or denounce him and risk losing her crown.

Fugitive

Framed assassin Alyosha has one goal in mind: kill Nero. But to get his revenge, Aly may have to travel back to the very place he thought he’d left forever—home.

Princess

Kara knows that a single piece of technology located on the uninhabitable planet Wraeta may be the key to remembering—and erasing—the princess she once was.

Madman

Villainous media star Nero is out for blood, and he’ll go to any means necessary to control the galaxy. 

Vicious politics and high-stakes action culminate in an epic showdown that will determine the fate of the universe.


#BookReview: The Glass Spare (The Glass Spare #1) by Lauren DeStefano @harperteen






Synopsis: A banished princess.
A deadly curse.
A kingdom at war.


Wil Heidle, the only daughter of the king of the world’s wealthiest nation, has grown up in the shadows. Kept hidden from the world in order to serve as a spy for her father—whose obsession with building his empire is causing a war—Wil wants nothing more than to explore the world beyond her kingdom, if only her father would give her the chance.

Until one night Wil is attacked, and she discovers a dangerous secret. Her touch turns people into gemstone. At first Wil is horrified—but as she tests its limits, she’s drawn more and more to the strange and volatile ability. When it leads to tragedy, Wil is forced to face the destructive power within her and finally leave her home to seek the truth and a cure.

But finding the key to her redemption puts her in the path of a cursed prince who has his own ideas for what to do with her power.

With a world on the brink of war and a power of ultimate destruction, can Wil find a way to help the kingdom that’s turned its back on her, or will she betray her past and her family forever?


#CoverReveal for Waiting Game by Serena Akeroyd w/a G.A. Mazurke @GiveMeBooksPR








Title: Waiting Game
Series: New York Stars #2
Author: Serena Akeroyd writing as
G.A. Mazurke
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Secret Relationship/Hockey Romance
Cover Design (Illustrated & Discreet): Chelsea Chira
Cover Design (Hardback): RBA Designs
Photographer: Michelle Lancaster
Model: Chad Hurst
Release Date: January 22, 2024


BLURB

No-strings-attached hook-ups are my jam.
After a hockey player hires me to improve his skating skills, sparks fly and a second-night stand sounds like a damn good time.
I have zero regrets…
…till he ghosts me.
Now that I’ve lost my summer gig, I get on with my life, picking up an old side hustle to keep myself afloat.
A top-tier viewer makes me an offer I can’t refuse—private, exclusive sessions for an outrageous fee.
He’s perfect until he sends me Cole Korhonen’s jersey to wear for him.
Turns out the ghost and my viewer are one and the same.
I’m a cam girl.
Cole’s a hockey star.
Can a one-night stand ever be anything more?

WAITING GAME, book two in the New York Stars' series, is a standalone hockey romance.

Secret relationship ~ Golden retriever hero ~ Curvy heroine ~ Pierced for her pleasure ~ Band of brothers ~ Heroine in distress ~ Cam girl