Month: November 2019

Book Reviews, Products I love!!

Reverie by Ryan La Sala Book Review

Megan Nicole

 

Reverie by Ryan La Sala Book ReviewOverall: ***

Romance: *

Reading Rate: ***

Pages: 416

Recommend if you liked: I am Number Four series

Release Date: December 3, 2019

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Purchase on Amazon here

What I liked:

  • I enjoyed the premise of Reverie and the overall story line, the “reveries” were a unique and whimsical element.
  • The plot of Reverie draws you in from the very beginning as you start out with the main character’s POV right after a mysterious incident and the loss of his memory. As you being to meet more characters you are left wondering what is real and who to trust, I just had to know how it ended!

What I struggled with: The characters and world building are where I struggled.

  • I found the characters, especially the MC Kane very immature and tended to fall back in rushed and repeated emotions.
  • I would have enjoyed the book much more if the characters acted more mature and had been really built out. There were hints at complex characters with complicated pasts that defined who they were now, there just was no real chance to get to know them in the single book.
  • The book was really focused around one part of a larger issue. I feel they won a battle but were not even sure what the war was just yet.
  • There were also a lot of questions let open about how the Reverie’s and Posey came about although room is left for more books in the same world that might explain later.

Synopsis:

All Kane Montgomery knows for certain is that the police found him half-dead in the river. He can’t remember how he got there, what happened after, and why his life seems so different now. And it’s not just Kane who’s different, the world feels off, reality itself seems different. 

As Kane pieces together clues, three almost-strangers claim to be his friends and the only people who can truly tell him what’s going on. But as he and the others are dragged into unimaginable worlds that materialize out of nowhere—the gym warps into a subterranean temple, a historical home nearby blooms into a Victorian romance rife with scandal and sorcery—Kane realizes that nothing in his life is an accident. And when a sinister force threatens to alter reality for good, they will have to do everything they can to stop it before it unravels everything they know. 

This wildly imaginative debut explores what happens when the secret worlds that people hide within themselves come to light.

Thank you to Net Galley and Sourcebooks Fire for a copy of Reverie in exchange for my honest opinion.

Book Boxes, Bookish Merch, Products I love!!

Fairy Loot October Unboxing and Review

Megan Nicole

Theme: Love At First Bite

Overall: *****

Quality of items: *****

Shipping timeliness: ****

Cost: $43.92 Thank goodness for the new U.S. Shipping rates, much more affordable.

Value for the Money: *****

Fairyloot October Love at first bite unboxing

Fairy Loot was the first bookish box that I ever purchased and probably the only one I have never been disappointed in. I do not subscribe to them, instead I pick and choose the months. I only ordered every so often previously due to international shipping, but I have been ordering more often. I will say I actually preferred the International shipping vendor to U.S., it actually takes longer for my boxes to make it to me now but still worth the cost savings. I loved this particular box so so much, all of the items were great quality and very neat! Other than the tarot cards which are a monthly collectible item, I wont get rid of a single thing from this months box. Check out what was included below.

Fairyloot October Love Bites unboxing

Candles and booksleeves are my favorite bookish merch to receive so this box was a total win win!

Whats in the box?

  • Super padded booksleeve design by @noverantale featuring a quote from Dracula
  • Vampire inspired beanie designed by @kdpletters. Guys I have received several beanies in boxes and none of them have been this high quality, and so so glad it did not have a pom so I will actually wear it!
  • Set of Gothic vampire coasters designed by @blanca.design
  • Interview With A Vampire inspired candle by The Melting Library
  • Adorable bat enamel pin designed by @taratjah
  • Twilight sticker by @catarinabookdesigns
  • Vampire art print designed by @monolimeart
  • Tarot cards of the month (have not figured out who they are this month as the spoiler card did not day 🙂 )
  • Stunning copy of the Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh! This exclusive edition comes with artwork on the inside of the dust jacket as well as sprayed pages. It also came with a map of New Orleans and author letter with artwork from @kat_adara.

What was your favorite item from this months box?

Book Reviews, Products I love!!

Serpent & Dove Book Review

Megan Nicole

Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1) by Shelby Mahurin Book Review

Serpent & Dove Book ReviewOverall: ***

Romance: ***

Reading Rate: ***

Publisher: Harper Teen

Pages: 513

Purchase on Amazon here

I was super excited about this book, and I purchased an incredible edition with bronze prayed edges from Fairyloot. I have heard so so so many people give this book great reviews so I feel like I had an unpopular opinion, or maybe the hype was just so high it was impossible not to feel let down.

What I liked:

  • I like the take on Magic vs the Church and the different types of witches. I also enjoyed learning how the different witches used their powers.
  • While this was historically based I enjoyed that all of the women still did what they wanted regardless. I have a hard time with historical fiction when it involves women being limited by societies constraints. I would actually classify this book as NA vs YA due to the age of the characters and language/sexual content of the book.

What I struggled with:

  • I needed more background on the world to really understand what was happening. Because of the limited information on each side I really couldn’t relate to strongly to either cause, and frankly they both seemed wrong.
  • I didn’t “believe” in the love portion of the story line. It was enemies to lovers but I didn’t really feel the love develop, i was like it went from enemies for most of the book to instalove.
  • The book really didn’t grab me or keep me engrossed at all, it actually took me about two weeks to finish reading. (something in a 4-5 star range for me I would devour in 3 or less days).

Overall I am interested to learn more about the world and the characters the Mahurin started to build out and I will certainly give the next book in the series a shot.

Synopsis:

Bound as one to love, honor, or burn.

Two years ago, Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic and living off whatever she could steal. There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they are burned.

Sworn to the Church as a Chasseur, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. His path was never meant to cross with Lou’s, but a wicked stunt forces them into an impossible union—holy matrimony.

The war between witches and Church is an ancient one, and Lou’s most dangerous enemies bring a fate worse than fire. Unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, a choice must be made.

And love makes fools of us all.

 

Book Reviews, Products I love!!

Ruthless Gods Book Review

Megan Nicole

Ruthless Gods Emily DuncanRuthless Gods by Emily Duncan, Book 2 of the Something Dark and Holy trilogy

Overall: ****

Romance: ***

Reading Rate: ***

Release Date: April 7, 2020

Pages: 432

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Purchase on Amazon here

I recommend if you liked: The Bear and the Nightingale, Shadow & Bone Trilogy, Throne of Glass

*Spoilers for Wicked Saints- click here to check out my spoiler free review of book 1.

This book hurt so good! As soon as I put down Wicked Saints I needed the sequel right away…. And now I need the final book soooo bad!!! Ruthless Gods picks up shortly after Wicked Saints left off with the Nadya dealing with the silence of her Gods, Malachiasz missing after his betrayal, and Serefin trying to deal with his new status as king as well as being God touched.  If you enjoyed Wicked Saints you will love this journey as our main characters and also some new faces try to fix the cracks they made in the world… but will their quest to right their wrongs for each of their countries right the wrongs, or break the world entirely.

In the beginning this book was little more difficult to get through and did a lot more world building and filling in some of the knowledge gaps on the gods from books 1. I honestly feel I need to read the book again to really get everything, and I certainly will when the physical copies release! Several times a character’s section had me saying what on earth was happening and rereading entries several times. But all of that building (and Malachaisz/Nadya teasers) was well worth it in the last quarter of the book, and OMG what and ending and set up for what is sure to be an AMAZING final installment. Duncan did such a great job of stringing me along needing answers and holding out hope for my favorite characters redemption, I love it when an author keeps me guessing! I have no idea how I am going to handle to wait for  book 3 to find out how everything ends!

While book one seemed heavily inspired by the Grishaverse the author really changed things up and left that path for book 2. It almost had Bear and the Nightingale vibes with the mythology and creatures added in.

I am usually great at predicting how books are going to flow and Duncan steps up to say challenge accepted. I may get part of the idea but then she jumps right on over it an rips my heart out… and I love it so much!

Synopsis:

Nadya doesn’t trust her magic anymore. Serefin is fighting off a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. Malachiasz is at war with who–and what–he’s become.

As their group is continually torn apart, the girl, the prince, and the monster find their fates irrevocably intertwined. They’re pieces on a board, being orchestrated by someone…or something. The voices that Serefin hears in the darkness, the ones that Nadya believes are her gods, the ones that Malachiasz is desperate to meet—those voices want a stake in the world, and they refuse to stay quiet any longer.

In her dramatic follow-up to Wicked Saints, the first book in her Something Dark and Holy trilogy, Emily A. Duncan paints a Gothic, icy world where shadows whisper, and no one is who they seem, with a shocking ending that will leave you breathless.

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for a copy of Ruthless Gods in exchange for my honest opinion.