Tag: mythology

Book Reviews, Products I love!!

Gilded Ruins by Chantal Gadoury Book Review

Megan Nicole

Gilded Ruins (Blinding Night 2) by Chantal Gadoury Book Review

  • Gilded Ruins (Blinding Night Book 2) by [Gadoury, Chantal]Overall: **
  • Romance: ***
  • Reading Rate: ***** Short and fast paced, finished in a single day
  • Publication Date: May 12th 2020
  • Publisher: The Parliament House Press
  • Purchase on Amazon here

Gilded Ruins is the second book in the Blinding Night duology which is a Hades and Persephone retelling. This book will contain spoilers for Blinding Night so check out my prior review of Book 1.

We pick up right where we left off at the end of book one with Darce and Summer heading to face Zues and Demeter to try and obtain her freedom to return to the underworld.

What I liked:

  • Very interesting take on the Greek Mythology

What I struggled with:

  • It seemed like the same scene repeated several times with slight variations.
  • The FMC was a challenge to deal with in this story as she was very insecure and whiny, she would start each interaction saying she was going to be string and then quickly crumble.
  • The author started a bit of a love triangle in this book but then never really took it anywhere
  • It almost seemed like she started to build out the plot and decided to just end the story instead of tying everything together.

Overall both books were worth the read. I feel this duology would actually have been better as a single stand alone book, taking out some of the repeated instances and wrapping up the ending.

Synopsis:

The Story Continues. . .

Summer and Darce are summoned by the order of Zeus himself to travel to the home of the Gods: Mount Olympus, where they’re to face even more ancient Gods and Goddesses.

Summer braces to confront her mother again, illuminating secrets about the truth of her tragic pasts, while also persuading Zeus to allow her to stay with the God of the Underworld, her true love – Darce.

Aboard Poseidon’s luxury yacht, Summer meets her mythological family, while also uncovering what exactly happened to her past lives – and the true roles her mother and Darce played.

When Darce and Summer suddenly find themselves separated, Summer must find her inner power and unite them together, before her mortal time runs out.

Thank you to Chantal Gaudry for a free copy of Gilded Ruins in exchange for my honest opinion

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House of Salt and Sorrows Book Review

Megan Nicole

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

Overall Rating: ***House of Salt and Sorrows Book Review

Romance: **

Reading Rate: ****

Pages: 416

Release Date: August 6, 2019

Buy it on Amazon: Here

House of Salt and Sorrows is part mythology and part murder mystery as Annaleigh tries to figure out who is killing off her family one by one. Is it a suitor, business associate, servant, a family member, or perhaps even a curse from the gods?

This book had just the right amount of creep factor that leaves you double checking dark corners without being gruesome. There was a lot of building in first part of the book that made it difficult for me to stay interested, however once I got to the second half I could not put it down and finished in a single night! The plot does jump around quite a bit (which makes sense in the end) but caused some rereading of pages or passages to try to understand what was happening. There are enough characters to build out and questions left unanswered at the end that I could see more books being written in this universe in the future. I would recommend this book to a reader over the age of 15 who was interested in horror or paranormal mystery novels.

I also have to mention that the cover of this book is completely stunning, this would have been 100% a cover buy for me alone without even reading the synopsis.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read House of Salt and Sorrows in Exchange for my honest review.

Book Reviews, Products I love!!

Dark Shores by Danielle Jensen Book Review

Megan Nicole

Overall Rating: *****

Releasing on May 7th. Dark Shores Book Review

Greek mythology meets Pirates of the Caribbean in this action-packed fantasy.

When Teriana breaks a sacred law and reveals the existence of The Dark Shores to the godless Empire to save her people she finds her life tied to Marcus, a ruthless legionnaire known for his conquests. As the two fight for survival they soon discover their lives and intertwined by more than just a contract. This story was as thrilling as it was heartbreaking… full of secrets and mysteries that set you up for so much more in future installments.

The author did a great job of introducing this diverse world of gods and conquest. For me she struck just the right balance of information to keep you from being overwhelmed, but always wanting to know more. If I had a full series I would binge them all right now! I have so many questions and know there are many more adventures to come so I will be eagerly awaiting Jensen’s sequel (and reading everything else she has written in the meantime).

Official Synopsis:

In a world divided by meddlesome gods and treacherous oceans, only the Maarin possess the knowledge to cross the Endless Seas. But they have one mandate: East must never meet West.

A PIRATE WITH A WILL OF IRON

Teriana is the second mate of the Quincense and heir to the Maarin Triumvirate. Her people are born of the seas and the keepers of its secrets, but when her closest friend is forced into an unwanted betrothal, Teriana breaks her people’s mandate so her friend might escape—a choice with devastating consequences.

A SOLDIER WITH A SECRET

Marcus is the commander of the Thirty-Seventh, the notorious legion that has led the Celendor Empire to conquer the entire East. The legion is his family, but even they don’t know the truth he’s been hiding since childhood. It’s a secret he’ll do anything to protect, no matter how much it costs him – and the world.

A DANGEROUS QUEST

When an Empire senator discovers the existence of the Dark Shores, he captures Teriana’s crew and threatens to reveal Marcus’s secret unless they sail in pursuit of conquest, forcing the two into an unlikely—and unwilling—alliance. They unite for the sake of their families, but both must decide how far they are willing to go, and how much they are willing to sacrifice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmilan-Tor/Forge for the opportunity to read Dark Shores in exchange my honest review.

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To Kill a Kingdom- Book Review

Megan Nicole

Short and sweet!

Overall rating: ***

I had heard so many great things about this book and I was really in a reading slump so decided to step away from my series and take on a standalone. Plus I don’t think that I have ever read a mermaid or siren book prior to this. Even though Lira is a Siren and not a mermaid I would still consider this book to be a darker retelling of The Little Mermaid. Especially Lira’s mother The Sea Queen just screams Ursula from the Disney movie, tentacles and taking away Lira’s song….

I definitely enjoyed the book and it did a fair amount of world building for as short as it was, left me wanting to hear more stories about the 100 Kingdoms and the different tales of the Royal Families. I could really see additional books being written in this universe even if they don’t directly relate to Lira and Elian.

Since it was a shorter book and a standalone I don’t want to give too much more away and ruin the whole book. Even though 3 stars out of 5 seems low this is still a book I would recommend. Personally it is really hard to “wow” me in one shorter book, it takes more time for me to be head over heels for characters (hence why I love long books or series). That being said I would also read anything additional put out by this author or about this world in the future.