A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft review

Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland.

But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible.

A Fragile Enchantment gets published January 2nd, 2024!

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

This is one of those books where the description just promised more than the book actually gave.

A Fragile Enchantment, at it’s core, isn’t a bad book. I enjoyed reading the story of Niamh, a Machlish seamstress tasked with creating the outfits for the Avlish prince’s wedding, only to fall in love with him in the process. I enjoyed seeing the conflict between the Machlish and the Avlish, and how everything was a bit more difficult than it originally seemed. And I enjoyed seeing an inside look into the lives of these characters and their drama.

However, the description of this book talks about an anonymous columnist who finds out about Niamh and Kit’s attraction to each other and promises to leave them alone only if Niamh helps them uncover the family’s secrets, and I think that’s where this book goes wrong. Because while yes, that is included in this book, that conflict takes up maybe 1% of the content of this book (and the columnist, to be completely honest, never really threatens Niamh and Kit).

I picked up this book interested in seeing a secret, scandalous relationship get threatened by this columnist. And while I did enjoy these characters and seeing their secrets, this book ultimately isn’t what it says it is.

Witch X Witch Hunter | Night Of The Witch by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis

A witch and a hunter. Vengeance is their mission. Love is their destiny.

Fritzi is a witch. A survivor of a brutal attack on her coven, she’s determined to find her only surviving family member and bring the hexenjägers—zealot witch hunters—to justice for the lives they ended. To do this, she will need to take down their leader—Kommandant Dieter Kirch.

Otto is a hexenjäger and a captain, the second in command to Dieter Kirch—but that’s just his cover. Years ago, the hexenjagers burned his innocent mother alive and since then, he has been planning a move against the witch hunters that tore his family apart. And now the time has come for them to pay for what they’ve done.

When Fritzi and Otto are unexpectedly thrown together, neither is sure they can trust the other, despite their common enemy. But all they have is one another, and they both crave revenge. As truths come to light and trust shifts, Fritzi and Otto uncover a far more horrifying plot at the center of the hexenjäger attacks . . . but their own growing feelings for each other may be the most powerful magic of all.

Night Of The Witch gets published October 3rd, 2023!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I love a good, solid enemies-to-lovers.

The second I laid eyes on Night Of The Witch, I knew I needed to be an ARC reviewer for it! A romance between a witch and a witch hunter who has secrets of his own sounded absolutely perfect for me, and I desperately needed to learn more!

That being said, this book was a struggle for me in the beginning. Books need a strong opening in order to hook readers and get them to continue reading, but this book introduced a lot of confusion and felt hastily put together in the beginning. There isn’t a lot of description into the characters’ thoughts and why they are doing certain things, so it was hard for me to follow as Fritzi watches her entire village get destroyed and then immediately sets out to save a random girl who had been taken.

(The further we get in, the more we learn about these characters and why this “random girl” is important to Fritzi. While I understand the reasoning behind leaving a few plot-important details out of the beginning, I also don’t think it’s necessary. The book would probably have more emotional impact if we knew the character dynamics from the beginning.)

Throughout this book, I was surprised to find that despite the fact that I was enjoying the story and interested in what would happen next, the reading experience felt like a chore. I often found myself wanting to simultaneously read more and also put the book down for a while, which was definitely a strange feeling to have!

But one thing I was surprised to enjoy in this book was the discussion on religion. The hexenjägers use their religion as a cover to kill these witches, but our main male character, Otto, truly believes in their god. It was interesting to read a story that had religion at the forefront of the villains’ story, but didn’t vilify religion itself!

I also really enjoyed how this book blended fantasy and history. While the book is, ultimately, a fictional story, the plot itself is rooted in the real life history of German witch hunts, and makes sure to include a bit about it in the historical note at the back of the book! I’m not typically one to enjoy history, but I really enjoyed seeing the historical significance of this story throughout this book!

And while I won’t share any spoilers, let me at least devote a paragraph to the ending! So many books rely on “everything will be okay for the main characters because they’re the main characters!” (or plot armor, if you like my ability to speak fluent TV Tropes) that I really enjoyed seeing this book play with the concept. Will everything work out okay for these characters because they’re the main characters? Should we place our hope in this crazy plan? Or is everything going to go terribly wrong because that’s what common sense dictates?

Despite the rocky beginning, I ended up really liking this book by the end of it! Night Of The Witch is definitely an interesting story, and I recommend picking it up to see the way it plays out!

Historical Western Sapphics | Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens

The heart wants what it wants. Saddle up, ride out, and claim it.

A vibrant and cinematic debut set in the American West about a scrappy orphan who finds friendship, romance, and her true calling as a revenge-seeking gunslinger.

It’s the spring of 1877 and sixteen-year-old Bridget is already disillusioned. She’s exhausted from caring for her ne’er-do-well alcoholic father, but when he’s killed by a snakebite as they cross the Kansas prairie, she knows she has only her wits to keep her alive. She arrives penniless in Dodge City, and, thanks to the allure of her bright red hair and country-girl beauty, is soon recruited to work at the Buffalo Queen, the only brothel in town run by women. Bridget takes to brothel life, appreciating the good food, good pay, and good friendships she forms with her fellow “sporting women.”

Then Spartan Lee, the legendary female gunfighter in the region, rides into town, and Bridget falls in love. Hard. Before long, though, a series of shocking double-crosses shatter the Buffalo Queen’s tenuous peace and safety. Desperate for vengeance and autonomy, Bridget resolves to claim her own destiny.

Lucky Red gets published June 20, 2023!

⭐⭐

Rating: 2 out of 5.

To say that Bridget hasn’t had the best life is a bit of an understatement.

Her mother died in childbirth and her father is an alcoholic, which means that Bridget has spent most of her days relying on herself and cleaning up after her father’s messes. After her father trades away their house for a couple of mules and dies to a rattlesnake bite, Bridget can’t even say she’s surprised.

She does, however, need to find a way to support herself.

Luckily, she makes it to the next town over, where she is picked up off the streets to work in a brothel.

Despite the fact that a majority of this book takes place in a brothel and there is a lot of talk about sex, the book isn’t spicy. I actually really enjoyed that we were talking about this topic as a concept and stuck to a more informational tone, rather than having every single one of Bridget’s interactions with a customer drawn out and sexualized.

On the other hand, Bridget finds out throughout the course of this book that she’s more attracted to her coworkers than she is her customers, and I found the way the book describes sexual moments focused on female characters really interesting! While Bridget’s own work is described very blandly and occurs in the blink of an eye, there are moments in this book where Bridget just so happens to see a coworker working, and those scenes are much more detailed! The writing itself showing Bridget’s attraction to girls even when Bridget herself doesn’t acknowledge it was an interesting detail I enjoyed seeing.

I was also very surprised by the plot of this book, which was a lot different than what I was expecting from this story! Looking back at the description, all the details are there, but I definitely think a lot of readers won’t pick up on anything until they’re actively reading about it in the book!

Unfortunately, that’s also where this book loses me. While I enjoyed seeing Bridget’s character throughout this book and seeing her growth, I wasn’t a fan of the dramatics and the plot itself. I’m not sure how to talk about my issues with this book without also spoiling it for readers, but let’s just say I wouldn’t classify this book as a romance, although it is sapphic and focuses on the relationships between Bridget and two women.

Someone out there is probably going to absolutely adore these historical western sapphics and their story, but this book definitely wasn’t for me!

This Book Gave Me Whiplash | Gwen & Art Are Not In Love by Lex Croucher

It’s been hundreds of years since King Arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other.

They’re forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen’s childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom’s only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.

Realizing they might make better allies than enemies, they make a reluctant pact to cover for each other, and as things heat up at the annual royal tournament, Gwen is swept off her feet by her knight and Arthur takes an interest in Gwen’s royal brother.

Gwen & Art Are Not In Love gets published November 28th, 2023!

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

It’s been a few days since I finished this book, and I’m still flabbergasted. Nothing in this book was what I expected it to be.

To begin with: the opening. Our female main character, Gwen, wakes up from what I can only assume was a wet dream (the book doesn’t 100% confirm) starring her crush, the female knight Bridget Leclair. Soon after, Gwen plays chess with her brother, who quotes a meme at her.

Memes? In my historical setting?

I absolutely needed to know more about this book, but I was surprised to find that the rest of the book was kind of boring and slow. After such an opening, the book then intends for readers to go crazy over such small things as an elbow touch. I don’t know about y’all, but the tone was off for me. I needed something more substantial.

There was a lot of inferring between the lines throughout this book, which is another thing I don’t enjoy. I don’t like guessing what is happening, even if I’m pretty sure I’m correct, but this book never seemed to state anything that was happening as 100% fact. An assassin comes to kill one of the characters and I’m still not sure who he was trying to kill.

Speaking of killing: the ending of this book. After spending 70% of this book with this slow and boring description of these characters’ day-to-day lives, we finally get a little plot. A little development of something. And then, like reaching the top of a rollercoaster, the book suddenly drops readers into war? People are dying left and right, major characters are getting irrevocably injured, and I felt like I had whiplash.

For a book to be so happy-go-lucky and then suddenly dropkick readers into war and death? This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, but I came out of it really disappointed in the reading experience.

The Most Devious Child Ever | Kit McBride Gets A Wife by Amy Barry

Kit McBride knows that Buck’s Creek, Montana, is no place to find a wife. Between him and his three brothers–plus little Junebug–they manage all right on their own, thank you very much. But unbeknownst to Kit, his sister is sick to death of cleaning, cooking, and mending for her big brothers, so she places an ad in The Matrimonial News to get them hitched.
After Maddy Mooney emigrated from Ireland, she found employment with an eccentric but poor widow. When her mistress decides to answer an ad for a mail-order bride, Madd​y is dragged along for the ride to Montana. But en route to the West, Maddy is suddenly abandoned and left to assume the widow’s name, position, and matrimonial prospects….
With no other recourse in the wilderness, Maddy must convince Kit not only is she who she says she is, but she’s the wife he never knew he needed.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This book sounded like it would just be a really good time, and I’m glad it delivered.

I do think this book sets itself up for a little bit of confusion, however. Based on the title, readers probably assume the focus is on Kit. Based on the description, readers may think it’s Maddy.

But the true star of the show here is Junebug, Kit’s devious younger sister who orders him a complete stranger for a bride.

I really liked seeing what problems Junebug would cause throughout this book, especially as she messed with Maddy and Kit’s lives. Everything was so needlessly dramatic, but in a good way. A fun way.

I also really enjoyed seeing Maddy fit into the McBrides’ lives. As she and Junebug became friends and Maddy began teaching Junebug how to be a lady. As Maddy made her own space in the McBride cabin, especially during a certain snowed in scene…

I wasn’t too crazy about the relationship between Kit and Maddy, however. Because it focuses so much on their first meeting and instalove, there’s not too many details on why they like each other. They had some cute couple-y moments, but I think the romance is really the lesser part of the story here.

I’m excited to continue on with this series, though, and see what other terrible schemes Junebug can dream up!

When A Scot Ties The Knot by Tessa Dare | A Review

On the cusp of her first London season, Miss Madeline Gracechurch was shyly pretty and talented with a drawing pencil, but hopelessly awkward with gentlemen. She was certain to be a dismal failure on the London marriage mart. So Maddie did what generations of shy, awkward young ladies have done: she invented a sweetheart.
A Scottish sweetheart. One who was handsome and honorable and devoted to her, but conveniently never around. Maddie poured her heart into writing the imaginary Captain MacKenzie letter after letter … and by pretending to be devastated when he was (not really) killed in battle, she managed to avoid the pressures of London society entirely.
Until years later, when this kilted Highland lover of her imaginings shows up in the flesh. The real Captain Logan MacKenzie arrives on her doorstep—handsome as anything, but not entirely honorable. He’s wounded, jaded, in possession of her letters… and ready to make good on every promise Maddie never expected to keep.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

“I don’t like historical books,” I say constantly. “If it’s not contemporary, I don’t like it.”

But I’ve heard a lot of good things about Tessa Dare. I felt like I should at least try one, right?

Immediately upon finishing the first chapter of this book, I knew that I was in love with this main character. The book opens with Maddie writing a letter to her fake fiance, explaining (even though she doesn’t think anyone will actually read her letters) that she has developed a fake fiance to get out of debuting for a season in London. She then ends the letter with a drawing of a snail.

How do you not fall in love with a girl who ends her letters with doodles of snails?

But her cute writing doesn’t end there. I also loved how she gave her fake fiance nicknames, such as “Captain MacPillow” when she talks about using a heated pillow as a stand-in for him, or “Captain MacEnvy” when he’s jealous.

Honestly, how could I not like this book when the beginning was so cute?

Both the main characters were really nice to read about, from Maddie having anxiety in crowded spaces to Logan wanting to give his soldier friends a nice place to stay after the horrors of war. They felt real and easy to care about, which probably also contributed to my high rating of this book.

I don’t like historicals, but now I don’t know. Maybe I’m reading the wrong historicals.

The Prince and The Dressmaker by Jen Wang | A Review

Paris, at the dawn of the modern age:
Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride―or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia―the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion!
Sebastian’s secret weapon (and best friend) is the brilliant dressmaker Frances―one of only two people who know the truth: sometimes this boy wears dresses. But Frances dreams of greatness, and being someone’s secret weapon means being a secret. Forever. How long can Frances defer her dreams to protect a friend?

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I have a friend who read this book a few years ago and recommended it to me. Since we’ve been friends for over 10 years, I didn’t question why exactly she recommended it and just put it on my list of things to read.

50 pages into this comic, I knew exactly why she recommended it to me.

In case we’ve never met: Hi! I’m Kit. I’m nonbinary.

The prince in this book, from what I have seen in his speech, seems to be genderfluid.

He never actually uses this term himself. But from the things he says, the label seems to be the best way to describe how he sometimes feels completely comfortable in his role as a prince, but sometimes wishes he was a princess instead.

I really loved this comic. It was very wholesome and accepting. At no point does Frances question Sebastian’s feelings, and while there is a bit of a struggle with his parents, it does have a happy ending.

I generally tend to have a problem with pacing in comics, so I also feel the need to point out that I didn’t have a problem with this comic. Everything felt well spaced out, and the comic had the time to tell its story in the amount of pages it contained.

I had to take a second to lay down and stare at the ceiling for a bit after finishing this comic, and I know it’s going to be a favorite for years to come.

Sherwood by Meagan Spooner | A Review

Robin of Locksley is dead.
Maid Marian doesn’t know how she’ll go on, but the people of Locksley town, persecuted by the Sheriff of Nottingham, need a protector. And the dreadful Guy of Gisborne, the Sheriff’s right hand, wishes to step into Robin’s shoes as Lord of Locksley and Marian’s fiancé.
Who is there to stop them?
Marian never meant to tread in Robin’s footsteps—never intended to stand as a beacon of hope to those awaiting his triumphant return. But with a sweep of his green cloak and the flash of her sword, Marian makes the choice to become her own hero: Robin Hood.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Recommended For: Everyone. Please read this book. I loved it so much.

So I may be an idiot.

I saw the cover of this book.

I read the back, which includes key words such as “Robin of Locksley”, “Maid Marian”, “Sherriff of Nottingham”, and I had no idea what this book was going to be about. I just saw a cute girl archer on the front and knew I wanted to read it.

And then I opened this book. And oh. It’s a Robin Hood retelling.

To be fair, I haven’t seen any Robin Hood-related media since I was a toddler. I don’t know my Robin Hood lore.

Therefore, I cannot tell you if this is a good retelling. But I can tell you this is a good book.

One of the first things that really surprised me in this book is that Robin dies within the first few pages. Yes, it says so on the back. No, I’m not smart. We’ve been over this.

Instead of Robin coming up with this myth and character of Robin Hood, it is actually Marian, who is just trying to help her maid’s brother not get arrested and just so happens to be wearing her dead fiance’s cloak. Suddenly, Robin’s death is questioned, and this version of him who is helping those in need is born.

One of my favorite things about this book is Marian’s support system she gathers along the way. Of course, we have the Merry Men, the boys who are helping her help the poor with these heists. But there are also smaller, background characters who show their support for Marian and keep her identity a secret.

I also really enjoyed Gisborne and his eventual relationship with Marian. I’ve read someone else’s review saying they were a really big fan of Robin Hood and they hated this book because of Marian getting together with Gisborne, but I loved their slowburn. I was a big supporter of it early on, and I was happy to watch their relationship develop over the course of this novel.

(Even though they stressed me out near the ending with the things they did for each other.)

If there’s one thing I can say I didn’t like about this book, it’s the formatting. Occasionally, we get scenes in Robin’s point of view before he died. These pages have a gradient on them; dark grey fading into white. While it’s an easy way to see that we are getting Robin’s point of view, I have to ask whose bright idea it was to put back text on dark grey paper. Nothing says making sure readers love the book you’re publishing like making it harder to read for no reason.

In all, though, I really enjoyed this book, and I really hope more people pick it up.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton | A Review

Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I was obsessed with this book as I was reading it.

One of the very first things readers see when they open the book is a cast list disguised as an invitation to the party that takes place over the entirety of this book. As a joke, I copied down every character on the list and crossed off a few I knew couldn’t have been Evelyn Hardcastle’s killer as I got to the hints.

Then I got very into playing along.

I was actually very surprised when I first opened this book to find that it was historical fiction. I’m not sure why it didn’t jump out at me from the description on the back of the book, but I wasn’t expecting to find a story that didn’t take place during more modern times.

One thing that was slightly annoying about this book was how we, as readers, know that the main character is supposed to be solving Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder, but the main character is not told this until his third go around. There is a large section of the main character being confused and just going around the manor, wasting time he could be spending solving the mystery, simply because he doesn’t know what we as readers know from the beginning.

I was also disappointed by the fact that every “host” the main character wakes up in is male. With so many female characters, I wanted him to wake up in a female body at least once, but every new body ended up being another male.

Anyway, the plot of this book is very convoluted, and there was a lot I was not expecting. I loved both the actual mystery behind Evelyn Hardcastle’s death and the sort of “game” the main character had to play in order to solve the mystery, and this book was definitely the best book I’ve read all month.

Sky In The Deep by Adrienne Young | A Review

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.
Faced with her brother’s betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.
She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Oops! This book focuses on one of my guilty pleasures!

There is something about the plot of girls being sold in a market and being bought to save her from a worse fate by the love interest who hates the girl at the moment, but later grows to like her as the story progresses that I just really love. Is it because it really shows off that “jerk with a heart of gold” trope? I sure hope so!

It’s also a very specific plotline, so I didn’t expect to see it again.

This book was super fast to get through and really held my interest for the entire book. In all actuality, the plot focuses on two enemy warrior villages needing to band together in order to defeat a common threat, but I really enjoyed the relationship between all of the characters. Not only the evolving relationship between Eelyn and Fiske, as expected, but also the relationship between Eelyn and her brother, who betrayed her after he was presumed dead five years before the book starts. This book really focuses on finding your own family, especially from Eelyn and her brother’s experiences with the enemy warriors, and I loved the journey the characters took as they learned their neighbors weren’t as bad as they thought they were.