Another month - even more books read! I don't know about you, but I can't believe that there are only five months left in this year! So many books and so little time; isn't that always the way things go?
From Blood & Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout - Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy's life has been been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.
The entire kingdom's future rests on Poppy's shoulders, something she's not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.
Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of the cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidder and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐of five - Another fantasy/romantasy series to escape into; I am loving it! This series has elements that are common to so many fantasy series, with some tweaks here and there. The characters are unique and likeable; I especially love Poppy, and since this is her story - I can't wait to see how it all unfolds!
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin - It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children - four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness - sneak out to hear their fortunes.
The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11; and bookish Carya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality.
The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐of five - A good read; a quick read, but not one of my favorite reads. I liked the premise but didn't love the exact way the story unfolded and if I'm being honest - I didn't find the characters very loveable either. It's hard for me to get into a story if I don't connect with the characters and I think that was a big issue here.
A Kingdom of Flesh & Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout - Everything Poppy has ever believed in is a lie, including the man she was falling in love with. Thrust among those who see her as a symbol of a monstrous kingdom, she barely knows who she is without the veil of the Maiden. But what she does know is that nothing is as dangerous to her as him. The Dark One. The Prince of Atlantia. He wants her to fight him, and that's one order she's more than happy to obey. He may have taken her, but he will never have her.
Unrest has grown in Atlantia as they await the return of their Prince. Whispers of war have become stronger and Poppy is at the very heart of it all. The King wants to use her to send a message. The Descenters want her dead. The wolven are growing more unpredictable. And as her abilities to feel pain and emotion begin to grow and strengthen, the Atlantians start to fear her. Dark secrets are at play, ones steeped in the blood-drenched sins of two kingdoms that would do anything to keep the truth hidden. But when the earth begins to shake, and the skies start to bleed, it may already be too late.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐of five - Book Two in the Blood & Ash series; this one was just as interesting as the first and continued to build the lore and the world the story is set in. I enjoyed that this book expanded on the world that the story is set in, and allowed the reader to learn more about the land and the people that populate the book... and what a cliffhanger it ended on!
Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole - In a mortal world colonized by the gods and ruled over by the Descended, their cruel offspring, Diem Bellator yearns to escape the insular life of her poor village. Her mother's sudden disappearance - and the discovery of a dangerous secret about her past - offer Diem an unexpected opportunity to enter the dark world of Descended royalty and unlock the web of mysteries her mother left behind.
With the dying King's handsome, mysterious heir watching her every move, and a ruthless mortal alliance recruiting her to join the growing civil war, Diem will have to navigate the unwritten rules of loves, power and politics in order to save her family - and all of mortalkind.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐of five - Another fantasy/romantasy; do we see a pattern here? I scooped this up on Audible and "read" it in about five days! And this book absolutely ended on a huge cliffhanger - so huge that I ended up purchasing book two at Miss Willa's Bookshop and diving into it pretty quickly! I love the world-building and the characters here and I am fascinated to see how this all plays out!
Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez - There might be no such thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes - all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there's nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong...
...unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date - possibly the best in living history - Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.
Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life - and even a love - worth remembering.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐of five - I could not have loved this book more! Abby Jimenez writes the best romance books/romantic comedy style books and this one was no exception! The characters were so loveable, the storyline was great and the character's struggles felt so real to life - and y'all, the end almost made me weep with happiness. Such a fabulous book and a feel good read!
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I started two additional books late in this month; one on Audible and one in my hands, ha-ha! I have had the book The Things We Cannot Say on Audible for ages and finally decided to get it "read". And I immediately dove into Glow of the Everflame as soon as I finished Say You'll Remember Me and I can't lie - I'm already almost halfway through it, and it's just as good - if not better than the first.
