Adult

The Duke with the Dragon Tattoo by Kerrigan Byrne [Book Review] 15

 in Adult / Books by

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Summary

He is known only as The Rook. A man with no name, no past, no memories. He awakens in a mass grave, a magnificent dragon tattoo on his muscled forearm the sole clue to his mysterious origins. His only hope for survival―and salvation―lies in the deep, fiery eyes of the beautiful stranger who finds him. Who nurses him back to health. And who calms the restless demons in his soul…

A LEGENDARY LOVE

Lorelai will never forget the night she rescued the broken dark angel in the woods, a devilishly handsome man who haunts her dreams to this day. Crippled as a child, she devoted herself to healing the poor tortured man. And when he left, he took a piece of her heart with him. Now, after all these years, The Rook has returned. Like a phantom, he sweeps back into her life and avenges those who wronged her. But can she trust a man who’s been branded a rebel, a thief, and a killer? And can she trust herself to resist him when he takes her in his arms?

-From Amazon.com

Review

This book caught my attention on one of the stands in my library, just because it was the only romance novel on it and I haven’t read a bodice ripper book in a while. Most of the romance, if not all, that I read are by Nalini Singh, and when I say romance in this context, I’m talking about adult romance. I read fantasy romance and YA romance all the time, but I am REALLY REALLY picky about adult romance, a.k.a. erotic novels. 

Most of them have the girl needing the guy and pining after him to be saved. Like blech. If that’s your thing, then go for it, but I need me a girl who can kick butt and take names. So far I’ve only seen that in the Black Dagger Brotherhood and The Guild Hunters Series (suggestions are always welcome!).

So, I picked this book up because I hadn’t read one of these kinds in a while and I said why not.

The beginning had me a little weirded out – they were kids?!
So the first few chapters of the book were really unclear as to what was going on. I thought that the main character was an adult and was talking to the injured man, later named Ash. Turns out, she was like 14 while she was helping this dude and he was probably about 17 or something. So I was incredibly creeped out with some of the statements that Lorelei was making such as she was feeling things in her body she had never felt. Now, I get that that happens to young girls when they meet a cute guy, but writing about it for adults in a potentially sexual content made me a little weirded out. Additionally, their personalities did not match with their ages. I had no idea she was 14, especially with the way she was thinking as well as speaking until she blatantly stated that she was 14. So that kind of turned me off the book and I skipped ahead a bit until I found the adult age sections.

A little bit…rapey?
I kept getting this vibe, later on, that The Rook was kind of rapey towards Lorelei. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind when it’s like a dominant male scenario, but this, I felt, was a little beyond that. He kept saying he wanted her, kept referencing forcing her and such. But then suddenly the angle would change and it would become like they were old friends. Or that he never wanted to hurt her or something. Um, okay, you just abducted her so…that’s kind of off the table already.

Tough guy to broken and in love.
The Rook, or Ash, was this tough guy. I keep envisioning the Black Dagger Brotherhood characters – all big and muscly and scary and grrrr. But you never really got a good description of what he looked like so I just kind of made it up. He was a pirate, which was like what? And he conquered so much stuff in a short span of time and lived through all this horrible stuff. Like, okay, not terribly believable but okay. But as the book progressed, he’s like all tough and then suddenly he’s all weak and stuff and wanting her to love him. I get when someone opens up and reveals their inner heart, but it was just so sudden. One second he’s like “I’m the worst thing in the world” to “I love you Lorelie – please help me Obi-wan, you are my only hope.” Ugh, come on!

Overall, not terribly impressed.
Maybe my views have changed, and maybe my tastes as well, but overall this book was just so meh. I’ve read fanfiction with better developed stories than this. I’m sorry, it just really wasn’t my cup of tea. It was just so cringey.

As a romance story, a bodice ripper, I’m sure it’s just fine. But I don’t generally enjoy those books so it just wasn’t for me. I have ordered another one of Byrne’s book from my library to give it another chance, as just maybe this story wasn’t for me and I don’t want to hate on all of her books if I’ve only read one. But so far, I’ll stick to other genres for now.

Have you read this? Opinions?

3/5 teacups for my rating.

3 Teacups

 

Book Review: Magicians Impossible by Brad Abraham

 in Adult / Book Reviews / Books by

Summary

“Twenty-something bartender Jason Bishop’s world is shattered when his estranged father commits suicide, but the greater shock comes when he learns his father was a secret agent in the employ of the Invisible Hand; an ancient society of spies wielding magic in a centuries-spanning war. Now the Golden Dawn―the shadowy cabal of witches and warlocks responsible for Daniel Bishop’s murder, and the death of Jason’s mother years before―have Jason in their sights. His survival will depend on mastering his own dormant magic abilities; provided he makes it through the training.

From New York, to Paris, to worlds between worlds, Jason’s journey through the realm of magic will be fraught with peril. But with enemies and allies on both sides of this war, whom can he trust? The Invisible Hand, who’ve been more of a family than his own family ever was? The Golden Dawn, who may know the secrets behind his mysterious lineage? For Jason Bishop, only one thing is for certain; the magic he has slowly been mastering is telling him not to trust anybody.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

This book was a wild ride from the beginning to the end. The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that one of the more important characters had my name, and since my name is so unique, I was really really excited. So, from the beginning, I immediately was drawn into the book.

It had some slow moments – but because it’s for adults.
It did have a few moments of being slow. Like, it was a pretty big book for what the story was about. It is considered to be an adult book, so if it was a YA, some of the bits and pieces would have been cut out, so I had to keep reminding myself that it was an adult book, so it wasn’t always fast paced. It had quiet moments, which isn’t always a bad thing. Just for me, because of the story, I kept feeling like it was YA and would have to remind myself that it actually wasn’t.

The cussing was a little extreme, but it went with characters dialects.
There was a lot of cussing within the story. Like, f-bombs were flying left and right. Personally, I’m not always a fan when there is cursing in a book. If it is placed properly, then I get it, but sometimes it is just too excessive. The character was even written to call another character out on his use of foul language, which I thought was humorous, but still, a little unnecessary. It seemed that certain characters chose those words though.

Characters actually had accents.
I thought it was pretty impressive how Mr. Abraham wrote the accents of some of the characters, with their British and cockney slang and such. I’m so used to reading something like, “And X spoke with a slight British accent…” instead of their sentences actually being written in the way they would sound. It kind of helped imagine how they would speak as you were reading what they were saying. I did really love that about the book.

The spaces he created were impressive.
The author certainly does have a way with words though. He was able to create these massive spaces in such an elegant way. I had to re-read a few sections, just because the spaces he created were so massive I had to really read it deeply to fully visualize the space. It was clearly laid out in his explanation, so you didn’t need to use the imagination to fully create it, but you had to follow what he was saying otherwise you would be slightly lost in what was going on. For me, I don’t generally love overly detailed explanations, but because of what the author was trying to create within this book, the explanations were necessary to understand how the Magic worked and how it created this space. I really did think the explanations did a marvelous job!

It was definitely a page turner.
So this was one of those books that really kept me guessing. I never saw the ending coming and wouldn’t have guessed the outcome either. It was one of those books that you thought you had figured it out and then suddenly the author threw a curve ball at you and you were like ‘Ohhhhh, shietttttt’. I love when a book does that, and this book certainly did that. I wanted to fly through it to find out what happened next.

Overall, I really loved the book and would definitely recommend it!  It kept me entertained and I really did enjoy it. Would I read it again? Just possibly because it was so detailed, I might need to to relive some of the scenes.

For that, I give it a 4.5/5 teacups!

rating four tea cups mlcwo

Happy Reading!

Book Review: A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas

 in Adult / Book Reviews / Books / Fantasy / Hot Off The Press / Older Readers / Young Adult by

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book review: a court of frost and starlight by sarah j. maas

From Instagram

Purchase from B&N or Amazon!

Summary

“A companion tale to the #1 New York Times bestselling A Court of Thorns and Roses series that takes place several months after the explosive events of A Court of Wings and Ruin

Narrated by Feyre and Rhysand, this story bridges the events in A Court of Wings and Ruin and the upcoming novels in the series.
Feyre, Rhys and their companions are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it a hard-earned reprieve. Yet even the festive atmosphere can’t keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated – scars that will have a far-reaching impact on the future of their court.”

-From sarahjmaas.com

 

Review

book review: a court of frost and starlight by sarah j. maas

From Instagram

Once again, I am happily surprised with this series. I was a little disappointed as it was so short. It is smaller than ACOTAR, so I was kind of curious how the story was going to continue. But as I started to read, I realized that this book wasn’t actually a continuation of the story, but more of a light filler to show what they were doing in their off time. It was a deviation from the story, which isn’t bad, but not exactly what I was expecting. That being said, I did really enjoy it.

I’m always a little confused what age range this book falls into, because it is YA, but I would say mature YA. The story itself is perfectly fine, but some of the love scenes are a lot for younger YA, so I classify it as mature YA. In that area, it fits perfectly!

POWERCOUPLE GOALS!
First off, I just have to say how much I love these two. They’re honestly so strong and powerful. Feyre is such a fantastic character. A strong woman and doesn’t take prisoners. Then you have Rhysand who is protective and wants the best for Feyre, but knows when to step back and let her do her thing. The two of them together could rule the universe. They also have the best Court of friends who support them. I mean these characters are all completely unique and Feyre and Rhys are the best….I can’t stop with how much I love the two of them. You get to really see their dynamic in this book and the struggles that each of them are facing, alone, but together.

The Court of Dreams by Charlie-Bowater Deviant Art

Side stories give you another perspective.
I do love side stories though, where it’s more of a novella, because you get to see another side of the characters and you’re just reading about the characters being themselves. It just expands the characters to let you see another side of them that the main story line might not be able to cover. I do like when that is done because I feel that a single chapter within a book doesn’t do the characters justice. Sure, it can give you a glimpse, but having a side book that is completely different is refreshing.

Chapters changed between characters.
I am personally not a fan of when authors do this. I like to immerse myself in the book, so when a chapter is suddenly in someone else’s POV, I really do struggle to figure out what is going on and where they are, and then I have to remember who exactly is being covered within this chapter. I know that some readers really enjoy that, as it gives you more perspectives, but when every chapter is a different characters POV, I feel like I’m being jostled around a little bit and spending the entire time figuring out where and who, I am.

Overall really happy and going to re-read soon!
I loved this book. I’m really excited for the next one (there is another one right?) and I’ll be re-reading again soon. I read it so fast the first time as I was excited and now I can actually sit down and read it and digest it properly.


book review: a court of frost and starlight by sarah j. maas

This book gets 4.5/5 teacups. It only doesn’t get 5 teacups as it’s a side story and I wasn’t expecting that, also the jumping around, but still, it’s one of my favorites!
rating four tea cups mlcwo

HAPPY READING!

Literary Gift for the 21 and Older

 in Adult / Books / Creative / Food / Fun / Humorous / Interesting / Older Readers by

I know that it’s a little late now, that Christmas is over, but I had to share this fantastic book that I got for my birthday earlier this month! It’s perfect for any time of the year and if you have a book lover in your life that is turning 21 soon, or is an adult and you just need a creative gift, then I have the perfect gift suggestion for you!

Literary Gift for the 21 and Older

The book is called Tequila Mockingbird and it’s all of this different kinds of cocktails with a literary twist! I mean it honestly doesn’t get much more creative than that! It’s perfect with the collection of different kinds of drinks in it!

It has pictures from the books that the drinks are based off of and then besides the ingredients on how to make the drink, there are witty little captions that go alone with the instructions!

The books is broken into a few sections: ladies, gentlemen, non-alcoholic, warm and some food that you can make that is based off of books as well (I believe that is all the sections). There are also drinking games at at the end which are literary based and absolutely fantastic!!

They have drinking games for when you’re alone, such as taking a shot every time that you find that you committed a sin in the bible, starting at Genesis to group drinking games that take place in the library. Whether they are made up or not, it’s still so funny!

I really do suggest this book as a gift for an adult book lover in your life because it’s hilarious and so creative!

It also looks beautiful on your bookself.

Purchase it here or here!

Happy Reading (or drinking)!