Sunday, February 28, 2021

Cover Runway Sunday

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon! Some are by authors I already enjoy, some are the reason I gave the book a longer look. Either way, they're all going to find their way here! 

Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.

Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose—selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.

With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating exploration of women rebelling against a man’s world, the destructive force of revenge and the remarkable ways that women can save each other despite the barrier of time.
 


HAPPY READING!!

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about what we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.


The small town of Pickman Flats offers a bright sunny place filled with quaint shopping and wine tasting. But underneath the town's inviting exterior lies a dark underbelly, a sinister element that lurks in the shadows.

Clare is a devoted vegan who goes to Catholic high school, is fastidious in her manner, and also, well, a killer. The Other Clare takes over at the most inopportune of times. She tries to keep her inner beast at bay, but it's hard when there are so many creeps around who help to unleash it.

What secret lies hidden beneath Pickman Flats? And who is Clare really?

If you want answers, well…there’s only one way to find out—even if it kills you.

Slay Responsibly,
XOXO Clare

Why I'm Waiting: Because this sounds like a wild ride.

HAPPY READING!!

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

New Release Tuesday


Discover 50 fascinating tales of female pirates, fraudsters, gamblers, bootleggers, serial killers, madams, and outlaws in this illustrated book of lawbreaking and legendary women throughout the ages.

Many of us are familiar with the popular slogan “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” But that adage is taken to the next level in this book, which looks at women from the past who weren’t afraid to break the law or challenge gender norms. From pirates to madams, gamblers to bootleggers, and serial killers to outlaws, women throughout the ages haven’t always decided to be sugar, spice, and everything nice.

In Lawbreaking Ladies, author Erika Owen tells the stories of 50 remarkable women whose rebellious and often criminal acts ought to solidify their place in history, including:
- The swashbuckling pirate Ching Shih
- “Queen of the Bootleggers” Gloria de Casares
- The Prohibition-era gangster Stephanie Saint-Clair
- And a band of prisoners who came to be known as the Goree Girls


My review for Lawbreaking Ladies, can be found here!


HAPPY READING!!

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Cover Runway Sundays

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon! Some are by authors I already enjoy, some are the reason I gave the book a longer look. Either way, they're all going to find their way here! 


Seventeen-year-old Valeria is one of the only survivors of the freeze, a dark magical hold Knnot Mountain unleashed over her village. Everyone, including her family, is trapped in an unbreakable sheet of ice. Ever since, she’s been on the run from the Czar, who is determined to imprison any who managed to escape. Valeria finds refuge with the Thieves Guild, doing odd jobs with her best friend Alik, the only piece of home she has left.

That is, until he is brutally murdered.

A year later, she discovers Alik is alive and being held against his will. To buy his freedom, she must lead a group of cutthroats and thieves on a perilous expedition to the very mountain that claimed her family. Only something sinister slumbers in the heart of Knnot.

And it has waited years for release.


HAPPY READING!!

Saturday, February 20, 2021

Babysitter - Review

Author: Liza Rodman & Jennifer Jordan
Genre: True Crime
Format: Ebook
Pages: 352

Going into this I didn't know much about the case around Tony Costa, just that he was in fact a convicted serial killer. Which was one of the reasons I wanted to read this. I was also interested because it held the story of Liza Rodman who spent her summers around Costa during the time he was actively killing people. All of that made for something I was really was excited about, and The Babysitter was one of my most anticipated reads of the first half of 2021.

Unfortunately, this one let me down in the end.

I will say this, Jennifer Jordan dows a lot of research around the case that was built around Tony Costa and his life leading up to him becoming a serial killer. There is a lot of information presented in three hundred pages, and a lot of work was put into that. I did learn a lot about the case. I also really liked that both Tony and Liza's stories were told together through the timeline. It gave two different views of the world at that time.

However, that being said after a while having the chapters go back and forth between Tony and Liza quickly become an info dump. So much information is being laid at your feet, that by the I got to the last few chapters I had forgotten the first couple of victims. This bothers me because for me with a true-crime I want these stories to be more about the victims than the serial killer themselves. I want to remember their names and what was done to them. I want to feel for them, but it was hard to have an emotion other than disgust. Between the things Costa was doing and the life, Liza Rodman had to live.

Personally, I feel like the short chapters didn't help either. It would have been nice if the book was split in years so the timeline was a little more upfront. 

I also felt a little bad for Liza because I feel like this book aired a lot of her dirty laundry in a way. She had a hard childhood, and I'm not really sure we needed to know all of that. I thought it was going to be her story about spending summers with Costa at the RC, but it was more about her struggles growing up that included Costa a handful of times. 

Also, while I don't mind books getting gruesome with blood and gore. It just didn't feel needed here. Yes, what Costa did to these women was terrible, but I feel like there was a better way to handle those moments. 

I just put this book down a lot, and for something barely over three hundred pages, it took me most of the month. A few days have passed and I realized I didn't really retain any of the information in the book, just that I'm really disappointed this wasn't as good as I wanted it to be.

Thanks to Netgalley for an early copy of The Babysitter, this has been my honest opinion of this book.


HAPPY READING!!

Friday, February 19, 2021

Mini Reviews


I'm a massive fan of Sarah Anderson, and Fangs didn't disappoint. This is a cute love story between a vampire and a werewolf. It starts with them meeting in a bar and follows them until they moved in together. The artwork is different from Sarah's Scribbles, but it's still very much Anderson's work. The cover is fantastic and I love the black sprayed edges. I borrowed this from the library, but after reading this my roommate added it to her collection

This was alright. I really liked the first volume, but this was just okay. For the Wild West setting Severin's artwork was gritty and fitting for the story. I just wasn't really invested in the story. The story started off strong with Sir Edward looking for a friend, but it got weird pretty quick. The interaction in the saloon didn't make much sense, or really what happened in the church. All the pieces felt disjointed. That being said it wasn't terrible, but not nearly as good as the first volume.


HAPPY READING!!

Thursday, February 18, 2021

Book Mail

I have missed being able to use this gif! Maybe I need to start doing more book mail posts as an excuse to use it more. Anyway, so I've been eyeing a book box for about a year going back and forth about whether or not I wanted to sign up for it. Every month the boxes looked amazing, I've been wanting to read more horror books, but I know I'm such a picky reader. So for about a year, a weighed my options, and then the February Box: Love Games sounded so good I couldn't resist. 

So I waited and waited, and then waited because USPS is still so overwhelmed. Then finally it got here, and it was one hundred percent worth the wait. So what's this book box and what was inside? Behold the photos I took.


Let's start with the books! I haven't heard of any of these, but they all sound amazing! Westeria Cottage is going on my Fall TBR, and Tiny Nightmares is a freaking BINGO book. The Pink Cover square has been a thorn in my side since I added it to the board. Antioch is a debut so I've got no idea what to expect. So I'm hoping to get to it sooner rather than later. It sounds really good. 

As for everything in the goodies bag: I'm not sure which I love the most. The stick is adorable, Moonstruck is my favorite hot chocolate brand, and the bookmarks are really cool. One even has a little vampire bat on the tassel! So I'm really impressed with the box and excited to see what the March Box: Thrills and Chills is going to bring!

Synopsis of each book:
Tiny Nightmares:
In this playful, spine-tingling collection, leading literary and horror writers spin unforgettably chilling tales in only a few pages. Tiny Nightmares brings to life broken-hearted vampires, Uber-taking serial killers, mind-reading witches, and monsters of all imaging, as well as stories that tackle the horrors of our modern world from global warming and racism to social media addiction and online radicalization. Writers such as Samantha Hunt, Brian Evenson, Jac Jemc, Stephen Graham Jones, Kevin Brockmeier, and Rion Amilcar Scott expand our understanding of horror fiction with inventive and blood-curdling new tales. We suggest reading with the hall light on and the bedroom door open just a crack. 

Antioch:
Antioch used to be a quiet small town where nothing bad ever happened. Now six women have been savagely murdered. The media dubs the killer “Vlad the Impaler” due to the gruesome crime scenes of his victims. Clues are drying up fast and the hunt for the monster responsible is hitting a dead end.

After picking up a late-night transmission on her short-wave radio, a local bookseller named Bess becomes convinced a seventh victim has already been abducted. Bess is used to spending her nights alone reading about Amelia Earhart conspiracy theories, and now a new mystery has fallen in her lap: one she might actually be able to solve.

Assuming she doesn’t also wind up abducted.

Westeria Cottage:
To Florence Hackett and her daughters Elinor and Louisa, Richard Baurie, a handsome young bookstore clerk and aspiring poet, seems a little odd but harmless enough. With his amusing conversation and his eager-to-please attitude, Richard works his way into the Hacketts’ confidence until he is almost one of the family. When he suggests they rent Wisteria Cottage, a charming seaside residence, it seems to promise a summer of pleasant companionship and fun. What the Hacketts don’t know is that Richard is a deeply troubled individual, recently released from a mental institution and that their relaxing summer holiday will soon turn into a terrifying nightmare....

Anyone else getting any book boxes they love? Any genre-specific ones? While I'm liking Night Worms, I don't want to get bored with it. So in a few months, I might want to get a different box. Drop me a comment below if I should look into another box!

HAPPY READING!!

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about what we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

Sophia's first memory is of drowning. She remembers the darkness of the water and the briny taste as it fills her throat. She remembers the cold shock of going under. She remembers her mother pulling her to safety before disappearing forever. But Sophia has never been in the ocean. And her mother died years ago in a hospital. Or so she has been told her whole life.

A series of clues have led Sophia to the island of Bitter Rock, Alaska, where she talked her way into a summer internship at the Landon Avian Research Center, the same center her mother worked at right before she died. There, she meets the disarmingly clever Liam, whose own mother runs the LARC, as well as Abby, who's following a mystery of her own: a series of unexplained disappearances. People have been vanishing from Bitter Rock for decades, leaving only their ghostly echoes behind. When it looks like their two mysteries might be one and the same, Sophia vows to dig up the truth, no matter how many lies she has to tell along the way. Even if it leads her to a truth she may not want to face.



Why I'm Waiting: I'm always down for a thriller based in Alaska.

HAPPY READING!!

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

New Release Tuesday


Ren Kolins is a silver wielder—a dangerous thing to be in the kingdom of Erdis, where magic has been outlawed for a century. Ren is just trying to survive, sticking to a life of petty thievery, card games, and pit fighting to get by. But when a wealthy rebel leader discovers her secret, he offers her a fortune to join his revolution. The caveat: she won’t see a single coin until they overthrow the King.

Behind the castle walls, a brutal group of warriors known as the King’s Children is engaged in a competition: the first to find the rebel leader will be made King’s Fang, the right hand of the King of Erdis. And Adley Farre is hunting down the rebels one by one, torturing her way to Ren and the rebel leader, and the coveted King’s Fang title.

But time is running out for all of them, including the youngest Prince of Erdis, who finds himself pulled into the rebellion. Political tensions have reached a boiling point, and Ren and the rebels must take the throne before war breaks out.


HAPPY READING!!

Monday, February 15, 2021

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

Author: Holly Jackson
Genre: Young Adult / Mystery
Format: Paperback
Pages: 390
This one was a hard one for me to rate because there was a lot I liked about the book at the start, but the last maybe eighty pages are so kind of ruined this for me. A part of me thought about giving this a lower star, but after sitting with it a few days I realized that I didn't hate a large portion of the book. There were only one or two things that I didn't like toward the end.

What I will say is this book makes it so easy for me to play along with the investigation. I had tabs running through this books about theories that our main character Pip maybe didn't think about, or that half handed comments made me think about. It was one of my favorite things about this book is the mystery was solid enough, and the clues obvious enough that as you read you start to build the picture around Pip and Ravi's investigation.

For me, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is set up like a Veronic Mars episode if Veronica had better mental health. Our main character Pip is a "good girl": homework done on time, great friends, rarely in serious trouble. And I fully believe that this project to try to prove Sal was innocent wasn't meant to derail like it had. I think Pip's intentions at the start were to cast a shadow over the story the police and news media threw over the story. However, sometimes good intentions aren't enough, and I liked that at some point that Pip realized maybe "good" wasn't what she was anymore.

I also really liked that as Pip worked on her personal essay she started to realize that. That we got to see that this case, or "investigation", was changing her and while she wasn't sure what that meant she was walking away from it. Mostly because, while "good" wasn't what Pip was, she wasn't turning "bad" by any means. She still cared about the people around her.

The story itself was solid up until a point. I thought it moved quickly but didn't leave me behind to wonder how we got from point A to point B. I really liked that Pip got it wrong a lot and wasn't just instantly good at this. Yes, I fully believe that a lot of this wouldn't happen in real life, but for sake of the fiction part of this, I let it slide. Like I mention this could have easily been an episode of Veronica Mars, and I wasn't mad about that. I also wasn't mad about the actual ending of the story. It answered a couple of questions I had right out of the gate, and while it wasn't the solid happy ending a lot of people wanted, it felt right to me.

Now, the thing I could have done without. Honestly the whole section with Mr. Ward. While I won't go into details because of spoilers for those who haven't read the book. I honestly really could have done without it. For me, it all sort of felt like filler. rushed, and disjointed. Almost like the pieces nearly fit but didn't quite match up. I know the point was to explain away a party of the mystery, but I feel like there was maybe better ways to explain it away. Like with Mr. Bell maybe. I don't know, while I understood where Holly Jackson was going with this part of the story, it didn't feel like it belonged to the story. It seems like such a small thing, but with that part of the story line up with the rest of the ending, it's hard to look past.

I'm not sure if I'll pick up the next book in the series. There were a lot of things to enjoy in this book, really, and I see why people love it. Just that one little piece is annoying me. Maybe I'll snag it from the library. I liked Pip and Ravi as characters, liked their friendship. This was a quick and mostly enjoyable read.


HAPPY READING!!



Sunday, February 14, 2021

Cover Runway Sunday

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon! Some are by authors I already enjoy, some are the reason I gave the book a longer look. Either way, they're all going to find their way here! 

Priya worked hard to pursue her premed dreams at Stanford, but a diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease during her sophomore year sends her back to her loving but overbearing family in New Jersey—and leaves her wondering if she’ll ever be able to return to the way things were. Thankfully she has her online pen pal, Brigid, and the rest of the members of “oof ouch my bones,” a virtual support group that meets on Discord to crack jokes and vent about their own chronic illnesses.

When Brigid suddenly goes offline, Priya does something out of character: she steals the family car and drives to Pennsylvania to check on Brigid. Priya isn’t sure what to expect, but it isn’t the horrifying creature that's shut in the basement. With Brigid nowhere to be found, Priya begins to puzzle together an impossible but obvious truth: the creature might be a werewolf—and the werewolf might be Brigid. As Brigid's unique condition worsens, their friendship will be deepened and challenged in unexpected ways, forcing them to reckon with their own ideas of what it means to be normal.


HAPPY READING!!

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Mini Reviews


This is a case of Instagram made me read it. I've been seeing this everywhere since I created an account for Bookish Whispers, and I finally caved and picked it up from the library. I'm so glad I caved because this was absolutely adorable. Nick and Charlie are such beans, and watching them go through this first part of their journey was both beautiful and heartbreaking. I loved the artwork in this as well, each panel was wonderfully done. I've already put the next volume on hold at the library and I'm so excited that Netflix is turning this into a series.

I thought this was a lot of fun, the fantasy version of Magnum P.I. even all done to Jenner having her own version of Higgins. Each issue has its own little crime that needs to be solved and gives you a little look at the war that led to Jenner becoming a "Fairman". I also really liked the concept of the Feld, and the community had settled into what looked like a robot of some kind. Places were located in Upper Torso or Left Arm which was cool. Though I was a little let down because underneath all the jobs Jenner took in each issue, it looked like she was being watched for a bigger plot. Only there is only one mention of it the first issue, and the last. Though it's brought up in another issue you were lead to believe that leads you into the next issue. My other little issue is none of the issues follow a timeline. so there's not foreshadowing because we don't know if these jobs happened in this order, or if they are just random jobs in Jenner's life. I am bummed that this series was canceled because I did enjoy this, it was a fun and quick afternoon read. And, it ended on a slight cliffhanger.

HAPPY READING!!

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about what we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

Marjorie Glatt’s life hasn’t been the same ever since she discovered a group of ghosts hiding in her family’s laundromat. Wendell, who died young and now must wander Earth as a ghost with nothing more than a sheet for a body, soon became one of Marjorie’s only friends. But when Marjorie finally gets accepted by the popular kids at school, she begins to worry that if anyone learns about her secret ghost friends, she’ll be labeled as a freak who sees dead people. With Marjorie’s insistence on keeping Wendell’s ghost identity a secret from her new friends, Wendell begins to feel even more invisible than he already is.

Eliza Duncan feels invisible too. She’s an avid photographer, and her zealous interest in finding and photographing ghosts gets her labeled as “different” by all the other kids in school. Constantly feeling on the outside, Eliza begins to feel like a ghost herself. Marjorie must soon come to terms with the price she pays to be accepted by the popular kids. Is it worth losing her friend, Wendell? Is she partially to blame for the bullying Eliza endures?

Delicates tells a powerful story about what it means to fit in, and those left on the outside. It shows what it’s like to feel invisible, and the importance of feeling seen. Above all, it is a story of asking for help when all seems dark, and bringing help and light to those who need it most.


Why I'm Waiting: Because I adored the first book in this series, and I'm excited to see how the author is going to continue that story into a second book.

HAPPY READING!!

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

New Release Tuesday

England, 1585. In Kit Marlowe's last year at Cambridge, he receives an unexpected visitor: Queen Elizabeth's spymaster, who has come with an unorthodox career opportunity. Her Majesty's spies are in need of new recruits, and Kit's flexible moral compass has drawn their attention. Kit, a scholarship student without money or prospects, accepts the offer, and after his training the game is on. Kit is dispatched to the chilly manor where Mary, Queen of Scots is under house arrest, to act as a servant in her household and keep his ear to the ground for a Catholic plot to put Mary on the throne.

While observing Mary, Kit learns more than he bargained for. The ripple effects of his service to the Crown are far-reaching and leave Kit a changed man. But there are benefits as well. The salary he earns through his spywork allows him to mount his first play, and over the following years, he becomes the toast of London's raucous theatre scene. But when Kit finds himself reluctantly drawn back into the uncertain world of espionage, conspiracy, and high treason, he realizes everything he's worked so hard to attain--including the trust of the man he loves--could vanish before his very eyes.

Pairing modern language with period detail, Allison Epstein brings Elizabeth's privy council, Marlowe's lovable theatre troupe, and the squalor of sixteenth-century London to vivid, teeming life as Kit wends his way behind the scenes of some of Tudor history's most memorable moments. At the center of the action is Kit himself--an irrepressible, irreverent force of nature. Thrillingly written, full of poetry and danger, A Tip for the Hangman brings an unforgettable protagonist to new life, and makes a centuries-old story feel utterly contemporary.

HAPPY READING!!

Sunday, February 7, 2021

Cover Runway Sundays

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon! Some are by authors I already enjoy, some are the reason I gave the book a longer look. Either way, they're all going to find their way here

Filled to the brim with far-out facts, this wickedly informative narrative from the author of National Geographic's popular Gory Details blog takes us on a fascinating journey through an astonishing new reality. Blending humor and journalism in the tradition of Mary Roach, acclaimed science reporter Erika Engelhaupt investigates the gross, strange, and morbid absurdities of our bodies and our universe. From the research biologist who stung himself with every conceivable insect to the world's most murderous mammals, this entertaining book explores oft-ignored but alluring facets of biology, anatomy, space exploration, nature, and more. Featuring interviews with leading researchers in the field and a large dose of wit, this provocative book reveals the most intriguing real-world applications of science in all their glory.

HAPPY READING!!

Saturday, February 6, 2021

Birthday Celebration


Another year around the sun! Not much planned for the day everything considered, but there are s'mores in my future. So I can't complain about that. Also, Bookish Whispers is on Instagram, and I'm holding a flash giveaway on there in celebration. Stay safe this weekend!

HAPPY READING!!

Friday, February 5, 2021

Kingdom of the Wicked

Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Genre: Historical Fiction / Young Adult 
Format: Ebook
Pages: 372
I wanted to like this. The world-building and magic system is really cool, and the idea for the story is solid. I really liked Wrath and the set up for the Princes, but after about halfway, it all fell apart of me.  At first I hard time connecting with Emilia, even harder time recalling her name, but she started to grow on me, then I wanted to grab her by the shoulders shake her. I understand she went through something terrible and her life has just been thrown upside down. But, at some point, you have to start making a decision. The going back and forth got annoying after a while. Either do what you need to solve the mystery, step up, or walk away and be the witch your grandmother wants. The whining just got on my nerves.

My biggest worry originally for this book was the enemies to lovers. This isn't my favorite trope at all, but honestly, there didn't feel much of a romance. There was a couple of near misses and almost moments, but they were always adrenaline-filled or caused by magic. So it easy to ignore that part. However, the Chosen One trope was not. I have a love, hate relationship with that trope. I hated this one. I hate the fact that one person has all the answers and is too stubborn, or "wise" to give said Chosen Ones any info. So both the twins were left flying blind in the wind. Which makes everything that happens, in my opinion, Nonna's fault. And, instead of fixing anything or actually dealing, she tells Emilia to run toward the end of the book. 

REALY?! 

As for the mystery part of this book, like the author's series, I had it figured out fairly quickly. In fact, the mystery to solve this murder seems to take a back seat as Wrath and Emilia run around this town doing nothing but chasing their own tales, because Wrath is hiding things and Emilia is hiding things. It's pages of them circling the same point.  Though I realized the set up when the two of them go back to one of the crime scenes.

I also wasn't really happy about the ending. The author spends all this time trying to set up Wrath and Emilia and then that ending just happens. It felt rushed and not overly fleshed out. Like the book needed to end, but it needed to be a cliff hanger because there's a second book. I don't know, I wanted to like this book more than I did, but I ended up marathoning the last hundred pages just to wrap the book because I had been reading it for nearly a month.

All this said I do see why people are liking it. I did enjoy Wrath as the character and there are some solid moments that I enjoyed. The snark between Emilia and Wrath was fun, and I could see how they could start to fall for each other. Still, it felt like this book needed a bit more editing. I'm not sure I'll read the second book.


HAPPY READING!!