As a bit of a change up, I picked up “Match Making for Psychopaths” by Tasha Coryell, a book that my partner gifted me for Christmas. The title itself was intriguing, the blurb was filled with promises of heartbreak, betrayal, romance and murder! I mean, what more could a girl want?
As always, spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk!
This book follows matchmaker Lexie, who has the most heartbreaking experience on her birthday. Her best friend takes her shopping for a birthday dress, she shows up to dinner to find her fiancé and her best friend (wearing a very similar dress by the way) announcing their affair and the end of her engagement. Her fiancé didn’t even remember that it was her birthday! But her so called best friend sure knew, what a heartless move! Lexie leaves dramatically and gets drunk at a bar, then a party and then a hotel room with a dark mysterious man who she confessed all of her deep dark secrets to. Secrets that no one, not even her fiancé, knew about.
Lexie spends her day job working at a matchmaking service, her specialty, helping psychopaths find love. Lexie has a deep understanding of what makes psychopaths tick, yes her psychology degree helps with that but her personal experience has given her more insight than anything else…her parents were serial killers, and very famous ones at that. Lexie spends her time pretending that they don’t exist, and proving that she is nothing like them. However, her perfectly crafted little world begins to fall apart when she the mysterious man shows up as a client at her work, and that he exhibits psychopathic traits and has developed an obsession with her. She also develops an overly friendly connection with another client, a woman who is also a psychopath. Safe to say, Lexie is just drowning in psychopaths from start to finish!
As the story goes on, we find out that there is so much more to Lexie than just her childhood trauma and her excessive need to be boringly normal, especially when body parts start being dropped at her house. So, what does a person do when they discovers a grisly piece of someone that has been horrible cut away from them? Bury it in the woods of course! I have to admit, while the book wasn’t a fast paced book like I prefer, I found the different facets of Lexie’s character engaging and amusing, especially as you find out more and more about her past and her parents.
While not an action packed mystery, I found the scenes and actions of characters engaging and the storyline entertaining. I especially love how the romantic interest in the mysterious man did not take centre stage in the story, instead it complemented Lexie’s character growth and acceptance of who she is, which carried on to the very last page.
It was an amusing read, and good for a change of pace if you’re looking for one. Just a warning for those of you looking for spice, there is none! All closed door and implied, no explicit details what so ever.
I just finished the second instalment of the Dream Harbour series by Laurie Gilmore, “The Cinnamon Bun Book Store”. The first book, “The Pumpkin Spice Cafe”, was such an adorable story and totally hit home for me that I couldn’t resist reading the next book. It was a fun and adorable read for a Saturday with an iced coffee!
As always, spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk!
This book follows book store manager, Hazel Kelly, who is two months away from her thirtieth birthday and is feeling as though she has not achieved much in her life, especially the idea of fun. That is until she discovers that someone has been leaving defaced books in the romance section, specifically highlighted sentences that remind Hazel of particular moments in her life. She tries to ignore it, but ends up drunk in a blueberry garden as a result of her first clue. Then queue in the love interest! Noah is a local fisherman tour guide during the summer, a bar tender during the winter, and a playboy for tourists year round. That is until Hazel catches his eye, he’s been systematically buying romance novels from her store in an attempt to get her attention, while also expanding his romantic notions based on her recommendations.
Hazel tells him about the books, thinking it was him but Noah denies any involvement. Instead, he offers to help her follow the clues from the books and have a summer of fun before she hits her thirty year old milestone. Noah believes that she asked him because he knows how to have casual fun, based entirely on his reputation as the tourist playboy, but Noah soon realises that this summer will not end in casual fun but perhaps with his own broken heart. Little does he know, Hazel is also facing this concern, no matter how much she tries to convince herself that it will never happen. Such a typical romance, but it was just so adorable to read! Let’s not forget the spice for those of you who love that in a romance, nothing too kinky but definitely spicy.
Anyways, the romance aside. Hazel and Noah embark on all sorts of adventures around the town based on her book clues: the beach, the carnival, sailing etc. and not to mention the amusing interactions between them and the other small town characters. I have to say, Laurie Gilmore has an amazing talent for developing and showing relationships between characters, she makes it so real and relatable. I think that’s what I love about this series the most, how real the relationships are.
If you are after a fun loving small town romance, I highly recommend the Dream harbour series.
I have to admit, I finished reading “Alchemised” three days ago and it’s taken me that long to try and work out how I was going to write about it on here, especially since I have some very mixed feelings about it. So, my first heads up is that my view on this book may be quite controversial for some people, so please don’t take it to heart, everyone has their own views and opinions that are different to others.
As always, spoilers ahead! Continue at your own risk! And I mean, some actual significant spoilers this time.
When this book came out, I was so excited to read it, especially since Kmart had the sprayed edge copy for a fantastic price! The blurb on the back completely hooked me: a world of alchemical magic, war, amnesia, potential morally grey love interest – totally my bag! Not to mention the art that was popping up on instagram, it looked amazing!
First of all, the world building was great! You’ve got a post-war world fuelled by traditional alchemical magic, which is something not a lot of authors write about and it completely caught my interest. It definitely gave off some “Babel” vibes by R.F. Kuang, which was a really good sign. Then you had the industrial additions such as motor cars, and stasis tubes to fill in the various parts of the story which I thought was well done. This brings me to the context of the world, there was a devastating war between different types of alchemists, and of course there was the motivation of eternal life and power for those to join the “dark side” and eventually the good guys lost. Their leaders were brutally executed and the resistance fighters were forced into a form of slavery and their powers nullified by cuffs that ran through their wrists.
Queue the main character, Helena Marino was a part of the resistance as a healer who had attended the alchemy tower for her studies before the war, she joined the resistance due to her friendship with their leader, plus she was a foreigner and didn’t really have anywhere else to go. We find out that something was done to her to force her to be conscious while in the stasis tube, then she woke up when she wasn’t suppose to and the scientists running the tubes realise that there was no record of her being put in stasis. In fact, she was recorded as being one of the dead int he final battle of the war. We also find out that Helena has no memory of the last fourteen months of the war, and that an Animancer had somehow managed to completely alter her mind and hide away her memories, which was believed to be completely impossible without the subject dying. It was believed that her hidden memories held some important information from the resistance, so she is sent by the high necromancer to the high reeve to have her memories extracted.
Time for the main male character, Kaine Ferron, who was also a student at the alchemy tower started the war by killing the resistance leader’s father (who was in charge of the city) and then became the high reeve, the necromancer’s right hand who did all of his dirty work. Helena is sent to him to have her mind ripped through and her memories recovered, which becomes and very painful and dangerous process, so dangerous that Ferron can only attempt it once a month to prevent Helena from dying. Their relationship is dark and abusive, however, you see the occasional act of tenderness from Ferron which is quickly stamped out by his rage and hate of Helena and the resistance.
Helena attempts to find ways to kill herself to protect whatever hidden information is in her mind, but Dr Stroud makes repeated visits to keep her healthy and repairing her body from the stasis tank. After a visit to the necromancer, Helena and Ferron discover that Helena was in fact the Animancer who had rewired her own brain to hide her memories after a bombing that should have killed her, a bombing that she had apparently set off. It turns out, that even though Helena wears the cuffs to prevent her using her magic, her power has been used internally since the bombing and has been consistently keeping her memories hidden even with the cuffs. Helena begins to be plagued with dreams that don’t make sense to her, the recent papers show that Stroud had developed a breeding program to ensure the birth of alchemists that the population had limited supply to due to the war. She plans to use the resistance survivors with alchemical abilities to repopulate the city with more alchemists, much to Helena’s horror especially when she finds out that the women were in fact being raped by ruling classes of the town. That part I found disturbing, I know that with war and often with post-war situations that rape is a factor that occurs, however considering that this world have developed stasis tubes to keep people alive, I would have thought that there would have been some form of artificial insemination that was developed.
Anyways, continuing on. After another visit from Stroud, Helena finds out Stroud had been reversing the sterilisation process that Helena was forced to do to join return to the Alchemy Tower. This was due to her power as a Vivimancer, someone who could alter the human mind and body to the point of necromancy, and a power that everyone at the time feared due to the high necromancer. Stroud had managed to make her fertile again without Helena or Ferron knowing, she claimed it was to ensure the birth of an animancer for the high necromancer’s use as a vessel. Helena was naturally horrified of being sent back to the city and being raped until she got pregnant, however, Stroud said that she must get pregnant by Ferron as he was also an animancer and that would ensure the baby’s alchemical power developing into animancy. Helena had to choose between being raped by multiple complete strangers, or just by Ferron, which to me is just a horrible decision to have to make. Helena chooses to stay and forces herself to endure the rape, while Ferron’s reactions before and after seem to indicate that he is not a willing participant and is as much forced into this as she is. I will say that SenLinYu’s presentation of the rape scenes were done very delicately and were very much a closed door style scene, which I personally very much appreciated.
Helena becomes pregnant, and because her body must grow a baby, she can no longer maintain the animancy that was hiding her memories. So, part 2 of the book was a complete recount of the lost fourteen months of the war which revolved around Ferron becoming a double agent for the resistance, Helena becoming his handler and attempting to seduce him to ensure his complete devotion to the resistance. Their relationship is as volatile as it is in the first part, however Ferron teaches her how to protect herself using her power and hand-to-hand combat, Helena teaches him how to use his dreadful power to heal rather than to kill and eventually they fall in love. Ferron knows the end of the war is near and the resistance is going to lose, he wants to get Helena to safety but she refuses to go without her pregnant friend. He agrees to get both of them out, but has to do it in two trips, he takes the friend first as per Helena’s request, and while he’s gone she develops a bomb to take out the enemies research lab in an attempt to severely wound their progress in the war. That gets us to Helena’s assumed death and being hidden in a stasis tube, Ferron tearing the city a part trying to find her while keeping her friend hidden and safe, then we are brought back to the present.
Helena has to face the fact that her lover raped her to get her pregnant, but she is surprisingly ok with that, Ferron is the one who is having difficulty dealing with it. I find these reactions extremely surprising and hard to believe, if anything, I would say that Helena would be even more distrustful of Ferron because of this but she isn’t. Anyways, in an attempt to protect Helena and the baby, Ferron helps Helena find a way to put an end to the high necromancer and free Ferron from his control. They only manage to do one of those things, which allows them to run away and hide with Helena’s friend who Ferron had been protecting for her. The rest of the book is spent with them hiding from the second outbreak of war, Helena having the baby and Ferron being pushed by Helena to love the baby as her father no matter how it was the baby came into the world. I was a little disappointed to see them hiding from the end of the war, I was hoping for a bit more of a come back for the two of them and taking down the necromancer but that didn’t happen. All in all, the book ended happily.
So, where do my mixed feelings come in?
I felt that the book was too long and lacked the necessary tension filled scenes to keep me engaged with it, which is unfortunate because the storyline was fantastic and the world building was amazing! Instead of the book being broken into three parts, it could have been three separate books which I think would have had better pacing and kept me totally hooked. While I liked Helena as a character, and I usually fall in love with the morally grey male character, I had some trouble really falling for Ferron, especially with the toxic way he treated Helena and communicated with her. That triggered a few things for me and made me like him less.
While this book had amazing potential and I wanted so badly to love it, I did struggle with the pacing and lack of tension in scenes of combat and the like. So, it was good for a first time publishing, but like all new authors there are some things that need strengthening. I really hope that SenLinYu keeps on writing, because they have one hell of an imagination!
After reading “Phantasma”, the first book in the Wicked Games series by Kaylie Smith, “Enchantra” has been on my bookshelf for a while and I finally read it. First thing, I really loved the storyline of “Phantasma” and I did in fact come to like the main characters: Ophelia and Salem. Which I suppose is why I had such high hopes for “Enchantra”, while I enjoyed the storyline (which was pretty similar to “Phantasma”) I didn’t come to like the main characters as much as I did previously.
Before I continue, as always, spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk!
Now, where the first book followed Ophelia Grimm, the eldest daughter of Tessie Grimm who inherits the family’s necromancy magic after the sudden death of her mother which then leads Ophelia and her younger sister to participate in a devil’s competition called Phantasma, where Ophelia releases her very own Prince of Devils who becomes tied to her own soul. This second book follows her younger sister, Genevieve, who has a rather irritating personality compared to Ophelia. She’s headstrong, stubborn and I found her to be a rather difficult character to connect with. Putting her character analysis aside, Genevieve finds herself in another Devil’s game with a family of wraiths, one of whom seems to utterly dislike her (queuing sexual tension!). Said wraith is named Rowlington, or Rowlin, who finds himself married to Genevieve in order to make her a Silver, so she can participate in the games without being killed by a devil for accidentally entering the arena without being related to the family in any way.
Genevieve is forced to help Rowlin survive the game, which will also allow her to survive all the while trying to find a way for Rowlin to free his family of the Devil’s claws and cure his mother of a disease that’s slowly killing her despite her being a demon. She dodges killing blows from his siblings while trying to avoid any kind of emotional connection with her now husband, which is practically impossible for her (queuing sexual tension and spicy scenes!)
Now, I said that I wasn’t a fan of Genevieve’s character, but because of this I took a little more notice of the minor characters, aka Rowlin’s siblings. Sevington (Sevin) is the jester of the family, and despite his attempts to kill Genevieve I still really like him. He’s the comic relief of the story, and I really wished that he was in it more. Remington (Remi) is Rowlin’s identical twin brother, while Rowlin is covered in tattoos and has piercings in some interesting places, Remi does not. Other than that, there’s not really much that is revealed about Remi during the story which intrigues me. Wellington (Wells) was also another likeable sibling, but unfortunately he was knocked out of the game pretty early so you don’t find out much about him either, other than that he is rather playful and likes to place bets on parts of the game. Ellington (Elli) is the twin sister of Wells and we have a little more of an idea of what her character is like, she is loving towards her siblings, especially her twin, however when it comes to winning the game she will use their weaknesses against them, especially her being the only sister in their group. She can be caring, ambitious, totally ferocious and competitive but completely devoted to her family. I loved her character and I hope to see more of her in the next book. The last sibling is Gravington (Grave), who is the dark and brooding brother who is completely focused on targeting Genevieve throughout the game, even during the resting hours. His character comes across as the type that you are suppose to hate but you also know that there is a little bit more to him, which is revealed towards the end of the book.
For me, I think the best parts of the book was the setting description of the gothic style mansion that they were all trapped in and not to mention the enchanted rooms. I have to say, Kaylie Smith has a gift when it comes to painting the settings of her stories. The other part was the ending of the books, I loved the twist when it came to finishing the game, it was unexpected and I really hated myself for not picking up on it sooner. I also liked the epilogue, Kaylie Smith dropped a few easter eggs in there leading into the next book which piques my interest. I’m thinking it will be mainly about Sevin, but I am also keen to see the interactions between Grave and little miss Luci.
All in all, it was a good read, not as good as “Phantasma” but still good. If you do decide to read it, I strongly suggest having lower expectations than you originally had from “Phantasma” but then again, you may enjoy it a lot more than me.
I have literally just finished “Princess of Blood“, the sequel to “Servant of Earth” by Sarah Hawley, and oh my goodness it did not disappoint! It was as well written and jaw dropping as the first book, I still cannot sit still!
As always, some spoilers ahead so continue reading at your own risk!
“Servant of Earth” ended with such a dramatic turn of events, with Kenna being blessed with fae immortality and the magic of Blood House by the shards, which made her Princess of Blood House. She was then forced into a very dangerous set of politics in which she is the deciding vote of who the next ruler in her not-so-merry band of allies is going to be. However, choosing the next ruler is never so easy. Kenna’s allies are faced with another fae, Imogen, who is already claiming to be Queen and is playing the long game, being constantly ten steps ahead of them.
Kenna is being wooed by fire and void house, each trying to prove why they are the better choice to rule Mistei, as well as trying to run her brand new house that seems to be growing in numbers everyday. This sequel revolves around political intrigue, Kenna’s growth as a princess and protector of those unable to protect themselves, and her growing relations with the different houses including multiple assassination attempts. By this point, Kenna’s character as a woman needing to do the right thing by everyone, especially those who can’t do it for themselves, is strongly emphasised and is a key component of this sequel. That being said, her character also develops other unexpected qualities that really show her growth not only as a protector but as a princess with a people to protect.
Not only do we get an enticing story that keeps you on the edge of your seat, but Sarah Hawley paints such a vivid world that you can see every detail in your mind. From the lavish parties that the false queen throws to win over the people to her side, to the secret passages that Kenna traverses to gather hidden information and the physical interactions displayed during dances, training sessions and other more romantic situations. Not to mention to the incredible complexity of some of the characters in this book, your feelings for a character can change in an instant with any number of the revelations that Sarah Hawley throws into the story. Especially in the development of some particularly hot and heavy relationships, Sarah Hawley is definitely a talented writer of sexual tension!
But before you decide to pick up this series, it is ongoing and the third book has not yet been announced. Also, Sarah Hawley seems to have a habit of leaving things on a bit of a cliff hanger which just makes you ravenous for more of Kenna’s story! That being said, I do highly recommend this series even though it is going to cause some mayhem amongst readers!
“Servant of Earth” by Sarah Hawley was recommended to me by a friend after my reading of “Games that Gods Play” by Abigail Owen. It was pitched to me as a Hunger Games style story but human/fae, similar to that of “Games that Gods Play”. Now, I read the “Hunger Games” series when I was in high school and I loved every traumatising moment of it, I also recently read “Games that Gods Play” and while I was a little unsure at first I did also enjoy that, but I have to say that “Servant of Earth” absolutely knocked out both of them!
First things first, there are potential spoilers so continue at your own risk!
Set in a medieval style world, our protagonist is a young human female named Kenna. She has lived in poverty her entire life, her father abandoned her, her mother died of illness, and she is considered to be a half-feral creature by all of the local human except for one, Anya, who is practically a sister to her. Every few years, the humans gather together on the border of the fae lands and send sacrifices to the fae, four women forced into the boggy swamp in an attempt to appease the fae. Most believe the stories that they will be welcomed by the fae and given amazing lives, whereas some are very sceptical, including Kenna. Anya and three others are chosen to be sent into the bog and accept their fates, but Kenna knew the harsh truth of the bog and wanted to save her friend. So she ventures in after them in an attempt to lead them to safety, instead they all die at the hands of the nasties (dark fae) and Kenna somehow makes it to the fae world.
Kenna is faced with the even harsher reality of the fae world, she is forced to become a maidservant to the heir of Earth House, one of five houses that make up the fae kingdom of Mistei ruled by a tyrant king, Osric. Kenna is forced to assist her princess in completing the six trials that, when successful, allows an adult fae to gain their full magic and immortality. While trying to stay alive, appease her mistress and moving through her grief, Kenna always seems to find herself in precarious positions that lead her being in very close proximity to danger, death and some very sexy fae princes. Kenna’s character is very forthright, she has a very strong backbone, which is something her princess lacks. Kenna helps the princess through all of the trials, technically participating in them herself, which paves the way for the end of the book.
Naturally, Kenna develops a romantic and sexual relationship with a fae prince who seems to be very curious about her and her human emotions. While he comes across as attractive and having good intentions, there is just something about him that is off. Whereas you have the darker fae prince who clearly has an element of darkness about him, there is something about his character that makes you develop a soft spot for him. Sarah Hawley definitely has a talent for writing characters with a crazy level of depth, you can’t help but feel all these emotions for her characters. She also has an amazing ability to make you feel like you are there with the characters, the way she describes the scenes and the actions taking place, is just mind blowing.
Sarah Hawley is also a Queen of twists and turns, she lays the groundwork so beautifully that you know something is going to happen but you are still so amazed by how it happened. For example, Kenna is betrayed and forced to face the fae magic that decides whether or not the fae participating in the trials are worthy of the rewards. Her princess is stripped of her magic, but Kenna is given such a gift that she is able to turn her back on her lying lover, get her revenge on the tyrant king, and save someone she thought was dead. Most of all, she is given her freedom and a home that she had never even dared to dream about.
This book was amazing, and Sarah Hawley is an absolute artist when it comes to telling a story. I highly recommend this book, and I cannot wait to read the already released sequel “Princess of Blood”.
I have finally finished the last instalment of the Fire and Flesh series by Jennifer L. Armentrout, “Born of Blood and Ash”. I’m not going to lie, out of all the books in both this series and the Blood and Ash series, this one was the hardest for me to read. I started it in November 2024, and I am sad to say that it did not grab me the same way the other books did and I hit a slump HARD.
First off, if you continue to read this but have not read this book for yourself, there are some spoilers in this post. You have been warned!
What I love about JLA’s books in this series is that the next book pretty much picks up exactly where the last one finishes, with the exception of a couple, but the point is that not much time has passed between each book. So, this one carries on from the last book which ended with Sera being free of Kolis and blasting his so badly that he went into stasis and Ash is saved from his imprisonment. Now, based on the other books, you would expect that they don’t spend too much time celebrating their regained freedom and that Sera is in fact the true Queen of the gods as Ash had ascended her despite the extreme risk of destroying the realms, but go straight into defence and attack modes, preparing for the inevitable battle with Kolis once Sera had awakened from her ascension.
This did not happen. Yes Sera awakens, yes she is viewed (by most) as the true Primal of Life and Queen of the realms, yes she and Ash get it on (a lot) through the book, but there is one singular theme that carries on throughout the whole book that I did not expect. Sera’s trauma from her imprisonment by Kolis.
Now, admittedly it’s been a while since I read the last book and I couldn’t remember all of the finer details of what happened to Sera during her imprisonment, so I couldn’t fully wrap my head around why JLA would focus so much on it rather than the fighting and becoming the true Primal of Life. There have been so many books where the character who had suffered trauma finds a way to move past it and redirect focus back to the main storyline and action, and I suppose that was what I was expecting. I did not expect Sera’s trauma to be the main storyline rather than her fight against Kolis, and so I suppose I got a bit frustrated with it. That being said, I eventually started making some progress and that was when the finer details of her imprisonment were recapped, and then Sera’s trauma response began to make more sense. While I loved SJM’s recovery story for Nesta in A Court of Silver Flames, and how she recovered from her own trauma and making amends for what she did as a response to that trauma, JLA’s storytelling of Sera’s trauma response and recovery not only covered her imprisonment, but her entire life, and it was completely relatable and just so… real.
Anyone who has experienced abuse and/or assault, or knows someone who has, knows that there are many different ways that a person can respond to that trauma. Sera resorted to telling herself that it could have been worse, that others had suffered worse, that so much more could have been taken from her than what had been. She moves through this denial right up until Ash explodes and she suffers a panic attack, twice, which resulted in her turning into her notam (animal form) and she ran. Seeking freedom from the trauma, and to escape from the fact that she had to face it in order for Ash to help her. Anyone who has been in a remotely similar situation knows what it means to seek escape from it, but the truth is that you never really can.
This book not only addressed how Kolis ended up locked away, how Sera was forgotten as the True Primal of Life, how Poppy ended up in the situation she’s in and it even covers Sotoria’s story. It goes through the motions of what it means to be in a situation where you are trapped, helpless and the aftermath of finally escaping that prison, only to be trapped in another within your own mind. JLA highlighted the fear and anxiety that comes from such a trauma, as well as the strength and the courage it takes to try and move your life on from it. It’s not easy, it’s terrifying and suffocating, and doesn’t just go away. It takes never-ending strength and determination to face the reality of it everyday and still try to find the goodness in life, even if some days it seems impossible.
The end of the book is a bitter-sweet one, Sera and Ash find their happiness while knowing that the future still faces the last of prophecy. They prepare the best they can for the future war that is no longer avoidable (we know this), but still continue to find and hold on to the happiness in their lives. While I struggled with this book at first, in the end it really struck a chord with me, and I found myself truly invested in Sera’s healing as a traumatised woman rather than the protagonist of the story.
I sincerely hope that anyone who has experienced something similar to Sera (and all other characters in this series that suffered similar fates), also continues to find that happiness in their lives. If you’re not up to that part yet, please keep fighting to find it, you deserve it because you truly did not deserve the trauma that plagues you.
Green Mage Writings 