Lily of Ludgate Hill

 

Lily of Ludgate Hill (Belles of London #3)-Mimi Matthews

Berkley

Release Date: January 16, 2024

Rate: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Lady Anne Deveril doesn’t spook easily. A woman of lofty social standing known for her glacial beauty and starchy opinions, she’s the unofficial leader of her small group of equestriennes. Since her mother’s devastating plunge into mourning six years ago, Anne voluntarily renounced any fanciful notions of love and marriage. And yet, when fate puts Anne back into the entirely too enticing path of Mr. Felix Hartford, she’s tempted to run…right into his arms.

No one understands why Lady Anne withdrew into the shadows of society, Hart least of all. The youthful torch he once held for her has long since cooled. Or so he keeps telling himself. But now Anne needs a favor to help a friend. Hart will play along with her little ruse—on the condition that Anne attend a holiday house party at his grandfather’s country estate. No more mourning clothes. No more barriers. Only the two of them, unrequited feelings at last laid bare.

Finally free to gallop out on her own, Anne makes the tantalizing discovery that beneath the roguish exterior of her not-so-white knight is a man with hidden depths, scorching passions—and a tender heart.

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Book 3 in Mimi Matthews' latest series finally gives us Lady Anne Deveril and Felix Hartford! They've sniped at each other in scenes throughout the last two books, so readers knew they had an unresolved past, and here things get resolved! This may be one of the best second-chance romances I've ever read: a lovers to enemies to lovers who never actually stopped loving each other and just wouldn't admit it (even to themselves) book. Think Jane Austen's Persuasion (one of my favorites) with major doses of "mistakes were made", "we were too young to be mature about things", and "prove it to me this time" going on here. 

Lily of Ludgate Hill has lots going on and keeps the hits coming to our characters. Some I won't mention for too many spoilers. But Anne is watching her friends marry and starting to wonder about her own life. She's chosen to withdraw from things like love and much of society in favor of caring for her mother, and while she isn't entirely sure how she could (especially in the past) have balanced the two any differently, she does regret that she couldn't have found a way. What's so great about Anne is that she doesn't care about what Society thinks of her to change who she is- especially when it comes to the people she loves. Early on Felix argues with her about how people see her as being in her mother's shadow, as being weak, how she doesn't seem like the girl he used to know. She tells him she doesn't care what people who don't know her think because they don't know about her life and she knows who she is. Anne may be willing to play within the confining rules of Society, and she and her friends may regret how those rules limit their actions, but she doesn't let them define her as a person. I absolutely love her!

I also love how we see Felix grow and understand Anne, and their past, and how to relate to her as an equal. As we uncover what happened between them and see both Felix and Anne work towards accepting the hurt they've done and the changes that have happened, Felix in particular has to change how he thinks about a lot of things. He comes to see that what he thought of as weaknesses can actually be strengths, and Matthews does a wonderful job of showing us this in multiple ways. But he gets there in the end because he figures out what's important to him.

The layers to the characters and the plot were beautifully and masterfully done, and I imagine I'll discover more nuances next time I read the book! You don't necessarily need to have read The Siren of Sussex or Belle of Belgrave Square to enjoy The Lily of Ludgate Hill, but you'll enjoy watching the characters develop throughout the series, and Belle and Lily do overlap a bit at the beginning. And this book has definitely planted the seeds for Stella's book for us to look forward to!

The Love Plot

 The Love Plot- Samantha Young

Berkley

Release Date: August 29, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: There's a magnetic attraction when a happy-go-lucky gig worker agrees to a fake relationship with a rich, uptight New Yorker in this steamy romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Samantha Young.

Star Shine Meadows is all about freedom, thanks to the hippie parents who raised her. Juggling her jobs as a professional costume character actor and a line sitter, she believes in no expectations, no stressful ambitions, and no-strings-attached relationships. So when she meets a birthday girl's grumpy uncle while working a princess party, she can't help but needle him. She'll never see him again, and honestly, he's pretty hot.

Rafe Whitman may be a veterinarian with a great bedside manner, but that doesn't mean his patience extends to anyone with opposable thumbs. His family will not stop nagging him about finding "the one," so when he runs into obnoxiously cheery Star again, he makes her an offer: He'll pay her more than she would make doing her odd jobs if she'll pretend to be his girlfriend at family gatherings. She can stop sitting in line waiting for someone else's new phone, and he'll get his family off his back.

When the tension between them heats to a breaking point, Star's desire for "no strings" is tested against Rafe's staunch stability. They say opposites attract, after all....

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Possibly the most grumpy-sunshine of relationships I've seen since Good Omens 2, Star and Rafe are total opposites, and accidentally perfect for each other. She always looks for the positive in things, doesn't think a career is for her so has two unconventional jobs, doesn't do long-term relationships because she doesn't think she can do committed, and her greatest goal in life is to be happy. He went the conventional route, likes animals more than people, and is going crazy because his mother and sister-in-law are aggressively trying to set him up without asking him how he feels about it. When they meet at Rafe's niece's birthday party, you could not find two more different people. Rafe's idea to hire Star to be his pretend girlfriend has predictably surprising and entertaining consequences: his parents like her, and Rafe discovers he likes Star more than he expected. They do say opposites attract. . . .

Star is a quirky, delightful, believably flawed and wonderful person. Her parents are self-proclaimed hippies who taught her not believe in committed relationships, careers, or tying herself down to anything long-term. While that works in the short-term, and Star is quite happy with her jobs as a character actor and line-sitter, Rafe and his stability start making her question if she's limiting herself. I love how Star works to see something positive in people, gives them the benefit of the doubt, and to put happy out into the world to improve the lives of others. She practices what she preaches. The times when she tries to be something she isn't, she's miserable, reminding both Star and us that being our authentic selves is the best life.

I can best describe Rafe as a Mr. Darcy- only more outgoing when he's happy. Shy and quiet around strangers, better with dogs than people, it's no wonder that he's going crazy with his mother and sister-in-law throwing random women at him! He's a guy who believes in commitment if he's going to be in a relationship, so he and Star come at pretty much everything people-related from different angles. But I loved how he doesn't just dismiss Star's views based on his own experiences, he listens to her thoughts and frequently found himself changing his mind because of her viewpoints. They'd catch themselves in arguments and try to explain what the problem was exactly because they came at things so differently. I don't think I've ever read that in a romance before, where the main characters so continually work like real people to make a real relationship happen and I really enjoyed it. Even when they mess things up, it is real and relatable. 

Rafe's rich family doesn't know what to do with Star and her bohemian ways and polyamorous friends at first. Do they change her to fit with them or do they accept that she makes him happy as is? I loved how Rafe stood by Star when she dealt with her family crisis and started facing her defining childhood, and how she was willing to do anything to ensure he didn't break with his family because of her. It was clear they loved each other long before they admitted it, but that was kind of the point. Star has lots to teach Rafe and his family, but they have some things to show her as well. 

This was a lovely, funny, heart-warming book and I definitely recommend it, not just to Samantha Young (Much Ado About You, A Cosmic Kind of Love) fans, but to anyone looking for a beautiful romance.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Medusa's Sisters

Medusa's Sisters- Lauren J.A. Bear

PenguinRandomHouse/Ace

Release Date: August 8, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Even before they were transformed into Gorgons, Medusa and her sisters, Stheno and Euryale, were unique among immortals. Curious about mortals and their lives, Medusa and her sisters entered the human world in search of a place to belong, yet quickly found themselves at the perilous center of a dangerous Olympian rivalry and learned—too late—that a god's love is a violent one.

Forgotten by history and diminished by poets, the other two Gorgons have never been more than horrifying hags, damned and doomed. But they were sisters first, and their journey from sea-born origins to the outskirts of the Parthenon is a journey that rests, hidden, underneath their scales.

Monsters, but not monstrous, Stheno and Euryale will step into the light for the first time to tell the story of how all three sisters lived and were changed by each other, as they struggle against the inherent conflict between sisterhood and individuality, myth and truth, vengeance and peace.

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This was a powerful retelling of the story of Medusa and her sisters, and is kind of what I'd looked for in Natalie Haynes' Stone Blind but didn't get. The story alternates between Stheno's first-person narrative and a limited third-person narrative for Euryale, which took some getting used to. At first I found it jarring, but I got used to it the longer I read. As I didn't really like Euryale, I was happy not to be in her head for her chapters.

The first third of the book or so was a little slow for me. They are born and growing up and not much is happening except to show us immortality, the relationship between the sisters, their mother, and a few of their other relations. As the sisters (who can pass as human at this stage) decide to travel and learn about humans things pick up. Other stories are woven in and we learn the sisters' personalities as they learn about humans. Stheno is the protector, Euryale the self-absorbed flirt, Medusa the ever-curious and innocent. 

This story probably has the best reason (if you can call it that) for why Athena cursed the sisters after Poisidon raped Medusa of any version I've read. Certainly the most personal, selfish, and heartbreakingly awful one. The author doesn't shy away from reminding us that Greek culture, like the myths, didn't place much importance on women and rape was a regular thing that men were not usually held accountable for. Or that women were generally blamed for. There is certainly victim blaming for Medusa. So consider most of the book a trigger warning, if you hadn't already assumed that by the idea that this was about Medusa and her sisters. The author doesn't gloss over much.

Without giving away spoilers, I can't get too specific on much. I was surprised to learn this was a debut novel- the writing was mostly better than I expect from debut novelists (although there was a lot more "if I had but known" writing than I needed). At the same time, I'm not sure the author had quite figured out how to end the book and it seemed to get a little awkward again towards the end.

The women take their stories back here in ways you expect and also in stories and ways you don't expect. Medusa's death and what comes after are powerfully and emotionally written and actually brought me to tears in a few places. This is definitely one of the most powerful retellings I've read.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

The Royal

 

The Royal (Game of Chance #2)- Susan Stoker

Montlake

Release Date: August 8, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Former military man and member of a royal family Callum Redmon can’t deny his sense of responsibility. So when his cousin’s latest love interest claims to have a stalker, Cal reluctantly meets with the young woman and her mother. He wants to write off the situation as a complete farce—if only his feelings for another member of the household could be as easily dismissed.

Since her father’s death seventeen years ago, Juniper Rose has been at the cruel beck and call of her stepmother and stepsister. Her fantasies of escape mean leaving behind her father’s beloved home, but enough is enough: when Cal offers her a way out sooner rather than later, June takes the leap.

Cal’s home in Maine with his military brothers seems like the safest place to start fresh. But as Cal and June’s fairy-tale romance blossoms into something real, they find that the dangers stalking them may have been real all along.

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I'm always a sucker for a Cinderella retelling and this was a great one! June has been a servant in her own home since her father's death, thanks to the emotional abuse of her stepmother and stepsister. Seventeen years later she's gotten the courage to try and leave when fate brings Cal Redmon to the house. He's been strongarmed into going there to check out a stalker situation for his cousin, who has been "dating" the stepsister, and while it takes about a day to see through that ploy, it takes less for him to become fascinated by June.

She's observant, calm, intelligent, and Cal wants to help her out. So when he leaves he convinces June to go with him. What starts out as just helping turns into more on both sides. Both have massive insecurities- both emotional insecurities and body insecurities- and are convinced the other won't want to be with them long-term. It was really interesting to see Cal so hung up on his body since we don't usually get men in romance books who are so unsure of their looks. Connected the way it is with the torture he went through and you can understand how painful and self-conscious he feels about it and you feel so bad for him. I was so happy June was able to see straight to the heart of him and what a great, caring guy Cal is. She seemed to instinctively know just the right things to say, even if Cal wasn't always quite ready to hear them, which I thought was great. She knows it isn't about the outside- her steps are gorgeous women and horrible- though she never quite internalizes that for herself. 

This was more a book about finding yourself and internal healing for both Cal and June, and Cal freaking out about falling in love, than it was a fast-paced mystery or thriller the way some of Stoker's books are, so you have to go into it with a bit of a different expectation. You don't have to have read The Protector first, though all Cal's friends show up again so you see familiar faces if you did read it. I loved how protective the guys are of each other and how they embraced June once they were sure she was right for Cal. And we get a tease for the next book that promises major action ahead!

An enjoyable, lovely romance with Cinderella vibes that were just enough for me without being over the top, great friends turned family, and two damaged people learning to trust themselves and each other enough to fall in love and admit it. 

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Weaver and the Witch Queen

 

The Weaver and the Witch Queen- Genevieve Gornichec

Ace

Release Date: July 25, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Oddny and Gunnhild meet as children in tenth century Norway, and they could not be more different: Oddny hopes for a quiet life, while Gunnhild burns for power and longs to escape her cruel mother. But after a visiting wisewoman makes an ominous prophecy that involves Oddny, her sister Signy, and Gunnhild, the three girls take a blood oath to help one another always.

When Oddny’s farm is destroyed and Signy is kidnapped by Viking raiders, Oddny is set adrift from the life she imagined—but she's determined to save her sister no matter the cost, even as she finds herself irresistibly drawn to one of the raiders who participated in the attack. And in the far north, Gunnhild, who fled her home years ago to learn the ways of a witch, is surprised to find her destiny seems to be linked with that of the formidable King Eirik, heir apparent to the ruler of all Norway.

But the bonds—both enchanted and emotional—that hold the two women together are strong, and when they find their way back to each other, these bonds will be tested in ways they never could have foreseen in this deeply moving novel of magic, history, and sworn sisterhood.

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 Gunnhild, Oddny, and Signy are the best of friends and sworn sisters- from a young age they know their destinies are tied together. When their farm is burned and Signy taken captive, Oddny goes to Gunnhild's family for help. Gunnhild, who ran away as a young woman to learn magic, returns to help find Signy with King Eirik and his band of raiders as uneasy allies. The connections between Gunnhild, Oddny, and Signy must last through both the mundane and the magical worlds as they fight politics as well as other witches in the battle to reunite.

This is a historical fantasy, so magic is as normal as any other job here, and Gornichec treats it that way. We learn the rules with Gunnhild but never get overwhelmed by anything, And Gornichec voices one of the rules that I've always noticed but no one ever mentions when it comes to prophecies: when you try to avoid them, that's when everything comes true! In an interesting twist that I rather liked, we don't know what the prophecy is, but when Signy and Oddny's farm is attacked we learn that the real attack is meant to be on Gunnhild. Since no one can find her, this is supposed to draw her out. Not for something she's done but for something she might do against a trio of witches she's never met. Clearly not a great plan since what happens? Gunnhild and Oddny join forces to track down Signy, discover their enemies, and defeat them- thus fulfilling the prophecy the other witches wanted to avoid in the first place. 

All three women have the same dream: not to follow the traditional path of a woman of their time. Signy puts it best though, what can you do if you don't want to follow that path? What else is there? This book is, for better and for worse, about answering those questions. In some ways that's the interesting theme of the book: does a person have control over their own fate? Can they choose their own path or do they have to follow the traditional one set out for them by society? What happens if you're different? Many of the characters are, in one way or another, struggling with these questions, even before we realize it. I will probably end up going back and rereading the book with these struggles in mind the second time around to see what I think of them in that light. I think it will be very interesting.  

Genevieve Gornichec (The Witch's Heart) returns with another vivid and enchanting book. You can tell Gornichec has done some research on what life might have been like in this time and place- the homes, the food, the clothes, all come across as very real. Whether entering one of the living halls or walking down the street in Birka, you get the feeling you are walking with the characters. And I'm a bit of a history nerd, so I admit there were times when I was reading this and going "wait, this reminds me of something I read in The Real Valkyrie or Children of Oak and Ash", but I promise you don't actually need to know anything about the true history of the time period to enjoy the book. 

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Not That Duke

Not That Duke (Would Be Wallflowers #3)- Eloisa James

HarperCollins/Avon Books

Release Date: July 25, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚

Synopsis: Bespeckled and freckled, Lady Stella Corsham at least has a dowry that has attracted a crowd of fortune-hunting suitors--which definitely doesn't include the sinfully handsome Silvester Parnell, Duke of Huntington, who laughingly calls her "Specs" as he chases after elegant rivals.

And then--

The worst happens. Marriage.

To the duke. To a man marrying her for all the wrong reasons.

How can Silvester possibly convince Stella that he's fallen in love with the quirky woman he married? Especially after she laughingly announces that she's in love--but not with that duke.

Not with her husband.

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This was a book I definitely had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, I loved Stella and felt for her throughout the entire book. Stella is short, plump, red-haired, freckled, wears glasses, doesn't hide that she's smart, and doesn't play the games the superficial women of Society play. She's no one's first choice and her aunt is always harping on about what she needs to do differently if she wants to get a man to propose to her. She has no friends, and is miserable all the time. Kind of like what I imagine I'd be like if I were dropped into a Regency ballroom. But she also doesn't let any of that affect how she treats other people. She's kind instead of cruel or bitter, even though privately Stella watches the beautiful people like Lady Yasmin and her ardent suitor the Duke of Huntington and wishes she was like them. Or that the Duke would look at her the way he looks at Yasmin. 

The Duke, Silvester, was harder to get my mind around and I'm still not actually sure if I liked him. He spends the first half of the book chasing Yasmin and when she marries Silvester's best friend, Silvester decides to marry Stella instead. Why? Maybe he realizes he never really had more than superficial feelings for Yasmin and at least is in serious lust for Stella. He does like the conversations they have when they play chess and that she actually challenges him and sees him as a person and not as a way to be a duchess. Are these reasons to basically blackmail her into marriage? No. Why doesn't he court her the way he did Yasmin? Show Stella that he actually cares for her? No idea. Since we see things mostly from Stella's point of view Silvester seems to go from tolerating her while he pursues Yasmin, to saying cruel things about her to make Yasmin laugh, to apologizing and treating her as if they are siblings, to kissing her, to running off with Yasmin, to coming back and proposing to her. Then he doesn't even have the decency to listen to her when she says no and work on courting her- he goes to her aunt, tells the aunt they've kissed and now must marry, running over Stella's feelings on the subject. Once and a while he seems to panic at the idea that he might be in love with Stella, though we never find out why, and he shoves the idea away and decides it must be lust instead. 

So there were lots of questions here and I felt like Stella kind of deserved more. But I was proud of her- she stands up to Silvester and tells him she deserves to be first for someone. That she won't settle for less than anyone else, no matter what she looks like. I also loved that it wasn't just Silvester and his rather obvious appreciation for Stella's body that made her feel more confident in herself but her friend Merry and Silvester's mother and their positive and obvious love for Stella as she is that helped her begin to feel confident in herself. 

On their own, there were pacing issues and Silvester issues that made this not my favorite of James' books. But in the end, it is Eloisa James' sparkling, witty writing that won the day and charmed me with this book.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

 

 

Resonance Surge

 

Resonance Surge (Psy-Changeling Trinity #7)- Nalini Singh

Penguin RandomHouse

Release Date: July 18, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: StoneWater bears Pavel and Yakov Stepyrev have been a unit since birth, but now Pavel’s life is veering in a new direction, his heart held in the hands of Arwen Mercant, a Psy empath—and the only man who has ever brought Pavel to his knees.

This is it. A point of irrevocable change. For Pavel . . . for Arwen . . . for Yakov . . . and for another pair of twins whose bond has a far darker history.

A low-gradient Psy, Theodora Marshall is considered worthless by everyone but her violently powerful twin, Pax. She is the sole person he trusts in their venomous family to investigate a hidden and terrible part of their family history—an unregistered rehabilitation center established by their grandfather.

Places of unimaginable pain designed to psychically wipe minds, leaving the victims shells of their former selves, the Centers are an ugly vestige of the Psy race’s Silent past. But this Center was worse. Far, far worse. And now Theo must uncover the awful truth—in the company of a scowling bear named Yakov who isn’t about to take a Marshall at face value . . . especially a Marshall who has turned his dreams into chilling nightmares.

Because Yakov is the great-grandson of a foreseer . . . and he has seen Theo die in an unstoppable surge of blood. Night after night after night . . .

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Resonance Surge is the story of Theodora Marshall, a low-gradient Psy and granddaughter to former Councilor Marshall Hyde, and Yakov Stepyrev, of the StoneWater bear clan in Moscow. Yakov has been assigned the job of helping Theo investigate an unregistered "rehabilitation Center" that Theo's powerful twin Pax has traced back to Marshall Hyde. But in the days of Silence these centers were accepted, so why hide one? Naturally, Yakov doesn't trust Theo, even if his bear is sure there's something very special about her. After all, they've been having dreams about Theo for longer than they've known her.

Theo is under no illusions when it comes to her family. She knows they are terrible people and her grandfather was the worst of them all. What she isn't sure of is where she falls in the scheme of things. When her brother finds clues that make no sense, but seem to connect her to a hidden research center, she wants answers. I liked that Theo is willing to find those answers no matter what the cost. She accepts that the friendship she has developed with Yakov will be destroyed when they find the answers and considers the good times he shows her as 'stolen moments', but she never considers turning away. Yakov is her perfect balance, willing to accept her fierceness and remind her that sometimes it is needed to survive while teaching her how to play and enjoy life. I had to laugh every time Theo thought she knew what to expect thanks to her "research" on bears, but Yakov slid right past her defenses anyway. They really are a perfect match. And since Yakov is Pavel's twin, we are also treated to Pavel and Arwen (Silver's brother from Silver Silence) and some of their mating dance as well! I loved that we got to see into Arwen's mind, behind the confident exterior to the man trying to make sure he knew who he was before making the decision to fully commit to Pavel. And the flashbacks to some of Arwen's excuses not to date Pavel were priceless! So much better than "washing my hair". 

Resonance Surge is another example of Nalini Singh's brilliance when it comes to worldbuilding. Having built Silence and what it allowed many Psy to become, then ended Silence, she now has her characters dealing with the aftermath. Things aren't simply "ok" in the fall of Silence. It isn't only the faltering NetMind (which plays very little role here) that the Psy need to deal with, it is questions like: what happened to the people who were tortured under Silence? In this case: what about the people who were "rehabilitated"? And, of course, what evils could be hidden inside accepted rehabilitation facilities? Singh knows how to put layers on top of layers to create characters and a world full of light and darkness, vibrancy and life, and keep the reader captured in the story well past the last page.

While Resonance Surge can be read as a standalone, you'll get more out of the world and its characters if you at least read the other Trinity books first. Plus they are all awesome, so you should read them anyway.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

 

 

Thief Liar Lady

 

Thief Liar Lady- D. L. Soria

Random House

Release Date: July 11, 2023

Rating: 📚📚

Synopsis: I’m not who you think I am.

My transformation from a poor, orphaned scullery maid into the enchantingly mysterious lady who snagged the heart of the prince did not happen—as the rumors insisted—in a magical metamorphosis of pumpkins and glass slippers. On the first evening of the ball, I didn’t meekly help my “evil” stepmother and stepsisters primp and preen or watch forlornly out the window as their carriage rolled off toward the palace. I had other preparations to make.

My stepsisters and I had been trained for this—to be the cleverest in the room, to be quick with our hands and quicker with our lies. We were taught how to get everything we wanted in this world, everything men always kept for themselves: power, wealth, and prestige. And with a touchingly tragic past and the help of some highly illegal spells, I would become a princess, secure our fortunes, and we would all live happily ever after.

But there’s always more to the story. With my magic running out, war looming, and a handsome hostage prince—the wrong prince—distracting me from my true purpose with his magnetic charm and forbidden flirtations, I’m in danger of losing control of the delicate balance I’ve created . . . and that could prove fatal.

There’s so much more riding on this than a crown.

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Spoiler Alerts!

I'm a fan of reading re-tellings of fairy tales and myths (though they don't all work, many do) and it had been a while since I've seen a fresh take on Cinderella, so the idea of a spin where Cinderella was conning the prince and in league with her stepmother and sister the whole time? Let's try it!

I didn't hate the book, but I didn't love it either. I struggled a lot with it. At first I was definitely confused by Ash's motives and the politics- those were a huge and annoying tangle but sort themselves out as you keep reading. Eventually, you have two different motives going on: Ash's stepmother Seraphina wants Ash to snag a rich lord, while Ash's grandmother wants Ash to snag the prince so she can influence politics and help the rebellion of a neighboring/occupied kingdom. Ash's main motive seems to be to prove to both women that she can do the jobs they've given her, despite them not totally having faith in her. As we all know, Ash gets her prince (thanks to magic that she keeps enchanting him with- something I was not ok with), our story starts in the lead-up to the wedding with her playing the part of the doting, innocent fianceé. She plays so many roles and lies to so many people (including herself) that I never felt like I knew her. The parts I did know, I didn't really like. Morally grey or completely self-centered on proving herself without worrying about what she was doing to anyone else? I'm still not sure, but I feel like she was on that scale. The other characters were either equally hidden (her stepmother and sisters) or completely flat and one-dimensional. The thin worldbuilding meant that I never figured out the magic and its rules, the politics, or much of anything else.

There were really good ideas here, and a lot of potential. But the book dragged in the beginning and then went on longer than it should have in the end. Ash never seemed to know what she was doing, despite priding herself on always being in control. And I never felt like I knew the world or any of the characters enough to feel even a touch of magic for this story.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Zero Days

 Zero Days- Ruth Ware

Gallery/Scout Press

Release Date:

Rate: 📚📚📚

Synopsis: Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband, Gabe, are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. To add to her horror, the police are closing in on their suspect—her.

Suddenly on the run and quickly running out of options, Jack must decide who she can trust as she circles closer to the real killer in this unputdownable and heart-pounding mystery.

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In a "Fugitive"-like book, Jacintha "Jack" Cross becomes the number one suspect in her husband's murder and flees to try to prove her innocence and find out who actually killed Gabe. Fortunately for her, she's a security expert and great at her job, so avoiding notice (and CCTV), climbing walls, and picking locks are all in a day's work for her. 

Interestingly, a lot of what drew me to want to read this book was also what annoyed me about this book. Jack wants to find out who killed her husband because the police are taking the easy and obvious way out- her. But she has no idea what to do to prove her innocence or figure out who did kill him because she has no idea who would want Gabe dead. She becomes a bit of a classic amateur sleuth flailing around- which I generally can't stand. We get lots of painstaking details about how Jack breaks into places and gets things to work for her (presumably to show that Ware has done her homework) that got really old for me really fast. Jack is in her own head pretty much the entire book, which could work on screen because you'd see other things happening, but didn't do it for me in the book. It also didn't help that while I saw the bad guy from the beginning, she didn't figure it out for more than 60% of the book. I get it, real life vs book, there's a small pool of suspects, she's focused on other things, but she practically needed it drawn out for her, as well as the motive. So I was annoyed with her as well as the cops for being dumb. But high marks for her being stubborn! Also, the times when she stops to think about Gabe, you really feel her grief. The emotions really pour off the page there in a throat-catching way that was quite well done. I think Ware made a good call by letting us get to know Gabe a little bit before killing him, he wasn't completely an unknown figure, but someone with a sense of humor who clearly loved his wife and in the little bit we had of him I liked him. So his death was personal enough I wanted to see how it was resolved. Whether the resolution was satisfying or not I guess depends. The way things were set up means it probably worked out as well as it could. No more to say there since that would be spoilers!

I was definitely conflicted about this book. It was what it said it was- a take on THE FUGITIVE (personally I didn't see any MR & MRS SMITH). Fast-paced, non-stop, run from the cops all the way. I liked the theory more than I ended up liking the reality of the book, but each reader will have to judge it for themselves.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Much Ado About Nada

 Much Ado About Nada- Uzma Jalaluddin

Penguin Random House

Release Date: June 13, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Nada Syed is stuck. On the cusp of thirty, she's still living at home with her brothers and parents in the Golden Crescent neighbourhood of Toronto, resolutely ignoring her mother's unsubtle pleas to get married already. While Nada has a good job as an engineer, it's a far cry from realizing the start-up dreams for her tech baby, Ask Apa, the app that launched with a whimper instead of a bang because of a double-crossing business partner. Nothing in her life has turned out the way it was supposed to, and Nada feels like a failure. Something needs to change, but the past is holding on too tightly to let her move forward.

Nada's best friend, Haleema, is determined to pry her from her shell . . . and what better place than at the giant annual Muslim conference downtown, where Nada can finally meet Haleema's fiancé, Zayn? And did Haleema mention Zayn's brother Baz will be there?

What Haleema doesn't know is that Nada and Baz have a past--some of it good, some of it bad, and all of it secret. At the conference, that past all comes hurtling back at Nada, bringing new complications and a moment of reckoning. Can she truly say goodbye to what once was, or should she hold tight to her dreams and find their new beginnings?

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In Uzma Jalaluddin's retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion (with a Canadian Muslim twist) Nada is stuck in the rut of family life and work. Her big idea app was a flop because her business partner stole her idea, Nada retreated into her shell and hasn't come out since. Her best friend Haleema drags her to a giant Muslim conference to meet Haleema's fiancé Zayn and hopes to set Nada up with Zayn's brother Baz. The only problem is that Baz and Nada have a history that Haleema doesn't know about. As the past is resurrected, Nada knows she has to decide: say goodbye to past dreams of love or take a chance and confront her fears?

Persuasion is one of my favorite Jane Austen books, and it is a tough one for a retelling- even more so than most second-chance romances. Bringing it into the modern world is even tougher. Uzma Jalaluddin did a really good job transferring this classic love story to modern-day Toronto, with the tension between generations in Toronto's South Asian Muslim immigrant community standing in for Austen's Regency rules. 

I loved how Jalaluddin made all of her characters, not just Nada, complex. There was a lot going on for each of them, and she did a good job of taking characters that at first seemed basic, then you get an insight part way through that changes how you look at all of their interactions. Nada gets to really go through a lot in this book and I felt like I watched her grow as a person as she fought through her sense of loss and betrayal over her app and losing Baz at the same time- and still feeling that years later but now seeing a second chance and being ready to fight for it. 

I liked the flashbacks to Nada and Baz in college, seeing them fall in love and getting some sense of why they kept it a secret, though I felt like they fell into the classic rut of not communicating or listening to each other. Both of them made mistakes, but it seemed like Nada was the only one willing to work to maybe change the present. While it would have ruined the book to get both viewpoints along the way, there were times I wished I knew what Baz was thinking, or knowing that he was working to change himself as well. Surprisingly, Baz was one of the characters that came off as flat for me.

Overall I enjoyed this book, though the pacing dragged occasionally. I love how Jalaluddin brings the reader into the South Asian Muslim community of her characters without feeling like she has to overexplain the community for her non-Muslim readers. We absorb and are absorbed by the community and Jalaluddin's beautiful writing.

Despite the many times I've referenced Jane Austen and Persuasion here, you don't have to have read it to enjoy this retelling.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review