So what have you been reading?

Maggie wakes up naked in the mud in the city of her favorite fantasy book with no idea how she got there. She quickly uses her deep knowledge of the unfinished trilogy to get money and shelter and finds out that she can come back to life after being killed. She uses this skill a few times to painfully get ahead in the story.  She uses what she knows to stop the main bad guy from taking over the kingdom but every change she does effects plot points further down and the ending of the book is a complete surprise to her and the reader. 

I can’t wait for the next one.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

This black, white and red graphic novel is a story of an unloved princess born with a birthmark on her face and sent away to be raised by herders until they need her to marry for a political alliance. Philonoe is only mentioned in one known text so this is a idea of how she avoided the curse that was placed on her family and her sisters in particular.  There are gods and monsters both involved in this tale and as usual in most myths the gods use mortals as pawns for any slights they feel.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

Tess Covington shows up to an inn in a remote part of Colorado to do a job that the owner’s aunt had scheduled. Tess has just found out she is a late blooming omega, the first shifter in her family for generations so she doesn’t know what to expect.  Hunter is an alpha werewolf and is mad at his aunt for having Tess’ company come and work on the inn but relents to have the work done. Hunter has to end up helping Tess with new heat cycles since she can’t control them and she doesn’t know what to do. 

This is set after The Fake Mate but this story can be read without having to know what happens in that book.  The story was cute and there is a lot of family interactions with Tess’ family with her brothers and her worry about her dad.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

The day Celia came into her magical powers she cursed her oldest brother to live without love. Her father now ignores her and her middle brother causing the tow siblings to forge a relationship that was previously prevented to happen due to middle brother’s mother being of low status.  When the king decides that Celia must go to court to marry the prince she finds out that not is all as it seems with the reasons of the marriage and now she is nothing more that someone to be ignored by her new husband as she finds out the true meaning behind the war that has gone on between her people and the elves.  A good novella that reminds the reader of the power of words.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

What a great ending to this series.   The book starts with Elena being a thousand years old and thinking about all the changes to her life and to everyone around her. Everyone that has shown up during the series gets mentioned. Some angels go to Sleep and a one awakens.  The book is still too far out from publication to really get into the details that might spoil any surprises for fans and I won’t be the one to do it.  But every chapter was great to read and loose ends were tied off nicely.  There is always room for short stories set in this universe but if there wasn’t any more the fans really get all their questions answered.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

Cala’s family is prepping for Día de Muertos celebration but she is missing her recently departed grandfather to much to enjoy or help with the preparations.  As she goes to the cemetery with her family ghosts approach her and help her with realizing that this is the way to celebrate her grandfather and remember him with her family.  The art is amazing in the book and really helps with the storytelling.

Amara has been avoiding her family because she isn’t interested in taking up the family business of being Death.  Granted she always knows when someone is going to die and it has made it difficult for her to have friends and know when and how they will die. When she gets a call saying that her father is ill she goes home thinking that it is a ruse but her dad is really sick and she needs to take up the slack of the region he is responsible for.

Amara’s friend Gray comes home with her since he knows all her secrets and helps with the situation. The story is good and the ending complete you know there is more room in this setting for more books but the reader isn’t left hanging.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

This is a retelling of the tale of the seven boys turned into geese and saved by their sister who has to make them shirts while never speaking until the task is complete.  The setting is the usual Regency England with the Elemental Masters but it is set in the countryside and only at the end do we even see the White Lodge get involved.  The father is a minor lord who managed to get a swanmaid to marry him and then he hid her cloak of feathers so she couldn’t leave. When she gets it back she leaves and never returns abandoning her 8 children.  The four sets of twins, 7 brothers and one sister are mostly ignored by their father and are surprised when years later he shows up with a new bride. The story follows the tale’s framework and the usual ending happens. This story does show what happens with courtesans and how some made a living. Granted they didn’t use dark magic like the one in the story did. But the story also shows how small acts of kindness can pay back to the person when they need it the most. 

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

This is set a few years after Legends and Lattes. Fern the bookstore rattkin friend of Viv’s from her early days as a merc has sold her store and moved next door to Viv to open a bookstore next to the coffee shop.  But soon after she opens the store with doubts in her head and a belly full of alcohol she wakes up the next day in a wagon far from town. Fern is in the company of a legendary Elf warrior and her bounty moving far away from where Fern should be.  So the only way back seems to be the way forward and Fern has adventures and constantly writes letters back to Viv.   

For extra enjoyment of this story find and read Goblins & Greatcoats, a short story set in the same universe. You don’t have to but you will enjoy it as well since that character is found in the pages of this book.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
 

Spire Albion requires warriorborn Benedict to take 3 criminal warriorborn to a colony that has gone silent to recover a bag of documents.  The colony is abandoned except for a small group of cats that can communicate with the warriorborn. As they figure out what attacked the colony there is a ship from a rival spire that will do everything they can to stop them from getting word back to their spire.  A good story an you honestly don’t’ need to be familiar with the first book to enjoy this one.