Category: Fantasy

Book Review, Fantasy, Fiction

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Mille r~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fantasy

The Song of Achilles is a retelling of Achilles’ life as told in The Iliad. It focuses on the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus as they meet, fall for each other, and go to battle in Troy. We know all along that this story won’t have a happy ending and the wonderfully organic unfolding of their feelings for each other made it all the more painful to become immersed in their world and their story.

The source material for this story is an epic, but it felt to me like making this adaptation could have been an opportunity to stray from that format. The parts of the book that were character-driven were beautiful, but it seemed like nothing really happened for the majority of it and then there was a lot of rushed action at the end. In my opinion, it could have been shorter and more focused and packed a greater punch.

I enjoy Greek mythology and many pieces of this story were familiar to me. I enjoyed getting to reimagine them through the lens of this romance. Achilles and Patroclus were flawed and often frustrating, but I found myself rooting for them nonetheless and the ending absolutely gutted me.

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Book Review, Fantasy, Fiction

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fantasy

When Woman Were Dragons is set in almost our world, but not quite. The Mass Dragoning of 1955 saw thousands of women spontaneously turn into dragons, but it’s not spoken about anymore. Even Alex’s aunt, who has since transformed herself is no longer spoken of.

The concept behind this book and the way that society responded was fascinating and applicable to real life. The repression of women and conversations about their experiences was blown up to dragon-scale, but was still relatable. That said, it was someone one-dimensional and repetitive.

Alex finds herself raising her younger cousin, Bea, who she has been trained to introduce as her sister so as not to reference the aunt that became a dragon. Bea, however, is preoccupied with dragons, which consistently gets her in trouble. Alex must navigate empathy for her cousin with the expectations of society. Alex’s circumstances made her a compelling main character. She was forced to grow up so quickly and come to her own conclusions about the world around her.

The situations that Alex and Bea dealt with began to feel somewhat repetitive to me after a while and often didn’t seem to move the plot forward. In contrast, a lottt happened at the end of the book that I think could have been slowed down and explored more fully. This lack of balance kept me from fully loving this book

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Book Review, Fantasy, Fiction

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fantasy

Wallace lived to work. He was seen as ruthless by all those around him and kept most everyone at arm’s length. When he finds himself at Charon’s Crossing, a tea shop owned by Hugo who informs Wallace that he’s dead, Wallace begins to question whether he ever really lived.

Conceptually, I loved the idea of this magical tea shop and the cast of characters who owned it ferrying ghosts to the afterlife on the side. It was charming and whimsical and I enjoyed seeing them interact with customers and explain how things worked to Wallace.

I found there to be a lot of characters to keep track of, and to me things seemed a little jumpy. Wallace suddenly becomes a better person, a romance pops up out of nowhere, the rules of their universe change. These big moments didn’t feel believable to me because they happened seemingly without build-up. 

This was a sweet book, but it was kind of slow and I didn’t take too much away from it besides a contented warm fuzzy feeling.

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Book Review, Fantasy, Romance

Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper ~ Book Review

Morgan

Berkley
Romance/Fantasy
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

The main premise of Payback’s a Witch felt pretty overdone, with Emmy returning to her magical town of Thistle Grove after years of self-imposed exile to serve her family’s role as arbiter for a spellcasting tournament. That being said, I got major tri-wizard tournament vibes, which was really fun and unexpected.

Emmy joins forces with a couple acquaintances, Linden and Talia, who have all been hurt by Gareth Blackmoore, expected tournament champion. While working to exact revenge on her ex though, Emmy finds that she can’t keep her mind off Talia. The romance was fun and sexy and I loveddd Talia’s badass nature and the way she bantered with Emmy.

I think the general revenge plot needed a little more background in order for me to understand why these ladies would go to suchhh great measures to get back at Gareth. It seemed excessive to get the entire town involved on such a large scale. I also wished there had been a little more world-building. Some of the witchy/paranormal elements seemed to come out of nowhere which was a little jarring.

Overall a cute witchy fall read with a great romance, but not super compelling otherwise.

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Book Review, Fantasy, Romance

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna ~ Book Review

Morgan

Berkley Books
Fantasy/Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

What a warm hug of a book. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is part found-family, part romance, part witchy fantasy and completely heartwarming. Mika Moon exists in a world where witches are taught not to spend time together for fear of causing unanticipated harm. Her magic has been used by those around her all her life and has a result of these two circumstances, she lives in solidarity, never staying in one place for long. When she is brought into Nowhere House to care for three mentor-less witches, Mika realizes that love might not be as far out of reach as she expected.

I got majorrr The House in the Cerulean Sea vibes from this book. The three young witches are quirky and there comments are so funny and on the nose. The rest of the cast of characters is just as unique and lovable and the way they welcomed Mika in was beautiful. Mandanna created details about each character that made them so interesting. The relationships, both romantic and platonic, were multifaceted and made for such a unique way of telling Mika’s story.

I was such a huge fan of the writing style. It’s witty and funny and doesn’t shy away from profanity, but in a way that’s amusing and adds to characters’ personalities. There were so many layers to this story and so much eccentricity, but it all worked together to form a vivid plot with some of my favorite characters I’ve crossed paths with in a long time. 

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Book Review, Fantasy, Fiction, Romance

The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling ~ Book Review

Morgan

Avon Books
Romance/Fantasy
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

I liked The Kiss Curse much more than the first book in the series. Sterling brought back the impeccably atmospheric spooky small town of Graves Glen while upgrading the plot and introducing two sassy new characters.

Gwyn (Vivi’s cousin, if you’ve read book 1) runs a witchcraft shop in town that finds itself with a new competitor when Wells Penhallow returns to his family home and opens his own store. Obviously, it’s not long before sparks fly between grumpy Wells and fiery Gwyn. Their enemies to lovers relationship is electric and steamy and I enjoyed seeing them slowly grow into a team. Both characters were witty and had well-crafted personalities that made me love getting to know them.

There is such a jumble of genres in this book, and I was intrigued by the mystery element and invested in figuring out what was happening in the town. The plot was primarily romance-focused, but I enjoyed the other pieces as well.

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Book Review, Fantasy, Romance

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling ~ Book Review

Morgan

Avon Books
Romance/Fantasy
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

The Ex Hex is a cute, spooky fall romance that checked a lot of boxes, but never invested me past surface level. When Vivi’s ex, Rhys, breaks up with her, she and her best friend pretend to place a curse on him in an amusing scented-candle-and-alcohol-induced act of defiance. Upon his return to the town of Graves Glen nine years later, Vivi begins to worry that what was meant to be a joke may have done more harm than she intended.

This is a perfect book to read in the fall. The small town charm is wonderfully done, and their obsession with Halloween made for the ideal witchy atmosphere. The romance is steamy and the chemistry between Vivi and Rhys was palpable.

The actual plot? Honestly, not much happened. The ‘action’ felt pretty draggy for me, and I enjoyed meeting the characters and the world-building in the first half of the book much more than the actual plot later on.

A+ vibes, C+ plot.

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Book Review, Fantasy, Fantsy

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas ~ Book Review

Morgan

Bloomsbury Publishing
YA Fantasy
Release Date: May 3, 2016
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

What struck me most about A Court of Mist and Fury was Feyre’s growth over the slow-burning narrative arc. The strength she grows as she becomes more comfortable and understanding of her new reality was incredible to watch. While the men started out with the most power, I loved watching her take her power back and take ownership of it.

The decision Feyre makes near the beginning of the book felt kind of rushed and not fully explored to me, but it opened the door for her return to Rhysand, which is where the story really took shape. Although I found it a little hard to keep track of all the new characters, their support and acceptance of Feyre was commendable and I liked the way they banded together to try to figure out the underlying mysteries of their world.

This definitely felt more slow moving to me than A Court of Thorns and Roses, but I liked the characters a lot and the action really picked up toward the end. While I was reading I wasn’t sure if I’d feel compelled to pick up the next book in the series, but I can’t stop thinking about the cliffhanger of an ending.

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Book Review, Fantasy, Fiction

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas ~ Book Review

Morgan

Bloomsbury Publishing
Fantasy
Release Date: May 5, 2015
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

The hype is so real!! For some reason I was convinced that I wasn’t much of a fantasy person (despite loving Harry Potter), but A Court of Thorns and Roses proved that very wrong. When Feyre accidentally kills a faerie disguised as a wolf, she is forced to live out the rest of her days in the faerie world, or lose her life.

I got major Beauty and the Beast vibes as Feyre begins to get to know her captor, Tamlin and explores his grounds and her new world. The world-building wasn’t too overwhelming, and I was able to get sucked into the story fairly quickly.

The romance in this book was so unexpected and well done. It was a pretty main theme throughout the story as Feyre learns more about Tamlin and his past. I loved the setting of Tamlin’s estate and the atmosphere it set (I got a Bridgerton feel).

The action picks up a lot in the last quarter of the book and the pacing change kept me completely invested until the end. I will absolutely be picking up book two.

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Book Review, Fantasy

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange ~ Book Review

Morgan

Celadon Books
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: August 3, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪

Super unpopular opinion coming at you, but this book was not it for me. Sunday Brennan moves back across the country to be with her family after a drunk driving accident. Her return sends waves through the tight-knit community she left behind and I was excited to see what it stirred up but then….nothing happened. This whole book was me just waiting for action that never came.

There’s one big event in Sunday’s past that was a catalyst for a lot of change and trauma in her life, but even that felt anticlimactic. For a character-driven plot, I felt like a lot of the characters were given very surface level descriptions and shallow back stories that made them hard for me to feel invested in. The family dynamics were interesting and there was a lot of potential, but the unbelievable and cliched road it went down vastly underwhelmed me.

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