Posted September 7, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments
Magic Slays, Ilona Andrews
Magic Slays is the fifth book of the series, so I really don’t recommend jumping in here. You need to understand the dynamics of the Pack, have caught up on Kate’s ancestry, understand her relationships with Julie and Curran, etc. If you have all that info, then this book is one hell of a ride.
It’s not obvious that it’s going to be that way from the first pages. Kate’s newly created detective agency, Cutting Edge, is in trouble (totally classic for a private investigator) and she’d have trouble paying the bills if it weren’t for the advance she got from the Pack. She does get a call where Ghastek needs a favour, and naturally ends up in deep shit, at which point Andrea shows up.
So far, so good; it’s entertaining, but where are the big guns? Hold on, it’s all building up to something — and once it does, all hell breaks loose. As you’d expect from a book in this series, to be honest.
My favourite part about this book is actually not the epic stuff, though. It’s the moments where Kate and Curran clash and spar, even though they’re together now — and then they talk and work things out and support each other. Kate thinks about running, but doesn’t; Curran thinks about being the autocratic bastard he is to Kate, but doesn’t. They’re still figuring out how to fit together, but they both think it’s worth it.
And then that epilogue. Oof!
Rating: 5/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Ilona Andrews, mystery, romance, SF/F
Posted August 11, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Magic Strikes, Ilona Andrews
When I think about this book, I think about some of the pivotal scenes in the arena, and it was a bit of a surprise to read it again and realise how little fighting Kate and the shapeshifters actually do together in the arena. I mean, there are still a few battles, but I remembered it taking up a much bigger chunk of the book. It’s one of my favourite in the series so far, partly because of that strong impression about the arena, but also because there are some really funny lines (“turn your headlamps off” — in context, that’s just, ahaha).
It’s also one where things finally get really moving on the romance plot, and it becomes obvious what Curran’s intentions are. Which is the source of much of the funniness, but also a couple of really good scenes. In shapeshifter romance there’s sometimes the tendency to talk about how the instincts are stronger than anything, etc, etc, and sometimes it leads to kind of rapey stuff which is just ick. Curran, however, demonstrates really very strongly that a ‘no’ is a ‘no’, even if he thinks Kate doesn’t mean it.
Though how much does it say about her that she just has to say no, very explicitly to test his control? Oh, Kate.
Anyway, Kate continues to be both a total smartass and a total dumbass, and we also see some development for other characters like Derek, Julie, Andrea, Raphael and Jim. Speaking of smartasses, Raphael has some pretty great lines too.
So yeah, lots of fun.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Ilona Andrews, romance, SF/F
Posted August 3, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
A Fatal Waltz, Tasha Alexander
In this book, Lady Emily is now engaged to Colin, and gets drawn into his world of espionage in her quest to clear the name of someone close to her. The trip takes her to Vienna, where she consorts with the best and worst… and with a woman Colin once loved, and who still wants to be with Colin herself (despite her marriage). Jealousy isn’t a good look on Lady Emily, and I was embarrassed for her when she slipped and revealed her lack of trust in Colin. I joke about being the relationship advice Dalek, but really, communicate!
Aside from the plotline of jealousy, it turns out someone else is in love with Emily (groan), so there are two jealousy plotlines here, both involving unrequited love. I admit that this book is not my favourite so far because of that, though the investigation plot was actually fairly engaging. I enjoyed Emily’s dip into espionage, even if it all got a little melodramatic.
In the end, it’s a fun read, just didn’t quite capture me the way the previous books have!
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, crime, historical fiction, mystery, romance, Tasha Alexander
Posted July 29, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Necropolis, Jordan L. Hawk
I took a bit of a break from the Whyborne and Griffin books, not entirely intentionally (I have a problem with things being out of sight, out of mind) — so it was nice to come back with a bang into a book that goes some different places (literally, geographically) and involves some significant development for Christine, my favourite character. We learn a little more about her, and more about the work she does. I’m a big fan of archaeology, fiction or non-fiction, so I was allll on board for this.
So okay, there wasn’t a lot of digging, because there wasn’t much time — it was all action. Which is not a bad thing. I read this in just a few chunks, tearing through it, and it was great fun.
I had issues before with Whyborne’s low self-esteem, because I just didn’t enjoy the same conflict happening every book with him deciding he’s not good enough for Griffin. It does feel like there’s some progress there, and that both of them are learning, so that kind of puts my worries to rest — though I hope that development continues happening. Slow is fine, as long as it’s happening.
So yeah, really enjoyable, and it’s nice to see Whyborne stepping up and figuring out some important stuff, too.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Jordan L. Hawk, queer fiction, romance, SF/F
Posted July 27, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
A Poisoned Season, Tasha Alexander
The second Lady Emily book focuses on a mysterious string of incidents in which items that had belonged to Marie Antoinette are being stolen — along with a sideplot of her encounters with a mysterious admirer. Meanwhile, Colin continues to try to persuade her to marry him, and scandal about her bubbles away.
The book features quite a few delights — anonymous flirting in Greek, Emily’s continued interest in her studies and classical art, Colin’s attempts to persuade her of his affections, and Emily’s friendships with other women around her. Even her mother is a delight, in her own overbearing way, because her support for her daughter is solid despite the total lack of understanding between them. She even arranges for Emily to have tea with the Queen!
Like the first book, I found this really enjoyable, and I’m eager to read the third. Which is annoyingly out of print, but ebooks have come to my rescue.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, historical fiction, mystery, romance, Tasha Alexander
Posted July 23, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Magic Burns, Ilona Andrews
I always forget how many books it takes for this series to really become a romance — I expect it straight away, somehow, and yet it’s really taking its time in that regard. Instead, this book’s emotional heart centres around Julie, a young girl whose mother is missing and who comes under Kate’s protection. Having read the later books, there’s also more information about Kate and foreshadowing for things in books to come — but you don’t know it yet!
Really, the books are an amazing mishmash of all sorts of mythology, and that would normally bother me, but it feels natural in the chaotic world of oscillating magic and technology that the characters inhabit. The chaos is the rule that means it’s not weird that you’ve got the Morrigan right beside birds with metal feathers from Greek legend.
There are also more glimpses into the workings of the Pack and the Order, which is fun. But the best parts are Kate and her interactions with Andrea, Curran, Julie and Bran; we get to see more of her heart, more of her hurt, and more of what she needs, wants, and thinks she needs and wants.
It’s a hecking lot of fun, basically.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Ilona Andrews, romance, SF/F
Posted July 21, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
The Gentle Art of Fortune-Hunting, K.J. Charles
Yaaaay, a stand-alone Regency romance with attempted cunning scams, falling in love with the wrong people, and improbably yanking at the tangle and sorting it all out at the end. It’s funny, the communication between the characters is as sexy as I ever find anything (ace, remember), and it’s good for the happy wriggle and toe-curls of “yaaay, a proper romance-novel happy ending”. And of course, it’s K.J. Charles, so you count on the fact that the sex advances character and plot, consent is properly obtained, and she knows the contract with the reader when it comes to happy ends.
I don’t understand how allegedly intelligent people don’t figure Robin out waaaay sooner than they do, given the abundant clues, but I do love the slow reveal of Robin’s past and motives, and the way the plot builds up toward the pairing.
And the funniness. And the heart.
Band Sinister is still my favourite, but this one is definitely on my ‘reread when things are shit’ list, too.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, historical fiction, K.J. Charles, romance
Posted June 13, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
And Only to Deceive, Tasha Alexander
Lady Emily married quickly to get away from her parents — or mostly her mother, who is overbearing and absolutely obsessed with getting her married off safely before she loses her looks. (Ugh.) She barely had time for the honeymoon, though, before her husband went away on an expedition… and never returned, with his friends sending back the news that he was dead, leaving her in possession of all his things, a lot of money, and a lot more freedom.
Over the course of the book it turns out that he was deeply in love with her, and she begins to read his journals and understand the kind of man he was, beginning to explore his interests and what she might have shared with him. This leads to her falling in love with him too, despite knowing he’s already gone. At the same time, strange things are happening and it seems that he may have been involved in something strange, or perhaps even dangerous, a tangle that Lady Emily decides to unravel.
I ended up enjoying this a lot, enough that I immediately got the next book (and by this point I’m gleefully onto the third). I liked the idea of how Emily falls in love with her husband posthumously — it’s feels surprisingly tender and real, and it’s a surprising touch, especially given she does go on to have a new love interest. She’s anachronistic, of course, though not quite so much so as Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell — the book does show some of the ways in which that disturbs people and that makes it feel a bit more real. No surprises that I’d feel a kinship with a heroine who loves books, anyway…
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, crime, historical fiction, mystery, romance, Tasha Alexander
Posted June 8, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments
Murderous Relation, Deanna Raybourn
This review is inevitably spoilery for certain things, so look away now if you want to be unspoiled — I couldn’t think of a way to comment on some of this book without spoilers.
I was wondering what Raybourn would do now that the will-they-won’t-they potential should, in theory, be over with after the ending of the last book. Turns out, it’s actually “go straight into another book with very little time difference, meaning they haven’t had chance to consummate their relationship… and they’ll dither for another book about whether they’re going to do it or not”. Granted, that does give her chance for a good payoff scene near the end which is everything you need for the couple getting together; anything else might have felt a bit flat.
In the meantime, the plot goes ahead and entangles Veronica further with the Royal Family and even Jack the Ripper (of course, given the era). It barrels along at a cracking pace, of course, with some anxious moments for certain characters, and the inevitable emotional complexities of Veronica’s every interaction with any member of her family. I enjoyed it a lot, and raced through the book.
I don’t know if maybe the shine isn’t wearing off a little on this series for me, though. Not because the main characters are together, but just because it’s ever more unrealistic for Veronica to be this deeply entangled in the Royal Family’s affairs, and this trusted to untangle them without question… without much payoff, on her part. I kind of want her and Stoker to tell ’em to sod off, and ride off into the sunset. Somewhere that Veronica can catch butterflies and also screw Stoker silly on the regular, since that’s what she really wants.
Not that I’m stopping reading the series in the least — it’s highly entertaining. but I hope Veronica gets some payoff for her tireless efforts on the behalf of a family who regard her existence as an embarrassment and will never give her any official recognition whatsoever.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, crime, Deanna Raybourn, historical fiction, mystery, romance
Posted April 4, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Red, White and Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston
The first thing to know about this book is that it’s set in a slightly parallel universe with a slightly different British royal family, though the US politics are more recognisable. I found it a bit maddening trying to follow what was real and what was alternative, actually, because at one moment it’d be talking about Obama and the next it’d be talking about a fictional politician — but in the end I found it easiest to just go along with it. The stuff that’s important quickly becomes clear, and to behonest, I don’t need a vivid and accurate portrayal of a modern royal family. I know some people are sticklers for accuracy, but I can put up with a lot as long as I care about the characters/plot.
And oh, did I ever care. The two main characters are total idiots about many things, and certain aspects of the plot were deeply obvious, but nonetheless I was hooked on them — their idiotic banter and their emails, texts, phone calls; the way they wind their way into each others’ lives, despite never expecting to. The way they go out on a limb with their feelings, and eventually decide to make it work somehow. It’s great escapism, and the relationships between them and also those around them worked for me.
The triumphal note of the ending makes sense for the genre, but rings rather more hopefully than I’ve been feeling lately, given the trends in British politics. It’s nice to end on a high note, though.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Casey McQuiston, romance
