A Curse of Beasts and Magic by Jeaniene Frost

Title: A Curse of Beasts and Magic

Author: Jeaniene Frost

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: Beautiful and Beastly # 1

368 Pages, Hardcover

Publication: May 26, 2026

Source: Libby 

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Raine Stone was the sole survivor of a horrific creature while camping. Her account of the attack was attributed to shock, but Raine knows all too well that her story is true because now she carries that same Beast inside her!

She’s been restraining its violent urges by letting it 'feed' on the pain and chaos she’s exposed to as an ER nurse, and by playing vigilante against would-be muggers at night. But when Raine uses the Beast’s energy to heal a frail elderly gentleman from a seemingly random attack, she opens herself to a new world of danger—literally.

Remington “Remy” Byrne knows that the wall between a realm of deadly mythic creatures and our own world is very thin; he’s the Warden who guards the gateways between them. He also rules the supernatural creatures living in secret among us. Raine’s Beast makes her an intruder on Remy’s territory, but the elderly gentleman she saved is Remy’s grandfather, and her Beast contains power that could tip the scales in a sinister plot against Remy’s rule—if Raine allies with him.

Will they be friends or foes…or will the dangerous attraction between them turn into something else? And can our world be saved by their explosive alliance?

MY THOUGHTS

I was so excited when I heard Jeaniene Frost was coming back with a new urban fantasy book. The Night Huntress novels were my gateway into the UF genre. A Curse of Beasts and Magic was promoted as having Beauty and the Beast vibes, except the "beast" is the heroine. I love Frost and anything Beauty and the Beast-related, but unfortunately, I didn't love this book.

I felt like the book tried to set itself apart from the oversaturated romantasy market, but it still relied too heavily on cliché tropes, ultimately rendering it unremarkable. Don't get me wrong, I adore plenty of tropes, and when they're done well, I can read them endlessly. However, I didn't think they were executed particularly well here, nor did the story bring anything new to the genre.

The story is set in New York, but there's also a parallel magical world where other supernatural creatures rule and reside. When the leads temporarily crossed over, it felt like a generic medieval fantasy setting. Their time there was brief, but even in that short span, I didn't find it interesting. I don't know if the author tried to incorporate dragons (to be different, she made them shifters) because that was all the buzz the last couple of years or so, but I found them quite dull.

I also didn't like either of the main characters. I don't know what it was about Raine, but I just couldn't connect with her. I love the fake dating trope, but this version was more frustrating than fun. Raine was adamant about keeping their relationship strictly business, constantly reminding Remy of that fact. Yet the moment his ex showed up, she was green with envy, desperately trying to act nonchalant while unsuccessfully throwing it back in his face after they slept together. I didn't find Remy interesting or likable either. I guess you could describe him as another typical shadow daddy. There was nothing that made him stand out, and if you've read one, you've pretty much read them all. For me, once the FMC and MMC finally got together, the story stalled and became tiresome. I lost interest pretty quickly.

I was so excited for a new Jeaniene Frost book and went into it with high expectations, but it unfortunately fell short. It felt as though the book was written because romantasy is hot right now rather than because it had something fresh to offer. To me, it came across as following the trend instead of setting one. I don't plan on continuing with the series.

Dawnbringer by Stephanie Fisher

Title: Dawnbringer

Author: Stephanie Fisher

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Tempris # 3

778 pages, Paperback

Publication: June 26, 2025

Source: Kindle Unlimited

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They thought the last time mage was dead. They were wrong.

Taly is back. Finally free of the Queen and out of the loop. But freedom doesn’t mean safety.

Tempris has changed while she was gone—and so has she. With enemies closing in from all sides, Taly must navigate a world that keeps rewriting itself beneath her feet.

Skye got her home. That should’ve been the hard part. But now he’s just a boy in love with a girl everyone wants to kill—and keeping her alive might cost him everything.

The Aion Gate is stirring. The island is under siege. And the enemy is circling ever closer.

The war for Tempris is coming. And it's coming for her.

MY THOUGHTS

Dawnbringer was five years in the making. I didn’t discover the book until two years ago, so I didn’t wait as long as others, but I was looking forward to it nonetheless. I loved the first two books (both were 5 stars) in the series so much that I even did a reread before starting Dawnbringer. To put it simply, this book does not live up to expectations or previous quality but instead was a massive disappointment. It felt like it was written by someone else.

I think most fans of the series had an idea or at least a hope, of where the story was going to go in this third installment. To say the story and characters took an entirely different path would be an understatement. Since the beginning of the first book, Shardless, the importance of the aion gate opening and hopefully seeing our protagonists cross into the human realm felt heavily emphasized, at least to me. Instead, the majority of the book was filled with a vanilla, boring villain named Bill terrorizing and wooing Taly. But that wasn’t even the worst part. The time magic was aggravating. Around 35% into the book, the crux of the novel, or supposed twist became apparent, and I was in disbelief. My immediate thought was...this was the best plot? best case scenario after five years? Really? It marked the beginning of countless stupid choices and endless miscommunication between Taly and Skye.

Speaking of Taly and Skye, they felt completely removed from the characters we met in the first two books. The majority of the story consisted of smut, arguments, and fighting. Of the two, who can out-do and save each other first. Good grief, it was getting on my last nerve. I could barely recognize the characters I once fell in love with. I also don’t recall Taly being this annoying. Her future self, Cori, was equally frustrating. By the end of the book, I went from loving Taly to outright hating her. I honestly don’t know if I’ll continue the series now. With book three, it felt DOA. Skye wasn’t much better. The sexual innuendos were “haha, whatever” at first, but eventually he came across like a teenager literally obsessed with sex for most of the book.

Dawnbringer was horrendously long for absolutely no good reason. As mentioned before, with problematic characterizations, an asinine villain, and a weak plot, the length felt completely uncalled for. Did readers really need multiple pages depicting Skye jacking off? No. Then there were POV from Sarina, Aidan, Ivain, and Aimee, none of which added anything meaningful to the story, again at least for me. And I know for a fact I neither wanted nor cared to be inside Aimee’s head.

It was a struggle to finish Dawnbringer because I genuinely cannot find a single good thing to say about it. I finished it out of spite and held onto hope (see above) that we’d finally see the aion gate open and Atlas become part of the plot but we didn’t get that. Sure, they opened the aion gate but how we got there and where it led, was anticlimactic and dull. And no, it didn't even open into the human realm! This might be the end of the series for me, especially if readers are expected to wait another three to five years for the next installment. After Dawnbringer, I’m not sure the story or characters can be redeemed from here.

We Who Have No Gods by Liz Anderson

Title: We Who Have No Gods

Author: Liz Anderson

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: The Acheron Order # 1

423 pages, Hardcover

Publication: January 27, 2026

Source: Libby Library

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Vic Wood knows her priorities: scrape by on her restaurant wages, take care of her younger brother Henry, and forget their mother ever existed. But Vic’s careful life crumbles when Henry reveals that their long-missing mother belonged to the Acheron Order—a secret society of witches tasked with keeping the dead at bay. What’s worse, Henry inherited their mother’s magical abilities while Vic did not, and Henry has been chosen as the Order's newest recruit.

Determined to keep him safe, Vic accompanies Henry to the isolated woods in upstate New York that play host to the sprawling and eerie Avalon Castle. When she joins the academy despite lacking powers of her own, she risks not only the Order’s wrath, but also her brother’s. And then there is Xan, the head Sentinel—imposing, ruthless, and frustrating—in charge of protecting Avalon. He makes no secret that he wants Vic to leave.

As she makes both enemies and allies in this mysterious realm, Vic becomes caught between the dark forces at play, with her mother at the heart of it all. What's stranger is that Vic begins to be affected by the academy—and Xan—in ways she can't quite understand. But with war between witches threatening the fabric of reality, Vic must decide whether to risk her heart and life for a world where power is everything.

MY THOUGHTS

Gosh, this book was beyond awful. If I could give it zero stars, I would. I picked up We Who Have No Gods because the synopsis sounded interesting, and I read it sooner than usual because a special edition was being made. Boy, am I glad I read it first.

First off, this book is an urban fantasy with witches and monsters set in a closed modern world, specifically upstate New York. Based on the cover and synopsis, you’d never guess it was urban fantasy. Urban fantasy is my first love, witches too, but there was absolutely nothing to love about We Who Have No Gods. The only intriguing part, as glean by the synopsis, happened within the first three chapters. After that, it went downhill immediately.

You’d think the main protagonist would be the hidden Witch-Born, Henry, being whisked away to a magical academy. Nope. Instead, the story focuses on his pathetic, loser older sister, who has to tag along. The academy is a secret society created by and for a long line of witches, but then comes Victoria “Vic,” a human who suddenly moves in with her younger brother and joins his classes.

I absolutely loathed Vic. She constantly whines about not being special, and about being a human in a castle full of witches who don’t like her and don’t want her around. Even her brother doesn’t want her there. Normal people, people with self-respect would leave when they know they're not wanted. But she throws tantrums whenever people tell her this (oh, and by the way, she’s twenty-one), mouths off endlessly, and is always trying to prove herself right even when she’s clearly not. Then, lo and behold, she turns out to be a special snowflake with magic, more powerful than everyone else. * Cue giant eye roll. *

When things hit the fan and the academy is attacked, Vic of course causes the most damage. Then the bland male protagonist swoops in, declaring he needs to protect her. While the entire academy is overrun with monsters and people are literally dying, they take a break to have sex. Then literally three seconds after they’re done, Vic says, “But I need to help people!". Just wow.

Xan, the love interest and mentor, is lame and completely unoriginal. I swear I’ve read some version of him in hundreds of other books. They had zero chemistry. The book boast 'simmering chemistry'...where?! The plot was whatever, the characters all sucked, and I didn’t give two shits about Aren and Max, their relationships with Meredith, or why the brotherhood ultimately defected from the order.

Characters truly make or break a book for me, and I hated all of them, especially Vic. Her brother Henry was annoying too. I do not recommend this at all.

We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark

Title: We Who Will Die

Author: Stacia Stark

Genre: Romantasy

Series: Empire of Blood # 1

423 pages, Hardcover

Publication: December 30, 2025

Source: Libby Library

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Life in the perilous Thorn district is a constant battle for Arvelle and her younger brothers. And the vampire standing on her doorstep is about to turn their world upside down.

Faced with an unthinkable choice, Arvelle makes a magically binding vow to do the impossible: kill the emperor, an ancient vampire created by the god Umbros. But first, she must enter the Sundering—an arena where only the fastest, strongest, and deadliest survive long enough to be selected for the emperor’s elite guard.

She quickly draws the ire of the Primus, the powerful figure charged with protecting the emperor. But the vampire under the armor is the last person Arvelle expects to encounter in the emperor’s court.

With her brothers’ lives in the balance, Arvelle has no choice but to ally with the man who once shattered her heart… and with the emperor’s sadistic son, Rorrik—two vampires whose motives are impossible to pin down. Rorrik holds the key to understanding the powers Arvelle is developing—abilities that would put a price on her head if discovered by the emperor.

To survive the arena and complete her mission, Arvelle must get to the bottom of a conspiracy that will change everything she thought she knew about herself—and the two vampires who are deeply entwined with her destiny…

MY THOUGHTS

I am a big fan of Stark’s Deals with Demons and was excited to hear she was writing a new book. Gladiators and vampires with The Hunger Games vibes sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately, We Who Will Die was a major disappointment for me.

I believe this book was meant to be set in the Roman Empire, or something similar but I never once got that impression. The only small hint might be the fighting in the coliseum, but that alone could apply to many settings. The world-building was all over the place, and the magic aspect was incredibly underwhelming.

This book was soooooo boring. I kept waiting for it to get better, even at 75% and it never did. I didn’t care about the plot or the characters. The storyline felt extremely generic, and while there are countless books featuring competitions or trials, this was by far the dullest execution I’ve ever read. The first two trials happened within just a couple of chapters, which was completely anticlimactic, and the final trial was so quick and uneventful that I almost missed it. Honestly, I’m not sure why the book was as long as it was, because there was barely any action or suspense. Even the reveal of who was behind Bran was unsurprising and by the time I reached the end, I simply didn’t care anymore.

I didn’t like or care about Arvelle (what an atrocious name). She’s yet another typical rage-filled character, constantly raging against society, norms, or whatever else. One thing she did over and over again that annoyed the heck out of me was constantly daydreaming or zoning out in what were supposed to be life-or-death situations. For example, she’s training and fighting against another competitor, they’re charging straight at her, and she’s completely spaced out. Then, during one of the trials, her opponent is wielding a sword and aiming straight for her head but she’s busy reminiscing about the past. Like, what the heck? There was absolutely no sense of awareness or self-preservation at all. And then there's the love triangle or love interests, who were about as interesting as a cardboard box. Could they be any more humdrum? I also guessed early on that they were brothers...again, boring and predictable.

There was nothing redeeming or worthwhile about We Who Will Die. It’s easily one of the most unoriginal and boring books I’ve read in the last few years. The use of gladiators and vampires was completely wasted on a lackluster plot and underwhelming characters. This book is absolutely nothing like The Hunger Games, not even in vibes.

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

Title: The Knight and the Moth

Author: Rachel Gillig

Genre: Romantasy

Series: The Stonewater Kingdom # 1

Publication: May 20, 2025, 400 pages

Source: Libby 

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Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum's windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams.

Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral's cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she'd rather avoid Rodrick's dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god.

MY THOUGHTS

I read The Shepherd King duology by Rachel Gillig when it first released. I loved the first book, but the sequel left me disappointed. With that in mind, I approached her new series with some hesitation. When it comes to a new series, there are usually two outcomes: either the author captures the same magic as before, or ends up rehashing what they already know. Unfortunately, The Knight and the Moth does neither.

As one of this year’s most anticipated releases, The Knight and the Moth completely misses the mark. The plot and worldbuilding were weak and lackluster. The entire book centers around Diviners a.k.a damaged girls cloistered away from the world, worshipped for their ability to see the future. The story follows Sybil, a Diviner, as she searches for her missing sisters with the help of the king and his knights. The plot was so mind-numbingly boring that I struggled to stay engaged. I didn’t care about the story, the stakes (barely any), or the characters. The pacing was painfully slow, and the concept unexceptional and uninteresting. The whole idea with the coins? I thought it was dumb.  As for the villain, I figured out their identity within the first 20% of the book, which made the ending entirely underwhelming.

Sybil was an unlikeable protagonist. There wasn’t a single trait; physical or otherwise that made her as special as the abbess, Benji, or Rory claimed she was. She’s one of the blandest, most irritating characters I’ve read in a long time. I didn’t understand why she was knighted and, honestly, I didn’t care. Rory, the love interest, wasn’t any better. His sudden shift from cold disdain to obsessive, overprotective “alpha male” made zero sense. Just days earlier, he was insulting her. Suddenly, he’s a lovesick puppy ready to throw his life away for her? Please. It was weird, unconvincing, and absolutely not the “enemies to lovers” dynamic it may have been aiming for.

And for anyone saying Bartholomew was the only funny or worthwhile character, lies. The only time he was remotely interesting was at the very end, when we learn the truth about him. But even that wasn’t enough to save this trainwreck of a book.

I’m highly disappointed. I expected it to be on par with One Dark Window, or at the very least, better than the entire Shepard Duology. But it was actually worse. I don’t recommend it and while I’m glad I finished it to satisfy my curiosity, this will be the last Gillig book I ever read.

For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn

Title: For Whom the Belle Tolls

Author: Jaysea Lynn

Genre: Cozy Fantasy

Series: Helle's Belles # 1

Publication: January 28, 2025, 640 pages

Source: Libby.

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They told her to go to Hell.

She went, but on her own terms. Lily isn’t exactly thrilled with her arrival in the Afterlife, but what awaits her there is more fantastical than she ever could have Deities wait in line at the coffee shop. Fae flit between realms. Souls find ways to make death a beginning.

As she explores the many corners of the Afterlife, Lily finds herself surprisingly drawn to a place most people would avoid at all Hell. Armed with years of customer service experience and pent-up sarcasm, Lily carves a job out for herself amongst Hell’s demons, sending souls to their rightful circles with more than a hint of sass.

Lily’s expectations are subverted every day in Hell—especially by Bel, a demon general with a distractingly sexy voice. The two meet by chance and form an immediate, deeply healing friendship, but the undeniable heat between them threatens to combust.

Meanwhile, something stirs beyond the boundaries of their world, threatening to destroy everything they’ve known and everything that could be…unless they fight like Hell to stop it.

MY THOUGHTS

I've been seeing For Whom the Belle Tolls everywhere. Everywhere. After reading the synopsis, I thought it sounded right up my alley and was excited to see what the hype was about. A girl navigating the afterlife and ending up in Hell? I was intrigued. The concept and story started off decently. I was momentarily enjoying the worldbuilding and characters, but it quickly went downhill.

The concept of the afterlife, while not new, had some fresh elements in Lynn’s version. I initially liked the author’s take on Hell, Heaven, and Paradise (which functioned like Limbo, where souls choose whether to reincarnate). I also appreciated how vividly I could picture Hell and its inhabitants. Readers are introduced to a parade of famous deities: Persephone, Lucifer, Aphrodite, Lilith, Thanatos... even God himself as they traversed the Universal Area (a kind of shared realm). Everyone was there. Unfortunately, that about sums up all the things I liked.

The worldbuilding and characters, at first glance sounded interesting but quickly revealed themselves to be built on a flimsy foundation and was poorly executed. Let’s start with the worldbuilding. While the author explained things well enough for me to visualize them, it felt like a cheap TV set: a living room backdrop built on a flat stage with no real house behind it. Everything was told to the reader rather than shown. Hell wasn’t nearly as unique as I hope, it felt like a dull reflection of corporate America, complete with hierarchies and office titles. They literally worked in an office. Higher-ups at the top, grunts at the bottom. Lily worked at the hellp desk, went to coffee shops, bars, and just hung out at home. It all just mirrored the mortal world in a way that felt unimaginative and uninspired.

The characters were painfully one-dimensional. Everyone was perfect, flawless appearances, always made the right choices and had the right words. That’s not how people are, in this world or any other. If I had to describe them in one word, it’d be “robots.” They felt disingenuous and fake, as if tailor-made for their roles without any real personality. Lily was one of the most boring protagonists I’ve ever read. She shows up in Hell, and everyone automatically falls in love with her, everything is handed to her with no questions or fuss. She’s apparently the smartest, most beautiful, most perfect person to ever show up there. Every word out of her mouth sounded like something from a self-help book. The male love interest was written in the same way: no flaws, no depth, no nuance. Just... nothing. 

This book was also poorly marketed. It was pitched as a romantic fantasy, but it’s really a cozy fantasy. And at nearly 700 pages, it dragged. If I had known there was basically no plot, I wouldn’t have forced myself through endless chapters of characters going to work, cooking, hanging out at bars, grabbing coffee, or sitting in the library. There’s mention of a world-invading threat, but we never see it. We only hear about it. And when the “war” finally happens around the 70% mark, it’s glossed over. We’re told people return home injured... that’s it. Why even mention it if it has zero impact on the story?

Despite all that, the worst offense for me was how obvious it was that the author inserted herself as the main character. If you follow the author, you’ll know what I mean. The book deals with themes like religious and childhood trauma, but instead of feeling like a natural part of the story, it felt like a personal therapeutic writing exercise that got published. Like I said, everything Lily says sounded like it came straight from a motivational book; it was too polished, too perfect and every couple of paragraphs she randomly dropped curse words, which just felt jarring. Not cute or funny. I’m honestly baffled by all the glowing reviews. But hey, to each their own. I don’t recommend it but if you’re still curious, borrow it from a library.

And just to show how little thought went into some parts of this book: at the end, Bel calls Lily “Hell’s Belle” and awkwardly laughs, saying he had to look up the word "belle" before meeting her. This man is supposedly a prince, a general, and has been alive for over a century...and yet he didn’t know what the word "belle: meant? I scoffed and rolled my eyes so hard I nearly gave myself whiplash.

A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton

Title: A Kiss of Shadows

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: Merry Gentry # 1

Publication: September 30, 2000, 480 pages

Source: Personal Library, Audiobook

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My name is Meredith 'Merry' Gentry, but of course it's not my real name. I dare not even whisper my true name after dark for fear that one hushed word will travel over the night winds to the soft ear of my aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness. She wants me dead. I don't even know why...

I fled the high court of Faerie three years ago and have been in hiding ever since. As Merry Gentry, I am a private investigator for the Grey Detective Agency: Supernatural Problems, Magical Solutions. My magical skills, scorned at the courts of Faerie, are valued in the human world. Even by human standards, my magic isn't flashy, which is fine by me. Flashy attracts attention and I can't afford that.

Rumour has it that I am dead. Not quite. I am Princess Meredith NicEssus. To speak that name after dark is to call down a knock upon your door from a hand that can kill you with a touch. I have been careful, but not careful enough. The shadows have found me, and they are going to take me back home, one way or another.

So the running is over. But the fighting has just begun...

MY THOUGHTS

I’ve never read a Laurell K. Hamilton novel before, but she’s known for two popular and well-loved series, so I decided to check out her Merry Gentry books, starting with A Kiss of Shadows. The synopsis intrigued me: a faerie princess in hiding, living in Los Angeles as a private investigator at a law firm? That sounded promising. Unfortunately, the book went downhill fast and never recovered.

If you’ve read Urban Fantasy, especially from the early 2000s when this book was published, you’re probably familiar with the genre’s typical format: a central plot (usually a mystery), a personal or romantic subplot, and an overarching storyline that spans the series. A Kiss of Shadows doesn’t follow that structure at all. In the very first chapter, we meet Merry as a PI and a princess in hiding. You’d think the story would revolve around keeping her identity secret while solving a case but nope. Within a couple of chapters, her identity is revealed, and the case she was working on is quickly dropped and never mentioned again.

Once her identity is exposed, Merry is swept back into the Faerie Court and plunged into political intrigue. Naturally, not everyone is thrilled by her return, and predictably, assassination attempts follow. She’s constantly surrounded by a cadre of supposedly elite warriors who are all eager to protect her... and, of course, sleep with her.

I didn’t enjoy Merry as a character. Everything came too easily for her. She fled the court and wanted nothing to do with it, but suddenly she’s more powerful than the queen, named heir to the throne, and every man she encounters is instantly obsessed with her? Come on. Even more frustrating was the repeated reminder that she’s descended from five fertility gods, making her irresistible to every single male. Yet these so-called strong warriors all behave like lovesick teenagers whenever she’s around. It got old fast.

For a book that was absurdly long, A Kiss of Shadows had no real plot and very little actually happened. The story essentially follows Merry as she’s pursued by a parade of men from Los Angeles to the Faerie Court and back again, all of them waiting for their turn in her bed. The characters were flat and two-dimensional, the plot was nonexistent, and there wasn’t even a single memorable scene.

I don’t recommend this book; there are far better faerie novels out there.

The Scorpion and the Night Blossom by Amélie Wen Zhao

Title: The Scorpion and the Night Blossom 

Author: Amélie Wen Zhao

Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Three Realms duology # 1

Publication: March 4, 2025 400 pages

Source: I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

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Nine years ago, the war between the Kingdom of Night and the Kingdom of Rivers tore Àn’yīng’s family apart, leaving her mother barely alive and a baby sister to fend for. Now the mortal realm is falling into eternal night, and mó—beautiful, ravenous demons—roam the land, feasting on the flesh of humans and drinking their souls.

Àn’yīng is no longer a helpless child, though. Armed with her crescent blades and trained in the ancient art of practitioning, she has decided to enter the Immortality Trials, which are open to any mortal who can survive the journey to the immortal realm. Those who complete the Trials are granted a pill of eternal life—the one thing Àn’yīng knows can heal her dying mother. But to attain the prize, she must survive the competition.

Death is common in the Trials. Yet oddly, Àn’yīng finds that someone is helping her stay alive. A rival contestant. Powerful and handsome, Yù’chén is as secretive about his past as he is about his motives for protecting Àn’yīng.

The longer she survives the Trials, the clearer it becomes that all is not right in the immortal realm. To save her mother and herself, Àn’yīng will need to figure out whether she can truly trust the stranger she’s falling for or if he’s the most dangerous player of all . . . for herself and for all the realms.

MY THOUGHTS

Lately, there have been many Eastern Asian fantasy novels, and I’m still on the lookout for a good one. The synopsis for The Scorpion and the Night Blossom sounded intriguing; demons and a magical trial held by the gods? That was right up my alley! I had such high hopes for this book, but unfortunately, it was extremely disappointing and so bad.

The world-building was confusing. The author drops the reader into the story, expecting them to already understand what’s going on. There are different realms and a magic system that is barely explained, if at all. The mortal realm is infested with nightmarish creatures, but their descriptions were vague, leaving me unsure of what they actually looked like. Àn’yīng, our main heroine, wields multiple magical blades, each with a different name and purpose, but again, none of it is properly explained. As the first book in a new series, it desperately needed a clearer foundation and setup.

The writing was okay, but the pacing suffered due to long, dense paragraphs that detailed every little thing, making the story drag. There was barely any dialogue, and the narration relied heavily on telling rather than showing. This made it difficult to stay engaged or connect with the characters. One of the biggest aspects of the novel was the trials, but they were so dull and uninspired that they never felt high-stakes or life-threatening.

Àn’yīng, our main character, was beyond insufferable. I had hoped that as the book progressed, she would grow on me but no, she never did. She is one of the most immature and annoying protagonists I’ve ever read. From the start, readers are told how strong Àn’yīng is, yet we never actually see it. Throughout the entire novel, she constantly needed saving—by Yù’chén, Hao Yang, his mother, and even the other contestants. She also harbors major prejudices against halflings until it’s convenient for her to forget them. For example, when she discovers that Yù’chén is a halfling, she tells him to stay away from her, refusing his help because he disgusts her. And what does she do right after? She befriends and hangs out with a group of halflings. She made disgusting remarks about Yù’chén to his face yet constantly lusts after him. She strings him along, pushes him away, then demands his help whenever she needs it; only to get mad when he uses his demon powers or bends the rules for her. She’s completely delusional, convinced that she’s been saving Yù’chén’s life and that he owed her. But when did she ever save him? Never. And somehow, he’s the one accused of stringing her along? I honestly felt bad for the guy. I have no idea why he likes her when her personality is awful. And don’t even get me started on Yù’chén’s nickname for Àn’yīng, Scorpion, it was not cute at all. I lost count of how many times I rolled my eyes.

I sadly did not enjoy any part of The Scorpion and the Night Blossom. The plot was weak, the world-building was lackluster, and most of the characters were flat. The most important thing to me in any novel is the protagonist, and Àn’yīng was truly a revolting person. I don’t recommend this book, but if you’re still curious, I’d suggest borrowing it from the library. 

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

Title: Warbreaker

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: N/A

Publication: June 9, 2009, 688 pages

Source: Audiobook, Libby

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Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn't like his job, and the immortal who's still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago.

Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren's capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people.

By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.

MY THOUGHTS

I think most readers have at least heard of Brandon Sanderson or read one of his books. With his extensive catalog, I decided that this would be the year I finally started one of his works. I chose Warbreaker, which, in hindsight, probably wasn’t the best entry point. The synopsis and rave reviews promised an epic fantasy, but unfortunately, I didn’t experience that at all. There were many aspects I disliked, and I didn’t even find it mildly enjoyable.

First, the cover and title felt misleading. Siri is featured on the cover, yet the book is named after another character. In the grand scheme of the story, with so many characters, Siri and Vasher were two of the main ones, but their roles felt small and somewhat insignificant. They had plenty of page time, yet their presence barely moved the story forward. It’s hard to explain, but their impact just didn’t feel substantial.

At first, the worldbuilding intrigued me. The concept of colors and Breath as a magical system was unique; people could animate inanimate objects by drawing color from their surroundings, provided they had accumulated enough Breath. To gain Breath, they had to take it from another living person. Things became more complex with the introduction of gods and the Returned: people who had died but were brought back to life and worshiped as deities. While the idea was interesting, the execution became confusing and convoluted. The reasoning behind the Breath system and its connection to the gods was poorly explained, and when the truth was finally revealed, it felt underwhelming and inane.

Character-wise, I immediately disliked Vivenna. She was one of the dullest protagonists I’ve ever read. Though she underwent significant development over the course of the book, she remained unlikable. Siri, the younger princess who became the Hallandren Queen, fared slightly better. Initially dismissed as the useless princess, she actually grew over the course of the book. However, I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. Vivenna, Siri, Lightsong, Vasher, Denth, Tonk Fah, the God King, and even the side characters all felt underdeveloped. None of them had a single memorable moment or defining trait. As the story progressed, I lost interest in the story and didn't care what happened to them.

The pacing was a major issue. Warbreaker was unnecessarily long, with the middle section dragging painfully. Then, after all that buildup, thousands of Lifeless marching on Idris, Vasher’s hidden army, there was no actual battle scene? The ending felt rushed, abrupt, and anticlimactic. One of the worst ending I've read in a long time.

Overall, I don’t recommend this book. It was drawn out for far too long, and I honestly wish I had DNF-ed it instead of wasting so much time, only to be left disappointed.

The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning

Title: The House at Watch Hill

Author: Karen Marie Moning

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: The Watch Hill # 1

Publication: 384 pages, October 1, 2024

Source: Personal Library

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Zo Grey is reeling from the sudden death of her mother when she receives a surprising call from an attorney in Divinity, Louisiana, with the news she has been left an inheritance by a distant relative, the terms of which he will only discuss in person. Destitute and alone, with nothing left to lose, Zo heads to Divinity and discovers she is the sole beneficiary of a huge fortune and a monstrosity of a house that sits ominously at the peak of Watch Hill—but she must live in it, alone, for three years before the house, or the money, is hers.

Met with this irresistible opportunity to finally build a future for herself, Zo puts aside her misgivings about the foreboding Gothic mansion and the strange circumstances, and moves in, where she is quickly met by a red-eyed Stygian owl and an impossibly sexy Scottish groundskeeper.

Her new home is full of countless secrets and mystifying riddles, with doors that go nowhere, others that are impossible to open, and a turret into which there is no visible means of ingress. And the townspeople are odd…

What Zo doesn’t yet know is that her own roots lie in this very house and that in order to discover her true identity and awaken her dormant powers, she will have to face off against sinister forces she doesn’t quite comprehend—or risk being consumed by them.

MY THOUGHTS

I've been a fan of Moning for a while now. Her Fever series (the first five books) is one of my favorites. Naturally, I’ve been eagerly anticipating Moning's next series. When I heard it was going to be about witches, I was thrilled. A gothic setting in Louisiana? Literal perfection. However, it saddens me to say that The House at Watch Hill did not meet my expectations. Honestly, I was surprised this was written by the same author as the Fever series.

The House at Watch Hill is the first book in a planned trilogy. Despite being 384 pages long, there was a whole lot of nothing happening. For the majority of the book, about two-thirds, readers are left in the dark about key plot points, including why Zo's mother passed, her heritage, and why she was summoned to Divinity. The world-building was minimal at best; if it existed, I must have missed it. When Zo’s best friend, Este, finally arrived in Divinity, readers were bombarded with a heap of information dumping. But even that was short-lived, as Zo's temper tantrum almost took her friend out. The buildup to the mystery or any significant revelation wasn’t even suspenseful, just frustrating. I honestly expected better writing from Moning, given she's a seasoned writer with a long backlist.

As for the main character, Zo was an immature, unlikeable lead prone to constant temper tantrums. Throughout most of the book, her primary focus was on sex. Occasionally, she’d dwell on “woe is me” sentiments; lamenting her hard life, how everyone lied to her, etc. I didn't think she exhibited any redeeming qualities or intelligence, for that matter. Despite being twenty-four, she behaved like an impulsive teenager. Over the course of the book, she made no effort to improve herself or change her circumstances. The whole subplot with her mother was already weak but made weaker when readers discovered why she was ill in the first place...which plainly was stupid. Instead, being named Hier magically fixed everything for her. She made several mistakes in the story, but each time, the consequences were conveniently swept away. I don’t enjoy reading about "special snowflakes" or plots that advance without meaningful and purposeful change or character growth. The side characters weren’t much better. Este and the two potential love interests were as bland as vanilla, with no significant development or contributions to the story.

Additionally, the book included a few chapters from a character named Alisdair. I couldn’t figure out their purpose. Alisdair’s chapters consisted of him talking to himself and “warning” Zo except she couldn’t even hear him. I’m guessing he might be the Owl lurking around the house, but honestly, his chapters felt pointless. And really? Who cares?

All in all, The House at Watch Hill was a disappointing read. I can’t find a single positive thing to say about it. The only reason this book even made it onto my radar was because I’d read and loved the Fever series and hoped for the same spark I felt reading those books long ago. Unfortunately, this book is a far cry from the Fever series. With lackluster world-building, undeveloped characters, a weak plot, and mediocre writing, I can’t recommend it.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Title: Yellowface

Author: R.F. Kuang

Genre: Fiction

Series: N/A

Publication: May 16, 2023

Source: Libby Library

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Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

MY THOUGHTS

Yellowface had been on my list since last year, and this year, I decided it was finally time to dive into R.F. Kuang’s work. Since Yellowface is one of her shorter books, I thought it would be a good place to start. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a poor choice, as I found the book extremely disappointing.

Marketed as a sharp, satirical novel tackling controversial topics like cultural appropriation, racism, and diversity, Yellowface certainly addressed these themes. However, I couldn’t get past the revolting and deeply unlikeable main character, June. While I understand she wasn’t meant to be likeable, I personally need to feel some kind of connection or sympathy for the characters I’m reading about, and with June, I felt neither. I simply despised her.

Despite its promise of humor, I didn’t find the book funny at all. I’m not even sure what its ultimate purpose was. While it does highlight important issues, these are conversations that are already happening—and for many readers, I suspect they’ll nod along in agreement while reading, only to forget about it shortly after finishing. The novel didn’t leave any lasting impact or profound impression on me.

I’ve heard great things about Kuang’s writing, which makes me wonder if she intentionally simplified her style for this book. It felt basic and unremarkable.

I didn’t enjoy a single aspect of Yellowface. That said, I’m still planning to explore Kuang’s other works, especially her fantasy novels, which I hope will resonate with me more. If you’re curious about Yellowface, I’d recommend borrowing it from the library as it’s definitely not worth the purchase.