Unfamiliar, Vol. 2 by Haley Newsome

 
Unfamiliar, Vol. 2 by Haley Newsome

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from Andrews McMeel Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

While Planchette and her friends are on a mission to help a ghost bride complete her unfinished business and move on, they make some interesting discoveries. The curse on Sun has finally been broken, but now Babs can’t eat a single thing because food goes bad the second she touches it. Now they have a new curse to get to the bottom of, but the nature of this curse is highly suspicious. Meanwhile, a longtime mystery is about to come to a head and it’s somehow connected with Planchette and friends in the most unexpected way. Poor Planchette and her friends just wanted to help a ghost bride move on and help Sun get rid of her curse, but it seems that things are multiplying in the strangest ways!

I absolutely loved the first volume of this series, so I was extremely excited to start volume two and see where the story takes us next. This time around, we follow Planchette and her friends as they work to help a ghost bride finally finish the unsettled business that left her haunting the living world. However, that’s not their only adventure because there’s new developments on the curse front and they have to figure out how to deal with the Faerie King. Not only that, there’s also finally a break in a long-standing murder mystery and they’re all about to get sucked in. We really pick up exactly where we left off in volume one, so we hit the ground running. Hard!

Like the first volume, this was an absolute delight to read. I love how rich and layered each of the characters are. I also love how the darker storylines are balanced well with lighter storylines so that the overall tone isn’t too dark or sad. This time around, we spend more time with Sun and Babs, learning more about Sun’s home life and how difficult her family is. I really feel for Sun and how even her own mother treats her! I also love how the ghost bride’s plot is resolved while still furthering the plot.

All in all, this is such a fun and quick read. The artwork is stunning and really aids in how the story is told. I was a bit surprised by the big twist and I love how the artwork really aided in driving that twist home. I’m excited to see how the story continues from here, so I’ll be back again when the third volume eventually drops.

What Monstrous Gods by Rosamund Hodge

 
What Monstrous Gods by Rosamund Hodge

My Rating: ★★★★

I received a copy from Balzer + Bray through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lia has spent much of her life being trained to kill the heretic sorcerer who has forced the royal family into a time-freezing slumber. When she completes her task, she expects the royal family to awaken the gods and end the Red Death. What she doesn’t expect is to be forced to make a pact with a god and marry the prince or be killed by the queen. Lia certainly doesn’t expect her entire life to be turned upside down at every turn. The only person she can trust is the ghost of Ruven, the man she murdered, who she has accidentally bound to herself.

I’m a huge fan of fairytale retellings, so I was all over this the second I saw it. This time around, we’ve got a compelling Sleeping Beauty retelling. We follow Lia, a woman chosen by the gods who was born into a world that mostly doesn’t believe in them. However, Lia was raised in a convent and knows all about how and why so many people became heretics: Ruven. I thought it was an interesting twist that sleeping beauty is the royal court rather than a single person, and that the innocent people forced into a 500 year slumber are not so innocent after all.

This was truly a fascinating take on Sleeping Beauty. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Ruven. I wish we got to learn more about Ruven and his life, but it is what it is and I’m happy with what we got. Lia is a great character, but she was constantly going back and forth about her decisions and not seeing what was very obviously sitting in her face. I had to keep reminding myself that she’s an extremely sheltered character who grew up in a convent, and that she is not prepared for anything she’s facing. In fact, I’m surprised she held up as well as she did given how much she faced, with the main thing being everything she’s believed turning straight on its head.

That said, I do wish we got to see more of the royal family and see exactly what they’re made of. We barely touch the surface with them and it would’ve been nice if they were a little more fleshed out. I also wish we learned more about the gods and their world, but I’m also happy with what we did learn because they are still meant to be mysterious to everyone, including readers. I do think that the entire mythology behind the gods was really interesting, though.

All in all, this is an excellent read. I love how different this story is compared to the source material to the point that I actually forgot it’s a fairytale retelling at some point. I’m excited to check out the author’s other books because the characters and the world they live in are extremely interesting.

Learn My Lesson (Wicked Villains #2) by Katee Robert

 
Learn My Lesson by Katee Robert

My Rating: ★★

With Hades and Meg’s relationship cracking, Meg is suspicious when she’s ordered to seduce a handsome waiter while he watches. It turns out that she’s right to be suspicious because it’s all part of a plan that Hades never shared with her. As the queen of the underworld, Meg feels the cracks deepening. When she learns that Hades made a deal with the starry eyed Hercules and plans to personally train him, Meg worries that she’s about to be replaced. What she never expected was for a throuple to slowly form…

It turns out I was wrong and that Hook’s book is actually the third book, but that’s okay! Meg, Hades, and Hercules are sure to have an interesting dynamic, right? Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Meg and Hercules have a lot of chemistry, but Hades has chemistry with absolutely no one. It was truly wild to see, but I did learn that he’s actually the father of the Hades we got to know in the Neon Gods series. At least things finally make sense on that front because I was trying to figure how Hades goes from Meg to single and ready to mingle just in time for Persephone to enter the picture later.

Meg and Hercules are interesting characters in this series, but they kept getting stunted by Hades. I don’t know how it happened, but Hades was absolutely boring all book long. He was so much better when he was popping up in the previous book. Unfortunately, following his perspective was yawn worthy because he was so boring and very much a one note character. It was either work or sex with him, but his work was not that serious. It was rather confusing because he seemed to be flying by the seat of his pants and not thinking that hard for someone with his finger in every pie.

It was great to see some other supporting characters turn up, though. We got to see a lot more of Tink, which I was excited about. We also got to meet more characters who will get their own books later on. It was interesting to learn a little more about how the club worked behind the scenes from Meg and Tink. It also was working to set up the story for the next book, so we got to hear a little about Peter Pan and Wendy as well as what their characters are like in this series.

Unfortunately, this book was an overall miss for me. Meg, Hercules, and Hades spend much of their time together and it was mostly sex with very little substance. I liked the idea of Hades trying to work on his relationship with Meg, but he was trying to solve things with more sex rather than listening to what their actual problems were so they could work on that. Meg was the only one who experienced character growth while Hades and Hercules were mostly the same. Perhaps I was expecting too much, but again, I am spoiled by the Neon Gods series and this series does take place in the same universe.

Desperate Measures (Wicked Villains #1) by Katee Robert

 
Desperate Measures by Katee Robert

My Rating: ★★★

When Jafar finally makes a power move, it’s Jasmine who is left spinning in the middle. She doesn’t have an ounce of power and is simply a symbol of who owns her father’s territory. All Jasmine has ever wanted is her freedom, and she gambled that away when she accepted Jafar’s offer… and lost. Now she’s trapped in a new situation while looking for a way out. The only problem? Every day she spends with Jafar is another day she falls deeper and deeper in love with him. Now she’s left deciding what is more important: her freedom or her heart.

I have been loving Katee’s writing, so when I saw she has a book following Captain Hook, I knew I had to start the series it came from. Since this is a spin-off series of sorts, I knew I needed to start the series in order. That had me reading about Jasmine and Jafar’s unlikely romance. The twist in the coupling caught my eye, so I was excited to start this! Unfortunately for me, this one is mostly a miss for me.

It was exciting to follow Jasmine and Jafar in this world that is very different from the different versions I’ve seen of the source material. Jasmine is an independent and strong character who knows what she wants while never being allowed to control anything in her life. She’s been extremely sheltered by her father, who has never allowed her to leave home. The only thing about this is that the details about her life seemed pretty conflicting to me. On one hand, her dad has controlled everything part of life and she’s never had access to anything he didn’t allow. On the other hand, she was somehow sneaking romance novels and adult toys past her dad and his men who were all keeping a close eye on her. It just didn’t make sense to me how so much of this even worked without her ever getting caught.

Then we have Jafar. He’s calm, collected, and extremely dangerous. I feel like we were being told a lot about how dangerous he was without really actually seeing that side of him. I do think he made for an interesting character, but there was just a lack of character building with him for me. Even now, I couldn’t tell you much about his character in this world other than he’s smart, calculated about his appearance, and very much in love with Jasmine. Most of what we learn about him is how he views and feels about Jasmine while we never learned much about his past and what makes him tick outside of love.

However, there’s an excellent cast of characters all turning up as background characters. I’m most excited about learning more about Meg and Tink, who will clearly have their own books in the future. It was also interesting to see Hades outside of the Dark Olympus series. I haven’t read the short story that ties Hades and Persephone into this series. Though, it appears that this book happens before Hades and Persephone meet, so it was interesting to see how different Hades was while he was on his own! We also got a glimpse at Captain Hook, who is the character that had me reading this book. 

That said, maybe I expected too much plot for a romance book, but what can I say? I’m very spoiled by the Dark Olympus series! It’s not a bad book by any means. It’s pretty well written and will be just what a lot of people are looking for. The romance itself is pretty good, but I kept being taken straight out of the book by Jasmine and Jafar’s kinks. Calling someone “daddy” and such is not my thing at all, so there’s really only one spicy scene that was fire. If you read the book, you’ll know which one it is when you get there since mentioning which characters it’s between would be a spoiler!

All in all, this isn’t a bad book. The romance scenes kept taking me out of the story because the whole “daddy” kink is not my thing. Jasmine’s dynamic with her father and his control over her was not adding up to me, and Jafar wasn’t as developed as I would’ve liked him to be. However, it’s well written and there’s a scene that continues to support the need for a future full-length lesbian novel in one of Katee’s series. It’s entirely possible that there’s already one and I just don’t know about it yet! In the end, this book made me more excited about the Captain Hook novel all while not being pulled into this one.

The Unofficial Disney Parks Restaurants Cookbook by Ashley Craft

 
The Unofficial Disney Parks Restaurants Cookbook by Ashley Craft

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from Adams Media through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

In this excellent book, we are taken on a delicious journey through a number of Disney’s restaurants. All readers are in for a treat whether or not they’ve ever made it to a Disney park, or if they’re hoping for their favorite Disney park dish to appear. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to any of the Disney parks, but I look forward to reading these books because they bring some of that Disney magic to the table. Literally.

This book brings a little information about various locations in the parks and their inspiration. There’s also a section covering some cooking essentials and their substitutes. I don’t know about you, but I won’t be getting a bacon press, but the spatula they suggest is an excellent substitute! Of course, we can’t forget the food and drinks. The recipes are divided by type: breakfast, lunch, appetizers and snacks, main dishes, desserts, and drinks. You can also find which Disney park and restaurant each recipe hails from before you get to the recipe.

Like in Ashley’s previous books, the recipes are simple and easy to follow. The pictures that accompany many of the recipes also look absolutely delicious. I’m excited to make some of these recipes soon as I’m bored of what I’ve been eating and am excited to switch things up again.

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human (Mead Mishaps #3) by Kimberly Lemming

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human by Kimberly Lemming
My Rating: ★★★★★

Five years after her family thought she died, Cherry is preparing her grand escape from her current situation. Not only is Cherry very much alive, but she’s also trapped in a secluded area with a sleeping dragon and frogs that she can’t communicate with. It’s driving her nuts. Not that she hasn’t tried to escape before. It’s just that every one of her escape plans have been foiled! Things are about to change when another dragon shows up to make the old sleeping dragon get up before he wastes away. Cherry doesn’t know who this Dante person is, but what she does know is that he’s the ticket to her escape. It’s a shame she doesn’t realize that drugging a dragon and accidentally marrying him is about to take her on a bizarre adventure when she just wants to go home. At least she’s finally escaped, though. Right?

I love this series, so when I saw the latest book was out, I knew I had to read it ASAP. This time around, we follow the Cherry. It turns out she’s alive and well, as long as you don’t count the part where she’s been trapped with a sleeping dragon for the last five years. We also follow Dante, who stumbles upon Cherry while he’s out traveling to see how much has changed now that demons are free. He’s also looking for his soulmate, so he’s more than happy that he’s found them at his first stop. It’s a shame she’s drugged him and now he’s holding a conversation with a talking banana.

Like the previous books, this book had me laughing all the way through. I loved getting to learn all about Cherry and seeing her adventures from the moment she started thinking about all her foiled escape plans. She is absolutely hilarious. So many of the lines that had me crying from laughter came from her. It was also exciting to see that she was alive and well and I couldn’t wait to see her reunited with Cinnamon! I’m really excited to continue to see her continue to pop up in future books now that she’s back from the dead.

I enjoyed seeing some old favorites, especially my favorite character that I won’t name so that it’ll be a surprise when they turn up! It was also exciting to get to learn more about Dante. I knew he would be the next character we’d see find their soulmate, but I wasn’t expecting it to be as fire as it was. He and Cherry were sizzling! Their adventures and hilarious shenanigans kept bringing them closer while having me laughing out loud along the way. It was also really neat to learn more about dragons in this world as well as other mythological beings as Cherry discovered they were real.

All in all, this was a hilariously wonderful read and I’m looking forward to seeing how it will continue from here.