Of Fire and Stars (Of Fire and Stars #1) by Audrey Coulthurst

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

My Rating: ★★★★★

Princess Dennaleia, also known as Denna, had been betrothed to the prince of Mynaria since she was a child. The problem? His kingdom are against magic and she possesses multiple Affinities, including fire, water, and wind. Not only that, but she is also slowly falling in love with her future sister-in-law, Amaranthine, also known as Mare. The more their friendship blossoms, the more she is romantically drawn to Mare. Denna doesn't know what to do with herself as the stakes continue to raise when magic users appear to be attacking the kingdom. It's a risk for her to enter the marriage, but duty calls as she's torn with making the alliance work and coupling herself with Mare while trying to protect her people.

I absolutely love this book. It has excellent world building, which made it more fun to imagine the world that Denna and Mare live in. The characters that we get to know are well developed and allow us to see the different sides to them. All of the characters have their personal and professional lives, which are entwined into one in the case of the royal characters throughout the story. It also allows us to see what it's like outside of the kingdom. While we see what it's like outside of the castle through Mare's eyes, she's in disguise, we get to see how it works and who is getting hurt in the crossfire as a war starts to rise.

It's wonderful when characters remain who they are as they fall in love and a romance ensues. Denna and Mare are two very different people, but it was lovely to watch their friendship develop as well as watching it bud into something more. I found myself rooting for them and wishing that they had a easier choice ahead of them since Denna is involved in a politically arranged marriage that's soon to come to fruition. Their friendship and romance felt very natural. Sometimes the two characters involved in a romantic pairing seem forced, and this was not the case. I also enjoyed reading from each of their perspectives and seeing the different characters throughout the story through their eyes as well as how they saw these people differently.

All in all, it's a wonderful read. I will definitely be back for another installment when it arrives. I look forward to seeing where these characters go as well as where the story takes us when it returns. I had a lot of fun reading it and found myself not wanting to tear myself away. It's one of my favorite reads of the year.

Daddy Darkest (Doctors of Darkness #1) by Ellery A. Kane

Daddy Darkest by Ellery A. Kane

My Rating: ★★★

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

Best friends Samantha and Ginny take a trip to San Francisco. It was supposed to be their pre-college trip of a life time, but things go awry shortly after landing: Ginny is abducted from the airport bathroom. Armed with her luggage and Ginny's cell phone, Sam is on the run for her life after realizing that she was the target, not Ginny. Told through rotating narrators, we learn about Sam's mom, Clare, and why her secret past just caught up with Sam.

I love when authors have rotating narrators, so it was exciting to see that the book is written from Ginny's perspective in the present as well as Clare's perspective in the past. The closer we get to the end of the book, the closer the events in both perspectives collide. Clare has no idea about her mom's true past. She just knows her as her strong doting and protective mom who also hates psychology. However, Clare's past reveals that she was once a green psychiatrist working at a prison. She's a survivor of abuse who feels broken and blames herself for what happened to her and for the way men respond to her. What Ginny knows of her mother clashes with the life that Clare shed when she fled and started a new life.

Ginny and Clare are very different characters, so it's interesting to jump back and forth between the two and see what's going on in their minds. Clare's young, getting ready to enter college, and is terrified while running for her life and trying to save her best friend at the same time. She went from living the small town life that she's always known to being thrown into this whole new world where she has to trust a guy she just met, try to save Ginny before she gets killed, and face the fact that her father is far from who she thought he was. Meanwhile, we jump into the past every couple of chapters and read about Clare's life, the long term havoc that her attacker has left her with, and how she fell for the charming murderous man, Cutthroat Cullen. It's also interesting that Cullen is so charming because it echoes reality. We're taught to get away from the people who look like "weirdos" when the suave guys are often the ones who we should be weary of.

It was an interesting mystery to get sucked into because the true mystery is not what it appears to be at the beginning of the book. I thought I had everything figured out when one final mystery, one that has been fueling Levi for years, is the one that pulled the wool over my eyes. It is a difficult read because of the nature of Clare's chapters, which are very dark as well as sad, but Kane put together a story worth reading. I will definitely be back for the second installment in the series.

A Touch of Death (The Outlands Pentalogy #1) by Rebecca Crunden

A Touch of Death by Rebecca Crunden

My Rating: ★★★

In the distant future, what remains of mankind lives under the harsh leadership in the Kingdom of Cutta. Hailing from a rich family close to the king, Catherine has a perfect sheltered life until her fiance's brother gets in a fight that leaves the pair traveling through land that has been mostly untouched for a thousand years. They contract a unique disease that leaves them unable to touch anyone but each other, and her soon to be brother in law begins to rot from the inside out. One wrong move leaves them running for their lives and trying to find safety beyond Cutta.

I really enjoyed this story. I have a soft spot for dystopian novels, so I knew this was going to be right up my alley. The characters are strong willed, clear, and vibrant. I found myself loving the relationships between them and found myself sad the few times well loved characters were leaving. One of the things I love about this story is the world building. Crunden carefully works to create a clear vision of what this world looks like and how it works without taking her readers out of the story. It was also interesting to watch the wool slowly get snatched from Catherine's sheltered eyes. She's forced to think about the world she thought she lived in and see how it really is. She's rather naive and stubborn when it comes to this, so she's constantly fighting with Nate and herself about reality.

That said, sometimes the arguing between Catherine and Nate got to be too much. I knew they were going to continue to clash throughout the story, but their arguments started to become redundant and wordy as I got closer to the end. That's my only complaint about this great series opener. Crunden did a wonderful job at setting up the plot for future books, and I can't wait to get my hands on the second installment.

There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

My Rating: ★★

Makani makes one jealous mistake and her life was over. She lost her boyfriend and her friends. Not even her parents look at her the same, not that she blames them. Her parents decide to ship her off to live with her grandma and enter a small town life where no knows who she is and what her secret is. However, small town life goes from normal to alarming when a terrifying killer appears without a clear pattern.

I really enjoyed the rotating perspectives with Makani being the central voice that we see. I love several of the characters, especially Makani's grandma. I would love to hang out with her grandma and put together puzzles and stuff. I loved Makini's friends and the high school gossip element as well. It reminded me of being back in school and the gossip that spread fast.

However, there were a few things that kept taking me out of the story. The first thing is Makani's big secret past. I wish we knew what it was a lot sooner than when she finally spilled the beans so that we knew what was weighing her down so much. I was finding myself more interested in what the big secret was than the murder plot. Finally, the romance plot overshadows the horror plot. I wish the creepy factor was a little more amped up and that the romance was scaled back a bit.

Several of my friends have been raving about this book, so I really wanted to love it. Sadly, it just isn't a match made in heaven. For me, this novel is far more YA romance than horror, which is not something that I was expecting. There are things that I like about this book, but the things that bothered me just made it fall flat. All in all, it's not a bad book. There are definitely some good things going on in it. I think it simply comes down to it just not being my cup of tea. That said, several of my friends love it and I already plan on recommending it to a few more because I know they'll love it too. I also think that it would make a great slasher movie that I would most likely enjoy.

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

My Rating: ★★★★

Abby and her best friend, Gretchen, are as close as best friends could get. One day they drop acid with a couple of friends from school, but the acid never hits, and Gretchen takes off wearing nothing but a pair of shoes. Things get weird when she turns up hours later with an unseen entity: a demon hell bent on destroying everything Gretchen cares about. The demon burns every bridge there is and leaves Gretchen with a single bright spot: Abby.

I absolutely love this story. It's a demon possession rooted in one of my favorite things to read about: friendship. The story starts out a little slow, but it's important to build this close friendship so that it's realistic for Abby to risk it all when she's all that Gretchen has left. I love that we quickly go through the early years between these two characters. How they met in school but never really spoke until Abby's disastrous birthday party with a single guest: Gretchen. These two are inseparable after the bond they shared at this party, which reminds me of how it was for me and my best friends throughout school. These characters feel natural and relatable, which makes it so easy to root for them and pray they come out on top.

Whether you believe in demons or demon possession, the story is realistic enough to make you question whether or not Gretchen is possessed or if she's just turned on everyone even when things are clearly leaning toward possession. She's not crawling up walls or anything like that. It starts out somewhat subtle and quickly turns to evil, which makes it a chilling tale.

The story really comes out swinging once things get going, and I like that we also get a glimpse at the rest of their lives. It comes full circle and makes it a truly enjoyable book. Plus, Hendrix does an excellent job capturing the voices of his characters and makes them really sound their ages and genders. There was no mistaking who was who or at what point in their life he captured them at any point of the story. Even the subtle changes in Gretchen as the demon took over made who was present very clear. I will definitely be rereading this novel in the future.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

My Rating: ★★★

Catherine is a talented baker who dreams of owning and running a bakery with her friend. Unfortunately, fate has other plans for her. The King of Hearts is so taken by Catherine's beauty and baking that he wants to wed her, and her parents refuse to see her do anything but honor her duty as their only daughter. She is forced to fight fate and choose to take a chance and live out her dreams or become the queen she was always meant to be.

I was really excited when I first heard about this book. Not only is it a Alice's Adventures in Wonderland retelling, but also a Queen of Hearts origin story. I love origin stories, and the idea of following a tale that tells the story of the Queen of Hearts is an exciting one.

Unfortunately, Heartless did not live up to my excitement, but I may have built it up more than I should have. It's a great story, but it lagged a bit for about half the book. Again, I may have had higher expectations than I should have, so I think I was just expecting something more. That said, it's an entertaining story. The characters are wonderfully enriching, so it's exciting every time we meet a familiar face as the book continues. I love the little bits of foreshadowing that are cleverly weaved in as the story continues.

It was occasionally hard to follow Catherine because she was so blinded by her dreams and opinions as well as perspective. However, it did make sense for someone of her age in a Young Adult novel, as well as someone who dreams more than they pay attention to reality for a large portion of time. All in all, it was an enjoyable read and I hope to see more retellings from the perspective of villains in the future.

Murderous Mayhem at Honeychurch Hall (Honeychurch Hall Mystery #4) by Hannah Dennison

Murderous Mayhem at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison

My Rating: ★★★★★

Iris is wracked with dread and worry when her manuscript never makes it to her publisher, which threatens to divulge her secret life as a famous romance novelist. To make things worse, it's the only copy of her manuscript and the package never left her local post office because it's the hands of one of the town gossipers. Meanwhile, Kat gets caught up in hilarious romantic shenanigans that lands her on the front pages yet again. Plus, she's wrapped up in a series of seemingly separate small town mysteries with the answers, and dangers, quickly catching up with her.

I absolutely love the latest installment of this series. Iris and Kat's shenanigans never fails to crack me up. Iris is such a lovely character with a huge personality. I always love learning new things about her as the series continues, as well as see how she will keep her secret life just that: a secret. Plus, Kat always ends up in hilarious situations no matter how hard she tries to avoid them. I love following the pair and their antics.

It's always interesting to learn more about the other characters who live in town as well. It's fun meeting new characters and seeing how they interact with existing ones as well as finding out new tidbits about everyone and watching how it continues to build the world as well as adding to the plot of each book. It really makes for such a entertaining series with characters that would be fun to become friends with. Plus, each installment unravels bits and pieces about everyone's past. It's such a feel good series that I always enjoy coming back to. I would honestly love to see this series become a television show one day. There isn't a single thing that wouldn't play out well on screen.