The Queen of Sorrow by Sarah Beth Durst

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language, A couple of fade to black love scenes.


Queen Daleina has yearned to bring peace and prosperity to her beloved forest home—a hope that seemed doomed when neighboring forces invaded Aratay. Now, with the powerful Queen Naelin ruling by her side, Daleina believes that her dream of ushering in a new era can be realized.

And then Naelin’s children are kidnapped by spirits.

Nothing is more important to her than her family, and Naelin would rather watch the world burn than see her children harmed. Blaming the defeated Queen Merecot of Semo for the kidnapping, Naelin is ready to start a war—and has the power to do it.

But Merecot has grander plans than a bloody battle with her southern neighbors.

Overall I liked this book, and I struggled to give it a rating. In the end I decided not to give it a full 4 stars. The reasons for that are, first, it was an enjoyable book, but not one I had a hard time putting down. Second, Daleina was just way too trusting of Merecot and naive in the last book, and her continuing to want Merecot to be her friend after everything Merecot did was just stupid in my opinion. Third (minor spoiler here), I really wanted the problem with the spirits and humans coexisting to be completely solved, and I did not feel satisfied with the way that ended up.

I very much enjoyed most everything else about this book. Ven and Naelin where written very well. They ended up being my favorite characters in the series, and I liked how things ended up for them. I liked how things ended up for most of the other characters in the book as well. I enjoyed reading about the different kingdoms in Renthia and what they were like, even if a few of them were very brief glimpses. This series definitely could have been expanded and made into more books about those kingdoms, but I'm happy with just the three. Though I do hear that there is a fourth standalone book set in the same world.

This series as a whole is very good, and I have to say that the cover artist did an amazing job on the covers for this series. As a whole, I would probably rate the series 3.5 stars. The main thing I felt was missing to push it up to the 4 star range was relationship development. I liked the romance between Ven and Naelin, and although it wasn't done great, I thought it was developed well enough, and I felt the chemistry between the characters. However, I thought the relationship between other characters, was not so well developed. I never felt much chemistry between Daleina and Hamon. To top it off, he was way too overprotective, to the point of being annoying. I laughed when his mother called him a mother hen, because that was what I thought about him. Then there was the relationship between Erin and Cajara that just came completely out of nowhere. Talk about insta-love. I would have bought a great friendship more than I bought the insta-love thing.

The Bridge to Belle Island by Julie Klassen

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Christian Fiction
Genre: Mystery, Romance
Content: Clean


 
After a humiliating mistake, lawyer Benjamin Booker resolves to never again trust a beautiful woman. When an old friend is killed, the senior partner isn't satisfied with Bow Street's efforts and asks Benjamin to investigate. Eager to leave London for a while, Benjamin agrees. Evidence takes him to a remote island on the Thames, a world unto itself, shrouded in mist and mystery. Soon he finds himself falling for the main suspect--a woman who claims not to have left the island in ten years. But should he trust her?

I always enjoy Julie Klassen's books so I was really looking forward to reading this one. Mostly I liked it, but it is a departure from her other books. All of her other books are romances that include a little bit of mystery, but this time around we have a mystery that includes a little romance. I have to say that I thought the romance felt a little bland in this one, but I'm not really surprised about that, since the book focused more on the mystery than the romance. I think because it's a Julie Klassen book, I automatically expected the romance to be more like her other books. That being said, this was not a bad thing, just not what I was expecting.

Overall this was a good read with a pretty solid mystery plot and characters that were easy to like. For the author's first mystery, it was pretty good. I've read so many mysteries that I was able to pick out who the perpetrator was easily, but I wouldn't say it was glaringly obvious. I enjoyed the book despite that. I'm not sure if the author will keep writing mysteries, but I would read another one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bethany House Publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book.

December 2019 Book Club: NPCs

NPCs by Drew  Hayes

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, LitRPG
Content: Strong Language


What happens when the haggling is done and the shops are closed? When the quest has been given, the steeds saddled, and the adventurers are off to their next encounter? They keep the world running, the food cooked, and the horses shoed, yet what adventurer has ever spared a thought or concern for the Non-Player Characters?

In the town of Maplebark, four such NPCs settle in for a night of actively ignoring the adventurers drinking in the tavern when things go quickly and fatally awry. Once the dust settles, these four find themselves faced with an impossible choice: pretend to be adventurers undertaking a task of near-certain death or see their town and loved ones destroyed.

You know those characters in the game that you buy your supplies from, the bartender at the local tavern, the town guard, the one you have to rescue from the goblins, or the one that sends you on that annoying quest to rescue the girl from the goblins? Well those are the characters that are front and center in this book. Who knew they really had more to them, than just standing there doing their job?



This is only the second litrpg I've read (they were both for my book club) and it was enjoyable enough. I liked the concept of the NPCs taking over the adventure. I would say that this book is very entertaining and good at being what it is, but if you are looking for something deep then don't look here. I wasn't, so it worked for me, and hopefully no one who is reading litrpg thinks they are going to get a deep, complex story. That's not what the genre is about.

The characters here were quite likable, and I liked that they tried to fit the stereotypes of certain types of role playing characters, but things didn't go the way they planned. It was fun watching them each discover their hidden talents. I'm mildly interested in seeing what happens to the characters in the next book, but not enough to read a whole series so I will probably stop here.

Overall this was a fun read, but it's just not really my thing. I was tempted to give it 4 stars just for doing what it does so well, but decided 3.5 was enough.

This Rough Magic by Mary  Stewart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Suspense, Romance
Content: Strong Language



When Lucy's sister Phyllida suggests that she join her for a quiet holiday on the island of Corfu, Lucy is overjoyed. Her work as an actress has temporarily come to a halt. But the peaceful idyll does not last long. A series of incidents, seemingly unconnected - but all surrounded in mystery - throws Lucy's life into a dangerous spin, as fear, danger and death - as well as romance - supplant the former tranquillity.

I finally got a Mary Stewart read in this year. I've been slowly working my way through her books for a few years now. Slowly because there are only so many of them, and I am really trying to savor them. That being said, some have been better than others, but I've never gone away feeling like I didn't enjoy any of them. From what I had read about her books, I really thought I had probably already read the best ones, but somehow I missed out on reading this one sooner. I think this one is one of my favorites. A big part of that, being that it reminded me a little of The Moonspinners. Probably because this one was also again set in the Greek Isles.

I love being transported to the Greek Isles by Mary Stewart. Each time she makes me feel as though I'm there. This time we are on beautiful Corfu.

I really want to go there someday, but for now I'll have to live vicariously through Mary Stewart's books.

As for the rest of the story, I thought it was very good, even though it was obvious who the perpetrator was. I liked the love interest and the main character was very capable. I really liked that about her. There is the standard Mary Stewart instalove, but it didn't bother me in this book. There were also some very suspenseful moments that kept me on the edge of my seat. I would probably rank this one 4th on my list.

Here's how I would rank the ones I've read so far.

1. The Moonspinners
2. Nine Coaches Waiting
3. Madam Will You Talk?
4. This Rough Magic
5. The Ivy Tree
6. My Brother Michael
7. Wildfire at Midnight
8. Airs Above the Ground
9. The Stormy Petrel

Finding Holly by Bridget E. Baker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance
Content: Clean



James Fulton is not a nice man. His father taught him the value from tearing things apart, and the world confirmed those lessons.

Paisley's easy to love. She loves the simple joys in life. She doesn't have an ambitious bone in her body. Everyone loves Paisley, and for good reason.

When Paisley and James meet, no one expects sparks to fly. They're too different. They're terrible for each other. Opposites can attract, but in this case, Paisley sees James for what he is: a bad egg. She runs the other direction.

Do bad eggs always stink? Or can Paisley and James discover a path ahead together?

This is, as of right now, the last book in this series. I say "as of right now" because the author is thinking about maybe writing another one sometime in the future. I will definitely read it if she does.

I went into this book thinking I was going to really dislike James. He wasn't very nice in the book he was introduced in, but I should have known that Bridget Baker would be able to win me over to his side. I ended up loving James! People can change, and not everything was exactly the way it seemed with him. I was so happy to see Paisley finally find someone who was perfect for her. I've loved her in every one of the books. They made such a cute couple. I swear I could just picture this being a Hallmark Channel movie. This ended up being my second favorite book in the series, right behind Finding Liberty.

If your looking for pure escapist romance, then look no further, this series will most likely be for you.

Thanks to the author for providing me with an ARC of this book.

The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language, Implied sexual relationships


Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow . . .
And those spirits want to kill you.
It’s the first lesson that every Renthian learns.

It took we a while to get back to this series, even though I enjoyed the first book. Because of that, I wasn't sure if I was still going to be into the story, but I shouldn't have worried, this ended up being just as good as the first book. That being said, it was a bit different.

In this book we are introduced to some new characters. I ended up liking all of them, especially Naelin. As another reviewer said, it was refreshing to have an older protagonist in this story, in this case a mother of two children. I liked her story arc and what ultimately ends up happening with her character. It was easy to predict how things would end up in the end with the queens, and who was behind the bad things that were happening, but that didn't ruin the book for me. With the way this book left things, I'm eager to read the last book in the trilogy.

On a side note- There seems to be a bit of confusion as to whether this is YA or not. It certainly reads like a YA book, and most people seem to be categorizing it as YA, but the author lists this under her adult category on her webpage, so I'm calling it adult.