Categories
Fantasy

Read A Mirror Mended

Read A Mirror Mended (Fractured Fables, #2)

Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty, is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once you’ve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once you’ve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with one too many members of the royal family, you start to wish some of these girls would just get a grip and try solving their own narrative issues.

Just when Zinnia’s beginning to think she can’t handle one more princess, she glances into a mirror and sees another face looking back at her: the shockingly gorgeous face of evil, asking for her help. Because there’s more than one person trapped in a story they didn’t choose. Snow White’s Evil Queen has found out how her story ends, and she’s desperate for a better ending. She wants Zinnia to help her before it’s too late for everyone. Will Zinnia accept the Queen’s poisonous request and save them both from the hot-iron shoes that wait for them, or will she try another path?

I liked the idea of this better than the execution. The MC was more annoying than I remember from the first book. I didn’t buy the romance. The ending in particular I had problems with; I’m not convinced the MC really learned the lesson she needed to. The book wasn’t bad, but the feeling of potential that it could have been better is frustrating.

Categories
Romance

Read How to Find a Princess

Read How to Find a Princess (Runaway Royals, #2) by Alyssa Cole

Makeda Hicks has lost her job and her girlfriend in one fell swoop. The last thing she’s in the mood for is to rehash the story of her grandmother’s infamous summer fling with a runaway prince from Ibarania, or the investigator from the World Federation of Monarchies tasked with searching for Ibarania’s missing heir.

Yet when Beznaria Chetchevaliere crashes into her life, the sleek and sexy investigator exudes exactly the kind of chaos that organized and efficient Makeda finds irresistible, even if Bez is determined to drag her into a world of royal duty Makeda wants nothing to do with.

I had been really looking forward to this after loving Bez in the previous book in the series, but unfortunately was disappointed. It felt insubstantial, rushed, especially the ending. They spent most of the book on a boat, which I have not great associations with so was a little offputting. Apparently it’s an Anastasia re-imagining which I didn’t pick up on while reading.

The story behind the cover photo is fun, since it was taken during the pandemic – they found two besties who were in a bubble together who were willing to pose.

Categories
Fantasy Romance

Read Fireheart Tiger

Read Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

Quiet, thoughtful princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace.

Thanh’s new role as a diplomat places her once again in the path of her first love, the powerful and magnetic Eldris of Ephteria, who knows exactly what she wants: romance from Thanh and much more from Thanh’s home. Eldris won’t take no for an answer, on either front. But the fire that burned down one palace is tempting Thanh with the possibility of making her own dangerous decisions.

Interesting world (Vietnam inspired) and premise. I wished there were a little more depth to it, I wasn’t convinced by some of the relationships.

Categories
Comics History

Read Patience & Esther

Read Patience & Esther: An Edwardian Romance | Iron Circus Comics by S.W. Searle

An interesting story concept and setting. A little too sweet for my taste though I liked the second half better than the first. The round, smooth artwork (reminiscent of Chris Ware but with more feeling) suited the story well.

There were a few time jumps that were a little unclear or uneven for me. The ending in particular was a little too fast for me.

I liked the suffrage story element.

Multiple explicit sex scenes. I think I’m not that into illustrated sex scenes.

Body-positive with fat representation, and the artwork included stretch marks.