sephie-books

[sephie-books]

Finished "The Barbarian King's Assassin" by Eve Langlais.

It started out good but felt fanfic-y later and through the end?? Like where was the story from the beginning?? What happened to that?? The ending was super rushed and very mcu-y with an overload of quips

The book couldn't make up its mind whether it wanted to be adventure fantasy or romance. I know the book blurb said both, but it wasn't written like both, more like the author just wanted to smoosh it in with a shit ton of tropes

Like she was writing with tropes in mind, instead of a better written story

I really liked Konstantin, the Barbarian King. Ilyana the assassin was funny and had glimmerings of being a good character, in between the times she was made to be some quippy idiot who's the world's biggest moron at realizing what feelings are and what love is

It makes me lowkey annoyed that this could have been a better story, but no, we had to suffer through quips and tropes shoved into the story when they didn't need to be

Also the premise was dumb tbh

"I'll pay the assassin to guard me, even though I'm ridiculously strong and fast and honestly don't need guards. Also, apparently, this very smart assassin is buying this bullshit because she's a moron."

ALSO, as much as I loved how much he was in love with her, they never talked TO each other. Well maybe he did more than her. But goddamn, fucking talk to each other. What are your hopes and dreams? Who are you as a person? What's your favorite memory? What scares you? What are your hobbies? Who are these people beyond being a king and assassin? What do you like about each other? Like beyond looks??? What drives you up the wall???

2.5/3 stars out of 5 for the story premise, 4 for Konstantin because I liked him. RIP Ilyana's potential

[sephie-books]

ok SO, the DFZ Changling trilogy by Rachel Aaron

the story:

Once upon a time, magic returned to the world, along with dragons, magic users, fairies, spirits, and gods

This story takes place in the DFZ, the Detroit Free Zone. The city of Detroit became a sentient free spirit and living city. She builds and holds dominion on her domain, and she has ruled that everyone is free to live their life on her terms within her limits, and she is no longer bound to the United States.

Once upon a time, a changling was left in place of a human girl, however the parents were terrible anyway and once the little girl started showing problems, they dumped her into a psych ward and abandoned her. The little changling girl cried and cried, as at first, she didn't even know she was a changling, only that she was a monster that was being punished. She had fur and claws, sharp teeth, and could barely see, and each day she was abandoned by the nurses, talked about in fear, and forced to hide under the bed from the cruelty of the place. Her only solace was her treasure, a silver thread tied 'round her wrist that only she could see and feel, which connected her to her sister.

One day, a wizard walked into her room and once he placed his hand upon her, he forced back the fur and claws and teeth, and she became a little girl again. She wept in gratitude and was compelled to pledge her service to the wizard, as he had stated she was dying, and the only way to save herself was to pledge herself to him.

Turned out he was an evil blood mage, and for a long time afterward, she was abused and forced to do evil things for him. She was trapped with another kidnapped child, a little boy who the wizard also made do even worse things as he was being groomed to be his apprentice.

One day, many years later, both now adults that were still trapped by the evil wizard - the evil wizard disappeared without a trace.

This was bad as the wizard controlled the pills that kept the changling human and stable. Without them, she turned right back into a monster, and she would rather die than be a monster.

SO - the clock is ticking as they try to find out what the hell is going on, why the fuck some shitty kaiju movie is being advertised on every possible outlet, and what the fuck the evil wizard was scheming.

continued:

SO the premise was really good and got me hooked. The main character Lola is really likeable as is the other characters

HOWEVER, the book (listed as Urban Fantasy) couldn't make up it's mind whether it was YA, New Adult, or actual adult Urban Fantasy

like there were some reaaaaaaaaaallly good parts, and some parts where the author peppered in pop culture, and then decided to be stupid YA protagonists.

it got mildly annoying sometimes, especiallyyyyyyyyy towards the 3rd book with Dee and Toothy. Dee had glimmerings of actual character and I wish the author would have developed that more instead of the stupid YA shit.

I wish amazon would just FUCKING SAY if a book was YA or New Adult. I'm sorry, there's a WORLD OF DIFFERENCE between YA, New Adult, and Adult. FUCKING PICK ONE.

But again, the story was so interesting that I skimmed over the annoying parts to get back to the actual story.

I really really loved the slow progression of interaction and growth between Lola and Valente. This was done really well and actually made me gasp a long drawn out gasp in book 3 as they FINALLY connected and said how they felt. Literally gasped like a victorian maiden, so good shit there.

The build up of the overarching story and what the fuck the evil wizard was actually fucking doing was good-ish. The evil fairy was a good antagonist, and Lola's overarching growth as a character and person was good. However the ending felt very rushed and kind of stupid actually after all that build up tbh.

And Valente's ultimate fate seemed like the author reallllllllllllllyyyy wanted him to be the DFZ version of Ghost Rider (which he mostly was to begin with). Which ehhh is cool, but I think it could have been tweaked a bit more? idk

Tbh, Lola's and Valente's relationship was really good and I wish the author had given it more time and room to breathe.

Anyhoo, TL;DR:

These were pretty good and I recommend them if any of this sounded interesting or good to you. They're pretty cheap at $4.99 per book.

I might give the author's other series "Hell for Hire" a shot

[sephie-books]

Fuck this asshole and fuck his stupid pack!!!

Della has only known heartache after heartache having to fend for her brother and herself since she was a kid. NO ONE was ever there for her. EVER. She had to be strong for her brother.

It wasn't even her fault and these assholes want to kill her. She has done nothing but cry in the past few weeks because life keeps kicking her in the teeth.

She would totally be justified in just leaving the wolf pack nothing but smoking ashes, just a big smoking crater of where their cabins used to be

All she wanted was to live by the sea with her brother and take care of him.

Fuck all these fuckers

[sephie-books]

Xora by Olivia Riley

This book is currently free for 2 days as of Dec 26th 2023 and if you like alien romance books you should check it out. Can't go wrong with free.

A vrisha arrives in Grace's underwater city. He takes over one of the substations, forcing the workers out. At the whim of her job, Grace is unwillingly chosen to go below, maintain the station, and stay with the horned, devilish alien. That is how she comes to encounter Xora. An alien born from a race of dominant fighters and fierce hunters. He is as terrifying as he is mysterious. While also commanding, stubborn, unrelenting...and oddly mesmerizing. As her fear slips away, other emotions begin to take hold. And Grace finds she wants to know more. Xora just wants to get off the cold, watery world as quickly as possible. Yet, despite his indifference to humans, he finds his attention captured by Grace. Against his own nature, he allows her near him. Closer than anyone. He's just too...curious. For Grace, working with Xora could be dangerous. But when he desires her help on a secret mission, Grace can't refuse. Even if it could mean putting her job and life (and heart) at risk. For Xora, Grace's help could be his best chance at getting home. Assuming he can keep his growing feelings for the bold woman from making him lose sight of why he's on Oceanus in the first place.

[sephie-books]

So because I liked the "Grey Gates" series by Vanessa Nelson so much I bought her other series "Taellaneth", which was 5 ebooks for 99 cents. Literally a steal, even if they possibly sucked.

they did not suck

These books had me hooked despite myself all week.

"The Taellaneth series" seems to be about elves (they're called Erith but they're basically elves. My only complaint about this book. Just call them fucking elves sheesh).

The MC is named Arrow, a word that is close in pronunciation to what the elves call her in elvish, which is "Abomination".

Arrow is half human, and was made a "tenured servant" (slave) to the rest of the elves because of her heritage. She is regularly treated like shit, beaten, barely fed, given the most threadbare shitty clothes, and is treated like the lowest of the low

However because she IS still elvish, she has magic (very strong magic) and has been extensively trained in its use, and if she had been a full blooded elf with rights, she would be a highly esteemed war mage with her own cadre of warriors

The story starts with her being sent to the shifkin (werewolves) as part of a murder investigation

The elves have been implicated and they must honor their treaty with the shifkin. However the shifkin hate them so they sent Arrow as she was viewed expendable and wouldn't be mourned if she was murdered by the shifkin in their rage

Book 1 is basically unraveling the murder and in the process they learn that humans have been summoning demons. Long Ago, humans tried the same thing against the elves and it was a horrific battle as they fought powerful demons loosed upon the land, barely winning. Now the ancestors of those same humans are trying again, and this time trying to frame the elves so as to start a war with the shifters.

Book 2 - Book 5 is Arrow continuing to get pulled into politics between the humans and elves because of her unique power - she's a shadow walker war mage, able to walk into the shadows and into the shadow realm. She's very powerful, so powerful in fact, that she created seals on her own power while she was in bondage so that NO ONE would know that she held such power because while in bondage she was oathbound to obey any command and she did not trust those motherfuckers one inch.

Shadow Walker mages are incredibly rare and none had been born in seen in hundreds of years. Her heritage denied her for so long, she honed her craft despite her own internal seals, and when at last she was free from her oath of servitude, she became a force to be reckoned with. For she could also sense and banish demons, which have been trying to breach their world again in an unseen war against all.

Arrow must survive against demons, politics and her own people while trying to save them and save the heart of the elvish lands, the source of all their power.

I really liked Arrow and enjoyed the story as she rose like a phoenix despite being beaten, battered, and almost broken. Her fierce loyalty, kindness, and indomitable will won her many allies and friends, which she never would have even thought to wish for in all her life.

My other complaint (besides wishing the author would just fucking call them fucking elves), is that I wish the story would have addressed her abuse more. Sure, some of the motherfuckers who hurt her died, but there was no justice. And the hurt she had endured was never addressed with Kester, the warrior elf who came to love her. Yes, there was initial miscommunications, and secrets hidden that later bit them both in the ass, but in order to understand her heart and the person that he pledges himself to, there has to be communication and trust. He has to know who her enemies are, who hurt her, and what her triggers are, what would currently hurt her.

Also I just really really really really really wanted Kester to just go full Riftan and vow to personally kill anyone who hurt Arrow. Like at least break some bones, maybe go full Bane and break someone over his knee like a glowstick. Maybe, perhaps, break someone's jaw or fingers. Like is that so much to ask???

Anyway, like I said, you can buy all 5 ebooks for 99 cents and the story kept me hooked wanting to know more.

5/5 stars

[sephie-books]

ok i finished book 1 of the Grey Gate series "Outcast: The Grey Gates - Book 1" by Vanessa Nelson and I'm invested to read book 2

book blurb:

If no one knows that you saved the world, does it really count? Eight years ago the world almost ended and Max lost everything, accused of betrayal and failure. Now working as a Marshal, keeping the city and its people safe from supernatural dangers, Max thinks she's broken all ties to her past. She's just trying to do her job and live her life. Asked to help local law enforcement with a series of vicious murders, Max is willing to assist but soon realises that she might be next. Can she keep her secret while finding the killer?

the story is a supernatural/paranormal mystery in a world that I'm not sure is our world or not. There's cars, technology, phones, guns, etc.. but there's magic and geography and history don't line up. So I'm not sure if this is a magical au of our world or a different world completely.

but in any event, the book has interesting characters, an air of mystery beyond the serial killings, in that you want to know what's really happening, and what happened to Max 8-10 years ago (this is what is really driving my interest in this book series now. like what the hell is going on?)

no romance elements yet, just straight paranormal mystery, but I wonder what will happen with a character from her past that she keeps running into

anyhoo, really good! It's only 99 cents. So if any of this sounded good, it's practically a steal at 99 cents and I highly suggest you buy it.

5/5 for me

[sephie-books]

So I stayed up late to finish reading book 6 of "Aileen Travers series", "Nightfall's Prophet" and wow, this was such a good book

I honestly thought this would be the last book in the series because the author has 4 series she writes on, so I was like "ok, we're on book 6 now, I bet she's going to wrap things up and call it a day because I bet it's exhausting juggling 4 different book series right?"

wrong. this book is just getting started.

(book 1 blurb)

Life as Aileen knew it ended when she woke up in a morgue sporting a new set of fangs after a wild night out. Now as a courier for the supernatural world, she balances figuring out this whole vampire thing with making enough to support her ice cream habit. When a job goes disastrously awry and ends with a body on the ground, Aileen finds herself in over her head as she draws the attention of a powerful creature intent on her death. Aileen will need to separate her allies from her enemies before it’s too late. To survive, she’ll work with a being she swore to avoid at all costs—a powerful vampire who may hold the key to her survival. Or the flame from which her world burns.

This series has the fae, vampires, werewolves, witches, demons etc.. the supernatural world is hidden from mortals but living side by side next to them. Aileen must figure out this new world as she slowly adapts to life as a newly made vampire after her death, and she doesn't know who to trust.

Each book builds upon the previous in world building and character growth, and it leaves you wanting to find out more in each book as the stakes are raised. The books do feature romance and sex scenes, but they're not the focus of the series as much as the actual story (I personally kinda wish the author would make them smutty and add even more romance in between the story but that's just me)

In this latest book, Aileen is being targeted by a powerful vampire, but who? The obvious answer is the vampire with a vendetta against her Sire, but she begins to have ominous dreams of an ancient vampire as rumors grow that he has returned.

The plot is really good and has you devouring the pages to find out what the hell is happening (in a good way), while also you savor the interactions between Aileen and her new found family. And speaking of family, Aileen learns world shattering secrets about her own human family that she's been hiding her vampire nature from. She desperately wants them to continue thinking she's still human, however that may pale in comparison to what unfolds for them.

These books keep getting better and I can't wait for the next book in this growing series.

Nightfall's Prophet - 5/5

[sephie-books]

Current book i'm reading is urban fantasy? i guess?

there's the real world, called the Broken (because there's no magic here), there's the Edge - an in between world, and the Weird - where magic is the norm

a healer sorceress finds out her marriage was a sham, he used her for a title and connections, and then dumped her ass when it turns out she was having fertility troubles and couldn't guarantee him an heir. He was an asshole and she was furious at the betrayal and callousness, so she used her magic in reverse to hurt him. This is forbidden because the magic, once released that way, starts the long dark path to becoming an abomination and feeds on human life and suffering. If she stayed, she would have been an object of pity and possibly "retired" to a nunnery, so she runs away from everything to go to the Edge, where magic is weakened and it's a mix of the Broken and the Weird.

She rescues some guy, who has sword magic, and now they're on a mission to take on this underground crime ring

so far it's pretty good.

[sephie-books]

finished book 3, "Unending Magic", of "Bargains with Beasts" series by Stacia Stark, the 2nd series in her post magical apocalypse paranormal romance series

book 3 was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy better than book 2, focusing entirely on the werewolf, Kyla, and her vow to Finvarra, the Unseelie King

it's the culmination of a slowburn enemies to lovers, and Kyla is fuckin awesome and deserves the world

Kyla vowed to steal an important sword from the Seelie King to deliver to the Unseelie King as part of a prophecy, however the 2nd part of the prophecy required her to steal it again from the Unseelie King to deliver it to its proper master, a demigod who got trapped in the real world and kickstarted the magical apocalypse 20-30 years ago as he brought magic back

the Unseelie King really does not want to give up that sword as he views it his key to defeating and killing the Seelie King for a feud and a vow of vengeance that goes back centuries. However in all his immortal life, he never would have anticipated someone as fearless and kickass as Kyla, who never backs down, always is willing to lay down her life for those she's loyal to, but due to trauma never really viewed herself as worthy of other's love.

I cannot stress enough how much I liked Kyla as a character and was eager to read her story.

I would give this book 4.5 / 5 stars

[sephie-books]

in conclusion this book sucked and I now dislike Evie

however, the 3rd book with Kyla is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy better

so i started reading the 2nd series of supernatural romance books by Stacia Stark, this series is about Danica’s sister Evie.

under a cut because this wound up being a bit long

Keep reading

[sephie-books]

ok so here's the post about the books i just finished:

ok so there's 3 books of the "Dark World's Mates" by Olivia Riley, it's sci-fi romance with sex scenes, but the world building is really good.

the first one "Heart's Prisoner" sets up the world building

humans have just started exploring space and settling on new worlds. they've only JUST recently met 1 sentient alien species, who were pretty peaceful and wished to learn about humans and trade, really just super chill. they're like scaly fish people.

however now that humans KNOW there are aliens out there they begin to actively look.

however the military has a secret planet where it's like basically Area 51, top secret hush hush, where the military brings all alien fauna to test and run experiments on, and plan war if they need to go to war against an aggressive species

and one day, they run across another sentient alien vastly different than the chill blue goldfish people. This one's humongous and looks like a demon - horns, slightly reptilian features, claws, and tail, he towers above humans.

the book goes into the world building of the story and presents him as truly alien and uncooperative to his captors. like there's a lot of suspense built up around this and all the other alien creatures being held there.

the military brings in the trained specialist that helped the fish people learn about humans and learn each others cultures, because she's super empathetic.

She's really smart but also kind of dumb, i was sometimes sitting here in 2nd hand embarrassment and muttering over some of the dumb things she does.

the book then goes into the aspect of both her and the alien learning to see each other as people and becoming friends, but it turns out that the alien let himself be captured because he had his own mission

This book got really good and had me invested to the end, however it kinda didn't stick the landing with the ending. It was a happy ending but I was sitting there like "really....? ok"

the second book "Dark's Savior" expands on the world building and the galaxy the humans find themselves in

This has a different set of characters and settings. A team of humans had been captured by space pirates only to be "rescued" by an alien empire.

Not knowing what to do, the aliens sentenced them to work the mines until they figure out what to do with them

I liked the MC in this one, she didn't let her circumstances get her down too much and she liked to draw whenever she could steal some time for herself

The LI accidentally stumbles upon her one night when she had sneaked out to go to the top of the mesa to look at the moon and try to draw it. The humans are usually in the mines all day so don't see direct sunlight, but sometimes she can sneak up and at least see the moon at night.

The LI is a cat alien variant and he feels his beast stir when he sees her. He freaks out because this is usually bad thing, so he avoids her like the plague while hiding out in the depths of the mine.

Circumstances and dumb luck forces the MC to his part of the mine, where she tries to help him in exchange for helping her and the other few humans escaping the planet.

The mines and the enemies in this book were really cool and kept me reading. The ending was again : / but they had a happy ending.

the last book, "Shadow's Chosen" was really really good.

It's enemies to lovers and I usually don't go for that trope a lot, but this was written really well.

a human team of scientists/ambassadors to a dog alien planet has disappeared and a band of human mercs/security force were paid to go rescue them

however an alien Hunter/Assassin for a powerful alien crime lord was tasked with also finding the humans on that planet so they could be sold on auction

the Hunter and his team pose as bounty hunters to take down the local dog gangs that kidnapped the humans, however the Hunter was surprised to see more humans at the dog alien embassy

both groups were betrayed on their descent to the lower cities, and the MC and the Hunter had to team up to survive.

She was initially very distrustful of him because he's an asshole, but over the course of the few weeks down there she comes to trust him, not know that he would eventually betray her as well if he follows his orders.

really really good! less world building and more just action as they try to rescue their respective teams and survive.

so if these sound interesting to you they're like $3.99 ea on Kindle

[sephie-books]

Finished reading "Spells and Ashes" by Kim Richardson

Samantha Baeumont is a witch of considerable power. In this world, witches, vampires, werewolves, etc are all descendants of humans lying with demons

Demons are real, as are angels

And Sam hunts demons who cross the line to harm humans, as she's a paranormal investigator who specializes in banishing demons

However this case is bigger than she can imagine as this demon can withstand her magic

She has to team up with an angel born hunter (humans who have angel ancestry and hate all demons, including those with demonic ancestry like witches), as well as an angel who refuses to return to the heavenly plane, in order ro solve this mystery and save humans from being sacrificed.

Nice worldbuilding and descent characters, kept me interested enough to buy the book and now I'm on to the next book

I'd rate it.. 6.5/10 I guess

It's not like OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO READ THIS, but it has potential and was fun to read

[sephie-books]

This was actually pretty ok! It was short though and I would have liked more interactions between them, but some parts were really good (others meh)

If you like alien romances and don't mind spending like 3 bucks then yeah I recommend it

I'm reading another humans as aliens paranormal romance book by Olivia Riley called "Shade's Embrace"

And this woman's escape pod accidentally crash landed on some alien mafia controlled moon, which normally Not Good, but it's double Not Good when you're a human, because humans are still rare to most aliens and humans try to stay within the Protected Zones of the galaxy

So she's running for her life, gets caught by supposedly kind aliens who give her a translator, and she naively asks for help, knowing she's being stupid but she has no other options on getting off this moon

Like, understandable, you have tough choices

But THEN she starts giving them her life story because they're being nice and admits to be a dancer on a cruise ship before it exploded and her escape pod malfunctioned

Like girl, you know humans are viewed as exotic, what are doing

[sephie-books]

Dropping this book, it is waayyyyyy to het for me, which is saying something

They don't agree on anything and I'm supposed to sit here and say "oohh! They're so in love!" ??

They don't talk TO each other, they don't have dreams or personalities outside of their societal roles or jobs. Like who are you?? She's just Woman With Cupcake Truck and he's just Man With Rich Parents! And they had sex!

Like what are your thoughts and dreams beyond this stupid bakery? You don't joke together or have fun. It's not relaxing to be together there's always this fighting tension. You don't even sound like you really like each other even though you sound like normal likable people.

This just reads like the author wrote to plot points instead of building the characters or story, if that makes sense

So in the end, this sucks sorry

So I started reading "Truly, Madly, Sweetly" by Kira Archer, and normally I don't read modern romance books that take place irl settings because they're so boring and stupid

But a quote from this book caught my eye and so far it's captured my interest

Natalie runs a bakery truck and inherited a street spot from her mentor, she's very sweet but has the worst luck

She literally bumps into the man of her dreams and knocked ice cream all over his face, up his nose, and all over his expensive shirt

She apologizes profusely and tries to clean him up, offers to pay for his shirt, then after realizing how truly embarrassing this all was, she makes a quick escape before she further embarrassed herself

Eric dubs her "Cupcake" in his mind as she was everything sweet he never thought to look for

He meets her again when she accidentally backed into his car due to a bee stinging her face

Natalie wishes she could crawl into a hole and die as she realizes she ruined another thing of the man she dubbed "Gelato"

However surprising both her and his asshole friend, he's more worried about her bee sting than the ding on his car

So far it's cute and interesting 👍

[sephie-books]

Ok read book 2 of the Dragonblood series and man this was so disappointing

Cover and LI looks like Jason Momoa (yay! Then not yay because no one comments about how handsome he is ever. Not a soul.)

story was about a teammate of the LI in book 1 - she's a fighter pilot and is a crackshot that was trained to be a sniper. Her plane was shot down in enemy territory and she was taken prisoner. She escaped with the notorious Deathmaker, a ruthless pirate known for his concoctions and bombs, and in their travels he falls in love with her. Supposedly idk

It's becoming apparent this author couldn't write romance if her life depended on it

Her characters all fall into Like

"Well I really like you, so meh I guess I love you"

And with this MC she had a really interesting backstory and personality, but the author ruined it by never exploring what that means and concentrating on "then this happened, here's some info dumping under ~truth serum~ (instead of properly incorporating it throughout the story), and just writing everything in a ~I just think they're neat~ vibe way"

Like the MC and the LI never properly think about each other, what it means to fall in love with the enemy, how they feel about love and being in love, and what that now means to have a person that you hold dear.

Would you give up everything for them? Would you die for them? Did you fucking tell them you love them? Are they your first and last thought when waking or dreaming?

I'm literally so disappointed with this author. Please don't list your books under the romance umbrella if you can only do the bare fucking minimum by stating "and now they love each other :>"

I wish i had a physical book so I could chew on it in feral frustration before hurling it across the room

Not for being bad or having a bad premise, but for being so fucking disappointing

2 out of 5 stars, if that

[sephie-books]

ok so i started this because it was on sale and by the author that had the half-elven merc stories

and it starts out a bit slow but it's picking up steam now and has my interest

so far from what I can gather this is a steam punk world where magic was once wielded by powerful sorcerers however the mountain where they dwelt was decimated by their enemies and now most magic users are called witches and either stoned to death or hunted by the government to become living weapons

the story deals with Sardelle, a sorceress from that time when magic flourished, but during the attack she was put in stasis for 300 years.

she awakened to find that her mountain home is now a hard labor prison for criminals forced to work the crystal mines within the mountain

she was unintentionally freed by some less than savory miners and then made her way through the tunnels trying to figure out where her soul sword is located, which was also buried within the mountain for 300 years

while she's doing this she finds out that magic users are hunted, and the soldiers stationed at the mine assume she's a recent criminal condemned to work the mines

so while she works in the laundry she's trying to find intel and figure out 1) where the fuck her telepathic sword is 2) what the fuck happened 3) how to get off this godforsaken mountain

and while this is happening she stumbles upon the new captain assigned to the mines. They're attracted to each other, but doesn't know the other person feels the same, and in the meantime, the captain assumes she's a prisoner, so he's trying to be honorable and keep his distance, but little things don't add up around her. She's not on any documentation, she's incredibly educated and refined, has intimate knowledge of the area around the mountain, and she's a terrible liar who sticks to half-truths as much as possible.

he thinks she's a spy but he doesn't know for whom or why she keeps saving everyone

so, so far it's interesting 👍

his personality is like a regency soldier who after his heroic feats is punished for his hubris and assigned to some armpit of the empire as punishment

and her personality is of a refined lady who happens to be an intelligent (nerd) sorceress

both caught up in some war and thrown together, while she tries to find her sword and get the fuck out before anyone discovers she can use magic (she's failing this so badly)

[sephie-books]

Magic Tides (Kate Daniels series) by Ilona Andrews

First off, head's up - this is a novella so it's only 163 pages. However, it's so jam packed with excellent writing and tightly written story, that you really don't care and it really doesn't feel like some short ass book.

This picks up a few years later as Kate, Curran, and their son Conlan have moved away from Atlanta and the Pack, to Wilmington, NC, trying to start a new life, away from being Kate, the Daughter of Nimrod, and Beast Lord, First of All Shapeshifters.

It didn't last long lol

Conlan is now 9, who is soon to start school, however his new friend's brother is kidnapped and Kate can't have kids being kidnapped in her new homeland.

This is an introductory novella to their new life and new adventures away from Atlanta, and it's so so good. I loved every moment of it. You get hints of the other series threads that the authors are working on with Hugh's story and Julie's story (tiny tiny hints) but it makes me hopeful for when those stories are eventually published.

Really really good, I highly recommend this for fans of the series. Some good fucking food. Even if it's only an appetizer.

And if you haven't read the Kate Daniels series yet, I HIGHLY recommend you read that series asap. :)