A Fire Endless

A Fire EndlessTitle: A Fire Endless
Author(s): Rebecca Ross
Series: Elements of Cadence #2
Genre(s): Romantasy
Format(s): Audio
Pages: 512
Length: 16h 15m
Narrator(s): Ruth Urquhart
Source: Owned
Reason(s): None
Rating:
Spice: 3 Flames

My Thoughts

I’m so happy I read A FIRE ENDLESS. It’s everything I wanted in a sequel / conclusion. I didn’t want to put it down and I stayed up until 2 am last night finishing it. I was a little disappointed in the romance from the first book because there wasn’t enough. I was pleasantly surprised by what happened. I thought there was a perfect balance of romance and story. It made my heart happy!

I loved getting a chance to experience life in the West and seeing how different it was from the East. I loved seeing Adaira grab hold of her lineage without sacrificing where and how she was raised. I loved learning more about the Folk, their origins and history, and their hierarchy. I especially loved being a part of the Spirits realm and seeing how it worked. I guessed that Eagan turned into Bane and was excited to see that I was right. I also loved seeing Torin and Sidra growing into their roles as Laird and Laird’s consort.

I still loved the Gaelic / Scottish feel to the story and I loved Ruth Urquhart’s narration. Her Scottish accent added so much to the story. Any time I read this duology, I’ll listen to the audio.

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An Offer From a Gentleman

An Offer From a GentlemanTitle: An Offer From a Gentleman
Author(s): Julia Quinn
Series: Bridgerton #3
Genre(s): Historical Fiction, Romance
Format(s): Audio
Pages: 358
Length: 12h 22m
Narrator(s): Rosalyn Landor
Source: Library
Reason(s): None
Rating:
Spice: 3 Flames

My Thoughts

AN OFFER FROM A GENTLEMAN is my favorite of the Bridgerton series so far. I absolutely adored the CINDERELLA (and EVER AFTER) retelling aspect of this one. I loved getting to know Benedict better as we don’t see or hear much from him in the previous two novels. I loved Sophie. She was the perfect stand-in for Cinderella. I especially loved the immediate connection she had with Benedict. Their banter and sexual tension was so much fun to read.

The edition I read had a second epilogue, which I enjoyed (not quite as much as the second epilogue for THE VISCOUNT WHO LOVED ME, but much more than the one for THE DUKE AND I). I loved getting to see Posey’s happy ending as well as we get a glimpse into Benedict’s and Sophie’s life together.

Witch Please

Witch PleaseTitle: Witch Please
Author(s): Ann Aguirre
Series: Fix-It Witches #1
Genre(s): Romance
Format(s): Audio
Pages: 368
Length: 10h 31m
Narrator(s): Ava Lucas
Source: Library
Reason(s): None
Rating:
Spice: 3.5 Flames

My Thoughts

WITCH PLEASE was a cute fast-paced steamy romance. I loved the characters, especially Danica and Titus. Their chemistry was instant and the sexual tension between them is amazing. I also loved a lot of the side characters. Although, I’m glad one character got what was coming to them even if I wanted more to happen. I loved the setting and the small town feel. Thanks to the descriptions of all the pastries in Titus’ bakery, I’m craving cinnamon rolls and gingersnaps. I loved the lit bit of fantasy. I wish there had been a bit more magic, but I loved the concept of witches and how their magic works. I thought it was a fun way to explain the existence of witches. 

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Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & ParkTitle: Eleanor & Park
Author(s): Rainbow Rowell
Genre(s): Historical Fiction
Format(s): Audio
Pages: 328
Length: 8h 57m
Narrator(s): Rebecca Lowman, Sunil Malhotra
Source: Owned
Reason(s): Book Club
Rating:
Spice: 1 Flames

My Thoughts

ELEANOR & PARK was supposed to be a cute coming of age story about two misfit teenagers growing up in Nebraska in the 1980s. Unfortunately, the story suffered a great deal due to bad Asian representation and uncomfortable descriptions of Park, Josh, and Mindy. You could definitely tell that their Korean heritage was from an outsider’s perspective. The audiobook didn’t help with the bad Asian representation because it made it sound like Mindy was Chinese instead of Korean. Linguistically speaking, her accent would’ve been different.

I also think she would’ve spoken English a lot better than she was portrayed to because she was immersed in English ALL. THE. TIME. She wasn’t a recent immigrant nor was she surrounded by the Korean language on a day to day basis. Everything around her was English. Of course, she would still have an accent, but I don’t think she would’ve spoken in such broken English. I hated that Mindy didn’t share her heritage with her sons. Park says more than once that he didn’t know what it meant to be Asian. Even if Mindy was sad to leave her country in pursuit of love, I feel like she would’ve shared her culture with her sons. The family didn’t even eat Korean food at their house. I could’ve totally gotten behind Park feeling different from the other kids in school and learning to be proud of his heritage, but none of that was explored.

The one redeeming quality is the underlying story. I thought it was a cute romance and I loved how much Eleanor and Park leaned on each other to survive their day to day hardships.

Ariadne

AriadneTitle: Ariadne
Author(s): Jennifer Saint
Genre(s): Mythology
Format(s): Audio
Pages: 308
Length: 11h 59m
Narrator(s): Barrie Kreinik
Source: Owned
Reason(s): Book of the Month
Rating:
Spice: 0.5 Flames

My Thoughts

Before reading ARIADNE, I remembered that she had helped Theseus through the labyrinth so he could slay the minotaur and free Athens from Minos’ oppressive rule, but that’s it. I had no idea how much of a jackass Theseus was, lol. I also didn’t remember anything about Ariadne’s and Dionysus’ love story. Nor did I remember how her story ended.

I don’t really think ARIADNE can be considered a retelling as it was just a written account of one version of the mythos surrounding her. In my opinion, retellings put new spins on old myths or fairy tales. Despite that this story isn’t a retelling, I still really enjoyed reading it. The writing was interesting and kept me engaged. I wanted to know what was going to happen and I hoped the story would go a certain way. I also loved the inclusion of her sister Phaedra’s life outside of Crete.