Category Archives: Romance

Review: The Fate of Magic by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Historical, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,
The Fate of Magic by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis

The Fate of Magic (Witch and Hunter #2)
Sara Raasch and Beth Revis
Sourcebooks Fire
Published October 1, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Fate of Magic

The breathtaking sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller Night of the Witch culminates with a sweeping romance and an epic battle to determine the fate of magic…and the world.

Fritzi is a champion. After escaping the clutches of Dieter Kirch, the sadistic leader of the witch hunters, Fritzi and Otto have taken refuge among the witches of the Black Forest. Fritzi is finally ready to assume her place on the council as the coven’s goddess-chosen champion. Plagued by distrust and self-doubt, Fritzi throws herself into her duty to serve the goddesses . . . until she uncovers a powerful secret that could mean the very undoing of magic itself.

Otto is a warrior. He swears himself to Fritzi as her bonded protector, certain the peaceful unity of a witch and hunter will heal the wounds he helped make. But as the horrifying plot that threatens the Black Forest’s magic comes to light, Otto will have to face his both his past and what it means to bind himself to a magic he does not fully understand.

Shadows loom. Truths are revealed. And as dangers new and old arise, Fritzi and Otto must stand together against everything that threatens magic—even if the biggest threat might be the very bond they share.

My Review

This book concludes the Witch and Hunter duology, picking up soon after the first book ended. The story starts off with Otto and Fritzi preparing for a bonding ceremony and sharing some romantic moments together. The pace of the story builds, with stakes growing ever higher, which sent me rocketing from one chapter to another all the way until the end of the book.

I like that the story made space for Otto and Fritzi’s relationship, even though it wasn’t the central plot of the story. It was nice to enjoy those quiet moments in which they returned to the bond between them and why they cared for one another.

I also enjoyed the intensity of the hunt for the magic stones. It wasn’t clear whether they would be able to find them or get to them first, which kept the intensity high. I’ve seen other books that have a quest like this in which the clues don’t really fit together or feel forced. That isn’t the case here. I liked the way the various clues and the quest unfolded. It felt natural and made sense to me.

I also really appreciated that this is a duology. I was absolutely prepared to read more of the series, but it was a pleasant surprise to find that this one book delivered all the things I’d been waiting for from the story. It might be even better than the first book. I’m not sure. They were both great.

If you like historical fiction with a heaping serving of magic, this is definitely a series to put on your list. Start with Night of the Witch before reading this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are German.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to sex. A few scenes show a lead into sex, and one briefly describes it.

Spiritual Content
Otto is Catholic but has rejected some of the church’s teachings, especially those regarding killing or hunting witches. Fritzi and other characters serve a trio of goddesses.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Brief battles. References to torture and brief scenes showing torture. Otto and Fritzi enter a square in which people have been burned at the stake for being witches. In one scene, they discover the bodies of two people who’ve been beheaded. Someone lights someone else on fire. Monsters pursue some characters.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Lies We Conjure
Sarah Henning
Tor Teen
Published September 17, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Lies We Conjure

Knives Out meets The Inheritance Games with magic in this standalone supernatural thriller by Sarah Henning: thirteen witches, a locked-room murder, and two non-magical sisters trapped in a deadly game of Clue

Ruby and her sister, Wren, are normal, middle-class Colorado high school students working a summer job at the local Renaissance Fest to supplement their meager college savings.

So when an eccentric old lady asks them to impersonate her long-absent grandchildren at a fancy dinner party at the jaw-dropping rate of two grand―each―for a single night… Wren insists it’s a no-brainer. Make some cash, have some fun, do a good deed.

But less than an hour into the evening at the mysterious Hegemony Manor, Ruby is sure she must have lost her mind to have agreed to this.

My Review

I’ve really enjoyed everything by Sarah Henning that I’ve read, and Lies We Conjure is no exception. I think it’s the darkest of her books so far, and I’d say ‘Knives Out plus magic’ is a pretty fair description of this one in a nutshell.

I loved the sisters, Wren and Ruby. Wren is impulsive and chipper while Ruby is the more methodical, quieter one. The story alternates between the perspectives of Ruby and Auden, one of the Hegemony cousins and grandson of the magical matriarch. I liked the tension of Ruby and Wren being imposters locked into the estate once the murder takes place.

I kind of expected there to be some hidden magical connection between their family and the other magical families, but that didn’t play out in the way I anticipated, which was fine. They do have a nostalgic connection to the estate.

The story has some great moments between characters and some scenes I didn’t predict at all. I loved the way things were pieced together and how the mystery resolved in the end.

I think reader who enjoy a murder mystery dripping with threatening magic will not be able to put this one down. If you like books by Mary Watson or Deep is the Fen by Lili Wilkinson, definitely check out Lies We Conjure.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Wren and Ruby are white. One of the magical families is BIPOC. One character is nonbinary.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few F-bombs and profanity used fairly infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic and are called witches. There are four main types of magic: elemental, blood, star, and death. Death magic is pretty grisly. Blood magic allows someone to control others.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Apparent murder. Descriptions of fatal injuries.

Drug Content
A few characters drink alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Panic by Lauren Oliver

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Panic
Lauren Oliver
HarperCollins
Published March 4, 2014

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Panic

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn’t know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

My Review

This is still my favorite book by Lauren Oliver. Her writing always strikes me, her stories and characters are always compelling, but there’s something about this particular one that just really sticks with me. I’m not sure if it’s the small town setting, the high, high stakes, the flawed, underdog characters, or the complicated romance.

The small town setting makes for an intimate backdrop. Everyone kind of knows everyone. It feels like there’s nowhere to hide. It feels like ALL THE RAGE or SADIE by Courtney Summers.

The game brings high stakes right away. I found myself getting sidetracked trying to figure out how these struggling kids could afford the $180 entry fee to play the game, but ultimately, that’s a small detail I found I could let go.

The ending doesn’t neatly wrap up all the character’s stories. In fact, a couple are left in awkward situations but seem to be fine. I loved so much of the rest of the story that this didn’t really bug me much either. As the game went on, I felt like I couldn’t look away and needed to know that the characters would find a way through.

Over all, I think fans of suspenseful stories set in small towns like those by Courtney Summers will really like this one. It’s more like Oliver’s VANISHING GIRLS than DELIRIUM.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Main characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme word choice, moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
A few crude references to sex, but no scenes depicting anything beyond kissing.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Several times kids get beat up in connection with the game Panic.

Drug Content
References to smoking weed. Teens drink beer at a party. One teen girl sips whiskey before completing her Panic test. A girl walks in on her mother and other adults after they’ve been using cocaine.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Review: Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart #1)
Stephanie Garber
Flatiron Books
Published September 28, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Once Upon a Broken Heart

How far would you go for happily ever after?

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings… until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy…

My Review

It’s been a while since I read the Caraval series, but I enjoyed them, so Once Upon a Broken Heart has been on my reading list since it came out. I hadn’t planned on waiting until the whole series was published before reading them, but I’m honestly not sorry I did. It took a few weeks to get the audiobook version of this one from my library, but they do have the whole series, so I’m now back in line for the second one.

I liked this book. It has some of the same things I liked about Caraval, but it has a more open world rather than the more closed-circle experience of that trilogy. It’s got unpredictable, sometimes brutal magic and a brooding, unattainable love interest. It’s got the sweet, starry-eyed girl at the center who has more power than she realizes but whose ability to believe in something may prove to be her greatest strength.

One of the things I liked best was the relationship between Evangeline and her step-sister, Marisol. I wish that a little more of the story had centered around them, actually. They have a tenuous relationship that, for a long time, Evangeline struggles to truly understand. She wants a relationship with her, but worries she can’t trust her, and her guilt over turning Marisol and her entire wedding party to stone definitely interferes.

Oh. So there’s a moment late in the book that I won’t spoil, but I literally sat there saying, “Don’t do it. Nope. Don’t!. You’re about to get Tess of the D’Urberville’d*. Don’t do it!”

Anyway. So I knew I was pretty invested in the story when I was literally shouting at the recording. Haha!

There were a couple of moments that I kind of just had to go with. For instance, at one point, a super-hungry vampire bites someone, but instead of feeding, they inject the person with venom. It seemed very bizarre that they didn’t try to feed since there had been this whole buildup about how hungry this vampire was. But nope. The bite just injected venom for some reason. Maybe that will be explained more later?

For the most part, though, I was absolutely carried away with this wild magical story. I’m looking forward to book two in the series.

*If you haven’t read Tess of the D’Urbervilles, there’s a part in the book in which someone confesses a dark secret to her. It’s a person she has been keeping her own awful secret from (something she feels terrible about, but which isn’t even her fault). So they confess, and Tess is like, oh, whew, you’ll understand my secret then. So she confesses, and nope. It’s not okay. Not at all. I really hated that book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Main characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Evangeline spends the night curled up in a boy’s lap as part of a medical recovery.

Spiritual Content
A group of immortal Fates have limited special abilities. If a human finds the chapel of a Fate, they can pray to them and make a bargain. The Fate may choose to help them but will ask for something in return.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Evangeline hears about a wolf attack that leaves a boy horribly scarred. A boy dies, apparently from some kind of poison. Someone poisons a girl. A large number of vampires bite people. Someone ties up another person and threatens to torture or kill them.

Drug Content
Evangeline drinks wine at a social event.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Don’t Let It Break Your Heart by Maggie Horne

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Don’t Let It Break Your Heart
Maggie Horne
Feiwel & Friends
Published August 27, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Don’t Let It Break Your Heart

You only get one soulmate, and I’m not throwing mine away.

Alana and Gray have been the perfect pair all through high school, and neither of them think that should have to change just because Alana came out as a lesbian. Sure, their romantic relationship is over, but their best-friends-since-forever dynamic is stronger than ever. Really, the only difference is that instead of kissing Gray herself, Alana sets him up with other girls to do that.

Enter Talia: tall, confident, gorgeous. Gray’s master plan is simple: befriend Tal and charm her into being his girlfriend. With Alana’s help, of course.

But as Alana spends more time with Tal, she is introduced to a world of possibilities. A world outside her small town. A world in which Alana can fully embrace her queer identity. A world where Alana and Talia are . . . together.

As the two get closer, Alana must juggle her loyalty to Gray with her growing feelings for Tal. Can she stay true to herself and to her best friend? More importantly, does she want to?

My Review

I started to read this book with the back cover copy in mind. It left me with some pretty specific expectations of what Alana and Gray’s relationship would be like, and I was a little confused when it played out differently. I didn’t really see Alana setting Gray up with other girls. It seemed more like she endured his prowling and did her best not to roll her eyes about it because she felt guilty about breaking up with him.

There’s something about Don’t Let It Break Your Heart that feels like a train wreck you can’t look away from. The writing is good—consistently insightful and full of compelling, realistic characters. The relationships between Alana and her friend group have this ticking-time-bomb feel to them. Some of that comes from the group’s toxic patterns and the undercurrent of homophobic feelings among some characters.

I liked that Tal’s addition to the crew altered the dynamics of the group a bit and brought a fresh perspective to relationships that Alana had been in so long that she never stopped to question. She voiced some of the things I’d been thinking, which felt validating as a reader, too.

Alana’s journey of self-discovery is frank and vulnerable. She recalls the slow demise of her romantic relationship with Gray and her growing inability to deny her identity, as well as her deep feelings of guilt and inadequacy at some points in her experience. I felt like those feelings were pretty real and Horne explored them in a way that I haven’t seen done in young adult literature before and adds some important notes to the conversations about identity.

Readers who enjoy upper young adult stories exploring messy relationships and first love will find a lot to love about this bold story. Perfect for fans of Marisa Kanter and Robin Talley.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Alana is a lesbian. She meets other queer characters, including a nonbinary person.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Pretty liberal use of profanity and f-bombs.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two girls. References to sex.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Veiled homophobic comments and manipulative behavior.

Drug Content
Several scenes show teens drinking alcohol and getting drunk. References to smoking pot.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: A Bánh Mì for Two by Trinity Nguyen

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Bánh Mì for Two
Trinity Nguyen
Henry Holt & Co.
Published

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About A Bánh Mì for Two

In this sweet sapphic romance about two foodies in love, Vivi meets Lan while studying abroad in Vietnam and they spend the semester unraveling their families’ histories—and eating all the street food in Sài Gòn.

In Sài Gòn, Lan is always trying to be the perfect daughter, dependable and willing to care for her widowed mother and their bánh mì stall. Her secret passion, however, is A Bánh Mì for Two, the food blog she started with her father but has stopped updating since his passing.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese American Vivi Huynh, has never been to Việt Nam. Her parents rarely talk about the homeland that clearly haunts them. So Vivi secretly goes to Vietnam for a study abroad program her freshman year of college. She’s determined to figure out why her parents left, and to try everything she’s seen on her favorite food blog, A Bánh Mì for Two.

When Vivi and Lan meet in Sài Gòn, they strike a deal. Lan will show Vivi around the city, helping her piece together her mother’s story through crumbling photographs and old memories. Vivi will help Lan start writing again so she can enter a food blogging contest. And slowly, as they explore the city and their pasts, Vivi and Lan fall in love.

My Review

If you’re looking for a sweet romance set in a beautiful city and packed with tantalizing descriptions of food, you will not want to miss this book. It’s also a super quick read at a little over 200 pages.

I love the descriptions of the city of Sài Gòn. The author describes the book as partly her love letter to the city, and that affection comes through on every page of this novel. I felt like I could hear the noise of the city and smell the food made by the street vendors.

Lan and Vivi’s relationship is really sweet. Spending time together and showing an actual person the things she loves about Sài Gòn reinvigorates Lan. The fog of writer’s block that surrounded her begins to dissipate, and she begins writing again. Lan also helps Vivi find her family through her connections with people and her knowledge of the city.

The only thing that seemed a little odd was that we never really see anything about the educational part of Vivi’s study abroad program. I don’t remember there being descriptions of the university or even her traveling to and from classes. It wasn’t a major part of the story, so it wasn’t a big deal. Just something I noticed.

The story alternates between Lan and Vivi’s points of view. Both share complicated relationships with their moms. After losing her dad unexpectedly, Lan wants to protect her mom and support her so much that she’s closed off other parts of her life. Vivi desperately wants to know about her mom’s past in Việt Nam, something her mom refuses to talk about despite their closeness in other ways. I like that the book explores different mother-daughter relationships and the roles of parents and children.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book for its sweet romance (it does get a bit sappy in a scene or two, but I didn’t mind) and fabulous descriptions of the city of Sài Gòn.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Most characters are Vietnamese. Cindy is Latine.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few F-bombs. Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two girls.

Spiritual Content
Lan’s family lights incense on an alter for her dad as part of celebrating the anniversary of his death. References to other holidays.

Violent Content
References to war and torture. References to hard times after the war in Việt Nam.

Drug Content
Vivi drinks a beer with her peers. (The legal drinking age in Việt Nam is 18.)

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.