Queen of Dreams by Kit Rocha

Three lovers with unbridled hope, uncanny dreams, and ancient powers join forces against the greatest evil in the world in a scorching fantasy by the authors of Consort of Fire.

Ash waited three thousand years for a consort who could break the Betrayer’s chains. Instead of one lover, he found two: Sachi and Zanya—the primordial powers that embody creation and destruction, reborn as humans. Now, his ancient enemy has returned to threaten everything he loves.

In the wake of her dazzling manifestation, Zanya seethes with magic and restless energy. Her command of the Endless Void will be a potent weapon in the coming war. To harness it, she’ll need to embrace the darkness within—but the scars of the past are holding her back.

Sachi’s unprecedented connection to the Dream deepens, leading her beyond the veil of reality… and into the heart of the Betrayer’s stronghold. Torn from her lovers, Sachi must use all her wit and cunning to survive the Betrayer’s treacherous court. Because he doesn’t simply want her. He covets the slumbering power she possesses—and plans to take it for his own.

Even if it ends their world.

Don’t miss our reviews of the rest of the Bound to Fire and Steel series!
For book one, Consort of Fire, click HERE.

 

 

Book 2
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Paperback (US)

Audiobook (US)
Narrated by Victoria Mei, Caitlin Elizabeth & Will Thorne
~ Also Available to Read & Listen with KindleUnlimited ~

 

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Shelby – ☆☆☆☆☆
I absolutely LOVED Consort of Fire, book one in the Bound to Fire and Steel series, and they do need to be read in order as book two is a continuation from the first. I promise you, this series doesn't disappoint!

As Zanya finds herself, Sachi is left drifting and trying to find her purpose. The gods all have their own gifts and Zanya is trying to learn how to wield her power, often clumsily, but she's doing the best she can with what she has to work with. Ash is trying to keep the world together, avoiding any further confrontations with the Betrayer. To summarize, there is too much going on and something has to give!

I adore the growth that Zanya experiences, I find myself drawn to her and hoping everything finally "clicks." That's not to say she is more important than the other two, not at all. All three have a lot to overcome and are stronger together yet each have important roles to play.
Sachi really shines in this book (quite literally)! She is the embodiment of love and light; she is the perfect complement to Zanya's dark. When the time comes for Sachi to step up, she embraces the challenge with no fear!

Overall, I really enjoyed book two in the newest series by Kit Rocha (I love both books)! The story is unique, the characters are interesting, and the romance is different (and spicy). I don't want to say goodbye, I would really like to see how the court deals with the new, improved world!


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the second book in this very engaging series, and you most definitely need to read them in order... or you will be pretty lost! If you read Consort of Fire a while ago, I think you will find that it all comes flooding back to you very quickly!

As Ash, Sachi, and Zanya somehow start to understand what they mean to each other and how their future might be, the women are also learning about their godly gifts. For Zanya, in particular, she needs to gain control of the immense power that she wields. Her lack of knowledge is causing mayhem and destruction – I loved how she is finally accepted for herself... even if she finds it very difficult to believe or trust it. Sachi is intent on finding a non-violent solution to the problems of The Betrayer still wanting to beat his brother Ash. Her world of Dreams is also one she is not entirely in control there yet. Ash and Zanya want to protect Sachi, yet their actions drive her into action.

This is a great adventure in another world, with at its heart the love of the three of them. The passion they unleash on each other is wonderfully hot and intense – giving them a chance to show how they feel even when they are not good at saying it. Very sensual and romantic amongst the madness going on around them

Already waiting for the next installment!

 

 

KIT ROCHA is the pseudonym for cowriting team Donna Herren and Bree Bridges. After penning dozens of paranormal novels, novellas, and stories as Moira Rogers, they reinvented themselves by writing the nine-book multiple-award-winning—and extremely steamy—Beyond series, which became an instant cult favorite. They followed it up with two spin-off series, including the popular Mercenary Librarians trilogy published by Tor. Now they’re leaping into sexy epic fantasy with happily ever afters.

Their favorite stories are about messy worlds, strong women, and falling in love with the people who love you just the way you are. When they’re not writing, they can be found crafting handmade jewelry, caring too much about video games, or freaking out about their favorite books or TV shows, all of which are chronicled on their various social media accounts.

Connect with Kit Rocha!

Facebook  ~  Instagram  ~  Twitter  ~  TikTok  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

 

 

 

ARC provided by

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided with a free copy of Queen of Dreams (Bound to Fire and Steel #2) by Kit Rocha to read and review.

Primal Mirror by Nalini Singh

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into a family dark with shadowy secrets, as the world of the Psy teeters on the edge of a final catastrophic collapse...

Daughter of two ruthless high-Gradient telepaths, Auden Scott is not the child her Psy parents wanted or expected, even before her brain injury. Her thoughts are scattered, her memories fuzzy—or just terrifyingly blank. The only thing she knows for certain is that she must protect her unborn baby... a baby she has no recollection of conceiving and who draws an unnerving depth of interest from her dead mother’s closest associates.

Leopard alpha Remi Denier is a man driven by the primal instinct to protect. Protect his pack, protect his allies... and protect the mysterious woman who has become a most unlikely neighbor. With eerie eyes that see too much and a scent that alters in ways disturbing and impossible, Auden Scott is the enemy... but nothing about this strange Psy is what it seems, and Remi’s feline heart is as fascinated by her as his human half.

Then Auden asks Remi to help her shatter the wall of secrets that is the Scott bloodline. What they unearth will reveal a nightmare beyond imagination. This time, the battle is to the death...

Don’t miss our reviews of other books in the Psy-Changeling Trinity series!
For book one, Silver Silence, click HERE.
For book two, Ocean Light, click HERE.
For book three, Wolf Rain, click HERE.
For book four, Alpha Night, click HERE.
For book five, Last Guard, click HERE.
For book six, Storm Echo, click HERE.

 

 

Book 8
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Apple Books  ~  B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  Kobo
Hardcover (US)  ~  Berkley Romance

Audiobook (US)
Narrated by Angela Dawe

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Mary Jo – ☆☆☆☆
I have been waiting for this book since book seven.

Auden Scott. The daughter of Shoshanna Scott and Henry Scott. A broken Psy even before the PsyNet began to fail. Auden, who had carved out a somewhat simple life, is now on edge as her brain injury seems to be getting worse.

Remi Denier, the Alpha of RainFire, is a dominant – alpha – feline who finally accepted the mantle of leadership and formed his own pack. Buying land in the middle of nowhere Colorado, his plans for his pack are to lead a simple life – staying away from trouble.

But what happens when trouble finds him? News of Auden Scott inheriting the property adjacent to him makes a cat curious. Auden is not what he expects, even for a Psy. She's distant, almost as if she isn't processing what she's actually seeing. As if someone else is staring out of her eyes.

Auden doesn't know what is going on with her. She doesn't remember a lot of things that have been happening to her since the death of her mother, including getting pregnant. But she knows that her child is the answer to the question she doesn't remember.

The continuing world-building in this series is nice, but it also limits the story between Remi and Auden. I would have like to have seen more development between the main and supporting characters. The cameos of characters from other books gives added depth to Primal Mirror.

I really enjoyed this book, staying up late to read it all in one night. Then going back for a re-read the same week.


Erica – ☆☆☆
Primal Mirror is the eighth installment in the Psy-Changeling Trinity series as well as the 23rd installment in the Psy-Changeling Series. Primal Mirror cannot be read as a standalone. However, it can be read out of series order if familiar with the overall world-building, where you've read the majority of the series.

I need to preface this review by stating how I feel as if the overarching world-building and backstory is overly complex and completely buries the story attempting to be told. Added in with the female main character suffering from a brain injury, the beginning of the novel was nearly impossible to enjoy, filled with nothing but confusion, the need to make a spreadsheet to order events, and not much of entertainment value. It was purposefully confusing, not truly focused on either of the main characters, overshadowing any romance or connection the main characters may or may not have felt to one another.

I adored this series, as well as all of the other series Nalini Singh has written. I know this series like the back of my hand, not confused by events that have taken place. But there is an overall chaotic, end of days feeling to the novels as of late, which erases any feel-good emotions and entertainment value I may experience. Reading this series has become stressful, so it's difficult to root for the main couple in each novel, as their romance and connection is completely smothered by the never-ending plot arc that binds these novels into a series.

This series has become a slog, no longer pleasurable to read and enjoy as a couple finds their way to one another. I love angst, drama, and suspense, not one for in-my-face romance, but the overly complex world-building and backstory are drowning the main plot in the past few installments.

Auden Scott inherits the land next to Leopard Alpha Remi Denier's pack lands. She is suffering from a debilitating brain issue which stems from her family utilizing medical procedures outside of her consent, added in with the fact that she is also pregnant, which was a medical procedure outside of her consent, without her knowledge, which adds into the inability to remember events.

Auden Scott is a difficult character to connect with, not only because of the abuses she has suffered at the hands of her family, but the fact that she doesn't even remember these abuses, remember much of anything really. The ultimate of an unreliable narrator. How can the reader know Auden when she doesn't know anything about herself either? I could empathize and sympathize, but I was left feeling as confused as she was.

Remi Denier is easier to understand, especially since he is a reliable narrator. His narration easier to digest, but it is still overshadowed by all the hundreds of plots coming together to where the reader doesn't get to know him well enough to connect with him.

I wanted to love Auden and Remi, but I never got to know them. I wanted to ship them as a couple, but they barely shared any time together on the pages to develop a connection with one another and to the reader. A slow-burn vibe with no passion, no connection, or sexual attraction. Auden is suffering across the board, pregnant, and dealing with issues with her family and the PsyNet, she had no room for romance, so what little romance there was seemed oddly misplaced and paced.

This novel did not work for me. Auden and Remi used as a vehicle to continue to slog through the tangled, overly complex, anxiety-ridden, chaotic backstory and world-building, which I personally do not find very entertaining.

 

 

New York Times bestselling author NALINI SINGH is passionate about writing. Though she’s traveled as far afield as the deserts of China, the Highlands of Scotland, and the frozen landscapes of Antarctica, it is the journey of the imagination that fascinates her most. She’s beyond delighted to be able to follow her dream as a writer. Nalini lives and works in beautiful New Zealand. You can contact her directly through her website. While visiting the site, Nalini invites you to join her newsletter for up-to-date news about both the Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter series, as well as fun exclusive extras, including free short stories set in her worlds.

Connect with Nalini Singh!

Facebook  ~  Instagram  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

 

 

ARC provided by

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided with a free copy of Primal Mirror (Psy-Changeling Trinity #8) by Nalini Singh to read and review.

True North by TA Moore Release Blitz

Despite what his co-workers say Belling, Montana paramedic Dylan Hollie does not hate Christmas.

It’s just that as an ex-foster kid he learned early on that Christmas just didn’t have much relevance to his life. He’s seen no evidence since then that he’s wrong.

That said, if Santa ever delivered a six-foot plus wall of hot muscle under his tree he’d be willing to reconsider. He’s even sourced an available one locally in the taciturn Somerset North and his impossibly blue eyes.

So really, at this point the ball is in Santa’s court.

There’s just one problem. Well, just one to start with anyhow. The battered, dying man someone dumped from a height onto Dylan’s car outside the Just-as-High, Somerset’s bar. He gave Dylan an old, well-worn watch and begged him to keep it safe.

Now Christmas is relevant to Dylan’s life in the worst way. The Winter Court has loosed their Wolves on the world and Dylan is on the run with Somerset North. A man who seems to know a lot more about what is going on than a Montana bar owner with exceptional shoulders should.

It turns out that Santa is missing, presumed dead. And the key to the hotly disputed succession crisis is a foster kid who never celebrated the season.

 

 

Book 1
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Twenty years since Somerset had tried to tap the power of his old position. Now he had done it twice in one night. He would never admit it, but as the wind blew up into his armpits, he wasn’t sure the magic he’d set aside would answer.

Apparently though, there were no hard feelings.

Cold filled his chest and soaked out into his body. It spilled out of his mouth on white fog and turned his marrow into frost. The only heat in him came from the prickle of pain as a dozen tiny fractures crazed along the bones of his arms and legs. The threads of the North Wind surged up around him and thickened under his feet. His boots skidded on the slick, snow-vapor surface at first. It was solid, but not still. The wind blew and eddied under his weight. It made for unsteady footing.

The weight of Dylan as he swung awkwardly from Somerset’s grip didn’t help. Somerset briefly indulged the thought of letting him drop. He was not a sentimental man at the best of times, that wasn’t what his kind had been made to be, and the chill of Winter magic in his bones reduced the idea of logic and odds.

Mostly.

Dylan didn’t scream or thrash. He gripped Somerset’s wrist with white-knuckled fingers and kept his eyes closed so he didn’t give in and look down. Somerset had always liked that quality about the wiry paramedic. No matter what happened around him, Dylan was always the calm at the heart of the storm. It made him… pleasant… to be around.

Something in Somerset’s chest, buried down deep under permafrosted meat and organs, felt warm. The rest of him was too Winter-numb to put his finger on what the feeling was. Guilt maybe. Or something stupider.

Either way, as he remembered the knack to riding the storm, he dragged Dylan into his arms. The other man resisted at first—Somerset didn’t take it personally—but the only other option was to fall. It wasn’t a hard choice to make. Dylan pressed against Somerset’s chest, arms wrapped around him so tightly that Somerset could feel knuckly fists dug into the small of his back.

Somerset enjoyed the feeling of the warm, lean body pressed against him for a moment, then he had to focus on what he was doing.

“You can fly?” Dylan asked, his voice ragged and his breath warm against Somerset as it seeped through the cotton T-shirt. When Dylan laughed, it was a thin, nervous sound. “Explains what happened to my car.”

Somerset hesitated as he narrowed his eyes. He could see the snow caught in his lashes. Dylan was right; that probably had been what happened.

As many questions as that answered, though, it raised more. Wolves couldn’t walk the storm, so who’d brought Gull down? Had he already been injured?

The wind took advantage of Somerset’s distraction and tried to drop from under him. He stumbled, caught himself, and did his best to ignore the way Dylan’s arms tightened around him.

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
3.5 stars rounded up

This is the first in a new series and mindful of that, I expected some world building; however, I did feel that we were expected to have some understanding of things which didn't really ever get fully developed – it will be interesting to see if future installments fill in the details. I particularly would have liked a little more on the main characters before they were pitched into the crazy.

Some elements were telegraphed loudly though, and that was both confusing and intriguing! What I did feel was missing was any softness whatsoever. Whilst I hadn't expected a sweet and cosy Christmas love story from the blurb, I did expect more emotion or romance. There was much merit in showing the darker underbelly of the Santa story, the violence and power play at times overrode the message of the book.

I am very curious to read the next installment!

 

 

T.A. MOORE is a Northern Irish writer of romantic suspense, urban fantasy, and contemporary romance novels. A childhood in a rural, seaside town fostered in her a suspicious nature, a love of mystery, and a streak of black humour a mile wide.

Coffee, Doc Marten boots, and good friends are the essential things in life. Spiders, mayo, and heels are to be avoided.

Connect with T.A. Moore!

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FacebookGroup: T.A. Moore's Trouble in a Teacup

 

 

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of True North (Yule Lads #1) by T.A. Moore to read and review.

Consort of Fire by Kit Rocha

From cult-favorite writing duo Kit Rocha comes a fiery novel set in a lush fantasy world brimming with ancient magic, dangerous secrets, and erotic connections.

For three thousand years, an ancient dragon god has protected the borders of the Sheltered Lands. In return, he makes only one demand: every one hundred years, the mortal ruler must send their heir to serve as his consort… for as long as they can survive.

Sachielle of House Roquebarre is the thirty-first consort to be sacrificed to the monster who guards the mountain passes. She is young, beautiful—and she has three secrets.

First: she’s a disposable orphan trained in seduction.

Second: her handmaid, Zanya, is an assassin and the only person she has ever loved.

Third—and most dangerous: she’s cursed. Sachi and Zanya have five weeks to murder the Dragon in his bed. If they fail, the mortal king’s curse will steal not just Sachi’s life, but her very soul.

The Dragon has only one secret: he is nothing like what they have been told. And he will do whatever it takes to possess them both.

 

 

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Audiobook (US)  ~  Paperback (US)
~ Also Available to Read & Listen with KindleUnlimited ~

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Shelby – ☆☆☆☆☆
I'm just going to come out and say it, I LOVE this book! It has interesting characters (all of them), lots of angst, slow building romance, and did I mention the gods?

We start by being introduced to Sachielle, who is a princess who's being delivered to the Dragon as an agreement that's been carried out for hundreds of years. She is to be his consort, and the bridge between humans and gods. When humans are involved, no one can be trusted.

Zanya, the trusted handmaiden, is Sachi's best friend, confidant, and true love. What could go wrong when watching the love of your life being bound to another? Not only good at saying hair, she has a way with weapons...

Then there's Ash, also known as the Dragon, a god who is fulfilling his duties and waiting for the moment he's been promised for centuries. He's a flawed character yet resilient, patient, kind, and likeable.

I love this world, each domain has its own flavor. The slow burn really built up my anticipation of things to come. The ultimate sacrifice each one is ready and willing to make...

Overall, I LOVED this. The story was awesome: I love the world, I like these characters, the romance was HOT, and I can't wait to read the next book in this series!


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the first book in a new series, and I am definitely keen to read on when the next one is available. It is a hefty tome and there is a lot of world building alongside the main storyline. I normally read a book like this in a couple of days, but it took double that, so be prepared for quite a long read. It is dense and full of detail, as well as some of the hottest scenes between the fascinating trio of Dragon, consort, and attendant.

I thought that the characters were introduced well and given shape thanks in part to Ash's bedtime stories. They are a close bunch and there is some particularly fun banter following some of the nights of passion – difficult to hide that you are getting excited when the earth literally rumbles in excitement for you!

I loved the twist at the end – lots of clues but thankfully not too many, breadcrumbs to give us the ideas until the big reveal! Already looking forward to the next installment.


Erica – ☆☆☆
3.5 stars

Consort of Fire is the first installment in the Bound to Fire and Steel series.

I enjoyed the storyline but...

The good: a polyamorous storyline featuring a sort of established FF couple shrouded in a fantastical world featuring gods walking among humankind, filled with betrayal. Anxiety-filled angst. An imbalanced power dynamic throughout all their intermingled relationships. Watching the one you long to have be mated to the one you're destined to end. Forced to end the one you're bound to when they are a part of you now. Angsty deliciousness.

An orphan acting as the heir for a bloodline who is contractually obligated to serve their descendants up to the dragon as his consort every hundred years. The king uses Sachielle and Zanya to end the contract. Sachielle is the imposter led to the dragon's lair, with her lover assassin acting as her handmaid, Zanya. Their souls are at risk if they do not take out the dragon to forever end the contract. Whereas Ash, the dragon god, is merely misunderstood, not the monster the masses spread gossip about.

The highlight of the story for me was in the beginning portion of the novel when Ash would spontaneously combust into flames, then have to burst into dragon form and take to the skies because he was so overcome by the glow of his new "human" consort.

This is a slow burn romance, pun intended. I love me some slow burn to establish a relationship and show all the appropriate feels (see bad section). But there was zero feels from such emotionless characters, only for them to all end up in bed together.

I enjoyed the story but...

The bad: the overall tone, writing style, perspective, and world building.

Consort of Fire hit the trifecta of all three of my top pet peeves. Too many narrators: Sachielle, Zanya, and Ash, which wouldn't have been an issue for me if not for... no chapter headings to let the reader know who is narrating. Shifting narrator mid-scene. Since this was third-person, all three emotionless narrators sounded exactly the same, where I was never quite sure who was narrating until something pinpointed to who, only to be proven wrong a paragraph later, until I realized the narrators where shifting willy nilly for no apparent reason, as it didn't help the storyline along, only caused me mass amounts of confusion.

It took me the better part of two weeks to wade through this slog of a novel. Keep in mind, I can bang out a fantasy trilogy in a day and a half if I'm properly inspired. I honestly thought I was suffering from the dreaded reader's block since I did enjoy the storyline. Reading another novel in one sitting showcased how it wasn't me, it was the book. When I was about to throw in the towel, the novel finally picked up near the end.

Slog is the best way to describe how I felt while reading. The storyline was buried beneath the overly complex world building that wasn't truly complicated. The world building was not organically flowing from the three narrators. Info-dumps of information, most of which just overly complicated matters but wasn't actually necessary. There were times I found myself just zoning out, mind wandering rather than reading, only to skim almost a chapter to get to something, anything happening on the pages.

The tone. All three narrators sounded the same. Ash, while ancient, sounded juvenile like a young adult. I was shocked to discover Sachielle was nearly thirty when the way she spoke and carried herself was also young-adult-like. But it was how emotionless the third-person perspective with roving narrators made the story that was a real issue for me.

I couldn't fall into the story due to the way it was written. I wasn't invested in the storyline with how it was buried beneath the heavy burden with overly complicated world building. And I couldn't root for the main characters since they felt like nothing but emotionless drones playing out the parts written for them.

After inundating the reader with world building, it takes a backseat to erotica featuring the three main characters. All this buildup over the main happenings with the plot, and it just fizzled out and was anticlimactic. It ended up feeling like the two weeks of work I put into attempting to read this novel were merely a vehicle for the three of them to showcase their bedroom gymnastics, so I was salty about it and didn't find any of this particularly titillating or heated. The steam felt out of place after such a slow slog through the mythology and magic system.

As this is a fantasy novel, I expected adventuring, exciting action, and battle scenes. Not much was happening until the very end of the novel to set up the next installment and hook the reader. So it felt like a sale's pitch more so than a plot device to move the story forward. I wanted that vibe revealed in the last portion of the novel to be throughout the entire novel.

Will I read the next in the series? No. This is a situation where it just wasn't my cup of tea, the writing style is not for me. No matter how good the premise may be, I worry the next book will be another slog to get to the meat of the story, only for the erotica to be showcased instead.

Since no two readers read the same book, perhaps the writing style will be your cup of tea.

 

 

KIT ROCHA is the pseudonym for cowriting team Donna Herren and Bree Bridges. After penning dozens of paranormal novels, novellas, and stories as Moira Rogers, they reinvented themselves by writing the nine-book multiple-award-winning—and extremely steamy—Beyond series, which became an instant cult favorite. They followed it up with two spin-off series, including the popular Mercenary Librarians trilogy published by Tor. Now they’re leaping into sexy epic fantasy with happily ever afters.

Their favorite stories are about messy worlds, strong women, and falling in love with the people who love you just the way you are. When they’re not writing, they can be found crafting handmade jewelry, caring too much about video games, or freaking out about their favorite books or TV shows, all of which are chronicled on their various social media accounts.

Connect with Kit Rocha!

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Instagram  ~  TikTok  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

 

 

ARC provided by

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided with a free copy of Consort of Fire (Bound to Fire and Steel #1) by Kit Rocha to read and review.

House of Gods by K.A. Linde Release Blitz

USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde returns to the Royal Houses series with House of Gods: the story of Kerrigan Argon, a half-Fae, half-human as she seeks her place in an unforgiving world filled with magic, mayhem, and romance. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Holly Black, and V.E. Schwab.

On the other side of a portal, Kerrigan Argon lands in the home of the gods—alone.

She's lost everything: Her family. Her magic. Her world.

Even her dark Fae prince, Fordham Ollivier, has disappeared. She has no where to turn, and no idea how to survive in this new world.

The first kind face in the crowd gives Kerrigan hope. Until her would-be helpers, kidnap and deliver her into a new kind of hell and the only chance to get home—the gladiator ring.

Win the gladiator tournament and receive a gift from the gods.

Kerrigan is determined to gain that boon to save her people.

Don’t miss our reviews of the rest of the Royal Houses series!
For book one, House of Dragons, click HERE.
For book two, House of Shadows, click HERE.
For book three, House of Curses, click HERE.

 

 

Book 4
Buy Links

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Apple Books  ~  B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  Kobo
Audiobook (US)  ~  Paperback (US)

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆☆
House of Gods is the fourth installment in the Royal Houses series, and it cannot be read as a standalone or out of series order. Since there isn't much of a rundown of previous events at the start, no info-dumps, if you are a reader who needs a refresher, I do suggest a bit of a reread. If not, Linde does an amazing job of slowly revealing what had happened in the last installment without the reader being inundated with a pacing-destroying rundown.

Un-put-down-able. I told myself I could read a chapter or two before bed. Next thing I knew, I was finished and dawn had crested the horizon.

Zero spoilers, I won't give a rundown on events as I wish the rest of the readers a cover-to-cover in one sitting experience as I enjoyed.

House of Gods starts off immediately after House of Curses ended. Kerrigan and Ford landed after being propelled out of the portal, only to end up in her birth mother's land. Kerrigan spends four hundred pages doing all she can to get back home and save her realm.

Action. Adventuring. Huge roadblocks in Kerrigan's way. Unexpected allies. Eon's old enemies. Heartbreak. Injustice. Fear. Gladiator battles. Family reunions, both good and bad. The making of friends and the tightening of relationships. House of Gods had the gamut of emotions from start to finish.

As Kerrigan suffers the absence of magic, she leans how to live and survive without it, so someday she may thrive with it.

I cannot wait until the next installment. While House of Gods doesn't not end on a cliffhanger as previous installments, it does set up the epic battle to come.

 

 

K.A. LINDE is the USA Today bestselling author of the Avoiding series, Wrights, and more than thirty other novels. She has a master’s degree in political science from the University of Georgia, was the head campaign worker for the 2012 presidential campaign at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and served as the head coach of the Duke University dance team. She loves reading fantasy novels, binge-watching Supernatural, traveling, and dancing in her spare time.

She currently lives in Lubbock, Texas, with her husband and super-adorable puppy.

Connect with K.A. Linde!

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Instagram  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads
Facebook Group: K.A. Linde Books

 

 

Hosted by

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of House of Gods (Royal Houses #4) by K.A. Linde to read and review.

All the Dead Shall Weep by Charlaine Harris

#1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author returns with the fifth installment in the bestselling Gunnie Rose series as sisters Lizbeth Rose and Felicia as well as brother Eli and Peter, are reunited in Texoma only to break apart before the Wizard’s Ball held in San Diego, which will determine all their fates.

Following the murderous events of the “gripping . . . thrill-ride” (Karin Slaughter) Serpent of Heaven, Lizbeth Rose is awaiting the arrival of her sister Felicia and her husband’s younger brother Eli in Texoma. Both needed to leave the seat of the Holy Russian Empire in San Diego after Felicia’s burgeoning wizardly power in death magic became the reason for kidnapping and assassination attempts from her mother’s family of high-powered wizards in Mexico.

Yet bad news has traveled ahead of them, as Eli is called back to San Diego, taking Peter along with him, splitting them apart in more ways than one as their enemies’ plans for revenge come to fruition. In this fifth installment in the beloved and bestselling Gunnie Rose series, #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Charlaine Harris has crafted a family drama of murderous and magical thrills.

Don’t miss our reviews of other books in the Gunnie Rose series!
For book two, A Longer Fall, click HERE.
For book three, The Russian Cage, click HERE.
For book four, The Serpent in Heaven, click HERE.

 

 

Book 5
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Apple Books  ~  B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  Kobo
Audiobook (US)  ~  Hardcover (US)
Saga Press (S&S)

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆☆
All the Dead Shall Weep is the fifth installment of the Gunnie Rose series. This is not a standalone novel, the series must be read in order.

This series is one of the most original I've ever read. Intriguing. Fast-paced. Action-packed. A dystopian, early twentieth century, alternate history had the world been wiped out by a pandemic flu. The US is now split up into different countries and territories. Multiple historical events converge in this time frame, added to the novel in an innovative way.

Lizbeth lives in a combination of Texas and Oklahoma, near the Mexican border, under Russian rule set in San Francisco.

Narrated by a pair of half sisters, Lizbeth and Felicia. Both with their own strengths, Lizbeth is a gunnie while Felicia is a magic wielder. While not raised as family, their bond and connection caused all the feels.

Visiting from SF magic school, Felicia helps Lizbeth protect the town and her sister from all sides now that they've been unexpectedly left alone. Suitors, a converging militia group, and Felicia's maternal family that keeps popping up. These sisters are fiercely protective of one another.

A gamut of emotions. The way the sisters speak in general and to each other, one word or a phrase holds a host of emotions. Unique diction, as if words are currency they can't afford to use. Low on inner monologue, but what is thought has emotional impact.

Grief. Hope. Sadness. Humor. Betrayal. Small town mindsets. Nonstop action. Love of family, community, and partners. Tragedy. A seed of excitement to come. All the Dead Shall Weep was a quick read that left me satisfied yet eager for more.

 

 

CHARLAINE HARRIS is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over thirty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area. She has written four series, and two stand-alone novels, in addition to numerous short stories, novellas, and graphic novels (cowritten with Christopher Golden). Her Sookie Stackhouse books have appeared in twenty-five different languages and on many bestseller lists. They’re also the basis of the HBO series True Blood. Harris now lives in Texas, and when she is not writing her own books, she reads omnivorously. Her house is full of rescue dogs.

Connect with Charlaine Harris!

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Instagram  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

 

 

ARC provided by

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided with a free copy of All the Dead Shall Weep (Gunnie Rose #5) by Charlaine Harris to read and review.

Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

The masterful first novel for adults from the mega-selling author of the Divergent franchise.

Fifteen years ago, five ordinary teenagers were singled out by a prophecy to take down an impossibly powerful entity wreaking havoc across North America. He was known as the Dark One, and his weapon of choice—catastrophic events known as Drains—leveled cities and claimed thousands of lives. Chosen Ones, as the teens were known, gave everything they had to defeat him.

After the Dark One fell, the world went back to normal... for everyone but them. After all, what do you do when you’re the most famous people on Earth, your only education was in magical destruction, and your purpose in life is now fulfilled?

Of the five, Sloane has had the hardest time adjusting. Everyone else blames the PTSD—and her huge attitude problem—but really, she’s hiding secrets from them... secrets that keep her tied to the past and alienate her from the only four people in the world who understand her.

On the tenth anniversary of the Dark One’s defeat, something unthinkable happens: one of the Chosen Ones dies. When the others gather for the funeral, they discover the Dark One’s ultimate goal was much bigger than they, the government, or even prophecy could have foretold—bigger than the world itself.

And this time, fighting back might take more than Sloane has to give.

 

 

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Apple Books  ~  Google Play  ~  Kobo
Audiobook (US)  ~  Hardcover (US)  ~  Paperback (US)
William Morrow (HarperCollins)

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆
2 – I Will Not be Reading More of this Series – Stars

Chosen Ones is the debut in a new series by Veronica Roth, in the adult genre instead of the Young Adult genre she dominates. I will admit, I fangirled hard for Divergent, with the original cast of characters, whom I rooted for as if they were real to me.

This novel was one of the most difficult for me to read, and not just because of the formatting issue I encountered. Formatting issue was due to the fact that there were three types of texts in the content. News pieces, redacted documents, and what was happening in the now, all of which looked different on my app. I had to zoom in to see the news pieces and the documents, which meant I was zooming in and out every few pages. The oddest part was how the font was embedded, to the point it wouldn't change via my app. The worst part was how this also affected the backlighting, where it wouldn't darken or lighten or even go to my system backlight settings. It was on as bright as my tablet would go. All these poltergeist-like things only happened on this book, as I kept opening others to check to see if it was a glitch. So imagine almost 500 pages of migraine-inducing insanity.

Now onto the content itself. It was awful. Awful. Others may love it, but I surely didn't.

Imagine being dropped into a 10-book series at the final book, but you're not allowed to read the nine books prior (because they don't exist), then at the last bit of the finale, you're thrust into another dimension known as a spin-off...

At the start, Sloane was giving an interview, and I was hoping against hope that when I turned the page, we would be thrust back in time to experience it for real, like a teaser to whet my appetite for more. Nope, still the 10-year anniversary of the Chosen Ones taking out the Dark One. Where we were given snippets and info-dumps of the events that occurred 10 years prior.

Let me tell you, what happened back then was intriguing, only we don't get to experience it, only get a small fraction of it in a confusing swirl of too much information at once.

I understand what Veronica Roth was trying to achieve. The aftermath and how it shaped the characters. They're treated like heroes, celebrating one of the worst experiences any of them would ever survive, and they all have invisible wounds because of it. The celebrating and celebrity was like sticking a finger in a wound and opening it wider to infection.

Sloane is the narrator, and I was able to mostly connect with her, understanding and empathizing with how she disassociated with emotion, distanced herself from everyone, and was generally miserable in nature. I appreciated how accurate that was portrayed. However, the badass angle was so forced, beyond forced. Sloane would have benefited from a first-person narrative to eliminate the coldness we saw, since we couldn't dive deep enough into her head to truly understand or connect with her.

Then there was Matt, who we're told is just the best person on the earth. Good. Sloane goes on and on about how amazing he is, how she believes he was the only Chosen One, and they were just his helpers. Yet again, this was forced. Beyond forced. If a character is good, you feel it from their deeds, you don't need to be told on every page. It came off as arrogant, as if Matt was soaking up the celebrity no differently than being obsessed with Instagram. Making a day of honoring those they lost about signing autographs and being adored by the masses. Matt came off as fake, no matter how many ways the author TOLD me he was selfless and good. Fake and pretentious.

As adults, adults who had seen death and destruction and helped save the world, they would be more mature for their age, which was in the middle to upper 20s. Instead, they sounded vapid, more young adult than the true teens in the author's other series. Their actions were juvenile, immature for those who were so 'good.' I get that the aftermath changed them, which is what we were seeing, but the before would have been more intriguing with deeper emotional impact if we had actually experienced the before.

The pacing was odd, slow and crawling, in a complex story that needed something to speed it up, slowed down more by the way it was written and what was missing.

I adored the Divergent series. It was an easy read, and by easy, I mean I was able to fall into a vivid world with resonating characters, and actually bled emotion with them. Chosen Ones was a struggle, like working to find the enjoyment in it, while wishing it was written differently. It would have been an organic experience to start at the beginning, instead of making it feel as if we're all missing, missing the best parts. The novel is about what the heroes were up to 10 years later, which wasn't much of anything, instead of actually writing the dang story from the beginning, the part we wanted. The characters were shortchanged.

And then came the spinoff portion, where the first 3/4 of the novel was a summary of what wasn't written in those previous books we see snippets about, where we're thrust into another dimension, feel totally different, and I hated that even more.

This reminded me as if the Hunger Games tributes were asked about their lives 10 years later... but we never saw/experienced/read what happened that got us to that point.

There was zero possibility to fall into the story, connect with the characters, when we had to puzzle piece PTSD flashbacks and inner monologuing info-dumps, as if they were a refresher for a series we previously read, only to be truly dumped into a nightmarish LSD trip.

Done. I'm done. I do not and cannot recommend this novel.

 

 

VERONICA ROTH is the New York Times best-selling author of Chosen Ones, the short story collection The End and Other Beginnings, the Divergent series, and the Carve the Mark duology. She is also the guest editor of the most recent The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Connect with Veronica Roth

Facebook  ~  Instagram  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

 

 

ARC provided by

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided with a free copy of Chosen Ones (The Chosen Ones #1) by Veronica Roth to read and review.