Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst

Sea of Charms (Spellshop #3) by Sarah Beth Durst

I read my first Sarah Beth Durst book earlier this year, and I've since flown through the rest of her books. So, I was incredibly excited to receive an ARC of her newest release—not just to read it early, but to gush about it afterward.

Every Sarah Beth Durst book feels like a cozy hug. They center on characters finding where they belong in the world while building meaningful friendships along the way. Add in magic, sentient plant companions, and a cast of wonderfully unique and colorful characters, and you're in for such a charming reading experience.

I somehow find myself loving each of her books even more than the last. It certainly helps that the Spellshop series continues to have brief cameos from earlier characters.

In Sea of Charms, one of the main characters is Marin, whom we first met in The Enchanted Greenhouse. As a supply runner, she plays a vital role in supporting a remote island community, and this story gives us her perspective while expanding her journey in a meaningful way. Reading this during the summer made it feel even more magical—I could practically feel the sea breeze alongside Marin and her crew. This book was much more action-packed than the previous installments in the series. The crew embarks on several exciting adventures at sea and spends more time in the heart of the city during the revolution. While I've enjoyed every book in the series, this one was my favorite so far because of its fast-paced plot and memorable adventures.

I especially enjoyed watching Marin begin to truly heal and move forward from the wounds of her past. Dax’s wide-eyed wonder as he experiences the world for himself for the first time is heartwarming, and seeing him learn to make his own choices with Marin's encouragement made their relationship all the more rewarding to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Synopsis: Her boat. Her rules. His music. Their hearts . . .

Marin has always belonged on the great blue sea. Betrayed by love, she lives and works as a supply runner, sailing from island to island, delivering an array of goods with Perri the sea serpent and Ree the sailor shrub as her crew.

On one of her routine trips to the capital, Alyssium, Marin finds a revolution underway ― and a friend in the line of fire.

What starts as a rescue evolves into a deal: Marin will keep Dax on as a member of her crew if he pretends to be her boyfriend at the End-of-Harvest Festival back home.

But against her better judgment, Marin finds herself intrigued by his stubbornness, his passion for stories, his charming smile ― and realizes that perhaps she isn’t saving him. Maybe it’s the other way around.

View my Review on Goodreads

Vesselless by Cortney L. Winn

Vesselless by Cortney L. Winn

I was quickly sucked into this romantasy with an enemies to lovers trope. An heiress to the throne and the half-dead king whose throne was stolen by the heiress’s father? Add in spirits lending powers and the Death God requiring the half-dead king to steal the heiress’s soul in order to save his people? Sign me up.

As I mentioned, I was quickly sucked into this book as the writing and pacing were easy to read and engaging right off the bat. I had a hard time making myself stop to go to bed and thus finished it in only two days. The two main characters were developed very well and had relatable conflicts. Nizzara is good and kind and truly cares about the people she will one day lead. She has to play a part to satisfy her cruel father, but she still remembers kind moments with him and loves him at times. She has become a true warrior but refuses to kill, even when it may mean she will die instead in the dueling tournament she must participate in as the heiress. Dagen is a wicked flirt, but is also sacrificing himself to save his people. He starts to realize that Nizzara isn’t as she appears but how can he give up his entire kingdom for one person? I enjoyed how things slowly developed between them as they learned different truths of the other and wow, did it create a complicated ending!

There were a couple of things that made me only give this book four stars instead of five. First, the world building needed a little more explanation at times. I was still confused at the end of this installment on how the soul-bonding happened with spirits and how some become possessed but others don’t. I was also confused by the magic or power as a whole. There are those that have vessels and thus gain a certain magical power. And yet, there are also gem stones that can create power but only in certain ways and they can lose their charge but there is no explanation on if they can be recharged or not? There is somehow a car-like vehicle that runs on these gems but there are still horse-drawn carriages because this world still lacks a lot of modern luxuries or inventions. I didn’t understand how both could be true when there was such a large gap between certain situations. So I was left with several questions and the ending further confused me since it became a bit rushed.

Overall, I still really enjoyed this book and the characters. I know I’ll be picking up the second installment once it’s released, what a cliffhanger to live with until then!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

Synopsis: She’s heiress to the throne. The throne her father stole from him.

Nizzara has always been able to perceive spirits better than the average caster. When she enters a deadly tournament to end her betrothal, she's determined to win without succumbing to the addictive spirit magic she channels or taking a life in the duel ring. Finding herself outmatched, Nizzara must face her fear of power and team up with Dagen—an enemy who is half-ghost and all charm—to survive the tournament.

Dagen, the last King of Zarr, was killed by Nizzara’s father ten years ago. Now a half-ghost—able to phase between his human and spirit form—he is stuck in another realm, hunting wretched souls. When his keeper offers him a chance to reclaim his freedom in exchange for Nizzara’s soul, Dagen takes the deal.

There’s only one catch: she must freely give it to him by the tournament’s end or his own soul is forfeit.

View my Review on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7117528476

Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson

Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson

I’m sad to say that I was disappointed in this book. I really enjoyed “The Kind Worth Killing” by Peter Swanson and was excited to read this book, but felt the execution was lacking and the characters were flat.

It was clever to tell this story in reverse, and with the reveal at the end it tied it together well, however before the reveal the story just drags and is quite boring. Thom and Wendy are certainly not the good guys which we find out very early, however they weren’t even interesting villains. Again, I was just bored with their characters and annoyed by their personalities.

Nothing really happened in the first part of the book that added to their characters or the overall story. Things started to pick up in the last fourth of the book but by then it was too late to really be excited by anything, and it didn’t tie in the first part really. I didn’t have any moments where I was like oooh, I get why it was slow or now I see why that scene happened. Nope, you only get one tie in from the very beginning and very end.

So I’m sorry to say I won’t be recommending this book, but I’ll still give Swanson a try on other books.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Reptitive - explaining same moments from both POVs but nothing new added in the second recollection

Synopsis: Thom and Wendy Graves have been married for over twenty-five years. They live in a beautiful Victorian on the north shore of Massachusetts. Wendy is a published poet and Thom teaches English literature at a nearby university. Their son, Jason, is all grown up. All is well…except that Wendy wants to murder her husband.

What happens next has everything to do with what happened before. The story of Wendy and Thom’s marriage is told in reverse, moving backward through time to witness key moments from the couple’s lives—their fiftieth birthday party, buying their home, Jason’s birth, the mysterious death of a work colleague—all painting a portrait of a marriage defined by a single terrible act they plotted together many years ago.

Eventually we learn the details of what Thom and Wendy did in their early twenties, a secret that has kept them bound together through the length of their marriage. But its power over them is fraying, and each of them begins to wonder if they would be better off making sure their spouse carries their secrets to the grave.

View my Review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7884322577

Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross

Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross

I was so disappointed when this book ended because I was enjoying it so much and wanted more! I spent the entire book thinking it was a part of a duology and found out in the last few pages that it was only a stand-alone and oh man that was rough.

Rebecca Ross once again wrote a fantastic story of magic and gods. Earlier this year, I read “A River Enchanted” and “A Fire Endless” and fell in love with the characters and story and was excited to read this book once it was announced. I really enjoyed that this story was partially narrated by Matilda, a young goddess who was learning her place among the gods and how to survive their cruel and power hungry ways. Ross gave us insight to several different gods, not just glossing over them, to give a rich story full of politics and distrust that made for such a compelling and intriguing plot. Matilda is a herald, destined to run messages between realms and thus not a threat to other gods, however there may be something more to her… The other POV was from Vincent, a mortal that is tied into Matilda’s fate and had Matilda questioning certain things about the gods’ existence as he no longer wants to worship the gods. I enjoyed the back and forth, getting their inner thoughts and how they were entwined.

As much as I enjoyed this story, I do wish it had been a duology or longer in order to go into more depth with some of the gods and the ten years that passed early on. I think it would have made the story richer and I understand why it was a standalone, but I would have happily enjoyed a larger book to get this. Especially the end of the book, no spoilers, but it did feel a bit abrupt after everything and I felt the characters deserved more explanation at that point or just a few more scenes of their lives then.

It was also interesting how this book tied into her other duology, “Divine Rivals” but as I didn’t like those books quite as much, I don’t think I appreciated as much as other readers will. It was a clever tie in, but I was more intrigued by these new characters so I wasn’t as excited.

Overall, this was definitely a fantasy story I’d recommend. It is a good mix of dark moments from power hungry gods and humans mixed with romance, friendship and finding your way.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc.

Synopsis:

Born ​in the firelit domain of the under realm, Matilda is the youngest goddess of her clan, blessed with humble messenger magic. But in a land where gods often kill each other to steal power and alliances break as quickly as they are forged, Matilda must come of age sooner than most. She may be known to carry words and letters through the realms, but she holds a secret she must hide from even her dearest of allies to ensure her survival. And to complicate matters . . . there is a mortal boy who dreams of her, despite the fact they have never met in the waking world.

Ten years ago, Vincent of Beckett wrote to Matilda on the darkest night of his life―begging the goddess he befriended in dreams to help him. When his request went unanswered, Vincent moved on, becoming the hardened, irreverent lord of the river who has long forgotten Matilda. That is, until she comes tumbling into his bedroom window with a letter for him.

As Fate would have it, Matilda and Vincent were destined to find each other beyond dreams. There may be a chance for Matilda to rewrite the blood-soaked ways of the gods, but at immense sacrifice. She will have to face something she fears even more than losing her magic: to be vulnerable, and to allow herself to finally be loved.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7883433788