Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones 4 ✭

Title:	Wintersong
Author:	S. Jae-Jones
Publisher:	Thomas Dunne Books
Series:	Wintersong
Genre:	Young Adult, Dark Fantasy, Historical, Romance
Publish Date:	February 7, 2017
Sold by:	St. Martin's Press
Pages:	448
Ages:	Teen

Rating: ✭✭✭✭

Wintersong leaves you feeling open. Your base emotions felt. You have a bewitching enchantment. S. Jae-Jones wrote some really cool scenes that feel spooky but completely captivating. This is for a person who appreciates someone having an actual style to their writing. 

This haunting romantic tale reminds me of older horror novels. The ones that lead you on a trail into their enigmatic world. I guess it starts with the world building right. There are key scenes in the book that are unforgettable. For example when Liesl can’t find her sister in the market, or when she finds her sister eating a forbidden fruit in the goblin grove. You could almost feel the juices from the fruit yourself just reading about it. There are so many little pieces that make it the story such a good read. The confusion Liesl feels, and the reader’s anxiety knowing what she has forgotten. Their grandmother’s constant reminder of the tales of the Goblin King.

The characters are set in a different time than us. It is distant but not so distant that it isn’t relatable in Germany. Which that caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting that, but I found it appealing. They have a drunk for a father and a nagging mother. There are three siblings in total. The older daughter is the prized beauty to be sold off into an arranged marriage. The younger, Liesl, is to watch after her old sister and sort of end up the old maid. There is a brother who relies heavily on Liesl’s support to maintain his confidence.

Overall I couldn’t be happier with reading this novel. It was thrilling for me. I always love a bit of romance to my stories. I really liked that this wasn’t as cookie cutter as I was expecting when I initially read the blurb. I am very thankful to have received an ARC copy to enjoy.

You can check out a preview of Wintersong below without leaving the page.

Heat by Donna Grant 4 ✭

Title: Heat

Author: Donna Grant

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks

Series: Dark Kings

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Publish Date: January 30, 2018

Sold by: Macmillan

Pages: 330

Ages: 18 +

Rating: ✭✭✭✭

I received a free E-galley of Heat from St. Martin's Paperback to review and I am very thankful for the opportunity to read Donna Grant's book. I have not read any of the previous books in the series. It is totally something that I would be interested in reading, and I am definitely adding them to my "need to pick up" list. I will say that this book is very busy and I wouldn't recommend picking it up alone. You can read it as a stand-alone, I did, but you miss a lot of the family connections that you are supposed to be feeling amongst everyone. This is totally a series that you could easily eat up. It reminds me of Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series, except with dragon kings, druids, and the fae.

Without reading the previous books you miss all the intricacies in the relationships. You get a few references to previous events and a few other characters pop up here and there, but you don't feel any connection to them. If you had read the 11 books prior it would totally be different. You would know what Nikolai was like before the book, where it feels like when you start they're already in love with each other. Stuff like that. It isn't bad at all though. This is a great way to get yourself connected to the world and then continue from here on out. I think you would be able to get a good feel for the rest of the stories progression and want to continue.

Esther is a fun character in this book. She is haunted by the fact she doesn't remember events in her life since her memory has been erased. That's where you pick up, so you have to piece what's been going on from there. You make this discovery that she is a part of this magical world with Dragon shifters and the fae in more ways than one. Once her issues are resolved the book really comes together in a sweet way. I feel like Esther and Nikolai's connection was a fun and sweet one. After that, I was invested in Esther's character. I liked who she was after everything she has gone through, and I didn't even know half of what she went through because it was written earlier in the series. That just makes me more interested in the series.

I went with a 4-star rating because I think whether you have or haven't read the earlier books the characters are interesting and all the different side plots are interesting enough that it felt worthy of a four star.

If you would like to read a free sample of Heat by Donna Grant you can check it out below without leaving the page!

*Editted to fix post formatting issues.

The Captivity of Choice by William R. Herr 3 ✭

Title: The Captivity of Choice

Author: William R. Herr

Series: Broken Throne

Genre: Dark Fantasy, Romance

Publish Date: April 7, 2017

Pages: 406

Ages: 18 + 

Rating: ✭✭✭

I had trouble deciding how to review this book. I settled on middle level star because I want others to give this book a chance. I struggled with this book but it was only because of the writing style. It made it very hard for me to get through with the authors style of writing, but I also have a really hard time reading the Game of Thrones books, and they're great stories... that I can't finish. So this might be a choice for others for sure. Don't get me wrong I liked the story itself. I love reading about strong women who are independent, and a true role to read about. Plus the realistic love the characters have and what they deal with in the story was refreshing from other historical romance books. I feel terrible, but this just was not my fit for a book. The dark fantasy, or fantasy in general I like, it was just the writing style I suffered with.

I already HAVE recommended this book to a family member who loves books like this. So I would give this a try if it sounds interesting to you. It is a great price for a book to try in my opinion and I did like it.

If you want, you can check out a Free Sample below without leaving the page to see if The Captivity of Choice is right for you.

Purloined Pint by E.M. Sorensen 4 ✭

Title: Purloined Pint 
Author: EM Sorensen
Release Date: April 23, 2017
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Paranormal & Urban
Total Pages: 407 
Ages Recommended: Mature 
My Rating: ✭✭✭✭

Purloined Pint is a fascinating story about a man who was turned into a vampire after receiving a blood transfusion during the WWII era. The part of this book that hooked me is the chain of events and how they were written so well. It is so easy to follow along with the novel. 

Eddie lives under the radar for decades, working as a PI. He changes his name and moves on so no one suspects something odd from the vampire. He never came across any other vampires so he always assumed he was alone. He never accidentally ran into any or anything since he went home to Seattle after being turned. He gets a job offer from a well-respected vampire who is missing a pint from his storage. This completely flips Eddie's whole world as he discovers that there are more vampires out there, and there's even a community. 

I personally enjoyed this book because I am a fan of paranormal and urban fantasy books. But I can also see if you were interested in books that are also mystery thrillers that this might work for you also. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in those genres. 

Check out below for a free preview that you can read of Purloined Pint, without even leaving the page!