The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik (2022)

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. I've finally read this last book in the trilogy. I think I am a little in shock. Not because of how terrible it was. But because I am just overwhelmed with all the emotions. 

If you haven't read A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate, I recommend reading them before you read this post, because I wouldn't want to spoil them with my review. I'm going to reference them below.

This read was one that I was longing to read and yet dreading at the same time. Because I was hooked at the end of the first chapter of the first book. I put off reading book 3 because I love the story so much and didn't want it to end. I love our grouchy, snarky heroine, El (Galadriel). I love her friends and her beau, Orion, a boy who can't help but save people (it's like it's a compulsion).  And I was scared of what might happen, given what happened at the end of book 2.

In the first book, we learn about the maleficaria (mal), creatures created when someone uses their abilities to steal mana, to do something wrong. Mal are attracted to and like to eat magical creatures. Children are especially vulnerable to them. In an attempt to save lives, the magical world created the Scholomance, a sentient boarding school. There are no adults, only students. The Scholomance provides the materials and curricula. We quickly find out that the mal will somehow get into the school and eat the students (or eat other). The magical world keeps sending their children to the Scholomance because the survival rate for the children at the school is leaps and bounds better than for students outside the school (a 25% survival rate versus 5% survival rate). 

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (2020)

Linus Baker has been a Case Worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth (aka DICOMY) for 17 years. It’s his job to evaluate the government-sanctioned orphanages for magical children. He’s thorough, reliable, objective and reads the Rules and Regulations tome every chance he gets. You might think that this would make Linus an anal stick-in-the-mud who only cares about following the rules, but Linus isn't. He does his job because he genuinely believes in the mission of helping these children have nurturing environments to grow in.  Outside of work there’s only his cat, Calliope, and his LPs by the likes of the Big Bopper, Richie Valens and Buddy Holly. Also his annoying, nosy, gossiping neighbor who continually casting aspersions while simultaneously trying to fix Linus up with her nephew. (Not that Linus has ever said that he was gay.)

One day, Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management (EUM), much to his obnoxious boss's chagrin. The EUM give him curious (aka odd) and highly classified assignment: he is to travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage and evaluate the home and its manger, Arthur Parnassus. EUM doesn’t give him any more information. They just tell him to document everything, no matter how innocuous, so that they can make an informed decision regarding the orphanage. He only receives the  case files for the children and the caretaker when he exits the train to catch the ferry to the island. The first (and most important file according to EUM) is on 6-year Lucy, who just happens to be the Antichrist. (Linus faints when he reads this, even though he's never been that religious of a person, because... Antichrist.) 

Simmer Down by Sarah Smith (2020)

Reading the synopsis, I thought I would really like this book (I mean, it's a great cover!). She and her mother own a food truck. He and his brother encroach on their territory. Hijinks ensue. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations.

Like I mentioned in another romance review recently, maybe I've just grown past reading this type of story. It felt very New Adult. (Not that New Adult is bad. There's the struggles that someone in their 20s goes through -- hers are just a little more extreme than most since her father died. I'm just not in my 20s anymore.) The couple butt heads.

Honestly, their conflict felt a little forced, like they were enemies because the author wanted an enemies-to-lovers story, with the characters fighting because the author wants them to fight, rather than it being a natural evolution of events. The 'meet-cute head bump' felt really forced, with him being rude and her *way* over-reacting. It felt even more forced when compared to how he interacts with everyone else. His brother just lets it play out instead of stepping in, even though that seems like something he would do, because they need to fight right now.

Then, coinkydink of coinkydinks, they are seated next to each other, on the exact same plane ride to London. Talk about locking them in a room where they have to interact. And, lo and behold, once they talk, they like each other, begin sleeping together, and when they get back to the US, they secretly date.

Saved by the Alpha by Skye Wilson (2022)

Saved by the Alpha, 4.25/5

It’s not quite a 4.5. This is a good conclusion to the series. Ending did not feel rushed and there were some really great moments.

There were a lot of things that I appreciated about this third book. Stop reading if you don't want spoilers.

One. We finally have Eli telling his dad about the crap that Brock’s done. As I predicted, Nick was horrified and livid. I just wish that Nick would’ve given him a beat down.

Two. The love declaration moment was just so good. If I ever have a husband, this is the kind of relationship I want to have with him. What I mean by that is that there was mutual respect and admiration. He continually respected her boundaries and he always had a positive spin to what she did. That’s not to say that they didn’t argue, nor is that to say that he never called her out for some of her choices/actions (because he did). What I am saying is that he always had her back and gave her the benefit of the doubt.

Sun Crossed by Elizabeth Briggs (2022)

Before I begin my review, can I just say that I hate covers where the guy's pants hang low to emphasize how perfectly built he and his abs are? I mean, if this guy's pants dropped any lower, we'd be experiencing the Full Monty. It's one of the worst offenders I've come across in the romance genre. A 2-second glance and it's really obvious just how *low* those jeans are.  You can't help but look there. Everything leads the eye to look there: her hand angles toward it, the streaks that frame the couple arrow toward it instead of leading your eyes up the image, the U in SUN points *directly* at it. None of the other covers in the series are like this. I get that covers with bare-chested men indicate what type of book it is, but this is just ridiculous (and annoying).

It’s the end of Book Three, and we still haven’t beaten the Sun Witches. I really hope that the next book doesn’t drag out the conflict and then end with a really quick wrap up that feels completely unsatisfying. It normally wouldn't be as much of a concern for me, but there was a noticeable drop in quality for this third book. There were many times where I asked myself, "What is going on? The first two books were not like this. Were they and I just missed it? Am I just in a bad mood today, so it's all the more intolerable?” Instead of the book being escapist fun, I frequently felt frustrated, irritated, irked and a couple of times I was pissed off. Whether it was misogyny, people going against establish character, or just plain being inconsistent, it happened through most of the book and really took me out of the story. I thought it might be explained by author's stress due to Covid, but then I saw that the book was published in 2022. So, not Covid. Then the stuff just really bugged me. It wasn't enough to give up on the book or the series, but it was enough to pull me out of the story. I plan on completing the final book in The Lost Pack series. (There’s a fifth one - the start of the True Alphas series, with Stella and Jordan as faded mates. I think I’m looking forward to that one.)

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb (2002)

This book was well written. It had good world building and a unique magic system. It treats the reader as intelligent. But the series is not for me.

My life is stressful. I read to escape. I read to feel joy. This book did not produce joy for me. Instead it's a rather bleak tale of the illegitimate son of the king's heir who trains to be an assassin and who has the gift of communing with animals. It's a harsh, medieval world. He lives a hard life and after a while, it was just too bleak and dispiriting for me. I quit about 80% through.

Plenty of people love the series and I can see why. It's top-quality and has been well-received. It's a well developed world with 3D grey characters and it's complex enough that you don't know where the story is going. All those things are there for a quality reading experience, but it just became too much for me. It was negatively affecting my emotional health. And after reading a summary of the rest of the book, I have a good idea of how this first book in the 'Farseer Trilogy' ends, so I'm fine with not reading to the very last page. The synopses of the other 2 books look to be more of the same, so I will not be continuing in the series. You may not agree and I may have loved the series at a different point in my life, but I read it now and I'm not going to continue. Even though it's a DNF for me, I'm still rating it 4 stars, because it is well written and developed and if it had hit me differently, I'm confident that this would be my rating if I read to the very last page.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I wasn't a big fan of the audiobook narrator used. It made Fitz (the narrator, looking back and relating the tale of his life, rather than being the boy who's living those moments) really toffee-nosed/pretentious and it kept me from engaging. That disconnect kept me from liking Fitz (the boy) more.

A Summary of Moon Touched (2021) and Star Cursed (2021) by Elizabeth Briggs

I do actually read books other than paranormal/urban fantasy. 

Before I give my review of Sun Crossed, the third (of 4) books in the Zodiac Wolves series, I'm going to provide you with the highlights from the first 2 books. My main reason for making the review a separate post is because, while the first book was a little trope-y, it sucked me in and I stayed up way too late finishing the second book. I'm giving the first book a 3.5While it's not the end of the series, it's the end of the books centered on Ayla and Kaden. Ayla is our protagonist. Kaden is her love interest and Alpha. 

Ayla began her journey in Book One (Moon Touched) abused by her father and abandoned by her human mother. Even though she's the daughter of the Alpha, everyone in the Cancer pack abuses her (save her best friend, Mira, and her brother, Wesley). People use slurs like half-breed and beat her up for fun. She has to scrounge for leftovers and maybe clothes from Goodwill. The action commences when most of the pack travels to the Convergence. This is a meeting of all the Zodiac packs (there's 12), where any animosities are put aside for the duration of the gathering. It's overseen by the Sun Witches, benevolent guardians who bless them as children and guard them from Moon Madness, and who help anyone of age (22) to be freed from the impediment that prevents their shifting.