Goldilox and the Three Weres

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Release Day Review: Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha

Deal with the Devil
(Mercenary Librarians #1)
Kit Rocha
Release: July 28, 2020
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Orphan Black meets the post-apocalyptic Avengers in the vein of Ilona Andrews’ Hidden Legacy series by USA Today and New York Times bestselling author duo Kit Rocha

The United States went belly up 45 years ago when our power grid was wiped out. Too few live in well-protected isolation while the rest of us scrape by on the margins. The only thing that matters is survival. By any means. At any cost.

Nina is an information broker with a mission: to bring hope to the darkest corners of Atlanta. She and her team of mercenary librarians use their knowledge to help those in need. But altruism doesn’t pay the bills—raiding vaults and collecting sensitive data is where the real money is.

Knox is a bitter, battle-weary supersoldier who leads the Silver Devils, an elite strike squad that chose to go AWOL rather than slaughter innocents. Before the Devils leave town for good, they need a biochem hacker to stabilize the experimental implants that grant their superhuman abilities.

The problem? Their hacker’s been kidnapped. And the ransom for her return is Nina. Knox has the perfect bait for a perfect trap: a lost Library of Congress server. The data could set Nina and her team up for years...

If they live that long.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Review:
You know that moment when you first start reading a book and know immediately that it's going to be your jam? That was me with Deal with the Devil. I was immediately entranced with the world and enamored with the characters. I didn't want to put it down for a second and once I finished it I wanted to start at the first again because it was that good. I've been trying to write this review for a bit and I'm having a hard time getting my thoughts out in a way that's not me screaming "GO READ THIS BOOK NOW!". So I'm going to do something different with this review. I'm going to tell you the five reasons why you should read this book.

1. This book is the found family trope on steroids. For each of our main characters, Knox and Nina, their teams are their family and they are protective of them. Watching the two teams come together and interact was fun and made me laugh out loud on several occasions. I would liken them to the post-apocalyptic version of The Brady Bunch with the two families becoming an integrated unit. I loved the banter between the groups and I can't wait to see what I think are going to be romances in the coming books come together.

2. I am a sucker for badassery and this book has it in spades. Knox and his crew are super soldiers who went AWOL and Nina's girls aren't anything close to damsels in distress. I quickly fell in love with all the characters in this book! I loved how competent and confident Nina, Maya, and Dani are! I loved learning bits and pieces of everyone's backstory and I am hungry for more. I want to know why Conall is the tech genius and how Rafe became so charming and I just want to know more about Gray period. I also want to know about Maya and Dani's abilities and I want to see them all get happily ever afters.

3. I feel like this probably doesn't need to be said but MERCENARY LIBRARIANS. This book is about mercenary librarians who are cataloguing and sharing all the knowledge they get the hands on with their community and the world. It was amazing! But it also read like a post-apocalyptic Indiana Jones and I never knew I needed that in my life. This point should be number one and should be the only reason you need to go get your hands on a copy of this book. It made my Evelyn Carnahan and Rick O'Connell loving heart so happy!

4. The worldbuilding in this was amazing! It was super soldier sci-fi at its best! It was gritty and foreign yet familiar all at the same time. It also gave me the same vibes as the worlds in Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels and Hidden Legacy series and it deserves the comparison. It was glorious! I read one review that said that Kit Rocha's dystopian erotic romances take place in the same world and I'm tempted to try picking them up again just to read more books set in it.

Another thing I appreciated about the world building was the quiet queerness of this book. One of the members of Knox's crew is into guys and it was treated as normal in this world. Nina comes across as either bisexual or pansexual (it's not obviously stated) and I'm here for it. I need more books like this in my life where queerness is an accepted and integral part to the world without focusing on having to come out or deal with homophobia.

5. The romance! Not only this book a high octane adventure, it is a road trip romance and I loved every second of it! It was hot and sweet with an edge of infuriating. I was rooting for Knox and Nina to come together but I also wanted to slap Knox upside the head more than once. I won't say much about why because spoilers but I was kept on the edge of my seat with all the will they or won't they? This book also has what looks like the start of a couple other romances and I am here for each and every one of them.

There are more than five reasons why you should read this story. I could go on and on about the plot and the curveballs it threw and how it kept me guessing and made me gasp when we first meet the big bad but those five are the ones I'm going to stick with for now. Overall, I can't recommend this book enough! It had everything I loved rolled into one story that you'd think that Kit Rocha downloaded all my book crack preferences straight from my brain. I loved this book so much that it has easily made it onto my favorite books of the year list so far. I need the sequel in my life yesterday so the year wait till August 2021 might kill me. I'm just going to have to make sure to reread this a few more times before then to make the wait more bearable, I guess.

ARC provided by the Publisher via Netgalley

5 / 5 Stars

Book #33: Soldier Street- Read a Romantic Suspense Where the H/H is in an Action Pose on the Cover

Recommended for fans of:
Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews
Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
Blood of the Wicked by Karina Cooper
Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik

Monday, July 27, 2020

Review: Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

Boyfriend Material
Alexis Hall
Release: July 7, 2020
Goodreads Amazon

Wanted:
One (fake) boyfriend
Practically perfect in every way

Luc O'Donnell is tangentially--and reluctantly--famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he's never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad's making a comeback, Luc's back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything.

To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship...and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He's a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he's never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.

But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that's when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don't ever want to let them go.

Review: I don't remember when I first heard about this book but I remember some of the early reviews raving about it and several said it was perfect for fans of Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. You all know how much I love RWRB so I immediately went and requested the ARC on Netgalley. This book is the perfect summer read! It's funny and lighthearted and made me squeal with happiness in parts.

I’m not normally a fan of the fake dating trope but I enjoyed the heck out of it in this book. Actually, the whole plot of this book revolved around the whole "we're in a fake relationship but it's becoming real" thing and them progressing from frenemies-to-lovers. It was kind of sweet and I loved the messy and kind of neurotic characters. Luc and Oliver are each a respective mess. Oliver just doesn't look like he is on the outside. They each have a bit of emotional baggage and trauma from some toxic relationships. I loved how their relationship progressed and became real! They were really kind of perfect for each other. The character development for both MCs was pretty awesome. I'm a sucker for the whole opposites attract trope and Luc and Oliver are definitely opposites.

I loved the romance in this book but I think I loved all of the quirky side characters just as much! Luc's friend group was weird and wonderful! Oliver's was a bit more kooky but equally as awesome as Luc's. Luc's mother and her best friend made me laugh so hard. Come for the sweet queer romance and stay for all the secondary characters.

As much as I enjoyed this book, it fell just shy of being a five star read for me. The pacing felt a bit wonky for me. I think my biggest critique I have of this book is that with the amount of time on developing Luc and Oliver's "fake" relationship to real, I wish we had gotten more of Luc and Oliver being together together for real and not just together in their “fake” relationship. It could have had another 50 or so pages for that and the pacing would have evened out a bit. There was also this one part in the second half that totally came out of left field and didn't make sense to me. Those two things were why this was only a four star read for me.

I will say this book has a lot of Briticisms in it that won't make sense to a lot of people here in America. The only reason I got a lot of them was because I worked in a lab where everyone except me was from the UK. I found the ones I didn't know easy to google though.

Overall, this book is a perfect book for summer and would easily fit most peoples' definition of a beach read. I highly recommend it!

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.

4 / 5 Stars

Book #32- Summer- Read a Book with a Brightly or Multi-Colored Cover

Recommended for fans of:
Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Meet Cute Club by Jack Harmon

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

We Love Lists: Christmas in July

Most years Christmas in July in an excuse to shop for discounted holiday home decor, but in 2020 it feels more like a chance to escape our bleak reality for some fluffy romance and snow-covered shenanigans. And even though "Hanukkah in July" sounds kinda strange, we're up for celebrating all the winter holidays.

Want to celebrate with us? Here are some of our favorite winter holiday reads:

Rocky Mountain Cowboy Christmas by Katie Ruggle
It’s refreshing to read about snow covered mountains in the middle of summer. Plus this book had me smiling throughout with cute kids and pets and its introverted artist heroine. The hero, firefighter Steve, appears in several of Ruggle's other books and finally gets his HEA.

Mangoes & Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera
This novella is a Great British Bake Off inspired love story and it's f/f! It was sweet and smutty and made me so hungry I went out and bought a couple pastries at my local bakery. It's so good!

The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish
I may have a thing about holiday romances that feature baked goods. This book reads like what I imagine a love story written by Maggie Stiefvater would be like. It's quirky and adorable and made me crave challah bread like nobody's business. I loved that both Christmas and Hanukkah are celebrated by the main characters! Corbin and Alex are everything!

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Holiday in Death by JD Robb
Maybe you're not so much in the mood for fluffy holiday romance. How about a Serial Killer Santa? I've been binging the In Death series this month, but I think you could pick this one up without being caught up.

Lucky Town by Morgan Brice
This book is a holiday romance, but you need to read the first book in the series before picking it up. I loved seeing Vic and Simon celebrate the holidays together! Simon has to decide if meeting Vic's parents is scarier than taking on a supernatural entity and I really loved it!

In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish
Okay. This book might be cheating but the last part of the book takes place around Christmas and Hanukkah and the holidays play a big part in the ending. In the Middle of Somewhere is one of my all-time favorite queer contemporary romances and the build up to the holiday season in the book is worth the wait to read the Christmas scenes.

Home for the Holidays by Jeaniene Frost
You all know we love the Night Huntress books around here so you know a novella featuring Cat and Bones and holiday shenanigans would totally make the list! We also get some quality Ian content in this one which makes it excellent!

What are your favorite holiday-themed books?

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Thursday, July 16, 2020

Short Novella Reviews: Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders and In the Vanishers' Palace

Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murders
(Dominion of the Fallen #3.5)
Aliette de Bodard
Release: July 7, 2020
Goodreads Amazon

From the author of the critically acclaimed Dominion of the Fallen trilogy comes a tale of dragons, and Fallen angels—and also kissing, sarcasm and stabbing.

Lunar New Year should be a time for familial reunions, ancestor worship, and consumption of an unhealthy amount of candied fruit.

But when dragon prince Thuan brings home his brooding and ruthless husband Asmodeus for the New Year, they find not interminable family gatherings, but a corpse outside their quarters. Asmodeus is thrilled by the murder investigation; Thuan, who gets dragged into the political plotting he’d sworn off when he left, is less enthusiastic.

It’ll take all of Asmodeus’s skill with knives, and all of Thuan’s diplomacy, to navigate this one—as well as the troubled waters of their own relationship….

A sparkling standalone book set in a world of dark intrigue.

A Note on Chronology
Spinning off from the Dominion of the Fallen series, which features political intrigue in Gothic devastated Paris, this book stands alone, but chronologically follows The House of Sundering Flames. It’s High Gothic meets C-drama in a Vietnamese inspired world—perfect for fans of The Untamed, KJ Charles, and Roshani Chokshi’s The Gilded Wolves.

Review:
I enjoyed the heck out of this novella! I'm going to be honest. I haven't read the series that this novella belongs to but I was assured that it could standalone. And while I think it did a good job of that, I feel like I could have appreciated it more if I'd read the original series. I still loved it a lot though!

I found the worldbuilding and characters in this to be intriguing! It was nice reading a story set around an established married couple especially since their dynamic can be summed up as the murder husband and the bookish one. Want to take a guess about who saves the day?

The mystery was intriguing and filled with murder which I'm kind of here for. I immediately went and bought the first book of the trilogy after finishing this novella because I have an unholy need to learn more about this world as well as Asmodeus and Thuan and House Hawthorn. This story just upended my reading plans and I'm not even mad about it.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.

4 / 5 Stars

In the Vanishers' Palace

Aliette de Bodard

Release: October 16, 2018

Goodreads Amazon

In a ruined, devastated world, where the earth is poisoned and beings of nightmares roam the land...

A woman, betrayed, terrified, sold into indenture to pay her village's debts and struggling to survive in a spirit world.

A dragon, among the last of her kind, cold and aloof but desperately trying to make a difference.

When failed scholar Yên is sold to Vu Côn, one of the last dragons walking the earth, she expects to be tortured or killed for Vu Côn's amusement.

But Vu Côn, it turns out, has a use for Yên: she needs a scholar to tutor her two unruly children. She takes Yên back to her home, a vast, vertiginous palace-prison where every door can lead to death. Vu Côn seems stern and unbending, but as the days pass Yên comes to see her kinder and caring side. She finds herself dangerously attracted to the dragon who is her master and jailer. In the end, Yên will have to decide where her own happiness lies—and whether it will survive the revelation of Vu Côn’s dark, unspeakable secrets...

Review: I’m always here for a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Make it a queer version of the story and I’m definitely going to read it.

This one turned the fairy tale on its head a bit but the bare bones were there under the story. Plus the beast is a dragon and a woman! The worldbuilding is intriguing and dark and the "Beast's castle" is a setting full of WTFery. I loved that this was a f/f romance! But the romance was just a small portion of the story and features characters who identify as bi, lesbian, and nonbinary and are characters of color. This novella explored what means to be family and had an awesome mother and child dynamics on multiple fronts.

Also, the writing is beautiful and adds so much to the atmosphere of the book. I’m slowly making my way through all of Aliette de Bodard’s work and all of it has been fantastic so far! This is my favorite story of hers so far though.

4 / 5 Stars

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

This Month's Most Anticipated: July 2020

Just like last month, a lot of things that were supposed to be released in July have been delayed until later in the year so this list will be a little smaller than normal. But here are our Most Anticipated July Releases:

Book Releases

July 7