Geek Life™

The Last Contract of Isako is a difficult novel for me to rate. It has so many things I love—a strong heroine in her later years, a male character who wields cunning more effectively than his triggersheath, and incredibly interesting world building. Unfortunately, that same world building that I found so fascinating was also, well, depressing.    “To Serve is to Live. To live is to die.”   It’s…

Despite being someone who grew up happily reading Meg Cabot’s Mediator and The Princess Diaries series, I realized I hadn’t read any of her books for adults. I stumbled across The Magic We Made,a romantic novel involving witches on NetGalley, and decided there was no time like the present. Like all of Cabot’s books, The Magic We Made has her distinctive blend of humor, quirkiness, and…

Whenever I see another entry in Kristy Boyce’s “Gaming and Romance,” I don’t need to roll for initiative—I’m reading it. I have been hooked on this series since the very first one, Dungeons and Drama. So I was really excited to see what kind of new Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) romance Boyce had cooked up, as all of them effortlessly capture the unique charm of  the game and the people who enjoy it.…

In my advanced age, I’ve come to prefer friends-to-lovers over enemies-to-lovers. I’ve found the latter to be a trope that’s nearly impossible to execute well, often rushing past the trust and transformation that make these romances truly satisfying. But every now and then, a truly—shall we say—irresistible premise comes along, and I wade back into the genre. The Irresistible Urge to Fall For…

The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam tries very hard to make its demi-god main character, Rosie, likeable and relatable, but it falls woefully short with its six foot five beauty. Though Rosie is supposed to be every bit as fiery as her red hair and eyes, I just found her to be rather flat. I wanted to like her, I really did, but the biggest conflict in her life can be boiled down to the fact that…

Blood for the Undying Throne is the sequel to one of my favorite books of last year, Blood of the Old Kings. That first novel in The Bleeding Empire series featured one of the most unique magic systems I’ve encountered in a fantasy book in years, where the corpses of sorcerers are used as power generators. Blood for the Undying Throne expands on that idea, exploring the events that led to this…

Every gamer has that one hill they’re willing to die on—the game everyone else slept on, hated, or dismissed—but you’ll defend until the end of time. For me, that list of games I’m ready to defend is…kind of long. Over the years, I’ve fallen hard for games that either launched to mixed reviews, got overshadowed by bigger titles, or just didn’t get the respect they deserved.   Some of these games…

  We’ve all been there—the dreaded reading slump. That dark time when your TBR pile glares at you accusingly, asking, “Why can’t you just sit down and read?” Or worse, “Why can’t you even finish a single book?”  Sometimes the cure is as simple as picking up something fast-paced and irresistible (or, let’s be honest, adding another book to the pile). These ten science fiction and fantasy picks…

The Jasad Crown is the sequel to The Jasad Heir and the final book in the Scorched Throne duology, which comes to a stunning close. I was so excited for this release that I reread the previous entry, one of the most successful portrayals of enemies-to-lovers I’ve ever read, so that it would be fresh in my mind. Because I held The Jasad Heir in such high regard (I think I enjoyed my reread even…

Behooved is a grown horse girl’s dream come true in novel form. The story follows Bianca Lilliana as she journeys to a neighboring country to wed their heir to the throne, Aric. This marriage will secure an alliance between their two nations. Bianca and Aric immediately get off on the wrong foot, which soon magically becomes a hoof—at least in Aric’s case—when an assassination attempt gone wrong…

  This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is a Summer Freebie—pick any topic that fits under the summery sun. And while the calendar insists it’s June, someone clearly forgot to tell the weather. It doesn’t feel like summer yet… and honestly, I don’t feel much like summer yet either. Lately, motivation has been in short supply. So instead of fast-paced adventures or epic quests, I’ve been craving…

  This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is all about animal companions—real or fantastical. Naturally, I had to veer into the fantasy realm, so I’m sharing fantasy novels with animal companions. Here are some of my favorite magical sidekicks: enchanted horses, gods of white lies, otter-like creatures that mysteriously sprout antlers, sarcastic unicorns, and (of course) dragons. They’re not ranked by…

Well, the author who single-handedly made me like science fiction has done it again with The Two Lies of Faven Sythe. The second I saw that Megan E. O’Keefe had written another book, I had to read it as soon as humanly possible. And it did not disappoint, like all of O’Keefe’s works, The Two Lies of Faven Sythe features spectacular and creative world-building, loveable characters, and a thrilling…