#2016 read

Duels and Deception Review: Pistols At Dawn! Or What About A Duel of Wit?

If you’re looking for an adorable book with quirky and lovable characters, a fun mystery, a sweet and slow-burning romance, and witty dialogue that is guaranteed to make you crack up in laughter, look no further. Anstey’s YA regency provides all of that and more, delighting this reader from the first page to last. Although I really liked Love, Lives and Spiesby this same author, I fell in love…

Hunted Review: Beauty and the Beast Meets Russian Folklore

A girl dissatisfied with her life in a provincial town; a mysterious being stuck in a hidden castle; a merchant who has lost everything; a hunter wielding a battleaxe to save her father.

One of these is not like the other.

Meagan Spooner takes the timeless tale of Beauty of the Beastand weaves a fantastical tale where the hunter can become the hunted, and things are not what they seem. She adds…

The Beast Is An Animal Review: Plot Twist – The Beast Is Actually In Us

This book reads like a folktale, has a cover that is as beautiful as its writing, and has stuck with me long after reading it. Originally I thought The Beast is an Animalwas a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but I was very wrong. It has to do more with delving into your soul to determine who the real beast is. While the pacing was rather slow (especially for me, who likes things *snap* *snap…

The Wish Granter Review: This Book Will Satisfy Your Wish For A Fun Fantasy!

While I thoroughly enjoyed the first book to this series of interconnected books, The Shadow Queen, I adored this one even more! You don’t see many retellings of Rumpelstiltskin, and Redwine really adds great dimension and twists to the characters and plot, making for an exciting read despite the familiar story. I’ve been loving this series, and really can’t wait to see what the author has in…

Wintersong Review: Cold Title, Yet Spicy Hot Between the Pages

Travel to the Underground in this magical, lyrical retelling of The Labyrinth. This was one of my biggest anticipated reads for this winter, so I was absolutely ecstatic when I got my hands on it. The cover and blurb drew me to it like a moth to flame – because come on, who would let go of a steamy Labyrinthretelling? I can’t wait for readers to get ahold of this one because everything – from the…

REVIEW: THE ARRANGEMENT BY MARY BALOGH

(The Survivors Club, #2)

Genre: Historical Romance (Regency)

Cover Blurb:

Desperate to escape his mother’s matchmaking, Vincent Hunt, Viscount Darleigh, flees to a remote country village. But even there, another marital trap is sprung. So when Miss Sophia Fry’s intervention on his behalf finds her unceremoniously booted from her guardian’s home, Vincent is compelled to act. He may have been…

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW – THE PLAYER BY STELLA RILEY, NARRATED BY ALEX WYNDHAM

(Rockliffe, #3)

Genre: Historical Romance (Georgian)

Cover Blurb:

Tragedy drove him into unwilling exile. Death demands his reluctant return.

In the decade between, he has answered to many names and amassed a variety of secrets.

Now the actor known to Paris as L’Inconnumust resume his real identity and become Francis Adrian Sinclair Devereux, Earl of Sarre … a man he no longer knows how to be…

Aila’s Top 10 Books of 2016

Hello all! I’m here in the last week of December 2016 to celebrate my top 10 books of the year. Like always, I kept these choices to either stand-alones or firsts in series. I always feel awkward picking a book in the middle of the series. At heart, these posts show my faves but also are recommendations, and I have a tough time recommending series conclusions if I can’t even get someone to read…