World's OKAYIST Artist

I ain't gonna lie, this one surprised me!

In the dark streets of Corma exists a book that writes itself, a book that some would kill for...

Black market courier Rowena Downshire is just trying to pay her mother’s freedom from debtor's prison when an unexpected delivery goes awry and she barely escapes from a nightmarish creature. The missing package leads her to The Alchemist, a mystery man who takes interest in Rowena's situation. What he discovers leads him to ask for help from the last man he wants to see—the former mercenary, Anselm Meteron.

Across town, Reverend Phillip Chalmers awakes in a cell, bloodied and bruised, forced to translate the stolen book by the same nightmarish creature. He soon realizes the book may be a fabled text written by the Creator Himself, tracking the nine human subjects of His Grand Experiment. In the wrong hands, it could mean the end of humanity...

The cover is what initially grabbed my attention and this didn't disappoint! This is a lush, steampunk dystopian world filled with political intrigue, flawed characters with their own agendas and a strange take on meta knowledge.

Did I fully grasp at the religious/meta knowledge, not quite.

Was this a bit heavy on the exposition and multiple POVs, yes.

It sort of made sense as to why there was so much shoved at you at once, but it still took some time to get used to. At first I kept thinking that we're switching POVs so much because these will be THE NINE, but then folks started dying so that theory took the L. The choice to do this kept me on my toes and kept me engaged long enough to grasp a better understanding of the core group even if it did take some time. The main three were fleshed out in a way that introduced the amount of layers without boring you with trivial backstories.

There is a lot of derelict beauty to this world that had me picturing visuals from ARCANE and the creatures were SO FUN. I loved their designs! Their motives made sense to a certain extent, however, I stumbled a bit when we started delving into how the themes and ideals of science and religion becoming one. I blamed user error because those are just not my strong suits. The story's core plot was still really enjoyable surrounding heists, murder, cover ups, skewed power balances and a daring climax. Rowena, The Alchemist and Anslem attempting to rescue Phillip and keep the book out of evil hands, super duper fun!

While this has a lot that could've used slight adjustments, a bit of world tightening and the prose (VERY purple, I'm talking deep violet like on the cover lol), I still really enjoyed this.

I set myself up for failure. I thought I'd enjoy this more than the Orc Prince trilogy, but alas.

TLDR; Kesst is not like other orcs, thinner, not quiet as powerful and often just there to satisfy other orc's lust. Eft is the new healer to the clan and many don't trust him, but his magic proves super useful. Kesst ends up in Eft's care and sparks fly, but Kesst is the orc leader's plaything, can their love find a way to thrive?

This is a side story to the author's main Orc romance series (a hetero romance) which was advertised as a standalone, but with an MM romance. Cool. I haven't read the original series, but I was kind of hoping for at least some supporting worldbuilding/stakes that would fill the reader in on what is/was happening in the main series. Nope. It's just a slutty side story about side characters.

I have NO problem with that at all. I quite enjoyed the lavish purple prose when it came to the actual sex even if it was very abstract at times. The magical fingering scene was out of left field, but honestly very fun. The audiobook narrator did a fantastic job as well!

What bothered me was the lack of awareness. It was a continous back and forth of "oh wait are we getting more worldbuilding and lore to help with the stakes" to "we're glossing over it to get to the sex", it didn't quite know what it wanted to be. Even for a novella, I was hoping for some character development that would make me want to root and care about this forbidden love during a time of war. Everything and everyone was created with a surface level depth with little to no explanation/follow up and that just bothered me. Especially since this is a duology, but the second book doesn't follow Kesst and Eft. I wanted more.

I think what bothered me the most was Kesst. I could see the author make MANY attempts at putting together some sort of story, but it came out as a really unlikeable and annoying main character. A bit much of the "woe is me, I'm just a whore and a size queen" for my taste. Side note, I felt like that whole aspect of his character was too much of caricature of someone who may use physical pleasure for survival, gratification/validation in response to their surroundings/trauma/upbringing, etc. To me, it wasn't handled well.

But again I went in with specific expectations, so my bad. The whole assassination plot and Eft's secret was kind of interesting and I will admit made an attempt at setting the stakes for character development and stake setting. I wanted more of that though.

Instant I Do could be Kris Zavala’s big break. She’s right on the cusp of really making it as an influencer, so a stint on reality TV is the perfect chance to elevate her brand. And $100,000 wouldn’t hurt, either. D’Vaughn Miller is just trying to break out of her shell. She’s sort of neglected to come out to her mom for years, so a big splashy fake wedding is just the excuse she needs. All they have to do is convince their friends and family they’re getting married in six weeks. But each week of the competition brings new challenges, and soon the prize money’s not the only thing at stake.

Another one that I slept on and I regret it! This was super enjoyable and reminded me of when I was reading The Brown Sisters by Talia Hibbert. A super funny and emotionally touching story full of laughter and love. The premise is rather simple, fake dating/marriage to win a contest with some lower stakes than I was expecting. Getting to watch Kris and D'Vaughn overcome their own character journies was definitely the highlight since they're coming from two different worlds, but immediately clicking and influencing the other.

Very insta-love which could've stretched out to explore deeper depths of development. Especially the ending, to me it was kind of an abrupt stop with such a fast resolution, made me wanting more.

That being said, I'm not going to hold the amount of fluff centered focus of the story against it. This sickenly sweet, storybook ending and happily ever after is the thing we need more of in diverse stories because they asolutely deserve them!

I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook too!

Ash--or Princess Adelisa--is the youngest child of the queen, recently returned to the city of Kestrel's Haven after spending six years on the other side of the country. Ash was hoping for a joyous reunion, but the court is full of nobles who openly mock and dismiss Ash, who uses a cane and needs braces to strengthen her joints. Splinter is the youngest child of one of Haven's most prominent families. She's set on becoming a knight just like her older brother. Even if everyone says she can't because she's not a boy. So what? She's not a girl, either. When they uncover a shadowy group of nobles plotting to overthrow the queen, they will show everyone how legends are born. Together.

There is a lot of weight in terms of what is touched on in this story and for the majority, I find that it is done really well! It isn't a checklist attempt to cram as many representations as possible, but rather a genuine and detailed recount of certain experiences that young readers can learn from. Ash's disability, Splinter's nonbinary identity, sexism, bullying and power imbalances. It all came together in a more character driven story with an added adventure subplot.

I was more of a fan of Splinter's chapters since we got a little more depth and opportunity to explore the challenges they faced. To me, their character voice was stronger and more engaging than Ash's. This is a trilogy, so hopefully we'll get more Ash in the next book!

On the adventure side, it was a little predictable (I am also 30yo and not the target demographic lol), but still fun! This family intrigue opens up a lot of possibilities for the trilogy that could be interesting to explore. Kingdoms at war, false heirs, espionage and double agents, it's a lot of fun that I think younger audiences would enjoy.

Gay Indiana Jones? Yes please!

Tennessee Russo’s father, a famous archaeologist and reality show celebrity whom he hasn’t seen in two years, shows up unexpectedly and offers to take him on an adventure, Tennessee only has a few choices:  1. Stay, mope after his ex and regret it forever. 2. Go, try to reconcile with Dad, become his sidekick again. 3. Go, but make it his adventure, and Dad will be the sidekick. The object of his father’s latest quest, the Rings of the Sacred Band of Thebes, is too enticing to say no to. But will his dad let Tennessee do the right thing with the rings if they find them? And what is the right thing? Who does queer history belong to?

Apart from being unapologetically queer, I adored the central idea surrounding museum culture when it comes to ancient history. Ten and his father always seem to disagree about who should get whatever artificats they discover: is it the person whose family is connected to it, is the country's government from where they find it, or is it whoever has the most money who can properly display/share it with the world. While we're all familiar with Indiana Jone's famous line "It belongs in a museum" which museum is the question. It was a really great introductory commentary for readers because as we know, colonialism is a very real problem when it comes to stealing from other cultures.

Now I am not a historian, so I can't comment on the historical accuracy of the Rings of the Sacred Band of Thebes or the army of gay men, but I think the ending was a decent compromise when it came to the ownership of the rings.

Ten and his father's overarching relationship healing arc was enjoyable and I felt that Ten was a well put together MC with a goal centered around identity and belonging. Even if he was technically still a white MC poking around other culturally historical sites. Leo (Lei-oh) was adorable, even if he was a bit flat in terms of dimention.

The actual adventure flowed strongly enough that it kept me engaged and curious about the trials that come with uncovering the rings. It was rather puzzle heavy as opposed to fighting off undead skeletons or running away from boulders. Just something to think about if you were hoping for something action packed.

Notorious troublemaker Rayleigh Mann has just discovered he's the son of the infamous Bogey Mann. There's just one problem: Bogey is missing and Rayleigh is the only one who can find him. But to do so, Rayleigh must travel to Bogey's world...Below London, where Rayleigh's penchant for tricks just might help him survive an adventure straight out of his wildest dreams--or perhaps his most terrifying nightmares.

There was a lot to enjoy about this story, however, I found myself struggling through a majority of it. Concept wise this is super fun! When I started, and I was doing the audiobook, I struggled to lock in and truly enjoy the ride. The narrator was fine, could've used some more distinction between our characters though and this does include a lot of terms/lingo that is native to the UK which added to further confusion from my own end.

The trials were a fantastic way to get to explore Below London with Rayleigh and visually there was a lot to enjoy. The writing style however came off as heavy handed in terms of explanations and exposition making less works for our MC which was a bit of a let down. Since this is part of a series (duology?) I think we could've left some things to be explored later in book two to avoid bogging down the reader.

Character-wise, I thought everyone was decent, I loved the Terror Tower crew even if I wished for some more memorability. There was also this mildly unsastisfactory conclusion that came once we got to meet/save Rayleigh's dad like it was too rushed so much so that it fought for the reader's attention against Rayleigh's trials. Again part of this was probably due to how monotoned I found the narrator's performance.

But what about BigFoot!?

It was all her idea. They would get away from their parents and spend the weekend camping. Down by Salvation Creek, the five of them would make smores, steal kisses, share secrets. But sometime around midnight, she vanished. Now the four friends who came back are under suspicion―and they each have a very different story to tell about what happened in the woods.

I wish I had more to say about this book because most people enjoy a good whodunit mystery. A classic setup, this sort of breakfast club style cast and the nontraditional storytelling style. It had all the components!

Sadly this fell really flat.

Spending time with each character during a police investigation was the highlight because we got some enjoyable character monologues that helped them sound real. However that couldn't carry the rest of the plot. At times it felt like the cast was just rambling, and there was this BigFoot subplot that became reptative, borderlining insufferable, because it was the buildup to nothing. Now Nolan's character, the cryptid obsessed shut-in, was well crafted despite being super annoying which I believe was the author's intention.

The actual resolution, while realistic and decent commentary on firearm safety, left me really unsatisified.