Airk Azdajah, the rightful King of the White Clan of dragon shifters, spent half a millennium being tortured by the false High King Pytheios. The only reason he’s alive is a the man who kills Airk will be consumed in his own fire. So Airk was kept alive—barely—and unable to shift in his prison cage, driving the creature half of him into madness. Airk escaped, but he’ll never be truly free. Because what good is a king who can never let his feral dragon loose, never fly, and never lead his people?

Angelika Amon is the last unmated phoenix. The problem? She has no powers. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Angelika hates being dormant, especially now that her three sisters are blissfully mated to powerful dragon shifter kings and are very much part of the fight to take down the rotting king Pytheios. What good is a completely powerless phoenix in a battle to save the dragon kingdom?

Desperate to find some way to help, she offers herself to Airk as a mate—just for political leverage. Now a dormant phoenix is mated to a dragon who can’t shift. But the balance of power is about to change when Pytheios decides to claim Angelika for himself…

My thoughts…

Have you ever read a romance where you DIDN’T root for the MMC?

That was me with this book. Airk was held in a dungeon and tortured for over 500 years. I get that he thinks he’s super dangerous and no good for Angelica. However, I could not stand his back and forth with her. His whole “I won’t mate you, but screw any male that thinks they are good enough for you” attitude, and his wishy-washy with doing the deed with her, only to run off on her was beyond frustrating. I was so over him that I REALLY wanted her to mate with the berserker we meet in this story. He’s a little bit dangerous, but also mature and a leader of the wolf shifters. He would have made a great alliance, but nooooo Angelica had to keep pining away, giving chances to, and going to bed with Airk only for him to run off and claim he would never mate her. Gah! I honestly was so over him and his insecurities. Angelica deserved so much better.

It didn’t help that it took me until the halfway point to actually start to get into this story. Mainly because of Airk’s character. I just found him to be insufferable, and was tired of dealing with their feelings for each other. I wanted to get into the nitty gritty of the story. I mean, this rando overthrew the dragon high king over 500 years ago, killed everyone in charge, imprisoned one of their kids, and has caused nothing but destruction and chaos since that day. This was the finale to the series, this was the big moment for everyone. I wanted the story to focus more on the rebellion and the good guys trying to rally together to take out the bad guy, not “will he, or won’t he” on the whole mating thing.

I really enjoyed the previous books in this series. I thought the dynamics and the overall story arc was great. However, this one missed the mark for me, which is sad since it’s the final book in the series.

Previous reviews from Inferno Rising
The Rogue King
The Blood King
The Warrior King

This post is linked to Sunday Post, Staking the Shelves, Sunday Salon, and #IMWAYR

As I predicted, it’s been a very active summer. We’ve already had 3 typhoons head our way since June 1st, with another heading our way this weekend. The incoming typhoon was listed as a Cat 5 level typhoon. So this week will be spent watching the weather, and preparing the house. Needless to say, due to the high temperature and humidity, the choppy waters, and the constant vigilance of what’s developing out in the ocean, we haven’t done much of anything this summer. We already had one trip cut short when we tried to travel right before typhoon season started, only to have a typhoon arrive on opening day. So, this summer may be less fun in the sun, and more indoors with a book. Not that I’m complaining. After taking a few years off due to school, I have enjoyed catching up on all the books I’ve been wanting to read.

This month I took a break from going through my TBR on Goodreads. I read The Cursed King and Kamisama Kiss, but that was about it. I was starting to get burnt out because the books were just not bangers for me. I can’t say it was because I wasn’t in the mood for them, because I was. I just had a hard time with the characters, the writing style, or sometimes the story as a whole, and in the end it left me wanting more. So, instead of completely burning out and needing a break from reading all together, I decided to shift my focus to my summer reading challenge, catching up on my book club reading, and took a walk through the library and snatched up a few books that caught my eye. Oh and I also signed up for a couple of ARC’s that I’m excited to read. So, thankfully, I was able to divert myself away from a reading slump.

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Fighting for love, honor, and freedom on the galaxy’s lawless outer rim…

When Earth space marine Harper Adams finds herself abducted by alien slavers off a space station, her life turns into a battle for survival. Dumped into an arena on a desert planet on the outer rim, she finds herself face to face with a big, tattooed alien gladiator…the champion of the Kor Magna Arena.

A former prince abandoned to the arena as a teen, Raiden Tiago has long ago earned his freedom. Now he rules the arena, but he doesn’t fight for the glory, but instead for his own dark purpose—revenge against the Thraxian aliens who destroyed his planet. Then his existence is rocked by one small, fierce female fighter from an unknown planet called Earth.

Harper is determined to find a way home, but when she spots her best friend in the arena—a slave of the evil Thraxian aliens—she’ll do anything to save her friend…even join forces with the tough, alpha male who sets her body on fire. But as Harper and Raiden step foot onto the blood-soaked sands of the arena, Harper worries that Raiden has his own dangerous agenda…

My thoughts…

This was a new take on aliens that I’ve never read before. Usually it’s some sort of breeding program because females are rare on their planet. But rather than that typical story line, this story focuses on an arena where creatures throughout the galaxy fight for entertainment purposes. Romance isn’t something sought after in this story, it’s just something that happens due to proximity.

One thing that I liked about this story is that there isn’t a lot of back and forth with Harper. She’s a strong female character who is dead set on getting back to earth, but once she realizes that that just isn’t possible in her lifetime, she accepts it and changes her focus to being a gladiator in the arena and helping the other life forms who may have been illegally trafficked. The fact that she didn’t constantly battle against her fate, or the people around her was a nice change of pace, and allowed the story to flow at a good pace.

I will say that I felt like the romance moved a bit too quickly for the amount of time she was there. With that said, we are talking about intergalactic gladiators, so sometimes you just need to let go of normal expectations and enjoy the ride.

Three rules keep a memory thief alive.

Rule #1: Don’t touch skin.
Rule #2: Don’t look too long.
Rule #3: Don’t let them see what you really are.

Tonight, I’m breaking all three.

Kira Shadowmere is the best memory thief in Vespera — a city where memories are bottled, sold, and savored like wine, and the people they’re stolen from are left to rot. One touch, one pull, thirty seconds: she can lift the worst night of your life right out of your head. The Guild pays in silver. Her conscience pays in everything else.

But memory thieves don’t live past twenty-four. Tomorrow is her birthday.

One last job should buy her way out. Instead, it binds her — soul-deep, unbreakable, fatal — to Lysander Winterbourne: the last son of a slaughtered house, the lord who executes thieves like her, and the only person in the world whose presence quiets the curse that’s been drowning her since she was three years old.

She should run. He should kill her. Neither of them does the smart thing.

Now the Guild’s master wants her caged, a power no Null should have is waking in her blood, and the deeper Kira digs, the clearer the truth becomes: she isn’t the only memory thief in this story. Someone has been inside her head. Someone has been editing. And what they took will cost her the only family she has left.

My thoughts…

I was so excited to dive into this book. It sounded new and fresh, and I was all about this adventure with a memory thief. However, this book just didn’t work for me.

At first I thought it was just that I was not used to the author’s writing style, or maybe just needed more time to connect with the characters. As time went on, and I was 3/4 of the way through the book and still struggling, I knew it was time to put the book down. It was just words to me. There were times where I was able to picture scenes, but then I would have a hard time holding onto that image as I read. I think a lot of it stemmed from the writing. There was a lot of repetitiveness throughout the book. We would be given a feeling, thought, or even dialog, and a line or two later, we would get the same thing again, but maybe with one word changed. This happened quite a bit and it really took me out of the story. I am also not sure what happened with the scene between Kira and Gideon. Her name is Kira. The synopsis tells us that, and all the characters in the book call her that. Yet, when she goes to see Gideon, he calls her Kirstie, and there’s no explanation of it. No, “he’s losing his memory of me”, “he always called me Kirstie as a way to hide my identity”, or any other way to tie in the fact that her pseudo father figure is calling her some random name.

I love the idea of this story. I see the world that the author tried to create and it’s rich and deep. There are a lot of players in this story, and they are not all just black and white. There’s a complexity to them that molds their actions. I feel like if this went through a good editing and scrub down it would shine and be right up there with the big fantasy romances.

First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince.

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

My thoughts…

This was a cute romance between the first son of the US and the Prince of Wales.  Nothing groundbreaking, but a nice palette cleanser.

A lot of this story deals with politics as Alex’s mom gears up for re-election. Things like navigating the press, creating stories to direct the narrative, and just the overall pressures of always being watched were present in this story. However, the author does a great job adding in things that are not just campaign rooms or briefs. We got moments of weekend fun, trips, and visits between Henry and Alex while they try to keep their relationship under-wraps.

This story is told in Alex’s POV. So we don’t get too much intel on how things are going for Henry during all of this. I will say, the third-person narrative was jarring for me. I kept forgetting who Alex was, and I really didn’t like the fact that his mom was listed as her given name. I do much better with stories when they are in first-person since I’m able to better connect with what’s going on through their eyes.

I did find that the story dragged at times, with all the email exchanges. Pages and pages of emails between the two as they quote books. I get that it was there to build a connection with the readers, but I was just bored out of my mind. It was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. I wanted to see them interact. I wanted to see them navigate this new change in their life. I didn’t want to read an entire chapter dedicated to emails.

This story started out strong, but did have some hiccups for me both with the writing style and with the overall flow of the story.

Two rival reapers. A century of overdue souls. Revelations sure to crumble foundations.

Raven Gunn blamed herself and the cheat she used on her last job for her team’s assignment to the cursed reaping. Her father even packed the tool responsible for the cheat in her travel bag, silently suggesting the need, while reminding her not to trust her designated coreaper, Chace Badden. A hundred years of accumulated reapings, a prohibited reaper-tool, her born rival tasked as her partner… What could go wrong? She definitely wouldn’t allow Chace’s good looks to compromise her focus. Not. One. Bit.

Chace Badden suspected family connections were to blame for his team’s assignment, and he trusted nothing about the current reaping task. Especially not the Fae bastard showering Raven with unnecessary attention. That pr*ck needed to go. Raven was his coreaper and the pretty boy held no claim. Of course, the same could be said for Chace given Raven was his coreaper and his rival, professionalism and distance needed to remain steady between them.

But as more complications arise and old ones intensify, will Chace and Raven’s rivalry cloud emotions, hinder task success, and pave the road for, not only failure but, something far more concerning than mortal danger? Because the overwhelming number of unreaped souls is turning out to be the least of their worries.

Excerpt…

Meet The Author

Award winning and USA Today Bestselling Author Debra Kristi writes addicting young adult fantasy, urban fantasy, and paranormal adventures. Born and raised a Southern California girl, she still resides in the sunny state with her husband, two kids, and several rescue cats.

Unlike many of the characters in the stories she writes, Debra is not immortal, and her only superpower is letting the dishes and laundry pile up. When not busy drumming away at the keyboard spinning new tales, Debra is hanging out creating priceless memories with her family, geeking out to science fiction and fantasy television, and tossing around movie quotes.

Debra Kristi’s books are published by Ghost Girl Publishing LLC.

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Giveaway

eBook copy of Reaper’s Quest + an e-ARC of book 2 Blitz

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today I’m going through my TBR and listing some of the books that I’m most interested in reading, that were written by author’s I’ve never read before. A lot of these books are by debut authors or authors who are indie-published and may not be big household names…. yet.

Eoin Grant hasn’t encountered a female of his race in decades, and this crazy person’s scent declares her unmated. Fate set her in his path, and he won’t let this opportunity slip through his claws. No matter how wary she is of him. After all, how many chances does a dragon have at finding love? But fate can be a crueler mistress than his perfect mate. Of all things, she thinks she’s human.

Business is taking off for Angie Weldon. She put her freakishly sharp nails to good use when she opened her back-scratching spa in downtown New Porter City. The local shifter community pounced on her skills and she’s knee-deep in shed fur. By the end of the year, if lucky, she could afford to move out of her crappy apartment.

Dollar signs flash before Angie’s eyes when a dark, brooding stranger books her solid for a week but she notices the possessive fury in his glare. She’s been around enough shifters to know the look, and she won’t go down that road again. Angie is literally swept off her feet by the intense shifter and he wants more from her than she’s willing to give. She figures it’s best to avoid eye contact and back away slowly. Until he changes her life by insisting she’s a dragon.

My thoughts…

This sounded like such an amazing story. It had dragon shifters, were-shifters, vampires, and a dragon shifter that was raised to think she was human. This should have checked all my boxes, but it just missed the mark for me.

It could have been the timeline. This book takes place in a matter of days… not even a week passes before these two are in love with each other and ready to mate for life. Mind you, Angie has thought she was a human her entire life. So, the fact that she is in love so quickly with a guy she just meets threw me off. I get that she IS a dragon shifter deep down, but she should not be having this immediate urge to mate. Especially when she felt like the werewolf she had been dating was pushing her past her comfort zone with how quickly he was moving and how possessive he was being. As if Eoin (dragon) wasn’t 10x worse.

I honestly wish there was a bit more meat to the story. It just felt like a typical “independent female” who fights hard to hold the mega alpha male at bay, but randomly gives in. Don’t even get me started on the side characters that pop up for really no real reason. Maybe as a foreshadow to them getting their own HEA? Either way, this was a bit too light for me and left me wishing there was more to the story.

I thought my fated mate would cherish me. Mine kills me in cold blood.

After a decade of bullying me, the Alpha Heir discovers I’m his predestined mate. But just because he rejects me in front of the whole pack doesn’t mean he’s going to let me go.

When I flee my fated mate, he gives chase. The Alpha Heir would sooner murder me than let me live out of his reach.

Only death isn’t the end for me. The afterlife is a bit more fiery than I pictured, but that’s fine. I’m used to fighting to survive, and literal Hell just might be a step up from what I’ve been dealing with.

Even if that means facing off against minotaurs and murderous mermaids.

Even if, when I find refuge in a seemingly abandoned castle, I find the most dangerous creature in the underworld.

The good news: He agrees to train me, so I’ll never be left weak and at the mercy of another.

The bad news: His training methods involve a variety of unconventional methods, such as infiltrating my dreams and pinning me beneath him when we spar.

The worst news: He’s never going to let me leave his castle.

My thoughts…

I love a good shifter romance, so when I saw that this one mixed shifters with Greek mythology, consider me intrigued.

Since Avery is considered the weakest of her pack, she’s bullied and ostracized on a daily basis. Her hope is that when it’s time for her to go into the mating ritual, she will find a mate that is outside of her pack. However, that’s not what happens and soon she finds herself waking up in hell… literal hell. Now, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. When it comes to hell, so many author’s have their own interpretations of it, and sometimes the complete chaos of it all is hard for me to follow. However, with this story, hell is pretty much just a realm of supernatural creatures that would sooner kill you than invite you over for dinner. So, I was able to wrap my head around where Avery was since it wasn’t all that different from other supernatural books that I have read. With that said, a very small portion of the book, and I mean very small, actually covers the realm. The majority of the story takes place in a castle where Avery trains with another wolf shifter to become stronger.

I do have to admit that I skimmed a bit of the book. I’m not sure what it was about the writing style, but I just was not interested to be in Avery’s head. I was more drawn to the actual scenes than her inner monologue. She seemed rather fixated on Cole’s body and I found it odd given that she’s a shifter, and being naked is second nature to them due to shifting. I get that she was the outcast, but it’s still part of her upbringing and culture. So, the shyness seemed random and like the author was putting that on her.

I honestly thought I was going to like this book a lot more. When it first started I was really into it. However, as the story progressed, I found myself getting a bit bored at the repetitiveness of Avery ogling Cole, Cole being ornery with innuendoes, and them training with Avery ending up all hot and bothered. I wish there was a bit more grit of the afterlife in this one, and maybe that comes later in the series, but I don’t think I will be signing up to read the next book in the series.

When my stepmother sold me at auction, I thought I’d experienced the cruelest fate. I was wrong.

Because now I belong to the Iron King, a fae with a heart as cold and unyielding as the cursed iron that encases it. To keep his throne, he needs a queen–his fated mate. And I’m supposed to use my ability to protect him, to see through deception… by posing as one of his potential brides.

Assuming I can survive.

The Iron King’s Bridal Trials are a glittering nightmare of cutthroat fae and deadly secrets. His kingdom is on the brink of rebellion, and every fae lady is willing to kill for the crown.

But when the clock strikes midnight during my first dance with the Iron King, everything changes. Because maybe, just maybe the man I loathe might also become the man I love…if two hearts can break a curse of glass and iron.

My thoughts…

I hate comparing books, but this reminded me a LOT of The Selection but with a fae twist. I honestly didn’t see much of “Cinderella” in here other than having a father who dies, a step-mother who is not as nurturing as everyone thinks towards her late-husband’s offspring, and the rags to riches story. Other than that, she is cast out of her family home, sold in a auction, put in service at the palace to keep the king of the Midnight Court safe, all while under the disguise of being a contestant in the trials to become the king’s bride. So, I would say this is probably less of a Cinderella retelling and more of a “What if everyone from The Selection weren’t human, but fae instead?” kind of story.

I did enjoy the world the author built. I liked the the dynamics of the Midnight Court, the main characters, some of the side characters, and the trials. There was a lot going on in this story. Alette is kind of the outcast and has a target on her back the majority of the time when it comes to the other contestants. So, not only is she navigating the other women who would gladly stab her in the back… literally, but she also has to survive the trials which can be deadly on their own. On top of that, she’s magic bound to use her rare ability to see through glamours and ensure the King’s safety, without anyone knowing she has this ability, including the King. 

This book is a dual POV told both in the King’s POV and Alette’s. So we see her going through the trials and navigating everything, but also get behind-the-scenes of what it’s like for the King to have to rule a kingdom he doesn’t want, while putting on this front for the masses while he hosts this competition for their new queen. Honestly, I kind of felt bad for the guy. Now, I didn’t know this was part of a series, and it’s evident that we a missing a few key things. The author does a good job in filling you in, but I still felt like I was missing a few pieces of the King and who he was leading up to this point. Like he was a predominant character in the previous story. I suppose, in the end, we were in the same boat as Alette when it came to knowing his backstory.

I did find this story to be enjoyable. I liked the magical elements, the slow-building romance, the competitions, and just the overall feel of this book.