Autumn Unlocked (Summer Unplugged, #2) by Amy Sparling Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my review of Summer Unplugged on my blog now!

Bayleigh and Jace... oh how I (somewhat) remember your very interesting love story on a farm? Rural town? Bayleigh was banished to stay with her grandparents -- without her cell phone in hand -- after some not-so-wise decisions, which ultimately led to her romance with Jace. I went into this sequel with the hope that Bayleigh gained some critical thinking skills, and to my surprise, she is a touch more reasonable compared to her antics in Summer Unplugged.

With the school year gearing up to begin, Bayleigh is slightly insecure in her relationship with Jace -- he is experiencing an entirely different world compared to her beginning senior year of high school, and the time away from him after spending all summer is taking a toll on her. She certainly has enough time to have her phone confiscated by a teacher and land herself in detention approximately two minutes after gaining phone privileges back, but I would not expect anything less.

Jealousy is running ramped within Bayleigh, and every single time she sees Jace interact with a girl or friend a girl on Facebook, her mind goes to the worst case scenario, which essentially creates a ton of unnecessary drama between them. Most of the "arguments" that Jace and Bayleigh get into are resolved quickly, and honestly I was happy to see both of them using some common sense -- Jace definitely excels in that department compared to Bayleigh.

It was nice to see some additional side characters in this book, and Bayleigh certainly needed some guiding voices to keep her jealousy at bay. Jace continues to be a respectful boyfriend, and has a level of maturity I would not expect to come from a young adult lead. Bayleigh's mother was more involved this time around, and their dynamic has had a drastic improvement, considering in the first book she had Bayleigh sent to stay with her grandparents.

This sequel is a definitive improvement to the first installment, especially with Bayleigh's characterization. Keeping in mind that she is a teenager and has had poor luck with guys, I will give her some grace in the way that she acts, but here is to hoping that she has even more development as the series continues. I am definitely inclined to continue with this series when I have some free time, and they make excellent reads if you are looking for something to get you back into the reading groove.

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Fear and Desire by Sophie Kisker Review

This is a spoiler-free review! This book contains graphic material - please look up the trigger warnings before reading.

I have not read an undercover crime book in what feels like years, and luckily enough I was downloading books like no tomorrow at the last Stuff Your Kindle Day. Fear and Desire kept popping up in my recommendations based on my past reads, and needing a quick read, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to put it to the test.

This is not a causal read, and certainly not for dark romance beginners -- I would argue it is approaching Haunting Adeline to be quite honest, and I would only suggest this book to readers who are comfortable reading this genre at length. I genuinely think that I have read everything under the sun -- there was nothing in this book that I have not come across before, but the author certainly goes into extensive detail when it comes to dark themes.

Laura is in an incredibly horrifying and insane situation -- her reasoning has gone out the door after she is taken to be sold at an auction. An auction that her best friend Dan has been working undercover for two years to take down traffickers, and with Laura now being used to test his loyalty, they both need to do things neither ever thought they would be forced to do. I did find myself yelling at her a lot -- she has more information regarding the situation she is in compared to the other girls, but I feared that she would ruin everything that Dan has worked towards nearly every other page.

I enjoyed getting multiple perspectives in this book -- seeing more than only Dan and Laura's thoughts definitely added another layer to this heavy situation, and Josh's perspective were somehow adding a lightness in between intense chapters. Claire's chapters really laid into the despair and hopelessness that the girls were experiencing, whereas Laura has so much more knowledge on what is happening around them.

Around two thirds into the story is where the plot really lays into the seriousness of the situation everyone is in, especially regarding making sure Laura and the rest of the women end up safe. There are a lot more people in play compared to the beginning of the story, and with a decent amount of perspective changes, the author is able to give readers a pretty good sense of what is happening on all fronts.

The progression of Laura's state of mind as the story goes on was handled very well, and even in such an extreme situation, she had a shred of hope to hang on to and as much as a support system as she could get from Claire and Dan. Chapters in Dan's perspective really allowed the reader to understand all sides of the story, and to be able to see how Dan was personally handling what Laura had to go through, essentially at his own hands, added to the depth of the book and their character development.

For fans of Shantel Tessier's L.O.R.D.S. series and Debt Inheritance by Pepper Winters, this dark romance stand alone is not for the light-hearted. If you are looking for something dark, gritty, and taboo, this is the book for you.

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It's Not Summer Without You (Summer, #2) by Jenny Han Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my review of The Summer I Turned Pretty on my blog now!

I decided to dabble in the world of audiobooks, and with It's Not Summer Without You being only six hours long, I figured now was as good a time as any to test out this format. From the very first chapter, Belly is going on and on about her love for Conrad and how much she thinks about him. It is so incredibly obvious that Belly clearly likes one brother more than the other, and despite what all of these Jeremiah girls say, I will be a Conrad defender until the day I die.

Once again I want to preface this review by noting that I have seen both seasons of The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon Prime, so there were a few plot points in this book was a surprise to me. There are definitely a decent amount of changes comparing the book to the television series. A lot of chapters in this book were essentially Belly describing a number of parties that she and Taylor attended, and it became repetitive pretty fast.

While the flashback chapters were a nice reminder of the memories Belly and everyone has of the summer house, most of the stories were lowkey describing moments where Belly was getting in trouble or Jeremiah and Conrad were being yelled at by their annoying dad who seemed to care more about a blender than his own children.

Suffering through the Jeremiah perspective chapters... I feel like I have been held hostage. His chapters truly felt as though he was giving an exact play by play of even single interaction he had -- I could not feel the emotion behind his thoughts. For the majority of his chapters, he was throwing himself a pity party because every single time he looked at Belly, she was looking at Conrad, and vice versa. Jeremiah is so focused on the fact that Belly and Conrad are totally not over one another that he is completely blind to the fact that he will always be second place to his brother.

Belly is immature to say the least, and her constant whining about Conrad (though I would be crying over him too) was incredibly annoying. She was basically judging everyone's decisions in this book and did not see any issues with herself, always painting herself in the right. When she argues with a number of characters, she somehow always ends up as the victim and is angry with anyone who tries to make her see straight. I understand that she was going through a lot, but she definitely needs to have some more compassion for other characters.

There really was not too much side character involvement in this book compared to the first one -- we see Belly's mom and Mr. Fisher, and Taylor through a few interactions and phone calls, but it truly centers around Belly and to my dismay, Jeremiah. Belly's chapters are the majority perspective, with Jeremiah's making a few guest appearances throughout this installment. I do wish there was more of an ensemble feel to the story -- I found myself missing Steven, and as annoying as she was, it would have been nice to see Taylor more often if she got her attitude in check.

This series still holds true to me that it reads on the younger side of young adult -- Belly is definitely growing and learning to understand her feelings, but she continues to make me agitated when it comes to her decision making. Also, why do they not have cell phones? These books were definitely published when teenagers had cell phones, so the constant Conrad calling Belly on the house phone was not my favorite detail.

The weather has been getting nicer and now that flowers are starting to bloom, this was a great choice to get me into the spring and summer spirit. Overall, the general message of the story is prominent and the reader certainly does not forget why all of these characters are acting out of their normal personalities, and hopefully character growth is upon them all for the final book. Even with the qualms I have with the characters, this series is quick to move through and while this installment is certainly a little darker than the first, it has that nice summer feel to it that makes you want to go on a walk.

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The Lost Sisters (The Folk of the Air, #1.5) by Holly Black Review

This review contains minor spoilers if you have not read The Cruel Prince - no major plot points are revealed. You can read reviews for The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, and The Queen of Nothing on my blog now!

As many of my reader friends know, I am Taryn's Number One Hater and will be until the end of time. I will never forgive her for what she did to Jude, and while I understand that there are two sides to every story and she was a teenager, I cannot bring myself to even begin to come to terms with her reasoning. Nevertheless, it was high time I made my way through the novellas before embarking on The Stolen Heir.

Let me say this... Taryn is living in delulu land right from the start of this novella. Every other page I was reminding myself that she is a teenager and that teenagers do not always make the right choices, but my word, she sure knows how to make wrong choice after wrong choice like it is a competition. She definitely should have clocked the Locke situation from the bat -- it was painfully obvious when I was reading The Cruel Prince, and arguably even more clear in this novella.

Every single time Locke would speak to Taryn, the red flag lights were going off in my head. It was actually somewhat infuriating to see Taryn essentially walk through everything that she and Locke did, and still not understand until the very end that she should not have done these things to her own sister. Obviously, Locke is definitely deserving of some blame, as he was the root of the issues, so I will give Taryn just a drop of understanding, but never forgiveness.

The writing choice to make this a letter/explanation to Jude was something that I did enjoy -- it was weird to read in this perspective, as it is something that I tend to avoid. However, once you reorient yourself and put yourself in Jude's shoes, it makes the novella's flow and structure easier to adapt to after about ten pages.

I would certainly recommend reading The Lost Sisters to get a deeper dive into one of the many betrayal's in The Cruel Prince. It sheds a light on Taryn's decisions and the manipulation Locke spun throughout the first installment.

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The Moonfire Bride (Of Candlelight and Shadows, #1) by Sylvia Mercedes Review

This is a spoiler-free review! The Moonfire Bride is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.

Back on the fantasy grind to start out the month and my past Stuff Your Kindle Day downloads have once again provided me an exciting Persephone and Hades retelling romantasy to dive into. Valera has managed to get herself into quite the predicament, and to be completely honest, it sounds like a treat compared to how her life was going. I am a major marriage of convenience trope supporter, and this is hitting the spot on so many levels.

Erolas is giving major Phantom of the Opera vibes with this whole "cannot see my face" and I loved every second -- he is mysterious beyond words and yet has such a charm to him that from the very page of his introduction, you are drawn to him. Personally, and just hear me out, if I was told I had to spend a year and one day living in a palace to a fae lord and the only rule was to not see his face, I would be doing cartwheels across the room and having the time of my life. 

Their dynamic certainly takes it time, with cordial acknowledgements before Valera begins to open up to Erolas. On the other hand, Erolas is very open with information -- as long as it is not about the curse -- and is trying to make her year and one day as comfortable as possible. Throughout the story, we see the back-and-forth between the two, considerably more so from Valera as she fights against a growing attraction to Erolas. One could argue that her curiosity about him grew to something more, and she does not understand her feelings.

Knowing that Valera is only eighteen and essentially her sister's caregiver, I can certainly understand her anger at being taken away as a fae lord's wife, especially with how their father treats them and the money they earn. However, I will say that in terms of "who has it worse," I am going to side with the man who is literally cursed - shocking! This may be an inconvenience to Valera, but to Erolas, he has spent centuries living in a world that does not seem to be in his favor. I definitely think she matured throughout this book and will certainly grow more in the final installment, but I would like to give her the benefit of the doubt given her situation.

Brielle, Valera's younger sister, is basically Valera's responsibility, as their father is downright abusive and does not take care of either of his children. However, Brielle is certainly the more adventurous one when it comes to the sisters, which certainly causes a few issues along the way. With Valera being so concerned for her sister's wellbeing, she puts her own to the side, ultimately landing her as the promised wife to the fae lord.

The gang of side characters really tied together the environment of the story -- so often we see fantasy books gloss over magical creatures, so it was refreshing to see goblins and other creatures come into play. I absolutely loved the "shadow" aspect of this series, with characters presenting as shadows to other humans and creatures. It added a layer of mystery around the abilities the fae possess, as well as created a defining characteristic for this story.

For fans of The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, this first installment of a fae duology will certainly transport you to a new world. If you are looking for a new fantasy adventure that follows a retelling of Hades and Persephone, The Moonfire Bride will surely make an impression.

You can add The Moonfire Bride on Goodreads now, and follow the author to stay up to date on releases and publications.

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