Ariella Moon

The Beltane Escape manages to seamlessly blend together a bit of magic, a bit of myth, and a whole lot of historical fiction. Although I'm not generally a fan of most historical fiction, if you throw in just enough magic to make it a Fantasy novel I'll gladly snatch it up! I'm happy to say that Ariella Moon succeeded at doing just that.

When I first opened this book, and found myself in the middle of a fight between The Lady of the Lake and Merlin, I knew this would be something I'd be interested in. In fact, had it been a story solely about those two, I would have been thrilled. I was soon introduced to Lady Fenella though, the protagonist of this book, and I slowly warmed up to her. A young heiress to a massive thanedom, Lady Fenella's life has never really been her own. I felt for her, and was eager to learn more about her.

Which actually brings me to the fact that Ariella Moon does an excellent job of slowly building her characters. Instead of throwing all the information out at once, I grew to know Fenella better over the course of the book. I saw her strength right out of the gate, but the more I read the more I saw what a complex person she was. It was the same with all the characters, in fact. The fact that there were no infodumps felt nice. It allowed me to get lost in the story.

In terms of plot, that's where this book and I had a bit of a falling out. The story itself is well-paced, regarding both pacing and characterization. However it never felt as exciting as I felt it should. I wanted more tension, more excitement. Once the Fairy Folk came into play, things picked up a lot. Still, the writing never really grabbed me. I felt like someone looking in, rather than being an actual part of the story.

I can forgive all of that though, because the ending was fabulous. I love endings that aren't necessarily a cliffhanger, but more of an elipsis. Endings that aren't frustrating, but actually leave you excited for more. Lady Fenella has my attention! I'd follow her further down the rabbit hole for sure.… (mais)

So, I have been really digging anthologies lately! I love getting short stories I can dive into and finish in one sitting and I love getting a peek into authors I might not have heard of or read before. In this case, those authors I have never read before were ALL of them except Liliana Hart and Tara Wyatt. Yep, I have never read J. Kenner or Christina Lauren. So, here is a perfect way for me to get a taste of LOTS of great new-to-me romance authors! Yay!

All the stories have 1 thing in common: second chances! So, if this trope is your JAM you will love this. There are historical stories, teenage drama stories, romantic suspense stories, PNR, and contemporary stories so whatever genre you prefer, you can find a second chance story that works for you!

Obviously, I am not going to give you my thoughts on all the stories, because no one has that kind of time. So, here are my top picks with a nugget of why I enjoyed them:

• Fortune's Treasure by Liliana Hart: Bad break up and history!!


• One Hot Mess by Tina Ferraro: high school love and hijinks!


• Scandalous by Cassandra Dean: ruined reputations and a rogue who is sorry!

And I was thrilled to get a glimpse into the worlds of Christina Lauren and J. Kenner! Having never read them before, I enjoyed getting a peek at their style and characters!

Second Chances has literally something for everyone and its short stories are perfect for quick reads while you wait at the doctors office (I read one while waiting for my ENT), on the subway, at your kids games, etc!



Any of these authors, or other second chance stories like Wrecked by Cynthia Eden, Its Me Again, Baby by Katie Reus ...then you will probably like Second Chances!

 


Second Chances


 

See full review on The Book Disciple… (mais)

**I received a copy of this book from Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest voluntary review. All opinions are my own and not influenced by my source.**

Ariella Moon has done a great job of weaving classic Arthurian elements and her own imaginings into this novella. It's a really interesting blend of fantasy elements at play and I loved learning more as I read.

I think fans of classic fantasy novels will love the world we get here. It's very complex and rich and completely captivates you.

While the focus is mostly on Viviane and her role in the world, we get introduced to quite a few players and that just makes everything a little fuller and more complex. I like stories that have a lot going on; that have multiple storylines and characters involved and this one has it. I found this to be a very strong story and for its novella length, it reads more like a full novel.

You can definitely read this novel without reading The Beltane Escape. It does a great job of tying the two together to get readers up to speed. It is noted on Ariella's site she does recommend reading this novella after The Beltane Escape. My problem was that I didn't know there was a Book 1 so I was a little confused during the prologue what was happening as I unaware we've been introduced to this world before.

Check out more spoiler-free book and series reviews on my blog SERIESousBookReviews.com as well as read book series recaps!

Full Review: https://wp.me/p7hLUw-2ts
Actual Rating: 3/5… (mais)

4 STARS

Spell for Sophia has some new scarier bad guys, new characters, time travel, romance and some old characters are back. It is also a clean read, lots of drama, action, paranormal and spell book roll into a story you can't wait to see where it takes you next.

Sophia Perez-Hidalgo parents kidnapped her from foster care. She was excited to see them for breakfast and then things went way wrong. Now she is on the run from her parents and their drug dealer. It is not safe to go back. She lives in the bayou of Louisiana with a voodoo priestess teaching herself from Breaux school books.

Shiloh Breaux Martine now a college student in CA has come back on school break because he feels Sophia needs him. Same time his grand-mere dies and the drug dealers show up.

Ainslie finally knows Sophia is alive. She is determined to find her best friend. She meets up with Evie and her friends to see if they can find more clues from the spell book. She risks a lot to brave these kids who might know her history of breaking down.

The teens all have problems some bigger than others, all trying to fit in and cope with high school and life.

I have enjoyed reading all four books of the Teen Wytche Saga this week. I would read another book by Ariella Moon again.… (mais)