[Book Review] The Alpha’s Warlock

Title: The Alpha’s Warlock
Author: Eliot Grayson
Genre: paranormal romance; fantasy; shapeshifting; adventure; mystery
Synopsis: (from Goodreads) Cursed, mated, and in for the fight of their lives…

Warlock Nate Hawthorne just wants a cup of coffee. Is that too much to ask? Apparently. Because instead of precious caffeine, all he gets is cursed by a pack of werewolves who want to use him for his magic. Now the only way to fix the damage is a mate bond to a grumpy and oh-so-sexy alpha in the rival pack, who happens to hate him. This is so not how he wanted to start his day.

Ian Armitage never intended to take Nate as his mate. The Hawthorne family can’t be trusted. Ian knows that better than anyone. The fact that he’s lusted after the way-too-gorgeous man for years? Totally irrelevant. Ian’s just doing what is necessary to protect his pack. This whole mating arrangement has nothing to do with love and never will. That’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

Nate and Ian will have to work together if they have any hope of staving off the pack’s enemies and averting disaster. That’s assuming they can stop arguing (and keep their hands off each other) long enough to save the day…

The Alpha’s Warlock is an explicit M/M paranormal romance featuring a snarky warlock, a brooding alpha werewolf, knotting, enchanted socks (long story), and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Review: 4/5 stars

Content Warning: childhood-into-adult abuse by a parent; attempted rape (if I remember properly)

I loved the character weaving in this story. We start with Nate, the not-so-great warlock in this really horrible situation, and when he gets free, he finds himself with nowhere safe to go but to the werewolves. The way this story creates moments for the characters to develop is so well done. Nate and Ian definitely fulfill the enemies to lovers trope – with Ian being the broody, always angry one and Nate being the soft one in need of reassurance.

I did NOT mind those cliche roles in this story. Where in some cases that “omg I need someone to tell me I’m good enough” role is so annoying because that’s the extent of it, Grayson actually does something with Nate’s character. Nate’s balance of trauma and humor (sometimes as a mask for that trauma and sometimes just because his inner monologue is hilarious) is refreshing. He’s not all “save me” and he isn’t all “I can do this on my own” either.

Ian’s “hate that I love you” is obnoxious at times, but only because it’s not in Ian’s point of view. That’s the idea, I guess, but I hate it at times.

Overall, the story was GOOD. It was a good mystery / adventure. It was funny, it was silly, it was loving, and it was healing. Sometimes wild, but so good.

[Book Review] Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

Title: Lost in the Never Woods
Author: Aiden Thomas
Genre: YA; fantasy; retellings; mystery; thriller; fiction; fairy tale
Synopsis: [from Goodreads]

It’s been five years since Wendy and her two brothers went missing in the woods, but when the town’s children start to disappear, the questions surrounding her brothers’ mysterious circumstances are brought back into light. Attempting to flee her past, Wendy almost runs over an unconscious boy lying in the middle of the road, and gets pulled into the mystery haunting the town.

Peter, a boy she thought lived only in her stories, claims that if they don’t do something, the missing children will meet the same fate as her brothers. In order to find them and rescue the missing kids, Wendy must confront what’s waiting for her in the woods.

Review: 5 Stars

This was one of the coolest fairy tale retellings I’ve read in a long time. It reminded me a lot of The Hazel Wood, in that it wasn’t just a happy go lucky retelling with a fun loving character on a journey everything turns out fine.

This is told from the perspective of Wendy and it is not all fun and games and Neverland hijinks. The way Thomas tells and creates this narrative is both gripping and heart warming.

I love the depth to Wendy and Peter for sure, but all of the little interactions with the side characters too. In the hospital’s children ward where the children all want to be the shark, getting to know Jordan’s boyfriend, learning the effects of trauma on the family through their shared interactions. It’s so well written… but honestly I would expect nothing less from the author of Cemetery Boys.

Read this if you loved the original, read this if you loved Hook. It’s spooky, it’s mysteries, and I couldn’t put it down.

Internment Review

Title: Internment
Author: Samira Ahmed
Genre: contemporary; ya; science fiction; dystopian
Synopsis: Rebellions are built on hope.
Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.
With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp’s Director and his guards.
Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today.

Review: 5 Stars. Internment was exactly as described. Chilling. It was haunting and hard to read, and yet, I couldn’t put it down. I was transfixed by Layla’s horrible reality in our too-close future. Ahmed writes that it’s fifteen minutes into the future of America and it did indeed feel that way.

My heart was in my throat as I turned each page, hoping for a decent ending for the people in Mobius. Not a happy ending, because there could be no happy ending for this book, I knew that for certain.

This book was HARD. I hated every single thing this book made me witness. Every single horror I had to be complicit in, almost. You know? Like… it made me think about what I would do after the 2020 census, if things played out like they did in the book. It makes me wonder if I’m doing enough now. People are literally in cages at the border right now.

Samira Ahmed wrote this book in response to the 2018 refugees being taken from their children (see Author’s Note). Layla and her family were in a liberal town, in a liberal state, and her neighbors, her friends, they just let them get captured and taken and stamped with a permanent barcode, and put in an internment camp.

Where there are unspeakable horrors and atrocities, there is Hope. Layla and the people of Mobius do the unthinkable in the face of the unknown, because the fear helps them focus on the end goal. Her bravery and her endless faith was inspirational.

This is the type of book that makes you think about what side of history you need to be on. It reminded me of The Hate U Give (see my review for that one HERE), of Night by Elie Wiesel.

It was painful and hard, but necessary to read it. It wasn’t my usual book, but I needed to read it, especially right now. Ahmed’s use of timely political rhetoric, unfortunate and unpresidential rhetoric, and current events makes this book a must read in this day and age.

The Author’s Note is something I want to make copies of and read with all of my classes. Often I tell my classes that if we don’t read our history, we are doomed to repeat it. Ahmed writes that we look back to our history to use its rhetoric for instances like this.

As hard, horrifying, and raw as Internment was to read… it was worth it. I would recommend this book to everyone.

Spotlight: Policy of Truth

Synopsis: (from Amazon) Five years ago, Tamra “Durty” Simon’s life was falling apart, and she had a one-way ticket to six-feet under. And if it hadn’t been for the Death’s Angels Motorcycle Club swooping in, dusting her off, and transforming her into the badass biker she is today, she’d be taking a dirt nap. Now, she has everything she ever wanted–or so she thought.

Brett “Sting” Jackson is on a mission, and nothing is going to stop him–not even the sexy, enticing female biker who makes him hard with a single look. Too bad he’s lying and keeping secrets from her. But the alternative could get her killed, and that’s not a risk he’s willing to take.

It took Sting crashing into her life to make Durty realize there’s something else in this world she wants to ride as hard as her bike–too bad fate has other plans for them. When a rival club makes a move against the Angels, all hell breaks loose. Lives will be lost, secrets will be revealed, and lies will be exposed. Because in the motorcycle world, lies may get you hurt, but the truth can get you killed.

Available on February 22, 2019

Don’t want to wait? Check out a Rafflecopter giveaway for Policy of Truth.

You can connect with author, Scarlett Holloway, via social media here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascarlettssong/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScarlettsSong

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thescarlettholloway/

Don’t miss the last stop on the Blog Tour:

The Little Stranger

Image result for the little stranger book Title: The Little Stranger
Author: Sarah Waters
Genre: Mystery; Gothic
Synopsis: (from Goodreads) The Little Stranger follows the strange adventures of Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. One dusty postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his.

Review: I compared this book to Wuthering Heights for a class assignment and was surprised by how well written this book was. It’s got a dash of paranormal, a smidgen of mystery, a heaping spoonful of haunted, and a small bit of romance. If you’re interested in a haunted house and a bit of an annoying lead, this book is for you.

Following Dr. Faraday, the reader is allowed access to the Ayres family estate which has seen better days. His narration made me roll my eyes a bit while reading. He’s a grown adult, but stunted by the events of his past, he acts like a whiny child while around the Ayres. He is constantly trying to measure up to the grandeur of their name (or at least what their name used to be) and finds himself falling short all the time. Meanwhile, the Ayres family is going THROUGH some ish. There’s a supernatural element to the house that can’t be explained, an energy that is toxic. This energy leads to a building tension and later, a series of unfortunate events.

If gothic fiction is your thing, I think you’ll enjoy this one.