“Always expect an arrow to the face, Z.” Zinnia is a princess by day and The Ghost – a fae bounty hunter – by night. Her list of people who can be trusted is short, but her reflexes are sharp. She’s cunning, she’s fierce, and she is about to learn that the rules to the world aren’t exactly what she thought they were. “I have to keep people at a distance, hold my tongue…and play the part of the future queen perfectly, even though I’d rather pull all the feathers out of my big black wings than stand on tradition, ignoring all the problems in our nation as if they don’t exist simply because it isn’t my place to do anything about them yet.” Duality is both a blessing and a curse – a freedom and a binding – and it’s a major theme and moving force throughout this amazing start to a new series from Cilla Raven. “Until a fae girl is married, her words will have no bearing.” As if my mind doesn’t work until I’ve had a cuff placed on my left wrist and a pretentious royal fae dick inside me… There’s a whole lot of social…
Despite the darkness of its title, Desolation is a truly delightful and well-rounded debut novel from R.L. Caulder. Though the book touches on a variety of difficult (and potentially triggering) topics, Caulder handles those subjects with just the right touch of deftness, skill, and a healthy dose of levity that makes Desolation un-put-downable. “Oh shit! Sober up, Lana! Sober up! You’re talking to a Goddess!” Our heroine, Lana, is – in a word – dramatic. A spitfire. She’s a wear-your-heart-on-your-sleeve kind of girl, and if she’s feeling strongly about something, everyone in the vicinity is going to know about it. She’s not always entirely relatable (who is?), but when she is, LORD IS SHE! I mean, who hasn’t found themselves drunk in a bathtub trying their best to act sober while speaking to a goddess? At her core, Lana is spunky, determined, fiercely loyal, and has a SERIOUS coffee addiction – and I think most of us can identify with at least some of those qualities. Even in moments when I found myself struggling to relate to aspects of her personality, the humor that Calder infuses into her reactions was just the push I needed to connect again. “A hand…