Category Archives: books/book review

I fell through a portal and into a gargoyles arms

Book Review: I Fell Through A Portal And Into A Gargoyles Arms, by Dana Isaly

Always on the lookout for authors whose surnames start with ‘I’ for my yearly Author Alphabet Challenge, I picked up a freebie copy of Dana Isaly‘s I Fell Through A Portal And Into A Gargoyles Arms from Amazon.

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After getting laid off from my job, all I want to do is go home, put on a Halloween movie, and take a hot bath to soak away my troubles.

But things take a turn as soon as my head sinks below the water.

When I come back up for air and open my eyes, I’m not in my bathtub anymore—I’m in the arms of a very large, very gray, very masculine man.

Turns out, he’s a gargoyle, and I’m no longer in my world.

Thoren says I’m his mate, that he’s waited for me for his entire life. And there’s no denying this pull between us. But I’m determined to figure out a way to get back home.

There’s just one problem, the bond is growing stronger every day. When he’s away, there’s a heaviness in my chest. And when he’s near, my body aches for him.

Leaving him may be harder than I originally thought.

my review

I Fell Through A Portal And Into A Gargoyles Arms Dana IsalyI have read one other book by this author, which was a dark romance that I did not like at all. I chose not to continue the series, even though I owned all of it. (That’s not an easy thing for me to do.) However, I decided to give her another try with something completely different. This is a largely plotless, fluffy fantasy romance. I thought it was sweet and entertaining. There’s not a lot to it. The title tells you all of it, really. But he is a giant cinnamon roll that falls first, and she has enough backbone not to feel limp in the circumstances. If you want to read something mildly spicy just for the feels, this one will fit the bill.


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Book Review: Sweet Abandon, by Sarah Urquhart

I picked up a copy of Sarah Urquhart‘s Sweet Abandon as an Amazon freebie a few years back.

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Baker Bonnie Boone has had too many bikers dip their fingers in her butter cream. She’s done with them, but when a hot as hell biker rides into town, he slowly melts the single life she thought she wanted.

Easton Young, uncomfortable as a bear shifter in the city, hit the road in search of more of his own kind. His plans are delayed the moment he walks into Firebrook’s local bakery and smells his mate. Denying her will only cause them both pain.

She drops her guard, and he sees a home in her heart. But neither are willing to let go of their carefully laid plans, leaving their love in the dust, in sweet abandon.

my review

This was sweet, and I liked that he fell first and he was growly but not a controlling alpha-hole. However, I did find him insufferable for much of the book, thinking he could have his mate without having to actually give anything up while she was expected to accept whatever scraps he tossed her way. (Of course, he wasn’t thinking of it that way. But…) Meanwhile, she was obsessively holding on to a hurt and refusing to allow herself happiness in a manner that barely made sense and certainly showed no adult emotional intelligence. They did both eventually grow past it all, though.

The real problem for me was that the whole thing was just ridiculously contrived. All the tension and conflict in the book could have been solved with a single conversation, which made it a little hard to feel deeply invested. Plus, despite being book a prequel to a new series, the Firebrook Bears series, it is pretty obviously a spinoff of something else.

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Book Review: In the Shadow of the Fall, by Tobi Ogundiran

I won a copy of Tobi Ogundiran‘s novella In the Shadow of the Fall.

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Ashâke is an acolyte in the temple of Ifa, yearning for the day she is made a priest and sent out into the world to serve the orisha. But of all the acolytes, she is the only one the orisha refuse to speak to. For years she has watched from the sidelines as peer after peer passes her by and ascends to full priesthood.

Desperate, Ashâke attempts to summon and trap an orisha―any orisha. Instead, she experiences a vision so terrible it draws the attention of a powerful enemy sect and thrusts Ashâke into the center of a centuries-old war that will shatter the very foundations of her world.

my review

I enjoyed this. Honestly, I’ve enjoyed just about everything I’ve read coming out of Tor recently. This little book packs a lot into its few pages with an engaging world, interestingly flawed main character, entertaining mystery, and an unfortunate cliffhanger. I’ll be looking for that next book, though.

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#BookReview: In the Shadow of the Fall by Tobi Ogundiran