Category Archives: books/book review

Book Review: Of Blades and Shadows, by Belle Manuel

I won a paperback copy of Of Blades and Shadows, by Belle Manuel, in a giveaway over on Instagram.

After sixteen years of living under the thumb of a brutal slaver, Arayna Gamon is given the chance to be a part of an elite group of assassins—Soul Stealers. Serving only the Dark Throne, Arayna must learn how to use her burgeoning magic to ferry souls to the Underworld. But when an ancient being demands she pay a price, Arayna must decide where to place her loyalties.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I thought it had interesting characters doing interesting things in an interesting world. On the other, nothing even resembling an over-arching plot emergence until about page 350, and then everyone decides to deal with the issue later, and it was basically dropped again. So, in essence, this is a book of interesting people in an interesting world, running around doing and reacting to random things that don’t seem to really tie into anything or tie together in any meaningful manner.

Further, as much as I liked a lot of things about the book, not least of which is the way Manuel challenged a lot of fated mates tropes and accepted behaviors. I often couldn’t quite follow what was happening or the leaps that characters took. Plus, Arayna basically emerged from slavery and challenged everyone and everything that crossed her path, even when they were significantly stronger and more experienced. While I was probably supposed to read this as strong and independent, it came off as brutish and all but suicidal—more like she couldn’t control herself than that she had a point to make.

Having said that, I’d read another. I didn’t not enjoy it and I’d be interested in seeing how things turn out for the crew.

Other Reviews:

Book Review: Bewitching a Highlander, by Roma Cordon

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I accepted a review copy of Roma Cordon‘s Bewitching a Highlander through Rockstar Book Tours. The book has also been featured over on Sadie’s Spotlight. So, you can hop over there for further information, including an excerpt, author bio, the tour schedule, and a chance to win a copy of the book.

Defying all for the love of a bewitching lass.

Breena MacRae, a healer from Skye with a touch of witchery in her blood, embarks on a dangerous search for her missing father. She arrives on the Isle of Coll, seat of the vile Campbells. There, she encounters the debonair future chief to the Dunbar Clan, Egan, who rescues her from a Campbell sentry.

Egan Dunbar is on Coll to keep the peace between the feuding Campbells and Dunbars. But when he catches Breena in a lie, he agrees to help her find her father to pay back an old debt and get to the bottom of the secrets she’s hiding.

As their attraction for each ignites like a firestorm, Breena and Egan realize a future together could trigger deadly consequences—a clan war between the Campbells and the Dunbars. Is Egan willing to betray his clan for love, even though he knows Breena is keeping secrets from him? Can Breena trust him with her family secret and put those she loves at risk?

This is one of those books that is really hard to review. Because, objectively, it’s fine. The writing is readable. (I read an ARC, so can’t comment on editing.) The characters seem likeable. The world holds together, etc. For the right reader, this is a guaranteed 5-star read.

But, honestly, it was just a passable read for me for reasons that are almost completely subjective. First, I picked this up for the witchery. Fantasy romance is one of my favorite genres. But the magic part of this book—the fantasy aspect—is very light. VERY LIGHT, practically non-existent. Which makes this much more a historical romance than a historical fantasy romance. Which is fine, obviously, just not what I was looking for.

Second, I’m just not a huge fan of narration that is full of hyperbole, especially when it’s how characters characterize the romance. By which I mean when characters spend the whole book thinking super exaggerated thoughts about the other. Each is ‘the most’ this, or ‘the only’ that, or ‘the first/last’ whatever. I think it lacks nuance and subtlety. But I know some readers love it.

Plus, I think that if you took out all the repetition and that hyperbole, you’d be forced to acknowledge that very little actually happened in the book. And the one big life-threatening thing that did happen was completely random and not particularly well stitched into the rest of the plot. Similarly, the plot twist was super obvious. I predicted it before the 100-page mark.

Lastly, as far as I can tell, this is the author’s first book. (I can’t find any others, anyhow). But I spent this whole time I read Bewitching a Highlander thinking I’d missed the first book in the series. These two characters are meant to have met before, in events that are referenced. I thought they must have been side characters in another couple’s story. (That’s 100% how it read). But then I discovered there isn’t another book and was confused.

All in all, I know this sounds like a negative review. But it just wasn’t the book for me. For those who like this particular sort of book—mildly spicy, Scottish historical romance— this will be a winner. I’m certain of it. For me, it wasn’t what I was hoping for. But I’d read another Cordan book

Other Reviews:

Bewitching A Highlander Blog Tour

Book Review: The Witch Collector, by Charissa Weaks

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Charissa Weaks‘ The Witch Collector was featured over on Sadie’s Spotlight. You can hop over there for an author interview, excerpt, and a chance to win a copy of the book, if you’d like. I was lucky enough to receive a copy of the book as part of the tour material. So, I decided to give it a read here on See Sadie Read.

Every harvest moon, the Witch Collector rides into our valley and leads one of us to the home of the immortal Frost King, to remain forever.

Today is that day—Collecting Day.

But he will not come for me. I, Raina Bloodgood, have lived in this village for twenty-four years, and for all that time he has passed me by.

His mistake.

Raina Bloodgood has one desire: kill the Frost King and the Witch Collector who stole her sister. On Collecting Day, she means to exact murderous revenge, but a more sinister threat sets fire to her world. Rising from the ashes is the Collector, Alexus Thibault, the man she vowed to slay and the only person who can help save her sister.

Thrust into an age-old story of ice, fire, and ancient gods, Raina must abandon vengeance and aid the Witch Collector or let their empire—and her sister—fall into enemy hands. But the lines between good and evil blur, and Raina has more to lose than she imagined. What is she to do when the Witch Collector is no longer the villain who stole her sister, but the hero who’s stealing her heart?

In some ways, I really enjoyed this book. In others, I was disappointed. I enjoyed the story and the writing style. The overarching plot looks like it will be a really interesting one. I adored Alexus. He had all the makings and potential to be an alpha a-hole, but he just wasn’t. He was very sweet and marvelously willing to let Raina take the lead. I liked Raina too. She was strong and determined to succeed on her own, and I loved the use of sign language. I liked the side characters too. (Though there’s a bit of an age gap, I’m hoping for a pairing there.)

However, I also thought the book felt a little bit like this was an extended prologue (all 400+ pages of it). So much of the book is spent traveling to the place where the reader expects things to happen, and I felt like the middle lagged because of it. And then once they finally reach it, the book ends. I was also aghast at how willing Raina was to trust and divulge super secret information to people who had a very high likelihood of being untrustworthy with that information.

All in all, I think the book just wasn’t what I expected, but I enjoyed what it turned out to be instead, and I’ll be looking for book two when it comes out.

Other Reviews:

Review – The Witch Collector (Witch Walker, Book 1) by Charissa Weaks (3/5 stars)

Review: The Witch Collector by Charissa Weaks