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Book Review: A Fae in Finance, by Juliet Brooks

I borrowed a copy of Juliet BrooksA Fae in Finance from my local library.

a fae in finance cover

When investment banker Miri is purposely trapped in Faerie by her client, the Princeling of the Faerie realm, she does what any normal 20-something would cries, makes jokes in denial, and worries loudly about her cat, Doctor Kitten. Instead of rescuing her, her boss simply confirms she has solid internet access, leaving Miri stranded in a strange land with only a warning that the quality of her work should not decrease because of a change of address.

But Miri grew up reading fantasy, and she knows there are always ways to work around magic—she just needs to find them. In order to make her daring escape, Miri must navigate Faerie political drama, lies by omission, faerie seduction tactics, deteriorating mental health, and a mother who never hangs up the phone.

my review

I didn’t go in expecting much from a book whose title is taken from a TikTok meme (which tells you who the audience was expected to be). But the book still underwhelmed me. Yes, it’s cute, there are a few funny one-liners here and there, and one of the romantic possibilities (we don’t get a romance in this book) is honorable and lovely. On the other hand, however, I was booooored. Miri is a doormat. She’s supposedly an investment banker but feels, at best, an intern, and her reaction to being trapped in Faerie is extremely bland and unbelievable. I don’t think I’ll bother with the rest of the series when it comes out. (Honestly, I probably won’t even remember the book by then.)

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Review of A Fae in Finance by Juliet Brooks

A Fae In Finance by Juliet Brooks

 

 

the shepherd king duology

Book Review: Shepherd King Duology, by Rachel Gillig

I was given a paperback copy of Rachel Gillig‘s One Dark Window and then purchased a copy of the sequel Two Twisted Crowns.
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Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason.

Together they must gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.

my review

I very much enjoyed this series, the second book slightly more than the first. The villains are a bit cliched, and the focus remains closely focused on the main characters, such that there is little sense of the rest of the people in the world. But the main characters are all interesting and engaging in their own way. I adored Nightmare and his genuine affection for Elspeth, but honestly, they all have qualities I appreciated (not least of which was the genuine familial love on display). The magic of the world is really interesting, the writing is easy to read, and the conclusion is satisfying. I’ll pick up another Gillig book, happily.

the shepherd king duology


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Series Review: The Shepherd King

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Book Review: Behind the Throne, by K.B. Wagers

I purchased an e-copy of K.B. WagersBehind the Throne from the dreaded ‘Zon.

Meet Hail: Captain. Gunrunner. Fugitive.

Quick, sarcastic, and lethal, Hailimi Bristol doesn’t suffer fools gladly. She has made a name for herself in the galaxy for everything except what she was born to do: rule the Indranan Empire. That is, until two Trackers drag her back to her home planet to take her rightful place as the only remaining heir.

But trading her ship for a palace has more dangers than Hail could have anticipated. Caught in a web of plots and assassination attempts, Hail can’t do the one thing she did twenty years ago: run away. She’ll have to figure out who murdered her sisters if she wants to survive.

my review
I’ll say up front that this book didn’t turn out to be what I expected. The cover led me to expect a woman of action, out effecting change in the world(s). What I got was a woman who spends a lot of time changing from one fancy dress or sari to other fancy suits, drinking a lot of chai, and effecting change by dent of surviving, mostly thanks to the efforts of the men around her (who she allows to make most of her decisions and looks to for plans and instruction almost constantly).

And I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the book. I actually did. I liked all the characters. I liked that it had both male and female characters of note, but no romance. I loved that Hail was almost 40.  I liked the writing, the humor, and the world. But the book wasn’t what I was hoping for.

What’s more, it kind of failed in some of what it was. It tried really hard to subvert gender norms by giving the reader a matriarchy where men are largely and systematically disenfranchisement (as woman have been in the past). But it was just lip service. As others have pointed out, if you made Hail male and the guards female, this book wouldn’t work. It’s simply too firmly entrenched in expected gender norms, which means it’s not actually as transgressive as it’s clearly trying to be.

But again, none of that would really matter if I hadn’t gone into the book expecting more than I was given. All in all, I’ll likely finish the series. I did like the book. It just wasn’t the book I’d hoped it would be.

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Book Review: Behind the Throne, by K.B. Wagers

Book Review: Behind the Throne, by K.B. Wagers

BEHIND THE THRONE by K.B. Wagers – Review