TagFamily Issues

Book Review: A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

B

The Gist: The 4th book in the iconic A Court of Thorns and Roses series solidifies Nesta as my favourite character; perspective is everything.

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4

Release Date: February 16, 2021

Synopsis
Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she’s struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can’t seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.

The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre’s Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta’s orbit. But her temper isn’t the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.

Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.

Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance-and healing-in each other’s arms.

Ending
HFN
Representation
• Bisexual side character
• Supporting character of colour
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Discussion of past r@pe and sexual assault
• Attempted r@pe
• PTSD
• Depression
• Suicidal ideation
• Violence with blood and gore
• Discussion of past physical abuse
Safety Rating: Safe
No cheating
No OW/OM drama
– Nesta has *not* been celibate since meeting Cassian
– Cassian has been celibate for 2-years
Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
Does have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Kindle

Rating: 4.25-stars

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Sweet Yet Anti-climatic: A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova

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The Gist: A standalone epic fantasy loosely based on the mythology of Hades and Persephone, and while an enemies-to-lovers romance that has its sweet parts, the lack of world-building, endearing characterizations and number of plot holes made the novel quite anti-climatic.

Series: Married to Magic, #1*

Release Date: November 6, 2020

Synopsis
Perfect for fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses and Uprooted, this stand-alone, fantasy romance about a human girl and her marriage to the Elf King is impossible to put down!

The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death.

Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella’s village to be their Human Queen.

To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the townsfolk. A mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped as a girl. Instead, she’s dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town’s only healer.

That is, until the Elf King unexpectedly arrives… for her.

Everything Luella had thought she’d known about her life, and herself, was a lie. Taken to a land filled with wild magic, Luella is forced to be the new queen to a cold yet blisteringly handsome Elf King. Once there, she learns about a dying world that only she can save.

The magical land of Midscape pulls on one corner of her heart, her home and people tug on another… but what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted.

A Deal with the Elf King is a complete, stand-alone novel, inspired by the tales of Hades and Persephone, as well as Beauty and the Beast, with a “happily ever after” ending. It’s perfect for fantasy romance fans looking for just the right amount of steam and their next slow-burn and swoon-worthy couple.

Ending
HFN but the extended epilogue shows it’s a HEA (you can access the extra scene through the back of the ebook or on Elise Kova’s website)
Representation
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Parental neglect
• Themes of isolation and abandonment
Safety Rating: Safe with Exceptions
No cheating
Does have OW/OM drama (kind of)
– The Heroine was in love with her childhood best friend, but he turns out to be an asshole. And, apparently, she wasn’t “in love” with him but loved the idea of him? (There’s kissing *before* the Heroine meets the Hero)
– The Hero tried to date/court *his* best friend 3-4 years ago; she’s currently the Hand of the King. They both agreed they were better off friends. Their relationship didn’t progress past kissing but apparently, that attempt made them closer as friends.
Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
Does have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Kindle Unlimited

Rating: 3-stars

*Each novel in the series is Standalone

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Lyrical Yet Underwhelming: Sisters of Sword and Song by Rebecca Ross

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The Gist: A beautifully rich high fantasy that incorporates all the best parts of mythology–magic, the ancestry of gods, and a save-the-world quest–made all the more gripping by its earnest exploration of two sisters who would go through hell for each other. However, the plot’s climax revealed my apathy towards the quest’s fulfillment–saving the Queen didn’t feel like much of a success, given everyone I connected to had to suffer for it–making the novel not as enjoyable.

Series: Standalone

Release Date: June 23, 2020

Synopsis
From the author of The Queen’s Rising comes a thrilling YA stand-alone fantasy about the unbreakable bond between sisters. Perfect for fans of Ember in the Ashes, Sky in the Deep, and Court of Fives.

After eight long years, Evadne will finally be reunited with her older sister, Halcyon, who has been proudly serving in the queen’s army. But when Halcyon appears earlier than expected, Eva knows something has gone terribly wrong. Halcyon is on the run, hunted by her commander and charged with murder.

Though Halcyon’s life is spared during her trial, the punishment is heavy. And when Eva volunteers to serve part of Halcyon’s sentence, she’s determined to find out exactly what happened. But as Eva begins her sentence, she quickly learns that there are fates much worse than death.

Ending
HFN
Representation
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Murder
• Betrayal of mentor/mentee resulting in imprisonment
• Torture
• Death of a sibling
• Death of a parent
Safety Rating: Safe
No cheating
No OW/OM drama
Does have the Heroine pushing the Hero away
Does have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 3.75-stars

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Magical and Entrancing: Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

M

The Gist: An entrancing standalone epic fantasy; it brings the magic of books to life through the Heroine’s journey to discover who is attempting to sabotage the Great Libraries and made all the more enjoyable by its adorable enemies to friends to lovers romances and themes of friendship.

Series: Sorcery of Thorns, #1

Release Date: June 4, 2019

Synopsis
All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

Ending
HFN
Representation
• Bisexual Hero
• Asexual supporting character
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Murder
• Allusion to torture
• Gaslighting
Safety Rating: Safe
No cheating
No OW/OM drama
Does have the Hero pushing the Heroine away
Does have a separation between the Heroine and Hero
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 4.75-stars

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Heartbreaking and Moving: Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

H

The Gist: A beautifully written book that takes its time to explore how someone can learn to trust and love again after a tremendous loss; flashing back and forth between the hours before the crash and Edward’s current reality, the author explores what it means to be true to yourself and the connections that help you overcome such heartache.

Series: Standalone

Release Date: January 6, 2020

Synopsis
One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Among them is a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured vet returning from Afghanistan, a septuagenarian business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband. And then, tragically, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor.

Edward’s story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place for himself in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a piece of him has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers. But then he makes an unexpected discovery–one that will lead him to the answers of some of life’s most profound questions: When you’ve lost everything, how do find yourself? How do you discover your purpose? What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live?

Dear Edward is at once a transcendent coming-of-age story, a multidimensional portrait of an unforgettable cast of characters, and a breathtaking illustration of all the ways a broken heart learns to love again.

Ending
HFN
Representation
• Black Gay supporting character
• Latina supporting character and side character
• Asian side character
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Frequent Harry Potter references; J.K. Rowling is transphobic
• MC dealing with the death of his whole family and being the sole survivor of a plane crash (when he’s a child)
• Discusses miscarriages
• Supporting character has cancer
Mature Themes
• PTSD
• Grief of losing family
– Also, the grief of not being able to have kids
• Non-descriptive sex
• References to abortion
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 5-stars

Trigger Warning: This book has frequent HP references. Please read the ‘Possible Triggers’ tab above for details for other triggers.

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Dramatic and Passionate: The Favor by Suzanne Wright

D

Series: Standalone

Release Date: October 13, 2020

<strong>Synopsis</strong>
Vienna Stratton knew she only had herself to blame. You didn’t let yourself become indebted to a man like Dane Davenport, no matter how badly you needed his help. As his personal assistant, she was very aware that the globally successful CEO was ruthless and unforgiving.

Of course, if she’d known he’d request that she be his wife for twelve months, she’d have hesitated in accepting his help. Because what she’d learned from Dane was that the devil wasn’t ugly and terrorising. He was seductive and captivating. He hummed with whispers of temptation – the temptation to sin and surrender, to let him brand and possess you. He awakened every need and fantasy you had.

He could even make you love him.

<strong>Ending</strong>
HEA with Epilogue
<strong>Representation</strong>
• BIPOC supporting character
• Supporting character with dissociative identity disorder
<strong>Possible Triggers:</strong> Yes
• Parental abandonment
• Parental physical abuse of their child
• Inference of child sexual abuse
• Physical abuse and bullying by Foster Sister towards Heroine
• Blackmail
• Suicide of parent
• Death of parent due to cancer
<strong>Safety Rating:</strong> Safe with Exceptions
No cheating
Does have LOADS of OW and OM
— One of the OW is currently the Hero’s sister-in-law, so you can imagine how that goes.
Does have both the Hero and Heroine pushing away
No separation
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Kindle

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

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Beautiful and Empathetic: Thin Girls by Diana Clarke

B

Series: Standalone

Release Date: June 30, 2020

<strong>Synopsis</strong>
A dark, edgy, voice-driven literary debut novel about twin sisters that explores body image and queerness as well as toxic diet culture and the power of sisterhood, love, and lifelong friendships, written by a talented protégé of Roxane Gay.

Rose and Lily Winters are twins, as close as the bond implies; they feel each other’s emotions, taste what the other is feeling. Like most young women, they’ve struggled with their bodies and food since childhood, and high school finds them turning to food—or not—to battle the waves of insecurity and the yearning for popularity. But their connection can be as destructive as it is supportive, a yin to yang. when Rose stops eating, Lily starts—consuming everything Rose won’t or can’t.

Within a few years, Rose is about to mark her one-year anniversary in a rehabilitation facility for anorexics. Lily, her sole visitor, is the only thing tethering her to a normal life.

But Lily is struggling, too. A kindergarten teacher, she dates abusive men, including a student’s married father, in search of the close yet complicated companionship she lost when she became separated from Rose.

When Lily joins a cult diet group led by a social media faux feminist, whose eating plan consists of consuming questionable non-caloric foods, Rose senses that Lily needs her help. With her sister’s life in jeopardy, Rose must find a way to rescue her—and perhaps, save herself.

Illuminating some of the most fraught and common issues confronting women, Thin Girls is a powerful, emotionally resonant story, beautifully told, that will keep you turning the pages to the gratifying, hopeful end.

<strong>Ending</strong>
On road to healing
<strong>Representation</strong>
• Lesbian main character
• Bisexual supporting character
• Gay side character
• Lesbian side character
• f/f main romance
<strong>Possible Triggers:</strong> Yes
• Anorexia (on-page)
• Bulimia (on-page)
• Physical abuse (on-page and off-page)
• Emotional abuse (on-page and off-page)
— Lily’s boyfriend manipulates her into dieting (read starving herself)
• Bullying (on-page)
• Death as a result of an eating disorder (off-page)
<strong>Mature Themes</strong>
• Discussion of BDSM relationships (the line between consent of S&M and abuse)
• Detailed sex scenes (including Rose walking in on Lily practicing BDSM)
• Explores toxicity of diet culture: fine line between dieting and harming yourself
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 5/5 stars

Trigger Warning: This review discusses topics that can be triggering for some. Please read the ‘Possible Triggers’ tab above for details.

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Riveting Yet Demoralizing: If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

R

Series: Standalone

Release Date: April 21, 2020

<strong>Synopsis:</strong>
A riveting debut novel set in contemporary Seoul, Korea, about four young women making their way in a world defined by impossibly high standards of beauty, secret room salons catering to wealthy men, strict social hierarchies, and K-pop fan mania.

“Even as a girl, I knew the only chance I had was to change my face… even before a fortune-teller told me so.”

Kyuri is a heartbreakingly beautiful woman with a hard-won job at a “room salon,” an exclusive bar where she entertains businessmen while they drink. Though she prides herself on her cold, clear-eyed approach to life, an impulsive mistake with a client may come to threaten her livelihood.

Her roommate, Miho, is a talented artist who grew up in an orphanage but won a scholarship to study art in New York. Returning to Korea after college, she finds herself in a precarious relationship with the super-wealthy heir to one of Korea’s biggest companies.

Down the hall in their apartment building lives Ara, a hairstylist for whom two preoccupations sustain her: an obsession with a boy-band pop star and a best friend who is saving up for the extreme plastic surgery that is commonplace.

And Wonna, one floor below, is a newlywed trying to get pregnant with a child that she and her husband have no idea how they can afford to raise and educate in the cutthroat economy.

Together, their stories tell a gripping tale that’s seemingly unfamiliar, yet unmistakably universal in the way that their tentative friendships may have to be their saving grace.

<strong>Ending:</strong>
Surprisingly hopeful
<strong>Representation</strong>
• South Korean main and supporting characters
<strong>Possible Triggers:</strong> Yes
• Parental abandonment
• Physical assault (on-page and off-page, one instance resulting in one main character, Ara becoming mute)
• Emotional abuse
• Discussion of abortion
• Discussion of miscarriage
• Cheating
• Discussion of suicide and suicidal ideation
• Discussion of murder and suicide of sex workers
Title
Miho’s relationship with her boyfriend: Not Safe
• Does have cheating
• No OM
• Does have OW
— He cheats on her with a sex worker (a friend of Miho’s roommate) and is engaged to a woman from a family of similar economic wealth to him
• Does have Miho pushing Hanbin away
• No separation

Wonna’s relationship with her husband: Safe with Exception
• No cheating
• No OW/OM drama
• Does have Wonna pushing her husband away
• Does have a separation between Wonna and her husband (a permanent one, I think)
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

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Heartfelt and Nostalgic: Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon

H

Series: Standalone

Release Date: July 14, 2020

<strong>Synopsis</strong>
The Hating Game meets Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by way of Morgan Matson in this unforgettable romantic comedy about two rival overachievers whose relationship completely transforms over the course of twenty-four hours.

Today, she hates him.

It’s the last day of senior year. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been bitter rivals for all of high school, clashing on test scores, student council elections, and even gym class pull-up contests. While Rowan, who secretly wants to write romance novels, is anxious about the future, she’d love to beat her infuriating nemesis one last time.

Tonight, she puts up with him.

When Neil is named valedictorian, Rowan has only one chance at victory: Howl, a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle, a farewell tour of the city she loves. But after learning a group of seniors is out to get them, she and Neil reluctantly decide to team up until they’re the last players left—and then they’ll destroy each other.

As Rowan spends more time with Neil, she realizes he’s much more than the awkward linguistics nerd she’s sparred with for the past four years. And, perhaps, this boy she claims to despise might actually be the boy of her dreams.

Tomorrow…maybe she’s already fallen for him.

<strong>Ending</strong>
HFN
<strong>Representation</strong>
• Latina biracial main character
• Lesbian supporting character
• Bisexual supporting character
• FF side romance
<strong>Possible Triggers:</strong> Yes
• Anti-Semitism
<strong>Safety Rating:</strong> Safe
• No cheating
• No OW drama
• Does have OM drama
— The Heroine has conversations with an ex to get closure. It stirs up past regret.
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing each other away
• No separation
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format:

Rating: 5/5 stars

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