Talk Nerdy Book Blog

TagUrban Fantasy

Book Review: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

By Sarah
In 4-stars, Book Review
October 26, 2023
B

The Gist: Starling House artfully employs dark academia and an enigmatic haunted house to delve into the racism, sexism and classism that plague a small town.

Series: Standalone

Release Date: October 3, 2023

Synopsis
A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can’t stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland–and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.

Ending
HFN
Representation
• Bisexual main character
• Mexican Biracial Supporting Character
• Lesbian supporting characters
• Sapphic side relationship
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Grief (Heroine’s and the Hero’s parents died before the book starts)
• PTSD from near-death experience
• Sword violence
• Homelessness
• Incest recounted (by a side character)
• Racism
• Homophobia
Safety Rating: Safe
• No cheating
• No OM/OW drama
• Does have the Hero pushing the Heroine away
• Does have a brief separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 4.25-stars

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Magical Intentions by Jaliza A. Burwell

By Sarah
In 3-stars, Book Review
September 13, 2018
M

Series: Biomystic Security

Release Date: August 7, 2018

<strong>Synopsis</strong>
Working in the bowels of Biomystic Security, Dr. Laila Porter is content as a magical lab technician. To her, nothing is more exciting than figuring out how to use both magic and technology in innovative ways to help the security experts at BMS stay alive.

After a small incident involving one of her prototypes, Laila is offered a job she can’t turn down: boost the company’s defenses in preparation for a visit by an important client everyone wants dead. Eager to put her skills to the test, she accepts. But once she begins, she realizes she needs to brush up her skills in one critical area: teamwork.

Teamwork has always been a foreign word to Laila. As a magical genius with a rocky childhood, she’s learned the only person she can rely on is herself. But that isn’t how Biomystic Security operates. In order for her to be successful, she needs to learn to trust those around her.

Their client, Cyril Shanton, is relying on that teamwork. If everyone in the company isn’t able to work together flawlessly, Biomystic Security will be remembered as the company that got one of the last remaining dragons killed.

**This is a slow burn Urban Fantasy Reverse Harem**

<strong>Ending</strong>

HFN
<strong>Representation</strong>
• BIPOC supporting characters
<strong>Possible Triggers:</strong> Yes
• Traumatic past (including allusions to abuse in foster homes)
• Violence
• No OTT sad parts (but, there are discussions of murdered family members)
<strong>Safety Rating:</strong> Safe
• No cheating
• No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
• Does have the Heroine pushing away
• Does have a separation between the Heroine and some of her love interests
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Kindle

Rating: 3.25/5 stars

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Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews

By Sarah
In 4-stars, Book Review
August 30, 2018
B

Series: Hidden Legacy

Release Date: October 28, 2014

<strong>Synopsis</strong>
#1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews launches a brand new Hidden Legacy series, in which one woman must place her trust in a seductive, dangerous man who sets off an even more dangerous desire…

Nevada Baylor is faced with the most challenging case of her detective career—a suicide mission to bring in a suspect in a volatile case. Nevada isn’t sure she has the chops. Her quarry is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, who can set anyone and anything on fire.

Then she’s kidnapped by Connor “Mad” Rogan—a darkly tempting billionaire with equally devastating powers. Torn between wanting to run or surrender to their overwhelming attraction, Nevada must join forces with Rogan to stay alive.

Rogan’s after the same target, so he needs Nevada. But she’s getting under his skin, making him care about someone other than himself for a change. And, as Rogan has learned, love can be as perilous as death, especially in the magic world.

<strong>Ending</strong>

HFN
<strong>Representation</strong>
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• Characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
<strong>Possible Triggers:</strong> Yes
• Violence (Hero uses torture frequently throughout the book to get what he wants but only from people the Heroine isn’t protecting
• Murder (Committed by the Hero as well as the villain.)
• Arson
• Torture (Mental and physical)
– Heroine is abducted and mentally tortured (he’s a psychic) by the Hero (when he doesn’t know her). He would’ve killed her had she not been of use to him.
<strong>Safety Rating:</strong> Safe
• No cheating
• No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
• Does not 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: 4.25/5

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Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews

By Sarah
In 4-stars, Book Review
August 9, 2018
I

Series: The Iron Covenant

Release Date: June 26, 2018

<strong>Synopsis</strong>
No day is ordinary in a world where Technology and Magic compete for supremacy…But no matter which force is winning, in the apocalypse, a sword will always work.

Hugh d’Ambray, Preceptor of the Iron Dogs, Warlord of the Builder of Towers, served only one man. Now his immortal, nearly omnipotent master has cast him aside. Hugh is a shadow of the warrior he was, but when he learns that the Iron Dogs, soldiers who would follow him anywhere, are being hunted down and murdered, he must make a choice: to fade away or to be the leader he was born to be. Hugh knows he must carve a new place for himself and his people, but they have no money, no shelter, and no food, and the necromancers are coming. Fast.

Elara Harper is a creature who should not exist. Her enemies call her Abomination; her people call her White Lady. Tasked with their protection, she’s trapped between the magical heavyweights about to collide and plunge the state of Kentucky into a war that humans have no power to stop. Desperate to shield her people and their simple way of life, she would accept help from the devil himself—and Hugh d’Ambray might qualify.

Hugh needs a base, Elara needs soldiers. Both are infamous for betraying their allies, so how can they create a believable alliance to meet the challenge of their enemies?

As the prophet says: “It is better to marry than to burn.”

Hugh and Elara may do both.

<strong>Ending</strong>

HFN
<strong>Representation</strong>
• BIPOC supporting characters
• Supporting character is either deaf or mute and communicates through ASL
<strong>Possible Triggers:</strong> Yes
• Violence (Blood and gore)
• Murder
<strong>Safety Rating:</strong> Not Safe
• Kinda cheating
– Hero sleeps with an OW after marrying the heroine (even though it’s a relationship of convenience)
– Even though the Hero and Heroine were married, they weren’t in a relationship. Nor did they care for each other.
• Does have descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
– The heroine walks in on the Hero sleeping with the OW
– The hero also considers sleeping with the heroine’s lady’s maid but dismisses the idea.
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
• Does Not 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: 4.25/5 stars

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Stone Guardian (Entwined Realms, #1) by Danielle Monsch

By Sarah
In 3-stars, Book Review
May 24, 2018
S

Series: Entwined Realms*

Release Date: July 3rd, 2013

<strong>Synopsis:</strong>
Gryphons flying past skyscrapers? Wizards battling it out in coffeehouses? Women riding motorcycles with large swords strapped to their backs? All normal sights since the Great Collision happened twenty-six years ago.

Well, not normal for everyone. Larissa Miller may have been born after the Great Collision, but as a history teacher who lives in the human-only city, she has never come into contact with any other race or species, nor has she wanted to. Her life is as ordinary as it gets – that is, until one day she walks out of her apartment and is attacked by a mob of Zombies, only to be saved by a Gargoyle.

Gargoyles trust no one outside their Clan, but due to a cryptic prophecy, Terak, Leader of the Gargoyles, has been watching over the human woman for months. While he can find no reason why the woman has been singled out, something about her stirs every protective instinct within him. When the attack confirms that the threats against her exist and are real, he convinces Larissa that though their races have never been allies, the best chance of discovering why she has been brought into his world is by working together.

In the course of their investigation, Terak becomes entranced by his little human. But when he discovers why Necromancers want her and the great reward that awaits him if he betrays her, he must choose between the welfare of his Clan and not only Larissa’s life, but the fate of this New Realm as well.

<strong>Ending</strong>

HFN
<strong>Representation</strong>
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
<strong>Possible Triggers</strong>
• Violence (Blood and gore)
• The prologue is quite sad–it’s in the Heroine’s father’s POV, and it’s when the Heroine’s mother dies
<strong>Safety Rating:</strong> Safe
• No cheating
• Does have OW (the Hero is engaged to an OW, however, in his culture, you don’t have sex with someone until after you’re mated.)
• No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM (The Hero and Heroine are virgins.)
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
• Does not have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

*Each novel in the series is Standalone

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Pestilence (The Four Horsemen, #1) by Laura Thalassa

By Sarah
In 3-stars, Book Review
May 10, 2018
P

Series: The Four Horsemen*

Release Date: March 20th, 2018

<strong>Synopsis:</strong>
They came to earth—Pestilence, War, Famine, Death—four horsemen riding their screaming steeds, racing to the corners of the world. Four horsemen with the power to destroy all of humanity. They came to earth, and they came to end us all.

When Pestilence comes for Sara Burn’s town, one thing is certain: everyone she knows and loves is marked for death. Unless, of course, the angelic-looking horseman is stopped, which is exactly what Sara has in mind when she shoots the unholy beast off his steed.

Too bad no one told her Pestilence can’t be killed.

Now the horseman, very much alive and very pissed off, has taken her prisoner, and he’s eager to make her suffer. Only, the longer she’s with him, the more uncertain she is about his true feelings towards her … and hers towards him.

And now, well, Sara might still be able to save the world, but in order to do so, she’ll have to sacrifice her heart in the process.

<strong>Ending</strong>

• Concerning the couple: HFN
• Concerning the remaining Horsemen: Cliffhanger
<strong>Representation</strong>
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
<strong>Possible Triggers</strong>
• Attempted murder
• Torture
• Stockholm syndrome
<strong>Safety Rating:</strong> Safe
• No cheating
• No OW/OM
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
• Does Not have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Rating: 3.25/5 stars

*Each novel in the series is Standalone

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Dragonsteel (Shadowsword’s Harem, #1) by Rachel Baelfire

By Sarah
In 3-stars, Book Review
March 29, 2018
D

Series: Shadowsword’s Harem

Release Date: January 2nd, 2018

<strong>Synopsis:</strong>
My name is Helena, and I’ve been on the run my entire life.

Every day my father and I protect each other from the dragon shifters who’ll stop at nothing to see us dead.
Until he’s captured.

Pursued for powers they’re convinced I shouldn’t have, the only ones who can help are my childhood friend who’s half-werewolf, and a mysterious dragon shifter with a secret agenda.

When a new evil rises, the danger is greater than ever, and one thing is certain. My father and I are both running out of time.

****Dragonsteel is the first book in the Shadowsword’s Harem series. It’s a full-length, Reverse Harem, Urban Fantasy Romance. The harem will be introduced slowly as the series unfolds. Contains some violence and sexual situations.

<strong>Ending</strong>


Cliffhanger
<strong>Representation</strong>
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
<strong>Possible Triggers</strong>
• Heroine’s mother was murdered when she was a child
• Heroine’s father disappeared 7 years ago (Flashbacks)
• Violence including murder
<strong>Safety Rating:</strong> Safe
• No cheating
• No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
• Does not have a separation between the Heroes and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

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