Mayra by. Nicky Gonzalez | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Mayra

Author: Nicky Gonzalez

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 240

Publication Date: 7/22/25

Publisher: Random House

Categories: Suspense, Mystery, Contemporary

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Random House for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

An eerie, hypnotic debut about friendship, desire, and memory set against the sultry backdrop of Florida’s swamplands

It’s been years since Ingrid has heard from her childhood best friend, Mayra, a fearless rebel who fled their hometown of Hialeah, a Cuban neighborhood just west of Miami, for college in the Northeast. But when Mayra calls out of the blue to invite Ingrid to a weekend getaway at a house in the Everglades, she impulsively accepts.

From the moment Ingrid sets out for the house, danger looms: The directions are difficult, she’s out of reach of cell service, and as she drives deeper into the Everglades, the wet maw of the swamp threatens to swallow her whole. But once Ingrid arrives, Mayra is, in many ways, just as she remembers—with her sharp tongue and effortless, seductive beauty, still thumbing her nose at the world.

Before they can fully settle into the familiar intimacy of each other’s company, their reunion is spoiled by the reemergence of past disagreements and the unexpected presence of Mayra’s new boyfriend, Benji. The trio spend their hours eating lavish meals and exploring the labyrinthine house, which holds as much mystery and danger as the swamp itself. Indoors and on the grounds, time itself seems to expand, and Ingrid begins to lose a sense of the outside world, and herself.

Against this disquieting setting, where lizards dart in and out of porches and alligators peek up from dark waters, Gonzalez weaves a surreal, unforgettable story about the dizzying power of early friendship and the lengths we’ll go to earn love and acceptance—even at the risk of losing ourselves entirely.

Content Warning:

+ I am not the right audience for this book. But I still found myself intrigued with the story.

+ My favorite part of the book is the atmosphere, the Florida swamp, and how isolated and lost you can get. I think the author did such a great job setting the scene. Also I liked Ingrid’s voice – she’s a very fleshed out character so even though nothing much was happening for half way into the book, I liked her stories about her early years with Mayra.

+ The friendship between Ingrid and Mayra is a big part of this story and actually it seemed like that’s all this story was about. How a close friendship can change, what the person means to you and other themes of friendship. I like how that was explored, especially with both girls being Cuban and how they were raised was very different from, Mayra’s boyfriend-Benji’s upbringing.

+ This is a short book, under 300 pages and nothing much happens in it until near the end when some of the secret of the house they are staying at is revealed.

~ I wanted to learn more about the sentient house, but once we find out what’s happening the story ends.

~ I don’t think I grasped what the book was about – except for Ingrid and Mayra’s relationship and how they were when they were younger, to now together in the house where things are happening, like making them forget, keeping them there without them really noticing.

~ Ingrid finding a journal halfway through the book? It didn’t interest me and I couldn’t see how that connected with what was happening at first. Until of course the secret of the house is kind of revealed but by then the story was over.

Final Thoughts:

This wasn’t for me but I did enjoy the atmosphere, Ingrid and Mayra. I do wish we learned about what was happening in the house much earlier in the story but I guess there were subtle hints that went totally over my head since Ingrid and Mayra’s friendship was the focus. Would have loved more horror but there wasn’t any really. I think if you like atmospheric mystery and suspense you might enjoy this one.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Bewitching by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating:

Title: The Bewitching

Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 368

Publication Date: 7/15/25

Publisher: Del Rey

Categories: Mystery, Horror, Witchcraft, Multigenerational, Historical Fiction

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Del Rey for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch.

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.

Content Warning: violence, death, murders, incest

+ This story is told in three timelines and I found each era fascinating. Minerva is a college student in the late 1990’s and writing her research on witchcraft. So the timeline follows her grandmother, Alba’s story in 1908 and her experiences of encountering witchcraft. But Minerva is also researching a mystery of a girl that disappeared from campus, so there is another timeline of the events concerning that time on campus in 1934.

+ I really enjoyed how the author captured the late 90’s since I was also a college student at that time. And it felt nostalgic to see Minerva using a discman and listening to bands I listened to at that time. Loved that! I also liked Minerva’s character and how she’s into horror novels.

+ Most of the horror comes at the end of the story and I did enjoy that part.

~ I did not like the incest that occurred in the book between Alba and her uncle. I actually had to go back to the beginning of the explanation of the family tree to make sure I was reading it right and I didn’t miss that he was just like an Uncle because he was a family friend. Nope. Alba and her Uncle Arturo are only a few years apart in age and it just made me feel gross.

~ As much as I found the three different stories fascinating, I felt like everything moved too slowly in this book, especially in the middle. So I did skim a little to get to the horror and action part, which was near the end of the book.

Final Thoughts:

This might be my least favorite book I’ve read from this author. The writing is great as usual and I found the timelines fascinating but for me the pacing was too slow and also, and no to the incest. I think true horror genre fans would love this because Minerva is a character who is a fan and mentions certain authors that I am not very aware of. I was not the right audience for this one but I still look forward to reading her next book!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Seventh Veil of Salome by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Mexican Gothic by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia | Audiobook Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Beautiful Ones | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love Unmasked by. Becky Dean | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating:

Title: Love Unmasked

Author: Becky Dean

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 384

Publication Date: 7/15/25

Publisher: Delacorte Romance

Categories: Romance, Contemporary, Young Adult

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Delacorte Romance for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

From the author of Hearts Overboard comes a swoony mystery-filled romance in which a girl on a school trip to Venice gets swept off her feet by a mask-wearing stranger…but does she know him already? Lose yourself in the masquerade—because sometimes, the greatest adventure begins when you unmask your heart.

People pleaser Evie Whitmore can’t believe her art and architecture class trip has brought her to Venice—home of gondolas and crumbling palazzos, and the inspiration for both her art and her hidden passion, Elven Realms, a series of novels set in the very city she’s about to explore.

Rumors about an underground Elven Realms fan club swirl, and Evie, wearing a costume and mask, sneaks out at night to find it. There’s no way she can tell anyone what she’s doing—not her friends, and certainly not Gabriel Martinez, the bad boy loner she’s been partnered with on the trip.

But Evie’s not the only one on this clandestine quest. She collides with someone else in disguise—a stranger whose eyes hold secrets. He calls himself Angelo, and he too loves the novels. Venice is a labyrinth, and as they unravel clues together, their connection deepens. Who is Angelo, really? And who does Evie want him to be?

Content Warning:

+ Evie is on a trip in Venice, Italy with her art class but she has another ulterior motive for being there which involves her favorite novel series, Elven Realms. Everything is going to plan until she is paired up with the new guy, Gabriel Martinez, who doesn’t seem to like her at all.

+ This one was a little predictable but I did love the setting of Venice, Italy and Evie wearing a mask around the mysterious and romantic city, trying to find clues about an Elven Realms event.

+ The romance was cute, he’s grumpy and she’s sunshine. This one is definitely for the teen readers and young YA crowd.

~ This story was a little bit too young for me. This one is definitely for the teen readers and young YA crowd. Also I kept wondering how she couldn’t recognize Gabriel behind the mask. They spent basically all day together!

Final Thoughts:

My favorite thing about this book was the setting of Venice, Italy. How nice to be on a class trip there. Overall, I think younger young adults would enjoy this one.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Maid for Each Other by. Lynn Painter | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Maid for Each Other

Author: Lynn Painter

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 368

Publication Date: 7/15/25

Publisher: Berkley

Categories: Romance, Fake Dating, Rom-Com

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Berkley for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Abi is a professional cleaner, so it’s ironic when she’s forced to move out because of an infestation in her building. Thanks, Apartment 2B!

Declan is a busy man, working his way up at Hathaway Holdings. Which is why he’s never met the woman who cleans his penthouse every week.

Abi needs a place to stay, and Declan is out of town, so the solution seems simple and, crucially, free.

When Declan’s parents tell him they met his girlfriend at his apartment, he’s surprised to say the least. But it is nice to have them off his back about being single for a change. . .

Declan finds out who Abi really is, and decides to makes her a pretend to date him, and he’ll provide everything she needs.

What could go wrong? It’s business, not pleasure. Right?

Content Warning:

+ The book gives off Pretty Woman and Maid in Manhattan movie vibes. It involves Abi who is the maid, who agrees to be a fake girlfriend for Declan, a rich guy, for a shareholders event.

+ This story is a very quick-read and light-hearted romance. It has some tropes that romance readers will enjoy like fake-dating and forced proximity. I don’t know if Declan is a billionaire, but he must definitely be a multi-millionaire because of his family’s company.

+ Abi is a bright personality and I thought it was cute seeing how Declan starts to fall for her. I thought they were funny together, especially when they had to tell stories about how they met. This was a closed door romance.

~ It followed the storyline of Pretty Woman pretty closely, minus the FMC being a prostitute. So it’s predictable.

~ I kind of wanted more from Abi’s character – she’s miss sunshine, but she’s always going through some things like struggling to pay off her student loans. She’s also in the process of writing a book, and doesn’t have the best relationship with her mother but there isn’t really depth in this book. The romance overshadows it all which is fine because it’s supposed to be light-hearted, but I personally I just wanted more.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I thought this was cute and funny at times but it left me still wanting more. If you want a light-hearted, easy to read romance, then check this one out.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Nothing Like the Movies by. Lynn Painter | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Happily Never After by. Lynn Painter| Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Betting on You by. Lynn Painter | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love Wager by. Lynn Painter | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Better Than the Movies | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

The Homemade God by. Rachel Joyce | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating:

Title: The Homemade God

Author: Rachel Joyce

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 336

Publication Date: 7/8/25

Publisher: The Dial Press

Categories: Fiction, Family Drama, Mystery, Contemporary

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to The Dial Press for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Family is everything, even when it falls apart.

After the sudden death of a renowned artist, his four adult children travel to Italy to sort out his affairs with his much-younger wife, in this moving novel from the bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

World-famous artist Vic Kemp has relied on his four children ever since their mother died when they were young. Netta, the oldest, is a litigator who often serves as co-parent to her siblings; Susan, a housewife who cooks and cleans for both her husband and her father; Goose’s own thwarted artistic ambitions have left him resigned to a job in Vic’s studio; and Iris, the baby, drops everything the moment her father calls.

When Vic summons the siblings with the promise of big news, they hope their father is about to tell them he has finished the mysterious masterpiece he claims will be the capstone to his career. Instead, he announces he’s getting remarried. Bella-Mae, his wife to be, is apparently beautiful, a fellow artist—and twenty-seven to his seventy-six years. When his children dare to express concern, Vic decamps with Bella-Mae to his summer home in Italy. Six weeks later, he is found dead. There is no sign of his will, or his promised final painting.

Netta, Susan, Goose, and Iris gather at the house on Lake Orta to piece together what happened and prepare to bring their father’s body home. They spend the summer in a waiting game, living under the same roof as Bella-Mae, and forced to confront Vic’s legacy and the buried wounds they have incurred as his children. So who is Bella-Mae? Is she the woman their father believed her to be? Or is she the force that will destroy the family for good? How long can their old bonds hold?

With sparkling wit, compassion and tender insight, The Homemade God explores memory, identity, grief, healing, and the bonds of siblinghood—what happens when they splinter, and what it might take to find a new way forward.

Content Warning: parental death

+ I enjoyed the setting of Italy where this book takes place.

+ This story explores the sibling relationship and I find that very interesting because the personalities and lived experience in one family can be very different for each person. In this story we see how each sibling is different and the experiences they have with their father who has just passed away. I did like the sibling dynamics and family drama

~ Even though this book is just barely over 300 pages I had a hard time reading through it maybe because I wasn’t in the mood for it and it’s not the usual genre I read. But also felt disconnected from the characters. I liked learning about each of them but I never felt connected to them so I never felt invested in the story.

Final Thoughts:

I was not the right audience for this book but I did find the family drama and sibling dynamics interesting.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Tricks of Fortune by. Lina Chern | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating:

Title: Tricks of Fortune (Katie True, #2)

Author: Lina Chern

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 352

Publication Date: 7/1/25

Publisher: Bantam

Categories: Cozy Mystery, Tarot, Sequel

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Bantam for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Tarot card reader extraordinaire Katie True flexes her investigative muscles when her family becomes the prime suspect in a local murder in this exciting mystery from the author of Play the Fool

“A delicious blend of suspense and madcap humor” – Library Journal, starred review of Play the Fool

Katie True has finally gotten her crap together. It’s a miracle after the wild events of the last year, but she has her own tarot reading room now. The small space might be her sister’s unused real estate office, but it’s a start. Moreover, adulthood isn’t as exciting as Katie imagined, and it’s not long before she begins to miss the action of using her tarot cards for investigating murder, rather than answering trivial questions.

But when a murder of a veteran police officer shakes the small town, Katie is compelled to use her newfound investigative skills. Luckily, her partner-in-solving-crime, Detective Jamie Roth, is assigned to the case. Katie may be a useful resource in the investigation, as her family is quite close with the deceased after he saved baby Katie from the scene of a car crash.

It may take more than a tarot reading to solve this one, as Katie must dig deeper into her own past and rekindle a former friendship to help her this time around. Lina Chern brings another charming whodunit, following the same delightful characters, with a new thrilling murder to solve.

Content Warning:

+ I read book one of this series, Play the Fool and really enjoyed it. So I picked up the sequel and tarot reading, Katie True is back and now she’s navigating life being known as the girl from the accident and trying to help solve a murder of the cop from that accident.

+ In the first book Katie was kind of lost in life and an under achiever and I liked seeing her growth. Now Katie is more settled in this sequel and she’s dating Jaime, who’s a detective. This one is definitely more cozy than the first book.

~ If you love cozy mysteries, you will enjoy this book but for me, I missed the action, twists and turns that I loved in book one.

~ This one moved to slow for me and it left me uninvested in the story.

Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed book one more than this one because Katie’s character had room to grow. I feel like this one moved too slowly for me and I didn’t connect to the characters. If you like cozy mysteries, definitely give this series a try.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

Play the Fool by. Lina Chern | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You Between the Lines by. Katie Naymon | Audiobook Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️

Title: You Between the Lines

Author: Katie Naymon

Narrator: Sarah Beth Goer

Format: audiobook (borrowed)

Pages: 384 / Audio Reading Time (approx.): 10 hours

Publication Date: 2/17/25

Categories: Romance, Contemporary, Poets, Rivals to Lovers

A former sorority girl starts a prestigious poetry MFA program only to discover that one of her fellow grad students is her high school crush-turned-nemesis—who can’t stop writing about her.

No one’s more surprised than Leigh when a prestigious MFA program in North Carolina accepts her. A former sorority girl, Leigh’s the first to admit she knows more about the lyrics of Taylor Swift than T.S. Eliot, and she’s never been able to shake the “all-style-no-substance” feedback her high school crush made in their poetry workshop. Bad enough that her tattooed, New Yorker tote bag-carrying classmates have read all the right authors and been published in the country’s leading literary journals, Leigh’s insecurities become all too real when Will, that same high school crush-turned-nemesis, shows up at orientation as a first-year in the program, too. And now, he’s William, exactly the kind of writer Leigh hates, complete with his pretentious sweater vests and tattered Moleskine.

Leigh’s determined to prove herself—and William—wrong by landing the program’s highly-coveted fellowship. But Will’s dead-set on it, too, and in a small cohort, they can’t keep apart for long. When Will submits an intimate poem (that’s maybe, probably, definitely about Leigh) to workshop, they’re both forced to realize there’s more to the other than what’s on the page. And what’s between the lines may be even more interesting.

Content Warning: body image issues, anxiety, parents going through a divorce, mental health

+ Leigh is dealing with her parents’ divorce, and is in a MFA program because she wants to write poetry instead of go back to a corporate job. On top of that she’s dealing with body issues, anxiety and she’s judgmental towards other poets, especially towards male, white poets! She had a lot going on and so much to work through. There is a lot of mental health and therapy discussed in this story and I appreciate how she’s very real and imperfect.

+ Leigh has always crushed on Will so when they are in the MFA program together they finally get to spend more time with one another. Will is very closed off and not great at expressing his feelings. He and Leigh have a lot of challenges trying to express how they feel about one another. There is mistrust, there is fear of being intimate (emotionally), it was a lot of back and forth. They eventually work things out but it took a lot to get there.

+ I thought the secondary characters in the MFA program helped open Leigh’s world up. There were some fun characters, like Leigh’s best friend who kept things real with her.

~ Leigh is very judgmental to the point it was a bit irritating. We get it, she hates white male poets, a LOT. And wants to write poems about pop culture, mostly Taylor Swift. The group could have judged her but they didn’t, so I thought it sucked how she kept hating on poets who study classic poetry. Will calls her out on it eventually but yes, she’s imperfect which is very relatable and at least she was going to therapy.

~ Leigh writes poetry about pop culture, a lot about Taylor Swift so it you aren’t into books mentioning her name all the time, you might want to skip this.

~ Miscommunication is a big conflict in this story. She holds animosity against Will because of the way he critiqued Leigh’s work in high school – one critique! And he doesn’t even remember doing it when she confronts him at the end about it.

Final Thoughts:

I found the audiobook pretty easy to listen to and I was really into this story about people in an MFA program for poetry – I thought that was a unique story. What I didn’t love was Leigh who is imperfect (which is relatable, and I do like that about her) but so judgmental about other poets, it really turned me off to her. And to hold that grudge against Will over one critique – she was kind of exhausting as a character. They eventually work through relationship issues but it was a lot of back and forth.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

All Paths Lead to Paris by. Sabrina Fedel | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: All Paths Lead to Paris

Author: Sabrina Fedel

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 336

Publication Date: 6/17/25

Publisher: Delacorte Romance

Categories: Young Adult, Romance, Coming of Age, Contemporary, Fake Dating

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Delacorte Romance for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

When a fashion influencer with a luxe Parisian life and a fake musician boyfriend meets a “normal” guy and begins to date him on the sly, she must rethink all of her lies—and consider whether they might have a little too much truth in them.

Seventeen-year-old Aurie McGinley lives an envied life as a fashion influencer in Paris, sharing a manager with, and fake dating up-and-coming musical god Remy St. Julien. Girls throw themselves at Remy, but he’s always just been her best friend. She doesn’t have time for a real boyfriend.

Until she bumps into normal guy, Kylian, while fleeing paparazzi. Kylian is the type of guy her mother wants her to date. In fact, her family would rather she focus on school and getting into an elite college than showcasing the latest runway haute couture. Aurie begins to think Kylian is the guy for her, too.

She’s fake dating one guy, while actually dating another—all while keeping up a constant, live video diary. But then a fake kiss with Remy turns steamy and her head is scrambled. Could her best friend really be the one for her? Aurie must tune out everyone else’s expectations to focus on herself and discover what she really wants.

Content Warning: paparazzi

+ This young adult romance is set in Paris, and Aurie is a fashion influencer who documents her daily life and it is her rise to fame. She is fake-dating her best-friend, a famous musician named Remy. They got together to chase more fame but now she’s wondering what is happening to their friendship.

+ This is a really quick, light, fluffy read. I love the setting of Paris and learning about the education system and the tests they have to take. Of course the French food being featured in the book sounds delicious. The romance involves Aurie fake-dating two boys, until she dates one for real. But you can kind of tell where this story is going from the beginning and I did like that both boys were nice.

+ Aurie is trying to figure her life out. She’s a successful influencer but she still has parents who want her to attend college. But with parents who are divorced, one in America and one in France, she has to make some hard choices. She also can’t make those choices until she finishes the test that all highschoolers in France have to take, the Le Bac. But Aurie has a problem with learning math and has a disability called dyscalculia, which I never even heard of so I learned something.

~ The fake dating both boys occurs almost 60% into the book and doesn’t actually make me believe she has feelings for Kylian at all.

Final Thoughts:

I did like the author’s first book better than this one, but this one did have it’s charm and it’s set in Paris. This one is a cute, easy, light young adult romance.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

All Roads Lead to Rome by Sabrina Fedel | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

On Wings of Blood by. Briar Boleyn| Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Title: On Wings of Blood (Bloodwing Academy, #1)

Author: Briar Boleyn

Format: ebook (Kindle Unlimited)

Pages: 523

Publication Date: 11/30/24

Categories: Romantasy, Dark Romance, Enemies to Lovers

What do you get if you mix Harry Potter with Fourth Wing, Zodiac Academy, a dash of Arthurian legend, and lots and lots of vampires? Bloodwing Academy.

I didn’t sign up for this.

A half-fae in a school of highblood vampires? That’s a recipe for torment.

I’m Medra Pendragon—last of the dragon riders, or so they tell me. Funny thing is, there are no dragons left. Not a single one. But somehow, that hasn’t stopped the vampires from deciding I’m worth capturing. Now I’m stuck at Bloodwing Academy, where the highbloods run everything and blightborn like me? We’re just blood in their veins, pawns in their games.

But that’s not even the worst part. Enter Blake Drakharrow. Cold, arrogant, and way too gorgeous for his own good. He’s been tormenting me since the moment we met, and now, thanks to some ancient ritual, we’re betrothed. He acts like he owns me, but I’m not going down without a fight.

Bloodwing isn’t just a school—it’s a battlefield. Highbloods fight for power, and if you’re weak? You’re dead.

Between deadly competitions, lies that could get me executed, and a dragon-shaped secret looming over my head, all I have to do is survive. Easy, right? Except I’m starting to think the real danger isn’t the academy—it’s what I’m becoming in this twisted game of power.

And Blake? He might just be the one who pushes me over the edge.

They think they can control me. They think they can use me.

But they have no idea what they’ve awakened.

Content Warning: violence, death, bullying; the book has an extensive list of trigger warnings

Okay, I finally pushed through and read this book which is a sensation on booktok! And I have a few thoughts. Let’s start with the good.

+ I always love a dark academia type of book. I don’t know why, but I always have and I did enjoy it in this story as well. In Bloodwing Academy, there are four main vampire houses that rule. The blightblood who are not vampires but allowed into the school will be funneled into a certain house by the end of the year. The students learn different things like combat, healing, history, and more.

+ Medra Pendragon, is fae/human, but forced to be bound to a vampire prince, Blake Drakharrow, because of her dragon rider mark. For the most part I thought she is an interesting character who has lots of fight in her, and secrets. Because she dropped out of nowhere, she knew nothing about vampires and their world so she questioned a lot of the authority figures. It will be interesting to see what happens in book two.

+ I did find the world-building fascinating because I also do love a good vampire story. There was a lot to learn about the vampires, dragon riders and then there is Medra who is fae and just dropped out of her world into this vampire one.

+ I enjoyed the found family Medra created with her new friends at Bloodwing Academy especially since some of the highblood vampires, Blake’s friends, were trying to make her life hell.

~ This was almost a DNF in chapter one because I was lost and confused. And I put it aside for weeks but kept seeing tiktoks about it and I really wanted to know what the fuss was about so I finally PUSHED through the beginning and once Medra is at the academy things start to make sense. So I didn’t like how this book started.

~ I don’t love the romance. They are forced to be bound because of Blake’s uncle, and because this book was mostly world-building and learning about vampires since Medra is clueless about this world, I felt like they didn’t have much interaction. When they did interact I didn’t feel any chemistry and yet he’s obsessed with her. There is one real spicy scene between them, I think two fantasies, but just one real one and even then I felt it came on suddenly. And then he goes and messes it all up – really Blake? (And why is this hot, scary vampire named Blake?!) I’m reading book two just to see if he can redeem himself. Honestly, I wanted her to end up with Kage Tanaka!

~ I think there was too much going on in this story. There is Medra’s secret fae identity, she’s a dragon rider – how? Why? And then her mother that died at birth is in her thoughts, she is talking to her spirit, but that kind of goes away in the middle of the story? And Blake’s sister is going feral. Then Medra has to do all these trials, plus all the schooling she taking on. It just didn’t flow well for me. It felt all over the place.

Final Thoughts:

This would have been a DNF if I didn’t power through and in conclusion it’s one of those books that is entertaining if you like all the tropes like dark academia, enemies to lovers, found family and more. I didn’t love the writing style and it might be just me but I had trouble with the formatting of the text not having indentations (it was driving me crazy which made me want to DNF at first). I didn’t love the romance either – will there be someone else for Medra? Probably not, so let’s see if things change in book two and I am reading book two because of the dragon aspect of the story which only really emerged at the end of this book. I think it has a lot of potential but just didn’t love the execution of it.

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Pigeon-Blood Red by. Ed Duncan| Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice:

Title: Pigeon-Blood Red (Pigeon-Blood Red, #1)

Author: Ed Duncan

Format: ebook

Pages: 250

Publication Date: 9/2/2016

Categories: Suspense, Crime, Mystery, Thriller

For underworld enforcer Richard “Rico” Sanders, it seemed like an ordinary job: retrieve his gangster boss’s stolen goods, and teach the person responsible a lesson.

But the chase quickly goes sideways and takes Rico from the mean streets of Chicago to sunny Honolulu. There, the hardened hit man finds himself in uncharted territory, when innocent bystanders are accidentally embroiled in a crime.

As Rico pursues his new targets, hunter and prey develop an unlikely respect for one another.

Soon, he is faced with a momentous decision: follow his orders to kill the very people who have won his admiration, or refuse and endanger the life of the woman he loves?

Content Warning: violence

+ I was asked to read and review this book even though it’s not really the type of genre I usually read but I was open to trying it.

+ I liked how some of the story is set in Honolulu, Hawaii, since I’m from here. The author definitely described Waikiki really well! And though Hawaii is known as paradise, there is a dark underbelly to paradise, and I think this crime story fit well in this setting.

+ I thought the story moved quickly and it is pretty straightforward as we follow Rico doing his job. There is a lot of action and it’s also only 250 pages long so it’s a quick read.

~ It’s not a genre I usually read so I wasn’t totally into the story.

Final Thoughts:

This is definitely not the type of book genre I read these days, though I did have a phase of reading crime thrillers years ago. So I didn’t enjoy it like I do other books but it is well written so if you like fast moving crime thrillers, you might enjoy this book!