Friday, April 17, 2015

Friday Reads: Love in a Time of Monsters by Teresa Yea!!

Hello there guys!

Friday is here and with it another working weekend looming ahead for me. My brain is on overload thinking and worrying about expenses and the apartment and the plans for BEA... and I have been half tempted to just put the blog on hiatus already, but I shall wait till May 1st to start the official hiatus, minus some blog tour posts that I have scheduled.

For this week's Friday Reads I have a wonderful book that has been flying under the radar and I feel deserves to reach more readers because it's a fantasy NA and it is fantastic! It's counted towards my 105 Challenge for my Fantasy books category!




Love in a Time of Monsters (Golden Age of Monsters Book 1)Love in a Time of Monsters by Teresa Yea

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I discovered this book through the amazing artist that did the cover (our dear Jenny from Supernatural Snark) and once I read the summary I knew I had to get it and read it.

And I was right, I loved this one so much! I started reading it at work (night shift) and finished it as soon as I got home and got some sleep. I'd describe this as gothic fantasy with retelling elements, because we get references to novels and characters that know, so maybe it's a gothic fantasy retelling of the events that inspired the classics? Something like that!

I loved the world building and how wonderfuly visual the descriptions for everything was, from the landscapes, to the characters, to the feeling of the places and the monsters.

I loved how well crafted the characters are! None of the characters felt too typical or underdeveloped, because from main to secondary, all have more going on that you see at first. Cat is a survivor, a monster hunter, fragile and strong and an addict. She's broken and so very far from perfect, but I loved her to bits even at her worst moments and I loved how Rob always managed to see the best in her and so make her try to be that best. Same with Liam, even if it took me quiet a while to warm up to him, he's a fantastic character, complex and the perfect mix of antihero and villain. And Rob, well... Rob is of course a very complex character, a reluctant hero if there's ever been one, but with enough strenght and love to make others want be better.

The book takes place in a time of monsters, where sirens drag sailors to their death and get hunted for their scales, where monster hunters are necessary and where the most dangerous of all monsters was brought to Scotland to try and save a life. Mixing POVs and moving from past to current events, this story kept me riveted to the pages, wanting to know more, to see what happened and hoping for as few deaths as possible, but the book really doesn't pull any punches, and I had quite a few weepy moments along the book!

Rob is Robert L Stevenson and some of the events in the book inspired him to write his Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, and this is the part that made me call this book a bit of a retelling.

Before wrapping up this review I must talk about the romance, because there was a love triangle but it was done is such a different way that I just didn't bother me at all, and that's almost a first! Hooray for diversity, and even more diversity in fantasy books! And as a NA book, do consider yourselves warned, there are sexy times ahead, and there's also great humour, fantastic quotes and a lil bit of magic.

All in all a very recommended book to all the lovers of fantasy that will appreciate something fresh and unique and very well crafted! Very well deserve 4 to 4.5 stars!



View all my reviews

12 comments:

  1. Blegh to the love triangle but I am glad that it somehow worked for you! It really does show that the author knows what she is doing if she can get readers to actually be okay with the love triangle.

    Also YAY FOR DIVERSITY IN A FANTASY BOOK! That's hard to come by so I likes it.

    PLUS, the cover is absolutely gorgeous and I had no idea Jenny had designed it!

    I am glad you loved the book so much, Pili! I'll definitely have to check this one point! :)

    Rashika @ The Social Potato

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  2. I saw the word "sirens" and I was like SOLD OKAY DONE. It has been recommended/pushed by a certain someone, so onto the list it went ;D

    Excellent review, Pili!

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

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    1. *grins* Cannot wait for you to read this one!

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  3. The cover was done by a blogger?! WOw, that's amazing! :D I looks so professional and so beautiful! I'm so happy Jen is so talented and made her services available to authors! I'll have to read this myself and experiene the gothic story and setting :D

    Faye at The Social Potato

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    1. YES! Jenny is a fantastic designer & artist! And yes Faye, you need to check this one for sure!

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  4. Oh oh oh, this sounds wonderful! I love the whole "monster hunters" thing. This book sounds like my cup of tea. Thanks for the review. :)

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    1. YES! I get the feeling that you would really like it, Linda!

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  5. Yay :D Awesome review Pili. <3 So happy that you loved this book a lot :) I think it looks so pretty. And the plot sounds exciting :D But ugh. Love triangle? Yeah. I'm staying away from this one, lol :) I know you say it didn't bother you, but it would most likely bother me very, very, very much :p Sigh. Which is depressing. Oh, well. I'm glad you liked it :D Thank you for sharing sweetie. <3

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    1. It is a very different love triangle from usual, but I know you really don't like them at all. Isn't the cover lovely??
      Thank you for always commenting sweetie!

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  6. I am so reading this and SOON. I'm on a huge fantasy kick right now, and this sounds amazing. I'm not bothered by triangles unless they're superfluous, so I'm sure that one that doesn't bother you wouldn't bother me, and even if I wasn't: MONSTERS, monster HUNTERS, SCOTLAND, Treasure Island and Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . . . just, YES.

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    1. YES!! *does celebratory book pushing sucess dance*

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¡Muchas gracias por vuestros comentarios, leerlos me alegra el día!/ Thanks a lot for all your comments, reading them brightens my day!!