Mark These Book(s) Monday: Splinter And Paper & Fire ARC reviews!!

Hello there guys!!

I'm somewhat tentatively back! I needed a break before and after my trip to Star Wars Celebration in London and I really needed a break because work and life make blogging a bit more complicated!

So here I am back now with two ARC mini reviews for this week's Mark These Books Monday, trying to start August right! These two totally work towards my Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge too!

Splinter by Sarah Fine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read Reliquary and really enjoyed it, although our main character Mattie sometimes got on my nerves and I wanted to shake her more than once, but I decided to cut her some slack, because given how her life is thrown upside down... Gods know how I'll handle something of that magnitude!

I'm really happy to report that I loved how Mattie did grow as a character, not only on her powers and her knowledge of the world she is now part of, but also in what she really wants or who she really is. She starts the book in a bad place, both physically and emotionally, even if she had got what she had fought so hard to get back.

I had chosen a ship quite clearly during book 1, even if I wasn't entirely happy about the relationship seemed to be forming at the time, but once again, decided to give it space and see what might come of it, and I'm quite glad to see that although the progress seems to be very slow all through the book, it is what I'd call the right kind of progress!

Splinter is the second book in the trilogy, but it does NOT suffer from middle book syndrome or sequel slump at all! The stakes got really higher, more slightly unexpected betrayal (I was not expecting it entirely, I knew he was not exactly reliable but goodness!) and more enemies coming together to make life difficult (thankfully also more allies) and it also left me wondering about the original relics and how much more we'll learn about them in the bigger picture on Mosaic!

A very much deserved 4 to 4.5 stars to this one! A half star probably because of Asa and Gracie and how much I love when canines are okay! Thank you for that Sarah!!


Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed the first book in the series because it touched on something that had long fascinated me, the Alexandria Library, and created an alternative future where not only it had not burnt but one where it controlled the world. And it is a rather less wonderful world than I would have expected.

On Paper & Fire stakes get higher, betrayals happen unexpectedly and the action is absolutely non-stop! From the training and the fear of discovery in the beginning, to the plotting and sniffing around to mount a rescue, to trying to be ahead of the Library from then on to make sure the rescue doesn't turn into a massacre of all of those involved... we barely get any respite!

Jess has to deal with so much in this book! Not only in terms of being hunted and fighting for his life and figuring out how not to die while facing the Library's automata, but also on the more emotional side of things. He has to figure out his feelings and loyalties towards his family and his friends, and also how to navigate the mess that his feelings and relationship with Morgan are.

Rachel Caine managed to make me even more scared for my poor dear books, sometimes I'd just stop reading the book and go pet my poor darlings in my library room and tell them "You're okay, I would never let any evil Library take you away or any crazy people burn you!!". We get quite a few more unsettling revelations, go through very traumatic events and with quite a few unexpected twists here and there that culminate in one hell of an unexpected cliffhanger!!

Very well deserved 4 to 4.5 stars! I just cannot wait till I can get my hands on the third and final book!! *bites nails*


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Saturday Pages: Mini Reviews for Maxon and Portia by Christina Bauer!

Hello there guys!

Happy Halloween! I hope you are all enjoying this day, handing out candy, dressing up or reading and/or watching some spooky movies! My plans are to watch Nightmare Before Christmas before work tonight... Yes, I work on Halloween night and I'm extremely bummed about that!

Today for Saturday Pages I have a pair of mini reviews for two ARCs that I got via NetGalley (thank you Ink Monster) and that are part of a series that I'm really enjoying, Angelbound and Angelbound Offspring!


Maxon by Christina Bauer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Since I fell in love with Myla and Lincoln in Angelbound I have continued to read all the books in the series, and although I haven't felt the same love for any of the books as for the first one, they are still good and fun to read!

This is the story of Maxon as an adult, and as such we don't really see as much of Myla and Lincoln even if they do appear here and there. I'm pretty sure this book can be read without having read the previous three books, because we get enough little tidbits here and there about past events that are relevant to understand.

The book is told in dual POV, Maxon's and Lianna's. I really liked Lianna, how she was trying her best and standing her ground, I could really relate with her hate of being addressed as "a girl" in a demeaning or patronizing way! I loved that she could stand her own, even if she had some growth to do and adapt to the new situation!

Maxon is one of those alpha-ish guys that never really veers into the arsepha side of the spectrum, and that never treated Lianna as a "must be protected and therefore underestimated" being, so that was a big plus to him. Reading his POV felt like a rather realistic male thought process, so that was also another plus. He was a bit hormone driven and hot and cold on occasion, but he had his own issues that could justify the back and forth!

As far as world building goes we get a look at Elementals and their society and culture and how they interact or not with our previously known realms, as well as a little look at the human realm. The plot is both a mix of Lianna's quest and an Elemental and how to remove a tirant from power and Maxon and Lianna's relationship development.

The pacing was fast and so I read the book quite quickly! I guess I felt like it lacked maybe a lil bit of depth or lenght to develop the relationship a bit more, because it felt a lil bit too quick, even if we have to accept some supernatural connection given the world the book is set in. I guess that my main complain and why I give this one 3 stars, but on the very good side of the three stars!


Portia by Christina Bauer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Portia is the second book in the Angelbound Offspring series and just like Maxon, it can be read as an standalone, not only from the Angelbound series but also you don't need to have read Maxon to read this one, but I'd recommend that you read them all, everything will make a lil more sense!

Portia is a lil bit different from the rest of her family, not so much of a fighter with her hands, more with her brain. She's always been a bit of a second rate sort of royalty given her marks and has got more scorn than respect. I loved that she was a bookworm and had a big connection with both her maternal grandmother & grandfather!

I really liked that Portia could stand her own and show her family (and the general population) that she doesn't need to be a big physical fighter to be able to do something to save the world! And to do so she does have some help, namely Tempest, the Furor Emperor, a full on demon and dragon!!

I really enjoyed the quest to save all the realms that Portia and Temptest embark themselves on, I really like the world building that was done during the quest, but I felt that the romance progression was a bit too fast (even faster than it was on Maxon) and although it is understandable to some extent once something is explained in the narrative... It just felt too fast and too convenient.

I'm tempted to give another star to this one or at least a half star because of the Furor dragons and the ending because I really loved it, but I still felt that the book was a bit too rushed and maybe a bit too short? I wouldn't have minded 50 more pages or so!

This one gets 3 stars but once again, 3 to 3.5 stars and the good side of the 3 stars!



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