Category: Paranormal / Fantasy

The Siren and the Deep Blue Sea by Kerrelyn Sparks

On By TracyIn Historical Paranormal/Fantasy, Paranormal / Fantasy, Top Pick - Highly Recommended, Tracy's Reviews1 Comment

The Siren and the Deep Blue Sea (Embraced by Magic, #2)The Siren and the Deep Blue Sea by Kerrelyn Sparks

Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Embraced, #5 / Embraced by Magic, #2

Release Date: August 25, 2020

Maeve is the youngest of the “Embraced” sisters and after years of seeing her older sisters find love. become wives, mothers and Queens, it is finally Maeve’s turn for a HEA. I loved Maeve and Brody’s story, which is a well written, action packed, exciting read, but there is just no way to review the plot of this book without ruining the enormous twists, turns and surprises – but suffice it to say, the Embraced series concludes with an epic bang!

The reader will learn who the started the Circle of Five and why, you will learn more about Brody’s past and his curse, you will find out who Maeve’s parents are and what that means to the other sisters, you will learn who the Chameleon really is, you will finally learn about the Embraced army, there will be sea battles, exploding fish, house cats, tigers, cameos with all the sisters and their husbands, a sweet secondary romance, warm love scenes, surprises, shocks, an epic battle to determine the fate of Aerthlan once and for all and finally a HEA that may or may not break a curse!

After reading the other “sisters” stories and being completely enchanted and blown away, I didn’t believe that Ms. Sparks could surprise me or outdo her previous success, so I prepared myself to be let down by the finale and just hoped I got a few answers – I am happy to say, I was WRONG – very, very, very wrong – not only did Ms. Sparks give me answers – she answered questions I didn’t even think to ask! Maeve and Brody’s story is the crown jewel in the Embraced/Embraced by Magic series – if you haven’t read the previous books and you enjoy the fantasy/paranormal/magic sub-genre of Historical Romance – you must read this series – preferably in order starting with How to Tame a Beast in Seven Days – I loved this book and I highly recommend this series – you could read this book as a stand-alone title, but seriously, do yourself a huge favor and read all the books in order – it will just enhance the ending for you!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher.*

White Rose of Avalon by Kelley Heckart

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Paranormal / FantasyLeave a comment

White Rose of Avalon: An Arthurian RomanceMy rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone
Publication Date: Re-Released 2/14/20 – Originally Pubbed: 11/16/2007
Number of Pages: 186

If you like the fey, magic, and King Arthur, this might be just the book for you. The reimagined tale of Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin, Lancelot, etc. is interesting, but it just isn’t my cup of tea. So, I’ll tell you a bit about the story itself and not comment too much on my like (or not) of the overall story. I will also mention that I sort of felt as if the ‘story’ was just a means to tie the sexual interludes together. They were definitely a lustful lot.

The power and influence of the Goddess is waning and with the advent of most of the ‘human’ lands falling to the Christians, the faeries now exist on Avalon hidden behind impenetrable mists.

Morgaine, Queen of Faeries, is desperate to regain the Goddess’s faith in her and to protect Avalon – at all costs. She’ll manipulate and sacrifice anything or anyone to further the interests of Avalon – and that includes those she loves.

Morgaine and Lancelot have been lovers for years – and they do love each other. However, Morgaine keeps sending Lancelot away from Avalon on missions as a warrior to gain allies for Avalon – and Lancelot keeps going because he has a wandering, restless soul. Still – their love continues, no matter how often or how long Lancelot is away. That is – until a love potion goes horribly wrong.

Morgaine has orchestrated an alliance between Arthur and the Faeries. She will assure that Arthur becomes High King if he will take a queen from the Faeries. All is going as planned until Morgaine decides to assure they have a strong love bond by producing a potion for them to drink on their wedding day. Except – they aren’t the only ones who end up getting a sip of the potion. OOPS! Lancelot was just so thirsty after a bout of lovemaking with Morgaine that he sipped whatever liquid was sitting around. OOPS!

Lancelot couldn’t understand his intractable longing for Gwenhwyfar. He knows in his logical mind that he loves Morgaine – but – he feels mesmerized by Gwenhwyfar. Thus begins the betrayals and heartbreaks in this story. So many people – manipulated in so many ways – were hurt and even died.

This didn’t feel like a romance to me – and maybe it wasn’t meant to be. It felt more like a tragedy of sorts. While it sort of had a HEA – too many people died – and I really didn’t feel like Morgaine deserved a happy ending of any sort.

If you like a lot of steam and you also like Arthurian tales, you might like this read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.