Review: The Puppeteer by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

 The Puppeteer is the second book in Kathryn Ann Kingsley's Harrow Faire series centering around the truly delightful Cora Glass. She was an every day girl who once dreamed of being a photographer before Ehlers Danlos Syndrome's chronic pain took her dreams from her and landed her in a boring 9 to 5. Now she's caught up in what she likes to call a Man-Eating Murder Circus, more or less compliments of Simon.  Oh, Simon, the Puppeteer. If you have been following Kingsley's work, you aren't going to be surprised by what I'm about to say.

I love that evil madman, and I love him even more every time Cora puts him in his place.
Romantic lead yes, hero, no. Evil, yes. Loveable, yes. Good guy? No. Sexy as all get out? Yes. Desirable? Yes. Sane? No. Do not forget this. Do. Not. Forget. This.

Ooh, our feisty heroine has so much delightful snark and wit coupled with a tenacity that just won't stop. She's smart and always ready to fight. I big puffy heart her, and it has nothing to do with all the ways she can bend, whether it's on stage or in her bedroom. Get your mind out of the gutter, none of that... yet. So far as I'm saying. You have to read it to find out.

And you have to read it.

This series needs to be read not just for the hotness, and there's hotness. Read it for the glorious characterization. Read it for the fact that you're not normal and neither are the characters. Read it for the heart touching way that Cora sits on the grass and carries on a conversation with a mute character. Read it for genuine human connection in an inhuman world. Read it because we are all living in isolated little pocket worlds these days, and that makes it all the more painful to see Cora's world being ripped from hers.

The menacing and eerie carnivorous circus has all the best setting vibes for this self discovery and otherworldly super dark romance. Do yourself a favor and give yourself permission to indulge and enjoy it. Just remember, I warned you. He's a not a good guy.

Ooh, I just can't wait for the next one! There's a series shaped hole on my bookshelf.

Review: To Love a God (Lily of the Valley Book 1) by Evie Kent

Oof. Where to start with this one? 

If Evie Kent's To Love a God were a story AO3, one would have to list content warnings like noncon. It's a dark romance. There is violence. There is bloodshed. Abduction. Deception. Explicit content. All the things.

And boy howdy, is it one hell of a good ride.

This story is a wonderful opportunity to indulge in a time honored guilty pleasure: rooting for the "bad guy." In this case the "bad guy" is more like "the trickster god," and the damsel in distress is more of a street wise New Yorker. Pitting Nora against Loki wasn't exactly what the villagers who guarded his mountain prison had in mind when they abducted her and brought her as an offering to their captive god, but sometimes someone looks like they'll be a shrinking violet only to find out they're a little more shrieking violent. 

So yeah, if dark is up your alley, it's a great find. I to Love a God on Kindle Unlimited, and I'm glad I did. 

Review: Ghosts and Liars by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Kathryn Ann Kingsley's second book in the Impossible Julian Strande series, Ghosts and Liars is, if it is possible, darker, more psychologically twisted, sexier, and somehow even better than Illusions of Grandeur. 

I feel like this second book is told ever so slightly more from the perspective of the ghost than the first book, and I really enjoyed that. 

Now, for the record, I feel like for all that I've mentioned that it's dark and psychologically twisted, I know there's a lot of C-PTSD readers out there, so I'm going to just throw out there that omg, the gaslighting, manipulation, and other flavors of unhealthy abusive relationships get covered in this novel to some degree- if not portrayed per se, then perhaps discussed. On the one hand, if you're going into a dark romance, you probably know what you're likely getting yourself into. On the other hand... if you can't read people exercising poor judgment, well, you've been warned.

But like I said before when talking about book one, I've read this pair five times, and for a reason. It's good. The characters are deep multidimensional constructs, and oh, dear me, the magic system is even more exquisitely detailed in this novel, and the geekery abounds. 

I also read Ghosts and Liars first as a Kindle Unlimited offering that I later bought in order to have in my own personal library forever, because I know it will be one of those stories to which I continue to return.

Wicked as They Come

For my full review of Wicked as They Come, 

click here