Tag: 18+

Review: Throne of Air and Darkness by Emberly Ash

Published on by Amanda

5 / 5 Stars!

This series just keeps getting better!

This is book 2 in the Secrets of the Faerie Crown series. Once again, we follow Veyka and Arron on their road leading the fae. Veyka is our curvaceous heroine who’s coming into her own and rising through depression. Arron is our vicious beast king who is learning new parts to himself as well.

This book has a lot of the same characters, and we get a lot from Parys’s perspective and learn more about Gwyn as well. We get to enter see the human world, and meet wonderful and not so wonderful new characters.

This book is full of so many twists and turns. Everything that we thought we knew from the first book is wrong. Veyka’s whole world has turned upside down. Can her and Arron work through their issues and find their way through it?

I absolutely love this book. The good, the bad, the spicy, the sad, it all blends in to this read that will keep you guessing. I can’t wait for the next book! 

Book blurb from Goodreads:

Down, down, down. I am being pulled away, pulled apart, ripped at the very seams of my being. But a voice in the darkness, a name in the bitter cold air, pulls me back… She was never meant to be queen. But Veyka Pendragon sits the throne nonetheless, High Queen of Annwyn, Protector of the faerie realm. And at her side? The male who was once her enemy, then her ally, and now, something else entirely. The secret she tried so hard to protect was a lie. So was the brother she loved so dearly. She can hardly trust the reality she sees with her own two eyes, let alone the feelings burning in her chest—feelings that she swore she’d never feel again. Arran Earthborn has spent three hundred years killing his way across battlefields to find his place beside the female he loves. He will do anything to keep her safe… even if it means burning Annwyn to the ground in a quest for the truth. But the answers they seek lurk beyond… in a land of pain and desperation. The human realm. The Secrets of the Faerie Crown series is a twisted mythology retelling of the Arthur legend. It is a high-steam fantasy romance with dark elements.

Review: Crown of Earth and Sky by Emberly Ash

Published on by Amanda

4 / 5 Stars!

Twins should not exist in the fae world. Yes, King Arthur and Veyka Pendragon defied those odds. Yet it left Veyka with a terrible secret and a horrible upbringing. After Veyka is forced to take the throne even if only as a farce, she’s forced to marry. There are always two on the throne of Annwyn, an Elemental king or queen and a terrestrial heir proven to be the best and their counterpart. The Brutal Prince, Arron Earthborn, is the strongest fae in a thousand years, so he’s chosen as the king to Veyka’s queen.

The story is from both Veyka’s and Arron’s perspectives. We see Veyka struggle with grief and depression, while plotting her revenge. We see Arron, forced from the battlefield to the court, try to figure out what to do with his new queen, who has no care to rule.

The lust between the two jumps from the page, but can two such guarded people ever let their walls down, especially with secrets that could change the fate of Annwyn?

This is an adult twist of the Arthurian legends and a wonderful read. We’re mostly in one area of the world, but so much more is alluded to that I expect to see in future books. I cannot wait to see more. There are still a few Arthurian legend characters missing that I can’t wait to see, and I need to know if my hunches are right!

There are trigger warnings, so make sure you pay attention to those if you may have triggers.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. It’s also available on kindle unlimited.

Book Blurb from Goodreads page:

What do I want?
A quick death.
Barring that, I only dream of one thing—revenge.
Veyka Pendragon was crowned queen in a farce fit for any circus. Now, as her traitorous court plots around her, the new Queen of the Elemental Fae must take revenge on the humans who betrayed her while also guarding a dangerous secret.
The arrival of her betrothed, the storied Brutal Prince, is merely another cog in the wheels of time and space spinning around her.
Arran Earthborn is the strongest terrestrial fae in millennia. If Veyka wishes to keep the peace her ancestors fought and died for, she must join with him soon.
But the Brutal Prince has not earned his name by playing nice. The torture he exacts will enrage and enflame her—and endanger a secret that would rip their world to shreds.
The days are slipping by.
Very soon I will have to choose…
The crown that destroyed my life but protects my kingdom…
Or settling the scores that haunt my every step.
Crown of Earth and Sky is a twisted mythology retelling of the Arthur legend. It is a high-steam fantasy romance with dark elements.

REVIEW: Gilded Wings by Jaymin Eve

Published on by Amanda

4 / 5 Stars!

I was looking forward to this, and it did not disappoint!

Just to forewarn people who may find this somewhat familiar, the beginning of this story was in an anthology at some point. This book was very different than I was expecting.

The beginning fits the blurb completely. Morgan works at the Dragerfield Library with her best friend and roomie Lexi. Pretty much my dream job. She sounds very young and that occasionally threw me out of the story a little, but it’s very accurate of some people that I’ve known.

After something a little weird happened at work, she gets a call about a missing book in the middle of the night. The call doesn’t come from the person she usually speaks with at the library. Still, she races there in the middle of the night to be confronted by the owner himself Drager, a dangerous yet sexy man with a great voice. In the middle of trying to figure out what happened to the book, a special faerie night begins and throws her and Drager together immediately.

After that hedonistic time (definitely an 18+ book), she’s taken to Faerie to help retrieve the book. Here things drastically slow down for a while. Drager doesn’t actually seem overly interested in her, and other characters are introduced. This includes Drager’s brothers, one of which makes much more of an impact to me personally. So, we unexpectedly find ourselves in a love triangle.

This story is the first part of the Fallen Fae Gods Duology and is not a standalone novel. There is no semi-conclusion at the end of the book, and we have to wait for the next release. In parts, it’s not a book that I would necessarily love, but overall, I really enjoyed it and have already preordered the next one.

Book blurb from author’s website:

One call changed the course of my life forever.
When my phone rings after a night drinking with my best friend, I had no idea my whole world was about to change.
“A book is missing,” a deep, unnaturally enticing voice growls down the line.
Panicked, I race out to Dragerfield Library, breaking all the rules—even if a book is missing, we’re only allowed on property during the day.
But if I don’t find that ancient tome, I’ll be fired anyway.
“You should have waited until morning, human.”
Too late to retreat, I soon learn why the rules exist. Dragerfield is a doorway between worlds. A doorway to Risest, the Faerie realm. A realm they access at night.
And I’m the moronic human who wandered uninvited into their midst.
The fae use humans for two reasons: entertainment, and well, you can use your imagination for the other.
Even worse, the voice on the line that set all of this in motion is no ordinary fae. Drager, with his dragon scales and smoky scent is one of their gods. A Fallen Five.
My new captor.
A missing book is the least of my worries now.
I’d thought I was about to be fired, but instead, I’m heading to Faerie.
And it might be a one-way trip.