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“There are always challenges, she told me. In every generation – yours, mines, the ones who came before and the ones who will come after – there are those who want things to be different and those who want things to stay the same.”

—Venom and Vow

Anna-Marie McLemore has done it again. They have written a world so detailed, so lush, that I was totally and utterly sucked into completely, and won’t forget any time soon. Beyond the world building, though, Valencia and Cade are heroes that you want to win, even when they are fighting one another. 

I am not typically one for fantasy without romance, especially not YA fantasy, however, Venom and Vow was fast paced with enough intrigue and action to keep me engaged. 

Oh, and the representation in this book! Latinx inspired, with a good amount of Spanish words sprinkled throughout; Cade, a transgender prince and Valencia, a bigender dama to the princess. Oh, and they are both disabled! The overwhelming message throughout this book is to be true to yourself.

Thank you to Turn the Page Tours for including me on this tour! 

“Asking for all of me to be acknowledged like this seems like asking him for the moon and all the accompanying stars.”

—Venom and Vow

Title: Venom & Vow

Author: Anna-Marie McLemore, Elliott McLemore

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Release Date: May 16, 2023

Genre(s): YA Fantasy

Buy Link: https://amzn.to/44e6jFB

SYNOPSIS: 

Keep your enemy closer.

Cade McKenna is a transgender prince who’s doubling for his brother.

Valencia Palafox is a young dama attending the future queen of Eliana.

Gael Palma is the infamous boy assassin Cade has vowed to protect.

Patrick McKenna is the reluctant heir to a kingdom, and the prince Gael has vowed to destroy.

Cade doesn’t know that Gael and Valencia are the same person.

Valencia doesn’t know that every time she thinks she’s fighting Patrick, she’s fighting Cade.

And when Cade and Valencia blame each other for a devastating enchantment that takes both their families, neither of them realizes that they have far more dangerous enemies.

“I know the way only others like us can know each other.”

—Venom and Vow

Los trovadores sing of how their people are as pale as the winter moon and as deep as the clearest summer night, and every shade of wheat and sand and earth brown in between.

—Venom and Vow

Whenever you see someone, it’s foolish to assume they haven’t seen you.

—Venom and Vow

Lucky Leap Day was such a cute romcom, and perfect for February!

A Leap Day tradition in Ireland is called Ladies’ Privilege, where women can propose to men. After a few too many whiskies, Cara proposes and marries Finn while visiting Dublin on vacation.

The chemistry between Cara and Finn was fantastic and the addition of the doggy made for a fun read. Oh and Penelope was the perfect side character to give some comic relief and wise advise.

This was a lovely clean romance, with all of the steamy scenes closed door and fade to black

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the review copy of Lucky Leap Day!

Imagine the Empire State Building removed from New York City. Imagine that building reconstructed brick-by-brick on your father’s private island-the trappings of the past stolen from the public to indulge unfettered hypocrisy. This is James’s defeated and ravaged landscape when his father, Fep Anglish, successfully monopolizes all forms of industry into one perfect company called U atop the collapse of the old world.

Ownership becomes a thing of the past. Now, anyone can have anything-temporarily. Is this hosanna? Maybe on paper. But to James, the “rent and move on” lifestyle is a total hell. And in this hell, his impossible dream of becoming something fuels his transience and passivity.

This is reality until one strange day, when the whole thing comes tumbling down on itself and James finally gets the opportunity to break away. In a U space shuttle, he travels to the ultimate unknown in boundless space.

Freedom, finally? The real hosanna?

Written By Kip Langton

Once Upon a Royal Christmas was the perfect was to kick off the holidays and my marathon of holiday romcoms.

Gracie is a children’s party princess who wins a contest to bring her Princess Snowflake to the country of San Glacera during their Christmas festivities.

The grumpy-sunshine relationship between Gracie and Prince Nikolas of San Glacera was everything I wanted in a romcom. I especially loved reading as Nikolas slowly melts from the abominable snow prince as he gets to know Gracie.

The scene in the Christmas Tree Maze was by far my favorite in this book, and for once I didn’t mind that the author included and epilogue because I definitely wanted to know what happened to these two after the final chapter.

I listened to Once Upon a Royal Christmas as an audiobook, and the narrator, Brittany Pressley, did a fantastic job keeping my attention throughout the book.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media, Hallmark Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced audiobook copy of this book.

Winter in Montana. Hot cowboys. Small towns.

If I haven’t sold you already, then the 🔥🔥🔥 Santa scene is definitely a reason for you to pick up Snowy Montana Nights.

I picked this up because of the setting – Gardiner, MT, a town on the Northside of Yellowstone National Park. I loved visiting Montana and this small town definitely brought me right back to Big Sky Country.

I really liked the tension between Wendy and Zane, as well as the building relationship between them. The side characters in this really made the story come alive!

This is book three in the Dallas Debutantes series, but can be read as a standalone.

There’s nothing like enjoying cute kitty photos and positive affirmations together with your own kitty.

Every night before bedtime The Boyfriend and I, along with our sweet kitty, Cora, read stories together. Living Your Best Life According to Nala Cat was so sweet with so many adorable photos of @nala_cat.

This would be a great book to keep in your desk for days you need a little positive encouragement in the middle of the day.

Lore Olympus was such a #bookstagrammademedoit book. The illustrations were beautiful – the colors so vibrant – and the story of Greek gods in graphic novel form I just couldn’t pass up reading this one.

I’ve been in such a reading slump, too. So graphic novels have been my go to books recently, and Lore Olympus was definitely and indulgent read while I’m in this slump.

I really enjoyed reading this story – especially the beginning of Persephone and Hade’s relationship. But the parties and relationships between the gods on Olympus.

I read this quickly, but I didn’t find myself connecting with any of the characters. I think it would be difficult to connect with Greek gods, to be honest.

That said, I am absolutely looking forward to reading the next volume of this series, which releases this July.