Trickey's Books

Heart of the Fae by Emma Hamm is a Beauty and the Beast retelling with heavy, heavy inspiration from old Celtic mythology. Now, I can’t remember exactly how I heard about this book, but it was on my Amazon wishlist for a while and I stumbled across it again. I love books about faeries. I love books about healers. I love fairytale retellings. This is all three, and it is wonderful. The main character, Sorcha, is a midwife who lives in a brothel (side note: this book is sex work positive. How rare is that? Definite plus for me!) Her home, Uí Néill, is being plagued with horrible parasites, and her adoptive father falls prey to them. When begging for help from a mostly-forgotten goddess, Sorcha is sent on a journey that takes her to an island of exiled fae where a banished king, Eamonn, hides in an ancient castle. The writing is wonderful. Hamm is witty, descriptive, and thrilling in her style. Nothing moves too fast or too slow, and we get gorgeous descriptions of the fae lands and the...

Thank you to the Inspired Quill, Dorothy A. Winsor, and cardinalsluvbooks for providing a copy of The Trickster by Dorothy Winsor in return for an honest review! The Trickster follows two fascinating young protagonists: Dilly, a lady-in-waiting to a noblewoman, and Fitch, the son of a smuggler, who find themselves caught up in a dangerous plot that kicks up in the middle of the winter festival. Starting out with a rather whimsical scene of a girl in a winged costume with a loyal little dog, this book quickly surprises you with the tactful treatment of rather serious issues. Dilly and Fitch both have deep, complicated backstories that constantly affect the way they handle what they're going through in the present. Nor would one read the beginning and expect the political intrigue and truly sinister plans that our main cast needs to bring a stop to, and yet it works. The dark topics and realistically cruel villains slide in like puzzle pieces, making this book a page-turner you'...

Scars of Cereba by Rachel Emma Shaw is the sequel to The Last Memoria . Thanks to the author for providing me an ARC in return for an honest review! If you read my review of the last book, you’ll know that The Last Memoria was an incredibly dark book. This one is no different. If you struggle with depression or self-harm, this book might not be the best choice for you. It opens in a bleak setting, with Falon hanging from a pillar for public humiliation. He’s spent months imprisoned, with Sarilla long gone. Well, almost gone. At the end of the last book, Sarilla poured some of her memories into Falon. This resulted in a rather confusing format for the first portion of the book. Sarilla and two versions of Falon existed in his head, and it wasn’t always easy to tell which one was narrating, as it switched quite often. Personally, I think it might have been easier if each chapter for that portion was titled after whose PoV it was. It consists mostly of inner monologue, giving you a fron...

We return once again to Solaris in Kova’s newest novel: A Trial of Sorcerers . Taking place after the events of Crystal Caged, Solaris and Meru, previously known as the Crescent Continent, are now allies. We step away from the royal family, however, and the main character is a young woman named Eira. She’s a waterrunner, giving her command over water and ice, but her talents don’t stop there: she hears the voices of people attached to the objects they were near, making her privy to secrets that she was never supposed to know. Right off the bat, Eira is a likable character. She’s awkward and shy, obsessed with Meru, and unapologetic about her obsession. She always does her best, though she’s constantly held back by her family. She and her best friend, Alyss, have the best friendship, too. They always look out for each other, even if they won’t be happy about it. Eira is a fun character to follow and watch come into herself. The plot is absolutely thrilling. Conflict is introduced early ...

  The author, Kanika, sent me a free copy of this book in return for an honest review. Thank you! I want to get this out of the way first: the writing style didn’t particularly vibe with me. Kanika’s style has heavy use of dialogue, without much in the way of description. I’ve seen this style before, and I’ve enjoyed it in short stories, but for a longer book I really want more visuals to go along with the characters’ lines. It was several chapters in before we learned that our main character, Kara, has blue skin. It seems like a small detail, but it’s an important one. That being said, the characterization is good. You get a quick feel for all of them, especially the main two, Kara and Cifer. The dialogue is also well done: witty banter and long, emotional conversations abound across every page. Kanika is imaginative in how she presents her characters and their different ways of life, making a world that’s certainly intriguing, even if you wish you had more information about it. T...

Thank you, Netgalley, for this free review copy! A Universe of Wishes is a #WeNeedDiverseBooks short story collection, featuring a wide array of authors and an even wider array of stories. Before I officially get into the review, I’d like to make a quick disclaimer: I had to skip two stories because they were from series that I either haven’t read or haven’t read in completion yet. One of which was the A Darker Shade of Magic short story that everyone was so excited about. Sorry! Every story in this collection is either fantasy or sci-fi and, even though I’m not generally a fan of sci-fi, I found even those stories to be incredibly charming. Every author they chose is so talented, telling diverse stories that are either about the struggles of the minorities featured, or just about people who are PoC and/or LGBTQIA and just happily going about their lives. With so many stories, I’d struggle to review each one, so instead, I’m going to review four select favorites. It opens with “A Uni...