ARC Review: "This Blade of Ours" (This Monster of Mine #2) by Shalini Abeysekara

This Blade of Ours by Shalini Abeysekara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

Sarai believed the worst was behind her. However, months after exposing the government’s corruption in what has now been deemed “the Great Unravelling,” she faces scorn from citizens who preferred her and Kadra as the underdogs than victors. Worse, eerie omens rock the country: from a deadly plague outbreak to a sweeping madness that leave the afflicted ranting of an approaching reckoning. Accused of angering the gods, Sarai returns to the only place that can clear her name: Ur Dinyé’s frozen north. But among the secrets buried in its ice are Kadra’s.

Cursed with frightening, new abilities, Kadra struggles to protect Sarai against a land at odds with itself. When historical tensions worsen between the north and the south, a powerful religious order seizes control in the chaos, led by a man whose very voice can kill—Noceo bu Kader. Trapped between love and a crumbling country, Sarai and Kadra must outwit a power with roots as deep in fear as in cruelty. But the gods are always watching, and Sarai and Kadra may not escape a second time.

PRE-ORDER ON 

KOBO | BLACKWELL'S

REVIEW

I received an e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

The second and final book of this series begins with a bang, bringing to a thrilling closing crescendo this amazing series. Shalini weaves intricate politics, backstabbing, plotting, romance, and magic in a tapestry of morally grey characters with the center of them being Kadra and Sarai. My beautiful stabby couple has a hard time managing a crumbling city from within, while at the same time, more danger lies on the horizon. Something dark and godly lurks, and it wants to devour the city of Edessa.

The story never lets you rest as the events unfold one after the other. The religious Order hunts Sarai, Kadra may or may not have visions of a god, and a new string of murders may be connected to a new epidemic.

The story is refreshing and vibrant in its descriptions, not to mention the romance between Kadra and Sarai. They complement each other so well despite both their traumas and pasts. I loved reading about them, and moreover, it was refreshing having a male character not being a Shadow Daddy. The series is a hidden gem, and it deserves more praise and love.

Absolutely recommended.



About the author:

Shalini Abeysekara (she/her/hers) is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of This Monster of Mine. As a former corporate lawyer, she enjoys using fantasy to interrogate reality, exploring monstrosity—perceived and real—and centering neurodivergent women of colour reckoning with themselves and their place in a world that tells them they’re too much and not enough. She is passionate about demystifying traditional publishing for all writers. When not writing, she games her life away and tries to make the perfect entremet. Most days though, she can’t believe she's an adult, and hope you don’t either.

Her debut dark fantasy romance, This Monster of Mine, is an Ancient Rome-inspired bloodbath of manipulation, deception, and forbidden love. A second novel will follow in 2026.

Follow her @shalini.writes on IG/Tiktok to be the first to hear about promotions and more! 

Review: "The Moon Raven" by Grace Draven

The Moon Raven by Grace Draven
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

Disaris jin Gheza's rare gift for code-breaking means she must flee a conquering army and a fanatical cult, or become their prisoner and pawn. To evade capture, she will cross perilous territories and sorcerous borders, her aim, rescue her sister from captivity and stop a goddess bent on remaking the world through destruction and bloodshed.

But she won't be facing danger alone. The battle mage known as the Moon Raven travels by her side. Once Disaris's best friend and lover, Bron is now an uneasy ally with a death bounty on his head for desertion.

Bound together by memories and a bond that they both believed broken, the two fugitives must outrun a deadly tracker, save a kingdom, and crush a savage deity - all without dying in the effort.

A tale of loyalty and longing.

BUY ON 

KOBO | AMAZON

REVIEW

It has been a while since I enjoyed a good Grace Draven book. Not for her lack of trying, but mostly because I love all her books, I can not simply choose one. After the author's health issues, this book felt like a comeback to her trademark writing; beautifully crafted worlds feeling fleshed out even for a stand-alone book, romance that develops sweetly and has its trials, and characters both with strengths and weaknesses making them lovable.

Disaris is a prisoner, and the tower she is in is about to collapse from the siege, which has been going for almost two years. By a stroke of luck she is saved by none other than Bron the Moon Raven, warrior and magician of the enemy whoc also used to be her first love and best friend. As the story progresses and Disaris and Bron must unravel their own feelings, war closes in. Disaris has the magic gift of translating everything and anything with a glance, and that is not easy when everyone either wants to use her or simply kill her.

And Bron has to contest both her rejection a few years back and his own feelings, as he never stopped loving her.

The book strikes a delicate balance between storytelling and character development. It goes back and forth between past and present, showing how Bron and Disaris met as children and grew up together.

It does not feel stifling, yet at the same time gives room for more development, as for example we see through Draven's descriptions the everyday life of the village our characters live in. Or how magic manifests without having to memorize a whole glossary of terms seen in other fantasy books.

There is spice, and trust me, they both deserve it after everything they have been through, but it is not the main focus of the book; it just complements the story as a whole.

Overall, this was a great book by one of my top authors, and I surely wish I could have a sequel about a specific sister and another magician.

About the author:

Grace Draven is a Louisiana native living in Texas with her husband, kids and a big, doofus dog. She has loved storytelling since forever and is a fan of the fictional bad boy. She is the winner of the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice for Best Fantasy Romance of 2014 and 2016, and a USA Today Bestselling author.

“Grace Draven is the gold standard for fantasy romance” ~ BookRiot

“When it comes to fantasy romance, Draven is in a class by herself”~ RT Book Reviews

ARC Review: "Vanguard" by Karina Halle

Vanguard by Karina Halle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

Her kiss may be deadly, but he’s indestructible.

Erasmia "Mia" Baxter is her agency's most lethal operative, genetically engineered to have poisonous saliva. But having the kiss of death is hell on her social life. Her future holds no romance, no family, no intimacy of any kind—only killing for her country.

When her special ops group hears rumors that America's first enhanced soldier—Vanguard—may be more deadly weapon than savior, Mia is tasked with infiltrating his inner circle to investigate. What she finds is a former military asset with a hidden dark side—and the only man she can kiss without consequence.

Intoxicated by the obsessive passion rising between them, Mia falls deeper into lust with each new sensual encounter. But the closer they become, the more she realizes there might be truth to the rumors. Vanguard is changing—becoming more violent, more devious, less…human. And the truth of her identity might push him over the edge entirely.

In a world where heroes and monsters are separated by the thinnest of lines, Mia must Is the man she's falling for worth saving? Or is he the weapon he was created to be—one that will destroy her first?

A dark romance special ops spy thriller with a post-dystopian sci-fi bent—VANGUARD has the gripping twists and turns of BLACK DOVES paired with the seductive intensity of Runyx’s DARK VERSE series.

BUY ON 

AMAZON | BLACKWELL'S

REVIEW

I received an e-ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. 

TW: dub con

Karina Halle strikes again with a post-apocalyptic/dystopian book set in a future not so far away and feeling way too familiar with this reality we all face.

Erasmia, Mia is an elite spy from London, with a mission: learn everything she can about America's new hero, the enhanced human Vanguard, and if her is a threat, terminate him with a kiss. You see, Mia is also an enhanced human whose kiss is deadly, making her the perfect spy but also caging her in loneliness.

When her mission becomes more complicated than she anticipated, both she and Vanguard will face the consequences of their forbidden romance.

What drew me to this world was the world-building. This felt different from what Karina usually writes in a good way. The world the story is set on is not the distant 2040s, where the States come out from the so-called Dark Decade and corporations essentially rule behind the scenes. AI is dangerously incorporated into everyday life, and the surveillance is almost Big Brother-like. Mia and her team face a lot of difficulties, but nothing is more mysterious than Vanguard, or as he was known, Nate.

Nate was a very interesting character one I came to like despite what he faces and some of his very very wrong choices. Not to mention that in true Halle style the book ended in a spectacular cliffhanger with a revelation you do not expect! Definitely recommended!

About the author:

Karina Halle is a screenwriter, former music & travel journalist, and the New York Times bestselling author of Grave Matter, Blood Orange, & The Royals Next Door, as well as 80 other romances across all sub-genres, ranging from spicy rom coms to gothic horror and dark fantasy. Needless to say, whatever you're into, she's probably written an HEA for it.

When she's not traveling, she, her husband, and their pup Perry, split their time between a possibly haunted 120 year-old house in Victoria, BC, and their condo in Los Angeles.