I have been truly blessed with receiving audio ARC copies of some of my most anticipated books lately, which has been a gift! February has been a month of releases already and I’m so excited to be able to talk to you about the audio release of A Crown This Cold and Heavy by Stacia Stark, the third in a fantasy romance series that I’m thriving, What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher, the follow up to what I think was my first ever horror novel, and A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams, an incredibly unique and lovely Black romance. And fortunately for you, they’re all available now!
A Crown This Cold & Heavy
by Stacia Stark
Since this is the third book in the Kingdom of Lies trilogy, there’s not a ton I can say about the plot in this book specifically. What I can say is that I picked up A Court This Cruel and Lovely because it was nominated for Best Romantasy in the Goodreads Choice Awards and a couple people that I follow read it and enjoyed it. It was described as a good time with good world-building and I am so glad I listened and picked it up. Essentially Prisca lives in a world where babies are forced to give up their magic in some weird ritual that everyone does and then they get a small fragment of their magic back on a particular birthday. If you are found to have magic prior to that birthday, you’re considered Corrupt and killed. Prisca has magic and she knows that she’s eventually going to have to run away, only that timeline gets dramatically sped up. Along the path of running away she encounters a group of mercenaries and has a good bit of sexy banter with the guy who seems most opposed to her being with them.
Things evolve so much from there and these books have some truly incredible found family elements and by book three, the spice is spicing. I think if you have liked Sarah J. Maas in the past, you should give these books a shot because while Prisca and her man aren’t Rowan and Aelin, they are pretty freaking cute. And the mercenaries give me slight Cadre vibes. So basically, what I’m saying is if you want Throne of Glass vibes but with Silver Flames level spice, give this series a shot.
And since I was lucky enough to receive the audio ARC of book three, I can attest that I am desperate for A Queen This Fierce and Deadly in the series which is out in May. Stacia Stark definitely knows how to write a cliffhanger. Oh, and audio these for sure. The audiobooks have been fantastic and have been how I’ve consumed each book in the series. I think they’re well narrated and despite the multiple POVs, I’m never confused about who I’m following. Make sure you are paying attention though. There are plenty of details happening that you don’t want to miss!
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde
by Tia Williams
I’m classifying A Love Song for Ricki Wilde as a contemporary romance, which I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure about when I initially read this book because I had no clue what to expect based on the blurb. So let me tell you what this book is actually about unless you want to go in confused. Ricki moves to Harlem after a chance encounter with this super sweet older woman who wants to support her dream of opening a flower shop. While in Harlem, she encounters this man who she feels this immediate connection to, but also, something about him and their encounters is weird. I’m not going to spoil the actual plot for you other than to explain that Ricki herself does not go back in time at any point in this book. But I will say that this book does have a bit of a speculative edge to it, similar-ish to the Kelley Armstrong series I really love, A Stitch in Time, but without exploring the timey-wimey ness of it all the way Armstrong’s series does.
At its heart, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a love story and it is a romance. I know Seven Days in June was pretty literary for a romance and it focused quite a bit on the character’s individual journeys, but A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is really about soulmates (my word) who have forces working against them trying to keep them from being together. It is also about Ricki trying to find herself and her success on her own two feet and separate herself from her family. And this time, my own personal qualm with this book is not the romance, which I enjoyed, but the fact that Ricki’s personal journey provides the impetus for the ultimate meet cute but where I think the romance resolves itself beautifully, I’m not as satisfied with the jumps made in regards to her personal journey.
Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit, but my main takeaway would be that I wouldn’t let a negative opinion of Seven Days in June sway you away from this book, but neither would I say that if you loved Seven Days in June that you’ll definitely love this. Tia Williams has gorgeous writing and that was consistent across both books, but overall, I feel like these two books really stand apart as distinct and totally separate works. I like the way Williams is pushing the limits of the genre, but I think you have to be in a particular mood to want to have the bounds of the romance genre pushed so make sure you’re in that mood before you pick this one up.
What Feasts at Night
by T. Kingfisher
I have resolved this year to push my reading comfort zone, which is something I lightly dipped my toes into last year by reading the first book in Kingfisher’s Sworn Soldier series, What Moves the Dead (ARC Review linked). So when I saw What Feasts at Night available for request on Netgalley, I knew I needed to see what I thought of this one. And the thing is, even after reading it, I’m not really sure.
What Feasts at Night still follows Alex Easton, Angus, and Miss Potter, who in this book are going to stay in Alex’s hunting lodge situation in Gallacia. Alex uses pronouns unique to this world, but because I only ever listen, I’m not sure how to spell them, so for the purpose of this review, I will use they/them. Anyway, essentially, Alex’s hunting lodge was being cared for by a man who is now deceased and people in the village are being weird about that. Angus can only get one widow and her grandson to agree to come take care of the cottage. There is a story floating around about some otherworldly entity that can kill a person and Alex is very convinced that such an entity does not exist. Obviously.
What I love about both What Feasts and Night and What Moves the Dead is the way that Alex tells the story. What I mean by that is that both books are told from their perspective, but more specifically told as if Alex is telling YOU the story, which makes it especially effective in audio format. I love the way that perspective is utilized in this book because Alex would specifically say at times, “I’m sure you’re thinking” and I was in fact screaming in my head OH MY GOD, THAT THING ON YOU IS THE THING EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT. So it was a fun narrative experience. I can’t really speak to why I ultimately didn’t like this book as much as What Moves the Dead, partially because I’m not actually convinced that I didn’t. I ultimately gave this a three star upon completion, but as I’m sitting here writing this review, I feel like that may have been more harsh than necessary. The horror in this book is a slow build, but also, the foreshadowing elements are present from the very first page. So it’s an interesting way that it’s told. I think the problem is that while I did feel like Kingfisher did a fantastic job writing the story she did, ultimately this type of horror proved not to be my favorite. That said, if you loved the first book in this series, I would definitely suggest you give this one a shot as well!
Closing Thoughts
Have you read any of these books yet? Or are they on your radar? I would love to hear what you think down below!
xx
firewhiskeyreader 