Review: Princess of Souls by Alexandra Christo

This was okay! But it was just okay. Very similar to Alexandra Christo's other book for me personally - I had really high hopes for it but it actually fell a bit flat.

In theory, the story was excellent - a (very tenuous) Rapunzel retelling with some magic and suspense thrown in. I loved the concept - a girl who's power is to see the future and then steal the souls of those people in order to fuel an immortal king.

But yeah, this wasn't quite it for me. The main characters were a bit irritating - Selestra was so timid and Nox was so unnecessarily arrogant without ever really backing that up. 

That being said - the book itself is BEAUTIFUL and that definitely helps it. This wasn't bad, but I just wanted it to go a little bit further than it did. I think I probably would have loved this if I was a bit younger - hence the YA target audience! Solid foundation, would recommend to the teens!

Review: Daughter of Darkness by Katharine and Elizabeth Corr

I was pleasantly surprised by this! When I read the First Look I thought it sounded interesting but I had my doubts because my first experience with Katharine and Elizabeth Corr was with 'A Throne of Swans' and I didn't really enjoy that at all. But this was fantastic.

Deina is a soul-severer. Bound against her will to the House of Hades, she's trying to work off her indenture and earn her freedom. So when Orpheus the Tyrant offers her a chance to do one task for him and be free, she takes it. But she soon realises that every task comes with a cost, and this is one that she might not be willing to pay...

This was really well-written. Fast-paced, action packed, and full of twists and turns. The story was interesting and well-thought-out. The one thing I would say is that I didn't love the relationship between Deina and Theron. I just didn't buy it at all, and didn't care for the way it was left either. This book does set itself up for a sequel, and I'll definitely be picking it up!

Review: The Arc by Tory Henwood Hoen

I'm conflicted about what to say for this book. Ultimately, I enjoyed it and I think that's the key takeaway. However, there are also a lot of things that I didn't enjoy about this.

Ursula and Rafael sign up to The Arc - a $50,000 program that promises one perfect match. They set out on this seemingly perfect relationship but soon realise that nobody can predict or facilitate love in the way that they think...

Things I liked: the premise of The Arc, Ursula's character, Mallory the cat, Rafael's character.

Things I disliked: the too-perfect relationship they had at the beginning, the ridiculous situation that led to them breaking-up, how Ursula gets fired from her job.

The biggest issue with this book is that it was way too wordy. There were PAGES of information that just wasn't necessary to the story at all. We got a good few pages on the backstory of Rafael's parents, who then don't appear in the story at all! You could probably cut this book down by a third and still have the same journey.

Ultimately, this sounded like an interesting premise and I enjoyed it, but it was just okay.