Rant & Rave- Silvana's Trial by Astrid V. J.

Hello All! I'm back with a rant & rave for Silvana's Trial by Astrid V. J. The book is short, and this post will be as well. I've been writing out blog posts for all the books I've read, but a couple authors have requested I hold off on posting until closer to their release date, so over the next month or so, you'll see quite a few posts completely out of order from the order I read them in. That being said, I did read one other book simultaneously with Silvana's Trial, so we'll start with that. Queens of Fennbirn by Kendare Blake contains two novellas in the Three Dark Crowns series. I really enjoyed one of the novellas, The Oracle Queen. This novella follows a queen referenced in the series, who supposedly went mad and became murderous. Of couse, in the novella, we learn that there's more to the story than history tells us. The other wasn't my favorite, but that might be because I had already read the entire series when I read it. While Queens of Fennbirn came out in the middle of the series, I'm glad I read it at the end. This way it feels like a dive back into a world I thought I was done with, without getting too invested in another whole story. On to Silvana's Trial. Silvana's Trial is a character driven romantasy novella, following crown princess Silvana as she is forced by convention into being a guide for the man who tortured and maimed her father. The man, Ned, is truly repentant, but the story shows Silvana's struggle with whether to forgive him or not. So let's rant: Silvana feels very juvenile for an eighteen year old woman. The book does explain that she grew up very sheltered, but it felt like Astrid A.J. picked some traits to be age appropriate or beyond her years and others to be juvenile based solely on advancing the plot. And let's rave: The novella does an excellent job fitting a fully developed romance plot into under 200 pages. I could see the development of the romance, the struggles faced, and the resolution, none of which felt rushed due to the length of the book. The emotions displayed in the book were realistically portrayed. The descriptions contained both a mental reaction and a physical reaction to each emotion, making the emotions easy to follow and even feel yourself as you read the book. So that's a brief overview of my thoughts on Silvana's Trial by Astrid V.J. and Queens of Fennbirn by Kendare Blake. Let me know if you agree in the comments. Up next will likely be The Head, The Heart and The Heir by Alice Hanov, but I know better than to make any promises at this point. As always, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments! Until next time! Dana

Rant & Rave- Variance by Zoe Abrams

Hi everyone! You've made your way to my Rant & Rave for Zoey Abrams' Variance. This book came out on May 2nd, 2022, and I was fortuante enough to receive an ARC copy of the book to review. But first, let's talk about Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan. Daughter of the Moon Goddess is a book that was released in January and has made a big splash on TikTok, so naturally I picked up a copy. One of my fears reading this book was that the eloquence of the book would be beyond me (and that gorgeously designed cover did not help). Despite the book's popularity, I was still pleasantly surprised- the book was certainly elegant, but in an approachable way. The prose was poetic, but easy to follow. The ending was satisfying and simultaneously left me craving more. I couldn't get enough of these characters! All of the main characters were well-developped, although I do wish we had seen more progression of traits throughout the book, as opposed to them either being there or not being there. This book was superb, and I can certainly see what all the hype was about! So on to Variance- this book is a futuristic fantasy romance with a splash of mystery. The main character, Mariana, is the best tracker in the city of Ithaca. Ithaca was one of four cities formed after war destroyed the United States. The city is split into four distict districts, and Mariana specializes in finding people the police has given up on, mostly from the slums. When a file about a growing list of missing girls piques her interest, she steps into a case more involved, and more dangerous, than she could have imagined. So let's rant: One thing that annoyed me in this book was that a lot of the gestures and body movements were unrealistic, in my opinion. To be fair, I'm not a particularly "touchy-feely" person, so perhaps these are things other people do, but they definitely seemed out of place for me. Another thing I found lacdking in this book were the spicy scenes. They were well written- its just that a lot of the "activities" weren't appealing to me personally. And let's rave: I absolutely love the representation in this book! Of course, there is poly representation amongst the main characters, but there are also side characters of all races and sexualities. I really like the length of the chapters in this book! I know that seems kind of weird to be excited about, but they were the perfect length to escape reality without completely leaving the world behind. I also like Mariana as a character. She is a strong female, but without the cold, emotionless exterior that define some female leads. She is good-hearted and approachable, but also smart and unassailable. Though I do wish she had some more development throughout the book, she is well written and amicable. So those are my thoughts on Variance by Zoe Abrams! Don't forget to check out the newly-released book on Amazon and Kindle. It is a fast read and reminds my of the TV shows Fringe and Continuum, which straddle the line between science fiction and crime drama. Up next will likely be Riddled Worlds by Phil Coleman, a science fiction/portal fantasy set to release in mid-June. As always, feel free to leave a comment, even if it's just to say hi! Dana