The Enchantress by R.L. Weeks

Genre: Erotic Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
This was a beautifully written short prequel to the Haunting Fairytales series.
When we hear the story of Beauty and the Beast, we don't generally think about the Enchantress who cursed the Beast, other than as a plot device. But in this story, we meet Felicity, a girl betrothed to man she has never met. She moves into the palace and meets him, only to discover that he has strange sexual desires and just wants to control her. But then she meets the prince and starts to think that her time as the castle doesn't have to be so bad...

My only complaint about this story was that it was TOO SHORT! I really got into the story and the characters. RL Weeks did a great job of painting a beautiful picture and telling a heartbreaking story of a woman who was tossed around in an unforgiving and cruel political ocean. I have the next book on my kindle and I am quite eager to read it because I just want MORE! :-)

Ratings - (May contain spoilers)
Grammar and editing was really pretty good.
Violence - not much to speak of. A man gets tossed out a window and people die in a fire.
Profanity - Nothing extreme. The word "arse" is thrown around a bit, but other than that, there is not much.
Sexuality - There was a bit of sex in this book. The scenes were not too graphic, though. There was some M/M action, as well as a strange orgy-like scene. Definitely not for those under 18.

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The Elimination by Stormy Corrin Russell

Genre: YA Dystopian
Rating: 5/5
(This is the second book in a series. Click HERE to read my review of the first book.)


This book picks up right after Eroyn has come back to Genesis. She is imprisoned because the leaders of her city believe that she is partially responsible for the bombs that fell and decimated the city. She is essentially an exile. She, Luna, and Archer leave the city and finally travel to the male side of Compound A. When they arrive, no one is there, leading them to believe that Ryker Stroud has harmed the men like he has harmed the women. As the trio tries to figure out what has happened and what needs to be done, they meet a group of men who have survived. They don't want to trust Eroyn, but they want answers and justice just like she does. Will they be able to look past their differences and work together to stop Ryker? Will Eroyn ever be able to go back to Genesis? Will she and Archer ever admit how they feel about each other?
This book was even better than the first installment. Eroyn is a very strong and likeable character. She has overcome a lot of adversity and continues to do what she feels is right in this book. Her friendship with Luna is so wonderful,and I love how she is with Archer as well. If you have read any of my other reviews, you will know that I don't really tend to enjoy a lot of mushy-gushy unrealistic romance. With that said, I love how their relationship progresses in this series. They go from being enemies to allies, and then they realize that they love each other. But there aren't any long monologues about it - they just show each other that they are there for one another and demonstrate loyalty, care, and consideration for each other.
SPOILERS -
I really love her relationship with her brother Blaze. He is a character that you cannot help but love, even though he's supposed to be a bit of a "loser" (and see, I hate even saying that because I just enjoy him so much!). He is wonderfully sarcastic and entertaining. I am glad that Eroyn has him, especially after losing Wes.
There are some really special moments in this book. The Festival near the end was really refreshing and I also LOVE how the females in the compound came together to strengthen themselves and the community. They didn't roll over and become victims, they stepped up and did what needed to be done. Overall, the character development was fantastic. The only thing that made me a little sad was what happened with Eroyn and her mother. I understand that everyone went through a lot, but I felt like Eroyn was a little cruel. (But that just makes her character all the more real.)
There is a lot that happens in this book - more information is revealed about what is happening outside of Compound A. The Epilogue reveals some truly shocking and interesting information that really makes me eager to read the last book in the series.
Awesome book! Very immersive and well written!   

Ratings -

Grammar/Editing - Excellent

Profanity - None

Violence - Mild

Sexuality - Mild



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Royal Lies by K. L Roth

Genre: Historical Fantasy
Rating: 3.5

James is about to become king. Although betrothed to the lovely Alice, he beds many women throughout the castle. Alice is marrying him for power. His step-mother, Mary is not looking forward to his coronation and is at work to undermine him. Somewhere else in the kingdom, a girl named Elle is inducted into a coven of witches. They have great plans for her, involving seducing James... 

Let me start off by saying that this was a very interesting and enjoyable book. It would have received a higher rating from me were it not for two things, the poor editing and the overcomplicated-ness of the plots and characters.

There were a few really unique sex scenes in this that made it quite interesting - not your typical vanilla stuff. I thought it was a good representation of this class of society during this time period (at least from what I have seen on shows like the Tudors and Reign). It reminded me of those televisions shows a lot, so I was able to paint a good picture in my head of the events. I do think that there were too many characters introduced at once, and their names were all very similar so that made things confusing at times. I was also unsure of whether or not this was intended to be historical fiction. There were a lot of names I recognized but the events seemed different than what I have seen/heard before.

What really sticks out to me about this book is the Pagan scenes. The ceremonies and the potion brewing that the witches did was really QUITE fascinating and I do think I will be interested in reading the rest of the series if only for those sections. The rest of the book seemed a bit rushed and not quite put together. As mentioned, the editing was not great. There was a multitude of grammar errors - tense shifts, misspellings, word misusages, etc. With better editing, this book could be really great.

I do think I will read the next one - this one left off at a bit of a cliffhanger! 

Grammar/Editing: Poor

Violence: Medium - There was not a lot of violence in this book. One man is murdered with a sword for political reasons.

Profanity: Heavy - Lots of F-bombs, A words, and more. Fits in with the content of the book, which is highly sexual!

Sexuality: Extreme - There were three graphic sex scenes in this book, and multiple references to it. Characters were often thinking about sex and talking about sex.

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Autumn's Calling by Michelle Weese

Genre: Zombie Post Apocalyptic
Rating: 3.5

Autumn returns home after a long shift at the hospital to find her finance, Luke, acting strangely. He becomes violent, causing her to flee in a panic. She decides to get out of town with her loveable dog, Daisy, and stops the first evening at a quaint Bed and Breakfast a few towns away. She meets some lovely people there, including a gorgeous man named Leland. Shortly after her arrival, sickly looking people come shuffling toward the B&B and one of them bites the owner of the place. It soon becomes a fight for survival as Autumn, Leland, and Daisy head back to Autumn's family.
I will admit that this is the first actual zombie book I have read besides I Am Legend (crazy, right?). I am a HUGE fan of The Walking Dead and movies like Daybreakers, though. This book was different to me in that we got to see what happens at the very beginning. It is always interesting to explore how different people react to a zombie apocalypse. Will they be too scared to shoot the zombies? Will they be able to find shelter or enough food? Autumn was lucky in the fact that her family had a place to hole up. I found it interesting that the power stayed on for so long. Cell phones worked much longer than expected. We didn't get an ACTUAL origin for the virus except for a fascinating and chilling epilogue that makes me really want to read more to find out what happens.
The characters were fairly well done - we got a few really emotional scenes. I think, this being the beginning of the apocalypse, that the action hasn't really started much. I am sure things will get pretty sticky in the next book as more and more people are turned into zombies.
I appreciated a lot of little things in this book. Autumn remarked about the smell of the zombies a few times - I always thought that the zombie apocalypse would just be ridiculously rank. I know that survivors would get used to it at some point. There were a few great visuals - the scenes at the B&B were quite idyllic.
Some of the dialogue was a little cheesy (I always have to remark that I don't read a lot of romance so I tend to not really like the mushy gushy romance parts. Sometimes the way things were worded seemed a little unrealistic.)

Interesting take on the zombie apocalypse! I am glad I have book 2 waiting for me in my kindle!

Grammar/Editing: Needs Work - There were a lot of issues with this book. The wording in many sentences was off (like subject/verb disagreement, fragments, etc.) There were tons of tense shifts throughout the book. There were a lot of punctuation errors. "Him and I" was used when "Him and me" was needed in some cases, etc. Cleaned up, this book would be much better!

Profanity: Mild - This book was really clean. (No F-bombs or things of that nature)

Violence: Heavy - I mean, you HAVE to have violence in a zombie book, but does it really count as violence? People got bitten, and zombies got shot and axed in the head. Other than one violent scene with Luke in the beginning, that was about it.

Sexuality: Mild - There was some passionate kissing, but no sex scenes. Autumn mentioned "indecent thoughts" but nothing ever happened, even though she and Leland were clearly sexually attracted to each other. 

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