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bookishbethie's reviews
892 reviews
Quicksilver by Callie Hart
4.25
This book has been having A Bit of A Moment, and in a way that usually gives mw pause. The hype around it was reaching a fever pitch, and I was side-eyeing it hard—but it’s on KU and I needed something to do on a *very* long flight from Dublin to Singapore, so I decided to give it a whirl.
And you know what? I had a blast with it.
The story follows Saeris Fane, a woman living in a desert where water is brutally rashioned by a queen who has been ruling for longer than seems possible for a human. After a damning run-in with a royal soldier and a threat to her brother, Saeris is nearly killed. But she unleashes a power in the palace she doesn’t understand, is saved by a terrifying man, and wakes up the next day in a wintry fae world where she meets a divisive warrior named Kingfisher, who tells her she has a very particular—and vaulable—sort of power.
It’s a classic romantasy setup for sure, and Callie Hart weaves in a lot of beloved elements: the tortured hero, the stranger in a strange land who could end a war, a flouncy, bubbly princess, a rogueish criminal, an adorable animal, court intrigue, supernatural creatures aplenty, and a shock of a cliffhanger. Oh, and spice. There is spice.
So, Quicksilver is a lot. And it does have its flaws—it is not well-paced, the worldbuilding is clunky, and it’s longer than it needs to be.
But you know what? I had a ton of fun reading this. And to me, that’s what matters.
4.25🌟
And you know what? I had a blast with it.
The story follows Saeris Fane, a woman living in a desert where water is brutally rashioned by a queen who has been ruling for longer than seems possible for a human. After a damning run-in with a royal soldier and a threat to her brother, Saeris is nearly killed. But she unleashes a power in the palace she doesn’t understand, is saved by a terrifying man, and wakes up the next day in a wintry fae world where she meets a divisive warrior named Kingfisher, who tells her she has a very particular—and vaulable—sort of power.
It’s a classic romantasy setup for sure, and Callie Hart weaves in a lot of beloved elements: the tortured hero, the stranger in a strange land who could end a war, a flouncy, bubbly princess, a rogueish criminal, an adorable animal, court intrigue, supernatural creatures aplenty, and a shock of a cliffhanger. Oh, and spice. There is spice.
So, Quicksilver is a lot. And it does have its flaws—it is not well-paced, the worldbuilding is clunky, and it’s longer than it needs to be.
But you know what? I had a ton of fun reading this. And to me, that’s what matters.
4.25🌟
The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce
4.5
This is an angsty, second-chance romance with very messy characters, forced proximity, a chaos wedding, an FMC with nuanced bad-at-communication syndrome but a lot of feelings about being an adult and how weird it can be, so naturally, I loved it.
Business Casual by B.K. Borison
3.75
The final book in BK Borison’s Lovelight series, Business Casual is an autumn book with a black cat girlie who is a tattoo artist (Nova Porter) and a golden retriever man in finance (Charlie Milford) who embark on a super-hot ~tryst~ . The love story here is a little bit of a quiet one, but it’s really lovely *and* there is a genuinely wonderful grand gesture.
The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen
3.0
This is the interconnected sequel to The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, and though I loved that it is a friends-to-lovers story about characters in their 50s as well as what it had to say about feminism and motherhood, the love story also just didn’t hit as hard as Hart and Mercy’s did. But! I really admire what Megan Bannen did with this, and also: DRAGONS!