This is my first book by Kova so I didn’t have any expectations going in, but she really does live up to the hype! I was expecting more Beauty and the Beast vibes from this story, but after the first few chapters this leaned more into the Hades and Persephone reimagining instead. Which was fine! I loved watching Luella and Eldas struggle to find balance between themselves and their worlds. Their romance was emotional and tender, with just a little on page spice that kept this from going full NA. It did get a little slow for me in parts as I felt things were a bit redundant with how often Luella reminds the reader that she is a healer and has to get back to her small town. I kind of wish we also got some of Eldas’ POV in this book, but with it written in 1st person, I understand why we didn’t, I just thought he had such an interesting perspective that there was enough of a story there to give him more of a voice, too.

East of the Sun, West of the Moon is one of those fairytales that feels like it gets done all the time, because of how closely Beauty and the Beast resembles this original tale. But “Daylight’s Curse” was a fresh take on an old classic with all the hallmarks of big, epic fantasies that Hackett is so masterful at crafting. We follow Sebrena, an elf woman who struggles with belonging in her tight knit community as the only one without magic. Through a deal to help her family and her people, despite their ridicule, Sabrena agrees to marry the broody fae prince, who is cursed to be a dragon during the day, returning to his true form at night. Like Sabrena, Kiran also makes a deal that puts him at a disadvantage in order to protect the continent. Which makes for such a strong basis for these two characters, forced into a marriage neither truly wants, to build a genuine, and beautiful relationship from. As long as they don’t accidentally trigger the curse that could see their world destroyed by the evil troll sorceress in the meantime, of course.

“Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun” is a perfect blend of fluffy YA contemporary romance, mixed with the heartbreaking reality of what it can be like for gay teens to come out when they have a toxic parent who is forever full of criticisms. Jules is a sweet, young man who longs to live authentically, but is rightly afraid of what his father may do if he were to know the truth. Jules believes the freedom he so craves to live openly exists only in going to college in Los Angeles, far away from his father in Texas. But when Jules accidentally comes out on Twitter while drunk during a house party with his best friends (they’re all seniors in HS), Jules realizes that he didn’t always have to hide—well, not from everyone.

This is the first domestic, romantic thriller with alternating timelines that I’ve read in a very long time. In “From Fame to Ruin” we follow two characters, Ricardo and Carol, from when they meet at an airport terminal nearly 4 years in the past, to their current predicament in the present, where Carol’s son has been kidnapped, and her and Ricardo are thrust back together once again. Together, they try to uncover who would do such a thing, and why, all while the reader is given clues as to who it might be based on their past together. It’s a really interesting way to present the information, and the author does a great job of making sure the reader doesn’t get lost between past and present with clearly labeled chapter headings. Unfortunately, seeing how Ricardo and Carol are together in the present negated a lot of the sweetness that I otherwise may have felt from their romantic week together in the past. Which is  where the book spends almost half of its time.

“Mastermind” is the third book in Swed’s “League of Independent Operatives” series, so if you haven’t read the first two books then… hey, hi, you should read those and then come back here so we can better discuss this baby. Because in “Mastermind” we are once again put in the middle of two different groups of powered vigilantes who love to point fingers at each other, while bigger, badder problems and forces loom on the horizon. In this third book, we get more emotion from our main character, Mary, as she deals with the consequences of her actions from book 2, and while Mary is forced to confront those demons and learn to trust herself again, she’s pretty much the only character that faces their inner misgivings head on, whether for good or ill.