mspilesofpaper's reviews
890 reviews

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this eArc.

The Night Ends with Fire is the first part of a duology, which is a Mulan retelling at its core with the difference that the Mulan in this story is motivated by greed and isn't content with her allotted slot in life.

Please be aware that the following review includes spoilers.

PLOT OVERVIEW
Set in Tianjia, tensions escalate among the three kingdoms of Anlai, Ximing and Leyuan. Through the eyes of Hai Meilin from Anlai (our Mulan), we witness that her father is not an honourable man who will listen to the Imperial's call for arms but a greedy, abusive opium junkie with a gambling addiction. The family is destitute and requires Meilin to marry into a wealthy household as the dowry would offer financial stability for the family. Upon discovering her abusive fiancé and her desire to have "just a little more time", Meilin enlists in her father's steed - as his son Hai Ren who is born out of wedlock - despite her step-mother's worries that they will never allow a woman to hold onto power.

Upon leaving the family, her step-mother gives Meilin a jade amulet, which had belonged to her late mother. Unbeknownst to both women, the necklace contains a cardinal spirit: the dragon Qinglong. Concealing her identity as a woman and a spirit medium becomes crucial, as exposure could mean certain death, given the societal prohibition against women in warfare and the practice of black magic. Being assigned to the Seventh Company, led by the Seventh Prince of Anlai, Liu Sky, Meilin learns to fight and to be courageous. However, she discovers relatively soon that she is not the only spirit medium in the world; a vengeful man named Sima carries the seal of the phoenix: Zhuque. Where Qinglong feeds on greed, Zhuque feeds on vengeance. When the seal is stolen and broken, setting off a chain of events, Meilin embarks on a quest to find the remaining pieces to thwart Sima's plans.

CHARACTERS
There are three main characters, Meilin, Sky and Lei, who are accompanied by several side characters of different importance.

Meilin is, at her core, a greedy and power-hungry person who desires more than what society expects from a woman. I don't think that Song meant to portray her as a good and enjoyable character because, to me, she feels like a morally grey character who is selfish and driven by their own ambition and desire for more. Yes, she is a compelling main character as she grapples with her identity and confronts societal expectations in Anlai, but she is not a good character. Unfortunately, her greed makes her partly blind and stupid to anything around her (other characters, the environment, ...), which is always the reason for her getting hurt or getting into trouble. 

Liu Sky is, on the other hand, the least power-hungry person in the story. While he is a kind and gentle character, who cares deeply for his people, his short temper and his sense of honour and duty are his main flaws. The only time where he moves away from following the law is when he discovers Meilin's gender. Instead of executing her for treason, which would have been expected of him, he tries to send her home to protect her as he cares deeply about her. I think, if Meilin hadn't been promised to another man, and if the war wouldn't happen, he would have asked for her hand in marriage relatively quickly (as they met at the beginning of the book where he saves her). In another life, he would have been a good husband for her as she deals with a lot of trauma from her childhood and early adulthood (loss of her mother, abusive father, ...) as he's a gentle character.

Cao Ming Lei, on the other hand, is Sky's total opposite. Where Sky is kind and gentle, Lei is enigmatic, indifferent, sly and ambitious, but also deeply vain. A rather morally grey character who also suffers from trauma (loss of his mother, abusive older brother, strained relationship with his father). While Sky says that he wouldn't use Meilin as a weapon, Lei doesn't hide it. He tortures her for his own gain and uses her as a tool to achieve his own goals, which are still unknown by the end of the book. While I don't doubt that he desires her, he feels like someone who would sacrifice Meilin if it meant that he would win in the end. Rather possessive as well but you have to protect your assets to win a war, I suppose.

WORLDBUILDING AND MAGIC
The story is set in Tianjia, which is a fantasy version of China in a way. Unlike the Disney version, the war in The Night Ends with Fire is caused by infighting between the three kingdoms. I felt that worldbuilding is the weakest part of the book as it's mostly created through reports or annals at the beginning of each chapter.

The strongest worldbuilding aspect is the magic. Song has created a whole new dynamic through the inclusion of forbidden magic and the Cardinal Spirits with their seals. Cardinal Spirits are the four spirits representing and controlling the time of day, seasons, elements and directions. These are:

⋙ Xuanwu - north, tortoise 
⋙ Zhuque - south, phoenix - fire
⋙ Qinglong - east, dragon - water
⋙ Baihu - west, tiger 

While only Qinglong and Zhuque play a role in the first instalment, there is a poem about all four seals, which gives me hope that we will meet the characters who will carry the spirit seals for Xuanwu and Baihu in the second instalment. As Qinglong is already associated with water (despite its element being wood in Qi Gong if I'm not mistaken), I think that Xuanwu will either be earth and Baihu will be metal or Song will go the traditional Western view of elements and will use earth and air for them. 

Due to its traditional link with water, I think Xuanwu might be the one behind "one drowned" and Baihu being "one forgotten". 

I want to point out, as it is a Mulan retelling that uses elements of the Disney version as well, that Qinglong is not Mushu. Yes, he's a dragon but where Mushu is there for comedic relief, Qinglong has his own agenda. He's sinister, cryptic and greedy. He uses Meilin as much as she uses him.

TL;DR
An epic fantasy book, blending elements of myth, history, and fantasy into a mesmerizing tapestry of adventure and intrigue. As readers embark on Meilin's odyssey, they are transported to a world teeming with magic, danger, and untold possibilities, ensuring that the flames of anticipation burn brightly for the next instalment. 

Im Knochenhaus des kaiserlichen Palastes liegt ein Skelett, welches da nicht sein sollte. Im Auftrag des Kaisers ermittelt Mary Parker wer der Tote wirklich war und wer ihn umgebracht hat. Die Identität ist schnell bestätigt, der eigentliche Mörder jedoch ist nicht so schnell zu finden.


Knochen & Dampf ist ein Steampunk-Krimi, welches in einem fiktiven Deutschland des 19. Jahrhunderts spielt. Deutschland ist nach einem Krieg von einer unüberwindbaren Mauer umschlossen und wird von einem Kaiser regiert. Und damit kommen wir schon zu meinem größten Problem des Buches: world-building. Abgesehen von der wagen Angabe, dass es im 19. Jahrhundert in einem fiktiven Deutschland, in welchem Dampfmaschinen aller Art genutzt werden, spielt, gibt es nicht viele Informationen. Es werden nur drei oder vier Städte erwähnt und damit muss der Leser sich begnügen. Wie groß das Deutsche Autonome Territorium (weil das ist der richtige Name und nicht wie in der Zusammenfassung angegeben: Deutsches Autonomes Kaiserreich) ist, ist nicht ersichtlich. Als Leser ist es einem selbst überlassen, ob sich das fiktive Deutschland auf moderne Ländergrenzen bezieht oder auf die Ländergrenzen vor 1914 als Deutschland noch einen Kaiser hatte. Teilweise gibt es Andeutungen zur Geschichte des Kaiserreiches, aber die sind oberflächlich und geben dem Leser manchmal das Gefühl, dass das Buch eigentlich Teil einer größeren Reihe ist und man definitiv die vorherigen Teile hätte lesen sollen, um alles zu verstehen. Zudem wird auch nicht geklärt warum Deutschland auf einmal nur Dampfmaschinen hat, die anderen Länder anscheinend nicht (obwohl die Erwähnung von Kriegsmaschinen irgendwie trotzdem drauf hinweisen kann) und wie lange die Mauer schon existiert. Da "die Taten von Ihnen und Ihrer Vorfahren" erwähnt werden, vermute ich, dass die Mauer schon lange existieren muss und das Kaiserreich sich eher am Abgrund befindet. Zudem werden Rebellen erwähnt, die den Kaiser stürzen wollen und die Mauer abschaffen möchten. Genaue Angaben gibt es leider (wie bei den Grenzen) nicht.

Zur Problematik "world-building" kommt auch die Problematik Religion. Die Autorin hat eine neue Religion entwickelt, welche auf der Verehrung von Knochen basiert. Im Grunde ist es auf dem orthodoxen Christentum basiert, aber bei den Ossariern wurde das mit den Reliquien auf die Spitze getrieben. Es werden Knochen von jedem Menschen genutzt, d.h. es gibt keine direkte Heiligenverehrung. Stattdessen glauben Ossarier, dass immer ein Teil des Geistes des Toten in seinen Knochen zu finden ist, und dies kann den Stärken, der im Besitz der Knochen ist. Die Knochen werden auch für Messen genutzt sowie für Beichten, da die Energien/Geister in den Knochen den Gläubigen zu einem inneren Austausch bringen soll. Per se habe ich kein Problem damit, wenn eine Religion entwickelt wird und man sie mit dem Christentum in Verbindung bringt, aber die ganze Darstellung der Religion ist sehr schwammig bzw. negativ dargestellt, weil Mary keine Anhängerin ist. Zudem ist der Priester Johannes auch noch Berater der Kaiserin, was mir Rasputin Vibes gegeben hat. 

Es hilft nicht, dass der Priester und die Kaiserin auch eine Affäre miteinander haben und es gibt genug Gerüchte, dass Rasputin und Kaiserin Alexandra von Russland eine Affäre miteinander gehabt hatten.

Mein zweites Problem mit dem Buch waren definitiv die Charaktere. Mary ist eine ehemalige Generalin und die Tochter eines Britisch-Deutschen Paares, aber sie sieht sich als Deutsch an und dem Kaiserreich verbunden hat. Bei ihr schwingt eine dezente non-binary Tendenz mit, weil sie nicht als "Frau Parker" sondern nur als "Parker"/"General Parker" angesprochen werden möchte. Max hingegen ist ein junger Akademiker aus reichem Hause (nepo baby deluxe), welcher auf Kosten seiner Eltern ein eigenes Labor am Stadtrand hat und es nicht leiden kann, wenn man ihn auf seine Herkunft anspricht. Max hat leichte neurodivergente Züge, und ich bin mir noch nicht sicher, ob er als autistisch dargestellt werden soll oder als jemand mit ADHS. Beide sind wie Elefanten in einem Porzellanladen: Mary ist einfach nur unhöflich und rabiat, Max hat einige Manieren aber sein Übereifer für seine Arbeit (aka Forensik) lässt ihn seine Manieren definitiv vergessen. Trotz Hintergrundgeschichten für beide Figuren haben sie sich immer noch unausgereift und platt angefühlt (oder wie ich es auf Englisch sagen würde "two-dimensional characters without any actual character traits that makes them human"). Sympathisch fand ich beide nicht, und falls die Autorin je eine Fortsetzung schreibt (Anklänge gibt es dazu im letzten Kapitel), so habe ich das Gefühl, dass eine Romanze zwischen den Beiden entstehen soll, die auf "Gegensätze ziehen sich an" basiert, obwohl Mary und Max keinerlei Chemie haben.

Abgesehen von dem fehlenden world-building und den Charakteren, habe ich mit dem Schreibstil teilweise echt zu kämpfen gehabt. Zum Einen befinden sich immer noch genug Rechtschreib- und Logikfehler im Buch, und zum Anderen klingt alles furchtbar hölzern. Vor allem die Dialoge fühlen sich unheimlich gestelzt an bzw. enden teilweise sehr abrupt. Die Dialoge, welche die beiden Ermittler mit der Kaiserfamilie führen, fühlen sich derweil unheimlich lax als ob sie mit Freunden sprechen und nicht mit dem Herrscher eines Reiches.

Bzgl. des Mordes: wer die Person umgebracht hat, war leider sehr früh absehbar. Ich hätte mir gewünscht, dass es bis zum letzten Kapitel nicht klar gewesen wäre wer der Mörder ist, um beim Leser einen "Wtf? Ich dachte, XY ist der Mörder!" erzeugt. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this eArc.

April used to be a world-famous actress but her career is mostly reality TV and commercials nowadays, so she jumps onto the chance to go back to her place of birth - the Isle of Skye - where she has to figure out what to do with her grandfather's whisky distillery. Malcolm works as the distiller since April's grandfather died and isn't too fond of her, or people, in general. He would prefer it if the starlet would just go back to London and her career to avoid facing the possibility that April might like him.


Whiskey Business is set in Scotland (Isle of Skye) and is (more or less) a second chance romance with the difference that April and Malcolm haven't seen each other in years but have been sweet on each other as teenagers. I wanted to like it because I thought that a Scottish author might do justice to the location and I like the "grumpy/sunshine" trope but the book just fell flat. It's boring as nothing happens; there are hints of drama but they are brushed away in the next paragraph and are always solved with sex. Aside from the lack of drama, the book made me feel nothing. I believe that books should make you feel something but Whisky Business misses the mark by miles. Also, the fucking playlist. I gave it a listen and it's nice (very pop/folk heavy) but it's utterly predictable and using song titles as chapter titles gives me flashbacks to the time when it was common for fanfiction on Tumblr.

My main four issues:

1.) The writing. I'm sorry but it's badly written and the author's written Scottish accent was confusing. I can understand the Scottish accent but this ... it just feels like a US-American wrote it, which is strange because the author seems to be Scottish.

2.) The characters. Both are boring people but the MMC is just a horrible human being in general. Yes, Mal's and April's first meeting as adults is based on "first bad impressions" trope but he's so fucking mean because of lies, miscommunication and stereotypes. Mal believes that she's a shallow, vapid person because of her celebrity status and because she never cared for her sick grandfather (and never appeared to his funeral), and thinks like it for ~60% of the book until she cries, and suddenly he realises that he's an ass. Also, he has anger management issues and acting like a cave man (or an "alpha man") when "rescuing drunk April" isn't sexy. April is ... she's a people pleaser and should go to therapy as well. He treats her awfully for the majority of the book before he offers some half-hearted apology that she accepts rather quickly because "I know him"? Girl, grow a backbone, please.

3.) The romance in general. They have no chemistry. It's pretty much "I liked you as a teenager but never acted on it" and now, they act on suppressed emotions. Mal treats April like garbage for the majority of the book before he offers her a measly apology, some half-assed breakfast and the "I want you" speech, which she all accepts relatively quickly, and then they just have sex. The last 30% have zero substance because whenever there's a potential issue (cyberbullying, jealousy, money issues, April's future and past, ...), they just fuck it away. Their romance has no substance and is based on sex to the point that she's sore (as they fuck two times a day with multiple orgasms) but yet, they still continue fucking. Their entire relationship is instant-lust, instant-love and based on physical attraction. Aside from that, the author tried the "hot & cold" trope, which just gave me whiplash. Especially with Mal who's like "I want her"/"I don't like her"/"I want her"/"I want her gone". For someone who's supposed to be an adult, he acts like a child.

4.) All the heavy topics. Cyberbulling? "Yeah, I ignore these comments". Toxic family relationship? "Oh, he's sick, I have to forgive him now?". April's acting career? "Oh yeah, #metoo but yolo, I have a better agency now". Societal expectations of young women in the entertainment industry? "Yeah sucks, but it is what it is". If you include such big topics, do it well or do not include it.


PS: The setting on the Isle of Skye is such a scam and doesn't add anything to the plot. The only times it is relevant are for a) tourism, b) "it's an island, dating is difficult here" and c) one hiking scene. I would have expected a bit more and it gave me the feeling of a lack of research. If you would remove the location from the book, the book itself wouldn't suffer much from it. Especially since a) you have tourism everywhere, b) a difficult dating scene can also be used for small-town romances, and c) hiking can also happen in other regions, just swap the Old Man of Storr out for something else. 

The day her mother, Char, died in the arena during a manipulated fight, Ash swore to get revenge. On the gladiator from the Earth kingdom but also on her own god whom she blames for the poverty of their own kingdom. During the war, a large event held with multiple gladiator fights to find out the Champion of each kingdom, she meets Madoc. Madoc who just got into the war to pay for his family's debts. Madoc who doesn't even have Earth magic, which will automatically disqualify him if anyone finds out. Getting thrown into Ash's path of starting a rebellion isn't what he wanted for himself. All he wanted was to survive long enough to have the money to pay off his family's debts. Unfortunately, powers are moving in the background that are larger than the two young adults.


Set Fire to the Gods is a YA fantasy inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender and Gladiator, which should result in a good book that has the reader hooked from the first few pages. Unfortunately, the execution of the premise falls short. The entire book is extremely lacklustre and boring with one-dimensional characters that lack any characteristics to tell them apart aside from their magic (if they wield the same kind of magic, then it's difficult to remember who is who). I didn't care if Madoc would manage to pay off his family's debt. I didn't care about Ash's revenge scheme. I didn't care about one of the side character's grief and his ultimate suicide. In addition to the lack of interesting characters, the book's pacing is exhausting. Mostly, it just meanders like a slow river and suffers from a writing style that's more "tell than show". I don't know why these two authors decided to collaborate but it's noticeable because their respective chapters don't fit together.

Given the fact that it took me 22 days to finish the book (and having around 450 pages is nothing), it says a lot. Whenever I didn't read the book, I wasn't tempted to pick it up and whenever I read it, I struggled so much with reading it because it didn't grab me. I didn't hate it, it's just ... boring and forgettable.


TW: death of a parent, toxic family relationship (father - son), general violence, class differences (magic-wielder vs. non-magic wielder), poverty and lack of resources. 

Meddelin "Meddy" Chan's mother set up a blind date for her daughter with a rich hotel owner whom the mother met on an online dating app. Unwillingly, Meddy agrees to meet with the man and ends up killing him; accidentally of course. In panic, she drives home and ends up with her mother and aunties trying to help get rid of the body, which turns out to be much more complicated than any of them expected. Especially with an over-the-top billionaire wedding at an island resort to take care of as it is the family's biggest job for their wedding business yet. Things just become even worse when Meddy sees her college love, her first love, again at the wedding. As the hotel owner ... What is going on?


Dial A for Aunties is certainly a contemporary fiction novel but it does not really fit into a subcategory as it is 1/3 contemporary romance, 1/3 contemporary crime with humour and 1/3 social commentary about SEA/EA culture, family structures and traditions that can cause actual issues. With a sprinkle of racism as parts of the "how to get rid of the body" stems from "we cannot go to the police, no one will believe us as we are immigrants". Plus, there's a racist sheriff towards the end (although he feels like satire as well). The additional mystery feels very shallow as well. 

The entire story is very fast-paced and just ... well, wild. Each scene/chapter might make sense on its own but combined with the rest, it just left me flabbergasted. It isn't cohesive because they jump from "we have to get rid of the body" to "wedding stuff" to "aunties and mother being overbearing and/or fighting with each other" to "Meddy making out with her ex". It's just crazy and exhausting. Especially since everything is always so over-the-top and you can't really take anything seriously. While I might be white, I have read enough EA/SEA novels by now to have a basic understanding of their cultures and the aunties are just caricatures of them. They are very exaggerated and so over-the-top that it's just exhausting to read. Everything is about filial piety and respecting your elders to the point where Meddy cannot do anything out of fear and they always argue about the body instead of being realistic about it. I can understand why their husbands and children left them. I would have left as well because it must have been exhausting to grow up with such mothers.

All the characters are very one-dimensional and just feel like stereotypes. Meddy is the dutiful Asian daughter who's a complete people pleaser/push over due to it. The aunties are just caricatures of actual aunties (including their arguments). The ex, Nathan, is the stereotypical besotted ex-boyfriend who's still in love with our main character despite their break up at the end of college (So 3-4 years ago?). The Sheriff is the stereotypical dumb, racist one who doesn't want any mainlander (especially not foreigners) on his beloved island where he rules; he can't tell the Asians apart because "you all look alike to me" and he doesn't believe in modern technology that helps in police work either. The groom is an arrogant nepo baby, the bride is super sweet but slightly stupid. The maid of honour is a joke and just as stupid as the bride. The rest of the characters are just names.

The end is extremely rushed and unrealistic but by the time, I was just glad to be done with the book. While parts of it made me laugh, the overall story just exhausted me and I had no actual interest in continuing the book. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this eArc.

Theo and Kit used be to best friends, crushes and lovers. Now, they are just estranged exes after a fight on a flight to Paris to start their European food and wine tour. The fight was several years ago and they have finally to make use of the voucher or the money will be forever gone. When Theo boarded the tour bus as one of the last participants, they didn't realise that Kit would be there as well. Three weeks through Europe, visiting three countries that are deeply connected with delicious food and wine, but also with love, passion and romance: France, Spain and Italy. Of course, they are fine with having to do the tour together - they are over each other. They are so over each other that they have a competition to see who can hook up with more locals.


My experience with McQuiston books is a mixed one: 5 ⭐ for Red, White and Royal Blue, 4 ⭐ for I kissed Shara Wheeler (despite unlikeable characters), and 2.5⭐ for One Last Stop. So, on average: 3.8 ⭐ for her books. I did not expect another 5-star read but the book's summary made me think "ah, yes I think I will like it". Fun fact: by ~20%, I realised how much I dislike the book and I wish it would have become better instead of worse. By ~50%, I just resigned to my fate of forcing myself through it to finish the eARC.

The Pairing is an extreme case of "expectations vs. reality". I did expect a second-chance romance where two male lovers realise, while touring through France, Spain and Italy, that they still love each other. The reality is that it is an over-sexualised book with copy-paste parts from food and travel blogs, and with two bisexuals (1 non-binary and 1 cis but both are white) main characters as lovers. The entire book gives me #EuroSummer vibes because it is an over-romanticised view of Europe. As a European who knows some stops from the tour: yes, they can be beautiful but every description of a town/city sounded as if McQuiston was never there and just read three travel blogs (that tend to glamourise their trips to France/Spain/Italy) before copy-pasting those descriptions into the book. Right now, I'm a very tired European. Europe is not a theme park, guys!

As for the over-sexualisation: every character is portrayed as bisexual/pansexual and is down to fuck after meeting Kit/Theo for a second. Every character is either young and beautiful or older and attractive (e.g., Émile as a salt & pepper billionaire who is a bisexual yacht owner who wants a threesome). Everything is so beautiful that it makes characters horny/makes them think of sex. Likely, I am by far too asexual to understand it but why do allosexuals look at food and think "oh yes, I want to fuck now"? The fact that everyone wants constantly sex (to the point that a foursome/orgy is going on with 4 - 5 side characters) makes the entire book so vapid and pointless. I hated it. My best friend received several voice messages of me ranting about the book and how much I hate it. Please, do not get me started on the fucking peach scene ... it will haunt me forever.

Concerning Theo and Kit: I hate them. Theo (actually Theodora) is a non-binary (playing with the concept of being trans) bisexual who is a nepo baby and the definition of "woe me" who acts like the victim despite being the one who is responsible for the bullshit. Their part is the first part of the book and I hated every second of it. When they are not horny and try to fuck someone/Kit, they describe alcoholic beverages in extensive terms that mean nothing to someone who doesn't drink but they all sound like they come from a pretentious food blog. Their struggle with being a nepo baby (as their parents and siblings are famous) is basically "I act like I am poor because I cannot accept the help of my family to start a business". I can understand it that they don't want to accept money from their parents but their sister offered it multiple times, no strings attached, as a loan or an investment into Theo's business idea but they keep saying no because "I do not want to rely on my connections". If I would be able to meet Theo in real life, I would be like "Theo, fuck you. Your family loves and cares about you. Stop acting as if you have no options and need to be poor/do everything on your own when your family would help you to start your business. Not everyone has such a good support net!" because they are insufferable as fuck. Kit is also a nepo baby and his part of the book, the second part, is slightly more acceptable than the first part but I might think like this because it was easy to skip due to extensive scenes of: sex, sex, sex, architecture/art described in food terms, Kit being whiny about how much he loves Theo, sex. Both of them are vapid and their main characteristic is "being horny". They are so horny for each other and other people, it does not even occur to them that someone wants to spend an evening with them as a friend.

As for the side characters: they are not developed. If they were removed from the book, the book wouldn't be any different. With each chapter, the tour group becomes smaller or there are suddenly side characters that have never been introduced. Fabrizio feels like a caricature of a tour guide/an Italian.

As for the romance: I do like second chance romances when they are well done in terms of emotional development and growing to realise "Ohh, it's always been you". Unfortunately, The Pairing is a horrible case of second chance romance as the emotional development of falling in love again (or realising the "Ohh, it's always been you") happens mostly off-page as McQuiston considered never-ending sex scenes as more important. All I know about their romance is that they function well when it comes to sex but have zero ability to actually communicate with each other. Their fight on the plane that led to the break-up? Happens because of bad communication and a lack of communication afterwards. The only positive scene in the entire novel that concerns their relationship is Theo's coming out as non-binary to Kit and Kit easily accepting it because "you are bigger than one gender", and from there onwards, Kit uses they/them for Theo. (Previously, it is she/her and other characters consider Theo as female as well.)

Spice level: 3 🌶️

TW: alcohol consumption, graphic sex scenes, death of parent, difficult parent-child relationship, toxic relationship (bullying of each other, it is a kink for them)

Tl;dr: A romance book with two vapid, two-dimensional main characters who want to fuck everyone but especially each other, who are extremely entitled nepo babies who do not realise their privileges while they fuck their way through an over-romanticised portrayal of France, Spain and Italy where everyone and everything is down to fuck with them. The research that went into the book feels just as vapid and as if the author read 3 - 5 travel blogs and food blogs. Harmful portrayal of bisexuals who want to fuck everyone (plays into "they see prey, not people" stereotype) to top everything off. 

Repeat after me please: 👏🏻tropes👏🏻do👏🏻not👏🏻replace👏🏻a 👏🏻 plot👏🏻. 

It is badly written bull shit that's based on every trope imaginable and extremely flat characters. Elara and Enzo are walking Mary Sues without any personality. Of course they are powerful and brash and have the hots for each other.

I hate booktok and their tendency to hype up books that aren't worth it. Especially books that require tons of editing because the amount of grammar mistakes and spelling errors is painful.

There's a daddy/bunny relationship and then there's ... this nightmare of a romance. Dylan (the MMC) is a 33 years old single dad who's working as CFO for his family's company (real estate, makes you apparently billionaires) with a stick up his ass, utterly boring and is supposed to be a grump when he's just bleak and "I can't be in a relationship because I'm dedicated to my child and I got my heart broken". He also treats Marlow (the FMC) like an actual child, just because she's 10 years younger and so ✨quirky✨. The author decided to let her be neurodivergent (no actual diagnosis because "symptoms are different for everyone!" but it reads like a stereotypical portrayal of ADHD) but it's more a quirky character trait instead of an actual mental health issue. Of course, she's a free spirit who can't commit to anything (studying, hobbies, ...) if it isn't art (textured flowers ...) but even here, she's struggling with deadlines. 

By the time I gave up, their relationship hints at a light dom/sub relationship ("good girl", "I might be reserved, but that doesn't mean I don't have a bossy streak in the bedroom"). Including bathing her while she's sick but somehow it's supposed to be sexy? What's sexy at being sweaty as fuck because your body got wrecked by a high fever? Aside from it, it's just insta love/lust. There's a weird time jump at the 2nd chapter to "one year later" after a bad first meeting in the 1st chapter, and suddenly they find each other very attractive but can't have each other for different reasons (not staying permanently in the town, age gap, single dad, she's my nanny, she's too wild/... - it never stops). 

Feels extremely long despite just being ~300 pages, which I blame on the horrible writing style. 

Once, there was a princess of a small kingdom who watched her oldest sister die and her second-oldest sister suffer at the hands of a cruel prince. Marra, the tongue-twisted, anxiety-ridden, shy, third-born daughter escaped the traditional fate of being a princess to be married off to some uncaring prince by being the spare in case the second-oldest princess dies as well. Raised in a convent, though never being a nun, Marra watches her sister suffer at the hands of her husband. Until she has enough and seeks help from a dust-wife who gives her three impossible tasks as part of a deal: to build a dog of bones, to sew a cloak of nettles, and to capture moonlight in a jar. Together with the dust-wife, a fairy godmother, a demon in a hen, and a disgraced ex-knight, Marra sets out to save her sister and to kill a prince.


Nettle & Bone is a dark and twisted fairytale-esque story with a cynical, pessimistic and shy hero who does not want to be a hero. In the first part of the book, we're introduced to Marra who is currently fulfilling the second impossible task that was given to her by the dust-wife: to build a dog out of bones. In a retrospective chapter, we also learn how she sewed a cloak out of nettles (which damaged her left hand). The second part of the book is basically a road trip. The dust-wife and Marra travel together to find help to deal with the task at hand: to kill a prince. A disgraced warrior, Fenris, and a reluctant fairy godmother join their ranks. While the first part is relatively dark and sets the character of Marra, the second part is more fast-paced and funnier due to witty dialogue and more plot points.

I did like Swordheart more because it turns out that twisted fairytale-esque stories are not for me. Though if I would have to describe the book in a few words, it would be: "a darker homebrewed DnD campaign but equally hilarious because the characters pull stuns that the DM did not foresee", which might be a fitting description for the general vibe of all Kingfisher's books because Swordheart also felt like a DnD campaign (though less dark and less fairytale-esque).

Read if you like:
✔️ dark and fairytale-like settings
✔️ older characters (Marra is in her 30s)
✔️ a hint of romance
✔️ found family trope
✔️ books with DnD vibes 

 Maggie a grumpy 48-year-old introvert (with a touch of social anxiety) who lives more or less like a hermit ever since her son went to college. Divorced since five years, she's not even keen to find a new man in her life or to find friends in the small town of Fool's Falls. Until her son makes a deal with her: he will become more social when she does the same. So, she joins an online gaming guild that is led by the calm and friendly healer named Otter whom she believes to be a college student. Otter, who is Aiden in real life and a 50-year-old introvert who takes care of his mother (against her will) and uses the guild as an emotional outlet from his family drama. Otter who becomes quickly friends with Maggie who he only knows as Bogwitch and "I'm old enough to be your mothers". When they finally meet face-to-face, they have to realise that their online friendship works well in real life as well. There's only the issue of being attracted to each other ...

TW: toxic family members, homophobia, latent racism

I didn't realise it when I got the book via Kindle Unlimited but I did read another book by Cathy Yardley; Love, Comment, Subscribe, which I disliked so much because it was very swallow and was based on stereotypes and had a clunky writing style. (Also, there's the issue of it being marketed as "enemies to lovers". I hate marketing that is just based on tropes and not on the plot.) It's good that I didn't realise it because otherwise I wouldn't have gotten Role Playing. While it won't win any literary awards, it's a cute and cosy romance with older main characters and bi- and demisexual representation.

Character-wise, it's the reversed "sunshine and grumpy" trope because Maggie is the grumpy, bitter one (though it's more hard shell, soft flesh) while Aiden is the cinnamon roll who's extremely positive in his outlook (and tends to let people steamroll over him). Neither of them is fit or ripped. They are very normal and I prefer such characters. My critique, character-wise, is that they sometimes felt a lot younger than they are in terms of behaviour because they tend to be rather indecisive and not as mature as you would a Gen X to be. If the age and grey hair hadn't been mentioned, these two could be easily in their 20s.

Story-wise, it could have been better in terms of pace. There's a lot of repetition of how introverted they are/how anti-social/lonely/... (not just monologue-like but also comments from other characters), which gets boring. While it's a large part of the plot that Maggie is certainly too anti-social and that Aiden requires a date for an event, I don't need to read constant comments about it. Plot-wise, it's pretty much a slow-burn small-town romance novel that is built on the "friends to lovers" and "reversed sunshine and grumpy" trope. There's not a lot going on but I liked the focus' on their relationship's development instead of having a case of insta-lust/insta-love.

Spice-wise: it's 2.5 🌶️ from me. There are two somewhat explicit scenes towards the end but they aren't extremely graphic. Compared to other sex scenes, I didn't mind reading them because they felt natural and realistic (including laughing etc) and not like a porno.

As for the bi- and demisexual representation: we need more asexual/demisexual (and aromantic) representation in books, movies and series. Personally, I'm asexual and I struggled for years with "Am I broken? What is wrong with me? Why don't I feel like this?" when everyone around me talked about their crushes and how they wouldn't mind having sex with a specific real-life crush/a celebrity crush/... - Granted, the internet allowed me to realise my own sexuality earlier than Aiden because I stumbled upon asexuality and aromanticism and had my moment of enlightenment, but I wish I had it earlier. It would have made things easier in my 20s. And it hurts me to read 1-star reviews that criticise the representation because "it's silly" and "progressive ideal". It isn't silly. It isn't some political movement. It's someone's sexuality and representation matters.

Read if you like:
✔️ Slow Burn Romance
✔️ Small Town Romance
✔️ Older Characters
✔️ Reverse Sunshine & Grumpy trope
✔️ Friends to Lovers