Tenets (Vagabond#1) by A.O. Ambali

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My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

About this Book:

In a war-ravaged world of shifting alliances, mercenary Duncan hunts society’s deadliest threats with brutal resolve. He serves no side, but with each kill, the darkness within him grows, pulling him further from his own humanity. Elisa, an aspiring politician, wants peace, but her past drags her into conflict with the insurgent Night Hawks and her own inner demons threaten to consume her. As the civil war threatens to consume everything, she can only hope the warring factions don’t destroy each other first. When she crosses paths with Duncan, their unexpected alliance forces them to navigate the chaos together. Caught between duty and survival, they must confront the darkness within themselves – and decide if they’ll rise as heroes or fall as something darker.

My Review:

Tenets by A.O. Ambali, the first volume of the Vagabond series, is a lot of things, but at its core are two heavily traumatized people: Duncan and Elisa. Both of them are products of their world, a world ravaged by war and violence. If you look at the cover of the book, which I honestly loved, you would go in hoping for some sort of romance between the two.

Duncan is a mercenary and looks cool when he kills. Elisa is an aspiring politician working for peace. Both of them have suffered losses in their lives. Duncan has lost his father, while Elisa has lost her friend. While she can’t kill, he kills like John Wick. And as for their romance, the tension between them could be cut with a knife. By the way, the first time they met, she had a gun pointed at him.

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Captivated by Dominik by Sarah Westill

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When beast master Dominik Ralston agrees to pose as Sienna Heathwood’s husband for a government assignment, he anticipates the pretense and even the deceit. What he doesn’t expect is the fierce desire she awakens within him, or the struggle to keep the need to claim her from clouding his judgment. Disguised as a scientific expedition to New Columbia, their true mission is to uncover whether the nation is secretly mining iron and supplying it to an emerging superpower that treats its people as mere commodities. As Dominik and his hawk navigate the treacherous wilds of an unexplored region, he begins to suspect Sienna’s genetic talent is far greater than anyone, including Sienna herself, could imagine. Dominik has to acknowledge a startling and unwelcome their own government may have been exploiting her for years. But revealing the truth could shatter her fragile world, for Sienna has already sacrificed her freedom, her trust, and even her very heart, in service to her nation. She has endured marriage after marriage to men chosen not for love, but for their country to maintain control over her.

The one thing Sienna can’t deny is the fire Dominik alone has been able to ignite within her. For the first time, Sienna experiences true passion at Dominik’s hands. And as they get closer to discovering the truth of New Columbia’s deceit, Sienna might have to decide if a life with Dominik is worth risking the future of the ranked guardian position that has always defined her.

My Review:

Having read a few books in the Gen-Heirs series, I think I found myself settled into the world quite easily. And by now, I am used to Sarah Westill’s writing style where the cover promises Smut, but the story, as you read it, is as much about the plot as the spice. It was a slowburn, marriage-of-convenience Romantasy that will have you yearning for more, after each chapter.

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Inconclusive Volume 1 (The Shards of Sansatia Series) by Alexandra Devane 

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My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

About the Book:

Eighteen-year-old Acteo Venand is an elite striker cadet at Inoton Academy, a military institution that prepares him to battle Noxvaleres, supernatural warriors who hold sway over the three pillars of memory, fantasy, and reality. With graduation just a few months out, Acteo is ready to dedicate his life to the righteous destruction of Noxvaleres and avenge the traumas that he and his family have endured—until an ill-advised prize fight entangles him with Reyna Ward, an alluring assassin and Inconclusive, meaning a human with a chance at converting into a Noxvalere. Reyna continuously challenges Acteo’s worldview, and soon, his understanding of the distinctions between human and Noxvalere, and justice and desperation, begins to fracture. In this spicy dark Romantasy Series, you will findMagic, mystery, and mayhemCrime & IntrigueSword & Sorcery with a modern twistA fascinating cast of characters who are as skilled at secrecy as they are at combat

My Review:

Inconclusive is the first volume in The Shards of Sansatia Series by Alexandra Devane. It is a romance set in a fantasy world, following Reyna, a gorgeous assassin. Think Black Widow, but more lethal. Unlike most fantasy books, it doesn’t really spend a lot of time building up the fantasy world before launching into the action. Probably a stylistic choice, but this may not work for some readers. I actually liked the action scenes in here — the fights described here are well done.

Me? You know me. I am also a sucker for romances, forced proximity, and love triangles (or quadrilaterals or pentagons or any other geometrical shapes of love). And this is Jane Austen writing a female James Bond in some alternate world.

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The Cleansing: A Novel of Ancient Rome. Based on a true story by Vicky Alvear Shecter

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About this Book:

Based on a true story, this is not the enlightened Rome of myth. This is a city choking on fear, where blood flows on both the battlefield and altar, and where generals and politicians alike are desperate to appease rageful gods. When 50,000 Romans fall in a single day at the Battle of Cannae, priests claim there can be only one reason the gods abandoned Rome: a Vestal Virgin has broken her vow of chastity. And they accuse Opimia (Mia), the strongest, most defiant of the six sacred Vestal priestesses. Forced as a child into serving Vesta, the goddess of fire, Mia has always chafed against Rome’s control of her every move—especially after being separated from her childhood love, Attius. Now, accused of a crime she did not commit, she must defend herself in a hostile court to avoid being buried alive for her “crime.”

My Review of The Cleansing: A Novel of Ancient Rome. Based on a true story.

I like history, but only if it’s history told as a story. Most non-fiction history books are just insipid information dumps and if there is a story there, it is buried deep beneath somewhere. I don’t care about dates; I care about people and their lives. So I am determined to read more historical fiction.

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Polly isn’t Home by A.J.R Traill

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About this Book:

A high-tech portal to another dimension has terrible consequences, but nobody is more deeply affected than Polly. Endowed with mysterious powers, she has the responsibility to fix it all, somehow. From a secluded desert research facility, the occupants of another world weave their way into ours in bizarre ways. However, the greatest threat may come from a friend with secrets even darker than Polly’s.

My Review:

‘So, how did you travel in time?’ he persisted.
‘I don’t know,’ Polly admitted. ‘It was an accident.’
‘Heck of a thing to achieve by accident,’ he said calmly.
Polly tossed her slender arms in the air. ‘I’m a woman,’ she blurted. ‘Sometimes we give birth by accident, so why underestimate me?’

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The Orichalcum Crown by J.J.N Whitley

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My Rating:  🌟🌟🌟🌟

About The Orichalcum Crown by J.J.N Whitley:
Makoto lost her mother to a battle she can’t remember before being adopted into the Kauneus Empire’s royal family. Upon her eighteenth birthday, she receives her mother’s necklace from the emperor. Makoto’s memories slowly return, haunting her with visions of her lost sister and her mother’s murder.

She is torn between the family and answers awaiting her across the sea and the relationships with her family, best friend, and his handsome brother. Makoto fears returning home will cast doubt upon her loyalty to the emperor and sever her from the family. After all, Kauneus has no need for a disloyal princess. Makoto’s eldest adoptive sister, Athena, remains banished from Zenith Palace for uncovering the emperor’s secret bastard. She is visited by her former dragon uncle, who shares a rumor that the emperor will be assassinated during the annual ball. Athena has no choice but to break her exile to save her father. Returning home risks death, but she’ll pay any price for her family’s safety.

As night falls upon the ball, lurking shadows and hidden agendas threaten the empire’s fragile peace. Makoto and Athena must navigate the delicate lines between loyalty and betrayal and learn what they are willing to sacrifice for freedom, truth, and family.

My Review of The Orichalcum Crown by J.J.N Whitley:

The Orichalcum Crown by J.J.N Whitley is a story that spans across multiple genres—imperial drama, family drama, monsters, coming-of-age story, etc. Makoto is our locus of empathy here, as I found myself quickly getting interested in this little girl who must now become a princess.

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