Horse Talk Reviews

Prince and Bodyguard by Tavia Lark My rating: 4 of 5 stars 4 stars This was cute and had nice forehead kisses and caretaking but I do not remember nearly enough of the previous books to follow the intricacies of the political gambit parts. I also expected the series about the House Dire princes in the evil land of blood magic and dragons and whatnot to be darker but this was as light-hearted and neatly wrapped up as the previous series. Which is fine but a bit more evil angsty grit would be great! Of course, as always, it's a very readable and sweet book. Even if I couldn't remember who any of these people were lol. I received an ARC copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. View all my reviews

The Dragon and His Prince by Adara Wolf  and R Phoenix My rating: 2 of 5 stars This was unfortunately a let down for me. I was very excited for the sex pollen/aphrodisiac body fluids and double dicked dragon!! How fun! Alas. Having read both these authors individually before, I skipped the content warnings for a more fun surprise (this is very fun). I still suggest everyone else read them first, in the book and on the authors website. Now, to book: I was told by a friend to expect more of a fluffy dubcon fantasy book, relative to the authors’ individual works, and that was pretty spot on. Very not dark, cute dubcon via sex pollen. Well…yeah okay, that was about it for the book. I really liked Jade being super possessive of Larkin though, and calling him his treasure and gem all the time. So cute! I was settling in to have fun guessing who wrote which character, and then it was immediately obvious due to ellipses abuse in Larkin’s POV. So that was...

In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune My rating: 5 of 5 stars Anticpated Publication Date: April 25, 2023 5 stars because holy crap, y'all If you go into this expecting a funny little book because it's a Pinocchio re-telling but with robots including a talking Roomba with anxiety you will definitely get that but you will also get an epic, emotional, and wonderful story about humanity, loneliness, forgiveness, and love. Like what the crap I don't know how it happened but it is a real journey. All the characters are fully developed and complex, even the robot vacuum. Or maybe especially the robot vacuum. There were lines which made me laugh and then a few pages later it was deep thoughts and emotions. I appreciated the levity because otherwise it would be Too Much. As it is, I will probably be thinking about these characters for a while. I should have expected a book about robots to do this to me since this is the same author who thought ...

King's Ex by E.J. Russell My rating: 1 of 5 stars DNF at 57% My issues: • This book proceeds at a breakneck pace with no pauses until over halfway through, and it is honestly kind of exhausting to read. I need pauses more often than that, otherwise the urgency gets tiring. • The number one present “emotion” still, at almost 60%, is horny. Just horny. • The MCs don’t really know each other outside of said horny, and for some reason, once they’re forced into a room for 24 hours straight, they allegedly have conversations, but we skip right over those. Their connection is not believable. Instead, I have to read about their dithering and horniness again , rather than being shown any of these supposedly amazing conversations that would build a believable romance. • Honestly, maybe this one gets fixed later, but damn, they have hella boring powers. The other royals have like x-men level powers, and this dude just…doesn’t sweat. Sure, I’d love to have...

Prince in Disguise by Tavia Lark the kevin's review: 4 of 5 stars Another fun and romantic fantasy romance! This one is more adventure-plot based compared to the previous book, which was more interpersonal/intrigue. I liked the shift - it balances well within the series. I enjoyed the characters a lot too, Bellamy and Rakos were very amusing together, and of course I loved Sarka. I hope there's more dragon-y stuff in the next book too, this one did some intriguing openings. I also always love the plant magic, so much fun! My one major issue was the random Julien POV chapter in the middle of the book. It didn't add anything, and it actually was detrimental to my reading enjoyment. It interrupted the story of Bellamy/Rakos and their travels, didn't add anything, and then sort of spoiled a moment (minor, not a plot spoiler) later in the book that would have been fun to guess on for it's whole two pages or whatever. Basically, a small th...

Alpha's Oath by Claire Cullen My rating: 3 of 5 stars I read this book for a challenge to read something with your top three tropes which for me were "mpreg", "small town romance", and "stranded on a deserted island", and you know what? This book kind of had all three. (the small town romance is a bit of a stretch since it's more isolated kingdom under attack but hey you try finding something with all three of these tropes!!!! and if you do let me know because I wanna read it immediately). Anyway, definitely a 3 star read. My biggest issue was how the book wasn't very long but had a thousand different plots in it. The desert island was its own thing, then the marriage of convenience (another trope!), then the mpreg, then the secret magic reveal, then the save the kingdom with said secret magic, etc etc etc. All these plots got in the way of me trying to have a no thoughts head empty kind of read which is real...

A Taste of Gold and Iron   by   Alexandra Rowland Expected publication: August 30th 2022 erratic's review:  4 of 5 stars I went into this book with very little idea what it was about and absolutely no expectations. All I knew is it was a gay SFF something or other with a beautiful book cover and I think this helped me enjoy it. Kinda like when I watch a movie without watching any previews or reading any reviews or looking up the plot summary on Wikipedia or seeing mean tweets about it filled with spoilers. Clear eyes, full heart, can't lose. Or something. What A Taste of Gold and Iron delivers is a slow burn meandering romantic fantasy novel with undercurrents of political intrigue and magic. It dumps you right into the world without explaining anything (something fairly common with Science Fiction and Fantasy) but I got the hang of everything by the second chapter. I would have appreciated a tiny bit more explanation but the book was simplistic and shallow enough it ulti...

The High King's Golden Tongue by Megan Derr My rating: 4 of 5 stars Horse rating: 🐴🐴.5 of 5 horses An entertaining high fantasy read with a romance (subplot? plot?). The world building was very well done - detailed and rich. I enjoyed the main characters and the more critical secondary characters a lot, with their distinct personalities. There were too many other characters for me to handle though. Especially combined with locations and titles, I got lost pretty quick. I fuzzed out like 90% early on because I assumed they were there for color (showing how adept Allen is) but then some came back and I was ?? ...well whatever, I enjoyed it anyway. It was less political intrigue and more political maneuvering at times. Which is fine, it was a fun read. Overall, it was a well written book with an engaging story and sweet romance. The High King's Golden Tongue on Amazon View all my reviews

A Coup of Tea by Casey Blair My rating: 4 of 5 stars Horse rating: 🐴 of five horses ARC difficulty: walking bridge Expected publication: August 2nd 2022 This is a lovely little YA story of a princess finding her own way and building a found family in the process. It is reminiscent of Tamora Pierce for me, very nostalgic since I grew up on those kinds of fantasy stories. As other reviewers have noted, this is a very earnest story, and I think it works well for its genre. It has some very nice rep without being an information pamphlet or feeling performative. I think it has good messages, even as it is delivered a little blatantly. “Not all witches are women,” I say automatically. Our current understanding is that all witches are born with female reproductive organs, but that isn’t the same.   Plotwise, it has a fun adventure/fantasy plot with the requisite mean villain who is a little two dimensional. It has very nice descriptions, maybe a little heavy on them a...

Like Silk Breathing by Camille Duplessis My rating: 5 of 5 stars 5 stars Content Warnings my ARC didn't have: attempted suicide, depression, death, grief, alcoholism, cheating (kissing only), fade to black, point of view chapters from two side characters This was a lovely little seaside jaunt of a book. It had some heavy themes but they seemed to be more accepted as something that simply was instead of a Big Dramatic Thing. The subtlety magical world building made me want a deeper dive into the lore of witches and selkies and witch hunters. The two main characters were also lovely and the slowburn relationship was nicely developed. It's just a nicely packaged simple little story. I wasn't expecting much and it gave me a lot even without Theo ever shifting into a selkie on page. (I am still disappointed we don't get to see Theo as a selkie!) Anyway, the emotional depth in the book is like looking into a tide pool: small but complex. Hi...

Flesh & Blood by Adara Wolf My rating: 4 of 5 stars Horse rating: 🐴🐴 of 5 horses Jealousy flared up inside Suraj. Eat him! his mind roared. Overall I enjoyed this book. Intriguing premise, and I liked the setting. Suraj was a himbo demon, which was hilarious. A precious himbo!! Madhava had a lot of internal conflict, which I felt was done well. “Chandra was a great man! You don’t deserve to even utter his name!” “Great. I still don’t know who he is.” The main thing that grated for me was that there was a lot of hints of politics, especially when they were in the palace, but it never got much depth. Suraj was being his oblivious himbo self, so no help on that front, and Madhava didn't have enough knowledge to pick out the nuances. I'd have liked that part being expanded a little bit more, given the setup. I'd give the first part a four star, and the end sort of slid into three star territory. It started off much stronger than it finished.  Flesh & Blood on ...

Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances by Aliette de Bodard My rating: 4 of 5 stars Horse rating: 🐴 of 5 horses ARC difficulty: foothill Expected publication: June 28th, 2022 "I love you," he said, finally. "I see what you are and I love you. All of you." Asmodeus's hand rested, gently, on his cheek. "Oh, dragon prince," he said. "And I you. Now and always." A well-written, high tension novella! I have not read the original series, though I did backtrack to read the first one in this series, Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders just in case it would give me more context. I do think this works as a standalone though. There wasn't anything that carried over from the first book, other than just having more of a knowledge of Asmodeus and Thuan in general. I'll probably double back at some point to read the original trilogy, because I just get more and more curious about their original story. This was a fast paced, detailed and captivating st...

The Parsley Knight by Dan Ackerman My rating: 1 of 5 stars Horse rating: 🐴🐴 of five horses ARC difficulty: pancake Expected publication: July 1st, 2022 DNF at 15% The blurb sounded really neat, but unfortunately all of that was pretty much done with in the first 5%. Why this is 500 pages, I do not know. • Pretty much everything is glossed over. Things just sort of happen to parsley knight, he rarely seems to have any agency. There's a lot of telling about things, without showing them happening. The scenes are short since nothing is expanded on, which leaves the book feeling very choppy. • The world building leaves much to be desired - what on earth is going on? There's the fae Otherworld, some sort of semi-fantasy "real" world(?) where Christianity is still a thing....uhhh. There's magic, a couple different kinds, but that's not explored. Lots of lore dumping, but without context it's all just noise. Even their constant jaunts around fae ...

  Prince and Assassin  by  Tavia Lark Expected publication: June 1, 2022 Erratic's review : 5 stars Tavia Lark has a way of writing high fantasy in an approachable and clear way that keeps the reader engaged with the story without being confused or having to think too hard. Because I tell you what I really don't like having to think too hard when I'm reading a romance. This book in particular is a good example of how approachable Tavia's work is with a quick and easy read. I loved the characters and the magic systems and most importantly the giant cats . What I think worked really well with this book was how intertwined the romance was with the action storyline. They complimented each other instead of becoming distractions. As the action built up so did the romance. Right when the tension of the assassination plot picked up is also when (spoilers for plot) (view spoiler) The romance was so well done too with tiny touches and hand holding and the main char...

  The Reluctant Companion  by  H.L. Day Expected publication: May 2nd, 2022 "I don’t know. I’ve never abducted a prince. It always seemed like too much trouble. And what would I do with one? Stick him in the middle of a field and use him as a scarecrow?” The Kevin's review: 3.5 stars This was a generally entertaining, fun, easy read. The world this is set in is pretty interesting - there’s some lore, smoothly added, just enough to build the setting without overwhelming. It also holds my attention, and left me wanting more (in a good way). I loved the maps - I am such a sucker for pretty colorful maps in fantasy books. It was further developed through the characters themselves, which is always neat when an author can do that so skillfully. The romance was a little unbalanced for me. It was built in fits and starts, and at one point, a big part of their bonding was skipped over. I had a little trouble buying into their connection, though not too much. I’d have liked a litt...

  A Veil of Gods and Kings by Nicole Bailey the kevins' review: 2.5 stars A NA Greek myth retelling, with a HFN ending as this is the first book in a series. It’s worth noting that this is pretty low steam - it tends towards vagueness or fade to black for most of the physical parts outside of kissing. While I found the writing itself to be decent, I have some larger criticisms, though I think it has potential. Romance This promises an enemies-to-lovers, high emotion book. I personally found the romance to be lacking on several fronts. First, it’s barely enemies to lovers. Mild dislike predicated on assumptions to lust to love. They don’t meet for a while in the beginning, and barely start interacting until halfway through. I would not classify it as a slow burn either - there’s no burn. As a book labeled as a romance, I’d expect at least interaction between the characters for more of the book. Characters Hyacinth: The prince is painted as a stick in the mud, rule bound, ...