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Book Review: The Queen’s Price

via Amazon (available for $14.99 in eBook, $25.20 hardback)

Enter the dark and sensual realms of the Black Jewels in this sweeping story in the New York Times bestselling fantasy saga of three young women who must navigate life within the powerful SaDiablo family—and come to terms with Witch, the Queen who is still the heart and will of that family.

The Queen’s price is to stand against what you know is wrong. To stand and fight, no matter the cost to your court or to yourself. Especially to yourself.

Zoey, a young Queen-in-training at SaDiablo Hall, is wounded…and vulnerable to taunts and criticism. When an opportunity arises to befriend a stranger seeking sanctuary at the Hall, she puts herself and others in danger by ignoring Daemonar Yaslana’s warning to back off.  

Meanwhile, the witch Jillian’s family prepares for her Virgin Night, the rite of passage that assures a woman will retain her power and her Jewels. The trouble is Jillian secretly went through the ceremony already. Now she has to explain the omission of that detail to her powerful and lethal family.   And the High Lord of Hell’s daughter, Saetien, travels to Scelt to find out about Jaenelle Angelline’s sister—and perhaps to discover truths about herself.  

With some guidance from Witch, these three young women will learn when to yield because it is right—and when to take a stand, even if they must pay the Queen’s price.

Mother Night…

And may the Darkness be merciful, a new novel in Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels series dropped on 3/7/23. The Queen’s Price is number 12 overall and takes place centuries after The High Lord’s Daughter in Twilight’s Dawn. I’m not sure if it’s officially called this, but The Queen’s Price is the third book in the Queen series. There are four storylines being followed.

Saetian and the Search for Her Truth

 As far as teenage characters go, Saetian has been a complete asshole. I know most people are assholes at that point in her life, but damn. At least in this story, she calms down a bit. In order for her to learn more about herself, a broken black widow points her in the direction of Wilhemina Benedict, Jaenelle Angelline’s half-sister. This leads her to Scelt, where she encounters Butler, a demon-dead Warlord who has stories to tell her, though he is reluctant to do so.

Daemon Sadi’s School of Witchcraft and Foolery

 Welp, Daemon has already stepped into his father’s role of High Lord, and might as well pick up the mantle of Honorary Uncle to a bunch of teenagers who will come into power. At the end of The Queen’s Weapons, Daemon agrees to take in some youngsters set to become the next rulers of Kaeleer. This, of course, is not without its drama.

Most of the tale focuses on young Queens and Witches who have zero common sense and start a whole lot of problems.

The New Cat in Town

A powerful witch, Grizande from Tigre, shows up on the Hall’s doorstep, seeking sanctuary. Naturally, Daemon and crew take her in and protect her. She instantly has a connection with Daemonar Yaslana, which may the Darkness have mercy on poor Lucivar as he keeps collecting children like Pokemon.

Jillian and the Quest for Booty

 Jillian….well….what it says. She’s in love with a young man and wants to be intimate with him. Of course, this means she has to have her Virgin Night to protect her power, which means she has to have the men in her family involved. They have to have a say, of course. Problem is, she already had her Virgin Night…and didn’t tell them. Oy.

Initial Thoughts

Honestly, between The Queen’s Bargain and The Queen’s Weapons, I was sort of falling out of love with the series. I struggled with finding any sort of connection to Saetian since she just annoyed the hell out of me. Plus, I felt like Surreal had to be butchered in order for all this to go down, which I’m not for.

Luckily, The Queen’s Price brought things more into perspective. I feel like I understand some of the characters better. However, the cast is getting way overloaded. There are a lot of new folks I just don’t care about. Especially all the youngsters in Daemon’s School of Witchcraft and Foolery. None of them seem to have real personalities. Even Zoey, who isn’t bad, per se, but she’s just kind of blah. The only new kid I find interesting is Grizande.

What really brings the whole thing down is a lack of a concrete villain. In every book, it’s some petty girl causing stupid shit. I need someone powerful and scary and makes me want to throw my book when they pop up in the story. There’s nothing driving me to root for the good guys except my love for some of them.

I must say, I’m intrigued by how the different bloodlines of Jaenelle’s former coven are coming together. I can’t wait to see what it means for Kaeleer’s future.

Our feelings towards the story

I love the BJS so much, I dragged my husband into it. He has also read all the books now and we enjoy talking about the story together. Damn right, baby. That’s how love should work, lol. So this is not a “Royal We” situation! Here are our feelings about this newest addition to the series.

Things we loved: Brenda. She’s a fiery lass from Scelt who brings a lot of fun and humor into the story. I love the friendship blossoming between her and Jillian. I can’t wait to see what happens going forward.

Things we liked: We’re happy that some of the gaps in the story were filled in. It was interesting reading what happened between Jaenelle Angelline and her sister after the fact, something that had been on my mind for YEARS.

Things we didn’t like: Some of the storylines didn’t go anywhere and just felt like they were setting up stuff for other books instead of being self-contained. Which, really, is generally fine, but there were too many this time around. Also, Jillian’s whole thing could have been a part of a collection of stories similar to Dreams Made Flesh and Twilight’s Dawn. It just didn’t fit.

Things we hated: We feel like Wilhelmina’s character was butchered! The end of The Queen of the Darkness gave us no indication bad blood happened. She’d finally gotten a spine and sought out Jaenelle, and then…dumbassery occurs. I found it so frustrating.

Petty: I absolutely hated the use of the word “exercised” for worked up. And it’s said…A LOT.

Want to know more about: Saetan’s Cabinet of Curiosities left for his sons. Come on…tell us.

Ultimate Beale review: The Queen’s Price was an enjoyable read, and much better than the last two books, but it just felt like a filler/flashback episode of a tv show. It will wash the taint of the previous two out of your mouth, but it’s not as good as other books in the series. Despite not being quite as good, We’re definitely looking forward to more.

Smut Rating:

Innocent (relatively)

Pleasure Rating:

Have you read the book? Let me know in the comments. Until next time, my friend. Keep your Mind in the Gutter.

Book Review: Signs of Cupidity

Foreplay for your Brain

Today’s offering is Signs of Cupidity by Raven Kennedy.

About the book

Summary via Amazon:

You’d think that basically being in charge of love would be an epic job, right? Wrong. Sure, I can blow some Lust into people’s faces and watch the show, but I can’t actually participate. It gets old, trust me. Same goes for love. I can pass it out like sugar-free lollipops at a dentist’s office, but I can’t get any love for myself. It totally sucks.

I used to consider myself a hopeless romantic, so why wouldn’t I choose to become a cupid? Sounds like a good idea, right? Wrong again. They don’t call us stupid cupids for nothing. I’m stuck in this never-ending afterlife where I’m invisible, lonely, and bitter as hell. And yeah, I’m probably responsible for some terrible matchmaking out there. Sorry, not sorry.

All my bad cupid’ing might be why I was exiled from the human realm. You can only do so much before the cupid bosses get all huffy. Unfortunately, my bitterness carried over into the new realm, and then I attacked a fae prince with Love Arrows. Accidentally. Okay, not accidentally. But hey, he deserved it. What I didn’t expect was for him to retaliate and hit my ass with some crazy magic mojo strong enough to push me into the physical realm. Whoa.

That’s right. This cupid just got a real body. And you know what that means…Now, it’s my turn to get some. Love, I mean. Get your head out of the gutter. Wink, wink bitches.

Author’s Note: This is a medium-burn reverse harem story. It includes explicit language and sexual situations. Intended for audiences 18 years and older. As this is a series, there will be a cliffhanger.

Available on Amazon (Kindle) for $3.99 or for free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Smut Rating: (Dirty)

Pleasure Score: (5 out of 5)


The Vibe

Have you ever seen The Good Place? Well, if you haven’t, you definitely should. I ask because Tales of Cupidity gives me the same kind of energy as that show. I know that might sound like a weird explanation, but I honestly can’t think of a better way to put it. It’s smart, well thought out, and vibrant. I found myself laughing out loud more than once, but sometimes it tugged at my heartstrings. Just like TGP.

I went into the story thinking it was just going to be all porn and no plot. Don’t get me wrong, that can be a good thing. In this case, though, the author gives a lot of good foreplay. Like REALLY good. And it leaves you wanting more.

The story is about a Cupid. Yes. Wings, bows and arrows, powers of love and lust. All those things. The downside to being a love-wielding being? She’s invisible to everyone. EVEN TO HERSELF. Our girl, Cupid 1050, is a sassy, rambunctious woman, but with no one to experience her wittiness. For decades, she’s been dolling out the love to humans without so much as a thank you.

Then one day, she gets called into the office. Turns out, she is getting a bit of a promotion. No more human world for her. Now she gets to experience the world of the Fae.

Unfortunately, it’s not all it’s hyped up to be.

Without going into too much detail, due to some wayward magic, she is turned into a corporeal being. Hell yeah, girl, time to experience some living! She winds up on an island of hunky males. And, well….you can imagine the rest. In fact, don’t! Give it a read to find out for yourself.

It’s actually a very adorable story about building trust with those around you and how that trust can slowly drift into love with the right bit of magic.

I’m obsessed with this book and I can’t wait to read the next part.


Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Funny–ML is channeling her inner Anna Kendrick the entire time. Okay, that’s just who I hear in my head as I read the character. Your brain may vary.
  • Smart–The Fae world is interesting and dynamic. Leaves you wanting to know more about the realm and what it holds. Plus the ties that bind the characters together make a lot of sense.
  • Well-written–That’s it. Just damn good writing. Kept me engaged! It took no time at all to breeze through.
  • Great characters–All the characters leave you wanting to know more about them. They felt like real people (or as real as Cupids and Fairy-folk can be).

Cons:

  • Short–Well, I did say it was a breeze to get through. It left me wanting more. Luckily, it’s part of a whole series. This first book took me about 3 hrs or less to read in all.
  • Smutless–That’s not to say it’s not erotic. I just was ready for a sex scene or two. That’s ok. I can wait. I’m patient!

EDBeale Thoughts

I haven’t read a reverse-harem book since my Anita Blake and Merry Gentry days, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I found was a wonderful new series to dive into. I’m definitely a fan! You should check this one out for sure. Total home run.

Did you read this one? Let me know what you thought about it. Did you also hear Anna Kendrick in your head? I can’t be the only one!

….Right?

Book Reviews Are Coming

I Can Read Good (Sometimes)

Image by Jo-B from Pixabay

You know how it is when you’re writing something. You get in your head with all the world-building and character-creating.

It gets crazy.

But, in order to be a better writer, you have to explore many other worlds. That way you can get a feel for your own sense of storytelling style.

Since I’m in the process of starting a leap into reverse-harem tales, I’m going to start reading a few. I’m thinking one a month right now. And when I’m done, I’ll post a review. I’m hoping it helps me in my endeavors.

Plus, smut is awesome. The more the merrier!

Upcoming Reviews

Signs of Cupidity: Book 1 by Raven Kennedy

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