A Curse of Salt by Sarah Street

Pages: 340 

Publisher: Hodder Children's Books 

Released: 25th of May 2023 

A heartless king trapped by a curse

A brave sister searching for answers

And a love so strong it will drown the raging sea ...

THIS FAIRYTALE IS CURSED

Prepare for stormy seas and swoony romance in this addictive retelling of Beauty and the Beast set on board a cursed ship where love blooms in the darkest of hearts ...

A heartless beast

A sister's sacrifice

And a love so strong it will drown the raging sea ...

THIS FAIRYTALE IS CURSED

In a kingdom that fears the sea, Ria Lucroy longs to be brave.

Bodies are washing ashore and everyone knows who's to blame. Legends of the Heartless King shroud the continent in fear; they call him a pirate, a monster, a god. When his mercenaries raid her father's merchant ship, Ria's family is faced with a horrifying demand. They will spare his life, in exchange for one of his daughters.

Determined to save her sisters, Ria launches herself into the world of pirates. Face-to-face with the Heartless King, she finds he is far more than the stories told. He is a man, with a human name and blood-stained hands, bound to the seas by a centuries-old curse. As their chemistry blooms into something more, Ria finds herself caught in an ancient web of secrets.

Battling creatures of the deep alongside those that reign its surface, Ria discovers how to love a heartless man and that some curses aren't so easy to break.

What I Have to Say 

What could be better than a version of beauty and the beast set on a pirate ship, I really loved this book. I have read so many retellings of beauty and the beast, but they always manage to surprise me. And this one is completely unlike any I've ever read.  The addition of pirates to this fairy tale just made it perfect for me. 

Ria is a wonderful character. I really liked her loyalty, her daring and her pluck. She was everything I love in a YA main character. Pairing her with the Heartless King and fitting her into the rest of the crew, made for just the perfect cast of characters. I loved every single one of them and it really felt like they fit together as a good crew. 

The prose in this book was beautiful, making it a joy to read as well as being just a damned good story. 

I want more adventures from this crew and this ship!! 

5 stars 

My thanks goes to Hodder and Netgalley for providing me with this gifted copy for review. 

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Pages: 425

Publisher: St Martin's Griffin 

Released: 14th of May 2019 

A big-hearted romantic comedy in which the First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends...

First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.

The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

What I Have to Say 

I can't believe I waited this long to read this, it was so cute. I loved the characters and the romance so much. I kept up with most of the American politics in the way it was relative to the story, though I can't say I didn't get a bit confused by it at times. 

As this was an American writing about a British prince, the Britishness was sometimes overexaggerated. I didn't find it too bad for most of it as Henry is a stuffy old prince and more likely to speak in an overly posh manner. But the one bit that did make me cringe was when he used the word "innit" which is very much not a word that someone as posh as Henry would ever used. We definitely need to educate Americans on that word because I hear it too much in American fiction. 

I loved Alex's family, especially June and Nora who were very much my kind of characters. And the friend group widening to include Henry's friend and sister was very endearing. There was such a strong sense of friendship and family in this book. 

Read for fake friendship, dashing royalty and a lot of gayness. 

5 stars 

My thanks goes to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with this gifted copy for review. 

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

Pages: 880 

Publisher: Bloomsbury 

Released: 28th of February 2023 

The stunning, standalone prequel to the New York Times bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree.

Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory's purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother's past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.

Intricate and epic, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the world of A Priory of the Orange Tree, showing us a course of events that shaped it for generations to come. 

What I Have to Say 

It is an honour to review this book. The Priory of the Orange Tree means so much to me and getting to dive back into the world was a joy. I am so happy to get to share this experience with all of you. 

Though not as good as Priory (because what really could have been as good as Priory), A Day of Fallen Night is a beautifully written prequel. It picks up a lot of the same themes as Priory and takes  you straight back into this world. While I was a little slow to get into it (which I put down to the lack of dragons in the first half ) it soon picked up and reminded me what I loved about Priory, 

This book is an epic. It is long and detailed and you have to buckle yourself in for a big commitment. But while some books this size are long winded and honestly not worth the effort, that's not true for either Priory or A Day of Fallen Night. It is worth the commitment and doesn't feel nearly as long when you buckle in and get reading. 

My favourite parts, I think were the parts with Tunuva and Siyu. I loved seeing more about the Priory and what it was like in a time of peace. But I also really liked the bits with Glorian a lot and obviously the bits with Dumai and the dragons. It was nice that we had such a scope of storylines, with lots of themes to explore but it was also nice to see them connect together at the end. 

I would recommend reading Priory again first though. I didn't have time for a reread and though I did remember a lot of stuff as I went on, I got a little frustrated that I couldn't remember certain details. 

In short, this series is amazing but do reread before you get stuck in! 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for providing me with this copy for review. 

Christmas at the Palace by Jeevani Charika

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 368 

Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre 

Released: 18th of October 2018 

Campaigner, feminist, doctor, humanitarian - all words that Kumari would use to describe herself. Potential princess? Not even in the vocabulary.

But when Kumari's charity work catapults her into the limelight and brings her to the attention of Prince Benedict - playboy prince and sixth in line to the British throne - all bets are off.

Royal party boy, charming rogue, England's most eligible bachelor - Prince Benedict is all those things. Or at least he was. These days he's taking life more seriously, following in his dear mother's footsteps and focusing on charitable causes.

When he meets Kumari the attraction between them is instant. But, according to the press, Prince Benedict might just have found the most unsuitable bride.

Will love win the day?

What I Have to Say 

This was a lovely book, but another one that just didn't have enough Christmas in for me. From the cover, I expected a book filled to the seems with Christmas, but it was only the last hundred pages that really was about Christmas at the palace. If it hadn't had Christmas in the name, I wouldn't have minded so much, it was just that my expectations were so different. 

I also think the way that they did the flashback for the main content of the story didn't really work for me. It didn't leave much suspense as to whether they'd end up together or what would happen in their relationship. 

I loved Kumari's character though. I loved how focused on charity she was, how brazen she was. How she wouldn't take no for an answer for a lot of the time, despite the fact that it could get her and the whole royal family in trouble. 

The romance may have fallen a little flat for me, but Kumari made up for everything. I loved her so much. 

My thanks go to Bonnier for providing me with this copy for review.