Talia Sturkie

A sapphic mystery novel, not a detective romance

Revisado: 04-13-25

This is a supernatural mystery novel at its core that also touches on a lot of sapphic themes and has a few steamy scenes, but don't go into it thinking it's a romance with a HEA.

When the blurb said trauma, it meant it. Cait has been through hell before the events of the story even start, and it's only going to get worse for her well before anything gets better. This one is definitely not going to be for everyone, but it's overall well done.

Betrayal, murder, manipulation, lies, complicated feelings, sexual assault (both actual and borderline), more supernatural creatures than I expected, and a truly fatal femme fatale fill out this novel that begins a series I am absolutely invested in seeing play out.

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Lovely cozy fantasy romance read

Revisado: 04-09-25

Loved this story and its cozy romance. It was a perfect little witchy Halloween read. A few weak spots in the narrative, and a few spots that felt like they were missing the connecting tissue.

Overall, the spice level is also pretty low, which may be a plus or minus depending on your tastes.

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DNFed after a long road

Revisado: 02-13-25

I wanted to love this book. I enjoyed the vast majority of the previous installments of this series, had fun with Nox and Amaris' journeys and eventual coming together. But the trip across the ice really killed my momentum with the story, and I just wasn't able to care enough to continue. While I'm sure surprises and answers to deep mysteries awaited me on the other side, I'm going to have to pass on moving forward.

I think it had to do with the *emotional* stakes no longer really being there. There were plots still in action, but the emotional arcs I was really interested in had mostly resolved, and those were the strengths of the story. The larger plot was never the big draw for me here, and that's what did the story in for me.

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Deep Emotions, difficult narrative

Revisado: 11-21-24

The multiple timelines aspect of this story makes it a bit of an effort to really get into, but the story itself is really solid. I think I was crying at least 3-4 times and really felt the heart-rending parts throughout the story.

Good narrative overall, and I've given it 4.5 if Audible would let me.

Moira Quirk's narration is still very well done as always, although she's using a different tone than I usually hear with her, which threw me off from the sample. Overall, this was a wonderfully-written story.

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A good story with a frustrating part.

Revisado: 03-10-24

The story and relationships here were very heartwarming and comforting, aside from the way the common romance trope of the Act 3 breakup was handled. That part of the story, although brief, was incredibly frustrating to listen to and had me almost ready to throw my phone at a wall.

That said, the emotional delivery was just solid throughout.

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An incredibly powerful story.

Revisado: 01-12-24

I was entirely engrossed in this wonderful story for the two days I took to read it. It deals with heavy topics, but does so in a truly convincing manner. I can heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoys tales of women's love, but especially to anyone who has imagined a rational path to the decision the book starts with.

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Could have been much shorter

Revisado: 09-09-23

My largest complaint about this story is that it took an incredibly long time to really get anywhere. I understand and appreciate romance taking its time, but the pace was agonizing. The story really struggled to deliver on its initial premise: the kidnapped daughter, instead spending hours on Emma deciding she isn't going to get romantically involved while she flirts five seconds later and vacillates for what felt like half the book. There was no... tension in this, just exasperation. The two big twists/developments where easy enough to guess within the first few hours, too, and even my senior citizen parents figured the whole thing out.

On an unrelated note: definitely not a road trip novel.

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Solid and enjoyable modern Fantasy

Revisado: 03-08-23

I really enjoyed this take on a modern secretive magic society. Myfanwy is a delight, and the character she develops throughout this story is a lot of fun. The two versions of the protagonist pre- and post-amnesia are distinct and very well done. You grow to care for both of them as the story progresses, and I'm a little sad that we had to lose the first version before she could overcome her difficulties. Overall pleasant story, and a performance that took a little getting used to, but was well done when it mattered.

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Minor Pronoun Confusion, decent read.

Revisado: 01-12-23

This was a decent listen married by a few key flaws: a few of the character voices were extremely similar, leading to confusion when multiple women were talking, but also too many "she's" at once in a scene left the action confused at times.

Overall good story that had interesting twists and secrets throughout, although it was difficult to really grasp the scope of the setting. It's different enough from others that I think it would benefit from more time spent fleshing things out.

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Different from the Arcane Ascension, but memorable

Revisado: 01-09-23

This book was initially harder to get into than Rowe's other work in the universe, but pressing on past the opening definitely paid off.

The book has a very different feel from the Arcane Ascension series, and it's narrow timeframe made the initial connection with the characters a bit harder for me. It also shifts between POVs every chapter, which felt a little unnecessary at times.

It's interesting how different the powers and power levels of these characters are compared with those from the other series, and I'm curious to see whether the comparison lasts as the narrative continues. These characters, while powerful, are definitely not all the hyper-skilled combatants we see elsewhere even if they are experienced climbers.

I will eagerly await the next work and see how this series progresses. I'm also curious whether there will be any crossover, but that will be a separate matter.

4/5 for the relatively weak opening, but I cannot fault the overall emotional experience by the end, and the performance was solid. (Minor gripe is differing pronunciation of some names like Selys and Delanos from other books)

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