Showing posts with label Amanda Leigh Cobb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amanda Leigh Cobb. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Review: Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis

 
Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis

Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis
Publication Date: February 18th 2025 by Bramble
Pages: 304
Source: Publisher 
Rating: 

My Thoughts:
Felix is the Archduke of Estarion, but in name only.  Count von Hertzendorff, an evil, conniving man, took charge and is ruling behind the scenes. Felix knows it’s only a matter of time before the Count arranges a “accident” that results in his death, so runs to a place where he knows the Count can’t touch him: the Mountains of Kitvaria where the infamous Witch Queen Saskia rules.
 
Felix intends to throw himself on Queen Saskia’s mercy, but when he arrives, he’s mistaken as the dark wizard they’ve hired to catalog the magical library and Felix doesn’t correct them. He figures he’ll bide his time and explain later. However, Felix falls into his job naturally and befriends the castle inhabitants as well as Queen Saskia.
 
Queen Saskia wrenched the throne away from her wicked uncle and she’s kept her kingdom safe so far, but trouble is brewing. She knows her uncle is again plotting against her. Saskia must find a way to eliminate the threat for good and so she keeps experimenting with spells to fortify her borders and tasks her new dark wizard to search for anything that could help, too.
 
For being a supposed “wicked” witch queen, Saskia had a big heart and treated all in her kingdom with kindness and love. Her priority was keeping her people safe. I really liked her! Felix quickly became her confidant and supporter, fiercely protective of her, so that when his identity came out it didn’t blow up like you’d think it would. Their attraction grew as they worked together.
 
I really enjoyed Felix and Saskia's slow-burn romance and rooted for them to prevail against their enemies! I liked the little twist with Felix at the end. I look forward to the next installment which centers on Queen Lorelei.

4 Stars


Book Description:

In a Gaslamp-lit world where hags and ogres lurk in thick pine forests, three magical queens form an uneasy alliance to protect their lands from invasion…and love turns their world upside down.

Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the empire next door. For that, she needs to spend more time in her laboratory experimenting with her spells. She definitely doesn’t have time to bring order to her chaotic library of magic.

When a mysterious dark wizard arrives at her castle, Saskia hires him as her new librarian on the spot. “Fabian” is sweet and a little nerdy, and his requests seem a little strange – what in the name of Divine Elva is a fountain pen? – but he’s getting the job done. And if he writes her flirtatious poetry and his innocent touch makes her skin singe, well…

Little does Saskia know that the "wizard" she’s falling for is actually an Imperial archduke in disguise, with no magical training whatsoever. On the run, with perilous secrets on his trail and a fast growing yearning for the wicked sorceress, he's in danger from her enemies and her newfound allies, too. When his identity is finally revealed, will their love save or doom each other?

About the Author:

Stephanie Burgis grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, but now lives in Wales with her husband and two sons, surrounded by mountains, castles and coffee shops.  She writes wildly romantic adult historical fantasies (including The Harwood Spellbook, over 20,000 self-published copies sold) and has had over forty short stories for adults and teens published in magazines and anthologies.


Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Audiobook Review: The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning

 
The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning

The House at Watch Hill (The Watch Hill Trilogy #1) by Karen Marie Moning
Publication Date: October 1st 2024 by Harper Audio
Pages: 384
Audio Book Length: 11hrs 34min
Narrator: Amanda Leigh Cobb & Tim Campbell
Source: Publisher
Rating: 
Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:
Zo Grey is down on her luck with a terminally ill mother just trying to get by when she discovers she’s the heir to a vast estate and fortune in Divinity, Louisiana. However, there’s a catch: she has to live at the old imposing house for three years in order to inherit.
 
There was some waffling back and forth over whether she’d accept the terms, but to be honest who in their right mind wouldn’t accept and give it a go?  Especially someone like Zo in her financial situation. Yes, the house looked intimidating (and it was!) but sounded gorgeous as soon as you set foot inside!
 
Of course, anything that seems too good to be true usually is, and Zo starts to discover a darker side to the town, the house and her history. She’s known on a subconscious level there was something “extra” about herself, but her mother never shared anything about her past or powers.
 
The House at Watch Hill was more about setting this world up and didn’t have much in the way of action until the end. Still, it was an engrossing read and Moning has a way of setting up an enticing backdrop and mysterious characters. There are two potential love interests. Not sure how it’ll work out, but I did prefer one over the other. The story ended on a cliffhanger. I look forward to finding out what happens next after that last scene!

I listened to the audio version and really enjoyed Amanda Leigh Cobb and Tim Campbell’s performance! She has an appealing voice and Tim Campbell’s lent an air of mystery to his character.

4 Stars


Book Description:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning is back with a gripping, imaginative, and seductive new series in which a young woman moves to Divinity, Louisiana, to inherit a large fortune and a Gothic mansion full of mysteries and ominous secrets...

Zo Grey is reeling from the sudden death of her mother when she receives a surprising call from an attorney in Divinity, Louisiana, with the news she has been left an inheritance by a distant relative, the terms of which he will only discuss in person. Destitute and alone, with nothing left to lose, Zo heads to Divinity and discovers she is the sole beneficiary of a huge fortune and a monstrosity of a house that sits ominously at the peak of Watch Hill—but she must live in it, alone, for three years before the house, or the money, is hers.

Met with this irresistible opportunity to finally build a future for herself, Zo puts aside her misgivings about the foreboding Gothic mansion and the strange circumstances, and moves in, where she is quickly met by a red-eyed Stygian owl and an impossibly sexy Scottish groundskeeper.

Her new home is full of countless secrets and mystifying riddles, with doors that go nowhere, others that are impossible to open, and a turret into which there is no visible means of ingress. And the townspeople are odd…

What Zo doesn’t yet know is that her own roots lie in this very house and that in order to discover her true identity and awaken her dormant powers, she will have to face off against sinister forces she doesn’t quite comprehend—or risk being consumed by them.