Hey all, Dani here.
Here we are at the end of July and I’ve almost managed two weeks of consistent posting. Also, I don’t even have to think about work for a whole week…well, technically I don’t have to think about it this weekend, all next week, or next weekend. I have been bounced around to so many work areas and have had to flex around so many work schedules these past few months and I am just exhausted. It’ll be nice to have a little bit of a break.
Plus, add in the fact now that I’m coping with the sudden loss of my only grandfather (my paternal grandfather passed away before I was born, so I never knew him). I need to get away for a little bit. Yesterday I went out and bought Pop-Pop’s favorite potato chip, and came home to find that my birthday card from Nana and Pop-Pop had arrived in the mail the same day he died. Today Damian and I went to breakfast at Bob Evan’s, because Pop-Pop loved going there, and I think tomorrow we’re going to go play some Miniature Golf, because he loved golf but we are nowhere near good enough to play actual golf without causing chaos for everyone around us.
Honestly right now I’m really fighting the urge to drive down to the bookstore to buy all kinds of books. Book shopping is a comfort activity for me. When I’m happy and need to celebrate, I buy books. When I’m sad and need a pick me up, I buy books. I’m just really feeling that urge to go splurge on a bunch of books…which I don’t exactly need right now, and I can’t exactly afford right now.
Okay, anyway, today I bring you another NetGalley review, and it’s for another book that I read prior to its release date but didn’t review on time because I was in the middle of my big reading/blogging slump. However, I can say that I’m super excited to talk about it now, so let’s jump into the review.
“A YA fantasy classic in the making.” – Christine Lynn Herman, author of The Devouring Gray
“Fans of Leigh Bardugo’s “Grisha Trilogy” and Marie Rutkoski’s “Winner’s Trilogy” have been waiting for this Darkling-esque romance…” – School Library Journal (Starred Review)
Allison Saft’s Down Comes the Night is a snow-drenched romantic fantasy that keeps you racing through the pages long into the night.
He saw the darkness in her magic. She saw the magic in his darkness.
Wren Southerland’s reckless use of magic has cost her everything: she’s been dismissed from the Queen’s Guard and separated from her best friend—the girl she loves. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate, Colwick Hall, to cure his servant from a mysterious illness, she seizes her chance to redeem herself.
The mansion is crumbling, icy winds haunt the caved-in halls, and her eccentric host forbids her from leaving her room after dark. Worse, Wren’s patient isn’t a servant at all but Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria and her kingdom’s sworn enemy. Hal also came to Colwick Hall for redemption, but the secrets in the estate may lead to both of their deaths.
With sinister forces at work, Wren and Hal realize they’ll have to join together if they have any hope of saving their kingdoms. But as Wren circles closer to the nefarious truth behind Hal’s illness, they realize they have no escape from the monsters within the mansion. All they have is each other, and a startling desire that could be their downfall.
Love makes monsters of us all
My Thoughts:
Rating: 5 stars
This is another book that I read super fast. I was drawn into the story so quickly. Okay, fine, I’ll be honest, I was already likely to love the story because Wren is a magical healer and I play clerics about 95% of the time when I play D&D, so healing is an interest of mine, and I love seeing how healing magics work in various fantasy worlds.
There was more political intrigue than I originally expected with this book, and I enjoyed it. Because obviously when you’re trying to figure out a mysterious illness while being stuck in an eerie, creepy, seemingly haunted house…obviously there’s some mystery and intrigue going on.
Within this story you will find romance and magic and mystery and politics and war…and it’s just a really interesting time. I think this was the book that started to pull me out of my reading slump a few months ago, a slump that surged up again after some bookternet drama and some stuff going on at home.
But, if this book got me out of my slump, then maybe it will intrigue you enough to get you up and reading. Then again, I can also see how this book could be entertaining in a way that leads to a book slump. That’s an interesting dilemma, to want to talk about a book because I found it to be really really good, but also knowing that it could lead to a dreaded reading slump because of not knowing what to pick up next.
Sorry, I wanted to write a better and more cohesive review for this book, but I’m not having an easy time focusing right now.
So I’ll just say that I enjoyed the characters, the atmosphere, the creepy setting, the mystery of it all…and if I had any complaints it’s that this book came out in the spring when the haunted house feeling makes me feel like this should have been a fall book. Is that really a complaint? I don’t know, but that’s a thought I have about this. I’m probably going to read this book again soon enough…and I’ll actually be starting Allison Saft’s next book pretty soon, because I was just approved for it on NetGalley, so I’m really excited.
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All right, well that is all from me for today. Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
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