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The Garnet Daughter and Where the Tide Meets the Sand

     Alright, book reviews ahead, that will contain spoilers so read on with caution.  



First up; The Garnet Daughter by Katrina Calandra.  This is book three in the Viridian Priestess series.  I was lucky enough to get an Advanced Reader Copy.  It will be published on September 26th (tomorrow).  This is part of a series and the first two books need to be read first.  This book follows Calliape and August.  Since this isn't out yet I won't do a play by play quite yet.  I gave this book 5⭐s and a 3 on the spice scale.  The author describes the worlds of these books to be Star Wars meets The Witcher.  I can definitely see that as a good basic description but they are soo much deeper than that.  It's science-fiction romance.  The main tropes in this book in particular are friends-to-lovers and found-family.  The pace is, I would say, medium.  I think the story progresses well without any dead spots or tropes that I find annoying.  There is still a lot of mystery surrounding the main "bad guy" if you will.  More information comes out about the role that all the past mythos plays but there are still un-answered questions.  This one also ends on a cliff-hanger of sorts.  I find these books intriguing, engaging and absolutely fun.  Go check them out!



Next up; Where the Tide Meets the Sand by Aaron McLean.  I moved this up in my TBR after seeing a post on IG by the author.  This was contemporary romance.  It, I guess can be described as darker, but not dark romance per se.  I generally don't read contemporary romance and I don't believe I've ever read romance written by a man, but the IG post was pretty compelling.  This. book. wrecked. me.  I don't really like to be wrecked.  It wasn't a bad book by any means, but it wasn't really for me.  The writing was really good.  The way he writes is fabulous and I'd gladly read another book from him if I know going in what its going to be about.  I'm pretty sure this author only writes heart wrenching romance that tears you down before it builds you back up.  I gave this 4 stars and I'd say its a 1 to a 1.5 on the spice scale.  I did plough through this book and I enjoyed it up to about the 60% mark, then it all fell off for me.  The FMC turned into a mediocre flake.  Turns out she hid a child from the MMC for six years, then died of a brain tumor.  She was "too scared" to uproot his perfectly curated life with a child, then was "too guilty" to admit to him he had a daughter.  She completely ghosted him the day she found out she was pregnant after their two week long vacation tryst.  She shacked back up with her college boyfriend and then was miserable until her death.  I hate all of that.  Does it probably happen in real life, oh I'm sure.  Do I want to read about it?  NO!  The college boyfriend bails on the FMC during her tumor battle and custody of the child goes to the sister and MMC. The sister who was on the original vacation that started all this and had caught feels for the MMC too.  (She was a better fit for him from the beginning)  The sister brings by the child and lays all this on him after he had plucked himself out of his complete and total downward spiral after FMC ghosted him 6 years ago.  Even though it made sense I felt like the story line of the sister and the MMC getting together was rushed and sloppy.  I have issues with other parts too.  The college boyfriend confronts MMC at one point and never mentions the child!  He knew the whole time the kid wasn't his, she never kept that a secret from him or the daughter.  At another point the FMC goes back to tell MMC what happened and she crumples again out of fear within a few feet of him.  The sister bumps into him and doesn't tell him.  Like for f&^s sake.  There is also a crap ton of detail about this dude's house and property, and I get it its beautiful and ethereal and all that, but holy crap, its practically another damn character in the book.  So considering this book pissed me off this much I guess I should say I did enjoy it.  I would have to be in a certain kind of mood to read another one of these.  I need something really light and fluffy to cleanse my palate now.

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