Guarded Treasure

4.5★ 2🌶

    I finished Guarded Treasure by Mae Lovette.  It was good but it didn't blow me away.  I enjoyed it overall.  I think the plot was decent.  It slowed the book down a little when the two MCs went back to Cairo to look for more information on the tomb.  I expected all the action to take place at the tomb and surrounding area, but why should it have, that assumption was on me.  The whole story came together nicely I think.  The only part I didn't quite care for was the jealously factor from Ben when he finds out Edith has an "engagement of convenience".  She shouldn't have needed to explain to him that being a woman in the 30s necessitated some sort of relationship with a man so that she could move about in social circles freely, but whatever.  They communicated with each other about it so it didn't become a huge sticking point for too long. One of my most hated tropes is miscommunication.  I did like that a good amount of ancient Egyptian history was included.  The cursed Egyptian Mummy became a character herself and the flashbacks to 3000 years ago were a nice touch.  Because I'm a huge fan of The Mummy and the Mummy Returns I could easily pick out the elements from the source material, but I enjoyed those aspects.  The tense portion where lives were in danger rolled out in my mind like a cinematic scene.  I do wish the Medji had played a more prominent role instead of just a passing mention and it would have been nice to actually meet Edith's bother instead of again just a passing mention.  At the same time I do see where the author probably didn't want to include too many similarities with the movies and make the book her own.  Ultimately I think she did.  It was a fun book, with a good plot, interesting main characters and well written spice.

    I decided to jump back into the Broken Kingdom series by LJ Andrews and have picked up where I left off.  I'm now reading book seven in the nine book series Den of Blades and Briars.  This series is broken into chunks essentially.  The first three books are about the Northern Kingdom, follow Elise and Valen with the first book being a Beauty and the Beast retelling with Viking lore mixed in.  The next three books are set in the Eastern Kingdom, follow Malin and Kase and are a loose Cinderella retelling again with Vikings mixed in.  The book I'm in now and the next is set in the Southern Kingdom, follows Ari and Saga and is a loose Swan Princess retelling.  The nineth book in the series follows Calista, is a Phantom of the Opera retelling with Vikings, raps everything up and sets up the next series; The Ever Seas which is how I found LJ Andrews to begin with.  Ari the MMC of this book was introduced back in the first.  He's been integral in both Elise and Valen's story as well as Kase and Malin's so I've been very excited for Ari to finally get his happily ever after.  He's been the comic relief since the beginning and like most great comedians I suspected he had a very deep dark past.  I was not wrong.  I think both Ari and Saga's past may be the darkest yet out off all the couples that get featured in this series.  I've also been reminded, now that I've read several other authors in between, just how well and epically LJ writes.  She has such a diverse and numerous hoard of characters and side characters but does an unprecedented job at giving every single one of them personality and depth.  The world she has created is vast and detailed and unlike anything else I've read.  I keep coming back to devour her work.  If I could only read one author for the rest of time, it would be her and her prolific works.  I seriously don't know when this woman sleeps.  I swear she's a female Brandon Sanderson.  This book has been exceptional so far.  

Happy Reading.

-Q