Okay, I've got some novellas that I need to review, and while I had planned to do them at different times, tonight I'm just going to get them done finally! Trying so hard to get caught up on reviews. So, here we go!
Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard:
Now, technically this is a book that contains two novellas,
Queen Song and
Steel Scars. And actually, I'm only going to review the first one, because I couldn't get through the second one.
Queen Song:
Queen Coriane, first wife of King Tiberias, keeps a secret diary—how else can she ensure that no one at the palace will use her thoughts against her? Coriane recounts her heady courtship with the crown prince, the birth of a new prince, Cal, and the potentially deadly challenges that lay ahead for her in royal life.
This prequel novella was pretty good. We got a good look at the Queen, although really it definitely didn't make me like her any more. Maybe it's because I've already read
Red Queen and know what she is like in there. So I would recommend this though.
Steel Scars:
Farley was raised to be strong, but being tasked with planting the seeds of rebellion in Norta is a tougher job than expected. As she travels the land recruiting black market traders, smugglers, and extremists for her first attempt at an attack on the capital, she stumbles upon a connection that may prove to be the key to the entire operation—Mare Barrow.
I really tried, but I just couldn't get into this one. I couldn't quite place the character with what I remembered about the first story, so it didn't work for me. It is on my DNF list.
Castle Hill (On Dublin Street #3.5) by Samantha Young:
This was a good little novella, I definitely enjoyed the look at a moment we got a tiny snippet of in my favorite of the whole series,
Before Jamaica Lane. I won't give away what it is, I'll just say it was a good read, although I got really mad at Braden in this one. This one they had an audiobook of to download from my library, so that's what I did! Here's the blurb from Goodreads:
A Joss and Braden NovellaBraden Carmichael never imagined he’d fall as hard and as fast as he did for Jocelyn Butler. He also could not have anticipated how difficult it would be to convince her to give in to love. But now that he has her, he’s never letting go. He’s got it all planned—the passionate proposal, the dream wedding, the sexy Hawaiian honeymoon—even the perfect family they’ll start.
After trying to flee from her painful past, Joss is finally allowing herself to embrace the future. But when things start moving faster than she anticipated, she finds herself panicking over something Braden can’t understand. After everything they’ve been through, Joss is sure that their love can survive even her worst fears. But, this time, she may push Braden too far—and risk losing everything all over again…
As with every book in this series, including the other novella or two I've read, it was definitely something worth reading!
