I honestly must be one of the very few people who has yet to read Alexandra Christo's debut To Kill a Kingdom (though I plan to rectify that shortly) so I wasn't 100% sure what I would be getting going into this book. Sometimes that's a good thing though - it can be better not to have any expectations because they usually get dashed, more often than not...

I was really happy to get an advanced copy through Reader's First so thanks to them and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read it a little early (I also got the stunning Fairyloot edition which which just so pretty I can't help but sit and admire it!)

So, I didn't really know too much about the story of Into the Crooked Place so it was a wonderful little surprise when I got the book through the post. I have heard a lot of people make comparisons between this book and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo and also Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody but because I haven't read these two books I didn't have any preconceptions so I was able to enjoy this book on its own merits without any kind of baggage.

I'm not going to go too much into the story (I think it is better enjoyed going in with little to no knowledge - it's that kind of book) but I will say that I am always up for a book about magical hi-jinks. I also love books that contain heists - they are always fun to me and this one definitely entertained. I am very much looking forward to seeing how the plot develops in the next book.

There are four main characters in this book (Tavia, Wesley, Karam, and Saxony) plus a couple of additional POV's which did sometimes make it a little bit confusing at times. However, each had a distinctive voice and it was necessary to get the characters motivations. I tend to prefer books with a singular POV but multiple viewpoints does work for me on occasion and this one did for the most part.

There wasn't a great deal of time to get to know the characters but I liked what development we did get. Wesley and Tavia were my favourites; especially Wesley - he is such a contradiction and for most of the book I couldn't work out if he was going to turn out to be the bad guy or not (and I'm not telling you one way or the other!) His one-time friendship with Tavia and how it has disintegrated since he became a crime boss was very interesting and I found myself desperate for their chapters.

I only really started to enjoy Saxony as a character towards the end of the book when she got a little bit more interesting (suffice it to say, I am really looking forward to seeing her story in the next book). She was probably the weakest character for me at the start even though her story has perhaps the most potential generally. Karam started off pretty intriguing (I love kickass warrior girls) but her story was probably the most stagnant overall and she seemed to just be there as a prop for Saxony. I do think as a character she has many ways her story could go though and I am hopeful she gets a bit more page-time in the follow-up novel.

The plot was pretty exciting and moved at breakneck speeds (sometimes a little too fast - you didn't always get the chance to breathe chapter to chapter). I think the world-building was fairly decent but I did get a little bit lost at times due to the speed in which the characters moved through each place visited.

The bad guy was suitably malevolent and there were a few twists and turns (though I did guess one particular twist pretty early on and felt it was telegraphed throughout the story).

I am definitely eager for the second book (though it will be a bit of a wait I would imagine as there is no release date, cover, or even title as of yet). A pretty solid offering and I am definitely sold on most of the characters and the plot and can't wait to see how they all develop!

Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered - 5 stars

Evil Has a Name - 5 stars

To Kill a Kingdom - 3 stars

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer - 5 stars

Favorite book(s) of the month:

Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered, Evil Has a Name, I'll Be Gone in the Dark

Books started this month but haven't finished yet:

Still, Tote Asche, Percy Jackson - Die Schlacht um das Labyrinth, Gläsernes Schwert (dnf), On The Come Up

Random ramblings:

The best decision I ever made in july was to take a week off of reading and just consume all the other medias. I'm still catching up on tv show episodes that aired november '18, I haven't watched a movie in forever, and I'm still painfully behind on all the True Crime podcasts. So I took care of that for a bit. And when I decided to go back to reading again, I didn't care about the books I was currently reading, I decided to start some new ones, that I really wanted to read, no matter if they fit with that month's reading challenge for the goodreads bookclub I'm part of, no matter if I HAD to read something. I just picked up what I felt like. So yess, I'M BACK. I'm back to reading, enjoying my reading and actually finishing books. YAY ME.

english review

audible audiobook

Summary: Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

My review: I just don't know.

I wanted to love this so much. Cause if you need to know anything about me, it's the fact that I truly obsessed with The Little Mermaid. So to say I was excited to dive into a dark retelling of just this story, is a huge understatement.  And I truly loved the story behind it, I loved the whole set up and everything the story was about. I truly did. I just had some problems with the execution.

I loved the beginning. Lira being a ruthless killer, collecting hearts of princes. GOTTA COLLECT THEM ALL, right??? I loved Elian being a siren hunter, chosing this life over just being a prince. I LOVE THIS WHOLE SET UP, especially when these two meet.

I just was so damn bored of nearly everything that happened in the middle. I loved Elian's ship crew, I loved all of these moments and their quest to find maaaagic key. I was super interested in all of this. But I was also just sooooo bored. It's the weirdest feeling I have ever had reading a book and I got really close to dnf'ing it.

Towards the end it got so much better once again. Things for a 100 times more interesting, I feel like everything was executed so much better. It was really worth sticking around.

Since I read it as an audiobook, it could be that the voices just didn't work for me. At normal speed these two put me to sleep, drawing every word out and making things so much less entertaining. I had to listen to it at double speed, cause I couldn't deal. Maybe this was why I then got through the boring parts much faster. I don't know.

That's the theme of this book review, I just don't know what to feel or what to think about this book.

Glad I decided not to dnf it, cause it has really picked up some speed and got way more interesting.

Oooooooh I truly like this so far.