Rebecca F. Kenney

"We are creatures of sky and flame, and once our fire has died, we return to the air."

4.5 ⭐s

Fourth Wing except the dragon gets the girl... well, it's a bit more complicated than that.

Serylla as a captive princess wasn't as feisty as many people had expected of her, and honestly? It's a breath of fresh air. I've read so many "fiesty" characters that ended up either as annoying as nails on a chalkboard or just straight-up mean-spirited. Serylla having a heart and empathy towards her captor just supports her inner monologue of not being "cunning enough" for the inner politics and machinations of the palace. Otherwise, she would have had a train of thought like Jessiva, one of the captives, who wanted to start an uprising. And that's okay. We also stan a Queen with enough emotional intelligence to understand her enemy is grieving as hard as she was.

Kyreagan was also not what I expected. He's just a kind cinammon roll that feels so much more deeply than everyone else. He suffers from anxiety and panic attacks frequently, overthinks a lot, is not good with words, and just overall trying his best. For a dragon, he seems more human than any of the human characters. Sure, he might be a mighty dragon 5x the size of Serylla or more, but in his POv we discover his dragon form makes him feel strong, like armor. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up being the captive of the villain in the 2nd book and Serylla is the one to save him.

The story is not as complicated as it seems. It flows easily, and the lore inserts were scattered around chapters so it's not a huge info dump at the beginning, which I am grateful for. All female dragons get offed, male dragons get bibidi-bobidi-boo'ed by an enchantress, attain human form for around 8 hours, mate with human captives, and go back to being a dragon afterward. This puts a strain on the more serious problems, like the lineage of dragons and how "halflings" will affect the future, but also sets up multiple stories for the books. I'm excited about what Rebecca has in store for Varex and Rothkuri.

The spice score for this is high... 5 🌶️/ 5🌶️. Breeding kink + primal play??? *chef's kiss*

Be forewarned, this book ends in a cliffhanger (at least, leaves Serylla hanging in a certain dragon's claws...) but the author assured us part 2 is not far from its release!

Thank you Author Rebecca Kenney for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!… (altro)

I was on a quest to find mermaid novels for inspiration for my new WIP, and someone on Twitter recommended this to me. It wasn’t what I expected, but overall I thought the story was enjoyable and put a nice spin on mermaid lore. This is the first time I’ve heard of this author.

The story: Kestra lives on a small island, and wants revenge on the mermaids for killing and eating her father. Rake is a mermaid breeder who wants to escape a life of servitude to three vicious and cruel mermaid queens, especially once he gets his son to care for. When Rake escapes, he and Kestra team up to find a way to destroy all the mermaids once and for all. It’s told in dual POV from Kestra and Rake in third person.

I loved the writing and felt immersed into the underwater world and life on the island village. I enjoyed reading about Rake and his son, Jewel - two mermaids who struggle to find their place in the world, on land or on sea. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Kestra - she seemed very two dimensional and immature to me, and I started to get annoyed by her since she’s one of the POV characters.

I liked her scientist cousin, Mai, and the jovial ship captain (and Kestra’s lover), Flay. The mermaids in this story are carnivorous and deadly, with teeth and claws and colorful hair, and have a hierarchy of high mermaids, mermidons and merlows.

There was a hint of a love triangle with Rake, Kestra and Flay, but it was a very small part of the story and resolved relatively quickly. And the ending was well done, ending on a bit of a cliffhanger.

Overall I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the sequel.… (altro)

I was on a quest to find mermaid novels for inspiration for my new WIP, and someone on Twitter recommended this to me. It wasn’t what I expected, but overall I thought the story was enjoyable and put a nice spin on mermaid lore. This is the first time I’ve heard of this author.

The story: Kestra lives on a small island, and wants revenge on the mermaids for killing and eating her father. Rake is a mermaid breeder who wants to escape a life of servitude to three vicious and cruel mermaid queens, especially once he gets his son to care for. When Rake escapes, he and Kestra team up to find a way to destroy all the mermaids once and for all. It’s told in dual POV from Kestra and Rake in third person.

I loved the writing and felt immersed into the underwater world and life on the island village. I enjoyed reading about Rake and his son, Jewel - two mermaids who struggle to find their place in the world, on land or on sea. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Kestra - she seemed very two dimensional and immature to me, and I started to get annoyed by her since she’s one of the POV characters.

I liked her scientist cousin, Mai, and the jovial ship captain (and Kestra’s lover), Flay. The mermaids in this story are carnivorous and deadly, with teeth and claws and colorful hair, and have a hierarchy of high mermaids, mermidons and merlows.

There was a hint of a love triangle with Rake, Kestra and Flay, but it was a very small part of the story and resolved relatively quickly. And the ending was well done, ending on a bit of a cliffhanger.

Overall I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the sequel.… (altro)

So I’m a total Peter Pan-Wendy shipper and I couldn’t pass up the chance to read a romance with their adult selves.

I enjoyed it, a lot! I didn’t always like Wendy’s or Peter’s characters. Wendy didn’t always act like a 25-year-old independent feminist and there were times when she acted and sounded like, well, a 15-year old girl. And Peter…well, he was the boy who never wanted to grow up so his quirks made sense. A little annoying but it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the book.

I loved how Ms. Kenney portrayed Neverland - the writing was lush and really drew you into the setting. I also enjoyed the pining and eventually, when they finally came together. There are plenty of other mythological figures thrown in too - Greek, Roman, even other fairytales. Overall great worldbuilding.

The ending is a cliffhanger, so I will most definitely be reading the sequel ASAP.… (altro)