[ 383 ]

[katara]

Title: Fairydale

Author: Veronica Lancet

Genre: Gothic, Reincarnation, Fantasy, Romance, Historical Fiction, Dark, Novella, Adult, Horror, Love Triangle

Trigger Warning: blood (gore), blood play & period play, death, derogatory terms, discrimination, drugs, graphic torture, graphic violence, graphic sexual situations (humanoid & non-humanoid), incestuous situations, infertility, kidnapping, murder, rape, weapons, PTSD, suicide

Date Started: January 13th, 2023

Date Finished: January 14th, 2023

Status: Finished

Rating: 5/5

Sypnosis: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐡𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞?

August 1955,

When Miss Darcy O’Sullivan, an orphaned English teacher from Boston, receives a letter that her biological father passed away, she is surprised to find herself included in his will.
There is only one condition.

She must travel to Fairydale to attend his funeral.

With the promise of a sizable inheritance, Darcy decides to journey to the small coastal town that holds the secrets of her birth. But the moment she steps foot into Fairydale, things start to go amiss.

Odd residents. Odd rumors. Odd…deaths.

Everything about Fairydale is odd.

Including brooding Caleb Hale—part of the infamous Hale family.

During the day, she falls deeper and deeper under his spell as he forces her to step out of her comfort zone and embrace her inner sensuality.

But at night it’s another man who haunts her dreams—Amon d'Artan, a nobleman who lived two centuries ago.

Amon is sweet and suave where Caleb is intense and dangerous, and Darcy feels more torn than ever. Soon, she finds herself embroiled in a web of lies, deceit, and inexplicable events that make her question her sanity.

When an ancient evil threatens the town and everything Darcy holds dear, she must make the ultimate choice.

But will she survive it?



Fairydale is a dark gothic historical romance with horror, paranormal & fantasy elements. This is NOT a traditional love triangle. It features a villainous love interest that would end the world for his beloved and an all-encompassing love story spanning millennia. This is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18. Please check the triggers before reading.

Review: Okay, I just found my book of the month.

Seriously, how the hell did I miss this book last year?

I have read a lot of thick books (Gone With the Wind and War and Peace) and this one is just as bad. It had been a long time since I had picked up something like this and honestly, I was not disappointed. I could not put the book down no matter how many times I needed to get up off the couch. Normally, I could set it down and pick up another book to read in between. This one - I could not.

This beautiful story is a mix of gothic, reincarnation, paranormal, romance, and fantasy. All perfectly blended into three different timelines. Each one draws you in and tells you of a love that crosses time and space. Three different timelines - Darcy, Elizabeth, and Sela. Each story holds you, and grips you to understand a love story that ended so quickly.

I don't know how I missed this book because I loved it. Absolutely loved it. This book had me in tears and cheering Amon.

Speaking of Amon, he is now my book boyfriend. Can I have him? I mean, I am willing to share him if I must but otherwise, he is definitely book boyfriend material. He loves all three incarnations of our heroine and does everything possible to protect her. He is even possessive - my kind of boyfriend.

I don't care about red flags. You can keep your red flags; I will keep Amon. xD

But seriously, this story will keep you wanting more of both of them - to know their story through each timeline and crying as the two are torn away.

I loved this story. I absolutely have found my January book of the month. I don't think any book will top this one for the year.

I recommend this book. Seriously, pick up this book and fall in love.

[ 384 ]

[katara]

Title: Spare

Author: Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex

Genre: Autobiography, British Royals, Historical Nonfiction, Nonfiction, History, Memoir, Politics, European Literature, British Literature

Date Started: January 14th, 2023

Date Finished: January 14th, 2023

Status: Finished

Rating: 4/5

Sypnosis: It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on.

For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.

Review: On August 1997, the world lost Diana, Princess of Wales. Her two children, William and Harry, were devasted by her loss. Harry more than anything. For a long time, he believed that his mother was hiding away from the public and had faked her death...and she would be coming for both him and his older brother.

Unfortunately, that would never be the case and Harry grew up without her further guidance. There were a lot of mentions of his mother peppered throughout the book. Little pieces here and there of memories he had of her and you could definitely see that he was extremely attached to her. Her death had taken a toll on his life and you could see it during the early stages of his life.

In some of his stories, I felt sorry. Both he and his brother had drifted apart. His brother even seemed to be cold and distant toward Harry as they grew up. Case in point when they were at Eton. William did not want anything to do with his brother...told his brother to pretend like he did not know him. That is something you don't tell someone young, who much like yourself lost someone dear. Perhaps if William had offered guidance to his younger brother maybe things would be different.

Again, all this is speculation in my thoughts. I understand and sympathized with Harry over his loss and understood that losing the one person in your life is something hard to deal with. Losing a parent changes everything in your life and the way you look at life altogether.

I was surprised to hear that Philip was Diana's biggest supporter seeing as there had been tales that say otherwise. I can only assume that since the source is the young prince that it is a possible truth.

But what does not surprise me is Camilla. She knew that once Diana was gone, the field was open to her and she saw the opportunity to become Queen Consort in the near future. This made me like her even less. Then again I never liked her at all. I had seen the things in the newspapers play out prior to Diana's death and during the stages of her marriage of Camilla being the rottweiler in heat.

This book is interesting but there are some things that have me questioning his perspective.