A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

A Court of Sugar and Spice by Rebecca F. Kenney

Series:
Wicked Darlings #1

Genre:
Holiday, Retellings, The Nutcracker, Christmas, Romantasy, Fantasy, Romance, the Fae, Smut, Erotica, Dual Points of View, Book Series, Fiction, Adult, Spicy Romance, Steamy Romance, Paranormal, Enemies to Lovers, Dark Romance, Fairytales, Unseelie and Seelie, Forced Proximity

Publication Date:
January 1, 2022

Pages Numbers:
373

Read Date:
December 14th, 2023

Date Finished:
December 15th, 2023

Rating:
4.75/5

Blurb:

With their inheritance restricted until their marriage, sisters Clara and Louisa, both in their twenties, must live with their godfather Drosselmeyer. One night, an accident brings to life one of the strange wooden dolls in Drosselmeyer's mansion. The Nutcracker doll is a cursed Fae prince, and he pleads for the sisters' help. During the ensuing journey into the Fae realm, Clara encounters the handsome Sugarplum Faerie, and he promises her the chance to enact all the forbidden. fantasies she has dreamed of. Meanwhile Louisa and the Nutcracker Prince battle and bicker over everything, despite the growing attraction between them. And to make matters worse, the entire Seelie kingdom is under threat of conquest by the Rat King, ruler of the Dread Court.

This is a spicy, adult, fantasy romance retelling of "The Nutcracker" fairytale.

Trigger warnings are available on the author's website and in the front matter of the book.

Review:

A Court of Sugar and Spice is a spicy retelling of the beloved tale The Nutcracker. The story is told from the dual points of view of sisters Louisa and Clara. After the death of their father, the girls are sent to their godfather, Drosselmeyer, to live. But the girls start to realize that there is more to the dolls in his home. One night, Louisa's finger is pricked by a splinter and her blood awakens the nutcracker. When the girls learn of his curse and his plight to return to his home, they offer their help determined to get the cursed prince to the pool that would help end his curse. Upon their arrival, they find the Unseelie army led by the Rat King has taken over the Kingdom. Add a deliciously seductive Sugarplum Faerie into the mix and you have a delightful and smutty retelling.

I found myself mildly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. This is the first book I have come across with a unique retelling of The Nutcracker. The characters and world-building are beautifully crafted with a determination to draw the reader in and keep them glued to the edge of their seats by investing their emotions into the characters and their world.

The only downside to this book was Louisa. I don't know why but I just did not like her character. She seemed to be too pushy when it came to sex especially when the prince's mind had been on returning to his original self and saving the kingdom. I get that she enjoyed sex but I did not like how her entire character seemed to revolve around it. I often found myself skipping any of her scenes in favor of Clara and Fin.

Who would NOT want to spend more time with Fin and Clara, especially the chase, the rescue, and the hot smut scenes? Louisa and Lir did not have that type of chemistry as the former did. It was there hot and steamy and I was there for it happily.

Final Thought:

This book exceeded my expectations. I loved everything about this book and I am quite looking forward to reading the next one in the series. It was a truly enjoyable read that I didn't want to put down. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys well-developed characters and immersive world-building that will keep you turning the page.

Similar Books:

Trick Shot by Kayla Grosse
A Ship of Bones & Teeth by Karina Halle
Hollow by Karina Halle

Captain Pan (Neverland Fae #2) by Rebecca F. Kenney

Fantasy, Romance, Retellings, Peter Pan, Adult, Fae, Fairytales, Pirates, Monsters, Spicy Romance, Contemporary, Folklore, Fairies



Wendy has been kidnapped and taken to Hook, which escalates tensions between Hook and Peter. As Wendy plans her own escape, Peter tries to figure out where she's being held and how he can rescue her without losing his friends, his allies, and Neverland itself.



(Trigger warning: violence, nonconsensual touch/kissing, threat of rape)



Review:
This book is the conclusion to the book Wendy, Darling and it picks up where the last book has left off. Wendy has been kidnapped and taken to Commodore Hook and placed into his hands. He plans to use her once again against Pan and maybe even keep her once he has rid himself of the pesky fae. But Hook is attracted to Wendy and often finds a way to gain a kiss, a touch, or have her naked before him. What he is not aware of is that Pan is not going to let the former Captain keep his beloved Wendy. Everything is at stake including Neverland, and the clock is ticking to find where Hook has hidden his beloved.

I have never been one to pick up the sequel once I read the first book. I tend to pick up other books before I come back to the sequel but this one really caught my attention and I wanted to see the direction it took. I loved how we are able to see glimpses of other worlds. And let's not start with this Alice - she was freakin' creepy and I mean really creepy. The Hook and Wendy dynamic was quite yum that there were parts where I was actually wishing this book was not geared toward the Wendy/Pan pairing. I always did enjoy the whole villain gets the girl. Those types of stories are the best. But I was happy with glimpses of what might have been here and there.

The only grip I had against this book was the Pan-Hook finally meeting was just anticlimactic. It just made the build-up to the story feel like the author was trying to hurry through the ending to get rid now of the smex. Don't get me wrong we were long overdue for the reunion of Wendy and Pan, but I felt it took away from everything. There was a missed opportunity to make the whole Pan-Hook showdown worth waiting for and just to have it dropped in a way made me feel like maybe I should have skipped this book for another day. This was just a disappointment to me.

I will say I enjoyed this series and I am definitely going to pick up the other books that are off-branches to the story because it's Greek/Roman mythology and if you want to reel me into it, then you just have to wave that sort of thing in my face. LOL.


Rating:

4.5/5