Kristen Cast The Empress

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210484327-the-empress

Have you read this?  what did you think? 

Rina Kent: Twisted Kingdom

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/225100340-twisted-kingdom

blog post for book 1 in this series:  https://elbyslibrary.blogspot.com/2026/02/rina-kent-deviant-king.html

book 2: https://elbyslibrary.blogspot.com/2026/03/rina-kent-steel-princess.html

Book 3 Aiden & Elsa's story --> read in order

Book Blurb:

The kingdom isn’t supposed to fall.

The truth screws you over before it sets you free.
Masks drop. Secrets unravel.
Elsa’s race after the past blinds her from the present.
I’ll fight for her. I’ll bring her back.
I’ll protect her even if it’s the last thing I do.
We made a promise.
She’s mine.
Are you ready for one final game, sweetheart?

*Sports romance (football/soccer) *High school bully  *spice *enemies --> more  *miscommunication/no-communication    *touch her and 💀 *Dual POV  

 *check your trigger warnings there are loads  *repressed memories  *PTSD  *Possessive MMC

*lots of secrets  *family drama

Thoughts: 

I did enjoy this book more than the 2nd in the trilogy but truly feel like this story line did not need to be split into three books it was repetitive with their on again off again push and pull not moving forward with the plot but then coming back together for spicy times while not resolving any of their issues.

Aiden and Elsa both have a shared tragic past that even though Elsa can't remember what happened she is still drawn to this boy... who is very possessive, jealous, and throws extreme temper tantrums if he doesn't get his way... this being said this whole series has thrown me off that these people are still in high school but they are trying to act so much older.  Aiden and all of his friends need mental health help they have all the red flags.

This book finally gave us more of the back story of what happened as Elsa gradually regains her memories that she's been cut off from for so long and things were wrapped up by the end... I was skimming through more of the spicy parts to get to the end faster and don't see how they could get in the mood to do certain things when they were in certain situations like... there is no time for that right now!  The 3 books were over 900 pages and didn't need to be.  

This series for me has been like a reality tv show... is it the best out there?  no... but I have to keep reading this it's over the top dramatic and I can't stop myself from wanting to know what happens next. 

Have you read anything by this author?  Have you read this series?  what did you think?  

Rachel Hochhauser: Lady Tremaine

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/231126977

Book Blurb:  

A breathtaking reimagining of Cinderella, as told through the eyes of its iconic "evil" stepmother, revealing a propulsive love story about the lengths a mother will go to for her children

A widow twice-over, Etheldreda is now saddled with the care of her two children, a priggish stepdaughter, and a razor-taloned peregrine falcon. Her entire life has become a ruse, just like the manor hall they live grand and ornate on the exterior, but crumbling, brick by brick, inside. Fierce in the face of her misfortune, Ethel clings to her family’s respectability, the lifeboat that will float her daughters straight into the secure banks of marriage.

When a royal ball offers the chance to secure the future she desperately desires, Etheldreda must risk her secrets, pride, and limited resources in pursuit of an invitation for her daughters—only to see her hopes fulfilled by the wrong one. As an engagement to the heir of the kingdom unfolds with unnerving speed, she discovers a sordid secret hidden in the depths of the royal family, forcing her to choose between the security she’s sought for years and the wellbeing of the feckless stepdaughter who has rebuffed her at every turn.

As if Bridgerton met Circe, and exhilarating to its core, Lady Tremaine reimagines the myth of the evil stepmother at the heart of the world’s most famous fairytale. It is a battle cry for a mother’s love for her daughters, and a celebration of women everywhere who make their own fortunes.

*Fairy Tale Retelling (Cinderella)  *Step Mother  *Historical  *Netgalley ALC *2026 *Fierce FMC *Momma Bear FMC  *drama with the queen  

*Some trigger warnings (not sure if there is a warning but it does discuss SA  & DV towards the end of the book) 

Thoughts:

I was drawn to this story by the blurb alone I enjoy a good fairy tale retelling and I wasn't disappointed this tells the story of Cinderella... but it isn't the one we grew up with it's real and raw and told from the "evil" Step mother's point of view.  In this story we learn more of her life growing up and how she is just a woman on her own after out living 2 of her husband's the second husband left her with a falling down estate and no funds to take care of it... also a young step daughter Ellen she also has 2 young girls of her own what is she to do?

The story flips back and forth between telling a bit of Ethel's past and the present.  In this we find that she's just a woman trying to live and give her daughters the best life possible with limited resources she's hardworking and resourceful and teaches her 2 girls to be the same, while she tries with Ellen she's kind of at the end of her rope with her as Ellen still tends to believe everything is going to fall into place and some man is going to sweep her off her feet, she has her head in the clouds and seems to not notice the crumbling down estate and the struggles of her step mother, step sisters and the few staff members they have left and when asked to do her part to help she doesn't put much effort into anything including things that she would directly benefit from.

Ethel is heartbroken when her step daughter (who has never treated any of them like family) is invited to the prince's upcoming ball and knows that this would be a huge opportunity for all of her daughters.  Using a bit of scheming Ethel ends up with an invitation for all the girls but things go down hill shortly after that and she doesn't know how much more she pretend that they are still well off at home with most of their valuables sold and relying on her bird Lucy to help hunt for their daily meals.

While there were no cute talking mice, magical pumpkins or fairy godmothers what it did have was a lot of heart and Ethel isn't evil after all she's just a woman trying to do the best she can to provide for herself and all of her daughters (even if she feels a little more reluctant towards her step daughter after so many years of her lack of assistance with their situation).  

When the prince makes a decision maybe fairy tales don't have a happily ever after, after all.  I enjoyed the narrator she did a great job!  What I would say is that some of the story felt a little bit on the slower side due to the repetitive nature of topics like how she was just trying to be a good mother (which we could see throughout the book).  I also think that it read more towards historical fiction with a side of fairy tale retelling.  Thank you Netgalley, publishers and the author for this ALC. 

Rina Kent: Steel Princess

 Royal Elite Book 2 --> Part 2 of Aiden & Elsa's story 

blog post for book 1 in this series:  https://elbyslibrary.blogspot.com/2026/02/rina-kent-deviant-king.html

goodreads link:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/225098842-steel-princess

Since this is a series of 3 books I'm just going to put the book blurb here then my thoughts about the book at the bottom:

The princess isn’t supposed to dethrone the king.

Elsa
He said he’ll destroy me, and he did.
I might have lost the battle, but the war is far from over.
They say it starts with one move to dethrone the king.
No one mentioned he’ll yank me with him on the way down.

Aiden
If Steel’s little princess wants a war, then war it is.
There’s only one rule: my rules or none at all.
By all means, show me what you got, sweetheart.

*Sports romance (football/soccer) *High school bully  *spice *enemies --> more  *miscommunication/no-communication    *touch her and 💀 *Dual POV  

 *check your trigger warnings there are loads  *repressed memories  *PTSD  *Possessive MMC

*lots of secrets  *family drama

Thoughts:

This book starts off where the last book ends Elsa has overheard a conversation that she was never meant to hear between a few people close to Aiden and begins to spiral while she tries to separate herself from Aiden he is relentless between playing mind games with her and telling her that she is going to be with him forever... seriously over the top for a teenage boy.

Elsa wonders about her past and overhears conversations between her guardians (aunt & uncle) related to her past and memories might be coming back and begins to wonder if anyone is telling her the truth in her life.  She has repressed memories and goes to her psychiatrist to see if she can try to unblock these memories as she's been getting glimpses in her dreams (nightmares).

While in this book we do get a bit more of her back story... it really isn't enough as most of it is spent with spicy times between our leads... oh to be young again!  To be honest the actual plot progression wasn't all that much and led me to wonder why their story line needed to be spread over 3 books since the spice was over powering.

I did ruin what happened for myself in this book and the next one because I'm a mood reader and skipped ahead to the 4th & 5th books which give away some of the story from these books but I also did this because some of the trigger warnings were hard for me to read through.

Aiden and Elsa's relationship thru this one is on the toxic side they both make each other jealous throughout the book get upset, sometimes give each other the silent treatment for a bit... then they meet back up and go at it like rabbits.  

While I'm invested in this series at this point and plan to continue to read the third book in their story line this book felt like filler a lot of repetitive scenes with the same outcomes and we are back to square 1 again.  

Sadie Kincaid: The Auction

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239453876

Imogen never had a choice with how her life has gone her parents lost their lives when she was young after her father "betrayed" the "brotherhood" a secret society of wealthy men who do depraved things including collect women to auction off to the highest bidder.  Her grandfather trying to spare her life talks the brotherhood into allowing him to keep and raise his grand daughter to the age of 21 where he willingly will hand her over to the brotherhood to auction off.

Imogen is naive in... pretty much everything she lived a very sheltered life at her wealthy grandfather's estate where she was not allowed to watch tv, listen to music, leave the estate grounds or have any friends her own age, she was tutored at home and had "training" by a housekeeper on what to expect to happen after she was given over for the auction.

Lincoln is a scarred and very reclusive billionaire he keeps to himself, he doesn't get out much and most people don't know the true him... in fact the real him "died" years ago in an accident.  While he actually might be the monster that most people believe him to be he has his reasons and he's finally found what he's been looking for... Imogen.  He does it to protect her and takes her to his home going against what he should do by setting her up in another safe location.  

Imogen after finding out who her highest bidder was should be scared... even she has heard about how dangerous he is... but if this is the case when she's taken to his off the grid home in the middle of no where why does she feel so safe... and even more so why does she feel even safer in his arms.  Once all she thought of was surviving long enough to find a way to escape but soon she's feeling there is no where she'd rather be.  

*Dark Romance *Beauty and the Beast vibes  *touch her and 💀 *ALC  *2026 read  

*Masked MMC  *Forbidden romance  *Age gap  *sassy FMC  *spice *secret society

*Trigger warnings --> check them  *gothic mansion  *many Secrets (MMC) *hidden identity  *Netgalley

Thoughts:

Imogen is a sweet but sheltered girl who has spent most of her life fearful raised to believe that when she's turned over to "the brotherhood" she will be living in terrible conditions... and for most of the girls in this auction that is the case, she's been taught to be obedient and to do whatever the "buyer" wants... but Lincoln is unexpected she doesn't feel like an object that is owned he makes her feel special, cared for, maybe even loved. 

Lincoln is a hardened man once a part of the very brotherhood he is looking to take down he now has big goals and they arn't what most people think, he never wanted to have to keep Imogen safe by "buying" her from the auction but if that's what keeps her safe he's fine with that (kind of).  He's torn with his growing feelings towards Imogen considering who he is to her and his past.  

Lincoln tries to keep himself distanced from Imogen as best he can often taking many "work" related trips and leaving her on her own with his friend and butler Pierre who was also wronged by the brotherhood and develops a friendship with our FMC.  It's nice to see Imogen step out of her comfort zones of being submissive throughout the book and even get a bit on the sassy side towards the end.

While I didn't dislike the story and found it enjoyable enough to keep listening I never felt a true connection with Imogen who was so sheltered she was almost childlike at times and it got old kind of quick she didn't know who Bruce Springteen was and spent many days watching the marvel movies with Pierre and only wanted plain oatmeal because "it's nutritious".  Lincoln is as I previously said hiding so many secrets that we only get to know him on a surface level and I get that his cause is kind of "noble" but tell your girl already!!  It also didn't help that we as the reader were constantly reminded of how wrong Lincoln feels his changed relationship status with Imogen is.  

Lincoln was out of the house a lot on his secret missions where he is trying to find and "take care of" members of the brotherhood and other missions.  It seemed to me for a majority of the book Imogen had a better relationship with the butler... but she was super drawn to the hot older brooding man and once the spice happened it was all the time and some of the stuff was a bit over the top for me... especially the tampon situation 😬

I do plan to read the next in the series and hopefully we will get more backstory on Lincoln and the brotherhood in the next one and I need to know what happens next since it ends in a cliffhanger.  

Marissa Meyer & Tamara Moss: The Escape Game

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/236226582-the-escape-game

This story starts several seasons into a popular reality TV game show competition where teenagers work in teams to solve escape rooms and compete against several other teams.  While filming the season four finale tragedy strikes when a beautiful and popular contestant Alicia Angelos is found in one of the props dead... but who could have done it?  

Even with the tragedy from last season in their minds the show continues to gather cast members for season 5 including Beck who creates their own escape rooms at home and has a bit of a family secret, Adi the handsome son of a woman who used to be a celebrity and will do anything to get back in the lime light... even if it means getting there thru her son; Carter a math whiz and influencer (but only thru a character she's created as her alter ego... she's shy and awkward in person) and last but certainly not least Siera Angelos sister of Alicia --> everyone knows that she didn't get along with her sister and even though they were not able to prove her guilt they believe she is the culprit... but it does make for higher ratings with this "surprise" return contestant.

Sierra while she has a tough girl image and wants to keep that appearance she's not just there to play this season she wants answers... she didn't hurt her sister no matter what anyone else believes and she knows if she gets a chance she can help solve her sisters case since the police clearly have focused on the wrong person this whole time.

What started out as fun and games this season quickly becomes dangerous as the team has to learn to work together and trust each other to escape these rooms and as they begin to uncover more clues and get closer to solving the mystery of what happened to Alicia... the more they have to worry about being next.  

*Young Adult  *Mystery *Murder mystery *escape room *puzzles *2026  *ARC NetGalley

*game show  *Reality TV  *State Challenge:  California  *multiple POV  

Thoughts:

I really enjoyed the premise of this book a mystery inside of an escape room game show.  The authors did a good job explaining the puzzles and the outcomes but at times it almost felt like reading a play with the sets and puzzles being maybe too detailed leading to it being a bit slower in places and since I wasn't actually in the room with them I had a harder time following the puzzles they were trying to solve.  

I enjoyed the multiple POV aspect and watching all of the kids get to know each other better and come together as a cohesive team by the end of the book.  

While I know I'm not the target audience for this book (it's definately YA) I had a really hard time with the fact that these were teenagers and felt the book would have made a bit more sense if the kids in the book were even 18+... these kids were sent to stay by themselves in a villa that the show put them up at I highly doubt that the parents would not come with these underage kids while filming this show and I really don't think they would be ok with letting them stay to continue after it appeared they could truly be in danger... I don't even think the show would keep going at that point considering it would be a huge liability.

Going on with that line of thinking I had a hard time suspending my disbelief I don't see how the show was brought back for a 5th season given that season 4 ended up with the death of a contestant with law enforcement no closer to finding who did it... and people think it was the sister and they bring her back to the show!!?  What??

There were twists, turns, betrayals and sabotage who can you trust in this game?  Can you even trust your team mates?  Some of the twists I could predict and some I couldn't mainly because it kind of comes out of Left field and the motive felt pretty flimsy at best. 

I did find the book entertaining enough to keep me turning pages and I do plan to read the next in the series.  

Thank you netgalley and the authors for letting me read an advance copy of the book! 

Daniel Georgiev: Sun Catchers

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/237781424-sun-catchers

This book starts in an unknown time period where the world our characters are living in has frozen over all survivors are now living in a tower like structure with an elevator leading to different levels, the top most layers have the most resources and the highest chance of survival, bottom layers get limited resources including coveted sunlight which produces power for the level.

Sol lives in layer 5 this is now the bottom most layer as all layers below have become too cold to inhabit and/or the top most layers have "Discontinued" the layers to protect the upper most layers.  Sol Gathers sunlight in his Suncatcher to bring back to his level only recently the higher levels have not been approving the gathering... in fact there are concerns that level 5 might be discontinued soon... will the population of this level be relocated to remain safe?  

Sol and his team from level 5 often go on missions to scavenge resources from lower levels... and at times put themselves at greater risk trying to get to the top of the tower... with patrols out frequently trying to cut them off from all supplies, time and hope are dwindling at level 5.

One of the missions leads to a possible new source of power... but learning to control this could turn into a problem.  Clare (Sol's girlfriend) finds that this new power has given her new abilities... she doesn't understand them fully and is not sure if she will be able to control her new found power... this could be a blessing but it could also create more chaos.  

With time running out, friends turning into enemies, and losing even more precious resources maybe the answer isn't going up towards the sun... but going down towards the unknown.  

*Indie Author  *Dystopian World  *multiple POV  *Ruined world  *Scarcity of Resources  

*high tech gadgets  *Found family *heirarchy in the tower *light romance *2026

Thoughts:

This is another time where I'm branching out from my usual romance reads, I found this book from an indie author post and the plot sounded interesting Dystopian world coming to the end of resources and in need of some changes in order to help with survival, if anyone liked the Movie or Show Snowpiercer you will like this book.

The book was action packed and sometimes harder to follow but I was rooting for all of the level five population to make it to the end even when the upper levels have left them on their own basically to just "make it" as long as they can and every day or any mission taken could be their last prior to missions the team members create what they call a "fiver" that they want printed in rememberance of them if they do not return.

The author does a great job with world building and I could see the landscapes of the levels as described as I was reading the book, I loved the found family feel and had anxiety right along with them that the higher levels were cutting them off and they were running out of time to save their level.  

I enjoyed this read there were twists and it ended in a bit of a cliffhanger would be interested to see what happens next in this world.  With dystopian reads there are plenty of hard times and heartache as tough decisions are made and life as they know it will never be the same.