Catching Up With Netgalley ARCs: 3 Mini Reviews

Hey bookworm friends. Today’s post is a meaty one! I’ve been working on catching up with my Netgalley ARCs for a while now. And with these 3 reviews I’ve finally done it! Huzzah! 🎉It feels nice to clear the mental bottleneck that’s been plaguing me since spring. Don’t ask me why but my brain decided I couldn’t share any new reviews until I shared these ones even though they’re from months ago.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARCs; All opinions are my own.

Catching Up With Netgalley ARCs

Review for Swordheart

Unfortunately for Halla, she’s come into an unexpected and considerable inheritance. And now she’s stuck between distant relations trying to get their grubby hands on her money. Fortunately, she also inherited Sarkis, an immortal swordsman trapped within an enchanted sword. Sarkis is bound to protect his wielder from any danger, convenient yet annoying.

The ridiculous banter, and sunshine/grumpy chemistry made the reading experience so pleasurable for me. Swordheart is laugh-out loud funny and as sweet as a forehead kiss. If my genuine cackles and foot-kicking giggles are any indication, it’s probably the funniest book I’ve read in a while. I especially enjoyed the scenes which attempted to scientifically explore the limitations of a human body being stuck inside a scabbard for centuries!

“Sarkis rubbed his forehead.
‘She is lovely and kind and generous of spirit and someone has to keep her from walking off a cliff.’
‘And they say romance is dead.’ “

While it fits snugly into the ‘cozy’ space, there’s also enough adventure and tension (both romantic and plot-wise) to keep me engaged and rooting for the characters all the way through. The romance felt refreshingly un-rushed and earned.That being said I have one small issue with Sarkis’ characterization. I understand that he’s from an era long gone and, as a result, he has outdated notions. Nevertheless, his constant obsession with what Halla was wearing or not wearing was annoying. It gets challenged within the story, but it still dampened my ability to fall head over heels with the romance so it’s worth noting.

Review for When The Tides Held The Moon

I requested When The Tides Held The Moon mostly because of the gorgeous cover. But also because it’s a mermaid story with Puerto Rican representation and, as a Latina, that appealed to me. Speaking of the cover, the author also created the cover illustration, the art on the end-papers, as well as a ton of gorgeous in-text illustrations and they do not disappoint! 😍 There are a lot of elements of this story that I enjoyed. The prose is beautiful, and there is so much Spanish woven into the text in a casual way, like how a bilingual person thinks. Never fear, there’s a not-so-little glossary! It came in so handy, especially for Puerto Rican slang and proverbs I’d never heard of.

I especially enjoyed how the author crafted the dialogue between the multi-cultural troupe of Luna Park, complete with the speech patterns of 1910’s New York! Each character’s voice was vibrating with unique personality, to the point of seeming almost plastered on like a mask. Given that they’re circus performers on the fringes of society, and only tolerated as long as they can provide entertainment, this is purposeful. As the reader get to know the other characters, we’re forced to think about survival, what face you show to the world, and what lies you tell yourself. This to me was the strongest part of the book.

“It sounded the same in every language, and it wasn’t until I came to Nueva York and heard it repeatedly in the multilingual mutterings of other immigrants on the waterfront that I realized why. A deadly contagion that raged across the globe like fire didn’t have time to change its name.”

Unfortunately, the romance was deeply disappointing, and since this is a fantasy romance that’s quite a large portion of the book I had issues with. The romance begins in a very difficult place, with Benny’s actions leading to the merman being captured. Not the best way to find a boyfriend. But I had hope, I knew these two were going to have to work hard to iron out their issues and I was looking forward to the Merman holding Benny accountable. But did any of that happen? No! Because the merman almost immediately forgave him! Then they spent the rest of the time falling in love…while one of them was trapped and the other doing diddly squat about it! Everything about their so-called relationship screamed ‘the magic of love will fix everything’. And yet it didn’t, it just felt like a dead (and very unromantic) fish. Pun intended.

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