June 4, 2020
This is the final book available for the Embraced series. The title sounds slightly less hokey, though my guess is it’s supposed to be a play on How to Love Yourself. I might be wrong, but I don’t much care. Quick story time: Officially this book is Embraced by Magic Book 1 because, in case you didn’t notice, Kerrelyn Sparks…
June 3, 2020
Technically, this is a reread, but it’s a reread with purpose. Robert Jackson Bennett is one of my favorite writers, slipping onto my auto-buy list. The thing is, it wasn’t always that way. I read The Company Man, and didn’t like it. So then I read Mr. Shivers and didn’t like it. After that, I read The Troupe and almost…
May 29, 2020
Some people like their book club books to be the kind of literature they would never read on their own: books they need to be goaded into reading. Others like book club books to be challenging — in either a socially-conscious way or in provocative writing style. There is nothing wrong at all with those approaches; I’ve enjoyed book clubs…
May 26, 2020
Although I have well over a dozen books that I’m supposed to be reading for my 2020 resolution, the next book in the Embraced series was released, so I’m playing catch-up on all of them and re-reading the first three, so I remember who these women are, who their men are, and how they’re all connected in this particular world.…
May 21, 2020
Continuing my re-read of The Embraced series since the fourth one has finally come out. Luckily my library has these in ebook format with no holds, and they’re fairly quick to go through. I still take issue with their titles, though. So I Married a Sorcerer (2017) Written by: Kerrelyn Sparks Genre: Fantasy Romance Pages: 496 pages (Mass Market Paperback) Series:…
May 15, 2020
At Speculative Chic, we feature a lot of authors who share everything from their favorite things to the inspiration for their work. Welcome to Fiction Friday, where you’ll be able to sample the fiction of a variety of authors, including those who write at Speculative Chic! Today, we’re featuring guest author Danielle Ackley-McPhail and her novella Eternal Wanderings, which is…
May 14, 2020
Here at Speculative Chic, we talk a lot about different speculative genres, often science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Within these genres, there are many different permutations. Consider epic fantasy, urban fantasy, historical fantasy. Also, military science fiction, space opera, along with hard and soft science fiction. Psychological horror, hack and slash, ghost stories, and haunted house stories. There are probably…
May 12, 2020
How is everyone’s quarantine going? Mine’s been fine. I’ve played three video games straight through, read nine books, and watched at least 10 seasons of tv shows. So at least I’ve been kind of productive? If we call media consumption such. A lot of what I’ve mentally ingested these past couple of months has been comfort food, things I know…
May 6, 2020
One of the most common questions authors face is a deceptively difficult one to answer: “Where do you get your ideas?” Yet, the answers to that common question can be almost as interesting as the resulting story. Welcome to You’re My Inspiration, a new column dedicated to discovering what inspires a particular author and their work. Whether it be a…
May 5, 2020
I like fantasy. I like romance. I like both of those things together. But I have to admit that the reason I picked up this book is not a good one. It was the title. I thought the title was so corny. And if I’m being honest, I still do. I really don’t like it. And yes, I realize plenty…