"Prince of the Doomed City" by Sylvia Mercedes

 Intriguing...

4.5 stars round up

I picked up "Entranced: Prince of the Doomed Cities" when I saw a review on Facebook about book 3 in this series "Ensorcelled". 

My first impressions were:

1. Magical librarian/library

2. Dark & Broody Prince

3. Enemies to Lovers

YES, PLEASE!

Obviously, I had to begin with book one. 

There are strong "A Court of Thrones and Roses" vibes with a healthy dose of "The Cruel Prince" thrown in for good measure. However, the unique world and magic system that Mercedes has created definitely set this book apart from other Fae Romantasies. 

Clara Darlington is an obligate, a human bound into the service of the Fae, for a crime she can't remember committing five years ago. To atone for her crime, she is forced to served the princess of the Sun Court and obey her every command for 15 years. If Clara fights her obligation, she suffers intense pain and risks having years added on to her sentence. So Clara serves the princess by working in the Sun kingdom's library, taking care of a rare and valued books. Being a librarian is an important job in the Fae world for one reason.

The Fae cannot read.

In Mercedes's world, the Fae simply do not have the ability to read. Their minds are not wired that way. As a result, they are fascinated by the written word, stories, and the humans' ability to read and write. But Mercedes takes this concept a set farther, and it is revealed that certain humans can create magic, or spells, through the written word. I won't go into too much detail here because I don't want to spoil any of the reveals later in the story.

Clara still has ten years left of service to the Fae, but she has found a balance to her life that makes her obligation tolerable. She serves her time in the library, avoiding the cruel princess as much as she can, while tutoring a handsome fae lord (who claims to have some human blood in his veins) to read, and returning to her home once a month to check on her brother, who is struggling with a drug and alcohol addiction in her absence. She is eager to return to her life back in the human world, but she knows her time in the Fae world could be much worse. 

But Clara's tenuous balance is destroyed one night when a noswraith, a hideous and dangerous monster, has found its way into the library. Before she knows it, the senior librarian is shoving a quill and and a blank book into her hand and telling her she is the only one who can stop the monster from destroying the library or worse. Having no idea what the senior librarian is talking about, Clara is thrust into the library to deal with the beast.

And Clara discovers a hidden power within herself that she has no memory of ever possessing.  

However, this power could also be her undoing. 

The Prince of the Doomed City, Prince Castien, the half-human son of the Fae King of the Sun court, has taken notice of her gift. Despite his obvious loathing for her, he wants her to come serve in his library in the Doomed City, a land of eternal twilight that houses some of the Fae world's most dangerous monsters, and the library in the Doomed City is where most of the the monsters are held. 

As Clara is thrust into this world of darkness and monsters with a prince who can barely stand the sight of her, her world and her perception of her role within it begin to change. Truths about her past are revealed, and Clara starts to wonder if she is exactly where she is meant to be. 

I found the magic system of this world very compelling, but book one has left me with quite a few questions about how the system actually works. I am hopeful that these questions will be addressed in book two. 

Book one also ended a bit abruptly. There were a couple of major loose ends that were not addressed. It was not exactly a cliff-hanger, but more of a large whole that wasn't filled before the last page. 

The little troll children were one of my favorite parts of this book. They were so cute! (in a trollish kind of way.) I hope they continue to play a role in the story. 

I am eager to read the novella that gives us a few chapters of the prince's point of view from book one. He seems like a great character, deep and complex. I am so happy that there was no insta-love in this book or any attempt at  a bully-romance. It is just a complicated connection between two people. I can't wait to see how this develops. 

I will be continuing on to book two soon, but I am not going to rush as the last book in this series doesn't come out until Spring 2024!

"None Shall Sleep" by Ellie Marney

 Holy "Silence of the Lambs", Batman!

I did NOT expect to enjoy this book as much as I did! I was looking for a good mystery to change up my current reading options and instead I got this beautiful YA mash-up of "Silence of the Lambs" and "Criminal Minds".  It was GREAT!

If you enjoyed "The Naturals" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, then this book needs to go on your TBR list ASAP. 

This YA thriller is told from multiple perspectives but the two main characters are teens whose lives have been drastically altered by serial killer. 

Emma Lewis- a teenage survivor of a serial killer's murder spree. Emma fought back against her attacker, fled to freedom, and led police to the serial killer's hideout, ending the string of murders in Ohio. She now studies pediatric psychology so she can help other kids who have dealt with trauma. 

Travis Bell - the son of a law enforcement officer who was killed during the arrest of a prolific serial killer. Travis has followed in his father's footsteps, and wants to work to catch killers like the monster who killed his father. 

The story is set in the 1980's and begins with Special Agent Cooper of the FBI approaches Emma and Travis with a unique proposition. He wants to create special team that will interview incarcerated juvenile serial killers to gain insight into their motivations, their thoughts processes, their methods, etc all in the hopes that the information they gain will help the FBI stop future serial killers; and he believes that Travis and Emma are exactly what he needs. With their backgrounds in law enforcement and psychology, their personal history with serial killers, and with both Travis and Emma being close in age to the offenders, Cooper believes that Travis and Emma will be able to get the juvenile serial killers to share details that other investigators haven't been able to get.  

Emma, reluctant at first, hopes that by joining this team she can help sooth the wounds on her soul left behind by her own harrowing experience. Travis agrees more readily as it is a way to make his father proud and stop other families from feeling the pain his family felt. 

However, while Emma and Travis are only supposed to be working with cold cases, their interviews put them on the trail of an active serial killer known as The Butcher. And to catch this serial killer, they are going to need some help. 

The FBI sends Emma to interview Simon Gutmunsson, a notorious teenager serial killer known by the media as "The Artist". The FBI believes that Simon may have information or insights that could lead to the capture of  The Butcher, and they believe he will talk with Emma.

This is where the book really takes on a "Silence of the Lambs" feeling with Simon playing the role of a much younger Hannibal Lector and Emma portraying the somewhat innocent Clarice. The interactions between Simon and Clarice (oh, I mean Emma) were some of my favorite parts of the story. Looking for the clues hidden in the conversations between these characters kept me reading into the small hours of the night. 

The support system between Travis and Emma, while not romantic in this book, was a great aspect of the story. Usually, halfway into a book, I am rooting hard for characters to get together, but I didn't feel like I needed that for Emma and Travis. There is definitely a deeper connection between these characters than just work partners, but it has a slow build feel that I am looking forward to in the next book. 

The climax of the story was amazing! I could NOT put this book down. I can't say much more than that without giving away too many important details, but I am already pre-ordering book two, "Some Shall Break", for it's release in June 2023. 

This was not your typical "who-dun-it" mystery, but an more in depth examination of  human kind and what it really means to be a monster.

 Don't miss this one. Get a copy from your local library!