whimsydearest

Grandmaster Shea Fury enters a deadly chess tournament for a chance at rescuing her sister from the Fae King of the Otherworld. Immortal Game by Allison Saft breathes magic into chess.  Here the states are high. Cheating or committing any sort of fairy faux pas may result in an unpleasant death, and at least one competitor may be willing to kill to win. Who knew fairies and chess could go so well together?  I admit, I'm a complete beginner at chess, so occasionally the terminology and strategies went over my head, but this was still a deeply enjoyable read. It made me appreciate the psychological warfare aspects of the sport (psyching out your opponent so that they make mistakes) that I hadn’t considered before. I’m also happy to say that there’s a sapphic subplot in this one! Throughout the tournament, Shea has to wrestle with her growing feelings for her longtime rival, Ciara … who also happens to be the siter of the king. Overall, I thought their relationship was more beli...

Lorelei Kaskel is a surly folklorist who is sent as a part of an expedition team to find the fabled source of all magic. However, when her mentor is mysteriously murdered aboard their ship, Lorelei must reluctantly team up with the beautiful naturalist Sylvia von Wolff to find the killer before they strike again. I was really looking forward to A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft. It was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year, so I’m sad to say that this book turned out to be yet another milquetoast disappointment. This book was pitched a story as a sapphic rivals-to-lovers dark academia, but there isn’t any rivalry to be found. What I got instead was Lorelei throwing petty, high-school grade insults at Sylvia because she doesn't approve of her hands-on research approach. There are no compelling reasons and personal history of bad blood to justify Lorelai's animosity toward Sylvia, so their initial dynamics feel juvenile and shallow to me. There’s also a weird...

Every autumn, the legendary hala appears and wreaks havoc. Some view the hala as sacred, others view it as a nuisance, and some believe it could be the key ingredient for crafting the Philosopher’s Stone. For Margaret Welty, she believes it could be the key to convince her alchemist mother to finally return home from her research, so determined, she wants to enter the Halfmoon Hunt in an attempt to slay the mythical creature. Problem is, she only knows how to shoot a gun and not the actual alchemy required to kill the hala. She needs an alchemist for that. Fortunately, Weston Winters is an alchemist-in-training who shows up at Margaret’s doorstep in the hopes of becoming her mother’s apprentice. She promises to introduce him to her mother … in exchange for teaming up with her in the Halfmoon Hunt. Reluctantly, he agrees, and as the two prepare for the hunt, they face rivalry from other alchemists as well as the conflicted feelings of love that begins to blossom between the two of them....