Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours for allowing me to take part in this tour for Deadendia: The Divine Order. I have watched the show and even took part in the tour for the first 2 books last year. I adore this story and characters so being able to take part in this tour was wonderful!!
Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours for allowing me to take part in this tour for The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray. I had been so jealous when my friend won a copy off of Goodreads so getting to take part in this tour was thrilling!!!
About The Book:
Author: Christine Calella
Pub. Date: April 9, 2024
Find it: Goodreads
Storms and pirates are nothing compared to the evil within men’s hearts.
After a lifetime of abuse at the hands of superstitious townsfolk, Ophelia Young, a bastard child of the notorious pirate queen, is tired of paying for the sins of her mother. Despite playing by the rules her whole life, she’s earned nothing but spite and suspicion. So when a naval officer saves her from the jeering crowd at her mother’s hanging, Ophelia hatches a new hope of enlisting in the navy to escape her mother’s legacy and redeem her own reputation for good. But Ophelia soon discovers that a life at sea isn’t as honorable as she hoped.
Betsy Young is as different as she could be from her half-sister Ophelia. She’s a nervous homebody who wants to keep her family safe and longs to be in love. So naturally, she’s devastated when the son of their family’s business partner rejects her hand in marriage and her sister joins the navy. But when her father contracts a life-threatening illness as well, Betsy has to bring Ophelia home to save the family business.
Unfortunately for the Young sisters, Betsy trying to get Ophelia recalled reveals that Ophelia enlisted fraudulently under Betsy’s name, a secret which Ophelia struggles to keep from crewmates who would kill her if they knew she was the pirate queen’s daughter. To save Ophelia from the naval authorities, Betsy will have to board a ship during hurricane season and brave all the dangers of the sea to get them both home safe.
Content Warning: hanging, corporal punishments (whipping), strangulation
Review:
I was very excited to get to read wthis book. Every bit of the summary intrigued me and I was curious!!!
It did take me a bit to get invested in the book. That's just the way it is sometimes, not all things are instant clicks. But once I got invested, I was hooked. I needed to know more about these characters and what they were going through. What was their plans. All of that.
I loved Ophelia and Betsy. They were distinctive characters with some of the same traits, but enough personality that they didn't feel stale or like poor copies of each other. They were both really interesting to follow and I loved watching as they encoutnered some of the harsh realities of the paths that they had chosen.
The plot was an interesting one once it picked up steam. There seemed to always be something happening that kept the story chugging along. The action was exciting and the twists and turns were at times expected but were surprises at other times.
15 Reactions While Reading:
Okay...let's see where this is going.
I just really like how people talk in historical/fantasy type books. It just makes my brain happy.
Well...now I'm worried he's going to die.
Eh...f that dude.
I have trust issues with everyone right now haha
Go Betsy!
Love having a crew!
What's happening!?!?!?!?
Ooh tricksy!
10 Dangers of vanity perhaps?
Eww gross.
This is why I don't trust people.
Not expected, but not totally surprising either.
Ooh, that was a nice scene!
That's a nice ending!!
About Christine Calella:
When not writing, Christine Calella spends her spare time singing showtunes in the shower,
drinking more chai lattes than is strictly necessary, and either over- or under-watering an unfortunate string of houseplants named after sitcom characters. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University, and she lives in New York City. As her romance alter ego, Madeline Bell, Christine also pens adult rom-coms with a bookish twist. For more information, check out the Books section, under the “By Madeline Bell” drop-down. You can find her on her Twitter, her website, Instagram, and Goodreads.
I am bloody excited to be taking part in this fangtastic tour! All my thanks to TBR and Beyond Tours for allowing me to take part in this tour. Click here to check out the other hosts. I was absolutely batty for this book and it kept me glued. It was fun and exciting and I was loving every second of it.
About The Book:
Author: V. P. Anderson & Tatiana Hill (Artist)
Pub. Date: April 9, 2024
Publisher: Labyrinth Road
Formats: Paperback, Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 192
Find it: Goodreads
Skates on. Fangs out. Let’s roll. This perfectly paranormal graphic novel about a 13-year-old ice skater who embraces the dark side and finds her light when she joins a vampire roller derby team is to die for.
.
Ice-skater Mina is on a one-track path to Olympic gold and glory—that is, until she totally wipes out at her biggest competition, and is kinda-sorta-kidnapped by undead kids on roller skates. Sucked into the high stakes world of Paranormal Roller Derby, she finds herself "recruited" by a squad of vampires who need a human player to complete their team—just in time to save the league from losing it all.
Between learning to play derby well enough to kick butt on the track, crushing hard on the dreamy team captain, and navigating the spooky rules of the supernatural, how can Mina go from striving to be a ten alone, to becoming one of nine chaotic bodies forming a perfectly-imperfect team? Forget being the best. Will she be enough to help her new friends survive the season?
Review:
This was a really fun read! I love queer books and graphic novels and roller derby, so this was an easy home run for me. It was fun and exciting and I loved the idea of an underground supernatural roller derby.
I really liked the characters in this book. Despite there being a lot of them and not enough details (to my liking) about all of them, none of them felt forced in. They just were there and they felt like the sort of people who would fit in well with the group.
The group was mildly chaotic and I adored it so much. There was enough drama to keep the book going without feeling forced, but the side characters also gave a sense of humor that kept everything chill.
I loved the artwork in this book. The lines were clean and the characters had distinctive appearances so I didn't get them confused. The colors were gorgeous and I thought they did a great job at being dark for the supernatural side without being too dark.
This was honestly amazing and I am super excited for the next book, should there be more!
Favorite Quotes:
"I was gonna say super mad."
"Okay...so. Vampires. Roller-skating vampires."
"You know what, I AM suddenly in the mood to hit things with projectiles."
"Must...process...oxygen."
"I've got your creepy little pet."
About V. P. Anderson:
Veronica Park (VP) Anderson(she/they) is a neurodivergent, queer, feminist millennial writer with a resume that Victor Frankenstein would disown for being “a bit much.” V’s previous job titles include: award-
winning community theater actor, professional lecturer on cruise ships, indie film producer, literary agent, and creative project manager; however, “writer” is the title that always fits. V plays competitive flat track roller derby as “Scarlet Five” #55 and prefers the pivot role, aka “surprise jamming.” Born in Alaska and raised in Oregon, she currently lives with her partner in Upstate NY and has two cats named Skeletor and Bo-Catan. You can find her on her Twitter, their website, and Goodreads.
About Tatiana Hill:
Tatiana Hill (she/her) is a Black and Latina illustrator by day and roller skater by night. Her art journey began simultaneously with her growing love for anime and culminated in a BA in Animation. Receiving an award for Best Art Direction in her end of the year showcase, she would later apply her skill set in color and design to her illustration career. As a member of the Los Angeles roller skate community, Tatiana enjoys participating in a space that celebrates diversity and found family. Her love for this community led to her illustrating The Roller World Tarot Deck and eventually Blood City Rollers, her debut graphic novel as an illustrator. You can find her on her website and Goodreads.
