Miya's Book Nook [CFCU]

🌸 Book Batch 1 🌸

✧ ───── ✧ ───── ✧
1.

Author: BritishGravity
Book Title: To Steal a Weeping Widow
Genres: Mystery, Romance
Features: whodunnit, crime, romance, art
Logline: A young woman finds herself labeled the main suspect when she's found at the crime scene of a major art heist.
Chapters Read: Prologue - Chapter 2
Rank: 7/10
Review: To Steal a Weeping Widow has awakened the art lover in me that I didn't know existed! I loved learning about different art heists and just how many masterpieces have gone missing over the years. A crazy amount and I didn't realize exactly how expensive they could be! This author has done a marvelous job with their research and it's helped their work attain a high level of realism.
The pacing is somewhat slow, but I have strong hopes that it will pick up in the coming chapters. The fact that I have no idea who committed the crime but already have suspicions forming about certain characters promises that I'll be wracking my brains for answers in the many chapters to come. Normally, I'm not a fan of excerpts being included in blurbs, but I am so intrigued by who this mystery person is. I also love that the romance doesn't show up right away and instead it's being teased as something to come.

✧ ───── ✧ ───── ✧
2.

Author: ScribbleYourThoughts
Book Title: Tale of the Princess
Genres: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Space Fantasy
Features:  love at first sight, royalty, indian legends
Logline: A princess from planet Ziya faces off against a deadly villain to rescue her husband with the help of a band of brave women and mystical beasts.
Chapters Read: I - IV
Rank: 6/10
Review: Tale of the Princess follows the life of Princess Shyra as she navigates a world of politics, taxes, and the rich history of her planet and ancestors. I enjoyed her character as she strives to help her people and reaching her lofty goal of winning the Games to fund her Re-Pathing project. Shyra displays both humility and ambition, which sets her up to be a lovable protagonist.
I do feel like this story spends a lot of time on background and set-up. The author doesn't info-dump, but the story may have started earlier than would be ideal. The plot lacks conflict and stakes at the beginning and it's possible this would be solved by jumping further in time closer to when the main action begins. The Games appear to begin around Chapter 7 which is a long time to wait for the inciting incident. Overall I think the writer does a fantastic job exploring the world's history and characters, but could use some more focus on the plot.

✧ ───── ✧ ───── ✧
3.

Author: AliKatMeow
Book Title: Kin of the Curse
Genres: Mystery, Supernatural, Dark Fantasy
Features: magic, murder, wizards
Logline: A wizard must help clear his best friend and his family of a heinous crime committed with black magic before it's too late.
Chapters Read: 1 -3 
Rank: 9/10
Review: Kin of the Curse is everything a reader could wish for in a murder mystery. The story is fast-paced, with details sprinkled throughout that will keep your mind scrambling to collect and connect all the dots. The author keeps the plot moving, but not at the expense of the characters and their relationships. We're able to grieve with our main character, experience touching friendships, and feel anger in his defense.
The setting is beautifully described, the world is full and vivid, and the hook is sharp and sinks deep in the very first chapter. There's no telling where this story will take me next or who has committed the crime...and that's the magic of it.

✧ ───── ✧ ───── ✧
4.

Author: TypedInk
Book Title: The Phantom Conspiracy
Genres: Mystery, Crime Fiction
Features: murder mystery, crime fiction, chase thriller
Logline: An Italian commoner, Giana, gets caught up in a high profile murder case, only to find out that a conspiracy is being woven against her.
Chapters Read: 1-2
Rank: 5/10
Review: This tale of mystery shows promise with a case of kidnapping and possible murder on the side. I'd have to say that Oma is my favorite character and enjoyed the chess imagery, leading me to wonder if perhaps Giana is a pawn in some larger game...I can only hope she'll make it across the board and come out on top in the end!
The fast-moving plot is great for hook, but I would enjoy the story more if it could be slowed down in some places to give greater attention to the setting and descriptions. It currently is a little dialogue-heavy, but I relate to this is a writer who writes dialogue and characters first with the description after. If the writer were to go back over their chapters and try to touch on each of the five senses in description and flesh out scenes when there is a shift in pov, it would help the plot shine even more.

✧ ───── ✧ ───── ✧
5.

Author: Queen_of_life_Heba
Book Title: Forgotten
Genres: Poetry
Features: mythology, gods and goddesses, mythology trivia
Logline: A poetry collection on ancient deities of Egypt, Greece, and India.
Chapters Read: Four Poems
Rank: Beautiful
Review: I love your style of poetry so much! You delivered striking imagery and powerful emotions while giving the lines a delicate touch and care so they never felt unbalanced or weighted with words to sound impressive. They flowed like a river and I admire the thought that must have gone into every syllable. Hades and Persephone was my favorite of the four I read.