Tag: romance

Judging a book by it’s cover?

One of the biggest taboos of reading is to never judge a book by its cover. Honestly, though, you know we all do it. A book that has a horrible cover is less likely to be picked up than a book with a nice cover.

For example, if I see a cover that has a woman dressed in Tudor-era clothing, I am much more likely to pick it up than if it has a castle on the cover. I like dark covers, with big, bold titles. Does this make me a bad person, because I pick the book up specifically by what I see on the cover?

This isn’t even just in bookstores. I am currently subscribed to three different email lists that send out free and discounted ebook emails each day. They are Freebooksy, Bookbub, and The Fussy Librarian. Freebooksy has completely free titles, Bookbub has both free and discounted titles, and The Fussy Librarian has two different lists: One for free, and one for discounted. I’ve loaded up my Kindle with over 1k titles thanks to these emails. When I receive the emails, I scroll through looking at the covers of the books, and if it catches my eye, I read the description. Very rarely do I read a description of a book where I don’t like the cover. For example, I rarely read covers with stereotypical romance covers, because I’m just not into that kind of thing. However, the other day a book with the title of “Loki” came up. Even though I could tell it was a romance, I read the description because I was hoping it might be a romance based on the Norse god of mischief (hint: it wasn’t). Still, the cover was a big part of my decision.

Now, am I saying you should completely ignore covers that aren’t your style, or as nice as you’d like? No. I’ve read some awesome books that had terrible covers. I’m just saying that we subconsciously decide whether or not we like a book simply by what’s on the cover.

Speaking of cover, I think it’s about time we reveal the cover for “Unmasking the Phantom”! So, here it is!

 

Keep an eye out for the first installment to be published soon!

cover, loki, norse, norse mythology, phantom of the opera, romance, unmasking the phantom

The Architect of Song – A.G. Howard

Rating:

“The Architect of Song” was my second foray into the realm of A.G. Howard’s writing. I had read online that if I liked “RoseBlood,” then I would also love “The Architect of Song,” and boy were they right.

The summary of the book from Amazon is this:

For most of her life, Juliet Emerline has subsisted – isolated by deafness – making hats in the solitude of her home. Now, she’s at risk to lose her sanctuary to Lord Nicolas Thornton, a mysterious and eccentric architect with designs on her humble estate. When she secretly witnesses him raging beside a grave, Juliet investigates, finding the name “Hawk” on the headstone and an unusual flower at the base. The moment Juliet touches the petals, a young English nobleman appears in ghostly form, singing a song only her deaf ears can hear. The ghost remembers nothing of his identity or death, other than the one name that haunts his afterlife: Thornton. 

To avenge her ghostly companion and save her estate, Juliet pushes aside her fear of society and travels to Lord Thornton’s secluded holiday resort, posing as a hat maker in one of his boutiques. There, she finds herself questioning who to trust: the architect of flesh and bones who can relate to her through romantic gestures, heartfelt notes, and sensual touches … or the specter who serenades her with beautiful songs and ardent words, touching her mind and soul like no other man ever can. As sinister truths behind Lord Thornton’s interest in her estate and his tie to Hawk come to light, Juliet is lured into a web of secrets. But it’s too late for escape, and the tragic love taking seed in her heart will alter her silent world forever.

I absolutely loved the romantic aspect of this story. The dynamic between Juliet and Hawk is passionate and very well-written, though I was more partial to “shipping” Juliet and Lord Thornton. As sweet as the relationship between Juliet and her ghost was, I found that I enjoyed that Thornton stood his ground. He seemed like a more believable match for Juliet. Hawk was rather clingy and jealous, though it makes sense as to why he was like that. Maybe I just prefer the brooding male character in stories.

The plot twists were intriguing, though slightly predictable. I found I had predicted a few of them about a page before they happened. However, the twists were very plausible. I did not think they were outrageous, and they made the story even better.

I did have an issue with the slow-paced beginning. I understand why a lot of the seemingly pointless parts were included since they lent to the twists, but it still felt tedious at the time. I think that it would be a better read now that I know all of the twists. A lot of things made sense after the book was finished.

All in all, I loved this book. Howard did not fail to produce a beautifully-written story that engrosses the reader. I am rarely more disappointed in a book being over than I was with this story. I’m excited to read the second book in the series, “The Hummingbird’s Heart.” If it’s anything like “The Architect of Song,” it’ll be fabulous.

 

 

 

You can get “The Architect of Song” by A.G. Howard here.

ag howard, burning hearts legacy, Review, romance, the architect of song, the hummingbird's heart

RoseBlood – A. G. Howard

Rating:

RoseBlood by A.G. Howard is a beautiful book. That was my first reaction when I saw it. It’s just a beautiful book. You can tell extra work went into the design. The text is blood-red and the chapters have very lovely red decoration. The cover is beautiful, almost breathtakingly so. I was given this book as a gift from K. Leigh, and the second I saw the cover I wanted to read it. She had asked me if I had read a book where the Phantom was a female, to which I had responded that I have not. Then, when she surprised me with the book, I was enchanted. As soon as I had the chance, I read it.

The summary from Goodreads is:

“In this modern-day spin on Leroux’s gothic tale of unrequited love turned to madness, seventeen-year-old Rune Germain has a mysterious affliction linked to her operatic talent, and a horrifying mistake she’s trying to hide. Hoping creative direction will help her, Rune’s mother sends her to a French arts conservatory for her senior year, located in an opera house rumored to have ties to The Phantom of the Opera.

At RoseBlood, Rune secretly befriends the masked Thorn—an elusive violinist who not only guides her musical transformation through dreams that seem more real than reality itself, but somehow knows who she is behind her own masks. As the two discover an otherworldly connection and a soul-deep romance blossoms, Thorn’s dark agenda comes to light and he’s forced to make a deadly choice: lead Rune to her destruction, or face the wrath of the phantom who has haunted the opera house for a century, and is the only father he’s ever known”

 

Now, this book was good, but it wasn’t the best Phantom-based story I’ve ever read (that honor goes to Susan Kay’s “Phantom.”) My main issue with the story is that it started off rather slow. I was constantly waiting for something to happen. While the multiple attacks of Rune’s ailment were a bit tedious, I loved the idea that Rune’s ailment was temporarily cured by Thorn’s violin playing. It was a cute way to forge a connection between the two.

I was surprised to find that me and K.Leigh were wrong about the story, in that we had assumed by the cover that the story was about a female Phantom. The Phantom of the Opera is in the story, but it is not Rune, the girl on the cover. This did not affect my opinion of the story, but it was a bit confusing as to why they would show her wearing the mask rather than her holding it, as some of the other cover mockups suggest. According to an interview with the author here, they chose the final cover because it also had ties to Howard’s more popular series “Splintered.” While I understand their reasoning for choosing the cover, and it is a truly beautiful cover, it is slightly misleading.

However, once I realized that the mask wasn’t Rune’s, I expected the Phantom to pull his usual tricks and treat her as he did Christine. We don’t really get interaction between the two until a good ways into the novel, which was disappointing. Instead, the connection is between Thorn and Rune. This makes more sense, as the Phantom is quite a bit older than Rune and Thorn is closer to her in age, but still. Is a story truly a Phantom of the Opera story if he’s a minor character?

I really did like this story. It was a joy to read, especially regarding how pretty the book itself is. Heck, I just bought an autographed first-edition. Would I read it again? Heck yes. It’s a great story. Is it worth reading? Very much so. It’s very well written, minus the slow start.

If you’re a Phantom “phan,” it’s a must-read.

 

 

To get your copy of “RoseBlood” by A.G. Howard, go here.

ag howard, fanfiction, phantom of the opera, Review, romance, roseblood, splintered

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