#Spark of the Everflame

[skyler-reads28]

not enough people are talking about Penn Cole’s, Kindred’s Curse series and it’s driving me crazy.

I need people to talk to about it! I need fanart!

If you like fantasy, slow burn romance, magic, gods, etc give it a try! It genuinely surprised me and now I can’t put them down.

[romanticatheartt]

Now that I'm free from university (not completely free... but yeah)

[fiveflatcutie]

i knew i just have to share this for all the girlies out there! 📣

[bookishbethanyerin]

• july reading wrap-up •

At the start of the month, I set out to read more fantasy – there are so! many! fantasy, romantasy, and paranormal romance series I want to read, and though I love these genres, I often feel like I need to be in the right mood for them. Which means they often end up languishing on my TBR despite the fact that I hear amazing things about them.

And while I did not read more fantasy books than contemp romances, I did read a whole bunch of them, so I’m counting it as a win. And! I read my first Lisa Kleypas historical romance, so you know – look at me branching out a bit.😎

And in addition to ~all that~, I’ve also started writing an F1 sports romance that is fueled by female rage.✌️

July!

[seungrishair]

Help me pick my next reads!

I’ve read all the Holly Black books, which by the way, are looove.

I’ve read the entire ACOTAR series.

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Spark of the Everflame | Author: Penn Cole | Publisher: - (2023)

[shopofstars]

DUH?? CHAPTERS 27, 28 AND 29 OF SPARK OF THE EVERFLAME?? speechless.

[beautifullyundone98]

Reading the Everflame series and I've just about had it with Diem and Luther's miscommunication bullshit.... JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER OMG 😭😭😭

[bookishlyvintage]

owlcrate day 4: goblet stones & drink

Paired with my current read & a new book sleeve coming to my shop soon!

[taragreenfield]

Spark of the Everflame (and a little rant)

So, I've finished another unfortunate fantasy book.

The first half was fun. It was interesting to learn about this new world, about the characters. But then it started going downhill. The main character, Diem, is getting increasingly annoying as the book goes. I'm guessing she's supposed to be fiery and "strong", but sadly, as the plot progresses, her ambitions seem to be more and more misplaced. She wants to be a badass so badly, but chooses the worst possible moments to show her "badassery". She starts an absolutely pointless argument over a quite reasonable rule of not bringing weapons to the royal palace, which endangered both herself and her colleague over absolutely nothing. I mean, she didn't even need those knives! She seems to be so preoccupied with solving her mother's disappearance, but when she gets the chance to talk about it with the person who might have the answers, she chooses to storm off because she's oh-so-offended that he doesn't trust her. He's seen you three times; of course he doesn't trust you! Her denial about being one of the Descended (aka having magic) also seems incredibly drawn out. Her confusion might have been understandable if she lived in a non-magical world and denied the existence of magic. But no, she's completely aware that magic exists, she doesn't know who her biological father is, her mother went to great lengths to conceal his identity, her appearance is different from other mortals, she can do things that are impossible for mortals, her hands glow with the strange light when she's healing someone and the wound disappears without a trace, she incinerated a goddamned wolf with that light, and she still can't put two and two together? Come on. I understand she might experience an inner conflict since she's not too fond of magical people, but when everything is already absolutely clear for a reader and the character keeps being clueless - it's getting tiring very fast. The romance with Henri is the epitome of everything I loathe about the childhood-to-lovers trope. It's so awfully, dreadfully boring and mundane. The actual love interest appears in like 25% of the book and is absolutely inexplicably fond of the FMC, even though she's being an immature spoilt brat almost 24/7. I looked up the second book, and it starts with the FMC trying to convince herself that another manifestation of her magic was a hallucination. Again. For the 100th time. God no, please, stop. We are very tired.

That's pretty much my pet peeve in a lot of fantasy books. The world is ending, the country is torn by 7 wars at once, people are starving, dying and brutalized, and I'm supposed to feel bad for a snotty sheltered brat of a proagonist endowed with an incredible power because she has-gasp-expectations and responsibilities placed on her? No, I don't care. She's not a victim here. And I don't care she's a teenager and a poor teenie-weenie baby either.

A big problem of YA fiction is protagonist-centric morality, where the MC's wants, needs, and hurt feelings are put above everything and everyone else. I hate it.

[fiveflatcutie]

PLS IM GUSHING

[temperedink]

You officially have my attention about Luther :) tell me more :))

Big ACOMAF vibes -- Luther seems to be the villain with SECRETS in the first book, and then the second book starts unpeeling his layers. He's set up to be the FMC's rival for the crown (but she is but a simple human girl who has no power! or IS SHE??), and there's a bit of love triangle with a guy who's part of a rebellion against the crown. But Luther is tall, dark, handsome, and broody, which is tragically my type, so I was a goner for him instantly.

But I am not kidding about the three-book slow burn. And they're BIG books, so it's a looooong wait for anything to happen between them. (The four and final book isn't out yet, but coming soon, I think. The first three are on KU.) I've really enjoyed them, though.

[summaryi]

Spark of the Everflame - Penn Cole

2/5

is it just me?

it's so highly reviewed and im NOT into it

it's FINE, but not GOOD

it has potential, but it should be BETTER

it feels fucking half-assed

the pacing is so bad

nothing is believable, it's all so rushed

and if you're going to have twists and turns and some mysteries, we need at least SOME clues or answers, or else the unknown piles up and becomss really frustrating

IMO the spark???? came way too quick

OR

shoukd have become WAY MORE

that's the TITLE and it just kept

sparking

weakly

it should have had WAY more impact

and the big mystery?????? kinda answered, but? it feels totally insignificant

AND

Diem's whole like

identity crisis and loyalties and all that

flip-flopped way too quickly

all those moments should have meant something

but they were too easy to discount

[bookthorns]

april, may + june wrap ups | i'm back and oh yeah, I'm officially in my fantasy era now

me April through June: what if i read only fantasy books for 3 months straight and also didn’t update my blog haha no but really? Yeah… sorry about that! Things got a bit hectic (as usual) and I just didn’t have the mental or physical energy to do any wrap ups. And if you look at this one, you’ll see that in April at least I wasn’t really reading anything anyway so a wrap up felt a bit…

[thecatwars]

Books that I read in May 2024

Ahh, I'm a little late with my May recap. I've been posting book content on TikTok and have been busy trying to finish writing my Master's thesis. As always, my brief reviews contain no spoilers, except in my review of Spark of the Everflame I do mention a spoiler in the form of a trope.

2024 Reading Masterpost

Let's be friends on GoodReads

The Frost Queen's Blade: This book exceed my expectations. I tend to keep enemies to lovers expectations low and this one was fairly well done. Considering that this book was a romantasy book, the world building was fairly well-done. The one thing that I noticed and many others have said about the book is that the twists and turns are fairly predictable, but I felt like its predictability did not distract me from enjoying the story. This is part of a duology, but the second book has not yet been released. I plan on reading the sequel. Overall, I would recommend this book if you are looking for romantasy enemies to lovers. This is a book that I read on Kindle Unlimited and I'm not sure if I plan on owning it. I gave this book a 4/5.

Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole: This book also exceed my expectations, granted I wasn't quite sure what to expect of this book because I came into reading it totally blind. This book is set in a world where there are two types of species, the Descended and mortals. The Descended are a species of people born from the coupling of immortal beings that are no longer in this world and humans. From this kind of union, the Descended have powers and are stronger than mortals. As such, the Descended rule the realm and do not mingle with mortals as to not dilute their powers. The FMC is a mortal living in this realm and her story is that of coming to terms with who she is and trying to figure out where she belongs in this world. The thing that I really liked a lot about this book is that it's a real slow burn and the story is pretty good. The FMC can be a bit grating, but that didn't ruin my reading experience. This is a book that I read on Kindle Unlimited and I plan on owning it. I gave this book a 5/5.

Glow of the Everflame by Penn Cole: This book picks up right where book one left off. As I mentioned previously, I found the FMC to be a little grating, and in the beginning of this book this is explained and from there I was able to enjoy this series more. The slow burn in this book continues and I love it. I also enjoy how the FMC grows and develops as her circumstances changes and she is forced to face the fact that things are not as black and white as she would like them to be. Like the first book, this one ends on a cliffhanger and I was eager to dive into the third book. This is a book that I read on Kindle Unlimited and I plan on owning it. I gave this book a 5/5.

Heat of the Everflame by Penn Cole: Out of the three books that are currently published in this series (there will be 4 total), this one was my least favorite. This book had a lot go on in it and it's not that I didn't like what happened in this book, it's just here is a lot that goes on in the story and there isn’t much room for pause. The FMC is constantly moving around from place to place and as the story continues, more problems arise. The FMC has now accepted that the world is not as divided as she once thought it was, but now she is having to face the price that must be paid to win the war. Don't get me wrong, I still like this book, it was just a lot. This is a book that I read on Kindle Unlimited and I plan on owning it. I gave this book a 4/5.

Song of the Abyss by Emma Hamm: The much anticipated sequel to Whispers of the Deep set in a world of merpeople and humans did not disappoint. The thing that I appreciate a lot about this book is that despite the fact that this book is a romantic fantasy, the author is able to create a story about two people (in this case a merman and a human woman) that are working to overcome challenges. In the case of the FMC, she is working to stand up against her father, literally and figuratively, and the MMC is coping with a loss that has left him disabled. Together, the FMC and MMC overcome their obstacles, and especially the MMC learns to see himself in a new light. This is a book that I read on Kindle Unlimited and I plan on owning it. I gave this book a 5/5.

Life and Death by Stephanie Meyer: One thing that I wished I did before reading this book, was to read Twilight so that I could compare this story-line with it. I had low expectations coming into this book, especially since I didn’t like Midnight Sun, and interestingly enough, this book was not as bad as I thought it would be. The author did pretty good with gender-swapping the characters. I do wish that the overall story played out differently, but I understand that wasn’t the intent of this book. I read this book on Libby and do not plan on owning it. I gave this book a 2/5.

Circe by Madeline Miller: I read this book on a whim, while waiting for code to finish running and I can say that this is a book that I will not soon forget. From the first few chapters, it was clear to see that Circe would be unlike any book that I have read this year. I knew that I would be finishing this book with the utmost rapt. When I read this book, I truly feel as though I am reading a story. Circe has so much to it, the yearning to be seen, to belong, to love, and the heartache that comes with these desires. This book now belongs among the short list of books that got me to cry. Circe is a beautiful story and I would highly recommend reading it. This is a book that I read on Kindle Unlimited and plan on owning it. I gave this book a 5/5.

Dream by the Shadows by Logan Karlie: I did not finish this book. I really wanted to finish it and I took a break for a while from reading it in hopes that maybe it was just a mood thing, but I gave up at 44% through the book. I don’t know that I can say this book is bad, but I can say that it didn’t do it for me. The best way to sum up this book for me is that some things, and yet nothing happens. None of the characters interested me, nor their stories. This is a book that I read on Kindle Unlimited and do not plan on owning. I gave this book a 1/5.

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett: Like its predecessor, this book was a fun and cozy read with Emily Wilde. The world that Heather Fawcett has created continues to be enchanting and I can’t get enough of it. My favorite parts of this book was seeing side-characters from the first book and the cute romance between the two main characters. Overall, a great read and would highly recommend it if you like historical fiction and faeries. I own this book. I gave this book a 5/5.