What a month of reading February was! I finished a series by an author who has quickly found herself on my favorites list. Then I learned that one of my already-established favorites has started a new series revolving around a world I'm already in love with so I could not resist diving in. I've also got a review of the second book from my One Woman Book Club. Let's get started!
 

Author: T.M. Cromer

My love for this series certainly did not diminish with the final four books. These are the love stories of Nash, Liz, Mackenzie, and Preson Thorne as the family continues its fight against the anti-magic society that holds a personal vendetta against them. I did really appreciate Cromer's final solution. I thought it was some sweet poetic justice. I won't say more because you really need to start with the first book if you decide to dive into this series, and I don't want to spoil anything.

There is a holiday novella, but I have not read it. I do have plans to read the Holt Family series, which should have some tie-ins to the Thornes.

House of Daemon & House of Aves

Author: Crea Reitan

I'm on the fence about finishing this series. I am a fan of Crea Reitan, but this series isn't really doing it for me. I liked the main female character in the first book but had a hard time connecting with the one in book two. I also struggled with the male characters. It felt like they were under-developed. I also thought the plot line was a bit too far out there. Basically, there is a group that connects members of the supernatural communities together, forming houses that may or may not share romantic relationships. The main female characters in both of these books come from tragic backgrounds and find themselves in the middle of a brewing war. I thought it was a bit far-fetched for how quickly the MFC in the second book adapted to the situation. I also felt like there was a lot of bluster and not enough action.

Mistake & Regret (Lost Boys 1-2)

Author: Emilia Finn

Oh, man, my love for Emilia Finn's men just continues to get deeper. I really really enjoyed these first two installments of her latest series revolving around my favorite fighter town. The timeline fits between the Checkmate and Stacked Deck series and seems to be running concurrent with the Gilded Knights series so far. In each of these books the main male characters, Cole and Preston, are reformed bad boys who fall for the best of the good girls, but neither of them can outrun their less-than-savory pasts.

Author: Nikki St. Crowe

This was such disappointing Peter Pan retelling. I've seen it recommended so many times in so many different book groups, but I just did not enjoy it. Essentially, Peter Pan kidnaps all the Darling girls on their 18th birthday with the hopes of finding something and saving not only himself but Neverland, as well. I'm no stranger to Pan being the bad guy, but I really did not like him in this book at all. Nor did I like the lost boys who served as the main characters. This Darling descendant was also less than and not what I like in my MFCs. I will not be finishing this series.

Author: Jessie Burton

If I were to rate this, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. While there were a lot of wonderful details about life in Amsterdam during this time period, the characters felt shallow and under-developed. As such, I had a hard time connecting with any of them. They almost felt lost in the details of everything else. I had a lot of questions left at the end of the book, particularly about the miniaturist herself. At the risk of spoiling the book, you never actually meet her or learn more about her other than surface-level details, but her creations played a huge part in the story. To leave that line of questioning unresolved was, I thought, an odd choice for the author to make. That plot line felt almost like a distraction from the actual story which revolved around the secrets of the Brandt household and just how far its inhabitants were willing to go to protect them.