Book Review: “The Widow of Falbrooke Court” by Kasey Stockton

Hello again!

Every time I start on the next book of this series. I realize I need to work on the previous books’ review too. I can’t get too mad at it as I feel like I’m coming out of my blogging rut, and branching out to check out a genre of books I thought I would hate forever. I owe a lot of credit to certain classics like Charles Dickins and Daphne du Maurier in the last year or two.

If you’d like to check out my reviews of the other books in the “Ladies of Devon” series, click on the titles mentioned here. The Jewels of Halstead Manor and The Lady of Larkspur Vale.

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Can true love break the curse?

Amelia Fawn is cursed—or so she believes. How else can she explain each of her husbands’ deaths within the first year of marriage? So after the ton names her the Black Widow and warns eligible men to stay clear, Amelia vows never to marry again. Not even if she falls in love.

Charles Fremont has loved Amelia Fawn his entire life. But after enduring countless rejections and watching her get married three other times, he’s finally had enough. He swears a vow to never ask anything from her again. Even if it kills him.

Book three in the Ladies of Devon series, The Widow of Falbrooke Court, is a clean Regency romance continuing the story of the four women who make up a literary society in Devon and form a lasting friendship.

taken from Goodreads.

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I was fairly excited to learn more about Amelia Fawn since I started reading this series in late April. She was brought to Halstead Manor in a hope to become a friend to the newcomer Giulia. My first impression of Amelia was that she’s very proper and understands her role in life is to be a good wife, mother and mistress of an estate, but within the first meeting with Giulia, you are told she’s a newly widow, but isn’t told much else until the ladies attend a literary society meeting with two other women of Devon, Mabel and Hattie.

While you meet Amelia in Giulia’s story, you also learn about Charles Freemont in the second book, as Mabel, Pippa and Charles are cousins. Charles is mentioned to have always been in love with Amelia, but she does not feel the same way about him. As much as I was into Amelia’s character, I’ve also lived like Charles, loving a person from afar. Charles does in fact try to give her all of the space they desperately need, but they are being pulled together by unseen forces–well, Miss Hattie Green helps just a little with her own quest to find romance. You can look forward to that review coming soon!

Amelia Fawn had married three times. It was a truth generally accepted between those who knew her intimately, as well as the majority of the local parishioners, that Amelia would never, ever marry again.

These two characters are very caring. I found myself drawn towards Charles, especially after he promised a man by the name of George Halpert, he would look on his wife and unborn child if anything was to happen to him. Amelia and her brother Andrew, who is an early doctor of the Regency period, allow the widow to stay at Falbrooke Court to heal and recover, and this makes an awkward but lovely awakening for Amelia and Charles.

The one thing that messed with me was hearing about Amelia’s feelings about not being able to fulfill a life that many ladies were doing at that time. She completed a Season with other ladies her age to find a husband, and it was an actual love match which is wild in the Regency-era (hell, it was practically nonexistent throughout the Victorian and Edwardian times as well!) but getting married was the easy part, making the marriage last long enough to produce children was another part of life.

“Trust me, Amelia. A man does not purposefully spend so much time in any woman’s company unless he has feelings for her,” Charles said, his voice dropping.

The poor woman has been made a widow three times. This is a lot of heartache for someone to take, doesn’t matter the age or sex, that kind of experience of loss is largely traumatic. She has been the blunt of gossip in society, but her friends are there for her to show her how much love she has on her side. She’s a wonderful lady who does deserve a rich marriage and children. I understand her hesitation of wanting to quit hoping for those things, but you sense she can be a jealous woman, despite not having any feelings for Charles early on.

I mean, Charles is in the same boat. He’s never been married or had any mistresses in the past. He’s a perfect catch for any woman, but as much as he’d like to forget about Amelia, he can’t and they start to pull into each other that reminds readers, everything happens for a reason.

Have you read the third book, “The Widow of Falbrooke Court” by Kasey Stockton yet? If so, please leave me your comments below!

Book Review: “The Lady of Larkspur Vale” by Kasey Stockton

Hello!

So, I am back with the second book of the “Ladies of Devon” series by Kasey Stockton. If you haven’t seen what I thought about The Jewels of Halstead Manor, you may want to check it out or if you’re on the fence about giving the entire series a try, you can skip these posts altogether because they contain spoilers here and here.

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She wants to forget she ever knew him; he just wants her.

Mabel Sheffield is too tall, or so she believes. It one of the reasons she has given up on finding a husband and instead embraces her role as a spinster, dedicating her days to managing her grandmother’s estate and her seven-year-old sister. But when Liam MacKenzie shows up at her house to stay for the summer, she’s unsure if she can keep her resolve. The problem: he’s the other reason she’s a spinster.

Book two in the Ladies of Devon series, The Lady of Larkspur Vale is a childhood friends-to-lovers and second chance romance story. It is a clean Regency romance that continues telling the story of the four women who make up a literary society in Devon and form a lasting friendship

taken from Goodreads.

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Mabel is at the heart of the Sheffield House, being its mistress, taking care of her staff, family and friends is what she’s been doing, since her father has returned to the Royal Navy. Even with chronic issues with her leg, she’s fine to sit out whenever her friends go dancing, she thinks about the next day’s menus and dealing with a stubborn seven-year-old sister, she feels like she is the head mistress of the manor, with no husband. Mabel can and will do it all.

Out of everything going on, reuniting with her cousin Charles Fremont, and meeting a small group of his friends Misters Desmond Pemberton and Liam McKenzie. or “Mac” at least that’s what tell his friends and definitely want to continue this way around Mabel as they have a history, Unfortunately for Mac though, Desmond has invited his two sisters Lydia and Sophy with their chaperone Ms. Boucher. Poor Mabel and the rest of her staff at the Sheffield House are about to have a lot of guests popping in and out all summer long.

If she needed them, Giulia, Hattie, and Amelia would be at her door without hesitation. And she always had Pippa and Charles. She would not be alone.

There were a lot of things that resonated with me. Mabel’s leg issues are real to even the modern times, and there was a scene where she knew she’d done too much in the day and her leg wasn’t going to hold up much longer. I imagine having any kind of a disability like Mabel’s, she’s lucky she’s not in a wheelchair or worse put in an asylum for the rest of her life. There wasn’t much to reduce the pain like we do, but I’ve been in Mabel’s shoes in a way. Mabel’s bad leg does affect her day-to-day life, and being the mistress of the house, means she’s enduring longer hours and making sure everybody is enjoying the Sheffield hospitality.

I had explained to my mom that as much as I am enjoying learning about Mabel and her family’s story, but my focus was really on Mac. This happens every once in a while, where I find the male main character can pull me in the story, I thought he was different, but there’s an echo to families who did deal with members gambling away almost everything, Mac is trying to do right for his mother while trying to save up money to bail his father and his overall reputation as a gentleman. He is definitely affected by Mabel and her life, but I liked knowing more about his family.

The larkspur was in full bloom, a sea of dark violet stretching forth and filling the small valley surrounded by a grove of full chestnut trees.

There were a lot of things I found deeply humbling about Mabel and Mac. Mabel has just off that side of her of being the best dancer at the balls and parties, but she has found a way to be at the foreground of her life as “Mistress of the House” and she takes it all like a pro, even though. Mac is dealing for his issues and as he leaves without a word to her, he wants to settle the other stuff before going back to Graton and possibility make a fool out of himself once again.

I really enjoyed this story. I was worried about it, because I like the elements in Guila’s story, but as I continue reading through the rest of the series, I am finding out that I see myself in all of the women. Mabel for her toughness and despite her disability, she works through it, and everyone understand her requests for time to herself to heal up before an even more exciting adventure with her family, friends, etc.

Have you read “The Lady of Larkspur Vale” by Kasey Stockton? If not, you can find it on her YouTube channel and listen to the audiobook. They have captions and time stamps too! Anyways, if you have read this book, what were your thoughts on it?

Book Review: “King’s Cage” by Victoria Aveyard

Hello again.

A couple of years ago, I finally finished reading Glass Sword and it wasn’t an easy journey, as I thought it was very boring. Despite my love for these characters and the story Victoria had written, that book was awful! Once I completed it, I really didn’t want to quit the series–I was worried about it–but I tried my best to have some faith… and I’m happy to say, I enjoyed King’s Cage a lot.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Some things like degradation, forced prisonment, childhood trauma, PTSD are included in the book and this post. So, if you’re not into any of these themes, please ignore the review.

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In this breathless third installment to Victoria Aveyard’s bestselling Red Queen series, allegiances are tested on every side. And when the Lightning Girl’s spark is gone, who will light the way for the rebellion?

Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother’s web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.

As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows. And Cal, the exiled prince with his own claim on Mare’s heart, will stop at nothing to bring her back.

When blood turns on blood, and ability on ability, there may be no one left to put out the fire—leaving Norta as Mare knows it to burn all the way down.

taken from Goodreads.

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One of my somewhat favorite things about having multiple POVs (point of views) telling the story. I wasn’t a big fan of it at first, but I thought they were essential to the narrative because Mare Barrow has always been the heart of the series, adding newblood Cameron in the beginning shows you the inner workings of The Scarlet Guard. She also has a different intention for joining the Guard, and she develops a “friendship” with Farley, so you get to see that highly respectful and intimating character in a softer tone compared to the previous books.

A prison where I was kept. Starved, neglected, forced to watch people around me wither and die because they were born…wrong.

While I wasn’t for the sudden stop of seeing Cameron’s POV, you do get another one, with Evangeline. This was an interesting look into the imposing character that is Lady Evangeline Samos. She has a bigger role concerning Maven, as she is now engaged to the other Calore brother. She is still an enemy to Mare, but once as the reader gets into her first chapter, you realize there is a lot at stake for her, and goes back to a theme that surrounds everyone, and that is their families.

My only thing about the entire book was the big battle. I believe a lot of it could have been saved for War Storm, but then again, the direction as the characters moved wouldn’t feel as authentic without some of the elements featured in the last bit of the book. I love a good battle, but again, I would have enjoyed it more if we were able to let Mare take a break and find her footing again. And maybe once I get into the thick of the final book, my tone will change of those last ten or so chapters. However, that’s just my opinion.

“Not a god’s chosen, but a god’s cursed,” I murmur, recalling the words he scrawled in a forgotten book.

I am thoroughly excited to start on the final book. I have already read a few chapters and I love it, mainly because we get yet another point of view that may be interesting to see later on.

Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to spend a lot of time outside, we have really bad mosquitos and since we are heading into the summer heat faster than usual, that is yet another factor in my quest to read my fantasy, larger-than-life books with my cats. So, in other words, don’t expect the next review of this series to come out anytime soon.

Have you read “King’s Cage” by Victoria Aveyard yet? If you have, what were your thoughts on this book?

March & April Playlists

Hello everyone.

It has truly been a while since I have written a blog post.

I’ve been dealing with mental health issues lately and unfortunately; my blog has published less and less content. It’s a sad concept as I love my blog; for a long time, it was my sanctuary, but like with many things, nothing is permeant.

However, I have never accepted defeat lightly. I want to blog, that’s why I’m here, writing this post right now. I enjoy sharing my likes and thoughts with my readers. Whether you’re new or old, I hope you find this post entertaining and maybe a new favorite or two in the end.

Music can bring out the best in us, and that’s why I am here to share with you today. It’s a combination of what I was into for both March and April. As in my previous posts, I will give you the Spotify playlist for each month so you can listen to everything.

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March marked a new phase of unique music for me. I was reading two very different books, and their characters and settlings sparked their own aesthetic playlists and with that, I was able to do some research on Spotify and found a plethora of various artists that worked fairly well while I created their own playlists. I was never able to finish The Poppy War by R. F. Kaung, but I did with Heart of the Valkyrie by Melanie Karsak. I was literally traveling around the world via the music I found on Spotify and YouTube.

I had a lot of fun diving deep into the depths to capture the full picture of who these characters are in my mind. and music is my medium to use generate the people and obstacles with music than anything else. Well, besides using a Pinterest board. This is a good way to see everything going on without ever having to listen to the music. I’ve attached “The Poppy War” aesthetic playlist’s to the “March” banner.

Here were my Top 20 songs for March. Click here to be redirected to the Spotify playlist.

Into The Mist by Elvor
Voices by Shaman’s Harvest
Heart and Soul by Heuy Lewis & the News
Teir Abhaile Riu by Celtic Woman
Chokehold by Will Ramos x Nik Nocturnal
Wonder by Lights & Motion
EENIE MEENIE by Chung Ha featuring Hongjoong of ATEEZ
A Girl’s World by Mia Mormino
Altay by Otyken featuring Ummet Ozcan
Bats by Hafdis Huld
Ylva by Ayla Nereo
Weeping Willow by The Hellfreaks
YESSIR by 3YE
Peasant’s Throne by Lillith Max
Some Type of Skin by Aurora
Best For Me by Joyner Lucas featuring Jelly Roll
Formaldehyde Footsteps by BertieBanz
Rage by Samantha Margot
LABOUR – the cacophony by Paris Paloma
Marjorie by Taylor Swift

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April has intertwined with the previous month at first. This isn’t a weird thing to do, I try to keep this collection of music close by, in case I have found a similar book to explore further and would need inspiration to create the next aesthetic playlist. I continued to read The Poppy War, but not for long as I tend to stop longer books for another time. I may be an odd duck, but if I can’t finish a book before the months end, I usually push them back to start another book and its own aesthetic.

Since I was able to go outside and enjoy sitting out on the back deck with our cats, they love the little breakfast-in-bed table just as much as I do but are somewhat lenient to share the table with my book and Post-It colored tabs to keep any quote, I found to be a key for later or share my favorite quotes in a book review on here. Anyways, the book I have taken outside is King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard, the third book in the Red Queen series. I started this book early spring, and I had made myself well aware to the possibility of not finishing it, but I’m really, really close to moving on to War Storm before we end up in summer!

I also have started on the full Red Queen aesthetic playlist on Spotify. I wish I had created it when I had started the series, but that was over 11 years ago, and that wasn’t the best year to create these kinds of playlists anyway.

I’ve tried to give each book/chapter/character they’re own theme, and the only song I could work for the beginning of the King’s Cage section starts at Will Ramos from Lorna Shore’s and Nik Nocturnal’s cover of Sleep Token’s “Chokehold”. It’s an odd, but perfectly song and word that matches up on the outlook for both King Maven Calore and Mare Barrow. This section will continue to grow until I finish and began reading the fourth and final book of the series: War Storm. To listen to this playlist, click the “April” banner.

Other than that, let’s see what I enjoyed in the month of April. Again. come check out the entire playlist here.

Sheesh by BABYMONSTER
And She Translated Into the Sky by Levi Patel
A Fool’s Parade by Within Temptation featuring Alex Yarmak
Eyes Closed by Imagine Dragons
This Is The Way by Five Finger Death Punch featuring DMX
So Fresh, So Clean by OutKast
Queens and Kings by Alessandra
Feel Me Now by If Not For Me
Escalate by Tsar B
In My Soul by Flannel Graph
Come What May by The Last Bloom
Ocean Lullaby by Colossal Trailer Music
Undefeated by XG x Valorant
I Am Defiant by The Seige
Made For This by WE ARE FURY x Takaayla
Bad by Royal Deluxe
Black Velvet Sun by My Indigo
Frozen by Victoria K.
Dead Man Walkin’ by Rebecca Brunner
Just Won’t Die by Halocene

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Well, I think that is it for now. If you’re still here at the end, sorry for the rambling! I didn’t mean to make a whole story about the music I’ve listened to these past months, but I’m glad to share this part with you freely again.

What have you been listening to lately? Do you create aesthetic playlists? Are they for yourself, friends or other stuff like mine? Let me know in the comments below.

Book Review: “Letters for Phoebe” by Sally Britton

Hi there.

Over the Christmas holidays, I came across two series of books written in the genres: Regency-Era and clean romance on YouTube. Since I was in the midst of publishing Blogmas content, I really wanted to listen to a story rather than read it on my own, and I was actually surprised of my enjoyment on the stories I had found, but I was only able to finish one of the two series, but I’ve got them saved up for next Christmas and I’m excited to get back into them and hopefully share them with you.

In January, I was in a very historical, fantasy kind of mood, and towards the end, I wanted another book outside of the two main genres, so i went looking for novellas on YouTube like I had back in December, and I came across one titled “Letters for Phoebe” by Sally Britton and decided to give it a shot.

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When Phoebe starts receiving anonymous letters, she never once thinks the most irresponsible man in London is her correspondent. Or that she will fall in love with him.

Phoebe Kimball grew up believing in love, but after failing to find a gentleman capable of capturing her heart, she has turned more practical than romantic. She is determined to find a husband in London this Season. If only the annoying Mr. Fenwick would stop appearing every time she sets her cap at someone! When an anonymous letter arrives warning her that her current target is unsuitable marital material, Phoebe begins a relationship with the letter writer that promises something more than a practical alliance.

Griffin Fenwick does not usually care for women on the hunt for a husband, but Miss Kimball’s quick wit and refusal to admit she enjoys his company intrigues him. When he realizes the gentlemen on her list of eligible bachelors is full with scoundrels, he warns her the only way he can – through a letter. As he comes to know Phoebe better, he soon realizes he wishes to put his own name on her list. If only she liked Griffin as much as she liked her anonymous correspondent.

When Phoebe realizes its been Griffin writing her all along, will she put aside practicality for love, or spurn Griffin for even trying to woo her?

taken from Goodreads.

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What I found most interesting about this series, is that it’s center around this group of girls Lavinia, Marah, Isabel, Daphne and Phoebe. They make a pact to not settle for anything less than a lovable marriage, which in the Regency Era or the Victorian/Edwardian times, a person wasn’t allowed to marry for love. Everything was about inheritance and political.

As far as personality, I’d say Phoebe was posh or stuck-up around people. I just wasn’t a big fan of her overall attitude, but I did grow to understand her better as the story went on.

For the love interest, I fell in love with Griffin. He was charming and friendly.

I felt he took a big gamble in his role with these letters to Phoebe. This was another real aspect of the time, a woman wasn’t allowed to do anything without an older chaperone, and accepting letters from a stranger, warning her of unlikely suitors was not acceptable.

I’m used to dirty, smut books, and with these clean romances, I am out of my element but. I enjoy the fact I’m not so lost in the lyrical and crazy sex scenes. I feel like, I notice various traits of the characters than I do with other historical romance books.

Honestly, this was a great novella. I tried to read the next story, continuing to talk about the girls in Phoebe’s group. I can’t find any of them on YouTube, which really sucks, but they are available on Kindle Unlimited (this book is not though!) and they are written by other authors. This is something that I am learning and it’s interesting to see how these other women talking about these young women of this era.

Have you read Sally Britton's "Letters To Phoebe" yet? What are other novels or novellas should I look into on YouTube? Leave me your thoughts below!