Title: Enchanting Songs for Silent Sirens
Author: Laura Greenwood
Series: Obscure Academy #1
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Christmas, Easy reading, Paranormal fantasy, Paranormal romance
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2022

I really love the whole premise of having a paranormal university. I mean, I’ve read a lot of paranormal fantasies that feature an academy of some sort (such as Hogwarts), but I don’t think that I’ve had the privilege of reading any that are about university. I mean, it’s a pretty big point of change in a person’s life, so I kind of love that there is a whole romance series that is based on new adults finding their own identities, and love along the way.

Melody as a siren is incredibly fun, and I love how her name is so damn suited to her talents. There is also the fact that she’s musical, but unable to sing and enjoy her music. It’s definitely a unique challenge that she faces. One that made my heart break for her a little bit – I mean, she’s growing up and moving about in the world. But she has to leave a part of herself behind because she puts others at risk. Melody is also just incredibly sweet and kind, something that made me incredibly keen for her to find her happily ever after.

Josh is another really sweet character, and I love how these two incredibly cute beings end up together. He’s a great match for Melody in so many ways. But, one of the parts that I loved the most about this romance was the nuances that Melody has to figure out when dating a deaf person. So many of the things that I just take for granted in my daily interactions had to be considered. It was really interesting, and seriously made me reflect on all of the things that I do without even considering how the differently abled would be impacted…

Adding into the whole enjoyment of this really cute romance is the idea that Melody is feeling particularly glum because she wants to sing Christmas carols. Again, an aspect of being born deaf that I’ve never considered – not ever having heard Christmas carols. I love Josh’s idea for Melody to be able to do what she loves, at no risk to anybody else. It is just too damn sweet and cute. A bit like this whole story, now I want to meet more of the couple at Obscure Academy.

Image source: Booktopia

Title: Bonfire Night for Flammable Dragons
Author: Laura Greenwood
Series: Obscure Academy #1.5
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Paranormal fantasy, Paranormal romance
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novella
Year: 2022

This is a great and fun short novella. It was a nice little meeting and falling for one another story that takes place in the University years. But, with the added fun of the paranormal and dragons. The fact that one of those dragons is flammable and kind of self-conscious about it just made it heaps better. And a little bit funny in moments.

Jazz and Idris are a little more off-kilter in their coupling than Jeremy and Krissi in Shifting Forms for Clumsy Felines. Instead you have a cheerleader and a quite, nerdy introvert. I love that they both fit together completely seamlessly though. They are obviously just… content to be in each others’ company. Content and happy to be together and just enjoy each others’ differences.

I’ve never celebrated bonfire night, and honestly have absolutely no idea what it actually is. But I am completely obsessed with just bonfires in general. There is something so soothing and calming about watching the flames dance as the night quiets down. This story has all of those wonderful vibes. And somehow the hope of a new relationship is reflected in the calm hope that a bonfire night provides.

As with everything I’ve read thus far from Greenwood, I really enjoyed this story. It was a nice and easy read that gave me a pleasant hour to drift away into a whole new world of beginnings and hope. There is a nice simplicity in this story, that, partnered with dragons and a budding new relationship left me really happy and content.

Image source: Booktopia

Title: Ginger Snapped
Author: Bernadette Franklin
Series: Holiday Fun #4
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Christmas, Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2019

As always, I absolutely adore the characters that Franklin creates. The fact that she used a fun play on words in the title, and naming of Ginger was even better. I think one of my very favourite scenes is the moment when Ginger looks her sister dead in the eye and says “Ginger Snapped”. I laughed way more than that one liner probably warranted if I’m being honest. Kace is also a really fun character who balances Ginger out beautifully – both characters that I really enjoyed getting to know.

Ginger’s sister, whilst a good way to drive the plot is an absolutely selfish moron. It is quite frankly ridiculous. But, I do love that her children are well aware of how ridiculous their parents’ actions are. And the way in which the twin girls show their displeasure is kind of, absolutely and ridiculously hilarious. Honestly, even writing this, I’m giggling out loud at how they make their father faint with their antics. Honestly, I think that they deserved more, but it was still a fun bit of comeuppance to the actual neglect that their parents put them through. And the challenges that Ginger is forced to face when they decide to just follow their whimsy.

Christmas time is stressful for everyone – probably too much commercialisation. And that’s not taking into account the fact that Ginger then has three more mouths to feed. It was a nice reminder at that time of year that sometimes Christmas isn’t about the presents and the decorations and all of the expensiveness. Rather, it’s about family and coming together. Showing your love in whatever way you can and making sure that your whole family is safe and sound. Although I loved this story, I was kind of disappointed that Ginger’s revenge didn’t actually happen. I mean, she puts all of this thought and effort into her master plan. She figures out something that will seriously mess with her sister for an extended period of time, but then she blows a gasket and just… tells her everything. All of that joy of planning and scheming, just gone down the drain. But, then, Juliette Carter was back into the story line, so that kind of made up for my disappointment.

Image source: Amazon

Title: Claustrophobic
Author: Bernadette Franklin
Series: Holiday Fun #1
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Christmas, Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2018

As with all of the characters written by Franklin (Blain, Copperfield, etc.), Chloe and Julian are incredibly off kilter. In the best way possible. I love that they don’t toe the line of conventionality. And, instead of eventually echoing some kind of type of conventional behaviour, they just embrace each other’s weirdness. In reality I might not necessarily love some of their actions, but reading about them… yeah, I completely fell in love with this couple. As always.

Although this is a bit of the Grinch / sunshine stereotype, I do love that Chloe is very quickly bought around to the whole idea of Christmas. Normally it would take a little bit more, but instead of all of the angst that’s associated with deciding to love Christmas again, we get to focus on the high jinx and nonsense instead. I mean, sometimes I love angst and emotional development. But sometimes I just want shenanigans, and with Franklin, I got seriously fun and adorable shenanigans. Ones that I will revisit in the future.

The Carters introduction (for me) in The Runaround were freaking fantastic. And absolutely hilarious. It took me a little longer than I wanted to realise that Julie Carter was Julian’s mum. But once I did, man was I entertained. The Carters didn’t quite get as much attention as I would have loved during The Runaround, so I loved getting to know them a whole lot more in Claustrophobic. I also love that they are the common thread through this Holiday Fun series…

Another aspect of the characters that Franklin is constantly enthralling me with is the fact that they kind of spend a lot of time plotting. I loved that throughout this, Julian has actually been plotting and scheming for quite a long time. Yet, when Chloe figures this out, she manages to completely out scheme him. The fact that it involves a kidnapping just made me all that much more entertained. Definitely a book that I’ll be rereading again in the future (probably next Christmas).

Image source: Kobo