So, I have revitalised this post from 2020! Now this blog post isn’t about romance books but other fiction where romance is secondary to the plot!

Plot: Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

• A convict with a thirst for revenge
• A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager
• A runaway with a privileged past
• A spy known as the Wraith
• A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums
• A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Miss Bardugo did not miss when it came to writing the romance subplots for this book. Literally, every single couple slapped! Each couple felt wholly unique. You think introducing/setting up three different couples would stifle and oversaturate the story but it flowed so well with the story and was one of the most interesting bits about the novel!

Plot: After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack on her very first night on campus. A flying demon feeding on human energies. A secret society of so-called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down. And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw. The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates. She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveals themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.

Now I don’t care what anyone says. Bree and Nick are endgame, end of story. I really enjoyed this blossoming couple in this book. I felt they had great communication, strong emotional intelligence and it was a pleasure to witness their romance.

SPOILERS FOR MISTBORN ERA 2

Plot for Book 1: Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads to supplement the canals, electric lighting in the streets and the homes of the wealthy, and the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds. Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history—or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice. One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will.  After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.

A super unlikely slow-burn couple. What started as an arranged political-based marriage, turned into appreciating one another for who they are to slowly falling in love and starting a family. Steris ended up becoming my favourite character in the series and I really enjoyed watching this couple fall in love as it was set up in a way where you thought it was never going to happen. Watching them realise they had more in common than they thought and their mutual appreciation for each other turned into love! Beautiful!

Plot: Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer. So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.  Alongside her Ministry colleagues and her clever girlfriend Siti, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city – or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems…

Fatma and Siti are probably one of the strongest fantasy couples I have read in terms of raw chemistry. I could honestly feel the sparks through the page. Both are strong independent women who happen to kick ass and I loved reading their scenes! Everyone’s a winner!