CBR18 Book 4: "I've Got My Duke to Keep Me Warm" by Kelly Bowen

Page count: 352

Rating: 4 stars

Buzzword Reading Challenge 26: Me/My

Buzzword Cover Challenge 26: Wearable accessories (the cape!)

Defeating the Goblin TBR: The Dusty Book (has been on my TBR since 2016)

Monthly Keyword Challenge: Keep

Everyone believes that Giselle Whitby, is dead. Four years ago, she had to fake her death to escape her sadistic, controlling and abusive husband, the Marquess of Valence. To make sure there was no doubt of her demise, Giselle made sure the boat she and her stepdaughter were on exploded, in sight of half of London society. Conveniently, Giselle was wearing a very expensive diamond necklace at the time, meaning she escaped with a large share of her husband's fortune. Since her disappearance, Giselle has been in hiding, establishing a network of associates, helping other women in abusive relationships escape their husbands. Now she has discovered that Lord Valence plans to marry another young lady, and she has less than a week to stop him. 

Because one of her usual co-conspirators is off to Scotland to get married (to the stepdaughter who also escaped four years ago), Giselle needs to find another man who can help her foil her erstwhile abuser's marriage plans. She finds James "Jamie" Moncrieff drunk in a tavern and decides he will serve their purposes well enough. Once he sobers up and has a bath, Giselle and her partner (her husband's former valet) discover that he is a former war hero, still struggling with PTSD and guilt from the Napoleonic War. He is also the illegitimate son of a duke (because his father, the duke, married his mother a few hours after he was born. So he's the eldest son, but has no claims to the title. He is tall, muscular, handsome, charming, intelligent, deeply honourable, excellent at cards, great with horses and looks spectacular in evening wear. Does this man have any flaws at all?

Aiding Giselle in her plans is the Dowager Duchess of Worth, who is tremendously wealthy and appears mad as a box of cats every time she appears in public. To support her eccentric reputation, she collects chicken memorabilia (everything from carved birds, porcelin and even jewelled chickens) and even has a pet chicken with her every time she leaves the house. Her son, the current Duke of Worth, is concerned for his mother and keeps trying to get her to move in with him, without any luck. 

Giselle is described as a beautiful and accomplished woman, a bit of an ice queen, but thanks to her sadistic ex, is covered with scars on parts of the body fancy gowns would normally cover. With the impressive collar of diamonds she escaped with, she could have fled far away from England and made sure there was no chance her husband could ever find her. Instead, she has the Dowager Duchess sneakily selling off the diamonds to fund her rescue operations, and has gathered a network of concerned helpers from all layers of society to give these battered women safe havens when they've been successfully disappeared.

As far as I can tell, this is Kelly Bowen's debut romance novel, the first in her Dukes of Worth trilogy. Goodreads tells me that I read the third book in the series back in 2017, but didn't find it too impressive. In her later romances, Bowen basically has all her heroines be impressively competent in a number of fields, and all the men who fall for them are happy to play a supportive role in these women's lives, while clearly also adoring them. There are traces of that here as well, but since the entire plot takes place over the course of about a week, I think Giselle and Jamie fall for each other implausibly quickly, especially considering Giselle's previous abusive relationship. I was entertained enough that I'm going to want to read the second book in the series as well, featuring the Duke of Worth and his mother's mysterious ladies' companion. Also, I wish Bowen still wrote traditional historical romance; she was really good at it. 

Judging a book by its cover: I literally have NO idea what this cover has to do with the book, except for the cover model being a blonde. This is a fairly dark novel, with protagonists who have gone through a lot. Absolutely nowhere in the book does Giselle put on a big red fur-lined cloak and dance about in the snow. She mostly stays hidden and wears plain clothing so as not to attract attention. I also don't think the book is set in the winter. What were the design team thinking here? With all the red and white, it also makes it seem like a Christmas book. It is not. 

 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 3: "Silver & Blood" by Jessie Mihalik

Page count: 448 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for this ARC. It has not affected my opinions or my review.

About a year ago, the small village where Riela lives alone after the death of her father was threatened by a flood. Riela unlocked magical powers and managed to divert the water and save the village. Now one of the villagers has been savaged by a monster in the woods, and the mostly hostile villagers insist that she go into the forest and dispatch the monster for them. Unfortunately, Riela doesn't really have much control over her magical powers, and when she encounters a scary creature seemingly made out of tangled vines, which then divides itself into two, she's pretty convinced this is how she's going to die.

It would be a fairly short book if Riela died in the opening scenes; however, instead, she is rescued by a handsome, yet grouchy, mage and wakes up in his strange castle, where she initially can't go anywhere but where the castle feels like letting her go. While she's happy to have escaped death, Riela is upset when Garrick reveals that she is now confined to the forest. There's a magical spell that traps anyone with magical powers inside its borders, so now Riela can't return home. While Garrick claims she can stay in his magical castle (with a gorgeous library) and that he'll help her try to get better at controlling her magic, he also seems deeply suspicious of her and her motives. 

Spending more time together, Riela discovers why Garrick is so suspicious of her. He is, in fact, one of the legendary Etheri sovereigns, and because of a curse, he has been kept away from his magical realm for the last century, and now it seems like Riela might be instrumental in helping him open the gate again. Was she sent there by his enemies with sinister motives, or is she what she appears to be, an orphaned village woman with no idea how to control her magic? 

There are strong Beauty and the Beast vibes in this first part of a fantasy duology. The orphaned village maiden. The strange, magical castle in the woods (although there is no talking furniture in this one). The grouchy resident of said castle, and the maiden's inability to go back home. There is also a shapeshifting wolf, but he's the sidekick, not our hero. While the mystical, magical beings of this fantasy are called the Etheri (there's a bunch of different courts, ruled by various sovereigns), they are very fay-coded, both in their grace and viciousness. 

When I received this ARC, I thought this was the first part in a trilogy. I am very happy to discover that it's a duology instead, and according to Ms. Mihalik's website, book 2 may be coming out towards the end of 2026. There was a lot to like in this book, although the stretch where Garrick's internal monologue seems to switch between how attractive he finds Riela and how convinced he is that she is some dangerous creature sent to entrap him somehow goes on for too long. 

It's going to come as no surprise to anyone who has read fantasy in the past that there is more to Riela's identity than meets the eye, and the plot of the story is trying to figure out both how Garrick can get the magically sealed portal in his castle garden open again, so he can go back to his magical court, and why Riela's magic is so strange and she seems to be the key to getting the portal open again. 

For the most part, I liked the banter between Riela and Garrick, and I especially enjoyed Riela's disastrous attempts to get the magical castle to conjure food for her. For the first half of the book, the entire story is just Garrick and Riela, but in the second half, more supporting cast are introduced, and I liked their interactions with both Garrick and Riela. This book ends in a good place, while still making me very excited to read the second part. 

Silver & Blood comes out on January 27th, 2026. 

Judging a book by its cover: Mostly, I really love this cover, drawn by the talented Luisa Preissler (although I'm not sure why Garrick appears to have forgotten to put on his shirt. The silver embroidery on Garrick's tunic is nice, as are the tiny white flowers in Riela's hair. The castle in the background and the red roses are also cool story elements to include.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 2: "The Swan's Daughter" by Roshani Chokshi

Page count: 400 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC. My opinions are my own. 

Demelza is the seventh and youngest daughter of Araminta, a legendary veritas swan (extremely beautiful women who have the power to turn into swans, and whose voices compel anyone who hears it to tell the truth) and Prava, a centuries-old, very ambitious, and some would say, evil wizard. However, when veritas swans fall in love, the person they love gains control over them through a magical necklace with a winged key, which gives that person total control over them. The veritas swan can no longer choose when to transform and has to obey the wishes of their beloved. Only death can sever the bond, but if their beloved dies, so does the veritas swan. 

While Prava is quite monstrous, he does love his wife, and he clearly loves his seven daughters a lot. In fact, he raises them to be as cunning and ambitious as himself. As soon as they are old enough, he sends them off to advantageous marriage matches, so they can extend his sphere of influence and help him with his ultimate goal, to find the spell for eternal life. Demelza is different from her sisters. Unlike them, she doesn't have wings or the ability to fly, and while their songs are lovely, her singing voice is terrible. Because of this, Prava keeps her close to him in his castle. She grows up wanting to be as invaluable to him as her sisters, and reads and studies and tries to help him decipher all the clues as to how to complete the spell for immortality. 

Once she uncovers the final part, however, it turns out that what the wizard needs is a willing sacrifice, and the heart of a creature born of a beauty and a beast - namely, Demelza herself. He wants to carve out her heart, and the only safe place she can flee to is Rathe Castle, where the royal family of Malys live, and Prava is forbidden to enter. As it happens, this is just as the big competition to find Prince Arris' bride, so yet another young woman showing up on the castle grounds isn't exactly a problem. Araminta has told her daughter the truth: if she ever falls in love with someone, and surrenders her heart, she will be as trapped as her mother has been all these years. Demelza is therefore not intending to actually compete with the other young ladies to win the hand of the prince. She does propose an alliance with him, though, promising to use her truth-telling powers to help him discover which of the women competing may have genuine feelings for him, and which ones are there simply to murder him. 

King Enzo the Fool, ancestor to all the rulers of the Isle of Malys, managed to make the witch queen who once ruled there fall in love with him. He got her to grant him a magical boon. First of all, if one of his line died without an heir, the Isle would be ruined. Unfortunately, he worded the next bit badly. Only the male descendants of King Enzo, or whoever possessed their hand and heart in marriage, would be able to sit on the throne. Once the witch queen discovered King Enzo had manipulated her, she cut out his heart and, as a result, was the one with all the power. This continued down the centuries. The heir to the throne would marry and usually be murdered by their spouse within a day of the vows being spoken. Interestingly, Prince Arris' parents were an exception to this rule. His mother fully intended to murder his father, but fell so deeply in love before she had time to kill him, and hence Arris' father is the first king of the Isle of Malys in centuries who has been able to live to see his children reach adulthood.

In this world, everyone has two lives. When their first one ends, they are reborn as a tree or other plant, or occasionally a rock. Hence, all the previous rulers of Malys can be found as sentient trees in the grove of ancestors near the palace. They are happy to dispense advice to the current rulers, as needed. Prince Arris has chosen the spot he wants to grow and what tree he wants to turn into, but can't help but be romantic and hope he might find a semblance of the love his parents share (even if the queen keeps trying to murder her husband at least once a month, just to keep things interesting). 

When Demelza arrives at Rathe Castle, her mother has enchanted her so she looks covered in mud and grass and is dressed in an outfit made of reeds. Hence, the prince doesn't really consider her a potential bride, and most of the contestants are deeply dismissive of her. That works in her favour when she has to try to ferret out the truth from the various contestants, though they all underestimate her and her abilities. She meets in secret with the prince in the evenings, sharing her findings with him, while he normally brings her something he cooked or baked in the palace kitchens. But obviously, all these secret chats, involving food created specifically to cater to her likes and preferences (up to including pond weed, crunchy beetles or tadpoles), aren't going to lead to feels between the swan and the prince. Their friendship is totally platonic, yes indeed. 

In the first few rounds and basically the first half or so of the book, there are way too many contestants, and I couldn't really keep them apart. The two young women who share a room with Demelza are certainly no threat to Arris and seem to genuinely want to befriend Demelza. One turns into a giant bear and seems more interested in cooking the perfect recipes than marrying the prince, while the other seems to have more of an affinity with Arris' very fiercely protective twin sister. Then there's Edmea, the mean-girl beauty everyone expects to win the competition, who can magically create her own outfits, and who was described in such a way that it was impossible for me not to picture her as Ariana Grande's Glinda the Good from the Wicked movies. Couldn't tell you anything about any of the others.

Demelza, born different from all her other sisters, and mostly undervalued and treated with disdain by her mother (to make her seem insignificant and plain, so Prava wouldn't figure out that she was the missing link in his quest for immortality, has always felt like she needs to prove her worth and has a very low opinion of herself. Arris has pretty much known forever that since he is the crown prince, he is unlikely to survive his wedding day, and has therefore never dared make any hopes or dreams about the future, making every effort to live in the present and enjoy every aspect of life. Demelza fears falling in love because her mother has told her that it means giving her beloved total control of her life. Arris hopes to fall in love, even though he knows it's likely his future spouse will murder him to gain power and the right to rule the Isle of Malys. So they are slow to realise their feelings for one another, and both have very conflicted feelings about true love.

Arris has always been lucky enough to be loved by his parents and his very protective twin sister, while Demelza has always felt like the odd one out. Since her sisters all had beautiful singing voices and happily fit into Prava's plans for world domination (at least his little corner of the world), Demelza has lived a sheltered life, living the life of a scholar. She has a vast knowledge of all sorts of things acquired in books, but struggles in social settings. The two princesses she shares a room with are the first women she's known actual friendship with. So while this is a story with a romance in it, it's also about Demelza learning to appreciate herself as a person, and learning that she is worthy of friendship and affection, she doesn't just need to be useful to those around her. As the number of contestants is winnowed down with each new challenge, the remaining women, despite their many differences, all grow closer, as well. 

This is the first Roshani Chokshi book I have read (despite owning many of them). Based on this, it will not be the last one that I read. I am a sucker for good fairy tale retellings, or fantasy stories that feel like they could be fairy tales. As far as I can tell, this story isn't actually based on a previously existing fairy tale, but it has a lot of familiar elements for those who have read a lot of them. 

Judging a book by its cover: While I think it's a lovely cover, I still think it may be too ethereal and dreamy for the story this book tells. I think the story is darker than this image implies. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 1: "Only on Gameday" by Kristen Callihan

Page count: 416 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for this ARC. My opinions are my own. 

Introverted and shy Penelope Morrow grew up an only child, but was more or less enveloped by the five children of the Luck family (all named, rather implausibly, for months - the boys, January, March and August, with the twin girls being called May and June), since their mothers were best friends. Outgoing, charming and overachieving, all three Luck boys are handsome and very talented American football players, like their father before them, but the only one who ever really interested Penelope was August. Not that she would ever going to admit this to any of his siblings, and certainly not to the man himself. Her shyness and awkwardness were perceived as disdain and coldness, so not even her best friends, August's sisters, suspect that she secretly always had a crush on him.

August Luck is the top draft in the NHL, and struggles with the pressures of living up to the legacy of his father and older brother. As a result, he goes a bit off the deep end with partying, and after yet another party video of him, this one falling off a table while doing the chicken dance, he needs a bit of an image clean-up. When he opens the front door of his parents' house to see Penelope again after several years, he is stunned by how beautiful she has become, and starts making a rather foolish plan. Like Penelope, August has also had an unrequited crush, but his awkwardness was seen as arrogance, so Penelope has never realised how strongly he felt for her. August's brothers, January and March, however, seem to have some idea of the extent of his feelings. 

Both of Penelope's grandparents worked in Hollywood, and when they bought their house, it wasn't especially expensive. By the time Penelope inherits it, it's worth about ten million dollars, and she has no idea where she's going to get the money to pay the property taxes. Her mother refuses to lend her the money, and can't understand why Penelope won't even consider selling the house. Penelope, on the other hand, doesn't really care about the property value, the house is just the only place she's ever really felt at home, and she can't bring herself to part with the house. So when August (who she believes is at best indifferent to her, at worst kind of hates her) approaches her with a rather far-fetched scheme that can help both of them, she is tempted against her better judgment.

August has decided that the perfect image overhaul would be for him to present Penelope as his long-time secret sweetheart, whom he has now proposed to. The fact that they grew up together will only help sell the story to the press. In return, he wants to pay the property taxes for Penelope, although she only grudgingly accepts a loan, and promises she will find the money to pay her own taxes, not wanting to be beholden to a man she's been crushing on her entire life. 

Any secret engagement story in romance has to end with the couple catching feelings for one another. In this case, both of the protagonists already have the feelings; they've just both bottled them so deeply that only a very few people even suspect they are anything but almost antagonistic towards each other. Once August and Penelope actually start loosening up and spending some time together, they are obviously completely gone for each other almost instantly (while still denying this to themselves for far longer than the plot needed). 

There was a lot to like in this story, even though the pining gets to the point of ridiculousness, and I just wanted them to have an actual, honest conversation so we could get to the part of the book where they get to be an actual couple. The author uses a lot of pop culture references throughout, which I'm not sure are going to age well, and might be off-putting to some readers who don't catch all of them. This is partly because Penelope is obsessed with movies, and there are so many movie references throughout. 

On the other hand, the supporting cast, mainly consisting of the large and loving Luck family are great. I'm wondering if Callihan is planning on writing a romance for each of the remaining siblings. There's January, whose career as a football player ended after a car accident (shortly after which he and his fiancée split up). There's March, the younger brother who seems to be quite resistant to any thoughts of settling down, not to mention the twin sisters who seem vastly different, but both quite quirky. 

It's been a long time since I read any of Callihan's books. Some of the previous Game On books were five-star reads for me; it would be fun to revisit them. 

Judging a book by its cover: I was sort of hoping that the cover of this was a placeholder, since I was reading an ARC. But no, it appears that this rather bland and badly computer-illustrated cover is what the publishers have chosen to market this book with. I think the only thing worse than little faceless, cartoony characters on a cover is uninspired computer renditions of the main characters. At least they look as described in the story, which is not always a given. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

Year in review 2025

Good riddance to 2025, it was an awful year in so many ways. I don't like having to wake up every morning thinking "Is he dead yet?" and "What other horrible thing has happened now"? Although the world is becoming more of a very poorly plotted dystopian novel every day, means that reading becomes a coping strategy, and I did a LOT of it.

I mostly did mood reading and some reading challenges, mainly to help me pick which books to read every month. I also managed to review almost all the NetGalley ARCs I received, which is a new record. I did the Goodreads and StoryGraph challenges, as always. I also completed the Nowhere Bookshop Bingo, both of the Buzzwords challenges (Title and Cover), the CBR 17 Pie Chart Challenge, and the CBR17 Bingo Challenge. Without being signed up for any formal challenges about it, I've tried to be good about reading diverse books (82 that qualified, in the end) and from my TBR list (68 in total). I also listened to 28 audio books. 

Total books started: 147

DNF-d: 4

New to Me books: 18

Re-reads: 129

Average rating: 4.0

My best reading month was December, because I was off sick from work for most of the month, followed by a two-week vacation, so I managed to finish 18 whole books, six more than in May and November, when I managed 13. April and June were the months I read the fewest books, but even those months, I managed ten, so I am generally very happy with how much reading I got done this year.

My top ten books from 2025:

The Raven Scholar - Antonia Hodgson (I didn't have the words, so this is a friend's review)

The Undercutting of Rosie & Adam - Megan Bannen

In a Rush - Kate Canterbary

Along Came Amor - Alexis Daria

Deep End - Ali Hazelwood

The River Has Roots - Amal El-Mohtar

These Summer Storms - Sarah Maclean

Great Big Beautiful Life - Emily Henry

Mate - Ali Hazelwood (Another well-written review by a friend)

Zomromcom - Olivia Dade (Yet again, saved by the reviewing skills of my friends)

Four books in my top ten were ARCs, so I've been really lucky with those this year, but then again, my worst book of the year was also an ARC. 

My top ten books from before 2025 (in the order they were read):

• The True Love Experience - Christina Lauren
• Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson
• The Change - Kristen Miller
• Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, vol 3 - Kanehito Yamada and Tsutsaka Abe
• The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman
• The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches - Sangu Mandanna
• The Warm Hands of Ghosts - Katherine Arden
• Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
• Den fantastiske bussen (The fantastic bus) - Jakob Martin Strid
• The Long Game - Rachel Reid

My worst books of 2025:

Third worst: Stargate: En julefortelling/Brightly Shining - Ingvild H. Rishøi

Second worst: The Love Haters - Katherine Center (this author's previous novel was in my top 10 for 2024 - how does that even happen?)

Absolute Worst: To Steal from Thieves - M.K. Lobb (didn't even finish it, had to DNF @ 35%)

CBR17 Book 70: "In a Second" by Kate Canterbary

Page count: 505 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

This was an ARC from the author. I am very grateful, but my opinions are my own. 

Audrey Saunders has not seen her former boyfriend, Jude Bellessi, since he showed up at the church, only moments before she was due to get married, to ask her to run away with him instead. Because of a whole host of reasons, Audrey couldn't tell Jude why she was getting married, and why she broke up with him in the first place and moved across the country. About a decade later, she certainly didn't expect him to show up at their high school reunion, but there he is, larger than life and handsomer than ever.

While once he was the motorcycle-driving bad boy her parents disapproved of, now Jude is an aerospace engineer and single dad, trying to gain sole custody of his son (it's complicated). He is attending the reunion because he needs a pretty big favour from Audrey, and figures she owes him for the way their relationship crashed and burned all those years ago. Jude's mother was dying of cancer, and he may have lied a whole lot and claimed that he and Audrey were not only happily reunited, but were due to get married. Of course, now Jude's mum is fully recovered and delighted that she will get to plan her son's wedding to the woman he couldn't forget.

Matrimony did not work out for Audrey, and she has no intention of ever getting married again. She does feel like she has a debt to repay, however, so she agrees to play fake fiancée to Jude for a week. After that, she never needs to see Jude again, and she'll go celebrate one of her best friends' weddings. Jude plans to wait a couple of months, then he will tell his mother that they broke up, and that will be that. Neither of them had taken into account flight cancellations, a cross-country road trip, or being trapped in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, in the most depressing motel room you could possibly imagine - which obviously only has one bed. 

This is the third book in the Friendship, Rhode Island series, which all have heroes and heroines who have to go through a fake engagement for complicated reasons. Jamie, who is both one of Audrey's best friends and also a fellow teacher, just laughs hysterically at how optimistic Audrey is about this being a brief transaction, after which she and Jude will never see each other again. By now, it's quite clear that fake engagement equals an eventual happy ever after for all of these women (who all became friends because they worked at the same school). 

All of the books in this series are long; it is very rare that a romance needs to be longer than 400 pages. I thought the plot dragged out for too long in In a Jam, and I thought the plot dragged out too long in this one, too. I understand that there is a whole lot of angst to get through on both Audrey and Jude's part. One of the reasons the book is clearly so long is that Canterbary seems to want the readers to not only get the main romance, but also time to reconnect with characters from previous books. Which is fine, but I'm not sure we needed as much of it as here, and I'm not sure I would care for it much if this was the first book in the series that I picked up. I also don't know if we needed as many complications and obstacles thrown in their way as Audrey and Jude have.

Going forward, I'm now very curious whether Canterbary intends to write a romance starring Jamie, who seems very attachment-averse and keeps taking part in polyamorous orgies. She doesn't seem like the sort of person who will want to settle down with one (or several) people, but I would love to be surprised. What I want most of all right now, and the author seems to be heavily setting up for, is a book about Ruth, one of the sisters of Ryan from In a Rush. She's a prominent supporting character in this one, and has clearly got up to some shenanigans which may lead to a HEA eventually. 

Judging a book by its cover: This is my favourite of the Friendship, Rhode Island covers so far. It doesn't hurt that it's pretty much all shades of purple. The violets are a lovely touch, once it becomes clear what the colour and flower mean to Audrey. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 69: "The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller

Page count: 369 pages

Audio book length: 11 hrs 15 mins

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo 25: Reimagining or retelling of a classic

CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge: History

Patroclus is exiled from his father's kingdom after he accidentally kills a boy and is sent into fosterage with King Peleus. Here is where he meets Achilles, whose mother is the sea nymph Thetis. Achilles is supposed to become the greatest warrior who ever lived, and trains diligently to achieve this goal. While they are vastly different, Patroclus and Achilles become sworn companions, and Patroclus accompanies Achilles to train with the legendary centaur Chiron.

The boys stay with Chiron for several years, until they become young men. Their bond deepens, and they become lovers. Unfortunately, their pastoral life is cut short. Helen, rumoured to be the most beautiful woman in the world, has been abducted by Prince Paris of Troy. All the kingdoms of Greece are oath-sworn to accompany King Agamemnon and Menelaus to rescue her. Thetis takes her son and attempts to hide him away in a distant kingdom, since there is a prophecy that if he faces Prince Hector of Troy on the battlefield, he will die. However, Achilles is tracked down and seduced by the chance to fulfil his destiny. He can't become the greatest warrior ever if he doesn't go to Troy. He figures he'll just stay away from Hector, and then he can't be killed.

The quick and decisive victory the Greeks were expecting instead becomes a gruelling siege that lasts over a decade. Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks, grows ever more resentful of Achilles, who refuses to show him the respect he believes he is owed. The tension and conflict between them keep escalating, eventually ending in tragedy. Prophecies can only be evaded for so long before the gods decide to manipulate matters to end as they have been foretold. 

Ok, fair warning, I'm not going to spoiler tag a myth that is literally thousands of years old. If you don't know the story of Achilles and how and why he eventually met his tragic end, that's really not on me. They even made a big movie starring many hunky men! Of course, in that one, Patroclus is Achilles' "cousin", and they give our dashing hero a female love interest and everything. No homo when you're Brad Pitt. Suffice it to say, in this book, which is frequently found in the top ten of banned books every year, Patroclus and Achilles are NOT cousins. They come of age together, yes, but they are in no way related, and their feelings for one another are most definitely romantic and sexual. Pretty sure no one would bother banning this book if they were just cousins and bros, happily seducing the various priestesses they captured as prizes of war. 

Having finally read this, which I have owned for oh so many years, I won't say that I was disappointed, because it is a very well-written book, but neither was I swept away by the story. Since Patroclus is the narrator of the book, I was idly curious whether he would keep narrating from the afterlife (turns out, I was right!). This is a good book, but I had read so much about how it had people in floods of tears. I felt no such emotions, probably because I knew when I started the book how it would end. Miller's other mythological novel, Circe, affected me much more strongly. I should re-read that and The Odyssey before Christopher Nolan's movie comes out next year. 

Judging a book by its cover: The cover for my audiobook is this fairly simple teal green one, with a golden Greek helmet on it. I much prefer it to the alternate cover with the big shiny golden breastplate. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read