"The Spice King" by Elizabeth Camden

About this book:

  “Gray Delacroix has dedicated his life to building an acclaimed global spice empire, but it has come at a cost. Resolved to salvage his family before they spiral out of control, he returns to his ancestral home for good after years of traveling the world.

   As a junior botanist for the Smithsonian, Annabelle Larkin has been charged with the impossible task of gaining access to the notoriously private Delacroix plant collection. If she fails, she will be out of a job and the family farm in Kansas will go under. She has no idea that in gaining entrance to the Delacroix world, she will unwittingly step into a web of dangerous political intrigue far beyond her experience.

   Unable to deny her attraction to the reclusive business tycoon, Annabelle will be forced to choose between her heart and loyalty to her country. Can Gray and Annabelle find a way through the storm of scandal without destroying the family Gray is fighting to save?”

 

 

Series: Book #1 in the “Hope and Glory” trilogy.

Spiritual Content- Prayers; Talks about God & His plans; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Gray isn’t much of a praying man, but knows that God has blessed him; Mentions of God, Jesus, & doing your best; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of thanking God & heavens; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & a couple mentions of Scriptures; Mentions of blessings & being blessed; Mentions of sins & & salvation; Mentions of monks & monasteries; A couple mentions of Judas Iscariot & the 30 pieces of silver; A mention of a godsend; A mention of a greenhouse being like the Garden of Eden; A mention of the Holy Grail;

             *Note: Annabelle and her sister have a horseshoe for luck (Annabelle prays that it continues to serve them well); “What in the name of all that is holy is going on?” is said once; A mention of someone being guilty as sin; A mention of a damning list; A mention of a devilish smile; A mention of a professor possibly making an alter for a certain plant; A mention of a talisman.

 

 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘holy moly’, a ‘shoddy’, a ‘shut up’, two ‘bah!’s, three forms of ‘give a fig’, three ‘idiot’s, and seven forms of ‘stupid’; A few mentions of curses (said, not written, by Gray); Sarcasm & eye rolling; Pain (up to semi-detailed); Gray accepts a cheroot from a man (even though he’s not much for smoking) since he knows it’s important to mingle with another culture on business deals; Many mentions of rebellions, possible treason, traitors, spies, crimes, arrests, imprisonment, prisons/jails, & it being a hanging offense; Mentions of wars, deaths, & injuries; Mentions of people dying because of a falsely labeled product (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of someone going blind because of an illness and falling into depression; Mentions of illegal actions, smuggling, & weapons; Mentions of fights, fighting, & injuries; Mentions of cheating & cheaters; Mentions of blackmail, debts, & bribes; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of rumors & gossip; Mentions of smoking, pipes, cigarettes, cigars, & tobacco; Mentions of social drinking, drinking, alcohol, taverns/bars, drunks, being sober; A couple mentions of an accident & deaths; A couple mentions of a near drowning; A couple mentions of thefts; A mention of embezzlement;

             *Note: Annabelle’s sister is blind, has a couple panic attacks, & wonders why she’s alive (Annabelle tells her she’s still alive because God has plans for her); Mentions of authors, books, & characters.

Sexual Content- A finger-to-lips touch, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, and a semi-detailed kiss; Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Warmth, & Nearness (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing; Mentions of flirting & flirts; A few mentions of chaperones; A couple mentions of a man who got his children’s nanny pregnant & then accused her of theft so she would run away before his wife found out; A couple mentions of a warning of keeping your hands off of someone (and verse-versa); A couple mentions of a woman being described as ravishing & mouthwatering; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of a married man’s pregnant mistress; A mention of a man casting covetous glances at another man’s wife; A mention of a rumored affair; A mention of a man possibly getting in trouble chasing skirts (women); Love, falling in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: A couple mentions of bare-chested men (not sexual); A mention of an engaged couple wanting to hurry to get married because he isn’t getting any younger and they want to have a child as soon as possible; A mention of a twenty-three year age gap between a couple.

 

-Annabelle Larkin

-Gray Delacroix, age 40

                                P.O.V. switches between them

                                            Set in 1900

                                                        348 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

Oooh, something I find very interesting is the politics of the food industry, the history, and the amount of foods approved in the US for human consummation that is loaded with chemicals and dyes. It was fascinating to see a glimpse of how it was in 1900 and I’m sure I will be doing bunny trails of research on these historical events soon.

Another part I really enjoyed was that while it was somewhat insta-love between Annabelle and Gray, I liked the difference from the typical romance book formula that they were together as a couple more in the beginning of the book than the middle. It was different and refreshing because it felt overall cleaner and lighter on the romance side because of that. I would say this is probably the author's cleanest book yet (not including the rest of this series, as I haven't read them yet) in regards to the romance elements.

Aside from their jobs and romance, Annabelle and Gray were more of a neutral couple for me, I didn’t absolutely love them together, but I didn’t dislike them together either. Mainly, I was just enjoying the plotline of the food industry and all the plants.

This book is an easy four stars for me. And while I don’t think the rest of the trilogy will top this book for me, I do plan on reading them soon to find out more about these characters.

 

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

 

"Oathbound" by Victoria McCombs

About this book:

  “Beware the waters. The dangerous deep brings ruin to all.

   Emme has spent her life avoiding anything to do with pirates. But the fates are cruel, and now a hidden sickness leads her to partner with pirates for the one thing that can save her—a cure on an island none are certain exists.

   The pirate captain’s secrets are darker than the deep and threaten to kill them all. His obligations are tinged with betrayal, for his oathbind must be fulfilled. To ignore it is to invite peril of unimaginable destruction.

   As the adventure unfolds, the sea takes more than she expects and the sea gives more than he wants.”

 

 

Series: Book #1 in the “The Royal Rose Chronicles” series.

Spiritual Content- Mentions of prayers & praying (some to the Sea King and one to the Fates, but for most of the prayers, who they are praying to is not mentioned); Mentions of sins (including Arn’s plans to commit more sins); A mention of “whatever afterlife awaited” for someone who died; A couple mentions of miracles; A mention of a building’s ceilings looking like a cathedral and that the devil himself would think twice about entering;

             *Note: A magic boot that talks to people; Using & mentions of magical weapons/items; Receiving visions (nightmares) of terrible things from someone who uses dark magic & this darkness being able to make people go crazy (more in the Negative Content section, the characters wonder what someone did to be tormented so) & herbs that help keep away evil spirits (called enchantments by Arn who makes them for his crew); When someone dies, their body is slid into the sea (and it’s said “we give this body back to the sea and to King Valian. May ye find peace in your next life.” For a later funeral, the people’s belonging are sent into the sea and the “waters shared a piece of their souls”); Fighting a ghost (up to semi-detailed); Fighting a person with devilish magic and strength (up to semi-detailed); *Spoiler* Emme is told that she has a potential for great darkness and the person with devilish magic says the Fates have told her it’s not safe to leave Emme in this world (Emme thinks that it’s a false future that has been shown) *End of Spoiler*; Many, many mentions of the devil, making a deal with the devil, and a devil’s ship haunting people (using dark magic that gives people nightmares/visions of terrible things, up to semi-detailed); Many, many mentions of ghosts (including a rumor of a man who gave up his mortality to become a ghost); Many mentions of a Sea King (treated as a god that people mention believing/not believing in and praying to), thanking him, & being blessed by him; Mentions of a healing nut; Mentions of the Fates & them being cruel; Mentions of devilish gleams, grins & good looks; A couple mentions of a story about a group of pirates that either live in the stars or in the dolphins; A mention from Emme that the Fates, the gods, the Sea King Valian or whoever controlled the world is dark and twisted to do something to the crew; A mention of the evil in someone’s heart; A mention of hypnosis.

 

 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘bejabbers’, a ‘bloody’, an ‘idiot’, a ‘shut up’, two ‘what in the name of the dark seas’s, three ‘stupid’s, three forms of ‘what the devil’, four ‘blimey’s, four ‘stars and seaweed’s, five forms of ‘stars’, and fourteen forms of ‘blast’; Cursing based off of the Sea god/King: a ‘for King Valian’s sake’, a ‘who in King Valian’s name’, and three forms of ‘By Valian’s Crown’; Many mentions of curses (said, but not written out, including ones said by Emme and Arn); Some eye rolling & sarcasm; Fighting fantasy creatures & killing them (including shooting and pushing them into a fire, up to detailed); Cutting a man’s head off (barely-above-not-detailed); *Spoiler* Arn’s left hand is cut off in a fight (up to semi-detailed) *End of Spoiler*; Lots of Pain, Injuries and Major Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, Fighting, Shooting/Harming others, Passing out, Nearly Dying, & Killing (semi-detailed to detailed); Seeing others harmed & killed (up to detailed); Being kidnapped, threatened, & held at knife-point (up to semi-detailed); Nightmares/Visions of horrible deaths, dead bodies, & illusions that mess with a person’s mind (including one that tries to drown a person, semi-detailed); Getting tattoos & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Arn justifies some of his actions (lying and killing) based on the person his actions are towards (such as lying to a man that isn’t honorable so it doesn’t weigh on his conscience or willing to kill someone who wronged him or hurt someone in his crew); Emme doesn’t like killing and when Arn asks if it’s okay that he kills a fantasy creature, she says yes because it’s more beast than human (she struggles with killing for a large part of the book but decides she needs to protect herself and not have to be saved); Arn is drunk at the opening chapters & takes another swig of his flask even though he’s being reminded why he often avoids getting drunk; Many, many mentions of deaths, killing, almost being killed, bodies, hiding bodies, blood/bleeding, injuries, & pain (up to semi-detailed); Many, many mentions of fighting, fights/battles/attacks, weapons, gunfire, aiming to kill, & self-defense (up to semi-detailed); Many, many mentions of fantasy creatures, how they eat humans, bones, & fighting and killing the creatures (up to semi-detailed); Many, many mentions of nightmares/visions of horrible deaths, bones, bodies (up to semi-detailed); Many, many mentions of taverns, alcohol, drinking, drunks, hangovers, & being sober; Many, many mentions of tattoos (looked upon as normal for pirates and giving courage to the wearer and others to fear them), getting tattoos, & piercings;  Many mentions of drowning, those who have drowned, thinking someone has drowned, & their bodies (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of how a man kills the people that own him money (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of threats, traps, & tricks; Many mentions of lies, lying, & keeping secrets; Mentions of fires, burns/injuries, pain, pushing people/creatures into the fire & the smell of burning flesh (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a story of a group of pirates eating the bones of those they’ve killed (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a death from an illnesses (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a man’s lover being killed in front of him & his reaction (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of killing (teasing/not serious); Mentions of kidnappings; Mentions of revenge & wanting to chop off a man’s limb; Mentions of mutiny; Mentions of slavery & being sold as a slave; Mentions of robbing/stealing, smuggling, & cheating; Mentions of poisons & being poisoned; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of gambling; A mention of war; A mention of tobacco; A mention of urine.

 

 

Sexual Content- Five almost kisses (two semi-detailed and two border-line semi-detailed // detailed), two head/forehead kisses, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, and a border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss; Imagining a man kissing another girl (barely-above-not-detailed); Recalling almost kisses & nearness; Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand Holding, & Nearness (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); Emme wonders if she’ll die without being kissed; Arn thinks his devilish good looks must have swayed Emme & that he knew that one day she wouldn’t be able to resist; Mentions of women being kidnapped to breed (the men think they’ve being fair to the women as she gets to pick her husband); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of blushes & liking someone; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of lovers; A few mentions of wondering what a man did to a woman for her father to be upset and chasing him (nothing sexual happened, a slight misunderstanding); A few mentions of men saying that doing something with “earn them many ladies” at the port; A couple mentions of a lad and lass going to a room together at night (nothing sexual happened, but teasing happens from another man); A couple mentions of Arn not liking how a man leers at Emme; A couple mentions of flirting; A mention of a couple kissing; A mention of Arn spending the night in Emme’s bed when he was sick/healing (prior to the book starting); Some love, falling/being in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: A handful of mentions of Emme’s figure (from her and Arn, barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of a woman’s long legs. 

 

-Emme Salinda, age 18

-Arn Mangelo, age 21

                    1^st person P.O.V. switches between them, Emric (once), & Ontario (once)

                                                 Fantasy

                                                    304 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{ These ratings are for all content in this book, a person or family’s sensitivity to the topic of magic is not accounted for in these ratings. }

Let’s first get it out of the way: There’s no Christian faith shown in this novel. Enclave Publishing seems to publish more clean fiction (typically Young Adult Fantasy) written by Christian authors, but I haven’t heard of a strong faith theme in any of their books. (If you know of one, please let me know.)

There’s magic and dark magic, lots of fighting and killing—and some of it’s cleaner than some other books I’ve reviewed on here, the chopping of limbs and killing others were written in a blunt fashion that if the reader dwells on it for longer than a moment, harsh unwanted images may come to mind and sadden or upset the reader.

There is a sea king/sea god mentioned often (both as a god figure and as a fill-in for a curse) and whether people believe in his existence, but I could not find it to be an allegory for God based on different comments. The devil (little ‘d’) is mentioned just as often—if not a bit more—because of swearing and calling other people the devil.

I wasn’t sure what to think about Arn. Our first introduction of him is a rare moment (according to Emme) of him being drunk. Which didn’t endear him to me at all. I never rooted for them to be together and I can’t imagine that changing even if I read the next book in the series. He was more of a controlling-type of protective towards Emme and him begging her to join his trip—that she had been vocal about not joining in the past—so that he could feel comfort by her being with him, made my opinion of him continue to lower. None of their romantic parts felt right to me, from their terribly timed almost kisses (and there was quite a few of those) to him saving her from something he started then receiving her thanks. He kept a major secret and lies to her, but her peace offering was that she was keeping a secret as well—which wasn’t even on the same level (his affects everyone, hers only affects her). I really wasn’t a fan of him or the romance elements.

If the topic of magic bothers you, then this book probably isn’t for you. For me, it was more of the parts with dark magic sending visions (nightmares) of horrible deaths, bones, and bodies to people and tormenting their minds that I didn’t like reading about. Along with the creating of “enchantments” (made with herbs and cloths) that were supposed to help keep said visions away…which it’s unclear if those worked or not (leaning towards not), but Arn put a lot of stock in them for his crew.

Those more major issues aside: There were more than a few moments that Emme and Arn did somethings that were just plain dumb. The pacing was odd at times. I was enjoying the beginning (let’s say the first third) because it was very clean compared to past secular pirate-themed books I’ve read, but as the story progressed, there was more and more parts I was feeling uncomfortable with reading. While there were a couple parts I would be interested in learning more about, I’m uncertain if I’ll continue with the series as the rest of the books release.  

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.