wordsofclover's reviews
2085 reviews

Will Trent and his girlfriend Sara are settling down and becoming more serious when their world is upended (again) as the two of them are called in to investigate after a retired detective is found murdered. Evidence discovered at the crime scene leads to Angie - Will's oldest friend and estranged wife - and it looks like she may be in trouble.

This book felt like an important one in the series as Angie has always been a threatening dark cloud over Will and Sara's relationship - both her hold on will, and her slightly psychotic rage towards Sara. In this book we finally see some real strength from Will as he finally stands up to Angie and she begins to realise she's doesn't have so much power over him anymore while at the same time we learn some really big things about Angie's past and why she is the way she is.

I always thought Karin Slaughter's introduction and continued portrayal of Angie in these books was interesting but also slightly puzzling. When we first meet her in book 1, we wee the connection between her and Will and she doesn't seem so bad but with each subsequent book her behaviour and her treatment of Will gets worse and worse. This book definitely lets us in on Angie's secrets and in a way can make us feel empathy for her as to why she acts the way she does but at the same time, she's so vile most of the time and how she talks to Will and makes him feel about himself when he would have done anything for her is so unforgivable.

The investigation in this is quite brutal as it looks into people with a violent past towards women from assault, gang rape, hush ups and drugs - plus as we find out from Angie abuse towards children as well. Like all Slaughter books, if you're sensitive to...well anything, you shouldn't read them as she always goes for the gritty!

Similar to Lena in the Grant County series, Angie is a character i've truly come to hate and I was disappointed we didn't get a real good riddance of her in this book, and I hate that we will continue to have this Angie shadow, never knowing when she will turn up again to ruin the day. I'm so afraid she will do something to Will and Sara, and after the ending of Grant County, I'm not sure I can go through that heartbreak again!

Iris and Roman are each other's competition as they both compete to become a columnist at their local paper. But with war looming beyond the city between gods Enva and Dacre, Iris finds herself alone when her brother goes to fight and begins to write letters to him - that mysteriously disappear. When someone begins to write back, Iris forges a deep connection with this mysterious stranger and this follows her as she leaves home - and Roman - behind to become a war correspondent.

This was a really enjoyable, and romantic read. We follow two people who are the outside are very different but their souls are the same as they both face family struggles, loss, grief and the terrifying realities of war and what this means. I thought the world was great being so similar to ours but just that bit different with the inclusion of gods and a war between them that drags in innocent humans on either side. I did wonder how this works out for the humans who are actually doing the fighting. How can you win against a God? It did feel all a little bit hopeless at times.

I loved the relationship between Roman and Iris and how it developed, as well as that between Iris and Carver. There was a soft romance on the verge of great between them, and you can't help but completely fall for it. I do think they moved from 'oh I like you' to love and marriage very, very quickly but at the same time I do kind of get it as they are literally only a town away from war and enemy forces. I think I would have liked a bit more time with them as they got to know each other in different ways before everything went to hell.

I think the mystery between Enva and Dacre is a really big intriguing part of this story and it's just lightly touched on and will hopefully be explored more in the next novel. I'm looking forward to reading it very soon! 

Luke Anders feels left out as all of his best friends and teammates have found their life partners. He's not sure if it will ever happen for him when he ends up meeting Natalie during a cousin's wedding in Mexico, and the two hit it off immediately striking up a long distance romantic connection. A wild night in Vegas ends up with rings on the their fingers and as they try to figure out what to do next, PR needs come first and is it weird to date your wife?

This was thoroughly enjoyable. Luke was always a bit of a background character in the other Sleet books but I'm so glad he got his own book and his own love story. Going into this I actually thought that Luke's romantic interest was going to be Steph, Jackson's sister, and we would have the trope of 'brother's best friend' but instead we got 'accidental marriage' and I was here for it.

I really like the relationship and connection between Luke and Natalie. It felt very real, nothing was forced and I also like the maturity in their relationship and how with many things, they took it in their stride. I believed in them and I rooted for them and I loved how Luke was always so in the relationship, as was Natalie. I'm not sure if we could make the blip at the end a third act breakup as it wasn't a very long separation - a matter of a couple of hours- but i actually think we didn't even need it. And the scene in the board meeting was a bit dramatic and farcical for me, as there is no way that something like that would ever prove you are able to run a company (your actual work does that?!).

I do think you can see a big improvement in the quality and control of SJ Tilly's writing in Sleet Princess in comparison to the other Sleet books published several years ago. The flow of the story was so much betetr as we jumped between each character with Luke and natalie continuing where we left off instead of backtracking and repeating moments in ways I had seen in other books. The sexy scenes were hot and passionate, with also some added humour with the Blizz element (IYKYK).

And just to add I really appreciate the female friendship at the core of this series and how even Natalie who was a brand new character for readers and the other characters was accepted into the flow by the girls, and made to feel welcome. I think moments like this are just so important especially as in some romance books there can be a women Vs women vibes where this series is the compete opposite and I've always loved it.

I'm sad this series is over as I've really enjoyed my time with the Sleet team (lowkey want a jersey) and now I just have to decide what my next SJ Tilly series will be.

Meghan has always been the feistiest out of all her friends, and is quite happy livcing life by herself as an independent woman. Until she meets Sebastian LeBlanc, the goalie of the Minnesota Sleet hockey team. There is an immediate sexual connection between the two but Meghan is fcusing on her friends getting their happy ever after to worry too much about hers, and when her friend gets hurt while she's distracted by Sebastian, she can't forgive herself.

This was fun and a bit more daring and out there in some ways than the other books as we are dealing with characters who both a little bit extra than other romantic couplings we have followed in this series. There is a definite chemistry between Meghan and Sebastian that is so palpable, it practically drips of the page and I didn't mind the nickname Banshee as it definitely suits Meghan a lot (I just don't think I'll ever be over how overused Kitten was in Sleet Kitten).

As in other books, this is fun and enjoyable for a quick read with a hot romance but the writing/editing in it isn't always the greatest. I do often find some parts are overwritten, characters over explain themselves or just talk too much at times in a way I feel identifies a self-published novel from a traditionally published one but once you know to expect some of these things, you can ignore them and focus on the story. I would have completely scrapped Meghan's diary entries as they feel they gave nothing to the story and could have just been usual POV chapters.

I did find the first act break up in this book a bit much and over dramatic from Meghan and there are times when there is miscommunication among several of the characters that could be easily solved. I also feel the 'don't want a relationship' is sometimes an easy thing to use in a romance as a blocker and I just never believed this from Sebastian as every single action of his contradicted his words so I would have liked to have seen a better obstacle in the way between these two and really, there wasn't really anything there - they were just being stubborn.

Looking forward to the final book in this series!