Tangled Web

 "May you never find a knot you can't unravel." These words greeted me as I opened the gorgeous cover of Tangled Web by Crista McHugh. I immediately smiled as these words griped my heart and gave me the feeling that they were a good omen for my life. I gently turned to the first page of the exquisite novel and began reading.

The novel opens with the reader learning that the teal eyed Alpirion, Azurha, is a slave and has been tied to wooden posts for three days after being repeatedly raped by her master and her master's friends. Another slave, Ramina, comes in the room and takes pity on her. Ramina gives Azurha a drink of water and then helps her to release herself. Ramina picks up a broken piece of pottery and slices through one of the ropes binding Azurha's wrists. She hands Azurha the shard so she is able to finish freeing herself. As Azurha is almost finished cutting through the ropes that bind her, her master begins to wake up. She quickly finishes slicing through her bonds and slits her master's throat. With that act Azurha has committed a great crime and must flee for her life. After escaping her former master's home, she runs into Cassius. Cassius takes her under his wing and trains her to become an assassin.

Seven years after gaining her freedom, Azurha, who has become known as the Rabbit, has been hired by Governor Pontus to assassinate the new Emperor of the Deizian empire. She enters the Emperor's palace disguised as a concubine. She has two weeks to complete her mission, but things get complicated. Azurha becomes too close to Emperor Sergius, known to Azurha as Titus. She sees potential in him and his ideas to change the empire. She sees a man who can change his empire for the better, but for the empire to become a better place Azurha must fail her mission and protect Titus for any other assassination attempts.

As Azurha's tale unfolds the reader is pulled into her gripping story and you can't help but feel for her. She falls in love with Titus just as much as he falls in love with her. Yet because of her past, and because of what she was originally sent to the palace to do, she feels like she is unworthy of his love. I believe that almost everyone has felt like they are unworthy of someone's love at least once in their life, so the reader can't help but feel compassion for her.

I quickly fell in love with this novel and could hardly put it down. Crista McHugh has a way of pulling her readers in and not letting them go. I was left wanting to know more at the end of Tangled Web and desperately wishing that a second novel was already available.

Bride of Blackbeard

I was fortunate enough to win this book on a giveaway. When I read the description, I was like 'Wow this book sounds amazing. I really hope I win because I can't wait to read it.' When I received the message from Brynn telling me I had won, I was extremely excited. I anxiously awaited the arrival of my new book. The day it came, I immediately ripped open the package with a big silly grin on my face. I lovingly ran my fingers across the glossy cover before I gently turned to the first page to begin reading.

Within the first couple of pages, I was captivated by the story unfolding as I read. Constanza was an interesting character and very easy to like. I must admit though that Constanza having two 'nightmares' within the first five pages was a little odd to me because they didn't seem to serve a purpose in my opinion. Actually the 'nightmares' didn't seem to serve much purpose at all, except to describe horrible abuse, until about half way through the book when Constanza returns to a memory of her Uncle teaching her how to use a musket. After that the 'nightmares' seemed to add more depth to Constanza.

I loved the ideas behind this book, but in my personal opinion it could have been developed better. The main plot of the story (assuming from the title) was that the infamous pirate Blackbeard was trying to convince Constanza to become his bride. Well throughout the book he didn't do much except write a letter to her, offer a necklace and ring, and have one intimidating visit with her. It wasn't until the very end when Blackbeard used Katrina, Constanza's sister, that things with him got really interesting (and horrifying).

There also seemed to be two additional subplots in this story. In the first subplot, Constanza was to work with the Hopkins' daughter, Megan, whom they believed to be insane or possessed but who was in fact a very ill five year old little girl. Megan doesn't speak, throws tantrums, and is in fact very violent. She is confined to her rooms, tied to chairs, and has contact with very few people. She has seen her parents in three years. The only people that she sees are Bess, an old slave woman who was assigned to Megan since she was a year old, and Constanza's husband Lucian Blackwell (they married only a month or so after meeting. Kinda weird if you ask me...) Contanza teaches Megan to speak and sign, and with the help of Lucian they are able to take her outside to play and socialize. Megan is severely neglected and ill. As I stated before her parents believe her to be insane or possessed, and because of this Constanza and Lucian towards the end of the book are required to rescue Megan from an Asylum. Constanza and Lucian are the only one's able to break Megan out of her own mind, and they both come to love her as their own child.

The second subplot is one that pertains to a private investigator of sorts who is hired on by the Governor to find out what crimes Blackbeard is committing and gather enough evidence to prove that he is committing the crimes. In the end the evidence gathered is enough to have Blackbeard killed.

Overall this book was pretty good, but in places it did seem to be a little bit forced. In my opinion the whole Blackbeard plot wasn't really a crucial part of the book until the end. I did enjoy it, but I think I would have liked it even better if the whole story would have been about Constanza helping Megan. That was a heartbreaking plot and if further developed would have made an AMAZING story, but then the title would have had to have been changed... I feel like maybe the author was trying to tell too many stories in one book and the plot lines for all the stories didn't weave together really well. This book wasn't the worst book that I've read, but it wasn't the best either.