Title: Screaming Beauty
Author: Scott Mooney
Series: Tales from the Poisoned Apple #2
Publisher: Bleeding Ink Publishing
Release Date: April 28, 2020
Pages: 236
Book Source: eBook
“Twenty-three-year-old Briar Pryce has earned a little rest and relaxation. She rescued her best friend from being transformed into a cat and stopped a war in the Poisoned Apple, New York City’s hidden neighborhood of counterfeit curses and fairy tale trickery. All Briar wants is to have a carb-filled brunch, gossip over a couple of mead-mosas, and maybe figure out if she’s actually in a love triangle with her high-school crush and her strait-laced business partner.
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But relaxing is hard when the city starts screaming.
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Some malevolent curse has invaded the dreams of the sleeping princesses across the Apple, spreading nightmares and violence throughout the city. What’s worse, a militant new faction of knights has used the chaos to grab power and trap Briar’s community in its authoritarian grip. If Briar’s going to be able to free the princesses and stop these fairy tale fascists, she’s going to have to solve a deeper mystery: the origins of her own uncontrollable, emotion-altering powers. Briar and her friends will journey from the depths of the enchanted Afterwoods to the penthouses of the Upper East Side to stop the knights, wake the princesses, and save the Poisoned Apple.
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And hopefully still fit in that brunch.” – Amazon
Kim’s Review
Loved Pricked, the first book in the Tales from the Poisoned Apple series, so I was fearful that Screaming Beauty wouldn’t be as good, but I soooo wrong. Dare I say it’s even better…
This YA series reminds me of The October Daye series by Seanan McGuire and The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher… two of my favorite fantasy series, so it’s a no brainer that I would enjoy Tales from the Poisoned Apple. The characters are getting more complex and the world that Scott Mooney has built is magnificent. So many details and wondrous descriptions which is essential in any fantasy series.
And I am so happy the love triangle between Briar and two very different, but equally attractive young men won’t be continuing. There is nothing that turns me off a series faster than when the character won’t pick one or the other. And the way that it’s handled is very mature, but Mooney is still able to give the reader all the feelings that come with a first love.
The new characters that were introduced in Screaming Beauty add even more depth to the series, and we were able to visit again with some favorites from the previous book, which is always fun. It’ll be interesting to see how Briar deals with her new knowledge and powers going forward.
And besides all the great characters and the wonderful world building, the message that comes from the main storyline is very powerful and also on point with what is going on in the world today. You can either read the story and enjoy it, or dig deeper into the meaning behind the screaming princesses and the people who are trying to “help” them.
I highly recommend Screaming Beauty and am excitedly waiting for book three in The Tales from the Poisoned Apple.
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