Towers And Tithes by Christina Bauer – 5 Star Book Review

I’m a Tower Tithe with a Rapunzel problem. That’s not as weird as it sounds.

Welcome to one of the November 11th stops on the blog tour for Towers And Tithes by Christina Bauer with XPresso Book Tours (schedule linked.) Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post. #XPressoTours #ChristinaBauer #MonsterHouseBooks

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About the Book

Towers And Tithes
Fairy Tales of the Magicorum Book Eight
by Christina Bauer

Published 9 November 2021
Monster House Books

Genre: YA Fantasy, Retelling
Page Count: 300
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

I’m a Tower Tithe with a Rapunzel problem. That’s not as weird as it sounds.

Ever wonder how Rapunzel survives without leaving her home? After all, someone must stock groceries, buy hair products and fix the plumbing. Witches don’t wield toilet brushes, so “Rapunzel care” becomes the job of Tower Tithes like me. Not that we choose this gig. We’re just unlucky elves who get magically chucked into servitude. Since our kind live for ages, being a Tower Tithe can drag on for thousands of years… and I’m eighteen. Yipes.

That said, it wouldn’t be too awful if I had a cool Rapunzel. No such luck.

I serve none other than Lady R, the social media sensation and sadist who lives in Manhattan’s famous Apex Towers. With the help of her manager—a witch named Jocasta—Lady R releases daily gossip videos while assigning me “torture chores.” Many tasks are designed to remind me how Lady R is the gorgeous variety of elf, while I’m beyond plain. I spend a lot of time scheming my escape.

My work pays off when an eccentric billionaire offers to magically set me free. The catch? I must move to Arizona and become his personal assistant. Needless to say, I rush for the door. Turns out, my new employer is none other than Lady R’s ex-boyfriend, Dex, a guy who was blinded in a strange accident and has since become a recluse.

In other words, I ran from my fairy tale life, but it found me again anyway.

At this point, I should head for the hills, yet I simply can’t leave Dex. For the first time, I truly feel comfortable around someone. In all honesty, it’s probably because I have self-esteem issues and Dex can’t see my bland face. Even so, it’s all good until Lady R discovers where I am. And that leads to my Rapunzel problem.

With Lady R back in the picture, can I still find my happily ever after? The truth will emerge soon enough.

Because my name is Grayson Eyre, and this is my story.

Ideal for readers who crave a mash-up between Rapunzel and Jane Eyre.

FAIRY TALES OF THE MAGICORUM
1. Wolves And Roses
2. Moonlight And Midtown
3. Slippers And Thieves
4. Shifters And Glyphs
5. Bandits And Ball Gowns
6. Fire And Cinder
7. Fairies And Frosting
8. Towers and Tithes

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My Review

My Rating: 5 Stars
Consider liking my review on Goodreads

I was granted eARC access to Towers And Tithes by Christina Bauer via NetGalley as part of my participation in a blog tour for this title with XPresso Book Tours. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

Towers And Tithes is the first half of a reimagining of Jane Eyre x Rapunzel, starring brand new characters to the Magicorum series but featuring familiar faces like Elle. In a world where your life must follow a prescribed path based on the fairytale archetype you fit best, 18-year-old Grayson is doomed to live the Rapunzel life, but what about that inborn talent for magic she’s not supposed to have? What’s that prison guard guy not telling her? Who is that sexy shifter named Dex who ends up apparently romantically involved with Grayson’s mistress?

Throughout the last two years that I’ve been doing book tours and reviews on my blog, Christina Bauer and her impressively quickly growing collection of fantasy novels has become a clear favourite for me. I’ve come to associate Bauer’s work with the genuinely young, naive, and optimistic characters like Elle was back in Fairies and Frosting or like Calla in the Pixieland Diaries series. Grayson is much more mature and much more of a realist than those characters, much more down to Earth (err, well, she has her metaphorical feet on the ground even when it isn’t Earth.) At first I wasn’t sure if this was going to work for me because this meant my favourite aspect of other Bauer titles I’ve read wasn’t going to be there, but I shouldn’t have worried at all. Towers And Tithes reminds me of the Elemental Masters and Tales of the 500 Kingdoms series by Mercedes Lackey, the author I credit with bringing my interest back around to modern fantasy in my 20s after sticking so hard and fast to science fiction in my teens. Towers And Tithes is smart, unique, full of intrigue and mystery, and boasts a cast full of complex and believable characters I’d love to have a conversation with in the real world.

Similar to the 500 Kingdoms series, these characters are completely aware of the magical nature of their world that forces them into their roles, and while that may annoy some readers, I love it. This annoys some people because of how meta it is, like stage play actors who constantly break the fourth wall, but I love it because it presents the easy potential for an environmental antagonist that can throw a wrench in plans or lead characters astray without feeling like the book is full of plot holes or deus ex machina events. It allows the story to follow a predictable (or unpredictable) path in a way that’s excusably and ignorably forced and makes way for the characters to make interesting choices or to handwave away minor issues without filling three pages with world-building to support it because the reader already knows why it had to be that way.

I am absolutely loving Grayson and Dex as characters and I can’t wait to read the second half of their story as soon as it comes out!

About the Author

Christina Bauer thinks that fantasy books are like bacon: they just make life better. All of which is why she writes romance novels that feature demons, dragons, wizards, witches, elves, elementals, and a bunch of random stuff that she brainstorms while riding the Boston T. Oh, and she includes lots of humor and kick-ass chicks, too.

Christina graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School with BA’s in English along with Television, Radio, and Film Production. She lives in Newton, MA with her husband, son, and semi-insane golden retriever, Ruby.

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Giveaway Alert!

Tour-wide giveaway (INT): A copy of Towers And Tithes and more!

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