book cover reviews

Bewitching Book Covers: Stolen Midnights

Happy Friday everyone! It’s been almost two months since I’ve done this post, which disappoints me, but January was just so busy. But I’m here with another Bewitching Book Covers now!

For anyone who doesn’t know, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly Tasteful Tuesdays, and before that, Majestic Mondays), is a series where I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.

This week, the book cover that I’m highlighting is Stolen Midnights by Katherine Quinn!

Stolen Midnights by Katherine Quinn

Stolen Midnights by Katherine Quinn

SERIES: Stolen Midnights #1

LENGTH: 464 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press

RELEASE DATE: 3 February 2026

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The first in a new magical young adult romantasy duology from the New York Times bestselling author of To Kill a Shadow. A palace darling and a thief join forces after he unwittingly steals a necklace with the power to change their world forever.

In the city of Andalay, the ruling Fates bestow gifts among society’s most favored. When Damien, a cold and hardened thief, is hired to steal one of those gifts – meant for the “princess” of Ward One, Wren Hayes – he finds himself entangled in a web of secrets.

The gift? A locket containing his own photograph.

Once the locket is opened, hidden truths unravel, shedding light on the ruthless ways of the upper class. Yearning for the three Fates and the magical gifts they bestow, the lords of Andalay will go to any length to keep their power – including murder.

Brought together by destiny, and fighting a dangerous temptation that’s becoming harder to resist, Wren and Damien navigate a seedy world where the truth can destroy not only their lives, but the city itself. 

Book Cover Rating: 🌹🌹🌹🌹 • 4 lovely roses

I’ve decided that since Queen of Faces got the Can’t-Wait Wednesday post, I’m going to do a Bewitching Book Covers post for Stolen Midnights. (It also has a great cover, by the way.) And though the book cover for the novel that I’m focusing on today is more simple compared to others I’ve done posts about before, it’s still absolutely beautiful and I really love it.

First off, I really like the background. It’s deep blue with patches of tiny stars dotted around it in a lovely imitation of the night sky. And seeing as the book is called “Stolen Midnights” this is extremely fitting.

The next notable thing about the cover art – and the aspect that first caught my eye about it – is the roses. I love how big they are, and how they come in two shades of pink. It adds a little more color to the cover. Another thing I really like about them is how the colors of the roses naturally complement, but also stand out from the background. It’s also a nice touch that the entirety of the flowers themselves are on the cover, and not just the colorful part with petals. The stems also feature on here, with their thorns and leaves, and the green of them adds yet more color to the book’s cover.

The last thing I want to highlight is the typography. Most books I gush about here have pretty good composition styles on their covers, and this one is no exception. I like the typography itself, and how its paleness makes it stand out from everything else going on on the book cover. The words are also made up of two colors – white and a light gray or silver – and it makes it even prettier. I also love how the gray or silver parts of the words make those parts of the letters seem in shadow. It just makes the cover of Stolen Midnights pop even further. Such a gorgeous cover!

So yeah, here’s yet another beautiful book cover. What do you think about this cover art? Have you read Stolen Midnights? If you have, what did you think of it?

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I hope that you have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Bewitching Book Covers: For Whom the Belle Tolls

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone has had a good weekend. It’s only been three weeks this time since I’ve posted one of these! Yay!

For anyone who doesn’t know, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly Tasteful Tuesdays, and before that, Majestic Mondays), is a series where I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.

This week, the book cover that I’m highlighting is For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn!

For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn

For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn

SERIES: Hells Belles #1

LENGTH: 628 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Saga Press

RELEASE DATE: 6 May 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

They told her to go to Hell.

She’ll go on her own terms.

Lily is less than thrilled about her arrival to the Afterlife, but what awaits her is more fantastical than she ever could have imagined. Deities wait in line at the coffee shop. Fae flit between realms. Souls find ways to make death a beginning.

As Lily explores everything the Afterlife has to offer, she finds herself drawn to a place most people would rather avoid at all costs: Hell.

What she discovers there subverts everything she’s ever learned, and Lily realizes the demons working at the gate to guide souls need help—badly. Armed with years of customer service experience and pent-up sarcasm, Lily carves out a place for herself among the demons, confronting, sassing, and aiding the spectrum of humanity to redefine justice and redemption.

A chance meeting with Bel, a demon general with a distractingly sexy voice, sparks an immediate and deeply healing friendship. However, the undeniable heat between them simmers, and it’s only a matter of time before it combusts.

Meanwhile, something stirs beyond the boundaries of their world, threatening to destroy everything they’ve ever known and everything that could be… unless they fight like Hell to stop it.

Book Cover Rating: 🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔 • 5 ringing bells

For Whom the Belle Tolls has one of the most gorgeous book covers that I’ve seen in a while. So many things about it – the color, the font, the art itself – are just beautiful. So of course I have to gush about it.

First off, as I just mentioned, the colors are awesome. I am of the mind that you can make most color combinations work, but you can usually never go wrong with purple and orange and gold. And the cover doesn’t.

Secondly, I adore the title font. Many covers usually have typefaces that don’t look all that unique, but this book is one of those that does the opposite. Not only does it simultaneously stand out and match the rest of the cover art at the same time, but it looks like it has its own identity. The W, two Os, and S in Whom and Tolls are particularly prominent.

And last but not least, the artwork itself is fantastic. I’m a sucker for flowers, and the book cover art features gorgeous purple lilies on the top and bottom borders. I also love the golden gate that they’re twisted around, as well as the sparks and mist swirling around. What a great cover!

So yeah, here’s yet another beautiful book cover. What do you think about this cover art? Have you read For Whom the Belle Tolls? If you have, what did you think of it?

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I hope that you have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Bewitching Book Covers: Seven Deadly Thorns

Wow, it’s been a while since the last time I did this post! Let’s admire another Bewitching Book Cover!

(Erggghhh… This was supposed to come out this past Sunday, and I just noticed that it didn’t post and I accidentally had it scheduled for this coming Sunday. I fixed it though. Ughhhh…)

For anyone who doesn’t know, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly Tasteful Tuesdays, and before that, Majestic Mondays), is a series where I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.

This week, the book cover that I’m highlighting is Seven Deadly Thorns by Amber Hamilton!

Seven Deadly Thorns by Amber Hamilton

Seven Deadly Thorns by Amber Hamilton

LENGTH: 369 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury YA

RELEASE DATE: 4 November 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The Cruel Prince meets Powerless in this dark academia romantasy that will tattoo itself onto your heart

In the cursed Kingdom of Aragoa, the punishment for magic is death.

Even the students at Vandenberghe Academy aren’t spared. When Viola Sinclair’s deadly shadow magic is discovered, the queen gives her assassin a new assignment and a new cursed tattoo: seven-thorned rose on his arm for the seven days he has to hunt Viola down and kill her. If he doesn’t, he will be the one to die.

The assassin is Roze Roquelart–entitled prince, arrogant fellow student, and the one person Viola hates more than anyone. Roze should revel in the chance to end her life, but he desperately needs something from Viola and her magic. And he’s willing to spare her life–and fake their engagement–to get it.

Forced to work together, Viola and Roze must contend with deadly threats, dangerous secrets, and an impossible attraction. Will they give in to their deepest desires, even if it means destroying Aragoa–and risking both their lives?

HER WORST ENEMY. HIS ONLY CHANCE.

Be swept away by the sizzling, irresistible enemies-to-lovers romantasy with magic more destructive than your darkest nightmares.

Book Cover Rating: 🌹🌹🌹🌹 • 4 roses covered in thorns

Once again, here’s another gorgeous book cover. There’s just so many things to love about it – the colors, the contrast, the font. I just enjoy a lot of things about the art here.

The first thing that jumps out to me about the cover of Seven Deadly Thorns is probably the colors. I know, it’s so obvious, duh. But blue is one of my favorite colors, and gold always looks good when put up next to it intermingled with it. It’s just a fact.

Another thing that I really like is the font used for the title. It’s really pretty and I think it really fits the vibe that the cover art is going for. All of the words on the cover being in white is also great, because they really stand out against the bluish background, as well as the golden rose that’s the centerpiece of the whole thing.

Speaking of the rose, it’s absolutely my favorite thing about the book cover. Not only is it a lovely shade of gold, but I love how hand drawn it appears. Having a ring dangling from one of its long, sharp thorns is also a nice touch. But the thing that I adore the most about this part of the cover is definitely how the rose itself interacts with the rest of the cover. The thorns of the rise are actually interwoven with the text of the book’s title itself and I love it. I really enjoy it when parts of covers interact like this – it really makes the cohesiveness of the book cover art come together. And the book cover of Seven Deadly Thorns does it well.

So yeah, here’s yet another beautiful book cover. What do you think about this cover art? Have you read Seven Deadly Thorns? If you have, what did you think of it?

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I hope that you have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Bewitching Book Covers: Hemlock & Silver

I can’t believe it’s been over two months since I last did this post. Oh well, it can’t be helped, I guess. Anyway, let’s talk about another Bewitching Book Cover.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly Tasteful Tuesdays, and before that, Majestic Mondays), is a series where I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.

This week, the book cover that I’m highlighting is Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher! It’s one of her new novels that was released this year! It also has a gorgeous cover! (Also, I can’t believe I forgot to put What Stalks the Deep on my list of interesting new books coming out September 2025. Like seriously, I really liked the other two Sworn Soldier novellas!)

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

LENGTH: 368 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tor Books

RELEASE DATE: 19 August 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Hemlock & Silver, a dark reimagining of “Snow White” steeped in poison, intrigue, and treason of the most magical kind

Healer Anja knows little of politics but much of poisons. When she is summoned to treat the mysterious illness afflicting the king’s daughter, she finds herself against the clock, desperate to track down the source of the poison killing Princess Snow. But the chance discovery of a strange alternate world inside a magic mirror leads Anja to darker discoveries, including what really happened to Snow’s dead sister, Rose, and why their mother seemingly went mad and cut out her heart.

Aided by a taciturn bodyguard, a narcissistic cat, and a late Renaissance understanding of the scientific method, Anja must navigate the mysteries of the mirror world before the dark queen that dwells within rises to threaten them all.

Book Cover Rating: 🍎🍎🍎🍎 • 4 definitely not poisoned apples

As I mentioned above, Hemlock & Silver has a beautiful cover. It’s a bit simple, but it definitely has a lot of charm – not to mention, it still stands out.

The background may be a matte black, but I see that as a strength for the book cover. It just makes everything else on it look more distinct. I love that there’s an apple front and center, as well, even if it is a bit on the nose. You can’t have a Snow White reimagining without an apple reference, after all! The apple being surrounded by (presumably) poisonous plants and flowers also further accentuates the reference of said apple. I also just love flowers – even if they’re both gorgeous and deadly at the same time!

The title’s font is simple, yet elegant. I love how it being ivory colored makes it really stand out against everything else on the book’s cover, as well as contrast starkly against the background. The font for the author’s name is also pretty eye-catching. It’s in all caps as well as in light gold. Not quite as prominently as the title, but then I wouldn’t want it to be. (I don’t really like it when the author’s name is significantly bigger than the title – I usually read a book based on its title, cover and description, after all. Not who wrote it. I’m usually more curious about the book itself.)

So yeah, here’s yet another beautiful book cover. What do you think about this cover art? Have you read Hemlock & Silver? If you have, what did you think of it?

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I hope that you have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Bewitching Book Covers: A Mastery of Monsters

Geez, it’s been forever since I’ve done one of these. Over two months, huh? It’s also been a little bit since I’ve posted in general. I definitely didn’t intend for either of those things to happen, but, oh well. Anyway, let’s get into showing off a Bewitching Book Cover.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly Tasteful Tuesdays, and before that, Majestic Mondays), is a series where I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.

This week, the book cover that I’m highlighting is A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury. This is a pretty recent release that’s been on my radar for a couple of months.

A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury

A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury

SERIES: A Mastery of Monsters #1

LENGTH: 592 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Margaret K. McElderry

RELEASE DATE: 29 July 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Ninth House meets Legendborn in this thrilling first book in a dark academia fantasy series about a teen who’s willing to do anything to find her brother – even infiltrate a secret society full of monsters.

When August’s brother disappears before his sophomore semester, everyone thinks the stress of college got to him. But August knows her brother would never have left her voluntarily, especially not after their mother so recently went missing. 

The only clue he left behind was a note telling her to stay safe and protect their remaining family. And after August is attacked by a ten-foot-tall creature with fur and claws, she realizes that her brother might be in more danger than she could have imagined. 

Unfortunately for her, the only person with a connection to the mysterious creature is the bookish Virgil Hawthorne… and he knows about them because he is one. If he doesn’t find a partner to help control his true nature, he’ll lose his humanity and become a mindless beast—exactly what the secret society he’s grown up in would love to put down. 

Virgil makes a proposition: August will join his society and partner with him, and in return, he’ll help her find her brother. And so August is plunged into a deadly competition to win one of the few coveted candidate spots, all while trying to accept a frightening reality: that monsters are real, and she has to learn to master them if she’s to have any hope of saving her brother. 

Book Cover Rating: 🪶🪶🪶🪶 • 4 feathers from a monstrous bird

A Mastery of Monsters has one of the simpler book covers of those that I’ve reviewed previously, but I still enjoy it. It isn’t as simple as other covers I’ve highlighted in this post, either. There’s a lot I like about it either way.

I really like how the background is primarily green. Green is one of my favorite colors, so I’m definitely biased on that front, but I also think it complements the rest of the book cover really well. The title font is also really cool looking, and I love the shade of gold chosen for it. Green and gold also normally go together really well too, and the same is true here.

The bird is centered really nicely, and it being pinned with a pair of knives is also interesting. My favorite thing about this part of the cover art, though, is probably the monstrous bird-like shadow behind the bird. I really like the stuff it’s implying, and it just makes the cover look more awesome.

So yeah, here’s yet another beautiful book cover. What do you think about this cover art? Have you read A Mastery of Monsters? If you have, what did you think of it?

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I hope that you have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 5/26 – 6/8

Whew! It’s been a bit, hasn’t it? We were on vacation last week, though, so I decided to take a full break with the blog. And I think it was a good thing – I definitely feel refreshed!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get much reading done last week, though I did do a fair amount of it the week before last. Still, productivity-wise, I didn’t really get much of anything done last week.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the weekly wrap-up!

Wednesday 5/28: Can’t-Wait Wednesday

On Wednesday May 28th, I did another Can’t-Wait Wednesday. Four weeks in a row! That’s like a straight month!

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme currently hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings. It focuses on books you’re looking forward to reading, usually new releases.

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: A Forgery of Fate

Saturday 5/31: Bewitching Book Covers

On Saturday May 31st, I posted another Bewitching Book Covers for the first time in a month and a half. Wow, that’s a while. I definitely didn’t intend to do that!

Anyway, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly known as Majestic Mondays and Tasteful Tuesdays), is when I gush over a book cover that I like as well as analyze it (sometimes). I also typically give the book covers funny rating systems – not the usual blank out of five stars kind of thing.

Bewitching Book Covers: The Stardust Thief

Sunday 6/1 to Sunday 6/8: Vacation!!

As I mentioned above, my spouse and I took a vacation last week. We’d been planning it for several weeks and had been looking forward to it. And yeah, it was originally planned to be a staycation. We just wanted to stay home and relax, as well as go to a few places around the city-county we live in there we hadn’t been to before. And it was all really nice.

We actually started off the vacation helping one of my close family members move into a new house though. It ended up being kind of fun actually, and we got a bunch of exercise! We didn’t have a lot of time to chat though, cuz of the whole moving stuff thing, but it was nice to see the other family members that helped out.

The places that we visited were an aquarium we hadn’t been to before, as well as a state park that we’d been meaning to visit for years, but hadn’t been able to get around to until now. The aquarium was cool, and walking around the state park was really fun.

My spouse and I also spent a great deal of time playing Clair Obscure: Expedition 33, a new RPG developed by Sandfall Interactive, a French indie developer. It’s absolutely fantastic in pretty much every way – it’s part of the reason we spent so much of our staycation playing it. We’re still enjoying it, in fact, as we didn’t actually finish the whole game last week, haha.

But yeah, the story is incredible; we actually experienced the story through watching another playthrough first, but the story was no less exceptional the second time, and the characters are also awesome. The game itself is also completely gorgeous, and the gameplay is fun and unique. My favorite thing about the game, however, is definitely Clair Obscur’s absolutely phenomenal soundtrack. The OST is some of the most incredible music I’ve ever heard, and it’s one of the best soundtracks ever created, period. If anything, I encourage everyone to find the OST and give it a listen. You won’t regret it.

Books I Read in the Last Two Weeks

💖🎁 Wrapping It All Up 💖🎁

So yeah, because of taking a vacation last week – or staycation as it were – I didn’t really get anything done at all. I didn’t get much done the week before, either, and I don’t have an excuse for that one, haha. I also got quite a late start this week, which I’m kind of annoyed at myself about, but it is what it is. I’m planning on getting at least a couple of other posts out this week besides this one, though.

Regarding specific blog stuff I want to do this week… Well, I definitely want to get my Most Interesting Looking New Books of June 2025 out, even though it’s already a decent way into the month. I also want to do an additional post or two aside from Most Interesting Looking Books, though I’m still debating over what one(s). I also definitely want to read a book this week, though again, I’m still deciding which one I wanna do.

Concerning other things, even though I didn’t get anything else done for the blog last week, I did redo a few thumbnails/featured images. It bothered me that January didn’t really match the rest of the year, so I decided to change up the featured images of my weekly wrap-ups for the first month of the year. I’m pretty happy with it, and am very glad I finally got around to it (I’ve been considering doing this for a while, actually).

Anyway, I’ve gone on for more than long enough here. This weekly wrap-up covered two weeks though – one of which was a vacation – so I guess it makes sense that I’d have a lot to say.

But yeah, as always thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Bewitching Book Covers: The Stardust Thief

Oh wow, it’s been a bit since I’ve done this post, huh? This is what I get for going with the flow on this blog, I guess. Happy Saturday everybody, by the way. Now let’s talk about a Bewitching Book Cover.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly Tasteful Tuesdays, and before that, Majestic Mondays), is a series where I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.

This week, the book cover that I’m highlighting is The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah! I’ve been meaning to get to its sequel, The Ashfire King, but I’ve been both distracted and busy, so I’m hoping doing this post will hype me up to read it.

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

SERIES: The Sandsea Trilogy (Book #1)

LENGTH: 467 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Orbit Books

RELEASE DATE: 17 May 2022

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Inspired by stories from One Thousand and One Nights, The Stardust Thief weaves the gripping tale of a legendary smuggler, a cowardly prince, and a dangerous quest across the desert to find a legendary, magical lamp.

Neither here nor there, but long ago…

Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant: a criminal who, with the help of her jinn bodyguard, hunts and sells illegal magic. When she saves the life of a cowardly prince, she draws the attention of his powerful father, the sultan, who blackmails her into finding an ancient lamp that has the power to revive the barren land—at the cost of sacrificing all jinn.

With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan’s oldest son to find the artifact. Aided by her bodyguard, who has secrets of his own, they must survive ghoul attacks, outwit a vengeful jinn queen, and confront a malicious killer from Loulie’s past. And, in a world where story is reality and illusion is truth, Loulie will discover that everything—her enemy, her magic, even her own past—is not what it seems, and she must decide who she will become in this new reality.

Book Cover Rating: ✨✨✨✨ • 4 handfuls of magic

Ahhh, it’s been so long since I’ve read this (ei: about two years, lol). But seeing as The Stardust Thief’s long-awaited sequel has finally released, I thought it was finally time to gush about this book cover art.

I’ve always loved this book cover; and I actually owe it to the cover for getting me to pick up this novel. It really caught my eye, for some reason. I think it was the colors and the way they supplemented one another, along with the book’s really interesting sound title. So I guess let’s start with that – I really like the colors and how they’re used here.

If you’ve read any of my Bewitching Book Cover posts before, you know that I have trouble resisting a cover when it has purple on it, particularly when it’s used well. I also happen to like how the fire is integrated well in a cover, and this book has they too, which I of course enjoy. The bonus is that the range and purple complement one another really well, which bumps the cover up when higher in my rating.

The font used for the title and author also looks very nice. I especially like the presentation of the title – the little extra swirl on some of the letters is pretty in a simple way. And it’s not overly detailed, which I enjoy about it. The way the dark purple and gold colors used for the fonts of the title and author’s make respectively, is also pretty cool. I love a good contrast, as well as complementary stuff on covers, so this novel having both makes it extra great.

So yeah, here’s yet another beautiful book cover. What do you think about this cover art? Have you read The Stardust Thief? If you have, have you also read The Ashfire King, its sequel?

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I hope that you have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 4/21 – 4/27

Yes! I finally posted a Weekly Wrap-Up on time again! Woohoo!

Last week my blog activity wasn’t too bad. I’m pretty happy about it honestly, even though it was only three posts and I didn’t do a book review. I didn’t really read any books though, and I’d really like to post another book review (it’s been almost four weeks!), so those are my main goals for the coming week.

Anyway, I’ll shut up now. Without further ado, let’s get on with the weekly wrap-up!

Wednesday 4/23: Can’t-Wait Wednesday

Last Wednesday, I did another Can’t-Wait Wednesday for the first time in a couple of weeks. There’s been a lot of new books coming out lately that I’ve been interested in.

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme currently hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings. It focuses on books you’re looking forward to reading, usually new releases.

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Floating World

Friday 4/25: First Line Friday

Last Friday, I participated in First Line Fridays again – two weeks in a row for the first time in a while. First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words.

First Line Friday: 4/25

Sunday 4/27: Bewitching Book Covers

Yesterday, I posted another Bewitching Book Covers for the first time in a while – I think it’s been almost two months, haha. Bewitching Book Covers (formerly known as Majestic Mondays and Tasteful Tuesdays), is when I gush over a book cover that I like as well as analyze it (sometimes).

Bewitching Book Covers: Five Broken Blades

Books I Read Last Week

💖🎁 Wrapping It All Up 💖🎁

So yeah, even though I didn’t get to posting that book review that I really wanted to finally get to or read any books really, I’m still happy with my blog activity from last week. Yeah, I would have rather been able to do four blog posts (and have one of those be a review), but I’m still content with at least doing three.

As for this coming week, I have two main goals. Firstly, to finally finish that freaking review for the first three books in Jennifer A. Nielsen’s Ascendance series and post it. And secondly, to start and finish a new novel (specifically The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah). My smaller goals for the week are just to do some of my usual weekly blog posts.

Concerning stuff outside the blog… I don’t really have anything going on. I’m still continuing with my diet, but that’s really about it, honestly. I don’t really have anything to really bring up.

Anyway, I’ve talked more than enough here. As always thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Bewitching Book Covers: Five Broken Blades

Hey everybody! Hope you’ve been having a good weekend! Mine’s been somewhat busy, personally, which is why the book review I had been planning on isn’t quite ready. But I thought how it’s been quite a bit since I’ve posted a Bewitching Book Covers, so I decided to squeeze it in!

For anyone who doesn’t know, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly Tasteful Tuesdays, and before that, Majestic Mondays), is a series where I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.

This week the book cover I’m highlighting is Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland!

Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland (And it has beautiful sprayed edges!)

Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

SERIES: The Broken Blades #1

LENGTH: 512 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, LGBT+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Red Tower Books

RELEASE DATE: 7 May 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

It’s the season
for treason…

The king of Yusan must die.

The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective: to kill the God King Joon.

He has it coming. Under his merciless immortal hand, the nobles flourish, while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined…or sold.

And now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness—from the hired hitman seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance.

They can agree on murder.

They can agree on treachery.

But for these five killers—each versed in deception, lies, and betrayal—it’s not enough to forge an alliance. To survive, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other…but only one can take the crown.

Let the best liar win.

Book Cover Rating: 🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️ • 4 unbroken blades

So, as much as I like this book cover art and would love to give it a rating of five unbroken blades, I still don’t love it that much. Even with the addition of the lovely sprayed edges, though the edges are still buffing this cover up for me. (Actually, I think without the colored edges, I’d have given this cover art three unbroken blades.)

Anyway, even though the sprayed edges are definitely the best part of the cover for me, I’m gonna talk about the other stuff I enjoy about the book cover of Five Broken Blades before that. Firstly, I really like that there are actually five swords on the cover. I feel like some books I’ve seen that have a number of something in their titles don’t manage to have the same number of the thing on the cover art. So I’m giving this cover props for having the proper amount of the thing in its title.

Next, I really like the shade of red used for the base color of the cover. It’s just such a perfect shade, which is why I think a lot of red book covers tend to use it. Especially with the thorns wrapped around the swords on the cover, there’s a bit of A Court of Thorns and Roses energy going on here. The swords do look a bit short, however, even though I think they’re supposed to be katanas? I dunno, though – I’m not really super well versed in swords.

Now I’d usually discuss the title and author font here, but I honestly don’t have a lot to say about it. It’s fine, I guess, and I like the contrast, but nothing about it especially pops out to me. So I’m gonna talk about the pretty sprayed edges instead. I love how the colored edges solely incorporate only the colors already used on the cover itself. That’s a really cool detail. The red sky looks amazing, and I love how black is used to make the character and foliage on the side of the book to look like they’re made of inky shadows. And the golden sun just tops everything off.

So yeah, here’s yet another beautiful book cover. What do you think about this cover art? Have you read Five Broken Blades?

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I hope that you have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Bewitching Book Covers: The Starlight Heir

Happy Saturday everybody!

For anyone who doesn’t know, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly Tasteful Tuesdays, and before that, Majestic Mondays), is a series where I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.

This week the book cover I’m highlighting is The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard!

The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard

SERIES: The Starlight Heir #1

LENGTH: 368 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Avon

RELEASE DATE: 7 January 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

To save the realm from eternal darkness, she’ll have to choose between the truth and the lie—stand and fight or kneel and die.

“His Imperial Majesty, King Zarek requests your presence as his esteemed guest.”

When the gold-dusted court invitation arrives at Suraya Saab’s forge, she believes it’s a joke. Nobles might seek her skills as a bladesmith—one of few who can imbue her work with precious jadu, the last source of magic in the realm—but she has no qualifications as a potential bride for the crown prince. Still, the invitation is the chance at adventure, and the means to finally visit the capital city her late mother loved.

But what awaits her in Kaldari is nothing she could have imagined—and fraught with danger. It’s not the crown prince, but his impossibly handsome, illegitimate half-brother, Roshan, who draws her interest…and her ire. The invitation isn’t a quest to find a suitable bride, but a veiled hunt for the starkeeper—a girl rumored to hold the magic of the stars in her blood. And across the city, unrest is brewing between the noble houses and the rebel militia.

When the rebels carry out a brutal strike, Suraya and Roshan find themselves on the run, trying to deny their simmering attraction and the knowledge that Suraya herself might be the starkeeper. But Roshan is hiding secrets of his own. And with no control of the power that seems to be stirring within her, Suraya has drawn the attention of the old gods themselves…and the interest of one dark god in particular might be the biggest threat of all.

Book Cover Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 • 4 bright, glowing stars

Wow. The new books coming out lately sure have some pretty looking covers.

Like the last book cover I gushed over – The Beasts We Bury – The Starlight Heir’s cover art also has a bunch of purple on it. And, for some reason, purple covers tend to catch my eye. I dunno why, honestly. Purple isn’t even my favorite color or anything.

But purple isn’t the only prominent color on this cover. There’s also a lot of pink and teal, and they both compliment the purple very nicely. The pink more directly, as it’s clearly meant to highlight the purple of the feathers of the creature on the cover. The teal on the other hand, is part of the foliage in the background, behind the creature on the cover. There’s also some gold integrated here. The colors in the foliage definitely make it stand out.

As usual, I also really like the font chosen (or designed) for the title. It’s pretty serif-esque for the most part, which makes it feel very prominent on the cover art. But it has some swirls and a bit of a flourish to it, which gives it a bit of an elegant feel. The white color of the text also makes it stand out from the rest of the colorful cover.

So yeah, here’s yet another beautiful book cover. What do you think about this cover art? Have you read The Starlight Heir?

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I hope that you have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar