dark academia

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: An Arcane Inheritance

Happy Wednesday everybody!

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.

This week’s book is:

An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole! 🪄📔

An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole

An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole

LENGTH: 416 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Poisoned Pen

RELEASE DATE: 30 December 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A modern-day dark academia fantasy with a twist, perfect for fans of Babel and A Deadly Education.

Warren University has stood amongst the ivy elite for centuries, built on the bones – and forbidden magic – of its most prized BIPOC students… hiding the rot of a secret society that will do anything to keep their own powers burning bright. No matter who they must sacrifice along the way.

Ellory Morgan is determined to prove that she belongs at Warren University, an ivy league school whose history is deeply linked to occult rumors and dark secrets. But as she settles into her Freshman year, something about the ornate buildings and shadowy paths feels strangely…familiar. And, with every passing day, that sense of déjà vu grows increasingly sinister.

Despite all logic, despite all reason, despite all the rules of reality, Ellory knows one thing to be true: she has been here before. And if she can’t convince brooding legacy student Hudson Graves to help her remember a past that seems determined to slip through her fingers as if by some insidious magic… this time, she may lose herself for good.

Are you looking forward to An Arcane Inheritance? What other books are coming out in the next few weeks that you’re looking forward to?

As always, thank you all so much for reading and have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday: 10/4

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! It’s been a couple of weeks!

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page
📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
📙 Finally… reveal the book!

Here are the first lines:

I walk to the bus station by myself. There’s always a fuss over my paperwork when I leave. All summer long, we’re not even allowed to walk to Tescos without a chaperone and permission from the Queen-then, in the autumn, I just sign myself out of the children’s home and go.

Know it already? If you don’t, here’s a couple more hints for you…

Still don’t know? Please admire these lovely photos of books while you think…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 Carry On by Rainbow Rowell!!

(Did ya guess it?)

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

SERIES: Simon Snow #1

LENGTH: 521 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, YA, LGBT+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: St. Martin’s Publishing Group

RELEASE DATE: 6 October 2015

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

#1 New York Times best seller
Booklist Editors’ Choice 2015 – Youth
Named a Best Book of 2015 by Time Magazine, School Library Journal, Barnes & Noble, NPR, PopSugar, The Millions, and The News & Observer

Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.

That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.

Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here–it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story – but far, far more monsters.

What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar