Fantasy Books

My Most Anticipated SFF Reads of 2024 | Oct, Nov, Dec 🎃🦃🎄

Hey everyone. Happy Tuesday! Happy October as well – it is the 1st, after all! I’m here to do the thing that I do every quarter. Yep, it’s time for my Most Anticipated SFF Reads of 2024 #4!

This one will be a smaller version of these posts. Quarter four just doesn’t seem to be quite as stacked as the rest of the year has been for me, unfortunately. But there are still a few books coming out before the end of the year that I’m looking forward to, to some degree.

Anyway, you know the drill; I’m only interested in these books – there’s no guarantee that I’m gonna read all of them. We shall see. And without further ado, let’s get going!

How to Help a Hungry Werewolf by Charlotte Stein

RELEASING: October 1st

What We do in the Shadows with the small town feels of Gilmore Girls in this swoon-worthy romance that will leave readers delightfully cozy and hungry for more. 

When Cassandra Camberwell returns to her hometown of Hollow Brook to sort out her late grandmother’s affairs, the last person she expects to turn up on her doorstep is Seth Brubaker—her once best friend turned high school nemesis. 

Apparently, he’s still intent on making her life a living hell, as he’s mysteriously always around. That is, until Seth reveals why he keeps showing up at her house: he’s an honest-to-goodness werewolf. And Cassie’s grandmother? She was a witch, and the only person in Hollow Brook who was able to help him out with the being-a-werewolf thing. Seth desperately needs Cassie’s grandmother’s witchy medicine, or every full moon he’ll end up with some body part inside out. 

So, Cassie strikes a deal: she’ll give him all the witchy brews he needs to help with his furry ailment, in exchange for Seth telling her everything her grandmother revealed to him about being a witch. Things are fine for while—Cassie turns out to be great at making potions, and Seth is way more like the old friend she once knew—until a pack of angry werewolves show up, demanding Cassie help them with their lycanthropy problem too. There’s also the tiny issue of the mating bond that’s developing between them, and neither of them know if it’s real or just magic woo-woo nonsense. And as an extra bonus, if they don’t consummate the bond, well, they’ll actually… die. 

Prince of Fortune by Lisa Tirreno

RELEASING: October 15th

Red, White & Royal Blue meets A Darker Shade of Magic in this swoony debut young adult romantic fantasy following a magical young prince and a noble seer who fall in love in the midst of war and intrigue.

Shy Prince Edmund will be a great king one day: it has been Seen again and again. With rare magic giving him dominion over the nation’s plants and weather, Edmund feels a great deal of pressure to live up to his nation’s many expectations, including making a perfect diplomatic alliance through marriage. That is, until he meets Lord Aubrey Ainsley.

Charming, romantic, and politically insignificant, Aubrey is a Seer, but not even he could have predicted catching the eye of Edmund, the Prince of Fortune—nor that the anxious prince who talks to plants more than people could feel so right for him. Aubrey’s dream-visions have been full of battle, not love, but to say that Prince Edmund has captured his fancy would be a grand understatement.

As the two become more and more intertwined, the nation of Saben falls under attack. War and dark sorcery loom on the horizon. To save their homeland, Edmund and Aubrey must resist the outside forces seeking to drive them apart and find the power within themselves to create a future for Saben—and each other—they never could have imagined.

Snow Drowned by Jennifer D. Lyle

RELEASING: November 5th

There’s a saying on Fall Island: the snow will get you.

Gracie Hutchinson has lived here her whole life and knows there’s some truth to those words. Every few years someone dies in a snowstorm, or loses their mind, or disappears without a trace. Sometimes it seems like more than just New England weather. Now, a hundred-year-storm is approaching, and while most of the locals have taken the ferry to the mainland, Gracie must stay behind.

But she’s intrigued to find someone else her age has stayed too—Joseph Wescott, whose mysterious family lives in Wescott Manor, descendants of the legendary first settlers of Fall Island. Together, they stumble across something even more unsettling than the coming storm: the body of a stranger, murdered in a grim ritual. Someone on the island believes the old Fall superstitions have a dark power—and now, they have Gracie in their sights.

As the hours count down to the blizzard’s landfall, it seems the only safe place to go is Westcott Manor. But Gracie wonders if there’s another reason why she’s been brought there, one that has to do with Joseph. She’ll discover secrets that have been kept for generations, a hidden history, and the terrifying truth about Fall Island. Because even when the storm ends, there’s no escape from the horror beneath the snow.

Skyshade by Alex Aster

RELEASING: November 12th

The pulse-pounding third novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series, The Lightlark Saga, by acclaimed author and #BookTok sensation Alex Aster
 
Love kills kingdoms…
 
Back in Grim’s castle on Nightshade, Isla is reeling in the wake of a brutal battle and the devastating truths it exposed. Her future—and the fate of the world—now hinge on a heart split in two.
 
Past Isla, who fell in love with the ruler of Nightshade, fights to resist feelings she considers treasonous. The Isla of the present, who has seen the ruin her powers can cause, will do anything to save Lightlark and its king.
 
As the line between enemy and friend is tested, Isla is more desperate than ever to understand the oracle’s final prophecy and change her heartrending fate. But a storm is coming. And with it, a long-buried evil greater than anything the realms have faced before.
 
With the clock ticking on her destiny and the survival of two warring kingdoms hinging on her own shattered heart, Isla Crown will either save the world—or destroy it.

The Losting Fountain by Lora Senf

RELEASING: December 31st

Ember, Miles, and Sam have been called home—only home is a place none of them have ever been before. The choices they make will not only determine their own futures but will also have vast and permanent consequences—they will either restore a cosmic balance or destroy the dams that separate two worlds, ending them both. Ember was called because she belonged, Miles because his mother belonged, and Sam… well, Sam arranged his own invitation.

The Fountain itself is beautiful and alluring—yet so is the light of an anglerfish. Hidden below the surface, the world of the Fountain is vast: unexplored and unmapped and full of wild things—leviathan and tiny, scuttling things and all manner of creature in between. There are other entities as well, entities that haunt and hunt in the Fountain, because it rewards nearly as often as it punishes, and it has been punishing the greedy and merciless and cruel for a very long time. For those, the Fountain becomes a prison.

The borders between our world and the world of the Fountain are already porous. If the balance between them is upset and control of the Fountain is lost, the consequences will be rapid, merciless, and world-ending. In every timeline that has been or will be, everywhere that water stands in our world will become a passageway for the violent damned to enter ours from the Fountain. For Ember, Miles, and Sam, all from different times, what starts as a journey to take control of their lives quickly becomes a quest to save—or destroy—both worlds, depending on whom you ask.

Rising star and Bram Stoker Award-winning author, Lora Senf has created a gorgeously written, pitch-black fantasy that will transport readers to a world that is as beautiful as it is horrifying and will keep readers on their toes as they devour it page by page.

So yeah, these are all of the books coming out in the next three months that I’m interested in possibly reading (or hate-reading – I’m looking at you Skyshade!). What books are coming out soon that you’re looking forward to? Do we share some of the same ones?

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

See ya ~Mar

Wrath of the Triple Goddess by Rick Riordan | Book Review

October. Best month ever.

The air was crisp. The leaves were changing colors in Central Park. And my favorite food cart on 86th Street was serving pumpkin-spice burritos.

Wrath of the Triple Goddess by Rick Riordan

Wrath of the Triple Goddess by Rick Riordan

SERIES: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #7

LENGTH: 322 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, YA, Middle Grade, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Disney Hyperion

RELEASE DATE: 24 September 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In his continuing quest to earn college recommendation letters from the gods, Percy has to pet-sit the goddess Hecate’s polecat and giant mastiff during Halloween week. What could go wrong?

Rick Riordan’s newest Percy Jackson adventure is full of hilarious set pieces, a diverse cast of gods and monsters, and many other delightful tricks and treats.

Percy Jackson, now a high school senior, needs three recommendation letters from the Greek gods in order to get into New Rome University. He earned his first one by retrieving Ganymede’s chalice. Now the goddess Hecate has offered Percy another “opportunity”—all he has to do is pet sit her polecat, Gale, and mastiff, Hecuba, over Halloween week while she is away. Piece of cake, right?

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover settle into Hecate’s seemingly endless mansion and start getting acquainted with the fussy, terrifying animals. The trio has been warned not to touch anything, but while Percy and Annabeth are out at school, Grover can’t resist drinking a strawberry-flavored potion in the laboratory. It turns him into a giant frenzied goat, and after he rampages through the house, damaging everything in sight, and passes out, Gale and Hecuba escape. Now the friends have to find Hecate’s pets and somehow restore the house, all before Hecate gets back on Saturday. It’s going to take luck, demigod wiles, and some old and new friends to hunt down the animals and set things right again.

My Review

Her onyx eyes glittered. She sat forward and laced her fingers, looking more like a principal than my real principal ever did. “You may call me the Torch Bearer, the Star Walker, the Night Wanderer, the Disturber of the Dead, the daughter of Perses and Asteria, the Triple Goddess!”

“Uh-huh,” I said, still clueless.

You’re probably thinking, Percy, you’ve been dealing with the Greek gods for years. How could you not know her?

So Percy Jackson book seven came out… and I enjoyed reading it. And yes, I understand that nostalgia had some impact on my reading experience and overall rating, as it did with book six. Because of this I have altered my rating accordingly for Wrath of the Triple Goddess. (As even though when I read both books six and seven both felt like five star reads, I know in my soul that they weren’t as good as The Battle of the Labyrinth or The Last Olympian. So think of four and a half stars as the same rating for Chalice of the Gods now, I guess. I was a bit overzealous with that review.)

Out of the two new PJO novels, I’m honestly not sure whether I enjoyed The Chalice of the Gods or Wrath of the Triple Goddess more. On the one hand, TCOTG was the first actual-not-a-spinoff Percy Jackson book in years, and I loved the cameos and references, and seeing how Percy, Annabeth and Grover have grown up. But book seven was fun too, and it had Halloween vibes out the wazoo, which I always adore. I guess I enjoyed them equally?

Anyway, I never knew I needed a PJO book set around Halloween until now. It was great, and the book was released during the literal perfect time of the year for it. It’s still a little weird to me reading novels from this series that take place in the fall – nearly all of them, except for The Titan’s Curse which takes place over winter break – are set over the summer. But it’s a nice change.

Grover and I exchanged a look of relief. Whenever Annabeth joined the chat, the odds of us doing something idiotic went way down. The odds were never zero, mind you, because I was still in the mix.

Percy is still as sassy as ever, perhaps even more so than book six, and Annabeth and Grover still balance him perfectly. This really is one of the greatest trios I’ve ever had the pleasure of following. Grover also doesn’t feel like a third wheel here, which was a very minor problem in TCOTG, and his feelings on potential third wheel status and Percy and Annabeth moving on from him are addressed here and it’s great.

And I can’t forget about Percabeth, one of the greatest relationships ever written. Still here and still fantastic – Percy and Annabeth really are a great couple. They just work so unbelievably well together.

Annabeth and I were more than just two people. We were a pair, and when we stood at the crossroads, we did it together.

The plot, even though I really enjoyed it, might be a slightly weaker aspect of this novel, as it was with book six. But that probably feels that way because it doesn’t feel as big as the plots of my memories, nor is it a world ending prevention story like basically all other Percy Jackson novels and spinoffs. It was fine on its own, but is far more down to earth than the rest of the series (save TCOTG).

I can’t believe the final book in this additional trilogy to the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians is coming out next year. That’s twenty years after the original book, the one that started it all – The Lightning Thief – did. I can’t believe it’s been that long already. Just, the timing. I can’t wait to see how this ends. But at the same time, I’ll once again feel a little sad to see it go.

“Hey, Wise Girl,” I said, trying to keep the panic out of my voice, “be wise. I don’t know much, but I do know we’re stronger together. Always.”

I definitely recommend Wrath of the Triple Goddess to fans of the Percy Jackson series. Alsoto fantasy fans who enjoy middle grade and YA stuff. But mostly to preexisting fans, ’cause you have to read the original five books (and book six) and have some knowledge of the sequel/spinoff series the Heroes of Olympus to really enjoy this novel. Also, read this book in October – the vibes are perfect.

Anyway, as always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

MY LINKS:

Goodreads
Instagram

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: How to Help a Hungry Werewolf

Surprise! Betcha didn’t expect me to participate in Can’t-Wait Wednesday a third week in a row.

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:

How to Help a Hungry Werewolf by Charlotte Stein!! 🐺🧹

I love cozy little supernatural, slice-of-life stuff and it’s been a bit since I read one. And this one is releasing in October, which is perfect.

How to Help a Hungry Werewolf by Charlotte Stein

How to Help a Hungry Werewolf by Charlotte Stein

SERIES: The Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures #1

LENGTH: 368 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: St. Martin’s Griffin

RELEASE DATE: 1 October 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

What We Do in the Shadows with the small town feels of Gilmore Girls in this swoon-worthy romance that will leave readers delightfully cozy and hungry for more. 

When Cassandra Camberwell returns to her hometown of Hollow Brook to clear out her late
grandmother’s ramshackle old house, the last thing she expects is Seth Brubaker on her doorstep. Her
former best friend was responsible for the worst moment of her high school life, and she can’t
imagine he wants to do anything but torment her all over again. 

Until she unearths the real reason this annoyingly gorgeous beast of a man keeps hanging around: he’s an actual werewolf, who’s certain she’s the witch that will ease his suffering. But Cassie just isn’t sure if she can trust him again. So Seth offers a pact: he’ll teach her all about her undiscovered magic, and she will brew the potions he needs. No feelings, no funny business, just a witch and a werewolf
striking a deal. 

Totally doable. Until they get hit with a do-or-die mating bond. And now the heat is rising, in
between fights with formers bullies and encounters with talking raccoons. They just have to not give
in. Unless giving in just might be the very thing they never knew they always wanted.

Are you looking forward to the next volume of How to Help a Hungry Werewolf? 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 great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday: 9/20

Happy Friday everybody! 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:

It’s now or never.

Any ideas? Here’s another hint if you don’t know…

Still not sure? Here’s some nice pictures of books to look at while you consider…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde!!

(Did you guess correctly?)

The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde

The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde

SERIES: The Oak and Holly Cycle #1

LENGTH: 381 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Entangled Publishing, LLC

RELEASE DATE: 4 June 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Can you love the dark when you know what it hides?

Some things aren’t supposed to exist outside of our imagination.

Thirteen years ago, monsters emerged from the shadows and plunged Kierse’s world into a cataclysmic war of near-total destruction. The New York City she knew so well collapsed practically overnight.

In the wake of that carnage, the Monster Treaty was created. A truce…of sorts.

But tonight, Kierse—a gifted and fearless thief—will break that treaty. She’ll enter the Holly Library…not knowing it’s the home of a monster.

He’s charming. Quietly alluring. Terrifying. But he knows talent when he sees it; it’s just a matter of finding her price.

Now she’s locked into a dangerous bargain with a creature unlike any other. She’ll sacrifice her freedom. She’ll offer her skills. Together, they’ll put their own futures at risk.

But he’s been playing a game across centuries—and once she joins in, there will be no escape…

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

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Glass Scientists – Volume Two

Hey everyone! Happy Wednesday! I’m back a second week in a row because there’s another book I’m really looking forward to coming out soon.

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:

The Glass Scientists: Volume Two by S.H. Cotugno! 🧪🧫

I’ve been following TGS’s ongoing webcomic version since last year, and I thoroughly enjoyed the physical copy of Volume One – which was comprised of the first third of the intended story. I’m always ready for a retelling, and I love The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and this was an excellent one. I love the next part of the story, and am so excited to get a physical version of it.

The Glass Scientists: Volume Two by S.H. Cotugno

The Glass Scientists: Volume Two by S.H. Cotugno

COMIC: The Glass Scientists

LENGTH: 240 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, YA, LGBT+, Graphic Novel, Fiction

PUBLISHER: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

RELEASE DATE: 24 September 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The second book in the YA graphic novel series about star-crossed lovers and misunderstood monsters, which is already a webcomic phenomenon!

All Dr. Henry Jekyll wanted to do was make London a safe place for rogue scientists. That’s why he and his best friend Robert created the Society for Arcane Sciences in the first place, and why their upcoming exhibition to show the public all the incredible things they can do for the world is so important. But ever since Frankenstein arrived, nothing has gone according to plan….

And now Jekyll’s dirty little secret is about to become a huge problem. Hyde, his devilishly devious alter-ego, is fed up with being jerked around and Jekyll not letting him out to play. And he’s just discovered a new trick that will allow him to take the driver’s seat of their shared body. With Hyde behind the wheel, it’s not just the impeding exhibition and the future of the society in jeopardy. The ruffian threatens to destroy something that’s even more dear to Jekyll: his relationship with Robert. Will Jekyll be able to regain control of his mind, body, and life, or will he lose everything he has been fighting for?

Volume Two collects Chapters 8-12 of this beloved webcomic, which is available in print for the first time ever. It also features loads of exclusive bonus content including a brand-new prequel story (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Meet Dracula!!!), a behind-the-scenes look at the comic’s origins, and more!

Are you looking forward to the next volume of The Glass Scientists? 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 great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Darker by Four by June CL Tan | Book Review

Everyone dies sooner or later.

Darker by Four by June CL Tan

Darker by Four by June CL Tan

SERIES: Darker by Four Duology #1

LENGTH: 425 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, YA, LGBT+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: HarperTeen

RELEASE DATE: 2 April 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The Shadowhunter Chronicles meets Chinese diaspora folklore in Darker by Four, the first in an epic contemporary fantasy duology from Jade Fire Gold author June Tan.

A vengeful girl. A hollow boy. A missing god.

Rui has one goal in mind—honing her magic to avenge her mother’s death. 

Yiran is the black sheep of an illustrious family. The world would be at his feet—had he been born with magic. 

Nikai is a Reaper, serving the Fourth King of Hell. When his master disappears, the underworld begins to crumble…and the human world will be next if the King is not found.

When an accident causes Rui’s power to transfer to Yiran, everything turns upside down. Without her magic, Rui has no tool for vengeance. With it, Yiran finally feels like he belongs. That is, until Rui discovers she might hold the key to the missing death god and strikes a dangerous bargain with another King.

As darkness takes over, three paths intersect in the shadows. And three lives bound by fate must rise against destiny before the barrier between worlds falls and all Hell breaks loose—literally.

Perfect for fans of This Savage Song and Only a Monster, Darker by Four will pull readers into a world of love and desperation and revenge—a world where every deal has a catch, no secret stays buried, and no one is exactly who they say they are.

My Review

Yiran turned from the road. “Why is it that when something bad happens, it’s always the three of us?”

“The hell would I know,” Zizi muttered.

So I found Darker by Four to be… Pretty good. It wasn’t my favorite book of the year by any means, but it wasn’t even close to the worst one. I actually enjoyed most aspects of it. Since it was on my second quarter of anticipated books of 2024, I’m especially happy. Particularly after how The Lost Story and The Girl With No Reflection went for me.

Anyway, the things I primarily liked were (some of) the characters, parts of the plot, some of the world building and the writing. But I also disliked parts of these same aspects of the novel. It’s a little complicated, I guess.

I ended up really liking Rui, which surprised me since I thought I wouldn’t. I’m very picky about the female lead characters that I read about, because most of the time I find that people don’t write them well (regardless of what gender the author is). But I actually really enjoyed her story and character arc, and found her to be decently written.

My least favorite character – and one of the other leads – was Yiran. There were just some things about him that I couldn’t stand, and aspects of his personality and decisions he made annoyed me often. But it seems like most of his stuff was merely building up his character arc for the sequel, so maybe he’ll be more tolerable then.

Nikai is a character that I don’t really have any feelings for. He appeared fairly infrequently and usually only when the plot needed to happen, so he felt more like a plot device sometimes rather than a character. So yeah, I don’t really know what to think about him.

Honestly, Zizi felt more like a main character than Nikai did. He was also one of my favorites and I enjoyed his personality and sass. The eccentric , sassy genius with a secret heart of gold is a character archetype I never get tired of following. His relationship with Rui was also something I loved following.

“You’re not wearing pajamas,” Rui burst out.

“How good of you to notice,” Zizi said.

The romance here was hit or miss for me. As I mentioned above, I really enjoyed what Rui and Zizi had going on. Their banter was great, and everything about their friendship and evolving romance felt very natural. I thought they were a good couple. And there was no love triangle BS going on here, which was something I was concerned about for a time while reading.

I didn’t like the romance between Yiran and Yuki though. Like, it literally came out of nowhere, and was one of the least natural things I’ve read in a while. I’m sure it was put here to set up the other half of the duology, but it still felt like it didn’t really belong here.

Zizi was cradling her face in his hands, gently wiping her tears. “That’s the difference between you and me, Rui,” he said, voice rough. “You want to save the world and the innumerable fools in it, whether they deserve a chance or not. But I— I would give up this entire world for a single breath to leave your lips again. And I don’t need you to feel the same way about me to do it. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

The plot was pretty okay and I enjoyed it well enough. Tan clearly wore her inspirations on her sleeve – like certain anime, xianxia, and other eastern influences – but I didn’t find it to be a bad thing. I liked getting the references, haha. I always enjoy reading how an author turns a story with a lot of common and well used tropes to their own. I also predicted most of the twists waayyy ahead of time (like within the first ten chapters early), which was a bit disappointing, but I ultimately didn’t mind too much.

My favorite thing about Darker by Four, however, was definitely the writing itself. There are enough descriptions where you can imagine everything well enough, but there aren’t so many that they’re cluttering up the novel and making it drag. The dialogue also felt very natural and snappy. I liked reading how the characters interacted.

I did find some of the descriptions themselves to be a little lacking, though. I didn’t like how the author described a couple of things, particularly faces. Just… the words used just didn’t feel like they worked too well. Other than that though, everything else was pretty alright.

“She means a lot to you, doesn’t she?”

“She means everything.” Zizi had spoken so bluntly it could only be the truth.

So yeah, all in all, I thought that Darker by Four was pretty okay. And the ending was interesting enough that I’m actually interested in reading the sequel to see how everything ends. Against all odds, I’m a little invested in these characters and how their stories will end.

I recommend this to people who enjoy Asian fantasy, YA, and anime. I think it works as a good read for anytime of the year – no particular seasonal vibes stuck out to me.

Anyway, thank you all for reading, and I hope that everybody has an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

MY LINKS:

Goodreads
Instagram

Bewitching Book Covers: A Fire in the Sky

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope that everybody is enjoying their weekend! It’s been a while, but I’m back with another Bewitching Book Covers post.

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 A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan!

A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan

A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan

LENGTH: 336 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Avon Books

RELEASE DATE: 24 September 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan returns to the high-stakes, sweeping world of dragons, romance, and drama first evoked in her bestselling young adult Firelight series, in a brand-new epic adult romantasy series.

Dragons are extinct. Witches are outcast. Magic is dying.

But human lust for power is immortal.

Dragon fire no longer blisters the skies over Penterra, but inside the lavish palace, life is still perilous… especially for Tamsyn. Raised in the glittering court alongside the princesses, it’s her duty to be punished for their misdeeds. Treated as part of the royal family but also as the lowliest servant, Tamsyn fits nowhere. Her only friend is Stig, Captain of the Guard… though sometimes she thinks he wants more than friendship. 

When Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, descends on her home, Tamsyn’s world becomes even more dangerous. To save the pampered princesses from a fate worse than death, she is commanded to don a veil and marry the brutal warrior. She agrees to the deception even though it means leaving Stig, and the only life she’s ever known, behind.

The wedding night begins with unexpected passion—and ends in near violence when her trickery is exposed. Rather than start a war, Fell accepts Tamsyn as his bride… but can he accept the dark secrets she harbors—secrets buried so deep even she doesn’t know they exist? For Tamsyn is more than a royal whipping girl, more than the false wife of a man who now sees her as his enemy. And when those secrets emerge, they will ignite a flame bright enough to burn the entire kingdom to the bone. 

Magic is not dead… it is only sleeping. And it will take one ordinary girl with an extraordinary destiny to awaken it.

Book Cover Rating: 🎇🎇🎇🎇 • 4 fires in the sky

A Fire in the Sky is another book with a less complex cover. Nonetheless, it’s still a very pretty one, and it definitely caught my eye.

First off, the way that the dragon is drawn is beautiful, and I love the shades of red in it. I also really like the red balls of fire floating around it, and how they look to be floating in the night sky among the stars. Not only do they stand out, but they also complement the night sky in the backdrop.

Also, I love the way the title looks. I usually have an appreciation for title fonts, but this one I really like in particular. I think it’s because titles are usually displayed on top of the rest of the book cover art, but this time that isn’t the case. The title print of A Fire in the Sky actually interacts with parts of the cover art here. And I love it. I love how the dragon seems to cling to the title, and how the edges of some of the letters have a bit of a swirl to them. Everything really complements the cover well. This is a pretty nice book cover.

So yeah, that’s another beautiful book cover. What do you think about this cover art? Are you looking forward to A Fire in the Sky?

Anyway, as always, thank you to everyone who reads my posts. I hope that you enjoyed this one as well, and that you have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday: 9/6

Happy Friday!!

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:

It was a harrowing climb to the high school. Eight hundred twenty-one steps.

Do you know the book? Here’s another hint or two if you don’t know what it is yet…

Still don’t know? Here’s some gorgeous pics of books to admire, whilst you consider…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang!!

(Were you able to guess it?)

The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

SERIES: Theonite

LENGTH: 651 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Self Published

RELEASE DATE: 17 February 2019

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Better to die sharp in war than rust through a time of peace. 

A mother struggling to repress her violent past, a son struggling to grasp his violent future, a father blind to the danger that threatens them all. 

When the winds of war reach their peninsula, will the Matsuda family have the strength to defend their empire? Or will they tear each other apart before the true enemies even reach their shores?

High on a mountainside at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire live the most powerful warriors in the world, superhumans capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. For hundreds of years, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name ‘The Sword of Kaigen.’

Born into Kusanagi’s legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always known his purpose: to master his family’s fighting techniques and defend his homeland. But when an outsider arrives and pulls back the curtain on Kaigen’s alleged age of peace, Mamoru realizes that he might not have much time to become the fighter he was bred to be. Worse, the empire he was bred to defend may stand on a foundation of lies.

Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married into the Matsuda house. Determined to be a good housewife and mother, she hid away her sword, along with everything from her days as a fighter in a faraway country. But with her growing son asking questions about the outside world, the threat of an impending invasion looming across the sea, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface.

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

Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie | Book Review

There was a lake by the village, but it wasn’t the Lake of Souls.

Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction by Ann Leckie

Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction by Ann Leckie

LENGTH: 416 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Orbit

RELEASE DATE: 2 April 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke award-winner Ann Leckie is a modern master of the SFF genre, forever changing its landscape with her groundbreaking ideas and powerful voice. Now, available for the first time comes the complete collection of Leckie’s short fiction, including a brand new novelette, Lake of Souls.

Journey across the stars of the Imperial Radch universe.

Listen to the words of the Old Gods that ruled The Raven Tower.

Learn the secrets of the mysterious Lake of Souls.

And so much more, in this masterfully wide-ranging and immersive short fiction collection from award-winning author Ann Leckie.

My Review

“The days are longer near the end, are they not?”

The Lake of Souls short fiction collection by Ann Leckie has been on my radar since it came out earlier this year, in April. I’ve been interested in reading it since; I don’t read collections of short stories super often, and I’ve wanted to read more of them. So when I found out about this one, it immediately caught my eye.

And… it was pretty good. I liked most of the stories included here, and some of them I even really enjoyed. I’ve also been interested in picking up something by Leckie for a while, but wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to dive into anything, or which of her works I wanted to. This collection gives a very nice glimpse into her style and the way she writes. And I’m very glad I read this just for that. I wish more authors would do this, it gives a great look into the way people write without committing to something too large or time consuming, and allows a reader to experience a smaller sample of their writing.

A good chunk of these little stories were extra tales from universes that Leckie has already published works for, so I think a few things might have gone over my head, or I otherwise enjoyed some of the stories less than I might’ve because of this. All the stories were very followable, however, and I never got confused with anything that was going on with any of them. So if you’ve never read any of the author’s other stuff, you don’t have to worry about not understanding things. They’re all written in such a way that a newcomer shouldn’t feel overwhelmed.

“There are hard ways to do things, and easy ways,” said Saest. “The hard ways cost more. If a god makes a general statement, it could easily come true the hardest way possible. And it might have other consequences.”

Speaking of the short stories featured in Lake of Souls, these are my favorites:

  • Footprints
  • The Justified
  • The Sad History of the Tearless Onion (Note: This one is my favorite.)
  • Night’s Slow Poison
  • The Creation and Destruction of the World
  • The Nalender
  • The Unknown God
  • Saving Bacon

All the others are at least very interesting, though they didn’t grab me as much as these. All of the little tales included here are all very diverse, and I think that anyone will find a story to enjoy here.

I especially loved all of the varied settings and characters included in all of these different stories. Even the ones from universes the author had already created were all very distinct from one another, at least to some degree. Honestly, reading this collection made me interested in someday maybe picking up one of Leckie’s other works. (Which was definitely one of the goals of this short fiction collection, I’m sure.)

Can you speak of a thing without naming it?

I enjoyed my time with Lake of Souls and I’m glad I read it. Genuinely, I kind of recommend this to anybody – as long as you enjoy sci-fi or fantasy, that is – because I feel like everyone might find something to like here (as I mentioned earlier).

Anyway, as always, thanks to everybody so much for reading, and I hope you have an incredible day/night!

See ya ~Mar

“All humans die. The question is only when and how. Would you prefer a death you chose knowing the true circumstances? Or would you prefer to die deluded?”

“I would prefer not to die.”

MY LINKS:

Goodreads
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Fantasy Tropes Book Tag

This tag looked awesome and was a ton of fun. I’m so glad that Leslie @ Books Are the New Black tagged everyone. Welp, here I go!

Rules:

📚 Mention the creator (one’s peculiar)
🏷️ Answer the questions
📚 Tag as many people as you like
🏷️ HAVE FUN!

👸 The Lost Princess 👸
A book/series you lost interest in halfway through

So, full disclosure: I went into Serpent & Dove kind of planning to hate-read it. But then I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. Sure I had a lot of problems with it – and it was a bit of a trashy romantasy novel – but I had fun with it. Enough to continue with the sequel, at least. No, Blood & Honey is where the real problems lie. I despised that book, and it completely turned me off from finishing the trilogy.

🛡️ The Knight in Shining Armor 🛡️
A hyped book/series you were swept up by

The Emily Wilde series sank its claws into my with Encyclopaedia and I fell further in love after reading Otherlands. I’m absolutely frothing at the mouth waiting for book three, I’m so excited. I absolutely adore this series.

🧙‍♂️ The Wise Old Wizard 🧙‍♂️
An author who amazes you with his/her writing

V.E. Schwab. Every book I’ve read of hers, from like three separate series and one standalone, has been a book that I enjoyed.

♍ The Maiden in Distress ♍
An undervalued character you wish had a bigger storyline

When reading The Girl With No Reflection and writing its review a couple weeks ago I felt that Prince Zhang was somewhat underutilized as a character, and that the narrative of this novel would have benefited if the POVs were split between him and Ying. I still feel this way now. Also, Ying’s handmaidens may as well have not been there for all their storylines mattered to the plot.

🗡️ The Magical Sword 🗡️
A magical item/ability you wished authors used less

Hmmm… This one is a bit tricky. I can’t really think of any specifically that bother me, but when stuff like time travel isn’t done right or written well, it pisses me off. So I guess magical items and abilities that are written badly.

😈 The Mindless Villain 😈
A phrase you cannot help but roll your eyes at

There are a couple. “Like calls to like” got to me a bit after some time while reading ACOTAR, “a breath she didn’t know she was holding” makes me almost physically angry, and I absolutely cannot stand the phrase/descriptor “pillowy lips.” I. Hate. That. Phrase.

🐉 The Untamed Dragon 🐉
A magical creature you wish you had as a pet

The Flames (Aries, Leo and Sagittarius) from the Charlie Bone series. Three adorable, hyper intelligent, immortal, magical fire cats? I mean come on, who wouldn’t want them? And there’s three of them.

🥠 The Chosen One 🥠
A book/series you will always root for

Murderbot was a character I fell for instantly and was immediately rooting for. I absolutely devoured this series when I first discovered it, and I think it’s something that I’ll continue to follow for a long time.

Sooo… Since I don’t really know anyone or have any blogging connections, everyone who reads this gets tagged! The fantasy tropes book tag was a fun one, so if you’re interested, you should totally do it!

As always, thanks to everybody so much for reading, and I hope that you have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar