First Line Friday: 4/18

Hi everyone. It’s been, what, three weeks since I’ve participated in this post? Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Anyway, here’s First Line Fridays.

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:

Neither here nor there, but not so long ago…

There lived a merchant named Loulie al-Nazari who was as legendary as she was elusive. Garbed in midnight-blue robes, she was known as the Midnight Merchant, a magic-peddler who sold enchanted jinn relics in hidden souks.

Know the book yet? If you don’t, here’s another couple of hints…

Still have no idea? Here are some lovely photos of books to look at while you think about it a bit longer…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah!!

(Didja guess it?)

The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah

The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah

SERIES: The Sandsea Trilogy #2

LENGTH: 544 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Orbit

RELEASE DATE: 11 April 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A thief and a prince trapped in the crumbling, magical realm of the jinn must figure out how to save one world in order to return to their own in The Ashfire King, the second book in this epic series of myth and magic, perfect for fans of The City of Brass and The Bone Shard Daughter.

Neither here nor there, but long ago… After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.

The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. And amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion in the jinn’s capital city is on the rise. When Loulie saves the life of a dissenter—one of her bodyguard’s old comrades—she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.

Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?

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 awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 4/7 – 4/13

Ugh, late again. But not as stupidly late as last week. Here’s the Weekly Wrap-Up for this past week.

My blog activity for last week was really bad. I’d hoped that it would be better than the week before, but what can you do. My novel reading also sucked, which… sucks. I hope both are better this coming week.

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

Thursday 4/10: 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.

Sunday 4/13: March Reading 2025

On Sunday, I posted my Monthly Reading Wrap-Up for March 2025. It was once again posted at a reasonable time in the month, though not as early as  I posted it last month. For those who don’t know, monthly wrap-ups are when I go over the books I read over the past month, as well as my stats over on The StoryGraph.

Books I Read Last Week

💖🎁 Wrapping It All Up 💖🎁

So yeah, last week kind of sucked for me with both reading and blogging. Here’s hoping that this week improves on that. 🍀🤞

I still want to read that sequel I said I kind of wanted to read last week, but there’s also a book coming out this week that I’m hoping to read this week as well. I also want to do three or four additional blog posts during this week, as well.

Regarding stuff outside of the blog… This week is another cleaning week at home. I’ve also started dieting and eating better this week, as well as being more active. But other than this stuff, nothing really else is going on. I guess Easter is this Sunday too, so we’ll be seeing family and stuff during that day.

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

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Ashfire King

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.

(Edit: Ugh. For some reason this didn’t post yesterday, and I just noticed a minute or so ago. Welp. I already made it, so I’m still gonna make sure it gets posted, because next week will be too late. Oh well. Technology sucks sometimes.)

This week’s book is:

The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah!! ⏳🔥

I know that some people don’t like it, but I really enjoyed The Stardust Thief. I’ve been looking forward to the continuation of the Sandsea Trilogy since I read the first book, so this is probably one of my most anticipated books of the year.

The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah

The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah

SERIES: The Sandsea Trilogy #2

LENGTH: 544 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Orbit

RELEASE DATE: 15 April 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A thief and a prince trapped in the crumbling, magical realm of the jinn must figure out how to save one world in order to return to their own in The Ashfire King, the second book in this epic series of myth and magic, perfect for fans of The City of Brass and The Bone Shard Daughter.

Neither here nor there, but long ago… After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.

The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. And amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion in the jinn’s capital city is on the rise. When Loulie saves the life of a dissenter—one of her bodyguard’s old comrades—she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.

Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?

Are you looking forward to the release of The Ashfire King? 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

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar | Book Review

If the river has roots, it has branches, too; learn to climb them, and find your sister. It all returns to grammar.

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

LENGTH: 133 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tordotcom

RELEASE DATE: 4 March 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The River Has Roots is the hugely anticipated solo debut of the New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award winning author Amal El-Mohtar. Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.

The hardcover edition features beautiful interior illustrations.

“Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.”

In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family. 

There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees. 

But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…

My Review

What is a river but an open throat, what is water but a voice?

Nevermind what I said in my last weekly wrap-up, I’ve decided to do a book review today instead! And before I get into it, I just wanted to say to everyone: Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! ☘️🍻 It was a nice day today where I live. Spring really feels like it’s on its way.

The River Has Roots was a pretty good read. The cover is honestly what first caught my eye (it’s gorgeous). But as someone who recently read and loved This is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar having written it also contributed to me wanting to read it. And, like I said, it wasn’t a bad read at all.

Ysabel said, fiercely for all that her voice was muffled into Esther’s shoulder: “Promise?”

“I promise,” said Esther, and meant it with her whole heart.

I really liked the focus on the two main characters: 🎵 Esther Hawthorne 🦢 and her younger sister 🎶 Ysabel Hawthorne 🔔 . I haven’t read any sibling-focused books lately, but I always enjoy a good sibling dynamic. And these sisters have one. They do it without having either being exactly the same, or exact opposites. This was refreshing, because siblings in media are usually one or the other.

💍 Rin 🌊 was also an interesting character. I tend to like characters who are fae creatures – mostly when they’re fae creatures written correctly – and Rin is not the exception here. I found their romance with Esther to be sweet, and I was rooting for them as a couple right away. The witch, 🪄 Agnes Crow 🐦‍⬛ , was also pretty awesome – I think she was the most interesting character to me, honestly.

I enjoyed 🖋️ the plot 📄 well enough, as well. I really appreciated the nods to other fairy stories (like Tam Lin) and some of the references therein. There’s a pretty strong story here too, despite it all being only about 100 pages or so. I will say that the book is noticably shorter than it appears to be. This is because literally a quarter of this book is just a sneak peak for El-Mohtar’s upcoming short story collection. So that’s what the last 30 pages are, if you were curious.

What is magic but a change in the world? What is conjugation but a transformation, one thing into another? She runs; she ran; she will run again.

My favorite thing about The River Has Roots, however, is the way that ✨ magic ✨ interacts with the 🗺️ world 🗺️ and the way it’s described. I loved the way the author used the word grammar, as well as the usage of conjugation. I also adored the singing sisters, and their singing ancestors, and how music framed so much of the novella and its magic. And the puns – the puns were also cool.

And before I close out this review, it would be remiss of me not to comment on the absolutely 🖌️ beautiful artwork 🎨 featured here. Yes, as I mentioned above, the cover art is very pretty, but the interior illustrations are also amazing. Essentially, in addition to being a pretty good novella, this book also has pretty pictures to look at, too.

But that is the nature of grammar-it is always tense, like an instrument, aching for release, longing to transform present into past into future, is into was into will.

So yeah, this was a pretty good book, and I enjoyed it well enough. I definitely recommend it to those who are big fans of This is How You Lose the Time War, and to a slightly lesser extent, those who like faerie stories and LGBT+ stuff in fantasy. Novella fans will probably also find something to like about this book.

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

See ya ~Mar


MY LINKS:


First Line Friday: 3/14

Hi everyone! It’s been a few weeks since I last participated in this post.

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’s the first line:

The River Liss runs north to south, and its waters brim with grammar.

Know the book? If you don’t, here’s another couple of hints…

Still not know the book? Here are some nice photos of books to look at whilst you think…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar!!

(Didja guess it?)

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

LENGTH: 133 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tordotcom

RELEASE DATE: 4 March 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The River Has Roots is the hugely anticipated solo debut of the New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award winning author Amal El-Mohtar. Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.

The hardcover edition features beautiful interior illustrations.

“Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.”

In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family. 

There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees. 

But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…

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 awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Keeper of Lonely Spirits

Hey everybody! Happy Wednesday!

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 Keeper of Lonely Spirits by E.M. Anderson! 👻🏠

The Keeper of Lonely Spirits by E.M. Anderson

LENGTH: 352 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, LGBT+, Literary, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Mira Books

RELEASE DATE: 25 March 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In this mesmerizing, wonderfully moving queer cozy fantasy, an immortal ghost hunter must confront his tragic past in order to embrace his found family.

Find an angry spirit. Send it on its way before it causes trouble. Leave before anyone learns his name.

After over two hundred years, Peter Shaughnessy is ready to die and end this cycle. But thanks to a youthful encounter with one o’ them folk in his native Ireland, he can’t. Instead, he’s cursed to wander eternally far from home, with the ability to see ghosts and talk to plants.

Immortality means Peter has lost everyone he’s ever loved. And so he centers his life on the dead—until his wandering brings him to Harrington, Ohio. As he searches for a vengeful spirit, Peter’s drawn into the townsfolk’s lives, homes and troubles. For the first time in over a century, he wants something other than death.

But the people of Harrington will die someday. And he won’t.

As Harrington buckles under the weight of the supernatural, the ghost hunt pits Peter’s well-being against that of his new friends and the man he’s falling for. If he stays, he risks heartbreak. If he leaves, he risks their lives.

Are you looking forward to the release of The Keeper of Lonely Spirits? 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

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett | Book Review

I let out a trembling breath. “And what sort of queen would that make me?”

He looked perfectly earnest as he leaned in to kiss my cheek. “Mine.”

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

SERIES: Emily Wilde #3

LENGTH: 352 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Del Rey

RELEASE DATE: 11 February 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The third installment in the heartwarming and enchanting Emily Wilde series, about a curmudgeonly scholar of folklore and the fae prince she loves.

Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project yet: studying the inner workings of a faerie realm—as its queen.

Along with her former academic rival—now fiancé—the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell’s long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare filled with scholarly treasures.

Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal world: How can an unassuming scholar such as herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in, for Wendell’s murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell’s magic—and Emily’s knowledge of stories—to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.

My Review

“Where would I be without you, Em?” he said. It was an old joke of ours, but it wasn’t a joke now, the way he said it. I did not reply, merely straightened the hair he had mussed, brush-ing it back into place. He took my hand and we kept going. Soon, the castle came into view-its light was visible first, a glow that silhouetted the nearby trees.

Yes! I finally finished and posted this review! It only took me forever. Ugh, I don’t know what it was about February this year… I just couldn’t get into reading for whatever reason. (I also can’t believe it’s been a month since I last posted a book review. Grrr. I’m a little frustrated with myself.)

Anyway, let’s talk about Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales.

Despite how long it took me to get to reading this book (the end of February) and how long it took me to compose this review (now), I really did enjoy it. It wasn’t my favorite in the series – that’s still the first novel, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries – but it was still very good. Honestly, I found that I enjoyed it about the same as book two, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands.

And so, without further ado, here I go. This ended up being a longer review, so I had to break it into sections, lol.

The Characters

He rose, shaking the dew from his cloak. “You have that look.”

He had mirrored my own train of thought, which made me scowl at him irrationally. “Which?”

“The one you wear whenever you outsmart me in some area,” he said.

“Well,” I began with a shrug, then stopped. My magnanimity was wearing thin, I’m afraid. “Haven’t I?”

He laughed, a clear, bright sound, and then, before I knew what was happening, he had lifted me off my feet and spun me through the air, the greenery and shadow of the forest a whirl all around me.

“My beloved Emily,” he murmured in my ear.

📒 Emily Wilde 🖋️ is still a fantastic protagonist. I still love her narrative voice and the trajectory of her character arc was awesome. Her relationship and banter with her academic rival and heir to the faerie realm of Silva Lupi, 🍃 Wendell Brambleby 🪡 (and yes, Wendell is still just as ridiculous as he’s always been) is also just as wonderful as it’s been the past two books. I really love where their relationship starts off from in this book, and where it finally ends. Everything about it was beautiful.

I always enjoy animal companions in stories, and Emily’s Black Dog 🖤 Shadow 🐕 and Wendell’s faerie cat 🧶 Orga 🐈‍⬛ have been fantastic ones for this series. It’s been a little sad seeing Shadow slow down, as he’s an old dog now, but he’s still as sweet and loyal as ever, and it made me happy every time he appeared on page. And Orga… well, a cat is still a cat even if it’s a faerie one, and I enjoyed all of her appearances as well. I just love doggos and kitties.

📚 Niamh Proudfit 🌳 is, I believe, the only new major supporting character introduced in Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales, but I felt she was a strong one. I really enjoyed reading about her, as well as her developing friendship with Emily. And we got to learn more about characters introduced near the end of the last book that didn’t get a lot of pagetime before, like Taran (a faerie lord who is also Wendell’s step-uncle as well as apparently like a million years old – as well as a sadist) and Callum (Taran’s mortal consort who has the faerie lord wrapped around his finger, but is unfortunately still kind of a non-character here in book three).

As this was the last book in the series, we also saw the return of pretty much all of the relevant cast from the first two books, which was phenomenal. I always love it when final books do this; it gives the impression that the series has come full circle. So yeah, Lilja and Margret, Farris Rose, Ariadne, Poe, Wendell’s stepmother, and even the freaking Hidden King all make appearances. And none of them feel like they’re out of place.

The Plot

I paused as the weight of what he was saying sank in. “Then-you haven’t the slightest idea how to rule a kingdom.”

“Does anyone?” He took my hand, discomfort shifting suddenly into earnestness. “We will learn together.”

“Oh God,” I said faintly.

He studied me. “Is it that bad? You already know more about faerie kingdoms than any mortal.”

As with the other two books in this series, I rather 💖 enjoyed the plot 📖 – I’d put it on par with book two. I think the strongest part of this novel for me was the middle, but the beginning was also pretty good even if it was a little slow.

The ending was also something that I thoroughly appreciated. I think that it was a wonderful way to end not just this book but the entire series as a whole, and can’t imagine a different denouement. Though I will mention that some of the chapters leading up to it were slow and felt like the book was being drawn out a little. Yeah, some of the pacing of the last third of the book was kind of… yeah. But I still really liked the story of this novel as a whole!

The Romance and Prose

He took my hand. His eyes were greener in the dappled sun-light and emerald murk of the lake. “Will you marry me?”

As always, 💞 I adored the romance 🔥 between Emily and Wendell. Their banter, was of course, impeccable, and the respect and love and trust between these two characters is my favorite part of their relationship. These are two people who know and understand each other very well, even despite the very inhumaness of the way one of them feels sometimes. I can’t stress enough how much I love reading about a deep relationship between two mature (for the most part) adults that is very consentual and full of communication. This is why they’re one of my favorite couples in fiction.

Not to mention these two start dating near the end of book one, so the rest of the series sees their relationship continue to evolve beyond the “finally getting together” phase that most books with romance end on. Just, so much of their romance is refreshing to read. And they complement one another so well.

Regarding the 🖊️ writing and prose 📄 … well, of course it’s still fantastic. As I mentioned above, I love Emily’s distinct voice, but I also love the way her journal entries are written. Even though I admittedly skipped most of them, unless I needed or desired further clarification, I appreciated the footnotes. They were – and always are – a very nice touch in the Emily Wilde series, and even if I don’t always read them I like that I have the option to, if I so choose.

Final Thoughts

“What can mortals learn of the stars, given that we cannot walk among them? Yet we try.” I opened my notebook again. “Others have argued that it is the endeavour itself that is the point of scholarship. I am not so certain of that, for I can never stop yearning for new discoveries. Even the smallest are as precious jewels to me.”

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales was an amazing addition to the Emily Wilde books, and an awesome conclusion to the rest of the series. I enjoyed reading about these characters and their world, and am very satisfied with the way things finished off, even if I’m a little sad to say goodbye. But it had a good ending, and that’s always one of the things I hope for the most when reading a series.

Of course I’m going to recommend this book, just like I did the rest of the series. Heather Fawcett is just a fantastic writer all around, and this book and especially the Emily Wilde series, showcase it beautifully. So yeah, if you like fantasy, romance, well-written romance and characters, and enjoy the occasional epistolary novel, then I can’t recommend this book enough. This trilogy enough. Heck, if you just enjoy good books – just read the Emily Wilde series, okay?

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

See ya ~Mar


MY LINKS:


Can’t-Wait Wednesday: Luminous

Hey everyone, Happy Wednesday! It’s been a couple of weeks since one of these from me, but there are still books coming out lately that I’m interested in!

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:

Luminous by Silvia Park! 🤖🛠️

Luminous by Silvia Park

LENGTH: 416 pages

GENRES: Science Fiction, Literary & Speculative Fiction, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster

RELEASE DATE: 11 March 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A highly anticipated, sweeping debut set in a unified Korea that tells the story of three estranged siblings—two human, one robot—as they collide against the backdrop of a murder investigation to settle old scores and make sense of their shattered childhood, perfect for fans of Klara and the Sun and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.

In a reunified Korea of the future, robots have been integrated into society as surrogates, servants, children, and even lovers. Though boundaries between bionic and organic frequently blur, these robots are decidedly second-class citizens. Jun and Morgan, two siblings estranged for many years, are haunted by the memory of their lost brother, Yoyo, who was warm, sensitive, and very nearly human.

Jun, a war veteran turned detective of the lowly Robot Crimes Unit in Seoul, becomes consumed by an investigation that reconnects him with his sister Morgan, now a prominent robot designer working for a top firm, who is, embarrassingly, dating one of her creations in secret.

On the other side of Seoul in a junkyard filled with abandoned robots, eleven-year-old Ruijie sifts through scraps looking for robotic parts that might support her failing body. When she discovers a robot boy named Yoyo among the piles of trash, an unlikely bond is formed since Yoyo is so lifelike, he’s unlike anything she’s seen before.

While Morgan prepares to launch the most advanced robot-boy of her career, Jun’s investigation sparks a journey through the underbelly of Seoul, unearthing deeper mysteries about the history of their country and their family. The three siblings must find their way back to each other to reckon with their pasts and the future ahead of them in this poignant and remarkable exploration of what it really means to be human.

Are you looking forward to the release of Luminous? 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: 2/21

Here we are. Happy Friday everybody! Two weeks in a row with this one, once again! I’m hoping to hit another stream with this post.

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’s the first line:

Zeru closed his burning eyes, reeling as always from that first shock of brightness as he pushed his face aboveground.

Do you know what book it is yet? If not, here’s another hint or two…

Still have no idea? Ruminate on it a little longer while admiring these pretty pictures of books…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 The Forest King’s Daughter by Elly Blake!!

(Didja guess it?)

The Forest King’s Daughter by Elly Blake

SERIES: Thirstwood #1

LENGTH: 384 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

RELEASE DATE: 11 February 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Once upon a time, among the bloodred trees of Thirstwood, a young forest princess became friends with a lonely boy from underground. He gifted her an amber ring, a worthless trinket–or so he thought–because no sooner did he slide it onto her finger than the queen of the underground and the forest king declared war.

Years later, Cassia is a crucial force in her father’s army, wielding her ring of light that can blind and disorient hundreds of enemies at a time. Then battle-hardened Zeru abducts her, planning to steal the ring back to fix his costly childhood mistake. Exhausted, terrified, and more than a little mistrusting, Cassia is forced to travel with Zeru to a place they both believed only existed in storybooks, one where their childhood friendship slowly rekindles into something much more. But it’s only a matter of time before the war they’ve escaped comes for them, and a hidden threat to forest and underground folk alike grows in the shadows.

From the author of the Frostblood Saga comes the first book in an enchanting, adventure-filled fantasy series about the daughters of the powerful forest king, sure to leave readers breathless and desperate for more.

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 awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: Unlock the Dark

Happy Wednesday! It’s been a couple of weeks since one of these from me, but there’s still quite a few books coming out lately that I’m interested in!

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:

Unlock the Dark by Sasa Hawk! 🗝️📜

Unlock the Dark by Sasa Hawk

LENGTH: 352 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: HarperCollins

RELEASE DATE: 25 February 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Perfect for fans of Brigid Kemmerer and Lexi Ryan, this debut romantasy stand-alone novel blends an immersive world, unique magic system, and swoon-worthy romance to create an unputdownable read that explores the great and terrible lengths to which love compels us to go.

Elia Tallis’s key conjuring abilities, when used with her father’s magic, allow her to open a path to any location. But Papa is dying, and Elia has been forced to painfully tether him to life so she can siphon his magic to provide for her siblings. The god of death, angry to be denied his due, punishes her by claiming her youngest brother as a servant.

Desperate to save her brother, Elia accepts a potentially deadly commission from Trys, a kindhearted prince with his nose stuck in a book. Trys wants Elia to help him find a legendary scroll. In exchange, he’ll give her his hand in marriage, securing her and her siblings’ futures and allowing her to release Papa to the afterlife.

Despite the danger of their quest, Elia and Trys find themselves increasingly drawn to each other. But when Trys finally reads the scroll, it transforms him into a monster beyond comprehension. Elia will have to wield her power in ways she never thought possible, braving a world of endless darkness and the nightmares dwelling within it to bring home the prince she’s growing to love.

Are you looking forward to the release of Unlock the Dark? 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