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Book Review: Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews

It hadn’t hurt, the day he had cut out his own heart.

Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews

LENGTH: 327 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Horror, LGBT+, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Feiwel & Friends

RELEASE DATE: 29 October 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him.

Kill for him.

High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality – Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more.

But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won’t say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork – whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew’s wicked stories.

Desperate to figure out what’s wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster – Thomas’s drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator…

My Review

Below them something scraped softly over the snowy path. The world smelled of sweet cloying decay, rotten leaves, and earth.

Happy Friday the 13th! What a perfect day to review a horror novel! Anyway, I really liked Don’t Let the Forest In. I had a feeling that I would, but my gut isn’t always correct when it comes to books, so it was nice that I was right this time.

The characters were all very compelling. I liked the main character, Andrew Perrault. From the get go, it’s immediately apparent that he has flaws and that there’s a lot going on with him. He’s a more reserved protagonist, but I didn’t mind that at all. He’s also one of my new favorite unreliable narrators. Thomas Rye was also a great deuteragonist. His personality both contrasts and complements Andrew’s very well, and they match each other nicely. They’re a writer and an artist – a perfect pairing. I enjoyed the side characters as well, like Lana, Chloe, as well as Dove, Andrew’s twin sister.

I really liked how surreal the story felt, both because of the prose and because of the way the narration is. There’s something not quite right about everything going on and it itches at the back of your mind throughout most of the plot, until things finally come to a head near the end of the novel.

“I think someday you’ll hate me.” Thomas’s voice stretched with a loneliness Andrew had never heard before. “You’ll cut me open and find a garden of rot where my heart should be.”

Andrew let the silence sharpen between them, waited until Thomas’s breath caught in quiet anguish from being made to wait. “When I cut you open,” Andrew finally said, “all I’ll find is that we match.”

The romance was also well done. I’m not always into books where most of the romance is just yearning. But because of all the horrific things going on, it felt fitting. It really fits in well with the rest of the narrative. And it also helped that Andrew and Thomas both had a lot of natural chemistry.

The horror aspect was probably my favorite thing about Don’t Let the Forest In. I preferred it over the last book I read that focused on horror, Snow Drowned. (Though I do appreciate Eldritch horror sometimes as well.) I tend to prefer it when it’s macabre and surreal like it is here. The way the writing is also accentuates this facet of the novel really well, with the unnatural line breaks within sentences and paragraphs, as well as emphasized and repeated words. I’ve heard people found it reminiscent of E.E. Cummings, and I find that I agree.

Sometimes there was no stopping pain. There was just seeing how much you could swallow before it spilled out your throat.

I also found several elements about the book reminiscent of The Other by Thomas Tryon, an old horror book from the early 1970s. (If you’re also read it, you’ll know what I’m getting at.) And because parts of this book reminded me so much of it, I was able to catch many of the twists extremely early on (I figured out one of them by chapter two or three). This isn’t even close to a bad thing, because I love getting to the end of a book even if I’ve figured things out and being validated that I guessed correctly. The author’s writing style itself is entertaining enough where it also kept me very engaged through the whole novel, as well.

Last but certainly not least, the art here was also amazing, and not just the cover either (though I love that the most). The interior sketches are phenomenal, and they help highlight so many of the scenes that they’re included in. It was great to get a visual of some of the monsters. I also liked the little writings from Andrew’s notebook scattered throughout most of the book, too.

To write something nice, he’d need something nice to say. But his ribs were a cage for monsters and they cut their teeth on his bones.

So yeah, Don’t Let the Forest In was an absolutely solid book. I enjoyed basically everything about it honestly, though not quite enough for a perfect star rating. I’m not sure why – maybe because I’ve read The Other already, and that had already set such a high standard. This was still an excellent novel though. Definitely recommend it.

Anyway, as always, thank you to everyone so much for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

MY LINKS:

Goodreads
Instagram

Stolen Midnights by Katherine Quinn | Book Review

Lies, like dreams, tended to turn into nightmares.

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. 

My Review

When the clock chimed midnight on an Aurilian’s eighteenth birthday, a remarkable and utterly beguiling event would occur.

It’s a little later than I intended, but it turned out I had a lot of feelings about this book. And unfortunately, for me at least, Stolen Midnights didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Don’t get me wrong, there were definitely some things to like – and even love – about this book. But I found myself annoyed more often than not by just as many other things, if not more. I have a lot to say about this novel, as I mentioned, so strap in!

The Characters and Story

There was no question in my mind that Wren Hayes and I had been destined to meet. And without a doubt, our lives were now tied together in a way that would be impossible to unravel.

Wren Hayes is our female lead. At the start of the novel she’s a rich girl expecting the accustomed gift of a magical object that the elite receive on their eighteenth birthdays. But she is left wanting, as it has been stolen by Damien, the male protagonist to this story. He’s basically your typical thief character, sassy and suave (or at least he thought so) with a vulnerable side. And unfortunately, I didn’t care much for either of them. Especially early on – Wren is pretty bratty and naive, and I don’t like the way Damien flirts with Wren for the first half of the novel. But, I do think both of them grew some by the climax of the novel, and I was rooting for them at that point a little. I just wish they’d both stop making stupid decisions.

I found the side characters more interesting this time around, like Ruby and Grayson and Everett, and I was honestly more interested in their backgrounds and stories than I was the MCs. The antagonist kind of came a little out of nowhere for me, though it made sense it was them, but I was screaming at the characters constantly about how the villain’s accomplice was right there stop being stupid it’s so obvious. But I digress – that’s how it goes sometimes with these kinds of novels.

The plot for Stolen Midnights was pretty decent, though it got bogged down a little bit by the main characters and their antics and stupidity. It’s also a relatively simple story with a bit of a mystery going on throughout, and the latter is honestly the only thing that kept me going for a while. Until the missing persons part of the plot was introduced, then I had to know what was up. The author was pretty good at seeding along a mystery, and I wish that that had more focus on it. But instead it was the romance.

The Romance and Writing

A finger pressed into my chest, startling me. “You’ve been watching me,” Wren accused-correctly-doing her very best to sound intimidating. Such an adorable yet incompetent attempt.

“Obviously.” I shrugged, pressing deeper into that little finger of hers. “You were practically begging to be robbed.” Again.

“You would be the expert,” she snipped.

I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t like the romance here. I didn’t think Wren and Damien had any chemistry with each other, at any point in the novel. I also hated how they were constantly sniping at one another. And yes, I get that this was (an attempt at) an enemies to lovers plot, but then I’d rather there wasn’t literal immediate insta-lust happening. Like seriously immediate – basically as soon as they have their first proper conversation. And then it just didn’t stop. This should’ve been more of a slow-burn. But it wasn’t, and I think that the romance suffered for it.

The writing was… okay. It certainly could’ve been better, but it was YA, which doesn’t always have the best quality. It’s not an excuse, because I think YA deserves better, but it is what it is. The prose seemed almost middle grade though, which felt at odds with the numerous cringe worthy lust filled scenes throughout. What I mean to say is: the writing felt like it should’ve been more mature, to match Stolen Midnights tones and themes.

The Cover and World Building

One day our world would change, and all it took to start a revolution was one person.

I know it might be hard to believe at this point, but there were things I quite enjoyed about this book. The cover art and sprayed edges for one thing, are absolutely phenomenal. I almost passed on this novel, or at least put it on my tentative TBR for later, but I couldn’t just walk by that book cover art and ignore it. And combined with the title, there’s a downright lethal combination there. This book was very, very pretty. But I’ve already gushed about the cover art enough in another post.

The world building and the magic system are also interesting. I really liked how the characters frequently talk about places outside of the city of Andalay, and that there’s a map at the beginning of the book. I love maps in books.

The magic system is also intriguing. I found myself invested in the way the knowledge of it evolved as the characters discovered more about how it worked.

The lore and history sprinkled all over Stolen Midnights was also fascinating. I loved the little excerpts at the beginning of some of the chapters, predominantly Wren’s. Not just because it distributed relevant lore for each chapter or two, but also because it tells the reader that Wren is also interested in the history of her world, and that’s one of the few things I liked about her.

The only thing I felt was odd about it was how the lore and the divine leaders of Andalay – the Fates – affected the way the city was run. It’s a patriarchy and women seem to have hardly any rights, but the Fates are women as well. It just seems weird to me that the society is structured that way, especially since the Fates themselves also live in the city with everyone – it doesn’t seem like it should be a patriarchy at all. I understand that they manipulate certain things about how Andalay is run, but nowhere in the book is it mentioned that they’re manipulating it into a patriarchy. I guess we as the reader are just meant to infer that? I don’t know, it seemed a little sloppy is all.

Final Thoughts

But I often got ahead of myself. First I needed to find where Wren Hayes had run off to.

Something told me I should’ve had one more glass of whiskey.

Though I didn’t enjoy a lot of what Stolen Midnights had to offer, there were a few things that I really liked about it. There’s a lot of stuff set up for the sequel here, too, and it seems like it might be more lore and magic focused (though there’s definitely still going to be a lot of romance as well), so I might enjoy it more, if I decide to read it. This book really feels like one half of a whole, or a very long prologue.

Also, I couldn’t find a place to mention this earlier, but several aspects of this novel reminded me of Once Upon a Broken Heart and its sequels. Down to one of the big twists in the book, as well as the big event that happens at the ending. I think it shares the most similarities with the second book, and I suspect the sequel to this book might share some with the last book in the trilogy. They also had a lot of the same vibes and some of the same tropes. I think that a lot of that stuff, however, was executed a little better in Once Upon a Broken Heart. If you like Stephanie Garber’s works, though, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy this book.

Anyway, as always, thank you to everyone so much for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

MY LINKS:

Goodreads
Instagram

First Line Friday: 2/27

Hey there!

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:

It hadn’t hurt, the day he had cut out his own heart.

Know the novel? If not, here are a couple more hints…

Still don’t know? Here are some gorgeous photos of books to scroll past while you consider it a bit longer…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews!

(Didja guess it?)

Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews

LENGTH: 327 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Horror, LGBT+, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Feiwel & Friends

RELEASE DATE: 29 October 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him.

Kill for him.

High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality – Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more.

But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won’t say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork – whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew’s wicked stories.

Desperate to figure out what’s wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster – Thomas’s drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator…

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

First Line Friday: 12/26

Happy Friday everyone! Two weeks in a row with this one!

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 have a heart for every year I’ve been alive.

There are seventeen hidden in the sand of my bedroom. Every so often, I claw through the shingle, just to check they’re still there.

Know the book? If not, here’s another hint or two…

Still not know the book? Here’s some awesome photos of books to look at while you consider it…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo!

(Didja guess it?)

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

LENGTH: 342 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Feiwel & Friends

RELEASE DATE: 6 March 2018

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Lira, a famous siren, must prove herself by stealing the heart of the man, a prince, threatening their race in this dark and action-packed debut. 

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most – a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen and or remain a human forever. 

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby – it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good – but can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

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

First Line Friday: 12/19

Happy Friday, everybody! Wow, it’s been a couple of months – I didn’t mean for that to happen!

(Edit: Who accidentally scheduled this for today and had to fix it in post? And also didn’t notice until now because they were busy yesterday and then crashed last night? Couldn’t be me. Definitely not. Ugh. I have got to stop doing this.)

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:

My big brother reaches home in the dark hours before dawn, when Leven ghosts take their rest. He smells of steel and coal and forge. He smells of the enemy.

Any ideas on what book it is? If you don’t, here’s another couple of hints…

Still have no idea? Here are some lovely pictures of books to admire while you think about it…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir!

(Didja guess it?)

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

SERIES: An Ember in the Ashes #1

LENGTH: 464 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction

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

RELEASE DATE: 28 April 2015

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier – and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined – and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

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: Girls of Dark Divine

Happy Wednesday everyone! The new books just don’t stop coming! Also, look – new graphic for the featured image!

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:

Girls of Dark Divine by E.V. Woods!

Yeah, I know this technically came out yesterday, but I was a little off my game last week in terms of blog activity. And this book does look interesting.

Girls of Dark Divine by E.V. Woods

Girls of Dark Divine by E.V. Woods

LENGTH: 400 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Delacorte

RELEASE DATE: 5 August 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A group of hauntingly beautiful girls have been bound together by a cruel curse—and one of them will go to any lengths to save them from their violent dance. A breathtakingly gorgeous gothic fantasy about love and control that will never let you go. This spellbinding debut is perfect for fans of Stephanie Garber!

In the legendary ballet theatre of New Kora, the girls on stage enchant the audience each night with their grace and divine beauty. Before Emberlyn became the show’s star, it was her dream to become one of the ballerinas… until she learned the price of their living nightmare.

A curse has bound the girls to the show’s mastermind, Malcolm, so they must obey his every command. They are controlled by the magic’s invisible strings that has the power to wield their limbs like marionette dolls. Only the commands don’t stop when the curtain comes down, and the girls live a life of fear from Malcolm’s wickedness and the twisted truth that each dancer is destined to turn to dust when the curse finally consumes her. 

When the troupe is invited to perform in the glitzy city of Parlizia, Emberlyn knows this could be her best chance to save them all. She meets an elusive boy made of shadows with a magical connection to the girls. Together, they work to unravel the haunting truth about their creation and fight for their survival. But the cost of freedom might be too high, and as she dances closer to the edge of darkness she realizes she might break the curse… or break her own heart forever.

Are you looking forward to Girls of Dark Divine? 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

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: A Mastery of Monsters

Hello and Happy Wednesday everybody! There’s a lot of books coming out lately that I’ve been interested in! Two weeks 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:

A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury! 🪶📚

This is one of the books coming out in 2025 that I’m pretty interested in. It has a great title and a great cover, and the book description is also pretty intriguing.

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. 

Are you looking forward to the release of A Mastery of Monsters?  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 Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff | Retrospective Book Review

All great acts are ruled by intention. What you mean is what you get.

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

LENGTH: 343 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Horror, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Razorbill/Penguin Group

RELEASE DATE: 21 September 2010

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world. 

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate’s baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place in our world, or theirs. 

My Review

“Do you really want to know where we come from?” she said. “In every century, in every country, they’ll call us something different. They’ll say we’re ghosts, angels, demons, elemental spirits, and giving us a name doesn’t help anybody. When did a name change what someone is?”

It’s been a while since I’ve gone back and gone over books I’ve read in the past. And seeing as June has been a rougher month for me in regards to reading, I thought it was time for another retrospective book review.

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff is something I’ve read quite some time ago, but it’s always been something I’ve enjoyed. And, as I’ve realized going back through it, something I still enjoy.

The simple truth is that you can understand the way you are. You can know and love and hate it. You can blame it, resent it, and nothing changes. In the end, you’re just a part of it.

Mackie Doyle 🪇 is our resident protagonist here, as well as our point-of-view character. He’s a little whiny and nervous at first, which is a little annoying, and is something I usually hate more often than not. But that wasn’t the case with this novel. I actually enjoyed following him and his story. I also enjoyed his character development. There’s a lot of interesting stuff regarding him and his identity that really kept the momentum going throughout the whole story. (This was a book that I found somewhat difficult to put down.)

Tate Stewart 🎱 is another one of our main characters, and features heavily throughout the novel. She’s my favorite character in the book. The feisty, determined kind of protagonist, but not in the annoying way that so many female protagonists are written like nowadays. There’s substance to her. I also loved how she didn’t take Mackie’s crap those times when he kind of started to angst/whine and would immediately set him straight. She and Mackie were pretty well balanced and cute together.

Emma Doyle 🌿 is Mackie’s sister, and a pivotal character in the novel. It’s because of her and her actions before and during the plot of the book that things ultimately turn out alright. She and Mackie had an excellent sibling bond.

The simple truth is that you can understand a town. You can know and love and hate it. You can blame it, resent it, and nothing changes. In the end, you’re just another part of it.

I also really enjoyed the plot 📖 of this book. Before I got the book, I looked into reviews, which is something I don’t always do. And when I looked at these reviews, some thought certain things were unclear about the story and the twist, but that’s definitely something I disagree with.

I think that it’s pretty obvious what’s going on in the town of Gentry, even from the beginning. And they basically spell it out in the climax, just without being too specific. But it’s still clear. I also really liked how the whole town was in denial about everything. This is a plot that’s heavily involved with the fae, but like the more lore accurate kind of fae, unlike in A Court of Thorns and Roses and all the romantasy books that spawned from it. And I loved how everything was handled.

I looked at the ground and the dark, drizzling sky and pretty much anyplace that wasn’t her. “I like you. A lot.” When I finally glanced at her, my face was hot and it was hard to keep looking.

She squinted up at me. Then she crossed her arms. “This is a really inappropriate place to be having this conversation.”

“I know. I like you anyway.”

Saying it a third time was like breaking some kind of spell. Her face went soft and far away.

“Don’t say that unless you mean it.”

“I don’t say anything I don’t mean.”

The romance 💘 was a bit of a slow-burn, but it was executed really well. I thought that Mackie and Tate worked really well as a couple – they felt like a team. I wish that books would do that more, romance so often doesn’t feel this way to me, and this is my favorite kind of romance.

I thought that the writing 📝 was also very good. I felt pretty immersed the whole way through, and as I mentioned earlier, it was a compelling read that I had a bit of difficulty putting down sometimes while reading. I also really liked the dialogue – I thought it was written well and felt very natural.

“What’s wrong?” His voice was loud, so sharp that he sounded angry.

I knew I should be careful, keep the secret, but I was too far gone to talk around it. My chest was working in huge spasms and I could barely breathe. “I kissed her.”

“And then you went into anaphylactic shock?”

I closed my eyes and let the rain patter against my face through the open window “She has her tongue pierced.”

And I still feel basically the same way about this stuff now. I really do think The Replacement is a solid YA fantasy novel with fantastic horror elements to it, that also has a great ending. I recommend it to those who like the other fairy lore that doesn’t tend to make it into the romantasy genre.

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

See ya ~Mar

MY LINKS:

Goodreads
Instagram

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Floating World

Hey all, happy Wednesday! It’s been a couple of weeks since I last participated in this post. But I’m here again with another new release 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:

The Floating World by Axie Oh!! 🗡️✨

I really liked The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea when I first read it – when it came out, in early 2023. This novel is by the same author and it also looks interesting, so I’m intrigued. It also looks like it’s the start of a series as well!

The Floating World by Axie Oh

The Floating World by Axie Oh

SERIES: The Floating World #1

LENGTH: 368 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Feiwel and Friends

RELEASE DATE: 29 April 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

From Axie Oh, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Final Fantasy meets Shadow and Bone in this romantic fantasy reimagining the Korean legend of Celestial Maidens.

Sunho lives in the Under World, a land of perpetual darkness. An ex-soldier, he can remember little of his life from before two years ago, when he woke up alone with only his name and his sword. Now he does odd-jobs to scrape by, until he comes across the score of a lifetime—a chest of coins for any mercenary who can hunt down a girl who wields silver light.

Meanwhile, far to the east, Ren is a cheerful and spirited acrobat traveling with her adoptive family and performing at villages. But everything changes during one of their festival performances when the village is attacked by a horrific humanlike demon. In a moment of fear and rage, Ren releases a blast of silver light—a power she has kept hidden since childhood—and kills the monster. But her efforts are not in time to prevent her adoptive family from suffering a devastating loss, or to save her beloved uncle from being grievously wounded.

Determined to save him from succumbing to the poisoned wound, Ren sets off over the mountains, where the creature came from—and from where Ren herself fled ten years ago. Her path sets her on a collision course with Sunho, but he doesn’t realize she’s the girl that he—and a hundred other swords-for-hire—is looking for. As the two grow closer through their travels, they come to realize that their pasts—and destinies—are far more entwined than either of them could have imagined… 

Are you looking forward to the release of The Floating World? 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