I think I can officially say that cozy fantasy is not for me. I think the idea of a magical zoo could be a fun idea, but I was not feeling this book. I think I can officially say that cozy fantasy is not for me. I think the idea of a magical zoo could be a fun idea, but I was not feeling this book. I wish this hadn’t been urban fantasy and was kind of surprised when it was the modern world mixed with fantasy elements, I don’t know why I assumed it would be set in its own fantasy medieval type world.
I also wasn’t a fan of the main character and wasn’t a fan of the way she seemed very judgemental and at times rude to others. I also didn’t love the audiobook narrators' happy and peppy tone throughout. The main character is supposed to have anxiety and I felt the voice didn’t match for moments when she was struggling with her mental health.
If you like cozy fantasies you might enjoy this more than I did, but I don’t think I can recommend this book.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an audio arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own....more
This was an incredible return to the world of An Ember In the Ashes and was everything and more I could have hoped for from this book. I would definitThis was an incredible return to the world of An Ember In the Ashes and was everything and more I could have hoped for from this book. I would definitely recommend reading the original series first before picking up Heir as this takes place years after the events of A Sky Beyond the Storm and spoils a couple of things. Heir expands upon the lore and adds even more to the world. I was so excited to be back seeing new and fresh perspectives from this world and adding onto the story. The characters were great! I thought it might be strange to read from different POVs in this world, but it felt so natural and I fell in love with so many of the new characters. I think that this will not disappoint anyone that loved the An Ember in the Ashes quartet and I am absolutely going to be reading the next book!
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own....more
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an audio arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
DNF @10%
This is not the boThank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an audio arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
DNF @10%
This is not the book for me and I knew it instantly… I didn’t look into the trigger warnings and honestly didn’t know what this was about. Luckily at the very beginning of the audiobook there was a content warning. I still gave it a little bit of time just to make sure this wouldn’t be for me. From what I did hear of the audiobook I really enjoyed the accents and the narrator did a good job. This was just a personal preference that made me decide to DNF....more
Buried Deep and Other Stories is a collection of short stories with something for everyone. Some of the short stories have been published already in aBuried Deep and Other Stories is a collection of short stories with something for everyone. Some of the short stories have been published already in anthologies but I hadn’t read them before and they were all new to me. The stories in this collection covered a wide variety of genres and worlds, including some from her past novels. There were definitely some stories I liked more than others but Naomi Novik is a great writer and I enjoyed all of the stories. I don’t tend to read anthologies or short stories normally, but I wanted to read this collection for the Scholomance series short story and the short story set in the world she is currently working on for her next novel. While I enjoyed those stories my favorite was actually the short story “Seven”. I am impressed by Naomi Novik’s ability to write a short story that is interesting and full of so much life and world building in such a small amount of words. Note: I haven’t read the Temeraire Series but that wasn’t an issue and the stories set in that world can be read without prior knowledge.
I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys Naomi Novik’s writing already and wants to read even more from her.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own....more
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an audio arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Longest Autumn takes iThank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an audio arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Longest Autumn takes inspiration from Greek and Roman mythology, but has its own unique worldbuilding that initially is what made me interested in reading this. Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me and I didn’t find myself enjoying it. My main issue with this book was the main character, I didn’t like her and found her annoying. Her decisions infuriated me and I struggled to understand her reasoning. I also didn’t love how sexual this book was, it made me uncomfortable. I don’t think I would read anything else by this author unfortunately. ...more
I really enjoyed The Drowning Empire Trilogy by Andrea Stewart and was excited to read The Gods Below, the first book in her next trilogy. This book eI really enjoyed The Drowning Empire Trilogy by Andrea Stewart and was excited to read The Gods Below, the first book in her next trilogy. This book exceeded my expectations and left me wanting more. I am now eagerly awaiting the next book and am dying to see how the story unfolds.
The world building in The Gods Below was so unique and I loved figuring out how everything worked. This was truly some of the best world building I have seen in awhile that was just so imaginative and refreshing. I was obsessed with it and had such a fun time in the world.
The Gods Below is a multiple POV story with lots of characters whose lives all weave together. I enjoyed all of the POVs and was never not invested in all of them which is a rare thing to pull off. The pacing was great and I always felt engaged in the story.
I 100% recommend this book and I can not wait to continue this series!
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own....more
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed the Regency Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed the Regency Faerie Tale books by Olivia Atwater so when I found out she would be returning to the world I was very excited. The Witchwood Knot is a gothic Victorian fantasy story that takes a more mysterious and darker tone than the previous works. For me this was even better than the original Regency Faerie Tales, I do recommend reading them first though as there are a lot of references throughout.
The Witchwood Knot follows Winifred “Winnie” Hall who is a new governess in Witchwood Manor which is filled with danger and secrets that she is trying to unravel. I loved Winnie as the main character! In the Regency Faerie Tales it always seemed like the main characters were unfailingly good, whereas Winnie’s morals were more complex and she dabbled with some darker magic. This was refreshing and made me feel that Winnie was more dimensional as a character.
I’ve seen this book being described as a romance, but the romance is much more of a subplot that picks up more towards the end. I didn’t mind that there wasn’t a lot of romance though and liked that it focused on more of the mystery.
I would definitely recommend The Witchwood Knot to anyone looking for a good, cozy gothic book that expands upon the Regency Faerie Tales world. I am very excited to see the continuation of this new series as well and will definitely be reading the next book when it comes out!...more
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I loved Seven Faceless SaintsThank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I loved Seven Faceless Saints and was excited to read the sequel and it did not disappoint! The Disciples of Chaos was such a good ending to the duology and was everything I could have hoped for. It was action packed and fast paced, with lots of twists and reveals. We also got more world building in this book and got to see more of the history of the saints. I loved learning more about Patience and Chaos and their impact on the world. The ending was so well done. It felt bittersweet and made my heart ache.
If you enjoyed Seven Faceless Saints you will love this sequel. I am definitely going to recommend this duology to anyone looking for their next read!...more
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
A Fate Inked in Blood is a haThank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
A Fate Inked in Blood is a hard book for me to rate because there are parts that I absolutely loved and parts that just weren’t my thing.
I loved the world filled with Norse mythology and Viking culture. The Viking inspired world was exciting to read about and is filled with adventure that never leaves you bored. It had truly amazing action and battle scenes. This was fast paced and never dull. Also the Norse mythology was done so well! I don’t know a ton about Norse mythology but that wasn’t a problem at all. I think I've found a new love of Norse mythology after reading this and want to pick up other books featuring it.
What I wasn’t a huge fan of was the romance and I sort of suspected that it wouldn’t be for me before starting. I think others will love the romance and that my thoughts on it were just a personal preference more than anything. This book gets pretty heavy on the romance in the second half and that definitely affected my enjoyment in the later half. That being said, I will most likely still read the next book.
I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a Norse inspired romantasy and am excited to see where the story goes!...more
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Darkness Before Them sounThank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Darkness Before Them sounded like an amazing book following a thief in a kingdom ruled by an immortal king and a magical mist consuming the land. It has a unique magic system and rich world building.
Unfortunately this was not for me and I am gonna have to DNF at 15% of the way through. I am struggling to get into the world and finding this to be much too slow for me. Nothing is really keeping my attention and because of that I am unable to read this for very long before I find myself getting bored. From what I’ve read I don’t think this is a bad book, just not for me. I will say I found myself very confused with all of the world building, but that is possibly from my attention wandering while reading and missing details of the world.
I’m sad I wasn’t able to get into this because it sounded so good. I might end up giving this one another try in a couple years, but right now I just can’t do it....more
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Gilded Crown is an adult Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Gilded Crown is an adult debut about a girl who can raise the dead and ends up working as a resurrectionist for the princess and has to navigate a scheming court while dealing with her growing feelings for the princess, as well as a . While the idea of this novel was super interesting, something just didn’t work for me. I found myself struggling to finish this and just overall not as interested in the story as I had hoped. The main reason I had such a hard time getting through this book was the slow pacing. Not a lot actually happened in this book and the plot just kept repeating itself. Despite this being an adult book it read much more YA in my opinion and I wish I had gone into it thinking it was YA instead as my expectations were higher, and if I had thought it was YA I might have enjoyed it a bit more.
Another big reason why this didn’t work for me were the characters… I didn’t really like any of them and found the romance to be forced. I didn’t think the princess was likable at all and was confused as to why the main character was falling for her. As for the main character I found her choices to be too trusting which really annoyed me. I am a sucker for animal companions though and I adored that she had a raven she could talk to.
In the end this book was not for me and I won’t be continuing with the series any farther. As it is a debut I might still be interested in reading something from this author in the future....more
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
DNF at 50% I was excited to reThank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
DNF at 50% I was excited to read To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods but unfortunately this ended up falling flat for me. This book takes place in a Chinese inspired fantasy world being conquered by a technologically advanced Roman inspired world. The mix of two vastly different cultures in completely different time periods was such an interesting idea and was definitely my favorite part of this book. My main issue with To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods was the pacing. This was so slow and repetitive. The world-building was info dumpy and continued to go over the same points over and over again. There was very little dialogue and too much inner monologue about the world. At 50% so little had happened and I was struggling to pick it up, so I decided to DNF. I think this series has potential and has such a unique idea though. ...more
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
The Pomegranate Gate is the first booThank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
The Pomegranate Gate is the first book in a Jewish fantasy series. This is a good start to the series and is filled with excellent characters and a stunning world. It is perfect for fans of The Winternight trilogy and The Daevabad trilogy, with court politics and rich folklore. There is a historical fantasy feel to the story that I think readers will love. While too much focus on history is not always my favorite, this book has enough whimsical world building to counteract that. I will say it definitely starts slow and can take a bit of time to fully get into, but by the end it is filled with action and moves along much faster.
I think my favorite thing about The Pomegranate Gate though were the characters though. Naftaly and Toba were such interesting characters to follow. The side characters are all incredibly unique as well, and I loved the found family aspect.
I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series once it comes out and I am very eager to continue the story and see what comes next!...more
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I loved this book so mucThank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I loved this book so much! Starling house is an atmospheric gothic fantasy that completely blew me away! While this book touches on dark and eerie things it does so in a beautiful way. It reminded me of a modern day version of a brothers grimm fairytale. This is the perfect book for the autumn months filled with the perfect amount of cozy and spooky. While this book can be described as a horror it is also filled with a lovely romance that cuts the unease wonderfully. If a story can be both nightmarish and monstrous but also sweet and magical that's what Starling House is.
I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who wants something a bit dark and strange but also something romantic and cozy. For sure one of my favorites of the year!...more
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Warm Hands of Ghosts is aThank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a magical realism novel set during WWI that combines the horrifying history of that time with a beautiful story full of love. This book dealt a lot with the impact and trauma of war and was at times very dark. It was hard to read at times and was not always fun to see the heartbreaking effects of war. Although the true heart of this book was definitely the characters. I loved both Freddie and Laura and their stories were both perfect ways to see the war through their own eyes. Through them I was able to see hope in such an awful time in history. I can see this book becoming a classic and even read in high school English classes as there is a lot of symbolism and deeper meanings.
I tend to read stories filled with lots of adventure and fantasy, and while this does have a bit of magic it was not like what I normally read. But I didn’t hate it! It kept me engaged and curious throughout. I would recommend this and will definitely be buying myself a physical copy of the book once it comes out....more
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
A Dark and Drowning Tide is fThank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
A Dark and Drowning Tide is filled with magical world-building, intriguing characters, and a beautiful romance that enchanted me fully. The world was filled with stunning folklore and creatures full of whimsy. It was such a dreamy background for this story to take place in, and I couldn’t help but be drawn in with the poetic imagery Saft created.
This book expertly sets this fairy tale setting against a gothic murder mystery that is absolutely captivating, and the characters truly brought this all together. They were well thought out and everyone seemed to have a motive, which was perfect to keep me guessing. The main character, Lorelei, has unlikeable characteristics and towards the beginning seemed cold and a bit ruthless but by the end I found myself endeared to her strength and forwardness. She goes through a lot and you see her trying to force her way into belonging in a world that is constantly unkind to her. I loved getting to know Lorelei and she made me realize I was maybe too quick to judge.
I loved A Dark and Drowning Tide and think it is perfect for anyone looking to be swept away into a spellbinding adventure. I would definitely recommend this book!...more
Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press / Wednesday Books for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
A FragiThank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press / Wednesday Books for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
A Fragile Enchantment is a YA fantasy romance set in the regency era in a world inspired by England and Ireland. This book was such a gorgeous and romantic story that feels just so soft and sweet. This is the perfect book if you like Pride and Prejudice and if you like Allison Saft’s other works.
My favorite part of this book was the dreamy atmosphere. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the old Barbie movies from the 2000’s while reading this. The idyllic springtime gardens in this book were enchanting and honestly the perfect setting for such a romantic story.
While I liked this book I definitely think at times it felt a little slow, especially in the beginning. It definitely picks up a lot in the last third of the book though.
I’d definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a bit of magic and whimsy....more
Thank you NetGalley and Inkyard Press for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This is my favorite Mara RuthThank you NetGalley and Inkyard Press for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This is my favorite Mara Rutherford book to date! A Multitude of Dreams is a gothic YA reimagining of The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe and comes out just in time for anyone looking for a slightly spooky, and atmospheric tale for the coming autumn season. I loved the idea of this castle that is completely cut off from the world, and it was a perfect mix of creepy and dark. The setting was definitely my favorite part of this book! I’m also a big fan of standalone books and I appreciate the story this book tells in such a short amount of time without feeling like it was too short. I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick and mysterious read! ...more
