Heyy!
Just finished setting up my Bookstagram account! This is going to let me post all the little bits and book memes and reviews that don’t quite fit into the blogging format!
Join me over there
Happy Reading
Lottie
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Sasha vs the Whole Wide World (and dragons) by Rachel Taylor Thompson
Pub Date: Apr 01 2025
Publisher: Rachel Taylor Thompson
Genre: Alternate Reality, Heist, Urban Fantasy
Age Category: YA
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that originated at Breaking the Spine but has now linked up with Waiting for Wednesday at Wishful Endings. It is always a fun chance to display books that are going to be joining our bookshelves very soon in 2025!
13+
This was so good!
I went into this expecting a fun frolic and it didn’t just deliver it gave me everything I wanted and DRAGONS. I know it was in the title, but I had expected a few dragons, not a glorious world full of different varieties. We have seadragons, truedragons, even beedragons!
Sasha was driven character from the beginning, and we are swept into her delightfully morally askew world as she witnesses a seadragon die and steals it’s Semis. The Semis is something huge in her world – the last time it happened there was a huge man hunt and several deaths but as far as Sasha is concerned there was also millions.
Throughout Sasha had a really fun narrative voice to read, rampant with ‘Clemisms’, sayings her (just a little crooked) family have raised her on which support all of her decisions in the beginning. It was really lovely to see her motives change and grow over the course. At the beginning of each chapter she keeps track of her finances (such a lovely way of reminding about her motives and how money is such a huge thing because of the lack of it in her life) but it also reminds us of the ticking clock behind her – the whole country is out for her, the whole world’s governments are looking for her and the Semis and she only has a few grand with which to avoid them with. oh and that’s all that’s left of her collage money too!
Plot – 5/5 – it was fast but we also got all the details that my little worldbuilding heart needs so just perfect!
Romance – 4.5/5 – Soft Romance – I just love a good dreamscape scene, when both lower their boundaries and just talk without the pressures of the real world and this had several glorious examples of how well this can be done! Ari was adorable too – and how sweet he was with the dogs! (did I mention that there are three dogs named after the Bronte sisters along for the heist???)
Characters – 4/5 – I loved Sasha, she was such a good character and I love that Rachel Thompson didn’t make her family too likeable (they had flaws but still came out to support Sasha in their own non law abiding way)
World – 5/5 – DRAGONS! I have mentioned the dragons but they were glorious so I will mention it again! The rest of the world was really well defined too – Sasha crosses huge swathes of land but every place she goes to has its own feel even through she never goes to any huge landmarks.
Content Warnings: some sexual harassment to the mc, but she gets out of the situation quickly so only 1/5. Threat.
Such a fun read and 100% worth it this needs to go on your TBR for 2025!
Happy Reading!
Lottie
Waiting on Wednesday: Shades and Shadows
Pub Date 20 Feb 2025
Publisher: Own Voices
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Age Category: 13+
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that originated at Breaking the Spine but has now linked up with Waiting for Wednesday at Wishful Endings. It is always a fun chance to display books that are going to be joining our bookshelves very soon in 2025!
13+
I really enjoyed the world on this one! It felt like a combination of paranormal/urban fantasy and the more biblical demons/angels urban fantasy. It launches us into a complex world that we only see parts of through the perspective of the mc, who isn’t particularly focused on the world. Her focus is rescuing her dad which means that the world and all the details have been woven in on a ‘ari needs to know’ basis which keeps the pace rapid throughout the different worlds.
However despite the worldbuilding details I struggled to interacted fully with the main character. While several of the supporting characters brought their own interesting stories to brush against Ari’s, I felt like Ari reflected the world around her instead of being her own distinct identity.
Despite this it is a rapidly paced paranormal read that has an excellent world and a series I will continue!
World – 4/5 – the world was solidly developed and I would enjoy to see it taken further (maybe Ari visiting hell??) in the next book.
Characters – 3.5/5 – I enjoyed some characters like Ceph and Lena but struggled to connect fully with the main character like I said above (this might just be me not quite fitting with the book tho so give it a try!) One of the prominent races shown in the book are angels, but they aren’t the biblical angels, they seem to follow a different harsher kind of rules and yet some race expectations like being able to fall from heaven do exist. The Darklands have a biblical feel, but religion is never mentioned in it.
Romance – 3.5/5 – Soft Romance – the love interest seems stereotypical in some ways in the beginning, but then he does separates from the mass of paranormal love interests with his own personal quirks through still fulfilling paranormal genre expectations.
Plot – 3.5/5 – the plot seemed relatively simple at the beginning, and it maintained that ease of understanding and reading throughout despite a few plot twists.
Content Warnings: some fantasy violence. I really struggled putting an age recommendation on this book – it almost felt like slightly middle grade and YA? I would say it rests on the border in some areas and then more YA in others but 13+ seemed a good age rating to settle on.
Damsel, Evelyn Skye
14+B
This is just so so so good.
I read it in one sitting! It has dragons, princesses, mazes and above all a really intelligent main character who was such a joy to read. Elodie’s love for her people guided so much of her decisions and the rest were made up out of love for her sister Floria. Throughout all of this there was the feeling of nostalgia but also of something new. Of something I hadn’t ever really seen done before. Evelyn Skye creates a vast world and timeline, introducing us to specific pinpoints that show who came before and how their path has molded Elodie’s. I love the message throughout that Elodie, intelligent strong and resourceful as she is couldn’t have survived without the sacrificed princesses that came before her and all of their research and experiences was building up and then culminating in her.
The theme of doing the honestly abhorrent thing for ‘the greater good’ was an idea that was explored through different characters, and its rare that I honestly am not sure who is the villain. I hate some of them yes, love others but in the end the true villain is the circumstances that have lead them here. The history that has ended up with a whole kingdom believing it is the right thing for three princesses to be sacrificed to a dragon every year for eight hundred years (don’t worry I’m not giving spoilers, anything I mention I make sure is the first few chapters or the synopsis).
Its just so beautiful, the exploration of this golden kingdom which is built on the blood and pain of young naive girls because no one questions it. Arranged marriages are common among royalty, you pick the brides from lower noble families from starving duchies and no one ever notices.
This book is one I will remember forever and honestly could write forever on but I’ll go a head to the star ratings (and gush some more in them!).
World – 5/5 stars, its explored beautifully we really get the impressions of all the different locations and landscapes from the dusty dessert that is Elodies home to the glittering palace to the darkness of the lair.
Plot – 1000000/5, its not just the story of Elodie its the story of all the princesses before her and it’s the story of a stepmother who knew something was wrong and was ignored and a royal family who had been raised in such a mess they didn’t know what was right anymore.
Romance – NA
Characters – 1000000/5 – just so good. We have so many different characters, some of which get a pretty limited amount of page space but we never feel that they aren’t real. They are always so realistic and we can always feel their dilemmas and pain even if they are not one of the multiple POVs throughout the book.
Things to be aware of: Threat, death (mentioned and avoided but only moderate on the page), corpses and flashbacks of death.
This needs to go on everyone’s TBR!
Happy Reading
Lottie
Waiting on Wednesday: Nightweaver
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that originated at Breaking the Spine but has now linked up with Waiting for Wednesday at Wishful Endings. It is always a fun chance to display books that are going to be joining our bookshelves very soon in 2025!
Pub Date – 6th of March 2025
Age Category – YA
Genre: Romantasy, Pirate
Nightweaver by RM Gray
14+B
I just love the world!
The world in this is just gorgeous, layered on top of each other with so many different details and layers that it somehow feels like a pirate adventure, a regency demon hunting romance and yet a vivid fantasy world in its own right! Every location in this world has a vivid crispness and distinctness which I really enjoyed from the delicate magical feel of the manor conservatory to the rough decks of the Lightbringer ship at the beginning.
The story moves rapidly but the characters mindset is quite stagnant during the early few chapters. I actually enjoyed her resistance to the plot, it counterbalanced the ease of the elite with the situation and the flexibility of her family and really made it feel more realistic. Aster has been raised as a pirate for seventeen years and the abrupt change to household servant is one she resists but goes along with because of loyalty to her family. I really enjoyed how she still missed the sea despite the hardness of life there and her surprise in seeing a horse for the first time may be my favourite moment of the whole book!
The premise of the magic system is something we discover alongside Aster, but also as she unwinds and works through prejudices and perspectives she has been taught that have been instantly skewed by her own experiences on land. The Nightweavers (powerful elementals who rule the land) are something she has been taught to fear and they most certainly have the power to be feared. There are four different types of elementals but they are not the standard fire water earth and air, they really delve deeper than the element, controlling more that is connected to their ability. This level of depth to the reach of elemental abilities is rarely explored and I just loved it!
World – 100000/5 – just loved it, I’ve gushed enough about it but it really is the stand out thing for this book!
Romance – 4/5 – Soft Romance – very romantasy, all the elements are there!
Characters – 5/5 – I really loved the supporting characters, the depth they had to their reactions and how it connected to their experiences. The main character Aster felt realistic and pirateish while maintaining a revenge driven plot which I always find interesting to read. Lewis her brother is just such a great character, and I love her sister Margaret as well – make that her whole family I love. They are so distinct and yet tied together so strongly. And Henry is just the perfect brother I just – I cant wait for the sequel!
Plot – 4/5 – it worked well and I really enjoyed it! It was fast paced at the beginning and then medium at others which meant I could have action and detail as well as Aster’s interactions with her family outside of a battle.
Things to be aware of: blood, death, violence, (quite a lot of both and it is quite graphic in places). The last third really steps it up which I wasnt expecting – it is still YA but certainly earns that B so make sure that you are in an emotional state to read it because it is pretty dark. There is a part where it balances between SA and just incredibly violent so be aware of that.
Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce
13+
In the final installment of this epic quartet Tortall is at war and Keladry has been sidelined.
The war has been brewing for most of the series and with her battle experience with the Kings Own, Keladry expected to be assigned to the front lines. Instead, her dour once training master assigns her to command a refugee camp. Keladry is furious at first, she is being picked to be a nursemaid in chainmail to a camp instead of fighting like she should. However because Kel is one of the most balanced heroines i have ever read she goes at her post with diligence and loyalty despite lack of funds.
I love the realism of the war, we get the interactions between Kel and Sir Wyldon the overall commander of that area and we really understand just how difficult it is to make the decisions. Wyldon knows that people in Kels camp die because he cannot send more than two squads of soldiers but he also has to make decisions that will make sure that Tortall isnt invaded completely. This realism of war, refugee camps and strained resources made more difficult by selfish nobles is something that Pierce has created extraordinarily and I just love it.
Keladry has also been given an assignment by the Chamber to find the ‘rat man’ who enchants the killing machines and her assignment is keeping her from doing this so that adds an extra level of worry and also a dilemma – should she abandon her camp for the Chamber and Tortall?
We also have the refugees themselves – finally a none noble perspective who is not a servant! and all the dogs and cats and birds (with a supernatural intelligence because they have been around Daine) with their own loyalties. The pets are just the sweetest and Pierce writes the best animal sidekicks.
World – 1000000000/5 – i just love it, in this final part of the series we get to see Sranca and Tortall in all their amazingly detailed worlds.
Romance – NA
Characters – 5/5 – I love Kel, she is just everything that a classic heroine should be and the rest of the cast support the story and have their own stories so well its seamless.
Plot – 100000000/5 – so good, it flows, it has all the world-building details i need but there is never a moment of boredom.
Things to be aware of: its a war, there is death and fantasy violence.
Faye and the City in the Sea, Nicole Bailey
13+
This book continues on from the battle at the end of the first book. usually, fantasy chosen ones just blaze around, killing people with any real remorse, guilt or horror. Faye, on the other hand, has PTSD and withdraws from the camp life. she is still part of the protectors, but the sights of any weapons freaks her out and yet she knows that she will be expected to lead the war as the most powerful being in the Ether. Telanes is the only one who she will let near her when she gets scared and their friendship (and maybe a little more) is cemented. Daron and Alec’s romance develops and the is a hint of a love triangle between Telanes, Faye and Marious (a merman prince) but as in the previous book, romance isnt used as the driving force and that makes far better than most YA. It is slower paced than the first book but that is needed as we explore more of the characters emotions. Most second books are worse than the first, but this is better!
World – 5/5 stars. just so gorgeous in general and i loved seeing the underwater world!
Characters – 5/5 stars – I just love them so much especially the minor characters and Telanes. Telanes might have to take a spot on my favourite love interests of all time list he is just so sweet.
Romance – 4/5 – Sweet Romance– love this so much, Daron and Alec are the sweetest (the only actual romance in this) and like i said above Telanes is just so perfect for Faye and I really hope that they become more than friends!
Plot – 4/5 – like the previous book, the plot is mostly driven by the characters and I enjoyed this on both my first and reread (and possibly third read i’ve lost count).
Things to be aware of: PTSD surrounding blood and battle but nothing too graphic. Some fantasy violence but not much 2/5.
Faye and the Ether, Nicole Bailey
13+B
Amazing read! It only takes a few things to change the normal genre of YA, and this book does it perfectly. I have read this a few months ago and reread it since. The story starts normally. Faye finds out that she is from another world. Handsome guy called Daron takes her there and shows her around. but what makes this book standout is that Faye herself doesn’t have a romantic relationship that dominates the book. In most YA, Daron would be her love interest, but in this other love stories surrounding the heroine provided the romance. That changed the entire book, the reader wasnt fretting or getting annoyed about who she was going to get with and so you were fully submerged in the story. Daron and his love interests romance is perfectly done, and it is nice to see gay representation in YA fantasy. I adored Daron’s relationship – and it made so much more sense as they had known each other for years and had had time to develop feelings and know each other.
Characters – 4.5/5 – Adore the main cast, Daron and Aaron are an amazing couple, and Daron is very sweet towards Faye as well. Faye is an excellent main character and not an insta-warrior which supports the story very well.
World – 5/5 – A fantasy world based of mythology? Yess!!!
Romance – 5/5 – Swoony A – Alex and Daron do have one scene where they sleep together, but less than a paragraph and very very euphemistic – I honestly would say that some Sweet make out scenes have more details but I still give it the Swoony A because they do technically sleep together on page.
Plot – 4 stars – it was a good plot, but the main focus was on Faye and the adjustment between two worlds and how she was leaving everything behind back home.
Trigger warnings/things to be aware of: Faye’s mother is brainwashed into not noticing that her daughter is missing for months on end. Centaur culture is very close to mythology’s wild representations and there are mentions of their ‘reputations’ which could be a suggestion at SA. Their culture also has a ‘mating circle’ that is never seen on page but mentioned in passing. Because of these, i have bumped up a 12+B rating into a 13+ but it isnt a violent 13+. There are two f-cks in case you mind the profanity but it isnt excessive. Alex and Daron do have one scene where they sleep together but is not described in any real detail and I wouldnt classify it as even 0.5/5 for spice as it is very very vanilla but that also bumps it up to a B.
Graceling, Kristen Cashore
14+
Okay so first I LOVE the covers. ‘dont judge a book by its cover’ may be apt but i certainly do judge the cover if it doesnt fit the book. Both the first and second versions of the covers really fit the essence of this story and I love how they are both on opposite style sides. I first read it with the cover with her standing against a gray background which really captures the characters internal separation from the people around her but the latest cover is more of a traditional fantasy vibe with just a few simple elements tied together that really scream the book.
I have just reread this book for the third time and to my delight the plot still holds up. I dont know quite how to describe the plot. The book is split up into three different sections, The Lady Killer, The Twisted King and The Shifting World and they all have their own plots and storylines within the overarching story which keeps it from dragging and becoming boring.
Katsa is a truely strong heroine and I enjoyed how Cashore showed us that she still has her limits, (especially emotionally and psychologically) but despite that she does choose to do the right thing. I almost feel like there could have been a book before this about how Katsa slowly realised just how much the king was using her but this story launches us right in at the perfect point as the seven kingdoms change forever. I found it a quick paced read, especially in the later two sections which improved massively. In the beginning I felt it lagged a little but gave us some interesting world-building details.
The world premise is a fantasy/historical feel with the fantasy Graces. People (seemingly at random but i am hoping we learn more in the next book!) are Graced with supernatural abilities, some relitavely innocent like being able to hold your breath for a very long time and some very dangerous like strength, perfect aim, heightened senses and in Katsa’s case a Killing Grace. Gracelings are easily picked out because they have different coloured eyes, like Katsa’s blue and green, and Po’s silver and gold. I also enjoyed seeing how Katsa’s relationship with her power changed as she used it further and further out of her uncle’s control and it struck a very delicate balance; having an assassin/kings executioner as the main character means the reader expects them to already have a lot of training and have a firm grasp on their power but Cashore also balanced that with Katsa’s power being stretched in other ways.
World – 4.5/5 – Love the concept of the Gracelings, we get a good look at different kingdoms and different types of people in it.
Characters – 4/5 – I do love Katsa’s strength and resilience, and Po is a very sweet cinnamon roll of a love interest even through he can hold his own. Bitterblue is a character we have only just started to explore (and one of the books on my TBR is titled Bitterblue so I can guess we’ll be seeing more of her!) but the rest of the supporting characters felt a little flat. I enthusiastically loathed King Leck but I did wish we learnt a bit more about his backstory as the main antagonist.
Romance – 4/5 – Swoony Romance A – I enjoyed it again! Their romance is somehow deeply entangled in the story and yet barely a subplot. They do sleep together on page, but it is barely anything and I honestly think it could have been removed or you could skip it (its only about half a paragraph) and it isnt graphic at all. It does push up the rating a little but I would say you could read it a little earlier if you dont mind/skip that.
Plot – I have gushed about it up there so I’ll just say 4.5/5 stars!
Things to be aware of: There is a bit of violence – it is quite a high tension novel and several people do die. There are a few sexual innuendos and threats as well as mentions of SA. Power being exploited and a very potent form of propaganda/metal control is explored (i am trying really hard not to give a spoiler here) but all of that only makes it up to about a 3/5 of violence. Two very vanilla sexual scenes that border on fade to black (click on the orange link to see what I mean by Sexy Romance).
Squire by Tamora Pierce
13+
This is the third book in the Protector of the Small series and I absolutely love this one to bits.
We start with Keladry walking through a near empty palace as all the knights have come and picked their Squires already. As the only girl she hasn’t even got any interviews with potential knight masters and has to acknowledge the fact that despite all her struggles she might end up being assigned to a desk knight. That is one of the things that Pierce does so well, she really shows how slow change is and how even the most powerful people inciting that change sometimes struggle against the tide of opposition and yet it never feels like a lecture or even a large facet of her characters.
This book takes us so much further than the palace complex, introducing us to the difficulties that had never been discussed with the pages at the palace among the privileged elite. Travelling under Lord Raoul and working alongside the Kings Own Keladry gets to experience why she wanted to be a knight so much – to protect people and achieve justice. I feel like Keladry’s experience really grows throughout this book, she gains the battle knowledge and experience that she is going to need and we get to see her take on some leadership.
This book also has the terrifying caveat of the Chamber at the end – all the work Keladry has put in, all the sacrifices she has made of her future will all be for naught if the Chamber finds her unworthy. Squires die in the Chamber, she is the first female knight to openly go through the Chamber in a few hundred years and all eyes are on her.
World – 5/5 – I love it so much and we get to see such a wide range of different terrain across Tortall.
Romance – 5/5 – Sweet Romance – there is a little romance in this one, Keladry has an adorable relationship with someone we have met in previous books. However it never becomes the focus although we see Keladry thinking about how it relates to her career as well as how people view her (the small adknowledgement from Raoul that it will always be harder for her to court among her peers because she is a woman and there are a lot of people eager to besmirch her reputation was a delightful small detail.)
Plot – 5/5 – it never drags, there are multiple different subplots and plots and so many different characters that interact with Kel but yet they never feel bland.
Characters – 5/5 stars – I love the characters. They are so realistic even the ones I hate and they all have such depth to them.
Happy Reading!
Damsel in Delight 