Tag: 13+

This Rotting Heart by Celeste Baxendell

Thanks to Net Galley, Celeste Baxendell and Victory Editing for this ARC, as always every opinion expressed is my own.
 Pub Date: 1st of April, 2025
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Age Category: 13+ but with cross appeal.

 

13+

This was a quick heartwarming fantasy romance that I enjoyed! I just finished Ties of Starlight this morning and started this straight after (yes I read it in under 12 hours) and I loved the little cameo of the main couple from that book!

This Rotting Heart is a Persephone and Hades reimagining – and you know that sometimes these can go very wrong for me on the toxicity of the relationship but this one didn’t! The main element of a Persephone x Hades retelling is that the fmc is kidnapped and made to marry the mmc which can be a lot for me to get over – but I did for this one!

That the personality traits of the two were switched, the fmc was the death obsessed one and the mmc was the Sun king was such a gorgeous little touch which is why I love reading this myth and fairytale reimagining’s.  

World – 3.5/5 – the world isn’t the focus, this is a fantasy romance so I don’t really mind that much. We had what we needed for the story, the world was believable and I didn’t mind not having a lot of worldbuilding because this is more romance than fantasy.

Romance – 4/5 – I struggled with the kidnapping thing, to be honest she was stealing something sacred to his land and from his perspective she had agreed to marry him so I do get that!

Plot – 4/5 – it resolved pleasingly with potential for another book – perhaps with Callahan as the lead?? – and I have no complaints!

Characters – 4/5 – they felt solid and fleshed out and true to themselves. I enjoyed Hellsbore – what a name! I love it that the name ties in with the Greek myth itself! – she was very interesting as a character because she didn’t react to anything. As someone who has read a lot of annoying FMCS who react to the wrong things, blow up over tiny things and ignore big things it was refreshing to read a FMC who was actually the calculating alchemist she was portrayed to be! It may not be healthy to be so restrained but it was certainly fun to read for a change!

Romance Rating: Soft – a few kisses, closed mouth, no detail.

Violence Rating: Level 2 – minor injuries with small non graphic descriptions. Short combat scenes and limited threat.

Content Warnings: betrayal, kidnapping.

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Assassin of Fire and Sacrifice by Mary Mecham

13+ (if you wanted you could read this one around 12, while i think a little older will probably enjoy it more, it has no content I wouldnt be comfortable giving to a tween.)

I love this book so much! I have already read it twice in the last year because it has all of the famous tropes like just one bed and arranged marriage but without any of the spice or even a hint of it leaning that way which I love.

Azora and Tarquin’s banter was amazing –  I love that she didn’t hold back or pretend to be someone else for her mission! It makes the romance so much more realistic because Tarquin was falling for her not a persona. Also – the training scenes *swoon*!

Its fantasy romance but we also got a good dose of the fantasy side of it – the world, wars, strange customs and Phoenix shifters! I cant believe I haven’t mentioned the shifter part of it yet – we have this rich culture centred around fire and heat (even including spicy food!) because they are fire birds and the world just radiated of the page!

The ending – no spoilers! – was something I don’t think I have seen done before but I loved it so much! The plot twists and the romance and the gorgeous world make this a no-brainer 5 star!

World – 5/5 – yes! I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Plot – 5/5 – the twists, the turns! The everything! The romance and then the war and just everything between! I always struggle to talk about plot without spoilers so let me just say read it – you’ll be sucked into the whirlwind within a chapter!

Romance – 5/5 – honestly heart wrenching – I think my heart attually skipped around some of those twists but true to fantasy romance form I was 100% behind the couple the whole time!

Characters – 4/5 – I really did enjoy the characters, they aren’t usual for fantasy, an assassin and a prince but the reveal about the government and the way the kingdom is ruled was really interesting and I neeed more details (I think that is world tho and I’ve already gushed up there about that!). Tarquin I loved, Aloza was just the perfect FMC and the little cute fire baby godson of Tarquins stole my heart from the first page!

Romance Rating: Soft – perhaps a closed mouth kiss or two, no detail.

Violence Rating: Level 3 – Medium threat and danger. Medium combat scenes with injuries described non graphically. Death and violence are present and regularly part of the storyline and plot.

Content Warnings: death (past and present), betrayal (medium).

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Wings of Ash and Dust by Brittany Wang

13+

This was a solid read that I enjoyed!

We have different clans of fae, trials for a throne, a little no-spice romance and a heroine who refuses to acknowledge the existence of her magic and I was hooked!

We are first introduced to Quinn – the daughter of the general of her clan the Gywillion and she has just been overlooked for a place on the guard. Her anger at the injustice burns throughout the book and her bitterness leads her to making the decision to leave her clan and become a pirate. In the second book I am really interested to see if she reflects on that decision and any regret surrounding it!

 It is always so interesting to have a heroine who is unaware of the parallels between her and someone she hates but is clear to the reader! It adds that bit of depth that just having some similarities with the villain doesn’t, it makes it so you can have the heroine shine a lantern on some of her more dislikable qualities as a character and I just loved it! Quinn hates her father for overlooking her and ignoring her promise to focus on her twin brother Gaius – but she does the same in the beginning which leads to the betrayal a few chapters in! Quinn is in no way a Mary Sue – she has human emotions and her character makes the decisions the best she can in a world where she threw away the limited privilege she was given four years ago and now is competing against royals who have their clans completely behind them.

And one of my favourite points is when she mentions that she uses the same training techniques she thought were overly harsh when her father used them but says that they ‘work’. We have a main character who is running from her clan and especially her father but also who’s views and way of life are extremely close to how she has been raised. We get this gorgeous juxtaposition and then she is launched into the world of the other clans!

From warrior princess to pirate to prisoner princess and the trials for the throne Quinn takes us through this gorgeously intricate world and I just loved it!

Characters – 5/5 stars! I have talked about this a lot in the main body of my review but I did really enjoy the characters so let me reiterate – from the Queen whom we get a tiny glimpse into the life of a royal who’s only claim to the throne was because of the men she married to Delphine and Arista to the other competitors – the side characters in this were a true work of art and I love them so much!

World – 4/5 stars – I don’t think I have ever read a world that contained fae that weren’t heavily connected to folklore fae – changelings and deals and trickery – but we can still see glimmers of here and there like in the Nymph silver tongue.

Plot – 4/5 – the plot pace did slow in the middle but I felt like that did work! However the ending’s pace I wasn’t quite sure of – the characters got a lot of new information and then the plot picked up and exploded into the final fight! It is still a solid plot but for me I prefer it when the plot stays relatively the same pace throughout!

Romance – 3/5 – Soft Romance – the romance is a subplot in this book, not the focus. It is budding throughout but the real focus is on the gorgeous surroundings and the deadly trials. We get the most gorgeous scene in the boat with the quote that made me read it but then the romance seems to fade out of the plot. I still enjoyed the romance – especially as I knew from the marketing there was no risk of it turning explicit! – and I am interested to see where it goes and will definitely read the second.

Content Warnings: drug reliance/abuse – this is a fantasy drug but it does have medium presence on the page while the main character never takes it!

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Galdoni by Cheree Alsop

13+B

I just love this world – honestly this trilogy is one I never tire of. I reread it and reread it (sometimes back to back) and it always holds up. We have a dystopian America, perhaps a few hundred years ahead where scientists have genetically adapted test tube babies into winged humans.

Originally designed as military scouts, the Galdoni have too much of the animal need to survive to be successful to the governments plan. The Galdoni are taken by the Arena a gambling corporation focused on entertainment. Told they are fighting for their place in the afterlife and raised in a harsh training environment manned by guards with whips the Galdoni have no idea that their lives are bringing the American government and corporations millions.

However activists have pushed hard enough that the Galdoni have been released into society – including our main character KL426. Beaten up in an alley during the first chapter and left to die by angry gamblers who lost money on fights KL426 (later called Kale) is rescued by the children of a doctor.

In a family environment for the first time KL426 begins to reveal the true nature of the gambling facility and what they do to the Galdoni inside there. Society has been told they are no more than animals but as Kale interacts with the family and especially the eldest girl Brie it becomes clear that he and the rest of his race are just as human despite their horrific upbringing as the rest of the world.

And then the Arena starts hunting them down to begin the fights again.

Plot – 10000/5 – we have everything I want in dystopian in a deceptively simple plot and as the rest of the trilogy continues we get more and more depth on this world that ignores basic humanity in favour of profits (it’s a little close to the bone when I put it like that) but I would 100% recommend it.

World – 10000/5 – I love it! Winged Gladiators in a dystopian world that is still recognisable is something I didn’t know I needed but I absolutely do.

Characters – 5/5 – From Kale our mmc who we follow as he learns about the world outside the Arena to Brie and her little sister to the found family in the doctors children I love it so much.

Romance – Soft Romance – Brie and Kale are so sweet and they may be my favourite dystopian couple just for the humanity in their relationship. Brie has her own past but neither hers nor Kales interfere with their budding relationship.

Content Warnings: Death, Violence, Gaslighting, Domestic Violence, Gladiatorial Battles, attempted Rape and assault, Suicide

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Fierce Heart, Tara Grayce

13+

Usually when I go back for a reread (especially when I reread it within a year) then the plot doesn’t captivate me as much, but this one completely did. It feels so soft the plot and everything happens and then nothing but so many details and little emotions are worked into the whole world that you are never bored for a moment.

Elsie and Farrendel are in an arranged heavily political marriage between two countries that have been at war and in a country that is on the precipice of a much larger one. They don’t have the insta-love/attraction that I always struggle with in political marriage books, they understand each other and move slow. The exploration of cultural differences as well as the aftermath of war on people is really well explored but it is rarely heavy because we always have the hope of the new alliance and romance.

These series isn’t a rapid paced whirlwind so you get to know the characters which is especially important as later on in the series the POV changes. In this first book we get a real sense of the hope on both sides – no one wants war and so these two very different people from different cultures and life experiences are going to do everything they can to make this work.

World – 5/5 – classic fantasy, elves and humans and trolls yet fresh. It almost feels like a historical Victorian novel in places and then we revert into the very fantasy world of the elves. The juxtaposition between the traditionalist long lived elves and the Victorian feel humans shows just how the two kingdoms are so different but yet need to come closer to survive.

Plot – 4/5 – it is very much the wider plot, we have a lot of time we are playing with here over the series and a lot of war that happens before. But I was never lost and I was 100% there throughout all of the plot moments.

Romance – 5/5 – it is somehow the focus and not of the book, it is very sweet and slowburn while still giving us those deliciously sweet moments in places.

Characters – 5/5 – they are so realistic that sometimes I cant figure out how I feel about them. All of the characters are distinct and yet this hope binds them all. And they are reassuringly mature – well the mc’s are, the court is another thing entirely. It feels like it steps away from a YA fantasy romance into something that floats between and could be enjoyed by any young adult or adult adult looking for a fantasy read that steps out of tropes and delivers on all counts.

Content Warnings: violence, PTSD (pretty low in the first one but does increase as the series continues), ableism (as a country, Tarenheil is obsessed with surface perfectionism).

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Waiting on Wednesday: The Wycherleys by Annaliese Avery

Thanks to Net Galley and Simon & Schusters for this e-ARC and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own as always!
Pub Date: 22nd of May, 2025
Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK Childrens  
Genre: YA Fantasy, Witchy.
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!

The Wycherleys by Annaliese Avery

13+

This was such an unexpectedly sweet book with a really distinct narrative style and plot. Centered around multiple Sabbaths in the first debutante season of Aurelia Wycherley this had the feeling of a dystopian read and of a subtle regency influence.

Reading a book where the heroine knows what is expected to happen to her, and even knows that she will be shunned from society even further than she already is when her seasons are over could have made the book more of a darker read. However while I felt it did dip into exploration of what happens if you are the exception that slips through the cracks of an otherwise heavily organised society the romance kept things light and warm (I don’t know if warm makes any sense but Nightly and Aurelia just radiated it).

The romance was just right for me and I loved how Aurelia was willing to let Nightly go, she wanted what was best for him despite her feelings. Often this leads to the miscommunication trope but their relationship didn’t stumble down this path. We had a relationship as well, the relationship of their ancestors hundreds of years earlier and how Heston Nightly had cursed Mathilde.

A lot of witchy academia/regency/Victorian reads end up becoming either quite dark or very fluffy but this balanced it nicely. It feels in the same genre to Changeling by Molly Harper, just a more romance focused and less political.

There were a few loose ends I wanted to see wrapped up that didn’t quite – I don’t know if a sequel is being planned?? But despite that it was a really enjoyable read that I would 100% recommend if you want a slightly lighter romantic but still fantasy read!

World – 5/5 – I really like this mix of current/almost alternate reality dystopian and regency witch academia. The three seasons to find your ‘tether’ was a really interesting link to marriage in the regency times and how if you didn’t find one or  high society didn’t deem you suitable for marriage then you were increasingly ignored.

Plot – 4/5 – it felt like it wandered a bit in places mostly because Aurelia isn’t just dealing with a new romance and mystery here she is dealing with the loss of her magic and future. However I wholeheartedly enjoyed it and we got a masquerade ball (I do love those!) and other society events which framed the romance and desperate situation.

Characters  – 5/5 – I love Jules Nightly, his focus on saving his sister, on protecting her from society and how devoted he is to her wellbeing is just the sweetest fictional sibling relationship ever. I also loved Evelyn (his sister) and her interactions with Aurelia were always really enjoyable!

Romance – 4/5 – Sweet Romance – so gorgeous. When a book is marketed as enemies to lovers I am always a little worried that I wont like the dynamics of the romance (often they can stray into a little toxic) but this one felt more like rivals to lovers despite the familial history between the two.

Content Warnings: a little fantasy violence, murder (nothing on the page).

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Waiting on Wednesday: Shades and Shadows

Thanks to Net Galley and Amazon KDP for this e-ARC read and as always all opinions are my own.
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.

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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.

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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!

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Good Girl, Bad Blood, Holly Jackson

13+B

This was the sequel to a good girls guide to murder and Pip has promised not to investigate again into any crimes after she ended up at the hospital for the double homicide case. She has gained internet fame documenting her search for justice and the events of the last book on her podcast titled – what else? – a good girls guide to murder and is in her last year of high school – investigation is an obsession Pip is refusing to go down again.

Of course, this promise is immediately shattered when her friends older brother Jamie goes missing. The police dismiss the case, he is a twenty-four year old who dropped out of uni and has run away twice before with no contact. Connor (her friend) begs Pip to investigate and after trying to get the police involved she reluctantly agrees.

Unlike last time her investigation is more public with episodes of her podcast regularly airing to share the new developments (I wondered personally about if the villains were getting a little too much forewarning because of the podcast but they didn’t which I was relieved about). Pip is asking people for any footage/sightings of Jamie, but the case goes far wider than that.

I loved that the previous book contained some of the major clues for this one and it really emphasised how despite the small town appearance, so much more goes on under the surface people don’t want to acknowledge. Some people are furious with Pip for exposing crimes they would have preferred not to know about and as the trials for the guilty from the last book go on the themes of injustice vs justice with an added element of vigilantism is really interesting to read. It doesn’t have quite the complexity of the previous book, I feel like Pip was really wading through five years of secrets there that she didn’t have in this book but it was completely unputdownable.

Plot – 5/5 – it was great, it kept me guessing and I am hooked for the next book despite it resolving nicely.

Characters – 4.5/5 – they were great! Half a point deduced because the new characters of this one didn’t have quite the depth and darkness of the last book which balanced so well against Pip’s organised investigation. Love love love Ravi and his feelings about Jamie were so well expressed – he has been the family that lost their son and he is trying to desperately stop that from happening to Jamie’s family.

World – 5/5 – I love it, it is so realistic the underbelly of the little town that no one looks at but everyone kinda knows is there.

Romance – 5/5 – Soft Romance – like the last book it is a subplot but I still love it so much!

Things to be aware of: child death (referee too) serial killers, gun violence, drugs, mentions of past SA (none graphic, nothing on the page), violence in general, dangers of catfishing, also several f-bombs that all seemed to be in the same chapter but in case you avoid that I just thought I’d mention it!

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