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.
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).
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!
This is superhero satire and I love it so much! It might be the first one I have read which actually acknowledges throughout the book how toxic and weird it is that superheroes always have a love interest which is used as bait and regularly helpless in villain situations.
The world is a parallel universe (it is explicitly set in 2024) but superheroes exist and the HPA are the organisation that controls them and is essentially the superhero base. The Diviner (the only female superhero which the HPA acknowledges) is an oracle who produces prophecies of disasters in certain locations from which new superheroes will emerge. The HPA made me simmer with anger throughout, their leader Ron King ‘King Ron’ a former superhero who now leads them is such a chauvinistic man (I think they actually use that term in the book as well). He constantly sees women as weaker and thinks they can only serve as Love Interests. He is incredibly charismatic and our mc struggles to unite the different versions of him which is very realistic because he is an absolutely amazingly written character (even if I hate him).
It was so creepy the little things that were side details that the HPA did. Like Jenna’s sister Megan mentioned that the HPA like it when the Love Interests die young so that the superheroes can have their eternally twenty something love interest for merch and trauma etc. Megan Jenna’s sister is my favourite character but I cant give any spoilers so just let me say she is absolutely just so girlboss but also loves her sister and is so protective.
The essential basic plot is that Blaze a new superhero rescues a young woman (Jenna Ray) who is about his age and so the HPA and the media all assume that she will become his Love Interest. Jenna heartily disagrees with this despite finding him later attractive. I am trying really hard to not give spoilers but I do wish the author had stuck a little harder to the original Jenna’s mindset of this is never going to work between us.
Anyway we have feminism, superhero satire, an amazing supporting cast and a really evil corporation so lets do the stars!
World – 4/5 – I enjoyed it!
Plot – 4/5 – it was rapidly paced and a little predictable but I did enjoy it a lot as we uncovered the HPA’s toxicity.
Characters – 5/5 stars!
Romance – 3/5 – Soft Romance– not my favourite thing about the book, it almost undermined the message – there is romance but it feels like it is a subplot that is growing throughout the book which was nice.
Things to be aware of: sexism is the big one but I think other that its just manipulation and deception – I say just! Some fantasy violence but nothing really in a 13+ – I think you could read it younger but maybe wouldn’t enjoy it as much if you hadn’t had as much of the content it satires.
This book follows on from a Coup of Tea which introduced us to this flamboyant and fundamentally flawed society set in a low fantasy setting.
I love love love Yorani – she is a tea dragon, a spirit born of a teapot and don’t we all need a few tea dragon spirits in our TBRs? She bounces with the destructively delightful enthusiasm of a fire breathing puppy through this book and her meeting with Denials cat was utter perfection. I liked seeing more of the Te Muraka – dragon shifter people – and the beginnings of their integration into Istal communities and culture. Like the previous book it really addressed the difficulties faced by refugees and how prejudice warps society until the people in it don’t even see it anymore.
Miyara as a character has continued to grow and she definitely was more assertive with her sister Sariyana. Sariyana is her next oldest sibling and I honestly hated her. I can understand her point of view but she just went around leaking toxicity and putting Miyara into the position where she had to constantly be evaluating and asserting any independence away from what Sariyana thought best. She’s written so well that I can justifiably hate her almost think she is approaching redemption and then launch herself back into the abyss of who on earth does she think she is? Within one chapter. Miyara’s relationship with her almost felt a little like a villain origin story in an odd way. They pushed each other in the way that usually only an anti-hero and a hero do with their morals and approaches to the same situation.
But moving on to the star ratings!
Plot – I have since the first book learnt that this was released as a web serial and it makes the plot make so much more sense! The plot overarches the entire series, the are several character and world plots and then there are the tiny subplots which pop up which I love so much! I was thoroughly entertained from page to page. 5/5 stars.
Characters – 4.5 /5 stars
World – The city, the Cataclysm and we got a few accounts and mentions of other countries too! 3/5 stars! – the Cataclysm which was such an interesting part of the world of the last book isn’t in it as much, we are focusing on its effects and the things that come out of it instead.
Romance – Sweet Romance – There were several romance subplots within this ( LGBTQ+ too) and I loved them all! Miyara and her love interest also had the cute awkward scenes when she slept over (nothing happened but it was adorable) and as they made plans for their relationship to grow both physically and mentally. I enjoyed the frank conversation Miyara had with her friends about sex and how she approached Denial with it was so delightfully realistic.
Things to know!: racism, prejudice. There is also a few mentions of sex if you are bothered about that but nothing is on the page.
I love this book sooo much! I’ve just reread it for the second time and it is so much better than I remembered! (I mean I had it already as a five star read but it just got better!)
It looks and feels mostly like a cosy fantasy that follows a previously sheltered princess finding love and herself as well as a found family BUT it is so much more than that. We begin in the palace of Istralam during Miyara’s political crossroads in her life. As the fourth daughter she is expected to follow the third into a previously travelled controlled route. Miyara makes the random decision to leave fleeing the city and her family’s control. I honestly like the idea of the princess in exile because she wanted to.
This first part is the least connected to Miyara as a character and that is because she doesn’t really have a character yet. She is used to fitting into the spare corners of her cold royal family and she is used to being passive, not active. Miyara is an interesting character because she is so set in her decision – she doubts herself but not her decisions.
I love her growth and her interaction with the other characters. Ms Blair excels at hanging a lantern on how Miyara’s privilege gives her more security to change things. Because of her princess training, she can perform the tea ceremony well enough to instantly have a status in the world (more on the tea and the world later). The book explores systematic oppression (I would say deftly but it is through the experience of Miyara who has never been oppressed and is shocked by it so it isn’t subtle because Miyara isn’t subtle about it. She hasn’t been taught or learnt to ignore it or fear it or hide it or manipulate it unlike the other characters).
I also love the witch/mage idea and the idea of the witch hunts not only being sexist but also racist – the women thought to be witches are of the foreign oppressed race. It is a little bit more complex than that but I cant say anymore for spoilers!
Last thing – tea. Like the title suggests tea is very important. Tea is diplomacy, it is expression, it is universal and in this kingdom which is quite low fantasy it forms the almost magic that I hope will be explored later on.
Characters: 4/5 stars. I really like them, Miyara reflects the characters around her so well. I think the best mc’s are the ones that truly allow other people to display facets of their perspective on the world while still having their own.
Romance: 5/5 stars – Soft Romance – Its so sweet! Its also a subplot but I do love it.
Plot: 4/5 – I do like the plot but it almost comes secondary to me. For most of the book, the reasons for the plot are being developed, the oppression which makes the ultimate confrontation and take down (with legalities included and awkward councils open to bribery).
World: 4/5 – I love this world and I cant wait to explore more of it.
Things to be aware of: racism. It was tricky to give it an age rating, I would personally say that twelve and up could read it but they might enjoy it more if they were a bit older – it has a lot of moving parts in the story. The romance is very minimal so if you are looking for a read that doesn’t focus as much on the will they wont they then this is such a relax to read. Also if you are looking for an LGBTQ+ read then this is enjoyably subtle and woven in without the clumsiness of some books!
This book isn’t my usual genre, but I watched all her shorts as she developed this world with skits and parodies of the usual romance genre and I loved them. I got the book for Christmas and read it in less than 24 hours.
Layer 1
The essential basis of the book is that it is multiple layers. At the bottom there is the fantasy enemies to lovers story. It uses an older heroine whom has children the usual age of the main characters and is subsequently wiser to the world. Rosamund deals with her problems like an adult, an adult whom has already been through one political foreign marriage to Hugo and has been left a widower in a war that is being fought with the king her sister married too. Honestly the basic story while it has a twist or two on the usual tropes isn’t that exceptional. Its not supposed to be, the interaction between the characters and the author is where Bearup has focused her efforts.
Layer 2
Caroline the author talks to her characters regularly in the middle of scenes, directing them what to do and arguing with them about what to do. She is desperately trying to make genre expectations work despite characters whom are actively rebelling against her outline.
Layer 3
Carolines own life with her annoying CFO at a tech firm. Essentially it is there to support Carolines frustrations with her character and also to slid in some parallels like the book plot reflecting her own life just with a more satisfying ending.
Layer 4
Editor Comments. Like the gorgeous cover which looks half way through editing, Henry her hot editor (his descriptor throughout all of the book) occasionally puts in a note about historical accuracy and she responds with her own ideas.
It sounds complicated, and it semi is. I struggled for a few chapters to get a grasp on the rapid switching of POV and layers. I think that Caroline chiming in for only a few lines and then ducking back out was the hardest thing for me to follow. I do know that I read exceptionally fast, and so reading the book that fast means that I do wrestle with Pov changes that are that small because I have to double back and figure out who said what.
The point of this book is to parody and show a different side of an authors life, the one whom wrestles with deadlines, her other life and horrible historical limitations that should NOT exist in fantasy (but have to. For the record if it is a historical fantasy I don’t want modern inventions!) Its not what I usually would review but I do think its worth a read if you read a lot of fantasy/romance/anything in the YA/adult popular booktok categories that centre on magical systems.
Plot – 3/5
Characters – 3/5
Romance – 3.5/5 – Sweet Romance – (I am giving a lot of 3s! but the Romances of both, Leo and Rosamund (sweet and I did like it.) and Henry and Caroline (sneaking in that boss/employee trope in there to play with which I usually hate but can just let slide this time.) NB – I did appreciate that Bearup had Leo (mmc) point out the flaws in her plan for him to make an inappropriate comment during the plot.
World – 4/5 – Standard fantasy world but with some interesting world building details thrown in. because what we are reading is the first draft, there are a few notes that Caroline will add more lore in later. I would have liked that lore in the book but still a good dual world with multiple aspects.
Things to be aware of: so for the age I have no clue, its mostly suitable I’d say 12+B but the actual content does not reflect whom it is written for. I would hesitate to say it is a YA novel, I would say it is an adult novel that is enjoyable and its content is suitable. I would honestly recommend this for after all the samey samey romantasys and random rom-coms. I have been reading a lot lately so this was nice to see my own thoughts reflected.
Overall I am delighted that the skits managed to turn into a manageable book and if you are looking for a chill read with a relaxing predictability and some new interesting perspectives then give it a go!
This first book introduces us to the eleven-year-old Celie and her siblings Rolf and Delilah. As the youngest child of King Glower the seventy-ninth (I have an entire blog post dedicated to this delightful legacy of the name and how it affects the succession but back to the point). Celie as the youngest of King Glower is given a lot more freedom than her siblings, and spends her days roaming around the ever changing sentient castle. She keeps a sheaf of papers with the Castle maps with her that she regularly changes and alters to keep up with the ever changing castle.
The Castle itself is an immensely powerful sentient building – but we know nothing about it. The inhabitants know nothing either, and Celie mentions a few of the varying theories about how the Castle brought rooms back and forth depending on the need. For the extra house guests the castle grows several more rooms, tailored to its feelings about the guests. If it doesn’t like you, it kicks you out and the Castle’s actions are uncontrollable by the Royals who live there.
As we see, the house guests and villagers are suitably leery of the idea of a sentient castle. Pogue Parry, Princess Delilah’s flirter (I wont say suitor because their relationship feels to me like they both know it wont last) acknowledges this, saying it is only because he has seen it with his own eyes multiple times he can believe it. I like this dose of realism, of course people wouldn’t honestly believe in an unexplainable sentience of a building they hadn’t seen.
I just love this book. It was one of the first series I read that really managed to dip into so many different aspects of fantasy and serious odds while retaining that feeling of being wrapped in a warm blanket. It may just be because I have read it so many times but this book has only been reread so many times because of its warm feel. I don’t know how else to describe it, just read it!
Plot – 4/5 – Love it, every time I am still just as excited and delighted at each turn even though I really should know what happens by now)
World – 5/5 – gushed about it in my review, the Castle location is simply divine. I love it. It is rare that a book with just one location can get a 5 stars from me, but despite the fact they never leave the castle, I love it! (and the world gets better and better and more complex as you delve deeper into the series!)
Romance – NA – no real romance, Lilah and Pogue flirt a tiny bit.
Characters – 4/5 – I do like the characters a lot, they are enjoyable and interesting. Celie actually feels like an eleven year old! Its so rare that characters under twelve actually match their literary age and so this fits perfectly.
Things to be aware of: Honestly not much, there are mentions of death or planned death but nothing on the page.
Okay so I admit I was a little wary going in. Its one of those books that everyone either loves or hates (and they ping pong back from review to review) so I wasnt sure I was going to enjoy it. BUT! I did. Its not my usual genre – its contempory mystery thriller with a subplot of romance that I fear is going to become a love triangle but I’m suspecting it’ll be an excellent one. From the back I thought it would be more of a light easy read – a few puzzles thrown in and a bit like a game of Cluedo with four brothers every review goes on about OR a dark thriller about truely how far the rich would go to keep their wealth and power.
Avery is quite a stereotypical lead and we can understand her character very quickly. Its needed because the rest of the characters have layers upon layers and yet nothing. Her best friend Maxine’s odd swearing got a little on my nerves. Instead of using the actual words she substituted them them frequently. I almost wish that she had just said the words, I found myself having to figure out what her convoluted swearing substitutions actually meant. That said I did like how Avery was called out on her self absorbed behavior – the mc often has the most drama, but that is no reason not to know your best friends boyfriends name.
The four brothers felt a little samey but it was really interesting to see just how far the machinations of their grandfather went. Tobias Hawthorne was truly either a genius or a twisted psychopath and I cant decide if he was both. Greyson, Nash, Jameson and Xander have been pitted against each other constantly as children in these challenges and games. The old man would set up these complex riddles for them to follow, and in the end the boys were encouraged to backstab and betray each other to get to the answer first.
The supporting characters were interesting and I wish that Skye the mother got more page time, it would be interesting to hear her side of the really unjust inheritance system and toxic grandfather whom pitted everyone against each other.
The world is well…this one. Usually in fantasy/dystopian I talk about the world building and lore but because its contempory I’m going to talk about the locations. Hawthorne House is the perfect setting – all those tunnels and passages and just how deep Tobias Hawthornes plan runs inside the bones of the house is incredible. I wish we had got more time at the private school, it felt like Avery barely dipped her toe into that world but the book does take place over less than a week so I’m just hoping for more in the next book.
The plot was interesting. Overall it was complex and many layered but the solution was found very easily. This is because the plot was entirely engineered by Tobias Hawthorne and we as the reader have no clue about his motivations yet. I felt Avery was a little swept away and confused (understandably) by her new world and it is really interesting just how easily she is manipulated. In a lot of books the character either doesnt realise they are being manipulated until they are told, or does a cynics stand against it and likely ends up in some kind of plot point anyway. However Avery was realistically stranded with an unreliable sister (Libby whom I do like but she isnt in the best place to help Avery) in a out of state manor with people who detest her.
Romance is the one thing I am not sure how I feel about. Jameson and Avery appear to be getting into a relationship but then not at the same time (I am so glad the DNA test came back quickly tho) and the other characters romance is all in the past.
Emily is the main subplot point that guides the main plot. Its interesting to wonder if Tobias was intentionally bringing her back up or if it was accidental. Either way, Emily as a character serves as the warning for what Avery could become. She had two of the Hawthorne boys, Jameson and Grayson and in the end she loved both and neither because she wanted the experience of being a millionaire more than the boys. Avery is juxtaposed against Emily with a few key differences.
Plot – 4/5
World – 3/5 – I dont know what it is but I just didnt grasp the world quite as well as usual despite the fact I live on the same planet.
Characters – 4/5
Romance – 3/5 – Sweet Romance – hardly there to be honest but i can feel the love triangle coming on.
Things to be aware of: Death, manipulation, domestic abuse (none on the page but mentioned)
This book is the second in the Oescienne series and it just builds on the world and characters that were established in book 1! This one follows Jahrra from about twelve to seventeen and see as she grows and develops in her character with the trials that are put against her.
We get to see the world developed more as Jahrra travels to different places within it and we get to see even more of Denaeh, the Mystic. I love Denaeh, she is a complex character who often goes against what other characters think is right for Jahrra and tries to slowly prepare Jahrra for the reveal of the Prophecy which is looming. She disagrees with Hroombra and Jaxx about keeping Jahrra’s race a secret from her, but it is also interesting that she doesnt outright tell her. I cant say any more because of spoilers but she is such an interesting character!
Jahrra still doesnt know that she’s human, and the Crismon King’s influence is slowly spreading into the sheltered world Jahrra lives in. It is a really interesting portrayal of a fantasy character being raised. It is quite common for them to either have been raised in the capital, fully aware of their power or to have been raised on a farm somewhere in the middle of nowhere. However Jahrra is raised being already trained and turned into the hero that Oescienne needs. Sometimes I am literally begging her to take a step back and think about why she is being prepared for such random things.
One of the facets of Jahrra’s character is her stubbornness and I think this plays into a lot of her interactions with the characters, she stubbornly hates Jaxx (but lets be honest he doesnt help at all there and is very antagonistic), she stubbornly tries to prove over and over that she is as good as Eydeth and Ellysian (the Resnai bullies) by completing challenges that should be impossible. She also is stubbornly trusting despite other people’s warnings. Her friends are wary of Denaeh, but Jahrra trusts her almost blindly despite proof to the contrary. However I do enjoy her stubbornness because it comes from a place of love, not arrogance like a lot of fantasy leads.
World – 4/5 – In the next book we get to see so much more of it and it is sooooo good!
Plot – 4.5 /5 – It starts coming together in this book as we start to go on a more classic heroine’s journey towards her realisation.
Characters – 5/5 – and on a separate note Denaeh may have won a whole extra point for her mysterious and yet in a way oddly trustworthy actions.
Things to be aware of: The bullying from the last books continues into this book and earns it a B because it steps up a bit. There is death and grief like the last book.
Damsel in Delight 