Tag: strong female lead

Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik

This is a short story collection that includes some stories from the Scholomance and the Temenarie series. While you dont have to have read the Temenarie series to read its short stories (no spoilers there) the scolomance shorties do essentially spoil the huge ending of book two and the ending of book three (which I haven’t read yet but could have guessed). Either way, it’s full of so many stories that even if you skip the scolomance ones then you’ll still have a lot of Naomi Novik to luxuriate in.

Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake
⭐️⭐️⭐️
This one was first and honestly not my favourite of the collection. It’s a fun short story set in the regency period with a female main lead who has a talisman that helps her survive when her ship is attacked by pirates because it turns her into a man. I enjoyed it at the time, but it wasn’t very memorable for me however its a good start to the collection because its a familiar premise with Noviks sharp wit and prose before she truely shows what she can do with some of the later ones which are some of the most original fantasy I’ve read in a long time!

After Hours
I did skip this one once I realised there were spoilers for the third book in it but I’m planning on returning after I’ve read the golden enclaves book.

Vici
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Lots of people dont like this one from reviews but i loved it! It was mark Antony with dragons and the founding of the dragon corps. It was short sweet and had literally everything I like in it. My only complaint is that it was too short for me to really give it those full five stars because we only saw a few pages of this but it was so good!

Dragons & Decorum
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a pride and prejudice retelling with dragons set in the Temenarie world and I loved it! The wit of the dragons, the connection between Elizabeth and Darcy and the fact that Naomi Novik can so closely mirror the chemistry and cleverness of the first in a short story is amazing.

Commonplaces
⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was essentially fan fiction of a character from Sherlock and while it was interesting and engaging enough because i had not read the book that this one was based on I think i missed some of the callbacks that people who have read the book may have enjoyed.

Buried Deep
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story was so sad. It was the retelling of Ariadne and the Minotaur but focusing on their brother sister relationship and the pain of having someone you love torn away from you. The pain of the characters truely came through and i could feel every time Ariadne stomped the pattern across her brothers labyrinth to remind him she was still here for him in my heart. It’s almost making me cry even now it was so beautiful and i wish that Naomi Novik would write more Greek myths.

Seven Years from Home
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was the one that for me felt like a novel. It was beautiful and complex featuring a soldier sent to colonise a nation but grows to learn that she in fact respects their way of life but she is still loyal to her Confederacy. The magic system in this book is so so strong I’m taken aback by it, the exploration of how you can seperate morality and reason and the way that such a short time somewhere can leave a lasting impression on you was so beautifully explored. Another one that almost made me cry by the end, it’s rare i read something as perfect as this.

The Long Way Around
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I hope she does like she hinted make this into a novel this is a sea journey that explores strange lands through the perspective of some of the best shipbuilders in the land. Tress was capable and logical and i loved her pragmatism against her brothers romantic and optimistic ways. We have a doomed romance between secondary characters in this, strange buildings and a possibility to change the course of their world’s shipping lanes. I cant wait to see if we are going to get more in this world!

Spinning Silver
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’ve read the book of this and i enjoyed it so the shorter version that was the original was fun to read! I loved the way that it delved into her economic sense. It’s so rare for a heroine to be smart and actually have some business sense in a YA book that i was in love from the beginning. I love cruel practical heroines and this one was perfection.

Lord Dunsany’s Teapot
⭐️⭐️⭐️
So so short but fun to read – despite being about a magical artifact in the world wars! Definitely worth a read it has some gorgeous imagery and hope and humanity to it!

I cant remember much about the rest of them, i think there were a few more but they weren’t long enough that I found them memorable personally. Still there were none that i disliked and would have rated lower than three stars which is super impressive considering some of them were literally only about twenty pages.

Romance and Violence Ratings are both very low for all, Seven years from home is the only one that had some described death and pain. Romance wise all the kisses are G rated and no description.

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Burn the Sea by Mona Tewari




Pub Date: 21st of April 2026
Publisher: Bindery Books
Genre: Fantasy, retelling,
Age Category: 

As I was reading this book, I was thinking that it almost was historical fiction in feel except set in a fantasy world. And I think that that is a really good way of describing the luxurious world but always realistic political landscape in this book – so many fantasy books ignore what you actually have to do to rule a country, and so I loved that this didn’t shy away from the fact that sometimes an arranged marriage is the only option for the countries future even if it isn’t the best for yours. Of course when I read the authors acknowledgments at the end which discussed how this was actually a fantasy retelling of the story of Rani Abbakka Chowta, an amazing queen whom like so many others has been diminished in history books but this I feel was a worthy tribute because honestly it has no faults. Every piece of language is beautiful and lyrical and all the emotions feel so real. I will admit to staying up late for this book and I’m so happy that I started November with this book because it’s a five star of five stars!

The “othering” of the colonisers is one of my favourite things I’ve read this year, just twisting the narrative to show a different perspective which is what all fantasy should do.

The arranged marriage relationship was so strong because the man she marries isnt her happily ever after but he isnt the worst human imaginable which are usually the two ways that the arranged marriage storyline goes so I LOVED that!

I can’t wait until this comes out because I need someone else to gush over all the little beautiful heartwrenching things in this book!

World – 5/5 – yess! I love Mantana and the birds so much, and the way that she interacts with them as a child and then as an adult. The world itself is so vibrant and seems to come off the page with food and smells and textures.

Plot – 5/5 – I loved it.

Characters – 4.5/5 – I’ve already talked about Mantana the green lion so let me talk about the others! They were all really individual strong characters which I loved but I wish that we had got a taste of Thevon and his childhood a bit more but I think that will come in the next book because the cliff hanger is a two hundred feet one!

Romance – 4/5 – we don’t get much at all, but its very promising so I cant wait!

Romance Rating: Sweet – kissing and making out are described and mentioned. We know that they sleep together but it is less than a paragraph in past tense and euphemistic on page.

Violence Rating: Level 4 – nothing unusual in fantasy but there are sustained bloody fights which go on for more than a chapter which I loved but might be a bit much for some people.

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The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

14+

To begin with why is this not more famous than the inheritance games? This book is flawless, and honestly? It deserves the title of the best of series ten times over because what do you mean I was absorbed and obsessed from page one?

Okay so the premise surrounds the FBI and serial killers – the FBI are secretly using children with almost supernatural abilities to track down serial killers and our main character has just been recruited.

To begin with, the way that Jennifer writes the serial killers perspective is just so so stunning and dark, and I absolutely adore that it really shows how psychological it is to have to figure out a serial killers motive. There is this undercurrent throughout that the only way they can figure out the serial killers is because they are one push away from becoming them themselves which is just perfection and I adore a good moral edge.

This is much darker than the Inheritance Games and her debutante series because it focuses on the worse of murders and also abusive households. All of the children in the program come from extremely abusive homes because that is the reason they have developed these abilities – to read emotions, to understand patterns and numbers, to tell when someone is lying perfectly even on paper, to be able to lie over and over and get away with it.

World – 5/5 – dark, gritty, perfection.

Romance – Soft – 5/5 – we have a love triangle emerging but unusually I actually get both the men’s appeal so I’m loving that!

Plot – 5/5 – I was shook by the end! It was so good and so out of no where that honestly you just need to read it!

Characters – 10000/5 – yes. Just yes they are so complex and difficult and I want a spin off from all of their POVS!

Romance Rating: Soft – kisses, low description, no making out.

Violence Rating: Level 5

Content Warnings: abuse, serial killers, domestic abuse, child abuse, murder, blood, guns.

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Poison Study by Maria V Snyder

15+

I have so many thoughts about this one because it is such a difficult read to review. This is the third time I have read this book and it manages to surprise and horrify me even though I know what is going to happen.

I think I’m going to start with the romance, because this is the most difficult part to pin down, especially with no spoilers. We do have romance close to the end (I rated it Sweet) but I really struggled with the age gap, 19 and 33, and I think that might be why I cannot give it a full five stars. Fantasy so often has these HUGE age gaps and sometimes when it is within human lifespan parameters it is trickier for me to except than when the MMC is like five hundred plus years. If we ignore the age gap, and the power dynamics, I do really enjoy how the enemies-to-lovers trope is drawn out so they are properly enemies first.

The world is military fantasy based. The Commander has taken over from the old king, divided up the kingdom underneath Generals and everyone is assigned to a specific duty. I would have loved some more exploration of that, but the touches we did get showed the effects upon the people of the palace. It is really clear how Yelena sees the world especially after her very traumatic experiences, and the subsequent betrayals mean that we see through her a world that is grimly political and mostly emotional less.

Characters – 4/5 – I enjoy them a lot!

Romance – 3/5 – Sweet – I have already said something so I will let it be.

World – 4/5 – solid fantasy world

Plot – 4/5.- there are no twist around moments that make you gasp out loud because it is a slow reveal. Part of the beauty of the plot is that the protagonist almost knows what is going to happen and what she is going to find but just cant admit it to herself yet.

Romance Rating: Sweet

Violence Rating: Level 6

Content Warnings: SEVERE – rape, (past, vividly remembered and practically on page), physical abuse, child abuse, torture, sexual assault (from a different man, this is on page, she is clothed but causes PTSD from the last time)

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We Are The Beasts by Gigi Griffis

15+

Honestly this was great! I wasn’t expecting this at all, and I may say that before but this one was a read I don’t think I will ever forget.

Set in a medieval (or perhaps colonial times? It’s tricky to pin down exactly!) French village, the Beast is a unknown power that roams the hills and kills shepherdesses, growing a reputation as something supernatural. Our two main characters discover the victim of one of the beasts hunts and a survivor of a little girl hiding in the trees and from there they decide to use the beasts murders as a cover to get the girls of the village away from the abusive men. However as the king sends soldiers to hunt down the beast, the beast itself roams closer and everyone teeters on the verge of famine, it has become far more complicated than they could have ever imagined. But it is their only chance of getting out.

I genuinely am not sure how this one has not become a booktok obsession because it is dark and twisty and teeters on the edge of the supernatural – honestly this is going to be a best read of 2025 I know it!

Plot – 5/5 – perfection.

Characters – 10000/5 – so so so good, I honestly cannot describe how great these characters are. From the insolent soldiers to the scared girls all seeking a way out to the Beast itself roaming the woods hunting its prey they are just all so complex and intriguing.

Romance – NA – there is no romance, a hint of it perhaps between the main two girls but it might just be a very close friendship. Especially with how dark it is and how they are constantly in high stress tension ruled scenarios I cant tell.

World – 1000/5 – dark and historically inspired??? Sign me up, I loved it!

Romance Rating: NA

Violence Rating: Level 5

Content Warnings: Domestic violence (a lot, but not described explicitly on page), sexual violence (hinted at, and discussed in the past, one attempt by a priest is stopped), child death.

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A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizel

Let me start with wow and go from there.

This is a simply stunning book that felt like a piece of art to read. We had so many historical and mythical references, a real mix of genres and throughout a plot that I couldn’t predict.

Let me start with the world. We have a tinge of Arthurian Legend, one of our main characters is called Arthie and she pulls a pistol from a stone. The lore around that was just so intricate too – a few sentences that don’t matter much to the plot but really highlight how everything is machined in this city that is ruled by a masked king. And Arthie goes directly against all the rules that should oppose her.

The world doesn’t stop at a touch of the Arthurian though, we also have a gloriously vivid depiction of a empire and colonialism and the EJC (The East Javeet Company = East India Company!) which throughout ties to this depiction of a city which feels at once same to our world but yet so far away in others.

From vampires that lurk the street and the serial killer vampire that gave them their bad name, the daughter of the EJC being part of a huge heist and it all led by a main character who has built an empire of secrets in the empire that stole her family.

Simply everything, it feels raw and intricate and deserves so much more hype than it has!

Plot – 4/5 – It was slower in the middle but the first and last 100 pages were simply breathtaking.

World – 5/5 – I’ve already gushed about this and I am sure there are details I have missed because it is just so full of tiny details that I cant wait to pick up on my next read-through (because this is going straight back on the reread pile!)

Characters – 4/5 – yes. Just yes. They all have personalities and they all have secrets and they all have motivations and honestly I just need the sequel now!

Romance – 5/5 – Sweet – oh this gave me all the butterflies. Honestly the wait was worth it and I need all the details because the last few pages have me in a whirlwind of theories!

Damsel Age Recommendation – 14+B

Romance Rating: Sweet (kissing, cuddling, clothes on, very mild innuendo) – honestly this one almost felt Suggestive but that’s just because the characters had such chemistry –  in actuality there is hardly any kissing just all the chemistry in the world!

Violence Rating: Level 4 – but there is no SA in it, this is for the violence!

Content Warnings: Colonalism, genocide, blood (minor descriptions).

 

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Fire by Kristen Cashore

15+

This reminded me what fantasy truly can and should be. I had a stream for the last few months of okay books that weren’t quite bad enough to put down but not overall worth remembering after I closed the last page so this really stood out and I am so glad I picked it up.

This is the second book in the Graceling Realm Series but you could also read it first as it has no spoilers and chronologically comes before Graceling. I would however recommend reading it second because not only does it give us a new world it also gives  a villain origin story.

Fire is such a different lead to Katsa but I don’t love her any less! As a ‘monster’ she has such beauty that people around her become entranced and often attack her or stalk her for her beauty. She can read minds and so she is constantly surrounded by a barrage of people who hate her for the beauty she possesses and yet love her because they are attracted to her.

As you can probably tell this book does have more sexual harassment than Graceling (check the content warnings!) and yet it never feels overpowering just an exploration of how even a girl who can see everyone’s intentions is often ensnared in their predatory desires.

The rest of the cast are honestly great in their own right. Most of them I love to hate like Nate and Archer (the later of whom the narrator Fire never holds fully accountable because they used to be lovers and she still views him very fondly but from a readers perspective he is absolutely abhorrent by the end). Others I love to love and I am definitely going to have to reread this one very soon because it is just so so so good.

And the world. That animals could manipulate humans with their minds? That the whole world revolves around monsters and humans yet Fire is somehow both? And above all Fire’s determination to use her powers for good after she saw what her father used them for.

Read this. Honestly one of the best series I have ever read.

Romance – 5/5 – Soft – not really heavily present in the story but I love what’s there.

World – 100000/5 – perfection. Literal perfection.

Characters – 100000/5 – EVERYTHING I WANT AND MORE. I am obsessed with these characters and I think I may continue to be until my dying day (Taylor reference!).

Plot – 5/5 – it isn’t a quest plot, a romance plot or a become powerful plot it’s a plot which incorporates war, politics, self discovery, betrayal and a terrifying magic that only you believe is happening.

Age Recommendation: 14+B/Upper YA/Adult Crossover

Romance Rating: Soft

Violence Rating: Level 4

Content Warnings: Rape (mentioned in the past to other characters), Sexual Assault (happens on page to the MC in various degrees of severity but she is able to extract herself before it goes very far) Teenaged Pregnancy, Animal Abuse (past)

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Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume

13+

Okay so this is a YA classic, Judy Blume has wrote so many YA books and so far this is the third of hers I have read! I whipped through this in a few hours, it was easy to read and yet the emotional impact behind the story was really powerful and honestly when it finished I would have read another 300 pages of Daveys journey.

To me this book felt like a snapshot of a time which Davey will never revisit again in her life, a time of upheaval and grief but also one of the most important periods of her life with people she will never forget. Grief is something that is really explored in this book, Davey’s father has been shot in his convienence store and the entire family is left in shambles after this.

Going to live with their relatives in New Mexico to live out the aftermath and get away from the horror of what happened Davey and her family are introduced to this really capsule town. Everyone works at the Lab, everyone is defined by were and what position they work in the Lab and even the houses like Bathtub Row are linked to the ever present factory. The paranoia of her aunt and uncle, the alcoholism of her new friend Jane, the mysterious boy Wolf and above all dealing with the fact that her father is not coming back.

I honestly have no words for this book, it is raw, it is full of grief and exploration of what it means to be safe in a world that has shown you betrayal and in the end I am going to have to read more of her work!

Romance –5/5 Soft – barely present really and not the focus of the book.

World – 1000/5 – I have talked about it above but the idea of going to live in a town that is full of people who create bombs and other warfare and are incredibly paranoid because of that is something I havent seen explored before.

Characters – 5/5 – all of them are so distinct and real except Wolf who isn’t supposed to be. I really want to know what happens to Davey after the events of this book, after she returns to New Mexico and her old life and how much her time away changed her.

Plot – 5/5 – I was there, I loved it, the plot isn’t as driven as some books I have read recently and that’s because its not supposed to be an adventure its supposed to be the story of violence and grief and yet everyday teenager experiences.

Age Recommendation: 12+ is when I think you would probably enjoy it best but honestly this book feels so timeless that I think you could read it earlier around 11 if you wanted to.

Romance Rating: Soft – as in barely there, I honestly debated putting a NA on it because it really isn’t very relevant to the story.

Violence Rating: Level 2 – this was tricky because it does have Gun Violence in it and a lot of grief however on the page there isn’t much violence.

Content Warnings: Gun Violence, Death, Grief, Child Alcholism, mention of SA (briefly mentioned by a character as something that happens) Racism (one mention, less than a sentence.)

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Fearless by Lauren Roberts

14+B

Wow. This only came out yesterday and my copy was only delivered at eight but I raced through this one in only a few reading hours! Let me just start by saying that Powerless as a series has been one of my favourites that I found in 2024 and I have been slightly stalking on all the socials any teasers or snippets but oh my goodness was it so much better than I could have dreamed!

This book returns to the format of Powerless with three trials, however these are centered around Bravery, Brutality and Benevolence which are the three things that the last king thought a good ruler needed to be. Paedyn is engaged to Kitt as we know from the last few pages of Reckless and this time she is solo tackling these challenges which will prove to the court that she deserves to be queen – even if she is Ordinary. I really enjoyed how Paedyn doesn’t flinch away from saying that she wants power, she enjoys it she says that it is everything she wanted since she was a child. In a league of romantasy books where the FMC wants to be a ‘normal girl’ Paedyns character has stuck out to me from page 1 of Powerless. She welcomes any power that she survives to get and she will become so powerful that the powerless like her have no choice but to be welcomed back into Ilya.

Of course this is a romantasy so how could I not chat a little about the romance! Kai Azer won my heart from the first page but this book really showed just how their relationship was in someways inevitable, in some ways because of other people’s decisions but overall the tension and chemistry that pulls them together even when she is engaged to his brother. All my reviews are spoiler free so I wont continue but oh my goodness did they have to weather a lot of storms but by the end I honestly don’t think any other ending could have worked as well as the one Lauren Roberts wrote!

Let’s go to the star ratings!

World – 4/5 stars – it is solid and I really enjoyed seeing a little bit more of it in the second trial but it is a relatively normal fantasy world that I have seen portrayed a lot before so I can’t say that it is completely original and new but I can say that it fits the story perfectly and illustrates the divide between powerful and the ordinary!

Plot – 5/5 – Romance may be the plot but the plot isn’t all romance! We have so many twists and turns and reveals that I am going to have to go back through and reread the first ones with new eyes!

Characters – 4.5/5 – I love them so much, Kai and Kitt really show the differences that an upbringing can make and also the different damages of psychological abuse and physical on how people grow up to view the world. Paedyn as always is amazing and her POVs are always so distinct in contrast to the royals Kitt and Kai as well as (little tiny spoiler here Edrics pov) which shows the divide in the world viewpoint very well!

Romance – Suggestive/Fade to Black after little buildup – 5/5 – it’s a romantasy this is what we are here for! We had some really great romantic moments that I definitely need to quote over and over again in all of my reviews forever more but I just loved this one!

Age recommendation: YA, 13+

Romance Rating: Suggestive/Fade to Black after little buildup. This is not steamy making out at all, it feels very soft and honestly it almost borders on sweet.

Violence Rating: Level 4. While violence does happen its not as much as a lot of books I read and it never feels graphic or gorey.

Content Warnings: Betrayal, infidelity.

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Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

13+

My copy of Sunrise on the Reaping just arrived and I realised that I haven’t done any reviews for the original trilogy or Ballard so today I am going to remedy that before I start reading it.

Hunger Games is famous for a reason – the stunning dystopian world, so harsh and merciless yet portrayed in a way that expertly and subtly satirises our own world. It is just everything and honestly this book belongs on the best YA books for a reason.

We get introduced to Katniss on the most terrifying day of the year – the Reaping day. Instantly the world is painted for us in bright colour, the harshness and divide between the districts and capital as well as the injustice within the drawing of the slips from the Reaping ball. Essentially gambling your life on the fact that your slip wont be drawn so you can get a meager amount of grain to bring home is so dystopian yet we don’t doubt for a second that the whole of district 12 has done this at some point – and the slips are cumulative. The poorer you are the more chance you have of death by starvation which means you put more slips in which means you have more chance of dying on live tv.

I could talk about the stunning dystopian world forever – but I suspect everyone knows the basics of this series so let me continue to the star ratings!

World – 100000/5 –  so so much within it. Every little detail has so much more linked to it – we are in a world that Suzanne Collins has so much more going on than we ever know! With little snippets into other games, and the fact that everyone thinks that this is normal – it is a truly dystopian world unlike any other.

Romance – Sweet – 5/5 – the romance and the emerging love triangle and the fact that Katniss and Peeta’s relationship is based entirely on survival and what will get them sponsors – right?

Characters – 5/5 – from the Tributes who have been raised to think that dying for the Capitals amusement will get them honour and that they should volunteer to Rue to Prim, Katniss’s motivation for survival and to the over the top Caesar Flickerman who seems so jovial but is literally making childrens deaths into a sport they are all so real I feel like I could hold conversations with them! Katniss herself is a heroine who is truly strong, she has the skills that despite her disadvantage and the fate of 12 tributes before her she will do her best to come home!

Plot  – 5/5 –  yes. Just yes. From reveals to plot twists to fights and interviews we have a plot which is almost completely contrived by Gamemakers who want to make the games as entertaining as possible. But as always humans are not controllable and especially when it comes to survival!

Romance Rating: Sweet: Kissing, cuddling, clothes on, mild innuendo.

Violence Rating: Level 5

Content Warnings: obviously death, on page and off page, grief, survival, starvation, dehydration, manipulation.

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