The Lion & the Deathless Dark by. Carissa Broadbent | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: The Lion & the Deathless Dark (Crowns of Nyaxia, #5)

Author: Carissa Broadbent

Pages: 560

Format: ebook (kindle unlimited)

Publication Date: 8/4/26

Categories: Fantasy, Romance, Vampires, Gods, Series

Some blood tastes like vengeance. Some blood tastes like grief. Some blood tastes like nothing at all.

Under an eternal night, the world has been ravaged by ten years of war between humans and vampires. Kyrene scrapes by as a bounty hunter, bearing a blessed sword from the goddess of justice. But in the wake of a devastating loss, Kyrene commits a crime that makes her a target for mortals and gods alike – and she is still desperate for vengeance.

Her only chance at survival – and revenge – is making a deal with her enemy, the silver-tongue vampire prince, Septimus, who offers her one final to slay the gods themselves.

Together, Kyrene and Septimus must hunt the ultimate marks, all while navigating a web of prophecies and curses. Septimus is calculating and mysterious, masking secrets bloodthirsty enough to consume them both. Yet, most dangerous of all, Kyrene finds an unexpected kinship in him.

But their growing attraction is deadly in a world where the only currency is blood. And Kyrene will stop at nothing to fulfill her ultimate to kill the goddess of vampires, even if it means sacrificing love for revenge.

Content Warning: violence, death, gore, grief

What can I say about another book in the Crowns of Nyaxia that has made me care about the characters, grips me with the story telling and then made me gasp at the end and now I NEED the next book. I can’t even believe the next book will be the last in the series. I have loved this series from book one and it has never disappointed me, which is absolutely amazing. So the thought of it coming to an end in the next book actually makes me sad.

I loved the storytelling which is a given with all the books in this series. The characters, Kyrene, the FMC is filled with rage, wields a godly sword just hacking away at enemies and Gods. She is the Vindica Ultis. There is violence, lots of blood and even sometimes gore. She has no fear, but has so much trauma and a secret that shocked me. Septimus, the Bloodborn cursed MMC, where’s white, smokes vanilla scented cigarillos to keep his curse at bay, has self-control (mostly), wears glasses and reads to Kyrene. What can I say but that I loved both of them, down to their raw, flawed state. Both are anti-heroes, Kyrene has the title and the sword, but she doesn’t have the desire to be the good hero everyone sees her to be. She doesn’t do emotional attachment, which made me hurt for her when she allows herself to feel grief. And Septimus, who wants the curse to end with him, to spare the rest of his family. Both want to kill the Gods for different reasons and they team up to try and carry out this goal.

The romance is slow burn and so good! The banter between Kyrene and was Septimus was great, she’s wild and he’s always in control so seeing her try to always make it lose it is so much fun. And that scene where he drinks her blood? Perfection.

So much of this story was devastating, and the ending is emotional with the twist leaving me needing the next book right away. I was rooting for Kyrene so, so hard. I wanted her and Septimus to achieve their goal and create the world they dreamed.

One thing I found fascinating and different was the machines! I was not expecting this story to have machinists and even a god who was made of parts. But I love how each book opens up the world in this series.

Quotes From the Book:

“What’s life without a few regrets?” – The Lion and the Deathless Dark by. Carissa Broadbent

“Monsters recognize monsters.” – The Lion and the Deathless Dark by. Carissa Broadbent

Final Thoughts:

I love this series and this book was everything I expected it to be. It opened the world of this series even more, it is violent, devastating and emotional. And the only regret I have is I wish I didn’t read it until the next book came out because now I have to wait so long, hopefully not too long! I’m also pretty sure I’m going to be so sad when this series ends because I have loved all the characters and the romance. I’m ready to see what happens to these Gods and if Kyrene and Septimus can take them down.

Read if you like:

Crowns of Nyaxia series
slow burn romance
vampires and Gods
female rage

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk by. Carissa Broadbent | Book Review– 4.5 stars/2 🌶️

The Songbird & the Heart of Stone by. Carissa Broadbent| ARC Review – 4.5 stars

Six Scorched Roses by. Carissa Broadbent | Book Review – 4.5 stars

The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by. Carissa Broadbent | Book Review – 4.5 stars

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by. Carissa Broadbent | Book Review – 5 stars

**I’m pretty sure I read Slaying the Vampire Conqueror but never wrote a review so I will be re-reading and doing a review soon**

**I also read Daughter of No Worlds, up to book 2 but never wrote reviews because I just started my blog I believe so I will be doing a re-read of those and reviewing them also!**

Nest of Tongues by. Randy Ribay | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Nest of Tongues

Author: Randy Ribay

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 384

Publication Date: 8/11/26

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Categories: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Vampires, Filipino Mythology/Folklore

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Random House Books for Young Readers for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

As Filipino vampires known as manananggal, Lily and her brother Caleb understand the value of a secret. After all, to hide is to survive. To lie is to live. They’d never harm another person—but people only believe their worst fears around creatures of myth. So the siblings stay quiet. They follow their community’s rules.

Until a monster hunter turns up and kills a fellow manananggal, anyway.

Until Caleb is marked as the hunter’s next prey.

Suddenly, he and Lily realize there’s always been more at stake than the lives of their people. Because when doing everything “right” is still a death sentence, what can they take as truth? As the hunter nears, the siblings must decide if they’ll be driven from the only home they’ve ever known . . . or fight to protect a community that may already be lost.

Content Warning: violence, death

+ I was ecstatic to get my hands on this arc because I read one book from this author and loved it. Plus this one was about the manananggal (I’m Ilocano so all I ever knew them as was the Aswang). So the fact that all these scary Filipino mythology and folklore monsters was being feature in a book was exciting to me! I loved learning all about the different creatures and monsters I didn’t know about and was delighted when I read something familiar like the white lady apparition that seems to be common in Filipino ghost stories.

+~ I love that the manananggal was the good guys in this book. I like how it explores the theme of good and evil. I mean there are always two sides to a story right? So most of the story is a mystery about who this bayani could be that is killing the manananggals and it’s a race to stop them before it kills Caleb. And Lily is not about to let that happen. Also, I loved their Lola (grandmother) she made me laugh a few times, and there were times I wished Lily treated her with a little more respect, but I get it – families are complicated, which is explored in the story as well.

+~ Mysteries always feel a little bit slow to me, so there were times I wish it moved faster. There is action, mostly in the second half, and secrets that are revealed in the end. Mostly, I just enjoyed being immersed in the Filipino-American culture that was featured in the book, especially the family and community elements.

+~ This is a young adult book and yes Lily and Caleb, are very young adult in the way they act and speak. These kids curse a lot, which is realistic, but it was a lot more than I was expecting and a bit too much for me at times. But I did enjoy how close they were as siblings, they looked out for one another. Lily was a protective big sister and would do anything to keep Caleb safe.

Final Thoughts:

I’m very excited to see a story based on Filipino mythology and folklore since that’s what I grew up with. Some of the creatures in the book were monsters my parents used to tell me about so I felt seen by that. I’m glad more people will get to learn something about these stories and creatures from this book. I enjoyed the sibling bond, family and community elements that are themes in the book, even if some of these family connections were complicated. There was a little more cursing than I would have liked in a young adult book, but I do think the teens were portrayed very well. I did like the second half of the story more because it had more action and secret reveals. Overall, I think this is a young adult book that people can learn from and also enjoy if they are into vampires, mystery and mythology.

Read if you like:

Filipino mythology/folklore
sibling bond, family
young adult mystery

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Book Review | Patron Saints of Nothing – 5 stars

Books I Was Reading On This Day Over the Last Ten Years | TTT | Top Ten Tuesday | 8/11/26

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Please check out her website for more TTT topics!

This week’s topic is:

Books I Was Reading On This Day Over the Last Ten Years

Oh this is a challenge since I’ve only been tracking my reading in the last few years because of this blog but let’s give it a go!

2016 – Chasing Lady Amelia by. Maya Rodale – closest thing to 8/11/16 that I could find in Goodreads because I was not putting read dates back then!🤦🏻‍♀️
2017 – It Started with Goodbye by. Christina June – again, wasn’t tracking read dates in Goodreads, but this was the closest to August 2017.
2018 – The Black Witch by. Laurie Forest – another one I had to guess at, it was published in 2017 but looks like I added it and read it in 2018.

2019 – Circe by. Madeline Miller
2020 – The Damned by. Renée Ahdieh
2021- Where Dreams Descend by. Janella Angeles

2022 – Mr. Perfect on Paper by. Jean Meltzer
2023 – Sign of the Slayer by. Sharina Harris
2024 – Butcher & Blackbird by. Brynne Weaver

2025 – The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk

What’s on your TTT?

Find me here: Instagram (bookstagram📚) | TikTok | Etsy

New Book Releases This Week | 8/11/26

Happy book birthday to these new releases this week!

These Vile Hearts by. Melody Robinette

A delightfully wicked, fizzy debut romantasy–an enemies to lovers tale about a desperate mortal woman and a cursed fae prince

Maddox Sinclair has run out of options. No job means no health insurance —a death sentence for a type one diabetic like herself. She flees to the forest to make a desperate deal with a dryad kill the Redwood King and be cured of the illness that threatens her life.

In the redwood treetops, Prince Castor, is cursed– anyone who loves him is doomed to die. Like Maddox, he has made an equally unwise pact with his brother, the Redwood get a mortal to fall in love with him by solstice and be free of his curse forever.

When Maddox mistakes Castor for the king, sparks fly and troubles ensue. Each must decide what is more important—survival and freedom, or the love they (kind of, almost) feel in their traitorous, vile hearts.

Darkly funny and brimming with magic, These Vile Hearts by Melody Robinette manages to be both wicked and warm, beguiling and moving—a richly woven story of survival and fate.

Love and Lies by. Lena Kiefer

Their families rule New York’s high society. Their love could burn it to the ground. The first book in the internationally bestselling Westwell series.

Helena Weston has one goal when she returns to her glittering New York City life: clear her sister’s name. Two years ago, Valerie and her fiancé, Adam Coldwell, were found dead after their champagne-soaked engagement party—and ever since, the powerful Coldwells have blamed Valerie and the Westons for the tragedy. Determined to uncover what really happened that night, Helena throws herself into the same ruthless circle that destroyed her sister’s reputation…only to find herself face-to-face with the one person she should hate the most.

Jessiah Coldwell has spent years trying to survive his brother’s death—and break free from the world that whispered while they buried him. When Helena Weston storms back into his orbit, he knows she’s dangerous. She’s angry, impossible, and a walking reminder of everything his family lost. But she’s also the only one who sees him for who he is—and who understands the pain he’s been trying to outrun.

As the lines between loyalty and longing begin to blur, long-buried secrets rise to the surface—threatening to destroy them both. But some fates you can’t escape, and in a city where love and lies are two sides of the same coin, they’ll have to decide how much they’re willing to risk for the truth—and for each other.

Want Me, Take Me, Haunt Me, Make Me by. Isabel Crowley

Hazel Lewis has a serious problem. The guy who hired her to conduct a seance before he died turned out to be a serial killer with a demonic contract, and the seance itself was a trap. Hazel escaped with her life, but not as she knew it: the bite of a demon is spreading through her body, letting the supernatural bleed into the world around her, and the now-dead serial killer is waiting to take over her body if she dies.

Hoping to contain the damage, Hazel moves to a small house in a remote location. She figures she’ll stay on her own until she gets a handle on her new dark reality, but she soon finds out that she’s not alone. There’s the reporter demanding answers, the friendly neighbor with chemistry she doesn’t need and problems he can’t talk about…and the mysterious face she sees beyond her window, watching her every night with glowing red eyes.

Making her hunger.

Hazel knew a little bit about the world beyond the physical. Now she’s learning how much she doesn’t know, including who she can trust…and who she can become if she trusts herself enough to give in to the shadows stalking her dreams.

Bonfire & Bliss Bookstore by. Brittanee Nicole

Settle in with a warm glass of cider and FALL in love beside the bonfire on a crisp autumn evening in this friends-to-lovers fake dating romance about a jilted romance bookstore owner and her handsome failed-writer best friend, from the romance superstar author of The Boston Bolts hockey series.

These old flames are ready to catch fire.

After a very public failed engagement, Penny Darling, proud owner of Bonfire and Bliss Books, is done with love. She’d rather cozy up by the fire with a pumpkin spiced-anything and one of her book boyfriends than a real one any day.

So when her old high school best friend, author Jake “Monty” Montgomery, tells the town busybodies that he’s her new boyfriend and volunteers them to co-host Hope Harbor’s famed Maple Festival, Penny is more than hesitant.

Until Monty admits the real reason he returned his latest book release failed and if he doesn’t turn in something amazing soon, his career as an author is over. Convinced that Penny’s obsession with romance novels makes her an expert on the subject, Monty begs Penny to teach him how to be the perfect romantic hero so he can finally write one. In return, Penny’s “boyfriend” will put a stop to neighbors’ pitying looks and matchmaking.

But as pretend kisses in the apple orchard turn into searing ones beneath the autumn moon, Penny begins to wonder if Monty could really love her, or if she’s destined for another broken heart.

Reliquary by. Hannah F. Whitten

Sometimes, you just want to belong.
When Claire’s fiancé mysteriously dies of an unknown neurological illness, seemingly destroying her chances at the belonging she’s sought, she’s prepared to sink back into the lonely life she lived before. Orphaned by a freak boating accident in her childhood, she never expected to find connection like she did with Elias, anyway. Even if sometimes, that connection seemed more like something he felt obligated to than something he wanted.

Their relationship wasn’t perfect—his coldness, his secrets, his strange aversion to the ocean—but what relationship is?

When Elias’s family reaches out—his incredibly wealthy family, from whom he was estranged—and invites Claire to a wake at their family home on a private island, Claire is given the chance to have connection again. To belong to something, just like she’s always wanted. Just like Elias knew she was desperate to have.

Even if that family is a little strange. Even if their home built partially into the sea stirs up memories of the accident that killed her parents and sister. Even if Ash, Elias’s older brother, seems insistent on Claire leaving as soon as possible.

Claire can’t bring herself to be lonely again. And as the strange circumstances of Elias’s familial connection with the sea becomes more and more apparent, her window for escape is rapidly closing.

Does she even want to?

Nest of Tongues by. Randy RIbay

A lyrical, evocative horror about vampires from the Philippines . . . and a hunter on their tail. A brother and sister fight to protect their secrets, their community, and most of all, each other, in this evocative novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Patron Saints of Nothing.

As Filipino vampires known as manananggal, Lily and her brother Caleb understand the value of a secret. After all, to hide is to survive. To lie is to live. They’d never harm another person—but people only believe their worst fears around creatures of myth. So the siblings stay quiet. They follow their community’s rules.

Until a monster hunter turns up and kills a fellow manananggal, anyway.

Until Caleb is marked as the hunter’s next prey.

Suddenly, he and Lily realize there’s always been more at stake than the lives of their people. Because when doing everything “right” is still a death sentence, what can they take as truth? As the hunter nears, the siblings must decide if they’ll be driven from the only home they’ve ever known . . . or fight to protect a community that may already be lost.

Deviant King by. Rina Kent

The villain isn’t supposed to be king.

I have a simple plan.
Finish Royal Elite School and get into my dream university.
One glance from the school’s king blows my plan up in smoke.
One glance and he suffocates my air.
One glance and he issues his death sentence.
His first words spiral my life into irreparable chaos.
“I will destroy you.”
Everything about Aiden King is black.
Black mind.
Black heart.
Black soul.
I should’ve remained quiet and endured the time I have left.
I didn’t.
I made the irrevocable mistake of provoking the king on his throne.
The devil in his hell.
And now, I’ll pay the price.
Being hated by Aiden King is dangerous.
But being wanted by him is lethal.

This book is part of a trilogy and not standalone. The entire trilogy is available.

**Paperback release**

The Hill in the Dark Grove by. Liam Higginson

Carwyn and Rhian – the last in a long family line of sheep farmers – are living out a brutal year in their hillside farm, deep in the mountains of Eryri, North Wales.

When Carwyn stumbles across a stone circle and some sort of burial mound in one of the fields on their land, he quickly develops an obsession. His wife, Rhian, meanwhile, is confronted with the growing realization that the man with whom she shares her life and home is slowly becoming a frightening stranger.

As the harsh mountain winter closes in, Rhian finds herself alone with her increasingly peculiar husband, the mountains and the looming megalithic stones . . .

Exquisitely written and impossible to put down, The Hill in the Dark Grove is a gorgeous story embedded in Welsh folklore. It is about love, growing old, a lost way of life and the lengths we go to to protect what we know.

Are you getting any new books this week?

Happy Reading!

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These Vile Hearts by. Melody Robinette | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️

Title: These Vile Hearts

Author: Melody Robinette

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 400

Publication Date: 8/11/26

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Categories: Fantasy, Romance, Fae

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A delightfully wicked, fizzy debut romantasy–an enemies to lovers tale about a desperate mortal woman and a cursed fae prince

Darkly funny and brimming with magic, These Vile Hearts by Melody Robinette manages to be both wicked and warm, beguiling and moving—a richly woven story of survival and fate.

Content Warning: drug use, drinking, violence, death

Maddox has nothing to lose, she’d aged out of getting Medicare for her Type 1 diabetes, her parents are dead and she bounced around in foster homes, her best friend/roommate is moving to another city and now she’s homeless. So she makes a pact with a dryad, the queen of the Myrtlewood – kill the Redwood King and she will be cured from her illness and live a comfortable, normal life.

Castor is the cursed Redwood Prince and he is miserable. People that love him, die. So he makes a pact with his brother, the king, make a mortal woman fall in love with him by the solstice and the curse will be broken.

I really found this fae story refreshing because of the dryads. I loved the world building and description of the woods, their magic and their heartwood. And the story was funny because of Maddox and her personality, she’s desperate and though she should be afraid, life has made her fearless. She will do anything to live. She is the total opposite of Castor, who is drowning in misery, drinking and smoking away his days and nights, and will do anything to break the curse. In that, they shared a common goal – doing whatever it takes. But Castor is a softie at heart, he has scary powers sure, but poor guy just wants to be loved.

I was hooked on the story, waiting to see if Maddox would fall in love with Castor (but she only had 2 weeks to do so), or would Maddox be able to kill the king? I could not put down the book. It at times gave me Moulin Rouge vibes and Romeo and Juliet.

It’s an enemies to lovers romance, and I love the build up between up. Though there is attraction and one closed door spice scene, both of them wronged the other so it complicates things between them. I’m not sure if there will be a sequel – it seems like the ending leaves it open for one and I would love to see if Maddox’s new fate will change their relationship.

Final Thoughts:

I had fun reading this one because of Maddox: she is brave, outspoken, and funny. I could not put it down and I found the world building about the dryads and their home so fascinating. It at least felt different from all the other fae books I’ve been reading. And I was definitely hooked on the possibility of Maddox either falling in love with Castor or killing the king. I enjoyed all the twists and turns in the story. I like how Maddox and Castor are both broken characters but with one another they found a little bit of comfort. I do hope there is a book two because I’d like to see more from this world.

Read if you like:

fae – dryads
enemies to lovers romance
political intrigue

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Kissed by the Gods by. Caty Rogan | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Kissed by the Gods (The Eternal Wars, #1)

Author: Caty Rogan

Pages: 544

Format: ebook (kindle unlimited)

Publication Date: 9/24/25

Categories: Fantasy, Romance, Series

Survivor. Rebel. Weapon.

Leina has spent a lifetime submitting, starving amid wheat fields reserved for the king, standing by while his men crush her loved ones. When soldiers come for her brother, her divine fury erupts in a bloody massacre.

She expects to be executed for her crimes—her people have met bloody ends for far, far less. Instead, Ryot, a gods-blessed warrior born to privilege, delivers her to a military fortress renowned for its brutality.

There, a gift from a goddess drags Leina into a realm of war, where her survival depends on her ability to ride a winged horse.

As Ryot pushes her to master the power she never asked for, a battle rages within her heart. Each lesson, every touch, binds them tighter—but love is a dangerous weakness in a world designed for war.

Soon, Leina must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice to protect the family she has found … and the one she left behind. Because while her divine gift could save the kingdom, it could also shatter its very foundation.

With immersive lush writing, an unflinching heroine, and an inventive fantasy world, Kissed by the Gods is the gripping fantasy debut you won’t want to miss.

Featuring iconic romance tropes:
He falls first
Forbidden romance
Found family
Trial by combat
She saves him
Spicy slow burn
Feminine rage

Content Warning: violence, death

I finally got to this book which I’ve been meaning to read for some time. I just knew it would be heavier world building so I needed to get into the right state of mind. Here are my thoughts:

+ Leina is filled with rage. Most of her family have been killed, her little brothers torn from her, life has not been easy and now the Gods want something from her? I would be pissed too! Her people in Selencia have been oppressed and no one knows, except the people in Aish apparently. Though a lot of this story is about Leina training to be the warrior the Gods want her to be, we get to see her weaknesses and strengths. She’s very stubborn but willing to train and learn to get better.

+ The found family trope in this story is so good! The secondary characters are great. Leina is ripped away from her own family and she is grieving many of them so having Ryot and his group basically adopt her was so cool to watch. Leina might be filled with rage but she did come from a big family and community that loved one another and I like how she easily fit in with the guys and also made friends with the few girls she’s met.

+~ I loved the action and the faravars (winged horses)! The battle scenes were great, but most of them do come at the end of the book. I did find that because the first half of this book was mostly Leina in training, it did move a bit slow and most of it was predictable because I’ve read a lot of stories like this. But I still appreciated the world building and learning about the Altors and vanguard. I got invested and cared about the characters, plus I’d like to see Leina reach her full potential. I’d also like to learn more about the magic.

+~ It’s a forbidden romance between master and student but I knew it would be doomed because I figured out one of the secrets a bit early. I do like Ryot for the most part, he seems like a good guy who cares about his people but again, we shall see what happens in book two after that ending. For the most part though, I enjoyed the romance and spice between them.

Quotes From the Book:

“Because if there’s one thing a baseborn serf knows, and knows well, it’s how to reap. Only, instead of wheat, I reap death.” – Kiss of the Gods by. Caty Rogan

Final Thoughts:

This is a great way to start a series with interesting world building and characters I started to care for. I think there is still a lot to learn about this world, especially when it comes to the magic and history of Selencia. The first part did move slowly because of the world building and Leina in constant training to be the warrior she is destined to be. And yes the story was predictable and I guessed a few of the secrets but I’m excited to see Leina grow even more. Plus it ends on quite a cliffhanger and I need to see what happens next with Leina, Ryot and their friends and family.

Read if you like:

female rage
warrior training/trials
found family
forbidden romance

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Weekly Wrap Up | 8/9/26

Aloha friends!

+ Kids are back in school which has left me a little more time to read and blog. I even watched a show on Amazon Prime and have to catch up on House of Dragon before my expired subscription to HBO MAX kicks in.

Blog Posts:

Prince of the Sun by. Emma Noyes | ARC Review – 4 ⭐️/2 🌶️
Stacking the Shelves | 8/4/26
New Book Releases This Week | 8/4/26
Purple Book Covers| TTT | Top Ten Tuesday | 8/4/26
Conform by. Ariel Sullivan | Book Review – 3.5 ⭐️/1 🌶️
The Killing Rules by. Bree Despain | ARC Review – 3.5 ⭐️
Deviant King (Deluxe Edition) by. Rina Kent | ARC Review – 2 ⭐️/3 🌶️
Dreamland by. Olivie Blake | ARC and ALC Review – 3 ⭐️/2 🌶️
Love and Lies by. Lena Kiefer | ARC Review – 3.5 ⭐️/2 🌶️

Books I Finished

Dangerous Haven by. Luna Pierce
Nest of Tongues by. Randy Ribay
Conform by. Ariel Sullivan
Kissed by the Gods by. Caty Rogan
The Lion & the Deathless Dark by. Carissa Broadbent
Immortal Rose by. Alexandra Bracken

Currently Reading:

In the Veins of the Drowning by. Kalie Cassidy
The Best I Never Had by. Amy Buchanan
The Calamities by. Chuck Wendig
Bonfire & Bliss Bookstore by. Brittanee Nicole
Want Me, Take Me, Haunt Me, Make Me by. Isabel Crowley

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

+ Olivia Rodrigo – You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love

+ Ariana Grande – Petal

+ SB 19

+ Sterling Point (Amazon Prime) – I decided to watch this because I saw a tiktok video that showed how the opening song on episode one was Maggots for Brains by Olivia Rodrigo and I was intrigued. Binged it in 2 days. Loved it! It’s a young adult drama with romance, but very coming of age and it has family secrets – but it’s fun and the way it’s shot, the dialogue felt realistic which I loved. It’s funny, awkward but so heartfelt and emotional at times too. It felt so refreshing!

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

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Love and Lies by. Lena Kiefer | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Love and Lies (Westwell, #1)

Author: Lena Kiefer

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 368

Publication Date: 8/11/26 (first published 6/22/22)

Publisher: Atria Books

Categories: Contemporary, Romance, Forbidden Romance, New Adult, Mystery

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Atria Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Their families rule New York’s high society. Their love could burn it to the ground. The first book in the internationally bestselling Westwell series.

Content Warning: death, mention of drug use, grief, complicated parental relationships, violence, mention of kidnapping

+ This story gave me Romeo and Juliet vibes plus some Gossip Girl. Helena Weston is back in New York City, after the death of her older sister Valerie due to a supposed overdose, and her family’s reputation has taken a big hit. But she wants to find out the truth about the night her sister and her fiancé, Adam, died. Jessiah, is the younger brother of Adam, and he hates the Weston family – blaming Valerie for his brother’s death. Helena hates Jessiah’s family for dragging Valerie’s name through the mud. So it’s very “two houses in Verona”, the feud between the two families is very Romeo and Juliet.

+~ I like how Helena and Jessiah both have depth to their. They both understand the pressures of belonging to families in high society with power. They have rules to follow, although Jessiah has a reputation for breaking them. Helena is more restricted because her parents threaten to send her back to England in order to control her. They are both experiencing grief. Now I would like to see them fight back against their parents a little more, especially Helena. There were some other interesting characters like Elijah, Jessiah’s youngest brother who has panic attacks. And I enjoyed Jessiah’s close friends – he seems to know some good people. I wish Helena had the same.

+ Because this is very Romeo and Juliet, it’s a forbidden romance. Two people who was taught to hate one another, meet and realize there is chemistry between them. Not only chemistry but they have shared grief, so they understand one another on levels other people cannot. But as with Romeo and Juliet, they cannot be together. Jessiah’s mom is doing everything she can to ruin Helena’s family for revenge. There is some spice, and I was definitely hoping there was a way they could be together.

+~ Helena is doing her best to find leads into her sister’s death. She wants to prove Valerie wasn’t the one who supplied the drugs that killed her and Adam, but this puts Helena in some dangerous situations. I also feel like once the romance really kicked in between Helena and Jessiah, the investigation was pushed to the side. So I did wish there was more to it because I too want to know if Valerie was innocent or not!

+~ There were some phrases I thought sounded strange when I read them but then I did some research and apparently this was a German publication that got translated. So that makes lots of sense!

Final Thoughts:

I thought this was a solid first book in a romance series that set the groundwork with the forbidden romance. The setting of high society New York City is always enticing and filled with power plays and drama. There is no lack of it here and I was really rooting for Helena and Jessiah to be able to be together. But we shall see what happens in book two after that ending. I hope there will be more leads about Valerie’s death.

Read if you like:

Romeo and Juliet – forbidden romance
high society NYC
mystery

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Dreamland by. Olivie Blake | ARC and ALC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Dreamland

Author: Olivie Blake

Format: eBook (NetGalley) and audiobook (netgalley)

Pages: 368

Listening Hours: approx. 12 hrs 45 min

Publication Date: 8/11/26

Publisher: Tor Books & Macmillan Audio

Categories: Horror, Fantasy, Gothic, Contemporary, Mystery Thriller, Romance

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin & Macmillan Audio for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

From New York Times bestselling author Olivie Blake comes a tantalizing story of power, seduction, and the omens you’ll ignore when everything you’ve dreamed of feels just within reach.

The headlines are calling it the “summer of exsanguination” in LA—girls are being murdered, the Santa Ana winds are blowing a strange energy into the city, and all signs point to fire season.

More pressing for Anya Morris, though, is the drudgery of living at home, working part time at the family store, and contending with her mother’s disdain for the acting career Anya knows she’s destined for but that feels more impossible by the day.

It’s in this suffocating late summer heat that Anya receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, an invitation to work for the de Witt family, one of LA’s most influential film dynasties. Soon, she’s spending her days and nights at their strange villa high in the Hollywood hills, where she meets Jude, a recluse who is both the family’s heir apparent and its most closely guarded secret.

There’s a magnetism to Jude that Anya cannot resist, despite warning signs that scream like sirens in the night. Because the villa holds generations of bloodstained history, and an occult family curse may even live within its walls—or within Jude himself.

In this city, everyone cuts a deal with the devil. When Anya comes face to face with a devil of her own, she’ll learn just how far she’s willing to go to get everything she’s ever wanted.

Content Warning: murder, gore, violence

World Building: Set in present day, Los Angeles, Anya is half white and Filipino, struggling to become an actress. She gets a job offer by a powerful family in the movie industry, that pays good, but the job is a little strange. Anya loves the perks of being on the inside though even if she’s basically a baby-sitter for a grown man. I really enjoyed Anya’s Filipino family that was represented. But another thing is happening in this story, there are murders happening around Los Angeles, and Anya might somehow gotten herself tangled in the middle of it all. So there is a very dark undercurrent to this story.

Characters: Anya is a morally gray character who is trying to break into the movie industry but also dealing with feelings of inadequacy because her mom expects more from her. But we learn just how far she will go to see her dreams come true. I also liked how she had a complicated relationship with her mom and how that plays out. Jude, is a very mystery character – but is he a killer? We are in his thoughts and head a lot, which got confusing because there are two voices in his head! There are other characters from the De Witt family that is central to this story.

Romance: I was not expecting any romance in this and it’s definitely not the kind that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. I was kind of disgusted and scared for Anya at the same time. There is spice, but like I said, it’s a confusing situation because Anya is attracted to the mystery of Jude, but also enticed by his darkness because she thinks there is a darkness in her too.

Story: This story is wild, chaotic and weird. It’s a story about power and how much one will do for it. Was it easy to follow? No, not really. Because at times it felt like a fever dream! Of course so much is revealed at the end, but I couldn’t tell if Jude’s reality and his thoughts were something I could trust. And though I liked Anya, she would slip into delusions, as if her life was a movie script. I did like how the murder mystery is played out but again, it was not straight forward.

Narrator(s): It is dual narrators and both did such an amazing job, especially the male narrator who had to voice a mentally unstable character! He brought the right amount of crazy and creepiness to the character. The female narrator did so good with the Filipino accents, I felt like I was listening to my own family. I actually switched back and forth from ebook to audiobook and I have to say the audiobook really added something more to the story compared to when I just read it as an ebook.

Final Thoughts:

This was unique, strange, confusing, weird and not exactly for me. But did I listen to this audiobook to the end? Yes, because the narrators did a fantastic job keeping me interested and I had to find out who was committing the murders. There were some things I liked about the story, Anya trying to navigate her world as half white and half Filipino – and her complicated relationship with her mom. Trying to figure out Jude was a little harder. I enjoyed the murder mystery too but overall, I think people who want a story where that is a little out there will enjoy this one more than I did.

Read if you like:

murder mystery – serial killer

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

The Atlas Six by. Olivie Blake | Book Review – 4 stars

Deviant King (Deluxe Edition) by. Rina Kent | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Title: Deviant King (#1) Deluxe Edition

Author: Rina Kent

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 362

Publication Date: 8/11/26 (first published 10/21/2019)

Publisher: Bloom Books

Categories: New Adult, Bully Romance, Dark Romance

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Bloom Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The villain isn’t supposed to be king.

This book is part of a trilogy and not standalone. The entire trilogy is available.

Content Warning: violence, sexual assault, bullying, so much more – read the trigger warnings

I wanted to read something different and realized I never read a Rina Kent book so I requested it. Now I am not the biggest fan of bully romance, but did I read this in one sitting? Yes, probably because Aiden, the MMC is so unhinged, I had to see how bad he got. I couldn’t quite look away and wanted Elsa, the FMC, to build a backbone and stand up to Aiden, but of course, she would fall for him ~ but point blank this guy is just crazy. Again, read the trigger warnings because some of his behavior is just disgusting.

I think this story would have been more believable though, if the characters were older, even if they were just new adults in their early 20’s, but these characters are in high school students acting like they run the world (world being their elite high school) and I just wasn’t buying it. I say it’s New Adult because it’s spicy.

I did like some of Aiden’s friends because they tried to help Elsa – they weren’t as crazy as Aiden.

Final Thoughts:

This was not for me – Aiden needs to be locked up somewhere! I just couldn’t believe these were high school students, even if they were at an elite school. It was too dark for me, so if you are into very dark romance with all the trigger warnings – you might enjoy this one.

Read if you like: