Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme where you chose a random book from your Goodreads TBR and show it off. This meme is hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog.
In this spellbinding rom-com about a wish gone wrong, two opposites might just get a second chance at love, perfect for fans of New York Times bestsellers Payback’s a Witch and The Ex Hex.
Ex-celebrity chef Sirena Caraway has had the wackiest October ever. Her cooking powers are on the fritz, she failed to land a career-saving job, and she embarrassed herself at the town’s Halloween party. Just before midnight, she makes a desperate wish for a second chance to fix her life. The next morning Sirena wakes up and realizes that she’s repeating the entire pumpkin spice-flavored month. Even sweeter, she runs into Gus Dearworth, whose magic leaves her spellbound.
A former reality star, Gus moved to Freya Grove to rebuild his reputation and heal his broken heart, but his restless magic is tempting him to return to the spotlight. And his secret crush on Sirena is making him want to try something dangerous like fall in love again. When Sirena realizes he can help her fix her powers, Gus makes her a deal. If she’ll help decipher a mysterious cookbook in his collection, he’ll help get her magical groove back.
Every encounter offers a new adventure—from tasting menus, harvest mazes, and a growing attraction that’s taking on an irresistible enchantment of its own. But as the month winds down and the wish grows stronger, Sirena and Gus have a decision to make. Will their second chance be their happy-ever-after ending or a bittersweet memory?
Do you have plans to read this book? Let me know in the comments below!
Here we are, the last few days of September and it is October in 2 days. Are we ready for Halloween? I think I will be once my kids have fall break which is NEXT WEEK! 🥳 You don’t understand how I need this break – they need the break but I mean, I do too. I’ve been driving all over the place, feeling the whole single-parent life (hubby comes back in December) on level 10 it seems this whole month. I’m like a train that keeps on chugging but I need to take a little break soon, so fall break is going to be divine. My kids wants to watch The Wild Robot, so we have a movie date planned. It’s still hot here so maybe we will go to the beach. And best of all we just get to sleep in. I really, really, REALLY can’t wait.
This past week was just filled with a booked weekend, doctor appointments, and my daughter’s school carnival (which is like walking around in a sauna). My son is practicing his Winter recital piece so even though it’s fall, I am hearing Christmas music being played on the piano every night LOL. 🎃🎄
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!
In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn’t much a girl wouldn’t do for a glass of water.
Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen’s reservoirs for as long as she can remember.
But a secret is like a knot.
Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.
When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently reopens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares…but it turns out they’re real, and Saeris has landed herself right in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.
The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist’s magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him… or her.
Death has a name.
It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate.
His past is murky.
His attitude stinks.
And he’s the only way Saeris is going to make it home.
Be careful of the deals you make, dear child.
The devil is in the details…
N.B. Quicksilver contains depictions of graphic violence/adult situations and is therefore recommended for readers 17+. For a full list of tropes and TWs, please visit the author’s website.
Content Warning: violence
I’ve been seeing this recommended on my Kindle Unlimited for a few months now and I loved the cover but wasn’t sure about it. For some reason this week, I borrowed it and I read it in 2 days! Here are my thoughts:
Likes:
+ I love when I go into a book not expecting much (I didn’t read the reviews but saw it had a lot of 4-5 stars), and takes me by surprise. I was here for vibes and it gave me all the romantasy vibes I was looking for: a strong MC, a hot and annoying love interest, villains, found family, a war, magic, plot twists, spice, tension, banter, humor – it really did have everything! It’s over 600 pages but it kept my attention the whole time.
+ Saeris has been living in squalor in the Third sector in Zilvaren, fighting tooth and nail just to keep her, her brother and family friend alive for another day. But she does something that changes the course of her life forever. She is taken to the Fae world of Yvelia where she learns about the Fae and their war, learns about alchemy and creates friendships and finds the love of her life. I love Saeris’ toughness and grit, but also how she cares for her family and those around her. I really liked her gift of alchemy and thought it was so cool she could forge weapons.
+ Fisher is such a menacing rascal who’s role in life was to get under Saeris’ skin but as the story keeps going we find out what’s going inside his head and heart. He turns out to be the biggest softy where Saeris is concerned and I really loved that about him. I, like Saeris, hated and loved him too!
+ The love story between Saeris and Fisher is everything but I love how it was evenly balanced throughout the book and that even when the whole “mate” issue was brought up, I wasn’t turned off. I usually am only because once a “mate” appears in a romantasy…the word is repeated so much that I get sick of it. It didn’t do that to me in this book because I felt like it was just right and not overkill (thank you!). I love the banter, the attraction, the spice and them choosing one another despite everything. I’ll add them to my favorite couples list.
+ The world building is great! I love how we went from the human world, then the Fae world and got a peek into the vampire world – really all the things I love (fae and vampires!). And I also loved the cast of this story from Carrion whose relationship with Saeris is so funny. And then the found family Saeris finds in Yvelia with Fisher’s sister, his best friend and his healer. I’d love to get to know all of them more!
Dislikes:
~ There were typos. So I hope that gets cleaned up for book two.
~ Also I think some parts of the story like when they have to do research to solve a problem, some of that could have been taken out to move the story along better and cut down on the page numbers. Like okay, did all of them have to be in the library doing research? I love libraries and love that they thought to do research but I would think there should be an urgency to things with the vampires trying to kill the Fae and with Saeris trying to get home to help her brother?
My Final Thoughts:
Even with the minor issues I had with this book it honestly hit the spot for what I was craving at the time I borrowed the book. I wanted enemies to lovers, banter/bickering, fun characters, Fae, vampires, spice and magic! This one was fun! It’s an addicting read and I’m looking forward to book two.
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
“Once there was a young scholar who was exiled from the imperial court after angering the emperor.”
Title: Fledgling: The Keeper’s Recordsof Revolution (#1)
Author: S. K. Ali
Format: eBook (NetGalley)
Pages: 544
Publication Date: 10/8/24
Publisher: Kokila
Categories: Dystopia, Young Adult, Sci-fi/Fantasy
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Kokila for giving me a chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
The first book in a gripping duology from acclaimed author S.K. Ali introduces a fractured world on the brink of either enlightenment or war.
Would you trade love for peace?
Raisa of Upper Earth has only lived a life of privilege and acquiescence. Ever dutiful, she accepts her father’s arrangement of her marriage to Lein, Crown Prince of the corrupt, volatile lands of Lower Earth. Though Lein is a stranger, Raisa knows the wedding will unite their vastly different worlds in a pact of peace: an infusion of Upper Earth technology into Lower Earth will usher in the final age of enlightenment, ending war between humans forever.
Or is justice more urgent?
Newly released from imprisonment, Nada of Lower Earth has found her own calling: disrupting the royal wedding. Convinced her cousin Lein’s alliance with Upper Earth will launch an invasive, terrifying form of tyranny, Nada sets out undercover to light the spark of revolution.
When Raisa goes missing a week before the wedding, all eyes turn to the rebels, including Nayf, Nada’s twin brother—a fugitive on the run. And when Nayf and Raisa meet, the long-simmering animosity they feel toward each other’s worlds slowly burns away into something unexpected.
But the Crown Prince wants his bride—and future—back. And he will go to the ends of the Earths to reclaim them.
This is a story about a revolution and here are my thoughts:
Likes:
+ There is very good world-building in this story. I got the dystopian/sci-fi feel for it right away with Earth being split into Upper and Lower Earth and characters using high tech items like a scalplink. I thought some of the settings were unique like the hive that housed the rebels.
+ The story of the revolution is very felt through the record or entries of different Keepers. A marriage of peace between both Upper and Lower Earth is supposed to take place but the groom has other plans. Raisa’s journey is frightening because she goes from someone who is protected and pampered and thrown into the midst of a revolution. There are some really violent scenes in this book – one involving an acid attack on women. Nada, the groom’s cousin, who is actually trying to help Raisa, is also tortured. There is a lot of history, politics, attacks and just so many things going on in this book.
+ I liked Nada and Raisa characters. They are strong women in their own way and had to go through some challenging things in the book. Raisa I think had the most growth because she came from such a sheltered upbringing.
Dislikes:
~ Due to the detailed world-building I found this book to have a very slow beginning. It took me awhile to read this one because I would find the story moving nicely and then hit a block where my interest waned so pacing was an issue.
~ There are a lot of POVs which include POVs from record keepers of the past. I just felt like there were too many people to keep track of so I mostly looked forward to Raisa’s and Nada’s POVs.
My Thoughts:
I haven’t read a dystopian book in awhile and wanted to try this one and I don’t think this one was for me because it was too slow and maybe I wasn’t in the right reading mood for it. But if you like dystopian books I think you would enjoy this because of the world-building, action, politics, and some really cool characters like Nada and Raisa.
Starting fresh is the only way Phoebe can escape a life of crime, but her best friend’s older brother complicates honest dreams in this gripping new series from the authors of the Addicted series.
Phoebe Graves grew up in a family where deception and seduction are as commonplace as breathing. The Graves and her best friend Hailey’s family have been on the run their whole lives, but after a high-stakes con job goes south, Phoebe and Hailey decide to run away and start over. The small Connecticut town they settle in seems too good to be true.
The biggest flaw in their plan is Hailey’s frustratingly handsome brother, Rocky, who insists on coming with them. Living honestly isn’t in his DNA, and his past with Phoebe is downright messy. He’s everything she wants, but nothing she can have.
Phoebe worries that Rocky will tempt them back into their old ways, where lying is second nature. She doesn’t want Rocky to mess up the new life she’s begun for herself. The longer she stays in town, the more she realizes what it means to have a reputation—and what a normal life with the man she loves could look like.
Content Warning: crime, sexual assault, mentions of rape, toxic parental relationships, hazing
I’ll admit I gravitated to this book because of the cover! I love the colors and then the synopsis got me intrigued so this is what I thought of the book:
Likes:
+ Two best-friends who have lived a life a crime (forced upon them by their toxic parents), now wants to try living life the right way, a life free of crime in Victoria, Connecticut and honestly when Phoebe mentions Hailey’s favorite movie is Mystic Pizza – I was like oh…I’m going to like this because I was obsessed with Mystic Pizza lol. I love the relationship between Phoebe and Hailey, they are best-friends but like sisters for how long they’ve known each other and all the things they have been through. And they have been through a lot.
+ I think the whole crime family storyline is fascinating with how they lived their lives by just doing a con every time they needed money. Phoebe and Hailey and their siblings have been so manipulated by their parents that all the only real way they know how to live is to manipulate others too so it was interesting to see if Phoebe and Hailey could stop their habit of conning their way through life. I like that they are giving it a real good effort.
+ The forbidden romance between Phoebe and Rocky is filled with angst, passion, but also a deep, deep love. They can’t be together for fear of their parents manipulating that love – which is so sad to me. Rocky is her best friend’s brother and they have such a history together and know each other inside and outside of a con. So really, the two of them know each other’s best and worst sides. I thought they were perfect together and was rooting for them. They do have some steamy scenes.
Dislikes:
+ The fake-dating with Phoebe and Jake was kind of weak but I know there is more about Jake we need to learn about. He is hard to gauge and has lots of secrets also.
My Thoughts:
This story is filled with drama as expected from some characters who only know a life of conning but I found it addicting the more messier things got! I loved Phoebe and Hailey’s friendship and Phoebe and Rocky’s angsty love and I definitely will be reading book two to see what happens when their parents come to town and also I want to know more about Jake.
The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:
What are you currently reading?
What have you just finished reading?
What are you going to read next?
It’s the last Wednesday in September and I’m having a tough time wrapping my head around it. I don’t think I AM ready for the holidays like I thought I was lol. I know it’s officially Fall, but the weather in Hawaii says nope, it’s not. I saw a house with Halloween decorations out already and I’m like…wait….it’s not even October. 😆 But I guess it’s close enough since October is next week. I had such a busy weekend that I didn’t really have time to read, but I’m hoping for some quiet time during the week so I can catch up on reading.
What are you currently reading?
Stranger Skies by. Pascale LaCelle – 1% – still no progress because I’m reading other things but I will be getting to this one very soon!
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 on My Fall 2024 To-Read List
I’m so grateful I got an arc to most of the Fall books I wanted to read. But here are some of the ones I would like to read this Fall…
SEPTEMBER~~ September 3: Books Involving Food (That are Not Cookbooks) (Submitted by Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext and Hopewell’s Public Library of Life) September 10: Books That Provide a Much-Needed Escape (bonus points if you tell us why!) September 17: Ten Characters Authors Surprisingly Redeemed (which characters did you not like at first, but grew to love by the end of the book?) (submitted by Deanna @ A Novel Glimpse) September 24: Books on My Fall 2024 To-Read List
OCTOBER~~ October 1: Books I Read/Avoided Because of the Hype (and did you make the right choice?) October 8: Bookish Brags (or Confessions!) (what are you proud of or… not-so proud of in your bookish life?) (submitted by Lydia @ https://lydiaschoch.com) October 15: Books I Was Assigned to Read in School (These can be books you loved or hated. Or just tolerated. Bonus points if you give us a tiny review of your thoughts!) October 22: How My Reading Habits Have Changed Over Time (submitted by Lydia @ https://lydiaschoch.com) October 29: Halloween Freebie
This is the story of Hazel, a young healer navigating a ruthless court to save the life of the king, grappling with a pantheon of gods with questionable agendas as she fights for agency and true love in her own life as the goddaughter of none other than Death himself.
All gifts come with a price.
Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn’t like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather—Merrick, the Dreaded End—to arrive.
When he does, he lays out exactly how he’s planned Hazel’s future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses Hazel with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.
But all gifts come with a price. Hazel can see when Death has claimed a patient—when all hope is gone—and is tasked to end their suffering, permanently. Haunted by the ghosts of those she’s killed, Hazel longs to run. But destiny brings her to the royal court, where she meets Leo, a rakish prince with a disdain for everything and everyone. And it’s where Hazel faces her biggest dilemma yet—to save the life of a king marked to die. Hazel knows what she is meant to do and knows what her heart is urging her toward, but what will happen if she goes against the will of Death?
From the astonishing mind of Erin A. Craig comes the breathtaking fairy tale retelling readers have been waiting for— what does a life well-lived mean, and how do we justify the impossible choices we make for the ones we love?
An explosive new novel brimming with love, secrets, and enchantment
The Fall siblings live in hot Northern California wine country, where the sun pours out of the sky, and the devil winds blow so hard they whip the sense right out of your head.
Years ago, the Fall kids’ father mysteriously disappeared, cracking the family into pieces. Now Dizzy Fall, age twelve, bakes cakes, sees spirits, and wishes she were a heroine of a romance novel. Miles Fall, seventeen, brainiac, athlete, and dog-whisperer, is a raving beauty, but also lost, and desperate to meet the kind of guy he dreams of. And Wynton Fall, nineteen, who raises the temperature of a room just by entering it, is a virtuoso violinist set on a crash course for fame . . . or self-destruction.
Then an enigmatic rainbow-haired girl shows up, tipping the Falls’ world over. She might be an angel. Or a saint. Or an ordinary girl. Somehow, she is vital to each of them. But before anyone can figure out who she is, catastrophe strikes, leaving the Falls more broken than ever. And more desperate to be whole.
With road trips, rivalries, family curses, love stories within love stories within love stories, and sorrows and joys passed from generation to generation, this is the intricate, luminous tale of a family’s complicated past and present. And only in telling their stories can they hope to rewrite their futures.
From Michael L. Printz Award winner A.S. King, a weird and insightful new novel about a girl intent on picking the lock of her toxic family with punk rock and opera.Jane’s mother is an artist constantly on tour to earn a living and support the family. While her mother is away, Jane lives in a Victorian mansion with her younger brother and their controlling, mendacious father and aunt, both of whom have conspired to confine Jane and Henry’s mother to a system of pneumatic tubes whenever she’s at home. Pick the Lock follows Jane’s bizarre and brilliant journey to rediscover and reconnect with her mother through punk rock and opera.
New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan returns to the high-stakes, sweeping world of dragons, romance, and drama first evoked in her bestselling young adult Firelight series, in a brand-new epic adult romantasy series.
Dragons are extinct. Witches are outcast. Magic is dying.
But human lust for power is immortal.
Dragon fire no longer blisters the skies over Penterra, but inside the lavish palace, life is still perilous…especially for Tamsyn. Raised in the glittering court alongside the princesses, it’s her duty to be punished for their misdeeds. Treated as part of the royal family but also as the lowliest servant, Tamsyn fits nowhere. Her only friend is Stig, Captain of the Guard…though sometimes she thinks he wants more than friendship.
When Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, descends on her home, Tamsyn’s world becomes even more dangerous. To save the pampered princesses from a fate worse than death, she is commanded to don a veil and marry the brutal warrior. She agrees to the deception even though it means leaving Stig, and the only life she’s ever known, behind.
The wedding night begins with unexpected passion—and ends in near violence when her trickery is exposed. Rather than start a war, Fell accepts Tamsyn as his bride…but can he accept the dark secrets she harbors—secrets buried so deep even she doesn’t know they exist? For Tamsyn is more than a royal whipping girl, more than the false wife of a man who now sees her as his enemy. And when those secrets emerge, they will ignite a flame bright enough to burn the entire kingdom to the bone.
Magic is not dead…it is only sleeping. And it will take one ordinary girl with an extraordinary destiny to awaken it.
Are you getting any new books this week? I need to read Throne of Secrets. I’ve already read The Thirteenth Child, When the World Tips Over and A Fire in the Sky – and enjoyed all of them!
Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme where you chose a random book from your Goodreads TBR and show it off. This meme is hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog.
The breathtaking sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller Night of the Witch culminates with a sweeping romance and an epic battle to determine the fate of magic…and the world.
Fritzi is a champion. After escaping the clutches of Dieter Kirch, the sadistic leader of the witch hunters, Fritzi and Otto have taken refuge among the witches of the Black Forest. Fritzi is finally ready to assume her place on the council as the coven’s goddess-chosen champion. Plagued by distrust and self-doubt, Fritzi throws herself into her duty to serve the goddesses . . . until she uncovers a powerful secret that could mean the very undoing of magic itself.
Otto is a warrior. He swears himself to Fritzi as her bonded protector, certain the peaceful unity of a witch and hunter will heal the wounds he helped make. But as the horrifying plot that threatens the Black Forest’s magic comes to light, Otto will have to face his both his past and what it means to bind himself to a magic he does not fully understand.
Shadows loom. Truths are revealed. And as dangers new and old arise, Fritzi and Otto must stand together against everything that threatens magic—even if the biggest threat might be the very bond they share.
Do you have plans to read this book? Let me know in the comments below!
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 