Categories: Young Adult, Horror, Suspense, Contemporary, Fantasy, Magical Realism, 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 Flatiron Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Goddess, goddess, count to five In the morning, who’s alive?
In the course of a single winter’s night, four people vanish without a trace across a small town.
Nora’s estranged best friend, Becca, is one of the lost. As Nora tries to untangle the truth of Becca’s disappearance, she discovers a darkness in her town’s past, as well as a string of coded messages Becca left for her to unravel. These clues lead Nora to a piece of local folklore: a legendary goddess of forgotten origins who played a role in Nora and Becca’s own childhood games…
An arresting, crossover horror fantasy threaded with dark magic, THE BAD ONES is a poison-pen love letter to semi-toxic best friendship, the occult power of childhood play and artistic creation, and the razor-thin line between make-believe and belief.
Content Warning: semi-toxic friendship, missing people, grooming, death of a parent, death
+ What interested me in reading this book was this line “the occult power of childhood play and artistic creation, and the razor-thin line between make-believe and belief” because as a kid in the 80’s, all we did was make-believe play but I remember also when we played with Ouija boards and wanted to find ghosts or spirits or was fascinated with ghost stories. So in many instances does this book speak to my childhood and young adult self. It reminded me of kids yelling “bloody mary”, or singing that rhyme from Freddy Kruger movies “one two, Freddy’s coming for you…” that stuff freaked me out as a kid so I wanted to see if this book would give me that same creepy feeling.
+ Four people go missing, one of them is Nora’s best friend, Becca. Becca has had a hard life with her parents dying and her being all alone except for Nora. But their friendship changes along the way and becomes a bit toxic when they start playing the goddess game. The Goddess Game is something born of an urban legend at their high school, there is a story, but people have different versions of it. I loved how Becca and Nora was so creative and created their kingdom and made more goddesses!
+ The writing really is immersive and made me want to keep reading to find out what happened to these missing people and what happened to Nora and Becca. Also something was happening to Nora and I just needed answers. I felt like the author really captures their semi-toxic friendship though, and their emotional journeys with one another.
~ I kept reading because the writing is wonderful but it started to drag. I didn’t feel like we were getting much details about the disappearances. I also felt like the big reveal was a disappointment which is a bummer. The story kind of glosses over why three of the people disappeared and I guess I wanted more details. Then ending feels rushed.
My Thoughts:
The book started off strong but the ending to me was rushed which is a bit disappointing. I did like all the themes in the story about grief, toxic friendship, childhood stories turning into maybe something real, and urban legends that start from a story that takes on a life of its own. I just wish it ended as strong as the beginning but I was left wanting more.
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Del Rey for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
A shield maiden blessed by the gods battles to unite a nation under a power-hungry king—while also fighting her growing desire for his fiery son—in this Norse-inspired fantasy romance from the bestselling author of The Bridge Kingdom series.
Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.
Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.
Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.
Danielle L. Jensen is an auto-read author for me and now she’s going in a different direction with this new series A Fate Inked in Blood. What I love about her books is her writing. I am always immersed in the worlds she builds and the characters in her books that I start to care about.
This book takes us to the northern hemisphere where the setting is brutal and the lifestyle is harsh. Here, the Norse gods are revered and they call for blood. Freya is married to a man, who is blessed by a god, but that doesn’t make him a good person. But then she runs into a handsome young man who awakens something inside of her, more than what she bargained for. Events take place beyond Freya’s control and she reveals that she is blessed by a god too, though a minor one. Freya is now the one every man wants to own or kill because it is prophesied that the Shield Maiden is a king maker. This is a story about the battle between power hungry men, the Gods, and one woman who is trying not to be a pawn in this game – or lose herself to the power also.
I like Freya. She’s beautiful yes, but she’s fierce and not afraid to get her hands dirty. I hate that she’s married to a horrible man, and I hate what happens next to her but she endures. Freya endures everything. Bjorn is charming and powerful in his own right since he is also blessed by a god. The two of them have chemistry right away but their circumstances are unfortunate – especially Freya’s. So theirs is a forbidden romance for most of the book, which I didn’t totally love. I know her marriages were just a union with no love in them but I really wish she could flirt with Bjorn without being a married woman. I hope it gets better for Freya in book two.
I’d say this is the darkest book from this author because there is no nice feelings between anyone in this environment. Freya can’t even get trust and affection from her own family. Bjorn definitely doesn’t get it from his own family either, but his background is very intriguing and I think we’ll get to learn more about it in the sequel. There are no friendships in this book either except between Freya and Bjorn. So I felt like it was void of the usual things I come to love about DLJ’s books but I still look forward to book two because I know this is just the beginning.
Tropes: slow burn, forbidden romance
I read this one the moment the arc hit my NetGalley shelf and I was immersed in an adventure with battles, harsh surroundings, hard characters and forbidden romance. I didn’t love it as much as The Bridge Kingdom but I am looking forward to seeing what happens to Freya and Bjorn in the next book.
Happy book birthday to these new releases! Check out this list today:
ASAP by. Axie Oh
New York Times bestselling author Axie Oh’s ASAP is the much anticipated companion novel to beloved romance XOXO, following fan favorites Sori, the wealthy daughter of a K-pop company owner, and Nathaniel, her K-pop star ex-boyfriend, in a swoon-worthy second chance love story.
Sori has worked her whole life to become a K-pop idol, until she realizes she doesn’t want a life forever in the spotlight. But that’s not actually up to Sori—she’s caught between her exacting mother’s entertainment company and her father’s presidential aspirations. And as the pressure to keep her flawless public image grows, the last person she should be thinking about is her ex-boyfriend.
Nathaniel is off limits—she knows this. A member of one of the biggest K-pop bands in the world and forbidden from dating, he isn’t any more of an option now than he was two years ago. Still, she can’t forget that their whirlwind romance was the last time she remembers being really happy. Or that his family welcomed her into their home when she needed it most. . . .
So when Nathaniel finds himself rocked by scandal, Sori offers him a hideaway with her. And back in close quarters, it’s hard to deny their old feelings. But when Sori gets an opportunity to break free from her parent’s expectations, she will have to decide: Is her future worth sacrificing for a second chance at love?
From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah’s The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over- whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.
But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.
The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.
Tales of the Celestial Kingdom (#2.5) by. Sue Lynn Tan
Sue Lynn Tan’s highly acclaimed, bestselling Celestial Kingdom duology is expanded with this new compilation of stories from before, during, and after the events in Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Heart of the Sun Warrior, all from the perspectives of beloved characters and illustrated by Kelly Chong.
Return to the Immortal Realm, a world of gods, magic, and legendary creatures—and embark upon new adventures of valor, danger, and love.
Tales from the Celestial Kingdom collects nine spellbinding stories—two previously published, seven original, including the epilogue to the duology—set in the enchanting world of Sue Lynn Tan’s stunning debut. Filled with magic and mythology, friendship and love, these stories intertwine through the past, present, and future of the two novels, told from the perspectives of multiple characters, including Chang’e, Shuxiao, Liwei, and Wenzhi.
With beautiful illustrations from Kelly Chong throughout, these wondrous tales make the perfect complement to Sue Lynn Tan’s breathtaking series.
The highly anticipated third novel in the This Woven Kingdom series, full of explosive magic, searing romance, and heartbreaking betrayal, from the award-winning and bestselling author of the Shatter Me series. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Sabaa Tahir, and Tomi Adeyemi.
As the long-lost heir to the Jinn throne, Alizeh has finally found her people—and she might’ve found her crown. Cyrus, the mercurial ruler of Tulan, has offered her his kingdom in a twisted exchange: one that would begin with their marriage and end with his murder.
Cyrus’s dark reputation precedes him; all the world knows of his blood-soaked past. Killing him should be easy—and accepting his offer might be the only way to fulfill her destiny and save her people. But the more Alizeh learns of him, the more she questions whether the terrible stories about him are true.
Ensnared by secrets, Cyrus has ached for Alizeh since she first appeared in his dreams many months ago. Now that he knows those visions were planted by the devil, he can hardly bear to look at her—much less endure her company. But despite their best efforts to despise each other, Alizeh and Cyrus are drawn together over and over with an all-consuming thirst that threatens to destroy them both.
Meanwhile, Prince Kamran has arrived in Tulan, ready to exact revenge…
Layered with exquisite tension and heart-stopping romance, All This Twisted Glory is the explosive third book in the captivating, bestselling This Woven Kingdom series.
A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance.
Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again…
Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….
Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.
A heart-buckling ride of a romance by beloved author Erin Hahn, Even If It Breaks Your Heart is about two teens finding out that sometimes, the hardest part of discovering what you want is getting the courage to pursue it.
The only thing keeping nineteen-year-old Case Michaels together after the death of his best friend, Walker, is a list Walker left behind of things he wants Case to accomplish in his absence. So far, though, Case hasn’t even been able to continue riding bulls in the rodeo circuit, something he’s done his entire life, balking at the thought of competing without Walker by his side. But the list? Case is determined to follow it to the letter– and he follows it all the way to Winnie Sutton.
Eighteen-year-old Winnie Sutton just wants to keep her family together. She graduated high school early to work long shifts at the Michaels family ranch so she can support her younger siblings and a father who’s more than happy to let Winnie fill the responsible parent role. If she sometimes sneaks out to ride the horses herself and forget about life for a while– well, that’s no one else’s business– until the day she crashes headfirst into Case Michaels. Case sees her riding skills and immediately ropes her into competing for the ranch and becoming his friend.
Winnie and Case couldn’t be more different, but Case can’t help but be inspired by Winnie’s badly-hidden passion for riding and competition. And there’s something about Case that makes Winnie want to try grasping onto a dream for herself, whether that’s a shot at a rodeo trophy, the annoyingly handsome rancher’s son who won’t leave her alone, or maybe both.
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:
Top Ten Quick Reads/Books to Read When Time is Short
(Books under 150 pages, or if you’re not a novella reader maybe spin this to be books you could read in a day or a single sitting.)
These books are under 300 pages, because I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that is under 150? I might be wrong…but I can’t recall at the top of my head a book that is under 150.
Six Scorched Roses by. Carissa Broadbent – a novella that is 187 pages
Stranger Danger by. Maren Stoffels – 224 pages
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by. Holly Black – 200 pages
Woke Up Like This by. Amy Lea – coming in at 300 pages
A Festive Feud by. Maren Moore – so many holiday books are quick reads and this one is 222 pages
Flip the Script by. Lyla Lee – 296 pages
That’s all I got – I don’t even have 10! I guess I need to read more novellas.
January was about getting kids back into school and their tap and piano activities. Getting used to my hubby not being around again and then my daughter got the stomach flu in the second week of the month and then a cold on the last day of the month lol. My son at least has been illness free which is so nice!
As far as reading goes – I got to read all my arcs on time, which I’m proud of! There was a moment there I didn’t think I’d feel motivated enough to read them but I did.
As for this blog this is what I posted–
What I Posted: 10 Books
5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:
4.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫:
4 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫:
3 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️⭐️:
2.5 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️💫
2 Star Reads – ⭐️⭐️
I read some really good books this month and a few of them I’d say would be perfect for fall reading since they were mostly dark reads!
I was planning to drop everything to read House of Flame and Shadow and that didn’t happen lol.
There was this whole week of anxiety because my hubby who said no trips to Japan this year so we can recoup what we spent in 2023, told me to book a trip because our daughter is having a hard time again with him being gone again. 🤦🏻♀️ So after a few days of trying to find reasonable flights and hotels for either spring break or end of May – and the trip being a trip for the 4 of us turning into a trip for 8 people (parents and nephews wanted to come) – I said forget it. It’s cheaper and easier for HIM to come home at the end of May because it’s the kids last week of school plus our son’s 5th grade graduation and we decided on that.
After deciding on all of that, I finally started House of Flame and Shadow and I’m halfway through!
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!
Categories: Young Adult/New Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Witches/Witch Hunters. Magic
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Wednesday Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
A steamy game of cat and mouse between witch and witch-hunter, played out against a backdrop of opulence, secrets, and bloody history.
On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for.
Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?
Kristen Ciccarelli’s Heartless Hunter is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch…is falling in love.
Content Warning: violence, blood magic, mentions of self harm, mentions of abuse, death, mentions of drug use
+ I went into this book not knowing what to expect and wow was I delightfully surprised at how engaged I was with this story. I loved the game of cat and mouse that Rune and Gideon play. Rune is a witch in secret and Gideon is a successful witch hunter. I didn’t want either of them to catch the either because I was rooting for them both at times – but they did entrap themselves with their attraction to one another which was intense. There was even a steamy scene between them which is why I mention this as a New Adult book because I did feel like the characters seem older.
+ I like how complicated this story was because of Rune’s background – she’s a witch and trying to survive by keeping that secret. She’s also the Crimson Moth, a witch going around helping other witches escape from prison. And then there is Gideon, who was abused by a which he had been in love with and when he set himself free and helped take down the witch Queens who ruled them, he became a changed young man – a hardened one. They both think they are doing their life’s purpose.
+ The twist in the story was so good, I only caught it 3/4ths into the book! I did not see it coming at all until it was too late but I love that it caught me off guard. I was so involved with Rune and Gideon’s game of cat and mouse that I didn’t question anything else happening around them.
+ The world building is great and I love the magic system. I like that we get the history of the Queens and the revolution. The killing of witches did get graphic especially when Rune recalls how her grandmother died.
+~ I personally love how this enemies to lovers, forbidden romance transpired. Gideon really hates witches and Rune really is trying to help any witch she can. I loved the cat and mouse but how could these two people ever be together? It seems doomed from the start because they are both pretending to get something from the other. There is a slight love triangle which some readers won’t like but I didn’t mind it because of what happens in the story. But Gideon is as hardened a character as I ever saw and with the way things end – is there a way the two of them could ever believe the other? But I so loved the way he softened towards Rune (even if it was at first pretend) and the things he did to woo her – I don’t blame her for falling for him!
My Thoughts:
I was really transported into this story and was riveted by the cat and mouse game between Rune and Gideon. I love the moments when they gave into what they were feeling but they have so much to work through. I love the world-building and the magic which was easy to follow. There’s a great tension that builds in the story because of Rune’s secrets, the cat and mouse game, the forbidden attraction and the twist in the story. I’m sad I have to wait for the next book!
Categories: Historical Fiction, Vietnam, War, Feminism, Adult
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 Press for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah’s The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over- whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.
But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.
The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.
Content Warning: violence, war, gruesome injuries, death, misogyny, drug use, cheating, PTSD
+ This is Kristin Hannah and she always blows me away. I love her research, I love how she writes historical fiction and the stories are not pretty. It’s real, it’s raw, and her characters go through trauma but I go on the journey with them – I stay with them and root for them to make it. In this book, she takes us to Vietnam. I was riveted from the moment I started the book and I finished it in one sitting even if it took me past midnight and made me sleep at 1am (which is rare for a book to do to me these days). It’s just really good storytelling and you know she took her time with this book.
+ Frances “Frankie” McGrath is a powerful character and I don’t mean that she is perfect. It’s 1966 and a women’s role in life is still to stay at home and take care of her husband and have kids. Frankie comes from a sheltered, affluent home, is getting a degree in Nursing but her brother gets sent to Vietnam and never comes home. She leaves behind her comfort zone, takes all her sheltered naivety to a foreign country to become a hero and her eyes gets blown wide open to to the horrors of war. And just when she’s found herself and what’s she’s good at – she comes home to a country that despises her for her service. She has a lot to overcome and it’s a journey that made me cry at the end.
+ This book is called The Women and Frankie is not the only woman in this book. She meets two others in Vietnam who become her best friends for life, Barb and Ethel. These three women kept one another alive – kept each other going in Vietnam and after they come home. This is a friendship that saves Frankie and a friendship that didn’t sugarcoat anything because they saw the worst of humanity together and survived. I love that all of them have a different path after Vietnam but they are there for one another no matter what. Another woman who has what doesn’t seem like a powerful role, is Frankie’s mother – but she grew up in a generation where women were told to shut up and not get involved. We see her try her best and that’s all some women could do back then.
+ Vietnam. This author takes us to Vietnam and I felt like I was there with Frankie. There is one crazy scene where Frankie gets moved to another mobile hospital but near enemy territory and heavy fighting just made me panic with her. It made me appreciate the mental strength that these men and women who served had to endure in what was literal hell. In a war that was a lost. When Frankie leaves Vietnam and comes back home she isn’t celebrated as a hero like WWII vets were – she was spat on. No one was proud of her, no one wanted to hear that she was there. We see her PTSD heighten when she comes back home but there is no help available to her because people claim there were no women in Vietnam – because the government was saying so in the media. No women! To almost give her life serving and then coming back home to be told she wasn’t there?! Oh my rage…the story touches on other issues going on in the USA at the time like the war protests, the Black Panther movement, race issues, gender issues and lack of trust in the government.
~ I said Frankie wasn’t perfect and her weakness was that she was alone and longed for comfort and sadly her pick of guys wasn’t the best. But that only makes her human. So as much as I was rooting for the romance in this book – this is not that kind of story, it’s about more than that even though the men she did encounter in her story did shape her in one way or another.
My Thoughts:
It’s another 5 star Kristin Hannah book for me – she never disappoints me because she can grab my attention and heart. This story teaches you something, and it reminds you that women were there in Vietnam, and that the men and women came back broken. There was hardly any help for them and our Vets deserve more than that. It’s heartbreaking, it’s brutal, it’s gripping, and I wish I could post quotes from the book but I won’t because it’s an arc. I can’t wait to read her next book.
I’ve actually read a lot of Kristin Hannah books but never wrote a full review for them since I read them before creating this blog. I did leave star reviews on Goodreads for them though so this is what I rated them:
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 