Somewhere in the Deep by. Tanvi Berwah | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Somewhere in the Deep

Author: Tanvi Berwah

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 384

Publication Date: 1/9/24

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Categories: Young Adult, Thriller, Fantasy, South Asian

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

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

Seventeen-year-old Krescent Dune is buried under the weight of her dead parents’ debt and the ruinous legacy they left behind. The only way she can earn enough money to escape her unforgiving island is by battling monstrous creatures in an underground fighting pit. After a fight goes terribly wrong, she’s banned from the pits. Now hopeless, she is offered a deal: in exchange for the erasure of her debts, she must join and protect a hunting party for a rescue mission deep within the mining caves beneath the island.

Krescent is determined to keep her head down and fulfill her role as the dutiful bodyguard, even though she is trapped underground with her childhood enemy and a company of people who would gladly kill her if they knew who her parents were. As they come across creatures she believed only existed in legends, it becomes clear they are in far more danger than she could have imagined. But someone doesn’t want her to make it out alive. And she’ll have to figure out who before she’s left alone… in the dark.

From the author of Monsters Born and Made comes an action-packed South Asian inspired fantasy that will have your heart racing at every turn.

Content Warning: violence, killer insects

+ I read a book by this author last year and thought it was pretty good and this book is set in that same world. What I really enjoyed about this book is that it’s in the same world, so we get to learn more about it but it’s inspired by South Asia and I love that representation. I like that is it unique.

+ This has a lot of action. Kress is a fighter in the ring, but she has a bad reputation because of something her parents did. I love that she’s a strong character. Kress is an outcast but because she’s a fighter she gets chosen to go on this expedition deep underground. She is part of this expedition group of miners and other people but not everyone is trustworthy so there is a lot of tense moments underground with this group of people and monsters coming for them.

+ There is a little bit of romance going on with Kress and her best-friend, Rivan. It’s a friends to lovers situation so it takes them awhile to really admit their feelings but there is a lot of angst and longing in both but they are kind of stuck in a harrowing situation so it takes them awhile to figure that out.

~ I didn’t totally connect to any of the characters but I did still enjoyed the story. Would have loved to be more invested into the characters though but for some reason I just couldn’t.

My Thoughts:

I like the South Asian inspired setting and the action is great. I just wish I could connect to the characters so I could be invested in the high stakes of their situation but despite all that I did enjoy this story for the most part.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Monsters Born and Made by. Tanvi Berwah ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

A Fragile Enchantment by. Allison Saft | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: A Fragile Enchantment

Author: Allison Saft

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 384

Publication Date: 1/2/24

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Categories: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, LGBT+

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!

In this romantic fantasy of manners from New York Times bestselling author Allison Saft, a magical dressmaker commissioned for a royal wedding finds herself embroiled in scandal when a gossip columnist draws attention to her undeniable chemistry with the groom.

Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland.

But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible.

Transporting readers to a Regency England-inspired fantasy world, A Fragile Enchantment is a sweeping romance threaded with intrigue, unforgettable characters, and a love story for the ages.

Content Warning: self harm, alcoholism

+ Okay I said maybe I’m over historical romances, but I think if it’s a historical fantasy romance like this particular book then I’m not over it at all. I definitely like how this story had the drama of a gossip sheet (like Bridgerton), the balls, a royal wedding, a romance and a rebellion going on.

+ There’s magic in this book and Niamh’s craft is sewing. I thought it was pretty cool how she could create fashions that evoke emotions. Other characters have magic too like but not everyone has it. It definitely made the story feel enchanted with the element of magic that certain characters could wield.

+ This story has a strong cast of characters from the main ones Niamh and Kit to the rest of the group which consisted of Kit’s future wife, his best friend and his family. I like the LGBT+ representation, Niamh and Kit are both bi-sexual, and other characters are queer as well.

+~ Speaking of romance -I love a good enemies to lovers romance and there is a lot of tension between Niamh and Kit which for the most part I enjoyed. But there was something about their romance at times that frustrated me also maybe it’s the times he’s being rude – but his grumpiness is supposed to be attractive? I just felt like he was being a brat at times.

~ The political conflict in the book didn’t feel solved at the end, and honestly I think Jack and his wife could have their own book where they fall in love with one another and he figures out how to become a better leader.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this book and loved that it was historical romance with magic elements I thought the writing was very lyrical and made the story enchanting.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

A Far Wilder Magic by. Allison Saft | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

WWW Wednesday | 12/20/23

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

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?

5 days until Christmas y’all! My hubby is home but even with him home, I feel more exhausted? I got to go over to my mom’s house this weekend and helped do some cleaning. She’s always cleaning but since her surgery she can’t do heavy lifting – even though I know she wants to! So I did the cleaning for her. Her healing is going well, she still feels a bit weak but she looks better each time I see her.

What are you currently reading?

ASAP by. Axie Oh – if you read XOXO, then this one is about Nathaniel and Sori! I’m 16% into this one.

A Study Drowning by. Ava Reid – 2% in this one and I don’t know why I have no interest in it right now. So this might be one I come back to at a later time.

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by. Amelie Wen Zhao – I’m 28% into this book and hoping I can finish before it publishes in 2 weeks!

The Getaway List by. Emma Lord – I’m 13% into this one and enjoying it. I love the bright cover too! Yellow covers make me happy!

Snowed In by. Catherine Walsh – trying to add in a few more holiday reads before Christmas!

What have you just finished reading?

Hallowed Games by. C.N. Crawford ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Somewhere in the Deep by. Tanvi Berwah ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Fragile Enchantment by. Allison Saft – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

What are you going to read next?

Nettle & Bone by. T. Kingfisher

The Endless War by. Danielle L. Jensen

Salt & Broom by. Sharon Lynn Fisher

What are you reading right now?

Books I Hope Santa Brings/Bookish Wishes | TTT | 12/19/23

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 Hope Santa Brings/Bookish Wishes

I don’t usually get books under the tree because I’d rather have a gift card to buy the books I want. But these are the books on my wishlist and some of these aren’t published yet but their covers look amazing!

War Widow by. Deborah Falaye

Have you read any of these books? Are any of these on your TBR? What’s on your TTT?

#5OnMyTBR: Winter Celebrations

#5OnMyTBR is a bookish meme hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook and you can learn more about it here or in the post announcing it. It occurs every Monday when we post about 5 books on our TBR.

This week’s theme is: Winter Celebrations

Title: A Holly Jolly Ever After

Author: Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

Kallum Liebermanis the funny one™. As the arguably lesser of the three former members of the boy band INK, he enjoyed his fifteen minutes of fame and then moved home where he opened a regional pizza chain called Slice, Slice, Baby! He’s living his best dad bod life, hooking up with bridesmaids at all his friends’ weddings. But after an old one-off sex tape is leaked and quickly goes viral, Kallum decides he’s ready to step into the spotlight again, starring in a sexy Santa biopic for the Hope Channel.

Winnie Baker did everything right. She married her childhood sweetheart, avoided the downfalls of adolescent stardom, and transitioned into a stable adult acting career. Hell, she even waited until marriage to have sex. But after her perfect life falls apart, Winnie is ready to redefine herself—and what better way than a steamier-than-a-steaming-hot-mug-of-cider Christmas movie?

With decade old Hollywood history between them, Winnie and Kallum are both feeling hesitant about their new situation as costars…especially Winnie who can’t seem to fake on screen pleasure she’s never experienced in real life. She’s willing to do the pleasure research—for science and artistic authenticity, of course. And there’s no better research partner than her bridesmaid sex tape hall of fame costar, Kallum. But suddenly, Kallum’s teenage crush on Winnie is bubbling to the surface and Winnie might be catching feelings herself.

They say opposites attract, but is this holly jolly ever after really ready for its close-up?

EVERYBODY LOVED A MERRY LITTLE MEET CUTE ’Funny and saucy, this certainly puts the X-rated into Xmas’ Heat

‘The audacity of this magical author duo to sneak in and steal Christmas in the sexiest way possible . . . the charming holiday romp you absolutely need in your life!’
TESSA BAILEY

‘The holiday romcom of my dreams! Sexy, progressive, hilarious, and full of good cheer’
HELEN HOANG

’A merry little masterpiece . . . this is a read for those who want a winter romcom but with some X-rated antics’ Metro ‘The holiday rom-com of your dreams!’ Cosmopolitan

Title: Kissing Kosher

Author: Jean Meltzer

Step 1: Get the secret recipe. Step 2: Don’t fall in love…

Avital Cohen isn’t wearing underpants—woefully, for unsexy reasons. Chronic pelvic pain has forced her to sideline her photography dreams and her love life. It’s all she can do to manage her family’s kosher bakery, Best Babka in Brooklyn, without collapsing.

She needs hired help.

And distractingly handsome Ethan Lippmann seems the perfect fit.

Except Ethan isn’t there to work—he’s undercover, at the behest of his ironfisted grandfather. Though Lippmann’s is a household name when it comes to mass-produced kosher baked goods, they don’t have the charm of Avital’s bakery. Or her grandfather’s world-famous pumpkin spice babka recipe.

As they bake side by side, Ethan soon finds himself more interested in Avital than in stealing family secrets, especially as he helps her find the chronic pain relief—and pleasure—she’s been missing.

But perfecting the recipe for romance calls for leaving out the lies…even if coming clean means risking everything.

Title: My Ex-Mas Emergency

Author: Jennifer Peel

Very few in Aspen Lake expected that I, Calista Monroe, their most notorious wild child, would ever amount to anything besides being a model prisoner. So imagine their surprise when I returned as the hospital’s newest ER doctor. Believe me, no one is more surprised than I am. I had vowed to never return, even if it was the last safe haven during the zombie apocalypse. But when my niece, Quinn, begged me to come home, I couldn’t say no. My plan is to stay out of trouble this time, and above all, avoid Quinn’s uncle Tristan—the man I love to hate and the reason I left Aspen Lake.

But trouble starts to brew when my niece gets it into her pretty head that her uncle and I need to reconcile. The devious little thing insists we deck the halls together all season long. And since I’ll do anything to make Quinn happy, I agree, believing I’m completely immune to Tristan’s charm. Except the joke’s on me. Who knew that Tristan’s biggest regret was letting me go? And the infuriating man seems willing to do everything possible to win me back. Well, it’s going to take a Christmas miracle for me to give him a second chance. Unfortunately for my plan, our chemistry could set a blizzard on fire. Now I have a major ex emergency on my hands.

Do I give my niece her Christmas wish, or do I let the love between Tristan and me flatline once and for all?

USA Today best-selling author Jennifer Peel presents a sweet and swoony holiday rom-com that will leave you feeling oh so merry and bright.

Title: Lovelight Farms

Author: B.L. Borison

Two best friends fake date to reach their holiday happily ever after in this first romantic comedy in the Lovelight series.A pasture of dead trees. A hostile takeover of the Santa barn by a family of raccoons. And shipments that have mysteriously gone missing. Lovelight Farms is not the magical winter wonderland of Stella Bloom’s dreams.In an effort to save the Christmas tree farm she’s loved since she was a kid, Stella enters a contest with Instagram-famous influencer Evelyn St. James. With the added publicity and the $100,000 cash prize, Stella might just be able to save the farm from its financial woes. There’s just one problem. To make the farm seem like a romantic destination for the holidays, she lied on her application and said she owns Lovelight Farms with her boyfriend. Only…there is no boyfriend.Enter best friend Luka Peters. He just stopped by for some hot chocolate and somehow got a farm and a serious girlfriend in the process. But fake dating his best friend might be the best Christmas present he’s ever received.

I got only 4 titles…

Have you read any of these?

>>>>>

December

~~04/12/2023 — Title Starting with a ‘C’~~
~~11/12/2023 — Short Read~~
~~18/12/2023 — Winter Celebrations~~
25/12/2023 — 2023 TBR Tittles You Didn’t Get To

Weekly Wrap Up | 12/17/23

Aloha friends!

I got to spend some time with my mom on Sunday and she’s getting better day by day. I’m going to go spend time with her today since my sister and her family will be going out to celebrate her hubby’s birthday. My husband finally came home yesterday – he’ll be here for 3 weeks so I can go get some things done! I haven’t taken my kids to Sunday school the past few Sundays because my son had a piano recital and then my daughter was sick this whole week – but they also had a bomb threat, so I didn’t feel safe taking them.

Kids have 4 days of school this week – but I’m already over it! I wish they had this week off! But at least I’m done with all my Christmas shopping. Now I just have to give the gifts so hopefully I can see some friends this week!

I hope all of you had a good week!

Blog Posts:

#5OnMyTBR: Short Read
A Curse for True Love by. Stephanie Garber | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Books On My Winter 2022-2023 To-Read List | TTT | 12/12/23
Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 12/12/23
A Festive Feud: Special Edition by. Maren Moore | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
WWW Wednesday | 12/13/23
Most Anticipated Book Releases | December 2023
Hallowed Games by. C.N.Crawford | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️
First Lines Fridays | 12/15/23

Books I Read:

Somewhere in the Deep by. Tanvi Berwah

A Fragile Enchantment by. Allison Saft

Hallowed Games by. C.N. Crawford

Currently Reading:

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by. Amelie Wen Zhao

The Endless War by. Danielle L. Jensen

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

The Buccaneers (episode 8) on Apple TV – scandalous!

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!

Looking Back on 2023: Series That I Started or Finished

I did a similar post last year to see what series I started and finished during the year. It’s very interesting to see if I stick to a series or not. It’s so hard sometimes to get back into a series after waiting so long for the next book since I don’t re-read a lot of books anymore.

Series That I Started or Finished in 2023

Here’s what I started:

One Dark Window (The Shepherd King series) by. Rachel Gillig
Trial of the Sun Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos series) by. Nisha J. Tuli
Daughter of the Moon Goddess (The Celestial Kingdom series) by. Sue Lynn Tan

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night (Song of the Last Kingdom series) by. Amelie Wen Zhao
Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment series) by. Rebecca Ross
Blood & Steel (The Legends of Thezmarr series) by. Helen Schuerer

The Foxglove King (The Nightshade Crown series) by. Hannah Whitten
Silver in the Bone (Silver in the Bone series) by. Alexandra Bracken
The Liar’s Crown (Dominions series) by. Abigail Owen

Fourth Wing (The Empyrean series) by. Rebecca Yarros
Lightlark (Lightlark series) by. Alex Aster
Immortal Longings (Flesh and False Gods series) by. Chloe Gong

Stealing Infinity (Stolen Beauty series) by. Alyson Noel
A Taste of Torment (Shadow Hills Academy series) by. Stacey Trombley
Twin Crowns (Twin Crowns series) by. Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde series) by. Heather Fawcett
House of Marionne (House of Marionne series) by. J. Elle
The Scarlet Alchemist (The Scarlet Alchemist series) by. Kylie Lee Baker

King of Wrath (Kings of Sin series) by. Ana Huang
The Stolen Heir (The Stolen Heir duology) by. Holly Black

The Jasad Heir (The Scorched Throne series) by. Sara Hashem
Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy series) by. Lauren Roberts
Heart of Night and Fire (The Nightfire Quartet series) by. Nisha J. Tuli

Night of the Witch (Witch and Hunter series) by. Sara Raasch and Beth Revis
The Hurricane Wars (The Hurricane Wars series) by. Thea Guanzon
To Kill a Shadow (Mistlands series) by. Katherine Quinn

The ones I won’t be continuing are:

The Liar’s Crown – Dominions series. I actually read book two but have no interest in finishing the series.
Lightlark – this was okay for me but didn’t spark my interest to keep going on in the series.
Emily Wilde series is fascinating but a little too slow for me at times. I’d have to be in a really cozy mood to read the next book or I’ll listen to it as an audiobook so this one is a maybe.
House of Marionne series is a maybe also. I was intrigued by the ending, but we’ll see how my mood is when book two comes out.
Night of the Witch – this was another okay book for me. Don’t think I’ll continue.
To Kill a Shadow – I didn’t feel anything new with this series to set it apart from other romance fantasies out there. So I won’t continue this one.

Here are the series that I finished:

The Sweetest Betrayal (The Kinder Poison series) by. Natalie Mae
Immortality: A Love Story (The Anatomy Duology series) by. Dana Schwartz
The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King (Crowns of Nyxia – The Nightborn Duet series) by. Carissa Broadbent

These Twisted Bonds (These Hollow Vows series) by. Lexi Ryan
Tokyo Dreaming (Tokyo Ever After series) by. Emiko Jean
A Dose of Agony (Shadow Hills Academy series) by. Stacey Trombley

Forestfall (World at the Lake’s Edge series) by. Lyndall Clipstone
Foul Heart Huntsman (Foul Lady Fortune series) by. Chloe Gong
Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King series) by. Rachel Gillig

This Cursed Light (The Last Finestra series) by. Emily Thiede

A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart series) by. Stephanie Garber

Duologies are way easier for me to finish than trilogies for sure! So many of the series I finished were duologies.

What series did you start or finish in 2023?

Let me know in the comments!

First Lines Fridays | 12/15/23

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!

“Evangeline Fox always believed she’d find herself inside of a fairytale one day.”

⬇️

⬇️

Can you guess what book it is?

Did you guess it? Have you read this one? If you did read this series, I bet you got this one right away!

📖 ~ Yolanda

Hallowed Games by. C.N.Crawford | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Hallowed Games (#1)

Author: C.N. Crawford

Format: ebook (kindle unlimited)

Pages: 410

Publication Date: 12/1/23

Categories: Adult, Forbidden Romance, Fantasy, Vampires

If he’s death, I crave oblivion.

I’m cursed to kill with a brush of my fingertips. My worst fear is attracting the attention of the kingdom’s magic hunters. Maelor is their mysterious, gorgeous leader–and my world falls apart when he learns my secret.

When he arrests me, my only hope is to survive a deadly competition, to win the mercy of our god. Strangely, Maelor is immune to my touch. Turns out, that’s because he’s secretly a vampire—lethally sexy, and dangerous as hell.

He’s as drawn to me as I am to him. Can this beautiful monster help me survive, or will our dark attraction lead me to ruin?

Hallowed Games is the first book in a new series of fantasy romance, morally-grey characters, and deadly trials: perfect A Court of Thorns and Roses and Serpent and the Wings of Night.

Content Warning: violence

I haven’t read a forbidden love story in awhile so this was interesting!

+ It’s forbidden! Maelor is the Raven Lord who is part of the society that is similar to a devout priest but in this story they worship Archon. Anyone with magic is killed so think – the Spanish Inquisition or witch trials, except with a few twists. And Maelor can’t control himself when he’s around Elowen – who’s magic is a death touch. Anyway it has the religious fanatics hunting the witches kind of situations.

+ I did like the twist in the story with Maelor and another character who is a bit suspicious, Sion. I’m not sure what’s going to happen there between the three of them but in this book it’s about Maelor and Elowen’s forbidden attraction which gets steamy.

+ It’s a quick read – not as much depth as I’d like, but it’s a story for easy reading and escape.

~ I just wanted more world-building. I love the vampire aspect of the story, just wanted more from some of the characters. Maybe it’ll get better for me in book two?

~ I hope this doesn’t turn into a love triangle! I mean I kind of giggled when Elowen was turned on by Maelor’s exposed clavicle! lol I was like, OKAY, that’s how it’s going to be. There is lots of angst and pining on both sides but I’m not convinced they are going end up together? I don’t know.

My Final Thoughts:

I kind of needed this one to get out of my reading slump. It was a quick and easy read, nothing to deep and fun because of the forbidden love and vampire elements. I did want a little more depth to the characters and some world-building but I’ll just take it as is and wait to see if it gets better in book two.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Mini Reviews | Court of the Sea Fae Trilogy by. C.N. Crawford

Mini Reviews | Institute of the Shadow Fae Series (Books #1-4) by. C.N. Crawford

Mini Reviews | Hades Castle Trilogy by. C.N. Crawford

City of Thorns (The Demon Queen Trials, #1) by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Lord of Embers by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Garden of Serpents by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Frost by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Ambrosia by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Most Anticipated Book Releases | December 2023

There are some exciting book releases coming up this month!

I don’t think I’ll be able to get to any of them except for Ruthless Vows because I have so many January arcs to catch up on and other books I’ve borrowed that I really want to finish. But I’m pressed for time and energy…but these are books I do want to read!

This is what I’m looking forward to: