Categories: Young Adult, Romance, Halloween, Paranormal, Teen Readers
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!
The town of Moon Ridge was founded 400 years ago and everyone born and raised there knows the legend of the young woman who perished at the stroke of twelve that very same night, losing the life she was set to embark on with her dearest love. Every century since, one day a year, the Lady of Moon Ridge descends from the stars to walk among the townsfolk, conjuring an aura upon those willing to follow their hearts’ desires.
“To summon joy and love in another’s soul For a connection that makes two people whole For laughter and a smile that one can never miss Sealed before midnight with a truehearted kiss.”
This year at Moon Ridge High, a group of friends known as The Coven will weave art, science, and magic during a masquerade ball unlike any other. Onny, True, and Ash believe everything is in alignment to bring them the affection, acceptance, and healing that can only come from romance—with a little help from Onny’s grandmother’s love potion.
But nothing is as simple as it first seems. And as midnight approaches, The Coven learn that it will take more than a spell to recognize those who offer their love and to embrace all the magic that follows.
Content Warning:
This is a three story anthology filled with romance, Halloween and autumn vibes and I thought it was lots of fun. Here’s what I like and didn’t like:
+ The stories are short and the whole anthology itself is under 300 pages. The stories flowed nicely together even though it’s told by three different authors. It’s perfect for teens.
+ Onny and Ash’s stories were my favorite because Onny’s is a rivals to lovers romance. Onny is into the mystical – she loves astrology, Halloween and believes in love potions and fate. Her rivals to romance story was perfect for her personality. Ash is the quiet, shy artist who is in love with the girl next door, Cassidy. He finally gets to talk to her and finds out she was mutually pining for him too.
+ The friendship between Onny, Ash, and True is tight and I love the three of them together.
~ True’s story was the weakest because it was so insta-love. I did like how she was a science-minded girl and not into Onny’s hocus pocus but her mind is opened a bit on Halloween night. Orion is someone she meets on Halloween night and he’s into ghosts. Theirs is an opposites attract relationship which would have worked out better for me if it wasn’t an insta-love thing. If she had a past with him like Onny did with Byron and Ash has with Cassidy then it would be more believable.
Tropes:mutual pining, rivals to lovers, opposites attract
Why you should read it:
you want to get into fall vibes, Halloween vibes
super cute Halloween romance stories in a book that is under 300 pages long
diverse author line up, and diverse characters
Why you might not want to read it:
not into anthologies or novella type stories
My Thoughts:
Three besties find love on Halloween night: one was in front of her face the whole time, the other is pining for his his love next door, and the last one meets a potential love on Halloween night. This is a cute collection of stories for teens but I did enjoy even as an adult. And it’s a good one to read for Fall and around Halloween.
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?
What are you currently reading?
What have you just finished reading?
What are you going to read next?
I’ve been in a pretty strong mood-reading vibe so I’ve been working slowly on the arcs above. And grabbing anything else that might be interesting to me when those arcs aren’t holding my attention lol.
Living on an island plagued by magic and mythical monsters isn’t a fairy tale . . . it’s a nightmare.
Aveen is the perfect lady, placid and well-mannered, concealing her discontentment beneath false smiles and gentle nods. As the eldest, her duty has always been to her family legacy and her sister’s happiness. But when she finds herself forced into betrothal to a man she loathes, she swears she’ll do anything to escape. Even if it means bargaining with a wicked fae prince.
Rían is a devious half-fae with a dark secret, concealing his true nature beneath glamours and lies. When a fascinating human accidentally catches his eye, it’s clear he’ll do anything to take her for himself. Including making promises he can’t-or won’t-keep.
Confronting hidden dangers and haunting pasts, the two reluctantly come to rely on each other to survive a world where nothing is what it seems and darkness encroaches from all sides.
Will their tangled web of lies bring freedom they crave . . . or will it unravel them both?
A Cursed Heart is the second book in the Myths of Airren, a series of inter-connected standalone fantasy romances set on the magical island of Airren.
Content Warning: violence, sexual assault
Here is book two in the Myths of Airren series and it’s about Aveen and Rian. I didn’t think anyone could have more chemistry than Tadhg and Keelyn but I was wrong, because here is Aveen and Rian who have a love/hate relationship going on. Here’s what I thought:
+ Aveen took the role of Keelynn’s big sister but also her mother since their own died. She is the oldest and has the responsibility of making a good marriage. Keelynn is her whole world but all Aveen wants is a life where no one tells her what to do, especially where men are concerned. Rian is Tadhg’s brother which means he has the same arrogance and sex appeal as his brother – these boys are such rascals! When Aveen and Rian meet, it’s fireworks…not so much a love at first sight, but oh so much bickering. Their relationship made me laugh!
+ This was an interesting story because it gives a backstory – so it starts before Keelynn and Tadhg story, but also becomes parallel it for some time. So basically this is Aveen’s perspective of what was going on. I found her story fascinating because we barely met her in book one. Here we realize how much earlier she and Rian met.
+ I feel like Aveen and Rian got more time to be friends, compared to Keelynn and Tadhg. I love both romances but Aveen and Rian definitely had more ups and downs and time together. Aveen is supposed to be the more proper of the sisters, the responsible one, so maybe it makes she gets the wilder one of the brothers! She does not fall for his beauty, Aveen is pretty much over men and their demands when she meets Rian, which was fun to see Rian and her fall for one another. And Aveen and Rian had hotter scenes too!
~ I think because we got the story in full from before Keelynn’s story starts…the ending when Aveen and Rian deals with his curse feels rushed. And I wish they had more time to expand on his curse, but the story had to cover so much.
Tropes: falling in love with a monster, breaking curses, sacrifice
Spice Level: 🌶🌶🌶
Why you should read it:
Aveen and Rian have so much spark between them, I love how they hate one another haha…makes them falling in love much sweeter
Ruairi is back and I love him!
we get a very full story from beginning to end
Why you might not want to read it:
Finding out about Rian’s curse and fixing it feels rushed at the end because we had the full story of Aveen and Keelynn’s timeline in this one.
My Thoughts:
I’m going to say I love this one as equally as the first book, just in different ways. I still love Tadhg more because he’s softer than Rian, which is surprising because I like the bad bad boys. Aveen and Rian are perfect for one another – she isn’t scared off by him and he needs that. I’m looking forward to reading book three!
The enthralling conclusion to Judy I. Lin’s Book of Tea duology—A Magic Steeped in Poison and A Venom Dark and Sweet—is sure to enchant fans of Adrienne Young and Leigh Bardugo.
A great evil has come to the kingdom of Dàxi. The Banished Prince has returned to seize power, his rise to the dragon throne aided by the mass poisonings that have kept the people bound in fear and distrust.
Ning, a young but powerful shénnóng-shi—a wielder of magic using the ancient and delicate art of tea-making—has escorted Princess Zhen into exile. Joining them is the princess’ loyal bodyguard, Ruyi, and Ning’s newly healed sister, Shu. Together the four young women travel throughout the kingdom in search of allies to help oust the invaders and take back Zhen’s rightful throne.
But the golden serpent still haunts Ning’s nightmares with visions of war and bloodshed. An evil far more ancient than the petty conflicts of men has awoken, and all the magic in the land may not be enough to stop it from consuming the world…
After recovering from a life-changing injury, a teen girl must navigate a new summer job, an ex-best friend, and two surprisingly attractive coworkers in this romp of a rom-com for fans of Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian.
Hannah used to be all about focus, back before she shattered her ankle and her Olympic dreams in one bad soccer play. These days, she’s all about distraction—anything to keep the painful memories of her recent past at bay, including the string of bad decisions that landed her at boarding school for a year.
Enter Bonanza, the local entertainment multiplex and site of Hanna’s summer employment. With its mini golf course, bowling alley, and arcade—not to mention her hot, flirty coworker Patrick—Bonanza seems like the perfect way to stay distracted. Until her boss announces the annual Bonanza tournament, a staff competition that brings her past Olympic nightmares crashing back into her present.
On top of that, the Bonanza staff includes Brie, the ex-best friend she cut off last year, and Ethan, her brother’s best friend who became unreasonably attractive in her year away and who accepts her, even knowing her worst secrets. Under the neon lights of Bonanza, Hannah must decide whether she can find a way to discover a new self in the midst of her old life.
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.
1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation — also known as Babel.
Babel is the world’s center of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel’s research in foreign languages serves the Empire’s quest to colonize everything it encounters.
Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide: Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? What is he willing to sacrifice to bring Babel down?
Babel — a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal response to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell — grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of translation as a tool of empire.
A dark and enthralling story about a young woman who makes a deal with a spirit to try and gain her independence—and the twisted price she has to pay for it
Ella is a 17-year-old weaver whose entire livelihood depends on her loom. She dreams of opening her own shop, but when her father died in debtor’s prison, she had to support herself by taking whatever clients she could get. In order to buy her supplies she goes into debt of her own, and when her loom breaks, Ella realizes she needs more help than a repairperson can give her. She, like everyone, has heard about the old washerwoman spirit called the Bean-Nighe who will grant any one wish—for a price.
But Ella is desperate, so she asks the Bean-Nighe to fix her loom. And it works. The loom is fixed, and she’s creating beautiful pieces she could have never imagined before. All she has to do is feed the loom a drop of blood each time she weaves—a small price to pay for such magnificent silks. And when she brings two bolts to a rich client, she meets a mysterious young man named Callum and bargains for an invitation to his exclusive party. At that party, he’s so mesmerized by her talent, he offers Ella a place to live and patronage for her art. It seems like Ella’s fortune is finally turning for the better . . . until she begins to notice the loom taking more from her than she offered.
As she becomes entangled in the lives of the city’s rich, swept into Callum’s allure, and trapped by the Bean-Nighe’s magic, Ella must figure out a way to secure her future while she still has a future at all.
Every 100 years, the island of Lightlark appears to host the Centennial, a deadly game that only the rulers of six realms are invited to play. The invitation is a summons—a call to embrace victory and ruin, baubles and blood. The Centennial offers the six rulers one final chance to break the curses that have plagued their realms for centuries. Each ruler has something to hide. Each realm’s curse is uniquely wicked. To destroy the curses, one ruler must die.
Isla Crown is the young ruler of Wildling—a realm of temptresses cursed to kill anyone they fall in love with. They are feared and despised, and are counting on Isla to end their suffering by succeeding at the Centennial.
To survive, Isla must lie, cheat, and betray…even as love complicates everything.
A girl rewrites sex education, one viral post at a time, in this fiercely honest and delightfully awkward novel by the award-winning author of Words on Bathroom Walls.
Phoebe Townsend is a rule follower . . . or so everyone thinks. She’s an A student who writes for her small-town school newspaper. But what no one knows is that Phoebe is also Pom—the anonymous teen who’s rewriting sex education on her blog and social media.
Phoebe is not a pervert. No, really. Her unconventional hobby is just a research obsession. And sex should not be a secret. As long as Phoebe stays undercover, she’s sure she’ll fly through junior year unnoticed. . . .
That is, until Pom goes viral, courtesy of mayoral candidate Lydia Brookhurst. The former beauty queen labels Phoebe’s work an “assault on morality,” riling up her supporters and calling on Pom to reveal her identity. But Phoebe is not backing down. With her anonymity on the line, is it all worth the fight?
Julia Walton delivers a brutally honest novel about sex, social media, and the courage to pursue truth when misinformation is rife. Who knew truth could be so scandalous?
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:
Completed Series I Wish Had More Books but I’m changing it around a bit because I’m the type that wants a story to come to an end. Some series that decided to continue years later…didn’t work out for me, I wish they kept it as a trilogy. So there are no books I can think of where I wish more would be written in the series. Instead I am going with…
Standalone Books That I Love
I just went through my 5 star reads in Goodreads and this is what I came up with. Have you read any of these?
You don’t understand how obsessed I was over this series back in the day. It got me through my 20’s and we’ve seen it as a movie and it flopped (but I loved the movie). And now it’s a tv series on Peacock starting September 15th! I don’t even have Peacock which kind of sucks because how many streamings services do I need to pay for? 😩
I know book to tv adaptations alway have changes but I just hope the series is GOOD. Will you be watching it? Here’s the trailer:
Categories: Young Adult, Dystopian, Fantasy, Race, Family, Politics, 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 Sourcebooks Fire for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Sixteen-year-old Koral and her older brother Emrik risk their lives each day to capture the monstrous maristags that live in the black seas around their island. They have to, or else their family will starve.
In an oceanic world swarming with vicious beasts, the Landers―the ruling elite, have indentured Koral’s family to provide the maristags for the Glory Race, a deadly chariot tournament reserved for the upper class. The winning contender receives gold and glory. The others―if they’re lucky―survive.
When the last maristag of the year escapes and Koral has no new maristag to sell, her family’s financial situation takes a turn for the worse and they can’t afford medicine for her chronically ill little sister. Koral’s only choice is to do what no one in the world has ever dared: cheat her way into the Glory Race.
But every step of the way is unpredictable as Koral races against contenders―including her ex-boyfriend―who have trained for this their whole lives and who have no intention of letting a low-caste girl steal their glory. When a rebellion rises and rogues attack Koral to try and force her to drop out, she must choose―her life or her sister’s―before the whole island burns.
Content Warning: violence, illness, abuse
Well, I didn’t expect this to be like the Scorpio Races and Hunger Games combined! This is what worked and didn’t work for me:
+ I thought the world-building was interesting, there are very cool aspects to it. The story takes place on an island and the rich people, Landers, live below ground. Renters are the hardworking people in Sollonia and there is a divide. There are sea monsters in this story also. They have aquabats, capricorns, maristags (which are like monster horses that they race), and so much more.
+ I liked how hard Koral is. She is a survivor and won’t give up. There is a lot of anger in her, her brother Emrik, most of the Renters in Sollonia, in the rebels, so much anger in this book that I could relate because of the world we live in today. Koral is relatable. All she wants is a good life, to care for her family, she wants a chance, she fights daily for this chance and she wants glory but always comes out on the losing end. I definitely sympathized with her anger and frustrations.
+ The ending is kind of bonkers – but the final race is high adrenaline. I was cheering on Koral, but it’s a brutal race. But it doesn’t end after the race…
+~ There is a friends to rivals to maybe lovers thing going on with Koral and one of the wealthiest boys in Sollonia, Dorian. They have history that we know a little about. Presently they are rivals but there is an undercurrent of something like hate and desire. Would have liked more interaction between them. There is barely any romance between them just lots of hard feelings.
~ Though the world-building is fascinating it was confusing as well. I don’t think I have a clear picture of what a maristag looks like in my head. I’m just going off of the book cover and maybe like a horse body? There were just some things about the world-building I couldn’t quite pin down and flesh out in my mind despite the author’s descriptions.
~ The ending is so abrupt – is there a sequel? Because how could it end like that?!
~ I wasn’t sure what parts of the books represented South Asia because the races felt like a Roman inspired race? It had chariots and a dome called a Drome. I’m going to say it was the caste system between the Landers, Renters and Rebels but I wish it was clearer to me.
Why you should read it:
fascinating world-building, an island surrounded by a sea of monsters
Koral is a survivor and a fighter, this girl won’t back down
the final race is pure action
Why you might not want to read it:
some parts of the world-building while fascinating was also confusing at times – I couldn’t get a good feel of how things looked like a maristag for instance…
very abrupt ending – is there a sequel?
My Thoughts:
This one has so much potential and I did love the aspect of the Glory Races and people racing these violent creatures called maristags. The races were a pure rush to read! I did wish I could visualize more of the world-building because it’s so fascinating but I needed more details. I thought Koral was the perfect character for a story such as this because she’s a fighter and the feelings of the Renters and rebels were all encapsulated in her character The ending was so climatic and then ended abruptly so I hope there is a sequel. For the most part I had fun reading this book and hope to read more from this author.
It was a COVID week for me. My son tested positive last Sunday and had to stay home all week from school. He is doing much better today, thank goodness – he had a fever the first 2 days and then the coughing. He’s coughing less now. It was a 4 day weekend for the kiddos anyway. My daughter also had to stay home from school because she’s a close contact – so she was bored and missed school a lot. I had to put on my nursing hat this week, one of many that moms wear lol…😅. It was a long week.
My son’s birthday is this Saturday so we’ll have a small celebration here at home with just our immediate family. I didn’t plan anything just in case my daughter caught Covid and had to quarantine for longer but so far she’s been negative. We’ll do something more fun for him labor day weekend probably.
Nothing this week, but you know I’m about to watch House of Dragons!!
Games I Played:
My Singing Monsters
Cooking Dash – still grinding!
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!
Living on an island plagued by magic and mythical monsters isn’t a fairy tale… it’s a nightmare.
After Keelynn witnesses her sister’s murder at the hands of the legendary Gancanagh, an immortal creature who seduces women and kills them with a cursed kiss, she realizes there’s nothing she wouldn’t do to get her back. With the help of a vengeful witch, she’s given everything she needs to resurrect the person she loves most.
But first, she must slay the Gancanagh.
Tadhg, a devilishly handsome half-fae who has no patience for high society—or propriety—would rather spend his time in the company of loose women and dark creatures than help a human kill one of his own.
That is until Keelynn makes him an offer he can’t refuse.
Together, they embark on a cross-country curse-breaking mission that promises life but ends in death.
Content Warning: violence, sexual assault
I was in the mood for a faerie book and chose this one from Kindle Unlimited and it really did satisfy my craving! Here’s what I thought:
+ My favorite part of this book is Keelynn and Tadhg (how do you say his name?!) and their constant bickering. He is quite the charmer though with his kohl lined eyes, and ready smile. These two clashed but in the best ways – plus their attraction to each other was undeniable. Plus their love story is sweet!
+ Keelynn is going to kill the Gancanagh so she can revive her beloved sister, and bring her back to life. But there are a few twists and turns in this story. I like that it’s a quick read and kept moving!
+ In this world, humans and monsters live among one another but clearly, there is tension between them. Keelynn has been brought up to fear the monsters but when she meets Tadhg and is immersed in his world of Pookas and faeries – she realizes she never really knew anything about monsters.
~ At times Keelynn could be frustrating. I definitely loved Tadhg more between the two of them. It really took her time for her to open her eyes to some things…like Robert!
Tropes: falling in love with a monster, breaking curses
Spice Level: 🌶🌶 (scenes do fade to black though)
Why you should read it:
you like stories about the Fae – there are creatures from mythology in the story and they live among humans, though they deal with racism and prejudice
Keelynn and Tadgh are fun, hot and sweet together
lots of fun twists in the story
Why you might not want to read it:
Keelynn isn’t the most likable – she loves her sister clearly, but sometimes she came off a bit cold – Tadgh is good for her
My Thoughts:
This one is a fun quick read and I wanted it a Fae story with a little bit of spice, tension and humor and it delivered! I think I’m in love with Tadgh. 🤷🏻♀️ I’m already going to read the second book which is about Keelynn’s sister and Tadgh’s brother – that should be an interesting story!
Categories: Fantasy, Spin Off/Standalone, Romance, Family
When a letter from her uncle Henrik arrives on Bryn Roth’s eighteenth birthday, summoning her back to Bastian, Bryn is eager to prove herself and finally take her place in her long-lost family.
Henrik has plans for Bryn, but she must win everyone’s trust if she wants to hold any power in the delicate architecture of the family. It doesn’t take long for her to see that the Roths are entangled in shadows. Despite their growing influence in upscale Bastian, their hands are still in the kind of dirty business that got Bryn’s parents killed years ago. With a forbidden romance to contend with and dangerous work ahead, the cost of being accepted into the Roths may be more than Bryn can pay.
New York Times bestselling author Adrienne Young returns with The Last Legacy, a captivating standalone about family and blood ties, reinventing yourself, and controlling your own destiny.
Content Warning: violence, abuse
This book is set in the world of the Fable series – which I loved and honestly I feel like this could have been a new duology or trilogy but it is a standalone. Not gonna lie – I love this world of merchants, pirates, traders – it’s so intense and gritty. Let’s take a look at what I thought of the book:
+ I love that this is set in the same world as the last series, Fable. It has the same intensity – the feeling that everyone is playing a dangerous game and it’s not clear who to trust. Since this is a standalone spin-off I felt like it was more high stakes because the story was going to have an ending.
+ Bryn Roth – she’s on the outside looking in and she wants to belong. She’s been waiting all her life to be worthy of the Roth name, but when she finally gets her chance it isn’t as easy as it seems. And she has to make a hard choice at the end…
+ Ezra and Bryn are electric. It’s an attraction that becomes a forbidden love scenario. I wish we had more time for their relationship to grow but it’s a standalone. I just wanted more of them together on the page.
~ I really liked how Bryn is so determined to belong and become a Roth but she isn’t going to take the way how the kids are treated and trained in this family. Her uncle is their leader, and he rules the family with an iron first – and yet the family bond is strong but all around its toxic. Bryn knows she can’t change it though she tries but I’m glad she stands up for herself and others.
Tropes: forbidden love
Spice Level: 🌶
Why you should read it:
You liked the Fable series – this is set in the same world but instead of pirates we learn more about the merchants, trades and guilds.
it’s intense, a quick read with a strong female lead
Why you might not want to read it:
it’s a standalone and I wish there was maybe one more book so that we get more of Bryn and Ezra.
My Thoughts:
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book but I loved the Fable duology so much that it felt great being back in this world with a new family and new characters to root for. Definitely read it if you are a fan of this author’s works. I look forward to reading more from her!
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 