Tag: fiction

The Wildborn by. Perri Torani | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: The Wildborn (Starborn, #1)

Author: Perri Torani

Pages: 606

Format: ebook (kindle unlimited)

Publication Date: 6/28/26

Categories: Alien Romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Series

To walk the path of a morazir, I will exist in three states of being:

Untouched.

Untaken.

Unconquered.

Airik, a battle-scarred warrior serving the cruel intergalactic empire of the Veynari, craves silence from the nightmares tormenting his mind. But while on post to decommission a failed experiment of a planet, a rogue human spacecraft crashes, and a reckless decision leaves him stranded—entangled with a woman he never should have saved.

Nora wakes light-years from Earth, broken in body and spirit, at the mercy of an alien soldier who refuses to let her die. Devastatingly beautiful, terrifyingly competent, and bound by a warrior’s oath that permits touch only to destroy, he’s the reluctant guardian angel she neither wants nor believes she deserves.

Nora wakes light-years from Earth, broken in body and spirit, at the mercy of an alien soldier who refuses to let her die. Devastatingly beautiful, terrifyingly competent, and bound by a warrior’s oath that permits touch only to destroy, he’s the reluctant guardian angel she neither wants nor believes she deserves.

Trapped together, they’re forced to navigate a brutal landscape, vicious beasts, and the deadly remnants of an abandoned world. Duty demands Airik’s cold indifference. Yet Nora sparks something deliciously alive—and entirely forbidden—within him. What begins as necessity ignites a primal hunger: scorching, consuming, and impossible to resist.

But even if they survive, the Veynari—ever present and ruthless—won’t allow its warriors weakness like love. For Airik and Nora to be together, they must risk everything.

Content Warning: violence, death

+ I’m opening up to reading more Alien Romance and saw this as a popular one on Kindle Unlimited so I wanted to try it. Airik is a warrior for the Veynari but he’s also an outcast because of his parents’ love for each other – love is not something the Veynari do. So he’s this really tortured guy, trying to stay in his lane and do what he’s told until he ends up on another planet for a mission. He finds Nora, a human who has crash landed on this same planet. They are forced to be together and that’s how things grow between them.

+~ Nora and Airik are both broken people/species. They have trauma from their past and it was fitting that they met and fell in love. I thought it was fun to see how they learn how to communicate, it helps that Airik was already studying some English and learning about humans. He learns a lot more while around Nora and she learns about his species as well. I don’t think there is anything about Nora that stood out though, I was way more interested in Airik and his past. There is one secondary character in here that I was intrigued by and loved and that’s Torren, Airik’s best friend.

+~ I think I was going into this just thinking it was going to be a romp in space, a little smutty, but fun but I was wrong. There are a lot of tears shed between Nora and Airik, I actually wondered why they couldn’t stop crying, because it was a little too much for me. I didn’t expect this to be so emotional but I really felt for Airik. It’s a forbidden romance between two broken people who just want to be loved and belong somewhere. They want a future together but don’t know how to make that happen and by the end I was hoping they could be together someway, somehow. It’s an alien romance so the spice has some creative elements to it which makes it fun, but yeah, these two have a rough time of it trying to carve a path for a future together.

+~ I did enjoy the world building but I do think the length of this book was too long. Most of the time is spent on the planet with Nora and Airik spending time together, which is fine, and they get all their spicy scenes in, but I did wish some of it would have been cut out to make the story move faster. Pacing was an issue but there is a lot of action at the end though which I enjoyed.

Final Thoughts:

I thought this started off good, and I love when Nora and Airik meet and learn from one another, the spice was fun too but then the story got too long and started to drag a little before the action came in at the end to make things interesting again. So for an alien romance I thought this was not bad and I did find the world building really detailed. There was more emotion in this than I was expecting and I would like to read book two if it’s about Torren but I also hope it won’t be as long as this one but a tighter story.

Read if you like:

  • alien romance
  • sci-fi/fantasy
  • forbidden romance

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

WWW Wednesday | 9/16/26

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?

We are in mid-September and I feel like I’m doing good on the reading front – I don’t have a lot of arcs for the last 3 months of 2026 so I think I can fit in more non arc reads.

What are you currently reading?

The Age of Blood and Magic by. Hannah Mathewson – arc – 3%

Revived by. Bree L. Mina – arc – page 78/404

Captive Traitor King by. Brigid Kemmerer – arc – 80%

A Crown of Blood and Magick by. Amy De Le Force – arc – 23%

The Henchperson’s Guide to Unionizing by. Marshall J. Moore – 22%

What have you just finished reading?

Spark the Flames by. Ivy Asher (Secret of the Syphon, #1) – arc – 4.5 stars/2 🌶️

Ignite the Infernos by. Ivy Asher (Secret of the Syphon, #2) – 4 stars/2 🌶️

Stone Bound by. Jocelyn James – arc – 3 stars/1 🌶️

Captive Traitor King by. Brigid Kemmerer – 4 stars/3 🌶️

Queen of Lombard Street by. Lisa Kleypas – 4.5 stars/1🌶️

The Age of Blood and Magic by. Hannah Mathewson – arc – arc – 3.5 stars/2 🌶️

What are you going to read next?

Cursebreaker by. R.M. Gray

Firstborn by. M.J. Hastings

The Knave and the Moon by. Rachel Gillig

Steelborn by. Taylor J. LaRue

Mortal Things by. Marie Lu

What are YOU reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 9/13/26

Aloha friends!

+ Hi everyone, it was an interesting week – we were under a Hurricane Watch for the islands next to us. A tropical storm watch for our island and we had some damages on our coasts but wow, Kaua’i took the brunt of it all. Ni’ihau too but they are a private island and we hardly know what’s happening there. But yeah Kaua’i wasn’t a direct hit but the damage was extensive. This hurricane season has been never ending for us and it’s still not over!

+ My hubby had to fly out the day after the storm, he’s on a work trip to Japan and the kids got a “storm day” off from school – the mainland has snow days, us islanders get storm days haha…so my kids had a short week. They also had their annual appointments and flu shots. I also had to take my car in for maintenance and had to get the battery changed.

+ Then it was a tough weekend for me because now that I’m in perimenopause, my periods are not only unpredictable but after I skip a month, my flow is the heaviest I’ve ever experienced. To the point I have cold chills and get fatigue. It’s not fun at all. So I’ve been dealing with that this weekend – I just want to sleep.😴

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

  • Queen of Lombard Street by. Lisa Kleypas
  • Captive Traitor King by. Brigid Kemmerer
  • Pretty Savage by. Lexi Davis
  • The Museum of Modern Love by. Mariko Turn
  • This Shattered Tempest by. Thea Guanzon
  • Stone Bound by. Jocelyn James

Currently Reading:

  • The Age of Blood and Magic by. Hannah Mathewson
  • A Crown of Blood and Magick by. Amy De La Force
  • The Henchperson’s Guide to Unionizing by. Marshall J. Moore
  • Hide the Witches by. Miranda Lyn

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • You Seem Pretty For a Girl So In Love – Olivia Rodrigo

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!

Instagram | Tiktok

Heart of Thieves by. Jessica S. Olson | ALC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Spice Rating:

Title: Heart of Thieves (The Devious, #2)

Author: Jessica S. Olson

Pages: 384

Format: audiobook

Listening Hours: 12 hours (approx.)

Narrator (s): Dylan Reilly Fitzpatrick; Emily Ellet

Publisher: Macmillan Young Listeners

Publication Date: 9/15/26

Categories: Fantasy, Young Adult, Audiobook, Romance, Series

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

Thank you to Macmillan Young Listeners for giving me a chance to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review!

A cunning thief turns the tables on the feuding brothers who betrayed her in this thrilling conclusion to the Den of Liars Duology, perfect for fans of Powerless and Lightlark.

Lola St. James is trapped in a web of lies and deceit. But that only makes her more determined to find the truth. The truth about her past. The truth about her magic. And the truth about the curse that binds her to two warring brothers who she both hates and loves.

With the Liar’s Dice Tournament now only a painful memory, Lola dons a new alter ego, Nocturne, and creates her own elaborate game designed to lure both the Liar and the Thief into her clutches, certain this is the only way to give them a chance to break their curses.

But Lola is not the only one with plans for the brothers. When a powerful figure from their past comes back to haunt them, will Lola’s love be enough to hold them all together? Or will the lies they’ve told tear them apart forever?

Content Warning: death, violence, loss of body autonomy

This is book two in The Devious serious and I really loved book one, Den of Liars, and wanted to see what happened next in the story. The narrators did such a great job, the female narrator was practically acting out all her scenes, especially a dramatic one at the ending! I loved the sound of the male narrator also but at times I couldn’t distinguish when it was Nic or Enzo speaking.

The world building really goes more into the magic in this sequel and conclusion. We learn about Laurel, Nic’s first love, and I totally didn’t like her. She’s controlling Nic, and making him out to be someone he is not. Lola is trying to help break the brothers’ curse but she has to accomplish this by keeping secrets and trust with Enzo is already so shaky. I honestly wish I had the ebook to read while reading because a lot of the magic and world-building kind of went over my head.

I did like Lola’s relationship with Enzo which was strictly platonic and more of a found family vibe. Whereas it was clear her relationship with Nic was a romance. But Lola is barely with Nic in this book because he is stuck in Laurel’s clutches. Speaking of relationships, the brothers never got along because of their past but it does end cordially and happily for them. The other loose end in the story was Lola’s dad, the crime lord who is looking for her. Things are complicated there but there is closure.

Overall, I’d say this was a solid conclusion.

Final Thoughts:

This one was filled with secrets, lies, betrayal, and some very interesting magic and world-building. There was only a little bit of romance. The narrators were fantastic, but story-wise I don’t think this held my attention like book one did. I think it was a pretty solid conclusion though.

Read if you like:

  • Den of Liars (first book)
  • magic
  • found family

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

Den of Liars by. Jessica S. Olson | ARC Review -4.5 stars/1 🌶️

WWW Wednesday | 9/9/26

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?

Another weekend, another hurricane, but a tropical storm warning for us on Oahu. Kauai and Ni’ihau got hit bad, Oahu had some coastal areas with big storm surge and damage. Around my neighborhood it was mostly downed flower petals, and tree branches – glad it was not anything like Kauai but man are our islands tired of this year with all the storms we’ve had so far. 😔. I know the mainland have “snow days” for school but this is the most “storm days” we’ve ever had in Hawaii since my kids have been going to school. Let’s hope hurricane season chills as we go into fall season!

What are you currently reading?

The Age of Blood and Magic by. Hannah Mathewson – arc – 3%

Revived by. Bree L. Mina – arc – page 78/404

Captive Traitor King by. Brigid Kemmerer – arc – 80%

A Crown of Blood and Magick by. Amy De Le Force – arc – 23%

The Henchperson’s Guide to Unionizing by. Marshall J. Moore – 22%

What have you just finished reading?

Our Strange Duet by. Erin A. Craig – arc – 3 stars

The Heart Trials by. J. Elle – arc – 4 stars

The Tarot Trials by. Katee Robert – arc/alc – 3 stars/1 🌶️

Stalkers Anonymous by. Dana Leeann – 4 stars/2 🌶️

Pretty Savage by. Lexi Davis – arc – 3.5 stars/2.5 🌶️

This Shattered Tempest by. Thea Guanzon – arc – 4.5 stars/2 🌶️

The Museum of Modern Love by. Mariko Turk – alc – 4 stars

White Raven by. Stacey Marie Brown – 4.5 stars/2 🌶️

Who Needs Mistletoe? by. Sarah Estep – arc – 5 stars/2 🌶️

What are you going to read next?

Cursebreaker by. R.M. Gray

Firstborn by. M.J. Hastings

The Knave and the Moon by. Rachel Gillig

Steelborn by. Taylor J. LaRue

Mortal Things by. Marie Lu

What are YOU reading right now?

White Raven by. Stacey Marie Brown | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: White Raven (Messengers of the Realm, #1)

Author: Stacey Marie Brown

Pages: 405

Format: ebook (kindle unlimited)

Publication Date: 9/1/26

Categories: Dark Romance, Dark Fantasy, Series

“Harbingers of enlightened, bringers of darkness. Givers of life, tellers of death…significance

flies on the backs of raven wings for those who dare to listen to its meaning. For we are the

Messengers of the Realm.”

The White Raven was born to bring magic to the dying realm.

One hundred and ninety-nine years ago the Blood War between the Ravens and the Leatherwings divided the land into Day, Night, and Dusk, cursing the land with the blood of the dead. Abandoned by Odin and his favored pets, Huginn and Muninn, the ravens were stripped of their wings, and their positions as Messengers of the Realm.

Her blood holds the power to heal the land and unite the kingdoms.

Wrennlyn Stallard, the King’s only daughter had lived a life of privilege, kept sheltered in the walls of Silvervale. But on the night of her betrothal, her world shattered when their enemy from the Night Realm kidnapped her, taking her across the snowy terrain into the treacherous land, called the Shadow Rift, the land between the Day and Night.

His mission is to take her to the Night King.

Onyx had waited months to seize her, purposely getting captured to work as a thrall for the Day King. Cold, ruthless, and burning with vengeance, he wasn’t prepared for the pampered, prophesized girl to be defiant, clever, and maddeningly impossible to break. Killing her would be easy, but her life is vital to a much bigger plan.

Because everyone knows…who has the White Raven holds the power.

Content Warning: violence, death, kidnapping, cannibalism, attempted rape

+ I could not put this book down. I read it in one day! I haven’t read a book from this author since the Savage Lands series (I didn’t read book 5 due to lack of time or awareness of it), but I loved that series. White Raven is as dark, but this time it’s inspired by Nordic mythology and culture. There are Nordic Gods mentioned, runes, a land divided by Day Ravens, Night Ravens, and Leatherwings (bats). I hope we learn more about the Leatherwings next! Wrenn and her captor travel across these lands, encounter so much danger and I loved the tension from start to finish.

+ Wren is the prophesied White Raven – on her 19th birthday, she will come into powers and cure the land. She’s a Day Raven and everyone wants to marry her, or own her in some way, shape or form. She’s 18, kidnapped, saw her best friend die, and learning how wrong she was about things outside of her kingdom. I was rooting for Wren because at any time she could have saved everyone the trouble and ended her life and to hell with the prophesy but she stayed strong. The plot twist at the ending cliffhanger is so juicy, I was left shocked.

+ There are a few members in this cast of characters. I loved her best friend, Sarina. Onyx is the FMC, and we don’t learn his name until way later, for a good chunk of the book we know he’s a thrall (slave). But when we do learn about Onyx and his life as a Night Raven, I liked getting to know his friends and crew, especially Bjorn – I love him! There is also a cute creature, a groundling, named Munch who I loved also.

+~ In this dark book there is hardly any romance. Wren has her dalliances here and there at court, but things change when she is kidnapped and everyone wants to take her in violent ways. Onyx and Wren are true enemies to lovers – they hate one another with a passion, but they are also attracted to one another because of forced proximity. There is one spicy scene which was surprising because I thought there would be more – but I think it fit because they are trully enemies stuck in a precarious situation.

Final Thoughts:

I couldn’t put this down! It was fast paced and full of action! It’s also very easy to read. I loved the world building, the dark world, even the horror elements. I hope we get to learn more about everything. The romance is very enemies to lovers, so I don’t know how I feel about it for now until either of them breaks down to one another, but it makes my anticipation for book two that much more exciting. The ending is a cliffhanger so I can’t wait to read what happens next!

Read if you like:

  • dark romance
  • dark fantasy

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

Bad Lands by. Stacey Marie Brown | Book Review – 3⭐️

Dead Lands by. Stacey Marie Brown | Book Review – 4 ⭐️

Wild Lands | Book Review – 4 ⭐️

Savage Lands | Book Review – 4 ⭐️

Stalkers Anonymous by. Dana Leeann | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Stalker Anonymous

Author: Dana Leeann

Pages: 398

Format: paperback

Publication Date: 9/1/26

Categories: Dark Romance

Cole Matthews definitely isn’t a stalker. Probably.

Sure, he used company resources and crossed some lines to “have a conversation” with his sister’s abusive ex. But that was a one-time thing. Now, Cole has to attend a group therapy program with a long, clinical name…but the participants? They call it Stalkers Anonymous.

Hailey Brigham is definitely dating the perfect man. Probably.

She’d love to focus more attention on Cole, the smoking hot, ex-military sweetheart whose idea of a casual second date is tandem skydiving. But a drug-seeking patient at the ER where she’s a second-year resident knows too much about Hailey’s personal life, and his fixation on her is getting harder to ignore.

When threats against Hailey escalate, Cole’s protective instincts go into overdrive. To keep her safe, he would do anything—even if it means becoming the monster he’s kept so carefully locked up inside.

Stalkers Anonymous is a dark romance with a morally gray hero, a fierce heroine, and a found family of misfits you won’t see coming (unless they want you to).

Content Warning: violence, death, stalking, mental health

Thank you to Entangled Publishing for sending me a copy of Stalker Anonymous by. Dana Leeann!

+ I wasn’t sure how this story would play out because clearly, stalking is a bad thing, but the twist in this story is Cole, a recovering stalker (he stalked the guy who hurt his sister), meets and falls for Hailey who has a stalker. So Cole’s tendencies to stalk and protect Hailey is coming out in full force. But he’s stalking her stalker! I could sympathize with Cole – clearly he knows what he did to his sister’s ex-boyfriend was over the line, and he was getting help, but I also love that he was stalking the bad guy.

+ The romance was easy and fun until the stalker ramped up his obsession with Hailey. I love how Cole and Hailey meet, they are both good people, and they fall for one another. But I also love when Cole’s past is revealed and it presents a conflict in the relationship that there is space between them so each of them can work on themselves. There are spicy moments between but nothing too crazy.

+ Cole is attending a therapy group session but I love how they sort of become a found family/friendship for him later on in the book. I thought that twist was kind of fun.

Final Thoughts:

I found this book to be a quick, easy read with a fun dark romance twist. Who really is the bad guy when the stalker is helping catch another stalker? I loved the romance between Cole and Hailey, I thought it was easy and fun until the conflict – but I like how they work things out too. Overall, I enjoyed this one and can’t wait to see what this author writes next.

Read if you like:

  • stalker romance
  • dark romance with a twist
  • found family

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Weekly Wrap Up | 9/6/26

Aloha friends!

+ Last weekend, me, my friend, and my two kids flew to California to go to the first Daisy Chain Fields Festival in Irvine. It’s a festival created by Olivia Rodrigo where proceeds go to fund 10 charities. It raised $10 million initially but when she came out to perform she brought out Melinda Gates who added another $10 million which is fantastic.

We flew in on a Friday, the festival was Saturday and we flew out early Sunday. It was a rough trip – because the night we flew in we ate at In N Out. My friend and I ate the same thing, burger with no onions. My son had his plain, no veggies or sauce. I had diarrhea at 2am! Ugh…my friend had it at 4am…so we were scared we were going to be dying at the festival in a heatwave. But thank goodness for electrolytes – we survived, but never again In N Out! But the hotel we stayed at was nice, I was happy about that plus they had complimentary breakfast.

There was a heatwave in Irvine of course. 🥵 I think by the time we got to the festival around noon it was 92 degrees – they said it was humid…but I’m from Hawaii and I went to the Philippines. It didn’t feel humid, but it did feel like we were baking in an oven. So my strategy that day was use our fans, hydrate, have some electrolytes and stay in the shade. We stayed under the shade so long though that I know my daughter was bored (Olivia didn’t come out until 8:40pm). I did stand in line for lunch, food lines were long…and HOT, no shade. So yes I saw one girl faint/fall – right when she got her pizza and drink too, poor thing! I wore a hat, I brought snacks, so I think that’s how we survived the day. I also saw a girl barfing, probably from heat exhaustion.

My daughter did start to get a heat rash when she laid down on the grass to rest before Doechii came out. My friend and son did get up closer to the stage for her set but my daughter and I stayed in the back where the shade was…I did bring a cooling towel so I got some ice cold water, wet the towel and pressed it against her arms and her rash went away. But that’s how HOT it was out there…I don’t even know how attendees were going from one stage to the other and standing in that sun for that long.

There was so much to do but because of the heat…we didn’t do them all. I would love to go back again one day and do all the activities! And I’d probably get VIP tickets just to get closer to the stage.

My friend and son went to see Mitski, I could hear her from the shade so I was okay with that. Doechii was hype though and I asked my daughter if we could catch her and she agreed. We stood in the back where there was a screen. I’m bummed I didn’t get long videos of Chappell Roan who was phenomenal. I was busy trying to get ahold of my friend or my son so we could watch Chappell together – there was barely any cell service at least by the Dandelion stage (the main stage) all day! Talk about being off grid 😂. But yeah it sucked not being able to get in touch. My daughter and I did get to sing and dance to Chappell though! Then the finale, where Olivia came out – I’m short, at 5 feet, so I could barely see the screen from where we were. My son could see, he’s 5’7″ – so he was taking a lot of the videos but my poor daughter could not see anything. ☹️. We still sang our hearts out but…now I really want to take her to Olivia’s tour.

Overall, it was quite a weekend! I hope we get to go again next year, maybe just me and my friend if there aren’t any acts my kids want to see.

+ The rest of the week it was all about recovering from the trip, kids went back to school, but also kids caught a cold midway through the week. My son is worse off than my daughter, he has a fever. This weekend, we are keeping an eye on a Category 5 hurricane passing under us and turning towards us today BUT not making landfall (we hope). So kids are just going to rest and get better!

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

  • Our Strange Duet by. Erin A. Craig
  • The Tarot Trials by. Katee Robert
  • The Heart Trials by. J. Elle
  • White Raven by. Stacey Marie Brown
  • Stalkers Anonymous by. Dana Leeann

Currently Reading:

  • The Age of Blood and Magic by. Hannah Mathewson
  • A Crown of Blood and Magick by. Amy De La Force
  • The Henchperson’s Guide to Unionizing by. Marshall J. Moore
  • The Museum of Modern Love by. Mariko Turk

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

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!

Instagram | Tiktok

WWW Wednesday | 9/2/26

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?

It was a crazy weekend with my flying out Friday night to go to a music festival on Saturday and flying back home on Sunday. 😩. The Daisy Chain Fields Festival was HOT, but thank goodness I’ve been traveling to hot places all year – I think I did well because I knew to sacrifice some activities, stay in the shade until the main acts I wanted to see came out. My son and my bestie got to see Mitski, and Doechii – Doechii sounded so good from where my daughter and I were waiting that I asked if we could go watch it and at least sun was kind of going down. We enjoyed her set. Then we ended up trying to find son and my friend before Chappell Roan’s set – I briefly saw my son to give him some water but my daughter and I ended up in the back so she could see the back screen. We still had fun singing and dancing. Then we moved up and reunited with our group for Olivia Rodrigo. I felt bad my daughter couldn’t see the stage or screen and I couldn’t carry her 😅. We still sang out hearts out but now I really want to take her to Olivia’s tour just so she can “see” her perform.

That was my tiring weekend, so I didn’t read anything but I have arcs to finish!

What are you currently reading?

A Forsaken Prophecy by. Stacey McEwan – 2% – I might wait to get this on audiobook later because I’m busy with arcs.

Our Strange Duet by. Erin A. Craig – arc –

The Heart Trials by. J. Elle – arc – 28%

The Tarot Trials by. Katee Robert – alc – 29%

The Age of Blood and Magic by. Hannah Mathewson – arc – 1%

Stalkers Anonymous by. Dana Leeann

What have you just finished reading?

Heart of Thieves by. Jessica S. Olson – alc – 3.5 stars

Hawk & Sparrow by. Ayana Gray – arc – 3.5 stars

In the Veins of the Drowning by. Kalie Cassidy – 4 stars/2 🌶️

Storm Caller by. Nisha J. Tuli – arc – 3.5 stars/1 🌶️

Trust Fall by. Lynn Painter – arc – 4 stars

What are you going to read next?

White Raven by. Stacey Marie Brown

Cursebreaker by. R.M. Gray

Firstborn by. M.J. Hastings

The Knave and the Moon by. Rachel Gillig

The Crown of Blood and Magick by. Amy De La Force

What are YOU reading right now?

In the Veins of the Drowning by. Kalie Cassidy | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: In the Veins of the Drowning (The Siren Mage, #1)

Author: Kalie Cassidy

Pages: 377

Format: ebook (kindle unlimited)

Publication Date: 7/15/25

Categories: Fantasy, Romance, Series

The monster is always slain…
 
Imogen Nel is in hiding. Hiding from a cruel kingdom that believes Sirens are monstrous, blood-hungry creatures. Hiding from a king and his captain who viciously hunt her kind. Hiding from her own alluring abilities. By keeping herself from the sea, Imogen’s bloodlust is dulled, and her black wings remain hidden beneath her skin.
 
When a neighboring king comes to visit, Imogen can no longer hide. He knows precisely what she is, and he believes she can save both their kingdoms from an even greater monster. But Imogen’s power threatens to violently reveal itself, and the two form a blood bond that protects them both. They flee the kingdom together, traversing waters teeming with the undead. As the lines between duty to their people and desire for each other begin to blur, Imogen worries her own ancestral powers may not be enough to kill what hunts her—the only way to defeat a monster may be to become one herself.

Content Warning: self harm, violence, death, gore

I finally read this book and I don’t know why it took me so long to get to it. It starts off like most romantasy books, an FMC who is trapped and needs help fleeing the king that oppresses her. There are the usual tropes in this book that are found in romantasy but what stood out to me was how the Imogen and Theodore bicker! It was so much fun. I like how they are honest and tell each other off, to their faces. It’s kind of refreshing! So I loved the enemies to lovers romance in this one, or is it dislike to like? Whatever it is, I loved it even though Theo is reserved and dutiful at first, he very much so reminded me of Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice so it was fun to see Imogen getting under his skin. It was my favorite part of the whole story.

But there is also a lot going on in this story – Imogen is a Siren and bound to multiple people and she needs to break free of them, but doing so has it’s own consequences. I was very invested to see what path Imogen would choose and what choices she would make. There is political intrigue, travel, some action, romance, and secrets. I loved learning about the Sirens and the world building was good.

Final Thoughts:

I’m so glad I finally finished this one and I’m not sure why it took me so long to finally read it. It has a lot of things I enjoy in a romantasy like political intrigue, and romance of course, but what I really loved was Imogen and Theo. Seeing them interact and eventually fall for one another was very, funny and entertaining. I also want to see how this story plays out so I’m eager to read book two.

Read if you like:

  • romantasy
  • forced proximity

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble