Tag: romance

The Housemaid by. Freida McFadden | Audiobook

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: (closed door)

Title: The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)

Author: Freida McFadden

Narrator: Lauryn Allman

Format: audiobook (Libby)

Pages: 329 Listening Time: approximately 10 hours

Publication Date: 4/26/22

Publisher:  Bookouture

Categories: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense



“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own…

Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of…

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!

Content Warning: gaslighting, torture, body horror

+ The narrator did amazing doing the voices for this story! I like how she had an accent for Millie and a different voice for Nina – it helped me distinguish the main characters.

+ I like how this story was a quick read and it is engaging too! The story starts off with Millie’s perspective. She’s the new live-in housemaid for the Winchester’s but she has a mysterious past – all we know is that she used to be in prison. Throughout the story she’s grateful to have a job and a place to live but Nina, her employer is always gaslighting her! The only person nice to her in the house is Nina’s husband Andy.

+ The second half of the story we get Nina’s perspective and I thought it was a fun twist in this mysterious and suspenseful story. The ending is unexpected but I enjoyed this story a lot.

Final Thoughts:

I wanted to read this before the movie comes out and I’m glad I listened to it as an audiobook because it was really entertaining. I like the build up, the mystery and all the suspense at the end, plus the twist!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Spark of the Everflame by. Penn Cole | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️💫

Spice: 🌶️

Title: Spark of the Everflame (Kindred’s Curse, #1)

Author: Penn Cole

Format: ebook (kindle unlimited)

Pages: 438

Publication Date: 6/1/25

Categories: Romantasy


When old secrets catch fire, everything will burn.

In a mortal world colonized by the gods and ruled over by the Descended, their cruel offspring, Diem Bellator yearns to escape the insular life of her poor village.

Her mother’s sudden disappearance—and the discovery of a dangerous secret about her past—offer Diem an unexpected opportunity to enter the dark world of Descended royalty and unlock the web of mysteries her mother left behind.

With the dying King’s handsome, mysterious heir watching her every move, and a ruthless mortal alliance recruiting her to join the growing civil war, Diem will have to navigate the unwritten rules of love, power, and politics in order to save her family—and all of mortalkind.


Content Warning: violence, death, wounded

So I’ve seen this on social media for awhile, but not lately. I still see it on KU so I wanted to check it out since I have more free time to read books that are not arcs. I was also looking for a light, binge-able fantasy

+~ Diem is a healer – and I love healers as main characters. The world building is interesting, there are mortals with no magic and Descended with colored eyes (mortals only have brown eyes) and powers. There is conflict between both sides and a mortal rebellion is brewing and the enlist Diem’s help to be a spy since she has access to the court. World-building sounded like it had the usual tropes for a romantasy, rebellion, a girl maybe with a secret identity, and an upper class with power. But I just wanted a little more from the world-building.

+ I did like the secondary characters like Maura, Teller (her brother, and her father. They were looking out for Diem and trying o keep her in line.

+~ I found Diem a strong character int he first half, but in the second half, yikes is she impulsive and makes mistakes. To the point where her decision causes harm. I didn’t like her after that much.

+~ Diem is a young woman who has something more going on with her best friend since childhood, Henri. But when he wants more, she can’t give him an answer. Whereas Prince Luther, the handsome, grumpy soon-to-be-heir gets under her skin. As much as I don’t think she’ll end up with Henri, Luther and her don’t have as much interactions as I wanted to warrant what happens in the end between them. It got intense too quick! But I’m sure something grows more in book two.

~ It is a little predictable for someone who reads a lot of romantasy, but the ending was interesting because it finally explains something about her missing mom.

Final Thoughts:

I’d say this was an easy romantasy to read without too much world-building. The story moved quick and I wish I enjoyed Diem’s character more. I liked getting to know her in the first half but then she becomes impulsive and makes mistakes in the second half of the book that I did not like. So I don’t think I’ll continue the series.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends by. Kylie Lee Baker | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating:

Title: I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends

Author: Kylie Lee Baker

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 304

Publication Date: 11/18/25

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Categories: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, Time Travel, Dragon Descendants

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

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!


A teen descendant of a Japanese dragon god must team up with a cute rogue agent to subvert a corrupt time travel organization and find out the truth of what happened to her missing sister in acclaimed author Kylie Lee Baker’s magical new YA romance, I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends.

When you’re ready, come find me. I will keep you safe. -Hana

Descended from a Japanese dragon god, Yang Mina was born with the power to travel through time, and has spent her life training to take her place in the Descendants, a secret organization whose purpose is to protect the timeline. Then Mina’s world is uprooted when she moves to Seoul and finds a note from her sister–a sister who no one remembers, as if she had been erased. The only people who could have made her sister vanish so completely are part of the very agency that she’s been working so hard to join. So now Mina has a new mission, infiltrate the agency as quickly as possible to find her lost sister.

And, as if things weren’t complicated enough, a strikingly handsome rogue agent has determined that Mina is the only person who can help him put an end to the Descendants’ corruption. Placed in an impossible situation, Mina must decide how much she’s willing to risk to find the truth.

Content Warning: violence

+ I am a big fan of this author and this is very different than the fantasy and horror stories I’ve read from her. I loved how this story was set in South Korea and but also tied in Japanese mythology.

~ It was very hard to get into this book. I was confused because it is set in a contemporary time period but there is time travel and I got confused, a lot. Mina is descended from a dragon and she’s training to be an agent that fixes the timeline. I felt like I understood more as the story went on but for the first half of the story, I was just confused about what they do as timeline fixers.

+ I thought the romance was cute! It definitely felt like a teen k-drama. Mina meets another “agent” and they spend some together, which I thought was fun. There is a twist at the end of the story that I did enjoy. The romance was my favorite part of this story, but would have loved a lot more time for it to develop though.

~ Mina’s assignment is to get close to a guy named Jihoon and he was such a nice guy. I just wish she didn’t have to fake things to accomplish her assignment. He was innocent but it showed how devious parts of her job. I do wish there was more explanation about why this agency was created to fix the timeline and why it needed fixing.

Final Thoughts:

If my head could follow the time travel and the timeline situation better then I might have enjoyed this way more. I did push through the beginning and did enjoy the romance and the twist. I loved the K-drama vibes of the whole book and honestly love to see how this author is branching out into other genres.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by. Kylie Lee Baker | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Blood Orchid by. Kylie Lee Baker | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

The Scarlet Alchemist by. Kylie Lee Baker | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

BLOG TOUR} The Empress of Time by. Kylie Lee Baker | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

BLOG TOUR } The Keeper of Night by. Kylie Lee Baker | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Weekly Wrap Up | 11/9/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ It was my birthday week and all I wanted was a good election day (there was no election here in Hawaii) and wow, the results all over the country made my heart so happy so that was the best birthday gift ever.

+ But the government is still shutdown and my hubby has missed 2 paychecks…going on 3. We are dipping into savings – but I cannot believe this admin is saying no to jobs, no to feeding people, no to affordable healthcare but yes to building a ballroom? I cannot wait for midterms!

+ It’s a four day weekend for my kids and my hubby too. We’re gonna go have a belated birthday lunch or dinner for me.

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

Currently Reading:

Vesselless by. Cortney L. Winn

Dead Fake by Vincent Ralph

Our Vicious Oaths by. N.E. Davenport

The Uninvited by. Nancy Banks

The Ordeals by. Rachel Greenlaw

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • Wicked: One Wonderful Night
  • Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2025 – was only watching to see what Olivia Rodrigo would perform and wow Salt-N-Pepa got inducted in!!! Talk about bringing me back to my childhood – I grew up on their music. Their performance was so good! Olivia did amazing – I love the White Stripes. Twenty-One Pilots did amazing too! And OutKast getting inducted was awesome too – the music of my 20’s, I loved it! The Soundgarden tribute was amazing too – I still remembering being devastated when I heard Chris Cornell passed, Black Hole Sun was one of my favorite songs. The show was way too long and I was streaming it on youtube since we cancelled Disney+ – I wanted to see Cyndi Lauper – the music of my early childhood, of course lol but I had to do other things.

Music – Lux – Rosalia – I transcended when I listened to this!!! I LOVE IT. It’s definitely the kind of music that cleanses my music palate. I needed this. I even cried to Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti. I haven’t cried to music in forever….I grew up Catholic and I’ve had such a challenging relationship with it (mostly when I was young) and I’m at peace with it now, but it took so much growing. But one thing I always miss about going to mass…the music. Anyway, this album….does something to my soul. It’s on repeat!

Dunno if UMG will remove this video like it did with the last one but whatever…I love all the songs on the album, I can’t pick one right now! She sings in a few different languages on this album which is so AMAZING. I can’t understand any of the foreign languages, I know very little Spanish even though I took it in college but it was easier to practice in college because I went to school in Los Angeles and my Latina friends exposed me to so much music!! So I might have understood more back then but not now and it’s okay because this album makes me feel without having to understand what is being said.

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!

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Tusk Love by. Thea Guanzon | Audiobook

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Title: Tusk Love

Author: Thea Guanzon

Narrator: Teddy Hamilton, Brittany Pressley

Format: audiobook (Libby)

Pages: 352 Listening Time: approximately 9 hours

Publication Date: 7/1/25

Publisher: Random House Audio

Categories: Cozy Fantasy, Romance



As the daughter of an ambitious merchant, Guinevere’s path has been marry into a noble house of the Dwendalian Empire, raise her family’s station, and live quietly as a lordling’s obedient wife. But Guinevere longs for a life unbounded by expectations, for freedom and passion and adventure.

Those distant dreams become a sudden reality when her caravan is beset by bandits, leaving her guards slain and Guinevere stranded alone on the dangerous Amber Road. Her only chance of survival is to travel alongside Oskar, the aloof half-orc who saved her during the attack.

Unlike Guinevere, Oskar’s path is not so set in stone. With his mother dead and his apprenticeship abandoned, all that’s left is a long, lonely walk to a land he’s never seen to find family he’s never met. The last thing he needs is a spoiled waif like Guinevere slowing him down—even if the spark between them sizzles with promise.

Despite his cold exterior, Oskar is brave and thoughtful and unlike anyone Guinevere has ever met. And while Guinevere may be sheltered, she brings out a softness in him that he has never dared to feel before. As the flames of their passion grow, they realize that soon they’ll need to choose between their expected destinations or their blossoming romance.

Written by New York Times bestselling author Thea Guanzon at the behest of Critical Role’s Jester Lavorre, Tusk Love brings the most romantic story on Exandrian bookshelves to life.

Content Warning: violence

+ The narrators for this story are perfect and they really brought these characters to life! I loved their voices so much. It’s exactly how I imagined Guinevere and Oskar would sound.

+ Oskar is the grumpiest half-orc ever; his attitude made me laugh so much. Guinevere is his total opposite, she’s a young lady raised in a merchant family and on her way to her fiancé – a lord. The two of them together were so funny and cute! I loved how Guinevere was always trying to behave as a young lady on this rough journey. There is banter, and then some spicy moments too. I adore the both of them!

+ This story is filled with travel and lots of adventure and I loved seeing Guinevere who is prim and proper grow so much. She went from someone who was always people pleasing (really wanted to please her parents), to someone who fought for what she wanted – Oskar. As for Oskar, he was a half-orc with a soft heart even if he was sarcastic and grumpy!

Final Thoughts:

I loved everything about this audiobook – the narrators are fantastic, and the story is filled with adventure, swoony romance, spice and so much humor. I love Oskar and Guinevere. I’m so glad I listened to this one!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

The Hurricane Wars by. Thea Guanzon | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

A Monsoon Rising by. Thea Guazon | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Atmosphere by. Taylor Jenkins Reid | Audiobook

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️

Title: Atmosphere

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Narrator: Kristen DiMercurio, Julia Whelan, Taylor Jenkins Reid

Format: audiobook (Libby)

Pages: 352 Listening Time: approximately 10 hours

Publication Date: 6/2/25

Publisher: Books on Tape

Categories: Women’s Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Historical Fiction, LGBT+


Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love—this time among the stars.

Content Warning: death, grief, parental neglect, strained sibling relationship, sexism

+ The narrators for this audiobook were fantastic! The story starts off with a tense moment, then flashes back to the past and ends with the present again. There are many tense moments in the beginning and end, this story is an emotional ride. The relationships in this story is really what made it such a great book.

+ I really enjoyed the storytelling. I love all the historical elements about NASA! I even didn’t mind the science stuff, I was interested in it. Joan’s story of being a professor, then training to be an astronaut and falling in love with another woman, to being an aunt and then the main caregiver – what a story!

+ Joan and Vanessa’s love story is so good, realistic and heartbreaking. It’s so full of love, but so filled with challenges – not being able to love one another in public. UGH – it made me shed a tear. I love how they fight for one another.

+ The found family with the fellow astronauts was so heart-warming. I loved all the training scenes and everyone getting to know one another and you can feel the camaraderie. I also loved the real family challenges that Joan go through with her sister Barbara and her niece Frances. I was so mad at Barbara but Joan is a great aunt who loves her niece.

~ Barbara – I wish hoping she would change, hoping she would make the right choices, but she just ended up making me upset.

Final Thoughts:

This story had everything – drama, romance, history, it is heart-warming, emotional and devastating. It has characters I loved and rooted for. I loved it and it made me cry.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

Carrie Soto is Back by. Taylor Jenkins Reid | Audiobook Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Malibu Rising by. Taylor Jenkins Reid | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo | Audiobook Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Coldwire by. Chloe Gong | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating:

Title: A Curious Kind of Magic

Author: Chloe Gong

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 496

Publication Date: 11/4/25

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Categories: Young Adult, Sci/Fi, Dystopian, Cyberpunk

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

Thank you to Margaret K. McElderry Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!


The future is loading…

To escape rising seas and rampant epidemics, most of society lives “upcountry” in glistening virtual reality, while those who can’t afford the subscription are forced to remain in crumbling “downcountry.”

But upcountry isn’t perfect. A cold war rages between two powerful nations, Medaluo and Atahua—and no one suffers for it more than the Medan orphans in Atahua. Their enrollment at Nile Military Academy is mandatory. Either serve as a soldier or risk being labelled a spy.

Eirale graduated the academy and joined NileCorp’s private forces downcountry, exactly as she was supposed to. Then Atahua’s most wanted anarchist frames her for assassinating a government official, and she’s given a choice: cooperate with him to search for a dangerous program in Medaluo or go down for treason.

Meanwhile, Lia is finishing her last year upcountry at Nile Military Academy. Paired with her academic nemesis for their final assignment, Lia is determined to beat him for valedictorian and prove her worth. But there may be far more at stake when their task to infiltrate Medaluo and track down an Atahuan traitor goes wrong…

Though Eirale and Lia tear through Medaluo on different planes of reality, the two start to suspect they are puzzle pieces in a larger conspiracy—and the closer they get to the truth, the closer their worlds come to a shattering collision.

Content Warning: violence

+ This is such a compelling, tense read, it was hard to put down! It starts off with some action, which I loved and it took off from there. I was sucked into a cyberpunk world and it didn’t let go of me.

+ In this story there are two POVs, Eirale and Lia. We follow their journeys until they meet. I did suspect in the middle of the book what was happening but I needed to read to the end to get the explanation because this is sci-fi so this story was definitely giving my brain a work out. I guessed correctly on what was going on but the realization with what was happening was still mind-blowing and devastating. I did find myself at first gravitating more towards Eirale’s story, but eventually I was invested in Lia’s also.

+ There is a lot of action, some fighting scenes, and our main characters are on two different missions. I couldn’t put this book down because I needed to see what brought these characters together and the pay-off is well worth the wait. There are twists, betrayals, company and government corruption and I feel like this story is timely with it’s talk about tech and AI. The world-building is very cyberpunk and dystopian. There is a lot of virtual life which was hard for me to wrap my head around, but I went with it.

+ There is a tiny bit of romance in this story which isn’t the main focus but I loved it! I also love the found family element for both Eirale and Lia.

~ I’ve read a few book from this author and I always kind of go in with caution now because her stories have heavy world-building and it definitely makes me use more brain power. But this is the type of story where I have to take time to settle in before I’m invested. I think Eirale’s storyline kept me in it until Lia’s story got more interesting. I actually loved how both characters’ stories come together.

~ I’m not a big sci-fi reader, and this one did confuse me many times because this is the type of book I need to see visually. I actually think this would make a great movie or show. So there were a few explanations I had to re-read to make my non-sci-fi mind understand what was going on. There is a lot of tech jargon. But I did eventually get it…at least the gist of it! Also the upcountry, downcountry and different places in the story at times confused me because I didn’t know if the characters were upcountry (virtual world) and what not.

Final Thoughts:

My brain put in a lot of work to follow this book but overall, I really enjoyed it. There were times I was confused but once I was hooked, I couldn’t put it down. I love the build-up to that ending and I’m hoping to see what happens next in the series!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From this Author:

Immortal Longings by. Chloe Gong | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Foul Lady Fortune by. Chloe Gong | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Foul Heart Huntsman by. Chloe Gong | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Our Violent Ends by. Chloe Gong | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

These Violent Delights | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Weekly Wrap Up | 11/2/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ What a week – daughter had a last minute costume change right before the day of her school Halloween parade. So I had to find stuff for that. We carved pumpkins and painted some. And we made some last minute Halloween decorations using my daughter’s artwork. She loves Dandy’s World on Roblox and constantly draws her own skins or versions of the characters on Procreate. I decided to print a few of them and stick them in the lawn.😅. It’s a mild kid horror game so I thought it was perfect for Halloween plus she was going as Dandy for trick or treating also.

My daughter didn’t draw the Gardenview sign but she drew the other characters. And that’s her in her Dandy mask that she made. 😅

+ Halloween day was so tiring! My daughter had a school parade which is always fun, but it gets hot in the sun. So for some reason that really made me tired, then I had to go to the store, then carve our extra pumpkin, then pick up the kids, feed them dinner and then get them ready for trick or treating. I stayed home this time to pass out candy and I really thought it would be packed because it was Friday but I think due to the high prices of everything and the government shutdown affecting people, my neighbors right next to me and across from me, who usually pass out candy each year…did not this time so I was like the lone house one a darkened section of the street – they also didn’t decorate. 😩 I still got a bunch of trick or treaters, mostly teens I’d say, so I was kind of sad knowing the little kids in the neighborhood have grown up – including mine! My son ran into friends and took off trick or treating with them for the first time. He had so much fun! My hubby took my daughter around the block. My son said some other blocks already had bowls without candy left and there I was with still a lot to give away. Sigh…I should have been giving kids handfuls but I didn’t in the beginning because I bought less candy this year due to it being expensive. And now I have a lot of candy in my house. 😅 I even gave a huge ziplock bag to my parents to take home to my nephews. Yesterday I was so tired and recovering from Halloween lol…but today I will be taking the decorations down.

+ It’s November and Tuesday is my birthday woohoo!

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

Currently Reading:

The Rebel and the Rose by. Catherine Doyle

Vesselless by. Cortney L. Winn

Atmosphere by. Taylor Jenkins Reid

I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends by. Kylie Lee Baker

A Kiss of Hammer and Flame by. Amy De La Force

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • Baseball – World Series: that was a good competition between two good teams. Congrats Dodgers!
  • Stranger Things (Netflix) – trying to rewatch from Season 1 since the final season is coming soon.
  • Wednesday (Netflix)

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!

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Fallen City by. Adrienne Young | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Spice Rating: 🌶️

Title: Fallen City (#1)

Author: Adrienne Young

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 416

Publication Date: 11/4/25

Publisher: Saturday Books

Categories: Fantasy, 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 Saturday Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!


In the great walled city of Isara, political turmoil ignites a rebellion one hundred years in the making. But when a legionnaire falls in love with a Magistrate’s daughter, their love will threaten the fate of the city and the will of the gods.

Luca Matius has one purpose—to carry on the family name, maintaining its presence in the Forum once his powerful and cruel uncle dies. But his noviceship with the city’s Philosopher places him in the middle of a catastrophe that will alter the destiny of his people.

Maris Casperia was raised amidst the strategic maneuvers of the Citadel’s inner workings, and she knows what her future holds—a lifetime of service to a corrupt city. But her years of serving as a novice to the last Priestess who possesses the stolen magic of the Old War has made her envision a different kind of future for the city. When she meets Luca, a fated chain of events is set into motion that will divinely entangle their lives.

As a secret comes to light and throws the city into chaos, Luca and Maris hatch a plot to create a calculated alliance that could tip the scales of power. But when an execution forces Luca to become the symbol of rebellion, he and Maris are thrown onto opposite sides of a holy war. As their fates diverge, they learn they are at the center of a story the gods are writing. And even if they can find their way back to each other, there may be nothing left.

Content Warning: violence, death

+ This story is full of tension from the setting and atmosphere – power of the Magistrates, political moves, and a fight with a rebel group of Legionnaires. Plus tension between our main characters Luca and Maris who are caught in a forbidden romance that seems to only head towards tragedy.

+ Maris is a Casperia, daughter of a Magistrate and Luca is the son of a Legionnaire. When deadly politics come between their love, they have to make hard choices. My favorite part of this story is their love which doesn’t show much build up but, does show the struggles they have to endure with their city about to fall. There is so much heartbreak and longing. They are caught in a war and I just felt so bad for them. I did enjoy both characters, and their opposite paths in this story. There is barely any spice, but a closed door scene.

+ The world-building is interesting, it felt like ancient Rome. The city of Isara has a governing body, the Magistrates, who have a lot of power, but a lot of corruption and the people are fed up. They have a military called the Legionnaires, who have turned rebel and there is a lot of politics and betrayal going on. Maris is caught in it because she takes her mother’s seat as a Magistrate, but Luca is caught also because he is on the side of the rebellion. I did like Luca’s relationship with his best friend, Vale, and want to see more of them together – it seems like a deep brotherhood between them. I also loved Theo, who is Luca’s guard.

~ The story is told through two POVs and the timeline shows the past and present and goes back and forth a lot. It shows how Maris and Luca came to be in their present situation but I think the back and forth took away from the story a bit. It helped to understand the tension between them but it pulled me out of the story at times.

~ I felt like I was thrown into the story which made it difficult to settle into it at first. The romance between Maris and Luca is shown in flashbacks, as a whirlwind attraction and romance between them, but we barely get scenes of them. It just has a feel of innocence until everything goes wrong but I wanted more. Same with the politics – the Magistrates are plotting. I understood the Legionnaires stance because they are the rebel group, but the Magistrates had something else going on within their group that had to do with Gods and magic. I felt like I needed more explanation there.

Final Thoughts:

The thing that stood out to me in this story is the tension – there is a war coming, and you feel it from the fear and desperation of the Magistrates and the determination of the Legionnaires. I felt like there was a war drum beating as the city starts crumbling. Same with the romance, because Maris and Luca are not in a good place presently, and it seems like no matter how much they want to be together, sides have been drawn and it feels impossible to bridge. The beginning does start off slow but the story got it’s hooks in me by the second half. I do feel like the time jumping back and forth didn’t work for me and I felt like I needed more information about the Gods, but mostly I did enjoy this story and look forward to book two to see what happens next.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From this Author:

The Unmaking of June Farrow by. Adrienne Young | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Last Legacy by. Adrienne Young | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Namesake | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Fable | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

ARC Review | The Girl the Sea Gave Back ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The House Saphir by. Marissa Meyer | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating:

Title: The House Saphir

Author: Marissa Meyer

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 432

Publication Date: 11/4/25

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Categories: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, Paranormal, Retelling of Bluebeard

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

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!


Mallory Fontaine is a fraud. Though she comes from a long line of witches, the only magic she possesses is the ability to see ghosts, which is rarely as useful as one would think. She and her sister have maintained the family business, eking out a paltry living by selling bogus spells to gullible buyers and conducting tours of the infamous mansion where the first of the Saphir murders took place.

Mallory is a self-proclaimed expert on Count Bastien Saphir—otherwise known as Monsieur Le Bleu—who brutally killed three of his wives more than a century ago. But she never expected to meet Bastien’s great-great grandson and heir to the Saphir estate. Armand is handsome, wealthy, and convinced that the Fontaine Sisters are as talented as they claim. The perfect mark. When he offers Mallory a large sum of money to rid his ancestral home of Le Bleu’s ghost, she can’t resist. A paid vacation at Armand’s country manor? It’s practically a dream come true, never mind the ghosts of murdered wives and the monsters that are as common as household pests.

But when murder again comes to the House Saphir, Mallory finds herself at the center of the investigation—and she is almost certain the killer is mortal. If she has any hope of cashing in on the payment she was promised, she’ll have to solve the murder and banish the ghost, all while upholding the illusion of witchcraft.

But that all sounds relatively easy compared to her biggest learning to trust her heart. Especially when the person her heart wants the most might be a murderer himself.

Content Warning: violence, death, murder

+ I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book because I haven’t read a book from this author in awhile and I am not totally familiar with the Bluebeard story. So I can speak to how good of a retelling this is since I don’t know Bluebeard’s story too well. But what an enjoyable story this turned out to be.

+ Mallory and her sister are hacks – they claim to be witches and have powers, and maybe they are part of a bloodline of witches but something happened in the past that messed it up for them. Now someone from the Saphir bloodline has come asking for their help to rid his estate of dangerous ghosts. Mal and her sister agree because they need money but how are they going to get rid of ghosts if they don’t really know how to do that?

+ My favorite part of this book – it is funny! I was laughing out loud, literally! Mallory and her sister are such characters and the ghosts of the wives Monsieur Le Bleu had murdered were funny as well. I haven’t had this much fun reading a book in a long time! Also later on in the story Mal solicits helps from some other characters who have magical powers and hunt down monsters, and they were a fun duo as well.

+ Mallory is such a fun character because she loves everything spooky. She gives people tours of a haunted house (she’s basically trespassing and scamming people). Thing is though she can actually see ghosts, but I love that the more morbid something was, she wasn’t afraid, she was delightfully obsessed with it.

+ There is a little bit of romance in the story and I adored it. I also loved the twists and turns of the story. Monsieur Le Blue as a villainous ghost did a great job at being an awful person/spirit. I was hoping Mallory would end him. There is monster hunting, ghost hunting and the ending is chaotic but again, fun.

~ The only thing about the story that maybe I had a little issue with is – how was Mallory going to fake her way into getting rid of Monsieur Le Bleu’s ghost? She had no clue what she was doing at all (and her sister liked to point this out). I was hoping her being at the estate and meeting the ghost wives would teach her something about magic. Eventually she figures out she needs help but I did want more witchcraft in the story.

Final Thoughts:

I loved this book because I had such a fun time reading it and that’s kind of rare to find now especially in a romantasy type of of book. It’s actually perfect for a fall read because it has haunted houses, ghosts still in their murdered form, mythological monsters, possession, murder, magic and mystery! Even a little romance.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From this Author:

Cinder by. Marissa Meyer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Renegades by. Marissa Meyer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️