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Blood & Steel By Helen Scheuerer 🎧 Narrated by: Mollie Stark and Sebastian Grove The Legends of Thezmarr, Book 1 Book 25 of 2024
Thank you to all of my friends who recommended this one, especially Dom & Marie-Lyne!
✨ On Kindle Unlimited ✨
I absolutely could not put this book down. Plotting wise, it reminded me why I grew up loving fantasy books. Scheuerer manages to build a unique world without dumping a bunch of info on you. The world and conflicts all are introduced while the plot is moving and characters are getting to know each other.
You all know I love a bada$$ FMC, and Althea is absolutely a warrior among FMCs.
And of course, the romance is 🔥🔥🔥. I can’t wait to continue with this series!
🎧 Fantastic narration. I usually need to read a couple of chapters with a print version to get myself really immersed in a new fantasy world, but I felt that this was clear enough that I could just listen to the audiobook without any trouble!
I forgot to post this and one more during Black History Month, but I know we all read Black authors all year long!
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This post feels a little silly because my favorites are all extremely popular and well known titles…but if you’re a fantasy reader and you haven’t read them yet, consider this your sign!! This is absolutely not an exhaustive list, but are just some of my most favorites. And of course, these are amazing books to read all year long!
🖋 = received an arc or pub gift, review on goodreads
The Legendborn Quartet by Tracy Deon – These were two of my absolute favorite books in 2022, and I cannot wait for the next book to come out next year! (🖋 Bloodmarked)
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin – You’re not going to know what’s going on for most of the first book, but it’s absolutely worth the ride.
Parable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler – Of all the dystopians I’ve read, this one seems the most likely to come true and the most terrifying. I probably need to reread it.
Even More Fantasy: Each of these 4 books have some stand out elements that I enjoyed. Wildblood 🖋 – set in Jamaica, sentient forest A Song of Wraiths and Ruin 🖋 – amazing cast of characters & romance (YA) Dread Nation – elite female zombie fighters Crowned 🖋 – Folk & Fairy tales – gorgeous photography & storytelling
My top TBR: Faebound, Skin of the Sea, & The Gilded Ones
QotD: Do you mostly read new releases or backlist books?
I think about half of my reads are published within the past year, and half are older. Lately I’ve been wondering what I’m doing when I post a review of a book that was written in like…2002…but it’s still fun to get my thoughts down!
February was a great month of reading, but not a great month health wise. I had my worst crash of my Long Covid journey, and have been recovering for most of the month. I’m extra thankful for books and book friends for keeping my spirits up when things were extra hard!
Photo 1: My physical reads
Photo 2: Reading Goal Check in
Reading Goals: 💖 Physical TBR: 7 of 6 💖 Total read: 18 / total brought into my house: 25 – closer to equal but still very much not 💖 Diverse Authors: 9 of 7 planned 💖 ARCs: 6 of 8 planned 💖 BOTM: 1 of 1
Photo 3: ARCs
Photo 4: Diverse Author / Book breakdown (could be diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, physical difference, neurodiversity, or something else!)
Photo 5: March plans
See my Instagram pinned posts for information on the two challenges!
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Castle of Dusk and Shadows By Rachel L. Schade 🎧 Narrated by: Savvy Des-Etages Fae of Brytwilde, Book 1 Book 19 of 2024
My toxic trait as a bookstagrammer is that I will sometimes save books on a special mental TBR I like to think of as my “oh no I feel a slump coming on I need something PERFECT right now” shelf. When my friend @alexs_book_hoard told me about A Castle of Dusk and Shadows – a Pride and Prejudice fantasy retelling with Fae – it ended up on that mental shelf.
But when I had my most recent Long Covid crash, I decided it was time to give it a try and Alex, you were SO right. I absolutely devoured this book. It delivered exactly what I was looking for.
I tend to like my Pride and Prejudice retellings to hit all of the beats of the original, and this gave the vibes without matching the plot, which I had a lot of fun with. I especially liked the play on Elizabeth having “fine eyes.”
Read if you like: ✨ strong female characters ✨ villainous-seeming love interests (kinda reminded me of Rhys from ACOMAF)
Elle spends a good portion of the book looking for the ghost of her late father, and y’all…Mr. Bennett WISHES he was half the dad Mr. Blackford.
If you are a P&P fan but wish that Mary, Lydia, Kitty, and Mrs. Bennett got better treatment, you’ll love this one. Everyone got to keep so much of their original character without being ridiculed for it.
KU subscribers – add this one to your shelf!! (And everyone else.)
QotD: (pick one) -What’s a favorite retelling that you’ve read? -Favorite villain? (to love or hate!)
[book synopsis]
She’ll do anything to save her family—even marry a fae and face the dead.
Years ago, Elle Blackford’s parents made a desperate deal with the fae kingdom of Ashwood. While her mother and sisters reconciled themselves to a future among dangerous immortals, Elle and her father studied forbidden magic, hoping to find a loophole.
Until Elle’s father dies, forcing Elle’s sister to marry Prince Fitz, heir of Ashwood.
But Elle has a plan to change their fate. For she knows that ghosts wander Ashwood Forest until the royal family sends them into the afterlife. Ghosts that can be returned to life. And she’s determined to save her father from his premature death.
All she needs is powerful magic—magic Prince Fitz possesses.
Taking her sister’s place, Elle marries Prince Fitz to steal his power. But in a world of bloodthirsty fae and vengeful ghosts, being a mortal comes with constant risks. As Elle navigates a kingdom of monsters and tragic secrets, she realizes she might not survive to save her family.
And the key to her salvation might be her arrogant, cold husband—the one she’d planned to rob and abandon. If only she can trust him.
Pride and Prejudice meets Gothic fae fantasy in this loose retelling, full of plenty of romantic tension (not spice).
Pre-order today and prepare to immerse yourself in Brytwilde, a series of standalone fantasy romance novels all set in the same fae world and loosely inspired by Jane Austen’s novels.
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Happy pub day! What are you looking forward to that comes out today or this week?
A note on the gift boxes: some of these books got on my radar because I was offered a widget on Netgalley that I did not end up accepting because obviously this is wayyyyy too long of a list for one pub day. I feel like it’s more honest to say that I was gifted a copy even if I didn’t download the free copy.
🎁 ARC/ ALC / free publisher mail
🎁 How You Get the Girl, by Anita Kelly @readforeverpub Sports Romance | Workplace romance | LGBTQ+
🎁 At First Spite, by Olivia Dade @avonbooks Contemporary Romance | Enemies to lovers
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I am so excited for this week’s new releases!! While a lot of people have an ebook, audiobook, and physical book going at the same time, I like to have a contemporary romance, historical romance, and fantasy going at the same time.
🎁 The Breakup Tour by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka, Berkley Romance Contemporary RomCom | Pop Star
🎁 Into the Sunken City by Dinesh Thiru, HarperTeen YA Fantasy Adventure | Twist on Treasure Island
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.
The Forest Grimm By Kathryn Purdie 🎧 Narrated by: Sarah Ovens The Forest Grimm, Book 1 Book 163 of 2023
YA is such an interesting age range. Some books feel like they are written for 13 year olds, some for 16 year olds, and some for actual young adults. This one felt like “true” YA to me – the characters and stakes felt like it was written for teenagers. There wasn’t a lot of moral gray area, but characters did have to make big choices and show a lot of courage.
All images shown were taken by me, featuring the Fairyloot edition of The Forest Grimm.
The Forest Grimm itself is filled with fairytale characters that you might find in the original Grimm’s versions – creepy but less moralistic. It was a fun play on the stories I was so familiar with. If you are a ‘fraidy cat like me, the creep factor was pretty mild, think a Disney original Halloween movie, not something truly frightening that will give you nightmares. (If I was a kid it might though – just wait until you meet Hansel and Gretel.)
I read this as a buddy read with a friend over on the clock app, which was really fun. I had a prediction that I was ABSOLUTELY convinced I was right about – and I usually am when it comes to YA Fantasy. But Purdie surprised me! The reveal was logical but more surprising, and I really enjoyed that aspect.
Overall, I’m on the fence about continuing this series. It’s good, but it’s definitely YA, and I’m not sure how much of that age range I will continue to read as I get so far removed from that target age group!
What’s a genre that you are hoping to read more (or less!) of in 2024?
Jana and Books 