The Smoke Thieves was described as A Game of Thrones for a YA audience, though its multiple perspectives, the warring kingdoms and many character deaths were the only similarities – beyond that, The Smoke Thieves is comprised primarily of common fantasy tropes, making for a rather generic read. With one of the opening scenes involving actual demon hunting, I expected the demon smoke...
The Bear and the Nightingale was one of my more anticipated reads for the year. As someone who loves historical fiction and fairytale retellings, I was really excited to see Arden’s take on Russian folklore. The only Russian story that I was familiar with was that of Baba Yaga, so I was really excited to learn more about Frost...
I’ve been making an effort to read more backlist titles this year, in part because the number of books that I own and have yet to read is much too high. To motivate me to actually read those titles, I decided to create a TBR jar – and, if I somehow don’t end up using it to pick my next...
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week, she posts an idea relating to books and encourages other book bloggers to respond with their own top ten lists. This week’s topic is “top ten books to pull me out of a reading slump.” As a mood reader, I find that I...
Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible...
Betrothed since childhood to the prince of Mynaria, Princess Dennaleia has always known what her future holds. Her marriage will seal the alliance between Mynaria and her homeland, protecting her people from other hostile lands. But Denna has a secret. She possesses an Affinity for fire—a dangerous gift for the future queen of a kingdom where magic is...
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week, she posts an idea relating to books and encourages other book bloggers to respond with their own top ten lists. This week’s topic is “top ten favourite book blogs/bookish websites.” I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t visit as many blogs...
Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome; 2) A person’s undoing; 3) Joshua Templeman. Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other,...
Nothing is as it seems in the kingdom of Antora. Kestra Dallisor has spent three years in exile in the Lava Fields, but that won’t stop her from being drawn back into her father’s palace politics. He’s the right hand man of the cruel king, Lord Endrick, which makes Kestra a valuable bargaining chip. A group of rebels...
If you’re anything like me, reading is a completely immersive process – and one that frequently leads to all the feels. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve started a book, only to be attacked by emotion when I’m least expecting it; after 21+ years of reading, I’ve finally figured out the best ways to survive this emotionally-intensive (and I mean...