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Serpent and Dove Book Review
Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin From Goodreads: Bound as one to love, honor, or burn. Two years ago, Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic and living off whatever she could steal. There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they are burned. Sworn to the Church as a Chasseur, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. His path was never meant to cross with Lou’s, but a wicked stunt forces them into an impossible union—holy matrimony. The war between witches and Church is an ancient one, and Lou’s most…
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The Queen of Nothing Book Review
The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. This review will be SPOILER FREE. However, since this is the final book in the Folk of the Air trilogy, the review is only going to be spoiler free for QoN. It will contain spoilers for The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King. So if you haven’t read them and want to, please bookmark this page to come back to at a later date. From Goodreads: He will be destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne. Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king,…
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Girls of Storm and Shadow Book Review
Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan Though this review is SPOILER FREE for GoSaS, it does contain SPOILERS for the first book in the series. Also, I imagine this book will include a TW for: violence and sexual abuse, plus potentially some other stuff that I have forgotten to mention. When reading the book, please check what TWs are in place if you may require them. From Goodreads: Lei and Wren have escaped their oppressive lives in the Hidden Palace, but soon learn that freedom comes with a terrible cost. Lei, the naive country girl who became a royal courtesan, is now known as the Moonchosen, the commoner who…
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Truly Devious Book Review
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson From Goodreads: Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place” he said, “where learning is a game.” Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym, Truly Devious. It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history. True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham…
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Sawkill Girls Book Review
Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand From Goodreads: Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep. He’ll follow you home, and he won’t let you sleep. Who are the Sawkill Girls? Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find. Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is. Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies. Their stories come together…
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A Thousand Perfect Notes Book Review
A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews From Goodreads: An emotionally charged story of music, abuse and, ultimately, hope. Beck hates his life. He hates his violent mother. He hates his home. Most of all, he hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music – because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence. When Beck meets August, a girl…
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The Song Rising Book Review
The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon ‘You have risen from the ashes before. The only way to survive is to believe you always will.’ Paige Mahoney did everything in her power to rise as the Underqueen, leader of Scion London’s criminal underworld. In the process, she’s been bloodied and bruised, and she’s crossed a dozen lines– including betraying her own Mime-Lord, Jaxon, who promises revenge for Paige stealing his crown. Now, there are enemies on all sides, and they’re closing in. Jaxon has thrown his lot in with Scion and those who pull the strings of the government, and not even the criminals are entirely pleased with their new Queen. Worse…
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The Cruel Prince Book Review
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black From Goodreads: Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever. And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe. Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially…
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Orphan Monster Spy Review
Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen A lonely orphan with a dangerous secret. Not just another blonde-haired, blue-eyed little monster. Trapped inside a world full of lies, when does a schoolgirl become a spy. Set against the high-tension, pressure-cooker backdrop of Germany in the late 1930’s, Orphan Monster Spy follows Sarah, a young Jewish girl, who is forced to flee following the brutal death of her mother as they try to escape persecution. Trained in the art of the theatre by her mother, Sarah is cunning and quick, sly and intelligent. And she soon attracts the attention of a British spy. Her mission is simple, but it will turn her into the thing she…
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Forest of a Thousand Lanterns Book Review
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao Goodreads synopsis: An East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend about one peasant girl’s quest to become Empress–and the darkness she must unleash to achieve her destiny. Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng’s majestic future.…
