• Book Reviews,  W,  Wood, Laura

    Under a Dancing Star Book Review

    Under a Dancing Star by Laura Wood From Goodreads: In grey, 1930s England, Bea has grown up kicking against the conventions of the time, all the while knowing that she will one day have to marry someone her parents choose – someone rich enough to keep the family estate alive. But she longs for so much more – for adventure, excitement, travel, and maybe even romance. When she gets the chance to spend the summer in Italy with her bohemian uncle and his fiancée, a whole world is opened up to Bea – a world that includes Ben, a cocky young artist who just happens to be infuriatingly handsome too. Sparks…

  • Book Reviews,  R,  Rogerson, Margaret

    Sorcery of Thorns Book Review

      Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson From Goodreads: All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power. Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With…

  • Book Reviews,  N,  Ngan, Natasha

    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…

  • Book Reviews,  R,  Riccio, Christine

    Again, But Better Book Review

    Again, But Better by Christine Riccio From Goodreads: Shane has been doing college all wrong. Pre-med, stellar grades, and happy parents…sounds ideal—but Shane’s made zero friends, goes home every weekend, and romance…what’s that?  Her life has been dorm, dining hall, class, repeat. Time’s a ticking, and she needs a change—there’s nothing like moving to a new country to really mix things up. Shane signs up for a semester abroad in London. She’s going to right all her college mistakes: make friends, pursue boys, and find adventure!  Easier said than done. She is soon faced with the complicated realities of living outside her bubble, and when self-doubt sneaks in, her new life…

  • Book Reviews,  H,  Hogan, Bex

    Viper Book Review

    Viper by Bex Hogan From Goodreads: He will make me a killer. Or he will have me killed. That is my destiny.  Seventeen-year-old Marianne is fated to one day become the Viper, defender of the Twelve Isles. But the reigning Viper stands in her way. Corrupt and merciless, he prowls the seas in his warship, killing with impunity, leaving only pain and suffering in his wake. He’s the most dangerous man on the ocean . . . and he is Marianne’s father. She was born to protect the islands. But can she fight for them if it means losing her family, her home, the boy she loves – and perhaps even…

  • B,  Banghart, Tracey,  Book Reviews

    Queen of Ruin Book Review

    Queen of Ruin by Tracy Banghart From Goodreads: Banished by Asa at the end of Grace and Fury, Nomi and Malachi find themselves powerless and headed towards their all-but-certain deaths. Now that Asa sits on the throne, he will stop at nothing to make sure Malachi never sets foot in the palace again. Their only hope is to find Nomi’s sister, Serina, on the prison island of Mount Ruin. But when Nomi and Malachi arrive, it is not the island of conquered, broken women that they expected. It is an island in the grip of revolution, and Serina–polite, submissive Serina–is its leader. Betrayal, grief, and violence have changed both sisters, and…

  • Book Reviews,  H,  Herman, Christine Lynn

    The Devouring Grey Book Review

    The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman From Goodreads: On the edge of town a beast haunts the woods, trapped in the Gray, its bonds loosening… Uprooted from the city, Violet Saunders doesn’t have much hope of fitting in at her new school in Four Paths, a town almost buried in the woodlands of rural New York. The fact that she’s descended from one of the town’s founders doesn’t help much, either—her new neighbours treat her with distant respect, and something very like fear. When she meets Justin, May, Isaac, and Harper, all children of founder families, and sees the otherworldly destruction they can wreak, she starts to wonder if the…

  • Book Reviews,  F,  Faizal, Hafsah

    We Hunt the Flame Book Review

    We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal From Goodreads: People lived because she killed. People died because he lived. Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways.  Both are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya—but neither wants to be. War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing…

  • Book Reviews,  T,  Teintze, Breanna

    Lord of Secrets Book Review

    Lord of Secrets by Breanna Teintze From Goodreads: Magic is poison. Secrets are power. Death is . . . complicated. Outlaw wizard Corcoran Gray has enough problems. He’s friendless, penniless and on the run from the tyrannical Mages’ Guild – and with the search for his imprisoned grandfather looking hopeless, his situation can’t get much worse. So when a fugitive drops into his lap – literally – and gets them both arrested, it’s the last straw – until Gray realises that runaway slave Brix could be the key to his grandfather’s release. All he has to do is break out of prison, break into an ancient underground temple and avoid killing himself…

  • B,  Book Reviews,  Brandes, Nadine

    Romanov Book Review

    Romanov by Nadine Brandes From Goodreads: The history books say I died. They don’t know the half of it. Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them, and he’s hunted Romanov before. Nastya’s only chances of saving herself and her family are to either release the spell and deal with the consequences, or enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya has only dabbled in magic, but it doesn’t frighten her half…