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Hekate Book Review
coffeestarsbooks November 21, 2025 1:12 pm Hekate Release date: 16th Sep 2025 Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers Genres: YA Fantasy ⊹ ⋆ YA Poetry ⊹ ⋆ YA Mythology ⊹ ⋆ Add to Storygraph Add to Goodreads Join the conversation: Bluesky Instagram Twitch Discord “A woman they cannot control, whether Goddess or mortal, is a dangerous woman.” ― Nikita Gill, Hekate ☕✨ CONTENT WARNINGS: (click to reveal) War, violence, death, rape, death of a parent, blood, grief, torture, genocide, forced marriage Synopsis: Born into a world on fire, Godling Hekate has never known safety. After her parents are on the losing side of the war between the ruling Titans and…
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Brigands and Breadknives Book Review
coffeestarsbooks November 21, 2025 12:00 pm Brigands and Breadknives Release date: 11th Nov 2025 Publisher: Tor Genres: Fantasy ⊹ ⋆ Cosy Fantasy ⊹ ⋆ High Fantasy ⊹ ⋆ LGBTQ+ ⊹ ⋆ Add to Storygraph Add to Goodreads Join the conversation: Bluesky Instagram Twitch Discord “A life truly lived is a glorious tangle. One is never lost. And if one is lucky, one is never found either.” ― Travis Baldree, Brigands and Breadknives ☕✨ CONTENT WARNINGS: (click to reveal) Violence, alcohol, injury, death, blood, mild religious bigotry (towards fictional religion) Synopsis: Fern has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller’s life for decades, but now, in the face of crippling…
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We Love You, Bunny Book Review
coffeestarsbooks October 29, 2025 6:10 pm We Love You, Bunny Release date: 23rd Sep 2025 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Genres: Contemporary ⊹ ⋆ Literary Fiction ⊹ ⋆ Horror ⊹ ⋆ Magical Realism ⊹ ⋆ Add to Storygraph Add to Goodreads Join the conversation: Bluesky Instagram Twitch Discord “We do hope you’re still with us, Bunny, even though it’s late now. And the world so terribly quiet at this hour […] which is really the perfect time for a story. This story in particular, of course.” ― Mona Awad, We Love You, Bunny ☕✨ CONTENT WARNINGS: (click to reveal) Violence, murder, blood, self harm, sexualised content, eating disorder, suicidal thoughts, body shaming.…
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The Raven Scholar Book Review
coffeestarsbooks September 29, 2025 8:49 am The Raven Scholar Release date: 24th April 2025 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Genres: Fantasy ⊹ ⋆ High Fantasy ⊹ ⋆ Mystery ⊹ ⋆ Add to Storygraph Add to Goodreads Join the conversation: Bluesky Instagram Twitch Discord “We are here, exactly where we should be, at exactly the right moment, because we are the Raven, and we are magnificent.” ― Antonia Hodgson, The Raven Scholar ☕✨ CONTENT WARNINGS: (click to reveal) Violence, death, murder, body horror, confinement, suicide, vomit, fire/fire injury Synopsis: She might win the throne. She might destroy an empire. Either way, it begins with murder. After twenty-four years on the throne, it…
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Blood Over Bright Haven Book Review
dark academia⊹ ⋆fantasy⊹ ⋆high fantasy coffeestarsbooks May 27, 2025 4:11 pm Blood Over Bright Haven Release date: 25th July 2023 Publisher: Del Rey Genres: Dark Academia ⊹ ⋆ Fantasy ⊹ ⋆ High Fantasy ⊹ ⋆ Pair with: A cup of English breakfast tea and blueberry scones Add to Storygraph Add to Goodreads Join the conversation: Bluesky Instagram Twitch Discord “Having spent a few months in the High Magistry, she had let herself forget that, outside the ranks of Tiran’s top innovators, a man could get to a very high level of magic without ever having an original thought.” – M.L. Wang, Blood Over Bright Haven ☕✨ CONTENT WARNINGS: (click to reveal) Racism, colonialism,…
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An Education in Malice Book Review
dark academia⊹ ⋆fantasy⊹ ⋆gothic fantasy⊹ ⋆lgbtq+⊹ ⋆retelling coffeestarsbooks February 27, 2025 12:02 pm An Education in Malice Release date: 13th Feb 2024 Publisher: Orbit Genres: Dark Academia ⊹ ⋆ Gothic ⊹ ⋆ Fantasy ⊹ ⋆ LGBTQ+ ⊹ ⋆ Pair it with: A bitter black coffee and raspberry jam on toast Add to Storygraph Add to Goodreads Join the conversation: Bluesky Instagram Twitch Discord “I learned how to survive the cutthroat world of girlhood, where all strangeness was unrooted as ruthlessly as weeds from a garden.” ― S.T. Gibson, An Education in Malice ☕✨ CONTENT WARNINGS: (click to reveal) Homophobia, Blood, Alcohol, Toxic Relationship, Death of a parent, Teacher/Student relationship, Death, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual…
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Portrait of a Thief Book Review
From Goodreads: History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now. Will Chen plans to steal them back. A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents’ American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible—and illegal—job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago. His…
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The Jasmine Throne Book Review
From Goodreads: Author of Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess’s traitor brother. Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters — but is now little more than a decaying ruin. Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the…
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Yellowface Book Review
From Goodreads: Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I. So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her…
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Chain of Gold Book Review
From Goodreads: An inheritance of shadows. A love in chains. An unconquerable foe. Cordelia Carstairs is a Shadowhunter, a warrior trained since childhood to battle demons. When her father is accused of a terrible crime, she and her brother travel to London in hopes of preventing the family’s ruin. Cordelia’s mother wants to marry her off, but Cordelia is determined to be a hero rather than a bride. Soon Cordelia encounters childhood friends James and Lucie Herondale and is drawn into their world of glittering ballrooms, secret assignations, and supernatural salons, where vampires and warlocks mingle with mermaids and magicians. All the while, she must hide her secret love for James,…
