Title: Silver and Smoke

Series: Ashes of Thezmarr #3

Author: Helen Scheuerer

Genre: Romantasy

Year of publication: 2025

---

BOOKS IN THE SERIES

Iron and Embers – review

Thorns and Fire – review

---

BLURB

Alchemist. Poisoner. Reluctant Queen.

Wren Embervale knows her duty demands a crown, even if it means a strategic betrothal to the influential Lord Darian Devereux. Their arranged marriage promises the formidable army she needs to wrestle her kingdom from the clutches of the tyrannical usurper, Silas. Yet, Wren’s heart still belongs to Torj Elderbrock, her soul-bonded Warsword.

Torn between her pragmatic alliance and the visceral pull of her bond with Torj, Wren must navigate a treacherous landscape of courtly intrigue and looming war. As Silas’s shadow alchemy tightens its grip on the midrealms and a creeping poison steals Torj’s strength, Wren’s carefully constructed facade begins to crack.

Can she play the dutiful fiancée to secure her throne, while her body and soul yearns for the warrior who would lay down his life for her? Or will the tangled threads of political necessity leave her kingdom—and her heart—in ashes?

The war of silver and smoke….

The conclusion of the Ashes of Thezmarr series picks up right where left off in Thorns and Fire….

Wren and Torj may be soul-bonded, but Wren is now betrothed to Darian Devereux, her engagement to help save the kingdom from Silas, the shadow alchemist… and to protect Torj. The final battle looms…..

The first half of the book felt slow paced but then it builds to fast paced action and high stakes and I couldn’t turn the pages quick enough!

~ Torj’s devotion to Wren absolutely owns my heart.
~ Wren’s character growth throughout the series was immense and so well written.
~ And Kipp – I love that he never changes.
~ More Thea and Wilder was another highlight!

This was such a satisfying conclusion! Emotional, action-packed, and full of the found family moments that make this series so special. It gave me all the feels!

Is it me or did I get a whiff of romance from Cal and Zavier? Did I? Was it just me? Was it there or am I wishing for things that weren’t there?!

⭐ Rating: 4.5 out of 5

---

Sound like something you’d like?

Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Topic: Green Book Covers

Green Book covers mean nature and magic to me but they also give that St Patrick’s Day aesthetic!

Here are some green books I own!

Enchanting the Fae Queen
How to Fake It In Society
The Second Death of Locke
Katabasis
Fate and Furies

A Steep and Savage Path
One Dark Window
Greenteeth
A Pirates Life for Tea
Dead Happy

What green books do you have?

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer  It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.

Hope you’ve had a good week!

I had my MRI on my back and my ankle and have an appointment on the 20th to get my results!

This week I also had an MOT and service on my car and can we talk about the daylight robbery of how expensive tyres are. I had to pay nearly £500 for 3 tyres. Shocking.

And…..it took me 11 days but I did it! I finished Alchemised, the 36 hour audiobook!

---

🎧 Alchemised by Senlinyu
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

See my review soon!

---

Feature – Fairyloot Romantasy: February
Feature – April Book Releases

---

Review – Silver and Smoke by Helen Scheuerer
Review – Alchemised by SenLinYu

What have you read lately?

Here are some new books releasing in April 2026 that I’m most excited for…

I can’t seem to behave myself with book buying, specifically, pre ordering! I’ve preordered these already!

Rites of the Starling by Devney Perry
The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst
We Burned So Bright by TJ Klune

Will you be getting any of these?

Fairyloot Romantasy – February 2026

Demon Hunters

Perfect for readers that love:
🏙️ Urban Fantasy
🎓 Dark Academia
☠️ Hunter and Hunted

Half City by Kate Golden

🖤 An exclusive redesigned cover by @palinlineart with design by @aeadraws
🖤 A reversible dust jacket featuring a colourway variation of the text
🖤 Full colour artwork on the hardcover with foil by @blanca.design
🖤 Character artwork on the endpapers by @palinlineart with foil details by @blanca.design (different front and back)
🖤 Digitally sprayed edges on all three edges by @flarity.art
🖤 Bonus content: Alternative POV
🖤 Author letter with a digital signature bound in the book.

---

BLURB

Welcome to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. Keep your daggers sharp, and your wits even sharper.

Viv Abbot is an average twenty-one-year-old girl. She lives in an expensive city where the rent is too high, works long hours at a thankless job, and is dating a guy she doesn’t even like in the hopes of winning her prickly mother’s approval.

She just also happens to be a demon hunter.

Ever since her father’s murder, she’s been forced to hunt deviants alone, meaning everyone, including her family, sees her as an outsider. . . . Until the day she crosses paths with a dangerously alluring demon, Reid Graveheart. The reformed deviant tells her of a school for people just like her: Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. If she enrolls, she’ll learn to hone her craft, work with other hunters, and never be alone again.

But Viv has a deadly secret. One that not even her new friends at Harker can know about. Not when the school might hold the answers to untangling the mystery surrounding Viv’s father’s death. When strange occurrences begin to plague the students, Viv will have to figure out who she can trust, and fast. All while trying to ace her classes, not fall for a demon, and make it through her first year at Harker in one piece. How hard could that be?

Sound like something you’d like?

Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Topic: Book Titles Featuring Ordinal Numbers

I have so many books in my brain with cardinal numbers but when I tried to think of books with ordinal numbers, my brain emptied!!!

So….I failed really….4 books only!

The Second Death of Locke
The Thirteenth Child
Gideon the Ninth
Ninth House

What books did you choose?

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer  It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.

Hope you’ve had a good week!

Last week I said you might not get a reading update from me because I was starting a 36 hour audiobook… and that was correct!! I haven’t finished so it will be in next weeks update!

Instead, can we talk about the SJM announcement because I AM SO EXCITED!

(What I’m not excited about, however, is how much I just had to pay for two completely normal hardbacks of the books… why are they so expensive?!)

Anyway, here’s what I’m really hoping we get in these next three books:

* SPOILERS – DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU HAVEN’T READ ACOTAR/CRESCENT CITY*

~ Mor getting her HEA
~ Azriel and Gwyn (or I’m not reading them!)
~ Elain grovelling massively to Lucien OR
~ Elain is the traitor (I don’t like her!)
~ More Valkyries (and I’ve seen a theory I agree with!)
~ A scene with Az and Cassian babysitting baby Nyx
~ Ruhn and Rhys being brothers (so Rhys is Bryce’s cousin!)
~ I want to know what’s under Ramiel
~ I so, so badly want Manon to make an appearance (with Dorian!)
~ A MASSIVE, HUGE fight scene with all the good guys from ACOTAR/ToG/Crescent City.
~ Oh and if Lehabah would come back to life, that would be great!

---

Feature – No Spend March
Feature – February Storygraph Stats
Feature – Stacking the Shelves: February

---

Unboxing – Fairyloot Romantasy: February
Feature – April book releases

What have you read lately?

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! And audiobooks. Don’t forget audiobooks!

In other words, if you can read it or if it can be read to you – no matter how you got it – it belongs in Stacking the Shelves.

The Stacking the Shelves meme was originally hosted at Team Tynga’s Reviews. It is currently hosted by Reading Reality.

---

I was trying to work out whether 5 books hauled was good or bad….but then I realised that I’d actually read 3 of these already so I’m good!

Books I Bought

The Lies That Summon the Night by Tessonja Odette
Half City by Kate Golden (Fairyloot)


Advanced Reader Copies

One Small Echo by Jane Washington
A Sea Change by Cassandra Clare
The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst

I’d better get reading!

 

I always keep track of my books read in the year but, for 2026, I decided to keep track of my monthly reading stats as they help me understand my reading habits and to try and help me stay motivated.

February might be the shortest month of the year, but I had a really strong reading month (well for me anyway!)

• Books Read: 8
• Total Pages: 3,377
• Average Rating: 4.69 ⭐
• Average Time to Finish a Book: 7 days
• Genre: 100% Fantasy (including 1 short story)
• Format Breakdown:
• 50% Audiobook
• 38% Digital (eBook)
• 13% Print


This month was completely dominated by fantasy maybe because of the dark evenings and colder weather making me want to disappear into magical realms!

Will March stay fantasy-heavy? Probably!!!!

How many books did you read in February? Any faves?