Month: October 2021

Closing the Chapter: October 2021 🎃🧙‍♀️

| CJRTB Books

Welcome to Closing the Chapter! I hope you had a great reading month?

Did you get any spooky reads in?

It’s been a month of colds, coughs and bronchitis for us but this week was school holidays and I had the week off work so we’ve carved pumpkins, put up our Halloween decorations and we also did some Christmas shopping!!!

I got in the spooky mood by reading some witchy, pnr and vampy reads this month! Some of them were quite chunky too so was happy with what I read!

Hope you all have a great Halloween tomorrow!

📚 Physical/Ebooks 📚


Threadneedle by Cari Thomas
See my review here.

Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
See my review here.

Ember of Night by Molly E Lee
See my review here

Amari and the Night Brothers by BB Alston
See my review here.

Shadow of Light by Molly E Lee
See my review soon!

🎧 Audiobooks 🎧


Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
See my review soon!

Review: The Gilded Cage by Lynette Noni

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Title: The Gilded Cage

Series: The Prison Healer #2

Author: Lynette Noni

Release date: 12 October 2021

Kiva trades one cage for another when she leaves behind a deadly prison for a deceptive palace in this dark and dangerous sequel to The Prison Healer, which Sarah J. Maas called “a must-read.”

Kiva Meridan is a survivor.

She survived not only Zalindov prison, but also the deadly Trial by Ordeal. Now Kiva’s purpose goes beyond survival to vengeance. For the past ten years, her only goal was to reunite with her family and destroy the people responsible for ruining their lives. But now that she has escaped Zalindov, her mission has become more complicated than ever.

As Kiva settles into her new life in the capital, she discovers she wasn’t the only one who suffered while she was in Zalindov—her siblings and their beliefs have changed too. Soon it’s not just her enemies she’s keeping secrets from, but her own family as well.

Outside the city walls, tensions are brewing from the rebels, along with whispers of a growing threat from the northern kingdoms. Kiva’s allegiances are more important than ever, but she’s beginning to question where they truly lie. To survive this time, she’ll have to navigate a complicated web of lies before both sides of the battle turn against her and she loses everything.

I opened this book with a sense of dread! Hear me out! I knew what was at stake here for Kiva and I really didn’t want her to go down the path she intended….but I knew this was going to get my stomach in a knot!

And it did. So badly! But I loved every minute of it!

We saw more of the world outside of the prison, in Evalon, where Kiva now lives in the palace with all the luxury and comforts she could want. We see the Royal family and we also are introduced to Kiva’s family and we hear about the politics of their world.

Jaren, Tipp and Naari are back and we also see more of Caldon and the Royal family dynamics which were actually very heartwarming for the most part. Talking of Jaren. I love him! I want him to be mine!

I really don’t want to say more about the plot but you can expect drama, family reunions, secrets that are revealed, twists and an ending that will make you want to scream!!!

‘Be the light in the dark, Kiva.’

Spooky Halloween Tag!

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I saw this spooky Halloween tag on Life of a Female Bibliophile blog and as its Halloween soon I thought I would get in on that action!

I have condensed it to 21 questions as I’m a scardey cat at heart and some of my answers would be totally yawn!

1. Favourite horror or Halloween-themed song?

Zombie by The Cranberries

Love this and you can watch (and listen!) to it here.

2. Favorite horror monster or villain?

Vampires all the way! 🧛‍♂️🧛‍♀️

3. The creepiest thing that’s ever happened while you were alone?

I was fast asleep at my boyfriends house and he was out. Suddenly his CD player came on and started playing AT FULL BLAST and it was switched off. It was 2 in the morning and I put my clothes on and drove to my Mums!!!!

4. If you were dared to spend the night in a “haunted house”, would you do it?

No way!!!! 😭

5. Are you superstitious?

Yes and no! I salute magpies and love to blame Friday the 13th for stuff but dont believe in ghosts! 🙄

6. Ever made a potion of any sort?

With my son at a Harry Potter night!!! 🧴🧴

7. Do you get scared easily?

Yes! I am a proper scardey cat! 😿

8. Have you ever played Bloody Mary?

Absolutely not!!! ⛔

9. You’re home alone but you hear footsteps in your house, what do you do?

RUN!!!! 👟🏃‍♀️

10. If you got trapped in one scary movie, which would you choose?

None! I’d faint, poop myself and then probably die very quickly! 💩

11. If you could only wear one Halloween costume for the rest of your life, what would you be?

A witch…some of them got style!!!! 🧙‍♀️

12. Would you ever go to a graveyard at night?

No, no and again, no! ⚰

13. In a zombie apocalypse what is your weapon of choice?

A machete to lop those heads off!!!! 🔪

14. Would you rather go to a Halloween party or go trick or treating?

Halloween party! (As long as they have Halloween themed games!) 🎃👻

15. You’re in a horror movie. Are you the final girl, the first to die, the comic relief, the skeptic, the smart one, or the killer?

The skeptic….who also dies first!!! 🤦‍♀️

16. Favorite scary book?

Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab.

17. How old were you when you saw your first horror movie?

7….me and my bestie watched Evil Dead….and then wished we never!

18. What was your first Halloween costume?

I cant actually remember. Probably a witch! On my sons first Halloween I dressed him as a pumpkin and he did not enjoy it! 🎃

19. What are you going to be for Halloween this year?

We are going to have some food food games here in the house. With covid I’m not sure people will want to open their doors but we shall see! 🧟‍♂️

20. If you could have a spooky Halloween pet (black cat, owl, bat, rat, wolf), what would you pick?

I’d love an owl! 🦉

What would your answers be? Comment below!

Review: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

| CJRTB Books

Title: Iron Widow

Series: Iron Widow #1

Author: Xiran Jay Zhao

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

In an apocalyptic world, peasant girl Zetian sets out to avenge her sisters death by using her Qi to help power a fighting machine, a Chrysalises, for Huaxia in the war against the Hundans.

Qi is the vital essence that sustains everything in this world and keeps a boy/girl pair mentally connected in the war machines. Zetian is now the Iron Widow and gets a bit more than she bargained for in her new partner, Li Shimin, the Iron Demon.

Although I loved Zetian and her feminism, I actually thought she was a psychopath!! I loved her! I was out of breath reading it! Li Shimin I just wanted to cuddle all the time and along with them for the ride is Yizhi, calm, patient Yizhi.

The three of them and what grew into their relationship made my heart sing! The killer boy and the sweet boy and the psycho girl. A perfect triangle.

And that ending? Didn’t see that coming!

Review: Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

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Title: Defy the Night

Series: Defy the Night #1

Author: Brigid Kemmerer

The kingdom of Kandala is on the brink of disaster. Rifts between sectors have only worsened since a sickness began ravaging the land, and within the Royal Palace, the king holds a tenuous peace with a ruthless hand.

King Harristan was thrust into power after his parents’ shocking assassination, leaving the younger Prince Corrick to take on the brutal role of the King’s Justice. The brothers have learned to react mercilessly to any sign of rebellion–it’s the only way to maintain order when the sickness can strike anywhere, and the only known cure, an elixir made from delicate Moonflower petals, is severely limited.

Out in the Wilds, apothecary apprentice Tessa Cade is tired of seeing her neighbors die, their suffering ignored by the unyielding royals. Every night, she and her best friend Wes risk their lives to steal Moonflower petals and distribute the elixir to those who need it most–but it’s still not enough.

As rumors spread that the cure no longer works and sparks of rebellion begin to flare, a particularly cruel act from the King’s Justice makes Tessa desperate enough to try the impossible: sneaking into the palace. But what she finds upon her arrival makes her wonder if it’s even possible to fix Kandala without destroying it first.

Set in a richly imaginative world with striking similarities to our own, Brigid Kemmerer’s captivating new series is about those with power and those without . . . and what happens when someone is brave enough to imagine a new future.

‘Mind your mettle, Tessa.’

What a vile world Tessa lives in, Kandala has a sickness that can only be staved off with moonflower petals so obviously they are a hot commodity and as usual, the rich prosper and the poor suffer. Tessa tries to put this right by stealing the moonflower, making a medicine and distributing to the poor.

But it all goes wrong…..well sort of. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that and in this case it like a sort of very pale silver of linings!

This was a story that hooks you straight in and makes you want more and more and I need that next book to see how this story continues!